day 9 - a photo you took

Actually, my brother Nate took this. It is just up AF canyon. He is an amazing photographer. I wasn't really prepared for this question or I would give you some really good ones.

I did take this one. It is of the Tetons while we were in Yellowstone last year. Pretty.

I'm guessing this questions implies a 'photography' type of picture. I've taken all the pictures, really, I've ever posted. So I'm kinda confused.

day 8 - a photo that makes me sad/angry

This isn't really a photo but everytime I see this it makes me physicaly sick. My 7 year old niece Macie saw it and wanted to call in and give money. I'm not ok with animal cruelty. It is on the same level, if not higher, than child abuse.

day 7 - a photo that makes you happy

These are a few of my favorite pics of me and Benj. They make be smile because we were cute and happy and so in love! Man I wish I looked like that still. If I had only known back then that I would grow to be 900 pounds, I would have never complained about my body! And of course, Max's little smile makes me melt :)

mistake

haha I just noticed on the Max hand-straight-out pictures..... I did post the same one twice! They really were different ones, barely, but different:

2 minutes later.....

day 6 - whatever tickles my fancy

Some highlights from the parade....

This girl, just watching..

This random, quite emmaculate mammoth. No explanation. Facing backward...

These people....

'OHS'?

This random guy pulling a ... camel?

Handi-snack band with the horned van.

Any finally, my 2 most favorite things:

The 900 cheer squads with 40 girls each. I used to be a twurp cheerleader too, so don't get me wrong. I think the politics is getting out of hand here. Are they just taking every girl who tries out so they don't get sued by the parents for 'not being fair'? And then once the squad hits 40, they just make a new squad? The word 'squad' sounds yucky.

The 5 or 6 moms (and dads this year!)with huge strollers who walk 20 feet behind the float and chat. If you are not participating, don't be in the parade. If your child is too scared to go without his mom, don't let him go.

Ok, I feel better.

day 5 - favorite quote

I'm not really interested in this one. I'll give a few quotes I like; I don't know that they are necessarily my favorites.... (AND I'm going to type this whole post centered)

• "It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers." Pres Gordon B Hinckley
  


• "Do not give up hope, and do not give up trying, but DO give up obsessing about it"--Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley


• “The difference between a man and a boy is, a boy wants to grow up to be a fireman, but a man wants to grow up to be a giant monster fireman.” Jack Handy
  



• “If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting” Jack Handy
  


• “If you saw two guys named Hambone and Flippy, which one would you think liked dolphins most? I'd say Flippy, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong though. It's Hambone.” Jack Handy
  
  
• “The next time I have meat and mashed potatoes, I think I'll put a very large blob of potatoes on my plate with just a little piece of meat. And if someone asks me why I didn't get more meat, I'll just say, "Oh, you mean this?" and pull out a big piece of meat from inside the blob of potatoes, where I've hidden it. Good magic trick, huh?” Jack Handy
  


• "I think it is always a good idea to carry 2 bags around. That way, if someone asks, 'Hey, can you give me a hand?' You can say 'Sorry, got these bags..." Jack Handy
  
  Of course now I have to add my 2 cents at the end. This is Max's new thing - arms straight out for long periods of time.

Picture 1....

2 minutes later...

day 4 - favorite book

Well, pretty much since I got maried I don't like to read anymore. Back in the day I was an avid reader - mostly LDS fiction books. A favorite was The Work & The Glory. I have read a million series like that and I don't even know the names of them. One was about the wives of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Issac, and Jacobs wives) and it was amazing! I also like books about American history & Pioneers & stuff. I love to study the Book of Mormon too. The more I learn the more I love it.

I am just bursting with irritation - I will have to share coming up on day 6 (whatever tickles my fancy day). Stay tuned!

day 3 - favorite tv program

I go in spurts. At one point, Benj and I religiously watched House. Almost obsessively. Then we moved on to CSI (Las Vegas, Miami, New York, etc). So I like medical dramas and CSI-type dramas. Seinfeld is a classic. Shows that seem to frequent my DVR are 2 & a half Men, That 70's Show, Dr G. Medical Examiner, anything on HGTV or TLC, and anything that has to do with pregnancy - birth. And then you have the seasonal guys: American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Bachelor and Bachelorette, Kate + 8. It is kind of sad, I am really into TV since the boy was born, obviously.


I just need to throw in a few tidbits here. I cannot stand when people WrItE LiKe ThIs oN Facebook like they are in 7th grade. And say things like "whateva" and "kool". Come ON. And the horse parade. I will not dive into my true deep feelings, but the whole thing is really quite weird. I think it is absolutely insane that you can just sign up and jump on a horse and be in a parade. People will paint thier horse and dress up, etc. One girl always paints her horse pink and dresses in P.J.'s. What the hell does that mean?? Then the "Riding Clubs". They are never 'on' and always shuffling around. You always have 3 or 4 biggie ladies with huge BIF's. This year there were even people just full on walking - no horse. It's a HORSE parade. At least be touching a horse. This time there was a big break between riders and this chubby kid came full on galloping down, like fast, with breast cancer signs painted on his horse, and he was all intense, it was freaking funny. You had to see it. Anyway, i could really go on and on. Don't misunderstand, I love horses, just love them in a pasture or at a rodeo.

day 2 - favorite movie

Blah. I'm not a die-hard movie fan like my hubby. I enjoy a movie every now and then but when it comes right down to it I just don't care. I used to think I liked watching movies a lot but in the end it really was just an excuse to make out on weekends. So for a long time movie = get action. Anyway, I love Titanic, The Green Mile, The Dark Knight, The Blind Side, Shrek, Lion King, Little Mermaid.

Lee Dewyze - Hallelujah (Studio Recording)

There is a little hiccup at the first..... Ahh, this is so fantastic.

day 1 - favorite song

Well well well, I am going to have to say the song Hallelujah. A bunch of different people sing it, Leonard Cohen, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley - but it doesn't matter. Hell, Jerry Seinfeld could sing it. It makes movie scenes more emotional & dances more beautiful. Think of someone walking down the road. Now think of that same scene with this song playing. So much cooler. Some other classic songs I like are Strawberry Wine, I Need You by Tim and Faith, More Than A Memory by Garth. Really, I like a lot of Garth songs, Dashboard Confessional, Nirvana (haha), Jack Johnson.

(post #2 toay) hair-less

I miss Max's baby hair! =(

Before:

and 5 months later.....

He's still pretty damn cute though! I can't believe how much he has changed! He is exactly 5 months old today!

30 days of me

So.....I am going to try this. I got it from a friends blog and I thought reading hers was interesting and decided to try it. We'll see how it goes. I may or may not have time every single day and might double up, and I can already tell you some don't really apply to me (and I may have altered a few from the original), but we'll see what happens. Enjoy!

Day 01 - your favorite song

Day 02 - your favorite movie

Day 03 - your favorite television program

Day 04 - your favorite book

Day 05 - your favorite quote

Day 06 - whatever tickles your fancy

Day 07 - a photo that makes you happy

Day 08 - a photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 09 - a photo you took

Day 10 - a photo of you taken over ten years ago

Day 11 - a photo of you taken recently

Day 12 - whatever tickles your fancy

Day 13 - a fictional book

Day 14 - a non-fictional book

Day 15 - a fanfic (don't know what this means, so I am changing it to favorite comedian)

Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 17 - an art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.) (not interested, changing this to decorating ideas I like)

Day 18 - whatever tickles your fancy

Day 19 - a talent of yours

Day 20 - a hobby of yours

Day 21 - a recipe

Day 22 - a website

Day 23 - a YouTube video

Day 24 - whatever tickles your fancy

Day 25 - your day, in great detail

Day 26 - your week, in great detail

Day 27 - this month, in great detail

Day 28 - this year, in great detail

Day 29 - hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days

Day 30 -- whatever tickles your fancy

his boys can swim!

HAPPY FIRST FATHERS DAY

to

BENJ!!

You are the best! Me and Max love you!

thankful thought

My thankful thought this week is modern medicine. Baby Tylenol. Prevacid so Max doesn't throw up every 3 minutes. Anti-Anxiety and Anti-Depressant drugs so I am semi-sane. EPIDURALS. I can't even fathom giving birth without an epidural. I am glad it is there for me to have the choice to chose it. Neosporin. Love Neosporin. X-Ray and Ultrasound, MRI adn CT. There are so many things you can see and diagnose while you are pregnant with the Ultrasound. I am so lucky I had such close access and was able to see my little guy almost every week. My Aunt Becky is really sick in the hospital right now and I have no doubt she wouldn't make it without the modern medicine and the advancements we have today. Chemo. It is a roughy, but better than nothing in most cases. I don't know that this counts as 'medicine', but Tampons! Good hell, I think a pad is bad, I can't even imagine what women had to do in earlier times. I think it should count as medicine, because, man, that could turn into a raging infection if you aren't careful, especially back in the day. Dirty rags, no really good cleaning supplies.... Laproscopic surgery. So much less evasive = faster healing. Anesthesia. I watched a thing on the History Channel about all the amputations that they preformed in the Civil War. Pretty much just gave you a shot of whiskey and took a rusty dull saw to your leg. Crazy. Anytime you get you leg cut off isn't really good, but it is much better with anesthesia I'm sure. All the myriad of blood tests that can be run to see if you have 'this' or 'that'. I am just so grateful that there are so many things that help make life easier and more pleasant and less painful for me and those around me and help 'catch' things before they get out of hand.

{I know this is supposed to be 'positive', but I am just going to mention right here that someone needs to come up with a better, less expensive way of doing a mammogram. Steel plates? Honestly. AND, I think they should give a mini epidural while doing cervical checks those last few weeks of pregnancy. Those damn things hurt worse than delivering. }

scary water towel face rattle

He likes to hold things so he was holding onto this burp rag and the next thing I knew he was asleep with it over his face. Benj fell asleep with stuff on his face when he was a baby too.

I put him in his swing for the first time in a long time. Pretty sure he liked it. He found the rattle.

While my mom was cutting his hair the other day we discovered 'scary water'. We spray the water bottle in the air and after a second the mist hits him and scares the hell out of him. This footage is actually pretty tame compared to the first few times. He ended up smiling and liking it. Funny. The picture has water drops and it looks like glitter, but I swear it isn't. No glitter. No rainbows.

motel 6

So, one time I mentioned how much I love the Allstate guy. I won't dive into that again, see here to read it. But I've found something that gives me the same feeling. The Motel 6 guy.

The slogan "I'm Tom Bodett, and we'll leave the light on for you." Makes me feel warm inside. It reminds me of a loving parent leaving the light on after a first date. I honestly want to go check into a Motel 6 right now, have a heart to heart with Tom about my day in my jammies, over hot chocolate. Love it.

buds

Max, Cooper (Cher's) and Blake (Manda's) hung out today! Max and Cooper are pretty much the same size and are like a year apart. Max could eat him. Max could eat freaking Blake, too, but we'll give him some more time to ripen. It was pretty uneventful other than at one point Cooper sat on Max's head. Max told him to wait 6 more months and then he'd kick his ass. They are going to all be lifelong friends. :)

thankful thought

Since I am such a pessimistic person, and I recognize it, I really do try to always think of positive things, things that make me happy, & things I am grateful for to counter all the things I bitch about. I have from time to time kept a graditude journal (which came to an abrupt end about half way through the pregnancy). Anyhow, I figure I will try to do a 'thankful thought' at least once a week on my blog. So, here is my first one:

• The Mountains. I love love love living in Utah by the beautiful mountains! They are not only beautiful, but make me feel safe and enclosed. Not to mention, I love camping and 4-wheeling in them! I cannot freaking even fathom dragging a handcart thru them in the winter. Imagine, being on your period with a dirty rag scrunched up your crotch, frozen feet, prob missing toes, haven't eaten in 2 days, just crossed a icy river, and have 4 kids under 5 trailing you and whining whining WHINING. Man, there is a good reason I wasn't a pioneer. Anyway, I kind of went off of the mountain thing there. Hell, I'm grateful for the pioneers too though. I love those mountains, but I love them in my 4-wheeler, car, or truck!! (So, to re-cap: I am grateful for the mountians, the pioneers, and modern transportation here.)

swass day

So, while we were PATIENTLY waiting for our swamp cooler to be turned on...... we pretty much hung out either in the truck with the AC on high, or at one of our parents houses today. We honestly would have died if we were at our house. Yes, it is that hot. We actually looked at apartments about it. When the lady asked when we would be ready to move in I told her 'freaking yesterday'. I hate the heat. Here are some pics from the day, just hangin out.

anything that comes near his mouth, he eats...

Nappy time

I hate swamp coolers. Hate.

Jumper

I put Max in his little jumper thing, mostly to try and get him to shut freaking up for 5 seconds (it has been the day from hell today....UGH). He kind of looks arm-less in these. I think he liked it. He ended up sucking on the edge half the time - but hey, whatever floats his boat, eh?