Next

Okay, the next great amazing story I'm going to share with you:

The Preying Mantis

Oooh, sounds interesting right? Not really, there's not much to it. Where I live, maybe just on my particular patch of land, we have lots of interesting creatures. Maybe I even have a couple pictures, let me check. Well, here's a few:




Anyway, every once in awhile we get a preying mantis outside our house, and I like to mess with it, because...well, because I'm weird like that. I get a little stick and poke it because I read somewhere that they have really strong legs or something (I could be making that up), but they get in like this boxing stance and hit my stick and it kind of freaks me out but its also pretty cool. But it mostly freaks me out, so after a minute I start picturing it jumping right at my face and attacking me, and I put my stick down and run inside. And thats about it.
So technically, I lied, I haven't actually held a preying mantis, but only because I'm too scared to. I've had lots of opportunities. :)

p.s. I'm going to take Christmas pictures tomorrow, so besides another really fabulous story, you can look forward to those!

So....

Hi. I'm back.

I'm sad because I only got to spend about a day and a half with my mom, and half a day with my dad. So to keep my mind off being sad, I'm going to post a random story! Whoopee!

Awhile back I promised to tell some stories on "things I've done". Here's the first I'm going to share:

When I was a mere twenty one years old, we made the life changing decision to move to Utah. I was terrified, it was truly one of the scariest things I've ever done. Three months after we moved, my parents took me and Bethany (and my younger sister Brenda) on a trip to Nauvoo. Bethany was eighteen months old and it was my first time EVER flying on an airplane! (I know, how sad! Since then I've flown lots of times, so there.) It was just me and my toddler, and we had a layover. We flew into the Chicago O'Hare airport, I think its like the biggest airport in the WORLD, or the United States, or at least in Illinois. But it was big. So anyway, I met my parents in the airport and we drove to Nauvoo. It was amazing and wonderful and I can't tell you enough times to go there, its so cool. Besides going to Nauvoo, we went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Far West, Carthage Jail, Independence, and more. There was a lot of driving--and throwing up for that matter, but thats another story. One of the places we stopped was a little Amish town. We wanted to stop for frozen custard....aahhhhhh, frozen custard. It was one of our favorite treats we discovered in that part of the U.S. MMMMmmmmmmm, frozen custard. So, moving on, we drove through this little town where there were men with beards driving horse and carts, and women in bonnets. It was a little odd, but we were there for the custard man! We found a little old ice cream shop and got our frozen heaven. It was totally a little shop like you would see in a movie: bar stools, old cash register, memorabilia on the wall. It was pretty cool, and all the while the horse carts are going by while we're pigging out on custard. Sorry guys, wish I could add in some hilarious story about some Amish guy going by on some roller skates or some sort of catastrophe or something, but alas, thats as good as my story gets. Aren't you glad you spent all this time reading to just end like this? No? Oh, sorry.
Stay tuned for my next installment of super interesting stories! Or don't, whatever.

Blahging

I haven't felt like blogging lately! Crazy talk I know! So instead of going on and on about all the junk I need to get done, I will tell you what I HAVE gotten done!
1. I've gone to work.
2. I made 20-some-odd or so hair bows to sell in my friend's boutique.
3. I've eaten maybe twenty caramel kisses (just now).
4. I put up my Christmas decorations!
5. I took family pictures for my sister's brother in law.
6. I edited said family pictures, they look awesome!
7. I folded laundry and did dishes.
8. I made a cake for our Ward Christmas party.
9. I babysat.
10. Add two more caramel kisses to the list...
11. I helped Bethany with her barfing sickness.
12. I got my hair cut!
13. I cleaned my house (which I need to go finish now).
14. I went to Ward Council.
15. I loved my family! Yay for me!

My parents are coming in this Wednesday, so if you don't see me around after that, you'll know why! Hopefully after that, I'll have something great to post about, hopefully. :)

Life

Things that are making me irritable:

-I don't understand why my husband cannot just close a drawer when he's done, throw the little piece of plastic from the milk away instead of leaving it on the counter TWO FEET from the trash, fix the sink without stripping the cold water turn off so we don't have cold water, pick up his shoes from the middle of the floor...

-having so much to do but so little time!

-cleaning my house for an hour and a half and it still looks like a tornado hit it.

-I wore overalls today, and every time I sit down or bend over they ride up and give me a huge wedgy, it is making me irritated.

-my back and neck hurting ALL the time!

-our stupid insurance didn't send us a paper we needed, so I had to pay $100 dollars for two shots--the shots only cost $15 each, it was just to see the dr. for FIVE MINUTES that cost $70!! (and that was discounted for paying right then! Ya gotta be kidding me!)

-I can't get a babysitter for our Christmas work party tonight! :(

-THIS, oh yes definitely THIS:






Things that are keeping me sane:

-I filled up our van for $25 dollars yesterday!! THE WHOLE TANK!! Whoo!

-Smart Cookies, oh how I love you!

-this outfit I'm getting (so stoked!):


-Eating at the Spaghetti Factory tonight! Yum!

-My parents will be here next week! Yay!

-Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming! CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

-The sink is -partially- fixed and we got a new faucet!

-This face:


-this clip from Shellie! (You HAVE to watch it, so funny!!)

-and of course I can't forget, good family and friends! Without you I'd be hairless with a twitchy left eye.

Maddie In REAL Life!--well almost!

A post dedicated to Maddie and her third birthday (which was this last Saturday). I thought it would be better if you could actually SEE how darling this kid actually is, not that the 15 seconds of videos could REALLY show you, but you'll get an inkling of the cuteness! This first video is of Maddie trying to sing "I am a Child of God", listen real close to the words, its pretty funny!

Plus I haven't downloaded the pictures from opening presents yet, so I can only include a couple videos from "Jump On It" (thats where we took her and Bethany, it basically is a bunch of trampolines and some bouncey things), they had a good time but I completely forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures! :( I was very sad. And just before I put up the videos I wanted to share THREE things I love about Maddie (since she's three now, duh!). :)

1. Maddie is so friendly, she can be shy too, but for the most part she just wants to play and get along and its so nice!

2. Maddie makes me smile just by looking at her, she is so dang CUTE!! I could take her little chubby cheeks and smooch them all day!

3. Maddie is super smart, she talks so well, she remembers lots of things, she loves preschool, she's just such a smarty!

Turkey Day!

As promised (Jason), here's the pictures from Thanksgiving! Yay! It was a great day, we ate, we laughed, we ate, we played games, ate.... You get the idea! So enough with the words, here's the pictures:


Maddie ate so good--grow girl, GROW!

Maddie and Ethan are just a couple weeks apart, its so fun!

Bethany told me all week that turkey is her favorite taste

Get the grub on!

Leannie loves that turkey! hehe

PIE!!

Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without some napping!

My pretty berry pie!

I couldn't end this without saying how extremely grateful I am for my family! When it comes right down to it, without them nothing else matters. So a special thank you to Jim & Kay for being WONDERFUL and inviting us into their family! You RoCk!

Google Me

When people search for things on google, sometimes they come across my blog. Here are a few things people have searched for and have been led to my blog:

-first off, the majority are searches for "Melinda Lassen" or "the Lassen Family" or "lassen blog", and that totally makes sense, those people don't scare me...

these are the ones that are a little freaky:

-"riding the pony" torture (I think this one scared me the most. WHA?????)

-a crazy person's mind

-funny moods to say

-it's such a big dream I can't see it (seriously people! I couldn't make this stuff up!)

-king lassen farm blog

-monster footprint pictures or weekend mysterious monsters

-popeye and olive oyl costumes

-chuckarama or olive garden (take your pick) :)

-girls potty training

(okay, not all of these are freaky, but some just make me smirk)

and my all-time favorite:

-who is freckle farkle?

Yes, who IS Freckle Farkle?! I'm curious now as well! Or a little freaked out that these are the kinds of things people search for on google! Think about it, someone actually typed these phrases in a search engine, what are they thinking about?! And these crazed people are led to MY blog! EEK! (I'm not really scared, but it sure does make ya wonder!) :)

I've also discovered I have some blog stalkers!!!! (!) Which totally makes me laugh because I'm like the ultimate blog stalker! hehe Come on out of hiding people and comment! It really isn't that weird, I promise! I leave comments on total stranger's blogs ALL the time! Ask Shellie, she's like my new best friend and I've never even seen her! :) Anyway, the curious things you learn on Google Analytics! huh.

oh yeah, I'm planning on posting some stories from that post a couple back on "things I've done", I haven't forgotten, just haven't got around to it yet!

I'm Back!

WOWEE! What a fast and exhausting weekend! I didn't get like hardly ANY sleep after the movie Thursday, what with the barfing and all, and then during the day I would try to nap, but it just wasn't happening. So I flew out at 9:30 that night, Sam did awesome, didn't cry once. I felt sick and I swear the pilot was messing with my equalibrium just for funsies. But I made it there without barfing myself, and somehow got lost in the airport. Hey, have you ever been to that airport?! Its big and its dang confusing! Plus I got some mis-information--ahem, TIMMY!--but walked all over the airport in my pointy toed boots, yow. After that it was all fun and games! Kristie and I stayed up WAY too late talking and laughing! I finally had to say enough's enough when I couldn't focus my eyes to look at her anymore! :) Saturday was picture takin' time! We had a pretty relaxed morning, slept in, got dressed, I got to do Kristie's makeup and Isabel's hair, it was so fun! We went to Red Rock Canyon to take pictures, it was so perfect and beautiful! I think we took a lot of great pictures, I'll post a couple at the end of this. Saturday night we went to a burger place called Farmer Boys, very yummy! And then we went home and played ROCK BAND! Yeah, we rocked! Sunday we got up and went to church, Kristie had a few meetings, so the rest of us just hung out and relaxed, I packed and got ready to go, and it was just a really nice day! After I got into the airport and through the check-in line, it hit me like a ton of bricks, I could barely hold myself together! I MISS MY SISTER SO BAD! We had such a good time laughing and being silly, all of her family, I just absolutely adore them! To sum it up, I got home just fine, Sam was awesome again on the flight home, so that was nice. I'm sorry it was such a short weekend, but I'm SOOOO thankful I could go at all! Thanks Kristie for putting up with me and being so awesome! MiSS YoU!! (Tell Timmy thanks for cooking me steak and eggs everyday too!) :) Love ya!









There are so many more cute ones, it was so fun!

TWILIGHT!!!

So last night a group of my good girl friends and I went to the midnight showing of Twilight! We were big dorks and bought stupid twilight t-shirts (TEAM EDWARD all the way Baby!), and we even made cd's that had our favorite twilight music. It was so much fun! We went out to dinner first and talked and talked and then went to the theater and talked some more; by the time the movie was SUPPOSED to start, I was already so tired, but there was no way I was gonna fall asleep! (I say supposed to start because midnight comes around and instead of starting the movie they decide since we're trapped in there we have to sit through a FIFTEEN minute fashion show by Allyse's bridal--it was ridiculous!! And at one point an employee walked by when I was saying "STart the MOVIE!" and she actually said "Come on, you're gonna be fine!" And I was IRRATATED! I'm gonna rant about being trapped in a room and forced to be apart of their stupid marketing or whatever, when I payed to watch a movie at midnight....!!! Jerk.) Anyway, once the movie got started it was so fun!! (Besides my pounding headache--which didn't help with all the screaming I did!! haha J/K Well, maybe I screamed a little...) :) I'm not going to give an opinion on the movie, I'm still really up in the air (because there were some things I LOVED and some things I HATED), but definitely was glad I saw it and especially with such awesome ladies! But my first reaction after it was over was "I wanna see it again!" if that helps! :) Here's some pictures from the night, you're gonna love them!

Here we all are (minus Heather, she had to meet us later) in our Twilight shirts! haha

chatting it up

Shanna balancing her popcorn on her prego belly :)

After it was all done--we're happy!

Giving our best "Cullen" faces-thats what a few of them looked like the whole movie! haha

Heres a group of kids dressed like the Cullens, they pulled it off pretty good!

This is what I wish I had more of last night!
Even after I got home I couldn't sleep well because poor Bethany was throwing up all night! She ate some candy yesterday that had peanuts in it and she's been throwing up ever since, I feel horrible! So I'm home missing work watching poor Bethany puke her guts out! She's so sweet too, after every "episode" she tells me she thinks its the last time she's going to be sick and she feels better. I hope she does soon--because I'm leaving tonight and I don't want my kids sick! :(

What have YOU done?!

I totally stole this off Julie's blog! I think there could be some pretty great stories from some of these answers! In fact, vote in the comment section what one's you'd like me to expound on! ;)


Copy the list and highlight the ones (mine are mauve) that are true about you.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21.Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Talked your way out of a ticket

Seven Years

So, today's me and David's seventh anniversary. SEVEN. (I'm totally picturing that episode of Friends where Monica holds up seven fingers....although that has NOTHING to do with our anniversary, its just what popped into my head. And if you don't know what episode that is, we can't be friends. Just kidding!)

Anyway, David rocks. I think he has this whole husband thing down. He doesn't do a lot of super sweet, bring me flowers, write me love notes kind of things, and then BAM! every once in awhile he throws it at me and I'm knocked off my feet!

Like today, for instance, he totally let me sleep in!! He knows just how to get on my good side! ;) But it totally gets better! I know! When I got home from work, there on the table is a BIG bag (not some little dinky fun size bag), a BIG bag, of my favorite candy! (Peanut Butter M&M's if you can't live without that little tidbit) And on top of the bag of candy is a card. I open the card and start reading. Its so gushy I kind of skip ahead, and then something catches my eye and I go back and read it all the way through, it is so sweet I totally start to cry! And at the end he writes something along the lines of "The last seven years have been the best of my life. I look forward to the next seventy years and beyond..." The rest is personal, yo.

Anyway, I just have to give a shout out to my husband that even after seven years he still knows what I like and tries to make things special for me! He's awesome.

How can I top extra sleep and candy?!

Don't you Hate it When...

I'm submitting this for a contest by BlokThoughts, I think its a fun theme, and I've thought of soooo many "don't you hate it when"'s (thats the theme of the contest-DUH!), but I hope this one is funny enough to win or atleast give you a chuckle today! :)

So...

Don't you hate it when you go to a fancy pants restaurant (i.e. THE OLIVE GARDEN) that JUST opened up by your house, so the line is ridiculously long and you stand there and wait and wait and wait, and stupid young people don't give up their seats to you even though you have three little kids and are tired--but whatever to those jerk-o's--and then when you finally get seated your baby starts to cry; so you take that hungry baby to the most dignified of places (i.e. THE BATHROOM) and sit on your royal throne to nurse cranky baby; and if that wasn't bad enough, you sit so uncomfortably forever that the automatic flush thinks its been long enough and flushes while you're still on there(!!) (and if you've ever used a public toilet, those suckers flush hard!), so then you jump up real fast so as not to get sprayed by the toilet water, but you weren't fast enough and have nice speckles all over your butt? And then you run into people from church and have to walk all weird to keep your butt averted from their eyes and they look at you all funny, and probably won't talk to you for atleast two months?!

Don't you just HATE that?!

I know I do....

(This is totally 100% true and happened to me just this last week. I swear it on the Bible. And the Book of Mormon. And my mom.)

Go here and vote for me tomorrow (its a poll on the sidebar)! Thanks!!

What happens in Vegas....

...ROCKS! heh heh

I am so excited! My sister found a great deal for me to fly to Vegas and see her! I am SO excited! Yay!!

So if you don't see me next Friday, Saturday and Sunday, thats why--I'm partying it up in Vegas! (I probably won't even go to the strip at all, but it WILL be a party!) :)

YAY!

(side note: I'm also REALLY excited because its mine and Dave's anniversary on Monday and I just ordered these pants for my present:)

(We'll see if I can pull of high-waisted, white pants--I surely hope so! 'Cause I think they're AwEsOmE!)
SO EXCITED! :D

Tagged

The EIGHTS

8 t.v. shows I like to watch

1) The Office (its the only show I watch anymore! I love it!)
2) Like I said I don't watch tv, unless you count my kids cartoons?
3) ...so, Smurfs
4) Popeye
5) The Snorks
6) Pound Puppies
7) Scooby Doo
8) If I did watch tv, I'd probably watch shows on HGTV or Bravo or TLC

8 things that happened yesterday...

1) Got myself ready for church
2) Got the kids ready for church
3) Went to church
4) Had a presidency "meeting" after church
5) Edited some pictures and blogged them
6) Went to the Bishop's for some fun and games
7) Played Wii at Bishop's (that sounds wrong doesn't it?)
8) Ate FANTASTIC milkshakes at the Bishop's and had a great time! :)

8 places I like to eat

1) We probably go to Wendy's most often
2) then Arby's after that
3) Applebees
4) Olive Garden
5) Jason's Deli
6) Gandolfo's
7) Winger's
8) Jack in the Box I miss you so much...

8 things I'm looking forward to

1) not having plans at all this week! YAY!
2) Our anniversary next week
3) Maddie's b-day
4) Thanksgiving
5) the TWILIGHT MOVIE!!!!!
6) decorating for Christmas
7) Christmas too!
8) Hopefully, maybe, possibly seeing Kristie soon!?! I hope...

8 things on my wish list

1) an i-pod touch--so sweet!
2) a house!! (my biggest wish ever)
3) to go see Kristie and take her family pictures!!
4) to never have to work again (as in have an outside job, unless I wanted to, does that make sense?!)
5) to take singing lessons, and guitar lessons
6) to decorate my house super cute!
7) my kids to be well-rounded and happy (just generally not messed up)
8) to never have to worry about money again...

8 people I tag

1) Kristie! (you know I love hearing from you, but you never do these, so do it!!)
2) Anyone
3) That
4) Really
5) Wants
6) To
7) Do
8) It! :)

Pictures

Busy, busy week. Didn't hardly see Dave at all, there was something going on every night! Friday night the Relief Society had a special temple session, so I was at the church with the girls babysitting. I didn't have to stay that long, but I kept going back to check on them, bring them food, ya know, the usual. David worked all day yesterday, so I went up to the mall to see him, it was nice to see him for a minute and go shopping. :) We were going to eat lunch together but he got a missionary and apparently that takes awhile, so I went home. Earlier in the day Bethany had a birthday party to go to, she loved every second and had a great time! While she was gone, I took a few pictures of Sam and Maddie, here's a couple:




So you can see how chubby Sam's getting, he's by far the fattest of all my kids, I totally love it! He's starting to crawl, he can move his arms forward a little now, instead of just rocking back and forth--although he screams and cries while he's doing it because he's so frustrated! And I really think he's teething, not just because he's chewing on anything he can get ahold of, but because he's so fussy when he nurses, like it hurts his mouth. So there ya go, we're doing good, just busy!

Pretty Song

just a side note: I've adored Regina Spektor for the last few years and I LOVE this song (I HATE that you have to buy the entire Narnia soundtrack to get this song...) but since I can't download it, I'm putting on here so I can listen to any time I want to! Yay!

Really Fast

This is gonna be a quick post. Tuesday was our Young Women in Excellence, it turned out good, I'm glad its over. :) Tonight was Girls' Night, everyone met at my house, so I spent all day cleaning, and then all evening stuffing my face. It was a good day. :) What I REALLY want to blog about (because this is too hysterical not to share!), is a show on the Sci-Fi channel called "Scare Tactics". Oh my goodness people, its HYSTERICAL, I think truly its the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life! Its pretty much playing pranks on people, but to scare the heck out of them. And I don't think I've laughed so hard in FOREVER, I have a headache from laughing so much! I tried and tried to find a clip of my favorite prank of the night, but I couldn't find it on youtube, darn! But click this link and you can see it yourself. I will warn you, it is a little freaky (in a hysterical way). On the flip side, if you DON'T think its funny, well then we just can't be friends anymore. Or it just goes to show what immature sense of humor I have. I still think its funny.... hee hee hee

I can't think of anything funny....

I haven't posted for awhile. I've been crazy busy--like always! It feels like every second of every day is screaming at me for its undivided attention. And yet, here I am, blogging instead! mwaa ha haa ha haa! Take that every second of every day!!! But really, this will be a quick post because I have things to do and places to be! EEK!! Time is already catching up to me!!!
Okay, here's whats been going on:
1. My family's been sick. I HATE it when my kids are sick, but I DESPISE it when Dave's sick. (I love you dear!) He's just such a baby.... Maybe he won't notice that, probably not since he doesn't read the blog. Anyway, Sam has a yeast infection and has been screaming like crazy whenever we change his diaper, so I took him in today to get some cream. Hopefully he'll feel better soon!

2. I can't remember.

3. I need to take a nap.

4. We had a great Halloween! We went to my cousin's and had dinner and trick-or-treated and had a great time, as always! I only took a couple pictures because it was raining and I was tired. But here they are:

5. We did a kids' party earlier Halloween day with some friends and it was a lot of fun. The kids loved it but it was good for us ladies as well! Here's a few shots from that:

(you can do it Laina!! Get that fishing pole to work! What was the word we kept saying wrong? I can't remember now!)

6. I took some fall pictures, but I haven't edited them yet (when would I have time for that?!), so you get them just as they are--lucky you!!:

7. I think thats it, but I can't be sure......

8. Ummm, bye?

9. I can't end this on #8, it should go to 10 don't you think?

10. Okay, bye now!!