The funniest card...

After the rankings came out following BYU's devastating loss to TCU, we received the following card from out landlord.




I laughed so hard when I saw it and I continue to laugh every time I see it.

A Video to Kick off the Weekend

What states have you visited?

I'm still doing the 31 for 21 Challenge, but I'm having such a hard time finding things to blog about. I found this map on someones blog and figured it would be fun to do.


visited 17 states (34%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

I think I need to take a trip to the East.

What states have you visited?

Weekend pics as promised

We had a pretty busy weekend full of singing, cheering, eating, and fun.

Jethro blowing out his candles.

No better way for Jethro to spend his birthday than at a
Cougar football game.

Cali playing with Taylor

Cali giving her cousin a hug.

Megan and Taylor

Mom and Cali

Cali's new look: "Don't even think about it."

Stylin'

The parents with all their grandkids.

Why am I so excited for this week?

1. Jethro has 45 days left 'till gtaduation!
2. Pack meeting for Scouts.
3. Nice Fall weather.
4. Grocery shopping is done.
5. Last night I finished both girls scrapbooks from last year.
6. Halloween.
7. Trunk-or-Treat.
8. Take girls on walks.
9. New menu. (I was getting sick of chicken.)
10. Do a lot of yard work on Saturday.
11. Chatterbox Cali.
12. Christmas projects.
    

Parents visit

My parents came to visit this past weekend. It was great seeing them. The girls love playing with the grandparents. I didn't get very many pictures, but I got this really cute one that I love.


Thanks for coming. Come again soon.

Happy Birthday Jethro!

Jethro turned 27 today. There are so many things I love about him. He is an amazing person, husband, father, teacher, example, and so much more. He absolutely loves football and I'm glad that he was able to spend his birthday watching a BYU home game. Even though it was an intense game, BYU won. One of his passions is football. He loves to just sit and watch it every Saturday. He is wonderful enough to let me watch the games with him. I love how he displays that passion (for football and other things). He will talk about it and talk about it forever and is so excited. I love him for who he is. I couldn't have asked for a better husband and sure am glad he was born. Happy Birthday Jethro! I hope you had a great day. You deserve it!

Stay tuned...

It's late and I'm tired I don't have much to right about, but stay tuned for some cute pictures from this weekend.

Kid watching

These last couple of days I have realized a few things. First of all, I realized how fast my kids are growing up. I was looking at pictures from the past year and can't believe how much they've grown. Less than a year ago Cali was born and seemed big. Now I look at the pictures and realize that she was kind of tiny and now she is huge! Katya has changed so much in the last year and it is absolutely amazing. Second, they learn so fast. So fast that it takes me awhile to realize what they are doing. There are times when I notice them doing something different and can't quite figure out what it is. Cali for example, would stand up and let go of whatever she was holding on to. For a couple of days I thought her hands just kept slipping of. It took me a couple of days to realize that she was purposefully letting go so that she could stand on her own like her sister. It's amazing to watch them learn new things. Often I am in disbelief at what they learn and how fast they learn things. Kids are so amazing to watch. I'm glad I get the chance to do it every day.

Katya- and Cali-isms

The girls waiting for a bath at Gideon's

One the things that took us a while to get over was the fact that Katya does things in her own time in her own way. It only took us a year to learn that it was OK. So, it was business-as-usual when we had to feed her a bottle while she was on our laps even after Cali was born. We knew she would learn how to do it eventually, but not before she was ready. Crawling and walking are the same way. We push her (we tell her to walk about 100 times a day, and she takes a couple half-steps and starts laughing and falls down), but don't get upset when she can't do what we think we should.

We have always, however, been very happy that she is our first because we don't have many expectations. When Cali was born, we were constantly amazed at what she did. She held her head up quickly, was way chubbier, and started holding her bottle at 6 months.

The other thing that is interesting is that Cali has started doing some things that we are pretty sure that other kids don't do, but Cali does them because she sees Katya doing it. For example, Katya does a Little Mermaid pose. She will crawl along, and then stop, stay on her hands but straighten her legs out so that she is on her stomach, and arch her back and lift her eyes to the sky. It is very cute. Cali has started doing that.

Another thing Katya loves to do is stand next to us while we are sitting or laying on the floor and raise her hands high in the air, and then fall on us. Cali has started doing that, too. It is very cute. I am sure there are others, but that is all I can think of right now.

One of those days

Does anyone ever have those days (or weeks) where all you want to do is pull your hair out and then curl up in your room and turn off your ears? That's what this week has been for me and it is beyond frustrating. I think Katya is turning into a real 2 year old. All she's been doing for the last 3 days is throwing her food without eating any, whining all day long, and not even wanting to sleep even though she is completely exhausted. I'm not quite sure what's wrong with her. Cali on the other hand cries if she hears or sees me and I am not right next to her. She will cry and cry until I go in and sit next to her. She will see me there and play, but the minute I get up to leave the living room- even for a second- she screams at the top of her lungs. A kid not wanting to sleep and one not wanting me out of a 3 foot range from her makes getting things done impossible. I am one who does a list everyday and gets frustrated if I can't get it all done. What am I to do?

Thanks for letting me vent for a minute.

Tagged Again

Sweet! I got tagged again. At least it gives me something to write about.

1. Where did you meet your husband?
We met in our ward at BYU-I. We were friends for awhile and then one morning I woke up and realized tat I really liked him a lot.

2.What was the first thing you said to your husband?
I didn't really say much, just slammed the door in his face. (I think it was my roommates pounding on the door so I would open it instead of doing it themselves- they did that a lot.)

3.Where was your first date?
We mostly just hung out everyday. I think our first "real" date was bowling.

4. Where was your first kiss?
April 4th at a park in Cottonwood Heights after General Conference. Jethro was taking me back to my friends place and we stopped at the park. The funny thing is that his sister lives near that park and everytime I drive by that area I remember that kiss.

5. Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?
Our courtship and engagement was pretty short. We dated for 3 1/2 months and were engaged for 3 months. Knowing each other before we started dating really helped.

6.Where did you get engaged?
He took me out on Lake Coeur d'Alene and proposed beneath a gorgeous sunset.

7.Where did you get married?
The Bountiful LDS Temple in Bountiful, Utah.

8. How did the reception go?
Perfect.

9. How was the honeymoon?
Of course it was fabulous. We were married in October and went on our honeymoon in December. We took a 4 day cruise from L.A. to Ensenada, Mexico. Cruising is definitely the way to go.

Now I am going to tag Shantel, Haley, Mandy, and Tammy.

Why am I so excited for this week?

1. Jethro has 52 days 'till graduation.
   
2. See my parent's this week.
   
3. BYU home game.
4. Mouse in our house was caught (let's hope there's not more).
5. Jethro's birthday.
6. Early voting.
7. Reorganized living room.
8. Computer is back and works.
9. Christmas projects.
10. Nice weather.
    

Amy and Dave

On Saturday we went down to Orem for Jethro's sister Amy's wedding. Congrats Amy and Dave!

I've been tagged....

Thanks Chelsee, for tagging me... This is actually been the first time I've been tagged so I'm excited to do this:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Starting my freshman year of high school. I had just moved to Oklahoma and
didn't know a single soul.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?

1. Dishes 2.Carve a pumpkin. 3. Go to church. 4. Clean up mouse
pellets that I found. 5. Blog

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Dark chocolate anything, String cheese, jerky, trail mix, hot chocolate,
Oreos, fresh fruit, animal crackers

4. Places I've lived:

New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho, California, Utah

5. Five things I'd do if I were a billionaire:

1. Pay off all our student loans. 2. Buy Jethro a new car. 3. Buy a house.
4. Invest/save 5.Travel

A List of 8:

8 TV shows I love to watch:

1. The Biggest Loser 2. The Office 3. College Football
4. Life 5. News (Either Channel 13 or Channel 5) 6. Eleventh Hour
7. American Idol 8. Las Vegas

8 favorite places I love to eat:

1. Panda Express 2. Costco food court 3. Olive Garden 4. Red Robin 5. Subway
6. Arby's 7. McDonald's 8. In-N-Out

8 things that happened yesterday:

1. Caught a mouse in our house. 2. Jethro's sister got married. 3. Saw my sister Megan.
4. Went to a surprise birthday party. 5. Made Jethro breakfast. 6.Took a shower (doesn't always happen).
7.Fed my kids. 8. Watched college football.

8 things I look forward to:

1. Jethro's graduation. 2. Seeing my parents. 3. BYU vs. Utah (I sure hope BYU wins!)
4. Getting all my projects done. 5. Jethro getting a principal job. 6. Katya walking.
7.Tearing down the garden only to put it up again next year. 8. The Holiday season.

8 things on my wish list:

1. Principal job for Jethro. 2. Katya walking. 3. Katya talking. 4. A house.
5. Jethro's car to last a few more years. 6. Financial stability. 7. More hands
8. More energy to deal with 2 kids AND get everything done

8 people I tag:

1. Tiffany 2. Candi 3. Stephanie 4. Pamela 5. Naomi
6. Kassie 7. Mackenzie 8. Kecia
(I don't know if any of you have done it or not, but I'm tagging you anyway.)

Sewing Projects

I found a rough pattern to do this purse on someone's blog and I altered it to my specifications. It was pretty fun to do. It ended up being a great birthday gift for my "sister-in-law" Autumn. Happy Birthday Autumn!

Terrified of my kitchen

Since we live in a basement, we get a lot of spiders. What I hate more than spiders is mice. I saw one this morning. Now I'm terrified to go into the kitchen. I can't wait until it's gone.

Sometimes I feel like I live on a farm... (Part 10)

I'm burnt out and I think my house smells likes grapes. I picked a bunch of grapes off our vines for grape juice. I think I did close to 60 jars. I borrowed a steam juicer from our landlord which made it pretty easy.

My favorite canning toy- the steam juicer

Lovely grapes preparing for a good steaming

The pink jars are white grape juice and the purple are concord.

The only bad thing about my doing grape juice is that I would forget about it and some would leak down and I burned it- twice. My house smelled like burnt sugar and smoked up a lot. Yuck. Maybe I need to pay attention more.

Adopted Grandpa

I love having adopted grandparents. I have adopted grandparents and I love having more people to call grandpa and grandma. The girls have adopted our landlord as their grandpa. Jethro's and my parents don't live around here so they don't get to see them in person very much (we do Skype though). Paul loves the girls and they love him. Katya gets so excited when she hears him walking upstairs or hears his voice. Cali smiles at him instead of screaming.

Monday FHE

On Monday we had some friends over to carve pumpkins for FHE. It sure was a blast. Have I ever said how much I love the fall?

Katya checkin' out the festivities

Carving- We really were carving pumpkins even if you can't see them

Sometimes I feel like I live on a farm... (Part 9)

We cleaned out the garden last week before it froze. I didn't realize how much squash was out there until we picked it all.


The only thing missing was about 5 pumpkins and 4 Hubbards. I think I'll end up canning a bunch. Paul luckily took all the stuff at the bottom of the picture and everything from the buckets on up is ours. Who knew you could grow this much squash.

BYU vs. New Mexico

After missing the Wyoming game, it felt like it had been forever since we saw the Cougars play. It was cold and was supposed to rain and snow during the game. We were dressed pretty warm and luckily no rain or snow. I sure do love college football.

Why Katya loves her daddy

All you can eat chocolate chip pancakes on Saturday morning. She sure is spoiled.

Cottonwood vs. East

Last Friday night we went to go see our "nephew" play football against East High. We got at half-time and it was pretty cold. Autumn and James always score sweet seats at the base of the announcers box so the wind was mostly blocked. The girls were tired and I wa afraid that they would just fuss all the time. Well, Cali fell asleep and Katya loved the game. She just kept clapping and clapping and smiling like crazy. It was a blast and James did pretty good. He recovered a fumble right at the end. Way to go James! Thanks Autumn and Big James for saving us seats.

Autumn, Cali, Day, Jethro, Big James, Katya

James is #93. Unfortunately my pics didn't turn out very well.

Sleeping Cali. I guess she was bored.

Staci, Cali, Big James, Katya

Here is Katya clapping. Her sleeves covered up her hands so she had a hard time, but it was so cute.

Finally!

We finally got our computer back! Yeah!!!

Here is a picture Katya's "painting" that I promised. Enjoy.

UDSF blog

Katya made it on the UDSF blog.

Check her out.

The only way...

The only way to keep myself from screaming and crying out in frustration is to take pictures of Katya sitting in her bed looking up at me all innocently after she took her pants off, dug into her diaper and smeared poop all over her leg and face. I think she even ate some.


I sure do hate poop.


Pictures to come as soon as our computer is fixed.

Why am I so excited for this week?

1. Jethro has less than 60 days 'till graduation!
2. BYU is still undefeated.
3. BYU vs. TCU on Thursday.
4. Canning just about done. Even though I love it, I'm getting burnt out.
5. Make puppets in Scouts.
6. Fall Time.
7. Jethro takes Comps this week. Good luck Jethro! I know you can do it.
8. Girls play nicely together a lot more.
9. No more weeding the garden.
10. Babysit kids this week.
11. The Office.

Prop 8 in California

Here is a rather extreme example of what could happen with Proposition 8 in California.




I know that most teachers are fairly liberal, but this idea is a little scary. Let me know what you think.

Morning View

This was the view outside my front door this morning. There was more, but I forgot to catch it before it melted. It's kind of nice to see the white stuff again.

In the mean time...

Our computer is in the shop having surgery right now so there won't be any adorable pics of our girls for a couple of days. When we do get it back, be warned that there will be a ton of posts in one day.

As for now, you can check out the clip of Katya' t.v. debut here or below. It goes quick, so keep your eyes peeled for her.

UPDATE #2 - Little Playdates on TV with Pictures

So, we watched it. Thanks Jason for letting us save it on your Slingbox. Here are some pictures in case you missed it. The girl on the right is Cami, our friend; she is wearing a shirt that says, "Got Tom" and her husband's name is Tom. Very cool. She is the one that invited Katya to become an overnight sensation.

Katya looking questioningly at someone off camera.

Here are Katya and Bree. Apparently, they didn't want to sit by each other in this shot.

UPDATE- Little Playdates on tv

Back in September when I talked about Katya's movie debut, I mentioned how a crew from Entertainment Tonight was there covering it for one of their shows. Well, tonight is the the night for it to air. They have mover it to The Insider instead of Entertainment Tonight and are calling it Baby Wrangling. If you would like to know what channel and what time it is going to be on in your area, here is the link to find out.

http://www.theinsider.com/
(just look on the left side where it says The Insider on t.v. Check your local listings)

There is a a short clip for tonight's show. The clip on Little Playdates is short, but if you would like to see it, here's the link:

http://www.theinsider.com/news/1250939_The_Insider_on_TV_Tonight

Happy Anniversary Jethro!

Who knew that 4 years could be so wonderful.

2004-The start of something wonderful.

2005

2006

2007

2008

I look forward to many more fabulous years with you. I love you Jethro.

First Haircut

Katya has a few hairs that have been hanging in her face for quite awhile and I just can't keep them out of her eyes. It has been driving me crazy so I finally took scissors into my own hands. I now have much respect for those who chose to cut kids hair. I had to have Jethro hold Katya while I trimmed and it was very difficult. I accidentally cute them too short, but they'll grw back and she usually has them brushed to the side.

Before

After

Sewing Projects

It has been a long time since I'd whipped out my sewing machine. I think the last time was May. Time sure does fly. My mom brought me a ton of fabric that she probably wouldn't use. I found the most adorable Winnie the Pooh print to make a baby blanket out of for a boy. I want to keep it for myself because I love the fabric so much. What do you think of the Winnie the Pooh fabric? (Click for a close-up)

Always has a trick up her sleeve

Cali has learned to climb on the fireplace and the stairs. She loves it. It makes me so nervous though. She's pretty good about getting off the fireplaces and let's me know if she gets stuck. The stairs on the other hand are a different story. She just sits on her but and turns around, whether there is a stair underneath her or not. I guess there are some things that I'd rather Katya not teach Cali. She sure looks cute when she climbs though.

A girl after my own heart...

How could I not love a girl who loves dark chocolate as much as I do.