Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! This is a great rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas. For those of you who are like me and think that The Twelve Days of Christmas is quite probably the most annoying Christmas song ever, I think you will love this version.

Christmas stockings

I finished cross-stitching our initials on our stockings last Monday, but I keep forgetting to post pictures. So here are the completed stockings.

Answers to Christmas Carol Quiz

If you haven't taken the Christmas Carol Quiz that I posted then STOP READING and scroll down to the quiz.

If you have taken the quiz, here are the answers:

1. Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
2. Silent night
3. Oh little town of Bethlehem
4. Good king Wenceslas
5. Joy to the world
6. Hark the herald angels sing
7. We three kings
8. Away in a manger
9. Angels we have heard on high
10. Oh come all ye faithful
11. Oh holy night
12. I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
13. The twelve days of Christmas
14. It came upon a midnight clear
15. Frosty the snowman
16. All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth
17. I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus
18. Walking in a winter wonderland
19. Deck the halls
20. Silver bells

I'm Elmo, who are you?

I got this email from my sister-in-law and thought it was funny. I didn't feel like forwarding it to people so I put it on my blog instead. Please leave a comment with what cartoon character you are!

Everyone has a personality of a cartoon character. Have you ever asked yourself what cartoon character do you most resemble ?

A group of investigators got together and analyzed the personalities of well known and modern cartoon characters. The information that was gathered was made into this test

Answer all the questions (only 10)with what describes you best, add up your points (which are next to the answer that you choose) and look for your results.

Do not cheat by looking at the end before you are done.

1. Which one of the following describes the perfect date?
a) Candlelight dinner (4 pts.)
b) Fun/Theme Park (2 pts.)
c) Painting in the park (5 pts)
d) Rock concert (1 pt.)
e) Going to the movies (3 pts.)
2. What is your favorite type of music?
a) Rock and Roll (2 pts.)
b) Alternative (1 pt.)
c) Soft Rock (4 pts.)
d) Country (5 pts.)
e) Pop (3 pts.)
3. What type of movies do you prefer?
a) Comedy (2 pts.)
b) Horror (1 pt.)
c) Musical (3 pts.)
d) Romance (4 pts.)
e) Documentary (5 pts.)
4. Which one of these occupations would you choose if you only could choose one of these?
a) Waiter (4 pts.)
b) Professional Sports Player (5 pts.)
c) Teacher (3 pts.)
d) Police (2 pts.)
e) Cashier (1 pt)
5. What do you do with your spare time?
a) Exercise (5 pts.)
b) Read (4 pts.)
c) Watch television (2 pts.)
d) Listen to music (1 pt.)
e) Sleep (3 pts.)
6. Which one of the following colors do you like best?
a) Yellow (1 pt.)
b) White (5 pts.)
c) Sky Blue (3 pts.)
d) Dark Blue (2 pts.)
e) Red (4 pts.)
7. What do you prefer to eat?
a) Snow (3 pts.)
b) Pizza (2 pts.)
c) Sushi (1 pt.)
d) Pasta (4 pts.)
e) Salad (5 pts.)
What is your favorite holiday?
a) Halloween (1 pt.) <>
b) Christmas (3 pts.)
c) New Year (2 pts.)
d) Valentine's Day (4 pts.)
e) Thanksgiving (5 pts.)
9. If you could go to one of these plac es which one would it be?
a) Paris (4 pts)
b) Spain (5 pts)
c) Las Vegas (1 pt)
d) Hawaii (4 pts)
e) Hollywood (3 pts)
10. With which of the following would you prefer to spend time with?
a) Someone Smart (5 pts.)
b) Someone attractive (2 pts.)
c) Someone who likes to Party (1 pt.)
d) Someone who always has fun (3 pts.)
e) Someone very sentimental (4 pts.)
Now add up your points and find out the answer you have been waiting for!
Put your character in the subject line and forward to your friends.
It is very interesting to see "who" your friends are!

(10-16 points) You are Garfield :

You are very comfortable, easy going, and you definitely know how to have fun but sometimes you take it to an extreme. You always know what you are doing and you are always in control of your life. Others may not see things as you do, but that doesn't mean that you always have to do what is right. Try to remember, your happy spirit may hurt you or others.

(17-23 points) You are Snoopy:
You are fun, you are very cool and popular. You always know what's in and you are never are out of style You are good at knowing how to satisfy everyone else. You have probably disapp eared for a few days more than once but you always come home with the family values that you learned Being married and having children are important to you, but only after you have had your share of fun times

(24-28 points) You are Elmo:
You have lots of friends and you are also popular, always willing to give advice and help out a person in need. You are very optimistic and you always see the bright side of things. Some good advice: try not to be too much of a dreamer. Dreaming too big could cause many conflicts in your life.

(29-35 points) You are Sponge Bob Square Pants:
You are the classic person that everyone loves. You are the best friend that anyone could ever have and never wants to lose. You never cause harm to anyone and they would never not understand your feelings. Life i s a journey, it's funny and calm for the most part. Stay away from traitors and jealous people, and you will be stress free.
(36-43 points) You are Charlie Brown:
You are tender, you fall in love quickly but you are also very serious about all relati onships. You are a family person. You call your Mom every Sunday. You have many friends and may occasionally forget a few Birthdays. Don't let your passion confuse you with reality.
(44-50 points) You are Dexter:
You are smart and de finitely a thinker... Every situation is fronted with a plan. You have a brilliant mind. You demonstrate very strong family principles. You maintain a stable routine but never ignore a bad situation when it comes. Try to do less over thinking every once in a while to spic e things up a bit with spontaneity!

Another Christmas quiz

I found this quiz while looking online for my other one. I scored 23/25, not bad if I do say so myself.

Christmas Carol Quiz

Here's a fun Christmas carol quiz that we did at my tag party. So if you were at the party, you've already done it.

The following words are alternate titles for several well-known Christmas songs. Fill in the proper title in the space provided. 100% correct insures you of a full Christmas stocking!

1. Quadruped with Crimson Proboscis
2. Eight P.M. to Six A.M. without Noise
3. Minuscule Hamlet in the Near East
4. Ancient Benevolent Despot
5. Exuberance Directed to the Planet
6. Listen, Aerial Spirits Announcing
7. Trio of Monarchs
8. Yonder in the Hay Rack
9. Cherubim Audited from Aloft
10. Assemble, Everyone Who Believes
11. Hollowed Post Meridian
12. Fantasia of a Colorless December 25
13. A Dozen Twenty-four Hour Yule Periods
14. Befell During the Transparent Bewitching Hour
15. Homo Sapien of Crystallized Vapor
16. Desire a Pair of Incisors on December 25
17. I Spied My Maternal Parent Osculating
18. Perambulating Through A December Solstice Fantasy
19. Adorn the vestibule
20. Tin tintinnabulums

Hmmmm... I couldn't find the original quiz online again to link to the answers. Just other versions. So I will post the answers later.

Tag Party

Here are the tags from last night's tag party. Mine is second from the right on the bottom row. The tags all turned out really cute and the party was a lot of fun. Although I still haven't cleaned up from it yet...

Busy weekend

We had a fun and busy weekend. It started off on Friday night with dinner at the home of a friend of Eric's from work. We ate great food and had a lot of fun.

Saturday morning Eric had to work for 4 hours and then we were off to the ward Christmas party. At the party I was busy helping kids with crafts and Eric was busy watching Kaylin crawl around and helping his boys with their skits.

We left the party early to drive to Kent to drop Kaylin off at Eric's brother's house. It was snowing. It snowed the whole way there. Our usual one hour trip took an hour and 40 minutes. Luckily we had given ourselves some extra time.

Then it was off to meet other Bothell High math teachers in Tacoma for the pre-game dinner. The area around the Tacoma Dome was packed with reservations, so we ended up reserving some tables at a pub. We figured it would be good because you have to be 21 to get in, so there wouldn't be as many high school kids and families there. Plus, we could actually get a reservation for 18. It was FABULOUS. It wasn't full at all and the food was great. It was so fast that we made it to the Tacoma Dome (after a few wrong turns) and to our seats an hour and a half before kick-off. The stadium was packed with Bothell fans. Turns out I-90 was closed for part of the day so the Lewis and Clark fans from Spokane had a rough trip over. A rooter bus, the band, and the cheerleaders made it during the first quarter. The game was a lot of fun, but unfortunately we lost. So Bothell is 2nd in state for the 2nd year in a row. I'm bitter about that so that's all I will say :-).

We spent the night at Chris and Char's. We decided that it would be easier to sleep down there than to wake Kaylin up to take her home and then drive back to Seattle in the morning. Sunday morning was the annual Wells Fargo Financial Christmas brunch at Salty's on Alki. The food was amazing as usual. I was a little disappointed because they normally serve this really good pasta but they didn't this time. But I was happy with my salmon, potatoes, eggs, eggs benedict, bacon, sausage, fruit, muffin, and apple tart. That sure sounds like a lot of food when you list it out like that. Santa popped in for a visit and Kaylin freaked out. She didn't like Santa at all. As soon as Eric sat her down on his lap, Kaylin looked up and started to scream. I got a couple of cute crying pictures, but not the smiling one I was hoping for.


Then we drove home, in the rain, exhausted. It's seriously been raining or snowing for like 3 days. That's a Seattle winter for you, I guess.

"I wanna be a Bothell Cougar..."

"I wanna wear the blue and white... I wanna be the STATE CHAMPION... I can't wait 'til Friday night!" Well, the game will be Saturday night, but that's how the chant goes. Bothell beat Ferris of Spokane on Saturday 14-7. The picture at the left is my former student and BHS running back Jon Kirchner. Eric, Kaylin, and I will be at the Tacoma Dome Saturday night at 7:30 pm to watch Bothell play for the Washington State 4A championship. And this year, they're going to win! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are some things I'm thankful for. I'm copying this part from Jen: God, Husband, Family, Friends and Country are all givens. Consider it said.

• staying at home with Kaylin
  
• Kaylin's nap time
• disposable diapers
• my super comfortable and warm bed
• my washing machine
• my sewing machine
• living an hour or less from my parents and Eric's parents
• both sets of my grandparents are still living and live an hour away
  
• my fleece blanket
• hot chocolate
• pepsi
• cell phones
  
• playgroup
• the fact that longer length shirts and knee length skirts are "in"
• gift bags so I don't always have to use wrapping paper
• my calendar
• chocolate milkshakes
• good cheeseburgers
• onion rings
• guacamole
• low maintenance makeup and hairstyles
• being crafty: cards/scrapbooking/jewelry making/sewing/whatever
• Eric comes home for lunch every day
• good books
• keyless entry
• trunk popper
  
• the sound of the rain on my roof
• the sound of Kaylin laughing or clapping

Eric just called to say he'll be home in less than 5 minutes, which is about 45 minutes earlier than normal. And me, the great wife that I am, haven't even started dinner. I actually haven't even thought about dinner. I'm still full from the nacho party the laurels class had this afternoon. I don't have to go to mutual tonight (another thing I'm thankful for!), but Eric still does. I did bake the cookies Eric needs to bring to bribe his boys to come tonight. I guess I will have to end my list right there. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!!

Go Bothell!

Bothell is now 12-0 after last night's quarterfinal 42-14 win over last year's state champions Oak Harbor. Last year Bothell lost to Oak Harbor 21-14 in the state championship game. Next week we play Ferris of Spokane in the semi-finals. The picture at the left is Kurt Stottlemeyer intercepting an Oak Harbor pass. I had him in one of my Core 2 classes last year. Go Cougars!!!

Things I wish I liked

So I was reading Nicole's post following my tagging her (I'm sure that is terrible grammar, but oh well). Anyway, Nicole mentioned wanting to have a garden and other plants and things to take care of in her yard. As I was reading that I thought to myself, I wish I liked to work in the yard and garden. But alas, I do not. We actually paid the son of one of Eric's coworkers to tear apart our yard last summer and then we put bark down so all the nasty weeds wouldn't grow back as quickly. I'm happy to report that it worked wonders and I barely pulled any weeds this summer. Eric mows the lawn and trims the bushes, sometimes I deadhead the roses, and that's about it. The thought made me wonder, what other things do I wish I liked? Here is my list for the moment:

1. gardening and yard work--as previously explained
2. pickles--I think pickles smell interesting and I used to try one per year, I stopped tasting one per year when I finally realized that I will never like pickles
3. cleaning out my computer/craft room--I've organized bits and pieces, but it needs WORK

That's all I have for now. What's on your list???

I've been tagged...

Kelsey tagged me and so now I'm supposed to list 6 things that most people don't know about me. So here we go:

1. I have 4 fewer teeth than your average adult. When I was in 5th grade (I think) the orthodontist decided that my mouth was far too small for my apparently super huge teeth so he wanted me to get 4 of them yanked before I got braces. This does not include the 4 wisdom teeth I had pulled in high school.

2. I had the chicken pox TWICE. I had a light case when I was a baby and gave them to my mom who was pregnant with Kelsey (Hmmmm... let's ponder that one for a minute). I got them again, this time a bad case, in first grade.

3. I have had hallucinations. When I had the chicken pox in 1st grade my mom gave me Benadryl. We quickly found out that I am allergic to Benadryl. I ended up having lots of hallucinations and I can remember some of them to this day. There was an Indian with a feather on his head dancing around the kitchen, there was a bird flying in the living room, there were covered wagons crossing the street as we drove to the ER, and my personal favorite... while I was talking to my mom I hallucinated that Kelsey was standing next to me and I was telling my mom that Kelsey had stolen my dog watch... Kelsey was at school. My poor mom!

4. I have a scar on my arm from a girl's fingernail while playing in a basketball game. That girl had some claws!

5. I can talk in front of a gym full of thousands of high school kids (while in high school and currently) but am deathly afraid of speaking in sacrament meeting.

6. I have punched a boy. I was in elementary school and I thought this annoying boy who I will call "Doug" was being mean to our neighbor girl. So I walked over to him and punched him in the face. I proceeded to go hide behind the storage shed at the edge of the playground until a "duty" (that's what we called the playground monitor ladies) came to find me. She sent me to the principal's office. I don't remember getting in trouble, though.

So there you have it. I now tag Jenn, Erin, and Kim. (I know you don't have blogs, but you need to and this is my motivation to you to start one. You already have something for your first post!) I also tag Becca, Nicole, and Katie. Get thinking girls!

Bring on Christmas!

So now that Halloween is over, I figure that it's time for Christmas. I finished our Christmas stockings today. I've been working on them off and on for the past week and a half. I actually finished the two red ones on Halloween. They're not actually officially finished yet. I'm going to cross-stitch an initial on each one in metallic gold. Eric wants me to do our entire names in case we want to use the same initial for multiple kids. Like if we had a Kaylin, Kevin, and Korbin. Doubtful. Anyway... the story behind the stockings. I actually made two stockings and a matching tree skirt two years ago. The problem was that the stockings were way too small. We didn't even use them for Santa, we both used our old ones from growing up. So this year I decided to alter the stocking pattern to make it longer. I decided that Eric and I would both have red ones and that the kids would all be green. Originally I was red and Eric was green, but I didn't want to continue the red=girl and green=boy pattern for multiple reasons. One reason is that it might look weird having no pattern when they're all hung up (yes, that is the math nerd in me coming out). Another reason is that if all the kids are green, I could make extra stockings now and not have to wait until future kids are born. So that is why there are 4 green stockings in the picture. That doesn't mean that we are going to have 4 kids, it was just an easy number to get material for. And if for some crazy reason we have more than 4 kids, then hopefully I'll still have some leftover fabric to make more. I have extra of the patterned fabric but I will have to buy more green. I'm sure I'll be able to find a matching green so I'm not worried. I'll try to remember to post pictures once our initials (or names??) are on them. Maybe I'll even get a picture of them by the tree skirt so you can see that too.

And Kelsey, don't worry, I didn't forget that you tagged me. I am just having a hard time coming up with stuff :-).

Pizza recall??

I was watching the news this afternoon and saw a story about a pizza recall! Apparently some pizzas with pepperoni by Totino's or Jeno's might have eColi. I checked my freezer and I had one of the pizzas! I bet we ate at least one of the recalled pizzas because the one that I found we've had for a few weeks. Poor Eric, I had to toss one of his precious frozen pizzas.

This calls for a trip to Home Depot

Around 3:00 am on Saturday morning Eric got up to use the bathroom. I heard a cracking or breaking sound, but I didn't think too much of it because I was pretty much asleep. When Eric came back to bed he said, "I broke the toilet seat." I just laughed and commented on the sound I heard and then fell back asleep. This is what I woke up to:

Nice. How does that happen?? Looks like we'll be getting a new toilet seat.

That evening a friend and his 4 year old daughter stopped by to visit. I had to use the bathroom, so of course the 4 year old had to also. Even though she assured me that since we are both girls it's okay to use the bathroom together, I made her wait her turn. After they left I tried to go into the bathroom to turn the light off that she had left on and I couldn't get in. She had locked the door. "No problem," I thought. I have used metal hangers to unlock bathroom doors at my parents' house many times. But it didn't work. So then Eric tried. Then we both tried a paper clip. Then Eric attempted to lock and then unlock our bathroom door because they have the same locks. He couldn't get that one open either. (Don't worry, he left the door open during this process.)

We were on our way to another friend's house for the night so we left the door locked. Our friends were kind enough to give us a roll of toilet paper because we were out in our bathroom and all the extra tp is kept in the locked bathroom. When we got home that night, after a few unsuccessful attempts to open the door, Eric finally sawed off the door handle and drilled through the center to pop the lock. All of this was done while Kaylin slept in her room only a few feet away. I cannot believe that she didn't wake up.


Looks like we need a new door handle too. We're also going to buy one for our bathroom since we couldn't get that one unlocked either. We don't want Kaylin locking herself in the bathroom and not being able to open the door herself and getting stuck in there.

So if you need us tonight, we'll be at Home Depot.

Trunk-or-Treat

Last night was our ward's Trunk-or-Treat. We had a great time.

Kaylin the octopus

I was the tooth fairy and Eric was a basketball player (how creative ;-))

Kaylin and her boyfriends: Jaron the dinosaur, Carter the goldfish, and Clayton the lobster

My laurels looking oh so fabulous. For all you Office fans, the girl on the far right burnt her foot on a George Foreman grill and then wrapped it with bubble wrap :-)

Chicken legs

So I don't think that I have chicken legs, but apparently the shoe companies do. I cannot find a pair of tall dark brown boots that fit me in the calf. Ugh! My parents got me a cute pair for my birthday, but they were of course too big in the calf. I had to return them. I have checked every store in Marysville which includes the outlet mall and I have checked the entire Alderwood Mall. Nordstroms had a pair that fit me but they were UGLY. I know plenty of people who are skinnier than me, including a few that I met while boot shopping. Are we destined to not be able to wear boots? They put elastic in a lot of the boots so people with larger legs can fit in them more easily, but there's no way to make them smaller! I really want some boots so I can expand my winter church wardrobe. HELP!!

Is that safe to eat??

Today I made some baby food for Kaylin. I did apples first because they're so simple. They smell very yummy and taste good too. Hopefully Kaylin likes them. It wasn't hard. All I had to do was chop up some apples, simmer them with a little water for 20 minutes, blend them up, pour them into ice cube trays, and stick them in the freezer. I got a whole tray full out of three small apples. I checked out some baby food books at the library and am planning to try a few "dinner" type recipes. They're recipes for stuff similar to what we eat anyway, one is almost identical to taco soup, yum! We're having lasagna for dinner tonight, I might blend some up for Kaylin. She's not into much texture, so we'll see how that goes.

New hobby

Since I don't have enough to do or enough hobbies, I decided to take up a new one. A friend in our ward makes FABULOUS jewelry. She makes tons of earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. Two weeks ago she took my friend Laura and me shopping to buy beads and other supplies and then we went to her house to make stuff. We went to her house again yesterday to make more. I had to leave early because Kaylin was super tired and fussy and wouldn't take a nap there. I was bummed because I was having so much fun and I wanted to keep working. So after Kaylin's nap we went to the store to buy a few more necessities so I could keep working on my jewelry at home. Here are three of my creations packaged up and ready to give as gifts.

Just in case you needed more proof that I'm a nerd

Yesterday Jenn sent me a link to a BYU math professor's blog entry. He wrote about trying to help his daughter with rounding and how he did such a horrible job and didn't deserve to be a professor of mathematics. The problem in his example was "round 16,504 to the nearest thousand". First of all, I'm a nerd because I remember the number after reading the entry once. Secondly, and most importantly, I'm a nerd because after getting up with Kaylin at 12:30 am I laid awake for at least half an hour pondering how I would teach rounding to Kaylin. I wanted to sleep, I craved sleep, but my mind was racing with object lessons, investigations, and conversations we could have. So yes, proof that I'm a nerd. QED.

A flat (more like exploded) tire

I was not feeling well at all last night. I went to bed just after 8:00. Eric stayed up with Kaylin and put her to bed after 10:00 in hopes that she would sleep in late so I could get more rest. His plan worked, Kaylin slept in until 11:15!! I hope she continues to sleep in as she gets older. I needed to go grocery shopping before Eric came home for lunch because we were out of lunch food (i.e. frozen pizza). Kaylin and I were finally out of the house by noon. I was feeling a little rushed since Eric normally comes home between 12:30 and 1:30. And although I still didn't feel well, going to the store was better than trying to come up with something to make for lunch. While on the off-ramp of the freeway I started hearing this really loud, awful noise. At first I thought it was the pavement because work is being done on it. But the noise continued when I got to the nice pavement. And the car started to smell like burnt rubber (which I also attributed to the road work) and shake. On the short drive to the store from the freeway off-ramp I realized that there was definitely something wrong with my car. It was shaking a lot and making the most terrible noise. I thought it was the engine and that all four tires were going to fall off. I drove slowly into the parking lot and a guy was looking at me all weird. Judging by his expression, I thought I might be dragging a body under my car. I stopped and rolled my window down and looked at him expectantly. He said, "Did you know you have a flat tire? It's flatter than heck! You'd better park your car." I said, "No, I didn't know that. Thank you." And I felt like an idiot. It didn't feel like what I would think a flat tire should feel like. I called Eric to come rescue me. Thankfully Eric works only 10 minutes from the store. So Eric came to save me and Kaylin and I did our grocery shopping while Eric dealt with the flat tire. And this didn't look like any flat tire. It looked like the tire exploded off of the rim. It was totally separating from the rim. After the spare was on Eric came to find us in the store and helped us finish the shopping. Then we went home for some frozen pizza. But I wasn't in the mood for frozen pizza, so I had spaghetti o's with franks. Wow... our lunch habits are great.

Another reason to be grateful...

that Kaylin is not in day care. Recently a baby only a few miles from us died because his parent taped his pacifier to his mouth. And now someone was caught doing it at a day care. I know it can be annoying to keep putting it back in the baby's mouth, but seriously. I am so glad that I am the one taking care of Kaylin. I may not be the best mom, but at least I know better than to tape a pacifier in her mouth.

Tomorrow night, Sexy is Back!

4 years ago today...

Eric and I got engaged. In some ways it feels like we've been married for-ev-er (in a good way) and in other ways it feels like we just got married. Kinda weird how that works. And if I knew 4 years ago what I know now, I'd still say YES :-).

The heat is on... the heat is o-on...

Remember that song?? Anyway... for the first time in a long time, I turned the heat on today. Shhhh... don't tell Eric. And Eric, if you happen to be reading this, I didn't really turn it on. But it was 67 degrees in our house this morning, and I need it to be about 70. Is it wrong to turn the heat on when it is still technically summer? Sorry for any of you who might still be experiencing a heat wave--yet another reason to come and visit me. I'm much more comfortable now that my house is 70 degrees. It's been raining for the past 2 days. Today is dry, but Sunday and Monday it rained pretty much all day. It was your stereotypical day in western Washington. For those of you who have read Twilight it actually made me feel like I was in Forks and that I should go and play baseball or something.

I finished New Moon last night. I'd like to start on Eclipse, but I have a few things I need to get done first. I guess Bella and Edward might have to wait another day.

Next book please...

I finished Twilight on Friday, only about 29 hours after starting it. I read just over half of it Thursday night and the rest of it on Friday night while Eric was on a scout camp out and Kaylin was sleeping. It was good. I definitely liked it, although I'm not "in love" with Edward as much as some other people that I know. The funny thing is (don't worry, I'm not going to spoil anything if you haven't read it, this information can be found on the back of the book) I was more bothered by the fact that Bella was sooooooooooooo in love with Edward and only a junior in high school than the fact that Edward is a vampire. I totally went for all the vampire stuff no problem, it was Bella's age that threw me. Funny. I think I would have rather had her be a young college student instead, but then the rest of the story wouldn't really work. Now I'm over half way through New Moon. While I still have a small problem with Bella's age, she is a year older, and I guess that helps make it seem more believable. Ha! "Believable"! She's in love with a vampire. And I definitely believe that she's in love with him, he is pretty amazing.

One nursing blanket down... Now I can read

I finished the nursing blanket for my friend who's due in 3 weeks. Proof:

I'm going to read Twilight

For those of you who have been patiently waiting for me to read Twilight, that time has come. One of my laurels is graciously letting me borrow the whole series. I just took myself off the library's hold list where I was number 215, I started last week at 224. So now Twilight, Eclipse, and New Moon are all sitting on my coffee table begging to be read. This is unfortunate news for Eric and Kaylin because I'm sure once I start reading, I will have a hard time stopping. As long as they are both fed they will be fine. That's all either one of them really cares about anyway. But I'm also supposed to be sewing two nursing blankets. I started them today and one needs to be finished soon, the recipient is due in about three weeks. I might have to hold off on starting the book until the first blanket is finished. The other one can wait, the recipient of that one isn't due until December.

The end to life as I now know it

I knew the day would come. Kaylin is crawling. It isn't all that pretty, but she's doing it. You can see the video here. And more explanation of the video can be found on Kaylin's site.

The WONDERFUL Wonder Tee

Yesterday I was at CTR Books in Bellingham. It's a fabulous store. And the fact that the closest Deseret Book to Bellingham is by the Seattle Temple which is about 2 hours away makes it even better. I wish it was here while I was growing up, but it's only been around for a couple of years. Anyway... I've been looking for an undershirt that has a scoop neck. All of my other undershirts are crew neck. I have a couple of shirts that tend to leave a gap sometimes between my tank top strap and the shirt but I don't want a crew neck underneath the shirt. So I basically was looking for the neckline of a camisole in t-shirt form. And I found it at CTR Books!! It's the Wonder Tee from DownEast Basics. The neckline on the model looks higher than it is on me. It's a lot lower really, on the model that nearly looks like a crew neck. I highly recommend it. I think I might have to buy more. Yea for modest clothing companies. I don't know how I'd dress without them! And yea for the current style of long t-shirts and knee length skirts, that helps a lot too.

NOT back to school

My friends have to start school on Wednesday and the students start after labor day. I'll be out of town the rest of the week. So that left today to go to school and finish cleaning out all of my crap (the math department head prefers to call them "treasures".) I had a whole closet and 4-drawer file cabinet full of treasures. It took much longer than I thought it would, but it's finished and I never have to deal with it again. Yea! I've been thinking a lot about school lately and have come up with two lists... what I'll miss and what I won't.

WHAT I WON'T MISS ABOUT TEACHING
7. Drills (lock down, fire, and especially earthquake)
6. Construction (the main building has been demolished and half the school is in portables this year)
5. Annoying students
4. Grading papers
3. The commute
2. Waking up early (and staying up)
1. ANNOYING PARENTS I vow to never be an annoying parent

WHAT I WILL MISS ABOUT TEACHING
6. football practice outside my classroom window and hearing the cheers of "B-O-T-H-E-L-L"
5. fun assemblies
4. Homecoming week
3. doing lots of math
2. fun students
1. my friends

Notice, the "will miss" list is shorter than the "won't miss" list-even if only by one. And I'm definitely happy with my decision to stay home. Because if I was teaching, the biggest and most important thing I'd miss would be Kaylin.

I want a new camera

The shutter speed on our camera is SLOW. I've been especially annoyed with it since Kaylin has been born. It's hard to catch the cute smiles and things that she does. We've had it for 3.5 years, which must make it ancient by technology standards. Our computer is the same age as the camera, but I can live with the computer. I think I want a new camera for my birthday. I NEED RECOMMENDATIONS. Any kind of recommendation would be great: brand, model, number of megapixels, zoom, other must have features. I like this Kodak Easyshare M883, and it even comes in red which is cool. The Kodak Easyshare M753 looks alright too for a less expensive version. HELP!!!

Vegetables are gross

I have a hard time making vegetables for dinner. Neither Eric nor I are very big fans of vegetables. In fact, Eric is even less of a fan than I am. I like the basics: lettuce, carrots, and corn. I will at times eat peppers and I had steamed broccoli yesterday (with cheese on top of course) and it was fairly decent. I love ketchup, but don't care too much for tomatoes. Anyway, I was getting the lettuce ready for tonight's ceasar salad (our favorite "vegetable") and was thinking about how I make Kaylin eat sweet potatoes and squash. I don't like either. But she LOVES them. I was thinking that it's pretty sad that I'm getting this girl hooked on two vegetables that she won't eat again, well, except perhaps Thanksgiving dinner. I was also thinking about how the "baby experts" say that you should feed your baby a new food 10-15 times in order for them to develop a taste for it. Then the question came to my mind... what if I ate a vegetable I don't like 10-15 times, let's say peas. What if I ate a serving of peas every day for two weeks? Would I like them at the end of my trial? I know that people can acquire tastes, I've heard many stories from returned missionaries about that. But I don't really want to find out. I'm fine not liking peas.

Beware the Moose!

I know that subject will get at least one person's attention (and you know exactly who you are). While Barry Bonds did hit homerun number 756 last night, I'm more interested in the Mariner Moose "controversy". Yes, Jen, a moose did nearly run over a member of the Boston Red Sox. Two of your favorite things not getting along, so sad. I guess the other MLB teams should take this as a warning ;-).

BJ: August 15, 1988-August 1, 2007

My two babies

I received BJ for Christmas in 1988, I was 8 years old. It took me awhile to figure out a name for her. I almost named her Martha (what was I thinking??) and then settled on BJ, which I am embarrassed to admit, stands for Brianne Junior. Remember... I was 8! According to my family, the name was fitting because she was always a feisty, stubborn cat. But she was a sweet cat. She slept on my bed with me and was always there for me when I was lonely or sad. In elementary school she would follow us, along with her sister Wilma, to the corner when we walked to school. I missed her terribly when I was away at college. Her sister passed away when I was a junior in college, but BJ just kept on going. I graduated from college, and she was still there. I got married, she was still there. I had a baby, she was still there. I'm glad that I got so much time with her, she was such a special kitty to me. Although it was hard, I was glad that I was able to be there with her as she passed away. I know that she is having a fabulous time in kitty heaven with her sister chasing birds and mice and lying in the sun.

Mommy School

I went visiting teaching today and we were talking about how nice it would have been to have taken classes while in college that would directly relate to being a wife/mom. As a math ed major I took lots of math classes and secondary education classes, plus the general ed classes. I learned a lot and I know that what I learned has already helped and will continue to help me in my daily life. But I wish I would have taken some classes like child development, cooking, sewing etc. I decided to check out BYU's free online classes. I registered for Family Life 72--Building a Functional Family: Essential Elements. If you want to register too, click here, then click "view web course" at the lower right. It's free, so you don't have any excuses! It should be fun (and hopefully enlightening).

I'm melting

I know this doesn't sound very hot to most of you, but it's supposed to get up to 91 degrees today. Let me remind you that I live just north of Seattle. I'm about ready to break down and buy an air conditioner. Unfortunately, most stores are out of them. We have three fans (2 ceiling and one free standing) which stay on high all day and all night. To give those of you who are not from the great northwest an idea of how rare this heat is, we are breaking records and cool air shelters have been set up throughout the region. The main story on the news contains tips on how to stay cool, warnings about checking on the elderly, reminders to not leave children or pets in the car, and stories about when local stores will receive shipments of fans and air conditioning units. Hot for us, but if you're one of the unlucky ones in the triple digit heat, you're welcome to come visit. But it might be cooler where you are because you have air conditioning. Maybe we'll have to come visit you.

I am a MASTER of the English language... what are you??

I was looking at a site that has patterns for making things like baby shopping cart covers and sleep sacks and I found a link to a grammar quiz. Apparently the maker of the site I was on is a GRAMMAR GOD, I am merely a MASTER of the English language. Try is yourself here. Be sure to let me know how your grammar rates!

School's out for summer

School is out... and nothing has changed for me. All of my teacher friends had to go to work today to clean their classrooms, input grades, and check out. I cleaned the house and played with the baby. Last year my mom came to school to help me get ready for the summer and then we went baby shopping. Now Kaylin is taking a nap in the crib we picked out that day. Things sure have changed. We have quite a few neighborhood kids running around now that they're out of school. I wonder if they can see through my living room window from their backyard fort? If so, they're going to see a lot more than they bargained for because that's where I feed the baby! Hopefully I don't get an upset mom at my door yelling at me for exposing my chest to 10 year old boys. But hey, it's my house, they don't need to look :-).

Harry Potter

I have succumbed to the pressure and am now more than half-way through book number 2. I checked out Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (book 1) from the library on Friday, finished it on Monday, and checked out Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (book 2) on Monday. I had been anti-Harry Potter for YEARS. I didn't want to read the books. I didn't want to watch the movies. And now, here I am, waiting for a dvd to be returned to the library so I can watch the video and hoping that volume three will be available as soon as I finish number two. I find myself wanting to make references to Quidditch and other non-Muggle things, but Eric would think I'm crazy so I just keep quiet. So I guess I'm behind the times, but I'm trying to catch up. I'll be waiting with the rest of them for book 7. You can thank my sister for this :-).

I need a good book

I've decided that I should read a book. I probably haven't read a book "for fun" since last summer. I'm looking for recommendations. Has anyone read anything great lately??

So you think you can dance... or do you just like to?

My favorite tv show is on for its third season. I absolutely LOVE "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox. It is the BEST. I do have a question for some of the people who tryout. Do you really think you can dance?? There is a difference between LIKING to dance and actually being ABLE to dance. The show is not called "So You Like to Dance". I like to dance. I used to dance quite a bit. That pretty much ended once I got married. But I am not going to go tryout for the show because I know that I am not a very good dancer. Those people would tear me apart. Plus, I have no real training except for beginning ballroom at BYU and high school dance team. But I'm sure there are people with my same training (if you can even call it that) trying out for the show. And the sad part is, they think they're good. Oh well, tryouts are over now and we can get on to the real competition. I am pumped because last year's winner Benji's little sister is on the show this season. I loved Benji and I'm sure I will love Lacey too. I guess it helps that they're Mormon. Plus they are FABULOUS dancers and very entertaining.

Well, the baby is crying. I guess my 20 minute break is over.

I'm back!

I'm back and no one even knew I was gone. I signed up on blogger nearly a year ago (see first post). Now you can comment on people's blogs with a google account, but that wasn't true last year. I decided that I enjoy reading other people's blogs so much that I might as well start using mine. I don't know if anyone will read it, but oh well. It will give me another "I don't want to clean the house" or "scrapbooking takes more energy than I have right now" activity. My goal is to have a blog *nearly* as cool as Jen's. She is so good at putting up pictures and links and she has so many interesting and fun things to say. I know that I won't ever be as well written and humorous as Jen, but I was math major after all, and Jen was at one point an English major for those of you who might not have kept up with her major switching game. So in true Jen fashion, for my first post this year I will make a bulleted list!

Things I like to do while the baby is sleeping:

• SLEEP (if it's between midnight and 7 am, I can't nap)
• SHOWER (my new favorite time of the day)
• eat breakfast
• read everyone's blogs

Isn't she an angel??