tagged

I have to admit that I've been tagged before and have never actually done it, but this time I thought I'd give it a shot. My sister-in-law Rae tagged me (actually it was a little while ago, but since I haven't blogged in FOREVER, I just saw it), and I'm supposed to put 8 things down for each question, but I don't want to do that many. I'm just doing 4 things in each question. Here goes:

4 TV shows I watch:

1. The Office
2. The Biggest Loser (I never mean to watch this, but when I flip through channels and land on this show, I get sucked in and can't turn it off.)
3. The Unit (only because Craig likes it and I'm too lazy to get up and go do something else)
4. The O'Reilly Factor

4 Favorite Restaurants:

1. The Mesa Grill (in NYC...wish I could go there all the time)
2. Tia Rosa's
3. Ruth's Chris Steak House (I'm not a big steak eater, except when I go here, which is not very often because we'd be broke if we ate here all the time.)
4. Rubio's (only for their fish tacos which I would eat for breakfast if I could...I love them that much!)

4 Things I did yesterday:

1. laundry
2. took Emileigh to get her glasses fitted
3. took the boys to get haircuts
4. finally posted a new blog!

4 Things I look forward too:

1. Thanksgiving and Christmas
2. running another race in January (what's wrong with me...?)
3. seeing my parents and family after Christmas and meeting my new neice and nephew
4. conference in April and seeing Craig's parents then

4 things on my wish list:

1. photoshop elements 7.0
2. new paint and new window treatments for the family room
3. children who are happy to do the dishes when asked
4. more time to spend with my family

4 people I tag are: (and I'm sorry if you've been tagged a million times before)

1. Julie
2. Jenny
3. Louise
4. Joe and Lindsey

who would have thought?

This was taken in Boise outside a Pizza Hut. Wow, dogs must be smarter in Idaho.

wow, a new post!

It's about time that I finally posted again. Here's a recap of the happenings here during the last month:
WWF at our house on Sunday afternoons.

camping in the backyard with Dad during fall break

Lauren's birthday. She wanted a cake with green frosting and lots of High School Musical 3 stuff.


Halloween...thank you Bekki for helping them look their scariest.


Me and my sisters running the Zeitgeist half...wow we're in really good shape!

Okay, here we really are. See how happy I am to be almost done.

Birthday Girl

Happy birthday to our little Siri. She turned one year old on October 3rd. I think her favorite part of the day was the cake. She didn't know what to do with her little cake at first,

but once she got a taste of it, there was no stopping her.

She enjoyed every bite (that made it into her mouth).


Why is it that one piece of cake all crumbled up on the ground ends up looking like it could be put back together to make four or five pieces. By the time she finished eating I swear there was more cake on the ground than we actually gave her to eat. Despite the mess, it was so fun to watch her discover the joy of eating cake. ...Oh to be able to enjoy desserts like a baby, with no thought of how much tighter the waistband of my jeans will be tomorrow. Sigh...

Funny

One of the many Brian Regan clips that make me laugh.

SMILE

pure joy.

(lulu at 3 months)

Vote!

51 more days till election time! I'm so excited. Is that weird? I always feel this extra surge of patriotism whenever elections come around. I just can't wait to go mark my little ballot, get my sticker, and feel like I made a difference. It's only one vote, I know. But, it's one more vote for someone or something I believe in. Anybody else feel this way?

I volunteered to make phone calls encouraging people to register to vote, so I thought I'd put it on my blog too. If you're not already registered, GET REGISTERED! It's so easy to do. Just go here. (if you live in az) It takes about two minutes. While you're at it, request an early ballot too. You don't get the "I just voted" sticker, but you miss the lines.

Move over Beckham!

Ty's first soccer game was Saturday and what a great game it was. They totally beat the other team, even though no one really keeps score at that age. (we kept score because our team was winning!) Ty even scored a goal! Way to go Tyger! Here's a quick recap. of the game: Lots of standing around...everybody running for the ball at the same time....a few heads smacking together....tears and time out for hugs from moms....back to the field....some more chasing the ball....players randomly wandering off the field....players asking for their snack for the fifth time...end of game. I think he's pretty excited for his next game.

a few of our favorite things (in La Jolla)

The house! It's gorgeous. No need to say more.

Sand Castles. Even the ones we don't build ourselves...like this awesome one we found.

Osteria Romantica...my personal favorite. Yum--my!


Boogy Boarding


Great climbing trees

Dad's "swimming/beach outfit"

These cute, little, white flowers. Don't know their name, but they smell great. Many of these are picked and put in our hair to make us look Hawaiian.

Also these birds of paradise.

Sandy babies

Spending time with the people we love...the best thing!

Seeing the Everyday

Posting again after a long absence. Sorry, (for anybody who actually reads this blog) no pictures of the family to post. I'm having some camera trouble, but as soon as I figure it out, I'll have a TON of pictures to put up. Until then, though, I'm posting about other stuff. Like this new magazine we keep getting in the mail.



It's just a lovely magazine full of stories and experiences of family togetherness and the importance of nurturing children and family relationships. I love the sections they have on eating, working, playing, listening. This isn't an advice magazine. It just tells about everyday experiences and memories people have and how they find beauty in the sometimes mundane. I find myself getting a little weepy when I read this. It reminds me how precious the times I spend with my children are. Anyway, it's definitely worth checking out.

my mosiac

I saw this cute "mosiac of me" idea on another blog and I had to try it. It was VERY fun and I think represents me pretty well. Click on the title of this entry to try it.

Siri

I realized that I don't have very many pictures of Siri on the blog.
(Poor, little, fifth child) So here are a couple of cute shots of our little Lulu.

Indoor Smores

Okay, anyone who knows us knows that neither Craig or I are big campers and I've always felt the tiniest bit guilty that we never take our kids camping. Obviously not guilty enough or we'd be out setting up a tent in the wilderness right now, but I wonder: are they missing out on some fundamental childhood experience? Anyway, not to make a short story long, but James kept asking to go camping and make smores. Well I knew the camping thing wasn't going to happen, but we decided to try the smores anyway...just inside, roasting marshmallows over the flickering flames of a candle instead of a fire. So here are the pictures of us making our "indoor smores" with mini marshmallows on toothpicks, and Hershey's kisses. (Jen, does this bring back memories of our childhood whenever the power went out?)

Ty's football training

This is from our April trip to La Jolla. Ty was NOT happy about getting the football, but he couldn't just leave it in the ocean. It didn't matter how many times we threw it into the water, he would get it...screaming the whole way. Are we mean parents that we got such a kick out of this?

more beach shots

Color splash

I just got these pillows from Pottery Barn for the family room. That room was desperately in need of some color and these pillows spice it up a bit. You can't see it very well in the picture, but there's a blue in the pillows that I really like. I'm thinking of painting the walls some shade of blue, so that little bit in the pillows might help tie it all together. (The yellow that's on the walls now was a BAD decision. I've decided that I don't really like yellow anymore.)

This is a test to see if I can upload videos. I haven't been able to do it before.

Yummy treat

When we were in California my brother and his wife made these easy key lime pies and they were awesome. The best thing about them is that they're SO easy to make. Key lime pie is one of my favorite treats and when I can make it in minutes...what's not to love? Thanks Joe and Lindsay! Here's the recipe:

ALMOST KEY LIME PIE

1 can sweetened evaporated milk
1 container Cool Whip
1 container frozen lime juice
graham cracker pie crust or make your own with crushed graham crackers and butter

Use a store-bought one pie crust or make your own in advance by mixing 1 1/2 c of crushed graham crackers with 1/2 c butter. Press into pie pan.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cool.

Mix together frozen lime juice and milk. Add Cool Whip mix until smooth.

Pour into pie crust and place in freezer overnight.

Enjoy!

happenings

Well, there have been a lot of happenings around here since I last blogged. I figured it was time to start up again after the two month hiatus that I took. Here's the scoop on these past couple of months (in a nutshell):

*Went to Pinetop with friends and had a great time enjoying the NICE weather and seeing tall trees again. There were also some pretty intense games of capture the flag played and one late-night Denny's visit with seventeen children and six adults. I don't think we're welcome at that Denny's anymore.

*La Jolla! If I could live there I totally would. We got a chance to go to the beach with my extended family and spend the first week of June there....lots of playing at the beach, games, laughing, a little kayaking and surfing, and way more eating than was necessary. So much fun!

*Hip Hoppin'! Okay, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I signed up for an adult hip hop class (and convinced some friends to sign up too). We've had one class so far and it was a blast! I loved it even though I'm way too old to be doing this sort of thing outside the privacy of my own home. Maybe this class will raise my level of coolness...? Yo, dog!

*Swim team...every day...at 7:30 in the moring. Need I say more? What was I thinking?? The kids rotate between hating it and loving it, but I keep telling them that it builds character and that if you grow up in Arizona it's just a requirement that you be on swim team. So far they believe me. We'll see how long that lasts.

My Kids