"I'm Mean At You!"

Haley has the funniest mad face that I've ever seen. She gets her lips all pursed and glares. It's hard to take her seriously when she's just so cute. Then, when she's really mad, she's started saying, "I'm mean at you!" Again, it's hard not to just start laughing.

This morning I tried to get her to do her mean face so that I could take some pictures, but it's nothing like the real thing. I'll post them anyway, just so you get the idea. There's one happy one too at the end.

Nice Day

We have been having such nice weather compared to the cold temperatures of a few weeks ago. Almost all the snow is melting and now when we get precipitation, it's rain not snow. So, it's definitely a lot warmer.

Yesterday we walked over to the park and my kids were so happy. It's been quite a while since they have been to the park. It's so nice when they can just get out and play.

Preschool Fun

Two weeks ago, it was "S" week for preschool. We went outside and made snow letters and colored them with food coloring. The kids had so much fun. Britton made a B in the snow and Michael made an M. It added a little variety to the typical things you do in the snow like building snowmen and having snowball fights.

Gardening

Yesterday I went to my first gardening class. It got me really excited for planting. All we talked about was preparing the soil, but even now that part sounds fun now that I'm sure I know what I'm doing. He also talked about some different crops, but just briefly and he's going to go through each one individually and the different types that do the best here. I got really excited to have raspberries and strawberries and melons along with the tomatoes, corn, squash, etc.
He also talked about the benefits of having a garden and how it's really important to make it a family affair and teach your kids how to work, especially if they are young. They love helping and being outside. It's a fun way to do something worthwhile all together.
So, I'm already super excited to get started. It won't be for a while, but it's warm enough now and the snow has just about melted that we can still play outside and start planning out where we want everything.

Tough Week

This has been a really tough week for me and my family. I'm exhausted and sad, but also very grateful. I have been able to reflect a lot and have been reminded of how blessed I am.

Here are some of the things that I am particularly grateful for right now:

*I am so lucky to have two beautiful, wonderful kids that I love so much. They are my greatest gift and bring me so much joy everyday. I don't ever want to take them for granted.

*My husband is the greatest and always tries to take care of me. He shares my pain and knows all the right things to do and say.

*My family will do anything for me--day or night. And they've had to this week--day and night (the middle of the night). And they are happy to do it. Thank you! I love them all so much.

*I have been blessed with great friends--both near and far. I appreciate all that they do for me--the dinners, babysitting, cards, emails, phone calls, talks, distractions, etc. It all means so much to me.

*I'm grateful for the Spirit that has been with me to strengthen and comfort and calm and teach me. I can be at peace because of it.

Girly Girl

Haley is such a girly girl! I love to watch her and listen to her and see all the things that she loves. I'm surprised by what a girly girl she is because I really am not. But, that makes me like it even more because it's just so her. She loves pink and purple and babies and wearing dresses and tights and high heels.
The latest girly thing that she does is when we go to the basketball games. She ooohs and aaahs and gets so excited whenever she sees the cheerleaders. It's so cute. Even when we're watching the games on TV. As soon as they flash the camera at the cheerleaders, she gets so excited. I think she thinks thats what we're watching for. She does the "Ra Ra Ra, Go Cougars" thing perfectly. And now she has started pretending like she's a cheerleader. I have to call her "cheerleader" or she won't respond. And tonight she made me do all sorts of lifts while she was doing cheers. It was so cute and fun.

Underwear

Haley has the "Days of the Week" underwear (something I never had growing up). Well, I don't ever really pay attention and I just grab out whatever underwear each day. The other day, however, (Tuesday) I noticed that I grabbed the "Tuesday" ones. I was so excited because she could say, "I've got on my Tuesday panties, but I guess you know that too!" (My favorite line from Big Business) It made me happy all day just thinking about it.

Animal Skin

We subscribe to the National Geographic Kids magazine and my kids love it. The last edition had a lot of pictures of different animal skin on the back and you had to try to guess what it was. Haley brought it over to me for me to watch her do it. I was pretty surprised that she could get everyone--except when she got to the cheetah she said "cheeto". I guess she's much more familiar with Cheetos than cheetahs. It was really funny.

Weekend of Sports

This weekend was very fun-filled--mostly with sporting events. Friday night, Jason and I went to the BYU Men's Volleyball game. It was so much fun and reminded of the good old college days when we used to go to every game to watch our volleyball boyfriends.
BYU is doing great this year. They are ranked #1 and they were playing the #2 ranked UC Irvine. We went an hour and a half early and didn't even get very good seats. There were hundreds of people in line already when we arrived. And it sold out before the game even started. It was so much fun. BYU played great and swept them. They have swept every single team this year except for one at the very beginning of the year.
Saturday, we went as a family to the BYU basketball game. They played UNLV who was ranked #25 in the nation. BYU started off strong and took the lead and UNLV never could recover. Mike Rose hit 8 3-pointers and the whole team hit 15 3-pointers. So, it made for a very exciting game to watch. BYU ended up winning by 27 points. I was expecting a really tight game, possibly even a loss for BYU, so it was great.
Then, today after church, we went to the Kemp's house for a Superbowl party. They have a projector, so we got to watch it on the big screen. I didn't care too much about the game this year, so I just kicked it upstairs with girls and the kids. There was a Monk marathon going on, so that's what we watched. I've only seen Monk once or twice but it was fun watching it and just hanging out and talking.

Last Week's Preschool

Last week for preschool, we did the letter R. I took a couple pictures of some of the projects they did. The little tinfoily things are robots (if you couldn't tell). :)

January Give It Up Update

Carbonation wasn't really a hard challenge for me. And because of that, sometimes I would forget entirely that I was giving it up and end up drinking it at someone else's house or something like that. So, I actually think that I slipped up more this month than last. When I'm doing something harder, it takes more effort so I feel more inclined to do it to prove to myself that I can. Maybe I'm weird.
Anyway, so I decided for next month that I need to do something that's more difficult. So, I'm going to give up eating out for February. This will probably be my hardest challenge of all. But, I'm ready for it. (Plus February is the shortest month, so I purposely picked it for this month)

Frugality

I really want to be frugal. I really respect anyone that is frugal and good at not wasting money and other things. But, it is so hard for me. It seems like our whole life is so wasteful. When I think of frugality, I think of both of my sets of grandparents. They were all so good at being frugal and not "needing" all the luxuries in life even if they could afford them. I hope for my sake that some of that skill is genetic.
For one of my frugal pursuits for the year, I'm going to go to some gardening classes offered in my stake. It's an 8 week course taught by a professor of gardening. We had a garden two years ago and I loved having all the vegetables from it, but we weren't so good at weeding or harvesting and I think a lot was still wasted. But, I did can tomatoes and they lasted me all winter. So, if I could learn a bit more I think I can really maximize our yard's potential and really plant things that I know we'll use. I think just by going to the classes, it will get me thinking and planning for it long before we need to plant, so we won't miss it like we did last year. Plus if I could learn how to take care of our fruit trees, they could be doing a lot better too.
I'm really excited. It always makes me happy to do frugal things. But, not just for the money that it saves. I think there's a sense of pride that comes when eating food you grew yourself. Or using furniture you built yourself. Or fixing something that could be thrown out. Or finding a new use for something.
Hopefully I'll get better at it over the years.

Family Pictures

The last time we were together with everyone, we took a bunch of pictures at my mom's house. I'll just post a few. I had to be gone all that morning and when I got home, Jason had dressed himself and the kids in matching blue shirts and he had one waiting for me. Plus he had done Haley's hair. It's not exactly how I would pick for us to look for a picture but I thought it was so cute that he was trying so hard.

Makeup

I let Britton put makeup on me today. He had so much fun. He actually was very careful and took his time, carefully planning out what he wanted. It was pretty funny. He especially liked the pink lipstick and he applied it about 20 different times. Then he took this picture of me.

Too Early

I woke up at 5:00 this morning. Now, I'm used to getting up early (about 5:45) but this is a little much. When I get up at 5:45, I do it for a reason (to go walking with my neighbor) and then I have a pretty consistent routine that I follow when I get home. But this week has been so cold that we haven't been walking, plus Jason has started playing volleyball for UVSC (not the A team). The volleyball practices are at 5:30 so he gets up at 5 which is why I was also awakened at 5. Haley was in bed with me because her bed got wet in the night (her first nighttime accident in a REALLY long time). So, when Jason got up, she immediately popped right up. I tried just going back to sleep, hoping that she would too, but that really wasn't happening after Jason had to turn on the light to find something. He turned it off again so I tried just ignoring Haley so she'd go back to sleep, but then she just started singing in the dark, "...along comes Mr. Alligator quiet as can be and SNAPS those monkeys right out of the tree." It was too cute and she was in such a good mood. So, when she asked me to get up with her, I just couldn't refuse.

Chloie!

Haley and Britton are having so much fun being able to play with their cousin, Chloie. It's fun to have her nearby for a while. They will be here until the end of the month.

Grandma's Viewing and Funeral

My grandma's viewing and funeral both went really well. I'm just going to write a few things about them.

Friday night, after we got home from the viewing, I thanked my kids for being so good the whole time because it was a really special night for me. Britton looked at me and said, "It was a really special night for all of us."

After the family prayer, we got to go up and look at my grandma one last time before they closed the casket. As we stepped aside and they closed the casket, Haley started crying and screaming, "I want to see Great-Grandma! I want to see Great-Grandma!" It just broke my heart. She continued saying it as we were walking into the funeral, so Jason missed the beginning as he was trying to calm her down. Then when they came in, everytime she spotted the casket, she would start crying again.

My siblings and I all gave brief talks just about our favorites memories. It turned out to be so good. I got choked up from my sister's talk right before me, so I started mine already choked up which is never a good thing. So for my talk, I was far less composed than I would have wanted to be. But, it still turned out okay.

After the funeral, a lot of people came up to say what a nice tribute it was and there were so many people who said, "I need to be a better grandma" or "Now I have ideas of things to do with my grandkids". I think she would have been happy to be a good example to all these people.

As we drove to the cemetery, Jason and I were just talking and reminiscing and Jason said, "She was the ultimate grandma". And it's true. With my dad being an only child and us being the only grandkids, we were really spoiled by her. I feel very privileged and bless to be her granddaughter.

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, we went up to Desiree and Nate's house for a dinner party. It was so much fun just hanging out. The boys watched football as we ate and the kids just entertained each other almost the whole time. The adults had a Dr. Mario competition and played 20 Q. Surprisingly, we all made it up until midnight. We staged our own "midnight" around 11:15 for the kids, thinking that they were getting tired. So, we counted down and then blew horns and these confetti popper things. But, then the kids managed to keep energy and we did it all again at midnight. It was so much fun just being with friends.

Yeah!

My brother is coming tonight with his family! I finally get to meet my niece Chloie! I can't wait! If only this storm will let up so their plane can come in.

100 Things About Me

I saw this on several other blogs and thought I'd give it a try. It's just a random list of 100 things about me.

1. I love having 4 different seasons, when each new one comes I always think it's my favorite.
2. I love the mountains.
3. I love to travel.
4. I get up at 5:45 every morning, except weekends.
5. My kids are my favorite people in the world.
6. Being a stay-at-home mom is hard for me, but I absolutely love it.
7. I wish I could take really good pictures.
8. I wish I was more organized.
9. If I went back to school, I'd want to study genetics.
10. All of our furniture in our house was given to us or is hand-me-downs, I can't wait until I can pick out my own furniture.
11. I love to write.
12. I'm a closed person.
13. I love people watching.
14. I love learning about people.
15. I love watching my kids play together.
16. I love tulips, especially yellow ones.
17. I wish I was more artistic.
18. I love chocolate.
19. It's hard for me to spend money on myself.
20. I had a great childhood.
21. I have a great group of friends from high school and college that are still my best friends.
22. I like to sing but don't sing very well.
23. I always sing in the car.
24. It makes me smile when Britton sings along with me in the car.
25. I like writing poetry, but haven't for a while.
26. I love making lists.
27. I would eat spaghetti and brownies everyday if I could.
28. I think my parents are the greatest.
29. I love all my siblings and their spouses. I wish we all lived in the same neighborhood.
30. I like to reminisce.
31. I like to read, but don't find a lot of time too.
32. I love reading the scriptures and having doctrinal discussions.
33. I love teaching.
34. I think all people are fascinating.
35. I really like watching TV.
36. I wish I would've taken some interior design classes, but I never would have thought of it when I was in school because it doesn't sound very "smart".
37. I think Haley is one of the funniest people I've ever met.
38. I like watching the Gilmore Girls.
39. It's hard for me to share my feelings with other people.
40. Jason is my best friend.
41. I used to play the violin.
42. I speak French.
43. I want to visit all the continents in the world.
44. I want to visit all 50 states.
45. I used to HATE vegetables and now they're not so bad.
46. I wear the same pair of shoes everyday, even though I have a lot of shoes.
47. In the past month I started lifting weights again everyday and my body loves it.
48. I love camping.
49. I miss being able to jog forever.
50. I would like to learn to play the guitar and the piano.
51. I've gotten shy in my old age.
52. I used to love to act.
53. I like to make people laugh.
54. I like playing Dr. Mario and Tetris.
55. I miss playing basketball.
56. I would like to be able to play volleyball better.
57. I'm not a pet person.
58. I don't like calling people that I don't know.
59. I'm very competitive when I play games, but I'm getting better.
60. I love playing cards.
61. I love eating out, even fast food.
62. I am hard on myself, but easy on others.
63. I love roller coasters.
64. My favorite thing is making my kids laugh so hard they can't stop.
65. I love the rain.
66. I like reading celebrity gossip and trivia even though it's unimportant.
67. I spend too much time on the computer.
68. I have really thin hair.
69. I like living close to my parents.
70. I like tan feet.
71. I don't like shopping.
72. I love learning new things.
73. I like my eyes.
74. I want to be my kid's best friend.
75. Even though I've lived in Utah my whole life, I've never been skiing. And now I feel like I'm too old to learn.
76. I can't sleep in past 7.
77. I love having a DVR.
78. I've broken the same arm in the same place twice.
79. I like playing games.
80. I like doing things late at night.
81. I want to build a treehouse.
82. I have big plans for my yard, but right now we struggle even to keep it watered.
83. I've learned so much about myself since I've become a mom.
84. I like to make things up when I'm cooking instead of using a recipe.
85. I'm bad at keeping in touch with people, but I still think about them all the time.
86. I love dreams.
87. I've been very blessed.
88. I'm bad at making friends, so I'm grateful for those who have made me their friend.
89. I have a hard time saying no.
90. I'm excited about the future.
91. I don't need/want to have a big house.
92. I like going to the movies.
93. I love popcorn.
94. I love roadtrips.
95. I like waverunners.
96. I don't like shaving my legs.
97. Even though I get up really early, I'm usually not dressed until about 10.
98. My kids love being naked.
99. I don't like change.
100. I want to be a better mom and wife.

Give It Up for January

For January, I am going to give up drinking carbonation. Jason hasn't had carbonation for over 10 years, so we never really have it at home, but I do tend to drink it when we're eating out or things like that. It won't be as hard for me as dessert was, but I will still need to make a conscious effort to give it up.

The dessert giving up went really well and I am going to try to continue doing it now that I am no longer accustomed to eating something sweet everyday.

My Grandma

Early Sunday morning, my grandma passed away. Right before Thanksgiving we found out that she had a rather large tumor in her abdomen that they couldn't do anything about. So, she has been going down hill since then as the tumor crowded out her organs. So, it wasn't necessarily unexpected, but it's sad nonetheless. She will be missed. But, I know she is much happier now that she can be with my grandpa again.
All of the grandkids are going to be speaking briefly at the funeral--sharing our favorite memories of her. So, I will post my tribute to her later.

A Britton Moment

The other day Britton and I were talking about how lucky he is to have so many people who love him. We were listing grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends, etc. Then he said, "And you love me too" And then I said, "I was in love with you before you were even born." His eyes got big and sparkled and he got the biggest smile on his face. I hope he never forgets that moment. I know I won't.

Dessert Update

I finally cracked on Christmas and ended up eating dessert. Biz brought everyone containers of cookies and although we have received tons and tons of other cookie plates, for some reason hers were hard to resist. So, I ended up eating some (okay, quite a few) and they were delicious. I feel like I should feel bad about it since I have done so well all month, but I really don't. And right after eating her cookies, I went right back to not eating dessert. I still feel like it has been a really successful month and I'm surprised at how I don't crave dessert anymore. I haven't decided for sure what I'm going to give up next month, but I'm going to continue with the dessert thing. I think December is the most challenging month for desserts and since I did it then and survived, I'm sure I can live without it in upcoming months.

Christmas Gift Exchange

Instead of the usual drawing names among siblings at Christmas time, this year we decided to just bring stuff that we already have but don't use anymore and have a gift exchange. So over the past month or so, I've been decluttering and trying to gather together some items that we no longer want but that other people may want.
The gift exchange turned out to be a HUGE success. I think we're going to try to do it every year. We went away with a few clothing items, lots of books, a bunch of things for my kids, and a digital camera. A digital camera was one of the main things I wanted this year and my sister, Sheryl, had gotten one for free from a store for purchasing a certain amount. They already had a nicer one so they brought it for the exchange. My other digital camera is on it's last legs, so it was a very pleasant surprise. Other people got stuff they wanted (and needed) as well. It was so much fun, plus we all got rid of stuff too.

Prayers

I love being answers to other people's prayers.

Las Vegas Bowl

Last Wednesday night, we found out that one of Jason's friends still had some extra tickets to the BYU Bowl game in Las Vegas. So, we decided to go. We packed up our stuff, dropped the kid's off at the in-laws, and started to head south. At about 12:30 am we arrived at Jason's brother John's house in St. George. We stayed there for the night. In the morning we went to see the new house that they are building, then took off for Vegas.
The first thing we did when we arrived in Vegas was go on the New York, New York hotel roller coaster. It's one of my favorites and I haven't been on it in years. Then, we just wandered around on the strip. One of the highlights was watching a street artist make some paintings. He used only spray paint and some flat edged tools that looked like putty knives. It was amazing to watch him. He made beautiful sunsets and city pictures. I've never seen anything like it.
For lunch we met one of Jason's mission companions and his wife. It was my first time meeting them. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and I was so good about not eating dessert even though cheesecake is my favorite.
After that, it was time to head over for the game. It took us forever to get there because of traffic. We found a little back way into the stadium and parked on a dirt hill, so we got there just in time for the game to start.
It was such a good game and so much fun to be at. BYU dominated the whole game and about 75% of the crowd was cheering for BYU. Oregon didn't even score until the 4th quarter. The final score was 38 to 8. Our team looked so good and it was fun to be able to be at their final game of the year.
After the game, we drove straight home. Somewhere around Beaver we were both too tired to drive so we pulled over to sleep. After about an hour or so, I was too cold to sleep, so I just started driving. We made it to Jason's parent's house at about 4:30 am and just crashed. Our kids were super excited to see us when they woke up in the morning. (especially Britton who had refused to eat the entire time we were gone!--he said he couldn't eat unless I was there to watch him, I think he has some separation anxiety issues)
It was such a fun trip and I'm so glad that we decided spur of the moment to go. I wish I had pictures to share, but we left so quickly that we forgot our camera.

Half Time Show

Saturday was our 6th anniversary. Jason and I spent the afternoon and night without kids (thanks to Jason's mom). We started off by going to the BYU/Utah State basketball game. I know, really romantic, but we love going to the games. BYU won by quite a bit so it was a fun game to watch. But, the best part of the game was the half time show--Jane's Golden Girls--my all time favorite. (See previous entry from February 11, 2006 to find out more about them). They added in a couple of new moves from last year that just had me rolling with laughter. Unfortunately Jason left to get food right when their performance started so I didn't have anyone to share my joy with. All the ladies (there's over 100 of them now) lined up and started their routine by doing "the robot". It was hilarious. Some of them were quite good at it too. Their outfits and dance were about like last year, including the finale of a solo by Jane herself who is now 90. Her solo always ends in the splits and then Cosmo comes out and carries her away. It's so entertaining and pretty much amazing. The old man in front of me turned around and said, "she's got 9 years on me and I can't do all that". And then I said, "she's got 60 years on me and I can't do it either". I guess I need to start practicing the splits so I can be like Jane one day.

Better Late than Never

Our first Christmas in our house (4 years ago), we bought outdoor Christmas lights to hang up. But, every year, we don't seem to get around to putting them up. Well, this year we finally did and I love it. We didn't get it done until last Friday, but it's still better late than never. Now I love pulling up to our house at night. It looks like a little gingerbread house.

More Livingroom Pictures

Haley's Outfit for the Day

Livingroom Remodel

I got my Christmas present a little early this year. I have been wanting to paint our livingroom since summertime, but just haven't gotten around to it. Actually, I have been wanting to paint since we moved in, but I actually bought the paint and chose the colors, etc. this summer. So, for Christmas, I told Jason that that's all I wanted. I was planning on doing the painting myself, but Jason kind of took over and ended up doing it all. I'm really glad that he did because it looks so good. I tend to be a messy painter and get impatient and just try to do it quick. He's more of a perfectionist, plus he actually knows what he's doing since he does it for work. Anyway, I couldn't be happier with the results. It looks amazing. Now it's my favorite room in the house.

Here's a Before and After Picture:

Dessert Temptations

The "not eating dessert" thing is going great, but it's not without its temptations. Saturday night we had our ward Christmas party. I sat by Julie and when dessert time came I just didn't go get any. She got a couple different desserts and then sat down by me to eat them. She kept saying how good they were and that I should try a bite, etc. After saying no a few different times, she finally said, "Are you on a diet?" So, I told her that I'm giving up desserts for a month. I didn't realize how unusual it is for people to refuse dessert because it seems like people just keep offering until I actually tell them what I'm doing. I just figured I could get away with not eating it without actually making a big deal out of it. Julie wasn't very happy about it since we always eat treats and stuff together. So, she said she's going to try to make me break it. That's fine by me. I like a little challenge anyway. So, then yesterday we were at her house for dinner and games. As we were playing games, she decided to make brownies just to be obnoxious because I love brownies. But, she didn't make just ordinary brownies, she made double fudge cheesecake brownies. And then she kept saying how offended she'd be if I didn't try one, etc. I still didn't budge though. Even Jason joined in at taunting me. Every bite he took he commented on how they were the best brownies he's ever eaten, etc. It was pretty funny actually. I'm sure glad that I have such supportive friends and family :)

Weekly(?) Random Question

Tell about a prize that you won.

The only prize that I have ever won was on an airplane going to Hawaii in 3rd grade. I was sitting in the winning seat so I won an Oakridge Boys tape. I had never heard of the Oakridge Boys, but I was still pretty thrilled. It was the only tape I owned, so when we got home, I listened to it all the time and I quickly learned all the songs. My sisters and I made up dances to it and we would perform in our living room.

"Giddy up a boom bop a boom bop a mau mau"

Give It Up Update

It's only been one day and I've already encountered my first challenge with giving up dessert. But, I was successful. We went to a Dinner Party last night at a neighbor's house. While serving dessert, the host asked me probably 5 different times if I was sure that I didn't want any dessert. I thought I could just politely decline and it would be fine, but he kept coming back trying to convince me to have some which drew the attention of the whole group. It wasn't a big deal at all, but I couldn't believe how curious everyone was as to why I wasn't eating dessert. There were about 15 people there and none of them were close friends, just acquaintances, so it was a bit more uncomfortable than I had hoped.

Too Loud

We have a basement apartment, so we've always had renters that live downstairs. Because of this, we can't live quite as loudly as we normally would. This is quite a trick since I have a two year old and a four year old. Keeping them quiet is a big challenge, so I'm constantly telling them that they are being too noisy.
Well, the other day at the grocery store, Haley was jumping up and down in the cart. When I looked at her, she said, "I'm sorry, Mommy, that's too loud for downstairs". It made me laugh and realize that I probably say "that's too loud for downstairs" way too much and she really doesn't even understand what I mean by it.

Book Review and Challenge

I just finished reading, "Give It Up!--My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less" by Mary Carlomagno. The author decided to give up a different thing each month for a year and she writes about her experiences. She gave up alcohol, shopping, elevators, cell phones, dining out, television, taxis, coffee, cursing, chocolate, and multitasking. It was fun to read about what she learned about herself and the challenges that came with each different thing. With almost everything, she drastically changed the priority that the particular thing would have in her life after each month. I really enjoyed the book, but mostly I just like the idea of the whole thing. So, I decided to challenge myself to do the same and give up one of my vices each month for a year. I'm excited to start, so I'm starting tomorrow with December instead of waiting until January. For December, I'm going to give up desserts. At first, I wanted to give up brownies since that seems to be my biggest weakness, but when I thought about it, I realized that if I just gave up brownies, I'd probably just replace it with something else like cookies, icecream, etc. So, I'm going to give up all desserts. Being the holiday season, this should be even more of a challenge than normal, but probably the best time to do it anyway. I'll post from time to time about how it's going. I have most of the things picked out for the year, but if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. Also, if anyone would like to join me, you're more than welcome to try it out with me as well.

New Look for My Blog

I'm trying out a new look for my blog to see how I like it. So far, I do, but I may still end up going back to the old look. We'll see. I haven't figured out how to put links in on the side yet, though.

Pranksters

Last Wednesday night, Britton and I played a prank on Jason. I had some rubber gloves out from a project that we did for preschool (we made turkeys by stuffing the gloves with popcorn and painting the feathers and rest of the turkey, they were really cute!) Anyway, later on, Britton wanted to fill a rubber glove up with water, so I told him about the prank at Oakcrest where we would freeze water in a rubber glove and put it in someone's bed. His eyes lit up and he said he wanted to do it to Jason that night. So, we filled it up and put it in the freezer. I completely forgot about it, but Britton got it out of the freezer when it was bedtime. Jason was already in bed, so I had to get him out while Britton snuck the frozen hand in. I lured Jason into the other room, but then just whispered to him about what was going on. It was a good thing too, because Britton didn't even put the hand under the blankets or anything, he just set it right on the bed in plain sight. Jason played along really well and just laid on top of it and let out a good scream. Britton started laughing so hard. It was priceless!

Interesting Article

I read this article on MSN the other day and thought it was interesting.

Anxious Parents
It's a worrisome trend, according to this dad.
By Kristopher Kaiyala

When I was a kid, if it wasn't a school day or a soccer weekend I was off in the woods with my dog or with my neighborhood friends. My family lived on a forested hill on the outskirts of town—exactly the kind of place an adventurous kid would want to grow up. There were creeks to dam, dirt mounds to jump bikes off of, tree forts to build, new and winding trails to explore. In winter, with a foot of new snow to track out, it was even better. I would leave in the morning, after doing chores, and as long as I made it home at the agreed-upon time, or checked in by phone if I ended up at a friend's house, all was good. I was free for the day. Can you imagine letting your kids roam free today? That is, free all day, unsupervised and without a cell phone or BlackBerry or homing device strapped to their waists? There's something about our world in 2006—the seemingly ever-present threat of shooters, kidnappers, predators, drug dealers, scammers, or natural hazards like ponds and wells—that makes the child-rearing freedoms of yesteryear seem dangerous and anachronistic. And yet somehow, we survived. My mom and dad were great parents. They were involved in all aspects of my childhood, but when it came to just being a kid, they backed off. They gave me a lot of space to grow and learn and explore and figure things out on my own or with friends, as long as I showed them I could make good decisions and be responsible for my actions. Of course back in the '70s most people still smoked and seat belts were an abstract concept. Public safety campaigns and liability lawsuits had yet to grip America, and PlayStation/Xbox/Nintendo and the Internet weren't even blips on the short-attention-span horizon. "Disorder" probably meant you got the wrong hamburger at Dairy Queen. One could easily dismiss those days as a "different time." And certainly technology and medical science and communication and safety standards have changed dramatically, but kids are still kids. Their basic needs haven't changed. I'm just a dad, not a sociologist, but it seems to me that for healthy development, kids need equal doses of responsibility and freedom. Get rid of one and you're asking for trouble. Get rid of both and it's going to be a bumpy ride. And yet that's exactly what I see a lot of parents doing today. They eagerly do all they can to smooth out life's troublesome potholes for their kids, while at the same time micromanaging their every move. As writer Hara Estrof Marano put it, parents try to "engineer a risk-free world for children." In 2004, Marano wrote an article for Psychology Today called "A Nation of Wimps." Her book by the same title is due out in 2007 (nationofwimps.com). I'm not one to pay much attention to so-called experts, but I think Marano is onto something.
"Cell phones function as an eternal umbilical cord," she said during a recent phone interview, "and it's all so misguided. Kids aren't allowed the freedom that allows them to build their own identities. They can't make their own mistakes, and so they miss out on critical life skills. When something difficult arises, there's mom or dad on the cell phone trying to fix everything." Parental anxiety is natural, said Marano, but too often horribly misplaced. "Anxious parents turn their kids into projects." And you can dispense with the notion that it's the guilt-ridden working parent who's most at fault. "Often the at-home parent is the one freaking out. A lot of moms and dads, especially in affluent homes, leave the work force to focus on their kids. They apply their professional training to parenting and try to turn their kids into résumés on two legs."
Or worse, into patients. "I think it's appalling how many parents are willing to have their kids labeled 'diseased' because they think it will help them academically," Marano continued. "It all centers around giving their kids more time to take tests, especially the big test—the SAT." She says a lot of parental anxiety involves getting children into college. "When kids do not function well in that narrow academic groove, parents try to give them an edge or have the rules bent for them." She also says kids are often labeled defective so early that they don't fight it; they internalize that something's wrong with them. They see themselves as weak.
Marano has plenty of research and experience to back up her findings. Me? Just my daily observations. You see them at the playground, at the mall, across the backyard fence, at PTA meetings—moms and dads who hover or praise or scold to the point of annoyance or irrelevance. Those parents who are so consumed by their kids' security and self-esteem and academic standing that you wonder if those poor children will ever have a chance to speak out or grow up or just be themselves. Of course it's our duty to protect our kids and help them succeed. But at what cost? The last thing we should do is project our sometimes irrational anxieties onto them, like the mother who recently told me she wasn't sure if her child was allergic to peanuts but she had the medication for it just in case. You know, all kids are different, but they're tough. They're built to survive, and sometimes we forget that. We need to step back and remember the world for the beautiful place it is. And let kids be kids.

No Safe Place

The only place that I can put anything that Haley can't get into is on top of our fridge. Well, this morning, she climbed on a chair, then onto the counter, then onto the microwave and could reach all the stuff I have been stashing there that she shouldn't get into. When I walked in, she had the matches and said, "I wanna do fireworks". I guess I'm going to have to find some other place to put things.

Primary Program

Today was our Primary Program. I am so glad that it's over with. I'm the one that writes the program and is in charge of the whole thing so it's been somewhat of a stress the last couple of weeks. I knew it would turn out great because it's always everyone's favorite Sacrament Meeting, but I still wanted it to be "the best ever" or something. I was a bit worried because none of our practices went even remotely well. We have 10 Sunbeams and only 2 of them are girls. But, one of those girls is developmentally way behind and a real problem. There's another boy who has some major behavioral problems and then the other 7 boys are just 4 year old boys so it's always difficult to get them to sit still and obey. Of course, one of those boys is Britton which makes it even harder for me to be in charge when I'm trying to chase him around and get him to sit still. Combine that with two singing leaders who haven't quite gotten the hang of things and a handful of teachers who think it's optional if they even show up, and I was more than a bit worried about the whole thing. But, the kids came through big time and it turned out great. Britton even did his part and it was adorable. The kids sang so well and very loud. It gave me chills several different times and almost brought me to tears near the end. So, I guess there was nothing to be worried about after all.

Potty Training

Haley is almost officially potty trained. It's hard for me to actually say that because I haven't actually done anything. About two weeks ago I bought her a little stool and a seat to go on the toilet then I just started dressing her in underwear and she has seriously done the rest. I don't think that's typical by any means, but she is so independent that that's what worked for her. She had to do it all on her own. And I'm still amazed every time that she just goes in there on her own and goes. I forget that she's not wearing diapers since I don't really have to do anything. That's so opposite from Britton who still likes me to help him half of the time. There have still been a couple accidents to clean up, but it hasn't been bad at all. I guess having an ultra-independent child has some advantages.

Weekly Random Question

What are some of your favorite smells?

*lavender
*rain
*baking brownies

Movie Review--The Santa Clause 3

Yesterday afternoon, we took our kids to a matinee to see The Santa Clause 3. Other than Haley being squirmy the entire time, it was really fun. The movie was very cute and perfect for kids. The plot was a quite predictable, but it was still entertaining and fun to watch. I never saw The Santa Clause 2, so there were a few things that I didn't really know about, but it's not like you can't catch on and enjoy the show. But, it does make me want to go back and see the second one. It's definitely not a movie I would have gone to if I didn't have kids, but it was a fun family activity.
I probably wouldn't recommend it for kids under 4, however, since I spent most of the movie wrestling with Haley. It wasn't the type of movie to really hold her attention, but she did really like parts of it. But, then again, there aren't any movies that hold Haley's attention for that long, especially in a theater when it's so much fun to play on the chairs and climb up the stairs and run up and down the ramp.

Bug Fun!

This week for preschool, it was "I" week. So we did a bunch of stuff about insects (one of my favorite topics). We had so much fun making bugs that I thought I needed to take a few pictures.

Karate!

We signed up Britton for an introductory special at a local Karate school. He has talked about karate for a long time now, so we decided to see how he would do. So, he got to do 2 one-on-one lessons. Wednesday was his last one. He did really well and really loved it. He was a bit shy at first, but then warmed up to his instructor by the end. Wednesday he got his white belt and got to break a board. He was so excited after he broke it. It was really fun to watch him.
We ended up enrolling him for one of the classes. He's really excited. And so am I. I think it will teach him a lot of good things like focus, discipline, respect, etc. This particular place seems really good for young kids too because they have a lot of skills tests where they can get a stripe for their belt. And they do a lot to just build their confidence all around. Their 3 rules are: 1) obey your parents, 2) keep your room clean, and 3) no fighting or hitting. What parent wouldn't love those rules?

Leaves

Yesterday we raked and bagged up all the leaves in the front yard. Then mowed the lawn. It took about 2 hours, but it looks great now. We ended up with 9 full garbage sacks of leaves. And when we were all done, I looked up at the tree and you can't even tell that any leaves have fallen. There are so many still up there. I love having big trees, but the clean up in the fall is sure a lot of work. And we didn't even start in the back yard where the really big tree is.
This year I have been observing my neighbors and their methods of leaf clean up. The people across the street told us to put all the leaves on your garden area and it kills all the weeds and is good for the soil. So I think that's what we're going to do with the leaves in the backyard. I watched them and they pile theirs on a big tarp and drag it onto the garden area. That will be a lot easier than bagging it all up.

Family Football Finger Food Feast

Today for the BYU football game, we made a bunch of food and had a picnic in our family room while watching the game. We had mini pizzas, chimichangas, popcorn chicken, tater tots, garlic bread, chips and 7 layer dip, and lots of cookies and candy. It was way too much food (and all junk) but so much fun.

Halloween

Dressing up, getting free candy, what's not to love?

Last night we participated in our first "Trunk or Treat". It was so much fun. There were a lot of cars that were decorated so well. I had to help with the Primary kids at the beginning so we didn't have any time to decorate our vehicle, so we just played scary music while Jason handed out the candy. But, I was really impressed with some others. There was one SUV that made the whole back into a little graveyard and they had dry ice and everything. It was pretty spooky. My favorites, though, were the ones that made their trunks into mouths. There was one with big spiky teeth, so it looked like a big mouth. There was another that wasn't quite as scary, but it was cool because they made a big tongue inside it too. It was pretty cool.

My neighbor, George, made all sorts of cute jack-o-lantern type things out of pumpkins and zucchinis, and other crazy-shaped squashes. He connected some together to make crazy hats on the pumpkin, etc. It was really cute. He's a big gardener, so it was perfect for him. This morning I was outside talking with another neighbor and he was driving around showing everyone that wasn't there last night his trunk. It was pretty cute how much fun he had.

My kids had a lot of fun dressing up, but they haven't quite gotten into the whole "getting a lot of candy" thing. Britton is really afraid of talking Halloween decorations, so after a few cars, he didn't even want to go around anymore. He didn't care if he didn't get any more candy. Haley went around with me to all the cars, but if anyone looked at her or talked to her, she'd hide behind me and not take any candy. It was pretty funny.

Britton dressed up as a white ninja and Haley was a dinosaur (Britton's costume from last year). They both were really cute. I dressed up as a witch and it was so much fun. I bought a really long gray haired wig. That was the best part of the costume. It really changed the way I looked. I like my hat too. It's a witches hat, but it's purple velvet with a black buckle on the front so it's a bit different than your typical one. Then I just wore a black dress (the one from my nun outfit) and a black cape. It was fun. Not too many adults dressed up, so that made it even more fun.

Weekly Random Question

I have this list of questions that I think is meant to be a party game or some kind of get-to-know you type thing. Anyway, I decide to just draw one randomly every so often and write about it so that I at least post something every week.

So, for this week, the question is...
What is one of the most unusual meals you ever ate?

The first thing that popped into my mind was Frog's Legs. While on my mission in France, the Elder's in Albi decided to make us Frog's Legs one week after District meeting. In France they sell frog's legs frozen in big bags like they sell chicken here. But, none of us had ever tried them before, so we thought it would be fun. I think what made it even more unusual was that they had no idea how to prepare them or what to serve with them. I think they made some sort of a breading and deep fried them which I'm pretty sure is not what the French do with them. And then we had mashed potatoes with them. My favorite part about them was that they actually look exactly like frog's legs (go figure). We kept hopping them around our plates and stuff as we ate. You have to eat like 6 or 8 of them since there's very little meat on each one. It was a fun meal, but definitely quite unusual.

Impetigo

This past week Britton has had impetigo. It's an infection that is on his face. At it's worst, he had big sores all over his forehead, nose, and chin that were all oozy and shiny. He's been on antibiotics all week and we've applied a cream and he looks a million times better. It's amazing to me all the random infections and sicknesses kids seems to attract. It grosses me out when I really think about the way they are contracted. Impetigo isn't that gross since it's just a strep or staph infection that somehow gets under the skin. Since Britton picks his scabs, it's not too hard to picture how it got there. But, when Haley had Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease, I didn't really want to know how she got it. Some neighbor kids had it at the same time, so I kept telling myself that they got it first and gave it to her. I think that's actually true, but who really knows. I guess considering how many things kids lick or put in their mouth, it's amazing they're not sick all the time. Anyway, I still think it's pretty gross.

Fifty States Revisited

On our trip to Jason's mission, we went to Fayetteville and Rogers, Arkansas. If you look back to my other map, you'll notice a hole right in the middle of all the red--Arkansas. It looks much nicer now that I can fill it in. Now, I just have gaps around the edges for the most part.

Only a few more trips to go to get all of them in!

I could visit Melissa and Claire in Minnesota and try to go to N. Dakota, Wisconsin, and Michigan all at the same time.
Then, Emily Anderson lives in North or South Carolina (I can't remember which).
Then, trips to New England and Alaska and that would just about do it.
I don't ever really picture me visiting Rhode Island or West Virginia, so maybe one of my friends will move there or I'll just have to drive through sometime. Or, who knows, maybe they're really great vacation spots that I just don't know about yet. I'll have to research a bit if they end up being the last two left.

Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma!

For Jason's birthday, we surprised him and took him on a trip back to his mission. He's been really thinking a lot about it lately and even talked of wanting to move there, so it was a great time to go back and visit.
We had a great time there and I got to meet a lot of people that he knew when he was there. Everyone was so nice. It was fun to hear all the stories about him on his mission from other people's perspectives. And to see him through the eyes of people who only know him as a missionary.
Our kids loved the whole trip. They were amazing on the 18+ hour car ride. I couldn't believe it. DVD players in cars are the best!
I'll be posting pictures when they get developped and then write more about our trip.
I think it was the best birthday for Jason in a long time. (Thanks, Amber, for the great idea!)

Happy Haley

A while ago my mom mentioned, "I love how Haley gallops wherever she goes." And that made me start noticing. Haley never just walks. She runs, skips, dances, or gallops from place to place. She's always excited and energetic. It's fun to see how happy she is about life.

Fantasy Football Freak

Jason and I are playing on two different fantasy football leagues. And, I have to admit, I'm kind of a freak about it. I've never been a fan of NFL football, probably because there's not a team here, and it's always kind of bothered me that Jason thinks he has to watch so many of the games. But, now that I'm playing in the fantasy leagues, I'm just as bad, if not worse. I don't really know anything about the players, other than the names of the ones on my team. So, I just watch the games to cheer for my players and against the other players. I don't really care what teams win as long as my players do well.
I think it's made this season so much more fun for Jason and I because we're both into the games. A couple weeks ago, I was hurrying Jason up so that we could get home to watch Monday Night Football. He just smiled and said, "I never would have thought I'd see the day that you were begging me to watch football."
I'm proud to say that I am in first place in one of our leagues (the one with all of Jason's brothers and friends). My mom and I are the only two girls in that league and she has been in first place up until last week when I took over. I hope one of us wins it and the other takes second. It's nice to have girls at the top. And, I'm also proud to report that in both leagues, when I played Jason's team, I beat him pretty easily. That's nice too. (I have to brag about it now, since it's still really early and who knows where I'll end up by the end.)

Rub a Dub Dub

About a month ago, while my mom was watching my kids, she gave them both a bath in the sink. Her sinks are very deep, so it works just fine. And they had so much fun.
Well, the other day, I heard the water on, so I went into the kitchen to see what was going on. Haley had taken all her clothes off, climbed on a chair and into the sink and was filling it with water. I can't leave her alone for a second.

"E" Week

This week for preschool, it was "E" Week. So, we learned a lot about elephants. It's amazing to me how much little kids already know about animals. I think because they're just naturally curious and interested in them. They knew all the general facts about them, so we got to learn more of the details. Like how much a baby elephant weighs compared to how much they weigh.

We got to have two adventures (field trips) having to do with elephants. On Thursday we went to the zoo and on Friday we went to the circus.

The zoo was really fun for my kids. Julie took her older kid's out of school to come with us and we met Desiree and her mom and kids there as well. They have fixed the zoo up quite a bit adding lots of nice displays. There is a whole new tiger section that is really nice. Unfortunately, none of the tigers were out, so we didn't even get to see them. One of my kids' favorite things was a big wooden statue of an elephant. The kids could sit on the trunk. The elephant would play "pop, goes the weasel" and on the "pop!" part, it would blow air out of its trunk. The kids loved it and wanted to stay there forever. We missed one of my favorite parts, the reptile house, because Britton refused to go in because of the smell. It did smell really bad. Britton kept trying to go in then would turn around and run out. Then he'd say, "I have a sensitive nose". It was pretty funny. We spent most of the day there and had a really good time.

The circus elephants were much more entertaining than the zoo elephants. In fact, the elephant part of the show was one of my favorites. They are such smart elephants. They did a catwalk type thing where they announced an elephant and it would walk out and do turns and strut its stuff. Then they did a whole act of them sitting and laying down and running and skipping, etc. The little elephant was my very favorite. All the other elephants would kick their front legs out when they skipped, but the little one kicked his back legs out instead. It looked so cute. Like he was clicking his heels or something.

The rest of the acts at the circus were really good too. They had a trapeze man that walked upside down. It was so cool. There were little loops hanging down and he would swing and just get his foot caught in the loop, then swing the other foot to the next loop and so on. It was really neat.

Then they had all the other usual acts--clowns, horse riders, motorcyclers, acrobats, jugglers, etc. The last time I went to the circus, it was a 3 ring circus, so it's always hard to watch everything at once. But, this time they just had one act going on at a time. I liked it a lot better. They had so many cool things. I have always loved the circus and have been many times (including one time in a limo!), but this was by far my favorite I think. It seems like all the acts were really high quality and fun to watch. Plus it was fun to see my kids get so excited. Haley was so fascinated by it all. She kept her eyes glued on the stage the entire time.

My Afternoon

Half a mile is a lot longer when you are carrying two kids, two bikes, and all their gear. I think that's all I'll say.

I'm a nerd

I've been tutoring a girl in my neighborhood for a while now. I started a few years ago, when she was in high school and have done it off and on since. Now she's a sophomore in college and I've been tutoring her twice a week in math and biology for the last few months.
Anyway, today she arranged for me to do a Biology Review session for her study group. They have a test on Monday so they wanted me to help them get ready for it by clarifying things and making sure they understand everything correctly.
Well, I had such a blast. It was so much fun getting to spend 2 hours talking about the parts of the cell, transcription and translation, cellular respiration, photosynthesis, etc. I love helping them think of ways to remember things by drawing pictures or making up weird analogies. I feel like such a nerd, but I seriously had so much fun. (And I think they did too)
I ended up making so much more money than usual, since they all paid me, but seriously I would've done it for free. Sometimes I forget how much I love just sitting around talking about science.

50 Nifty United States!

For a while now, I've had a goal to visit all of the 50 states. Thanks, to my grandparents and several long cross country roadtrips, I've almost accomplished that. I found this website that makes a map for you of the states you've visited. I thought it was pretty cool. And it gave me a good visual of the regions that I still need to visit. It looks like it shouldn't be too hard--4 or 5 more trips and I should have it covered.

The Moon is Smiling

The past two days when I went out in the morning to go jogging and walking, the moon was just amazing. It was just the smallest little sliver right along the bottom. So, it looked like the moon was smiling at me. It was great. I hope it's like that again tomorrow!

Singing in the Shower

Britton has decided that he only likes to take showers now. He decided this when he realized that his friend Kyler who lives in our basement takes showers everyday. Kyler's almost 6, so Britton thinks everything he does is so cool.
Last night he was taking a shower and Jason and I were in the back room watching TV. We heard what I thought was Britton yelling for us, so we ran to see what he needed. When we got closer, though, we realized that he was just singing really loud. He was singing "Unbreak my Heart" from that Indentity Theft commercial. It was hilarious.

Rise and Shout, the Cougars Are Out!

Saturday was the first BYU home game and I couldn't have been happier with the game. It was a nice day and we got there right before the game started. It was fun to see all the people that we sit by again. We have the same seats (my grandparent's old seats) every year and so do all the people that sit around us. Everyone was so happy and excited.
The game went really well and we ended up winning 49 to 24. Here are some of my favorite things about the game:
--my favorite play was when John Beck passed to Curtis Brown and then Brown had the most amazing run, he broke through three different tackles and ran about 60 yards for a touchdown, he just never gave up, even when a couple of guys were holding onto him, he just kept running until he broke through, it was quite impressive
--there was a down pour--the kind that rarely happen in Utah where there are really big rain drops and you get completely drenched in seconds, the game got put on lightning delay which I don't think has ever happened here
--something that was unexpected, but nice, was that I got very nostalgic about my grandpa, this is the first football game since he passed away, I found myself thinking a lot about him and even getting choked up during the fight song remembering how he always belted it out at games, seeing all the older people stick it out through the rain also reminded me of him because I don't think there was much that could keep him from watching a game

I love the rain

This morning I got to go jogging in the rain. It was delightful.

Soccer--Part Two

I think Britton is getting worse at soccer instead of better. It's frustrating. It doesn't help that the games are in the evenings and he falls asleep on the way there. So, he's exhausted and grumpy and whiney by the time the game starts.
Yesterday he ran around chasing Jason, trying to get him to carry him for the game. He would grab onto his leg everytime he got close enough.
At one point, he was doing something with his hands all twisted up behind his back, I'm not really sure what it was. Maybe it was to ensure that he didn't touch the ball with his hands. But, more likely, it had nothing at all to do with the actual soccer game.
Towards the end, it looked like he was getting more into it because he was running and kicking, but when I looked closer, I realized he was just trying to kick all the other boys in the shins (he's really fascinated by shin guards).
The funny part of it all is that he practices in our yard almost every night with Jason. He's actually got skills and is quite good. He talks about his games and how much he loves it, etc. But, you'd never guess that when you actually watch him play (or not play, as the case may be).

Birds

Last night I asked Britton what his favorite kind of bird was. He immediately replied, "the Speckled Warbler". I was shocked, and then a little proud. A few months ago, we had had a preschool about birds and, although I couldn't remember it specifically, I knew we had talked about all sorts of birds. I was sitting there just thinking about what a great job I was doing teaching my little genius when he said, "I learned about it on 'Max and Ruby' ". Great, again I'm one-upped by the television.

Preschool Field Trip

Last Thursday we took our first official preschool field trip. I just started doing preschool with Britton again and his best friend in our neighborhood, Michael, comes to it too. On Tuesdays, we do preschool then on Thursdays we go on field trips. Each week is a different letter of the alphabet, so we went to the airport for our first field trip. Jason showed the boys all the planes and let them sit inside one of them and wear the head set. He explained what all the gadgets are for and showed them all the different parts on the outside. We watched planes take off and land and a helicopter took off right next to us. Michael has never been on a plane, so he was just in awe. Britton hasn't been flying in a really long time so he loved it too. I wished that we had arranged for Jason to take them flying. It would've been great. We decided to go over to another area of the airport and look at some of the bigger jets. Jason asked one of the receptionists if there were any pilots around who would want to show us their planes. When he came back, he was excited! He said, "We're in for a real treat--we're going to go on a G3!" The rest of us didn't even realize what that was. It's a charter jet that can fly anywhere in the world. It's all decked out with leather couches and chairs. It's the size of a regular commercial jet, but without all the seats. It probably had seats for about 20 and they were all super plush. Each one had a TV as well. The pilot showed us all the cockpit and answered all Jason's questions about everything. They talked for a long time after the boys were done looking around. I'd say for our first field trip, it was more than a success. Everyone had such a good time.

Soccer Mom

I am now officially a soccer mom! Britton had his first soccer game last Saturday. Jason is his coach and one of his best friends is on the team. So far it's been so much fun, but a bit different than I expected. I think every mom has visions of her kid being the star of the game. Britton has always been very athletic and coordinated and shown a lot of interest in sports, so of course, I figured he'd out-shine everyone on field and be a pro from day one. It didn't quite turn out like that. I should have guessed when, at the first practice, he started crying and refused to go back after Jason told him he couldn't touch the ball with his hands, but I still had high hopes for his first game. Don't get me wrong, he was really good and there were even moments of brilliance, but they were intermixed with moments of crying, laying down on the field, making faces at his teammates, picking grass, holding hands with his friends, trying to climb the goal net, and plain refusing to play anymore. It's good to know, though, that it's an age thing and all the other boys do those sorts of things, too. We're learning that the only things the coach has to do is keep his team going in the right direction and carry the crying ones off the field.
Last night, at their second game, I overheard a dad on the other team yelling, "Put down the grass, son, and go after the ball". It just made me chuckle.

Exploring

Monday morning Britton decided to make a map. As soon as he was done, he wanted to follow it, of course. So we jumped in the car and he led the way. He told me which way to go at every turn until we finally arrived at Rock Canyon Park and he said very excitedly, "this is what I drew on the map!" (That was pretty lucky since there wasn't anywhere else to go without running into the mountain) So, we set out on foot and continued exploring. I had to carry Britton's goggles the whole time, just in case we discovered a lake (even thought I knew there were no lakes there). The river was all dried up so we played in the rocks in the river bed and collected acorns under some trees and looked for squirrels. Britton and Haley had such a wonderful time. They are great explorers.

Orem Owlz

Lately we've been able to go to quite a few of the Orem Owlz games. Jason's brother James has season tickets for his family and they usually always have a couple extra. My kids love the games. The mascot is Hootz--a big owl with a baseball for a head. They used to be scared of him, but now he's their favorite thing about the games. They always have to run up and give him five or shake his hand. Haley cheers and claps whenever anyone else is and dances with all the music. She loves singing, "take me out to the ball game", too. Although, I enjoy watching football and basketball so much more, the baseball games are such a fun thing for our whole family. Maybe it's because I don't really care too much about whether they win or lose, so I don't mind so much if I don't see every second of the game. So, I'm perfectly happy to chase my kids around or go get treats or just sit and talk.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Last Saturday night, we had a movie night. We rented a movie for us to watch (Glory Road--very good) and some for the kids. Haley picked out Piglet's Big Movie and Britton picked out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II which is still probably too old for him to really like, but he thought it was cool. It was a blast from the past to when I saw the first TMNT movie in the theater. I think I was in 8th or 9th grade and I went to see it with Angie Pistorius. We thought we were so cool. I don't really think it was that cool of a thing at the time, but we didn't care. We always called each other Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, or Leonardo. We thought we were so funny. Watching parts of the movie with Britton, it was hard for me to imagine what the fascination was way back then.

Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears

I love chocolate coverd cinnamon bears! I think I would probably love chocolate covered pretty much anything, but they are particularly good.

Shrek Super Party

My favorite XBox game is Shrek Super Party. It is so great because you do these different "epic battles" so there is a lot of variety. But it's easy enough for a four year old to play and a two year old to believe that she's playing. And it's 4 player so our whole family can play together. It's set up kind of like a board game where each person is a different player and has a turn and depending on where they land, determines what you do. There are lots of epic battles, but there are also "daring duels" where you challenge another player, "magic mirror", "magic portals", and places where you lose points or gain points. Britton's favorite spot is marked by a pair of stinky shoes and when you land there you're sent to the "evil bog". He thinks it's hilarious.

Jason's New Calling

Jason just got called to be the new Ward Clerk. He is nervous and excited. It will be a lot more time consuming than his calling right now. But, he will learn a lot of skills like note taking and all the computer stuff that will help him with a lot of things. Our bishopric is really great so he'll be working with some great people. But, I'll have to get used to not seeing him much on Sundays. That'll take some getting used to since we're used to just hanging out all day on Sundays.

Bedroom Makeover

While Amber was here, we decided to paint my bedroom. Then, as we were painting, we decided to take out a dresser and the TV to make the room look better. So, I had to get rid of a ton of clothes (mostly Jason's) in order to make it all fit. But, when we got all finished and got everything put back together, it looked 100 times better. Much more spacious and clean.
I can't say that Jason was as thrilled about the whole transfomation as I was, but he does think it looks a lot better. Maybe I should've asked him before I just moved out his TV, but I think he'll appreciate it in the long run.
Next project is my living room. I can't wait to start. Too bad Amber can't come out for that one too.

Hooray!!!

Last Thursday Jason passed his written instrument exam! We are all so excited. (especially him) The written part is always the harder part for him. He should take his check ride in the plane in the next couple of weeks and then he'll have his instrument rating! I'm so excited!

He also finished all the rest of his classes and I think he did quite well (especially since he put it off until the very end). Grades aren't posted yet, but we have a pretty good idea of what he'll get.

Now, he has a little break and classes start up again on the Aug 23.

Procrastination=Major Stress

Jason has one more week to finish up his classes for this term. And, as usual, he's saved the bulk of the work for the very end. So, this past week he has been studying and taking tests, doing assignments, writing papers, etc. non-stop. There are lots of benefits to online classes, but this is not one of them. I think it stresses me out more than him. I try to plan to be gone with the kids the majority of each day so that he won't be distracted. And then when I'm home, I try to read his Psychology text so that I can teach him the stuff and research everything for his papers. It doesn't seem fair because I really enjoy this kind of stuff and he really hates it. I even find myself reviewing his aviation things (which I know nothing about) in my head as I go jogging each morning. I don't even know what the terminology means, but I remember all the stuff from quizzing him on it, so my brain automatically reviews it when I 'm not thinking about anything. Also, it stresses me out because I really have no control over it. So, if he takes a break or does other things, I just get really mad that he's not spending every waking second on it. It's hard for me to just sit back and watch him and let him do it his way. And he doesn't seem to fully appreciate all my helpful suggestions and reminders of the importance of all of this. I try to explain that I'm trying to help motivate not put added pressure on him, but he's not really buying that.
I'm not looking forward to this next week since it all has to be done by Friday. Luckily, he only has a few small assignments and 2 tests left. Unfortunately, one of the two tests is the written exam for his instrument rating, so he HAS to pass it in order to move forward in his career. So, the bulk of the week will be me staying away with the kids so he can just study like crazy.

The Beach

Haley just changed out of her dress into her swimming suit and she said, "I want to go to the beach ball". I guess being in Coeur d'Alene and swimming everyday has spoiled her. All she wants to do is swim all day.

Hiccups

The other day Haley came in and said, "Mommy, I do the hiccups!". She seemed so proud of herself. Then she hiccuped and smiled, "I did it again!" Each time she'd say, "I did it again!" It was so cute.

Nicknames

I've always thought it was interesting how nicknames come about and evolve. I've discovered that you can't really pick a nickname, they just kind of happen. My friend Amber always wanted a nickname and was always making them up for everyone else, but they never stuck for her. But, she definitely has a talent for coming up with names for other people. I think she gets it from her dad, who rarely calls people the same thing twice.
She has come up with some rather interesting ones over the years, but my very favorite (because it is so random and not even close to the original name) is that she calls her sister William. Her real name is Claire. It all started because Amber would always say, "What you talkin about, Willis?" to her all the time. So, that got shortened to Willis, then Will, then William, and sometimes, Wilhelm.
There's always a logical sequence if you get an explanation, but you can't always see the connection right off between the nickname and the real name.
I always thought it was pecular when nicknames were longer than the original name too. Because I thought the reason for a nickname was to shorten the name. But, it's amazing the things that stick. In high school, my friends all called me Malaria (thanks to Amber). That's a whole 2 syllables extra added to my name. But, it stuck, so my nickname was a disease.
When we named Britton, I kind of thought that we would call him Britt a lot. But, we never do. Maybe because it sounds like a girl or maybe because it just doesn't fit him. I don't know. We've never called him anything but Britton.
But, with Haley, we hardly ever call her by her name. From the beginning, I called her Haley Bug which over time has evolved to "Bug", "Bugs", "HayBug", etc. And we call her "Hay" or "HayHay" all the time too.
It's just funny how somethings just seem to fit and so they stick.

New Renters

Last Saturday we got new renters in our basement. So, it was a crazy weekend. The old people moved out Friday evening, so we cleaned the carpets that night and the new people moved in Saturday night.
The new people have 3 kids--a 5 year old boy, a 2 year old girl, and a baby boy (I think he's around 1). They are the perfect ages for my kids. They're already the best of friends too and want to play together non-stop. I invited their kids into play while they were unloading everything on Saturday. Since then, my kids have wanted to play with them every second.
They also have a dog. We told them they couldn't have pets at first but then we changed our minds. But, if there are any problems at all, they have arrangements for someone to take it. I kind of like it though. It doesn't go inside at all and is very well-behaved. It doesn't bark at night and is really good with kids. So, it's perfect for us. We have all the benefits of having a pet without actually having to take care of it. Britton has been wanting a cat or a dog for a long time, so this is ideal.

Mini Van

For about a month or so, we have been the proud owners of a minivan. I'm so excited. I've been wanting a van for a long time, but we hadn't planned on being able to get one for a while. My mom bought a new van so she gave us her old one. She's the nicest. It's so nice to be able to let other people ride with us. Or have room for everything. It gets way better gas mileage than the Rover plus it will help extend the life of our other two cars.

At Brent's House

More of the Cedar Forest