Spreading Sunshine

Would you believe I got another award? I love this one as it is so bright and cheery. Something it is not here, outside at least. And it's something that I'm despirately hoping for as it is Spring Break. A whole week of no school. Yikes!

I got this award from Mel, who has a family similar to ours. Her youngest, Luke, has Down syndrome, had has the brightest sunshiney face. He is too cute!

So I'm passing it on to Jenna! Because she is a sunshine type lady in a sunshine state!

Be sunshiney

And The Award Goes To...

Me!

It is a week for awards, afterall.

Jenna gave me this award a few weeks ago and I'm finally posting it. Some awards recipient I am! I've known Jenna a looong time. Since we were littler people. Back in a time when we would go to each others house to "play." Something I've always loved about Jenna is that she is always always smiling. Even when she says she isn't her face is still smiling. I loved that about her when we were littler people and I love it about her now. She has two beautiful daughters who have such cute personalities, just like thier mama. She is such an amazing mother constantly doing things with her girls. The kind of stuff I wish I could do! Thanks, Jenna!

So as part of this award I need to list seven interesting things about myself and then nominate seven other bloggers who I think also are deserving of a Beautiful Blogger award.  Let the fun begin!

1. I like cemetaries. Something I got from my mom. I can go and just walk around reading peoples names and the dates they lived. This is important to my marriage to David as well. He is a geneologist at heart and when given the chance goes searching for people, in cemetaries. It's a win/win.
2. I "pop" or "crack" my ankles. Some people pop their knuckles. I'm a ankle person. It grosses my husband out. But I. Can't. Not. Do. It.
3. The first apartment that I lived in, away from home, my first year of college was the same apartment my mom lived in when she first went to college. Later in the school year a lady came by and said that she just wanted to see the apartment and she had lived there 20+ years before. Turns out it was my mom's roommate! It was crazy.
4. I don't like calling people on the phone. I'm fine to call close family and friends but beyond that I'm really bad at it. I make my husband do all the phone calling. Oddly enough when I was working I called all kinds of people I didn't know. I seemed only able to do that at work in a hospital. I haven't been able to transfer that to at work at home.
5. Recently I was called to work in the Relief Society (the womans organization at church) as the second counselor. It has been over a month and I am still totally overwhelmed by this. I feel like it is so much bigger than I am. Not to mention the fact that I don't feel old enough!
6. My newest pet peeve is when people see my fancy schmancy new camera and say "do you know how to use it?" It's a recent pet peeve and I'm still learning how to cope.
7. I know the Chaquita Banana Song. I learned it when I was 10 or 11 and I still know it.

Okay that was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

And now for the lovely nominees!

1. SuSu. My mom. She has always had a way with words. I love hearing about, and being volunteered to help with, all her many adventures. It's from her that I got my height, my gag reflex, my love of shoes, my ability to hang on to "things," and  I want to be like her when I grow up!
2. Amy. My seester. Her kids say the funniest things. And they are pretty darn cute, not that I'm biased in any way. She homeschools her daughter, which is amazing to me something I don't think I could do, and still has time to make people beautiful, keep a clean house, and cook some yummy food. When ever I need to find something I ask her, she knows how to find stuff on everything!
3. Brittani. My sister by marriage. I am constantly amazed at the mother she is! Baby number 5 will be born in just a few months, which I'm am thrilled for. Her kids are all so beautiful, again I'm really not biased, and I just can't get enough of them! Her oldest is just 8 months, or so, older than My Boy and was born blind in one eye. I greatly admire the courage that both Brittani and Jamison have had as they've lived with this extra challenge.
4. Ashley. Another sister by marriage. She is so fun and makes me feel like I'm still 21. Which I'm not. Quite. She has such a positive outlook and it can be quite infectious. She has one dang cute little boy and one more "cooking." I haven't decided if it will be a boy or a girl. A keep having "that girl feeling" but I'm not always exactly spot on with those kinds of predictions. So with everyone else I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
5. Erin. Friends by marriage. Which sounds funny. Our husbands have been BFFs since Jr. High, or something crazy like that. She has three beautiful children. Her second was born just a week after David and I were married, which we were grateful for since that allowed her husband to come to our wedding! She has the patience of Job, something I admire greatly in her.
6. Mel. The nicest lady I have never met! Although I wish I could. Especially lately as it's cold here and all her pictures show nothing but green and sun and lovliness! She lives in New Zealand with her family. She has three kids, just like me. Her youngest, Luke, has Down syndrome, just like mine. All our kids are so similar in ages it is fun to see their similarities.
7. Mary (private). I love this lady! I know her in real life too. College roommates, that us. Reading about her happens reminds me of the crazy fun we had. I loved living with her! The name of her blog tells you all that you need to know about her, "A Chicken with My Head Cut Off."

Now for those of you I just nominated/awarded all you have to do is the following; in order to accept this award yourself...


-Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
-Copy the award & place it on your blog.
-Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
-Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself.
-Nominate 7 bloggers.
-Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

Tag You're It!

A long long time ago a friend of mine, from long long ago, tagged me on her blog. And here I am finally getting around to it.

Here's the gist:
1.Go to your document/pictures file on your computer

2.Go to the 6th file

3.Go to the 6th picture

4. Blog about that picture

5. Tag 6 other people

And here she be

A little psycho looking if you ask me. Oddly enough that is exactly what my sister calls her. When the heater kicks on she loves to go and sit in front of the vent so her hair can blow every which way. Apparently that day she'd just had some sort of yummy convection that her mother has yet to wipe off her face. Hey, at least her clothes match. Which is more than I can say for her today...

I figured while I was at it I should have a little fun with it. On my external hard drive I have years and years worth of pictures. I followed the same rules for that file folder too and here is what I came up with.

The is what college life is really like. The reason I'm laughing hysterically about this is that this is the very lady that tagged me!

Good thing it wasn't the 5th picture...

Mary, why do you have a Kleenex in your ear? Do you miss me yet? If you look close you can see our ID cards from our days at Ricks. We were BYU co-eds feeling away from our real home away from home in Rexburg. BYU was still big and scary and not a place that gave us warm fuzzies. Eventually we overcame those fears of the big bad BYU, we got married.

The 8th one is pretty good. Look at those cute girls! Oddly enough I kind of miss that apartment with its red and green carpet. I think I miss the girl that lived there the most though!

8 Things

I got tagged the other day and thought it would be fun. These kinds of things get me thinking, which I enjoy, so here goes:

8 T.V. shows I enjoy watching:
1. The Office
2. Jon & Kate Plus 8
3. Ace of Cakes
4. The Mentalist
5. Everybody Loves Raymond
6. Diners, Drive-ins & Dives
7. What Not To Wear
8. America's Next Top Model

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. I took a shower
2. I wiped a lot of snotty noses
3. I sat down for lunch with Ruth and we had a nice chat
4. I lost count of the diapers that I changed
5. I missed William's school bus pick-up, fortunately David come home and saved the day (and took him to school)
6. I got some laundry done
7. I did the dishes eight times (at least it felt that way)
8. I watched a few episodes of The Office

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. Having Christmas morning at my house
2. Watching my family open their presents
3. David being home this Saturday
4. Watching my kids grow
5. Going shopping at Legends next Friday
6. Having William home for Christmas break
7. A trip to California in February
8. Having some hot chocolate when I'm done with this post

8 things I love about winter:
1. Christmas
2. Hot Chocolate
3. Snow days
4. Sweaters
5. New red boots
6. Wintertime food
7. The cold makes me better appreciate the warmth, when it comes
8. After winter comes spring!

8 things on my wish list:
1. Having one of my children (anyone!) potty trained
2. A bigger kitchen
3. Have a real conversation with all of my children
4. That my children with come to know Jesus Christ
5. One day David and I (and maybe William and Mary too) can serve a mission together
6. A clean house...for a whole day (a noble goal)
7. My children will never doubt that their parents love them
8. That one day I will feel like I have a grasp on being a stay at home mama

So I'm going to cheat a bit and not tag eight people, as fun as it was. I'm going to open it up to whoever wants to have a go at eight things...

Photo Tag

My sister photo tagged me the other day and I almost forgot to reply! Here we go, 4th file folder, 4th picture. Better late than never...

There is so much I see when I look at this pic. First of all it was taken on July 6, 2006. Little Miss Mary was just 4 days old. It was her blessing day! I took this picture lying in my hospital bed recovering from not only major surgery but from multiple blood transfusions as well (or as my brother called it: a total oil change). That Sunday was spent in my hospital room, including Mary's blessing. I have so many feelings towards that time in our lives (only four months ago!) that I still can't make sense of them all.

David always says he does so much better when the kids are a little older and he can wrestle with them and play with them. When they are this age he says he is just nervous even holding them, which makes me love that I could capture this. Even though I only seem to be able to "grow" mama's girls they still know who their dad is.

All About Me!

I've been tagged! My first tag, I feel like such a blogger.
Frogs Mom at 4 Green & Speckled Frogs tagged me last week for the six things you might not know or want to know about me, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. meme. So here goes...
Pattern Recognition. I notice random and useless patterns. For instance, each of my siblings and I married someone with the same birth-order. My sister and her husband are both the oldest. My brother and his wife both #2's. David and I are fabulous thirds. My younger brother and his wife both the youngest of 4. How crazy is that! Now if I could only start to recognize patterns that are useful...
My blood type is B pos. There are so many reasons why this is important to me. First of my profession. Or former profession. Is it still a profession if I don't go to work any more? Well I worked for 3 1/2 years in a laboratory where blood typing is very important. Also I love to remind myself that I'm "B Positive." It has become my mantra.
I love all things red (my husband came up with this one). I have a red KitchenAide mixer, I have red pots and pans, I wore shoes with red on my wedding day. Red red red. My maiden name is even Allred, which I had nothing to do with and perhaps that is where it all began. If it's red, I probably need it.
I have a thing for shoes. My husband says this is a woman thing. But I disagree. My sister has a thing for bags. My mom is with me on the shoe thing. I have a good friend that has a thing for anything animal print. Ruth has a pink thing, William a serious hat thing. We all have a thing. Mine is shoes.
Hot Tamales and Popcorn. The only way I can eat popcorn. When I first told my mil about this she had visions of actual tamales so it sounded a litte off. I quickly remideed this and introduced her and now when ever we watch movies together it's hot tamales and popcorn. The perfect combination of a little salty and sweet yet spice cinnamon. A perfect match every time!
I have a motto. When my brothers and sister and I were all little my mom decided to give us each a motto. We had to memorize it and often would have to recite it on demand. Especially when we were being less than obedient. My motto is "I may be small, but my smile is bright. I'll always stand for truth and right." I'm glad I have a motto. It makes me feel special and reminds me that I have talents to share. So I think my kids need motto's. Can you work on that mom??So it's your turn SuSu, Amy, Brittani, Jenna, Erin, Maggie, Lauren! Have fun and I can't wait!