BEWARE - Disgusting!

Ok everyone, that last post was done by my husband Brett. I would delete it but he would just put it right back on. I was stupid one day and added him as a contributor who could put his own posts. I started to get emails from people about comments on a post titled "Hair" and I thought, "What the heck is this?" Anyway, needless to say I DO NOT approve of this post and it is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen!!!! I guess that is also what I get for asking him to clean the bathrooms - it results in this. I apologize for making any of you totally want to vomit because that is what is makes me want to do. Sorry everyone!!

Hair

Due to the recent lack of non-lame content on this blog, I present to you the hair from the bathtub drain:
You see, one of the downsides to living with a bunch of girls is the almost unfathomable amount of hair that they shed. It's everywhere. You'll find it in the bathroom in larger quantities, mostly all over the floor with a ridiculous amount wrapped around the hair brushes, but it also pops up in many other places: clinging to your shirt, in Nash's mouth and/or grubby little hands, in your dinner. I can stomach a lot of things. Conversation about gross stuff does not affect me when I'm eating. I've eaten (usually for money) live bugs, dead bugs, bloody meat runoff juice from the roast beef at Subway (for $20 when I worked there when I was 16), and I've drunk muddy water pulled up from a well out in the middle of some poor farmer's field somewhere in the middle of the province of Chaco, Argentina in the 120 degree heat. Hair in your food is worse than all of them.

After the girls get out of the tub we create our traditional post-bath hairball out of the hair that did not escape into the drain to join its friends in the mass resembling a dead mouse that hangs on for dear life just below the surface. The hairball consists mostly of hair from Whytli's booshy (I know I spelled that wrong - that's how I like to say it) mane and admire it before we throw it away. If you're lucky I'll snap a picture of one of them sometime soon and post it. And, every few months when the bathtub drain appears to not be doing its job very well, I grab the needle-nose pliers and extract one of the little beauties pictured above. Make sure to click on it to see it in all of its glory.

It's probably worse than having dogs. I honestly do not understand how they are not all bald.

Tagged - Things I Have Done

This is for Angela and Jennifer who keep bugging me to update my blog. This isn't much of an update but I am doing this anyway. I will update something real very soon.

Things I have done... Just copy and paste this to your blog and bold the ones that you HAVE done and make sure to put your score at the end.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (Rock Band)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (All the time as a kid and I had a beautiful voice! Just ask my sisters.)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (I've been to it)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort (The best one EVER!)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Gone without food or water for 24 hours or longer
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Stayed up for 24 hours with NO sleep at all
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (Of course...PUFF-PUFF!)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Changed a lightbulb
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Mowed the lawn
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

50 out of 99 I guess I still have a lot of living left to do too!!

I tag everyone who reads this!

I Type Faster Than You Do

So Janean always talks about how she can type faster than I can. She's wrong of course, but she made me take this typing test that she saw on Shannon's blog, thinking that she'd show me once and for all. She lost. 95 wpm on my first try. I could try again and do better (she tried 4 times - 58, 62, 68, 72), but I didn't need to since I smoked her without even having to really try.

95 words

Seriously.....she looks too big to be my 8 year old

Whytli got her baptism pictures done a couple of days ago and these are a few samples of the results that we got back. I was so pleased with all of them. She looks so beautiful in every picture. It was pretty cold and the wind was blowing but it couldn't have been more perfect. We just had to take breaks and go to the car to warm up with the heat every once in a while. Lacey of course did the pictures and she did an amazing job. There are so many to choose from I simply cannot pick my favorite. She looks so big to me in these pictures it just kills me. As I sat and watched Lacey take her pictures I wondered where has my 8 year old gone? They grow up too fast!

"All the time you are mean too mom!"

I have been behind on blogging and hope to catch up one of these days but I had to write down something really funny that Mallory said to me tonight. Brett was getting Whytli and Adelie to bed and reading them stories. It was my turn to read to Mallory so she was waiting patiently for me while I was on the phone with Lacey. When I was finished I told her it was time to go to bed. She got really excited and jumped right up to head upstairs. She said to me, "Mom, you are nice huh Mom?" I said, "Yes, I am." She then responded in the sweetest little voice, "All the time you are mean too Mom, huh." I probably shouldn't find it funny but it was just the way that she said it in her sweet little voice. I laughed and she didn't even care - she didn't find anything wrong with what she had just said.

Whytli's Birthday

Today is Whytli's 8th Birthday. She has been so excited for this day for a long time with a countdown going. I gave her the choice this year between a birthday party with friends or $50 to go shopping with and buy whatever she wanted. She originally chose the birthday party but when she got home from school that day she had changed her mind and chose the money instead. I guess she needed all day to think about it. She has gotten more money as well from people so she has quite a bit of money to go shopping.

Whytli is ALL girl. She loves to shop, dance, dress up, play with makeup and pretty much anything girly. She also enjoys reading (Brett calls her a book nerd - but in a good way. She is always walking around with a book in hand reading it), drawing or making stories, blogging (yes, she has her own blog), playing video games with her dad, swimming, and riding her bike. She likes to play with her sisters and hang out with her family.

I cannot believe that she is already 8 years old. She is very excited to get baptized in a couple of weeks. We went shopping for her baptism dress and she had a fun time picking that out. Whytli is a very smart, responsible, good girl. She is a great big sister. We think she is pretty darn cute and are so glad to have her in our family. I want her to know that we love her and hope that she has a great day!

These are some random different pictures of her from this year.

Mallory's Birthday

Today is Mallory's 3rd birthday. She is our little sweetie. Brett nicknamed her Sweetie because when she was little she used to always say "thank you" and "please" for everything in the sweetest little voice. She doesn't say thank you and please as much as she did when she was little (blame her wicked step...err...older sisters for being a bad influence on her sweetiness), but she is still quite the little sweetie in our eyes. The only problem is that if I ever call her Sweetie, I am corrected by her that I am not her sweetie she is only her dad's sweetie.

I will post pictures of the events from her birthday later today. It really makes me sad to think that she is growing up to be such a big girl. She loves to hang out with her sisters and is always eager to help out with anything. Her favorite things to do right now are put together puzzles, play the Leapster, put on chapstick or lipstick, play dress ups, anything princess, and bug her little brother (she just is loving him). I just want her to know how much I love her and I hope she has a great day!

These are a few pictures that Aunt Lacey took of Mallory a couple of months ago that I thought were cute:

6 Months Already?!

Today Nash is officially 6 months old. He has hit his half year mark. I cannot believe he is this old already. Where has the time gone? I want him to stay my baby forever! He has gotten so big. I haven't updated the things that he has done for about 2 months. At 4 months he learned to sit up on his own, eat baby food, was very cuddly, and he would smile at just about anyone (but his dad). I stopped nursing him at 4 1/2 months. At 5 months he was sitting up really well without falling at all (thanks to the bumbo chair), he started warming up to his dad more (now he will smile at him any time and loves him), he loves his sisters, still very cuddly, and he learned to roll from his back to his side to his tummy. He also became very grabby. Now at 6 months he eats not only baby food but everything in sight (we no longer can have a meal without feeding him as well), still hasn't lost his love for cuddling, he is starting to roll around the room, he wakes up on his tummy playing, rolls to his tummy and gets onto his knees and rocks back and forth wanting to crawl (I think this is soon to come). He now holds his own bottle (yeah), and he got his first tooth this last Sunday. He is such a happy, calm little baby. His sisters cannot get enough of him and he loves it when they come around. I do not want him to grow up. In fact, I have had a hard time moving him to his own room. He is still in a bed next to my bed and I love to sit and stare at him while he is sleeping. I am not ready to give that up just yet because it just means my baby is growing up. I wish I could freeze my babies in time and enjoy them a little longer but I guess I just have to look forward to the many more fun little stages he is going to move into.

These are some random pictures of him in the last month.

Who wouldn't think he is a cutie?

We are so happy about him learning to finally do this on his own.

Grabby little Nash wanting to snag the camera from me.

He was so happy to be playing with this controller.

Regional Church Golf Tournament

Brett went golfing this last Saturday, playing in the regional church golf tournament. We had 2 different teams from our ward playing. He played with three of his friends from our ward. He plays a couple other sports regularly with them as well. Brett doesn't play golf very often (usually once a year in the annual tournament at work). He has decided that he enjoys it and thinks he needs to take it up as additional sport that he plays regularly (as if he needs another one). Oh wait, that is how he gets his exercise (that's what he claims anyway). They did pretty well, tying for first but losing the tiebreaker.

Brett, Brian Hawkins, Tim Naylor, and Matt Peterson

My Good Little Messy Eater

Nash is such a good little eater. He is my first child who eats anything and everything that I put in front of him . Even Adelie, who loves most things, doesn't eat as well as him. We always put him in this chair while we are eating and he wants to join in with us. He likes baby food or the regular food that we are eating. I have a baby food grinder that my mother-in-law gave to me when Whytli was a baby (she used it with all her kids) and I only used it a couple of times with Whytli and never any other kids. I pulled it out the other day and decided to grind up some of the food we were eating. He LOVED it! I get done feeding him a bottle of baby food and he is still begging for more. He is also so grabby and grabs everything in site and tries to eat it. The other day he knocked over his baby food that was sitting next to him while Brett was feeding him (but was being too slow) so he got impatient and grabbed the spoon himself and started to chow down on it. He knew exactly what to do with it. I decided to let him have a little treat after dinner and gave him his first Oreo cookie. He definitely enjoyed this and when he was finished he started screaming for more when he saw the girls eating theirs.

As you can see from all these pictures he makes a HUGE mess like all babies and we have to give him a bath every night after dinner.

He's a poser like his sisters.

Soccer

Adelie is playing soccer this year for her first time. She was thrilled to be the one playing this year. She gets the privilege to have her uncle Dustin as the coach and her dad as the assistant coach. Her two cousins Kynli and Adriana are on her team. It is fun to watch these little kindergartners play and not really ever make hardly any goals but just kick the ball around. They are all so cute out they playing. She enjoys it so much.

Kynli & Adelie before their game. Adriana was not there yet so we were not able to get a picture with her.

Learning to do Cartwheels

Adelie is learning how to do cartwheels in dance and was told to practice them at home so they can get better. So she came home from dance and told me that we needed to call her aunt Lacey to come help her with the cartwheels. Lacey taught Whytli how to do cartwheels for dance so Adelie decided she was the one for the job. We called Lacey and she came over to help. Lacey made Adelie this little chart that has boxes of 10, 20, 30, & 40 cartwheels each that she has to cross off when she does that many cartwheels. On the chart it reminds Adelie that she needs to keep her arms straight, legs straight, legs in the air, & a strong body. She told her that if she practiced every day she would get them perfect and when she crossed off all the boxes she would get a treat from her. Lacey hired Whytli to help Adelie practice, so she will also get a treat for helping out. What a great aunt.

First Day of Dance

We have started up dance again for the year. This time all the girls are in dance. It is Mallory's first year and she is very excited. I switched to a different dance studio this year and think that I am going to really like it there. This will be their first year taking dance without their cousins but I think it will be good for them to learn to make new friends in dance. It is also a lot closer to home so that makes it nice. The girls really enjoy dance every year and never complain about going. In fact, they complain if they miss dance. Adelie and Mallory are doing tap as well as the other stuff we have usually had so it will be new for us this year. When we bought the shoes for them, Adelie and Mallory were so excited for the tap shoes. Mallory loved them so much she wanted to carry them around with her all day.

Hallie Swenson and Mallory are in the same class. Mallory was really happy to have a friend in her class with her.

I love to watch little 3 year olds trying to dance. They have the shortest attention span but they are so dang cute.

Adelie always is happy to go with the flow and didn't complain one bit that she did not have her 2 best friend cousins in her class this year. When she got there she discovered that she had a friend that was in her dance class and also her kindergarten class.

Whytli is in her first year of a competition team for dance. It is a pre-competition team, which means it is for girls who have never been on a team and it prepares them for a real one that has more competitions. This year she will only be in a couple. This is one of the outfits they have to wear to practice in. She LOVES dance so much and is good to come home and practice everything she has learned. She is getting really good at the splits which is something they have to practice every night. She got her legs all the way down the other night and was really proud of herself.

She is also quite the poser.

Mallory's First Day of Preschool

Today was Mallory's first day of preschool. She is going to my mom's preschool down the street. We weren't going to send her this year because she still has 3 more years before she goes into Kindergarten (plus Brett had several other reason why he didn't want her to go) but, my mom asked me to help her out on the 2 days that she teaches preschool. When we woke up this morning I told her that she was going to go to preschool. She was very excited. I told her that I was going to stay with her and she said, "No!" I replied, "Yes, I will stay with you and help Grandma." She said again, "No, Mom doesn't stay." She told me no several times until she gave up and then proceeded to say, "So you are my mom and my teacher?" I told her yes and she was then OK with me staying. She just wanted to be independent and not have her mom stay with her. She even called me teacher a couple of times. I found that to be quite funny. It was fun to help my mom with the cute little kids in preschool. Three and four-year-olds are such a fun age.

This is her class. She gets to be in it with 3 of her cousins and 2 friends and she will make many more friends I am sure. There are 15 little kids total in her class (7 girls and 8 boys). They are saying the pledge of allegiance here.