Another wintery day

So I stole these pictures off my friend Melanie's blog (thanks Mel, hope that was okay) so you who don't live here can be thankful that you don't have this much snow. If you do have this much snow, I'm assuming you're used to it, and you can then be thankful for all the moisture that you are going to recieve from the white fluffy stuff. These pictures are of Dan and Issac trying to dig Issac's 4-wheel drive vehicle out of the parking lot this morning. Once the guys got to school they learned that they were closing the campus after 10. Which, how smart was that? Make everyone come in the bad weather, then send them home in worse weather. Anyway, school is cancelled again tomorrow. I think it's interesting that they are cancelling everything. Even a lot of the roads were closed. I heard that if we had wanted to go to Moscow today we wouldn't have been able to because of road closures. I was supposed to have a primary meeting tomorrow, but I cancelled it because everything else was cancelled. I even only watched Maeli this morning for an hour. When her dad came by to pick her up he said that Beth got sent home from work because of the snow. Gotta love the snow.

I love Caden hugs. They are the best thing in the world. He snuggles up tight and then pats you on the back. He's really getting fun because he can understand what you are saying now, so he follows (mostly) directions like, "go get a book" "let's take a nap" and my favorite is after we read scriptures and pray he heads straight for the bathroom without us even saying "let's brush teeth". He loves to brush his teeth. He has just learned to nod his head yes, and his grin gets cheesier every time. Oh, and he's learned a new word "shoes" which mostly sounds like it's supposed to.

I made the best soup tonight for dinner (yes, you may all applaude now...it doesn't happen often, just ask Dan). It was a cheese and broccoli soup. I got the recipe off of some primary website (weird, but whatever works, right?) I didn't have everything so I called mom to see if I could substitube some stuff. Mom, afterall, is the substitute queen of cooking. Anyway, it was delicious and I'm extremely proud of myself.

Grrrr...

So, in my ice-skating blog I was complaining about how my camera took fuzzy pictures and died at random times and how it was time to start thinking about getting a new one. Well, instead of just thinking about getting a new one, now we have to. I accidently dropped it today. Dropping sometimes isn't all that bad (mind you it's never good to drop electronic equiptment, but sometimes they still work), but dropping it from our third floor apartment concrete stairs and having it fall to the bottom concrete floor it didn't survive. It stayed all together, just the batteries popped out so I had hope for it, but it won't turn on...I hope I downloaded all the pictures off it. Sigh, we just aren't having good luck with pictures are we? And for those of you who are wondering, no, I did not drop it on purpose. It fell out of my pocket, and I was quite upset by it. So, no pictures for a while. Grrrrr...

I took the kids sledding today. It was good to get out of the house. I called my friend Melanie and she brought out her daughter Kaycee to play with Kember. Kaycee sure is a lot more daring than Kember. She didn't think much of sledding, but her feet stayed warm this time. However, her hands did not. She decided that she wanted to swing instead of sled (which doesn't work so well in the snow, so she went down the slide instead). Caden was just bundled up so much he couldn't do anything. He's a good natured kid though, so he put up with everything I made him do. It helped to get out of the house and I need to do it more often with the kids.

Dan made dinner again tonight...it's he the greatest? He was probably so thrilled with the fact that I was in a good mood (I've been cranky lately) that he ... well, I don't know why, he just did. Did I mention he bought me flowers Monday night? He and Kember went grocery shopping and he came home with potted Calla-lillies (which was our wedding flower by the way). Awesome isn't he?

Maybe we can go look at cameras tonight. Any suggestions on brands and stuff?

Mini Stars

I'm having a lot of fun with this, and just thought I'd share. As always, let me know what you think.

Alright, alright, I'll answer some questions. I didn't want to since I really don't know what I'm doing, I'm just messing around, but I'm doing this on Adobe Photoshop, I downloaded free stuff from some different websites, and it's a 12x12 that I think I can get printed at Costco...although, the quality of these pictures aren't good enough to print, so I don't know what I'll do...

What do you think?

So this is my first time digital scrapbooking (with all the fun embellishments and stuff). Tell me what you think and give me some suggestions.

Relief? Joy? Happiness?

Dare I admit it? I think I do. The 2nd and 3rd blocks of church today were cancelled, and I felt...relieved. Don't get me wrong. I love church and I look forward to going each week. Today was my day for Sharing Time in primary. I love primary, and I love doing Sharing Time. It's fun for me to figure out different ideas to teach the kids about gospel topics. Today the topic was on the Creation. I planned ahead, and I thought about this lesson all week (didn't prepare it until the night before, but I researched and outlined everything before hand). So I get to church planning on going to the library to get my needed materials and....they don't have them; for two of my activities. Great! What was I supposed to do? They can only color for so long. Good thing I brought the play-doh as a "just in case". I had been praying and praying that this lesson would come together, and during sacrament meeting I find out that I don't have to worry about it because the weather is so bad that they are sending us home! Whew. Talk about relief. The bishop found me afterwards and asked me why I was smiling so big when he made the announcement. I told him that Sharing Time just wasn't coming together and this was an answer to a prayer (Okay, so I really don't think God sent bad weather just so I could get out of teaching Sharing Time, but I felt blessed anyway). The bishop just laughed and said he was glad he could accomodate me.

I can't believe how hard it's snowing outside. Last night it rained and was rather warm and I was expecting that again. Nope. I realize we probably don't have as much snow as our parents in Utah, but boy...I was looking forward to Spring. I don't know, maybe winter wouldn't be so bad here if they would plow or salt the roads, but since that's a bad topic I'll just let it go.

Ice Skating

After wasting most of the day we decided to go to the Stake Ice Skating Social. We invited our friends Heidi, Justin, and Colbie and saw a lot of other people we knew there. It was a lot of fun, but cold. In fact, I think it was colder inside the building than outside. Things are starting to warm up here a little bit. Coming home it was a whopping 35 degrees. Not bad...not bad at all.


So I took this picture of Kember right before we left and bundled her up. I didn't think she'd enjoy this outing so I wanted a happy picture of her. She ended up loving it and didn't mind the cold until we were finished skating and just standing around talking.



The reason Dan looks a little funny here is because he was stopping to talk to some people. I have no idea why the picture is so bad. Our camera is dying a slow death and it's time to start thinking about a new one.

These little things are the greatest. Colbie and Kember just had a blast pushing it around the ice rink. They are really good there to let you push your stroller on the ice too. We buckled Caden in some random persons (a friend of a friend) stroller and everyone took turns pushing the babies around. We didn't skate long...maybe a half hour, and I skated even less, but it was a lot of fun, and I'm glad the stake takes the time and effort to put activities like this on.
So I'm ashamed to admit it, but I'm getting more addicted to Dan's gamecube than he is. We went over to a friends house for dinner and they had a game called Donkey Konga. It's like Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero only with drums (bongos). Anyway, I was hooked, and so with my Christmas money I bought the game and two sets of bongos. It finally came in the mail yesterday (took long enough...I've been waiting and waiting and telling my friends all about it) and it's a blast. We even let Kember and Caden bang on the bongos. I plan on bringing it to the Linford family reunion this summer to see how coordiated everyone is. That should be funny. Dan beats me every time! It's pretty sad that I have no rhythm, but it's still fun to play.

Vanilla Flavored

Grandpa Linford would be so disappointed. "Vanilla is not a flavor!" he used to say. I wonder what that says about me...even if it isn't exactly accurate.

So, I was going to complain all about my day and tell you all how rotten it was, but since that's no fun to read, and since in the long run it really isn't important, let me just say that Daniel Johnson is the sweetest, bestest, husband in the world, and he was my life-savor today. Not only did he watch the kids immediately when he got home from work and let me hide in the bedroom, but he made dinner and let me eat it while still hiding in the bedroom. Yes, he is my hero, and I love him dearly.

Truly Blessed

Well, I did it. I took three kids out of the house and into a store. Yep, I'm proud of myself, it was a big deal for me. I took them all to the bank (thank goodness for drive-through banking) and then I made the trip to Wal-Mart. They were all really good and the only thing that was hard was figuring out how to get everyone in the store. I had Maeli in the carseat in one arm, Caden in the other arm, and then I decided it was best if Kember held onto the carseat. I usually make her hold my hand, but since I didn't have a free hand the carseat worked...until she slipped on some ice. She was fine, but it did prove to be an interesting afternoon.

I wanted to post some pictures of Kembers dance class (called Mini-Stars; the program is called Rising Stars), but apparently those are lost as well. Luckily my friend Heidi e-mailed me some, so here are a few for viewing enjoyment.

Kember started singing "I Am A Child of God" today. I was really surprised because we don't sing it that often. Occasionally in the car when I'm completely out of options and Old MacDonald one more time would kill me, and occasionally for family night. The Nursery must sing it every sunday. Anyway, she was just singing away, and when we sang it again for FHE (ya, we did it tonight instead of yesterday) Dan was really impressed. He always gets really shocked when she learns something like that. He asks, "Where did she learn that?" I really like to tell him that I've been working on it with her, but I definitely can't take credit for this one, it's all the Nursery. We decided that the lesson they learn on Sunday is what we are going to teach them for FHE. Today the lesson was on the creation. It was kind of fun to talk about the things Heavenly Father and Jesus made.

Caden has finally started to sign "please". He doesn't do it right, but we are taking it as a please. He also shakes his head "no" when he doesn't want something, and sometimes he just starts shaking his head. He squints at us with a cheesy grin, and I hope it's becauses he's trying to wink or just be cute...I'm worried that it's because he can't see though. Boy, if he got my eyesight he is going to be doomed.

The pipes in our bathroom sort of froze this morning. Holy cow it's cold. At 11:00 the morning with the sun brightly shining it was 17 degrees. Way too cold for me. Anyway...Dan got up early this morning and was going to get in the shower, but there was no cold water. Yes, you read that right. We only had hot water (and it was steaming hot) no cold. I find that funny and very ironic, but there you have it. The pipes couldn't have been too frozen though, because by mid-day the cold water was running again and the toilet would flush. Needless to say, we are letting the water run in the taps now so Dan can take showers that are a good temperature. We are really lucky that nothing serious happened to the pipes because I think we'd have to pay for it if they broke. Anyway, we are definitely watched over and blessed.

A Cold Wintery Day

Today, since it was a holiday and Dan didn't have school, we decided to go sledding down a big hill by our apartment. I think I spent more time getting the kids all bundled up than we actually spent sledding (when I say we, I don't include myself in that...I was the camera lady). Caden loved it, along with Dan. Kember was really cold (she got some snow in her shoes, so I can totally sympathize) and I think she's scared of sledding. We tried sledding last year with her too, and she didn't think much of it. Maybe we just need to play in the snow more. Caden really had a blast. He was digging in the snow and trying to walk, which was quite the feat since he was so bundled up. Here are some pictures I thought were cute.

Today was my first day watching Maeli for 3 hours instead of two. They are bringing her a half hour earlier and coming to pick her up a half hour later. I must admit that I almost wasn't out of bed this morning. The kids were definitely up and awake, but I had gone to bed late last night and didn't relish waking up (although, I never really do relish waking up...in fact I think it's right up there with my least favorite things to do). I ignored the kids for awhile until I figured it would be best to greet Maeli semi-conscious instead of mostly asleep. She's warming up to us and I was able to set her down a couple times today with out having her cry. I wonder if I should take her shopping tomorrow...I have a few errands to run, and it would be good to get them done early, and not that three hours is a long time, but it would make the time go faster. I think I'll ask tomorrow if that's okay. When I took her to play group it was definitely interesting to have three. There is a lot more juggling involved.

Another birthday

I'm so proud of myself. I made Caden's birthday cake, and it turned out rather cute, even if I do say so myself. Here's what it looked like.








If you can't tell what it's supposed to be, it's a train. I realize some of the cars look a little...well, funny, but I'm thrilled with them. I wasn't very happy with it in the beginning. I had frosted two of the cars and it just didn't look good, and then I realized I had forgotten the wheels...those helped a lot. I would change some things if I had to do it again, but overall I'm very happy with it...not to mention thrilled that I don't have to make it again!



Caden sure liked his cake. Here is some proof of that.



I think this picture is soooo funny. I know he doesn't look good, but his eyes are so funky looking.
So, that was our Sunday after church. We had, let's see, 7 couples (including Dan and I) and their kids...Our apartment isn't that big, but we all managed to squish in.

Church continues to be a battle (well, sacrament meeting...thank goodness for the nursery). I took both kids out multiple times. Kember once because she was naughty, and then twice because she wanted to go potty. After the second time of that, I realized that she didn't really want to go potty (okay, that was obvious when she didn't do anything on the toilet) but she wanted to see her friend Kaycee who was in the hall. Yeah, I'm a little slow, I know.

Caden has started this scream/squeal like a stuck pig thing when he wants something or when someone is taking something he has. It's rather grating, and he did it a lot during sacrament. The poor kid gets so tired though. I had a 9:30 meeting so Dan brought the kids over later, and he tried to give Caden a nap. Technically Caden should have had over and hour nap, but Dan said that just wasn't happening today. I took him during Sunday School and tried to rock him to sleep in the mothers lounge. He squirmed and screamed for awhile and was so wore out that he finally just sat on my lap. I really liked that. It was fun to just hold him. I'm sure sacrament meeting was a battle with Kember but I'm glad that I don't remember it being like this. Of course, we have different battles with her now. She doesn't understand the concept of "inside voices" or "whispering". Everything is shouted, unless you are trying to hear her, and then it's really quiet. Our stake is putting out reverent tips every few weeks, and I am hoping to start trying those at home so Sundays can be more of a spiritual experience instead of a battle. I just kept thinking today though that I had my time for that before I had kids. Whether or not I took advantage of it was up to me. Hopefully I will get more time as the kids get older and even more when they are no longer in the house, but I feel like I should have prepared myself more somehow. Maybe these reverent tips will help. I'm sure most of it is our attitude and how prepared we are going to church.

How hard can it be?

Alright. So, let me just start out by saying that I'm not a fashionable person...in any sense of the word. Clothes, hair, make-up, even home decorating...not so much. However, today I decided that I would give it a shot. My home could use some sprucing up, and I thought I knew what I wanted. A slip cover. Yep, a slip cover for my couch so that it would match the three things I wanted it to match (Our home is such a hodge-podge of things that we've collected that nothing really matches, but I find it gives my home character). I found what I thought I wanted at Ross, and for a great price. $30.00 for a slip cover is not bad I found out. Anyway, once I get home I'm really excited about it and I make Dan try to help me put it on. I've watched Trading Spaces. I know slip covers can be tricky, but "how hard can it really be?" I think to myself. Dan didn't last that long and ended up hiding in the computer room. I was vaguely distraught, but I thought to myself, "I don't need him, how hard can it be?" Okay, ten minutes later and it still isn't working. "Fine. I'll call Beth. She has a slip cover." I place the call and I must have sounded pretty pathetic. Even though it's snowing pretty hard out, Beth and her little family come to the rescue! Kind of...it turns out that I have t-cusions and the slip cover I bought was not for t-cushions. Beth actually made it look pretty good, and we were discussing different options to make it look better (throw pillows for a splash of color and cover-up, a little sewing here, a little something there...Beth said she was really good at faking it, and hey, that totally works for me). I finally decided to ask Dan what he thought, and he just came right out and said he hated it. The color, the look, the...well, everything. Well, I guess that settled that, didn't it? I'm very proud of Dan for telling me what he really thought. He's getting much better at that. I'm also very glad that Beth took a lot of time to help me (I called her once to help me hang up curtains too, because apparently I'm rather inept and can't do things by myself). Their trip wasn't such a waste though (from our point of view at least). Jeremy helped Dan with some computer stuff, and Dan is thrilled that he can get on the internet on his computer, and I'm thrilled that he will leave my laptop alone. Yes, I'm rather possesive..it's mine and I don't want to share if I don't have to. So I guess I'll be making a return to Ross. Hmmm, if they don't put the money back on the card, I guess I'll just have to go clothes shopping...maybe this wasn't such a disaster after all! :)

Just so you can all see my great decorating sense, here is a picture of our very first apartment after we got married and were going to school in Logan. You can't really see it in this picture, but the carpet was blue and green shag...besides the fact that it hid really really really big spiders (I think they were hobo) it was awesome. It needed to go, but it was awesome.
I was going to stop writing, but I just thought I something I want for my record. Kember has a habit of taking off her shoes when we get in the car. I will admit that this is a huge pet peeve of mine. Not necessarily that she takes them off, but that I have to put them back on...especially since it's winter and I can't send her upstairs barefoot in the snow (I have been tempted though). Anyway, whenever she does this we always tell her that she can't get out of the car because when she takes her shoes off it means that she wants to stay in the car. She doesn't think much of this idea. We leave her buckled in with the door open and then walk away. I don't walk far, just enough so she will think about keeping her shoes on next time. It actually works pretty well, and we haven't had to do it all that often (although, once is more often that I'd prefer). Dan took Kember grocery shopping today and they saw a dog in a car. She asked Dan why the puppy was in the car, and Dan told her that the dog had to stay in the car because it took it's shoes off. Kember then scolded the dog and told it to leave it's socks on. Dan thought it was pretty cute, and at least it's getting home to her, even if she hasn't grasped the concept of actually leaving the shoes on.

What could be better?

I've been looking forward to this all day! What could be better than pudding, food coloring, kids, moms, and messes? Sounds awesome doesn't it? Yeah, it was loads of fun. I got the idea from my friend Trista Teeter (she's a good parent and actually plays with her kid). So I invited some friends over so their kids could finger paint with pudding. And just so everyone knows, vanilla pudding does dye well with food coloring. The kids didn't really get it at first, especially when I told them that they could eat it too. But they got it after a while, and it was just fun to get a little messy. Actually, they all stayed relatively clean..even my kitchen floor stayed pretty clean. I was expecting really big messes, but you can see for yourself that they were just too cute.

Kasey Bott, Madi Harper, and Maeli McLain (she didn't get to play in the pudding...Caden didn't either) and their moms came over and they all had a lot of fun. I think they liked eating it more than anything else though.

Today was just a great day all around. I took Maeli to play group in Moscow and stayed there until it was time for Beth to pick up Maeli. Dan was home when I got back (he had a break before his test today). Then it was lunch time, nap time for Kember, and Caden and I just played (well, he ate his lunch...he's an eater...look how happy he is about eating).

Anyway...Dan got home from his test (I think he did okay) and we got out the new potty I bought for Kember and her big girl underwear (thanks grandma J) and the plastic underwear I got. She was very excited about the underwear, not so excited about the plastic stuff (by the way, the only reason we got the stuff out is because Kember found the plastic stuff and wanted to wear it...we are not potty training yet, but I figured it couldn't hurt to get her used to it), and very excited about her new potty. I turned on a movie for her while she sat on it, and she actually did a little poop in the potty. When I say little, I mean little, but hey, it's progress. Anyway, here are some underwear and potty pictures I thought were too cute to pass up.

The thrill, the excitement, the....let down?

Yes, it's official, we now have the internet! Dan has been waiting and anxiously pacing for his new harddrive and internet stuff to come, and today was the day. He said that today was a really long day because he wanted to come home and play with his new toys (although, when he got home they hadn't come yet). So after all the suspense and aggitation the UPS man delivered Dan's things (I even had to ask the neighbor to accept the packages because I was going to be gone for an hour and Dan couldn't handle another day or two wait). This picture is him opening the internet stuff. He's a cutie isn't he. Anyway, the reason for the let down is because for some reason we don't have any disks/cds of our operating system before our computer crashed. We only had the old system from a different computer. I don't understand it all (Dan really tried to explain it, but I was cranky and out of sorts) but the old operating system wouldn't recognize the ethernet cable? which meant that the internet wouldn't work on Dan's computer. After calling Dell and working some stuff out they are going to send him the stuff he needs. He ended up putting the internet on our lap top (thanks mom and dad, you've saved us once again). If any of this isn't correct or doesn't make sense, talk to Dan. I tried.

So, Caden had his year check up today. Our little tyke (and I mean that literally) is in the 4th percentile for weight and around the 20's for height. So much for thinking I can turn him around in the car seat soon. Poor Caden...five shots and a iron test, which in my opinion hurts more than the shots. I know they only pricked his toe, but when my iron gets tested, it tends to hurt quite a bit more than I think a little prick should. On top of that his diaper rash is back in full swing. But at least we found out that it's a yeast infection on top of the diaper rash. I thought it looked like one (trust me, I have plenty of experience from all of Kembers), but I thought, "Boys don't get these as easily, so it must be something else." Apparently diaper yeast infections are quite common in boys and just as easy to get. So now I know the problem, we can get it fixed. Anyway, he was having quite a rough day today what with one thing and another. While he was screaming away at the doctor's I did discover two new teeth coming in. So he has two more coming in on the bottom, and two more coming in on the top. He will have a whole 8 teeth really soon here. Poor guy, apparently the saying "when it rains it pours" is true for him.

Happy Birthday Caden!

Well, today was my little man's birthday. He looks like he's having a great time in the pictures, doesn't he? Truth be told we (Dan and I) didn't do anything today for his birthday. I forgot until about 10 o'clock this morning...and Dan forgot until his friend Issac reminded him. So why do we have pictures of him opening a present and playing with a balloon? Because we have a very thoughtful friend named Melanie (Issac's wife) who brought him over a gift. Wasn't that nice? Someday my goal is to be as thoughtful as she is. She's always doing stuff for our family. When I had Caden she made a poster and hung it up outside our door for when I came home from the hospital, she got me a birthday present (Dan forgot my birthday that year) and a whole plethora of other things. She's pretty cool, and not because she gets us stuff, but because she is so thoughtful and thinks of others. We have many friends like that and we feel very blessed. As a side note, we do plan to have a little party (aka have our friends over for cake and ice cream) on Sunday. We will see if that actually happens, but what can you do?

I just got back from a primary meeting where we were trained as a presidency by the stake primary president. She's from our ward and she has a very great spirit about her. Anyway, while in the meeting she was trying to make sure that our Secretary knew what her responsiblities were and I said, "She does everything" and immediately afterwards I felt really stupid for saying that and I hope my other counselors weren't thinking that I was discounting all their efforts, because I wasn't. They are amazing and they do everything I ask and more, and they are great, so now I feel really bad and I'm hoping it was just one of those things that I think about how I was stupid and no one else noticed...let's hope if they did notice, they took it in the spirit that it was meant. I was trying to show appreciation for my secretary. She does a lot and she's about ready to have her second child soon so I was trying to let her know that she's great and I ended up putting my foot in my mouth. Ah well, what can you do?

This is just a picture of Maeli (I watch her in the mornings). Dan came home early last friday and all the kids attacked him. Yes, Caden is running around without a diaper on, but it was to help with his diaper rash. He has been keeping a diaper on since Sunday because the rash is slowly getting better.

So I'm thinking about potty training Kember. The key word is "thinking". I've been thinking about it for quite sometime. A lot of people I know are doing it and I'm feeling the pressure. Not that they are pressuring me, but their kids are Kember's age or younger so I feel like I should be doing it too. Anyway, I probably still won't potty train for awhile, but we talk about going potty a lot more (although, every time I ask her if she wants to use the potty she says "no") and we even watched Elmo's Potty Time (Thanks grandma!) today. I even think I'm going to buy her rubber underwear (sounds weird, but my friend swears by it).

Ooo, I made dinner tonight (and last night) and just thought that I would document that feat.

That's enough randomness for one night. Let's hope Caden's year check-up tomorrow will be great and they shots won't be too bad.

I look like a Celebrity

I know I already posted today, but this was just too funny. Not at all accurate, but fun!

105 things about Dan

1. He loves computer games
2. I can’t get his attention when he’s into said games
3. He likes to look nice for church
4. He hates getting kid gunk on him during church
5. He loves to eat, and I don’t mean just the food. He likes to savor things. Food should be an experience, not a chore.
6. If he wasn’t going to be a Vet, he once told me that he would be a chief
7. He then said he didn’t like to cook all the time (welcome to my world)
8. He can make-up a recipe and it actually tastes really good (unlike me…I follow a recipe and it doesn’t taste good)
9. He likes gourmet hot chocolate
10. He hates cats – well, he’s scared of them
11. He can stick his arm up the backside of a cow, and walk knee high in crap, but changing a diaper sets his gag reflex going
12. He likes to set goals and is a goal oriented person
13. He is a blue personality
14. He is a great leader when he’s passionate about what he’s leading
15. He would make a great senator, representative, government person except others comments really affect him
16. His favorite food is his mom’s meatloaf
17. He puts BB-Q sauce on most meat dishes
18. He is a BB-Q sauce snob. It can not be a generic brand. It has to be KC Masterpiece, Sweetbaby Ray’s, or something like that
19. He won’t eat generic brand Ritz crackers…we have to buy Ritz
20. He loves salsa
21. He likes to find exotic salsa’s (He had one with raspberries or something in Logan and he’s been raving about it ever since
22. His favorite candy bar is a Kit Kat
23. His favorite color is blue
24. His favorite horse is named Bullet
25. When we build a house he wants there to be a secret room
26. When he dreams, he dreams big
27. He has major heartburn/acid reflux problems and will probably have to have surgery on it eventually
28. He has a dry sense of humor
29. He’s hilarious
30. He’s even funnier when he’s with his brother and its late at night
31. He isn’t really a people person, but he has great people skills
32. He interviews really well, and is able to really sell himself
33. He likes his alone time
34. He needs down time when he comes home from school or work
35. This down time usually lasts for at least two hours and it takes place on the computer
36. He hates it when I’m mad
37. He really hates it when I’m mad at him
38. Because of this he’s really good at trying to fix my problems
39. He likes a clean house, but doesn’t clean (unless it really gets to him and he can’t stand it anymore, and then he makes me help him…which makes me mad, which starts the fixing problems cycle)
40. He would love it if dinner was ready for him every night
41. He has one brother and no sisters
42. He has a hard time understanding women (although, he would say, “who doesn’t?”
43. He has a lot of his dad’s characteristics and I hope he ends up just like him
44. He was in the Sunshine Generation as a child
45. He played with Cabbage Patch dolls as a child (ask his mom about it)
46. He loves Legos
47. He loves to build stuff
48. He wants lots of tools
49. He wants a parrot
50. His dog’s name is Curry (although how he can still call it his when it lives in Utah at the ranch and he hasn’t even taken care of it is beyond me. Right after he bought it he went back to school and couldn’t have a dog so his mom got stuck with it. She got him his shots and everything.)
51. He loves curried food
52. He served his mission in the Caribbean, and while he didn’t learn another language, he learned another dialect and it’s fun to hear him speak it.
53. He’s “followed” his cousin Ira to three different colleges (Snow, Utah State, Washington State). Okay, he really didn’t purposely follow him, it was just a coincidence, but we joke about it all the time. If Ira takes a job in Tremonton I think Dan should follow him there too!
54. He was on the All-State A & B Football team in high school
55. He used to be a lurp (tall and skinny) in high school
56. He was in a couple of plays during school, including The 12 Dancing Princesses and he had to wear tights.
57. He was a Sterling Scholar
58. He has a pretty good sense of direction and can’t understand where my own lack thereof comes from
59. He is a very logical person
60. He is a third year Vet student
61. He wants to work in a mixed practice
62. He doesn’t want to live back East
63. He wants to live in the middle of nowhere but in the middle of town, but with no neighbors around him…good luck, eh?
64. He enjoys watching movies
65. He doesn’t like to go to bed alone
66. When he hangs up a shirt in the closet he puts the shirt on the hanger crooked (I can’t explain it, but it’s weird)
67. He likes the table to be cleared off
68. It bugs him when he can’t sit on the couch because there is stuff on it (normally laundry I’m in the process of folding)
69. He doesn’t like unloading the dishwasher
70. He is pretty good about doing his dishes if the dishwasher is unloaded and he knows that it is
71. He loves to read and will hide in the bedroom for hours until I send in the kids to get him
72. He likes to go to the library
73. He likes to go grocery shopping (although, this might be just so we get the food he wants instead of the bland cheap stuff I would get)
74. He likes spicy food
75. He loves to get a good deal when he’s shopping
76. He likes to shop
77. He has to be in the mood to shop, and it has to be for something that interests him
78. He’s a morning person
79. The only times I hear him swear is in the car (not necessarily while the car is moving or while he’s driving…just in the car)
80. He drives a mini-van
81. He sold his Ford Ranger truck to buy the mini-van and it broke his heart
82. He can’t spell extremely well
83. He gets headaches frequently
84. He likes Dr. Pepper but I won’t let him buy it unless he is going to be driving for a long distance
85. Ibuprofen is the only thing that works for him…not Tylenol, Advil, Aspirin, etc. when he hurts
86. He is mild tempered unless he’s hungry or tired
87. He plays his music really loud
88. He has to have quiet to study, but he has to study with his study music…really loud
89. His study music is upbeat classical stuff
90. If he feels he said something stupid or had a bad experience then he replays it in his head over and over and over again
91. He is very creative
92. When he scratches his head and he’s wearing a hat he holds his hat in the same hand he scratches his head with (a dad characteristic, which his brother does as well)
93. He likes it when I wear perfume
94. He’s done a great job on my B-days (except the one he forgot) and Christmas.
95. He doesn’t do so well on our Anniversary
96. He took the GRE on our 1st Anniversary
97. He wore white socks with his black tux on our wedding day
98. He purposed to me after his dad told him to (I really like his dad)
99. 3 days before he asked me to marry him he told me we “needed more time to mature our relationship”
100. He is a proud father of two
101. He doesn’t like to dress Kember because he says that I’ll just end up changing whatever he put her in (boy, I did it once and I’m branded for life, I’m sorry okay)
102. If I got to bed before him he thinks it’s great fun to wake me up to say good night
103. He can fall asleep in 20 sec. if he’s tired, 2 – 5 minutes if he isn’t tired, and a lot longer if it’s hot
104. He likes to tickle me, especially since if I tickle him back it means war, and he always wins because he is so much bigger than I am (and the name of the game is “Dan wins)
105. I love him so much, and I’m very proud of him. He is greatness in its beginning stages and I can’t wait to see how the greatness forms. I love you Dan!

You look like who?

We are always told Caden looks just like his daddy.

funny eh? i always thought she looked more like me.

I think it's rather entertaining even if I don't agree with it?

Too much TV?

This is a very typical scene at my house...except the floor is normally a lot more, shall we say, cluttered. Boy, I wonder what they were watching, that looks scary doesn't it? Anyway, today Kember did the cutest thing when she was eating breakfast this morning. It went something like this.
“I swallowed bug!”
“You swallowed a bug?”
“Ya”
“Was it a little bug, or a big bug”
“little bug”
“what color was the bug?”
“Blue”
The blue bug got stuck half way down, and she had to tell it to “go down bug” She then went on to swallow two green bugs and a pink bug. She said that the green bugs were the best tasting. She was eating Marshmallow Mates at the time and I think the marshmallows became the bugs.
“I swallowed a bug!” comes from Disney’s A Sword in the Stone, which is one of her favorite movies. She always want to watch "Sword".

I'm very proud of myself today. Kember woke up from her nap and she was hungry. She said that she wanted to eat some ice cream (is that typical for little kids to just randomly want ice cream, we really don't have it all that much). I asked her if she wanted vegetables instead (yes, mom, i was thinking of you). She said she did, so that's what she got, and low and behold, she actually ate them too! Wahoo!! She ate more than cereal and fishy crackers today (although, she did have quite a few of those too)!

Caden seems to be feeling better. He's been just a little grouch lately. I was supposed to go to a baby shower last night, but he was screaming uncontrollably for about an hour. It was those frustrating crys where he wants to be picked up, so you pick him up and he doesn't want to be picked up, but when you put him down he starts to flop and hits his head. Way fun. Anyway, the point I forgot I was making was that he was all smiles today...at least at McDonalds (he got a lot of veggies and fruit today too mom, i promise). The all smiles, ready to giggle, laugh, run faster than he really can, wants to play Caden is who we've been missing lately, but was seen again today. He already has his two top middle teeth and I think the teeth on each side just popped through. I hope that is the reason for this awful diaper rash he's been experiencing. It still looks pretty bad, but it's slowly healing. Hopefully with the teeth poking out, that will help.

Well, I have babysat for a full week so far, and we are all still alive and happy. Better yet, it didn't seem to be a week at all, and we still really like Maeli! Caden especially likes her, but she isn't too fond of him. I can't imagine why, I mean everytime he's around her he's always poking her and taking her binky or something else...what's not to like about the little guy? Kember is a little mother to her. When Maeli crys Kember says, "shh shhh shhhh, it okay" and pats her on the head. The she comes running to me to tell me that Maeli is crying. It's cute, and we like her. So far, it's been a great experience for all of us (okay, I can't speak for the kids, but for me at least).

Well, this bracelet no complain thing (see first blog if you don't know what i mean) is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I apparently complain a lot...but I try to complain nicely...okay, complaining just isn't nice and I need to catch myself before things come out of my mouth. I blame the weather though. I wouldn't be complaining about snow removal if it wasn't snowing! At least I haven't caught myself bad mouthing people...that counts for something, right? Well, I'll keep trying to be better.

Well it's been a long day....well it's been a long, been a long, been a looong day

Yes, I know it's another naked or "neked" picture of Kember, but this one amuses me because when we got back from Utah (after 3 weeks) this is the first thing Kember did. She stripped, found her dance skirt and slippers and ran around with the horse. Yes, she does have a dance leotard to go with it, but did that make it on? Nope. She just likes to be neked.

On to other news in my oh so exciting life...the computer guys called us today with the results of our hard drive. For those of you who don't know, our computer died right before we went out to Utah for Christmas break. When we got home we decided to see if anything was recoverable. I really only cared about our pictures...no, we did not back them up like we should have, so yes, I was rather distraught about that. But, not to worry, I thought, they are sure to be able to recover some of our pictures. Alas, this was not the case. Apparently when your hard drive dies a horrible death like ours did, there isn't anything that can be saved. We did have the option of sending it some place, but the starting fee was $1500.00 and well, even though I think my pictures are priceless, our bank account just couldn't afford that type of hit to it, so...this is a general plea going out to anyone who may have any pictures of us at all...anything, really...please send them to me. We are trying to get everything we can back from family, so if you think we might be remotely interested in a picture, send it my way and you will be blessed and become my new favorite person named ... whatever your name is.

Well, my Primary meeting is over and done with. It didn't quite have the inspirational "I'm so excited and can't wait to start on these goals" type feel that I had planned in my head for it to have. The girls were all really good about it, but I wonder if they just felt it was a waste of time. However, I'm not too distraught because they are really great at what they do and are good to think about the kids and their needs, and how can that be bad? It can't! So, we are okay as a presidency, and I'll just leave the goal setting to Dan cause that is what he's good at.

Speaking of Dan...I should probably go pay him some attention.

Day 2 (a day of indecision)

So, I realize this isn't the most modest of pictures, and that some (sorry mom) won't approve...but I must say that I love this picture (even if it doesn't have anything to do with, well, anything). It was taken back in October I think, and it marks a momentous occasion...Kember has learned how to strip fully. I grabbed the camera instead of her diaper. Just thought I'd share this with you :) Kember really doesn't like to wear clothes, and I can't figure out how to get her to leave them on. We were at a friends house yesterday and she stripped twice (leaving the diaper on...this picture is the only time she's taken the diaper off) while we were there. Any suggestions for getting her to leave them on would be welcome, and in the mean time I just keep telling her that we can't go around naked.

This morning I got up earlier than I normally do, and spent a little time with Dan. It was rather nice to see him off in the morning. Maybe with some practice I could become a morning person, but since it isn't a new years resolution, or even really something I really want to work on, I suppose it's just a dream. My kids are sure becoming cuddlely...all this morning Kember just wanted me to hold her. I admit, it's kind of nice because she has never been like that before, but I was so stunned that I kept trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She normally only cuddles when she's sick, and as far as I know she isn't sick. I sure wish she would eat more though. She'll ask for something (normally cereal, but today it was yogurt) and then she won't eat it...and she definitely won't eat something if I make it without consulting her. This is a new thing. She's never eaten a lot, but the last couple days, she hasn't had much of anything. The only guarentees are fishy crackers and candy (not to worry mom, she hasn't had candy in a while, and I offer the green stuff...not that that is working any better than anything else).

Caden is getting more talkative all the time. He's been able to say, "what's that" for a while, and I swear he said "door" and "up" today. Oh, random thought, today in Kembers dance class Caden was dancing too. It was the cutest thing I've ever see. He really likes to sing too (or the hand movements that go with the songs). Kember insists that we sing the usuals (old macdonald or "eio" as she calls it, "ring'a'rosies", "turtle song", "abcs" etc.) and Caden will stop what he's doing and trys to join in. Course, when I say "we sing" it's me singing. Kember know the words and can sing them, but if I suggest that she sings them it's, "no, mommy sing it". Acutally, she says that for just about everything. "no, mommy read it" "no, mommy do it". Yep, I hear those a lot, along with "can't find it" (and did she look for it, nope...it's right in front of her).

I have a primary meeting tomorrow, and I'm really nervous for it. I plan everything out, and it just doesn't go like I plan. I end up being really ditzy when I conduct meetings. Tomorrow I want our presidency to set some goals for the coming year, but I just know that me bringing it up will sound like, "is that okay?" and then it won't be as powerful as I hope it will be. Ah well, Dan said he'd help me prepare (he's way into goal setting and he's a great leader) and I'm sure my prayers for help will be answered. You never know, we might cancel the meeting due to snow. It's snowed on and off all day today, and two of the activities I had planned for this evening were cancelled.

Well, I'm sure that's enough randomness for one night.

Random Ramblings

Well, after being hounded by my dear sister to start my own blog, I thought I'd give it a shot...although, besides my two sisters, who would want to read this is beyond me, but hey, it's your time. So, if you read this, add me to your favorites!
Yesterday we were given a challenge in Relief Society (or so I hear, since I don't go to R.S. any more...but they are pretty good at keeping us primary people in the loop). The challenge was to not complain, gossip, talk bad about people, etc. for 21 days. That way it will become a habit, and our world will be a better place. Not a bad idea, eh. Well, I admit that I've had to change my bracelet over (oh, they gave us plastic bracelets to remind us, and we move them to the other hand if we mess us), but I'm determined to give this a good go. We could all be a little nicer, right?
Dans classes started up again today. Boy, I didn't realize it at the time, but it was sure nice having him home to help with the kids. He came home for lunch and I almost starting crying when he left because I was in a rotten mood (yep, that's when my bracelet got switched) and the kids were all screaming and crying. He definietly does more than I give him credit for.
I started a baby-sitting job today. I am watching my friends little girl every day (M-F) for two hours in the morning. She wasn't extremely happy today, but I'm guessing it will get better when she gets used to us and a new schedule. And if it doens't, hey, it's only two hours.

See that large goose egg on my little man's head? Yeah, it's a doozy, i know. He got the bruise from, I think, hitting his head on his crib...then not so long later Dan said he hit his head on the corner of something and that is where the bump came from. I'm happy to report that he doesn't have a bump today though, just the bruise.
Well, since I'm new to this blogging stuff, let me know how to do it, and leave lots of comments.