Things I Have Done

I got this from Molly's blog. It made me want to go to Europe. It did not make me want to go bungee jumping or sky diving! The bolded ones are the things I have done. If there are any that someone has questions about, just ask!

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

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

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Ran a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise (dinner cruise on the Potomac-I think it counts)

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (my Grandparents are my ancestors, right?)

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language (oesday igpay atinlay ountcay?)

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

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

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

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

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

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

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

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

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

I really wanted to add a 100 because the fact that it ends on 99 is driving me nuts!

My Kids

When I was called as the chorister in July, they only knew half the songs they were supposed to. [Guess that is what happens when the primary is understaffed and there hasn't been an official chorister for 4+ months.] I was so overwhelmed. I was certain that there was no way that we were going to pull it off.

They did. And beautifully.

Sunday was our Primary Program. I am SO PROUD of my children. Not only did they learn the songs, but they learned how to play the bells for "I am a Child of God". I bought a set of bells, and the primary bought a set. With 2, C-C scales (16 bells), we had enough for every child in the program to have a bell.

Every child, you ask? Yup. We are small in number, but it sure does make them a tight knit group. This picture is missing 2 that were in the program and 2 that were not (guess I need more bells!). They are sure adorable! This picture was taken at our practice. The back row, our Senior Primary, just had one of the service missionary couples called to teach them. The other 3 teachers are shown in the picture. I'll throw this picture in because it is related. Here are a few of my primary children at the Ward BBQ back in August. 2 were not in the previous picture.

Cakewrecks

I love this blog! There are some amazing cakes highlighted on "Sunday Sweets". I was in awe of the these, the amazing cupcakes, the Mario and Tim Burton wedding cakes, Lego Gotham, Wall-E, Autumn Awesomeness, and the amount of talent and time that went into the Muppets. But, true to its name, there are many wrecks on this site too (far more than the glamorous works of art). Jen's comments are hilarious! This site had me laughing so hard I was crying...multiple times. I'll leave you guessing as to which ones I found the most comical. If anyone needs a laugh today, I highly recommend checking out this blog! [Keep in mind these are cakes that people actually paid money to have made, or that are on display to purchase. Wow!]

Last Post for Today

So I have a few pictures that I haven't blogged yet. Most are of Taelyn (of course!). Sorry about the randomness of the pictures. They need to be posted for Grandma and Grandpa (#1 reason for my blog).

Taelyn has gotten to be quite the raspberry blowing pro. She usually ends up completely soaked down the front because she gets a little carried away.Just a random picture of her being a ham while I was taking pictures.

I took this because she used to hate being on her tummy. It was just recently that she learned that she can turn her head to the side to avoid grinding her nose into the blanket.

She also just started holding her own bottle. She knew how to before, but refused to. She prefers to eat with her arms up and hands behind her ears. I'll admit, it usually takes a little bit of a fight to get her to take it. I have to dangle the bottle an inch above her mouth, she fusses because she wants me to hold it, then she gives in and takes it on her own. And so the drama begins...

I've found the most effective way to get anything done around the house is to have a babysitter. When Riley isn't around, I've found a substitute. I hope this doesn't make us bad parents, but she LOVES Planet Earth. I've got Baby Einstein (all 30 million of them) in my NetFlix queue.

And the next picture is totally unrelated to Taelyn. Last week I had to go down to the RioTinto building (no, I'm not talking about the new Real Stadium...I'm talking about the new Kennecott Land building in Day Break). Before I could go in and have a meeting with one of their Engineers, I had to watch a 5 minute safety video and take a quiz. All I remember is that in an emergency, you don't run up and down the halls screaming (an option on the quiz), you call 2222. Oh, and they didn't have a north arrow on their evacuation map. I find that very annoying. Anyway, the RioTinto building is just south of the new temple. I got a few pictures before I left.

Oh, and I do have pictures of the new house...but they are on my camera's internal memory. Somewhere...in the remaining few boxes we haven't gotten to yet, is my camera cable. I'll find it this weekend so I can post pics of the house next week. The date may be wrong on them, too...but I did just change the date. Future pictures won't say it is January 2006!

Riley

Riley, our nephew, is living with us until he can move into the apartment/studio upstairs in the house we are renting. He has been such a huge help.

He fixed the kitchen sink so that the hot is hot and the cold is cold (it was backwards when we moved in).

He helped Jon fix the back door.

He helped unpack boxes in the spare room (partly so that he could move out of the living room).

He helped carry things to the garage.

He helped Jon fix the garage door handle so that it will close.

He helps with dishes.

He helped Jon get leaves off of the roof and out of the rain gutters.

He helped rake leaves.

Best of all, we have a live-in babysitter that is always willing to help with Taelyn. While we have been using evenings to continue unpacking (or to work on Jon's math homework), Riley will take Taelyn into the living room and feed her or play with her. Usually, they end up like this:

Taelyn's First Ponytails

A child of mine with ponytails at 6 months...

who would have thunk it?

Tribute to Food Club

Top 10 reasons why I love the food club:

10-Fun way to be involved

9-Multiplying the recipe by 5 wasn't too bad

8-Pan size is large enough that we usually have leftovers for lunch

7-Saved us while we were moving

6-Allows us to try new things

5-Can put it in freezer and save for another day, if so desired

4-Saves $$

3-Saves Time

2-FREE FOOD!

1-My favorite thing about Food Club is when I'm like: "Crap, I don't know what we are going to have for dinner... Wait! We have Food Club tonight!!"

I may be breaking rule #1 of the food club (there is no food club and we don't speak of it), but I LOVE THE FOOD CLUB! What is food club? Well there are 5 ladies, including myself, that are participating this time. Basically, once every 2 1/2 weeks I cook the main dish for 5 families. That is it. What do I get in return? Food delivered to my front door twice a week. Doesn't that create a problem with pans? No, because we all bought 3 identical pans at the start. At the end, we'll just make sure everyone is left with 3 pans. [Technically we only needed 2 pans each-for details, see the first comment for this post.]

Last night was our first time to cook for the food club. I was worried, but willing to give this "Food Club" idea a try. We made Italian Chicken and Couscous (except we only stuck chicken in ours because we have vegetarians in the club). It worked like a charm...other than Jon took over and I didn't get to help much...

6 Month Checkup

We had our 6 month checkup on Monday.

Weight: 14.62 lbs (25th percentile)

Height: 26.25 inches (75th percentile)

Head Circumference: 42.5 cm (75th percentile)

Vaccinations and flu shot were not the highlight. I cried...again...

Tagged by Chelsey

So I started filling this out on Monday, but never posted it because I got too busy to finish.

8 Things


8 TV Shows I Love to Watch...

(maybe it is weird, but we don't do TV...no cable, satellite or even an antenna. We do love NetFlix. Here are a few things we have gotten into with that:)

1: Monarch of the Glenn

2: Planet Earth

3: Myth Busters

4: Murder She Wrote (watched while I was on maternity leave...but by season 9, they all started to feel like re-runs)

5: Sliders (also watched while on maternity leave...loved seasons 1-3, 4 was OK, never made it through 5--could see why it was cancelled)

6:

7:

8:

8 Things That Happened Yesterday...

1: Walked to church

2: Had 1 hour of singing time in primary to prep for the program. It exhausted me. I even sang "Stories I would tell him to ask me". The children thought it was a hoot. Can't believe I'm so tired I'm mixing up the words...

3: Walked home from church in the rain. It was cold and Taelyn hated being under the blanket. She insisted on keeping her hand out in it.

4: Sat in front of the window with Taelyn (she loves looking out our new window)

5: We both fell asleep

6: Went to the Keller's for dinner (such a huge help considering the stacked/packed disaster our Kitchen currently is)

7: Went for a short drive in the rain

8: Went to bed at 9:00!

8 Favorite Places to Eat...

1: Sawadee

2: My Thai

3: Cafe Rio

4: Greek Market

5: Citrus Grill

6: The Roof (special occasions)

7: McGraths Fish House

8: My parents house

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To...

1: Unpacking

2: Getting a washer and dryer

3: Thanksgiving at home

4: Fixing up the house

5: Setting up our grill that has been in a box for 3 1/2 years

6: Taryn's B-ball season starting (I loving going to her games)

7: Going to the Roosevelt Institute fireside on the 30th (speakers: my mommy and daddy)

8: Spring Break vacation (haven't decided location yet...)

8 things on my wish list...

1: Washer and dryer

2: A back door that opens without a fight

3: Leaves raked

4: Bicycle Trailer for Taelyn

5: Bike for Jon

6: New tires for the Camry

7: I'm with Chelsey on a day at the spa

8: A cruise...someday...

And I won't pass this one on because I think my usual "Tag-ees" are getting tired of me...