Lil' Miss

Don't you just wish you had this much sass!! Love her!!

10 Years Ago... a tag for you!

Ten years ago...
I was 22, newly married, newly mommied and living in Logan, Utah! I think I spent my days feeding Jess, changing Jess, feeding Jess, watching TV while feeding Jess, making food for Chris, feeding Jess... You know the drill!
Five Things on my TO DO List...
1-Make a hair appointment (still trying to decide if I want color again... or just a trim!)
2-Purchase 3 new blinds at Picerne (to replace some broken ones.)
3-Make potato salad, marinate chicken and bake cookies for tonight (having friends over!)
4-Add some more songs to my Playlist player...
5-Read an article my dad sent me entitled, "A Sense of the Sacred".
If I were a Billionaire...
Chris would leave the military. We would open up a Computer business/ Bookstore and work at it for FUN! I would buy a gorgeous eco-friendly home with CASH in Colorado! I would pay off ALL our debts and buy a Ford Mustang... and a Mini Cooper... and a Treadmill and a Wii Fit... and and and. I think I would pay off my parent's house, Chris' parent's house, my Grandma's house... I would go back to school and save money for the kids' missions and college. We would take that trip to Disney World we wanted... 6 times!! Heck, we might as well buy a condo there! We'd go to Portugal, England, Spain, France, Germany, Japan.... I hope I never become a billionaire - it's too much work thinking about how to spend it all!!!
Three bad habits I have...
I run my fingers through my hair all the time... and by doing this, I catch all the loose hairs and pull them out. I've done it since I was a kid... I try really hard not to do it now because it bothers Chris to find hair all around.
I can't ever relax if my house isn't just so. I think this is bad because of the relaxing part... not the cleaning part.
I start too many books at a time and sometimes never get around to finishing them!
Places I have lived...
Springville, Logan and Brigham City, UT
Richmond, TX (for a month)
Hepzibah, GA
Jobs I've had...
Pizza Hut cook
Copy chick (at a local copy shop)
Bookstore clerk (at a little shop in Springville)
Microchip tester
Clerk at Deseret Book
Stampin' Up! Demonstrator
Things Most People Don't Know about Me...
I am terrified of heights and falling and spiders. My dream job would be to be a Librarian. I know... but I LOVE organizing things and reading and the smell of books and the quiet... Ahhhhh! I have never been outside the United States. Ever. Not even Mexico or Canada. I don't like water unless it's 5 feet deep or less... I never take baths. Who wants to sit there in hot water and look at their own body! Ugh! Showers only for me! I love exclamation points!! And ellipsis... I collect lip-gloss and pens. I love frogs. I owned one once and his name was Denzel. He was so cute! Except for the part where I had to feed him LIVE crickets!

OK... so now I've done it! Let's see all of you do it too!!! Can't wait to read yours!

Keeping It Real!

I was tagged by Nicole ( http://sohfam.wordpress.com/ )to do this great little post! There was no cleaning in the taking of these pictures... No cheating here! I woke up early this morning (6:45!) to the dulcet tunes of the 82nd Choir being blasted over the loudspeakers.... grrrrr. Since I was up, I decided to do this post... Enjoy!

My Fridge

My Sink

A toilet

My bed... It's habit for me to make it right when I get up...

I tag... Monica, Daisy and Sugar!!!

Keeping It Real... continued!

Place I would like to go on Vacation.... Anyplace with Mountains!! (I think this is in Canada...)

What my kids are doing.... ahhhhh! Peaceful!

Self Portrait

Favorite Pair(s) of Shoes

My Closet... I love my big blue stability ball... but I hate that the kids play with it...
Yes.... I have lots of clothes!

Check This Out!!

My sister- in- law sent me a link to check out this great new airline!!!
Tell me what you think!! Hee hee!

Delicious Cleaning!

I don't want to sound like a cleaning commercial... but these cleaners are AMAZING!! Not only do they clean remarkably well, they smell fabulous!! My kitchen and bathrooms don't smell toxic! Yay! I ran out of toilet cleaner last week and my friend had given me some Mrs. Meyer's counter spray in Geranium scent, so I went out looking for some good smelling cleaners. I found some!!! I am a clean freak, as most of you know, and it is so nice to be able to have delicious smelling cleaners to do my daily routine with! They are also environmentally safe so I can help save our planet! Yay! They are a little more expensive, but just the aromas make it all worth it! You can buy all the Mrs. Meyer's cleaners (I like all the scents... but geranium is my fave!!) at her website: www.mrsmeyers.com and the Method cleaners (which smell like mint and eucalyptus!!!) are at Target I believe! Use up all your toxic, ucky cleaners and replace them with these yummy ones!!

My First Polish Pottery!!

My friend T has introduced me to the wonders of Polish Pottery!! It is so beautiful and useful! She has bought lots of it in Europe and her pattern of choice is a pretty daisy. I love the stars! If I were to pick a pattern it would have to involve stars. Well, T brought me this darling little salt and pepper set in a star pattern. I was just in awe!!! I love it!!! Thanks so much T!! LOVE them!!

May I?!

May is such a fun month! Spring still lingers a bit and summer hasn't come yet so the weather is lovely. I was outside today with Jillian and the sun felt sooooo good. I can't say that I like the warmth of the sun very often; I'm always hot, but it felt so nice today. I just finished posting a billion and one pictures over on my family blog... but I wanted to post a few of my favorites here. It has been a long month and especially the past few weeks! With my grandfather's passing, my trip home, Chris getting in a car accident, the move coming up... I feel that I've been twirled around and around and around and then shoved out into traffic and told to make my way safely across the street!!! It's a bit like the commercial that says, "Life comes at you fast...". Too fast sometimes!!
We went to pick up a rental van a few days ago and it has been so very nice to have 2 cars!! I feel free again! The rental is a Chevy Uplander and I really don't like it. For one thing, it stinks. Literally. I hate that smoked-in smell. Secondly, it just isn't my Toyota. I believe I have turned into a Toyota snob. I love my Sienna. Toyota knew what they were doing when they made that van! It has a place for EVERYTHING and it is comfortable and smooth... I just love it. I've been totally spoiled for anything else. It's been the best car we've ever bought.
Back to the pictures I posted... the first one just makes me laugh everytime I look at it! Jeremiah had the hat and scarf in his backpack through all the winter months. He took them out the other night and Jillian grabbed them up and wore them around the house all evening with her little flip flops clicking on the floor as she went. It was adorable. She never fails to make us laugh each and every day!
The second picture is of me and my brothers and sisters. The back row is me, Ben, Emily, Amy, and Rebecca. On the floor is Jake, Sarah and Sam. (James is missing from the photo because he's serving his mission in Mexico and loving every minute of it!) I love this picture because it felt like it had been so long since we took one and because we all look pretty darn good! I have such beautiful sisters and handsome brothers. Both Amy and Rebecca are expecting babies this summer. Boys! We have a lot of boys in our family. I have 2 of the 4 girls and Ben has the other 2. The rest (8?) are boysies. Lots of fun.
The third picture is of my grandfather's casket draped with an American flag. This photo is so meaningful to me. I love that I am a member of a church that teaches such beautiful things about life after death. I know that I will see my grandfather again. I know that he is in a beautiful and happy place with those ancestors who have gone before him. I know that he will be there to greet me when I eventually leave this earth. His funeral wasn't a sad occasion for me. I was initially upset at the news that he had gone, but then I was filled with so much peace knowing the truths of the gospel and the plan that Christ has given us. We will sure miss his sweet smiling face at all our family reunions. We'll miss having him pull up in a new car anxious for a bathroom break and some of Mom's fresh baked cookies! We'll miss his intelligent conversation and his great advice. His physical presence in our lives will be missed but his spiritual presence will never leave us. It was a sweet and special weekend for me to be able to share memories and remembrances of him with all my family. I will treasure those memories for always.
The last picture is of me and my brother, Ben. Ben always makes me laugh. He always has. I thought I was going to pee my pants at least twice as I would break into fits of laughter over something he said or did. We sat and played a dice game on Saturday night and he had us all laughing so hard. I don't even remember what got us going, but I know my stomach muscles were sooooo sore the next day! It seems that every time we get together as a family, laughter just pores out of all of us! All my brothers make me laugh. They just have a way about them. I love them all. It was definitely Joy and Rejoicing all around as we spent some time together. My grandfather always used to say that. Joy and rejoicing. As he would look around at his posterity, he would say it. He had a great posterity. He and my grandmother had 12 children who, in turn, had large families and it has just grown and grown. One of my cousin's brought her new little baby to the funeral and I think he made the 40th great grandchild. Pretty amazing.
Sorry if this post has dragged on or been a bit random... I think my thoughts are always a little crazy in the early evening. The genius doesn't come out till well past midnight... hee hee. Till then...

Monson's Wiggle!

Ok. I spent hours this morning trying to figure out how to get the little YouTube player thingy to come to my blog... but I failed. I even had my super savvy computer tech hubby try... but still no luck! So here is a LINK to the YouTube video I wanted to post...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTmft6wkNa4
It is the most adorable thing!!! You must watch it and tell me what you think!! Chris can do it! His just aren't as big as President Monson's... Hee hee! Ok, if you're not curious by now, you're crazy!!

Good Deeds and Gasoline!

I know. I haven't written for a week and 2 days and now I'm posting twice in one day! Wow! Well. I was sitting here thinking of all the fun things that I think about when I just sit and I thought I would blog about one of my thoughts! The other day, we were at the neighborhood center and I was exercising while Chris and the kids were watching a movie on their big screen TV. Well, that was the plan anyways... They ended up not having a cord to connect their TV to their DVD. Chris, being the amazing man that he is, told the woman in charge that he has billions (yes literally) of cables lying around at our home and could go and get one to make the TV and DVD work. He did so. Then he and the kids watched their movie. I finished my workout and we went home. A few days later, the manager of the neighborhood center called us and asked if we could come down and pick up a gift card for helping them with their TV/DVD!! Of course, he said, "YES!" and went and chose a gift card for 25$ of gas at a Shell gas station!! Yay! It was so unexpected to be rewarded for such a little thing! The only problem with our reward... is that we have no clue where to find a Shell gas station!! Isn't that always how it works!?! I am sitting here trying to rack my brain and remember if I've seen any Shell stations anywhere along any of the roads that we frequently travel. Man. It is nice to know that sometimes good deeds are rewarded in a timely enough manner that you actually remember doing the good deed! I don't know if any of you watched Oprah's Big Give tv show? I watched a few episodes and the finale. I was glad that the man that won was the man that I wanted to win. And it was nice that after giving and giving and giving across America, he was rewarded with more money - to Give! I loved that. I think that it should always happen like that - the givers should get more to give! Anyways... it's been on my mind... :)

I Just Wanna!!

I just read a post on my friend Terina's blog entitled, "I Just Don't Wanna!"(http://terinajlucyandrew.blogspot.com/2008/04/i-just-dont-wanna.html ) and it made me laugh so hard. I believe I am one of the person's she refers to who are "addicted to endorphins"... It inspires me to make a list now of 10 reasons why I wanna exercise!!
1 - I can do it anywhere!! Like in my living room with Deni and Total Body Workout, in my garage on my elliptical, walking the hills and byways of my neighborhood with Jilli in tow or riding my bicycle, also, at the neighborhood center, or at the track... the options are endless!
2 - Sometimes I can kick my kids while doing it! :)
3 - My kids are up early so I can start my day early and get exercise done so I can still accomplish a lot in my day.
4 - I always change it up so I don't get bored!
5 - We have had lots of rain which cools the air and makes it the perfect temperature for outdoor exercise!
6- It takes a lot of effort, but putting forth the effort makes me feel good!
7 - Exercising with a bunch of military spouses at the neighborhood center can be very entertaining. The more women who fill the gym, the more stories and gossip I hear. It's better than Oprah and All My Children combined! (Not to say I watch All My Children... it was the only soap opera title that popped in my head!)
8 - My husband LOVES the results of me exercising and what could be more motivating for me to get out and move!!
9 - But even better still... I love the results of me exercising! And so does Kohls, Downeast Basics, Shade Clothing, Gap, Walmart.... :)
10 - Exercise is always at least one item I can check off on my daily TO DO list!! :)
I hope you've found my list as entertaining as I found writing it!! (especially YOU Terina!!)

"Open the Freakin' Door!!!"

Yeah. I know that's a weird title for a post... but I just had to share the story! Jillian has had a rough time going to sleep since Chris returned. She always fussed a little, but now she fusses a lot.
Well, tonight, I had put her in her bed and gone to Jessica's room to listen as Chris read to the other two. We were all sitting there, getting into the story, when we heard Jilli screaming. Chris stopped reading and we all listened to hear what she was saying. She was screaming, "Open the freakin' door!!" Ok. We all busted out laughing. It was absolutely hilarious! Then I got thinking about where on earth she could have heard that word. Well, I must admit that it was from ME!! Yep. I say freakin' entirely too much. I think it just shows how much I have let my vocabulary lapse. At least she wasn't repeating any other of the choice words I have let slip out on occasion! I really need to watch what comes out of my mouth because obviously someone is listening!!

Happiness is...

Happiness is having my sweetie home safe again! Happiness is having Jilli say "Daddy do it." instead of "Mommie do it." Happiness is having someone to warm my cold feet on at night! Happiness is waking up next to someone you love every morning! Happiness is hearing Chris sing the kids to sleep each night. Happiness is having a pile of Army crap higher than me in my garage! Happiness is kisses... Man I missed them! Happiness is being together as a family once again! Happiness is trying to catch up on all the TV shows and movies he missed while he was away! (Thank goodness for DVR!) Happiness is... ME!!

I think that that just about sums up all that I've been feeling in these past few days since Chris got home! It feels like he never left. He's jumped right back into the swing of things and it has been just wonderful having him here again. So many things have changed and so many things will always stay the same. I just love that he can so easily slide right back into his role as husband and father. He's an amazing man and I love him!!

If you want to see more pictures of his homecoming... check out my family blog - in the links to your right...

Happy Spring!

Don't I just have the cutest kids EVER!?! I'm so lucky!
Jilli was playing with my camera and snapped this photo of me... Lovely eh?
And here I am with Jilli and the big old Dinosaur that she was too scared to stand next to so I had to pick her up and be in this lovely picture... My friend Terina is in the blue trying to get her daughter, Lucy, to stand with us... Ahhhhh. The joys of two year olds!

Going Out Like a Lion!

March is definitely going out like a lion! It has been drizzly and cold for 2 days now and will most likely continue to be for a few more! I don't mind the cooler temperatures but the rain (as much as we need it!) just makes me feel depressed! Chris is not on his way yet and I really wanted him to be!! I know that that is just the way things work... but I think it's pretty impossible to not get your hopes up! I got a call tonight from Mrs. W, Major W's wife. She runs our FRG (Family Readiness Group) and she does a horrendous job. We're supposed to have get-togethers at least every month... but I think we've had maybe one throughout the whole deployment. ONE! That is just lame. She called me to get my address so she could mail me an invitation to come to some event to be recognized for all I've done as a Key Caller through this year... I nearly laughed. I think that I have called down my phone roster maybe three or four times this year; just to check in with people... I guess I've done all that was required of me?? I don't think it's anything to get up and make a fuss over... I'm curious as to what the event will involve. Crazy Army hoopla... I'll probably get a big gold plaque - UGH!! Today, the kids helped me shred a huge stack of papers. I've been going through my filing cabinet and there were a lot of things in it that I really don't need to hang on to! It took us about 3 hours to shred everything. We filled three garbage sacks!! Jilli was having a ball playing in the paper bits! I have paper tracked all through the house tonight. But at least that job is done!! I just know I'm going to have nightmares tonight about some paper that I really really needed and I SHREDDED it!! AHHHH!! Oh well! Que Sera, Sera!!

Spring Break!

We are in the midst of our Spring Break week and I'm pleasantly surprised at how good my kids have been overall! Having them home is usually not something I enjoy. I like ME time and having them go off to school gives me plenty of time to myself, but we are really having a great time together this week. We have been to the new Library playground twice for several hours and today I took them to see "Horton Hears a Who"; which I just loved! I even took them shopping with me at Walmart today and we had no "gimme" moments or Jilli meltdowns! Yay! The lovely spring weather has been wonderful and the kids just LOVE being outside. I have even actually been able to finish making up all my birthday cards for the year! Yay!
I watched a really great movie last night called "Freedom Writers". (What would I do without Netflix!?!) It was excellent. I was amazed at the positive influence of the teacher in the lives of these inner city kids. It plays out like all the other 'teacher helping students realize their potential' movies, but I really enjoyed this one. (Possibly because she was an English teacher... I am a little biased when it comes to English teachers!) One thing she did, that I thought was great, was to have each student write daily in a journal. I know that I've posted on journal writing before... but it really does help you sort out all your feelings. I am amazed at how much better I feel about things that get me upset after I have written about them in my journal. I know I had an experience a few years ago that got me totally aggravated and I didn't feel like I could talk it out with anyone. I went up to my room and wrote all the things out that had gotten to me. After I finished, I sat and read through it all and it was amazingly therapeutic. I think writing is a excellent form of therapy. And it's cheap! I hope I can keep up with my journal writing because it has really made a difference in how I handle things in my life. Watch that movie for some positive reinforcement about the impact writing in a journal can make!
On another note... I've got to come up with some great ideas for our Visiting Teaching Conference coming up in May. My president really wants the focus to be on the basics of Visiting Teaching. Do any of you have any great ideas? Anything you've seen done that really stood out? Let me know! Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

Good News!

Sorry I have neglected my poor blog for a bit! I've been so busy this week! My house was completely neglected till Thursday night! I just wasn't home much during the day and then when I did get home, I was too tired to do much else but go on to bed! (Check out my family blog for more on what I've been up to...) I also babysat this week. Usually that is not my forte; but these babies were wonderful! The one little boy I had on Friday from 10 until 2 and he was a doll! His mom was at the Temple and I can't think of a better reason to babysit for someone! The baby girl I watched on Saturday night was also just great! I was so glad! Her mom and dad went out on a date. Her daddy just got home from Afghanistan (and worked with Chris!) so they were needing to get out alone. They went to a concert and I know they had a good time. It's hard for me to agree to watch someone's child when I have 3 of my own... but I was glad I did because they were surprisingly easy. They were both around 9 months old and that is such a fun age. I will definitely count these for my good deeds for the week! Hee hee.

My good news (thus the title for this post!) is that my sweetie will be home sooner than we thought! Yay! He also came up on orders for a teaching position back at Ft. Gordon! We'll be headed back down there at the end of the summer. It is very exciting to me because it means he won't deploy again for a while. Always good news! I am really and truly going to miss being here and all the wonderful, amazing women I have met and become friends with! I almost get weepy thinking about it, but then I remember that I don't cry and my eyes just dry right up! I know we will all stay in touch and I'm so glad I got into blogging so we can stay connected. I love the internet! How did we survive without it!!? Well, I must get to my nightly email to Chris! Love you all!

Recent Cards... part 2!

Here are the rest of the 5 for 5 cards... If you see anything you like or MUST have... Let me know!

Recent Cards!

Here are some recent cards I've made!! Soooo cute, right! I just had to share! The top two are from my Stamp Club. I love the circle card because we used glitter and it was SOOOOO sparkly and fun. The bottom two are from my 5 cards for 5 bucks class I did today! Very fun! I just love making cards! Wish you all could have been here creating with me!

Me and Driving

I can't remember exactly where we were going... oh! Monica and I were headed to the church for the project group on Tuesday morning and I was driving. I hadn't seen "Mica" (Jilli's nickname for her!) in a while so we were catching up on the latest and just laughing and talking... good times. Well, I was driving. I shouldn't drive and talk at the same time. Truly. I ran a red light. Yep. Now, I know this may be alarming to most of you... but it wasn't the least bit alarming to me! I sailed right through the red light (on Gruber, right where you exit the 82nd HQ compound) and didn't even bat an eye. Monica said, "You just ran a red light!!!" I said, "Oh, really??" I honestly hadn't even noticed. Yeah. I am so glad that my guardian angels were out there playing MP's and holding up the traffic. I looked back at the intersection and there were cars there.... They just hadn't decided to go yet - thankfully. Well, needless to say, I was quite a bit more careful for the rest of the day and week. I like to think that I can do two things at once... but sometimes I really wonder at my expertise in that area!! Have any of you ever had this happen to you? I can laugh about it now... but it was a little scary after the fact that morning.
Another thing that I wanted to ask you all... Have you ever seen a minivan, driven by a Mom with children, pulled over to receive a speeding ticket?? I have honestly NEVER seen a minivan driven by a mom and filled with kids pulled over. I have this theory that cops don't pull over minivans driven by women.... Let me know if you've seen this (or been one!!) My husband has been pulled over in our minivan. He was caught shaving! The cop thought he was talking on a cell phone (which is prohibited here on Post). He was given a warning and sent on his way. I'm just curious because I hope that it means that I can fudge a little on my speed, when I'm late for something and trying to get there quickly... Let me know what ya think!