A Fun Thanksgiving Weekend

Thursday:
-Shopping at Kmart (yes, I'm that crazy, I shop at Kmart on Thanksgiving)
-Yummy dinner at my Mom's...thanks Mom!
-Searching the ads for all the good deals that were happening on Friday
-Playing games with my family
-Very full tummy

Friday:
-Up at 4:30
-Standing in line at Walmart at 4:55 a.m., then on to Toys R Us, JcPenny, F.Y.E. (BTW...if going to Southcenter on Black Friday I suggest going at 6:30ish in the morning, busy but not CRAZY BUSY), back to Toys R Us (the line wasn't worth the wait the first time...or this time actually), Half Priced Books, Kohls (where I waited in line for 1 1/2 hours...seriously, I'm crazy!), back to Toys R Us (actually purchased things this time), then on to the final stop...Walgreens.
-Went to Snowflake Lane in Bellevue to see the Santa Parade and watch the "snow" fall from the buildings...so much fun. My girls are still talking about it
-started reading Goose Girl

Saturday:
-did random chores at home
-planned my Sharing Time
-finished reading Goose Girl (anyone have the book that follows it???)
-Went into Seattle to do some fun Christmasy stuff: looked at the Gingerbread houses (at the Sheraton), visited the Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmount, dinner at Johnny Rockets while we waited for the "snow" to fall at Pacific Place, and a ride on the Carousel at West Lake. So much fun!

Sunday:
-Sharing time planning
-Put up my Christmas decorations
-Church
-Decorated the Christmas trees (4 total....1 big, 3 little-girl-sized-ones)
-dinner at Steph's...thanks!
-Played "Hear Me Out" (I think that's what it was called) for the first time. Fun game.

I love holiday weekends!

New Kids on the Block

That's right....they're back! Tami and I had so much fun at their concert last night. (I'm pretty sure our moms had fun too, but we wouldn't know b/c they ditched us to find seats where they didn't have to stand up the whole time. :) I know my mom was rocking out, she had bought a CD recently to brush up on the words, so I'm sure she was doing pretty good singing along with the rest of us 30 year olds!)

Mom's in the sit-down-seats

The concert was full of 30 year olds and 16 year olds. I couldn't figure out why the 16 year olds were there, but once they started singing their new stuff, I realized they are fans of the 'new' New Kids. The rest of us were re-living our past. Man I loved those years. :)

We also saw Lady Ga Ga...she's a very spastic lady. Natasha Bedingfield (sp) was also there, she was pretty good. Tami and I decided Kimber and Hallie would have loved to see her. They both love a couple of her songs.

As you can see we were dressed up in New Kids style. Tami did it best though...the button, the shirt, the hair, as well as a jean jacket, jean skirt, and leggings. The only thing she was missing was a pair of Keds and some layered socks. We weren't the only ones "dressed up'. We saw lots of leg warmers, some neon, more buttons, and more old school shirts.

Tami's mom wanted to buy us a poster that we could put on our ceilings...we didn't think Konrad or Darin would go for that. :)

I keep wondering when my ears will stop ringing though. Man was it LOUD. The music. The singing. The SCREAMING. Jooooeeeeyyyy! Jooooorrrrrddddannn! Doooonnnnyyyy! (we didn't hear much for Danny or Jonathon, they still aren't getting any love! :( ) How fun!

So for all you who missed it, you should have went. We had a blast. It's amazing how all those words come back to you, even songs you haven't heard in almost 20 years...(WOW, I'm old. I can actually say I haven't heard something in 20 years!!!!! that's scary.

New Kids Rock!!!!!!!
Thanks for taking me, Mom!!!!!!!!!
Also a quick shout out to Tami... "You make all my dreams come true, oh oh oh o-oh, oh oh o-oh, oh oh oh o-oh THE RIGHT STUFF"!
(dreams fulfilled b/c Tami instigated it: Price is Right and New Kids on the Block, what's next???)

(click on Tami's name above to see NKOTB in action)

(thanks for letting me steal your pic's Tami!)

Can Every Saturday Be Like Today????

So I know I said a few Saturday's that I had had a good day. Well I think today tops it!

I got to play volleyball this morning (unfortunately we lost, so we are done for the season) but it was a great game...meaning we didn't get slaughtered! :)

Konrad and I went with the Baumgartners to see Twilight this afternoon. I thought it was pretty good. Tami said it best..."Can't we just sit here for another 3 hours and see all 4 books???", I would've preferred that as well. Guess we have a few years until that happens!

My day will end with me decked out in a Jordan Knight pin and with crimped hair....yep you guessed it. New Kids are in town and I CAN'T WAIT! Tami and I have been waiting for this for months. I didn't snag a cool Step By Step shirt like she did, but we can't all be so lucky! We've been blasting New Kids at our house all day. The girls love it...even Konrad admitted he owned the Hangin' Tough cassette back in the day.

I love Saturdays!

Family Pictures

The whole fam:

My family:
Kimber and Konrad (this was the day she got baptized so they took a few pictures together)

All 3 girls:

Kimber:

Alli:

Sam:

The cousins (notice Alli - we wouldn't let her hold Natalie (whom Kimber is holding))
Aunt Michelle gave in...now she's all smiles

Once a cheerleader ALWAYS a cheerleader!

*pictures by Jason and Courtney Teeples

What Do You Think????

So Konrad and I were having a discussion during lunch today about the fact that we won't be having any more children. He was with some friends the other night that were surprised by the fact that we weren't going to have another child. The friends "warned" Konrad that we were going to be those people that had a baby when our youngest was in high school...Konrad said that made him a tad nervous.

Today he said maybe it would be better if he had a little surgery done. Following that comment he said "But that would be so permanent, what if you die and I get remarried and want to have a baby with my new wife?" Notice he didn't say "What if WE change our minds and want another baby...he's basing this decision on the fact that I may die, he'll marry some 25 year old and have kids with her! Seriously?????

So my question is...does anyone else think like that? Make big decisions based on whether your spouse dies or not? I can't help but laugh while typing this, it was the most random/odd conversation. I told him no one else thinks that way. So if you do/don't let us know!

P.S. I'm not saying Konrad would really ever have the surgery done. I agree that it is too permanent. The purpose for this blog is just to see if anyone else would base a decision on the possibility of a spouse dying. Not to discuss the pros/cons of permanent birth control. Also, I'm not saying I wouldn't want him to remarry, etc. I just thought it was a weird way to think.

Konrad's 6 Quirks

1. Though generally not a fastidious person, I am very particular about how my shirts are hung in my closet. I like all of the t-shirts and long-sleeve shirts grouped together and I can't stand wire hangers - they have to be plastic. The wire ones get all tangled up and they are noisy when they clank on each other. I've only had this quirk for about a year and Ashlee loves to put my shirts in the wrong place so that I have to rearrange them. And when I complain about it I end up having to do the laundry myself so I've learned to keep my mouth shut and just rearrange once a week.

2. If there is a pen nearby it will find its way to my fingers so that I can spin it.

3. I can't stand it when electricity is being wasted. This is also a recent quirk that I acquired about a year ago. I am constantly turning off lights that don't need to be on (do you really need to see anything when you are showering?), if you visit our house in the evening you can expect to walk up to a dark house unless we know you are coming and we remember to turn on the outside light for you, computers are set to hibernate after 10 minutes (did you know that leaving your computer on all the time is the equivalent of leaving a 60-watt light bulb on 24/7?) and you may notice that half of the bulbs in the bathroom over the mirrors are not lit up - its not because they burnt out, its because I unscrewed them - who needs 6 40-watt bulbs to see what they look like in the mirror? Ashlee is a very good sport about it for the most part, one thing we can't agree on is the fan in Alli's room which Ashlee likes to turn on for white noise so that she sleeps better and longer. A worthy goal, but is it really worth the extra 215,350 watt-hours per year that it consumes (I'm not making that number up, by the way - I researched it thoroughly)? We could play a CD of fan noise instead, and it would consume 1/30 of the energy! Let me know if you'd like to borrow my Kill-A-Watt meter, which measures how much energy your appliances use.

4. This is really probably the same as the last one, but I also don't like wasting hot water. I rinse dishes and wash my hands in cold water and we run the dishwasher on the short cycle which not only saves water but cuts out the heat dry so it drastically reduces electricity used. If you just crack the dishwasher open after its done, the dishes will be just as dry in the morning. The short cycle only takes 31 minutes instead of 81. When washing your hands, often even if you turn on the hot water it doesn't have time to warm up as it moves through the pipes before you're done so you are draining water from the hot water tank which needs to be reheated, but you are getting cold water anyway. Might as well just use cold water and not waste the hot water!

5. I always play with my rings - I can't just leave them on my fingers (plural because I have a Japanese CTR ring as well as a wedding band). I often drop them when I am playing with them but have never lost them - though I always worry that I will... but not enough to stop playing with them.

6. I can't go number 2 without having something to read.

Thankful Wednesday - just to be different -

(Crystal...just so you know I thought of doing this BEFORE I read you blog...I'm not a poser! (wow, it's been a long time since I've used that word))
I am thankful for:

Mornings when Alli sleeps until after 8 AND doesn't wake up crying. Isn't she too old to be crying when she wakes up? Seriously, it drives me crazy.

Preschool. I really love my job!

A husband who flew all the way to Texas and once he landed found out his appointment canceled for tomorrow, so he jumped on the next flight home and will be home tonight instead of tomorrow. And instead of being frustrated at the situation, like I would have been, he just said "that means when I reschedule in a few weeks, and fly back down, I'll have enough miles to make MVP Gold" (for those of you who don't know, Konrad is obsessed with credit card points and frequent flier miles...but hey that's why we get to go on all our vacations!)

My great desk I got yesterday at St. Vincents for $10!!!! Love it!

That we have extended family living near by. I don't think we'd survive if we didn't.

That I still get to play volleyball...hopefully I'll be thankful tomorrow that we win!

That I get to go to NKOTB (you guys all know what that means, right???) in 1 week and 3 days! My BIG Jordan pin is on it's way to my house. Thank you eBay! Yes I'm a dork, but I don't care.

Primary. I love my calling. I just need to figure out how to be better at it. I am thankful for the training we had last night and the inspiring messages we heard.

Days when it POURS down rain. I prefer the crazy rain to the sprinkling kind for some reason. All though if it was just sprinkling today I could have went on a walk...

My girls. Sure they drive me crazy at times, but those times are getting further apart.

Why Grandpa's Make the BEST Babysitter's

1. They can drive to your house.
2. They bring popcorn, cinnamon rolls, and hot chocolate
3. They let them play all the silly made up games they can think of (something about shoes in the middle of the circle, if yours gets picked you have to run around the circle singing a song. I think Kimber might play something like it at school).
4. They are free :)
5. The kids get so excited to have them over that they don't even think about you leaving (not that my kids normally care when I leave. Alli has been freaking out lately though, EVERYTIME, I leave...even when Konrad's here, so it was nice to walk out of the house and have her perfectly content!)

Thanks Grandpa Crabtree!

A Great Day

I started off my day by drinking my favorite cup of hot chocolate (white hot chocolate with peppermint in it) down at Kent Station.

Following the hot chocolate the girls and I went and saw HSM 3 with some friends. The movie was great. I highly recommend it. Definitely better than number 2. A contender for being better than number 1.

I then dropped off Kimber and Sam at a friends house. Came home and put Alli, Jack, and Jordan down for naps.

After picking up downstairs I grabbed Kimber's new Nintendo DS and made myself smarter (Brainage) while watching Iron Chef of America.

Tonight I get to go to House Party with Tami. (any ideas on what to wear whilst jammin to Sugar Hill Gang, Tone-Loc, Kardinal Offishall, and Nelly????).

Could it get any better???? :)

Six Quirks

I was tagged and now I have to list 6 quirks about me.

1. I can not stand to have more than 3 or 4 emails in my inbox (actually having one drives me crazy, but doesn't lead to stress). I read each email as it comes in, answer it, then archive or delete it. I feel major stress if I have any "undone" business sitting in there. I really love a completely empty inbox...not meaning I don't love getting emails, but I love knowing I've taken care of anything. So, if you've emailed me and didn't hear back with in a couple hours I'm either on vacation or I didn't get your email. :)

2. The top rack of my dishwasher needs to be loaded just right or it drives me crazy (certain bowls in certain places mainly). I don't really mind if some random person puts them in wrong (like a sister or a friend) but it drives me crazy that Konrad doesn't know where things go! Seriously, it like that 95% of the time, is it that hard to remember? The bottom rack isn't as important, but I do like all my plates to face the same direction.

3. My morning routine very very very rarely changes. Get up, go to the bathroom, turn on shower, brush teeth, take medicine, shower, put in contacts, get dressed, put on mascara, read scriptures, read email, get girls up and dressed and hair done, then we make our way downstairs to eat. I/we never eat before all of that is done. If on vacation and staying with someone else, I never make an appearance until I'm showered. Not that I'm embarrassed by how I look, but I can't start my day until I'm clean :)

4. I eat Reese's Peanut Butter cups a certain way....first ALL the chocolate, leaving the yummy peanut butter for afterwards. Same with Hostess cupcakes, which I prefer frozen (thanks gpa Carlson for teaching us that trick), eat all the frosting off then you can eat the cake part. Neither of those treats taste the same if I just open it up and take a normal bite...it's just not as yummy.

5. I absolutely cannot touch a mattress without a sheet on it. The thought makes me cringe.

6. When I got out to eat I have regular menu items that I get pretty much EVERY TIME AND EVERYWHERE. Wendy's: Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger; Taco del Mar/Q'doba/Chipotle/Cafe Rio: bean burrito with rice and salsa and hot sauce; McDonalds: Grilled ranch snack wrap and a yogurt parfait; Red Robin: now it's the spicy chicken sandwich...used to be the Caesar wrap; Applebee's: fajita chicken roll up; Cheesecake factory: Tex Mex Egg rolls; Panda Express: orange chicken and chowmein; California Pizza Kitchen: Chipotle pizza (or whatever it's called); ColdStone: cake batter ice cream with Oreos; Thai Chef: the Palace Special...just to name a few. It takes a lot of courage for me to try something new. I mean, what if I try something new and it's not as good as my "normal"? What a waste of money and a waste of the possibility of good food. I've been dying to try Wendy's new chicken sandwiches they have...have I been able to do it? No! I'm going there tomorrow, maybe tomorrow will be the day! :)

There you go...all (okay just some of) the weird facts about me!
I tag my sisters (Steph, Shell, Tiff, Macie, and Britt), Carrie, Ashley S., Wendy D., Crystal, and Konrad.

8 is Great!

Yesterday was a special day for us. Kimberlynn was baptized and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It was a fun day full of family and friends.

We started the morning by doing family pictures with my family. I can't wait to see the pictures Jason and Cortney! Thanks for dealing with all of us! :)

Kimber's baptism wasn't until 4 so we came home and got the house ready for the "after party".

For journaling purposes here is a list of who attended:

Gma and Gpa Riding, Gma and Gpa Crabtree, great-gma Crabtree, the Boice's, Dance's, Kenyon's, Hicks', Mattson's, Schonlau's, Liechty's, Meldrum's, Stave's, and Dixon's. I really hope I didn't miss anyone!

It was a very spiritual baptism. I of course cried every time we sang a song. Kimber was so excited to be baptized, she's been waiting for years. We had two great talks by Darcy and Gma Crabtree. Both used great visuals that really explained the purpose of baptism and how wonderful the gift of the Holy Ghost is. Thank you both for making this day for Kimber perfect!

I think my favorite part of the day, other than seeing her make a really great decision, was the look on her face as she walked towards the font. I opened the door for her and she took a deep breath and said "okay". I could tell she was a little nervous but was trying so hard to be brave about it. Afterwards she looked at me and said "I did it Mom!".

In Konrad's family, they would ask a grandpa to do the confirmation. So he encouraged Kimber to ask one of her grandpas to do it. She asked my Dad, and he did a great job. It was something special that I think both of them will remember.

It's a great thing to see your child taking a step in the right direction. I'm so grateful to know that she was ready and willing to make the promises she did to her Heavenly Father. It also eases some of the worry I have of her growing up and facing a crazy world. I know she has the Holy Ghost now and that she will be watched over and have the guidance she'll need.

a little photo shoot before the Baptism started

I'm pretty bummed that we didn't take any other pictures. I wish I would have gotten one with her and each of the grandparents and with all her friends that came. Next time I'm getting a photographer :)

We had a bunch of people over for dinner afterwards. Here are most the kids (this is when preschool tables really come in handy!)

(Tiff...Kimber is wearing the dress you gave her. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it. I meant to take a picture of it so we can show everyone how cut it is. I'll try and remember next time she wears it!)

We did learn two lessons on her baptism day, two things that will be useful later on down the road. First, whomever is performing the baptism needs to pull the plug before exiting the water so the font can drain...but hanger's hooked together will work if needed. Secondly, but maybe this should really be the first thing to learn: make sure there isn't another baptism scheduled for that day. Because if you let the water out...it takes a LONG time to fill back up! Oops. I have never felt so bad!!!!! We typically have the last time slot, but I guess someone scheduled a later one. The Bishopric member in charge of Kimber's baptism didn't know about it, so we drained the font and rearranged the chairs. So, so, so, so sorry!

Halloween --better late then never!

I know, we're a little slow, but we've had a very busy few days!

Alli and I had our preschool Halloween Party on Thursday. The kids actually got to dress up and seemed to have a great time. About 1/2 the moms came in as well, it was nice to have so many extra hands!

Friday, both Kimber and Sam had "Harvest" parties...no dressing up allowed. They did go in "halloween colors" though.

before the girls caught the bus

Alli and I both went to Sam's class in the morning and then just Sam and I went to Kimber's in the afternoon. For Kimber's class we brought "poisen apples". I sliced up some apples, poked a hole in them and slid a gummy worm through the hole. Placed the apple and worm combo in a cupcake liner and topped it off with some carmel...the kids seemed to enjoy them. I should have taken an picture....what a bad blogger!


Halloween night we met up with my sister Michelle and her family and my mom at a new pizza place in Auburn, that someone Konrad knows recently opened (actually the grand opening was on Halloween). It was pretty good.


Then we headed back to our house for the trick-or-treating. We started out in a pretty big group, consisting of Kimber, Sam, Alli, Aleigha, Lauren, and Makenna (notice no boys, that just seems to be how we roll). Richard (my bro-in-law) and I ended up heading back earlier with Alli and Kenna...their little legs were a little slower than the big girls. They all came home with pumpkins bursting with candy. I think they've each had like 5 pieces...I think the candy will be along for quite awhile. My kids enjoy their candy, but they don't ask for in non-stop. They will typically have one piece after lunch and one piece after dinner. Of course, I will gain 5 pounds b/c I'll eat it after they go to bed. :)

Alli the "mariposa"

Kimber the witch dancer...whatever that means :)

Sam the super-hero angel (she kept posing like this...)

All 3 cute girls

Makenna the skunk...soooo cute!

Grandpa Clay and Alli the pumpkins

Halloween was different this year. We didn't carve pumpkins until Thursday night and we didn't do it as a "family". Konrad, Sam, and Alli started while I took Kimber to get her haircut. When we got home, Sam and Alli went to bed and Konrad started on Kimber's. None of the girls saw Konrad actually carving the pumpkins, they just saw the finished product in the morning. Then on real Halloween we didn't do any make-up or anything...nothing fancy with their hair, just put on costumes and out they went. Plus b/c Konrad and I were in Hawaii we missed the church party, so we only did one dress up event with the girls.

The pumpkins. Alli's is the teeny one, the skeleton pirate is Sam's, and the witch lady is Kimbers, the other two on the ends are the ones we made at preschool. Thanks Grandpa Crabtree for all the pumpkins!

Kimber got a hair cut...