Tagged

For those of you that know me very well, this will not come as a surprise. I have been trying to think of 5 quirky/interesting/weird things about me since Lindsay tagged me, and I'm having the hardest time. Not to say that I don't have several annoying habits or that I'm just perfect or something...I just have the hardest time thinking of interesting things to write about. It all just seems so boring. So, I've thought of a few (I was thinking about it in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep), but now I'm thinking I've already mentioned some of these long ago in another tag similar to this. Anyway, bear with me. Here it goes:

1: I am clumsy and run into doors, walls, corners...whatever it may be. In fact, I often times have bruises and don't know where I got them. Just a couple days ago I noticed a nasty bruise right on the bottom of my shin and couldn't remember where it came from. Well, last night as I was getting in the backseat of the car to sit next to Elsie, I rammed my leg right into this box that was sitting on the floor of the car. Yes, right into that bruise. Then I remembered how I got it in the first place! Have I moved the box...nope! I fear Elsie has inherited this same problem. However she does have an excuse, she's a toddler.

2: I have supersonic hearing (as Aaron calls it). I hear Elsie's tiniest little noises. I hear every sound imaginable when I'm trying to get to sleep...which is why I use a fan. Although the fan still doesn't block it all out. It really drives me crazy, but I can't help it. That is not my only super power though. I am always always getting shocked or shocking people. Aaron thinks I carry some special electric powers and calls me Electrika...dorky, I know. We always joke around about what our powers would be. I make fun of his webbing (that's right...he has some "minor" webbing on his fingers) and say he would be Aquaman. Or wolfman...'cause he's kind of hairy.

3: I love minivans. Everyone I know has dreaded the day they had to finally get a minivan. I, on the other hand, have always wanted one...even before we had kids. They are so practical, and I love that. I truly appreciate things that are practical. I'm kind of that way with clothes as well. Plus, we never had one growing up and I was always so jealous of my cousins' Astro vans. Anyway, my day has finally come. We've been needing another car since this summer when Aaron sold his two-toned Saturn. He's been working with a friend who goes to auctions in Utah and was looking for a truck (he wants one so badly). He finally decided a couple weeks ago to start looking for a van and realized we could afford that more easily and it would still serve many of the same purposes. So, I am the proud owner (well, not until this coming Monday officially) of a Toyota Sienna. To me this is a big deal.

4: I only have one fallopian tube. Not much to add to that...I just thought it was something not many people could say. (This is how desperate I was getting for interesting things about me.)

5: I have one eyebrow (thanks Lindsay for the eyebrow idea) that is significantly higher than the other one. I have a horrible time finding sunglasses where the one eyebrown doesn't pop up above the frame. Thank goodness big glasses are still kind of in right now. If I ever have to wear regular glasses, I don't know what I will do. I guess contacts are the only solution. I know everyone's faces are not totally symmetrical, but I'm talking more than just a little off. In pictures, it looks like I'm tilting my head. Really, look at a picture of me and I guarantee you'll see it.

Well, that's it. I'll tag anyone else that wants to do it. Have fun!

video fun

I've taken some fun videos of Elsie over the last couple of weeks. (Now that I finally discovered how to increase the quality of video on my digital camera...I'm a little slow!!) Here they are:


Now that we are back by a Target, we've been there a million times. Just like every other kid in the world, she loves to go by the toy section and push all the buttons. It's even more fun when music plays.

This video was when we were still in ML. Just a funny one of her running around with her hat. She always gets really wired in the evening when she should be settling down for bed.

This was the first time she's really discovered the automatic sliding doors at the stores. Obviously, she loved them! Now, she just wants to play in them instead of actually going in the store. (Ignore the annoying lady who worked at the store...she wouldn't stop talking to us!)

I know Elsie is cute and all, but I think the real star of this video is Aaron. I mean, he was singing, dancing (even though he wouldn't let me record it), and sounding way too enthusiastic. Plus, the off-beat snapping...oh, you can't beat that!

I was not really paying attention to Elsie as she was playing and singing and then I looked up and realized she was using the antenna as a microphone. How cute is that?! (Oh, by the way, our new TV and entertainment center is in the background.) Of course, by the time I got the camera, she was fizzling out and then just wanted to come over and watch herself on it.

new job, daycare and the gym,

Aaron and I had decided that when we moved down here he was going to go out on his own doing defense work. He had an idea of how to get clients and we were feeling confident that he could make it work. However, last Monday he went in to meet with a guy whose firm has the public defense contract for the county we live in. They also can do their own private stuff as well. Anyway, the guy offered Aaron a position there, and he took it. It's nice to know that he will have definite work and income and then can try to get his own clients as well. Of course, the firm takes a cut of any private work, so that's the down side. If things are going well with his private stuff, then he will probably leave that firm and do his own thing.

We signed up at the gym here and finally started going back this week...after a week and a half vacation from the gym. Boy oh boy, I am dying!! I did a step class on Wed, a spinning class yesterday (well, 3/4 of the class...Aaron and I were too exhausted to finish), and another step class today. I had been pretty good about going to the gym the last month or two, but these workouts have been way harder than the class I was going to up in ML. I'm glad, but am looking forward to resting a bit this weekend.

Speaking of the gym, while I'm working out Elsie goes to the daycare there. She has actually been really good about not crying when we drop her off, but we have not received wonderful reports when we pick her up. She made two little girls cry today! It sounds like all she did was say "NO NO NO" while pointing her finger (thanks Grandma Wise for teaching her that...ha ha), but still, my daughter is making people cry. That's not good. I don't want to have a "mean girl" daughter. Aaron just thinks it's funny, but I'm starting to get paranoid. Not really...but hopefully she'll grow out of this. I was talking to this lady tonight and telling her about Elsie and how she's a firecracker. I told her about the daycare incident, and she just said, "Well, at least they didn't make her cry!" I guess there's something to be said for that. We know she can hold her own!

home decor

We have been super busy this last week getting unpacked, shopping for furniture to fill the house, and getting it all set up and put together. It has been nice getting settled, but very tiring. We had to totally refurnish our family room since we sold most everything before we moved back in January. I'm really happy with what we've done so far, but I would love to just go crazy. We were able to get some good deals on a sectional couch and an entertainment center, but I now have nothing to really fill the room. That will take some time...I need money, and I'm super OCD about colors and matching. It's really quite annoying, but I can't help it. Our one splurge was a new flat screen HDTV. We finally got it all set up today and we are loving it. I can't believe how cool it is to watch things in high-def. Anyway, I'll take some pictures tomorrow of our new family room. I just got done watching an episode of Top Design and am wishing that I had a better eye for this kind of stuff. But, it takes money too. Maybe that's the real problem. That's what I'll keep telling myself!

updating

I'm finally getting some updates from this past month on the blog. I'm not finished yet, but I'm getting there. Keep checking!

kissing qiana

We loved having baby Qiana around to love and hug and kiss. Elsie could not get enough of her. In fact, since we've moved, she's become obsessed with her baby doll that she never really played with a lot before.

I'm so glad that Elsie was so sweet with her and loved to be with her. We miss both Angie and Qiana like crazy!

saying goodbye

Aaron surprised me with a way nicer birthday present than he should have...a new camera that takes nice pictures really fast. I was always complaining that I was missing things when trying to take pictures of Elsie. I've been having fun playing around with the camera. I'm sure it does way more things than I'm even aware of or know how to work, but I just love that it's faster and makes a cool "picture taking" sound when I push the button.


A few days before we left ML, we went out on a little walk to take some pictures and practice with the camera and say goodbye to the horses.


Elsie will now do her most cheesy smile on cue if we say "cute smile". We didn't realize this until this little photo shoot. Oh my gosh, it was so cute!
Aaron's action shot of Wrigley jumping over the irrigation ditch.
We will miss some parts of living out in the country. But, I sure am glad to have high speed internet again!
I think I've said before how Elsie would call the horses and make a clicking sound just like Daddy would. Here they are calling the horses together.

weekend with family

Jared and Lindsay came up to ML for one last hoorah before we moved. We lounged around, ate good food, and enjoyed each other's company. Elsie loved having her cousins around to play with. Seriously, it kind of felt like a vacation weekend for Aaron and I because Carson and Kaiya kept her so happy and entertained the whole time. I almost didn't know what to do with myself. So I just sat around. How lovely!

I took some fun pictures of Kaiya and Elsie while they were goofing around and jumping on the bed. Kaiya, who used to not cooperate when taking pictures, was totally into it. She was posing and smiling so big. She kept tilting her head to the side for every picture. It was making me laugh.

Elsie loving her daddy! And doing her cheesy smile.
Jared and Kaiya hanging out. There's another daddy's girl!Chloe was crawling all over the place. Elsie was very fascinated with her as well. Carson doing a half-way decent smile...nice!
We are going to miss being so close to these guys and Angie and Qiana. I really love hanging out and just being with my family. I feel so blessed that we all like each other and enjoy being together. I know it always made my mom happy. She loved when we were all at her house. She loved to see us getting along and having fun. We missed her!

pez

Grandma and Grandpa sent a cute little Halloween package for Elsie. It was filled with all sorts of fun things...a book, some silly string (which she kind of afraid of...funny!), some stickers, a tiara, and a Pez dispenser. Oh, how she loved the pez! She was walking around with that thing for days. She hasn't quite mastered the skill of getting the candy out, but she has no problem eating them.

balls, balls, balls

One of the first words Elsie said is "ba" for ball. She is obsessed! We found a bunch of little bouncy balls that Mitch had collected and Elsie loves to play with those. She likes to carry one around in her hand at all times. I bought this bag of 100 plastic balls at the store a few weeks ago, and she loves to play in them. I want to buy a few more bags and fill up the bathtub with them like the ball pit we used to play in. This particular day Aaron was dumping the balls on her as she laid on the floor...she loved it!

back to home

I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks and I have a lot to catch up on. But, that's not going to happen for a little while. We moved back down to Nampa yesterday and our house is a mess. I'm really happy to be back in our home, but can't wait to get it all organized. I have super fast internet now and will post some fun pictures when I can find my camera!

glad I was here

Most everyone knows by now that Angie had her baby this week. She was born on September 29th and everything went very well. I know Angie gave a full story on her blog, so I'll spare any more details. Except, I will say how awesome it was to be there for everything. When I had Paxton, I had a c-section so I didn't really get to experience the birth...plus, it was the most stressful moment of my life. Then, when Elsie was born (3 weeks early), Aaron and I weren't able to get to Utah in time for her birth. We missed out completely! Well, Greg did have his phone on while we were on the line so we could hear her first cry. That was cool. Anyway, I got to "coach" Angie while she delivered her baby. I got to see everything right as it happened, and I thought it was so amazing. I even got to cut the cord! I am so glad that I was here to be able to be with her and experience it all for myself as well.

Angie has been here at our house since she came home from the hospital, so we can try to help out as much as possible and still keep Elsie happy. She has struggled a little bit with not getting GiGi's full attention. It's been kind of interesting. But she loves to watch Qiana and touch her. Every time Qiana makes a noise, Elsie is very aware of it and goes to check on what she's doing. She'll be a good cousin.

Ang and I took Elsie to the pet store last week and Elsie thought it was the neatest thing ever. She loved the fish, the mice, the birds, the wallaby (that's right...the pet store has a wallaby), and, most of all, the kittens. She could reach in the cage just enough that I didn't freak out but she was still satisfied. She really loves animals. Aaron takes her out everyday to say hi to the horses and feed them. She's going to miss that.

I'm struggling with how to get my family, yes I mean Elsie and Aaron, to eat at the table. I'm all for a quick snack or even breakfast at the couch while you watch the morning news or something, but it has gotten a bit out of control. Aaron and I got in the bad habit of eating in front of the tv since we didn't have kids for so long. Well, now it's rubbing off on Elsie and I'm the only one who wants to put a stop to it. Elsie hates sitting in her booster chair now, and Aaron is happy to let her eat right next to him on the couch. I finally got Aaron to commit to at least dinner at the table, but Elsie is ruined already. I guess I have my work cut out for me.