A Present from Me

The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year (hopefully sooner than later.)
4. You will have no clue what it is going to be.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me you did will win a marvelous homemade gift by me!

Let the games begin!!

Tuckered Out

We all had a really long day yesterday. The kids and I went to the Treehouse in the morning for Toddler Time.. Kathrynn actually screamed and ran up to the storytime guy like he was a rock star at the beginning of storytime - pretty hilarious - and quite suprising considering she still has a considerable amount of stranger anxiety. After Toddler Time we tromped around Ogden in the driving snow to accomplish some essential errands and went home to do some post-weekend clean up. Busy day.
Well, I was wiped out and laying on the couch by 7 p.m., hoping to just fall asleep. Kathrynn climbed up and snuggled with me, Steve was laying on the other couch and Joe was keeping himself busy doing this and that, doing everything in his power not to appear tired. Then he got really quiet. 8 p.m. rolled around and I got up to put Kathrynn down and walked in to the dining room to find this:


It's like he just gave up mid-walk and couldn't take anymore so he just passed out on the floor.


Steve carried him off to his room and got him in jammies and he didn't even stir.


I told Joe about it this morning and he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No, mommy, only animals sleep on the floor." :)

First Born Quiz

Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself!
Let's see how much you remember!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? thrilled and in awe

4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 26 when I found out.. 27 when he was born

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Pregnancy test. :) We were trying to get pregnant and I was sure I was, but Steve was away on a business trip for a few days and I promised him I wouldn't take the test until he got home, so I took it first thing in the morning the day after he was back. It actually was negative after the first three minutes then we looked at it again and it was a bright, shining positive.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Steve. He was there with me looking at the test.

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Absolutely

9. DUE DATE? 11/26/04

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? YES! It was triggered very easily, Steve would burp and I would throw up, the smell of people heating up food at work would make me sick and a lizard that the cat brought into the house sent me running for the bathroom. :)

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? It went in waves. At one point I could only eat potatoes. Then it was fruit, then hamburgers, then salads, then chocolate. The chocolate stuck throughout most of the pregnancy. I couldn't eat cherry jolly ranchers - they tasted like play dough.

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Nothing that I could remember, but I was HIGHLY emotional. :)

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? boy.

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No, I was thrilled to be having a boy!

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? Ugh. 55. Still fighting that off. See #11.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes, two. One from my friends, one from my family.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew - I was so busy at the time that they had to schedule with me.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Pregnancy was perfect. Delivery was another story.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, TX.

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 21 hours.

21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Steve and my wonderful doctor and the nurses.

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? C-section.

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? ABSOLUTELY! I originally planned on going with no medication at all, but am so grateful I didn't or the c-section would have been a bit complicated.

27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 7 lbs 8 oz

28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? 11/24/04.

30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Joseph (after Steve's best friend) Benjamin (Steve's middle name)

31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 4

More Pictures

It's not even 8 p.m. and I'm the only one awake in the house... it's been a long week.

Anyway, I missed a few cuties, so I wanted to add them now, since I have some well-earned quiet time. :)

Isn't this a hilarious picture? It's from way back at Halloween. Joe was at a Treehouse party and had been chowing down on a toffee lollipop and was zoned out on something..



Kathrynn at the piano. Whenever we go to Steve's parents' house, she goes straight for the piano. Music flows through these kids' veins. I love it!


These are some I took for a little project I'm working on..




I love my munchkins. :)

Our Budding Musician

I had to make this a separate post because I just love this video! Steve's mom has some ukuleles at her house and Joe will pick them up and strum and sing. I love it when he does that! I'm so grateful to have music in our home. :)

The Great Picture Dump

I've been meaning to post pictures FOREVER, but haven't been able to take the time to download everything on both of our cameras. We have two cameras now - a really nice one, and the one we got when we found out we were pregnant with Joe, so organizing the pictures is a little more complicated now. Anyway, here they are. Enjoy! :)



I'm in love with these aprons! My friend Sandra made them for me and the girls and I wear mine all of the time. Whenever I put it on, Kathrynn immediately reaches for hers and has to have hers on too. :)


Our Christmas Tree:


These are the stocking I made for the kids this year:





Santa came!


Steve and Kathrynn Christmas morning.


Gandalf hiding under some wrapping paper.


We went up to Logan on Christmas day and got snowed in for a few days - 18 inches of snow! Check out these icicles!


We got a new vacuum cleaner and Drew decided to make a train out of it. She named it the "Lightening Bolt Train," but when I looked at it I thought it said the "Shining Butt Train." We all got a really big laugh out of it. :)


The kids are becoming such good friends!


My little monkey.


I think there's a picture of me just like this when I was Kathrynn's age.. I think I was even wearing a similar sweater. I need to find that picture! I guess we had the same obsession with hats. :)


Joseph is very intelligent with conceptual activities - here he make a picture of "Mommy, Daddy, Joseph and Kathrynn."


I love it when Kathrynn reads to her bear - it's so sweet! :)


What a good sport!


This was my first attempt at a funky hairstyle on Kathrynn. I thought it was really cute and it actually stayed in the entire day. :)


This is Kathrynn saying "Cheese." You can see her spunk oozing out. :) Incidentally, this picture led to her raiding the fridge for cheese. :)

Recipe Review - Asian Grilled Chicken

I made Asian Grilled Chicken last night and it was TO DIE FOR!! I marinated mine overnight and broiled it in the broiler and it was so so so good and juicy!
I found the recipe at Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes - this is a great resource if you're counting points or just trying to watch what you eat. The recipe can be found here. I highly recommend it!

Note: If you choose to broil chicken, I STRONGLY suggest covering your broiler pan with nonstick foil and cutting slits in it so it can drain into the drip pan. It leaves virtually no mess to clean up and, let me tell you, cleaning a messy broiler pan is a pain in the rear!!!

Hey Baby

I just read this on my friend Emily's blog, and since I'm currently listening to my MP3 and Kathrynn's taking an extra-long nap (yea!), I decided to do it on here. :)

**RULES:
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Tag some friends
5. Everyone tagged has to do the same thing.
6. Have Fun!


1. If someone says 'are you OK?' you say? Angels - Jessica Simpson
2. How would you describe yourself? Beverly Hills - Weezer
3. What do you like in a guy/girl? Only One - Lifehouse
4. How do you feel today? Wreck of a Day - Anna Nalick - that's hilarious! It's actually been a pretty good day, except for the family cold. :)
5. What is your life's purpose? Take a Bow - Leona Lewis
6. What is your motto? Middle Man - Jack Johnson - that's pretty funny, too. :)
7. What do your friends think of you? The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Leona Lewis
8. What do your parents think of you? Starlight - Coldplay
9. What do you think about very often? Jessie's Girl.. oh, that's awful...
10. What is 2+2? Look After You (my MP3 doesn't list the group, can't remember this one)
11. What do you think of your best friend? Come Down to Me
12. What is your life story? Wind It Up - Gwen Stefani - I like that one. :)
13. What do you want to be when you grow up? 42 - Coldplay :)
14. What do you think when you see the person you like? Girlfriend -Avril Lavine.. now, that's an oximoron. :)
15. What will you dance to at your wedding? Cold Cold Heart - Nora Jones - hahaha :)
16. What will they play at your funeral? Turn Me On - Nora Jones
17. What is your hobby/interest? One Fine Day - Natalie Merchant
18. What is your biggest fear? In God's Country - U2
19. What is your biggest secret? Underneath it All - No Doubt - OK, this one had me rolling.. :)
20. What do you want right now? Put Your Records On - Natasha Beddingfield :)
21. What do you think of your friends? Simon - Lifehouse
22. What will you post this as? Hey Baby - No Doubt - totally misleading post title, sorry about that! :)

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to do this, go for it! :)

Jazz Game Date Night

Regrettably, no pictures.. :( And, after what we saw, we TOTALLY regretted not taking the camera with us (they're not permitted in the Energy Solutions Arena anyway, but it would have been worth a try!).

Steve got some AWESOME tickets to see the Jazz play tonight, so we went and were 10 rows from the floor - best seats ever at an NBA game! It was such a good game - really close the whole time and I don't think I've ever gotten so worked up at a game before. We had tons of fun! But, the highlight was definitely all that we were able to see that we normally wouldn't have been able to. We could see everything that was going on with the Cavaliers' time outs and got quite a view when LeBron James was standing there picking the heck out of his nose! Oh, to have had our camera. He would seriously pick, and then look at his fingers, and then pick again. Here's the superstar of the sport right in front of us, picking his nose! Insane!

Anyway, the game was great.. we lost. :( We had tons and tons of fun, though. And, we won a t-shirt, thanks to Steve's height. :) They were sent down from the ceiling of the arena with little parachutes and he was able to grap one.

We also went to Crown Burger before the game which was super yummy. I wasn't even able to finish my Jr. Burger.. good stuff! A little tip for those of you going to Jazz games out here - if you go to Crown Burger before the game and spend a minimum of $14, which is totally easy to do with 2 people, you get free parking in their lot. Pretty sweet and totally worth it.

So, that was our night. It was SO fun getting out just the two of us with no kids in tow. I'm so grateful to have found a good sitter whom the kids love! I've needed a night like this for so long!

Guess How Much I Spent on All of This

FIVE BUCKS! Can you believe it?! This is definitely my new record. The original price before sales and coupons was $110 and I spent $5. Awesome!

By the way, I DO plan on posting a real post soon. I've been super busy with sick kids, the holidays, Joe getting sick again, and just trying to get my life in order. But, I will post soon. :)