The Shops at Riverwood

Last night we took the kids to a toy/candy shop called Blickenstaffs.  It's kinda like FAO Schwartz in New York City, only the shrunken down version.
I'll never forget when my sister in law, Marcia, took me to New York City and to that giant toy store, right in downtown Manhattan.  It was at Christmas time so it was decorated like you can't believe.  As a matter of fact, it was like walking right into Santa's home.  Not a corner untouched!  I was amazed and can only imagine what a child would have felt like walking into that store.  Just waking through those doors makes you happy.  A person could literally get lost in that place...you don't have that problem at Blickenstaff's, but it's got the same feel to it. 
I loved going to New York and would love to do it again sometime but for now, I'll have to settle for the smaller wonders in Utah.

Speaking of wonders in Utah...Who would have thought you could SURF right here in Provo?
Yup, you can.
Now, having a son in law (that's still weird to say) who adores surfing in the ocean, this would probably be met with laughter, but it was really fun to watch.  The boys that were in there had a difficult time staying ON TOP of the water so we got to see plenty of wipe outs. 

The lifeguard was holding onto a rope so the is was more like water skiing.

It was about 28* so we were grateful for this outdoor fire, even if it was a fish sculpture.

Hey, look at that...Dave is actually smiling!

The photo doesn't do it justice

At the end of our outing, we stopped by the famous BYU Creamery for some yummy ice cream.  I tell ya, it's a good thing we don't live too close to this place.  Although, this is were I stop in to buy our milk because it's good and I can get 3 gallons for 5 bucks!!

Christmas tree gone WRONG!

Last night for Family Home Evening (F.H.E), we took the kids to dinner at the local Drug Store!
Yup, we should be nominated for the "Parents of the Year" award.  But before you conjure up all sorts of evil thoughts like, we fed them Penicillin, Zoloft, and pepto bismol, with a Tylenol chaser...relax!  In this particular drug store, they serve food.

One thing I love about small towns in Utah is...they love their drugs, just kidding!!  It seems like every old town still has, and has had for 100+ years, a little drug store where the locals shop for just about everything.  They are the century old Wal Mart, if you will, where it's one stop shopping.  You can get your medicines, a birthday gift and card, bubble gum and old fashioned candy, adult diapers, and some of the best malts and shakes around.  If your really lucky, you can get a burger and fries made fresh too. 

I remember as a kid, when we were visiting my grandparents, my siblings and cousins would walk down to Main street where the drug store is, walk through those old wooden doors (usually they had a bell tied to the knob to alert the worker of your presence) walk across the squeaky wood floor, sit down on the bar stools, and order a yummy shake.  They didn't skimp on the shakes either.  They gave you the WHOLE thing, not just what they could fit into your glass, but they gave you the silver tumbler with ALL of the shake.  It was like getting 2 shakes for the price of one.  I lived for those times.

Becca is the one that told us about this drug store in town so we decided to give it a whirl.  She had been invited to go there with a friend of hers last week and she just raved about it.  If any of you have had an
In and Out burger, this is it's BEST competition!  Right here in little ol' Spanish Fork Utah!

The burgers were made on the spot, nice and fresh, and the fries where too.  YUM!  We didn't get a shake because it's too cold.

Warning, this is where things go a little wrong...

After dinner we drove to a tree lot. I know what you're thinking.  We live in Utah and we get our Christmas tree from a TREE LOT??  Yes we do!  That's it, no excuse, just, Yes we do.

A  few days ago we decided to make the trek down to my parents home for Christmas so we knew we didn't need a big, majestic tree this year.  We looked and looked (while freezing at 19*) when Amanda and I came across this little, tiny tree and we both fell in love with it.  When I say "love", I mean, like in the way that Charlie Brown "loved" his Christmas tree.  It was just so cute that we just couldn't leave it behind.  Jeffrey and Becca were busy playing hide and seek among the trees and Dave was staying close to the warmth of the wood burning furnace that was there.   We took the tree over to pay for it and when the guy took it off of the metal post it was stuck to and laid it on the ground, it looked...well...kinda pathetic.   When Jeffrey made his way over to see it, he said "That's it?"  Sadly, yes, this was the tree for us this year.

We brought it home, and placed it in the tree holder, thingy-ma-jig, put it in the corner, and realized it was so little that we could hardly see it behind the couch.  So Dave had the bright idea to put it on top of a cooler.  Who puts their Christmas tree on top of a cooler?  Only rednecks would do such a thing...

You guessed it.  Our little tree got turned into "The Redneck Christmas Tree"  We have never laughed so hard while putting up a Christmas tree.  Dave sent the kids searching around the house for redneck junk to adorn our tree and this is what they came up with.

Jeffrey brought his 22 up stairs cause what's a redneck without a GUN?

Amanda offered up her Special Ed. award

Dave gave is fart machine

Amanda, so proud of her tree

Jeffrey with our "You might be a Redneck if..." game

No, he is NOT pointing it at Amanda.  He's pointing it out the window.  Hello, Dave was standing right there!

Had to have the confederate flag

Fishing lure

In honor of Sarah & Chris.  A postcard that she sent to Amanda

I fashioned the Star out of a hanger and foil then added the John Deere touch

There she is, in all her Glory!

We finished her off with some toilet paper.

Wrestling & Swimming

Amanda was in a "fightin/wrestling" mood the other day.  When her dad came home from work, she challenged him to a duel or sorts ...She lost!   He wrapped her up like a pretzel.  Maybe she'll think twice about it next time.

Jeffrey had a swim meet last week.  He swam like a fish...only a little slower.  He did WAY better than I would have!

He's in first place

Not the best pictures but how would I actually get a good one?

Waiting for the next race (that's him leaning over)

This was the 400 meter.  It is one, long, race!!

They put number under the water so the swimmers can see how many laps they have done.

That's a little bit of what's been going on around here.

Here's your sign!

  There are several times in a mother life of raising children that you feel as though you are literally a 

Broken Record!  

From the time our kids were old enough to read, I would occasionally put signs around the house to remind them to do, or not to do something.  They were not difficult, time consuming things, just your average ordinary, common sense things that every human ought to know how to do.  Or things that pertained to life at the time.  Things like...put your dirty clothes in the hamper.  Or, clean up after yourself.  Or, don't spear toothpaste all over the counter or sink. 
Or, this is a trashcan, use it!  Or don't watch junk on TV.  
Stay out of the bottled water (this one is because the kids seem to think that the bottled water is for them to use whenever they want to, as well as offer it to all of the neighborhood kids, which I wouldn't mind IF they would actually drink the whole bottle!!

See, not horrible things, just self maintaining, logical things.  In addition to putting these signs around the house, I would also put "nice" signs around them too.  Things like, I love you, 
You are loved, 
Have a good day, Remember who you are, etc.

This was my way of not having to repeat myself, over and over and over again.  I'm sure they got sick of hearing me say the same things and I found that I got sick of hearing myself say them too.

This is referring to our furnace room/food room.  That room is vented to the outside so it is always cold.  If the door stays open, it makes the whole basement cold.

Now, the question is, did these signs help?  Yes, for a while.  This was never meant to be a long term fix, just a little something different to shake up the routine a bit.  The long term fix comes when they move out and I no longer have to tell them the same bless-ed stuff over and over again!  Just ask Sarah!  Amanda is waiting, ever so "patiently" to be the next one that I stop nagging.  But until then, I get to nag, nag, nag whether with signs or verbally, and they'll thank me one day.  Okay, that day will most likely be when they are nagging their kids and putting signs all over their homes.