Birthday Kids

I sure do love my nieces and nephew! A few of them have had some birthdays go by, and so I'd like to reflect on my favorite things about each of them.

Jayde turned 7 on November 25. I met Jayde when she was just 1 year old, when Chris and Amanda started dating. She came toddling over to me right away, and we've been buds ever since. Now, she is postively the most stylish 1st grader around. She always tells me if she likes my hair, outfit, earrings, bag, etc. I don't think I've ever seen her do anything mean to anyone. She is always sweet and thoughtful. I hope I get a little girl just like her! Annika(right) turned 7 on November 26th. She lives in Oklahoma, and I do not get to see her near as much as I'd like, but when I do, it is always a joy. She has the cutest curls, and says funny things like, "that chubby baby sure is chubby." She loves horses and last I checked, Dora the Explorer." I can't wait to see her again and for her to meet Taggart for the first time. I know he'll love his Oklahoman cousin! (fyi... the cutie to the left is my other niece, Kaitlynn.)

Isaac turned 6 on December 5th. He was the first grandkid born, and I was so excited for him to come. I was lucky enough to be in the delivery room. He is my only nephew(but I have another on the way)! Isaac can always make Tag laugh. He does so well playing with him and showing his cars and cool boy things. He likes to draw and loves anything super heroish. There is never a dull moment when this boy is around!

Happy Birthday Kids! Uncle Jon/Jonathan and I love you all mucho!

My Fancy

I fancy any sort of miniature man clothes. If Jon would want it in his size, I have to have it for Tag. That is why this navy peacoat was a must.

Twilight?

Yep, loved it. Can't wait to see it again. Fulfilled my wildest dreams and expectations.

Dear Edward:
I luv you!

Dear Jacob:
I cannot wait to see more of you next year!

Dear Stephanie:
Thank you for hours and hours of entertainment.

Dear Amanda:
Thank you for introducing me to these three.

My Wisest Purchase Yet.

I'm quite certain I've never made a wiser purchase. Say hello to the Dirt Devil Kone. I'm telling you, this sleek little thing in a variety of fabulous colors will change your life. I was so sick of crunching cheerios and graham crackers under my feet, so I began my search for the perfect hand-held vac, and I found it on Wal-Mart.com. $40 and worth every penny. It is always charged and ready to use, and how adorable, it illuminates (this was an added bonus I didn't even notice before the purchase). It sits out on my kitchen counter and looks like some sweet decor instead of a yucky vacuum. Now, after each Tag boy meal, we have a simple and quick routine: vacuum floor, vacuum Tag, vacuum highchair. All is clean and beautiful! I can even use it in the car! Who ever thought a vacuum could make me this happy?

Happy 9 months & first tooth.

Yesiree, Tag has officially been out of me for as long as he was in me. To celebrate, he cut his first tooth yesterday, and slept through the night. Hooray!

My gorilla and banana

I know, I know, this is a bit late, and everyone is so over Halloween for another year. But, I just had to post all of our Halloween stuff. Prepare yourself for Halloween overhaul!

King Kong, Anne, and King Kong's favorite snack!

It's a good thing I'm not really a platinum blonde.

Interesting to note that Tag was not afraid of the gorilla, although Jon was effective in making all of our nieces and nephew, along with some other random children, cry:(

A lady bug, banana, and sheep. Oh so cute!

Have you ever wondered what bananas eat?

Tower o pumpkins.

We cheated at the pumpkin walk and went around the outside fence. Still had a great view and made it through in half the time...Genious!

A spooky treat I made for our ward Halloween party. The first and last time I'll ever make them.

FHE pumpkin carving.

Last, but not least, the cute Halloween shirt Grandma Abel bought him. It's in an 18-24 month, so I'm hopin for a few more good wears next year too.

The end. Welcome Thanksgiving!

Random Pictures I Like!

It is not easy to feed this guy. I go through at least 4 spoons at every meal.

AFLAC

I met my sis and her kids at the Dinosaur Park. This duck was very pushy and I was terrified it would bite me. Nikki, on the other hand, pet it and encouraged her children to do the same.

Riding a something-a-saurus

Cool guy in his robe and slippers.

This is what happens when you refuse a nap all day. You crash while playing.

Picture Tag

You know the rule, 4th folder, 4th picture. Here's mine:This is at the airport waiting for Elder Bush to arrive home. My dad and I are just adoring my, then 2 1/2 month old, niece, Savana.
I tag Shay... I don't believe I've seen you do this one. Get crackin!

Yep, he's pretty much the same guy I loved in high school:)

Except NOW he brings home a paycheck.

Must see.....
http://www.kutv.com/sports/default.aspx?articleID=67386

P.S. You have to scroll down a little and the video shows up on the right hand of the screen.

Going Private!

Hey everyone!  

Well, I so don't want to do this because it is sooo fun to find old and new friends through blogging, but I think it is time to go private so I don't have to worry about the creepies out there. I'm sure most all of us either watched the channel 5 special on blogging, (or were repeatedly told about it by our mothers).  

So pretty pretty please leave me your email address.  I'll probably do it in about 2 weeks.  Even if you're not on my blog list and come by every now and then, I'd love to add you (if I know you that is:)   

Also, I think it would be great if blogger.com would work similar to facebook, and allow users to request to be a friend/blogger on the private page that comes up if you don't have access.   I'm going to send this as a comment to blogger on their help center page.  If anyone else thinks this would be great, I'd encourage you to do the same.  Maybe they will make that possible, and then private blogs won't have to miss out on friends who come across their site, but don't have any other way to make contact.  Get my drift?

Thanks Blogging Pals!

Welcome President Elect Obama

What a monumental election we were all able to participate in.  It is amazing to see our country's progress in so many different ways.  As I was watching the polling results last night, Rudy Giuliani made a great comment before the results were given.  He was asked if he had faith in Obama fixing the mortgage/economy crisis.  Giuliani replied by saying he is a McCain supporter, but if Obama were to win, tomorrow morning we are all Americans and should support Obama, because if he is to fail as our President, we all fail.  I think with all of these party differences, this is often a difficult thing for Americans to do.  I'll be the first to admit, I'm not the biggest George Bush Fan, although I was disgusted with the constant disrespect he was given as our President. The highest office in our Country deserves a certain honor that it no longer is receiving.  I hope that as a country we can all support our new President, no matter who we voted for (and maybe give our current President a little more love on his way out).

I'm assuming you all may be curious as to who I voted for, or maybe by this title you just assume Obama. Well, I consider myself unaffiliated and I sincerely try to sort out the issues, ignoring party lines, and make a decision with prayer.  It really was a hard one for me.  I'm just excited to see what our new President can do in healing world relationships and correcting the economy.  I sure am grateful to live in a free country with so many opportunities.  I also am grateful for my Dad for serving in the military and taking a part in politics.  I really see him as a great example and an involved citizen in bettering our country.  I also just happened to marry into a very patriotic family, also with military backgrounds and political service.  Not to mention a husband who was born the day before our country's birthday and has a deep admiration and love for these same things.  What wonderful, USA loving, examples I have for my children! 

Happy Birthday my Sweet Savana!

Happy 3rd Birthday to this sweet, beautiful niece of mine!  I just love this girl.  She is wild and crazy and has the most adorable personality.  She just happens to remind me of myself a little:)  The day she was born I was right there waiting for a peek when her daddy brought her out to meet the family.  Jon was still on his mission and I was able to text him a picture to his email account.  We just cannot get enough of her and she sure does love our Tag boy!  She always uses a really high pitched voice to talk to him.  It's great!

Props to our Peeps

Props to the Farrs for a freaking awesome Halloween Party!  Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I didn't get the great pics of my polygamist friends, Shrek, Senator Mccain, Hottie Palin, The Simpsons, or the lame people claiming to have something to do with the weather.  

Thanks Josh and Kayla!!  We had a blast!

Random Facts About Me

I was tagged by Kathy, so here we go:

Fact#1-I always put my mascara on before my eyeliner. It's backwards,but I've done it ever since I started wearing liquid eyeliner (like 8 years ago). I can not do it any other way. Also, I have been using the same brand of mascara, Maybelline, since I started wearing makeup. It's what my mom wears.

Fact #2-I practice the Articles of Faith in the shower each morning.

Fact #3- Monday-Friday I sleep on the couch until about 4am, or the first time Tag wakes up (whichever comes first). No, it's not because I hate the hubby, it's just because he is the nastiest snorer. I have to use nasty. There is no other way to describe it. I despise the sound and it makes me want to freak out and chuck stuff around the room and at his head. I can't fall asleep to the sound and it's usually a lot worse during the first part of the night. If I try to sleep up there I usually end up yelling stuff I don't mean and beating on my poor, sleepy husband, so this is my routine for the past month. BUT, the weekends are mine. He has to sleep on the couch or wait for me to fall asleep. I know this is kind of sad:( As soon as we have decent insurance we will be extracting everything in his throat to solve this dilema.

Fact#4-My favorite movies come from the 80s...The Breakfast Club (don't judge me...it's 80s rated R), Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink.

Fact #5-Now that I've experienced childbirth, I cry every time there is any depiction of child birth in a movie, T.V. show, commercial, book. No matter how cheesy. I recently watched the episode of Friends where Rachel has her baby, so not realistic at all, but I balled my eyes out.

Fact #6-If I can't get back into my skinny jeans by November 12th, I am going to buy a mexican tapeworm from this guy.

Fact #7-I am kind of needy; I hate to admit it. I really really like to hang out with my husband. I would choose to sit home in the Gs watching some TV with him, over just about anything else....seriously. I know I need to break away and get a life of my own. Especially because he has little problem leaving me to go watch a game with the boys:) Oh, I need a cool hobby to make him jealous.

Now I'm supposed to tag 7 others. Oh gosh, I don't know who has already done this, so if you have or just don't want to, I give you permission to ignore me, but I'll be excited to read about your quirks!....

Megan O.

Holly S.

Shay W.

Kayla F.

Cindy P.

Karaline T.

Tiffany W.

Farewell to my abusive boyfriend….forever?

Timing belt $876.32

Little random gadgets $328.67
Water pump $423.50
Some random gadgets $624.20
Each and every “synthetic” oil change for the purring turbo engine $73.25
More random gadgets $420.28*

Moments spent within.....

Drive to Keith concert

Second "First" post mission kiss (10 pm, after release, in front of Bountiful Temple, "Come What May" playing in background, boy of my dreams, per-er-fect).

Wedding Day

Lola Baby ride (I wouldn't recommend this one).

Ride home from hospital with our sweet Tag Boy.

Priceless

I did it. I said goodbye to my cute little Passat. I still love it to pieces and I'll never find a car I like as much. Some girls want Audis and Volvos, just give me my VW Passat and I'm happy. Jon has hated this things since the day he married me. Please don't think VWs are bad cars, you just have to be prepared to put in a lot of TLC due to the fact they have lots of cool, foreign parts. I got a little teary the night before as Jon was giving me the details of meeting the buyers at the credit union. Here is his consoling response:

"That car has been more like an abusive boyfriend to you. He's better looking than the other boys and gives a better ride, but he makes you pay for dinner."

So I say farewell to you, my abusive boyfriend. We must part due to your high maintenance and abusive tendencies. You were good and bad to me, but I shall only remember the good, and one day (when my husband is the CEO of some super cool business) I will find you and put up with the abuse for a few more good rides. Until then....

*possible slight exaggeration on the numbers:) I don't really know!

My Sweet Baby Boy

My sis-in law, Amanda, took these fantastic pic of my little guy at the Union Station in Ogden. I am just in love with every single one of them!

Go Big Green!

It's Fall, and our Friday nights are now spent cheering on the Clearfield Falcons. Jon's little brother, Daniel, is playing, and we just love watching, yelling, jumping, and screaming for him. Last week was homecoming, so we all had fun dressing in our Falcon Green and Tag sported a special message for his Uncle.