chuck e. cheese

So today...I finally got out and did something. It is really weird because all of my friends have older kids that are all starting school. And mine aren't in school. So I am just around bored. While everyone is busy, busy, busy I am just here reading. I read 2 books yesterday. Oddly enough... both books had exactly 228 pages in them. Weird. It is pretty nice though to be just relaxing. My house even stayed clean yesterday, despite all of the reading. And, Oli and I worked on the letter A a. Anyways back to today. KaeLynn called me at 10:30 to see if I wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's. I figured it would be fun so we all jumped in the car (after I woke Rob up for the morning at 11...man that kid can sleep). It was fun. It is a great place. The give you one of those black light stamps and you have the same number as your kids and they won't let you out with any kids that don't have the same number as you. (does that make sense) So the kids run around and play...while I got to sit and talk with Kaelynn and a couple of her friends. It was fun.
Me and the boys...duh.

Eliza and Oli.

bored

I am seriously so bored. I should just go to bed but I hate going to bed...because I hate getting up. I know it doesn't make sense.

We went yesterday...(cali and I) with 6 kids and two husbands that had to leave work to get our kids passports. (we are all headed to Maztlan for Christmas...I think we will be there like 3 weeks...yeah so exciting) Anyways the passport website had the wrong hours posted on their website so they had been closed for 15 minutes when we got there. BUMMER big time. I said to the guy "your website says you are open until 4" then he replied..."yeah we have been trying to change that for some time". Arrghhhhh. Oh well what can you say. Cali and I loaded up the kids and the husbands went back to work.

Rob is still taking off his diaper. (not with poop thank goodness) I keep telling him "don't take off your diaper." to which he says "kay" He still does it. I guess he is back to wearing only onsies. Too bad it is hard to find them in such a big size.

Oh well that is all. I am bored and in turn...boring.

I miss Harry Potter. sigh...

so long it's been good to know yah...

So it is 2:37 a.m. and I am finished with the Harry Potter Series. I am not going to say too much as I know there are people out there that still haven't read the 7th book (hurry up already...I thought I took a long time). I bought the book at 12 am the day it came out but have just been too busy to start it. I read the 6th this last week and I was surprised that I had forgetten the whole thing. I am so jelous of people just starting the series for the first time. I had to wait, and wait and wait for every book to come out. I think that these books will forever remain my favorites. Wow. Now I will just wait for the Universal studios Hogwarts theme park to open in 2009, I think. Now I am off to bed. I will pay for this late reading tomorrow. But for now I will have sweet dreams that I am a witch...(i wish).
Picture of Hogwarts castle that is to be built at the resort.

Super fun day

I started off the day going at 7:30 to wake up our new MiaMaid...the whole class went and then we went to the other leader's house for breakfast. It was yummy and fun. It was a little hard for me to wake up so early, I am definatly not used to that. Right when I got home we got the kids dressed and headed up to Provo Canyon to meet Todd and Tiffany. They had invited us to go four wheeling with them. Ohh it was soo fun. We love them! Cortney and I get along with both so well. Anyways...each adult had their own four wheeler...I was pretty nervous. To be honest I am not a very good driver of those kinds of things. I went to silverwood once in highschool and they had to come and tow me back in on the bumper boat ride...because I couldn't figure out how to steer the boat. Really since then I have been happy enough to just ride with someone. But today with all of the kids I had to drive. If I do say so myself...I did awesome. I loved every minute of it. Of course we weren't going on crazy trails...not with 5 kids but we did go through water a couple of times. Oli was pretty scared. It was beautiful and soo much fun. How lucky are we to have such amazing mountains here??

A little disclaimer about the following pictures. Cortney sold his camera this week and is getting the Nikon d200, which is currently on back order. So we went from having a sweet professional camera to having a camera phone. I still wanted to post these...they aren't too bad.
Me and Oli. He really wanted to ride with Cort...he didn't trust me. About halfway through he started relaxing and then loved it.
Me and Oli in front...Rob is on the one behind us and Tiffany and her two oldest on the very farthest. Rob and Oli wore bike helmets...I figured it was safer than nothing.

When we got home from our excursion we were all COVERED in dirt. I put the kids in the bath and I swear Rob is trying to do as many poop surprises for me as he can. He pooped in the tub!!! I couldn't believe it. I have never had a kid do this before. Oli never even would pee in the tub. Ohhh that was a fun one to clean up. I am sorry if this is a little to graphic...but hey its my blog I'll do what I want to.



After everything calmed down and we were all clean we headed up to Draper for our friends annual Chili party. The hosts were Ben and Briar and there were tons of old friends there. We didn't know everyone but we still had a great time. The food was so good and so was the company. Our kids were pretty good too, so that was a plus.

my daily happenings...

Now I usually cook dinner. Almost everynight. Tonight though Cortney is on a Man Date with some friends so I decided I would make the kids microwaved burritos. Oliver said "this isn't that bad." to himself as he ate it. I really need to give my kids more microwaved food. I am afraid they are becoming spoiled. What are they going to do in college??? I on the other had always loved that kind of thing when I was a kid. Tonight though I looked at it and thought to myself..."I won't eat that". I also refuse to eat hamburger helper. When did I become a convienience food snob??? I think if someone else made it for me I would like it. But I always feel like in the 20 minutes it took me to make hamburger helper I could have made a million other yummy things. Cortney on the other hand loves the stuff.

Also I decided I need some more snacks for my kids to eat during they day. ( I was out) So I bought the big bag of peanut butter filled pretzles. Sounded like a great idea. Rob though smooshes them and just eats the peanut butter out of the middle. Ahhhh two days I have had them and two days I have vacuumed. I also have a strict no eating out of the kitchen rule...but the little kid doesn't seem to care. I just put him down for the night though...it is 6:16 p.m. He didn't take a nap today and was so happy to go to sleep. He was laughing as I covered him up.

Today Cali and I went to Costco to take the kids passport pictures. Six kids. We were thinking it was going to be stressful but it wasn't the kids did great. The pictures were adorable too. Then we went over to visit Justin for a while. The kids love going over to his house.

I always get so tired when I have to put the kids down alone. I don't know why I get so tired since my kids have no routine...the routine I give them is none. Well, we brush and pray. I like to keep it at a minimum so I am not held hostage with singing and bedtime stories before bed. Hahaa does that sound bad. I just know that if I have 6 kids...bed time routines like those are just TOOO much. (plus I am too lazy...hahaa). Oliver did accidently whip Rob in the face with a little cloth belt tonight...so that was tiring. Anyways....I am 28...no 27 minutes from having Oli down too. Yeah...I love the weekend.

Summer fun

School started this week (not for anyone in my family....although I really felt like we needed to go school shopping). Summer is nearly over. I am ready for the fall and winter time. I looooove the fall. I can't help but feel giddy when the nights turn cold and the leaves start to fall. It's like I can smell football in the air. I love BYU football. Ohhh can't wait. The fall is also the beggining of all of the great holidays. Plus...Cortney isn't working all of the time like he is in the summer. Already this week he started going in at 6 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. We did have a fun summer though. Here are some pictures of the boys playing in the back yard.

I love this picture of Oli running. He is so athletic.
He was really into running through the sprinkler...Cortney was home early and I think he was showing off for his dad. I have started to really be amazed at my grown up Oli. His little hands are exactly the same now as when he was a baby. Is that a weird thing to think?? I have been thinking it a lot lately. He is so grown up. He helps me so much. Every morning he says..."I can hear brother...can I go get him out of his bed?" When he goes in Robbie always screams "Brother!!!" and I get to hear them say all kinds of cute things over the monitor. It is hard for me to believe that Oli is closer in age to my MiaMaids than I am. Wow.
Cute.
I undressed Rob and made him stand in the sprinkler (mean mom...I know)...the next picture is his reaction to me making him stand in it...
it wasn't his thing.


I also stole some pictures from my cousin myca's blog...I didn't have any from the reunion and I loved these ones.
Egg toss...I love this picture...Oli standing with his little baby hands waiting for me to throw him the egg. Rob grabbed his own egg when we started the game and he kept throwing it to no one the entire game...his didn't break either until the end when he threw in on the cement.
Here is Oli after he won with his 2 dollar bill and his egg.

One last note before I go to bed. Today was one of those "I love being a mom" days. Rob was screaming in his bed a little while after I put him down. I went down there and his room smelled bad. I sighed looked at him and then realized he didn't have a diaper on. I screamed at the top of my lungs. Which startled him (imagine that) and he slowly started to cry and covered his face with his hands. He pooped and took his diaper off. I couldn't believe it. Lucky me. I knew I shouldn't put him to bed without shorts on...what was I expecting??? Man...of course he had piled every blanket into his crib too. So after a bath and A FULL load of laundry...I put him down again. This time with pants on. You know...even with "surprises" like the one I had waiting for me today...it sure beats working.

lihn or linh

Linh....I am so sorry. I don't think you read this but I keep spelling your name wrong. AHhh I am the worst. Cali and I were talking on the phone tonight and she was like..."um, you keep spelling Linh's name wrong.". Man that silent H gets me everytime. So here I am saying..."I am sorry". I will work on it. I know you won't read this now, but some day in the future when you have been my sister for a long time and maybe you look over the book I printed out of my blog you will see that I was sorry.

ML

I had such a great time in Moses...I always do. And everytime that I am there...I spend all of my time thinking about how lucky I was to grow up the way I did. Ohhh....I want that so bad for my kids. The church in Moses is the perfect size. Big enough to have a couple of guys to date but not so big that to be cool you have to be a rebel. I can't imagine raising my kids here where everyone is mormon. Of course Cortney and I aren't really the kind of people that sit down and make a plan for the future so even talking about what we want to do, or where we want to LIVE...is way too stressfull. We still have a couple of years to decide what we are doing. I don't want to have to move around while my kids are in school. I think that would suck for them. I also want my kids to have roots somewhere. Somewhere they call home. Where they know people and people know them. I love the feeling of knowing people when I go home. Does that make sense??

Anyways it was sooo fun seeing my cousins, and aunts and uncles. There were only a couple cousins that weren't there and it was really weird you could feel that they weren't there. Like a big hole. Three are on missions. And a couple of others working or too far away. I have a really fun family. And I LOVE all of the people they have married. Because my cousins are so awesome and they were always my best friends, and know me better than almost anyone...that is another reason I want to live around my brothers and sisters...so my kids love their cousins the way I do (come on family what do you say...we should all move back to Moses...no chance...I know). When I hear people say they barely know my cousins I can't believe it. When I was first growing up I thought everyone had it like us. But most people are not as close as we Earls are. Not to brag. Hahaaa.... Well anyways back to the reunion. It was just like old times. We had scones, sat around and talked and talked, there was boating, and swimming. And of course we had a family dance. We used to have them all of the time and we all love to dance. We would sometimes invite a couple of the boys we liked over but I think they would always feel a little weird that two boys were there to dance with 10 cousins. Hahaa. The dancing was so fun. We are definetly not as young as we used to be. We were tired after the first song. Ohh...I forgot the food. SOOOOO much good food. Wow. We can cook too.

The second day was volleyball and races at the stake park. We all wore matching shirts (loved it) and sat around and ate and talked. My boy Robbie was wanting me to hold him the whole time so I mostly just sat there. Oli did win his age group race and he was excited about that. Mostly because he got 2 two dollar bills. One for the race and he and I were some of the winners of the egg toss. Neither Oli or I caught the egg once. It just wouldn't break. I was throwing it as hard as I could but it wouldn't break so we stayed in untill the end. It was soo fun. I was so sad to leave.

After the day at the park we went home and got ready for Justin and Angeliques reception. I just want to say that I am so happy that Angelique is in our family. I love her. She is going to be a great sister and we are so happy to finally have another one. She is awesome. The reception was fun (long but fun). We had a lot of work to do Joey and Kyle and Lihn and Isaac scooped ice cream all night. Cortney was busy taking pictures and Cali was running around making sure everything was taken care of. Not to mention taking care of her own kids. Sam has twins so she is pretty much out of commision. And I mingled. I hate to admit it...I mostly just talked to people during the reception. I can't help it...I was born that way. I did help pick up afterwards though. Here are some pictures. My family. With new additions Lihn and Angelique. Yeah. All of the kids were so tired. It was a hard picture to take. Plus finding one where no one is blinking is a whole other challenge. When is the next time we are going to be dressed up and matching though??? WAHHHHH my parents are going on a mission. Feb. 4th to Bogata Columbia.
My little family. It is nearly impossible to get a good picture. Plus Cortney is the photographer so we never get any. AHhhh. Oh well. With us this is as good as it gets. Cortney is getting a brand new camera soon. YEAH. I can't wait. He just sold his Nikon D100 and is getting a D200.
Kyle and Joey scooping.
Cynthia and Shelly helped the whole night. Man they were working sooooooooo hard the whole time. Another reason I would like to move to a small town. I want friends that I will have for over 20 years that will love me so much that they will work so hard at my kids reception. That is true friendship. I LOVE THESE LADIES. Every time I see them I am overwhelmed with how much they mean to me.
Cali and Celly at the reception. I thought both looked fab. in this picture.

THat is all for tonight. Ohhhh...man I stayed up way too late. Hopefuly Rob will sleep in.


Oh also my sister in law Whitney had her baby on Monday. I am so excited and happy for her. CONGRATS!!!!!!!!

Funnest ever

So we just got back from Moses Lake. We had a GREAT time. It was exhausting...we were going all day and late into the night the whole time we were there. My dad's computer ate up my pictures at the reunion...so I will have to steal some from someone but here are some that we managed to keep.

All of my cousins's babies...(the ones under 1 years old) Scarlet, Owen, Kate, Grace, Elsie and Sebell (I so don't know how to spell that).
Here I am with Amber at my brother's reception
My sisters adorable kids. The are getting so big and looking more like babies.
We always want to stop at this scenic overlook by twin falls when we drive home. Unfortunatly Cali and I don't get a chance because we have too many kids. So today we stopped it was a nice break...I wish I wasn't so afraid of heights. The whole time I kept thinking Cortney was going to let Robbie fall over the edge.

I will write more later...sooo tired...and so many shows to catch up on.

i'm not crazy

I feel crazy...I am about to go to bed. I have been trying to get ready to go to Moses Lake again. We are leaving tomorrow afternoon...and will come back on Sunday. We will be there for 2 days. 13 hours of driving (each way!!) with kids for two days. Ohhhh....am I crazy?? We have a big Earl family reunion...with matching tee-shirts and all. I am so excited for that. Plus Justin and Angelique's reception. If it was just the reunion...or just the reception...I would have a hard time getting in the car tomorrow. But I can't miss both. Oh well. I do love the call of the open road. I love a road trip ( this is my mantra for tomorrow...I like this kinda stuff...right?). Plus Cortney will be along for the ride which always makes it better. (although...I don't know if he is as entertaining as Cali, my usual travel buddy) I also don't think that Cortney would be up for wearing matching outfits like Cali and I do. Humph...
I can't wait to see everyone though. It is going to be great. Wish us luck.

uh oh...

Oliver got sad today after playing with his buddy...the catipiller. He came in and sighed and sighed. Then he finally said to me real shy..."I want a pet. I need a pet". Poor kid. I am afraid it will be too easy for him to convince me...you should have seen his face. The thing is...I can't stand dog hair. Dogs also kinda freak me out. (don't even get me started with the night time barking...or the potty training) When we had our dog mini it wasn't too bad because she was a little one...and we didn't have kids yet. But a dog is such a huge commitment...I am not ready to buy something that will still be around when Oli goes on his mission. Ahhh...but aren't little boys supposed to have dogs?? ( I know my parents are screaming NOOOO as they read this) Plus it is such a pain to find a dog sitter when we go on vacation. I am talking myself out of it. I wish a cat could play fetch with Oli and follow him around the yard. A cat seems like way less of a commitment. Oh well Cortney and I are both allergic to cats anyways.

Funny

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!My friend Briar posted one of these on her blog. Cortney was obsessed with this he said I had to post something of the kids. It was really funny while I was making it. I have never seen Rob act the way he was. He couldn't believe that he could dance so good. He wouldn't take his eyes off of it.

another favorite

One of my favorite things to do is clean at night with my ipod on. I never get to listen to music. With kids it is nearly impossible. But music has always played a huge part in my life. I used to lay in the dark (sometimes with my girls...sometimes alone) and listen to music for hours. I would relate every song I listened to, to something going on in my life at the time. Well now that I have little ones sleeping...listening to music with the bass turned all the way up at night is out of the question. And Oli really is mostly partial to hip-hop music so sometimes during the day I can listen to some songs he likes but besides that mostly I don't listen during the day. So at night...when everyone is asleep (cortney too...he goes to bed at 9:00 right now so he can wake up at 4:15) I put on my earphones...turn up the volume and clean, clean, clean. I love it. It is one of my favorite times of the day. I actually am always excited put on my music...and clean...with noone pulling on my pant leg or crying for me to hold them. Oli always pretends to talk to me when I have my head phones on. He just moves his mouth. That is soooo a boice thing. Ohhh I am also adding a random picture...so it isn't just words. I know some people just like pictures. Cali and I a couple of years ago. Ahhhh she is gone so I have been SOOOOO bored. When will we be reunited???

and here is Oli when he was 1...doing his breakdancing.

family fish day

Cortney has been trying to get me to go fishing with him and the boys for the whole summer. At first I had the excuse that we didn't have life jackets for the boys. His boss got some life jackets though and I knew I wasn't going to be able to put it off for very long. My biggest worry really was Rob...I knew that it would take a lot of patience that my little one doesn't really have. I also worried a little...I don't fare very well in the sun. I get hives and since I don't sweat very much my face just turns really red and I get sick. Hahaaa. I am the biggest baby about heat. I really don't like it...at all. I am fine being outside if I am in the shade and laying reading with no real physical movements. Anyways...this morning was the day he finally talked me into it. It was the first weekend all summer that we were both here...where he wasn't working or taking pictures of someone. So we packed up...got me a breakfast burrito from Beto's. OHHHH first I must say if you haven't had one you are missing out. You have to try the bacon one. It was under 3 dollars and I couldn't even finish it with both of my boys helping me. OHHH it was so yummy. It was a great start to a great day. I will also say that since I grew up on a lake...I have never been very anxious to ride in a canoe. I think 9 times out of 10, when I was in a canoe in my youth it ended with Laura and I wet, and fully dressed.

Now I want to write a little about where we get to go fishing. Down at the golf course there is a little creek that winds its way through the wetlands to Utah Lake. Now since we have to put in on the golf course it is private to us. No one else can use it. It is so peaceful and beautiful. Pretty amazing. We saw huge craines, a beaver and other random birds. It was pretty amazing. You would never be able to guess that there was a town right where we were. It just seemed so remote. I feel really lucky that Cortney works where he does. It really is the perfect place for him. Cortney and his friends bought a big canoe and they put a little trolling motor on it. So no paddling. Which I loved. It probably goes 8 mph. It was really fun. It would have been the best ever if we didn't have Rob. He was trying to jump out the whole time. He is like me too his face just turns so red. He was so hot. We all had fishing poles and we all caught a fish. We only had to get Robbies pole from the bottom once too. Hahaa. I was really surprised he didn't drop it in more than that. I caught my first little fish. I almost caught a 2 foot cat fish I struggled with it for a long time. My arms were shaking so bad it was soo heavy. It bent the hook and got away though. I had it out of the water twice...to no avail.


Every fish we caught today were little white bass. We put them right back in the water of course. Not big enough to keep.
Oli caught one on one of his first casts. He was getting pretty good. I think we will try to go out sometime again with out Rob. It was just too hard for him. He did love it when we caught fish though. Anyways. That's it we had a great day. We are finally feeling a little better. I don't think the kids had left the house since Monday. Rob was so frantic to leave looking for his shoes everywhere. He was happy about that.

japaneese beatle

One of the most annoying things in my life right now....
Now I know this picture doesn't make the "japaneese beatle" look all that menacing but it is the bane of my existance. (I by the way don't know what those beatles are doing in this picture...just sitting really close to each other on a pretty flower??) Last summer one of these pesky bugs was found somewhere near my house. So because of that one bug...my neighborhood is in an "infestation area". The Japaneese beatle is really dangerouse for the agriculture here. This is one nasty bug...it eats everything in sight. Since my husband is basically a farmer of grass it could be devastating for him if the bug were to spread. So the city is doing a strict eradicating program. They are spraying like crazy and have beatle traps of some sort. But....What this means for me for the NEXT THREE YEARS is we can't...have a garden (at all) no one in our neighborhood can eat their peaches or apricots...we also can dispose of any green waste in our regular trash cans (major pain). We have to have it specially bagged and taken to a place down at the landfill. Three years is FOREVER. Every night I dream of having a garden. I LOOOVE veggies...I like them more than almost any food. It makes me crazy to think I could be putting squash into every meal I make. But no...that darn beatle. Next year I am convincing cortney to plant me a couple of things down at the golf course. It might take a lot of persuading but I think it would be worth it...all I dream of is a tomato sandwich everyday.

Ohhh....I will add that I have never seen any. I don't think they have found any but that one....last summer.

lucky me

So we went to take family pictures for a family in SLC on Monday night. I couldn't get a babysitter since it was FHE night around here, and Cali is still out of town. So we took the kids. No problem they are always pretty good. We got them a slurpee from 711 and they were going to be so good. The whole time poor Oli just kept saying he was so thirsty. I kept telling him we were almost done. As we were leaving and getting them buckled in the car Oliver threw up all over the place. Red slurpee all over. He was so sad. He never throws up and actually is disgusted by people that do. So for the last 2 days we have been boarded up here in the house going nowhere. Poor baby...he threw up two more times a lot both times. I now am not feeling too good and Cortney came home today sick. Ayeyeyeye I hate when people are sick...I hate being sick. Oh well there was some good news for me. I had a book come out that I had been waiting for for 8 months. I read half yesterday and half today. YEAH. I love to read. It was a real treat. Oli just sat on the couch by me and we were sick together. Rob is almost a non issue since he sleeps all day. (I am not kidding he woke up at 12 p.m. on Monday for the first time since 8 o'clock the night before) So we were sick....bad....I got to spend two days reading...with a clean house (since Oli was couch-ridden)...good. I think it's a draw.

rondom pics

Cortney went to Rexburg while I was gone to go fishing with his brothers. I was looking through the pictures tonight and I HAD TO POST THESE. Ohhhh I love them. It looks like Cortney is posing for his senior pictures. I know he was fooling around he is soo funny. to me.
What more can I say I love it.
He is so cute.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE. It is of my nephew Carson fishing so cool.
Last but not least my two sisters at the wedding. Love them.

The flight home went really well. My brother was waiting for us when we arrived an both kids were asleep in his car by the time we hit the freeway. Cortney was golfing in a tournament so he wasn't home when we got home. It was great to be back. I got all spiffed up, put on my tightest pants and my highest heels and dropped the kids off at my sister-law's (thanks KaeLynn!). Then Cortney and I went to a dinner at the Country Club for the golf tournament. The food was sooo yummy, plus it was buffet style so I ate TONS, and to top it all off it was free! I don't think for me it gets any better than that. We had a great time. It was great to see each other again. Joey and his cousing were there with us too so we had a grand ole time. It was the perfect night. Usually when I get home from a trip I am too tired to do anything. I was tired, but to have a babysitter and see Cortney without kids...Yeah.

tagged...

Jobs I've had...
(it feels as if it has been forever since I have worked)
1. Pizza Hut Waitress..with Laura Lei...we had a great time until we got banned from working together for being a little wild when there were no customers in the restaurant.
2. Receptionist at Dr. Earl's Office...I think every Earl girl has done it.
3. Dealer Services for Ultimate Direction/Sierra Designs. Very fun job because the company that owned us also owned Slumberjack, Kelty and a couple of others. I got sweet camping and outdoors stuff for cost. I also got to make "friends" with people that worked at other sweet outdoor companies and got stuff for super cheap from them too.
4. Customer Service at Quick Ship n' Copy. You read that right. I made copies and shipped packages for a couple of years. (hey it is hard to find a good job in Rexburg) I did however get to work with awesome people and we always had a really FUN time.
5. Mom...definatly the best so far. ( I love being my own boss thats for sure)

Places for weekend getaway...(I don't get away for a weekend very often anymore I am sad to say...with kids there is too much preparation that goes into a trip so it has to be longer than a weekend)
1. Rexburg for sure...love to see the Boice's and it is pretty close to here.
2. Camping
3. Ohhh I have been meaning to go see Sam in Vegas...soon.

Movies I can watch over and over again. ( I hardly ever watch things over again)
1. Highschool Musical (hahaaa guilty pleasure and my kids love it) Also...Everytime I watch it I can help but think...this looks like something my cousins and I could have written...and starred in.
2. Empire Records
3. Fools Rush In
4. Moulin Rouge

Guilty Pleasures
Sleeping in, Staying up late, Reading a good teenager book, for sure almost all of the shows I watch, CARBOHYDRATES.

Places I've lived
1. Moses Lake Washington
2. Peru
3. Rexburg, Idaho
4. Bend, Oregon
5. Provo and Orem Utah

What I first thought when I saw Cortney...
That is an interesting question...I don't know...I thought he looked like a skater boy, he had earings in and a crazy facial hair of some sort. I met him walking into Craigos in Rexburg. He said something to me about my shirt and I just smiled and nodded and walked in. I was pretty intimidated because he was with a whole group of boys that were standing around the door. I actually wanted to leave 5 mintues after I got their because I wasn't feeling well but couldn't leave because they were crowding the door and I didn't want to have to talk to them on the way out. I finally did. And he grabbed me a pulled me into him (it was loud there was a band playing) and said in my ear "who are you??". He was afraid he wouldn't see me again. hahahaa. That was a long time ago. I will say that after my first real date with him I thought...he was one of the nicest people I had ever met.

Places I've been on vacation...
1. Mazatlan Mexico
2. All over the U.S. My dad loves to take us on Church History trips.
3. Cancun

Favorite foods...
where to start???
1. Bread
2. Cheese
3. Anything that I didn't have to make.
4. Seafood of any kind
I really don't know...I love ALL food. There are really only a couple of things I don't like I will list those...Bannanas...cooked mushrooms...and Jello fruit Salads.

If I am in a Jam with Cort tactics I use to get out of the dog house.
I will have to say the same as Sam...A little shimmie always does the trick. He never gets mad at me though.
He knows if I am mad at him a little food goes a long way. Usually if I am grumpy I am hungry.

Websites I visit daily...
A million blogs.

First kiss location
My first first kiss was at the end of Easy Street in a car 3 minutes before curfew. Hahaaa
With Cortney my first kiss was in Jaxon Landon's garage. Just a peck...like we had been dating forever. I remember thinking it was funny.

Places I'd rather be right now.
1. Just about anywhere without my kids and with Cort...Or maybe my girlfriends or sisters.
2. I love being in Maz...laying out (fully under an umbrella) sipping limonadas with some nachos.
3. I would say my parents yard but I just got back from there.

People I tag...
No one. Sorry.

mouse in the house

First I have to start off with...My mom and dad's house is beautiful. It is super clean and I grew up in a house that was CLEAN all of the time. There was nothing ever out or dirty. Secondly I have to say when you live out in the country there are mice. Tonight Cali and I had a run in with one.

We put our kids down super early and headed down to the movie theater. We were going to watch the Bourne Ultimatum, but it was sold out so instead we watched Hot Rod. Once that was over we went (we paid of course) to see the Bourne Ultimatum's late showing. Ohhhh I love going to the movies. It is so much fun. Once we were home (pretty late 12:30) I was going to the bathroom and a little mousy ran across the floor. I HATE MICE. I am not scared of spiders or snakes. But mice freak me out. So Cali and I immediately went into action. We got it trapped in a closet loaded with a mouse trap. Sure enough after like 5 minutes I heard the mouse trap flip and I ran in there it was dead as a door nail. I felt so bad killing it like that. But what can you do?? It had to go.

Here Cali and I are ready to get rid of the thing. It was freaky. Cali had already gone to bed so she came up in a blanket. We both kept spooking each other. Oh well at least it is dead now. I can't help but think about Fival from American Tale. I always think maybe this mouse is just trying to get to his family. hahaa

Ohhh I also wanted to say that...too bad, so sad I am going home tommorrow. The good part is that I am FLYING. YEAH!! My sister found out her husband has to go to London for work next wednesday so she is going with him and leaving her kids here. Then she will fly back and stay until the Earl Family Reunion on the 16th. I didn't want to be away from Cort that long so I am heading home in the morning. It will be so different flying than driving. 2 hours instead of 13! Cortney is in a huge golf tournament so my brother Justin is picking me up. Thanks brother. I will say that after two weeks of being here I watched 5 movies in the theater. YEah. I didn't however ever see the Hardy's (we tried to go over and no one was home...they came over and we were gone...that kind of thing) I also didn't see my bestest friends Sean and Amber. Everyone in the Merrell family was up for a reunion and then they were all sick as a dog. Sad. I will however be back in two weeks. So I can do some visiting then. I hope.

bee stings and summer days

We have been having a great time here in Moses Lake. I love this place. I had a great time growing up. It is funny being here and thinking off all of the things we used to do. Driving past certain roads...thinking remember when? Going to Safeway and thinking of Laura and I dancing on top of the Lemon Car with the stereo blasting. Or the time when Amber and Derek and I were joking around and I acted like I was going to leave them in the Safeway parking lot. They thought I was serious and I found them walking up the big hill. Hahaa. Even just driving home from places...I used to always drive the same way...past the highschool and seminary building to see who was there...then either through the church parking lot (depending on the night) or past Tolley's house to see if Daniel was home (that makes me sound like a stalker but I wasn't...well not to him hahaa). It was a great experience for me to grow up here. I know I keep saying that but. I really want my kids to be able to feel what I did. There is something about small town living.

One draw back of small town living is last night Cali and I went to go rent the Bourne Supremacey so we could watch it before the third one came out. We went to Heartland Video, Safeway Video and Blockbuster. All of them had both copies checked out. That would never happen where we live. If they were all checked out the store would at least have more than 2 copies.
Rob loves my dad. I had been trying to get a picture of Rob watching TV but my dad came in the door and sat down and instead Rob went running to him.
Jack got stung by a bee today. Poor kid has been stung more than any other kid I know. It was so sad. It is still so huge and he can't even talk.
The bee sting didn't hold him back from doing sweet tricks on the trampoline though. Our kids play outside all day here. I don't have to worry about them getting run over or kidnapped. There is another plus for small town living. I could never let my kids play outside at home by themselves.

My parents yard is so COZY. Cali and I lay outside and read all day long. The trees have grown so much since I lived at home. Okay I also wanted to talk about my devastating news of Nick being evicted out of the Big Brother house. I loved him. Cali and I feel like we don't even want to watch anymore. I have been thinking a lot about my Celebrity top 5 guys (weird thing to think about?? I know. My cousin angie put her top 5 on her blog and it made me think...who are my top 5? I am still narrowing it down...I will let you know when I am set in my 5) I think Nick would have to be on there. Although...since he is no longer on the show I guess he really isn't a celebrity anymore. But he is pretty hot. Nothing of course compared to Cortney (can't wait to see you on Saturday c.). With Nick being voted out...I feel so sad. I know it doesn't matter it is just a show. But it sure made watching the show easy on the eyes.

awkward

My parents always go to the movies...they get to go for free here because my dad does the legal work for the theater. Anyways he always takes us to a million movies while we are here. I love it. Grandma Jones stays home and watches the sleeping babies and I get a night out footloose and fancy free. So far we have watched Hairspray, No Reservations and tonight we watched Chuck and Larry. AWKWARD....Now don't get me wrong it was a funny movie (i laughed the whole time) but it isn't one you want to watch with your parents right next to you. I felt as if I watching a horror movie. The funniest part was that Joey said that it wasn't very bad...no problem to watch with the parents. Afterwards he said "well it wasn't like there were any naked bums or anything" (which there were a million for like 5 minutes)....he just forgot. hahaaa. It was fun though and I love going to the movies. Especially since we hardly ever go at home...I always think it is a waste of babysitter...I would rather eat or do something else we can't do at home.