Crazy week...

Okay, this is what I have been up to lately. I have had every intention of posting on my blog and sharing great insights on my life, but however, this has been put on hold! Here's what's been happening:
1) Below freezing temperatures make life interesting taking Ryanna to school; making our van doors FREEZE together and not able to open.
2) Dawson has had the "Poops-n-Pukes" virus; forcing me to do three times the amount of laundry over the last week.
3) Slipped on some ice picking up Ryanna from school, hurting my back and spending a wild night in the Emergency Room. (Thanks for the fun and ride, Nicky!)

There's the highlights of my week, after things calm down, I'll post more fun stuff! And more fun pictures....so check back soon!

Tag! I'm IT!

Thanks Becca, for tagging me! I love it when that happens. It's taking me a couple days to think of my answers and here it goes!

Here are SEVEN random facts about me:

1) One of my life's dreams is to attend an ERASURE concert! My favorite group in the whole wide world!

2) I HATE socks. I wear flip flops year 'round except for in the snow and even when I wear snowboots, I have to be reminded to wear socks. Unless the sockies are super soft and in fun colors, I won't wear them!

3) I slept on the track at Ricks College when I was going to school there! My roommates and I only lived a block down from the track and one night we decided how fun it would be. We threw a mattress from the third floor of our apartment complex, hauled it over the fence to the track, and went to sleep. I'm sure we were quite a sight to the early-morning joggers! (It was summertime and wasn't chilly at night)

4) I experienced the "Disappearing Twin Syndrome" last year when I was pregnant with Carter. One had attached itself to the other; endangering the pregnancy. Through miracles and lots of prayers, ONE beautiful boy was added to our family! (which is completely fine by me...imagine me with twins?!)

5) I was 6 or 7 and I got the legendary "crown" in the original Nintento Super Mario Brothers. It means I got infinite lives, until you pushed the power button. I have NEVER been able to do that since.

6) I competed in and was awarded the title of "Miss Congeniality" in the Miss Meridian Scholarship program in 1998.

7) I can't make Pineapple Upsidedown Cake; however, it makes a nice soup. (I was 10 years old)

Four people I tag: Mom, Aimee, Ashley and Katrina.

The Bride and Groom

The new Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd! Welcome to the club, sis! So happy and proud of you for finding your Prince Charming and making good choices. What a stunning couple you two make, good luck at school and with the wonderful start to your life together! (pictures taken December 22nd, 2007)

December in Boise

I spent the ENTIRE month of December in Boise! Here's what I did:
1) Tended my friend's awesome kids for the first week so she could go visit Daytona.
2) Played games and spent time with my in-law's playing Guitar Hero III. (I need more practice before I give up my day job!)
3) Spent a couple weeks with my parents that flew into Boise from Shanghai.
4) My sister, Ashley, married Donny three days before Christmas. (I helped a little with the wedding stuff...)
5) Spent way too much money at Kohl's and Costa Vida with my mom and sisters.
6) Spent a couple weeks with my other sister, Aimee, who moved down to Vegas to teach school.
7) Bought Old Navy kid's socks for 37 cents a pair (major clearance!)
8) Finally read the TWILIGHT SERIES by Stephenie Meyer---Hayley, can you believe it?! I LOVED THEM!

I spent so much time there, but I still didn't do all that I wanted to get done! I had more people to see and visit. I didn't have a car or a phone most of the time I was there, so it was hard to move around. It's a good thing that we had our Chinese Santa this year and that he was able to find us in Boise!

Christmas synonyms

See if you can figure out what each of these phrases are! Each one is a common Christmas saying or song.

1) Move hitherward the entire assembly of those whoare loyal in their belief.

2) Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds!

3) Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness.

4) An emotion excited by the acquisition of the expectation of good given to the terrestrial spere.

5) Embellish the interior passageways.

6) Exalted heavenly beings to whom harkened.

7) Twelve O'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

8) The Christmas preceding all others.

9) Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem.

10) Diminutive masculine master of skin covered percussive cylinders.

11) Omnipotent Supreme Being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

12) Tranquility upon the terrestrial sphere.

13) Obese personificiation fabricated of compressed mounts of minute hydro-crystals.

14) Expectation of arrival to populated area by mythical, masculine, perennial gift-giver.

15) Natal celebration devoid of color.

16) In awe of the nocturnal time span characterized by religosity.

17) Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature's dormancy.

18) The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of far eastern heads of state.

19) Tintinnabulation of undulating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant caps.

20) In a distant location the location the existance of an improvised unit of newborn children's slumbering furniture.

21) Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation.

22) Jovial yuletide desired by us for the second person singular or plural.

Round Three

Here's more for your guessing pleasure:

1) How did fifty-grand change its underwear?!
2) The pellet with the poison's in the vessel from the Pessel, the challis from the Palace has the brew that is true!
3) You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting.
4) You know, I have a theory that hieroglyphics are just an ancient comic strip about a character named Sphinxy.
5) I say... that what you say... is what I say.
6) Oh look, medical waste in a glass. No umbrella?
7) Dad, I met a man in Rome, and he's wonderful and brilliant, and we're getting marrrrried!
8) Take her to sea, Mr. Murdoch. Let's stretch her legs.
9) There are a dozen good brood mares in that mob. I'll be back for them... and for whatever else is mine.
10) Dear Dad, you told me an honest man has nothing to fear, so I'm trying hard not to be afraid.

Date Night Ideas

We officially get one or two date nights each month, and I need some good ideas. Some that are fun, creative, low-key, inexpensive and realistic. What have my blogging friends done? What do you all do now with kids and families? The baby tags along, so some ideas we come up with we can't do.

Not to knock my town, but there's no dollar movie, no good thrift shop, no cheap and yet good food. Everything closes at night, even Walmart closes at 10 on the weekends! (maybe it's 9pm--not sure exactly)

My anniversary is coming up in a little while and I want to make it fun and romantic.

Let the ideas begin!

Round Two

Okay contestants, start up your movie lines again....

1) Oh really! And do you in fact have an Associates Degree from Verm Tech?!
2) Curse you, Aqua Scum!
3) Do you have a name along with those rippling pectorals?
4) I eat losers for breakfast.
5) Teenagers...give them an inch, they swim all over you.
6) Hold your horses, everyone! And horses, hold your breath.
7) I'd give her a HA! And a HI-YA! And I'd kick her, sir.
8) Ohhhh, years of Academy Training WASTED!
9) Hey, waiter, I'm in my soup.
10) Now, father, you're living in the past. This is the 14th Century!

My favorite game

I can play this "game" for hours and hours at a time! Since it's a favorite in our family, I thought it would be fun to extend it to all that wants to 'play' it. Here's a list of movie lines, take a few guesses and figure it out. The person with the most correct answers wins! Good luck.

1- We're just ropes on a Goodyear Blimp....

2- Theresa really IS your daughter; ha ha, I'm gettin' good at this!

3- I have nipples, Greg, can you milk me?

4- If I woke up tomorrow morning with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I am right now.

5- Eat my bloomers, Blue Boy! (line that follows: "Oh that's real nice coming from a lady of your advanced years.")

6- I don't know if it's Christmas or Cleveland.

7- We call the Monkey 'Jack'.

8- Basically, I'm on my way to Australia.

9- I must love you, I only made it to Eureka Creek.

10- Look at this! I've gone and caught a sniffle!

(I dedicate this post to Becky! Hope that you heal nicely, that your five kids help you out plenty and your out-of-town husband gets back soon to help take care of you! As for the foot surgery part, you're in my thoughts and prayers, get well soon!!)

Wish List (part one)

All I want for Christmas is.....

1) Erasure stuff. Since I LOVE LOVE LOVE Erasure, and I collect teapots/saucers, this darling little set would make a wonderful addition to my collection! I would also love their album "Light at the End of the World." (Oh come on, the entire set is only 120 Euros, before shipping!)

2) Double Jogger Stroller.

3) A Santoku Knife.

4) The entire collection of Junie B. Jones books. They're so cute, I am a fan! It's fun because Ryanna reads them and we have special time together. (anyone getting rid of theirs?)

5) A new Coach purse or a new Kate Spade purse. (Mine have been loved to the very last thread, literally.)

6) DVD's--oh I LOVE movies! (except for the scary ones, I'm a weenie)

7) ANYTHING from Bath and Body Works.

8) World Peace.

A Disney Channel Christmas, I think?

For nostalgic reasons, I want to find a Christmas video but I don't know the name of it! Here's what I remember from when I watched it as a kid. I think then it was called, "A Disney Channel Christmas." (1980's flick) But I can't find it anywhere.

Here's what I remember:

-Disney

-Jiminy Cricket comes out and sings "From all of us to all of you, it's good to have you with us...a very merry Christmas. Ding Dong Jingle..something something something....a very merry Christmas" or something like that. He also ends the movie with that same song. Mickey Mouse is playing the piano and Pluto is in the song too.

-There are little clips from other movies in there, the Chipmunks are stuck inside of Mickey's Christmas tree; there's also a black and white movie clip; there's also dancing fairy things that are dancing to The Nutcracker music.

-There's a clip on there that's called Mickey's Good Deed, I think.

I can remember the music but I don't know for the life of me what the movie is! I remember watching it when I was just little, late 80's to early 90's.

I was thinking it's Jiminy Cricket's Christmas, but then I noticed that THAT came out in 1997. Is that just a re-release date? Does anyone own it that can tell me if it's the same one?

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet

Carter's Stats

- 4 Months old
- 16 1/2 pounds
- rolls from his tummy to his back
- eats pears and squash
- can stand with a little help
- walks backwards in his walker
- holds his own bottle with both hands
- happy all day long!

My cute Cowpokes

Since we're HUGE fans of Toy Story 1 and 2, the kids wanted to dress up from characters from the movies. Jessie The Cowgirl and Woody the Cowboy. (Thanks to Brenda for passing on the costumes for Dawson, we also have Buzz Lightyear! He dresses in that a few times a week at least!)

We went Trick-or-Treating down Main Street during the afternoon and had lots of fun. Most of the little shops and boutiques had big bowls of candy for the cute little ones that dressed up. My cowpokes proudly showed off their costumes. Just before going out, Dawson looked Ryanna up and down and walked around her to admire her outfit. He then walked up to me and when a very confused look on his face asked, "But where's her PULL STRING?!" (Their Jessie and Woody dolls have strings and say phrases from the movies when pulled.) Cute little cowboy. When we were going around, Dawson actually said, "I'm Woody! Howdy, howdy, howdy!" Instead of the usual, "Trick or Treat!"

These are the BEFORE pictures....




(What's with these blank looks?!)


(He wanted "freckle-spots" on his cheek, thus my eyeliner was used.)


These are the AFTER pictures....





(I was so busy with the two cowpokes that I totally forgot to get a picture of the cutest glow-in-the-dark Skeleton baby in the world! I will take those pictures and get them posted as soon as I can!)

A Different Angle

When we carved pumpkins last week, we ended up with these cool shots! Ryan carved them while the kids played in the icky pumpkin guts, making huge messes and having loads of fun. These are the shots that I got when we lit 'em up and turned out the lights! Cool huh?

First Crush (ON Ryanna!)

Do you remember your first crush? Ryanna is starting to know what one feels like, Kyle has one on her! It's so cute, he is always giving her hugs and writing her letters. She just LOVES the constant attention. Last week, he bought and gave her a candy-necklace making kit. She made a necklace, wore it for a week, lost it and then realized that Dawson ate it.

When I met them last week, we talked for a few minutes. The cutest part about my conversation with Kyle was when he said, "I want to take Ryanna to Jack in the Box and eat French Fries!" What a sweet and thoughtful kid he is! (Although Ryanna's first date will not be for another 11-25 years if I can help it.)

Random Memories

There are so many great photos on our computer and they're just so random that I thought that I'd have a random snapshots post. Never before seen footage of the kids in action. (well, mostly never before seen!)

Our picnic in Creston, proof that we left the United States! Canada is so beautiful and only about 6 hours away. We found that out the LONG way...
Stopping on the famous Coeur d'Alene Boardwalk for a quick photo.



cute Carter in true football fan colors....

Dawson just pinched Carter's nose!

A Budding Photographer

The other morning, Ryanna got up before everyone else and we found out how she spent her time! She got ahold of the camera and took some self-portraits. What a silly girl! She took these all by herself and she sure is proud!