Random quotes from church today

Ella to Carrie:

"I need to whisper something in your ear."

*walks over to Carrie*

"John McCain came to my birthday when I was turning four. Don't tell anyone."

I think we know who Dan and Angela voted for. If Senator McCain was making visits to my kid's birthday party then I'd have voted for him too!

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Jon overhearing Colton and Andrew:

"One Jedi could have taken out all the Lamanites."

"Think of what Yoda could do. Think of what Mace Windu could do!"

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This last one isn't a quote but you know the stereotypical church lady who is really nice and quiet?

We have one of those in the third hour but she's so quiet that she ends up fighting a losing battle with slumber each and every week. It's one of my weekly highlights watching her doze in and out of consciousness.

I love church.

So I saw Twilight

And I actually liked it. Weird, since the previews made it look totally cheesy to me. Cheesy and scripted and bad acting. But with the whole movie overall, it wasn't any of those things. I would see it again even!

And I want this freaking jacket that Bella wore! So cute!

"dobb oh dobb oh dobb oh" -alex

Happy Thanksgiving! (a day late)

We had a very long day of cooking followed by a very delicious dinner. We're so grateful to have such great friends in Texas!


and as a p.s. check out my etsy shop. My good friend Lynsey and I are teaming up to keep a more constant supply and variety. She's in the process of adding some adorable little girl's aprons this weekend!

Black Friday Planning

I have spent much of my day pouring over this super helpful xcel spreadsheet from slickdeals for black friday ads.
The only unfortunate thing is that I like to see the pictures in the ads. I've been able to see quite a few of them on different websites and I got some in the mail today.
We have our eyes on several things that we needed anyway.

Mostly, I like going for the sake of nostalgia, even though I may only be getting a few things.

Every year me, my mom and sister, and my aunts all met up at my Grandma's house in the wee early morning hours to embark on the madness. I've stood in many lines waiting for things to open. Back before everyone had cell phones, we all had hand radios that we'd talk to each other on through the store. It was an awesome strike team. We sent one person to go get one thing, another to get something else (all in multiples for anyone on the team that wanted those same things) and then we'd run up and get into line. It was CRAZY. And so fun.

Last year I took my friend Amy on her first excursion and she had a blast.

This year, Jon is wanting (well... needing) tires, so he's going to venture out with me. Good times! Best thing about Black Friday shopping at 4 am in TEXAS... it's not as cold as in Utah!

This one is too funny not to post it... and no, I'm not a HS Musical fan

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Is it silly that I've watched this about 5 times today and giggled every time?

I know the campaign is way over, but this made me laugh

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I want to eat these.... badly

Who wants to come over for an oreo truffle making party?! Hmm... I have a feeling these could be a fun mommy/daughter project over Christmas (with both of my moms since I know they are probably both drooling over these. AND I certainly wouldn't mind a double dose...)

If you don't/can't come over, here are links to recipes on Bakerella and an adapted easier one from Kraft Foods.

Working on reverence

For those readers of my blog who are in my ward, yes, that was my child that yelled out "YAAAY!" and "GOOD JOB" after the opening and sacrament hymns today (you know... that time period where youre transitioning to a prayer and it's totally quiet?).
And we weren't just in the back. We were in the back few rows in the middle section of the chapel. I'm pretty sure that we produced a few snickers. I know I had a hard time listening to the prayer and trying to stop snickering.

I wish I could say how embarrassed I was, but I really wasn't. I thought it was pretty darn hilarious and had a hard time teaching him to be reverent because that would stop the random yay's, hooray's, and good jobs after the songs. And I think it's cute. Irreverent as it may be.

I also highly enjoyed Alex leading the music and singing along during the whole hymn. He's adorable.

Another undefeated season for the Utes

How 'bout them apples?!

We had an enjoyable game, but I do admit the BYU/Utah game is more fun when it's close. It would have been closer had there not been so many turnovers.

So go Utes for being 2 time BCS busters!

Crafting Addict

I just subscribed to, like, 10 new crafting blogs tonight. I need to add buttons for them because there are so many great ones all chock full of creativity and fun ideas. I love love LOVE the energy and lightness of heart that I get from reading crafty-based blogs. So inspiring. It makes me so happy.

On my list of things tomorrow:
-*- clean my house like a mad woman so I can craft in peace without any nagging in my own brain about what I haven't done.
-*- soak and cook some beans for chicken taco soup to feed to our friends
-*- enjoy a rousing game of football
-*-figure out a way to incorporate sewing while watching a rousing game of football

Also, as if my heading the crafting special interest group through church wasn't enough, I have this urge to host "Crafternoon" parties. My one obstacle with this is children. What do I do with mine and what do those attending do with theirs. Can the children just be trusted to all play quiet together for an hour or so while their moms craft away? Hmm... Any thoughts on how to orchestrate such a thing would be stupendous.

I also want to figure out a way to involve more of my neighbors and other moms in the area. Austin is a very crafty place and some days I feel a little bummed that I don't live downtown and am so far removed from the crafty goodness that is found in abundance here. Most of the blogs I added today are by fabulous crafsters in Austin. Anyway, I know there has to be more mom's with a crafty heart like my own lurking out here in the suburbs! Now... how to find them...

And what to do for Crafternoon parties.

And the children. Oh what to do with the children.

Friday Flashback

Here are some old pictures of Alex that I love. He was 6 months here and very into sucking on his lip.

I think he's still just as adorable! It's fun to see the old pictures and see some of the same personality traits and looks then that he still has. What a cute boy.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

If you have yet to watch this film, you must. I have fond memories watching this in AP European History my junior year with Troy, Ryan and Eric while laughing and fawning over The Scarlet Pimpernel's pimptackular nature. (no, you may not question the validity of the word 'pimptackular')

Not only does it feature one of the smoothest men of all time, it also features megababe (tm) JANE SEYMOUR!!!

This also makes Somewhere In Time required viewing. In fact, anything with Jane Seymour is required viewing.

Closer to 30 than 25

That's what my sister pointed out to me on my 26th birthday yesterday. Thanks Cind!

I know y'all are just dying to know about my day. It's long, but everyone always asks about how your birthday was. This is just the Cindy (in detail) version. :)

Alex woke up at 7. Luckily, he loves watching "Pig Movie" (Charlotte's Web) every morning, so that's what he did. But he was ornery and the day started out with much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I had to be out of bed by 7:45 for a 9 am appointment. So I didn't get to sleep in on my birthday (although sleeping in for me would be like 10:30 instead of my regular 9 am) and I had to deal with an ornery boy.

After my appointment, Alex and I did have a good time hitting up Joann's and Hobby Lobby, so that was a plus!

We had yummy lunch at home and then nap time. Which is usually a wonderful time for me and I was looking forward to watching some shows online. Well, Alex decided that since he woke up so early, he didn't need a nap. And that peeing in his bed would be a great present for Mama.

So 1 hour after he went in for his nap, I had to go up and discovered the pee. All sheets and blankets came out and new ones went in. Awesome. We read another story and Alex, of course, didn't want to lay back down and sleep. So he cried of and on for an hour.
I went back up again and told him that he needed to lay down and sleep and that I wasn't coming up anymore in my mean mommy voice.
I still don't think he slept, but he didn't make a sound for the last hour.

We then went and met Jon for dinner at Red Robin (they do a free birthday burger. You just have to sign up on their website.) and it was delicious of course. Our awesome waitress, toward the end of our eating, brought out 2 more baskets of fries for us, all of which went home with us. She was also great enough to offer to send home some of their campfire sauce that we dip the fries in which made her awesome.

I got home and gathered together my crafting stuff for our craft special interest group from church. It was at the house of an older lady in my ward and I was the only one there. She's about my grandma's age and I had the best time spending an hour and a half chatting with here. It was a highlight of my week actually.

When I got home from that, Jon surprised me by telling me to open my presents. I totally wasn't expecting anything, so it made my day. He got me some pillows to go on our guest "bed" couch, a new apple slicer, and my cordless iron will be here in a week or so! I am SO EXCITED for my cordless iron!!!
I had no idea when he even went to get me presents and he told me that after I left for my craft night he asked Alex if he wanted to go on a "Secret Drive". Jon said that Alex was all excited about it. So they went to WalMart and Baskin Robin's. Jon said he was going to get me an ice cream cake, but their small ones were $21, so he just got me yummy ice cream instead. Which I was just as happy with.

So go Jon for being so awesome and surprising me with presents. You made my birthday wonderful!

I could so see Aubrey doing this

Aubrey is my niece and she is quite the chatter box.

Anyway, I saw this on youtube today and thought it was awesome.
I need to get Alex's performance level up!

DANGEROUS!

Here's Alex dancing and singing his favorite song! :)


Dangerous! from Jon M on Vimeo.

Aaaannnddd.... we're back.

Wow... It's been awhile!

My apologies! It was a crazy busy week last week, but nothing really that exciting happened enough to blog about.

And I had to wait to get cute pictures so that I could blog about...

THIS!

I cut off about 10-12 inches (which will be donated). Jon loves the blonde and it's definitely growing on me. I've never had a large desire to be blonde, but Jon has been telling me how hot it would be for about 4 years now. So I decided I would indulge him. This is step 1 in the transformation :).

OH! And this is my before shot. That happens to be a really good picture of me, so whenever I look at it I kind of miss my long hair.

BUT that hair was gross and I LOVE how nice my short hair feels.
I also love that it only takes 20 minutes to air dry and I can still get fabulous results with my straightener without having to do the whole blow dry upside down and put in a poofing up creme (my hair is pretty flat). I was quite happy with how well it worked out to do my hair today.

Although sleeping on it certainly does a number. Guess it's back to the every day hair styling for me. *sigh* goodbye old routine of brush and ponytail.

I know... having a private blog is good

But it makes it such a pain in the butt for me to read your blog.

You see, you can't subscribe to private blogs on google reader, which is where I do all of my blog reading. And if it's not on there, I have problems putting your blog in my bookmarks and remembering to periodically check it for updates.
I either have to check every day or less often and if you've posted more in that less often time period, I have to spend a lot of time catching up.

I understand the reasons for privacy. But just know it makes it hard for me to regularly read your blog.

This post is coming from the ?frustration? (there probably is a less hard word for it) reading on at least 4 people's blogs this week that they are going private.

GO UTES!!!

What an awesome game!!!

I'll let Jon take over from here...
13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10 13-10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(carrie again)
ya... we're a little excited over here!

Pictures, Pictures, Photographs!

I just posted a ton of pictures from Halloween and the Texas State Fair on Facebook. Here are links to the albums.
Not to worry, if you don't have a Facebook account you can still see the pictures. Just click on the links.

Halloween pictures

Pun Kin Pace

Texas State Fair part I

Texas State Fair part II

And when Alex saw his face...

He decided to wash it. And I just let him go at it while I ran for the camera. I'm such a good mom.

I love that he's sticking his tounge out in this picture.

That's concentration!

uh huh and no thank you

lately, when Alex has been asking for stuff or even just talking about stuff that he's doing or wants to do he'll say what he wants and follow it with an "uh huh".

So this morning I heard,
"pumkins? uh huh."
"special teet? uh huh."
"animals (dvd). uh huh."
(on the way outside) "ow side. uh huh."
etc.

It's usually repeated several times, as is the usual case with Alex.

This morning we were playing in bed (doing monkeys jumping on the bed) and he'd fall down and sometimes I'd put my legs with my sheet on them over him. After a couple of times of doing so, he told me, "no thank you, mama, blankies".
SO FUNNY!

I got an even better one when we were eating our cereal (which was, of course, eaten from the same bowl since Alex demands it).
I looked over at him and gave him a big cheesy grin and he looked at me and said, "no thank you, mama, happy face." with the utmost seriousness.
Well okay then buddy! No happy faces for you!

Note to self: Don't forget to put markers away!

And oven mitts for mysef

You know, I never really thought of how easy it would be to make oven mitts. AND cool thing... you don't have to have large pieces of fabric to make them. They can be made from scraps!
http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/Blog/oven_mitt_pattern.pdf

This is being added to my crafty list over there ---->

Bean Bag chair pattern. And Michael Miller fabrics are awesome. He has some great child prints!
So I know what I'll be making Alex for Christmas!



http://makingitfun.blogspot.com/2008/09/bean-bag-chair.html

Good Job!

That's what Alex said quite loudly, with clapping, after every song today in church. It had me cracking up!