Pressure is On

Last week I spoke in church on Elder Oaks' address from last October's conference called Good, Better, Best. He spoke about all the good things we can be doing with our time, but there are better - and better yet - best things we can be doing with our time instead.

There are a number of things I'm required to do to keep a house running. There are a number of things I can do to keep busy. There are an even larger number of things that I should be doing that I'm not.

Let's take one tiny area of my life; my life on the computer:

my email accounts
Facebook
the recipe blog
Goodreads
my family blog
my etsy shop
checking out your blogs...

...not to mention the number of things I google to learn about, map out, price, or just plain research. This very idea of knowing when to stop was discussed the other day at this blog. And I can't help but wonder if I'm wasting too much time on my computer. The one thing I have that helps me justify this is that the laptop can be wherever my kiddos are. But does that even matter if I'm not really "doing" anything with them 'cause I'm looking at skirts?

When is too much too much?

When do you know when to cut back?

How do you cut back?

And the winners are....

Heidi Kjar

Annie Burdett

Tara Mareth

Sorry I had to put a last name on Tara (there were like 5). I have all of your addresses already. If you have complaints or think this was rigged, you're probably right and should take it up with HR. Just kidding, you all won fair and square (I don't even know what that "fair and square" means). Expect your prize in 6-8 weeks, there will be a $75 courier charge ;o).

Thanks for playing!

To see winners, go here (Heidi), here (Annie) and here (Tara).

Feelin' Lucky?

I've been lucky enough to win two blogging give aways! First of all I should thank Natalie and Terica! I totally love what I received and you've obviously inspired me to do this.

Here's how it works. You have to comment - only once, please (obviously anonymous comments won't count) and I will have my kids pick three random winners. You have a week to leave your comment. Don't worry guys, I'm not giving away nail polish (though if I were, you should still try and win it for your lady), so please don't feel like you can't participate. I'm also willing to send overseas so anyone can comment.

I'll announce the winner next Friday. Let the fun begin.

Be Mine?

Go ahead and just drop your Valentine's card right here.

Bradley was sent home with a little gift bag that he was asked to decorate for Valentine's Day. When I was growing up, we went all out on these things. We'd show up to school with giant boxes decorated like robots or mail boxes. So when we got a gift bag, I started throwing ideas at Bradley when out of the blue he says, "what about a volcano?"

Awesome.

I do realize it's tomorrow and not today. I thought I'd give everyone a fair warning that I fully expect to be their valentine and that I will be crushed if I'm not.

But you can just put those princess and spiderman valentine cards into Bradleys' bag because mine didn't turn out nearly as cute as his.

Nice, Cold Diet Coke

Even if you think you'll remember to take it out, you might not.

And then you'll freezer will look like this.

Can you see the can's lid on the pizza box?

Skinny Jeans

No, not the jeans you hope to squeeze back into - even though high school's long gone and babies keep widening hips and adding extra skin to that which needs to be tucked back into said jeans. No, I'll leave that for a whole different blog. I'm talking today's skinny jeans.

One of those "tag" thingies was going around a little while ago that posed this question:

What is one fashion trend you wouldn't be caught dead in?

Well, it may not have been quite so dramatic as that but....

Many people answered 'skinny jeans'.

You know, the tapered jeans that go inside the boot rather than outside the boot.

I told Steven the same thing.

Well, 10 years ago I swore I'd never wear capris.

...and guess what I own several pair of?

And 5 years ago I swore I'd never wear those long pointy-toed shoes.

....and guess what I own several pair of?

Am I destined to own a pair of skinny jeans? Those high-waisted, ankle-hugging pants that I was firmly told - only a year ago - NOT TO EVER WEAR! Is it only a matter of time, or will skinny jeans never happen for this soccer mom?

Do you own a pair?

What are your thoughts?

Smashing Success

Many of you know I threw Steven a whopper of a Surprise 30th Birthday Party. To pull it off, I had to tell a couple of whoppers as well. Never will I do this again. I learned it's way too hard to pull this off without his help.

I initially invited a couple of families from our church, a couple of families from the neighborhood and some of the people Steven works with. Then I extended the invitation to even more people from the neighborhood and even more people we go to church with. When 70 people RSVP-ed with a YES I thought I'd made serious judgment error (what happened to that 40% rule? - you know the one that tells you 40% of the people you invite will actually come). Plus, with this many people knowing about it, I thought FOR SURE he'd find out.

Stacey, my dear friend whom I now owe my first born, was a HUMONGOUS help. She helped watch and feed my kids, string lights on all our trees in the backyard, pick up folding chairs from the stake center, let people into my bursting-at-the-seems house, and when I almost copped out and tuned it into an open house instead of a party, she talked me out of it and I'm so happy she did!

60 great friends
10 dozen sodas
4 dozen assorted cookies
2 dozen capri suns
2 bags of ice
30 (swiped) folding chairs from church
2000 lights
1 full sheet cake
30 candles
6 1/2 gallons of assorted Blue Bell Ice Cream
bottomless chips and salsa
lots of plastic-ware

....and 1 very surprised 30-year-old

Steven entering the room.

Adam, little Lindsay and Stacey M*
(LOVE You, Stace!)

Denny L*, Josh O* and Todd N*
Leslie W*, Tyson and Nicole V*, Abby L*

Brody N*, Bradley Mickmonkey, David and Cole M*

Stephanie O* and Angela V*

Stacey and Mike R* and Steven

Shelley N* and Moi

Ste's Birthday cake (enough to feed 90-something)
with his 3 year old picture on it. Can I get an "Awwww!"?

Steven (needing THREE tries) blowing them all out.

Some of the little ones gathered tightly around the TV as to not miss any of the the all too important Meet the Robinsons. I just had to take this picture.

Anyhoo, it was a lovely evening and Steven felt special and loved and not too old. We wish all of you could have made it. Don't worry, we would have made room.

...I still have left over Blue Bell. Any takers?