We were introduced to the Wii!

On Saturday night Micheal and Raelyn invited us over to play the Wii, and now all I want to do is PLAY IT!!! We had a lot of fun!

Deep concentration!!!!

Micheal has his "game face" ON!

Tennis

And now, prepare to be terrified!...

     It pains me to even admit that we were playing this game, AND enjoying it but these pictures were taken playing a burping game, where you shake up a pop drink it, burp and see how much damage you can do to the city! If the popping veins did not give it away, Spencer won every time.   It was the most unusual thing in the world to watch :)

Gingerbread cookies

  Thursday night Keena, Elin and all the boys came over for dinner and we made gingerbread cookies, they were YUM!

 

 

We also shared our science experiment with the boys, it was messy fun!

This is such a fun thing to play with and SO weird!

Add 1 cup of corn starch with 1/4 cup water, stir and then get a glob with your hands, squeeze it and let go to see it "melt" it is SO neat. If it starts getting hard a a little water.

Prepare to be amazed...

The day is finally here... I am going to be home before the sun is down. Starting in January Me and Aiden are going to have more time at home and more of a "normal" life! I am going to start leaving work at 3:30 everyday, no more 5:30 or 6!!!! This is probably one of the most courageous things I have ever done (weird, huh!?) right now I am going through another divorce, a divorce of my career, but still it feels like a divorce! I am so excited to let it go, but at the same time it is SO hard!

Christmas goodies

 

Last year I went the easier, more expensive route and bought candles for all the neighbors. Spencer thought it was a bit crazy...UNTIL...

3 lbs of powdered sugar

2 lbs peanut butter

1 box rice krispies

1 box golden grahams

1 box corn chex

2 cups karo syrup

2 cups sugar

1 bag sliced almonds

1 bag coconut

2 bags marshmallows

2 lbs butter

48 plates

1 roll press and seal wrap

3 bags of chocolate chips

1 roll parchment paper

red & green food coloring

And there you have...

He really does not care WHAT I do next year just as long as it is not treats!! :) HA  

It was fun, and I ate my fair share (which is way too much!)

Oh and Becca there is a special one for you with fruit leathers :) :)

It makes our basement look BAD!

 

           Ta DA!

 

After MANY stained clothes from our washer, two trips from the service men, and much debate, we finally broke down and got a new washer and dryer! However, I never expected it to cost as much as a used car!!!!!!! We Spent over an hour down at Hutch's in Lehi on Main Street (We would highly recommend going, great service!) We learned all about the different makes, models, etc etc... and we ended up with these bad boys. I feel sick every time I think about the price tag but Spencer tells me I need to get over it. Aren't they beautiful!?!?!

Card Making group

                                              Karin-Katie-Kenzy

I just joined a card making group and I am truly sure that my first purpose is just for the social time with these wonderful ladies (which is also why I was convinced to run a marathon, man I am desperate for time with my friends! :) ) Anyways... I am loving this new hobby! Except I just converted to digital scrapbooking this year so I am now having to take a step back and handle paper again to make cards.  It is quite frustrating at times because I cannot click CTRL Z to undo whatever I just did and I cannot re-use the paper and I have to stick with whatever idea I am trying to create, I really love digital scrapping!  I have a feeling I am going to turn into a hybrid scrapper (I cannot believe I am getting all technical about this!) So I am buying all sorts of fun things to stock my supplies for making cards, I am really having fun with this! This last time we each made 2 cards and brought all the supplies for everyone else to make them, so we went home with 8 cards.

Funny moment

Okay so I just got done reading all these blog tags to Spencer and my phone alarm goes off, which then reminded me of another interesting/ridiculous thing about me so as I am walking to my phone and I say "I put reminders in my phone for everything" I then start chuckling at my comment, then I realize "I laugh at my own jokes" chuckling turns into laughing out loud, which continues until tears come out! because I am now grabbing a piece of paper to write those two things down so I won't forget.  WHATEVER! Wow My stomach hurts from laughing. 

What a good night for blogging, and seriously I should be doing so many other things right now!

Tag #3 from Aunt Amy

The rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1.  I am usually never caught anywhere without my water cup, except the car (I need to arrange to change that) and I do have to have it a certain way, filled with ice all the way to the top and then the rest water, so cold it freezes your body! I even drink water in the middle of the night, which may I add can be dangerous! One night I woke up gasping for air because I had dumped my entire cup all over me, Spencer was very baffled why I was waking him in the middle of the night to change the sheets.

--Oh and in addition to this because it happens ALL the time, I don't like sharing my water! and YES I am talking to you Spencer, poobar! :P I swear he stalks me until I fill up my cup and then he follows me around just to drink it all gone! WHY? We have like 100 cups in our kitchen and a lot of water to spare!

2. I like things to be left to right, top to bottom and only my Montessori "peeps" would understand this

3. Okay, let's just state the obvious I am OCD (Obssesive compulsive disorder) and I LOVE IT! So ha!

4. I love picking at my face, ya that's totally nasty! and I wish I didn't

5. I love routine

6. I hate leaving home, but always wish I were on vacation...so weird!

I am tagging: Raelyn Coles, Kerri Johnson, Katie Deluhunty, Shane Coles, Micheal Coles, & Judd Zimmerman

Tag #2 from Becca

Okay Becca tagged me to name 7 Interesting Facts about myself. Which seems like it SHOULD be easy but c'mon I am racking my brain!

1.  I get addicted to foods, well that was easy since I just got done writing an article about it in the last tag, uh! so ridiculous...now THAT would be easy to do 7 Ridiculous things about me...hmmm

Okay...

2. I hate white socks! Well I guess I don't really HATE them I just do not prefer them.  In fact up until I bought some running socks this year I could simply say I own not ONE pair of white socks!  I have always worn goofy sock, Christmas, valentines, stripes, flowers..anything BUT white.

3. My favorite aisle in any store is the organizational stuff, yes there is just something about large plastic tins that just puts me on cloud nine! Even if I am not looking to buy anything I just love walking through, it's as good as meditating! :)

If I could color code everything and have a bin for each thing I would! Order is something that brings me PURE happiness!

4. It is gut wrenching for me to finish a meal without dessert!

5. I am constantly making lists of things I need to do, remember, tell someone, or goals.  With all that is going through my mind at every second of the day I can't not write it down, in fact there have been times that I have gone to grab a pen and paper to write something and by the time I got it 1 minute or less later,my mind has already processed so much I sometimes forget what I was going to write!!!!

6. I cannot for the life of me get letters in the mail! I am awful, I can get letters addressed and stamped, but ACTUALLY to the mailbox is the hard part...I don't understand this one!

7.  It does not matter if it is the middle of summer or middle of winter I always want to be curled up in a blanket!

Man now that I am going I can really think of quite a few quirks! SO for journaling purposes I am going to continue.

8. I hate missing putting Aiden down for nap or bedtime, I want to always be there to put him to sleep! I know it's REALLY weird but I just love hugging and kissing him, then tucking him in.  Now, yes I do survive when I don't get to do this but I really make sure I do everything in my power NEVER to miss nighttime (nap, not so bad) otherwise I get home and just want to wake him up to hug him, to smell him, to tell him I love him.  Okay I am truly a crazy mom, but I just love my baby!

9.  I read until my eyes feel like they are bleeding and then I want to read more!  I love reading!

10. I love the smell of cleaning supplies.  Now I guess most people like the smell of clean but I truly LOVE the smell of cleaning supplies! No I am not sitting here sniffing clorox ;)

11. I love music, I function best when there is music playing, no matter what I am doing (well, besides reading)

12. I am hand making all my Christmas cards this year!

13. I actually LIKE mowing the lawn (guess I inherited that from my mom)

14. The first thing I think about when I wake up is "what's for breakfast" and if I did not have to pee so bad it would be THE first thing I did every morning.  Strangely enough this is ALSO the very first thing Aiden does when he wakes up, he starts listing his breakfast menu! It is hilarious.

15. I work best when multi tasking, 50 thing at once, that's my motto!

16. I pick things up with my toes

Okay I might as well end now because I am sure there are plenty more.

I am tagging Kim Boyer, Kristy Becksted, Nancy Zundel & Tara Kolowich.

Tag #1 From Kerri

4 Jobs I have had:

1. Gold's Gym, in the daycare and at the front desk

2. Convergy's, Modus Media, Teleperformance USA, Western Watts (Ya I figured they are all the same category might as well list them!)

3. Mervyn's in the shoe department

4. Venturi carpet cleaning. Office work

Movies I have watched over and over

1. The Notebook

2. Dumb and DumberER

3. 10 Things I Hate About you

4. Sweet Home Alabama

and there was no number asked for on this one I could probably go on FOREVER! So I will stop there

Places I have lived

1. Utah- Orem and St.George

2. Nevada- Overton and Logandale

Favorite TV Show

Well first of all we do not have dish or DVR anymore so this is not really my type of question but BEFORE we took the plunge to loose the dish my favorite shows were

24, American Idol, Lost, Friends (which I own all 10 seasons on dvd anyways!) The Office (still able to watch online, woohoo) and I am SURE there were more but it is all becoming a distant memory now. Ya I replace a memory like every milisecond

Places I have been on Holiday

(which is really weird because I am not from Europe, so let's just change that to vacation :)

1. California- Fresno, San Diego, Anaheim, Hollywood

2. Nevada- Las Vegas, Mesquite, Overton/Logandale (does going there really count as a vacation? hmmm)

3.Colorado road trip

4.Ireland--Ya, this one is probably the only one that really counts!

Favorite dishes

(again weird so changing that to food) and this is where it gets hard, if you know me, you know food is MY THING! mmmm  and I won't even get started on desserts!

Roast

Poppyseed chicken

Breakfast of almost any kind, not the cold cereal kind, actual breakfast

I guess it depends on the moment because I get really addicted, for lack of any other word (because the IS the word, HA) to certain things for months at a time. 

Example:

I used to eat Malt O Meal 3 times or more a day when I was a senior in high school, for like 3 months straight

Some staples in my house lately are

String cheese, fruit leather bars, Tuscan kettle chips, grapes, pineapple, Baby carrots (From Smith's, yes they have to be a certain kind! :) )

Things I eat every week without fail

Odwalla bars- usually Banana nut or Strawberry Pomegranate

Tuna fish sandwich with TONS of pickles, Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and of course everything that was listed above as a staple.

Wow you get me started on the food subject and I just don't know how to stop...frightening. AND I am now ending, telling myself not to delete all the rubish I just typed.

Websites visited daily

1. Email

2. Digital scrapbooking sites for freebies

Places I'd rather be right now

Ireland

Anywhere tropical (Hawaii, etc...)

At the temple

Eating somewhere! mmmm Tepanyaki!

People I am tagging

Gosh I don't know, anyone who wants to do this! :) Have fun!

TAG!

Okay, okay so I am just NOW understanding this whole TAG thing! I was reading Kerri's blog and saw at the bottom that she was "tagging" me and I thought, hmm that's odd she never told me.  Then I was reading Becca's blog and saw she also tagged me, again...odd. And then DING, the light bulb came on in my head. In this world of blogging you tag someone and they are supposed to GET it by reading it, DUH. So I have now been tagged THREE times.  Not to mention I am behind on blogging already! Which kind of sucks since I just started! HA. Ok so while I have a bajillion other things I SHOULD be doing right now... Let the blogging begin :)

                                               

Random...

Ya, Ya, I have waited SO long to post and I post about THIS!?!?!

What a silly little man our Aiden is, of course when he was little he hated the dreadful "booger sucker" NOW he likes it, it's funny, and he does it by himself!  Oh the simple pleasures in life ;) This particular day he was obviously also playing dress up. Fun!

FYI

Aiden's gooey nick names

One of my nicknames for Aiden is Magoo which all stared one time when Aiden was being silly and I called him "Magoo" which has transformed into many different nicknames for my googy...

Magooga

Googy

Googy bear

Goo

Googily

Googa

And I am sure their will be more to come. I love you googly bear!

My preschooler

This year at Montessori we started school uniforms!  I was so excited about it and never really knew just how much it would have effect on my weepy mommy heart! A school uniform, Curious George toothpaste, some gel in the hair, and a spray of Daddy's cologne and I am wrapped around this little boys finger! I cannot believe how BIG he is!

May I present...

Every year I always get the same question when Christmas and Aiden's birthday come around and every year I never have an answer which I know annoys those who ask the question.  SO here it is Aiden's wish list, all the items that are Aiden tested and Mom approved.  I took him to the Red Balloon Toy Store today and let him help me make a list of all the things he loved the most.  His MOST favorite things are marbles and trains. I hope this helps and YES this is mainly for my dad, because I always promise him I will call him back after I have thought of some ideas..and never do ;) And, YES this took forever to make! Santa just may have one large train table on his sleigh this year if mom will cough up the dough, umm I mean if HE will!

Aiden's wish list:

That's what friends are for...

I feel very blessed to live just where I do and to be in my amazing neighborhood, I have some wonderful friends and have learned some valuable things just in the past few months. Here are just a few things I have found that complete the phrase, "that's what friends are for..."

To talk you into things you really wouldn't do alone like driving in California by myself, flying by myself, running 13.1 freaking miles, sitting in the FRONT for Splash mountain (and I believe the words from Natalie's mouth were, first of all "you won't get soaked unless you are huge man" and then after I am exiting the ride soaked head to toe I recall these poetic words "first time to Disneyland, HaHa! SUCKER!")

                  

To wake up before the sun TO RUN!

To remind you that you are not the only one who does not have it ALL together!

To make you laugh until it hurts

To have inside jokes with and think they are the funniest on the planet! (Swack, Swoobs, Swetta, Walt Dineyland etc etc...)

To teach you that it IS ok to start a load of laundry BEFORE it is a large load "That's why they make the small load function" was the obvious advice of Becca :) She also taught me that on flylady.com it talks about throwing the laundry in the washer when you wake up and then into the dryer before you leave for the day, then it's ready to be folded when you get home. Genius!

-I am doing really well with this, laundry has not been overwhelming!

To also teach you that it is ok to start the dishwasher before it is full (not to mention there is a sink full of dishes waiting for you to unload the clean ones from the washer when they are done) Natalie told me that she starts her dishwasher every night and empty's it every morning, no matter how many dishes there are.

- I freaking love you Natalie! this is phenomenal!

To practice poses for pictures

To cram into cars just to get free parking NO matter how bad we smell!

To carry your stuff, plan you route, make executive decisions and be Disney mom (Yes, we all know who this is...Natalie ;) )

To inspire, brighten and bring something to your life that nothing and no one can replace

        That's what friends are for!

Oh the things I never thought...

May I start by dedicating this to my dear Aunt Natalie...

Long ago in my youth (Ya, I am pretty old now!) I thought maybe my Aunt Nat was crazy (sorry auntie!) I mean c'mon, she would not let her kids watch Ninja Turtles! I remember things from when I lived with her that made me think, hmmmm that is strange. BUT may I stand completely corrected and completely converted to what I thought was "the dark side"

Let me describe the parent I never thought I would be:

1. Married to a schedule, following it religiously!

2. Aiden in bed by 8-8:30pm and myself in bed not long after.

3. Packing healthy lunches

4. No guns, fighting shows, toys or behavior allowed

5. A positive discipline parent

6. Reading the classics (Aiden and I are currently reading "A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett

7. Watching TV little to none for myself and Aiden

8. Anti video games

These are just a few things that come to mind, I am sure there are so many other things that I just never thought I would do when I was a parent.  Of course I was one of the many who said "when I have kids... " OR "I am not going to do... like my parents"

I feel really lucky that I have been able to read just the right books and meet just the right people to help teach me and prepare me to be the best mom I can, a better mom than I ever imagined I would be and trust me I still need to do better! It's a blessing that I get to practice all day on other people's children at school and also teach other parents and employees how to do it, it helps me be prepared to come home and be "supermom".  Being a mom is THE hardest job on the planet, and that doesn't even begin to sum it up!

So dear Aunt, I love you and NOW I understand.

And to understand JUST how weird and different I am from long ago for my birthday this year I actually asked for and received this...

                                 

And I think it is awesome! Yes ladies and gentleman I am MUCH different than I ever imagined growing up to be.  What a relief!

Could it get ANY better?...

Can I just say that my family IS simply the best!                                    My happiness, my life, my everything!

I am sure that most people WOULD say that about their family but WOW do I mean it!  I am married to such a wonderful husband! I have THE most adorable, smartest, funniest, lovable little boy in the Entire world...sorry it's true! :)                                                    Being a mom is pure joy. Yes I am sure the day will come when I will say something very contradicting to that, don't hold it against me! ;) I feel so blessed to have my family!

Here are a few pictures from our one year wedding anniversary (September 22,2007) also the day we were able to be sealed in the temple.  MORE to come...

Check out our photographer!  Becca, my amazing friend and next door neighbor. http://www.mathesonfamilyglimpses.typepad.com/rebecca_matheson_photogra/

Preschool North-My little ones!

 

I have a blog for my class! http://missbrianna.blogspot.com/ see my adorable kids and my wonderful classroom :)

Someday we'll look back and laugh... haha no thank you!

Well the day started at 5:30 just as usual but this morning Spencer was off to the airport, heading to Mexico City to work on "temple stuff"

I worked out...YEAH! I have THE hardest time getting out of bed so it kind of a huge deal! I have been running on the treadmill and lifting weights, preping to win an arm wrestling contest with Spee ;) While I was getting ready for work I get a text from Spee saying he barely made his flight! They were actually paging him over the intercom, HA!

So... I am feeling good about the day because basically it's Friday, since school is closed for UEA Thurs-Mon. The morning was great UNTIL I am driving in the car pool lane nearing my exit and the red and blues come on! YES I was getting pulled over!  I could not understand I was only going 70mph (5 over)  WELL, come to find out my registration is 7 months past expired! I was informed that my car should be impounded, AH!  Apparently I was adorable (wink, wink) and he let me go without a ticket and WITH my car :) And NO I had no idea that my plates had expired.  I promised I would take care of it TODAY!

To add to the day during the middle of my class I stepped out and noticed a text on my phone from Spee "Baby. Don't kill me, but I need you to call Continental and see if the have found a wedding ring in one of those gray security bins.!! :)"  Little did he know I was not going to Freak out.  So I emailed lost and found and they have not seen it, grrrrr.  I feel more angry with them!  and honestly relived that it was not MY ring ;)

So back to the car...

I dropped my car off at Jiffy Lube to have emissions, inspections, and an oil change.  A couple hours later I go to pick it up just to find out I FAILED emissions, are you kidding me!?!? I drive a 2005 car how do I fail!  Well turns out something is wrong with my sensors.  So now I will spend all day tomorrow running my car around to get everything fixed, in hopes that I do not get pulled over again.

One small step...

   

   Why? have I waited SO long to start this!!?!?!?

 

I will tell you why! because I NEVER know just where to start! So this is THE start!  I hope to keep the ones we love a little more in touch with what we are up to because I KNOW I am practically non-existent :) So let the blog begin!