Quick Funny from Brekken

Aaron and the boys were driving through an area with a lot of construction equipment and saw a crane with a big hook hanging from the arm. Brekken's comment:

"Hey, look at that hooker!"

A Brand New Car!

Last night, Aaron and I impulsively decided to get a new car for me. Because mine can't actually fit the whole family, and even to fit all the kids in it, we have to have Haley in the front seat. So even though my old car was completely paid off and still runs great, we decided it was time to replace it.

So I got up this morning and spent the whole time I was getting dressed, feeding the baby, etc. worrying over this new car. I was thinking things like: "What were we thinking?" "We can't afford another car payment right now." "Sure, it's nice, but we were managing with my old car." "How did we even get approved? Surely the financing company can see that we can't afford this!"

I was really stressed out and trying to figure out what we were going to cut from the budget in order to pay for this new car. It wasn't until I got to the driveway to see my old car still sitting there that it dawned on me that it had all been a dream. No new car. No new car payment. Whew!

Quick Funny from Brekken

I told Brekken I would fix his lunch as soon as I'd had a chance to use the bathroom. Anxious to help, he raced ahead of me to the bathroom. He insisted on helping me out by raising the lid and waited for me while I used the toilet.

When I had finished, he clapped his hands and exclaimed: "Great job, Mommy! You didn't pee in your pants or your underwear!"

Quick Funny from Preston

"Mommy, we should get a pig. Because a pig is a good pet. And when we had leftover food or food we don't want, we could feed it to the pig and he would eat it. He would be lots of fun.

And when we got tired of the pig, we could turn him into bacon and eat him."

Quick Funny from Haley

Overheard while the kids were playing:

"Preston, let's play a game where we pretend like we're brother and sister."

Rylen's Blessing & Vacation Time

It took me a while to get to this, but I had to finish up the 30 day blog challenge first. ;) So here is a collection of picture from our vacation in Vernal. I started out the week with big plans to take the kids to the dinosaur quarry and the natural history museum and other stuff... we didn't manage to do most of it. The time just went by too quickly! But we had a great time just hanging out with the family.
My grandparents and my parents in the picture with us. Yes, Haley is crying in this picture. She was upset over something, so she sobbed through most of the photos.
Aaron's parents and his sister were able to come out for the blessing, too. It was so nice to be able to have them all there. (Notice that by this point we gave up on trying to have Haley in the photos.)

I felt like I'd better share one picture with Haley smiling. All the kids love hanging out with Uncle Brian. They actually have 2 Uncles Brian... my brother and my brother-in-law. This confuses the kids a little - as evidenced by the time that Haley and Preston tried to explain to Aaron's parents that my sister Melissa was married to my brother Brian! We were quick to clarify that while I do have a brother named Brian, he is married to Michelle, not Melissa. Melissa is married to a completely unrelated Brian. :D

A nice picture of the star of the day... Rylen in his sweet blessing outfit. We were relieved that it still fit him, since he was 4 months old by the time he was blessed. (The other boys were not that old when they wore the outfit.)

While we were there, I took the kids out to roam around in my Grandpa's fields. I grew up running wild in those fields every day. We would hang out in the gulch, play on the rope swing, play at the pond, pick watercress from the creek, pick asparagus along the fences, play on the hay piles in the corral, stomp out "rooms" in the tall hay (we got in trouble for that one, actually), run from the cows (there was a cow named "Hot Dog" who did NOT like us and would chase us whenever she saw us in her fields)... so many fun memories! And in all these years, I've never managed to take the kids out to play in the fields. For that matter, I've never taken Aaron out there, either! So I finally got them all out into the fields and the kids had a ball. They loved roaming around out there. We didn't go see all the places I used to play - Grandpa has 80 acres, so it's a lot of ground to cover! But hopefully we'll have a chance to do it again soon so I can take them to more of the fun spots in the fields.
Preston in his leather "rock star jacket," as he calls it. He is VERY proud of that jacket.
We went to the park one afternoon with most of the cousins - my brother Brian was not in town, so his two kids were not there. But we had all the other cousins there. What a crew! Here are all the grandkids with grandma (my mom).
Two of my sisters - Melissa and Sarah - with their kids. I loved spending time with them during the visit! The girls and I had fun hanging out and playing Wii Tetris with mom.
No big story with this picture... I just think it's very cute! Brekken in his "Grandpa hat." Which means any hat he has stolen from one of his grandpas.

30 Posts: Day 30

I did it! 30 posts in 30 days! Here we are at post number 30...

Day 30 - A picture of someone/something you miss. And yes, I know the enormous dinosaur statue is an odd choice. But it's really what the statue stands for. This is the T-rex statue that stands in the middle of main street in my hometown of Vernal, Utah. And for me it symbolizes the fact that I miss living near my family.

As much as I like Colorado, lately I've been really wishing that I lived closer to my parents, siblings, and grandparents. It really hit me when we spent a week in Vernal visiting everyone lately. I enjoyed the chance to just hang out with my family doing nothing special. I loved watching my kids play with grandma and grandpa and their aunts, uncles, and cousins. And it really made me wish that we could do that all the time.

So yes, I miss the giant (23 feet tall, FYI) dinosaur just because it makes me think of Vernal and miss living by my family. I'd really like to just move back there. I could actually even keep my same job and just work from a home office. But there are the issues of Aaron's job and how to sell the house in a neighborhood where NOTHING is selling right now. *sigh* But I have hopes...

(By the way... this is far from the only dinosaur statue in town! There are numerous versions of Dina, the town mascot. She is an cartoon-like and cheerful brontosaurus in various shades of orange and pink. And then there are the more realistic statues at the old Fieldhouse of Natural History museum. And the statues at the new natural history museum. And a little bit outside of town is the dinosaur quarry - part of Dinosaur National Monument - where they dig up actual dinosaur bones.)

30 Posts: Day 29

Day 29 - A random picture from your photo album - page 5, 5th picture.

Well, I don't really do much with actual photo albums. All my pictures are in files on the computer. So I opened the 5th folder and uploaded the 5th picture in the folder. Here it is...

That would be a picture of Haley in her Halloween costume (note the date at the bottom of the picture) acting like a goofball. Hee hee - Nice laugh to start my morning - I'd forgotten about that picture!

30 Posts: Day 27

Oops... I somehow skipped day 27 and went to day 28. So I'll go back to day 27 today...

Day 27 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

This is my dad. Sorry, it's not a great picture, but the only one I could find just now! I love my dad. He's an incredible guy. He's always been there for me. I love going home for a visit and getting a big hug from my dad as soon as we get there.

I have great memories of watching sports with my dad. Saturday afternoons watching the BYU football games were a great time!

I also remember when my dad worked at the bakery... when we went to visit him at work we would always get donut holes. I'm still a fan of donut holes and always remember those visits to the bakery when I eat one.

Now my kids love spending time with Grandpa. They steal his hats because they love to wear "Grandpa hats." They can't wait for Reunion to come this summer and are already talking about how Grandpa will take them fishing (fair warning, Dad!).

I could definitely not imagine my life without my dad. I'm so glad to have him as my father!

30 Posts: Day 28

Day 28 - A picture of something that makes you happy.

As I was on my way to work this morning, I was thinking about the blog. Specifically this blog post about something that makes me happy. As with several of these posts, I had a hard time settling on one thing. There's my family - they make me happy. And my job - most of the time it makes me happy, too. And of course, my Kindle. ;) Really, a lot of things make me happy. I tend to be a fairly happy person overall.

I got on the bus and settled in, and it hit me. The bus makes me happy. I know a lot of people don't especially like public transportation, but I really enjoy riding the bus to work.

Chronically sleep-deprived as I am, the bus is my refuge. Especially on a chilly, dark morning like today, I love to get on the warm bus. I take a regional bus, so it has the nice tall seats where you can rest your head back and really relax. The rumbling of the engine makes the seat vibrate until it's almost like a massage chair. The engine rumbling also makes some nice white noise - white noise always relaxes me. The lights are off, so it's nice and dark. I sit back and close my eyes and nap for the hour it takes to drive to town. On days that I have to drive in for some reason, I really miss the chance for that extra bit of sleep in the morning.

The afternoon ride is nice, too. I generally read for a little while. It's nice to have that time to myself to read a book when I know that I don't have to interrupt to do something for someone else. That's my "me" time. And if I get a little drowsy, I can always turn off my book and take another nap. (Luckily I get off at the last stop both ways, so even if I didn't wake up the driver would kick me off at the end of the line.)

And of course, the fact that my company pays for the bus pass so I'm riding for free makes it all even better. So as odd as it sounds, I guess the bus is my happy place.

30 Posts: Day 26

Day 26 - A picture of your day.

My days are generally spent at work. I really enjoy my job because I like being a part of a good cause. Because the marketing gurus can phrase it better than I can, I'm just going to copy their words:

"Pregnancy assistance for first-time moms.

Nurse-Family Partnership helps first-time moms, just like you, prepare for the birth of your child and gives you the support you need to achieve your heart's desire.

Nurse-Family Partnership is a free, voluntary program that partners first-time moms with nurse home visitors. When you enroll in the program, a specially trained nurse will visit you throughout your pregnancy and until your baby turns two years old. During these visits, your caring nurse will offer the knowledge and support you need to confidently create a better life for your baby and yourself."

At NFP, I design education programs and materials for the nurses who deliver the program and the moms who enroll in the program. I love the chance to be part of this great organization!

30 Posts: Day 25

Day 25 - A picture of something you wish you could change.

Something I've attempted to change many times over the years - my weight! I've even had success at times, but never long-term. I keep trying, though.

30 Posts: Day 24

Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you were better at.

Okay, this isn't my house... because I always do my best to not TAKE pictures of my messy, cluttered house. But I wish I were better at keeping up with the housework. My house is almost always a mess because I just don't have time and energy to do anything with it.

On the rare occasions that I get it all cleaned up, I love it. I feel happy just walking in to the room. But before long it slides back to its previous state of disarray. I'm jealous when I walk into someone else's well-maintained, tidy home. But so far I can't manage to keep mine in that state!

30 Posts: Day 23

Day 23 - A picture of something that embarrasses you.

*sigh* Thank you cards. They seem so simple. Someone does something nice or gives you a gift and you respond by writing a little note to thank them. Actually, that part is simple for me. It's actually GETTING the card to the person I want to thank that poses a problem.

When Aaron and I got married, I carefully completed all the thank you notes. I personlized them with a little line about the gift we'd been given. I placed them all in envelopes. I just needed to address them and fill them out. And then they sat there. And sat there. I kept meaning to get back to them. And somehow I never did. We had been married about 8 years when I realized that I still had those notes sitting there waiting to be addressed and mailed. I gave in to the shame and threw them out.

Recently, I had lots of people doing nice things for me again. While I was on bed rest, quite a few people in the ward brought over meals. My friend gave a little shower shortly after Rylen was born and people gave me gifts. And I carefully wrote out a thank you card for every one of these people. This time I put them in envelopes and wrote names on the front - thinking we could just hand-deliver them. Eventually I wrote addresses on some envelopes, thinking that I would go ahead and mail them after all. And now, Rylen is 4 months old and I still have all those thank you notes sitting in a neat pile waiting to be delivered.

What do I do now? Do I add a little note on the back of the envelope explaining that I meant to send it earlier? Do I send it without explanation? Do I (and this seems the most likely) keep forgetting to do anything with them until I reach the point of absolute ridiculousness?

30 Posts: Day 22

Day 22 - A picture of a childhood friend.

This is my friend Sally, who was able to come to Vernal for Rylen's blessing. I was so thrilled to see her again! We (along with our friends Holly & Mandy) were practically inseparable from about 6th grade through high school. We spent many nights at each other's houses and had a lot of fun together. It was so fun catching up with her last weekend!

30 Posts: Day 21

Day 21 - A picture of you when you were little.

Hmmmm.... I bet you can't guess which one is me in this picture. ;)

As you can see, I've always had the unruly red hair! Actually, it's actually fairly well under control in these pictures. Which would be a good part of the reason I picked them to post! Sadly, during most of my childhood I was rocking the orange afro. Not a good look. LOL

30 Posts: Day 20

Day 20 - A picture of your favorite book.

Like the question about a favorite CD/album, I had a hard time narrowing this down. I love books and I love so many different authors. Depending on my mood, I enjoy pretty much any genre... though mysteries and memoirs are probably my overall favorite types.

When it came to choosing a favorite book, I narrowed it down to a favorite series. The "In Death" books are set in a futuristic version of New York City and are about a homicide detective solving crimes. I don't know what it is about these books specifically that has me so hooked, but I just enjoy them so much. I'm very invested in the lives of these characters. There are probably close to 40 books in the series at this point, and I've read every one. I get very excited when I hear that a new one is coming out - I even mark it on my calendar with a little reminder so that I can be one of the first to request it at the library.

30 Posts: Day 19

Day 19 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.

Yep, it's Mr. Rylen (as Haley calls him). With Rylen's birth, we went back to those early days of less sleep, more work (in some ways) that go along with a new baby.

We also went back to the days of long hours of cuddling a baby who'd not squirming to get down and go play. A child who can't back-talk me yet. And one child who actually stays put where I put him for a few minutes!

In spite of the sleep deprivation, I love these early months with a new baby. It's my favorite age, because I just love the sweet, cuddly baby who wants nothing more than to be held and loved. As Rylen is 4 months old now, those days are rapidly drawing to a close already. And while I love watching all my kids grow and learn new things and progress to new stages of life... I will miss these early baby days.

30 Posts: Day 18

Day 18 - A picture of someone who inspires you.

For those of you who are not LDS (Mormon), this is a picture of one of our church's prophets, Gordon B. Hinckley.

When I was in college, I took an institute class on the lives of the prophets. Everyone was assigned one prophet to research present to the class. I was assigned President Hinckley. To research him, I read his biography, Go Forward With Faith. It is a wonderful book and has so many inspiring, faith-building stories. I learned so much about him and found myself very inspired to be a better person and a better person. After checking it out from the library to re-read several times, I eventually acquired a copy of my own. Writing this post has reminded me how much I like it... I believe I'll have to put it on my list of things to read soon!

30 Posts: Day 17

Day 17 - A picture of something you like to do.

I love taking the kids to the park or to ride their bikes at the skate park. My favorite time of year is once spring arrives and we have light and warmth when I pick the kids up from daycare. We often stop at the house just long enough to grab sandwiches for their dinner and then head for the park. They eat bites of dinner in between running around the playground. They have fun. They think I'M fun for taking them. They wear themselves out so that bedtime is easier.

We hang out at the park until it starts to get dark or we know it's time for Aaron to come home. And because we've been playing and having fun instead the usual fights over computer time, or tv shows, or a favorite toy, or any of 1,000 other things kids can find to fight over, everyone is in a better mood for the rest of the night. A good deal all around!