Tag

Wow, there is some serious tagging going on in the blog world. I think I have been tagged 4 times in the last week...pretty amazing for someone who only has I think 6 friends total! :) I've kind of combined all the tags and here's what I came up with:

What is your spouse's name? Nathaniel Stephen Nye, affectionately known as Nate

How long have you been together? I'm assuming this means married: May 7, 2004! We met January of 2003.

Who eats more? He eats more when we sit down and have a meal, but I snack WAY more than him. I always tease him about the time I wanted some ice cream and I asked him if he wanted some. He said, "No thanks. I think I'll just have an apple." PLEASE. If you piled up all the food we have eaten in a lifetime I think mine would be bigger.

Who said 'I Love You' first? He did. I think I said it right back, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't completely heartfelt. It just kind of came out. I sure mean it now though!

Who is taller? Nate

Who is smarter? Nate. Hello, med student.

Who does the laundry? Me. Pretty much ALL the time. But he's very busy with other important things! He helped me fold some tonight.

Who does the dishes? Mostly me. He's a pro at pots and pans though. And when he does clean, he does an AMAZING job. No shortcuts with him.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I used to and then we switched so I could be closer to the Pack n Play where Natalie was sleeping. Hmmm....maybe we should switch back.

Who pays the bills? I do everything except the American Express. I got booted from that job because I forgot to pay it off the month after Natalie was born. But really, it's great. One less thing for me to remember!

Who mows the lawn? Nate and one time my mom did half of it when she was here visiting. They both claim they like doing it.

Who cooks dinner? That would be me. He bakes desserts with Jansen a lot though.

Who drives when you are together? Nate

Who is more stubborn? Totally me.

Who kissed who first? Nate kissed me first. Who asked who out first? We first met on a blind date, but then Nate called me for the next date.

Who proposed? Nate.

Who has more siblings? Nate does. I am the oldest of 3. Including step brothers and sisters, Nate has 3 brothers and 4 sisters.

Who wears the pants? Hmmm. I guess we share this role.

Changing the subject...
10 years ago: I was a sophomore in high school...mostly just running around with my friends and doing crazy things.

5 Things on My To Do List Today: work on our 72 hour kits, get some laundry done, go through the mail that is piling up like the laundry, take a time out for ice cream, and blog.

I Enjoy: time to myself, soccer, basketball, all things sweet, my husband and kids, talking with girlfriends, eating out, blogging, making things, laughing, decorating, etc.

What I Would Do If I Was Suddenly a Billionaire: I don't even know where to start, but I think it would seriously be so fun to just buy people things. Drop off gift cards to anyone and everyone, buy them ice cream, fix their car, get them some perfume they want, fill up their car with gas, get them a membership somewhere, a subscription to something, etc.

5 Jobs I've Had: Emergency Essentials (basically every department), Kids Foot Locker, 2nd Grade Teacher, and I think that's it!

5. Things People Don't Know About Me: Probably nothing after my post that listed 100 things about me!

I tag Kami, Amy Tressler, Angie, Carrie, and Julie! Just choose whatever questions you want to do!

Pals

I've had some really great days with Jansen and Natalie lately. You know how you hear all those crazy people who say it's easier with two? Well, I'm not ready to make a broad statement like that, but there have definitely been many moments when it has been easier having both of them around. I've even kind of wished one of them would wake up in the morning or from a nap so that the 3 of us can be together. 2 is kind of boring now! (Cringe. Did I just say I wanted one of them to wake up?) Natalie just loves Jansen. He really keeps her entertained. He doesn't say Natalie very well and it comes out sounding pretty much like "laddie." So I just have to laugh every time I hear him say, "Hi laddie!" or "Come on laddie!" These are pictures of him playing with and teasing her while she is in her Tigger jumper. Don't these pictures just tell you exactly how she feels about him? Pure adoration!

Poor Natalie. Somehow this game was invented. It's called "Throw All Natalie's Clean Laundry That Mom Never Folds, Just Keeps in The Basket Indefinitely, Onto Natalie's Head." He just laughs his little guts out when he does this to her. The last picture of Natalie totally reminds me of the garbage lady at the end of the movie Labyrinth. Remember her?

And one last story. A few mornings ago, Jansen and I were just hanging out while Natalie was still sleeping. Somehow he slipped away from my watchful eye and a few minutes later I heard through the monitor Natalie's mobile going. And then a happy little voice calls out,"I'm here!" I bounded up the stairs and found a wide eyed Natalie adjusting to the bright light Jansen had flipped on and Jansen clinging to the side of her crib. The little stinker had woken her up, but it was so cute.

My Chauvinistic Son

This morning I babysat my friend's little girl for a couple of hours. She and Jansen were playing in the living room when I heard him say to her (and I quote), "Stay by the kitchen and make dinner!" He's heard his dad say that to me so many times he must have just picked it up. (I'm totally kidding.)

We have a play kitchen and he "makes dinner" every once in awhile. I guess he's already tired of coming up with dinner ideas that use pizza, a tomato, a hamburger patty, and something that vaguely resembles a chicken nugget.


(That's all the toy food we have.) I sure understand his pain. Anyone want to tell me what this is? It appears to have sesame seeds.

Tag

Wow, there is some serious tagging going on in the blog world. I think I have been tagged 4 times in the last week...pretty amazing for someone who only has I think 6 friends total! :) I've kind of combined all the tags and here's what I came up with:

What is your spouse's name? Nathaniel Stephen Nye, affectionately known as Nate

How long have you been together? I'm assuming this means married: May 7, 2004! We met January of 2003.

Who eats more? He eats more when we sit down and have a meal, but I snack WAY more than him. I always tease him about the time I wanted some ice cream and I asked him if he wanted some. He said, "No thanks. I think I'll just have an apple." PLEASE. If you piled up all the food we have eaten in a lifetime I think mine would be bigger.

Who said 'I Love You' first? He did. I think I said it right back, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't completely heartfelt. It just kind of came out. I sure mean it now though!

Who is taller? Nate

Who is smarter? Nate. Hello, med student.

Who does the laundry? Me. Pretty much ALL the time. But he's very busy with other important things! He helped me fold some tonight.

Who does the dishes? Mostly me. He's a pro at pots and pans though. And when he does clean, he does an AMAZING job. No shortcuts with him.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I used to and then we switched so I could be closer to the Pack n Play where Natalie was sleeping. Hmmm....maybe we should switch back.

Who pays the bills? I do everything except the American Express. I got booted from that job because I forgot to pay it off the month after Natalie was born. But really, it's great. One less thing for me to remember!

Who mows the lawn? Nate and one time my mom did half of it when she was here visiting. They both claim they like doing it.

Who cooks dinner? That would be me. He bakes desserts with Jansen a lot though.

Who drives when you are together? Nate

Who is more stubborn? Totally me.

Who kissed who first? Nate kissed me first.

Who asked who out first? We first met on a blind date, but then Nate called me for the next date.

Who proposed? Nate.

Who has more siblings? Nate does. I am the oldest of 3. Including step brothers and sisters, Nate has 3 brothers and 4 sisters.

Who wears the pants? Hmmm. I guess we share this role.

Changing the subject...

10 years ago: I was a sophomore in high school...mostly just running around with my friends and doing crazy things.

5 Things on My To Do List Today: work on our 72 hour kits, get some laundry done, go through the mail that is piling up like the laundry, take a time out for ice cream, and blog.

I Enjoy: time to myself, soccer, basketball, all things sweet, my husband and kids, talking with girlfriends, eating out, blogging, making things, laughing, decorating, etc.

What I Would Do If I Was Suddenly a Billionaire: I don't even know where to start, but I think it would seriously be so fun to just buy people things. Drop off gift cards to anyone and everyone, buy them ice cream, fix their car, fill up their car with gas, get them a membership somewhere, a subscription to something, etc.

5 Jobs I've Had: Emergency Essentials (basically every department), Kids Foot Locker, 2nd Grade Teacher, and I think that's it!

5. Things People Don't Know About Me: Probably nothing after my post that listed 100 things about me!

Two Thumbs Up For Thumb Sucking!

Thumb sucking has not been a part of my life to this point. I didn't do it, Jansen certainly didn't do it, Nate still doesn't do it, etc. Then along came Natalie. She has started sucking her thumb! I have NEVER thought thumb sucking was cute...until now. I think she is just adorable when she does it and it has made my life SOOOO much easier because she soothes herself with it. When I lay her down for her naps she finds her thumb and starts sucking and drifts off to sleep. (For the most part.) Anyone had experience with this? Is this going to become a problem?

So far, toe sucking has not had the same soothing effect. But a cool trick nonetheless!

Jansen's Girls

I've posted pictures before of Jansen's playgroup...and here are some more. I took these a few days ago, and I just have to say I love these kids. And they really enjoy being together as well. I love watching them scream and run after each other.

A big smile from each of them!

I think I told them to be silly in this one.

Just look at the love on Jansen's face in this one. And he's got his arms around both of them! He loves his playgroup girls. (Sounds just a tad inappropriate doesn't it?)

Making Chocolate Cake

 

 

 

 

I Am the Proud Owner of a 5 Month Old

So yesterday Nate calls excitedly from the bathroom, "There are two Cackling Geese out there!" Now let me tell you a couple of things. 1. For those of you that don't know, Nate is a birder. That means he loves to learn about them, go look for them, draw them, take pictures of them, write down many lists of them, etc. 2. The picture below is what Nate was looking at when he spotted the Cackling Geese. To 99% of us, a Cackling Goose looks EXACTLY like a Canada Goose, only smaller. And even though he had binoculars, I do not understand how he spotted 2 slightly smaller geese in that pond of probably 300 Canada Geese. It's absolutely crazy. Just wanted to share that.

Natalie is 5 months old. Does anyone have ANY idea how 5 months have passed since she was born? She seems to think it's funny that she's growing up way too fast. But I AM excited for all the fun milestones to come. And I'm really a better toddler mommy than I am a baby mommy. I just don't seem to handle the babies incredibly well. Very stressful to me.

Coolest picture ever. Can you believe I caught that on camera? Spit up! That's usually what happens after lots of tummy time. She has really started to move in the last week or so. She can roll around pretty well, and although it's definitely not crawling or anything, she can move herself forward a little bit with these cute little sprawled froggy movements.

Examples

I knew there would be lots of blogs about President Hinckley after his passing...and several times I almost posted one, but opted to just enjoy reading everyone else's. But there are just a couple thoughts that continue to come into my mind regarding him, his wife, and his life that I just have to write about. I feel way too strongly about it not to.

First off, I loved watching this and this.

So here's what I'm feeling. I have never met Gordon B. Hinckley or his wife. But they both have literally changed my life. What is it about them that leaves all of us blogging, reminiscing, and remembering? They were good, kind, happy, righteous people. And we are all attracted to that and striving for that. I want to be like them. But I'm not. I will keep working on it though. There are so many days that I am disappointed because I know I could have done better that day...it's not a depressing, self deprecating feeling. It's just a reminder that I can be better and there are people who have set amazing examples for me. To be generous, thoughtful, joyful, nice, to give compliments, to be patient...these are the things that Pres. Hinckley and Sis. Hinckley taught me and I feel very deeply that these qualities bring happiness in life. And how can I give enough thanks to someone for teaching me what brings happiness??? Anyway, I feel like I'm doing a really crummy job expressing myself, but I'm so thankful for the examples of these two. They have changed many, many lives.

True Debt Eliminator

My cousin Angie sent this to me in an email and I quite enjoyed it. For all of you who just made New Year's resolutions and revamped that budget...

www.ripplingerfamily.us/funnies/How%20to%20Get%20Out%20of%20Debt.wmv