that's FUN?

I found Ryanna "playing" on the couch and since she was awfully quiet, I asked her what she was doing.  Since it was free time and her brothers were off making mischief in the other room, she told me that she was doing her math.  FOR FUN!  She was trying to find patterns, trying to make sense of multiplying and dividing by different numbers.  Oooooooookay.

She's SO not my kid.  Have you ever known ME to do math for fun?! It's just not the same without threats, bribes, low grades and constantly fighting with my dad who was always patient to help me. 

Huh.  Interesting how those memories stick with you and haunt you years later...

be careful what you ask for

One question inspired this picture:

"Ry, will you please bring down the laundry so I can wash it? Thank you!"

He picked up a couple armfulls and chucked down the stairs! I guess I got what I asked for...

"tympanostomy and tubes and adenoidectomy"

What a TROOPER! Dawson has had ear pain for months and months.  Everytime we go to the doctor (which is every other month) he's got a double ear infection and needs antibiotics.  The tubes that we put in two years ago fell out so we needed to put them back in. 

He also got his adnoids out, to help with the drainage.  His tonsills, thank goodness, were fine so they left them in.  Whew!

Freezing cold at 6:20am this morning:

Waiting.  We waited and waited.  He was enchanted by this GINORMOUS fire engine! The ladder stretched out to be taller than he was!

I introduce you to Mr. Cutie Bear.  Dawson named him all by himself.  He got to buy this stuffed bear to be his little buddy in surgery.  He loves Mr. Cutie Bear!

He loves blocks! He played with them for a very long time.

He got bored with the blocks so we moved onto playing Super Mario Bros. He forgot about being nervous.

55 minutes later.........................................................

They brought him out and he was able to snuggle with me.  The I.V. was sure painful, but after he got that out, he was much better.  He's still really out of it at this point.  I am exhausted, I went to bed at 1:30 am and got up at 5:30am.  My mind just wouldn't shut down!

Dawson still isn't all that awake, but he's munching on the popcicle.  All of the nurses swooned and doted on Dawson, since he's just too darn cute.  He got waited on hand-and-foot!!

This was our FABULOUS Nurse Brandi.  She was absolutely WONDERFUL!

Thanks to my Mom for going with me! You braved -2 degree weather at 6:15 am to be with me and to help me! Thank you so much!!! Love you!

flakeage, if you will

As Lorelai Gilmore puts it, "Everything's magical when it snows..."

First snow of the season...and I can TOTALLY handle it! The roads aren't covered in dirt, rocks, salt or ice. We only have like 1/2 inch of snow and it really isn't that cold. (the above picture is from LAST YEAR in Moscow--it's an excellent frame of reference).

Now compare THAT to Moscow! The wind was always blowing and it was so cold. The wind-chill factor would drop the temperature to the teens in no time and we had more snow than our kids were tall! Ahhhhh, it's good to be back in Boise! (but the drivers here are wimps! 10 mph on DRY ROADS? You gotta be KIDDING ME!!!)

See? This is LAST YEAR in Moscow, Idaho.  3 1/2 feet of the white stuff.  THREE AND A HALF FEET!

Ryanna looks like a teeny tiny little girl in LAST YEAR'S SNOW STORM. 

I can totally handle Boise's winters...bring it on.  You ain't as bad as Moscow.

que sera sera!

You know her voice the instant it comes on the radio.  That same warm glow is about her in every movie she's in.  She's one regonized and referenced gal in the music and film industries...and I love her to pieces!

Her birth name is Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff.  Her friends call her Eunice and Do-Do.  But I call her Doris Day.  I've been on a Doris Day movie kick and I absolutely adore her.

One of my most favorites...Pillow Talk.  That theme song gets into your head and NEVER gets back out!

1959

That Touch of Mink. Love it. She's a doubly-lucky lady to also play opposite Cary Grant...another favorite of mine!

1961

Oh what a hunk James Garner is! Hubba hubba!! AND he's a DOCTOR!

1963

This is another one she plays opposite James Garner! Lucky Lady!! This one is really cute too, I love it because it tugs at your heartstrings. 

1963

I love Rock Hudson and Doris Day together! I love Send Me No Flowers!

1964

THERE ARE MORE! MANY MANY MORE! I love all of her movies (except for Carrie--creeped me out) I couldn't list them all here.  I just named my top favorites. 

Did you know...

-She was born on April 3, 1922 in Ohio.

-She did NOT like swear words and doesn't allow her songs to be put into movies with swear words in it! (I love this about her, way to stick to your guns, Doris!)

-She's a bigtime Republican and told reporters that she voted for George Bush in the 2000 Election.

-She wanted to be a professional dancer, but a car accident left her in a wheelchair most of her teen years.  That's when she started to sing on the radio and had to learn how to walk again.

-She smoked 2 1/2 packs of cigarettes a day until 1951. 

-She lives in Carmel, California cureently.  And at 87, she runs the Doris Day Animal League which advocates homes and proper care of household pets.

She's amazing and beautiful and talented.  I adore her and I WISH that I could sing like her! Alas I cannot, so I will just go watch more of her movies!

gulp gulp gulp

They say that we should be drinking half our weight in ounces of water every day. 

I've actually been getting closer and closer to that! I actually down 8 oz of water every hour.  Then, I drink herb tea throughout the day.  (I love using my teapot that I bought when I was in CHINA last year!) If the water gets too boring, I shake things up a little by: adding lemon slices, adding cucumber slices, or adding Crystal Light.  My hair is more healthy, my skin is brighter and more elastic and I find that I'm staying fuller longer.  I don't snack or eat sweets.  I thought that drinking water was always so overrated, but I'm seeing the benefits of the stuff.  I'm quite addicted and don't drink so much pop.  I occasionally have one, but not like I used to! I learned that the carbonation used in pop can actually replace the oxygen in our red blood cells if we don't drink enough water and just drink pop.  It also slows down the calcium absorbed by our cells! I so love my Diet Coke...but it's bad for me!  (I know, they've been saying that for years, but I choose when to listen)

Click HERE for a website that has some other good benefits of drinking water if you're interested.

So, here's to our health!

why is that?

I buy the Pretty Pretty Princess game for Ryanna for $1.99 from Goodwill and my BOYS play with it more than she does! Dawson played with it for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday.  And it's a DAILY occurance!

Yikes.

But he doesn't play with it like a GIRL would.  The rings are bad guys, the bracelets are ropes, the pawns are battleships and the earrings are bullets.  What an imagination!

do you have a holdaway hangover??

Talk about a Holdaway Hangover! We have all played and worked so hard last week, there are literally HUGE BAGS under my eyes.  I have had more than one person ask me why I look so tired.  Well, when you play as hard as I do, you have to recover afterwards!

Thanksgiving Thursday started out normal enough.  We went to Chuck Arama for a Thanksgiving Feast! Along with tons of other VERY grumpy people! Goodness.  If you don't get there early, DON'T GO! It was fun though, we had a blast laughing and talking and eating.  Great way to start off the Holiday.

Jump Little Children!

After we were done with my family, we went over to Holdaways' and had more fun and food.  We played games, had a White Elephant exchange party, and two pinatas in honor of Garrison.  He's leaving in a couple weeks for Meridia, Mexico on his mission! Since he's the baby of the family, he had A LOT of support!

Friday was so much fun.  I had a quilt retreat with my sisters and Mom.  We spent the entire day sewing and I have two things to show for it.  TWO PILLOWCASES!!! Besides the face that my Mom has told me numerous times how to do it, she still sounds like she's speaking another language.  I just didn't get it! I got it finally and now I feel quite accomplished.  Thank you very much!

Saturday was a very special day.  We mostly spent it in the temple.  It was a wonderful day and afterwards we got to eat lots of food at Golden Corral.  After THAT, those involved with the special musical number for Sacrament Meeting on Sunday had to practice.  Steve (my awesome brother in law) arranged an organ duet with he and I on the organ and a three part harmony for the girls to sing.  Jayme, Tena and Sabrina (all sisters/in laws) sang and sounded ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

Sunday was intense. But we survived it and I made some very endearing memories.  The kids were heartbroken when their cousins left.  It was such a fun time with all the family, those moments are sure special.

Carter was so wigged out by all the chaos and fun, he didn't know what to do with himself half the time!

Ryan and Garrison at the temple.  They looked so handsome in their suits!

Look at the cousins! They're so cute.

Sorry the lighting is bad for these couple, but they were so cute! And it's RARE that I actually get smiles out of all the cousins at the exact same time!! Go ME!

My neice Morynn and I got to watch Pillow Talk and have a slumber party complete with painting our nails and eating junk food!

Hugs Hugs Hugs! Kaleigh loves her Uncle Garrison!

Gaylan and Sabrina

Whew! What a weekend it was, now I'm taking two Advil and going to bed!  Seriously, I feel very blessed to be apart of two such wonderful families as the Christensens and Holdaways.  We love you, we admire you, we cherish you!

to the troops

I thought this was pretty cool.  Xerox will actually PRINT and SEND each of these cards overseas to the troops. 

All you do is:
1) click on a picture of the card they will send one of the troops.
2) click on the pre-written text to be included on the card to be sent.

http://www.letssaythanks.com/

I thought this would brighten up someone's holiday season and it didn't take any effort at all.  I wanted to share it! It took me 45 seconds to do this and hopefully I'll brighten up someone's day overseas. I support our troops!

giant yumminess!

I LOVE my new giant cupcake pan! I bought it at JoAnn's last weekend and I absolutely LOVE it! It looks like a regular cupcake, only a ton BIGGER!

To give you a frame of reference, my lovely (and hungry) assistant was good enough to brush his little teeth and then model it for you.

It's as big as my Lawyerpants Husband's HEAD!

Just a couple TIPS if you run out and buy one:

The instructions that come with the pan don't say anything about having to use TWO cake mixes! I used chocolate for the base and white for the top.  The instructions say "if you use a boxed cake mix, you will need more than just one mix..." or something to that effect. 

I ended up spending 4 hours on this project, 6 eggs, 1 1/4 cup oil and a lot of nervousness to make sure it came out okay! It was fun though.  I love baking projects within my baking ability!!