Family Home Evening

We always try to have Family Home Evening, but it doesn't always work out how we plan.  We went to In-N-Out for dinner since I was pooped after making jam (see previous post) and then headed home for a lesson and scripture reading.  We ended up playing around with the camera.  Well, it was mostly Bryn playing with the camera, but I guess that's okay.  We had a good time together.  And after the play time, we enjoyed my peach cobbler......yum-O!

Peaches

I ordered a 29 lbs. box of peaches from a woman at church who gets them from Utah (not sure how) and so today I dove in and made jam and peach cobbler.  I just about burned the house down while making the jam.  I had two pots going at once.  I added pectin to one pot and then turned around to rinse my hands and by the time I turned back around the second pot was overflowing all over my flat, glass-top stove!  I moved the pot off the heat and the jam bubbled up all over the stove top.  Then it started to burn all over the stove top, so of course the house filled with smoke and I had a MAJOR mess to clean up.  I used a razor blade and the special stove top cleaner and after a half hour it was clean.  What a pain!

So, anyway, making the jam was a long and messy process, but I'm glad I did it.  Mom would be so proud.  She'd also think I was stupid for letting the jam boil over.

Movie Review: Ghost Town

Dave and I had a little date last night after the Women's Broadcast at the church.  We had dinner at Carrabas (so yummy!) then we saw Ghost Town (PG-13).  It was really good.  There were a couple of parts where I nearly peed (how do you spell that?) my pants.  Very funny!  Someone told me that the British guy in this movie is in the British version of "The Office"....you know, that TV show.  I don't watch "The Office" that often, but after seeing this guy in this movie, I think I want to get ahold of the British version and watch that.  He was great!

Flashback Friday: 1980 something

Isn't this funny?  I don't know exactly what year it was.  It had to be 1980 or 1981.  I'm sure my sister (aka Rainman) could not only tell me what year, but the exact date and time this was taken.  Can you tell which one is me? Vicky is at the top; Steve is to the left of her and Dave is to the right; the bottom row is me, Jodi, and Nancy.

This is me....taken around the same time as the other picture.  Check out that orange kitchen!  You should have seen the linoleum.  It was pretty groovy.  This may be why I love orange :-)

Tag!

My friend Shilo put this on her blog, so I've decided to play along.

10 Years Ago:

1. I was living in Layton and working for Deseret Book.

2. Dave was working for AGLL....I think he was just their "head geek."  Can't really remember.

3. I spent most of my free time with Dave and my sisters, Nancy and Jodi.

4. I was only 25!

Today's "to do" list:

1. Give Nick a bath

2. Cut paper for Elisha and get it in the mail.

3. Find a guest speaker for super Saturday (anyone want to volunteer?)

4. Clean off my desk.

5. Get Bryn to clean her room (oh, the pain!)

6. Figure out what to make for dinner.

Snacks:

1. Cheetos!!!

2. Cheese

3. Ice cold water

4. Fishy crackers

If I were a millionaire:

1. Buy a new house.

2. Plastic surgery.

3. Pay off my siblings mortgages.

4. Pay off Cheryl's medical bills.

5. Fly all my friends out here to spend a week with me at a spa in Scottsdale!  Ya, baby!

6. Buy a lot more stuff from Stampin' Up!

The list could go on and on and on..........

Places I've lived:

1. Aloha, Oregon

2. Beaverton, Oregon

3. Rexburg, Idaho

4. Modesto, California

5. Salida, California

6. Bountiful, Utah

7. Layton, Utah

8. Syracuse, Utah

9. Avondale, Arizona

Jobs I've had:

1. TCBY

2. Blimpie

3. Courtesy Clerk at Albertson's

4. Graded papers and vacuumed for Brother Couch at Ricks College

5. Don's Mobile Glass

6. Townsend Opera Players (no, I didn't sing....just office work)

7. Deseret Book

8. Bureau of Licensing for the Department of Health, Utah

9. Mother (hardest job ever and most rewarding!)

That was fun, now it's your turn.  Tag, you're it!

Gateway Children's Museum

This last summer while we were in Utah, I wanted to take Bryn to the Gateway Discovery Children's Museum located at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City.  I had heard wonderful things about it and hoped Bryn would have a great time there.  I'm glad we went, it was lots of fun.  If you have a chance, take your kids!

We took Bryn's cousins with us - Alex and Holly. You won't see Alex in these pictures because he kept running away from the camera. 

This is Bryn and Holly enjoying lunch at Applebees before we went to the museum.

Building together with huge, soft blocks.

Riding a fake horse that was on a fake farm.

I liked this part....it was a little grocery store where the kids could gather lots of different items and then "check out" at the register.

This was a station within the grocery store; it was a deli.  All kinds of breads, meats, and other sandwich items (all plastic) to put together any way they wanted.

Yummy!

Ginormous Legos.  There's Alex in the background.

This was my favorite.  And I think it was their favorite too.  They were there for the longest time.  They could see themselves on a monitor up above and there was a teleprompter (spelling?) between the cameras.  There was a station off to the side where someone could change what was on the teleprompter.  They could even record it and play it back.  Very cool!

This is a real helicopter parked on top of the building.  The kid in the front kept screaming like he was under attack.  It was very annoying.

There are lots of other cool things.  It was really great.  We will definitely be going back there.  I'm sure Nick will love it when he's older.

Cards

Peaceful Sundays, like today, always put me in the mood to play cards.  My sister, Vicky, and her family are so much fun to play cards with.  I know, I know, some of you are out there thinking we are so horrible for playing cards, and on a Sunday!  Well, in our family, playing cards is our time to talk and laugh and have a great time.  We don't bite the heads off chickens or chant or anything like that, so don't worry.

This is Hayley, Todd, and Janelle.  Todd thinks he's the best, but we all know better.

Hayley took this picture right after Bryn had fallen down.  She was really upset.  We had her lay down on the couch while she calmed down and we all went back to playing cards.  Hayley said I was a bad mom for leaving her on the couch while I went back to having fun.  Oh well, as you can see from the picture, she eventually stopped crying :-)  I can hear Vicky now saying, "My kitchen was such a mess, why did you put that picture on your blog?!?!?"  Well, I was there with my two kids, Nancy was there with her two kids and we had been there for almost two weeks.  Our stuff was everywhere!  I can see Nick's tippy cup, the baby monitor, toys, and crackers all left there by me.  So don't blame her for the mess, blame the guests.

I wish I was there right now playing scum.

Flashback Friday: Wax Museum

My friend Becky has had "flashback fridays" on her blog and I thought that was a fun idea.  Hope you don't mind I stole your idea, Becky:-)

So here is a scary one.  I grew my bangs out in early 2002.  NOT a good look for me.  These are pictures of me and my nephew, Alex (Nancy's oldest), at the Wax Museum in Anaheim, Ca.  Dave was there for business, but Jodi and Alex flew down to play with me and Bryn.  I had to see this museum, and now I can say I've been there and I never have to go back.  It was kind of creepy.

This is my favorite shot.  It's not a good one of me, but I love Donny Osmond.

So there you go, weird wax figures and me without bangs.

Funny Cocoa

I mentioned earlier that Nick thinks animals are funny......well, this is a clip of Nick and Bryn at Dave's Aunt's house in West Point, Utah.  We went up there this last July to visit.  They have this cute little dog named Cocoa.  Anyway, Nick kept laughing every time the dog would bark.  Bryn didn't really care about that, she just wanted to make a video with my new camera.

I love this clip!

Spelling Problem

I don't spell well.  If you read the post about Nick and the horse, you already know that.  He didn't try to gauge the horses eyes, he was trying to gouge them.  I found out what the difference is on the Merriam-Webster website.

Fun with Nick

Today was a good day with Nick.  He didn't drive me too crazy like he usually does :-)  These are just some random shots of him having fun.  One thing I've got to mention about Nick; he loves animals.  He loves them a little too much.....he likes to grab them, slap them, pull their hair.  He thinks they are so funny, especially when they make noise.  So you'll notice that in the picture of Nick with a horse and a few of his cousins, Hayley had to hold his hands down so he wouldn't gauge the horses eyes out!  I hope he grows out of that.

Jodi

Today is the 3 year anniversary since my little sister, Jodi, died of a prescription drug overdose.  She was only 28 years old!  Way too young.  I've heard in the in the news that this has become a huge epidemic, especially for teens.  Don't take pills unless you really need them! (Deborah, I'm watching you :-)

Anyway, Jodi had her problems, like all of us do, but she was also funny, goofy, wild, sleepy (most of the time), crazy fun, a good cook, and a fun Aunt to her (then) 9 nieces and nephews.  Most of all, she was my best friend.  She was 4 years younger than me, but we were always together....her school friends were my friends and my school friends were hers.  I really miss our trips to Target, California, Oregon, Chilis, TGI Fridays, Tepenyaki, the Roy Aquatic Center, and all the times we'd sit around laughing and playing cards.  Sadly, Nicholas won't get to go to Legoland with her or play "go fish" with her, but HE WILL know who she was.

We miss you, Jodi!

Pest Invasion!

These people (Ann and Tim of Beaverton, Oregon) are like parents to me.  They are also pests!  I say that lovingly.  Ann and my mom were very, very good friends and Tim was my Bishop when I was younger.  I guess my mom and Ann bugged each other all the time, so they started calling each other pests.  I don't know who started it, but it has spread....she calls me pest, her daughters use to call me and my sisters pest, I called them all pests, and now she has told Bryn to call her Granny Pest.  Too funny!  Anyway, they came to see me yesterday and I'm so glad they did.  It was so nice to see them!

I love Jennifer Wyeth Photography!

A friend from our ward told us about Jen.  She is a great photographer.  We had her out to our home to take a few shots.  We were hoping to get at least one good one for our annual Christmas letter (which I didn't send out last year).  Well, as you can see, she did an awesome job!  We love you, Jen.  Thanks so much!

She has a great blog: imcallingtheshots.blogspot.com

I highly recommend her!

Payback

I love having a camera.  I love to get lots of shots of vacations and my kids and other family members.  This is my nephew Alex.  He does not like all the pictures I take.  When I saw him this summer, he would not pose for any pictures.  He'd either make a crazy face (like this one) or run away.  Well here's what you get, Alex.  I'm showing the whole world this weird picture of you.  Maybe next time you'll smile real pretty. (ha ha ha)

My first post!

I'm very excited to have finally created a blog.  Hope you all enjoy it.  If you don't, I don't want to hear about it :-)