All About Mike-hole! {said with affection!}

My stunningly beautiful cousin Nichole tagged me. I am the first to admit that I don't give my husband enough credit and I don't appreciate him as much as I ought to. So it is nice to focus on all of his good parts and why I am proud to call him HUSBAND!

1- Where did you meet? I am not allowed to talk about the real first time we met because that story embarrasses him but the second first time we met was at an Institute softball game. He wanted my body!


2- How long did you date before you were married? Six LONG months!


3- How long have you been married for? 9 fantastical years!


4- What does he do that surprises you? I rarely do things that don't involve my family so when I do want to do something just for me, he always takes care of all five kids without complaint and the house is always clean and kids are put to bed. He lets me spend all the money I want on things and I never feel guilty about it because he is so happy that I am taking care of myself. What REALLY surprises me is that he still finds me physically attractive after all of these years!


5- What's your favorite feature about him? How can I pick just one?! I have so many favs but I think it is a toss up between his soft, full lips and his ability to grow a BIG bushy beard mmm so hot!


6- What's your favorite quality about him? He gives 110% in EVERYTHING he does. He is a giver!


7- Does he have a nickname for you? What is it? Yup, He calls me by my middle name, Nor and my wife and of course the average ones like baby, hun, sex slave...


8- What's his favorite color? The kids ask him this all the time and he tells that that he doesn't have a favorite anything. He likes them all. He likes green though.


9- What's his favorite food? My food of coarse! He will eat pretty much anything.


10-What is his favorite sport? He watches them all but I am pretty sure that he is partial to basketball and football.


11- Who said I love you first? I think I did actually. He didn't leave me hanging either and that felt pretty darn good!


12- When and where was your first kiss? Geez! This stuff was a lifetime ago! I am pretty sure that it was a few weeks after we started dating. We were hanging out at my apartment one night, listening to music and he laid one on me!


13-What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? Besides the obvious wInK WiNk, going to the temple together. It doesn't happen as much as we would like it to but when we go we feel refocused on our marriage, the petty things just seem to disappear, and our commitment to each other and our family is strengthened. It is a wonderful feeling!


14-Do you have kids? How many? You bet your heiny we have kids! I always have to do a head count to make sure I have them all and there are usually 5, unless we lose one!, which happens more than we like to admit!


15- What's a hidden talent that he has? Michael has a big brain! He knows pretty much everything and on the rare occasion that he doesn't know he will find it out. He just has to hear something once and it is engraved into his brain. I love having my on own encyclopedia Michael!


16- How old is he? 33 *cough*old man*cough*


17- What's his favorite type of music? Classic country


18- What do you admire most about him? I am amazed that he keeps putting up with me. He never gives up on me, on us. He is always very active in making our marriage and family solid and eternal.


19-What's his favorite past time? I won't mention his absolute favorite. That would be inappropriate WiNk wInK! Anything outdoors!


20- Do you think he is going to read this? Nah! He doesn't have time to mess around on the computer. He works a lot.

Growing Before My Eyes! Happy 4th SuperMadse!

Some entertaining facts about my FAVORITE boy:

I was in HARD labor with Madse for 26+ hours!!! Not those beginning "Oh! I am having a contraction ha ha!" contractions but those "I don't think I can survive one more!" contractions!He was double bagged and wasn't going to budge!

Madse was DROPPED at birth by the doctor! Just slipped right out of the doc's hands into all of the goop on the floor!! The doctor grabbed Madse up by the arm and popped it out of socket! He popped right back in though. Poor guy was so humiliated! He kept swearing that that that had never happened to him before. We joked about suing but for some reason he didn't find our humor very funny.

Madse was supposed to be JOHNNY CASH NASH but I pulled the pregnant for nine months, in labor for insane amount of hours, crying, I'll hate you for life card to get out of that name.


This little guy is so tender hearted, thoughtful, kind, and melt your heart sweet!

His prayers are a thing of beauty and are so real. He really has a conversation with the Lord I think. It brings a tear to my eye. The most humbling is when I get after him and he prays that night that his mommy will not be mad and that he can be a good boy to make her happy.



Spiderman, Superman, Bumblebee, Batman are all of his alter egos wrapped up into one killer super hero! Watch out villains of the world!
He lives to fish and camp and shoot guns with his dad. He has lately discovered elk hunting. It is all he talks about.

He sucks his index finger and feels the cold spots on my relief society arms and my back fat which doesn't work so well in public. Not a pretty sight at all so I discourage it but my cold fat is all his at home. (This fact might embarrass him some day.)

He sneaks into bed with me in the wee hours of the morning and I keep him on my side so that Mike doesn't discover him and take him away to his own bed. Ha ha so sneaky!

My heart burst with deep love and affection for this little guy and I am so very lucky that he is MY boy!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIDDO!

Steamboat Bound...Avett Bound!

I have this band that I am completely obsessed with. They are not too well known(yet) but they do it for me! If my soul could sing, it would sound like The Avett Brothers. They play with such passion and intensity that it creates this bond between them and their listener. I can't place them in a genre cause their sound is so unique! I would say that it is folk/punk/grunge/total eargasm!!! If that weren't enoough, they have these killer beards that I am so in lust with! I have never seen men who can grow facial hair like Mike but theses guys might be some serious competition for the fastest beard growing! I saw them for the first time last year in Aspen with my sister and I was addicted to seeing them live! You can't help but get up and move when you hear them play!

When I heard they were playing in Steamboat Springs, I immediately bought my ticket! I was a little anxious about going alone. I really haven't been ALONE alone for a long time but I didn't want to ask someone to go that wouldn't appreciate the band and I didn't want ask someone to spend all that money on a ticket and a babysitter and my husband isn't that interested in them. Lucky for me he watched the kids though. Mike really doesn't get my fascination with live music. He thinks concerts are for teenagers but he doesn't mind me going. I like to think of it as one of the only outs I allow myself and it really only happens once a year. Their show did not disappoint! I was a half an hour late though because I stopped in Craig to say goodbye to Elder Baker before he goes home next week. At first I was a little sheepish about being all by myself but everyone around me was too mesmerized to even notice. So I gave myself permission to sing and dance and scream my guts out! I think the body releases endorphins or something when you enjoy music like that. They should do a scientific study to determine why concerts FEEL so good! The audience was different this time. There was the typical greasy, hairy, river rat looking kids in the front but a lot of the people were in there fifties and older. I found out later that there is a summer community there and a lot of these older, rich, yuppy, people live there and the festival last all summer featuring different bands. So a lot of them had never heard of The Avett Brothers before. The concert ended at 9:00 p.m. which makes me think that the concert was geared towards those older people. They had NO idea what they were getting themselves into! I found a bench and just people watched because I didn't feel like getting back in the car and driving for another three hours. So as I was sitting at this bench and The Avett Brothers sat at the bench right next to me and autographed merchandise! It was interesting to watch people react to them. I don't think I ever want to be famous and have people act all funny around me. I think it would get tiring. I took a few pictures for people who wanted pictures with the band and these nice older women came up to me and asked me if I was with the band! I wish! We started talking and they were impressed that I traveled that far to see The Brothers and their jaws hit the floor when I told them that I had five kids! One of the women even offered me her guest bedroom when I mentioned that I was driving home that night. I am pretty sure her generosity was due to the alcohol in her system but it was a sweet gesture! While we were chatting, the crowd died down and the band started toward their bus but they stopped by our little group and took pictures with us and signed the ladies tickets and they signed a CD for me! The lead singer, Scott, stuck around and visited with these ladies and me. I was so impressed that he was so personable and genuine and he seemed like he was genuinely interested in us. We talked for a good half hour about kids, our hometowns, learning how to play different instruments, we even talked about foxes and coyotes and hunting them! So random! The ladies joked that since I had so many kids that they should just take me to Salt Lake with them and Scott said "She can't go to Salt Lake with us! She has FIVE kids! We would have to get a whole nother bus just to get them all there!" What are the chances of getting to spend some almost one on one time with members of your most favorite band?!

Yet ANOTHER Confession Of A Crappy Mom (One Of Many, I Am Sure!)

In the heat of the moment, my experiences are traumatic, stressful, and extremely embarrassing but after I have time to calm down I am able to see the humor in them but the embarrassment never goes away. It is a constant reminder that God protects idiots and children ...so I am covered either way!
I had gotten in the shower and as always my two little ones followed me in there and started stripping down so that they could get in too. I hurriedly finished up in record time and plugged up the tub and put them in. While they played I looked in my drawer for clean underwear and I wasn't surprised to find none in there. It seems like my clothes are always the last to get washed. So I turned off the tub faucet and went in search for some clean undies. After searching through some baskets I realized that I was going commando until I did some laundry. I checked on the babies and they were having a great time so I start sorting whites for a load. In the middle of this task I had the great idea that I should listen to my ipod while I did laundry so that it wouldn't be so painfully tedious. I quickly threw on a t shirt and my hubbies basketball shorts and ran out the door to my car to retrieve my tape adaptor for my ipod. On the way to the car I notice that the garage door was open. "That's silly." I thought, "That will make the house get hot too quickly." So I shut the garage door and sprinted to the car. With tape adaptor in hand, I reached for the door handle....AND IT WAS LOCKED!!! Where are your other kids, you ask? Well they are in Utah and that leaves two helpless, waterlogged babies unattended in a bathtub! Seriously, this is just my luck! Leave to toddlers alone in the tub and then lock yourself out of the house! What kind of mom am I!?! BAD MOM! BAD MOM! So I went to the garage and turned the knob and SNAP... the wire broke and the garage door was not opening. I ran to the back sliding glass door to find it locked as well. What to do?! What to do?! I decided to run up the street to my friend and neighbor Tracey's house. "She has kids. I can have one climb through an open window and unlock the door." So with wet hair, no shoes, and going totally COMMANDO (no underwear) I sprinted full speed up the street with my arms folded across my chest to keep my boobs from flopping all over the place! Out of breath and providing little explanation I grabbed her son and said "I am borrowing your kid! I locked myself out and the babies are in the tub!" and we sprinted back and I tried with no success to pry off the screen of the living room window. There were no little tabs you pull on and I had nothing to pry the screen open with. I swallowed my pride and folded my arms across my chest again and ran next door to another neighbor to ask for a screw driver. My neighbor is a really nice guy who has helped me when I have had the water heater go out or lift heavy things but he is also the kind of guy that thinks women can't do things by themselves so he offered to come over and take care of the screen for me. I did not object and we ran back to my house. By this time I can hear May and Hallie screaming their heads off and of course I am glad that they are screaming because that means that they are breathing but other terrible thoughts ran through my head. "What if they have soap in their eyes? What if the water has turned cold and they are shivering?" The minute Blake had my screen off I literally picked up my little neighbor kid Tanner and tossed him through the window. He got in easily enough and opened the door quickly. What a guy! I yelled a quick "Thank you" over my shoulder and ran upstairs to my neglected and abused babies. To my relief they were fine even though they were a bit waterlogged. I, on the other hand, was a wreck! Self Loathing and guilt took over where the adrenaline had been and I got them out and dried them off and smothered them in hugs and kisses. Good thing they are clueless to my stupidity and good thing for neighbors who haven't called Social Services on me...yet!

The New Miss Uintah County

Congratulations Rondee!!!

Not only was she crowned Miss Uintah County but she was also voted

MISS CONGENIALITY like her big sister!

Her Talent was a tribal lyrical and she was ELECTRIC!!



Evening Gown

In 1998, I competed in the Miss Uintah County Pageant. I didn't expect to win and I didn't but I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of being feminine and beautiful. I wasn't the pageant type. I was boyish, athletic and definitely anti-make up or anything girly for that matter! The experience, for me, was life changing and I was surprised that the girls that I competed with voted me as Miss Congeniality. I think it is pretty dang cool that ten years later my baby sister proved to herself that her beauty comes from the inside which is so much more important than the beauty on the outside (though that does help!)

Not too impressed with this photo but what can you do, it was the 90's!

RAZZLE DAZZLE!!!

Rondee called me up and asked me to come early to help her prepare for her pageant. I showed up Wednesday and was put to work! I really loved being in the background supporting my sister! I just had no idea that I was going to have so much to do! Wednesday night we painted the stage floor at the high school. That night we thought it would be fun to sleep outside on the trampoline and oh was it! I felt like I was in Jr High again! We giggled and ate candy and stayed up way too late. In the morning we woke to the neighbors across the fence looking at us like we were loony! Rondee had gotten a spray on tan and everywhere our bodies touched I was left with unnaturally brown patches. On closer inspection we found that my index finger was brown and we both looked at each other wondering where that finger had been! That day we ran errands, I did research on the internet for the interview and I quizzed her on her platform. We went back to the high school and helped decorate and clean up. That afternoon it started to rain and then pour and then it started to flood! My first thought was "OH CRAP!! The blankets out on the tramp!" I felt pretty bad to find out that they had all blown across the lawn getting muddy and drenched!

In the evening was dress rehearsal and I was enlisted to duct tape boobs! A little FYI: You duct tape the boobs and then put in padding so that things are boosted in the swimming suits and evening wear. MFYI: You also use spray adhesive on the heiny so that there are no wedgies while you are prancing around on stage in your swimming suit. There was something so special about helping Rondee backstage with her outfit changes and keeping her things semi organized, keeping her confidence boosted and encouraging her! It feels so good to nurture and support! There were a lot of last minute alterations to be done to her dance costume and evening gown and I barely made it to walmart before midnight for matching thread and needles. The skirt to her costume was too long and had too much fabric so I had to shorten it and thin it out. It felt like something out of Project Runway with the clock ticking and the stress level high and I didn't have any supplies! In a panic I called my friend Mandy and she totally saved my heiny by letting me borrow her rotary cutter, mat, and rulers! Friends like this are so rare and really appreciated! I haven't talked to her in ages and I call her out of the blue not to chat or go to lunch like a real friend would but to bug her for a favor! What a pal!!! I was terrified to cut into this skirt! One wrong cut and Rondee wouldn't have a costume and time was wearing thin! I prayed my guts out the entire time that I wouldn't screw it up and I suffered a huge anxiety attack over it but it really turned out perfect! I hand stitched the skirt to the beaded scarf and then to a pair of gold shorts underneath. I also hand stitched the sleeves of her evening gown. I got done with only minutes to spare!

Rondee shined the entire evening! She has this passion and energy when she is on stage! I was in awe at her confidence and grace! I was so proud of her and when she was announced both Miss Congeniality and Miss Uintah County there was no one in that room prouder than me! Now she goes on to Miss Utah and I hope she lets me tag along!

Some much needed down time to relieve all of the stress of the week!

Rondee is THE best cuddler in the whole world even if she rubs off on me!

We were totally free boobin' it ha ha! Sorry Neighbors!

I love this girl like life!

My bestest friend (besides Michael of course!) Jeff turned nineteen last month and is leaving for two years for an LDS mission in Mexico. His twin sister Megan, our friend Kyle, Jeff and I went to dinner for his and Megan's late birthday celabration. Jeff has been my neighbor/friend/errand runner/food disposal for more than nine years. I have watched him grow up and have given him more than his share of advice and lectures! He has grown into a kind, generous and good young man and I love his stinkin' guts and I know that he will be one amazing missionary but MAN, I am REALLY going to miss him!

LONELY...OH SO LONELY

My big kids left me last Friday to spend some quality time with their grandma in Utah (I am pretty sure it is called "GETTING SPOILED"!)! I missed them the second they drove away! I didn't expect it to be so bad! I was totally looking forward to a little breather, a vaycay, some ME time but I have been in AGONY! I just don't know what to do with myself! I have realized how much they do for me and all of the things I have desperately missed about them since they have been gone even the stuff that I usually get a little frustrated by!

Fetching diapers

snuggle time with my Mikie

throwing away diapers

sweeping

vacuuming

giving me lots of kisses

playing with my hair

Ash's deep conversations

glass jars filled with grass and an assortment of bugs

playing with the babies

running up to the upstairs bathroom to bring me a roll of toilet paper

craft supplies strewn about the dining room table and floor

cleaning off the kitchen table

getting me the remote

the specks of toothpaste on the bathroom mirror

finding my cell phone (I don't mind shelling out a quarter)

help set the table

clearing the table

fighting over who gets to say prayers

hearing the latest little girl gossip

Littlest Petshops scattered throughout the house

Madse sneaking into bed with me in the wee hours in the morning

hearing uncontrollable giggling after I have warned them to go to bed... or else

etc. etc. etc...

They get back tomorrow and that just isn't soon enough! I have no life beyond my family and I am happy with that! Life without 'em just isn't as fun! I am going to be a wreck when they grow up and move out!!! Seriously...I literally get anxiety over the fact that my children are growing too quickly! I blink my eyes and they are smarter, more independent, bigger. It breaks my heart that one day they will fill their time with friends, hobbies, sports and the time they spend with me will be less and less and that their soft little new skin will change, there won't be little chubby naked bums running around after a bath, they will be too big to fit in my lap, they won't want to be sung to at night, no little ones under my feet, no little shadows, and that they will need me less. It's all just too fleeting!!

Marjorie Pay Hinkley brings me some comfort and puts things into perspective for me when she said,

"I couldn't possibly have understood this when I was young like I do now. When we look back on decades of life we see that the seemingly insignificant things we do over and over actually weave the pattern of our lives. And if those small and simple things are good, we will end up having lived a fulfilling life -- and that is a great thing!"

"We each do the best we can. My best may not be as good as your best, but it's my best. The fact is that we know when we are doing our best and when we are not. If we are not doing our best, it leaves us with a gnawing hunger and frustration. But when we do our level best, we experience a peace."

AND...

"Life is more than I ever imagined it would be."

I just hope that I can cram my brain full of the memories of my little ones and that those memories will always be with me even when they are not so little anymore.

So I Wish I Could Dance

I move like this on the inside... my brain just can't communicate that to my body.