Sunday, April 27, 2008

I've Been Tagged


Here is the tag:

1. Write your own six-word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want.
3. Link it to the person who tagged you and to the place of origin.
4. Tag five more bloggers, with links.
5. Leave them a comment and invite them to play.

I was tagged by: Home Spun Juggling

My six-word memoir would be:

Artfully living through love and learning.

I tag:

Rachel
Amberly
Nicole
Sherri
Jill


Monday, April 21, 2008

Tired Moms


My sister Rachel blogged about her not so great day and I thought I would share mine and help her know she is not alone. We all have times like that. Today I feel like this woman:

I have been cleaning kids room, cooking, laundry, making name signs for the kids room, played outside with the kids for 5 hours, made picnic lunch, read story about the body WHILE cooking, vacuumed for the 3rd time today-stupid sand-, baths for kids AND grocery shopping at 8:00 pm. I am exhausted! Thankfully I have a great husband! HE bathed the kids and put them to bed AND when I came home from the store he was folding the laundry. Isn't he wonderful? Thankfully my house isn't as bad as it could be.

In honesty I have had worse days than today. At least my kids weren't as bad as their most awful days. There was no pants peeing today, Lindsey only had one poo accident, one scraped knee, three dirty outfits- mine included, two tired kids and one beat mommy. Two baths, soon to be added by my well deserved bubble bath with a book. Sometimes it really does amaze me at what we moms are able to do! How we are able to juggle everything? Be we working moms, stay-at-home-moms, student moms, public, private or homeschool moms, etc. We all work our tails off and I know there are days where I just want to recuperate and I feel like I didn't get hardly anything done on my list. But 95% of the time I surprise myself with how much I do and can get done in one given day. And that other moms are able to do and get done. I rarely meet a mom that I don't find to be a super mom in her own way. It really is, in my opinion, the hardest work there is.

All right, now that you have heard my fuzzy mommy moment. I am going to go and turn myself around with the wonderful, soaking, bubbliness of my bath.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

International Music

I MUST blog about something. Some of you may think this is totally weird and my sisters, well, they will think it is absolutely normal and pat themselves on the back for getting me started with my latest International music obsession. First I must say that I have always liked music in other languages. When Robert and I were dating I thought it was awesome that he spoke Portuguese after learning it when he lived in Brazil for two years serving on his mission. He brought home some good Brazilian music. Particularly Sandy e' Junior, a brother and sister that sang for years and have very tiny bopper songs, but I like them. I don't understand all of what they are saying, but after hearing the language spoken by Robert, his friend Troy who speaks it from his mission to Portugal and another friend who learned in Mozambique, I do know some words. And we have awesome friends who are Brazilian. I can in no way speak it, but can pick out a few things. Robert really wants me to learn Portuguese and I hope someday to be able to devote a little time to it. Here is Sandy AND her brother Junior.



The next one is a thanks to my sisters Rachel and Nicole who both lived in China while they taught English in Chinese schools. They are both travelers and loved it, they have both been to Russia, Ukraine and China, though Nicole has been to China twice. And in her latest visit she brought home some music souvenirs and an obsession with Jay Chou- not his Chinese name, that I can't remember, clear that one up please Rachel. He has a lot of fun music and is really talented. He has a mixture of what we would call pop, ballads and rap. He writes his own stuff can play the cello and the guitar and piano and is just fun no matter what language you speak. He also doesn't smoke or drink and seems to be a pretty decent celebrity. Anyway, I LOVE his music! Its very addicting and I hope I have opened the door for others to like him also. Unless you all think I am crazy to love music I can't understand. I have had a few Chinese friends translate SOME of the words, but not all. So if you dare, here are a few of my favorites.







Give him a look. He also has great ones on his CDs that my sister is letting me borrow and burn. *blush* I can't go to China to buy them and with shipping... you know. I am trying to find ways to get a hold of his piano music too. He is really good at that and they are so pretty. Especially Chrysanthemum Flower Bed from the movie Curse of the Golden Flower, which he also starred in. Actor too. I never saw the movie. Well, international music is cool because when you are sick of everything here, you have another place to look for good music.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Lindsey is Walking!

Lindsey has been walking for a few weeks now and I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it or blog about it. I know, shame on me. My camera is really dumb. Anyway, she is so cute! She has a hard time standing up without using something to pull her up. And she still falls and is a little wobbly. But she is doing really well. She says a ton of words now. Mommy, daddy, bye-bye, baby, hello, thank you, I love you- only on rare occasions, NO (of course) and DO for don't. She learns so many new words all the time I can hardly remember what she knows and says. Her favorite thing to do these days though is to babble and put Mommy at the end. So something like "Esh bla har netsfds Mommy." Its the cutest thing because it sounds like she really is trying to carry on a conversation with me and talk to me. I always answer her too.

She is still taking time with growing hair on the top of her head, but she has a long baby mullet in the back. I don't want to cut it because the pig tails are SO cute! I feel like if I cut it I won't have another way to have her look like a little girl since she won't wear bow head bands anymore. Emily loves her sister too. We have so much fun with our two beautiful girls. I love watching them discover the world, learn and play. I am so grateful every day for the blessing of these precious kids. I have many things that I want to do with my life in the years I have, but this is the season of my life is taking care of my family. I wouldn't trade it and I just get choked with emotion realizing what a blessing healthy, beautiful kids are. Lindsey, we all love you!

Lindsey and Her Baby

Lindsey has decided to love and care for this doll. Emily loved it too when she was about this age. They have both been so cute with it, best $5 I ever spent. Emily named it Baby Boy when she could talk, I guess because it doesn't have hair, even though it is dressed in purple. She doesn't seem to mind that Lindsey has taken to it, or I would just go get her one of her own. She carries it around the house hugging it and sucking her fingers. She pats it and loves it, takes it to bed. This is a picture of the first time I caught her hugging it. It was the sweetest thing I have seen and I had to take a picture. Today even she got food on the babies head- she calls it 'baby'- and I washed it off and left it on the counter and she got upset that I didn't give it back. When I realized what the problem was she was crying and grabbing at it, wishing she could reach it. Oh, the sweet things that babies do!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Book Addiction


I really have a problem, a serious one. I love to read and I read all the time, but even more than reading the books, I have to collect them. There is nothing worse than a winter day or even a summer day, when you look in your house and realize you don't have anything to read. And the books I haven't read, I am not in the mood for. Moby Dick? Nah, I really am going to read that someday, but I don't feel in the mood for that deep of a classic today. Little Women? Nope, read it twice. Scarlet Pimpernel? I think I have read that so many times it is burned into my brain. So I stare at my book collect until I pick one that I have or haven't read. If I am lucky I perhaps just went to the library and I have a few new ones to thumb through and figure out if they were worth it. I love to collect classics, they are always the most fun to read. And the most educational. I want my kids to have a wealth of books at their fingertips, just like I did. I must have in my personal library, the books I grew up loving and reading. But I may have too many books, what do you think?

You know you are addicted to books and have too many books when...

... you want a bigger house to have more room for your book explosions
... you feel like you should jump on a home purchase when you see built in book cases next to a fireplace
... the first place you go in any store is to the book section
... people come to YOUR house instead of the library for books and you feel you should keep a check out list to keep track of what has been borrowed
... you have separate bookshelves for children's books and chapter books
... you hear the word 'Book Sale' and even though there is no more room on any of your bookshelves, in any closets, under any of the beds and you still want to go
... you were at a book sale and ended up buying a book you already have
... you frequent thrift stores, not really for the clothes, but for the books and come out with arm loads of books
... your spouse hates it when you end up at thrift stores because he knows you will come home with more books
... you, your spouse and all those coming to help, dread it when you move because of the many boxes labeled 'books' on the outside
... you want to spend part of your tax refund on another nice, solid bookshelf
... you take a bubble bath and take 3 books in the bathroom to read because you can't decide which one to read and it is getting late (I haven't dropped a book yet!)
... people come over you have to apologize for the kids books on the floor and your own books on the couch
... the areas of clutter in the house are wherever you set the books to get them out of the way
... you clean the kids room and two seconds later it is a mess again because the baby pulled all the books out for the 12th time that day

I am sure I can think of more, but all of these have happened to me. What do you think? Do I have too many books? At least for now, the large stash is limited mostly to the bedrooms, though there are trouble spots next to the microwave and by the tv. And when the kids drag them out of the bedrooms. I am not done buying them and trust me, I am just beginning! I really want a bigger place for many reasons, but I think a lot about how awesome it will be to have more room for MORE BOOKS!

Monday, April 7, 2008

100 Things About Me


>>My sister Rachel tagged me to tell 100 things about myself. Let's see if I can.

1. I am the second oldest of 10 children, 6 sisters, 3 brothers
2. My parents got divorced 1 year ago
3. My mom got remarried last week
4. I now have 4 step siblings, 3 step sisters and 1 step brother
5. I was homeschooled from the 3rd grade on
6. I have taken 10 years of private art lessons
7. My dream is to have my art in galleries and sell for lots of moo-lah
8. I have 4 ribbons from the State Fair in the art competition
9. I volunteered as an intern to Eagle Forum at my state capitol when I was a teenager
10. I did like it, but I had to sit through boring committee meetings and take notes
11. I was very boy crazy as a child
12. I have asthma and take regular medication for it
13. My family was diagnosed with Celiac Sprue when I was 11 and we are all gluten intolerant
14. I have never been on an airplane or out of the country
15. I have driven to over 17 states
16. My husband knows that the one place I must visit before I die is Italy
17. I met my husband when I was 18
18. Robert (my husband) was my first, and only kiss
19. I was also his first and only kiss
20. I got married when I was 19
21. I did not have a driver's license when I got married and got it when I was 20
22. I really like real estate and would love to flip houses for some extra cash
23. I have never broken a bone
24. I am homeschooling my own kids
25. I finally went to Disneyland a year after I was married
26. I married my best friend
28. I broke up with Robert when we were dating for two weeks
29. I LOVE violin music and really wish I could play it
30. I really like international music
31. I am terrified of Sharks and have an ocean phobia
32. I am also fascinated by sharks and watch nature shows and scary movies about them all the time
33. I am a germaphobe and like things to be very clean or I can't think straight
34. Two years ago I got so sick for several months that I dropped 60 lbs and weighed 112 lbs at a size 2
35. I am now a chubby size 8
36. I am a night owl and consistently go to bed anywhere between midnight and 2 a.m.
37. I love to read, everything from classics to non-fiction and self help books
38. I have been called to the nursery 3 times since leaving young women's at 18
39. I can sort of play the piano
40. I really love chocolate
41. I like frogs and had a few pet frogs as a kid
42. I had braces for 1 year 1/2 at age 16
43. I had my second child all naturAL without any pain relievers whatsoever
44. I am a perfectionist
45. I am really hard on myself and expect too much
46. I fear that I won't get to do all the things I want to
47. As a little kid I used to eat the dead flies in the window because I thought they were raisins
48. I slept with my baby blankies until I was married
49. I worked as a grocery store checker when I was 18
50. I used to work as my Uncle Eric's (the folk artist who does DowdleFolkArt in Utah) research artist and worked on some of his pieces with him
51. I actually like to garden now and have had one for 3 straight years
52. I am book obsessed and am always trying to buy more books for me and my kids and am always at the library
53. I want a house with built in bookshelves to fill with books from floor to ceiling and my dream would be to have Belle's library in Beauty and the Beast
54. Math is not my strongest subject
55. I have been working on and off on my Bachelor's while having kids and have taken a break for now and will finish sometime when I am 30-40-ish
56. I still paint
57. I am allergic to the sun and if I forget to put on SPF 50 sunscreen I get itchy hives all over my arms and neck
58. I love to be outside and spend about 6-8 hours a day outside with my kids during good weather
59. I like to blog and go on mommy message boards
60. I have 2 blogs, belong to 3 message boards and have 2 email accounts and 1 facebook account
61. As a kid I loved to daydream
62. I played with Barbies with my little sisters until I was 16
63. I am terrible at taking pictures
64. I volunteered with my family for 4-5 summers and one summer when Emily was little at This Is The Place pioneer village acting out pioneer life
65. I would love to own my own pioneer dress or Civil War dress
66. I used to swing dance every weekend, even though I wasn't that good at it
67. I dated a few guys that were 8 years older than I was- Robert was the young one at 3 years older
68. I also dated (on accident) my 3rd cousin, we decided just to be friends after that :)
69. I have gone swimming in the ocean
70. I used to play basketball for many Saturday mornings and only ever shot and made one basket
71. I was on Seminary Council for church Seminary school when I was 17 and met Virginia Pierce, the daughter of President Hinckley, who spoke at our seminary
72. I have to remind myself to be outgoing as I have become a lot more introverted since being married
73. I love my husband's family and my mother-in-law has become my second mom
74. I have lived with my family in University student housing for 3 1/2 years in an apartment that is 650 square feet
75. I buy almost all of my kids close on consignment or used clothing sales and they always look cute!
76. I have awesome siblings, who I always have so much fun with
77. I used to volunteer as a teenager at the state homeschool convention and still try and go every year
78. I am a very organized person
79. I used to work from home while being a mom for Intermountain Health Care recruiting people for focus groups
80. I am good at building furniture and have built all of the furniture pieces by myself- even when I am big and pregnant
81. I love finding deals on furniture, clothing, housing etc. and love searching the classified ads
82. I love drinking water and rarely drink anything else, hate carbonation and only if I am having an asthma attack will I drink anything caffeinated
83. I love interior design and can't wait until I own my own place and can design it the way I want
84. I lived with 3 roommates in college which is great practice in getting along with people you don't always agree with
85. I am a romantic and love chick-flicks
86. I am very serious in my religion and read and study my scriptures, pray and teach my kids to do the same and I love my Savior and try to be like Him
87. I try to always drink and eat only organic animal products- they are better for you and just taste better and better for the environment- and any time I can get organic for the same price or similar, I always get the organic
88. I am politically conservative
89. My greatest compliment or insult is when it has to do with my intelligence
90. I don't like pets, they are like having more children that aren't as cute and are messy, hairy (I am allergic to most anyway) and they smell
91. I would love to take a month and tour the country driving in an RV with my kids
92. I have never been skiing even though I live in a snowy state
93. I am a pretty good cook and cook the entire shabang of Thanksgiving dinner all by myself
94. I never quite grew up and I love to play pretending games with my kids and act like I am 4 again
95. I would love to travel Europe and painting and seeing the great works of art
96. I lied when I was a kid and pretended I had a fainting disorder that I had to take little pink pills (teeth fluoride pills) for
97. I hated school and always tried to fake sick to stay home or get out of going to recess
98. When I was 4 I stuffed corn up my nose that they could not get out and it later rotted and I was sick for years after that, though I thankfully did eventually grow out of it at the age of 9 or 10
99. I love to sleep
100. Ever since my colonoscopy I can't stand to drink fresca soda because it tastes like the laxative I had to take right before, YUCK!

There you have it, 100 things about me. Can you think of 100 things about you?