back tracking

One of the highlights on our trip to Utah was staying with my husbands parents. It was so fun to have them spend time with our babe since they haven't seen her for 5 months. After a long day of airplane delays we arrived at the airport at 1:00 am. We were thrilled when Grandpa and Grandma drove up and Grandma asked our babe if she wanted to come see her. No time was wasted as our babe climbed through the window to sit on her lap. Their apartment is one block off Temple Square so we were able to spend lots of time enjoying its grandure. I could even see it out the window when I laid in bed. What a wonderful place to visit.

something about me

I don't like to cook and I finally realized why. If I cook a meal for my husband so it will be ready when he gets home from work, he will be LATE. This would be funny if it were an exaggeration, but it's not, it happens every time. I can't stand to have food prepared and just sit. When it's ready, it's ready, and it's time to eat. I'm not even talking about a couple of minutes late either, I'm talking about a 1/2 hour to an hour. So, if you ever notice me saying that I don't like to cook, that's the reason. A prepared dinner=a late husband.

PRIMARY CHORISTER

Now I get to use my college education. Each Sunday there will be three performances, senior primary, junior primary and nursery. I think it will be a fun calling, but a lot of work. Not nearly as much work as RS President, YW President, Primary President, nursery leader or adult Gospel Doctrine, but there will be a lot of prep time. My goal is for the kids to sing LOUD!

If anyone has any suggestions of things that work and things that don't work, I would love to hear them. I have NEVER been in Primary before. Sunday I went to primary and watched so I could get at least an idea of what to do.

Thanks for playing, sorry no one won the boil (Wendy you don't count because yours wasn't a guess.)

new calling

I have a new calling. I've been teaching the teenage Sunday school for the past 2 years and now I am the...



any guesses?



I'll mail you the big hug zit I have on my right leg if you guess correct.

ABC tag

A. ATTACHED OR SINGLE? attached

B. BEST FRIEND? Rumpelstiltskin

C. CAKE OR PIE? Can I have both?

D. DAY OF THE WEEK? Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thurday, Friday, Saturday

E. ESSENTIAL ITEMS? my NTI (mouth guard when sleeping), Mentholatum for my lips

F. FAVORITE COLOR? Red

G. GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? Bears, you get to bite their head off

H. HOMETOWN? Heaven

I. INDULGENCE? Computer, reading, expensive chocolate

J. JANUARY OR JULY? July, I love the 4th and water skiing

K. KIDS? uno

L. LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? my fam, eternal perspective

M. MARRIAGE DATE? August 2001

N. NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS? 4 brothers

O. ORANGES OR APPLES? which ones more juicy?

P. PHOBIAS OR FEARS? spiders

Q. QUOTE? Holding a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die - who knows

R. REASONS TO SMILE? blooming flowers

S. SUPERMAN OR WONDER WOMAN? Superman

T. TAG 5 PEOPLE? Carol, Easton, Steph, Kris, Sarah

U. UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME? in college my hands and feet turned orange from eating too many carrots

V. VEGETABLES? is this a coincidence?

W. WORST HABIT? itching my ears

X. X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND? ultrasound

Y. YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? any kind of berries

Z. ZODIAC SIGN? Pisces.

sharing time

NO TIME FOR FLASH CARDS

I don't know how I found this site, but it's brilliant, thanks to whoever had it's link on your blog. This woman has endless ideas for teaching her kids. I love that she frequently does an art project, a song and a book. I tried to make up my own project today. We are working on RED this week. On a large piece of paper we colored with a red crayon, a red pencil, and finger painted with red(she was much more interested in squeezing the finger paints out of the tube than she was painting) all of this while she sat on a RED chair. While that dried, we read The Big Hungry Bear. A book about a manipulator who convinces are poor little mouse to split a big red strawberry with him so the non-existent big hungry bear doesn't come and steal it. Well, I didn't exactly get to read the whole book to her because she quickly took over saying "I want to try" and then preceded to read the book out loud. Once she finished the book she wanted to get down, but I had to keep her on my lap so I could at least finish the last few pages where the mouse finally gets to eat half of the strawberry. That was my tie in to the treats, yummy red strawberries (so yummy she ate all of them). While she gobbled down her treat I blew up a red balloon and put dots on it so it looked like a big red strawberry. She threw it to the ground. We then ate lunch on a red plate and drank out of a red cup. After she wakes up from her nap I'm going to try to get her to glue some red paper and other things to the painted paper and then cut it out to look like a big strawberry. She might even get to have some red M&M's for a small treat. In all honesty, she could care less about the projects and be perfectly happy eating "choco."

packing light

We took one big suitcase for the three of us and decided my SLR had to stay home. I've been wanting a point and shoot for easy outings and videos and this was the perfect excuse. I'm not sure yet if I love the camera, so I'm glad we bought it at Costco. Here are a few of my first test pictures. The top picture she's saying (literally) "I wanna try." The next picture is her reaction when I said "this is not for you." The last picture is one she helped me take. I'm so lucky to have such a good helper.

back in action

HEEEELLLLOOOOO!
Long time no bloggie. But, we are back in action! We went to Youtah for a fantastic week long vacation. What a wonderful place to visit. We had such a great time seeing family and friends. We got to do almost everything we wanted to and a few things we hadn't planned on. So, for the next few days I'll be doing recaps (since this is my journal).

OUTSIDE!

Last week we had a few hours where we could play outside. She was very creative when transporting the water from bowl to ice chest. What I'm not showing is that she is naked! She loved that too. She is the one who decided to get into the ice chest, funny girl. I've been getting a little bored being inside so much, so yesterday we tried some new activities. Molding clay...she tried to eat it. Markers....she drew on herself as much as the paper. Scripture marking crayons...she took a bite off the end. I also bought some finger paints, but decided to wait a little big longer before we try those.

bye the way she's 20 months old, wow!
she loves to jump (she's like her dad, she gets air)
she loves applesauce
she loves otter pops
she loves to swing
she loves to push us on the swing
she's daring
she says tons of things
she loves to sing and play the piano
she loves popcorn popping and secret agent
she loves to dance

yum

some things you should know about my husband...
1. he's a terrific waterskiier
2. he's a really good wake boarder
3. he is conscious about and uses really good grammar
4. he loves to watch movies
5. he's seen Rudy probably 300 times, no kidding
6. he's an incredible father
7. he was made for me
8. white me can't jump doesn't apply to him
9. he has HUGE biceps
10. he likes things to be neat
(I like things to be clean, good combo)
11. he's a cover stealer
12. he cuts his own hair
13. he finished 8 years of school in 7 years
14. he likes to be generous
15. he'll do anything to make my life easier
16. he's very daring and makes very interesting food concoctions
this is one he made the other night, recipe as follows

I want something sweet
white rice
chocolate almond milk
chocolate chips
whipped cream
(this is the point where the picture was taken)
then dump contents into blender and add frosted flakes cereal.
Drink like a milk shake. yum

here is a recipe I made last night, they aren't very good, yuck
Banana Bread
1/3 cup no-sugar-added applesauce
½ cup sugar
2 egg whites or Eggbeaters
1¾ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1-2 mashed bananas (I use 2 - brown mushy bananas work best!)
cooking spray (to grease pan)

Directions: Cream together applesauce (or Crisco) and sugar. Add egg whites and mix well. Add in salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flour. Add bananas one at a time and mash w/potato masher or large whisk until mixture is smooth.Bake 350º for 45 minutes in greased loaf pan.

kayaking

Usually we spend every weekend out at the lake, not this summer. But, we've been able to go a few times and enjoy the kayaks. Our babe even likes to go for rides and help us paddle. She is SO GOOD about wearing her life jacket. The first time she wore it this summer (on the ski boat going out to the houseboat) she threw a MAJOR fit, a good 30 minutes. I don't know what switched, but later on that day, as we were going back to the dock, she WANTED to wear the life jacket. Now she puts it on herself and wears it around.

really?

hum?

towel cake

I've been so excited to share this. We made a towel cake for my friends bridal shower. It was really fun and turned out great. Too bad most of my friends are married, but it might also be a great idea for a new home gift with kitchen towels or maybe with beach towels for a birthday. The hand towels and big towels are wrapped around a whole roll of toilet paper to give it more bulk. The top wash clothes were wrapped around a white candle so it finished it off the top. Then we wrapped each section in ribbon, gathered the ribbon with sewing pins and hot glued on pearls (left over from my wedding.) I was going to put together a basket of "bathroom stuff" but ran out of time.

whipped topping painting

Here is how they got so messy! I saw this idea on a friend's blog and decided while we were watching my nephew, it would be a fun activity. In all honesty they really weren't that interested, but they did have fun. He was more into using the tool to paint on the tarp and She enjoyed playing with the spoon in the topping, but wasn't interested in painting. My husband showed them it was edible. While the adults enjoyed sampling our babe was dry heaved when she tasted it. She tried it a couple of times with the same result. I think she's a texture girl. Painting the pan wasn't interesting, but painting their bodies and dancing on the pan was. There is no better way to clean yourself off on a hot day than the hose while you learn to "take turns." In the end, they weren't nearly clean enough, so we threw them in the bath.

cousin bath

After a very messy "play date" it was time for the cousin bath. Isn't it mandatory that cousins have pictures taken of them together in the bath? I think our babe is too used to the camera. I love how her cousin hams it up in all the pictures.

bee sting

We sang "I'm bringing home my baby bumble bee" Sunday night over and over and over. Last night, she got stung by the baby bumble bee. We didn't mush it up or lick it up, but this morning she puked it up. Stupid bee. Go pick on someone your own size.