Sweet, Silly Girls

Oh how I love these two. I was taking some diaper pics of Ali and Emma decided to join in. What sweet little monkeys I have been blessed with.

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Yahoo

Tonight is my last night alone! This is Dave's last night shift for the U. Of course I sent him with a big bowl full of cookies to wish night shift farewell. He will still have to work an occasional night for the ambulance but I can handle that. Its hard when I only get to sleep with him one night out of seven. I'm so excited. The downer is he won't be able to see the girls much on the days he works. That is one of the reason he has been resistant to switch. He will leave as they are just getting up and get home after they are in bed. I am in the process of stretching their bedtime out to 8:00 so they can see Daddy for at least 1/2 an hour. They are resisting. Surprisingly Ali more so than Emma. Did I mention Ali now sleeps in 10-11 hr stretches at night! Anyway I am so excited to have Dave home in the evenings! Although that is my designated house cleaning time, hmmm. Ah well. Did I mention I'm excited. Night shifts have really started to take their toll on Dave. He gets severe headaches that last days and that nothing will touch. We can only pinpoint them to lack of sleep. As a family we have gotten used to his crazy schedule and made the best of it. Days will take some adjusting for all of us but I think be well worth it! Cross your fingers it works out!

Our Week In Review

I really make it a goal to update at least once a week. I've kind of slacked this week so I will give you a list of highlights from our week. I love lists hehe

• I lost my purse and then found it again two days later at Old Navy. I tell ya sometimes my spaciness frustrates me. I didn't even notice it was missing for a whole day. Thank heavens for honest people!


• Emma set up camp in our living room. Dave was laying on the floor one morning when he got off work. Emma ran and grabbed blankets and pillows for all. We all had to lay down and pretend we were camping in Moab with her. She yelled at me when I got up to take some pictures. Apparently Emma misses snuggling together tightly (we've outgrown our tent) as a family in the wild outdoors.


• We enjoyed some great time with some good friends this week. We were able to have dinner with some of our favorite neighbors. Also, we were able to hang out and catch up with Dave's closest friends from high school. Spencer got married on Sat. We all went to the wedding part and then had some time to kill before the reception. We went to peach city with Bryan and Heather and Adam and Mindy. We were able to eat hamburgers, fries and milkshakes, celebrate Mindy's birthday, and chat it up. It was so much fun! At the reception Emma found her boyfriend (Kurtis, Spencer's little boy). She spent time chasing him around trying to hug and kiss him. It was fun to watch her, Austin (Bryan and Heather's little boy) and Kurtis running around and laughing together. They were so cute and only a little mischievous. Now, Dave's camera broke so we don't have any pics but Mindy promised to e-mail me some so you will have to keep checking. I'll put them on as soon as I get some. Or you could just check out Adam and Mindy's blog. OK so I am going to upload one pic. Its kind of fuzzy because it was taken right after Dave's camera broke but before it went out completely. Its Dave with all of his buddies and of course Karen the pretty bride and little Emma in her princess dress and daddy tie (as she calls them) who couldn't be left out.



• Ali had a blowout right before relief society started today. The kicker is the same thing happened last week but I never replaced her outfit. Once again my spaciness frustrates me, I should really work on it. I had to carry her into RS wearing nothing but a diaper and a big bow on her head. She was happy as a clown. She was smiling, flapping her arms wildly and cooing loudly, drawing attention to us. Everyone chuckled. Luckily our ward is filled with babies. Someone took pity on me or perhaps I should say took pity on Ali and lent me an outfit.


• Dave finished the last drawer on my log dresser. All he has left to do now is put on a few coats of lacquer. I decided to wait to post a picture of it until it is completely finished but I promise, you are going to love it! Oh which reminds me when we got home from church today Dave was telling me about the cute sharing time they had today. He sighed and said, "I wish I was creative." I just had to look at him in open mouthed amazement. He is one of the most creative people I know. Check out his workshop link sometime to see some of his projects. He didn't use a pattern on any of them. Oh which reminds me we got a project board for the door of Dave's shop. Its somewhere I can write down all of his orders so he can keep them straight. So if ya need anything I'll write ya in!

Here are the pics from Mindy. If these arn't enough there are tons more on her page :)

Ok, this will give you a chuckle. The first picture is of the boys 5 years ago at mine and Dave's wedding (sorry its a bad pic, I can't figure out the scanner). I wonder, who do you think has changed the most?

Shuffle

If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?
How to do it:1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc). 2. Put it on Shuffle. 3. Press Play. 4. For every question, type the song that's playing. 5. When you go to a new question, press the next button. 6. Be honest. This is fun stuff!

OPENING CREDITS "Bent" by matchbox 20
WAKING UP "Who says you can't go home" Surgarland, Bon Jovi
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL"I survived you" by Clay Aiken
FALLING IN LOVE "My Wild Frontier" by Faith Hill
FIGHT SONG "Wish I didn't know now" by Toby Keith
BREAKING UP "Smile" by Lonestar
PROM "Runaway train" by Tom Petty
LIFE IS GOOD "Should've said no" by Taylor Swift
DRIVING "One week" by barenaked ladies
MENTAL BREAKDOWN "Desperado" by Clint Black
FLASHBACK "How you remind me" by Nickelback
GETTING BACK TOGETHER "Realize" Colbie Caillat
WEDDING "Every Rose Has its Thorn" by Poison
FINAL BATTLE "Strawberry Wine" Deana Carter
DEATH SCENE "1985" Bowling for Soup
FUNERAL SONG "Told you so" by barenaked ladies
END CREDITS "Try Again" Aaliyah

Alright mine didn't work out quite as well as Kati's and Mindy's but what do ya do. My breaking up one works I guess. It seems as if my life movie would just have weird, innapropriate songs, I mean 1985 for the death scene and I told you so for the funeral song, thats just sick, not to mention every rose has it's thorn for a wedding! hehe.

Saturday Night Fun

During the summer me and Dave like to try going camping every weekend. Its not always somewhere big and far away (moab) we like Farmington Canyon, Logan Canyon, places closer to home where we can roast a hotdog, sleep in a tent and get some hiking/biking in. In winter we go a little stir crazy. We have cross country skiing but the girls are only good for about 30 minutes of that. So, we have to get creative. Tonight we decided to hit Holleywood, poo, I forgot what it was called. Anyway they have rides for kids, bumper cars, laser tag, miniature golf, and arcade games. Did I mention it was cheap?!? We went with Adam and Mindy and had some fun! I have to tell ya though when we first got there it was pretty much families and young kids everywhere. As it got a little later it went ghetto on us! You know the old creepy men and smelly, punkish preteens. Hehe we took off about then. Well as soon as Dave and Adam finished laser tag. I decided though that it isn't so much what you do as who you're with to make something fun.

Other random news from our week:

Ali moved to her crib in Emma's room. I cried. I miss hearing her little snores and her sucking her thumb in the middle of the night. I know it sounds weird but I felt empty inside. I did the same thing when we moved Emma out of our room. Geez they just moved across the hall, what am I going to do when they move out!

Basketball season has started! Basketball season makes me nervous. Its the game I know the least about and the game where people are the most competitive! We are kind of short so I have to ref from the stage while keeping score and the books. Luckily I have to take Emma and Ali with me so if I miss something I have the excuse of being distracted by my kids hehe. Emma has a little chair next to mine. She likes to sit there and yell out things like, "Goooooo ladies!!" "SCORE" "Hustle, hustle, hustle" and my favorite, "HEY, get the ball!!" Little nut. While we are on the topic of callings I received a ward calling last week to be on the enrichment committee. I'm really excited for it!

On Thursday Dave was in the middle of a 36 hr. shift with the ambulance so me and the girls took him dinner. As we were leaving they got a call for a roll over and took off lights and sirens. Emma was sooo excited. Her little face lit up and she shouted, "RARARAR goes my daddy's ambulance!!!" It was so cute.

So many people this week have told me how much Ali looks like me.

I found the absolute best chocolate chip cookie recipe (see my fav. recipes on the side of blog)

Dave handed in his graduation application!!!!

I'll leave you with some more cute pictures of my little treasures. These are my little ones getting ready to go out. What pretty girls huh!

A Cooking Mishap

Oh dear! Poor little Emma, she was being my little helper in the kitchen. We were making one of our favorite family treats, Amish cinnamon bread. Em was in charge of stirring and counting the amount of each ingredient we put in. Well, she ended up stumbling on her stool and pulling the bowl right down on top of her. I stood there in shock for a moment as I watched an Egg slide down her forehead and wondered where do I begin cleaning up? Then of course there was giggling from me and Dave, Howie trying to eat the mess and Ali babbling as I tossed her on the counter to grab a broom and a sponge. Dave grabbed Em and threw her in the tub, then, all was well and we now have some great pictures and a great story for Em's scrapbook! Poor Emma. Luckily I had already pulled starts out for more bread so in ten days we will be trying again. Hehe.

Hardware Ranch

Today we hit Hardware Ranch with Adam and Mindy. It was beautiful weather! Warm, meaning over 30 and sunny. We all had a blast.

Emma loved the horses (surprise), showing us the elk's poo poo and how it didn't make it in the potty and doing impressions of the baby elk. It goes something like this, "EHHHHH i miss my mama and daddy elk EHHHHH." It was really funny. She imitated the sound almost to a T.

Ali was so darn cute all snuggled up and just gazing around.

I highly recommend making a trip up to Hardware Ranch if you are ever in the Logan area. Its only 5 bucks for adults and kids under 4 are free. I don't know why it is so magical to ride on a sleigh pulled by horses to go see "wild" elk. I loved it though. After the ranch we went out to dinner. I love eating out with friends. We don't do it much but I love it. Even with crazy kids. Poor Adam and Mindy had a bad end to a good day though. Their jeep broke down and we had to give them a lift back to mantua. If you see them, offer them a hug. Seriously, broken cars are so flippin stressful. Oh so fun story quick. While we were waiting in line for our turn to go see the elk Ali decided she was HUNGRY and needed a snack quick. Well the most private place I could find to feed her was at a pavilion at the top of a hill. Anyway as I'm sitting there feeding my baby and feeling a wee bit self conscious I realize I am sitting in the exact place where Dave first told me he loved me. Years ago, hehe, Dave took me on a 4-wheeler ride around Hardware Ranch. We ended up lost for hours. When we finally found our way back we were sitting in this pavilion when Dave told me he loved me and gave me my CTR ring i still wear to this day. Did I mention I married a romantic. Hes shy about it and doesn't like me broadcasting it, sorry hon, but its so sweet.

Emma's (imaginary) Friend

Look closely in the palm of Emma's hand. Do you see it? A little furry blue puppy. His name is, ya ready for this, baby Ali blues clues. He is Emma's new friend. Boy oh boy is he a mischievous one! Emma carries him around in her little hand. When she goes potty she will put him on my knee but he always jumps off and runs everywhere. Baby Ali blues clues also jumped on the table and started eating Emma's noodles. When he gets to be too much to handle Emma plops him in her mouth for safe keeping. Emma takes very good care of the little guy. She gave him a bath and brushed his teeth and put him in his pajamas. So where did Emma find her new friend? Well, yesterday was library day. Emma picked out a blue's clues book. We took the book home, she opened it and plucked out the little puppy. They have been fast friends since. Ah, childhood, where anything is possible and where imagination runs wild!

Also wanted to note....Ali rolled over today!!!!

My Night Out

Well it has come and gone. My annual date of the year! The hospital puts on a smokin party for its employees every year called Frost Fest. They have amazing food galore, chocolate fountains, gambling (no money involved), huge raffle prizes, entertainment put on by people in sparkly outfits who sing and dance, and for those who drink, plenty of bars set up around the room. They do offer free soft drinks at these bars though so I didn't feel to left out hehe. Dave always works as medical support at the party. Which is awesome because he gets in free and gets to party. He just has to carry a walkie talkie around with him in case he is needed and he isn't allowed to drink (dangit, hehe). The only bummer about him working it was we had to drive separate. He had to be there by 5:30 and I had to get Ali in bed before I could take off. Also, I wanted an extra car in case I had to race home. You see, I left my baby at home but she doesn't take a bottle. She refuses! Luckily she pretty much sleeps through the night. I figured if I got her in bed she would be out until well after I got home. It worked!! I had been giddy for over a week for my date. Mindy came up on Friday to help me pick out a fun, cute new outfit. She then came over early to help me get ready. She did my hair and makeup. It was so much fun. Adam and mindy are the absolute best. They showed up at my door with things to make me pretty and fun craft projects for Emma. They are just such great friends. I can't say it enough. My girls adore them. The night was so much fun. I loved hanging out with Dave. We laughed and held hands and just goofed off. It was fun to just be us and not have anything to worry about. It was the best. We hung out with some of Dave's co-workers. There was one horribly awkward moment when we were all at a table and someone told a dirty what not and I turned bright red and choked a little and everyone made fun of me. I don't think I would survive in the working world anymore. I love my sheltered home.


Here we are, Ryan, Shay, Shane, Andrea, Kori, me and my handsome man...playing blackjack. I was terrible. No surprise there!

Me and Shay were showing off our winnings. They closed the tables at 11 and we cashed in our chips for raffle tickets. 100 pts. equals 1 ticket so we did pretty well. Alright, we had a dishonest dealer who helped us out!

Mmmmmmm chocolate fountain.

Ryan won!!!! There are a dozen different packages you could put your tickets into. There were trips and spa getaways, Ipods, shopping sprees, Nintendos, TVs, Elliptical machine and weight benches, etc. etc. Ryan won.....over 300 dollars worth of scrapbooking supplies!! We laughed so hard as he walked up to claim his prize. Me and the girls had a fun time admiring it all.

and finally because you haven't already wasted enough time reading about my dating life here are some differences between dating now and in highschool. In highschool my date would pick me up and take me home. In highschool I wasn't calling home to check on my kids every 5 minutes and wondering if my baby was awake because my milk had just come in hehe. I never had to worry, "can we afford this?" In highschool I had to end the date with a kiss and say goodnight at the door. The biggest difference, in highschool there were many awkward dates with very weird boys. This date I was able to spend with my sweet boy, my best friend. It was great. Thanks Dave for such an amazing night. Oh yes and Adam and Mindy. Toting around two very tired kids would have ruined it all.

TAG!

My dear, dear Aunt Michele whom I adore has tagged me. I'm supposed to write six things most people don't know about me and also tag 6 others. So, listen up, I tag, Dave, Mindy, Emmy, Tania, Heather, Kati and Emily. Remember, Ill be watching. Also, if you already know these things about me I appologize. Give me a break though, my husband and closest friends are the ones reading. Theres not a whole lot you guys don't already know.

1. I think it would be so very much fun to have three girls!

2. I started a small kitchen fire while making Christmas candy.

3. I'm a snuggler. My absolute favorite things to do are put my girls down for a nap and sneak into bed to snuggle Dave while he sleeps (he works graves). Also, to pile Emma and Ali into Emma's big girl bed with me, pull the covers over us and read to them. If I'm reading to them they let me snuggle them longer, only if they are tired though. On that note, thanks Emmy for the awesome idea of reading them classic chapter books. I always figured Em was still to young. I started reading them the Chronicles of Narnia and Em loves it.

4. I absolutely, 100% love and adore food. I love eating. I love cooking. However I don't love the weight gain associated with the two. Poor Dave is constantly hearing how I'm am craving what not so flippin bad and then hear how mad I am at myself for eating it and how I'm doomed to be a chunk forever. If only there was a way to eat one's heart out and not gain a pound. ah well. Now that I think of it, I love working out so its not too bad.

5. I abhor laundry. I wait until the last possible minute to do it. Usually when Dave is politely telling me he is out of underclothes hehe.

6. I always thought I would be fine with getting older. You know, age with grace. HA! I detest the wrinkles and age spots that are forming. I detest that I eat one brownie and it shows up on my hiney when in highschool I could eat three pans and it didn't matter. I detest that I tell people the same story over and over and over already. I do love where my life is though. I love having a home. I love being married. I love my babies. So I comfort myself with the fact that wrinkles don't come free.

and because every post needs pictures here is Ali sucking her thumb and holding her cuddly bear and Dave and Emma wrestling after church. Yes, I know my christmas tree is still up and looking a bit dry. I'm a little behind.

Bringin in the New Year

I have to say....what a great new years eve!! We had some friends over for some fun. Emma had so much fun helping me set up. She picked out the party hats can ya tell. I knew my girls wouldn't last long so we celebrated with them early. Dave played candy land with Emma and Mindy gave her lots of treats. They were both out by 8:00. That is staying up late for them.. As people would arrive Emma would run and get them a party hat.

Shown in the pics is of course me and Dave, Adam and mindy and some good friends of ours from the ward, Trevor and Crystal with Tawnya their little 6 month old. We had so much stinkin fun. We had a feast of pizza and finger foods. We played games....apples to apples, poker and the newly wed game (where we probably learned a little too much about each other hehe).

Some pics of our poker fun! Adam and Mindy bought a toot load of candy for us to use. We played blackjack, Texas hold em (which I never quite understood) and my favorite polish poker hehe. I took pics of me and mindy when we won. I only won once. I kept runnin out of candy but Adam would always share more from his winnings with me. Man so once everyone tricked me in polish poker and I folded to mindy, I had an ace and she only had a 3. So ticked.

Bringin in the new year with sparkling juice and kisses and whistles and horns (I can't believe my babies didn't wake up).

Heres to a great new year!!! Imagine all the possibilities.