As good as it gets... right?

Christmas photos this year were a FREAKING nightmare. Next year I just need to pony-up and spend the BIG BUCKS to get it professionally done. I felt like it was impossible to get my kids to take a decent picture. If one wasn't looking the other was, and vice-versa. For some reason, I felt like my kids instantly wanted to tick-me-off trying to get a decent picture of all of us. As soon as the camera came out, so did tears, naughtiness, and squirming. Can't I catch a break?!! The one we finally picked was...okay. We had to give AJ a sucker just to get him to stop screaming. In case you have had similar problems, I have so graciously posted part of our nightmare. Perhaps this will not make you feel so bad:

(Ha ha ha, so funny AJ. Mikko looks like he is constipated.)

(Yeah, I love the drool all over your shirt... classy)

(The only one who looks good in this picture is Aaron. But he always looks good. Mikko has a scary evil-looking smile on his face and of course AJ is trying to get down off the bench.)

(Seriously AJ... you can't just look at the camera? Come on man! Mikko is trying to stand on my lap.)

(I am yelling at my mom to just keep taking pictures... we are bound to get ONE good one out of 50 shots. Maybe. This one is just all-around bad. But this was what most of the shots looked like.)

Following are the ones we narrowed it down to:

And the winner is.......

This is as good as it gets folks. At least I got them out... right?

Santa's little helper?

Santa and I are not very good at hiding things. Apparently I have underestimated my child. I thought the closet would be a sufficient place to hide Santa's gift. I was wrong. I went downstairs and found this:

Oops! He found it! I thought it was so cute I just couldn't bare stealing it from him right away. He kept getting his leg stuck in the box trying to ride it. Eventually he gave up on that and decided to put some stuffed bears on it and PUSH/SLIDE it around the family room. Am I horrible that I let him play with it? When I did take it away, it was so sad. He only cried for a minute, but at least I know he'll like it. Lucky for me, I'm sure he'll forget all about it by Christmas and he will be just as excited to play with it.

Busy Christmas Season

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It has been SO BUSY this month!! We will be traveling for Christmas so I feel like I am on an extra short time table. We had our ward Christmas party last weekend and the boys got to sit on Santa's lap. Seriously... my kids don't have a clue. AJ was scared out of his mind (which I'm sure is typical of children his age, and Mikko just wanted to chew on everything). This picture was the best we could do. But at least we have one. I don't have a Santa picture of AJ his first Christmas (bad mom). But I've got one this year!!!

We thought it would be fun for AJ to take a little ride in a race car at the mall arcade. I was wrong. He screamed. But Mikko LOVED it! It was so cute. He was like a wild man trying to touch all the buttons and turn the steering wheel. My boys definitely have two completely different personalities. Mikko is MUCH MORE aggressive. And AJ is MUCH MORE passive. In other words- AJ is more of a boob, and Mikko is more a crazy man. I love them both and embrace how different their personalities are.

Christmas Cards... ugh

Oh Christmas Card, Oh Christmas Card. Why can't you buy yourself? Why can't you write a nice funny letter and print yourself on crispy clean beautiful purchased Christmas paper? Why can't you take an absolutely perfect picture of my family, where we are all looking at the camera smiling beautifully, develop yourself and paste nicely on your inside? Why can't you know all my friends and family and write a nice little personalized note to each of them and sign with love my families names? Why can't you address yourself, seal yourself, and place a nice stamp on yourself? And lastly, why can't you walk on down to the mail box so all my friends and family can receive you on the first of December and open you up and say... "wow, Brandi is so on top of things! Beautiful picture, great letter, and she even wrote us a little note. I wish I could be as organized as her."? Why, oh Why, can't you do me this little tiny favor my dear, sweet, yearly, Christmas Card?

Because it wants me to suffer.

I know Christmas cards are dwindling more each year. It is so easy to stay in contact with everyone with technology that sometimes it seems so silly sending the whole package (card, letter, photo, message). But I do it. I do it because one of my favorite things about Christmas is opening the mailbox and getting a nicely packaged message. Even if I regularly read your blog, or talk to you on the phone, I still love getting the letters and pictures. Something about it makes Christmas so wonderful. It reminds me how lucky I am that we have such great family and friends, and it reminds me how much I miss all of you who are far away. So I am going to DO it! I swore I was going to have them out by December 1st. Clearly, since I am complaining about them, I haven't even started. UGH!! I will spend two whole days doing everything at once. My house will be a mess, my children and husband will be neglected, and cereal will be served 3 times a day. But once its over, I will be so GLAD I did it!

By the way - in case any of you were wondering, the rest of our Thanksgiving trip went... okay. It was fun visiting family and friends, but very difficult with two sick babies (we had to take Mikko to urgent care). We ended up driving home in the middle of the night. The boys slept the WHOLE time. We are going to Utah for Christmas, and all driving WILL BE DONE through the night. And after this Christmas trip... we will not be taking long distance car trips as a family for a while. Here are some pictures from our trip. We did have fun - it was just really hard.

(This last one sums things up pretty well)

Hell... literally

Hell. I know its horrible to use profane words, but this was the most mild one I felt comfortable publishing to describe my (our) day today. My children are finally asleep. Snoring to be exact. But it took awhile to get them here. Following are the reasons my (our) day sucked so bad.

1. The day we were leaving for Utah we found out our "place of stay" had a contagious sick little boy. (Poor Blake. We hope he feels better). We didn't think it would be wise to take a chance on the boys getting sores in their throat and mouth. So we had to change things up last minute. Never fun.

2. We ended up having to drive through the day. I hate this. And after actually doing it today, I hate it even more.

3. We had to wake our kids up at 5:00am. My kids don't do well when they are woken up.

4. Those same kids did not ONCE sleep longer then about 20 minutes. Big brother took ONE of those, through the entire trip and Mama's Boy took about THREE.

5. Because they would not sleep they screamed. They cried. They threw things. They wouldn't eat or drink much. I have never wanted to throw myself out a window so badly. I SERIOUSLY have NEVER heard my children scream and cry so much.

6. Big brother peed through his clothes. Yeah... that was fun unloading luggage, getting him clothes, changing him in the car, while he cried. Really fun.

7. BYU lost. I don't even know what else to say about that.

8. We went to my brother's house to watch the game where family we hadn't seen in a while waiting to greet us. We tried putting Mama's Boy down for a nap and he SCREAMED bloody murder for over an hour solid. Big brother was throwing food and screaming at people. And I had to hear someone say... "I thought your mom said your kids were good? She said they never cry and now all they are doing is crying." You never want to hear that.

9. Our kids were being so horrible we had to leave my brother's early, I had to skip out on Midnight Madness shopping, and we decided to screw it, save everyone else, including ourselves the hassle, and get a Hotel for 6 nights. OUCH! We weren't expecting this one, but for our sanity, as well as others, its probably for the best. No shopping for me this trip.

10. When we finally got to the Hotel, we went to bath our kids and found a huge rash on Mikko's tummy and back. (My eyes roll). So he probably isn't feeling well... this should be fun. Good thing I brought the Tylenol. That's probably what finally knocked him out.

I have no idea how the rest of this trip will go. But so far, I'm in Hell. My poor children are so screwed up they are in Hell also. Traveling here, there and everywhere with one child is NO BIG DEAL! Two children has been quite a different story. Does this mean we are doomed from taking these trips for the next 15 years while our family grows? Is it just because they are so little? Whatever. We are FOR SURE driving home through the night. No more day trips. This is BY FAR the most frustrating day Tyhe Boss and I have had in 6 years of marriage.

Oh yes and that tops it off. Tomorrow is our 6-year anniversary. Happy Anniversary Honey!! I love you I love you I love you. Even in Hell.

A little behind the times

I don't know why it has taken me so long to do this, but The Boss finally bought me Twilight.

I started reading it last night at 6:30pm and finished today around 5:00pm. That's right. I read it in less than 24 hours.

I was going to see the movie on Wednesday. I think I'll be trying to go tomorrow or Monday.

Why has it taken me so long to discover what EVERYONE else around me already knew? That these books are impossible to put down. Seriously. Impossible. My poor children suffered.

And Edward Cullen. What can I say? I have a new love for Vampires.

I may have been a little behind the times on this one. But I think I'll catch up real fast!

(I also heard the movie is disappointing. But the movie is never as good as the book. That's why you always read the book first. Isn't that kinda a given? I still want to see the movie.)

Watch out! I got my Red Rider BB Gun

Last night for FHE we took the boys to the Bass Pro Shop. It was SOOOOOO fun! Everyone in our ward has been telling us how they went and took all their kids and how much they enjoyed it. I was thinking... seriously? Isn't it like a big fishing store? I hate fish. However, we went and had a BLAST! It was all decked out for Christmas (I love that the stores do that). We missed Santa Clause by a few minutes, but I don't think Big Brother knows who he is anyway. They had a little TV area where "The Christmas Story" was playing and the kids could sit on chairs or rugs to watch. They had a craft area for the kids to have fun with a little project. They had trains, elfs, snow (little pieces of garbage, that he enjoyed picking up and throwing), they had reindeer, presents, the works. Not only did they have cool Christmas stuff, they also had stuffed bears, wolves, ducks, etc..., waterfalls, fish, a little general store with candy and fudge (made right there for you). They have little shooting games too. The Boss and I played and I think he barely won. Ok... he won by A LOT! He tried to get Big brother to hold the gun and shoot. He wasn't quite interested. The boss now thinks he needs to get Big brother a Red Rider BB Gun for Christmas... I think he's a little young... he could barely hold it up.

(Excuse the quality of the photo. This is what happens when you forget your camera and have to use the crappy camera on your phone)

Damn sick!! (pardon the language)

Caution - I am very angry right now and since I have no one to vent to, except a couple of toddlers, I choose you, my dear blogging friends. Because I can hardly take it anymore. So if you don't want to hear me rant, or you don't agree with my rant... just pass on by and I am sure I will feel better tomorrow.

I am getting DAMN SICK of being treated like a bigot, intolerant, discriminative, prejudice, person who is trying to take peoples rights away. I have people getting fired in my community for donating to YES on 8, I have people protesting at my temple telling me I am prejudice and hateful, I have my favorite talk shows having people like Ellen DeGeneres on voicing why the YES on 8 people lied to get votes, and I have a freaking news story on every night about how the Mormons promote HATE, not LOVE, since they came together on YES on 8. I have a few points I would like to make:

1. Everyone SHOULD have the same rights. I personally believe that gay couples SHOULD have the same rights as a married couple. Just don't call it marriage. Marriage is between a man and a woman. You are husband and wife. A gay couple is different. They ARE NOT husband and wife. I'm not sure how they identify each other... partners maybe... But it is DIFFERENT. Just like a gay individual is not called a heterosexual. They are called a homosexual individual. There is no "second class citizen" about it. IT IS DIFFERENT!!!! If domestic partnership does not offer the same rights as a marriage, then go fight that! I don't have a problem with that. (I have no idea what the church supports). Visitation rights, inheritance rights, taxes, health care, etc... I think they should all be available for gay couples as well. But I do have a problem with changing the definition of the word marriage.

2. It's all the MORMONS! Why is the Mormon church the only group that is being held responsible for Prop 8 passing? Although it is nice to think that perhaps our time and energy could make that big of an impact. Credit should be made to all other sects and religious groups of people that donated lots of time, energy, and money, as well. Did you know that LDS people make up about 2.5% - 3% of California voters? That means even if all the LDS people decided not to vote, Prop 8 STILL WOULD HAVE PASSED!

3. The upper hand. I also love how "the Mormon church" donated "absurd" amounts of money. First of all, "the Mormon church" didn't donate ANY money. The members of the church made personal donations. And hello? And forgive me if these numbers are a little off, but I am pretty sure it was something like YES on 8 donated 29 million, NO on 8 had 40 million. Not only did No on 8 have 11 million more in donations, they had Hollywood all over the place, doing celebrity ads and endorsements. I think YOU had the upper hand, not us.

4. A double standard. Since when did having different moral beliefs become such a crime? Don't No on 8 supporters believe in ALL tolerance? Why then do I feel like I am being attacked for believing marriage should be between a man and a woman, to pro-create, which is a fundamental belief of my religion? I LOVE my gay friends. I have many. I do not want to hurt them, and I certainly don't think of them as "second class citizens", (which I am being accused of doing). I believe most YES on 8 supporters were very respectful. No one was yelling out words such as "sin" or "abomination". Supporters respectfully passed out fliers, donated money, made phone calls, held signs on the sides of streets. We did not picket outside a church where gay marriages are performed. We did not hold signs up and yell outside predominately gay neighborhoods or hangouts. But NO on 8 supporters have no problem calling ME names on signs and yelling and protesting outside MY temple. Can you imagine what the headlines would be if it were the other way around? Aaron has had people at work approach him about his views, (since they know he is LDS). They strike up a spirited discussion against his beliefs. Aaron would be FIRED in a second if he EVER brought up anything like that in the work place. I am not the one who is persecuting people for their beliefs. I AM the one being persecuted.

5. City Hall? Why are NO on 8 supporters protesting outside MY temple? There is nothing the LDS church can do now. Do they want the church to come out and say "Okay, your right, lets re-define the word marriage. All LDS people change their votes". Shouldn't you be protesting at the Capitol Building or City Hall Buildings? Just a thought.

Lastly, I just want to say I have no animosity for anyone individually. But can you understand my frustration? While NO on 8 supporters are trying to protect their supposed rights, they are stomping ALL OVER mine. Please don't hate me or call me names because I think marriage is ordained of God and that its purpose is to procreate and raise God's children. I do not hate you or call you names for your beliefs. We just disagree on this moral issue.

I have to think there is a better way to go about all this. And the way it is going right now... isn't working for ANYONE.

*Here is a link to the article regarding the Sacramento theater artistic director who had "resigned" a.k.a (pushed to resign before being fired)

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1387273.html#comments

Baby Bologna?

I know this may be disgusting, but lately I cannot get enough Bologna! I am not talking about all the BS I hear on CNN or KRON 4 News, I am talking about the fatty, salty, you-don't-want-to-know-whats-in-it meat. I have had a Bologna sandwich at least every other day for the past week. When I am pregnant I CRAVE Bologna sandwiches like CRAZY!!!! But I am not pregnant. Really. I can say with a surety I am not pregnant. So what does this mean? Is someone trying to tell me I should try to get pregnant? I know you all think I am crazy but after interpreting this the past few days, I feel like that's what the Bologna is trying to tell me. hmm...... I am going to have to think this one through. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!!

We had a fun and busy Halloween. Big Brother was our favorite college mascot... can you guess? COSMO! Mama's Boy was a little fireman. They were so cute! We went to a Halloween party with The Boss' family, carved pumpkins, went to the homecoming parade (totally lame) and finished things off at Grandma P's Halloween party. It may have sprinkled rain, but that didn't stop us! We had lots of fun and look forward to next year. Here are some pictures from our fun-filled Halloween celebration.

The Boys in their costumes!!

Carving Pumpkins. Mama's Boy liked chewing on the pumpkin scooper.

Trick or Treating!

Party time and TOO MUCH CANDY!!

Crash and Burn - Sugar high has run off!

The CUTEST boys in the WHOLE WORLD!!