This Family Rocks!

The World According To San Francisco

2010-10-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

My friend posted this on facebook, its too funny not to share!

Oh Brother!

2010-10-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Bella and I were playing with her baby doll this morning...here was our convo...

Me: So Bella, do you want a baby brother or sister someday?

Bella: *thinks for a second*...yah Mom, I want a baby brother.

Me: Are you sure you don't want a baby sister?

Bella: No, not a sister, a baby brother!

So I start cracking up and we call Dan and get his voicemail...once she realizes she is leaving a message and cant make her request to daddy for a baby brother she starts balling and runs away to her room screaming:

"DADDY, WHERE ARE MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS???!!!!"

oh my gosh.

For the record, I'm not pregnant.

Not Your Mother's Book Club

2010-10-13T19:09:00.000-07:00

BOOK CLUB! Two years ago we tried and failed. This time we are going to try and make it work!

I am really excited to get this going and really excited about the header I created for the blog. I have been trying to find new ways to make blogs awesome and I'm really loving the learning process...I think I may even try to teach myself how to write codes. Kind of pie in the sky right now, but someday I would love to do it.

Anyone interested can check out the blog at: www.notyomamasbookclub.blogspot.com and nominate a book for October. If you cant make it (or don't live close by) and would still like to participate, check out what we are reading and post about it on the blog. The more the merrier! We are meeting for the first time this Friday. Be there or be square.

Bella Monster vs. The Bug

2010-09-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Bella has recently started to hate all bugs, large or small. This morning we were playing and she saw a bug, ran outside and grabbed a spade from our gardening tools and ran at the bug full blast screaming, "GET THE BUG! GET THE BUG! GET THE BUG!"...it ended up not being a bug but a piece of lint. I was cracking up and called Dan. He related a similar story to me and said that she was in the yard swinging the spade over her head for like 20 minutes without being able to pull the trigger and smash the bug. lol what a goober! :)

Meet My New Friends....Kevin & Amanda!

2010-09-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was blog surfing, looking for new ideas on how to spruce things up around here and I came across this AMAZING website...maybe I'm the last to know about this...then again it could be the best kept secret known to mankind.

www.kevinandamanda.com.

What caught my attention was the free fonts plug. That's right. FONTS! Anyone that has witnessed my brand of crazy knows how much I LOVE FONTS. So as I'm poking around the website I discover not only do they have amazing fonts, they convert your handwriting into a font. I love it. Poking around a little more I discovered a treasure trove of amazing crafts, tips, tricks, and as they say, "everything you're into" that puts Martha Stewart and all other crafts hoities to shame. These guys are amazing. I cant wait to discover more and see what they are going to post next!

New Post?? WHAT??

2010-09-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I could make it a year without posting...turns out I can't procrastinate any longer. We have had quite a year. Let me start in March. Bella Turned 3 hooray! She is growing so fast and is super awesome...more on that later...lets skip to April.

After years of wrestling with the practice, Dan decided to close the doors, start fresh, and move on to another career. He is currently working for a friend of ours and going to school in preparation for med school. Holy Crap.

Honestly if you had asked me 5 years ago if we thought we would be here right now I would have laughed at you. We are really excited for the new adventure, Dan is the biggest nerd in the universe which makes him perfect for the job. The night of his first class a few months ago he came home and talked my head off like a teenage girl. I have to say, it was pretty darn cute!

So here is the process as I understand it: Dan is taking some refresher courses and prepping for the MCAT which he will take after the first of the year. He will then be able to apply to many many schools at the beginning of June and if things work out the way we hope we will know shortly thereafter where we will be landing for school in Fall of 2012. YIKES. Which means: Dan and Bella will be starting med school and kindergarten at the same time. seriously.

In the mean time, I have decided to take the fall semester off and will resume classes during the spring semester. I am taking the time to, dun dun dun finally open my etsy store. I will be posting within the next few weeks and yes, I will be emailing you all like crazy with updates. I am SO excited to get this up and running and hope to have a well oiled machine by the time Dan starts med school.

Well that's all for now, hopefully I'll stay on top of my blog! :)

Drumroll Please!

2009-11-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

Alrighty then, as promised, here is some of my scrapbooking stuff that I have decided to part with. Its a lot harder than I thought it would be to get rid of things so I pulled some of the stamp sets I was going to post. Sorry! I believe I have more in storage somewhere that I need to pull out so I'll be posting things in phases.

Here is what I have so far:

Phase 1:

Chipboard Letters. 2 packs $5 each

Grommits $1

Steelface Uppercase Outline Alphabet $10

(the letters are approx 1 inch in height, maybe just over an inch?)

My Sentiments Exactly TT205 Collage Caps Alphabet $10

These stamps are also approx 1 inch in height

Wild Hearts Stampin' Up! $7

Flaky Friends Stampin' Up! Set of 8 $20

Sunshine On My Shoulder

2009-10-27T00:50:00.003-07:00

On the Tilden Park Train...with bonus: Auntie Kirsten in the background!

Bella never seems to be down in the dumps. How could she be? Shes 2 years old for crying out loud. The world is her oyster and boy does she know it! The most traumatizing thing for her is when she doesn't get to wear her favorite princess dress all day every day or get to live on the slide at the park. She gets over it tolerably well, she just needs to say goodbye and life is good. Closure. Good lesson to learn early in life. lol.

With so many changes taking place in our lives and a crazy schedule to maintain, I have a tendency to get down and some days I really need to work extra hard at being happy and upbeat. Bella is such a great little motivator for me! We have such a great time together and she always seems to lift my spirits.

The other day I was really frustrated. I had just come home from school and Bella instead of getting into the car, broke free and ran in the opposite direction towards the park. After wrestling with her we got back to the car and drove to our apartment, got the mail and were headed upstairs when I realized I had left my purse in the parking lot. I zoomed back and luckily it was there, no problems minus the fact that I had run it over, lol. We got home and Bella snuggled up on the couch and asked for a drink (a tactic she uses to prolong going down for a nap) I reluctantly gave it to her and went into the kitchen to clean up...without being prompted she said, "Thank you Mommy!" for the first time EVER. Immediately my heart melted and all of my frustrations went away.

The next day after her nap, we were getting ready to go for a walk and after getting her shoes on and hair fixed she felt the bow on her head, turned around and gave me a big hug and said, "Oh Mommy, thank you very much!" I just wanted to sit there and cry. What a great moment!

I am so grateful for her and the little...well, big boosts she gives me. LOVE YOU BELLA!!!!!

Back To School

2009-08-31T23:51:00.000-07:00

Yay! 2 weeks down and I'm still alive! Tomorrow kicks off week 3 for me. I am so excited to be back in school. I was TERRIFIED to go back, but I'm glad I dove back in. I really need to finish my degree!!! I am going to DVC which is a local community college and I hope to be able to transfer to one of the universities in the area within a year or so...it will probably take me a lot longer than a year to complete things since I am only going part time and art classes take up a major portion of the day, its hard to fit anything else in.

I'm taking an Asian Art History class which I absolutely love so far. The teacher is all over the place and I'm really not a fan, but the subject matter is fantastic. I'm also taking a sculpture class which is a blast! I love being able to work with clay again, I didn't realize how much I have missed it. Tomorrow I'll pick up my first fired piece so I'll be able to post pix. We had to make a chalice so I made a Frankenstein candy dish...hey Halloween is coming up...the last thing I need is another piece of crap in my house....this will at least make a good portfolio piece that I can photograph before i trash it. I know its bad to do that but really...what am I going to do with it??

Anyway, so glad to be back in the game. It is so nice to be able to have the time for myself and to know that I am on the road to completing a major goal. Not to mention setting a big example for my kids. I think it is really important to have an education, I am so glad that I have the opportunity to continue!

Its about time!!!!!

2009-08-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

Ok I know I'm a major slacker, but I assure you we have been SUPER busy this summer....here is just a sample of what we have been up to...

playdates

pixieland with auntie kirsten and grace

cruisin in the city

Tilden Train with Nana and fam
playing hardvisiting hot spots

& getting creative

This fall is going to be even better. I love living in California. There is always something to do. I love that you can drive 1 hour in any direction and be in a completely different environment. It is so fun! :)

Isabella has probably grown 4 inches this summer. What a little weed! :) Not only has she grown in height, but she is developing in so many ways. She is talking so much and has a personality that just wont quit.

I cant wait to fill everyone in on whats happening in our lives...more tomorrow!

Laundry

2009-06-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight Dan and I were plowing our way through a pile of laundry and he asked me if I remembered how to fold shirts like this:

I remembered seeing this in a email fwd a few years ago and loved it. It TOTALLY works! Since Dan has about 50 t-shirts, it makes folding laundry a lot more fun :)

New Discovery

2009-05-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

I'm always looking for tips, ideas, how to make SAHM (stay at home mom) life better. My friend bonny had a link to this site on her blog....I'm still sitting here with my mouth open! Its amazing!!! :) So excited to dig deeper in this site!

How I Love My Little Girl!

2009-05-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

This morning Bella woke up at 7am! Thank you construction workers! She usually sleeps until at least 8 or 8:30. I love that shes a sleeper. She is into everything today but not in a bad way. Total discovery mode. She keeps coming across things, studying them, "See?!" and handing it to me, "Here you go!" and then shes off!Last night when she was supposed to be getting in the tubby, she came out wearing nothing but a hat and her bath mat and totally strutting her stuff. Watch out Heidi Klum! This chicka is taking over the runway!

I love this age! She is so much fun and I'm glad I can spend so much one on one time with her.

Here are a few of my favorite things about her:

1. How sassy she is
2. Her independence
3. Her creativity and excellent artwork
4. Her imagination
5. How kind she is to others
6. How flirty she is
7. That she LOVES to read (she makes up and tells us stories according to the pictures)
8. That she LOVES Buzz Lightyear and runs around the house with him saying "Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!!"
9. How loving and compassionate she is
10. That she totally plays Dan just to tease him
11. That she loves her family and her friends so much
12. Her spontaneous prayers
13. That she dances almost all the time
14. The random songs she sings
15. That she loves to cook
16. Her sense of fashion
17. That she pronounces yellow, "yay-yo"
18. When we are cleaning or moving furniture she "helps" us clean up by moving all of her toys from one location to the next, grunting when she lifts something.
19. That she exclaims, "OH CUTE!!!" when she tries something on or sees a cute outfit while shopping.
20. When she empties her dresser in protest of naps and decides to count to ten, make animal sounds or sing happy birthday for a few hours instead.

I really could go on forever, shes the funnest little girl ever! :)

Angels & Demons part II

2009-05-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what to say about the movie except that it is pretty good. I really need to go see it again to process. I know I'm a total dork. I was so distracted the whole time. All I could think about was the book. I thought they did a really good job of not smearing the Catholic Church in this one. The changes that they made from book to movie were done well, a few things I think they should have kept in there; but I can totally see why they made the changes that they did. I don't want to spoil it for anyone that hasn't seen it, sorry for being so nondescript! Ewan McGreggor's character was great. I'm glad they chose him to play that role. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I was still surprised by him. Tom Hanks' character, Robert Langdon was WAY more sassy in this one I felt, no reservations whatsoever. By the way his hair was a great deal better in this movie. not scragely like last time! AND even though it wasn't important and didn't contribute to the plot line whatsoever, I was disappointed that Robert Langdon and Vittoria Vetra didnt have any kind of relationship with one another. Over all I think it was pretty good!

Angels & Demons

2009-05-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

Today's the day! I am SO excited to see this movie. Last year I finally read the book and I couldn't put it down. If you haven't read it, I HIGHLY recommend it. I loved it even more than the DaVinci code...and I liked that book a lot! I feel that Angels and Demons is a little less controversial and blasphemous...a lot more action and suspense. All the artwork is an added bonus for me. I LOVE it all!

We are going to see the movie tomorrow night...hopefully it is amazing and I will want to see it many more times! Ron Howard is an excellent director and I LOVE Tom Hanks. He never lets me down.

Strawberry Fields Forever!

2009-05-14T00:28:00.001-07:00

Last May we started a tradition and with Dan's parents. We went to Wattsonville and picked Strawberries! I wanted to compare to last year, but I couldn't find last years post, maybe I never posted...? (probably! oops!) Anyway, Bella remembered exactly what to do, she grabbed her bucket and immediately started picking berries, she was a little reluctant to eat them but after the first one, she couldn't stop! She started taking bites and then putting them in the bucket. That's right, swiss cheese strawberries! :)

Checking things out...If you look closely at her face, you can see she had been grazing! lol

Our little monster, hard at work.

I had planned on making jam with the berries we picked but I have no idea how and wasnt brave enough to do it without help. If anyone knows how to make jam, or even freezer jam and wants some of the finished product for helping me please let me know!!!

We had a great time and are going back in a few weeks to get more. If you want to go with us or meet us down there let me know, a bunch of us are going together.

Me & My Shaddow

2009-05-14T00:17:00.000-07:00

Bella recently discovered her shadow! It is really very cute! Whenever she notices, she gets really excited like she is seeing one of her friends and tries to chase it. She then squats down, waves and starts a conversation. Once she realizes everyone is looking she just says, "come on!" and she and her shadow run off and play. I love being a mom!

Livingston Family Update

2009-05-13T09:40:00.001-07:00

Here are some pix of Grace and her new mommy and daddy from the past week:Together at long last!

Gracie and Daddy

Strike a pose!

Discovering that eating ziploc bags isnt too tasty!

Gracie and her fav toy, jeffrie the giraffe!

Gracie and Jeffrie in tow.

TUBBY TIME!

Gracie and Mommy, I LOVE this picture!Look at her cute little smile!!!AWWWWWWWW!

We just found out that the paperwork that was going to take about 30 days to process for Grace to come home took about 12 hours. WOO HOO! If all things fall into place Dallan & Kirsten will be coming home with Grace in a week and a half! Can you believe it?? Before they left for Africa, the adoption agency told them that they would have to go in 2 trips (utterly heartbreaking) The first trip to get things started, be presented in court, etc. and the second after 3-4 weeks when Grace's visa and other paperwork had been processed and she was clear to come to the U.S. Thankfully the people they are working with have their ducks in a row and are so helpful! Please keep them in your prayers! Hopefully everything goes off without a hitch! :) Good luck you guys! Love ya!

Shop Girl

2009-05-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

Kirsten Bella and I have been going shopping quite a bit lately to get Kirsten ready to go to Africa. We have trained Bella well! Now when we go to a store she grabs something, holds it up to her and says: "Oh CUTE!!!" Its really kind of sad. Kirsten found an awesome shop called 'Labels' (moreso for retail therapy rather than necessity) Its a second hand shop for designer clothes and bags, shoes etc. It is so awesome! It has a sort of vintage vibe which is so fun. Bella was really excited! She LOVES purses, hats and shoes so much. We took her to the back where all the clearance items were. I'd have to sign my life away for anything else in the store. Once again the pix are really bad because they are from my phone and someone just wont hold still...

Drive by pose

One of the sales ladies fell in love with bella, she picked out a bunch of purses for her to play with. This one was her fav.

Accessorizing!

Learning how to accessorize with Auntie Kirsten

Woman on a mission, "someone get me a mirror!!!" She was totally thinking that!
Pretty!
Here we are at lunch afterwards. All she would eat is: water, a piece of bread a few peas and parmesan cheese. nutritious.

Taking parm shots.

The Voca People

2009-05-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

I love random stuff like this, my cousin posted it...

Its a little annoying, but totally fun.

3 Day Potty Training

2009-05-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Has anyone heard of this? I stumbled upon a website for 3 Day Potty Training this morning and while I'm totally skeptical, I'm really curious to see what she says in her ebook.

I have been trying to potty train Bella for months now. She is SO hit and miss. Sometimes she is deathly afraid of the toilet, sometimes she just goes by herself, or she tells me she has to go and camps out on the toilet forever and then finds somewhere else to go to the bathroom. Accidents galore! I'm sick of my living room being a kitty litter box!

A big part of the problem is that I haven't been as consistent as I should be, which is really bad

I've tried the naked technique-so doesn't work! I've tried giving her fluids all day long and having her go potty every hour and that doesn't work either. My next step was to have her wear panties instead of diapers and have her feel the difference...?

I'm at the point where I'll try anything! Any suggestions?

New Do

2009-05-07T12:44:00.001-07:00

Last week my cousin cut my hair and I now come with bangs! I never thought I'd do it but here I am! What do you think?

Fit To The Core Update

2009-05-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

OK. So far so good. I fell off the wagon a little bit and strayed from my diet...who doesn't. I'm still working out 3-4 times a week at 5am and losing weight and inches! 2 weeks ago i weighed in and I had lost 13 pounds, which is OK, i lost 11 gained 5 and then lost 7 so I'm OK with that. Keep moving forward! The best part is the inches. I have lost 2 inches in my thighs, 1 1/2 inches in my hips and stomach and about a 1/2 inch all over the rest of my body. As a whole, not too shabby. Kirsten is doing really well too, she has lost 4 inches from her waist and 3 inches from her hips and about a 1/2 inch everywhere else. WAY TO GO!!! here is a link to their new website:

http://f2cbootcamps.com/

Love it!

Random pix

2009-05-07T12:02:00.001-07:00

I have been so horrible about adding pix of bella lately, here are a bunch of random shots....Fruit snacks in the toes. Classic!

Playing at the park...shes afraid of heights and debating whether to go down the slide or not.

trying on hats at the childrens place

strike a pose!

shopping at Costco with her pal Macy.

Not wanting to take a picture with daddy

Nanna and Bella

Post traumatic birthday song at the cheesecake factory. She freaked out and covered her eyes when they started singing. WHY DIDNT I TAKE PIX OR VIDEO???

Finally....hanging out with uncle Dallan. She LOVES the Bumbo, even though she gets stuck in it every time!...dallan propped her up on the coffee table with some cheerios and put backyardigans on for her...shes happy as a clam!

New Team Member

2009-05-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Luke Curtis Mattson

Drum roll please!!! Our friends Angela and Mark just had their first baby on Saturday May 2nd at 1:50pm. Hes adorable! Excellent work you guys!

Baby Grace

2009-05-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

Oh happy day! Our friends Dallan and Kirsten are as I am typing this on their way to Ghana, Africa to pick up their baby girl! Last October they started the adoption process and through a series of miraculous events a baby was chosen for them. November 9th their baby, Esi Sophia (Esi means Sunday born) was delivered to Linda (the birth mother). They have decided to call her Grace Sophia Livingston. She is absolutely beautiful...

Here she is as a newborn, I love this picture!
Look how cute!!!

I just want to squeeze her! I cant believe how much hair she has already. I think she is 3 months old in this pix.

This is my favorite picture. She is just adorable! I know it sounds crazy, but I think she looks like Kirsten:
You can see how much she is loved which for me would be huge! It would lighten my load so much while I'm a world away! The man in the picture is Percy, he is a social worker in Africa and handles things on that end. I think he looks like Bernie Mac!I am so SO excited for them. This is their first of 2 trips to Africa, they will come back in 10 days and in 3-4 weeks when Grace's visa, etc is approved then they can go back and pick her up. I can't imagine how hard that will be for them but if anyone can do it, they sure can!

freak out!

2009-05-06T01:42:00.000-07:00

FYI: I'm not worried about the swine flu thing anymore, everyone in our area was out of control! I went to Target to get Lysol and hand sanitizer for Dan's office as a courtesy to his patients. (The office is in a gym, there are hundreds of people in and out every day, ya never know who could be sick.) So I get there and they are completely out of hand sanitizer. HUH? I asked about it and they said there was, "a run on the hand sanitizer" they didn't know when they would be getting more but they looked terrified whenever anyone asked about anything even pertaining to antibacterial products.

Does that look harmful to you? Not so much! My first impression: leprechaun embryos. Whats so scary about that??

There was SO much hype about the flu (the flu!) and literally everywhere we went everyone was talking about it and rightly so; the media built it up so big everyone was running around like crazy. Which one would think would only spread the disease even more with all the transference. Seriously people THINK! Why oh why does the media have to build stuff up like that? How do we know when to freak out and when to blow things off?? Too bad i don't have something in my head to tell me what to do...i think i use to have something like that. weird.

You Give Me Fever

2009-04-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

Monday morning Bella woke up bright and happy as usual, she was a little warm but totally fine nonetheless. By 10am, I could definitely tell that she was not herself; she even requested a nap at 10:30am! UNHEARD OF! She slept for 5.5 hours and I started to get a little worried so I went in her room and she was laying there with a 102.8 fever and soaking wet as a result of an overloaded diaper. Thank you pull-ups! She just looked up at me and in a feeble voice said, "HELP!" It was really cute! From there her fever remained constant at 102.5 for almost 24 hours. With all the swine flu hype, I was freaking out. She is completely 100% back to normal now, I'm still a little nervous about taking her out so soon after being sick as her defenses are still down. I am doing everything in my power to protect us, and hopefully the swine flu issue is in check soon.

Here she is simultaneously drinking pedia-lite applying strawberry lip smackers chap stick.

All of this has been weighing on me heavily for the past few days. As many of you know, we have chosen to wait to immunize Bella until she was older and after her second birthday, we started the first round. Guess what?? She isn't autistic, growing superfluous limbs or bleeding from the eyes! All joking aside, the issue of immunizing vs not immunizing has been a big topic at our house for years. Do we inject toxins in our baby's body, or allow her body to be ravaged by life threatening debilitating diseases? (For the record: I am pro, Dan is con) Do the benefits outweigh the risks? It has been my mission to really get to the heart of the matter.

Here is what I have found thus far:

NOTHING THAT I CAN BELIEVE!

Dan attended a continuing education seminar where I like to say, "They put the fear in him" and turned him against vaccinating our children. He came home with a book called, 'THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN BLOOD: VACCINATION I$ NOT IMMUNIZATION' by Tim O'Shea, wherein it sites 349 articles and published works stating how vaccinations are the worst possible way to go. Here is the deal: The articles in the book are summaries of summaries. Nice huh? So who is to say that they didn't glean what useful information they needed to publish the "fear book" to persuade as many people as possible not to become immunized.

The literature given to me by Bella's pediatrician combined with articles, etc that I have researched in books and on the Internet are pro vaccination and seem to have my baby’s best interest at heart. They are backed by reliable resources and I am inclined to believe them. Here is where the devils advocate part of my brain comes in and I wonder if my sources really are reliable or if they are trying to make a sale and are the wolf in sheep's clothing after all. I honestly do not know where to go from here. This is so extremely vexing! I for years have been trying to research every angle of this so I can make an informed decision...the work continues...

Here are a few of my most recent stumbling blocks:

1. I found a source that addressed both sides of the issue yesterday when I was reading the encyclopedia of natural medicine. In the index I looked up the one and only source, it had on immunizations, which took me to a chapter on Asthma wherein it explained that they did a study on children who both had been and hadn't been given the pertussis vaccination. The result being that 11% of the children that HAD been given the vaccination eventually developed asthma and 1% of the children developed asthma that HADN'T been given pertussis vaccination, and 3% of children developed asthma who were given other vaccinations. Here is where it gets interesting: "Another finding to weigh: in the group not immunized to pertussis; sixteen developed whooping cough, compared to only one in the immunized group. It appears to be a trade off, a greater risk for asthma with vaccination and a greater risk for whooping cough without."

2. I decided to look up vaccinations next; it took me to Multiple Sclerosis! YAY! While the cause of MS is not conclusive, one of the suspected causes is viral infections, primarily measles. Patients with MS have elevated levels of antibodies to measles. At one time, it was believed that MS was due to an ongoing measles infection. This was ruled out and it is believed to be an autoimmune disease. In Dan's fear book under measles (page 90) it states that the MMR vaccine, given to prevent measles causes MS. Contradiction.

Back to square one.

Something that I can compare all of this to in my life is, The Book of Mormon vs anti Mormon literature. I know which one is true because of my faith and testimony in the former of the two. My conclusion until I have proof is that I need to have the same approach and search, ponder, and pray about all information on opposing sides of immunizations in hopes that I can come to a conclusion about what to do to protect Bella.

Any and all opinions and information you can give me would be most helpful.

I'm sure that I sound absolutely crazy. Thanks for putting up with my ramblings anyway!

Easter Morning

2009-04-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

We had a mini easter at our campsite for bella. She gets the egg hunt but still doesnt get the easter bunny coming and hiding the eggs and leaving her a basket in the morning. She really liked the toys that she got though!Here are Bella and Auntie Kirsten playing with chalk eggs....

on our way home we stopped at Nonna and Papa's house for easter dinner and phase 2 of easter. I dont have any pix yet, but it was a lot of fun! She was a little disappointed in the eggs, they all had goldfish crackers and cheerios in them instead of candy so we had a do-over! lol she was much happier and scarfed down a ton of jelly beans. happy easter!

Winding Down

2009-04-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

The only hiccup with the trip was that bella was not such a happy camper! This was her first camping trip, new surroundings, tons of new people AND she hadn't pooped in 4 whole days. lol she wasnt too thrilled...we took her on lots of hikes and gave her a lot of raisins and eventually "the top of the volcano came off " as Kirsten's dad said, and the flood gates opened. Crisis averted. Poop hike
This was bella's pooping spot, any time she had to go, she ran over here, I think she felt like she had more privacy until she realized we were all staring and taking pictures of her.

As we were waiting for dinner to be ready Dallan swallowed a bug and felt the need to share it with Kirsten...

Ah! True Love!Our last night at camp was pretty mellow. We kept bella up all day and the only nap she had gotten was during the fair in S.L.O. so she was ready to sleep at 8. YES! Everyone was really tired too, so after dinner everyone went to bed around 9pm!

Dan and Bella snuggling by the campfire

Nite nite!

The Farmer's Market

2009-04-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

When we got back from S.L.O. we heard about a farmer's market in Morro Bay so we piled in the car again and when we got there this crazy old man kept trying to get me to eat frog balls!

He kept egging me on and getting a rise out of how grossed out I was about them...even though I knew they werent actual frog balls, just the name was freaking me out. AAAAAAAAH! They were pickeled brussels sprouts! I caved and ate a piece of one and they actually werent bad. Kind of like a zesty dill pickle with a spicier kick.

How cute is this? You dont see barber shops like this anymore...the whole downtown area like this. Sadly it was the only store I could take a picture of that wasnt blocked by a tent or a table. Fun day!

Camping Trip: Day 2

2009-04-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

We wanted to explore the area a little bit, none of us had ever been to Morro Bay before so why not?? Instead of climbing the big rock lol we went to San Louis Obispo and went shopping. It was a lot of fun. S.L.O. is really pretty, the downtown area is really cute and buzzing with excitement. They were having a children's fair at the mission downtown which Bella was conveniently asleep for. We found something even cooler while we were walking around...

Bubblegum Alley!

This place was so awesome! And also really gross! Apparently people started putting their gum on the wall during the 1960's and since then...well you can see what it has become. A few people have made designs with stretched out gum, written their name, etc.... I like all the dots of gum, if it was organized it would be a really unique way of doing pointillism! I think it's really cool!

You cant really tell in this picture, but the gum piled up on the right is about 4 inches thick from the wall!

Here I am about halfway down the alley...Kirsten and the gang walking out towards the street...

Here is the end of the alley we came from...

And of course, here is my contribution! (Mine is the red one that isn't crusty & filled with diseases!)

What do you think? Art or Graffiti?

Camping Trip: Day 1

2009-04-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

Our camping trip with Dallan and Kirsten was so much fun! The location was absolutely beautiful! We had a group campsite and were located at the top of a hill away from all the other campers which was great. I didnt have to worry about bella's increasingly loud nap protests disturbing everyone in the campsite...just kirsten's extended family lol. We were about 5 minutes walk to the beach so after we set up camp and had lunch we ventured out....

here we are at the nice sandy...i mean cold rocky beach...lol. at the top of the picture is a sand bar which is where the famous big rock is...

tada!

Heres bella playing with some of Kirsten's cousins. The water is FREEZING but they could care less!

Dog Sitting: Day 2

2009-04-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today's trip to Ashley's was a lot of fun. Bella and Puppy were excited to see each other again and like yesterday puppy tried to eat Bella. Only this time Bella had pig tails and puppy was a big fan...

Bella's immediate surrender...she lay there like a slug, it was her only defense!

kissy kissy

Bella got use to puppy... And started playing with puppy...

So I'd have to rate today at 10/10. When we got there, puppy was waiting for us, and unlike yesterday waited to go outside before she went to the bathroom. If only it was that easy to potty train a toddler.

Dog Sitting: Day 1

2009-04-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

My cousin Ashley and her BF just live down the street from me and they just got a new puppy! They havent decided on a name yet, so they are just calling her, 'Puppy'. Bella and I are going to check in on her a few times a day so she doesnt miss her mommy and daddy. Heres how the first day went....Bella and puppy were introduced and followed eachother around the backyard...

Puppy realizes Bella is live bait....her own personal chew toy!
(OH HOW CAN YOU RESIST A FACE LIKE THAT??? I JUST WANT TO STEAL HER!!!)

Bella's defenses are down, Puppy siezes the moment and tries to eat Bella's ears...

Bella realizes she is the bait and runs away...

Puppy is a little smarter than bella thinks...

Puppy wins! Bella is hiding her ears from puppy the best she can!

We had a really great time at Ashley's! I dont know if it is because I just watched Marley & Me and am missing my dog Toby, (also the worst dog in the world) or if I think getting a puppy will curb my hunger for another baby, but I had a momentary lapse of sanity where I thought I wanted to get a puppy. Thanks Ashley! :) I think Bella would really enjoy having a little pal to play with all the time but would detest taking a back seat and would really miss her ears if we got a puppy...

Dress Up

2009-04-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Bella just loves to dress up...here is what she wanted to wear to go to bed last night...

I've always been one of those people who wants to have their kids have a perfect matching outfit, but realistically that just isnt possible, especially with a stubborn toddler! I really get a kick out of the outfits she puts together, it's really too cute. I have to draw the line on some things when we go out, but occasionally she gets to wear whatever she wants to wear. Gotta love it!

NKOTB

2009-04-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

hafta explain the New Kids song....Sometime last fall in October maybe? Kirsten got tix to see New Kids on the Block....she was peeing her pants she was so excited! (not joking. she totally cried during the concert. TWICE! hahahahhaa) Somehow she got an extra ticket and I went with her. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I think we were the youngest ones there which is really really sad! lol whats even sadder is that i felt like i was SO old. It was such a blast but oh my gosh i thought i was going to be deaf. non stop screaming. lol HOW in the world did i do that only 5 years ago....dang gina. feelin old.

The City

2009-04-09T09:29:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago the weather was fantastic and we went to the city for the day with Dallan and Kirsten, who i should add bella thinks are her aunt and uncle. We went exploring all over, it was great! I had never seen that much of the city before. Whenever we have gone before it has been to a museum or to pier 39, which is fantastic, but there is so much to see and it's only 45 minutes away so why not go??

We started at twin peaks, then worked our way over to the botanical gardens which dont look the way they sound lol the japanese tea gardens were really close by so we walked over to them and got some great pictures. Oh by the way our digital camera has finally kicked the bucket...thanks bella! So we are using film again and of course havent gotten anything developed...not really on the top of my list! I do, however have pictures from my phone of bella at the cheesecake factory.....

We ended our day at the cheesecake factory, we came up from the parking garage and were right in the middle of a free tibet demonstration...literally. we came up from the parking garage right onto the stage! how in the world?? no one really took notice of us...at least i pretended they didnt take notice!

We sat down to eat dinner and bella fell in love with the butter. Not something she has in her diet on a regular basis. She started just eating the bread with the butter on it...then dipped the bread in the butter and licked it off and eventually just licked the butter off of the wrapper it was in. GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!! check her out....

Thank heaven for dvd players in the van!

Camping!

2009-04-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

We are leaving tomorrow morning at 5am, (yikes!) for a camping trip with our friends Dallan and Kirsten and their family, I am SO excited! I havent been camping in a while...camping with a toddler is going to be a totally new experience lol!

We are going to Morro Bay which is close to San Luis Obispo. It has been raining here off and on all week and the forecast is rainy for the weekend in Morro Bay...oh well! We are going anyway, it will be fun no matter what we do.

The guys are going to go deep sea fishing, weather permitting and Kirsten and I are going to do what we do best....wear matching clothes and shop. just kidding. Sometimes I feel like a kid again when kirst and I hang out. Its pretty much the most fun ever. I'm really excited to unwind in the great outdoors and have a break from the norm....no matter what the weather is like!

FIT 2 THE CORE

2009-04-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

For the past month and a half I have been working out at a gym called Fit 2 The Core and it is amazing! I started going consistently about 3.5 weeks ago and within the first 2.5 weeks I lost 11 pounds...and counting...i weigh in every 2 weeks. Their program is pretty intense. The only thing I can really compare it to is the biggest loser. The only difference is that they arent screaming their heads off at you the whole time (they scream a little!) and making you work out until you throw up, start bleeding from your eyes and eventually die. It really is fantastic.

I have two trainers: Tim and Donnie and they are the best. Truely have everyones best interests at heart. My friend Kirsten and I go together 3 times a week and it couldnt be more fun. Its FREAKING hard, but so great.

The program is INSAINELY expensive...especially now when everyone is cutting back, i dont know how anyone can afford it so we worked out a deal. They let me work out there for free and I agreed to be their poster child. What the hell was i thinking??? It really isnt as bad as i thought it would be. We started doing video blogs yesterday and if you really care to check it out, i'll post a link so you can check out my progress once they have it posted on their site.

Pretty excited, even more nervous! :) So grateful to the guys for this opportunity! woo hoo!

Bloody Fantastic!

2009-04-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

One of the things i love about living in an apartment complex is: At approximately 1:30 am monday morning our lovely drunk neighbors started screaming and beating eachother. Oh yes, fun stuff. They were so out of control we called the police, by the time they got there there was blood everywhere and they were so messed up the fire dept. and paramedics came along for the show. Fantastic! About 3am everyone left and in the morning bella and I came downstairs to the remaining blood bath. it was literally everywhere. I dont know...blood leading up to your stairs doesnt really scream: welcome! Oh the joys of living in an apartment again....

FINALLY!

2009-04-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

WOOP WOOP! we have the internet! FINALLY! I have felt like my arm has been cut off for the past 5 months. How in the world did we survive without it???

blog title

2009-02-06T12:03:00.001-08:00

So I'm going to be starting a blog for my brothers mission. He is going to the Tulsa Oklahoma mission and left yesterday for the MTC so I have to start ASAP. I have narrowed down the blog titles/web address' to these:

1. anOKmissionary
2. garrettsbest2years
3. elderdayisOK
4. garrettdayisOK
5. oklahomamissionary
6. OKmissionary
7. tulsaOKforelderday

Please let me know what you think!!!! I need help! :) If you think of anything else, please let me know! :)

thanks!

OKLAHOMA!

2008-11-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

My little brother Garrett, after months and months of waiting has finally gotten his mission call! He is going to serve in the Tulsa, Oklahoma mission....WAHOO! :)

Yesterday he called us and told us it had arrived...he is living with my aunt and uncle in Sacramento right now so after work we (dan, bella, myself and some of our friends) piled into the car and drove out there. It was SO much fun! :)

Poor garrett was on pins and needles the whole time. Yesterday afternoon he was starting to open it cuz he couldnt stand it anymore. He threw it across the room and ran out of the house and had my uncle go inside and hide it from him so he wouldnt open it. LOL poor kid. I think he was a little disappointed when he opened it, but Garrett, dont worry, that is where you are suppose to go! He is serving in 4 states, so that is WAY awesome. Plus, hello! it will be way easier to send packages and letters to you. :)

Love your guts gar!

Picture courtesy of Justin and Jill....thanks! :)

MY NIECE HAS ARRIVED!!!!

2008-11-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

YAY! She is as cute as a button! Its just hitting me right now that my little brother is a father. How wierd! He and Jill are going to be GREAT parents. Here are a few pix...

Oh so peaceful

Not so peaceful

Super mom!

Coma.
This is my fav pix of her! She just looks so cozy!

She was born @ 5:25 AM this morning. She weighed 8lbs, 2oz and was 20" long. She has blue eyes and light brown hair. They are still deciding on a name...here are the options....Elizabeth, Sarah, Rachel, Laura, Kaitlyn, Madaline. Personally i think she looks like a Kaitlyn or a Madaline. Oh i just cant wait to spoil this kid!

Where do i even start?

2008-11-07T16:24:00.001-08:00

I've been SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO busy lately i just have no idea where to begin.... how about a time line of crazy events? Yes?

September:
Justin and Jill come to visit...our camera "breaks" in San Fransisco
"Fam reunion" (my dad got re-married) bad move retard!
Lots and lots and lots and lots of planning for the super activity

October:
Super activity postponed until after the election
1 week later, its back on and we did "craft nights" in 2 segments
Brother moves to cali
Mom starts "dating"
bella gets new back yard toys!
Friends find out about adoption
Halloween!

November:
prop 8 campaigning, prop 8 campaigning, prop 8 campaigning
Shopping at the outlets and almost broke bellas leg
Bella starts talking more
Time to vote! YAY!
Former roomie goes into labor....2 more friends/fam members about to pop any day as well
Dan fixes the camera...the light meter was jacked up on the manual setting...thats what i get for putting it in my purse without a case!
Today: working in the office and still sick...2 weeks and going strong! Cant wait to go home

Obviously i have a lot to catch up on! Sorry if i'm kind of negative, it's the end of the day and i'm wasted!

peace out

Super Saturday

2008-10-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

Ok. Kill me please! Enrichment leader...not so much fun! Just kidding. It is great, its just a lot of work. I've been working on a super saturday for a few months now. It was suppose to take place tomorrow. Due to the work we all need to put into prop 8 we decided to move it to Nov 8th after the election...fine by me i'll just be in the corner in a fetal position until then. Seriously it's crazy.

Some people even commented that my crafts werent super enough...well guess what? dont sign up! Plus i figured with the economy totally sucking right now people might appreciate easier cheaper things to create. Ok so be honest and tell me if they suck because i really want to know.

If you could give me ideas of what you've seen or what you've done at your activites or on your own, i'd really appreciate it for future activities. Muchos Gracias!

1. Treat Buckets.
These are really popular in the scrapbooking world right now.
You can use them for gift boxes, for treats or trick-or-treat buckets...really versitle and fun!

2. Cookie in a Jar...Pretty basic, and a cheap gift!

3. Holiday Cards...Easy peasy and fun to make

4. Frankenstein Head...only the face a mother could love!

5. Pumpkin Cubes

6. Scrapbook Calendars.
This could not be more easy. Its a 14 month calendar, all you have to do is select the layouts you want.
I am pre-making kits for everyone so all they have to do is bring pictures and adhesive and go to town!

7.Quilt Panel.

Ok don't freak out! You can do a simple wall hanging, or you can go all out and make a quilt.
All we are doing the day of the activity is the front pannel...straight stitching only so it will be pretty easy!

8. Latex Lettering, we did custom orders for everyone

We had wreaths and mini albums but we decided not to do them...well thats all! Let me know what you think....ps...sorry for the crappy pix! I was in a hurry when i took them!

FORECLOSURE ALERT!

2008-10-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

I never thought this could happen to me. Yah right! That is ridiculous to think something like that in times such as these. I called our landlord to inform her of general maintenance that needed to be done on the house...oh yeah and that the heater was blowing out cold air. lol minor problem...I also wanted to talk to her about extending our lease that is ending mid December....

She responded saying: Oh! I've been meaning to talk to you about that! and proceeded to give me this ginormous sob story about their financial situation and that her husband has been out of work and bla bla bla....not my problem. Bottom line is: they might be losing the house we are in. They are 1 month behind on their mortgage and will soon be in the beginning of the foreclosure process.

Awesome huh? I'm so glad we found out now instead of when the sherrif came a knockin on our door! :) So we have 6 weeks to pack up and go. I'm pretty stoked because that is the longest amount of time we have ever had to get ready for a move, so as of this week i have already contacted 2 realtors, viewed several properties and have started to de-craptify my house.

OOOOOOOOO Yeah! Ahead of the game! Hopefully we'll be able to find something that we can get into...i'd like to have a yard, bella's favorite thing to do is run around like a crazy head so that would really help me out! :)

We have been checking craigs list, 6 weeks from our moving date gives us time, but not really the option as things are going fast in this market. It seems like every day we hear about someone new losing their home. Any advice would be spectacular! :)

So Happy Together

2008-09-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Jim and Pam FINALLY getting engaged! We were all so elated watching the office last week. We were literally on pins and needles the entire time wondering what was going to happen. Despite the crazy long and kind of montage-y episode i thought the proposal was well executed! :) So romantic! :) Not necessarily the location, but the fact that he couldnt wait a second longer to propose to her. GO JIM! WOO WOO!

The Tale of the Inefficient Pediatrician

2008-09-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

Everyone I spoke with regarding a pediatrician when we first moved to Concord recommended the same guy, who will remain nameless. Lets just call him Dr. X. Dr. X has been upgrading his system and carries a laptop with him instead of paperwork room to room. I get not wanting to have files everywhere but really all this guy does is stare at the computer and has no interaction with us whatsoever. Meanwhile Bella gets fussy and starts playing with the otoscope or spygmomonometer or whatever she can get her hands on. Kind of crazy. So I'll be talking to him about her symptoms or whatever I'm there to talk with him about and Dr. X keeps shushing me because he hasn't gotten to the link he is looking for or he will enter something in the computer and it wont have the exact phrasing or symptom so he contradicts me. Oh and by the way...it has been nearly a year and they STILL don't have her medical records from her former doctor.

My latest qualm with this mo-fo occurred last Friday. I took Bella in because she started to get some kind of a rash. She had small red bumps form on her arms and chest and shoulders on Thursday afternoon but it looked like she was having an allergic reaction to something and didn't have any other symptoms so I dismissed it. 24 hours later the spots were absolutely everywhere and starting to surface. My first thought was that it was chicken pox, she hasn't been immunized and is constantly around little kids. So to prevent panic among the masses I took her in.

Dr. X was SO blahs e about the entire situation. He walked in and set up his precious little computer and without making eye contact started asking questions and inputing info. DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT HER OR TAKE HER VITAL SIGNS----NOTHING!!! He glanced at her from across the room and I had to basically thrust Bella in his direction before he would look at her. I was totally appalled! He diagnosed her with: Non-Specific Viral Exantham; which basically means she has a virus and rash and has no idea what it is or how she got it. (more specific "exanthams" are chicken pox or measles) Shouldn't he have done some tests? Am I just not being pushy enough? Do doctors just do that when their office is full of a million screaming children?

My experiences in the past have been so different, they at least show some interest in my child. Is it the type of insurance we have? Anyway I asked him if it was contagious and if I should warn the mothers of all Bella's friends and he was like..."what are you going to say? To watch out for a rash? Don't even bother!" Personally I would be SO PISSED if someone exposed Bella to something ESPECIALLY without a warning.

It seems that you don't need any kind of a degree or interpersonal skills to be a doctor now. Maybe I should try that! At $180.00 for a check up, it doesn't sound half bad! Needless to say, I am shopping for a new pediatrician. Bye-Bye Dr. X!

Brace your Face!

2008-08-25T09:18:00.001-07:00

For the last 7 week days I've been working in Dan's office, everything has been going really well, Bella has been great! Not really destroying everything in her path this time, but helping out and being an excellent greeter and mascot for the practice!

Today is our last day working with daddy and she hasn't really been a happy camper. She is still dealing with being sick and cant go play next door in the day care so she is couped up in here. Dan put her on a chair next to mine at the desk. She was standing up and leaning against the back of the chair, which toppled over and she hit face first on the arm of my chair! Her mouth of course hit the edge so the inside of her mouth is all bloody as it was impaled by her daggers for teeth.

Right now she has calmed down and is laying on my lap, she looks like she has just gotten braces! Poor thing! Her mouth is really swollen and red and blood oozes out now and then....I hope she heals fast! She isn't too happy about this!

Bella Monster Now Comes With a Leash

2008-08-25T08:45:00.001-07:00

Saturday was our ward activity, The CVIII (Clayton Valley 3rd) Olympic Games! It was a lot of fun, we had a lot of great games to play...relays, water balloon volleyball, 3 legged races and a bunch of other games. Well we were hanging out at the park, someone was playing "soccer" with Bella monster and Dan and I were cleaning up well we were standing around talking and some lady was like...hey do you guys have a kid missing? There is a little girl wandering around over there....WAY ACROSS THE PARK!!! She was over a hill and in a little valley, completely out of sight. I feel so horrible that I had absolutely no idea where she was! She is so freaking fast! Plus there are a million things that could have happened to her, we couldn't see her at all and she could have easily disappeared, or run into the street or out of the park....it freaks me out thinking about it, which is why I've decided to get the baby leash!

She has a few style options....

I know what you're thinking...there is NO WAY any child will actually wear that thing! I'm sure it's going to be a crazy battle, but at least I'll have peace of mind when we are out and about. I t sounds incredibly cruel, but I think its very necessary when you have a toddler who without a second thought will run from you at light speed. I've found a not so horrible looking harness at rightstart.com this is the best store ever! Albeit a little on the pricey side for some things, but quite handy things that relieve stress for busy moms.

Sunday's Report:

Bella Monster woke up from her nap with a 100.6 fever, not very high, but still a little fever and had a runny nose so we called everyone in nursery and are crossing our fingers that they dont get sick. For petes sake!

Attack of the Insomniac

2008-08-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

For the past weekish I havent been able to sleep. Its super crazy, I'm up later and later every night. Last night...almost 4am and then I had to get up and to to work (@ Dan's office) at 7. NO FUN! The sucky thing is there is absolutely no reason for it, its not like I've got a project to work on or take care of a baby or something, I'm just WIDE awake! UGH!

So Meet the Robinsons, is one of my new favorite movies, meet the fam...

Its a totally cute movie and makes me cry every time. I'm totally reduced to watching kid movies all the time, which isnt a problem, bella is happy! But really? Over and over and over again...kinda makes me want to swallow my own head. I think the only musical I've seen in forever is Backyardigans. Thats right folks, your back yard friends!
Usually when i'm majorly sleep deprived I'm like Dr. Krunklehorn, one of my favorite characters in Meet the Robinsons. She is an inventor from Inventco Labs and one of the judges at Lewis’ school science fair. Her latest invention is the caffeine patch, which is like drinking twelve cups of coffee at once. She hasn’t slept 8 in days.

So here is Lucille Krunklehorn at her best!

Seriously, this is how I am when I havent gotten any sleep. Anyone that knew me in college could confirm that! This is without caffeine! Today however, I feel like Goob...Lewis' roomie who is always up at night because Lewis is inventing things. Hes pretty monotone and rambles on and pessimistic...basically how i'm feeling right now. Goob trades in his juice box for a cup of coffee...totally how i feel right now.

If I dont get to sleep tonight I'm totally gonna drink a bottle of Nyquil to "help me get my zzzz!"

FHE Group

2008-08-19T16:34:00.005-07:00

We started a Family Home Evening group for the young couples in our ward either without children, with babies, or with toddlers in nursery. We figured that if fhe empty nesters can have an FHE group we could too and we rock it so much more than they ever will! :) Besides, it is much more fun to have an intelligent conversation with a big group of people instead of trying to ask our toddler to share her thoughts on the book of mormon. lol.

For the past few months it has been basically 3 other couples & our family but tonight we have approximately 20 people coming PLUS their kids....I dont know how we are going to fit everyone in our house but hopefully it all works out! Our friends are usually over until midnight, so hopefully we can get everyone else to think that FHE is over an hour or so later & then get the after party started with our friends!

Enrichment Activities

2008-08-19T16:34:00.003-07:00

So I was called as the Enrichment Leader in our ward a few months ago & its been pretty fun...well it's been summer so we havent done much! lol but they split the calling so that there are 2 co-chairs now so the other lady is in charge of the quarterly activities and I'm in charge of the monthly activities...SO FUN! :) So I've been trying to come up with a lot of fun good activities that will get people involved...What are you guys doing in your wards?

So far we have:

2 Book Clubs
2 Quilting Clubs
Scrapbooking
Maybe a Bowling Team
Maybe a Volleyball Team
Crochet
Mothers Group
Park Day
Walking Groups
Humanitarian Aid
GNO (Girls Night Out)
and basic crap

I just think it's not very fun ya know, i think we can jazz it up and make it awesome and appealing to everyone...i'm all for the group thing, but i'm just bored with what we have going on. PLEASE HELP! What would get you to go to a R.S. activity?

Little Swimmer

2008-08-19T16:34:00.001-07:00

Bella & I have gone swimming so much this summer, at least a couple times a week until recently when it was way to chilly to take a dip! We started out with just a normal swimsuit for her which of course didn't really work out since she is such a live wire but was a little bit affraid of the water and clung to us like crazy.

We got a suit with a life vest in it, which totally rocks!

She learned how to swim really fast & gained a lot of confidence in the water. She has convinced herself that she is the next female Michael Phelps! :) She isn't half bad really, the only down side is that she is SO confident that she doesn't know that she still cant swim solo yet, as soon as we get to the pool she runs over to it and tries to get in, she has enough buoyancy to stay afloat, but not quite enough to keep her head above water without treading water, a task which she has yet to learn. She is doing really well and I think that if she had been doing this well at the beginning of the summer, she would be swimming completely on her own by now. GO BELLA GO!!!!

Here are a couple of the boy's suits available at right start they are awesome! Totally love them!

I"M GOING TO BE AN AUNT!

2008-08-19T16:31:00.001-07:00

So a few months ago Justin & Jill (my bro & sis in law) announced that they are having a baby! Hooray! I cant wait to be an aunt! Your kid is going to be so spoiled Justin! I cant wait! The only sucky thing is that they are all the way in Idaho...that's a way long way!

According to MapQuest its: 848.78 miles between Concord, CA & Rexburg, ID. A little too far really! How the heck can I be the favorite aunt if i'm way far away??? Well we'll see, I have 12 other aunts and uncles to compete with...chances are I'll come in like 5th or 6th...but you better believe I'm gonna fight for first!!!

One thing I can never get over is how fast babies grow while they are in your tummy. Really it feels like for-freaking-ever while you're pregnant, but on the outside looking in, it's so fast & so amazing!

cute little peanut!

She is super cute already! OK, she kinda freaks me out with the "laser beams" coming out of her eye balls! But guess what justin? I think she has your lips!!!! :) $5 says she is a toe head!

Slackerville

2008-08-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have gotten really used to our home computers being busted. They have been down since April. Thats right! April. Almost 4 months so I'm sorry for the slacker blog, i totally have to get used to doing this again. We got a new computer but there is something going on with it, my last computer was totally invaded by worms and viruses and absolutely everything was corrupt so our friend is going to set up a restart point for our new computer in case it happens again. Hooray! Hopefully I'll get back into this soon. Sorry for being a slacker!

Communicating

2008-08-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

So Bella is talking up a storm now. Its incredible how much she picks up on, we are really having to watch what we say...ACHOO-KIRSTEN! :) We have been wanting to teach her Spanish and Italian but it is too confusing so we have been sticking with English and sign language which she is picking up on way fast!

Amidst the endless array of baby babel, her is what we have deciphered thus far:

Her words so far are:
Dad / Dada
Mom / Mama...we are working on Mommy
Hi
Hewo = Hello
GO GO GO!!!!
OK
Bye / Bye-Bye
Ciao
E Ya = See Ya
Peese = Please
Ha = Hot
Codie Codie = Cold
Wa = Warm
Wa = Water
Baba
Ippy = Sippy
Q = Thank you
UUUUMMMM
Why
You
NO
Owie
Tubby
Yes
Dal = Uncle Dallan
Ti K = Auntie Kirsten (who teaches her bad words...you're on my list)
Baby
Cat and she meows
Dog/God...She might be a little dyslexic? She woofs also
Ball
Book
Yuv You = Love you
Yay
ish = fish
Shoe
Woah
Ree-Ree = Pretty
Yummy
Yuk & she either makes a guttural sound in her throat or blows raspberries in the air
Ew & She pinches her nose
Adder = Heavenly Father, when we pray
Yeah = Amen
Hey
Wow
Boop = Poop
potty
Nose & points to it
Eyes, " "
Ears, " "
mouth, she doesn't say it, she just points
Button = Belly button...this is her biggest fetish, she is always playing with her belly button, especially when she is tired or drinking her bottle...when i check on her at night she is asleep with her finger in her button, it cracks me up!

Today she was like MOM! MOM! All Done Mom! :) love it!

Daddy's Fav: Nuggle = Snuggle
My new fav: UH-OH! Which she always says in her loudest voice.

Her favorite phrase that one day came out of no where is:

Why'd you do that??!!

Her signs are:
I = I love you
more
please
thirsty
no
fish
yes
cheese
poop
bread
milk
play
folds her arms for prayer
High fives & says, Yeah!
and she blows kisses & says MWAH!

Its great that she is talking more, its not all the time, she is totally random, but what comes out is like perfect timing and pure comedy. She thinks she is really funny & totally fake laughs any time someone else is laughing. TOTAL HAM!

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

2008-08-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Ok so one of my most favorite recent discoveries is: Dr. Horribles Sing Along Blog!

Heres a description of the show according to Wikipedia:

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 43-minute musical film produced exclusively for Internet distribution. It tells the story of Dr. Horrible, the aspiring supervillain alter ego of Billy (Neil Patrick Harris); Captain Hammer, his nemesis (Nathan Fillion); and Penny (Felicia Day), their mutual love interest. The movie was written by writer/director Joss Whedon, his brothers Zack Whedon (a television writer) and Jed Whedon (a composer), and Jed's fiancée, actress Maurissa Tancharoen. The writing team penned the musical during the WGA writers' strike. The idea was to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would circumvent the issues that were being protested during the strike.[1][2]

It's been the hottest thing on itunes for the past 3 weeks. It's fun to have silly stuff like this around! Its pretty cheezy, but I'm a cornball, so I love it!

Heres one of my fav. songs so far:

Humpty Dumpty

2008-08-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

About 3 weeks ago we were enjoying a Bella free day at church...this meant we actually got to focus on our lessons that we taught...everything was going really well, it was her first time alone in nursery & she could have cared less that we werent there! I was sitting in primary and the nursery leader's mom came and got me...totally casual saying that bella bumped her head. So i was thinking, "whatever! She always hits her head!" So the nursery leader meets me in the hall freaking out because bella bumped her head and then "went limp" & now had a goose egg right between her eyes. Very attractive! So I was like no biggie she is fine....not really.

A few minutes after the bump she went from crying and upset to confused and lethargic so I started testing her and looking for signs of a concussion. I took her to the bathroon and put a cold paper towel on her head and started asking her to sign things and say things...the only thing she showed a reaction to was when I mentioned "Daddy". At this point I knew something was really wrong & it was more than just a bump.

So the nursery leaders came out to the foyer where we were and started explaining what really happened. They said that she hit her head a few times before the big bang, BLACKED OUT and STOPPED BREATHING for a few seconds until they picked her up & took her out of the room & she started breathing again. She was totally limp & then started crying. Then I got really concerned because they didnt tell me the whole story until a half an hour later. HELLO!!!!!!!!! So the guys gave her a blessing & we left for the hospital.

We had a hard time keeping her awake for a while, it was also nap time, but we finally got her into the ER & she was swaying & almost fell out of my arms. They were really great, they got her in ASAP and checked her out and we stayed there for a while until she started acting like normal. About 2.5 hours later she was a lot better and probably just had a headache. She hadnt thrown up & was doing well so they didnt want to do any X-Rays or a CAT scan but we had to wake her up every two hours until midnight to make sure she didnt get worse or slip into a coma.

We decided since she was feeling better to just keep her up until 11pm or so which she was happy to do! So she played dress up & pushed her stroller around & danced to west side story until it was time for bed!

The next day she was kind of cranky & had a headache but was totally fine otherwise. The Dr. from the hospital even called to check on her, it was great! I was so happy with everything that happened there! :) Even happier that our little Bella Monster is ok!

4th of July 2008

2008-07-14T15:15:00.001-07:00

Wow! I totally forgot about this. We finally got to take a mini vacation this 4th. Oh oh wait! I totally forgot my camera-HELLO! so we got some disposable cameras but i didn't take nearly as many as i would have if I'd had my digital camera. What the heck was I thinking??? So until i get them developed lol I'm going to fill in with stuff i find on the internet. enjoy.

It's so hard owning your own business, you never get time off! (and health benefits aren't included...we're shopping right now...any suggestions?) Anyway so this year we went down to Monterrey Bay, we were so missing the beach. We drove down Friday and cruised around the area for a while and did the 17 mile drive which I have never done before, it was so awesome! We got out a few times and checked out some of the lookout points and tide pools....Bella totally loved them...by the time we got to Carmel (at the end of the drive) we were so tired! We went back to the hotel and got settled and then decided to go watch the fireworks on the beach...so we got some dinner and had a little picnic, it was great!

We were up on some cliffs overlooking the water and watching the sunset when everyone started running to the edge of the cliffs....some guys pulled a scuba diver out of the water...he was totally unconscious so the guys started taking his gear off and doing CPR, he looked like he was going to be OK...everyone around us was on their cell phone so a few minutes later we were surrounded by cops and paramedics...great way to start the night! lol So we watched the fireworks and totally froze on the beach and then took off about 10 minutes before the show ended so we didn't get stuck in traffic. score.

The next day we went to the Aquarium. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! When I was a kid I wanted to be a Marine Biologist so bad, we went on a field trip to the aquarium when i was in 3rd grade and i about died, i loved it so much...it has changed a lot since i was there last but it was still awesome. Bella really liked it. AND they had a play area for toddlers. We were all SOOOOO happy! Bella was a total space case. She LOVES to scream now. crazy head. So she was all over the place. These people know what they are doing. They were very accommodating for strollers and babies and everything. Word to the wise. NEVER GO ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND! it was so freaking packed I felt like a sardine. I totally belonged in the aquarium.

This room was awesome, there were tons of sharks, the wierdo fish that you'll see below a bunch of monster sized tuna that were totally eyeing bella...it was really awesome. the tank was huge and the glass was wall to wall and floor to cieling. i got a really cute pix of bella leaning up against it and staring at the fish.

lots and lots of sharks...we still got excited about the hammerhead shark. Remember about the time when the ninja turtles were popular hammerhead sharks were all the rage?

And the award for the wierdest fish ever goes to...

This little guy is the star fish...he was ginormous.

awww-ters. When we got there, they were feeding the otters so they were really happy and doing a lot of tricks, bella really liked it!

This guy was really cool, I really hope my pictures turn out well, he was huge and really cool to watch. When we got there he was hiding across the tank but we walked up and he came right up next to us. Its cuz we rock.

Ok the penguins were really cute. I think they need a bigger tank tho, there were like a bajillion of them in a really small area...they were eating when we got there - we seriously had perfect timing wherever we went. They were really cute. Just as cute as the penguin in 50 First Dates

I was really sad that this part of the jelly fish exhibit wasnt there anymore....maybe we totally missed it or it was closed? The remainder of what is there is totally awesome...see below...and they are closing the jelly fish exhibit in September of this year to make way for bigger and better things.
Over all: Great weekend!

Never Run With A Fork

2008-07-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

Ok i'm sure you've seen these pix before. Every time I see them it makes me cringe! BLAH!

Heres a nice little reminder to post up on your fridge:

Kids, dont run with forks, or you'll end up like poor Timmy.

He could never smell again.

SYTYCD

2008-07-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

Ok so this week Kherrington and Twitch were in the bottom 3...total bummer, but hello! they are awesome so of course they didnt get eliminated! :) Here is Twitch's solo:

Heres one of my favs for the week, it was pretty awesome! totally different from anything that has been on the show before! Love it!

Scuba Divers

2008-07-08T16:13:00.002-07:00

Ok this is totally fake (sorry justin) but it looks awesome.

The email I got with the pix was basically a story of a kid scuba diving with his parents in australia and about to take a pix of them when he starts freaking out and swims to the surface, his parents are like, what the heck? The kid said there was a shark behind them....and heres the pix...

Here is the thing...a shark that big right behind two unsuspecting scuba divers...not likely they are going to get away with all their body parts....still awesome tho....

sytycd update

2008-07-08T16:13:00.001-07:00

ok i need to catch up! here are my favs from the previous weeks....

Bird Man and Chelsea

Courtney and Gev

Sexy Dance:

Hip Hop:

And of Course Kherrington & Twitch:

Kherington Payne and Twitch

2008-06-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

So on last night's SYTYCD, our favorite couple: Kherington and Twitch danced the Vienese Waltz...It was beautiful...story behind the choreography by Jean-Marc Genereux and his wife France Mousseau, was inspired by their daughter Francesca who has Rett Syndrome, a neurological disease...you lose a lot of motor and verbal functioning among other things. Their daughter is uplifted when she sees movement/dancing, so the choreography was for their daughter. That combined with the song...omg really moving. We all got goosebumps. :)

SLUMBER PARTY!

2008-06-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

OK i don't even remember the last time i slept over at someones house...probably was when I was in high school or shortly thereafter....definitely not since I've been married. My friend Emily is about to have a baby in a few weeks and her husband was out of town for a week, so our other friend Kirsten and I both spent the night at her house and took the next day off of work so we could go shopping and do girly stuff together....here's how the marathon played out....

First of all we text each other all the live long day....i called and checked the status of my messages before i switched to unlimited....342 in 11 days....between just the 3 of us! i was freaking out. anyway so we got together around 7:30 on Wednesday night so we could watch So You Think You Can Dance...well we kept stopping the show (Tivo baby!) and talking and then we would watch some more and stop and we did facials....see pix below...then we would watch more and then did pedicures....anyway 5am came around...we were all starting to peter out and we still hadn't finished watching the shows lol!

Oh yes...I forgot to mention that we had Bella monster with us! That was a treat! just kidding, she was awesome, we put her to sleep like around 8:30 and she slept all night until 8:30 in the morning....yeah! so we had Kirsten's husband come pick her up and watch her so we could sleep a little longer. Back to the night....we were crazy all night long, you'd think that since we spend all of our free time together that we would run out of things to talk about...never do! :) its so great!

So OK, about 1:30 in the morning we are like....hmmmm kinda got the munchies....so the other Emily...9 months pregnant mind you...makes a cake! yeah that's right a whole cake. She is like it's only going to take a few minutes! 2:30 in the morning...cake is ready...still going strong! I really dont remember what happened between 2:30 and 5:30....i think we just talked the whole time, but we didnt go to bed until 5:30 in the morning. lol which really was dumb because we had a huge day planned....

We all went home around 10:30 and got ready for the day and then went out to lunch. Then we went shopping in down town Walnut Creek and got stuff for Em and her baby and then rushed home to get ready for the baby shower that we were throwing her....wait wait wait! just kidding we had to stop at Target to get the group gift...good thing em was there with us....surprise!....eh...oops! so we were starving at that point and we got something to eat....we seriously should submit it for a commercial because we were totally stuffing our food in our faces and then off to a dainty baby shower...lol good stuff

So we ran to our friends house where the Baby Shower was being thrown and got everything ready....2 hours later we were total zombies! so ready to crash....

Its crazy how just a few years ago i could totally pull all nighters and be good to go and now i'm like...it's midnight and its going to take me a week to recover from this...WHAT HAPPENED?

Gestapo Bob and the HOA Nazis

2008-06-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Gestapo Bob is the Manager of the complex that we live in. Most units are individually owned and they have a little HOA group that meets secretively...no joke. every month. They don't let anyone know when or where the meetings are going to be so that they cant comment. They seriously want to control everything themselves. Correct me if I'm wrong, but just because you're not on the HOA board doesn't mean you don't have a say right? They are the rudest, meanest people I've ever met! Ok and really HOA to me means, clean, pretty, tidy, extra perks....ya know? Just a cut above the norm. Not so much in this case. We have gardeners that come once a week, but its nothing spectacular that they do...basically just mow the lawn and blow any excess debris away. The paint colors on the buildings are SO UGLY and there is a lot of wear and tear on the place as a whole. LOL they hired this shady contractor to do every one's interior upgrades....i really don't think he knows what hes doing most of the time, it's pretty sad really.

Ok so back to Gestapo Bob he lives DIRECTLY across from us. Every one's main door is the back door...wierd! So Bobs car and door are right across from us and he is ALWAYS watching. He told me that he goes around in the middle of the night and checks to make sure peoples car doors are locked. Now I'm all about watching out for your neighbors, but that's just creepy!

When we first moved in we had some friends over a few times....one parked in our neighbors spot accidentally which we fixed immediately after we found out...then like a few days later another friend parked right behind our cars for like five minutes and Bob freaked out on me. He came over and started tearing into me about my disregard for the rules and how I keep doing stuff deliberately and taking advantage....he went on and on until he said he was going to write us up and give us a fine. So our friends left and I went to Bobs to fight back. First of all, we didn't have or know the rules and then I totally fought him back and brown nosed until I got out of the fine. GO ME. Hes a punk tho. Oh and a hypocrite too....he is always parking in other peoples spots and his wife has almost backed into me a few times in the parking lot...little things....so silly really. I like the location of where we live, but I'll be so happy to move when our lease is up! :)

Piggy Bank After Getting Gas

2008-06-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

I know I just posted something about gas prices the other day, but really, its getting scary. I cant believe it went up a whole dollar in just a month! I just heard its going to get up to $6.00 a gallon by the end of summer. Luckily we have most everything we need right by us, Dan can even walk to work so we have started walking whenever we can. Some friends of ours purchased a car and converted the engine so it runs on vegetable oil....i'm so tempted to do the same...or buy a dodge...kind of a sweet deal $2.99 a gallon for gas for 3 years...cant beat that...i just dont think i want to buy a dodge! whats a family to do? Not go anywhere, thats for sure!

SYTYCD Robert Muraine

2008-06-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh this guy is amazing. Check him out....

HELLO! He totally blew us away when we were watching his audition on So You Think You Can Dance and then, look out! He was talking to other competetors about having doubts and not being able to keep up with the choreography and all that jazz. SO...the judges called him up to the stage and confronted him about it and asked him to perform solo...here you go....

Amazing right? I cant believe he turned it down. He would have made the top 20 for sure. Not only that, but really he has had NO formal training and just think what he could do with the things he would learn on the show. He could totally improve upon his craft and be phenominal.

I'm sure hes gotten an offer though, he is way too talented not to have been snatched up by someone!

Good Luck Robert! Cant wait to see you in the future!

Judgement Day

2008-05-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

As a new mom of a very active toddler i have a new found respect and admiration for all mothers who have come before me. I use to be really judgemental and like. Hello! Your child isnt perfectly groomed, how can you let your house get SOOOOOOO messy, have a little pride, or GROSS! Your car is disgusting....cheerios everywhere and PU! It smells like a little kid has taken over. What the heck is the matter with you??

Yeah well not so much on the clean, tidy, perfectly groomed or well mannered side for us. Hence the name: BELLA MONSTER!!! We try, but fail miserably and i've reached an entirely new threshold of not caring. I feel like a deadbeat mom a lot but really...there is only so much you can do. Keeping up appearances is exhausting. I can totally see how people can be stay at home moms and have nannies also. lol.

I'm sure you've seen these pix, but i think they are hilarious.....

Dan wishes he could do this

I really want to do this to bella some days

Ok so my roomie in college did this to her friend with charcoal

So bella actually did this with my in-law's cat's food.

can you say grounded for life?

Are boys pre-programmed for this?

Ok is that perfect timing or what??

This is so something my brothers use to do!

I cant wait to have boys!

Lion Hug

2008-05-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

Check this out!

Several years ago this woman found a sick, malnourished lion cub in the jungle. She took the cub home and fed him and brought him up until he was too big to keep anymore. Then she made arrangements with a zoo in Colombia, South America, to take the lion. Here's a video of what happened when she went to visit him in the zoo for the first time.

Oh my gosh I would be scared to death! Before I saw the video I was thinking....what happened....hmmmm he probably pounced on her and said, "mmmmm I love Columbian food!" But this is pretty cool!

Gas Prices

2008-05-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hello! $4 dollars a gallon? Are you freaking kidding me? This is just getting ridiculous. Do you remember 7 years ago when gas prices got to nearly $2 and everyone was freaking out? And then a few months later gas stations were competing to have the lowest gas? 98 cents a gallon baby! I totally took pictures of it too. Yeah capitol D-O-R-K! But really i dont think we'll ever see it that low again. How sad is that?

Backyardigans

2008-05-20T12:09:00.002-07:00

ok so this is bella's favorite show. It's so hilarious, every time she hears it come on she stops whatever she is doing no matter where she is in the house and runs to the tv and does this dance routine...i've tried to get videos of it but she never does it as well as she would without me recording her.

So here is the synopsis:

The Backyardigans is an animated musical-adventure series for children ages 2 to 5. In each episode, the show's five high-spirited preschool friends--Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, and Austin--rely on their vivid imaginations to transform their backyard into a fantastical 3-D landscape, and together they embark on amazing epic journeys.

These lovable characters will inspire children to sing and dance along, and to stretch their imaginations as they climb up mountains, slide down glaciers, and sail across oceans. Each episode is driven by an exciting, age-appropriate story and enlivened by original music--including big band, reggae, rockabilly, bossa nova, and hip-hop--and by professionally choreographed dance numbers.

This is mommy's favorite show too because for a solid half hour she will be occupied and I can get stuff done or scrapbook or whatever I need to do. AWESOME!!!

G.E.E.K. Squad!!!!

2008-05-20T12:08:00.002-07:00

Ok so almost every day my gal pals Emily and Kirsten and I hang out...sometimes we let our husbands hang out with us too! I really dont know what I would do without them in my life, they are a blast. Its almost like having room mates again...but ya dont have to deal with living with a bunch of girls. Totally rocks. Our computer is still busted but I'll get pix up here soon.

Food Storage

2008-05-20T12:08:00.001-07:00

Our quarterly RS enrichment night was on food storage and I FINALLY got to go to the cannery for the first time in June. I know, so exciting right? I've always dreaded it because gathering and maintaining a food storage for a family seemed like such a daunting task, but it's super easy...I'm so glad that I've started getting things going. Some of my friends and I decided to purchase some of the same things...we do the same thing at Costco...and we just divide them up amongst ourselves, it's awesome and it makes it so much more fun doing stuff with other people.

You can go to providentliving.org, click on Family Home Storage on the left, then click on home storage center order form on the right of the page and it will give you a list of everything they have available and you can fax it in so they have the supplies ready for you. Some things you can buy pre packaged, others you have to do yourself, but it is super easy and fast! Oh yeah, since they wont allow you to bring your own food (because it can contaminate the cannery) you can borrow a canner from the cannery for a couple days at a time. Can it be more convienent?

I'm really glad they are putting more of an emphasis on it now (As if they havent for years already!) but now its more of a reality with gas and food prices increasing every day and now they are starting to ration food too. Rice for example, you can only buy one 50 pound bag of it at a time...kinda crazy to buy that much, but if you're stocking up....thats the way to go. Anyway i'm glad to have gotten started.

Dance, Dance!

2008-05-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

So one of Bella's favorite things to do is DANCE!!!!!! Her favorite show is: The Backyardigans. I really love it too!!! The music is really cute and they are so clever. You know you're a mom when you want to watch the show more than your kid does. Wow I'm such a loser!

Scrapbooking

2008-05-20T12:04:00.001-07:00

I have been scrapbooking so much lately. My mom just moved out of our spare room and I am going to convert that room into my scrapbooking room....I CANT WAIT! Its probably going to take a while to get it all done but at least i have a place to put all my stuff for right now.

Our scrapbooking group is growing too, more people are getting interested in coming so now instead of meeting at my house, we have been meeting at the church...we each get our own huge table to spread our stuff out on, we have lunch together and make a day of it...at least once a week. So awesome! Also, I am going to sign up as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator...i am so excited! I LOVE their stuff...their colors and products are AWESOME and SO much cheaper than buying stuff in the store. Plus, I scrapbook so much that its so worth it to just sign up and get a discount. I am really excited about having workshops and stuff, they are a blast and i really love any excuse to get together with people!

Office Parties

2008-05-20T11:56:00.004-07:00

Ok so every Thursday this season of The office the G.E.E.K. Squad and our husbands got together and we had office parties! So awesome. Since we have tivo...well a dvr anyway we record it and usually it takes us a couple hours to watch a the oh so long half hour show. lol we usually talked and laughed and rewound a million times. its was a blast! LOVE IT!

Dwight always tries to take over the office when Michael, the boss, leaves. here is one of my fav. schemes SO for those of you that dont know, the schrute bucks were started by Dwight Schrute check it out.....

Jim...who makes office life bearable plays pranks on Dwight ALL the time....its the best...

I LOVE THE OFFICE!!!!!!!!!

Welcome Home Dallan!

2008-05-20T11:56:00.003-07:00

One of my best friends, husbands just got back from a year of service in Iraq. We are all so happy he is home and safe! Ok so we totally didnt know him except from the endless stories from Kirsten lol but he is awesome! He totally loves bella and they are pretty much inseperable right now. He has some down time before he starts working for the police academy and occasionally when I work in the office he watches Bella for us. He is awesome...its also great that he is home cuz he and Dan hang out whenever we have a girls night...so nice!

Cinco de Mayo

2008-05-20T11:56:00.001-07:00

So the girlies and I decided that every month we would have parties and the three of us would rotate and have 4 each a year that we were in charge of....so on Friday May 2nd my friend and I were like...hey we should have a cinco de mayo party! Hello! It was on monday. So we threw it together so fast and it was freakin awesome. ok not that awesome, but we had a blast! Since my computer is busted and I keep forgetting to upload things at work I dont have any pix on here of that night, but I'll get them on here asap!

The Tales of Beedle The Bard

2008-04-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

J.K. Rowling in her last Harry Potter Book, The Deathly Hollows, mentioned a book of fairy tales, similar in nature to Aesops Fables that was left in Dumbledore's Will to Hermione Granger. She has just hand written and illustrated only 7 copies of this book of tales and its making me crazy! I have attached a link if you'd like to read the summaries of the tales...hopefully someday they will be published!

I am such a dork when it comes to Harry Potter! I totally admit it, I really dont care. I'm so not going to nor have I EVER dressed up for a movie...hello you are retarded if you do that! However, I really love them. It totally drives dan crazy but I listen to them over and over and every time we take a road trip I always want to listen to it because, hello! It takes up a lot of time and makes the trip go faster. Dan thinks it makes him want to blow his brains out. So he ends up brining his ipod and we are both happy. compromises...you have to make them in a marriage. whatever.

Ok wait....there is a link...when i first wrote this blog it was when the tales were first released and now the link is not available for some reason...i'll try to get it back so the link on the bottom is a different link but still gets you some info. SO SORRY ABOUT THAT!!!

http://http//www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_6074802_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000179911&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-7&pf_rd_r=1E4HWND76QQC79Q6ZDGE&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=341598801&pf_rd_i=1000180871

Dealing With Divorce

2008-04-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

Two years ago on Easter Sunday I found out my parents were getting divorced....finally. Its been a rough couple of years...no no wait a rough 25 years. But the past two have been a different kind of rough. Even now, I cant really sum up how I'm feeling about it. I am so glad my parents are divorced though, they were not good together. No matter how you look at it, how hard you try it was bad. They put on a pretty good act over the years though...gotta hand it to them.

I hate it when people say...we're staying together for the kids. Just fight to make it work, its not worth the drama you're going to cause by doing it. HELL YEAH IT IS! I cant tell you how many times I cried myself to sleep and how happy I was to break free from my parents house when I went to college. I would come home from church on sunday just having had a lesson on Eternal Marriage, Families...and so on...you know the drill and I would be like...really? Thats what its suppose to be like? Because thats not what it is like in my home at all. Granted my mom really tried to have family home evening and do stuff together as a family but it always ended up badly. Our stake president said that FHE is the only fight that begins and ends with a prayer. lol i thought that was great! :)

Seriously though, I so wish that my parents had gotten divorced when we were little kids and saved us all from the drama now. So Thanks for finally taking care of that! :)

MIA

2008-04-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

Ok heres the rub. Our laptop fell and landed on the power cord...thats right the power cord was jammed into the back of the computer and now wont receive any power...battery has died and we are left computerless as the power source thing is fused to the mother board. This happened at the beginning of april so that's the reason behind the lack of blogs. SO ANNOYING. I feel so cut off from the world. babies have been had, people are getting pregnant and I have had no idea. I feel really bad! I have been able to check my email every once in a while on my mom's computer (my old one) or through my phone but I cant really blog since all my pix and everything have been saved on our laptop. Hopefully we get it fixed or get a new computer...cross your fingers! really soon...that would be great! :) anyway i promise i havent dropped off the face of the earth and hopefully things are back up and running really soon. Peace out.

Good Clean Fun

2008-04-04T16:56:00.000-07:00

So my friend Kirsten sends me hilarious emails all the time and I never get around to reading them so i created a Kirsten folder and go through it once in a while....heres my recent fav....

Can you imagine some guy going 90 mph on the interstate with these balloons trailing about a few yards behind him? Instructions for a fun time on the interstate...............

Step 1. Tie balloons to car.

Step 2. Drive like a bat out of hell....

Step 3. Watch people freak out!!!!

I don't care who you are....that's funny.

Sharon, you and grandpa should try this next time you drive to Colorado! :)

At Least I'm Not THAT Girl

2008-04-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

Apparently this is a new rollercoaster somewhere in Ohio...check it out...

First of all...i would just die! I can only imagine how she is feeling at this moment.

Lei'd

2008-04-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

I was shopping for Bella's birthday party and Bella graciously volunteered to be the model for all the leis we purchased...she is such a good sport. And look, no stink eye this time!

The local party store here is really cute. I was in there looking around and I was like...this stuff all loos like it came out of an Oriental Trading Company Magazine....sure enough 95% of everything in the store IS from the OTC. Is that allowed? Its not like they jacked up the prices super high, its a great store, just kind of funny.

Sample of Stink Eye

2008-04-03T20:37:00.001-07:00

Heres the first sample...just wait, they get better

Something To Look Forward To

2008-04-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

We were in the store getting ready to check out and I saw this paper, staring me in the face...

Happy Birthday to me! This year dont worry about having to get me a birthday present, because guess what? We'll be dead, so its ok, I wont be mad. Maybe I'll celebrate early just in case, I am going to be 25 after all, kind of a big step in life. A quarter of a century old. Thanks mom for always reminding me of that, I really appreciate it. My consolation is that Dan is always going to be 7 years older than me, so thats a good thing, I shouldn't feel as old. But I do. Sometimes I feel like my life just stopped back in 2005 and I just havent caught up yet. At least thats what I always hope, that I'll wake up and it will be ok that I havent finished my degree or I'm still fat. Well in 2005 I wasnt fat so that wouldnt be an issue.

Those are the things that are extremely vexing to me. I am fat and I havent finished my degree and I'm going to be 25. I wanted to be over those 2 things so I could move on with my life. I guess 25 is just a number right? Although it feels like I'll never finish school, because I havent started school again. I can always finish. Getting BYU's degree in generals would be a piece of cake, but then hello I would be totally throwing away all the credits from my major.

So has anyone out there almost finished at BYU and had to complete their degree elsewhere? Any advice?

Here are my goals for my quarter of a century birthday.

-Not to cry on my big day
-To start to finish my degree sometime before I turn 26.
-To get skinny by Christmas...or at least by the time I turn 26.
-To hang out with friends. Fair warning Dan, I want a party! :) get hoppin'.

Sick and Tired

2008-04-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

So last friday I got sick....AGAIN. with the same thing as before. What the heck is this? I think it may be allergy related, but some of my symptoms are so not feeling like allergies. like hello...i was in bed for almost 3 days again with a fever and I'm almost feeling human again today. I just have to keep telling myself I'm almost over it...

On Sunday Bella started to get sick...monday her fever spiked to 105.4 and we've been monitoring it since then, it stayed under 102.8 yesterday which is great...and since last night has been under 100. I've been totally paranoid when she is finally asleep that something is going to happen to her so I havent gotten any sleep for like 4 days.

The night before last we had her sleep with us because she WOULDNT sleep in her crib, she just cried for hours. Instead she thought it was a lot of fun and wiggled around in our bed like a dog finding its comfy spot until 2:30am and then passed out until 5 got crazy for a half hour and then fell asleep until almost 9am.

Yesterday she didnt sleep at all until almost 7pm and that was only for 15 minutes. oh i forgot to mention. She is on the "B.R.A.T." diet Bananas, Rice, Apples, & Toast and cant have dairy through today. nice huh? So she is use to having a bottle before naps and bed time and cant. torture! so she didnt go to bed until 10 and slept until 7am. By about 8:30/8:45 she was ready for a nap I caved and gave her a little milk diluted with water and she crashed and is still asleep...it's noon. i'm getting nervous and i'm going to check on her but i so dont want to wake her up...it's been a crazy exhausting couple of days. I keep hoping I'll wake up and it will all be a dream.

The Hills

2008-03-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!!!! Maybe it's pathetic, but I cant believe how much I have gotten into the show. I remember a few years ago when it first started I was like, la-ame! but now I Ti-vo every episode and I get so worked up about everything. Like their stupid boy friends and stuff.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, heres a brief run down:

The Hills follows Lauren Conrad ("LC" from Laguna Beach) as she makes the move from her O.C. digs to Los Angeles, where she will chase her dreams of entering the fashion business (Teen Vogue) while balancing a full course load at college and a full social calendar. Through Lauren we meet her new roommate (Heidi) who aspires to make the LA nightlife her whole life, the sorority girl who aspires to work in fashion (Whitney) and a receptionist who wants to be a model/actress (Audrina...who we are pretty sure is one of the 'So you think you can dance' judges daughters, they look so much alike). These four girls take full advantage of being in the "in" crowd of LA, hopping from club, to party, to hot restaurant as they live the Hollywood lifestyle.

Its kind of unbelieveable to see the opportunities these people have and totally take for granted, so many people would kill to be in their shoes. It really is very lame I should totally get over it...maybe someday I will!

Quality Time

2008-03-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

So lately, Dan and I have been going out of our way to spend more quality time together. It has been so hard with bella, moving and getting our buisness going to actually do stuff together so here we are making an attempt to do something....lol maybe next week we'll actually get out of the house for a date!

Silverware

2008-03-28T00:56:00.000-07:00

Bella has been learning how to eat with forks and spoons for the past few months....as you can see in her birthday pix she tries to use a shovel to eat her cupcake! :) here are a few samples...

cake is better with a shovel!

breakfast is always better with garbage in the background...sorry about that!

when all else fails, forget the fork, follow the path of least resistance.

Stink Eye

2008-03-27T23:09:00.001-07:00

OK so this week Bella has been picking up on a lot of things. She started out the week babbling and just going off for a long time in indistinguishable dialect. She was talking to some little boy who was talking to her, so I asked him if he knew what she was saying and he just stared back at me like...wow you're a freak. Well if he doesn't know who will? Jeez!

So all week words have been forming...Please and Thank You came out on Monday, Bye and I Love You on Tuesday, and oh yeah she has been high fiving for a few weeks but I forgot to mention it...but this week she started smacking our hands instead of just putting her hand on our hands and she goes...Yeah! When she does it. I LOVE IT!

What else....Oh yeah, She started folding her arms and squinting her eyes during prayer...you gotta keep your eye on things after all...and we have been trying to get her to blink on command which she does sporadically, it's really funny...

Now for the best part...that's right, stink eye. When she is doing something that she isn't suppose to be doing and I catch her and ask her to bring whatever she has to me she gives me stink eye....she totally gets when to use it and it cracks me up and then she laughs and then doesn't get that she is in trouble.

One more thing. We have been working a lot on stuff she is and isn't suppose to do. I'll sign no and say No don't do that or something and she will turn to the thing and say no no no and then turn to my mom and tell her the same thing, no no no! it's SO funny...she is always in control.

Girly Girl

2008-03-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

Bella is a big fan of purses, ribbons, shiny sparkly stuff, dresses, pink...anything girly really...she is all over it. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! It is so much fun dressing her up and getting her excited to go go go! She loves it. Her new fettish that we can thank daddy for is SHOES!!!! I was trying shoes on her the other day when we were shopping and she was getting mad at me because she didnt have anything on her feet. it was hilarious! Now if she doesnt have any on, or she sees shoes that are hers, she grabs them, hands them to me, crawls up on my lap and sticks her foot up in the air, like HELLO!!!! you need to get my shoes on me right now. Today was a break through in fits for her which she has just started doing...anyway i put the wrong shoes on her and she got mad and threw herself on the floor. OH MY GOSH!

Star Wars According to a 3 Year Old

2008-03-18T15:13:00.001-07:00

Oh my gosh, this is probably one of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life!

Dinner In The Sky

2008-03-18T14:45:00.002-07:00

I got this email from a friend of mine and it made my hands sweaty and my stomach sick just looking about the pictures its crazy awesome! Here is the article...check it out...

Dinner is served -165 feet up

Here's a dining concept that'll make your head, if not your stomach‚ spin: It's dinner at a table suspended 165 feet in the air with chairs that swivel 180 degrees.

Dubbed Dinner in the Sky, the attraction is making its U.S. debut Monday in Orlando at the annual International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions convention. About 25,000 attendees are expected at the one-stop-shopping event, where the amusement industry rolls out new thrill rides and related products.

The high-flying dining venue was introduced in Europe last year and consists of a platform suspended from a crane. Guests are harnessed into 22 seats, with space in the center for a chef and two helpers. With local officials' blessings, the platform can be transported to just about anywhere the crane can maneuver. One recent spot: in front of the Amiens Cathedral in France, with dinner prepared by a three-star Michelin chef. David Ghysels, co-founder of the Belgium-based company sees all sorts of U.S. possibilities for the dangling restaurant, including air space over the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls and golf courses.

'I think human beings always like to see what's happening from the air,' he says.' And there are so many wonderful natural spots in the U.S. Dinner in the Sky could go anywhere.'

I think this is pretty awesome. I know I would probably chicken out, but I think if Dan went with me I would totally do it!

I've started to realize what a wuss I have become in the past few years. Ok just since I found out I was pregnant with Bella. I use to be like, sure lets go base jumping, or heck yah I'll climb half dome, no worries, white water rafting, piece of cake....but now I'm like ridiculously affraid to even think of doing stuff like that. What if something happened to me? What would happen to Bella? It probably is unreasonable to think about it like that because I'm not a reckless person but I do enjoy doing stuff like that...minus the base jumping....maybe hang gliding or something....anyway I hope I get over this at some point because I really do want to climb half dome someday....I totally want to go rafting...and so much more....so dinner in the sky...bring it on...in 10-15 years.

At Least We Dont Have To Worry About Her Head Getting Too Big

2008-03-12T12:19:00.001-07:00

In this case I mean it literally. Yesterday we went to the doctor for Bella's first visit with her new pediatrition and he said that she is in the 90th percentile for height and weight but 30th for her head size...I never thought of her as having a small head! I think she is perfect....of course I am her mother and completely biast but who wouldnt be? :) The doctor didnt have her records from her previous pediatrition so he couldnt compare and see if she is growing at her normal rate or if there is a problem...she hasnt had any developmental problems and as you know is always happy unless teething or super tired....so for now no worries...I'm still a little freaked out though and praying she is ok.

The Dreaded Day Has Come

2008-03-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

So I've always heard my friends and family talk about how their kids poop in the tub. One of my friends has a jet tub and her child without fail will save it up until he is in that tub with the jets on i might add...you can imagine how much fun that is to clean! So last night it was tubby time as usual. I had just put Bella in and my mom and I were talking while Bella was playing in the tub not really paying attention and then all of a sudden she starts to fuss and try to climb out of the tub like she was done...here is what we found...

Not only did she poop, she monster pooped in the tub. I couldnt belive it! Hence the disgusting picture on the blog. Whats more is that I had to clean it out. GROSS! I had to touch poop!!! Not that this is a new thing since I've been changing messy poopy diapers for over a year now, but its different when you have to pick up mass quantities of it as opposed to accidentally getting it all over you when your child is kicking and wiggling all over the place like a monkey while you're trying to change them. Anyway, hopefully she doesnt make a habit of pooping in the tub...i'm really hoping this is her first and last pooping incident in the tub! :)