The Tuck Cluck

Catching Up...Again

2012-01-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

You know it would be so much easier to stay on top of things if I just blogged about them as they happen instead of waiting forever and blogging about a whole bunch all at once. But let's be honest, that's now going to happen. So what's new... ? Anything and everything. We've moved into our new home and we love it. It's really nice to have a back yard that's all mine, that I can just let the dog out without having to get shoes on. It's nice to be able to vacuum at whatever time I want and not have to worry about waking up the neighbors. It's nice that I can bust down shelves peel off paint and seal windows myself instead of having to wait for proper channels, and if I smack my maintenance mans butt while he's working around the house, it's not totally taboo (because he's my husband, if you were wondering). It's nice that I have space for a lot of people even though a lot of people aren't always filling the space. It's nice to know that for the next 30 years we'll be able to live in one spot where the kids can grow, play and make friends. It's nice to be close to family for the occasional drop by, hey we showed just in time for dinner, or a free babysitter. It's SO nice to have a garage. To be able to get both small girls in the car without the fear of them running off and getting hit by a car. It's nice to be able to shut the world out of you home before you even get out of the car and you can get your groceries at your pace because it's not wide out in the open waiting for elements or people to get into them. Its actually nice to have my own garbage cans that I'm responsible for instead of having to pack everything to a dumpster. (that was probably my least favorite part about being in an apartment. Especially when I was pregnant. I always felt super vulnerable and it freaked me out.). Its nice to have an exhausted husband who doesn't want to be constantly driving to go sit at someone elses' house. All things considered, it's just really nice to be finally HOME. Everyone has made the comment "Home ownership is a lot of work." And really to that I say, "Bring it on." And thus far it has had it's surprises (the front bay window was leaking in the freakish rain storms we were having and it was soaking our carpet), but really we've already done a lot work on it, but it still isn't getting old. Tim is really good to do whatever project I ask him to and he soon going to be finishing off the basement a little bit at a time. We both love projects; painting, recarpeting, and building a patio to lead out to our soon to be stellar yard and garden. Tim loves problem solving and planning and he has all the energy in the world to carry out projects. To summarize we love our home.

Bridget is One already!

2011-12-10T21:54:00.001-07:00

My baby Bridget turned one on Tuesday and it's pretty much boggling my mind. I can't believe that one year ago, I was holding a new little miracle in my arms and marveling at the wonder that is childbirth and children. It is truly a blessing in my life and my children are my way to true happiness. That's just me though.:) I was going to do a whole montage of the past year with Bridget so we can look and see how she has grown but my pictures are on a external hard drive that is not at my house. so when I get it back I'll be sure to add them to this post.:)

Exhausted

2011-12-01T12:25:00.001-07:00

May I just say that buying a home is one of the most exhausting things I've ever been a part of and I'm not even the one doing anything! For those of you who didn't know DH and I have been looking for a home to buy since he got his new job. Seeing as our lease on our apartment is up at he end of February, we're pretty glad we decided to look sooner than we planned. We looked at a few houses and put a few offers in which obviously didn't pan out. Our realtor brought up a home that we had seen on the market but Tim looked at the pictures and saw the stairs were on an angle and turned his nose up at it. We were just turned down for one of the best houses we had ever seen for a screamin' deal so naturally Tim was feeling a little beaten. I had seen Breaking Dawn p1 the night before and was really tired but immediately when we walked into the house with our realtor we felt at home. Tim found that he liked the angled stairs and he loved the back yard. (which by the way, is HUGE). There wasn't a fridge in the home but that would be easy to fix. Needless to say, Tim felt that this was a good home to try for. So we put in an offer which was countered which we in turn countered and we ended up getting it after two nail biting gut wrenching days and two surprise offers. Wednesday Craig, our realtor called Tim and let him know that we one the toss up. That's a pretty good feeling :) Let's look at some pictures shall we? We should close in January and I didn't take these pictures so I haven't been able to clean anything so don't judge me. these are just so we all know what it looks like.

This is the front yard. The grass is sad but one spring and it'll be fine.

This is the front room. Tim didn't like the "native american" wallpaper border along the vaulted wall. :) Easy to fix.

These are those angled stairs and this picture makes them look filthy. They are pretty dirty, good thing I have a good vacuum.

Our little kitchen I'm excited for the two windows over the corner sink. Very comfy.

I have french doors out to my back yard! And a fireplace! YAY!

Our HUGE backyard. We have no neighbors to the east because it's a patch of horse property. I always knew I would have horses in my backyard!!:)

Isn't it cute? We love it and we're really excited to be able to have our own home. Come over when we're all moved m'kay?! :)

2011-11-21T14:31:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving is only 4 short days away....errrrrgh. That's my life slipping away from me as I sit at home watching Bridget pull down the movies that I just put away. If you know me, then you know that I actually like to make things. As long of course, that it doesn't involve sewing cooking, cutting, coloring, molding or painting. See the thing is, I LIKE, even LOVE doing these things. I think they are great wastes of time and a good reason for me to sit behind a desk and require Tim to interact with the kids. But I just seem to have a hard time following and understanding directions. So no wonder I spend most of my day keeping bridget out of the dog water, not getting locked in the fridge, picking up needles so she doesn't sew her lips shut and placing heavy objects out of reach. And with Riley I have to curb her love of counter climbing, hinder her desire to become an electrician with a butter knife, and ease her obsessive compulsiveness when it come to rearranging the magnets. I think the not being able to follow directions must be hereditary... Here's some other good things to waste your time doing:

-Watch all the Fox's "New Girl" episodes from first to latest. Zooey Deschanel is totally adorkable.
-Watch any episode of "The Big Bang Theory". Is anyone else crushing on Sheldon Cooper??? or is that just me?? Nerds jokes are the ones I like best!!!!
- Make a cute hair bow( or two) for your daughters your OWN way after spending hours watching YouTube videos of Midwest Housewives with back country accents using "gro-grain" ribbon. P.S. I didn't use "gro-grain" ribbon and I could have sat there heat sealing it all day if it wasn't such pretty ribbon.
-Read a funny blog. Here's a couple: www.tellingdad.com, www.findingthehumor.com and as always cakewrecks.com never disappoints me.
- I guess you could go get you crying child from her baby cage.:)
-watch Robin Moses nail art video tutorials and you'll be asking yourself all day, "How does she do that?"
-Sing your favorite song. If you're like me and you don't have a favorite song. Just hum aimlessly. Husbands LOVE that.
- Play teacups with the kids where they sit in a laundry basket and you spin them around until you get sick.
-Try and buy a house. Buying a house is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever tried. There are so many hoops to jump through and so many things you can and can't do, it's aggravating! But, that's another story that I'll probably never get around to blogging about.
-Lastly Think of all the stuff you should be doing, ignore it and go take a nap.

2011-11-01T12:11:00.002-06:00

This year Halloween was a little difficult. Riley didn't get to nap during the day so spent the entire night whining and wanting to be held. Not really conducive to having a good time for me and Tim. But I guess it's not about us having a good time. I don't know if Riley felt very good because all she wanted to do was lie around. Oh well. We had a nice time with family and I still got to dress up. I guess that's having a good time.
Tim emailed our realtor and hopefully we're going to be looking at some houses soon. Tim is really itching to move now which I am perfectly okay with.

2011-10-05T12:31:00.001-06:00

Hello Everybody!!! You may be wondering why I'm so chipper today as opposed to my usual surly self. Well, I hate to say it ,but I'm happy because Tim and I may actually have some money now. I'm not saying money makes you happy or you can buy your happy, but it sure makes it easier to live in such a way that you can appreciate the little things you have, especially when you don't have to worry about how bills are going to get paid. Tim got a call on Thursday from an agent he works with on one of his customers. Said phone call was about a job offer at the agency and an interview with the three principal owners of the company. So Monday rolls around and he goes to the interview and then comes home feeling pretty optimistic about it. Not 3 hours later he gets a call and is offered the job. They had other applicants but after interviewing Tim they decided not to hold those and just hire him! Isn't that great? I think Tim kind of underestimates his ability because he doesn't really see himself as the responsible adult that he actually is.:) So Tim is going to be making A LOT more money which is really nice seeing as we would like to buy a house soon. Actually, we'd like to buy this house.
Isn't it cute? I love it. If you know people who live up around the 6200 south WalMart near this home tell them to drive other buyers away from it because we want it!!!! Really really bad!!!! Anyways that's my news for lately. we're just really excited to get our heads above water. It's not like we're POOR, but it'll be nice to be able to buy groceries if we need them. which sometimes we can't do as of right now because all of our money goes to paying bills. We're planning on paying off all our debt and then getting the home buying process rolling. seeing as we don't have that much debt we should be in pretty good shape. I'm really excited. Let's take a peek at that house again with some other pictures of the rest of the house shall we?

Living Room
Kitchen
1 of the 3 finished bedrooms
1 of the 2 bathrooms.
Like I said I'm really excited about this house. We would really love to buy it, if we can get this moving quickly. Oh, if anyone would like to help with our house buying cause you can come get your nails done and have cute nails like this
oh yeah those are Halloween nails. Cute huh?! Thanks for visiting!!!!

Testing...testing...

2011-09-20T12:21:00.001-06:00

I finally have money to go take my tests to get my license to become a legit nail tech. My practical is on Thursday and I think I'm taking the written on Saturday but I have to make sure with Tim because heaven forbid he spends a few hours alone with the girls. Does anyone want to help him out?

I Need a Project.

2011-08-29T10:01:00.002-06:00

I have quite a few people whose blogs I follow (see sidebar) and it seems like everyone has plenty of projects to do. I need/want a project. I feel like all I've done lately is sit around my house and sweat all day. I know, gross, but it's true! It's been so hot it's too hard to even think about doing anything, but I've gotten so bored and I seriously and only do dishes and pick up toys and stuff so many times a week before I go insane. I should PROBABLY get a job, but you know, not really something I'm pushing for. Tim had to work today, but he has the rest of the week off and it's pretty much packed to the gills with stuff to do. It'd be pretty nice to just have him home and chill out, but since he can never sit in one place too long, I don't think that'll ever happen. He was also was called to be the second counselor in the young men's presidency so Wednesday nights are now off limits for going anywhere. It's just as well, people are always doing stuff during the week anyways. Other than that I don't have much to do. All of the stuff that needs to get done this week is Tim's stuff that's he's helping other people with. Tuesday we're helping people move. Wednesday during the day I think he's helping his dad rip out the laundry room wall. Thursday he's fixing our car so we can get it registered. Friday probably getting the car tested and registered (finally) then fixing our dryer (hallelujah) Saturday probably will be so tired of being "at home" with me he'll find something else to do that I can't go do, even though I won't be doing ANY of this stuff that's been planned for the week. My project now has become nagging Tim to order parts, call people, ask Tim for money and me just chasing kids everywhere. I feel like a single mom sometimes. I know it's awful and Tim does help with the kids A LOT but he's so BUSY. Sometimes like he can't find time to squeeze in some "together" time where we just stay at home and hang out. But I still have the need for a project. Sigh. I hate how selfish I am.

Bill Nye the Science Guy

2011-07-29T14:28:00.002-06:00

visit this link and bask in Nye glory as he totally makes an idiot out of a news anchor on TV. I <3 Bill Nye. Brings back gooooood memories.:)
http://www.newser.com/story/124662/bill-nye-schools-fox-news-anchor-jon-scott-on-climate-change-video.html

2011-07-28T08:54:00.000-06:00

she has her arms around his neck while they're reading books before bedtime. Toats adorb.

Riley Roo is Already Two!!!

2011-07-13T13:37:00.004-06:00

Yesterday my litte Roo turned two years old. We went to the park and had a picnic dinner with our families. Its always nice to be able to have everyone get together and celebrate with us. Riley has been such a blessing in our lives and it's hard for me to believe that's she's already two. These last few years have gone by way too fast and it makes me sad to know there's no way I can get them back, but onward and upward I suppose. Riley was spoiled by everyone (including her parents) as usual and she got way too many presents. Bubbles and clothing seemed to be the present of choice clothes which I always appreciate, Bubbles... not so much, but, whatever they're lots of fun when they go to Grandmas!:) Riley now has toys that should last her into her bigger toddler years. She was getting kinda bored with the baby toys. Thank you to everyone who came and made it such a special day for her. She'll only be able to look back at pictures because she won't remember, but I can and it was special for me. I'm glad I have such a wonderful family who loves my kids just as much as I do.

Riley in her Doctor outfit. I bought the little playset for me mostly but she likes it too!

Father's Day/ Tim's 25th Birthday (because Father's Day came first, that's why)

2011-06-20T13:41:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was Father's Day and since I did a Mother's Day post I should probably do a Father's Day post... But since it was also Tim's birthday I will talk about him first.

June 19th 1986 Miss Ohio was crowned Miss USA (I learned that yesterday) and Argentina beat West Germany in soccer's 13th World Cup (I learned that about two seconds ago) and my husband was born(Ive' known that for a while). (Not to mention his parent's apartment flooded, but that's just a another story.(:) For the nine years I've known my husband (has it really been nine years?) He's always been the... stubborn type, lucky for him, that's how we got married. (just kidding) I know he grew up in Magna and was just barely at the tender age of 13 when he moved into the house his parents now live in then he was moved from Brockbank Jr. High to Hunter Jr. High and changed from being a hooligan to being kid in the school musical who I bumped into in the halls, and he didn't even stop to say sorry. RUDE. That's my first encounter with him or more to say, his elbow, he was so tall. I don't think I've gotten much taller since 8th grade but he doesn't seem so tall now. My next encounter with him was that summer when I saw him walking down the street with one of his friends. My sister dared me to yell out "Hey Timbo!" so I did. That was weird. I guess I was the first one who called him that. I next came to know him the next summer at a youth conference. We were split up into tribes and I was praying to be put into a tribe I would know at least one person that I could stand being around. As fate would have it I was put the same tribe as Tim, and little tidbit for ya, Tim was actually in the place of Jake J so... I guess we lucked out. I knew who he was of course, but he didn't know who I was until i said something totally creeper like, "You were in South Pacific in Jr High weren't you?" considering he only had 1 line and he said it in the dark, this caught his attention. But attention like, Woah stalker, but like how you doin(eyebrow waggle) attention, which I didn't expect. After I said it I went immediately red and went back to picking at my homemade Nephite robes made out of curtains (long story) and the rest is history. I never would have thought I would get to marry someone so talented in so many things. He's a wonderful husband and father to my children and he doesn't make fun of me for the stupid things I do, and doesn't get too hurt when I make fun of him for the stupid things he does. And I know that we can fight and scream at each other but at the end of the day he's always willing to be the bigger person and want to let things go. Even if that is really annoying. I love you babe. Happy Farthday. Ha ha ha!

Now I'll talk about Ben. Tim's dad, who goes by Ben, is a real mystery to me. He's kind of a goofball and can always find someone to talk to where ever he goes if he knows them or not. I know he works really hard for his family to have what they need. He's always supportive and always there willing to help if you need it, all you have to do is ask. He looks suspicously like my dad and they would probably pass for brothers, but it's probably because they're both bald and have a mustache. :) I have never actually seen Ben get knock down drag out angry. Come to think of it I haven't seen my dad that angry either. I see controlled words and the weight of a lot of pressures sitting on their shoulders. I guess that comes when you become a father, a protector and provider. All of which I see both my dads strive to do.
Now I'll talk about my dad a little more, cause I know him better. I know where I would be without him and never want to be there. When I was 10(I think) my dad was in a awful crash that almost killed him. I remember coming home from school and my mom crying then she sent us to stay with my Grandparents. The whole time I worried about him I was only 10 and I couldn't sleep because of it. Then we got to come home after he got out of the hospital and got to rest for a little bit. I remember walking up the stairs and seeing him sitting the old gold chair(best reading chair ever) with a pillow under his arm cause he had broken ribs. His face was a mess. And I cried. I had never seen my dad like that, so vulnerable and breakable. His lip was fat with stitches and his arms were all torn up from the steering wheel. He couldn't hold anything cause the force of the crash made his hands break through the steering wheel and he had severe nerve damage. The steering column had punched into his chest breaking his ribs and disrupting his sternum. By all accounts he shouldn't have lived. I always wore my seatbelt after that crash and if my dad was in the car, you better believe I made him wear his too. A few years later when I was little older, I was driving with my dad somewhere, just me and him, which I feel privileged to say was something I got to do. Go places with him and do things with him. But we were driving and Dad had been doing that high pitched whistle through his teeth that hurts your ears but he insists on doing it in small enclosed areas, and then he turned off the radio and it got quiet in the car. He looked at me, his angry teenage daughter who was too worried about everything else to think about how lucky she was to be with her Dad, and he said, "You know, I think Grandma was looking out for you." I didn't know what he was talking about so I just raised my eyebrows, which was the majority of how I communicated during my junior high years, and he said, "When I was in my accident. I think she knew I needed to be here for you. I think she knew you needed a daddy." All I could do was look out the window because then he couldn't see me cry. Because I did need my daddy. I still do. He's still the one I call when things don't work out the way I want them to, or when something scary happens. He knows how to do everything and what he doesn't know he'll learn. He's always willing to share his chips and cottage cheese with you as long as you keep his glass full of ice water. He'll come up with weird little jingles about candy bars and lame jokes about fairy tales with a twist (it's a pig's tail). He'll build you whatever you ask for your wedding even if it takes forever and he has plenty of other things to do with his time. And he'll be there waiting for you in the temple when you get married. He'll be there in the hospital to see your new baby and he'll give you a kiss and tell you how beautiful they are. Lots of people see my dad as gruff and a little rough around the edges but they haven't seen him cry like I have, or bend over to kiss Riley goodbye. He may think it's nothing, but to me it means everything. I'm so grateful to have my father as my father. So happy to have him as my Dad. I love you Dad. Happy Father's Day (even though he'll probably never read this.)

Summertime Fun 2011

2011-06-15T16:40:00.005-06:00

So now that' it's finally reached over 50 degree outside, the kids and I have been itching to be outside and do something FUN. So we went swimming today with my mom and sisters and cousin Rowan. Mom and Abi and Jessi came up on Friday to swim too, so we've been swimming a lot. Last year the water in the pool was really warm, this year it seems to pretty chilly, but of course that doesn't dampen our enthusiasm.:)

Rowan looked so cute in all his water gear Grandma had bought for him. And I think he throughrouly enjoyed being in the water. With the tube up under his armpits, he could feel confident in swimming around alone.

Catch Me Sarah!

3 Years Down Eternity to Go!

2011-05-24T15:02:00.003-06:00

I think I use that title for all my anniversary related posts, but whatever. This last Friday was Tim and my 3 wedding anniversary(pitiful applause) yes yes thank you. While 3 years is pretty nothing compared to 50 years (Gma and Gpa Harward) or 70 years (yeah I know of a couple that has been married that long) I'm still going to congratulate myself on a job well done. To celebrate we farmed out the kids and went down to St. George to get away from all the crappy weather yuck:p. It was nice and warm and we had a lovely hotel and we went to the Tuachan morning Craftsman Market and spent some money, all the while I was thinking about my two little girls at home and Penny with Mike and Emily wondering if they were going to be ok, secretly hoping that they weren't, but to my disappointment they were fine, if not better than when we are home.(eyeroll) It was nice to have a little break but I was glad to have my kids back and to be able to come home. On the way home Tim mentioned how he would move down to St. George if he could get the clearance to work from home. I'd be okay with that, but I'm pretty sure he would get really tired of driving 10 hours just to eat dinner at one of our parents houses.:) I have some pictures of some of the stuff we got to see down at the Tuachan and the temple down there, but I'll put them up later, cause I have a crying baby in the other room. I love you babe, thanks for putting up with me, and I apologize in advance for any stress I may cause you throughout the years to come. Love you!!!!!:*

* The best part of going on vacation without the kids is getting to come home to them.

I think I'm going to try GASP diet and exercise

2011-05-18T11:46:00.002-06:00

I got these off ksl.com I think I'm going to try them.

Day 1
Breakfast: Oatmeal, half a cup of berries and a glass of almond milk.

Lunch: Half of a pita sandwich with lean turkey lunch meat, spinach, tomatoes and mustard, a side of carrots and hummus.

Dinner: Baked salmon flavored with lemon juice, salt and pepper, fresh sauteed green beans and a side of brown rice.

Day 2
Breakfast: Three egg-white omelet filled with spinach, tomatoes and onions with a side of melon.

Lunch: Tomato basil soup with a side green salad.

Dinner: Lean chicken breast seasoned with your choice of herbs or marinade with a sweet potato and fruit salad on the side.

Day 3
Breakfast: Avocado pear smoothie sweetened with honey and half of an English muffin.

Lunch: Crisp tofu, red pepper, green beans and cabbage sauteed in a stir fry with sesame sauce.

Dinner: Halibut with a side of barley risotto and peas.

Day 4
Breakfast: Whole grain toast topped with goat cheese and raspberries.

Lunch: Turkey roll-up with light cream cheese and tomatoes with a side of veggie chips and a pear.

Dinner: Black bean burrito with caramelized onions, mushrooms and mango salsa on a whole wheat tortilla with one cup of tortilla soup.

Day 5
Breakfast: Whole-wheat pancakes topped with applesauce.

Lunch: Large spinach salad with hard-boiled egg and light honey mustard dressing.

Dinner: Pork chops with a side of mashed cauliflower and baked cinnamon apples.

Day 6
Breakfast: An oat bran muffin with a side of strawberries.

Lunch: Chili with chicken, green chiles and white beans.

Dinner: Falafel in a pita with a side of cous cous and green salad.

Day 7
Breakfast: Greek yogurt parfait with honey, oats and berries.

Lunch: Portabello mushroom burger with a side of sweet potato fries.

Dinner: One California roll with one cup of edamame and one cup of miso soup.

Other
Snacks: Carrot sticks or red pepper slices and hummus, a handful of almonds, an apple with one tablespoon of peanut butter, Greek yogurt with berries, baked chips with salsa, beet or kale chips or fruit salad.

Super foods to include in your meal: red tomatoes, black beans, spinach, almonds, Swiss chard, mushrooms, kale, avocado, salmon, flax seed, Greek yogurt, pumpkin seeds, oats, grapefruit, carrots and broccoli.

Low-calorie seasonings and flavors: cinnamon, honey, Stevia all-natural sweetener, agave nectar, mustard, basil, sage, thyme, coconut oil, olive oil, garlic, ginger, saffron and red chiles.

And for when I feel like eating a little unhealthy:
The Rule of 3 - doing three different exercises every day - is a great way to mix things up and make sure you're not bored while you get the exercise your body needs.

Here are three easy things to do at home to get you started:

Choose a Pilates move to do each day
You don't even need a mat. Joseph Pilates designed his exercises so that people could do them from home. A quick online search will reveal detailed instructions on how to perform each pose.

Wall Roll Down is a great one that many people like that will get you started on your core.

Stand tall against a wall, and keeping your body against the wall, walk your feet out about eight inches from the wall. Pull your stomach in. Keep your shoulders down and away from your ears, chest open, and raise your arms over your head. Keep your arms up by your ears as you slowly roll your spine down and away from the wall, vertebrae by vertebrae. Keep your abs pulled in as you work slowly, peeling the spine away from the wall. Relax your head and neck. Roll down as far as you can stretch while keeping your hips against the wall. Keeping your arms in the same place, roll up slowly paying close attention while you use your stomach muscles to move your body up. Keep rolling up, replacing your vertebrae against the wall one by one as you go. Finish in an upright position with your arms up and hands clasped together

Choose an exercise DVD or video game to which you can relate
"Jillian Michaels: The Complete Workout for Beginner" and "The Michael Jackson Experience" for the Wii are two excellent workouts to put on your TV and computer

The Michael's workout burns an estimated 370-460 while using 3- to 5-pound dumbbells and a resistance band. (97 minutes; $24.95 for a two-DVD set; jillianmichaels.com). Do as much of it as you have time for.

The Jackson workout is a product of the 80s and 90s, and I find it a pleasure to work out and dance to Michael Jackson's hits, and even one song - Smooth Criminal - gets my heart rate up so quickly I have to take a break between each song. You can do a few songs here and there throughout the day which is good for your overall fitness and heart rate.

Squats
Squats are my least favorite exercise to do anywhere- even at home, but boy, are the results worth it.

First, place a chair just behind you and stand in front of it with feet about hip- or shoulder-width apart. Then tighten your abs as you bend your knees and slowly and squat towards the chair. Keep your knees behind your toes and sit down on the chair for a few seconds. Squeeze in your glutes and hamstrings to lift up out of the chair and begin extending the legs. Stand back up fully and repeat this at least 10 times.

You may be asking yourself if such a short, simple routine will do anything but make it hard to walk up and down stairs the next day. The answer is: Yes. Especially if you do it consistently.

By incorporating the Rule of 3 you'll soon be in the wonderful habit of taking care of your body and toning up while losing weight. Google, YouTube, Livestrong.com, and many other sites have so much information on daily workouts that you can choose three new exercises to try at home every day and never do the same thing twice, if you don't want to.

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-08T22:11:00.002-06:00

So today is Mother's Day and I'm a bad daughter and didn't even do anything for my mother or my mother in law, so... we're just going to talk about them and how great Mom's are. So, because I spent a pretty huge majority of my life with my mom I'll start with her. My mom was born in February on the 5th(I think ;)) and married my dad in August in the Jordan River Temple after she sent him on a mission to Canada. My mom can do so many things, She can sew anything, cook anything, grow a huge garden, share everything, teach anyone, and love everyone. My mom taught me how to be not only how to be a good mom, but how to love the people around me, how to stand up for the little guy, how to keep your mouth shut when you should, how to keep it under control when everyone around me is losing that control. My mom tried to teach me piano but I quit and she was okay with that. She let me follow silly ideas during school that I eventually gave up, but she was okay with that even though it took her time, and her money. She taught me how to love and support my husband when money is tight, and how to take care of my family at the same time. She taught how to follow and love my Father in Heaven who has given me so much through her. She gave me life and I could never say enough about how great she has made it for me. I Love you Mom.

Aaaaaand okay let me calm down enough so I can see the screen....
okay, Now it's Julie's turn. Julie I haven't known for very long just going 9 years this July, but so far she's been pretty great. She raised a wonderful son who got the lucky chance to fall in love with and get married to for time and all eternity which by happenstance means that I am also tied to their family for time and all eternity which I really couldn't ask for anyone better to be around. I watch go through things with her family with grace and dignity and I see her work VERY hard so her children have not only what they need but a lot of what they want. I see her want to take care of her children even if it means she has to put herself in a bad position, I see that she is willing to do anything for her family. I see her go through trials and tough events with her mother and sisters, feeling helpless, but knowing it's for the best she still does it. I know that she is given these experiences because our Heavenly Father knew she weather them. I see her open her home and her arms to those in need. I am in awe of her ability to work so hard physically, mentally and spiritually to keep her family on the right track. I see her love her children not because she tells them but because she's so willing to drop everything and help them. I'm sorry to say that all I have for her today is my love and appreciation for her and everything that she does and for her raising my wonderful husband to become the man I love so much. I love her too and I hope she knows that.
Of course I cannot say enough about my two beautiful children who I have the honor of being a mother to. Riley who will get me back in line as soon as I think about getting out of it. And my BB (Baby Bridget) whose smile makes me think angels cried when she left heaven cause she's so beautiful. (I know, gay but come on she's toats adorb and no one can deny it!p.s. 'toats adorb' means totally adorable.)

I actually have a lot of people who I am grateful for their maternal influences. I have Janet Fredrickson who was a second mom to as I grew up and she raised my best friend, I have Mihoko Armitstead who has taken us as her family and treats us that way, I have my Grandmothers who I love dearly but I don't see nearly enough. I have my older sisters who are such great examples to me of love and faith. And there are so many more, I really can't list them all. To all the mom's, grandmother's, aunt's, sisters, wives, sister-in-laws, teachers, thank you for everything that you do even if you're not medically defined as a 'mother' if you help in anyway, you're a mother. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

D-Land Quiz from Rants From Mommyland (with a few changes cause I don't go to DisneyWorld)

2011-05-04T13:09:00.004-06:00

1. YES or NO: I enjoy hemorrhaging money.

2. YES or NO: My kids think it’s awesome when sunblock melts into their eyes and they get to whine in pain.

3. YES or NO: Waiting in line for several hours is an excellent opportunity to practice meditation and deep breathing.

4. YES or NO: I like to eat all my meals off of plastic cafeteria trays.

5. YES or NO: Failing that, I feel that $50 per person is reasonable for food that is the culinary equivalent of that served at some of the nicer institutional settings in Southern California.

6. YES or NO: I live for those moments when all our hard work and sacrifice have paid off and our children stare at us with large eyes filled with... unmitigated lust for Disney-themed merchandise.

7. YES or NO: I have no problem with the fact that animatronic creatures often veer from cute to terrifying with no notice.

(Yes, you will see Princesses. And they will be MAGNIFICENT.)
8. YES or NO: Nothing is more important to me than riding Space Mountain about a million times. I will tell my four year old to man up, stop crying and get back on that roller coaster because that’s what good moms do.

9. YES or NO: Whenever I am asked the question: “Hot enough for ya?” I always respond by saying: “No. It is never EVER hot enough for me.”

10. YES or NO: When I see an adult person being paid to dress as a Disney character with a ginormous head, I squeal. But I do so silently, on the inside.

11. YES or NO: Walking between 9-14 miles per day in a sub-tropical climate is actually very good for you.

12. YES or NO: I believe in magic.

13. YES or NO: I am prepared for sporadic moments of horrifying ingratitude and brattiness from my children.

14. YES or NO: I am prepared for frequent moments when there are bursting with how happy they are and how much fun they’re having.

15. YES or NO: A vacation should leave you relaxed (due to total physical exhaustion), broke, sunburned, mildly dehydrated and with the complete adoration of your children.

You're done! That wasn't hard, was it? For every YES, give yourself ONE point. Count up your score:

0-5: You should never go to Disneyland. Ever. Or DisneyWorld. Maybe avoid Disney altogether. You should also probably teach your kids about Disney what Lydia has taught hers about Chuck E. Cheese: “Kids, I am sorry to tell you that mommies and daddies are not allowed at Disneyland. Only Grandmas and babysitters.”

5-10: You probably think you’re not ready. But you might be. Consider your next move carefully. Drop a hint to your spouse and offspring. If your husband looks at you as if you have just suggested optional castration without anesthesia, table the discussion until next year. If not, spend several hundred hours researching your vacation on-line. Imagine how happy it will make your kids and think fondly of the memories you’ll be making. Pretend you think it’s ironic that someone as cool as you is even contemplating this. THEN JUST DO IT. Then vomit several times when you realize your children will have to forgo a year of college because of how much money you just spent.

10-15: Dude. You know you’ve already been to Disneyland like 50 times. And if you answered yes to all 15 questions then you should just move to California and get yourself a job walking around sweating your ass off, dressed as a cartoon character and telling people to have a magical day. If you fall into this range and you’ve never been to Disneyland - take your Auntie Lydia’s advice and go to your happy place.

for more mommy rants got to . TRUST ME They know exactly what you're dealing with.

I Miss the Magnificent Justo!

2011-05-03T14:37:00.003-06:00

This morning I opened my email knowing that today was Justin's p-day and would be able to write to us. He hasn't really written me a full blown letter in a while, but I still get a joke of the week. This week's joke was:

How many Edwards does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None! Because he doesn't exsist! If he did, he wouldn't do it anyway.

I laughed and cried when I read this partly because it was funny and partly because I miss him a lot. When I say a lot I mean A LOT. Justin has always been the source of pure joy in our family because of his impeccable comedic timing, off the cuff retort ability and the relentless whistling (serious, the kid could whistle like no body's business). I'm sure he shares jokes with other people, but the way he just wants to make you smile, makes it all his own. He wrote a paper letter to Tim and I and his joke in that one was:

"A piece of string walked into a bar and the bartender said, 'We don't serve your kind here.' so the string went back outside ruffled his hair and twisted and turned then walked back into the bar. The bartender asked 'Aren't you that guy from just a second ago?' The piece of string shrugged and said 'Nope, frayed knot.' "

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I still laugh every time I think about it. I laughed pretty hard when I got the letter, Tim didn't think it was THAT funny but still pretty funny right? When he was a kid he was always a good source of entertainment and wowed the crowds with his magic acts as "The Magnificent Justo" with our uncle Frank as his side kick. He could disappear, "okay everybody you'll need to close your eyes for 3 seconds..." he could inflict severe pain, "It'll be like sitting on your keys..." but most importantly he could melt your heart with his "magic". We love you J Happy birthday on the 15th this month!

(Yes I just barely made this picture, and yes those are supposed to be fireworks)

Ohhh Dear! Seriously We All Need to Be Like Him

2011-05-01T11:56:00.003-06:00

Double Dream Feet

Riley's Easter Dress

2011-04-26T15:10:00.004-06:00

Last year I made Riley an Easter dress which she can still fit into, go figure. this year Easter has kinda snuck up on me as with everything else and we went to buy Riley an Easter outfit just so when everyone was talking about what they got from the Easter bunny she didn't feel left out, and I didn't feel like a bad mom. there were several choices, Tim was leaning towards a style very similar to Riley's cousin's Abi's dress that she got for her birthday which was blue and had biog white polka dots on it. but i wanted to get something that didn't really look like an EASTER dress only but was still just as cute. so I made an entire post just to show what we got her. I love Target. i don't think I can say enough in one blog.

I'm pretty proud of my cute baby making skills.:)

Springtime Catch up

2011-04-26T13:14:00.013-06:00

So I haven't really posted anything lately because I've been trying to keep myself busy so I don't go crazy knowing that it's still snowing outside. (grrr.) But i have taken quite a few pictures and I have some videos of some fun things we did since I last posted. In March. It's been REALLY snowy I guess.;)

Riley is getting bigger and bigger everyday. She's just becoming a little person and it's all I can do to keep up with her.

I love it when she stands like this.:)

Little busy body.

Still a kid though:)

And Bridget, well, she just gets cuter and cuter everyday.

Bridget's smile melts away all the early morning scream fests. It's almost like they don't exist. Almost.

This past month has been BUSY! Rory and Abi had their birthdays on the 15th and Abi turned 2! I can't believe the 2009 baby club is already turning 2 and talking and growing up so quick! This Saturday our little Lando turns 2! He's such a cute little tyke!

Next month Kenzie Loo turns 2 too! (he he 2 too)

She's such a little lady!

This last Sunday was Easter and we were lucky enough to spend the whole day with the Tucker family and Mindy was even there for Easter thanks to the tornadoes in St Louis! Here's all the kids after their Easter egg hunt. (of course my kid would be the one who would ruin a perfectly good picture.)

Then we had dinner and had a lot of fun. Riley got color Easter eggs with Sarah at my parents house

and Bridget and Tim took a little nap on the couch

We did do an Easter egg hunt and Easter baskets at home the girls got a basket of eggs and a new outfit for Sunday. They were nice and enthusiastic about them.

and Riley looked sooooo cute in her outfit I have to make a whole new post of the photos I took for her playing in it! Here's a sneak peek!

What is it About the Movies?

2011-03-30T15:45:00.003-06:00

Riley has an obsession. Not just with Toy Story, but with any movie really. She's always been a fan of how things open and close and come apart, if you've ever had a water bottle around her you'd know what I'm talking about. But she loves to open and close and try to wrench the DVDs from their cases. No matter how many times she gets in trouble, it doesn't stop her from trying. As you can see she even has the audacity to do it when I'm still sitting in the room!

One of THOSE Days...

2011-03-29T14:37:00.003-06:00

Does anyone else have one of those days where you look at your kids and cry? Not because you don't know where your life went or that you spend all your time with them, but because you notice how BIG they are getting? Today is one of those days for me. Every time I even think about Riley, even though she's just in her room taking a nap, I start to bawl, cause she's getting too big and she grew WAY too fast. How do you make it STOP! She's talking and dressing herself and she'll even try to get her own food if you take too long to get it for her. I love every stage, but seriously SLOW DOWN KID! She'll be two in July and it makes me feel like I didn't do enough in the that first 24 months. I just can't keep up with her! Before I know it she'll be taller than me and asking to "hang out" with her friends. The other day she had me take the top off her toy chest and put it on the floor then she carefully placed all her stuffed animals and babies around it and dug through the toy box until she found the tea set I bought for her a while ago and she set it up and she was talking to her toys and giving them tea! what?! Kids don't do this until they're like big right? I watched her from the hall cause she would wonder why I was crying. Even Bridget is getting too big. I go to school at night for only 3.5 hours and I feel like I miss so much! I crave them when I'm gone. Don't get me wrong I love having some time to myself, but I feel much more productive when I'm with my kids! sometimes Riley will come and hug me and lay her head on my shoulder and all I can do is hold her tighter. It takes everything I have not to squeeze all the air out of her, i love her so much. Even now I'm crying, just thinking about it. Does this happen to anyone else? Or am I just crazy?

Our In-House Jungle

2011-03-28T21:57:00.002-06:00

Tim and I have started to buy a plant or two every once in a while. We've found that it helps to have a few plants around the house. It stemmed from Tim getting me flowers for Valentine's Day. He liked how they made the room feel. But so far we have a spider plant, a bromeliad, a pothos, gold ivy, a red tipped tall spiky plant that I don't know the name of, two rununculus', and a Mona Lisa Anemone that has a white flower and a pink flower. they are very cute.

Charles and Amber Wedding/ Grandma and Grandpa Harward 50th Anniversary

2011-03-20T10:59:00.005-06:00

On Friday the 18th my parents married another kid off. Thankfully it was Charles and not Sarah. Charles and Amber were married in the Salt Lake Temple so early in the morning, but hey, a wedding is a wedding, right? It ended up very nice and went very well. Of course the bride was beautiful and the groom was... Charles. I love my brother and I'm happy to see him happy. Tim was out there when they came out of the temple to get this little video.

The couple coming out after them had a little more enthusiastic group, but it was still a happy occasion. It was kind of a chilly day outside, so most of us were slow getting out to see them come out, me included. Friday was also my Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary. Can you imagine 50 years? I can only hope I make it that far. Riley and Bridget were both excited for Charles to get married and this is what Riley had to say about it.

...um never mind that. She really was excited for them, it was just really early in the morning. Congratulations Charles and Amber and Grandma and Grandpa! We love you all!

School is Wonderful!

2011-03-10T14:13:00.001-07:00

So a couple weeks ago I started School at Color My nails School of Nail Technology and it is so much fun! Basically all the stuff us ladies like to get done to our hands or feet for a special occasion, I get to do and have done EVERY night. Manicures and pedicures for just right now but after this months, I'll be doing EVERYTHING having to do with nail care and enhancement. Fun huh? So I need lots and lots of people to volunteer to get their nails done. Remember until I get my license I'm doing everything just 10 dollars so get in on the deals for then next few months! Give me a call at 801-915-7468 or email me and we'll figure out a good time for you. Next month you can always come to my school and get services done too! Every little bit helps! Thanks to everybody who has been so supportive since I first started doing this! You are very much appreciated!

It's Official! I'm a Student!

2011-03-02T10:37:00.002-07:00

Last night was my first night of school and it was a lot of fun! I love my teacher for this month, Trish, she's really nice. I'm taking my camera tonight to take some pictures, so we can all know what I'm talking about. Tonight we're already starting on stuff beginning with manicures. Since there's a grand total of two of us in the class, I'll be getting multiple manicures and pedicures EVERY NIGHT. (angelic singing) We'll be tested on them tomorrow night so, hopefully I can remember everything I'm supposed to. You wouldn't think there's a lot to it, but there's actually quite a few steps you have to remember to do when doing just a manicure.
You have to remember to set up your table correctly and it has to be set up completely.
All you supplies need to be clean and sanitized. They grade you on how to trim and file the nails. The cuticles have to be softened and pushed back correctly. Then you have to massage them correctly and for a good amount of time. Total it's supposed to last about a half hour. How I'm supposed to stretch a little manicure out over a full half hour, I'm not sure, but I guess I'll just have to paint slowly. Everyone should come and see me to get their nails done next month when I'm in the practical room! Call the school and make an appointment- 801-561-9112 and ask for me specifically and I can get you a frequent service card and let you know when all the deals are! Not to mention it gets me free stuff too.:)

So I Almost Cut My Thumb Off, but My Bench Came!

2011-02-24T14:05:00.004-07:00

From the title of this post I'm sure you can imagine what happened last night. But let's talk about what happened today!!!! I ordered a bench from Target.com on Monday and it showed up today. I HEART TARGET. As anyone who reads this will tell you, I'm a walking target advertisement. They have the best stuff, it just makes me want to fill my house with junk that doesn't match just so I can have it. Anyways I ordered this and it came today and I have to admit I cried a little, I love it so much. it's so... trendy, is that the right word?

and Now I have an excuse to buy orange pillows for my couches! YAY!
Onto the beginning of the title. I almost cut my thumb off. Yes. I was trying to get a pit out of an avacado and knife went through the pit the skin and then my thumb. The pictures don't make it look that bad but I could tell I had cut it pretty deep. I could see the fat cells all collected together into little lipid balls. It was kinda cool.

And Riley ate a whole pudding cup by herself.

Schmidt Sunday Feb 2011

2011-02-22T11:01:00.002-07:00

We all know every Sunday the Schimdts get together and have a family night kind of thing where we mostly just eat dinner and laugh at each other. This last Sunday my mom wanted to try a "tasting party". I guess she saw it on the food nanny and she wanted to try it because we have some pretty picky farts in our family (i.e. Dad, Tim and Rory.)
So we all got to make a dinner dish and a dessert dish or two dinner dishes or whatever, and then we got to taste a little bit of each one. But that meant the week before, I had to decide what the heck we were going to bring. Very late Saturday night Tim brings two recipes to me that we have to go get stuff for. All I can say is thank goodness our church is at 1 in the afternoon. We got our stuff prepped and ready to go on Sunday and by 5:30 we were at my parents house. We decided we would make Open Faced Chicken Roasted Pepper and Pesto sandwiches and Candied Bananas.

Rory and Dorthy made Lignonberry Tartlets (which were very sour/good)and teriyaki meatballs that when you ate with pineapple, were very good, but you had to eat them with the pineapple otherwise they were pretty darn sweet. Steph and Kevin had made Pork Japanese Curry(at least I think it was Japanese, but it had pork in it, so I was okay) and they also made baked shrimp scampi which tasted like butter so I was extra okay.:)

Charles made potato gnocchi in a tomato based sauce. I thought it needed some zuchinni and more vegetables, but it was still really good. Gnocchi is a dense either flour or potato base noodle so naturally, I like it.

Mom made Basmati Rice and Chicken Curry- Masala (I think) which was kind of underwhelming. It looked and smelled good but then when you tasted it, it tasted like chicken and rice. Which I like, but I've had it a couple time before, so it wasn't really exciting.:)
Then we went through the usual routine. Girls went downstairs with the kids and watched tv while the boys stayed upstairs and played video games. It's always fun together with family.

Only One More Week!

2011-02-18T09:00:00.001-07:00

I only have one more week until I start school! I'm getting antsy about it, if you can't tell.

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-14T11:44:00.003-07:00

We celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday and Tim ordered these for me. Pretty huh? They are Peruvian Lillies and last a little bit longer and are WAY better than lame roses. What's that? You want to read what is on the card? Well, if you insist.

Two Projects Down, A Gazillion More to Go.

2011-02-13T23:21:00.003-07:00

I didn't go to church today (I know, *GASP*) because I have two sick children and I don't feel like taking my infant to the hospital so we're just going to stay away from people and their germs. But as the kids were sleeping I got to catch up on a few of my projects that I've been meaning to do but just haven't ever gotten around to doing.I LIKE doing crafty things, it's just getting the motivation to actually DO them that's the hard part.

I made a car seat cover that Mindy gave me the pattern for before I even had the baby, but again, just WANTING to do things lately has been a little challenging. But I finally got it done. Mindy even sent me the instructions and everything, but of course I was never good at following directions so I just eyeballed most of it.

It covers the carseat. That's what it was made for so I guess not too bad for winging it.:)

I also made a new pad for our baby swing. Bridget spends a lot of time in it, just because that's where she sleeps the best especially when she's sick:( poor baby. But now she has a stylish new cover to sleep on.

And if anyone knows me I don't like to make things that are totally gender specific so it's double sided with a fabric that can be used for a boy. Cute huh? Well, I like it and I'm pretty proud of myself.

Now I need to settle on a fabric for my dress to wear to Charles and Amber's wedding in a month! Ahhhh! A month! I better hurry and get my procrastinating done so I actually have a dress to wear.

Can You Fit a Cow, a Chicken, and a Pig in YOUR Freezer?

2011-02-09T23:33:00.004-07:00

Today Tim's work gave them a little "thanks for reaching your goals" bonus. It wasn't money, but it worked just as well. They did what they called a "Dash for Groceries" at the Macey's across the road from their building. According to what department you were in you were allotted so much money to spend on groceries that you grabbed from around the store in 2 minutes flat. ONLY if your team met their goals. Cool huh? Well Tim's team met all their goals and then some so each person their team got 250$ to spend on groceries. Nice! I'm used to a 100-150$ a month budget for groceries, so this was a big deal for me. Tim and I decided it would be best if the majority of the money went to big ticket items that we like to eat. AKA Animals. Meat. Ground Beef, chicken, pork chops, pork roast, beef roast, steak. Ah yeah I said STEAK and lots of it. Anyways, we had gone to Macey's beforehand and got a feel for what their prices were like and found out that we could pre-order dollar amounts of meat and they would have it precut and packaged and in a cart waiting for us by the meat counter. Well duh. Who wouldn't do that? Unless of course, you're a vegetarian, then, well, ...yeah anyways, the big day comes and Tim is all psyched about running through a grocery store like it's his wildest dream come true. (Little did he know that not only would he be able to do it, but he'd be able to do it 3 times.) Our meat is ordered and we have a plan on where we're going and what we're grabbing. Our buzzer sounds and we book it to the meat counter. Tim, obviously leaving me in the dust because, let's face it, short legs are not meant for runnin'. We grab our meat cart and it has a HUGE box in it already. We grabbed a bunch of frozen things to finish off our 250$ and we made it to the front with 5 seconds to spare. I learned that two minutes is actually a LONG time and you really don't have to run especially if you know what you're shopping for. So we got to the front and we were only 12$ over our 250$ so yeah I'll the difference. We get it all home and start re packing the HUGE box of animal product to be frozen. Keep in mind I live in an apartment. With APARTMENT sized appliances including the fridge and freezer. So as we're re-packing all this meat, Tim is telling me we can definitely fit it all. "All you need is a little organization" he keeps telling me. So this is all the meat repacked and in the freezer.

And another angle just to illustrate how far "organizing" was going to get us.

Oh did I mention there was all this left to be put into the freezer as well? Yeah. Organize THAT.

Needless to say we had to enlist the services of Tim's parents freezer for a while at least until we start getting low on frozen stuff. It'll be good and it'll be used once I start going to school in March cause Tim will be in charge of getting Riley and himself fed without the convenience of having a car. All I can say is that it's a good thing animals taste so good otherwise those pictures might be considered gross. Hello PETA!

So long everyone! Off to bed! Stay Large!(A little inside joke for you:))

Three Posts in One Day?! It's Worth it.

2011-02-08T11:14:00.003-07:00

I know I've done three posts in one day, this one is just so funny I couldn't help it. This is the main event over at cakewrecks.com
and honestly I've never laughed so hard in my life. (Except when I'm reading other posts on Cake Wrecks.)

Wait for it.

Keep looking.

Did you see it? Yeah.... If anyone knows me, they know that I would eat that cookie after I peed my pants from laughing so hard.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2011-02-08T11:09:00.001-07:00

My mom turned 49 on the 5th of this month and my dad got her a special something. A few months ago she looked at her wedding ring one day and the diamond had fallen out after 30 years and a lot of abuse, it was gone! So my dad wanted to look at how much it would be to get it recrowned and get a new bigger diamond. Needless to say, it was WAY too expensive. Us kids had bought my dad a new wedding band after her lost his down at the farm last year off of Overstock so I started looking there and sent a few to him to look at. He didn't like the ones I sent, so I just waited for him to decide what he wanted. He called me one day and had me look at this ring that he found

It's very similar to my mom's old one except hers was a round diamond and didn't have the little accent diamonds and the wedding band was welded to the engagement ring. So I ordered it for him and it finally came the Monday before the big day. I can't imagine how hard it was for Dad to keep that secret. He is a big softie and pretty sentimental about things like that, don't let his gruff exterior fool you, so I'm sure he was itching to give it to her that day, but he waited until Saturday when we all came over for cake and ice cream. Luckily we got to see my Grandma and Grandpa before they went back down to farm for the night. It was cute to see the little set up Dad had put the ring in. He bought a little Valentine bear and wrapped the box and put it in the little basket the bear was holding. After much effort mom finally got all the wrapping paper from around the little ring box. Before she opened it he said, "You said yes thirty years ago, would you say it again?"
AWWWWWWWWWWWW! Isn't that precious?! Who knew my dad was such a romantic? Anyways, it was cute and I'm glad she likes it. Hopefully this one lasts a little longer and then they can save up for a BIGGER diamond;)Mom will tell you she doesn't really want one, but who doesn't appreciate a big sparkle on their finger? ;)

Happy Birthday Mom! We Love You!

Christmas From Pompa Schmidt

2011-02-08T10:24:00.005-07:00

I know it's February but I finally got Riley's gifts from her Grandpa Schmidt painted and finally got some pictures of them. Riley loves her Pompa so anything from him she adores.
He made her a little hutch and a pair of chairs so she can sit and read, one of her favorite things to do. When we took the hutch home we were trying to figure out what we were going to use it for, and Riley brought her books in and started to load it up immediately.

Sarah painted this one. Look out Sarah you're getting talented.

I painted the animals on this one. And you can tell cause it doesn't look as nice as Sarah's

As you can see it's a good place to sit and have a snack

Or watch a Zhu Zhu Pet cage match.

I know my dad worked really hard on these for her and we appreciate them. They perfect for her and if she would slow down long enough, I know she would give him a big hug and a snotty kiss, just cause she knows how much he loves that.:) Thanks Pompa!

And here's a picture of Bridget just because.

So BORED! If you don't like whining, then don't read this post.

2011-01-26T15:02:00.003-07:00

I am so ready to start school in March. I'm driving myself crazy at home with my two little munchkins. They haven't done anything different, I'm just getting restless, (which is why I end up at my parents pretty much every night)and I am HATING January. I walk through the stores and they already have Valentine's and St Patrick's Day stuff up making me want it to be Spring SOOOOOO bad. I suppose I could just enjoy the months as they come, but really who likes it when it's so cold it's hurts your ears and your skin and then it's just warm enough to tease you into thinking that maybe spring isn't too far away, then it's bitter cold again. I can handle cold, but January cold, is not something I handle gracefully. I guess I can be grateful I haven't been too sick this winter and I haven't had one of those nasty colds. Even though I haven't been sick, my house definitely looks like I've been out of commission for a month, and laundry is quickly piling, but I have no desire to do it. How many times can you do it and NOT go crazy? I guess when I run out of underwear then my protest can be over. I think my main problem is my lack of transportation, cause Tim takes the car to work in the winter months, leaving me at home with the kids and no other adult to talk to(hence the reason I'm always begging people to come over). Naptimes and nighttime just aren't long enough, my kids wouldn't sleep long enough even if they were, and I never have the go gettum to make a decent meal for my poor husband to eat when he gets home. Some days I think I'm ahead of the game and then i turn around and it's all undone. There's always something I could be doing, always something I should be doing, but it's never anything I WANT to be doing. My kids really aren't big enough to be entertained by television and the show Riley does enjoy is really mind numbing, and it doesn't really hold her attention for longer than a few minutes, then it's out with the DVDs again. I guess everyone has good days and bads days I just seem to have all of mine in one month. I'm the only one who can change that, but it would be nice to have something to do, somewhere to be, once in a while. My school will help with that. Hopefully.:)

Double Dream Hands

2011-01-14T14:05:00.002-07:00

I think everyone should learn this dance this year. It would make the world a better place.

2010 A Year in Review

2011-01-03T14:35:00.017-07:00

As the old year passes and a new year is rung in, it's time to look back at all the fun we've had over the past year and look forward to even more fun in the year to come. As I go through what big things happened to me this last year I invite you to look back at the milestones in your last year and pat yourself on the back for making through another one, because in all reality it's not easy. So let's get going. LAST January...

We started the year out like this:

In February:
We got to see Charles come home from his mission:

We moved into our own apartment for the first time:

As you can see we were excited to be there.

In March and April we didn't really do much, but have a good time, and get bigger:

We found out Riley would be getting a little sister,

Boy was she excited

All I can imagine here is a caption saying "WTF?!?!"

In May Tim and I celebrated being married for two years, not only did we celebrate we were in awe we made it that long.

June wasn't a huge deal, except in was HOT HOT HOT

But it didn't dampen our ability to cheese for pictures.

Well... maybe a little

In July our Roo turned one! and even now she looks so different from July it's hard to believe she was small at one point.

the rest of the summer flew by in a flash with the normal festivities.
Dustin and Mercedes made their family eternal in the Salt Lake Temple in August.

And yes I do have better pictures of them rather than this one, but I'm still working on them, deal with it.
We sent Justin to Washington on his mission:

Summer ended and fall started without telling anyone, Riley didn't seem to mind

We had a blast at Halloween:

and with that, the holiday season got rolling and went off without a hitch. Thanksgiving came and went:

and finally the big day came when we got to meet our new little sweetheart, Bridget

and we still can't get enough of her.

Christmas was lovely, but since I just posted pictures of that like three days ago, I'm not going to post them again.
Yesterday we blessed Bridget in our sacrament meeting and it was very nice to be able to have our families there. And we learned a good lesson

Smile

Smile

And KEEP smiling even though it may not seem possible

Before I get; "Well WE weren't invited." Let me explain.
Mindy was in town for Christmas and to be honest I wasn't too keen on blessing Bridget so soon after she was born in the middle of cold and flu season, but since I don't really have a choice being married to Tim and all, we went ahead with it kind of last minute so it was just our families. As it would have been nice to have our huge extended families all there, I'm afraid our ward wouldn't know what to do when the size of the ward quadrupled for one Sunday. (Srsly, our ward is small enough it might become a branch some day.) It's been a wonderful year and this coming year Tim and I are looking forward to raising our family, going to work and school, that's right we're starting up going to school again, and hopefully getting somewhere with it. JOY! Anyways, That's all for this year! Hope your new year is everything you hope it would be, cause if it's not then you only have yourself to blame for it!:) Happy New Year (3 days late)

Schmidt Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T18:02:00.002-07:00

We attempted to take a family picture to send to Justin

Abi and her Mommy who Dared to Wear jeggings. You can't see it, but her butt looked great:)

Rowan trying to decide if the punch and cookie is safe to eat or not.

Sarah couldn't or WOULDN'T get off her phone

The other attempt. As you can see either way we're not perfect but I'm pretty sure Justin knows that already. We got to talk to him a little bit and he's still pretty silly. He told a story about when he was first out he was feeling a little sorry for himself and he sat down on the curb and he started grumbling about all his woes. He looked down and there was a hundred dollar bill on the ground. Thinking it was his lucky day, he picked it up and turned it over only to read: "Do the Work" written on the bill. Now I've never had an experienced a chastisement from currency but I would hope that that turned his attitude for the better. He says he loves his companions and all the people he gets to teach. Well of course he's a missionary:) We all miss him and his silly energy, but we're all really proud of him and his decision to serve a mission.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

This concludes all the Christmas posts. If you would like more, then read them again or go to a different blog.:)

Tim and Melanie Tucker Family Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T16:45:00.005-07:00

Since we've only been married two years, we don't have that many Christmas photos, but the addition of children definitely takes care of that problem so I have to think about what I want to post, otherwise this could be a very long post. I woke up at 6:30 to feed the baby and because I couldn't sleep cause I was excited for the girls and Tim to open their Christmas. My dad says I was always the one who woke up early and wanted to hang out on the stairs and was trying to peek on the presents, but that's not really how I remember it, but then again, I can't remember how yesterday went, so I guess that excuse holds no water. Anyways, i was excited and woke Tim up around 7ish mostly because Riley was awake and crying in her room. So we got the girls and came out into the living room and let the girls tear into their stockings. Maybe I should explain the stockings... I'll try anyways. My dad was on his mission and my mom made a huge blue stocking and packed it with stuff and sent it to him. So when they had kids my mom made us each one luckily enough my dad detests messiness and anything related unless he makes it so... the stockings helped keep things orderly and relatively mess free at least until we got to unwrapping the stuff inside the stockings. To us as kids they doubled as play things and especially Rapunzel hair. I don't have any pictures with my girls wearing theirs as pants or as hair YET, but I anticipate the day when it happens, and you better believe I'll have my camera.

I found these cute eye masks for a couple bucks and couldn't wait to have them wear them. I'm glad they obliged:)

Quite possibly the best picture I own of Riley

These are Tim's soccer shoes and shin guards that WOULD have been a great surprise if Tim could handle a surprise but since he can't that's why he doesn't look very excited.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Ben and Julie Tucker Family Christmas Party

2010-12-26T15:56:00.003-07:00

For Christmas Eve we went to the in-laws house and had dinner and opened presents and we enjoyed each others company. Riley's been having some issues with being a super grouch lately so she wasn't too pleasant but I'm sure everyone else had a good time.Julie had set up a little story with props for the kids to hold and Ben bore his testimony of Our Savior's love for us and how we can share it not only at this time of the year but throughout the whole year. It was a lot fun and we all felt the spirit, even with the little kids crying and running all over.:)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-26T14:49:00.006-07:00

I'll be posting my Christmases in the order they happened so I'll have to catch up from the big Tucker Family Christmas Party a few weekends ago.

A few quick tips for a fun stress free Christmas:

First of all ALWAYS remember the reason for the season.

Play lots of fun games.

Sit with a friend. You'll have more fun that way.

Grandma Tucker usually plans the Christmas parties but since our family just HUGE now, she's decided to hand it over and let the different families take turns planning and everything. This year Scott's family was elected as he is the oldest and HIS oldest; Celeste, spear-headed the whole thing, and it was tons of fun. They used to do the Nativity while Grandpa Tucker was alive with the Grandkids but now there are enough great grand kids that are big enough Celeste thought it would be fun to do it again. I think other than one specific angel,(my goofy headed daughter), all the little kids had a great time getting dressed up and playing their parts. We had a super awesome easy dinner of Pizza Hut, which meant all the little kids were easily fed and there's little to clean up. Celeste also had set up a bunch of Minute to Win It games for us to play and I think personally, it was more fun for us WATCHING than the people playing because as you can see from the above, even the dads got in on it, and they ended up looking FANTASTIC. All in all it was a lot of fun to get together with the HUGE family, and hopefully we'll be able to continue getting together like this no matter how large our family gets.

Next up: Ben and Julie Tucker Family Christmas

STAY TUNED!!!

She Sleeps! Thank Heavens She Sleeps!

2010-12-15T12:52:00.002-07:00

After the first few nights of adjustments, I'm happy to say that Bridget now sleeps for most of the night only waking up two times to eat. If we can think back to about a year ago, Riley was about 6 months old and still not sleeping through the night, so this is a very welcome change. I remember when the last batch of babies were born, and mommies were talking about how well their kids slept, and me feeling so left out because Riley REFUSED to sleep. She would get so tired she couldn't do anything else but cry, but she would still stay awake. Those were tired days for Daddy. I do pretty well with only a few hours of sleep, so it doesn't really matter if I get woken up, but Tim is useless the next day if he doesn't get a full night. Now with two kids it's a little different story. Last night for example Bridget didn't thinks she needed to go to sleep until about 3 in the morning, which isn't 7am like a few nights ago, so I'm counting my blessings, so once I finally got her to sleep. I laid down and not two minutes later Riley has a nightmare. Honestly? I ask myself, Not even a 20 minute power nap? But it didn't matter because by that time I was past my wall and I couldn't fall asleep anyways. So I go get Riley and bring her into our bed with us to get her to calm down. Her nightmares are so vivid that she either has to watch TV or read a book to get whatever scared her out of her head before she'll go back to sleep, and then she sleeps in between Tim and I on my pillow with her arm around my neck. So I quietly hummed a Itsy Bitsy Spider and she did the finger actions and passed out with her arm in its spot on my neck. As soon as I closed my eyes, Bridget poops, waking herself up. Sigh. So I crawl out of Riley's clutches and take Bridget down the hall to Riley's room so I don't wake up Tim or Riley. Bridget gets changed, fed and rocked back to sleep. I go to take Riley back in her room and HOLY CRAP, this child is a tank! Compared to the little newborn, Riley feels like she's filled with bricks. Thankfully she transfers from my bed to her bed well and sleeps in until 8 30 this morning when Tim was awake to deal with her. Sleeping adventures are so great aren't they? Some people just can't function without exorbant amounts of sleep, but thankfully I was blessed with insomnia since birth myself so I've adjusted my habits to run my batteries off what little sleep I do get. And when all else fails, I can take a nap when the kids are napping. I am Awesome. I'm a Champ. I'm a Mom.

Bridget Lanie 12-06-2010

2010-12-11T10:23:00.006-07:00

So since it's been six days, I suppose I should write about what everyone already knows. Bridget is finally here and healthy and we couldn't be happier. Not only was this labor and delivery a VERY different experience from Riley's birth, but Bridget is the opposite in looks from Riley. Her dark hair, skin and eyes are a stark contrast when she's placed next to her sister, who BTW, is in LOVE with her. She likes to ask to hold her and give her kisses, and pat her head. She also likes to make sure she has everything she needs and she is such a good helper. It may be gross but this birth was so awesome in comparison with Riley's that I have to share it. we went into the hospital at 8 am on Monday and they started me on a drip of Pitocin. Once my contractions were in a steady rhythm they brought in a resident to break my water. He was to say the least... unsuccessful and kind of awkward. So about an hour later a different resident came in and was able to break it with the scalp lead they were going to use to monitor the baby's heartbeat in a study to see how diagnostic the scalp leads are in comparison to the surface monitors they use with the TOCO on the mom's belly. Anyways, they finally got the water broke and about an hour after that it was time to get the drugs. I prefer to wait on getting the epidurals until just before I know they are going to get pretty bad, because with Riley my pain tolerance level went up with amount of drugs but unfortunately the pain knew it could go higher so I felt pretty much EVERYTHING with Riley, not a pleasant experience but not one to make me never want to have more children, hence Bridget. I'm happy to say that I made it without an epidural for the majority of my labor, but when I did get it I was grateful. So I waited until I was on the border of uncomfortable-ness and pain then asked for the epidural. Tim did not get sick this time, probably because he was sitting down and wouldn't come near me, but he didn't get dizzy and we all need something to be proud of right? So I was all numbed up and ready to go by 3 but then my blood pressure dropped and the movement from one place to another made Bridget's heart rate drop. The nurse came in and laid me flat on my back and made me use the oxygen mask, so I was not only experiencing severe claustrophobia, but I also got heartburn from being on my back, so that part, not so great, but my regular nurse came in and put me back up in sitting position so I was grateful. Time ticked by and I was just letting my uterus do the work of pushing the baby down. 4:30 rolled around and my doctor came in to see how I was doing. It was TIME. My doctor told me to give one little push to see just how far she was and doc barely had time to get her smock on before baby was RIGHT THERE. One half push, there was the head "Do you want to touch it?" the nurse asked. Me: "Uhhh, no, I'm good." I was just relieved I wasn't going to have to push for two and a half hours. Another little half push and I had a vernix covered baby on my chest. Lovely. Don't get me wrong, it is an AWESOME experience to have a baby, but let's not lie to ourselves it's... to put it lightly, gooey. Here's a shout out to my awesome mom-in-law Julie who patiently ushered herself out of the room every time I was not decent, I know it's silly but I appreciate it! Tim and I are so blessed to have these two beautiful babies in our lives and it makes, for me anyways, this mortal life that much more live-able.

Thanksgiving 2010 The Blizzard Edition

2010-12-01T13:08:00.005-07:00

Tim and I were on the way to the store last night when he all of a sudden got very giddy about something. "Tomorrow is WEDNESDAY!" He just kept saying over and over. I sat there racking my brain trying to figure out what importance this particular Wednesday had, but could not for the life of me think of it. Tim could see I was obviously struggling so he explained, " After Wednesday I only have two more days of work, then it's hospital time." Oh of course. Hospital/baby time. Well that IS exciting but I didn't think it's something he would get so excited over so soon. Then he said, "Then I have a whole week off." and sighed happily. Oh yes, he's only happy because he gets to miss work. Don't tell him, but it's NOT exactly a walk in the park staying at home with Riley. Don't get me wrong I love my kids and being able to spend time with them is the best blessing I've ever had, but the closer the due date has gotten for Bridget to come, the more needy Riley has become. I am pretty sure she knows something is about to happen and I think she is aware of the baby bulging from my midsection because she likes to shake it and watch it move. But she's gotten really whiny and she's always wanting to snuggle me, which in it's self isn't bad, Ill take snuggles from her any day, but the whining really grates on the nerves. As you've probably read from everyone else's blog, We had a few huge snow dumps the week of and weekend of Thanksgiving. Tuesday last week Tim calls me and tells me he might to get come home early because the national weather service issued a blizzard warning for the entire state of Utah from about 5 that until sometime the next day. He also said that his boss was making his whole team stay and work from home on Wednesday. I knew Tim was wanting to go down to his parents house for Thanksgiving and try to get some more paint on his scooter so it was out of his parents way, so I tried to think of a way that would get us out to West Valley without having to drive in the snow more than necessary. Because if Tim was in charge, we would be driving WAY more than necessary, cause that's just how things happen. So I called my mom and explained to her that we would be out there the rest of the week anyway and asked if we could come stay at their house. She of course said yes, and my Dad of course said no, because he knew the dog would have to come, but we went anyway. As soon as Tim got home the snow had started and we hurriedly got packed up and we were on the road. They weren't too bad except Tim took the long way and only about a mile and a half away from my parents house we were slowed way down at some train tracks where no one decided to remember the laws about driving and how you're supposed to stay in your own lane. I know crazy right? There were several slide offs and retarded people who thought if they gunned it, they would get their bald tires to grip and they would be able to drive through the snow just fine... NOT TRUE. I was grateful for my fantastic SUV that drove like a champ through all the snow and got us all safely to my parents house for the rest of the week and weekend. Sarah was all excited to have Penny back at the house and Penny was all excited to be back at my parents house, because she basically gets whatever she wants while she's there. We ended up staying until Monday night because of another BIGGER snow storm that had been brought in on the coat tails of the blizzard. I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and my mom was going to watch Riley for me anyways so she just took while Tim was at work. Alas, nothing had changed down there so we're still waiting for the 6th to roll around. We were glad to be home but I am very grateful for parents who let me come crash at their house when I need to, even if they gripe about it every time(DAD). I think it was good for Riley because she was not able to sleep ANYWHERE but her own bed for longer than a half hour because of her fear of getting left. But she slept and napped wonderfully at my parents at least for this weekend which is good prep for this next week when she'll be staying with my parents or Tim's parents while we are at the hospital, which hopefully won't be for a long time. It was also good for me to stay there because on Wednesday I was pretty sure I was going to go into labor so my dad patiently timed my contractions which were 3 mins long and about 2 minutes apart, so I could have gone to the hospital but I'm so paranoid I would get sent home I just stayed and toughed it out, and we didn't have a baby anyway.

Riley waking up from an afternoon nap at Grandmas

It's not Thanksgiving unless you get a pictures with olives on your fingers but Riley was eating them so fast, I think she went through an entire can before we got a decent picture. You taught her well Grandpa.

Tim got in touch with his creative side and learned how to crochet. Yes CROCHET and he ENJOYED it. He even said that it was kind of sad to him when he had a choice to play video games or crochet and he picked crocheting over the games. I'm so proud!

The Best Treatment for Dry Hair.

2010-11-18T15:24:00.004-07:00

A while ago I dyed my hair and it started to get dry and the ends would frizz and tangle. But I was just going to either get it cut or just deal with it. Since Mindy is in Missouri and I'm not a billionaire that can fly to Missouri just to get a hair cut, I decided just to deal with it and trim up the ends just so they wouldn't tangle so much. So I did that and it was fine but it still felt really dry and wouldn't do ANYTHING. I'm pretty sure many of YOU have had this happen. So I was convinced it was because my hair was too long. That's usually my excuse to cut my hair and my husband HATES it. Probably because to me "too long" usually means the back is hitting my collar and the front is starting to flip out on it's own. (As you can imagine, this makes it very difficult for me to grow out my hair. That and it's almost an addiction for me to chop my hair off.) So anyways I figured I needed to either cut it myself or put another layer of color on it. Tim voted for the color rather than the cut so I colored it again, hoping it would smooth out the tips and make it a little smoother than the time before. After I did it, it untangled just fine. My hair LOVES to be colored and always feels better after a color, but the front was still a little dry. Oh well I figured. Lately my interest in doing nails has peaked to a point that I have stuff to do UV gel sets for fingers and they actually look good, so I ordered some stuff online from Sally's Beauty Supply and waited for it to arrive so I could expound on my new interest. when my stuff came a little sample bottle of Argan Tree Oil was in the bottom of the box. I figured it was a bonus thing cause I spent so much, cause I didn't order it. For those of you who don't know what an Argan tree is this is what Wikipedia says.. " ...The tree, a relict species from the Tertiary age, is extremely well adapted to drought and other environmentally difficult conditions of southwestern Morocco. The species Argania once covered North Africa and is now endangered and under protection of UNESCO. The Argan tree grows wild in semi-desert soil, its deep root system helping to protect against soil erosion and the northern advance of the Sahara." Okay it's a tree that grows in Morocco, great right? Right. Argan Oil is found in many hair treatments as a smoothing agent, and repair catalyst. Downside, it's mainly found in relaxers and deep moisturizing for African American hair, which we all know can be VERY dry and nappy, making it difficult to style sometimes. So I found this little bottle in bottom of my box of goodies. So I figure, hey, I could use this. So I tried it and it worked wonderfully, no to mention it smells delightful. So I started to use it regularly. My hair got so soft and moisturized I couldn't stop touching it. Now my hair is nice and shiny and I don't have all those little annoying fly aways like I used to get around my face. Here's my hair regimen if you want to try.
Day one: I use a dry shampoo and I don't wash my hair unless I had a lot of crap in it the day before. Dry shampoo is awesome too. If you do your hair the way you like for one day and don't want to wash it out. Just spray it on your roots and freshen up your style a little bit. Gives a new bounce to your style and has a nice texture for hold.

Day two: I shampoo and condition this day and I leave the conditioner on for a LONG time. like I do everything else and then rinse off and sometimes get out and dry off before rinsing the conditioner out. after shower, I comb through it and put in and mousse that I may need for that day's style, and I let my hair rest, meaning I don't do anything with it for at least five minutes. lets me gets dressed, put lotion on, do my make up, and brush my teeth. Then I let it air dry as much as possible before styling. If you let your hair rest before styling the style will hold better.

Day three: I shampoo and condition as normal and use the Argan Oil treatment. It doesn't take very much for thin white girl hair, so judge accordingly. You don't need a whole handful! the size of a pea is quite enough for even really long hair. Just rub it in your hands and work it into your hair from tip to roots. The tips is really what you should focus on cause that's where it gets really dry and if you go the other way you'll end up looking like this:

Yeah not very appealing. but if you follow my instructions use trial and error and figure out what works best for your hair, you'll end up looking like this:

Okay so it may not make your straight hair curl like a dream or give you a flawless face, but you will have beautiful hair. Just try it and tell me you don't like it.

Word World and the Toilet

2010-11-09T14:47:00.004-07:00

So Riley has a favorite show. Since she's one, I don't really feel bad about that because it's a show that helps develop letter recognition and basic reading skills, so she's quickly adding to the repertoire of words she knows and can identify. She's also starting some potty training. Not hard core potty training, I'm aware she's only one and it's not going to happen overnight, we just sit her on her little toilet about once a day just to get her used to the idea. It's fun to watch her learn and grow and we are so excited for this next little baby to join the party! Riley likes to shake my belly and feel the baby roll around. She thinks it's pretty funny. So thankfully I only have about 3 or 4 weeks left depending on what the Doctor says. it's been so interesting how different this pregnancy was from Riley's. Every day seemed to drag with hers, with it being a new experience, but this one has flown by! Makes me sad actually. I really do enjoy being pregnant and when people look at me weird when I say that, all I have to say is that it's better than having a period... Really I'm not kidding. To me it's just a lot easier cause I don't have to deal with the hassle that a menstrual cycle can cause. And as for child labor and birth, I would rather have to go through that instead of cramping. Labor is just pressure and only a bit of pain, and not to mention the availability of pain medication where cramping you can only take so many drugs for it, it's an actual twisting of muscles in a very vulnerable spot in your body, and you get NO sympathy whatsoever for it. Since it happens every month, we're supposed to be able to breeze through it? No thanks!

Halloween Saturday 2010

2010-11-01T13:09:00.004-06:00

Halloween Saturday was spent at my parents house. Everyone came over and after Dorthy and I finally decided what we were going to dress up as, we ate and took the kids around to a few houses. Dorthy and I painted our faces and did our hair as Gorgons (Stephanie dressed up as Workout Barbies' mom, ...lame) and I dressed Tim up as Apollo. He was such a good sport and it turned out pretty good! He had a good tan and everything! but I didn't get a picture... sigh running on only one hour of sleep makes you forget some things. But Riley dressed up as the pumpkin princess in the other costume I found for her. Yes not only did I buy her costumes, but I bought her TWO, but they were so cute I couldn't help myself!

Riley the pumpkin princess, Rowan as Woody, Abi as Workin' Out Barbie

This is as close as we could get getting them to sit by their pumpkins for a picture. So we just made do with what we had...

Halloween Friday 2010

2010-11-01T12:05:00.005-06:00

So we have read multiple times that I LOVE Halloween. And fortunately for me, so does Riley. We get excited about it before the week of even rolls around and with it being on Sunday this year, we had THREE days to party instead of just one. Steph has some cute pictures on her blog of our Halloween party at my mom's but Friday night Tim's parent's ward had a trunk or treat where everyone shows up to the church parking lots and the kids trick or treat out of the back or the cars. Not a bad idea and with how fast it got so cold this year, a real life saver, especially for the little kids.

Riley and Dad trick or treating, I'm pretty sure Tim was just showing her off to the people in the ward, but she is pretty cute, so I'll let it slide. Friday she wore the sugar plum fairy costume I found for her and we made her cheeks rosy and everyone thought she was adorable. Although someone at Tim's work saw her and said, "Oh how cute! An Eggplant!" Really? An eggplant? I know the costume is purple but who in their right mind would dress their baby up as an eggplant with wings? I like my vegetables and I'm all for being creative on Halloween, but I'm not exactly what you would call a VeggieTales enthusiast.

Riley with Unlce "Indiana" Mike

Riley with Grandma Tucker

After the candy was all passed out, we all went inside and we ate from plethora of soups people in ward had made. Then when we went back to grandma and grandpa Tucker's house we had to listen about Ben's heartburn;)It was a lot of fun and unfortunately Chris and Katie weren't around so I didn't get any pictures of Conner or Kenzie but I did get some of Landon, He's such a cute little bug and this picture is by far my favorite of the night...

Good Evening...

Chelsie Hill 5k Run October 2010

2010-11-01T11:22:00.004-06:00

Tim has been on a soccer kick lately as we are all aware off and he's decided he needs to get into shape for upcoming soccer league season in Spring of next year. Right like HE needs to get into shape(scoffs). So he's been running miles after Sarah's soccer games and just for fun (not lately cause he fell down the stairs at his parents house and twisted his ankle up pretty good) but he does enjoy running, so when he found out that they were holding a memorial run for Chelsie Hill (a girl his age who went to Hunter and tragically dies in a car accident a month or so ago) he was pretty excited to be able to run it. He asked people on his Facebook account if anyone wanted to run it with him and his brother Chris and an old mission companion Jacob Braghini said they would. I went for moral support cause really if I tried to run or even walk a 5k, we would have had an EARLY baby, and I didn't think that would be a very good idea. I'm sure there's some people who would do a 5 k when they're pregnant, but I don't like doing when I'm NOT pregnant, so really, yeah just not something I think I could do. So here's a picture of the athletes. Katie and her brother and sister were there too with Kenzie and Conner, but I was dumb and didn't get a picture of them. Sorry guys! It started to rain right before the runners started to come back into the stadium where they started, and then it started to pour and trying to wrestle a wet sick baby almost eight months pregnant is kind of difficult, so as soon as Jacob and Tim came back, I was ready to go, so I don't have any pictures of their triumphant returns, but Jacob came in third place and Tim was eighth or so, and Chris was a few people after Tim. Good job you guys!!

Dough! Nuts! Mmmmm... doughnuts

2010-10-27T11:01:00.004-06:00

As I was standing over my sink devouring a piece of cold chicken like a ravenous beast, I thought to myself, I should really make some doughnuts today. Okay I know that if Tim reads this he'll get all sicked out cause I was eating cold chicken. Get over it honey, I've done it since I was a kid and I'll do it until I die, which incidentally, will probably be sooner than later if I keep eating cold fried chicken.:) Secondly, I only thought about the doughnuts because yesterday I really wanted to make some and I found a really quick really easy recipe for Old Fashioned cake doughnuts, which are my FLAVORITE!!! See? It's like flavor and favorite together??? Sigh anyways if you would like to try to make doughnuts, like I am going to TRY and make doughnuts, here is the recipe:

FAST AND EASY OLD FASHION DOUGHNUT
4 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 c. milk
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix all together, roll and cut with doughnut cutter. Deep fry until brown.
Delicious plain, or coat with sugar and cinnamon.

Chili Cookoff 2010

2010-10-18T09:43:00.008-06:00

For third Sunday the Schmidt side of our family got together and brought their best chili recipes to share. There were 5 different kinds and they all tasted so good, it was hard to decide which you wanted to eat the most of. Tim and I took a little crockpot of white or "Ghost Chili" as Tim would call it, and Sarah and Dad ate most of that. I'm glad it all got eaten because as sad as it is, we just don't get around to eating our leftovers and then they just sit in the fridge and get gross. But anyways, all the chili was so good it was hard to decide which one to eat more of so I, being the pig that I am, ate at least four bowls of chili and ate my bread bowl. MMMMM bread bowls are delicious. Anyways, we all had a good time yesterday between frosting our Halloween cookies, eating chili, watching "How to Train Your Dragon" (super cute movie BTW) and playing fun games, I think we all enjoyed ourselves last night.

Our Halloween cookies!!! They look so good!

Playing outside while it was still warm, waiting for dinner to be done. I tried to get Rowan to pose in between the scarecrows, but the kid was too busy being a booger.

Some of the tasty Chili Entries:

My favorite picture from the evening is a: of course of my own kid cause she's cute, and b:is technically not evening in the picture but we'll count it anyways since it was after 12 in the afternoon:

Late Nights

2010-10-15T11:01:00.004-06:00

We went to visit my parents last night and we had dinner and made cookies with some really cute cookie cutters Steph had that made HUGE cookies, but around 11 pm when we left it got to be too much for the little kids and they were all getting really tired and grouchy with each other and Riley insisted on holding her little bath baby, which she insisted on taking out there with us in the first place, and she fell asleep in the car holding on to it! I just thought it was cute so I snapped a quick picture of it and thought I would share.

Play Date at the Park

2010-10-11T14:56:00.007-06:00

So since we haven't had any money to actually go anywhere out of our small radius around our house Riley and I have gotten a bit stir crazy and we needed a little Abi play time. So I invited Steph to come up and bring Abi and we would go to Wheeler Farm and get some cute pictures of them together. Kevin works on Saturdays and I know how boring it can be being by yourself all day, so that's why I invited them up and I was SUPER bored. So steph came up around 2ish and we were still cleaning our apartment which I had started that morning and then Tim got involved and it just ended up looking like it did before we started, so we headed out. We first went to Wheeler Farm and I'm not sure what was going through my mind at the moment, but I was thinking it was a little chilly, the sky has been overcast all morning, there won't be too many people there. Yeah I was DEAD wrong. There were way too many people there, you could barely get out of your car! so I, being my father's daughter and having a severe hatred for large crowds, decided we were going to go the park instead. Which turned out okay because we were still able to take these cute pictures.

I personally like the look on her face.

I think they might be getting a little too big to do this.

And I don't know about Abi but Riley was TIRED after playing so hard. She took a nap after we got home and almost slept an hour before her bedtime, then she slept all night long, which was FANTASTIC especially considering she woke up at 3 am saturday morning and didn't fall back asleep until about 5 am. That makes for very tired parents. But I'm glad Steph and Abi could come and play. it's always fun to have people come over and play.

Okay New Addition to my Previous Post

2010-10-07T17:09:00.004-06:00

I just watched Iron Man 2 today for the first time (yeah I know I'm behind on the times, give me a break) and I would like to add Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man as to the previous post under best hero. He is by far... adorable. I really can't think of any other words to use to describe him. Honestly? Look at him!

Tell me he's not adorable. He did have his rough patch back in the early 90s what with the drugs and stuff then again in the late 90s and again in the early 2000s but let's give him credit where credit is due! Those were "rebuilding years" (BYU fans, yes I'm likening your poor athletic skills to the drug habits of a movie star, But hey he made a comeback! See Miracles can and do happen!)
So yeah... he's in the same ranking as Hugh Jackman, for me anyways.

Best of the Best (in My Opinion)

2010-09-23T14:50:00.001-06:00

So I was sitting around my house one quiet afternoon wondering, who plays the best bad guy? Who is the best hero? Who IS the best member of the Twilight saga cast? I wasn't really wondering the last one I just thought it would be funny to start a Jake/Edward debate,because to me neither really does it. So I'm going to try and gather together as much as I can of my opinion, it's not like there's a shortage, and put it all into a post. So let's start with the ones I've already listed:

Best Bad Guy Actor:

Tim Curry.
He was always the bad guy in the kids shows he was in and he played the clown in Stephen King's "IT" (which I've never seen by the way, but seeing as it was made back in the day when movies SUCKED, I can't imagine it being very scary.) I mean honestly, who doesn't think he's a scary old man? Well he's an old man now, but back in the Home Alone days he had that Grinchy smile and those buggy eyes. He was CREEPY. Not like pedophile creepy, but "I'm trying best to think of what cooking technique to use when I eat your remains after I kill you" creepy. I would get pictures up but I can't seem how to to do that with bloggers new and improved posting thing, so if you want to remind yourself just how creepy Tim Curry is and why he's a good bad guy, just Google his name. I'm pretty sure there was a time he sharpened his teeth with a file...

okay moving on...

Best Hero:
Today vote: Hugh Jackman hands down
Back in the day I would have said Val Kilmer, because I know it's totally gay but I have a soft spot for him. He was the best part in Willow, and in Batman Forever, yeah we all know it was ridiculous but don't deny that you watched it. And as for " The Saint" just watch it and if you're feeling brave turn off the sound and come up with your own script. Just be sure when he takes off his sweater, use the line for the girl, " No I said take OFF your sweater." And try not to laugh.
But now with so many budding new actors and eyes candy on the market I think it's a toss up between a few; so I'll list um... 3 and we can decide collectively who is better than who. Because aren't we here to judge each other?:)

- Harrison Ford: Indiana Jones, Firewall, Star Wars (gotta play on the heart strings of the geekdom out there)
-Bruce Willis: Die Hard Series, Live Free or Die Hard, Armageddon, Fifth Element (first Bruce Willis movie I saw, still on my favorites list)
-3 way tie for this between Gerard Butler, Jason Statham, Clive Owen (just because they have muscles and I'm pretty sure they have all done some karate in their day)

Best Bad Girl Actress:

This one is hard! no one really thinks about the girls going crazy and being the bad guy(girl), but I managed to come up with one name based soley on her tattoos and her incessant need to be weird. I know judgmental, but hey, it's my blog.
Angelina Jolie. She's always in your face with her big lips and well, her face in general, and doesn't put up with crap from men. So I don't think being a bad girl would hurt her image. Everyone went crazy for her in Tomb Raider, mostly because she was buck nekkid in a few scenes, so obviously it doesn't hurt her sex appeal either.

Best Heroine:

Charlize Theron
or Penelope Cruz
Just because I don't really watch movies for the girls.

Best Mentally Challenged Actor (meaning they play a character who is mentally challenged not that they themselves are mentally challenged)

Sean Penn or Dustin Hoffman
-"I am Sam" is an awesome movie I just watched it for the first time last night with my husband (who cried) and it really makes you think about what you would do if you were in those different situations, as the father, as the child, as the foster mother, as the defending lawyer, and the prosecuting lawyer, it just makes you really think about it and how difficult it would be, but how love should overcome anything. really sweet movie.
-Dustin Hoffman in "Rainman"-plays a savaunt (from Utah woot woot!) who calls his brother Raymond "Rainman" and it's just about the impact of someone with special abilities in your family may have on you. Very good movie. Dustin Hoffman is an awesome actor as well. Outbreak? I mean comeon? who doesn't love a little monkey disease?

And I suppose finally Who IS the best character in the Twilight Series?

Emmett Cullen or Charlie Swan

Discussion is now open to those who have an opinion. If you don't like Twilight,(Sarah) then don't comment on it. Feel free to add to whatever!

Panic! At the Tucker Home

2010-09-19T23:25:00.003-06:00

See it's like the band name Panic! at the Disco... get it? ha ha ha...uh okay so I'm awake at 11:30 at night not only because it's got to be at least 400 degrees in my house because my air conditioning is broken,(darn you stupid fan belt) but because I'm also a little afraid to go to sleep, for fear I may wake up in the middle of the night not able to breathe, which would more than likely happen because it is 400 degrees in my house. Kinda silly huh? A little while before I found out I was pregnant with Riley I was working at very stressful place to work and found myself on my bathroom floor one night not able to breathe or move. I was pretty sure that it was a stress induced panic attack because all I could think about was the people at the place I worked (it was an rehab/retirement center) and I was pretty sure I was about to die. But I quit that job and it didn't happen again. Until... this morning at 3:00 am. This scares me because I don't have a job to worry about, I don't live under stressful situations, while Tim can be stressful, but really not give me a heart attack stressful and I really don't have much in my life to worry about. I have it pretty darn good in my opinion. But then out of nowhere I wake up in the middle of the night with my chest hurting, a pain that emanates into my back and makes it very difficult to breathe. So after I toss and turn for a little bit I whimper to Tim that I need my back rubbed. He does, even at 3 in the morning, what a sweetheart, but it's not really helping the intense pain in my chest that is only getting worse by the minute. So I get up and try to stretch it out thinking I just slept in one position too long. Come to find out moving makes things worse. I described it to Tim as "labor pains in my sternum" Yeah baby does sit high, but not THAT high. It finally progressed to a point where it was urgent enough to me that I felt like I needed to go t a doctor. so Tim set about getting ready urging me to put some clothes on, but remember how it hurt to move? Yeah... I got as far as the pants he threw at me and covered the rest with my robe. There really wasn't anybody we could call to come stay with Riley at the house so, Tim woke her up and put her in the car. She was looking at me pretty weird the whole time we were driving because a: I'm half on the back seat and half on the floor because that's the only position that I could breathe slightly in, and b: it's nearly 4 in the morning and she's been dragged out of bed to what, watch her mom have a heart attack? Nice. Tim didn't want to call 911 or anything so we went in search of an IHC UrgentCare that was open. Turns out they close at 6pm, because really, does anything URGENT happen AFTER 6pm? All I can say is that every time I've been emergency hospitalized, it's been WELL after 6pm. So I do my best with the pain which is now subsiding now that it's almost 5 in the morning and I'm just too tired to feel pain anymore. So we came home and slept in until 10. So I probably SHOULD go to bed, because the lack of sleep really isn't going to help but my ankles are swollen(my only pregnancy complaint) and they hurt so I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight either. Sigh

Okay, It's Old News

2010-09-15T10:00:00.002-06:00

So I know it came out a while ago, but I watched the movie Obsessed the other day and even though it was dumb, I loved when Ali Larter gets her butt kicked by Beyonce. I personally would not want to be beat up by Beyonce, but I laughed the whole time they were fighting. If anyone has seen it, they know how I feel. It got me thinking, how would I react if someone was trying to steal my husband away from me? Or even someone I know husband? I would probably hunt them down and light them on fire. But not before beating the crap out of them of course. Isn't that awful? I have a lot of latent hostility (I know surprising right?)and I really don't handle confrontation very well, I usually get really pissed off and clam up bottling it all up then I have really violent dreams about beating the @$%! out of whoever I had the confrontation with, so I can really identify with Beyonce kicking the crap out of the skinny little white girl's butt. That and it was nice to see the girl with the big butt win. Woohoo! It's just something I've been thinking about.

Halloween Poll

2010-09-13T11:06:00.006-06:00

So my favorite time of year is sneaking around the corner and I have to decide what I'm going to dress my little munchkin in. so we're going to take a poll. I'll put up several pictures of costumes that I can make for her and the one with the most comments wins. Warning: They are adorable and voting will be difficult.

Okay Here's Costume Possible # 1

If you like this one, go to comments and vote for #1

Costume Possible # 2

If you think this one is cute, go to comments and vote for # 2

Costume Possible #3

If you like me, Vote for #3!

Now these are the ones that I can make, my mom can make anything I'm pretty sure ,but I want to try to make Riley's costume this year sine last year, my mom made it, although it was VERY cute If you don't remember here's a little refresher

Yeah she made ALL of those costumes. She's a amazing. But I'm not that amazing so let's not make it too difficult!:) Thanks for the help!

It's Totally Nerdy, But Who Really Cares?

2010-09-07T12:22:00.002-06:00

So I get total nerd bucks for this post because it is in fact VERY nerdy. I got a flexible keyboard and it's really cool! I feel like a spy when I type on it which, by the way I am doing THIS VERY MOMENT. Cool huh? OK, it's lame but you have to understand that ever since I saw the movie "Live Free, Die Hard" I've wanted a flexible keyboard. that's where the nerd bucks come into play. I thought it was cool when he shoots the car into the helicopter, and it was cool when he was fighting the Asian chick, but the only OMG moment i had during that movie was near the end when the bad guys break into the secure area for whatever it is they are trying to take over and the computer nerd ROLLS out his keyboard. Ever since that moment I wanted one just so I could do that move. not take over the untied States or anything but roll out the keyboard. Those of you who have seen this movie know what I'm talking about but those of you who haven't, well, you're missing out really and it's the Die Hard that isn't rated R! so we get the best of both worlds!! Just look it up and watch it because it's awesome.

Swimming If you Can Call it That

2010-08-27T10:35:00.003-06:00

Oh For the Love of Teeth!

2010-08-27T09:12:00.002-06:00

Riley has figured out that she can not only use her teeth for eating but she can use them as a weapon. Her favorite target is her cousin Abi who, really doesn't start to cry until Riley starts to SHAKE while she's biting because she's biting so hard. I have tried to keep a binki in her mouth to prevent any wandering fingers or arms to receive a little nibble, but the binkin has given her a rash around her mouth because she slobbers behind it. so if people aren't commenting on the fact that she's biting their kid, their talking about how she has a rash around her mouth. Yes, I'm aware of the rash and Yes I'm aware that she's biting a chunk out of your kids arm, so if you could please keep your kids appendages away from her, it would help everyone out. Someone asked the other day if she had bit the dog yet, but luckily she hasn't because Penny is smart enough to stay out of her way most of the time. that and i'm pretty sure Riley isn't dumb enough to get a mouthful of hair. I'm getting tired of having to be the only responsible for the fact that she is biting someone else. She's only bit unprovoked once and that's because Rowan screamed at her and she didn't like it so, I guess you could say that was provoked. I'm completely aware that biting is naughty and that she needs to be taught that it's unacceptable but I'm not going to bite my kid to show her what it feels like. So, so far it's just been spank her and hold her in time out for a minute, make her give her cousins love, unless it's Rowan cause he just runs away, and watch her to make sure she doesn't do it again... really what else can I do? She's bit one cousin on the Tucker side and it was Kenzie while they were trying to play with each other, but other than that one time she gets along with Kenzie and Landon really well. So really I'm not looking for suggestions as to how to deal with it, I'm just venting. Maybe we'll get a muzzle.

I Don't Know if You Noticed...

2010-08-10T11:20:00.002-06:00

Hey everybody I don't really have any news other than my husband bought us a suh-weet camera because My bro-in-law let us borrow his to take pictures of Tim's brother and his wife for their sealing (! Yay for Dustin and Mercedes!) But I'll do more about the camera once I learn more about it, it's a little complicated and I'm excited Tim is so stoked about learning photography. Anyways, I've added a NEW BLOG for you to follow and check out from my blog. It's Called Mila's Daydreams and it's just this woman who is on maternity leave and poses her sleeping baby in different poses according to whatever she thinks her baby is dreaming about and I have to say this baby is flippin' adorable. this woman's name is Adele and she lives in Helsinki which explains all the way cool fabrics and clothes her baby is wearing. It's just so creative I had to share! Check it out! www.milasdaydreams.blogspot.com

My Justy is Leavin Me! But For a Good Reason...

2010-08-04T09:46:00.006-06:00

Justin got his mission call to Kennewick, Washington, which we all remember because I posted about it. I think. Today is the day that he reports to the missionary training center in Provo, Utah. I'm so excited for him, but so bummed out for me. Ever since Mom brought him home from the hospital as a little pudgy baby he has been a bag of giggles. Anything that comes out of his mouth today has perfect comedic timing, it's just impossible to find anyone who can make me laugh as much as my little bro does. So just as a little good bye to him we'll see you when little Bridgette is almost 2, here's some pictures of him and we all hope that stays safe and that he has the best mission ever. We love you J! (when I say we, I mean that mostly from me, although Tim does love Justin, he's not going to shout it out on the internet.)

Make your own digital slideshow

My Mom. I Love Her.

2010-07-30T12:17:00.002-06:00

So I don't really have anything new to talk about but my mom did share a tidbit of how- to with me over the weekend. Usually she like to "mom" people when they're sick, "Have you taken anything for it?" " Have you drank enough water today?" My personal favorite especially when she says it and she's not really listening to what you're complaining about, "Put some bactine/ aloe vera on it." :) Sometimes she does have a tip that even though it may seem weird, it is actually a good idea.

Situation: You just used the last drop of glass cleaner on the picture frames and don't have any to clean your bathroom mirrors with and your neighbors are coming over for a (insert neighbor activity here) night. They are bound to use the bathrooms and you don't want to be the one who has crap all over their mirrors. What do you do?

Well a normal person would say: "Send someone to the store for some glass cleaner"

And then what if your neighbors come while they are gone and they have to use the bathroom? What then hmmmmm? Would you try to stall them until your grocery runner got back? Apologize profusely about the mirrors? Then you would either be the crazy lady who won't let you use her bathroom or they would notice the mirrors where they might not have noticed them in the first place. You're trapped! What ever should you do?!!

Have no fear! The tip that you would probably never use is here!

Cut a potato in half and rub it on the glass. Instead of using paper towel which would probably just stick to the starchiness on the mirror, use a newspaper (on newsprint) and rub it in circles. Then take a almost damp paper towel and wipe it off, immediately drying after. It works, trust me. My mom told me this and I was all, "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard", but then I got curious and tried it. And it does work!

Situation: You're cleaning is almost done and you've just run out of glass cleaner (I don't know why it's always glass cleaner but it is isn't it?) but you still have to do wash windows!

Well, a NORMAL person would say "Oh well I'll just wash the windows next week and it'll probably rain anyway."

Well Contrary Person, I have some news for you. Dirty windows are not only an eyesore from the outside but an eyestrain from the INSIDE as well. Wouldn't you feel TONS better if they were just cleaned?

Contrary Person; "But you just said I didn't have any glass cleaner. How am I supposed to wash windows?"

Well listen and I'll tell you... geez pushy.

Anyways, don't go out and but that expensive stuff you hook onto your hose and spray; while it's very handy to use, not all of us have money to spend on washing windows. So mix dishwashing detergent into a bucket of hot water (as hot as you can stand to touch not like boiling or anything)and wipe down windows on the inside and the outside, immediately drying the ones you can reach.

Awesome! two tips in one post! Now if you're mom hasn't given you more than one piece of advice you'll never use in one day then well, I hate to say it, but she's slacking, or she just doesn't love you as much as my mom loves me... or my mom just thinks I'm an idiot, which now that I think about it, could be the case.:) Oh well, useless advice or no, I love my mom.

My First Bloom

2010-07-28T09:39:00.003-06:00

Check it out, it's my first dahlia bloom. i was a little worried after I planted these beauties because it frosted in the middle of May remember that? Yeah I was none too happy about that, but I think they turned out really cute. I was under the assumption that they would be more red than purple, but it's just as pretty as I would have hoped. I have at least ten more blooms growing to blooming size, and I'm really excited to see what they all look like. Next summer I'm doing yellow and orange and red and pink and whatever color i can get my hands on. I LOVE dahlias because they grow so tall and the petals actually glitter in the sun.

Pioneer Day July 24th

2010-07-26T21:32:00.003-06:00

This last Saturday was Pioneer Day for all us here in Utah so all the folks who work for federal based companies didn't get a day off like we did, ha ha! Take that mail men! Unfortunately it was too hot even move so we didn't do much. We met up with Tim's family to watch the Day's '47 parade and it was actually really fun. It IS fun to have a float in the parade and we did have one. At least Tim and I did, well our stake did. It was funny to pull into the church parking lot the next day and see it sitting there all alone. After the parade, we went home and chilled in the air conditioning for a while. Then when it had cooled off outside and we decided our skin wasn't going to melt off our bones, we ventured out to my parents house who were setting up for Justin's Sunday Before He Left on His Mission in Two Weeks Cause the Week He Leaves is Fast Sunday.Whew, that was a mouthful. Now why can't we call it a farewell again? Wouldn't that just be easier? Oh well, I guess they had their reasons. Anyway we helped set up for that in the back yard and then we went home. Riley didn't sleep well that night. Not at all. She decided she wanted to wake up screaming at 2:30 am and come in our bed. Apparently she sleeps better when she's thrashing around, smacking me in the face. We had given her motrin for her teeth, fed, her changed her diaper, walked around with her and rocked her. Eventually she fell asleep in our bed all hot and sweaty, but that wasn't until about 3:30 and then she woke up again at 5:30 after Tim had put her back into her bed. My parents church starts at nine so we had to be up in 4 hours. 4 hours??? I couldn't stay up 4 hours waiting around for church to happen. So I got Riley back to sleep around 7:30. Tim was still asleep in bed and as I was falling asleep he gets up and says " We should probably get up and ready to go soon." I didn't move. "Mel? We need to shower and stuff."
"No." Was all I could say, mostly because if I said anything else I would have said naughty things that would've hurt his feelings.
So I got to doze until about 8:30 when Riley came crawling into my bedroom whining at me. Guess what she wasn't dressed for church either. So I got up, got in the shower and got ready as Tim got Riley dressed. Then we packed up the car and headed out to West Valley. Remember how I said my parents church started at 9? yeah guess who wasn't late? That's right, US!!!! We live the farthest away and I even woke up super late and we were still there before my siblings. We even had time to drop off the food at my parents house. They hadn't even left for church yet!!! Yeah I know. We're amazing, you don't have to say, it'll just make me blush. So we go to the church sit down and as soon as Riley she sees Justin up on the stand she starts laughing her can off, as Steph would say. She loves her Uncle J and will miss him dearly. Lucky us we get to keep him for another week before he has to go! She also had a good time playing Abi and sharing snack cereal. I love seeing all my family together, even though it's sometimes awkward, cause I never know what to say or how to say it. Oh well. When sacrament meeting was over we went over to my parents house for an early Cafe Rio lunch. Yes, I know it's breaking the rules to have that sort of thing, but my mom felt she was kind of expected to. Then around noon we headed back to our church so I could get sustained and set apart in my new calling as Visiting Teaching Representative, so I'm the one who gets to call people I don't know and hound them about visiting people they don't know. Should be exciting.

Abi Riley and Rowan. Rowan was all stoked to get his picture taken but the kid wouldn't hold still for two seconds!

Riley and her Uncle Trev. She LOVES her uncles... Unless it's Spencer or even Chris some days.

This is our parade float from our stake. It's totally cool to have one in the parade.

Look it's Mr. Talbot!!! He was my band teacher in Jr. High. He has been the leader of the letter carrier band for a long time and it looks like he going to keep on doing it.

This is from Heber Valley Railroad, which I've heard is really fun to go experience. they are having Cowboy Days in November and I'm totally rallying for that. Don't you think that would be fun? Of course it would be.

My UnBorn Baby's Quilt

2010-07-22T09:31:00.003-06:00

So a while ago I went to the fabric store and my mom was kind enough to buy me project. Because that's what I REALLY need a project, cause I have absolutely NOTHING to do at my house.:) (just kidding, love you Mom.)She bought it for me because I was complaining I really didn't want to do what I had to do at my house and that I wanted to make something for the baby that we're pretty sure is a girl, but since the doctor visit on Tuesday we're not 100% So I had a really hard time picking out the fabric blocks that I wanted, (I just got one of block bundles from the fabric store) and when my sister Dorthy pulled out this fabric I nearly peed. NEARLY. Don't judge me.
So this is the finished product for my new baby which is hopefully a girl cause it's kinda girl but I suppose it could be used for a boy. I'm going to quilt on each square a little bug or a snail or something, I haven't decided.

And the back side is also patterned so it's REVERSIBLE! I'm a genius! That way when baby throws up on one side just flip it over and it's like having a clean blanket against them!!!

Now I know what all the little, old arthritic women who invented sewing are saying, "Your lines don't match up, your thread didn't sew in cause you didn't choose the right color and your edges are all uneven and wavy cause you can't sew a straight line."
Well to them I say, DEAL WITH IT. My baby will be glad he/she is warm and I'm holding them and that's all I care about. For something that's going to get thrown up, pooped and peed on, I think I'm making it look really nice, and I like the uneven edges and the fact that my lines don't match up. It's called character. Now don't you have some cards to play with your friends?

Now on a Serious Note...

2010-07-21T11:57:00.004-06:00

I just read in the news that there was an apartment fire near Tim's work which is only 15 minutes from my house. This got me thinking, "If my home caught on fire, what would I grab other than my dog and my children (cause there's no way I'm leaving them)" So as I sit here thinking about it and worrying myself about it, several things come to my mind. Clothes. Cause I don't wear pajamas, which is probably a bad idea. Shoes. Good sturdy walking shoes. I would grab my computer and the external hard drive because all my pictures of my kids are there, My phone, so I can call my parents letting them know we're going to need a place to stay, cause my parents or in-laws wouldn't let us out in the street, Extra clothes and blankets for my children (ideally we're suppose to have a kit with all important things in it), because they matter more than I do. My temple recommend, My purse with all my stuff in it (i.e.; keys, wallet, etc..), my kids identity things, and my husbands and my identity things which would hopefully be in a fireproof safe or something, my wedding pictures which would also hopefully be in the fireproof safe and my family pictures which would also be in there. Of course people are thinking what about the basic necessities, Melanie? Food and water I can find or make, but the things I chose are the things most important to me. Of course my husband would be able to help himself, but if he wasn't he would go on the list as well, near the top. Think about it. What would you save? What can you do without? Because as some 20 people in Midvale found out this morning, it can be taken away in a few hours. Luckily, no one was hurt or killed in the fire and all managed to get out of the building. Unluckily, the building is now condemned and the residents will not be allowed to go into the building for any reason at all. Please pray for these people. Pay your tithing as it helps to help them. Donate what you can, time, money, food, clothes, whatever to help these 20 people, because you never know when it could be you standing out in the street in your pajamas watching your house burn down.

Kay I'll get off my soap box now.

Just for Fun

2010-07-21T10:07:00.003-06:00

I took some pictures over the last few days and I haven't had anything to blog about so I'll just put them up and comment on them.

Rowan turned two yesterday so it was a fun time to get everyone together; especially the babies. Dorthy had made cupcakes and this was the result:

So in turn Sarah was enlisted to give the babies a bath. And of course somehow, they all ended up in the bath at the same time.

I got my ultrasound yesterday but baby#2 wasn't being too cooperative so there wasn't a definitive yes or no on the girl thing. Sarah got to go with us to the ultrasound because she had never been to one before and I think it's something EVERYONE should experience. Whether you have kids or not, ultrasounds are just cool.

Then we went back to my parents house and I colored Sarah's hair and I glittered her toes and I did her nails to match her toes! I'm not a pro and I don't claim to be the best, but for the second time trying, I think they look pretty darn good!!!

And my baby just because she's mine and she's so cute... even when she's zonked out in the car.

Take Me out to the Ball Game!

2010-07-17T09:45:00.004-06:00

We took Riley to a Bees game on Thursday night and we invited Steph and Kevin to come and bring Abi, because Abi and Riley are pretty much best friends, and they don't get to see each other much since we moved away. The sun was HOT! Right up until it dipped behind the stadium and it was perfect and we could actually see the game. Tim's company bought out a entire section along the third baseline so we saw a few familiar faces like Tim's buddies Matt and Warren. I'm of course more interested in keeping the food that's on the ground on the ground rather than in the little girls mouths so I was able to snag a LOT of cute pictures of the two hoodlums together. Riley really loves all her cousins and these snuggle pictures just prove it.:)

My two personal favorites. They're pulling the exact same face.

Target, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways...

2010-07-15T13:14:00.007-06:00

I went shopping at Target this morning. Everytime I go there there's always some really cute toy or really cute outfit that I want to grab, but unfortunately that requires money. So every once in a while when Riley has been exceptional or I feel like I really need to spend some money, I go and I hit the Clearance sections of the store. Now a lot of people turn their nose up and go ewww clearance sections, that's where they put all the stuff nobody wanted to buy so it's there for a reason. And to this I say, BOOO!!! The clearance section is my best friend because when you're poor you can't just go grabbing things willy nilly like you can in the clearance section. So anyways I was meandering around the store with my sad lonely two bags of frozen broccoli in my cart when I stumbled into the toy section. Call me stupid, but I wasn't aware they had a toy clearance. And to tell you the truth, it's got some pretty good stuff. So anyways, we were walking through the isles and Riley starts to just freak out grunting and pointing clapping and squealing. Now yesterday we went to the same Target and I wanted to get her a baby doll that she could take in the tub with her so she knows how to help when Bridgette comes along, but that was nixed by the husband. So I thought that maybe she remembered it from yesterday and wanted to hold it again. So I turned to grab it and I saw this little gem:

Isn't it adorable?! And to my great surprise this is what Riley was clapping at, because her hands went to her head and she squealed like "That's it that's it I MUST have it!!!" (which means she's related to me.) So I HAD to buy it for her because when I handed it to her she HUGGED it like it was the best present in the whole world! You know like you did when you were little, and you were going through your presents and you hugged all of them except for the underwear that your mom INSISTED on buying for you? So I walked triumphantly to the front of the store and got in line, Riley hugging her little tea set the whole way, and me feeling like the best mom ever. So the lady scanned it and it was... this is the best part... 2.50$!!!! So not only did I make my little girl happy, it only cost 2.50. Take that you overpriced, over packaged 20.00$ toys!!! We don't need you! We have(angels singing) THE CLEARANCE SECTION at TARGET(angels singing). Here's some pictures of Riley excited to get the thing open( yes she IS biting the table, she does that sometimes) and then her playing with her spoils. I love my little girls and seeing them happy.

Finally!!!!! I Found It!!!!

2010-07-14T15:15:00.003-06:00

Question have you ever read a book so long ago that you remember distinctly what it looked like, felt like even smelled like but can't for the life of you remember what the flippin title was? Answer: for me yes.. many times. My Grandma had the COOLEST books at her house and I remember reading them over and over every time I would go over there as a kid and even now as an adult i look for them to read. My sister Dorthy and I were talking about one such book called "Topsy-Turvy" or something like that, a book that I ALWAYS look for when I'm at my grandma's house in Sanpete county. But to my dismay I can never find it. So not only can I never find it to READ it I can never find it to actually figure out the actual title. Enter Internet. Duh.. Why didn't I think of this before? All these years I've been afraid of the fate that may have befallen upon the book that I don't know the title of, during the move my grandparents made from Sandy to Fountain Green, and this whole time i could've have just looked up what I thought it was online through the internets... oh silly me. Unfortunately "Topsy-Turvy" only brought up those stupid upside down tomato planters. sigh. Maybe try something else... what about Upsy Downsy? TADA! Success Is MINE!!!!!! (Evil laughter and lighting w/thunder clap) Ah hem, okay anyways it's called "Welcome to Upsy Downsy Land" it's made by Mattel and has the most awesome retina burning colors of all time! Now here's a picture.. can anyone tell me where I might be able to find a copy of this gem?

Riley Turns 1!!!!

2010-07-12T10:21:00.004-06:00

The day is finally here and Riley is officially one year old! We had her birthday party on Saturday at Murray City Park and it was so nice until about the last half hour when the sun came out from behind the clouds and it was HOT!!!!! but Riley had a lot of friends there and she loved having them all there and we all had a lot of fun playing frisbee and croquet, and eating lunch. Thank you to everyone who came out. Here's some pics of Riley opening her presents. any other day when she wasn't hot, tired and cranky I'm sure she would have LOVED her presents but because she was all of those things looks can be a little deceiving.

And it's a.... Another Girl!!!

2010-07-12T10:13:00.003-06:00

At Riley's birthday party we announced the sex of our next little baby which as far as we know is another little baby girl. There is only one... yes, I know sad, maybe next time. But we are really excited for this new little baby to come and meet her just as excited big sister. Riley loves to look at babies but not so much if Mommy is holding them, she tends to be a little jealous. Here's the ultrasounds courtesy of Fetal Studios. Like I said, as far as we know it's a baby girl but there's always that chance the little boy was just shy... But either way we love babies here, so it doesn't matter what they are.:)

New Way to Think About Your Dirty Dishes

2010-07-08T16:06:00.001-06:00

I found this poem online at a blog with recipes for people to share and thought it was a good healthy way to look at your dirty dishes rather than dreading them.:)

"Thank God for Dirty Dishes,
They have a tale to tell.
While others are going hungry,
We're eating very well.
With home and health and happiness,
I shouldn't want to fuss.
For by this stack of evidence,
God's very good to us.”
~ author unknown ~

Happy Birthday America

2010-07-07T11:31:00.003-06:00

The Fourth of July came and went this year without much thought or planning and I think I preferred it that way. here are some pictures taken of the days celebrations the day before and the day after as it was on a Sunday and we do live in Utah.:)since Riley turns 1 this month, (holy cow it's already been a year that means kindergarten and that kind of stuff is only a few years away:( (tear) But anyways since it is her first birthday this month most of the pictures are of her.

I Stayed up Way too Late and Learned A New Word, Beat that Reading Rainbow!

2010-06-30T09:57:00.005-06:00

Last night was the midnight showing of "Twilight Saga: Eclipse". First of all I wonder how Stephenie Meyers feels about her book series now being called a "saga". The books are hardly long enough to be called novels as is. :) Oh well. I'm not going to give anything away because I have a certain sister in law who didn't get to go :( with us last night and I'm pretty sure she would/ could reach through the internet and strangle me to death for talking about it.;) Just kidding. I will however say this, I learned a new word last night that I will never ever forget but also will never ever use unless I'm making fun of someone, okay hear it goes.... And the new word is.... "Twi-Hard" (stifled snort) this word is to give a genre to all the crazy fans who dress up, have those insane all day parties, and have left their husbands in search for their real life Edward, or Jacob....(yes it actually has happened). But really? "TWI" hard? Good grief do we really need to make up our own words just so everyone will know what kind of sheets we sleep on at night? I don't think so, but hey I could be gravely mistaken. :)All things considered, I will say that the acting has (heavy sigh) gotten a little better, so don't go to the movie expecting to see the same crap you saw in the first one with Robert Pattinson, "Must. Not. Puke." But there are a few times I was afraid he would actually swallow Bella's head... why Rob? why can't you just pucker like a normal human? Even fish can do it! Oh that's right because you're a Vampire... (heavy sigh) and if you are on Team Jacob (chuckle and shake head) like so many (snort) Twi-hards out there, you'll be glad to know that he steams when rain water hits his muscular body. And this time, it's either ALWAYS raining or Jacob is just sweating, ewwww. That's really all I can say other than, is Carlisle supposed to have an accent only half of the time? Or is that just the "cool" thing to do nowadays?;)

Excuse Me I HAVE to Gush about this...

2010-06-29T12:23:00.005-06:00

So today I've been in a total, "OhMyGoshThatisFreakinAdorable" mood and the root cause is cause I've been online shopping. Isn't that the root of everything girly and retarded? They really make you feel like you CAN'T live without it and because you can't pick up the price tag, look at it and walk away, it makes it hard to close the window. Anyways, I've found a new favorite website and while I haven't spent any money there yet because out of self control (I knew I wouldn't be able to stop) I thought I would share. www.princessbowtique.net has the CUTEST little girly things I have ever seen, and they aren't outrageously priced like places like matildajane although they are very cute, just WAY out of my personal price range. Check it out and buy something if it tickles your fancy. For the sake of my husband, I'll just advertise for it, not spend too much money there.:)Come on tell me this isn't the most adorable thing you've ever seen:

I May Have Already Featured This...

2010-06-28T14:14:00.004-06:00

Okay tell me this carseat isn't adorable. I know I already have one but I'm still secretly harboring the hope there's two in oven, so we'd have to get at least one more.:)

Swing Swing

2010-06-25T21:50:00.002-06:00

We went to the park tonight and had a picnic and Riley spent her first time on the swings. I think she enjoyed it.:) Sorry about the quality my camera is dead so I have to get everything on my phone...

Worst Day Ever...

2010-06-22T22:19:00.002-06:00

So Mindy my SIL my recall getting a text this afternoon asking her if she had ever had those days she felt like driving her car off a cliff... Let me explain, today was pretty much the worst day of the my life. It started out okay, but very quickly fell apart as I watched my sanity fall bit by bit down around my ears. I woke up and was fully awake at 6 30 when Riley decided it was time to get up and play. So I played with her in bed for a while hoping Tim would just give up sleeping and just get up and shower, but I swear he could sleep through a nuclear explosion. Anyways, Riley finally gets tired again after Tim leaves about 7 30 and falls back asleep. So I think, GREAT! I'll take Penny out really quick come back in and shower and then we can be out to mom's house in a timely manner. I get up and get dressed and take a very excited Penny to the door. Okay got the leash got my shoes, Penny be quiet and DON'T wake up Riley, now I just grab my keys and- wait a minute, where's my house key? Stupid pregnant brain you put it somewhere and forgot where it was. It's on the table... no not the table, or the counter, or the dresser,... okay let's think about what we did yesterday. Tim came home we went swimming, i had to have them to open the door when we got back, so they did make it into the house, Then we went for ice cream I didn't take my purse or anything cause Tim had his keys... hmmm where could they be? So after this lengthy inner monologue, i call Tim
"Where are my keys?"
"Are they on my dresser?
"No, I just looked there, oh ps your dresser is a mess you'll have to clean that up sometime."
"Yeah. Is it on the key ring?"
Would I be calling you if it was on the keyring?"

pause

"I don't know."
"no not on the key ring."
"Well I've just pulled into work so I'll call when I get in the building."
"Okay"

Sigh, well he wasn't much help. so I go through my steps. Swimming keys in the door and I put them... where? The whole time I was racking my brain thinking of where on God's green earth I could have put these stupid two little keys! But guess what? i didn't put them anywhere. My darling husband had carried them off and we all know what happens when he walks off with things, they are never heard from again.... Oh no panic time. so I call my mom.
"Mom I can't leave here without someone being here because I don't have a house key. i can't seem to find it. I would ask you to come out here, but you may not want to do that, I don't know."
Mom-"Yeah,... not really."
"Okay I'll keep looking"
So I basically turn my house upside down looking for these stupid keys, (don't worry anyone, Penny did make it outside) and after much cursing and praying for both help and forgiveness for the cursing, I find THE KEYS and the angels sang a happy song. Where did I find these you may ask, well in the bathroom of course. Out of eyesight behind the bag I use to pack my haircutting stuff when I make house calls. Well of course it was there, i should have known immediately there was nothing to worry about because doesn't EVERYBODY leave their house keys in the bathroom? Oh wait... yeah they DON'T!!! so ends fiasco #1
K fiasco #2 might be a little gross but you have to give me a break given my circumstances and the fact that I'm pregnant. (no I didn't pee my pants.)
So whilst I am driving out to my mother's house in West Valley I start to feel a little queasy... yeah I'm sure you can see where this going. Around the on ramp to 2-15 on 4700s my vitamins which i didn't take with food... (and I wonder why me?) come back up and all the water I drank with a little sunny d thankfully it was a: mostly all over me so I could slowly peel the mess off when I got to my mother's and b: it was mostly water because I hadn't eaten much for the past 24 hours. Although it did have partially disintegrated prenatal and daily vitamins in it, so now I have a strange aversion to the Flinstones vitamins which is what it smelled like. i think about it and really all that was going through my mind was " Oh geez I hope no one sees me do this."
REALLY?! Not oh geez I'm going to puke, let's open the door so it doesn't get everywhere when you're already late for your OB appointment... or Just breathe just breathe and don't puke... no no it's I hope no one is watching me throw up all over myself... I'm officially hopeless. anyways, I make it to my moms and borrow some clothes from Sarah and Charles yeas even 3 months prego I can still fit into my little siblings clothes!!!! but I make my way, VERY QUICKLY towards downtown Salt Lake where my doctor is. Okay i have a question to pose here: How much road does a construction team really need to tear up? honestly? I like to give this as an answer: EVERY ROAD IT CAN GET ITS GRUBBY LITTLE HANDS ON!!!!!!!!! i swear if someone gave me the choice between hit by a train but surviving as a vegetable or trying to get to south temple and 4th in a simple easy route, I would definitely take being hit by a train. because then at least as a vegetable I wouldn't have to deal with the INSANE construction that is going on downtown. I'm pretty sure they dig big hole sin the road just to drive people crazy and make my life miserable. So Fiasco #3 is be late to appointment because you had to find your way like a rat in a maze of orange cones.I swear I am never going east from the west again. and it's interesting how whenever you bring it up to everyone, and they all go " Oh yeah they're doing this and this and this project" I personally think that they should make commercials about what projects they are doing when they are doing them and have morning news announce the road closures and stuff EVERY morning. At the beginning of the newscast. But the day got better when I heard baby's heartbeat, and on a good note, my car doesn't stink like puke.:)

My Obsession

2010-06-21T16:06:00.002-06:00

So if you ask my husband he'll say that I read not for knowledge but for sustenance of life. Which may or may not be true, I'm not sure, but it's true I do love to read. Anyways, there's been some hype over Alice in Wonderland lately and it's been really interesting to read different opinions about the book. My favorite take on the fantasy is Written by Frank Beddor a trilogy called "The Looking Glass Wars". His spin on the old fairy tale is that Alice is actually the Princess of Wonderland daughter to Queen Genevieve of White Imagination and King Nolan. The evil side is Redd Genevieve's sister who was denounced and surpassed by her younger sister to the throne, for her lack of respect for rules and anything good and her love for Black Imagination. Alice is running from Redd and gets transported through the Pool of Tears into Victorian London, Lewis Carroll's time and at first she insists of her royalty and is singled out and harassed for it. She in reality spells her name Alyss, which I think is much cuter than the traditional spelling, but is also badgered into spelling it more "traditional". She grows and learns to suppress her former life and adapts to the lifestyle she has fallen quite literally, into and when at the last moment she fears she would have to spend the rest of her life with a man she doesn't love, she is saved by a familiar face, a man, whom she knew as a boy named Dodge Anders, as Redd's soldiers come blasting through a portal into our world. Amongst so much action and craziness you find that "The Mad Hatter" is actually Hatter Maddigan the chief of the Millinery and protection to the queen and who uses his infamous top hat as an unusual weapon. The bong smoking caterpillars (yes there are more than just the one) are prophets whom the Monarchy call upon in times of need. So basically my point is, I read it in a day and a half so there's really no reason for someone to not read it. It's fun , it's easy and I loved the different take. Of course this is just my opinion, I highly recommend it. Please feel free to write me about any interesting books you have read lately, I like to hear from everybody!:)

Tim's 24th Birthday

2010-06-21T10:14:00.002-06:00

Well another year has gone by for Tim he is now 24. Geez he's old.

New Recipe

2010-06-17T10:49:00.003-06:00

So since I'm blessed enough to be a stay at home mom, I watch daytime tv sometimes. Yes it does happen, I have seen my fair share of soap operas, and yes I'm sorry, I laugh my head off whilst I'm watching. Today I'm watching the Rachel Ray show. Normally I don't watch these shows religiously and every once in a while something she does will catch my eye. Everyone knows that I'm not one to be really healthy when it comes to my waistline, because if it tastes good and I'm happy with it, why on earth would I not eat it? So anyways, Rachel Ray was doing this boneless skinless ranch style fried chicken. K who doesn't like fried chicken? So I've heard that most of the fatty parts of the fried chicken is the skin! the crispy fatty goodness of the skin.... mmmmm whoops focus, so if it's skinless it's healthier right? And it's even better because it's BONELESS so you don't have to work very hard to get a little bit of meat. Now that we all know why I'm a few pounds over weight, here's the recipe, give it a try and let me know what YOU think of it!

Tangy Ranch-Style Boneless Fried Chicken

Serve with a slaw salad mix dressed with vinegar, oil and seasoned with celery salt and pepper and large deli pickle spears alongside.

Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup Greek-style yogurt
4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast, 6 to 8 ounces each
4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Salt and pepper
Frying oil
Large brown paper sack
2 cups flour
4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill or 4 teaspoons dried dill, eyeball it
2 tablespoons granulated onion, a couple of palmfuls
2 tablespoons granulated garlic, a couple of palmfuls
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, 2/3 palmful
A handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
A handful of chives, finely chopped
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Yields: Serves 4

Preparation
Combine buttermilk and yogurt in bowl. Cut chicken breast pieces in half across the breast at widest part. Season all of the chicken pieces liberally with salt and pepper, and submerge them in the buttermilk-yogurt mixture.

In a heavy pot over medium heat, heat a couple of inches of frying oil until small bubbles appear in a rapid stream when a wooden utensil handle is placed in the oil.

In a large paper sack, combine the flour with dill, dried onion and garlic, cayenne, parsley and chives. Add half the chicken to the bag, roll up the top of the bag and shake to coat. Add floured chicken to oil and add the remaining chicken pieces to flour. Fry chicken 8-10 minutes, until deeply golden and cooked through. Serve with wedges of lemon.

I'll try it sometime within the coming weekend some pictures of during and after. Oh P.S. is anyone else confused with the Backstreet Boys being back on tour like they're popular? Yes I know, Tim, Backstreet Boys will always be the "bomb dot-com" in your eyes.;)

Family Pictures 2010

2010-06-16T21:48:00.003-06:00

We had family pictures taken a while ago to help support Shea's Young women's group. so here are some of them.

May Days

2010-05-31T20:55:00.005-06:00

May has come and gone with all the fun goings on that happens during that month. Some days we even awoke to snow on the ground! I guess Mother Nature was tired of her normal routine and decided to shake things up a little bit. Tim got his Scooter and it's all he's been able to think about ever since I told him he could get one. Memorial Day came and went and I got the neat opportunity to drive down to Price with Tim's family and see his Grandpa Tucker's grave. I never met him but he was very well loved and respected by his family. They talk about him a lot which makes me believe that he was a pretty okay guy. I love my grandpas so I can only imagine how Tim feels about his. We stayed in a hotel for the first time with Riley and that to say in the least, adventurous. She happened to fall asleep around eight one night and was up for most of the rest of the night later. Then on Monday we spent some time with both families but Tim's mom got some jammies for all the grandkids and wanted a little "cousins" photo op. They turned out REALLY cute. This coming month of June brings a lot of crazy happenings. Riley turns 11 months old, Mindy and Spencer are moving their family out to Missouri, yes, again, and I officially start my second trimester, which is pretty crazy how the first one went by. Baby # 2 is growing normally which is good. My mom had a silly dream where I had twins named Tyler and Skyler a boy and a girl (which I would love to have actually) and Mindy whose son name is Tyler got mad at me for "copying" her:) oh well, don't worry Mindy, I think the name Tyler is pretty well used and pretty much out of my book;) Here's some pictures from our month of May:

Justin's Mission Call

2010-05-24T22:43:00.003-06:00

Justin got his Mission call to the area of Kennewick, Washington where he will be speaking English. It was funny, two weeks ago we hoped it would have already been here, but it never came and never came and Justin kept getting grouchier and grouchier. Then on Saturday when we were all about to leave Sarah decides to check the mail. Guess what? It came, so we all filed back into the house and we all got our phones ready,( I really do have video I just don't have time to upload it with this post. It'll get a special post all to itself.) We have all been speculating about where he would be sent, because that's what you do. (Tim's family; if you either guess right on or the closest to it the missionary to be has to take you out to dinner.) So everyone had decided that South Africa is where Justin needed to be but obviously we don't know anything because he stumbled through the first line to spit out, " Kennewick, Washington" We all sat in stunned silence. Not out of disappointment but just out of pure shock. Well, okay then, he's going to Kennewick, Washington, That's where he's needed. when we finally got over the awkward silence we were all excited for him because a mission is just an awesome event. I'm pretty sure Justin leaving will be a lot harder on me than Charles's because A; I'm not getting married and I don't have anything too exciting to keep me distracted from it; and B; Justin ALWAYS is there to make me laugh. Sometimes he can be a butthead and a jerk, but no one and play off the cuff like he does. Time seems to go in slow motion for him so his timing is always comically perfect. I'll miss him muchly, but he'll be back and let's face it, if it gets too bad, I could practically walk to his mission, it's not too far away, and I'll have Mother's days and Christmases to have him make me laugh. Sometimes I feel like Charles wasn't gone long enough, but oh well, we can't have everything we want.:) Just kidding Charles.

Woohoo! 2 Years Down and Eternity to go!

2010-05-21T13:26:00.004-06:00

Tim and I made it 2 years without killing each other, Bravo to us! Yesterday was our 2 year wedding anniversary and even though it's not as impressive as say 50 years or a million years, I'm pretty proud of myself considering what kind of odds couples our age have against us. Not only are we happily married but we have our beautiful daughter and expecting our second child in December, which makes me the happiest I could ever be. Back before I even met Tim I thought I was never going to get married or have a boyfriend much less, mind I was only in the ninth grade so the self esteem wasn't the highest, but still I really thought I would be 30 and still not be married and living alone. I don't know what happened. Within the last 8 years somewhere I've met, dated, loved and married my best friend and sometimes my best mentor. I tease Tim a LOT and he still puts up with me. I am a brat a LOT and he still wants to sleep next to me at night. I'm so lucky that he is so willing to work hard and move up in his company to make life for me and our family better. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABE! I LOVE YOU! enough of that mushy stuff. Tim took the day off and we went on our Tour de Salt Lake. Tim found a awesome pass online somewhere and it got us into our choice of 13 different places. We could choose from places like Tracy Aviary, Thanksgiving Point Gardens and Museum of Ancient Life , Living Planet Aquarium, Hogle Zoo, This is the Place and a lot of other places. We chose to go to the first three I mentioned and it was SO MUCH FUN. Here's some pics

Little Seahorses smaller than a paperclip.. The little ones!
Sting rays... we got to pet them. so much fun always entertaining
Flamingoes at Tracy Aviary.
Andean Condor. Just a really big ugly bird.
Golden Eagles. So Pretty
Everyone needs to go visit these places and get a better understanding of our world around us. they aren't that expensive and everything you learn greatly outweighs the cost!

Schmidty Sunday May 2010

2010-05-21T13:00:00.003-06:00

Schmidty Sunday...Ha Ha Ha oh I'm hilarious! Anyways. Last Sunday was our once a month family dinner out at my parents house where we had a burger bar. Everything turned out good the food was great and family is always good in these little doses. Tim helped Sarah put up a volleyball net and we brought our croquet set so we had some lawn entertainment. Then we all went home happy and full.Enjoying the popsicles as usual.
Croquet anyone?
She's getting so big. She'll be 11 months in like 2 weeks! Boggles my mind!

So Big!

Tim's Fishing Trip

2010-05-21T12:52:00.004-06:00

Tim went fishing with his brother Mike out on a little spit of water called Rockport and came home with....

NOTHING!!! Tada! oh well such is the life of the fisherman. Here's some pictures of the lake Tim took.

The Big 23

2010-05-05T09:54:00.004-06:00

So I turned 23 on the 30th of April and Landon turned 1 I can't believe he's already one but I can totally feel the 23 on me. For my birthday, Tim let me buy some shirts from Target, well, he had to because I had already bought them when he learned about them. They're long sleeved but nice and thin so I can wear them for a while because it's so hot outside lately :) :). I also went out to dinner with my parents to my favorite steakhouse, Ruby River. It was so nice to go out and have dinner with my parents. I also got a few birthday cards with cash from my oh so nice in laws which I spent on my favorite birthday present. I bought flower pots and dirt and Dahlia bulbs and Freesia bulbs to plant on my little deck outside. The Dahlias I picked look like this: and the Freesia I picked look like this: so hopefully soon my deck will have beautiful , lovely smelling flowers all over it. I would like to eventually obscure the view I have from my patio with flowers, which may never happen if the weather doesn't cooperate but we'll see how Tim feels about it. :) My favorite birthday present I actually received a while ago , but didn't know about it until a few weeks ago. I'm happy to announce that I am 8 weeks pregnant so little baby should look like this: so then I'll have two wonderful children to take fun pictures of like this:

The Most Eventful Week of My Life

2010-05-01T12:45:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday Kynna came to stay with us while her parents were living it up on a cruise ship somewhere in the Caribbean. It was a lot of fun to have come and stay and really... ummmm adventurous. The first few days went by as smoothly as could be expected because after all she is 4 and really, the whole fourth year is all reminding them of the rules and answering the constant stream of incessant questions. Amidst the "... then you can let me do this, okay?" and the "Why?"s we did have a few adventures. On Tuesday Riley was playing on the floor and I was reading a book while Kynna was playing and watching TV. Kynna came to me dancing and grabbing herself, again she's four, telling me she needed to go potty. It went a little like this:

"I need to go potty."

"Okay hurry and go then, you don't want to have an accident."

She runs off and comes right back still dancing and grabbing herself.

"Um Mel I go in your bathroom okay?"

I'm reading... "Uh what?"

" I go in your bathroom okay?" "Okay?"

"Okay that's fine just don't touch anything sharp in there."

She runs down the hall.

I'm reading absorbed into my book.

"Mel!" (Shrieking) Kynna comes running into the living room, tears streaming down her face. "Dawaterkipskamop!!" She's crying so I can't really understand her.

"What? Calm down and tell me."

"Da water keeps comin' up!"

Oh crap.

I run to the bathroom to see water flowing over the edge of the toilet and rising about half an inch up the walls. Kynna is done crying now because it's now no longer scary but a huge splash session.

" Kynna, please don't come in here. I need to get this cleaned up." I'm frantically throwing down towels and lifting the float in the toilet to get the water to stop.

"Okay. I'm going to go brush my teeth now okay? Okay?"

"Okay okay, just go I don't want you to get all wet."

More towels and muttered swears.

Kynna comes back

"Here Mel I got some towels."

"Thanks, just put it on the floor." The smallest washcloth in the world falls to the floor immediately soaked.

"Look Mel I hold my pants up and they don't get wet!"

"Kynna I need you to get out of the bathroom."

After all the towels I own and a few rolls of paper towels, the bathroom was finally dry. Now I just had a whole bunch of towel laundry to do. Sigh. I walk down the hall to the other bathroom. Remember how she went to brush her teeth. Sigh. Yeah toothpaste, EVERYWHERE. I walk into the bathroom to find my counters covered in blue toothpaste, all over the sink, on the walls there was even some on the mirror. Sigh. She's four, she's four, she's four, she's four. I keep telling myself.

So that was Tuesday.

The rest of the week went by rather uneventfully, a few time outs, lots of fruit snacks and rough nights for Riley. On Friday, which was incidentally my birthday, we hung out until it was time to pick up Tim from work and then we took her out to her Aunt Lisa's who ended up with eight children for the weekend. I love my nieces and nephews, but I don't envy her at all.

April Madness 2010

2010-04-20T09:40:00.005-06:00

April has been a pretty busy month for my family, my extended family, and myself. While trying to balance work and home life, Tim got to a exhaustion point and took a few days off, Not one to hold still and relax, we spent most of his time off running errands and picking up various family members for various reasons. Trevon came and stayed the night to Penny's sheer delight, and also to her surprise, he was there in the morning. We also had Abi and Rory's birthday to contend with and last Saturday we went as our little family to Wheeler Farm for the day and had a picnic just to go to Abi's house later that night and have a bbq for her big first birthday. So instead of making several different posts and take up space, I'll just make one enormous post and hope that I get the pictures in the right order. And they're not... oh well. Abi's birthday, and her dad "helping" her blow out her candles.

This baby goat was three weeks old and had had her horns burned off only three days prior to our visit.
Riley watching the two month old calf.
If I am ever blessed enough to have some of my own land I want chickens and a rooster. This gold rooster is the kind I want. I also like the chickens that have feathers all the way down on their feet.
these are the Three Musketeers down at Grandma and Grandpa Harward's house. That's right we made Rowan's hair into a faux hawk and there's nothing Rory can do about it.
Riley. Always with the deer in the headlights.

IGNORE THE LAST POST

2010-04-15T12:44:00.003-06:00

I could delete it, but then no one would know what I'm talking about when I say IGNORE THE LAST POST. the link doesn't work but I'm going to keep trying to find one that does, even if it's the last thing I do... Not really, I just enjoy being dramatic.

I finally found it! :)

2010-03-29T13:46:00.003-06:00

http://www.pampers.co.uk/en_GB/video/babyseyes.jsp If you want a good laugh just click on this link and let the good times roll! I kept telling Dorthy about this, but never got around to finding it and posting it. But here it is. Thanks to Emily for sending it to me in the first place!:)

My New Place of Residence (the Pictures)

2010-03-24T12:26:00.004-06:00

So it's not really a "NEW" place to me any more, but I haven't had any internet lately so I'm finally getting pictures of my new house up.

I love this picture. I was snapping pictures and she just started laughing hysterically.
Don't mind the mess on the table. It's really usually not there.My little kitchen, which is bigger than a lot in apartments, so I'm pretty lucky. I would never cook dinner if I only had the "galley" style kitchen a lot of places had.
So there's the new place. There's also 2 bathrooms and a washer/dryer hookup in the hall but I figured those weren't very important.:)

So We Moved, but not to Eagle Mountain.

2010-03-01T17:37:00.003-07:00

Like the title says we did move but not out to Eagle Mountain. Once we got down to it, they started throwing on fees and taxes for EVERYTHING. It was ridiculous. So because we did want to move, we started to look at some apartments again. Sigh, it's not a house, but it's mine and I'm happy. :) I So we now reside in Murray, UT and only 5 minutes away from Tim's work which is really nice. We were supposed to move here and now because we've looked at this complex before, but they were super expensive and there was no way we could afford living here, just to be paying rent, but when we looked it up again a few weeks ago a 1000 sq ft apartment was something we could easily afford, it has washer dryer hookups and I could bring my dog! I told Tim we needed to go look at them that weekend and coincidentally we also signed that weekend and moved in the next. It was so whirlwind like it's hard to think that it was just by chance. I don't know it may seem goofy but I whole heartedly believe it. Penny is adjusting fine, although she growls at everything. Because of the set up of the doors, it sounds like everything that happens in our building entryway echoes and of course she thinks everything is right outside the door. Riley adjusted better than expected but she did get a fever because she's fighting a cold right now, but she does sleep the whole night which is basically a godsend. We finished unpacking most of the way last night all we have left is a tote full of towels and a bunch of office and crafting stuff I have to go through, but for right now I'm good with the way everything is. I'm so grateful for such a helpful and supporting family for helping us move on such short notice. Not only that but they came and helped put a lot of crap away that I would have broke down and cried if I had to do it myself. Nevertheless we're here Murray! Deal with it.:)

1st Annual Schmidt Family Iron Chef

2010-02-22T09:12:00.010-07:00

So a couple of posts ago I mentioned that my family was going to be doing an Iron Chef where we have our secret ingredient which was cheese and we had to come up with something amazing. Stephanie already her pictures from her awesome-a camera up on her blog so if you don't want a sour taste in your mouth after seeing both of our blogs, I suggest you look at mine first then hers so you come off with a better impression. Sorry about the words I'm a little retarded. Deal with it.

We all got plates of some of EVERYTHING and after much deliberation the Judges, Dad and Justin, decided the winners.

Team Steph/Kevin won an Honorable Mention for their Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato Puffroles (that's not what they are really called but that's what I'm calling them) and their Italian Cucumber Salad with Mozzarella Pearls (very tasty)

Team Mom/Charles also received an honorable mention for their Chorizo and Cheese Quesadilla, Mozzarella and Tomato Salad, and a very yummy Cream Cheese Flan. Tim and I won Most Original with a Turkish Cheese Borek and Pecan Tassis with Cream Cheese Crust but I don't have any pictures of that.

Team Sarah/Jordan with a Broccoli Cheese Souffle, and Fruit Sushi with Boysenberry Sauce won "Best Presentation"

Team Dorthy/Rory with Grilled Ham and Cheese with Apple and Ricotta Cheese Cannoli won Most Delicious