Mary Did You Know?....

At this time of the year, I tend to reflect a lot on Mary the Mother of Christ. I love her story, I love her strength and I love the example that she set for all of us mothers. She has always seemed so humble and tender. I can't imagine the maturity it would take to be in her position. Did she have any idea how her gift to the world would literally change the entire world? As she carried her baby through the pregnancy and then cradled her tiny infant in her arms, did she really know that he would one day walk on water or give sight to a blind man? I'm sure that at that moment, as all of us mothers do, she cradled him and reveled in the moment. I'm speculating of course, but she knew what it meant to be a mother and what it felt like to hold a precious gift from heaven. The worth of that gift, however, was immeasurable.

My mom had a picture hanging in our house for as long as I remember. It was a picture of Mary standing in the manger, holding the baby Jesus. It was a little more historically accurate as the manger was more of a cave. She stood there, gazing out the entrance to the cave while a soft yet powerful beam of light shone in on her. Her gaze, if I can remember correctly, was directed up more than it was out. I'm sure that everyone could interpret that differently, but to me, it looked as if she was pleading to the Lord to give her the strength to be the mother that she needed to be. I can say that those thoughts have coursed through my head on many occasions. That painting gave Mary a realness to me. I felt like I could relate to her in some small way. I tried to find that picture on the internet, but I wasn't able to. I did however find an (almost) equally touching and relatable picture.

I love as her eyes are closed in joy as she kisses the forehead of her precious child. It moves me to think of what his birth meant to the world and what it means to me personally. At this time of year, I hope that we all have the chance to reflect upon what this season really means. I know that we have a Savior who came to this Earth to save us all. I also hope that we will not only remember Him at this time of year but, more importantly, that we remember it always.

Yea, Lord, we greet thee,

Born this happy morning;

Jesus, to thee be glory given!

Word of the Father,

Now in flesh appearing!

Oh, come, let us adore him,

Christ the Lord.

-O Come All Ye Faithful-

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

My sweet grandma called me right before Thanksgiving and asked me if I wanted the girls to have Christmas dresses this. The answer was of course, yes, but we had been going back and forth as to whether or not we could afford one more thing to add to the growing list of holiday expenses. She had bought the girls matching dresses, but they weren't exactly conducive to being used beyond Christmas time. They were really cute, but not exactly right for the rest of the winter season. So she went on a hunt and found a few other dresses and let me choose which ones I liked the best. She got some great ones and I ended up picking the dress that was Hunter green velvet on top with a crushed taffeta skirt. Super Cute! I was so excited. We got the package in the mail and with permission from Granny, we opened the dresses a little before Christmas (Last Saturday) so they could try them on and then wear them to church on Sunday. We tried them on Saturday morning and they didn't fit. I couldn't understand it. It wouldn't even button around Siobhan's torso. The sizes were technically right according to their age and weight and height, but they were just too small. So by process of elimination, I figured out where they came from and we set out for Park Meadows Mall to exchange the dresses. Alas, we could only find one in Audrey's size. So we went with plan B and exchanged them for completely different dresses. I'm very happy with what we picked and I'm especially grateful to Grandma for buying the dresses in the first place and then being so understanding when the dresses ended up not working. I'm very happy with what we got and the girls looked adorable. As you can see from the pics, Audrey was in no mood for a photo shoot. Oh well. She was a trooper though sleeping in the curlers. Siobhan's used to it by now, but it's still new to Audrey.

Siobhan in front of the Christmas tree. She has the most beautiful smile when she's just running around being her normal self, but when I need her to smile pretty for the camera, she gets all goofy and looks like she's had a hanger surgically implanted into her face. This is our best attempt at a serene sweet smile.

Poor Audrey hated every minute of the photo shoot. She really looked cute though!

A few outtakes which aren't horrible but you can really see how goofy my girls can be sometimes.

Here's two of Siobhan that made the cut after further examination. Both girls got pretty white 'princess' coats to wear which completed their ensembles. They looked beautiful!

He Sees You When You're Sleeping, He Knows When You're Awake...He Knows How to Make Small Kids Cry

We weren't able to go to our ward's Christmas Party because of things that came up at work for Carson. So in liu of not being to see the ward Santa, we took the girls to see Santa at the mall. Siobhan made sure to ask Santa for a Reindeer and a Kitchen (both small requests and I'm sure Santa will be able to come up with 50% of that order) and Audrey hated it. It's the age, to be expected of course!

Waiting in line (really wasn't very long) and dinner at Chick-fil-A afterwards in the food court.

Okay, they're pretty much the same picture, but can you see the terror in Audrey's eyes? At least her cowgirl boots are cute! They didn't make us buy their over priced picture packages and said that we could take a few of our own.

It Turns Out I Can't Fly a Plane * Edited To Include a Picture*

There's kind of an unspoken rule in the dance world that goes something like this: If a director asks you if you know how to do something, you always say yes. If you don't know how to do those 8 counts of Fouette Turns or that Switch leap, you figure out how to do it before your next rehearsal. It could mean the difference between getting a certain role or certain placement in the company or just being in the good graces of the director or choreographer. Its completely prideful and you inevitably run the risk of making yourself look like a fool if you can't figure out how to do the Fouette turns. But I've gotten a lot of good teaching jobs by saying, 'yes, I can of course teach hip hop.' It's just something that us dancers do. Unfortunately, at least in my case, that mindset tends to spill over into real life.

And as it turns out, I cannot cut my husbands hair.

We bought a set of clippers in hopes that we could save a little bit of time and money by having me cut his hair at home. I know a ton of wives who do it and my mom actually did it for a long time as well. Although, I'm inclined to think that those other husbands have normal hair that grows in normal patterns and I don't think that it would have been to hard to screw up my dad's hair. Carson has really thick hair (although it's receding in front, don't tell him that though), it's really coarse (like, Asian coarse, seriously) and grows in the weirdest pattern. Some of the hair is even able to defy gravity and grow straight up off the back of his neck. Even professionals have a hard time cutting his hair and he repeatedly comes home from Super Cuts (We're big spenders when it comes to hair styling) with a totally botched hair cut. Maybe that's why I thought I could do it better. But alas, my wonderful husband sat through the butcher job that eventually became a military buzz cut as it was the only way to fix the growing problems that I was creating with the follicles. I actually like it because think it makes him look younger, he doesn't like it because it emphasizes the size of his noggin. Not to be rude, but it's kind of 'like an orange on a toothpick.' He's very self conscious about it, and I'm probably not helping the situation. So when I get home from teaching tonight, I will take a picture and post it. Luckily he's very understanding and won't hold it against me.

He might get upset that I put such a large picture up on the blog of just his face, but you can actually really see just how short it is. Oops.

P.S. Maybe Meredith will actually find this post useful....now that it has a picture.

Indecision...I'm Reaching Out

This is a post for all moms who currently or will soon begin to follow/stalk my blog on a regular basis. It's also for anyone who will choose to read it and then comment. I need some help with this one. It's not a huge problem. Maybe not even a problem, but something that is 'more of a general wondering...ment.' (For all of you Friends fans out there, quick what episode is that from?)
Anyway, today we had Siobhan's 3 year old well check and they did her first eye exam. It was really cute. She had to stand on this piece of tape and was very concerned about being right on the tape the whole time. And instead of saying letters, she had to tell them what the pictures were that were arranged just like a an eye exam chart. She had fun getting to cover her eye, but she couldn't always remember to do that. Anyway, the results of the exam were slightly disappointing. Her eyesight is 20/50 in each eye and 20/40 for both eyes together. They gave me the number for a pediatric opthamologist and told me that I could call if I wanted because it's not where they would like but they didn't say that HAVE to call. I hate it when these decisions are up to me.
So the big question that I pose to all of you in blog world is this...what would you do?

A Quarter of a Century Down

Sadly another post with no pictures. Can you tell that I'm getting tired by the way? If you want to see cute pictures, scroll through this post and the next and you'll get a treat with two picture including posts. If you skip this one and the next, I won't be offended.
So Saturday was my 25th birthday. I woke up that morning and I told Carson that I wasn't going to turn 25. I would be turning 23. He told me that was unacceptable because 23 was a hard year. So I decided to turn 24. He reminded me that there was no point in only going back one year. I saw his point so I reluctantly accepted his invitation to join the mid-twenty clan. Ugh.
At midnight on Friday morning /Thursday night I woke up barfing. Not barking, barfing. I had the same bug that Siobhan and Audrey had earlier in the week. It was awesome? As a result I started having pretty regular and strong contractions and that scared me. So while I was planning on rescheduling my already scheduled doctor's appointment, I decided that I would ask them what they wanted me to do. They actually wanted me to come in as soon as I could and not wait until my appointed time. So I went and they checked me and I was fine and the baby was fine. They figured that it was a combination of dehydration and using my muscles more than usual. So what does this have to do with my birthday on Saturday? It's the reason that we kept it mellow. I decided that I shouldn't dance on Saturday and rehearsal ended up getting cancelled anyway. So Carson let me sleep in and then made me rolled up pancakes. We did some straightening and then put up our Christmas tree. That made me very happy. Then Carson took me to see Twilight. I might be obsessed with that movie. Carson really liked it and actually told me on Sunday that he's mad at me because he actually might want to see it again. After the movie, we got the kids from the babysitter and then got Red Robin to go. It was a very nice birthday and Carson took great care of me. My birthday present/Christmas present was a new iPod. It's so cool and its yellow! I think that if you shake it, it shuffles for you-but I haven't gotten that far yet. And by the way, if you knew that it was my birthday and didn't call, you're forgiven, but it's not necessarily forgotten. I'm watching you.

Giving Thanks

This year we decided that we would treck over to S to the L C for Thanksgiving. We left the day before and the drive could not have been better. Anyone who has ever driven through Wyoming for an extended length will know that regardless of the time of year, you are bound to hit snow, wind, rain, and road closures.....sometimes all at the same time, most times all at the same time. I think that we drove on the one day on record where none of those things happened. Yippee! Really, we've driven through there in the summer and have had worse weather. So that made it all very pleasant.
The meal plan was going to be prime rib instead of turkey and really none of the traditional Thanksgiving fixins'. I was a little sad, but whose going to shake a stick at prime rib? Well, it was decided while we were en route that a turkey would still make an appearance on the Thanksgiving table in the form of a deep fried turkey. Cason took care of that and it was, how you say?, AMAZING! Hands down, best non-traditional turkey I've ever had! I haven't had a lot of 'non-traditional' turkey in my life, but if I had, I would bet that this one was better than the other hypotheticals. I made some delicious Rosemary bread that was a big hit and awesome creamed corn.
Friday Carson and I did some black Friday shopping and only came home with one thing that we actually set out looking for. Disappointing. Time wasted. Oh Well. But that afternoon, Sheena, Allison and I went to see Twilight. Of, course, that made my day. But what made it even better was later on while I was taking a nap, Sheena and Allison tackled Carson and forced him into vampire make-up. Don't ask me how they won the fight, but when I woke up, he was pale with bright lips and sparkles. Oh the things that my husband goes through to make me happy.
Saturday was Carson's birthday. Yea! The big 2-9! We spent some time with old friends and then made a pilgrimage to Ikea-we could have spent thousands-where we were able to get all the bedding for Will and Audrey as well as some various sundry items. Great fun! Later we went to dinner at the Garden Room in the JSM building. Delicious food as usual. We got some great birthday presents (we celebrated for me also) including some new pants for Carson and awesome Wii games and then the Twilight soundtrack for me (awesome!) and a huge, awesome pressure canner. I'm so excited!
Sunday morning, when we were planning on leaving, we were woken up to the sound of barfing. Not barking, barfing (you would think that I wouldn't have to qualify that, but I wouldn't put it past Siobhan to wake us up in the form of barking-strange kid). Siobhan had some sort of bug and couldn't keep anything down. Sad. We also heard that there was bad weather so we were debating whether or not to even leave, and after much prayer and internet searches, we decided to chance it and hardly had any problems. Siobhan did throw up a few more times in the car, but soon had it out of her system and we made it home quicker than we anticipated and hardley hit any bad weather. We were definitely being watched over. We had a great time and I didn't take any pictures. Sorry. Just Give Thanks to the fact that we made it to and from in safety and had a great time. Use your imagination to fill in the rest. :)

Snow Angels and Men Made out of Snow

On November 14th, it finally snowed! We were so excited. Oh and by 'snowed', I mean that it was actually measurable. We've had light dustings, but nothing to speak of. While Audrey was napping, Siobhan and I put on our hats and gloves and actually played in the snow. It's the first time that we've really played in the snow. Last year, everytime it snowed, it was just too dang cold to go out and the year before, well, lets just sayt that the five foot snow banks terrified her. She was the perfect size this year and the temperature was awesome! We made snow angels, which Siobhan thinks is hilarious, and made a snowman and a snowman mommy. Named Shark and Pink Shark respectively. Don't ask me about the choice of names. All I know is that anything in our house that needs a name these days, it either ends up being Shark or Tinker Bell. Anyway, we had great fun!

All bundled up. It wasn't very cold by the time we got out there, so the light jacket was perfect.
Siobhan enjoying the snow. It was so fun to watch her fun around and jump and roll. Sometimes I just can't get over how cute she is.

The birth of Shark. Having grown up in Never Snowsville, USA (Portland, Oregon), I realize that I am at a serious disadvantage when it comes to building a charming Frostie. For instance, I learned the hard way that when you are making the snowballs, you have to roll them in a concentrated area, not all the way accress the lawn. Also, we did a carrot for the nose, but it looked slightly (and by slightly, I mean very) inappropriate so I tried to take the picture just so. Sorry if it's offensive in anyway. Unfortunately, the battery died before I could get a picture of Pink Shark, the mommy snowman. By the time I got around to changing the battery and going to take the pic, she had tragically succumbed to the sunshine and was no longer. It was brutal, but quick.

Anyone Can Cook

This is going to be a quick post because I have a lot of posts to do and I don't want to bore everyone with like 8 marathon posts. Bare Essentials is what you're getting. Need to know stuff. And some pictures.

For Siobhan's third birthday party, we decided to go with a theme of Ratatouille. Most 3 year olds would probably want fairies or princesses or something, which is awesome. But I'd been planning this party for like a year in my brain, so we did it. And it was AWESOME! My awesome sisters made adorable aprons for all of our Little Chefs and they all got to make their own pizzas. The kids played a bunch, we opened presents (Siobhan got some awesome stuff by the way) and had some delicious cake. I went against my grain and, gasp, got a store bought cake. It was a little spendier than I would normally do, but totally worth it as I wasn't stressing the whole day about making and decorating a cake that wouldn't turn out nearly as good as the picture in my head. So mad props to Wal Mart for an awsome and delicious Ratatouille cake. For party favors all of the kids got cute wooden spoons and got to keep their aprons. In keeping with the theme of the movie, the invites were in French as well as the tags on the party favors and everything was done in red, white and black and white gingham. We put the movie on to set the mood and everyone relaxed and had a good time. Hands down, best kid party I've ever thrown!

The Little Chefs making their pizzas. Of course Siobhan was snacking on the toppings!

Siobhan opening presents. She got some great stuff. She has awesome friends!

The cake. I don't have any pics of her blowing our her candles because our battery died and the other wasn't charged. That's also why we don't have a ton of pictures in the first place.

The Newest Inductee to the Twilight Club....

Let the hazing begin, because I have now officially inducted myself to the Twilight fanatic fan club. Am I allowed to induct myself? Well, either way, I have, so you can now consider me one of your sisters. Team Edward of course!

Last Friday, Carson came home from work and promptly sent me on my way to go see Twilight. I had no intention on seeing the movie opening day for a few reasons. 1) I hadn't read the books so I was therefore not invested in the story at all. I wanted to see it at some point, but I didn't have any reason to see it opening day. 2) I wasn't interested in squirming through the hoards of teenage girls who were most likely up past their bedtime anyway and probably seeing it for the second time that day and would inevitably be screaming every five minutes. 3) I didn't want to be one of those people. I'm comfortable being an eternal non-conformist so I would have been fine doing exactly what I did with Harry Potter-not jumping on the bandwagon for a few more years. By about 5 minutes into the movie though, all of those reasons went out the window. I was fine being there with the teenage girls because I was screaming right along with them. It didn't matter that I didn't know the story, I was going to read the books anyway. It's okay to go with the flow every now and then and be pulled in the direction of the majority-in the this case, the majority is all of the moms at playgroup.

Like I said, I hadn't read the book. Most people would probably not go see a movie made from a book if they hadn't read the book. I'm totally different. I actually prefer to see the movie first because I don't have a really active imagination so it helps to see someone else's vision of how I should be picturing it. I'm also not a big reader, so there you go. I'm also able to go and watch the movie and enjoy it without having to dissect it for everything that is different or wrong from the book. I tried that with The DaVinci code and I came up disappointed. Eventually, they become separate entities to me and I can enjoy them independent of each other.

Long story short, I loved the movie. Sure some of the effects were less than stellar and some of the acting was slightly melodramatic. But I don't mind that so much because what movie doesn't have those flaws at some point? I'm excited to see it again while we're in Utah. I think that I might actually be going twice while we're over there for Thanksgiving. Once with my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law and another time with Carson for date night (hopefully).

My friend Emily lent me Twilight last Wednesday in hopes that I would read it time to see the midnight showing. While I appreciated the offer, that wasn't happening. I had a hard time getting into it at first. But I saw the movie on Friday and then really got into it Saturday night. Sunday we were home from church due to illness so I took advantage of my resting time and read over 200 pages. I finished on Monday night. I think that's a record for me. This morning I picked up New Moon Amy and I am now close 150 pages in. I can't help myself. I'm not sure what I'm going to do on the way home from Utah. I'm sure I'll have it done by then. Maybe by the time we get there.

Oh, and also, I love Fonzie. (that was for Carson)

Something New

I just added something fun at the bottom of my blog for all of you who were as disappointed as I was. Scroll down and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Big Day Today

Well, only two things on my to do list didn't get done. I didn't get all the bottles packed away, but that was mostly because I still had bottles outstanding and unaccounted for. So rather than do it twice, I thought I would do it all at once. I also didn't vacuum. That's because the vacuum was upstairs and I wanted vacuum the downstairs and I just really don't feel like carrying it downstairs when I'm 6 months preggers. But I have a whole new to do list today because yeserday was such a success. Dinner last night was amazing too. To answer your question Kathleen, you ginger a carrot by cooking it on the stove with margarine, cinnamon, ginger and brown suger. They almost taste like candy in my opinion. By the way, I also gave myself a pedicure last night before bed, so all in all, a successful day.

We're going to be walking to preschool here pretty soon becuase it's actually a pretty nice and I want to take advantage of the sun before it goes into hibernation. Siobhan's very excited because I'm going to let her ride her bike. Luckily preschool is just up the street a little way.

And FYI, we changed the baby's middle name. He was going to be William Perazzi but we've changed it to William Phinehas.

This is how Audrey posed for a picture last week at The Hard Rock Cafe. Siobhan soon followed. Is it just me, or do they have the biggest mouths?

My To Do List

It's fun to live in the fridge!
Wearing their new outfits from Grandpa Mike and Debbie.
Keep Reading

I rarely make to do lists. I find that when I do, I get really disappointed because I never get everything done that I set out to do. Than I'm disappointed. However, in keeping with my theme of being proactive, I decided that I would make my day go the way I want it to. I have the rest of my day to get it all done and with a little bit of planning, there's no reason why things can't overlap and all get accomplished. So here goes:

To Do:

Make Dinner

*Chicken and Stuffing Rollade with Italian Sausage (chicken is almost all thawed)

*Mashed Potatoes

*Bread (rising, about to go in the oven)

*Jello (What can I say, I had a craving. It's in the fridge)

*Salad

*Gingered Carrots

Put away clean laundry (with my newly organized dresser and finally cleaned out closet, it should be easy)

Put away bottles and pararphenelia (Audrey uses sippees now, I don't need the bottles and drying rack for a few more months now)

Shower (It's pretty sad that when you're a mom, you have to schedule that)

Empty dishwasher (Thought I'd give Carson a break)

Vacuum

Blog-done!

Clean in Master Bedroom (the only room in my house that is routinely neglected, but also probably the most important)

Do dishes.

I figure that it doesn't have to all get done before Carson gets home, just before I go to bed. That's doable right? We're going to Utah for thanksgiving, but we're not having Thanksgiving food, hence the fancy meal with similar tastes and textures. Wish me luck! And here's some pictures from when it snowed last week.

Siobhan is 3!

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but just haven't had the time. And our camera is on the fritz and thus makes it pretty difficult to download pictures onto the computer. But, at any rate, I feel the need to show my eldest some 'blog love'.

I can't believe that it has been 3 years since that 9 pound little Kamikaze emerged from my loins! By the way, Kamikaze is her new nickname. I still remember the first time that I held her and she looked right at me and made complete and total eye contact. People may say that newborn babies aren't really aware of people and places, and to a certain extent, I agree with that. But when her big blue eyes, which soon darkened, made contact with mine, I could tell that she knew she was looking at her mommy. And all I could see was this amazing little spirit who I can only hope chose to come to our family and be raised by Me and Carson. She had that most beautiful dark hair and gorgeous skin. The perfect addition to make us feel complete (for the time being).

As I look back on the changes that have occurred for us since she was born, I realize what a special little girl she is, as she has handled each and every one of them in stride, with a huge smile and something goofy to say. We moved her to and apartment in Colorado, to a new house in CO, added a little sister and are on our way to adding a little brother. That seems like a lot for a lifetime, especially when that lifetime is only 3 short years.

I am continually amazed at how smart our little girl is. She can quote movies just about as well as her mom, she picks up on her dancing with style and grace of course, she is an amazing big sister and her memory is something to be admired. I'm so proud of her ability to love those around her and be kind to her friends and family. Her ability to forgive is something of a treasure as well.

Being a mother is a tough job and even you continually find your Kamikaze scaling the fridge or trying to climb the half wall above the stairs, you still find it in your heart to scoop her up in a big hug and tell her how much you love her. But then I say find it in your heart, I should clarify that it never goes to far. I know that this special little spirit came into our family at the perfect and exact time. She was saved to come to me at a time in my life when I felt that I had lost so much. I feel her Nama Sue's spirit radiate through her and for that I am truly blessed.

Me and Siobhan the day she was born. 11/13/2005

Shortly after Siobhan's 1st birthday. I'm not sure why I can't find the pictures from her frist birthday party.

Siobhan and me the day after her second birthday.

Look at how much she's grown! 11/13/2008

For Siobhan's birthday we had a great time! We got up and made some banana chocolate chip muffins. That was the treat that she wanted to take to pre-school. I told her she could take cake, cupcakes, cookies or muffins and she chose 'nuffins'. She got to open her presents from Mommy, Daddy, and Audrey which included a new outfit, Tinker Bell, and of course a new room. I haven't posted pics of the room as it's not all the way done yet. We ran into a snag which now requires some help from home teachers. Hopefully I'll have pictures on Thursday. And of course for dinner we went to Hard Rock where they made a big deal about her birthday. That night they had her celebrating her 3rd birthday and someone else celbrating the 80th birthday. Quite a spread. We're having a her party with Saturday. I'm very excited about it! Stay tuned for adorable pics!

Kathleen's Tooting Hilarious Tag

My friend Kathleen over on the East Si-ide (that's my lame attempt at Kathleen style humor, what do you think Kathleen?) created this tag. I think it's hilarious! Only Kathleen would come up with this. And she's right, tags only exist because we're nosy and they have totally taken over the blog-o-sphere. You can check our her tag rant here. You won't be disappointediack.

Directions: ALL questions must be answered. Yes/No answers are not appropriate, a sentence per explanation/justification of response is allowed but make it a good sentence.

What celebrities have the same birthday as you? I'm the type that would totally look this up and be super fascinated by what I found. My results of the google inquiry were this:
*Tom Hulce from Amadeus
*Peter Buck from REM, he wrote Man on the Moon, easily my favorite REM song. There must be some connection
*Agnes Moorehead, played Endora on Bewitched
Have you ever eaten snow? It's been a while, but really, who hasn't.
Have you ever eaten play-do? See above answer.
How does your name appear on your credit card? Meghan S Mitchell
Do you know how to tie a tie? No but Carson keeps trying to teach me.
Brad Pitt, Michael Phelps and Edward Cullen are on an island, who would be eaten first, vampire-ness aside? If I had my choice, I would probably say Brad Pitt. I don't really like him all that much and Michael Phelps could probably swim to another island and get everyone rescued anywway.
Would you rather be O- (universal donor) or AB+ (universal receiver)? O-
Would you rather be trapped in Harry Potter or Twilight? Definitley Harry Potter. I tell Carson on a daily basis that I wish I was magic.
What is your social security number, last four digits will suffice? ****
What was your halloween costume when you were 7? I think I dressed up like a baby in my friends feety pajamas. That could have been when I was 8 though. That whole era is a slight blur for me.
What is your dream job and what salary do you think would be appropriate? High Fashion supermodel/professional dancer/clothing designer/shoe model/wife/mom-of course/Head of PR for a large multi-national corporation. With all of those hats that I would wearing, I think that I would deserve at a least 100 million dollars-and that's not a sad attempt at an Austin Powers reference. I would also need about 48 hours in one day.
What is your mother's maiden name? Stone
What is the theme song to your life? Lolli Lolli by 3 6 Mafia
Was Ally McBeal a lesbian? I never watched the show but I'm going to go out on a limb and say yes.
Which holiday do you feel guilty for hating? Fourth of July. I appreciate it for the fact that we celebrate the independance of our country, but I've really never had fun with it. Something about watching fireworks on TV just doesn't do it for me.
What is the number of your credit card with the highest limit? I think that's a math question, so I respectfully decline to answer...mostly because it would make me look like an idiot.
What color toe nail polish are you embarrassed you wore in middle school? Lime Green-maybe that was high school, I don't remember.
Are you angry this tag has no apparent theme and thus warrants no clever title? No, the more random the better I think. But I am angry that the questions aren't numbered.
Do you secretly crave fried chicken, are you craving it NOW? I hate fried chicken.
What is your pin number? Yeah Right.
Have you ever been (secretly) scared by the person you were sitting next to on an airplane, honestly post 9-11? I really haven't. I'm not that person.
Did you ever have a snorting problem accompany your laughter? I think that I've snorted while laughing once in my life, so I don't think that would be considered a problem perse.
What is the security code on the back of your credit card? Again, really?
Have you recently picked a booger? Wiped a booger? I'm going to go with a similar answer to the second and third questions, who hasn't?
Which WWII evil dictator do you most admire? Mussolini
Visa, Mastercard or American Express, Discover? Ummmmm
Do you think Peter Pan was a jerk to Tinkerbell once he got the hots for Wendy? Totally, she almost died for him and even though he acted like he cared, you could easily see it in eyes that he didn't need her wings flapping around him anymore!
What would rather be doing right now if not participating in the coolest tag ever? Taking a nap.
If you could name your child anything without fear of being called a minority or insane what name would you give them, please no vowels? Phineous
Who would play you in a movie of your life, if you were played by the opposite sex? Russell Crow
What is your maiden name, do people believe you? McGuire...oddly enough, when people find that out, I get one of two questions, 'Are you related to Mark?' and 'Are you related Jerry?' My answer to that last one is always the same, 'Yes, I enjoy being related to fictional character.' Is that question there because you're bitter about your own last name, Kathleen?
Who would win in a fight, Dora the Explorer or Go Diego Go!? I'm pulling for Diego
Who is more Bad A**, your grandma or your mom? That's a tough one, but I'm going to say my grandma.
What is your computer password? My computer is not password protected, that I know of.
Do you buy into any odd conspiracy theories, like the non-moon landing? Lach Ness Monster. Do Urban Legends count because you could totally get me with the whole 'Bloody Mary' thing, or 'Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board.'
Do you really think organic food tastes better/good at all or do you just convince yourself it does so you'll eat it? I can't tell the difference in all honesty.
What is the answer to your secret question? Shammie
Which superpower would you make a sixth sense for everybody in the world? Flying, it would be so useful!
Do you sometimes get confused between the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge, be honest? I didn't even know that they were different.
What is your gross annual income? Not enough.
Have you noticed the identity theft questions scattered throughout? When I first read the tag, I totally thought you were serious. Why would I think that?
Okay, so maybe you don't have to answer EVERY single question. Maybe some of these were just so I could commit a federal crime against you. But, in all seriousness: I tag EVERYONE on my blog list.

Halloween Adventures

We had a very fun and long Halloween week. On Sunday of that week I got very stressed out because I realised that I would have to dress the girls up 4 out of 5 days that week. Tuesday was day number 1 when we had our annual playgroup Halloween party at my house. It was a lot of fun, but it's always a little stressful for me to have playgroup at my house because I have to make sure that everything is spic and span. It didn't help that the night before Carson was on an over night business trip in downtown Denver. I know it sounds lame, but he was in meetings until 10 pm and had to get going again at 7 am the next morning. So he took advantage of the fact that the University was springing for his hotel room. It was good for him to have the break and relax but it meant that I didn't have any help getting the house in tip top shape. Oh well, I got it all done! Wednesday, day 2, Siobhan had dance class so we got her dressed up for that and Siobhan's teacher wanted to see Audrey in her costume. Not so bad, but still a little bit of a pain. Thursday, day 3, was the annual Halloween party/trick or treat at UofP. It's always fun to show off the girls there. They had a lot of fun! Friday, day 4 and Halloween day, was a little disappointing. We got the girls all ready to go to the ward trunk or treat. I was so excited for it because it was going to be combined with our old ward that we split from at our Stake President's barn. It's a big tradition in the stake and it's really hard to book it anywhere near Halloween so it was a big occasion. As we were getting ready, I realized that I didn't have directions. So I tried to call people in the ward and could not get ahold of anyone. We tried calling the stake president, couldn't get ahold of him. Tried white paging him which was a good idea in theory, but if you didn't know (like we didn't know) that his barn is actually no where near his actual house, it wouldn't have helped and you would have spent about 45 mins to an hour, like us and some friends, driving around on a wild goose chase. We (I) were really mad. I was mad that they never thought to give out directions. They all just assumed that everyone knew where the Polson barn was out in the middle of nowhere Sedelia, CO. I was also mad that while I get about 10 (not exaggerating) emails a day from Relief Society that mostly have nothing to do with me, I never got one with any directions or info about the ward Halloween party. I guess that they gave verbal directions the Sunday before in Elder's Quorum but that doesn't really help those of us in Nursery. So we went home and trick or treated our neighborhood for about 15 minutes, before it got to late and then went to dinner at Chiles. We were all disappointed. Siobhan was just starting to get excited about it when it was time to go home and Carson and I were disappointed at the serious lack of candy. Yes, I'll blame other people for this, I'm that bitter about it. Oh yeah, in case you all didn't know, Siobhan dressed up like a Spanish Flamenco Dancer (with an authentic dress and shoes that grandma and grandpa brought from Spain) and Audrey dressed up like her namesake Audrey Hepburn complete with Tiffany and Co. shopping bag. So adorable.

All good Halloween costumes of course begin with spongy rollers in the hair. It was Audrey's first time with curlers all over her head.

Audrey, Siobhan and Daddy on Halloween night before we left for the ill fated ward Halloween party.

My solution to the lack of an Audrey Hepburn hat was to tease her hair into a bouffant with a pseudo french twist and a wide white ribbon.
Siobhan and her friend Jack right before the playgroup Halloween party.
Me, Siobhan and Audrey before playgroup.
The dress and shoes from Spain. I made the flower veil. She also had castanets and a fan. By the end of the week, I had to fight her to put it on. It was all well meaning, but the poor girl was sure sick of her costume!

Habit #1 Proactivity

I know everyone wants to read a blog about what's been going with the fam and most importantly the girls. That's coming. I have lots of cute pictures from Halloween and other fun things, but I wanted to post this really quick.
Carson began his doctoral program a few weeks ago and one of the requirements was to build a 'leadership library'. To me that sounds like a very arbitrary requirement for an online class, but whatever. Thank goodness for Amazon.com and the fact that we've gotten all of these self help/leadership books for next to nothing in most cases. Almost all of them are by Steven R. Covey or his sons because really, does it get much better than that when it comes to leadership?We got The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People on CD and we've been listening to it together for the last few days. Talk about a mind blow. It is the most incredible thing ever! We're only into habit one but I can totally see how it all works and how much it can influence every aspect of your life. When we're done with this one, the next one our list is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families and The 7 Habits of Happy Kids By Sean Covey. The last one is actually a series of chidlren's stories to help them leard at a young age how to be good leaders and use the habits on their own level. Maybe my kids are too young for it, but it never hurts to be prepared for what might come.
So I decided that out family's motto for the rest of November and December is:

Be Proactive

I feel that there are a lot of things in life where I/we play the victim. I use what Stephen R Covey calls reactive language. I say things like 'If only this haden't happened to me' or 'that person just makes me feel so (insert negative emotion here).' What good does it do me/us? When it comes right down to it, we all have the choice of how we are going to react to circumstances and scenarios. Thats one of the things that seperates us from the animals, it's our ability to reason out and detatch ourselves and thus observe our own selves and then make the best of our situation. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Being proactive means taking responsibility for every aspect of your life. Initiative and taking action will then follow. Covey also argues that man is different from other animals in that he has self-consciousness. He has the ability to detach himself and observe his own self; think about his thoughts. He goes on to say how this attribute enables him: It gives him the power not to be affected by his circumstances. Covey talks about stimulus and response. Between stimulus and response, we have the power of free will to choose our response.

Things that I'm being proactive about right now: Beefing up food storage, household organization, my interactions with people and not letting them walk on me. That last one is dealing more with how I let people treat me. If something bothers me, I'm not going to sweep it under the rug and pretend like it didn't happen. I will choose to be stronger in the eyes of those around me.

I'm not sure if I've ever been tagged before. It's hard to come up with stuff when you're put on the spot like this. So much pressure. Anyway, enjoy my answers and some interesting commentary along the way.

Four Jobs I've Had
1. Dance Teacher
2. Cold Stone Ice Cream Maker-More fun than you would think...I have a hard time going there now because they always do it wrong
3. Office Assistant at a dance studio
4. Server at an Italian Restaurant in Rexburg-because it was in Rexburg, it didn't stay open for very long

Four Movies I Have Watched More Than Once:
1. Singin' In The Rain
2. Harry Potter-Any of them
3. Steel Magnolias
4. Evan Almighty
*Am I the only one who had a hard time with this? There's like a thousand movies that I've watched more than once, but I kind of drew a blank.

Four Places I Have Lived
1. Portland, OR
2. Rexburg, ID
3. Gilbert, AZ
4. Castle Rock, CO

TV Shows I Watch
1. America's Next Top Model
2. The Office
3. Project Runway
4. The Hills-Carson says my IQ drops about 10 points when I watch this one. He's probably right.

Four Places I Have Been
1. New York City
2. Urumqi, China
3. Beijing, China
4. Las Vegas

Four Celebrities You Have Met
I feel like I've met famous people before, but I can't think of them. I can't believe that all four of these people are athletes. I should have changed it to be four celebrities that I want to meet. I'm still waiting for that 'You are my biggest fan' moment.
1. Tiffany Millbret
2. Shannon MacMillon
3. Kevin Duckworth
4. Brian Grant

Four of My Favorite Foods
1. Mashed Potatoes-duh!
2. Cereal
3. PB&J
4. Coxinas-brazilian pastery type thing

Four Places I Would Like to Visit
1. Italy
2. Australia
3. Brazil
4. South Africa

Four Things I Am Looking Forward to in the Coming Year
1. Having Baby Will
2. Being inspired and creating new choreography as a result
3. Being 25
4. Siobhan starting preschool

Four Friends I Am Tagging
1. Deidre G.
2. Kristin M.
3. Emily W.
4. Kara L.

Just Puttin' It Out There

Hey there everyone. So Halloween is almost here and I'm putting the finishing touches on the girl's costumes and let me say, they are going to be adorable. Only problem is this, I need a very integral part of Audrey's costume and I can't find it anywhere. She's going to be Audrey Hepburn and I have almost everything. I'm even going to Tiffany's this week to get her a little shopping bag. I have everything but a hat. Okay, maybe it's not integral, but kind of important to me to complete the look. What I'm looking for is a black, maybe felt or wool hat with a wide brim that I can maybe attach a cream colored ribbon around. Something akin to this (but not identical...she is only 15 months old):

I've looked in all the usual places(and some not udual places)...Old Navy, Gap, Children's Place, Gymboree, and I can't find anything. So if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Limitless Paper, for a Paperless World

I have so much paper in my house. It makes me sick. As a result of my nestingness (I know, not a word), I decided to go through some boxes of 'stuff'. And by 'boxes of stuff', I mean our very clean and well organized filing system of important documents. As I've been doing this, I realized a lot of things.

Realization Number 1: Save the comments, I keep too much crap and that has now changed. I have made a resolution to throw away as much stuff as I can.

Realization Number 2: People who do billing have an ulterior motive. It is this, 'make these chumps waste as much paper as possible.' They achieve this by making the date really hard to find on their bills. I thought that we were all taught in like 2nd grade that the date goes in the top right corner. Well, how come on numerous old bills, I found the date in the middle of the paper, or on the bottom left hand hand corner or hidden behind/within some sort of secret combination. Seriously, and yes I am placing blame for my irresponsibility when it comes to throwing things away, I would have thrown them away much sooner if I could have easily found the date.

Realization Number 3: Everything should be done electronically and we should not feel obligated to have anything on a hard copy. I know we should 'always keep a copy in our personal records', but come one, who does that? Lets reduce the footprint we make by not receiving the exact same flow chart that comes in the mail every couple of weeks with Carson's 'copy' pay check. We get a copy telling us that the real check deposited directly. Why waste the paper? The flow chart tells us nothing... I can't believe that the Internet is still too new, young and scary to some people that all banking isn't done entirely online. Between blackberry's, text messaging with cryptic spelling and daily conference calls, we're so far removed from humanity as it is that it's not like we really need the personal face to face time with a bank teller. I know it creates more jobs and blah, bah, blah...I know I'm not making any sense and I probably should have put a warning at the top that this post would be mostly incoherent ramblings of a pregnant nester.

Realization Number 4: In a place like Colorado, I don't know why my area does not have accessible recycling. They won't come and get it and the closest recycling center is like more than an hour away. So if I wanted to recycle all of this paper, all the good that I would be doing would be undone by the gas emissions that it would take to drive there.

P.S. I just spell checked, I had no idea that the word Internet is capitalized

Politics and (almost) Three Year Olds

We all know that it's never too early to instill in our children the values of what it means to be American how to be good citizens. Of course we do it in a way that they will be able to understand and keep it in terms that they will be able to conceptualize. I thought that I had done a pretty good job with Siobhan. We've made it a point to expose her (slightly) to the debates and we've openly discussed the candidates and the current situation of our country. Well, today her and I were doing a puzzle on the floor and an Obama commercial came on the TV. Jokingly I said, 'Siobhan, do you like that guy or do you like McCain?' She responded, 'I like Elmo.' ( I was totally thinking that she could say Obama because I could totally see her mind thinking that it sounded like a muppet....I'm not knocking his name but I also know how she thinks.) To her response I said, 'I know you like Elmo, but do you like Barack Obama or John McCain?' Again she said, 'No I don't like those guys, I like Elmo.' So there you have it folks, Siobhan's pick for the next president of the United States....that lovable furry little red guy with the biggest imagination of them all....ELMO! I think everything would run much more smoothly. Unless his vice president ended up being Zoe and she brought along her pet rock Rocco. If you watch Seseme Street, you know how he feels about Rocco. Talk about another civil war on our hands.