Mortensen FHE

The Mortensen family is known for getting together no matter what for family home evening to reunite as a family. This time we had a themed fathers day competition. The first competition was to eat 5 crackers and then whistle. The picture above is my father whistling with these crackers all stuffed in his cheeks.
There were a few other competitions, one being trying to scrunch up newspaper using one hand with out bending your elbows. Terrle won that one but he cheated I'm sure of it.
My mother also joined us that night fresh off of coming home from Jerusalem. We are so happy to have her back!
I am happy we have these events because I am afraid I wouldn't see my cousins except once or twice a year. It is so good to have the second cousins get to know each other. Great evening!

Things you don't do infront or your son

Well we learned this the hard way. That being that you do not paint your toenails infront of you little boy. He not only had this on his toes and legs but also on his face. I had gotten it off of his face before I realized that I needed a picture for later teasing so we just got the toes. My little Brigg is growing up and learning so fast. What a Joy!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day was a blast this year. We decided to spend the day at McDowell Mt Ranch aquatic center with some friends. I think if I lived in Scottsdale I would be there everyday, this place was so great. It had slides, a kiddy play pad, dive tank, lap pool, lazy river, and a huge pool that toddlers could run around and have fun in. My boys had an absolute blast and I was able to get some much needed sun.
Vanessa Jo decided it was time for her nap and so that is exactly what she did. She woke up at the end and had looked like a train wreck. It had been a long day for her already. We had been staying at my moms house in Mesa and forgot our bathing suits at home. Seeing as our house is a drive we had to go buy all new bathing suits that day. So we went to Target and it seemed like a bomb had dropped on the women's swims suit section. Brad of course found his in less than a minute while I waded in a sea of untidiness. So I found some that hopefully would fit and headed for the dressing room. I really wanted a great suit because I do a lot of swimming and so I showed each to Brad and had him help me find the perfect suit. I felt ok about the one he had told me was the one but I wasn't sure. I figured that he wouldn't lead me wrong so we headed off to the aquatic center with our new purchases. I enjoyed myself but you could definitely tell we were in Scottsdale with all of the perfect bodies and Gucci sunglasses around. I played with Brigg in the small pool but found that when I would sit in the shallow water the midsection half of my suit would would come up. I didn't think anything of it until later.
That evening we went back to my parents house and joined Devon and Fawns family for a BBQ out back. My sisters had there first glimpse of my new suit and said that it was cute but it looked like a maternity top. To which I replied that it couldn't be because it wasn't in that section. Well as they talked to me I remembered a comment that my husband had made in the dressing room that this other bathing suit made me look thinner. Well the other one had a tube top section for the bust and I hate how those look so I chose the one that now is being called a maternity top. After the conversation with my sisters I still didn't think it was a maternity top but I was now really really self conscious about it. A few days later I went to buy Brigg some shoes at target and the store had been put back together from the memorial day rush, and sure enough the bathing suit I had bought was put back in the correct section. You guessed it in the maternity section!!! On the bright side I did get the correct bottoms and love those. I have learned a good lesson that day and all in all had a Great memorial day other than the new pregnant girl suit.

Smells like burning

I know it has been a while since mothers day but oh did I have a good one. My husband decided to give me a spa treatment with candles and scented oil the whole works. I was so excited because I needed a break at the time. So he ran a fabulous bath for me with bubbles and all. He then said he had an extra surprise for me and that I had to go lie down on my tummy. Now let me just say that I trust my husband but I should have known better. I was laying there and then all of a sudden felt burning on my spine like I have never felt before. My dear sweet husband had got the idea from the store clerk at bath and body works of how to do a heated rock message. So he had heated some smooth rocks in a crock pot for an hour on high with oil on them and then took them straight out and put them on my poor unprotected vertebrae. I will give him some credit that after the rocks cooled down it felt like a warm blanket and was quite relaxing but I post this mainly as a note of caution for any of you crazy enough to do this at home to wait for the rocks to cool, otherwise, do not try it at home it will cause burning like you've never felt before!

Saving on shampoo these days

So here are the wonderful before pictures taken around 10 at night after chasing kids all day. I know I started that out with an excuse but I would like to think that my hair that I have had for years looked better than these pictures. Alas it doesn't matter anymore because I've chopped it all off. There was no crying about it but there was a few moments of weakness just before hand. My hairdresser had complete confidence and she was so happy about it the entire time. She did a beautiful job and at this point I am wondering why I didn't do this years ago. So here they are the after pictures.

My little Monsters under the Couch

My kids love to play under the couch! I don't know if anyone else has this problem. As you can see it starts really young. They are so funny, I will just come into the room and they are under the couch. Brigg is getting a little too old for it now and he gets his head stuck, it's in the 90th percentile you know. Vanessa on the other hand is still long and skinny and can fit her entire body under there.

Daddy's T-shirt

Brigg was so cute tonight when I got him ready for bed. His pajama's weren't to be found so I did what my parents did to me. I gave him one of his daddies t-shirts to wear. I didn't think about it swallowing the poor kid like it did. He would run around for a little bit and then come up with the shirt on being held on like a skirt saying "help!". I would have taken it off of him but he was so proud to wear it, he kept pointing to it proudly and saying "daddy". Brad had to leave us tonight on some business stuff so I think it helped soften the blow of not having daddy tuck him in to bed. I love his charming little smile.

Powerful Beyond Measure

I love this! Infact I loved it so much I did the unthinkable, I stole it off of the bishops wifes' blog. I know I'm a sicko but it was too good to pass up and with it just being Mother's Day I loved it even more. I hope it makes you want to "stand a little taller".

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light , not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of god. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make and manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
--Marianne Williamson

I could not help myself with this one. Brigg is now in big boy underwear, this was the first time had put them on. He likes to pretend he is daddy and so he often talks on my cellphone and walks around the house. Today he must have been trying to be me because he had my high hills on and my car keys. What a crack up!

Other things brigg has been up to is he has decided only cool kids sleep underneath their bed. I thought at first he was falling out of bed and then perhaps rolled underneath there, at least until today I told him it was time to go "night night" and he said bye bye and left. I was thrilled that he is old enough to do it himself. I decided to go and check on him and I couldn't find him. Finally I noticed his bear on the floor and then him underneath the bed fast asleep.

Other things brigg has been into is what he calls his "quack-quacks". I literally find these four little ducks everywhere! They drive me nuts and he is constantly talking about where his quack quacks are but I never know because he is always taking them and dropping them off in a new location to be found. He sure is fun and he is keeping me on my toes.