President Hinckley

We just received the news of President Hinckley's passing.

I feel such deep appreciation for his dedication and tireless service to our church, such fondness for the man that strengthened my testimony with his through my teens and twenties. Such joy for him at the thought of his reunion with his sweet wife. I will really miss his humor.

The photos of President Hinckley and his wife were taken by photo journalist, Scot Proctor, during one his visits to Kirtland, Ohio (my home ward growing up).

P.S.

This may actually be my last post.

After a killer Tae Bo class last night, sledding with the boys this morning for play group, and skiing with the Young Women tonight I may not make it.

WHY do I do these things to myself?

EH... it was good while it lasted!

Have a great weekend!
Out like trout.

Mommy brain...

I swear I was reading on someone's blog that they were looking for a new decorating magazine... requesting favorites. I want to see what people responded because Better Homes and Gardens just wasn't doing it for me anymore.

I've been looking at domino online and I'm loving it. It's my next subscription for sure.

Brilliant!

How to create a quick, cheap rug on Apartment Therapy.

I swear I was contemplating this just last week for my entry way. I'm glad to see it would actually work.

Where's Jack?

We're always suspicious when Jack gets quiet.

Yesterday we found him upstairs in his room... on top of his dresser (he'd pulled the chair over). Laying on top of his changing pad looking out the window (which he'd pulled the blinds up for) and staring at his little airplane.

Saturday

Jack took this picture of me and Charlie on Saturday.

We met some of my aunts and uncles and cousins for lunch and walking around on Saturday. One funny little thing happened. When we're at home and want someone to move over a little bit we say "scoochie your hoochie". I don't know where it came from. But when we were standing behind a teen aged girl at the soda dispenser Jack very sweetly said to her "Scoochie your hoochie, please."

Here are some other snap shots from our little trip to Cabela's.

Charlie's first day of school!

We picked a preschool for Charlie for next fall, did a walk through, and had an interview with the director last week. During our meeting, Charlie asked why he had to wait until August to start school. Well, as it turned out, they had an opening and he could start right away!

Charlie was so excited about the prospect at going to school. But, the night before, when he was going to bed, he kept telling me that he was a little nervous. He had lots of questions about what it was going to be like and we did our best to tell him all about it and how awesome it was going to be.

Right before I put him in the car to take him he said, "Mom, I don't think I'm ready to start school yet." He still kept telling me that he was a little nervous, but was still willing to go give it a try.

Greg met us there to drop him off. This is his before picture, "I'm a little nervous". As soon as we dropped him off, he jumped right in and never looked back.

He had a ton of fun. When I picked him up he ran over to me and yelled "I love school! I didn't get nervous!

He couldn't wait to tell his dad how his first day went. He got to make a sock puppet, play with blocks, read a book, have a snack...


Jack missed him though. He kept asking me where Charlie was as if his short term memory could no longer function without his big brother present. We did some shopping and Jack was in Heaven having the cart all to himself. He made a point to sprawl out and use a package of tortillas as a pillow while we shopped around.

Juno

On Saturday Katie and I saw Juno. I laughed out loud.

My favorite line was from Rainn Wilson, "That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, homeskillet."

The sound tract is great!

HGTV quiz - my style

My style is Rustic Comfort. I didn't like the sounds of it at first but it actually fits -

Rustic Comfort

The verdict is in, but there's a twist. Your design style is a combination: part updated country, part ethnic flair, both with a contemporary look and feel. You need a home with casual and practical style – an environment that'll work for kids, pets, company and more. The emphasis is on simple yet attractive, durable furniture will hold up over time while your colorful accessories energize and entertain for years.

"The furniture for this design style could be contemporary or traditional, says Julie Rackley, an interior designer in Bellevue, Washington. "The common threads are comfort and durability" That means easy-to-clean synthetic blends like micro-fiber, which cleans up swiftly with a sponge. (So long silk!) Function is a key consideration as well. A multi-purpose ottoman that doubles as a coffee table or storage unit would work for you.

Design Tip for Rustic Comfort
Choose color! Dress up your functional style with worldly colors, borrowing from Mediterranean and Hacienda styles. Try high energy colors like sunny yellows and oranges, but don't forget the popular jewel tones for a splash of elegance in the dining room or bedroom. "For 2008, we're going to see a new direction in red, towards bluer jewel tones," says Becky Ralich Spak, a senior designer At Sherwin Williams. "Shades of violet and deep purples that have been absent for so long are going to start showing up again. These energizing colors are also elegant."

Being organized ~ A calendar continued

How cool is this?

A calendar that you can share. Katie e-mailed me hers this morning and with a click of a button, I can add hers to mine and see when we're both available! Love it!

I've discovered that the fun thing about my new online calendar is that I can create different calendars.... one for me, Greg, playgroup, young women's... and then overlap them all, or just work on one! You can invite groups to share a calendar, for example, all of our play group members, so that they can always view the details of those activities! I'm into it!

I went ahead and made it private, but if you're interested in seeing what it looks like, let me know and I'll e-mail it to you! (Or if you're just curious to know the scheduling details about my super exciting life!)

Fitness ~ knowing how far you've gone

Check out WalkJogRun when you get a minute. "Simply put, it's a running route planner and a distance/speed calculator." Sweet. (I saw this on Oh Happy Day - one of my favorites!) I'm loving all of the fun new resolution tools to use this year!

It's that time again...

I'm starting to think about Spring (since Christmas, New Year's, and my ski trip are done - who needs winter anymore?) which makes me think about decorating. I posted some of my favorite pictures here but today came across photos (via A Little Sussy) of some more great rooms that I love. I'm definitely going with a light green, blue, yellow color scheme in my LR (Whenever I actually start decorating it that is).

Skiing at Sundance

Greg and I spent the day skiing at Sundance with our friends James and Jennifer. It was only my second time skiing but I'm coming right along and had a lot of fun... but I'm so sore!!!

Productivity ~ Lists

I stumbled across this cool site that talks about Getting Things Done. Here is a list of cool lists to make. I love lists.

Saving time ~ Bloglines!

You all probably already know about this site... but I finally got around to setting up my Bloglines- no more wasted time looking for new updates on all of my favorite blogs! Now my computer will tell me when I have something new to read!

Eating right ~ free food samples

The South Beach Diet was recommended to us by our doctor when Greg's cholesterol started creeping up last year. I like that it's a life style way of eating, you're never hungry, and you can go between the 3 phases depending on what you need in your life at that time. Anyway... like everyone else they have their own food line. I haven't really tried anything besides their salad dressing but came across this link for free samples of their food here if you're interested.

Why having a cement back yard is fun...

Resolutions 2008

I've been giving a lot of thought to the things that I want to do this year. I think that after an incredibly hectic holiday season what I really want most is to just play. Charlie and Jack are at such fun ages - I don't want to miss out on any of the fun because I'm too busy.

In order to not be too busy I need to be more organized. Get things done early... not procrastinate... not let things pile up before I'm in crisis, rescue mode. And I need to go to bed earlier so I can get up earlier.

Last year my resolutions included doing more things like play dates, play groups, outings... this year.. I'd love to have a day each week where there's nothing on the schedule. Nada. No place to be.

This year - I want less stuff. I'm going to simplify, de-junk, have fewer things to shuffle around.

Every year I like to pick a new skill that I learn. Last year was scuba diving and blogging. As for this year, I haven't picked anything yet. I've thought about learning to play the guitar, sewing (I really want to make the boys a whole wardrobe of super hero capes and costumes), learning more Spanish, digital scrap booking, yoga - still brainstorming and open to suggestions.

And you? What do you want to work towards this year?

*I just found this article on ZenHabits about simplicity!!!

Thanks, Mom!

Mom, here's that picture of the boys in their new fleecy pants and slippers - they love them!

Christmas 2007

December 2007

We had a lot of fun last month. Jack discovered the fun of masking tape.

Charlie was really into all of the Christmas preparations. We generally don't put presents under the tree until Christmas morning - but one day I noticed 3 small presents wrapped in notebook paper and recycled ribbon. I asked Charlie what they were and he'd selected Greg's tape measure, my scissors, and Jack's cell phone to wrap as gifts for us.



Charlie made his own flat screen plasma TV for his bedroom and installed it himself.




The boys had fun making Santa pictures and painting their hands as part of the process.




The boys visited with Santa. Jack didn't like the idea of getting anywhere near him and didn't make it within 10 feet. He likes the idea of Santa though. Charlie is willing to do what it takes to talk to the big man (...smile at the camera and pretend he likes Santa).











Jack zonked out after too much fun playing at Kangaroo Zoo with my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Later that week he fell in love with this bed at Ikea.








Charlie continued to find ways to make us laugh and tried hording a frozen bag of shrimp that Greg purchased for our New Year's Eve party - the boy loves his sea food.

New Year's Resolutions...not

... getting to bed early is obviously not one of them but when I realized how long since it's been since I've posted.. I've decided to resolutely post on a more regular basis... starting after I get some sleep. Zzzzzzzzzz...

(updated)
... okay, really, blogging more frequently is NOT one of my New Year's resolutions since I posted this days ago and haven't been back.

Also on my NOT-resolutions list is...

... exercising regularly, since I've already skipped one kick boxing class and just might skip tomorrow as well.

... eating better - since binging on sushi and eating out constantly doesn't quite cut it either. (Don't be fooled by Charlie's face in the picture - he actually loves sushi and begs us for it constantly - he was trying a new roll that he wasn't sure of. The Godzilla - my favorite!)