Just the latest

Guess we should update...not that I don't just fall in love with Dave every time I read his post (honey, you're the BEST), but we just need to update. Where to start? Friday night was the ward Halloween party and it was pretty fun! We ended up getting Emma a JoJo's Circus costume b/c she's OBSESSED with JoJo, and it looks so dang cute on her! Of course, forgot the camera, but we'll get more pictures tomorrow night. She won "silliest" costume...for being a clown, of course! The prize for all the winners was to throw a small pie tin of whipped cream at the counselors in the bishopric. She was quite perplexed by that, so Dave took the opportunity to show her, and got JJ Campbell pretty good! She was given a "coupon" for being a winner, and now every time she sees it she asks, "what did dad do??" wanting an explanation for throwing whipped cream. Saturday night was Tia's annual Halloween party, and this year it was ADULTS ONLY! WAHOO! It was fun getting to actually pay attention to other adults! And, once again, forgot the camera. So I'm just waiting for the others to send me pictures. Dave and I were vampires (thanks Chrissy!), and joked the whole night that Dave was "Edward" (if you don't know who I'm talking about, you'd better get on the ball...TWILIGHT!). Other great costumes-Justice League, Darth vader and leia, pirates, red riding hood and wolf grandma, dorothy and scarecrow, mummies, fred and wilma, and one couple wore all blue with blue wigs, and had Jean and Gene on their shirts...a pair of blue jeans!! That couple is always so creative!

Sunday afternoon we took a drive to Brandywine Falls. As always, it is soooo wonderful to be able to get "out" and enjoy the peace and beauty that is usually interrupted by noisy cars and stores, etc. I feel so strongly that I want to live somewhere where I don't have to "drive" to get to a place like that. The girls had a blast just exploring-Emma with her eyes and Bree with her mouth. And we DID remember the camera :)

And tonight was FAMILY PICTURES!! We will finally have a family picture (okay, we took one this time last year at Julianne's wedding, but I was large and swollen and prego, so that doesn't count!). We will be getting the CD of pics tomorrow, so after Trick or Treating I'll be posting again...pics of JoJo and family pics.

midnight and too much caffeine

For some reason I decided to drink a lot of Dr. Pepper with my dinner and now I can't get to sleep. I've been sitting here for hours browsing through everyone's blogs and I've got to say it's been a little emotional. The caffeine is probably to blame a bit but I think I'm having a moment as well. Which is a big deal because I don't have very many moments.

As I've seen what's been going on with all of you I've been remembering the times in my and Loralee's lives when we were lucky enough to have found our friends. The things I remember are for the most part small and insignificant memories but all together they mean a lot. Whether it's Loralee coming home excited about a new friend she's made in whatever ward we were in, thinking of times spent around a campfire, going to Leatherbys and getting sick on their french fries, or just hanging out and enjoying some fluffy cookies (That one's for you Lisa, those were some good cookies). Knowing that we have people to enjoy life with means a lot.

I know that I never said it to any of you because I'm a guy and guys don't say these things. But thank you for being our friends. Thank you for being there for us when we needed help. Thank you for loving our girls (Kari, you get a special shout out because you helped bring Emma into the world and I'll always love you for it). Thank you for letting us laugh with you. Thank you for being there for my wife when she needs a girlfriend to complain about her husband to. Thank you for filling our life with memories that we can lean on for happiness when a day is filled with anything but. Thank you all for being who you are.

Well, I'm glad I got that out of my system. Let this be a warning to all guys out there. Apparently Dr. Pepper has been spiked with Estrogen. Drinking it in excess can cause outbursts of feelings and a strong desire for deep, emotional discussions. It should not be consumed in connection with any holiday or close to your wife's birthday as this may lead to excessive spending and future credit problems.

Birthday Shout Outs!

Here's a Happy Birthday to:
Angela
Big Al
Ramee
Alisha
Noah
Ryan
Who knew October had so many?? Spooky Happy Birthdays to you!

We're MANIACS!!

Last night was Cedar Point. We got there in the evening (open until midnight for Halloweekends), but it was so crowded there were 2 hour waits on most rides. So it was a good thing we chose to do Dragster first! This thing was CRAZY. Dave put me under covenant to ride any ride he wanted me to...of course he didn't REALLY have control over me, but I couldn't stand in line with everyone for 2 hours and not ride the ride. I was nervous the whole time. Here are the stats on the ride:


You launch forward reaching 120 mph in 4 seconds, then rise straight up, twisting 270 degrees while rising 420 feet into the air, then rotate 90 degrees and go straight back down.


And we got it all on film!!! Of course, you might not be able to see much, but you CAN see Dave's face and hear our screams. When we were seated and moving forward I said, "I can't believe I'm doing this." And Dave said, "I know,I didn't think you'd actually go through with it!" Lovely, but too late. The beginning of the video is us just sitting there...waiting...for FOREVER.


It was a great night-we had a ton of fun with our friends and it was nice getting a break from the kids! We'll definitely be doing this again next year when we can actually make it on all of the rides!

Tagged

I have been tagged by Mindy. Actually Loralee was tagged but she doesn't think she can come up with anything so she's making me do it.

The rules:

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I'm scared of bugs and spiders. I hate them. I don't know why God created them. They're horrible in every way and the thought of them makes me feel like a little girl. If we see a really bad one I make Loralee kill it because I'm afraid it will touch me and give me bug cooties.

Let's all remember in our prayers to pray for the total destruction of all spiders. I think it's a reasonable request.

2. I have hypersensitive skin around my face. I hate to have someone touch my face. In fact I don't even like it when someone gets close to my face. I think I have people claustrophobia.

3. Morning farts are the best farts of the day. Loralee is embarrassed that I'm writing this but I know there's a lot of you out there who agree with me. Lets have a shout out for morning farts!!

4. I drive a scooter. I think it enhances my masculinity by demonstrating that I'm not afraid to sit like a girl on a bike. I get some strange looks in the middle of winter when I'm wearing my ski pants, coat, gloves, and goggles riding down the street with 1/2 a foot of snow on the ground.

5. My toes look like potatoes. I've also been told that they look like Hobbit feet. But I like Frodo so that's OK with me.

In fact if you ask me I think they're very sexy toes. Very symmetrical.

6. I believe that in Heaven there will be fountains flowing forth with root beer. I love that stuff. It goes especially well with curry if you have the chance to try that. Barqs, A&W, any root beer is good root beer. But not root beer flavored candy, that's a desecration of the sanctity that is root beer.

could you be any more wholesome than this? Yeah rootbeer!

So there you go, 6 things that make all the ladies out there glad they passed up the Dave train. I hereby tag: Asialene/Davis, Adrienne, Chris/Stacy, Jeff/Alisha, Matt/Annie, Debbie/Jim. I put a good 5 min into this people so I want some effort here!

Every last bite

Bree has really been into feeding herself, which would be great if she could have all the mac and cheese, goldfish crackers, or other dairy, cheesy stuff that's easy to give babies. But, alas, food allergies have, once again, hit our family. So, plain noodles it is. Who would have thought she would love them so much??!!

I've also started my digital scrapbooking class and I'm LOVING it already! I didn't realize it would be so easy-I think my experience with photoshop has helped. I'm not so creative when it comes to coming up with ideas on my own, but I can copy other people! Everyone did the same layout for the first lesson, but then some girls tweaked some things and posted them on the website, so I'm really excited to copy their ideas and let my creativity take off from there! Now that I know how easy it will be, I think catching up on our family and baby albums will be a piece of cake. If I could only get Emma to take an afternoon nap with Bree and I could have a little more time...

The girls have really been having fun together lately. I'm so excited to see them start playing with each other. Bree is ecstatic when Emma gets home from school and Emma is also excited to see her. They giggle and hug (okay, Emma attacks Bree and squeezes really hard) and shriek at the top of their lungs. They have little squealing fests which is pretty funny because their voices actually sound a lot alike. They squeal back and forth, louder and higher pitched each time. Good thing they only do it during the day when Dave isn't home. I think he'd lose his mind if he heard that over and over.

We have a lot to look forward to in our lives. This weekend we have a babysitter for a LONG time so Dave and I get to go to CEDAR POINT!!! WAHOO!! It's their Halloweekends which is supposed to be pretty cool. We're switching with our friends-we'll be watching their kids while they head to the Indians playoff game Thursday night. So neither of us feel bad that we'll both be gone until after 1 am.
And CHRISTMAS IS COMING!! I know, we've still got to get through Halloween and Thanksgiving, but this is gonna be a great trip. We're going home to California, and Dave's parents are driving down there for a week, and we'll get to see other friends and family that we haven't seen in a while. We've got some fun activities planned (harbor tour, Balboa park museums, etc) and I'm giddy about going Christmas caroling. And we'll get to celebrate Bree's 1 year birthday with all our family...could life get any better?

S'more great moments (hehehe)

We went camping on Friday night. Out here on the other side of the world conference doesn't start until noon, so we get to do something fun the night before without falling asleep during the morning session. If we fall asleep during the "morning" session it's because it's naptime...and not just for the kids!! Just kidding (okay, I'm really not-I KNOW I'm not the only one that's fallen asleep during conference!).

So, back to camping. The guys didn't get home until 5-ish, so it was dark by the time we got there, but that didn't keep us from making smores and dutch oven dessert at 10pm! One family came just for the evening, and the girls played around their "campfire" (the lantern) and the adults just got to talk. Overall, great experience for Emma, not so great for Bree. At around 3 in the morning, after she woke up the entire campground with her ear piercing screams (and scared off the bears-hehe), we strapped her in her carseat, put her in the car, and I slept on the front seat. I don't know why she slept so much better there than in the pack-n-play, but now we know! The next morning we had yummy sausage, eggs, and pancakes-breakfast just tastes better when you're camping! Then we played horseshoes while Emma and Elizabeth giggled in the tent. We snuck over to see what they were doing...they were playing dentist!! We had left some dollar bills, Dave's glasses, and the keys in a little pocket, and they were using the glasses as "goggles," the keys as instruments, and they were stuffing the dollar bills in their mouths as gauze. We've got it all on video-HILARIOUS. The whole time we were there those girls were inseparable. They held hands wherever they went, and wouldn't even play "duck and goose" (as Emma calls it) without sitting in a "spooning" position. Now Emma thinks that we're going camping with Elizabeth every night. She thinks the sun rises and sets on Elizabeth! Anytime we ask her who loves her, first answer? Elizabeth. Who does she love? First answer, Elizabeth. What are you going to do at church? See Elizabeth! Who's your favorite teacher at school? Elizabeth. You get the picture! I can't remember ever having a bosom buddy like that...anyone else remember their best friends when they were 3?

And here's another Emma funny-for Halloween we're going to be vampires, Bree's a "punkin" and Emma's a bat. We've told her what we're going to be, and of course she doesn't know what a vampire is, but now we have an idea of what she pictures a vampire is...she told Dave's dad we were going to be "vampirates." Hmm...interesting costume idea...

Still going...

So, ya, the kitchen STILL isn't done. That's mostly because the only time we have to work on it is when Dave gets home from school, and end of sept/first of oct is major test time. I think I remembered that I've hated these few weeks for the last few years :) I don't understand how they can have SO MANY tests when they're only taking a few classes at this point-he's in clinic for the majority of the day. Oh well, this, too, shall pass :)

Mom told me she keeps checking our blog to see if we've added updates of our progress, so here you are Mom! We just finished putting up the tile, so now we need to grout it, put the drawer front on the sink base, fix the walls and re-frame the window, add the mouldings, put in the new floor and baseboards, then I think we'll be done!! WAHOO! I already LOVE it so much b/c I have a place (and the space) for everything, so it doesn't feel cluttered all the time. For those of you who have wondered why this has been such a big deal to me, you've probably never lived in a 100 yr old house made of plaster. APPRECIATE DRYWALL :) One of the previous owners remodeled the kitchen but didn't pay attention to details, so the cabinets were all screwed up, he used wall cabinets on the floor, and the tile backsplash was so uneven. On the previous post you might have noticed the horizontal wood pieces on the walls-that's how the walls were plastered in the ANCIENT DAYS. The previous owners put the tile on using liquid nails instead of tile adhesive and grout (which we discovered as we started taking the tile down), so everything had to come down and we had to put up drywall. Another "Cleveland special" is uneven floors, so as we put in the cabinets and had to make everything level with everything else, those wonderful wood shims were our BEST friends. We must have gone thru a million packs of them. But, we must say, we're pretty proud of ourselves, having never done anything like this before. Everything is level that can be level (just nothing we can do for the poor floor) and we're finishing things off so that they look professional and not "do it yourself." Some of you might say, why all the work when you're moving in a year and a half? TO SELL THE HOUSE :) I wouldn't exactly call the Cleveland market one of the hot spots in the country. But we DO get a lot of dental/medical/law/podiatry students from the west, mostly LDS, and when they look for a house, they want one that will make them feel at home, and most of these homes won't fit the bill! So our tiny little investment will (hopefully) go a long way. Okay, enough already! Here are the pics!