Flashback Friday - A Narrow Escape

Oh how my heart longs to be in this place right now! I can almost close my eyes and pretend that it is summer and I am wearing shorts and I have a hiking stick in my hand and cool water is swirling around my feet. I already told Steve we are going there this summer. It has been far too long. These pictures were taken in Summer of 2004 when we were hiking The Narrows while visiting Zions National Park. My little Aubrey was only 1 year old at the time. I remember when we let her get down and walk in the shallow parts, all the tourists went crazy and started taking pictures of her, she was so dang cute.

Hottie

I recently signed up for Skype so that we can keep in touch with family members who, for some reason or another, choose to reside in other parts of the world. I set it up on a computer other than the computer on which I store all my pictures. So when I was trying to find a profile picture to go along with my Skype account, I didn't have a lot of options. I quickly chose this picture. The next day I was Skyping with my mom and she said, "Lauren and I like your picture of the HOT BACHELOR on your profile". I was like, "Huh?" And she said, "You know, your profile picture of The Bachelor on his motorcycle". And I was like:

• A: I DO NOT watch The Bachelor and I would never post a picture of him for any reason.
• B: Yes, the guy on the motorcycle is hot
• C: He is most definitely NOT a Bachelor
• D: He is your son-in-law

My mom's reaction? "BAH!!!! Ohmygosh! Don't tell Steve that Lauren and I said he was hot!"

Mauahahahahaha! Don't worry mom. I won't tell anyone.....

Monday Morning Musings - Boringness, Tents, Dreams And A Really Long Story About A Dishwasher. And It's Not Even Monday Anymore.

I feel totally boring as of late. Totally. Bor. Ing. Totally. I don't know if it is because it is winter and we aren't out doing as much as we usually do. I don't know if it is because I was always boring and just never really realized it. But I do know this. I'm gettin' real sick and tired of it. I am about ready to kick old man winter to the curb. I would rather blame him than myself for my boringness.

Last week I was so tired and I was not feeling well. After dinner I went to lie down on my bed. Addy came in and fixed me all up. She went all over the house collecting pillows to encircle me with. She made me a "tent" out of the pillows, they were all piled up all over me. Then she covered me up with a blanket and brought her stuffed dog Buster into me. When I was all snug as a bug in a rug, she sat down next to me and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It was so cute.

I have been getting ripped off in the dream department lately. I have these long detailed dreams about cleaning toilets or sorting laundry. They are the kind of dreams where you feel like you are really doing the action and it takes pretty much all night. I wake up the next morning exhausted and feeling like I worked all night with nothing to show for it. There is nothing worse than dreaming, in detail, that you cleaned all the toilets in your house and really feeling like you did, and then waking up the next morning and having to do it all over again.

I have the worst luck with dishwashers. I really do. I don't know, maybe I am too hard on them. Like somedays, if I am busy, I won't do any dishes at all. Then the next day I will have to
run the dishwasher 3x's back to back. (It's against my religion to wash anything by hand). Anyway, you would think:

Brand New House=Brand New Dishwasher=No Dishwasher Malfunctions

And in so doing, you would be completely wrong. The other day, I noticed a little puddle of water next to the dishwasher. You don't even know what that means to me. In my last house, we bought a brand spankin' new Kitchenaid dishwasher and after less than a year, it started leaking water every time it ran. And we fixed it, and it started doing it again. And again. So I saw this puddle of water and I went into total denial. Mmm, mmm! Ain't no leak! Someone must have opened the door and some water sprayed out! Or, or, mmm, hmm, someone dropped some ice and it melted there! Ohhhh, maybe Addy peed on the floor! 'Cause ain't no new dishwasher of mine leakin'! Shoot.

I mean, how many times can you tell yourself these things before you finally have to face reality? For me, it was about four. Four, and the dishwasher stopping in the middle of a cycle, dinging and flashing an error message. Yep. After that, you pretty much can't deny that you have a problem anymore.

I had to call a repair man out yesterday. This is the sad thing. Sunday was one of those non-dish washing days. I filled up the dishwasher and still had a sink full of dishes waiting their turn. So while waiting for the repair man and thinking, "What if he has to order a part and can't fix it today? Hmmm, wonder how long that cycle ran before it stopped working? Maybe I could just rinse the dishes off to remove any soap that might be on them? I mean, they are probably cleaner now than they would be if I had to wash them by hand..."

Thankfully Mr. Dishwasher man came and found a piece of food stuck in one of the valves, which was causing the leakage. And he cleared the error message and the dishwasher started working again. Whew! I didn't have to sacrifice any personal beliefs! That was a close one. Well, I better go now. The dishwasher just finished and I have another load (or two) waiting in the sink....

Flashback Friday - A Story About Hair

* Emily * Aubrey * Zac *

These pictures were taken in July of 2003. It is so hard to believe that my little babies are so grown up now. I love the first picture because now that they are older, I can see so much of their personalities in that picture.

These pictures were taken right after Zac decided to play barber shop/butcher shop with his sister Emily's hair. She was walking around with about 20 clips in her hair that day. I said to her how cute her hair was and she told me that Zac did it for her. I thought, oh, how cute is that. A while later I walked into the bathroom and found a pretty massive amount of hair on the floor. I was freaking out wondering where it came from. Then I remembered that Zac had "fixed" Emily's hair for her. I ran to Emily and started taking the clips out of her hair. Then I started crying. Big sobbing cries. There were huge chunks of hair missing that had been cut all the way down to her scalp. Including most of her bangs. How do you fix that? So I loaded the kids up and went in search of some serious help. That's when I met Ly. (I'm still mad at her for moving to Australia) She worked her magic on Emily and you could hardly even tell that she had pretty much been scalped a few hours before. Funny how I can laugh at that story now.

Remembering Dad

Two years seems like such a long time to go without seeing someone. But in other ways, it is hard to believe that two years have gone by.

It took me a long time to decided what songs to use with this video. I knew my dad would have hated some sappy "We miss you" or "We love you" song. The second song came to me pretty fast, but I just couldn't find a song that fit right for the first song. I even sought an expert opinion from Brian Honea, because if anyone knew what kind of music my dad liked, it was him. He gave me some good suggestions, but they still didn't fit right. I knew when I found it, it would just fit and I would know it. After hours of searching it hit me. The song that instantly transports me to my childhood and places me smack dab in the middle of Quadrangle street on a Saturday morning, in a red brick house with all the windows open and this song blasting on the stero.

Dad, you touched the lives of so many. We miss you.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Monday Morning Musings - Girl, Get Your Oprah On!

So, we needed something to hang on this wall. I mean, come on. It has been over a year since we moved into the house, and we have yet to put a nail hole in a wall. I think we are scared to actually hammer a nail through one of our beautiful walls. But enough is enough. We were having a Christmas party and I didn't want to embarrass the wall by letting it show up naked. So Steve made some frames and I put fabric over them. We did it very hastily. It took me forever to place the squares in the order in which I felt they should appear on the wall. Then I had to flip them over so Steve could nail them all together. Instead of flipping the whole big piece as one, I flipped each square individually. Stupid. So now they are in the wrong order. So I had to hang the smaller piece upside down to avoid having 2 of the same panels next to each other. It really doesn't matter, because the more I look at it, the more I hate it. SEE! This is why I didn't want to put a hole in the wall in the first place!

Aubrey has this friend and I took her over to her house to play last week. Her friend has cats and Aubrey, poor child with the pet hating mother, LOVES to play with the cats when she is there. On the way over to her house, Aubrey told me, "Grace has 2 cats. She used to have 3, but her Visiting Teacher ran over one." Talk about paranoia when I went to pick her up that night and it was dark outside and the cat followed us out of the house. I had to get out of the car and locate the cat before I could back out of the driveway. And even then I was scared. I think I'll park on the street from now on.

Addison for some reason, calls my apron an Oprah, even though I've corrected her a hundred times. It is kinda funny to hear her say, "MOM! PUT YOUR OPRAH ON!"

Some friends gave us a 50 lb. box of potatoes straight from Idaho for Christmas. I don't know what it is that makes 'em different, 'cause when I buy potatoes at the store, I always buy the ones that say "Idaho Potatoes"on them. But I think that is a big fat lie. Because they don't taste like the potatoes in my big 50 lb. box. Who knew a potato could taste so melt in your mouth yummy? I guess from now on, I will have to drive to Idaho to get my potatoes.

Pre Christmas Visit

A few days before Christmas My Granny and Aunt Vicki came in town to visit. It was fun to have them here and spend time with them.

Monday Morning Musings - All I Want For Christmas Is My Front Tooth To Freakin' Fall Out Already

Hallelujah! This tooth Finally dislodged itself completely from this child's mouth! This tooth that this child showed me 5 months ago and told me it was loose. This tooth that I had to touch with my own two fingers and wiggle every day to track the progression of it's looseness. This tooth that I was for sure was going to fall out a week before Christmas. This tooth that has been hanging by a single thread for 2 weeks. This tooth that I tried to remove myself when this child was sleeping and almost lost a few fingers over in the process. FINALLY! FINALLY! It came out. I cannot begin to tell you how happy I was to be woken up at 4 AM on Sunday morning to learn that it was no longer attached to this child. I was so happy I didn't even complain when she asked me (at 4 AM) to get the camera and take a picture of the blessed event.

The above is a picture of Steve and Emily building the island for our kitchen. It is all assembled now and in place in the kitchen. It just needs the drawers inserted and the drawers need handles and the top needs a counter, and a back and a side and a toe kick would be nice. But hey, who's keepin' track? I will just be SO happy to have the much needed extra cabinet space.
Thanks guys for putting it together! Steve was so excited because we have had the island for well over a year, back when the house was still under construction, and we didn't lose a single piece in all that time. Now that is pretty impressive. This is just one of the three cabinets they put together for it.

I have never seen a child love a Christmas present quite as much as this child LOVES her kitchen. On Sunday her brother and sisters made her her own little cafe, complete with red ribbon for the grand opening ceremony.

She ran right over to pose for the picture but then changed her mind, ran over to the cabinet and opened it so I could get a shot of what was inside, and then went back to her position.



Last night my mom and Lauren came over for dinner. We had yummy waffles and eggs and sausage. It was a fun dinner because everyone got in on the preparations. We all had a good time working together in the kitchen. You can see how thrilling it was by the look on Zac's face.
P.S. I take no responsibility for Aubrey's attire.

This picture was taken with my cell phone and obviously my cell phone takes pictures sideways and makes it impossible for you to flip them around. This is Addy. The girls and I stopped one day last week for ice cream and I made the mistake of letting them eat it in the car on the way home. When I opened the door to get Addy out of her seat this is what I found:

Again, another sideways phone pic. I walked out into the living room the other day to find this. Toilet paper leading from the bathroom all the way up the stairs. And then I walked out into the living room the next day. To find pretty much the same thing. I'm...not...really...sure...what....

Ringin' In Twenty Ten!

A new year. A new decade. An endless amount of possibilities. I LOVE a new year! I really do. It is one of my favorite times of the year. A fresh start. Everything is so clean and new. As much as I love pulling out the Christmas decorations, I think I love taking them down and putting them away even more. It gives the house a new sense of order. I love having all the holiday festivities over and moving on with life as normal. I love operating on a schedule. I love making goals and plans for the brand spankin' new year that lies before me. I love reaching deep within my soul and searching for the changes I need to bring about in my life so that I can take a step closer to the person that I hope to become one day. A New Year. I LOVE it!

2009 was good year. It was a hard year. But when you work your way through a hard time and come out the other end, you are usually a better person for it. A lot of changes occurred in 2009 and I like to think that I handled them well and learned from them. I am thankful for all that 2009 taught me. I am thankful for the ever present hand of the Lord in my life. I am thankful for the blessings he has bestowed upon me.

We had a fun night last night. Our neighbors came over and we played a little Rock Band, played some other games, ate yummy homemade salsa and waffles with all the fixins. Here is a picture of everyone looking out the kitchen window at the fireworks.

After midnight and the banging of the pots and pans, everyone was getting ready to leave and Addy ran to the door and wouldn't let anyone out. We are so thankful for good neighbors and friends. It was hard for us to leave our old neighborhood full of people we love behind, and we are thankful for good people in this neighborhood to help soften the blow.

Happy New Year everyone! And just a reminder from a post I did back in April of 2,008. The time has finally come:

Emily was asking Steve what year he graduated from high school. He told her and then she wanted to know what year she would graduate. That is easy to figure out because she was born in 2000. So I said she will graduate in 20-18. That's how I said it, twenty eighteen. But then I started to wonder, is that how people will say it? Or will they say 2,018? 'Cause when you watch movies that are set in the future they always say the year as 20-18 but when we say the year now we way 2,008. I like saying it 20-18. It sounds better than 2,018, don't you think? I think we should start a date reference revolution. If we all start saying the year as twenty-o- eight maybe it will catch on. OK, twenty-o-eight doesn't sound good. Let's wait until 2010 and then start saying twenty ten. I will remind you when it gets closer.