Twilight Addict!

I had completely intended to update my blog today with all of the things we've been doing over the past month or so (since I posted last) . . . but I finally started reading Twilight yesterday and have been putting everything else off today to read! I hope to get it finished tonight! The bad thing is that Melissa just dropped off New Moon, so I might be up all night reading that too! I've got a bit of a cold, so it was actually nice to just relax, read, and be sick! Too bad Monday morning reality is coming quickly!

When I read about Bella passing out in Biology when they tested their blood it reminded me immediately of when I did the same thing! I'm a wimp, I know! It's not the sight of blood . . . it's the smell (sound familiar?) Not the smell of the blood though, it's the smell of the alcohol wipes that make me sick! Too bad that I didn't have a vampire to carry me to the nurse! Luckily, I did have a great friend that took care of me!

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I already have tickets to go with a bunch of friends to the premier of New Moon (I think I'll have a couple of extra tickets, so let me know if you want to come!). I turn 31 that day, but I hope I can party all night like back in college! Oh, the good old days of being young!

Updating my blog is still on my list . . . I just may need to get through the other three books in the series first! My friend Amy joked that I'm the last person in Utah to read them! Yeah, I'm a slacker!

In the dentist chair . . .

Mason is loving watching Handy Manny at the dentist. He didn't like it when the girl tried to polish his teeth. Hopefully the dentist can get to them! He wants the chair to go up and down.

Update:

Mason did NOT want to let the dentist look at his mouth either. Fortunately, I was in the chair in the other room and it was up to Dan to hold him down while they did the polishing. They found 2 cavities :-( Poor guy! We have to take him back in a few weeks and he'll have to be sedated in order to get them filled. There's no way they'd let him do the work without it--even if he can watch Handy Manny! I guess we'll have to be strict about no bedtime snacks after teeth brushing!

He did get to ride the chair up and down and got to pick a prize for "being good" (I'm sure they say that to all the kids). He picked a mini flashlight. We bought a couple at Walmart over the weekend, so he's been walking around with all three flashlights on.

Someday he'll cooperate . . . someday!

Squeak, squeak, squeak

Here's a video of the squeaky shoes I bought Tristyn at Swiss Days. They're super cute now, but I'm sure I'll be ready to shoot myself before she grows out of them! Thank goodness for the silencing plugs!

I wish I had video of when I first put them on her last night--she thought they were the coolest thing ever and it was funny to watch her take each step and revel in the noise she was making. She's a shoe fanatic and likes to go 'shopping' in our basket of shoes. She's already pretty good in heels. A girl after my own heart!

What we've been up to . . .

Just to catch up on a few things from the past couple of weeks:

We went to Bear River Mutual's 100th Anniversary party and the kids loved it! They had a yummy dinner, cotton candy, popcorn, and sno cones. Mason loved all the 'rides' (blow up playlands) and especially liked the miniature golf. After spending a few hours there, we stopped by the primary activity for a bit.

We had Suzy, Kambry and Melissa over for Cafe Rio and to play in the back yard. We had the ice cream truck stop for the first time and Mason picked the batman popsicle. He actually had a few good licks before it melted on the plate. Tristyn had a blast riding in the Jeep with Kambry and she even learned to push the pedal on her own.

The fun teachers at day care must feel bad for Tristyn since I never take time to fix her hair in the morning. So, occasionally she comes home with super cute hairdos. I love that her hair is long enough to do fun things with and just wish she'd hold still so I could fix it!

We skipped out on the Jenkins reunion at Grey's River because the weather wasn't going to be great. So, Melissa and I decided to make jam to send to Charlie in Rhode Island. I made strawberry and a couple of batches of peach and Melissa helped me make peach raspberry. So yummy! Too bad both batches of rolls I attempted to make for Charlie turned out terrible! I need practice baking bread (notice that I didn't include the photo of the rolls).




After several months of waiting, the day of the Poison/Def Leppard concert finally arrived! We had a great time with Melissa, our friend Ryan, and Dan's brothers Ric and Dave. The bass guitarist for Poison has a home by Ric's property in Mtn Green, but unfortunately he was sick that night so one of Bon Jovi's old band members filled in for him. I haven't seen that many tattoos and mullets since we went to Lagoon!

In honor of Bret Michaels, I pulled out the bandanas and the kids rocked out. This was the last photo before Dan shaved his facial hair (he was teaching a church lesson and also starting back at BYU).

This is Dan with just a 'stache. A little too Tom Selleck . . . he had it for about 10 hours.

We found this super cute 'dinosaur' (dragon) costume at Costco and I really hoped it would fit Mason for Halloween. As you can see, it's way too small, but he still had fun roaring while wearing it. Tristyn roared right back. I may put it on her one of these days!

Karen and Steve came to town to celebrate her birthday. They invited us to join them at Tucano's and it was soooo good! Thanks Dan for staying with the kids! Afterward we say The Proposal for the third time . . . so funny!

We took corn on the cob to a BBQ the other night and had a ton left over. I gave some to the kids the next day and Tristyn loved it! Mason also held it and nibbled a little bit, but no bites. He has loved helping us pick peas and apples from our mini garden and actually ate one single pea the other night. At least it's a start. He does like the apples from the tree even though they're a bit tart! The corn on the cob came from Dan's parent's garden. We were there last Sunday to celebrate his mom and brother's birthday.

Today Dan started his 2nd year of grad school. This is his official 'first day of school' photo. It was also the official start of the college football season and USU got womped by U of U. Mason and Dan still showed their Aggie pride and Mason has been saying 'Go Aggies' all day. Maybe it's time to introduce him to the bull in Logan!

And as if I need one more thing to occupy my time . . . I signed up to sell Miche Bags. Dan's sister, Julie, signed up a couple of weeks ago and she talked me into doing it with her. I've been maintaining her blog for her and am not sure when I'll get my own blog going--especially since I just created one for CTMH. Feel free to visit her blog by clicking the Miche link to the right. We are doing a booth at Novemberfest in Logan Thanksgiving weekend and I'll be doing a table for CTMH at a neighbor's house in a few weeks. So, wish me luck in squeezing that all in!

Mason starts preschool again next week so we went to an open house this week to meet his teachers. He still wants to go to his old classroom, but I think he'll transition okay. I'm grateful for the progress he's made in communicating since he started last November. He likes to type words on the computer using Word or Notepad. He'll type them from memory or copy words that are put in front of him. His favorite saying right now is "not yet".

We took Tristyn for her 15 month appointment this morning and she was 20 lbs 3 oz and 31 1/4" tall. I can't believe she's already that old! She's climbing and running and teasing and doing everything a healthy 15 month old does. She was super mad after her shots and I felt so bad. Mason had his flu shot as well . . . it's a good thing they're quick to forgive! Tristyn still likes dogs and will put her lips together to make the 'm' sound when we ask what a kitty or cow says. She'll say 'all done' and 'oh no' (mostly when eating). She loves it when Mason kisses her goodnight--it's so cute!

So, there you go! Thanks for reading!

New Close to my Heart Blog

I've decided that I want to separate my Close to my Heart info from my personal family information so that some day when I print a book from this blog it will be specific to my family. So, I will be posting monthly specials and promotions for Close to my Heart on my new blog http://ctmhmemories.blogspot.com/. I hope you'll click over occasionally to see the fun new scrapbooking products and ideas! You can click on the Independent Consultant icon to the right to link over!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

This morning Dan and I had the awesome opportunity to attend the broadcast of the 7th dedicatory session of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in South Jordan (can you believe it will take 9 sessions to broadcast to everyone). The only other dedication I've participated in was the new Nauvoo Temple that was dedicated in late June 2002. Dan and I had only been married a month and he must have been out of town or something because Melissa went with me.

The dedication this morning was very uplifting. It was hard when President Hinckley passed away to think of having a new Prophet. After all, he had been the prophet since I was old enough to even pay attention to conference! I love President Monson, though, and know that he is the current Prophet and that he receives inspiration and revelation on how the church should be directed. I also really like Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Bednar, who both spoke today. They are so easy to listen to and I know their talks were inspired as well.

Since we recently attended the Draper Temple open house, we didn't make it a priority to get over to this Temple's open house, but I wish we would have. The video they showed this morning of the grounds and inside the great edifice were breathtaking! I just love the beautiful workmanship and all the hours that go into each Temple. I can't wait to do a session there. We are so blessed to live within minutes of a handful of temples. I need to be better at taking advantage of any opportunity to go because I know the blessings are real and are great. I'm so glad to be sealed to Dan and to our little angels for eternity. The Plan of Salvation is the most comforting principle that the gospel offers and I'm so grateful to have a testimony of it.

Here are a few fun facts about this Temple:
*The Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple was the thirteenth temple built in Utah and the fourth built in the Salt Lake Valley, following the Salt Lake Temple (1893), the Jordan River Utah Temple (1981), and the Draper Utah Temple (2009).
*The Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple and the Jordan River Utah Temple are the only two temples in the world located in the same city.
*Until the groundbreaking ceremony, the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple had been unofficially named the South Jordan Utah Temple. However, to avoid confusion with the Jordan River Utah Temple, the official name was chosen to reflect the Oquirrh Mountain range.
*The spire of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple was installed atop the temple on July 11, 2008, immediately followed by installation of a gold-leafed statue of the angel Moroni.
*Lightning struck the angel Moroni statue atop the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple on Saturday afternoon, June 13, 2009, during the public open house. The powerful bolt of lightning blackened Moroni's trumpet, arm, and face. A replacement statue was installed on August 11, 2009, 10 days before the dedicatory services began. (Wow, I hadn't heard that!)
*The ordinance room murals in the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple were painted by artists who were called as "art missionaries" for the Church. (What a fun mission--if I could paint!)
*President Thomas S. Monson dedicated the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple on his 82nd birthday. The crowd gathered for the cornerstone ceremony spontaneously sang him a birthday song.

Temple History
*In his opening remarks of General Conference, held October 1, 2005, President Gordon B. Hinckley announced plans for the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple, the fourth in the Salt Lake Valley. He also noted that a site had been acquired for a fifth Salt-Lake-area temple in the southwest part of the valley, which has been set aside for a future announcement.

1-On Tuesday, November 28, 2006, the South Jordan Planning Commission wholeheartedly approved plans for the temple, which drew rave reviews from city staff and zero public comment.

2-Plans called for a 60,000-square-foot building with 63-foot high walls and a single spire reaching 193 feet heavenward, topped by the traditional gold-leafed angel Moroni statue.

3-On December 16, 2006, President Hinckley presided at the groundbreaking ceremony where he announced the official name of the temple as the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple.

(Information taken from http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/oquirrhmountain/)

Wow . . .

I made it to 11:46 today without a Dr. Pepper!  That could almost be a record!

Welcome to my Hut

Mason and Dan built this fun fort out of the couch and loveseat cusions and his little tent. He likes you to knock on the door before joining him inside (but don't forget to close the door behind you). It's a little cramped, but there is a door going out to the 'back yard', so there is some air circulation! Today we added the tunnels that go to another little area in the corner of the room. He's had a blast with it. Poor Tristyn can't get within a 10 feet of it though!



I bought this super flowery, not so pretty, couch when I was single and first moved to Salt Lake. I saw it in an ad and paid the lady and when I went to pick it up, no one was home. I don't remember who all was with us, but since the seller was a little shady, we got in through a window and were able to get it--I now realize how stupid that was. It was pretty dirty, but cleaned up well enough that we dared actually sit on it. Eight years later it's still mine . . . I'm such a lucky girl (that's drenched in sarcasm if you didn't notice). Hopefully I can get something to replace it soon--or at least as soon as Mason gets over his couch cushion stacking. If it was in our family room and I had to sit on it every day, but would have been gone a long time ago! It doesn't match anything in my house, but at least it's good for something!

Small Girl in Small Places

This kid loves to climb and loves to squeeze herself into small places, including baskets, under the table, in the computer armoire, and most recently . . . a kitchen drawer! When Mason was little I started putting odd and end things in the drawer that he liked to play with(containers, paper cups, etc). She discovered the drawer a long time ago, but this weekend is the first that climbed in (that we know of). She wasn't even being sneaky about it--she did it right in front of us.



Funny how 'no, no' means no one can do it . . . except for Tristyn! She just says 'no, no', laughs, and does it anyway. Who's in charge here, anyway?

On the Slide

This video was taken a while back, but it's cute.

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Mason's art

A picture for dad.

Mason has kept me busy all morning cutting out shapes for his masterpieces. A few minutes ago he had glue all over the table and a pile of it on the floor. He puts a quarter size glob on the back of each piece! He is great at turning the edge of paper into fringe and will (hopefully) soon be able to cut the shapes himself! :-)

Paint Project

After several weeks of housing the paint in our garage, we were finally able to get our front door and shutters painted. Dan also put on a nice new kick guard and door knob (great job, honey). Doesn't it look a million times better? We had a scare with the first couple of coats of paint because it looked turquoise, but thankfully after a few more coats it looks more like the color on the sample card!

We have a TON of paint left, so we're considering also painting our garage doors. I like the look of painted doors, but I'm not sure I love the color enough to have it on the huge doors. So, I'm taking a poll among all our readers! Leave a comment and let me know what you think . . . paint the garage doors or not??? (Keep in mind that if you say yes, we may recruit you to help prime and paint!).

Close To My Heart

As if having two kids, a husband, a house, a full time job, and a church calling isn't enough . . . I've taken on one more exciting endeavor--an independent consultant for the scrapbooking company Close to my Heart.

Several years ago (5??) my cousin Sharon invited me to her Close to my Heart scrapbook workshops. Little did I know that it would lead to a great love for preserving memories, both with traditional and digital scrapbooking (which I'm just getting into). Now that I have kids, it's getting harder and harder to find time to squeeze scrapbooking in--which is why I try to keep track of memories on this blog until I have a chance to scrap them. I felt like digital scrapbooking would be the answer to the problem, but I don't feel like I can completely give up scrapping by hand. I have too much 'stuff'. Plus, I absolutely LOVE the products and ideas offered by CTMH.

As excited as I am about CTMH, my excitement quadrupled last week when I received the new catalog and found out that next spring they are diving into DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING! So, I'll be able to use the same cute paper, embelishments and stamps on digital layouts! The design program, Studio J, is totally free and you don't pay a cent to use their templates or to design a layout until you print it from their site! I can't wait to find out more about it and most of all -- to try it! To read more about it click http://www.studioj.com/.

Here are a few of my favorite things about CTMH:

Their great idea books that show you how to use their products to quickly design a layout or card.
Their tough white core paper--you can sand, tear, crinkle, or distress it for a fun look.
Their coordinating embellishments (especially the ribbon).
Their acrylic blocks and clear stamps that allow you to see exactly where you're stamping.
That their stamps peel off the blocks and store conveniently in organizers.
Their chipboard Dimensional Elements that add dimension to your page.
Their fun Stamp of the Month promotions.
The creative consultants who have shared their talents with me.
That they make scrapbooking Faster. Simpler. Easier.

If anyone out there has any interest in scrapbooking and hasn't already looked into Close to my Heart, I'd highly recommend it. To View the Summer 09 Catalog click here:
http://www.closetomyheart.com/Ideabooks/Summer09USMyCTMH.aspx

If you're interested in any of the products or hosting a party (to get FREE stuff), let me know. Send an email or leave a comment if you'd like information on my personal deals and specials. Oh, and if you just need a girl's night to scrapbook . . . come on over!

Happy Scrapping!

Splish Splash

As Mason's potty training reward, he opted to go swimming instead of to Lagoon. We spent a few hours there Saturday morning and both kids had a blast. Mason jumped off the diving board by himself a couple of times--it was the first time he'd ever gone off a diving board, so we were really surprised (and proud). Unfortunately I didn't have the camera out and we couldn't get him to do it again, so I don't have a photo. He also went down the water slide a couple of times on his own. Dan went down first and waiting to catch him at the bottom. His face is so funny in the photos.



Tristyn didn't want to get into the water, but I set her on the 6" edge and let her kick her feet around and she was fine with that. A little later we ran in and out of the really shallow end and she thought that was fun. It didn't take long before she was tuckered out and needed a nap.

Mason doesn't do well with the hourly pool checks and we have to fight him to stay out of the water every time. Lately he has wanted to give money to people, so we let him give money for an otter pop to keep him occupied during one of the checks. It's also a battle to get him out of the pool to go home. It's all about bribing . . . this time it took an ice cream cone.

Great job on being potty trained, Mason! We're so proud of you!

Another video

Here's another quick video of Tristyn eating the other day. This was taken just before the video on the last post. They're both cute.

Sleep-Eater

Some people sleep walk . . . Tristyn sleep eats. Occasionally she'll fall asleep in her chair and instead of just putting her head down and resting, she keeps putting food in her mouth! This is what happened at lunch today:

Softies?

Dan and I went to Lagoon today without the kids. We planned on taking them back for a few hours since we promised it to Mason for being potty trained, but he said he wanted to go swimming instead, so that party is tomorrow. We had a blast going on the 'big kid' rides, even though we found out we're getting a little 'soft' in our old age and our stomachs can't handle the spinning that they used to! We loved all the rides and it was a bit upsetting when the queasiness set in! We were fine (okay, maybe a little tipsy) through the Roller Coaster, Wild Mouse, and Colossus, but by after the Wild Mouse we were wondering what the heck we were trying to prove! Wicked was awesome even though I swear it gave me whiplash! Then we were really stupid and went on the Screamer (my idea), and that did us in! We were both done for a while. So, we road the sky coaster a couple of times for a break. Then we tried the Tidal Wave and almost needed a trash can afterward! Seriously???? We came to the consensus that we're getting old and then realized why our parents never wanted to take us to theme parks. What can't a big scoop of chocolate ice cream fix? We relaxed in Pioneer Village and enjoyed our treat. We took a couple of photos of the train collection (Why didn't we take Mason there? He would have loved it) before heading to the log ride . . . that would for sure be a ride we could handle! It didn't hurt that there were only about 4 super slow turns and one short drop! We wanted to leave on a high note, so we went on Wicked one more time and it was, well . . . wicked cool! Dan was a little more brave than me and I think he kept his eyes open for most of the rides. On most rides I couldn't force my eyes open until about half way through the ride. I've turned into such a wimp! There were a few other rides that looked really fun, but we would have had to take a bag on with us :-) We'll have to try those first next time.



Melissa was so nice to pick the kids up for us. They had fun playing out back in the sprinkler. I was able to get a photo of Tristyn doing the sign for 'more' and also her 'where did it go?' or 'I don't know' gesture (elbows in palms up). We also snapped a photo of her cute belly button at Melissa's request . . . she's a bit obsessed with it!

Oh, Mason also had fun dressing Dan up in the pirate hat and patch that he got at a birthday party yesterday. He loves it when we wear the costume, but doesn't like to wear it so much himself.

It's back to the grind tomorrow . . . for me anyway! Dan is golfing three rounds tomorrow--what a cushy life!

Piggy Tails

Yesterday I finally tried to pull Tristyn's hair into two piggies and it worked! They were so tiny and the bands didn't stay in very well. It didn't help that she loves to touch her hair and kept noticing that it was a little different. She pulled them out several times! Some time I may have to start doing her hair every day, but for now I'm glad that I can get away without it. I'd like to try new things and make it look cute, but it's hard when she's mushing carrots on her head and trying to comb her hair with her fork while I work on it! I love this cheesy grin--she's such a show off!

Friends, Food and Fireworks

Monday night we invited a few friends over to help finish off our reunion food. Dan made his famous Deviled Deviled Eggs and everyone brought yummy food to share. After dinner the guys entertained the kids outside while the women entertained the couches and watched the finale of The Bachelorette inside. We also let off the rest of our fireworks. Luckily Jason and Chris had a few extra fireworks too, or it would have been a pretty weak show! It's a good thing the kids are easily impressed. My kids watched from inside the sliding door. Tristyn was eating and Mason is kind of scared to go without the 'shield'. It's an improvement from when he buried his head in our laps last year at the city firework show. Maybe he'll be ready to sit outside in the front row next year!



We're lucky to have such great friends. Summer BBQs are the best!

Season for Reunions

This weekend was Dan's family reunion in Whiterocks, UT (near Roosevelt and Vernal). It was fun to get together with his family and play games and just visit. Mason and Tristyn loved playing outside on the swings and 4-wheelers. They also had fun following the stray cat around. I think most of all they just liked being in a new environment with new toys and new people to show off for (especially Tristyn).

On Friday we made a quick stop at the Fish Hatchery and Mason had fun watching all the itty bitty fish. Most of all he liked counting the numbers on the fish bins! We also took the kids to the Vernal Rec Center to swim. Mason jumped right in and had a great time! Tristyn got mad when we had to shower before entering the pool and got even more mad when I put her right in the pool (it was a little cold). She freaked out and clenched onto my arm as tight as she could (she needs her nails trimmed!). She laid on our shoulder most of the time, but did get down and walk around a little bit. She steered clear of the water though. Mason got in trouble for running on the deck and trying to climb up the little water slide. It looked like the toys at his playground, so I see why he was confused with the different rules! That night we played games with the family, including The Newlywed Game. Dan and I came in 2nd place after his sister and brother-in-law. Never mind that their score more than doubled ours!

Saturday we cleaned and packed up, then drove back over to Vernal to visit the dinosaur museum. The kids both loved it. They don't have the fossil dig and erosion table that Thanksgiving Point has, but they had more life-like dinosaurs and fewer skeletons. Mason enjoyed them a little more. It took us a while to draw him away from the little fish pond--he said the 'fish hungry' and kept waiting for them to jump up and eat the bugs. I think he thought he could feed them like he feeds our Betta fish. We randomly ran into some friends from down the street there! That was cool! We also accidentally drove by the Vernal Temple. I don't know the history behind it, but it looked like an old Tabernacle that was converted. It was beautiful.

Before heading home, we stopped by to visit the McCurdy's, who lived in our neighborhood for a while. We miss them here and had a great time visiting and touring their beautiful home! What a great family!

It was nice to have a day to recover and get ready for the week! Seems like every summer week is jam-packed, so it was much needed!

Thanks Ric and Pat for planning a great reunion! We appreciate your efforts and are grateful for the place to stay! We all had a fun trip!