Wednesday, October 30, 2013

My Favorite Purse Was Stolen!!!


The purse I am holding in the picture above is my favorite purse. (the view above is actually the back of the purse)  It was a gift from Chip.  A Marc Jacobs purse that every where I go people comment on, that I take EVERYWHERE, it holds a ton, goes with everything, reminds me of him, and I really love it to pieces.  He bought it in China for me as a gift when he went back after we had moved back to the states and it was just a sentimental piece if you will that I have become very fond of.

Well, yesterday my worst nightmare happened.  We were in a rush to get Cash to school, but completely out of milk and Target was on the way to school from our errands and so we ran in quick.  We grabbed our milk and our ziploc bags and were out of the store in less than 5 minutes.  While loading the 3 kids up into the car I thought to myself I should put my purse in first, but already had Ivy in my arms, already had Cash in my arms (yes I was getting all 3 out of the cart at the same time to try to rush things along) and so was a little consumed.  Ivy was crying, Cash was talking, Griffin was needing something so it was a bit chaotic.  I pushed the cart to the same spot it was when I got there - the front of the car at my left front bumper and hopped in the car and zoomed off to Cash's school.  We went about the rest of the day with not another thought about it.  

It wasn't until dinner that I realized something was amiss.  We went out to the car to go grab some dinner and upon loading the kids up I realized my purse wasn't in front of Ivy's seat like I always put it.  Then we looked in the car and couldn't find it anywhere.  I pretty much tore the car up looking under every seat, nook and cranny thinking it had to be there.  I thought I had remembered getting it but then couldn't remember putting it in.  I was panicking.  Trying to stay calm I called Target and asked if it had been turned in.  They said no, well I figured we would go look in the parking lot and see if perhaps the cart was still sitting there with it.  Not likely since it had now been over 6 hours, but worth a shot right?!  
This time I loaded the car up with the kiddos without their shoes, Ivy had no pants on, no socks or shoes, and no bow, and we all looked haggard I am sure.  We rushed down there and went looking in every cart we could see but of course nothing.  I was getting a little crazy at this point.  There were two guys in the parking lot collecting all the carts and I asked them, and they said they hadn't seen a purse, so we went upstairs and started pulling carts out and looking for it there but I knew it was not going to happen - there were hundreds of carts and I figured if it had been found it would have been turned in this morning, or stolen, and most likely stolen.

We went to lost and found and they again said they had nothing.  They would call me if they found anything.  I was devastated, and now without any money at all to even get dinner the kids and I headed back home - i felt lost without my id, my cc, my purse!!!

I got home and was in such a state of shock and upset and anger at myself for letting this happen that we looked in a couple drawers and rounded up some cash and went to Taco Bell to get the kids the taco and burrito they had wanted.  While sitting there I tried to think of what to do next.

Well, we got the food, came home, ate, and I put Griffin and Ivy to bed.  Then when Emily got home I went down to Target again and asked them to look at the security camera tapes to see if they could at least see if anyone had taken it.  They would check for me, but the guy was on his lunch break and they wouldn't let me look at them anyways, so I went out and was checking out the trash cans on my way (yes people were looking at me weird as I kind of thumbed through them looking like a scavenger, hoping that maybe the guy just took the cash out and threw the purse away!) No luck here either. 

I drove home in tears, very dejected and upset.  I called my mom and she was trying to help me with what to do and I was mean and nasty and after I got off the phone realized this was taking control of me and I wasn't being who I wanted to be.  I had to sit in the garage for a few minutes getting myself under control before I could go in the house and act rational and work on the next steps - cancelling ALL my cards and figuring out how to get my identity back.

As I was doing that the guy called me back from Target - a really nice gentleman named Karl and told me they did look at the tapes and they saw that a guy did in fact take it less than 5 minutes after I had left.  I asked if it was the sketchy man in the suburban that had been sitting there the whole time I was in the store and then when I left and he said no.  It was another shopper who exited the store about 3 minutes after me and when walking to his car noticed and did a double take of my cart.  He walked over and saw it was a purse and picked it up and walked toward the back of the parking lot with it.  They couldn't see what he then did because the security cameras didn't cover where he went with it.

So yep - it was stolen - by a dishonest, loser guy who I want to punch in the face.  
I don't care - take the cash out, take the bracelet and necklace, even take the 4 Mac lipsticks I had in there (2 were brand new and so hadn't taken them out of my purse yet or even worn them), but really did you have to still my love note I keep in there and have had since Chip very first told me he loved me 8 years ago?!  Really did you have to take my temple recommends - esp the one I keep just cuz I love that it says Beijing on it, or the one that I have from my wedding day, and also my current one!  Really did you need to take my drivers license, insurance cards, and my pictures of my cute kids.  Take the CC - and the gift cards I have in there, cuz I cancelled those, but I really wanted that purse and all my sentimental stuff that you don't care about and can't even use!

He didn't use any of the credit cards or debit card I had in there, and now they are all completely useless and he can't anyways, so was it really just for the cash and is my purse in some trash can at a gas station?!  I will never know, but I am sad that he took it and didn't go turn it in.  I am sad that a few worldly things were more important then thinking about how this would affect the person who owned this stuff.  I have reordered my Drivers license, have all my CC stopped and reordered, etc etc and so I will be fine that way.  But I am sad that I don't have the things that meant the most.

Thanks to my friend Cecia I had taken my SS card out of my wallet not too long before.  She told me that I should never have that in there in case my wallet ever got stolen and how hard I wouldn't be able to get another one and how important it was to put it in my safebox.  I didn't think much of it at the time because I even said my wallet will never get stolen, but later on I was getting into our safebox for something and so I took it out and put it in there.  I am so grateful!

I am also grateful to have the knowledge that altho this is inconvenient, and made me angry, and put me out for a night and was a huge hassle to deal with last night - at least it is fixable, it is just stuff, and if that is the worst thing that happens all week I am luckier than a lot of people.

I am grateful to be healthy (mostly) and have healthy kids, to have family and a husband, who instead of getting mad at me and going off at what I should have done so this didn't happen, was loving and helped me fix everything with the cards and gave me a massage after knowing how stressed I had become.  I am grateful that I am able to deal with this stuff and it wasn't worse than this.

Hope today is better!  And from now on I will put my purse FIRST into the car, before my children - since I know I won't leave them in the cart at the store!
Happy Halloween's Eve!!!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Carving Pumpkins!!!

T'was a few days before Halloween and our very last Sunday.....
To get our pumpkins carved, and just in time for the treat fun day!!!
So daddy got the knife out and started to work!
And Griffin and Cash made sure he didn't shirk!
While Ivy and mom went up for a shower!
They got the pumpkins carved - in less than an hour!
And scary and happy and out on the porch!
And yes, I am doing a Christmas rhyme because I really am a dork!

The boys took care of our pumpkin carving this year and except for the fact we saw how really weak Griffin's stomach was, it was a fun and not very messy event!  Griffin apparently doesn't like the smell or sight of the pumpkin seeds and guts and it sent him twice to the garbage can puking his own guts up!  He wasn't bothered at all by it, saying he was fine right after and running right back to the counter and jumping in, but I was completely grossed out by it and so took Ivy and we went to try to blast some of our colds out of our bodies by taking a shower while they finished all the pumpkins!  We came down for the lighting on the porch and they turned out great!

Love that Chip is so focused (in all these pics)

Funny boys!

 Cheese!  

 Griff loved the lighting of the pumpkins and wanted to be right close for all the pics!  He is a true Cali boy now that thinks its totally fine to have no shirt on in October!

Ivy only wanted to be by the smiley pumpkin - the other one she kept saying "scarrrry!" to! 

 Cute kiddos!

 Happy and Scary!

 A quick cheese for the camera before running away from this side!

Forgot to post Cash's big project a few weeks ago - he had to create himself out of this pumpkin, using beads, fabric, sparkles, yarn, whatever he wanted for his class wall!  Griffin insisted on having his picture with the finished product first!  A proud little bro!

 Close up of his project - his picture of his face was from Halloween 2 years ago when he was a skeleton!  Pretty scary Cash!  The pumpkin face was made of felt and he told me what shapes to cut out for each thing - but didn't want to cut them himself  "because mom's sewing scissors are so sharp they might cut him and the glue is sticky and he doesn't want sticky fingers or to burn his hands with the hot glue!"  Such a thinker that Cash - thus he picked out everything on here - from the fabric sword in one hand to the trick-or-treat bag in the other with a bow of yarn, the glitter boots and where the rhinestones went, and the skeleton arms!  Mom was the putter-on girl!  Turned out cute!

Love my Cashee boy!  Such a doll and so sweet and smart! Very creative too!




 Also this month we had a visit from our friends Megan and Sammy!  It had been a long time since we have seen them and they came out for a Disneyland trip with family and made a day to come see us and have a playdate and we were so glad.  Always fun to catch up!  We love visitors!  And Ivy hadn't met Megan but went right to her and wouldn't come back to me.  What can I say - Megan is every kid's BFF - kids love her and she is so sweet to them!  All 3 of mine love Miss Megan!  They had a great time playing with Sammy too!  Come back soon guys!



Friday, October 25, 2013

Mickey's Halloween Party!

We have been so busy this October that I realized I haven't blogged much about all our fun activities, and more than that I haven't been great at taking pictures of all of them - but here are a bunch from the ones I have managed to document!

Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins.  We went to one with friends and had a great time with them!  The kiddos especially enjoyed it!




 We went with the Hodgdons and our kiddos get along great.  Harper is helping the boys with a heavy one and then Justin is pulling the wagon with the goodies.  Chip is doing a good job supervising the work!

 Peek, and scary faces!

 All the kiddos!

 Trying to get a shot with them all jumping proved to be pretty difficult, but we did manage to get a few after about 10 minutes.  Nicole was adamant that we succeed and kept telling the kids what to do!  I found it hilarious and enjoyed just watching for entertainment!

 Last Sunday we made Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory caramel apples - they were SOOOOOO yummy!  Not quite as pretty as the ones you buy, but every bit as tasty and it was fun to do it as a family!  The boys thought so too.  We made a couple with cinnamon/sugar sprinkled, one with pumpkin pie spice (super yummy) and one with Heath bits on the bottom!  All were delicious and got eaten up!  Chip is a master twirler with these things so good thing he was there to help!



 Ready to dig in!

 We finished Dobby's costume just in time to go to Mickey's Halloween Party at disneyland!  How cute is he?!!!

Photobombed by his little sister who just edged her way over quietly and slowly while saying "cheese, cheese"!


 We also got Cash's school pictures this week and they turned out so darling.  Good thing he got all his crazy faces out on me the morning of when I asked how he was going to smile and instead did a cute little smile.  Love this boy!

 A very rare and quiet moment of Griff reading to Ivy while Cash was at school!  So sweet I couldn't interrupt and make her go take a nap.  They read all the books he had for about 45 minutes straight! A mother's dream!


 On Wednesday we got the kids all dressed up and headed off for Mickey's Halloween party at Disneyland.  It was SO MUCH FUN! And totally the way to do Disneyland.  They kick everyone else out of the park at 6 pm and just let those for the party stay and the kids get to trick-or-treat and ride all the rides and it was awesome!  We didn't have to wait in lines at all for any of the rides.  Cash and I walked right onto Splash Mountain and Space Mountain and the Matterhorn, and loved them all!  It was so much fun and I wasn't able to ride those last year when we went because I was 7 months pregnant so it had been way too long - I think I may have enjoyed it as much or more than the kids!  Griffin's favorite ride was Winnie the Pooh, and Ivy loved every ride, except Pirates of the Carribean (Griff actually cried the most on this one) but overall it was a perfect night.  We couldn't have asked for better weather and the kids costumes were a HUGE hit!  People kept stopping them and a couple even wanted to take their picture.  The best part - we didn't see even one other person dressed up as Harry Potter characters, so they were totally original here!  Chip and I will be all dressed up tomorrow as Professor McGonagall and Mad-Eye Moody, but didn't dress up here!  It was fun to see all the folks dressed up in different costumes!  Great memories made this night!

Happiest place on earth!  Here with Harry Potter, Dobby, and Hedwig!

 First ride of the night - Goofy's roller coaster!

 Enjoying some candy while waiting for dad and Cash to come out of the Haunted Mansion! Enjoying the fireworks too!



 The next morning while the boys were in gymnastics Ivy and I played on the park playground outside.  This little girl loves to "pway, pway" (Play) at parks and is very good at climbing and doing slides!  Love here cheeser here!

Happy Halloween week - are we really to the end of October already?!

Monday, October 7, 2013

Conference Weekend!

I LOVE conference weekend!  I totally look forward to it and love that we get to snuggle up and cuddle under blankets and drink in all that our apostles and prophet has to tell us.  And this conference was AMAZING!!! I truly felt inspired to be better, more hope, and just an overall very positive message from all the talks.  I loved so many I can't choose a favorite - but I will say I really loved Elder Uchtdorf's on Saturday morning - and think his quote of "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith!" was the most published quote on FB afterwards of anything - which is awesome and it is a great quote!  I also loved Elder Oaks, Elder Hollands, and President Monson's Sunday morning address.  I just felt that there were some really great things said, advice as a mom (and I thought it talked a LOT about mom's throughout) and just made me want to be better.  I love the gospel and am grateful that when I was young my mom made us watch and set that precedent for us - to watch all 4 sessions so that I now want to do the same for my family.  I am grateful for my testimony of the Savior and the atonement and know he died and suffered for me personally.  I am so grateful for the the plan of salvation and eternal families.  I love wanting to be better and setting goals and if you missed any you should definitely check it out at LDS.ORG and listen to it.  I plan on listening again to the talks they were all so great!

This little girl got into the "bubbies" and made a mess in her hair so we had to bathe her before the day even got started. (and after she had already gotten in the shower earlier this morning too!)



Also this weekend listening allowed me to finish up a few crafts we had started.  The boys helped with the candy corns and the witches hat, and I did the fabric chain and the picture and Emily let us use her cute BOO sign to make this cute little display!  And the boys had a great time setting up with daddy all the outside decor and spiderweb staircase!  We love Halloween!

After the Sunday afternoon session we hopped in the car and went down to Carlsbad to see Chip's parents - who were over here for fall break with Jayton.  It was a great night just relaxing, eating yummy food (lobster is my favorite and it was SOOOO good!) and taking a beautiful walk on the beach at sunset.  Life is good!

We found this amazing sand castle that was done up.  Cash wanted his picture!



 The sunsets here never get old to me - they are SOOOOO pretty and this was no exception - too bad I didn't have the lighting right on my camera phone to see the boys and Ivy's face but it was a cool sihouette one right?!  Chip and his dad with the kiddos!





 Found out that Charlie met my cousin Thad on the lobster diving trip for 3 days and that was fun!  Small world!
Happy October 7 week!