Baby feet

One of the cutest body parts on babies and toddlers has to be their feet. I love it when they are a little pudgy and it is a bonus when the legs have a little bit of pudge to them. I love to watch Kelsey’s feet as she moves around. It is fun to watch how their walks develop and change. Kelsey still has the flat foot thing going on (no heel to toe yet) so sometimes you can hear them slap the ground when she walks barefoot. Her jumping is pretty funny. She tries so hard to copy her sister. Half the time she thinks she really is leaving the ground when in fact she is lifting her heels.

Flip flops have to be the funniest thing to see kids get used to. Macy has always been a flip flop girl and wears them year round. I had to put my foot down at one point when she wanted to wear them to church. She also never really struggled with them like Kelsey has. Macy used to practice with mine about the time she started walking. Maybe that was the key. Kelsey on the other hand has been shuffling around in hers trying to get the hang of it. When she first tried she would curl her toes to keep them on which actually would make them fall off easier. She would then have a meltdown crying out “fip fop”. I think she has finally mastered them. They hardly ever fall off and the shuffling is to a minimum. The only bad part is she can tack them off herself so when we are running errands I have to put them back on every time we get out of the car. I would go back to sandals but her feet sweat so bad that she get sores from the friction of the wet skin at the shoe strap. Just check out these adorable feet.

So yesterday was art day for Macy. She made 2 fans and colored a plate while at the Kidzone. Then while I was trying to finish up the final personal histories for their scrapbooks she colored 3 more pictures. She loves to do anything crafty and loves to help in the kitchen.

Kelsey is more into getting into things right now. Yesterday after we were done coloring, I went to look for Kelsey’s blanket for nap time. The couple of minutes I was out of the room she pushed record on the tape recorder that had Grandpa K’s testimony on it for his personal history and was playing with the phone. Unfortunately, I lost the entire testimony. That is the point I stopped at and was going to finish while they were napping. Needless to say I was not happy. I can’t find my notes and will have to do my best using my memory and their book. I was so excited to have it in his own words. I had to tell myself that it wasn’t a huge loss and that continuing to stew over it wasn’t worth upsetting the kids.

I've been tagged

4 Jobs I've held

1. Exercise Specialist at the Orthopedic Specialty Hospital
2. Project Manager Trainer for OC Tanner
3. Receptionist for the Biology Department at the U of U
4. Receptionist at ZCMI (I also covered as a store clerk)

4 Movies I Can Watch Over & Over

1. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
2. Top Gun
3. any Disney movie (the kids are just an excuse)
4. I hardly ever watch movies again unless I am stuck on the treadmill on a Sat. and something good is being shown on movie and a makeover then I am hooked.

4 Places I Have Lived

1. Sandy, UT
2. San Jose, CA (specifically Cupertino)
3. St. George, UT
4. Phoenix, AZ

4 T.V. Shows I watch
I am going to sound nerdy, but I don't watch very much TV. These are the ones I watch when I do sit down to veg or fold laundry.

1. Yes, Dear or Home Improvement (when I am folding laundry)
2. Law and Order (when I am at the gym because I don't have TNT at home and the episodes were moved it to Friday nights so I always forget or am out on a date)
3. ER
4. Jay Jay the Jet Plane, Caliou, Seasame Street (this is for my kids in the morning as I get breakfast and get ready)

4 Places I have Been on Vacation

1. Hawaii (Kauai and Oahu)
2. Disneyland
3. Western Caribbean
4. Lake Powell

4 Favorite foods

1. chocolate
2. ice cream
3. pasta
4. dessert

4 Websites I visit

1. Yahoo
2. azcentral.com to see if it is going to cool off any time soon
3. Maricopa county library to check out eAudio books for my MP3 player
4. lds.org

4 Places I'd Rather Be right now

1. on the beach with a virgin drink, no kids and a good book
2. Utah with my family
3. in the water, skiing or wake boarding
4. vacationing pretty much anywhere that has nice weather

4 people I'm tagging - now you guys copy it and tag 4 more people!
I am not sure if this is supposed to be other people with blogs, but since I don't have that many blogging friends I included those who don't blog.

1. Jen
2. Emily
3. Camie
4. Stephanie Selcho

Just call me Fabio the Pool Boy

Okay so I am not a buff greasy man, but over the weekend I did play pool boy and my husband does swoon over my amazingly good looks. I had to replace the light bulb in the pool on Friday. It seemed to be a simple enough task until I had to place the light fixture back into the pool. You see pool light bulbs are housed in a water proof canister that is screwed into the pool wall below the waters surface. The problem with putting this fixture back was that it is located in the deepest part of the pool which is neck deep for me. I kept floating up as I tried to push the canister into the wall while using a screwdriver to screw it into place. I would have to let all my air out and remember not to inhale again. This was difficult to do because I was working so hard to keep the canister centered and in place. I am sure it was quite the sight to see especially since the half hour I was struggling Macy kept asking me over and over again to watch her put her face in the water. That little job saved us a $90 service call from the pool repair man.

Saturday I had to pull the filter a part and replace some things called elements. This wasn’t excruciatingly awful because 6 months ago I read the owners manual and taught myself how to pull a part and clean the filter. The worst part is that it takes awhile so I did the first half of the job in the morning before it became sweltering hot. Then we all put on our swimsuits and I finished up and jumped in as soon as I could. The total repairs for the weekend just kill Brian to think about. He feels we keep spending money on the pool and would rather spend it on a boat. I remind him that I saved him $180 in service calls and that we have used the pool everyday for 2 weeks so it is well worth it. I am tempted to keep a running tab on the money I save by being our pool boy so I can have a huge shopping spree one of these days. I always seem to spend my budget before I get to that shopping spree. Case in point, I was saving up to do some shopping at the outlets when I was in Salt Lake but it seems that in this past week I have quickly whittled that savings away to a very small amount.

Joseph Smith Movie

Last night I went to the Mesa Temple Visitors Center with the YM/YW. We went to see the Joseph Smith movie. This was the first time that I saw the movie the whole way through. Last time the kids were with me and I had to keep going in and out. I thought it was very well done.

I have to admit I did cry a number of times. I am not sure when I became so emotional. I think it was about the time I got married. Ever since then I cannot contain my emotions like I used to.

There were many reasons for my crying. One was the hurt I felt for the members of the church at the time, especially the young children who were forced from home to home and saw so much tragedy. I also cried for Emma and Joseph for the trials they had to endure and for the number of children they lost. I cried to see how the faith was tested of all the early members. I mainly cried because the Spirit confirmed to me that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God who helped restore the gospel of Jesus Christ here upon the Earth. I am so grateful for his devote curiosity. This faithful curiosity led him to ask which church, who am I, where do we go from here, will I see my brother and children again, etc. I am so glad for his strength, courage, and example.

Another thing that struck me during the movie was Emma Smith. She had to have so much faith and love for Joseph to believe him about his revelation in the Sacred Grove. He hadn't even received the plates when they were married. Her strong faith kept her by Joseph's side through all the torment and persecution and through all the demands that were placed upon his time. This movie made me think that Joseph and Emma truly had a celestial marriage. It appeared that they loved each other so much. It reminded me of Pres. Hinckley and Sis. Hinckley and how they kept that spark burning so bright that it emanated from them. Emma had to have been a special person.

I left the movie with a feeling of how important it is to share the gospel with those around us. Maybe it was because my lesson this week is on sharing the gospel, but I know I could do better about mentioning the church and preparing myself. The movie really impressed upon me how important each individual is to Heavenly Father. The only way to help out and serve everyone is to share what I know instead of just enjoying it myself. It is like birthday cake (or any other dessert). Of course it is good when you are eating it alone, but it is so much better when you have others around to enjoy the food and the moment.

There were many other things that struck me. I highly recommend that if anyone has not seen it to make a date and stop by the local visitors center.

Password protected

So Brian and I sometimes get a little scared about who can access pictures of our kids. We also want to be considerate of others we may shoot with our camera. For these reasons we have put a password on our photo album. If you would like to view these pictures or have forgotten the password, shoot me an email and I will provide the code. If I know you, I will not worry about imparting this information to you. Another if. If I have placed pictures of you in the photo album that you don't want my friends and family to see, again shoot me an email or leave a comment.

Thanks

Hot!

I forgot how brutally hot the summers are here. We just got back from the Kartchner Family vacation. We went to a cabin in Duck Creek and enjoyed 80 degree temps. While we were gone the heat was cranked up a notch. I can see why some women prefer not to wear bras. I am sure there are other reasons, but heat could be one of them. The band is just the place to catch heat and any dripping sweat. Once it is a little wet it takes hours to dry.

Macy started up swim lessons again. The bad part is that they are at 11:30 AM. The weather forecaster says that by ll:30 the temps. are above 100 degrees. She has reverted back some. She cried, wouldn't put her face in the water, and made me sit on the edge of the pool in the hot sun. I can be like a faucet and thus cursed my bra and every other article of clothing I was wearing. Hopefully things go better today.

After naps we had to take a dip in the pool. We finally have bath tub water. The water is 88-90 degrees. It was so pleasant to swim in. I could have stayed in it forever. The girls, however, were shiver shaking after awhile. I am not sure how that is possible when at 5 PM the air outside was still over 100.

I think my recent camping trip and cabin trip have softened me a bit. I have to re-acclimate some. I have decided against washing the car myself and will look for a car wash today. I am also going to have to let the weeds grow a bit. I can't foresee getting out to the yard before 8:30 AM.

Camping

Our little family took its first camping trip this weekend. It started out a little rocky. First of all, we were supposed to go somewhere around Payson. A friend who had stayed over Thursday night called Friday morning and said it was too cold for tenting it. They had to put their kids in the sleeping bags with them and had a terrible night. The ranger station had said the low was 37 degrees and some Internet weather page was reporting 27 degrees. Luckily a friend who was coming with came to the rescue and we ended up staying by Prescott.


We also left later than expected. Brian's meeting with the big-wigs went a little longer than expected. He also had to put out some fires that were created during this meeting for half of the drive. Luckily we made it with some daylight to spare so we could pitch our tent.




The girls had a lot of fun. Macy had 3 friends to tag along with. Kelsey had all the dirt she could ever dream of. Kelsey would just sit and run her hands through the dirt and lay in the dirt. To top it off she had a runny nose that she would smear across her face and the dirt would stick to it.





That evening we roasted marshmallows and taught our friends, the Cranes, how to make campfire eclairs. The Cranes had made it up there early enough to make tin foil dinners. The next morning we had breakfast burritos and sausage.


What we learned on this trip is that once you have kids, a large tent is a must. Sleeping was miserable we had enough room in the tent for the queen size air mattress and half of a sleeping bag. Since Macy and Kelsey are half a person we thought it would work. Macy was excited to have Kelsey sleep next to her finally. Well Kelsey wasn't going to sleep anywhere near Macy. So she had to come up on the air mattress with Brian and I. When Kelsey got to sleep with mom and dad, Macy had to too. This meant that Macy moved to the mattress and dad had to try sleeping on the hard ground in her pink sleeping bag. He couldn't do it. So all four of us crammed into 2 sleeping bags (Thank you Grandma Bonnie for the 2 sleeping bags zipped together. We are still using the double-wide you gave us.) It was miserable. There was no room and the mattress has a small leek somewhere. The girls woke up at least 2 times each. Macy didn't know where she was and would cry out loudly to have the light turned on. Kelsey would then wait until Macy was asleep and would wake up and scream. She must have been claustrophobic because she would hit me and try to push me off the bed all while screaming and crying. I felt bad for the Cranes and any campers around us. Needless to say we are buying a new tent and a new aerobed. On the bright side of things the girls slept until 9:30 AM on Sunday morning.


On Saturday we cleaned up and went to Lynx Lake where we rented a boat for an hour to zoom around on. Then we went to the mall in Prescott for lunch. I am sure they were happy to see our dirty, smelly crew in Honey Baked Ham. For dessert we grabbed some ice cream and kids managed to get dirtier.






It was a good time. I am glad Brian made me go and I am sure we will go again.

Autism Speaks

There is a website called "What Kind of World Do You Want". I believe Five for Five sponsors it. Anyways, it is a compilation of videos that all sorts of people have made for a specific charity. Every time someone watches a particular video money is donated to the charity it represents. This website has a specific section for Autism Speaks which raises money for autism research.

A friend of mine sent me the following link to a video her brother-in-law did about his boys. If you have time take a minute to view it. I have several friends where autism is part of the lives so it has become important to me.
http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/265338

There are many other videos you can watch and for different charities too. Every little bit can help.

I will come back tomorrow

Well today was Macy's last day for swim lessons, at least for a couple of weeks. I don't think she gets it because as we left she kept saying "Bye Celeste. I will come back tomorrow." I guess mom is going to have to buck up and take them out swimming. We haven't gone swimming this week because we have been in the 90s. The wind has been blowing too so that makes it feel cooler. So I am even more of a wuss with cold temperatures now. Unless it is ice cream.

I have finally picked a favorite movie. I am sure I have more than one, but right now it is "How to Lose a Guy in 10 days". For some reason I love this movie. I went to the gym this afternoon and it happened to be on. I had to debate between Law & Order and the movie. The movie won. It even beat weight training. I did my run and then walked instead of hitting the weights just so I could keep watching. I laugh everytime I watch this movie. I am sure the people next to me thought I was crazy. Oh well. At least tomorrow I can skip the cardio and just do some quick weights.

A quick update on Kelsey. The kid loves broccoli, plain sour cream, cooked carrots and green beans. Brian is lucky to get any if he gets home after we have eaten. I should stop making any type of casserole type dish and just grill meat. Both kids won't eat chicken pot pit, chicken rotelle, shepherd's pie or anything of the like. However, any kind of grilled meat, potatoes and vegetables and the plate is licked clean. It makes it easier on me except that I like to cook. And the sour cream I am not sure about. Both girls eat it by the spoonful. Butter is in the same category. There have been several times that I have opened the fridge and found a couple tablespoons of margarine missing. Gross.

Traditions

I just finished preparing my YWs lesson for Sunday. It was on the topic of righteous traditions. I made a list of the many traditions I had while growing up (most are still going strong) and some that are going on now. Some of my favorites are:

• water skiing on Wednesdays
• pull-aparts on Thanksgiving and Christmas morning
• family prayer at night
• Lake Powell with the Isaacs
• Lagoon in the summer
• Pioneer Day with the Isaacs
• Cherry Hills in the summer with the Jensen clan
• Memorial Day at Wasatch State Park
• Family birthdays each month with the Jensen clan
• getting together with the Gledhills and Jensens on holidays and Sundays
• sleepovers with Grandma Lue
• trips home in the summer
• phone calls on Sundays
• Family vacations with the Kartchners
• Christmas Eve family gatherings
• dinners in Carol and Alan's backyard
• etc.

Thanks moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas for the wonderful memories! We love you!

Celebrate Good Times

Last night I took my National and State Real Estate Exam and I passed. I wish I could say that I can now become a licensed real estate professional, but they just like to tease you. I still have to take one last 6 hour class before I can apply for my license. Not that a 90 hour course, 1 school exam, and a state and national exam were not enough. I guess contract law is important and so am willing to take the class (it also counts towards renewal credits). At least no more tests and I can soon wipe my slate clean of real estate tasks. Unless of course I actually get to use my license.

It's a Small World After All

Last night we had the missionaries over to our house for dinner. One of the elders had a look of familiarity to him, but I couldn't place who he looked like. I finally had an image come to my mind of who it was that he looked like (I still didn't have a name). The image was of someone I went to high school with. He was a year older than I was, blond hair and not real tall. I looked at his name badge and the last name "Irving" didn't ring a bell. So as dinner got started we of course asked where they were from. Elder Irving said he was from Sandy. I then had to ask what high school and his answer was Brighton. Come to find out he was Dave Irving's younger brother. It gets even crazier. This Elder was in the stake that Brian and I just moved from. Talk about small world.

I am actually supposed to be studying for my real estate exam that I am taking tomorrow night, but I was falling asleep. I thought I would take a quick break. Now I know that some of you are a lot smarter than me and did much better in school. What I need to know is does any one have any good study suggestions. I need this information to stick long enough to help me pass the test. I seem to get real drowsy as soon as I start to read it. Any suggestions would be of value. I could beat myself up for not learning good study habits when I was in school. I was there long enough.

Goo Goggles

Friday night the kids found their swimming goggles. They don't wear them in the pool but love to wear them around the house. Kelsey played in them for at least a half an hour on Saturday. She looks so goofy in them and the way she moves and looks around is hysterical. We took some video of it but I can't figure out how to get it on the blog, so I will shoot them out in an email. If I miss anyone who really wants to see the clip let me know.

Last night Brian and I went to the play Pillow Talk at Hale Theater. I liked the story. However, I felt like some of the lines weren't delivered as well as in some of the other plays. The supporting actress and supporting actor did a fabulous job.