Thanksgiving

Our little family had a wonderful holiday. My parents drove in all the way from colorful Colorado to spend it with us. How grateful I am for the love of parents who taught me how to love my kids boundlessly through their love for me. My dad(who can do anything) spent the week fixing all the odds and ends in my house. Seriously he started Friday at 11:30pm and didn't finish until 10:00pm Saturday night. He is awesome, thanks Dad, everything is working great!

My mom and I had a great time together, as usual. We shopped, ate out, went to the movies, and made our way to the Canton fair. I love spending time with you, your a great friend.

Our meal was tasty, but I think we would all agree the best part was the pumpkin cheesecake from Olive Garden. It must have weighed 20 lbs, and was worth every calorie!

Now that things are semi back to normal we have gotten back into our regular routine. Monday was filled with regular monday activities; gym, grocery shopping, laundry, and cleaning. While doing these activities I decided to take a more invested interest in what the boys did and said to me today. Here are a few...

Ben did-as I cleaning up the breakfast dishes something caught Ben's eye. He bent down and reached under the dish washer and pulled out a old nasty piece of popcorn. Before I could swipe it away, he popped it in his mouth and said, "Um, nummy!"

Logan said-Frog is obsessed with making paper airplanes. We made fifty of them during sacrament meeting on Sunday to keep him quiet. But our friend sitting behind us made a sweet one that really flies(don't worry, it was tested at home after church). He carried that thing around the rest of the day and insisted we bring it to the gym and grocery store yesterday. While my mom and dad were here they brought some of my old stuff. In that stuff was an old, blue jewelry box. Logan loved playing with the "cool box with a lock." Once I told him what that box was called he said, "Mom, let's just call it an airplane box instead."

Halloween or Thanksgiving??

Yeah, the world's worst blogger I know. We didn't bring our camera to Houston to take pictures so this is from Amber.

Random...very random.

I'm horrible, no good, very bad. I don't take pictures(maybe because our camera is so awful, yeah, that sounds right). I was looking at my very sad and pathetic blog wondering what could spruce it up and pictures would actually do the trick. I got my camera out and these are the pictures on it. So here you go!

Soccer Season is officially over. On the night of Logan's last game I told him it was done, to which he replied, "YES!" I was shocked. He never complained about soccer, so I asked him, "Did you not like it?"

"Yeah, I liked it. I am just ready to be done for a while."

Fair enough. He was sure cute out there, but had no clue what the game was about. I don't think he learned a blasted thing this season. I blame the coach.

If your wondering where Spiderman hangs out, it's at our house. In fact I can't get him to go away.

This is our new Sunday night ritual. Logan and Ben love movie night. Ben begs for popcorn, you can see that he hoards the bowl and we rarely get a piece in before it's gone. We love our little kiddos.

Awesome

I was sitting on the couch yesterday admiring Logan's hair in the sunlight. I said to him, "Logan your hair is really a very pretty color." He made some gaging sounds and then turned to me and said. "Mom, my hair is NOT pretty!" "Well then," I said, "What is it?"
"Awesome mom, my hair is awesome."

A little dissapointed...okay, a lot dissapointed!

I think I've had about a thousand people ask me if I have read the Twilight series books. In fact someone asked me today. I just told her that I never even finished the first book. It's not that I didn't like it or anything, it's just that my life is not real condusive to causual reading right now. I spend all day chasing my two, wild boys around that once they are in bed I'm as good as useless. Every now I unwind by watching mindless crud on the boob tube. The other night I turned on Jay and saw that his first guest was Ellen. I think Ellen is hilarious. Have you ever watched her show? It's full of random this's and that's. I have that same personality and find radomness quite entertaining. At any rate, Jay started interviewing her and toward the end of her interview they began talking about her recent marriage. Then she, of course, made a plug about the upcoming vote on Proposition 8. She said something like this, vote no because voting yes promotes hate. That comment has been on my mind ever since. I really don't like that comment because if I lived in CA I would vote yes, and not because of hate, but because of the sacred nature of marriage. I am so sad. What is this world coming to? (An end I think.)

8 Things about me...

So I've been "tagged" and never actually done what I was supposed to do. Sorry to those who tagged me, I'm usually a bit late on everything sorry!!

8 Things I like a whole lot
My best friend Wes
My two little buddies, Frog & Bun
My Church & family
Dancing in front of a mirror
Pedicures
Staying up way to late and dumb watching movies/t.v. shows
Playing Volleyball competitively
Eating.(yes, eating period...salty, sweet, candy, breads....I love everything!!!)

8Words or phrases I say often
"Wes, when are you coming home?"
"Daddy's home!"
"I love you."
"Do you even know how cute you are?"
"Logan quit buggin' Ben"
"Ben quit buggin' Logan"
"Do you want a time out??"
"What did you learn at church/school today"

8 Things I want to do before I die
See my boys go on missions
See my boys come home from missions worthily
See my boys get married in the Temple
Be a grandma
Run a marathon
Go somewhere foreign
Invent something amazing
Go on a couple mission(sorry Kayla, I stole most of yours)

8 Things I've learned from my past
Worry is a waste of time
It's okay so say "no" sometimes
Change is a good thing
Marriage is two people giving 100%, not 50/50
Child rearing is the hardest job in the world, yet the most fulfilling
Honesty is the best policy
Treat others as you want to be treated
(I don't know...I think I learned a lot in life, just can't think right now!)

8 places I'd love to visit
Nassau
Sweden
England
Brazil
Chicago
New York city
Hawaii(again)
San Diego

8 things I currently need or want
Some "work" done, pregnancy was very rough on my poor body
My mom and dad to come and visit me right now!
Chelsea to come and visit me and teach me how to run fast & to meet her cute baby.
World peace
Mitt Romney as President
I want to discover an amazing way to fuel homes and cars without foreign oil
Today to be Friday so we can go to the Lake and have fun.
To be 15 lbs lighter without working hard for it.

8 People I tag
Mom
Hayley
Chelsea
Sheriee
Amber
Aubony
Velvet(do you even ever check your blog?)
Casey

Family Pictures...

My super talented friend took our pictures the other day. I wanted to show off our cute family so go to www.emilymurdock.com and click on her website. Then go to galleries, then featured. There we will be waiting with our nice smiles to greet you.

Spue, puke, throw, vomit, chuck...

Last night Wes and I were watching a strange movie about these people being infected with an alien virus. They contracted the virus by being thrown up on(right in the face). So needless to say I've got puke on the brain. Our car is in the shop and I have been driving around a really nice rental. However the rental was chosen to be leased today so I had to trade it out for a new one. The new car is nice too, but the interior is tan. I've decided that tan interior makes me want to vomit. What else makes me want to vomit? Well,
-cub scouts who pick their noses
-raw chicken
-the other day when Wes sneezed and a slimy boog landed on my cheek(really sick!!)
-the smell of spit
-dog hair
-fish and brussel sprouts
-white pimples
What makes you want to vomit??

What we've been up to...

Logan had his first soccer game this weekend and it was quite entertaining. Wes is the coach and has a great time with these kiddos. We have a great group to work with, the parents are so sweet as well. We are The Hurricanes or as Logan calls the team, "Haricanes" (Only fitting after our visit from Ike).

The other day I was making dinner and found Logan and Ben like this....

Logan said, "Mom, don't we look like clowns?" My only response, "Yes, you sure do!"

My little nerds.

In other news, our Women v-ball team won this past Thursday. We have never won a game in the three years we have been in the ward, it was quite the accomplishment. My YW team almost won their games which was almost as exciting. And, I got a new calling yesterday at church, Den leader assistant. Karen & Spence, I feel like I need to call you guys and get some advice. That's about all to report on, how was your weekend????

XYZ...

I got a new pair of jeans a few months ago, but because I live in Texas I haven't had the opportunity to wear them. So this morning when it was still in the 70's I decided I had waited long enough. I slipped them on and they fit so nicely and looked great with the ensemble I prepared and headed out the door for the day.

Just to recap, a few weeks ago we had some guests over. The gentelman was speaking to us and looked down mid-sentence and said aloud, "Oh, my zipper is down, better take care of that!!" I was so embarrased for the fine fellow and came to the conclusion that if I were in his place I would probably excuse myself from the residence and never make contact again. But he pulled up his zipper and calmly finished his thoughts.

Now, back to today. Tuesday and Thursday I "work" with Wes. 10 to 2 I ran to the bathroom and then headed out the door to pick up the boys. I walk inside the school wait a few minutes, make small talk with the teachers, and then head over to our public library to pick up some books. After standing in line and once again making small talk with just about everyone in the library I check out my books and take the boys to the car. I got the boys situated in their seat belts and then just as I was about to buckle my own belt I noticed. "XYZ Kate", geez, how long had that thing been down?

Embarrased...mortified...surprisingly no. What's the big deal about a zipper being down I've decided. The kind jean people have made that extra piece of material that covers up your unmentionables. So what gives? I calmly pulled it back up and continued my day.

So my question to you today is, how do you react when you realize your fly is down?

It's FINALLY here!!

(Now that everyone has been in school for several weeks)I'm proud to say that Thursday was our first day of school. The boys were so excited, especially Logan. Ben kept saying, "I lub skul." Wes and I decided several months ago that I would come and work with him at his office twice a week when the boys are at school. I was so excited. So to sum it up it was an exciting day.

Logan, the Artist'

Over the last few weeks Logan has become quite the artist. He loves to color and draw pictures. He'll spend literally hours drawing pictures at the table. I love it. So the other day he was sitting at the table coloring when I told him about how much I loved to color as a child. I told him that our neighborhood grocery stores would have coloring contests for the children. I entered one and won five dollars. "Five thousand dollars!?!" he said. "No Logan, five dollars." Suddenly not as impressed he said, "Oh...cool." Here he is doing his thang...

Here is a picture he drew of a sea monster, pretty good huh!

This one he drew up at the lake for his cousin Samantha, it was a fairy princess standing under a rainbow. Look at the details, she has wings and ear rings. I especially love the sun's smilely face.

Logan feel asleep just like this on the floor when our home teachers were over. No offense Bro. Beal, your message was great!!

I don't want you to think I have forgotten Ben so here is a picture of him eating a blue popsicle. He really loves those blue popsicles.

Fergilicious and Piggy

Basically he is obsessed. Obsessed with having a pet. When we went to Sea World a few weekends ago Logan got a stuffed animal turtle. We tried to help him name him, but Logan already new this new little pet was destined to be named Fergie. Where did he come up with this name? Your guess is as good as ours.

The last few weeks Logan has been lugging that turtle around everywhere...to the lake, the grocery store, and he even tried to sneak it into church(however I put my foot down). According to Logan, Fergie wasn't happy with me that I made him stay in the car during church.

He feed it, made multiple homes for it, collected it's eggs, and even let her sleep in his bed. Even Ben will find "Bertie" on the floor and bring her back to her loving owner. It's all been very cute.

We have a birthday party we are going to tonight so we went to Walmart to find a present. While we were there Logan feel in love with a new little pet. It was this little "For Real" pig that moves and oinks. He begged and begged for it. It was $14, there was no way I was going to buy it for him. So I told him he would have to buy it with his own money. He has been saving his money for months and has accumulated $18 on his own. So after much thought and talk with this little pig he decided they couldn't be separated. We bought it and came home right up stairs to his treasure money box. He helped me count out $14.08 handed it over to me and said, "Come on Piggy(which is her name, yes another girl...don't ask me.) let's go watch a movie." I've been on the computer and he put in a movie for the two of them to watch while Ben's napping. Then I heard the music. What did Logan put in to watch?? You guessed it, Charlotte's Web.

~San Antonio~

We had an AWESOME weekend. We left Thursday afternoon and headed down south to San Antonio to visit our good friend Shamu. We stopped Thursday evening in our state's capitol, Austin. It is such a neat city. Very pretty, hilly, and green. The boys loved the little motel we stayed in, Ben got so excited he pooed on the floor.



Friday morning we met up with our good friends and were off to Sea World. When we got there we realized it was Shamu's birthday. What are the chances of being at Sea World on his actual b-day.

Then we saw the sign that said "1988-2008." A year long birthday, now tell me someone who wouldn't like that!!

We headed to the Shamu show first it was fabulous. Those killer whales are amazing. Logan was in awe, however, Ben was quite worried and kept saying "sharks."

Logan at the Shamu show, we are sitting in the splash zone.

We also feed and pet the dolphins, viewed the aquariums, splashed in the splash parks, rode the kiddy coasters, ate theme park food that was way over priced, swam in the water park, saw the seal/walrus show, and ended the night back at the "Shamu rocks Texas show." Let me tell you, Shamu definitely rocked Texas that night!!!

Don't worry folks, no crypto here!

The next day we....rode adult coasters(that were very, very scary right Heather), walked around in the heat burning off all the calories from the very healthy food we were eating at the park, then cooled off in the 4-D Pirate movie.

By late afternoon we were all beat down and tired and feeling a bit like this....

We decided to leave the crowds at Sea World and venture on back to our motel's pool were we cooled ourselves off. We then headed to Gringos for delicious Mexican Cuisine.

The final leg of our adventure was spent viewing some Texan history. We toured the Alamo. Do you remember the Alamo? Well, if you grew up in Texas and passed your Texas History class(that's right people, in Texas there is a class devoted solely to Texas and it's History-Vern this is just informative, I'm not bagging) you'd remember. It's really actually a neat little place. The mission has been standing since the 1600's, remarkable. Oh, I forgot to mention we met some Crockett's at our motel continental breakfast, direct descendants of 'the' Davy Crockett. Cool huh!

Again, it got a bit toasty so we made our way down to the River Walk.

It was quaint and cool. We watched the ferry boats go by and drank a yummy snow cone, thanks grandma!!

Once our core temperatures peaked we packed up and drove home. We had a great time, thanks C-dizzles, and fam for joining us on our trip. We can't wait for our next adventure!!

Sleep walking, talking, dressing....

Last night at about 11pm Wes and I heard the toilet seat in the downstairs half bath fly open. We looked at each other a little startled and surprised(you see, the boys bedrooms are upstairs and our is downstairs). Wes said to me, "I sure hope that is Logan," as he jumped up to investigate. Then we heard a loud bang in the bathroom. I still laying in bed, as I always do when there are strange noises in the house, heard Wes say, "Logan jump up buddy." Logan got up and assumed the position to finish his duty in the bathroom facing the open door.
Wes: "Logan, turn around before you pee on the floor."
Logan(hazy look in his eye, staring up at Wes): no response
Wes:"Logan, are you done?"
Logan: still no response
Wes pulled Logan out of the bathroom and into our bedroom and handed him his shorts and underpants.
Wes:"Logan, put these on."
Logan tried and tried to get those pants on. It was quite pathetic looking because you see, he was trying to get them on his head!! He finally managed to pull his head through the leg hole of his underpants and began searching for the missing arm holes to this very strange t-shirt. Let me tell you, this was quite a scene, we started laughing. It was so weird because we are sitting watching him and laughing and he, in all seriousness, is trying to get redressed oblivious to us completely. Finally we decided to end the embarrassment and help the poor kid get back to bed. This morning I told Logan that he tried to put his pants on his head. He thought it was pretty funny, and remembered nothing from the night before. Kids are crazy.
What's your favorite sleeping walking story??

Oh the memories...

Hayley, loved the idea. Hope you don't mind me stealing.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, today is my birthday. And what better gift could I give myself than to post a blog-tribute to myself! So here it is! Happy Birthday to me! Please post all the reasons why you think I am so stinkin' special. Thanks in advance, for I know that you will all have plenty of remarkable things to say!

Texas the great!!

To: Vernon and Sheriee Staub

I love Texas, yes I do.

Texas loves me, oh it's true.

We love each other and you so you see, we are a happy family.

Now am I invited back to the lake?

Our July 4th Weekend

We had a great Independence day and weekend. We left on Thursday and headed over to the lake. There we met up with Wes' parents, his brother, and the girls (Amber we missed you tons). We spent most of the time outside or in the water. We swam, ate delicious food, had even better company, swam, slammed it up with the new volleyball (great, great purchase may I add), cat fished, swam, dug in the sand, watched an awesome fireworks show, let off our own fireworks, and had the first freedom swim ever (it was a huge success Vern, good work!!). However, like always, I forgot to take pictures. Here is the one lone picture I did take of gramma and kiddos.

We are so grateful for such a wonderful country to live in. We are even more grateful for the men and women who have sacrificed so much for us to enjoy the freedom we do. How was your 4th??

Kate=happy in a Texas Summer!?!

oh yes, it's true. We have been having a blast this summer. I'd like to give a "shout out" to the following:

1)AMC theaters-for giving us $1 movies, an exceptionally cold AC, delicious popcorn (rated 10 by Benjamin), and finally not getting angry and kicking us out when the popcorn and goodies are gone and we spend the last half of the movie running up and down the aisles screaming, "Mommy, I can't see you, where are you?"

2)Our Local Public Library-to you our greatest thanks for summer programs and especially for inviting Jungle Jim over to scare our kids silly with snakes, spiders, turtles, and scorpions. The really cool play area, that is not really a play area that has kept my kids entertained while mom picks out our weekly stash of new books. And lastly for providing the endless collection of new books and slightly scratched DVD's to read and watch during our daily "quiet time" hour.

3)Friends with benefits(not what you are thinking)-this shout out goes to good friends who have invited us over to eat, swim in their pool, or just to hang out-thus providing me a break from the continuous search for cheap childish entertainment.

4)Life Time Fitness-aka world's greatest gym ever! Thank you for giving us your pool. We have spent countless hours this week in your chlorine filled chill tanks. Texas has been pounding out near 100 degree temperatures the last few days which we have failed to notice due to all the splashin' we've been doing at your facility. Not to mention my white, white water babies have tan lines. Yup, you heard me right, tan lines. Thought it was impossible? Yeah, I did too. Kudos for your child care area that blows all other child care areas out the the water. While the kids are happy jumpin it up in the bounce house or climbing in the gigantic jungle gym, I challenge the stair master and pump some iron all that I can look better in my new

5)Layers swim suit-the summer just wouldn't be the same without you. You've booster my confidence immensely pulling and hugging in just the right places. I love you, and I am so glad we have found each other this year. Not to mention Wes really likes you too. Good job on the good work. Click here to view.

If I have failed to mention anyone or thing that has also added to my summer enjoyment, please accept my deepest, heartfelt appreciation.

Party, party, party...PARTY!!!

Most of this week was spent at home in bed as we were all sick. The boys had nasty colds, I had laryngitis and I think a sinus infection, and Wes had the flu and some strange stomach bug. So by the end of the week we were rip roaring ready to get out and party. Logan's good friend(the parents are our good friends as well) had a b-day party that we all went to. We BBQ, played, and visited while the kids jumped in the bounce house and trampoline, swam, and ran in the sprinklers. Then we had a surprise visitor, none other than Batman!!!

Oh Bat girl was there too!!

You Don't understand how excited Logan was to see Batman!!

"I saw you beat Dracula yesterday in the movies!!"

When he walked in the kids didn't quite know how to react. It was so funny. I think Logan was the most enamoured. He wouldn't leave poor Batman alone. We had just rented Batman vs Dracula a few days earlier and Logan had to give Batman the run down on the movie. It was pretty funny. Logan said to me after he left, "See mom, Batman really is real!!"

Weight Loss Time

I think this might be my second blog entry ever, but I am bored out of my skizull so I thought I would contribute. One evening last week while Kate was at camp I was making the boys some dinner and just had the tv on some random channel. Well, that show The King of Queens came on and right when it did Ben pointed to the tv at Doug Heffernan (Kevin James) and started saying "daddy" probably 7 0r 8 times. I know I have been packing it on, but kids tell it just like it is. I had been contemplating for a while on whether to start training again like I used to in college and looking for something to push me over the motivational edge. Well there it was, my own kid telling me I looked like Doug Heffernan. Then this morning I was making them some breakfast and Ben saw a picture of Matthew McConaughey on a dvd that we have. Of course he had his shirt off, and Ben pointed to the picture and said "daddy". So bye bye motivation and hellooooooooooo Whopper & fries, Braums (best ice cream), Wing Stop french fries, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Coke, and chips (any and all kinds).

Wes

I got back from girl's camp on Saturday. It went phenomenally!! Many, many prayers were answered last week, and the best part was...I got to come home to these two cuties.