a vacation

My friend Karin (who I went to visit in July) asked me about 6 weeks ago if she could come visit. I thought she meant just sometime in the future- but she meant right now!! So she booked her tickets and came to see us this past weekend.

What fun we had!

She got here Friday evening. She was more than happy to come with us to the head football coach's house for dinner that night- and she fit right in!! After that, Josh stayed home with Brecken so Karin and I could have girl time in the hot pools under the stars. Girl time is not something I get a lot of, so it was so nice!

Saturday Josh, B and I decided to show Karin the mountains. We stopped at my school first to show her around, and had lunch while we were in town. Then we made our way up to Aspen Alley. I was so excited as we got up there- the trees were absolutely gorgeous and bright yellow. We've never been able to get to Aspen Alley in all it's glory; it's either been green, or the leaves are gone already. So I was pretty sure we were going to hit it at the right time, after seeing all these great trees! However, we got there and the Alley was GREEN! It was still beautiful though, and the weather could not have been any better, so we had a wonderful time walking around.


That afternoon we relaxed, hit a few stores downtown, and played at the park. After a delicious dinner, Karin and I took Brecken swimming.

Sunday, we all went to Cheyenne so Stacey could take B's 4-year old pictures. I'm always amazed at what she gets! I posted the link below. Karin got to see her first oil wells, the smallest town in Wyoming, and the state capitol all in the same trip! :)

Karin, we had a great time with you. Thanks so much for everything you brought. The lamp is burning every night! :) Brecken is in love with you. COME BACK SOON! We miss you already!!

this year's pictures!

Stacey, as always, did a great job! Here is the sneak peek- can't wait to see the rest!


http://staceyjphotog.blogspot.com/2010/09/socks.html

crabapple jelly

I have a million crabapples on my tree out in the front yard. I usually just let them run their course, fall of the tree, let the deer eat them. I felt creative this fall, however, and since one afternoon I found myself home a whole hour early, I decided to make jelly. Brecken helped every step of the way!

Crabapple Jelly:
10 cups prepared crabapples
5 cups water
5 cups crabapple juice extracted from apples
5 cups sugar
1 box pectin

Wash picked apples by placing them in a large bowl of water. Let soak for 10 minutes. Any worms in the apples will float to the top.

Halve the apples. It's easier to pull the stems out after you cut the apple in half.

Put the 10 cups of apples in 5 cups of water and boil for 15 minutes. Stir, but do not mash the apples! After 15 minutes, strain the juice from the apples. You can add 1/2 cup of water if you need it to make the full 5 cups of juice. If you need more than 1/2 cup of water, put the apples back in the pot with as much water as you need to get 5 cups of juice, plus 1 extra cup to account for evaporation. Strain again, until you have your 5 cups.

Add pectin to juice and dissolve. Bring to a hard boil for 3 minutes.

Add all the sugar at one time. Stir to dissolve and bring to a hard boil for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat. Your mixture will be like syrup but should coat the spoon.

Pour mixture into canning jars, 1/4" from the top. Add lids and rings. Put in a big pot of boiling water to seal the jars. I boiled the jars for 20 minutes. Take jars out of boiling water. Let sit for 12-24 hours without moving them. Check jars to make sure they sealed by pushing the little button on the top. Refrigerate and use any unsealed ones within 3 weeks.

dinnertime conversations

Josh to Kara: Got any plans this weekend?
Kara: Nope, you?
Josh: Nope.
Brecken: I DO! We can go to Disney World, ride the rides, and then go shopping at store after store! Then we can come home!

and then later...
Brecken: Mommy, when will I get hair in my armpits?
Me (while trying not to choke): When you're big.
Brecken: But I am! I'm already FOUR!

4 years old

Boy, how time flies. Can't believe my little baby is 4 years old today.

party, party, party!

We spent the weekend in Lingle for Josh's annual golf tournament with his dad. We had a great weekend, even though we didn't get to see much of Josh! Lennie and I spent Saturday morning shopping in Scottsbluff, and the afternoon at Annie's house, playing with the kids.

After the tournament was done for the day, we went out to the club and had dinner with Josh and Craig. After dinner, Josh, B and I went to Pee Wee's to hang out for a while. We left when Brecken announced he was ready for bed and headed to the door. :)

Sunday, Lennie, B, and I went out to lunch with Pee Wee and Aunt Mae. Then we headed over to Pee Wee's for a little while. It was good to be able to spend time with her!

That afternoon, Brecken was really antsy for his birthday party that was Sunday evening. So Lennie and I took him out to a farm to pick some vegetables for us to take home. There's nothing better than fresh sweet corn!!

FINALLY it was time for the birthday party, and he didn't have to ask anymore, "Please, can I just have a teeny tiny peek in one present??" :) We had a great time with our family and friends that were able to come! Brecken got a lot of great presents, including a TAG reading system from Josh and I and lots of books to go with it from other people- he's been reading it ALL DAY today and letting us know how fun it is!! He also got the dolphin pillow pet that he's been begging for for months, from Pee Wee, a TAG interactive U.S. map, a play-doh spaghetti factory, some new shirts and flip flops, a new movie, lots of great stuff!

It was a great weekend!!

shopping spree

My son hates new clothes. He hates picking them out for himself, he hates anything anyone else picks out for him, he just hates new clothes. He was happy as a lark wearing the same clothes this summer as he did last summer. Which would be fine, if he wasn't growing so much... but that didn't bother him. So he wore shirts that were a bit too short and shorts that luckily don't look too short, since they're shorts. His pants on the other hand, are a little bit like capris.

He's also a boy of comfort. Don't try to get him into anything besides basketball shorts and sweatpants. He won't wear them. It's a texture thing for him- he has said that anything else is not soft and it itches his legs. He has to have the right texture on his skin at all times.

He is also the PICKIEST child I've ever met. He has two pair of red basketball shorts, but he won't wear one of them because the INSIDE of the waistband has blue in it. He can't stand that.

So this weekend, we took him to Casper and told him to shop 'til he dropped. Josh and I are desperate for him to have new clothes- clothes that fit a little better. Clothes for when it gets cold (which it will any day now) that will keep him warm and aren't capri-length sweatpants.

We looked at every single shirt in Target and JC Penney. EVERY. SINGLE. SHIRT. At Target, he'd hold up a shirt and say, "HEY! Look at this one!" We'd say, "Do you like it?" "Nope." would always be the answer and back on the rack it would go. The only thing he found was two pairs of new sweatpants. Both grey. Totally identical. They had navy blue, black, and brown sitting there too, but no. He wanted two pairs of exactly the same thing. Grey. I guess that means they'll always match his shirts. :) He tried on the basketball pants that were right next to the sweatpants, but they didn't feel good on his legs. So back they went.

At JC Penney, we did the game again. EVERY. SINGLE. PIECE OF CLOTHING. He found some sweatpants that might look ok, but then he had to put them back after he saw that there were stripes running down the outside of the leg. I really wanted him to get the shirt that said "Daddy knows a lot but Mommy knows everything". He wasn't interested. :) Finally, my mom found some glow-in-the-dark shirts. YES! That excited him!! He picked out two. Yes, two. For him, that's hitting the jackpot. :)

(I should mention that we found some snowpants while there, and B needs new snowpants for this winter. I thought that was going to be a struggle, but it wasn't! He wanted to try them on, so on they went, and he promptly laid down in the middle of the floor in the store, on his back, to make sure they would move enough to make a snow angel. They did, so he was happy and announced that he loved them.)

So we now have two outfits for the fall/winter. Two glowing long sleeved t-shirts that will be worn with the two pair of grey sweatpants. When you see us and wonder, "Didn't he wear that outfit the other day?" The answer will be yes. Yes, he did. Josh and I will be doing a lot of laundry.

But hey- at least they fit. :)

first day of school!

For all of us!! Brecken has talked non-stop about school since we got home. They have a song for snacktime that he learned today, and has sung it to me over and over! It goes like this:

(to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin")

Where is Brecken,
Where is Brecken,
Here I am!
Here I am!
How are you today sir,
Very well I thank you,
Let's eat snack,
Let's eat snack!

It's pretty cute!

I took his obligatory "1st Day Of School" picture this afternoon and I can't belive how much he's changed since the first day last year. WOW. Here's the comparison:

another day, another dollar

Here we go again! Josh and I stared teacher days on Wednesday, meaning Brecken started back to daycare. Never fails- I get tears on that first day of dropping him off. :( He likes Val's house though. He has fun playing and coloring and they even have a basketball hoop in their living room now, so he spends his day shootin' hoops. :)

However, he will not eat!! I don't know why he is afraid to eat Val's food! We told him it's OK to eat her lunch, but he doesn't want to. So Thursday and Friday this week, he brought his own lunch. Hey- whatever works!! It's a little weird to be packing my 3-year-old's lunch though. HA!

Two more days of teacher work days on Monday and Tuesday next week. Kids start school on Wednesday. I originally thought 5 days of in-service was a bit much, and now I'm wishing we had more! My classroom got new carpet this summer, and everything I own (which is a LOT! I have the biggest classroom in the school!!) was just left in the middle of my room. *sigh*. I've been putting things away and haven't gotten any time to plan the first week of school yet. Or print out any of my back-to-school stuff, because our server at school went down this summer and they had to replace it- but none of us have access to our home folders where all of our documents are stored. *another sigh*.

Brecken starts school on Wednesday as well. This year, he will be going from 12:00-3:15 Monday-Thursday. He's pretty excited to go!!

i spy, with my little eye...

I took Brecken to his preschool developmental screening today. He had to do all sorts of stuff this year, as someone turning 4. He had to:

*identify colors (easy)

*identify letters (easy)

*look at a picture of a triangle, a plus sign, a "b", a circle, etc. and draw them himself (he did pretty good!!)

*watch his teacher stack blocks in different ways and then he had to stack his blocks in the same way (he thought that was awesome that he did it right!)

*he had to catch a bean bag from a couple feet away, with both hands and then with just one hand (piece of cake)

*hop on one foot (which last I knew, he couldn't do yet, but he wouldn't try today)

*WRITE HIS NAME! AND HE DID IT!! (only, the K turned out a lot like an H. But heck! Oh well- he has a hard name!)

*take a block and put it beside a big block, under the big block, around the big block, on the big block, etc... (easy)

*identify sounds letters make when shown the letter (which he got most of them...)

*identify pictures of things like a hanger, a clock, a pencil, etc... and then had to tell what each one does (he didn't know it was called thermometer, but when asked which one of the pictures tells how hot it is, he pointed right to it.)

*count

*say his ABC's (he sang the whole song! :) )

*move 3 blocks from one pile to the other side of the table, and then seven... (got the 3, didn't get the 7 for some reason)

*twiddle his thumbs (wouldn't try this one either)

*and then the last thing- play "I Spy". He LOVES this game, but it was hard today! He was shown a picture of a child's bedroom with lots of stuff in it. His teacher said, "I spy something that starts with the b sound." (She actually did the b sound.) He had to find something like a ball or a book. He had to do that with the D sound and the SH sound too. I guess we'll be working on that at home, as he pointed to a chair for the B sound, a ball for the D sound, and my favorite- the roll of tape for the SH sound. HA! Guess we have a homework project to do when we play I Spy now. :)

I'm sure there are other things, but I can't remember right now.

Brecken was sooo excited to see his teachers. I think he'll be glad school is starting again. Can't believe he's about to be 4!!!

winding down

Summer is coming to an end. Football starts tomorrow, and teachers go back to school on Wednesday. *sigh* I LOVE my job, but sometimes I wish we were rich so both Josh and I could stay home all the time and have fun!

We went to some friends' house last night for a BBQ with most of the other coaches from Josh's school. We had so much fun. And I realized just how much Brecken has come out of his shy shell this summer. He was running around with the other kids, paying no attention to Josh and I. He was even picking on one of Josh's fellow football coaches, stealing his bean bag from the game the adults were playing, and saying, "Come get me!" He has NEVER initiated play from another adult before (besides Grandmas and Grandpas) so this was quite new. Josh and I watched in amazement. One of the other basketball coaches told us that he noticed how much more social Brecken is now. It was pretty fun to watch. However, by the time 9:30 hit, I told Brecken we'd probably get ready to go pretty soon and he stopped playing, came right over to me, and said, "I just want to go now, Mom." He was so tired from running with the kids- and man, did he sleep good last night!! :)

minnesota, don'tcha know?

We had a great trip to see my sister last week. The trip started on Sunday, with a drive across South Dakota after spending the night with my parents. Of course, no trip across South Dakota is complete without a stop at Wall Drug:

We stopped in Sioux Falls for the night. Brecken was a SUPER car-rider, but we had all had enough of sitting in the car. We got out at the mall, walked around and got some leg energy out, then went to a hotel for the night. They had a super-cool pool area for Brecken to get the rest of his energy out in!

Monday, we got back in the car and continued on. We got to my sister's house shortly after lunch, so it wasn't too much of a drive. Brecken was so excited to see Ryan and play in his new back yard!!

Tuesday was a great day! We got to see our dear friend Amy and her son Dylan, who is Brecken's best buddy ever! He talks about Dylan ALL.THE.TIME and misses him soooo much. (They moved to MN last October.) Amy's other sons, Harrison and Cooper, came along too. We met at Chuck E. Cheese's and the boys played and played and played, and we got to catch up with Amy. It was SOOO good to see them. I wish they didn't have to move, but it sounds like it was for the best- they are doing great out there! Brecken was so sad when it was time to go, but hopefully we will see them again soon! (In the picture below, Dylan is in the long sleeves- he is about 6 months older than Brecken but you wouldn't know it! The other little boy in red is Cooper. He's two. And huge.)

L-R- Dylan, Brecken, Cooper, Harrison. Harrison was so good at helping the little boys play all the games!

Tuesday night, we went on a dinner cruise on the St. Croix river with my sister and her family. Brecken was sooo excited to eat dinner on a boat! It was a lot of fun. On the way back to the dock, we headed right into a storm. I was ever so thankful we had 4 adults for the 4 children- we each grabbed one and made a run for it in the absolute downpour and lightning to get to the cars. It got a bit scary!

Getting ready to eat:

Outside on the deck:

Brecken and Ryan were pretty sure they saw a whale. In the river. :)

Wednesday, we got to play at the school playground in Kristen's town. And then we headed to the Como Zoo. It was the PERFECT weather to do the zoo- not too muggy, not to hot... worked out great!

Thursday- what a fun, fun day! My niece Brooke turned 2 on this day. We spent the day at the Mall of America (or, Mall of Kamaria as Brecken called it) at the Nickelodeon Universe. WHAT A FUN PLACE!!! They have a ton of rides that are small-child friendly and we got the all day wristbands and let the kids go to town! We got there about 10:45 am and finally had to give the "pick one more ride" at 7:00 that night! The kids could have stayed all night long! We broke for lunch, but otherwise it was go, go, go! They have a Blue's Clues ride, a child-friendly roller coaster, all sorts of fun stuff. Brecken LOVED it. His favorite ride was the bumper cars- he rode it four times. :)

Friday was Brooke's birthday party. We went to The Giggle Factory, an indoor playground, with some of David and Kristen's friends to play in the morning. We all went back to David and Kristen's house for lunch and birthday cake and presents!

Saturday was our last full day in Minnesota. We spent it at Lake Elmo. My son, the fish, loved every single minute of it. He played so hard that he fell asleep in the car when we left. Josh and I took that opportunity to drive around exploring the area while he got some rest. :) We had a great day there and the weather, once again, was perfect! It was even overcast most of the day so we didn't all get sunburned!

Sunday was the day we had to leave. :( It was a LONG trip south through Minnesota and Iowa and into Nebraska. We stopped in Grand Island, NE for the night and got home on Monday afternoon. It was a really long two days, especially since Brecken sported a fever and wasn't feeling the greatest. :(

All in all, it was an awesome trip! We can't wait to go back!

our parrot

Josh: Brecken, go get me your cup, if you want more milk.
Brecken: Fine! For crying out loud!!

Hmmm... Daddy... guess it's time for you to stop using that phrase!!!

Another new one this week: OH. MY. GOSH.

I'm not lost. I'm still here. We went on a fabulous trip to Minnesota and just got back last night, so I'm playing catch-up! A post with pictures from our trip is soon to come!

the art of friendship

About 4 months or so ago, I had an email from a very dear friend of mine. It was inviting me and several other girls to her house to spend a weekend. I was instantly excited and even more so when I decided to go!

That friend, K, is someone I had never met in real life before. She and I are on the same online support group for infertile women. She lives in Connecticut, works in New York City, and desperately wants a baby. (and is one of the most generous women I've ever met in my entire life.) My other friends that were invited are on the same board, all with the diagnosis of infertility.

It's a funny thing, this infertility. It messes with your head in a horrible way. I read an article today that mentioned a sentence that makes a lot of sense- infertiles are mourning the death, may it be, of children you'll never meet. It's a chronic mourning that is a constant reminder of what you are going through. The article I read was all about how women won't talk about what is going on- it's like the silence of breast cancer years ago. (click here to read the article if you want.)

However, on my board, as I call it, we are totally open about our battle. So much so that I could tell you about the uterus of any friend on there. We are constantly analyzing each other's bodies and giving advice and cheerleading, and shoulders to cry on. It's one amazing group of women. I can't even begin to explain to you how close we are, it's just one of those things you have to experience for yourself. Every time we get a new member, the first posts are always, "Welcome!! So sorry you have to be here, but glad you are because this is the best group of women ANYWHERE!" And it's so true. We are sorry we have to have new members because this is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. But if you want to find support, our tight-knit group is definitely the place to go.

That's why, this weekend while meeting everyone, not a single one of us said, "it's so good to meet you!" We realized that halfway through the weekend. Not ONE of us ever said that to another, and it was totally subconsciously. We didn't feel like we were meeting someone- because we've known each other's intricate details of life for so long. It truly felt like we were seeing an old friend again. Which was true- we ARE old friends, just hadn't been able to hug each other yet.

And lots of hugging was done. And talking. And gabbing. And talking about our husbands. (my friend K's husband is from South Africa- sooooo glad I got to meet him- he has an accent to die for, is so charming, and is into photography, too!! I was lucky to see some of his work from when he was a ranger in the South African bush, and my jaw dropped while gasps came out several times- his work is BEAUTIFUL. Have you ever seen a close up photo of an animal ripping up another animal, with blood spraying everywhere and a kidney flying in the air? I have now!) Some of us are lucky enough to be mothers and we talked about our children. Which we were assured by K that it wasn't bothering her- it was actually giving her hope that it was going to happen to her some day. We rubbed the belly of my great friend T who is pregnant for the first time after FIVE YEARS of trying. We ate. And ate. And ate. We shopped 'til we dropped. We did sightseeing in the Big Apple. We walked. We rode trains and taxis. We laughed. I crossed 4 states off my list of states I've never visited before.

And through all of this, I healed a little. It wasn't intentional, it just happened. I no longer feel the mourning as bad as I have lately. Of course, I'm still quite sad that my body isn't giving ME the choice to choose how big our family should be. But I'm OK with that, I think. My friend K put it best when she said that after this weekend, the little pieces in her that were missing are now complete. These are the best friends a girl could ask for. Now I'm just ticked that they all live so far away. :)

I will always be infertile. That part of me will never, ever go away. I will always be sad that my body won't work as it's supposed to. But the gaping hole it has left in my heart is now a tiny bit smaller.

K, T, L, M, G, and S, thank you. Thank you for being my friends. Thank you for helping me heal. Thank you, for being YOU.

my athlete

B is in love with our new back yard. We are finally able to play out there and he takes full advantage of it! We got him an oversized baseball set the other day and now it seems that's all we play! I was playing with him yesterday and when Josh came home, Brecken went running to him and said, "DADDY! You wanna play baseball with me and Mommy? You can be the goalie!" :)

He definitely is a sports nut. The first thing out of his mouth the other morning was "Daddy, can we go golfing right now?" While in Gillette, he couldn't wait to go back to my mom's playground at her school with a basketball so he could shoot hoops. Josh can't even think about going to bball practice (for camps) without Brecken asking if he can come along. He also puts his football in the grass (and it stands up like it's on a tee) and he practices and practices his football kicks. Who knows... perhaps someday, he'll be a pro athlete and can buy his mom and dad a nice house on a tropical island. :)

Some pictures from the 4th of July weekend...

we're back!

It's been a while since I've posted!

Since then, we enjoyed a great trip to Gillette for the 4th of July and my mom's birthday. During that time, Josh and my dad played in a golf tournament at Devil's Tower. The second day, they got caught in a pouring rainstorm. Josh described it as being soaked to his undies- which made Brecken giggle hysterically when I told him that. :)

My mom and I spent a lot of time playing with B, even going to my mom's school so he could have the brand new playground to himself. He played and played and played, and we had to bring Daddy back there a few days later to play basketball with him! We also went to the 4th of July parade, did a few small fireworks, went out to see the HUGE display the city puts on every year, went swimming at the incredible new Rec Center, went out for my mom's birthday dinner, and just overall, had a great, relaxing time.

Pictures to follow!

life at the frat house

This is totally true about life with a child. I laughed pretty hard!

the grass is greener

on OUR side of the fence! Woo-hoo, it's done!! I have a BEAUTIFUL new yard! I can't wait until we are able to run and play on it!

knock knock

Brecken has been working on his knock-knock jokes today. Here are a couple of them.

Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Banana peel.

Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange tree.

Doesn't *quite* get the concept but they make me laugh anyway. :)

fishio

We had a small gumball machine for Brecken for potty training. Every time went potty, he got a penny or dime to put in the machine for a little gumball. When the gumballs were all gone (there were maybe 25 in there), he got to take the money out and spend it on whatever he wanted. Last Saturday while in Casper, this is what he picked out:


His name is Fishio. And B loves him. At first, he couldn't understand why we wouldn't let him get Fishio out to play with, but he understands now. He tells Fishio good night, good morning, and remembers to feed him. It's a pretty cute little relationship. :)

loco

I'm sad to report that I cannot write about our beautiful new back yard today. They thought they might be able to lay sod today, but nobody came. Perhaps on Monday!

We've had other lawn drama this week though- in the front yard. Long story short, the city needed to put in a new water meter and that included tearing out my BRAND NEW flower bed that Josh built for me, digging 9 feet into the ground, and deciding that was the wrong spot so they had to do the same thing in my yard, next to the planter (that was no longer there). I was so mad. I cried- Josh put a lot of time into that planter! Brecken cried too because his flowers weren't going to grow now. :(

After they got done digging up my yard, they sent a crew over to fix my planter. They did such a nice job on it. They ran out of bricks even, so I think my planter is a bit bigger than it used to be! HA! They worked really hard though- made sure it was level, made sure each brick was perfectly straight, etc. I made sure to give them a HUGE thank you before they left. Most of the crew only spoke Spanish but the head guy knew English. I had to laugh while I listened to them talk while they worked- all I could decipher was "loco". I sure hope they weren't calling us "crazy"- though I wouldn't blame them in the least for thinking that- they probably heard stories of me yelling very angrily at the guy who told me that ruining my beautiful planter because they didn't take 5 seconds to double check water line placement was "not a big deal". :) No yelling at the crew that put it back together though- they did beautiful work.

Here's a bad cell phone picture of the flower bed earlier this week, and then Brecken helping his Daddy put mulch in the planter today. He's wearing his basketball sweatband for some reason.

I've given up on flowers for this year. (though a few of the sunflowers Brecken planted survived- they are still sprouting at the back of the planter- the 3 inches that wasn't ruined!)

landscape

We're getting our back yard re-landscaped! I'm so excited. It was all dead before. I took pictures of it in the true "before" stage, but I accidentally deleted them off my card before I put them on my computer. So here are some "during" ones. I'll post the "after" when they get done with it- hopefully on Friday!! We got a sprinker system installed (in the front yard too!) this past weekend, so we're all set to go!

Here is the side of our house- Josh wants to take the shed out and put in a cement pad for basketball!

The oter side of the house- the junk pile. It is now part of the dog kennel- we extended the kennel so they have from one side of the patio, to around the corner and side of the house. Much more room to run when they have to be in the kennel. They can also get into the garage to get out of weather elements. Don't worry- we'll be picking up all the junk. :)

The upper level of the yard. Picture ugly, dead crab grass growing wildly, and three dead pine trees along the fence line. Those were removed. The tree on the right is a chokecherry tree.

Looking at the lower level from the patio

little linebacker

what's the bzzz

I recently decided to sign up with Bzz Agent. Bzz Agent is a place where you can try product samples and then tell everyone you know your review on the samples. I've gotten two so far, and think they're worthy of telling you dry-climate girls about them!

The first one I tried is Dove Insensive Repair Daily Treatment Conditioner.

I'm always looking for good conditioners because in our neck of the woods, where the climate is extremely dry, my hair needs the extra moisture. I left it in for the minute it said to, and I can tell you that I will be buying another bottle of this, that's for sure. It makes my hair sooo soft! I love this conditioner.

The next thing I got to try was Got2Be Smooth Operator. It's a product to use on wet or dry hair to prevent flyaways and make styling easier. It also is supposed to protect your hair against heat when you use your curling iron or flat iron or whatever it is you use.

To be honest, I'm not in love with this product. It made my hair feel like there was something on it, which I really dislike. I like my hair to be touchable, not like there's gunk in it. However, that very well may be because I used it on my wet hair, blew it dry, and then used it again before using my flat iron. Next time I actually do my hair, I'll just use it once and see if I can feel a difference. I will say though, that my hair was much flatter with this product in it, not nearly as frizzy after straightening it, which was lovely!

If you want coupons or samples of any of these, let me know, because I have some to hand out! I'll even mail them! :)