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75% of the way there...

Nate got his results from the 3rd section of the CPA exam that he took during the summer and he passed! With an 85! That's his highest score yet, and ironically, it was the section he walked out of the testing center feeling the worst about. Only one more section to go and Utah's Ethics thingy and he can become a full-fledged Certified Public Accountant.

24 Hours Later...

*Don't Worry, No Spoilers*




I didn't end up going to a Breaking Dawn release party on Friday, like I was originally planning, because I went to a late showing of The Dark Knight with Nate and my dad instead (and we missed getting into the earlier showing we had planned on going to because it sold out, but we did get to see a preview for Twilight). So after the movie, we swung by Wal*Mart so I could pick up a copy- at 1AM. Pretty quick in and out of the store since I had missed the big rush, but my dad wandered, so we had to look for him (and his cell phone was still turned off from the movie). We got home around 1:30AM, and shortly thereafter I starting my long day of reading. I was already so tired that I didn't read for long- only until about 3:30AM, at which time I fell asleep on the couch. Saturday was a busy day (birthday party in the late morning, ate out for lunch because Nate insisted), so I didn't get much more reading in until the afternoon, but I was determined to finish the book that night without staying up extremely late. Yes, I neglected about 75% of my parenting duties (I still managed to take a break to help bathe the kids and get them to bed), but since it was a Saturday, and Nate was home, it wasn't too big of deal. I didn't even rush through the book. I felt like I read it at slower than my normal pace, and I still was able to be finished by 1AM. All in all it probably took me around 12 hours of reading time. If I had been able to stay engrossed without so many breaks, I'm sure I would have been quicker, but hey, it is a 754 page book.

So anyway, I liked it. How about you? Now Nate is busy reading it. I doubt he'll be able to finish it in one day, since he ends up with more distractions, but he still won't take long.

*Monday morning edit- I was wrong. Nate did end up finishing in one day (well, 24-hour period). He stayed up reading until 6 this morning to finish and now he gets to work all day on 1 hour's sleep.

St. George- Part 2: Wakeboarding

(Go here for Part 1)

I finally got to try wakeboarding for the first time and I loved it! I really was worried that I wouldn't be able to get up, but I did about 50% of the time, and for a first-timer, I think that's pretty good (especially since the last few times that I failed to get up it was due to my exhausted arms). I had a few short runs and couple really good runs before my arms would go no more. Here are a couple pictures of me in the water:
Just getting in the water

Ready to go

I'm up!

(Justin and Janna have some better pictures. Nate is not anywhere near a photographer, so I couldn't expect much. He doesn't even know how to use the video function on our camera- and it's way easy!)

Nate was able to go wakeboarding for the first time 2 years ago at the previous family vacation (I stayed home due to the recent birth of Mason) and was excited to get to go again. He went out 3 times during the week, but only had the camera for pictures when I went. I shot some video of him, but kept missing his best moves. This is the best video I got:


We went to Sand Hollow Reservoir, which is only a few years old, and it was nice. The water felt great, the surroundings were beautiful, and the boat was relaxing. Some of you may know that I have a slight fear of water, but I didn't once get nervous being on a boat in the middle of the water. It probably helped that none of the kids were with us.
The view:

"Take A Picture With Your Camera Phone At Ikea" Day

This unfortunate event happened while we were waiting to load up my dad's truck with our furniture purchases:



I felt really bad for the guy, but, like nearly everyone else around, wanted to get a picture. Luckily, no one was on the sidewalk when he accidentally zoomed across. I didn't get an official story, but someone said he just accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake and it all happened too fast to correct his mistake in time. It's a shame. The car looked like it was pretty darn new too.

*Edit- No one was hurt, just a bit shaken.

My Accident-Proneness Strikes Again!

*If you don't like hearing about injuries that involve blood, I recommend skipping this post and averting your eyes from the pictures*

In June, we took a family vacation with all of Nate's family (minus a few) to St. George. Despite the heat, we had lots of fun, but of course I can't do anything without at some point hurting myself, so I decided the 2nd full day there I should drop a cast iron cookie sheet on my foot in the afternoon while I was trying to get my desserts made for Father's Day. Ouch! Almost the WORST.PAIN.EVER! Blood was pumping so hard under my big toe nail that I really felt like my toe was going to explode. I made it to the couch to sit down and prop my leg up, which allowed the pain to slightly subside, and had Nate get me some pain medication. Standing up was torture, sleeping was torture, and laying down was even mostly torture. I lasted until the next morning when I decided I had to get something done with my toe. We went to the Instacare and paid our insane $75 co-pay so that I could get two holes poked in my toe nail to allow the blood pressure to be released. The doctor who performed the procedure kept apologizing to me for causing me additional pain, but I kept insisting to her that it was much less painful than it was before I walked into the room. It was amazing how two tiny holes in my toenail could change my pain level so dramatically. I was able to walk out of there with very little discomfort- nearly pain free! She did give me a prescription for pain meds since sleeping would still definitely be an issue- anything that even brushed against my toe sent pain running through me. I only took the medicine at night and only 6 times, yet I still got addicted enough that it took me well over a week to really start sleeping okay again without it. I've always been cautious with prescription meds, and that just taught me more how important it is to be cautious.

Here's my toe!
The first picture was taken before I went to the doctor, the second was taken shortly after getting home (and my camera wasn't cooperating, so it's blurry), and the last picture is from yesterday (three and a half weeks after I injured it).



I will lose my toenail, which will be gross, and my toe is still extra-sensitive to touch. The kids have kindly stepped on my toe about 50 times in the last few weeks and even Nate has done it a few times.

So the funny thing is, I had briefly considered letting Nate's dad poke the holes in my toenail to save money, and that same day I hurt it there was an episode of like "Deadliest Catch" or something on Discovery Channel and one of the men on that show smashed their toe or thumb and did the whole hole-poking thing, so we even had a mini-lesson in what to do. I'm glad I went to the doctor, though, because I was given instructions for proper care of my toe and some good meds (despite the addiction thing- the ibuprofen just wasn't hacking it).

Memory Lane...

I participated in Heather's, so now I have to put this on my blog:

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

C'mon now, anything funny, strange, cool, embarrassing, or awful you remember about me??

I'm not dead...

I've just been lacking energy, busy getting ready for vacation, being on vacation, and sick these past few weeks. Hopefully I will manage an update soon...

Tuesday Tell All: Graduation

I don't have much to tell about graduation, so here's a couple pictures of my graduation days from high school and college. I do remember having a countdown to graduation day from college because I didn't let myself have a lot of fun at Ricks and everyone knew I could tell them exactly how many days were left until graduation. Looking back, I definitely should have let myself have more fun- Ricks/Rexburg wasn't as bad as I led myself to believe.

Tuesday Tell All: One Word

Answer the following with only one word.


1. Where is your cell phone? ....................Table
2. Your significant other?.......................Working
3. Your hair?....................................Brown
4. Your mother? .................................Talker
5. Your father?..................................Retiree
6. Your favorite thing?..........................Fun
7. Your dream last night?........................Interrupted
8. Your favorite drink...........................Mocktail
9. Your dream/goal?..............................Success
10. The room you're in?..........................Dining
11. Your children?...............................Handful
12. Your fear?...................................Loneliness
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years...........Elsewhere
14. Where were you last night?...................Home
15. What you're not?.............................Single
16. Muffins......................................Spice
17. One of your wish list items?.................Wii
18. Where you grew up?...........................Virginia
19. What you read last night?....................Alma
20. What are you wearing?........................Clothes
21. Your TV?.....................................New
22. Your pets?...................................Deceased
23. Your computer? ..............................Shiny
24. Your life?...................................Busier
25. Your mood?...................................Indifferent
26. Missing someone?.............................Always
27. Your car?....................................Silver
28. Something you're not wearing?................Shoes
29. Favorite Store?..............................Target
30. Your summer?.................................Vacation
31. Like someone?................................Most
32. Your favorite color?.........................Blue
33. Last time you laughed........................Evening
34. Last time you cried?.........................Church

A Hometown Restaurant Makes It's Way To Utah

Yep, the award winning Five Guys Burgers and Fries are about to open their first restaurant in Midvale. So to be honest, I didn't grow up with Five Guys- they didn't open up in my neighborhood until about 5 years after I graduated from high school, but I have had the opportunity to eat there a few times and they are quite tasty, AND they are a Virginia original (founded in 1986 in Arlington). They are quite different from In-N-Out (which I love)- more the style of Fatburger (also rumored to be making their way to Utah, and also a yummy burger).

Other restaurant news: El Pollo Loco now has a "Now Hiring" sign up. Mmm, can't wait until they open! Now if Bob Evans (not the Fox 13 anchorman) would just come to Utah.

What Do You Think?

*Don't forget to pause music player ->

Twilight in HD

Spiders

As a child, spiders didn't really bother me (I even touched a tarantula at zoo camp)- actually, I didn't really have a problem with any bugs. Well, that time has long passed and now I'm not so fond of spiders (or ants, in large numbers). The other day we came across the largest spider we've seen inside our house. Really not all that big, but it was black and a little hairy and just not my favorite kind to look at. Poor Jefferson has a severe fear of spiders (he doesn't even like to see pictures of them) and he was the one to discover it. After unsuccessfully spraying it with a couple different household cleaners to paralyze and/or kill it, it swung towards me and headed down onto the carpet. I quickly grabbed a glass and trapped it and then, using a piece of cardboard as the bottom, transported the glass to the counter to let Nate finish the job. After having the spider swing at me on it way to the ground, I was done.

Here is a pictured of the captured spider (sorry, it's a bit blurry but it's body was at least a 1/2 long and it could easily span an inch with it's legs spread):

Reconnecting

Through Facebook and the blogging world, I have been able to reconnect lately with so many people from my past- roommates, elementary school friends, high school friends, college friends, and even old boyfriends. It's been great. I love finding out what all those people are up to and how their lives have changed. It's so interesting to see what paths each of those people have taken and the things they have accomplished- whether it's being a mom (or dad), having an advanced degree, traveling the world, or whatever, it's all amazing. I feel honored to have been friends with these people at some point and look forward to continuing on in our friendships.

Here are some old school photos containing some of the people I've reconnected with recently:



Now that I have reconnected with so many old friends, I'm feeling like I need to do a better job of updating my blogs more frequently. Hopefully I can do that. I know several people who are amazing at updating their blogs and I aspire to one day be a better blogger like them.

And Then It Was 9...

May 1st, once again we woke up to snow. And snow flurries continued on and off throughout the day. This better be the last snow we see until October. I love snow, but in May? It's pushing it for me in April. I know, I know, it's not unheard of in Utah to have snow in May, but still, when we've had snow the last 9 calendar months (we started off in September), it gets a bit tiring.

Here's a shot of our neighbors yard in the late morning (there was a little more snow on the ground when I woke up, I just didn't think to take a picture, so most of it had melted):

Tuesday Tell All: Hometown Favorites

Tell us about your favorites close to home.

Favorite Places To:

grab lunch: Kneaders Bakery & Cafe (mmm, I love their turkey sandwiches- slow roasted hand pulled turkey, not deli slices) or Gandolfo's (Knickerbocker- Cold, no tomato)

go for Date night: Really, any restaurant without the kids is a whole different experience, but we do like Chili's, Red Robin, and Outback a lot. Oh, and after dinner, we like to see a movie or hang out at Barnes & Noble.

pick up some creative goodies: Target (yeah, as I said before, I don't do a whole lot of crafty projects).

keep the kids busy: McDonald's, Costco, Thanksgiving Point, Discovery Gateway, Nickelcade.

get wet: Legacy Center

buy a treat: Thanksgiving Point (their ice cream is tasty and pretty cheap and kids cones only cost 25 cents- or free for under 3!) , Smart Cookie, Sonic.

shop for fun: Park City Outlets, Target, Costco, Down East Basics

get some fresh air: The park by Grandma & Grandpa's house

splurge: See "Shop for fun"

drive for a weekend away: St. George, Midway, Vegas.

Vote In My Poll!!!

Tuesday Tell All: Laugh Out Loud

What makes you laugh?

The first thing that comes to mind is The Office. I just love that show. Although at the same time it makes me laugh, it also makes me cringe in pain. Just the thought of Michael's ignorance is painful.

Outside of television, my kids definitely make me laugh. Whether it's Jefferson doing a "Remember when....? That was awesome!" or Jackson just saying "yay" after completing the ABC's, they make me happy. When Jackson did this it made me fall back on the floor laughing so hard it brought tears.

Whenever I get together with my friends from home, the night is full of laughter. We talk about the craziest things and most people don't even understand us if they haven't been exposed to us enough. It's always great to go to back to Virginia.

Tuesday Tell All: Professional Help

Last catch-up topic! Hopefully I can now keep up with doing a weekly TTA post.

For what activity would you want professional lessons?

I'm going to go with two related activities.

Whenever I think about what I would do if I won a bunch of money, besides the usual stuff (pay of the house, invest some, take a trip, etc) I also think "ooh, it would be great to have a personal chef and personal trainer." Now, I don't necessarily need the chef to cook for me all the time, I just would like to learn how to cook healthier, while still being tasty, taking into consideration our dislikes, and not overly complicated. Is that too much to ask? As for the personal trainer, I don't have much of a problem working out, I just would like to know that I'm doing the best workout I can, and it always helps to have someone push you a little harder than you would go if you were by yourself.

Mix these three people together to get my perfect personal chef:
(take Bobby Flay's spicy cooking, Alton Brown's food science knowledge, and Ellie Krieger's healthy cooking)

Tuesday Tell All: Livin' on the Edge

Today's catch-up topic: Livin' on the Edge
If you could do something dangerous just once with no risk what would you do?

I was having trouble thinking of something really good for this one, so I asked Nate what he would do. He came up with "re-enact the lobby scene from The Matrix," which sounded great to me. I can be Trinity to his Neo:

Our New Sectional!!!

Yay! We finally have some decent, comfortable seating in our family room! A couple days ago our sectional that we ordered through Macy*s was delivered. After searching for our perfect sectional, we were surprised that Macy*s had it, and at a great price-even better than the one we were going to settle on if we didn't find one better! Here's the new sectional:

Tuesday Tell All: Made By Hand

Today's TTA catch-up topic: Made By Hand

I'm not really the most crafty person. It's not that I can't do crafts and sewing, etc, I've just never been that into it. Sometimes I wish I was more into it, sometimes I'm glad I'm not. Over the years, I have made a few things that I have been proud of and today I'll mention 3.

The school I went to for K-4th grades had an Arts & Crafts and Science Fair every year that encouraged children from all grades (it was a K-12 school) to participate in- actually, I guess we had to do a science project, but the craft project was optional. I did both projects most years, but the only craft project I really remember doing was in 3rd grade. I made a sleeping bag for my Cabbage Patch Kid doll (actually, the doll was a handmade version of a Cabbage Patch kid- made by my mom). It was a lot of work and I learned that I am actually a decent sewer- too bad I haven't used that talent well. I won 1st place in my grade. I still have the sleeping bag, boxed up with all of my favorite girl toys that I have saved over the years, just on the chance that I'll have a daughter, and my Cabbage Patch kid sits on my closet shelf.

We bought a nice cherry wood coffee table and 2 end tables from our neighbors when they moved. With 3 kids, I wanted a way to protect the coffee table from scratches and crayons, and whatever the kids may do to it, so I came up with an idea to make a cover for the coffee table. We picked out some fabric and some padding and I went to it. I only had the coffee table for a pattern, but I think it turned out pretty good. I still haven't finished it the way I wanted, but it's serving it's purpose (I wanted to add elastic or straps or something to keep it on better). Here's a picture:


My most recent project was making train-themed pajamas for my friend's daughter. I also picked up some other fabric to make the my nephew and my boys some pajamas while I was at it. It was a way easy project. Here is a picture of one of the pairs of pajama pants:


Nate has also done a few projects in the past year. Most notably, has been the train table he made for the kids. It wasn't all made by hand, as the table started out as an old coffee table, but he did have to do a lot of work converting it into the play table it is now- the only part of the table that was unchanged were the legs (with exception to them being painted). Here it is:


Nate has also put in a lot of time remodeling our downstairs bathroom. He has mudded over the orange peel wall texture and, with the help of his dad, added bead board and changed out the toilet and sink. He also has added some nice trim detail. I'm in charge of painting the room, so it's really my fault that the project is not yet complete, but I hope to get myself moving soon to complete it. I'll post a picture when it's finished.

Tuesday Tell All: The Working Girl

Okay, second catch-up topic: The Working Girl

This week tell us about your favorite or least favorite job that you've had OUTSIDE of the home (we know the hardest job is being a Mom). Or just take a minute to document the jobs you've had.

The first real job (not counting temp jobs, babysitting, etc) I had was my senior year of high school. My friend, Joanne, and I both got a job at Cinnabon, where two other friends also worked. It was a great job (despite the crappy hourly wage and a few bad run-ins with customers) and I had tons of fun. I also got to eat all the cinnabons I wanted (seriously, when you took a break the manager was always like "eat a cinnabon!") and got to take home "expired" boxes of cinnabons for my family. And strangely, I didn't really gain any extra weight while I worked there. To this day I can almost always smell if there is a Cinnabon in a mall when I walk in.



Jobs I've had since:

Paint Dept Lead at Sears
A Vampire at "The Haunted Forest"
Salesperson at a Halloween Costume Store
Accounting clerk at a bank

There were a few I skipped- they weren't memorable.

Tuesday Tell All: Collections

I was introduced to this blog called Tuesday Tell All over a month ago but have been slow getting around to participating. Hopefully, over the next few days, I'll be able to catch up on the last several topics. The first topic I'm going to talk about is "Collections."

What collections did you have as a child? What do you collect now. This week share with us some of your treasures from the past or present.

I wasn't really good at sticking to one collection. I had (have) a tendency to collect a few of one thing and then a few of another. One of my best collections from childhood (and I still have) is my sticker album. Here are pictures of the cover and one of my favorite pages:

Nate even still has his sticker album. We have several duplicate stickers between us. Stickers albums were definitely all the rage in the 80's. After seeing our albums, Jefferson has decided that he wants one. I haven't looked for one yet, but I assume they still sell them- stickers are still popular among kids.

The next largest collection I had were figurines. My sister collected unicorns and I collected Pegasuses. My parents would get us a couple a year for birthdays or Christmas, or sometimes when they just found a really cool one. They were displayed in the china cabinet. I still have them, but they have been packed up in a box for the last several years. I just don't have a good place to put them- especially with 3kids (and rambunctious boys, at that) running around the house. I briefly collected "Precious Moments" figurines and still have those in a box, as well.

I've always had a fascination with money- not necessarily spending it, just counting it and looking at the different types and old coins, and such. My dad has several different coin books, so I never felt a huge need to start my own, but I do have the state quarters and several 2 dollar bills.

My current collection would have to be dragonflies. I don't have a lot, because I'm super picky about which ones I like, but I do have a Tiffany-style dragonfly lamp, a ceiling-mount dragonfly light, a vase, dragonfly dishes (that are treated like china), dragonfly fabric covered lampshades, pillows, and more. If it's more in the style of the Arts & Crafts movement, I'll probably like it. Our house has kind-of become the "find the dragonfly in this room" place.

Virginia- Home Sweet Home

After finding a smashing deal on Yahoo! Travel, I had the opportunity to fly out to Virginia last week for a weekend visit. My high school has been celebrating it's 40th anniversary all year long, and this past weekend was their big events for the celebration. Although I had originally planned on going to their evening gala event, the cost of tickets persuaded me to skip it and just go to the daytime school showcase. One of my best friends, Joanne, and I spent Saturday morning/afternoon roaming the halls of our high school and checking out performances by the theatre and music departments. We chatted with a couple of our old teachers and saw a few familiar faces. We also got to eat lunch in the cafeteria (although not the questionable school lunch food from our high school days). All it cost was $6 for the lunch (which, considering the amount of food they gave us, was a great deal). It was fun roaming the halls again, and seeing how little has changed (umm, they painted the lockers a different color, but that's about it). My sister managed to make it to the school showcase right before Joanne and I left.

Here's some shots of the school:
(Main Lobby, Cafeteria, Path up to the athletic fields, Football field)


And my graduating class' contribution:


I also got to go out to dinner twice with some old friends- Rob, Matt, Paige, Duff, and Joanne. It's always fun when we all get together. It's just a shame that two of the gang (Becky and Melanie) ended up not making it out to DC.

Since my sister was so late to the showcase, and lacking her family, we made plans to meet at my favorite ice cream restaurant for lunch the following day. Here are some pics of her kids, Gabe and Isabeau:


And here are Joanne's kids (Tyler and Jaiden):

(All a little dirty from their ice cream)

It was a great weekend. Definitely strange to be away from the kids for so long and to get on a plane all by myself and have a peaceful flight. But, that said, I was still happy to get home and see Nate and the kids. I even ended up keeping Jefferson home from school yesterday just to spend some extra time with him (he may have been a hair sick).

A BIG THANKS to Joanne for letting me crash at her place while I was in town and driving me around (even though I know she won't actually read this- she just looks at the pictures).

My Two Easter Basket Cakes

Here are the two different Easter Basket Cakes I made around Easter time. The first one was my test run for the second one, which was for the Cub Scout pack meeting. The first one is a two-layer cake which had a circle cut out of the top layer to create a well for the basket. The second cake is a bundt cake that is upside down from how you would normally serve it. While both cakes turned out nice, I liked the bundt cake better for it's simplicity.

Photobucket Tag

I saw this fun tag on another blog and the blog author tagged anyone who wanted to do it, so I said "hey, why not!" *Sorry some of the pictures are so huge! I tried to adjust them.

Here are the rules:

1) Answer the questions below.

2) Take each answer and enter it into photobucket.com

3) Take a picture from the first page of results and post it.

Here goes!



My age at my next birthday


A place I'd like to visit
(There are lots of places I'd like to visit, but the first new place I'm likely to get to is Alaska)


One of my favorite places


Favorite object


Favorite food
(cupcakes- and these ones look like the ones from Costco- my favorite right now)


Where I live
(Utah Valley)


My middle name


My college major
(Broadcasting)


Bad habit of mine
(sleeping too much)


Favorite color


Favorite animal


Name of pet
(the last pet we had was named Indy)


Favorite holiday
(Halloween)


I now tag anyone who reads this post!