Busy, busy, busy

A week before Thanksgiving I got called as the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society presidency and then promptly got thrown in charge of the Angel Tree gifts for several families in our ward.  Life got very busy for about the next month and it was really nice that I had some time scheduled off of work.  We ran into a few problems near the end but everything worked out and all the gifts got out by Christmas Eve.  I don't think I've ever been so excited for Christmas to be over! 

I did take some time and took 4 of my brother's kids to see the 3rd Narnia movie.  The 3 1/2 year old loved it
(I think he loved the popcorn the best though).  And my sister and I took her 2 kids to The Living Planet Aquarium.  I liked the penguins and seeing the octopus eat was very interesting!  Her little girl really like the penguins too but did not like when my sister tried to get her to touch the sing-ray.

Time change + me = not good!

"The closer you get to the fronter of the building... wait, fronter isn't a word."

Yes, that was my brilliance today! Our office has windows all along the front of the building and they let in the cold. It's a good thing I don't work by them, I'm cold enough as it is.

I went to bed an hour earlier last night trying to counteract some of the time change problems I've been having. I'm thinking it didn't help, as evidenced by my speech!

Crafting can hurt

My mom, sister and I are making a fun Halloween craft. It's a wall hanging called Frank N. Stein. He's cute, but I don't think we are going to get him finished before Halloween. Today we were working on it and in the space of 5 minutes I had cut my finger on the rotary cutter and burned my thumb on the iron. I was then politely asked to leave the craft room.

The only bandaid mom had in the craft room was a My Little Pony one. So I was sporting that on my finger when my youngest neice came. She saw my bandaid and kept asking what happened. I think she was jealous of my cute bandaid!

It's been awhile

At several points during the last month and a half, I've thought 'I should blog about this.' And as you can tell I never got around to it. Most of the time, by the time I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is get back on the computer, but mostly - I'm just lazy about it. So I'll just do a condensed version...

I took my oldest nephew to a BYU football game (my roommate has season tickets and couldn't go that weekend. Since it was a night game and I didn't want to fight traffic all the way back to his house, he got to sleep over and go to church with me. Since our ward has one senior primary class with 5 children in it, I think it was strange to him.

My poor car is still sick. It gets to go to the mechanic tomorrow. I really hope that it gets fixed and stays that way! I love my car, but it's starting to have mucho problems.

And the last thing, a kind of funny story. My mom almost never calls me. So one day, I got a call from mom at lunch time. I thought it was kind of strange, but nice. So I was talking to her, and asked what was up, she replies with, 'I was kind of wondering how I got you. I was calling work.' Thanks mom! I really can feel the love. :)

Car battery

My poor car battery 'gave up the ghost' last night! Oh, what a night. I had run to drop off the books for bookclub since I couldn't attend club and my car died in their driveway. Aaahhh! We got the battery out and had it tested. It was dead, dead, dead. Dad and Mom came over to rescue me (and my poor neighbors). Goodbye old battery. It was fun while it lasted! :)

Camping in the rain...

We had a ward campout this weekend. I don't think I've ever been on one (if you don't count girls camp, which I didn't). It poured and I mean POURED! But the tent kept us dry at night and the tarps rigged up over the tables kept us dry other times. It did stop long enough to roast some marshmallows for smores. It was a small group, but we had much fun. (even me, who wasn't real excited to be going anyway.)

Family time

We were going to have a family campout this last weekend, but other plans were to be had. My uncle passed away from cancer and his funeral was planned for Saturday which kind messed up the campout plan. We did get to have some fun anyway.

We went Thursday night and roasted marshmallows for smores in my sister's backyard. They have a little fire pit and we got to use it for the first time.

Then my sister and family ended up having to sleep in the tent because 3 the year old was so sad about not going camping that they tried to make it better by sleeping in the backyard. She thought it was so much fun!

Since we had all taken Friday off for the campout, we ended up taking all the neices and nephews to the pool Friday afternoon. We had a lot of fun and wore the children out! I got to take the 6 month old around the lazy river. He loved the water, until he got hungry/tired, then he didn't like it so much!

Summer fun

Last week my roommate and I went to the Shakespearean Festival. We had so much fun!

We left on Monday morning and drove to Cedar City and picked up our tickets for the plays. Then we went to my dear friend's house and spent the afternoon with her lovely kids. After a yummy dinner we went to a short expliantaion of the shows that night (that really helped me understand the play) and to the Green show. After a very yummy lemon tart the three of us (me, roommate and my friend) went to "Much Ado About Nothing". I thought it was a marvelous play!

Tuesday after another yummy meal (Thanks Linds!) we went to a presentation about the costumes. It was amazing to see what they went through to put them together. Then, since it was Jane Austen week, we went to a Lunch and Q&A with 3 castmembers from "Pride and Prejudice". We had Mr. Darcy, Jane and a butler. It was a lot of fun and I would reccommend it to everyone. After lunch we went to "Pride and Prejudice". It was wonderful and I really enjoyed it. Then it was time to drive home. Short but fun trip. :)

We stopped at Cove Fort on the way home and got to drive through a pretty good rain storm.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Movie night

Our outdoor movie night is quickly becoming our new family tradition. My 3-year-old neice was talking about watching a movie outside at nana's a couple of weeks ago, so dad arranged a movie night on Friday night with the option of a sleepover and breakfast the next morning. With a little storm front coming in, they decided not to do the sleepover outside but 5 of the grandkids spread their sleeping bags out on the family room floor in the basement once the movie was over. I didn't want to keep driving back and forth so I slept in the spare bedroom downstairs by the kids. They were really good once the last few got to sleep and we had a yummy breakfast the next morning. I love holiday weekends!

Vacation

My mom had a conference in San Diego for 5 days. She didn't want to go alone so she took my sister and me with her. We had more fun playing in San Diego than she did sitting in her classes but we did get some time to play together too.

We went to the USS Midway and got to walk around the HUGE aircraft carrier. They had so much to see. You saw where they slept and stuff like that, then on the top deck they had quite a few aircaft from different times. Even as big as it was, I'm not sure how long I would last on one.


We found a time that mom didn't have any classes she wanted to go to and we went to visit Sea World. I haven't been since High School and it was really fun. We went to a Sea Lion show, a Shamu show,a Dolphin show and walked through many different exhibits. Then when it got dark we went back to see another Shamu show and watched some fireworks. It was kind of a long day - but a really fun day!
The next day my sister and I went to the zoo. It was a cold day but still fun to see the animals. We got to see the Polar Bears and the Panda's among many other animals.


We also went to Little Italy (and had wonderful pizza) Old Town (and had great mexican food) and the Mormon Batallion site. We walked along the water and ate seafood at Seaport Village (well mom ate seafood!). Lots of fun was had but it was kind of nice to come back home too.

My favorite store...

Most of you know I love the bookstore! I go there when I need to get out of the house and enjoy wandering around. I have found another reason to love them. They have these fun 'parties' for different books. I took niece #2 to a Fancy Nancy party a couple weeks ago. She dressed up like Fancy Nancy and we had a BLAST! at the party. Then this week nephew #1 and I went to a party for the new Rick Riordan book "The Red Pyramid." Much fun was had! I think I like the parties as much as I like the coupons (I'm pretty sure I haven't paid full price for a book in quite a while! Don't tell!) If you have a Borders near you - check out the storytime and parties!

Fun treat

Last night we had bookclub at my house. I made a yummy apple dip!

1 block cream cheese - softened
1 cup brown sugar (i usually add 3/4 of a cup instead)
1 cup toffee bits
dash of vanilla

Mix cream cheese and brown sugar together. Fold in toffee bits.

My roommate told me a new way to keep your cut apples from going brown. Instead of dipping in lemon juice - you can dip them in Sprite (or any other lemon-lime soda). I think they taste better than the lemon juice ones!

Shirley J giveaway

I hope I win this giveaway. I'd like to try the Shirley J products!

http://www.mommyenterprises.com/moms-blog/416/shirley-j-review-and-giveaway/

Don't smash your toe...

After dealing with the problems that have come after smashing my toe about 3 years ago - I reccommend never smashing your toe on my mom's dinner table leg. I was having major problems with the nail again and went back into the foot doctor today (a year and a half after my last visit). He ended up taking off the nail again - the whole nail this time, not just half. I almost told him on the way out I hoped to never see him again! :) But since I have to go back in two weeks, that seemed a little silly to say.

Belated...

I got to go on a fun trip down to visit Lindsay and family a few weekends ago - but kept forgetting to write about it! I had so much fun and am looking forward to my next visit. I had to buy pepperjack cheese for quesadillas when I got home, you got me hooked on it Linds! I miss reading stories to little A. and enjoying time with friends!

Overheard last night...

My sister-in-law had her baby last night, I have a new nephew! While at the hospital to see him I overheard the following conversations between sister-in-law and 3 year old nephew.

nephew: Bye Mom!
s-i-l: Bye.
nephew: I take baby home?
s-i-l: No, baby needs to stay here with me.
nephew: (crying) But I want to take baby home!

I found it funny he didn't care if mom came home, he just wanted his baby brother home. The next conversation was funny.

nephew: Mom, does him talk yet?
s-i-l: Nope, not yet.

I think my brother and sister-in-law will have their hands full with these two!

Computer help desk...

I went to Grandma's last night to fix her computer so she could do more indexing for the Church's genealogy program. I'd tried the first 2 solutions for the problem and the next was to uninstall and reinstall the program. All Grandma sees is her icon disappear. She FREAKED out. I told her I would get her icon back, but she didn't believe me until I had it back on the desktop and had the program running again. I tried to get her to leave the room and go fix her dinner so that I wouldn't scare her again, but she didn't want to leave me. Once I got it back and running she wanted to go get dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. Chips and Salsa, count me in! :)

March Madness

March Madness is more fun when you are beating all the boys in the office! But only for this week. When they play this weekend I'll no longer be winning.

And currently tied with roommate. We've decided that instead of going to the winners movie choice only, we get to go to both since we were so close in points!

(I'd show proof, but I can't get the screenshot to come in big enough to see it.)

She likes me...

Sunday we had a baby blessing for my sister's little boy. As I was pulling into the church parking lot, my brother pulled in behind me and proceded to park next to me. As I got out to greet his children I heard that 2nd neice wanted to sit by me in sacrament. I thought "yay, she likes me best of all my sisters!" (I've been brainwashing her for 6 years and I was hoping it was starting to stick.) What I then found out dashed all my hopes. She came up to me and said "If I sit by you can we play the dot game?"


I guess she told her mom that I ALWAYS play the dot game with her when she sits by me. If you count the one time, 6 months ago, at my grandfathers funeral as 'always' then I guess I have. And now we can add the baby blessing. I did sit by her and we did play the dot game. (And that sacrament meeting went by so fast! I'm so used to sitting by myself I don't know what to do with all the entertainment!)

It's National Pancake day!

At least I know what to make for dinner tonight. (Wish I didn't have to wait for dinner, I'm hungry now!)

Olympics

I really am enjoying the Olympics, but boy am I glad that they only happen every 2 years. I am spending way too much time watching and I'm missing out on some sleep to do it!

Check eggs...

My youngest neice is allergic to eggs and we are constantly checking the food we give her to make sure there are no eggs in it. The other day her dad was telling us a story. She had wanted a candy and had gotten permission to get a piece from the candy bowl (I would say, short of the mayo in the fridge, there is nothing else in her house that has eggs in it). She picked her candy and brought it to her dad and said "Daddy, check eggs." I'm guessing she's heard a variation of that phrase several hundred times already and she's only 2 and a half.

Strange dream

So I almost never remember my dreams, but this morning I woke up fully remembering it. It was strange enough that I am kind of glad I don't remember them! :)

I go to water aerobics at the local rec center and there are 3 different instructors. These 3 instructors and I were somewhere (I'd say a hotel). And Bob and Jillian from The Biggest Loser were there yelling at us. It seems I'd lost my swimsuit top and couldn't go workout in the pool! Never fear, I found it under the bed but then I woke up.

Maybe this is why I wake up tired...I'm dreaming of exercising all night.

Thank You, Have a Good Day, See you tomorrow, Bye-bye

I ran to get a sandwich today at lunch, because I was too lazy to cook real food last night so I didn't have any leftovers for lunch today. The guy at the drive thru cracks me up everytime I go there. As he hands you your food he says (very quickly and in one breath) "Thank you, have a good day, see you tomorrow, bye-bye", and then he's done. It's taken me a few trips to figure out the whole phrase! Most of the time it's more like thankyouhaveagooddayseeyoutomorrowbye-bye (and breathe).

Coldness...

The furnace went out at work yesterday. It's a little chilly in here this morning, but I came prepared with blankets and gloves and extra layers of clothing! I was commenting that I felt a little like an old woman as I used my blanket as a shawl. My co-worker reminded me of my lap blanket I had, which furthered the old woman metaphor. Now if only my chair was a rocking chair, I'd be set!

Things I learned this weekend...

1 - When Grandma calls and leaves a message, call her back even if it's late when you get home. Because if you don't, she'll call at 8 am on a Saturday. (and yes, I was still asleep. I haven't been sleeping well this week and gave myself permission to sleep in.)

2 - When your roommate asks if you want to substitute on the organ for her on Sunday, the answer is no, always, always no.

3 - When the phone rings on Saturday at noon - and you don't recognize the number, don't answer it. It could be the 2nd counselor asking you to speak in church the next day (even though you spoke just 4 months ago).

These things make for a not so fun weekend. Hope yours was good!

Catching up

Wow, time sure has flown by lately...

I took the week of Thanksgiving off and decided to take my youngest niece to the Children's Museum at the Gateway. We had lots of fun, once she decided it was okay to play. We had lunch and went to Build-A-Bear to look around before going back home.

At Christmas, I had 2 weeks off. Before Christmas, I borrowed my niece again and we went to see “The Princess and the Frog”. We bought popcorn and she was so cute. We got to the theatre and sat down and she put her napkins in her lap and pointed to the bag of popcorn. She was really good through the movie and just kept asking for popcorn. I think she ate more than I did!

We had a really good Christmas and it was fun to have everyone together. As usual, Mom went a little crazy and spoiled us all.

The Monday after Christmas my sister went in and had her 2nd baby. So my youngest niece now has a little brother around the house. She wasn’t sure she liked him when we took her to the hospital and she was a little afraid of her mom in that big hospital bed, but she warmed up eventually. When I was holding him, I got her to come look at his little feet, but she wouldn’t get too close. With the new baby, I now have 3 nieces and 3 nephews and 1 nephew on the way.

New Year’s Eve I got to hold the little guy. His sister got a little mad telling us he was mommy’s baby. I’m sure there’s been a discussion about how she shouldn’t pick him up. She’s a little rough with her baby dolls and my sister was a little nervous about it.

It was a great end to the year!