Twilight

I went without a t-shirt but I went just the same! I finally saw Twilight on Monday.
So all of my friends who have seen the movie have been giving me the inside scoop but I had to see it my self to confirm their findings.

Find #1: Jasper looks like Edward Scissor Hands...CONFIRMED...he does have that stiff, wide eyed look that makes you let out an awkward giggle.

Find #2: Emmett is HOT!...CONFIRMED...this bad boy with his hat turned side-ways is indeed (in my opinion) the #1 hottie of the movie!

Find #3:Bella isn't the greatest...CONFIRMED...a little disappointed by her lack of acting skills. Her lines are a little too forced.

Find #4: Edward also struggled with the acting...UNDECIDED...he does look constipated most of the time or like he is going to ralph (when Bella comes to chemistry) but when he smiles you can see the Edward in him.

With all my pre-viewing reports everyone failed to mention that Eric is Asian?!! and Tyler is African American??!! What the....

I went into the movie knowing it would never live up the images in my head so I had a good time and liked it.

My favorite part of the movie: A night out with my sisters, mom, and friends!

When is a Baby No Longer a Baby?

So that's my question. How do you know when your child is no longer a baby? Is it when they turn one, walk, get their first tooth, talk...

Well the signs have all been there: walking, babbling, some healthy chompers, trying to feed herself, blowing bubbles in the tub water, etc. but today I finally had to admit that my 14, almost 15 month old is no longer a baby.

It happened when we went shopping. We were in Target in the child's department and she looks up and see the huge baby on the sign for the baby department. She kicks her legs, points, and says very loud and clearly, "Baby." I didn't even know she knew how to say that word, and I guess when you can identify another baby you are out of the club.

Then we start going down the toy aisle and she is so excited! She has never shown mush interest and now she mumbles the same jibberish as she points to different toys. She is definitely telling me what she wants for Christmas!

So now I must prepare myself for the next stage...Toddlerhood...heaven help us! :)

Do we all hate our high pitch mommy voice played on video?!

Parent Book

As many of you know I run a preschool out of my home. I don’t usually write about it, but today I thought it might give you all a laugh. November’s theme for the month is People and Places we love. We are talking about friends, family, houses, and homes. I made up this Parent Book entitled “My Parents by the person who know them best…me [student name]!” I have them draw a picture of their parents and then I get them to finish statements and I write down what they say. Some of the statements include:

My Mom is years old.
My Mom’s favorite food is
My Mom likes it when
If my Dad wasn’t a Dad he would be
My Dad is good at

Well I have gotten some really funny responses when asked how old their parents are; answers range from 6 to 60 with most saying 25 or 22. Some dads would be garbage men if they weren’t dads, and “the Utes” is most of the dad's favorite sport.
One little boy answered the statement “My Dad is " with the statement “a genius.”

We did the mom part of the book on one day and the dad part of the book another day, but I noticed when I asked one little girl, “My momther likes it when..." she answered “when my dad watches us.” Next day, same statement for dad, “My dad likes it when …answer “when mom watches us.”

There were so many funny sayings but the last on I wanted to share was the response to “My Dads name is...” One little boy didn’t understand and answered “dad.” So I tried to clarify by asking “What does everyone else call your dad?” His face brightened and he answered, “Brother Call.” I thought this was pretty funny because his dad was in the bishopric for a long time and is now the stake executive secretary!

It has been a wonderful Halloween. Mostly because of the weather that has been the epitome of an Indian Summer with temperatures in the high 60’s and 70’s. Kylie was a Cheetah Cat for Halloween and Tessa was going to be a Dalmation Puppy, but we found the costume was too small so we switched to a ladybug. We had the usual Trunk or Treat and Preschool Halloween Party.







Friday we lounged around and then headed up to Grandma and Papa’s for their trunk or treat. Our cousins met us there to make the rounds. Aunt Becca was a little frustrated by our children’s lack of candy value knowledge. For instance choosing a pencil over a mini size candy bar. There were was too many Tootsie Roll Midgees, and Bit o’ Honeys for her taste. We joked that she should make them flash cards before next Halloween.









After the trunk or treat we headed up to Grandma and Papa’s. My dad loves Halloween and his house reflects that. There are fishline ghosts in the trees, dummies (both dead and alive)on the porch swing and human size coffin on the front porch. Of course there is a pile of leaves in which someone may or may not be hiding and spooky sounds coming from a boom box (I should’ve taken a picture). Kody helps him scare the neighbor kids and Kylie even got into it this year. I went outside to see if she wanted to do some more trick or treating and she replied, “Shhh mom, we’re scaring kids.” It was actually nice not to have to drag her from door to door. So we had a wonderful Halloween and hope you all did as well!

Need a Good Cry?

Men will never understand it, but every once in a while women need a good cry. It often comes from a touching commercial, a sad news story, a chick flick, or a good book. Well my good cry occurs everytime I click on a particular blog...I should say blogs.

So I bet many of you already know these blog but I have only been following them for a month or so since my sister Amy passed them onto me.

The first entitled the Nie Nie Dialogues was a blog written by Stephanie Nielson, a mother of 4 from Arizona, highlighting her life as a mother and her love of her family. She had many, many readers (I wish I had been reading then). On August 16th, 2008 Stephanie and her husband were in a plane crash in AZ. Stephanie and her husband were severely burned. So now her sister manages her blog re-posting favorite posts and updating us on her condition.

http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

That same sister, Courtney Jane, has her own blog in which she details the events of Stephanie's healing as she cares for three of her children.

http://blog.cjanerun.com/

This last blog has a great video detailing everything.

http://welovethenielsons.blogspot.com/

So if you want a good cry, something to remind you how blessed you are, an inspirational story or all three...check out these blogs!

Love You All!
-Michelle

Tagged!

I've been tagged. I don't know if that's good for me or bad for you...I feel like I have gone overboard with the blogging lately...so everyone bear with me as I tell you

7 Random/Weird Facts About Myself

1.)I don’t have a middle name. My parents thought it was proper to not to give me or my two sisters middle names so we could use our maiden names as our middle names when we got married. I have yet to use my maiden name as my middle name and I have been married for seven years. (Side note: My three younger sisters have us older two-namers to thank for their middle names, we were old enough when they were born to give input!)

2. I once got stuck in a gutter. Believe it or not when I was like 6 (can't really remember how old I was, but I couldn't have been that old...or big) I was "swimming" in the gutter. Yes we were poor and didn't have passes to a pool and apparently it was nice and slippery from moss and we live on the corner where the gutter goes down and under the street. I don't know how it happened but suddenly I was down in the part that slopes down to go under, my head was under the street and my hands were grabbing on to weeds that were growing on the sides. I was kept from going under because my leg got bent back and was touching my back. My sister Laura saw my fingers and ran to get my mom and at the same moment an older gentleman from across the street came and got me out. I have no idea how he did it without breaking my leg!

3.)I’ve never been to a concert. I am insanely deprived. I have been to plays and even an opera in junior high but never a concert. Now that I'm this old there is so much pressure to choose the right concert and I feel like I will be too old to enjoy one properly. I keep hinting to Kody that would make a great anniversary, mother's day, birthday, christmas, hannukah, veteran's day, etc., etc., present but he hasn't gotten the hint. So if you are reading this please give him the message!

4.)I have had stitches twice, but have never broken a bone. Both cuts are on my face and were received before the age of 5. I have one on my chin from falling on a wagon handle (yes in the olden days they were made of steel) and the other on my cheek from a swing set. My sister was teaching me how to "pump" and I did it improperly flipping over and cut my cheek on a screw (were there no safety standards on toys back then?!!!!) I am quite proud of the fact that I have never broken and bone or twisted anything. This is amazing considering the fact that I played volleyball, basketball, softball, and track all through middle school and high school.

5.)I don’t wear contacts or glasses. Eagle Eyes...that's what I have! No really I have to credit good genes! I come from a family of eight and none of us have had to get glasses. Which is good because our teeth alone were enough to put our parents in the poor house!

6.)I worked on a dude ranch in Wyoming. This is both random and weird. It was supposed to be this amazing adventure...instead it was one of the most miserable experiences of my life. I'll some it up this way: waitressed in a horrible dress, lived in old logging cabin that you could literally see the stars out of, had to square dance every week, never rode a horse, and got kicked off with about 10 other kids for being LDS! But on the plus side I know all the word to "Happy Trails."

7.)I am a reality TV Junkie. Admittance is the first step right. I have been a lot better these past months, but I love to watch The Biggest Loser, The Amazing Race, Survivor, America's Next Top Model, Kitchen Nightmares, Super Nanny, Baby Borrowers, and I even get into American Idol. Strangely enough I haven't gotten into So You Think you Can Dance? or Dancing With the Stars, or Big Brother. AND I just can't bring myself to endure America's Got Talent. But mostly I game for anything involving reality apparently. That's not to say I don't have "my shows" but that's a whole 'nother addiction! :)

So am I random/weird? Anyone want to stop being my friend?
Well I want to see how random/weird you all are. So start spilling it.
TAG! YOU'RE IT!

Whatever the Weather...

Usually I love living in Utah. I do like experiencing the seasons, but sometimes I wish they would stay in order. We had been experiencing unusually high temperatures for October thus far with temperatures in the 80’s. As you can see in these pictures we are in short sleeves and sandals as we pick our pumpkins. We grew 17 of them in our garden. 5 looked like actual pumpkins and the rest were some gourd hybrids that I call “teardrop pumpkins” because of their shape.

All that changed overnight. We woke up to snow today and had a high of 39 and a low of 29! It was a little depressing, but at least Kylie got to make her first “snow monster!”