Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick TOCK!!!

So I went and got myself a holiday retail job at Coach. I am officially a working mother. This forces me to use every minute wisely...The clock is definately ticking. So I am just wondering how everyone else is doing. I feel like I'm losing my mind sometimes...Are there really enough hours in the day to be an employee, a couponer, a laundress, a cook, a shopper, a visiting teacher and still pay bills, return emails, post something clever on Facebook AND blogspot, buy presents for upcoming babyshowers, go to pilates, get roots dyed, spend time with husband and son, call Mom, call Mom-in-Law, check on Dad, read scriptures, say prayers, go on date night, attend temple, do Christmas shopping...get family outfitted in matching getups so we can take pictures for Christmas cards and then mail out Christmas cards? I just dunno. It's like Brittany's muffin-top... (See Nor's blog) Is it worth fighting what you know will eventually overtake you??

Harrison picks up the slack...


















No time for matchy-matchy....and notice how Harrison rarely makes it out of jammies these days...

















What the kids are doing while I'm busy...

COUPON CLASS!!

Okay girls. We are having a coupon class this Thursday November 20th at 6:30 pm. It will be at my house, so spread the word. Yesterday I saved $85!!! My highest savings yet. Colette's sister Lisa is going to teach us how to do even better, especially if you shop at Albertson's, Smith's and CVS. Call me or email me if you want to come!

Up and Running

So thanks to our good friend William Spencer Taylor, Pat got the flatscreen mounted on the wall. It looks awesome. They anchored it into a 2x4 and everything, which you can't even see. Then last week my cute do-it-yourself husband went a step further and snaked the cables and cords THROUGH the wall. I am so proud of him and impressed because it looks really good. He's crafty. And tidy. Too bad these are the only things I get to watch on TV.

Hot or Not

So I've spent the last three weeks learning about "couponing". It's not sexy. However. I saved $69 at Albertson's last night and that's hot. Let me repeat that...I spent $54 and saved $69. I saved MORE than I spent. That's super hot. Clipping coupons, scanning internet run downs of sales, calling the RJ everytime they forget to deliver BOTH your sunday papers so you can do the couponing thing, not hot. But having free unexpected money that you don't have to account for to your husband because it would have been spent on groceries anyway? That's the mom-bomb, baby. The mom-bomb.

So do you want to know how I do it? I will tell you. Actually, come to my house, let's have Collete teach us a class. She does this for a living and she figured out that she makes more than her husband if you factor in her commisions for selling so many Review Journals with the money she saves. (!) We don't have to sell papers, btw, that's her perk. We just order a paper and the rest is free. I've already saved more in 3 weeks than I would spend on the paper even if I had ordered it for 3 years. And I got a 68 pack of Pampers for FOUR DOLLARS. Call me if you want to do this too. I can't believe I haven't been doing it all my life b/c it really does work and once you get it, it only takes a half hour to save that much. The website figures it all out for you. So even if the idea of coupons is not hot, having extra money for mani-pedi's and good haircuts is. Yeah. Also, for the record, this has nothing whatsoever to do with pyramid schemes or sales. Anyone can do it for absolutely free and you don't have to give grocerysmarts.com anything. They don't even send you spam email. It's amazing.

Here's an unrelated pic of Harrison getting caught trying to sneak out with the car. Caught red handed. It's a good thing he doesn't know how to get the keys in the ignition. ;)

Free Money at H&M!

Ain't nothin' like an anniversary sale. That's how I got my $295 Diesel jeans for $50 on October 10th during their "Dirty 30" Anni sale. It was so worth the hour Michelle and I spent in line to get in the store. Pat got a pair too. A friend told us certain sizes are sold out world wide and are going for like $500 on eBay. I don't care. I'm keeping mine.

So here's another one for ya. H&M is having a promotion this FRIDAY NOV. 7th! The first 300 people through the door that spend at least $50 (easy to do at H&M) get a mystery gift card...the value of which could be $10, $25, $50 or $100. You must redeem said giftcard at our H&M in Town Square the following weekend, Nov. 14-15, and that's when you find out how much you've won. I just called H&M and this is what the girl on the phone told me. She also said we should be sneaky and put like 100 business cards each into the drawing box because they are having one and they send the box to New York and no one would ever know and the winner of that drawing gets a $500 gift card. I talk in run-on sentences when free clothes are involved. She also said there is no per person limit on gift cards...so if you feel like spending $150 on Friday, you can get 3, one for each $50 spent.

Kapeesh? Our friend the H&M worker also said the promotion runs through Saturday, but I am quite certain that 300 people will spend at least $50 really quickly on Friday, so let's get there early. I'm leaving Harrison with Pat and eating breakfast there! Call me if you want to drive together/meet up/etc!!

PS...I am not sure if all H&Ms are doing this, or if it's just a Vegas thing. Call your local store!

Trunk or Treat

Our little Halloween Bat!

He was more interested in running around the building than getting candy. That's because he doesn't know about sugar. We're afraid of what will happen when he finds out.

Like It's His Job...

Harrison has fun all day long. I love this child!

The Occasional Domestic

Every now and then, I want more than Mac n'Cheese for dinner, so I'll drag myself to the grocery store. I like Albertson's and Whole Foods. They have ambiance, but they're too expensive, so those trips are few and far between. Plus I don't like asking the difference between a scallion and a chive. Embarrassing. So then I drag myself home, unload, chop, and cook. It's a lot of work. No wonder it doesn't happen every night. But this past Tuesday, we were watching the biggest loser and I was inspired by Rocco DeSpirito (sp?) to try and make that night's winning dish. It was called Tiny Turkey Meatball Soup. The girl who made it won free groceries for a year. How nice would that be? Anyway, here I am trying to be a good wife who cooks. It came out OK. I say nix the Turkey and sub Beef, and lose the crushed red pepper. Also, does anybody know what broccoli rabe is?

But check out my cute apron! I won it at Bunco a few months ago when Megan hosted! It's from Anthropologie and I loooove it.

Indian Summer

It's September in Vegas. Summer is just starting. Our seasons go like this...Winter, Spring, Inferno, Summer, Fall. So now that the weather is beautiful and finally between 89-93, I can start my real summer.

This weekend was great. I saw The Women with my neighbor Krista and friends, went to a pool party, bleached my entire master bathroom, made some money AND promptly blew it during my secret midnight shopping excursion at Ceaser's Forum Shops. (I'll blog about that next time when I have pics.)

Lindsay's Pool Party was super fun. (Say that in your head like Elle in Legally Blonde). 'Cause it was. I'm so glad she did it. Her parents have a beautiful home. One day, when I'm a real adult, I hope my landscaping is that nice. The kids loved to play and swim and I loved to eat and hang out and chat.

Oh! Lots of my California friends don't know my Vegas friends. Time y'all met. I'm lucky to have such fun girls in my own ward. This is cute pregnant Megan, Mom of Jackson and Lincoln and baby yet to arrive and be named. Because of her, we always have yummy desserts and an honest opinion at our events.











Below, next to Megan is Kylie, my wonderful sweet neighbor and Mom of Hadley, both of whom I will miss terribly when they move over to Megan's 'hood next week. Next to Kylie is Michelle, Connor and Chase's Mom and avid reader who introduced us all to the Twilight series. Next to Michelle is Nancee, baby Seth's Mom and my favorite friend to personal shop for because she is open-minded to my stylizing ideas and generally laid back and agreeable. Lindsay is not in this pic b/c she was still in her bathing suit, and I promised not to post nakie nakie pictures of anybody. But she is Nate's Mom and an awesome planner and photographer. Thanks for having us, Linds!

This pic is the boys growling back at Wes "the Bear" that was jumping out of the pool and grrrrring at them. Look at cute lil' Nate's face. He's having fun.














Below are pics of Harrison the flip flop bandit and Hadley, who had her pick of seven of our boys at the party. It's fun to be the only girl! Thanks for a great weekend, everyone!

Who's Your Daddy?

OK, check out the matching profiles of father and son. I took this picture of Pat and Harrison on the Disneyland Express. That's what they call the train, right? Anyway, I guess somebody wants to look like his Pop from the neck up! Lucky Dad's a looker!

HEYMICKEYUSOFINE,USOFINEUBLOWMYMINDHEYMICKEY!!

Did you know that Disneyland has a parking structure now? Yeah. Cuz I didn't. WOW! This is what it looks like. Walkways and everything: (OK, the picture is way down the page. I can't get them in order. Sorry!)




Thanks to Judy, we were able to take Harrison to Disneyland for the first time. How lucky are we to have friends that can get us in for free? SUPER lucky! Judy has a client and friend that works for Disney. He told us what time to be at the gate and he met us there and let us in, and gave us a pass for California Adventure too. It was the coolest thing to happen to me in a long time, to have the red velvet rope parted so to speak. Harrison loved it. We spent a lot of time at California Adventure because there's more fountains to run through. I went on Soarin' Over California for the first time by myself with the family pass or whatever they call that...single rider deal? And anyway, I totally cried. Feel free to laugh, but I did. I recognized every place we "flew" over and it brought tears to my eyes because it made me feel such pride for my beautiful home state. The lady sitting next to me thought I was really afraid of heights.

Going to Disneyland and seeing the same things that thrilled you when you were five is awesome. It's like a cycle of life thing to be able to share a wonderful experience that is exactly the same with your own children. Some things have changed, and I'm OK with that. See parking structure note above. And adding Johnny Depp to anything is always an acceptable change.

Harrison had so much fun. We definitely wore him out because this is the first time he has ever slept in his stroller. Thank goodness he did...we were at both parks from 9am to 5pm. That's a long day for a lil' Fuzz man. Anyway, here are some pics. It was hard to get everyone to stop and let me take them. I don't need to tell you where each one is, you probably have the same photos with your kids in your album!

Thank you so so much for taking us Judy! And tell Darrell he's the man!

A New 'Do

(Although you can't see it, my eyeshadow matches Fuzzy's shirt in this picture. I am inspired by Paige to match my family whenever possible.)

OK. So this post is for Nor, because a) she makes up about 50% of my readership and, b) she won't read any other posts until I address the fact that I loped off all my hair. So. You never know how people will react when you really change your hair. It's funny how varied the responses are. I've gotten everything from people not noticing at all, to a new mom saying, "Oh, I'm not going to give in to 'Mom Hair'-I'll never go shorter than shoulder length (Her baby's only a few months old. I say, just wait, sista. Just wait.) to "that really suits you," which is my favorite response. Thank you, Mitzi and Kiley. You made me feel good. Incidentally, shorter hair does too.

Here we all are at Lucille's eating BBQ last night. Man food is finger lickin' good!


Please notice the huge fork in the babies hand that Dad is letting him use. Makes my heart jump and my left eyeball twitch just lookin' at that pic.

Burrrrrbank!

Funny thing, going home. The absence allows you to see the good and bad about a place you might have been more forgiving of while you actually lived there. Our time in Burbank last month was great. I loved being able to take long walks with Mom and Harrison every morning, eating Mom's food, being able to walk just two blocks to the movie-theatre/shopping district/farmer's market and having a built in babysitter. Aw. Can't beat it. But Burbank is getting, well dare I say it? Dirty. Did my LA pride keep me from seeing it before? Come on people! Pick up your trash! And quit driving, yo! It's getting smoggy! You can walk. Everything you need is literally four blocks away. Take pride in the Burbs! It's a great place and my hometown! Maybe I'm just spoiled by the immaculate neighborhoods in Vegas. Anyway, here's some photos of beautiful places near or in where I grew up, sans dirt.

Here's Harrison at the Huntington Library Children's Garden in San Marino. The fountains were his favorite.





Here we are with Grammama Alice at the Chinese Garden:




































Below are pics at Brand Park. In the middle of a really big patch of grass.


And another at the Circle In The Square (interactive) Gallery show, at Brand Park Library. Harrison is only safe around art he can touch.

Viva Burbank!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Eating Cake. Actually, the first time we've ever let him eat cake. Now you know why he's smiling!




Thanks, Albertson's!


Harrison got to party like a rock star on his 1st birthday. Thanks so much to all our friends and family for making his day, and mine. Kylie, Hadley, Brittany, Jake, Whitney, Sam, Heather, Adam, Everett, Aaron, Claudine, Grandma Gail, Grandpa Bob, Great Grandma, Ani, Jordan, Jensen, Ethan and Camden. We love you guys and we hope you had as much fun as Harrison did. Thanks for coming over!







This is a fantastic age. They're thrilled with cake and balloons and some friends to share them with. Ahhh, but I see a bounce-house in my future.

By the way, this is what Harrison wanted for his birthday...
















And this is what he got...

But nothin' beats fridge magnets and Hadley!

Hot, Hot, Hot

We live in the desert. It's hot. Sometimes you feel like a prisoner to your air conditioning. We often have to find fun things to do inside. Here are some samples...
Take baths...














Go for drives in an air conditioned car...





Wrestle with Dad in the air conditioned den...





Have friends over to play like Jaxon!










Help Mom with the chores...






Eat...





And wait for someone to take you swimming. In a real pool!