On Wednesday, we were asked by my sister Amy to babysit (overnight) Eliza and Porter while they went to a play. It would be overnight as the play would be getting out so late. On Friday morning, Mike received a call from Tait asking if we could babysit while Mommy and Daddy had their time together. Mike and I thought this was also an overnight babysitting visit. After discussing it, we decided we could take on four kids at a time and said yes. (By the way, if you want to read about Amanda and Cameron's date, catch up on their blog, The Skinner Scene.)
Because we were having so many kids, we decided the easiest thing to do was to get some Papa Murpheys pizza. By the time I got home, all the kids were here, already asking for candy and to watch movies. It was fun, but after a night of "Aunt Becky, can I...." "Aunt Becky can so and so..." or just plain crying, I was ready to put them all to bed at 8. Out came the air mattress to some excited, "It's a sleep over?" There was definitely a ton of help in getting the air mattress blown up. We get the kids (except for Porter who we lost to Granny when she got home from work) into their PJ's. This is when I noticed that the boys had no clothes for the next day, no pillows and for Blake, no nanett (his blanket). When I asked Mike about it, his response was, "He is getting to the age where he can do without his nanett." OK, he had it every other time, but maybe he would be OK without it.
So, we get them all ready for bed, listen as Tait prays and put them to bed, with the threats of no more noise. Mike and I, after only a couple of hours with 4 kids are exhausted, so we quickly join the hunt for bed. As soon as Mike's head hits the pillow, he is out, a feat that happens every night to which I am insanely jealous of...As I am dropping off, and responding to the "Aunt Becky, there is a monster in the kitchen." "Aunt Becky, there is a monster in the fireplace." etc, I hear a car door shut. At about 9:20, there is a knock on the door, there is Amanda to pick up her boys, kinda surprised that all the lights are off in the house.
After the confusion was settled, turns out Tait didn't want to go. Tait stayed for the night as Blake went off to home with mommy and daddy. I really think that I was asleep before Tait and Eliza. I could hear the whispering in the other room as I drifted off. Well, I can't really say whispering, I didn't hear Tait at all, but Eliza seemed to be yelling as she talked to Tait.
The next day started very early, at 7 AM. There should be some kinda law that kids sleep in on Saturday, but seems this won't happen anytime soon. Mike and I had a whole list of things that we wanted to accomplish on Saturday, so we decided to try to tackle this with 2 kids in tow. They included cleaning the inside of the cars, which needed it sorely, raking leaves off the driveway, cleaning out the laundry room (which included taking everything out, organizing, cleaning etc) and finally setting up the tent from the deer hunt to dry out. Oh yeah, and going to the dump to empty the green beast. As we started out, Tait and Eliza thought it would be fun to start cleaning also and started to rake the leaves. Tait asked me, "Aunt Becky, can I have a dollar for helping you?" I told him that I was sure that I could find a dollar because he was helping me to which Eliza responded, "Don't forget me!" "Don't worry, I can find dollars for both of you."
About the time that they finished their job, both of their parents showed up. As Amy left again to do my dad a favor, Amanda and Cameron were waiting for Tait to finish up. They were surprised that 1) He was doing work cheerfully and 2) He actually asked for more work to do. After they finished, Tait came up to me and said, "OK Aunt Becky, I am finished, can I have my $10 now?" $10? When did the price jump up? Tait has some smooth negotiating skills, but unfortunately, still only got his $1.
So, as much fun as the kids were, I have definitely decided that anytime you get baby hungry, you should take 4 kids for a couple of hours, even if it just ends up being 2 for the rest of time. I am happy that I had the opportunity though to watch the kids and am glad that they had fun, or seemed to. Blake even told his mom how Aunt Becky said that you went to the moon to eat cheese (this is from Wallace and Grommit if none of you have watched this movie.)
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Free, fun date ideas
Mike and I have discovered a new wonderful thing to do, best of all, it is free! All it requires is the gas it takes you to get to Wal-mart.
Tuesday night, Mike and I went to Wal-Mart. Mike had heard that they had their Christmas section up, so of course, we had to stop by. As we were walking up all the isles, Mike found something that he liked. I didn't like it and let him know, so of course, Mike gets all set on getting it. Into the cart it goes and we continue our meandering ways around Wal-Mart. The entire time, I am trying to think up either excuses why we couldn't make our purchase, or trying to convince myself that I could be a good wife and let Mike get it and put it where he wanted. If you want to see what this was, take a look.
You can imagine why Mike likes it, it has to do with the outdoors and hunting. So, we are finally standing in the checkout line, waiting to make our purchases. I decide to make one final attempt to get Mike to give up the wonderful antler wreath...I point out some very large icicle ornaments that Mike had picked up and said, "You can get one or the other, but not both." "Nope, I am going to get both, because I want both." Hmmm...this was going to be more difficult than I thought. So I decided to take the straight approach. "Mike, I just really don't like that wreath." "Well, too bad, I do. You married me so I am going to buy it." One last chance. "OK Mike, you can get the wreath if I can get my star for the top of the Christmas tree." (Mike has this idea that the only thing that can go on top of a tree is an angel, I have never put an angel on top of my tree...) Mike takes the wreath and puts it off to the side of the checkout line, he is that against a star!
As I am laughing at how badly Mike doesn't want a star, the guy in the line behind us pipes up..."That is a nice wreath you know...it lets you know a man lives here..." At this point, Mike is laughing and responded, "What, the two trucks in the driveway don't say that enough?" As they continue talking up the merits of the wreath, the guy in the line behind us then gets the guys behind him in on talking up the benefits of the wreath, all trying to convince me that we should get it. I see behind all these guys who are outnumbering me two women. In desperation, I took the wreath to them and asked them, "Excuse me, we are having a debate and I was wondering if you could tell me if you would buy this wreath to put in your home?" The older of the women looks at the wreath and very hesitantly says, "Yes, it is a very nice wreath," at which point Mike is ecstatic that a woman is joining in on the merits of the debate on his side. After pointing out to him that the answer was given very hesitantly, the woman responds, "I am from Washington state so that means I have no taste anyway."
At this point, we have the entire checkout line debating back and forth about the merits of this wreath. When it is our turn to checkout, the cashier commented that we were having too much fun in Wal-Mart at that time of night. She then proceeded to say that as a hunter, she would buy the wreath and use it. At this point, I have finally accepted that I am definitely outnumbered on the opinion of the wreath, but we are still not getting it as Mike doesn't want a star. We finish our checkout and as we are leaving we notice a young man and an older woman standing at the front of the store. The young man comes up to us and says, "I just wanted you to know that I have a freezer full of venison and I would not buy that wreath!" Finally! I had somebody who agreed with me! With that, Mike and I left Wal-Mart thinking that we had just spent ond of the most fun hours of the week.
So, the idea for the free, fun date is go to Wal-Mart, pick up something that is hideously ugly and debate the merits back and forth. See if you can get the people around you in line to join in. It was totally fun.
Tuesday night, Mike and I went to Wal-Mart. Mike had heard that they had their Christmas section up, so of course, we had to stop by. As we were walking up all the isles, Mike found something that he liked. I didn't like it and let him know, so of course, Mike gets all set on getting it. Into the cart it goes and we continue our meandering ways around Wal-Mart. The entire time, I am trying to think up either excuses why we couldn't make our purchase, or trying to convince myself that I could be a good wife and let Mike get it and put it where he wanted. If you want to see what this was, take a look.
You can imagine why Mike likes it, it has to do with the outdoors and hunting. So, we are finally standing in the checkout line, waiting to make our purchases. I decide to make one final attempt to get Mike to give up the wonderful antler wreath...I point out some very large icicle ornaments that Mike had picked up and said, "You can get one or the other, but not both." "Nope, I am going to get both, because I want both." Hmmm...this was going to be more difficult than I thought. So I decided to take the straight approach. "Mike, I just really don't like that wreath." "Well, too bad, I do. You married me so I am going to buy it." One last chance. "OK Mike, you can get the wreath if I can get my star for the top of the Christmas tree." (Mike has this idea that the only thing that can go on top of a tree is an angel, I have never put an angel on top of my tree...) Mike takes the wreath and puts it off to the side of the checkout line, he is that against a star!
As I am laughing at how badly Mike doesn't want a star, the guy in the line behind us pipes up..."That is a nice wreath you know...it lets you know a man lives here..." At this point, Mike is laughing and responded, "What, the two trucks in the driveway don't say that enough?" As they continue talking up the merits of the wreath, the guy in the line behind us then gets the guys behind him in on talking up the benefits of the wreath, all trying to convince me that we should get it. I see behind all these guys who are outnumbering me two women. In desperation, I took the wreath to them and asked them, "Excuse me, we are having a debate and I was wondering if you could tell me if you would buy this wreath to put in your home?" The older of the women looks at the wreath and very hesitantly says, "Yes, it is a very nice wreath," at which point Mike is ecstatic that a woman is joining in on the merits of the debate on his side. After pointing out to him that the answer was given very hesitantly, the woman responds, "I am from Washington state so that means I have no taste anyway."
At this point, we have the entire checkout line debating back and forth about the merits of this wreath. When it is our turn to checkout, the cashier commented that we were having too much fun in Wal-Mart at that time of night. She then proceeded to say that as a hunter, she would buy the wreath and use it. At this point, I have finally accepted that I am definitely outnumbered on the opinion of the wreath, but we are still not getting it as Mike doesn't want a star. We finish our checkout and as we are leaving we notice a young man and an older woman standing at the front of the store. The young man comes up to us and says, "I just wanted you to know that I have a freezer full of venison and I would not buy that wreath!" Finally! I had somebody who agreed with me! With that, Mike and I left Wal-Mart thinking that we had just spent ond of the most fun hours of the week.
So, the idea for the free, fun date is go to Wal-Mart, pick up something that is hideously ugly and debate the merits back and forth. See if you can get the people around you in line to join in. It was totally fun.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Busy Week
This week has been a very busy week. It started of with Halloween. Can there be any more of a crazy fun holiday than Halloween? Of course, we leave the process of finding costumes until the night before Halloween. I thought it would be a good idea to make Mike wear the same costume that I had last year. If you want to see what this was, take a look. I am the one on the right, the old woman
I am not so sure that Mike was excited about being an old woman. I had to do some convincing and we had to buy a grey wig. I had used my own hair and sprayed it grey, of course we couldn't do that with Mike. Well, Mike started to get excited, especially when we found an
old man's mask. He told me that if he was going to be the old lady, I was going to be the old man! OK, I would do it. This is what we looked like. It was awesome. I went to work all day as the old man, weirded some people out and had fun doing it! After work, Mike and I stopped by our ward's trunk or treat. We confused the bishop as he didn't know who the old lady was! hahaha! Anyway, we were told by a few people that our costumes were their favorite. We then left the trunk or treat and headed to Amanda and Cameron's to partake of some yummy chili and some of Amanda's scrumptious homemade cornbread. One day, I will try to make the cornbread and see if I do half as good a job! Halloween was definitely fun, except that we lost the belt on our car on the way home. That wasn't fun.We really looked forward to the weekend, where we were spending some time in Park City. A couple of months ago, we had bought some time to stay up at Westgate, a 5 star resort up in Park City. We got 2 nights for $50 and they would give us a $50 gift certificate to be used on their premises (either at one of their restaurants or the spa.) All we would have to do is sit through a sales presentation for 90 minutes. You know, those high pressure sales presentations where they try to sell you something? We decided we could do it, enjoy the free weekend and say no at the same time. We were promised that we would be in a room with a kitchen, that it was a $250 a night room. We were excited. We got up there and were
told, "We're sorry, we are all booked out (yeah right, we had reserved this a month ago) and need to put you in anther hotel. It is just as nice and just as big." Well, OK. They put us in the Park City Peaks Hotel. Turns out, we got the distinct feeling that you only get to stay in Westgate if you have purchased their timeshare package. The 90 minute presentation was 2 1/2 hours and every time we said no, they were like, "OK, it isn't for everybody." and they would proceed to bring somebody else to try to sell us on it. The Peaks hotel is a nice hotel, it just isn't what we were expecting. This is a picture of the Peaks. If anyone is planning on going to Park City, we would suggest that you stay here. Overall, it was a fun weekend, a chance to get away from real life, a chance to relax. even though we through another belt and learned that when Low Book Sales replaced our alternator, they either put in the wrong one or installed it wrong as it sits behind all the other wheels and tears through belts. Not a cheap problem to have...Well, we hope that everybody else enjoyed their Halloween and weekend as much as we did ours!
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