I am a sewing MACHINE!

O.K. - not literally a machine but my sewing machine and I did some major "bonding" this week - here is what my week looked like -

Monday - Sew

Tuesday - Sew

Wednesday - Sew

Thursday - Sew

Friday - Sew

Saturday - Sew some more!

It's costume time and they were due on Saturday! So I have spent the entire last week sewing two ballgowns for Cali to wear in the high school musical "Into the Woods''. She is one of Cinderella's Step Sisters.

Here are some pictures of Cali trying on the gowns for a fitting - they aren't finished yet and the green one looks a bit frumpy but it really isn't and looks a lot better in person. So they aren't the greatest pics but you can get an idea why I have been a sewing MACHINE!! The green gown was made out of 15 yards of fabric - there are 3 layers to each piece.

The skirt of the red dress is made out of velvet and is two layers and I think it weighs about 10 pounds! I still have some hemming to do and finishing touches but we are almost there!

I did take a break from the sewing machine long enough to celebrate Valentine's Day. We starated the day with heart shaped pancakes and then heart shape sugar cookies for a treat. Cali celebrated by going to a movie and out to dinner with her "friend' and Tessa celebrated at the dance studio

Jim and I enjoyed our annual "Beach Babes and their Boys" valentine dinner at my friend Julie's house. Julie's house is this fun 112 year old house over in the Hawthorne area of Portland. Julie goes all out - and I mean all out. Her Valentine decorations rival most people's Christmas decorations - every corner and surface is decorated with red hearts and all other kinds of Valentine decor - it is amazing. Here is a picture of Jim and I in front of her mantel which is only one of many decorated surfaces. - it was surrounded by a dozen Valentine balloons. Dinner was delicious and the company was even better.

One thing I learned this week is how to embarass your teenage daughter in one easy step - now this would not embarass all teenagers but when you have a teenage daughter who is a "Makeup Maven" this will do the trick....show up at her school with only half your makeup on.

This week I made numerous trips to the high school and the costume shop as I worked on the costumes. Tessa met me there one afternoon to get a ride home - she walked in, looked at me and declared to the entire room "Mom - you only have half your makeup on!!"

You see I have this little routine in the morning. I put all of my make up on except my eye liner and mascara before I blow dry my hair. I do this because sometimes when I blow dry my hair my eyes water and it makes my eyeliner and mascara run. Well I guess I got distracted that morning and never got around to putting the rest on - I had my eye shadow on , just not the rest.

No one else had noticed up to this point (including myself) or at least no one had said anything but after Tessa announced it to all the mom's in the costume shop one of them did say "I thought maybe you just had a cold."

Boy Update:

Both boys had fun Valentine Celebrations this week.

The boys made a trip to Costco together the night before to buy their roses. Logan delivered his to Shayla that morning when Shayla fixed him breakfast - his favorite - french toast from Great Harvest Cinnamon Chip bread. They then enjoyed lunch together at the Chef's Table (now their favorite restaurant in Provo) since Shayla had rehearsal that night. Logan and Shayla are enjoying the holiday weekend visiting Shayla's family in St. George.

Clark delivered his roses in the morning too and was treated to homemade cinnamon rolls made by Brooke. Clark and Brooke went out to dinner that night and then to an art gallery opening.

Friday was Brooke's birthday so they celebrated again with dinner out and then a surprise party hosted by Brooke's roommates.

In addition to the roses the boys also bought their girls a gift - I was impressed by the planning and thought they put into their gift selection - such good boys!

Your Laugh for the Day - On Me!

O.K. so I woke up this morning (Jim was already up and at the gym playing racquetball) and I saw what looked like a long piece of caution tape, about 3 feet off the ground drapped around the footboard of our bed, it then wrapped around the bathroom door and into our masterbath.

My first thought was that Jim was playing some kind of practical joke on me and drapping caution tape throughout the room, my second thought was - oh, how sweet, he has some kind of surprise for me downstairs and doesn't want me to come down yet.

Well, I got out of bed and soon realized that it was not caution tape but it was toilet paper and it was attached to me! I had gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom - it was dark, I didn't turn on any lights and barely opened my eyes and somehow had gotten the roll of toilet paper attached to me and brought it to bed with me!!

Jim thought it was so funny that when he got up at 5:00 a.m. he just left it so I would see it!

So, there you go - your funny story for the day!

Wisdom of the Teeth

This week Tessa had her wisdom teeth removed - I am glad I only have four children and thus only have to go through this experience four times!

Testy Tessa
On Wednesday afternoon Tessa had her four "boney impacted' wisdom teeth removed by an oral surgeon. We opted for an oral surgeon this time vs. a dentist after Cali's experience with her wisdom teeth (more on that later) The nurse warned me that they really had to dig to get them out and she was going to be sore and swollen - they were right. Not only was she swollen she has bruises under her eyes!


Five days later Tessa still does not look like herself. The first day (when she was half way coherent and not being onery because of the pain) she looked in the mirror and commented "I don't even recognize myself.' Still today at church, the brother in the front row turned around and asked who Tessa was (half joking but half serious)! She is still in a lot of pain, we are trying to manage it with motrin instead of the oxycodone she had been taking. Trying to prevent an addiction as she is the child who use to ask for motrin as an afternoon snack!


Cali and Clark both had their teeth removed by a dentist who instead of an anesthesia used the drug halcion - I must say Cali and Clark's wisdom teeth experiences were a lot more amusing as a result.

Crying Cali
They say that many times the reaction people have to halcion is similiar to how they would behave if they were drunk - in that case we now know that Cali would be a very emotional drunk.

As we drove out of the dentist's parking lot after the extraction Cali burst into tears, crying and sobbing. She was convinced that the dentist (a family friend) had used no pain medication and that she had felt EVERYTHING. In between her sobs she told me that we could no longer be friends with him because he was a very MEAN man! She sobbed all the way home - I tried not too laugh too much but it was really hard! Once home she began sobbing and crying for her Jamba Juice that a friend was bringing over "I Want my Juice!" sobbing almost uncontrollably. Her recovery was a rough one too - in fact the dentist admitted it was the hardest extraction he had ever done and they actually ended up going up into her nasal cavity so she was put on an anti-biotic which we discovered later that night that she was allergic to!

Cali has refused to give me permission to post a photo of her after her extraction - needless to say she didn't look great!

Crazy Clark
Clark also was given the drug halcion. Because it can make you quite incoherent they suggested that I give him the drug a few hours before his appointment but to put him in the car first and let him fall asleep there since he was a bit bigger than I am and I might have trouble getting him into the car once the drug took effect. So we put him in the car and I gave him his drugs but two hours later, 30 minutes before his appointment he was still wide awake. I called the dentist and they said to give him another pill. We arrived at the office - Clark walked in on his own, sat in the waiting room and began looking at a magazine. Still it seemed like the drug was having no effect.

Well - a few minutes later it hit - sitting in the waiting room there was a cute, blond, high school girl -Clark proceeded to lean over in his chair, stare straight at her and ask me in a loud voice - "Is she hot mom, is she hot?" I smiled and explained to the girl that he was on drugs. He then proceeded to roll out of his chair and onto the floor - now this was a very small waiting room and Clark was taking up the majority of the floor space.

The doctor came out quickly and helped Clark walk back into the office. All went well and they got him back into the car for me to go home. I realized I was out of gas so needed to go across the street to the gas station. As the car was being filled with gas (remember we live in Oregon and they do it for you here!) he proceeded to jump out of the car and began dancing around and singing. We now know that Clark would be a very funny drunk because if you know Clark, you know he doesn't sing or dance! I got him back in the car and he started demanding to know where his teeth were - he wanted his teeth because he wanted to make a necklace out of them - he asked over and over again. (I quickly called the office but they had already disposed of them).

On the way home he assured me he was fine and that he was good to drive over to the high school and go to Lacrosse practice. I assured him he was not! When we got home I needed to go to the pharmacy to fill his perscriptions but was afraid to leave him home along - thinking he would try to leave and drive to school. I took his car keys with me and called my mom to come down and babysit him. Clark has no recollection of any of this!

Lovely Logan


O.K. so maybe he doesn't look too lovely but it was a lovely, easy extraction. Logan also had his wisdom teeth removed by an oral surgeon. He was sore and swollen but other than that he was the easiest wisdom tooth extraction we had - sorry Logan no funny stories! But I do have a picture.

So my week was full of changing ice packs, dispensing drugs and sewing. The deadline for costume completion is this coming Saturday and I have A LOT of work to do yet - wish me luck.

Boy Update:
Logan and the Young Ambassadors performed in Logan Saturday night and did a workshop before the show. They also had a fireside tonight. He sounded tired when we talked to him on the phone tonight.

Clark had a boy's night on Friday night with his roommates to Benihanas and then a group date last night to make empanadas with one of his buddies who went to Argentina on his mission. Clark's stake received a new Stake President today - President Monson's son.

So if you made it through all four wisdom teeth experiences - click on comments below and let us know whose story you like best!