Insta Friday (Introducing The Gnome). Friday Brain dump (We're Spur of the Moment People). And Weekend Plans (Learning How to Lip Sync).

Welcome to Insta Friday, where I'm linking up and telling the stories behind my instagram pics.

(I'm thecircus6 on instagram if you want to follow).

And then, just as a warning, you get a brain dump of the tidbits that I haven't blogged about yet.

Totally worth it.

On our bi-weekly grocery shopping trip we found the most awesome gnome.

We bought it for pranking purposes.

The first day of school happened.

In the middle of August.

I swear it gets earlier every year.  But this is so the kids can have more time off during the school year, which used to stress me out when I was a working mom of young children.  Like, stress me out.  But now that they're older it's just like, just keep the house clean, yo.  And don't leave Cali alone.  Word.

Speaking of getting older... I already shared these pics but I'm sharing them again because I love them.

You all can officially stop growing right now.  I didn't want to pause them as babies or toddlers, but right here would be a good place to pause them.

I hear a lot that Brynn is my mini-me.  I don't usually hear it with the other three.

But when I posted this picture of Casidee people thought it was me at first, which makes me happy because I kind of  wish my daughters did look like me.

That random plant growing in our yard that we didn't plant, but let grow out of curiosity sake, and I really wanted it to be a pumpkin in my front yard? (here)

So is. (Eek, shriek, and jumping for joy).

But it only has one pumpkin on the entire vine.

I ran to the store to get Brynn a specific notebook that her teacher was requesting.  The ones we'd already bought weren't the "right" kind.

The Man sent me a text to grab something for him while I was there, only to have my phone go off right next to him on the couch.

I'd forgotten it.

When I got home, my background was The Gnome.

We're getting our money's worth with it already.

A new semester started for me this week too.

If I have to get up and take a math class before work, at least I get to be greeted with a sunrise like this.

The first day of school is for moms too.

Here we go again.  But I graduate this spring from the community college and will head up to the U of U to finally work on the fun classes for my bachelor's.

My first day of school selfie.

Mornings wouldn't so bad if it weren't for the waking up part.

They were really pretty this week.

I was clearing of Pioneer Day photos from my phone to (finally) blog about it when I found this one that one of The Circus had taken.

My cutest friend Jen found this picture frame and bought it for me.

I printed off one of the pictures from our family photoshoot that just happened a couple of weeks ago and set it up on my desk.

I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures.  This was just one she sent me as a preview, to tease me and get me all excited for the rest.

It worked.

And, Jen, I love the frame, thank you!

Now for my friday brain dump:

I had Chick-fil-A for lunch because I received an email inviting me to apply to be on a panel of mom's for them.

Which I really want to do.

So if I eat Chick-fil-A right after filling out that application then it's like bonus karma points, right?

And also, the Chick-fil-A by my work serves breakfast.

Shut the front door!

Also, we are a very spur of the moment family, but it occurred to me why this week.  I've been making plans with friends to head up to the Fairy Forest and see all the wonders there, and in so doing have changed the day of our outing twice.  And now we have it set up for another day, except The Man just planned a camping/riding trip for that weekend and booked our spot and all so... I get to change my Fairy Forest day again.

We're spur of the moment people because even when we make plans, other things come up spur of the moment and I have to change plans.  I don't like planning, it's a lot of work to coordinate and be annoying and change the plans, again.  I don't even want to tell my friends that I need to change the Fairy Forest date, I feel slightly embarrassed.  I'd rather just send out texts a day in advance, or a couple hours, and say, hey, we're going, come if you can.  And then if they can, they can.

Because, you know, people should be waiting around for my spur of the moment invite...

Dear friends, I'm sorry.  I know I have issues.

Also, life just feels so full and so exciting right now.  It's like I'm walking on super charged cloud nine.  Everything is so beautiful and perfect and full of promise.

I don't know how I got on this ride, but I don't want to get off anytime soon.

Weekend plans:

Make a lip sync video with The Circus.  I want to learn how.  They're my guinea pigs.  Anyone have any tips?

Church carnival where I get to help with both the cake walk and the face painting.

Possibly the Fairy Forest?  But Jayme will be with her mom so probably not because we want her to go too.

And that's all I have.  I guess we'll have to make this weekend up as we go along, you know, spur of the moment.

What are your weekend plans?

Insta Friday #4. And More Valentine's Day.

The stories behind this week's Instagram pictures.

I'm @thecircus6 if you want to follow along.

A lot of times when I have to drive my kid to meet their dad in the winter, we are met with snowstorms that make the drive... hard.

I curse the snow on all sorts of levels while trying to maintain that I'm grateful for the moisture that our desert state needs for the summer months.

And often times the storm changes during the drive.  What was snowing and blowing and freezing just an hour and half earlier is clearing up on the return side of the drive.

That leaves me with mountain sunsets like these:

All those pictures where taken on the same drive.  Sometimes the beauty just catches hold of my attention and I can't deny that I love living where there are mountains.  And though driving for 3 hours to meet my ex is not on my top favorite things to do list, I can't deny that my drive is spectacular.

Sometimes I can't tell where the white, snow covered mountains end and the clouds start.

 Our elementary school holds a 6th grade Valentine's dance.  The kids have dance cards where they sign up with partners for each dance (though most of it is just different types of line dancing).  They work for months to learn all the different dances they'll be expected to do on the day.  Elaborate decorations are thrown up in the gym, the kids are told to dress up, and a dj is brought in to play specific types of songs to match the specific types of dances.

This year they even had chocolate fountains for the kids.

Jayme was happy that we showed up (she reminded us about it daily for two weeks) to take pictures (as parents are expected to do for this occassion) but she wouldn't stop to talk to us.  She had partners to find and dances to dance.  She needed to be on target.

The Man and I slipped out for lunch for Valentine's Day and we found this hanging on the front door for us.

For dinner I called in help from the girls who cut and chopped veggies to throw in the dinner pot and dipped strawberries and bananas in chocolate for dessert.

As it goes every year we gathered a number of candles from around the house (that probably only get lit on Valentine's day) and turned off the lights.

Frankly, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the holiday.

Dear weekend, it's going to be a busy one.  Bring it.

Linking up.

Insta Friday #3

The stories of my Instagram pictures.

If you want to follow along on Instagram I'm thecircus6.  Instagram, by the way, is now on the world wide web.  Click the link on my insta name to get there.

Waiting for the doctor.

By the way, the red chairs are for healthy kids there for other reasons.  The blue chairs are a germ farm.

Hold your breath Tay, can germs jump?

No UTI's this go round.  Slowly, ever so slowly, progress is being made for this girl.

Cali's baptism.

The look on Cali's face is from the fact that my mom {bless her heart} doesn't know how to use an iPhone to take a picture.

She stared at it for a minute.

Just push the camera picture mom.

Ok....  How do I zoom?

Oh goodness that was a process.

Three out of whack pictures later I finally walked over to her, set the picture up and returned to Cali.

Just push the camera, Mom.

Cali was done with the whole process by then.

Also, she's just stubborn and will smile when she feels like it, thank you very much.

A random, blurry shot that Tayler took of Aunt Jessica during our family outing for ice cream at Leatherby's.

I imagine that Jess is clear in the photo and then suddenly it becomes an awesome shot where she's all peaceful amidst the hustle and bustle around her.

So imagine that, m'kay.

Woo nilley.  The Man almost gave me a heart attack at work, on my birthday.

Almost.

But he did give the cleaning lady a near death experience with it when she grabbed the chair to reach for the garbage can.

If you happen to hear a rustle under your chair when you drop your coat on it, pay attention.  I just can not stress that enough.

I know what I'm going to be for Halloween this year.

The Man left all sorts of funny dress up stuff on my desk (to distract me from finding the air horn?)

He makes life fun.

I sent him this picture of me in a text, "Want a piece of this?"

The only downfall is the filter I used really highlights my forehead wrinkles.

Stop looking at them.

I worked with cute Jessie at Burt Brothers.

Now she's all grown up and married.

But it gave me an excuse to wear my brand new maxi skirt.

I'm so in love with maxi skirts now.

I'm not in charge of Youth Conference for my church this summer.

But I am signed up to go.

I don't know what we're doing per se, but I was told I had to read the Book of Mormon once by April, and again by June.

Add that to my biology and English classes, as well as the fact that I've finally started John Grisham's new book, The Racketeer, and I constantly have my nose in some sort of book, or staring at some sort of webpage, or staring at some sort of flachcard.

Seriously.

I spent a few hours researching Obamacare for an English assignment and then had to sit down and crank out a couple of chapters in this bad boy.  My brain was tired.

All while The Man slept blissfully next to me.

He didn't even kick me out of the room for keeping the light on while he slept.

He says I say too many nice things about him on here.  That I make it sound like he's all wonderful when he doesn't even do anything.

So... he snores.

There.

That should even things out for a bit.

And lastly, but certainly not leastly 

(yes, I just made that word up)

my DFPSTS.  What's that you ask?  Go read this blog post HERE, where it talks about trying to take a selfie at the age of 30 (or over).  There is an art to this, you know.  Look at how the teenagers do it.  It takes true talent.  There must be a Duck Face.  And a Peace Sign.  And a Toilet. Word.

New hashtag on Instagram: #selfiesat30

You should play along.  But read that post first.

Linking up with Life. Rearranged.

Happy weekend.

It's a kidless one for us.  I don't think we've had a true kidless weekend for a month or so now.  I see clothes shopping, sushi with my sister and her man, and Red Dawn at the dollar theater in our future.

And homework.

Lot's of homework.

How about you?

Insta Friday

My birthday is on Tuesday and to celebrate the occassion I'm going to be giving away my favorite things.  I've been pulling it together and frankly, I'm not going to lie, I just want to keep it.

Can you blame me?  It's all my favorite things!

I've come to realize in the process of putting this together that:
1. I apparently love chapsticks and lip glosses
2. I love snacky food.
3. I love really random stuff.

Doesn't that make you want to enter to win it all on Tuesday?

Ha.

It's okay if you don't.

I'll just keep it.

Aside from that, welcome to my insta Friday.
All the exciting things that I'm posting about on Instagram.

Just me and my phone.

And my kids.

Because seriously, without them, my life would be dull and I would be posting a lot of pictures of my desk at work because that's all I do.

I'm linking up with Life. Rearranged.


I'm thecircus6 on Instagram if you want to follow me over there.

While reading a story to me one night Cali stops and stares at the picture.

"This is a lot like us," she stated.

The fog rolled in for a day or two.

I figured out how to work the fog lights on the Navi.

That car might be growing on me a little bit now.

It's kind of a rock star in the snow and this month that has meant true bonding time for me and that car.

It's too early.
It's too cold.

I've been talking about running on campus before my yoga class.  The Man looked at me and said, "I don't think you're going to do it.  You and mornings just don't get a long."

He's right.  He knows me so well.  But him saying that...

it flipped the trigger I needed.  "I'll show him."

And I did.

I tackled a mile and half run before my yoga class.
Before the sun was up.

And I think I'll keep doing it.

 We bought two gold fish to use as "decoration" in the bathroom.

Turns out we have a fun fish.  He has a white tail and he's half the size of the other.  We named him Wiley.

The other fish however...
he's a few short of having a full bushel.
When I feed them Wiley shoots up top and eats.

The other fish...
he swims back and forth really fast, like he doesn't know which way to go.  After a minute or so he finally makes it up to the top, but then he just starts sucking at the air.  He doesn't even find food right away.  There is something seriously wrong with this fish.

And I have yet to settle on a name for him.

We bough a new rug, which we decided wasn't big enough so we cut this one in half and put half of it in front of the front door, and got online and ordered a bigger one.

I know, right?  I'm a little shocked that we just up and cut it, but the next lower size was too small for what we wanted.  We know, we bought it.  And returned it.

When we want what we want, we do what we have to do to get those results.

And now our dogs are chewing on the edge of the carpet.

The Man took silicone to seal the edge of the carpet, and covered it with cayenne pepper while it was still wet.  Hopefully now if the dogs take a taste they'll decide that it isn't worth it.

 We headed up to the Pig Pen Saloon in Park City for date night.

My co-worker is in a band and they were playing and raising money for Huntsman's Institute for Cancer.

This place, by the way, has good food.

I tackled an apple pie and cream cheese recipe from pinterest which was actually delicious.

Except the kids didn't eat it because they were too busy.

Too busy sledding down the front steps that is.

And since Jay had her birthday during Christmas break, The Man and I utilized one of his snow days to take her on her birthday lunch date.

This picture still cracks me up.

She chose Golden Corral because they have a chocolate fountain.

Obviously.

For the weekend:

We have Cali's birthday party with her friends tonight.
Cali's baptism tomorrow, which means Leatherby's ice cream with the whole family aftterwards.
And seeing as my birthday is looming on Tuesday, and all I want is to go shopping (letting The Man off the hook with that request) maybe I'll be able to get some of that squeezed in for myself.
My parents will be up from St. George today for all of the festivities and I can't wait to see them.

What are your plans?

Insta Friday

I've done something new and started a facebook page for my blog (here).

As if rambling once a day here on the blog weren't enough I feel I need to throw random posts out too.

But also, sometimes I have questions and want feedback, so if you're feeling good and wouldn't mind brightening my day, maybe you can go like it.

And if you're really feeling good maybe you'll share it.

Today I'm hooking up with Life.  Rearranged for InstaFriday.

Except in my case not all of these pictures actually made it to Instagram, but they were all taken with my phone.

So it counts.



My cousin posted a status on facebook that said:

I've come to the conclusion that you see what a person is really about by their Instagram posts.

(I'm thecircus6 if you want to follow)

On Sunday morning, now that church doesn't start so early and we no longer have to use alarm clocks to wake up in time for it, Casidee made pancakes.

With her donut maker.

And Jayme and Tayler used up all of my tape to make their own paperdolls, even after I asked them not to use up all the tape because I need it to wrap Cali's birthday presents.

They didn't listen.

But how can you be frustrated when suddenly your floors are covered with magical scenes like this?

You can't.

So you just close your mouth and go buy more tape.

Cali called me from school one day.

"Mom, the principal said you have to bring me new clothes because I'm covered in chocolate milk.  I spilled it all over me."

I tried to argue my way out of it.

But I could hear the office staff in the background, "tell her you need it."

So I left work and drove all the way home to get clean clothes for her, and then waited in the small pink bathroom of the school while she changed so I could take her chocolate milk covered clothes home.

For only an hour left of school.

What do you do?

You do it.  That's what.

Biology=memorizing flashcards.

This is only the intro and Chapter one.

I'm so screwed.

We've apparently started an icicle garden outside of our bathroom window.

It's everything I have to not reach out there and just pull them off, simply for the satisfaction of feeling it break off.

And after freezing rains yesterday I was growing an icicle garden on my car too.

Icicles formed from my car to the ground in the time my car sat in the parking lot while I was at work.

Holy cow, that is what I call a wet, cold day.

Freezing rain indeed.

For our youth activity at church this week we played human angry bird.

The kids broke into two teams.

One team would create their angry bird structure with boxes and stuffed animals.

The other team would gather around me and my good friend Makenzie with their scriptures and we would ask scripture questions (Who did this?  What place did this happen in?  Where is this verse? etc).  They would answer as many as they could in four minutes while the other team built.

At the end of four minutes we would count how many scripture questions they got through and that would be how many balls they would get to throw to try and knock over the stuffed animals.

Just for the record, Jayme is the only one who just straight up knocked an animal over.

See that yellow duck?  It's about to become toast.

 And being as it is morning.
And it's Friday.
And the world is iced over.

I treated myself to a Carmel White Hot Chocolate.

Because what else are you going to do on a morning like this?

Welcome weekend!
I might drag The Man up to Park City for dinner this weekend to hear one of my co-worker's band play at a pub.  I hear they have decent burgers there.  It's something new and we love to try new things.

I might hit my siblings up to go with us.

What are your plans for the weekend?