Richelle's Reflections

I Love Spring Flowers!

2010-04-08T14:55:00.002-04:00

Sorry to those of you who have gotten snow this week. We have been enjoying 80 degree plus weather, playing in the park, having picnics, and even running through the sprinklers. And the sights and smells of beautiful flowers!

New Camera

2010-02-01T21:17:00.015-05:00

I got a new camera for Christmas. I got a Canon PowerShot SX120 IS. It is not a fancy SLR or anything, but it is pretty fun.

I took these pictures at my parents house after Christmas. They had some cool icicles hanging down from their roof, and the trees were beautifully covered with snow.

It has a great 10x optical zoom, which has been great to get pictures like these from the other week at a local park's nature exhibit.

A hawk:

An eagle:

A bear:

Bison and elk:

I can also get shots like this, without even stepping outside! :)

PS--This blog has been a little neglected lately. I have been blogging a bit more faithfully on my other blog, so make sure you visit me there, too!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T14:49:00.002-05:00

"At the focal point of all human history, a point illuminated by a new star in the heavens revealed for just such a purpose, probably no other mortal watched--none but a poor young carpenter, a beautiful virgin mother, and silent stabled animals who had not the power to utter the sacredness they had seen. Shepherds would soon arrive and later, wise men from the East. Later yet the memory of that night would bring Santa Claus and Frosty and Rudolph--and all would be welcome. But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel. With a baby--that's how Christmas began. It is for this baby that we shout in chorus: 'Hark! the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King! . . . Mild he lays his glory by, Born that man no more may die; Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth' ( Hymns, no. 209)."
--Jeffrey R. Holland, "Without Ribbons and Bows", New Era, Dec. 1994, 6

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T17:25:00.001-05:00

Getting the most out of Pumpkins

2009-10-30T21:03:00.005-04:00

Last night we carved our pumpkins.

I always enjoy carving pumpkins. One of my favorite parts of carving though, is getting to eat the seeds. If you have never toasted pumpkin seeds, you should! They make a yummy snack!

You basically want to cook them slowly until they are crispy. I don't think I do it the same every year, but this is what I did this year. I put a bit of oil and seasoning salt on them. Spread them out on a cookie sheet. Bake at 250° for about 40 minutes (stirring half way through). Then turned up the heat to about 350° for another 20 minutes or so. Once they are slightly browned and crispy, they are done! Enjoy!

Another thing we have done the last couple years, is carve out some of the inside flesh, cook it, puree, and freeze. Then we can make pumpkin pie or some other yummy treat later on!

Things That Make Me Smile

2009-10-24T19:57:00.008-04:00

fall colors
fog
rain
rainbows
flowers
baby giggles
baby toes
music
making music
hearing my 3 year old sing all day
hearing my husband sing to my boys
taking long warm showers
listening to the logic and stories of my 3 year old
watching my baby scoot all over the floor
flowers
watching my boys be sweet to each other
getting good deals and bargains
snuggles and cuddles and kisses from my boys
going fabric shopping
going fabric shopping while my husband makes dinner and dessert, feeds the boys, and gets the boys bathed...

I'm sure I could go on, but that will do for today!

Wow, It has been awile!

2009-10-19T15:00:00.002-04:00

I have really gotten out of the habit of blogging lately. I have been keeping up with my family's blog, so grandma's can see pictures of my boys, but this one has been a bit neglected.

Besides just being busy, I have been trying to decide what I want to do with my blog, trying to decide what my blogging "niche" is. I will still post on this blog random thoughts I have about life and motherhood. I have also started another blog.

It will basically be a log of all the projects that I do, both my projects and projects I do with my preschooler. My hope in sharing is that I can inspire someone else's creativity. If you stop by, leave me a comment, and don't forget to subscribe to my feed!

My Bathroom Smells Like Little Boys...

2009-06-10T15:49:00.004-04:00

But that means my little boy is using the bathroom!

I think it is safe to say that Big Brother is potty trained. He still hasn't gone a whole day without an accident, but he is wearing underwear all the time. He even wore them to bed last night with no accident!

I'm am so excited for this, so happy that he has finally decided he can use the potty. It has been a long process. He started getting interested in the potty before he was even 2, but nothing I tried to do to motivate him to be trained ever really worked and we would back off for a while. Now that he is over 3, he has had a lot of practice, and just finally decided he could do it. I mentioned in my last post that I was reading the book " Toilet Training in Less Than A Day." I actually didn't even get through the whole book. I did get some ideas from it, though. I think what finally worked for us was being patient, letting him decide if and when he wanted to wear underwear or go potty, trying to "inspire" him to want to go, instead of pressuring him and asking him to go. I also tried to get him to know how to do it himself (which is what the book teaches). That really has been key, because I can't always be right next to him for him to tell me when he needs to go. He knows he can just run to the bathroom and do it, and then ask me to help him wash his hands when he is done. The other thing the book teaches to do, which I did, was to emphasize staying dry. I started giving him treats every so often for staying dry, which reminded him when he needed to go. It works a lot better than asking him if he needs to go potty, which he always just responds with a "no" without even thinking about it. Now I just have to wean him off the treats. :)

Now that he has gotten the hang of going most of the time, he wants to stand up, which is why my bathroom smells like little boys. Now I need to train him to clean up after himself. :)

Yay, a Blog Post!

2009-06-04T10:10:00.011-04:00

I have been very uninspired to write any blog posts lately. No real reason, I guess life just gets busy.

A few things we have been up to lately:

Enjoying this:
Spontaneous trips here:
Enjoying a few of these in our yard:
Eating lots of:
and:
Reading this in hopes of trying, once more, (hopefully once and for all!), to get rid of these (at least in the bigger size):
Planning our trip to see my Sister married here:
Enjoying some free days at home with no errands or preschool to run off to.
And mostly enjoying an increasingly independent 3 year old and lots of baby giggles.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-11T09:57:00.005-04:00

I hope you all had a happy Mother's Day.

Saturday, my husband stayed at home with the boys so I could get my hair cut. Although not technically a mother's day gift, it was really nice to get it done. It has needed it for a while and we haven't really had a free Saturday recently that I could go. It feels so nice to have it shorter again.

Despite being woken up at 4 am and again at 5:45 by a stuffy little baby, I had a pretty good day Sunday.

When Big Brother woke up, he was excited to show me where my presents were hiding, in "Grandma's room" (our spare bedroom). He had picked out a balloon for me with flowers on it, and helped Daddy pick out a bouquet of flowers. They also gave me a book and CD. My husband also helped the boys make me a card (and gave me one from himself.) So sweet!

We went to church as usual. They gave all of the moms a carnation. My husband also bought some caramels the young women were selling as a fundraiser for girl's camp. Yum!

After church, my hubby got Big Brother to take a nap, and then took Baby Boy for a while so I could get a nap. Then, he made us a super yummy dinner. Roast and potatoes, carrots and homemade rolls, and a fresh fruit salad. Mmmm!

Since I know I can't expect a total day off, I'd say I got pretty close!

Thanks to my husband for giving me a special day!

Testimony

2009-04-27T07:18:00.007-04:00

If you are interested, here is the talk I gave in church yesterday:

How We Gain a Testimony

In the book, True to the Faith, (178–80) it defines testimony as “a spiritual witness given by the Holy Ghost.” It goes on to explain, “The foundation of a testimony is the knowledge that Heavenly Father lives and loves us; that Jesus Christ lives, that He is the Son of God, and that He carried out the infinite Atonement; that Joseph Smith is the prophet of God who was called to restore the gospel; that we are led by a living prophet today; and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Savior’s true Church on the earth. With this foundation, a testimony grows to include all principles of the gospel.”

So how do we gain such a testimony? When we think about gaining a testimony, quite often we think of stories where someone had some miraculous experience that lead them to believe in the truthfulness of the gospel. But, we do not have to have a spectacular experience to be able to gain a sincere testimony.

True to the Faith, (178–80) outlines four steps that we can follow to obtain and strengthen our testimonies.

1. “The quest for a testimony begins with a righteous, sincere desire.”

As it explains in Alma 32, we need to first “exercise a particle of faith” and “desire to believe” for our testimony to start to grow. Faith is not only a feeling, it is a decision. We need to choose faith. (Nov. 08 Ensign, p 14)

2. “Testimony comes through the quiet influence of the Holy Ghost.”

In October General Conference last year, Elder Carlos A. Godoy of the Seventy, gave a talk about gaining testimony. He told of an experience he had visiting a Sunday school class where they were discussing personal testimonies of the gospel. The teacher was asking the class if they had spiritual experiences that lead to their testimony of the Church. Elder Godoy wanted to be able to share an experience with the class, and felt they expected that he, as an Area Seventy, would have something impressive to share, but he was not able to think of anything. He did take the opportunity to share his testimony to them. Although he did not have a remarkable experience to share, he shared sincere testimony of the truths of the restored gospel.

Elder Godoy went on to explain that the spirit speaks, not loud or harsh, but gently, as a whisper to our souls. (Ensign, Nov. 08, 100-102)

Also, great events are not a guarantee that our testimony will be strong. Laman and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon, saw an angel, but very shortly forgot and questioned the will of the Lord. The great spiritual experience they had did not give them a testimony.

I like how the story of Alma the Younger illustrates this. Alma was visited by an angel. This experience was so powerful that Alma was “struck dumb” and “carried helpless to his Father.” After two days and two nights, Alma again received strength, and immediately bore testimony of the atonement of Christ; that he had repented of his sins and been redeemed of the Lord. This experience totally changed his life. He went from persecuting the gospel and those in the church, to being a great missionary and spreading the gospel. (Mosiah 27)

But, later in his life, Alma explained that his testimony was not based on this experience alone. He asked the people he was preaching to, “And how do ye suppose that I know of [the] surety [of these words]?” (he was speaking mainly about the atonement of Christ.) He then answered, “Behold I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.” (Alma 5:45-46)

Alma could have based his testimony on the miraculous appearance of an angel to him. But he didn’t. He made sure he knew for himself the truthfulness of the gospel. He fasted and prayed and received a witness from the spirit.

To quote Elder Godoy, “A testimony then, for some people, may come through a single and irrefutable event. But for others, it may come through a process of experiences that, perhaps not as remarkable but when combined, testify in an indisputable way that what we have learned and lived is true.”

“The results of a testimony can be miraculous and life changing, but the gift of testimony usually comes as a quiet assurance, without spectacular displays of God’s power.” (178-80)

3. “Your testimony will grow gradually through your experiences.”

Also in last October’s General Conference, Elder Neil L. Andersen explained that, “Our spiritual journey is the process of a lifetime. We do not know everything in the beginning or even along the way. Our conversion comes step-by-step, line upon line. We first build a foundation of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We treasure the principles and ordinances of repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We include a continuing commitment to prayer, a willingness to be obedient, and an ongoing witness of the Book of Mormon. (The Book of Mormon is powerful spiritual nourishment.)

We then remain steady and patient as we progress through mortality. At times, the Lord’s answer will be, “You don’t know everything, but you know enough”—enough to keep the commandments and to do what is right.”

4. “Your testimony will increase as you share it.”

Growing up in the church, I never really doubted that Joseph Smith was a prophet. But, I wouldn’t really say that I had a sure testimony that he was, either. My testimony of Joseph Smith was solidified while I was on my mission. The story of Joseph’s first vision was my favorite part of the missionary discussions to teach because the spirit was always so strong. Each time I told a new investigator about Joseph seeing God and Jesus Christ, the spirit would witness that it was true. My testimony increased as I shared it.

I have gained my testimony gradually through experiences I have had throughout my life. I never had a big life altering experience, but through many small experiences gained my testimony. Through small prayers answered, I know that God loves us and listens to us. Through learning of and testifying of Jesus Christ, I know that he is the Son of God, and that the atonement works. Through the spirit that is manifested when I hear or tell the story of Joseph Smiths First Vision, I know that he did see God and Jesus Christ and was called as a prophet. Through the witness of the spirit while listening to our prophet today, President Monson, speak, I know that he is called of God.

I know that the church is true. I know that we can all gain or strengthen our testimony of the gospel if we have a sincere desire, pray to know, listen to the whisperings of the spirit, learn from the experiences we have, and share our testimony with those around us.

Projects

2009-04-22T15:53:00.001-04:00

Despite my lack of motivation last week, I managed to get a few things done.

I put this up in the boys' room.

I got the little animals a while ago from Micheal's, and have been waiting to figure something out. Last week I bought the frames and letters, painted the letters, and got them hung up. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Are you sick of seeing baby shoes yet? I also made these:

Anyone have a little future ballerina that needs some slippers? I've had the idea for this pattern in my head for a while and wanted to try it out. I didn't have anyone that I was specifically making them for, so I might try to sell them. Although I'm tempted to just keep them for myself in my "hope chest." I can make more, though! :)

I'm so bad at keeping journals. I have so many that abruptly end, sometimes even in the middle of a sentence. I really want my boys' baby books to be complete. This week I've been catching up/starting my boys' baby books. I've written down most major milestones either on my blogs or in a notebook, but I like them to be all together in a book, too.

What have you been working on lately?

2009-04-20T15:42:00.002-04:00

The past week went by so fast. It was a busy, fun week.

We were excited to hear last weekend that my little sister got engaged. I can't believe my baby sister is getting married! It doesn't seem that long ago since I got married. She can't possibly be old enough yet. :) We are looking forward to meeting her fiance and being there for the wedding.

We are glad she made sure it was at a time when I could be there. Out of the rest of my four siblings who are all now married, I was only able to go to one of the weddings. My older brother got married while I was in Scotland on my mission. Then one of my younger brothers got married two weeks before Big Brother was born. Since we are on the other side of the country as they are, we weren't able to go. I went to the next one, but then my youngest brother got married just a couple weeks before Baby Boy was born. But we will be there for my sister's wedding.

She is the last of all my siblings to get married. That's kind of weird. But we are way excited.

This past week I wasn't very motivated to get much done. Hence, I didn't post my goals last week, and didn't even blog at all last week. I was feeling a little worn out. Maybe it was the rain, but I had no motivation to go anywhere during the day with the kids. It is just stressful and tiring to haul two kids and all their stuff everywhere. Then I have to worry about Big Brother not running off all the time and keeping Baby Boy happy. It can wear you out! I have also been feeling a bit lonely lately. I miss all my friends that I moved away from. I miss the laid back weekly playgroup we had. People from church here do a playgroup, but lately it has just been going to community events. I like going to community events, but it is not the same as sitting around chatting with all the moms while the kids get to run around and play together.

I felt that my prayers were answered a bit this week. A friend from church sent me an email this week to tell me about a little preschool people from church were doing together and wondered if we would be interested. So last Thursday, Big Brother started preschool. We are going to take turns teaching twice a week little lessons centered on a "letter of the day." I am really excited about this. Big Brother needs friends, as do I, and this will give us both a chance to get to know a few people from church a little better. He is the youngest one, but since he knows all his letters, I think he will do fine. It should be fun for him, and prepare him for "real" preschool. Plus, I get a couple hours twice a week with only one kid! On Thursday I went to the store with just Baby Boy. It is so much easier to go shopping with only one kid to worry about! Or I may be able to come home and rest while Baby Boy takes a nap. I am excited about teaching a couple times, too. I've been starting to think of some activities to do with the kids. It should be fun!

I am going to make one goal this week. I have to speak in church next Sunday. I need to use my alone time (the very few minutes that I usually have) each day to prepare for my talk.

If you want to join in or learn more about “For Just One Week,” visit My Ice Cream Diary!

Happy Easter

2009-04-10T20:54:00.003-04:00

I finished my Easter pillow cover. I made the small one in the front to go with the bigger one that I made last year.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend.

"At this Easter season of hope and renewal we testify of the glorious reality of the atonement and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The empty tomb brought comforting assurance and provided the answer to the question of Job, “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14).
"Because of the Savior’s resurrection we will overcome death and become the beneficiaries of His mercy and grace. In a world of trouble and uncertainty, His peace fills our hearts and eases our minds. Jesus is in very deed “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

"We give our sure witness that Jesus is the Christ. Though He was crucified, He rose triumphant from the tomb to our everlasting blessing and benefit. To each member of the human family He stands as our Advocate, our Savior, and our Friend"
--First Presidency Easter Message

For Just One Week

2009-04-06T15:50:00.008-04:00

I spent quite a bit of time this week in our spare room putting boxes away and organizing. It still has a ways to go, but all my scrapbooking stuff is out and pretty much organized.

Before:

After:

The desk with my scrapbooking stuff:

I also spent a bit of time every day sewing. I made these cute little shoes for my baby, and I am almost done with an Easter cover for a little throw pillow. I will post a picture of that when I'm done.

This week I will continue to spend 10-20 minutes a day organizing our spare room. I also want to sew or craft in some way every day.

We are also going to try the game that Ice Cream posted about last week. I told my husband about it and he's going to try it, too. We will probably add a few things like reading scriptures every day. It should be fun!

If you want to join in or learn more about “For Just One Week,” visit My Ice Cream Diary!

Creating

2009-04-01T13:12:00.006-04:00

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before."Everyone can create. You don't need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty."Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty. . ". . . Remember that you are spirit daughters of the most creative Being in the universe. Isn't it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God? Think about it—your spirit body is a masterpiece, created with a beauty, function, and capacity beyond imagination."But to what end were we created? We were created with the express purpose and potential of experiencing a fulness of joy (see 2 Nephi 2:25). Our birthright—and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth—is to seek and experience eternal happiness. One of the ways we find this is by creating things."

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Happiness, Your Heritage," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 118–19

There is something satisfying in creating something. Especially when they turn out so cute!

For Just One Week

2009-03-30T10:29:00.005-04:00

My goals last week went well!

Master bedroom closet before:

And after:

We can actually walk into our walk-in closet! It didn't even take as long as I thought it would. Working just 10-15 minutes a day, I was done by Thursday.

My other goal to get outside every day was fine. One day we didnt' have anywhere to go, and it was kind of rainy, but Big Brother still went outside to play a bit. He needs the fresh air and open space. :)

This week I'm going to start working on our spare room.

The rest of our house is all put together, but the spare room is a mess. We have so much stuff that we store in there (including food storage). I'm not sure it is all going to fit in there. I'm pretty sure it will take me a few weeks to get all organized, too. So my goal this week is to spend 10-20 minutes a day organizing the spare room. We'll see how much progress we can make.

Number two goal for this week is to do something creative or crafty every day. I realized the other day that I haven't created much lately and my sanity was suffering. I really need that outlet. I will most likely be sewing, since my sewing stuff is out in my room. I would like to scrapbook, but all that stuff is in the spare room. Maybe next week! :)

If you want to join in or learn more about “For Just One Week,” visit My Ice Cream Diary!

Goals for this week

2009-03-23T10:24:00.007-04:00

The cleaning up/putting away in our back room I did last week went really well! I knew I was going to be taking a picture of it, so it gave me even more motivation to get it done.

Here is the "before" shot again:

And "after:"

There are no more boxes! Yeah! There are a few random things on the shelf that still need to be put away, but it feels so much more homey. There was a stack of pictures in there that we hung up. Its amazing how much more at home it feels with a few pictures on the walls!

The other side of our back room didn't get as cleaned up as I hoped.

Before:

After:

The boxes are still there, but not the box full of packing paper, and the boxes are all organized in neat piles. So it is so much better. Hopefully they can be gone this week!

As for my other goal of getting outside everyday, it was great. Even though it was a bit rainy most of the week, we went to a play group, the library, ran errands, and played at a nearby playground. I liked this goal, and want to do it again this week.

My organizing/cleaning goal for this week is our master bedroom closet:

Yep, it is a mess. Lots to do in there. But if I work on it a bit each day this week, it should be organized!

If you want to join in or learn more about “For Just One Week,” visit My Ice Cream Diary!

Five Years Ago...

2009-03-18T09:48:00.007-04:00

Five years ago yesterday, was the first time my husband remembers meeting me. I actually had met him before, but he didn't remember.

The story: While going to BYU, my future husband moved into a house that was next door to the house that I just moved out of. So we lived next door to each other, but not at the same time. But I still had a lot of friends in that area. My former roommate, K, was dating my future husband's roommate.

The first time I met my future husband, I believe, was after an ultimate Frisbee game. Some of his roommates had been playing, and a bunch of us went to their house after the game to order some pizza and play some card games. One other time I remember meeting future husband, I went to his house with K to watch a movie.

But, my husband doesn't remember those times. Five years ago on St. Patrick's day, K had a St. Paddy's party at her apartment. She had all the fixings of a traditional Irish meal. There I was more formally introduced to future hubby.

Two days later, K set us up on a "blind"-ish date. Then we started dating and, well, the rest is history! :)

So, to celebrate five years since my hubby remembers meeting me (and just to celebrate St. Patrick's day), he wanted to make a traditional Irish St. Patrick's Day meal.

We had the corned beef and cabbage (with some potatoes and carrots) (the picture doesn't make it look too great, but it really was pretty good)...

and some Irish soda bread (sans raisins, since I'm not too much of a fan).

It was a pretty good. My son thought the corned beef was ham, which it really was quite a bit like ham, the cabbage was good, and the bread was yummy.

Hope you had a great St. Patrick's day!

To see what others are talking about, click the picture.

For Just One Week

2009-03-16T10:54:00.006-04:00

I love the meme that My Ice Cream Diary started. Instead of making a big list of goals at the first of the year that inevitably don't get accomplished, she makes some small goals each week to do just for that one week. As a mother of a newborn, I really like this idea. I can do something for just one week.

Since I still have SO much to do around my house to get it all unpacked and put together, I want to focus my attention on specific areas each week so I feel like I actually get something done.

So, for just one week I'm going to work on this mess:

I want to spend a bit of time each day putting stuff away in our back room.

Hopefully I can get rid of the mess on this side of the room, too:

My husband has a coworker who wants some of our boxes. The rest of them I will try to give away on freecycle. Hopefully that will get done by the end of this week.

Another thing I really want to be able to do this week, is get out of the house every day. Being pent up in the house while I have been unpacking has made my 3 year old a little stir crazy. Even if we just go out in our backyard and play, or just go to the store to run errands, I want to get some fresh air every day.

We'll see how it goes!

If you want to join in or learn more about “For Just One Week,” visit My Ice Cream Diary!

We Are All Moved In

2009-03-11T15:15:00.001-04:00

We got moved in, despite setbacks from the snow storm, and now we finally have our internet up and running again.

Last Monday, when we were supposed to move in to our house, the property managers office never did open, and they opened late Tuesday morning. Which meant I spent over an hour waiting outside the office for someone to show up to give us our keys, while the moving truck was waiting to unload at our house. The most frustrating part was that no one tried to contact us to let us know when they would be open, and at the office, I could see the envelope with the keys in it and our name on it from the window, but had no way of getting in.

We finally did get in to our house, though, and have been up to our ears with boxes. We are slowly getting everything put away. It has been hard finding space for everything since this house is smaller than the one we lived in before. We were so happy to have my husband's parents here all last week to help entertain kids and help us unpack.

I have always tried to have a mostly orderly house, because I know you can be happier that way. Now I really know how much that is true. Having the house so full of boxes and paper and stuff not put away yet has been frustrating and has made me more irritated by other little things. We got our living room cleared out and put together, so we have at least that room to be in without the chaos. It's nice to have the internet back, too, to give me a diversion. I've got lots of blog post to catch up on!

Oh, the Joys of Moving

2009-03-02T10:15:00.006-05:00

Thursday, the movers came and packed up all the stuff in our house. Although our house was covered in boxes, they left our beds, so we stayed in our house Thursday night. My husband's parents flew out from Utah to help us move, and they arrived that night.

Friday, they loaded all our stuff onto a huge truck. Those mover guys were amazing. One guy, we named The Pack Horse, would strap two or three big heavy boxes on his back and then carry something else in front of him. It made me tired just watching him. We had to stay in a hotel Friday and Saturday night. Saturday, we spent the day cleaning and packing the things that the movers wouldn't take.

Sunday, we went to church one last time to say goodbye to all our friends, loaded up our car, and headed out to take the two hour drive to our new hometown. We had quite the drive up here. It snowed the whole way. Once we got here, it just kept on snowing. I think it snowed most of the night. It has been a nice snow storm. I have never seen it snow like this in Virginia. It's like a real snow storm like in Utah or Idaho.

We stayed in a hotel last night. We woke up to at least 6 inches of snow on the ground. My husband was supposed to have his orientation meeting today at his new office, we were supposed to get our key this morning to the house we are renting, and the truck was supposed to be here this morning with all our stuff. Well, because off all the snow, my husband's office is closed, the property manager's office is not open yet, and our stuff won't be here until tomorrow. Hopefully we can get out of here later and get the key to our house, but we will have to stay in the hotel again tonight because we don't have our beds yet.

I am tired of being displaced, staying in hotels, and sick of eating out for every meal.

Hopefully, though, we can have a bit of fun in the snow today, at least build a little snowman!

Free Food

2009-02-25T14:28:00.001-05:00

What Works for Me this week is free food!

Big Brother's birthday is this weekend (I can't believe he will be three years old!) and I have signed up for free food from a bunch of places. We are going to get Cold Stone ice cream, a free kid's meal from Sonic, and Moe's and a few others.

This will be especially nice this weekend because we are going to have to do more eating out than usual. The movers are coming to pack up our house on Thursday, loading the truck on Friday, and not unloading until Monday. We will have to stay in a hotel for a few days, so will need to eat out those days. Not having to pay for a couple meals will be nice!

To see a great list of restaurants and other places that give out birthday freebies, visit Freebies 4 Mom. Sign up the whole family!

To see what works for others this week, visit WFMW's new home.

Being a Mother of Two

2009-02-13T10:33:00.001-05:00

When I was pregnant with Baby Boy, I didn't worry too much about knowing how to take care of him. I've done it once, I can do it again. I did worry a bit about how I was going to take care of him and Big Brother at the same time.

When I got home from the hospital, I was sitting in my rocking chair rocking Baby Boy and had a feeling like I had no idea what I was doing with this little baby. Sure, I had done it before, but that was almost 3 years ago. And all the things that we figured out over time that worked for our first baby would not necessarily work for our second. It was evident right at the first that he has a different personality. He has different preferences, likes, and dislikes. We would have to figure everything out again.

The second time around has been easier in some ways. I do know what I am doing with the basics-- I can change a diaper faster, even when half asleep in the middle of the night, bathing him is easier than it was when my first was a newborn, and other such basics are easier. I think that my perspective is better the second time around-- I know things won't last forever and to take setbacks with a grain of salt. He won't always want to stay up for hours in the middle of the night, and I don't need to stress if he doesn't stick to a schedule that I think would be the best.

I also am trying to enjoy this newborn stage because I know it won't last. I try to take time to enjoy cuddling with him while he is so small and enjoy the little newborn noises and expressions he makes.

It has also been harder. Having two kids to take care of takes a bit of creativity. Things are not always ideal, but you do what you can to get things done. Nursing while feeding myself and Big Brother, or while laying by Big Brother before naps, I can do. Nursing while trying to get lunch put together doesn't work so well. :) It is hard to try to discipline Big Brother while occupied with Baby Boy. I have had to let both my boys cry more than I would like sometimes because I am occupied with the other. It is hard to hear comments from Big Brother, like, "can you just put down the baby and come play with me?" I've really tried to give him one on one attention when I can, but he just doesn't get all the attention like he used to.

I also feel like I need an extra set of hands. Trying to carry a diaper bag, baby car seat, a drink and a toy for Big Brother, a library bag, and whatever else it seems we need to get out of the house, gets a little tricky! :)

But then Big Brother gives Baby Boy kisses and says that Baby Boy likes him the best. I know they will be good buddies. They will probably get into a lot of mischief together, but they will have a lot of fun together, too.

And Baby Boy gave me the biggest, sweetest smile for the first time this morning. It makes it all worth it!

Busy, busy

2009-02-10T15:57:00.004-05:00

Life has been crazy around here. I've been a bit silent on my blog since it seems that the only chance I get to sit down at the computer I am holding a little baby. It's kind of hard to type with only one hand. I have been reading, though.

I definitely keep busy with our little guy. And when I am not nursing or rocking him, our not so little guy is always wanting my attention.

If that in and of itself has not been enough, we have been trying to get our house ready to sell and to move out. We are having movers come, so we don't have to pack, which is nice, but we've needed a bunch of cleaning and de-cluttering done before we have people come look at our house. We have been slowly getting things done.

Yesterday the real estate agent called to say he was going to come take pictures to get our house listed. So we had a marathon cleaning and de-cluttering session last night (stopping for a break during 24, of course), and again for a couple hours this morning. Our house looks great! We still have a few little things we want to do, but I don't think it has ever been this free of stuff! Too bad we are only going to be able to enjoy it for a few more weeks.

P.S. I would like to show you all more pictures of my cute baby. He really is cute! I just want to keep crazy internet stockers away. So if you are a regular reader and I'm pretty sure you are not a crazy internet stocker, :) I would love to invite you to view my family's private blog. Send me an email so I have your email: richelle262 [at] yahoo [dot] com

I Guess the Groundhog was Right

2009-02-03T21:40:00.007-05:00

We woke up with an inch or so of snow on the ground this morning. It is only the second time this winter that we have had any sort of accumulation of snow. Big Brother got to use the new boots he got for Christmas, and loved seeing his footprints in the snow. He had fun playing in the snow, despite the comment he made when he saw the snow this morning. He asked, "How is there snow when its not Christmas?" It is still winter!

Even though the snow was a little crusty, we managed to build a small snowman and have a snowball fight. (Not against each other though. We were acting out this movie. He decided we were Huey and Dewey and we were throwing snowballs at Donald.)

Speaking of acting out Disney movies, for about 2 weeks, Big Brother has been Dale and I have been Chip (Baby Boy and Daddy are usually Chip, too). He likes to pretend we are on a sailboat, a train, or that there is a dragon. YouTube is great.

2009-01-21T16:13:00.005-05:00

My Baby Boy will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. We have had a busy couple of weeks.

My mom flew in from Idaho the first night we were home from the hospital. It was so nice to have her here! She went home yesterday, which of course meant that Baby Boy decided he didn't need to sleep from 2 until 4 am last night, and I didn't have my mom here to help me. :) My husband did help out, though. It was so nice to have an extra set of hands around the house while she was here. My laundry is mostly all caught up, the dishes always got done, we had some wonderful meals (with a few leftovers still), Big Brother almost always had someone to entertain him, and Baby Boy had an extra set of loving hands to hold him and walk him around. We will miss her.

Saturday we drove up to where we are going to be moving to look at a few houses. We plan on just renting for now, and found a couple promising houses. We had a real estate agent come and look at our house getting it ready to put on the market. There are so many things that we need to do in the next couple months! I wonder how it is all going to get done with a new baby to take care of. I know it was such a blessing that he came when and how he did, though. If I had ended up having a C-section, it would make it so much harder to do anything. Heavenly Father knows what he is doing! I need to remind myself of that every day.

Sunday my husband gave Baby Boy his name and blessing. It was a special day for him. We wished we could have had more family here for the event, but were glad my mom could be here.

My mom also helped me finish my 1000 piece puzzle I got for my birthday. It was kind of a tough one.

My first day at home alone today actually went pretty good. Big Brother only had a couple little meltdowns. We got out of the house and went to playgroup. I even managed to get Baby Boy down for a nap at the same time Big Brother had quiet time, so I got to have a little rest.

This is kind of a random rambling post, but that is about how my brain is working right now. :)

Just When You Think You Have Things Planned...

2009-01-10T12:32:00.004-05:00

We had planned on our baby coming here via C-section on Friday. But he evidently had a different plan. He wanted to do things his own way! He made a quick entrance into the world Thursday morning only about an hour and a half after we got to the hospital!

Here is our Baby M:
He weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and is 19 3/4 inches long.

We are both home now and doing well. I'll write more later.

New Beginnings

2009-01-07T21:33:00.005-05:00

It has been a while since I have posted on here!

We had a great Christmas. If you read my family blog, the details are all there, but we had a fun time with just my little family at home. It was fun to start some of our own traditions and do our own family stuff. It was also nice to connect with our families via Skype.

We have had quite the week this week. My husband's company is doing a lot of cut backs. Luckily, and gratefully, he still has a job, but we have to move to where the company is headquartered, about 2 hours away. We need to be there in less than 2 months! Wee bit stressful.

Add to that stress the fact that my baby is due in 2 days. We have been anxiously awaiting his arrival, not knowing when he would decide to come.

At my Dr.'s appointment today, we decided since I have not progressed any (I've been dilated only 1 cm for a few weeks now and the baby hasn't dropped at all), that we would schedule a c-section for Friday. I had my first by c-section, so we decided to just do it again rather than wait. Especially since I have had gestational diabetes, we worried that the baby would be too big and would require a c-section anyways. The prospect of surgery in a bit scary, even though I have done it before, but I'm very excited to know I will be holding my baby in 2 days!!

I have had a lot of emotions, up and down, all day today. It has been quite overwhelming.

On Cocoa's blog today, her Wordful Wednesday theme is New Beginnings. I like to think of this time in our life as a new beginning. There is going to be a lot of changes in the comfortable schedule we have gotten used to. But instead of looking back and wishing things were the same, we need to look forward to the new changes, and grow from the new experiences we have.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T08:57:00.001-05:00

Have a wonderful and very merry Christmas!!

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-24T16:47:00.002-05:00

Twelve Drummers Drumming

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-23T21:06:00.002-05:00

Eleven Pipers Piping

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-22T21:28:00.002-05:00

Ten Lords a-Leaping

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-21T18:45:00.002-05:00

Nine Ladies Dancing

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-20T17:48:00.001-05:00

Eight Maids a-Milking

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-19T21:14:00.002-05:00

Seven Swans a-Swimming

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-18T21:36:00.004-05:00

Six Geese a-Laying

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-17T14:19:00.002-05:00

Five Golden Rings

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-16T21:09:00.003-05:00

Four Colly Birds

I always thought it was "calling" not "colly." Learned something new!

Christmas Decorations

2008-12-16T10:48:00.002-05:00

It's starting to look like Christmas around here! We've wrapped nearly all our presents and put them under the tree.

I love having a mantel to decorate, especially at Christmas time:

We have a lovely nativity scene that my grandma gave me a couple years ago. I love candles, and there are quite a few on our mantel. I made our stockings a few years ago. The Wise Man sign, we made in church for Enrichment last year.

This year for Enrichment, we made these picture mats framing a copy of The Living Christ. It's not exactly a Christmas decoration, but of course captures the true meaning of Christmas to be seen all year:

Last night for family home evening we made gingerbread (graham cracker) houses. It looks a little sad, but it was fun. My son mostly just ate crackers and candy while my husband and I put it together. :)

For more fun holiday decorations, visit:

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-15T16:59:00.003-05:00

Three French hens

(click to enlarge)

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-14T20:21:00.003-05:00

Two turtle doves.

(If you can't see it, click and it will be larger and clearer.)

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

2008-12-13T20:57:00.006-05:00

A Partridge in a Pear Tree.

(If you can't see it, click and it will be larger and clearer.)

I got this in an email from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir today. I thought it was really interesting. I hope they send them every day. I will post them if they do!

Recent Projects

2008-12-11T14:00:00.002-05:00

Here's what I have been working on in the last two or three weeks. I've been sewing up a storm! :) Luckily my son hasn't gotten too bored while I sew. He usually makes quite the mess in my room, but sometimes he keeps occupied enough to not drive me crazy. He found one of my husband's old Vegi-tales cassette tapes, and now is hooked on Vegi-tales.

I made these reversible baby shoes and gave them to a friend of mine. I had made a onsie dress out of the same fabric for her baby when she was born and I wanted to try out the reversible shoe pattern I found:

She loved them so much, she wanted to buy a couple more pairs from me! I made her some brown and black "Mary Jane" style shoes. Here are the black ones:

The brown ones I made out of suede, the black ones are made out of corduroy. She says everywhere she goes, everyone wants to know where she got the shoes from. They all want me to make some for them! I might just have some work to do! I really would like to formally start selling the shoes, but I hate to make too much of a commitment before the baby comes. I'm not going to have much extra time on my hands in about a month! Maybe once we have settled into some sort of schedule, I will even set up an online shop or something.

My mom bought some fabric to make a baby blanket at JoAnns while she was here and commissioned me to make these matching baby shoes:

I made this onsie dress with matching shoes for one of my husband's co-worker's baby:

This set, I made for my baby. The shoes are reversible. I love the little monkeys. :)

I also made these little shoes for my baby. They match the little outfit I bought him for the hospital:

These pajama bottoms I made for my two boys (with matching slippers for the baby) out of some of my husband's old pajama bottoms. I made my son some different slippers a while ago.

I made this baby blanket/onsie/shoe set for a friend of mine. Her baby isn't due until after mine, but I thought I'd better get it done before my baby comes. :)

I also made some Christmas pillow covers for the pillows on my couch.

Now my sewing machine is in the shop. It has actually been broken (although still functional) for a while. It's my Christmas present to get it fixed. :) So I can take a bit of a sewing break while it gets fixed and make sure I am ready for Christmas. I have been doing a bunch of wrapping the last couple days. Christmas is going to be here before I know it!

Technology...

2008-12-08T16:10:00.003-05:00

...You can't live with it, you can't live without it.

Last week our computer got some nasty virus. We kept getting TONS of pop-ups, and McAfee just couldn't keep up with it all. Our computer finally froze up and we couldn't do anything on it for a few days. Luckily, we were able to back-up important things from it before we had to reformat the hard drive.

Also luckily, my husband's friend, who used to live near us and was our resident computer-fixer-guy, and who we haven't seen in over two years, was planning on coming to visit us this weekend. Perfect! Let him reformat our hard drive for us!

It is nice to have our computer back in squeaky clean order. Since I haven't been on the internet much at all in the last week, I have lots of unread blog posts piled up in my Google Reader, and I am slowly getting through them.

I have to say I didn't miss the internet and blogging as much as I thought I would. It sure can be a waste of time sometimes, even though I like it as a relaxing diversion.

I got more sewing done this week than usual. Maybe I will post some things that I have made later this week.

Speaking of our computer fix-it friend, my son sure liked having him around. My husband and I decided that we must be pretty boring. My son loves it when we have company. He took to our friend really fast, and kept dragging him some place to play or read him a story. It's great to have someone else around to keep him entertained!

Countdown to Christmas

2008-12-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were so happy to have my Mom and Dad, sister, brother, and his fiance come to visit. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast, and lots of fun visiting together. They also helped us set up our Christmas decorations.

I love advent calendars and want to do something special each day leading up to Christmas. My son is old enough to know that Christmas is coming and mostly know what's going on. I want to get him excited for Christmas, set some traditions for our family, and especially help him know the real reason for Christmas--to focus on Christ's birth.

My mom gave us this advent calendar last year. I love that it is the nativity scene, instead of just a general Christmas-y advent calendar.

A new tradition I wanted to start this year, I'm sure I saw it online last year somewhere, is to open and read a Christmas book each day leading up to Christmas. Throughout this last year I have been collecting Christmas books. I have almost enough to open one every day until Christmas Eve, I will get a couple extras from the library. I just have 5 bags, so I will rotate them as we go. I made little tags with the numbers 1-24 on little tags to mark the bags. We opened book #1 last night, which was a book that talked about the nativity story. We read it together for Family Home Evening. There are Santa Clause books, snowman books, and all kinds, not just nativity ones.

Hopefully these will be things my family can look forward to doing together each year as we get ready to celebrate Christmas.

What special Christmas traditions do you have in your family?

To see what others are talking about today, click here.

Super Savings on Black Friday

2008-11-29T09:59:00.000-05:00

How many of you braved the crowds and went shopping yesterday morning?

We wanted to get a new TV for Christmas and Walmart had some really good deals, so my mom and I decided to get to Walmart at 5:00. I have never seen anything so insane in my life! The first clue should have been how full the parking lot was. It was clear full with extra cars lining the sides. Inside was literally a zoo! I grabbed a cart and headed toward the electronics section, got stuck in a huge traffic jam, only to find out all the TVs on sale were down one of the main isles, not back by the electronics. Live and learn! It was crazy, but kind of an adventure. Now I can say I have done it! :)

From there we went to JoAnns. They had flannel for $1.50 a yard (which, if you don't know your fabric prices, is really good. It is usually $5-6 a yard). I got a yard each of 10 different flannels to make baby blankets and shoes out of. Fleece was also a good deal-$3 a yard (regularly $10). I got some for a blanket to fit on my son's "big boy bed" and to make a pillow case. I also had a 20% off coupon I could use for the fleece, so I got a blanket that would have cost close to $30 for about $7!

I then took advantage of some of the free (after ECBs) deals from CVS. I got all this stuff for nothing-I actually ended up about $5-6 ahead because of the coupons I had. I love it when CVS pays me to shop there. :)

To see what deals other people were able to get this week, click here.

2008-11-27T10:41:00.001-05:00

I'm Grateful For...

2008-11-26T09:25:00.001-05:00

My friend Kiersten has been posting something she is thankful for every day this month, one day for each letter of the alphabet. I thought it was a great idea, but since I didn't get started at the beginning of the month, I thought I would just post it all here in time for Thanksgiving.

A: Airplanes--living across the country from my family we don't get to visit them very often. But it would be even less often without airplanes. I'm grateful my family flew out to visit us for Thanksgiving!

B: Blogs--I love reading other people's blogs, and even though I haven't had too much to say lately, I like to have a place to share my thoughts. I love blogs for keeping in touch with people I don't get to see very often, and for meeting new people.

C: Comics--I love to read the comics every day. I subscribe either by email or on my feed reader to a bunch of different comics. They make me at least smile every day. :)

D: Doctors--I don't love to go to the Doctor, but I am grateful the Dr. is there. I'm grateful that my last blood test at the Dr. was good, which means I don't have to check my glucose or take pills or insulin. I just have to keep up my diet.

E: Eggs--I love a nice fried egg every morning. Especially since I can't have as many carbs as I'm used to for breakfast, my eggs help fill me up!

F: Family, Friends--OK, this is broad, but I am very grateful for all my family and friends. I am especially grateful for my hubby and my son, who do so much for me and bring so much joy in my life.

G: Gospel--I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't know where I would be without my testimony of the Savior.

H: Hugs--I especially love it when my son gives me random hugs. Sometimes he just comes up to me and tells me he loves me and gives me a hug--so sweet. I also love to be hugged by my husband--especially when I have had a hard day, sometimes the best thing is just a big hug.

I: Internet--not only do I like the internet for reading blogs, but really, how did we ever live with out the internet? If you need to know something, ANYthing, just a few clicks and you can find the answer. What is the definition or spelling of a word--look it up on the internet. How do you get from one place to another--look it up on the internet. What are a store's hours or phone number--yeah, you get the idea. We use the internet ALL the time.

J: Job--I'm grateful my husband has a good job. Even if he doesn't like it all the time, he has had his job since before we got married. We never had to be poor married students. Now lets just hope with the way the things are in the economy that it doesn't change his employment status. :)

K: Knowledge--I'm grateful for the knowledge that I have. I'm grateful I was able to get a degree, and I'm grateful to keep learning every day. Especially being a mom, I really have continued to learn constantly.

L: Library--We love to go to the library. I'm all about getting things for free, and there is so much to get for free at the library. My son and I have gone to the library almost every week in the last two years. It has helped him learn to love books, and he loves story time, and playing with the puzzles and other things they have there, too.

M: Mom (being a mom)--I'm so grateful that I am a mom. I think it is the best job in the world. It's also the hardest job, but it is so rewarding. I love watching my son learn and grow and do new things each day! I love feeling my baby grow inside of me!

N: Naps--Not only when my son naps, but I'm grateful for my own naps. Sometimes I just can't get by without one!

O: Optimism--Life is so much happier if we look at it optimistically. One of the best role models of optimism was President Hinkley: "Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine." --Gordon B. Hinckley

P: Prayers--I am grateful to be able to pray to my Heavenly Father. I am also grateful my son has learned, and is now more willing, to pray himself. When he really does pray by himself and remembers the things he is thankful for, it is so sweet.

Q: Quilts--Not only do I like making quilts (at least small ones), I love this time of the year when it is a bit chilly, to wrap up in a nice warm blanket.

R: Rain--I like rain, especially when it is a warmer rain, but I especially love the way it smells after a good rain storm.

S: Sewing and Scrapbooking--although I have been doing a lot more sewing than scrapbooking lately, I'm thankful to have hobbies to keep me busy and sane and doing something for me that I enjoy.

T: Thanksgiving--I'm grateful we have a holiday to get together with family and reflect on what we are grateful for!

U: USA--I'm thankful for this country we have to live in to enjoy the freedoms that we have.

V: Violin--I'm grateful for the talents I have in music, especially playing the violin.

W: Weekends--I love the weekends when my hubby is home to share responsibilities and give me a bit of a break. Plus I just like to be around him more!

X: X-Mas--There are not too many X words, and I don't usually like the abbreviation of Christmas. Although I read somewhere once that the X stood for the cross (instead of taking Christ out of Christmas). We'll pretend that's what it means. :) I am grateful for the Christmas season when everyone has spirit of Christ and we get to reflect on Christ's life.

Y: You-All of you, you who read my blog, and especially if you have read this far. :)

Z: Zzzz's (sleep). Even though I already said naps, I'm thankful for nighttime sleep, too. Even though I am not that comfortable, I still sleep pretty well for being pregnant. I only have to get up once during the night to go to the bathroom. And nighttime sleep is more fun 'cause I get to cuddle with my hubby. :)

This post is also a part of Cocoa's Wordful Wednesday.

Big Boy Bed

2008-11-19T07:49:00.001-05:00

My son has been in his "big boy bed" for just over a week now, and it has been great. We have had very little problems with him staying in his bed.

At night time, he has gone to sleep just fine, with the exception of one night, when he kept getting up and checking to make sure the door wasn't locked. He didn't leave his room, though. He has not tried to get up in the middle of the night, and he still calls out to us in the morning to come and get him. He will ask us if it is "morning time" and then he will get out of bed.

Naps have been a little trickier. He still needs a nap about half of the time, and has quiet time in his room the other half of the time. Since he can just get out of his bed, he has wanted to have quiet time every day. In the middle of last week, when he hadn't had a nap the previous 3 days, he was definitely tired, but would not stay in his bed long enough to fall asleep. He kept getting up to play. After I tried to put him to bed a couple times, I was just trying to have a little quiet time myself, when he started knocking on the door wanting to be done with quiet time. I wasn't quite ready to give up my alone time, so I told him to stay in his room for 15 more minutes. I came back downstairs and started playing on the computer, and after 15-20 minutes, I couldn't hear him playing anymore. I figured he must have fallen asleep. I let him sleep for close to an hour and a half, then went up to get him up (it was getting kind of late). I found him sitting (slouching) on the rocking chair with a book open next to him, fast asleep. The lights were on and everything. It was so cute.

He has, reluctantly, taken a few naps since then, but I always have to make him get back in bed after he tries to get up and play.

He loves his big bed, though. Every time he prays, he has to make sure to say he is thankful for his big boy bed, even at meal time prayers. Since we are having company next week, we are going to let someone sleep in his bed. When we mentioned that to him, he wasn't too sure about it. He wants to just share it, so he can still sleep in it. Hopefully we can convince him to sleep in his crib for a couple nights, or at least on the crib mattress.

Maybe I really should do my hair more often

2008-11-18T16:38:00.004-05:00

This morning I was putting some mousse in my hair, and my son asked, "Why are you putting that on? It's not Sunday."

Later when I told him I was going to go blow dry my hair he asked, "With your Sunday blow dryer?"

Tag

2008-11-16T23:07:00.001-05:00

Since I haven't had much to say around here lately, I will just answer the tag I got from my friend Emily.

I am: a mom

I want: to eat be able to eat carbs when I want :(

I have: a wonderful family

I dislike: mopping--one of the things that I wanted to get done this weekend, but it didn't happen

I miss: my family--I'm so glad some of them are coming to visit next week!

I fear: spiders

I feel: tired

I hear: the TV

I crave: homemade rolls

I cry: sometimes when I get overwhelmed

I usually: sit at the computer while my husband watches TV--but tonight we watched a movie together! (A chick flick even--Roman Holiday--it's the first time I've ever seen it)

I search: the internet

I wonder: what my baby will look like (for some reason I imagine him with darker hair like me, as opposed to blond like my son, who got it from his dad)

I regret: not much

I love: my family and my friends and the gospel

I care: about my families needs

I worry: when my family is sick

I am not: a writer, but I like to blog anyway!

I remember: things I'm supposed to, most of the time :)

I believe: Jesus Christ lives, and that He is our Savior

I dance: sometimes with my son

I sing: to my son before he goes to sleep, and in church

I don't always: pick up the house every night

I argue: very little

I write: blog posts

I win: bloggy giveaways sometimes. I won a basket of goodies from the last one.

I lose: my mind sometimes while I'm pregnant

I wish: the best for my family

I listen: to classical music if I get to, or kids' songs (more often--my son usually wins)

I don't understand: why people can’t all get along (I'm stealing that from Emily)

I can usually be found: at home

I need: to make a shopping list/list of things to do for the week

I forget: what I need at the store unless it is written down

I am happy: when I'm with my family

I tag: whoever want to play along!!

Pregnancy Stuff

2008-11-13T16:27:00.006-05:00

I went to the Dr. this week. Apparently I lost a couple pounds. The Dr. wasn't too happy, until he remembered that I had gestational diabetes. Then he said that usually happens the first little while when you go on the special diet. I am measuring just right--not too big, which is what they worry about when you have gest. diabetes.

I had to have a random blood sample. They pricked my finger (why is it that that hurts so much when it seems like it shouldn't?) and my sugar level look good. In two weeks I have to do a two hour fasting blood sugar test. I don't have to take the glucose stuff, thank goodness. I just get to eat breakfast after the first test. If I look OK, I just have to keep doing what I am doing. If it doesn't look so great, I have to start testing my glucose level on my own. That would not be fun. So I hope for the best.

I must be a lot more obviously pregnant the last couple weeks. You can tell when you have strangers that are not afraid to ask you when you are due.

It must be a lot more obvious to my son, too, because he talks about the baby a lot more often. He will randomly want to come and feel the baby (although half the time he is not patient enough to stay there long enough to really feel him. He will say he feels it anyway, or that he hears him.) The other day, my son heard something, and asked me what it was. I didn't hear it, just some random house noise. But he said, "Maybe it was the baby. I think it was the baby burping." :) He also likes to ask if the baby is eating and likes whatever I am eating.

I posted our Halloween pictures on my private blog, but I'll show you here what my belly looked like on Halloween.

Describes Us Perfectly

2008-11-08T19:49:00.003-05:00

Kroger Deals This Week

2008-11-03T22:29:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted deals on here for a while. There is a great sale at Kroger this week that is worth mentioning, though. It's a buy 10 items get $5 off (so $0.50 off each item.)

Instead of just re-listing the items, I will just refer you to Stretching a Buck. She has done a great job of listing the deals and the coupons that go along with them. There are several free items, so you will want to check it out!

I just got back from the store, and although I spent about $115 (I had a lot of things I needed that weren't with the sale), I saved about $85!

Giveaway Winners!!

2008-11-03T09:18:00.001-05:00

This last week was a busy one! I had a lot of projects to finish up, including finishing Halloween costumes, a gift for a baby shower, and the shoes for my giveaway (which I still haven't finished. The second pair is about half way done now.) We had a trunk-or-treat at church on Wednesday and trick-or-treating Friday night. It seemed like I had a lot of errands to run. And of course I was distracted trying to enter a lot of giveaways. :) I feel really behind on house work and laundry. Hopefully I will be able to catch up this week.

Now on to what you really want to know, the winners:

Thanks to the random number generator, I have chosen the winners for the baby shoes.

For pair #1, the winner is sherri419, who wanted to win them for her 1 month old Goddaughter.

The winner of pair #2 is Alaina, whose blog is here.

If I don't hear from them in 3 days, I will chose new winners.

Giveaways

2008-10-30T19:56:00.001-04:00

I have had so much fun entering TONS of giveaways this week. I wanted to highlight a couple that I really want to win!

A pump from breastfeeding123.com. My old one wore out, I would love to win a new one!

A Phil&Teds Vibe with Doubles Kit Stroller. A double stroller would sure come in handy, and this one would be cool!

Or maybe this double stroller!

It you haven't yet, don't forget to enter my giveaway!

How many giveaways have you entered?

Talk about No Holiday Treats?!

2008-10-28T08:25:00.008-04:00

Last week I had a check up at the Doctor. I had to have the oh-so-fun Glucose test. That stuff is so nasty! If there are any lucky people out there who have never had to have a glucose test, they make you drink this sugary drink that tastes like really concentrated fruit punch. Yuck! It literally made me sick. I felt off kilter all day, and was up half the night with really bad indigestion until I finally threw up. The next day I still felt a bit queasy.

Besides the fun of getting sick from the stuff, my Glucose test came back very high. I guess a normal number is below 130. Between 130 and 200 they do a second three-hour follow up test. My number was 230. The good news is I don't have to do the three-hour test. The bad news is I have Gestational Diabetes.

They referred me to a nutritionist which I met with at the hospital. She went through my eating habits with me and set up a new diet plan.

I really don't have to change too much. I don't ever drink soda and I really do try to eat lower sugar things. But I do love me some carbs. I am going to have to cut back my serving size of things like cereal, potatoes, pasta, and breads. And Halloween candy, Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, and Christmas goodies. :( These holidays are really going to take some self control. I just have to be really picky which goodies I have, and limit the portions. The hardest will not having 3 or 4 homemade rolls (along with the potatoes, stuffing, and pie!) Hopefully things will be fine after the baby comes. I can just freeze some of the treats to save for later. :)

Anyone have any low carb snack ideas or recipes? I would love any input!

P.S. Notice the new button on my sidebar? My SIL is selling Tupperware. She has some great deals right now. Click the button to check out the products, or visit her blog here. She is having a giveaway this week!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Click the picture below to see what others are talking about this week.

It's Giveaway Time!

2008-10-27T21:34:00.009-04:00

*GIVEAWAY CLOSED*

It's time for the fall Bloggy Giveaways Carnival over at Bloggy Giveaways.

I have a couple pairs of baby shoes to give away! That means there will be TWO WINNERS!

Pair #1:

Colorful dots on the top, stripes on the bottom. These are made out of flannel, lined with fleece. They will keep some lucky baby's little toes warm this winter! They will fit a baby approximately 0-6 months. The soul is about 4 inches long.

Pair #2:

I have these cut out, but not actually put together yet. :) I will post a finished picture when they are done. They will have a cute little zebra on the top, over the blue flannel fabric. The checked blue flannel fabric will be the soul. They will be lined in the white fleece. They will be the same size finished as the other pair.

What you have to do:

Comment on this post telling me which pair of shoes you would like to win, and who the lucky recipient might be. This contest is open to anyone in the US or Canada. I will close the comments and choose a winner sometime Saturday. Make sure I have some way to reach you if you win (either an email address or blog link.)

For an extra entry, blog about this giveaway. Leave another comment with the link to where you blogged about it!

I will give the winners three days to contact me after the announcement...if I don't get a response...I'll choose another winner!

Click the picture below to see tons more fabulous giveaways!

Random Thoughts from this Weekend

2008-10-27T09:35:00.003-04:00

We drove up to Washington DC this weekend to go to the temple.

Having to eat out, I learned that a wrap from Subway has hardly any less carbs than a 6" sub. And eating at Chilis doesn't have very many healthy options. (More on this subject later.)

I finally stepped foot in the mecca that is IKEA. I had never been there before. We didn't have much time to browse, we were just wanting to see what kind of beds they have, but they have some cool stuff. You could literally get lost wandering around looking at everything.

My son had his first sleep over experience. We stayed with my husband's cousin, who also has a 2.5 year old little boy. They were trying to fall asleep in the same room and we could hear them talking. I had to go in later when he was having a hard time going to sleep and asked my son what they were talking about. He said he asked his cousin if he wanted a song (my son often sings himself to sleep). I told him that would probably be fine, but he said, "he said no." I guess when they woke up they were talking to each other again. Hubby's cousin said she heard one of them say, "I have a mom" to which the other replied, "I have a mom, too!" Glad to find something in common. Cute little 2 year old's conversations.

Our new van was sure nice for the drive.

The Bloggy Giveaway Fall Carnival is going on this week. Look forward to a giveaway from me hopefully later today. If you have been reading my blog, you can probably guess what I am going to give away. :)

2008-10-24T16:27:00.002-04:00

I was tagged by my friend Emily for this one word answer tag.

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others.The questions are as follows:

1. Where is your cell phone? Table
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Idaho
5. Your father? Idaho
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? Weird
8. Your dream/goal? Happy
9. The room you're in? Living
10. Your hobby? Sewing
11. Your fear? Spiders
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Home
13. Where were you last night? Here
14. What you're not? Sad
15. One of your wish-list items? Baby
16. Where you grew up? Idaho
17. The last thing you did? Ate
18. What are you wearing? Clothes
19. Your TV? off
20. Your pet? NONE
21. Your computer? On
22. Your mood? Tired
23. Missing someone? No
24. Your car? Odyssey
25. Something you're not wearing? Glasses
26. Favorite store? Jo-Anns
27. Your summer? Great
28. Love someone? Yep
29. Your favorite color? Yellow
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Monday?

I award the following ~~7 people~~ 4 :) people with the "I love your blog award" and in so doing tag them to complete the above questions.

Jeanette
Mrs. Mordecai
Cheryl
and
Leslie
if you haven't done this tag before, but know that I do Love Your Blog!

D and E

2008-10-22T21:17:00.012-04:00

D is for...

Dinosaurs and Dots

another dinosaur

and dog.

E is for...

Easter eggs and elephant

another elephant

and eggs.

My son loves finding letters all the time. Whatever letter we are working on, he has to find a book to read before nap time or bedtime that has that letter on it. He likes to figure out what letter words start with. He will ask me randomly what letter some word starts with. Tonight he asked me, "what does bedtime start with?" He figured it out pretty well.

He LOVES starfall. He has gotten really good at navigating the mouse and can do all of the letters. He could sit and do it all day. He is always asking me if he can do a letter. Since we bought our van, he loves to do the letter "V."

He likes to find the first letter of his name on cereal boxes so that it can be "his" cereal. Usually he makes sure there is an "M" for Mommy, too, so that I can have some. :)

He can read the word "Kroger." OK, so maybe it is more symbol recognition, but he'll say, "that says 'Kroger!'" He finds it on all the store brand food that we have and asks me, "Did we get that at Kroger?" He'll spot the signs for the store as we drive by. He is also good at finding CVS signs. He knows those letters really good.

I think he is pretty smart, but maybe I am biased. :)

Tackle it Tuesday

2008-10-21T11:31:00.000-04:00

Today is a special CLR Bathroom and Kitchen Cleaner Tackle it Tuesday at 5 Minutes for Mom. For everyone who wanted to participate, CLR sent a bottle of Kitchen and Bath cleaner to try out.

Sorry I don't really have any pictures. There wasn't anything noticeable enough for me to take pictures of. That's a good thing, right? That means my kitchen and bathroom weren't that dirty.

I first cleaned out my refrigerator. It needed a good cleaning out of leftovers-that-have-been-there-too-long. But it was also getting awfully sticky and dirty on the shelves. I used the CLR cleaner on the shelves before wiping them down. It seemed to do the job. I have to say I'm not crazy about the smell of it, though. It doesn't really smell clean like the lemon scented Mr. Clean I like to use on my counters when I do a deep clean.

I also used the CLR on the bathtub in one of our bathrooms. Again, it wasn't really grimy, but enough to need a clean. There was a bit of soap scum build up on the side of the tub, and the CLR made quick work of it. I like how the CLR foams up after you spray it. I really want to try it on the bottom of my tub when it has dirt built up. Our tub bottom is textured, so the dirt gets stuck in the little groves and it usually takes a lot of elbow grease to get it up. I would like to see if the foaming solution of CLR makes it a little easier. The CLR really made the fixtures shine, though. My favorite part of cleaning the bathroom is making the fixtures really shine!

To see what others tackled this week, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

New Car!!

2008-10-20T15:30:00.000-04:00

We finally bought ourselves a minivan!

After driving quite a few and reading and hearing recommendations, our favorite minivan was the Honda Odyssey. The prices were a bit more than we wanted to pay, though, the first time we looked. We almost decided to get a Kia because they are nice and the price is a lot less.

Saturday we went back to the Honda dealership to see what they had and if they could give us a good deal. We found a 2005 without all the fancy DVD player and leather and stuff. It was within the price range we wanted! After driving it and negotiating a bit on the price, we decided to buy it. We now have car payments again. Yeah! (That is sarcastic) We have not had car payments for about 6 months. It will sure be nice to have 2 cars again, though.

2008-10-19T15:25:00.003-04:00

"Stresses come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can, but we must not let them get in the way of what is most important. What is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. "
-President Thomas S. Monson

Feed Readers

2008-10-17T21:46:00.005-04:00

I don't know how many of you use a feed reader to read your blogs, but you should be! :) They make life so much easier. If you don't know what a feed reader is, click here.

Since I started reading blogs and found out about feed readers, I have been subscribing to blogs with Bloglines. Bloglines has been my constant friend for a long time. But the last couple weeks it has been having problems.

It started when my blogs would not show up when I used Firefox. It worked when I used Explorer, but I prefer Firefox.

Then, even though Bloglines was working in Firefox, it would freeze up and not load every once in a while.

Now, bloglines has been having trouble updating some feeds. There are several blogs that I read that have not been updating in bloglines. Bloglines is having a hard time finding their feed for some reason. So if I usually comment on your blog regularly but haven't been lately, its not my fault. I just didn't know you updated! It is all blogline's fault.

So I've decided to switch to Google Reader. I have heard good things about it, so we'll see. Now all I have to do is go through all the feeds I have subscribed to (dare I admit that there are almost 150! -- keep in mind some of those are comics and news headlines, but still, it is way too many!) and figure out which ones I want to keep. Hopefully it won't take me too long. :)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Joys of Fall

2008-10-15T08:23:00.007-04:00

More Wordless Wednesday

C is for...

2008-10-09T16:09:00.007-04:00

Chocolate chip cookies and cotton balls.

Categorizing, and counting (and eating) candy.

Cake (it was my husband's birthday last week).

Clock.

And car.

Fall Decorations

2008-10-07T16:21:00.001-04:00

We put up our Halloween decorations this weekend. We don't have too much, but it is fun. I got a few things on clearance last year I had forgotten about, so it was fun to pull it all out.

Our mantel:

Pillows I made, on our couch:

Window decorations (pumpkin lights and scarecrows):

Lonely pumpkin on our front porch:

Our entry way:

The poster was made by my son while we were watching General Conference this weekend. It entertained him for nearly an hour while he put all the Halloween stickers on there.

We carved the pumpkin from our garden last week. It was ripe, and the vine was dying, so we cut it off and carved it.

We toasted the seeds, which are such a yummy treat. We also cut out enough of the flesh inside to make some pumpkin bread. Yum!

Since we had to cut it up so soon, we will probably buy another one closer to Halloween to carve. And make more toasted seeds and bread. :)

To see what others are talking about this week, click the picture below.

Quirky

2008-10-06T17:33:00.001-04:00

I was tagged my Mikki to list 6 quirky things about myself. So here goes.

1. I don't particularly like the heel of bread, but the heel of banana bread or pumpkin bread or zucchini bread is about the best thing ever.
2. I also don't often put butter on my bread or rolls. I just eat them plain or with a little jam. But the above mentioned breads are sooo good with butter.
3. I always fall asleep faster initially when I sleep on my right side.
4. I don't particularly like to wear socks. I wear my sandals for as long as I can before it gets too cold. But when I do wear socks, they have to be fun socks. I have all kinds of colors and patterns, including holiday ones. (And you should see my drawer--that could be another quirk--they are arranged neatly by color so I can see all of them).
5. Like Mikki, I have dreams occasionally about bloggy friends--people I've never met in real life, and maybe don't even know what they look like, but I have dreams about them. That's what I get for blogging right before bed every night.

Kidism

2008-10-04T20:46:00.004-04:00

My son made me laugh tonight, I just had to share.

I was rocking him to sleep tonight, singing him the song "Choose the Right." I'm sure he has heard it before, but it is not a song he knows. But he was still trying to sing along with me. He just kept saying "choose the right, choose the right."

When I was done singing, I commented on his lovely singing.

He said, "Yeah, I sing 'choose the right.'"

Just to see what he would say (maybe he would remember a lesson on obedience?) I asked him what it meant to choose the right.

He said, "When you're driving in the car on the road, and you turn left and you turn right--that means you choose the right!"

I didn't even know he knew what left and right were.

Joy in the Journey

2008-10-02T16:16:00.003-04:00

Reading this post yesterday from Tales From the Crib, and reading the accompanying Oprah script (I don't usually watch Oprah) got me thinking.

I you missed it, and don't want to take the time to read it, it was a story about a mom who accidentally left her kid in the car all day while she was at work, in the heat, so of course the child died. Such a sad, sad story. The episode was basically all about slowing down and not trying to do so much at a time.

Although I can say I have never been so frazzled and hurried that I forgot my kid was in the car with me, I can relate to this in a small way. Even though I only have one kid (for a few more months) I still have days where I feel hurried, trying to get things done and get out the door for some reason or another, that inevitably I forget something. I've locked myself out of the house, or forgot my wallet when going to the store, or whatever.

There was another story of a mom who put her 9 month old down for a nap. Suffering for lack of sleep herself she was feeling very overwhelmed. In her words: "I put [my son] down for a nap, and I heard him up there playing. I was just really frustrated like, 'Please, please, please just go to sleep.' I heard over the monitor a scratching sound, and I knew that sound was not right, but I still didn't really want to go up there because I really needed a break," she says. "By the time I got up there, he was bright red in his face because he had the cord from his monitor wrapped around his neck. He was hanging from the cord." I can totally understand that! There have been so many times in the last 2.5 years I have been sooo ready for my son's nap, I just need him to go to sleep! That is a scary story. Take the time to make sure your kids are safe.

What I have been thinking about from this article:

1.The guy talked about how there is no such thing as multi-tasking. But that's what moms are so good at isn't it? But, when we are trying to do more than one thing at a time, our mind isn't fully on any of the tasks. So if we are trying to clean the house and play with kids at the same time, we are not giving them the attention we should. I do this too often. Sometimes I try to set specific time where I will sit and play with my son for a bit, and then get the tasks done that I need to, but it doesn't always happen that way. I want to work on that.

2.The other thing he mentioned was taking time for yourself to breathe, digest your emotions, and take stock of yourself and your day. He said that getting up a half hour before your kids do to plan your day and have some time to think is worth the sleep lost. Before I got pregnant, I was pretty good at doing this. I would wake up and read my scriptures and have time to myself before the day really started. Since I have not been sick, and have more energy lately, I have tried to do this every once in a while, but I need to start doing it more.

This morning I was reading The Church New (from Sept. 6). There was a quote in there from President Monson that went along with this subject:

"Each one of you is living a life filled with much to do. I plead with you not to let the important things in life pass you by, planning instead for that illusive and non-existent future day when you'll have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey--now."

It is good to get the reminder to find joy in the journey, no matter how hectic that journey may be.

What are you doing to make sure you are finding joy in the journey and not just rushing through life?

Works For Me: The Kitchen Organization Edition

2008-10-01T08:04:00.006-04:00

Today is a themed Works For Me Wednesday. We are all talking about kitchen organization. I thought I would share how I organize my recipes.

My recipe book cupboard is above the stove.

I'm sure I could weed out some books that I never use, but I haven't gotten quite that organized.

The book I probably use the most, though, is that blue one there near the middle. All it is, is a 4x6 photo album.

I put in there all the recipes I have collected over the years, from my mom, from friends, from church, printed off the internet, whatever. I don't put a recipe in the album unless I have actually tried it and like it. I have a whole stack of recipes that I need to try out... someday. :)

I have seen fancy recipe holder books that are basically the same thing. I got this photo book on sale somewhere sometime. Before I got this book, I had some recipes in an index card box. They were so crammed in there it was hard to find anything. The rest of the recipes were just kind of in a loose pile. This book works a lot better!

To get more great tips for kitchen organization, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Preschool

2008-09-29T20:32:00.006-04:00

I mentioned last wee k that I had started doing a little preschool with my son. I thought I would post some of the things we have done so far.

We have done the letters "A" and "B". For the letter "A", we decorated a capital "A" with fingerprint ants. My son loved making these. Long after he was done with the "A", he wanted to make more fingerprints and have me decorate them as ants. The lower case "a" is covered with apples that he colored and pasted on. We talked about other things that start with "A." A lot of my ideas I got from Letter of The Week. Oh, and the word strip were "A" words that we found in a book that he randomly picked to read.

The capital "B" we decorated to look like a bee. He put the stripes on himself. :) For the lower case "b," we went through the crayons and found the colors that start with "b." He colored it blue, brown, and black. Again, a list of "B" words from a book.

To go along with learning his letters, we have introduced him to Starfall. It has fun little animations and games to go along with all the letters. I also want to make him an ABC book with pictures we have taken. So far we have "apple" and "anthill" (the ants have gone away already) for "A." I think we will do some "B" pictures today.

In other news, check out the great giveaway Summer is having here for some K'NEX. Or not, so my chances of winning are greater!

To see what others are talking about today, click the picture below.

Random-ness from this Week

2008-09-26T20:19:00.004-04:00

It seems like it has been a really busy week, but I'm not sure I've done any more than usual.

My husband has sure been busy. He has been gone almost every evening at my son's bedtime. Sunday, he went out with the missionaries to help teach a lesson. Monday, he had to stay at work until after 10:00 pm. Tuesday, he had an Elder's Quorum Presidency Meeting. And last night (Thursday), he had to stay at work until Midnight! It seems like bedtime is so much more exhausting when I have to do it by myself. Especially the days I had dinnertime by myself, too. I don't know how single parents do it. And I only have one kid!

Did you know if you push ctrl-backspace it will erase your whole last word? I found that out by accident just now. Cool.

We've backed off on the potty training lately. My son was doing so well, but with the extra push I was trying to give him, he just moved backwards. Instead of telling me when he needed to go, he would refuse to go when I asked him, and then wet his pants minutes later. He would also deny when he had an accident. So, I haven't been asking him at all if he needs to go. For a couple days, he would just go in his diaper. The only time he would ask to go was when trying to get ready for bed, mostly as a delay tactic. The last few days, though, he has started to tell me when he needs to go #2, sometimes after he has already gone, but sometimes before. If he can get at least that much in the potty, I will be happy. :)

He has been doing well with naps/quiet time. He knows when he is tired enough for a nap, for the most part, and if he is not too tired, he will tell me he just wants to have quiet time. We set a blanket out on the floor so he can "rest" if he needs to, and then he just plays. He will usually be content and quiet locked in his room for 2 hours. It has been really nice. He will even help me clean up his toys when he is done, especially if I promise him a snack when we are done.

I have started doing an informal at home preschool this week with him. He is very interested in his letters. He knows all the capital letters and their sounds (thanks to Leap Frog). So we are doing some activities to reinforce that, as well as learning the lower case, and whatever else I feel like teaching him. I will probably post some of our favorite activities.

My little brother got engaged last weekend. I am super excited for him, but I have to say it has been a little hard on me, too. They haven't been dating too long, so I have never met her (in person anyway); they weren't dating the last time I visited. And, they decided to get married in December, 3 weeks before my baby is due. On the other side of the country. So I can't go. I was feeling a little left out of the whole thing. We thought about flying out to visit at Thanksgiving, so we could at least meet her. But my Dr. said he didn't recommend flying after about 28 weeks. Thanksgiving is more like 33-34 weeks. Well, we reached some sort of compromise, and my parents are flying out here with my brother and his fiance (and my sister) for Thanksgiving. We keep trying to get people to come out here to visit. :) Not too many of our family have been out here. Even though it will be a short visit, we are excited to have them come!

We still haven't bought a new car. We are most likely going to go with a KIA minivan. They seem to be good cars and are the cheapest option.

I didn't do too much crafting this week. All I made was another little Halloween pillow cover. After I take a picture, I will post it.

I guess that is enough randomness for now.

It's Called Irony

2008-09-25T15:36:00.003-04:00

Remember this post last week about being prepared? Well, guess what happened this morning? Yup, our power went off.

I was taking a shower this morning, when the lights went out. Luckily, there is a window in our bathroom, so there was some light coming in through the blinds. It stayed off for nearly 2 hours. It wasn't really a problem because it was daytime, and we didn't really need to use anything with electricity. I just had to delay vacuuming for a bit. :)

It has been rainy and a bit windy this afternoon, but the storm hadn't started this morning, so I don't know what was up. I called my husband, downtown the power was fine. Then I called my neighbor up the street, and they were fine. Apparently we are on a different power grid. (Another thing that we have that I didn't mention in my Preparedness post is a non-cordless phone, so it will still work if the power is off!) I'm not sure what the deal was, but we didn't have power for 2 hours. I got our trusty crank radio out of our 72 hour kit to see if they would say anything about power being off, but they never did.

I was trying to explain to my son that we didn't have any power, so none of the lights worked, the TV and computer didn't work (so, No, you can not watch a movie), and the CD player wouldn't work. He had to ask if the light in each room of the house were working. Nope, none of them. He noticed that Daddy's clock was working, so I had to explain that it had batteries so it wasn't plugged in like Mommy's clock. When the power went back on, he had to go turn the light on in his room, just to make sure it really was working again. As we were driving back home from eating lunch with Daddy, he asked if we could watch a movie when we got home. When I hesitated to say yes, he had to assure me that the power was working again, so the TV would work. OK, smarty, you are right!

I still need to write flashlight batteries on my shopping list.

Projects This Week

2008-09-18T21:08:00.006-04:00

Here are the projects I have finished this week.

A Halloween pillow.

I finally made a new cover for this pillow I made back in March. Yep, I've had an Easter pillow on my couch for that long! :) I had all intentions to make a 4th of July cover, but it just didn't happen. It was right at the time that I was not feeling so great and traveling all over. We weren't even here for the 4th. Plus, I actually made two 4th of July pillows to give to winners of my Pay it Forward giveaway. I am hoping to make a fall looking pillow cover for after Halloween, a Christmas one, and hopefully one that will just match my living room to put on whenever.

Next I finished a pair of baby shoes that I will probably keep for my baby.

I sewed on the little top thingy to make them look like penny loafers. I was inspired by these Robeez shoes.
I love the Robeez shoes, they are so cute, but can't justify the $30 or so that they cost. Now that I know how to make my own baby shoes, I won't have to buy them. :) They are my inspiration, though.

The materials I bought to make this pair, (some suede for the outside, flannel for the lining, interfacing for the lining, and a bit of elastic) probably cost me a couple dollars. And there is enough to make a couple more pairs! That is why I love making these so much!

Click the picture below to see what others have made this week.

Lost?

2008-09-18T21:08:00.004-04:00

Every night, my husband and I take turns helping my son get ready for bed. Once he is dressed and has his teeth brushed, he will call the other parent up so we can have prayers.

But before that parent comes up, he likes to hide from them. It has become a nightly ritual. He hides anywhere upstairs and we have to find him. It used to be that just hearing us come up the stairs would make him start laughing and he could easily be found. Now he is getting really good at hiding. He keeps really quiet for quite a few minutes as we search for him. We can usually get something out of him if we build up the suspense of trying to find him, or ask the right questions to get an answer out of him.

The other day, my son was downstairs playing. I went upstairs to get a load of clothes to put in the wash. I brought them down, started the wash, came out to the living room and my son was gone! I called out to him with no answer. I wondered if maybe he went outside. (Since he can open our sliding glass door, even if it is locked, it worries me that someday he will escape outside and wander off when I'm not paying attention.) I looked outside but didn't think he would have wandered far in so short a time. Besides, he hadn't gotten dressed for the day yet and only had his diaper on. Still, I was starting to get a little worried and kept calling his name. I went over to the stairs and called up there, asking if he had gone up, getting a little more forceful in calling his name. I finally heard a little snicker come from behind the couch. I went over there, and there he was, in the corner, hiding under a blanket. I would have never noticed him.

Maybe he is getting a little too good at hiding!

Preparedness

2008-09-16T11:35:00.004-04:00

With the latest hurricane, Ike, sweeping the country, there are people all over who are out of power. While some may get power restored quickly, others are left without power for a week or more.

This got me thinking of what we would do if we were out of power for a week. Our church emphasizes being prepared in such emergencies, so I think we would do all right, but there are still things we could work on.

As far as heating goes, if it happened right now, we would not need heat. What would we do without AC, though? It would be very uncomfortable, but I guess we would survive. If something happened during the winter, we have a propane gas fire place in our living room. We have never used it, though. We are not even sure how. We really need to get it inspected and the tank filled before winter comes.

To cook food, we have a grill and also a camp stove that we could use if we were out of electricity. We have been thinking about buying an extra propane tank for the grill. We have a few extra of the little tanks for the camp stove, but may buy a couple more just to be safe. What would you do with all the food in the freezer and refrigerator? I guess you would eat what you would need to before it goes bad?

What if you can't get to the store for more food for some reason? I'm sure we could get by on what we have stored for a week. We probably don't quite have a year's supply, like our church encourages, but we are probably pretty close. We would have to eat a lot of wheat and flour and oats and rice. :)

I heard something on the radio about someone in Texas not being able to work because the power was out. They were wondering what they would do without a paycheck coming in. Could we live for a couple weeks without a paycheck coming in? I think we could do it for a few weeks. I don't know how long we would last though, with bills to pay. Of course if you don't have electricity, that's one less bill, right? :) (You have to look at the bright side.)

How about light? We have a propane lantern, but I don't know if it would be safe to use indoors. I'm pretty sure we could use some more batteries for the flashlights we have. We do have a cool wind-up flashlight/radio thing that would sure come in handy, and lots of candles.

What else would you need to consider in such an emergency? How would you do?

To see what others are talking about, click the picture below.

Lots of Super Savings This Week

2008-09-12T20:08:00.001-04:00

There were a lot of great deals this week!

We'll start with Walgreens.

--Chex Mix, on sale for $0.99, I had 2 $1 cpns, a $1/2 cpn, 2 $0.60 cpns, and a $0.50 cpn, total for 7 bags ~$2.20 or an average of $0.32 each
--Nail polish, $4. 79, this is a free after rebate item for the month, so I will get $4.79 back, so it was free
--Scrubbers and Pledge wipes, on sale for $3.79 each, with a buy 7 get $10 in register rewards back, I had 2 $2.75 cpns and 5 $1 cpns, less the $10 RR, ended up at about $6, or $0.86 each

Then we have Target.

--Kashi cereal was on sale for 4 for $11, buy 4 and get a $5 gift card back, I had a $2 cpn, and 5 $1 coupons, less the $10 I got back, ended up at about $5 for 8 boxes, or about $0.63 each.

More cereal at CVS! (My cereal cupboard is SO full right now! I'm not going to have to buy any for a while!)

--Malt-O-Meal cereal was supposed to be on sale for $1 a box, but they were all 50% off, I had 2 $1 cpns, which I wasn't sure they would take, or if they would only take $0.50 off, but they took the whole $1 off. So I got 4 boxes for free!
--L'Oreal face cleansing wipes, on sale for $5.99, with $5.99 back in Extra Care Bucks, so they were essentially free!
--Crunch Crisp candy bar, $0.79, I had a cpn to try it free
--Body Spray, on clearance for $0.65
--Baby float, on clearance for $0.59
--Swim ring, on clearance for $0.19

The last 4 items brought my total past $10 so I could use a $2/$10 CVS cpn. I ended up spending out of pocket $5.76 for the whole purchase, and then got my $5.99 ECB back! All of it for FREE!

I didn't even go to Kroger, which has a pretty decent sale going on this week. Check out how my bloggy friend Lori did!

To find out how to get these and other great deals, visit Money Saving Mom.

Sew Crafty

2008-09-12T15:43:00.010-04:00

I have been a lurker of Sew Crafty Friday at Waiting for Him for a long time. I thought with all the projects I have to get done, I would join them to show off what I have accomplished.

This first dress and shoes I actually finished a couple weeks ago, but couldn't post because my niece's mom would see it. :) I made this for my niece's 1st birthday that was last week.

We got to talk to them via Skype so she could show us how it fits (they live in Idaho). She looked adorable in it!

This next dress and shoe set I made for my friend who is expecting in October. We are having her baby shower tonight.

I also finished a pair of slippers for my 2 year old son. I enlarged and elongated the pattern for the baby shoes to fit my son's foot. It worked pretty good! I've never attempted to change a pattern like that before.

They are made out of fleece, so should be nice and cozy for the winter. To make them nonslip on the bottom, I decorated them with 3D fabric paint.

To see what others have made this week, click the Sew Crafty Picture above.

It's Bigger, and Orange!

2008-09-10T15:14:00.004-04:00

If you want to see how our pumpkin looked 2 weeks ago, click here.
Click here for more Wordless Wednesday.

Want to Win Some Cool Stuff?

2008-09-09T15:43:00.006-04:00

To celebrate 100 posts, my SIL, Leslie, is having a great giveaway at her blog. Click here and enter to win some fun Tupperware!

PS, what do you think about my new blog look? I found some great instructions at Cutest Blog on the Block (who have really cute backgrounds you can use for free) to make my own background. I've been trying to figure out how to make the stationary background for a while now, but following their instructions for sizes and using the codes they give made it relatively easy. Go try it out! I used paper and elements from a free digital scrapbook kit from Shabby Princess.

Crafting

2008-09-05T14:55:00.004-04:00

I've had a bunch of sewing projects in my head that I want or need to get done lately. With all my friends having babies I have a constant list of things I want to make for them all. Now that I know what my baby is, I have a few projects to do for him.

Yesterday I went to JoAnns and bought a bunch of fabric. They had a bunch on sale, and all the remnants were 70% off, so I got a bunch of those.

I was able to get one thing that I have been wanting to do for a while. We have had just a plastic flannel backed table cloth on our table for forever now, and it was really starting to look ragged and the little holes in it were getting bigger. So I got a big piece of clear vinyl, and I love how it looks. You can see my pretty table underneath. It's a lot prettier than the yellow stuff that was on it before. Looks like there's not even a table cloth. It is pretty heavy stuff, too, so it should last a while.

I made a list yesterday of all the little things that I want and need to make, and there were over a dozen. Some of them need to be done soon (like, I knew I needed to make something for my friend who is expecting a baby girl, then found out last night that her shower is next week! Good thing I was planning!), but some things don't need to be done until Christmas (like some pajama bottoms for my son) -- although the sooner I get them done the better! I bought fabric to make a few little pairs of baby shoes for my new baby, and hopefully I can make my son a pair to match. I also found some cute fabric with monkeys on it that matches a little cuddle monkey (one that has just the head and arms and then a mini blanket instead of a body) I got at a yard sale the other week. It's been so fun to be able to plan more specifically now that I know I am having a boy--thanks for all your well wishes, by the way.

Thanks also for the advice with my no napping toddler. So far this week he has napped Monday and Thursday. I still put him in bed Tuesday and Wednesday and he just played in there for a while. Wednesday, he wanted to get out and I was busy doing something downstairs (blogging, I think :) ) so I told him he could get out but had to play quietly in his room for a little while. He stayed in there for a good half hour or so. Today, I went to put him down and he really did not want to go in his crib. He wanted to play in his little tent we had set up earlier. I told him he could go in his bed for a while and then could have quiet time in his tent. He just wanted to have quiet time in his tent. So I put one of those knob things on the door so he can't get out and told him he had to play quietly so I could take a nap. I laid down for about 20 minutes and then sneaked down stairs to get a snack and blog. :) He has been in there for nearly an hour now and is happily playing. He has called out to me to come in a couple times and tried the door knob a couple times, but he is still content in there by himself. I think this quiet time thing will work! I will still probably try to put him down in his crib every other day, but as long as I get some quiet time every day I will be happy.

It's a........

2008-09-03T16:19:00.005-04:00

I got my ultrasound today, and we got to take a peak at our healthy little baby BOY!

Ultrasounds are just amazing. It is so much fun to see the tiny little feet and hands and face. They gave us a ton of pictures and a DVD. They said everything looks good and healthy and normal and on schedule. My husband came and we brought our son. I'm not sure how much my son really "gets" about the whole thing, but I think it helped him understand a bit more that there is a baby in mommy's tummy. And now we know that it is a little brother!

There are pictures on my family blog (at least there will be sometime this evening).

No More Naps?

2008-09-03T16:03:00.003-04:00

I think my son has decided that he doesn't need a nap anymore. In the last couple weeks, he has stayed awake during nap time almost as often as he has taken a nap. I still put him down (he's still in a crib) but he will just stay awake playing. He usually is happy in their for at least an hour, sometimes more.

The problem is, I need that nap time! I take a little nap almost every day lately (this baby making takes a lot out of ya :) ). But with or without my nap, I need some down time. I like to be able to blog or read (which are usually pretty hard while he is awake) or scrapbook or sew (which are a lot easier to do without interruptions) in peace. We would have to still have some sort of quiet time every day.

So here's the question, well questions. Do I still put him down in his crib, hoping he will be quiet for a while and nap if needed. Do I just give up on the naps and give him some sort of quiet time? If so, do I just make him play in his room for a while? Let him watch a movie during that time? (The problem with the movie idea, which I have friends that do, is it wouldn't give me quiet time while I blog--the computer is near our TV. And if he watched a movie every afternoon, I probably wouldn't let him watch more than that in a day, and sometimes I like to be able to let him watch something at other times of the day--like when I need to hurry and get myself ready in the morning or when he is cranky in the evening while I am trying to make dinner.)

I'm not sure he could just totally give up naps at this point either. But, it is really hard to tell if he really is tired enough to go to sleep or not. Today I thought for sure he was, but apparently not. So, do I put him down just every couple days? We do need to get him a bed, but probably won't for a couple months. I guess once he has a bed, if he had quiet time in his room, he could just get into bed if he wanted?

Let me know what has worked for you!

Click the picture below to see more backwards works for me posts.

Fun Game

2008-09-02T14:56:00.004-04:00

My husband and I have been spending (or wasting?) a lot of time the last week playing this game. It is really fun.

You make little contraptions, like carts or slings to carry or throw an object to a final goal. It has been really fun to see what different contraptions we can come up with and different ways to accomplish the different levels. If you like to build things, like with legos or tinker toys, you would love this.

Just don't waste too much time!

Super Savings This Week

2008-08-30T20:17:00.004-04:00

I got great deals on cereal and diapers this week.

From Walgreens, the diapers were on sale for $9.49 with a $2 Register Reward. I used that with a $2 coupon to get them for $5.49. I did this twice (once earlier in the week, so they weren't in this picture). Don't forget if you buy huggies to send in for $1 from Caregiver's Marketplace. Even though we are attempting potty training, my son really still needs diapers at night, so it is great to find good deals!

I got the cereal at CVS. They were $4.49 B1G1 free. I got 10 boxes (=approx. 22.50) I had $4 worth of manf. coupons (these were in a recent Kelloggs insert, which was actually not in my paper, but that I won from Horray for Freebates), and a $2/$10 CVS coupon ($22.50-$4-$2=16.50). Then I sent in for the $10 rebate, that also came with the Kelloggs insert. ($16.50-$10=$6.50 for 10 boxes of cereal!) To make it even better, I paid $10 of it with some ECBs I got for doing a survey online for CVS. So basically, it was free!

To see other great savings, visit Money Saving Mom.

Where He Makes Everything OK Again

2008-08-30T20:10:00.006-04:00

After the rough day I was having the other day, and just a long week, last night after dinner I was exhausted. I was laying down on the couch when my son noticed. He came up to me, and in his sweet little voice asked, "Mommy, you a-right?" Oh, what a sweetheart. I told him I was OK, I was just tired. So then he made sure I had a pillow under my head (even though the couch arm rest was fine). Little moments like that just make everything OK again.

I just need to make a bank in my memory of those sweet moments to draw on when the going gets rough.

I really should not get so optimistic

2008-08-28T15:58:00.002-04:00

After blogging about potty training yesterday, I got a little too optimistic and hence very frustrated today. Add potty training woes to other drive-me-crazy-toddler-stunts (including the fact that he is upstairs playing in his bed instead of sleeping right now), and it has been a rough day. Hopefully it will get better.

Potty Training?

2008-08-27T21:02:00.001-04:00

The last week and a half we have been getting serious about potty training. Since I got the toilet targets, my son has been much more willing to go. So I tried to capitalize that willingness to get him more excited about being trained.

I made him a chart to put stickers on. When the chart was full I bought him some "big boy underwear." He picked out a pack with different Disney/Pixar characters, including his favorites, Lightning McQueen and Nemo.

Once he goes to the bathroom in the morning, I let him put his underwear on. He has had lots of successful periods--we have gone to the park, the library twice, and the store, while staying dry. I have also cleaned up a lot of puddles, including at playgroup today.

One problem is he doesn't tell me very often until he is going. Then, obviously, it is too late. He does fine, though, if I just make him go often enough.

We have made a new chart that he gets a sticker still for every time he goes, and an extra one if he tells me he needs to go. I also have been taking a sticker off every time he has an accident. Once he fills up the chart, I will take him to the store to get some kind of special present. Hopefully that will help him be more motivated to tell me when he needs to go and to not have any accidents. We'll see how it goes.

Hopefully he will get the hang of it soon! At least before the baby gets here-- he has about 20 weeks. I hope I don't have to clean up puddles for that long. :)

As much as I don't want my baby to grow up, I will be very happy to have this milestone behind us!

Look What We Found!

2008-08-25T20:02:00.001-04:00

There is a pumpkin growing! It was hiding from us for a few days, but we found it. I'm so excited. At least we will have one pumpkin to carve for Halloween. It won't be 400 lbs. (like Amber's husband's) but that is fine!

We may actually get one more. This "bud" (I don't know what the technical term is) looks like it is going to be a pumpkin.

100th post!!

2008-08-21T18:31:00.001-04:00

As seems to be tradition in the bloggy world (who starts these things anyway?), on my 100th post, I will attempt to post 100 random facts about myself. We'll see if I get that many.

I was born in and grew up in Rexburg, ID
I started dancing (ballet) when I was 3
I took dance from my Aunt
I kept taking dance lessons until my second year of college
I started piano lessons (from my Mom) when I was 4
I started violin lessons (from my Dad) when I was 5
I have a very musical family (can you tell?)
I also sang in choir in High School
Now I am the chorister and choir director in my ward at church
I am the second of 6 kids -- I have 4 brothers and 1 sister
All through High School I had hair all the way down my back
I liked to do fun braids and stuff in my hair
I cut my hair shoulder length before I left on my mission
Speaking of which, I went to Scotland on my mission
Yes, I picked up a bit of the accent (more of inflection differences)
No, I will not demonstrate a Scottish accent (any American that tries to do a Scottish accent sounds like an American trying to do a Scottish accent--yes, even Mel Gibson, except for Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland)
I got special permission to bring my violin on my mission
I was able to play quite a few special musical numbers
I got married Dec. 21 2004
My birthday is Dec. 26
Christmas is Dec. 25--OK, you know that one, but the point is, my husband only has to remember one week a year. We didn't really plan it that way. It works out nice for him, not quite as nice for me. :)
When I was pregnant with my first we gave it the nickname Qwerty--we thought it would be a great name because it would be really easy to type. :)
We haven't given this one a nickname yet
Probably my least favorite cleaning chore is vacuuming, followed closely by sweeping
I like to organize things, (you can see my scrapbooking space here) although I don't tidy up as often as maybe I should
I'm related (kind of) to Gene Wilder (aka Willy Wonka) -- he is married to my mom's cousin
I like to scrapbook
I like to read
I like to sew
I like to blog (those 4 things I spend most of my free time doing)
I also like to crochet
Before I decided on my major in college I took art classes to maybe do Graphic Design
Art is much too subjective, I like things much more formulated
I also took Engineering, Mechanics, and Drafting classes for a possible Drafting major
I got my Associates from Ricks College (now BYU-I) in Generals :)
I graduated in Math Ed from BYU
I taught for a couple years before I got married and moved across the country
I don't think I will ever teach in a Middle School again (unless I am really desperate)
I prefer one on one tutoring -- much less stressful then public schooling
When I was student teaching, I was mistaken as a high school student -- I was 24
When I grow up, I want to drive a Mini Cooper
I have never had a broken bone
The only stitches I have ever had were after my C-section
I've also only ever stayed in a hospital after giving birth
I've been a pretty healthy person
I don't think I ever missed high school for being sick -- orthodontists appointments, but not for being sick
I had braces
I had to have braces to fix problems caused by sucking my thumb
I stopped sucking my thumb in Kindergarten -- great peer pressure
I impressed my companion on my mission by repairing our vacuum
I learned basics of repairing vacuums (like replacing a belt) while working cleaning the dorms and Ricks College
I love shopping with coupons
I love getting things for free, especially at CVS
I like to go shopping at yard sales
I've always loved stationary supplies -- notebooks, pencils, stickers, ...
I apparently say "shoot" quite a bit, I'm trying to cut back though since my son started saying it
I have lived in 3 different states, and one foreign country
I hadn't been out of the US until I went on my mission
I have since been to Canada as well (just to Niagara)
I like snow
Except driving in it
I like to snow ski
I water ski, too, but not too well
I like icecream with peanut butter, caramel or chocolate in it
I have always loved butterfinger candy bars
I love bread products -- homemade rolls and banana bread probably topping the list
Opening a tube of refrigerated dough makes me jump every time
I like to listen to classical music on the radio (when my son lets me listen to my music instead of his kid music)
I worked in a candy store when I was in high school
I mostly made molded chocolate and wrapped boxes of chocolate in wrapping paper
I married my first real boyfriend
He was my first kiss, too :)
We were set up on our first date
It wasn't totally "blind" as I knew his roomates and had met him briefly
We have been married for 3 1/2 years

I'm going to call that enough. I can't think of any random facts to ramble on about. If you stuck through the whole thing, good job!

Now I need to get back to attending for my family.

Fruits (or Veggies) of our Labors

2008-08-18T21:24:00.004-04:00

Here are the two carrots we got from our garden. We ate them for dinner tonight.

Besides our herbs this is probably all we will get from our garden. Our pumpkin plant is still huge, but there are no pumpkins, despite apparent futile attempts at pollinating the flowers.

Winnings

2008-08-13T20:30:00.005-04:00

This last week I received two gifts that I won from the Bloggy Giveaways.

First I received some Toilet Time Targets from Mommie Daze, to help my son in his potty training efforts. These have been great so far! He has being using the potty for quite a while, but nothing consistent. A lot of the time he has been using his 2 year old free will and favorite word, "no" when I suggest going to the potty. Ever since we starting using these targets a couple days ago, he has been excited about going when I ask him and has even told me he need to go quite a few times! These may just work for him!

Next I received some blocks from Holy Craft. They are so cute! They say "M-I-C" on one side and "K-E-Y" on the other. She has a lot of cute blocks like these and other cute stuff at her Etsy shop.

I love winning fun giveaways!

Pregnancy Update

2008-08-12T16:30:00.006-04:00

I've had a few people ask me lately how I have been feeling. I guess I haven't said much about my pregnancy since complaining about being sick. :)

I have been feeling a whole lot better. The last couple weeks I have felt my energy level come up quite a bit, and don't feel nauseous much. I still have to be a little careful with what I eat. My husband's very basil-ly pesto pasta will have to wait a while--basil is such a strong smell, and I just can't do it right now--probably not until I am not pregnant anymore. I have to be careful with spicy things like salsa, that can give me a stomach ache. I also can't let my stomach get too empty, or I don't feel that great. I also feel more indigestion-y (do you like all the new words I am making up?). I have gone to the gym a few times recently, and even though all I do is walk, it is nice to feel like doing anything.

The last two doctor's appointments I have had I have been able to hear the baby's heart beat. Both times is has been in the higher, "girl," range. But we will see. It seemed like my son's was not consistant, so not a good indicator. We will get the ultrasound in a couple weeks. I will for sure let you know what we find out!

I have also started to feel small movements from the baby. This makes it seem so much more real! :)

And just for fun, I got this cartoon with my Baby Center email update last week, it is pretty accurate. I have been hanging out mostly in my pants that I exercise in.

Olympics

2008-08-08T15:34:00.000-04:00

It's Olympics time! I don't know about you, but I am excited about the Olympics.

I have always enjoyed watching the Olympics, especially the gymnasts in the summer and the ice skaters in the winter. The joy from the Olympics was heightened when I lived in Utah during the 2002 Winter games. It was so fun watching knowing that the hockey was being played 3 blocks from my house and the other stuff was just about an hour away. I also got to visit Olympic park in downtown Salt Lake City. A lot of my roommates and other people I know volunteered for the Olympics, so were very involved.

I don't care to get too much involved with all the politics going on with the Olympics, especially this year with it being in China. I just love to watch the athletes perform and watch as new stars are made.

I was looking at the NBC site about the Olympics and came across these cool photos of gymnasts. They are all photos taken at weird times that catch the gymnasts in really awkward positions. I especially like the one of the girl doing the splits in the air with her head back--it looks like she doesn't have a head. :)

I also found this New York Times Olympics Tracker. If you register (for free) it will save any changes you make to the calendar. You can mark your favorite sports and rearrange the sports on the side so your favorites are easier to keep track of. Looks like a fun way to keep track of everything that is going on.

Are you going to be watching the Olympics? What's your favorite event?

Click on the picture to read more Aloha Friday entries.

Photo Meme

2008-08-07T20:16:00.000-04:00

I saw this cool meme from Chocolate on my Cranium and thought I would try it out.

Here's how it works:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker. Choose 3 columns with 4 rows.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One Word to describe you.

12. Your flickr name. (kid version: favorite animal?)

Play along if you like. It is pretty fun to see what pictures come up and have to pick one.

Car Update

2008-08-04T20:23:00.003-04:00

If you didn't read my previous post, we are looking to buy a minivan. We went to the Honda dealership on Friday and drove an Odyssey. They are great. They drive nice and have lots of cool features. They have eight seats, but all the seats fold down or come our really easily if you don't want them all there all the time. They have a storage section under the floor in the middle, and the storage in the back is really deep. They have built in shades that come up on the sides. They are just really nice. They new ones are definitely pricey. We would have to get a used one. But they had a few of those there for a decent price.

Even though we really liked it, we still want to drive a few other kinds. Anyone know anything about a Kia and Hyundai minivan?

We Have a Winner!

2008-08-02T19:54:00.002-04:00

I loved reading all 104 comments for my giveaway. I wish I could make a pair of shoes for all of you! Especially the first time/expecting moms. But, there is only one winner, and the random number chosen by random.org, is

comment #88, Molly C.who blogs here

She has a five month old son, along with 4 older sons! I'm sure she has her hands full!