I'm a bad blogger!

, So much for the 30 days. What, it's been almost a week since I posted one? I was almost done!!

Here's a little summarization of the last ones:

Day 29 — Testimony
I'm just going to share with you this year's mutual theme. I believe 100% in the YW program. It's been a huge blessing in my life for the past 2 years and I know it helps the girls of our church. I think we can all strive for the good found in this year's theme:

13th Article of Faith:
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
We have a lot of hopes and dreams for this year. Hopes of buying a house. Getting on a strict budget and trying to make time to fix up our condo for listing. Dreams of building up our wedding business. I'll be spending lots of time concentration on client maintenance. I'm working on a new pricing structure and marketing and referral promotions. I also want to concentrate on Ben and Shelby as much as possible. Building their relationship since Ben starts school next year. Prepping Ben for Kindergarten and trying to get him transferred into the best school possible. I also want to take more pictures of my own kids!

It's a lot and the thought of everything we want to do this year overwhelms me! But I know if we want to be successful and if we want to grow our family then there are just things we have to do!

I'm also starting a new blog challenge. Won't you do this one with me, too? It's been so fun! There are some repeats and some new ones so let me know what you think!

Day 1 - Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts
Day 2 - Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3 - Your first love
Day 4 - Your parents
Day 5 - Your siblings
Day 6 - A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7 - Favorite movies
Day 8 - A place you've traveled to
Day 9 - A picture of your friends
Day 10 - Something you're afraid of
Day 11 - Favorite TV shows
Day 12 - What you believe
Day 13 - Goals
Day 14 - A picture you love
Day 15 - Bible verse
Day 16 - Dream House
Day 17 - Something you're looking forward to
Day 18 - Something you regret
Day 19 - Something you miss
Day 20 - Nicknames
Day 21 - Picture of yourself
Day 22 - Favorite city
Day 23 - Favorite vacation
Day 24 - Something you've learned
Day 25 - Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26 - Picture of your family
Day 27 - Pets
Day 28 - Something that stresses you out
Day 29 - 3 wishes
Day 30 - A picture

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Day 28 — A person I love

I think this one is pretty obvious:

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Day 27 — A place I love

I remember loving San Francisco when we visited there when I was a kid. Then we went back for our honeymoon and it's awesome. I'd never want to live there, but visit there, definitely! I love this place.

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Day 26 — A child I love

This one is probably going to be pretty obvious, 'cause it has to be one of my kids. So I'll pick Shelby. Partly because I take FAR to few pictures of her. I spent some time in the past few days reading back on our blog since Ben was born and I took so many pictures of Ben (though many of them are lost between here and there and different computers and hard drives) and was way more detailed in his life and the challenges we had with him. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The first few years of Ben's life were a real challenge and trial for us. I look back at all that happened and we are SO blessed in our life now and the things we have and the ability I have to stay home. I always wonder if those times and trials were really just Heavenly Father's way of telling us that if we had enough faith for me to stay home with our kids he would bless us.

So anyway, back to the child I love! Shelby is an amazing little baby. She's almost 9 months old and incredibly independent. She pulls up on everything, spends most of her days exploring our house and playing with Ben. They can seriously entertain each other in their bedroom for half an hour or more before Shelby falls down and bonks her head or Ben tries to smother her. It's really more than I could ever ask for. She's still a handful, crawling everywhere and eating anything she can find, but she's incredibly alert and aware of what's going on around her. I just love her. She's skeptical before she smiles, she pulls up on everything to get a better view, she stands up in her crib and talks to Ben at night when they're supposed to be going to sleep, and she's eased up a little on the screaming. She's just awesome.

This is Shelby standing up in her crib. We dropped it all the way down to it's lowest point once she started pulling up on it. I have a feeling she will be the kind of kid that will learn to crawl out of her crib. Ben never did, and we switched his crib to a toddler bed before he really had the chance.

On another note, part of the reason why I don't take very many pictures is because 1. I spend a lot of my time editing other people's pictures and find it hard to edit my own and 2. Our house is the worst house for picture taking, dark, small, etc. We recently purchased a flash to use at weddings (since our cameras do not have built in flashes) and it makes picture taking in our house so much easier. I could use the point and shoot but the pics with my camera just look so much better. So hopefully this will encourage me to take more pictures!

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Day 25 — A funny (true) story

Last Christmas (2009) was the first time we'd let Ben watch Home Alone. It's one of my favorite Christmas movies and it's tradition that we watch it every Thanksgiving. But it has some bad words and before that we didn't really think he should watch it. I knew he would love it. I mean, what kid doesn't love to see people falling down and hurting themselves?

So of course he loved it. And naturally we watched it over and over and over again.

About a week before Christmas we were in the car heading home from the store. Ben hollers at me from the back seat.

"Mom!"
"What?"
"Just leave it on the doorstep and get the hell outta here!"

I paused for a minute because I was trying to keep myself from laughing uncontrollably. Of all the things he could have picked up from that movie! It was so funny, but so so wrong. I didn't even acknowledge what he said and he never said it again. We only watched Home Alone maybe one more time that Christmas!

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Day 24 — Something that makes you feel better...

This is kind of an ambiguous question. Something that makes me feel better when I'm sad? When I'm sick? Tired?

What can almost always make me feel better no matter what circumstance is laying in a freshly made warm bed. Warm usually means John's in bed with me 'cause he's always warm.

I could REALLY use some more of my warm bed this morning. John left for work early, I couldn't go back to sleep, Ben woke up early, my house is a disaster, I have to get to the camera store early this morning to return rentals, pick up other rentals for a newborn shoot this afternoon and I'm SO not ready to face the day!

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Day 23 — A travel story

When John and I were making wedding plans the idea of a honeymoon never really crossed our minds because we didn't have a lot of money. We toyed with the idea of just getting a hotel room locally and staying a few days. We honestly didn't put much thought into it.

Then I was on a travel website checking the price for flights to different areas just in case something came up cheap enough. Like a cheap ticket to somewhere in Texas, but I always checked airfare to San Francisco and San Jose (the cheaper alternative to flying into San Fran). Then one day there was a huge fare sale and they had round trip tickets to San Jose for $179. So after some checking on hotel prices and car rentals we decided to just go for it. I was SO excited!

We booked the 7pm flight so we could get everything ready and leave our car at my mom's and she was going to take us to the airport. We made sure with the car rental company that they would be open since our plan was going to get in so late. Everything was good. So the Sunday after we got married we headed to my mom's around 3 or 4 and around 5pm before we were planning on leaving for the airport, I was pulling up our gate information online to make sure we knew where we were supposed to go. I was mortified to see that our flight had actually left at 7am that morning. I had booked the wrong flight.

My heart sank into my stomach.

I immediately teared up, told John what I had done and started crying. I thought for sure I had just cost us all that money and that we weren't going to get to go on a honeymoon. My mom suggested I call the airline to see if there was anything they could do. Fortunately there was indeed a flight leaving at 7pm and there were seats open so the woman I spoke to said for us to get to the airport asap and they would honor that flight for us. And it wouldn't cost us a cent!

Unfortunately though, the lady at the counter at the airport was less than willing to be as accommodating. She gave me the run around and told me it would cost $150 to change our tickets. I pleaded with her that it was our honeymoon and I had just spoken to someone who said it would not cost us and there were seats open. She said they did have seats open but the rest of the way we would have to fly standby since our itinerary was completely deleted after not showing up for the 7am flight.

But at least we got on a plane to San Jose!

We had a stop over in Denver and had to check in at the counter there to make sure we could get seats on the next flight. The guy at that counter was so nice and said that every flight we were originally scheduled on had seats open and we wouldn't have to fly standby. He fixed our tickets on real seats and we were set for the rest of our trip.

I was so relieved when we finally landed in San Jose. It was after 11:30pm and we still had to get our car rental. We took the shuttle to the rental place and every single car rental company was closed except for one (I can't even remember the name of it). But Enterprise, who we had booked through, was completely vacant. John immediately called them and complained and cancelled our reservation because they had promised they would still be open. Then we (and about 5 other people in the same situation) booked a car rental for over $100 more and were on our way. FINALLY.

Driving form San Jose to San Fan takes about an hour, but it was the most beautiful drive I've ever taken. Going across the Bay Bridge then into the city, which is beautifully lit at night because of all of the hills was just awesome. We had a fantastic time. Ate lots of In-n-Out burger. Got a free dinner and Bay cruise for going to one of those real estate investment things. Spent a lot of time driving around the coast and through the city. We really want to go back again. John's nephew is serving in the San Jose mission now and we really hope to be able to go pick him up and take the kids for a few days.

I think I'll just be better about making sure I book the right flight this time.

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Day 22 — A favorite Youtube video

This is a hard one because there is never a shortage of YouTube videos. So I'll just post one that I've always loved. Kind of a culmination of all of the YouTube randomness!

By the way, I really hate how a lot of them have advertisements in front of the videos now. Major YouTube fail!

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Day 21 — Nicknames I have, and why I have them...

Missy - This is the obvious one. My real name is Melissa Ruth Saunders. I've been Missy every since I can remember. I'm not sure who started calling me Missy first but I know my dad called me Melissa forever and even wrote Melissa in his journal and planner about me. There were lots of Melissa's in my Kindergarten class so I was always Missy in school. One of those Melissa's graduated with me and once told me her family always called her Missy until she got into Kindergarten and she was Melissa in school and has been since even with her family.

BB - This is what John calls me (and what I call him). It started as baby and then we'd text bb back and forth when we were dating and it stuck. Nevermind that Perez Hilton freak who uses bb for baby on his blog. We were using it LONG before he even knew what a blog was.

MissyRuth - Various people call me this. From a few friends of mine, to some family members, to my boss in college at The Shorthorn. It's my Etsy name and I almost went with Missy Ruth Photography. 

Stinky - This is what my sister Melinda calls me. I have no idea why. I mean, we call her Linna and I get Stinky? She even had the audacity to apply for some free Dove samples in my name. That name being Missy Stinkyhead. Thanks, Melinda!

MissyHead - This is what my sister Mandie calls me. So I call her MandieButt. Because we can!

Missalissa - This is what my Mom calls me sometimes. So I call her Mammallama. :)

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Day 20 — A favorite recipe

I'm a big fan of my mom's roast beef. In fact, it's the thing I want most when I'm sick, and it's usually always the thing I request on my Sunday birthday dinner.

I've never actually made my mom's roast beef, but I do make my own slow cooker version that is pretty awesome on its own. It's completely different, but REALLY easy and super delicious! You should try it some time!

Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast

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Day 19 — A hobby of mine

I guess I don't really have many hobbies. I do photography but that's more of a job than a hobby. So if I was going to say I had any kind of hobby I'd say I didn't. Because a hobby is something you do in your leisure time and leisure time is a lucrative commodity in this house!

If I had more time I'd want to travel more, maybe have a garden, photograph more things that are important to me (not just shooting clients), spend more time one on one with John. And we'd probably go shooting more (and by shooting I mean guns, not photography).

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Day 18 — Put your iPod on shuffle and write 10 songs that pop up

I actually really like doing this. It's kind of a fun perspective of someone through the kind of music they listen to. I'm actually looking forward to see what the other people I know doing this 30 day thing put for this one!

1. Everyone is in on it - Love Is Chemicals
2. Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90: III. Poco Allegretto - Brahams
3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra
4. Someday You Will Be Loved - Death Cab For Cutie
5. God Put a Smile on Your Face - Coldplay
6. Landed - Ben Folds
7. Glass Full of Water - Coldplay (Live)
8. Heart Songs - Weezer (one of my favorite Weezer songs ever)
9. Give Up the Funk - Glee
10. Malaguena - DCI Madison Scouts 1995

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Day 17 — A habit you wish you didn't have

I have a habit of assuming the worst. I think this is different than being pessimistic because I don't think I'm a pessimistic person. But I do assume the worst of people sometimes and don't always give people a chance when I should. And then there are other times when I'm overly confident and someone doesn't follow through on something they were supposed to or something like that. And then I usually assume the worst about that person! It's awful and John only recently pointed this out about me and I guess I never really realized.

I guess I'll add giving people the benefit of the doubt to my list of goals for 2011...

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Day 16 — A photo of my family

This is me and my dad in Durango, Colorado (and Mandie in the background). I've always LOVED this picture. We went to Purgatory Ski Resort a few summers in a row for my dad's job (he was the area PFR guy and handled building inspections for the church). We're on the ski lift to ride down the Alpine Slide. It's SO fun. I think I was 8 or 9 in this picture. I really want to go to back there sometime. They've completely remodeled Purgatory into Durango Mountain Resort. It's also just at the top of the mountain from Silverton that has a running steam engine (and we know how Ben feels about trains!)

Anyway. This picture reminds me of all the fun we had those summers. Seriously awesome.

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Day 15 — Next 3 on “Bucket List”

1. Go to Europe for my and John's 10-year-anniversary. Or maybe or 12-year? I went with my sisters when I was 19 and LOVED it. I know John would love it, too. I'd definitely include Ireland or Scotland on our tour list and maybe Italy or Switzerland. Super ambitious I know!
2. Have another kid or two. We need a new house for that, too. But I didn't put buy a new house on the list because I've talked about that one too many times already!
3. Watch General Conference live in the Conference Center. I've always wanted to do this. Maybe someday we will get to!

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Day 14 — Your dream house...

This is a hard one because my dream house would entail a ton of things. But honestly, I'd really just love a HOUSE. I'm not too picky. Just 4 bedrooms, about 2,000 sq ft, two living areas, big backyard, preferably a pool (hey I'm married to a pool man, having a pool just goes without saying). I'd be perfectly happy.

We're really wanted a bigger house for a long time (we're working in it!) but then I saw this line of home accessories at Target yesterday and about fell on the floor. I love it. Unfortunately I can't find it online. Ah well.

I get a lot of room inspiration ideas from Stephmodo. Especially this post about rugs. I can't tell you how much I want the yellow moroccan rug!

Anyway. That's about it. Any house will do! Just something bigger than 1,025 sq ft please!

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Day 13 — What did you do today??

7:15am - John wakes me up to kiss me good bye.
7:30am - Ben wakes up and I tell him to go in the living room and lay on the couch. I'm SO tired.
7:45am - Ben comes in to tell me he's hungry.
7:50am - I get up and get Ben some Scooby Snacks (cinnamon graham crackers shaped like dog biscuits).
8:00am - I eat some Scooby Snacks. Turn on cartoons.
8:25am - Call Shelby's Dr., not open yet.
8:30am - Get on internet and look at FB.
8:45am - Call Shelby's Dr., make appointment for 1:45.
8:50am - Make bottle and wake Shelby up and feed her.
9:15am - Change Shelby's diaper and clothes.
9:20am - Start another load of laundry to clean all of Ben's blankets that Shelby threw up on last night.
9:30am - Start Ben's bath.
9:40am - Started writing this.
9:50am - Got Ben out of bath and dressed.
10:00am - Shelby down for a nap.
10:10am - Ben gets to play Wii.
10:15am - I start working on disc covers I need to create and order.
11:17am - I put in an order for 2 disc cases and 2 covers. I have 3 more to order but I'll do those later. I need to shower before Shelby wakes up.
11:30am - I finally get in the shower/makeup/hair done/brush teeth. Realize I forgot to put my puked on jeans in the wash last night. Make mental note to wash them later.
12:00noon - Make Ben and Shelby's lunch.
12:05pm - Ben sits down to eat lunch, I wake up Shelby and feed her.
12:25pm - Diaper change/Shoes/coats/everything for Shelby and head out the door to Target.
12:45pm - Get to Target for formula/peanut butter/bread/bag for a present/soda for me. Check out mark down Christmas stuff. Got the Cadbury Christmas candy. Mmmm.
1:25pm - Get in long line at Target.
1:30pm - Leave Target (late) for 1:45 dr appointment only to realize I left Shelby's new insurance card at home.
1:30pm - Call dr to tell them I'll be late and head home to get card.
1:45pm - Lanes closed on Center St. gonna be really late to dr.
1:55pm - Finally leave home for dr appointment.
2:00pm - Realize I never ate lunch and open the Cabury chocolate I got at Target.
2:10pm - Get to dr. and wait.
2:25pm - See the nurse.
2:45pm - See the dr. Shelby's fine, just feed her a light diet of toast/formula/pedialyte/rice for a few days till her stomach is better.
3:05pm - Leave dr and head home.
3:25pm - Get home and sit in parking lot for a minute talking to my mom on the phone. She's at Kohl's buying clothes for the kids.
3:30pm - Feed Shelby, change her diaper.
3:40pm - Write more of this while Ben is watching Despicable Me, Shelby crawling everywhere. Check email, see my disc covers order already shipped!
4:00pm - Shelby down for a nap, 15-minute pick-up.
4:15pm - Write an email/call my sister about Sunday dinner/baby blessing but she doesn't answer so I make Ben some chocolate milk and look at FB/blogs for a while.
4:25pm - Throw away the unwrapped Reese's peanut butter cup Ben was holding while he was going #2 in the bathroom before he has a chance to eat it.
4:30pm - Get a text from John that he's heading home. YAY!
4:35pm - Try and locate my On the Border gift card I have so we can go out to dinner. Hoping Shelby is not super cranky when she wakes up so we can go.
4:45pm - Watch movie with Ben.
5:00pm - John gets home. I make Shelby some cereal and a bottle.
5:05pm - John wakes Shelby up. She's not interested in eating, just wants to play.
5:30pm - We decide on Chipotle for dinner and I head out to pick it up.
5:50pm - Dinner! Shelby is finally interested in her bottle.
6:05pm - Watching Casino Royale on SciFy? Or was it AMC? I can't remember.
6:15pm - Switch to Meteorite Men when the not child safe parts of Casino Royale come on. Ben's playing in his room, I'm playing with Shelby, John's watching tv.
7:00pm - I get Shelby's pajamas on and diaper changed.
7:15pm - Make Ben's bed from all his washed blankets that Shelby puked on last night. Shelby plays in her crib while Ben helps me. One blanket still smells like puke. I put it back in the wash. I realize now I still haven't washed those jeans...
7:35pm - Pajamas for Ben. And a juice box.
7:45pm - Ben gets the 10 minutes till bed warning and we do 5 minute pick up. John lowers Shelby's crib while we clean up because she stands up in it now. It's as far down as it will go now and she's not sure what to think of it.
8:00pm - Bedtime/prayers. Shelby didn't puke today. This is a vast improvement over yesterday.
8:05pm - Both kids in bed. Neither wants to go to bed.
8:10pm - I feed Shelby the rest of the bottle she didn't finish. Get Ben a little water. Threaten him if he keeps Shelby awake.
8:20pm - Go to put Shelby's pacifier back in. Ben's laying all wonky in his bed. More threats.
8:30pm - They're both asleep. I'm watching What Not to Wear. John's playing Call of Duty. Playing Words With Friends.
9:25pm - John's finished playing so we come watch Dirty Jobs. I'm cold. Losing at most of my WWF games.
9:45pm - Make popcorn. Eat popcorn.
10:15pm - John's trying to figure out why internet won't attach documents.
10:45pm - Give up.
10:53pm - Finishing Back to the Future III then going to bed!

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Day 12 — A favorite quote

Oh I'm so behind on this! How many days did I forget to post? 2? 3? Oh I have no idea.

Starting back today though! Shelby has had a bad stomach virus the past couple of days and is finally napping this morning. No puke this morning but she's still running a slight fever. I am honestly praying the rest of us don't get it because we have to shoot a wedding on Thursday!

So a favorite quote! I'll use one I used in one of my Young Women's lessons recently. I think this is as great quote for a new year.

"My plea is that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life, we ‘accentuate the positive.’ I am asking that we look a little deeper for good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment and endorse virtue and effort."
—Gordon B. Hinckley

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Day 11 — A favorite book

This is easy for me. The only books I've read in a long time have been the Harry Potter books. I did read the Hunger Games series but those were pretty disturbing.

Anyway. My favorite book out of all 7 HP books is probably #3. We listened to it on our way to south Texas over Thanksgiving and thankfully we finished the entire thing. I love that book so much. I hate the 3rd movie because it leaves out my most favorite parts of the book. I still have some issues with the story line but it's always been one of my favorites! 2nd place goes to either book 4 or 7.

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Day 10 — A favorite food

I'd have to say that one of my most favorite things in the entire world to eat is fajitas. And especially fajitas from On the Border or Pappasito's. At Pappasito's it has to steak. See, I used to always get chicken fajitas and the usual toppings. I hated sour cream and guacamole. Hated. Then when I was pregnant with Shelby I craved sour cream and guacamole for some reason and now I love the stuff! Especially on fajitas. And now I almost always get steak fajitas or a combo of steak and chicken. It's just good stuff. Go to Pappasito's and order the steak fajitas you will not be disappointed!

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