Hello . . .

I have been seriously neglecting to post pictures of the kids and we've been doing so many fun things this summer. Here's an update and just a few of the favorites.

This was 4th of July morning (sad I know that I didn't get to it until now). I woke my mom up to go to a breakfast gathering/party that was in the field in front of her house that her ward was putting on (my home ward I grew up in). It was nice seeing my friends' parents there and catching up with them. Brooklyn's not in this picture because she was too busy playing kick ball water style with mini pools as bases. Good times!

After breakfast and partying, Mike and I took Brooklyn to Chuck-E-Cheese for lunch and played lots of games. We saved about 50 tokens from the last time we were there and got 10 more from a rewards chart she filled out on their website. We got a crazy amount of tickets. Like 170 or something like that. I've never been able to do it, but we did this time. With all those tickets we got, we still only walked out with an Airhead, a sticky hand toy, and a plastic lady bug. What a jip!

After CEC, we went to a friend's house to play in the water (again). They rented this cool bouncer thing except this one is like a giant blow up slip and slide and had a little pool at the end of it. (Sorry, no pics of it) However, I think Brooklyn got more enjoyment out of the trampoline. Thanks Aunt Rena for inviting us!

As for the rest of the summer, this is how Taylor has been spending it! We just cart her around where ever we go and she's just fine with it as long as she has her strap to suck on.

We also signed up the girls for swimming lessons (which ends on Friday). Brooklyn calls it Pool School and has a blast!

Mike came with us today and took these awesome pictures! He's so good at it!

Here's me and Taylor in the parent-infant class which consists of us and another mom and baby. Oh well, we all get to be in the pool at the same time together and it's only for a half hour. I know Taylor loves it, therefore, by default, mommy loves it to :)

Happy summer everyone!

Quote of the week . . .

FHE, what a wonderful night. Lately, we've been doing something a little new. I want to get Brooklyn interested in the scriptures, but reading them word for word to a 5 year old doesn't work very well. Luckily for Christmas, my grandparents got us the entire collected works on DVD. It's basically all the stories put to pictures and with and abridged narration. Well, we started this last week so this week I thought I would do a little sum-up from where we left off. So I asked questions like "Who translated the book of Mormon" and "Who was the first prophet in the Book of Mormon" then I asked her, "Who was Nephi?"

"Nephi is the greatest man in the whole world!" --Brooklyn (age 5)

By the way she said it, I'm not sure any other man is ever going to measure up. I love this age.

ok, ok . . .

After my flip out last week, I feel kind of obligated to post something about the Bachelorette yet again. I'm so happy for her now that the jerk is gone. I hope he gets back and his manager yells at him and says, "I told you the show would be good for you not to go act like a jerk!" and dump him on the spot. He seemed so drunk at his exit interview in the limo it was disgusting.

Adios Wes!

(I wish I was the one dunking him in this picture.)

Grrr . . .

Our computer crashed last week. I went without the internet for about 4 days. That's a really long time. The worst about it is that I had been working really hard and organizing and maintaining our budget records on excel and now . . . they are gone. I loved looking at all the files at the end of the year and knowing where all the money went. Now I'm back to the stunned and amazed shock at the end of the year. I'm not the one who does the taxes so why should it matter. I'll tell you why. It's that OCD in me that needs the satisfaction from working so hard and maintaining order. Now it's gone . . . and I feel cold. Okay, not really, but man! That was a lot of work. So now we have a bigger hard drive and I've reassembled the worksheet in excel to keep track of the finances among other things like download a day and a half of CDs from my collection onto iTunes. Word to the wise . . . back up your computer . . . everything.

I want to break something . . .

How could she! Wait, let's start positive . . . nope, I'm too mad. How could she keep Wes around? I think the only reason I will accept is that she didn't want to look like a jerk and just bump him off. How could you not trust Jake? He's just about as genuine as it gets. Wes needs to take his "career" somewhere else and stop using Jillian. I really hope this doesn't end lame.

Okay, I think I can handle the positive now. Ed's Back! How could that not be positive! I'm glad she kept him even though he is a little behind, he was already ahead to begin with. My vote, Ed, but honestly, I'll be happy for whomever she picks as long as it's not Wes.

I'm glad I got that off my chest. :)

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

We all had so much fun on Brooklyn's b-day trip! I told Mike that we needed to say "Yes" to as many things as we could on our vacation with her. We wanted to make it so much fun and memorable and I really hope we achieved that and these memories will be with her forever.

We started out by leaving Monday for our hotel that was walking distance away from Disneyland. When we checked in we got dressed for Huntington Beach which was only a half hour away. It was kind of cold so we kept shirts/sweaters on.

However, Brooklyn fell in the water with her sweater on and got too cold. She mellowed out after a while and we built a sandcastle and played with bubbles before we left.

The next day was Brooklyn's birthday! We got up early to get into Disneyland as soon as we could. She got a pin at the ticket window that said "Happy Birthday" and they put her name on it so that any of the cast members we met would all say "Happy Birthday Brooklyn" and she would say "They know it's my birthday! They knew I was coming!"

She thought this was just for her.

Of course we met Tinker Bell. We got an autograph book for her so she could get all the characters' signatures.

She wanted to ride with Daddy for Autopia.

She got her face painted while Daddy waited in line for the Matterhorn and almost ended up going by himself on the ride.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E! Brooklyn can even spell his name!

Minnie was next door so we couldn't miss her.

Goofy lives across the street. He really was goofy. I haven't met the characters since I was a kid so this was an awesome experience for me too. To be honest I almost cried when I met Tinker Bell. I guess I got a little star struck. (I wonder what would happen if I met a famous actor/actress. I'd probably fall apart. How embarrassing)

I'm not aloud to do this ride. I'm glad they had fun doing it!

I love this picture!

Brooklyn got to be on Daddy's shoulders during the parade. After a few minutes she asked to go back to the rides. She didn't want to stay and watch them dance in the street. The new parade isn't that amazing.

Anytime we got close to getting on a ride, this is what Brooklyn would do. She doesn't like loud noises, but she likes going fast!

This is in line for our last ride at 11:30 at night. I can't believe she lasted this long! Our last ride was the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. She said she didn't like it, but I really think she didn't like having to wake up to go on a fast ride. So then we left in time for the park to close at midnight. Amazingly she walked all the way back to the hotel.

I think I can safely say that 5 years old is the perfect age to bring a child to Disneyland! She was able to do all the rides and WANTED to. She never backed out once. She did cry after Splash Mountain, but not because of being all wet or because of the big scary drop, but because the vultures laughed at her and were mean. It was cues like this through out the day that made us decide against trying the Haunted Mansion. I'm so proud of her and how brave she was. She didn't give us any problems and was so much fun to watch and discover what a wonderful place Disneyland is. We had so much fun and have lots more pictures. These are just the highlights of our day. I'm so glad we took Brooklyn. Now it's going to be hard for just Mike and I to go by ourselves with Brooklyn knowing just what were up to. It truly is the happiest place on earth!

Kristy

I ran into a good friend the other day who I haven't seen for a long time. She's so awesome! Everyone should know her! So let me introduce to you (if you don't know her already) Kristy! We've been buds for a long time. I want to say Jr. High is when we actually met. We just kept hanging out with the same group of friends all the way through college where we had even more of a blast! Here's some memories I'd like to share from the college years . . .

We loved to get people in the middle of our hugs. We'd call them Kristy(i) sandwiches (when actually the sandwich should be called after the person in the middle in which case this would be a Michael sandwich.)

Here we are again with said Michael at a Homecoming parade! The theme was "No Badgers" from whatever movie that was on so a bunch of us thought it would be funny to put duct tape on our bottoms and spell out EAC No Badgers. Why that was funny I don't really remember, but we had a blast (Everyone told me I had a nice "A":) So we ran around during the parade all together thinking we were hilarious. I guess that's what a small town like Thatcher will do to you and I don't regret it one bit!

Kristy and Evelyn stayed at my house after a college temple trip. I loved having sleep-overs at my house with my college friends. Thanks mom for putting up with us!

Okay, here's a true Kristy(i) sandwich thanks to Jake (left) and Zach (right). Aww, those were the days.

On another weird note having to do with the name Kristy . . .

I was driving home today when I heard this song say "Kristy are you doing okay?" So I looked at my display (it tells me the artist and song title) The above line is the title and it's sung by Offspring. Crazy! Here's the lyrics . . .

There’s a moment in time
And it’s stuck in my mind
Way back, when we were just kids

Cause your eyes told the tale
Of an act of betrayal
I knew that somebody did

Oh, waves of time
Seem to wash away
The scenes of our crimes
But for you this never ends

Can you stay strong?
Can you go on?
Kristy are you doing okay?
A rose that won’t bloom
Winter’s kept you
Don’t waste your whole life trying
To get back what was taken away

Though the marks on your dress
Had been neatly repressed
I knew that something was wrong
And I should have spoke out
And I’m so sorry now
I didn’t know
Cause we were so young

Oh, clouds of time
Seem to rain on
Innocence left behind
And it never goes away

Can you stay strong?
Can you go on?
Kristy are you doing okay?
A rose that won’t bloom
Winter’s kept you
Don’t waste your whole life trying
To get back what was taken away

Oh, clouds of time
Seem to rain on
Innocence left behind
And it never goes away (It never goes away)
It never goes away

Can you stay strong?
Can you go on?
Kristy are you doing okay?
A rose that won’t bloom
Winter’s kept you
Don’t waste your whole life trying
To get back what was taken away

Ha! A song with my name in it! So what it's not spelled right. So now after all is said and done, I think I'll self proclaim this KRISTY(I) WEEK! I hope you all enjoy it :)

Help!

How do I add a picture to this oh so cute header I found? Anyone . . . anyone?

What 2 do . . .

Okay, so I've been kind of a slacker lately not posting real pics and letting you know what's going on.  So here's an update.

For the Mother's Day project in our Preschool we made these cute little flower pots with paper flowers and straws.  Brooklyn made on for her grandma and my example went to the other grandma.  It's just weird having your own kid make you a present.

For the second to the last Friday of the preschool, we went to the movies to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D!  We had so much fun!  Thanks Hunter's mom for coming with us.  It wouldn't have been the same without you.

For the last Friday, we went to the San Tan splash pad and had a water party.  Like the doofus I am, I forgot my camera.  But here's some pictures of Brooklyn playing there on another day.  Sometimes, we really need a break out of the house and I love having this splash pad near by.

Taylor likes it too. She's always happy outside.

Taylor's new adventure is eating rice cereal.  We just started this last week.  She's now 6 months old, but is really supposed to be 5 months next week.  Doctors have premies hold off starting cereal until they are gestationally old enough. 

I love her chubby cheeks! 

Oh, and that's right, I made her bib!  Cha-ching!

Next adventure, Disneyland for Brooklyn's 5th birthday!!!

Confessions

Confessions are good for the soul.  So here we go . . .

I'm not a night person, I'd much rather get up early in the morning

I watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune everyday

I do about 5-20 sudoku puzzles everyday

I wish I could play the drums or tap dance or figure skate

I hate doing the dishes

I love nature especially after it rains

When I look at the stars I'd much rather find a satellite than a shooting star

Loud airplanes and motorcycles make me grumpy

Baby giggles are the most musical things in the world

I love classical music as well as classic rock and most everything in between

I like Sci-Fi especially when there's a love story

I need comedy to loosen up

I'm OCD, but can live like a slob at the same time

I like to file things and clean other people's houses

I laugh at Sesame Street jokes

Any kind of art inspires me to try something new

I wish it was easy to lose weight (but who doesn't)

I love the feeling of finishing something . . . anything, especially hard stuff

I cry every time I watch Extreme Home Makeover

I believe in never backing down and taking on new opportunities

I'm finding I'm more like my mom than I thought

My grandpa is my hero

I like small towns where everyone waves and gives hugs no matter who you are

I love reading novels and always get sucked into a series

I used to sing a lot, but lost my voice in childbirth, now it hurts in more ways than one

I think buttons and polka dots are cute, but not lace so much

I wish I had a green thumb

Last but not least (for tonight anyways)

Cotton Candy is my favorite!

Mother's Day

I keep forgetting how much I like poetry.  I love this one.  Happy Mother's Day!

Before I was a Mom, 
I never tripped over toys 
or forgot words to a lullaby. 
I didn't worry whether or not 
my plants were poisonous. 
I never thought about immunizations. 

Before I was a Mom, 
I had never been puked on. 
Pooped on. 
Chewed on. 
Peed on. 
I had complete control of my mind 
and my thoughts. 
I slept all night. 

Before I was a Mom, 
I never held down a screaming child 
so doctors could do tests. 
Or give shots. 
I never looked into teary eyes and cried. 
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. 
I never sat up late hours at night 
watching a baby sleep. 

Before I was a Mom, 
I never held a sleeping baby just because 
I didn't want to put her down. 
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces 
when I couldn't stop the hurt. 
I never knew that something so small 
could affect my life so much. 
I never knew that I could love someone so much. 
I never knew I would love being a Mom. 

Before I was a Mom, 
I didn't know the feeling of 
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel 
to feed a hungry baby. 
I didn't know that bond 
between a mother and her child. 
I didn't know that something so small 
could make me feel so important and happy. 

Before I was a Mom, 
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night 
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. 
I had never known the warmth, 
the joy, 
the love, 
the heartache, 
the wonderment 
or the satisfaction of being a Mom. 
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, 
before I was a Mom.

Who got gum in their hair?

Oh that's right . . . the 4 year old!

Brooklyn has really been into chewing gum lately.  I didn't think she would like it or understand not to swallow it at first, but since her first piece she's been in love with it.  So today, since she finished all of her lunch (a challenge lately) she got to enjoy yet another piece of gum.  We had movie time (aka mom-gets-to-lay-down time) at which time I issued the warning that the gum stay in her mouth.  Just like any 4 year old would, she obviously took her gum out regardless of the warning.  She came into my room and said, "Mom, my gum is stuck in my hair." To which I replied, "Really?" and started laughing.  I laugh only because I've been really looking for opportunities to help her learn about choices and consequences. Well, if you know Brooklyn, she gets embarrassed pretty easily when it comes to a new experience.  So as I start laughing she starts crying . . . and crying . . . and crying.  First she's crying because she's embarrassed, then she's crying because I'm pulling on her hair, then because I won't let her hold the ice on her hair, then because the ice isn't working, then because the vinegar is stinky, then because I'm pulling her hair again. Well, you get the picture.  I was also considering the famous peanut butter, or vegetable oil, or vaseline, but I was done listening to the crying, which also woke up Taylor.  So listening to two very unhappy children resulted to only one solution to have it done and over with.  

The scissors!  There were only a few strands left and I figured it wouldn't be too obvious if I just cut out the rest.  After I got her hair washed and Taylor fed, everybody was okay and we could have some peace and quiet around the house. You can't even tell I cut her hair unless you're looking for it.

During this whole experience, I was practicing my dad's most recent sound advice he gave me. "Help your children work through their consequences." You can't control every choice they make, but you can always be there for them when something goes wrong.  And don't dish out the "I told you so" phrase as much as you want to, it doesn't make anybody feel better, but a hug and a little empathy could go a long way. I hope she never forgets this experience. 

Swine flu explained

It was this kid! (Thanks dad for sending this to me.  I laughed a lot)

Our girlies!

Can't help but love 'em.

Easter, curtains, and garden!

Whose the cutest Easter Bunny you've ever seen?  Mine of course!  We got this costume for Brooklyn when she was almost a year and a half.  Taylor mostly fits into it and she's not even 6 months old!  We thought we'd use it again, I mean, what good is a costume if it only gets worn once.

Full view :)

Because of the rain, we did the Lindblom easter egg hunt inside the house.  It was kind of hard to hide about 70 eggs in only two rooms, but we did it!  
This is only about half of the grandkids.  Cathy took four out of her five kids to Disney on Ice that happened to be on the same day.  I'm so jealous.
Mike was the cutest husband.  I don't know if he really thought of this himself, but he wore his argyle sweatshirt to match the one I wore that day.  Yeah for being married.
I finally got Brooklyn's curtains done!  At first they were too short, but I just sewed on a panel at the bottom and you can't even tell.  I thought these would help her sleep in later, but just my luck, the summer sun still effects her and she's been getting up an hour earlier that before.  

We've got our soil down for our garden thanks to Mike and his dad's help.  Now we just need to put the seeds in and we'll be all set! My f-i-l said, "I'm surprised these wood planks aren't painted and stenciled!"  Little did he know I actually considered it, but I didn't need this project to cost anymore.  Oh, the sacrifices I make . . .