I love Collective Soul!

I just thought that I should let all of you out in cyberspace to know that I am a TOTAL Collective Soul freak! Whenever I'm having a bad day, or feeling sad, or cleaning house, or feeling really great, or what ever, I listen to Collective Soul and I feel better. They've been my favorite band since I had a favorite band (over 11 years) and I love 'em even more now than I did back in 1995! I even listened to the cd Youth while I was in labor with Elias!
I've gone to two of their concerts, one on my 19th birthday (that was only like the best birthday, ever!) and Dale and I went two days after our anniversary last summer (July 17, 2007). It was Dale's first concert and he finally understands why someone would pay more to go to a concert only to hear songs once than just buying the CD and listening to it as many times as you want.
So, if you're looking for some rockin' good music, check 'em out! (I'm listening to them right now!) They're albums are in order of release, as follows: Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid; Collective Soul; Disciplined Breakdown; Dosage; 7even Year Itch (Greatest Hits); Blender (this is the only album I wouldn't recommend buying--I don't know what happened with this one, but it wasn't that great; in fact, it almost made me stop liking them, yikes!), Youth; and Afterwords. They also have a newer acoustic CD that I don't have, and I don't remember what it's called. I have all of the aforementioned CD's, except Afterwords. I used to have Afterwords, but I gave it to my best friend and fellow Collective Soul-mate, Tamra. It's only for sale at Target and she lives over a hundred miles from the nearest Target (poor thing!), so I gave mine to her, thinking that I'd just get another one at the Target here. The only problem was that was 3 months ago and Target never has it in stock when I go! Luckily, you can listen to all the songs from Afterwords on http://www.collectivesoul.com/, so I haven't had to go too long without my Collective Soul fix (besides the other 6-7 CD's that I have), but I would like to listen to it in the car, too! I just looked online, and it says that there's some in-stock at Target, so I'm going to call today and make sure before I go over there. Wish me luck!

Update: I went to Target and (gasp) there was only one copy of the CD left, so I quickly grabbed it and didn't let it out of my sight the rest of the time I was in the store. I looked online to see if you can get Afterwords on half.com or ebay, and you can, but it's really expensive, so I'm tempted to buy any/all copies I find at Target (if it's possible to buy any) and sell them online for a profit. Would that be wrong? On one hand, it'd be profitting off my favorite group, and on the other hand, I'd be sharing them with others who might not get the CD any other way....such a dilemma!

Wonder Woman Strikes Again!

I've been pretty bored lately, what with the taking care of a 1st grader, wild boy (aka Dalan), princess (Elora), and little goobling, and doing laundry, cleaning, and making meals; so I thought, "Hey, why not do another home improvement project?!" (Note the slight hint of sarcasm.)

I've always hated our half bath (I say that like I've had to endure it for so long--poor me), so I figured I could redo it so easily and then I wouldn't hate it anymore. Here's the 'before' and 'work in progress' pictures. There was a mirror hanging where that patch of tan paint is...I took it down before I thought of taking pictures. It was really ugly; it looked like the ones you see in old apartment buildings, with the shelf with the sliding doors on the bottom.

Redoing the bathroom was a much bigger pain than I thought it would be. I had to replace part of the subfloor where the old vanity was and I basically had to beat the old vanity with a hammer until it was in pieces before I could get it out and still leave the pipes intact. Also, the pipes I had aren't the right size, so the sink still isn't hooked up. I'm hoping my dad can help me when he comes to visit next week.

So, after about $125 and two days later, here's the 'after.' (Don't you just love how I took a picture of myself in the mirror!) As you can see, I still need to get some trim and fill in the gaps where the old vanity used to be and I need to replace the light fixture, but other than that, everything is done. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the walls used to be white and now they're light green. I replaced the vanity and mirror, replaced the wax ring on the toilet (Dale helped with that part), laid vinyl tiles for the flooring, and painted. I think it looks pretty good and it's not so crowded anymore. Well, my children are beating on each other again--they must be training for a career in cage fighting--so I better sign off. If you ever need a home improvement helper, call me and I'll be right over. (I just love doing this kind of thing!)

Snowshoe trek update and pics

Well, the guys all made it back safely, but a little sore. Here's some highlights from their trip.

Here's a giant slide that they played on by the girls camp.

Ahhh! A nice warm fire!

They had to climb on the roof to get cell phone reception to send us a text message so we'd know they were okay. Notice Ben on the roof in the upper left-hand of the picture.

The old men (Dale and Kelly) were about to die by the time they made it back to the truck.

The youngster looks like he's ready to go again.

I am so proud of my husband for trying this out. He actually wants to go back with just me; I told him I'd be happy to go in the summer!

Recipes

I was reading on a friend's blog, (thanks, Darcy) and she suggested that we (the people whose blogs she reads) post a favorite recipe every week so that we can all get new ideas for meals. I thought it was a great idea and have taken it upon myself to spread the word. So, all of you reading this, please post good meal ideas on your blogs, every week, if possible. Then we can all have new, tasty ideas from other busy moms to try out.
For my first, I'm going to post a family favorite. It's the most requested meal from my children--besides cold cereal :-). Oh, by the way; it sounds kinda , well actually, totally weird, but just make them and taste them and you'll be hooked, I promise! (I got this recipe from my sister when she was living in Tennessee--I think it gets it's name from the cornbread and pork and beans)

Tennessee Tacos Tortillas (for lack of a better word):
Make corn bread batter from your favorite recipe, or mix, and add extra milk until it's the consistency of pancake batter.

My corn bread recipe is:
1 c. flour 1 c. milk
1 c. corn meal 1/4 c. oil
1 Tbsp baking powder 2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
(I'm guessing I add about 1/4 c. milk, maybe less, to make right consistency, but I'm not sure).

Pour out on griddle and cook like you would pancakes (6in diameter circles).

Taco Filling:
Brown 1/2 pound of ground beef (or turkey). Add 2 cans of pork and beans and 1 packet of taco seasoning mix. Heat thoroughly.

Serve like Navajo tacos: lay cornbread pancake-tortilla-thing flat on plate, spread filling on, top with shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, whatever else you normally put on tacos. (Eat with fork; don't try to pick up and eat unless you want a big mess!)

Like I said, it sounds really weird, even bordering on gross, but it's really yummy! Also, my kids like to have the leftover cornbread things as pancakes the next day.

Men and the silly things they do...

At six o'clock this morning, I sent my husband off on a snowshoeing backpacking trip--yes, you read that right; my husband! I'm talking about a man who hates snow, has never been backpacking, or snowshoeing (much less did them at the same time), who never heard of a sterno can until last night when I showed him how to make pigs-in-a-blanket (another thing he'd never heard of), gets lost really easy (if I point out north and ask him which way is east, he can't tell me), and did I mention the hating snow part?! I am so nervous!
He and his two buddies decided this would be a great time of year to go backpacking; personally, I think they spent too much time together and got high off the testosterone fumes, but whatever. Anyway, only one of them has ever actually made a snow cave (oh, yeah; I didn't mention that part; they're sleeping in a snow cave), or has been snowshoeing, or backpacking. Do any of them think there's any problem with this? No way! "If he can do it, I can!"
Ben (the one who's done all these things) almost couldn't go because he couldn't find a babysitter for their two-month-old son (their normal babysitter was sick). Last night at about 8 'o clock, he calls and tells us that he might not be able to make it, but he'll just tell Dale and Kelly (his other buddy) how to get to where they're going. Kelly has watched someone build a snow cave and he's been in the same area (aka: on the same mountain range) that they're planning on hiking, so he figures that's pretty much the same as having done it and been there himself, so no problem! (At this point, I was getting extremely nervous. I mean, I wouldn't mind having my house paid for, but I'd rather have my husband instead of life insurance money.) I told Ben that I'd watch the baby while his wife worked. He thought I was being so benevolent, but the truth is, I was much more comfortable sending my husband out into the wild outdoors with Ben, and the only way he could go was if I watched his kid.
So, now I'm at home taking care of my 4 kids and another one who's two months younger than Elias. I've always wanted twins and today's probably the closest it's gonna get, so I guess I'll see how I would handle it. I don't know who has the greater chance of surviving, me or Dale...I'll let you know about the funeral arrangements as soon as possible! :-)

Update: Dale, et al found a church girls camp (minus the girls) and are staying in one of the cabins overnight instead of a snow cave. (I have no idea if they broke in, or what; Ben's wife just got a short text message and that's all we know) Also, I made it through the day just fine and figure I can handle having twins. I guess all I have to do now is put my order in and wait...

Snow, snow, and more snow

It has snowed almost every day since we got home from Christmas break! The snow is so deep, Elora can't even walk around in it. Our roof has so much ice that it keeps leaking when it gets warm enough to melt, so Dale and I have to climb up an icy ladder and chip away the ice with a hammer. I will take some pictures and post them ASAP. Oh, by the way...we haven't even gone sledding yet because it's been so cold, so we can' t even enjoy all this snow! Kydee's already had two days of cancelled school because of the cold and we're expecting more. Take this as a warning to stay away from Idaho! It's too cold!

Spare time

I decided to recruit for familysearch.org on my blog. It's a geneological website that provides information for people to find their ancestors. I've had a lot of spare time when I nurse Elias. I've been reading books, but I have a hard time picking books to read (any suggestions are greatly welcome!). I heard that it was pretty easy to volunteer to index (read microfilm and input the info into a spreadsheet so that people can search for specific names), so I looked up the website (familysearchindexing.org) and signed up. Now I do a batch of names every day, while Kydee does her homework and Elias takes a nap or nurses. I really like feeling like I'm doing something productive and it's so easy! I can do it whenever I want and I can work on it for as long as I want. Anyway, if you're a stay-at-home mom like me, or have extra time (it's amazing how much time is freed up once you stop watching TV--and I didn't watch much before) you should try it!

Our new van

On the way to Cedar City for Christmas, our van broke. Luckily, we were only an hour away from home and we were able to make it back. My parents wanted us to be there for Christmas so badly that my dad drove all that night to come get us. We took our little Kia and between that and my parents' car, we fit us and all our stuff and drove on down to Cedar. We wasted $1075 getting the van fixed and then decided to just get a new van before our old one broke again (it had 185,000 miles and lots of things kept going wrong). We found a really good deal on a 2006 Toyota Sienna. It had about 18,000 miles on it and lots of cool features, like two side doors (I guess all vans have that nowadays, but our old one didn't), a power sliding door, 5-disc CD player, Sto-n-go seats (they fold down flat into the floor), stuff like that. So far, we really like it and we hope that it will last us a really long time so we don't have to go through the pain of buying a car again. That was our first time shopping for a new car--we've always just bought junkers from private parties because we happened upon good deals. Actually, I use the term 'we' loosely. I took Dalan, Elora, and Elias down to Salt Lake to look at vans that I found online, while Kydee was at school and Dale went to work. The prices were so good that I was afraid that they would be gone if we waited until Saturday when we could all go (it was Monday). I turned out to be right, because my first pick was sold already, but I found another deal that was very similar, so everything turned out ok. I just don't want to take three little kids car shopping all day again--well, maybe it was good, because the dealers didn't seem to want them to be there any longer than they had to, so they didn't waste time haggling and trying to sell me junk that I didn't want. Maybe next time I'll buy ice cream cones for the kids to hurry the salesmen up even more!

TAG

My sister, Ariane, tagged me, so here's my answers to the following questions (some of the questions were dumb, like who's taller, so I took them off and added different ones):
How long have you been together? 8 years, married 7 1/2
How long did you date? We were friends for about 6 months, dated for about 2 1/2 after that and were engaged for 3 months after that--pretty quick movers, I guess.
How old is he? 31
How old are you? 27
Who said I love you first? Dale
Who sings better? I do; Dale's tonedeaf, but he has other talents, so that's ok
Who is smarter? hard to say--but I am right most of the time! Just kidding! The funny thing is, I majored in marketing and Dale got a better grade in the one marketing class we took together and he majored in accounting and I got a better grade in the acounting class that we took together.
Who does the laundry? Me; Dale tries to help, but I usually get too annoyed cuz he forgets to use fabric softener and the clothes get all static-y. My kids like to think they help and they're actually starting to become better at sorting and I let them fold their own clothes (if only they would always consider that a privilege!)
Who does the dishes? Dale--he's such a good husband!
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Currently, if you're laying in the bed, I'm on the right, but we switch sometimes if the furniture gets rearranged. I like to sleep farthest from the door (I get paranoid about bad guys coming in and need Dale between them and me. Our last bedroom was very difficult because it had two doors and I had to be closest to one of them. I had to just not think about it--I know, I'm weird.)
Who pays the bills? I do, but Dale does the budget
Who mows the lawn? I do, but I'm hoping Dale will next summer.
Who cooks dinner? I do, and Dale makes lunch.
Who drives when you are together? Me--I love to drive and Dale doesn't; plus I have a really good sense of direction and Dale has a terrible one.
Who is more stubborn? Well, I would say Dale is and he would say I am, so I guess we're both pretty darn stubborn.
Who kissed whom first? I guess he kissed me first,
but I looked up at him cuz I figured he was going to try.
Who asked whom out? Dale asked me out several times; I went as a friend, but when I found out he was interested in a relationship I told him "no way!" It took me several months of friendship before I decided I liked him more than just a friend. He says he was in love from the second time we met.
Who is more sensitive? I get sad easier, but Dale definitely gets mad easier
Who has more friends? Dale; I don't have very many friends outside of family members
Who has more siblings? me - 1 sister, 4 brothers; Dale has 2 brothers and 2 sisters
What do you like to do together? Watch movies, play with our kids, read

I don't know if anyone reads this, but if you do, I tag Darci, Audrey, and Tamra

Elora's 3rd Birthday

Elora turned 3 on the 5th! She had some friends over and got a Barbie, a little piano, a babydoll, and an aquadoodle. She loves all her presents and can't decide which one she likes most. She had lots of fun playing in the cardboard box filled with wrapping paper, too!















Yay! She's three!








For about three days afterwards, she kept asking me if she was still three. When I explained that she would be three until her next birthday, her eyes got really big, and she said, "Really?; yay!" I guess she thought she would go back to being two after her birthday was over.

First Snow of the Year!

We finally got snow here! We've had a few dustings before, but nothing that stayed for more than a few hours--until today. The kids were so excited that they went out to play before I even got up this morning. They've been going out all day and after much begging and pleading, I finally went out with them.

( Before they threw the snowballs at me)

After they threw them (I was trying to get them mid-air, but it didn't work)

Elias' Blessing

Elias got blessed today in church. Dale blessed him that he would be a powerful missionary and a force for good. Here's a few of our attempts at a family picture (we've decided to leave this to the professionals and get it done at a studio sometime this week) and some cute ones of Elias.

New Flooring

Yes...another project! I figured since I was finished painting (at least for a while) that I needed something else to do on our house. Because Thanksgiving was only 2 weeks away and my family was coming to eat here, I thought, 'Why not replace the plush carpet in our dining room and the tile in our entryway with laminate wood flooring?' So, that Saturday, I went to the hardware store and bought a sledgehammer to break out the tile. Dale and the kids ripped up the carpet while I was gone. We put goggles on the kids and handed them some hammers and they went to it! They really seemed to enjoy beating the tile to pieces. After they got tired, I broke the tile with the sledgehammer and then Dale tore it all up with the wonderbar. About halfway through breaking the tile, Dale said, "We're not going to finish this today, are we?" He thought we'd be finished by bedtime with taking all the old flooring out and putting in the new laminate! I started laughing and told him it would take a long time. As it ended up, I laid flooring for 4 hours on Saturday and then finished it up off and on all day Monday, so it didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. I think it turned out rather nice...way better than the plush carpet. I mean, who the heck puts light gray plush in a dining room?! It got very dirty, very easily; plus, it was hard to get up and down from the table because the chairs would get stuck in the carpet.

Now I'm thinking about redoing the entire main floor in this laminate....but I'll save that project for another time. Wonder Woman's had enough for today!

Confessions of a Super Mom!

I get called 'Super Mom' all the time, but the truth is that I feel like I'm always behind in my housecleaning, rarely get dressed before lunch (if at all), and feel lucky if my family eats something besides ready-made meals for dinner. Here's what I look like most days (except add a baby in my arms and picture me pulling out my hair from not knowing how to deal with my preschoolers).

Every once in a while, though, I actually get dressed and clean the house and feel like I really accomplish a lot. On those days, I feel like Wonder Woman!

Ok, I know I'm silly. I was bored today...what can I say!?

Our family portrait

Ok, since some of you have requested a picture of Dale and I, here's a family portrait we had taken January of 2007. That was before I was pregnant with Elias and before I cut my hair (you can't see it very well, but it was almost to my waist then); now I weigh 25 pounds more and have hair that's just past my shoulders. I soon hope to lose the weight and am growing my hair out again, so we'll just pretend I still look like that. Elias is obviously missing from this photograph, as well. We're planning on getting another family picture soon, but we'll see how that goes. I was going to schedule the appointment last week, and then Dalan got a black eye while he was playing on the playground. It seems like something like that happens everytime I'm going to schedule our session. This picture may be on here for a year, the way things go around here. Anyway, now you know what we look like.

House in Idaho Falls

Here's our house in Idaho Falls. All the walls were white when we moved in and I couldn't stand it, so I had a marathon painting tour. Dale thought I was nuts, but now that everything's painted, he admits that it looks/feels much better. I'm going to eventually paint every room, but I still have the basement stairway, family room, office, laundry room, and master bathroom left.

Here's the living room. Dale and his friend Kelly painted the vaulted part. I was very glad to have their help. Eventually, a shelf will go around the whole room where the two different colors meet. Until then, it will look a little weird, but we've got to save up some money before that project.

Here's our bedroom. The walls were the color of pistachio pudding, or mint chocolate chip ice cream, (you can still see it around the top, where we haven't finished touch-up painting) both of which I find disgusting. I felt like puking every time I walked in the room, so it was the first to be painted. Now the walls are a light olive green. Ahhhh! Much better!

(Dining room) The yellow is a little darker than I was planning, but oh well.

(Kitchen) I've been wanting to paint a room red for a while, but never had the guts to do it. I was daring and decided to paint the kitchen and breakfast nook red in this house and I love it!

(Kydee's room) I think this paint job turned out so cute! Kydee loves it; I would have loved it when I was a little girl, too.

Dalan's room is light blue with Superman stickers all over. In our Cedar house, he wanted Spiderman decorations, so I painted a city skyline on the wall and put Spiderman stickers up that looked like Spiderman was swinging from the buildings. This time he decided he wanted Superman.

Elora wanted a pink room, so 'what the princess wants, the princess gets.'

Here's the TV part of our family room.

Here's the play area of the family room. Yes, I know...our kids are spoiled.

So, now that you've seen our house, feel free to really come see it. We would love to have any of our friends and family come visit.

Cedar City house that we built

Here's some pictures of our beautiful little house in Cedar City. We miss living close to so many relatives--we had no idea how much we'd miss everyone until we moved away.

This vanity was an old buffet that we found at a thrift store. The top was ruined, but that didn't matter, since we were going to use it for a vanity. We just cut out the drawers, nailed the fronts shut, and put plumbing up through the back. After I came up with this idea, I actually saw it on a home improvement show. Aren't I so creative?!

Here's the master bath. It's a double showerhead with real marble tile that my aunt Melanie and I hung.

Here's our living room. I did all the wood flooring myself. It was a lot of work, but worth it; I think it looks so pretty!

My kitchen was huge in this house. I loved it.

It's been really hard to go from designing and building a house to having to pick one on the market. I liked being able to customize everything. I redid the plans for the entire interior of our Cedar City house.

Bear World--where all your dreams come true

This spring, Ariane and Matt came to visit and we went to Yellowstone Bear World in Rigby. Here's some pics; it was fun!
They have bears there from Yellowstone that have become too used to humans. We got to see lots of full-grown bears and some cute little cubs. We didn't get there early enough to feed the cubs, but the kids loved petting the deer. As we were driving into the park, Kydee said, "Bear World. Bear World. Where all your dreams come true!" It was funny.