I'm back!

Okay, so I've been in a blogging rut. Mainly just busy, aren't we all? We had a trip to Reno for Brad's Christmas party and a trip to Bakersfield right before Christmas. We had a fun little Christmas. I didn't wrap a single present and didn't deliver a single goodie basket to people I made them for - a told Brad I was apathetic, he said, take the "a" off, you're just pathetic! Probably, but oh well. I'll try better next year. However, no holiday would be complete without plenty of family parties and food. I am so grateful that Brad had the week off leading up to Christmas, it was so nice and I wish he didn't have to go back! Well, ore posts to come soon, enjoy the pictures!

Home again, home again

We returned from a super fun week in Utah visiting the Stevens crew (and Joe and Brit too.) We ate, shopped, ate and shopped basically all week long! We even squeezed in some family pictures. The men and various children went to a Jazz game while the women, shopped, of course.
The cousins got to experience Christmas early with their annual gift exchange. We thought it would be a nice preview to Christmas. This is kind of choppy, but it's late, I just got done grocery shopping and I'm tired, but I am also sick of looking at the same ol' thing on my blog. Here are some pics. Enjoy!

I hope I'm not jinxing myself

I just wanted to give a shout out to my little man, D. He has been doing a fabulous job of going pee pee on the potty. So far, no number two. But when he does, he is going to go to Chuck E. Cheese and score some Elmo bath soap that he picked out at Target tonight. Here's to hoping I am on my last case of size 5 diapers for a while:)

Here's why Macs rock

So, anyone who know me knows I have a thing for Macs. (This new one is the the third one I have purchased.) I had two laptops, that I loved and this new iMac, well, I looooovveeee. Here's my plug for Macs: they rock. They are so easy to use, they have wonderful programs, sweet graphics. I have all the standard "microsoft" programs- word, excell, powerpoint, plus I have all the Mac based ones that are a million times better.
Anyways, this is why I love them the most, I can make cool things that include pictures of my kids.

27 happy years

Yesterday I celebrated my 27th birthday! I am feeling old:) Not really, but I have reflected a bit on the last few years and how much my life has changed in just the last few. All changes for the better, of course.
I celebrated by stuffing my face at Black Angus with Brad, Dominic, Jade and my parents. I also got to go to the mall yesterday with my little family and bought Dominic some new clothes - one of my favorite things to do, push the big old double stroller around, get a pretzel, mingle with the million other Saturday shoppers, heaven, plus Brad appeased me by going with me, that was my favorite part.

Now for the really big deal…my wonderful husband is not a fan of shopping (see above). So, he tries to cover all major holidays in one fail swoop. This year he got me a new computer! It is beautiful. I seriously drool whenever I see it in the computer room.
I'm set for my b-day, Christmas, anniversary and valentine's day - probably for the next five years or so:)
I love, love, loved my birthday this year. Thanks to all that made it special!
P.S. Did you know that my first grade teacher still sends my a birthday card every year? We have the same birthday. She rocks:)

Okay, I caved

After going to Costco yesterday, I decided my kids looked too dang cute not to dress up and go to a few neighbors houses. I loaded to little ones into the double stroller and made my way out the door (Brad stayed behind to study and pass out candy.) I went across the street to Bob's house to visit with Bob and Arleen. - Great neighbors! Then I made my way to some more ward members' houses. We stopped by Corey's grandma's house and she was kind enough to give my kiddos apples. It was a nice change. Then I saw some friends from the ward and they let me tag along with them - the Strattons, Calkins and Hendricksons and Anica and Andrea. We ended up spending like two hours trick or treating! It was really fun. Dominic "got it." He was saying trick or treat to everyone and the other kids were helping him. It was very sweet. We went home and had some visits from Grandma and Grandpa, Missy and Lilo and Stich, Melinda, Sam and Sidney and the Ashcrofts with their cute little girls (they used to live next door to us.)
And the end of trick or treating, Dominic was tired and eating his apple! Thanks Sister Williams:)

Final Halloween post because I'm not dressing up my kids one more time!

I've decided to spare you all anymore Halloween posts! Because, while Buzz and the Ladybug are cute, I getting a little sick of getting kids in and out of costumes and picking up after discarded accessories and being upset over Dominic's ripped Buzz costume! (Hello, now I can't sell it on e-bay!)
Anyway, Saturday night, Brad's sweet Aunt Glora hosted her annual Halloween party. She is pretty awesome. She invites us all over, feeds us and entertains our kiddos. How cool is she? Very. Plus, we get to hang out an catch up with all of Brad's Henderson cousins. I'm just excited that I think I now know all the cousins between Wendy's sisters from Henderson (there are still several more siblings with more kids, grandkids, etc. that I don't even pretend to think that I've mastered names or connections!)





Tonight we had our ward trunk or treat. It was fun. Dominic really came out of his shell (what shell? you ask - he still gets shy around people at church believe it or not) We ate some yummy soup and rolls, then proceeded to the parking lot filled with generous Desert Rose ward members itching to give out FULL SIZE CANDY BARS! When I was a kid we were lucky to hit like one house that was giving out the big ones. My kids walked away with at least three in one parking lot! Not one piece of janky candy was to be found!

Slightly random, I watched Sidney yesterday and between two babies crying and a toddler trying to make himself chocolate milk in a "baby sippy" (a bottle) I managed to snap a few pictures of our newest cousin. Since Melinda is not a blogger, I'll do my part to past her cute little face all over the blog-o-sphere!

More Halloween Festivities!

I went with Mike and Sara to their ward trunk or treat with the kiddos tonight. It was really fun. I told Sara I think I have a better time dressing my kids up than they like to be dressed up!
I was so excited to put D and Jade in their costumes. Dominic, because he makes a dang cute Buzz Lightyear (with an even cuter "to infinity and P - yond!") and that adorable little Buzz, Woody, Jesse trio walking around! AKA D, Luke and Madi. Jade, because I had this vision for her costume and about $6.00 later was able execute it. She is the cutest little ladybug I've ever seen!
Growing up, I don't think I ever had a store bought costume. My mom made my costumes until I was in third grade, then I started making my own! I remember being a butterfly, princess and genie - all handmade by my mom. Then one year I was a punk rocker, and the best was when I was a clown in 5th grade. I stapled a hula hoop to a baby-doll style shirt. It was pretty clever if I do say so myself:) Am I the next Martha Stewart? Probably not. But I do have fun tinkering with things:)

Cute little pumpkins

Tonight we made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Despite the itchy hay and rotten pumpkins, a fun time was had by all!

Saydi: Soccer Diva

I took some pictures of Miss Saydi in all her diva-ness yesterday. I think this about sums it up, not hard to take pictures of cute kids:)

Sister Bear is 9 months! DD is 2 1/2

Jade and Dominic just got back from their well checks. D is 2.5 years and Sis is 9 months. Both are totally normal, says Dr. Sirsy:)
Jade is in the 25% for height and weight. She was 16 pounds 12 ounces. (After I had to correct the "new girl" weighing her, informing her that Jade wasn't 10 pounds 6 ounces) It must take a genius to read those doctor's scales!
Dominic weighed 31 pounds. The doc said that was good. He was glad to see him putting a little meat on his bones. I'm pretty sure 27 pounds of that is in his head. I guess a big head means a big brain:)
Both are doing really well. Jade got a flu shot and DD got a Hep A shot and a flu shot. He kept saying that he was "braff" (brave).
I'm going to write some fun things about them so when I get caught up on scrapbooking, I can go back and read this:)

Dominic at 2 1/2:
Nicknames: D, DD, DD boy, sweetpea, babe, stink
Dominic is talking so much now. He likes to ask questions and repeats pretty much everything. Lately, he has made some friends at church from going to park day on Wednesdays. He comes home and asks me who everyone's mammas are and daddys are. For example, "What's Corbin's mamma's name, Mamma?" Me: Alisa. DD: "A-Leesa?" Me: "Yes" (2 seconds later repeat, repeat, repeat!)
He likes books. His favorite at the moment is "Itchy, Itchy Chicken Pox" It's a book that Sam left over here when Melinda was having Sydney. He has the whole thing memorized.
We've been trying to tell him little stories from the Book of Mormon before he goes to bed. He likes to hear about Nephi. He loves primary songs. Yeserday was the primary program, I had to sit in the front row to help the kids with pctures nad singing and such. Dominic came and sat by me for most of it. He was singing the songs at the top of his lungs. It was cute and embarrassing.
He is obsessed with president Ukdorf (sp.) He knows that he "fies air-pains." He is notorious for snathcing sis' pacifier and hiding with it. He loves to build and make caves with blankets.
He likes to help me clean (I LOVE THAT and appreciate that more that he knows!)
And I've already talked about his little OCD tendencies...

Okay, onto Jade...
Nicknames: Jaders, Sissy, Sister Bear, Chi Chi, Chi Chi bear, Jadie Cakes,
Jade is so sweet. She is always content. She sleeps in her crib, she eats well, she loves her bath, I am so grateful for this little angel. She loves her cousins. Especially her girl cousins! She gets a big grin on her face anytime she sees one of them. She also loves her brother. She has this spastic little giggle that she gets when D plays with her.
She is starting to wave (again, pretty spastically). She loves to watch this nursery rhyme DVD we have. She is super mobile - she's been crawling and scooting since she was five months. Now she pulls herself up onto everything. She has the tinest little petite feet - if they were bigger she would probably be walking!
I love her hair! She can wear it in ponies and piggies. I have tons of headbands for her, but it doesn't quite tame the mane!
Her first tooth popped through on Friday. She loves people food and baby food and nursing. She is seriously a happy kid.
She says "da-da" and lots of baby jibber jabber.
She is not a fan of the car seat, at first, she does this back arch thing and looks so sad. I've started to put her in the seats in carts at stores and she looovvves it.

Okay, I novel, I know. Just needed to get someof these Jade and Disms in before they flee my scattered brain:)

DD and OCD on a whole new level

Lately, Dominic had taken the OCDness to a whole new level. He has always appreciated order in his life. But recently, it has trickled into his play and food. I about died laughing when I was cleaning up the living room and I noticed he was especially quiet. He was eating chicken noodle soup. I looked over and he was doing this…






So what is he doing you ask? I asked him the same question. He said, "I make train, like Bob the Builder." He proceeded to line up his noodles for a good 45 minutes.

Once upon a time

there was a girl who worked all the time. She just returned home from teaching a workshop in Arizona. A sweet boy came to pick her up after a long weekend of teaching lots and lots of students how to make yearbooks. She was so tired and it was really late. The boy kept asking her if she wanted to get something to eat. She said no. (So rare for this girl that usually loves to eat.) He kept pestering her to eat, to get ice cream or something. She kept telling him no, she wanted to go home and go to sleep. He kept driving, but not to her house. He kept asking questions and finally, he asked her to marry him. And five years ago today, she said yes.



This is the oldest digital I have of me and my hubby. It was our first married Christmas together in 2004.

Here are a few things I should be doing right now.

Blogging is not one of them. But in true Mandy fashion, I am having a major adult ADD moment.
I should be…
1. Getting my kids' clothing ready for church in less than 12 hours
2. Getting the "pennies by the inch" drive information ready for church tomorrow
3. Packing the diaper bag for church
4. Getting the program stuff ready for church tomorrow
5. Making sure I have something clean to wear for tomorrow (it is Sunday afterall)
6. Sleeping…sleeping sounds good right now (notice the time)

Brad has meeting in the morning so I get two little ones ready plus me. I actually make it almost on time when I have my act together the night before. "Saturday is a special day" keeps popping into my mind. Purhaps I should take heed:)

Fruits of my labors…

Tonight I witnessed my son clean his room in his pure OCD fashoin for about 30 minutes straight (pretty impressive attention span for a two year old.) He sang "keen-up, keen-up" the whole time. He arranged his bins and lined them up and put all of his toys in them. Then he put all of his clothes in the hamper. I sat there and watched him. I kept telling him how happy he was making me. Then, he said, "My house all keen!" "That make me happy!" Boy, did it make me happy. It's nice when theyh copy something good that you do! I love this little guy and how busy he is all the time. I hope to witness many more episodes of him cleaning up!

Earlier today we went to the park with Kerri and Christian. D and Christian were so funny. They both were a little leery of the lurking birds scrounging for scraps of lunch. However, by the time we were getting ready to leave, both of them were throwing fries into the air saying, "come eat birds!"
Here are some pics of the cuties.

How about a 3:00 pick me up?

Well if you know me, you know I love a tasty treat from good 'ol Sonic. I would encourage all of you to stop by and grab yourself a jr. banana split. I did just that this afternoon during my "3:00 slump." It was totally yummy! It comes in this cute little boat-dish thing with a perfect banana, cherry, scoop of vanilla, chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, pinapple and whipped cream. It was pure Heaven:) (Sonic, make my commission check out to Mandy Frehner…)

Crazy 8s

8 Tv shows I love to watch:
1. Jon & Kate Plus Eight
2. What Not to Wear
3. The Secret Life...
4. Iron Chef America
5. Food Network Challenge
6. Deal or No Deal
7. The Cosby Show
8. Everybody Loves Raymond

8 Favorite Restaurants:
Capri
Chevy's
Don Antonios
Lucilles
Totos
The Greek place in the mall
Painted Pony
Rainbow Club

8 things that happened yesterday:
I made waffles and omlets for dinner
I scrubbed my floor
I did a million dishes by hand
I had Diet Coke with Vanilla from Sonic
I had a primary meeting
I talked to my sister Lori
I talked to my sister Melinda
I lost track of how many poopy diapers I changed:)

8 things I look forward to:
A REAL family vacation
Brad finishing school in December
Watching Dominic & Jade open Christmas presents
Cooler weather
A new house sometime
When my kids go to bed at night
Going on dates with my husband
Having more kids (down the road)

8 things I love about fall:
New fall clothes for me and the kids
Cooler weather
Making soup
Baking stuff
Going on walks at night
Taking Dominic to the pumpkin patch
Homemade rootbeer
Getting Halloween costumes for D and Jade

8 things on my wish list:
To make good decisions parenting my kids
A new laptop
A clean house
My kids to grow up and be strong in the gospel
Organization
Family vacation
To build a dream home someday
To win the Megabucks (that one is for Brad, I'm a giver!)

Sportin' my new do…

This is mainly for my sis, Lori who can't see me because she lives in freakin' Utah! I'm now a brunette!

Five little less known facts about me...

1. I got my hair done tonight by my life long friend, Marie. It is the darkest it's ever been, and could quite possibly be my natural haircolor. I don't know because starting at about age 11 I meet the wonderful world of haircolor. The rest is just roots:) Maybe I'll post some pics of the new do tomorrow.
2. I loathe doing the dishes. I think it is cruel that I don't have a dishwasher, hence most of the time you come to my house, there are a pile of dirty dishes. (Just think how your dishes would stack up if you didn't have a dishwasher!)
3. I am totally blind and pretty much deaf. Many of you remember me with large coke bottles. Thank goodness for contacts. They allowed me to break free from ages 4-14, "Mandy, the ugly years." Fortunately, (or unfortunatly) my remaining senses are keen.
4. I can honestly say I am pretty darn happy. I have a good husband, great kids, I like all my immediate family members (even some of my extended family members too!) I have tolerable in-laws, okay, pretty awesome in-laws, lifelong friends and food on my table. Of course, I could use a dishwasher and some power outlets in my bathrrom, but, for the most part, I am happy:)
5. I yearn to be organized and have a clean house. It is a constant battle to keep my house above getting the health district called on me! (I'm serious!) I think I might be a hoarder... Any suggestions?

Now that you know these five little fun facts about me, post five fun little facts about you. (This is a tag.)

If you build it, we will come...

So anyone who knows Brad, knows that one of his favorite places to eat is Fuddruckers. It was his last meal before going on a mission, we go there everytime we go to Utah, ate there in San Diego for the Frehner fam reunion, my husband LOVES this place. He has been diligently checking the website, hoping and wishing they would build one somewhere within a hundred mile radius of us. (He even looked into the price of purchasing a franchise - we didn't have the extra $500,000 laying around, bummer)But, recently Fudds has made its way to Las Vegas. So today we made the 20 mile trek to Summerlin to sample some good ol' Fuddruckers burgers.
No visit to Fudds would be complete without their shakes. For those of you who have never been, they are yummy and they bring you the excess shake in a tin glass so you can enjoy all million calories of the sweet treat in pure ice cream utopia.
I think it's safe to say the Frehners will be back again shortly:)

Cradle Robber

Happy 26th Birthday to my wonderful, handsome husband, Bradley. Brad truns the big 2-6 in about fifteen minutes. So as a tribute to my main man, here are 26 little things I love about Brad, in no particular order…

1. His ability to remain calm in any situation. (When he worked at the bank, a 90 woman was flipping him the bird and yelling at him and it didn't even phase him.)
2. How dang smart he is.
3. His ability to turn everything into a joke
4. He makes me laugh…really hard…all the time
5. When he talks to Dominic and Jade and plays with them - it is the best
6. When he listens to rap music…and sings every word
7. When he makes fun of me
8. When he speaks Spanish
9. The millions of handwritten letters I have from him
10. The witty cards he buys me for every holiday
11. He loves to go out to eat
12. He isn't obsessed with sports or video games
13. He has the strongest testimony of any person I know
14. He serves others and forgets about it
15. He works so hard for his family
16. He is a goal setter
17. He is oober organized
18. He knows when I'm at my breaking point
19. He doesn't let me get too serious
20. He asks me if his clothes match
21. He appreciates an occasional trip to Kohls or Ross (let me stress occasional)
22. He quizes me on 107.5 songs
23. He thinks he knows more country songs than me
24. He always brings home treats for me and the kiddos
25. He lets me have control most of the time
26. He is the best husband and dad in the world!

We love you so much! Happy Birthday:)

It all started with a Sonic Blast…

So, I have been failing as a mother with Jade in that the girl is 7 months old and has never really eaten a lot of solid food. I thought for sure I was going to be one of those people nursing my kid until they were in kindergarten the way she was not liking food, and me not being super persistent with it. (Okay, I wouldn't really nurse her until then all of you people thinking I'm some wacked out granola mama.)
But, the other day I decided to give her some of my yummy fried ice cream blast from Sonic (thanks to the extra calories I burn nursing, I think I'm entitled to eat one like every day!) (heaven forbid I actually like loose weight from nursing…anyway…)
Jaders was pawing at it like she wanted to eat some. So I gave her some…and she liked it!
So tonight I busted the spoon and squash out and low and behold, she ate food! Amazing isn't it? She looks a little crazy in these pictures, her hair gets a little crazy when I take it out of whatever apparatus is taming it!

Stevens family photo shoot

Dominc, Jade and I went to Utah last week to spend sometime with Lori, Earl, the kids and Joey and Brittney. (Although due to busy, busy work schedules, I didn't get to see a whole lot of Joe and Brit)
We had so much fun shopping, going to the zoo, going to Parade of Homes and shopping. Lori and I also concocted this photo project for her living room wall. I think it turned out pretty cool. Here are some shots from her super cute family.
I had tons of fun doing it!