HELP!

Okay, this is bad. I need dinner ideas. I love to cook and don't mind making dinner, but I hate coming up with things to make. I used to do this fun dinner group/exchange thing with my friends in Riverton and it was so nice to get new ideas. Unfortunatly, I don't live by those girl's anymore and I need some help getting ideas. I thought maybe we (as in me and the readers of this blog) could do a dinner idea exchange. Here is what I ask of you wonderful readers......what did you have for dinner for the last three nights? I am going to make a menu based on your meals. I am desperate, thanks for your help. If you are looking for ideas, I had pasta spinach salad, corn chowder, and baked potato bar. I look forward to your ideas. Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas Season!

Crazy Eight Tag

Eight shows I watch:
My Three Sons
Good Things Utah
BBC News
Perry Mason
Nova
I can't think of eight!

Eight things that happened yesterday:
Visited my mom
Did laundry
Made Ginger Chicken
Paid bills
Talked with my sister Jolisa
Mopped my mom's floor
Cleaned up toys like a hundred times

Eight places I like to eat:
PF Changs
Training Table
Old Spaghetti Factory
Kneaders
Wendy's
Macaroni Grill
Subway
Gandolfos

Eight things I'm looking forward to:
Eating ice cream and watching the news tonight
Seeing Steve when he gets home
Christmas Eve
Christmas
Girl's Night
My sister having her baby
Ruby being able to walk

Eight things on my wish list:
A Minivan (I know it is not very cool!)
A Digital Camara
New running shoes
Perfume
Trip to England
Photographic Memory
Ability to write (like books)
More babies

I tag erin, brynn, heidi

My thoughts on President Elect Obama and my sweet family

Yay! I am finally finding time to blog. My daughter is sleeping and my mom is entertaining George. I have been wanting to write something about our new President....Mr. Barrack Hussein Obama. First of all, for all those who think I am an unfeeling, selfish conservative, let me explain. Yes, I am fearful for what our country will face with Obama as Commander and Cheif. His values and principles are so far from what I believe and more over what the founding fathers believed.
When he won, I felt nauseous and disappointed. As a history major I have had the privilage of learning a lot about those first pilgrims who sacrificed beyond measure to come and pave the road to freedom. Then the revolutionaries whose intelligence and inspiration gave us our country and the constitution. To see how far we have veered from the priciples the country was founded upon is discouraging.
However, I am an American and I respect the office of the Presidency. The Obama family is lovely, his children and wife are beautiful. I wish them all luck. They all are making a sacrifice. The First Family gets a lot of perks, but their lives will be different from here on out. They won't ever be just normal again. The road to the presidency is long and hard and anyone willing to fight that hard has to be respected to some point. Obama is charasmatic and intriguing. I hope he does what is best for the country and leads from the center as he said he will.
However, let it not be misunderstood that I do not under any circumstances support him on his ideas about taxes, welfare, free money for college, healthcare, abortion, or gay marriage. I am a true conservative and will be proud if people remember me as someone who stood for hardwork, self-respect, dignity, and morality.
The only really good thing I take from him winning is now there is a Democratic Executive Administration, a Democratic Majority House and Senate, and he will no doubt appoint Democratic Judges, so when things don't turn out rosy as he says it will be, at least they won't be able to blame the Republicans and we can come back strong in 2012.
Okay, I've got to post some sweet pictures of my family and what we have been up to lately.George buried Ruby's legs. She is not loving this!George was so excited to carve pumpkins!

We lost George's Dinosaur hat, of course, but he is still a cute dino and Ruby is our little flower.

Picture Tag and This Outrageously Ridiculous Urge to Say Something of the Truth About Barrack Obama!

I know, I know it seems like it takes a tag to get me to post anything, but I spend my time reading everyone elses blog that I am blogged out when it comes to blogging about me. Anyway, the tag says to go to your fourth computer picture file and post the fourth picture. Lucky it wasn't of me, but of my sweet husband and Ruby. Unfortunatley Steve was going through the beard growing stage, but he is still very handsome:)

Okay, my patriotic heart can be silenced no longer. I must say a few things about the man who may become the next president of the United States, yes the leader of the free world, the most powerful position in the world. Please know that I just want everyone to be informed.

Unfortunatley journalism is dead! Yes, I am stealing this phrase from Sean Hannity, a great American. This is absolutely a truth statement. The Mainstream Media is a disgrace. They are disgustingly biased and misleading. They out and out LIE!! If Obama wins this election, it will be because the media worked around the clock, covering up every single negative piece of information that may require him to answer for his actions. They not only praised BO non-stop, but they have drug John McCain through the mud. Now, let me say that I am not happy about either candidate, but clearly, Clearly, CLEARLY, there is a lesser of two evils here. I wish we could start all over, but even if we could, the media would see it to it that the conservative fell on his or her face. It would be easier to take Obama's "possible victory" if it is legit, but many of his votes will come from people not truly informed about who he is, many of them will base their decision on unrelialbe information they got from Charles Gisbon!

Obama is a socialist, he does not believe in the core values of America. He wants to take money from hardworking people, entrepetnuers, and people who have sacrificed and give it to people who didn't.

Please don't believe that he is going to lower your taxes!! That is false. He voted twice to raise taxes on people who make 42,000 per year! He is telling you that people who make $250,000 are the only ones who will have increased taxes, but that is a twisted statement. Think about this logically: if he gets rid of the Bush tax cuts, everyones taxes go UP!

Remember the Proper Role of Government, it is not to give everyone education and healthcare. That is socialist thinking. It steals people's dignity and self-respect when things are handed to them with no sacrifice on their part. Socialism kills the human spirit. Please think about it, if we have socialized medicine intelligent individuals will not be motivated to make the huge sacrifice it is to go to medical school to provide us good medical care. Our medical system will deteriorate. Welfare and other social programs trap people into mediocrity. It fundamentally makes people irresponsible and unaccountable. Government programs don't create wealth and prosperity, government doesn't move the economy, businesses do. Captialism is the perfect system, it is self-correctly and rewarding.

Barrack Obama has the most liberal attitude toward abortion than any other senator in history. He is for abortion of all kinds, infanticide is okay by him. I heard him with my own ears answer a question regarding the Born Alive Protection Act (doesn't it send shivers down your spine?) When asked if in the event that a child is alive and breathing after labor has been induced with the plan to abort, should an additional physician be called in to assess the viablitliy of the infant. He said that would simply burden the mother's decision she has already made to induce labor and perform an abortion. He voted against it 3 times. This is a person SEPARATE from the mother. This no longer has anything to do with the mother or her body. You too can hear him basically say we should just let the baby die, most likely of painful suffocation because another person has decided that person shouldn't live. Naturally he is going to deny this since it is clearly an unthinkable to do to a person, but the proof is there, listen to this link.

http://buriedplanet.com/2008/08/21/damning-audio-on-the-baipa/

Obama lacks in character, he spews out unemotional, socialistic rhetoric during debates. He sounds smooth, but lacking any emotion. I believe it is because he doesn't have a healthy emotion about American. Obama wants to equalize everyone and that will create a socialist nation where prosperity will cease.

If anyone wants a great book about the proper role of government called, An Enemy Hath Done This, by Ezra T. Benson.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Lindsey! This is a different kind of tag, kind of funny. The tag is this: list three of your quirks and three of your husband's quirks. Then tag three people to play along.
My Quirks:
1. I cannot touch an opened orange. I hate them with a burning passion....the smell, taste, texture.
2. I think/dream of going back in time at least once a week. Really back in time, not like high school back in time. I would first go to Plymouth Massachusetts, year 1620. Then England in the early 1400s.
3. I never fold down the corners of my books, I use a bookmark or memorize the page number I was on.


My Husbands Quirks:
1. He only uses one end of a Q-tip.
2. He will not share a spoon or drink with me or our kids...come on, are we really that disgusting.
3. He loves sour patch kids...anything sour will do. He could eat them all day!

I tag: Suzanne, Jodi, Kjerstin

I think I have a sixth sense

Okay, this is a funny little story. As many of you know, I am an incompetent blogger. I don't blog very often and I can't successfully change my background. I asked my very intelligent sister Jolisa to change it for me. I told her I liked red and black. Anyway, I got on the computer to check some of my friends blogs. My friend Amberley has a darling baby boy and I love to check up and see how he is doing and what they are up to. Well, as I was looking at her blog, I had a very distinct thought run through my head....."I bet Jolisa picked this background for my blog" After I finished, I went to my own blog to see if she had changed it. Sure enough it was the same background as Amberley!! It was surreal looking at it....I knew she was going to pick that one...isn't that funny? This happens to me quite often....I think of something and then it happens or already has happened. Thanks Jolisa for helping me- you and Amberley have great taste!

Life

So I just spent 20 minutes of my precious time (yes time is precious when the sweet babies are asleep) trying to get a new template for my blog. The old one was making me nauseous, literally, and so I tried to change it and ended up with this. Can anyone tell me how to get one from thecutestblogontheblock? I tried, but it says I need to change my template to Minima????Help and sorry about the crazy colors.


We sold our home in Riverton and moved to Orem. We are renting the basement of a house right now. It is closer to Steven's new office and that is really nice. I miss Riverton!! I have been back a few times and always have such nostalgic feelings. I absolutely loved our time there. I miss seeing friends, but luckily I have been able to see them a couple of times. I will have to post some pics of the new house for those of you who have requested them. I just barely got things put away.........It is fun to be down here closer to Steven's family and the mountains are so pretty.



Along with moving, two of my sisters were in town and we had some pictures taken. I love when my sisters come to visit, it is so great to spend time with them. I wish Amy and Jolisa lived closer. My best memories are those I have when we were all young. We had such a great time being an all girl family, we relied on one another a lot and we still do today. I will be forever grateful for each one of them and their individuality.

Julie, Amy, Me, Jolisa, Lori

Here are a few pictures from the summer.

My happy, precious little boy.

Jodi-we need help with our family pictures.....this is pretty bad. Needless to say, the kids were not in a picture taking mood. And it was spur of the moment so there is absolutley not coordination of the clothes.



Here is my sweet mom and her 14 grandchildren! I love these kids so much! My mom is not only the best mom, but the best grandma......ya know, like the milk and cookies when you come over grandma!

ABC tag

If anyone wants to know uneccessary information about me.....read on.

A is for age: 26

B is for Burger of choice: Junior Bacon Cheese

C is for car I drive: An old Toyota camry

D is for your dog's name: are you kidding me? I'm not quite what you would call an animal lover.

E is for an essential item you use everyday: Curel lotion, I wash my hands like 4000 times a day.

F is for favorite TV show at the moment: My Three Sons, old but good.

G is for favorite game: Rumikub

H is for home state: Utah

I is for instrument you play: Piano and cello

J is for favorite juice: I don't drink it, I have never liked it, but lemonade is probably the closest thing.

K is for whose bum your'd like to kick: Joy on The View. I hate that show, but what I have seen of it, I could pretty much feel good about kicking her butt.

L is for the last restaurant at which you ate: Spaghetti Factory, brown butter spaghetti!

M is for your favorite muppet: Kermit the Frog has been the love of my life since I was 2, I'm serious. I used to ask my mom when I could marry him.

N is for number of piercings: Just my ears.

O is for overnight hospital stays: Twice when I had my sweet little ones.

P is for people you were with today: Steve, George, Ruby, Julie, Amberley and Jodi

R is for biggest regret: Not trying out for the play State Fair in high school. I know it sounds silly, but I have always wanted to be in a play and I absolutely love State Fair. I knew I should have done it and I didn't, dang it! Who knows maybe one day you'll see me on broadway....ha ha.

S is for status: Married 6 1/2 years

T is for time you woke up today: 8:44 am

U is for what you consider unique about yourself: I'm pretty run of the mill, but something weird is I prefer my cereal and fries soggy, I know it is gross.

V is for vegetable you love: Red Peppers

W is for worst habbit: interrupting people or finishing their sentences, sorry if I have ever done this to you.

X is for x-rays you've had: teeth and arm

Z is for Zodiac: Pisces, is that how you spell that. I'm not super into astrology.

Incompetent Blogger

I've officially decided that I do not know how to blog. I read everyone's blogs and they are so funny and witty and interesting. I feel like I don't have anything interesting to say.....poor me, I know.


I'm too concerned about writing what people are interested in and making sure I don't sound like an idiot. This is far too much effort.....I've decided I'm just going to write whatever I want and if people want to read it they can and if not..........so here I go.


The latest in my life: Reading the Twilight Books. I know I know, this is old news to everyone else, but I just read them after hearing all the hype for the last couple of years. They were great, I haven't read a book so quickly before. I'm anxiously awaiting the release of the fourth one. I feel so silly because I am usually not one to fall for the teeny-bopper loves stories, but this one has something that makes the "watching you while you sleep love" bearable.


Next, I have been taking care of my sweet kids. I love to be with them, our days are so full. Sometimes it feels like it is just full of cleaning and picking up, but today has been great. We slept in, cleaned, played, went to our friends and ate otter-pops, came home and built legos, read books and practices writing the letter A. George prefers being the teacher rather than the student so I pretend to be clueless about things and he teaches me.


Now we are going to make cookies and I will eat approximately 14ish before they are even cooked. Let's be honest, I'm not making cookies, I'm making cookie dough. So there you have it, if this was at all interesting--good. If this was not at all interesting--sorry.


Ruby and George love the water whether it be the hose or the faucet.

America the Beautiful!

I love the 4th of July. After graduating with a history degree, I have a much deeper appreciation for America, American values, and those who have fought and died for my freedom. The concept of democracy and freedom was something people worked for, fought for, and died for. I am overwhelmingly grateful to live in this country. I don't know why I was so lucky, but I am determined to not take it for granted anymore and do what I can to be a great American.

We kept with tradition and drove to provo for the parade and then we had a bbq with my sister and then went to Steve's mom and dad's. We hung out with them for a while and then went to watch the fire works at the stadium of fire. It was awesome, they were so loud and huge and patriotic. It took forever to get out of the parking lot, but it was well worth it.

Here is George enjoying a chocolate donut during the parade. He couldn't focus on smiling, but at least he is the picture right?

Time to catch up

There are a few things I wanted to blog about, but I haven't found the time. Ruby is asleep right now and George is watching a movie, so I am going to try and catch up on a few random happenings in our life. First, is our sweetest son George. He is such a good boy and I love every minute I have with him. As we were walking out of a friends house today, he turned around and said, "Mommy be careful, that is a really big step." He finds joy in the smallest thing. This is a picture of him at a little grassy area we play on while we wait for Steve at the Trax. He always wants to get out and play there.

This next picture is George riding the carousel at the mall. He loves to do this and always has the biggest smile on his face. I'm trying to take his example and enjoy the small things in life, like a simple square of green grass or a ride on the carousel! There is your cheese for today in case anyone needed any.

George has a great friend in our neighborhood named Audrey. We get to babysit her on Thursdays and it is so much fun. Suprisingly, their opposite personalities really help them to get along. They have a great time together. George has a great time with all of our neighborhood friends. There are some wonderful girls I have gotten to know since we lived here and I just love all of them. So here is a shout out to all my neighborhood mamas! You guys are the best....so easy to talk to and so fun to be with. Thanks for being such great friends and having such great kids!

I am lucky enough to have some great friends I grew up with that live close and we keep in touch. Tiffani is my friend that I met in junior high, She is so great at calling and always keeping up on stuff, thank you Tiff for calling me even though I take forever to get back to you sometimes. She and her cute kids met us at the dinosaur museum and we had lots of fun. Here is a picture of them creating their own dinosaur land.

Ruby girl is growing so fast. We were having fun playing with her hair the other day.

Here is Ruby having a little "naked time". Funny Girl!
Okay, that will do for now.

The Intro to Food

So Ruby is 6 months and I figured it was time to feed her some baby food. I must admit that I really dread this time, I hate baby food. I know I am an adult and should be able to deal with pureed (how do you spell that) squash, but I can't. When I open it, it spurts on my fingers and it grosses me out! I feel bad for poor Ruby... she was all excited but thoroughly disappointed after a few bites...we'll keep trying and I will try and be a big girl and deal with nastly watery green beans!

Ruby....looking very disappointed with her first experience with food.

My sisters

I have 4 wonderful sisters. Julie, Lori, Amy, and Jolisa. I am trying to find a picture with all of us in it, but it is turning out to be unsuccessful. This is Lori and Jolisa in this picture. Lori lives here in Utah and I am so glad she lives close. She gives me so much stuff for my babies and my house and is such a fun person to talk to about politics and history. I love you Lori!

Jolisa has been visiting for the past 2 weeks with her little girl, Olivia and her brand new baby William. Her super smart husband just graduated from dental school and they are going to Arizona where he will practice and they stopped to chill with us for a while on their way. I wish she lived close, but at least I will have an excuse to go to Arizona! Her daughter Olivia and George love to play together. I have to thank her so much for all the clothes she gave Ruby!!! Jolisa had a brain tumor when she was younger and so because of potential problems with that, her doctor advised her to not have any more children, so Ruby got all of Olivia's old clothes! This girl was dressed well! She also helped me organize my food storage and finally get it done. She is such a wonderful sister.....and to think we used to fight all the time! Thanks Jolisa, I love you!

Here are George and Olivia playing, they are such good friends! We miss you guys already!

Sweet Success!

We did it. My sweet baby daughter is sleeping through the night! It only took 3 nights and each night she cried less and less. I can't tell you how a full nights sleep feels when you haven't felt it for 6 months. Thanks to everyone who gave advice. I was excited to hear from some old friends and can't wait to check out your blogs! I have to say that I love being a mom even though there are hard times like the sleeping thing, it is so worth it!

To sleep or not to sleep.....

Okay, so for all you moms out there......I need to talk. Ruby is 6 months old and has never slept more than 5 hours at night. My doctor says I need to let her learn how to go to sleep on her own. Yes, I am guilty of nursing her and rocking her to sleep. I decided to start tonight and am trying to stay strong. She is crying hysterically and has been for 15 mintues. I want to run up and get her, but I know it will only make it worse in the long run. I have to leave the house! Tell me some success stories....am I doing the right thing??!!

Can you believe my mom is letting me cry all alone in my semi-dark room?!

We have arrived...

Finally, with much persuasion from friends and family, we are bloggers. I must admit I have been hesitant, mostly because I was afraid I wouldn't have anything to say but I really love the fact that we can stay in touch with everyone so here it goes.

I will just quickly catch everyone up on the haps (happenings-for those of you who don't abbreviate like myself) in our lives....

I finally graduated from UVU. I graduated with a BS in History Education. I loved every minutes of it, I took my education so much more seriously when I went back after having my first baby. I am so glad I finished, maybe someday I will teach. In the meantime I will just keep up with lots of history books.

Steve had a couple days off so we decided to spend some outdoor family time before it got too hot. We decided to hike the Y. We weren't sure how it would turn out with two kids but George was a trooper and walked the whole way. Ruby was nice and comfy in the snuggly. Then we went to liberty park and ran through some water and looked at some ducks.

Okay so there you go, you are caught up on us. Please come again!