The Mitchell Family Christmas Quiz-Answers

Hopefully our Christmas cards arrived with our fun Christmas quiz. I promised at the end of the quiz that I would post the answers tonight. So here goes! I'll be posting more in the next week or so keep checking back for more fun things that we did this year!

Question 1 _______ ______ joined our family on February 11th. He weighted 7 lbs 13 oz and had a full head of hair.
a. William Phinehas
b. Edward Cullen
c. Harry Potter
Please see this post.

Question 2 Carson started teaching ______ ______ ______. We wakes up at 5:30am each week day to teach the freshman in our stake all about The Book of Mormon. He also started a new position at The University of Phoenix in their enrollment department and is still pursuing his doctorate.
a. English
b. Early Morning Seminary
c. Dance
Please see this post and this post.

Question 3 Siobhan (4) decided to cute 12 inches of _____ and donated it to Locks of Love. She was so brave and grown up and now sports a sassy bob to go with her sassy personality. She is such a great big sister as well!
a. Fabric
b. Hair
c. Ribbon
Please see this post.

Question 4 Audrey (2) started _____ _____ this fall and loves it! She was awesome in her first recital. She is growing up so fast and we lover her!
a. dance class
b. soccer
c. singing lessons
Please see this post.

Question 5 Meghan taught herself how to ____ and has had a blast learning how to re-fashion.
a. cook
b. sew
c. dance
See this post.

Question 6 Carson and Meghan joined a ______ _____ this summer. It was fun but Carson broke his ____ and had to take a break.
a. book club and arm
b. soccer team and ankle
c. cooking class and leg
sorry, no post about that.

Question 7 Siobhan has decided that she doesn't like ______ _____ and might start _____ in 2010 (hi-ya!)
a. dance class and karate
b. dance class and singing
c. voice lessons and soccer
Again, no post about that.

Question 8 Audrey loves her _____ ______ but it took a few weeks to warm up to him. She now asks, 'Mommy, where's my baby boy?'
a. Elmo toy
b. baby blanket
c. baby brother
See this post

Question 9 Mr. Will (10 months) taught himself how to sit up and has even taken a few ____ along the couch!
a. naps
b. bites
c. steps
Check out this post.

Question 10 This year, we feel so ______ as we reflect on the all the wonderful things that happened in our lives.
a. blessed
b. loved
c. inspired
d. all of the above

How'd you do? Leave me a comment and let me know your score!

Merry Christmas everyone!

King of the Stable-Day 1

I stole an idea from my sister Meredith this year for a countdown to Christmas tradition. I wrapped up all of our Christmas storybooks and placed them under the tree. We get to open one each day and read the story to help us get into the Christmas spirit. Some of the stories are spiritual and others are more secular, but they all help us get into the spirit. We started last night, but I didn't get to blog about it until now. We read the book King of the Stable by, Melody Carlson and it was the perfect way to start our tradition! It's about a little boy who grows up in a privileged household and then one day without warning, he is sent to live with his uncle, an in keeper, in Bethlehem. This little boy, Matthew, is put in charge of caring for and cleaning the stable. One day, a young couple comes and they need a room as the wife is about to give birth. The inn is full, but Matthew takes care of them in his stable....you can imagine the rest. It was a beautiful story and a great way to begin us on the path of remembering the true spirit of Christmas!

It's Official!

It's a very big day today...does anyone know why? Birthday? No Siobhan's is tomorrow....Baby Crawling? No he scoots. What could possible be so great about today? Wait for it................wait for it............. Taco Bell is bringing back the Chessy Gordita Crunch! That's right folks....one of the best combinations of tortilla, meat, cheese product and MSG. I can't wait. Herein lies the problem though. We have a very strict commitment in our home that we will not get any fast food unless it is free. So, any ideas as to how I can get my hot little hands on this little slice of heaven without dropping one red cent on it? Carson's ideas was to wait outside the door and give my money to someone and have them go in and buy it for me. Like an underage drinker at a liquor store. Not so sure about that one...I don't want anyone to steal my money.

Hair Today.....

It may be unhealthy, but I have always felt a certain amount of vanity when it comes to my kid's hair. But when your kids have hair like this.........

...Can you blame me????

I always love seeing the looks on the Doctor's nurse's faces when my babies come out with a part on the left side and pony tail (okay, the last one was an exaggeration). I still remember when Siobhan was born and the nurses all said that they had never seen a baby with hair like that who came from Caucasian parents. It's always a fun conversation starter and it never fails that said conversation will have some variation on the phrase, 'my kids were bald until age....' While all this hair is so much fun and beautiful, it has it's pitfalls. I have spent hours upon hours brushing hair. I have spent a lot of money on shampoo, detangler, hair gel, combs, brushes, rubber bands, bows, etc. I can't tell you how many times a day I re-do pony tails. On the upside, my kid's gender is usually pretty easy to guess.

Anyway, while having all this hair is a blessing of sorts, there are a lot of children who don't have that blessing in their lives and not just because it took a few years to grow in after birth. Many kids have illnesses which deprive them of a beautiful head of hair. How sad would it be to be a little five year old girl who can't wear pig tails like her friends? As a mother, I can't imagine not being able to spend special time with my daughter coming up with fun hair styles. So Siobhan and I decided that it was probably time to pass that blessing on to other kids who don't have any hair. We decided that after almost four years of growing, we were going to get it cut and donate it to Locks of Love. We found a kids salon in Lone Tree which does free hair cut and styling if you're going to donate it. So we decided that today was the day. Her first REAL hair cut and it was a big one!

Before we left for the salon.

Holding her 12 inch long braid that will be on it's way tomorrow.

Shaping and trimming.

Siobhan sporting her new sassy bob. I was so proud of Siobhan and her willingness to give something so personal to those in need. We had been talking about how her hair was going to be given to a little kid who doesn't have any. She asked me what their name was, so we came up with a back story. I had to make something up on the spot and for all she knows, I told her the truth. In Siobhan's mind, her hair is going to a little girl names Jane who live in New York City. On the way home, Siobhan said she wanted to talk to Jane but I told her that wouldn't be possible but that Jane could probably write her a letter. To that Siobhan replied, 'Oh I would LOVE that!' I love my little girl! I think this hair cut made her age about 2 years in looks and personality!

I don't why, but these pictures aren't lining up the way I want them to. Sometimes blogger drives me crazy!!!!

Happy Halloween

We had a great time this Halloween. Daddy got home from Vegas just in time to celebrate the big day with us. We had fun parties to go to and got lots of candy trick or treating. So much fun! Here are a BUNCH of pictures!

Funny story about Siobhan's costume this year. Originally, she wanted to be the main character from her favorite book When Sophie Gets Angry...Really, Really Angry. It's a super cute book. So I got to work on her costume which would consist of a blue and white striped shirt and overalls. I finished the shirt and was getting ready to start on the overalls when a package came from Auntie Meredith in AZ containing this Snow White costume. I wore it when I was Siobhan's age and cousin Lindsay wore it a few years ago. Since Snow White it he current obsession in our household, Sophie went out the window. Luckily I hadn't made the overalls yet. :) You can't see it but Auntie Meredith made a beautiful cape when Lindsay wore it.

I had so much making this peacock costume! We already had the leotard so I just sewed on a few feathers that I cut out of lining material in the colors of a peacock. I got the tutu at goodwill for $1.99 and added more feathers plus the peacock feathers in the back. I also made the cutest little feather headpiece but you can't really see it in the pic. I did her hair in a bunch of ponies all the way down her head to make a 'pony-hawk'. Add some fun sparkly green make-up and voila-Peacock. How cute is she???

Mr. Will chilling while we were trick or treating. He was Edward Cullen for Halloween. I think I need to submit at pic to a magazine or something because it was so dang cute! His costume was super easy in theory. I made his jeans out of pair of my old jeans and found the grey pea coat on ebay for $5. The hardest part was the shirt. I hate that is so difficult to find a plain colored t-shirt for a baby. After going to Target, Walmart, gap and the consignment store, I finally found this one at Children's place. Why didn't I go there first? I then gelled his hair and he looked the spitting image of Edward.

Everyone together!

This is from the ward trunk or treat on Friday night. It was tons of fun but a little chilly as we were still trying to thaw out from the deep freeze that came through. I was Bella to Mr. Will's Edward. :)

I hope everyone else had a fun safe Halloween. We had a blast! I was very proud of the girls for how polite they were whenever they were at the doors getting their candy. They always took only one piece and said thank you every time!

Toys....

I always looked forward to watching my kids use their imagination. I never considered myself to have a really active imagination while I was growing up. I always just dressed and undressed my barbies and did their hair. I never really played house with them or anything. I always figured that Siobhan might be that way, but she seems to be more of my problem solver. Audrey on the other hand, is having so much fun playing imaginary games with her toys. I frequently find them in odd places throughout the house in various real world situations. Here are some fun pics that I snapped.

I call this one 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' Her little people, or 'Dollies' as she calls them, are always having some sort of event...birthday parties, family dinners, family home evening, etc.

I call this one 'Someday My Prince Will Come' (I know, wrong fairy tale). I found it on the stairs one morning and it made me think of how some days, I'm just waiting for my gilded coach with white horses to come and take me to my castle where I have beautiful clothes and never have to do another dish or fold another piece of laundry.

How To Tell If Your Baby is Mobile...

He sits up pretty well on his own...

Gets up on all fours...


Makes his under the saucer...

And ends up following his sisters under the kitchen table to snack on any crumbs left over from lunchtime.

P.S. Those stripy jammies look so comfy! I want some. And the khaki pants from the last picture....I made those!

Fun Project

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to work on an awesome project for a family in our ward. They recently found out that their little baby boy is legally blind. So a few of us in the ward contributed pages for a quiet book filled with all different textures. It was so much fun finding the different materials that might appeal to his senses. I did a few pages out of terry cloth, a few out of denim and a few out of felt. Here's some pictures:

The cover ended up being the page that I did with the big 'C'. It was made out of a wash cloth and thrifted place mat that had a really cool weave. The page with the strips was the other side. In between I put a piece of wax paper to make some really cool sound. I sewed all the strips on differently to add even more texture.


These are the two ocean scenes that I did. Under the sea was made with a wash cloth, denim fish, felt sand and terry cloth seaweed. The horizon was felt with denim water, and the dolphins were cut out from printed flannel and terry cloth birds.

The flower page was made out of denim, terry cloth, flannel and felt. The little boy was a lot of fun to make. The shorts were made from a silk tie that accidentally went through the washing machine and the shirt was the inside of the tie. The hands, feet and head were made out of the lining of an old bridesmaid dress.

This project was so super fun to do and I'm happy that I was able to make something so fun for such a sweet little guy! And I know that I'm going to end up make one for Will here very soon. I think he would like it a lot!

Burdened?

If you're having a rough day, go check this out.

Grosgrain: Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

I REALLY want to win!!! Wouldn't you?

Grosgrain: Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Goals Acheived

In August when we had stake conference, the theme was families. They handed out a copy of a family handbook that we produced by the church and the stake president wanted each parent to have one at their disposal. One thing that was brought up in that conference many times that really struck me was having family council. So we had out first one that Sunday night which was the last weekend in August. We sat together and decided to do some goal setting for the month of Sept. We set a financial goal and a spiritual goal. Our reward was going as a family to cold stone for ice cream. Everyday we were remined by the girls what our goals were and what we would get if we stuck to them. We decided that the last Sunday of each month we would have our family council to set goals for the next month. Here are pictures from our first reward outing.

Audrey's first trip to ColdStone

Siobhan posed this picture herself. And the black around her eyes? She somehow located a sharpie and decided that she needed glasses.

The fruits of an entire month with NO fast food and daily family prayer!


Audrey was so excited to go and has asked to go back as least one time everyday since. Mr. Will was there too he just didn't make it into any of the pictures.

So Pretty!

I grew these!

The crazy thing is that this only about half of what ended up blooming. They were so pretty and lasted a long time!

kindred Spirits

Audrey came up to me begging to hold Mr. Will. I love it when they do that...just shows how much they love him!
Of course Siobhan wanted to hold him too. The look on his face seems to say 'Am I falling out of this chair?'
They are all so happy together! I couldn't be happierand I don't think they could either!

Yum!

Alright, show of hands...for anyone who has known me for a long time, how many of you would ever expect me to voluntairily make and then eat tomato soup? Don't all raise your hands at once.....Well, last monday, that's exactly what I did. What you are looking at above is the tomato soup that I not only made and ate, but I made up the recipe all on my own! So here it is...

Meghan's 'First Snow of the Season' Tomato Soup*

1 can of Italian Style Stewed Tomatoes

1/2 red pepper

2 cans chicken stock

1/4 C of katchup

1 tsp Basil

1 tsp garlic Salt

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Rosamary

1 tsp Italian Seasoning

1/4 Liquid Smoke

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a blender, puree the tomatoes, red pepper and katchup. Put it all in the crockpot (did I mention I did this in crock pot?) Add everything else. Set it and forget it. I literally let mine cook on low ALL day! Probably about 8 hours. I also mixed some flour and water and added it at the end for some extra thickening. Serve with a warm dinner roll for dipping.

This soup is my new fav! Surprising huh? Everyone around here loved it including Audrey who doesn't eat anything! Enjoy! If you make it, let me know what you thought. The day I made it snow was in the forcast and it did snow so it was the perfect dinner for a blustery day!

*All of my measurements aside from the stuff in cans is approx.

Been Baking!

This summer I got really into baking. It's been so fun! I've made cookies and cakes and stuff which is pretty typical of me, but I decided to venture out into the bread realm. I found a delicious white bread recipe and as a result, I haven't bought bread in about 6 weeks. (I actually need to make some tomorrow.) I've made dinner rolls. They turned out yummy, but could use some improvement. I have made bagels three times and they are amazing! My Kitchen Aid is definitely getting a work out! Here are the recipes and some pics!

Amish White Bread
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour
Directions
In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes

How yummy does that look? So good with PB&J!

Homemade Bagel Recipe

Here is the link to the recipe-it's kind of long. Not complicated though.*

*The variations that I have tried are a follows. 1)Half white and wheat flour with basil and sun dried tomatoes. Really yummy! (pictured above) I just added the tomatoes and basil along with the other ingredients. 2) Cinnamon and sugar. Added that on after the boiling. 3) Parmesan. Halfway through the second ten minutes of baking-after I've flipped them-I sprinkled Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning on top.

*I've also experimented with cream cheese. With the sun dried tomato, I did scallion and herb, strawberry with the cinnamon and sugar, and sun dried tomato and basil with the Parmesan. If you want the recipes, let me know. No bagel is complete without delicious cream cheese!

Easy Dinner Rolls

(Sorry, no good pics-I still need to perfect this recipe. It's good though!)
1 cup water (110 degrees F)
2 packages yeast (Do not use the quick rising in this recipe)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/4 cups flour
Directions
Combine water and yeast in lg bowl; let stand for 5 minutes. With wooden spoon, stir in butter, sugar, eggs and salt. Add flour, 1 cup at a time and beat in as much as you can. (you will probably be able to use all the flour) Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 3 days. Grease a 13x9 baking pan. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Divide into 24 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth round ball. Place in rows in prepared pan. Cover and let rise for 1 hour; until doubled. Heat oven to 375*. Bake until golden brown, about 17 minutes.

For the Amish White Bread go here, for the bagels go here, and for the rolls go here.

I Am A Phoenix

The definition of a Phoenix Bird is as follows (according to Wikipedia): A phoenix is a mythical bird with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet. It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self.

Many of you probably saw my facebook post from a few days ago about exciting things happening and are wondering what's going. Or my sister told you and the word spread....either way, I can now let the cat out of the bag. Last Thursday Carson was offered a new job! The job is at the same campus that he currently works at just in another department. He's going to be an alumni enrollment counselor. Basically what he's going to be doing is enrolling people who have left school for various reasons. They may be people who left because of money, time, misadvisement, or downright displeasure with the school. So he's leaving the glamorous life of management-or as I like to call it, baby-sitting-for the fast paced much more appreciated world of enrollment. All for the same salary plus over-time which he never got before!

Sorry to lead everyone on without explanation, but he didn't want me to really say anything until he officially accepted the job which happened yesterday.

To some of you, this might not seem like a big deal, but I have to say that the last 8-9 months have been really hard for him in his current position with a lot of disappointment. I can't tell you how great this is going to be for him. Imagine how it would feel to be hand picked for something. Instant confidence boost. Hence the reference to the phoenix bird. In the last week or so, I have seen a glimpse of my husband that has been hidden for a while. Someone who is excited about work and feels like he can do it well because someone believes in him. It's a great feeling. I'll leave it at that otherwise I will get really mooshy and I know a lot of you don't appreciate that. Suffice it to say, this a huge blessing and a definite answer to many prayers.

So there you go, we're not moving, not buying a new house, not buying another car, and I'm definitely not pregnant.

Dear Nightlights....

Dear night-lights, protect my sleeping babes. Burn clear and steadfast tonight.

~Granny Wendy in the movie Hook

Mr. Will...I could watch him sleep for hours!

About 6 weeks ago we move Audrey into Siobhan's room and they share a bed now. Totally old school and I love it! They have a lot of fun too.

Keepin' It Real

The Other Day, a friend of mine needed to escape her house with her girls for a little while so asked if she could come by and let the girls play together. We happily obliged but not without the warning that I was still in my pjs and the house was a mess. Cue the whirlwind of cleaning. All toys picked up, carpet vacuumed, laundry baskets taken up stairs, kitchen floor swept, table wiped off, dishes haphazardly thrown in the dishwasher...you know the drill.

The Doorbell Rang, and I felt the house was somewhat presentable. When my friend walked in, she said, 'you house doesn't look bad at all!' That's when I let me little secret out. I said, 'I have never cleaned that fast in my life!' That started a whole conversation about how we need to keep things more real. We got to talking about how people post pictures on their blogs of house and kids and sometimes you look at them and you say to yourself, 'are you really able to keep your family room looking that nice all the time?' or 'how do you get your kid's clothes to stay that clean all day?' or 'did you creatively crop that picture?'

Well, In The Spirit of keeping things real, I thought I would post about what I did today. When it comes to my housekeeping, I'm not great. In fact, I pretty much suck! But whenever I know that people are coming by, I always make sure that they places they see are as well cleaned as possible (or that time allows). But 90% of the time, people aren't coming over to see our master bedroom so I tend to neglect it. It's a horrible way to live, but I do. I pretty much avoid straightening and cleaning it at all costs. Well, I tackled it today and I'm pretty pleased to announce that it's almost done. Not all the way done though...my kids didn't make it very easy today and I had a sewing project that I wanted to post. But I made a great head way. Here are some pictures of the things that have been dumped and haven't their way all the way home until today.

Carson's suitcase from his business trip. He still hasn't unpacked yet. :)

A pile of shoes that came from the over-flowing shoe basket downstairs...I needed to move them about ten more feet to our closet....

A pile of stash fabric and sewing projects conveniently dropped next to my sewing desk....too bad the sewing machine is set up down stairs. And of course with a diaper thrown in for good measure!

Dance Class~

Back in August, Audrey started her very first dance class! She was sooo cute! Siobhan also started her class, but I totally forgot to take pics of her. I'll take some this week and post them!

Such a cute ballerina!

As you can see, she is so good at paying attention...this was when the teacher wanted them to hand on the bar like a monkey, she the only one doing and so she's obviously the star student. Yeha, I'm totally kidding!

Stretch! She loves to make pizzas while doing a straddle and making sandwiches while doing a butterfly! So cute! She asks me everyday if she can go to gance cwass.

In other news that has a surprisingly similar subject matter, I started teaching back in August and everything is going very well thus far!

Grosgrain: Indian Summer Shirt and Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grosgrain: Indian Summer Shirt and Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Setting Aside Some Time

I'm going to set aside some time tonight to sew. I have a lot to do, but I feel the need to do something creative. Maybe while I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance or Glee. I will sew tonight!

Another New Funny Blog

http://tackyweddings.com/

You have to check out this awesome blog! What's better than looking at wedding picture? Looking at tacky wedding pictures! Hello Kitty Wedding? Check! Child brides? Double Check! Hideous Wedding Dresses? Triple Check! Oh it's too much to handle. I'm giddy. And who knew there was so much paraphernalia for throwing a camouflage or denim wedding. If only I knew when I was planning my wedding...things would have looked a lot different!

Book Of Mormon Stories That My Teacher Tells To Me....

(And cue hand motions)

Today was the first day of school in these parts and with that comes the first day of seminary. Over the weekend, there were some changes made to Carson's classes so that required some re-planning and a change of point of view. But that's okay. The Lord has His reasons. Carson was originally called to teach one of the junior classes but then the freshman teacher was calling into the bishopric and Carson was reassigned to teach the freshman and they combined the juniors. So he now has 24 students instead of 11. So he spent most of yesterday reformulating his lesson plans to be tailored to students who had never experienced seminary before. Things went well this morning although all the students were very quiet and supremely deer in the headlights, shell shocked by the whole experience. They were all so quiet that during the opening hymn High On A Mountain Top Carson was pretty much singing a lovely solo. Needless to say it all was a very humbling experience for Carson but he is so excited to get these kids excited about learning the gospel. And through a lot of prayer and pondering, we know that that will happen. His goal is to get all 24 students to receive the stake president's award and to do all the requirement himself as well. It's pretty intense and includes things like memorizing all 25 scripture mastery as well as the stake president's favorite passage, learning all apostles in order, memorizing the title page, 95% attendance and a few other things. It won't be easy, but it will bless their lives. Also, ever the weekend, they decided to make me Carson's substitute so that's exciting as well. This new endeavor is going to be very time consuming and humbling but I know that is going to bless our family in ways that we can't even imagine. I've already seen amazing things happen in our household and I'm so excited to see what else lies in store.

Covered in Bees!

I have a love/hate relationship with pretty much every trivial thing in life. I need to make sure to clarify that becuase there are things like my husband, kids and family that I actually have a love/love relationship with. But pretty much anything that is trivial is love/hate. For instance, junk mail. I love it because sometimes that Latina magazine that I get every month for reason unknown actually has some useful and insightful information. And sometimes I find a gem of a coupon in the valpak envelope. But I could do without the credit card preapprovals and the such as it is an obscene waste of paper. Also, crumbs on my stove. I love them for two reasons. 1) If there is crumbs it usually means I'm cooking (not a totally rare occasion but also not a supremely regular occurence) and 2) I only make a mess cooking if I'm really excited about what I'm making. But, I have to clean them up...hence the hate.
But there is something in this life that I actually hate/hate. I try not to hate as I don't want to throw that out into the universe. But i really do hate this one thing. There is nothing that anyone can tell me that will make me like it...ever! I speak of the yellow and black striped, wing-ed beast that is the bee. I don't care if it's a honey bee..you would think that they would be great because they love flowers...but no. I don't care if it's a worker bee who obviously has great work ether. I could do without them. And the Queen bee, the epitome of an active feminist? She can go away with all the rest of them. I literally hate bees with everything that I can muster up.
Supposedly the world would completely implode or fail or something if they weren't around. I don't believe it. I think the world would find a way. The world is huge, would it really matter if the bees were not around. I find it hard to believe. I don't like honey so really it doesn't matter to me.
This undying hatred all stems from when I was 7 years old and I got stung by a bee on my tongue. That's right! My tongue. One of the most traumatic experiences in my life having to do with an animal...It might even trump the shrimp food poisoning incident of '86 which caused me to swear off seafood in all forms. I spent my whole life after the tongue sting avoiding bees and was very sucessful until the summer of '06 when a bee stung me on the back of my knee right as I was going down a water slide. It was horrible.
Yesterday at the park, we were having a picnic and this one bee kept coming around trying to get into our soda. I have not been that scared in a long time. Yes, I let a half inch long insect get the best of me and I'm not ashamed. Carson always reminds that they can smell fear. I'm not sure I believe it, but they always seem to gravitate towards me, so there must be some truth to it.




This is a clip of Eddie Izzard, one of our favorite comedians when he talks about Bee Keepers. I thought it was fitting. Start watching at about 2:20. Or watch the whole thing, because it's all funny really!

Things I Love About Today

*My kids want to spend so much time with me that they can't leave me alone long enough to clean the bathroom.

*The girls love their little brother and want to spend so much time with him, that it becomes neccassary to wake him just to be in his presance.

*Siobhan took great pleasure in informing that Audrey is now able to say the following words, 'Pennies', 'Lion', 'animal rides', and 'vaccum'. I don't remember her really having trouble with those words, but it was definitely news worthy!

*Despite all of the arguing and yelling, I have two clean bathrooms...I'll get around to the third very soon.

*Going on an animal hunt through the house using stuffed animals and vaccum wands as our binocculars.

*The evidence of a properly working digestive system on the back of Mr. Will's onsie.

*The feeling of hydrogen peroxyde bubbling away in the my mouth....it's the only thing that will quell the pain issuing from the gaping ulcer that is the kanker sore on my cheek.

*The sunburn that was earned by playing at the river park with the kids yesterday.

*The cute little cellulite filled bunda that I see running around as Audrey frequently decides to remove her under layer. Such junk in her trunk!

*Knowing that Daddy's going to be home in a few short hours and then our family will be complete.

Some Fun Pictures

I love this picture of Siobhan. It's from when Meredith and Molly and all the kids were in town. We went to a park that had a stream going through it. She just looks so peaceful.

Ms. Audrey. We took this picture the same day as the one one top. Love those bright eyes!

Mr. Will cuddling with his Daddy. Funny thing, we all call him Mr. Will now but Audrey can't say 'Mr.' so she actually called him Sir Will. So cute!

Two a Day Challenge

I usually try not to admit my faults in a public forum (mostly because there are so many), but I'm going to right now. I am not very good at regular scripture study. I tend to go through spurts but especially since becoming a mom, I have moved it further and further down my priority list when it really should have been moving further and further up. So I decided on Sunday that I would take the challenge that President Hinckley issued four years ago in Aug 2005. If your not LDS or you and have been living under a rock, that was the challenge that he gave to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. You can read about it here. I tried to take the challenge the first time around, but I failed. I've always been disappointed in myself. So Carson and I decided that we're going to do it. I'm so excited and I can already see the blessings coming to my life. He said in the talk that if we read a little more that 1 1/2 chapters a day, we would be able to finish. We decided to round it up to 2 chapters and day. I know this is going to bless both of us. And by the way, Carson was just called to be an early morning seminary teacher and their topic this school year is the Book of Mormon.

Well, at Least I Know I Can Dance....And That's All That Matters!

At last the moment you all have been waiting for....the Audition post.

The romantic version goes like this: I went to Salt Lake to Audition for So You Think You Can Dance and while I didn't make it past the filter round, I had a great experience and I'm so glad that I went. That is all true, but if you want the full version, keep reading.....

The show decided to have their auditions on July 24th in SLC (not the best planning in my opinion considering that day is a bid deal in Utah-but what do I know) so they weren't able to open the doors until 1pm. I decided to get in line at 10am thinking that if I was too far in the front or back, I would be judged differently, so I ended up pretty much in the middle, maybe a little further back. While waiting, I watched an participated in the silly shots of the kids running and dancing around that was pretty fun. I tried to get to know the kids in front of me, but they weren't interested and neither was the girls behind so I listened to my iPod and read a people magazine most of the time. There really wasn't much info on the website as to what to expect out the process so I prepared a solo and spent a lot of time in line going over in my head making subtle changes here and there. At 1pm they started herding everyone into the theater which took an hour and half. We had to go through security where they checked our bags and went over us with the metal detecting wand. And as of when I walked in, I was the first person to bring a breast milk pump. That was kind of funny for the security lady. Once we were all seated int he theater, a British man came out and talked to us, I think it was Simon Fuller the main executive producer of the show, but he never introduced himself so I can't be sure. He talked to us for about 45 minutes about what to expect from the first round of auditions. We were going to be put in groups of 10, taken up on stage and we would have to improv for 30 seconds to whatever song they put on. We would then be given a 'golden ticket' which would put us through to the next round with Nigel, Mary and the guest judge. So that solo I prepared? Didn't need it. Kind of said because it was pretty good. So we waited and waited and waited and then he brought out Anya and Pasha from season 2 and had them do a ballroom routine for about 2 minutes. And we waited and waited and waited. I think the average amount of people that I saw make it through was 2-4 from each group of 10. But there were some groups where no one went through. We also saw and requisite delusional with no coordination and the goofballs who wasted their entire day just to go on stage and make a full out of themselves (many from both groups made it through-so maybe their day wasn't wasted, maybe I should have done that and come back the next day and blow everyone out of the water). They also handpicked a young man out of the audience and let him dance to about six different songs who also got a golden ticket-not entirely fair in my opinion because the rest of us didn't get six tries to impress them. By the time they finally got to my section of the auditorium, it was getting pretty late. They took a group of 10 up to get warm and I knew that I was going to be in the next group. Then out of nowhere, the crew member that was assigning the the groups came and told me that there was a spot left and I needed to go take it. Oh yeah, I would also be #1 in the improv order. So I went backstage and started to warm up. But I actually only got about a minute and half to get warm, stretch and get my feet used to the stage. When they started the music, I was expecting something along the lines of Jewel or Sarah McLachlan like all the other contemporary groups. But no, the music started and it was the song Send in the Clowns. If you watch the show regularly, that was the group dance from last weeks results show. I wanted to turn around and ask them if it was a joke. Its a fine song, but really hard to dance to let alone improv to, in my opinion. So I did my thing, as did everyone else. When all was said and done, only four people from my group made it through and I was not one of them. So to some up, I got in line at 10am, got on stage at 9:40 pm and was ushered out the door into a dark alley at 9:45 pm. My parked expired at 10:05 pm. When I left there were still probably another 600 dancers waiting their turn. I'm sad that they don't give you more info on the website of what to expect, but now I know should I ever choose to go again. But when it comes right down to it, I think the hardest part wasn't even dancing in front of the producers, it was having to dance in front of that many of my peers who, while they were supportive, you know they were wanting you to fail because it would leave a spot open for them. So would I do it again? Yes, but I would do a few things differently. I would have a completely different mindset going into it and I would work on my improv (as a dancer, I feel that you have to be in a totally different mindset to do things off the cuff). I also would have gotten in line sooner so I would have been seen earlier in the day. I also wouldn't travel to audition. Luckily for me, I used skymiles to pay for my ticket and stayed with my in laws so there really wasn't anything out of my pocket, but it's all the principal of the matter. I did have a good time and I have new understanding for how the show is run. When I watched last week, I'm not going to lie, I was a little bitter. But I've gotten over it. I did see some amazing dancers and did end up meeting some fun people. I also got to try a Gibbon Slackline while in line and that was fun. Thanks for all the well wishes and support everyone, I really appreciate it!

Cat Deeley did end up making an appearance in line. These are some pictures that I illegally snapped. (Seriously, one of her handlers actually put his hand in front of my camera, but I already had taken 3 so who's laughing now?) She's actually much shorter in real life.

In these pictures, the guy is teaching her the Native American Hoop Dance
That kid was so smart. You know he's going to get face time on the show, he made it into the Salt Lake Tribune and got a golden ticket. He was actually really a good contemporary dancer on top of it, so it wouldn't surprise me if he makes to Vegas.