Owen's shiner

because the staples weren't enough...he had to have black eye to match

I don't know what to do with this kid!

After...

well, things are almost complete. I just need to fill in the holes along the baseboard and do some touch up but here are our after pictures....




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Isn't it gorgeous? I am so lucky to have such a talented and resourceful husband!

Reality check

So it hit me recently just how much weight I have gained in the last 4 months. I've been aware for awhile now that I have indeed gained weight but I didn't realize just how much until I saw THIS picture and others taken the same night

Yes, that is a roll...and yes those are the jeans I bought at Christmas time that were one size up and now too tight. I watched as I slowy put on weight and things slowly got tighter thinking I could nip it in the bud at any moment. But, I didn't. So today, I got on the scales. I'm scared to admit it and to throw it out there for everyone to read but I've been in denial too long so here goes...I have gained......25lbs. That is more than half what I lost last year. I cannot believe it. I am so ashamed, so embarrassed. But, life goes on and I have a plan. Reality? checked. I am now living the law of thermodynamics again. Now if only the chocolate chip cookies would quit calling my name...

Recovery

The floors are finally finished. Now there is just about a million things that need to be done before my house can go back together.There is an inch of dust on everything in my house. The baseboards need to be painted. The walls need to be touched up. The laundry from the flood in not subsiding. The kids have been eating and living in the family room and the whole room is a mess. When we moved here two years ago we moved in on top of my dad. Their house was not ready so we all lived together for a few weeks. Consequently, the house never got a really thorough cleaning. I'm feeling the need to clean. This will be a whole weeks and maybe more project. I plan on doing long overdue things like painting the pantry and finishing the painting in the hall (I know you're shocked!). I also want to clean every cupboard and drawer and each spindle on the banister. The kitchen table and the chairs also need some major scrub downs! This is just the beginning of my to do list! But, when it's all said and done, I'm going to celebrate with a girls night in party and my house! Stayed tuned!

Welcome little Carson Michael Harris

Carson was born Wednesday January 21, 2009. He makes baby number 42 on the Harris side!

Staples, police, meltdowns and floods.

Yep, that about sums up my weekend. Don't worry, it's a bit long but it's the abbridged version! So Friday, Adam and his brother David spend the entire day hand scraping our hardwood floor. It was a little difficult being displaced but I did my best to keep the kids out of the way. By about 6 they were ready to stain it so I took the 3 youngest and went to Walmart. (Matthais was at his very first scout camp out! In the snow! Yikes!) Well, ya all know how much I love Walmart. Seriously the last three times I've been there I've left in tears. But, I had a few things to return and I had a lot of time to keep the kids occupied. I'm returning things and talking to an old neighbor and Ian and Owen are climbing all over the application center (computer and chair) when Owen falls and hits his head on the wall. I pick him up, console him do a quick scan of his head and keep talking. A few minutes later, I feel blood. I missed a gash on the back of his head. It wasn't very big but it was really deep. Walmart makes me fill out some paperwork and then I rush him to the instacare. They don't take my insurance so I'm off to the pediatrician on call. I still have all three littles since Adam is occupied.Ian is having a hard time watching Owen bleed and they finally have someone come and get him. A couple hours and 2 staple later we head home.

I can't get a good picture of the staples but you get the idea. First bad mommy moment of the weekend.
On Saturday Adam started the polyurethane on the floor and we had to be out of the house all day. My mom watched the youngest kids for me for a few hours. When I went to pick them up my mom had had it with Ian. He was kicking the door and crying. Welcome to my world! I took Ian out to the van and to prevent him from climbing all over the drivers seat with his wet shoes (he likes to get in through the driver door) I reached over and locked the doors. I got him in a buckled him up and went to get the rest of the kids. As soon as I shut the side door it locked. There is Ian locked inside with my purse and my keys and he can't unlock it. He doesn't know how. We tried to tell him how and tried to show him the buttons but he couldn't figure it out. So, my mom called the police. Once the police officer arrived Ian LOST it. He totally started freaking out, he thought the police officer was here for him. He was climbing all over the seats, crying, panicking and pounding on the windows. I lost it. I couldn't handle watching him that scared. As soon as the door was unlocked he jumped out and ran in my mom's house. He just watched out the door and wouldn't leave until the officer drove away.

Bad mommy moment #2
The rest of Saturday was hard because I didn't really have anywhere to go or anything to do but we couldn't be home. We drove around a lot and finally ended up at Adam's parents house which is where we were sleeping that night. Going to any one's house is such a chore these days. Ian is so hard to take anywhere so I wasn't really looking forward to it. We went to a family party at 5:30 and I just zoned out. I'm sure it looked like I didn't care what was going on but I was on overload.


Adam came back to the house and put another coat of sealer on the floor. Sunday we woke up and hustled to get ready and to church. The weather was nasty and the drive from Saratoga Springs was rough. Church was a nightmare. Owen was throwing major tantrums. I sat in the foyer almost the whole meeting. Then during RS they brought him to me because he had had an accident. I brought him home, changed him and went to the storage room for a box of mac and cheese. That is when I discovered this...

And this...

The carpet is ruined. So now, not only is my front room and dining room in the garage, so is Matthais's room and the toy room. Oi vey. It was a really crappy weekend. Now I have to find somewhere to go today while they put on the last coat of sealer on. I don't have any idea where but, I guess I'll figure it out.

My little Owen...

I'll post about this one tomorrow. And yes, that is a bandage.

Even MORE during, I know you're getting bored...almost done!

Hand scraping the floor. Absolute back breaking work! I'm glad I only supervised and swept! My hubby deserves something special!


The staining. Because we have Oak cabinets and trimming we went with oak floors. I think it's turning out to be a beautiful color.

Maybe I just need a maid...

So Jen got me thinking. My new floors will be done soon and I'll need to be taking care of them. I hate to sweep and mop... At least the vacuum does most of the work for you. Although I am grateful that I won't have to vacuum every hour, I want to keep my floor looking good. I've been looking at all the various apparatus's out there. I'm just not sure what to get? Do I just stick with the traditional broom and mop or do I get something like the swifter or a sweeper? What do you use to clean your hardwood floors?

Draper Temple Open House

Make sure you get your tickets. My kids thought it was really cool that they got to go in the temple! I thought it was a great learning and spiritual experience for them.

Third time's a charm

Well, here it is...the stripes are pretty much gone...it's a little dark but I'm counting on fading in the next couple of days. Adam is going to flip...he does not like me dark!

More during pictures...

Thrifty with a capital T

I've always prided myself in being thrifty. I've also also always prided my self in being pretty low maintenance. Some may argue that I should probably take more pride in my appearance but, Whatever. So being the thrifty, low maintenance girl that I am, I almost always color my own hair. I say almost because there have been a few times I've ran to the salon to fix the ghastly orange color my hair had become. I have NEVER once been fully satisfied with my home hair coloring sessions but, hey, I refuse to pay $50-80 to get it done at a salon. I would cut my own hair if I could! Last time I colored was one of those times I ran to get it fixed. It was in November and we were going in for family pictures and so in an attempt to hide those grays I colored my own hair. I went to Sally's and told them I wanted to be dark blond/light brown and that I always pull brassy tones. The girl hooked me up and sent me on my way. Well, it was orange and I ran to get it fixed since pictures were the next day. Come to think of it, I've had three emergency "fix my hair" sessions at salons, all the day before pictures. I'm starting to see a pattern! So like I said before, I have NEVER been satisfied with my home hair coloring. HOWEVER, being the thrifty, low maintenance gal I am, I only get it FIXED if I'm getting my picture taken. The rest of the time I just walk around with slightly orange, slightly spotted, or 4 inches of root hair. Part of the problem is that Adam prefers me blond. I prefer brunette. My actual hair color is light/medium brown so I usually compromise with dark blond. I really wish that we all had Polly Pocket heads and we could just slip on which color and style fits us that day. What I'd settle for is finding my natural color and doing gray coverage ever six weeks. Yes, that dreaded gray. If I didn't have it I would just go au-natural. So, anyway, here is my story. The other day I'm noticing the roots and gray is getting pretty bad. So, while at Walgreens I pick up a box a Clairol (on clearance for $2.19! See, pretty thrifty!) I know Adam is going to be less than happy since it's medium ash brown. Time to be realistic. Yesterday before he arrived home I quickly decide to color my hair to "suprise" him. I've done this hundreds of times so I skip the directions and go to work. 25 min later I look at my hair. Odd...it looks the same. So, I rinse it out to get a better look. No really, it looks the same! So I'm looking in the garbage, pulling everything out when I realize I had mixed the developer with the conditioner. No wonder it didn't seem to go as far as I thought it should. And I did find it a little odd that it was white and not brown. Stupid, stupid, stupid. But hey it was only $2.19 so I head back to Walgreens. So, today, I make sure I mix the color with the developer and I saturate my hair. I'm feeling pretty good as I rinse it out and look in the mirror. I'm liking the color as I blow it out. Then I look a little closer. Hmmm, still some gray. Hmmm, is that some blond? Wait a second...It that a lot of blonde? and STRIPES???? Yep, my hair is a modge podge of a mess! But...I refuse to pay $50-80 to get it fixed. I figure since I never leave my house anyway, no one will notice right? Just don't laugh the next time you see me. Just remember, I'm a thrifty, low maintenance gal OK?

These pictures really don't do it justice! Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of the back of your head? I think my sis is right, it's either wear a pontytail everday for the next 6 weeks or head back to Walgreens...I'm chosing the latter...Wish me luck!

Matthais's rebuttal

When I picked up all the wrappers and diet coke cans off of Matthais's floor yesterday I left him a little note telling him he owed me $5.00. I felt that was fair considering that is how much I would need to replace the items used. He came home from school yesterday and I didn't say anything to him. I wanted him to find it on his own so I could see how he'd react. He went to his room to put his backpack away and didn't even notice the pile of garbage on his bed. I finally pointed it out to him. After a while he started moping around the house with a sad puppy look. I asked him what was up and he said he felt bad. He apologized several times and offered to babysit and clean the house. Wow! I thought...What a great kid! Then I found these on my bed...


My original note with Matthais's rebuttal...

In case I didn't get the point, he wrote me another one...

I thought about responding with a note of my own...

But hey, I am his mom! I guess I should be the bigger person right? I just hope he understands that maybe next time he should ask permission before he devours a weeks worth of snacks in one day!

Tweenager

Matthais has recently been giving me glimpses into the teenage years. Last week at a sleepover he decided to stay up all night. Literally. He know this is against our rules but he did it anyway. The next day (Saturday) he was so tired but we made him stay up. Finally around6:00 he crashed. The next morning I went down to wake him up for church at 10:00. At 10:45 as we were walking out the door we called him up for prayer and he never came. I went down to see what he was doing and found him just getting dressed. He had gone back to sleep. We left and told him he had 20 min to get dressed and walk to church. He has started talking back and arguing and challenging our authority. And then today, there was this...


I went downstairs to get Owen out of Matthais's room and I found this. Only, it wasn't neatly piled on his bed. I did that and wrote him a little note informing him that he owes me $5. Seriously, I bought those granola bars YESTERDAY! And they were for our 72 hour kits that I'm switching the food out of. There were 20 wrappers. And the diet coke!!!! I'm pretty possessive about that!!! No wonder I had only one left today. I couldn't believe I went through that case so fast. Now it makes more sense. So, what do I do now? I mean, if he's hungry I want to feed him but I can't afford this kind of nonsense! I've heard people talk about how their teenage boys eat them out of house and home. I don't think I'm ready for this!

Shopping euphoria

Look what I bought today! All of this for less than 50 cents. 48 cents to be exact....

2 sunsilk hairsprays
2 dove conditioners
2 sunsilk mousses
2 pantene shampoos
1 pantene mousse

Don't you just love deals like that?? There may be some left at walgreens. Don't forget your coupons!

Home sweet home

Now that we're putting in a new floor I can't help but notice all the OTHER things I hate about this house. The blue carpet in the dining room was such a focus for me that now that it's gone, I have lots of other complaints. Let me just start by saying, I am VERY grateful for a home. We feel very blessed to be where we are and to have what we have. That being said...we did not buy this home for the house. We bought it for the 3/4 acre yard. We LOVE the yard. We have a blast in the yard. The yard is by far the best thing about our house. The actual house is, well, there is much to be desired. I hate the floor plan, The three flights of stairs, The laundry room on the very bottom floor and there is really no room big enough to host a big gathering. I hate the pink carpet downstairs, The carpet in the very basement is falling apart due to several floodings (before we moved here, thank goodness that's fixed!), The linoleum in the bathroom, the garage that's just not quite big enough for a car and a minivan. The list goes on and on. I try my hardest to not look at all the fabulous houses around me and wish for a little more....

We will probably be here forever and I am happy to be. I just want a few more changes. I've been bitten by the remodeling bug and now I want more! Someday....Someday....

During...

Here we are in the midst of the mess! Everyone helped with the tear out.

Adam and Jim worked all day and still didn't get it totally finished.

A few more weeks until we are totally done. So far it hasn't been too bad.

Before...

Our floors are going in this weekend. I am so excited I can hardly stand it! It will be a long process until they are completely done so I am going to to excite you all with the before pictures; you'll just have to wait a bit for the after! I decided to go ahead and paint to make everything look great!




Bye Bye Gross disgusting blue carpet! No more scrubbing yogurt and syrup out of the dining room floor!

Bye, Bye bubble stains that I could never get out!

Bye, Bye vacuuming 5-6 times a day! I seriously have to! Funny thing...Adam has made our vacuum an honorary member of our family because I never put it a way. You wouldn't either if you were just gonna pull it out and vacuum again in an hour!


Hello beautiful new floors! I can't wait until we become fully acquainted!

Just call me a loser...

So...today...I spent the majority of the day posting old pictures on facebook. I really don't want to be that person who has nothing better to do than sit on her butt and relive her high school experience through pictures. But...today I was.. In my defense, I was challenged. And, I had to fulfill. I decided to share some of my favorites here. There is even one or two for you Adam...

My 16th birthday. My first birthday in Lehi . Here I am with Derek and Tristan. Two of my first best Lehi friends.
Yearbook signing my jr year. I had gone back to Provo High for yearbook signing this year. I felt caught between two worlds.
Jr. year again with my best Provo friends. Candice, Patty, Willow, Rachel and Aubry graduated this year. That just left Nicole, me and Capri. One small consolation for moving.

Flash forward to one of my Bridal Shower. These are MOST of my best Childhood friends. Ronalee and I had been friends since 4th grade. Sissy since 7th. Melissa was my next door neighbor and friend since 3rd. Me and The MB's, Candice, Capri, Patty and Nicole. We five girls had a blast and got in lots of trouble. Some of my fondest memories and deepest regrets are from times with these girls. We will always have a special bond.




Some of my friends from my Lehi ward, Julie and Amy. Since I went to church on my own, Amy's family pretty much adopted me and her mom was my escort at the temple. Love these guys. This is the night we received our Young Women's medallions.

Adam, me, Adam and Les. Adam S is seriously one of the funnest and funniest people I know. He was such a great friend. Les was my moral support and my best friend (next to my Adam of course) in high school. My best friend Jen had moved to Brigham City our Senior year. Les is who I ate lunch with everyday.
This is the same group plus Becca. Becca and I became friends after high school. Finally I had a girl friend who I could do girl things with. She was my maid of honor at my wedding with Jen being my matron of honor. Ironically, Becca is now my step-aunt. My dad married her sister.
Senior Year Prom. Couldn't have been happier.
Lehi pionettes. These girls were great friends and we had lots of fun dancing on the the Drill team.
One more of my pionette friends. This is the year after we graduated. We came to cheer the current drill team on.
Just a favorite of Les and Adam
I love this picture even though it makes me sad. This is the last day of school our jr. year when Jen is saying goodbye to everyone. Man I missed her! (and still do!)
This is Adam S. and me doing what we we did ALLLLL the time; watching soccer. I rarely missed a game and even drove to price by myself to support my little soccer player.

Another favorite. Steve, Jared, me, Becca and Dustin sending Adam off. This was a exciting day because I got to see him (after NOT seeing him for 3 weeks) but so sad because he was off to Oklahoma. This was in August 1994. We were married the following February. If you don't know the story and want to know...you'll have to ask.

Seriously I have many, many more like this. Many, many more friends who have touched my life in one way or another. Sometimes I really do miss these days. I have a lot of regrets for not maintaining better relationships with a lot of these people. I'm not going to let that happen anymore and I'm going to make sure to let those I care about know about it.