Winning free stuff is fun to do fun to do to do to do

I've got Halloween pictures coming. Hold on grandma! As for now....I am giving away one of these bad boys over on Leelou Swag




I made a list of my favorite things and Joovy is ever so lovingly letting me give this stroller away. It's been sitting in my house for 2 months and It's killing me! I love this stroller and think everyone should have one. Even if you don't have kids. It would make a sweet present :) Also on this giveaway, I want you to make a post on your blog of your top favorite things. Then you can link it to this giveaway with Mr. Linky. (Go to this giveaway if you have no idea what that means).

And in greater Twilight news...
Did you know the theater here in Klamath is also showing Twilight at 9:00pm on the same night as the New Moon premier?! I know you locals might not want to go since you can watch it at home, but let me sway you.


-If you don't buy a Twilight ticket you will have to wait in line outside until 12:00.
-If you buy a ticket to see Twilight, not only will you be able to sit in a comfy warm theater while others freeze outside, you also get to join a Twilight party at the theater! There is an hour between the 2 movies (from 11:00-12:00) and the movie theater is letting Christy and I throw an exclusive party for those who buy both tickets. We'll be playing Twilight trivia games and we've gotten over 70 prizes!!


It's gonna be super fun, so go grab your Twilight tickets while you can. It will be awesome. Plus you'll stay warm and score some free stuff.

Leelou Swag

Click here to see my all time favorite things!!

Happy Birthday Meema!

It's a freaking nightmare so much fun to take pictures of 6 kids under 6. Happy Birthday Meema!

MacBerryGoodness

So Jeremy and I are obsessed with taking pictures of funny stuff with our phones and sending them to each other when we're not together. I was loading them onto my computer the other day and thought I might want to document the awesomeness of a few of these pictures to look back on in years to come. Brace yourself...

Bump It ahahahahaha
She looks like a mini Aunt Temple :)

Preschool countdown (Did you notice her rockin' outfit?)

My dad had Brynlie trying to trick everyone who walked into Old Navy. Barely anyone noticed her.

These pictures are older. Pocket Edward hasn't made an appearance since Auntie Laur Laur was here. So entertaining.

Please tell me this isn't the most amazing picture you've ever seen? Hello nameless man I will see at church on Sunday. Bet you didn't know I was watchin!

Catch up

Here's a small recap of what we've been up to...



This is how photogenic Kelson has become. He is obsessed with anything related to Toy Story and Cars. He loves the word super. Its always super dark, he's super thirsty, dinosaurs are super huge... He has finally stopped crying when we drop Brynlie off for preschool, he would eat "bamamas" all day if he could, he is never seen without a car in his hand and he says "Awwwwwwwwwww Danett!!" whenever things aren't going right. Its probably the funniest thing ever.


Brynlie does a curtsy and says thank you every time she is given something or permission to do something. It's awesome. Especially when we're in public. This girl is obsessed with writing and drawing, making Dane laugh and singing. She is so patient with her demanding little brother and helps me a ton without complaining. May it last forever...haha





Dane started crawling last week! He's my first kid that didn't do the army crawl first. It's kind of nice now that he can crawl. I strategically place cheerios in certain areas to keep him entertained for long periods of time. Don't judge me. It works. And I love it. He is really content with anyone and anything and smiles all the live long day. He'll shake his head side to side when we say "no no no no no". He loves Brynlie and is slightly terrified of Kelson. That boy has a lot of love for Dane. He mauls him.

Jeremy is on the Tech Cadre for the district, or the geek squad as I lovingly refer to it. We're total tech nerds. We're cool with it. Jeremy has traveled to Portland quiet a few times for meetings, so he's been out of town a lot lately. His school also got a huuuuge grant from Apple so Jeremy got a MacBook pro the other day. He might as well be out of town again. We don't see him much over the glow of the monitor. He has some other tech toys coming his way, so we may not see him for awhile. It makes him giddy.
I've been playing mommy by day, blogger by night. Hence the lack of attention on this blog. I have a few sites that I'm going to be launching between Nov. and hopefully January. I've been working on them for months and am super excited to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
When Jeremy and I aren't being nerdy, you can find us watching the Office reruns. We're totally addicted and can't control ourselves.
That's pretty much all we've been up to the last month or so. Pretty awesome hu? Now don't all come over at once to hang out with us and our awesomeness. Call ahead and we'll pencil you in.

Viva Las Vegas!

I got back from my blogging conference a few days ago and it was a stinkin' hoot!

Lauren came along with me and I talked my mom into coming too so she could play nanny. And when I say I talked my mom into it, I really mean that she begged me desperately to bring her.
She's a sucker for a vacation. I'm a sucker for a nanny.

Workin it.

I left Bryn and Kelson at home and brought the Daners with me. He was so super good!
6 months is the perfect age to be a travel buddy!

He was over stimulated by all the lights and noises, so he just sat in his stroller in silence the whole time. Apparently there aren't many babies in Vegas because he was a hit.

Carissa was my traveling partner as well. (We look awesome after a day of traveling) Carissa and I emailed each other several times a looong time ago. Then she randomly moved into my ward last year. Girls at the conference thought it was so crazy that we ended up living in the same teeny tiny town in Oregon. By the way, Carissa is the shiz. Just in case you were wondering. Yes, I just said that.

Lauren met up with us in Vegas also. We totally ran into the Kardashian family. Literally. Lauren ran the stroller into them cause they were in the way filming their show. We couldn't get by them and into the hotel so Lauren cleared a path for us. My mom yelled at me to take pictures, but I just can't be a fan girl to celebrities. It's awkward.

Kim did invite us to her birthday party, but we graciously declined....and the dress code had a limit of 1/4 yard of fabric, so we opted to stay inside and watch Glee in our jammies.

This guy totally looks like Johnny Depp hu?

Right when we got there we hit the buffet...naturally. I decided to get myself a plate of desserts when I was done eating. It was good. Like, really really good.

So I got some more. Have I mentioned that I have no self control?

So very inappropriate.

So much yummy food!!!

So I am pretty ok with saying that I have never stayed in a nice hotel. EVER! I'm all about paying the least amount of $ possible for sleeping. At this conference they put us up in suites at the Venetian, and it totally rocked my world. I just may become a hotel snob from here on out. It was amazing. They had a TV in the bathroom! That's all I can say.

At night I laid Dane in the corner of the sectional and pushed the ottoman up to the corner, then surrounded him with pillows. The bed I slept in was amazing! So comfy that I slept like a rock. Sleep so good that you wouldn't even hear your baby fall off the couch and cry in the middle of the night. Not like that happened, but if it did...

Nanny Meema

Ok now onto the conference. I talk to a lot of mommy bloggers every day and I was so excited to meet some of them! We had some great speakers, food, dancing and gifts...ahem....
Here are a couple people I was super excited to meet...

Angie from 7 clown Circus


Renee from Cutie Booty Cakes. She's amazing and travels all over the place!

I was really excited to finally meet Laurie from Tip Junkie. She's possible the cutest thing ever.


Oh Lula...How I want to be best friends with you and your southern accent. I found Lula a couple months ago through a secret blog that she hilariously contributes to and knew at once we were meant to be friends. I heart you.

Welp, that sums up my trip. It was so fun to get away, but I missed my kiddos dearly. And my Jedward of course. Did I mention that this was waiting for me when I got home?

My cheeks have never hurt so bad from laughing as I played this game. Yahoo for Twilight. "aahahahaha...That is correct."

Slow down baby!

This little guy is so close to crawling!

Brynlie and Kelson didn't crawl til they were like 9 months old. It took them forever. So now that Dane is close to crawling it's killing me! I feel like his babyhood is being taken away from me that much quicker. This growing up thing is happening far too fast!


If Dane isn't attempting to crawl, he's striking this pose. He's really really really...ridiculously good looking.

After waiting "her whole life" (according to Brynlie) it was finally the first day of preschool! Bryn has been dyyyyying to go for well over a year now, so she was so super pumped. On the first day of school she asked if I would just hug her at the car and not walk her into her class :(
Aren't they supposed to be at least 13 before that starts?
Now when I drop her off she compromises and lets me at least walk her to the gate.
She is loving her class and thinks that show and tell is the greatest thing ever created.

We had stake conference a few weeks ago and K was sick, so he stayed home with Jeremy to rest. And by rest I mean play. He's obsessed with Cars and Toy Story right now. He'll wear this and run around saying "Finity Yond!"

K's awesome hair

This is how Kelson started out...

Then came the Sloth look. Seriously what were we thinking? Why didn't we shave his head?
That's awesome.

I tried to get a picture of Kelson's hair now. This is the best I could get. Every time we cut it you can see a ring around his head. It looks like he's balder in that ring, but he just has really light hair there.


Cleaning up hair is fun to do. Fun to do, to do , to do...

What a cute kid!

BAHAHAHAHA

Dear Julianne...

Dear Julianne Hough,
So today I went to the fair. These are my kids playing in the dirty germ/urine filled corn.
They're cute hu? Yeah, I know.

So my sister, mom and I went to go see you today. And we got to the concert and were all like:


And then this band came to entertain us:

and I was like "Wow! He looks like a pirate!"


And then I remembered that someone else may or may not have that same shirt...and she may or may not have been wearing it that night. So I shut my mouth.
And then we got a little bored...

and questioned the opening act

and then we were all "I can't take it anymore!!"

But then this guy came out and made it all better.


And then the opening band left...and we waited for you...for 40 minutes...

But then you finally came! And I was like:

And not because it was you...but because you actually had a headband on your forehead. So I quickly had to text someone else who also enjoys a ridiculous cute little headband on the forehead.



But then fortunately sadly it fell of your head. And left you with a big fat rubber band indent on your forehead. Bummer.

I thought you were from Utah? When you sing you have a southern accent?? You must have grown up in Spanish Fork.

And I was super impressed with all the big name band members you have. A little Tommy Lee...

you even had a little Kristen Stewart...

and now we know where this guy has been the last 13 years:

But this one was my all time favorite

Way to rock it Joel. It's totally him, right? Silly Jules. Can I call you that? Since we're tight now? It's just that Julianne is really long. And it's really like multiple names put together anyway...so this works for me.

You had a fun concert. I couldn't understand a word you sang though :( But when you stopped singing, I did understand you. And it wasn't pretty. Maybe you should stick to mumbled singing...or dancing. *{{hugs}}* I still love you though Jules.


Then, after 20 minutes of my mom heckling me to walk up to you, I finally gave in and did. Since Jaime and I were like sitting in your lap, I tried to ask you if you needed a ride to church tomorrow, or if you wanted me to give you this months visiting teaching message, but you totally ignored me. So then we looked around us and noticed we were the only people crowding the stage that were over the age 16. *Embarrassing*


If you change your mind and need a ride to church tomorrow, let me know. I should go now. When I blog late at night I ramble a bit. Thanks for the sweet night. I fear the flashing spotlights on the audience may give my mother another stroke, but other than that it was pretty fun. If I were in high school I would have stuck around and bought you a dough boy, but I'm now a married woman with a child to suckle, so I had to split.
Tell Chucky hi for me.
-XOXO Julie
P.S. I like your shirt
P.S.S. Nix the headband next time :)

Utah vacay

For 3 weeks this summer we went to Utah. Instead of writing a novel, here are some highlights from our trip:

-saw all of Jeremy's family and almost all of my extended family

-met a new niece and nephew and 2 new cousins

-spent 40 hours in a car and found out that Kelson too, gets carsick

-pulled over in the middle of Idaho for a half hour to hose out Kelson's carseat

-celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday party with her

-traveled from Logan to Spanish Fork several times visiting friends and family

-we were able to do some "real" shopping and eating

-all of our kids got really sick one after the other after the other

-we got some much needed family pictures taken

-scanned a bazillion family pictures for everyone to have

While we were at my grandmas we scanned hundreds of pictures. A lot of them were really old ones of great great great grandparents, so I'm glad that everyone can have a copy of them now. Here are some of my favorites of the Mortenson pictures.

This is my cute Dad on his mission

My parents back in the day

I love this picture of my grandparents. Grandma, you look awesome! I love it.

For some reason I love this picture. This is when Grandma was pregnant with her first baby.

And this picture of my grandpa looks EXACTLY like my Dad!

This is when my Dad got home from his mission. Man mom, look at you. You even got your nails done. You were workin' it.

Strike that. Uncle Glen...you were the one workin' it.

Sponsors

I'm have 3 sponsors that are sending me to a blog conference called SITScation in October and I can't wait! I got to meet with them while I was in Utah and it was a blast.

I am so impressed with these 3 companies. I love them. At the conference I will be promoting these companies as well, so I knew I had to genuinely love their stuff....and I do! So I wanted to tell you all a little about them.



I first met with Memory Mixer, which is my fav. digital scrapbooking program ever! If you haven't heard of them, check them out. My mom just used their software to make a book online. If my mom can do it ANYONE can do it! Believe me! (I even have a special Leelou discount to get you 30% off an order if you are interested.)

Anywho...they're having an awesome contest for kids this summer and they told me they wanted me to judge the contest and find 9 other blog moms who would judge as well. Then they took me to their warehouse, gave me a shopping cart and told me to fill it up with goodies for the judges. I was like a little kid at Christmas with Pixie Stix and a pony. It was so much fun!

My other sponsor is Scrapping Simply.

They do all my prints for me and for Leelou stuff and I wouldn't go anywhere else. They make these amazing gallery wraps on canvas too, that I'm currently stocking my house with. They're amazing. I got to go see their place and how everything works. I'm seriously impressed with their quality and prices. They have the greatest stuff and the nicest people that work there.



The last sponsor I got to meet with was Bloggled. I've been working with them for awhile now and think they're going to rock the blog world pretty soon here. They currently back up blogs and twitter accounts. So many people email me saying they accidentally deleted their posts or even their blogs. I can't imagine losing all my stuff! It's my journal. So these guys will back everything up so that nothing bad will ever happen. Genius. If you're interested in that you can click here for more info. They're soon going to be doing blog books as well. They showed me their blog book program that's coming out, and it is seriously amazing!!! By far the best one (and legal one) out there. I can't wait til they launch! They've been working hard and I'm dying for them to be ready to go!



It was a total blast. I love being able to do something I absolutely love and still stay at home with the kiddos. I've meet a ton of really fun people from blogging and hope to meet lots more.

Ok, there is my shameless plug for 3 companies I use and love.

"Chubby-Chubberson" (if you name that movie you get 50 points)

Here are some cute pictures of my little Daners. His eyes have really been turning brown lately and I'm so excited! It's so weird to see a dark haired, dark eyed boy. I love it. He is such a happy baby. As long as someone is looking at him, he is one happy boy.



He had his 4 month check up a few weeks ago and was almost 19lbs. He's on the verge of size 5 diapers and has started rolling all over. He's an ambi-turner like his brother before him. He always wants to be sitting up and so I had been debating buying him a Bumbo seat. I wanted one with Kelson, but I'm cheap and never got one. Now that I'm outnumbered during the days, I thought a Bumbo seat might be essential for this picky boy. His legs are far too large for it, but we pry him out before his toes turn purple. No he's not naked in this picture.

And I've said before how this boy insists on being held. Bedtime was killer because he wanted to be rocked to sleep. So when we were at Mindi's house Jeremy threw him in a swing and Dane was out in minutes. It was a miracle that worked over and over again. Since we've been home we've gone through 3 battery changes in this bad boy. My arms thank you Fisher-Price.

Finally!

I've ALWAYS wanted to play the piano. I could listen to people play the piano for hours. I'm jealous every time I see someone play amazingly. I want to do that! I heard this song a long time ago and knew that one day I HAD to play it.

Then when I started making wedding videos I found Paul Cardall. He's amazing. If you don't have any of his music go buy some! Click here and seriously buy some!




We have a few of his CD's. My favorite is the Primary worship. Get it for your kids. You'll love it!

Anyway, so Jeremy and I have been dying to learn how to play for years and after almost a year of searching Craigs list we found this incredible steal of a deal!!!

I'm so excited!!! I am going to play those two songs above by Paul Cardall and Jon Schmidt. One day. It may take me til I'm 60 to learn how, but I will!