Tag, I'm IT

A-Attached or single: Attached, 2 years and four months
B- Best Friend: Eric...come on, he met me in the worst possible place in Vegas (zone and all)and still fell in love with me....not on the mission, you sillies!! I'm just saying, he wasn't prejudiced against me for my bad attitude during the time we were in the same zone.
C-Cake or Pie: Pie...especially the berry tart we just had from Service Foods (servicefoods.com). Can I say cookies? 'Cause Eric has perfected the best Peanut Butter Cookie recipe...and it was the way he first wooed me.
D-Day of Choice: Eric's day off when it doesn't coincide with one where I'm involved with the youth so we can actually enjoy being a family!!
E- Essential Item: Toilet. Let's be practical here...I was never meant to be a pioneer and it is the one thing I KNOW I'll use at least once every day. =)
F- Favorite Color: Red, but I'm definitely jonesing on the brown and blue combo I've seen a lot of lately...Eric thinks I'm obsessed
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Bears...everyone knows I travel with a giant sized bag on road trips! Anyone recall the melted bag upon Mark and my return from Provo one year?
H- Hometown: That's a funny question. How about Home state? I can at least classify Missouri as being the state I've lived in for the longest number of years.
I- Indulgence(s): sherbet. I don't care what kind, but Cold Stone had this really great lemon sherbet back in Vegas of 05...it was delicious and we enjoyed it on the lawn in front of the Temple the night Eric rode the Greyhound back to GA.
J- January or July: July because I'm never freezing in July (unless we're in Washington...then I might need a jacket...wait, who am I kidding, if there's a slight breeze, I probably need one).
K-Kids: Enthusiastic Emily. She's got PERSONALITY!!
L-Life is incomplete without: family and good friends...but a good game of bowling or RockBand is pretty good too. Oh, wait...and now LOST!!
M- Marriage Date: October 22, 2005
N- Number of Siblings: 5 brother, 3 sisters...yes, totaling 8 siblings.
O- Oranges or Apples: I can go for either, but if you add toppings of PB or caramel...totally an apple girl!
P- Phobias or Fears: Being alone (come on, I can't even go grocery shopping by myself...I always have at least Emily!!), drowning or Eric dying. Also, dogs...I'll never get over it, although it is much better after getting Hannah.
Q- Quote(s): "Be like Brother Brigham" ...a variation of my own from Nephi's "Let us be strong like Moses" 1 Ne. 4: 2
R- Reason To Smile: Emily...if you've been in her presence, you know what I'm talking about.
S- Season: Autumn. Yes, I'm always cold, but at least people don't look at me weird for bundling up. And then I get to wear my favorite clothing item: sweaters!!
T- Tag Three: Sarah, Kelli, Joni
U-Umbrella in the rain or no umbrella: Umbrella...who wants to be wet and cold?
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Give me meat! Can't go too long without eating some good red meat!
W- Worst Habit: Picking...if I have a scab, I have to pull it off. Yep, I'm gross.
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds...it's the only way to really see anything...gall bladder surgery, I had x-ray, and cat scan, but it wasn't until they did the ultrasound that they decided it really was sludge.
Y- Your Favorite Food: A Chimichanga at Casa Mexico with their delicious goat milk cheese!
Z- I'll make one up: Zebras or Giraffes: Giraffes...Long necks stick together!

Burning Hot!!

We've had another cool spell and our house was chilly when we went to bed last night. I turned the heat on and went off without another thought. Around 12:30 this morning, I woke with an awful stomach ache and felt like I needed to throw up or something. It was incredibly hot and I was sleeping under my feather blanket. Toast-y! I turned off the heat (which was only set to 63 degrees anyway) and turned on the ceiling fan. I still had to escape to the bathroom for a few minutes just to cool off. So, even though we have this great house with a heat pump, it doesn't exactly work properly (the temp. gage) if all the bedroom doors are shut tight. It was probably 80 degrees in the bedrooms while the large, open living space was right around 63. Thankfully, once I cooled down, I went right back to sleep. I'm surprised no one else woke up because of it.

Breakfast of Butter

What's better than consuming all your fat content in one meal? I'm not sure, but you should ask Hannah. She's been boycotting her dog food and scrounging for any morsel inside the house of human food. She stole Em's breakfast and was disciplined for it. She whined the whole time I had her where she normally eats her breakfast. Well, as I sat down to do some YW work this morning, she had other ideas.
I already cleaned the kitchen and removed all items from the table, except the plate holding the half stick of butter (okay, so really it was margarine, but who's keeping track?). I heard the clattering of a plate on the table and found that Hannah had already consumed the melted butter and was "licking the platter clean."

Sleep Snacking

Stefanie, Caleb, Emily and I went on an excursion to the nearest Costco today. (It's maybe an hour north of us.) After we finished that trip (and after all of our "Oh, and remember we're supposed to get..." moments were through) and returned the Dixon's to their home, Em and I went shoe shopping. I don't know if I've been blessed thus far to find shoes on clearance or what, but I about died when I saw the price tags on these tiny shoes. Toddler or grown-up, the pair of shoes is the same price. Go figure!! I couldn't believe I was going to spend at least $40 on two pairs of shoes she'll just grow out of in another couple months!!! I went to five stores trying to find something I at least liked but ended up settling on the cheapest. I ended up going back to Payless Shoes b/c at least it was a BOGO 1/2 off sale. We then had to find her some jeans (she outgrew everything!) and some longer (torso-wise) shirts. At the end of the excursion, it was a little after 6 pm and Em was starving. I opened the new box of Goldfish Crackers and just handed her the whole box! She was out and sound asleep by the time we hit the freeway (BTW, no one in GA would DARE use that term b/c "the signs say 'interstate' so why call it anything else?"). I grabbed the camera as soon as we got home so you could see how funny it was to see this image in my rear-view mirror.

Tornadic Storm

Eric just recently got an antenna for our new TV so we can get the local channels (better to pay $9 once than $6 every month). I randomly turned it on last night and found out we were in a Tornado Warning. Then I heard the sirens going off. I don't know how the rest of Macon fared, but we only had winds and heavy rain. Sometimes after these winds we end up with random things in our yard, but not this time. So, we made it through the storm all safe and sound. Now, if we can get our builder to come back out and reattach the pieces of siding that have partially come off over the past month (we have two pieces coming off).

Mommydoll

Emily says the cutest things. Her most recent addition to her vocabulary has been a nickname for me. I occasionally call her "Babydoll". A few days ago she started calling me "Mommydoll". It's so cute AND she knows when to use it...for brownie points when she may have done something not so charming.

Mid-Flight Change

Many of you probably already know this, but here's my crazy Monday travels.
Emily and I were scheduled to fly to Missouri to help Adam and Rachel out for a week. I got a killer deal on airfare, so I thought it was a definite thing.
We left our house around 2pm to drive to Atlanta to catch the plane. Rachel called earlier that day to inform us that there was some bad weather coming through and to follow up on flight schedules. At this point, there were no changes and we were scheduled to leave on time.
We got to the airport and I got checked in and through security as quickly as possible. As we arrived at our gate, I thought we should immediately go to the restroom so we'd be prepared for the hour flight. As soon as we came out of the bathroom, I noticed that our gate had a line at it and they called for boarding of "groups 5 and 6". I was in group two, so this was the tail end of those boarding today. We got in line, got through and were seated.
La-tee-dah, we're on our flight, all hunky-dory, right? After beverages and snacks were distributed and we're all comfy-cozy (as much as you can be on a flight with an 18-month old), the captain comes on and announces a change in plans. He had been notified that the weather in St. Louis had plummeted suddenly and that the conditions were not safe for landing an airplane. We would be making a left turn and heading back to Atlanta (actually, I believe they said a small airport at first because I was contemplating how I was going to make it through the night and next day w/o milk and snacks for Emily). I couldn't believe it!! We were half-way there!!
When we got on the ground, we were allowed to make phone calls while we taxied to the gate. Upon arrival at the gate, we all got off and then stood in another line to change our flight plans and be rescheduled by an airport customer service guy. Seeing as Emily and I were last off the plane, we were last served. Cranky, crabby Emily made it difficult to hear, but give her a break!! She'd be flying for an hour and now was in the same place we had begun and it was dinner time and she had to stand in some crazy line.
Well, (I know, this is a long one, huh?) we decided to reschedule seeing as the evening flight, IF it flew out, was already booked plus seven. I was scheduled to fly out in the morning, but that just wasn't going to work for a myriad of reasons. So, I had to get them to give me credit for my airline purchases.
At this point, we had to go find another line to stand in for my one item of checked luggage to be retrieved from the St. Louis plane and sent back to the ground. I had already called Eric, so he was on his way back from Macon. The luggage people said it could take 20 minutes or 2 hours to get the suitcase back. Guess which one I got?
So, at 8 something pm, we left Atlanta and went home, arriving at our lovely home at 10:15pm. Yes, eight hours of travel and we hadn't gone anywhere. Give me another two hours on the road and I could have been arriving at Rachel's!!!

Be My Valentine

Caleb and Stefanie brought Valentine cookies to us this afternoon. They were so yummy looking that we HAD to eat one before Eric got home, so we split one(they are humongous!) While my back was turned as I prepared dinner, Emily climbed up the sofa, grabbed a cookie and ran. I caught her with it but couldn't help but laugh. I mean, Caleb IS her Valentine. Eventually the "cookie crumbled" as Emily tried dancing around the house with it and ended up dizzy and on the floor. Thankfully, the soft cookie broke her fall. The cookie, however, did not survive.

FHE Cookies

For FHE a couple weeks ago (I know, I know, I'm really slow to post) we made THE best peanut butter cookies. Emily enjoyed them pre-baked (yumm)and post-baked. It was the most fun I have had with an FHE.

Dancing Queen

"You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen..."



Emily loves to dance...and this time I caught it on camera AND in my heels! She went all over the house dancing with her amazing dance partner, Cheerleader Bear. It was pretty darn cute.

When You are Doing What's Right

Well, I was planning on driving up to Missouri to help one of my sisters out. In fact, I roped another one into driving back to Georgia and flying her back home. However, Eric kept protesting that the drive would not let him be at peace to have his wife and daughter on the road alone. Well, in a last ditch effort to find affordable tickets for Em and myself, I came across the best deal on airfare ever (okay, well, using someone else's sky miles would be better, but this is next best!). I can't believe that I could fly one way for $54!! I was stoked....especially since that airfare wasn't even advertised or supposed to be available! AND, it was in less than a week's notice, which is pretty much unheard of. Therefore, I must believe that the Lord arranged things so I could get up there and give my sister some quality service w/o being tired out from making the 10 hour drive with child in tow. He really blesses us if/when we let him be involved!

A New First Presidency

I was thrilled to see the three men that now head The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What an exciting time we get to live through right now? We've enjoyed a long education and guidance under Pres. Hinckley. Now that he has passed on, a new set of leaders has been put in place. Pres. Monson will be a wonderful prophet. I have always loved listening to his talks. He's such a good story-teller and each story has real meaning. We can do well to emulate him as we ponder our own "parables of the soul". Pres. Eyring and Pres. Uchtdorf are also great men to lead and inspire. I was surprised at Pres. Uchtdorf since he is so "new" to the apostleship, but also know that he is very capable.
I think it is amazing to watch this smooth transition and the peace that comes with the spirit especially during this year of a USA presidential election. I am so grateful to belong to Jesus Christ's church and that it is lead by the power of the priesthood instead of the power and prestige given by man!

Bellybutton!!

I had a friend in high school that liked to learn the word "belly button" in as many languages as possible. Well, the cutest word Emily says right now is "bellybutton!" It's hilarious.
For Christmas, she was given one of those doodle pads that has the magnetic-tipped pen and you slide the doohickey to erase it. Anyway, we were in her room and she was drawing on it. When I asked to see what she was drawing, she'd pull it up to her chest and give me a firm "no." After a couple tries at this, I decided to join the game and try to get it from her. As I pulled it away from her, I saw why she really was trying to hide it. She had stabbed a hole in it. When I asked her what she did, her response was, "Bellybutton!!" Unfortunately, I started busting up before I could get away. My child created a bellybutton for an object that doesn't have one. Now I'll have to be on guard for other mysterious bellybutton appearances as she knows I laughed at this one!!

Tears Were Shed

In the words of our upcoming prophet, "tears were shed" today during the final goodbye of our dear President Hinckley. Those tears were tears of sadness at losing such an incredible man and the inspiration he has been to many in this world yet they were also buffeted by the joy of knowing that he returned to his beloved wife and also his Creator.
I was amazed, as well, that I was able to sit through the hour and a-half funeral service with my very energetic and motion-driven daughter. I was amazed at her perception of the occasion. Several times (prompted by the ongoing sniffling of the audience members in our own chapel but also the solemn nature of the service) she question, "Okay?" "Olwight?" (baby term: Alright?). She sat in my lap and payed attention during the montage of Pres. Hinckley at the end of Pres. Monson's talk. I was grateful to have this little one in my lap just to hold and hug during such a tender event.
I love this, the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we enjoy the fullness of in these latter days. How incredible to not just believe that life continues on and that we can be reunited with those we love and cherish but to KNOW IT!! When Eric's Grandaddy (Alan Bare) passed just over a year ago, I had the same feelings. I don't just believe in the promises of The Plan of Salvation, I know through these experiences that is truly is The Plan of Happiness. God lives! And we shall all live again!

Addictions

We said we'd never do the whole game system until the Wii came out. We got that and have been enjoying it. It's our excuse to have Ryan and Stef come over. Basically, Stefanie beats the pants off all of us, but that's still fun. She has this amazing form that just has to be witnessed. =)
After a visit home to Missouri, Jared got us hooked on RockBand which is not available on the Wii. So, we found a killer deal on the PS3 and got it. We now get to attend our own concerts on Date Night.
Between bowling and rockin' out, we've actually been able to spend more time together. Of course, it is due to a shared addiction, but who can deny the fun?!