i totally forgot to post pics of my toothless olivia! i will try to remember over the weekend--shes so cute!

i'm working today..but then off till next year! hehe. i know, so cheesy, but i couldnt help it! and since its almost the new year, that means my mom's birthday is tomorrow! i just can't believe that she's been gone for an entire year..this year just seemed to fly by some days, and other days not so much.

I have a few pics to share of some altered barn stars i did as xmas gifts--got the idea from sande krieger over at 2ps. they were so fun to make and they came out so dang cute! I also did a matching frame for one of them.

ooh and there was this fun life list on the pub--also in honor of the new year--so I'm supposed to highlight all the things i've done, kinda fun

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink

2. Swam with wild dolphins

3. Climbed a mountain

4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

5. Been inside the Great Pyramid

6. Held a tarantula

7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

8. Said “I love you’ and meant it

9. Hugged a tree

10. Bungee jumped

11. Visited Paris

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea

13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise

14. Seen the Northern Lights

15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

18. Touched an iceberg

19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby’s diaper

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower

23. Gotten drunk on champagne

24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight

28. Bet on a winning horse

29. Asked out a stranger

30. Had a snowball fight

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb

33. Seen a total eclipse

34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run

36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

39. Had two hard drives for your computer

40. Visited all 50 states

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk

42. Had amazing friends

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country

44. Watched wild whales

45. Stolen a sign

46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip

48. Gone rock climbing

49. Midnight walk on the beach

50. Gone sky diving

51. Visited Ireland

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them

54. Visited Japan

55. Milked a cow

56. Alphabetized your CDs

57. Pretended to be a superhero

58. Sung karaoke

59. Lounged around in bed all day

60. Posed nude in front of strangers

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud

64. Played in the rain

65. Gone to a drive-in theater

66. Visited the Great Wall of China

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites

70. Taken a martial arts class

71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight

72. Gotten married

73. Been in a movie

74. Crashed a party

75. Gotten divorced

76. Gone without food for 5 days

77. Made cookies from scratch

78. Won first prize in a costume contest

79. Ridden a gondola in Venice

80. Gotten a tattoo

81. Rafted the Snake River

82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”

83. Got flowers for no reason

84. Performed on stage

85. Been to Las Vegas

86. Recorded music

87. Eaten shark

88. Had a one-night stand

89. Gone to Thailand

90. Bought a house

91. Been in a combat zone

92. Buried one/both of your parents

93. Been on a cruise ship

94. Spoken more than one language fluently

95. Performed in Rocky Horror

96. Raised children (or…raising children)

97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour

98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country

100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over

101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking

103. Had plastic surgery

104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived

105. Wrote articles for a large publication

106. Lost over 100 pounds (cumulatively, if you count pregnancy! lol!)

107. Held someone while they were having a flashback

108. Piloted an airplane

109. Petted a stingray

110. Broken someone’s heart

111. Helped an animal give birth

112. Won money on a T.V. game show

113. Broken a bone

114. Gone on an African photo safari

115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol

117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild

118. Ridden a horse

119. Had major surgery

120. Had a snake as a pet

121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours

123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states

124. Visited all 7 continents

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

126. Eaten kangaroo meat

127. Eaten sushi

128. Had your picture in the newspaper

129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about

130. Gone back to school

131. Parasailed

132. Petted a cockroach

133. Eaten fried green tomatoes ... yum!

134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey

135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read 136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

137. Skipped all your school reunions

138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

139. Been elected to public office

140. Written your own computer language

141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care

143. Built your own PC from parts

144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you

145. Had a booth at a street fair

146. Dyed your hair

147. Been a DJ

148. Shaved your head

149. Caused a car accident

150. Saved someone’s life

phew! that was long! if i dont post again before new years--be safe! have mucho fun!

thats gotta be a record!

olivia just lost her very first baby tooth yesterday! i was so surprised..she's been talking about wanting to have a loose tooth for about a month now, but i had reassured her (and myself, mostly) that it would be quite sometime before that happened.

well i was wrong! lol. she came up to me the day before yesterday and told me that she had a loose tooth, and i'm like no you dont! lol, then i checked, and it was!! i was so surprised. and then i was super sad. plus it kinda freaks me out to see and feel.

so last night she was watching art playing on the ps2, and she told him that her tooth fell out...and there it was, sitting on her tongue! thats gotta be a record! i mean, it took one stinkin day for it to come loose and then fall out! i remember being a kid and it seemed to take ages for my teeth to get super loose, and i dont remember them ever falling out on their own...mine always had to have a string tied to a doorknob. or maybe that was just my impatience to get the darn things out lmao.

anyways, olivia's smile is now one less tooth, and she is now one dollar richer thanks to the toothfairy!

i'll post some pics i took of her later!

ps::
hope everyones holiday were great...we are still trying to recover!

hello? anyone out there?!

its been ages since i updated!!

been kinda busy around here with maya's birthday, dt deadlines, and of course xmas. not that you could tell that its xmas by looking at my house. we dont even have our tree up yet!!

yup. gotta do that sometime this week. eventually. lol

thought that i'd do this little quiz thinger to get me in the xmas

spirit::

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper

2. Real tree or artificial? artificial, even tho i desperately love real ones

3. When do you put up the tree? um..usually the first week of december, but not this year, obviously!
4. When do you take the tree down? typically right after new years..but once my roommates and i left it up till about april!! it was just too pretty to take down lol
5. Do you like eggnog? no. I LOVE IT!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? that would my lite brite!
7. Do you have a nativity scene? yes 2

8. Hardest person to buy for? everyone

9. Easiest person to buy for? umm..me?

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? is there such a thig?
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? a christmas story

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? usually the week before..i'm a procrastinator and a power shopper!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? heck yes!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? tamales..yum yum!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? clear
17. Favorite Christmas song? i really like traditonal xmas music...but i love love love 'all i want for xmas is you' by mariah carey! i know. pathetic!
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay at home, but make the rounds to grandma's in-town
19. Can you name all of Santa's Reindeer? Dasher, Dancer,Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Doner, and Blitzen and Rudolph
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? both! we do midnight mass, then head to the il's for tamales and to open presents with the extended families..then xmas morning (which is actually xmas afternoon) we open gifts at home before heading to more il's!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? not having as much money as i want to spend on everyone!! but this year the most annoying is that my mom is not going to be here with me :(

that was kinda fun. and now i want to jam to some mariah! hehe.

here are some lo's i have to share! :D

did this for the fancypants call

another for fancypants

and this was for the wrmk call

this ones for my mama

so i just got off the phone with my mama..had a good ole time just laughin our butts off. i miss those convos. too bad we can't have them

in person. seriously tho mom..you need to move back here cuz i'm here and so are my offspring. which are youre offspring. and we aint movin to south dakota. nuff said. :)

i told my mama to come here and check out this lo i did today..its a pretty simple one..but the journaling came about because of what i wrote in her thanksgiving day card. and yes. i just barely mailed her her thanksgiving card. i'm el procrastinator majorus. hehe.

so here's what the journaling says::
i was thinking the other day that i didnt have a lot to be thankful for. ..my mom doesnt live near us, we are still struggling financially with no end in sight.. i question myself as a mother daily. but the truth is..i'm lucky. i'm lucky to have a mom who followed her heart. i'm blessed to have a husband who busts his butt everyday so we can have everything we need. we are lucky to have good friends. and i'm lucky that my kids want to tell me stories.

basically..i just realized that it doesnt matter if i live in a ginormous house(and really, do i want to? cuz i hate cleaning) and it doesnt matter if we have the biggest tv..or the newest car. what matters is family. and friends that are like family. i just realized a couple months ago that i'm all alone in this big state of utah. my mom moved to be with her one true love last year and i've been sitting here moping about. not that i begrudge her happiness. i dont. but i'm a selfish person. and i want her all to myself. i'm not ashamed to admit that. it just took me a year to realize that she's not dead, she's just in california! lmao. seriously tho. i'm thankful that she was brave and moved to be with the one she loved. and i just wanted her to know that. and i hope that one day my kids will follow her example.

love ya mucho mama.