The only thing I like to eat more than Jell-O is ICE CREAM!

Jessica over at Duck Duck Cow is having a giveaway for an ice cream maker and sundae kit.

By blogging about this, I get extra entries to win this, so even though I'm telling you all about this (or at least the two people who are still reading this blog after I haven't posted anything for such a long time) ( HEY! I've got like a jazillion kids! Like I actually have time to blog every day?) (Besides, LaMar found my stash of Mountain Dew in the storage room and made me get rid of it, so now I'm extra tired. It wasn't like I ever let the kids see me drink it!) please don't enter, because I really need to win the ice cream maker so that I can use it to distract my kids long enough to search for a new hiding place to stash all of the Mountain Dew that I'm going to buy the next time it goes on sale at Macy's.

So, go over and visit Jessica, and check out her blog. She has three adorable children and she makes the most amazing cakes! (Even if they aren't made out of Jell-O) Plus, she's cute as a button.

A surprise, then another surprise, then the reason our three year old son will need years of therapy

After Trevor and Sariah drove away to begin their new life together, we started with the clean up of the reception.
My boys were all carrying the wedding gifts out to our van (we were bringing them to our house to store them until they returned from their honeymoon) My visiting teachers were in the kitchen washing all of the plastic ware, and I was wiping down the plastic tablecloths on the tables then folding them up to be used again.
Trevor's mother came up to me and asked me what I was doing. I told her that the Relief Society would love to use these tablecloths for their Christmas dinner or the Birthday Social. She rolled her eyes and told me that we should just throw them away because that's why they're called disposable and that she was sure that my ward Relief Society could spring for a few new ones if they needed them. I started to tell her that she didn't have a very frugal attitude when she grabbed the stack of tablecloths and wadded them up, I reached over to get them from her and BAM! I had a huge contraction.
I doubled over in pain. I must have scared her because she came over to hold me up, then it happened. My water broke. All over her new custom-dyed-to-match-her-dress shoes.
I wasn't sure which one of us was more surprised. I still had several weeks until my due date, and I always went past my due date.
Trevor's mother screamed, which caused everyone to come running into the cultural hall to see what was going on. I started to tell LaMar that my water had just broken (strange that I felt the need to mention that as at this point it was pretty obvious) when I was hit with another contraction.
After being present for the birth of most of our children he recognized what was going on and told one of the boys to bring the car around to the front door of the church.
I really wish he would have specified that he wanted one of our boys who actually had their driver's license to bring the car around. Oh well, I guess that's why we have car insurance.

LaMar held onto me until the contraction stopped then tried to help me walk to the door. He asked me if I'd had any other contractions today and I informed him that I had been having them all day. It was only then that I realized that they had been getting closer all night. I guess I was just so busy with the wedding that I didn't want to admit that I was having that many, but I wasn't worried because I always go past my due date and........
BAM!
I had another contraction. I told LaMar that we weren't going to make it to the hospital, in fact, I didn't think we were going to make it to the car!
We were right next to the Relief Society room, so LaMar helped me inside.
By now, quite a crowd had gathered. I heard Trevor's dad tell Trevor's mom to go inside and help me. She said "What in the world do you think I would do?" and he said "You're a woman, you should know what to do!" And she screamed back at him "Our kids were born C-Section you ninny! I have no clue how to help her!"
She came walking in anyway, still carrying the wad of plastic tablecloths. By then, all the ladies from the kitchen had heard the commotion and came in to see what was going on.
All I could say was "Baby! Now!" It was time to push. I was rather befuddled as none of my labors had ever progressed this quickly before.
One of my visiting teachers grabbed the tablecloths and laid them under me on the floor. I heard someone calling for an ambulance on their cell phone.
The next thing I knew, a sweet lady came in and said that she was a retired midwife and could she help? I had been through this many times before, but I will say that it was certainly a blessing that she was there.
Now, I won't get into all of the details here, but all I will say is that this was the fastest I had ever delivered a baby. Someone had grabbed a set of towels from the wedding gifts and Jo the midwife wrapped up the baby when he was born, and handed him to me.
Right then, we heard a small voice say "Wow mom! That was cool! Can you do that again!" we turned to look at three year old Mosiah standing in the doorway. I guess he saw the whole thing. Jo looked at Mosiah, and said "She's a beautiful baby! Your mom a great job!"
I looked down at our sweet little baby Sam and it took me a moment for her words to sink in.
"Um, no" I told her, He's a boy.
Jo laughed and said that most boys she delivered had.............well, you know what they have, and that she was most definitely a girl.

I took a peek myself, and sure enough, no boy parts.
I said "HOLY CRAP LAMAR! HE'S A GIRL!"
Just then, I heard the ambulance drive into the church parking lot. This was a good thing because LaMar had turned pale and looked as if he was about to faint. This whole thing was such a shock to him. Not the fact that the baby was a girl, but this was the first time he had heard me use that strong of language. (and in the church, no less!)
I was feeling great and just wanted to take the baby and go home, but the paramedics strongly suggested that we go to the hospital to get checked out and so I relented and LaMar rode with me and the baby in the ambulance. I will admit that it was kind of nice not to have to finish helping with the clean up of the wedding.
After the boys all got to meet their new sister, we left to go to the hospital.
On the way LaMar pointed out that we couldn't very well name our new daughter Sam and I agreed. We finally came up with a name we agreed on, and after an overnight stay at the hospital, we brought home our sweet little Emma Eve Pearson.

Updates, updates, updates

It's been such a long time since my last post. I can't believe that the last time I wrote anything was last December! I will be surprised if anyone is still reading this blog.
My sister lives out of state and has been bugging me to finish writing the story of the wedding. The ladies in her ward didn't belive her when she told them about it, so she wanted me to write it down for them to read.
I have a few minutes tonight so I'll pick up where I left off.
Sariah and Trevor's wedding was just ending. My boys snuck out of the church early to decorate their car, only to find Trevor's aunt (his mother's sister) guarding the car. She was under strict orders from Trevor's mother to keep the car from being "vandalized" as she put it, and was determined not to let the boys get near it.
The boys had spent their hard earned paper route money on rolls of saran wrap, silly string and oreos and were quite disappointed that they wouldn't get to use them.
Jared had been looking forward to this for the last several months. He was standing there with his can of silly string, with his finger on the nozzle, and started crying. He really is a very sensitive boy and once he starts sobbing, it takes quite a while to console him.
Trevor's aunt must have felt a little bad because she went over to him and started to put her arm around him and somehow the button on the can of silly string was pushed and she ended up with a hair full of silly string. She was not amused. She ran inside, shrieking and trying to comb the stuff out of her hair with her fingers.
The boys took this opportunity to decorate the car. I didn't get to see it, but from what I hear, it was a masterpiece!
After Trevor's aunt came out of the restroom, she came into the cultural hall and headed straight for me. She was able to get most of the larger globs out of her hair, but there was still quite a bit left. I really think that if she didn't have so many hair products in her hair, that it wouldn't have been as bad. Honestly, I thought it looked better than it did before. It kind of tamed it down a bit.
I apologized for the boys and told her that it must have been an accident because my boys would never do such a thing.
I couldn't believe her, she was actually implying that they had done this to her on purpose!
The nerve!
We decided that this would be a good time to cut the cake. Sariah was positively radiant! She and Trevor fed each other cake, then she threw the bouquet. All of her friends were standing there waiting to catch the flowers, but as the bouquet came sailing toward the crowd of girls, they all ran in different directions and they flowers landed on the floor.
Silly girls, some of them are knocking on 20, you would think that they would want all the luck they could get when it comes to getting married. She threw her bouquet two more times before one of the little girls from our ward caught it.
About that time, I got a horrible backache. I had been on my feet most of the day and knew that I had just overdone it. I sat down and put my feet up on a folding chair. The wedding was almost over, and I could spend the rest of the weekend resting.
My sister, La Vette went and got me some punch and then helped Sariah gather her things.
When Sariah and Trevor were ready to leave, I walked with her to the door and gave her a big hug before she left. They ran out to their car through a sea of bubbles.
After they left, I went inside to start with the clean up. What happened next was a big shock to all!

So much to tell!

I haven't been around the blog world for a while because I've been so busy with everything. I will probably need to spend the next several posts just catching up.
First of all, the wedding.
The ceremony wasn't until 1:00 p.m so I decided to take advantage of the early morning day after Thanksgiving sales. I got up bright and early and managed to get to Target right as it opened, most of what I needed on my list and then went to Wal Mart to get the rest and then back home by 9:00 a.m. All it takes is organization, and one can accomplish anything! (If it wasn't for those pesky contractions coming every 9 minutes or so, it would have been a perfect shopping trip)
The wedding was wonderful! Sariah was a vision of lovlieness. We even managed to get all of our crew standing still for a moment outside of the Temple to get a family portrait.
Well, at least we thought we had all of our crew. When we looked at the pictures later, Mosiah was missing. Is there anyone out there who might be willing to Photoshop him into the wedding picture? While you're at it, maybe you could Photoshop him out of the wedding picture of the other bride and groom. He somehow got mixed up and ended up with the wrong wedding party.
The wedding luncheon was quite nice. It was held at a nice restaurant, and I think Trevor's parents spent way too much. The main problem was that there wasn't enough room for our boy's singing group to sing at the luncheon as they had planned. The group had been practicing a two hour program of love songs through the ages, and all were disappointed that they weren't able entertain us.
It turned out OK because they were able to sing at the reception! Trevor's mom wanted to hire a harpist to come and play for the reception, but with the singing group available I didn't see the need.
My visiting teachers had come in earlier in the day and decorated the cultural hall so beautifully! The hand crocheted centerpieces on the tables were a big hit, and color coordinating the balloons with the tablecloths was pure genius.
We only ran into a few problems. Someone forgot to chill the sprite before making the Sprite and sherbet drinks, and the kitchen was covered with a sticky mess. The ladies in the kitchen made the best of it and just handed out extra napkins. I was glad that we ordered extra napkins that were stamped with Trevor and Sariah's names and the "Today I will marry my friend" poem.
The next problem we had was when we discovered someone had put the trays of Temple mints (remember the ones I spent hours making) on the stove in the church kitchen and then someone accidentally turned on the oven, and the bottom tray melted into globs of pink chocolate. Luckily, someone smelled the chocolate melting and saved the remaining mints just in time! I'm just so glad that it wasn't the Jell-O!
As we were standing in the reception line, greeting the wedding guests, Trevor's mother kept telling us that we didn't need to stand in the reception line for the entire reception. I thought she was a bit daft because duh! this is a reception, what else are we supposed to do?
The children's singing group was spectacular! They sang the entire time. They had even choreographed some dance moves with their songs. After the first 45 minutes, they did need to start their program over from the start because little Ashton Fredrickson's grandparents came late. The songs were just as good the second time around.
During the singing group's second break, we had quite the surprise. Just as Trevor's mother was going to get an aspirin from her purse, a man in a pink leotard and tights, a red tu tu, high top sneakers and fairy wings came dancing in and began singing to the bride and groom! It seems that my boys had all chipped in their lawn mowing/paper route money and bought a singing telegram for their sister and new brother in law!
I just found it so incredibly sweet! Trevor's mother didn't feel the same way, and she came over and started to tell me how they were being humiliated in front of some very important friends of theirs when Trevor and his father came over and gently guided her into another room to cool off.
Some people just don't appreciate a good singing telegram.

There were some other surprises at the reception, but I'll write about those later, right now I hear the baby crying and I'm making a special Jell-O for tomorrow's New Year's eve party.

Illegal activity

Last night after all of the kids were in bed, I got a call from my sister. She and her husband will be flying in tomorrow to be here for Thanksgiving and the wedding.
As we were chatting, I thought I could smell smoke. I mentioned this to LaMar, and he looked around for a minute and couldn't find anything wrong.
I continued to talk to my sister, but every once in a while, I would get a whiff of that smell that you get after a candle has been blown out.
Again, I asked LaMar to investigate, but since he had already looked, he didn't want to look again so he told me that it was probably some weird pregnancy thing making my nose over active.
I finally finished talking to my sister, and went through the house myself.
The smell seemed stronger by the stairs, so I went upstairs and the smell was coming from the older boy's room.
I opened the door to see them looking out the open window, and holding a pop bottle.
They were lighting bottle rockets out of their bedroom window!
Naturally, I was quite upset! Fireworks are illegal in this state!
I asked them where they got the bottle rockets, and they wouldn't tell me.
They didn't need to tell me where they got them from, it was quite obvious.
The Simpson family has relatives in Wyoming, and they're constantly bringing this sort of contraband into our community.

I think I'll put the remaining bottle rockets in a big box and mail them right back to Wyoming.
I won't tolerate illegal behavior in our home!

A sigh of relief

Yesterday Sariah called. She and Trevor had a long talk the night before because he wasn't thrilled with the idea of having a Twilight themed wedding reception.
Sariah admitted that she might have been a little excited after seeing the movie, and her friends were the ones who had suggested it in the first place.
I can't tell you how relieved I am.
The boys are rather disappointed. They were under the impression that they would get to come to the reception dressed as vampires and werewolves.

Today in church I got a rather shocking surprise.
We got to church a little late (not that that's unusual. We do have 10 people to get ready for church)
After the first meeting, I had several people come up and congratulate me on my new calling.
"What new calling?" I asked.
It seems that I was called to be the food storage specialist.
I went to the Bishop and asked him about this and told him that I didn't remember being asked to do this.
He looked at his counselor and said "I thought you called her." and he said "No, I thought you called her."
They argued back and forth for a few minutes before I stopped them and said that's OK, I'll be happy to do it.

So now I guess I'm the new food storage specialist.

Where can I find a vampire costume?

Sariah called me this morning. She was so excited that she could hardly speak!
She and some of her friends went to see that new Twilight movie last night at the 12:01 screening.
She said "Mom! I have the greatest idea! I want to change everything for the wedding reception to a have a "Twilight" theme!"
I asked her if she was sure that this was what she wanted and she assured me that it was, and then she added "If anyone can do this, Mom I know you can!"
I am more than happy to make this a dream wedding for my daughter, but I have a few problems. First of all, the wedding is one week from today. Not that that's a huge problem, because I'm quite sure that we could change everything in that amount of time.
The bigger problem is that I have not read the Twilight books, nor have I seen the movie, and I don't think I will see the movie because in my current state, I can't go more than 15 minutes without having to get up and go to the bathroom.
My dear friends, please help me! What can we do to give this wedding a Twilight theme?