A Little Different Post

Okay...so this post is not about my family. If you know me at all (which I assume you all do), you know that I LOVE to get a good deal. In my quest for free stuff, I read a lot of blogs. One of the things I have come across that I really like is SwagBucks.

Swagbucks is a search engine (just like Google), that randomly awards you points for performing searches. You can redeem your points for lots of different things. What I am planning to do, is use my points for Amazon.com gift certificates that I can use to buy Christmas presents.

I have been using Swagbucks as my search engine for a few months now and already have 175 swagbucks. You need 45 swagbucks for a $5 Amazon gift card. Not a HUGE return, but since I don't have to do anything (besides search the Internet...which I do anyway) in order to get those swagbucks, I like to think of it as free money. Who doesn't want free money?!

So, now, the shameless plug. If you are interested in trying it for yourselves (no pressure of course) you can do it through my referral link and then I get swagbucks when you get them. So not only do I get points for doing nothing extra...I get points for you doing nothing extra too. It is the epitome of laziness! You just have to click on the box on the top right of this blog. Or you can go to: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/BiffanyRuth

I am not a big fan of multi-level anything, but I figured you all might want some free money. So check it out and try it. I don't even care if you use my link or not. Let me know if you have any questions and I probably won't have the answer, but I'll sure try. Good luck!

Fancy Nancy's got Nothing on Kelsie!

I know...some of you are beyond shocked that I have pictures up the same day as the party. To tell the truth, I am so tired that I don't really want to do anything, so I am using this as an excuse to sit at the computer and not stand on my aching feet any longer!

We had a GREAT time today with Kelsie's Fancy Nancy birthday party. All of her friends came in their fanciest attire and we beautified them even more when they got here. We had boas, beads, bracelets, rings, glitter and nail polish for everyone.

My sister-in-law, Tressa was here and was a life saver. We stayed up last night, after the kids were in bed, and decorated like crazy. I have never seen so much pink in my life.

When all the kids got here, we painted finger nails and added a little more fancy to everyone's outfits. Then we took portraits and had a fashion show. Next was lunch...we had pb&j on pink and purple bread, chocolate dipped strawberries, fruit pics and frappe. Yummy!

After lunch , they each got to decorate a frame that will hold their portraits. The girls were very cute and did a great job. There was a whole lot of glitter, bling and flowers going on. The whole thing was a raging success, thanks to a whole lot of help from Tressa and all the other moms who cane to party with us.

You have GOT to be kidding me!

Okay... so funny story. I do not write this blog to toot my own horn or anything of the sort. I just think it is hilarious, so I want to share with you all.

This year, we had a chili cook-off at the church for part of our Halloween party. Since I sign up for pretty much everything that gets put in front of me, I signed up for the contest. Don't think that I have ever made chili before in my life...'cause I haven't! I called Stan and my Dad to get their recipes and advice (Funny how you get VERY different advice from different people). I figured I would use their recipe, but it was a busy week and I didn't feel like going to all that much trouble. Saturday was crazy busy, so I came up with my own version of "chili" that was quick and easy and headed off to the church.

I am sure you can see where this is going, but it is my blog and I will drag out a story if I want to! I had no idea what my chili tasted like because I didn't feel like tasting it when I was making it. I tried to get Dal to do a taste test, but he didn't feel like it either. Oh well...I was just trying to provide some chili for the millions of people who would be there. Imagine my surprise when they called my name for the third place winner! Seriously...I was completely embarrassed to go up there and wanted to say, "You have GOT to be kidding me, right?!"

Since I figured I would offend somebody with such a comment, I just smiled, turned bright red and accepted my white ribbon and gift certificate to Chilis. Who would of thunk?!

And no...I don't think I could replicate what I did ever again. I have learned that a chili cookoff has nothing to do with skill and 100% to do with luck! I am sure that even the same judges would probably pick entirely different kinds if they were to do it again! Oh well...I will bask in my glory while I still can!

A Haunting Halloween...

Jack Rigby returned this year, looking pretty much the same as last year. (Ty has a very firm belief in how a jack-o-lantern should look.) Ty was the artist, Dal was the carver and Kelsie and I drew with markers on a different pumpkin (sorry...no picture).

I thought, for some strange reason, that a witch would be VERY appropriate for Kelsie's costume this year. Seriously, I just thought she would be a super cute witch...was I right? Luckily, she readily agreed and we practiced her witch laugh for a few weeks before the big day.

Grandma Rigby found a great karate outfit for Ty and he easily became Karate Kid! (No...he has not seen the movie, but he has seen a few clips and he LOVES the final fight scene from Karate Kid I where Daniel-son stands on one foot, crane style, and kicks the mean guy in the head. I'm not sure how I feel about how great he thought that was...such violence!)

I told Ty to show me his best Karate move and this is what he did. Awesome!

Kelsie, of course, wanted to do just what big brother did, so this is her picture: (I love that she tries to be like him. It drives Ty crazy sometimes, but I hope she keeps it up...too cute!)

Another Halloween come and gone...fun times, but I am glad it is over. By the way, we have planty of candy for anyone who wants some. Come on over and we would love to share!

Spooky Eats

I have always wanted to have a special Halloween dinner. Well, I finally did it this year, thanks to one of my new favorite blogs, http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/ I pretty much took all my good ideas from her site, so I can't take credit for anything. It was really fun. We had pumpkin- shaped bread bowls with corn chowder. How cute are these?

I made the most disgusting looking worms from Jello. They were very spooky, but way too much work...don't think I'll be doing these again! (besides, my kids are un-American or something and won't eat Jell-O!)

The chocolate covered pretzels were a family effort (thanks, Dal!). We made a bunch of these on Thursday and took them to a few friends and neighbors.

Since I knew my kids wouldn't eat corn chowder, even in a pumpkin bread bowl, I also made mummy dogs for them. They thought they were pretty cool, but of course insisted on wiping off the eyes first. Eeww...mustard!

I am excited to try new things next year. Halloween food is the best. Any good ideas?

Six?! Is that Possible?!

My baby boy is SIX YEARS OLD! I cannot believe it. I guess that means I really can't be 21 anymore, huh? This year's party was chaos...complete and utter chaos. I think it went well though. Once again, Becky helped me make a spectacular cake. Okay...let's be honest...she made the cake...I assisted. I did actually bake the cake, put a filling layer in and crumb coated it all by myself! Oh yeah...I was master boat shaper (rice crispy treats) and I made the sails for the ship. That is about it, though. I have to give credit to Becky for all the hard frosting stuff. I am getting good at helping her mix frosting colors. Do you think there is a career in that?

This was the first year where we had just kids at the party, instead of their whole families. I thought that would make it easier...less people, you know? Ha! Besides the fact that we invited 12 kids, their were fewer adults to help manage the chaos and help entertain. Luckily, I have some good friends who were able to stay and help. It really was a good time. We walked the plank, found hidden treasures, ate Pirate grub, made our own coins and searched for gold. What more could you want for a pirate party?

Not to mention the fact that I got to burn the edges of a bunch of stuff...invitations, signs, treasure maps, sails. Who knew that could be so much fun!

Oh yeah...this isn't the best picture, but look at the treasure chest behind Ty and Kelsie in this picture. I made that! Can you believe it? It was a really fun party to plan and I think Ty really liked it. (He better have or this may be the last!) Dal is trying to convince him that it would be more fun to just have one friend over next year on his birthday. We'll see how that goes. Now...time to plan Kelsie's party!

Is that really necessary?

Okay...so we like to have fun with Kelsie's hair...especially on Sunday mornings. I came across this website(http://www.princesshairstyles.com/) and have become a bit obsessed. I wish that Kelsie had longer hair so we could try more of the things, or that I had any hair skills whatsoever! We stick to the MOST basic hair styles we can find on the site and do them over and over and over. This one was just so stinkin' cute I had to take some pictures. Cute, huh?!

You can't see this one very well, but it is the EASIEST thing to do ever and looks super cute. You can look on the site to see a better picture. I think it is called a Cinderella style or something like that. How fun are cute little blonde haired blue eyed girls?!

Camping at Big Sur

Back in September we got together with Dal's cousins, Brant and Randy and their daughter, Lakin, and her husband for a little camping up at Big Sur. We have been wanting to go camping there since we moved to California, but hadn't quite made it for no reason at all. It is a beautiful area, right along the coast. Thanks to Brant, we finally made it up there for a couple of days.

The funny part about it was that when we planned the trip, the fact that Tyson would be in school didn't even cross my mind. I wasn't used to this whole have-to-be-somewhere thing that school creates. So, being Parents of the Year, we had him miss a day the second week of the new year. Oops. Oh well...it's kindergarten!

We got a great camp site (thanks again Brant!) that was just across the street from a beautiful beach. We walked down there both of the days and the kids played in the sand and water, Dal jumped off a big rock and I sat in my chair. Everyone was happy!

Our campsite was a little further south of the main part of Big Sur, so we headed up North one day to see what was there. We found this great stream where everyone was just sitting around on chairs in the river, eating ice cream, chatting and cooling off. It was great!

The kids absolutely love camping. They love going to bed in the tent, getting dirty, making fires, throwing rocks and dirt, swimming, eating smores and pretty much everything else that has to do with camping.

At the end of the day, Ty and Kelsie were both so tired that they just wanted to go to bed and we couldn't convince them to stay up and sit around the fire with us. No worries, though, we just had our s'mores after breakfast the next morning. I think I must be getting old, though, cause I just can't take chocolate in the morning like I used to. It is a sad day!

It was a great trip. We will definitely be heading back up that direction again!