month of may

this month ended up with quite a bit happening.
this is a long one.
but with plenty of pics. :)

Mothers day 

is was a great day. 

church

breakfast for lunch

a few gifts

visiting moms

spending the day with my kids

1. evelyn made paper flowers. the cutest!!
2. pretty flowers & new dance game. ( it is hard! but i will win it all!)

3. i've always wanted a FHE board.
4. and more candy than i should have eaten from my parents but i did.



2 days after mothers day i got another gift!
the gift of
cyst removal

1. right before the doc cut my face open.
2. right after getting home. my face hurt a bit from him pushing so much on my cheek.
3. a couple of days later. i was slightly bruised but not as bad and i was expecting.
4. taken 2 weeks after.

i'll have a tiny scar but meh. i'm totally okay with that!
i'm glad to have my old cheek back. its been 9 years!!

cool fact: my husband has not known me with out it. 
it appeared right before i met him. 


Graduation
on the 16th Evelyn graduated from preschool
i was very excited for her because she was excited
but really, does there need to be a big hoopla celebration for everything now?
we are happy she will be in kindergarten next year and so is our bank account.

evelyn with her school friend brynnlee

Vegas
okay and finally last weekend we were able to go on a little trip to Las Vegas.
it was the first trip with 3 kids and it was excellent.
i was worried that Camden would have a hard time with the car ride, but he was perfect.
he slept pretty much the whole time.
we've come to realize that Amelia in fact DOES get car sick.
and Evelyn DOES NOT like peeing on the side of the highway.
it was an eventful trip and tons of fun.
it was the perfect way to end 12 weeks of having Chris home with us.
he is back to work now.

the end. 

catching up

chris was able to put the camera program on my computer! yay! so i have pictures today!

 

first off amelias birthday.

 

 amelia had a great birthday!

she loved all the presents that she got!

she got candy from her cousins hanna, tillman, easton & brinlee.

unicorn ponies from rylee & rigden

new clothes from papa & grandma crandell

a mini turtle pillow pet from uncle taylor

& a magna doodle from us.

she loves everything that she got!

thank you for the fun gifts!

for your enjoyment a little video of her blowing out the candles.

keep an eye on evelyns face.

we haven't figured out why yet, but she just doesn't seem to like the happy birthday song or candles i guess.

 

unicorn for the win

yesterday was an all around crazy day.

it was supposed to be a much more exciting day for sure.  i woke up feeling excited and totally ready for what this day ment for me! then some jack butt had to be evil and change the lives of so many families. so ubelieveably sad. but i will not live in fear, what kind of life would i be able to have, especially for my children, if i was fearful of the things that happened in the world.


the let's make a deal episode was supposed to air yesterday but i didn't get to see it on tv because of the news coverage happening yesterday. i was worried that it wasn't going to happen at all. if it doesn't air it pretty much didn't happen. so i was pretty bummed about that. found out later that a few stated did have it on so yay it happened, so it was only a matter of time before it was posted online.

i've been waiting for this day for 3 months. 3 months of secrets is pure torture!! TORTURE i tell you.

 

looked at this every day for 3 months!

 

 

well it did end up online! yay!

 

 

it won't let me put the video up on here but i have the LINK!!!!!

 

you can watch the whole thing or you can just go to the time around 15:00 and start from there!!  i hope you enjoy! 

preschool party

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

yesterday was a fun morning. Evelyn had her preschool halloween party.

the three of us (evelyn, amelia, and myself) dressed up and went to party.

evelyn is so excited to be a cat this year. yeah thats right she totally changed her mind on the whole spongebob thing and wanted to be a cat. i wouldn't be surprised if she ended up being a cat for many halloweens. she's been a little cat crazy as of late.

anywho.

i was one of two moms that dressed up. i'd say there were at least 15 moms there with the kids oh and a few dads there too. hahaha. it was fun. people kept looking at me, i wonder why? hmmm.

 my little Dorthy and my cat

(she wouldn't stop touching amelia with her tail, she had way too much fun with it!)

 sweet mia, she wouldn't wear a brown wig. oh well still cute.

 

 her whiskers and nose were gone by the end of the party.

 

yes i went as a purple cow.

what do you think when someone says purple cow?

 

i think of a yummy grape float.

thats what we call those.



 they did a little parade around the yard.

it was cute.

decorating cookies.



and eating decorated cookies. :)

 

 

they had alot of fun

playing with the other kids

making paper pumpkins

decorating cookies

and they each got a goodie bag with treats.

 

i'll have pics from tick or treating tomorrow.

 

:)

hopefully it goes over well.

 

 

fun phone surprises

evelyn likes to play games on my phone.

i trust her with it so i usually let her play with it unsupervised while i'm cleaning or something else around the house.

i love getting my phone back and see all the fun things she's done with it.

there are like 50 recordings of her singing her made up songs, they are the sweetest little things and she is so proud of them. makes me smile.

this time around she made some videos and took a few pics.

they just crack me up! i'll share a few with you. :)

 

throwing toys at your sister, that's what i call love. :)
evelyn's laugh kills me! love it!

 

 

love listening to them while the screen is black.

what did evelyn do to make amelia be like that on the couch.

hahaha.

 

 

love my girls.  they are so entertaining (at least to me)

 



letters{2}

dear bed,
why must you be so comfy and cozy? please be less appealing during the day so i don't give in to naps and leave my children unsupervised. thanks


dear walmart shopping carts,
stop squeaking and shaking uncontrollably!! the end.


dear taste buds,
can we please be buddies again? stop with the nonsense of leaving a nasty taste in my mouth when the food i ate was delicious!


dear evelyn,
thank you for being a good helper this week. you still had your moments, but i'm glad you understand now that i am not allowed to pick you up and i can't bend like you right now. you are a sweet heart. :)


dear amelia,
please just stop being a terrible toddler. i know you are learning to deal with growing up right now, and still being so small, but please lets just move on to the next phase. still love you tons nugget. :)


dear binkies,
enough.


dear husband,
thank you for mowing the front lawn today. i will however miss seeing animals disappear in the forest grass. :)

ellen/jimmykimmel/makeadeal

so got back from a super jam packed weekend.

 

 

thursday

4am- leave for cali

11:30ish- get to hotel and get ready as quickly as possible

(btw they didn't have a room for us so we got dressed/ready in the lobby bathroom)

12:30ish- get to ellen parking lot and wait to go in

 

(last year i was #50 woot! go half! didn't think about later that i got my age. haha. nice)

 

my phone died after this point lame. it seems to be having battery issues, probably from me dropping it all the time. OOPS!

 

ellen show was totally awesome AGAIN!!

we sat in the exact same spot as last year.

yeah we be cool like that.

 

we got the phillip phillips cd and it's pretty good.

i didn't watch american idol so i wasn't really sure who he was.

 

 

4:30ish-get out of ellen, and try to escape from packed parking lot to make it to hollywood to go to the Jimmy Kimmel show

 

5:30ish- finally get to hollywood, park, walk across street, wait in long line at jimmy and were one of the last few people to get in!

we had some great seats too.

it's smaller in person, at least i thought so.

the guests were one of my favorite Jimmy Kimmel guests ever

Terry Bradshaw!

this guy is so flippin hilarious and just cracks me up!

then Dave Matthews was there and then did an outdoor concert.

we didn't stay for the concert we were ready to go and were so tired.

 

9ish- got back to hotel ate some dinner finally!! PIZZA YUM!!

the hit the sack! we were all super tired!

 

 

friday

i wish i knew how to sleep.

children have taught me how not too.

woke up at 6.

after everyone else woke up we started getting ready for the next show, lets make a deal.

 

i ended up coming up with my costume and making it the day before we left and i thought it turned out pretty good.

total: 2 bucks to whip it together. haha. score! love cheap!

 

i ended up deciding to be a unicorn.

 

 

my sister was able to get my hair to look like a horses mane. yeeehaw. hahaha.

 

i forgot to take a picture of my whole outfit. ooops. haha

but if you go to this LINK they put up pictures of the groups/peeps that went and took pics.

i guess if you want you could buy a picture too. haha.

 

any who it was fun and all around a great time.

we sat right behind the piano man cat grey

 (i think that's how you spell it. i can't be certain)

so fingers crossed we'll be in a shot, cause they show him every once in awhile on the show. on occasion, right?

 

the episode is airing sometime in december.

i'll let ya'll know when i know for sure.

 

after the show, changed, then walked the less that 100 feet from our hotel to BJ's! oh how freakin delicious that place is!

 

we were all starving cause he missed lunch from being at the show.

 

so we filled out bellies with yummy food then crashed again once we got back.

 

saturday

was a pretty chill day that i pretty much dedicated to taking pictures of the food i ate.

 

my sisters went on a Hollywood stars home tour

my mom and i walked downtown Burbank and then ate lunch at this amazing pizza place called ZPIZZA!!

 

have i mentioned that i LOVE pizza, and this was the best ever!

 

 

 

so good.
my mom and i ate this entire large pizza
with out even it phasing us. haha.
we didn't get much of breakfast so we were hungry.

 

after deliciousness

my mom had to fly home so she left around 2 and i got to watch CABLE TELEVISION for a good 2 hours with out any interruptions!
 it was great i caught up mostly on the Kardashians.
 how i miss that show dearly. :)

 

later that night after the star tour yayhoos got back we went to Universal City walk and well, walked around, did some shopping oh and ate food.

 

 

 

yummy Johnny Rockets onion rings and fries hit the SPOT! YUM!

then some freakin delicious frozen yogurt to end the night.

 

sunday

drove home.

woot
came home to a clean home!
thank you sweet loving husband.
you are the best. :)

 

it was a super fun weekend

lots of laughing, dancing, and eating

 

this is sufficiently long enough so i think i'll stop now.

 

i hope you enjoyed my recap of events.

i was totally going to do another vlog, but eh, just far to much to cover and i clearly can get chatting and keep going on forever!

 

23 days

well its that time of year again.

when we start celebrating September and the amazing things that happen in this month.

if you remember last year my mom, sisters and i for my mothers birthday week went to the Ellen show. woot!

if you don't believe me check out[this amazing video] i made right after i got back. :) woot

well folks we've done it again!

thats right my momma's birthday week Ellen Show California extravaganza is happening again. oooooo yeah!! we are all so FREAKIN EXCITED!!!

this is happening in 23 days people. 23 DAYS!!

so many other fun things happening while we are in California i can't wait!

dex

so when i say 'i'll post pictures tomorrow' what i really mean is "sometimes in the next week or so....maybe" hahaha


oh man such a slacker here!!

well i've been kinda distracted this past weekend.

we got a new addition to our little clan.
well at the moment a temporary addition.

if you follow me on instagram you've seen the pics. :)

on thursday a little puppy showed up at our house. i was on my way out so i left some water out, cause i felt bad for the poor little guy he looked exhausted.  it was only 10am but it was already way too hot for this little guy. when we got back from shopping he wasn't around. 
we had to go get something around 5ish.  the girls peek out the mail slot in our front door and evelyn told me that the cute puppy is back.  I open the door and the poor thing was sitting on the door step, he looked tired, dehydrated and all sad.  i couldn't resist helping him.  so i took him around back gave him some cold water, i don't have any dog food laying around so i gave him a few pieces of chicken i had cooked from lunch. i felt bad giving it to him but it was all i had and he looked hungry.

we've been searching for any owners. he didn't have color and tags. we got him checked for a micro chip but didn't have one. we went to the pound to see if someone put up a flyer for him, i've been posting online everyday, and haven't heard anything.

i don't want to take him to the pound, because i just feel so bad for those little animals there it breaks my heart. what if no one comes for him and he is put down, i would hate myself for that.

i am a softy when it come to animals. so now we have this adorable little puppy, for the time being. 
the girls have loved having him around, he is calm and takes a lot of crap from the girls.

(cell phone pic so it's pretty crappy. sorry.)

we'll see what happens this week.

oh and we've named him 'little buddy ronan dexter' or just dex for short. :)

let the meeting begin

okay so i've been completely brainless the last few days. why.....i wish i knew. i've sat down to write some stuff (pretty amazing stuff too) and i just sit here.

lookin all weird and whaaaaa at my computer screen.  then i start blog stalking myself again, and i laugh at the awesome stuff i wrote. what it WRONG with me!! ahhhhhh! its probably super weird/bad how much i think i'm funny, when i'm probably not even all that funny.  i have ithinkimhilariousitis. yeah, look it up. it's real....ish. i hope, well if it's not then it is now. i declare ithinkimhilariousitis to be so, because it was written, amen.


so i declare this to be the first official meeting. if you'd like to join, please feel free. this is a safe environment.


i'll start.

my name is erica and i have come today to admit that i have ithinkimhilariousitis.

my last episode was just a few minutes ago when i was reading through my earlier posts and i came across this picture...

right after i saw it i started laughing.

the sad lonely carts, flat car, the tree explosion.  is there a cure?


if there is i don't know if i'm ready for one. i'm that deep into this. i don't think i want to stop laughing at my corny jokes, weird word phrases, & silly pictures. 

this will take time and i feel much better with this coming out. thank you for coming today and listening to all my feelings.


meeting adjourned.

results, woot!

so i survived shopping on friday. hahaha. i think i've mentioned this before but i'm not one to go shopping for a extended period of time. hahaha. short and sweet and i'm out, but that was not the case on friday, but i didn't really mind. it was nice.

we went to a few different store at AZ mills. what did i get?

hmmm...well, i tried on lots of shirts and a few skirts/dresses.

i ended up coming home with only 3 things, BUT very proud of my three perchases for sure!

frist: floral pencil skirt at forever21+ 

via

yeah it's not that short on me i swear! did i mention im only 5'4 so this skirt goes just past my knees! hahaha. kinda glad to be a wee shorty for that skirt! it was a steal only $11 woot!

see!! looks so different on me! sorry picture is so blurry. i was moving i guess. :)


next after trying on a bunch of things at oldnavy, i walked out with nothing. i was debating on a few things but in the end, i decided to wait them out. i can always go back and get them later.


then we went to marshall's got a super trippy black and white shirt. soooo cool!

yeah see trippy! love it


then i got a wicked awesome shirt from H&M! i got to be honest i've only ever bought a pari of earrings from them, cause honestly that's what fit.  so excited that i got this shirt! husband thought it looked like curtains, hahahaha! thats okay i like my curtain/rug shirt it's awesome!

via

i'm trying to figure out what i like....what the crap is my style?! it's all over the place, but is that it? just a mesh of stuff..

i have no idea, i've never really thought about it!

oh and i do need some help i'm supposed to get a 'statement' necklace. something bright so if you've seen something around let me know where i can look. anything bright and fun would be great!!!

i hope i can find more things that i like and actually start to, i don't know, look put together more. that might be nice. 

just because i'm a mom doesn't mean i have to dress like one right?!

ZUPAS

i feel like i need to throw my hands in the air when i say zupas. i feel a little greek but i'ts not.


last night i went out with my sisters, a birthday night out, Mal, Kim, & Amy. we went to Zupas of course....flipping sooo sooo good!!

our delicious food.
They have soups, salads, & sandwhiches. oh man, the tomato basil & cauliflower soups were so creamy and good. best soup hands down. yeah they have one in Phoenix and then the rest are in Utah. WHAT?!


if it wasn't so far away from my house i would go there all the time...actually thats probably a good thing it is far.

after we filled our tummies, we went over to the store Last Chance.  it's a Nordstroms outlet, so yeah really flippin great prices.  i had heard that if you were lucky you could find some Tom's there at super great prices.

well the store must have known that that was all i was looking for and graciously provided the sweetest pair Tom's in my size.  i mean i was hoping for just any, like plain gray or maybe blue. 

Scored myself some black sparkly ones! whopping 20 bones. yeah i was so excited!! best birthday gift to myself ever!! :)

i thought about getting this hat there too..

yeah i thought it might be a too russian inspired. hahaha. they had some really fun hats there, one reminded me of a pillow case you just threw on your head and wore it out.

hahaha.  good times with the sisters, and a great night out!! woot!

geeking out!!

holy smoly!


-seriously over 50 peeps care to follow my small, insignificant, freakishly random, spasm blog?!

awwwwwwwww, thanks folks. no wonder i'm about to give one of you $$, you clearly deserve it, cause i'm crazy and people who follow crazy get mad props in my book.



-okay yeah so i'm freaking excited to have lost 18 pounds!!
i've worked super wicked hard for those dang 18 pounds. i can tell my body so dearly wants to hold on to every pound, cause that's what it's used too, sorry body, i'd like to be small again. thanks. :)

i'm hoping to have that say 20 by my birthday. my goal was 25, but i'll take what i get and i won't throw a fit. WOOT!


- 14 days till hunger games!! and 13 days till i see it with my sisters! i am so freaking excited!!! i can't contain it!  i love hunger games with a passion. i'm freakin obsessed, i try not to show it too much or that's all i would talk about. i'm saving you, you know.


- birthday in 8 days! YEAH!!

i'm just so freaking excited about everything right now!! gah!

a tip

cleaning.

do you despise it?
cringe at just the mention of it?
want to punch the nearest person because of it?

if you've answered yes to any of these questions, then you are a winner.


woot.

seriously though folks.  cleaning had been a sort of battle.  I love having a clean house but i just couldn't make that happen so i would be bitter and upset at the world. i started taking my frustration out of the goodies and treats in the freezer and cupboards. yikes!

angry eating is not my friend.


so I've taken a new approach on the death word....cleaning.

for the past week I've tried something different and it seems to be working for me.

get this...

not caring. :) weeeeee!

now that i don't care as much if the house is a mess, because it always was, it's clean. WHAAAA!!?!

It's cray cray and all forms of it. 

I've realized i don't need a schedule or a list of things to do.  It just takes some patience.  that's it.

i was frustrated before with the fact that i have to clean the same thing multiple times in one day, but now i just leave it, and then when i get around that area I'll clean it up real quick.

again. WHAAA?!?!

So not caring has been my missing link all along!?!?! hahaha.

it feels good not to care, and just get around to it when i do.  Which now i get around to it all the time. 

I don't see it as a chore so much anymore, so i'm okay with it.

I'm not making any sense am i? well in my mixed up head it makes perfect sense.

so what we've learned today...

laziness = clean
clean = meh
meh = happy
happy = clean.


GET IT? GOT IT?

GOOD!

I'm so glad i could help you all with my cleaning tips! Have good one!

te te te telephone.

I'm liking the whole phone picks on Wednesday thing.

we'll see if i keep this up...that would be cool. i think.

well enjoy the random. :)

1. my favorite new hair do. i love it!

call me elga. :)

2. my children being their weirdo selves and then asking for me to take a picture of them.

3. my elliptical machine. love this bad boy.

 i haven't figured out a name for it yet.

4.evelyn playing her favorite game on wii. Michael Jackson. ghost of jealousy is her favorite one and she is really good at it.

that's me relaxing on the couch watching her in my new aero comfy sweats my husband got for me. yeah one of the other spoiled things. :)

5.my new favorite breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack. plain oatmeal with a little cinnamon, a little bit of brown sugar and sliced apples. yum.

6. i love finding random pictures that evelyn has taken while she is playing with my phone. yeah she thought a picture of her cute little toes was just what i needed. :)

happy wednesday peeps. till next time. :)

late, oh well.

now that things are cooled down a bit, i will post some pictures of the big day for my little children.

evelyn loves santa & mia well, she could care less really.

they were so excited with all the things that he brought to our house this year.

1,2 &3

The girls were so excited to open their presents.

4

i got Anasatia on VHS! Yes! just what i always wanted.

just kidding. chris put some earring in that cause he wanted to through me off if i tried to guess what it was.

5

we ended up at my parents house at 2:30pm to have breakfast with my aunts, uncles & cousins on my mom's side.

it was the best breakfast ever.

the girls got their gifts from papa and grandma crandell.

6&7

nothing better then getting to play with new toys on christmas.

i ended up getting chris something for christmas. cause i knew he got me something, we usually don't get each other things, it's all about the children. however, i got him all 3 matrix movies on blu-ray.  i got a wicked sweet deal on amazon, thanks to Freebies 2 deals for posting about it.

it was a great year. now i'm trying to convince evelyn that we need to take down the christmas tress. not going to well.



oh and i decided to send out a new year card instead of christmas. i like that idea because cause i can never remember to send things out before.