Part UNO: Driving and Daydreams

I finally got all my pictures from vacation downloaded (almost 300, or was it 400? And I still wish I'd taken more!), but after looking through them, there was just no way I could possibly fit our whole vacation into one post! Sorry, it's not gonna happen! So, for today, you get to see what its like to drive fourteen hours straight with three children. Oh, and just so you know, we left at 3:30 AM, yes that is AM! It was actually worth it, since we got there at 4:30 in the afternoon (you gain an hour when you get into Washinton). So without further ado, here's the pics:

I always start out by taking pictures of all the beautiful scenery. Lovely places we saw:


But then I got bored and started taking pictures of us. Here's Dave in true Dave fashion:

This is what happens when you've been driving for a LONG time, sticker wrappers get put on toes...

Bethany was so excited she couldn't fall back asleep, it took her until about 5 or so, can you tell she's still sleepy?

Here's my "self-portrait". Yes this is my "pretty" mirror, and yes, I stared at myself for awhile... Hey, it was a LONG drive!

My warm toasty socky feet, aren't I artistic with my photography?

And a couple more "scenery" shots.



So, more tomorrow or when I get a chance! :) Hope you enjoyed!

We're BACK!!

WOW! What a weekend! A fast, exhausting, entirely not enough time to spend with friends and family, kind of weekend! I don't have a lot of time to blog today because after a vacation you get the JOY of unpacking, washing all your laundry, folding that, going grocery shopping, cleaning out your DISGUSTINGLY FILTHY van, etc. etc. I have lots and lots of pictures to download though, you'll be getting those probably tomorrow.

I did want to take a minute while we're eating lunch to blog and tell you how much we love our family and how badly we miss them! We had a wonderful time with all the people we saw and it broke our little hearts to leave. Literally Bethany cried for approximately 12 hours yesterday. (Not 12 hours straight, but about every half hour or so she would start up again.) Every time she would start crying it just broke my heart! She was so sad, and it brought me back to my childhood and having to say goodbye and crying over MY grandparents. Very sad.

While she was on one of her crying jaunts, I had a whole movie scene play out in my head. I didn't know it, but I should be a screen writer too! These little talents just keep popping up...

(So, to set the scene. We were in our van, but I think its more heart wrenching if you're on a train. So I pictured this on a train. Anyway, I'm thinking about goodbye's and how sad it is and how much I miss my family, and I'm looking all melancholy like out the window. Its gray and cold and windy outside. In the background is playing really sad Enya-esque music.)

Close up on my eyes, as one lone tear pools up in the corner of my eye.

Flash up to the sky, where one lone raindrop starts to fall from a cloud.

Back to the tear, as it slowly trickles down my cheek.

Flash back to that raindrop where its falling down the sky.

Back to the tear, where it falls from my cheek.

Back to raindrop, as it gets closer to the ground.

SPLAT!

The raindrop hits the window, as my teardrop lands in my open palm.

As more raindrops start pouring down and tinkling on the window, I say (in a British accent, because it pulls at the heartstrings more) "It feels like the whole world is crying with me...."


Fade out...






p.s. Don't worry if you cried, I won't judge you. I know it really was deep, and you've all missed your family at one time or another. I would suggest reading it again, but this time play some sad Enya music first, and read it slowly, and REALLY picture it.


p.s.s. If you didn't cry, I'll know you're heartless. Good thing to know about you, I think.

p.p.s. More posts later, ones that are really about our vacation! YAY!

Craziness

Wow, its been "awhile" since I posted. Well, awhile for me. :)

I've been feeling a little frazzled lately. We're heading up to Washington on Wednesday and getting ready for that is making me feel a little stressed. Just a little. Because there's only so much you can do until right before you go--like packing. I wanted to pack yesterday, but then realized we would have no clothes to wear the rest of the week. Plus then I'd have to do all our laundry right then. Sheesh, stupid laundry! But anyway, we finally came up with a tentative plan for what we'll do up there. I'm sure all of you don't plan your trips, but we have a lot of people who are just fighting over us and.... Okay, not fighting over us, but we have a lot of people we want to be around. Its gonna be so fun, we have planned to go to Seattle one day and to a pumpkin patch, to the ocean (or atleast the Sound--if you don't know what that is, man! go google it), plus we're having quite a few family dinners we're stoked about, and we're planning to go eat some real seafood--yum! Its going to be so fun to be home and be with our families, the drive there and back, not so fun. Hopefully it won't be horrible with a five month old, wish us luck!

On a side note, we took a break from "getting ready" for our trip and I got to meet up with my Grandma and Grandpa, my Aunt and her family, and my Uncle and his family. Oh, before that we had to take Sam to the doctor and get this, the poor boy has a clogged tear duct causing him a yucky eye infection, and on top of that he has an ear infection! Poor baby! I feel bad, you can tell he's not feeling good and I hate that! So anyway, I met with all my family and it was so nice, I hadn't seen my uncle since he got married six years ago! I was like four months pregnant with Bethany at the time, crazy! He has a BEAUTIFUL little girl, that looks just like him with long curly hair--and maybe a tiny bit cuter! :) We went to Chuck-A-Rama, and before you guys knock it, I don't care, because I like the Chuck-A-Rama, so there. You won't sway me, its just the way it goes. On the down-side, Maddie all of a sudden wasn't feeling good and fell asleep, slept the whole way up there, the whole time we were eating, the whole way back and I finally woke her up back at my Aunt's house to take same medicine because she felt a little warm. Guess what? Yeah, she threw up. Nice huh? So Sam's not feeling good and neither is Maddie. Honestly, I'm just glad its happening now and not the 14 hour drive up to Washington. I hope they feel better soon, I don't know how much longer I can go on without any sleep (Sam's kept me up the last three nights, I'm exhausted).

So, all in all, really good day.

But also.....ummmmm....pray for me? I really need it....

What I've been up to

What have I been up to? I know you're just dying to know, its killing you every second you're away from me. I know, its hard, but I can only blog so much people.
Enough of that, what I've really been up to?! I've been on a huge cooking/baking kick! I know! So unlike me!
I've been on this kick thanks to these two blogs:
For quick and easy recipes
and
For some awesome creative ones
I've had so much fun trying out all these different recipes. I'm sure David's totally in heaven! But honestly for the last two months, I've made menus and pretty much stuck to them! (I NEVER do that!) Yay for me!

Also, my friend Natalie had her 30th birthday party tonight and it was so fun! Stupid me forgot my camera, but when she posts about it you can check out the pictures she took! (Because Natalie, you WILL be blogging about it!! ;) haha)
It was fun to visit and laugh and listen to good music, great time! And my kids got to run around like the filthy animals they are, what a win/win situation! Thanks Nat, and happy happy birthday to you!!

Random Me

I am super stoked! A blog (Seriously Shellie) I totally love tagged me, happy happy day! I feel so honored, although there is no way I can follow what she did, she is hysterical!

So, seven random facts about me.....well, if you look a couple posts back, you can read 100....but I think I can come up with seven more.

1. In my 100 post, I said I was "tender hearted" and I cried a lot. To prove this, I even cry when I laugh! My eyes just can't hold in the tears!

2. I have like obsessive compulsive disorder--mildly. Like I have to brush my teeth a certain way, I have to put the silverware in the dishwasher in a certain order, I have to drink the bubbles from my milk first. There's more, but I'm sure you're weirded out enough.

3. I really like the smell of Clorox, so I really like cleaning my toilet.

4. I was put in as Young Women's President when I was 23. Needless to say, I get told I'm "sooo young" a LOT! :)

5. I have horrible allergies. HORRIBLE. So bad, I had to have allergy shots twice a week for over a year. I never finished them, so I STILL have really bad allergies. Stupid huh?

6. I really wish I had an accent. England or Australia would be okay, but I really want a Scottish accent. (REALLY)

7. I sneeze really loud. I hate it when people try to hold their sneezes in and its all "achoo" "achoo" "achoo". And they have to keep sneezing because they won't just do a huge sneeze and get it out. My sneezes are like "AAAACHHHOOOOOOO!!!!" Sometimes boogers come out, but that's a whole other story.....


I'm tagging: Kerrilyn (now you have something to blog about! :)
Julie
Kristie
Noreen
Shanna
Megan
Tamsyn

Yearbook Yourself! Do it, do it now!

I keep running into this all over the place, some of my favorite blogs have done this. So I decided to try it. Oh my gosh, I haven't laughed so hard in a LONG long time! I'm showing you the "good" pictures, but this is after I've adjusted the face and made it look somewhat normal. I did Dave too and he thought it was so great. Now you can see what we would look like as a couple through the years! haha Try it out, I know you'll get a kick out of it too! The first set are me and Dave as his parents, in 1966. (sorry about Dave's face, but you get the idea) This second set, are me and Dave when he was in high school. Amazingly his actually looks a lot like when he really was in high school-if he had dark hair! I think I look like the oldest sister on Full House (DJ?).

















And this last set, is when my parents were in high school, 1976. I think Dave's is FANTASTIC!! Mom, do you think I look like you?

A Peak into the Mind of a Crazy Person OR This is Why I shouldn't Blog Late at Night

I'm addicted to blogging. I try to keep it under control, ya know so I'm not posting every hour about silly random whatever kind of things. But sometimes its really hard! I think about different subjects or stories I could blog about all the time. And on the way home from church tonight, I knew I just had to blog about tonight.

What happened tonight that must be told? Only the most fun to disappointing to annoying to terrifying night I've had in a long while!!! Got ya hooked now huh? Or maybe you've just gone through all the emotions I just stated and are now under your bed...who knows?

Anyway, its Tuesday. So that means its Mutual night and I'm at the church with all the Young Women, and occasionally Young Men. Tonight was one of those occasions. The Laurels wanted to do an "Iron Chef" sort of competition against the Priests (they're all about doing stuff with the Priests ya know). Which sounded really fun, until I had to figure out how to pick all of the ingredients and what they should be and any recipes and go buy everything.... A little stressful, but I decided instead of cooking dinner type meals we would do desserts. Because I like desserts. And I don't care if its their activity, I wanted desserts.

So got that worked out, and we got cooking. I cheated and had the recipe all picked out that I wanted to do, that I thought would totally blow the boys away. They threw every single ingredient into a big slop of a mess. I was so happy, there was no way we couldn't win! Guess what, we didn't win. :( Very sad I was. (I speak Yoda-ism's when I'm that disappointed).

I'm okay with losing, truly. (Not truly, but I can deal) But I don't like losing when the other person is really rude about it. I'm good with teasing, teasing is great (sometimes its not). But the two boys who were the "head" chefs, both separately came up to me and said "Being totally unbiased, I just have to tell you, I completely think ours was way better than yours." TOTALLY UNBIASED?! How??!?! You just can't be when you're the cook, DUH! So I went from disappointed to completely annoyed. I wanted to punch someone in the nose, or shove my fork in their eye. Is that wrong? Maybe I shouldn't work with the youth....

I got over it quickly by stuffing my face with the fabulous dessert WE made (there's really did suck. sticking my tongue out). So we start cleaning up, and some of those Priests redeemed themselves by helping to wash dishes and sweep and stuff. I like those boys. (I really truly honestly love all the boys, they're great, just dumb teenagers sometimes....don't release me...please..) I start loading up my van and forget that I left the side door open while I go back to cleaning. After everyone leaves I lock up and go out to see the lights on and my van door open. The first thing I think of isn't that my battery might die or anything like that. The first thing I think of is: Oh man! What if some transient killer that's on the loose snuck in my van and is going to kill me! Crap.

I'm serious people. I was terrified. The entire way home I had my cell phone out ready to call Dave, hoping I would have enough time to just say "call 911!!" before the killer got to me. I also found a teaspoon I had stuck in my pocket and had it out and ready to jab into said killer's neck if he came at me. I know its ridiculous, but every time I had myself just about convinced that I shouldn't be scared, I would look into my rear view mirror and picture a dark outline rising up from behind the seat coming for me. I had knots in my stomach the whole forty five seconds it takes to get home. I could seriously taste the bile in my throat, I was so scared I could've thrown up.

Does it end there? You're wishing I'm sure--but NO! There is more! I start unloading the van, go inside and come back out. Somethings not right, its different. The light turned out. I don't know about you, but in my mini-van the light stays on when the door is open, but there's a cool feature or something that doesn't drain your battery. Anyway, the light was out. I shut the door and open it again to see if the light will come back on. It doesn't. I'm freaking out. Hyperventilating really. Maybe not really hyperventilating, but staggered breathing we'll say. Anyway, the only way to turn the light off is on the dash, you have to turn this knob thing to make them go off. Someones seriously messing with my head or something. I mess with the knob thingy and the lights still won't come on. I try to hurry and unload the rest of the stuff, but I made sure I grabbed my heavy duty whisk to beat someone with if they came close enough. I was pretty jumpy, any noises were making me almost wet my pants. Where's my husband you ask? Oh, he's inside watching TV, don't worry about him.

Finally I get all the stuff out and shut the door. I turn around, and somethings not right. The light is back on!! Oh yeah, I know you're seriously creeped out now right?!?! I open the door and the car starts dinging like there's keys left in there or something. It was so weird. I turn the knob thingy again, and the lights are normal now. It was so strange and creepy, I have to say I scurried into the house as fast as I could. And locked the van from the window using the remote button. Then locked the door. And shut the blinds. And ran in to David to tell him how creeped out I was. He made fun of me.

So anyway, that was my fun/disappointing/annoying/terrifying night for you. I bet you won't be able to sleep now. I know I won't be able to. That's why I'm still up. Picturing killers sneaking up behind me while I type this. Help me..... (said in a far away fading to a whisper kind of voice)



By the way, milk hasn't been tasting as good to me lately. I love milk, but the last week or so, drinking a big tall glass of yummy milk, hasn't tasted so yummy. Why is that? I know this has nothing to do with anything, I just thought I would share. Has anyone else outgrown milk? Or does this go away, I miss the milk.

Salt Lake City Cemetery

I'm sure when you looked at the title you thought this was going to be another creepy post, but you're wrong! ha ha ha! (pointing finger at you!) Nope, this is a very spiritual post, way to trick you! (maybe not very spiritual, but still) For our combined girls' activity we went up to the cemetery. Its actually pretty awesome, since all but five of the Prophets are buried there. I don't know if a lot of people just don't know about it or what, but not very many people have been there. Its a huge cemetery though, on a big hill, and when you get to the top there's a gorgeous view of Salt Lake City. We had a great time, the girls really enjoyed it and us leaders did too. Here's some pictures from the night for your viewing pleasure.

She's not really kicking that grave---or IS she?!

Ha ha, it looks like Cassidy's sneaking up on Katie, but Katie actually knows and is gonna smack her! hehe "Get out of my picture Cass!! Geez."



I tried to just pick five pictures, but I couldn't, there were waaaay too many (over a hundred) and some were just too cool!



My good friend Katie, love ya! (it sort of looks like I'm attacking her and she's trying to get away from me. hmmmmmm.)

Okay, so we were a little silly too, I didn't put up the pictures where they were jumping over headstones.....that didn't happen, no!

Here's all of us together.......being beautiful......with the sunset......and the gravestones?.....

Adventures in Pleasantgroveland!

Last week on Dave's day off, we decided we would try and go up to Battle Creek Falls in Pleasant Grove. I LOVE waterfalls and didn't realize there were some so close to us, needless to say I was all over it. The rest of the fam, not so much. But I forced them to go anyway. Mwaa ha ha! I had gotten the directions to the place from some stupid website, that took us all over up by American Fork Canyon and whatnot, we managed to go clear around when it should've been a straight shot. Now we know for next time. If I can ever convince my family to go back up there. You see, there were some strange things going on there.....strange indeed. After the run around, we head to the top of the mountain, not really the top, but close. All of a sudden the road just ends and its a little weird. We get out of the car, there is NO one around, just one lone truck parked nearby but no one to be seen. There are these really strange bugs making really loud noises, it was weird. So from the start, we're a little weirded out. Did I mention it was weird? No? Oh, yes. Okay. So, we start down the trail, about ten feet in David sees some bees! AAAHH!! David starts bobbin' and weavin' cause the poor mans terrified of bees. I laugh at him ruthlessly and make him keep going. Probably he would've turned around and left if it was up to him. But it wasn't, so we kept going. Maybe--and this is a big maybe--fifty more feet, and Dave stops in his tracks. "What?" I ask. "I heard something, in the bushes, right there!" I'm mentally rolling my eyes, but then I hear it too. Its pretty close, like right at the edge of the trail. Dave and I look at each other. Dave picks up a couple rocks. He's a manly man didn't you know? Gonna protect us with a couple rocks. I'm not ready to throw in the towel, so I start walking again. Crack, crack, shuffle. To be honest, I am a little worried, just because we have small children. But honestly, what would be out there at like three in the afternoon?! David thinks its a coyote, I laugh my head off. What a dork. But by then, the girls' have caught on that something is just not right, and start crying. Well Bethany starts crying. She thinks its a BEAR! So we turn tail and scurry out of there like the cowards we are, with our tails between our legs. It was quite pathetic, and we didn't even get to see anything!! I kept calling out to tell whoever it was that it just wasn't funny anymore! Come out, come out whoever you are! But alas, no one would show themselves. I'm sure someone was in the bushes trying to stifle their hysterical laughing. Positive we were a sight to behold. Maybe someday we'll get brave enough to go back, but I don't think I'll be talking Dave into that anytime soon.

Kiwanis Park: The Scariest Place in Pleasant Grove

There was something out there, I swear!!!

Dave was good enough to put on a happy face for a picture atleast.

Maddie, blissfully ignorant of anything going on...

It was all I could do to convince Bethany to just poke her head back out of the van! She was terrified!

This is why I'm crazy....

Here is one of the many conversations that goes on with Bethany. I hope this gives you a little insight into why I'm so crazy. Here goes:

Me: "Bethany, what do you want to be for Halloween?"
Bethany: "I don't know, Snow White again?"
Me: "How about Padme from Star Wars, we could all be Star Wars characters!" (I show her a picture of a Padme costume, she's excited about it because she likes Star Wars right now.)
Bethany: "Whats her name again?"
Me: "Padme."
Bethany: "Oh yeah, yeah....Padme. Maddie! I get to be Pavse for Halloween!"
Me: "Padme."
Bethany: "Yeah, Padme. Who's Maddie gonna be?"
Me: "Princess Laia."
Bethany: "Maddie, you get to be Princess Laia and I get to Padway!"
Me: "Padme."
Bethany: "OH Padme, thats right. I thought she knew the WAY..."
Me: "No, thats the Prophet, the Prophet is the one who knows the way."
Bethany: "Yeah, thats right. Whats her name again?!"


I'm totally not exaggerating. Dead serious. Couldn't count how many times the kid said the name wrong. Its still going on......

Change of Plans

So I had planned on writing about the crazy day we had yesterday, but I was tipped off to watch a video about a little girl from our ward at church. I love this family so much, they're amazing and this video is just too beautiful to not show everyone! After watching it, I just didn't have the heart to write about my dumb little whatever day yesterday. What I really wish is that by posting this, it would help the family figure something out, maybe someone will see this and it can help though. I'll keep hoping for that! Otherwise, now I'm gonna get my brain juices flowing and think of some other ways to do something for them, I've sat around too long not doing anything! If you want to donate to them, or find out more info, go here!

Oh, just a heads up: Grab some tissues, you'll need them while you're watching!

Randomness

My stomach's been really upset lately. And by upset, I mean intense, doubled over, can't stand up straight, gonna hurl kind of pains. They were really bad last week, but they've gotten better the last day or two. I hadn't thought much past "Wow, this SUCKS!" to think about why I'm having these pains until Bethany said something. I told her she absolutely HAD to pick up the tornado of a bedroom she claims as her own, and she said "Oh man, my stomach hurts SO bad, I don't think I can do it." That kid would do anything to get out of cleaning her room. (In fact, she just came out sniffeling saying how much she misses daddy. rolling eyes.) So, I'm thinking, see if you can keep up now, that the stomach pains are coming from an internal desire of not wanting to go to work? OR, and I'm really leaning towards this one, maybe I have an alien inside me, like this:


Either way, I hope the pains stop soon. Let's keep our fingers crossed alrighty?

Other tidbits of information you can't live without? Sam had his four month appointment today. He's almost 15 pounds now! Wow right?! My girls' weigh that closer to a year than at four months! The doctor said he thinks he's perfect, but he says that to everyone, although I whole heartedly agree. Don't you?!

More random nuggets of wisdom? Well, since I don't have any wisdom, I'll pass along some things I ponder occasionally:

*Why does our trash stink SO bad?! I know we put diapers in there, but still, THAT bad! How is it possible?!
*If I line the inside of the garbage with chocolate, would my house smell fantastic, or would that also start to smell horrific like the rest of the trash?
*When I'm at the computer, why do my kids feel the need to be right there? I mean there's the whole room, let alone the whole house, but they have to be there leaning on me and touching me and pushing on me! WHY?!
*Who is it that teaches kids how to tatttle? I want to know and follow that person around all day tattling, they'll go mad in a matter of minutes, I'm positive.
*Why do kids save up their poo to do it right before the doctor comes in the office? Twice now, guys, TWICE, Maddie's pooed at the dr.'s, its not embarrassing or anything though...
*Lastly, why oh WHY do I love being a mom so much? With all the stink and the poo and the tattling and the crying?! Oh, I know, because its wonderful! :) (Not the stinky stuff, the being a mom part! haha)

What a Weekend!

This weekend was quite different from most weekends we have, it was still great, but still different! So, Saturday...well no, I need to go back a few weeks ago to really explain this right. A few weeks ago I had a dream about a friend of mine I hadn't seen in like six years. He's a friend of mine on Facebook, so I wrote to him and asked him if he was still down here. (I knew he'd been going to school at BYU, but sometimes he heads back up to Washington to visit or whatnot) So, I find out he is down here and I ask him if he'd like to get together. Just to let you know, this guy was one of my very best friends as a teenager, I can honestly say he is one of the nicest people I have ever known, and sadly I've let myself not keep in touch. Anyway, we made some plans to meet up. That happened Saturday. I was so excited with the fact of seeing him I didn't even stop to think what it would be like, well, until Saturday morning. Then I got really really nervous, just because I wasn't sure what it was going to be like. Would it be awkward? Would my kids weird him out? Would he think I look SOOO different? etc. etc. Well, the time came and what do you think happened? HE COMPLETELY STOOD ME UP!!! Not really, I'm just kidding ya! :)
It was great! Well, overall it was great. I guess just seeing him and reconnecting was great. Things that weren't so great? It was a little awkward. My kids were insane. They kept crawling all over the chairs and running around, and then they'd run up and punch me or smack me or hit me in some way. Nice. Then I said something to Bethany, like "Is your soda all gone?" and she gets all embarassed and starts crying! CRYING! Have you ever dealt with an embarassed crying five year old?!?! They try and push you out of your seat to hid behind you, all the while you're holding the baby so there's no way you can hold them, and they shouldn't be crying in the first place! On top of that, Sam decides to poo through the back of his shirt (hasn't done that in months!) while I'm holding him, so it gets all over my WHITE shirt! Oh yeah, great impression don't ya think? My face was like permanently scarlet the whole time. I really am so glad to have seen him, hopefully it wasn't too awful for him, I'm sure he would never say so, but man, I was feeling like if anything's was gonna go wrong, everything did! So there's Saturday for ya. Sunday was interesting too. David is currently working for Mr. Mac, its a suit company here in Utah, for those of you that didn't know. He loves it there, and its right up his alley, as David likes to look fairly dapper. :) Well, last night was a company party (since Sunday is the only day the store is closed, so everyone can actually be there), they had Olive Garden and wonderful desserts, the food was awesome. They're handing out $50 dollar gift cards to Costco or Wal-Mart to every person, the guy had a stack of 'em! They start giving out awards. They're a pretty fun-lovin group of guys, I can totally understand why Dave likes it there! Its pretty awesome to work for good members of the church, where you start a company party with a prayer! They call the awards the "Macademy Awards", and they are the silliest, cleverest awards, I laughed so hard, it was hillarious! David's award is pretty cute, but it was a last minute change, I'm really curious what award he was originally supposed to get. But his award was "Most Romantic Husband"! hahahaha Not that Dave isn't romantic, just thats pretty funny! I guess when I came into the store yesterday (we were meeting up with my friend there at the mall), David said "Here comes the most beautiful girl in the world." And I guess a customer heard him and commented how sweet that was or something. So they gave Dave that award, so we walked away with two free movie tickets! Whoo hoo! Along with a Costco giftcard--SCORE! All in all, besides not knowing anyone and trying to remember like fifty names, it was a really cool night! I feel really blessed that Dave is working for such a great company who truly care abou their employees and what they do. Pretty cool.

Just wanted to add this little clip from the Today show, its about the woman I talked about in the last post, just to give you a little information. Click this link. But now, I'm going to take her example, and do something fun with my kids! Bye!

Good Cause

So, I frequently stalk this blog. The lady is flippin' awesome, and HYSTERICAL! There really is a point, besides I think she's super cool. She's doing a contest thing right now where you can submit a funny story, to be made into a blog book and the proceeds go to a woman and her husband who were in a plane crash. The woman's name is Stephanie and her husband is Christian, she has burns on 80% of her body. Her husband about a third of his. I think its a cool idea to do, and if you have something funny to say, then go here:
Blog Book Rules
And if you want to learn more about Stephanie and her family go here:
NieNie Recovery
Thanks guys!

100--ONE HUNDRED!

So, this is my one hundredth post, exciting huh? And supposedly the tradition is to post 100 things about me. Are you so stoked?! I know you are. Don't lie to yourself. We'll see how long this takes me, hopefully it won't be too hard...or embarrassing.
Here goes:
1. The first thing you need to know about me is, I'm sensitive. My mom always said I was "tender hearted". That was her way of putting a good spin on it. But no, I'm sensitive, I cry at commercials. COMMERCIALS people! I even tear up just when I'm really happy, like if I've had a hard time with someone and they're being really nice, I get teary-eyed just talking to them! So if you ever see me tear up, just ignore it. I can't help it, I have overactive tear ducts okay?!
2. I love my family! I love my kids and my husband but I also totally love my parents and my siblings and Dave's parents and siblings, and aunts and uncles and cousins. I LOVE my family, they're just to fun!
3. I hate math. I mean it, I'm really stupid at math. Like 2 plus 2....duhhhh. I think I was traumatized as a child, maybe I had a really horrible teacher or something. Yes, I'm totally shifting the blame to someone besides me.
4. People confuse me. I'm constantly trying to read people, 'why did they say that?' 'why would they do THAT?!' and it constantly never occurs to me that most people don't have that deep of intentions for what they do.
5. I still laugh at 'potty' language. I'm sorry but toot and fluff and poopy and farkle (although this isn't a potty word) are funny sounding and I'm immature, so I laugh.
6. I've never broken a bone, knock on wood or maybe bone stuff...
7. But I have had a LOT of stitches, like 20+, and I have dislocated my knee like 6 or 8 times. Darn those knee exercises I didn't do!
8. I can do the woodchuck voice, and so can Dave, I knew we were meant to be because of that.
9. I was really blond as a kid, really! And I've always wished I still was.
10. I would never know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop, because like the owl, I always bite. But I'm sure after more than three licks.
11. I actually don't care about being in my twenties and would rather be in my thirties or older.
12. I don't understand how I can be so much like my mom and so different at the same time. How does that work?
13. Sometimes when I'm singing I pretend I'm auditioning for American Idol and I try to figure out what song I would actually want to perform for the judges.
14. I was REALLY scared I would look like a man when I cut my hair short, but now I'm so glad I did it.
15. When I turned 14 I started going to church dances and I didn't stop until about the time I started dating my husband, I loved it so much, my Bishop extended it out 6 months after my eighteenth birthday. I LOVE to dance!
16. When I do housework I turn music on and dance like I used to, and then wonder if someone looked through my window right then if they would be horrified at what they saw.
17. I love video games, I have since I was pretty young. When me and Dave started dating I challenged him to Mortal Combat and kicked his butt. Dave does NOT rock the game world.
18. Speaking of rocking, I ROCK at Guitar Hero. I know this because it says I do after every song. Besides the fact that I can play on hard. Challenge me sometime, I'd love to play!
19. Probably most everyone knows this, but its something about me. I got engaged the night before I graduated and married five months later. David and I only dated for like six weeks. Sometimes I wonder how crazy that came off to people around me.
20. For #20, I turned 20 two months after having my first baby. (So technically I was a statistic for teen pregnancy.)
21. I love all sorts of music, Queen has been a long time favorite, ask my parents I used to play them SO loud in high school. Also love old Michael Jackson, ya know when he was sort of black. And not so creepy. Still a little creepy, but not SO creepy. I also love Regina Spektor, and a ton of others. Music makes me feel good!
22. I used to wear white eyeliner when I was in jr. high. WHITE, thats horrid.
23. I'm loud. When I was a teenager, my dad worked graveyard so he slept during the day and he always knew when I was home from school. He said my voice was piercing.
24. My 24th birthday was my "special" b-day because I was born on the 24th, so my sister bought tickets for us to go to the Excalibur and do the The Tournament of the Kings, it was so awesome! We ate food with our hands.
25. I LOVE shoes, I mean I really truly love shoes. I wish I could buy any pair of shoes that caught my fancy, but I also believe shoes are way too expensive. Mostly because I can't afford to buy all the ones I like.
26. I'm an idea stealer. I'm one of those ladies that goes to a boutique and sees all the cute stuff but never buys it and instead rips off the idea and makes it myself. Wow, I'm sure that was not at all grammatically correct. sorry.
27. I hate it when people try to put you down to make themselves feel better, or just try to make you look stupid over something trivial.
28. I also hate nuts, any kind. (as in peanuts, not crazy people. Although...)
29. Secretly (although not now huh?) I really wish one of my kids looked a bunch like me, instead of the spitting image of my husband.
30. I'm artsy fartsy (hehe fartsy...I told you!), I like to paint and draw and I still really love just to color. In fact, my kids don't even like to color with me because they get done in all of two seconds and want to turn the page and I'm all "I'm not done!!"
31. I love hide and seek. When Dave and I first got married I used to make him play all the time, in our tiny one bedroom apartment. I rocked. One time at my sister's we all played (the kids didn't even play, just us adults) and I hid in her vanity in her bathroom. No one could find me, it was awesome!
32. I like games. But only with fun people. Games are meant to be FUN, not to see who's better, smarter, cooler. So if we can't laugh and be stupid and bend the rules, its not so fun.
33. I like making up words. There's how many words in the English language? (I have no clue, maybe I'll google that) But I still find some words lacking what I need. Don't make fun of me if I say "quillish" or "froompy" and make little hand gestures to help make my point. It works for me.
34. I love girly movies. When I saw The Notebook the first time, I BAWLED. Like sobbed. Then I had to ask David if he loved me like that, would he die with me?!?! Would he stay with me even if I didn't remember him?! (sorry for spoiling that if you haven't seen it.)
35. I like a good debate. Well, to clarify, I like to debate if I actually know something about it. I'm not about to go into something to look like an idiot and be made fun of. Because you know people still point at you and say "Neener neener, Melinda's a ......" I'll let you make up your own ending. By the way, David would say I like a good argument and that I always have to win.
36. I hate sleep. I mean it! I find no joy or pleasure in sleeping, I find it a humongous waste of time and if I could find something like in Meet the Robinsons (where she has the caffeine patch and she hasn't slept in so many days), I would do it!
37. I have a big strawberry birthmark that takes up most of my left shoulder and some spots down my arm; and I can't tell you how many times someones said "Oh! What happened to your arm!?!" And most men when I tell them will say "Heh. Heh. You should say your husband beats you. Heh." Really.
38. Sometimes I watch Michael Jackson music videos and practice the dance moves, because seriously he's amazing. And you never know when you're gonna need some smokin dance moves.
39. Sometimes when I introduce myself, they ask me if I said Wanda. WANDA! Do people name their children Wanda anymore? Do I look like a Wanda? But no kidding this has happened to me quite a lot.
40. I started babysitting when I was twelve and have never really stopped. Be it my own children or someone else's.
41. I have some sort of phone issue. It gives me anxiety. I can't quite clarify all the details of it. But unless I know you pretty well or if I'm in a good mood, I don't really like answering the phone. Ask my mom, when I was a Junior, I had to call a lady I'd known since I was eight for a favor and I was so nervous I had to write down every word I was going to say. Had to do this as an adult as well. I know its pathetic. Don't judge me. But also don't be offended if I don't answer the phone.
42. I love sweets. Especially ice cream. Oh, and especially chocolate. Oh and especially donuts. Oh and.......
43. I love reading, its like a great little escape, except I totally neglect my family if its a really good book.
44. I really really hate it when you're out in public and people stop right in front of you, or they going really slow and won't get out of your way! I HATE that!
45. I talk outloud a lot when I'm driving. Mostly saying people are idiots among other things.
46. I like saying idiot and shut up. Against everything my mother taught me.
47. I have perfect vision. Perfect! Atleast I can claim one thing.
48. I truly love photography and secretly wish I could do someone's wedding, but also NOT because that would terrify me if I ruined their pictures. I also wish I could take some photography classes and get some more equipment.
49. I'm a night owl, I can stay up really late and (in general) not get cranky, I mostly just get sillier and sillier. If I'm really tired, you never know whats gonna come out of my mouth.
50. I am NOT a morning person, and it irritates me if someone is too chipper in the morning. Which is sad for Bethany because she so is.
51. I've always liked people of different ages, I was never friends with just kids my age. For instance, when I was five or so, one of my best friends was a widow down the street and I loved visiting her. I'm an old soul I guess.
52. I hate it when people say "Ohhh, you're so young!" Hey, I've worked hard to be where I am and you don't know what kind of experiences I've had, and technically my spirit could be older than yours. ;) Besides, it never comes off as a compliment, more of a derogatory thing.
53. I hate money. Not because I don't have any (well that too) but it just causes so many problems. I would be totally happy if we could all just share our talents and help eachother. That would be heaven. Heh, thats true.
54. When I was in sixth grade I cut my hair REALLY short, and not in a cute way. I looked pretty much like my brother. And I got made fun of a lot.
55. Hearing my kids laugh for the first time makes me happier than I can explain, its a wonderful sound.
56. I love the ocean and plan someday on learning how to surf. How awesome would I be then?!
57. I can type pretty fast, and a lot of times if I'm just sitting somewhere I type whatever I hear in my head. (like a tv show, or talks at church)
58. I can stick my feet behind my head.
59. I really love blogging and stalking other people's blogs. I'm not sure why, but I find a lot of joy in it.
60. When I'm pregnant I have the weirdest dreams! Like I'm beating people up all the time, or someone's trying to hurt me so I punch them a LOT, or someone's breaking into my house, so I shoot them. I know. Its weird.
61. I'm aggressive, but only in my own mind. I think about standing up to rude people, or saying something back, or yes, even punching someone. But not in a million years would I ever do it. I cannot stand confrontation, although I think about it a lot.
62. I can play the piano, although not very well. And don't ask me to accompany you because I will blow it every time. Ask the Young Women.
63. I had a conversation with some Young Women last night and they were talking about what it would be like to not be a member, and they sometimes wondered where they'd be without the gospel. And it made me realize, I have never thought about not being a member, not even tried to picture it. Never. I'm trying right now, and I still can't do it.
64. For my mom, I do check my tissue after I blow my nose. I don't know why, I just have to look to see what was in there. (she thought that was gross when I posted that before) :)
65. I'm naive, I don't know a lot about a lot of stuff. I like to think I was sheltered or something, but maybe I just don't grasp things very well. I think I'm starting to, but I'm not sure...
66. Sometimes when we're driving for a long time, I stare at myself in the side view mirror. I think I'm prettier in that mirror. Is that conceited?
67. I don't like bananas, I haven't eaten one willingly in like fifteen years.
68. I want to travel all over the world someday. I just love nature and beautiful things and I want to see them in person.
69. I love babies, but strangely I don't love being pregnant.
70. I'm awful when I'm pregnant. Like a raving lunatic. I can't control myself at all, and I'm very impatient and mean. Its horrible for my family, I know.
71. I have bad circulation. My feet are always cold and winter time is scary and painful if I don't keep my feet warm enough.
72. I also have low blood pressure. When I was like eleven our old neighbor guy was trying to take my blood pressure and was like "Are you breathin'?!" (he was a farmer type-o-guy, so say that with a farmer accent, if you can imagine one)
73. I try to give myself credit for being a good person, but I think there's some glitch in my brain that won't let me like myself for more than two seconds.
74. Sometimes I mentally ream myself for being so annoying and idiotic after talking to someone. 'Why oh WHY did you say that?! Why do you laugh like that, that has to be the most annoying sound in the universe!!' Yes, I really do that. (and I'm not saying that for you to feel sorry for me, its just something I do)
75. My left ear piercing is ripped, so when I wear earrings its lower than the other side.
76. I used to want to be a model. Okay I still do, I just think it would be so cool!
77. I've always wanted me kids to be Anne Geddes models.
78. I could kiss baby cheeks and hands and arms all day, they taste so good!
79. And I could smell baby's all day too, unless its spit up.
80. I want five kids, and I would really like twins next. Aren't I so selfish? Like you can just request these things!
81. I love to laugh! Like roll on the floor, till your stomach hurts, eyes watering, can't even hear the noise of it you're laughing so hard, kind of laughing!
82. I'm morbid. I picture bad things happening all the time. Like when my kids are playing on the swing set, I picture them falling and snapping their necks, and then have to figure out whats the best way to handle that. I tell myself I'm just preparing myself for the worst, but thats sick. I also find humor in dark things. But I'm from Washington so I have an excuse.
83. When I hear people say "Let's go see Grandma!" it makes my heart ache that my kids can't see their Grandma's whenever they want.
84. I used to LOVE Doritos, I thought they were the best thing EveR!
85. Most of my favorite candy involves peanut butter and chocolate.
86. My Grandpa used to buy the Costco boxes of M&M's and fruit snacks to make sure we'd come visit him every day. And oh yes, we did.
87. When he'd have peanut M&M's (note I don't like peanuts) I would suck the chocolate off and spit them out for the dog to eat. (Disgusting much? yes.)
88. Pretty much every heredity disorder in my family I have, except for bad vision.
89. The only experience I have in college is an early childhood education class I took when I was pregnant with Bethany.
90. I would give the middle toe on my right foot to own a house right now. I mean it! Who needs that toe anyway?! Maybe I'd sculpt a prosthetic toe as a replacement.
91. How can you grow up and mature so much, but still be the same as you always were? Sometimes I ponder deep things...
92. I sleep better if I've read my scriptures, it never fails if I forget to read that I have a terrible night.
93. I love lightning storms, they're exciting. And I love it when the power goes out and you have to light candles to see. There's something very good about having all the power off and going back to basics.
94. I have a thing for coats, especially peacoats. I love them!
95. If I could shop at only one place I would probably pick the clothes from Victoria's Secret. I don't care about lingerie, have you seen their clothes?! They're adorable! (I don't mean the hoochy ones)
96. I really like the outdoors, I like going to the park, I like camping, I like swimming, I like boating, I like hiking (well, slowly), and I like exploring. I like it all even better with a camera, but I really like being outside.
97. I want to learn how to sew and to design clothes, I think that would be so fantastic!
98. I wish I was witty and a fast thinker. But as it is, someone says something funny and I usually laugh and repeat what they said that was funny.
99. I have strong willpower. I will not let myself give up. I must keep going! Just do it! Even when I want to stop, I usually don't. Thats not always the case, but I try.
100. And the last thing you need to know about me? Hmmmm, I guess that really I'm trying to be a good person. I want to do whats right, and sometimes I fail. But sometimes I don't and thats a good thing. I try to forgive people and get over things, even if it takes me a long time and I just really want to friends and be happy and not have all the drama. I just want things to be good!

Well, you're a trooper for reading this whole thing. I give you major kudos! I hope you learned something about me, and hopefully you still like me. But if not, then I don't like you either! (sticks out tongue) Just kidding! :) Oh, and thanks for sticking with me through 100 posts! You rock! (Just like in Guitar Hero! Yay!)

Growing So Fast!

So the other day I posted about Maddie and now today I'm going to post about Sam. I think with Bethany starting school and all the new stuff Maddie's doing, it probably sounds like I never think about Sam! So not the case though! Sam is amazing, we love him so much, he makes the sweetest baby sounds and is totally laughing now, I LOVE baby laughs!! So adorable! He's growing so fast, so I decided to take a few pictures of him today, he's almost four months old, isn't that crazy?! I found this awesome hat at Baby Gap and I knew I had to have pictures of him in it, so here they are--enjoy!:

I had to add this first one, when I saw it the first thing I thought was "Don't make the hulk mad, you won't like it when he's mad!" hahaha







And so no one wonders about Bethany; she's doing great, she loves school and is doing really well, we're very proud of her! She's also decided that she's big enough to haul Sam around whenever she wants, the other day David came out of the bathroom and she'd taken him out of the cradle and was sitting there happy as can be. We have to keep reminding her she can't just carry him around everywhere. But its also fun to see how much she loves her brother, even after four months she's still not sick of him! :) Here's a pic of her, it fits her to a "t".

The Many Moods of Maddie (say that 10 times fast!)

All of my kids are super adorable, I know, but I thought with all the funny things Maddie's doing lately, there needed to be a post dedicated just to her!
Maddie is such a fun kid, she just exudes "cute"! The way she talks, her white white hair, her little tiny petiteness, its just all so cute! But behind that cuteness is a little fiery-ness as well. The girl has got 'little man syndrome' or something--I can't imagine where she could have gotten that from, I know that I don't act like that at all EVER! (If you'd known me as a teenager, I was constantly smacking someone. It's been a hard lesson to learn how to stop hitting people about everything!)
So anyway, the kid just cracks me up! She's been coming to my preschool class, and since the other kids call me teacher, she does too. Do you know how weird that is, to have your daughter be all "Teacher?! Look what I colored!" Its just odd. One day I started writing down all the funny things Bethany and Maddie say, and they are truly funny, but part of the problem with putting them on here is that you can't hear how she says it! Her little voice is so doggone cute! Well, since a picture speaks a thousand words, here's a few to demonstrate what it is I love so much about Maddie! (notice how the majority are of her sleeping! haha)

I love my Sister!

My older sister and I haven't always gotten along fantastically, but for the most part we've always been pretty good friends. Now that we're adults and are married with families, we have more in common than ever, and I like her more and more as time goes on!

Kristie and her family were going on vacation this week, so Friday they decided to drive to our house, stop and sleep and drive the rest of the way to Washington for their trip. (side note: I'm so jealous all my family are together right now except us.... how crappy!) So anyway, she got off work late Friday and they ended up driving all night and getting here at *get this* six o'clock in the morning! So instead of just sleeping for a couple hours and driving the 14 or 15 hours to my parents', I talked them in to staying Saturday and leaving early Sunday. I'm so glad they did! We had such a great time!

Here are a few things that I love about my sister:

1. I can be as stupid, dorky, silly or retarded as I want to be and she still thinks I'm hillarious!

2. We can talk about anything, and she gets me. She totally understands what I'm trying to say, thats so refreshing!

3. She's super complimentary, if she likes what I'm wearing--she says so! If she likes my paper towels, she says so! I love that!

4. We laugh really hard, I mean REALLY really hard! I can laugh with her more than any other person, its awesome!

5. She likes my kids and tells me so. I know I'm shallow and insecure but it's nice to be reassured that you have good kids and you're doing a good job.

6. I don't have to put on a show for her. I don't have to worry if I say something wrong or dumb, I don't have to "act" the part, I can be completely me and at ease and she will never make fun of me or treat me badly.

7. She makes me want to be better, little does she know, but I pay attention to the things she does; and she's constantly teaching me a better way to be, I love her for that!

Well, I could go on and on, but sufficeth to say, I LOVE HER!
Kristie, you're so amazing, thank you for being such a great sister! I can't wait to see you next weekend! Yippee!

Dream BIG....dream big.....it's my new mantra!

So I just got home from my first day back at work. Wow. My life sucks. I don't want to sound like such an ingrate or like a whiny baby, but WAAH! Waah, waah, waaaaah! And seriously no offense to my boss or the cute kids I work with, its just so HARD! (and a little boring too...) It's just so much easier to stay at home and do whatever I want, plus this week probably wasn't a fantastic week to start working, since I literally have something going on EVERY night this week--not exaggerating, EVERY night, and Saturday too. I'm losing it, I truly am. Anyway, I could keep going on with my pity party, but you don't want none of that do you?! Since my real life world is a little depressing right now, I'm going to my make-believe world where in it I don't have to work and everything is perfect. I can't here you phone with one more request on my time *LA LA La La la*! In this oh so perfect world, we have lots of money and I don't have to work. At all. I don't even move. Aaaaah, heaven. Thinking about this, I wonder what I would do if I had enough money to not care anymore? Here's a few things I thought of, in honor of going back to work today!:


Maybe I'm insane (well we've established this already, yes?), but the first thing I would NOT buy is a house or car or whatever (although that comes later), but I would buy CLOTHES! Fantastically wonderful, cute, adorable, perfect fitting clothes! Oh happy day! Here's a couple outfits, I would give most anything to have today:



*i love them* But hey, I'm not selfish, I would also buy my kids the most stinkin cute clothes you've ever seen! See how generous I am?! I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the mall to torture myself by looking at the fantastically cute clothes at Gap Kids and can't buy them for my beautiful children! But NO, in my dreamland I CAN buy them and my kids would look even cuter than these:

So now that we look GoRgeOuS, what else would I spend my money on?! Oh yes, the house! Right now my tiny cramped house is the bane of my existence, but NO, I'm in La La Land, and I live HERE!(sans the snow, I'm still enjoying summer, and I can choose that because this is MY fantasy!):

Oh so lovely! Don't I have great taste?! But it doesn't stop there, what does the inside look like?!?! I'm sure you're on pins and needles! I love interior decorating and my house would be fantastical! And it would completely change whenever I had the whim to do so, you see I like many different types of decorating and could never be satisfied with a house that looked the same for the next 20 years!




What else have I got you ask?! Some clothes, a beautiful house, you think thats it for me?! You've got to be kidding! Next comes the car, its just basic necessity right?! NO! I love automobiles and we would have many! Here's a few that would belong in my perfect sphere:



Normally at this point I would force myself to stop, because no good can come from lusting after things you'll never have, but nay! I will not! It's been one of those weeks and I'm going to indulge myself! (and regret it later I'm sure!) Whats next, I know you're dying to know! In a heartbeat I would travel to all the different parts of the world, no place too exotic, nowhere too expensive, I'm going and I will photograph it all (and win some sort of prize with my photographic genious!). Places like Greece and Italy, definitely Iguaza Falls in Brazil, what about Ireland, oh yes there too, and many many more!





Stop you say?! What?! I can't, I've gone too far and I'm not finished yet! Because my sensational home has a few acres, we would have a little petting zoo! Oh yes, I'm the coolest mom ever!


This is Butch; yes I've named him. Before you consider calling the people in white jackets to come take me away, I've wanted a bulldog for some odd years and to name him Butch after my dad, because that is a perfect bulldog name. Whatever, I can be crazy if I want to, its my universe.

I would also be so well rounded my head would explode! I could play the guitar, sing beautifully, paint masterpieces, bake the best desserts you've ever tasted, become the next Beethoven, and continue my education for the rest of my life (of course only classes I want to take, no math or that garbage)!


We would also have the latest and greatest technology, it would be awesome! I would have the Wii to play on the biggest tv you've ever seen, so big your eyes pop out of your head! Better than a surround sound system, don't know what it would be, just BEttEr!


I could go on but alas, time has caught up to me and is ending my marvelous reverie......
I truly hope you don't read this and think "sheesh, she's selfish and insane, I can't believe she didn't mention ending world hunger or atleast buying her parents a house!" I want those things too! Plus, world peace, curing AIDS and cancer, helping every needy child in the universe, ending slavery and fixing our national debt. But hey, I only had so much time and I chose the other way! Hey, I can't be perfect all the time! Man! What would YOU do if you had all the money in the world?!