fluff.

sometimes you go to the park with things weighing heavy on your shoulders

...and while you're there you meet people...

people with heavier things.

and it makes you think...

boy am I ever lucky!

this is what happened to me today.

tree of flowery GOODness

p.s~ don't tell Andrea about this little sneak peek.

She didn't say I could but she didn't say I couldn't!


If you're in my ward and your feeling a lack of fun little felt flowers in your life... don't fret.


your day is coming soon! { HFPE ANYONE? }



And if your not in my ward... perhaps you should join?

kidding. Anyone that wants to come make some happy little flowers is welcome.

Not sure of the date or time...

Blog title dedicated to Kelly of Flowery Goodness :)

What's not to get

They're just like every other car he says

no they aren't says I

We're off to testdrive BMW'S

I have points that need proving...

$10 bucks says he has to talk me into one :)

You Dealin With the wHole enchilada

There was 3 days of utter annoyance and stress around here.

And then there's today.

Today I gave up. I can only be military mom for so long before I tire of it. It's really not my style but man sometimes the kids just push my button one after another non-stop forever and ever. They never tire of it. It's their specialty.

A few days ago I realized I was running low on moisturizer. Decided Nordstrom was gonna have to be the next stop. On the way there I caved and went to Sephora at San Tan mall... it's alot closer. But even though they carry my brand I was resisting buying it there. I just really wanted to get it form Nordstrom. You think I'm crazy but I'm not I tell you. It was meant to be. Check this out.

Got up this morn, sewed a skirt { highly therapeutic }... took a shower. Put kids for naps (yes all of them) we have this rule around here, we nap. During nap time you can either nap or read. I usually choose nap. Actually I always choose nap and Lu has no choice. She naps.

Ok so today I didn't nap. I got in my car and drove myself to nordstrom to do what should have been done days ago!

Do you ever think life is all about timing? There was an accident on the corner of Higley and Eliott today.

And also the exit for the 101 was closed. There was a huge line of people getting off the freeway at price. Did I ever tell you how my ac doesnt work when my car is idleing? HaHa!! We're car shopping too by the way. It's adding to my stress.

This is what happened on the freeway that made me laugh smile giggle and generally speaking boosted my already good mood up a notch...

As I pull up behind the jeep I was inevitably going to be spending the next 10 minutes behind, with my hot pink heart shaped glasses...
. { these are they }


and a smile plastered on my face. (hey I was sans kids, do you blame me?) I can see the guy in the driver seat was looking at me in his rear view mirror. He looks away for a second but then he does it again. And again. Haha he's probably wondering what the heck I'm smiling about. Perhaps he thinks I'm flirting?? Then this is great...

the old guy in the passenger seat turns around, remember they're in a jeep with the top off so i can pretty mucho see what kind of shoes they're wearing :) he flashes a big 'ol cheesy grin at me then gives the driver shove. Now this sort of thing can be ok when you can get away but lets face it we were stuck for a while. The old guys proceeds to make somewhat of a scene, i can only imagine the razzing going on, but for the next ten minutes I laughed as he guestured wildly with his hands and rocked the jeep back and forth like only a teenager would. Poor guy was probably SO embarrassed! I mean how awkward. Can't get away. Can't look in the mirror. Can't not look in the mirror!

Haha! When Lori called after I had escaped I related it to how when we were younger just to bug her we'd "drive even" with someone. window down. Can't look. Can't not look! AKWARD!!

not for me though. I'm socially starved so I will pretty much eat up anything of this sort. It's sad really.

But if ever there was a day to buy moisturizer at the mall today was the day! It was a little confusing at first because I know where the perricone counter is there. It's always in the same spot. Except today it was gone. Bummer right? Naw... they're very helpful there at nordstrom. Today was "learning day" at Nordstrom :) That means there were people there that know thing about skin. I have finicky skin. It's real sensitive. After a brief Q&A she shows me to the Kinerase counter. A brand I've tried before and somewhat liked but man is it expensive! I shy away from creams over $100. Today they were having a special too good to pass up! buy 2 get one free. It's a gimmick, but a gimmick I'm ok with since i was defiantly buying anyway. In addition to that, since it was "learning day" Nordstrom was giving away a really cute cosmetic bag full of awesome samples! I love samples! So buy two... get a ton of stuff free.... I'm totally into that :)

The for the rest of the day I hung out with the fam... my mom wanted us to come over for burgers and a swim. it was relaxing. And amazingly enough it wasn't too stinkin hot outside. ( we're talking 7 pm, not 3 in the afternoon) Miracles do happen.

My consumer reports magazine is my new BFF. We hang out alot. i can't seem to find a balance of want meets need in a car.

When I was a kid I dreamed of being a racecar driver.

Apparently the dream is not dead :)

xo

"the SWIMMER"

I had some really super ideas yesterday all of which turned out amazing and fun!

NOT! that was sarcasm incase you couldn't tell :)

Some of you fellow facebook addicts may have seen my status yesterday. it read...

Jill Sandstrom Ison must be feeling desprate... going to the mall with all 3 kids. nothing good can come of this. And perhaps you read my post form last night at 1:17 am??

maybe not. But either way I will tell you of our most unawesome adventures.

Chad is back on nights these days. Kids not quite back in school yet. Imagine trying to keep three totally bored kids quiet all day while hubby sleeps. Did I mention my house in miniature in size? And we have wood floors? Both important factors when imagining the noise level. I decided it would be best if we just left.

Driving down the 60 we pass golfland/sunsplash. I get this ingenious idea.

"Hey if your good at the mall (cuz we all know that's a trick and a half) maybe we can go to nightsplash tonight! Call grandpa and see if he's up for it. He is... for the time being :)

Feeling guilty about dragging the kids all over the mall all day i decided that even though they weren't very well behaved at the mall we should still go have a little night fun. I mean seriously the mall is sooo boring for kids. Plus we never did quite find justice like i'd promised.

haha this is where the real fun begins!

Lori... per your comment on my last post, YES it was a wild night! And am I ever glad you decided not to go! I woulda been saying...

"it's a good thing you LOVE me, otherwise you'd HATE me" :)

all night long, and it woulda totally been true!

as we near Sunsplash we can't help but notice how there isn't a single parking spot! Not in the lot and not even on the street near the lot. Oh boy. Are we sure we want to do this I ask?? Of course the kids shout YES! We have really awesome timing because just as i pull in someone is pulling out... like it was meant to be. And again before I shut the ignition off I ask, "you sure? We could go to grandmas and splash around at night, hehe anybody???" ha! yeah right.

Ever been to sunsplash?

it attracts a different sort of crowd. Thats me saying it really nice :)

But at night it's a whole nother ball game.

different + rough x ten times the usual amount of bodies = um yeah. not my kind of fun.

First thing we did was get a locker. I really didn't want to. it was $8. I stood staring at the kiosk for about a minute before turning to my dad and saying "I really don't want to get one! It's $8!!"

just do it, he says, its worth it not to get your stuff ripped off. And lets face it the only stuff I was worried about was the keys because in no way would it have been cool to be stranded there all night! So I did it.

I cannot even help you to picture the amount of bodies there. It was massive. theres was a line for the wave pool. Is that even possible? Yes. yes it is :) And the lazy river. It was insane. My plan was to go on the slides a million times. but after standing in the line for 10 minutes we decided that this sucks! Even the kids wanted to leave. So it was decided... we were leaving. but not before lucy got to slide down the dragon slide. After all we had to get something for our $63 entrance fee plus our $8 locker! It only took one swift trip down the dragons back and she was done! haha it was so funny to watch though i wish you could have seen it :)

As we're walking thorugh the massive crowd my dad says... this reminds me of a scene from "The Swimmer" ever seen it he asks?

no. Do you have it? Let's go watch it.

It's just like this, he says. The scene where he's swimming in a public pool, people everywhere. Chaotic.

When we got home he put it on for me. Have you seen this movie?
As I watch I can't help but think this movie is a tad bazaar. That being said I highly recommend it. Because what's life without a few bazaar movie thrown in the mix. Plus if you don't ever watch it you will never see the public pool scene thereby never fully understanding the massive chaos we experienced that one crazy night at nightsplash. And we can't have that now can we? Plus it was made in the 60's at a time that according to my dad, the movies makers were trying to make meaningful films. Films that made you think deeply...

GO RENT IT!!

THE SWIMMER. you won't regret it :)

There she lay on my bed,eyes wide awake... but not crying.

The time is now 1:17 am.

Lucy has yet to sleep tonight.

I type... she cries.

WTC(rap)??

Lucy, I say. What's your problem

"i want a book"

no

"I want milk"

nope

you want some water? ...I say

"ok"...

Do you think you can go to bed now??

"my beds not cooperating"

{ anger turns to laughs }

crazy insane person laughs, but laughs none the less.

and yet still she cries. Pretty soon it will be the both of us.

Call it what you will

I shouldn't be doing this. I have a million things to do. I'm already hours into it so here goes it :)

we went on vacation.


Well not really, but thats what we're calling it incase thats all we get this summer.

We took off Sunday having no plan other than to get the heck out of town. Headed north on I-17.

Not a big surprise we ended up in Flagstaff. We discovered their cool little downtown area. I've driven by it on my way up to Humphrey's Peak (a.k.a. snowbowl)


i had this unusual craving for chinese food on the way there. I almost never crave chinese ever since I puked it up. One of the worst puke flavors ever imo.

But we found this little thai place, it was really tasty! I can't remember the name, but it was hooked to this hotel...


Which we ended up staying at. The service was a little slow so while Chad was waiting for the check, I went to get a room. The hotel looked old so I had to ask...

"Is this hotel haunted?"

Of course it was. i am awesome at being in haunted places these days, I told the front desk lady of my fear of ghosts. She promised me a super un-haunted room. I was still a little leery.

I mean look at this place...


We were in room 302. The Jack Daniels room. it was actually supposed to be a two bedroom suite. It was more like a one bedroom suite with a wall in between the beds.

When we got home Chad looked it up on the internet. Yep. Haunted. he tells me that in room 306 (just two doors down) two hookers were murdered and thrown out the window. According to the source, males that stay in that room report feeling a hand cover their mouth and nose as to suffocate, which wake them up but then they can't sleep because they feel *watched*

I'd like to say that i also couldn't sleep. Not because of the ghosts but mostly because of the train that comes through town at 15 minute intervals all night long! So loud it was like I was sleeping on the tracks. It didn't help that it was blazin hot and the ac didn't work worth a darn so we had the window open as wide as possible. had I know about the hookers before this I would have sweated it out. or not stayed there at all is more like it.

note to self: earplugs & Air conditioner... bring em :)


This is me trying to be cool like Kelly. It didn't go so well.

Kelly... i feel a little bad coming to your neighborhood and not visiting. The problem is that at the same moment I thought to myself, "we should go see Kell" I also realized I don't have your phone #!! What's up with that!


So now that I've told you about the haunted hotel in which you shouldn't stay (but do go to the Thai restaurant... it was really good) I think I will let you just check out the photo's with out too much interruption. Mostly because I have about a zillion things I should be doing instead of this :)





We met a dog named Teddy. He was super cute. and super big. My kids are now saving for a goldendoodle of their own. So far they've raised $1.

That's $1 down $1499 to go :)













I hate that i chopped her hand off in this photo. I suck.




















we had fun taking jumping pictures. This next one makes me laugh :)





ok... last picture I promise!


melts my heart.

You know it's hot when I abandon my camera for months! Point being... the weight of my camera around my neck felt oh so good!

i love you photography <3

Summer Sky

just look at that beautiful sky...

go ahead, stare for hours :)

all is well!

the limit is the sky

I came home to this today...



and what was inside all those boxes you ask...

...

prettier boxes!



I got the organization bug a few days ago. I'm over it now.

The boxes are still here though...

{ I'm in trouble with Chad aren't I? }