It's About Time

Last night we "officially" finished the bathroom for the kids... Eric put the doors on so they could actually take showers and use the potty in privacy!

Upgrades include: new tile bluish/periwinkle paint (I love the color even though I took this picture before all the tape was off),

individual towel hooks for each kid's towel (Walmart $3.72 each),

and one of those cool soap dispensers that sticks on the shower wall (Home Depot $23). I'm sooo grateful it's done.... I hate how my house falls apart while we are working on a project!

Can I have a Time Out Please?

I'm really excited about this new background I found for my blog... because in just 10 days, I'll be in San Diego with my mom, cousin and aunt enjoying a much needed break from reality! We are meeting in Southern California to spend a day at Disneyland, then go to Time Out For Women in San Diego, followed by some time spent in the San Diego Temple. It's going to be a much needed weekend for "recharging" my batteries! Every mom needs a break from her day to day responsibilities and I'm feeling way overdue!

Potty Training 501

After 3 kids and a dog, you'd think I'd be an expert by now... but sadly, no. We are just starting the potty training phase of life (again) with Brayden. The one and only consolation is this is the last time I have to go through this!!! (If I had more than one child left, I'd definately buy the above book!)

Just in the last couple days Brayden has been willing to sit on the potty and try to go. Still no success, but up until now, he wouldn't even make an effort. So today, I'm going to mop all floors, roll up the area rugs and see what we can accomplish. I don't believe in using Pull-Ups at home for training... they don't feel any different than diapers. Once we've had a successful go at the potty, we'll get the potty chair out in the family room, give him a cup full of juice and park it for the afternoon in front of a movie. If you have any tried and true potty training tips out there, please share them! I've been dreading this task for a very long time and can't wait to get it over with! Wish me luck!

A Change of Plans

This weekend was supposed to be the launch of our summer "boating" season.

One year ago, we bought a boat with two other families... kind of a co-op thing. It's been great because boats are really expensive and no one in our group has enough free time to use it enough to get the full value of the investment out of it. We really had a great time learning all about being boat "owners" last year and discovering the world of wakeboarding. It is sooo fun! This year, we got a new stereo and speakers to put in the boat because the old speakers were literally falling out at the end of last summer. So, two weeks ago, the men got together and replaced the stereo system. One family was going to take it out Friday and we were planning to take it out Saturday. We'd just had major repair and maintence work done on it, but there was still the potential for a leak that we wouldn't be able to assess until it was in the lake. Cory and Lynette took the boat out on Friday with their kids (day off from school for no apparent reason!) and didn't even get past the dock. The engine was leaking way more than it should be. Darn! So, Eric ran to the boat dealer Friday after work and brought home the part to fix it. He looked up the procdure online and got to work on it. Just before this, I got the reminder call that it was our turn to clean the church on Saturday morning. Ugh! But, naively, we thought we could still fix the boat, get the church cleaned and hit the lake on Saturday by lunch. Yes, we were very naive. We had to make 2 more trips to the boat dealer to get more parts and Eric spent most of the day like this:

The boat wasn't fixed until dinner time. It was discouraging, but it saved us another $300 in repair bills. We took it back to our storage place last night and for the first time, I drove the car towing the boat behind. I've towed stuff before, but for some reason the boat intimidated me. Maybe by the end of this summer I'll get brave enough to try backing the boat trailer down the ramp into the water... I think I can do it, but not on the first try. It's harder to back than you think... and there's always a line up of people waiting for you, so that adds tons of pressure!

So the maiden voyage will now be this Saturday - all six adults are going out together without the kids! This is by far the most fun Saturday we'll have the on the boat all summer... at least from the adults perspective... I know the kids won't agree! But, I for one, can't wait!!! Here's our destination of choice:

Sesquicentennial

I was going to post about something else today, but I realized that this will be my 150th post... so I felt it deserved some fanfare since I glossed right over my 100th post without even noticing! So prepare for torture... here's 150 things about me:

1. I was born in Northern California and it will ALWAYS be home.
2. I remember when Michael Jackson's album Thriller was released... if memory serves correct, I was in like 5th grade...
3. I loved Strawberry Shortcake (the doll) when I was a kid.
4. I had a rainbow bedroom set.
5. I also had a green "nature" bedroom set.
6. I got a waterbed one year for Christmas.
7. When I turned 16, my parents gave me my own phone line in my bedroom (this is pre-cell phone era...)
8. I'm allergic to fresh christmas trees.
9. Growing up, I had 4 cousins... 3 boys and a girl... now I have 8 cousins.... 3 more boys and 1 more girl
10. My birthday is in November and I started kindergarten at age 4... gasp!
11. I graduated from High School when I was 17 and started college in another state before I turned 18.
12. I took French in high school and Driver's Ed for free!
13. I ran track in 11th grade.
14. I was on Yearbook Staff in 12th grade.
15. I had early morning seminary all four years - started at 6:30 a.m.
16. I love mexican food - especially tacos and enchiladas
17. I love Broccoli Beef
18. I just found out I'm allergice to sesame, so now I'll have to make my own broccoli beef from scratch at home
19. I love to swim
20. In high school, I did stats for the girls Basketball team
21. I played Basketball and Volleyball for YW's
22. I rode my first "scary " roller coaster when I was 12 at Great America with our Mutual group
23. I hate free fall rides
24. I have an intense fear of falling
25. You couldn't pay me a million dollars to try skydiving or bungee jumping
26. I've been dying my hair for 12 years
27. I love to read
28. I hate washing dishes
29. I love to BBQ
30. I know how to tile
31. I also know how to install drywall...
32. And I also know how to install laminate flooring.
33. I hate yardwork
34. I love to organize things
35. I hate ironing - Eric irons all his own clothes
36. I'm only 5'3" but I wear size 7.5 shoes
37. My eyes change color between green and blue
38. I have a fake tooth
39. I hate to be late (but I always am anyway...)
40. I love camping
41. And hiking
42. And wakeboarding
43. And horseback riding
44. I've been to Maui twice
45. The only foreign countries I've been to are Canada and Mexico
46. I don't have a passport
47. I keep my toenails painted purple
48. I don't bother painting my fingernails
49. I like silver jewelry
50. I love Eddie Bauer
51. And the Gap
52. And Dress Barn
53. I had a roommate in college named Paysley
54. I will always call Ricks College ... Ricks College - no BYU-I for me...
55. I was a French major in school
56. I still dream of visiting France
57. I was Relief Society Pres in my college ward for 4 months until I got married
58. I worked at Kmart one summer during college
59. I worked at Wendy's in High School
60. I worked for "my mom" helping her with a huge paper route before Wendy's
61. My great great great Grandpa is John Taylor
62. I come from his 3rd wife
63. I met my husband at a blood drive
64. It was sponsored by the singles ward
65. We were engaged 4 months later
66. I was a sophmore in college, but still 18
67. We were married in Oakland, CA
68. We lived in Provo for 3 years
69. I worked as a typist for a title company in Orem
70. I became a notary public while on that job
71. I learned all about how to buy a house while on that job
72. We bought our first brand new car in Utah
73. It was a Dodge Neon
74. It was a stick shift (half way... whew... getting more random now....)
75. I have resided in 5 states - four in the Western US
76. I've had all four of my kids in different hospitals
77. Ian was born in the same hospital I was
78. Three of my 4 kids were born on Friday morning
79. Disneyland is my all time favorite vacation destination... in two weeks I get to go with my mom, my cousin and her mom.... NO kids!
80. I'm terrified of finding a scorpion in my yard...
81. I'm even more terrified of finding one in my house.
82. I hate all seafood (and am allergic to shellfish) cool!
83. I'm a claustrophobic sleeper (I can't be touching anyone to get a good night's sleep)
84. I don't like sleeping with out at least a sheet over me
85. I have one brother, who is 2.5 years younger than me
86. My favorite dessert is brownies (I must have the corner piece) with vanilla ice cream on top
87. I love Twix candy bars
88. I love tulips
89. I love taking pictures and can't wait for the day that I can buy a digital rebel
90. I love to scrapbook
91. I'm working on 5 books concurrently all the time
92. I love to eat out (probably because everyone gets what they want, including me! and no cleaning up afterwards)
93. I hate washing dishes, but I love having a clean kitchen
94. I love to plan and host parties
95. I hate being tickled, but I love to tickle my kids
96. I don't like taking baths
97. I love hot tubs
98. I love audio books
99. I love Lost, The Office and Eli Stone
100. I love to read books in series
101. One of my favorite movies of all time is the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice
102. If I had a celebrity crush, it would be Colin Firth
103. I want to visit all 6 islands in Hawaii - so far I've only been to one
104. I'm not a huge fan of ocean swimming
105. I'm TERRIFIED of sharks
106. I'm also terrified of snakes
107. I have a bad habit of putting my foot in my mouth
108. I love Christmas Music - I start playing it on Thanksgiving and keep it going through New Year's
109. I love playing RockBand
110. I can play the piano - just a little bit - and NOT at church
111. My favorite number is 8 - don't even know why
112. I still wonder what I'm going to do with my life when my kids are all grown up
113. I get emotional at the stupidest things - baseball games, track meets, commercials, etc.
114. I always tear up during the National Anthem - EVERY time
115. My sunglasses spend more time on the top of my head than in front of my eyes... they are my favorite hair accessory
116. I think I make friends easily
117. I like to work behind the scenes, I don't like to be in the spotlight
118. I wish I had more patience
119. I crack my knuckles too much
120. I must have more friends than I think if you are still here reading all this blabbing....
121. When I was a kid, I was very shy
122. My husband is very shy too
123. I love his sense of humor
124. I love his determination to finish a job even though it might take forever
125. I love his ability to fix things
126. I love his cooking
127. I love going on date nights
128. I love decorating my house
129. I am thankful for modern medicine
130. I hate having allergies and asthma
131. I am allergic to cats... good thing I'm not a cat lover (I dont' hate them either...)
132. I love my car - 2007 Suburban
133. I hate paying almost $100 to fill it up
134. I think I am a pretty good driver... I drive very defensively
135. Be careful about "cop bashing" around me... there are 3 cops in my family
136. I've only ever gotten one ticket, but I've never been pulled over
137. I've never read the Old Testament all the way through
138. I don't have a clue how to do Geneology... the research part
139. I have thick skin - it takes a lot to offend me
140. I take sarcasm too far sometimes
141. I think I'm losing my hearing... when people whisper to me in a crowded room, I can't hear them at all
142. My biggest regret from High School is not joining the Swim Team
143. I will never move my family to Utah
144. I fantasize about living somewhere where it snows
145. I love the mountains - especially the Sierras
146. I wish I was better at saving money
147. My biggest weakness in living the gospel is fasting
148. I'm terrified of being a gospel doctrine teacher
149. I've never been good at journal writing
150. I love blogging - it's such a fun way to keep in touch with friends and family and even better it keeps a log of my life and things the kids are doing

TA DA!!!

Q & A

So, I've finally got answers for all of you who've asked me questions over the last two weeks... I just haven't had the time or energy to give blogging my "full attention"!!! Here goes (and these are in total random order...)

Connie: Yes, I will post directions for bottling meat as soon as I've done it myself... I'm going to try it with a friend on Monday (we are going to do ground beef) and I'll take lots of pictures and blog about it next week. Google Polar Ice, and yes, my husband is crazy for hating fruit. Drives me batty sometimes.

Sheri: I've been cutting hair since Eric and I got engaged... he always got haircuts from his mom, so she taught me how to cut his hair before we got married and I've been doing it ever since. I've only paid for one professional cut for any of the kids and that was after Taylor "cut" Megan's hair... it was bad and I couldn't figure out how to fix it myself. It's really easy if you use clippers. I don't know how to do any really cool styles, though, and I've never cut curly hair. I can show you what I know, but seriously, it's so easy, you'll just be like, duh.....

SPASM: I logged in to the forum yesterday (finally!), but didn't get much farther than that... how do you post an intro? I found the format hard to navigate, but I was REALLY tired, so I'll give it a go again today or tomorrow.

About Scranton.... I'm glad you didn't think I was "scranton bashing" in my post... since you have had personal experience there, but get this.... yesterday, I read in the paper that Hillary Clinton hails from Scranton.... hmmm... explains a lot??? And it makes me wonder why she chose New York to run for Senate instead of her native PA... maybe she doesn't like to brag about coming from Scranton, either.... And then, the paper said that Scranton (at one point in US History) boasted the highest amount of "millionaires" per capita in any US city.... I'm thinking it must have been back in the railroad days and the 20's just before the depression... I'm wondering why any millionaire would "choose" to live there and Eric wondered how you make a million dollars in Scranton? What do you think????

Lexie: Thanks for the wheat thins idea - Taylor loves them and the salt would be great for hydration! Brayden will be 3 in a month and we haven't potty trained yet. It's on our "to do" list though and I just let him pick out his very own toddler undies at the store and I bought some "potty treats" as a reward for success... now I just need to get started!

Melissa: I have a pressure "cooker" too, but you need a pressure "canner" for this job. Looks like the photo in previous post. It absolutely MUST have a pressure gauge on the top.... I'll post more info once I've actually tried it myself... can't wait!

Janine: That's why I hate cooking so much... I have a feeling that when all the picky eaters move away a whole new world in the kitchen will open up to me... until then... and yes, we make tacos a lot because the kids can "build their own" to meet their stringent specifications and I don't have to deal with making every body's tacos "perfect"... and pizza doesn't count in the bread or cheese "ban"... all of them love it, thank goodness!

Mom: when you are home for more than 3 days at a time, I'll walk you through how to put pictures from the web on your blog (I think there's more than one way to do it, but I will tell you how I do it....)

Wormer: in my deserted island fantasy, the diet coke is "all you can drink"... plenty for all! Keep us posted on your treatment, we'll be praying for you to get well quickly! And, the next time this happens, don't be so "independent"... please ask us for help... that's what we are here for!

Canning Under Pressure

Last night (after T's track meet) we had a Relief Society gathering to learn about a different approach to food storage. Since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, I think (well HOPE) most Americans have realized the importance of keeping some kind of "food stash" for an emergency. Our Church has preached this concept for... well... forever! We've had it beaten into our heads, and we know it's a good idea and even more than that we believe it's a commandment, but knowing it and doing it are two different things. I have quite a bit of food storage, but a lot of it is food we don't really eat. I have tons of dried milk... and I hate dried milk and coming up with recipes that need milk, but don't taste like they have "dried" milk in them is a challenge! All the stuff we do eat, we've already eaten and I've had to replace, like the rice, sugar and flour. But the real challenge has been how do you store meat long term??? We have a second freezer and I'm working on stocking it with all kinds of chicken, pork and beef.... but what if... and this is a frightening thought.... but what if Phoenix had a long term power crisis and I lost all my perishable food? It's a very real possibility, especially with the extreme heat we experience in the summer. Well... last night I learned how to bottle (in mason jars) chicken, ground beef and beans. You can also do pork or roast beef, too. It's suprisingly simple and easy to do and doesn't heat up your kitchen like bottling peaches or tomatoes in the water bath canners (like our mothers did when we were kids)... I have some "not so fond" memories of these "canning" days as a kid! So, someday (after I have found a quality pressure cooker for a reasonable price (see photo) - hopefully ebay will come through for this....) I'll be able to bottle my own chicken and ground beef... last night we sampled some ground beef that had been bottled already and we heat it up in a skillet and it was GREAT! A gal at our get together has tried bottled chicken and she says it tastes BETTER than the canned chicken you can buy at Costco or Sam's Club... now top that!!!

Track and Field

Taylor had his second Track Meet yesterday afternoon. He ran the 75 meter hurdles, the 1600 meters (also known as the mile run) and the 400 meters. I brought my camera and all the younger kids to cheer him on.... (it will be the last time I bring Brayden to a track meet... it was a nightmare keeping him away from the track!) I have a soft spot for Hurdles... when I was a junior in High School, I ran the hurdles. Ridiculous, I know... if you know me outside of cyberspace, you know I'm 5'3" and have shortest legs on earth.... why I ran the hurdles is still a mystery to me, but I loved it anyway!

After the hurdle race, I put my camera away... last week, I got some really good shots of Taylor running the mile, so I felt like I had enough pictures. Then, he was running the mile and on the 3rd lap I realize he's in first place. This is a good sign because he knows how to turn it on during the last 200 meters or so (and often passes other kids on the final 100 meter stretch.... ) so I dug the camera back out and got this shot of him crossing the finish line in 1st place in the Mile Run! Taylor is definately a distance runner... he didn't do as well in the 400 meters. He keeps trying to tell his coach to put him in the 800 instead, but it hasn't happened yet. Maybe after yesterday's performance, he'll see the light!

Shock and Awe

Summer is here already - we've had quite a few days in the 90 degree range already... after watching Taylor's track meet on Tuesday, I commited to cutting the kids' hair this weekend... here are the results....

Here's the pile of hair on my bathroom floor that needs to be swept up.... gross, huh?

Last Night I Dreamed About PA...

Wilkes-Barre, PA

Northeastern, PA, actually... to be extremely specific... Wilkes-Barre (and it's pronounced berry, not barr.) I was delighted to hear Dwight mention a business in Wilkes-Barre last night on The Office. When we did our 4 month stint in PA, Wilkes-Barre is where we went to church, shopped at Wal-Mart, and actually made friends! It was a good 30 minute drive to get there from where we were living. Eric was doing a tool "start-up" for his company in Mountain Top, PA. We'd been living in our Dublin apartment for almost a year and we were trying to figure out how we were ever going to save enough money to buy a house in the Bay Area. We prayed a lot for ideas and one Sunday we fasted that a solution to our problem would present itself. Within a week, Eric's boss offered him a "start up" job back east - it would be temporary, like 3-6 months, but it would look really good on his resume if he did it. Back then, (before the dot-com crash) employees actually had some leverage, so he called him back and said, "I'll do it if I can bring my family with me." They said yes and a few weeks later we were flying to Philidelphia with four large duffle bags and my arsenol of scrapbooking supplies in my carry-on bags (current TSA regulations would prohibit this now!) Wilkes-Barre is somewhat of a bedroom community (in theory) but it's two hours away from New York and Philidelphia. It's also a strange blend of very old and new... there's a mall and a Walmart and I'll never forget the time we went to the public library... the building was so old that the floor was extremely "unlevel" and book shelves were leaning over full of books... being from CA, all I could think was, we'd never survive in here if there was an earthquake! So, none of the surrounding cities (Mtn Top, W-B, Hazelton or Scranton) had anything that resembled corporate housing that could house a family of four. We ended up living in a ski resort condo at Jack Frost Mountain. This is a very well known ski resort in the Poconos. They called them mountains... being from the west, I called them foothills. We were 5 miles from anything... our "corner" market consisted of a post office, a gas station, a video rental store and a market that closed at 8:00 p.m.! We were 30 miles from Walmart, church, the mall and any kind of restaurant. Living on the east coast was an adventure... something I'd always fantasized about when Eric was in college. Something about the heavy greenery and woods and snow in the winter really appealed to me. My time in PA taught me that I'm a true "westerner"... the east coast is so different in so many ways!

The first time I watched The Office, it was in Season 3... for you seasoned fans, it was the episode about the middle management boss and the bird dying... Jim was at the other branch and the entire episode was dedicated to having a funeral for a bird in the parking lot. I came into it 5 minutes late and couldn't "get it" at all... I didn't understand why people thought this show was so funny... it was just plain weird! Then, a good friend of mine loaned me Season 1 on DVD... "watch this," she said, "and if you aren't hooked in 3 episodes, let me know...." Well the DVD sat on my shelf for weeks. Then one day, I was sick and needed to spend some time vegging out, so I popped them in. I was shocked to find out the show was set in Scranton, PA. A place I've actually been to (and a place that most people had never heard of before The Office). So, I'm laying in our guest room bed, sick and tired, and laughing so hard that Eric's popping his head in the door and giving me strange looks. Yes, I was hooked and well before I even got to the 3rd episode!

Die hard fans will recognize the buildings in this photo....

The sad thing is this - people in the Scranton area are really like this!!! There are people like Jim who took the job for whatever reason, but have no plans to stick around long term, yet they do just because they don't know where else to go.... There are people like Dwight.... scary, I know.... there are people like Kevin, who are accountants by day and garage band drummers by night.... but I'm not sure there is anyone in the world to match the character of Michael Scott!

Rings

First the Bad News....



Eric's new wedding band isn't working out for him. The edges are super sharp and have put three nicks in his car's steering wheel. Not cool, and it will bug Eric forever now that they are there. He's gone back to wearing his old band while we figure out what our options are. I'm hoping the company we ordered the ring from will let him ship it back so they can round the edges out for us. If we return it, we lose 25% restocking fee. Hopefully they will work with us....

UPDATE: Eric called the ring manufacturer and they said it shouldn't be sharp like it is, so we just need to mail it back to them and they will fix it or make a new one... COOL!

Now the Good News....



My ring got back from being sized and it's gorgeous and I LOVE it!

If you were stranded on a desert island...

This island's not deserted, but beautiful anyway.... 1. What 3 foods would you hope you could find on the island?

First... Diet Coke

Second... nothing beats a Double Double (with Diet Coke....)

Third, Beef Broccoli... because in my desereted island fantasy, I'm not allergic to sesame!
2. What 5 full albums would you have to have with you? ( play the game, dont think about how to play them LOl)

Les Mis is my favorite "sing along" kind of CD... Then I would have to pick my all time favorite "audio books" on CD...

And since this is a "hypothetical" fantasy... the final book in the Edward and Bella Saga would be available in "audio book" format too....

3. What Gilligan's Island character would you want with you?

Hmmm... never was a huge Gilligan's Island fan.... but I would take Hurley (from Lost) anyday..... he knows how to have fun in a desperate situation and after being on the island for 3 months, he hasn't lost his mind like some of the others.... and since he hasn't lost weight either, he knows how to find food too!

4. How you would spend your day?

Some of this....

and swimming with these guys....

maybe build a sandcastle or two... or make an SOS sign...

and even catch a nap on the beach....then maybe hiking to places like this....where I could meditate,

pray and

listen to this....

5. What 3 items would you hope washed ashore with you?

Going practical here.... (of course, this is assuming I already have an ipod or CD player to play the answers to number 2...)

TAG... you're it!

Insomnia

What do you do when it's 12:30 and you've been in bed for over an hour trying to get to sleep? You get up and read blogs! :) I'm having that funky twitch thing going on in my legs which keeps me from relaxing enough to sleep... I know what the remedy is... bananas... and I don't have any! If anyone near by is up, reading blogs, can you bring a banana over so I can sleep? Just kidding... well sort of.....


Yesterday we got the boat out and got together the co-op for a "work party"... the plan was to replace the stereo and speakers with a new set (the old ones were falling out) and clean the boat up for the summer. The three guys spent something like 8 hours changing out the stereo system... the last two hours were spent trying to troubleshoot a problem that really didn't exist. I won't go into details to avoid embarrasment, but let's just say they were dead tired by the end of the night. And the boat never got cleaned up at all. Still not sure when that's going to get done, but after this weekend's heat... we're all antsy to get out on the water! I finally had to break down and turn on the a/c downstairs today. The upstairs has been on since we got back from our spring break vacation, but the downstairs has stayed cool enough to leave it off. I guess 90 degrees will heat up any house... summer is just around the corner for us!
Ian and Brayden thought that the boat was their personal playground... they are excited for summer and time on the lake!

This morning, all was going well getting ready for church until we tried to get Brayden dressed. He went to bed last night in a green and grey t-shirt and some of Ian's "ninja turtle" undies... worn OVER his diaper of course. Potty training is on the to do list, but not until the second bathroom remodel is done.... I fought with him for 15 minutes and still didn't have him dressed. I went in to tell Eric that I might not ever make it to church at this rate.... which made me sad since I haven't been able to take the sacrament in 3 weeks due to illness and conference. So Eric told me he'd take over dressing B if I took the other kids to church and got T there in time to pass the sacrament. Deal... I grabbed my purse and ran out the door before he could change his mind! Eric was 15 minutes late to church, but made it to the foyer for the sacrament... he got lucky because we had a baby blessing today. Now I think he understands what my life is like trying to get this kid dressed when he doesn't want to... it happens more than I like to admit! The "ninja turtle" garb went right back on his body as soon as he woke up from his nap and he was more than willing to show it off for the camera.... I've already told him that tomorrow those clothes will have to be washed and he'll have to wear something else. He said ok, but I don't believe it's really going to be okay....
As long as I can salvage some decent sleep tonight, I'm going to start bathroom remodel number 2 tomorrow... joy! I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it! Not.....

Date Night

Last night Eric and I went out on a date. Now that we have a child old enough to babysit, it's much easier to make this happen! We usually do dinner and a movie, but there really wasn't anything in the theaters that we were excited about seeing and our last movie date was a dud (don't go see Vantage Point unless you loved the movie Groundhog Day....) So, I got online yesterday and googled "date night ideas for married couples"... I found one list of 50 cheap date ideas and one was "recreate your first date". Hmmm... We went Ice Skating in Sacramento for our first date. Well, Sacramento is a 2 hour plane ride away, but we could Ice Skate right here in town! So, I loaded up a backpack of thick socks, beanies, gloves and sweatshirts and threw it in the back of the car when Eric wasn't looking. We went to In-n-Out for dinner (our favorite fast food place that we never visit with kids... something about no chicken nuggets being on the menu....) then killed an hour at Lowe's and Best Buy. Then we drove over to the Ice Rink... Eric didn't know what we were doing until we were about a block away. It was a lot of fun! We hadn't been ice skating (without kids) since our first date! We wer the second oldest couple in the rink and I only recognized two songs the entire night, but we still had a good time! Neither one of us fell down, even though we had several close calls, and we stopped for Cold Stone on the way home. There's nothing like great ice cream at the end of a date night! That reminds me, the other half of my ice cream is still in the freezer.... What's your favorite date night with your hubby??? I need some fresh ideas, so please share, share, share!!!

Now "Lettuce" Rejoice!

I have the pickiest kids on earth... this is no exaggeration. They come from picky parents, so it's really no surprise. I think of all the people in our family, I am the least picky. Lest you think I'm crazy, here are some things that each person in my family dislikes... I'll start with myself, just to be fair!

Christy hates: tomatoes, mushrooms, nuts, all seafood

Eric hates: all fruit (except oranges), broccoli, cauliflower, all seafood

Taylor hates: bread (this includes bagels, rolls, bread, french toast, hamburger and hot dog buns), steak, beans, all fruit, all veggies (except raw carrots and corn), cheese, lunch meat, potatoes (except french fries), burgers, eggs

Megan hates: all pasta, cheese, pork, potatoes (including french fries), most veggies (except corn and raw carrots), eggs

Ian hates: most meat (excepting chicken nuggets), most veggies (except corn and raw carrots), potatoes, eggs... Ian likes to pretend he hates everything (even when he doesn't)...

Brayden is my least picky child... but he does so far hate bread. That's one of the few things I've never been able to get him to eat. He does like most meat, eggs, and fruit.

Needless to say, I don't enjoy cooking that much. I think the very reason is that there is always at least one person (usually 2 or 3) who doesn't like the food. Always... it's very discouraging to hear moaning and whining every night at dinner time. Tacos and pizza are the two meals that everyone likes and no one complains about, so we eat those a lot!

In my 13 years of being a parent, never has a child in our household eaten green salad. (Three out of four won't even eat ranch dressing... weird, huh?) Then on Monday night, Megan confesses that she thinks lettuce is pretty good (we were having tacos). After questioning her about it, she told us she ate some salad at an activity days event and kinda liked it. (I think it was that strawberry spinach salad with the sweet dressing.) So she then proceeded to load up her "meat only" taco with meat and lettuce. Nothing else, but still, she actually liked it and went back for more! It took everything I had NOT to fall over in shock... maybe there is a light at the end of the "picky eater" tunnel? And Cheri Harrison (Meg's AD leader who served her salad) is a SAINT in my category... maybe I need to send all my kids over for dinner at her house more often!

Standardized Testing

I know there is a valid purpose behind standardized testing. I just hate it as a mom. My kids are smart. They aren't geniuses, but they are smart. Tomorrow starts our first day of standardized testing. Taylor (in 7th grade) doesn't care one bit about the tests. Of course, he has never taken any test very seriously. His grades on tests will reflect his attitude about tests. Megan (5th grade) is a perfectionist and won't be satisfied with anything other than her best, which of course, means straight A's. (When she got a C on a group science project a few weeks ago, she had an emotional breakdown!) Over the weekend, Megan was in a sour mood because she knew test week was coming.... and they've been doing nothing but practice tests for two weeks to get ready. She's tired of taking tests and she had this crazy idea in her head that if she did poorly on the tests that she wouldn't pass 5th grade. Ian is having his first year of testing... in second grade. The test is different and looked at differently, but it's still standardized testing none the less... tonight at bedtime he had a stomach ache. When I questioned him about it, he confessed he was nervous about testing tomorrow. I reassured him that he's a super smart kid and the test will be easy, but he also had the crazy notion that moving on to 3rd grade was hanging on the balance of his test scores! Both kids told me that their teachers didn't put that idea into their heads, but I think it would be great if we could slow down a bit and not spend so much time "preparing" for these tests... it's really stressing us all out!!!

Miscellaneous

The last few days have passed in a blur... here's what I want to record for posterity... ha ha....

Last Thursday evening: Megan had a piano recital. She played Winnie the Pooh and Ode to Joy. Her next recital this fall will be a "High School Musical" recital. Each kid in her group is going to play a different song from High School Musical. This will be quite an event because most the songs, though simplified, still need to be simplified even more. Megan wants to play, You Are the Music in Me. I like that song too... it's pretty much the only song from the second movie that I really liked.

So the Office finally has returned to Primetime... I kept seeing commercials and ads making me so excited... and then what??? Two hours of reruns! Unbelievable... the new episode airs this coming Thursday night.... I guess it's good since Lost is off air for a couple more weeks!

Friday: I did Meals on Wheels for our local hospital. I confess that I dislike doing it. I know that for many of the people it's a big help, but come on... some of the people we delivered meals to, clearly don't need it. And the food can't be that great... it always stinks like nobody's business. One house we delivered to, the guy was standing out front watering his plants and washing off the sidewalk. It seems to me if you can manage a task like this, you could make your self a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Who is really that desperate for a nasty hospital meal? Are people so acustomed to taking advantage of government programs that they don't realize that it's not worth it?

After finishing Meals on Wheels, I grabbed lunch for Brayden and I and headed for Joann's. They had a paper sale this weekend... five sheets for a dollar. I had a scrapbooking marathon planned for conference weekend and needed some more paper, so the timing worked out perfect. Then I went to the bank and deposited money into our boat fund... the boat is in the shop right now and it's sucking $$ like crazy!

Nothing like a little Rock Band on Friday night...

Saturday: Got up and made breakfast for everyone. Took all my allergy meds and settled down the couch to watch conference. Within 15 minutes, I was laying on the couch with a sinus headache that was worse than anything I've had in a long time. I remember listening to Elder Worthlin's talk and crying the whole time because my head hurt so bad. In between sessions, I tried to sleep, but even with 3 advil, I never really got a good nap. It hurt too much to sleep. I laid on the couch for the second session and felt a little better, but man this headache was bad. By dinner, I was able to function, but not enough to make dinner or anything. Luckily, my kids are pros at sandwiches and top ramen. It was so bad, I never took a shower and didn't even brush my teeth until bedtime (this was because it would take too much effort to climb the stairs and access the bathroom with my toothbrush in it.... pathetic, I know....)

I did sit outside in a lawn chair and supervise yard clean up - after we were done, Ian decided to be the first brave soul to jump in the pool (currently sitting at a balmy 72 degrees....) I've tried twice to upload a video of him jumping into the pool, but my computer (or blogger... not sure which) just won't cooperate!

Sunday: Woke up sinus pressure free! Hallelujah! I took a nice, long hot shower and helped Eric with breakfast. Once breakfast was cleaned up, I got out the scrapbooking stuff and got to work. I find that if I have a project to work on during conference I can concentrate on the speakers much better than if I just sit on the couch and try to listen. Sounds weird, but it's true! I enjoyed all the speakers, but I think I really appreciated Elder Ballard's talk the best. He talked about how much more he appreciates his wife since she has had back surgery. He talked about the need to cut back on scheduled commitments for the whole family, having time to recharge and for husbands to give mom's a break every once in a while. I can't imagine a mother of small kids anywhere who wasn't thinking, "Amen, brother...." during his talk. He did warn of wasting time on internet and soap operas/TV. I'm glad that just last week, I cut back on my blog reading list. I know a thing or two about wasting time online! I also really enjoyed President Monson's final remarks. What a touching story he told about his wife and their recent hospital ordeal. After hearing him speak this weekend, there is no doubt that the Lord wants him in charge of our church. I'm grateful that we have such wonderful men leading our church who continue to uplift my spirit and inspire me to always be doing better than I am today.

Clean Floors and Burnt Popcorn

(This is not me.... )

I have a confession to make - I'm a slob! I hate to clean and I'm not very good at picking up after myself. I discovered this about myself almost 10 years ago, but it's still a hard habit to break! Three years ago we upgraded homes from 1350 sq feet to 3800 sq feet. I LOVE my house (the layout), but sometimes I wish I could get rid of a few rooms that we just don't use that often. I love having a guest room when we have company, but when we don't have company, it's our stash and dash room. We dump all the mess in there and shut the door. We have a formal living room and dining room that I only use when the Visiting Teachers come in the evening. When they come during the day, we go in the Family Room. We only use the formal dining room when we have friends over to eat (and the junkier table is in there right now, so that's where the kids sit, not the adults.) Sometimes I wish I could close up those rooms (like they do in old English classics) and only use them when we have guests over. The problem with having such a large house, is that it just encourages people to spread their mess over an even bigger area. If I make a junk mail pile in one part of my kitchen, I don't have to clean it up right away because I still have lots of space left... so after a few days of neglect, I will have piles of junk everywhere and then it takes me an hour to sort through it all and get rid of it.

Yesterday, I worked long and hard cleaning. I dusted off my ipod and listened to an audiobook while I worked. Since we got back from CA at least 10 days ago, I've only been doing the bare minimums. Before we left to go to CA, I'd only been doing the bare minimums. I just couldn't take it anymore, so I designated yesterday as a "clean the house until I drop" day. And I did... clean and clean and clean...and then I cleaned some more... and sadly, after 4 hours, there wasn't much visual improvement! Isn't that pathetic? That's how behind in my cleaning I was. The one "obvious" hint that I'd spent all day cleaning was the aroma from my mop (I have a Hoover Floor Mate... I highly recommend it for anyone with lots of flooring and not so much carpet). The cleaner I used left a very pleasant "just been cleaned" scent in the air! When Megan and Ian walked in the door at 3:30, I heard from Megan, "wow, Mom, it smells clean in here!" Sigh... grin... satisfaction!

Then, not ten minutes later it was all over. Ian asked if he could make popcorn for a snack. "Only if you keep it on the kitchen table," I said, "I just mopped all the floors!" Three minutes later, I'm in the dining room, putting furniture back after moving it for my mop job and I hear from Megan, "mom, what's all that smoke coming from the microwave?" What??? Are you kidding me!?! I ran into the kitchen to find smoke pouring out of the microwave... Ian had pushed the wrong button for popcorn and it was burning -- badly! (This is not my popcorn, nor is it my microwave! ----> )

We opened up every window and door, but it took a long time to clear the smoke out. And now, it's the next morning and it still smells like burnt popcorn in my kitchen! ARGHH! And my eyes are swollen and feel like they have sand in them from having every window open and letting in so much pollen! I guess I just can't win!