Sunday, December 30, 2007

Stocking Blogs

Well when I find I have a little free time (which doesn't happen often) I like to do what my friend Lindsey calls "stock blogs" I love to see what other bloggers have thought of. Often I look for craft tutorials! Today I found 3 blogs I like. 1. MaryBeth will love "Pretty Peanut Shells". It can be found on executivehomemaker.com They have adorable knitted hats that would be perfect for photos. 2. infarrantlycreative.blogspot.com She had some great tutorials! The best idea was to melt broken crayons and pour into old glue stick tubes. This way her kids didn't break them when they were coloring! 3. tipjunkie.blogspot.com This blog gives you a tip a day! Each day is a different fun idea...for example in December she gave a ton of different gift ideas! Had a great time searching...but now I better get my kids to bed and hope for another free night to stock blogs!

Saturday, December 29, 2007

New Camera

Ok so I have a friend (MaryBeth) who is camera giddy! She knows the in's and out's of cameras and has a great photography business. When she saw I got a camera for Christmas she asked again and again what kind.....so here goes. I got an Olympus SP-55OUZ digital Camera. It has 7.1 megapixel, 18X wide-angle zoom lens, 15 fps sequential shooting, dual image stabilization, bright capture technology, 31 preset shooting modes, pre-capture, 2.5" color LCD, quicktime, TruePic Turbo, PictBridge, xD-picture card. All this means???? All I know is that I can take a picture because it keeps it's charge (unlike my last camera) and that I can then download the pictures. But I write this all for MaryBeth. Maybe one day I will understand what it all means!

Friday, December 28, 2007

We are finally Home

After being away at my parents house in Reno we are finally home. We had a great time visiting with family! The kids had a great Christmas and loved everything they got! On the long (10 hour) drive home we hit a patch of ice and went sliding (at 75 mph) back and forth on the highway.Luckily there were no other cars in either direction! Neil is such a great driver that he knew just what to do to correct the car. We did swerve 4-5 times. After we were on dry ground and doing ok we hear little Easton from the back yell "Dad...why did you do that!" To know Easton this is just the kind of comment he would say! Then he added "you made me hit my head!" It was the perfect thing to say to break the tension Neil and I were feeling. Fortunately everyone was buckled and we were ok. I did use that moment to tell Easton that is why we wear our seatbelts! Other then that it was an very uneventful drive home with no one crying:) Hope everyone had a great Christmas! I will post pictures that I took with my new camera soon! Right now I am going to enjoy sleeping in my own bed! No matter how good the beds are where ever we go...there is nothing like my own!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Baby Baby Baby

Last night at 9:30 Neil gets a phone call from our friend Phil. He tells Neil to get me and put on the speaker phone. Phil, Sarah and their daughter Starlee yell...."We're Pregnant"! After lots of prayer and infertility treatments they got the best Christmas present they could wish for! We are so excited for baby Hutchings to arrive in mid-September! Brooke is very excited to be a new babysitter....Addison probably will be the least excited since she believes Sarah and Phil live and breath just for her! She hates when Sarah even looks at another baby! Congratulations Sarah and Phil.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Shelly Tagged Me!

Ok so my friend Shelly tagged me (by the way we both think the other Shelly/Shelley spells her name wrong). So here I go....
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Going to college full time at Washington State University
2. Taking care of a newborn (can't believe Brooke is already 10)
3. Managing apartments with Neil
4. Enrichment leader
5. Having game nights with our great friends at college

5 Things on my to-do list today
1. laundry
2. pack for our trip to Reno
3. Finish Christmas shopping (only 2 things to get still)
4. Clean bathrooms (one down two to go)
5. figure out what I am making for dinner

5 Snacks I enjoy
1. cool ranch chips
2. pretzal with cheese
3. hot chocolate with toast (get this from my mom)
4. warm chocolate chip cookies
5. warm bread

Things I would do if I were a Billionaire
1. Move to Reno and get a second home in Washington
2. pay off the rest of my student loans
3. get new wardrobe
4. hire someone to do my hair and makeup daily
5. take a trip around the world (I have never left the country)

5 of my bad habits
1. procrastinate (should be doing my to do list but blogging instead)
2. can't say no
3. love to buy fabric
4. eat too many of my favorite snack foods
5. terrible at keeping in touch with friends/family

5 places I have lived
1. Reno Nevada
2. Rexburg Idaho
3. Pullman Washington
4. Kennewick Washington
5. Ivins Utah (unfortunately that is it)

5 Jobs I’ve had
1. Nanny in high school
2. Michael's crafts
3. Sears cashier
4. runner for law office
5. worked in the nursery at a workout/tennis club

5 Things people probably don’t know about me
1. I can pick up things with my toes
2. Incredible sense of smell (much to Neils dislike)
3. like to put ice in my glass of milk (the colder the better)
When I think of 4 and 5 I will add them



Sweet little Addison is starting to sign. She now says "more, eat, ice cream, bath, baby and her favorite is cereal" She say's cereal whenever I ask her sign anything. Then she may follow up with the real sign...if she is in the mood. She thinks it is so fun that Mommy gets excited because does something with her hands. Easton is a little bothered that she doesn't sign the words the "right" way! It will come. Can't believe she is 16 months. February and we go to nursery! I will try to get video of her signing and then try to post the video...but keep in mind I am techno. challenged!

Preparing for Christmas

Last night we went and did Christmas shopping with the kids. Every year we take them to the dollar store and they get to pick out something for everyone in the family. They get so excited to walk up and down the aisle finding the right gift. The great part...no matter what they pick Mom and Dad are not going to say it is too expensive! They love that. Easton tried getting Brooke a toy he would love to play with, but she probably wouldn't. So we said no to that, but other then that they picked very quickly. They also love being sneaky because we are all in the store at the same time. They are very careful that someone else doesn't see what they have picked. It was a lot of fun...and easy on the pocket!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Kids in their Halloween costumes













Camden is above in his Anakin costume I made him.(He has the hood down. Easton below in his Obi Won Kenobi costume I made for him. Notice they are the same costume, but with a different name! Last year this costume was Luke. They cloak with many lives! We have a hotel in town that sets up this pumpkin display which is perfect for taking pictures. Brooke is Sharpey from High School Musical II, which I also made. I ran out of steam and ended up buying Addison's costume....but when I saw her's I knew anything I made wouldn't be as cute. She was so adorable we had strangers stop up just to see her costume.

Meet Me

Well to start off my blog I thought I would give a little update about me and my interests. I am a stay at home mom to my 4 busy kids and love it. My current passion is sewing. I have been especially interested in making diaper bags. Luckily I have had a lot of friends having babies...so I have had a good excuse to buy material. I have also been sewing halloween costumes, stockings, quilts and baby items like diaper wipe holders. I enjoy scrapbooking but haven't done much lately. I have two callings at church. I am the enrichment leader and I have a stake calling to interpret at the deaf branch. I love it. I find I learn more each Sunday. Even more I love interpreting at the temple! I am having so much fun teaching Addison to sign. Her current signs are cereal (her favorite word to say), more, eat, ice cream, bath and baby. I love to sing and we have a great ward choir.

Need another reason to be sleepless

Since I have such a crazy life already I thought I would add to it by jumping on the blog bandwagon. I needed one more thing to do to add to my sleeplessness! Actually I am so crazy busy that I feel terrible about not keeping in touch with everyone and hope this will alleviate some of my guilt. I am excited to begin this and hear from everyone!