three about me

What are the last 3 things you purchased?
groceries
lunch at Arby's
socks and underwear for all my kids

What are the last 3 songs you downloaded onto your iPod?
I'm such a nerd, I don't even own an iPod. Plus, Dax is the music expert in our house.

What are your three favorite movies?
hard one...three i've enjoyed recently are
Enchanted
Casino Royale
Music and Lyrics

What are three things you have not done yet?
left Mack overnight (or for longer than 2 hours, for that matter)
read Twilight
gotten my tubes tied

What are your three favorite TV shows?
The Office
Lost
? (I don't watch TV that much, again, I'm nerdy)

What are three things you can't live without?
my husband
my kids
disposable diapers

What are you three favorite dishes?
stuffed chicken breasts made by Dax
cafe rio burrito or salad
anything someone else makes for me

What are your three favorite desserts?
soft chocolate chip cookies
pumpkin roll
berry pie

What three things would you buy if money were not an issue?
the cabinets I really wanted
new mini-van (holy cow- I AM a nerd!) or Tahoe
a house in Idaho

If you could have three wishes what would they be?
that everyone could have a happy marriage
that Moms would get paid ($) for staying home with their kids
a decent presidential candidate

business and pleasure

Not much down time lately, but I need to mention the highlights of the past couple weeks...

Firstly, I have a new nephew (thanks Matt and Natalie)! Quite possibly the most gorgeous newborn (not a smashed, puffy blob) I've seen in a while. And that hair....MMMM! Can't wait to hold Baby Wyatt at Thanksgiving.

Last week, we did our own St. George Marathon, running for the 2 days we were there to the:

cabinet shop
carpet store

tile shop

Home Depot

Fireplace store

siding place

Stone place

Big thanks to Grandma Beaner for watching the kids so we could get lots done and picked for the house. It wasn't all business. Beaner and I took a quick trip to Furniture Row...still looking for my table as we are hopefully going to upgrade from our current dining set: a 1950-ish turquoise beauty with chrome legs that my grandmother was given as a hand-me-down. I've used it since my sophomore year of college 9 years ago and we're down to 4 chairs that are still (barely) standing, although the table is as sturdy as the day it was made. People keep telling me it is worth a lot of money for its vintage appeal, but as of yet, NO one has beat down my door to get it. I will entertain any serious offers.

We also had a "practice birthday" for Hunter there with Dax's folks. We figured out why no candles went out when he blew and had him tilt his chin down and try again...Voila!

Back home again, Dax had to check deer for the opening weekend of the hunt. This is his one Sunday a year he has to work. I survived our primary program practice holding Mack the whole time so he wouldn't go play on the stairs and break his head. Choir practice was a little more tricky as I am the pianist, but somehow, I got through it keeping one eye on my kids and one on the music.

This week should be another busy one. Big grocery shopping, making/delivering party invites, final collections for church fundraiser, errands for the house, primary meeting, program practice & breakfast, Hunter's party, dance class, pre-school, and I think Dax is going to try and deer hunt a little, too.

Well, I'm off to go make treasure maps!

so cool!

Since moving out to crazy town, I have started processing my digital prints online. Shutterfly.com sends periodic emails for promotions or sales and I got one last month for a free 8x8 photo book. So I gave it a shot and made a book of our recent trip to the Oregon Coast. I got the book in the mail yesterday and I LOVE IT!

I paid 8 bucks shipping and have a bound 20 page book containing 80 photos and I made it over the course of a week or so when I would get little bits of time. SO easy. SO COOL.

The UPs and DOWNs of building

Yay for stairs! We can now go up and down with ease. The framers are almost done. A few more details, and they're out of here tomorrow. What a crazy process. Now that it actually looks like a house, it isn't as daunting or overwhelming. There is an end in sight! A few people warned me about how stressful it would be, and I knew it would, but I didn't anticipate all the stresses. But wow, stuff is getting exciting and seeing each thing being added to create the end product is a cool thing.

This is definitely a family project...Pictured below is Megan-our designer and style expert, Kirk-our master framer (along with his son), and Craig- our contractor. Craig is Dax's Dad and Kirk and Megan are Craig's siblings. Craig's other brother is also key in this process as he gave us our construction loan! So yay for that side of the family all helping.

Then there's my brother Trent--our electrician who came and wired half the house in the cold and pouring rain last Saturday. Below is Dax sweeping water OUT of the house.

It is coming along!

Top 10 Reasons Why Renting Sucks.

I needed to balance out that last post and get down to the real life stinky part of apartment living. Why? Because I believe it is more entertaining.

10. cigarette smoke in your bathroom that you didn't put there.
9. neighbors that you can NOT get away from because you can HEAR them at all times even when you go inside.
8. no garage
7. ghetto fixtures, paint jobs, and landscaping
6. stacked up piles of stuff because there's no where else to put it.
5. paying someone else's mortgage
4. storing things at parents' houses and then needing it
3. people in the ward constantly asking, "So how long are you guys here?"
2. having family sleep on the floor when they come visit (or never come visit)
1. Telling my kids every second to stop stomping, running, jumping, walking, or breathing so they won't bother the neighbors.

renting top 10

Yesterday, someone asked me if I was going to miss my apartment when I move into the house. I thought for a bit and finally came up with, "I'm going to miss the payment."

So in celebration of renting, which definitely has its benefits, and which I've enjoyed for 10 years, here is my Top 10 Reasons Why Renting ROCKS.

10. Rent is cheaper than a mortgage payment (usually).
9. No yard work (lawn mowing, planting, weeding, raking, pruning, etc.) required.
8. When something breaks, someone comes to fix it at the owner's expense.
7. The opportunity to make really close friends.
6. You only have to clean your oven and under your fridge ONCE while you live there (right before you move).
5. Mobility factor: give 30 days notice and your out of there...no house to sell.
4. less space=less possessions=life simplicity
3. Sharing a small living space is a great learning experience and makes a family close.
2. Cleaning an apartment is MUCH faster than cleaning an entire house.
1. Since apartments usually aren't the lap of luxury, we can focus on what is really important in life...the people who live there.

stay tuned for my Top 10 Reasons Why Owning Rocks...estimated to appear on this very blog in January 2009

Birthday Baby

WHAT a year! So happy to have my little guy here. This past year brought many extremes. But in just thinking about Mack, it has been wonderful. Each baby brings something different to a family. This has been the hardest, yet the best baby experience for me. Hard because I've never had such great responsibility placed upon me, and the best because there are more people around me to share in the unmatchable joy a baby brings to a family. It is neat to have older kids that can enjoy the sweet day to day baby cuteness with me. I often wonder how I ever had a baby without a six year old daughter around to help. And seeing Hunter's love and tender heart toward Mack is so cute.

OK, back to the birthday....

We always give our one-year-old their own cake to trash. Each of our babies have gone about their task differently. Preslie simply leaned her face over and took a bite out of her cake. Hunter grabbed a handful of cake and gushed the cake and frosting between his fingers. Mack was mellow; he took pieces and put them in his mouth like it was a regular meal. Then he got to have a bath which he loves. Gifts for this age are pretty much unnecessary but Hunter gave Mack his front facing car seat. Gram and Gramp W are giving him a coat, and Craig and Beaner gave Mack a cute outfit, a fun bug light up push button toy, and 2 cars which he instantly started pushing around all over the apartment. Dax and I are giving Mack a house, so he is very spoiled.