Disney Photos

I just went through my photos from our Disney trip - over 400 and narrowed them down to 55 (for this project I'm working on and probably for the scrapbook too). I won't bore you with all 55 but here are a few:

Our family in front of the Orlando Temple.

Me and my husband

Our kids in front of the Nemo ride - the very first one we went on at Epcot.

More to come later.

We're Back

We actually got back late Sunday night but it's taking me awhile to get back into the swing of regular life.
With the wonder of digital cameras, I ended up taking over 400 pictures on our trip and I've been in the process of sorting them out and getting them on the computer. Hopefully I'll post a few later today. I've got to narrow the over 400 down to about 40 for a project my sister and I are working on.
So Typhoon Lagoon was AWESOME!! I would fly back to Orlando just to go there. Jared and Kamryn had so much fun and we loved watching them have that fun. The rest of us also had a great time. The best part was going on this new slide "The Crush 'n Gusher" - basically a water rollercoaster, quite a thriller. I went 4 times in a row with Paul and Taylor. That day was worth every penny we had to pay ($200 for 5 admissions, quite a disappointment and frustration to find out that our 7 day hopper pass did not include the water parks!).
The cruise was fun but challenging. It was actually easier to be at the parks with Jared and Kamryn. There isn't a lot for 2 yr olds to do on the ship and dinners with them were pretty much a nightmare. But we still managed to have fun. The big disappointment on the ship was that Jared and Kamryn couldn't go in the mickey pool - and that was what I was so looking forward to doing with them.
We boarded the ship Thursday afternoon and after dinner my sister's kids went swimming, even though it was very windy. Paul and I were out for a walk with Jared and Kamryn and went by the pool. Kamryn immediately wanted to get in. So we put a swim diaper on her and let her get in just like that. She had a great time and LOVED it until the man dressed like he's in the navy (ship officer) came up to me and told me she couldn't be in there in a swim diaper! I looked at him like he was crazy and said WHAT?!! He told me they didn't allow swim diapers due to 2 girls dieing in Atlanta because some child had some diarrhea leak out of a swim diaper. I couldn't believe it. The one thing that I thought would be so fun and great for Jared and Kamryn and they weren't going to be able to go anywhere near the pool. The officer pointed out that they had a splash area for children in diapers on the other side of the water slide. But that wasn't going to work - all my two would want to do is climb out of there and go in the pool. So we had to stay clear of that whole area the rest of the time. I was very upset about this whole incident and complained but that got me nowhere!! (You can tell I'm still bitter about it).
So the day at Nassau where we didn't get off the ship because we were just going to hang out at the pool all day was kind of bummer day. Brooke and I took Jared and Kamryn into the kids club for awhile and we wandered around the ship and just hung out. I watched the last hour of Dream Girls and Jared and Kamryn loved having disney movies on the TV 24/7.
The shows were really good and Jared and Kamryn loved them. They loved seeing the characters and everything was made worth it when I watched them hugging and kissing Mickey and Minnie. So cute!!
Justin sprained both ankles playing basketball on the ship - one the first night not too bad and then the other ankle much worse the second day. We had to buy him an ankle brace and carry him around the ship (no wheelchairs available).
The food was fabulous and I'm sure I gained back (and more) the weight I lost while we were tearing around Disney World. I even tried Escargot (Justin could try it and get extra credit in French, so I told him if he tried it I would too). Not too bad - just don't think too much about what you are putting in your mouth.
We had awesome service from our waiter and his assistant and I wish Christina could have come back home with us - our stateroom hostess.
It's nice to be back home but not fun to have to get back to all my chores and list of things to do. Very overwhelming.

100th post

To copy a friend, this is my 100th blog at this address.
We are here in Florida enjoying the sun and warmth - although at times a little too warm.
Justin ended up with heat stroke and dehydration today and had to cut his fun short. We went to all four Disney World parks in two days and have been back to Epcot and Magic kingdom for 2nd visits today. Jared and Kamryn have been much better than I expected. They were fantastic on our 6 hour plane trip here (1 1/2 hrs on the ground in St Louis - on the plane at the gate that whole time waiting for a pilot to fly our plane).
We're going to Typhoon Lagoon tomorrow - the greatest water park I've ever been to and then Thursday we board the ship for the cruise!!! I"m very much looking forward to relaxing and slowing down the pace. More reports when we get back (we'rehaving to pay for the internet here).

We're Off

We're off to DisneyWorld tomorrow. My parents are taking their children, spouses, and grandchildren (32 people total) to DisneyWorld and on the Disney Cruise. We've been planning this for almost 2 years and I can't believe it's finally here. We spend from Sunday afternoon to Thursday morning at the parks and then Thur afternoon to Sunday morning on the cruise. To me, it's the perfect combo vacation. The parks are fun yet exhausting and then you get to go on the cruise and relax.
We're flying on Southwest tomorrow, stopping in St Louis just long enough to drop off passengers and pick up new ones. It's over 5 hours flying time. I hope we survive.
I hope to post updates about the trip while we're gone but no promises.

Swimming

I've taken Jared and Kamryn swimming twice in the last week. I've been concerned that they like the water since we are going on vacation to Florida and I want them to have fun at the water parks, in the pool and at the beach.
I don't have to worry about Kamryn - she loves it and has no fear. It's so much to watch her. At the rec center behind our house they have two indoor pools that are perfect for toddlers. One is the splash zone and has a frog slide and lots of water "toys" and a playground to climb on and a regular enclosed water slide. She loves the frog slide and went down about 50 times in a row.
Now, Jared, on the other hand, does not love it. The first time he didn't really want to get in but I made him. He was okay as long as he was clinging to me and eventually that turned into sitting on my lap and watching his sister have fun. I feel bad for him that he's so hesitant about some things while she goes out and has a good time.
After about an hour he finally had made some progress and was playing in the "umbrella" feature. Well, Kamryn headed off to the playground and that was too far away to go on her own. So I took Jared and we followed her. They had fun playing on it and Jared seemed to really like it since he was kind of out of the water. Kamryn watched the kids do down the slide and I could tell she wanted to go. I couldn't send her down by herself so I had to go with her and I couldn't Jared up there by himself so he had to go with us. So I went down the slide with both of them on my lap. It turned out fine and they LOVED IT - even Jared. So we did that about 20 times in a row. I was exhausted and ready to go home. They didn't want to leave but this was on Friday, early day in our area, and the pool was getting too crowded for me.
We went again on Monday and repeated exactly the same thing as Friday - Kamryn loved it from the beginning and Jared had to sit and watch and warm up to the fun.
It's funny how different they are.
I wish I had pictures to post of them swimming but that's impossible since I'm the only adult there with them.

Taxes

I don't know if I'm going to survive the TAXES this year. I've never done such a complicated return. I, of course, use Turbo Tax and even with that I'm going crazy. We sold some stock my grandpa had given me and that's a headache and we also bought some Layton company stock and that's an even BIGGER headache. Paul and I were up until 1:00 am last night and we still couldn't get the taxes accepted to file online. And of course we owe money! I guess I'm going to have to actually mail our return this year. I can't wait until tomorrow and the paperwork is gone and I can put this huge file away and forget about it.

St George, part 2

How many kids can you get in one tub? We could believe how dirty the water
was when they were done.

Jared and Kamryn with their friend Ellie, watching "george".

Game night with 3 families - we were playing golf.

Okay, a week later I'm finally getting back to write about St George.
Friends in our ward invited us to go down to St George and stay with them for spring break.
We drove down Wednesday after school. In my car we had Taylor and 2 of his friends in the back seat, Jared and Kamryn in the middle and Justin in the front with me. I must have told him several times that I can't wait until he can drive. I didn't mind driving and wasn't tired (especially after we stopped and I got a diet coke with lime). I was very nice to my teenage son and let him play his music the whole way down. We listened to The Who, Styx, Queen and then he put in Led Zeppelin. I could only stand 2 songs from that CD but those two songs lasted for 15 minutes. (I thought of putting links to all of those bands but who has time or cares). I was totally shocked when he put in a Sade CD. Now, this was a CD he burned with the Sade songs he likes. I was glad to find out that he can branch out a little bit.
So our drive down went by quickly and we were to St George by 6:40. My friend's house is BIG and NICE and NEW. I would love to trade her houses. It reminded me of Phoenix so much.
We went to chuck-a-rama for dinner with 3 mom's and 12 kids!
Most of the weekend we just hung out and rested and relaxed. I should have taken more pictures but I was being too lazy to get up and get the camera. We had fun playing pool and ping pong in their garage, watching movies, going swimming and playing games. The kids also went to the park and played soccer and volleyball and tag.
It was a fun getaway and we look forward to going again.

St George

Just a quick post (with more to follow after I download pictures) ...
We just got home from St George - 4 hrs and not one stop !!!! That's a miracle when you are traveling with 7 people - two toddlers and a mom who usually has to make 2-3 stops for the bathroom.
We had a great time and enjoyed being with great friends. More details to come. Now I've got to get ready for Easter!!
Good-night

Nashville

**Paul and I with Wendee and Dan at a ward activity we went to on Friday night.**















**This is Wendee and Dan Truman, me and Paul, Rhonda. We were at Chef's Market for a very YUMMY dinner.**


It's taken me a couple of days to get these pictures together so I could post about our trip to Nashville.
It was a great long weekend away. Highlights and thoughts about the trip:
**It was a long flight and this was traveling without children!! We stopped in Chicago on the way there and there were major delays due to Air Traffic Control coverage. We were lucky and were only delayed about 45 minutes. I read on the flight and slept. I got a little bored and kept wondering what am I going to do when we fly to Orlando in Florida with 2 toddlers and Taylor.
**Nashville is beautiful. It's very pretty right now with everything in bloom. It's lots of green rolling hills.
**Went to see the Temple. It is small. It's next to a stake center and is much smaller. It looks like it got squashed flat. I'd planned to do some work at the temple while Paul was at his work meeting but the temple wasn't open that morning. It is only open at certain times and you have to have an appointment to do the work. Bummer.
**We had a great time with Paul's cousins, Dan Truman (of Diamond Rio fame) and Dan's sister, Rhonda. Dan has lived in Nashville for over 20 years and was an awesome tour guide. He showed us downtown Nashville and told us lots of history - both US and family. We saw music row where most of country music is recorded and produced, Vanderbilt University, Grand Ole Opry - the old and the new buildings.
**Went to an actual movie theater to see "Work and The Glory III"
**Had fun on Friday night checking out the music scene in downtown Nashville. Went to Roberts Western World - a bar where the band (BrazilBilly) plays old time country music. It was great weather and spring break for some so it was crowded with a variety of people.
**Loved sleeping in on Saturday.
**Enjoyed a great 4 mile walk at a wooded park near Dan's house. It was so green and pretty.
**Loved spending time with my hubby!!!!!

Popcorn

"I looked out my window and what did I see ...
... popcorn popping on the apricot tree."

Every year when I look out our hall bathroom window and see this tree in bloom it reminds me of that song. I had to take the pictures today because come Wednesday those blossoms probably won't be there anymore - due to the rain and snow expected :(

Boise, ID

Spent part of the weekend in Boise, ID for a volleyball tournament. The tournament was really just a disguise for a girl trip. Brooke and her 3 friends in the ward that play on the club team and all 4 mothers went up to Boise on Friday. I'm not a big fan of road tripping but it sure is fun when you're with girlfriends. We made it all the way to Tremonton before we stopped and had lunch. We got to Boise about 5:30 and checked into the Courtyard Marriott. Nice place for a decent price. Unfortunately Brooke started feeling sick (sore throat, chills, fever) on the way up so she spent most of Friday night in bed while the other girls were out to dinner and swimming with the rest of our team. Luckily she felt a lot better Saturday morning and was able to play her best games in the morning. She started crashing in the afternoon and didn't play the last couple of matches. The team played really well and won their bracket. It's fun to watch the team play and improve. Best of all was the time away with Brooke and our friends. The only bad part was we had to drive back Saturday night - left Boise at 6:30 and drove into SLC at 1:00 am. Next year we're staying and coming back on Sunday. There's nothing better than a fun girl trip.

Car Wash

The car wash is not an great adventure for all ages. I filled up the van today and it desperately needed a wash. Jared and Kamryn were with me and I was pretty sure it would freak them out but I went ahead with it anyway. Both of them had huge eyes as we drove in. I tried talking them through it and they laughed when all the soapy bubbles were sprayed on but then when the big forceful spray started washing the bubbles off they started freaking out. Kamryn lost it first and was bawling and terrified and then Jared joined in. They were both gripping my arm and hysterical. They didn't like the dryer either. When we were finally done it was Jared could talk about all the way to Sam's club - "car wash" over and over (of course I was the only one that could understand what he was saying). I guess we won't do that again soon.

Bits and pieces

Just a few "bits and pieces" thoughts for the day:
**I taught in YW today. I teach the Beehives and we have about 10 girls in our class. Today we only had 6 girls there and it's amazing how different the class was. Usually the lessons go okay but today was great and I felt really good about it and I think the girls really liked it and got something out of it. The miracle in this is that I didn't really start on the lesson until about 10:00 last night and I was up working on it until about 12:30 and we had church at 11:00 (really 10:00 in my head due to daylight savings times). The lesson was on being a peacemaker and we played spin the bottle to discuss situations of how to be a peacemaker.
**Due to the late night I was so tired after church so I decided to lay down for a short nap. I fare much better if I just lay down for 30 min - I'm too groggy if I really nap. But I must have been tired because I napped for almost 2 hours. I woke up with a start at 5:22 and freaked out. We were having dinner with my family at my mom's and I needed to put green bean casserole in at her house at 5:15. So I had Justin run it over there and then I forgot about it until about half way through everyone dishing up at dinner and Paul said "where are the beans?" I had totally forgotten about them and they were very well done with all the little french's onions burned. Naps are just not good for me.
**Can't believe Rob and Amber got out. I thought for sure it would be a non elimination round. I guess it came down to karma and they played dirty on that round and came back to bite them. We're really pulling for the beauty queens now. I'm going to have to worry about my husband though - he said "I'm all over the beauty queens now."

Book of Mormon

I finished the Book of Mormon today. I started it on Sept 11th. I try to read every morning after the kids leave for school and before Jared and Kamryn get up. For most of it I've listened to it and followed along at the same time. I really like doing it that way and feel like I've gotten so much more out of it. Now I'm going to read the Doctrine and Covenants (because Paul's reading it right now and he's downloaded it into our iTunes library).

RS Birthday

Our Relief Society birthday dinner was Tuesday night. The program was women who dressed up as former General RS presidents and told about "themselves". My mom was all dressed up and when I walked in I felt like I was looking at my grandma.

Volleyball Tournament

Brooke played in another tournament last weekend. This was a 2 day-er - Friday from 3:30 - 10:30 and Saturday from 7:30 - 7:30. This was a "reseeding tournament" so that is why it was 2 days. They played Fri and Sat morning at Open Court. I love that place. What a great facility. The spectator section was above the court so it was a fun way to watch. I was able to go Friday night without Jared and Kamryn, which was nice because I was able to just watch the team play and concentrate. Saturday was another story. We ended up having Jared and Kamryn at most of the tournament, which was CRAZY!!! I couldn't leave because I hate missing when Brooke plays. She's getting a lot better and is therefore playing more. She does a great job in the back and also played the front and did well. She had one awesome spike (HIT for those who know the correct terms). We were all cheering and excited and Justin looked up and said "What'd she do?" It was funny. I was just glad he came to support her. He must have liked it because he ended up going to the whole tournament on Saturday.
The next tournament is in Boise ID. Our 4 girls and mothers are going. It will be a fun little mother/daughter weekend. I'm really looking forward to it just for the chance to get a break from my little gremlins.

Update on bathroom project

Well, the bathroom project has gotten pretty complicated as you can see. I'd planned to put beadboard up over the 1st layer of wallpaper and even bought one sheet of the board. When I put it up it didn't look good - too many lines with the tile below it. So now I have to paint -which meant painting over the wallpaper or taking it down. I decided to take it down which was probably a bad decision. I've got major areas where the wallpaper did indeed take off the wallboard. What a mess. I've spent a lot of time getting the walls cleaned up. Whoever put up that paper did it with wheat paste. After spending most of the day yesterday I've got all the paste off the walls and then washed the walls. Now I've just got to patch the tears and holes - which I have no idea how to do but I guess I'll learn. Paul wants me to wait for him to do it but who knows when that will be since he's got his own bathroom project downstairs. So I guess I'll go to Home Depot and learn how to patch walls.

February goal

I did pretty good on my February goal. As you can see, I posted 25 times in February which is way more than I normal. So I'm going to try to keep up with regular posts, just not every day (which will be relief to some, I'm sure).

New project

I've done a terrible thing - jumped into a new big project before totally finishing my last project. I'm not quite done getting the 72 hour kits put together and haven't figured out exactly where we are going to store them.
Today I got this bug to strip the wallpaper off in the main bathroom upstairs. It was actually a fun project - I love demolition work. It came off so easy - the 1st layer that is. Underneath is another layer of very old 70s silvery/gold foil plaid that is never coming off, at least not without taking the sheetrock with it. So I am going to put up beadboard over it. I went to Home Depot and priced it and got the paint picked out.
And I did this all today in less than 3 hours. It's always easier and faster doing the demo work than the new work. And this is at the same time that Paul is working on building/installing a bathroom downstairs so I've definitely complicated things. Sorry about that.

Visiting Teaching

I try not to have too much guilt in my life but I do when it comes to Visiting Teaching. I've been a terrible VTer over the last year. I have not once made an in home sit down visit with any of my 3 ladies. I've dropped off lots of things to compensate. Part of my problem is I have a companion who is pretty flakey and can never go so I've kind of used that as an excuse. I have decided to just kind of pretend I don't have a companion and just go on my own. Another "problem" is two of the ladies I have are too easy to count - 1 lady is one of my best friends in the ward and we walk every morning so I certainly have regular contact with her and know what's going on in her life. The 2nd lady is in the YW presidency with me and I see her all the time too but don't really visit with her like I should. The 3rd lady is who I really have guilt about and should visit her in her home regularly. So I resolved to do better this year. I took each of them Valentine's cookies and visited with them briefly at the door. And today we all went to lunch together to this place. We had a great time and enjoyed good food and especially good desserts. It was fun to visit and get out. I plan to do this on a quarterly basis and maybe we can even get my companion involved. Now I just need to call my supervisor and report 100% for once.

A night of TV

We don't usually watch TV on Sunday - we try to spend time together and have FHE or play a game. But tonight we just boob tubed it all night. We watched this and were excited that Jennifer Hudson won. We've been a fan of hers ever since we was on Idol. We also watched this. How much have Rob and Amber won? Do you think they're paying their taxes and do you think they've been able to go on all those trips? My family is rooting for them but I think they've had their turn. I'm for the beauty queens and really, really want Kentucky and the cousins to go home.

Favorite Spot

This is Kamryn and Jared's favorite new spot. It's kind of like their little hideout. It's in the kitchen under the desk. I keep my church bag and the diaper bag there. They love to go through the diaper bag and read their books and then pull everything else out. It's fun to watch them under there together.

72 hour kits

So my project to finish for Feb is to get our 72 hour kits put together. I bought most of the stuff back in Nov when our ward sponsored some nights to inspire us to get this project put together. So I ordered everything I thought we would need and then when I picked it up I put it all in the garage for awhile and then moved it to the dining room and finally down to the storage room, where it's been for the last couple of months. I look at the pile every time I go in the storage room - which is frequently considering that is where our extra fridge is and most of our food. It's been driving me crazy so I've put it at the top of my list of things to do the last two weeks. I didn't get to it last week so now I have 5 days until the end of Feb to finish. I pulled all of the stuff out of the storage room and moved it into our office area so I could spread things out and fill up the back packs. I spent time on it today while Jared and Kamryn where playing and watching their latest favorite thing to watch. I have all the back packs filled with food, extra clothes, flashlight, emergency blankets and radio, etc. I have 5 buckets to put the backpacks in. My friend gave me that idea - then if you are faced with that emergency you can where the backpack and carry the empty bucket if you need to and it will then become your stool and one will become the "potty." Now that I've done all that we are only missing toothbrushes and some soap (that I'll go buy later today) and a water filter (the good kind you have to buy here and I've assigned that to Paul). I don't feel like I can cross it off my list until it's totally complete and I've gone over the packs with the family and where we are going to store them but it's mostly done. It's been a big job and i'm so glad to have it done.

Who's your Favorite?

Are you an Idol fan? Who is your favorite?
So far, I like Chris Sligh (mostly because he's funny) and Lakisha Jones (man, can she sing!)
The results show was way too long (thank goodness for recording it and fast forwarding through commercials and bad songs).

Stake Dance

Our mutual activity last night was a stake dance - not the multi-stake, 14 and up kind. It was just our stake and it was 12 and up. There were invites with a theme (Dancing with the Stars ... and the Asteroids and the Planets) but no other info. We had no idea what the plan was or what the dress was or anything. We heard from someone in one of the other wards that maybe there would be dance instruction, which as a mother I thought sounded like a good idea.
Well, we got there and after opening exercises in the chapel, which was attended by about 40 youth (for the whole stake) they dismissed us to the gym. When we walked in they had a funny scene playing from this movie - where the main characters are showing how they dance (I've seen the movie but can't remember the names). It's a funny clip but there wasn't any sound. Then they started another clip of this movie where the main character was up on stage dancing. Again, no sound.
As leaders we're just standing there wondering what the plan was. Was anyone going to get the night started? Have some mixer games or dances? No - just thanks for Bro so-and-so doing the music and have fun. The kids all just stood there in big groups. It brought back such bad memories. Dances are such bad things for teens. The girls get all excited and want to dance and are just hoping a boy (not just any boy, the cute boy they have a crush on and not the nerdy boy who has a crush on them) asks them to dance. The boys on the other hand are mostly too shy to ask a girl and wander around the gym aimlessly or chase each other around the gym.
The music was a disaster - lots of technical difficulties and he kept playing the same 3 songs over and over. Finally, after about an hour a DJ in the stake saved the night and set up his stuff and started playing songs the kids knew and fun line dances. The kids finally got into it and most seemed to be out having a good time and dancing. My poor 14 yr old son - it was pure torture and one of the worst nights of his life.
(I may be able to get hold of some pictures to post from one of the leaders there).

Update on resolutions

I was looking back at the resolutions I set for this year. I'm doing pretty good on half (2 out of 4 isn't too bad).
I'm doing pretty good on scripture reading - almost every day (extra on some days to make up for some missed days).
I'm definitely posting more often - hopefully it's not too boring.
Haven't even come close to losing weight - definitely need to improve on that one.
And my project resolution - I've decided to change that to get at least one major project done monthly. Once a week was definitely not going to happen. My project for Jan was to repair the wall hanging that goes on the stairs wall. I got that done. Now my project for Feb is to finish putting together the 72 hr kits that I started in Nov. I have 8 days to finish and I'm making myself work on that before I can do anything else. (the clothes are really hanging me up on that one).

blog title

After reading a blog from a member of my book club and about how she titled her blog I sat back and thought my blog title should have some meaning to it. This new title was as good as I could come up with. It kind of fits my family right now - double teenagers, double toddlers (and poor Taylor stuck in the middle of that). Then after I posted the new title and looked at the blog I decided it fit really well with the background that kind of looks like you're seeing double.

SNOW?!

What is with all this new snow?! What a way to ruin a perfect day off? I'm so done with winter. We need to go on some errands today and this only makes it a big mess out there.

Fun Family Movie

We just watched this movie tonight. I really enjoyed it and laughed a lot. It was fun to watch a movie together with my kids.

Photos

One of my AZ friends said she checks my blog occasionally to see if there are recent photos of the kids - so I try to post photos whenever there are some new ones. These are from our little family Valentine's party.

Valentine's update

It's been a pretty good day - I'm finally feeling better (don't think I mentioned that I got sick AGAIN! more of a head cold this time). I baked and frosted sugar cookies all day. The kids and I had fun delivering them.
Paul had to go to Logan today so I knew that meant he wouldn't be home any sooner than 6:30-7:00 so I told him we'd just do the family valentine's night and he and I could go out another night. We had Papa Murphy's and watched American Idol. Then we had little presents - shirts for the bigs kids and teletubbies for Jared and Kamryn.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you all have a nice Valentine's Day. Things are up in the air at our house as to what we are doing tonight - date night or family night.
I just wanted to share this article from our ward newsletter - it really touched me:

A Valentine Challenge
I remember when I was in elementary school we had to make a Valentine box in order to receive a Valentine from everyone in the class. I remember making tinfoil mailboxes, robots, hearts, bears, etc. I would work very hard on these boxes but took even more care with the actual Valentines cards. I was extremely careful to make sure certain people got Valentines with the very best candy. You couldn’t give a “My heart is yours!” Valentine to just anyone. You did not want to send the wrong message. At the end of the day you received 30 or so crumpled Valentines and a lot of heart shaped candy that later got lost somewhere in your room. Years later you really didn’t look forward to Valentine’s Day, especially if you didn’t have a boyfriend. What fun is it when you don’t have anyone to give you chocolate and flowers?
Years later, you have found that eternal Valentine. Valentine’s Day is now a fun date night. You may not get the chocolate and flowers anymore, but you don’t really care. A quiet evening out, being served at a restaurant, is enough to call the holiday a success. Valentine’s Day means something different to everyone. Whoever you are or whatever your situation, Valentines should be a time to show love and remember those people you love most in your life. During the month of February, take an extra minute in your day to compliment your spouse on ANYTHING, actually get down on your hands and knees and play with your children, shovel the snow off your neighbor’s driveway or make yummy heart shaped sugar cookies and give them to someone you really look up to. My personal favorite is to write a letter expressing why you love that person. Ryan will do this for me every birthday and anniversary. The bottom line,
make this Valentine’s Day different and do something that will really show the people you love most that they are indeed, loved by you!

Dinner

We went here for dinner tonight to celebrate my mom's birthday. She likes to go here because we can have a reservation for our group of 32 and we get a separate room so it's a lot easier with all of those kids. I have a problem when I go out to eat. I can never decide what to order and usually end up with "order regret." My brother-in-law coined this phrase. I like to try new things instead of sticking with what I know I like. So, tonight was one of those nights. Instead of getting the 'Shroom Burger I went with the Fiesta Salad. It was okay but I wished I'd ordered the burger. And the strangest thing - I ordered a hot dog for Jared and the waiter came back and said they were out of hot dogs. How can you be out of hot dogs?

Poor Kamryn

Poor Kamryn. This is how she looked when I got her out of bed this morning. She's got a bad cold and probably the start of pink eye (which she got from her cousins this weekend). Those are dried buggers all around her mouth and they were on her binky too. GROSS! She went straight into the bath so we could clean her up. She was actually a very happy sick baby for most of the day.

Random thought

So, after family prayers tonight, Paul said "Does anybody have anything they want to share?"
Justin (14 yr old) says "Oh I do. One day I was walking home from school, I think it was in November, and I was chewing gum but wanted to spit it out. I didn't think it would be good to just spit it on the ground so I wrapped it around a tree branch. And you know what? It's still there!"

Talk about random thoughts!

I'm off

I'm off to the cabin with Jared and Kamryn. My sister is going up with her 5 kids because they are off track. She didn't want to be up there "alone" so we're tagging along. It's a lot easier to get ready to go to the cabin when it's just me and the little rugrats. I'm all packed up and now I just have to get them up and dressed and fed.
So I'll be back on Saturday and have to do some catch up them. Hope you all enjoy your weekends.

Feb goal

I guess I should have stated this before the 7th of Feb but that is the way this month has been going so far.
My goal this month is to blog every day - of course, I picked a short month to do that.
So far this will by my 7th post for the month and it is the 7th. You'll notice that there are several days already where there are more than one post on a day and none on another - I figure it'll even out.
Hopefully there will be something to say every day - of course, with the way my life is going with teenagers and toddlers in the home, it is NEVER BORING.

Mating

Recent dinner conversation with our family:
Brooke (12) and Justin (14) are for some reason talking about animals mating and which animals mate. Taylor (9) pipes in some comment which I can't remember exactly what it was.
Brooke: "Do you even know what mating is?" (I glare at her not wanting to get into that with Taylor)
Taylor: "Sure. Mom and Dad mated." (He states this very matter of factly while Paul and I are laughing so hard and trying not to).
Taylor goes on: "Of course they mated. They mate all the time!" (Does he know something we think he doesn't know?)
Taylor: "Mating is just another word for dating." (oh that explains everything)

Jared

I wanted to share a sweet story about Jared. He loves to read The Strength of Youth pamphlet and he will frequently sit down and look at the pictures and thumb through the pages. It's almost like he knows what it says.
Well the other day, he was sitting on the couch and he was looking at the first picture in the book, one of Christ. He would look at the picture in the book and then look up at this picture.
Several times he would look from the picture in the book to the picture on the wall and very thoughtfully compare the two pictures. It was very sweet to watch.

One good thing

One good thing about being sick is having some reading time. I love to read and would rather read than watch a movie. I usually don't have much time to read these days and I'm lucky to get my book club book read. Mostly I read toddler books these days, which is fine.
On Wednesday I read Once Upon A Day by Lisa Tucker. I really enjoyed the book, obviously since I said I read it on Wednesday. The ending was a little weak and it had some language so not one I can use for book club.
On Friday I read for one more day by Mitch Albom. I'd already read Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven and loved them both. I also loved this new one and was really believing it to be true for awhile.
Now I've started one by Jodi Piccoult. When I'm finished I'll let you know how it is.

more sick days

How come, as a mother, you don't really get a sick day? Even when you're really sick life goes on and so must you. I had the worst night Thursday. First I made the mistake of going with the youth in our ward to do baptisms at the temple. I was feeling okay when we left but steadily got worse while we were there. At least it was quiet place to feel awful. From there I went straight to Justin's church basketball game. I have a hard time missing my kids' sports games. His team tried hard but they lost. Then we continued on at the church and watched our ward's priest team play - they were ahead the whole game and then lost it in the last 4 minutes. Heart break for them. By then I was a wreak and should have been home in bed. I was freezing and shivering. When I got home, then the sweats started. I have never sweat so much in my life as I did that night while trying to sleep. When it was time to get up - after the kids got themselves off to school I called the doctor and they could get me in at 8:45. Lucky. And lucky for me I had something treatable - strep throat. So now I'm on antibiotics and should be feeling better soon - so far not too much better. Hopefully by tomorrow.

In-Laws update

Here's an update on the in-laws:
John was transferred to HealthSouth, a transitional care facility last Friday and has done really well there. He's been doing physical therapy and getting his strength back. He called me this morning to tell me he's going home tomorrow and he was so excited he just had to call someone. That was sweet. I've taken Carolyn (his wife) there a couple of times to see him. When we went on Tuesday it was quite the sight. She in her wheelchair, him with his walker and Jared and Kamryn helping them. It really was cute with Jared walking with Grandpa and Kamryn pushing her Grammy. Carolyn has been on her own at home this week but has had plenty of people checking on her and helping out. It hasn't been too bad and once John is at home it will be easier just because we will only have to go to one place to check on them and help them with anything that needs to be done. My main job will be doing their grocery shopping and I think I can handle that.

Sick Day

Yesterday I had a sick day - didn't start out too bad, just a little achey and a bit of a sore throat. By evening I had the chills/fever going on and worse sore throat, very achey and major head ache. I was freezing and couldn't get warm. Luckily during this sick day Jared and Kamryn were very good. They were happy to watch PBS shows and read books and play while I laid on the couch. The big kids took care of themselves once they were home from school. It was a long night of either freezing or boiling but I think I must have gotten the worst of it out of my system. I'm doing a little better today - mostly the sore throat is left and no energy. So it will be another lay around day I'm sure.

What a weekend

I wrote before (I think) about Paul's parents and his dad having open heart surgery. The surgery went well and he was doing okay for a couple of days and then started going down hill Friday. Saturday he was even worse and late at night he was unresponsive and they thought he was maybe having a stroke. They did a CT scan and it didn't show anything. He started coming around but was still not himself. They took him off LorTab and he seemed to do much better. That was not a good drug for him. Now he's on Percaset (sp?) and that seems to be a better match for him. So I was up there Sunday and 3 times on Monday. Paul's been staying at the hospital since Friday (I'd say sleeping there but he really hasn't gotten much sleep). John will probably be there at least 2 more days and then the real hard time starts with taking care of him at home. It's going to be a long couple of weeks.

Sandwich Generation

I'm truly feeling a part of the "sandwich generation" these days. That's where you are raising your young children and at the same time caring for your aging parents. In my case, it's raising the 1 1/2 yr old twins that takes up most of my time and the aging parents are Paul's. His dad had a heart attack at the end of Oct and had 2 stints put in. His mom fell in Dec and broke her femur and had major surgery to repair the leg. She is still recovering and is in a wheelchair at home and cannot put any wait on the broken leg. She goes back to the ortho doc tomorrow to see if she can start putting some wait on it. And then Paul's dad had a quadruple bypass yesterday at LDS Hospital. He is doing pretty good today and they moved him out of ICU. He will be in the hospital another 5 days and then at home recuperating for 3-6 weeks (6 weeks no driving).
I spent a few hours there yesterday and today staying with Carolyn. That's the best assignment for me because I can take Jared and Kamryn there (not a good idea to take them to the hospital for LOTS of reasons). Jared and Kamryn love playing there and it's a great boost for their grammy. They were very good down there today and even watched Teletubbies with her. I've been trying to cook dinner more regularly so that I can take them the extra that I make. My house has gone to pot but that's okay.

Sunday morning

Kamryn.
I really love Sunday mornings now. We just switched to the 11-2 block and it is the greatest.
This Sunday Jared and Kamryn got up a little too early though. They woke up a little after 8:00 but were happy in their beds playing and talking until just before 9:00. We got them up and had breakfasts and baths and were ready for church an hour early. I actually got a little mixed up on the time and when I thought it was 10 minutes to 11 and time to leave it was really 10 minutes to 10. So we had an hour to kill - we took the opportunity to get some pictures and videos of the kids.
This is the best one I got of Jared.
He would never stay still long enough to get a good picture.
Kamryn is quite the poser and loves to have her picture taken.
The other is of Taylor with the twins at Paul's parents house in the evening. Jared and Kamryn love to sit in their Grammy's wheelchair and have Taylor push them around the house.

What a mess

Look at this mess!
Earlier in the morning I had gone in and Kamryn had unloaded just Jared's jammies drawer. I told her no and put everything away (it was actually a good thing because I'd been meaning to clean out that drawer and put away jammies that were too small).
So, later in the day I was going in their room to get a diaper and this is what I found.
There are at least 4 drawers emptied all over the floor.
I couldn't believe it!
I don't know if Jared helped or not but I do know Kamryn started it.

Here's the little culprit. When I am going to clean that mess up? I guess this morning after they wake up they will be staying in their beds while I sort it all out and put everything away.

So, what do you do ...

Yesterday morning Taylor asked me, "So, what do you do all day, anyway?"
I told him a big long list of things and I'm not sure he really believed me. Here's the list
1. Get up at 5:45 to exercise with my friend Cynthia
2. Read in the Book of Mormon
3. Get kids up and off to school
4. Clean up the living room again
5. Whatever it is on the list - pay bills, read emails, dishes, projects, make bed, shower, clean - before Jared and Kamryn wake up.
6. Once Jared and Kamryn are up a lot of my time is devoted to them - feeding, changing diapers, getting them dressed, cleaning up their messes, putting on "Tele guys" (as Kamryn calls them), getting them out of trouble (yesterday it was getting into Brooke's room and her hair spray, body spray and deodorant).
7. When they go down for their naps (which used to be a good 2-3 hours but this week they've only slept for an hour which just kills me) then I hurry to try and get a few more things done from the list.
8. Clean up the living room again.
9. Make dinner
10. When big kids get home busy with them and their homework and driving them to practices, sports, activities, scouts, etc.
11. Have dinner - now this is actually a rarity it seems but one of my goals is to do better about having dinner regularly (more than once a week) with whoever is home at dinnertime.
12. Go to young women's, basketball games, volleyball practice or tournament, meetings, book club, RS, etc depending on the night.
13. Put Jared and Kamryn to bed - which is usually too late, like around 9:00 or 10:00.
14. Clean up the living room - again!
15. Fall into bed exhausted.
One day a week (usually more) throw in doing laundry all day.
Other days there are errands to run.
What do you do all day?

Grocery shopping with twins

So, today I decided to do something crazy and go and do a big shopping with Jared and Kamryn. We went to Macey's for 2 reasons: 1 - they had a lot of good things on sale and 2- they have great carts for twins - the car type with two steering wheels and they sit up high by me.
Amazingly it went pretty well. Of course we bought some club crackers and peanut butter M & Ms that were not on the list to snack on while we shopped. And it took two carts, one of them overflowing by the end. Thank goodness for awesome customer service at Macey's: for the stocker who picked up a couple of frozen items that Jared and Kamryn threw out, for the nice checker who watched my first cart while I filled up the 2nd cart, for the very nice older gentleman who bagged my groceries and did just as I asked and put the frozen stuff in paper bags and put them in the car last so I could get them out first.
So if I paid a little more at Macey's than SuperWalmart it's okay because the customer service and the cart were worth it!

Volleyball World

Welcome to a whole new world. Brooke has been practicing for over 6 weeks with a new volleyball team. They are called Club Union. It is basically a polynesian team with some white girls thrown in. The head coach of the teams is Coach Sam Vaitai. He started this club because he noticed several years ago that the polynesian girls weren't playing on the high school teams. The reason is to play on a high school team you pretty much have to play "Club" volleyball and "club" volleyball can be very expensive. So he does this without pay or compensation and volunteers a lot of time to this club. So, we're benefitting too.
Brooke likes to play volleyball and decided to try it out. Here she is in the left corner in one of her first time's playing in a tournament.
Their first tournament was last weekend and that was an eye opening event. It was Friday from 3:30 to 10:00 pm and Sat from 7:45a to 8:00p. She was there the whole time Friday and Saturday and probably played a total of 10 minutes.
Her team is pretty good but she is definitely not a starter and spent most of the time on the bench. It's frustrating as a parent but she had a good attitude about it.
It was crazy there - a huge warehouse converted into volleyball courts. There were 11 courts there and 48 teams playing in this tournament. It's amazing how many 13-14 year old girls out there that are AWESOME volleyball players. We watched a lot of great play during the tournament.



This is Brooke's team with her coach before one of their games. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes.

New Years resolutions

I struggle with resolutions every year. One year the only one I made was to not make any - I succeeded that year. Last year I decided to keep it simple and made 2 - to make my bed every day (I pretty much succeeded at that with a few days missed here and there) and to exercise. I succeeded at that one (didn't start until the end of Aug but I did start).
So this year I've been thinking about what goals I'd like to work on this year. I think I should challenge myself a little more this year. So here there, for everyone to see (they say a goal not written is only a wish).
1. Post more regularly on my blog - at least once a week but strive for more than that.
2. Get back in the regular scripture reading habit. I started in the Book of Mormon in Sept and was doing really good until Dec and took most of the month off. So I read again this morning and plan to finish before school gets out. I also want to keep up with the reading in the New Testament for Sunday School.
3. Lose 10 pounds before April (when we go on the Disney Cruise). I've got to be diligent and get the rest of the junk out of my house and get back on eDiets.
4.Work on at least one item from my big project list each week.

Okay, that's double from last year. Hopefully I can stick to these goals.
A side note on resolutions, for a great article read Afton Day's article "The New Me Has Been Cancelled" in the January 1981 Ensign. (One thing on my project list is to learn how to put links in the text of my blog).

Markers

Kamryn is really starting to get into everything. These pictures were taken at the cabin after she had fun with a marker. We showed her how she looked in the mirror and she smiled. She's going to be my little trouble maker.

She also got into some of our carpet cleaner and poured over 2 cups in one spot on the living room carpet. Concentrated cleaner does not make for a clean carpet. Now there is a big dirt spot in that area.
Yesterday when I was at Kohl's with Brooke Paul thought that Jared and Kamryn were being awfully good (all mom's know that means trouble). Jared came walking in the front room and something was in his hair and on his hands. Then Kamryn came in covered from head to toe in LOTION. As he was telling me about it on the phone I couldn't help laughing. Too bad he didn't take pictures.

Don't know where to start

I had no idea that it had been over two weeks since I'd last written. It just seemed so overwhelming to write during the holiday craziness. So, now I'll catch up (just think, Paige, now you will have something to read, sorry to disappoint).



Christmas - was okay. Not our best ever. Kamryn started with a bad cold a couple days before Christmas and Jared got sick on Christmas Eve. He seemed fine at Paul's parents but when we got home he just sat on the couch in a daze. I thought it was because I'd given him a little cold medicine when I was giving Kamryn her medicine (he loves medicine and she hates it, and she's the one that has to take it more often). Finally I felt his forehead and he had a fever. So then I rightfully gave him some Motrin and we put them to bed. Our big kids stayed up late so needless to say Paul and I were up late. Got to bed about 1:30 and Taylor came in our room at 4:44. Luckily he went back to sleep until about 7:00. Brooke got up at 7:30 and Justin got up at 8:30. I had told them they had to wait for Jared and Kamryn to wake up before we could do Christmas so we had breakfast first and Paul went to get his parents so they could enjoy the fun.

The morning was okay - Jared and Kamryn fought over each other's toys and the boys didn't seem too excited about the PS2 they got. At least Brooke seemed happy with her volleyball and piano themed Christmas.
We went down to the Adams for the afternoon and to have lunch. Jared and Kamryn were supposed to sleep there but that didn't work out too well. Jared finally napped at my parents in the evening. All in all, it was still a nice day.
The biggest surprise gift was from my parents - they had all of their home movies transferred to DVD and gave them to us. They also spent most of the summer and fall watching all of them to write an index. What a great gift.
We went to the cabin over the weekend - Thur to Sat. We had a great time up there doing the usual - playing in the snow, playing games, eating, watching movies and just relaxing. Jared and Kamryn love playing up there with their cousins. It was nice to have them happy again.
New Years Eve was a little different this year since it was on Sunday. I was fortunate enough to go the youth fireside at the conference center with Brooke and 7 other girls in our ward. We got there early so we would be sure to have good seats and it was worth going early. I really enjoyed the rehearsal that was going on and I knew we were going to be in for a major treat. That is the best fireside I've been to in a long time and Brooke said it was the best ever for her. The music was SO GOOD (and Paige, I saw you and really loved that song). The talks were so good and we plan to watch them again for FHE. It was especially neat hearing from President Hinckley without the time constraints he's usually under. I highly recommend watching this program if you missed it. KBYU is airing it again next Sunday at 6:30 (http://www.kbyutv.org/schedule/?dateselect=2007%3A1%3A7&v=day#)
New Years Day was half kick back and half working. I went shopping to Kohl's in the morning with Brooke. In the afternoon I started the huge mountain of laundry and also started taking down all the Christmas decorations. I didn't really intend to do either yesterday but it just kind of happened. All of Christmas is put away except for the little tree we have downstairs. Can't remember where I stored it. The laundry is probably about half done.
So, there you have it.
Look at my next post for goals next year (one of them about regular posts).

Thanks for ...

Thank goodness for Teletubbies. They are the GREATEST!! Jared and Kamryn have one tubby DVD and they watch it every day. It's a great diversion for them and gives me a few minutes to do something. They've watched it longer today than ever before. Usually they watch it for about 5 minutes and then start playing. Today they've watched most of it. It's fun to watch them watch it. They get so excited about it.

ebay

I've been spending quite a bit of time on ebay.com lately - trying to get something for Justin. This morning there was an ad for a sweepstakes at ebay express - Wish for It Sweepstakes. You create a wish list and then if you win the grand prize you get $5000 to buy what is on your wish list. Man that was fun shopping.

A great party

Last weekend we had our annual group Christmas party. I meant to write it about before now but I just barely got the pictures loaded onto the computer from the camera.
I think we all had a great time and it was so nice to enjoy a wonderful dinner together. I loved visiting with everyone and it was fun to see what gifts everyone received. I am so grateful for such great friends.

Can't sleep

I just hate it when I wake up some time during the night and can't get back to sleep. Tonight is one of those nights. This is the second night this week that this has happened.
After reading everyone else's latest entries, I guess I'll catch up on mine.
Life is so crazy busy sometimes and it has been around here.
On Monday, Carolyn (Paul's mom) fell in the morning and broke her femur on the same leg where she'd had a 2nd hip replacement in Feb. It was a bad break and she was in surgery for several hours on Wed morning. She will be in the hospital for several days and then to a care center for many days and then home with a very long recovery ahead of her. Paul's dad is just recovering from a heart attack and so we are just as worried about him as we are her.
Last Saturday I took Brooke, Jared and Kamryn to the festival of trees. My niece, Kierra, was performing with her dance group. She did a great job as did the rest of the dancers. Jared and Kamryn loved looking at the trees, especially ones with stuffed animals, dolls and toys. I was reminded why we don't go to that event on a Saturday.
I'm so behind this season. I usually have my Christmas card out by now and I'm nowhere near getting it out.
Shopping is going okay. I'm struggling with ideas for all of my children this year. They really don't need anything.
My exercise buddy has been out of town for several days and I'm really noticing the effects of not exercising in over a week. Hopefully we'll get back to it Friday morning.

Holiday Goal

My goal during the holidays this year is to really try to enjoy them and not get too stressed out. To help me with that one of the things I'm going to try to do is wrap presents as I buy them. I went out shopping on the BIG DAY and again a little yesterday. So, this morning I set up my wrapping station (a corner of our crazy office area). I wrapped 9 presents. There's a great way to get in the holiday spirit. I love wrapping presents especially while listening to good Christmas music. It also makes the snow a little more bearable.

A great weekend

I love a laid back holiday weekend. We didn't really try to cram in too much and it was great that way.
Thanksgiving dinner was yummy but I do not recommend having it at 5:30 in the evening. Way too late. There's no down time to recover before having a pie. I don't think we'll ever have it again that late. On the upside of a late dinner it gave us time to have a family football game that I think will be a new tradition.
Friday's morning excursion went very well - got the one item at Toys R Us and it only took about 30 minutes. Then we were off to ShopKo for a few things and only had to wait in line for about 10 minutes there. Then came the big wait at Kohl's. We were there in line for about 90 minutes - taking turns standing in the line while others shopped. Got some great deals and cash back too.
To top it off, went to breakfast at Mimi's - YUM!
And then there was the BIG GAME! Talk about a rollercoaster! Paul, Justin and I watched it at my dad's. He was cheering for BYU and we were all for the U. My dad takes games like that very seriously and it was very stressful for him. We had to do all of our cheering silently so that he didn't kick us out (he said he wouldn't have kicked us out but we probably would have had to go watch on the little kitchen tv). And then Utah goes ahead with only a minute - man were we cheering!!! And my dad says it would be a miracle if BYU could score. Never count out a miracle with BYU involved. We just sat there in shock when it was over. Justin went home sick and depressed. Paul was on a high because that is his favorite kind of game - just plain old good football, nice and close and down to the wire. I was bummed that the Y won but so glad that Utah held their own and didn't get blown out.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. It's Paul's favorite. I love it because he is home and not even working from home.
The 3 big kids and Paul went out at 8 this morning for the ward Turkey Bowl. All had a great time and Brooke even scored the winning touchdown.
I stayed home with Jared and Kamryn and started on my assignments for the big dinner (green bean casserole, banana cream pies, jello salads - plain grape for the little kids, and little english muffin pizzas for lunch time appetizers).
We've already been over to my mom's for a little bit this morning. I went out to buy a couple of papers at 7:30 this morning and both Dan's and 7-11 did not have them yet. So I looked at my mom's and will get my own later.
One of the things my mom started a couple of years ago was having the kids go through the ads and make wish lists after the BIG DINNER. It's great for her and all the parents.
Are you going out tomorrow morning bright and early?

Reconnect

I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend away with my sweet husband. It's so good to get away just the two of us and reconnect. We loved sleeping in, walking together holding hands, eating dinner and breakfast together. I love my husband very much and am looking forward to getting away with him again.

Belated Anniversary Trip

Paul and I are leaving tomorrow for a little weekend getaway, of sorts. We're flying to Phoenix early tomorrow like we've done in the past. Only this time we're staying over night there for one night. It's the end of the project (3 level parking garage for the hospital) and we're supposed to be doing a team dinner with the project team and their wives on Thur evening (I say supposed to because it may not happen if they're not ready for the grand opening Fri morning).
Then Friday afternoon we're flying to Vegas for one night. We want to go see the cool hotels and the fountains at Ballagio (sp?) and just hang out together.
Thank goodness for my mom who is willing to watch Jared and Kamryn for 3 days. The big kids said they would help out when they are home.

Jared and Kamryn's best day ever

Yesterday was the best day I've ever had with Jared and Kamryn (well, in days that I can remember). They were so happy for most of the day - no whining, not too much fighting with each other.
They slept until 11:00 am and even at that I went in their room before they were really talking and jumping in their beds. They were happy when they got up and ate a good breakfast. Then they were happy to play downstairs and watch TeleTubbies. They were happy when we went in the van to pick up Taylor and his friends from school on early day. They were happy to go down for a nap and happy when they woke up 2 hours later. They were happy going in the van up to the U to go the Utah vs Wyoming women's volleyball match. They had on their cute Ute outfits and they loved being at the game. Jared was jamming out to the band and Kamryn was waving to everyone. We were there for 3 hours and they were so good. Only a little bit of crying at the end and when they got scared by the Ute mascot coming to talk to them. They didn't even fall asleep on the way home and were really good about getting ready for bed. They gave kisses to everyone and then went to bed.
What a great day. When Jared and Kamryn are happy, we're all happy.

To Do List

Paige asked "what's on your to do list", so here's mine for this week:
1.Ironing - This is my nemesis, although lately I've kept up with it a lot better and haven't had to write it down on THE LIST. But I got behind and it's on THE LIST. I've got 3 more shirts and a pair of pants to go and then I can cross it off.
2. Clean shower - just finished that this morning.
3. School area - in our office area I have some shelves with arts and crafts supplies and a shelf where school papers go to sort out later. I need to sort that shelf. This one has been on THE LIST for several weeks. I just can't make myself do it.
4. Living Room Carpets - I just need to call and schedule to have them cleaned.
5. Windows - we want to replace the downstairs windows. I got several bids last year and then we never did anything with the bids so now I'm back to getting bids updated and trying to schedule someone to come do the job.
6. Call Denise - my cousin. We want to go to lunch and catch up.
7. Taylor's parent/teacher conference - crossed this one off yesterday. He received glowing reports from his teacher and had all Es for behavior. AWESOME!
8. Plant spring bulbs - did that one on Tues when it was such nice weather. Now I can hardly wait for spring to see what comes up.
9. Mop kitchen floors - did that one yesterday.

THE LIST keeps me going and more organized. Some weeks are better than others with finishing THE LIST. What I don't cross off gets carried over to THE LIST for the next week.

Happy Birthday Justin

I really meant to do this on Justin's birthday but I didn't get these pictures of him until the next day. As a tribute to Justin I thought of a list.

14 Things I LOVE about Justin

1. He is a great big brother to Jared and Kamryn.
2. He is an awesome soccer player.
3. He finished his Deacon Duty to God.
4. He has a great smile (even with braces on).
5. He is almost always in a good mood.
6. He always does what I ask him to do.
7. He cleaned the house as a birthday present to me (while he was tending Jared and Kamryn).
8. He is a very good student and is independent about getting his work done.
9. He LOVES the U.
10. He has a great sense of humor.
11. He's comfortable hanging out with his sister and all of her friends.
12. He honors his priesthood, attends church and activities.
13. He likes riding MY bike a lot.
14. He has a good time wrestling with his brother Taylor.

I love you Justin and I am so grateful you are my son.

Tagged

So, I've been tagged by Paige for the name game. This one is why you named your children what you did. We had our reasons at the time I just wonder if I can remember them. Unfortunately we don't have any real good ancestor stories or anything significant like that - just like the names.

Justin Paul Adams - We didn't know what we were having with our first baby. We both made lists of names and tried to narrow them down from there. We both liked Justin a lot. We also liked Benjamin but I didn't like any of the nicknames that go with that name. Paul liked the name Justin because one of his all time favorite bands is the Moody Blues and their main guy is Justin Hayward. I knew all along that I wanted the middle name to be Paul if it was a boy, and it was, so there you have it one the first one.

Brooke Lindsey Adams - Brooke was our number one name from the first time I was pregnant so it wasn't too hard to come up with that. This time around I found out what I was having and started calling her Brooke from then on. Paul wouldn't really agree to it until she was born and he looked at her. My only reservation with the name Brooke came from our neighbors who had a daughter named Brooke and they called her Brookie and I really didn't like that. So what do we do? Call her Brookie. It fit when she was little but not now. Her dad still calls her that sometimes.
Lindsey is a compromise. Paul really wanted the middle name to be Lynn and then she would be Brooke Lynn. I really didn't like that and didn't people calling her Brooklyn Bridge or something to do with Brooklyn, NY. So Lindsey was kind of like Lynn but different and we both liked it. (Since then I've heard of several Brooklyn and the name has grown on me).

Taylor Benjamin Adams - Here again, it's just a name we both agreed on. That is the big point - we BOTH AGREED ON. Paul and I really struggle with naming our children. He never wants to agree on a name until they are born and he can look at them. I disagree. I think they become the name you name them. We were deciding between Taylor and Nathan (I really liked Nate better than Nathan but we would have gone with Nathan to give him options). Justin and Brooke both liked Taylor better and I think that helped us decide. And Benjamin worked great for a middle name.

Jared Truman Adams - I have never struggled so much with naming a child as with Jared. It was so hard. Truman was easy and I really wanted it for the first name but Paul doesn't go for last names being first names so it was perfect for the middle name. I'd sworn after Justin no more J names to keep it more simple with calling for a certain child (that certainly doesn't make a difference since I go through all of them most of the time before getting the right name) but we just kept coming back to Jared. When he was born he just looked like a Jared.

Kamryn Lindy Adams - Kamryn was another easy one. I knew right when I found out I was having another girl that would be her name. I'd loved the name for a long time. Paul of course had to make up a list and see if there were any other options but there weren't. I'd first seen it one of those law shows - an actress on the show's name is Camryn. I loved it with the Y but I thought it should start with a K instead.
Lindy is one of the names Paul was considering for the first name so I suggested it for the middle name. He thought it sounded good. It wasn't until we were home from the hospital that someone pointed out how similar Brooke and Kamryn's middle names are. Oh well.

There you have it. I tag Ashley, Rebecca and Julianne (if you don't blog, just email me or put it in the comments.

Picture update

For those of you who thought I was extremely out of my mind to take Jared and Kamryn on Halloween to get their pictures taken, let me put your mind at ease - I didn't do it. Jared woke up in the worst mood and right then I decided it wasn't going to happen. So now we're going on Friday when my kids are out of school and can go and help me.

Go Utes!

One of the best thing the Utes have going for them this season are their new cheerleaders.
These are Jared and Kamryn's costumes for Halloween. When I saw them at Walmart back in Aug I think, I had to buy them. I justified buying them saying they could be their Halloween costumes. It worked out great. Easy costumes that they were comfortable in.
We took them to Paul's work for trick-o-treat. They got their first piece of candy in their hands and they were happy and that's all they needed. Taylor made sure to get a little more candy for them in their buckets.
I stayed home with Jared and Kamryn most of the night. We did go to two houses - perfect for their age. It was more fun for them to be at home and they would get all excited each time the door bell rang. They loved seeing who was at the door and getting more candy out of our bowl.
Taylor went out with friends and came home around 9:00 and Brooke went out with a big group of girls from the ward and didn't get home until almost 10:00. Her dad couldn't believe she didn't have more candy than she did. He figured out after her stories from the evening that the trick-o-treating is much different for girls than boys. For the girls it's a big social outing with lots of visiting at friend's houses in between the candy collecting.
And poor Justin. He's too old and big to go. But he doesn't really care. He stayed home and played his favorite football video game and ate whatever candy he wanted out of the home bowl.