Some Promised Pics & More

In connection with Brayden's primary talk on Sunday about responsibilities, I decided to take pictures of Brayden doing different chores and use them to make some sort of "job" chart. Brayden was helping me match socks and got a little side-tracked. He even got Tawny to join in the fun. In case you can't tell, those are Greg's socks they are wearing. Brayden thought it was so fun. It was too cute and creative to not take their pictures.

They had to makes sure Daddy saw them when he got home.

One of Brayden's other jobs is to put away the clean silverware

They also "help" me dust. This is probably their favorite chore, and they actually do help (a little).
Just random. She does this all the the time.

Brayden played basketball with Papa.

They got tired of using the ball, so Greg decided to dunk Brayden instead.
Here's my haircut. It's a little longer in the front...
And much shorter in the back.

On a side note, there's reason there's not very many pics of me on the blog. Every time I see one I swear off eating ever again. I try to rationalize that the camera adds 5 (or 10) lbs. But I don't think that's true....back to dieting I go. *sigh*

Bits and Pieces Part Two

On Sunday Brayden gave his first talk in Primary. He did so great, wasn't nervous at all. The only "slip-up" he had was when he fell off the stool by the podium. But he shook it off and did great. Elaine, I'll try to post a video of him later on in the week.

I cut my hair short on a whim.....and I love it. At the longest point she cut off 11 inches!! That's just too much hair to have period. It so cute and fun. Pics will follow...

I'm refinishing our dining room set. What a project. I knew it would be a big project but it has been ridiculous. The big time eater was that I decided to stain the table instead of paint it and it took forever. It should be done in a few days from now. Again, pics will follow.

On a much more serious note, my Grandma Wanda (my dad's mom) was diagnosed with cancer earlier this week. She has spindle cell cancer of the organ linings (kidney and spleen). It is pretty rare, rare enough that a google search won't even turn up much. Her surgery to remove a large tumor (size of an orange) is set for next Wednesday. That side of the family has been through a lot recently. My aunt just finished a round of radiation for another very rare cancer that was in her salivary glands. (Just goes to show how special my family is. We don't bother with the common cancers, just the really obscure ones that some doctors haven't even heard of.)Any extra prayers would be really appreciated.

Bits and Pieces...

I have so much to blog about and not much time. So most of this will be totally unrelated.

We went camping with our ward last weekend. We all had so much fun. Brayden did nothing but run around the entire time. I swear he slept for about two days after we got back. Not complaints from me about that. After Tawny took a tumble down a pretty steep sand dune, she decided that unless it involved food, she wasn't so interested. Luckily there was a lot of food.

Brayden and Tawny have been playing so well together recently. They'll go hours without even acknowledging me. Funny, but I've noticed a direct link to my productivity. What a surprise! In fact yesterday I took a shower without a single interruption. It's like I've died and gone to heaven.

Tawny loves everything about her daddy and you can tell she wants to be just like him. I found her in the bathroom with his shoes on. She was trying to walk, but I think those boots weigh about as much as she does.

It has been so great to be close to my family. We've been able to go to a lot of Clint's soccer games and the kids love it. We have dinner with them all the time, or just drop by to say hi. Not to mention that I now have a ton of built-in babysitters. Score! (on a side note, do you see the coats the kids are wearing? It does actually get cold sometimes. it really was freezing!)

I also had a run in with the IRS last week.(never a good thing). So here's the story. We've been looking for a home to buy here in Blythe. We have some friends that are moving this summer and we loved their home. So I spoke with her and made an offer on their home. Literally hours after that we got a notice from the IRS. Apparently there was a mistake on our 2007 taxes. A big mistake. Huge. I don't know how I missed it, but I did. So we paid it. I was able to get the penalty and interest removed by calling and sobbing out a very very sad story, but we still had to pay the difference in taxes owed. Long story short, we don't have quite enough to put down on the home we want. Fantastic. So it's back to renting and saving until we can save enough up again.

Well that's about all for now. Way to end on a positive note huh? We're not too worried. It will all work out, just not how or when we thought.

Tagged Twice!

I was tagged a few days ago by BrittanyJo and hadn't got around to it. Then Elaine tagged me on the same tag. So here it goes.

8 Favorite TV Shows (we don't have any tv so we never watch tv. But if I did, this is what I would watch.)
1. Chuck
2. America's Next Best Dance Crew
3. Scrubs
4. Bones
5. House
6. Dancing with The Stars
7. Homes makeover shows (I'm not particular)
8. umm...I'm out of ideas

8 Things I Did Yesterday
1. Exercised
2. Went to Brayden and Tawny's music class
3. Played the organ at a funeral
4. Had Christian over to play with Brayden
5. Worked and worked and worked....
6. Made Brownies (topped with strawberries...yum!)
7. Had a "date night" with Greg (put the kids to bed early, watched a movie and ate lots of brownies)
8. Cooked dinner

8 Things I am Looking Forward To
1. Buying a Home
2. Having another baby (not quite yet, but we're starting to think about it)
3. The weekend
4. Summer-time (River here I come!)
5. Dove hunting season
6. Down time with my family
7. Making more friends here
8. Fitting into a size 6 again (I'm almost there, but I have a sneaky suspicion #2 is going to derail this one)

8 Favorite Restaurants (in no particular order)
1. Tucano's Brazilian Grille
2. Chilis
3. PF Changs
4. Pizza Hut
5. Lalo's (hole in the wall Mexican food. The best!)
6. Bucca Di Beppo's
7. Angelina's Italian
8. Soul of Mexico

8 Things on my Wish List
1. Lose that last 10 pounds (maybe I should stop making brownies)
2. More hours in the day
3. Unending patience
4. A nice hot bubble bath
5. Completely self-cleaning home (laundry included)
6. Better organizational skills
7. Happy, thoughtful and caring children
8. No crying kids in Nursery (that is NEVER going to happen)

8 People I Tag
This one I am going to fall short on. I'll just leave it as an open invitation. If you feel like doing it, great. If not, great.

Mud Lovin' Fool

Saturday was such a beautiful day I spent most of the morning outside playing with the kids. Brayden and Tawny got buckets and shovels for Valentine's Day and they wanted to do some digging. They both loved it.

Tawny loved it eat it...

Brayden just loved shoveling it...

Well, I have a pretty short attention span. I can only watch my kids shovel and eat dirt for so long. (Yes, I did try to stop Tawny from eating the dirt, but gave up. That girl is stubborn!) So I decided it would be more fun if we played with mud instead of dirt. My idea was met with mixed reviews. Tawny absolutely hated it while Brayden thought it was the "most awesomest most coolest thing ever in the whole big world". For those of you that know my kids, that should come as a pretty big shock. Brayden usually hates to be dirty and Tawny has never met a mess she didn't like. Until now. I've found her Achilles heel. Whenever she's bad I'll just threaten her with a little mud. Ha-ha-ha.....

She did like the water so she became our water-fetcher.

All in all, a great day.

I Turn my Back for a Second...

I had just got the kids ouw of the bath when the phone rang (of course, Murphy's Law). After I hung up this is what I found.


Brayden was jumping on the bed and Tawny was reading on our big bear, both in the buff. I swear I was only gone for a second. They move so fast!

Such Cuties

I don't have any pics today, just cute little things my kids do that make me laugh and make me love them.

Brayden

• He came into the bathroom after I showered and said, "you know what? You smell so nice because you you pretty soap that smells like flowers. Daddy smells so bad because he uses stinky boy soap. I'm a boy, but I don't want stinky boy soap. Day smells gross all the time."
• "Mom, did you know daddy is so big? He has big feet and big legs and a big belly and bottom and big hands....You're not so big. Just you're bottom."
• He is getting to be so helpful. He helps me unload the dishwasher, fold towels, and is such a big help with his little sister.
• He is loving primary and doing so well! His teachers tell me every week when I pick him up how smart and obedient he is. (they probably tell all the parents that, but we'll just pretend they don't)

Tawny

• She says "Hello" to everything. She'll walk around the house waving and saying "Hello Brayden", "Hello high chair", "Hello trains"... you get the idea. What's so cute is that she is so enthusiastic every time. She says it so loudly and waves really big.
• She loves to jump, sort of. Her feet never actually leave the ground, but she makes a huge effort.
• She's developed a new technique to deal with her shyness. Whenever someone she is unfamiliar with looks at her she closes her eyes, and freezes in whatever position she happens to be in. I guess she figures if she doesn't move and is she can't see them, then they can't see her. Brilliant.