Memory Lane

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22nd - 2008

I took a trip down memory lane today.  Joe and I found a box of pictures under my bed.  They were from about 1989 - 1996.  There were tons of pictures in there.  Some of my favorites were old girl camp pictures and my first trip (parent free) to San Diego with friends.  It was fun to go back and look at all the pictures and give Joseph a play by play of who everybody is and all of the fun that we had.  I have pictures of all the old gang:  Ian, Sheri, Elise, Steve-o, Merilee, Jason (Sims and Ganem), Brian, Greg, Clay, Amy, etc, etc....  I wanted to post some of them, but a lot of you are out there in blog land, and I didn't know if you would appreciate it, so I stuck with these:  

Brian, when we first started dating.  Doesn't he look like he's 12?

Brian and I at Sea Port Village on that first parent free trip to San Diego with friends.  This was one of my favorite trips I've ever taken.  It was a blast, even if we all slept on the floor of that crappy beach front condo.  It was beach front right on the boardwalk at Mission Beach.  Awesome!

Sheri and I at the Golden Gate Bridge.  This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Sheri and I.  We had so much fun together.  I'm so glad that we had all of that time together in high school and college to hang out together.  I'm glad that we had the same group of friends for a while.  I wouldn't trade that time for anything.  Sheri's awesome!

Memory Lane is fun - I look much younger and thinner there.

Sunday Funnies

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st - 2008

When I  was younger, one of my favorite things about Sunday was the Sunday edition of the comics in the newspaper.  They were always longer and in color.  I remember that Darrel liked them too.  It was always a race to see who could get them first.  My favorite, of course, was Calvin and Hobbes.

Today I was sick in bed most of the day.  Joe pulled out the Calvin & Hobbes book and read me some funnies to help me feel better.  What can I say?  He's a sweetie.  I thought it was interesting that this is one of the ones he chose to read me:

I think he can relate.  Joe is a lot like Spaceman Spiff.  He could be there in the room, physically, looking at you, but he's not really there.  He's making up some game or adventure, or doing some magic trick in his mind.  Joe has always reminded me of Calvin.  When you are an only child, you have to have an active imagination to keep yourself busy.  That is one of the things I love most about Joe- his active imagination.  Though it gets him in trouble sometimes (Easily Distracted), I wouldn't trade it for anything.  

Sick Day

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20th - 2008

This pretty much sums up Saturday.

Its a picture of the flu virus.  This was NOT my best day so far.  

Everyday's The Same

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19th - 2008

This is one of my favorite albums of all time.  Song #9 pretty much sums it up today:  "Everyday, everyday, everyday seems to end this way/Everyday just seems the same..."

It's been pretty much more of the same today!

Bubble wrap

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18th - 2008

What is it about bubble wrap that is so exciting?

Brian bought a new faucet for the bathroom.  When we opened the package we found it was wrapped in bubble wrap.  Woo hoo.  Why is it so fun to pop those bubbles?  There is something therapeutic about it.  Joe and I took turns popping bubbles to our hearts content.  It doesn't take much to keep us happy.

Kids and cars

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17th-2008

I babysat for Evan today.  It was all about the cars.  

He'd line them all up along the fireplace and then run them back and forth.
Then he moved them to the table where he could run them around in circles.   Joshua hung out with us all morning too.  However, it's getting increasingly harder to take a picture of him.  As soon as he see's the camera, he just wants to run through all of the images and look at the pictures. 
He was a lot of fun today.  I like hanging out with the kids.  Why is it that I feel much more comfortable with kids than with adults?  Am I the only person who feels this way?  I don't care.  Kids are awesome.  They don't judge you, they are very forgiving and they love you completely for who you are.  

Waiting for Joe

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16th - 2008

This is one of my favorite parts of the day:

To the untrained eye it may look like I am just waiting in line:  boring.  To me, it is much more than that.  You see, I am waiting in line to pick up Joe from school.  I've missed him all day, and I can't wait to see his face.  While I'm waiting I always have a book with me.  I usually get in about 20 minutes of guilt free reading.  Guilt free reading is the best.  I love to read, but when I'm at home and there are other things to do (laundry, dishes, shopping, etc) I always feel guilty about reading.  When I'm in the car waiting, I don't have to feel guilty.  I HAVE to be there.  Joe needs a ride home. 

So, you see, I am not just waiting in line, I am guilt free reading while I happily anticipate seeing the kiddo.  It's great.

balloons

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th - 2008

I love that all it takes to really make a little kid's day is a balloon.  A simple balloon can keep them happy for a long time.  It seems the older they get, the more expensive their toys get, and the less happy they are with them.

Ro and Josh were happy for a long time today playing with their balloons.

Oh, I also had to throw in a shot of these shoes.  I think they are hillarious.  They are Rowan's shoes, but Josh was wearing them for a while.  Addy was a little concerned that he wasn't going to give them back.

Sketches

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14th - 2008

Joe has a very active imagination.  Consequently, it is VERY hard for him to sit through sacrament meetings on Sunday.  I know he's a little old, but I still let him bring a notebook so he can draw during the meeting.  He has to be DOING something.  I'm just so impressed with his sketches.  He really has the ability to make something up in his mind and then sketch it quickly on paper.  I was always pretty good at drawing, but I can only really draw something if I'm looking at it.  I have never been good at drawing from the imagination.  I'm more than a bit envious of his talent.  

This took him like 2 minutes to do.  He'll probably be mad because he is also a perfectionist and probably won't think this is his best work because it's on lined paper, and he didn't take his time.  I think it's great.  Over the years he has made some pretty cool drawings.  I should dig them out and put them together in a book.  He has some really awesome dragons.  Maybe I'll post those some day.  

I really want to encourage him to develop this talent.  I think with some classes he could be really good.  It makes me happy to see him draw.

It's the Great Pumpkin???

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13th - 2008

I've mentioned Saturday night shopping before.  I can't manage to get the grocery shopping done, so Brian makes a late night grocery run so we can make it through Sunday without having to shop.  Brian then comes home with all kind of strange extra's.  It's a trade off.  I don't have to grocery shop in exchange for not making any (negative) comments about his weird buys.  If he's willing to shop, I'm willing to put up with extra's.

This is what he came home with this week (there were more, but this was the best).  

He was so pleased with himself.  I mentioned that it may be a tad early to be buying a pumpkin. Halloween is more than a month away.  He said he couldn't resist.  It was the perfect pumpkin.  It's perfectly shaped.  It stands up on it's own.  It has a cute little stem at the top.  It's not lopsided or caved in on one side.  It's PERFECT.  How can you pass up perfect?  I guess you can't.
Hopefully it won't be rotten by Halloween.  I'll let him gut it this year - just in case.

I LOVE having a husband who LOVES the Holiday's.  

Also today:  Brian & Joe went to the ASU game with Paul and Michael.  Sadly, ASU lost.  I went out to dinner with my mom and dad, and I didn't even feel like a 3rd wheel.  It was fun.  Thanks mom.  

Maverick

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th - 2008

I was flipping channels tonight on the t.v. and I noticed that this movie was on:

I quite enjoy this movie.  It first came out in 1994.  I remember because Brian and I were dating.  He really was not interested in seeing this movie at all.  I really wanted to see it.  So, of course we went.  He really is good about making me happy.  He ended up loving it.  

I haven't watched it in forever.  It was fun to watch it tonight.  It was like taking a trip down memory lane back to when Brian and I were first dating - all of the old places we used to go - driving around in his white, sporty nissan.  Staying out late and me ALWAYS falling asleep on the way home.   I can't believe this movie came out 14 years ago.  It seems like so long, but at the same time, like it was just yesterday.   

I love trips down memory lane.

Windstorm

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th - 2008

So, Adam and I are sitting at my parents dining room table, talking books (like usual).  Joe, Dallin, Michael and Alex are out back swimming.   It's pretty quiet in the house.  All of a sudden Adam and I hear this strange howling sound.  We both look up at the same time.  What?  We look out the window and it is blowing dust like crazy.  It happened so fast.  One second it was quiet, the next second, the wind is blowing furiously out the window.  Crazy.  

The boys couldn't let a day like this go to waste.  They quickly got out of the pool, and spent the rest of the afternoon running around in the blowing wind.
It reminded me of when I was younger.  We used to get actual monsoon storms back then.  Blowing dust, clouds, lightning rain.  I've always loved summer monsoon storms.  That was the best time to run the neighborhood and play.  While we didn't get any rain out of this one, the boys got to run wild in the wind.  

Homework

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th - 2008

Joe has been working on maps in school.  He was given an assignment to create his own map.   Certain guidelines had to be followed.  He was given a week to do a rough draft and a completed draft.  Every night I'd ask him how his map was coming.  He had finished the rough draft and had most of the final draft drawn out in pencil.  All he needed to do was color.  Unfortunately, he left that until tonight.  Of course, the map is due tomorrow.  He spent about 3 hours today making sure it was perfect.  He is a perfectionist like me.  Because he had scouts tonight, the last hour and a half he spent working on it was from about 9:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.  Notice his tired eyes in this picture?  

He will be tired in class tomorrow, but he did a great job.
I guess I can't blame him.  I was always a procrastinator when it came to school work.  I spent many late nights finishing up projects the night before they were due.  I think I work better under pressure.

Buzz and the Flag

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9th - 2008

I got to hang out with Joshua a bit this afternoon.  Two of his most very favorite things in the world are:  Buzz Lightyear and American Flags.

It was a good day for Joshua.  

Pumpkin Cheesecake

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8th - 2008

Brian and Joe went to Olive Garden for dinner tonight.  They brought me back some yummy pumpkin cheesecake.

Do you know what this means?  It means that it is getting closer to the Holiday season.  Cooler weather and Halloween are just around the corner.  It's that time of year for yummy pumpkin desserts.  And you know what comes after that?  Shamrock farms peppermint ice cream.  I wait all year for that.  It's coming.

I heart Books

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7th - 2008

Yes, it's another book.  What can I say, I love to read.  Well, a few days ago, I finished the book "The City of Ember".  Adam gave it to me to read.  It was a pretty quick read, and I liked it.  I asked him if he had book 2 in the series.  He said that he's been searching for it, but it's been hard to find.  So, Brian ended up ordering it for me off of Amazon.  In the meantime, I need something to read.  So, I raided Joe's book shelf.  I found this book:

Since I'm into kids fantasy books and I love dragon's I decided to read it.  It took me a few chapters to get into it, but then I was hooked.  I enjoyed it a lot.  The only thing that really confused me is that the book really has nothing to do with Dragon's.  Part of the draw for me to read it was the dragon pictured on the cover.  There is NO dragon in this book.  However, I enjoyed it quite a bit.  

The good thing is that it has not 1, but 2 sequels in the series that I look forward to reading.  I think I'm getting involved in too many book series though.  I currently have 5 different series' that I'm waiting for follow up books on.  I just started reading "The Dragon Heir" - a book 3 of a series.  I am waiting for "Brisinger" book 3 of the Inheritance Cycle.  "Inkdeath" book 3 in it's series comes out in early October.  And Now I have book 2 & 3 of the Ven Polypheme series to read, and I'm still waiting for my follow up of "The City of Ember" to come in the mail.

At least I will always have something good to read.

What are you reading?

Empty Room

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6th - 2008

Do you know what this is?  It is an empty room.  Do you know why it is empty?  Because Brian and Joe went to the ASU football game tonight.  

This empty room was mine all night.  It was great.  Did I mention how much I love ASU football?

Happy Birthday Darrel

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th - 2008

Today was a party day for sure.  Max has been asking me for a while if he could come over to my house, and if we could have popcorn and M&M's and watch a movie.  So, today was the day. Of course he asked if Ben could come along too.  When Sheri came to drop them off, I told her to go ahead and let Xander come too.  Michael was in the car, so he came and joined in on the fun.

The older boys mostly hung out in Joe's room.  

Ben was the only one who sat and "watched" the movie.

Max raided Joe's room for toys and pretty much hung out in this corner most of the time.  He did stop and watch certain parts of the movie.  It was Spiderman 3 - Max's pick.  

Tonight we headed over to Darrel and Trina's for cake and games to celebrate Darrel's birthday.  We let Michael tag along with us.  Ro had fun playing with the big boys.  Joe loves Ro.  They always have a fun time together.  

We played Buzzword (of course) and the girls won (of course).   I brought Trivial Pursuit to play as well.  I know that Darrel and I are really the only ones that love that game, but I thought since it was Darrel's birthday, we might get to play it.  Alas, no!  I'll have to bring it to my mom's some time while you are there Darrel.  Maybe we can play then.

It was a lot of fun just hanging out and talking.  I love Darrel, he is AWESOME.  His sense of humor just kills me.  It's the best.  He is really a lot of fun to be around.   Happy Birthday little bro.  I was going to post a picture of Darrel, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't like that, so I decided to be nice.  

The cutest puppies

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th - 2008

I got to play with 2 of the cutest puppies ever today.  This is puppy Addy.  Isn't she adorable?

Here are the puppies on the stairs getting ready to jump.

The puppy Addy is a good jumper.

The puppy Rowan prefers to climb on the furniture.
If only real puppies were this adorable, I'd get one for sure.

This was on my doorstep when I got home from playing with the puppies.  All I can say is woohoo!

5 minutes

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd - 2008

It's a good thing that we had a movie night last night, because this is about all I got to see of Brian today.  He got home from work, changed his clothes and he was out the door again for a meeting.  I got to see him for about 5 minutes today.

He is the new assistant scoutmaster in our ward.  I laughed and laughed when I found out.  I spent 3 years working in scouts.  Now it's his turn!

Some Enchanted Evening

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2nd - 2008

Brian and I used to have movie night once a week - usually late Saturday night.  We'd put Joe to bed and then each week one of us would take turns picking a movie.  We kind of fell out of that habit and haven't had movie night in a while.  So, when Brian suggested we have a movie night tonight, I was all for it.  He picked the movie this time:  Enchanted.

He's been extra busy at work.  They are trying to get the new store opened.  He had to work Saturday (1/2 day) and Monday, which was supposed to be a holiday.  So, I was happy to be able to curl up on the couch and watch a movie with him.  There's nothing better than hanging out with your sweetie.

He also brought home a bag of ice from Sonic today.  I love ice, and Sonic has the best.  I'm so glad you can buy it by the bag and bring it home.  
Yum!

Cartoon Sky

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1st - 2008

I know I've already done a post about clouds before, but I couldn't help myself today.  The sky was awesome.  Today was what Joe and I like to call "cartoon sky".   That just means that there were a lot of white puffy clouds spaced apart from each other and a beautiful blue color to the sky - just like you see in the cartoons(picture the intro to "The Simpsons").  It's so pretty, it looks fake.   

I don't know what it is, but I have a thing for clouds.  Whenever they are out in abundance, I want to take pictures.  I guess it's because living in Arizona, we don't get them much.  It's usually just glaring, blinding sunlight.

Also today was Labor day - no school.  Joe had a couple of friends come over to swim at my mom's this afternoon.  Michael, Dallin and Alex joined in the fun.  I think they had a pretty good time.

Lastly, Nadal won (again).  

Snickerdooles

SUNDAY, AUGUST 31st - 2008

I have a lot of nicknames for Joe - Bo, Ho Ho, Boss Man, mojo jojo - to name a few.  One of my favorites though is "Snickerdoodle".  There are 2 reasons I call him this.  The first is quite obvious:  His favorite cookies are snickerdoodles (and he's sweet like a snickerdoodle).  The second reason I call him this is because of the sprinkling of light brown freckles across his nose and cheeks.  It reminds me of the cinnamon sprinkled on the top of a snickerdoodle cookie.  This is one of his oldest nicknames.  I've been calling him this since he was about 2 or 3.  He's 11 now and I'm sure he would like me to retire this nickname, but I can't help it.  As long as he has that sprinkling of freckles, he will always be my snickerdoodle.

Here is a close up shot of his cinnamon sprinkles.

He actually earned another nickname this weekend:  ED.  It stands for: Easily Distracted.  Sometimes, to motivate him to go faster, I call him "Special Ed."  Am I mean or what?  It's ok.  He knows I love him

Do you have any nicknames for your kids? 

mushrooms, football & Mamma Mia

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30th - 2008

Today Joseph went to mow the lawn at my mom's house.  As he was mowing the front yard he came across a bunch of mushrooms growing in the yard.  For some reason mushrooms are fantasy, fairytales and magic to me.  I haven't seen one in the yard for so long.  They used to grow there all of the time when I was little.  When the weather was nice, one of my favorite things to do would be to grab a blanket and a book and hang out in the grass for a while.  So, I took a photo to try and capture some of the magic and memories of my childhood.

Tonight was the first night of the ASU football season.  Brian, Joe, Tricia and Jared went.  I was worried that Joe might get bored because he was the only kid going, but after the game he told me he had a blast and that Tricia is his new best friend.  He said they ran all the way back to the car after the game and then hid and, (to use Joseph's words): "scared the crap out of Jared".  I'm just glad that he had a good time.
Don't worry about me, I didn't get lonely while they were gone.  I went out with some friends to see the SING A LONG version of Mamma Mia.  Yeah, it's getting ridiculous how many times I've seen the movie, but it was way more fun this time because when I felt like singing, I COULD!  And at the end of the movie when my friend got up and started dancing and then made me join her, it was awesome.  There were 10 of us that went.  I had a blast.  Afterwards we went out to Chili's for some dessert.  Thanks to Karen for inviting me.  I had a great time.  

Addy's birthday party

FRIDAY, AUGUST 29th - 2008

Happy birthday to Addy.  Addy is cute, sassy, sweet, silly and tons of fun.  I love hanging out with this girl.  

Addy's birthday was actually yesterday, but her party was today.  I was lucky to be invited.  Mom and Max came with me.  When we pulled up to the house, there were no cars in front of it, so we were a little worried, but Max said that the kids mom's probably dropped them off.

He was right.  This is what he saw when he walked in the door - a whole house full of girls (there were actually more girls than are pictured here).  It was a tinkerbell party after all.  Max was a little mortified.  He made a beeline for Rowan's room and shut the door.  He hid out in there for a little while.

Don't worry, he found some of Rowan's toys to keep him occupied.  Ro and I even hung out in the room with him for a while.  Then, a bunch of girls came through the door.  He didn't say a word.  He just set down the toy, got up and silently walked out of the room.  He did eventually warm up.  He came out to decorate a goodie bag.  Trina got him his own Spiderman stickers to use.  He liked that.  He also liked filling it with tons of candy.

Here is Addy blowing out the candles on her cake.  I can't believe she is 4.  Time goes by too fast.

Then it was time for presents.  Addy's favorite movie right now is The Land Before Time.  She loves Cera, and was happy to get a Cera toy for her birthday.
I had to leave a little early to go pick up Joe from school, so I didn't get to see her open all of her presents.  The girls were so cute though.  They all crowded around Addy trying to get her to open their present first.  I overheard one girl saying: "Open my present.  It's awesome!"

Max came with me to pick up Joe.  I asked him if he had a good time at the party.  He said he did.  I did too.  Thanks for inviting me Addy.

I'm officially a magician's assistant

THURSDAY, AUGUST 28th - 2008

Today I was officially named Joe's magician assistant.  Earlier this week we ordered a few things off of a magic website.  The package came today.  Can you even guess how excited Joe was?  He had to practice his tricks a lot, and decided he needs someone to assist him, guess who got the job?  Me.  

This trick is awesome.  It's hard for a picture to do it justice, but he can spin this card and make it levitate.  It's not just lying on the couch there, it's floating in the air.  It's hard to tell with a 2 dimensional picture.  

He couldn't wait to show this trick to Brian when he got home from work.   Brian was skeptical at first, and had to touch Joseph's hands to make sure there was nothing on them - no string or anything.  After that, he was very impressed.

It was funny, after I put Joseph to bed for the night, I caught Brian playing with the levitating card, trying to figure out how it is done.  He couldn't.  He begged me to tell him how it's done, but, alas, a magician's assistant never reveals the secrets.

On a separate note, Josh and Rowan were both sporting their ASU shirts today.  Perhaps they are looking forward to ASU football season which starts this weekend.

Also, Rafael Nadal won his tennis match today and will advance to the next round of the U.S. Open.

Lastly - rain today.

Was today a great day or what?