Stoker Family

Check out how cute this stuff is

2009-11-24T12:52:00.003-08:00

I saw this in Martha Stewart this month

and think it is so cute. They used it in place

of ribbon when wrapping packages.

www.happytape.com

Scariest Halloween image

2009-11-03T11:58:00.001-08:00

I have to say that I saw quite a few

freaky and disturbing things this past

Halloween. When I saw this, it took

the cake. I don't think it needs any

explanation. Although, if you do

want a close up of the "beads" please

enlarge the photo.

Charlotte's Halloween party

2009-10-30T14:00:00.001-07:00

I went and helped out at Charlotte's Halloween

party. It all seemed pretty normal, including

Henry playing with the drinking fountain and flooding

the room(he really did, had to find a mop)

Until I came across 2 disturbing costumes.

Remember these are 6 year old kids.

Freddy Krueger? Why is this happening? Please

tell me he hasn't seen the movie. Where did

he get the idea to be a psycho killer? You

need to enlarge the photo to see.

This kid? I know, his costume

looks like street clothes and innocent.

Then he pulled out a pen was pretending

he was shooting people and informed

me that he was a sniper. I have

no words.

Simon's quilt and bed

2009-10-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I finally finished Simon's quilt.

I had painted his new bed and was looking all

over for bedding and decided to make a pieced

quilt instead. I love nothing more than to buy

fabric. This quilt took me a month to put together

and then I took it to a lady who did the machine

quilting on it. I did the binding this week and it

took almost 5 hours of hand sewing. It was horrible.

Simon has told me thank you a million times, so

it makes it worth it.

Nappy time

2009-10-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

I put Henry down for a nap and

when I walked downstairs this is

what I found. That is his favorite

blanket from when he was a baby.

We named it Frank, but he calls

it Franky.

I asked him what he was doing and

he said he was tired so he was

going to take a nap. He had turned out

the lights and everything.

Tonga Trip - Last day

2009-10-08T13:48:00.001-07:00

Our last night in Tonga we went to a viewing

of a woman that some of my parents friends knew

quite well. She had a disease since birth where her

right leg kept growing and it was enormous. It

got where she was unable to walk for the last

year of her life. She was still young and had

a 1 year old and 3 year old. She also had her

first born child die very young from a heart defect.

On her last c-section she wasn't allowed any

medication, including an epidural or anything

else to numb her. She had to endure it all. I

will not complain again about getting c-sections.

These 2 women wore the full outfit because

they knew the woman well and were honored guests.

They even laid out palm leaves and tapa cloth

to sit on. They were all sitting "indian style"

and singing songs. It was beautiful to hear

them all singing.

This is the kings palace. It is like the parliament

where work is done. He lives in a separate palace.

This building was built in the 1800's.

The hospital OR

The waiting room

Random wires hanging down

This is a main hallway.

We then went to the Tongan cultural center.

It was really neat. The museum had mostly artifacts

from Captain cook. He gave the king a tortoise

as a gift on his last voyage and it lived until the

1970's. They have it preserved here.

He is holding up what the bark of the tree

looks like before and after when made into

the Tapa cloth.

They still make the tapa cloth by hand. The

women make it all. They bang it with the large

wooden mallet until it is a certain width. You can

hear the banging around the villages all day long.

Some newly planted banana trees

Weaving a mat

Showing us how to cut open a coconut.

Shaving the coconut, it was so yummy

Of course some singing and dancing.

Enjoying our refreshments afterwards. A fruit

plate with some coconut water.

Here are some random shots around town.

The minced meat sold at every little store. They

love it.

A little store by my parents house. The students

go to the Liahona school across from my parents.

More shots of the stores

This is the mission office and you can see the

temple in the distance. It is just across the street.

On the left is the mission office and the white

car is in front of my parents house.

My parents house. They have an avocado tree

in their front yard.

For my small handful of readers, I hope you

enjoyed seeing about our trip to Tonga. We had

a great time and I am glad David insisted we go.

Oops!

2009-10-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

I will post our last day in Tonga tomorrow.

Had a little accident today, will blame it on

pregnancy. I was running errands and parked

the car at the end of the driveway and ran in the

house to grab Charlotte for dance. About 2 minutes

after I got into the house Dave and I heard a crash.

I apparently left the car in Drive and it slowly drove

itself the whole length our our VERY narrow driveway

without hitting one thing and ran straight into the garage.

His new car has no damage, but, we definitely will need

a new garage door. My car was trapped for awhile while

David crawled inside the garage and got the dents straightened

out. I feel beyond lucky because it could have been so much

worse.

Trip to Tonga day 7

2009-10-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

We went on a bike ride in the morning and rode

around some different villages and then down to

the blow holes.

Here you can see the water coming through the

blow holes all the way down the coast

This is when the water is calm

You can see it starting to come through the

holes below

Then it just shoots out. It is hard to tell

from these pictures, but it is so beautiful to see.

The sign appears to be pretty new

The women all walk around with umbrellas

to block themselves from the sun

The health care center

We gave these kids some skittles. Notice the kid

holding the CD's. These are his toys. He was

rolling them down the street. They run over

and say "bye, bye, I love you" They do not beg

or ask for anything. I am sure it is because

Tonga doesn't have any tourists.

The village church

A farm

Below is what it looks like all over. It reminds

me of "Where the wild things are"

Notice the Mathematical Instruments, and yes,

we bought it for Simon

This is the only store near my parents that you

can walk into. It is the big store. All the rest

are concrete buildings that have just a couple of

shelves and you point to what you want.

No, she is not pushing anyone in the wheelchair

it is her walker

Someone selling bananas

They just had them hanging out front

Then my dad took us to the "land bridge"

You can see where the water is coming

underneath.

This is just above the land bridge

We then drove down to another beach. Below

is a typical cemetery.

They decorate the graves with old beer bottles

and sea shells

This grave is more elaborate

This was a beautiful beach.

We gathered a ton of sea shells. A lot still

had crabs living in them.

There were a lot of trees like this in this area

This car was in someone's yard. It had plants

growing out of it.

Kids playing some ping pong

This area is always flooded

We saw a lot of old boats like this, just sitting

out in the water.

Tongan flag

At the pier playing ball

Selling some fruit

What is Kentucky?

How was your week?

2009-10-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

GROVEPORT, Ohio - An 80-year-old Ohio man is recovering from a week in which he was beaten during a home invasion and then shot while trying to learn about guns.
Ralph Needs said he wouldn't want anyone else to experience what he's been through. He was tied up and pistol-whipped when at least three intruders broke into his Columbus area home on Sept. 20. Needs' nose was broken and his pickup truck, a computer and credit cards were taken.
Four days later, Needs was shot in the hand during a self-defense lesson. A 9 mm pistol went off as one of his sons was loading it. Groveport police said it was an accident, so there will be no charges. No one has been arrested in the assault, but one person was charged in connection with the stolen computer, now recovered.

Trip to Tonga day 6

2009-09-30T12:29:00.001-07:00

We aren't quite sure why they decided to cover

up the t on the word Paint. This is the side of

the hardware store.

This is a drive by view of the hospital. This is

the only hospital in Tonga. If people get really

sick on other islands they have to travel to this

hospital. It looks like it has been abandoned for

the past 30 years. We did a tour of the hospital

a couple days after this, which I will post later.

You can enlarge this photo above to read about

the site below. It is what they compare to Stone hedge.

No one is sure how they moved this large stone

or what it was used for.

This part of town had a ton of pigs wandering around.

Trip to Tonga day 5

2009-09-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

About a week before we left on our trip we

decided that we needed to spend a night away

on a secluded island. There are a million little

islands that make up Tonga and Europeans will

open up resorts on the islands. We found one

that is on an island about a 20 minute boat

ride from my parents island. We flew back late

from Vava'u and in the morning we caught our boat

to the island Fafa. It is a tiny island that only has

the resort on it.

The food being transported to Fafa

Notice the guy behind Dave, he is steering the

boat with his feet.

Here you can see the little islands out in the distance.

Fafa as we approach

This is the backyard looking onto our Fale.

They made the fale very authentic. They were

beautiful. Everything was woven very traditionally.

They brought us yummy fruit drinks to our place

when we arrived.

This is our bathroom. Outside is the shower.

close up of the shower.

This is a guest room/Reading room

Looking out to the beach from our place

These birds were all over. They are from New Zealand.

I thought they were really neat. They also had parrots and

other exotic birds. At night it was a different story. It was so

loud we barely slept.

Relaxing on the hammock. We slept or read most

of the day.

Entrance to our Fale

This pathway leads you on to the

"bush walk"

This is the table where we ate all of our meals.

Saying goodbye to Fafa. Probably the most

relaxing and beautiful place I have or will ever

go to.

Trip to Tonga day 4

2009-09-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

This day was one of the most exciting and

memorable days of my life, and for sure of the trip

My dad set up a trip our 2nd day in Vava'u to go

on a whale watching boat. I was excited to see

the whales while on the boat.

A mormon church we saw while on the boat

The man waving on the dock owns and runs this

resort on a small island. The resort is called Treasure

Island and I heard there was a Survivor that was

filmed here.

As soon as we were out riding around we soon

saw many whales in the water. Some other people

were putting on wet suits and the owner of the

boat asked if we wanted to get in and swim

with the whales. I said I was fine just watching

them from the boat.

I quickly changed my mind as people were coming

back to the boat telling about what they saw.

This picture is proof that I looked pretty while

swimming with the whales.

We would find the whales and then they would

stop the boat and we would jump into the water

and swim out. The water was so clear you could see 50 ft

in all directions. You just looked down and the

whales would be swimming underneath you.

It was amazing. If you enlarge the picture above

this you will see my flipper. We were able to get

so close to the whales.

I was in the water when this happened. This whale

had just swam past me and then jumped out of

the water.

the light blue, smooth area is where the whale is.

We also saw a bunch of dolphins. They were

swimming all around the boat.

We ate lunch on this uninhabited island. The lunch

tasted horrible, but it was beautiful.

My dad has been in this cave.

The resort we stayed at from the ocean view.

The boat crew.

Day 3 of trip to Tonga - Flight to Vava'u

2009-09-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

We woke up to catch a 6:00 AM flight to an

island called Vava'u. It is really a bunch of islands

near each other that form the Vava'u group. The

flight was on a small plane and it was raining and so

it was really bumpy. David and I both got really sick

and threw up a bunch. When we got there our first

stop was to see one of Dave's old mission companions

family's that live in a village in Vava'u. Below is

David with his grandmother.

Kids playing in the dirt

When we drove up these women were all just in

here together weaving mats. During the day the kids

play and go to school while the women meet in these

"huts" and weave mats or beat and work on Tapa cloth.

Outside of the hut they were all in. This is just in

the yard next to the house.

The local market

Most people in Tonga eat different types of roots

that have a taste most similar to potatoes.

I bought a bunch of vanilla pods here that a man

grows on his farm. He said it takes at least four

years from the time it is planted to harvest.

Where we ate lunch

After lunch we drove to the resort where we spent

the rest of the day and the night

The view from the beach

This place was amazing. Dave slept most of the

day. We all just lounged around.

Dave and I decided to go kayaking just before

dinner.

Trip to Tonga day 2

2009-09-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

On our first day we started out by going on a

bike ride by my parents house. Below are

some pictures we took along the ride.

Kid picking some coconuts

Kids from the Liahona high school heading home

Then we headed to a part of town called

Old Tonga. This is very typical where you see

a few stray dogs and some pigs in a yard.

This is a chair that was carved out of whale bone

A resort in Old Tonga

We loved this hand carved sink stand with a large

sea shell as the sink.

The fale for the guests to sleep in

Old Tonga has flooding like this all over because

it gets the high tide everyday

Please notice the 2 pac towel hanging from the tree

Day 1 of trip to Tonga, Stopover in New Zealand

2009-09-23T15:08:00.001-07:00

Our trip to Tonga was over 9 days long. We went

on 8 different airplanes, 7 different airports, 3 boat

rides, 4 different islands and countless rides in the back

of the car on windy bumpy roads, lots of throwing up from

all the motion. It was definitely a trip unlike any other. We

took over 1000 pictures so I will post one day at a time on here.

We had a 10 hour layover in Auckland, so one

of Dave's companions from his mission came

and picked us up from the airport. First we went

to the sky tower that overlooked the harbor and

downtown Auckland.

Then we went to the New Zealand museum, which

was really amazing.

We went to a show where they did singing and

dancing and of course, the maori war dance.

A hand woven sail.

This old house inside was amazing. It was all

hand carved and painted.

Check out our family photos

2009-09-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

The talented Rachel Thurston came to our
home a couple of weeks ago and took some
pictures of all of us. She posted them up on
her blog today. We fly home from Tonga
tonight(leave 2:00 am SLC time) and will arrive
home on Tuesday night at 7:00. We have had a
great time and cannot wait to post some pictures.

http://rachelthurston.blogspot.com/

A handy phone number to have

2009-09-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

As I was driving in the car this morning I heard an ad
for 1-877-jail-fon. They advertised that you can practice
your 1 phone call from jail so that when you need it, you
know what to say better. I thought it had to be a joke, but
then I googled it when I got home and it seems like it is
real.
I put the info below, as I know most people reading my
blog would need it.

1-877-JAIL-FON - Your Free DUI Practice Call
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/08/28/2009082...
If you never had a DUI, then you have never experienced that one phone call to an angry wife or girlfriend, disapproving father, temperamental boss, or a lawyer. Now the Utah Highway Patrol and local bars are letting people practice their single DUI call with this service. In this case practice doesn't make perfect!

New Blog to check out

2009-09-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

http://chasenoface.blogspot.com/
Please notice the name of the blog. Chase
is a cat. A cat that they think was hit
by a car and has "no face" It has no
eyelids and no fur on it's face. I did not
want to post pics because they are slightly
freaky. If you dare please check out the blog.
I am a major dog lover, but I have to say
that it has never crossed my mind to take
tons of photos of my dogs and start a blog.

Growing up

2009-09-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

So on Charlotte's first day of school I offered to

take her because she is now gone all day long. She

is at school an extra 25 minutes in the morning

if she rides the bus. When she was in Kindergarten

they have a separate drop off spot and the teachers

are out there waiting. They then play on the

Kindergarten only playground right in front. This year

she rides to school with the big kids and I was

worried. I put her on the bus and drove over to school

to wait for her. She ran off the bus and said

"why are you here?" and continues to run past

me. I follow her in to make sure she knows to

go to the playground and not her classroom and

she runs down the stairs while I yell "bye Charlotte, I love you"

no response. I then spent the rest of the day feeling

so sad knowing that my days of her being around home are

forever gone and basking in my sadness. A few days ago

I asked her about school and she said some of the kids

have been crying and the girl "Emma" next to her cries

with her head on her desk bellowing "mommy". I asked her

if she missed me and she says "You?, then chuckles, no"

A new word for the four letter "F" word

2009-08-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

So the other day we were out and Simon said that
he had to to poo. He is practically yelling it at the
park so everyone is looking. I finally get him to the
bathroom and he comes out and said he couldn't
go and only "breath" came out. I know that some of
you may not like to use the word "fart" in your house.
I am now giving you Simon's vocabulary, so you
can teach your children it is called a "breath" instead.
I am still not sure where he came up with this.

personalized license plate

2009-08-26T10:31:00.001-07:00

I don't know if you remember when I wrote

about the bright yellow hummer that was always

at my gym with the license plate "XXL"

Today I saw another gem when I came out of the

gym. It was a BMW roadster and the license plate

read "BDYMSTR" The woman then got out of the

car and she was indeed fully toned to capacity. Her hair was

very thin and about 1 1/2" all around. She looked

a lot like my gym teacher in 8th grade. I was sad to learn

that wonderful license plate was taken so I am thinking of

BDYMSTR2 If you do not live in the state of Utah then

you are in luck with that idea, you can thank me later.

Lagoon

2009-08-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

We went Lagoon a couple of weeks ago. I was
just looking through the pictures for the first time
and saw this gem. If you enlarge the photo you
will see that Simon looks completely horrified. They
went on this ride more than any other, probably
15 times. Today I heard Simon say to Henry that
he was going to cut off his head and put it in a pizza
oven......can I blame that on this ride?

Just when you thought.....

2009-08-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

That Andy Garcia was hot

A picture like this appears on People.com

Dave has always been totally disgusted when I

would tell him that I like Andy Garcia. I then saw

that my friend Kim agreed with me. Lindsey, another

friend agreed with Dave and was taken back.

After this picture I think my opinion has been

slightly adjusted

Tonga

2009-08-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

So Dave decided a couple days ago that we are

going to go to Tonga to visit my parents. We have

been back and forth on the idea for a long time now.

The good news is that Tonga looks like the photos below.

The bad news is that I have to leave my baby

for 9.5 days.

Kids hating church already

2009-07-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

So when I tell Charlotte it is Sunday she
gets super bummed because she doesn't
want to go to church. I just read this article
and it is cracking me up.

Holy car! Utah boy goes for spin to avoid church

PLAIN CITY, Utah – Police in Utah say a 7-year-old boy led officers on a car chase in an effort to avoid going to church.
Dispatchers received reports of a child driving recklessly on Sunday morning. Weber County Sheriff's Capt. Klint Anderson says one witness said the boy drove through a stop sign.
Anderson says two deputies caught up with the boy and tried unsuccessfully to stop the Dodge Intrepid in an area about 45 miles north of Salt Lake City. The car reached 40 mph before the boy stopped in a driveway and ran inside a home.
Anderson says when the boy's father later confronted him, the boy said he didn't want to go to church. The boy is too young to prosecute and no citations were issued, although police did urge the father to make his car keys more inaccessible to children.

Morning conversation

2009-07-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

Charlotte comes downstairs and says to me
"I just pooed my pants, well not my pants, I pooed on
my body because I didn't have any clothes on. I
thought I was just going to fart and then poo started
coming out and so I ran to the toilet."

"Did you get any on the carpet?"

"I don't know"

Luckily it was just on her body.

Pioneer monument

2009-07-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

So I took my kids to "This is the place" park

last week. In ZCMI you can buy all of the

old style candy. My kids decided on the

candy cigars. I thought that seemed pretty

appropriate for an LDS Pioneer store.

Here is a good idea

2009-07-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Kids

2009-06-28T20:33:00.001-07:00

So on Saturday we had a pioneer primary activity.
I was in charge of the doughnut eating contest...
(Jeanette, I do not want to cause you painful flashbacks
by looking at the photos below)
Charlotte has never cared if she is dirty, if her
clothes are dirty, room is dirty, etc. Simon is
so clean that if he gets a drop of water on his
clothes it is a slight seizureish event. So Charlotte
comes up to have a turn and she says "no, I do
not want to get my mouth dirty"
For real....check out her hands to the doughnut

Then Simon dove in on his turn.

We always have to keep the bathroom and laundry
room doors closed or Henry will get into mischief.
He is very similar to Charlotte in his curiosity and
mischief. This is how I found him a couple days
ago.

Today he got into the pantry and dumped
out trail mix and fishy crackers all over.

Those of you who have been around Henry lately
know how often and loud he screams. At Costco
the other day another child was screaming and it
sounded just like him. I looked over and the mother
would slap/hit her child on the mouth every time and
say "say please" It happened like 10 times, and
obviously the child couldn't talk yet. How strange
it was that someone would be hitting their child
in the face, period, but especially in the middle of Costco
and not think it was wrong.

A couple hours ago Charlotte is swinging, twisting, etc. Simon on the swing.
He is screaming for her to stop and she doesn't listen. I finally have
to go over and physically stop her. We get in the car a little
while later and she says "look at the picture I drew with the
Sharpies" I have told her about 50 times that Sharpies are not
allowed. She responds "I forgot" Side note to this is that she has
on a white skirt and white tank top. We start driving and within
5 minutes Simon says "my throat hurts" and starts to throw up.
The car was completely covered. Perfect. I then reminded her
that next time he asks her to stop she should listen.

Cheerleading is most dangerous sport

2009-06-27T06:57:00.001-07:00

I hardly thought of cheerleading as a sport. I have thought

that I didn't want my boys to play football, but I guess I should

be more worried about cheerleading in the future.

Cheerleading safety efforts have led to modest reductions in the number of serious injuries in recent years, according to a new report about college and high school sports and cheerleading mishaps.
But cheerleading continues to cause more serious and deadly injuries by far than other sports.
Researchers have long known how dangerous cheerleading is, but records were poorly kept until recently. An update to the record-keeping system last year found that between 1982 and 2007, there were 103 fatal, disabling or serious injuries recorded among female high school athletes, with the vast majority (67) occurring in cheerleading. The next most dangerous sports: gymnastics (nine such injuries) and track (seven).

Using Cheetos as an assault weapon

2009-06-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

Just an idea for next time you get mad
at your husband for leaving up the toilet seat
or his dirty socks by the couch.

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – Authorities said a couple got into a fight using Cheetos. The Bedford County Sheriff's Department said a 40-year-old man and 44-year-old woman became involved in a 'verbal altercation.' Somehow, the orange puffy snacks were used in the assault.
Deputies said they were charged with domestic assault. No one was hurt.
According to the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, both posted bond of $2,500

Gym sightings

2009-06-08T11:44:00.001-07:00

Here is some of what I saw at the gym today
1. Old man in sweats with black dress shoes
2. Woman with hair done, tons of make up
and belted sweater with work out pants
3. Hiking shoes
4. Woman holding coffee while on treadmill
5. Woman holding coffee while doing her leg
weights
6. Man wearing sandals

Old email

2009-06-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning out my email and I found one that
I had saved from 2003. I still think it is very clever
and funny.

Your CD has been gently taken from our
CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free
gloves and placed onto a satin pillow. A team of 50
employees inspected your CD and polished it to
make sure it was in the best possible condition
before mailing. Our packing specialist from Japan
lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he
put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that
money can buy.We all had a wonderful celebration
afterwards and the whole party marched down the
street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package,
on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on
this day, Monday, March 31st.I hope you had a
wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'.
We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come
back to CDBABY.COM!!

From Charlotte's teacher

2009-06-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is an email I got today from

Charlotte's teacher

"janet-I have to share this with you while it's

fresh in my mind and the kids are heading to recess.
Charlotte is a BORN stage director- she has everyone

lined up in their places, calling everyone to attention, etc.

She takes it very seriously! "

Should I be concerned, part 2?

2009-06-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

This is Charlotte in Las Vegas.

No more to say, really.

Driving safety

2009-06-01T18:04:00.001-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090601/od_nm/us_swiss_car_odd
I knew I had to post this. I just got new tires put on my van.

Should I be concerned?

2009-05-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

I found this in Charlotte's room
while cleaning. When I asked her what
it was she told me "naked guy rock" We live
right at the mouth of Parley's canyon and
there is a large rock called "suicide rock" that is
always being painted, wondering if that is
where she got the inspiration for the name?

Notice he is attached to a rock, stuck inside
a "casket"

She is doing some advanced

knots here.

Divorce for kids?

2009-04-30T20:01:00.001-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090501/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_saudi_child_marriage

A year ago today

2009-04-29T16:28:00.001-07:00

We moved here.

This was right when we arrived from the airport

to my parents house.

Now, with Ronny at the McDonald's in Barstow, CA

Balloons as a weapon

2009-04-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Simon comes running into the kitchen
crying.
Simon-Charlotte hurt me with a balloon
Janet-How did the balloon hurt you?
Simon-Well, the balloon wasn't hard....it was just
really ballooney

Think you have bad luck

2009-04-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

http://gmy.news.yahoo.com/v/13141268
So this lady was hit by a car.....because she
was running away from a bear. She lives
to tell about it.

Great blog

2009-04-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

http://itsallaboutthehat.blogspot.com/2009/04/this-is-what-nursing-toddler-looks-like.html
I first saw this blog when she had posted pictures
of herself giving birth to her daughter in her
neighbors kiddy pool. Surrounded in her blood within
the pool and breastfeeding the new little baby. The
pictures have now been editied to some extent. Now
she is posting pictures of herself nursing her toddler.
If you also notice her profile pic on her blog. I have nursed
all 3 of my kids for 12-14 months, so I am obviously
a "pro-nurser", but seriously, this girl is crazy.

Falling off bridge

2009-04-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090424/ap_on_fe_st/odd_bridge_fall

Getting dropped off

2009-04-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30344675/?GT1=43001
Please read the above article and then continue.
So when I was probably around 10 my sister and I
were arguing and my dad threatened us. Then we continued
to fight and before I knew what had happened I was dropped
off on the freeway overpass on 3300 s.( a very busy road here)
It was probably about 3 miles from my house. I remember
being so stressed because it was the middle of summer and
was so far from home. My dad had dropped us off before, but
never this far. A lady from my church drove by a couple minutes
later and asked "are you okay? what are you doing out here?"
I totally made up a story because I remember being super
embarassed. I now as a parent realize how my dad did that.
I sometimes wish I could just drop them off when they are
screaming, fighting, etc.

Simon's birthday extravaganza

2009-04-06T20:35:00.001-07:00

First we had his party on Friday

It was a "wow wow Wubbzy" party, his favorite.

The very classy treats for the party, of Simon's choice

Then a game of Simon says

A marshmallow hunt

Pin the tie on Walden, Wubbzy's friend

The decorations

Henry hanging out

Ready for the cake

All of his gifts from the party. Charlotte had to

open all of the boxes within a 2 minute time period.

As a result at least 1 vital piece to each toy is missing.

This morning, his gifts. The Spiderman costume

is Dave's worst nightmare. He really cannot stand

Spiderman, and has a category he places boys who

dress up in Spiderman. It was a present from Henry.

The first gift was a ride-on tractor. Also notice

we finally got a new couch. We have had a church

pew that was in the laundry room at our old house

in here since July.

Trying out the new costume.

Charlotte driving Henry around. This was just

as he was about to fly out the back. You need

to maximize this for the full effect.

We went to eat at the Mayan tonight. Simon

was wanting to go to Chuck E. Cheese but

I convinced him this would be much cooler.

Charlotte thought it was amazing. The divers were

really great but one of them came up to Simon

and asked him if he wanted to dive and Simon

was about to start crying he was so stressed. The

rest of the time he was hiding under the table.

Waiting for our table

Charlotte insisted we get Henry into the picture.

Didn't work out too well.

Tomorrow is Simon's actual birthday so we are

going to have cinnamon rolls. We leave for California

tomorrow and will spend the night in Vegas. We

told Simon that he is lucky because he will stay in

a castle for his birthday. We are staying at the

Excalibur.

April Fools day Grilled Cheese sandwiches

2009-04-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

So I decided to trick my kids somehow today.
Charlotte told me her teacher sewed all of her
husbands underwear together so he had to wear
"50" pair all at the same time.

I found this recipe today and decided to make it.
Charlotte hates grilled cheese so I told her
she had to have 1 bite in order to get desert.
These were made with pound cake and colored
frosting.

She was so excited when she realized. The rest
of dinner she would tell me things like
"I found pineapples behind my school today"
"There were like 10 worms in my classroom today"
etc.

Simon then said to me
"Mom, you have a spider on your boob,
April Fools"

I am getting old

2009-03-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

Last night Dave took Simon to the Jazz game and

Charlotte was feeling bad. I told her we could go

to the book store and look at books. I had taken

the stroller out of my car and so I had to carry

Henry. The minute we got into the store he was

arching his back and screaming to be let down.

Charlotte was looking at books for at least 20 minutes.

During that time Henry was running around

grabbing books off the shelves while I tried not to

lose him or Charlotte. It was horrible. Finally we

were checking out and I put Henry down for literally 5

seconds while I scanned my card and couldn't find him.

I was asking everyone around if they had seen a small

child and could not find him. I run outside to make

sure he didn't go into the parking lot. A few minutes later

a man is holding Henry at the top of the escalator.

Really.....he went up the escalator by himself. I was

so grateful he didn't fall down the escalator or get

his fingers pinched. By the time I got to the car I was

so excited to buckle him into his seat. Wish me luck

next week at Disneyland and Legoland.

This one's for you Jana

2009-03-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

I told Janet I was going to hijack her blog for a single post. I needed a venue for my sarcastic sorrow after watching a player end his college basketball career a few nights ago. This guy was a key component in one my favorite sporting moments of recent memory. The precious little floor smacking devil of whom I speak is none other than Duke's Greg Paulus.

He's one of those guys that college bball broadcasters dream of...full of energy, coach's little buddy, no chance of playing professionally. They throw around terms like "cerebral", "gutty", "floor general", and "high school football player of the year" like people on The Batchelor incessantly rant with "connection", "amazing", "this journey", and "I'm actually falling in love." Sadly, Duke was crushed by Villanova in the NCAA tournament the other night, ending Greg's illustrious collegiate career.

The fantastic moment of which everyone's favorite "extension of the coach on the floor" was a part of was during the UNC-Duke game in March of 2008, at Cameron Indoor Student Bouncy Castle. Towards the end of the first half, Danny Green breaks away with a rebound and Paulus makes a gutty, cerebral move to stand in and take the inevitable charge that would certainly be called. No charge. Instead Paulus got...well....this:

I included the third, multi-frame photo experience because I liked it, and I thought it was funny that if you look close you can see Peyton Manning immediately to the left of Kyle Singler's hip. Poor Greg. I was watching that game live and remember how sweet it was. Even more sweet was that it was one more game in which UNC would beat Greg and his boyz on their home court. So sad.

Where to now? The NBA with your boy Boozer? People in Utah are down on the Booz because of his antics of late. I have maintained all along that the core of Boozer's problem set was the fact that he went to Duke. I mean really, who finger rolls and lays in that many close range shots in when you're that big? Dunk that crap. Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley...it all started with you. Thanks for the legacy. And please...if anyone here is an Orthodontist near Orlando, please call JJ Reddick and offer him some braces to straighten that junk out. I'm sure you have enough money for it homeslice.

So Jana...I used the box of tissues you sent to weep at Paulus' moving on...not to mourn UNC's dominating 101-87 victory at Cameron Indoor earlier this year as you were hoping. The dead give away on the non-descript, mysterious package I received in the mail was the 27713 zipcode you used to cap off your "101 Trail of Tears Drive, Chapel Hill, NC" pseudo-return address.

I now fully expect a tribute to Tyler "ward-ball" Hansbrough. He's all arms, elbows, unbridled mildly coordinated energy, rosy cheeks, and far too agressive open mouth heavy breathing like everyone else at the chapel gymnasium. All he needs to complete the persona is a couple knee-braces, rec-specs, and a position in the EQ presidency.

Favorite new thing

2009-03-13T10:37:00.001-07:00

I just got this in the mail and it is amazing.

I have tried other exercise videos and they

all just seemed like a waste. This is awesome

even if you haven't had kids because it works

your abs, butt, arms and thighs. And yes,

that is my body with her head pasted on.

http://www.amazon.com/Tracy-Anderson-Presents-Pregnancy-Workout/dp/B001LEN9WK/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1236965731&sr=8-11

Also, my favorite kid website is

http://www.poissonrouge.com/

My last 24 hours

2009-03-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

1. Ruth has had at least 4 seizures which include
urinating all over the laundry room
2. Ruth ran away for a short period
3. We got our tax return.
4. Simon informed me that we need to plant a
candy garden with suckers and reeses
5. Charlotte decided to use her foot instead of her hands
to open the curtains in her room. Ripped off the curtains
and broke the rod.
6. Simon told me he peed on the carpet downstairs
and I started to clean it up and it was soaking up
towels, I got suspicous. I looked in the closet to find
we were having a flood.

Halloween idea?

2009-03-02T09:42:00.000-08:00

This morning Simon and I were in my

bedroom and out of nowhere he says

"I want to be Mr. Mean for Halloween"

I tell him "If you want to be Mr. Mean then

you have to be mean, what would you do to

be mean?"

He responds "I would just walk around"

There is a show on Nick Jr. called

"The Mr. Men show" Mr. Mean sports a

French accent which is quite funny.

Simon then told me that Charlotte can be

Mr. Scary.

Google yourself

2009-02-26T15:13:00.000-08:00

So I googled myself and found these 2 things

Janet Stoker - Care Nurse/Dental Assistant

I was hoping I had some amazing accomplishments

that I had forgotten about that I would find.

Old ladies may just look cute and sweet

2009-02-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

It has been one of those days and it is only 3:44
in the afternoon. It started out with Henry not
taking a morning nap and so I had to take him to
the grocery store at 12:45 after Charlotte left for school
without a nap.
I was trying to go quickly but my list was very long.
I chose a cart that had a broken buckle and was
extra shakey. It took me well over an hour to get
the shopping done with Henry screaming and trying
to stand up in the cart every 2 seconds. As I am finally
checking out I realize that Henry has pooed and it is
quite honestly so bad tears come to my eyes. I finally get
the groceries on the cart(while holding stinky baby in my arms)
and go to hand the checker my value card and realize, wow, my
wallet is at home. He said that is fine and can just put it on hold
and I can come back and pay. At this point it is 2:00, Henry has
still not napped at all so he is super cheerful. I get Simon out
of the grocery store play area and he tells me he needs to
pee and thinks the parking lot is a great place to do this.
I convince him to do it at home. I get my wallet from home,
pay for my groceries and get ready to drive away. Simon is doing
up his buckle so I am just waiting and a cute little old lady
walks up to the car on the right side of me. She opens her door
and gives me the look "your car is too close for me to get in"
so I pull forward so she can open her door farther. "BANG"
What in the world? She totally hits my car with her hand.
Really? At this point I am in a very bad mood, bad enough to
not be super cheerful to the cute little grandma that just hit my
car.
Janet - Mam, what is the problem? I was just trying to move out
of the way for you

Lady - Sure, as you practically rip the door off of my car.(yelling
this & hand motions going)

Janet - Held my tongue, got back into my car, wow. I look in rear
view mirror and notice stuff in my teeth. Flax seed from my
oatmeal. That is perfect, remembering that I ran into a friend at
the store and talked to her for like 15 minutes.

I am now home, groceries put away and it is a sunny warm day so
hopefully it will get better.

Wonder Hanger

2009-02-21T20:26:00.001-08:00

I know that I tend to have some sarcasm
sometimes, but when I was at the gym today
I saw an infomercial that I actually liked(really)

https://www.wonderhanger.com/ver6/index.asp

It is called the Wonder Hanger and really you can

hang 3 times as many clothes in your closet. It

also comes with a few hangers that are 'bendy'

for shirts that tend to slip off. Claims it can

hold up to 30 something pounds so it could be

a "plan B" time out. Is it bad to have your kid

attached to a hanger for a 5 minute period?

On that note.....today Charlotte dumped an entire

bag of Goldfish crackers(small bag) into a bucket

that Henry walks around the house with on his head.

(I am aware that was a run on sentence) Anyway, she

then was attempting to put them back into the

bag when she heard me coming. I told her the bucket

is dirty from Henry's head and that would be her

lunch. She proceeded to eat all but 20 or so of the

fish from the bucket. Jana, I am nominating my self

for the meanest mom contest on that one.

Spin class take 2

2009-02-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

So I decided to try spin class one more
time.
Step 1. Apply Assos cream to any possible
friction spot. It is pronounced asos, it is from
Sweden. The name is appropriate though

Step 2. Put on padded biker shorts, and yes
I did look quite good in them

Get into the class and everyone knows each other
Inside jokes all over
chatting it up with the instructor

Within 2 minutes I am already in pain, ok only 58
more to go.
It was horrible. All I could think about was the pain
I was in the whole time.
As I left the class the girl at the desk was enjoying an XL
chocolate and peanut butter shake. It looked so delicious
and I pondered if I should have done that instead.
Sat on our comfy church pew the next morning and
realized I needed a doughnut to sit on.

The verdict......Never will attend spin class again

Painting like a foo!

2009-02-17T19:38:00.001-08:00

So on Friday I painted our kitchen and our
upstairs bathroom. On Monday I painted our
dining room, family room and hallways. I was
being optimistic that the painting on Monday would
only take 3 hours and it took almost 8. My whole
house is now freshly painted, which I love.
The highlights include
1. Simon walking into the wet walls and getting
paint all over his carolina shirt
2. Me falling off stool and falling into the wall
3. Me falling off stool and sitting against the wall
4. Blisters all over my hands from the paint roller
5. Simon coming upstairs holding his underwear and
shorts telling me they have poo on them
6. realizing the walls are more greenish than taupe and
I was going to order a green couch, now what?

On a side note, today we were eating lunch at the bakery
at Gardners village and we saw the girl Megan from American
Idol. We let Charlotte know and looked her up on Davey's
phone. Linda(sister) thinks she may have seen Harrison Ford
this weekend but Dave upped her story by letting her know that
he has not only seen HF but that his dad went up to him and
spoke with him for a whole 5 minutes. Oh, and while on that note
I have seen Jaime Lee Curtis without her shirt on in Sun Valley, ID.

Brendan Fraser update

2009-02-11T10:11:00.000-08:00

This is an update to a post I did last summer http://djstokerfamily.blogspot.com/2008/06/brendan-fraser-for-real.html

I came across this picture and knew it needed to be posted.

Don't really have words.

No, The Hawaii Chair is Not Dumb at All

2009-02-09T21:59:00.000-08:00

No, The Hawaii Chair is Not Dumb at All
October 26th, 2007 Paul Lucas
Sure, I previously wrote that the Hawaii Chair and other electric hula chairs were in line to become the next stupid exercise gimmick, but after seeing the infomercial again I have now decided to change my mind and declare that the Hawaii Chair is not dumb at all.
The Hawaii Chair promises to “take the work out of your workout” for a “slimmer, sexier you.” So now all those Quacker Factory fans can stuff their faces with Eskimo pies, watch cubic zirconias on QVC, and end up looking at hot as a Playboy centerfold.
And I have no doubt that the Hawaii Chair will not end up collecting dust in the back of a closet or corner of a garage along with the Ab Roller, AbTronic, Ab Lounge, Slendertone Ab Belt, and Red Exerciser—because, after all, those things were just gimmicks.
Also, using the Hawaii Chair won’t make you look like a fool at all. Check out the Hawaii Chair in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9_amg-Aos4

Let's dress up Henry

2009-02-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

Henry is often dressed up by
Charlotte and Simon. That is a pair
of her pants around his waist and a
doll shirt on his head. He seemed
to think it looked good.

Braided french bread

2009-02-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

1/2 C warm water
2 T Yeast
Dissolve together

2 C Warm water
3 T Sugar
1 T Salt
1/3 C Oil
6-7 C Flour

Dissolve the yeast with water. Mix in the remainder of the water, sugar, salt, oil and gradually the flour. Knead until smooth and elastic. Let rise until double in size (about 1-1/2 hrs). Punch down dough. Divide into two balls. Roll out into a rectangle 8 x 13. Visually divide the dough into thirds. With knife or pizza cutter cut 1 inch strips down both sides. Start at one end and fold strip into the uncut middle. Alternate from side to side with a downward angle. Oh how pretty. Tuck in the end pieces. Put on large cookie sheet. Let rise another 30 min. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Top with butter and enjoy.

I had to redeem myself

2009-02-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

So after the humiliating experience of the rolls
I made a couple weeks ago I had to redeem myself.
I made chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles

And Jeanette's amazing bread. It truly is my
favorite bread with homemade jam.

I got rave reviews from the kids

"This is disgusting"
"Why are these noodles so big?"
"I hate this"
"I don't like bread that is all twisted on top"

is this weird?

2009-01-28T13:03:00.001-08:00

This is weird isn't it
http://cgi.ebay.com/KRAFT-Macaroni-%26-Cheese-ORGANIC-White-Cheddar-3-boxes_W0QQitemZ140269512488QQcmdZViewItem

Express Lane

2009-01-24T17:39:00.000-08:00

Today I went to the grocery store and I

only had 3 items. I stood in the express lane

and the man in front of me had a cart full of

groceries so I decided to count them. He had

35 items. Included in the 35 items were black

silk boxers and Paris Hilton perfume. Must have

items.

Lunch & piercings

2009-01-23T12:45:00.000-08:00

Today I went to lunch with a friend and
the girl that was at the register had her wrist
pierced. I had never seen that before. I have
seen all of the basics including, ears, lips, eyebrow
even nipples but never the wrist. She just had
one hole with a shiny blue gem.

As I was searching googles images I came across
this and thought, wow, great idea. Practical and hip
all at the same time. Pierced on glasses. I would
definitely make sure they had lenses that would
auto tint when I go outside for the full effect.

Henry is 1

2009-01-22T10:11:00.001-08:00

since I rarely post pics of my most
adorable and perfect children I felt
I should post about Henry turning 1.

Testing out the frosting

Charlotte sporting the antlers, obvious

choice for a birthday

He then proceeded to stuff his

face

Very, very happy.

He was 21 lbs which was only 35%

and he was 65% for his height so

still my shortest child. As you can

see he is still very good looking.

My good looks are obviously very

strong.

6 Cars on death row

2009-01-21T10:50:00.000-08:00

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/844/6-cars-on-death-row/

I have some bad news for all of the hummer lovers

out there......it looks like the H4 will be put to rest this

year. I will be so sad. The inversion here is so

nasty I feel as if I don't dare to open the door

and breath the visible bad air. I hate knowing that

with the hummer leaving the air might improve

slightly.

Sister photos

2009-01-19T21:53:00.000-08:00

So my sister and I have been dying
to get our photo taken together in a studio.
I know, most of you prefer to do the "twilight"
thing with your sisters but my sister and I have
both held out on reading the series. I took Henry
last week to get his photo taken at Target for his
birthday and came across this little gem. I am
thinking I cannot wait until this summer to get
this done so my sister may have to fly down so
we can seal this deal. You need to let me know
if you are interested in a wallet sized copy. I was
thinking tuxedo tops, top hats and a skirt?

Rolls

2009-01-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

We have family dinner once a month with the Stoker
family. Yesterday I was assigned to bring the rolls.
I just recently got a new cookbook and decided to try
a new recipe. I made the dough before church and
came home to find the dough had not risen at all.
I put them in the oven on 100 degrees and still not
much happened. I rolled out the dough and made the
rolls hoping they would somehow turn out. You can
see in the picture below they turned out large & fluffy.
The roll is between a regular sized spoon and a piece
of corn.

Why we love utah

2009-01-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

Charlotte told me this morning that she wanted
to go to the dentist and that is her very favorite
thing about moving to Utah.

I found an amazing radio station last week that made
my day. I was in a bit of a dreary mood. It was an
overcast day and I felt sleepy as I was driving. I was
flipping through radio stations and had to stop when I heard
"eye of the tiger"
Instantly my mood was changed. What is it about that
song? I need to add it to my gym mix. The next song was
"La Bamba" need I say more.

on a different note....I was brushing my teeth yesterday
when I suddenly realized it was David's toothbrush. You
have to understand, even though he is my husband, I won't
even share a drink with him....ever. I felt as if I might throw
up. I then thought about his dirty teeth germs all over the
toothbrush and I went crazy with the listerine.

Simon didn't make the jump

2009-01-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

Charlotte made the jump

Simon didn't make the jump and was a little bit unhappy

Padded shorts

2009-01-01T20:20:00.000-08:00

So I was on Overstock.com looking for some

padded shorts and I found these. Wow, I would

be protected from all angles. It says the sellout risk

for these is High. I can only imagine. They are called

"Hilbilly Extra Large Butt Pads" yes, they really are.

Here is the link to them if you are interested

http://www.overstock.com/Sports-Toys/Hilbilly-Extra-Large-Butt-Pads/3185393/product.html

Spinning class

2008-12-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

So I am kicking my exercising up a notch since

I am basically the same weight as when Henry

was a month old. I have never been to a spinning

class and figured it was an hour of exercise vs. 30

minutes. I was super nervous that I would look

stupid.....

I got into the class a little bit late. I got onto a bike

and tried to adjust it. The seat was super high.

Finally I got it right and a man comes in about

5 minutes later and says "you are on my bike"

I apologize and he says "Did you really not notice

my water bottle right there?"

"Nope, sorry I didn't"

I am feeling stupid at this point and pick a new

bike(there were 8 others empty in the room)

I then get it adjusted I think but the seat still feels

a little bit high. I am trying to act like I know what

I am doing and I realize that everyone in class has on

bike shorts and cycling shoes. I really stick out I

realize. I continue on. About 15 minutes later I realize

that every part of me that is on the seat is killing. It

continues to get worse and by the end I am dying.

I go up to the instructor after and ask for her help

on adjusting so I am not in so much pain. She tells me

about some cream that is called "Assos" that you rub

on before class, wow. She says she couldn't tell that
I had never been in a spin class before and a few men

pipe in

"I noticed you were waddling all around"

"Your seat looked too hight"

"Your hands were in the wrong place"

I took some Tylenol before I went to bed. I think I

need to get a doughnut to sit on, literally. My whole

bottom feel bruised. Not sure if I will be going back

to that class.

Christmas idea #2 & #3

2008-12-24T06:23:00.000-08:00

https://www.freesnuggie.com/?mid=523259

If you are like most people the "snuggie" is at the

top of your christmas list. This is for anyone who

is unfortunate enough to not have heard of this amazing

concept. The blanket with sleeves. So innovative.

I have been wearing my robe backwards for all of these

years and now I don't have too. Please watch this video

if you haven't already seen it. It even comes with a free

light, wow. It is also great for those of you who have

problems getting your hands out from under your

blanket. It also encourages you to wear this to

sporting events, total fashion statement.

The second item that is a must have for all of

you busy people out there are "Shuffles" It is a

mop on a shoe. It says that the family fights over

who gets to wear the shuffles. They walk around

wearing these with bare feet even. It looks as if they

are having the time of their lives dancing around

and cleaning. Somehow their little kids are

entertained with something else and not interested

in grabbing these and putting them in their mouth, so put

that worry aside. You can thank me later.

Merry Christmas.

https://www.getshuffles.com/flare/next

Christmas gift idea #1

2008-12-19T08:38:00.000-08:00

If you have been looking for a cologne that smells
like meat your needs have finally been met.
Burger King recently came up with a cologne
appropriately named "Flame" It is described as
smelling like seduction with a hint of broiled meat.
Getting excited already aren't you. If you go to the site
below it goes through a series of seductive and
romantic images. My favorite being the king
himself on a bear rug, barely covered up with a small
blanket in front of a fire.

http://www.firemeetsdesire.com/

The best news is that it is only $3.99, I know, I cannot
believe it either.

Here are a few of the reviews I have found

"I received FLAME as a gift. I sprayed 2 sprays on before I left for work one morning. As I walked into my place of work ALL the women from the Customer Service flocked around me wanting to eat me. They were licking me like they lick the juice from the Whopper. Wanting to devour me. I had to scream for help. My boss came and had to beat them off me. As all the ladies went back to their desk they couldn't seem to control themselves. Luckily I got out of there alive. My boss advised me not to wear that cologne to work again. Later that day as I went out to do my work, going from house to house...ladies were wanting attacking me like vampires. I got HUGE tips (not just money)through out the day just for wearing this cologne. THANK BK!"

"At first I was a little wary of your product, I mean, I've tried other things to help maintain my "chick magnet" status, such as the infamous "wolf sweater" or maybe just a pair of hot pants, but I really was missing the ultimate compliment to my attire, the Whopper Flame. Now the ladies literally want to eat me, literally....if only they had the fry vat body spray as I'm tired of wearing 5 hour old "Big Mac special sauce deodorant" wearing off and smelling like milk left in the sun for 3 days. It's folks who create stuff like this that are the "real men of genius.""

Christmas work party

2008-12-18T10:23:00.001-08:00

David's work party was last night and we were
a little worried because we were told we could
not wear any denim. Denim is my basic "go to"
for any formal event. I have a great denim
jumper that always seems to steer me in the right
direction. I found as I searched online a denim
wedding dress, who knew. I included the photo below.
If only I had researched that before my wedding.

This is the type of dress I was hoping

to wear to the party.

David just loves these "napkins with a tie"

They are the "2 birds with 1 stone idea" He

felt that sometimes the Tuxedo t-shirt was a

little bit too dressy so this is the perfect alternative.

Week in review

2008-12-17T08:06:00.000-08:00

This past week has been pretty good. It started
out bad last Wednesday when I woke up and went
to the gym to find a sign on the door that read
"this location is now closed" I am in mourning
still and have since found a new, and not as nice
gym.

I have a habit of looking for split ends while
watching tv, sitting at stop lights, etc. The other
night I was in the kitchen and I found the most
amazing split hair ever. I counted it had at least
12 splits in it. The picture does not do it justice.
You need to enlarge to appreciate it.

I then got gas for $1.35 per gal.

My sister Linda came in town for the weekend
to celebrate my parents farewell for their
mission to Tonga for the next 18 months.

The whole family went down to Temple Square
to look at the lights and eat dinner. It was a
blizzard all day, and the coldest day of the winter
so far.

We decorated a beautiful gingerbread house

Attempted to get a cute picture of the kids

Last but certainly not least we have a new member
of the family. Simon made him and his name is
Bob. Simon told me that if you touch his nose
"he will pee, lots of pee"

Do as i'm doing

2008-12-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

While Simon is eating he will often make weird
faces or do dance moves and ask if I can do the
same thing. Last night he lifted up his shirt and
pinched his "nips" and asked me if I can do that
also. I wasn't really in the mood to do it during
dinner, so I said no. I came across this great
picture when I Googled "nipple twisting" I feel
quite unfortunate that I do not know any of these
men, especially the man in the front.

indecent exposure, dog, kids, ice cream

2008-12-09T20:10:00.000-08:00

When I was at the gym I went into the locker
room to weigh myself. There is a blow dryer
attached to the wall about 15" from the scale.
When I walked in a lady was blow drying her
hair and all she had on were a pair of underwear.
I didn't quite know what to do so I went into the
bathroom to figure it out. I decided since she was
fine with wearing nothing then I would have to
be fine with it. I proceeded to the scale, acting
as if I didn't even notice. She finished with blow
drying her hair as I stepped off the scale and she
almost ran into me, thankfully not. Bad part...
still no weight loss. I then came home to this

Ruth and Mary were dressed up for Christmas.
Simon was dressed up as a Christmas ninja.

That is a bag around my dog Mary's neck. The
tissue paper was put in place to make it look even
nicer. Then it was off to music class. Today was
parents day so David and I were able to go and
see Charlotte dance. Grandma Stoker came over
to be with Simon and Henry so that was very
nice. The cute little lady below is 85 and her name
is Ruby. She hugs all of the girls and tells them
how much she loves them, she is adorable.

Below is my beautiful daughter

getting in a good pickin. Yep, that

is the same daughter who also

just pooped on my front lawn.

Showing off her moves

We then took Simon to preschool and Charlotte

caught the bus. We ran some errands and then

Charlotte had a dance thing at school so we went

to watch.

Henry was trying to participate

We then went and picked up Simon from

school, dropped Henry off at my parents and went

to see "Santa vs. the snowman" at the Imax

theater.

Afterwards we went to see Santa, while hoping

our house wasn't being robbed like it was last year

while we were seing Santa. The kids got cool

reindeer hats as a souvenir.

I had to bribe Charlotte with an ice cream cone

to sit on Santa's lap. She was super freaked out.

Really, had to bribe my kid to sit on Santa's lap,

she has a tough life.

While the kids were eating their ice cream I

asked Simon if he had a great day and he said

"no, I have had a sad day"

Wow!

Kids yoga

2008-12-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

Today Charlotte's bus rode right past our house
so I had to hurry and pack up the kids to get her
to school. We were a couple of minutes late and
when I arrived the teacher had all of the kids on
the rug doing yoga. Charlotte doesn't really tell
me much about school so I had no idea she was
doing yoga at school. I think I may start taking the
bus with her and get in a daily yoga session.

Gym commercials

2008-12-06T10:41:00.000-08:00

So I mentioned the Obama coin commercial
at the gym in my last post. Below is a link if you
want to own this little beauty. I have ordered
one and plan to put it in my curio cabinet next
to my doll collection.
https://www.obamacoins.tv/flare/next?tag=EDSMGOTM

I decided that I must be missing out on some
really great commericals at the gym so today I
tried to pay closer attention. Luckily I did because
I have been stumped on what to get Davey for Christmas.
The perfect gift came up....The micro force razor.
It is smaller than a credit card, and the best part is
you can shave while swimming underwater. Dave
is always at the pool and has such a hard time finding
the time to shave because of it, so the solution is
simple. They actually show a guy swimming under
water and shaving.

The gym

2008-12-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

I usually get to see some entertaining
things at the gym and today was no exception.
I recognize most of the people there because the
same people are there at the same time as me.
Today there was a new guy and I quickly noticed
him. My sister told me about the new Obama
coins that she always sees ads for while at the gym
so I just took glances at the man while hoping to
see the fabulous Obama coins(found out they are
great 24K gold, wow). Anyway, this man looked
to be about 80 years old. I think he was new to the
gym scene because he was wearing a pair of jeans
with a button up shirt that was tucked in and a belt
to complete his gym attire. He seemed to be very picky
about his treadmill, he knew what he needed to
get the most out of his work out time. It was a bit like
Goldilocks the way he proceeded.
Treadmill #1 - Turns it on, scopes it out for 3 seconds
Treadmill #2 - Turns it on, scopes it out for 3 seconds
Treadmill, well you get the point.
Treadmill #9 proved to be the winner for the day. He
turns it on, gets all of the settings perfect, sets the speed
to 5 MPH and then tucks his hands into his pockets. Why
have I never thought to tuck my hands into my pockets
while working out, great idea though.
My mom makes really loud puffing sounds through her mouth
and shoots her hands into the air one at a time which
I think must really help the workout.

Just for a laugh you need to watch the link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H62VUclX6mI
Even if you do not watch Amazing Race you should
find the humor in this guys coordination skills. He compares
military marching to the ballet.

Gluttonous

2008-12-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

Today I took my kids to Target and on the way

I saw 3 dead deer and 1 dead bird. Next to the

Target is a frozen yogurt place called "Red mango"

I had never been there before so I decided to take

my kids. I got 2 small plain yogurts, one with

strawberries on it. Simon & Charlotte shared and

Henry and I shared. The size small was 4 oz which

was actually really big for a small. If you compare

to other places it is more like a medium size. Anyway,

they also have Medium that is 8 oz and a Large which

is 12 ounces. The large was enormous, especially

when you consider it is always filled up over the top.

I saw a man in the corner reading a book and he had

finished one large and was finishing up his second.

The man working asked him if he was ready for his

other yogurts and continued to make him 2 more

large yogurts with toppings. He took the 2 yogurts

home with him. I cannot imagine how someone can

consume so much food in one sitting.

2008-11-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

check this out
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/26/football-star-urlacher-pa_n_146668.html

after reading this maybe I should be
in trouble for always letting Simon dress
up in anything he wanted and defending
him if Charlotte ever tried to tell him it
wasn't okay. And also for always painting
his toes when Charlotte and I were doing
ours, even pink if he wanted. Kids are only
innocent for such a short period of time, I
hate to see it end sooner than it has to. The
other day Simon had a friend over and he only
wanted to wear the dresses because he was
"twirling" Simon only wanted to wear the racecar
driver or Buzz lightyear. I was actually sad to see
that he now thinks he cannot wear anything just
for the heck of it.

Proud parenting moments

2008-11-25T16:29:00.001-08:00

A couple days ago Charlotte
was playing outside. The people
across the street were visiting the
home they had just bought. A bunch
of people were outside enjoying the
beautiful weather.......

Charlotte comes in and says
"Hey mom, watch your step out front
because I pooed on the front lawn."

Mom "wow, really, show me."

I of course had my camera in hand for this.

Sure enough very large evidence right on the
front lawn next to the road.

I did take several photos of this, including
one of Charlotte doing a thumbs up but I
am not able to get my memory card reader to
work right now.

We thought we had a great story when a couple
of years ago we were in South Carolina at the
outlet mall and we found Charlotte in front of
Pottery Barn peeing.

I think it is safe to say that story has been upped,
the bar has been raised.

when I questioned why she thought this was ok
her reply

"I had to poo really bad and I didn't feel like
walking inside"

Soccer

2008-11-19T15:25:00.000-08:00

I have always thought that Charlotte would love soccer.
Every year(this was the third year) she has hated it.
This year she would just stand in the field during the
game and yell "this is boring"
Before her last game I asked Davey to take some
pictures of her since I didn't get any all season. Her facial
expressions really sum up how she feels about soccer.

Gym

2008-11-18T09:12:00.000-08:00

Are we born with the thought of
always having to find the closest parking
spot? I do wherever I am. I have even
noticed lately that I always do it at the gym.
You would think I would at least try to park
further away at the gym, but it is as if
I don't want to take any extra steps if I
don't have to.

Hummer Club

2008-11-05T10:46:00.001-08:00

If you have 5 minutes I recommend you watch
this video. I love Stephen Colbert and he shares
my love for Hummers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzocbxQTr0Y

Giving away kids

2008-10-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081029/ap_on_re_us/safe_haven

So I have heard how you can drop off your baby at a hospital
if you do not want it, but this article totally threw me off.

Halloween stuff

2008-10-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

Halloween is my very favorite holiday. I love

the leaves, crisp air, the decorations, etc. I have

found a ton of things around town to do with the

kids. Here is some of the stuff we have done this

past week.

WHEELER FARM

Henry stuck in his stroller, again.

Charlotte's School Carnival

Simon as a wizard

Henry in the stroller again, as a monster.

The "Scary jawbone guy" about

sent Simon into a seizure. I

had the boy take off his "head"

and show Simon it was pretend

but didn't work so well. Eventually

David took Simon to the car while

I finished up with Charlotte inside.

GALLIVAN CENTER

Simon was a little hesistant of "Vince" at first

but then was excited when he learned he was

handing out stuff.

Henry having a good ol' time in

his stroller.

CANYON RIM PARK

There were tons of craft booths and games

and then.........

we came upon the best part of the week.

From afar it was just a lady, hanging out with a

paper plate on her face.

Side view

Coming closer.

You can see that she has cut a hole and her glasses

and nose go through the plate, genius.

Then of course we saw this sign when we

were driving away and I had to get a picture.

Then we knew where to go for dinner....

Taco Bell of course.

Going out to eat with Simon

2008-10-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided I didn't feel like cooking.
We went to Red Robin. They bring endless
steak fries, we ordered a milk shake, the kids
had Scooby Doo coloring menus. They were
loving it.......and then.....Simon spilled water
on his shirt. The obvious solution?
Take off the shirt of course.

Simon counts

2008-10-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I asked Simon how high
he can count. He got up to 5 and I
said
"What is next?"
he replied
"5 1/2"

Hummer update

2008-10-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

Today when I was walking out of the gym &
XXL drove up. I hurried and got into my
car because I wanted to see what type of
person would be driving it. The windows were
so tinted I could not see until they got out.
It literally took them 5 minutes to park the
beast.
Was it a young mother trying to lose those last 10 lbs?
Was it a cocky teenage boy with rich parents?
Was it a grandma with a kick in her step?
Was it a 50 year old single woman who was
ready to kick life up a notch?
Was it a 45 year old man in the midst of his
mid-life crisis?

Nope.....just a personal trainer from the gym.
big surprise.

Hummer

2008-10-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

I really hate Hummers. I feel embarassed for the person

driving them. I saw on wife swap once where the "new" wife

made the husband drive a hummer around his "environmentally

stable" neighborhood and he was completely horrified. I would

feel the same way. I just picture a total meathead who never

recycles anything driving it around. Today when I was driving

out of the gym a guy was driving into the parking lot in a orange

Hummer with a license plate that read

"XXL"

Things I hate

2008-10-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

So most people put on their blog "Things they love" or
tributes to their kids or husband on birthdays, anniversaries
or other holidays. Not me, my kids and Davey are
great but...I need to express some things that I do not like

1. Getting shots from the dentist
2. Being numb for 4.5 hours after the
dentist gave me shot and I am still numb
3. Blisters
4. Hang nails
5. Taking pills with water
6. Homeless people with dogs
7. Throwing away left over or bad meat
8. Shirts that are not quite long enough
9. White socks with dark shoes
10. Paper cuts
11. That I love chocolate and french fries

Kids questions

2008-10-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

Simon has been asking me some random questions today(weird I know)

"Why do we have lips?"
"Why do we have 2 arms?"
etc...
So I asked him tonight at dinner
"Why do you have ears?"
he replied
"to listen"
then I asked
"Why do we have eyebrows?"
he replied
"So when you get mad at us they can scrunch down and come together"
oh, of course that is the reason.

Stoker kid updates

2008-10-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

Henry was 9 months old yesterday. He was 20 lbs. He went from 79% for weight and 85% for length at 4 months to 45% for weight and 37% for length. He is shrinking apparently. He is eating everything, crawling everywhere & laughing all the time.

Simon told Davey yesterday at breakfast that "it is really hard being a kid these days"

Charlotte got put on the Power Mat at school because she hit a boy at school and made him cry. I asked her why and she said "he was staring at me" I said "maybe he thought you were pretty" and she responded "no way"

Diet coke or Diarrhea

2008-10-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Simon and I are at the grocery store. We pass the Coke and he tells me that is what his babysitters like to drink. Then he says "what is the drink called that you like, diarrhea?"
Um, no, it is called Diet Coke.
Later that night I ask Simon if he knows what diarrhea is and he said "poo"

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2008-10-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

These cupcakes are so amazing. Kaylynn Osmond made them for Jeanette Anderson and I snuck one and was hooked.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
4 eggs
2 C sugar
3/4 C vegetable oil
1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin
2 C all purpose flour
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 t ground cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Add to pumpkin mixture and beat until well mixed. Fill paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire rack to cool completely.

Filling
Blend 4 oz cream cheese with 1/4 C of sugar. Whip 1/2 C of whipping cream adding sugar and vanilla to taste. Then mix the cream cheese mixture with the whipping cream.

Using a sharp knife, cut a 1 inch circle, 1 inch deep in the top of each cupcake. Carefully remove tops and set aside. Spoon or pipe filling into cupcakes. Replace tops

Yummy

Since the frosting is inside it is much easier for the kids to eat and also guarantees frosting in every bite.

Another makover

2008-10-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

I am trying to decide for real if I should
cut my hair or not. I never am happy with
my hair. I married into a family with 6
girls who always have cute, perfect hair and
I just cannot seem to figure out what to do.
I am spending too much time doing these stupid
makeovers. You have to admit, I look pretty good
above though, right. The braid, spikes, glasses,
it is all great. Stoker girls, you need to
help me out here. Should I cut my hair?

I did this makeover on ivillage.com. They have
tons of "accessories" like the hats and glasses.
Charlotte really thinks this is the coolest thing
Here is her makeover. she did it all herself

Makeover

2008-10-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

if you thought I was beautiful before, look
at me now. I saw on a friends blog a
website where you can give yourself
a makeover. When I saw Afro
was a hair option I had to see. I am
convinced I need to make a hair
appt ASAP. The makeup looks nice too
don't you think?

the website is www.taaz.com