And the winner is...

Theresa Howell!! Thank you everyone for participating in my book contest! I know I was supposed to make the announcement yesterday, but we were out of town. So tonight, I put all the names of the participants in a bowl and let Kalianna draw out the winner. Congratulations Theresa! And thanks for helping to spread the word about my book!

My Book! ~Contest~

So it is nearly 2:00am and I can't sleep. You know why? Cause I am way too jazzed about my book! It's here! I know I said three weeks, but it got done early and is now available for purchase! Woo-hoo!!! When I got the package today in the mail, I nearly passed out. I felt so happy, I wanted to cry! And barf a little. Just so many emotions swirling through my body, I could hardly take it! Anyway, I decided in honor of my book's release, I would hold a little contest here on my blog to win a free copy. Interested? Here's what you have to do: in the next two weeks (the contest will go until Nov. 27th), you have to mention my book on your blog. Simple, right? Then just let me know that you did, so I can enter your name in a drawing and voila! You could win a free copy of my book! You can either just copy and paste the information I have below, put a direct link to this post, or say something similar. So...Ready...Set...Blog!

What happens when you mix five modern teenagers with five fairy tale princesses? Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, and Snow White Princess are cousins (and best friends) stuck with names they're not too fond of...and now together they must face the challenge of getting ready for high school--a world where fitting in is definitely a must. But how will they ever fit in when they're destined to stand out? Or, perhaps more importantly, how will their friendship ever survive when the five Princesses all set their minds on one prince?

The Princess Sisters is a fun, young adult fiction novel about friendship, finding yourself, and learning how to tell apart a prince from a frog. It's geared toward tween and teenage girls, but the pop culture references and themes of boys and friendship can be enjoyed by women of all ages! The Princess Sisters can be purchased from Barnes and Noble:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Princess-Sisters/Stacy-Lynn-Carroll/e/9781427650368/?itm=7&USRI=The+Princess+Sisters

Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Princess-Sisters-Stacy-Lynn-Carroll/dp/1427650365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289604399&sr=8-1

Ecko Books:

http://www.eckobooks.com/product/1002006/The-Princess-Sisters/

Or you can purchase a copy directly from me for $10. First come, first serve, until I run out. Thanks to everyone for all your love and support!

My New Favorite Question

"What's that?"
This question can be heard throughout our house at least a hundred times a day.
"What's that?"
"That's your teddy bear."
"What's that?"
"That's your cereal."
"What's that?"
"That's your tummy."
I love how inquisitive she has become! Sometimes, if she already knows, she will answer her own questions.
"What's that?" pointing to a horse. "Then she looks at me and replies, "Neigh!"
She makes me laugh! First thing I wake up to in the morning is a little voice coming from her room. "What's that?"
She is at such a fun age! And I love how fast she learns new things. She is also in the repeating stage, so she is constantly learning new words. One of her new favorite words is "Baby". She loves pointing out babies! I even got that documentary "Babies" in the redbox. She loved it! I was actually disappointed, and found it rather boring. But Kalianna Loved it! Throughout the whole movie she kept saying, "What's that?" "Baby!"

3 Weeks

They say patience is a virtue. It's a virtue I have always felt I was blessed with. I can be patient with people and children and animals. More so than many others I have seen. But when it comes to waiting for something, I feel like I am jumping out of my skin! My thoughts constantly go to the thing I am waiting for, I find myself distracted with anticipation. And this time I am waiting on two things! Three weeks. My book went to the printers yesterday. They told me the turn around is about three weeks. Finally! After all the work and frustrations my book will be available for purchase in three weeks!

In three weeks I am having my ultrasound to find out what we're having next! I am so excited! Everyone seems to think we are having a boy. With Kalianna, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was a girl since day one. With this one, I honestly have absolutely no idea! I keep going back and forth. So in three weeks we will get an awesome surprise! Three weeks. That's like nothing, right? A blink and here it is. Then why is waiting three weeks seem like forever?!

Trick-or-Treat

As per tradition, we went to Matt's work for trick-or-treating this year. They always do a really big thing every year for Halloween. Kalianna was a super cute little cheerleader! I couldn't get any pictures of her with her pom (two are pom-poms, one is a pom) but she did enjoy playing with it. We went with my sister and nephews, and the kids all had a ball! Since there were so many people there, Kalianna wanted to be held most of the time. She didn't quite get what was going on, but she definitely got the candy! She couldn't believe her luck, that people were just giving her candy! She got quite a good haul (with 350 employees, the kids get plenty of candy!) so we decided not to take her actually trick-or-treating this year. She got plenty from work and was perfectly happy. Afterwards, we all went over to my parents for a yummy dinner. Here are some cute pics of her in her costume:

My favorite part of the costume. Her cute lil' piggies!

Trick-or-Treating (and eating)

The whole fam

Enjoying some cheetos out of her bag, on the way to Grandma's house.

My cute nephews. We forgot to get a picture of the three of them together.

Happy Anniversary

Matt and I celebrated our 5th anniversary last week! Our actual anniversary was on Thursday, but Matt had work and classes all day. So we watched our wedding video that night together (our tradition) and then celebrated over the weekend. We wanted to go somewhere or do something special, but since funds were low we decided to spend the weekend in Logan. (Still going somewhere, but keeping it cheap!) Bryan and Ricci came up and stayed with Kalianna and the dogs for us. Thanks guys! We left Friday after work and stopped in Brigham City for a yummy dinner at Maddox.

Once full, we continued on to Logan. We relaxed at the hotel, swam for a bit, and watched a movie.

The next day it was wonderful to sleep in! We took our sweet time getting ready and checked out at the last possible minute (pulling a Ross). Then we went straight to the Logan temple. I love the Logan temple! If both our families weren't entirely in Salt Lake, this is the temple I would have gotten married in. I've just always had a special place for it in my heart. Ahhhhh!

After doing a session (which was in Spanish, by the way! Totally different experience listening to the entire thing through a translator box!) we headed over to The Bluebird for a late lunch. Yummy! We just love The Bluebird! Matt always gets the bluebird chicken and we both always get ironports--mine with cherry (super yummy soda).

Since we were checked out of the hotel and didn't want to remain in Sunday attire the rest of the day, we stood guard for each other and changed in the temple parking lot. That was quite an adventure! After lunch, we thought it would be nice to go for a drive up the canyon to take some pictures and enjoy the pretty fall colors. Well, we drove by my old house and one of my old apartments up there. Then, once we entered the canyon, it started to pour! So much for getting pictures! It was raining so hard, we could barely see out the windows! We had planned on doing a hike too. Oh well! Instead we turned around and got some yummy USU ice cream. My favorite!

Since the weather was bad, it kinda put a dent in the rest of our Saturday plans. So we decided to head down to Ogden for a movie. (we had a gift card for a theater there) We saw "Hereafter" with Matt Damon. Has anyone else seen it? Cause I would love to hear your take on it! It was much more of a drama and much less of a thriller than we were expecting. It was good. I'm not saying we didn't enjoy it, but at the end we looked at each other and said, "What was the point?" Many conflicts. No resolutions. It was just interesting. Anyway, after our movie we finally headed home. It was lots of fun, and a rare treat, to spend two whole days together alone! We had a great anniversary! But we did miss our girl too. =)

Four Days, Six Kids

Many of you know the Shupes. I have taken care of their five children for many, many years. The oldest is now 13 and I changed diapers on all five kids. That's how long it's been. Matt and I fondly refer to them as the "Shupelets". Unfortunately, since moving to Layton and starting a family of our own, we have seen our little shupelets less and less. Well, last week their parents wanted to get away for a few days, so Matt and I gladly took on the role of guardians while they were gone. Along with Kalianna and the two dogs, we invaded their house and stayed from Tuesday to Friday. Matt worked all day and the kids were off for UEA. So it was quite an adventure! One pregnant mom, six kids, two dogs, two guinea pigs, and one fish.

Let's begin with Monday. Bad, bad day! I was supposed to get all our stuff together for the week, then pick Matt up from work and head to my parents house for the night (so we'd be there Tuesday morning, ready to go). I was sick Monday. REALLY sick! I could not keep a single thing down, and I could hardly get out of bed. Much less do laundry and pack. I haven't been sick in a couple weeks either. It was just a really off day. Well, after much vomiting, we finally picked Matt up. Two hours late! And I continued to be sick thinking, "what have I gotten myself into?!" Melissa stopped by that night with a house key so I could get in the next day.

Tuesday, got Kalianna and myself ready, packed up the car and headed over so I would be there when Coleman (the youngest) got home from kindergarten. I tried all five keys on the chain Melissa brought me. Nothing. Not a single one of the keys would even fit in the lock, much less turn and open the door. Great. They had given me the wrong keys. I tried the back door. Same situation. I even called my brother and had him come over and try in case I was just dumb. Nope. They did not leave me a house key. So I put Kalianna on the trampoline and called their cell phones. Then I went to the neighbor's houses who I knew had keys. No one home. Finally, with the help of a neighbor, we were able to break in to the house. I'm not going to tell you how. But it took some stealth maneuvering. Boy was I glad I'm not further along! Once inside, I got our things settled and set up the gates for the dogs. Melissa is allergic, so they were only allowed in two rooms during our stay. After a little while, the kids came home one by one and our afternoon began. They played with the dogs and we played in the yard until it was time to start dinner. Thank goodness for having a teenager! Olivia was such a sweetheart and played with Kalianna (who didn't get a nap and was very cranky) while I cooked. About the time dinner was ready, the piano teacher showed up. I had forgotten about piano lessons! Shoot! So the kids ate in shifts while the three oldest took their turn practicing. Had to sign papers and get homework done and get backpacks together for Wednesday. Finally got to bed around 10:00pm and crashed!

Wednesday we were up much earlier than I like to be, getting kids ready for school. Got Olivia out the door and off to middle school with no problems. Then the two little girls (Eliza and Sophie) left to walk to their school. Then it was time to drive Ethan and a neighbor to their school. As we are getting ready to leave, Eliza bursts through the door saying Sophie was mean so she came home. Perfect. At this point, she didn't have time to walk. So I told her to get in the car and I'll drop her off now. Then Sophie, having chased Eliza all the way back home, comes in the door. "Get in the car!" So then I ended up driving all of them to school. Got home and had time to rest for a bit before getting Coleman ready for kindergarten. Once all the kids were off to school, Kalianna and I settled down for a much needed nap. It was early day, so all the kids minus Olivia were home right after we got up. Friends came over, we played and enjoyed ourselves till Matt came home. Then we ordered pizza and hunkered down for a pizza/movie night. (After dinner one of Coleman's friends came over and joined us for the movie. He is four and was at their house until 8:30pm. His parents never once called or checked in on him. Does that seem bizarre to anyone else?) Then all the kids were in bed again. And getting six kids, who don't have school in the morning, ready for bed is quite the challenge! Excuse after excuse to stay up late. That night was awful! Sobaka and Kutse decided they were done being locked into two rooms and they proceeded to bark. A lot! So Matt ended up going out and having to sleep on the couch to hush them up. It was a bad nights sleep for both of us.

Thursday I let the kids lounge around in jammies and watch TV for a little while. Then we did chores. After lunch, my aunt brought her kids over to play. They are about the same ages as the Shupelets. We visited and encouraged friendships while the kids scattered and played. Twelve in all. Counting a little neighbor boy (who I think he lives at the Shupe's house--he is ALWAYS there). We had a couple arguments between siblings, but mostly they played well. Matt came home sick mid afternoon. The lack of sleep had really worn on him. So he snuck in without any kids seeing him and crawled back into bed. We made brownies and by the time they were done, realized it was about dinner time! Whoops! Bonnie gathered her kids up and as they were leaving, Olivia asked if my cousin, Miquelle, could stay the night. We both said it was okay. So, now with seven kids in tow, I had to figure out dinner. Matt was supposed to grill dinner that night on the barbecue, but he was not doing well. So, off to Burger King! As I took orders, Coleman's little friend proceeded to tell me what he wanted too. (Seriously?! Who is this kid?? And why does he think he lives here?) After sending him home, I picked up food for all and we scarfed it down. Shortly after dinner, I had a chat with Olivia. She informed me that her parents don't allow sleepovers. The guilt had gotten to her. Crap. I told her I would talk to them. So I text them on their trip and sure enough they said, "absolutely not!" Miquelle had to go home. The older three played night games with some neighbors while I settled the younger four down with a movie and then bedtime. All on my own. Matt was still sick. Once the youngest were settled, my uncle came and picked up Miquelle. Then I had to convince Olivia and Ethan that they needed to come in and go to bed too. When I was doing my rounds that night, I found a sobbing Sophie in bed. She missed mom and dad. We tried to call them so she could say good night, but got no answer. Eventually she fell asleep. Exhausted, I crashed. That night the dogs did not bark. However, the smoke detector started beeping around 2:00am. Dead battery. Matt stumbled out of bed and took care of it. But the chirping and seeing Matt woke the dogs, who started barking again. But thankfully, they calmed down and we finally got to sleep.

Friday the kids wanted to go swimming. They had some free passes from school, so I promised we could go. My sister-in-law, Ricci, came to help me. Thank goodness! I made all the kids do chores and make sure rooms were clean before we could go. Because Cory and Melissa were supposed to be back that afternoon. We all ate lunch together, then changed into swimsuits. Turns out the kids thought they were going to an outdoor pool. In October. They love this particular outdoor pool, and didn't understand why it was closed and drained for the season because it was warm outside that day. Oh boy. The indoor pool had diving boards and a kid splash zone with toys and slides, so the kids were subdued. When we got to the pool and paid, there was a class going on in the diving board area and the splash zone was closed for the day. Stupid! So instead, we got to play in a very small, lukewarm pool. The kids were bored within ten minutes. Thankfully the diving boards opened up! They played on those for a long time. We only lasted two hours at the pool, then everyone was ready to go. Once home, I found out their mom and dad hadn't been able to get on the first flight, so they would now be home around 7:00. Ricci (the sweetheart that she is) stayed and helped me keep the kids entertained and happy. Matt and Bryan both got off work early and we barbecued dinner on the grill. After dinner we found out they missed the next flight too and wouldn't be home until after 10:00pm now. New plan! So we walked down to my parent's house and borrowed a couple movies for the kids. Then, jammies on, they watched movies until Matt and I had to leave. We wanted to get Kalianna home and in her own bed that night. So Olivia was put in charge and we took off.

We really had a fun time with the Shupelets! They are fun and sweet kids! But boy were we glad to be home! Like Matt said, "It's a good thing you only have kids one at a time." (typically) Because going from one to six was exhausting! And Kalianna was so cute that night! We walked into her bedroom and she grinned and then proceeded to pick up each of her toys and hug them. She was a trooper all week, but nothing beats being home!