What a Bummer!

This past Friday Dave and I were supposed to be at the Celine Dion concert. I have been wanting to see Celine in concert for approximately 15 years. Dave bought me tickets to her World Tour concert last year for Christmas. He totally surprised me. I had no idea, and it was a great surprise. I am really hard to surprise, so he deserves a lot of credit, and I was so excited to go. Way to go honey!

Unfortunately, Celine developed a throat infection last week and had to postpone her concert date in Utah to February 22nd. If you check your calendar, you'll see that February 22nd is a Sunday. Needless to say, I am not very happy about this whole thing. At first I was not too sure what she was thinking scheduling a Sunday concert in Utah, but then I realized it unfortunately will probably not affect the concert much at all. It wasn't an issue for us, and I'm glad about that because that would not have always been the case. So we're returning the tickets and getting our money back, but no concert. What a bummer.

The concert cancellation did bring about one good thing. When I first heard it was postponed to a Sunday, Dave and I already knew what we'd be doing and I was in a really really bad mood. But Dave had a teaching moment in mind, so we talked to Austin, Jackson, and London about our situation. They knew I'd been looking forward to the concert and they both felt really bad for me. It was kind of touching actually that they were so sad for me. So Dave asks them what they thought we should do and if we should still go even on a Sunday, and right then a "Hallelujah" parent moment came shining through. We heard things from them like "You'll feel bad if you go because you know it's not right" and "Heavenly Father will bless you if you keep the Sabbath Day holy" and "You'll be choosing the right even though you'll be sad about the concert." I was so happy and so relieved and so grateful that they'd heard and understood what we had taught them and that they truly understood the principle even when it came to giving up something that is really wanted. It is so hard to tell if they are even listening let alone if they could actually apply the principle and understand the reasoning behind it. So I am missing a concert I've waited 15 years for, but I know that my children understand the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. That's a sacrifice I can handle.


So instead on Friday, we went to Twilight with Bret and Paula. Someone at Dave's work had rented out an entire theater and was just selling the tickets on her own. She had a few extras as of Friday morning, so we decided to go. It is no secret that I'm not much of a Twlight fan. The whole vampire thing is just not for me, and there is a bunch of other goofy stuff that I didn't like about the book.

Anyway, I thought the movie was pretty good. I liked it better than the book (Dave says that is just because it didn't take as long, and he might have a point ...) . I didn't love the movie, but I definitely didn't hate it. I won't spoil it for you, but if you haven't seen it in the next couple of months or so, I'm not sure I'll be able to hold back on the stuff I want to make fun of. If you are a die hard Twilight lover, you'll probably love the movie. I can say I was entertained, even if it was by a vampire love story. Yikes. We went to Applebee's for dinner afterwards and met up with Greg and Stephanie. We had a great time at dinner and laughed so hard. The evening ended up being really fun, and I even forgot about the concert for a while. Oh well.

A Deal To Share

Sorry about the horrible picture. I had to use my phone. The memory card on my new camera won't work, so it is on it's way back to Costco tomorrow.

Anyway, I found a GREAT deal, and I thought I'd share. There is a store called Sunflower Farmers Market in Orem just south of University Mall in that complex with Panda Express and America's Best. It is a health foods type store, and they have some great deals on produce. This week they have Sunkist naval oranges for 25 cents a pound. Wow! So this whole box of oranges cost me $9.50. What a steal! And we tried them, and they are good oranges. So there you go ... if you're in the neighborhood of University Mall, try out the new little market.

It's About Time

So, this picture means a couple of things. First of all, I was alone, so it means that I asked a total stranger to take my picture on my cell phone in front of a Maverick gas station just for your benefit. Second of all, since I started this bike ride at my house and I never left the paved trail, it means the trail from the city center to the Ranches is officially connected after YEARS of wondering why on earth this city insists on paving the trails in little unconnected sections all over the place and then just taunts us with the prospect of a completed trail. So anyway, it is done, finally, and our family is taking advantage of it for sure. I rode to Maverick once by myself with the company of London's new iPod and a new workout mix. And no I didn't buy a 5-year-old an iPod. She saved up her own $50 and bought it herself. Well she goes to school for three hours a day, and she can share - right?

Our family went for a ride on Saturday. London is finally big enough to keep up pretty well on her little pink Barbie bike with streamers flying out from the handle bars, so T.J. had the bike trailer all to himself. He was happy about that for sure. He just spends the whole ride yelling at whoever is pulling him to go faster. See, we don't need a personal trainer. T.J. yells at us for free.

I rode to the Chevron in the Ranches with my friend Peggy yesterday, and I had to pull T.J. in the trailer. Wow! That is a tough ride pulling 60 pounds behind me. It was a great workout. Unfortunately it was also a little slower than anticipated and I was late picking up London from school. Whoops. So I like that trail heading into The Ranches because it is such a great workout. It goes up and down the whole way and is a good interval workout (and if you think it is too easy, come pick up T.J. and pull him along). Anyway, we're excited about this trail, and it has been fun to see it come to completion. So if you're ever wanting to go for a bike ride around 9:30 in the morning, you know where to find me.

What a GREAT idea!

Shortly after Dave and I transplanted our family to Eagle Mountain, my brilliant sister, Melanie (turns out she's older AND smarter), came up with a simply fabulous idea, and four and a half years later, we've hardly missed a week. Her idea? Date night of course. The arrangement is simply wonderful in every possible way, so if you're prone to jealousy ... consider yourself warned.

Every other weekend Dave and I get a date night on Friday night, and as of the last year or so, it includes a sleepover for the kids until 9:00 Saturday morning. So, twice a month, we are kid-free for approximately 17 hours, and we can do WHATEVER WE WANT. Sometimes we go out with friends and sometimes we go alone, but we always have fun.

So these pictures are from one of our "there are no good movies playing and it is too cold for a bike ride or tennis" dates and guess what happens when there are no good movies playing and it is too cold to be outside? We spent nearly $300 on groceries, a new coat for Dave, new shoes for Dave, new pants for me, books, Christmas presents, treats, etc. Movies are only $16 and biking and tennis are free. What the heck?!!

Sometimes Dave isn't off work or done flying by the time I drop off the kids, so then I get a few hours alone shopping before date night even starts. Awesome. So we get to go to dinner (we have to eat - right?) at a place without a playground or nuggets or little juice boxes. This last weekend we picked Chili's for one of Dave's typical "bigger than my head" hamburgers with bacon and a whole bunch of other junk on it, and I ordered some seemingly harmless chicken dish with tomatoes and cilantro that was really good, but then there was this weird gristle thing in the chicken, and that was the end of that ... So, Dave, as usual, was regretting his menu choice before we made it home, and mine came home in a to-go box for him to reheat for lunch. No surprises there. And did you know Chili's is now charging $2.99 for their FREE chips and salsa? When did that happen?

Anyway, we love movies, so we usually go to a movie after dinner, but sometimes shopping, tennis, biking, and coming up in two weeks, the Celine Dion concert that Dave bought me tickets for last year for Christmas (yeah!!!). Of course, like any other couple in their 30's with four kids, we almost always stop by Wal-Mart or Smiths or some other highly functional store like that in the middle of the night for things like garbage bags or toilet paper. We are kind of night owls when it comes to date night. I think our record is like 2:30 a.m. or so. I can't believe we can even stay up that late anymore. It is kind of fun to be out like teenagers again, and when you can sleep in until 9:00 ... why not? This last Saturday I had a spinning class at 7:00 in the morning, so we didn't stay out too late, but we still had a great time.

So the flip side is that every other Friday night I have nine kids at my house which includes 8 boys ranging in age from 11 to 1 and 1 firecracker little 5-year-old girl who holds her own just fine. Since we got the Wii, the older four are taken care of, and it turns out, when left to their own devices, they will play that thing for six hours straight (we tried it). They barely took a break for food or drink. I don't get it. Since we started the sleepover program, baby Dallin is in bed by 7:00, Chase and T.J. are down at 8:00, London and Cameron are in bed by 8:30, Austin, Jackson, Colby, and Landon are down at 9:00, and the rest of the night is ours (Cafe Rio and a Redbox movie). Could this get any cooler?!!

Halloween Week 2008

I'm not exactly sure when Halloween turned into a week-long celebration dripping with sugar. I suppose it was around the time that Christmas started in August. All I know is we have been Halloween partying for a week straight, and even a little before that. My kids had their fun Halloween party with Grandma and Grandpa Morton and the Webbs a few weeks ago, and that helped a lot to spread things out ... everything else was in the last 5 days. We had a Leatherwood family Halloween party Monday night. Dave and I went as Storm and Professor X from the X-Men (picture above).

We had a ward Trunk-or-Treat on Wednesday night, the school Halloween carnival Thursday night, a Trick-or-Treat Street in Pleasant Grove with the Webbs, Grandma and Grandpa Morton, and Grandma and Grandpa Tischner (what a fun surprise!) on Friday, another Trunk or Treat at the Grove Ward building in Pleasant Grove, and of course Trick or Treating Friday night. WOAH!

We let the four older boys go trick or treating on their own for a while, and they really "covered some ground" according to them without having to wait for the "old people." How rude. Dave and I stayed home and played Settlers of Catan with Melanie and Jason. It was our first time playing that game (I know, you're all shocked), and I think we got the hang of it. We'll have to play again sometime ...


So it turns out, with all of these events, we have a RIDICULOUS amount of candy. So, we're sticking with our trick of years past and stashing a bunch (2 gallon-size Ziploc bags full) of chocolate for their Christmas stockings. SSHHHHH. Don't tell. They'll never notice. Are you kidding me?!! I can't believe how much candy they have. Keep in mind, these bowls in the picture above are the biggest bowls I have. Hello?!!!


Dave didn't feel a bit bad amout scaring his poor little old patients all day with his scary mask and rotten teeth and hair. He works in a skilled nursing facility, so scaring someone "to death" is actually a valid concern. He loves Halloween. In fact, he's worse than the kids. So, I made the mistake of letting him go to the costume store alone, and this is what happened. Mental note to self, never again. Grandma Tischner apparently wasn't too scared. She's braver than me. I didn't go near him all day. That get-up gives me the creeps.




For the first time ever, the kids each picked one Halloween costume each and wore it to all corresponding Halloween events this year. Usually, we have a couple of switches at least during the week (i.e., Cinderella to a Power Ranger to a Cow Girl in three day's time last year). My kids really love to dress up, and they use their costumes year round, so I don't mind getting costumes for Halloween. However, it turns out Austin and Jackson's costumes were ridiculously expensive, so I only offered to pay half. They gladly turned over $16 each of their own allowance for these costumes. That is more than a month's worth. You can tell that they love them. We have a massive dress-up box downstairs that gets well used all year round by my kids and anyone else's kids who come over. I guess we'll just add these to the collection.




So I have to admit that I don't really like Halloween. In fact, I quite dislike. I don't like anything creepy, bloody, scary, gross, etc. I can't stand violence or gore at all. So, Halloween is not my thing. I happened to marry someone who LOVES Halloween and LOVES dressing up and LOVES scaring people, etc. and all my kids inherited this LOVE from Dave, so here I am. I do love seeing how much they love it, and I supposed that's enough for me.

Pumpkins and Trains

T.J.'s preschool class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch this week as part of Halloween Week 2008. There is this cute little pumpkin patch on about 4th South and Geneva Road in Orem and it is geared towards preschool age kids. They have a pumpkin patch, corn maze, playground, and a little petting zoo. They also have a "spook alley" that is not scary but is just full of lights and fun Halloween things without all the rotten stuff. It was a fun place, and T.J. and I had a great time!

His favorite part was definitely when the train roared right by the pumpkin patch place. It was funny because T.J. and I were just walking over to see the animals, and he just stopped and said "Listen Mom ... you hear that?" I didn't hear anything and tried to move him along since his group was leaving us in the dust. He wasn't moving, and sure enough, a big long train came right by us. We were probably 25 feet away from it, and T.J. was in an absolute trance. He didn't move. He loves trains, probably more than anything else, and this train was definitely the highlight of his day ... and probably his week.

He got to pick a pumpkin to bring home as part of the field trip. Grandma helped him decorate it with stickers, and he proudly posted it right at the front door so you actually had to step over it to get in the house. We've moved it to a better spot now, but I'll have to be really sneaky to get rid of this Halloween decoration (I would think it would rot and start to smell at some point - right?). He loves his pumpkin, and he's still talking about the train.