jEfF * niChOle * HuDsoN* fiNleY

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch tonight as kind of a last minute idea. It was sprinkling rain and getting dark fast, so I felt rushed and didn't have good lighting to get any good pictures...these are the best we got. I feel a little jipped on the pictures, but we had fun anyway. When we came home we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Today I got to enjoy this...

2011-09-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

(Ignore the blur :( Of course you are anyway, looking at that adorable face!)

Hudson has been the greatest grasshopper exterminator ever this summer!

Oh how I love my kids!

Hudson is in Kindergarten and soccer!

2011-08-31T14:51:00.001-07:00

Starting the morning with a "K is for Kindergarten" pancake with sprinkles.

Luckily he cooperated with some cute pictures in the morning....

Then after school he got a little goofy for the pictures. Typical Hudson, though!

Hudson is having fun in kindergarten and likes his teacher! We've been walking to and from school which is nice to be able to get all of out of the house and get a little fresh air.

Another soccer season has begun! This year has already been so much easier than last year. He's happy to just go out and have fun and play...without any coaxing, bribing or pushing from mom and dad! His team is called the cougars. Go Hudson!

Finley watching the game from the sidelines. Ok, not watching the game. Just playing with the grass.

Speaking of Finley, I'll have to do an update soon...it's only been 4 and a half months! Aaahhhk!

She's Here!

2011-04-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've already heard the news...

Finley Afton Walker
April 17th, 6:35 pm
7 lbs. 0 oz., 20 in.

She is such a good baby!

***

Hudson has learned to ride his bike without training wheels...He just took off one day and hasn't looked back!

***

Easter!

Such an eventful month/week...too much to post. No energy or time to do it!

Finally a Finale

2011-04-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

IT'S DONE!
I've come to my happy place in figuring out what I've wanted for the baby's room. It's been an evolutionary process for sure, and now I'm finally happy! I think it's just my style- not too frilly, but still girly, and definitely one of a kind.
I made the blanket, pillows, and valance. My mom helped me cover the bumpers but I went back and chopped off all the ties and replaced them with the polka dot ones. Sorry, Mom. Thanks for all your hard work!

(Notice the purple painted walls. Hooray for not being scared of color!)

It's kind of a bad picture of the valance. But here's a closeup of the cute flowers I put on the corner:

This is the changing table. I repainted it, added new knobs, and modge podged the paper in the cupboard doors. I also needed a place to hold diapers and wipes for diaper changes. I had room for a little side table when we used it for Hudson, but this room is smaller so I had to get creative and made the little basket hanging on the side:

I also made this car seat canopy. It's my second one because, yes, I changed my mind about the first one. Don't judge me. :)

I'm so happy it's all done and I'm pretty sure Jeff is ready to have his "sane" wife back and a house without thread and fabric scraps all over and a dinner table without a sewing machine as a permanent fixture back, too.
I can't believe how close it's getting to the due date. I'm feeling good for the most part, but I'm ready to be done. Can't wait to get this baby in my arms!

Scratch That....Again

2011-03-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I keep blogging about this because it just documents how crazy I am, but there doesn't seem to be much else to blog these days.
So, the last two posts have been about my baby cribbing dilemma. And now it continues. Hopefully with a conclusion this time.
Last summer I bought a crib set at a yard sale. This was when we were going through foster care training and I thought in case we got a baby girl, it would be nice to have something on hand. Well, we ended up never doing foster care, but I still have the set. Of course, I don't want to use it now. I'll be putting that one for sale whenever I get around to it.
Then you remember the previous posts: found some I liked, then decided to make my own. Bought fabric to make my own, decided it was going to be too expensive and too stressful finding fabrics, not to mention the sewing, so I returned the fabric and decided to just buy one instead. Bought an entirely different one from the classifieds, brought it home, decided it needed more green to tone the pink down a bit. So I bought some green fabric and started sewing ruffles on the bedskirt and the top of the bumpers, and started adding new ties to the bumpers. I got about half way done, and ran out of fabric and steam. Plus I wasn't liking how it was looking. I was thinking it was looking too Strawberry Shortcake/circus-y. Now I don't know if I should finish it to sell it, or to take off what I've done (I'll still have to replace all the ties to make them match) to sell it. ???? I hate having to buy more fabric to finish it, and I hate selling something that I've inexpertly sewn for enough to make my money back that I've put into it. What would you do?

Here's the before:

Here's after what I did:

NOW! I have decided to give up on finding a bed set I like that isn't too girly so I am now doing all white bedding (which is amazingly hard to find. I'm going to be be mixing and matching items I like instead of buying a set) and doing all the decorating accents in the room white (changing table, curtains, etc.). I am going to get my color from painting the room a cool grayish purple (still on a quest to find the perfect shade). And I'll probably throw some other colors in with some decorative accents like pillows, etc.
I've found a lot of cool ideas that hopefully I can copy and make myself. SO....HOPEFULLY THIS IS THE FINAL PLAN. NO, IT IS THE FINAL PLAN. WHETHER I LIKE IT OR NOT! Because if not, I'm sure Jeff will move out. Or send me to the loony bin. That's about where I feel like I belong anyway.
The room will definitely be a work in progress as we get the funds to do what I want...a piece here, a piece there. Hopefully I can at least get the room painted before the arrival of "Fetus" (our name for her now, since we don't like to tell our chosen name until the grand arrival.)
Is it crazy to get so worked up over a baby's room when the only person who is probably REALLY going to care at all is me?

On another note, here is another sewing challenge I took on by myself, and I'm quite pleased with the results.

This is a hand me down bassinet (pics are just of the top part) that was given to me by a neighbor It had a big Noah's Ark ruffle around it, but I took it off before I took the picture.

Then I added this ruffle skirt thing to hide the Noah's Ark theme. It was a lot harder than it looks...trust me. So I'm pretty proud of it.

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers...

2011-01-26T21:25:00.000-08:00

So ignore the previous post. I found this line from Pottery Barn and although it's beyond our budget x 3, I thought, hey, I could make it and make it even cuter x 3 (with my mom's spectacular sewing skills of course, because, let's face it, I have none). I love the mix and match of patterns and the non-overboard pink but still girly look. That's more like it. (I like the top picture better as it shows a little more color thrown in, although it's not the crib bedding).
But then I was looking online as to how much fabric such a project was going to take (since , of course I'd be drawn to the expensive fabrics) and started reading all these articles and posts about how babies can suffocate because of crib bumpers. Argh. Doesn't everyone use bumpers? But now I'm thinking is it worth the risk? Or am I just being paranoid? Sigh. I guess it would be a good excuse not to spend all the money and labor for a bumper and could still make a cute skirt and quilt and splurge the $16 for the authentic PB sheet? Haha.
What do you think? Bumpers. Yay or nay?
And do you love this look better? I was thinking instead of birds (not a huge fan of birds) and trees I could applique elephants or owls? Hmmm?

January Blogging Boredom

2011-01-24T18:37:00.000-08:00

Blah. January seems so blog unworthy. So, to spice things up (not really, I'm just bored.) here are some random things for your viewing or reading pleasure (or not).

So we canceled our cable and got Netflix. It's pretty rad for the most part. We have started watching the TV series "Lost" from season one and were pretty much addicted from episode 1. The series has been over for a while, and we never watched it while it was airing on t.v.. I love not having to watch commercials, wait a week in between episodes, and wait even longer between seasons. We've almost watched 3 seasons since the beginning of January. Yeah, we pretty much have no life and this is what we do at night. I am even dreaming in "Lost" almost every night. Pretty sad, but I have no regrets. :)

So I was craving banana muffins about a week ago. Did a quick online search for an easy but good one, and found this HERE. Pretty darn good and I think I ate 11/12 myself.

Banana Muffins (makes 12 muffins)

3 or 4 Large bananas, mashed (the more bananas the moister, so I use 4)

1/2 cup white sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I don’t like them too sweet)

1 slightly beaten egg

1/3 cup melted margarine or butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups flour

Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and margarine together. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Mix wet and dry ingredients all together! Pour into greased muffin tins, and bake in 350 degrees F oven for approximately 20 minutes. Enjoy!

*These are much more flavourful the next day, and they freeze very nicely too!

*Also, if you like walnuts, you can throw a handful of those in there as well for some added flavour and texture, or try adding chocolate chips, or better yet, BOTH! Yum

Next on my mind:

I've been trying to decide on crib bedding for baby girl. I can't afford anything I absolutely love and adore (either that or it doesn't exist), but I've come to 2 choices thus far.

Choice #1:

I never thought I would go for this much pink and "girliness", but I think it's the elephants that drew me in. I love the patterns on the bumper and of course the cute pink elephants and green polka dot crib sheet. It's $82 brand new for the bumper, blanket, sheet, and skirt. I'm just still unsure about the pure pinkness of it all (I'd probably do a green wall to tone down the pinkiness)...not really how I imagined my girl nursery, but it's grown on me and I think this is the route I'll probably take, but then there's choice #2 (which I need to jump on asap if I'm going to get it):

This I fell in love with the instant I saw it. It's from Pottery Barn and is supposedly very rare. It was on e-bay for $99, but is now on there for $45 plus $18 s&h. So it's $20 less than the one above, but it's used. Not much of a big deal to me, but still...ya know? It also includes bumper, quilt, sheet and skirt. The only downsides for me are the quilt isn't really "useable" like the one above is, and I'm not a huge fan of the white skirt since really without the quilt, all you'll see is a white skirt, pink sheet, and the bumper. The one above just seems more visually interesting from an outside view point. But I love the patterns and the more classic feel of this one and it just seems less "pink" which is more my style. What do you think?

Well, I guess that should do for now. Thanks for sharing in my boredom.

Snow

2011-01-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

These were taken after our first huge snowfall in December. Sledding and snowballs...I'm glad Jeff likes taking Hudson to do this kind of stuff. I was happy to stand there being pregnant and taking pictures. I'm not a huge fan of sledding, but I really liked going to Peteetneet Academy, though, because the hills aren't too scary and they play Christmas music over some speakers.

Rudolph the Underdog

2010-12-23T20:57:00.000-08:00

A conversation we had today went something like this:
Hudson says " I like Rudolph".
I say, "Why, 'cause he's the coolest?"
H: "No, because he's the saddest."
N: "Why is he the saddest?"
H: "Because the other reindeer call him names. But Santa likes him and is nice to him."
N: "So you want to be nice to him, too?"
H: "Yeah"

I love how serious and thought provoking Christmas has become for this kid. I've been able to use the "you better not pout, I'm telling you why" line so many times and it works like a charm. Hudson also voluntarily cleaned house this morning to "make room for Santa to come". He's asked several times about our fireplace and where is our chimney?
He's been obsessed with the countdown to Christmas. We have a chain, a chocolate advent calendar, and a Santa's beard countdown, and he makes sure to do each of them diligently each day.
What's blown me away the most is he's been saying "I don't care what I get for Christmas." Or he's been asking me what he should ask Santa for. I thought every 5 year old knew exactly what they wanted for Christmas!?

Merry Christmas!

December Fun

2010-12-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

This December I wanted to do some kind of fun winter/Christmas activity with Hudson or as a family everyday. It hasn't gone so well, but we did manage to start out with making gingerbread houses, since that was something Hudson was really wanting to do.

We had Jeff's side of the family's kid's Christmas party. We had a really hard time getting everyone together this year, and it was kind of a last minute party, but it turned out to be good anyway.

Santa even came and brought a present for each kid. Hudson was still a little reluctant to sit on Santa's lap this year, but at least there were no tears...even a smile!

I would say this was the first big snowfall that Hudson put on all his snow gear and went to go play out in the snow. On this day he accomplished one of the fun activities I had planned for the month. I filled a spray bottle with water and food coloring so he could go spray colors in the snow. He LOVED it and used his bottle up in minutes.

I think it was later that day that Jeff took Hudson sledding at the Peteetneet school. I had never been sledding there before and I loved that they played Christmas music from speakers. They have the perfect hills there...aka not too steep and scary.

Every year Jeff's Uncle Les and Aunt Nancy have a hay ride. It used to be a horse drawn sleigh ride, but it is now a tractor pulled hay ride, with Christmas lights and everything. While you are waiting for your ride, they have a big army tent with a stove to keep it warm, hot chocolate, and bags of popcorn and suckers. It's so fun.

This year they even had a little train for the kids to ride in. Hudson loved it.

Hopefully we'll be able to squeeze in a few more of the activities we had planned. I can't believe Christmas is only a week away!

2010-12-08T17:15:00.001-08:00

H:5, J:32

2010-11-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hudson and Jeff both had birthdays this week. Hudson turned 5!

He started his morning out with a 5 shaped chocolate chip pancake.
Then off to preschool with his birthday treats to share with his class:

That afternoon we had a little birthday party for him with some of his friends. He wanted a "Bolt" themed party, but of course since the movie has been out for quite some time, there are no Bolt themed party things in stores, so I had to get a little creative. I made some homemade invitations with a picture of Bolt on the front.

Hudson asked for a pinata again this year, so this is what I made:

I think it turned out pretty good!

We started the party out with coloring Bolt pictures, then had cake and ice cream, played pin the tail on the donkey, Simon Says, Duck Duck Goose, and ended with the pinata.

He got really spoiled with all the nice gifts his friends brought him, but I didn't get any good pictures.

Hudson's Grandma and Grandpa Bell and Aunt Samantha came and brought Hudson some nice gifts, too, like the DVD "How to Train Your Dragon". I think he's only watched it about 12 times in the last 2 days. :)

I got him a stuffed "Bolt":

Jeff got him a Nerf gun (that had been hiding on a shelf since last Christmas...oops.)

And we also got him a new "big boy" bed and new bedding, painted and rearranged his room. I still need to get some things hung up on the wall, curtains, etc., but I think it turned out so cute! He loves his new bed! (Sorry, bad picture, but it gives you the idea.)

I of course didn't get any pictures of Jeff's birthday 'cause I'm a loser like that. Jeff came home early from work and I took him to the driving range at the golf course and we hit a bucket of balls. Pretty hilarious. Then we had to come home and take Hudson to the doctor for a check up and immunizations. While we were there Jeff ended up getting a flu shot and a pertussis shot...on his birthday, poor baby! Ha.
Then we dropped Hudson off at the neighbors again and went out to dinner and then to a shooting range where we went skeet shooting in the dark. Also hilarious. I hit 3 or 4 targets out of 25...Jeff shot 24 out of 25. I had fun spending time with him doing things he loves and I think he had a pretty good time, too!

I love both my birthday boys so much and hope they had wonderful birthdays!

Cleaning the Office

2010-11-11T15:50:00.000-08:00

Wow, my office gets so cluttered so fast with bills and papers and all the random stuff I don't know what to do with while I'm cleaning the rest of the house and it drives me crazy! I finally got around to cleaning it thoroughly today and found some random papers with notes of Hudson's funnies, clear back from February! Oh my I need to do better at keeping up on the paper work around here (and writing down the funny things he says...I know there are a million more...most of them funnier than what I DO write down.)

2/11: Had a dream about a squirrel in a small box. He held the squirrel. It was a bad squirrel.

2/10: I was playing Wii, Hudson had a controller and thought he was playing along, but he wasn't. He said "We're rockstars!"

Started saying things that started with "My body..." :
My body feels thirsty.
My body feels hungry.
My body feels tired.

2/17: Had a dream about monkeys, zebras, and badgers in the basement.

H: Little owies can melt.

One day driving through the snow:
J: What gives you energy?
H: Toast and snow.

I think Jeff and I had just had a conversation about his GPS.
N to H: Find me my flip flops.
H: Why? Are we going in space?
N laughing: No.
H: Are we going to pick up satellites?

Riders in the Sky

2010-11-04T12:04:00.001-07:00

For a few years I've been wanting to take Jeff to a show at the Heber City Cowboy Poetry Gathering for his birthday. He digs that kind of stuff. But for some reason it always seems to come at such a busy time of the month and we're never able to fit it into our schedules. Well, this year I saw a little blip about it on TV and decided we were going...THAT NIGHT! Even though it was the 1st of November and Jeff's birthday isn't until the 18th, I decided it would be an early birthday present.
So I went online and bought tickets. It was for Riders in the Sky combined with the Utah Symphony, so it was a little unique. It sounds like those two don't mix, but if you watch all the old westerns, the music in them is played along with a symphony. So it was pretty cool. The Riders in the Sky are the guys who did the songs in Toy Story 2. Try imagining this song with the Utah Symphony behind it! (Pause music on sidebar to watch the clips --> )

They also had an awesome yodeler there, Sourdough Slim. Our concert was held at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, so this is obviously not there, but he did this same song and it was insane! Make sure you watch the whole thing on this one!

Halloween 2010

2010-10-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

This year our neighborhood did a trunk-or-treat. I wasn't really excited about it since I like the traditional going door to door and seeing everyone's jack-o-lanterns. But the weather turned out to be cold and rainy, so the trunk-or-treat was held inside our church building, and I ended up being grateful we weren't out in the rain. We were done within an hour and were able to get home early, make dinner in a pumpkin which we took over to our neighbors to share and played Phase 10. So it ended up being a fun night.

Hudson was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle this year. The first year he actually wore the mask to his costume.

Cleaning out pumpkin guts to get ready to carve jack-o-lanterns. Hudson has been asking all week when he could "peel" his pumpkin. I feel bad we never found time until today to get it done.

Checking out his loot.

These are the cupcakes I made for Hudson to take to preschool for his Halloween party.

New Baby Pics

2010-10-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

I went to my first real doctors appointment yesterday (meaning with my OB/GYN, not the fertility center). He said yes, I'm pregnant, and everything looks good! Still 7 more weeks until we find out the gender...I can't wait!

This picture cracks me up. It totally looks like the baby is smiling, but I'm pretty sure that's not what we're really seeing!

I've Been Tagged!

2010-10-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by my friend Misty to answer and post the following questions:

1. Post your favorite picture and explain why.

I don't know if this is my favorite picture ever, but I sure love it and it makes me laugh every time I see it. I just love how fat Hudson was back then, and he was such a fun baby.

2. Time to admit it, name your favorite reality TV show?
Oh there are too many to choose from. At this very second it's probably Giuliana & Bill. Kind of random, I know, but they are going through fertility issues, so that's probably why I like it right now. Plus Bill Rancic is totally hot.

3. If you could go one place in the world where would you go? Who would you take?
I would definitely return to Western Samoa. It's the most wonderful, beautiful place in the world! I would take my love, Jeff!

4. If you won the lottery, name the first three things you'd do with the money?
Well, after becoming a big fan of Dave Ramsey, the first two are pretty boring, but then I'd have to do something fun, too.

1. Pay off all my debt.
2. Put money in savings.
3. Go on a nice, long vacation.

5. What is your main regret in life?
Probably not doing more with my talents. I wish I would have been doing art over all these years, and I slightly regret not going to school for it.

6. Where has your favorite trip been to so far?
See question 3.

7. How did we meet? Am I different from when we met?
Oh gosh, I don't remember. I'm getting too old! Either elementary or jr. high. I'm pretty sure Misty is different now...I hope we're different from our silly teenage selves!

8. Name something that irks you.
Oh gosh. What doesn't irk me? LOL. Hmmm, just the first random thing that comes to my head is when you wash a new article of clothing and it gets ruined the first time through the wash or shrinks in the dryer. Hate that!

Exciting News!

2010-10-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

Yep! After 4 1/2 years of trying, endless prayers by us and by countless friends and family, several doctors and finally one amazing fertility clinic, we are FINALLY PREGNANT!

Here's a little run down of "the story" if you want. (It ended up being a little longer than I intended, sorry.)
Obviously we have been trying to get pregnant again for a long time. I've had Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome since before Hudson was born, which basically means I don't ovulate. My eggs don't get big enough to be released, so they stay inside my ovaries and develop into cysts (which are harmless). So the answer is usually a prescription of Metformin which helps to regulate your hormones and blood sugars, and Clomid, which helps you ovulate. Well, I went to doctor after doctor who have me the same dose of Metformin, and the minimal dose of Clomid. Basically they said, pop some pills and good luck. If it didn't work, the doctors would throw up their hands and send me on my way.
Finally I decided it was time to get serious and see someone who knew what they were doing. We had been hesitant about doing this in the first place, thinking we wouldn't be able to afford it. One day I found an ad in a local magazine for the Utah Fertility Center in Pleasant Grove. I just had a good feeling about it and decided to make an appointment. I was a little worried when they started me on the same path I'd already been on...Metformin and Clomid. BUT, they doubled my dose of Clomid, AND they were going to give me and HCG shot to help "boost" the release of an egg.
I was so impressed my first appointment they did and ultrasound of my ovaries and showed me the cysts which was visual proof I hadn't been ovulating. No one had ever done that before. Everyone there was super nice and I was impressed with everything they did. Even Jeff was impressed and for him to say that about a doctor's office is pretty impressive.
Anyway, I took my medication, and had lots of blood work done (the most expensive part of the whole process I think). Then after a couple of weeks I had to take ovulation predictor tests. After a few days of taking tests, I took one and it was positive, so I called the fertility center, they had me come in so they could give me an ultrasound to confirm ovulation. Once I got there, they told me it was a false positive test, meaning I hadn't ovulated yet. My heart sunk. I figured it meant I wasn't going to ovulate that month. But then she said there was good news. I had an egg growing right on schedule, and if it kept growing according to schedule, I would be ready to ovulate in a couple of days. I went back in a couple of days to check if the egg had developed, and it had. That meant it was time for the HCG shot to help the egg pop out of the ovary and send it's on it's way to be fertilized!
As I left the doctors office that day, I drove home without the radio on. As I was driving, I suddenly got an overwhelming feeling that things were going to work out as we wanted...very quickly. I felt overjoyed and peaceful, and knew that my Heavenly Father knew me and wanted me to know he loved me and was aware of the feelings I had had for the last 4 and a half years. I started to cry but had to hold back since I was driving on the freeway and needed to see! But it was a very special experience for me.
Anway, after that, it was the waiting game. The fertility clinic told me to go the hospital for a blood pregnancy test, then they'd call me with the results. I knew I couldn't wait for that, and didn't want to be told whether I was pregnant or not on the telephone by someone I didn't know. So I took a home pregnancy test. At first I was pretty sure it was negative, then a suspicious second line started to show up. I was suspicious because the HCG shot can stay in your system for up to 2 weeks (I was taking my test on day 15) and can give you a false pregnancy test result. I called Jeff and told him I wasn't sure if it was positive or not, but was starting to feel pretty sure it was positive, but didn't want to get my hopes too high until I had my blood test.

So I went to the hospital for my blood test around 11:00. They told me my results would be in in no longer than an hour. It was the longest wait of my life. An hour came and went...no phone call. Two hours. No phone call. I figured maybe they had gone to lunch and would call me as soon as they got back. Another hour. No phone call. This entire time of waiting I couldn't do anything but look at my home pregnancy test. Finally by 3:00 I couldn't stand it anymore and called the fertility clinic to see if the hospital had called them with the results. They said they hadn't so they would call the hospital and call me right back. A few minutes later I got the phone call.... "You're pregnant!"

I was in shock. And overjoyed. And in shock. Still kind of am.
So, we've had a couple of ultrasounds since then and so far so good! I'm 12 weeks along and due April 26th. I only had a couple of weeks of no appetite, but haven't had any real morning sickness. I've only thrown up once while brushing my teeth from brushing too far back and gagging! Otherwise, I've just been tired a lot.
We are so excited! Hudson has already come up with a few names for the baby. "Horns" if it's a boy, and "Smoothie Pie" if it's a girl!
I just want to say thank you to all of our family and friends who have thought of us and prayed for us all these years. We are so thankful for you!

Preschool and Soccer

2010-10-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been a while! Of course Jeff and I haven't done anything exciting lately, although there will be a post soon to follow that will be exciting, so stay tuned. But for now, it's a post all about Hudson.

He started preschool this fall. He was excited to go all summer, but when the morning actually came, he was really reluctant to go. I had to go in with him and stay for a few minutes, then left him in tears. His teacher said he was fine after a minute or two. This went on for a few days, then he got better. I still had to walk him in for a week or two, now he has been going in by himself and is so excited to go to school! He loves it! He has the best teacher and they do the cutest things. I'm always excited to hear about his day and see what he brought home. I have to admit I'm really liking having 6 hours a week to myself, although it goes by really fast. I could go for a few more.
Here are some first day pics: (the best we could get with the ham)

He had to have a Mario backpack since that's what all his friends were getting. Peer pressure in preschool!?

We put Hudson in soccer this year-his first time playing an organized sport. Again, he was really excited when we would talk about it, but once it came time to actually play, he was really hesitant and didn't want to play. We were kind of the mean parents on the sideline bribing and threatening the kid to play, only because we knew once he did it he would love it. We were right. After a couple of weeks (of torture for all of us) he finally wanted to play and he had a blast. His little team was so cute. Pre-k soccer is the most hilarious thing to watch! His team, the coyotes, only scored 2 goals the whole season (in the last two games), but by the end they were finally catching on!
Hudson was so funny. Every time he kicked the ball he would would stop and yell at us "I kicked the ball!" or come running over to tell us and give us 5, all while the game went on around him.
I think it was a great thing for Hudson to learn and grow and get some exercise!

Go Coyotes! Arooooo!

Always "needing" a drink every 5 minutes.

These 3 hooligan friends thought soccer games were actually wrestling matches. They spent most of the games wrestling each other out on the field! :)

Hudson Funnies

2010-08-12T15:09:00.001-07:00

8/12/10: (While cleaning and cutting his fingernails and toenails)
H: I can't believe how you're hurting me!

8/13/10:
H: I. am. a. robot. with. giant. ears.

8/13/10:
H: Is that daddy's shirt?
N: Yes.
H: Why are you wearing it?
N: Because I want to.
H: Well, you won't look handsome. You won't look handsome to me.

8/15/10:
Jeff was looking at shiny gold piece of plastic that looked like it had broken off a toy car.
J: Where did this come from?
H: Maybe a koala bear 'cause koala bears are shiny.

8/20/10:
Hudson saying the family prayer at night:
H: "Please bless Daddy's hair that it will grow".
I busted up laughing and couldn't quit, Hudson was laughing along with me, then after some scowls from Jeff, he finally joined in the laughing too. Needless to say, that was the end of the prayer!

8/24/10:
Hudson put on some headphones and said:
"Do I look like a foolish man?"

Summer Days...

2010-08-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here's Hudson layin' out in the sun...

Digging up carrots in the garden.

This is what he made himself for lunch today...

A couple of funnies:

H: (In a robotic voice)
I. am. a. robot.
Welcome. to. meet. you.
How. many. times. do. I. have. to. see. you?

H: (While wrestling with me with his tough guy voice) I'm gonna bust your skills up!
(A minute later) Oh yeah? You're stronger than me. (Not what he intended to say, I'm sure.)

Snakes and Dragons

2010-07-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Hudson loves the movie Toy Story and quotes it quite a bit. He drew this on the driveway and said "There's a snake in my boot!". I laughed out loud it was so cute!

Here's Hudson sporting 2 of his newest possessions: a wiggle car and dragon jammies with a cape (on clearance at Walmart for $3!). I don't think he'll be without either much this summer.

Oh the things you can do when you're a dragon!

*******************

Hudson just cracks me up with the things he says. I need to do better at writing them down. Here are just a couple of recent ones:

7/13
H: Do you like the shade brown?

7/12
H: Can I have more ingredients? (noodles)

He also gets a kick out of calling me names that I have no idea where he hears them. The only ones I can remember right now are Amanda, Savannah, Dorthea, and Miss Johnson???

He also has a pretty wicked cowboy and English accent. He's such a funny kid.

The 4th (and 5th)

2010-07-06T08:05:00.001-07:00

On the 4th of July we had Jeff's parents over for a farewell roast dinner since they were leaving for their mission to Perth, Australia the next day. We also had Jeff's brother Scott and his family over. Jeff's parents couldn't stay too long, understandably busy with things to do to get ready. Scott and his family stayed for some ladderball, roasting marshmallows, and a few fireworks. They mostly had fun blowing stuff up with fire crackers.

We did most of our celebrating on the 5th. I wanted to go to the hot air balloons at 6:30 in the morning, but Jeff had to help the scouts set up flags in the neighborhood, so I made him promise me we'll go next year. We made it to the parade, though.

We were finally able to see my cute little sister, Natalie (the one looking at the camera), in a parade doing her color guard stuff.

This is my sweet Grandpa Schumann (& Grandma holding his hand) who is a WWII combat veteran. I love it when he is in the parade, he's so cute and he makes me so proud! I get pretty choked up on this holiday. My heart swells with pride and patriotism for my country and for those who serve it.

Grandpa and Grandma after the parade:

Hudson's being a little shy, but I love that these two have the opportunity to know each other.

After the city festivities, we went out to lunch, then went to a park and let Hudson play in the creek while our idea was to relax in the shade. Hudson wanted us to play hide and seek and play in the water, so we didn't get much relaxing in. Then we went to have one last quick visit with Jeff's parents and watched them head off for the airport. Then we picked up some fried chicken and Roxberry's and headed over to my grandma's house to celebrate her 83rd birthday.

...and since I just posted my grandma's birthday, I'll post a pic from grandpa's birthday last month:

I think he's 87 now.

Swimming Lessons

2010-07-04T18:47:00.000-07:00

I was a little worried about how painful it was going to be to put Hudson in swimming lessons again this year because last year didn't go too well for him. Hudson really didn't like the water, especially getting water in his eyes or ears or getting splashed in the face.
This year, when I told him it was time to do swimming lessons again, he started whining and saying he didn't want to go. But of course we went anyway. Once we got there I couldn't believe the 360 he made. He was laughing and smiling through the whole class and doing things I thought would really make him nervous. I was so amazed and in shock and PROUD! He did amazing! We still have another week to go and I'm so excited for him to keep learning new tricks. His teacher does such a great job.

All done! Then he gets to go jump on the trampoline to dry off.

The nice thing about all this is bath time is so much easier now and he loves to show us what he's learned at swimming lessons while he's in the tub, especially for Jeff since he's not there for swimming lessons. Bath time used to be so hard when it came to washing his hair because he didn't want water in his eyes or ears. That problem seemed to vanish after the first day of swimming lessons. Woohoo!

Mountain Man Rendezvous

2010-07-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

Last month was Jeff's family reunion called the Walker Rendezvous. We camp for a few days (some all week) and do all sorts of mountain man activities and it's a lot of fun. It was stinking hot most of the time, and there was a flu bug going around like wild fire (Hudson got it the last night we were there, Jeff a couple days after we got home), but we had a great time. I think they said 125 people showed up.

There are a lot of activities for the kids: Bows & arrows, slingshots...

BB Guns.....

throwing tomahawks and knives (the adults do this, too, of course)...

starting fire with flint and steel...

cowpie toss....

a rodeo where they made their own horse then had to ride them through an obstacle course...

They also had a nature hike, gold nugget treasure hunt, stilts, candy cannon, playing in the stream, washing clothes on a washboard, making crafts with beads and leather, and tons of other fun stuff.
The adults get to have a lot of fun, too. Here's Jeff with his brother, Brett, trying to pull each other off the logs.

We have a walk-through where you try to do different things with a muzzleloader. I got second place in the womens (5 pts. away from tying for 1st). I shot a match in half, split a bullet in two (by hitting an axe head) hitting two clay pigeons, and hit a bunch of targets.

Hudson watching the shooting with his ear protection on...cute squishy face.

Jeff's looking pretty hot with his mountain man gear on!

Jeff with his dad and brother Brett in their mountain man gear with their muzzleloaders.
We always have a big dutch oven dinner one night where everyone makes a dinner and a desert and shares with everyone, a big breakfast of pancakes and eggs the last morning, a raffle for prizes, and a watermelon bust. Jeff's family knows how to have a good time at a family reunion. I love it!

(There is supposed to be a video here, but lately I've been having trouble getting videos on here?) Hopefully I can get it up later...

Jeff was asked to perform for the campfire talent show. I convinced him to sing this song. It was so funny. He really does sing on tune most of the time...I think he was just a little nervous!

9 Years of Happiness!

2010-06-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

On June 1st, Jeff and I celebrated our 9th anniversary! Jeff surprised on Tuesday morning by saying "Pack your bags. We're going on an overnight getaway." He's so good to me! So I packed, we dropped Hudson off at Grandma's and went......shopping at Smith's! Haha. I decided we would need some treats, then decided I needed a new jacket, so we found some on clearance and we ended up buying his and hers matching jackets!
After our little detour we headed up to our getaway location. Jeff wouldn't tell me where we were going, which was kind of exciting and slightly annoying. We ended up at the Alaskan Inn which is up Ogden canyon.

We stayed in our own cute little cabin along the river (not this one but one just like it):

We were really impressed when we walked into our room. They had some nature music playing...

some homemade cookies and chocolates on the table, and a bottle of Martinelli's chilling on ice. I asked Jeff if he had planned all of this and had them set it up. He said something like, "No......I mean....yeah! Of course I did!"

That night on our way to dinner, we stopped to try to do a little fishing. We weren't able to find a good spot to get down to the lake, so we ended up only "fishing" for about 5 minutes. Then we went and ate dinner in a little town called Eden. We had ribs and pulled pork, and it was a really nice restaurant with a great view. Then we went back to our room. The lodge had DVD's you could take back to your room to watch, so we watched 2012 and Taken and ate candy and drank Martinelli's.

When we checked in they asked what we wanted for breakfast the next morning. We ordered french toast and a Belgium waffle with strawberries and whipped cream, hash browns, sausage, bacon, mint hot chocolate and oj. It was delivered to our room. I was so excited for breakfast but woke up not feeling well at all, so I only had a few bites. I was so sad I didn't get to eat it, it was so yummy!

It was a fun little getaway (except for me getting sick the whole next day) and Jeff was so sweet to plan it all. He is so good to me and has been for the past 9 years. I'm so blessed he is my husband. I have loved being married to him, I can't believe it's been 9 years already. Time has flown by.

I love you, babe! Thanks for being a wonderful husband!

Art

2010-05-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

Let's just say I had a little bit of a lengthy post prepared, in which I was spilling emotions and regrets and excuses as to why I haven't done any art lately. Then it all got messed up, I got frustrated and deleted it all. You're probably grateful you don't have to read all the detail and drawn out version now. To sum it up, my excuses are: Motherhood (and life in general), guilt, and perfectionism.

But basically my point was I want to get back into doing art. A while ago I was lucky to meet one of Jeff's sister's friends, Jennifer Rasmusson. I was able to visit her art studio in her home and I was amazed. I now follow her blog and every time she posts new pieces, it gets my creative juices flowing. Check her stuff out. I love it!

Now I just need to get going on some stuff of my own.

Todays coupon trip to Smiths

2010-05-19T13:03:00.001-07:00

Oh how I love couponing! I've been to Smiths 4 times in the last 3 days ('cause I'm scatter brained). I thought I got some pretty good deals today. Thought you were dying to know...:)

These tampons weren't rock bottom priced, I'm sure, but I picked them up anyway at $2.99 with 4 $1 off coupons= $1.99 a box

I was excited about these pantyliners: $1.09 with $1 off coupons=.09 cents each!

Did you know they make dark chocolate almond Sandies? Me neither. I was excited. They were $2.49 and when you bought 3 you got $3 off, then I had 2 $1 off coupons and 1 .55 cents off coupon=2 at .49 and 1 at (what? .94 cents? I can't think...close enough!)

Stocking up for the summer! Hot dogs on sale for .88 with $1 off of 2 coupons=.33 cents per package!

This bottled water (our favorite brand) was on sale for $2.99 per case. When you bought 4 they give you a $5 Smiths coupon (can be used on anything) to be used later, so they ended up being $1.74 each

I love finding things on clearance! I picked up 4 of these Softsoap refills at $1.49 each. Wish I had some coupons to go with it, but I still thought they were a pretty good deal!

But I DID have coupons for these. Not exactly my preference when it comes to these things, but at this price I couldn't pass them up. Great to stock up on for emergencies. I had $1 off coupons so I bought 2 at $1.50 each and 2 of another variety at $1.74 each!

I also had $1 off the sunscreen making it $4, and .55 cents of the pretzels making them $1. 43.
My total for the whole trip was $46.53, if you deduct the $5 coupon they gave me: $41.53

----------------------------
4 boxes of Playtex tampons
4 packs of Carefree pantiliners
4 packs of Always pads
1 Coppertone sunscreen
3 packages Keebler cookies
1 bag pretzels
8 packages hot dogs
4 Softsoap refills
4 24 ct. Arrowhead bottled water packs
-----------------------------

A Good Laugh

2010-05-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

I had forgotten all about this and just found it again today. Such a funny kid. His own "outfit" of course! Cotton balls in the ears, gold necklace, and green underwear. One of the many reasons being a mom is so rewarding!

Leaps and Bounds

2010-04-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

I think this is the most accurate one (above). CRAZY!

I asked him about putting some hair on top of my head, he said "No way. I don't like it."

I've always tried to get Hudson to draw pictures of me, a dog, a fish...anything. He would always say "I don't know how". Or he would start with a circle and then just start scribbling over it. I admit I was getting a little worried about his progress. Then the other day out of the blue, he just started drawing all these pictures of me! I was so excited!
Lately he's also suddenly become really good at letter recognition and sounds. It seems like he harbors information in his little head and doesn't let us know how much he really knows until he's ready and then he SHOCKS us with how much he knows!

4/24

H: When I grow up I want to wear big pants!

***
After asking Hudson what he wants to do when he grows up:

H: I want to work with you, Daddy. I want to cut wood. With a knife.

***
Hudson had picked a flower (weed type)

H: It's ruined!
N: Did you ruin it?
H: No
N: That's why there's dead flowers on your lap?
H: It just melted.

***
4/28

H: Want to play Darbies with me? (He calls his Little People toys Darbies. ??? He also called me Darby a few times a few weeks back.)

***

Hudson has recently learned how to play tic-tac-toe and how to draw his own grid. Yesterday he decided to practice with an orange marker (luckily it was a Crayola washable!) on the counter. After Jeff caught him and called me in to see what he had done, we told him it wasn't okay to draw on the counters. Then we hid our faces from Hudson and snickered with each other about how cute it was!
The traditional X's and O's don't seem to be a firm rule for Hudson. He's been know to make his mark with U's and W's. I'm sure this is going to be a favorite past time in church now for Jeff and Hudson.

He's also completely obsessed with "making cards". He LOVES using scissors, cutting papers up into hundreds of pieces, coloring on them (his preference is markers...of course. More mess for me.), and then folding them and taping them up. I'm going through paper, markers and tape like there's no tomorrow.

Come Learn how to Coupon!

2010-04-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

I am hosting a coupon class on MAY 13th at 7:00 at my house! You want to come! I started this at the beginning of the year and I've already saved hundreds of dollars. The only thing to buy is a subscription for the Sunday paper so you can get lots of coupons, and you can get a discount price at the class, but it is totally optional and there is no pressure to subscribe, but you'll want to, I promise! Come one, come all, bring a friend! Please let me know if you are planning on coming or if you have any questions!

Loving Coupons

2010-03-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've become one of "those" ladies that goes grocery shopping, gets home and displays everything on the counter, takes a picture of it, then posts on her blog to brag about the good deals she just scored! And I LOVE IT! Ha! And for those of you who do coupon and wonder why I do the binder method...this deodorant and body wash is the #1 reason:

We went to Fresh Market just for the "buy this get that free" sale they have. Then I gasped when I saw a clearance rack! I found these men's Gillette deodorants on clearance for $2. I had 2 different kinds of coupons that worked brilliantly with this! I had $4 off of 2 deodorants...making them FREE! I had four coupons so I got 8 deodorants absolutely free! Then I had 3 coupons for buy a deodorant get a free body wash. So I bought 3 deodorants at $2 each and got 3 free body washes (which normally would have cost $4.99 each!). So in total we spent $6 for 11 deodorants and 3 body washes. That is by far the best deal I have gotten so far and I wouldn't have been able to do it if I hadn't had my binder full of coupons with me! I love just having all of them with me all of the time so if I do come across something unexpected that is on clearance, I have all my coupons on hand and can snag the deal on the spot! Love love love it!

8 pack Bounty paper towels
24 pack Top Ramen noodles
6 cans green beans
3 boxes butter
1 loaf of bread
2.6 lbs hamburger
1 box Band-Aids
11 Gillette deodorants
3 Gillette body washes
1 bag Krusteaz pancake mix
1 bottle syrup
1 Dole salad mix
1 ranch dressing
4 pkg. Farmland sausage links
1 box skillet meal

Total: $48.18 (and I'm pretty sure we got charged $2.29 for the syrup that should have been free, so it could have been roughly $46)
Average price per item: 96 cents ...hold on. something's not adding up but I need to go plant peas. I'll figure this out and update later.
Ok, so it looks like we really got 60 items (including each individual packet of Ramen) which makes the average price per item 80 cents! 80 cents for a pack of Ramen feels like kind of a rip in the shorts, but when you look at the flip side of paying 80 cents for 8 rolls of paper towels, or 80 cents for 7 lbs. of Krusteaz pancake mix, you can't go wrong!

Mom and Dad

2010-03-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

Me: What's Mom's name?
Hudson: Nichole
Me: What's Daddy's name?
Hudson: Uncle Jeff

My Sweet Savings Deal!

2010-03-05T21:53:00.000-08:00

So I told you I was starting couponing, right? Well, I've been pretty excited for the past few hours about this :) First of all, I follow a blog called freebies2deals.com. I have found tons of good deals through her blog, and this was one of them. Here was the deal: If you become a fan of Physicians Formula on Facebook, they give you a buy one get one free coupon. I also had a $1 off coupon for a Physicians Formula product. At Target they had some P.F. products on clearance. So I found these two things. Notice the mineral powder is marked on clearance for $8.67? I took it to the price check scanner and it rang in at only $3.08!! Good tip to know if you ever find anything on clearance at Target. Scan it in, it might be cheaper than you think! And the lip gloss I ripped open as soon as I got to the car but it was on clearance for $4.85 but with the dollar off coupon it was only $3.85, and since the powder was free with my bogo coupon...$3.85 was the total for both items! Regular price for both items would have been almost $20!!! I've been doing a little victory dance all night and just wanted to share!

Wreath

2010-03-05T11:42:00.001-08:00

Last night we were at the Dollar Tree and I found these cute, big, green Gerber daisies (they had other cute colors, too). I thought they'd make a cute spring-y/St. Patrick's-y wreath. I had also bought some white berries to go with it, but ended taking them out and making the paper roses out of strips of newspaper instead. I think it turned out pretty good. I like that it's a little funky and unique! I'm a little obsessed with making paper roses lately. It's so easy and fun and definitely gives things an unexpected twist!

Spoiled Rotten

2010-02-14T18:45:00.001-08:00

Ok, so my computer is dying and having real issues. I can't right click on anything, therefore, I don't know how to cut and paste pictures on here to get them in order, so bear with me.
Friday Jeff came home with flowers for me. I had been having a hard day that day, so I thought they were for that, but they were an early Valentines gift. Then a while later, he hauled some wood in the house and asked me how I wanted my mantle. I have wanted to finish our fireplace ever since we built the house over 4 years ago, it has always bugged me, so I was so surprised and so excited! I thought I should take a before picture, and really, this is about as far as he got in the project after running into some difficulties. He's realizing he's going to need some help. But just the fact that it is being thought of is the greatest gift! So here's the before. As you can tell, I really need help decorating and pulling this part of the house together.

Friday night when we checked the mail, we found a big Valentines Day package sent from my sweet step-mom, dad, and little sister. It was filled with tons of goodies and Swiss chocolate (since my step-mom is from Switzerland!) .

There was also a HUGE gummy snake that Hudson loved! He enjoyed biting it's head off.

(On a side note, notice Hudson's hand? He had an experience with turning the treadmill on full blast and getting some wicked scrapes on his hand and a pretty good bruise on his leg. I know we're lucky that's all it was.)
Saturday was our "celebration" day for V Day. It was wonderful. Jeff's brother brought his kids to our house for the day and watched Hudson for us so we were able to go out for most of the day. Jeff planned the whole day for us. First we went to the movie Valentines Day, complete with popcorn and a drink. Then the best surprise was he took me to Color Me Mine where you get to paint your own ceramics. So we painted a little serving platter together. Then you leave it there to get put in the kiln. I can't wait to see how it turned out. After that we went to dinner. It was so nice to have so much time together and to be able to do so many fun things. He really spoiled me rotten.
Today he gave me a card and Hershey's Bliss raspberry chocolates! I got him running shoes and new socks. Aren't I romantic? Haha. I got a cute book for Hudson called Mole's in Love and a huge marshmallow lollipop he'd been eyeing at Walmart.
After church we went to my moms for dinner, it was fun to spend time with family. I learned how to make cute little roses out of crepe paper. Since I don't have the right click thing you can see how to make them at filthwizardry.blogspot.com They are super cute and fun and easy to make. I would post pics of mine but I'm too lazy.
And finally, here's a pic after Hudson had spent quite a bit of time in his room getting ready for bed. Buzz and Woody jammies, sword in the back of his shirt, cat under the arm, and gun in hand. Oh, and don't forget the dirty, chocolatey face from sneaking 3 cupcakes (leftover from dinner) in the car on the way home. Ready for bed. Good night!

Blogger Burnout

2010-02-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

I think I'm getting a little bored with blogging. I still love following other peoples blogs, but sick of doing my own. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the effort. I started out doing it to keep my family updated, but I think about 95% of my family doesn't even read it! Oh well. I'm sure I'll keep doing it. Maybe it's just that time of the year when all the excitement of the holidays are over and we're just holed up in the house with nothing exciting going on to share. I'm aching for spring so we can start being outside more! Anyway, just wanted to say we're still here.

2010-01-21T09:06:00.000-08:00

Here are a few random pictures from the past couple of weeks. Above is Hudson with his scripture bag on his hat. I think he said he was being a unicorn?

Hudson with his underwear on the outside of his pajama pants. This kid literally lives in pajama pants all day long. I should probably make him get dressed for the day, but I live in my pajama pants pretty much all day, too, so I can't blame him for wanting to be comfy!

Hudson is quite the handyman. Here he is with his tools, tool belt and all, "fixing" the office chair. He's so helpful!

I found this cool website called Dollar Store Crafts and that's where I learned how to make this wreath. It cost me 3 dollars to make. $1 for the foam wreath, $1 for some random book to rip the pages out of, and $1 for the flowers. Pretty clever, eh?

This? Well, I just thought this was funny. Jeff was making Ramen noodles for all of us, and for some reason he thinks everyone needs theirs cooked in their own pan. He used 3 pans for 3 different servings of Ramen. {Rolling eyes and sighing just thinking about it! A little giggle, too. I love that man!}

I cut out the pictures from the Christmas photo cards we received, and decided I could use some of the scraps for gift tags next year. Some of them were just too cute to throw away! I only made these 6 (do you recognize your card?!) but I thought they'd be cute for neighbor gifts or whatever. I just backed them with some cardstock scraps. And when I'm ready to use them I'll probably just punch a hole through a corner and add some ribbon. Or not, if I'm feeling lazy.

This last picture is of Hudson sleeping on his floor. He's being going through this "I don't like my bed" phase. So for a few nights he preferred to sleep on the floor. Now he's decided he doesn't like the floor either, and is back in his bed, but it's a struggle. Every night he cries that he doesn't like his bed, but he won't say why. He says he's scared of the hall. And his toothpaste. He's had a nightlight, we leave his door open with the hall light on, we assure him he's safe...nothing works. Last night he was up until almost midnight because he was scared, but he won't tell us what of. It's so frustrating! He wants to sleep in our bed, and we've let him a few times, but I don't want him to get in that habit, so I've been pretty firm in not letting him do that anymore. Any suggestions???

In other news:
*I signed Hudson up for preschool in the fall. He is growing up too fast, I am so sad.
*Jeff and I are having a "Biggest Loser" contest. Whoever loses the most from Christmas to April (tracked by the Wii) wins $50.
*I want to run a 5k this year. I am doing a "Couch to 5k" program. Hopefully this will help me win the biggest loser contest. I think I have the advantage since I have more flab to lose that Jeff.
*We've finally gone to the doctor to talk about infertility again. And now I'm an emotional, nervous, stressed basket case. Over nothing. I just get so stressed about it and I think that's why it's so hard for me to even call the doctor. Jeff thinks I'm loony, but he is good about being supportive. I just feel like my biological clock is ticking away and every fiber of my being is ready to explode I want a baby so bad. But enough about that already.
*I've recently taken an interest in couponing. Then I attended a class about it this week, and now I'm super excited and can't wait for my 4, yes 4, Sunday newspaper subscriptions to start arriving. Check out the "She Shops Smart" button in the top right corner. I'm thinking about hosting a class, so let me know if you want to come! It's awesome!

New Years

2010-01-05T19:53:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to post about our New Years party! This year we were cool enough to have some friends to party with :) It was a last minute thing, really. Becca made Cafe Rio pork and other good stuff for our nacho fest. It was so yummy! Then we moved the party from the kitchen to our unfinished basement (haha) for some Wii and some games. Here we are playing Tripoley.

Nick and Ashley boxing on the Wii.

Jared and Becca boxing on the Wii.

By the time midnight rolled around, Hudson was the only kid still awake (5 others were zonked out). He helped roll in the new year with some silly string.

The aftermath.

Happy New Year!
The End.

Hoping to Win...

2010-01-04T13:45:00.001-08:00

My friend Erin is giving away a cute stamp set to someone who enters her contest. You have to make a card using one of the 4 given sketch designs. This is the card I made... the picture isn't great so the colors aren't very true to life.

From this sketch. Kind of a loose translation, but oh well!

You can hurry and enter HERE if you want. It ends tonight at midnight though, so you'd best hustle!

Christmas

2009-12-28T08:40:00.001-08:00

We had a great Christmas! On Christmas Eve, I spent the day making cookies. That evening we went to my dad's house for dinner. My step-mom always makes a smoked turkey dinner that is so yummy! Then we exchanged our gifts. They spoiled us as usual and got us the Cabela's Big Game Hunting game for the Wii (which was sitting under our Christmas tree to be opened the next morning!).
After their house, we went to my aunt's house for my mom's side of the family's party. She always hosts a Christmas Eve party and I love it. There is more food and treats, then it has become tradition for the little kids to break open a pinata and for the adults to play Bingo. If you get a Bingo you get to pick a prize. We all kind of contribute to the prizes. Bingo has become one of my favorite traditions! I wish I had better pictures from Christmas Eve.
But on to Christmas day. Here is our little family picture in front of the tree before we open presents. I look a little scary and it's blurry, but at least Jeff and Hudson look cute.

This must have been Christmas Eve because I'm dressed and look much better than above. :)

The cookies, milk, and Hudson's letter we left for Santa Claus.

Santa ate all of his cookies and milk! Santa has started the tradition of picking up a pineapple for us and left it on his empty cookie plate. He also left a letter for Hudson and left "magic dust" all over the kitchen table!

Santa brought Hudson a Woody doll, a top priority on his list!

A drum set? What was Santa thinking?!

Jeff was pretty excited about this one...

Relaxing on the couch after the morning craziness, holding a new favorite toy, watching "Up", one of his new favorite movies.

Listen for him to say "I didn't know I wanted this!". So cute.

Christmas night we went to Jeff's parents for a turkey dinner and we played Apples to Apples. Then we went home and Jeff's brother and his wife and 2 of their kids came to spend the night with us. We played Wii all night long and pretty much all day the next day, too. Between the Cabela's hunting game and the Wii Fit Plus (Jeff's present to me!), we had lots of new stuff to figure out and have fun with. We had more of Jeff's family come over the next night to play more Wii. Lot's of kids and craziness, but it was fun having everyone over and Hudson loved playing with all of his cousins. We had a great Christmas, and hope you all did, too!

2009-12-22T11:06:00.001-08:00

Oh, wait! Can't let the holiday pass without posting a Christmas Jib Jab. Just make sure you check out the post below. Oh, and you can pause the music at the top so you can listen to the video. :)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

What We've Been Up to in December

2009-12-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

Warning: Picture overload!

We went to see the lights at Temple Square with Jeff's family. I haven't been since before Hudson was born, so I was glad to be able to go. It was freezing, but we had fun!

Above: Hudson with his cousins and Grandma.

These were taken at Jeff's family's kids Christmas party. The kids have a party in the morning and the adults have a party at night.

This year Grandpa W. filled a box full of sawdust and hid money and candy in it for the kids to find. The adults even got a turn. I got about $4 in coins, I think Jeff got about $5.

The kids were just happy with candy!

I was in charge of helping the kids make a Christmas craft. Some of you were wondering why I was collecting laundry scoops. This is it...

A closer view...on our tree.

Hudson actually sitting on Santa's lap (a miracle. He still hates Santa!) telling him he wants 2 robots for Christmas.

I made 2 different neighbor gifts this year. Some got these wooden blocks I made.

And some got these magnets I made....

Along with cookies. Delicious cookies, I might add. For the recipe, go HERE.

I decided to do a different style of decorating the tree this year. I splurged and bought new ornaments, mostly at Tai Pan.

I decided to try and make homemade bread and cinnamon rolls for what I think was my first time ever. It turned our alright, I guess, but I still have a lot of practicing to do before I get it to be how I want it.

Jeff and I cleaned out our office. What a task. It was ridiculous. We filled up 3 kitchen garbage bags full of papers we had been filing and saving. I had been shredding and shredding and shredding with no end in sight, and finally told Jeff "We should just have a fire and burn it all." So we did. This is when we had about a foot and a half of snow in our yard.

My new addiction. I used to not be a whipped cream fan, but now, as you can tell, I can't get enough of it in some hot chocolate. I also like putting an Andes Mint or two in there. YUM. Good thing I'm out of whipped cream.

Every year, Jeff's aunt and uncle have friends and family over to their house. In their front yard they have a huge army tent with a stove inside. Santa somehow got his sleigh in the tent and was waiting there so the kids could tell him their Christmas wishes. They served hot chocolate with marshmallows, and had bags of popcorn and dum-dums. Uncle Les used to give everyone a horse pulled carriage ride around the neighborhood. This year he did a tractor pulled hay ride. It was so much fun. We sang Christmas carols as we rode around and looked at the neighbors Christmas lights. I love this tradition!

Uncle Les & Aunt Nancy. They are the coolest!

Anyway, that has been some of the things we've been up to this month. We hope you are enjoying your December as much as we are! I probably won't be posting again until after Christmas, so we hope you all have a great Christmas! We love you!

Heart Breaker

2009-12-17T14:01:00.000-08:00

I hope you don't all get annoyed with my snippets of what Hudson says. It seems he's been saying funny things a lot lately, and with my brain, I have to get them down now or I'm sure to forget 5 minutes later.

Last night when Hudson was in bed, he was crying because he didn't feel well (the Dr. is suspecting acid reflux and we started him on some medication today...). Jeff and I were both in other rooms, and heard him cry "I'm breakin' my heart!"

Today I wasn't letting him do something and he said to me with furled eyebrows, glaring eyes, and pouting lips, "You're breakin' my heart, Mommy."

He put some of my lotion on and after smelling it asked, "What does it smell like? I think it smells like unicorn."

Forgot One...

2009-12-16T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hudson was riding around on a stick pony, with a pretend whistle around his neck (a lanyard with a thumb drive on it), giving me my own pretend stick pony and whistle (a piece of hot wheels track for the pony and a large rubber band for my whistle), asking whether I wanted to be a good guy or a bad guy. I chose to be the bad guy. He wanted to be the bad guy too.

"Good guys have whistles. Bad guys have whistles, too."

He's also been acting like a dog...A LOT. He barks, crawls around on all fours, fetches balled up pieces of paper, comes up to us with a rope in his mouth while barking, meaning he wants us to take him for a "walk", licking, scratching...the whole works. It's kind of cute, but it's also kind of starting to get on my nerves because he is doing it ALL THE TIME!!!

A Few Funnies

2009-12-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

The latest funny things from Hudson...

Singing to the tune Jingle Bells while on the toilet: "Jingle Bells. Come and wipe my bum!"

"Mommy, I want married. Really bad."

While playing with cars: "He's, like, 30 degrees!"

Jeff: "Do you want some salt?"
Hudson: "No. I want some of his friend. Some of the salt's friend." (Pepper.)

2009-12-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

“On this upward and sometimes hazardous journey, each of us meets our share of daily challenges. If we are not careful, as we peer through the narrow lens of self-interest, we may feel that life is bringing us more than our fair share of trials- that somehow others seem to be getting off more lightly.

But the tests of life are tailored for our own best interests, and all will face the burdens best suited to their own mortal experience. In the end we will realize that God is merciful as well as just and that all the rules are fair. We can be reassured that our challenges will be the ones we needed, and conquering them will bring blessings we could have received in no other way.

If we constantly focus only on the stones in our mortal path, we will almost surely miss the beautiful sunset provided by the loving Father who outlined our journey. Each day can bring more joy than sorrow when our mortal and spiritual eyes are open to God’s goodness. Joy in the gospel is not something that begins in the next life. It is our privilege now, this very day. We must never allow our burdens to obscure our blessings. There will always be more blessings than burdens- even if some days it doesn’t seem so. Enjoy those blessings right now. They are yours and always will be.”

- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

My greatest blessing:

He is mine, and always will be.

Hudson's Birthday Q&A

2009-12-08T16:06:00.000-08:00

Here is an interview I conducted with Hudson on his 4th birthday. I don't necessarily believe all his answers. For example, he hardly ever eats toast. And some answers were just out of the blue and I had no idea what he was talking about. But I wrote down exactly what he answered. How he says some things is so cute.
(After I posted this, Jeff asked Hudson the same questions. The ones in italics are his answers to Jeff tonight. If they were the same answers I just left them normal. Some pretty funny ones.)

First words he said on his birthday: "My bum scratches."

Favorites
Breakfast: Toast, Peanut & Jelly Sandwich
Lunch: Peanut & Jelly Sandwich
Dinner: Pizza, Cereal
Movie: Lightning A-Queen (Cars), the Christmas one
TV show: Clifford the Big Red Dog, Bob the Builder
Thing to do with Daddy: Play, Wrestle
Thing to do with Mommy: Play, Kiss
Candy: Suckers
Toy: Gun, Flashlights
Thing to do outside: Play baseball, Football
Animal: Dog
Color: Pink
Song: I Am a Child of God
Drink: Chocolate milk, Water
Book: I don't know, the star book
Store: Macey's (I believe this is due to getting ice cream cones, suckers and treats at the checkout line, and getting to ride in car carts.)

What are you scared of? Monsters downstairs, I'm not scared of anything
What makes you happy? Not monsters, Mommy
What makes you sad? Spanking, Daddy (Sad! He really does love his daddy! And we try not to spank.)
What do you like about you? Playing with my pinata, my camouflage pants
Who is your best friend? Macee and Kaige (our next door neighbors)
Do you like girls? No! I don't like any girls! I just like you! (Gives me a hug and kiss), yes
Who's your girlfriend? You are.
What do you want to do when you're as big as Daddy? Play Chik-O-Lay (Chik-Fil-A. He wants to work in the fast food industry? haha), play football
What do you wish you could do? Eat an apple and licorice, Eat popcorn and m&m's and watch a movie
What kind of birthday party do you want next year? I had a birthday, a dog one.

Birthdays

2009-12-08T12:11:00.001-08:00

I've been meaning to do this post forever. Hudson's 4th birthday was November 17th, and Jeff's was the 18th. I threw together a last minute little birthday party with our neighbor friends.

The dog theme.

The cake didn't turn out quite as cute as I was planning, due to not finding the right kind of candy for the eyes, but oh well.

On the other hand, the pinata I made turned out quite well, I thought!

And sadly, this is the best picture I got of Jeff on his (now under- celebrated) birthday, opening up some shirts. I did get him cowboy boots for his real birthday gift, but I ordered them online and they came about a week late. He loves them, though, so that's good.

Happy Birthday to my 2 favorite guys! I love you both so much!

Behind

2009-11-25T11:24:00.000-08:00

Oh my, I'm getting behind in my blogging. Hudson and Jeff's birthday's were last week and I've been meaning to post those pictures for a while. But today we're off to St. George to Jeff's brother's for Thanksgiving, and I'm sure I'll be coming home with even more pictures. Hopefully I can get caught up when I get back.

In the meantime, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Jeff, Hudson and I are so thankful for all of our friends and family who bless our lives every day. We love you!

First Snow

2009-11-22T16:23:00.000-08:00

This is the first big snow fall we've had this year and Hudson was so excited to go play in it!

He sure had fun throwing snow at me.

What Are You Thankful For?

2009-11-19T12:35:00.000-08:00

2009-11-06T10:18:00.000-08:00

What it might have looked like if Noah hadn't built the ark....

Halloween 09

2009-11-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

Hudson and I carving our pumpkins. The big one on the right is the one I grew in the garden! I'm so proud.

Mine, Hudson's, and Jeff's

"Hey! Anybody in there? Open your door! I want some candy!"

Hudson refused to wear his mask. It was lucky I even got him to wear his costume. And pretty much the minute we got home, he ripped it off. He loves trick-or-treating, though. He was (as these pictures accurately depict) a blur, running from house to house non-stop. Of course he wouldn't stop long enough to pose for a decent picture.

Our friend Paul, and Jeff. I was pleasantly surprised when he voluntarily dressed up.

Your one and only. I look like a pregnant woman showing off the profile of her belly, but no, I am not showing off the profile of my big belly, but rather the profile of my rather large nose. EEeehheeeeheeeeheeee!

Hudson's Pics

2009-10-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

My friend from high school, Cori, takes the greatest pictures. Check out her blog HERE to her fabulous work and see pictures of the cutest kid ever...my Hudson, of course!

Hee Haws

2009-10-28T10:12:00.001-07:00

We went to Hee Haws the other night. Hudson had a pretty good time. I had a hard time getting good pictures because it was dark and Hudson is a turkey when it comes to getting his picture taken. While we were in the corn maze he huffed at me "Quit taking pictures of me, Mom!". Some other mom was there with some huge fancy flash on her monster camera and posing children. I was a little envious. Oh well.

He definitely had fun playing in the corn.

Going down the slide by himself.

I think this ended up being his favorite thing. You are supposed to jump in the middle but he ended up just running circles around it on the hay over and over and over and over....

I thought Hudson would have loved being able to run around with the animals and chase the baby pigs, but he was bored to death and didn't want anything to do with them.

Going through the corn maze.

Almost 3 1/2 ft.

Bean bag toss.

Corn dog.

Girls Weekend

2009-10-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

This last weekend my mom and 2 of my sisters went to spend a night at the Homestead in Midway. It was so nice to get away for a little bit and spend time with them. It went by way too fast, though. We are definitely going to try to do this more often!

Natalie, Mom, Valerie

Me, Natalie, Valerie

Me being funny. Ha ha.

Badminton

We did a variety of activities which were fun, but lets just say, it seemed we all came from the same gene pool when it comes to coordination or sports. It was fun to just laugh at ourselves.

Natalie and I showing our red tether ball arms. It hurt! Natalie was a fierce competitor. It was so Napoleon Dynamite.

Playing tennis. It was so funny I was laughing until I peed my pants.

Horseshoes. Also funny. Our highest score was 5, but I blame it on the poor upkeep of the pits.

I taught the ladies how to play poker in a game of Tripoley. Mom won.
We also sat in the hot tub, swam in the pool, and sat in a mineral pool. Watched 13 Going on 30 in the room while eating popcorn and cookies and junk. So fun! We missed having Teresa and Hayli there. Next year, girls.

Hudson Stuff

2009-10-22T19:18:00.001-07:00

I have to post these things every once in a while, because inevitably I'll lose my piece of scratch paper that I jot these things on. I feel like if I get them on the blog, I'll be able to find them later.

9/27/09: While the sacrament is being passed at church Hudson asks

"Are they bringing us toast?"

9/24/09:I asked Hudson to give me a big smack-a-roo on the cheek. I got a 3 year old's interpretation of a "smack-a-roo"....a big smack! He seemed all to pleased to have permission to slap his mom across the cheek.

The other day I cooed to Hudson:

He replied matter of factly,

"No I'm not. I'm shady. Really shady."

Mouse in the House

2009-10-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

7:43 a.m., Jeff finds a mouse on top of the stairs. All the typical mouse hysteria sets in. Screaming, jumping up on couches, etc. Jeff doesn't know what to do. I don't either so I just figure you do what they do in movies: grab the broom.

The mouse ran from the stairs to under the couch. Jeff wanted me to lift it up (in bare feet) and he would do the bashing with the broom. After about 10 good bashes, he missed. Then the mouse ran down the hall into the linen closet. He was a pretty easy target in there (we thought) but we didn't want him running into any other rooms, so we used towels and a sheet as a feeble attempt to keep barricaded.
It's kind of a blur from here but there was more bashing with the broom, then he must have gotten past the small hurdles because he went under another couch, again tilted up by me (in bare feet) while Jeff did the bashing with the broom. Jeff smashed that broom to smithereens. Pieces of blue plastic were flying everywhere. Then the mouse finally met it's fate. As it lay lifeless on the floor, I told Jeff to take it outside and shoot it, just to be sure. He assured me it was dead.
Hudson and his poor little wide eyed cousin were watching the whole thing. Afterward, Hudson said "Daddy, that was amazing! Where'd you learn to do that?!"

Our mouse traps. Ha ha.

I've been jumpy all day. I know there are more.
But he was kind of a cute mouse, wasn't he?

Witchy Women

2009-10-19T15:03:00.001-07:00

Every October, my sisters and mom and I (and the occasional aunt or cousin) get all witched up and go to Witches Night Out at Gardner Village. It's a blast and we all look forward to it.

This year I decided to be a little uglier than I usually dress up. I only saw one other witch there with a hideous nose like mine, so I got quite a few comments, looks, and fingers pointed at me.
*While getting ready, Jeff thought I was pretty hot, nose and all, until I added the finishing touch...the UNI-BROW! He didn't want to have anything to do with me after that! :)

My mom with her punk rocker witch hair.

Me, my little sister Natalie, and my older sister, Valerie.

Hayli's friend Marissa, my neice Hayli, and Hayli's mom and my oldest sister, Teresa.
I didn't have my camera so I stole these pics from my sisters Facebook. I might add some more later if I can get my long, warty, green fingers on some.

A Good Example

2009-10-18T22:49:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading all of the NieNie Dialogues archives (don't know what I'm talking about? Check her out HERE. Seriously. If you want a good read, start at her first entry and work your way up to the latest entry.) . It was like reading a novel I couldn't put down and I feel like she's the best friend I've never met. She made me laugh, made me cry, and most importantly made me take a closer look at how I'm living my life as a wife and mother. She finds joy and beauty in the simple, everyday interactions with her children, her family, and the world, and that's what she blogs about. I've been thinking about this a lot the past week or so.
I used to think I should only blog about the bigger things that happened in our lives such as trips, birthdays, etc., but really, it's the everyday moments that make up our lives and the ones that make me happy every day, such as Hudson getting himself ready to go for a family walk at night with frog slippers, pajama pants, flashlight, and the crown he made in church that says "I can be a good example".
Thanks NieNie for being a good example to me, even though we don't know each other. I am now trying to be a better wife and mother, and trying to slow down and enjoy my little frog prince a little more.

Halloween Sugar Cookies

2009-10-17T16:39:00.001-07:00

I'd been craving some homemade (homemade meaning we made them from a package...at home) sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles. Gotta have sprinkles. Plus I wanted to do something fun with Hudson. He loved playing with the dough and frosting.

Frosting removal: 4 fingers at a time!

Yum!

The Elk Hunt & Playing Hookie

2009-10-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we went camping for the end of the elk hunt. The first few hours we were there Hudson literally went through 4 pairs of pants and a few pair of shoes. He peed ON his pants once, IN his pants once, and we were camped by a blasted stream that we kept telling him to stay out of, but of course the temptation was too great for a spirited boy of 3 years and he kept running through it despite the 30ish degree weather and the constant nagging from his mother. For 3 days he constantly had wet pants on a line struggling to dry in the cold and his 3 pairs of shoes were in a constant rotation of drying by the heater in the trailer or by the fire. Fortunately the pee thing was only twice. Unfortunately, running through the river was multiple times a day (although it seemed hourly).
Jeff was unsuccessful at shooting an elk (which I'm relieved so we didn't have to go through the whole gutting, skinning, hauling home, stuffing the freezer full of elk meat process) but we had fun hanging out, playing games and Hudson had fun getting rides on the horses.

Hudson's cousins, Orrin and Cooper with Hudson on the back.

HOOKIE:
Yesterday was Sunday and since Hudson and I have nasty coughs and Jeff had a sore throat, we didn't go to church on account of not wanting to get others sick. We were not too sick, however, to pack up in the car and go for a Sunday drive. We went out to look for deer hunting areas in Levan Canyon. It was a beautiful drive with the colorful fall leaves, although it was slightly annoying that it was so hot in the mountains in the middle of October and our a.c. in the car doesn't work. Then we would get out and it would be windy and cold. Jackets off. Jackets on. Repeat. We also went geocaching along the way. Hudson loves finding "treasure" and ended up exchanging 3 matchbox cars for a sticker that said "I'm not a dodo I'm gunwise" (random), a black rubber bone, and a wooden buffalo nickle. Oh well, he loves it and we let him pick his prizes even though we feel like we are leaving something better than what he picks.
We went through the little town of Wales, and found a geocache near the Wales City Cemetary. We decided to go in and check out the gravestones. There were mostly OLD graves from the 1800's, many of them babies who died a few hours, or a few days after birth, and children, like Olive who died at the age of 4, and Maggie who was 7. I thought the gravestones themselves were pretty cool and I would have liked to do some rubbings. I thought it was a good activity for the day. It felt a little Halloween-y being in an old cemetary and all, a little educational and historical and churchy for visiting pioneer graves.
After the cemetary, we continued looking for geocaches on the way home. One said something about zebras. We drove by some horse coralls and Jeff asked "See any zebras in there?". I laughed at him mockingly. We weren't looking for real zebras, silly. Then, lo and behold, and I wish I had a picture so you would believe me, there stood 2 real life zebras amongst some ponies. It was the weirdest, most random thing I have ever seen in my life....until we investigated further and found that the owner of these zebras lived in a seafoam green double wide. No joke. How does one come in possession of 2 zebras living in Wales, UT in a double wide?
We kept on driving home and saw about 30 pheasants on the side of the road and that about sums up our drive.
Then we came home to the delicious aroma of roast in the oven. Some of you may not know, but Jeff makes a mean roast dinner. I have never made a roast in my life. But this guy has it down good. The meat is always tender, perfectly flavored along with baby carrots, and mashed potatoes and homemade gravy made from the drippings. He even made rolls. And the best part? He does this often. He really is amazing and the best husband ever. I love you, babe!

It's October!

2009-10-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

First of all, I have heard that Faaleaga and Samasoni's families survived the tsunami, however, Faaleaga's family has lost everything, and those people don't have much to lose to begin with. But we are grateful to hear the good news that their families are ok.

Now, a few random pics from the past couple of weeks:

How Hudson eats his apples--a one bite ring around and then he's done.

Hudson and I were able to go to work with Jeff one day this week on the Mirror Lake highway. Of course we had to stop to do some fishing and take in the beautiful fall scenery.

Hudson looking spiffy in his new church clothes (and daddy's tie, of course. We have since bought him his own tie in the proper size.)

My mom and I recently canned 71 quarts of peaches. It was my first time canning peaches. I always think canning is insanity while I'm doing (all 2 times I've done it!) but I love the reward of looking at all those beautiful jars full of summer.
This is what became of my stove top. I'm not sure why there are all the different colors, but I thought it was cool and kind of artsy fartsy. It looked cooler in real life than in the picture.

And now....my Halloween decor. It's probably a boring post to most of you, especially since I think I posted pretty much the same things last year, but it's my blog so I'll do what I want! :)

I'm pretty proud of these pumkins cause they came out of our garden! The big one is BIG! The picture does not do it justice! A few of them rotted before harvest time which was sad, but I'm glad the big one survived.

A couple of new things for my porch this year. The pumpkin has a light bulb so I can have a Jack O Lantern without catching trick or treaters on fire.

One of my favorite decorations year after year. My good old skeleton.

This is my favorite little corner in the kitchen now! The corn in the vase is from our garden and I made the whole thing for a decoration in Relief Society when I had to teach the lesson (which went pretty well, by the way. But I'm sure glad it's over!)

I have mini pumpkins EVERYWHERE! We got a good harvest of them again this year. They are my favorite and great fillers for decorating with!

The top of my kitchen cupboards, which I don't usually decorate for Halloween, but I'm loving it!

The pumpkin filled kitchen table.

While decorating yesterday, I played scary music and then that night Jeff bought me one of my favorite movies, The Nightmare Before Christmas, on DVD (I have 2 copies on VHS which I can now get rid of!) which we watched.
Today I cleaned up all the plants from the garden and weeded and pulled out some rocks that have been bugging me all summer. It looks so clean and different without all the wild vines growing everywhere! I must admit, I am enjoying fall and I am excited for all the holidays coming up. I've even done some Christmas shopping!

Worried...

2009-09-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

We are praying for the people of Samoa as they are going through the devastating aftermath of an earthquake and tsunami. We love this country and these people. We have learned that Faaleaga (above) and Samasoni's (our friend who is currently living with Jeff's sister in southern Utah) village has been wiped out and pray for them and their families.

Turtle Hunting

2009-09-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

It seems like things have been crazy but uneventful all at the same time, thus the lack of blogging lately. Jeff has been playing softball on a city league for the last couple of months and last night was his last game. They lost all of their games except for the first one which they "won" because the other team forfeited. It was kind of depressing, but Jeff had fun playing anyway and Hudson and I had fun watching and cheering the "Grass Stains" on. I obviously need to learn how to use my camera because these were the best shots I got after taking tons of pictures and fiddling with it the whole time trying to get a good one.

Jeff played catcher.

Jeff has been blessed with work and has been really busy while a lot of HVAC companies are really struggling. I wish he was home more, but grateful for the income. He has a few big jobs up on the Mirror Lake highway that have been great jobs, but it means he's out of town every once in a while for a few days at a time.
As for me, I am still going to acupuncture once a week. The Dr. has decided that I have become some sort of "project" and he is determined to work on me until I get pregnant and has said he doesn't care about us paying him anymore. So, we're doing the needle thing, plus now we're doing some weird sort of energy stuff. Hey, if it's free, why not try it?
As for foster care, it's kind of on hold for a minute. I guess I haven't made up my mind 100% yet. I think I just keep hoping that as each month passes by that NEXT month WILL be the month I get pregnant. And then the next month passes and I don't get pregnant and I tell myself it will definitely happen next month, and then it passes and I don't get pregnant. But for sure next month.....and so on and so forth. The story of my life, right? Anyway, foster care isn't out of the picture, but on hold for now. In a couple of weeks I can go back to my doctor to try to do some more stuff in addition to what I'm already doing, so maybe that's what I'm waiting for?
I'm also still in Cub Scouts which I love. Those kids crack me up. They're a handful sometimes, but I'd rather wrangle a bunch of 9 year olds and teach them how to carve soap than teach a serious lesson on Sunday. Oh, wait. I have to do that this Sunday. Somehow they asked me to teach Relief Society and I'm a little nervous about that. I'll let you know how it goes.

And now, for the good stuff:

On the way home from a softball game Hudson asks:

"How do you make stuff?"

Us: "Like what?"
H: Like.....
Snowmans and
Lights and
Roads and
Houses and
Tractors and
Demolitions and
Pictures and
Trees and
Stoplights and
Sticks and
Stars?????

Luckily he wasn't really persistent in getting an answer.

He's also in a "WHY?" phase. He'll ask a "why?" question, we'll answer, which he follows up with another "why?" question about the answer we gave. This continues for quite sometime until I can't think of anymore answers and say "Just because" or "I don't know" to which he replies "Oh."
I can't think of any specific questions off the top of my head, but you probably get the idea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Tonight as I'm typing this blog)

Hudson showing Jeff a picture book of animals, pointing to a rabbit and cooing and saying "Awwww look! Awww, cute!"
J: "Do you want to go rabbit hunting?"
H: "NO, that would be sad!"
Then sees the picture of a turtle right next to the picture of the rabbit.
H: (with excitement)

"How about TURTLE hunting?!"

Oh, the above story reminds me about one more thing. He has been into rabbits the past week or so, thinking they are so cute. A few days ago he asked if he could get one. I told him he had Oakley (our dog). He said, "YOU have Oakley and I'LL get a rabbit!"

Remembering 9/11

2009-09-11T17:00:00.001-07:00

Labor Day Weekend 09

2009-09-07T16:54:00.000-07:00

We spent our Labor Day weekend in the Bryce Canyon area. We stayed in a little hotel in Cannonville for a couple of nights which was a really nice change from camping. But we still got out and got dirty. We went 4 wheeling and hiking through Bryce Canyon and by Tropic Reservoir. We went with Jeff's 2 brothers and their families, so Hudson had a lot of cousins to play with. It was a fun little trip that went by too fast!

Hudson was intent on using Daddy's binoculars to find deer and elk.

All of our group except for Jeff who is taking the picture.

My favorite picture of the trip!

Need a Laugh Today?

2009-08-28T11:28:00.001-07:00

Laughed til I cried!

Garden 09

2009-08-21T12:14:00.001-07:00

This year we did quite a bit more with our garden than last year. We tried a few new things and learned a few more things, too. We love watching things grow and are always amazed at the miracle it is that things actually turn out with little effort on our part. So here's a little sample of what we have harvested so far: peas (2 varieties), red and Yukon Gold (?) potatoes, scallions, cucumbers, yellow/cherry/grape/big boy tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, corn (2 varieties), and unlimited amounts of summer squash and zucchini.

Hudson loves "helping" in the garden. Mostly picking things that aren't ready yet and watering. He loves eating the corn on the cob and the carrots.

We also have some other things that are still in the works:

Large pumpkins

My favorite thing from last year: Mini pumpkins

Cantaloupe. I hope it gets bigger and ready to eat before frost hits. Everyone always says it's nearly impossible to grow cantaloupe in Utah, but this one is well on it's way.

And something we've never tried before: Watermelon. I hope it, too, gets big and ready to eat before it's too late!

Our One Night Adventure

2009-08-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Last night we went up by Mirror Lake. Jeff has a couple of jobs up there and he needed to go up and check on some things, so we decided to make a little overnight camping trip of it. We had the option of sleeping in a partially finished cabin (one Jeff is doing work for) or the tent. It was getting dark and the weather was questionable so I voted for the cabin, but Hudson thought differently. His vote apparently outweighs mine because we wound up driving around in the dark looking for a spot. We went up by Christmas Meadows (isn't that the cutest name?) and found a good little spot away from everyone and set the tent up and pretty much went to bed. What an awful night it was! It rained, it was cold, our new air mattress went flat, and I had about a foot of sleeping space with Hudson jabbing me and farting on me all night. We did hear coyotes howling in the middle of the night which was cool, but morning couldn't come soon enough for Jeff and I. Hudson, on the other hand, slept like a log.
We finally got up around 7:00 and Jeff started a fire so we could warm up because it was cold! Then it started raining. Then it started hailing. We hurried and ate some cold cereal and packed up and got out of there. Jeff and Hudson were still dying to go fishing despite the miserable weather so we stopped by a few little lakes. Here they are fishing at Butterfly Lake. Notice the pleasant weather conditions? It's about 33 degrees and windy.

When we started our trip I told Jeff if I saw a moose I would be happy. We saw this beauty on our way home!

Have you ever seen a moose kneel down to eat? Us either. Or maybe she was blessing her food?

We stopped by Provo Falls. Please don't take notice of my flat, greasy, camp hair. Ugh.

Look. The one who got the most sleep still conked out on the way home. I just thought he looked pretty cute with the snake around his neck.

Deer Creek

2009-08-07T10:28:00.001-07:00

We had a Schumann family reunion at Deer Creek on the first of August. We mostly just stayed on the beach because the water was a little chilly and kind of gross, although we still got in a couple of times for a few minutes. Hudson had fun building sand castles and playing frisbee with his daddy.

Wings

2009-08-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

I can't remember exactly how this all started, but this is close enough....
A few nights ago we read Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to Hudson for his bedtime story. Shortly after, he was eating a lot of junk food and we told him he might turn into a butterfly like the caterpillar did after he ate a lot of junk food.
Now just about every time he eats (or wants to get out of eating is more like it) he says, "I don't want to turn into a butterfly". Or, "I'm gonna get wings and turn into a butterfly if I eat", or something to that effect. It's pretty funny.

How long do I let him go on thinking this? I think forever.

Shark Week

2009-08-02T20:47:00.001-07:00

It's shark week on the Discovery Channel. I (we?) LOVE shark week. Love it.

The Dog Days of Summer

2009-07-23T19:32:00.001-07:00

Few things make my heart smile as much as watching our boy play with our dog. Hudson loves drenching Oakley with the hose and I think Oakley enjoys it just as much, if not more. They are so good together. This totally makes up for when Oakley was an indoor puppy and would chase Hudson around and bite onto Hudson's arms and clothes, putting holes in them (his clothes, not his arms) and I would cry in frustration. And it makes up for the chewed drawer in our bathroom, the chewed up vacuum cord, and all the housebreaking accidents. He's a good dog. And Hudson's a good boy.

Jeff was mowing the lawn at the same time they were playing, hence the green dog. He just rolled and rolled in the fresh cut grass.

The Bees Knees

2009-07-20T09:24:00.001-07:00

We've been so busy lately with our foster care classes (tonight will be our 6th out of 8....almost there!) and swimming lessons (Hudson doesn't like them very much and cries most of the time), and doctor appointments and dentist appointments....and laundry and dishes and life in general. Whew. Hopefully life will slow down a little after July. But I thought I'd post a couple of pictures to keep you updated.

Hudson has decided he wants to start wearing a tie to church. He doesn't have one of his own so he has borrowed Daddy's for the past couple of weeks. I'm trying to be the mom that lets him express his personality even if it's not something I would choose. I think it's adorable in a goofy kind of way and he gets lots of compliments at church about it.

This is a wasp nest that has been growing in our basement window since early spring. We thought it was kind of cool and decided to leave it so we could watch it grow and it got huge (I would say roughly the size of a cantaloupe)! Luckily none of us have been stung, but the wasps were starting to get pretty plentiful, so we decided it was time for it to go before we got stung. We wanted to keep the nest, though, so we had to come up with a plan to kill the wasps without damaging the nest. So we waited until night when all the wasps (and neighbors, in case something went wrong) were in bed, covered the window well with a tarp and sealed off all access. Then Jeff opened the window in the basement and put a fogger in the window well and shut the window. Then we were able to watch the madness. All the wasps started to fly out of the hive and boy were they ticked. We put our ears to the window and we could hear the buzzing. There were a ton of wasps and it was so cool to watch them writhe in pain! Moowahahahaha!
The next day we cut the nest down (I was surprised at how heavy it was) and found it was full of wasp larvae and there was still a live wasp in there. We tied it up in a plastic bag and will probably put it in the deep freezer for a few days to make sure everything is good and dead.

4th of July

2009-07-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

Pretty much the only reason we went to Provo's 4th of July parade was because my Grandpa Schumann was in it (ok, and I like parades. Jeff...not so much). As the picture shows, he is a World War II Veteran. Words can't describe the love and respect I have for this guy. He's the best guy in the world and I am blessed to call him my grandpa. My heart was swelled up with pride as he went by and I wanted to shout to the crowd "This is MY grandpa!" and show him off to everyone. Almost all the girls in our family ran up to him and gave him hugs and kisses and I was happy to do the same.

Isn't he the cutest?

Our little family practically melting at the parade.

After the parade we met up with Jeff's family and drove up Payson canyon to Maple Lake. We ate fried chicken and then went fishing.

Hudson caught one.

Jeff decided to go for a swim in the lake. I was so tempted to join him but with the thunder clouds rolling in and with things to still do for the remainder of the day, decided against it.

Going for a ride in a kayak that Jeff's nephew built.

You have to eat watermelon on the 4th, of course.

After the lake we switched families again and met my mom and fam for fireworks. I thought I forgot our camera so I didn't get any pictures, but later found out it had been in the car all along. Argh. Oh well. We were a little disappointed with the fireworks this year. Oh well. It was still a fun day. Long, hot, and tiring, but fun.
I am so grateful for the freedom we enjoy and for the sacrifices of those that have served and now serve our country. Thank you. I love my freedom and I'm proud to be an American!

Walker Rendezvous 2009

2009-06-28T15:46:00.001-07:00

This past week was Jeff's family reunion which they call the Walker Rendezvous. It was held in the Boulder mountains at Miller Lake. We had a good time despite quite a bit of rain and an insane amount of mosquitoes.

There were canoes there for us to use. Hudson wouldn't get in one until the last hour or two before it was time for us to go home. He loved it of course. It was really fun going out and fishing from the canoe. Jeff and I were out fishing by ourselves one time at the far end of the lake away from everyone and it was really quiet and we saw 2 deer come out of the trees and we watched them for a minute. It was cute :)

Behind Hudson is Raft Lake. This was a fun place to fish and where we had the most luck. We caught a lot of good sized fish.

We did a ton of fishing, mostly on Miller. Hudson was there right along with us, of course. That kid loves to fish.

We wanted to try fishing at a lake that was about 10 or more miles away called Spectacle Lake. We rode the 4 wheelers up and fished for a little bit. Then it started to rain. Then it started to hail! We decided to head back and drove for a few miles in the hail. As we were driving Hudson kept saying something but Jeff couldn't hear so he stopped thinking he was going to say he was too cold or something, and Hudson just said he wanted another treat. This happened a couple of times.
He got this awesome rain jacket and pants from his Grandma and Grandpa Bell and it sure came in handy the whole trip with all the rain we had, but especially on this ride. Jeff and I were both soaked by the time we got back, but when we took off Hudson's rain gear, he was as dry as a bone.

My boys eating their smores. Don't you love the marshmallow all over their faces?

We had an awesome fog roll through camp for a few minutes. I wish this picture had turned out better, but you get the idea. At one point we couldn't even see the lake.

Also, not pictured, we had a long rifle shoot, played games at night, the kids had a projector movie a couple of nights, we had campfire programs, flag ceremonies in the morning, dutch oven pot luck dinner, raffle, and an explosion Jeff made trying to light the furnace in our trailer that scared everyone half to death. Luckily everything and everyone was ok.
We had a really great time and were sad to have to go home, but it's always nice to have a shower and sleep in your own bed.

Foster Care

2009-06-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that Jeff and I have decided to do foster care. We just had our first interview and we are now on our way. We start training classes in July. Classes are four hours long, twice a week for a total of 32 hours of training. Then we have to do paperwork and a home study. We're pretty excited about it. We have some friends that do foster care and thought it was something we could and wanted to do. We've actually been thinking about it for quite a while but are just now getting serious about it. We are doing it with the hopes of adopting, but know that that could take a while and the ultimate goal of foster care is getting the children back with their biological families. We figured that if we had our way, we would already have 2-4 biological kids of our own, but since we don't, we might as well use our resources by helping kids that need a home and a family. So, that is what we will be up to, starting in July! Wish us luck!

The List

2009-05-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

I should just create a blog for all the things Hudson says. I hope you all don't get sick of reading it. I just like to post them so I remember them later. If I just write it on a paper it usually gets lost.
I just loved his prayer last night. There were more things on the list, but thought these few in this particular order was pretty funny. Jeff and I were both peeking at each other and giggling.

H: Thank thee for...

golf balls

church

bubbles

underwear

ropes

Thanks

2009-05-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for all your love, prayers, and tears! I didn't mean to make the last post so sad (ok, maybe I did a little)! I mean, it really was a sad, terrible, horrible day, but I tried to put the funny part at the end so it wouldn't be so depressing! :)
But we really do love all of you and we're so thankful we have all of your love and support, and most of all prayers. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!

Pregnant for a Day

2009-05-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I took a test. It resulted in two pink lines. I couldn't believe it and showed Jeff. We held each other and cried and we were pretty much in shock. We decided we weren't going to tell anyone for a while. We both saw or talked to our families and wanted to share our news but enjoyed keeping our secret to ourselves. I got all excited and figured out what my due date would be, thought about cleaning out the office and pulling out my maternity clothes, thought about which doctor I would use, how we would creatively share the good news to our family, and Jeff immediately started not letting me lift heavy stuff. We were exhilarated.
Then, this morning, Jeff found an unopened pregnancy test. Then he looked at the opened wrapper of yesterdays test. I had mistakenly used an ovulation test which always result in two pink lines. I didn't know how to react. I was in tears and denial. Jeff insisted I take another pregnancy test, which was negative. Needless to say, I have cried and been depressed and feeling all sorts of emotions today. I told Jeff to go to the store and buy me a baby right now. He suggested we rent "Raising Arizona" so we could see if we could get any tips. Later I asked him what he was going to do about the situation (wanting him to solve all my sorrows). He said, "Love you." I said, "Love doesn't make babies," to which he replied (and I knew I had set myself up and what was coming next), "Actually...". We laughed. We are still broken hearted, but really, it's just back to life as we know it.
But it was fun being "pregnant" for one day.

A Little Dirt Never Hurt...

2009-05-19T13:11:00.001-07:00

It started out simple enough. We were soaking an area so we could till it up the next day. Hudson wanted to help. Then his cute little friends came over and wanted to help. Then they decided they needed to cool each other off, and they had a nice little water fight.

Then they discovered the mud....

And thought it would be fun to have a mud fight and put it down each others shirts...

We took his clothes off so we could hose him off and go in the house, but he needed to play just a little bit more...

Then he decided Mom and Dad weren't dirty at all and needed to get some mud flung at them, too!

They had the time of their lives and I'm so glad Hudson has such good little friends who like to get good and dirty. And I'm glad their mom didn't care, either!

2009 Garden is IN!

2009-05-19T12:39:00.000-07:00

I just got in from finishing planting our garden! We are doing much more this year than last year. Here is what we have planted:

green beans
carrots
cucumbers
potatoes
2 varieties of peas
onions
scallions
2 varieties of corn
summer squash
zucchini
watermelon
cantaloupe
mini pumpkins
big pumpkins

I am so excited the work is done and now we just get to sit back and watch it grow!

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More fun things Hudson has been saying lately...{I can't get enough of it!}

Yesterday morning, after Hudson just woke up.
H: I had a bad dream (visibly upset).
N: What was it about?
H: A scary guy.
N: What did he do?
H: Daddy saved me.

***
After his nap that same day.
N: Did you have a good nap?
H: Yes.
N: Did you have a good dream?
H: Yes.
N: What was it about?
H: Mickey Mouse.
N: What did he do?
H: He was sleeping in my bed!
N:He was!?
H: He was happy!

I don't think Hudson has had too much exposure to Mickey Mouse, but this is a pretty frequent dream for him, I think.

***

N: (Holding and rocking Hudson) You're my baby Hudson.
H: No, I'm Hudson!
N: You're my baby Hudson!
H: No! I can walk! See, like this!

***

Me trying to pry more sweet things out of him, and see what he really thinks of me.

N: Am I a scary mommy?
H: No.
N: Am I a mean mommy?
H: No.
N: Am I a nice mommy?
H: Yes.
N: Am I a fun mommy?
H: Yes.
N: Am I a sleepy mommy?
H: No.
N: Am I a silly mommy?
H: Yes.
N: Am I a.....
H: Diamond! You're a diamond!

He's been obsessed with diamonds since watching The Rescuers. But I still don't know how he comes up with this stuff!

Art Blog

2009-05-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

I usually hate when people ask me what I do with my time or what I like to do. I feel like I'm a pretty boring person. I just do the stay at home mom stuff. Laundry. Dishes. Yard work. Vacuuming. Pour a bowl of cereal. Read a story to Hudson. Wipe Hudson's bum after he goes potty. You know. Mom stuff.
But when I get asked this question I usually fall back on my old reliable answer to sound at least the tiniest bit interesting--art. But then I know what question will follow which makes me uneasy as well. "What kind of art?" or "What are you working on?". The answers are "I don't know. A little of everything." and "Nothing".
My Grandma Schumann, who is an artist, has been all over me for years about getting out the paints and just doing something. I am a terrible granddaughter as I usually just fan her away and try to get out of the conversation. I don't know what it is. I think I fear failure. I read an article today that probably sums it up pretty well:

Fear of failure causes delayed or abandoned projects. One way to avoid failure is to never start. Otherwise you may learn something you would rather not know. For example, you may think of yourself as an artistic person. If you never try to paint a picture, you don't risk learning the truth. Perhaps you could become a great artist. Fear of failure prevents you from finding out. Fear makes anything you want to do appear difficult and unpleasant.

Yup. I think that's me. So....
I am no longer going to fear failure! I think I'll try to take the plunge. I might make an art blog (because everything is more fun if you blog about it!) and try to get back into it. I'm always looking at things with an artistic eye. The other day Jeff and I were watching Dirty Jobs and they were working at the Le Brea tar pits in California (which I thought would actually be a pretty cool job. They find dinosaur bones and stuff in there and I loved that it was almost all women working there. It would also just be a cool place to visit someday.) . So in this pit I was looking at the old tarry wall behind them thinking that would make a cool painting. I see things like this all the time. I guess I also fear that if I painted something like that, people wouldn't appreciate it or would say "anyone can paint that".
Or I lay awake at night and have fabulous ideas that are gone by morning. Or I can visualize a painting in the scenery while we are on a 4-wheeler ride but don't have a camera with me or don't want to stop everyone every 5 minutes to take a picture.

Pit 91. Le Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles, California

I'm just making excuses. Dumb ones. I'm gonna do it. It makes it easier for me when I commit myself to the 5 of you. :) I'll make an art blog and hopefully post some projects once in a while. I'll let you know when I get it going. Thanks for reading this long schpeel.

Happy Girl

2009-05-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hudson has been saying the sweetest things lately. . .

Yesterday we were getting our car licensed and I was holding Hudson while the lady was entering things into the computer. Hudson was lovingly rubbing his face all over mine. Then he looked at me and said high pitched and all drawn out "You're so cute!" The lady said "Oh! That's so sweet!"

I agree.

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Today Hudson was watching "The Rescuers".

H: Why is she (Penny) crying?
N: Because she doesn't have a mommy or a daddy.
H: No, she has a bad mommy (referring to Medusa). I have a happy girl!
N: Am I your happy girl?
H: Yes.
N: Am I a nice mommy?
H: Yes.
N: Oh good!

He makes my day.

Mother's Day Part 2

2009-05-11T20:56:00.001-07:00

This is my mom with all of her 6 children.
(Bryant, Valerie, Derek, me, Natalie, Mom, Teresa)

These are my mom's parents, Grandma & Grandpa Schumann.

My mom and me.

Jeff and his mom

Hudson was having a good time with this stick horse.

Then it got even more fun when Grandpa Walker decided to start roping the horse.

(Remember to scroll down to read Mother's Day Part 1! :)

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T20:25:00.001-07:00

I had Jeff take some pictures of Hudson and I and I think we got some really good ones!

Hudson wasn't cooperating (trust me, it took everything we had to get the pictures above) so we told him that we wanted pictures of his worm and to show the worm how to smile for the camera.

It's a little embarrassing posting a picture of just me, but it's a rare thing, so I thought I'd post it anyway.

My Stars

2009-05-09T23:06:00.001-07:00

We got home late tonight and Hudson and I were out in the back letting Oakley run around and Hudson was shining his flash light on everything. Then he looked up at the stars.

H: Oh! Look at all those stars!

N: Yeah, they're pretty, aren't they?

H: Yeah. They're your stars.

How sweet is that? A perfect little early Mother's Day gift.

Meanwhile, Jeff was pumping refrigerant into our new car! We got a 2002 Isuzu Rodeo. I am pretty excited about it. I had had enough of our other car which was losing it's transmission. We put it for sale Thursday night just by writing on the window and parking it on the street in front of our house. We got a call on it Friday morning, he came and test drove it Friday afternoon, said he'd take it, and came and paid for it and took it away this morning! It was like a Christmas miracle but we'll call it a Mother's Day miracle instead.

Happy Mother's Day all you moms!

Acupuncture

2009-05-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

I went to a chiropractor and got acupuncture today! We are going to try it for a while for my infertility. I wasn't too nervous until I actually got on the table and he started taking the needles out. Then I got really nervous when he told me 4 of them were going in my stomach! But it wasn't bad at all. I got 2 needles in each foot, 2 or 3 in each arm/hand, and the 4 in my stomach.
I also got my back adjusted and that was pretty cool and I really do feel better! I also got the electro-stimulation pad things on my shoulders with a hot pad and that was pretty relaxing. It almost felt like a little pampering session!
I am going two times this week, then probably on a weekly basis for a while. We'll see how it goes. I'm pretty interested to see what the results will be!

Quilt Update

2009-05-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

So.

I washed the quilt.

I apprehensively put it in the washer, watched the water fill up, and held my breath as the agitator started. I just stood there for a few minutes...watching. Maybe subconsciously sending good vibes and well wishes to the little blanket. Or maybe to the washer saying "Please be kind to my little piece of work".

Then I shut the lid and walked away. I pounded out 3 miles on the treadmill. Then I went to see what was in store for me in the washer. It wasn't good.

It was in shreds.

Almost all of my little squares had fallen off or were just hanging by a thread. Some were missing entirely and must have been eaten by the washer. The bigger purple squares had a lot of seams that had come undone, too.

Maybe it was all the endorphins I had running through my body from having just exercised, or maybe it was just one of those "I've-lost-it.-No,-I've-really-lost-it-and-this-was-the-last-straw-and-send-me-to-the-loony-bin-now-please" kind of laughs, but that's what I did when I pulled that poor, tattered blanket out of the washer--laughed.

Oh well. I have since started to work on fixing it and it will now be even more "shabby chic" than anticipated. Isn't it great that that kind of thing is in style so we can pass off our mistakes as intentional shabbiness?

This little setback made me miss my deadline for the gift giving, so...ummmm....I think I'll be keeping it? We'll see. But I'm so glad I decided to wash it first. How embarrassing would that have been to have given it as a gift and the first time it was washed it all fell apart? Whew.

Oh, and thanks for all your compliments and words of encouragement and advice!

Sewing Doesn't Bring Out the Best In Me...

2009-04-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

My mom is an excellent seamstress. She used to make wedding dresses, she's reupholstered boat seats and trailer cushions, and could/can sew pretty much anything. I wish I would have learned more from her growing up. I am not a sewer. Every once in a while I attempt, thinking it will be an easy project, and then things never turn out as expected. I never have a pattern or a plan, I just slap things together and hope it works. And something always goes wrong.
I also get consumed in my projects, ignoring my household duties and my family....my personal hygeine....just to get done whatever I'm doing. Well, I decided to make this baby blanket as a gift for someone. It's pretty cute, from a distance. But if you look closely you'll see my crooked lines and many other signs of impatience and lack of sewing skills. I can't decide if I want to give it as a gift because it's kind of embarrassing how many mistakes are in it, or if I should still give it and just hope they appreciate the love and effort that went into it, or if I should keep it for myself (hoping someday I'll have a girl) because so much blood, sweat and tears (the tears are literal, blood almost) went into it, it's hard to part with. All I can say is thank goodness for seam rippers or I would have just burned the dang thing.
So I finished the blanket yesterday. At about 7 pm I decided to get ready for the day. Jeff was being a good husband, making dinner for us on the bbq. He said dinner was ready but I wasn't ready yet. Long story short, the dinner burned. Jeff was frustrated that I didn't come out on time and was venting. I was frustrated that he was so frustrated because I was still emotional from the sewing. I spent the rest of the night not talking to Jeff and being testy. Then later that night, one little thing (which was really nothing) set me off and I stormed off to the freezing cold back porch crying. Jeff came out with Hudson a few minutes later to say sorry (which they didn't really need to do, they were just being nice). Hudson was trying to give me kisses. Since it was so cold, Jeff was trying to tell Hudson I just needed to be alone and to come in the house, but Hudson said "Carry her in the house, Daddy. It's cold out here." Jeff had him scratch my back and give me hugs and tried to get him to come in again, but Hudson wouldn't leave me and kept telling Jeff to carry me in the house. It was so sweet, I love my little boy. And my big boy. I'm sorry I was so awful, guys! I love you!

So here is the blanket that caused so much emotional havoc:

The little squares have raw edges so they will hopefully get frayed in the wash. Do you think I should wash it before I give it as a gift? I kind of want to see the outcome. Or should I even give it at all? Is that terrible for me to even think about keeping it?

Lone Peak 2000 Graduates

2009-04-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

It seems like a 10 year reunion might be in the works for next year. Or at least some people are hoping it will be. I've often thought about whether or not I would want to go to my high school reunions and my answer has usually been "no". But I think I've changed my mind and would probably go. I can't believe it's been so long.
This is going around on Facebook, but thought I'd post it here just in case you don't have a Facebook account.

Click HERE to check it out.

CAN

2009-04-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

This video is so inspiring to me on so many different levels. It comes to me at a time when I am trying to start running. Right now I'm doing 2 miles a day. I'll definitely be thinking about the Hoyt's on my next workout.
I want to be a better mom. I know that way too often I put on a DVD or give Hudson something to keep him "entertained" so I can get things done or have my own time. How great of a mom would I be if I put half the devotion into being a parent as this dad does?
And I want to be a better person. So many times I don't do things because I think I'm incapable, or not skilled enough, or will fail if I try. How many opportunities are passing me by because I'm too nervous, or afraid, or shy?
I love the strength both of these men have.