Five Things about ME!

Here's some info about me!

Five things I was doing ten years ago:

1. Spending my first summer in HOT Minnesota
2. Working out at Lifetime Fitness with my all time favorite teacher, Mary
3. Dealing with a miscarriage
4. Enjoying 5 year old twin boys
5. Wondering where we would finally settle after the Orthodontic Program

Five Things on my To-Do List Today:

1. Put the whites in the dryer
2. Go to the park with friends
3. List a purse on Ebay for a friend
4. Paint the baseboards in Brooke's room
5. Workout

Five Snacks I Enjoy:

1. nuts
2. oreos
3. chips and queso
4. cheese sticks
5. diet coke

Five Songs I Know The Lyrics To:

1. I am a Child of God
2. The Greatest Love of All - Whitney Houston
3. Mamma Mia
4. I Love to See the Temple
5. Forever's as Far as I'll Go - Alabama

Five Things I'd Do If I Were A Millionaire:

1. Buy land and build a dream home
2. Be debt free
3. Donate lots to my kids' schools
4. Travel
5. Pay lots to get my hair done right

Five Bad Habits:

1. Biting my nails
2. Never closing cupboard doors
3. Procrastinating
4. Letting my car get disgusting before cleaning it
5. Picking at my face

Five Things I'd Never Wear Again:

1. A neon yellow "Guess" sweatshirt
2. Shiny lycra workout pants with geometric shapes - I made them no less
3. Stretch pants tucked into my socks - Rex will be happy about this one
4. Empire-waisted dresses - unless I'm pregnant which I'm not
5. A mini skirt

Five Things I Like to Do:

1. Talk on the phone
2. Shop for good deals
3. Laugh out loud
4. Get kisses from my kids
5. Go out to eat

Five Favorite Toys:

1. Computer
2. Camera
3. IPOD
4. Vitamixer
5. ???

Five People I'm Tagging:

1. Stephen and Rebecca
2. Darby
3. Dad
4. Liz, post it on the family blog :)
5. everyone else who may be reading

Thanks Lucy, this was fun!!

Mini Shrek

Brooke dressed herself one Sunday morning after her bath and this is what she came up with! She said, "Look Mom, I'm like Shrek!"

Do you see any resemblance?

It also reminds me of the that "oh, so famous" scene in Better Off Dead when John Cusack sticks all of those Q-tips in his nose, ears and mouth.

And Sparks Flew...

What is it about fire that boys love? Michael and Jacob love to light matches and I think Rex does, too. The last three years Rex has made it a tradition to visit one of the local firework stands to buy a lot of fireworks. We stick with the legal ones even though we were tempted to stop in Wyoming as we headed home from Utah last week.

The kids love it! We had a BBQ just with the Normans this year because Erin and Brooke had contracted Hand, Foot and Mouth disease in Utah at the Family Reunion. We lit some sparklers before it was dark and then moved on to some of the the bigger fountains. Two of our favorites were Pink Diamonds and Shooting Star.

What was most pleasing this year was to see that Brooke IS afraid of something. Many times I saw her cover eyes and turn her head. It actually surprised me. I thought she would be pestering Rex to light the fireworks HERSELF. She was careful as she held the sparklers and no one got burnt this year - yes, I think every year previously someone has received a burn.

As we waited for the Brighton Fireworks to start the wind began to blow and it started to sprinkle. We thought for sure that they would have to cancel the Brighton Fireworks because of the wind, so we took the girls in and started getting them ready for bed. After they were both tucked in we heard the first firework go off. We decided against getting them up to watch the show. Brooke could hear the explosions from her window, but we convinced her to fall asleep.

Happy Birthday America!

Brooke, Erin and Kourtney

Brooke showing us how to be careful with sparklers.

Joshua Norman - cute, cute, cute

Mom and the girls - a little out of focus but had to include it!

Master Firemaker

That was loud!

I can't find my shoes!

Do you ever hear your kids say this? I know I do. I also remember growing up and it seemed to always happen on Sunday morning. Either that or suddenly in one week the Sunday shoes didn't fit anymore.

On Tuesday I went to airport with Erin to pick up my sister-in-law. While I was gone Rex decided to go to Herb's for lunch (super yummy BBQ place here in Brighton). He couldn't find any of Brooke's shoes, so they took a quick trip to Payless for a new pair of sandals. I have to say the pair Rex picked out were adorable - see below picture. THEN Jacob decided to show Brooke a pair he knew she'd love. She, of course, did love them and when they got home I was a little shocked to see what she was wearing. Please, please, I hope she doesn't ask to wear them on Sunday to church.

PS If you can't tell from the picture Shrek's face in on the fake crocs.





Are these cute or what?!




Wow, are these cute or WHAT?!

I don't know what she is thinking half the time!

Brooke will be four on September 10th. She should be maturing right? Learning to control her impulses? Learning right from wrong? I'm sure on some scale she is, but on days like yesterday I just don't understand her. I could pull my hair out and if Rex had any on top of his head I'm sure he would.

I was downstairs cleaning up the kitchen. Jacob yelled to me from the landing upstairs and said, "Mom, you'd better come here quick." Rex heard Jacob and went to Brooke's room since he was already upstairs. I didn't rush upstairs, but I could hear Rex yelling, "I don't understand you Brooke. What were you thinking? Erin why didn't you stop her?" With my curiosity piqued, I went upstairs. Brooke had taken EVERYTHING out of all eight drawers of her dresser and had thrown it all on the floor. That must have been step one. She had also taken a good portion of the things hanging in her closet and thrown them on the floor. Rex was flabbergasted. He kept asking, "why, whhhhy, WHY?" We gave Brooke the opportunity to help, but there she lay on her bed. I told Rex that maybe we should take everything - including toys - out of Brooke's room since she didn't know how to take care of her things. He agreed that it was a good idea. Brooke started to cry and refused to help clean up. I took her to a timeout in my bathroom. It was actually a blessing in disguise. I needed to go through Brooke's clothes and pack away the winter ones. Brooke cried in the bathroom while I finished the job. I took some of her toys out to the landing to take down to the garage.

After church as we sat down to dinner Rex asked if Brooke would like to say the blessing on the food. Her prayers are usually somewhat strange. We often have to hold back the giggles as she prays. Yesterday was no different. In her blessing on the food she said, "And please bless me that I will be happy that all my toys were taken away." It was so matter-of-fact. The funny thing was half of her toys were still in her closet.

Tomorrow I'll write about her talk on baptism.

Packed

Kids say the darndest things, don't they?

Erin didn't used to be a picky eater. She used to love meat and scrambled eggs. Now the only meat she will eat is a hamburger patty or ground beef in her dad's cowboy goulash. I think it's a texture thing. There are some things she loves, however. Grilled cheese sandwiches are her favorite - not the kind mom makes, but the ones on white bread that you get when you go out to eat.

One night we went out to dinner. I can't remember where, but it must of been somewhere where Erin was able to order a grilled cheese. She was hungry and ate a lot. Unable to finish what was on her plate, she looked at us and said, "I can't eat anything else, I'm packed." Stuffed - Packed they mean the same thing, right?

Can I bring the blog back to life?

Well, I didn't go two months without posting, but it's close. I got so wrapped up in my digital scrapbooking that blogging took the back seat for awhile. I did over 60 digital pages in less than one month. Yes, I was a bit obsessed. :)

Blogging is so much easier to do than physically writing in my journal, but I'm still having a hard time making time. When I talk to my mom on the phone and I tell her something funny that one of the kids said, she will usually say, "I hope you're writing these things down." My mom has kept a journal ever since I can remember and she has captured memories that would have been long forgotten. I definitely need to be better. So if my posts start to seem ordinary or mundane it's my way of keeping my blog alive with consistency even if what I'm writing about isn't something fabulous.

Here's to many more posts - I hope (fingers crossed).