Thursday (February 26th) afternoon my Grandpa Williams (my dad's dad) died. They held his service the following day. The kids and I had planned to leave Friday anyway for a Meet for J in Ogden. We left a little earlier than planned on Friday and were somehow able to make it to the viewing, and the burial in Salt Lake (drive time 3 hours and 20 minutes-without speeding! Someone must have been watching over us)! After the service we went out to lunch with my parents and brothers, before heading up to Ogden to stay the night before Jaden's Gymnastics Meet the following day.


We drove what seemed like forever that day. The kids and I were SO happy to finally get to the hotel. The first thing they wanted to do (of course) was swim! Off to the pool we went, along with at least 25 other people! YUCK! Needless to say their swim time was cut VERY short!

The following day Jaden had his meet-in Ogden-and I must say that Ogden is not a very nice place. Some parts scared me, and some parts were just not well kept. We went to a grocery store to pick up a few snacks for the kids and the parking lot was like a land mine!! There were pot holes that were three feet wide! So even though I complain that St George is getting way to busy-I do think we live in the most BEAUTIFUL place in Utah!
Good Job on your Meet Big Dog!

After the meet we were debating (while sitting at a standstill in road construction in Ogden) if we would stay with my parents or try to make it home. Still trying to decide once we were on the freeway, Jaden made the decision VERY easy for us when he looked over at me about the time we were coming up on Orem and said Ugghh, I don't feel very well the world is spinning!
Don't you dare puke in the truck I told him!! (I swear I am the meanest mom alive!) It turned out he was ok, but I think we were just ALL sick of being in the car for so long! So I called Adam and told him to place a bid on priceline-he won the Marriott in Provo for $44 including taxes and fees. Perfect!
So I took the kids to dinner and we went to check into the hotel. When we arrived the girl asked us if we wanted to pay a little extra to upgrade-I told her No thanks, we were just happy to have someplace nice to rest our heads for the night. Well she upgraded us anyway to a suite, for FREE!!

The kids had a great time swimming at the MUCH quieter, and warmer pool in the Provo Marriott that only had two other people there! When we went back to the room the kids were out like a rock, and woke up happily to room service for breakfast! YUM!

The kids had a fun week at school, celebrating Dr. Seuss! First they had hat day, followed by silly socks day! The kids had a blast with it!

Suffering from SMS!! 3/5/2009

I, Marcia Milne, suffer from Super Mom Syndrome! (don't we all?)




My efforts in trying to become Super Mom were cut short today. When I got home from volunteering at the school today I really wanted to plop on the couch under a nice cozy blanket, and read a good book until the kids got home from school! But instead went about my day cleaning the house. While cleaning I decided to straighten up the


in doing so I saw the butter and decided to make


and when I went to put away the baking soda...


Oh the joys of trying to be wonder woman never seems to work out the way I want it to! I guess I have been wanting a new S&P set anyway....

He's Back!!!

I have LOVED Tiger since he turned professional in 1996! Now after 8 MONTHS off of the tour, because of reconstructive knee surgery, he will return for the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, a 126-hole match-play event. With Tiger back, Golf is worth watching again! No doubt this will be a very exciting tournament-that begins today!

Movie day with the gang! 2/20/2009

My kids were SO excited when High School Musical 3 finally came out! I told them we would have movie day after school on Friday-but I didn't tell them that I invited some friends over as well! They were all excited when I picked them up from school to get home to watch the movie, but even more so when Cooper told them that I had invited friends as well!
All of the kids had a GREAT time, with lots of snacks (I think I went through at least four or five bags of popcorn and a batch of cookies!) and a fun movie!
Koda and Jake were bored with the movie within the first hour, so they headed out back to shoot some hoops. After the kids finished the movie they went out to play a game of 2-hand touch football! Koda got sick of that as well very quickly, because the kids would not throw the ball to him enough. So he and Molly decided hula hooping would be a lot more fun!
I am so glad that my kids have such GREAT friends, that live so close! Thanks everyone for coming over-see you next time!

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons! 2/18/2008

As I have heard through the grapevine, many are shocked that I am a coupon shopper! Some don't believe it, some want in on the secrets, and some have even asked if I am embarrassed about it! Well here is my answer to that. Here is a picture of $290.62 worth of groceries. I paid $60.46, embarrassed? I think not!!



The urge to go back into Albertsons was too much for me! SO, I headed back and here are my treasures- 4 boxes of Frosted Flakes, 3 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, 2 boxes of Cheerios, 2 packages of cookie dough, 2 packages of Gogurts, 1 cake mix, 12 cans of Progresso soup, and a gallon of milk. I walked out the door paying $10.07!!! That is a savings of 90%-to top it off in one of the boxes of fruit snacks that I purchased on my first trip to Albertsons I won another $5 Discover Card!! Yes, it has been a very good day!!

Valentine's Day Fun!! February 13-14, 2009

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!


Koda and I started the day out on Friday going in to Jaden's class to help with his Valentine's Day class party. We got there just in time to hear Jaden and a few of the kids in his class put on a skit for the rest of the class. It was all about the food pyramid, and I am glad we were able to see it! The kids in his class are so cute, and J is REALLY interested in the food groups now! Every night at dinner he informs us of which food groups we are eating.
All of the kids had a great time at the party decorating cookies, making cards, playing CANDY bingo, and throwing hearts at the bean bag toss. Cooper LOVED decorating the cookie, and wanted it to be perfect. Jaden and Kenna had their cookies frosted, decorated, and eaten, by the time I walked from one side of the classroom to the other! So that is why they don't have pictures with their cookies.

Coop gets SO excited every time we stay at school to eat lunch with the kids. He loves handing the lunch lady the "golden ticket" (the receipt) when we go through the lunch line! Since we finished Jdog's party at noon and we had to be in Bailia's class at 12:30 we ate with Jaden and his friends. I have NO idea why all three of the kids looked at Koda with the first picture I took, but I thought that it turned out to be such a cute picture!
Then it we rushed to Bailia's class to set up for her party. I didn't plan Jaden's party (another mom did) I was just there to help out. But found it funny that we did almost the same things in both classes. I made a CUPID bingo for Bailia's class, we decorated cookies, had pink soda floats, and we had a marshmallow relay. It was a quick party, but I think the kids had a great time!

When we finally made it home after a party filled day, we had a knock on the door. FLOWERS!! Adam had sent us flowers and balloons! He has sent the kid(s) and I flowers since I was pregnant with Jaden. The first year of this tradition he sent me 11 red roses and one white with a red tip-for the baby. Ten years later this has become a tradtion that I look forward to, and LOVE so much about my hubby!
Later that afternoon, Kenna came over to watch a movie. I had to take pictures (odd I know) when I pulled the camera out all of the kids said at once-MORE pictures?? What can I say, I love having more pictures than I need! Anyway, the camera had to come out for the fact that EVERY single time the kids watch a movie together they ALL pile on the chair together! We have a love seat, and a couch on either side of the chair-you would think they would choose one of the other options. But without fail they all pile together~good memories, good friends! They finally (somewhat) separated when I told them that three food trays (cookie sheets-high class I know) would not all fit on the chair. Bailia finally moved, while Jaden and Kenna stayed on the chair and shared a tray. They enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich, popcorn, and ice cream. It was a great, surprisingly quiet way to end a VERY hectic day!

St George Meet 1/24/2009

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Tonight I received a CD that had pictures from the meet held in St George, on January 24. I love the facial expressions that these photos captured! It explains Jdog perfectly. He is a very determined, focused, calm little man. From singing in front of a large group, giving a talk in church, a gym meet, or a golf tournament, Jdog has been blessed to be able to turn his nervousness into calming strength. He is a great example to me and I wish I could be more like him. He NEVER ceases to amaze me...

Winner!! 2/5/2009

 I bought fruit snacks to make Valentines treats for the kids classes. Koda and I were dumping them out of the boxes into a bag.  In one box I noticed a credit card, I took it out and inside the box it said, "Try Again",  I set it aside, not thinking anything of it, for the kids to play with. We continued to dump the boxes out, and none of the others had a credit card in them.  So, I took another look at the card and it said to go to their website. I did and entered the number on the back. CONGRATULATIONS-it flashed-your $5.00 Discover card has been activated!! Now although not a huge win-it is still WIN! So Koda and I headed to Target (one of my favorite stores) with the Discover card in hand. I told him he could spend it on anything he wanted!  His choices were very thoughtful~3 foam swords (one for each of the kids), a toy truck, and a bag of gummy bears.  To top it off he still has $.26 left on the card! It is funny how even the smallest win makes your whole day!

If the shirt fits...2/4/2009

The other day while at Old Navy I saw the Valentine's Day T's there for $5-I grabbed one for each of the boys.  Koda wore his to school today and we found out that the shirt fits him well, since it reads "Heart Breaker"!  

He received 2 letters today at school-the first was from Ella who is in his class (the heart) that is decorated on the outside and on the inside it says "I love you " along with $.80 to win his heart? (she must know how much he likes money!)  

The next letter was from Brinley-from another class-that is a picture of Koda and her picking a flower together! 

Cooper is in total distress! He said first I wanted to marry Brinley, then I wanted to marry Ella. Now I guess if Brinley gets married first I will marry Ella, and if Ella gets married first I will marry Brinley!  Ah, young love~so sweet and innocent! I just wish it would stay that way until they are 30! 

This is not a test, this IS an actual emergency!

Ok so it's not an actual emergency, but it is pretty depressing. I never posted about my hair catastrophe that happened a couple of months ago, but I will try to make a VERY long story short.  I am having a VERY hard time finding a decent hair stylist-since I stopped going to my guy in Salt Lake & since the last girl I tried only works two days a week and they happen to fall on the busiest days of my week I had to find someone else.  So without saying where this new person works I will say her name is Michelle-so if you ever want to try someone new with the name Michelle-BE CAREFUL...you have been warned! 

So the short story goes like this.  I went in (after hearing great things about Michelle) to get my hair darkened. I came out with platinum blonde hair with orange HORIZONTAL stripes throughout my entire head of hair.  It turns out she mixed the product wrong-and FRIED my hair. When I talked to her about it a few days later (after my sister in law saved the color) she told me she did exactly what I wanted her to do.  Hmm, do people come in asking for ORANGE stripes throughout their hair often, or was I the first? 

Now as I try to nurse my hair back to normal (cutting 4" off and needing another 5) I love to look through to see how many splits I can find on one strand of hair.  The photo of this strand of hair might take the cake!  Just for the fact that this wasn't on the end of the strand, it was about halfway up the strand! 

So, if anyone has a GREAT stylist that they would like to recommend PLEASE feel free! 

Go Steelers!

My dad can finally rest peacefully! After a great season and an AWESOME nail bitting Super Bowl game-my dad's team WON!  I am sure he is floating above cloud nine today (probably wearing the SAME shirt he wore Saturday and Sunday!) Congratulations Big Lar for a rockin' end to a wonderful season!  Go STEELERS!

Bountiful Meet 1/31/2009

We made another trip for Jaden's gymnastics meet-this time it was held in Bountiful. We took the kids out of school a little early on Friday, and headed up the road. The first stop~ Grandma Jaclyn's! We stopped by to say hello and to help Jed load up some work out equipment.

Next stop ~ Uncle Jed's house to unload the equipment - Nikki had to work so we were only able to see Jed this trip (maybe next trip) ~but the kids LOVED their cats!
Then we checked into the hotel, which turned out to be a STEAL! We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites in Bountiful (our winning bid on priceline $50!) While checking in the kids were able to snack on cookies and fruit! 

They had a 24 hour pool that the kids had a BLAST in! We had free internet and to top it all off the breakfast of blueberry waffles, biscuits and gravy, sausage, bagels, toast, eggs, cereal, fruit (you name it they had it) was included in our $50 rate, and was delicious! 


That night we went to Cannoli's (I think that is the name) for dinner in Salt Lake- it is a family owned Italian restaurant that is DELISH!

Jaden did an awesome job this meet! He placed 4th All Around (his best so far) and improved his score in every event this week!  It made his day to see Grandma Jaclyn and Lee, Grandma and Grandpa Williams, Kolby, Ashley, and their baby all there to support him! After his meet we all (thirteen of us!) went to the Red Rock for lunch-YUMMY!
After a quick stop at Grandam and Grandpa Williams house we decided to come home (we weren't going to come home until Sunday).  It was a VERY quick, eventful day and a half~we all had a great time and I am totally exhausted!

Thanks again to all of the family that came to support J-dog, and to Kolb for the chocolate covered strawberries-they were the BEST I have ever had! I should have taken you up on the offer to take some home with me!