Little Alli

It has been so fun to watch Jeanette this week with her two little babies. She has two babies that are 12 months apart and she is doing such a terrific job with them both. I love to watch how in control she is with her life and where she wants to go. We're so glad she chose to come visit with us for the week!

This is her 2 month old Alli. I just love her soft hair!

Bryan helps the Hurricane Victims

We received a wonderful surprise on Tuesday night... Jeanette and her two babies sneaked into the house and surprised everyone! We had no idea she was coming, and she drove all by herself all the way here from UT. What a great surprise! It is so fun visiting with her.

The reason for her visit is because Bryan's work, APX Alarm, sent 83 of their employees to the Gulf Coast areas to help clean up the mess left from Hurricane Ike. He left Tuesday morning and thought Jeanette deserved some company while he was away. What a sweet husband!

Below are some pictures of Bryan in Texas. I am impressed that APX is paying their employees to spend the week cleaning up and helping the community. I think that is awesome that they would do that.

You can check out their progress on APX gives back.

Twilight Movie...

Many of my friends/family have become involved in the Twilight series, about a human girl that falls in love with a vampire and their tragic/happy tale. I like the 'idea' behind it and found that interesting, but I saw way too many unhealthy things in their relationship for me to be overly excited about it. I have a lot of friends who couldn't put the book down and loved it, so I guess there must be something there... I just didn't enjoy their relationship... I mostly kept reading because it was fun to get to know the other characters and I just wanted to see how the book ended.

A few months ago I read her first chapter of Midnight Sun, which is the book Twilight's companion book that is from the vampire Edward's point of view. It was actually entertaining to read, and I found myself intrigued. Sadly the book may not be finished or completed, due to the recent leak on the internet of her first draft of the book (half way finished). She explains her feelings on the subject on her website and it has a link on there for her fans to read the partial draft that was leaked for those of you who are interested. I, for one, think it may be better to just wait and see if she decides to write it because the editing is obviously not very good and she hasn't tweaked it yet.

The whole reason for this post, however, is because I think the Twilight movie looks simply AWFUL. The vampire who plays edward is the same actor who plays our beloved Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movies. I loved him in it, and thought he did a great job - so there is a small chance he may pull it off. That said, I think he looks really strange in all the trailers I have seen, and I think the special effects (ie-their vampire skills) look very cheesy, and the lines don't seem very well done. I'm disappointed because I think they could have done a good job with it and instead they are leaving it in the hands of someone who doesn't know very much about special affects, casting, etc... That's just my opinion. The girl who is playing Bella really annoyed me in another movie I watched her in so I'm sure that doesn't help either because every time I see her I feel like throwing up... This is just a trailer, however, so maybe the final product will be better.



What do you guys think? What are your guys' view on the Twilight universe? James and I laugh everytime we watch it, so we do find it entertaining and I probably will take him along with me in November to be amung all the girls that are dying to watch it, ha. Maybe not though, the more we watch the trailers...

Does this happen to anyone else?

I got my hair cut a few weeks ago (3 I think) and I still hate it. I liked it for a day, and then I was like "awww... I wish I had just trimmed it after all..."

Does this ever happen to anyone else, or is it just me? Its like when my hair is long all I can think of is how cute everyone's short hair is - so I cut it, and then all I think of is how pretty long hair is on everyone. I'm sure the fact that she didn't cut my hair the way I wanted (I kept telling her I wanted a more blunt cut in the back, not so inverted, and it shorter in the front... but it still didn't happen) - so the next time around I'll definitely find someone who does more what I want...

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the hair. If anyone has any tips, please share. Maybe I'm just stupid and don't know how to use my flat iron or round brush right... With a baby I don't have the hour I used to have to do my hair before the baby came. :)

What's a wordle?

So I found this online. It takes the most used phrases or words you write on your blog or website and creates a "wordle" or collage with the larger fonts the most used, and goes down from there. I thought it was quite interesting. Check out mine below.

Sweet Surprises

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. We originally were going to celebrate it by having a romantic getaway, but thanks to our wonderful car (see earlier post) we no longer will be going on that. My wonderful husband surprised me by coming home early with a beautiful bouquet of flowers in tow. How he had got those to stay alive after a drive home on a motorcycle (as well as bringing home dinner) is beyond me. He made my night.

We use to celebrate 'month' anniversaries our first year, and we always got a papa murphys pizza and watched a new movie, so James thought it would be fun to reminisce about the beginning of our marriage.

We actually didn't get past December of 06, which was just 3 months after we were married, but here are some of those things we remembered. There are a lot:

The Oregon Coast, Meeting Grandpa Barry and he was actually very well behaved, James getting me used to Katie in degrees (he used to have her sit with him on his side and slowly she would make her way over to be by me...), Having Halloween dinner with his parents while he had to work and watching Mommy Dearest (he was so jealous!), James cooked dinner everyday because he got home an hour before I did, Having to race through our showers because the water was only warm for a few minutes, The awful, awful smell of our apt. and lighting candles in all the rooms so we could breathe, Knowing we would always have one good home cooked meal every week because we ate at the Rognons on Sundays, Very loud neighbors, James driving everywhere because I didn't know how to drive a manual, Our crazy day trip to go to Grandpa's 90th birthday celebration and the last time I saw my Grandma before her paralysis took affect, Trying to work with only one cell phone, the Rognons van,... There are so many fun experiences with James... We could probably spend days just remembering all the wonderful experiences we have in our marriage.

We are reminded more and more frequently how blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives. What a blessing it has been for both of us to know that we will be together forever, in this life and in the one to come. I am reminded more and more lately at how lucky I am to have a husband who cherished me so much that there would be no question that we would make it to the temple. What a blessing that has been in our marriage knowing that we both have shown each other our deep commitment to each other and to having our marriage built on a solid and firm foundation so that when the hard times come we have something strong to fall back on. If we hadn't had that, I don't think we would be at the place where we are today, especially with having started a family so soon after we were married. I'm very certain we both would not be as happy and certain in our marriage as we are now with out the gospel guiding us in our lives.

I didn't mean to write a sermon about my love for James or marriage, but there you have it. It's just something that we talked about last night and it was just a reminder of what a blessing our temple marriage has been for us and the commitments we have made to each other.



These are the beautiful flowers. Jim cut them, arranged them, and even tied the little bow to the vase. Talented.

Followers

So Blogger keeps coming up with these little nifty gadgets, and one of those is called "followers" where you can subscribe to a blog and let them know you enjoy it publicly, or you can do so anonymously and you get updates on your google reader or on your dashboard. Neat huh? So if anyone wants to follow the blog, there's a link on the right somewhere. Enjoy.

Sad Times

Our beautiful car died. :(



I was driving down the highway and when I reached the turn to my home I got out of 5th gear because I was slowing down, and when I tried to put in third I couldn't do it! As easy as that, my car became immobile and unmanageable. Even though I had used the breaks I was still stuck sticking out in the oncoming lane with traffic coming at me. Scared out of my mind, I turned off the car wondering if I had somehow done something crazy with the car. It turned on fine, but still I wasn't able to put it in gear and do anything. Car's were backing up behind us, and we were pretty scared with fast traffic driving by on both sides of us. My sister Julie luckily was with me, so she saw a window of opportunity where cars weren't coming at us, she got out of the car and pushed us the rest of the way so we were at least off the highway. I really do feel like we must have had some guardian angels watching out for us. I really was scared for our lives.

Who knew that the clutch was so unreliable? I didn't even know you had to replace clutches normally if you have a manual vehicle. I'm actually quite ticked off about it. It's costing us $1000 just to replace our stupid clutch, which apparently is a wear-and-tear item that isn't under warranty. So if we're going to have to replace our clutch every 3 years (our car is only 3 years old), by the time we've had the car for ten years we'll not only maybe have 2 more exciting near life experiences while our clutch goes out on us again, but we'll also have to fork over 2 more grand to get it replaced.

Ugh.

Stupid Manuals. I never liked them anyways, and now I have another reason to hate them!

Happy Anniversary to us.

Freeze Tag!

So I have done quite a few tags, but most of them are non-commital. (You can do it if you want, or I tag all my old roommates, or things like that.) My cousin-in law specifically singled me out, so I thought I would do hers. :) And then my other friend tagged me specifically too, so I will try to do hers too. Sorry if you guys get sick of these things, but I did add little modifications so I wouldn't be too duplicative from the last one I did with this.

Here are the rules: Each player answers the questions themselves and at the end of the post you tag 5 people, post their names, go to their blog and leave a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and ask them to check it out on your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

Here we go:

The 5 things tag:

Ten Years ago I:
1. Was 15 1/2 years old
2. Was a sophomore in high school
3. It was the only high school year I didn't have a crush on mr. Oliver Abbott. It was a very happy time.
4. Couldn't wait until I turned 16 so I could finally go on a date with Michael Berryhill!
5. I think Mask of Zorro was my favorite movie.

5 things on todays "to do list"
1. Decide what to make for dinner and have it ready/done before James gets home
2. Play with Jack
3. Eat something other than dad's cookies from yesterday
4. Take a break
5. Go to bed early

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Almonds! Especially the honey roasted kind, though the smoked ones and chocolate covered ones from Costco are delicious
2. The healthy fiesta chips from Costco too, shaped in a triangle. Anyone know which ones I'm talking about? They are my new favorite thing!
3. Carrot sticks
4. Chips and Salsa... Soo, soo good.
5. Popsicles

5 things I would do if I were a millionare:
1. Pay off our school loans/debts
2. Buy a house
3. Buy a few cars
4. Invest it
5. Help out family members and friends where we could and try not to spend it all!

5 places I have lived (I'll specify to in college):
1. The Dorms
2. Cox Apts, Provo UT
3. Royal Crest
4. Heritage/Baronessa
5. Hillcrest, Regent Villa

5 jobs I have had (in the galley):
1. Bakery Assistant
2. Cashier
3. Wrap/Sandwich maker
4. Dishwasher
5. Desert Girl

The ABC tag:
A= Attached or Single: Attached
B= Best Friend: James, Brittney, Wendy, basically all my sisters...
C= Cake or Pie: I don't like fruit pies (apple/berry/etc). But I like banana cream and chocolate pies better than cake.
D= Day of Choice: Sunday
E= Essential Item: My laptop or a clean shirt
F= Flavor of Icecream: chocolate with penut butter
G= Gummy Bears or Worms: Probably worms
H= Hometown: Memories
I= Indulgence: Chocolate chip cookies
J= January or July: January
K= Kids: Love mine
L= Last movie I saw at a theater: I don't remember the name. Babylon A.D.? We got free tickets... even then I still would say I'd rather have my time back. It was that bad.
M= Musician: Coldplay
N= Number of Siblings: 9
O= Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P= Phobias or Fears: Canoeing
Q= Quote: You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.-Bill Cosby
R= Reason to Smile: My baby sleeps through the night
S= Season: Fall
T= Tag: I'll list it below
U= Unknown fact: I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I hate it when people call my baby chubby. It's nothing new. Where do you think baby fat comes from?... Like adults, babies come in all shapes and sizes. We don't need to hear about our cellulite and chub, and we definitely don't need to hear it about our baby. And Jack's been in the lower end of the percentile for weight. I'd hate to think how other mother's feel with babies that have more average weight growth. Maybe think of something else to say with it if you can't help yourself but say they're chubby? Like comment on his beautiful eyes?
W= Worst habit: biting my nails
X= Xray or Ultrasound: xray unless its for a baby. that way you dont have gunk wiped on you or up you.
Y= Your favorite food: potatoes, roast and carrots in a crockpot. Mmmmm.
Z= Zodiac sign: Gemni

I tag: Whomever wants to do this tag! Especially those of you who haven't been tagged before and have been waiting for someone to tag you! This is for you! But to be more specific? Hmmm. Let me look at my little list of people... I think I am going to specify all of James' buddies. Lorilee, Kiersten, Betsy, Charlene (AGAIN! - she needs to post again so we know what she's up to!), and Hollis! There ya have it! You can choose which one to do!