Happy Halloween

Recipe--Pork Tacos

I made this for dinner last night after not having made it for about 6 months. I don't know how this fell off my cooking radar because it is so easy and so tasty. (In reality, it probably fell off my radar since I haven't been cooking much in the last few months, but that is coming to end, I promise.)

I have made one change and that is sprinkling Johnny's Season Salt on it after I braize the pork. If you haven't tried this, you should.

Listen Universe I was Joking

A few days ago, I posted THIS post. In the last 48 hours, toothsome #4 fell on her face and now has a very swollen upper lip and toothsome #1 blew a hole in his church pants. Listen Universe, I was joking. I wasn't serious about those things happening, so back off.

I now Own a Photo Copier and Nobody seems to care

Recently, my husband surprised me and brought home a photocopier for our house. Not a scanner, but a true, real life photocopier. I was raised with one and have asked for one many times, so I was thrilled to get it. I

I really thought I was super cool to have one. Growing up, we were the only people I knew who had one. I thought, "I will tell people and they will say, 'Oh how wonderful. What a great thing to have. I wish I had one.'"

Instead, after announcing it at my book club, several people people just shrugged and said, "Oh, I have one." At church, I got the same response.

What in the world? When did it become common place to have a photocopier in one's house? To my friend's credit, they did say, "Oh, we have one and love ours. I know you will love yours too." So, it is not like they were mean about me being the last one to get one, but still! I love my photocopier and I promise, if you get one (but you probably already have one), I will act surprised and little bit jealous. The catty me was really hoping for that response.

Family Picture Taken

After months of planning and several reschedulings, the family picture is now completed. My children can now get all of the rashes they want, fall on their faces while playing, destroy their church clothes--whatever. The pictures are done.

Folliculitis

Did I mention that after rescheduling our family photo several times, we are having it taken tomorrow?

Did I mention that yesterday, while helping my daughter get dressed, I noticed she had this horrible rash on her legs and arms?

Did I mention when she got home from school, I noticed it had spread to her face?

Did I mention that I rushed her to the after hours pediatrician and after hearing him say several times, "Oh this is concerning" he diagnosed her with folliculitis?

If you didn't click over to my webmd link, I will tell you that follicultis is a staph infection in the skin follicles.

Did I mention that we got her on antibiotics that night hoping it will clear up fast?

Did I mention that our family picture is tomorrow afternoon and my daughter has folliculitus on her face?

Facebook

Ok, I have discovered another time waster and I don't need anymore. For months, I have had friends tell me to join Facebook. I always laughed and said, "No way! I have no time for another Internet thing." Goodreads, e-mail, blogging, people.com, Perez Hilton as well as Glen Beck, Dr. Laura, KSL and Rush Limbaugh take up plenty of my time.

Well, today, I got another invite to join a community from my BYU days. I couldn't resist and I joined Facebook. My plans to get my house back into order? Totally frustrated! Why? Because today I spent more time than I want to admit, finding names on Facebook that I haven't thought about in years. YEARS! It has been so fun but so time wasting I can hardly come to terms with it. So, now I have to give myself time limits on the computer. I think this is the only way to still be a responsible wife and mother and have some fun on-line. But, just so I don't come across as a total loser, I did make dinner tonight, cleaned my butler's pantry, took my son to soccer, started reading three different books, read with two kids, handled a bunch of stuff relating to my husband's car accident, did some work at Dentist husband's office and wiped off my kitchen counters several times. I need to go vacuum. My roomba can only do one room at a time.

UEA weekend in St. George

For Fall Recess, we headed down to St. George, UT in our attempts to extend summer by a few more days. We stayed in the brand new Town Home Suites Marriott and had a glorious four days down south. We visited the St. George temple grounds and toured the Brigham Young and Jacob Hamlin homes. Dentist husband's great great grandfather was one of the early settlers of St. George and so we found where his home was located as well. We spent a lot time climbing around on the rocks above the city. The kids loved it but truth be known, they were just as happy playing in the empty field next to our hotel.
We spent a lot of time at the driving range. Dentist husband was in heaven because it was located right below the runway of the St. George airport. So, there was a lot of air traffic with "amazing" airplanes overhead.
My kids are little enough, that we could sleep them like this.
Eating left over Mongolian Barbecue in the hotel. My kids LOVE Mongolian Barbecue and we ate there every day. The owner is hilarious and insisted on helping my kids learn how to eat correctly with chopsticks. Every day we looked forward to seeing her.
We also spent every afternoon swimming at the pool. It was a great and fun trip. Now back to cleaning!

Life is Chaos

My life is full of chaos. I have to clean, clean and clean some more. I can't live in this anymore. I have to stop blogging for about a week to try and accomplish everything. See you around the 24th of October.

Kelly Ripa Shoes

I have always liked Kelly Ripa. I don't really know why. Maybe because she was less annoying than Kathy Lee or maybe because we were both pregnant at the same time with two of our babies and I always thought I looked less pregnant than she did. I also watched a lot of her while nursing my last three kids. (Speaking of nursing, now that toothsome #4 is two, I have to wean her but how?)

Anyway, I just got an e-mail from Ryka telling me about their new Kelly Ripa tennis shoes. I get their e-mails because I tried to win a pair of their tennis shoes about a year ago. (My friend Paige did win a pair but sadly not me.)

Anyway, product endorsements must really work because I did click over to their web site and immediately fell in love with the Kelly Ripa tennis shoes. I almost bought a pair and I still might. I mean I could own the same tennis shoes as Kelly Ripa. She is cute, she is my age, and we both have little kids. Our husbands both have dark hair. Maybe these tennis shoes could totally change my life. Maybe they will help me stay young and cute and be a better mother. Maybe by wearing them, I will want to exercise instead of nap. Maybe housecleaning will become a breeze. At least from the pictures, it sure looks like it. And, if they could work Pete Sampras into their marketing, I so would buy some.

Family Picture Postponed

We were supposed to have a family picture taken in two days. Well, I called and postponed it for a few weeks. Why? Many reasons:

Dentist husband gave my boys fresh hair cuts and accidentally gave them haircuts way too short. (This picture doesn't really give it justice how short their hair is.)

Toothsome #1 has a HUGE cold sore and scratch on his face. Dentist husband's eye still looks like this from the car crash.
Toothsome #4 has some weird rash on her face.

Oh and we are supposed to have snow this weekend, which defeats my whole reason for waiting until October so we could get a great Fall leaves background.

Hopefully, in two more weeks, we will all look better.

Halloween Shirts

October is my favorite month for a lot of reasons, one being Halloween. Here we are in our new Halloween shirts from Old Navy. I have heard Target had cuter and cheaper ones but my kids really liked these.

What We Did While Grandma and Grandpa Were Here

Took apart an old piece of dental equipment with Grandpa
Painted our ghosts on the Halloween window
Dentist husband got his new replacement car--Subaru STI
Did lots of "Finish the picture" with Grandma

It was a fun and fast visit. As always, we wish we lived closer.

Help Me Remember

About a month ago, my husband's office manager called and asked if she needed to order Halloween toothbrushes for us to give out to the Trick or Treaters. I immediately answered "yes" and three large boxes arrived at my house about a week later. We get a ton of trick or treaters and we actually give out both candy and a toothbrush. We are not candy/sugar haters in this house. But, we do want people to brush off the candy/sugar once they are done consuming it.

Anyway, in getting out my Halloween decorations this year, I discovered two boxes of unopened brushes! What in the world?

I then remembered that Halloween two years ago was horribly cold and rainy/snowy and we didn't get many trick or treaters but every year since, I order more, thus the extra surplus of toothbrushes. So, unless we get about 1000 trick or treaters this year, we are not going to need brushes ordered for a while. This post is to remind me of this.

Update On Dentist Husband and boys

Several people have called me and asked how Dentist husband and boys are doing.

Dentist husband was able to go back to work on Tuesday. (His dad, fellow dentist, covered for him on Monday.) He still looks awful but his eye symptoms are diminishing and the pain is getting better. Again, his hands were not damaged, so he has been able to work--thankfully.

The boys, who were virtually unscathed are back to their normal routines, with the exception of me keeping toothsome #1 home from soccer for the week. That is my precaution but he still has a nasty bruise on this side which still hurts, so I made that executive decision.

We were able to get from the car, the seat belts, the side curtain air bag and a few other miscellaneous pieces, which we had the kids show us for Family Home Evening on Monday.

So, with the exception of not having our replacement glasses and no new car, we are back to normal. Normal meaning the regular run of the mill chaos.

Oh and in reference to my house cleaning, I am about 1/2 way there, so things should be in good (not great) condition, when my parents arrive tomorrow.

What I HAVE to get Done today

I just realized my parents will be here tomorrow. TOMORROW! Do you have any idea what shape my house is in? Well, I don't think there is a clean surface anywhere.

Crap! Crap! Crap!

Oh and for you "know it alls" out there, no I can't find a cleaning service to come in last minute unless I give them an arm and a leg, so that is not an option.