Testing

So in looking at everyone's blog reviews from Smart Remarks, I am seeing that my blog post isn't up there on your sidebars. Why not? I thought I'd do this little test to see if this will make it to the top of your feed lists. You better all be subscribed to my blog or else!

Host Post

So today the Smart Remarks Book Club is having their official book club meeting. Which means all are to post their own reviews of this month's book. I read this book back in May and posted a review then. I am just going to re-post that post. Couldn't hurt right? Besides I only got like 4 comments on it. Plus I don't know how I got welcomed into a book club called "Smart Remarks" because I am not good at making my own smart remarks. But I joined because the people in the club are super smart and super funny and super cool and super. So there you go. Here is my recycled book review. You all have to know that I will definitely enjoy your reviews. You smarties, you.May 30, 2008. Sick of my reviews? Sorry. You get another one anyways. I just finished listening to The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I give it a 3.5* out of 5*. I haven't ever been into sci-fi books, but this one was pretty entertaining. I got a lot of yard work done and my closet cleaned all while being happily entertained. I thoroughly enjoyed the Twilight Series that Stephenie wrote, but I have to say I didn't think this book was as great. I do believe it was better written in some ways, but not a better story. Make sense?
Favorite Parts ranked:
#3rd favorite part of book: Stephenie Meyers impeccable way of creating and getting you all emotionally involved in bizarre love triangles. (See Twilight Series for another example.) This one actually was more like a weird love square rather. It was laughable at times.
#2nd favorite part: The kissing. Yeah, I'm like that. I love kissing and hearing about great kisses. #1 favorite part: The disclaimer at the end of the audio book explaining to the listeners that this story was all a figment of Stephenie Meyer's imagination. Don't panic people! The world is not coming to an end at the hands of freaky aliens. Classic.

A Nice Tag From Anna Completed

So now the Bailey gang is posting their "Fave Foto Friday" and I missed out yesterday :( But you better believe I am gonna be on that one from now on.
I did get a cool tag from Anna that I am gonna do though. And in return I am going to tag my sister in-laws and Amber Wolf. Get on it ladies.
So here goes.

I am "good enough. I'm smart enough. And doggone it... people like me!" Ok, so that was a little bit of a joke. Seriously, I am a daughter of God.
I miss middle of the night feedings and the cry of an infant in my home.
I think too much. I have at times just laid around and thought for hours.
I know that there is a God and He is my Father and His Son Jesus Christ is my Savior.
I want to be a better person.
I have an extremely blessed life.
I search for shoes a lot. At any given time in our home some body's shoes are always missing.
I wish I could always be a nice person and make everyone around me happier. Sometimes I am such a jerk!
I hate when people have no patience with children.
I am scared of my husband getting in a tragic car accident.
I fear there is actually a man with a knife under my bed and so I hardly ever kneel to pray beside my bed. I always kneel ON my bed instead. Then my mind can stay on the prayer and not on the man under the bed. It's crazy but true.
I always have a facial breakout for about a week every month, then spend the rest of the month waiting for it to clear up. Then I break out again.
I love people. I love loving. I love lots and lots of things. I overuse the word love. But I love love. I don't love how the word love can be so inadequate at times. But I love love.
I feel sad whenever I hear about someone getting divorced. If it's a couple I know, I WILL cry.
I hear noise more than the average American. From whining, to music, to fighting, to begging, to laughing, to singing, to playing, all day, every day.
I smell Fall in the air and I think it's romantic.
I don't always make a good enough effort to be with friends and family. And kick myself frequently for being like that.
I care about how people feel. I hate to see people being sad or discouraged. I want to fix it.
I regret not trying harder in school and learning more.
I am not good at making phone calls. I'd much rather email.
I believe that there is not much time left before Christ comes again.
I dance in any way and everywhere. It isn't unusual to see me do a spin or a leap in and out of a room or even when I am going to and from the mailbox; to grab a child or my hubby and make them dance with me.
I sing most often when I am trying to wake my children up in the morning. Nice and loud. Or when I am working on house work or yard work.
I write a lot. I keep a personal journal, a running journal, a journal for Steve and I, a journal for each of my children. I email, I blog, I write letters. I write sometimes more than I'll talk. So why am I not a better writer?
I win the love and affection of my husband and children on a frequent basis.
I dream of accomplishing some sort of goal every day. I'm huge into making dreams/goals and working my hardest to achieve them.
I lose my patience when I am sick or not feeling well.
I never want to hit or spank my children.
I listen to people well and try to soak it all in and remember what matters to them.
I can take criticism. I'm not saying I like to, but I welcome it and I will grow from it.
I read a variety of genres and enjoy them all immensely. I read my scriptures daily.
I am happy when I am grateful.

Catch and Release

Thanks everyone for your input on my last post. Much appreciated.

So yesterday my kids came home from school with a cat. I don't really like cats. I think they are cute when they are babies, and that's about it. Plus, I am allergic to them. In recent years I started getting rashes from touching them or something that they've been on. I let the kids pretend the cat was theirs for about 4 hours and then made them go put it back where they found it.
Guess what they came home with today?
A fish! Jonah and Eden walked across the street from the school when they got out today where there is a very shallow pond. It's not even something I would normally call a pond it's so small. They saw a fish in it and caught it and carried the poor thing home. Then they found my giant salad bowl that I use for pot luck dinnners and filled it with water and grass, (to make it feel at home you know,) and put the fish in it. It's hard to tell from a photo like this, but the fish was about 5 inches long. I only let them act like it was theirs for about 30 minutes before we took the poor thing back to the pond to live a much better life. Boy did that fish's life flash before his eyes.
On another topic, I run 6 days a week and I am starting to find that I am getting a lot of honking and head turning on the road. Directed at me of course. I think I am looking really good these days! It feels nice to get the attention.

*Do I need to mention that it is my sister Anna 9 out of 10 times?
It is good to see her. Strange and cool that she is close. Pinch me again. She's great.

Panel Discussion

*Trent (and possibly Anna too) don't read this. I'll get "TMI" comments.

So I've got a question for everyone and I want all of your input. K?

Let me give you some background first.
You know how when you first got married or first fell in love you were all over each other? How you couldn't help but steal a kiss at every stop light? How annoying you were to everyone else but the two of you? Well, guess what? Steve and I are still kind of that way. We have gotten tons better about not making out in front of people. When we have to be out in public or with other people for a given period of time, it gets a little tough and we will sometimes sneak off somewhere just to get a little sumpim sumpin; which has at times caused some embarrassment when we get caught...but that's another story. The problem here is that at home in front of our kids we haven't quite mastered the art. Yesterday Steve and I were kissing and hugging each other. It was hot. I mean we weren't laying down or anything like that, but we were enjoying ourselves, and I hear Eden say with a huge sigh of complete exasperation "Romance!" She was probably rolling her eyes if we had bothered to stop and look at her. I'm starting to notice that my kids are making comments about our behavior.
So that is my question to you all:
What is ok and NOT ok to do in front of your kids with your spouse?
I know the obvious so don't even mention it! Sickos.
Go ahead and go throw up first if I've grossed you out. Then come back and tell me what you think. I'm serious. I really want to know.

Awesome Date Night

Last night Steve took me an awesome date! We went to a Peter Breinholt concert here. There are two things that I love: 1-The great outdoors + 2- Good music = one happy girl.
We sat facing this beautiful waterfall. LOVED it. The music playing here on my blog is a little sampling of Pete's music.
The opening act was a guy called Paul Jacobson and I liked him too. Never heard him before.

I was introduced to Peter Breinholt by the Shedertons 11 years ago and have really enjoyed his music ever since. I was surprised when I met Steve and he actually had Pete's music in his collection. So we've both been fans for a long time.

We've been to a few of his live concerts and are never disappointed. What's great about Pete is he is completely down to earth and pretty funny too. He knows how to orchestrate his songs just right. His live concerts are fun because he is always sharing the spotlight and bringing on other artists with him. Other artists that are great too.

Steve and I had so much fun! Steve even got Manic Mandy to come out. I've been more of a Lowly Lucy lately, so that was a nice change. He pulled me up to the mosh pit for a couple of songs to dance with him. And Manic Mandy was all over that. The mosh pit was really a Mormon version of a mosh pit. Nobody was drunk but every bit as silly as a drunk person would be.

My favorite part of the concert was probably when Pete did an 80's medley. Have I ever told you how much I love 80's music? Well I do!

Seriously good times.

Call out

If anyone has a minute, check out Celeste's blog. It's been pretty sad seeing her check it so often for comments and looking so disappointed every time. Celeste's link

Updates Again

I haven't been blogging this week and I want you all to know that I will get to your blogs as soon as I can and leave you all the comments you deserve.
I've been staying quite busy - but with good things. Let me tell you a few little things that have happened this past week.
Eden got her two top front teeth knocked out at recess. They were ready to come out anyhow, so it was not a big deal. She lost her bottom two teeth recently too, so she is having a hard time eating some things. She sure looks cute especially with her other toothless cousin Blythe. I am trying to enjoy her the way she is now, before she will probably grow huge horse teeth in their place. I've learned this fact from sad experience. If we are lucky, they wont be crooked at least. For Family Fun Day on Saturday we took the kids swimming. It was really nice because the pool was nearly vacant. Steve is such a great dad! He got in with us even though he was pretty beat from the race.

Becca's haircut isn't so cute now is it? But I LOVE that smile!

Celeste is a pretty good swimmer these days.

Don't ask me why I am including this photo now. For some reason I am seeing a camera in my face a lot more lately. Eden likes to take my picture. So I found some photos of me when I downloaded the rest. Let me tell you the story behind this one. I was in the kitchen and Eden was begging me again to take a picture of me. I say "no" again, then realize how I hate telling my kids "no" for stupid things. So I grab a banana take a huge bite of it, thinking it will make me look even cheesier, and pose. Why do I have such a huge smile! (And you were wondering where the horse teeth comment came from.)

So now that you can see how self centered I am, I will tell you what's up with Steve.

He's doing really well. He is enjoying his new job. The only problem is the commute. But I still get to see him more than I did when he worked at his last job a mile from home. The best part of it is the environment is so much better and he is a happier man when he is at home. Which make us all happy.

Race Day

Bright and early this morning Steve and I ran a 10k race (6.2 miles). On the way to the race I was saying to him "I want you to just run your best, don't worry about running it with me cause I'll just slow you down." To that he says "No I want to run it with you. It's more fun that way and it's more important to have fun than to be fast." So the race starts and within 5 minutes I couldn't even see Steve ahead of me anymore. Show off! I guess he didn't want to have fun anymore. We both did alright. I am a little embarrassed about my time which was just under 55 minutes. Steve made it 5 minutes faster than me. The part about it that bugs me is I have been running 6 miles a day and he hasn't run 6 miles since I met him. He's just a natural. Although, I have to mention that he's the one laying on the couch feeling the pain right now and I am just fine! I know you are all wondering if I won or anything. And I did win 1st place in my division!!! That is women who are 30 years old, have 4 children and are on their period. Yep I won that division. My medal was really special. A red white and blue ribbon with a tampon hanging from it. I have one other excuse as to why I wasn't at the top of my game today though too. I had the side cramp from H*** for all of mile 4. That part was no fun at all.
But I have to say overall it was a good race and we had a lot of fun doing it.

Manic Mandy

So yesterday I went on a field trip with Celeste's 4th grade class to the State Fair. As a side note, she goes by her middle name "Celeste" at home, but insists on going by her first name "Anna" at school. Quite complicated I must say.
We had a great time! I was assigned to keep track of 5 girls; my little Anna Celeste being one of them. The girls wanted to go over to a reptile adventure show. So we got there early and sat in the front row. Soon a huge crowd was gathered and the show began. This guy brought out all kinds of nasty animals. Giant snakes, alligators, and a giant snapping turtle. When he brought out the snapping turtle as part of his grand finale, he asked that the crowd scoot back and that nobody try to touch it because it could bite their arm off. It was a vicious thing! He lugged the thing out of the tent, grunting the whole way. It was snapping all over the place, but he was using his expert skills to keep from getting his arm ripped off. Then he says, "Can I get a strong Utah mother to come up here to volunteer for the photo op of a lifetime?" Nobody raises their hands... except for Manic Mandy. Her arm actually shot way up quickly. Manic Mandy is who I call the girl who comes out of hiding every now and then out of nowhere. Here she is. Manic Mandy's eyes got cut out of the shot because they looked creepy. She also had a little bit of a tough time lifting "Spartacus" off the ground. He weighed about 120 lbs we were told and did not really want to be lifted up by Manic Mandy. But she did it anyways.
The rest of the time Manic Mandy was like a celebrity at the State Fair. Complete strangers were pointing her out and calling her the Turtle Lady. She even offered to sign autographs. People were quite impressed that she would even volunteer to touch that beast.

To my big sister

I know this picture is so random, but I love it. Mr. Chris P. Fry there is fun to see too. Anyhoo. It's Emily's birthday today! And I decided a while back I wouldn't be doing posts for people for their birthdays anymore unless it was my kids or hubby. It was just getting way too out of hand. But then Emily made a post for me on my birthday and it was way too sweet. So I've gotta show her the love back. Which I happily will do.
Emily is:
Genuinely good (tries her best to be her best)
Sweet (does the most thoughtful things at the right moments)
Humble (can't see how awesome she is)
Gorgeous (stealing boys I wanted in HS)
Smart (getting herself through college)
A very supportive wife (getting her hubby through law school)
A super cool mom (raising 6 kids!!!!)
A perfect sister who loves me far more than I deserve and I love her tons in return.
Happy birthday Emily. I LOVE YOU!!!
Have a great day.

A very long-winded post about love

I'm feeling loved. I've been thinking a lot lately about the love I have felt from people and how blessed I am for it.
Yesterday my kids were telling me how much they loved me. I was told that I was “The bestest mom ever!” and “If someone else said to me that they had the greatest mom I would have to disagree” says Eden. I heard I was “The greatest cooker ever!” and so on. My head/ego grew about 2.3cm in circumference - despite the fact I know I didn't deserve any of those compliments. Dinner was just my homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls but you would have thought it was Thanksgiving dinner considering the compliments my little family was showering me. I even got a request to cook it every single night! Thanks guys.

I started thinking about all the things various people have done, said, or not said that have made me feel loved and I was filled with gratitude.
I'm now going to recount some very personal but treasured memories I pulled out of storage yesterday.
And I'm not going to name any names for two reasons. Reason one: they may not necessarily be things that Steve did. Reason two: if Steve was the one that did it, he may be embarrassed for me writing about it and delete my post. Lets just hope he doesn't get embarrassed by my candidness.

Memories:
Once I found a note in my box at work while I was in college. It was all in code. At the bottom of the note, there was a key to decode the message. I slowly wrote in each letter to read “There's something in the way you move, and all I can do is think of you.” I melted! That's a line from a Beatles song I like if you didn't know. It was a childish thing to do, but the thought of a guy out there not being able to stop thinking of me was quite romantic in my mind. It just so happened to be a guy I was quite enamored of at the time.

Once a guy took me on a beautiful hike up in a canyon. When we got to a certain point he stopped and began to pull out all kinds of treasures in his back pack. Candles, drinking goblets, cider...and a diamond ring. In a really sweet way he expressed his love for me and asked me to marry him. I thought it was incredibly romantic! Just for that I wanted to say yes, but it just wasn't right. But to this day I still think about how sweet that was.

Once (or more times even,) I was on my way to my bedroom after a very long and exhausting day. I was ready to immediately crash into bed, but just before walking in I remembered the mountain of clean laundry I had piled on my bed earlier that day to fold “later”. I was totally bummed. Just as I walked in though, I found a “man” :) standing there finishing up folding probably the 5th load. Tell me ladies, is there anything sexier than a man folding the laundry??? I dare you to think of something hotter than that.

At times I have felt the tears of the man I love drip on my cheek as he kissed me. Tears of joy because he loved me and I was his.

I have witnessed someone I love step completely out of their comfort zone and do something they would never do just because they knew it would make me happy.

I have seen the man I love shake in racking sobs because he knew I was in pain and he couldn't fix it. That act alone gave me the knowledge that he would see to it that it would be fixed. And it was.

I have been so overcome with feelings of being loved at times by my soul mate that I have not been able to hold back the tears. Tears of joy.

I could think of so many other treasured moments.
Tell me could I be more blessed?
I can't!

I challenge all you out there to recount those memories of being loved. Because I know you all are!

What do I do to show my love back to him?

I thank my God daily for my love – received and given.

I try to keep my body in good shape. I wear makeup. And earings. And eyeshadow! (Yuck.)
I grow my hair out long because I know he likes it better that way.
I try to have the house clean and dinner sitting on the table each day when the man of my dreams walks in the door from work; trying to hide the fact that minutes before was a disaster and utter chaos.
I try to take time each day to show I would rather spend every waking moment with my love and shower him with all the affection he can handle.
I write him love letters that are profoundly beautiful. With pros such as: “You have complited a fantastic word.” (See Ambien post.)
I more than wear out the phrase “I love you” by repeating it countless times a day with 100% sincerity.
Now if you have read this entire dissertation, you deserve a prize!

Thanks for letting me get that out.

A Really Spiritual Experience

Last night we had the adult session of our stake conference. It was a fantastic meeting. The Spirit was so strong and the entire program was exceptional. I cried several times and people all around me were sniffing and wiping tears from their eyes. Even men. Anna led the choir and it was gorgeous! I was so proud of my big sister. I left there with a stronger testimony and feeling completely motivated to live better.

Today was a little different. Call me a sinner, but I didn't feel a whole lot. It was a broadcast for all the stakes in our county. We met at our regular building. It was just our ward and one other ward there. However, I think there were many who skipped out on it because our ward alone can totally fill the chapel and cultural hall. This group was no bigger than it normally is. Each week we have been blown away by the noise level during Sacrament Meeting. Each week I just have to laugh. I figure the average age in our new ward is roughly 5. It's like the children have taken over. If they only knew they WAY outnumbered us adults, we'd be in huge trouble. I guess we already kind of are. Of course our kids contribute to noise. Don't get me wrong! But my goodness...

This week Steve decided to sound record a snippet of stake conference. Here is a sampling for you. And trust me, it's noisy like this every week. And some moments are much louder. Sometimes someone may have their child totally freaking out, but since it's already sounding like a circus in there, they see no reason for taking their child out. And I'm with them on that one.

The image on there is just one of my old Sunbeams. Steve put it on there for something to look at. But you get the idea of what our Sundays have been like lately.

You asked for it

Thanks a lot people for giving me a hard time about wanting to lose weight. That's the last time I'm gonna mention it to you lot.
Losers.

So would you like to hear another Ambien story? I've got another one, but I don't think it's as fun as my last one.
Wednesday night I take Ambien and immediately go to bed. Later Steve relates the following conversation that we apparently had after I hit the sack:

Amanda: "Are there people in the r0om?"
Steve: "No."
Amanda: "Are you sure because I see people."
Steve: "I'm sure."
Pause...
Amanda: "Who are you?"
Steve: "Steve."
Amanda: "Are you my husband?"
Steve: "Yeah, I'm your husband."
Amanda: "OK."

Random Updates

This week I lost 2 lbs. (Whooped DE do.) Oh well, it's something. I'll keep reporting on my weight loss anyhow each week. It will help me feel accountable. It's like an "Over eaters Anonymous" meeting of my very own! They really have those you know. Oh - not that I would know much about it...

Steve has had his first two days of work and all seems to be going well. It's hard to learn a new job, but I think he's doing alright. The commute isn't too fun. But live able. We are just happy he's working. He said it felt good to be the breadwinner again. I told him he's been the breadwinner all along. Because of him, we had 6 months worth of savings to live on.

I got a calling tonight in our new ward. YW Personal Progress Advisor. I am excited about it. I am a big believer in the Personal Progress Program and am ready to pump the girls up about it. I actually earned the medallion myself as a teenager and again this past year as YW President in our old ward. So it's a calling I am completely comfortable with.

We've had the great privilege of seeing plenty of family and friends in the last week! Steve's brother and his family came for a visit earlier last week. His parents came here and stayed with us briefly too. We got to go to Connor's baptism and Matt's court of honor. (Bishop nephews.) They were really nice occasions. My Waite Grandparents came and visited us on Saturday. Tim and Brenda have been here all week, and staying with Anna. They are always a lot of fun to be with. An old friend of mine came for a visit and brought his family for dinner last night. It was good to hang out with those guys too. Lots of fun stuff!

Eden had her first singing group meeting with Anna today. Anna's got a children's group put together and she teaches them to sing. It was so cute! I think she's a great teacher. She is going to give Celeste piano lessons too. Celeste starts tomorrow. It's convenient having Anna do it too. A great excuse to go over there and hang out with her before/afterwards.

Now someone give me something truly interesting to post about.

Lovely Ambien

Last night I couldn't sleep. I was in bed bright eyed and bushy tailed at 11:30pm and wondering if I was ever going to fall asleep. My mind would not shut off! Knowing I had to get up at 6:30am, I decided finally to get up and take an Ambien. I was given a prescription for these sleeping pills months back but rarely use them. I took the pill and then decided to go do something in the office until I felt sleepy. After that things got really fuzzy, really quickly. Apparently I sat down to write Steve a love letter. I don't even remember doing this! Steve asked me this morning what was wrong with me last night? He had to help me to bed. I was delirious. This morning look what I found?
This is Shakespeare kind of beautiful.

If you can't read it, (understandable!), it reads: "Dear Steven, You are brilliant. You are loved. You have complited a fantastic word. You played aways I don't undertand What is happy to me! Help me out! I this somethng that is...."
I love you Ambien. Thanks for the sleep.