Arghhhhh....

'Cap'ain Jack Sparrow' and 'the Cracken'

We have had more than our share of Halloween fun this week. From Trunk or Treating, to an Annual Family Party to the big night O' sugar. We started today off wishing my cousin Genny and -the other cutest octopus ever- Addison a Happy Birthday! Braden got to wear his costume to preschool for a party there, poor teachers had 30 kids on a sugar rush at 9 am! This afternoon we took the boys into the office to see the girls I work with and their costumes (ok, ok, I have been on Maternity leave/ part time for like 4 or 5ish years, but I pretend I still have a role there...) and they were all so cute! 'The Reds' were Sally from Nightmare before Christmas and Mulan, the two M's were Cruella and a Dalmatian, and the office manager was Kim Possible. Russ's nurses were Sony and Cher. It was classic. Berkley even tried to awnser the phone, but what 1 yr old can really say "OB-GYN office, can you hold?" Really...


We went straight from there to my Mom's ward Block Party in Mesa where we saw a ton of friends and even more parents or siblings of friends(Plus a few more, without blogs, GASP!)! My sister Rhonda brought my cute niece Yazzie out (as a pink bunny!) and although we tried for a photo op, she is just plain scared of her cousins!

Finally after a good time there we headed to Noni and Pops neighborhood to hit a few houses. Berk walked right up to the door, but then just wanted to walk away, so he only treated there. Braden and I made the rounds there and in our neighborhood. He cracked me up. After going to less than 5 houses he said, "Can you just ring the bell and say Trick or Treat for me?,"-I laughed seeing how I already had his sword, bag and flashlight! So we didn't wander far. Well, I hope you all had as much fun as we did this week! If you haven't seen any of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (esp. 2 & 3) then you won't know the 'characters' my boys were!


I guess I am done blogging for the night, Berk has been up 4 times since I started and I can't type well one handed. Only 2 days till his ENT consult appointment-I can't wait!

Umm, Isn't Halloween Tommorrow?

Ok, so I had to post this picture, after our ward's Trunk or Treat (last Wednesday) and our Annual Mortensen Family Halloween Party (Monday night) I think we don't actually need to GO Trick or Treating tomorrow, huh? Braden is gonna be on a sugar rush for a month...(or until I hide the rest of the candy and he forgets about it like last year...)

Punkin' Patch and week in review...

So earlier this week we made our annual trek to Mother Natures Farm in Gilbert to pick the boys out their pumpkins. I can't believe how much fun we have there. Braden actually wanted to decorate his pumpkin this year, usually he refuses. We did the hay ride, played in the bounce house and ran around looking for the perfect pumpkins for each of the boys. My mom even came along. Other than my hay allergy which is always super fun, we had beautiful weather and fantastic memories. I have been trying to post photos for over an hour, blogger must be busy, so enjoy this one of Braden until I get another chance to post!

We also had our Ward's Trunk or Treat on Wednesday night, which was so fun. The YW and YM did the booths, Braden's favorite was the fishing one, of course. And he even went in the haunted house- thanks to a brave teacher Brennan who loves my kids-poor guy had to carry him through. I am waiting to post photos of them in costume until after Halloween.

I had the worst migraine on Thursday, thanks to my Mom for leaving work to come watch my kids! Friday was just catch up from being down the day before, but Saturday we had a good busy day. Rusty got to go golfing with his Dad at the club and I got all prepped for the Super Saturday class I am teaching this weekend. Whew! This week is gonna be chaotic, but fun with family parties, Halloween and taking Berk to the ENT- he still doesn't sleep and now he has a burst ear drum! More to come on that later! SO enjoy the sugar rush this week- since I can't... what a stupid time to start a diet competition, but for the record I did lose 3 pounds this week! And Rusty lost 9, so I am pretty sure that Wii is ours!!!

Long live Carbonation!

Today was a great day for me, for the dumbest reason. I had to take a quick trip to Target to get a nightlight for Braden and thought I would buy sometime for Berk to behave by getting him a snack at the food center. While I was filling my cup with ice, I SAW IT---It's back!

Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash!

So, to explain my elation let me give you a little back story. Every work function for Rusty's job we always seem to order the same thing from the bar- Sprite with cranberry juice. For 1- cause it's yummy and 2- cause we don't drink alcohol. Each and every time we have gone to him former boss' home for her Christmas party, her hubby sees us coming, puts down the wine and gets our 'cocktail' made. So, imagine my surprise when shorty after Halloween last year I saw a red bottle of Sierra Mist -- and upon further inspection saw that it was mixed with cranberry, so I thought it would be funny to buy it and bring it home to show Rusty. Little did I know that I would become very addicted to its sweet taste. So things are going great with me and SMCS- until one day near New Year's, the shelf at the store is empty, no sign, no room, no nothing. Agh! In desperation I searched high and low, QT, Target, Walmart, CVS it was gone. After doing a little googling I realized it was purely a seasonal flavor. So my mission began, I called friends in other states, and had everyone on the hunt for it (as well as Peppermint Ice Cream for my friend). No luck on either count. Come mid February of this year I happened upon a lone 12 pack at a Safeway I had never shopped before and I promise you, I felt better than if I had won the lottery. It was rumored I even chased down a guy driving a Pepsi truck to see if he had any, but I refuse to confirm or deny that story.

So, I am having a good day. Despite Berkley having a burst ear drum, running a fever, getting 3 shots, and cutting to teeth and the lack of sleep as a result. Despite the huge list of things I have o do this week. Despite the mountain of laundry I am tackling...I am one happy lady today. I have four 2 liter bottles chilling in my fridge to thank for my happiness. So, now you are all thinking I am a little CrAzY- and I am -- but only about really stupid things... Oh, and also on my list to stock up on, Mtn Dew Game Fuel, yumm-o. Rusty has a stack (no lie) of 12 packs in his office. The only bummer to this story is that we just started another Beck Family Diet competition (of which Rusty has been undefeated) and drinking soda costs you a point- and with a Wii on the line, I am willing to stock my fridge and wait until the competition lapses to truly enjoy my wonderful find. So try it, it is great for holiday parties or a change from other decaffeinated sodas out there, you won't be disappointed, and if you are, bring the rest to me- I am sure one of us will drink it!

Party Time!

We had so much fun spoiling our baby this week. We had a party for him and had so much fun with everyone who came! We quickly realized 40 some odd people don't fit too well in our downstairs! Oh well, the pizza and cake (from Basha's) was good. Berk dug into his cake, made a huge mess, and tried to share with everyone. He was so funny! Thanks to all our family who came, both Burkinshaw families, "Auntie" Heather, and my cousin Genny's family who came all the way from Peoria! He loved everything he got, but I think Braden loved it all more... We kept having to remind him whose Birthday it was! Enjoy the slide show!

Berkley is 1 !!!

Little Man we can't believe it has already been a whole year since you joined our family! Happy Birthday --We love you! (more photos from his party to come!)

Newport- Laguna...

After our long week, Rusty decided we should take a last minute trip to California. We hadn't been to the beach in a while and it would be Berk's first time. So Friday morning we loaded up the kids and headed to Newport Beach. We spent time there and at Laguna Beach and did a lot of shopping. It was a nice, relaxing time. Rusty's parents and brother were there for a wedding so we had extra help with the kids. Braden loves the beach, even when the water is cold and Berkley, well, Mr Berk loves the TASTE of the beach! Braden went into the water in his clothes and was mad when we made him get out of the surf and Berk was quite content eating fist fulls of sand and got very angry when we tried to make him stop. Braden learned the "joy" of feeding pigeons and Berk learned that walking in sand is tricky! We also headed down to San Clemente to the Rainbow Sandals store and stocked up-Braden got the cutest red ones! So, now we are back to reality and hot Fall weather. It was so nice to need sweatshirts at night! Thanks for the trip Rusty, I was just what I needed.

Tom is a girl...

Well, well, well, what have we gotten ourselves into? Apparently one of our new fish, that Braden got less than a week ago for his birthday, is a girl fish, not a boy. How do I know this??? Tom had 9 babies this morning... Yeh, yeh, laugh it up, its only Murphy's Law that of all the fish in the tank we would get the one scooped up that was pregnant and ready to birth. Joy. This morning Braden asked me to help him feed the fish. When i went in his room I saw something floating and it caught my eye. Then I saw another little something and I knew I was in trouble. As we got ready to head out the door to preschool the count was up to 6. So, after having a major flashback to my youth, (when we had several fish tanks and always had some fish breeding) I realized I would need to go to the pet store and get another tank. Yes, I could have left the babies in the other tank and odds are the would have been eaten by the other fish, but how do I then explain that to my 5 yr old? So in less than week we went from no pets, to 1 fish tank with 9 fish( including 2 that have already gone down the toilet) to 2 tanks with a total of 18 fish --- anyone who wants some Black Molly fish let me know... These suckers are tiny by the way, about the same size as the gravel they are swimming with. Braden wants to name them, but how would I keep them all straight???

Only in Arizona...

We had a fun and busy week planning and preparing for Braden's two birthday parties. We have always had family over on his birthday but decided that since he finally is at the age to have friends, we would have a party just for them. We have tried having everyone over at the same time, but we are those lucky ones who have a huge extended family all in the same area code, so parties get huge without trying. Thursday, Braden got to take the snack to preschool where they did a celebration of life. Basically, he walks around a candle (the Sun) to signify becoming a year older and then they show photos of him that I sent in. He always loves it. He is one of the oldest, if not THE oldest at school so he thinks it is very cool to be 5.

After school, and after I was sick of him begging to open presents, I decided it was time to go get his cake from Target. Normally, I use Sam's or Basha's but this year he was VERY specific on the kind of cake he wanted, so off to Target we went. Unfortunately for me, Target and I are not friends right now. They had not made the cake. Not only that, it took about 10 employees, none of whom worked in the bakery, almost an hour to finally realize this mistake. We ended up picking a cake out of the display case- and couldn't even have it written on, and the cake wasn't labeled with the flavor... I am tellin' ya, worst trip to Target ever; or so I thought. Berk, who is normally a gem at stores was on one. I figured out later in the evening (thanks to Dr. Pops) that he had a fever and an ear infection... (and yes that is the fourth one in so many months, but that is another story).


Fast forward to party time. Braden chose one of our favorites for his Bday dinner, Boston's. My parents, nieces and nephews as well as the Beck's joined us there. (It was really not my day because their service was so SLOW!) But the food was good and we had a good time. Berk is obsessed with cups of ice and water, and Pops got a lap full, twice. Oops... Braden loved the free (HUGE) ice cream sundae he got so much he didn't even have any of his own cake! (I know right, after all that)He got a lot of great gifts from the family, and as always, his Halloween costume but for once Rusty and I got him the best one. Braden is officially a pet owner. Several pets in fact... and no I haven't got crazy... Please meet his new fish: Larry, Tom & Jerry, and Scooby & Shaggy (there was a Freddie but we lost him already).

SO a very tired Braden went to school on Friday and spent some time with his Auntie Kelcie who was home for a few days from the Y. In her honor, we went to BJ's for dinner. Again with the great food and SLOW service-- but the yumm-o Pizzookie made it all okay in the end for me.

Saturday we spent the morning listening to Conference and getting the pool and house ready for his 'friend' party. I then had another Target bakery fiasco - the cake was there this time, but his name was spelled wrong. And of course there wasn't anyone there to fix it for me and the manager's option, pick a new cake...PICK A NEW CAKE?!@!*&#! He clearly does not have a child who would flip out and think the world is over if he didn't get THE cake he wanted...Target and I are really NOT friends! But I digress...Sooooo, Yep, you heard me. Pool. Mr. Braden wanted a Pirate Pool Party. So of course we are having beautiful weather here, finally, so the pool was cool enough we turned on the heater. It was a brilliant 84 outside and 92 in the pool. If you ever wonder why people live in AZ, it's reasons like that. Thanks to everyone who came, thanks even more for understanding my child is so sorry for hitting, punching and or ....... fill in the blank (wish I were kidding) to your child. But his Mom is sorrier. I am glad we only had 5 friends over, since adding a pool into the equation bring the stress level way up.

SO needless to say, I was so grateful to look forward to a Sunday where I didn't have to get all done up, with a diaper bag, and church bag, two tired and one sick boys and drag them to church at the worst time of day ever...1pm. I needed Conference today. Weird how one of the talks is sticking in my mind- the one about using your time wisely and not wasting hours on the Internet. I can't wait to re read it once it comes out in the Ensign. What talk did you like best? Oh, and PLEASE don' use SuperTarget for your cakes-this is my new mission in life!

Happy Birthday Braden!

Braden turns 5 years old today!
Five Things we love about Braden!!!
1. You are the strongest little kid I have ever met. You have been though more in your short life than most adults and I respect you for it, even when you are so stubborn.

2. You are learning to be a GREAT big brother. No one makes Berk laugh like you do.

3. You know the words to nearly every song on my IPod, and I love it. You are definitely your mom's kid. I can hear you singing "Hey There Deliliah" and "I Don't Wanna Be" in my head right now.

4. You have a memory of an elephant... you make the best grocery list remember-er around. I will never forget to get my "Doca Peppa" or some treat I promised with you in my cart.

5. You are the sweetest boy to your family, grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles... you always want to see SOMEONE in the family. I love that you have been so lucky to know 4 Great Grandparents (you know them as Baum & Papa, Nana & Bopy), and all of your grandparents (you know them as Nana & Grandpa, Noni & Pops) must be that special heart of yours...

He is such a unique kid, so I couldn't think just how to write about him, so ... you know the saying a picture is worth a 1000 words... enjoy the slide show and see why we love this kid!