Some old friends I'd forgotten about

I don't mean the human kind of friends. James and I were just talking about all the frogs we used to have. Grenouille (gren-oo-ee) is the French word for frog so the first two frogs we had we named Gren and Ouille. Then next two were called Gren and Two-ie (Rhymns with Ouille. Get it?) We thought we were so clever. Anyway, here's a couple of pictures.

This frog may or may not be dead....maybe just getting some food.

Yep, Gren would always hitch a ride on Ouille's back. Lazy sack.

A Great Day

The other day I realized that I was having a really good day. I reflected on what made it so good and thought I'd take some pictures and share. Most of these aren't in order of the actual event but that ain't no thang.

We got this little flower thing from a family friend and I finally decided to plant it. I feel "Earthy." The bulb will grow into something like the flower pictured on the box. Yeah, we'll see.

I ate the most delicious sandwich for lunch. It's simply Havarti Cheese and Smoked Honey turkey from Costco, with mayo. It feels good to eat something I really enjoy eating.

I made ice cream for enrichment. I used snow instead of ice and afterward, Edin had a really great time playing in the snow in the tub. Hm, free activity.

I got some dishes done!

Edin went down for a nap without complaining about it. And look at that cute face. I love Edin so much. I especially love that he likes to be tucked in and sung to.

After Edin's nap, he came out of his room with his blanket on his head, as if he's sneaking out (in plain site.) And he was happy again. Yay!

While Edin was napping, Lizzie played in the snow, too!

I did my hair for the third time since I've been pregnant. I mean, I do some kind of something to my hair but I haven't really blow dried it much. I really like how it turned out but hate the pictures I tried to take of it. The pictures never do the hair justice.

And last but not least, I got to go to Enrichment for dinner and a presentation about Mary, the mother of Jesus. I was asked to sing a couple of songs with some sisters in the ward and I really enjoyed it. I've missed singing. I didn't realize how much until I got to do it again. It feels good to create something beautiful for people to enjoy and to do something that I feel I'm good at.

Birthday Week

My birthday is on Friday and I'm so excited! I love me some birthday. The year I was turning 16 I counted down the days for the entire year! As I get older it's not Quite as exciting but I still get worked up. This year I could go Black Friday Shopping for my birthday. That would basically mean picking out my birthday presents all day. JoAnn's is having a sale on the Cricut for $75. I'm really tempted to ask for it for Christmas but I'm not sure how often I would actually use it. So far I've needed one like five times. The initial price seems great but then I'd have to buy cartridges and those sticky mats and I'd have to have all sorts of paper and I just don't know if I can justify a purchase like that.

Anyway, I got off track here. I went online and signed up for all the eclubs and birthday clubs I could so I could get coupons for my birthday! Saturday I went to Red Robin with my father-in-law and got free burger. Holla! I've also received:
Buffalo Wild Wings coupon for a free dozen wings, (even though it will expire by the time I get to AZ, sad,)
a free ice cream at Cold Stone and Maggie Moo's,
free blizzard at Dairy Queen (when you buy one, I can handle that,);
a free shake from Arby's if I a buy a sicko Roast Burger, not impressed;
Burger King sent me a coupon for a chicken sandwich if I buy a value meal.
Plus today I signed up at Mimi's and got a free breakfast coupon;
Noodles and Co offers a free dish when you purchase one;
and Tucanos. It's a coupon for a free meal there! (In fine print it says when you purchase a meal.) That's over $15 in savings! The coupon is good for the whole month of your birthday so sign up early.
I also just walked into Hollywood videos on my birthday, showed my ID, and got a free rental.

Admittedly on some I changed my birthday a bit because I can't get to all these places in one week! I hope they don't ask for my driver's license but they might. I'll live. Does anyone want to go out to eat somewhere with me?

I don't know how to get my husband on board for a "birthday week." You know, he does the dishes and changes diapers and vacuums and cleans the bathroom, all in preparation for my birthday. I've been in Arizona the past three years for my birthday so we haven't been able to celebrate on my birthday. But like I said, the shopping should make things fun.

Are you going out on Black Friday? Where are you headed?

Holiday Wish List: Sleigh of Gifts!

I was recently alerted about the amazing giveaway on todaysmama.com. The gifts are all amazing and I just can't pass up a chance! Here's my entry:


Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year? 8X8 glass baking dish with a lid, recipe holder, "measure all" measuring cups, 2 GB thumb drive, gift cards to my favorite places to treat myself like Jamba Juice, sub-zero, and Burger Supreme...Yum!
2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received? My mom finished the quilt I started in high school. It was a total surprise.
3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle? Knitting gloves/mittens
4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child? a bicycle, how cliche
5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year? Baby doll, car track, play kitchen
6. What is your favorite holiday food? Nut Balls!! Made by my aunt Amy (I learned to make them this year, so much work.)
7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays? Cards, picture frames
8. What is your favorite holiday movie? "The Holiday"
9. Favorite holiday song? Silent Night
10. Favorite holiday pastime?Sitting in the dark with just the Christmas tree lights on!

The Zoo

I wanted to take Edin to the zoo for this birthday. I had to hurry and go before he turned three and I had to pay for him. So we went the day before. I invited James' sisters. Becky came with Kate and Annie's daughter Taylor. We had a really fun day. The weather was perfect. Edin loved having Taylor there. They had a blast together. I'm having a hard time getting the captions to line up with the pictures so I'm going to stop trying. Here's a few tid-bits. There were some GIANT turtles. My kids were scared of the giant elephant we took our picture by. Edin and Taylor both got elephant cups you can by filled with soda. By the end of the day Lizzie was so burned out.

The zoo had so many baby animals; an elephant, giraffe, tiger cubs, zebra, some kind of monkey, and more! Enjoy the pictures. There's a lot.


This is what Edin was like when we got to the zoo. He didn't want to get out of the stroller. He just sat there.










The baby elephant was so dang cute. He started playing with this ball. It was rad. This is not her taking a poopy on the ball.

Panasonic memories

I've been so excited about our "new camera." We got it back in May but I'm still happy with it. What I'm sad about is losing all the videos I've taken. I thought they were just going in the folder with all the pictures but I guess not. They don't play after they've been moved to the computer. Sometimes they just show up as a still picture with really low quality.

I took a great video of the family singing Happy Birthday to Edin, including Edin. I've never been able to get him to sing with us. Well, now it's gone. It doesn't play. I just learned our camera came with a disk, a program to upload pictures. Maybe now my videos will be safe. I'm still mourning the loss of so many other cute captured memories.


**Update: I figured it out!! I'm using a different program, VLC media player, instead of Kodak Easyshare. And ALL my videos are still intact here on the computer, just waiting to be viewed. I am SO Happy. Thank you Matt Luken's for telling me about this program and thank you to my brother James for inspiring me to take a look around. There are so many dang videos I didn't even know I had and I LOVE watching my sweet little ones play and talk. They enjoy watching, too. Edin asks me to play them over and over. "I'd love to!"

The Beginning

I was just looking through some pictures on my computer. I found some of James and me when we first met and were engaged. (In our case, those about the same.) I thought I'd post some. We do look much younger. It's fun to take a stroll down memory lane.

This is our first picture together.

Nine days before we got married.

Here we are buying our first car together, two days before we got married.
Ice cream on our Honey Moon in Island Park.
We match!
Our first Halloween together

My first birthday married.

Our first Christmas together.

Announcing...

A new Baby Strait forth coming. "Exibit C" is due to the world April 7, 2009, but many of you know my record for early deliveries so we're planning for March. Currently I'm 14 weeks pregnant and just starting to show. I've had some ups and downs and definitely extra water works but I feel great now and I'm so looking forward to holding that sweet new person.

I should also tell you we are not going to find out the gender. We could know in as little as 6 weeks but we're going to be surprised.

What I'm not looking forward to is the blessing that will happen at 8am in our current BYU ward. Sorry about that. It can't be helped. But I'm sure this little one will be worth it.

He's some pictures of Edin and Lizzie when they were newborns:

Pumpkins of Halloween's Past

2005

Our first year married we carved pumpkins with Dan and Krystal. James' flaming sun and my "Da Cheet."

2006

James's moon and star

Edin was just born when I carved this one.

This is Edin when I carved that pumpkin for him.

2007

This pumpkin was in honor of Edin. It's a bum.

James's speared fish.

My moon and stars

2008
This is as close as we got to carving pumpkins I guess. Too much going on.

2009
Edin and I painted pumpkins together while James was in CA. We may carve or paint more later. These pumpkins are small. The perfect size for Edin.