Torrey...

I know this is wierd and REALLY early, but I have totally started looking forward to Torrey '09! Mom has started to plan out some of the meals, games, etc. and I'm getting right into the spirit. Last year was a total disaster, but this year we're going to avoid the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, I just know it! I can't wait to hang out with my brothers and sisters and just have a vacation. Ya know?

So anywho...we should come up with a theme for this year. Any grand ideas out there? Leave a comment!!!! (Unless you want the theme to be "Back to Our Scottish Heritage" you gotta give me something to work with! I know you fellas don't want to be wearing kilts, right?) I found this website where you can create your own silicone bracelets (like the LiveStrong ones) and I thought those would be kind of cool to get for everyone...any takers??

Quote of the Day:
"A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking." ~Earl Wilson

An Embarassing Moment

I'm not exactly sure why I desire to share an embarassing moment with my friends and family who read my blog, but I just had this flashback memory and I couldn't stop laughing at myself. I think I'm getting old. Getting old is when you can look back on your embarassing moments and think that they're so silly that you want to write about them on your blog :)

When I was in High School I had a boyfriend who went into the MTC. Well, in those days, the swooning females used to go and make big chalk murals on the sidewalk across the street from the MTC. The idea was that the super cute missionaries would come out of the MTC, cross the street, see their name and/or some rediculous sentiments written on the sidewalk, and renew their vows of poverty, chastity and eternal loyalty to swooning female on the spot. I'm still fairly sure that it worked 103% of the time. However, in order for said missionaries to actually glimpse their chalk devotional, swooning females had to NOT GET CAUGHT drawing their mural. Me and Jess (my loyal friend and partner in crime) totally got caught :) A kindly old man from the MTC came out with water and a big scrubby brush and made us scrub the entire sidewalk clean. He said that the chalk got tracked into the temple. (Mortification started right about HERE.) Anywho - Jess stood by me and we got that sidewalk chalk-free while cute missionaries walked by us on their way to the temple, giggling behind their hands, etc. It was SOOOOOO embarassing. Wow. My stomach is actually clenched up just thinking about it.

And all for nothing! My real missionary (Joey, obviously) was probably on his way home from his mission right about this time. Too funny how life works out.

Grace and Jane picked the songs for our playlist today :) I think it's quite hilarious how "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" sounds like a polka...

Quote of the Day:
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matthew 28:19-20

Janie, Janie, Janie

Yesterday I set out to clean Jane's room (it doubles as our office, so it gets REALLY messy) and I ended up tearing the whole thing out and rearranging every piece of furniture therein. It was great! It was a lot of fun and the girls were just dumbfounded. Gracie kept saying, "It's so funny that you're moving that! It's so funny that you're moving that!" I don't think she had ever seen a large piece of furniture moved from one place to another. She thought everything was glued to the floor :) Anywho - I've been wanting to make Jane's room more comfy and for "her" rather than just having her crib stuck in there with all our office stuff, so I was really glad to finally get this done!

Here's the pixie pie that got a newly rearranged room :) Her smile is an actual piece of my soul. It touches that deep (really deep) maternal part of me.

Here's the new room...it needs a curtain and something (maybe some vinyl lettering?) over her crib, but it's soooooo much better than it was before. I really should have taken a before picture, but I would have been totally embarassed to show you how messy it was :) (At least I'm honest, right?)

Quote of the Day:
"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. ~A.A. Milne

Dress Up

We've finally entered that pretty darn cute phase where the girlies like to dress up. We don't have a lot of dress up clothes. We've inherited a cute cat costume from the Tanners and a small bundle of princess dresses from our next door neighbor. Add to that some sparkly shoes and a few pieces of miscellaneous jewelry and you can picture our collection. The girls just love it! Gracie actually likes the cat costume to be minus the hat, which turns it into a HORSE! I know this is a horrible picture, but I couldn't get her to hold still for two seconds while I took a picture of her. She ADORES being a horse :) Janie, on the other hand, just goes for "more is more." :) :) She picks a bunch of random pieces and creates her own outfit.

Is anybody else DYING for Spring to come? The girls and I are suffering from a serious lack of sunshine and stale air here indoors. Andrea sent out an email reminding us that it's about 80 or so days until our Alexander family cruise!! I'm so excited for that! It's my first cruise!!! Bring on the sunshine...and the babysitters! :)

Quote of the Day:
"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"
~Mark Twain

In the dark...

We have, in our possession, the sharpest toy ever made. Joe and I have both stepped on this sucker in the dark on the way to the girls' rooms at least a handful of times each. It hurts. It hurts so bad that you want to scream out some Gaelic expression that Jamie Fraser would be proud of. It just happens to be a blue footed boobie bird. If you ever come across one of these little plastic birds, run for your life! Your feet will thank you! Here's a picture of the boobie...

I have been pondering my blogging over the last few days and I have come to the conclusion that it's extremely self indulgent. (Kind of like the Twilight books.) I put stuff on here that I suppose I want all of "you" to see. Is it the real me? (Have I been digging too deep into psychology in my study of Hamlet? Perhaps.) But really, it's self indulgent. There's no getting around it. Then, like Bella, I decided that it just didn't matter. My blog is my own creation and it can be whatever I want it to be. Things of that nature are rare, as an adult. I guess I just want to vent my feelings about this. Blogging doesn't have to be about my kids, it doesn't have to be about anything, really...just me. A blank canvas on which to project some semblance of self. Myself.

Today's iTunes Additions

Hey ya'll! I think I've been avoiding my camera lately or something because I haven't done a post with a picture in about a month! Wierd!

I rarely buy iTunes, but today I decided to indulge and get myself some new ear candy. The first person who can name the band for each song gets props!

1. Dance the Night Away
2. When I Grow Up
3. Jump
4. Suedehead
5. U Can't Touch This
6. California Dreamin'
7. The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
8. SexyBack (wow, it's kind of embarassing to admit that one...)

So what's your lates iTunes download? I love suggestions!

Quote of the Day:
"And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day Is Done

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

This post goes along with my "Biggest Loser" post from yesterday. What? You didn't read that one? Well, basically it talked about how I haven't lost a pound even though I've been working out 3 times a week for 5 weeks now. I wonder why that is??? Anywho...on to the show...

Here's a yummy new recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies that I tried out last night. Joey thought they tasted "fruity" but I think it was the hefty dose of vanilla that is in them (yum!). I thought they were great! I'm just tired of the flat Tollhouse ones that I usually make. I wanted cookies with a bit more "puff" if ya know what I mean :) (No MJ is in these, I swear...) I read that if your cookies are flat, they need more flour - just FYI. This recipe was a bit labor intensive - you mix all the ingredients by hand instead of in a mixer - but I thought they were worth it.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 C butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar, lightly packed
2 eggs
1 Tbs. vanilla
2 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 C chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
In a medium bowl with a wooden spoon, cream butter and sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Sift flour, baking soda and salt, then add to creamed mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheet.
Bake 9-11 minutes.
Enjoy! (And eat an extra cookie because of the bicep workout you just received ;)

Quote of the Day:
"Cookies are made of butter and love." ~Norwegian Proverb

What is the best birthday present you ever received?

Mine was a trip to Sea World with my dad when I turned 8. I remember that we were pretty low on money then. My dad was laid off from McDonnell Douglas and was out of work for a long time. The silver lining was I got to spend more time than usual with my dad. When my birthday came along I was so surprised and excited to take the train down to San Diego (we lived in Lakewood, about 2 hours drive away) and then go to Sea World for the first time! I remember thinking the train ride was so cool and knowing that my dad liked it too because he loves trains! I remember the entrance to Sea World, but not much about what was inside. I even got to pick out a stuffed animal and I chose a walrus whom I named Willy! I still have Willy :) It's a great memory and I'm thankful for it.

So, what was the best birthday present you ever received?

Quote of the Day:
"A father carries pictures where his money used to be." ~Author Unknown