My "Done It" list....

Today is my birthday. I'm not going to publish how old I am, because it's old enough. :) But I've seen this list on a couple of other blogs and decided to, well, steal it because it was fun. All of the items in bold are things that I've done or experienced. Maybe I'll be able to make a few more of them bold in the years to come!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii....but I hope to soon!
5. Watched a Meteor Shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland...and I'm going to DisneyWorld the end of January! :)
8. Climbed a mountain...but do i have to get to the top for it to count?!
9. Held a praying mantis...I think I have, but I tend to block memories that include bugs....blech!
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill *gasp!*
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping....in the Sea of Galilee no less.....
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse - lunar and solar
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run....does Wii Sports count?!
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors...recent ancestors, none foreign...yet!
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt...and it was LATE!
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa...technically, Egypt is in Africa, but there's a lot more of Africa to see! Maybe someday.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma...and I can also add: bone marrow (ouch!)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp, but I have been to the Holocaust memorial in both Jerusalem and Washington DC
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person...floated through it on a raft for 7 days...AMAZING!!!
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible - New Testament: yes. Old Testament: lots of parts of it, but not the whole entire page by page thing.
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - a chicken
88. Had chickenpox...TWICE!!!
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby...3 times
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake...I live in Utah, but haven't stepped a foot in it....but I have swam in the Dead Sea. It was a painful experience. Just a head's up, don't ever shave your legs and swim in the Dead Sea on the same day.
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Three years....wow! Since it felt like it was just a year ago that we welcomed this sweet little girl into our home, I am really having a hard time putting my brain around the idea that Ellie is turning three years old today! I no longer have a baby as my youngest, but a little girl. Although I am pretty sure I'll keep carrying her around like she's a baby, and thinking she needs to be rocked to sleep, etc.....Poor thing, I hope I come to terms with no more babies before she goes to kindergarten! :)

Ellie is such a little sweetheart in our family, although the controlling and in charge personality is emerging....they learn by example you know, and since she is surrounded by strong personalities, she is not going to grow up to be a pushover! Ellie has a very advanced vocabulary, and she pronounces her words well. It is hilarious to hear her say kaleidoscope, "that is wonderful", "oh, it's beautiful", and use them correctly!

Ellie loves ALL THINGS PRINCESS! Which is fitting, because she is one! ;)

Happy Birthday Ellie! We love you, and all that you bring to our home. You have your whole huge wonderful life ahead of you, and we can't wait to sit back and watch you achieve amazing things.

Jared's Christmas Concert

The Kindergarten classes at our school put on a cute Christmas concert tonight. They did a great job! Of course, I am biased, but just a tad. The video is small, and not great quality, but you get the idea. In case you are wondering where Jared is, he's "Dasher" (He was very excited for his part, and jumped up a little bit early!)

I shall return....

As everyone can plainly see, my blog is lacking attention from ME! Life has been crazy busy, what with normal goings on, then add to that moving my mom out of her house, doing a mini-extreme makeover on her new place- which is still in progress- and then the Geography Bee to put on tomorrow. Whew! Something's gotta give! I think what I am most worried about is the fact that I am not ready for Christmas, in the least...so until the ducks get in a row, my blog is going to be very quiet.

So watch your Google readers for me to return, or check back in a couple weeks! Until then, have a great holiday season!

Great weekend.....mostly!

Well, Thanksgiving is over, done, and put away. Here we go with Christmas! Thursday was nice. Family, fun, and okay food.....my rolls didn't work and it sorta ruined it for me....and Ron. I did go get him 2 dozen good rolls the next day though to make up for it. They are now gone! I think next year, a nice idea would be to go to Mimi's cafe or somewhere that serves up dinner for you....no work, no dishes, just good food and then come home for a nap.....but then there's the no leftover issue..... Oh well. I have a year until we do it again, so no worries yet!

Ron and I planned on going out bright and early Friday morning for some shopping, but Jared decided to change our plans by getting very sick beginning around 1:30 AM......poor kid kept nothing down until about 3 in the afternoon. So I went a couple places alone but it was not all too productive. But I got some done, and a little more Saturday, so we are getting there in terms of Christmas gifts. It is so strange, I feel like I just got Christmas put away from last year, so I don't feel like I should be doing this yet!

Saturday we made our little excursion to the tree farm....pictures here...
The quest begins for the perfect tree....anything bigger than the stick Jared has is game....

After considering a few, including a very blue Blue Spruce(maybe next time, I don't know if I'd get sick of a blue Christmas tree after the first couple of days!) we found the perfect tree. Good height, color, straight, and lots of open spaces for our ornament collection.

The cutest picture of Ellie....she is starting to look so much like a big kid, which makes her mommy very sad! I am still in denial that she'll be three in a month! I guess I should get her potty trained and perhaps moved out of her crib. Ellie chose this itty-bitty tree as her favorite.....we told her that maybe when she's about 16 that tree might by bigger than the stick!

When we got home, we discovered that of the three long strands of lights for the tree that we had, only 1 1/2 of them worked. Lowes had mini lights on sale, so we just decided it would be less of a headache to get new ones...while we were at it, we switched from clear mini lights to multi-colored. A little change is always fun. While at the store, the kids found these fun Santa hats and had to pose:


The finished product!


I stole all of these photos from Ron's blog. How sad is it that I didn't pull my camera out once? I let him do all the pictures with his iPhone, and then he blogged them the same day, practically the same hour, on his iPhone. He's doing a better job of documenting things than me, so if you ever wonder what is going on with us because I haven't posted in a while....check out my husbands blog!

We have a very busy week ahead.....Christmas prep, and then my sister and her hubby come up to help with some work on my mom's new house. She closes on Tuesday, and then Wednesday evening we will start ripping out vinyl flooring and carpet, tearing down wallpaper, laying tile, and painting the master bedroom and some shelves....all topped off with moving her out of her old house on Saturday. I'm really wondering how that day and saying goodbye to that house will go. It was home for me from age 10, up until I moved out on my own. Lot's of memories there. I'll make sure to take some pictures.

I Am Grateful

• 30. A Testimony and belief in my savior, Jesus Christ, and His restored Gospel.
• 29. My blog, for giving me a way to quickly chronicle life and it's happeneings
• 28. Saltines and Gatorade....poor J is sick, sick, sick...
• 27. Family, Food, and Fun
• 26. Noggin, to entertain the kids. I'm a busy cooking and cleaning woman!
• 25. Prayer
• 24. Recipes and menu plans that make life much easier
• 23. Peace
• 22. Music
• 21. Kid cuddles
• 20. Creativity
• 19. Clean laundry
• 18. Sunshine and 70 degrees! What a beautiful day.
• 17. No more gray hair ;)
• 16. Cute nursery kids singing songs
• 15. Saturdays....the only time I get my husband home all day!
• 14. Nicole, my now 7 year old! :)
• 13. My almost 3 year old who makes me laugh on a daily basis.
• 12. A full nights sleep
• 11. Choices
• 10. Diet Dr. Pepper
• 9. A sense of humor!
• 8. The sanctity of family and marriage.
• 7. Good friends
• 6. Education
• 5. The snow we woke up to - my kids were SO excited!
• 4. A free country and the opportunity to participate in government
• 3. My husband's secure job
• 2. My husband
• 1. My health

Let's revisit July....

I was looking through my pictures today, and saw these nice toasty visions of some July activities....even the monsoon rainstorm the kids were playing in was pretty warm! These were all taken on the same day.

It was our little city's "Family Festival", so we were awakened early by a hot air balloon hovering just above our house. Close enough we could yell "Hello" to the balloon guys!

Then it was off to the parade. We like to set up camp in the round-about. You get closer to the action that way, meaning the kids get more candy and otter pops thrown at them--it's Halloween in July! See the construction going on behind Ron? I bet you can't guess what big-box retailer is coming in......oh....you did guess. Yep, it's another WalMart taking over the world. Close enough we can walk to it. Sigh. I plan on bringing a cart home with me when I visit the first time, and then I never have to share with anyone else and wonder what kind of germs are on the handle. ;)

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the park, enjoying the blow-up slides, entertainment, and the firetruck's "water cannon".



We then got hit with a very wet and strong monsoon! The kids had a blast running through it! Unfortunately, even though the rain stopped, the wind didn't and our big fireworks show was cancelled! Oh no! It's okay though. The fireworks guys camped out in the field that night and all through Sunday and Monday, so we got a fireworks show that night for Family Home Evening instead. With Walmart being open next summer, no one knows what is to become of the fireworks for our annual Family Festival, so it may have been our last year. So sad if it was....

Just had to share.....

My husband made this today.....I had to giggle!

**for any non-BYU followers, that's Max "Mr. SIX turnovers against the U" Hall sitting over there....the outcast!

Poinsettia Festival

Nicole's dance studio had a performance at the "Poinsettia Festival" yesterday. She was very excited to wear her new costume and get all made up like a ballerina, albeit a fluffy-haired ballerina! She did well, and it was evident she enjoyed herself with her never-ending smile while performing. It made her very excited for next months performance in the "Nutcracker"!

Happy Birthday Nicole!

I can't believe it's been seven years....