Happy Father's Day

Scott and Hannah at her baptism 3/10/07.

Scott and Dad today 6/17/07

Hunter and Scott in San Diego, CA November 1996. I have a whole scrapbook page filled with a series of pictures like this. For whatever reason, Hunter thought this was sooo funny that night! Too cute!

Grandpa holding baby Hayden 3/25/02. So sweet. Dad has always loved to hold the babies. I think if it was all up to Dad, he would have had many more babies.
7/4/99 Family picture in Stillwater, OK.
Grandpa holding Hunter and baby Hannah 2/27/99. I have a lot of pictures of Grandpa holding the baby.
Scott holding baby Hayden 3/19/02. He is sporting a look I didn't love, but I do love him!
Scott and Hunter sleeping in Disneyland 10/96.


Happy Father's Day to my two favorite Daddies. I had more fun looking at old pictures, time sure flies when you're having fun.

I think I'm getting older but....

I think I'm getting older, BUUUUUT I don't feel any different. I know this because, I just got back from a wedding reception. Who's you ask?? I was in the YW when we first moved here for about 3 years. Tonight, I attended the reception for one of my MiaMaids, Emily! Her older Julia, is now my visiting teacher and is also married with a cute little girl. Their youngest sister Becca got married a few months ago too. And she was a Beehive!! I just don't get how they are all getting older, but I'm not.

Scott and I left the kids home with my parents while we went to the reception, thanks Mom and Dad! We left them eating dinner and with instructions on feeding Hope. While my Dad was feeding the baby, Hannah asked, "does feeding a baby again make you feel young again Grandpa?" I'm sure Grandpa smiled, but his reply was, "No I feel old, I have fed 12 babies now!" Isn't that something! That Grandpa/Dad has fed all his children and then all his children's children. Happy Father's Day to my Dad, a great Dad and Grandpa!

Speaking of Father's Day...I need to go wrap some presents for my special honey, the Daddy of my chitlens.

Baby Steps

The good times continue around. Friday afternoon we made it to the movie. Mom and Hayden saw the Fantastic Four, while the rest of us saw Pirates. I know some people didn't love that movie, but I thought it was entertaining. It's probably my third favorite in the series, but still good.

The kids have a great piano teacher that really rewards them for trying hard and doing there best. Hannah got a $25 Visa gift card, and Hunter scored some Crawford box seats! The boys had a rockin' good time at the Astro's game on Friday night. The girls had a good time on their girl's night out at Macaroni Grill. My favorite is Penne Rustica, Caesar salad and of course the bread with Balsamic vinegar. Yum. After dinner Hannah and I drove to the airport to pick up my Dad. I was so tired, but enjoyed chatting it up with Hannah and my Dad.

It has been raining off and on (mostly on) this week, but we managed to squeeze in a trip to Lifetime pool and some rock climbing today. Sure enough, after about 45 minutes of swimming, they closed the pool. All the Gray's suited up to climb, even me. Mom and Dad were watching and holding Hope. I am VERY afraid of heights, but I tried it. The first time up I even made it up half way.,..before I freaked out. I was stuck up there for 30 seconds thinking...I can't move, I want down, I can't let go, I want down!! AHHHH. Finally, I let go (not very gracefully mind you) I hit my head on the descent, but I didn't care I was down! I tried it 3 more times, knowing full well I wasn't getting higher than about 3-4 feet, but I wanted to practice "letting go". I mastered that part :). The kids kept wanting me to go up again and go higher, but no...not today. I'm taking BABY STEPS!

Girls Night Out

I had a fun night out with my Mom. Our movie, Oceans 13, started at 6:05pm and Scott got home at 5:45, so we didn't have lots of time! I made some good chicken enchiladas for dinner, so we ate em' up and hit the road ASAScott could get home. Loved the movie, so what if it's not getting great reviews, I loved it. How could you not?? Hello. I hope they make an Oceans 14, 15 and 16! The good thing about my Momma, we stopped AFTER the movie and she ran in to Walgreens (while I waited in the car, it was raining HARD) for a big old bag of treats, that we proceeded to eat the rest of the way home. That girl knows the good treats! Walgreens didn't have the NIBS though, oh well. We had more than enough to make up for it.

Jon Krasinski's movie License to Wed looks good. I didn't know he got People's Sexiest Man Alive in 2006. The things you learn while blogging.

Getting back on the ball

Oh my Momma is a good helper. I came home from the gym to find the down stairs picked up, the kitchen cleaned,the dishwasher unloaded...and reloaded again, and the children playing happily.



So, I had time to clean the downstairs carpet, with my Bissel Pro-Heat Turbo 2X. That has been my favorite (household cleaning) device I have bought for a long time. I have had it for two years and it's cleaned many a gross thing!! Many of you are probably lucky enough to NOT have carpet, but I still do, and I couldn't live without it. Well, I might be over exaggerating a bit, but I do love it.

Thanks to Kristi, we might have found a better time to read our scriptures, in the morning right after people wake up. We have been slacking since summer started about reading the scriptures together, and I was motivated to get back on the ball. Life is a series of getting "off the ball" and then getting back on again. As long as we are trying, right?

I need to go shower and get pretty. I'm looking pretty gross and nasty at the present moment. We will be heading to lunch here in a bit. Hope is asleep now, she needs one good nap a day at least! I hear rumblings of Cici's Pizza, but I hope I can persuade people to go a different route. I'm sure I will lose!! Grandma is visiting, so where ever she wants to go!! After that...who knows where we will end up!

Some kind of day

What a day! I'm glad we had a lazy morning until 11, because after that it got ugly! I won't bore you with all the details of one thing after the other, but the 6:30 volleyball practice for Hannah was a labor of love! All I wanted to do was go home and put my feet up. I got my workout walking the stores today and driving kids from activity to activity. Everything was on Wednesday this week.

Macy's was having a sale too you see, and we had to see it ALL. I told my Mom, who is a shopper, who loves to find a deal, I didn't get the digging gene. She sees a rack of 50% off 50% as a challenge. I just say no thank you. I'll go find something full price and use my 40% off any one item coupon. I did love just walking the mall however, looking into whatever store struck our fancy. A lot of things struck our fancy too. The funny thing, is we didn't buy anything. Hannah was the only one that bought something, a Webkinz with her own money. Well, Hayden scored when we went to Target, thanks to the Grandma. He tried the old bait and switch routine. He has been talking about these knights they have there all day. The one he was talking is like $4.99, but when we get there...he starts looking at the $14 knights with a horse. He is no dumbo (as Hannah likes to call him) that kid!! He ended up with a Pirate of the Caribbean toy.

We were driving Hunter to scout camp this afternoon and he was making me laugh...he is so much like his Dad it kills me. They wear t-shirts with their names written on them. So, yesterday he goes up to this random kid named Aaron and says "Hi Aaron"! The kid looks at Hunter (remember Hunter has never seen or talked to this kids before in his life) and says "you look familiar how do I know you?" Hunter says "we were in the same class last year". Aaron, "Oh yeah, you look taller and you got your braces off...you look a little different!" Hunter, "yeah I did, anyway I'll see you later". For the rest of the day Aaron sees Hunter and says HI!! Poor Aaron has no clue. He tried to pull the same trick on some kid named Michael, but Michael was a little quicker. Micheal "No, we weren't on the same baseball team!" Crazy Hunter!! I guess scout camp got a little boring and he had to find some amusement!

I'm hoping tomorrow is a less busy/running around kind of a day. I want to exercise, blog, swim....read a book. I like my life of leisure :)

Special time

Sometimes I think what the heck? We have quite the gene pool in our family. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes...the list could go on but those are the biggies. We did get good news today, my Mom ,Marleen, had some weird white bumps on her tongue that the dentist discovered. It's leukoplakia. We just got word that the bumps are benign so we can rest easier! We live in such a fast paced world, that we want everything NOW or even 5 minutes ago. Same with biopsy results...you would think they could figure out a way to make the finding out process go faster. A week is just too dang long.

Moving on...we have our trip planned for Utah in July and boy are we excited! I talked with my sister Heidi today, and we are planning some of the stuff we want to do. Hunter said he wanted to ski...with a smile...he does know it's summer, but thought it would be nice. He also wants to see his old buddy Chase (those were the two things he said) We wanted to go hiking in a slot canyon, but alas it will be too hot. 120* doesn't sound like a ton of fun to me. I want to hike, walk, canoe, picnic, shop, eat, swim, Temple Square (you've got to do Temple Square! and see whatever movie they are showing)hang out...what else? What else am I missing?

Hunter has scout camp this week. I attended scout camp for the past couple of years as the den mother. I was pretty happy to NOT have to go this year (I'm no longer den mom and I have a baby so they took pity on me :). Hunter was telling me about the REALLY bad magician they had yesterday, he couldn't do a couple tricks all together, messed up a few others...his name was Nitro the Magician! Thankfully, he got into his friend Thomas' group from another ward. We only have 1 boy Hunter's age in our ward...and he wasn't going! Bummer. All in all though... good times.

Hayden kind of got the shaft yesterday. He wanted to go swimming all day long. Hannah and Hunter both went to the Moran's to swim. We tried to call his friend to come over, but we never connected...and quite frankly I was pooped from running people all over...so I told him after all was settled I'd take him to the pool. Hope, Hayden and I headed to Lifetime at 7. Hope had a late afternoon nap and I let her sleep, so she was good to go. We had a great time on our "special time" as Hayden called it. He is becoming quite the little fish. Hannah had special time with her Daddy and ran 1 mile for the first time. It doesn't take much to keep the kiddies happy, but everybody needs a little "special time" every once in a while.

Easy lettuce wraps

We did a little sampling at Costco on Saturday and came out of there with a couple impulse buys. Just a couple :) Aidells meatballs and sausages. Yesterday for breakfast we had the chicken and apple sausages sliced with eggs. Tonight I just whipped up the easiest lettuce wraps EVER. Using the Aidells chicken teriyaki and pineapple meatballs. (Meatballs wrapped in lettuce, sliced carrots, rice, dipping sauce-for an EASY lettuce wrap) I have seen these little buggers in the store and kept on walkin...they didn't sound good AT ALL to me. BUT, they taste great! I think Hunter sampled every single sausage or meatball they had.

Sesame-Ginger Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup water
3/4 teaspoon arrowroot
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
dash red pepper flakes

It took me longer to type this up than it did for me to make dinner!! Not really, but fast and great dinner tonight!

Blooming where I'm planted

So I took my ipod to the gym loaded with new music and planted myself on a spinning bike and just rode. It was nice! Hayley I really do like that Joshua Radin, thanks for the share.

I guess I have lived in this good ol' state of Texas long enough that I wanted to stick up for it this morning. I certainly wasn't mad, believe me, you know when I am :)! I was sitting on the spinning bike just a think'in away...what do I like so much about Texas?... enough to want to stick up for it? Long ago...when Scott and I were moving away from Chicago for the first time to San Diego, CA somebody gave me a card from Mary Englebright that said "Bloom Where you are Planted" that I will always remember.

I have since moved away from San Diego and now live in Houston, TX. I was actually very glad to get out of CA...for a number of reasons, but Texas was a new start. We got to come here and buy a big (at least compared to CA) house (in fact the house seemed SO big when I first moved here I thought little baby Hunter would get lost, what a joke now!!!), a new great job, and we made so many friends here. The people here were all transplants and we had a family away from family. I NEVER thought I would live here, much less like it, but it has grow on me. I'd say it's the people most of all...it's NOT the weather, well it's not the summer :) winters are great! It's certainly not the bugs, can you say mosquitoes?? I'm even amused that my kids know way more about Texas than me. (local Tomball history starts in 3rd grade, Texas history 4th, US history 5th and world history in 6th) I don't think I'll be flying the Texas flag anytime soon, heck I don't even like Scott's OSU flag! But whatever it is this is home. I'd love to move and be by my sisters and YES my parents, but who knows what the future will bring, right now I'm "blooming where I'm planted"!

good book alert!

I just finished a good book, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It's part love story, part historical fiction set in Depression era America in a circus of all places, and it also gives you a glimpse into what it's like to grow old. It was a unique book, I didn't think I cared two hoots about circus life. I'd recommend it.

I'm also a nerd because I thought this little article was interesting about Deja Vu.

I got a great swap package yesterday

It was so fun getting stuff together to send off to Natalie, my favorite things swap partner. It was also very fun GETTING stuff from my super creative swap partner Natalie.

She loves books too, and I got John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany. I have not read it yet, but will soon.

I love a good magazine, and I got Lucky. Maybe I'll get "lucky" and find some good bargains that I'll pass on to you!

I got some really pretty apple green Isabelle Party napkins and plates. Natalie loves to throw parties and I'll be using mine soon. Target.com didn't have a good picture of the stuff I got so...I decided to post a little blurb about Isabelle. Get your glasses on! All her paper products are so pretty, go check them out the next time you are at Target.

Also, I got The Shins: Wincing the Night Away. Love it! I love new music.

Also enclosed was a fun margarita shaker...just not for margarita's! Natalie enclosed a recipe for a fun drink...the leaning tower. Can't wait to try it. This is the same kind of pattern on mine. Love the stripes. Last but not least, I got a beautiful journal. Couldn't find any pictures, so you'll have to use your imagination! Dear diary....it's so fun getting presents. Thanks Natalie.

Do YOU want a donut?

I was sitting in my new favorite place...in front of the computer blogging...and Hayden walked up to me and asked if I wanted a donut?? Sure!! I knew we didn't have any, but they did sound good, so why not. He proceeded to punch me in the arm...so if Hayden asked if you want a donut...say NO!

I don't know where this day went, it's already almost 9 pm and I haven't sat down long enough to write my own blog. I have read yours, mind you, but haven't written my own. I need to write without little Hopey in my arms and it seems like I was busy doing other stuff during her naps today. During one nap we were running around Costco and Target, two of my favorite places :). The second nap I was putting away all the things I bought at Costco and Target! I also got the bathrooms cleaned today. The kids even got their jobbers done today. Yes, a good Saturday in my mind. I went over to pick Hannah up from a friends, we were just staying a second and stayed over an hour while Hayden swam. Hannah had been swimming there most of the afternoon, she'll be tired. Hunter was off at a pool party/BBQ this afternoon. We got home and Scott was home!! I wasn't expecting him for another 1/2 hour. What a nice surprise. Actually, he wasn't supposed to be home until 10 pm, but called and said he made the earlier flight. You've GOT to love that.

I downloaded some new music today and I'm loving it. I love music too. I have a very wide variety of music that I like. Right now, I'm listening to The Scientist by Coldplay thanks Kristi. It's funny, I have heard Coldplay all over the radio and always liked their songs, but never really put two and two together. Kristi, if you are reading this...what was the name of that song by Ray La.....whatever his name was, that was on your blog the other day? Just wondering...

I'm loving my new CD Wincing the Night Away, by the Shins thanks Natalie!!

Remember:it's my lazy day

I'm trying hard to be lazy, but I've only watched one Oprah...so far. I have a few ERs, Boston Legal, 15 hours worth of Oprah and some Ellen's to go. I'm not very hopeful I will get it all in today. The Oprah I did watch was a good one, I thought. It is the one about Michael Moore's new film Sicko. I'm not a big fan of his, but this movie is one that I'll see.

Also, Oprah's new book club selection is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Middlesex is a very interesting read and I recommend it. We read it in book club about a year ago.

Random things of a lazy day.

1) I have found a new best friend-Claritin. I'm in love! Two nights ago my nose was itching so bad...I said forget it I'm taking some. It's been so much better.

2) Do you like French toast? Kind of a weird, random question, but last night we had breakfast for dinner and I like to use French bread instead of regular bread, OH it's SO good. Just thought I'd share.

3) Last night all kids we tucked in bed and everything had been quiet for hmmmm about 30 seconds and Hayden came down. He bathes and gets dressed totally on his own, and last night he made an interesting PJ choice. Flannel power ranger bottoms and a long sleeve spiderman top. Hello, I said it's 90* outside, he didn't care he loves those PJ's. So, anyway he comes down and says "Mom I think you need to take my temperature, I feel kind of hottish" Go figure! Crazy kid.

4) I read two of my favorite books to the kids last night: And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon and Ruby the Copy Cat. Love them. I haven't read either of them in a while and enjoyed them last night. I thought you might like them too.

5) I finally found Hayden's Crocs, oh how I missed those shoes for a week. Best summer shoes EVER! They were in the guest closet under my old prom dress!! He must have found a good hiding place and forgot his shoes. Huge pet peeve of mine, not being able to find stuff. I can rest well tonight ;)

6) Scott gets home tomorrow night from Singapore. He will be one tired mess though, he leaves in about 4 hours or so and doesn't get to our house until tomorrow night. Lovely.

Hayden asleep in his dress-up bucket.

7) Hannah spent 3 hours happily playing quietly in her room this morning. Everybody was happy and busy, you've got to love lazy mornings!!

Oh no, Hope cut her first tooth

Well, I know why Hope has been crying the last couple of nights, she cut her first tooth!! I'm really kind of sad. I love that big old toothless smile of hers. Now she is going to bite me (remember still nursing) and I might have some unkind thoughts about her!! Anyway, I loaded her up with Tylenol tonight, I hope that helps!

We had a great day until about 2:30pm. The kids were probably tired, I know I certainly was(that was probably the REAL issue if I want to be honest!) and they started fighting. We were getting ready to go swim at Lifetime and then rock climb for an hour (pictures!). I was on the phone and had to get off...HELLO...that is not a good way to make the mama happy. Belinda reared her ugly head, and we were off to run an errand and go to Lifetime. I needed to make a pit stop at the post office to mail Natalie some of my favorite things. I'm just a' yelling away the whole time in the car blah blah blah blah. I work myself up into quite a tizzy. We get there in line and there is a sweet lady there. The second I step into line she starts chatting with me and telling me how sweet the kids are. She is a mother of older (35-40 year old) children. She keeps talking about the summer and how I need to enjoy them they get big so fast...how hers would sometimes fight and argue but not anymore... now they are planning trips together...the whole bit. She's talking to me the whole time (15 minutes) we are in line. She was laying it on think...everything I needed to hear she said!!! I just started to laugh inside thinking about how funny and gentle Heavenly Father can be with his little reminders. I was like...did you have a camera in my car? I don't know why the "bickering" (as my parents used to call it) bugs me so much, but it does. This is the first summer I have thought about putting everybody into summer school!

Fruit is a gamble, but this time I won.

We stopped off at the grocery store today after the gym, usually not a good idea. (That's when I'm hungry and I tend to buy lots of junk.) But not today. I'm feeling so motivated right now to eat right and to exercise! It feels so good again, I'm loving it. Not that I don't enjoy the treats too. But I don't feel bad when I've eaten the good stuff. Have you noticed that sometimes you just have to exercise or eat right and the motivation follows? Sometimes, we wait to get motivated to workout. I don't really get motivated until I start doing it and seeing the results...then I'm motivated to stay on the band wagon.

I bought a bunch of fruit today. It all is looking so good! But the nectarines are so good right now. They are sweet and juicy and just perfect. My only thing is, I didn't buy enough. We all had one (I had 2 because I'm a pig) and the bag was gone. Bummer. Was it Kramer or Jerry that said "fruit is a gamble"? You never know what it's going to be like, so you don't want to buy too many fearing that it won't be good! I'll have to go back, it's not like I don't make a trip or two to the store every week.

So my house was kid central yesterday. I told the kids they could invite some friends over. Well, you have three kids and they each want somebody to come. It started out with Hunter who called his friends Ben and Seth (twins)they came...then they were having so much fun with the Nerf guns (they are my best and worst purchase of the summer thus far) they had to get Colton in on the fun. Hannah's friend Gracen came over, and Hayden's friend Max. I thought to myself "just hang on for the ride it will be over soon". But they all did great. They stayed downstairs or outside, like I asked them to, and they were pretty quite. Well, as quiet as 8 kids can be anyway. They played games like Blockus, Life, Duck Duck Goose, and ESPN Scene IT. They even ate up the not so sweet watermelon I had in the fridge, they didn't care...they loved it. Great! Then at about 3 they all switched and went to the friend's house. It was Hope's nap time, and I parked it on the couch and took a nap. Yes!

All in all good times. Then, last night we went to Hayden's team party for baseball. He was so excited to get that trophy. His first. He even slept with it. He played baseball this year TO GET the trophy. When your brother has like 20 and Hannah has her share too, you need to leave your own mark on the trophy shelf.

Roasted Duck

Hannah made this "bonnet" for Hope the other day, when we were having a little "family time". She has made me aprons and all kinds of treasures! I can hand that girl a hunk of material and she has all kinds of fun.


My "little princess" (can you hear the sarcasm?? :) got up last night 3 times! I'm not sure what the problem was, but I just got up and nursed her. I wasn't in the mood to be tough mama. I figured, I'm up anyway...I can either nurse her and go back to bed for a couple hours or listen to her scream for an hour. I got up and nursed her...she usually is a great sleeper so maybe she is teething, or something. I sure missed Scott last night, he is the best up in the middle of the night Daddy ever!! I'm spoiled.




And last, but oh so not least we have the DUCKS. Yes, these are in Chase's yard. Have I told you about these beauties yet? He rescued them about two years ago from our neighborhood pond. There was some injustice happening and he felt the need to save them. Anyway, we has tried taking them back to the pond, but they keep finding their way "home". Lucky me. You see sometimes they quack at about 5:30 AM for food. I really have gotten used to them, usually. Not last night though. I had just finished nursing Hope for the THIRD time, when they started in. Chase must have been sleeping (lucky him) because nobody came out to feed them. Soooo, they kept quacking until Hope woke up again, this time for good, at 7:00. If I had a gun in the house last night, you might see a new menu item on my blog...roasted duck!

"Don't bug me I'm blogging!"

I have not been able to post on this blog all day! Finally, Hope is in bed, Hunter is home from baseball, Hannah is at a sleepover and Hayden has been bathed. Now, I can sit down and write my blog for the day. I told the kids "don't bug me...I'm blogging!!!!!"

Something interesting happened today...we got home from the gym around 11 and I told the kids no friends until this afternoon, let's just have some family time. I heard the moans and the groans. I even heard some fighting for a while, but then...all of a sudden I heard happy sounds coming from the computer room. All three children were in here looking at pictures on the computer. They started looking at all the new pictures, then they were looking at some of the older ones. Most of our digital pictures aren't that old, but they did find some from August 2004 the first day of school. Hannah was going to kindergarten, Hayden was just starting Mother's Day Out one day a week :), and Hunter was going into 3rd grade. That's where I'll be this next August, except Hannah will be going into 3rd grade, Hayden will be going into kindergarten and Hunter will be going into 6th grade! I won't be shipping poor Hope off to MDO, not yet anyway.

I took a couple of good classes today at the gym. One was a half hour core class...boy have I needed that! I have been doing some core/Pilate's/yoga stuff, but to have a whole half hour class devoted to that area was really great and very motivating. Then I went over and tried out this "barbell strength" class that will have me sore tomorrow. Now that Hope is taking a later morning nap it has really freed me up to go exploring at Lifetime ! Another thing I love about Lifetime is, they send you a magazine! And we all enjoy our mags! This particular issue had a good article entitled: Eating for Energy. Go check it out, it was a good article.

Besides the gym, I really was planning on staying home for the rest of the day. But then around 4 I got a little cabin fever. Hope woke up from her nap, and the kids wanted to go rock climbing, so we went over to Lifetime for the second time today. I'm getting my money's worth!! Hayden was not old enough last year to officially rock climb, so this summer he has been very excited to go. So, he got his chance. He has been before...Hunter had his birthday party at a place called Stone Moves here in Houston last year. But, he did great and was like a little monkey climbing all the way to the top. My kids love to rock climb.

Our neighbor Chase, the good cook...I have mentioned him before, is actually a less active member of our church. He hasn't been active since he was like 16...he is the best neighbor you could ask for, but he has some Word of Wisdom issues. Whatever...no bid deal. Hayden was over playing outside with Kylie, Chase's little girl. I walked over there and Chase is laughing. I said what's so funny. "Oh Hayden is just spreading the good word." Chase was drinking a beer and Hayden is over there telling him (very nicely mind you) "you know Mr. Chase your body is a temple and beer is not good for you." Oh boy!!

So, we had our family pictures taken on Saturday evening. My friend Sarah took them. She is Miss Smarty Pants/talented photographer that I met when I first moved here...like 9 years ago. (time flies) Nine long years ago, we founded "our" little book club. That book club has seen all kinds of changes, but it's still around. Anyway, she has always been a great scrapbooker and photographer. She started posting pictures of different families and individuals that she has taken, and I emailed her and said "please take ours!". She did, go check out Sarah's blog from a few days ago. Sarah has a few of her favorites posted. I think she did such an amazing job and I'm so excited to see the rest. I love how everybody is looking so natural. I think she is one talented woman! Also, you will like how my comment appears like 3 times. It wouldn't post...and I'm not the most patient of individuals!! I couldn't delete it, so I guess it's on there for all to see what a nut I am.

Just call me Janet Jackson!

So Belinda came for a visit this morning out of nowhere. For those of you who don't know her, it's my evil alter-ego. It was a short visit, but she was definitely here. Maybe it was the dishes, the boys closet that looked like a bomb (aka Hayden) had been set off, laundry-oh the never ending laundry...and maybe the fact that Scott was on his way to Singapore this morning that made Belinda appear. Whatever it was, I was really looking forward to a good work out. I needed to blow off a little steam!!

I made it to the 9:45 spinning class, the only problem is, it's only 45 minutes. Just not long enough when you are 5 minutes late, and the teacher decides to cool down when my heart rate monitor said 35 minutes!! (She had someplace to go I guess) There is this class called The MIXX at Lifetime that Jennifer is always bugging me to go to. Up until today, I have told her NO WAY! You see it's a mix (hence the name :) of kickboxing, athletic drills, high impact moves, low impact/dynamic moves...all of which I'm fine with...it's the last element that drove me away...the "funk" portion. So, right before cool down in spinning, I jumped off my bike and hit The MIXX! You know how everybody always says "just do it nobody else is watching you" that's crap! I was totally watching everybody else...and I was no better or worse than them so I got my "funk" on!! The teacher kept saying "okay here's the "body and soul" or the "funk" part of the workout-like I couldn't tell already!! I just let it go and decided to give everybody a show of what this white girl could do! I've now got some new moves. Some need a "little" work, but it was a good time, and Belinda, I'm happy to report is long gone!

"It's a small world after all..."

Scott and I were driving to church today trying to quietly discuss something that we didn't want "little ears" listening too...when all of a sudden I've got two kids who were totally listening asking questions about what we were discussing. So, my question to you is this...why is it that kids can always hear what you don't want them to hear, but seldom hear what you want them to. How many times have I asked somebody to go and do something only to be told..."I didn't hear you". I just find it somewhat mysterious. Go figure.

I was in the lovely mother's "lounge" at church(because it is oh so luxurious with the smelly diaper pale :) chatting with a nice lady (and also feeding Hope) when all of a sudden she turns around and says "I know you". You do, I say? "Yeah, are you Heather?" I sure am, I answer...how do you know me? "From your blog!" She used to live in a ward that meets in our building, but has since moved away, and was back for a visit. She still keeps in touch with a lady that blogs. My blog is linked on that lady's blog and so is the nice lady, Ashley, that I was chatting with. So, hi Ashley if you are reading this. But isn't that funny, it's such a small world. We're all just a blog away from each other.

Watch out-I've got food on the brain!

Chicken Pot Stickers






I made a yummy dinner this week: homemade chicken pot stickers and Asian rice bowl salad. Beware, the pot stickers are VERY good, but they are labor intensive!!! The salad I have been eating on for several days and it is excellent, I just finished it for my dinner. It is very crunchy and that dressing gives it a great flavor. I used napa cabbage in mine. That kind of cabbage doesn't have a strong "after taste"; it's almost like lettuce. I didn't use chicken (definitely not tofu, but that's just me) because I had the chicken pot stickers with it. But I bet chicken would be good.





Today was Hayden's last t-ball game. Good thing too, because it's getting hot and humid here. After the game, I ran to Costco and got some supplies for a little BBQ at our house with our neighbors the Stanalands and our OLD neighbors the Reinkes. We are still hoping they will want to move back, but I think they like Austin too much. I stocked up on some of my favorites. I LOVE that Chocolate Lover's Delight Bundt cake. I also bought those frozen hamburger patties, because I was pressed for time and wanted to get lunch on the table fast. Where have those been my whole life? How handy are those pre-made patties?! They also sell this rotisserie chicken Greek pasta salad that's good. Cherries are in, and they are great. I think of my Mom when I eat cherries because she loves them too. Hmmm I've got food on the brain tonight don't I?

The lazy days of summer...?

Who came up with the lazy days of summer anyway? They don't feel so lazy to me. Ha!! The kids are so used to going going going, I think they "think" they need to be doing something all the time. I told the kids from the beginning they had 2 hours per day of T.V., computer, video games. At first they thought I was the Grinch, but that's okay, they are used to it now. Good grief, it's not like I said NO T.V. I think they would spend half the day in front of the T.V. if I let them. Before work today, Scott made up a little "work out" program for Hunter and Hannah to do...in all I think it took them about 20 minutes to complete. Hunter was out running sprints between the light posts, push ups, and sit ups. Hannah had to do her skip-it for 10 minutes and then do 10 push ups and some sit ups. They each had to do leg lifts and stretches too. They had fun and wanted more. Crazy kids!

All my plans for the day got chunked...Hayden was sick last night. I took him to the doctor half-way hoping it was something that could be medicated. Well, let's face it, there was no half-way about it...give the kid some drugs! But no, it's just a virus. He's better already. It just is not a good weekend to be sick. We have a wedding to go to tonight, our old neighbors (the Reinkes) are in town, and we are getting our family picture taken tomorrow. No time for sickies.

Do you all know about the game Blockus? We got the game at Christmas time and it is way fun. It's the most fun with 4 people, but you can play with 2. The kids all like it and so do Scott and I. That has been a very summer friendly game! I have started putting together my list of places we need to hit this summer. I'm going to go check out what free movies are at the AMC this summer. Plus, I'll figure out the free days at the museums. All except the Children's Museum. I'll pay for that one, it gets too crowded on free day. I've always wanted to go berry picking at this place around here, I think I have about 1 more week before it's too late. And of course spending lots of time at Lifetime swimming and rock climbing. Hayden will be old enough this year to do it for real.