A Walk Down Memory Lane

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot...anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :)

Tag, Tag, Tag, Tag!

I was tagged by my friend & first college roomie Jill, so here are some random things about me...

Four Places I've Lived:
1. Newberg, Oregon
2. Rexburg, Idaho
3. Provo/Orem, Utah
4. Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, & Maricopa, AZ

Four Favorite Books... this is a tough one, I rarely find a book I don't enjoy.
1. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
2. The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation (a collection of short stories...my fav. one was Apple Pie Recipe) by Elizabeth Berg
3. Stephanie Hale books...Princess Academy, The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, etc.
4. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Four Favorite Movies
1. Napoleon Dynamite...it's a family fav.
2. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
3. 50 First Dates
4. The Sandlot

Four Embarrassing Facts About Me
1. I wore sweat pants (after my mother begged me to change before school) the day I was crowned Winter Princess my JR year. Surprise! You should ALWAYS listen to your mama!
2. I'm color blind...and yes Ben and my family can be cruel about it at times.
3. I used to wear "lumber jack" clothes in college... I swear! Was I the only one? Why would I wear a flannel/plaid type shirt & leather boots? Oh, I guess that's what Rexburg will do to ya.
4. Ben swears I told him in high school that my dream man would be an Australian cowboy, although I don't recall ever saying so!

Four dreams of mine
1. Travel, travel, travel
2. To lose my last 10 pounds
3. That we'll raise our children to become kids that other people really enjoy being around (do you know what I mean... not the whiny brat that everyone just puts up with) , that they'll have good values and strong faith throughout their lives.
4. To write & publish a book

Four Pet Peeves
1. People who don't call back
2. Food on the floor minutes after I mop
3. Glasses that don't come clean in my dish washer
4. Cigarette smoke

"TAG" four people. They are:
1. Alisha
2. Chrissy
3. Sandy
4. Jenna, I'd pick on you, but I know this isn't your thing, so I tag anyone else who wants to play!

Slow Down, Little Fella!

Sweet baby D turned 11 months this week. AH! Only one more month and my baby will be one. Sheesh...how does time go by so fast? Dylan loves walking in his new walker toy, my cell phone, the remote, self feeding table food, and is a pro at pulling himself up and doing the furniture walk. He also loves to "help" me with the laundry. Now whenever he wakes up, I find him crying, standing and holding onto his crib slats like he's a jail-bird. Dylan-Dylan loves his brother and is always trying to play with whatever toy Kaleb is playing with. He's also good at tickling him and playing in his hair. Kaleb tells him, "Soft, Dylan!" but loves every minute of it! Yesterday when Ben got home from work, he heard the door and Kaleb yelling "Daddy!" Dylan immediately smiled and started scooting for the door as fast as he could to greet his dad. So cute! Dylan's also developed a fake laugh which always makes us laugh. He loves to be "bonked" on the head and even does it to himself for a good laugh. We sure love our Silly-Dilly!

Speaking of the USA...

So I was playing Dicecapades with girlfriends today and my task was to name 8 state capitols in 30 seconds. I bombed! Definitely NOT smarter than a fifth grader! In my defense I have been awake on and off since 3:30 am, somewhat stressed for various reasons, and not feeling that great, BUT still! Now I'm on a mission to remember them all. Care to join me? :)

God Bless the USA!

BEFORE

AFTER

This is what we spent our "free money" from the government on...SOD! And can I just add that after trying for 2 years to plant grass from seed, with only one semi-success last winter, we feel like it is money well spent. Coming from Oregon where green grass is a given, we've decided keeping a lawn is just way too much work here...play pool summer 2009?!?

Time Flies When You're Having FUN!

Nothing makes Kaleb happier than a playdate. This week we were lucky enough to have friends over 3 times! Normally I try not to tell him about it until the day of/ an hour or so ahead of time because he drives me crazy asking if they're here yet. Wed. I ended up telling him at breakfast his friends were coming around lunch time...after at least 20 askings about when they were coming, I finally told him,

"Look at the clock. When the clock says 11, your friends will come." His response, "Silly Mama, clocks don't talk!"

Tonight when his friends arrived for our babysitting coop, he did this cute little happy dance by the door! I wish I could have captured it...the look of pure joy. This was the first time we had all 8 boys (under the age of 6, 2 of them babies) and I was a little nervous. We played hoop, enjoyed a marching band parade, laughed heartily at kiddie jokes (Why did the boy throw a clock out the window? To see if time could fly....ha-ha-ha-ha!), fit 6 boys in a 2 kid tent, played toys, toys, toys and finished up with some stamps. It was really great, and in the midst of it all asked Ben if he was ready for a family of 10. "Not even funny, Sar!"

My Girls

Ever since I was asked to serve in the Young Women's (girls teenage youth group) for church (a week ago today), I've been feeling a little girly. Growing up a tomboy...the oldest of four "stinky brothers" as Jenna would say, and living in another boy house now, this doesn't happen very often. I bought cute flowery, glittery hair clips. I've been immersing myself in "chick-lit" and loving every minute of it! And now I've updated my blog look to reflect the girly-girl within.

I've also been daydreaming...daydreaming of having a girl of my own someday, but until then, daydreaming that I'll come to love these teenage girls like my own. My mom always served in Young Women while I was growing up, and she was always lovingly calling the girls she served, "my girls" and "my Laurels." Now that it's my turn, I'm admittedly a little scared and nervous, but also really excited. It will be a fun, new challenge and wonderful to be part of something so great, to serve with some amazing women, and to be stretched out of my comfort zone yet again. Hopefully, someday in the not so distant future, you'll see a post all about "my girls" and "my Miamaids."

PS---If you're looking for a good babysitter, I'm the gal who's in the know now! :)

Our Little Inchworm...

This one's for Grandma! Dylan is doing his little inchworm crawl really fast now. He can get up on his knees, but it doesn't last long. I think it's because we have so much tile and our carpet isn't the softest. Oh well, we love our little inchworm, army-crawler just the way he is!

4TH OF JULY FESTIVITIES

We had a fun-filled day and night spending time together as a family and with friends. Ben & Kaleb slept through our 6:30 AM ward breakfast, while Dylan and I played. He's really getting around now and it's so cute! When Kaleb woke up, he knew it was a holiday and got dressed in his fourth of July clothes from head to toe. We headed over to the Weeks where we were greeted by Chrissy who was modeling fireworks on her head, and Natie was all ready to throw our nation a birthday party. We beat the heat by playing in the pool, "surfing", and just having fun relaxing in their pool. (We may have a bit of pool-envy now...okay, a lot!)

The 4th wouldn't be complete w/o a BBQ, and the guys did a great job on the grill. The kiddos topped it off w/ cupcakes and sprinkles while the adults enjoyed a YUMMY dark chocolate bundt cake from the "Nothing Bundt Cake" bakery.

Later that night we headed over to Pacana Park for the local fireworks show. We had a crazy shuttle bus driver who very nearly rammed into a line of cars waiting to turn into the park. Luckily she swerved and missed, but we had no seatbelts on and our babies are on our laps w/ strollers strewn all over the place. Ben did a double "short-stop" move on K & Natie, and the rest of us held on for dear life, but we all survived! We made it, found a spot, and met up with the Mormon-haters (see longest post ever below).

The fireworks started late and were all right, but the weather ended up being the nicest ever for AZ with a gentle breeze keeping us cool-ish. Kaleb held his hands over his ears almost the entire time, and Dylan fell asleep toward the end. I'm thinking fireworks may be something we wait a few more years for? To finish our adventure, our driver on the way home got lost in Maricopa (is this possible?), took the round about way too fast, more holding onto babes for dear lives, but we eventually made it home safe & sound.

All in all it was a day to remember, a time to really reflect upon and enjoy our freedom...especially the freedom to worship as we please. I love America and feel truly blessed!

The Friendship that Wasn't

AUTHOR'S DISCLAIMER
***You are about to read the longest post EVER! Call it a "put it to rest" already, get if off your chest post, if you will. Ben's tired of analyzing it with me, so now it's your turn. If you don't care for the details, start w/ "I made a new friend" and skip to the LARGE PRINT. :)

About a week ago I met a lady and her two kids at the pool. We were there with friends enjoying Kaleb's end of the season, swim party. She seemed nice enough, introduced us to her husband, and mentioned she was new in town and hadn't made any friends yet. Knowing how that feels, I told her I'd be happy to introduce her to the friends I was with... no big deal.

She also started "fishing" around a bit, wondering what I do, and said she was looking for daycare for her kiddos. Since I get to stay home with my boys, I told her I wasn't much help, but I did know some people that do daycare. She gave me her email address, I gave her some recommendations. She was overly nice in her reply, thanking me profusely, full of compliments, xoxo's all over the email, etc. Hmm...not sure what to think, but she seems really nice, maybe a bit desperate for friends.

The emails go back and forth, I ask her what she does because I know she works from home, and was wondering if it could be something I could do part time. She replies it's not something you can do part time, but I could watch her kids part time. Yeah, not even remotely interested in that, so I don't respond. But I did tell her about the community fireworks festival since we didn't know about it our first year, and told her we'd be there if she wanted to meet up. This is followed by 4 phone calls from her on Thurs. (I don't even talk to Ben or my mom 4 times in one day!) and 2 calls on Friday. Now I'm annoyed, but whatever, I don't want to be rude and she must be lonely.

We shuttle to the park with the Weeks (fun 4th of July post to follow) and meet up with my new "friend" and her family. We introduce husbands and just start visiting while we're waiting for the fireworks to begin. I mention to Chrissy that I haven't been playgroup in a couple of months because it's just been too hot. She asks about it and I tell her it's a church playgroup and we all meet up on Wed. mornings at various parks, etc. She then asks what church I go to and I tell her the LDS church. She leans in like she didn't hear me and asks again, so I say louder this time, "We go to the LDS church, we're Mormon." She immediately pulls herself back, tries elbowing her husband who is standing behind her and entertaining their kids, and says in an appalled, whisper-like voice (that I can hear btw), "They're Mormon, did you hear that?!?"(At this point I think she MUST be kidding, right? I mean who says that, even if that's what they're thinking.) Her husband doesn't respond, so she says again louder, "THEY'RE MORMON, CHASE!" He completely ignores her, I guess maybe he didn't hear her, but if I was him I think I would have done the same thing even if I had. How do you appropriately respond to that...I'm sure he wants nothing to do with this train wreck! AWKWARD!

Well by now I'm pretty sure she's not kidding, and it's obvious she's shocked that her new best friend is a Mormon aka carni-freak carrying some type of deadly disease. Not knowing what else to say, I ask what church she goes to. Time passes very slowly, she says nothing for a while, then says she's only been there for 3 weeks and hasn't found a church yet. She's looking for something "really traditional, nothing new-agey, you know something that teaches straight from the Bible." We continue to talk about the various copa churches, which I know nothing about, and Chrissy knows only a little. I'm not even sure where the conversation went from there, but the fireworks eventually start, and they leave soon after.

And I guess that's the end. The barrage of phonecalls and emails have stopped, which to be honest I'm a little relieved about. But still, I never in my entire life have been treated that way over my religion, or anything else for that matter! I can't stop thinking about it, but Ben tells me I need to drop it already... he has people ask him how many wives he has all the time! Chrissy thinks I should send the missionaries to her door. LOL. Mom thinks Ben's rubbing off on me...he's always getting himself into "situations" for being too nice.

A Few of K's Favorite Things...

Kaleb's uncles will be happy to know we have a computer geek on our hands! He is now addicted to pbskids games on the computer and a typical day includes several of the following requests: Mom, can I play on the computer? Mom, can I watch a movie? Mom, can I watch Superwhy? He's an old pro at using the mouse, and somehow gets it way too far to the side or even behind his back. I already have to limit his time on the computer, and he always begs for more. Gotta love it! Maybe he'll make us a million or two some day. ;)

Kaleb has also enjoyed taking swimming lessons with his friends last month at his friend, Natalie's pool. Miss Amy made it really fun for them. K's favs are doing rockets, playing the jungle game...they go looking for animals & if the animal is nice they blow bubbles, if it's mean they kick really hard, and playing sharks in a basket. He was a cutie & it was nearly impossible to get him out of the pool after each session, which actually was not so cute.





K's also taken on a new hobby this summer...taking pictures with our camera! It started on our trip to Oregon, and he's been snap-happy ever since. Favorite subjects so far are yours truly, Gramma, and his toys! Say CHEESE!