Going Private

After much thinking I have decided to make this blog private. Meaning you will have to provide me with your email address if you want to continue reading about our adventures. I have set up a new public blog at http://www.letthembelittleforever.blogspot.com/ that I will be posting to still, just not with pics of us or our names to protect our privacy. Also if you could please not list our last name on your blog if you are linking to us I would really appreciate it. I will be completing this change on May 3rd so you have until then to either post here (I recieve the posts before they are published so I will get your email but it wont be viewed by anyone else) or you can email me or Rob at our emails. Thanks so much!

In answer to a few of the questions I have recieved, no nothing in particular happened to make me change my mind but after a few months of feeling uneasy I figured it must be time to make the change. Thank you for all those of you who have thought it was a good idea, it really has been a hard decision to make. I will be putting most of the links on this blog on the new blog too for those of you who were wondering.

Snow in April

The backyard this afternoon. We had about a half hour of steady snow. Olivia was so excited to go make snow angels but there wasn't quite enough snow for that thankfully!
The snow melting off the shed.
Olivia was fascinated by the water coming out of the downspout.
Her sweet little hand print.

Cookies

We decided to try a recipe that I got from http://www.raisingcountrykids.com/2008/04/moms-best-cookies.html. Little Millie from next door was here so it was fun to make cookies with three under three. They were really yummy. Trying to save time I was cracking eggs directly into the mixer and of course dropped the entire egg in so I got to start all over.
Zachary was so excited by the mixer.
Eating chocolate chips.
YUM!

Hey all of you with cute kids

If you are in our local area check out this blog and enter your kids for her model search. Wouldnt that be fun! http://mindyyoungphotography.blogspot.com/2008/04/model-search.html

Tagged again!

Here are 6 facts/habits about me:

1. I tie my shoes weird. My grandpa taught me the two bunny ear method and I have stuck with it. I can do the bunny through the bunny hole method but it doesnt come very easy to me.

2. I am a grump until I take a shower and wash my hair, I am okay for a few hours in the morning until Zachary naps but if I dont get a shower by noon I am not a happy camper.

3. I cant stand for the two way light switches to be up when the light is off, I will turn the light on and then off with the other switch to fix it.

4. I have a really sensitive sense of smell, I cant stand the smell of varnish, paint, garbage that has been in the can a little to long, curry, and a few other things. Rob calls it my super sense and it is the worst when I am pregnant. With Olivia I couldnt go near potatoes, they smelled so bad.

5. I hate calling people on the phone, it gives me major anxiety to pick up the phone and call anyone.

6. I pick at the sides of my finger nails, it is an awful and painful habit that only stopped when I had acrylic nails back in the day.

Okay all you who read this be brave and answer this on your blog!

Fun Website

http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp

April Holidays Week 4

April 22nd Earth Day and Girl Scout Leader Appreciation Day

April 23rd Administrative Professional's Day and Home Run Day, Hank Aaron hits his first home run in 1954, and International Sing Out Day and William Shakespeare's Birthday, born in 1564.

April 24th Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day and Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. And in our family its Aunty Jen’s birthday!

April 25th Anzac Day and Arbor Day and National Telephone Day

April 26th Hug a Friend Day and National Pretzel Day

April 27th Tell a Story Day and Walter Lantz's Birthday, the creator of Woody Woodpecker.

April 28th Poetry Reading Day

April 29th Zipper Day, modern zipper invented by Gideon Sindback in 1917.

April 30th National Honesty Day, George Washington inaugurated as first US president in 1789.

A Few of Our Favorite Things

Olivia loves this dvd, it has really helped her with her letter recognition. There are also a few for learning your words. Plus I dont find it annoying to watch or listen to which cant be said for all kid's videos.

The kids love these Lil Crunchies, I bought two cans for our vacation and a day later they had eaten them all. The best thing is they dont make too much of a mess.

These are seriously amazing. I put one in with every load of wash and it is so crazy to see the color that it picks up.

Funny Zachary

In case you were wondering its not a good idea to give Zachary a blue licorice. Unless you want a sticky little smurf to clean up.
Zachary thinks that cardboard is yummy. While we were shopping the other day he chewed this hole in the pasta box. Crazy kid!

Who Needs A Sandbox

Who needs a sandbox when you have a pile of dirt waiting to be made into a garden. The kids love playing in the dirt. I have been having great fun doing the laundry lately. :)

"Candyland" and Post 100

Yesterday we had the fun experince of going to a real candy factory. Olivia kept calling it "candyland", even today she asked when we were going back to "candyland". Cute! Sorry there arent pictures but they dont let you bring cameras with you. You can visit their website for your own little tour at http://www.sweetcandy.com/index.php?content=tour Or if you live in the SLC area you can set up an appointment to go on the tour we went on, I recommend it highly!

The kids had a great time, although getting their own little bag of candy at the end was their favorite part of course. My favorite part was seeing the taffy quality control board where they had examples of the proper look for each kind of taffy. Olivia was so good and helpful pushing her cousin in his stroller, she wanted nothing to do with helping me with Zachary! Zachary had a hard time wearing the little hair net they make everyone wear but towards the end he started to leave it alone. It was so much fun to try the candy right after it was made, it was so fresh and yummy. After the tour we went to visit Aunty Jen at her work and we ended up having lunch with her at Iceberg, their fries are so YUMMY!! Both kids fell asleep on the way home so it must have worn them out!

And that makes for the 100th post on my blog!

Playground

After seeing the mountain goats we took the kids to a playground so we could eat our yummy Philadelpian sandwiches.
Looking down the slide.
Playing the "I want that" game with daddy's lunch. He would come over and beg for food but when you offered him some he would run away. He thinks he is so funny!
Zachary loves to go down slides! He has no fear at all.

Mountain Goats

On Saturday after we went to some garage sales we went to see the mountain goats up Little Cottonwood Canyon. They had a whole set up for little kids with a mountain goat pelt to pet, stamps of their hooves, all sorts of antlers, and stuffed animals. We brought our spotting scope and while you could see the goats without it you could really see them with it.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695268574,00.html
Check out those glasses!
If you click on the picture you can actually see the mountain goats.

International Space Station

Friday and Sunday nights the Internation Space Station flew right over our house. It looked like an airplane really high up but it was a fun experince.
Well you cant really see it but the Internation Space Station is in the middle of that picture.
Aunty Jen and Lu. Olivia enjoyed seeing the "astronauts".

April Holidays Week 3

April 15th First McDonalds opened by Ray Kroc in Des Plaines, IL, in 1955 and Income Tax Day and Leonardo Da Vinci Birthday born in 1452.

April 16th National Eggs Benedict Day and Slavery Abolished in D.C. by Lincoln in 1862.

April 17th Daffy Duck's Birthday he debuted in a Warner Brothers cartoon in 1937 and Sherlock Hemlock's Birthday (Sesame Street character).

April 18th First Laundromat Opens In Fort Worth Texas in 1934 and Great San Francisco Earthquake in 1906 and Paul Revere Day, Paul Revere rides to alert patriots that "The British are coming..." in 1775 and Pet Owner's Day

April 19th Humorous Day and Passover Begins at Sundown

April 20th Cuckoo Day and National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day

April 21st Kindergarten Day The first kindergarten was founded by Friedrich Froebel in Germany in 1837.

Sad

I need to share something that some of you might really disagree with. So read at your own risk.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24109461/

I am really sad that all those little children have been taken from their homes in Texas. I am not for the marrying of little girls to old men but I don't feel that this action was needed. I cant imagine the pain of having my children taken from me or now being forced to leave them. I cant imagine having my little girls questioned about things that they don't know about in graphic terms. Or having to comfort another mother's children because she wasn't allowed to come. I cant imagine being the husband in an empty house without my family. I disagree that they took the women's cell phones after some unflattering reports of their living arrangements were released. I cant believe that Texas wants the children placed into foster care. Or that they think they can have orderly court cases for 416 children in a timely manner. It seems to me like they could have taken the men and housed them somewhere while they stood watch over and questioned the women and children who could then be safe in their own homes and beds. While these children are being raised differently then I would want my children raised I don't think they are generally being abused. To take a whole generation of children from these people will only cause them to distrust and hide more from the legal channels that are needed in some cases. I wish there was something that I could do.

Tagged :)

FOUR JOBS I'VE HAD IN MY LIFE:
1. Babysitter
2. Jewelery store salesgirl
3. Best Buy admin
4. MOMMY :)

FOUR MOVIES I WOULD (OR HAVE) WATCHED OVER AND OVER:
1. Sweet Home Alabama
2. The Singles Ward
3. The Other Side of Heaven
4. Bring It On

FOUR PLACES I'VE LIVED:
1. Harriet, Arkansas
2. Ferndale, Washington
3. Silverdale, Washington
4. Lehi, Utah

FOUR PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME REGULARLY:
1. LDS Living
2. MyPoints
3. Preschool Rocks
4. Pinching Your Pennies

FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Steak and mashed up little red potatoes
2. Su Casa bean enchilada
3. Mile High Mountain Mud Pie from Red Robin
4. Cotton Candy

FOUR PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. At the beach
2. At a spa getting pampered
3. Shopping for new clothes
4. Disneyland

FOUR THINGS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2008:
1. Warmer weather
2. My mom coming to visit
3. Olivia starting preschool
4. Getting pregnant

FOUR FRIENDS I WANT TO TAG:
Whoever feels like playing along :)

Weather

Those crazy weatherpeople are changing their minds on my nice weather...sad. It will still be warm but not quite as nice. Boo!

I think this year might be like last year with no real spring, just winter and summer. It snowed yesterday but it looks like next week we can wear shorts!!

Great Grandparents Farm Trip

We had such a great time at Great Grandma and Grandpa's farm on Sunday. The kids loved seeing the lambs, sheep, goats, kids, and llama. I think Zachary liked the farm dog the best, though!
Olivia with Great Grandpa.
Olivia "driving" the tractor.

Zachary in the corral.
Zachary loved the dog.
Zachary with Grandpa.

Meeting the two day old lamb.
Looking at the sheep and goats in the corral.
Great Grandpa with Olivia and Rob with Zachary out in the corral.
Our cute girl.

Manti Temple Pictures

On Sunday we went to the Manti temple to take some family pictures before going to Rob's grandparents house in Mt Pleasant.
Zachary didnt want to look at the camera but its a cute on of Lu and me.
What a cute shot of my family going up the stairs.
Our sweet little man on the steps at the temple.

The whole gang.
Me and Lu.
What a good shot of Lu, finally!

Disneyland/Southern California

Okay with about 3 weeks until we leave on vacation I am looking for any advice on what you would do at Disneyland/San Diego Zoo/Southern California with our little kids. I know all Olivia wants to do at Disneyland is meet Cinderella (we sure hope she is at the Princess Faire when we go), ride the Casey Jr Train, and see the Crush show over in California Adventure. She is excited to see the pandas at the zoo and go to the beach. We are hoping for good weather and hopefully some time to just relax.

April Holidays Week 2

April 8th Ponce de Leon Day Born in 1460. He discovered Florida and searched for the Fountain of Youth.

April 9th 1st Public Library Opened In 1833, in Peterborough, NH.

April 10th Encourage a Young Writer Day and National Sibling Day

April 11th Jackie Robinson Day On this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson became the 1st African American in modern major-league baseball. And the U.S. Navy Acquires its 1st Submarine in 1900. It was a 53-foot craft designed by Irish immigrant John P. Holland.

April 12th Space Shuttle Columbia First Launched Crewed by John Young and Robert Crippen in 1981

April 13th Thomas Jefferson's Birthday, born in 1743.

April 14th Titanic struck the iceberg shortly before midnight on April 14; the ship collided with an iceberg causing the ship to sink at 2:20 AM on April 15.

Pictures

No our camera isnt broken or lost, I just hadn't transfered pictures from the card for awhile. Here are some of my favorites:
Olivia playing with the hose, that girl sure loves to play with water outside.

Zachary's latest battle wound. He feel off the little play table outside right onto the concrete patio. OUCH! He cried for awhile afterwards but was quickly attempting to get back up on the table.
Watching the garbage truck, this is a favorite event on Wednesday mornings.
Our monkey climbing up onto the dining table.
So cute in their new pjs!
Sneaking snacks.

Lotion

So we are in the process of trying to get Zachary to go to just one afternoon nap. It works about every other day. Yesterday was a day where it did work but being the bad mommy that I am I locked the kids out of the bathroom while I quickly showered so I could have some peace. I dont think they even tried to come in so it didnt seem like a big deal and they were both alive and well when I unlocked the door. So fast forward a day: Zachary was an early bird today so he is taking a morning nap. As is usual when he does this, I shower while Olivia watches a show. Today for some random reason known only to her she lotioned the fishtank in a very nice coat of my lotion. My lotion that was on my counter in the UNlocked bathroom. Maybe I will have to start locking the door everyday.

Sweet Memory

So since this blog is my only source of journaling or scrapbooking currently I wanted to record a sweet moment I had with Olivia yesterday. At naptime I went up to check on Zachary since he was fussing but by the time I made it upstairs he had stopped so as I turned to go back downstairs Olivia asked if I would lay down with her on her couch-bed. Since she was acting wide awake after only napping for like a half hour I told her okay since I was not ready for her to be running around yet. I dont know if she slept much more in the next hour but I got a little shuteye and a whole hour with just her and me all cuddled up.

Tag

Tagged!

Here are the rules. Four people will be tagged. You have to answer the questions, then post the people tagged, let them know they are tagged, and then they post the answers on their blog. It is always fun to learn more about people!!!

10 Years ago... see here http://rhozhaslam.blogspot.com/2008/02/10-years-ago.html I had been out of high school for a year and was trying to find my place in the world still. I babysat for a family whose kids were about the ages of my kids now. And I was very busy doing Rainbow stuff.

5 Things On My To Do List Today...
1. This tag :)
2. Go to the bank for pennies for One Cent Day with the kids
3. I really should clean our bathrooms
4. Decide on something for dinner
5. Hopefully play with the kids outside if it warms up

If I were a Billionaire... I would build a house very similar to our house now just much nearer to the ocean. I would have houses built for Rob's and my families nearby, too. I would travel more. I would donate lots of money to helping little kids in other countries. I would hire people to take care of all the things that prevent me from spending quality time with the kids, like a housekeeper, a chef, an errand runner (who would be able to buy nice stylish clothes and accesories for me), and a driver so I would never have to merge into traffic again.

3 Bad Habits...
1. I get mad at Rob for not being able to read my mind.
2. I spend more time on the computer then I should.
3. I am really bad at doing thank you cards.

5 Places I've Lived...
1. Harriet, Arkansas
2. Ferndale, Washington
3. Silverdale, Washington
4. South Jordan, Utah
5. Lehi, Utah

5 Jobs I've had...
1. Babysitter
2. Berry Picker, this only lasted one day. It was an awful job.
3. Jewelry Store salesperson/assistant manager/manager
4. Best Buy supervisor/customer service rep/admin senior
5. Mommy and Wife

3 Things Most People Don't Know About Me...
1. I have a tattoo
2. I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints just over 7 years ago.
3. My high school marching band was in the Tournament of Roses Parade when I was a sophomore so I have been on tv.


I tag Sarah H, Lisa P, Heather H, and Bridget P