ryan larkin KILLS IT as gene simmons.

gene simmons can break it down on the dance floor like nobody's business.

gene simmons can scale a rock-climbing wall in the blink of an eye.

gene simmons can make a grown man cry.

gene simmons can make a grown GORILLA cry.

gene simmons can love the ladies. (cuz the LADIES LOVE HIM!!!)

gene simmons can make you participate in YMCA.

and LIKE IT.

gene simmons can drive a miniature van.

and make it LOOK GOOD.

we took katie, mason, and bailey to the thirty seconds to mars concert.

this is the group that went to thirty seconds to mars on a whim last saturday night:






this was also one of the greatest moments of my adult life, as reese's apparently was a sponsor of the tour & welcomed us to "take as many reese's out of this bag as you'd like."

i took ten. and then wished later i had taken more.....



i have to admit that i was dragging my feet on this one--katie really, really wanted to go. but i was skeptical.


i guess i'd written jared leto's band off as just one more movie/tv star's vanity music project, much like juliette lewis , jada pinkett-smith or (heaven forbid!) russell crowe.

yawn.



plus, since i'd already written them off, i never gave any of the songs a chance. i was too busy comparing them to a "poor man's chemical romance".

it didn't help leto's cause that he was too good looking to be taken seriously-- and the guy-liner certainly didn't help. add to all of this a fan base that's loaded a little heavy on the emo side, and BINGO! you've got yourself a band that never stood a chance.



but. i must say that this concert changed my mind. completely.


if you have a moment, watch. it's following them on their world tour right now, so you can get the feel of what we saw:





being a concert-veteran, i figured i'd seen it all--but leto pulled out a few moves that made me gasp.

such as diving head-first into the crowd to body-surf. as well as standing on top of the railing while fans held his legs and inviting approx. 100+ fans up on the stage to dance & sing behind him for the last number of the night. insane.


my favorite of the night, however, was jared's big brother, shannon, who plays the drums:



this dude played the drums with more aggression and force than any single drummer i've seen.
(and believe you me, i've seen a lot.) we watched while a crew member wheeled over a little oxygen tank behind the drum-kit, and he'd take a big whiff every few songs--now THAT'S rockstar!

mama likey.

i wanna rock & roll all night.....(and party every day!)

we came.

we saw.

we ROCKED.



in fact, i'm pretty sure it's safe to say that we rocked the SOCKS off of the jdrf 'rock the walk'~

each family took their 15 minutes of fame:

there also happened to be an INSANE AMOUNT of "rocking on" happening all over the place:

russ, as usual, was KILLING it with the ladies:

(if you look closely, you can see from my boot's heel what i was doing all morning long. which was aerating the lawn.)




there were those of us who kept it strictly OLD SCHOOL:






while others choose a fresh (& japanese anime!) perspective:

we couldn't have been more pleased with ourselves:

one of the highlights was watching gene simmons get down and DIRRRRRRRTY on stage while performing YMCA with our posse:

**in fact, gene simmons was so AWESOME, that i decided he must have his very own post exclusively about him--

watch for it tomorrow!






my favorite photo of the day:

& my other favorite photos:

(how 'bout russ and his choice of lipstick?! stud.)

****YOU CAN STILL DONATE TO THIS WONDERFUL CAUSE! DON'T DELAY! ACT NOW!!!


go HERE!

devil horns and the clove family

just a little sneaky peaky of the rocking on that was GOING DOWN saturday morning~

we had such a great time~



lots more to come.

co-conspirator or how cole marchant helped get a photo of a female mullet

the best part of my day today was when this little man willingly helped me snap a sneaky-sneaky photo of one of the most magnificent examples of the female mullet (femullet to you) that i've had occasion to witness.


i wasn't sure if i could pull it off without being caught, but i think cole instinctively knew what to do. i dare say it could be in his genes. (but NOT from his mother. just his aunt mindi.)


he stood still, posed like a pro, and even gave me a smile the first go-round, though he knew perfectly well that i wasn't taking a photo of HIM.


he even waited patiently while i tried to go in a bit closer:

i couldn't have been more proud.

hot tub time machine or caylor turns 40 in park city, utah.

it was our long-time friend caylor's 40th birthday this month, and we were so very happy to spend a weekend celebrating his being expelled from the womb in park city.


the pictures above show the cottages we stayed in--LOVED.


the only hang-up with the entire experience is the fact that not one of us brought a camera, so amy's phone made do. (sorry for the fuzz.)




being party-girl extraordinaire, amy made sure that the "one year closer to death" theme reigned supreme:



we all had a pact before embarking on this adventure that the other theme of the weekend would be RELAX--we adhered strictly to this by eating, lounging at the pool, eating, hanging out in the jacuzzi, eating, sleeping, & going OUT to eat.



my newest favorite pc find was easy street's le bar boheme--


we ate dinner there saturday night outside under festive chinese lanterns, string lights & nestled right next to an outdoor waterfall & fire pit:

{can ya TELL that russ got some sun at the pool? not sure.....:}



our meals were very reasonably priced (for park city, that is) and the atmosphere just simply couldn't be beat. i recommend highly.




all in all, it was a lovely weekend.

chandi's weapon of choice or Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. that's a knife right there

russ & i went on a date last saturday night and didn't return until about midnight.

chandler was watching for us (instead of our usual, kaitlyn--child labor is AWESOME!) and seemed a bit nervous. she called a few times and we gave her all the standard reassurances, "everything is fine," etc.

when we got home, i peeked into her bedroom and walked over to check on her. that's when i saw this photo.

(look very carefully. see anything disturbing?)





so, didja?









if you answered, "holy &%*#,THAT RIGHT THERE IS A KNIFE!" you are correct:







yes, it totally freaked me out.

yes, i talked to her the next morning about the dangers of having large cutlery in her room as a weapon choice (such as accidentally killing her sisters, dropping on her toes, perhaps injuring the kitties, etc.)

no, she will NOT be using butcher knives as her favorite form of security blanket in the future.




& yes, we love that she makes us gasp. and then giggle later:)

thankful thursday

things i am thankful for this week:




**an awesome choir student-of-the-month (as well as president!):






**the fact that a simple thing such as a hamburger phone can bring such pure JOY to a 9 year- old girl: (thanks to breque for making it possible.)







**that, on facebook,i get to see that my kitty kat likes kitty cats:

**a young diva-in-training who always looks like "hollywood":







**a wonderful homecoming date that allowed the 16-year-old to play on a ginormous slip & slide:







**a chance to get to the titanic exhibit.

which also allowed for a chance to take the most wonderful photos, EVER, on the staircase:


(as well as allow the mother multiple opportunities to yell, "ROSE! JACK!" during the tour. priceless.)





**proof that there ARE indeed cats that are fatter than mine:


(thanks, vanessa)



and for the reminder (again, thanks to vanessa!) of how some things just never go out of style:

mia loses a toofers!

can you tell something different about this 5 year old girl?




i'll give you a hint:

if that one was too subtle, we'll try the non-subtle approach:

first lost tooth= KIND OF A BIG DEAL.

& this is what "i found a dollar under my pillow and am filled with joy" looks like.



**i'd like to state for the record that mia makes 4 out of 4 daughters that i've been able to fool with the first loose tooth and YANK IT RIGHT OUT before they knew what they were up against.



they only make that mistake once.

homecoming 2010 or my dad greeted my homecoming date with a shotgun in hand.

the big first dance/date could be described in two words: WIN/WIN.

katilyn was a vision of beauty. (and of course i'm not biased being her mother--how could i be when she looks like this?)

and, for the record? we are grateful to her father for giving her the genes for her good looks. (whew!)

jody came over and spent a few hours getting her hair and make-up done, and we were so grateful for this act of kindness that meant so much to kaitlyn:

we were also grateful for the advantages of comfort offered when wearing a long dress:

with kaitlyn being the oldest girl within our circle of friends/family, this was a big "first" for us all, and we had quite the party going on waiting for andrew to arrive. (poor guy!)

unfortunately, THIS was also waiting for andrew to arrive:

having served with andrew in the young men's association, russ thought it would be funny to bring out the 270 rifle for the evening.


kaitlyn thought it was on the "not so funny" side.



thank goodness andrew knew that russ was a big ole softie and didn't seem too concerned:

there were flowers exchanged:

and we were in TOTAL LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT with katilyn's beautiful wristlet corsage:

finally, poor andrew was allowed to leave the house with the father who carries a big freaking firearm and get to the rest of the evening with his date.



& we couldn't have been happier:

(these two are experiencing their 15 minutes of fame--they were mentioned on the bloomers blog.
check it out HERE)



(also, clickity HERE to see how andrew asked and kaitlyn replied~)