goff-shots

the goings-on…

2012-02-05T20:29:00.001-08:00

So this fella turned 17…

and requested homemade eggrolls (that actually turned out-hooray)…

this green kitchen got a coat of bleached wheat paint with a raw umber glaze…

this fella used his superstar handyman skills to add a new backsplash to go with the new paint…

this little lady used her taping (and helpfulness) skills to help with the painting extravaganza…

this wall got 2 coats of golden sunshine paint with a Moroccan stencil of golden apricot on top (and just a little fyi, wallpaper stenciling is most certainly not a quicky quick little endeavor)…

this fella continued to provide me with keen insight to life. After we woke up to a couple of inches of snow the other morning, Cael brought out a pair of winter boots and his sneakers.

Cael: “Mom! Which ones should I wear? Is it going to be an inside day or an outside day?”

Mom:“Hmm, I’m not sure, Cael…”

Cael: “But Mom! You are smart! You know everything! Which ones should I wear?!”

Amazing that he has the whole mom-is –so –smart thing figured out and he’s only been in 1st grade for 100 days …

2011-12-30T21:07:00.001-08:00

Delightful December

Season’s Greetings from the bloggiest family of the year!

We’ve loved all things festive this month—the sleighs, the lights, the pinecones and holly berries (popcorn for you, apples for me?),

the hats…

We also enjoyed visiting Dear Lizzie in Alpine, the most delightful place, and with a 2 for 1 hot cocoa coupon, how could we go wrong…

We appreciated being visited by jolly ol’ St.Nicholas…

and then getting to have the annual Gramma Sharlene and Grampa Randy Christmas breakfast with all the Goffs, Thornes, and a few bonus Madsens (Gramma Jan, Grampa Paul, and Uncle Jens)…

We’ve loved having so many cousins (and grandparents) in town this Christmas…

and appreciated Uncle Aaron sitting for the (in his words)“hang in there, little bro” shot…

Who knows, perhaps I will post more than 3 times in 2012? Hmm, good news for me—I may actually be able reach that bar…

And now Cael is tired.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

the end.

lifelong learning…

2011-10-10T20:14:00.001-07:00

Cael: “Hey Mom, want me to teach you how to hug a cat?”

(**that may qualify as my best-ever greeting upon returning home from an intense evening of fabric-cutting, and good news for you—I do believe this generous offer actually extends to all interested parties…)

attempting lemonade…

2011-09-04T22:26:00.001-07:00

So waaay back last month, we were enjoying every minute of our splish-splashing 14 ft. round pool on the patio in the backyard. Cooling off, swimming, floating, whirl-pooling--g~~ood, good~~ great, great times!!

Then one day, as I was minutes away from leaving to join my teenage girlies at Girls Camp, Kylie and I heard a giant whooshing water sound. Horrifically, curiously, and randomly, the floor of the pool gave way and tore apart at the point nearest the window well…

This is what a basement looks like after a wall of water comes crashing through the window and tidal-waving everything in its wake. The gravel is from the window well, the shattered glass is from the bent, broken, and thrown across the room double-paned window. The broken glass slashed the curtains. All the dvd’s on the shelf were filled with water and mud. As we shoveled up the pieces of glass, the shovels would fill with water. The family room , the bedrooms, and storage room were all water-logged. The pictures don’t quite do it complete justice…

This glass is on the other side of the family room—so amazing how much damage can happen in such a miniscule amount of time…

Fortunately, these boys were not downstairs at the time, which they so easily could have been. Nobody was hurt; we’ve cleared out a lot of clutter that we should have cleared out years ago, and new carpet pad plus a new window later (window guy: “I’ve never seen a window frame bend like this!”), we are trying to be back and better than ever, minus one pool. We have been so humbled by the quick action, hard work, and kindness of our gracious and phenomenal neighbors with shovels, shop-vacs, and helping hands…

On on a cheerier note, if this isn’t the funnest house ever, I don’t know what is—Morgan was slightly enthusiastic to take the tour of the incredibly delightful UP house…

The details were absolutely amazing…

I do love the kitchen appliances very, very much…

And after months and months (and months)of practice, football games have finally begun and my absolute favorite Grizzly is #70 (pictured with my very favorite dad of a Grizzly)…

School started for the Jr. High set…

and for the elementary set, as well (and no, Cael did not actually wear his sweet soccer uniform on the first day, he just wanted to)…

And what could be finer than having the whole fam there to cheer on the mighty Grizzlies to victory over Hillcrest? For Cael it would be cheering while wearing binoculars—good stuff…

summer synopsis, part 1

2011-07-31T22:27:00.001-07:00

One of my all-time favorite things ever EVER was the precious family of birds that nested in the plum tree in our backyard!! We had no idea how fantastically fascinating it would be to watch the 4 baby birds grow and learn and sadly (for us), fly away. It was National Geographic in our very own yard-awesome…

This pic is completely dedicated to my Gramma Bev, who always dreamed of having the whole Link clan attend the Manti Pageant. While the whole clan did not make it, 3 youth-conference attending Goff’s did and it was amazing…

Kendell + sparkler= happy star-spangled combo…

The fabulous KThoms came to town, so what could be better than a tour of the Conference Center? We know how to do it up right in the SLC…

Good news—resourceful Paul saved the day and got the circle pool back into commission!! New filter and more patches made for hours of crazy, splashy cousin fun with even more super cousins…

Here’s a question: do fedora hats put you in a bad mood? Little Goff family fun fact—apparently fedoras completely rub my bro-in-law Mike the wrong way (hmm), but Morgan and Aunt Tera were determined to get him to turn that frown upside-down…

Ever since Quilt Market in May, I have been wait, wait, waiting for the lovely new Joel Dewberry fabric line, Heirloom, to come to the shop and… it did!! The orange blockflower blossom here is my absolute fave, and using it to make an Amy Butler Gumdrop pillow put a smile on Miss Kylie’s face and on Kylie’s mom’s face…

And HOO-RAY—after completing his project over a year ago, Curtis the Eagle Scout had his Court of Honor on Sunday. And in the words of Elastigirl, “now, it’s official!”

I…am…speed…

2011-06-27T21:45:00.001-07:00

So waaayyy back last year, I had some friends that thought it would be a fantastic idea to put a team together to run a ginormous 191-mile race in June. Doesn’t that sound like fun?? (hmmm…) I agreed to be an alternate, you know, in the remote chance that some life-ish thing came up for one of the runners. And guess what?? In the year that happened in between the time that the race was signed up for and the time that the race would actually occur, one of the team members discovered the happy news that she was in the family way and then went on to have the baby before the race even started! Look how excited I am to be the alternate!?

Sleeping bag-check; pillow-check; strawberry Greek yogurt, trail mix, and protein bars-check; extra plump and cushy blue pad to sleep on-questionable …

Just look at the fire exhibited by team 781!! I know exactly what you’re thinking—they look like they’d be suuuper fast…

As a special Wasatch Back bonus, a grown man in a diaper over his clothing would spray paint a Ragnar symbol on the body area of your choosing-for free!! (If you were wondering, spray paint doesn’t exactly “wash off easily” as soon as the running is done and you go back to regular places like work, or church…)

I am smiling because it was so beautiful outside and I am so thankful that running up to Snow Basin Ski Resort was not one of my legs! Now running downhill 7 miles through the picturesque hamlet of Henefer, Utah, at 1:30 in the morning—that was my leg, and my favorite leg, for real! And encountering what I thought at first to be a large rock, but upon closer view with help from my headlamp, turned out to be a goat, was priceless! He didn’t bother me, I didn’t bother him…

The mid-June view from the window on Day 2-brrr…

I have never been so thrilled to run and more importantly, to stop running!! 17 miles over the course of a day and a half is a lot of running for me. But then when you get the results that say that your rag-tag team of all-stars placed 18th out of 760 teams in the open co-ed division, wow!! What can I say? I mean, I really thought we did good, like the kind of good where everyone tried really hard, we all cheered each other on, no one completely lost it, and there was just a little bit of throwing up-good. But the computer said we did crazy good --like amazing superstar turbo athletic speed good!! Could it really be true? All of the members of our team didn’t even know each other before we started and yet we were still able to work together so seamlessly—incredible!! Isn’t everything on the internet true??

Alas, there is no possible way that our team finished in 26 hours and 7 minutes, even though the computer said we did. Somehow, there was a glitch, a super special computer glitch that makes our team look supreme, especially amazing for a team that was basically trying to finish somewhere above 759th place—not too shabby!

The down side-I don’t think that we can pull off a repeat 18th place speed performance when we do it again next June, but I do think we can top 759th…

**And little life tip, make sure to wear a headlamp when making a quick visit to the honey bucket at midnight…

things I love this week…

2011-05-29T21:31:00.001-07:00

I had been a little nervous to attempt this “jack and jill lunch bag” (fantastic pattern by Heather Bailey), only because I would be using laminated fabrics for both the exterior and the lining (fabulous exterior fabric by my new and dear friend, Amy Butler; interior houndstooth fabric is a Freestyle design) . I love laminated fabric, but I know it can be a little dicey to work with. Good news—not bad at all and now I know I definitely need more lamination in my life…

Can my baby really be nearly done with kindergarten?? His teacher, Miss Warner, who is absolutely darling and truly wonderful, put on a delightful class program and art gallery (Cael the artist was quick to point out that the tree is actually out of the way of the tiger—ahhh)…

I am loving the new design/pattern book “Girl’s World” by the most gracious and kind Jennifer Paganelli—a yellow dress graces the cover, and a yellow dress is what Kylie thought would be the look for her…

The award for favorite new weekend dessert would have to go to “Creamy Lemon Bars” compliments of Our Best Bites—if you like lemon and you love bars, these will make all your dreams come true…

And where would I be without my cracker-jack troupe of good sports that braved the late-May downpour to visit the resting places of those we love…

And because no good deed goes unpunished, Kendell, Cael, and Paul all got to take a sweet ride on a sweet rig. **Bonus Kendell fun fact: “I don’t like texting in the rain!” Hmm…

The 2nd week of May 2011 in pictures…

2011-05-15T08:00:00.001-07:00

The week started off super with the best Mother’s Day gift ever—my favorite mom AND my favorite sister came to town and posed in our garage!! Perhaps sepia tones would make the recycle bin look a little classier…

Kylie and Cael got to go on a little surprise getaway with their fun dad…

Kari, Mom, and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at Dear Lizzie… I finished up the front of the Mongo Flower Market Bag…

and the back of it, as well. I am happy with the gathered velvet pockets, and I do think that may be what the world needs now—more gathered velvet pockets…

And as if the pockets weren’t enough, I got to spend some quality time with my new fabulous friend, Amy Butler! Yep, Jan, Kari, Amy, and me just hanging out…

I didn’t get to chat as much with the delightful Heather Bailey, but we did get to pose for this very natural-looking shot…

And then I got to do something I’ve always (well, for several years anyway) wanted to do—go to International Quilt Market!! It was in Salt Lake City this year and I love, love, loved it!! Lunch was muy bueno, the lunching ladies were muy bueno, and getting a glimpse of fabulous new fabric in the amazing booths—priceless.

Happy Easter to YOU!!

2011-04-24T21:18:00.001-07:00

It’s Easter weekend and we didn’t even see any snow! Just super cousins, grandparents, daffodils, Cadbury mini eggs, chocolate…

And Cael is off and running…

Cousin Stockton scored the golden egg this year—nicely done…

Grampa Randy and Gramma Sharlene played host and hostess with the most and mostest…

Many eggs were dyed, and apparently much cool whip was stacked…

And even though our weeping cherry tree has yet to burst into brilliant blossoms (starting to get a little nervous that this is not to be), Goff kids struck the traditional post-Church Easter pose in Easter frocks in front of it-the end…

Lucky Me!!

2011-03-09T21:48:00.001-08:00

It is so March, which happens to be one of my most favorite times of the year for a whole host of reasons, yes—whole host!! It is the month of birth of this girl (my sunglass-ed favorite sister, Kari, on the left next to my non-sunglass-ed favorite mom on the right)…

and this girl (my very favorite Kylie, and I have met some absolutely delightful Kylie’s in my day, but this one is my hands-down fave)…

and it is also the month with a holiday that celebrates the sensational color of green!! (“Bertha Waterbury?Sensational girl!” Do you know that movie? If you do, you are probably one of the lovely ladies in photo #1. I think I should start using the word “sensational” more in my day-to-day chit-chat…)

I am feeling lucky that I have a nice neighbor and friend named Char that has a sensational blog

www.crapivemade.blogspot.com

and is hosting a giveaway of some of my “Lucky” burlap pillow patterns!

You can enter (and be dazzled and amazed at the magical things this lovely lady does—was your kid a slurpee for Halloween? I was 0 for 5 in the slurpee costume category, but one of my girls was a nerd and not the candy kind) over at her blog.

Irish eyes could be smiling at you (in my case, they actually would be Danish/Swedish eyes and they would still be smiling)!!

Is it already 2011??

2011-02-06T19:46:00.001-08:00

Hmm, so many exciting things (?) have happened over the last few months, where to even begin…

“I want some oatmeal. That means I’m hungry and I need more food.” -Cael, on what he needs in life (plus, his favorite food is eggs and his favorite treat is suckers—all part of the mystique of Cael)…

Curtis turned the big 1-6 and got to go ice fishing, because that is what being 16 is all about—driving, dating, ice fishing…

Cool cousins came over to celebrate the birthday boy…

3 groovy teens + Christmas morning cell phones = the best December ever! (according to them)

T-Mobile bill that arrived in January= really not so good… (according to the people that pay the bill)

(**While the photo is not crystal clear, the magic sum of $2, 414 in the “amount owed” section left a little something to be desired. Fortunately, the nice lady at T-Mobile was able to adjust the texting fees to what we thought they were supposed to be—which was significantly less than $2,414…)

So I’m at work the other night, behind the fabric-cutting counter, when a lady I do not recognize walks in:

Lady (turning and looking at me): “Oh! You’ve grown!”

Me (a little taken aback, not sure where she’s going with this commentary, my right hand near my left shoulder): “Ahh, oh my hair has grown a little bit?” (as I touch my brown tresses that really have grown)

Lady: “I am NOT talking about your hair!! The shop has grown--it used to be smaller but it is a lot bigger now!”

Me (feeling slightly sheepish): “Oh, the shop IS bigger now, that’s true.” (And I really hope I’m not…)

Lady (a few minutes later after looking around a bit and coming back to the fabric counter): “I couldn’t care LESS about your hair.”

Good to know…

Halloween Wrap Up…

2010-10-31T17:48:00.001-07:00

The week started off with some of the white stuff and once again, I find that I need to invest in some “boy-appropriate” hand-wear…

Such diversity in one family—the sweet witch, the nerd, the ballerina, Luigi, Paul’s mom, Brian Wilson of the Giants , and yes, you should fear the beard…

Inside was most certainly less rainy than outside was…

Luigi and Mario in all of their trick-or-treating glory with their super-sport dads--no amount of rain could keep these fellas away from the serious candy-collecting…

The Goff girls and company “after-hours”—if one nerd is good, then a whole gaggle of them are way better…

And no Halloween retrospective could be complete without my most favorite costume of all time!! I wanted to be Casper the Friendly Ghost so bad, and then when my dream came true—let’s just say it is still magical. I loved being Casper, and you can certainly see why—that costume was the bomb! My trusty little bro, Aaron, made an ideal Bugs Bunny—he likes carrots and all things nutritious. Good times…

Things I Love…

2010-10-24T21:16:00.001-07:00

There are many, many things in this world that I absolutely adore. These little goofy boys are definitely among those things. This giant “honey bun pouf” (from a fantastic new Amy Butler pattern) is most certainly another…

Pumpkinville + a little Football…

2010-10-08T21:35:00.001-07:00

My funny boys checking out the sights, sounds, and smells of the petting zoo—everything is so much better with a Mario hat…

Cael is so ready to do a Gap ad…

Kylie is queen of the pumpkin patch—and hooray, we actually had some pumpkins grow this year…

The red ninja and super Mario are also pleased with the pumpkin bounty (now if I can just keep the croquet mallets out of their hands as they are “appreciating” the pumpkins) …

My firstborn, #70 there, in between plays and hooray again, the mighty Grizzlies were mighty victorious…

Morgan, Cael, and Kendell—all big supporters of #70 and also fans of sweatshirts (it is October after all, and the crisp and lovely fall weather has finally arrived), with the exception of Cael. A sweatshirt becomes completely unwearable if any droplet of water from a drinking fountain comes in contact with said sweatshirt, that is part of the Cael creed. It is the Cael way. Now a Mario hat-- that is something that can be worn in any condition…

If One is Good…

2010-09-26T15:13:00.001-07:00

So, if you find a hot deal on a really great green striped shirt at Old Navy, and your newly-brunette buddy also finds a really great green striped shirt on the clearance rack at Old Navy, what are the odds of you both showing up at the very same place at the very same same time wearing the very same thing?

The odds are actually very fantastic!! And if you hurry on over to the Old Navy clearance rack and you have dark hair and big sunglasses and if you were wondering what you would like if you bought this super shirt for yourself, now you know. You’re welcome…

After such an extended absence from the blogosphere…

2010-09-12T20:40:00.001-07:00

you’d think I’d come up with some sort of grand excuse about my serious lack of quality blogging. Alas, it is simply life, the world we live in and life in general—kids, summer, work, laundry, allergies, memory card is full, overdue library books that are missing and then found, kids, just regular summer life stuff.

Morgan and Kendell are both enjoying gray shirts and being in jr. high…

Cael and superbuddy Zander are so excited about kindergarten that they can’t even keep their eyes open (mom most certainly picked out a stellar camera angle for that sweet shot)…

Kylie is LOVING her 4th grade status and fabulous teacher—hooray!!

Curtis is all smiles after the Grizzlies posted a mighty fine win over the Jaguars this week (48-0)—perfect game to have friends and grandparents come to see…

The ginormous zinnia pillow pic is for my fave sis, Kari—it is giant, it is a zinnia, and I like it…

Hey look—all 5 of my kiddos in one picture looking in the same direction and smiling!! The planets must have been completely aligned…

And finally, you thought your 5-year-old was talented, but can he a) come up with such a keenly coordinated outfit as this and b) operate his sister’s DS with his toes while lounging?

Wow, he didn’t get that from me, that’s all I’m saying…

Happy Birthday, Kendell!!

2010-08-11T21:00:00.001-07:00

So today is the day that Miss Kendell turns 12 years old!! What possible better place could there be to spend such a birthday than at…Girls Camp!!

That’s right, this lucky little lady got to celebrate the very day of her birth in the great outdoors with her favorite big sister, the girls and leaders from her favorite ward, and her mom (playing the role of the afternoon craft lady for a few hours)! What could be better? Actually, a mattress pad that is thicker than one inch might be the cherry on top—we’ll try to remember that one for next year...

Happy Happy Birthday, Kendell!!

How I Spent my Summer Vacation…

2010-07-18T20:33:00.001-07:00

We took a little drive to the Pacific Northwest to spend a little quality time with these smiley folks…

Then we found as many small children as we could so we could all enjoy the SuperMall together, because nothing says family togetherness, fun, and good-thinking like a trip to the extra-super SuperMall …

We got some face time with Uncle Kyle and Aunt Kari’s wonder-pony, Chance, and as a bonus- some quality cousin togetherness at the zoo…

Kylie got some piggy-back rides from Uncle Jens…

And then it was the water fight of the year in Gramma Jan’s backyard, where everyone got points for participation, strategy, and wetness.

Much fun was had.

The end.

big television debut…

2010-06-30T21:46:00.001-07:00

So my Mongo Flower Carry All got a little air time this morning!!

http://connect2utah.com/2news-this-morning-story/?nxd_id=96915

**sorry the video is a bit “choppy”—but the dancing is still amazing…

the summer season is upon us…

2010-06-27T21:59:00.001-07:00

Curtis, the eldest of the Goff children worked on his eagle scout project,

and then headed out west for the Stake handcart pioneer trek, completely delighted to have his camera-wielding mother follow him (for the record, I did ask him if he would like to have suspenders like some of the fellow pioneers in front of him—he said “no”, I said “whatever”)…

Kylie, aka Miss Pink Sparkly Hat, had her debut as a background singer in her class production about traveling to Mars; of course I’m sure that was the topic you figured the play would be about with the sparkly hats and all…

Morgan anticipated the blessed day when she would be getting her driver’s license (still a few years off) and if she is so lucky, she may actually be able to pilot our beloved blue “driveable wheelbarrow”…

Cael remained a little unsure about his feelings after his first tooth “just fell out.” It had been loose for about a month and the time had come. There’s still some work to do on the toothless grin front…

Kendell played shoulderbag model for her mom’s first (hopefully not completely last, who knows) original bag…

while I’ve tried to make other people jealous with my finely manicured nails, but hooray, my “Mongo Flower Carry All” pattern is d-o-n-e- DONE!!

My Parallel Universe…

2010-06-20T15:09:00.001-07:00

Says Cael: “My mom likes to go to Disneyland.”

Says Mom: “That’s right, Cael, I am your mom and I do like to go to Disneyland.”

Says Cael: “No, my other mom.”

Says Mom: “You have another mom?”

Says Cael: “Yes, I have another mom and her name is Kristie.”

Says Mom: “You have this mom, Kirsten, and another mom named Kristie?”

Says Cael: “Yep, and my other mom likes to go to Disneyland and buy me suckers. I have another dad, too.”

Says Mom: “Who is your other dad?”

Says Cael: “His name is Paul.”

Says Mom: “That is your dad’s name…”

Says Cael: “Yep, and my other dad is named Paul, too. And he likes to go to Disneyland.”

Says Mom: “So you have one mom, Kirsten, and another mom named Kristie, and two dads both named Paul?”

Says Cael: “Yep, and my other mom loves to buy me suckers at Disneyland.”

I must admit to some emotional confusion--I’m not sure if I should be insulted or intrigued, or if I should really accept that this child is clearly suffering from severe sucker-deprivation. (He is right on the money about his regular mom not buying him a lot in the way of suckers, though.) Hmmm…this is the same kiddo that just informed me that he would like some fishy crackers tomorrow for “Kids Day” because today is “Father’s Day” and since I gave him the “every day is kids day” line and he is a kid, he would like some fishy crackers. For Kid’s Day. And his other mom would love to buy him a sucker…

Things that put a smile on my face…

2010-05-23T19:11:00.001-07:00

My dancing girlies, Kylie and Kendell with their end of the year gala, where both of their parents were actually able to see them perform in all of their dancing glory, as opposed to missing their routines while attending to their convalescing brothers (as was the case with little puking boy and big shoulder separated boy in the emergency room at the St. George competition in March)…

Cael’s end of the year field trip to Wheeler Farm, where he had soooo eagerly anticipated bringing his very own carrots to feed the bunnies, only to be denied and completely bummed out by the sign “please don’t feed the rabbits.” Oh well, he gets points for preparedness and also shaking-it-off-like-a-champ-edness…

Preschool was so great for Cael this year! Letters, numbers, field trips, crafts, songs, magic tricks, buddies –of course the letter “H” is still the BEST!! We LOVE Miss Amber—such a grand year!!

One of the many bonuses of being married to the wonderful husband that I am married to is the delightful extended family I consequently acquired!! Cousin Christy’s beautiful wedding was so lovely and fun, complete with a real photo booth (so clever and totally fun) for mementos…

I LOVE the library!! Are you kidding me?? Hart to Hart Season 1 on DVD?? How can you not love Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, along with Max the Butler/all around domestic great guy, Freeway the dog, Hart Industries, and a car phone in Jonathan’s Mercedes? So sweet…

I do love finding sweet notes from one sibling to another—Curtis does feel strongly that this kitchen stool should stay in the kitchen…

Though the lighting is less than super, I do love the orange “Nie Nie skirt” (pattern by Pink Fig) that was my first project for my new high-powered corporate gig at The Material Girls Quilts (actually it is very part-timish)—I LOVE pretty fabric and Kylie LOVES ruffles…

And then there is our goofy kitty cat, Zeke. It would be so much easier if he could just talk and tell me exactly what is on his mind, but when he jumps up on the barbeque, stretches out all tall, and peers inside longingly, I generally get the idea…

Good Good Times…

2010-04-27T11:20:00.001-07:00

Captain Birthday here made the official jump from being a little guy of 4 to being a “big one” who is 5 YEARS OLD!! He requested a Haunted Mansion (“Nightmare Before Christmas” style) birthday cake—fortunately, Jack Skellington is not a character of intricate details. Also fortunately, Target has some fantastic striped birthday candles right now that add so much to any birthday celebration…

The parents of the birthday boy with the very favorite tree during its limited engagement week-long glory of blooms…The Goff Family spring soccer superstars—Cael was initially devastated to find out that he wouldn’t be on the black jersey team. He has quickly adapted to his team’s color scheme and the rest of us are also adapting to seeing him in purple at all hours of each and every day and night…

And HOORAY!! A grand and glorious weekend was had by me!! My one and only delightful mom came with my one and only delightful sis, who also brought her equally delightful lovely little lady, Miss Kate. Their flight was delayed 3 hours, but we most certainly made the most of our limited time together…

We made our venture to Alpine to the fabulous “Dear Lizzie”—oooh, such fun lovely things to look at and such fun tasty items to taste…

And if one yellow apron is good, three must be super good…

Love my sis, love my mom, love my husband for holding the fort down on Saturday while I gallivanted around to every girly place we could think of in the valley and beyond…

Easter Weekend and Furniture Re-Do…

2010-04-11T14:09:00.001-07:00

I am obviously all about clever titles, but that is exactly what’s going on—gathering with family for Easter festivities and updating furniture!! Oh, can you even stand the excitement?!

The lovely and colorful Easter girl cousins: Morgan, Kendell, Aspen, and Kylie…

Serious Easter Egg Hunt for Kylie, Kendell, and Cael…

Coordinating Cousins: Stockton and Kendell (Paul didn’t get the light gray and white memo)…

An old and inherited (nevertheless appreciated) peach Laz-E-Boy ready for some new life…

A sad, sad table in desperate need of something (although Cael doesn’t seem to mind, as long as he can play “go fish” with mom on it)…

And now for the big reveal: Slip-covered chair and repurposed mod-podged world map covered old/new table!!

Our goal is to be a family of geography wizzes, well that and also not to see the sorry table top underneath…

Circle of Life—end of March edition…

2010-04-01T15:40:00.001-07:00

I went and had myself another birthday and now I am even more thirty-ish than I ever was before…

And as a complete bonus, two of my girlies are still off-track, which means they were able to join Cael and me at the Discovery Children’s Museum for preschool fieldtrip/big birthday festivity fun…

Paul and I celebrated being officially Mr. and Mrs. for 17 lovely years now…

Since it is springtime, Cael was again able to rejoice again in the fluffy white stuff again (it did melt by the afternoon, and we will always take all the moisture we can get)…

Big plans were made for a fun family weekend in warm/not snowy St. George for Kendell and Kylie’s dance competition (with Morgan as the #1 cheerleader)…

We got all packed and ready and poor little #5 here went and got back in his bed—that’s not the normal routine. He was feverish and miserable, so we went for plan B—mom and Cael stay home, dad takes the rest of the crew down south. This turned out to be a good call, Cael threw up his orange popsicle and eggs about a half hour after the crew left…

Cousin Apsen and Kylie did beautifully on their duet…

Kylie shimmied it up in her group routine, as did Kendell (insert awesome Kendell pic here from other memory card)…

The kids got to ride home with Grampa Randy and Gramma Sharlene (thanks, guys!!), because lucky dad got to stay in the sun for 2 more days for a work conference…

Of course, that was all after Curtis was trying to learn a few new sweet moves from Cousin Tanner, and, uh, the cool handstand maneuver didn’t work out all that great for Curtis…

On the minus side, Paul missed the portion of the dance competition involving the Goff girls. On the plus side, the emergency room doctor was able to determine that Curtis’ shoulder was not broken, just separated, and could be all fixed up with the help of a sweet wrap-around brace and ice pack to perch upon his right shoulder…

Since neither mom nor dad were able to witness the fabulous dancers and their fabulous dancing, naturally Kendell’s group took first in their age group, and Kylie and Aspen took the the grand prize with the high point award out of all 45 of the performing groups !! I may not have seen the dancing in person, but I have seen the trophies and they are super grand…

That’s so how it goes, and no way--now we are back to snow!! But hey, we’ve absolutely also got daffodils…

Loving March…

2010-03-17T18:54:00.001-07:00

So it is off-track time for 2 of the Goff girlies, which means instead of going to school like regular school aged school kids for the entire month of March, we can do exciting things like travel to exotic European markets for very fancy gourmet lunches of Swedish delicacies (ie: meatballs, we are soooo cosmopolitan) …

We’re going with the theme “the family that plays ‘let’s try to win a radio contest together’ stays together!!” It’s a theme that may linger for a while-- we have yet to be the magic #20 caller, but what we do have is the very same thing that the female team on “Celebrity Apprentice” has, and that my friends is a little something called tenacity…well, that and the fact that there’s still 2 more weeks left to win, so there’s always hope. Hope and tenacity, quite a pair…

Miss Kylie is now officially 9 years old!! The day started out with some potential March springyness, but as the jumbo snowflakes started falling and then kept on coming and coming, the birthday girl and her curly locks found it necessary to stay inside and add more layers of clothing. Fortunately, Layered Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake (thanks, Picky Palate) tastes delightful in any weather…

Our St. Patty’s Day green baby bundt cakes were tasty and fun (thanks again, Picky Palate!!), and eventually I’ll learn to get enough Pam spray into each individual nook and cranny of the pan to facilitate a smooth and complete baby bundt coming out of the baby bundt pan!! (Just a little fyi—the jr. Goff’s could not have been less concerned with the lack of complete uniformity in the festive presentation of the dainty little cakes—frosting is truly a magic salve for semi-broken baby bundts. For those playing along, that is now 4 uses of the uber-chic culinary term “baby bundt”…)

Then there’s Mr. Festive, himself, once again sporting his very best green ensemble!! He has been so concerned that he needs to wear green that he has worn this little number to preschool for the past 3 times, just in case he had the wrong Irish holiday or the wrong date or the wrong whatever. He’s all about being prepared and also, he likes green—it’s a win-win all the way around!!

This, the beginning of March…

2010-03-07T19:03:00.001-08:00

One of the true highlights of 3rd grade is getting to take part in the wax museum!! Miss Kylie was all about researching and then portraying the one and only Florence Nightengale… Kylie’s mom was all about channeling my inner-Julie Andrews channeling her inner Maria Von Trapp—while the skirt, apron, and cape came not from old/dowdy draperies, they did come from old and not-a-bit-dowdy sheets!! (Gramma Bev would be impressed with the resourceful re-use of aged and torn bedding. Kylie’s mom is continually impressed with Kylie’s good-sported nature…)

We heart progress in the basement, not to mention the lifetime supply of heavy duty buckets…

March, of course, equals snow…

Cael, the “super pre-school kid of the week” could not have been more thrilled with the weatherly turn of events—“Mom!! It’s not melted anymore!!”

MORE progress in the basement—HOORAY!! (Still waiting for Desi Jr. to show up with the projector that would fit right there in the ceiling, hmm, maybe??…)

And it is good for me to know that I am completely of super sound mind. I do know that my girl, Kylie, is 8 right now, and that on her birthday she will indeed be 9. I only got the first part of that thought on the calendar—it’s a good thing she straightened me out…

Bummer…

2010-02-21T19:47:00.001-08:00

Do you remember that Brady Bunch episode where Marsha was writing in her secret diary about her secret/ potentially embarrassing/yet undying love for Desi Arnez Jr.? Then she hid this secret diary away in their carport/garage next to the astroturf lawn, only to have it be discovered by the youngest one in curls, Cindy, just in time for it to be given to the man collecting books for the charity book drive?? Upon discovering this unintentional theft of the volume containing the innermost thoughts, hopes, dreams, not to mention swoonings of tweenage Marsha, the entire Brady clan was sent into emergency detective/ clean-up mode—they must find the bookstore that had become the unwitting new home to this, the most private and precious diary of a young girl! And not just any young girl, the one and only Marsha Marsha Marsha Brady! Fortunately/ amazingly/ incredibly for this teen queen, after several minutes of angst and many tears, not only was the diary found by Mrs. Brady and Sister Cindy (all is now forgiven) Brady—of course, but awesome housekeeper/cook/laundress/ bowler/advice giver, Alice, just happened to be buds with one Desi Arnez Jr.’s housekeeper/cook/laundress/ not sure about the bowling/advice giver!! Awesome!! And groovy Alice arranged for groovy Desi Jr. to come over to tell Marsha how groovy it was to keep a groovy diary where she could write all about how groovy he was—groovy!!

It is a classic episode—Marsha and Desi Jr., drama, a happy/entirely believable ending, what’s not to love??

This brings us to last Wednesday at the Goff house. Mr. Goff has been dutifully working on the main room of our basement—we are (he and Curtis, actually) in the sheet- rocking stage. Paul had just ordered and received a lovely and surprisingly small new LED projector (with 30,000 very cool available running hours on the very cool/ low energy using bulb) that he had mounted into the ceiling so we would know exactly where to paint out the screen—exciting stuff! The sheet-rocking business is a dusty one, so Paul had removed the new projector from its ceiling perch to keep it in fine working condition for the upcoming day when walls are painted, carpet is in, and the Goff’s would gather as a family with popcorn, licorice and smiles for movie night!

Mrs. Goff had helped Curtis go through his closet and eliminate some things that no longer fit. These items were put into grocery bags that were sitting in the hall. I had some errands to do that would be in the general vicinity of the local DI. In a continual effort to make the most out of my time/money/ gasoline, all of the bags of items to be donated came with me on my errands and were dropped off at the DI.

Around 9:30 in the pm when the Mr. and Mrs. were chatting and the Mrs. mentioned to the Mr. about the earlier drop-off at the DI, the Mr. got very panicked and ran ashen-faced down the stairs to witness for himself that indeed, the DI bags had gone ………….to the DI. Unfortunately, the Mr. had slipped the new projector into one of those very bags to keep it protected from getting dusty. Also unfortunately, the Mrs. was not aware of this product placement.

Not good.

After a frantic late night/ after-hours phone call to the DI, an early morning run to the dock to go through all of the items that had come in during the last day, conversation and searching with Manager Tom, our name and number and picture of our sweet/ not meant to be donated item left with the manager, more phone calls, a subsequent floor and backroom search later in the day with the Manager Frank and Manager Joe, a call to the Humanitarian Center, where surplus items are sent sometimes…

we came up with nothing.

Our new projector is no longer with us. We have come to the acceptance phase. It is somewhere, somewhere in the fine company of its very own remote. But not in the company of its power cord, because that we do still have, whew! So whether it found its way out onto the DI floor, or whether it didn’t make it past the loading dock, or whether it ends up in some exotic locale such as Turkey or Somalia with Sandy Parks and Rec Basketball t-shirts, little red crutches, and baby blankets, or whether it has been compressed into a cube of clothing (think Wall-E style) –I don’t think it is coming back.

We can’t lose hope, though—Desi Jr. could totally show up with it this week and that would be so groovy…

love is in the air and on the door…

2010-02-09T17:47:00.001-08:00

I do like when I’m actually able to come up with something good—I’m not saying that this happens frequently, but every now and then it sort of does…

The kids were excited when they saw the stacks of hearts that we would be using for Family Home Evening (the 11-year-old said “Wow mom—you actually prepared something, instead of like a lesson or a story!” Huh, good to know that my diligent lesson/ special story prep doesn’t actually count…)

Each family member got a stack of hearts that they got to write something on that they loved about each other member of the family. We slathered them all over the pantry door and now we get to feel and see the love!! (I learned that the thing one of my other children loves about me is my “housekeeping”—wow, housekeeping…)

The excitement expressed by my fab five makes me think we’ll try a repeat performance for next Valentine’s Day, that may start a little sooner so the mother can get as much lovey dovey mileage out of this as is humanly possible…

I’ll respond to pretty much anything…

2010-01-25T09:33:00.001-08:00

Here’s me—8:50 am, Sunday morning, coat on, kids in the car, ready to head to church, preparing to be released from my calling that I’ve had for the last 3 1/2 years. And yes, I’m smiling, then a few tears, and then more smiles, tears, smiles—it’s a pattern… I have loved serving in the Relief Society, and now I am delighted to get to be a Sunday School teacher for a class that I even have a child of my very own in!! With every call, there is a release, so I’ve heard…

It is truly bittersweet—I love the lovely ladies of my wonderful ward and the people I have been able to work with are of such classy character, I’m the fortunate (albeit attempting to become more refined) one. Deb and Amber are actually 2 of the very first people that I met upon our arrival in the Beehive state, 10 1/2 years ago. They lived on my street when we moved into our previous home, and amazingly, not only are they still speaking to me, but we all even live in the very same neighborhood again—hmmm…

We were part of the kitchen staff for a very sad funeral last week. I so appreciate good friends, and when those same good friends can cook a mean ham, bonus…

And now I get to go try and find this “Firsten” so maybe she can cash this jumbo rebate check…

Fifteen Big Ones…

2010-01-12T13:17:00.001-08:00

I had one of the very nicest things happen to me 15 years ago today—I became the mother to this darling baby boy!!

And now he is handsome and tall (er than both of parents for a while now) and FIFTEEN YEARS OLD!! So glad he’s mine…Happy Birthday, Curtis!!

Not so deep…

2010-01-08T19:03:00.001-08:00

So I do like to think of myself as one with a certain amount of character and at least a little bit of depth, but then I see something red, and not just fantastic regular red, but polka-dotty on a tea pot red, and I realize that I can be okay with my own shallowness as long as pretty colors and polka dots are in the mix…

The Children Were Nestled…

2009-12-24T15:37:00.001-08:00

After last night’s Goff Family Christmas Extravaganza, from the bottom of our cozy little hearts:

We wish you a very Snuggy Christmas!!

Trees a Trimming, Birthday Girl a Grinning…

2009-12-06T21:36:00.001-08:00

This week started out so nice—the cute Young Women of our ward have been working on a tree for the “Festival of Trees” all year, and Monday was set-up day. (People decorate the trees to be auctioned off with all of the proceeds going to benefit Primary Children’s Hospital.) A couple of us lucky moms were needed to transport these tree-trimming girlies and so we just had to check out all of the festively fantastic sights and sounds! Such lovely, creative, clever, sweet, gorgeous, gingerbready, piney, touch your heart, Christmasy things to experience—I highly recommend it…

And then this little lady had to go and turn 13!! Morgan has been highly anticipating the usage of the new bedding that was specially selected just for her, by her! It is peppy and fun, just like my December birthday beauty, Miss Morgan!!

And what could be better than getting some face time with Kris Kringle?? Cael had been talking about this meet and greet for a good week, but then got a little bashful when it was time for the real deal—I do believe he managed to put in his request for a Haunted Mansion scooter and a Splash Mountain t-shirt. Santa may have his work cut out for him, I’m not entirely certain that those North Pole elves do a lot of work on Haunted Mansion scooters—I’m not so sure the demand is super high…

And if you are me, and it just so happens that I am indeed me (so deep) things are looking up because the Christmas story books for the sweet Relief Society sisters of my ward are all d-o-n-e, DONE!! I do love Christmas stories, I love reading sweet Christmas stories, hearing sweet Christmas stories, Christmas is such a lovely time of year. Andy Williams thinks it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and I for one think he’s definitely onto something-- I will joyfully be on that bandwagon/toboggan/flexible flyer…

Thoughts on Turkey…

2009-11-25T20:55:00.001-08:00

Because this time of year is so grand—I ADORE the Fall transitioning into Christmas season—and because just the sound of the lovely word “Thanksgiving” is so pleasant, I mean “thanks” plus “giving”, what could be better?? Because good memories are hopefully bounteous during this cozy and turkey-infused time, I thought I would share some of my favorite turkey time tidbits from days gone by…

** The year that my wonderful Grampa Len began the Thanksgiving dinner blessing on the splendid meal (cute Grampa was such a wonderful example of good cheer, graciousness, gratitude, and was not known for brief prayers) and I realized mid-prayer that I should of used the restroom pre-prayer. In my 7-year-old brain, I thought that if I was really, really quiet and very, very soft on my feet, I could simply slip away from the table and make it back in time for “amen”—didn’t quite work out as seamlessly as I thought it could…

**My freshman year in college when it had been nearly 3 long months since I had been home—and I was very ready to go home –I was greeted at the ginormous Tri-Cities International Airport by my whole fam and my super friend, Emily, with happy faces and a big “welcome home” poster! Aww, so sweet and so fun!! My room at home was still my room and it was even decorated extra-special for my arrival—good times…

**My junior year in college when two of my dear cousins and I drove from Logan to Seattle, where about 20 miles from my parents’ house, my cousin got pulled over, and somehow managed to not only avoid a speeding ticket but to get us a police escort to make sure we were on the right route to the smaller highway because it can be tricky to get around in the dark! (On a more personal note, the very few officers I have encountered upon being pulled over have not been nearly so friendly or helpful.) The next morning, my cousin, who shall be nameless, accompanied me to the local Safeway for me to pick up a few things for my mom, and for him to pick up some black hair dye for himself in an attempt to counteract the orange hair that he was sporting (it was supposed to be subtle blonde). I got my items and he, of course, had made his deliberate selection. We got to the check-out counter and he gave me some money and asked me to just get his special item with my goods. I thought this would be no skin off my nose (that actually sounds mildly disturbing) until he started in with the cashier about “you know girls and all their hair products”—wait a sec, was he speaking of me and his ebony hair tonic?? Wow, I could have made more than one snide remark about authentic and natural tones and highlights, but I took the high road, the one it seems I’ve veered off of here…

Good times, great company, terrific turkey, sweet memories, and always so much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tis the Season to be Smu-ug…

2009-11-15T16:14:00.001-08:00

So the fella in the shorts is feeling pleasantly smug because he made the good call of getting the Christmas lights strung on the house last Saturday…

And the little corduroy jacket-clad fella is also feeling seriously smug because this Saturday brought to him a winter wonderland!!

I know nothing of the smugness felt at this particular residence, and I just can’t quite figure out how this scenerio came to be (we were on our way to our nephew’s championship football game and this sight most certainly caught my eye) –it looks like one those insurance commercials where the devastation happens and then it all rewinds back to normal, unfortunately the memo for the “return to normal” part was not received here. Did the RV run into the fence and then back through the wall with the fence still attached and decide to call it a day?? Wow, sorry there guys…

And hey—the mom is the smug one here because not only did I get to pick Gretel’s hair, but she even let it stay that way and I bet she’d yodel for me if I asked her—hmm, and now I want a mug of Swiss Miss…

My {Attempted} PW Encounter…

2009-11-08T20:36:00.001-08:00

So a little over a month ago, I was perusing one of my fave online destinations, www.thepioneerwoman.com, when I discovered that not only had she completed her fantastic/delicious/wonderful/pretty cookbook, but that she would be coming to an AREA NEAR ME as part of her semi-cross-country book tour!! It has been on my calendar ever since, and when my 2 elementary school girls came home with appointments for parent/teacher nite at the exact same time, I did something I’ve never ever done before—I rescheduled!!

Mr. Goff so graciously consented to accompany me to the PW meet and greet that was scheduled to commence at 7:00 pm. We arrived in the 6:40 pm ballpark to be among the hordes, yes hordes, of nice great-recipe-loving ladies that all wanted to say hello to Pioneer Woman Ree. I thought “the event” may be a little nuts, but when Paul dropped me off to secure a place in line and the book store lady said that she was sorry that their 700 tickets to get your book autographed had already been distributed so the best we could do would be to maybe wait until all of those with tickets (apparently people began lining up at 3:00—wow) had been taken care of and if there was still time… yeah, not looking real good.

They had moved things down to a fancy schmancy art gallery (bummer for the many ladies there with little bubs) with many fancy schmancy/ breakable items. Paul went over to the bookstore and purchased an already signed (good call) cookbook and just as he got back, the bookstore lady at the door let 21 more people in to hear the witty Pioneer Woman tell her tales. People inside were laughing and having the best time—I was #22, so at the door I stayed. Then it was time for the changing of the guard and new short-hair bookstore girl came to be the guardian of the doorway and could not have been more thoroughly annoyed that SO MANY people came out to see a gal that lives on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma that did a cookbook. It must be hard to be a literary purist…

After about 6 people had exited the gallery for various reasons, literary girl gave me the nod to go ahead and step in (Paul opted to stay out, there was definitely more breathing room outside)—people were still laughing, all I heard was something about her brother liking being in a room full of women looking at him, and her wearing her spanx when someone hugged her and told her she felt so tight and she said “thank you!!”

Even though the evening did not go quite how I was thinking, it was grand to get to be out and about with my ever-gracious and favorite Paul, who has already benefitted immensely from the purchase of this fantastic cookbook!! I do highly recommend “The Pioneer Woman Cooks,” and for the record, chocolate sheet cake is always in season…

This Our Tale of Halloween…

2009-10-31T21:23:00.001-07:00

So the last week of October started out with some of this…

We had to get to Target in a hurry for snow boots that fit the ever-growing feet of a certain someone that REALLY digs the white stuff (and is totally ready for the Christmas Tree now because SNOW=CHRISTMAS TREE)…

Gramma Jan came to town for a little stay and play—HOORAY!! (Said Cael: “Gramma Jan is nice-we don’t pinch her.” It warms my heart to know that he has figured this out all on his own--the quality parenting is so paying off…)

Lucky Gram even got to come to the elementary school costume parade, as did Dad and the “no school today” jr. high crew…

Miss Kendell got to get wrapped up like a mummy during her class partay (all in the name of education)…

Preschoolers+Costumes=Awesome…

Cael has been telling me for at least 2 months: “Mom, you can be da witch and Dad can be da ghost.” He actually told Paul he could be either a ghost OR a pumpkin, and then Paul went with “none of the above”—what?? Taking it all in at the fantastic ward trunk-or-treat…

Coach Paul and Offensive Lineman Curtis had their last game of the season this morning—to be completely accurate, this is actually how super tough they looked after last week’s win…

Coach Webb and Coach Paul after today’s game—to be completely accurate, uhh………..wow…………they’ve got spirit (yeah, we’ll stick with spirit), yes they do…

Halloween soup (yum) and breadsticks (also yum) at Aunt Tera’s…

The biggest night of Zorro’s year, getting to join in on the trick-or-treat-orama…

Swashbuckling Morgan and her buds ready for a night of tricks and treats…

**and at the very moment that I type, they are candy counting/trading/wheeling/dealing in the front room, it’s all very intense, very precise, and very exciting...**

Kendell and her buds called for Paul to come pick them up so they wouldn’t have to go past a scary yard again on the next street over, Kylie worked it for 143 “treats” in her ruby red slippers, Cael told the kids that came to our door “I like your costume!! Happy Halloween!!” Curtis put on a Harry Potter movie for me (we must have ambiance) and then went downstairs to watch some baseball. Paul removed the bb’s that were glued to his forehead (he completely committed to his duck hunting look—hey, go big or go home), and I ended up with an orange and black apron that I l-o-v-e!! All in all, I think we’ve had the full All Hallow’s Eve experience…

All a Buzz…

2009-10-20T12:21:00.001-07:00

What our peppy pooch lacks in street smarts, book smarts, and pretty much smarts of any other kind, he attempts to compensate for with enthusiasm, friendliness, cheer, and good-sportedness…

Oddly enough, after donning the Zorro’s antennae, Cael won our family game of “Apples to Apples”—that can’t be right-- and yet it was the not-yet-super-literate-4-year-old who plopped down the red card “disco” when the green card said “funky!”Maybe these are magic Halloween bumble bee costume antennae…

Pumpkins, Patches, and All About the Brown…

2009-10-12T20:52:00.001-07:00

So our crop of garden fresh pumpkins did not yield quite as many as we had hoped for (2 years ago we harvested 18 beauties!!); Kylie was still pleased with this one (of three) mighty, mighty pumpkin…

For some reason, pumpkin patches and pre-schoolers are such a fabulous fall combination…

Hay bale mazes, corn stalks, pumpkins, and mom (who unwisely opted for capri’s on that CHILLY fall morning, bad call)—it’s so good to be 4 (and warm)…

Cael loves to spend his afternoons concocting various concoctions, and now I know why my special Pampered Chef wisk is just not quite especially right anymore…

The lighting most certainly leaves something to be desired, but this is the fruit of my labor, not to be confused with loom—this week was our annual Visiting Teaching Conference at Church, and all of our Visiting Teachers got autumnal treats and a little bag of snazzy tacks because they are fanTACKstic! Yes, they got tacks--that’s what I could come up with and I hope they all have some cork somewhere…

We went to visit Paul’s cute Gramma Elaine, the #89 birthday girl…

Much to our dismay, the kids noticed on the way out that Gramma Elaine’s decorative yard porcupines have seen better days! Christmas is coming, however, and hmm, now where would one find something in the way of replacement decorative/ festive porcupines…

Today was new haircut day for the mother of the bunch! My cute friend, Krista, is a master with the scissors and of the blowdryer/round-brush combo. I, however, have zero in the way of round-brushing skills, so my girls have to soak in the smoothness of my hair for this one day, at least until I do get my hair cut again, and then I will have another “smooth hair” day. When we arrived at the appointed hour, I asked Cael what kind of haircut he thought I should get—he said “brown.” Excellent call…

Our Happy Fall Place…

2009-10-05T16:17:00.001-07:00

We absolutely have a happy place!! Fall is a fabulous time to be happy in Disneyland!! The new fireworks were spectacular, the decor is just fun, and grand photo opportunities abound!! Just when you think you’ve got all 7 family members looking the same direction in the very same shot, it may not really matter…

Paul’s life-long (at least the last 5 years or so life-long) dream of having all 7 of us in the Splash Mountain picture came true!! Of course certain family members were promised they did not have to do this again (this time) and of course we did buy the overpriced genuine photo…

The ambiance they have going there at the Happiest Place on Earth is so festively fantastic…

My carved pumpkins NEVER turn out like this…

It wouldn’t be a trip to Disneyland without Morgan getting some sweet headwear—she was gracious enough to let Miss Kylie try them out…

We finally got a shot with Jack and Sally, and Cael not hyperventilating at the sight of characters—MAJOR accomplishment!!

Oh how we do love to go to Anaheim and we always wonder why we don’t just live there-the weather, the palm trees, the good times, DISNEYLAND, but then we get back in the car and back into the crazy/slow/fast/slow/crazy SoCal traffic and hmm, Utah is fine, just fine and the fall weather here is just fine, too…

He Did/ She Did…

2009-09-19T21:16:00.001-07:00

While Mr. Goff spent a few whirlwind days in our nation’s capitol --most of them in a convention center, some of them seeing the incredible sights and smelling the rather unfortunate smells that come with being in the “close quarters” of the metro, and nearly all of them on his progressively weary feet…

Mrs. Goff got bold and now our piano is RED!! It goes, of course in the green front room that magically became that way during one of Mr. Goff’s previous business trips, hmm. Cael may be as big a fan as his mom is…

Not Too Shabby for a Saturday in September…

2009-09-12T18:45:00.001-07:00

The day started out warm and wonderful with Curtis’ team playing some fierce and fantastic football!! They are 2-0 this season and I see nothing wrong with just calling it good right now…

And as if great football wasn’t enough, I got to go meet and greet/ stand shoulder to shoulder with my close personal friend (you can see the photographic evidence of just how tight we are), fabulous fabric and pattern designer extraordinaire, Heather Bailey! She came to one of my favorite places ever, The Material Girls Quilts, in South Jordan, and could not have been more gracious, pleasant, delightful…

I met a new friend, Becca, in line -- she took my glamour shots and I returned the favor. Heather asked if we’d be interested in seeing her sketch book—um, yes, I’d like that very much!! The creative process is rather fascinating to me. She keeps her sketch book with her all the time and draws whenever something strikes her –I do love her style and her sketches were beautiful.

I’d already transitioned over to using my orange bag for fall, but I switched back to my red and green Heather Bailey fabric special, just for this very special occasion. I nearly always like where I live, but sometimes I really really like where I live…

Things that Make for a Lovely Day of Labor…

2009-09-07T22:02:00.001-07:00

*Free chicken sandwiches from the good folks of Chick-Fil-A when you wore an item with a team logo, nice…

*Early morning tennis with Miss Kylie (and Cael)—we dig living by a high school with newly renovated tennis courts…

*Cael, who 1.)consented to wear Curtis’ Seattle Seahawks beanie for more than 15 seconds, and 2.) sat in the cart for the duration of our Sam’s Club visit-excellent…

*My Fab Five, attempting to share stale hot dog buns with the semi-snooty ducks of Gardner Village (they’re a lot less semi-snooty when there’s a little snow on the ground) and wondering how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop—Cael was too busy doing the licking to let us know…

**And now we really can bring on the fall—hooray!!

This Week in Goff History…

2009-08-27T19:24:00.001-07:00

The dahlias have been a little late this year, but they most certainly have not disappointed…

Kylie, Kendell, and Cael enjoyed the bounty from the Saturday Farmer’s Market. It just happens to be conveniently located so they could sit and munch on apples, corn (yep and it was good), and free cookies while their mother “browsed” in “Material Girls” …

We were finally able to get the fam together to commemorate Miss Kendell’s day of birth! We wanted our guests to feel welcome and secure, so we had them all sit on fancy plastic chairs of the highest quality in the backyard and now we know why it is advisable to not lean back on these sweet seats—sorry about the collapsing/shattering/breaking-in-slow-motion chair there, Uncle Mike…

The jr. high set started up (Morgan and her cute friend, Taylor) for the year with the new dress code of stripes only…

Can you just feel the excitement of the almost-done-with-jr.-high boy? This shot could be entitled “that’s fine if you are in the car, but I HAVE to get a picture of you on your first day”—quality photography is what we’re all about…

8 Lives Spent…

2009-08-16T17:21:00.001-07:00

This is our goofy, casual, people-loving, exotic Russian Blue cat, Zeke. We are all about the exotic…

On Friday, as the people that live in the house were coming into said house after school, Zeke decided that he wanted to go out- and then he changed his mind and thought he would shimmy under the garage door before it got all the way down and come back in, because he is a cat. (Our sensor on the garage door is very low, so it always goes back up if he crosses the sensor path.) He must’ve been down extremely low, and disgustingly, the garage door came down on our poor cat, with his head inside the garage and the rest of his body outside. Our sweet and gracious neighbors witnessed this disturbing scene and ran over to ring the doorbell and tell us about Zeke. Paul got the door up and our little kit kat was motionless and breathing heavily/rapidly. It was so sad and awful to have him laying there on his side suffering and there really was not a thing we could do for him—definitely not a good feeling. We thought there could be no hope for our cat.

Paul went through the phone book and got ahold of a vet who said to go ahead and bring him in—we thought for sure that would be the end for Zeke, his neck had to be broken. Our sweet neighbors brought a board over and helped us gently get the cat onto the board and into the car. Paul and Curtis got to the vet’s office, where they got him some fluids and gave him a cortisone shot. We did not want to get hopes up, because it did not look good…

The office called an hour later and said he was moving his back legs a bit , then the vet called an hour after that and said Zeke was up on all fours! Paul went back down with Kylie-who’s heartbroken tears had turned to sheer joy- to retrieve our very mellow, but very alive cat! He was a bit on the wobbly side, but is loving his newfound ability to be able to rest anywhere without being “invited” to get off of a bed, and to get petted and loved every time he makes an entrance…

All in all, I still can’t believe that our cat is purring, walking, eating, alive! I’m so thankful for nice neighbors (so sorry for that grotesque image they had to witness) and for a nice vet, who actually refunded $30 to Paul when he came for Zeke! You just never know with cats…

Happy Birthday Kendell!!

2009-08-11T19:20:00.001-07:00

Today is the day that this very girl turns 11 years old!!

August is a grand time to be the birthday girl—the weather is warm/hot/really hot, school’s out (scream and shout--unless you’ve got the year-around thing going), water slides, swimming pools, bike rides, popsicles, ice cream, watermelon, mmm-summer…

So I totally feel like I’m a complete downer with the summer fun when I tell you that being the “birther” (now there’s a lovely word) in the month of August was slightly less grand-the weather was hot/HOT/SUPER HOT!! I was swollen, sweaty and in a constant state of motion pushing kidlets #1 and 2 up and down the street in the double stroller trying to “encourage” kidlet #3 to make her debut (all to no avail, and let me say that in the state of Washington, seeing a very pregnant lady strolling with 2 other children under the age of 3 was definitely something to gawk at) –oh, the memories!! Unfortunately, with no digital cameras way back in 1998, I cannot show evidence of my matronly lack of ankles, as well as lack of clear skin, such a shame…

I can show you a fun girl who is now 11, and when given the chance to eat her weight in Red Robin onion rings, opted to instead chew just a few…

Happy Birthday to YOU, Kendell!! Our fam would not be the same without our sis in the middle…

Day One

2009-07-27T17:51:00.001-07:00

Wow—my little ladies started school today!! Kendell is a 6th grader and Kylie is so happy for a brand new year in 3rd grade with a smiley and friendly teacher! The summer of late to bed/ late to rise has officially come to an abrupt end…

And wow again--my big boys started football today!! We all enjoy Lineman Curtis and Coach Paul very much and will miss them every evening for the next 3 1/2 months or so …

Lazy Days of Summer, or whatever…

2009-07-21T19:17:00.001-07:00

Miss Morgan camped her little heart out at Girls Camp—she brought home just a few mosquito bites and some sweet mems (whew)…

Gramma Sharlene and Grampa Randy came to see Miss Kendell in her FINAL softball game of the season, the season that was supposed to run from April to the very beginning of June…

Sooooo many of Kendell’s game were rained out that the season went clear into the middle of July, but hey-she got a trophy AND a donut…

We celebrated the cousin birthdays for July and are always glad that Aunt Tera and Uncle Mike bought a house right by such a grand park that is so ideal for celebrating …

We splashed it up with friends…

This works out great for us--we do adore our friends and when they have access to great pools and invite us along, it is so nice—we would totally like them if they didn’t have that special access, but it certainly doesn’t hurt (especially when all we bring to the table is our collective sparkling personalities and possibly some Doritos…)

Aunt Tera showed us the way to this little treasure of a BEACH with sand and everything! Kylie and Cousin Aspen were so excited when they found a “shell”—hmmm, it was actually a sand-encrusted peach pit, sorry girlies,but super effort there with those keen aquatic eyes!!

We had the 1st annual Goff Summer Swim Party –good stuff and great company!! Totally fun to get together with all of the Goff and Borg Cousins!! The dutiful lifeguards only had to blow their whistles 3 times at my dear husband for serious offenses (use of an unauthorized floatie, putting Cael on his shoulders, and something else equally flagrant, but we are all safe, so whew…) The dazzling display of diving was definitely something amazing, with no physical injuries, at least…

The down part of the night was hours later after the party when we got a very distressed phone call from my little brother, Allen, who was up at Primary Children’s Hospital with his oldest boy, Sam, who is 6. Sam was getting prepped to undergo an exploratory procedure to see how much damage had been done to his throat, esophagus, and stomach after accidently drinking some water that had been mixed with alkaline drops (they are supposed to be helpful for kidney stones, long story). Anyway, after a long and horrific night, and wonderful care by the PICU nurses and doctors, they were able to bring him out of his medically-induced coma sooner than they thought (they originally said 5 days) and found that the damage was limited to 1st and 2nd degree burns in his mouth, down his throat and his larynx, but did not get to his esophagus. Definitely uncomfortable, but very recoverable (is that a word?). He has been a very gracious and compliant patient and very soon after “coming to” wanted to make sure that his mom and dad knew that he “had an x-ray and got to see all of his bones”…

The silver lining of having a cousin in the hospital is that you get to have the brothers of the patient come stay and play— the classic “bucket on the head” bit works every time…

And then, the ward swim party with orange floats, yummm….

And last but not least, summertime means it’s totally the right time for zebra-striped-twinner-nails! Nicely done, ladies…

I’m thinking the theme for this new week will be (pretty please) mellow…

Stars, Stripes, Kidney Stones, and Babies…

2009-07-05T17:40:00.001-07:00

Don’t you just love the 4th of July? Don’t you just love living in the land of the free, the home of the brave?? I do!! And when you are expecting rain on those purple mountains majesties, but then it turns out lovely (not that we don’t appreciate the rain because of course we do!)—bonus!!

My photo montage skills are sorely lacking…years (yes YEARSSS) ago, my dear sis-in-law, Jessica, brought me this old white window frame with the thought that I could maybe do something cool with it. It took some time, but now it has new life housing a flag in my kitchen and I like it a lot-hooray!!

**We tried Bobby Flay’s Triple Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Pancakes (minus the ricotta, because someone forgot to purchase the ricotta, and yes that was me) and they were a tasty addition to a July the 4th morning, tasty enough to be repeated…

**We boldly attempted Pioneer Woman’s flag cake this year and my Gramma Bev would be proud of the attempt, anyway. I will remember to go with the FRESH and not FROZEN blueberries next year…

**The idea was to go for the fruit-skewered pineapple centerpiece, but when Sam’s Club had NO pineapple to be found, we went for plan B, the watermelon basket…

**Is this really the best family July 4th shot I could come up with?? Um, yes…

**And do you not just love these hamburger and hot dog cupcakes that our fantastic neighbors brought over to celebrate with??!! BIG HIT, that’s all I’m saying…

Here’s my very sweet and funny nephew, Ben, attempting to stay with Aunt Kirsten (aww—actually I do know that I am not the draw here, but Cael lets me think that I am) after an awesome night of cousin-o-rama fun while his poor daddy was in the hospital for round #2 of attempted laser removal of an embedded kidney stone. On the plus side, the cousins had mega fun, on the minus side, my poor little bro has to go back for round #3 at the hospital this week (sorry, Allen), where one way or another this stone will be removed. I’ve decided I’m absolutely anti-kidney stone…

Oh look! It’s me, my favorite sis, Kari, Jamie (the favorite sis of one of my favorite sisters-in-law), and Jen, one of my favorite sisters-in-law, herself! (I think I have all my bases covered…) This pic is from March, when I got to go up to Seattle to surprise my sis for her b-day—so fun!! So while this shot features one of my shoes, it does not feature the midsections of either Kari or Jen, both of whom have been with child. But this big week, both lovely ladies birthed beautiful daughters!! Hooray!! So where I am in the shot above, picture a 5 lb, 8 oz , 16 inches long little lovely with dark hair (awesome for growing inside a troubled placenta and coming a month early)!! And pretend Jamie is an 8 lb, 4 oz, 21 inches long dolly with lots of dark and you get the idea!! Hooray again!!

Babies are way more fun than kidney stones…

Lessons Learned this Father’s Day…

2009-06-22T21:40:00.001-07:00

Lesson #1—that kickin it with Gramma and Grampa and the cousins at CountryFest is still awesome, even if it is Day #15 of rain in the Summery Month of June and the super scone booth has opted to prematurely close its drenched doors, or flaps, or sliding windows…

**Aunt Kirsten must remember to pick up some Rhodes roll dough to make our own super fancy scones—I’m so creative that way, and just look at those happy/ sconey-anticipating smiles…

Lesson #2—learned that Miss Morgan and her superstar dad share some distinct similarities, via her “How Well do You Know Your Dad” worksheet from school --I do love those things, such grand info to be gleaned! For instance, they both share the love of their very favorite holiday-Morgan’s birthday! His favorite food is “meat” (good call on her part), her favorite is “Kari Chicken” which is also in the meat family and quite sumptuous, so right on! This one I’m not as sure on, but apparently his favorite song is “Poker Face”??? Hmm…

Lesson #3—Long, long ago, when I was a bi-focaled glasses-wearing and bi-level hairdo-sporting 12- or 13-year-old brunette (painting a lovely picture there, aren’t I), Father’s Day was fast approaching. My dear mom, being the wonder woman Relief Society President that she was (still a wonder woman) baked and baked and baked (somewhat similarly to the way pioneer children walked and walked and walked and walked) the most wonderful CREAM PUFFS for all of the fortunate men in our ward! We had never had such delicacies in our family, and I knew that mom had totally been holding out on us never making them for all of us starving children, I digress…The great thing with the cream puffs is that they must be filled with CREAM and it was tasty—pudding and Cool Whip, a winning combination. The best part about having your mom be the Relief Society President, is that the chance of there being left-overs is pretty good, and since we actually lived with her, that would considerably increase our odds of getting to consume the excess of those little lovelies! I have very fond memories of that cream puffy year, such fond mems, in fact, that if at this point in my life I have any say in potential Father’s Day bounty at Church, I’m saying “YES!!” This year the lucky men of our ward got to enjoy big and soft and wonderful pink-frosted sugar cookies from Schmidt’s Pastry Cottage (doesn’t that just sound delightful?) and I don’t think the picture does them the justice they deserve, because they most certainly are deserving! I brought the magical year of the cream puffs up with my mom last night and to my complete shock and utter dismay, her mems are not just sketchy, they are nil, nothing, nada, zilch, zippo—none! How can that be?? So many wonderful cream puffs!! So much baking for precise amounts of time on so many cookie sheets!! So much cooling and scooping out of the insides to create a perfect shell!! Such an impressive impact on me, not so much on the pastry chef. Maybe it’s because everything she makes is delish, and this was just one in a long line of tasty morsels, maybe you never know what little things your kiddos will remember…

Lesson #4—this one is not a new one for me at all, but I’m always thankful for the Daddy of my kids (and he loves sugar cookies, too, especially from Schmidts, wow-that sure worked out nicely)…

**he’s also great with the lawn and with 4-year-old’s wearing invisible shoes…

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT

2009-06-11T20:32:00.001-07:00

Today is the day that I installed a zipper, this very zipper, and as a fun little bonus, it actually works!!

Tomorrow I will get cracking on my very own carbon footprint…

Tis the Season…

2009-06-07T19:33:00.001-07:00

…for my musical genius little brother, Allen, to lead his high school in their annual “Evening at the Cinema” concert, where they perform a grand variety of fantastic numbers from all sorts of movies. This year, Allen performed (on piano)with a member of the Utah Symphony(on saxophone)—they did a piece from “Catch Me if You Can.” I’ll just say that my extremely talented brother never ceases to amaze me and also never ceases to reaffirm in my mind how great it was for me to give up my portion of musical talent so that Allen could have that much more…

… for blowing up the kiddie pool and lounging around with fun friends…

…for sitting at the other end of the blown-up kiddie pool, watching your big sis lounging around with her friends, and plotting all kinds of big things…

…for still playing some serious softball and making sure the bun in your hair is low enough to not get in the way of the batting helmet…

…for the long-awaited and much practiced for AWESOME Temple Celebration!! The theme was “Come Up to The Mountain of The Lord” and the kids performed dances from the different decades (our stake had the 1940’s) to represent the history of the area up until the time of our beautiful new temple being built. There were 7000 youth from the Oquirrh Mountain Temple area that participated in the singing and dancing—Curtis and Morgan were part of the choir. It’s so fun to see all of their hard work (and the tireless hours that were put in by the youth leaders) pay off so incredibly well!! Such a fantastic and powerful evening…

…for letting me catch my boys laughing and then actually capturing it on film (digitally, of course)…

…for Uncle Allen to balance little Henry while getting his head examined at the same time—I did say he was talented…

…for Cael and Zander to enjoy a delightful Saturday with tractors…

We heart summer!!

Extracurricular Activities…

2009-05-22T21:49:00.001-07:00

So a few weeks ago, we were just thinking that since Paul had to do some work in the southern part of the state, perhaps we could get to St. George via California instead of the normal way of just driving down south. To top it off, since young Mr. Cael is only 4 and not yet a part of the public school system, we opted to bring him as our enthusiastic/enduring/endearing traveling companion! That means that we are now either the lamest parents ever, or the coolest parents ever—depends on which kid you happen to chat with…

Mr. Toad is simply gleeful to have me and Cael there to pose with him, and in case you’re curious, Mr. Cael is a BIG fan of Mr. Toad and I am completely and seriously serious! A genuine fan, thanks to clips on Youtube and super DVD’s from the library when I can find them—just curious, does your 4-year-old ask you to sing the song from Mr. Toad when it is tooth-brushing time? Yeah, he’s that kind of fan...

The boys in blue are all about the celebrating… celebrating the rides, the fun, maybe the fact that they saw a Solid Gold Dancer! Because the full-length black spandex, the hot pink tube-top, and the shiny gold sandals had to be a costume, I’m pretty sure? Although if you begged the question “who wears short-shorts?” At Disneyland in May, that would have to be a solid 9 out 10 ladies, and let’s just say that Martha Stewart would not have called it a “good thing”. …

There are so many things to learn, see, and think about on a tour of Storybook Land, like why the family in front of us in one of the lines had a mom with tattoos of her daughter’s names (I’m assuming) on her shoulder blades “Isabella” and “Breanna”. We had a good 15 minutes to study this before dad showed up with the similarly-fonted tattoos on his forearms; yes, the font was the same, “Isabella” was the same, but poor “Breanna” became “Brianna” on dad’s arm. Uuh, oops…typos on tattoos, not so good…

Sometime I will post about Cael’s adoration of the letter “H”—again, I am totally serious, as is he, and hey look, it’s an “H”!! (For the record, this H is not from our hotel, I don’t know that Priceline offers Disney properties, hmm)…

Dad and Cael so ready to take flight…

The other Goff’s didn’t do too shabby themselves—they totally pumped up the party with Uncle Allen and Aunt Jessica and the cousins with delicious dinner from The Pie, magic smoothies from their magic blender, intense rounds of Disney Scene-It, special and wonderful Ratatouille muffins—so puhlease,who needs mom and dad?? The dad/mom/Cael SoCal special was a quickie, and upon our return, it was dance recital time and the girlies danced beautifully (thanks for the hair-do’s, Aunt Jessica)…

Miss Kylie getting ready to hustle her bustle…

Miss Morgan and our cute friend, Taylor, downtown Salt Lake City at the Conference Center for Temple Celebration rehearsal—it’s been a lot of work and it is so grand to see the plan coming together…

Miss Kendell playing the field…

Cael making a friend and running in circles (developing a young and deep love for geometry, perhaps?) at Kendell’s softball game (we’re on the 1 soccer game plus 2 softball games each and every Saturday program for a few more weeks)…

Cute cousins celebrating the May birthdays…

Time to bring out the water slide--we’ve got to make the most of these delightful 80 degree days…

And last, but not least, tutu-mania!! Morgan had big fun playing the integral role of “Moth” in the 6th grade production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsomer’s Night Dream”—Moth, Mustard Seed, Cob Web, and the other delightful fairies worked in such harmony! Embarrassingly enough, my only previous experience with this particular production was from a potentially racy episode of “8 is Enough” where Joanie was in an extremely “artistic” version of this play and opted to perform au natural without the knowledge of her dad, Tom Bradford, who figured this all out when he brought his date, Abby (their future stepmom) to see this fine bit of community theater and support his “free-spirited daughter.” It must have turned out okay, because eight IS enough to fill our hearts with love…

The Mostly Good, with just a touch of The Not So Much…

2009-05-01T23:08:00.001-07:00

Can I tell you something that is so fantastic?? Being the mother of a middle school ceramicist, that’s what!! And not just your typical, run of the mill “I’m taking ceramics in jr. high because I’ve already taken music appreciation” kind of teen, but the awesome kind that makes his mom her very own orange/ striped mug WITH a handy handle as a super Spring surprise—thanks, Curtis!!

Also on the good list: 4 out of 5 kids with their Easter smiles (the non-smiler could not keep that plastic egg away from his mouth, but I’m sure he was smiling on the inside) with the weeping cherry tree in full bloom—that was some sweet coordination on Mother Nature’s part with Easter occurring during the one week that the tree spends in its blossomy splendor…

Okay, this is on the not so good list, but props on the multi-tasking, with Scene It, Scrabble, and 5 rolls of paper towels going on at the same time?! This is what I get for thinking I can do the eliptical upstairs with the door open as to “hear” the goings-on down below…

Back to the good—mmm, tasty good Red Velvet Cake!! This was the first that I’ve delved into the wonderful world of red velvet deliciousness, and it will not be the last…

Wait a sec, more BAD!! In the interest of full disclosure, 90% of the damage had already been cleaned up prior to this shot taking place, just so we’re really, really clear. The boys are always looking for new adventures, and apparently new snacks…Again I was eliptical-ing, more confidently because of the locking latches my sweet husband installed on the pantry and the hall closet doors. While the latches up high near the top of the doors work great when they are in the proper locked position, they lose all effectiveness when little boys figure out how to move bar stools right up to the door so they can reach the latch and then get to all of the magical things inside and disperse said magical things all over the carpet…

Oh yes, GOOD!! Kylie’s room is now a fresh and lovely shade of robin’s egg blue (and as a bonus, I have finally been able to get that fresh and lovely shade of blue out of my hair, where it did not look so great—it was only on the left side, and now it is completely not there at all—whew)…

Hallelujah, it’s more good!! Kylie’s fantastic report on servals!! What is a serval, you ask? Why, it is a small wild cat found in Africa, and also in this diorama in Kylie’s classroom…

Ugh. Yes, ugh. That’s all I can say. Ugh, and ziploc baggies. The very same ziplocs that I had the boys use to contain the morsels from the last incident (most went into the garbage, but I did want the boys to help clean up their “mess” and why did I put these bags full of chocolate chips BACK into the pantry? I don’t know, it was so great to clean it up the first time I guess, and we do still have bar stools ??) Did you notice that they worked a new game into the mix here—one that was not in the LOCKED hall closet, just trying to keep things fresh…

Good stuff again, Morgan and Kendell getting ready to dance like nobody’s watching, except there WILL be people watching them move and groove to the sounds of Miley Cyrus this weekend at their competition at the one and only LAGOON…

Brothers playing croquet, of course that’s totally good…

Our exotic cat, Zeke, checking out the seasonal flora, again good…

TOTALLY GOOD!! OUR VERY BEST TULIP YEAR EVER ,EVER, EVER!! (I am quite fond of the tulips…)

And teeth, I am also fond of teeth, and am thankful to have them. Teeth fall into the category of “good”…

A Boy and his Birthday…

2009-04-22T19:25:00.001-07:00

Question:

What do the songs “Breathe” by Faith Hill, “Come on Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners (I think that’s their name, and the song is “Come On, Irene” if you happen to be my husband), and something about a “Valentine” by LeAnn Rimes, all have in common??

If you guessed that these sweet tunes working together in sweet harmony would make for the ideal soundtrack at the birthday celebration of an exuberant 4-year-old boy, you’d be exactly right!!

View Full Album

The great thing about having a fun boy turning 4 is that it doesn’t take a whole lot to absolutely thrill him—a couple of pizzas at the park with a Buzz Lightyear kite and we’re set!! Then to top it off, “take your work to the park mom” brought her laptop (but not her headphones) and did some karioke for us with her best songs—we got dinner AND a concert, bonus!! Her kids wanted to play their DS’s, but laptop mom said they needed fresh air, so no electronics for them, and she needed to concentrate (on her singing?) –true multi-tasking at its best!!

**Note to self, next time I get Cael some b-day duds (on sale, of course) with the intention of having each item be worn with something else that actually matches, go ahead and just get things that match together, like an outfit. New b-day duds must be worn together, it’s a basic Cael rule, so now I know (and knowing’s half the battle)…

After MUCH Technical Support…

2009-04-20T13:25:00.001-07:00

Could this truly be working for me??

Could the fabulous Windows Live Writer be something that I can actually use??

**Hooray**

Happy Birthday to Cael!!

2009-04-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

There is never a dull moment with Mr. Cael here, and now our #5 is officially 4 and is he ever pumped for "cake and presents for my birthday"...

Love this kid, whether in a state of self-imposed silence, or deep, deep thinking, he's quite a guy...

The other day I picked him up off of the couch and asked him, "Are you my Baby Cael?" He gave me a slightly perturbed looked and promptly replied, "No--I am 'Big One' Cael!"

What can I say--he speaks the truth...

The Incredible, Edible Egg...

2009-04-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

Easter Eve started out "eggs" tra special with our ward's very first Easter Egg Hunt at our building's new outdoor pavillion--we had clouds but no morning rain, hooray for us!! Kylie scored an awesome red dinosaur head egg, Curtis continued to lament the fact that we actually used up the bag of sweet-tart jelly beans to fill the plastic eggs with instead of keeping them all at home for him to eat--too bad, so sad. It was a delightful little event and Curtis knows he would rock in a 14-years-old and older category next year...
You know Spring has sprung when the leader of the pack gets the backyard projects underway--the dahlia's are going to love their new Paul-installed dripline...

Of course, the eggs must be dyed!! 5 bowls of color seemed to work well for the 5 egg-dyers...

Ooohh, eeeggggss...

For the record, the nearly-red egg is the sole property of Cael and he most certainly will not be relinquishing said egg, and under no circumstances should you challenge him on this or even think otherwise...

HAPPY EASTER TO YOU!!

Marchtastic!!

2009-03-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

Here's the rundown--March is such a lovely month, and an especially lovely month if you happen to be a girl with a birthday (that's me), an anniversary (also me), and the birthdays of lots of other delightful personal faves..March is definitely a good time to be me!! This year, we even had a few days where it wasn't totally snowing--bonus!!

Uncle Jens came through town, always a niece (and nephew) fave--especially when he sports Gramma Jan's complete favorite shirt (she may not actually agree with that last statement there)...

Kylie got baptized!! She has been looking forward to this special day (one that was even Spring-like) for years!! She opted for the low ponytails in the hope that they would not float up in the water when her dad baptized her--great choice for Ky with both the hair and getting baptized as the newest member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (in our family, at least)...

Mom and Ky in the dressing room ( I promise I'm not actually up to anything here). When I met her to get her changed out of her wet clothes, the first thing she said was, "THAT WAS AWESOME!! Can I do it again??" And now, she really feels like she's eight--and hey, it's great to be eight!!

This is a whew, I can't believe it and I am so thankful--our darling Gramma Jan flew down for Kylie's special day and rented a car that she drove to visit her sister. Morgan, Kendell, and Kylie tagged along, as did a Nintendo DS. The DS in question was not realized to be missing until Gramma Jan had turned in the car and flown all the way back to the Evergreen State. After some very sickish feelings in some stomachs, an answering machine message to Hertz Rental cars, not to mention some prayers and preparation to learn a very expensive lesson, we were shocked to get a call this morning to let us know they had the item in question and we could come pick it up!! Paul, the all-star dad brought the DS home, and hopefully it will just STAY there...(thanks Hertz!!)

Speared ears...

2009-03-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

After our birthday dinner last night, we went to get Kylie's ears pierced!! She was excited, nervous, excited, nervous--she wondered if I could bring a few feathers to tickle her feet with to take her mind off of things, mmm-I do love that she's coming up with big ideas. Too bad that when we reached our particular piercing destination, we were informed that no piercing could happen right then--because of the recession. Really? Yes, really--no piercing because of the recession. Ohhh--Kayyy...
We were, however, able to be penciled in for this morning, and after much anticipation/angst, not to mention having to go with choice #3 on the earrings (#'s 1 and 2 while displayed, were apparantly actually "not available"), the ear lobes of Miss Kylie are now dazzling , sparkly, and pierced!! After all was done, Kylie said that getting her ears pierced didn't hurt nearly as much as getting pinched by a certain sister of hers--good to know...

Miss Kylie is 8!!

2009-03-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

Great things about being the birthday girl...

--lots of hula dancing in the backyard, with not too much snow...

--little bro and closest thing to a little bro sporting super-gelled mohawks...

--getting to choose the birthday dinner restaurant to go to with just mom and dad (for the record, Rumbi was the top choice for the third year running, they have the best Mac and Cheese according to the birthday girl)...

--getting to smile with mom all day long!! Kylie has always been our happy and smiley little miss. On March 13th, 2001, I had gone in to see my Dr. in the morning. Gramma Sharlene was with the 3 other kiddos while I was at my appointment, and when she found out I would be sent over to the hospital, she told them she would take them to Wendy's for lunch. My 6-year-old, Curtis, asked her, "who's Wendy?". Yes, we've always gotten out a lot...

Happy Birthday, Kylie!! Thanks for coming...

Surprisingly Fantastic!!

2009-03-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

First off, it's not a surprise that the weekend was fantastic!! It was fantastic and absolutely the best that my mom and I were completely in kahoots (don't know the last time I've been there) and managed to pull off something so unexpected for my super sis, Kari, the Birthday Princess...

Kari lives 3 whole states away, but when our cute mom, Eagle-Eye Jan spotted a sweet deal on Southwest, we hatched a top-secret plan for me to fly up on the morning of March 6th...

It was totally fun to call Kari on the cell phone when Mom and I were about 2 minutes away from her house. Kari said she was waiting for mom to come pick her up for lunch. I told her to have fun and call me when whe got home. By this time, we were in her driveway and mom went up to the door. I waited another minute and then went up and knocked--that was quite fun!!

We had a grand lunch, did a little browsing in Sumner (on our way out of a great little shop, we saw this great white tray with a handle and compartments kind of basket without a pricetag-the lady called us back to let us know it was only $152.00-should she wrap it for me to take on the plane?? mmm, probably not this time...), went to see the rest of the crew, had cake, smiled with our sister-in-law, Jen--she's a March birthday girl, too...

We most certainly did not skimp on the See's Chocolates, chocolate brings families together...

And just like that, I am back home to at least one sign of Spring (our poor sickly-looking crocuses) along with our fairly constant companion: SNOW. For the record, it totally snowed in Seattle while I was there, too--sorry, you're welcome, whatever...

**Highlights-in addition to the complete and astonishing surprise factor for my sis--so glad my presence wasn't a bummer, that would've been bad...

--Her kid neighbor called out "HEY KARI-NICE HAIR!!" as I was retrieving my bag out of the car. Her poor panicky face as I turned around and the realization that the "nice hair" did not actually belong to Kari--oooh, good times...

--I now know where I stand with my cute nephews, Jack and Cole, who when faced with the incredible option of being cowboys and taking care of the brand-new baby calf that was born out at Grampa Larry and Gramma Peggy's that very morning, they opted to kick it shopping with Aunt Kirsten (unless Aunt Kirsten was going to play cowboy and then we could kick it together there)--aaah, thanks guys...

All in all, an awesome weekend!! So appreciate my superstar husband holding down the fort so I could go. Love my birthday sis and my partner-in-crime mom!! So fun to see the entire Seattle crew in their natural habitat...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARI!!

2009-03-04T21:40:00.000-08:00

So March 5th has always been a very special day--it is the day of birth of my very favorite sister, Kari!!
You say it "car" + "eee"= Kari!!
Look how excited I am here in my parents styling bed at age 4 to be squeezing my smiley lil' sis!!

Kari is a good sport, even when a certain child of hers may have drooled (okay he definitely drooled) chocolate all down her blue shirt...

Kari is a cute mom, who loves her boys even when they may or may not drool...

Kari is a cute wife, who could absolutely double for cruise director Julie McCoy of Love Boat fame when it comes to activity planning, minus the shuffleboard and Promenade Deck...

Kari is a cute sister!! She's fun, witty, clever, deliciously daring in the kitchen, not to mention stylish-- that may stem from the fact that as a toddler with a wide instep, aka "special feet" she HAD to get fantastic shoes at the Stride-Rite store because they were the only game in town when it came to shoeing "special feet." Her red and yellow "ketchup and mustard" shoes (such a clever name that young Aaron and I came up with) were so bold and so great, a super sign of things to come for Kari and her fantastic taste in footwear!!

Hope that your day is so grand and so happy and the best birthday ever!! I so wish I was there to celebrate good times with you!! Thanks for being my favorite sis...HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KARI!!

Questions, Answers, and Aunt Tera's Good Deed

2009-02-28T20:13:00.000-08:00

A couple of questions (well 4 of them), and a couple (well, 4 of them, too) answers...
Q: Why is Miss Kylie so gussied up on a Saturday?
A: Our lucky little lady got to go to a birthday tea party (actually lemonade and homemade taffy) at the Lion House in downtown SLC and I must say that few things in life are cuter than a whole group of smily, giggly, excited, gussied up 7-year-old party-going girlies...
Q: Is that kid totally amazing or what?
A: Umm, yeah--besides amazing, Cael is a fantastic, though not necessarily "still-sitting" spectator at his big brother's basketball games...

Q: What are they staring at?
A: After 5 (and almost 1/2) years of serious dish-washing, our dishwasher completely gave out--serious bummer. Good news, though, we are all delighted with the replacement that was purchased and delivered. This is not to be confused with "delivered and installed" even though the signs all over Lowe's boldly professed their "installation guarantee" and then the round tag hanging inside of the new dishwasher also said "installation guarantee"--we took this to mean that "installation" was something they did, something they "guaranteed." Silly us! They can't install dishwashers! Something about OSHA and plumbers, it's still a little foggy. SO lucky for me, I am married to a handy handy (that's right, double handy) fella that took care of the installation part and I took care of the "keep it up, you're doing so great!!" part and now the dishes can again be stacked in a genuine dishwasher and not the genuine sink...

Q: What kind of super-fun game is being played here?
A: This is your basic "Twister" where one 3-year-old rolls up in the game mat and the other one tries to jump on him. You don't actually need the spinner for this version. Disclaimer--when played this way, "Twister" is not necessarily equal parts fun for both of the participants...

Here is Paul's sister, our cute Aunt Tera (pictured here with what may be the best birthday gift ever). On Friday, Aunt Tera and I had a great early morning at the Jordan River Temple. As we were walking back to the parking lot, this car pulls up and a very concerned lady rolls down the window to say "Fix that lady's skirt!" I'm sure we both had rather quizzical looks on our faces, so she repeated louder and more animatedly "FIX THAT LADY'S SKIRT!!" We turned around to see the nice 60-ish year-old lady that we had just said "hi" to --things were all fine when we saw her from the front--with her skirt and slip completely tucked into the backside of her waistband!! Oh dear--it was deja vu from "The Parent Trap" when Susan was leaning backwards against the rail of the deck talking to her dreamy date for the camp dance, Stafford, and Sharon and her room-mates quietly and carefully cut the back of Susan's pink party dress off, leaving her bloomers completely and embarrassingly exposed!! Aunt Tera sprang right into action and could not have been sweeter with this lady--"let's just fix your skirt here..."--the lady was gracious and shocked and possibly mortified, but with her backside covered. Nicely done, Aunt Tera, and if they ever take nominations for "Mormon of the Year" I think Tera may be a shoe-in...

Jens, Jan, and Marsha...

2009-02-24T21:07:00.000-08:00

So my agile little bro, Jens, and my superfun/superfan mom came for a sweet little weekend adventure--Uncle Jens entertained his adoring fans with a variety of excellent skills. Jumping in the air with Kylie on his shoulders was a big hit and fortunately, no ceiling fans or heads were injured in the process!! Curtis was so blown away that he had to keep lounging on the couch while looking in the other direction...

Gramma Jan soaked in the 14-year-old boys Junior Jazz basketball scene with the Goff girlies! It was absolutely intense and Curtis' team totally pulled out the 24-23 victory-- whew!!

Zander and Cael were so pleased to be released into their natural outdoor habitat, where they were free to run, climb, slide, run, and run!! Hopefully this 55degree weather is a great sign of things to come!! You know you're not in California when 55 degrees is considered balmy...

Morgan, Kendell, and our pal, Chelby, refined their driving/looking super-cool skills--it was just that kind of a day...

The mother of this bunch continued in her quest to gather all possible infomation related to what may be one of the best shows ever created and executed, of course I speak of "The Brady Bunch!!"

I have always been a Brady fan--the reruns we watched on our 9" Sony Trinitron made coming home from school each day just that much better for me!! Oh, the groovy adventures they had in each and every episode--among my personal faves are Jan's dark and curly wig (that had to be someone's real-life experience somewhere, I'm sure all girls with long, smooth, blond hair just dream of short, permy, brunette wigs); Bobby getting his clean, startched clothing soiled while carrying out his duty as a member of the school safety patrol and deciding to wash said clothing with all of the detergent he could find--oh the wacky, bubbly mess that ensued in the casa de Brady! Cousin Oliver and the faulty hair dye/orange rabbits business; the Hawaiin adventure with the Tiki that Bobby found that caused so much trouble (no worries--it all worked out okay); the hot date of Greg's in the blue convertible at the drive-in where the frog jumped onto the pizza-eewww; Marsha and Jan working at the ice cream parlor and the best worker getting to keep the gig--in the end it was actually Jan that prevailed, leaving Marsha more time to go out with cute boys! So much quality television and awesomely (I am not sure that is an actual word, but it fits) enough, you can buy this quality show on DVD so the indoctrination can be passed on to future generations!! One of my big dreams in life is to hunt down Seasons 4 and 5--the format was switched on me after we had already purchased and thoroughly enjoyed the first 3 Seasons. Now they have the whole series available as an entire set only, which is great unless you only need Seasons 4 & 5--oh well.

Because of my adoration (that's a pretty strong word there) of the show, I feel like I need to have as much background on the people that are the Brady's. I've seen Florence Henderson sing about how much she loves cooking with Wesson Oil. I have watched every Brady-related "Biography" that A&E offers. I have read Greg's book, "Growing Up Brady" when it came out in the early 90's and while I loved the inside scoop on each and every episode, I was bummed at the "real-life" and "less-than-Brady-esque" lives that were led by my favorite Brady's. I know that they are only human (or are they dancing?), but maybe I don't really need all this info. I know Peter has had some risque reality show with his wife on TV (come on, Peter! Would he really want his mom watching? I'll have to pass on that one...) And now Marsha has her book that I need to just finish so I can move on with my life. So far on this lovely day, my not quite complete review can be summed up in two words, "uh, wow..." and as a sidenote "Mom always said don't play ball in the house!"

This just in...

2009-02-10T21:32:00.000-08:00

Here is Cael, pumped to point out the Jenga blocks Wall-E that Morgan made for him. This extremely artistic shot was supposed to be at the end of the post below, hmmm.....eventually I'll get this figured out...

Love, Love, Love...

2009-02-10T19:14:00.000-08:00

So since it is such a LOVEY kind of week, how about some things that are loved by someone like me, actually exactly me since my name is on the blog? Only 4 things though, because for some odd reason, I can only post 5 photos at a time and I've already used one--whatever...

New curtains!! I love them very much, and I am thrilled that they may even compensate (just a teensy bit??) for the Desitin couch...

This Amy Butler fabric is my all time fave--I love fabric, I love Amy Butler design, I love green, not to mention circles, such a lovable combination...

I had forgotten how much I love avacados!! The Pioneer Woman re-introduced me to this wonderful green delicacy, and when it is combined with fresh homemade pico de gallo, WOW!! It is true love indeed...

And hey, who doesn't love kid creativity? Cael can't get enough of this Wall-E shirt (the long-sleeved version, for those of you playing along at home) and since he has a super-nice and super-fun big sister, Morgan who will do great things for him like make a fantastic Wall-E out of Jenga blocks, it's good times a-plenty!! (My novice blogging skills have just taken a turn for the worse--where did my pic of Cael with the Jenga blocks go? It was just here, and now it is gone, so just use your own mental creativity to come up with a Jenga robot design that you love...)

Hope your week is full of roses that are red and violets that are blue...

You Know You've Got a Couple of 3-Year-Olds in the House...

2009-01-29T20:43:00.000-08:00

...if your Kitchenaid beater serves more than one purpose...

...if your blinds double as a super-cool hangout for every available Incredible...

...if your computer regularly features the Youtube versions of awesome Fantasyland rides at Disneyland...

...if your lunchtime includes Mickey waffles, mandarin oranges, 2 different Mac trucks, 1 piggy car...

...if the back of your couch is slathered in Desitin...

Now normally, I like our home to smell warm and inviting, like winter candy apple, or cinnamon, or something tasty baking in the oven--generally, something in the family of pleasant fragrances. But for the next little bit, (to escape the mudanity of an olfactory rut) why not mix things up with a distinctive aromatic cocktail of zinc oxide and cod liver oil?! Wow. But on the bright side, no diper rash for the back of the couch...

Adventures in Up-Chucking...

2009-01-18T18:06:00.000-08:00

So this past Thursday, I dropped off my girls for their dance class with the lovely, gracious, and talented Aunt Tera. Cael and I, actually completely I with Cael tagging along because he is 3 and I am his mom and he pretty much goes where I go, headed to the semi-nearby Albertson's for a (supposed-to-be) quick and coupon-filled grocery run.

Cael had nodded off while in the car and was so mellow and pleasant when I undid his carseat. He wanted to just sit in the cart and take it easy, which was fine by me. I meticulously went through my coupons, gathering the precise amounts of Quaker oats and Campbells soup--these things must be counted very specifically, you know.

While winding through the frozen foods, Cael got this very, very sad look on his face, and then so rudely, every item that the poor child had consumed (from what seemed like the beginning of time) violently came out-- all over him, the cart, the case of soup underneath the cart, wow. I attempted to use his green corduroy jacket as a mop; Cael just asked if we could go home now.

What to do with a sicky boy and a cart with puked-on soup cans?? I couldn't/ shouldn't really abandon it, especially after the meticulous coupon clipping... I opted to head to the nearest check-out stand, and calmly and rationally (thanks Hayley Mills) fill in my check-out stand guy on the state of affairs in my cart (and also see if they had a water source in which to hose down said cart). Two- thumbs up to the Albertson's crew, who not only were very nice, but they put my stuff in another cart and brought it out to the car.

Situations like this--yes, I've had more than one, always remind me of my lovely and beloved 5th grade teacher, Ms. Renberg. (She actually was a model on the weekends, and taught elementary school Monday- Friday, but that's for another post...) Way back in 5th grade in Washington (State, not DC), Ms. Renberg shared a story on "maturation" day (oh boy, and back then, it was none of this "have a health specialist come in and speak in terms that neither 5th graders nor their parents can understand"- it was have 2 of the 5th grade teachers go in and chat with the boys and the other 2 5th grade teachers go in with the girls and field whatever anonymous questions they can think of. (Who wouldn't want to be a 5th grade teacher??) Ms. Renberg told us about a lady who was out and about one day in white pants, unprepared for the "natural phenomenon" that happens each and every month for the female species. Anyway, the white-panted gal had to walk by a guy outside on her way to her car, and so instead of freaking out (like she wanted to) and making a big deal out of things, she played it cool and normal and said "hi" like no big deal, and he never even noticed that anything wasn't quite right with her wardrobe.

Great story to think of (that's just how my mind works), and hey, maybe no one did notice the vomit dripping from the cart as we rolled out into the parking lot?? I think Ms. Renberg would at least hane given me and Cael some "completely capable" points for composure...

**good news--no more puking for any of the Goff boys for 3 whole days now!! We'll keep our fingers crossed, and try to remain calm and rational...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CURTIS!!

2009-01-12T10:29:00.000-08:00

This is what my very precious and handsome firstborn looked like after a few weeks with his new and learning parents...

This is what my still precious and handsome firstborn looked like this very morning, eating his ultimate birthday breakfast--leftover bacon fried rice and wontons from his special request pre-birthday dinner yesterday. He just loves it when I break out the camera, putting out that "more pictures, mom, PLEASE" vibe...

This is my precious and handsome Curtis, being the very fun/ good sport big bro and cousin who totally still brings it when it comes to the Lego table...

What can I say--Curtis is no longer our 1-week overdue, 8 lb. little teensy-tiny, non-sleeping, perpetually starving newborn. He's fun, funny, handsome, only semi-sleepy, still pretty hungry, a great big brother to 3 little sisters and 1 little brother, a great son to his thankful parents. Thanks for coming, Curtis!! We love you!! Happy 14th Birthday!!

Snowy, Icy, and a Bummer...

2009-01-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

Fun times were had this week with lots of sledding for the Goff "yes we are still off-track" Crew! It turns out that Cael is a big fan of sleds, tubes, hills, snow; by himself, with someone else, he wants to go again...

Uncle Allen and Aunt Jessica are also big fans of sledding and introduced us to a great park by their house with a seriously just-right hill--big, but not too big. Big enough though, that if there is, say a guy walking his dog across the snow at the bottom of the hill, that guy may need to seriously speed up before his pooch is pummeled by an oncoming sled carrying 2 adults (perhaps the two that are pictured here) that may or may not be out of control...

We had so much fun sledding with the cousins, that we had to go again the next day, because guess what? More fresh snow for us!! It does come in handy to have a strong and helpful teenager that can give a good push-start...

Kylie, Morgan, Cael, Kendell, and Curtis--sure they look cheery enough, but behind those smiles, their eye are chanting "we need snow pants, we need snow pants..."

So here's me and Kylie on a pleasant, non-icy day. I do love a softly falling snow, but I am not a fan of a non-softly falling me. (I spent 2 long winters in less-than-balmy Rexburg, Idaho, my point being that I do have some experience with icy conditions and I should know better than to slip and fall!) Paul and I were on a hot Saturday night date at Sam's Club, unloading the stuff into the trunk. As gallant Paul took the cart back (and the temperature read 4 degrees), I attempted to enter the car and start the engine, only instead, I completely lost my footing and hit my left shin on the underside of the passenger side door, as I landed less-than-gracefully and extremely HARD on my rear end. I would not recommend this activity to anyone, although, thanks to my good pal Ibuprofin and numerous ice packs, not to mention the love and support of a helpful fam (from a distance, mom can't take any sudden movements for the time being), I will pull through. I may, however, start wearing spikey golf shoes outside, or perhaps I will just stay in...

Way, Way Back In 1992...

2008-12-26T18:43:00.000-08:00

Sixteen years ago, I went to pick up Paul from his flight-- he proposed to me right there with a dozen red roses in one hand and a diamond ring in the other, at Seatac International Airport in Seattle.
Most important question I've ever been asked.
Best answer I've ever given.
He's still the funnest guy I know.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

We were dreaming of one, and wow did we get a completely White Christmas this year!! (The frosty view from the front glass door--brrrrr......)

Smiley sisters ready to do some serious opening...

Sorry about the freaky/ glowy kitty cat eyes, but as soon as the little boys were done wearing this fantastic bag on their heads, Zeke just has to crawl inside...

This is Chilly Cael with freezing fingers two days ago, before the snow drifted. I'm thinking it may be time to invest in a few more pairs of gloves; apparantly the sock he was wearing on his right hand didn't quite make the cut...

Hope this day was wonderful for you!! Merry Christmas!!

Happy Birthday Little Bro!!

2008-12-20T10:39:00.000-08:00

This is the kind of fine photography you get when the family scanner decides not to cooperate...oh well!! Today is December 20th, which means that exactly 34 years ago, I became a big sister to my little brother, Aaron!! What a fun early Christmas present he was that year (actually, I think he was supposed to come about 3 weeks earlier when he was actually DUE-sorry about that, Mom, especially since her first babe was also 3 weeks late-oops...)--Birthdays are fun, brothers are fun...Happy Birthday, Aaron!!

So Good To Go, So Good To Come Home...

2008-12-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

What could possibly say "time for some super serious Goff Family Fun" more than fantastically coordinated rental shoes??

Perhaps it could be sharing the spotlight with "That Guy"--you know, the one who needs neither shirt nor shoes to boldly run back and forth along the beach, always a great idea in the 55 degree salty ocean air...

This is exactly the look I was going for here with Cael and Kylie posed in front of the castle (if you need any tips on how to have 3-year-old boys not look into the camera and also touch their nose at the same time, I can totally hook you up--I do seem to have a knack for this sort of thing)...

Now really, nothing says family fun like the taking of more pictures!! Paul is expressing his request that I just keep taking more and more and hoping that he can be in each and every one of them...(Uncle Kyle, Cousin Brody, Morgan, Cael, Handsome Paul, Kylie, Curtis, Super Sis Kari, Cousin Cole, Cousin Jack, and Kendell)

Now Riverboats--that's got to be what it is that really brings families together!! As a little bonus, all of us in the picture are almost actually looking in the general direction of the camera!! Progress, or perhaps Mr. Cael just wasn't able to get his cute little mug turned away quick enough...

So fun to be together and to have my #1 sis, Kari, and her cracker-jack troop of boys join us--good stuff that just might need to be done again, hmmm...

Welcome Home

2008-12-16T08:20:00.000-08:00

It's always fun to go away and come back, especially to this!!

Birthday Girl

2008-12-02T21:43:00.000-08:00

Happy Happy Birthday to my darling girl, Miss Morgan who is now a 12-year-old lovely lady!! (This is what Morgan looks like at 7:50 am in the "breezy" backyard holding an old window frame--what a super sport!!)...

This is what Miss Morgan looks like with her very own birthday pina colada (virgin, of course) at the restaurant with just mom and dad, oh it is good to be the birthday girl...

This is Miss Morgan (and her cute dad) feeling so stylish in her new brown wedges from Gramma Sharlene and also anticipating one phenomenal club sandwich coming her way at her dream culinary establishment, Iggy's (for the record, everything was very birthday appropriate and delish)...

No, this is not what Morgan looks like, this is what Miss Kendell looks like (I'm sure she was thinking good thoughts about Birthday Girl Morgan) at 9:00am after receiving her Principal's Pride award for great work in 5th grade, and the red pants/ blue shirted blur would be 3-year-old #1 and the blue pants/ red shirted blur would be 3-year-old #2, who, as you can see, were not at all anxious to break free of the Principal's Pride festivities. As it turns out, the white triangle-shaped book stands on the library shelves (that were intended to showcase special holiday books) can also double as super-fun hats for little boys!! I just love learning new things...and I LOVE LOVE LOVE MY BIRTHDAY GIRL, MORGAN!!

Pre-Turkey Day Jitters

2008-11-26T20:16:00.000-08:00

For starters, Cael is totally into this "help mom in the kitchen" thing! And, by the way, cream cheese and whipped cream do make a tasty combo--Cael approves! And if you are wondering if Cael can also help you with your nails, he is very stealthy when it comes to finding the nail polish (even when it is hidden in a "special spot"--**note to self, find new "special spot") and uniquely/ disturbingly skilled when it comes to applying the polish to his own nails, so think how he could do with yours...

I went to this little movie 2 nights ago, I'm not sure that that many people have heard about it (no, it actually was not "Bolt")--my biggest beef with the show was all of the randomly growing purple pansies in the forest, which I did not find to be entirely believable. Mr. Goff found it incredible that I could completely accept the whole vampire/werewolf premise, but balk at the springy flowers ( for the record, he held down the house while I went to the show with some fun/ funny friends--he was very happy to let me go with people that were not him). Anyway, while I was away, Cael decided he had something against muffins in their entirity (lucky for me, though, the bottoms make such a nice presentation)...

That brings us to tonite, with Curtis getting almost all the way out to the garage fridge with this Thanksgiving's particularly delicious offering of "Yum Yum Yams"--oooooopppps... Accidents do happen (not everything spilled and we are quite thankful for paper towels) and fortunately, this was a very large batch, that is now not quite as large, but still enough for the sweet potato lovers tomorrow...

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours, may your yams be plentiful and your muffins complete!!

Pathetically Tragic/ Tragically Pathetic...

2008-11-21T15:27:00.000-08:00

So three whole days ago, our favorite modern-day invention (it's at least really really high on the list of faves) the DVR went out!! As in broken, no more worky, nothing, all gone, nada...the 100 hours of quality programming that we have carefully recorded and managed, completely kaput--never to return again--aaaagggghhhh !! Gone are the 20 episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (Cael can be a bit choosey when it comes time to pick the one he wants to watch and the rest of us want to be prepared), the 2-minute segment of the Cheetah Girls wishing us a "Cheetahlicious Christmas," the Mythbusters with the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment, "The Subject was Noses" episode of the Brady Bunch where Marcia gives the line "something suddenly came up" to that nice Charlie when the Big Man on Campus, Doug Simpson, asks her out for the same night, only to have Doug Simpson dish the line back out at her when an unfortunate throw of the football results in Marcia's swollen nose (classic), the series finale of my beloved Gilmore Girls, not to mention the grilling of a Thanksgiving turkey with an apple/cranberry/sage marinade and mulled cider by Bobby Flay --all of these visual treasures are gone, gone, gone...so sad, sad, sad...

But guess what our BFF, the UPS man brought today--HOORAY!! Now we can start fresh and record a whole bunch more things and rewind them and pause them and watch them whenever we want--aaaahh!! It is an amazing thing, but during the dark days of the "NO DVR" we actually just had the TV off because who needs commercials and who needs to be constrained by shows being on only at certain times and that is it? The bad part about the whole deal is once you get a taste of the Tivo, you're not going back--so pathetic but true. Now I just need the Pillsbury Bake-Off 2008 to be on again...

Turkeys and Toothpicks...

2008-11-19T22:01:00.000-08:00

Good news--if I were a turkey with arms instead of wings, not to mention the super-styling wardrobe, this is exactly what I would look like...

Here is my Kylie--she has been a sweet and thoughtful girl helping me the past 2 days as her mom has fallen prey to a weasley eye allergy. All the years we lived in Washington, nary a vision problem (well, just a little) for me. But ever since we've been in the Beehive State, I have battled some unknown something that makes my eyes (usually just one of them) ultra red, light sensitive, painful, unable to wear contacts--actually unable to be opened at times. It is a bummer, but it usually lasts only a few days once or twice a year, and for that I am extremely grateful!! Anyway, I have been a glasses+sunglasses wearer for the last 2 days and that is always a solid look...

To help me on the road to recovery, Miss Kylie made me this fabulous get-well card with what may be the most fantastic/accurate artist's rendering of my likeness ever--"Me and Toothpick Mom!!"

I've got this girl trained so well, she can totally stay...

Too much Time on My Hands

2008-11-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

Here's me and my Cael and some little green men. I love being a mom. I love my kids and I love being my kids' mom and I am thankful to be able to be home with them at this stage of my life. I so appreciate my husband picking up some extra work hours so I can do this. The stage I am at is what I would call BUSY--it's great, and it's busy. I have my 5 children and my sweet neighbor's little boy who is 3 (she passed away in September). I am serving as the Relief Society President in my ward (the Relief Society is the organization for the women of the LDS Church)--our ward is wonderful and has definitely had quite a round of challenges, especially in this last while. I am thankful to be able to serve in this calling and so thankful for a supportive family and I am also thankful for the knowledge that with every call, there comes a release...Anyway, between football for my oldest, my husband coaching football for my oldest, basketball for 2 of the kids, dance for 3 of them, school for 4 of the kids, trying to help in the classes of the 3 in elem. school, trying to help two 3-year-olds who are both the youngest adjust to being together a lot and playing "joyfully", then the other family, house, neighborhood, homework stuff plus trying to help the lovely 130 ladies in Relief Society, I definitely feel I've got a few things on my plate, I'm not "unbusy." So the other day, when one of my children's newer friends was at our house, it went a little something like this:

Kid friend: "Can I have some of what you're making?" (I was finishing a batch of muddy buddies to take over to a family in our ward whose dad/grampa had just passed away. Chocolate has universal comforting properties...)

Me: "Sure"

Kid Friend: "These are good--it seems like you are always making something when I am here."

Me: "I think you're always here when I'm getting dinner ready, so that's probably true."

Kid Friend: "You know what I think? I think you've got too much time on your hands!"

Yes, Kid Friend, that's it! I have got too much time on my hands, and thank you for pointing that out to me as you eat my muddy buddies that I so graciously shared with you. I look forward to more fantastic insights...

That took me back to an incident a few months ago: I thought I was being "fun mom"-actually, I thought I was "super fun mom" while my kids were off-track from school. My 3 girls and 3 other friend girls (who didn't want to be at home by themselves) were all there and I got them all set up for a fun kitchen project with aprons and individual dishes so they could all participate and have a fun afternoon activity! I thought we were doing great when one of them asked one of my girls why I didn't have a job, because I really should be at work. Aaah, another super insight! Oh well, sorry to disappoint, little lovelies. Meanwhile, I'll just try to make sure that you have a nice (and fun) place to be with snacks and band-aids when needed. It's so nice to have "fun mom" appreciated...

Maybe I'll actually get this all figured out someday, as I do it all again tomorrow...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

2008-11-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yes!! The most wonderful time of the year is here!! The time when those thoughtful, industrious people at the M&M/Mars Company produce, package, and deliver these lovely little delicacies to Target and not only do I get to purchase them (with a cheery smile on my face)--I get to eat them!! It was last year (I think) when I picked up a package and was expecting the same tasty minty version of the regular plain M&M's as the bag was opened on the drive home fromthe store. Not only were they bigger, cuter, and tastier than before, they were/are all the way around fantastic!! And now they are back on store shelves!! Hooray for me/ I'll have to get "more running" on my list...
**Disclaimer--if you are not a fan on mint, perhaps you may like the M&M's with almonds (yum) or with peanut butter (also yum), and you can never go wrong with the classic peanut and plain. If you are not a chocolate person, you may be able to get Kari to share some Nibs with you...

So here's the lemon part--Cael, Zander, and I were up at the school media center (uh, library) to see Miss Kylie receive a "Principal's Pride" award for her fantastic report on bats (did you know that a bat could die from being startled out of a deep sleep? I probably should do more of a thorough fact-check before I start tossing out nuggets like that one...). It was getting a little lengthy and Kylie was toward the back of the recipient group. I was attempting to entertain the 3-year-olds with fabulous literature and "Cars"-shaped Teddy Grahams when poor little Zander got a little sick and tossed his cookies, literally. We did see Kylie receive her award and notified the lucky maintainance man, Sean. We got home, had another round of cookie tossing, freshened up with a bath and jammies. Cael was thrilled to get to wear "empathy pajamas" and eat popsicles--best day of his life!! Even better, it turns out that our bar stools work great as a choo-choo train, that's the lemonade...

Good times getting together with ou Madsen cousins this weekend!! Lots of hugs and 2 questions--1.) Could it be that Cael is in pajamas again? and 2.) Could we get more things magneted to our fridge??

November Nuggets...

2008-11-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

Translation: game is going very well (we like these kind of games)...

Loved the beautiful fall day with the crunchy crunchy leaves (not to be confused with regular crunchy)...

Love the supportive sisters-- especially those sporting smiles and striped earrings...

So thankful for siblings with special linguistic skills-Cael was asking for a show about a chocolate chip, and while it sounded tasty, I had no idea what he was talking about. Super sister Morgan came to the rescue with her translation--"Alvin and the Chipmunks meet Frankenstein!" She was right on the money-how did the mother not come up with that one??

No, this is not a refugee tent village in a faraway foreign land, it is our brand-new Chick-Fil-A with the first 100 customers (over age 18) getting ready to stay the night with their official wrist bands on so they can be there for the roll call every hour until 6 am when they each get to receive a little box that holds 52 free combo meal gift cards-wow!! The Goff's actually opted to stay home snug in our warm beds, but we did come to visit and bring a heater to our good friends, The Howard's and Debbie V., who arrived at 11:30 am and then spent an awesome afternoon, night, and early morning (they know how to commit) in the snow and now can enjoy chicken nuggets, chicken sandwiches, and fountain drinks throughout the year. They completely earned their bounty on the coldest night of the season...Way to be, guys-can I get a what-what??

Having Wonderful Time...

2008-11-05T14:25:00.000-08:00

Don't these two look so bummed out to be playing in the freshly-fallen snow? Cael was completely thrilled to wake up to this fluffly white discovery...

It's so good to be 3...

Granny B just might be smiling down on me...

2008-11-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

Here it is--my first grand autumnal homage to my cute Gramma Bev...
"DINNER IN A PUMPKIN"
That's right- it is dinner and it is absolutely in a pumpkin!! My Gramma Bev made this seasonal delicacy for us years ago and sent me the recipe (numerous times) years ago. (I may be slow, but I am sincere...) The fact that we dined on our meal of stuffed orange squashy goodness at the end of Fast Sunday may have contributed to its tastefulness, but 7 out of 7 Goff's approved wholeheartedly!! We will definitely go for a repeat performance next Halloween...

Oooohh, delicious!! On the thumbs down side, there was no Gramma Bev homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie with the perfect crust to round out the meal!! I do know where Marie Callendar keeps her pies and I guess I could settle for a piece of one of those. Perhaps Bev's magic pie skills skip a generation or two and one/ all of my girls can inherit them?? Not to say that my mom doesn't make a mean pie, because she does. And by "mean" I'm saying delicious and I'm also saying that pies are not my forte--eating pie,yes; making pie, sadly no. On the thumb's up side, did I mention that I made dinner in a pumpkin??

Goff Ghoulies...

2008-11-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

The Enthusiatic Go-Go Girl...

The rough and tough pirate...

The "eat the donut off the string" awesome girl...

Happy Halloween!!

(and now it's November...)

Halloween Hoopla

2008-11-01T11:53:00.002-07:00

So here we are for the annual photo of the costumed cousins!! Cael had had quite enough of the Buzz Lightyear suit (we're just happy he hadn't had enough of clothes, in general) and so he was the orange t-shirted happy cousin...

Mr. Curtis was "partly cloudy with a chance of rain"...

Please tell me that you see a platter of pumpkins here...

The lucky duck Jr. High kids had a day off on Halloween, so Curtis got to come see the Costume Parade at the elementary school. (Notice my good friend, Captain Jack there on my left- a kindergartner stopped in front of us and said "Oh! It's Johnny Depp!!" Yes indeed, Johnny is quite something...)

And Mr. Curtis can now check this one of of his "life list"--he got to carve a puking pumpkin, an absolute dream come true!! He knew his jack-o-lantern was a total success when one of our first trick-or-treaters came by and said "that pumpkin looks like he's throwing up!" Right on...

I'm available for parties...

2008-10-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

Backyard haircuts (in the chilly autumn "breeze") just work out great for all parties involved!! I really seem to have quite a way with the scissors and I do think I have found my true calling-at least everyone leaves with a smile on their face...

Simple Joys (fall edition)

2008-10-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

So this first one is the farthest thing from a "joy"- I was chatting with a friend at church yesterday outside of the nursery, as Mr. Cael had no interest in attending and playing with his peers, whatever...Cael basically stayed in my pocket, but then ventured right across the hall to the bathrooms where he got his fingers caught in the hinge side of the bathroom door-OUCCCHHHHH!! His poor little fingers looked "not good," but fortunately with some cold running water and serious TLC and the good fortune (??) of being squished between his knuckles instead of on his knuckles (eeww), he is on the mend and is going to make a full recovery! Amazingly, or not amazingly, his biggest concern after the initial painful shock of squishy and tears, was to peel the loose skin off of the back of his dented fingers. He had to do that immediately so that he could continue to live on this planet (maybe just a little OCD??)...

This is the good stuff here-3 year old humor is the best!! These 2 could not have been more pleased with themselves and their clever use of Mr. PotatoHead props (fyi- we've got Darth Tater and Donald Duck going on here)!! It's pure comedic gold...

This absolutely makes my fall!! We have been waiting 4 long years for our burning bush to burn....

This is the "did she actually mean to take a picture of that?" shot and she actually did- this is my new ironing board cover that I did this weekend, compliments of cute Nadine at Material Girls Quilts(thanks Nadine!!). I was a winner of a blog comment contest she did and I do love my ironing board! This was a fun and quick little project-I still don't really want to use the iron, though...

More football, More pumpkins...

2008-10-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

I am such a blogging novice- this picture was supposed to wrap-up the post, mmm...
Anyway, Curtis had a teriffic game this afternoon with some great tackles, a fumble recovery, and super sportmanship (and who doesn't love the good sportsmanship?) and they WON!! Coach Goff may not have a voice for the next few days, but we WON!! And to top it off, Gramma Sharlene was there (thanks, Gramma Sharlene) to witness all the excitement!! Hooray!!

I just like this picture of my oldest 2 , Morgan and Curtis, smiling at the same time and everything!!

Miss Kendell (with a little help from the dad) created this little beauty for the 5th grade Columbus Day boat rally, unfortunately, the wind prevented the vessels from setting sail just yet (sorry about the semi-blurry photo, but Kendell is sailing for the "Land of The Hand" and I'm sure everyone knows exactly where that is?? ...

One of the best things ever was visiting the local pumpkin patch!! Cael was in heaven with pumpkins everywhere and then he even got to ride in the orange wheelbarrow-watch out!! The big bonus for us along with the pumpkins, of course, were the delicious "Wahington-esque" apples that we were able to purchase and have been munching (in Cael's case) and devouring (in everyone else's case) ever since-YUM!!

Shiny, Happy People...

2008-10-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

My cute husband, Mr. Goff, is very fun and friendly- two of my favorite things about him! He is especially easy to talk to and as pleasant as can be, so when we encountered a less than peppy cashier during a family adventure to our local Sam's Club...

Peppy Cashier, we'll call her "Joy"/ "Lady J" says: (she actually says nothing)

Mr. Goff: "How are you doing tonight?"

Lady J: (silence)

Mr. Goff: "We'll I'm doing good!"

Lady J: (silence)

Mr.Goff: "Are you having a good night?"

Lady J: "uuhhh..."(mumbled very quietly)

Mr. Goff: "I'm having a good night!"

Lady J: (silence)

Mr. Goff: "So, anything exciting happen around here tonight?"

Lady J: (silence)

Lady J: "Your total comes to $$"

Mr. Goff: "Okay!!"

Lady J: (silence)

(At this point the card is swiped and I am totally hoping for the machine to ask if our cashier was friendly today, but no such luck...)

Mr. Goff: "You have a great night!!"

Lady J: (silence)

Mr. Goff: "I know I'm going to have a great night!!"

Lady J: (absolutely nothing)

**Even though Lady J was having an "introspective" night (ah, sure), I'll bet she'd be a total hoot at a BBQ or some other celebratory function-maybe not. Actually, she would rock at the "quiet game" or maybe even a staring contest, don't even get me started with 20 questions, but probably not charades...

Wherever you are, Lady J, I hope you are doing good and that you do have a super great night!!