Busy

I have been so busy the last couple of days. I've been editing the Designing With 2007 calendar that shipped off to print today. I had a ton of pages to go through last night and I fell asleep working, so needless to say I didn't get to update my blog.

I also feel like I've spent that last couple of days on the phone trying to get our money back from the landscaper. Things turned south, so we told them we wanted to get someone else to finish the work and that we wanted our money back. I should be(better be) getting a check next Tuesday. Then we will go with Blair Landscaping, who we hope will do the job right. I am not crossing any fingers though because I have learned not to expect much from landscapers.

I am looking forward to the new Creating Garden tonight. I wish I had more time to look though. And to look at my magazines. I have a huge stack next to my bed and I don't ever have time anymore to do stuff like that. Whaaa whaaa! I'm whining.

Eliza started swimming lessons this week. She seems to be enjoying it. She is taking it with her cousin Maddy so that is helping her not complain about going. She did complain a little today though when she had to go under water to find a whistle. She told me tonight that she was tired of going and doesn't want to anymore because her teacher is going to put the whistle deeper in the water. She is so funny.

Happy busy-ness.

Holiday Fun

The market was closed today for Memorial Day, so Brian didn't go into work. Instead he took Eliza on her first 4-wheel drive adventure. They just went up around Wickenberg for an off-road drive. She had a fun time. After they got home, we did a few errands. We bought the girls new swimming suits at Target and we bought Ellie a "Jumpster" at Babies 'R' Us. I hope she likes it. We also checked out Sports Authority for some hiking shoes for me. As part of my new young women calling we will be hiking down the Grand Canyon to Havasupai, so I need to get some good shoes for that. I'm thinking about these Merrill ones, but I just want to be sure. Brian has some of their shoes and really likes them, so they ought to be good. They have to be good; there would be nothing worse than bad shoes hiking down the canyon!

After Family Home Evening tonight we headed across the street to Cibola Vista and swam a bit. The water was a little cold, so I mostly sat out with Ellie. But Eliza and Libby had a great time playing in the water with Brian. It's going to be fun having that so close this summer.

The Apprentice is on tonight. Can't wait to see who wins. I don't have a favorite pegged yet, so it'll be interesting to see who Trump hires.

Girls, girls, girls

I thought we only had 3 girls, but as of today, I now have 24 girls. I just got put in as the Young Women's President in my ward at church. I was called last Sunday, so this week has been very busy. I am overwhelmed and excited at the same time. We have a great group of girls and it will be fun to be their leader. I also have a great presidency to help me out. If you work with young women, I got the best book. It's called Bright Ideas for Young Women Leaders. You can see it here. It has so many wonderful ideas; I can't read it fast enough. It is going to be helpful.

Here's to a good week.

"Zamples"

Today was a fun family day. We went to Costco and tried most of their "zamples". It's the girls' favorite thing to do there--go around and try all the samples (or zamples as Eliza calls them). The best one was tri-tip sirloin. Yum!! I feel a little silly trying all the samples, but I feel justified if we buy something. So we were justified today as we bought baby formula, a VCR/DVD player and printer ink. I think we're justified for the next few months! After samples at Costco, we went to the mall for a real lunch of pizza from Sbarros. And I actually bought some new shoes for church. I haven't treated myself for a few years, so I thought it was time. I'm such a stickler on spending money on shoes. I was bummed today when Payless didn't have anything good. I graduated to getting some at Target!

This afternoon my sisters-in-law and I on Brian's side went to ice cream to celebrate my birthday and KarraLee's birthday. We went to Cold Stone and I enjoyed a Chocolate Devotion. It brought back memories of working there many years ago!

Happy Saturday night.

Landscaping Woes

Why do we have such bad luck with landscapers? Our experience has been very poor! In our first house, we called two to give us an estimate on the backyard and niether one ever showed up. We tried to get winter grass two years in a row and it was terrible both years. Now, we are trying to finish our backyard. We found a company who thought would be good, but now we are three weeks into it and have a sprinkler system installed, curbing that was put in and that they ripped up today b/c the color was wrong and messed up, along with a few plants, some of which are going to have to be redone. Why is this business so flakey!?!?!? We are in the process of trying to get our money back so we can have a different company finish the work. We are beyond frustrated and just want our yard done.

More tales from the landscaper to come, I'm sure. At least we'll be able to tell you what company to go with or to run away from!

AWESOME show

We just got done watching the finale of American Idol. It was awesome! Taylor ended up winning (not too surprised), but the highlight of the show was seeing all the other contestants perform. Loved the U2 song Elliot sang and I really liked Carrie's song. I think I'll have to download that one. We didn't think Katharine sounded that great tonight--especially the song she sang with Meatloaf. Ugh--what did you think? And she needed to put on some more clothes. Tacky for sure!

What are we going to do now that the show is over? I did see the commercial for Simon's new show Duet...that might be one to watch.

Happy Wednesday.

Last Day

...of preschool. One more year and Eliza will be off to kindergarten! But today was her last day of preschool. The kids sang some darling songs for the parents. Eliza sure got into the "Chicken Dance."

I felt bad though--my plan was to stop and get her some flowers, but I ran out of time. After her graduation, she said, "I want flowers. Grandpa and Grandma gave me flowers after my dance recital." I think they started a trend!! Thanks Mom and Dad. So after her graduation we stopped and got her some very pretty Gerber Daisies. I had to redeem myself!

Tonight our ward at church won first place in the stake for volleyball. It is always so much fun to play.

Go Suns!

We are excited about the Suns beating the Clippers tonight! So they will go on to play Dallas in the next series. Go Suns!!! After Family Home Evening tonight, we went over to the Davis' to watch the game. It's been a while since I've watched TV without doing something else during (e.g. working, reading, etc.). I'm just not a good TV or movie person.

Short post--I've been busy!

Changes

Change is always hard. Today they realigned the ward boundaries and made a new ward in our stake. We are part of the new Pleasant Valley ward. We lost a lot of people in our ward, and that is always hard. I had to conduct Relief Society today and that was really hard. I was a little emotional! It's hard to think about not seeing some of those people on a regular basis. Everyone in the new ward was released from their callings, so that was a little surprise for us! So we'll see what happens. We are looking forward to what is ahead.

Happy Birthday to Me

In honor of my 28th birthday, here are 28 things that make me happy:
1. My new iPod. (Thanks Brian)
2. Ellie's smile
3. Eliza's facial expressions when she talks
4. Libby's eyes when she is telling you something she thinks is important
5. Libby is potty-trained
6. Making my own birthday cake with the girls
7. Photography
8. Friends
9. Finding out last week that I share my birthday with Jessi Stringham. Happy birthday, jessi!
10. Oatmeal with peanut butter
11. Milk Maid caramels
12. A fabulous babysitter we can always trust. Thanks, Sarah!
13. Candles
14. A clean house
15. A warm bath
16. Disneyland
17. My new bracelet from Rachel.
18. My wedding ring
19. Dates with Brian
20. Making cards
21. Rainy days
22. Massages
23. Pedicures or manicures
24. Going to church
25. Reading
26. A clean, empty sink
27. Getting e-mail
28. Doing things with family

Here's to another great year!

Nails

Today my mom and I (and Ellie) caught up with our friends, Tena Sprenger and Carol Wingert, who were doing a book signing for their new book, Artful Memories. It was great to see them. They look great and are fun to chat with.

I had a chance to paint my fingernails today. (You have time to do that when you are pried out of bed at 6 AM by a daughter (Libby) who thinks it's time to be done sleeping!). I only bring that up because I grabbed a new color at the store last night. It's Maybelline "I-Scream Ivory," and I'm loving it. It's a very soft, ivory color that is perfect for a barely-there look. ...now if I could only find time to let them dry. Moms--you know what I mean. No sooner than I painted my nails, Ellie needed picked up.

And, finally, Brian called me this evening and said, "I just thought I'd let you know I'm riding back to the airport right now in a stretch Excursion." I guess it was the only one available to take him back. Lucky him! He should be home in an hour or so. Yay! I'm happy he's home.

Goodbye Elliot

We were so sad to see Elliot go last night on American Idol. He was our favorite. It was either Chris or Elliot. But last night by a margin of a few hundredths of a point, he was sent home. He has an amazing voice, is such a humble and unassuming person and we just wanted him to win. Now it's either Kat or Taylor. I'm not sure who we want to win now. Do we want Taylor and another annoying "Soul Patrol" shout or do we want Katharine and all her glory? But you can go here and hear his performances. My favorites were Home and If Tomorrow Never Comes. Now who do you want to win?

On another note, Brian left for a short business trip to San Francisco today. We miss him already.

And it's been a perfect day for potty training. I think she's got it down!

Back to Aerobics

Today we ventured back to aerobics. I took Friday and Monday off because I was still unsure about taking Libby and the whole potty-training thing. But I thought she was ready today, and she was. She did great--no accidents. In fact, she did great all day. And it felt good to go--we did lunges at the end--I am going to be a little sore tomorrow.

Good thing I go to aerobics--because I love ice cream so much. I have it way too much. I do get the light variety...the one pictured at the top is a new favorite. Yum. What I really like is ice cream with Magic Shell. I used to have it a lot, but when my pants started fitting more snugly, I decided to give it up. I guess that what happens when you get older. Ugh.

Hullabaloo

I promised a picture of my hair. So here you go, courtesy of Eliza. I think it'll be a fun change.

Potty training has gone well today. I think we are really on the up and up with her. Libby has done a great job with it. All day she has been the one to tell me that she needed to go. Yay! My persistent efforts seem to be paying off.

My girls have been playing a fun game lately. They got Hullabaloo for Christmas this past year from my brother Dan and his family. They played it some then, but we got it out last week and they are loving it all over again! It's a great game that helps kids follow directions, move, learn shapes, objects and colors. They play it over and over. If you don't have it and you have little ones, I would suggest it!

I'm off to a volleyball game at church, then it's home to watch American Idol. They are each singing three songs tonight--it ought to be good.

Potty Training, Hair and TV

What a combination, huh?! For the past 6 days I've been potty training my 2 year old. It has been 6 days of following her around, asking her every two minutes if she needs to go and giving out more candy and sweets than I do every Halloween (just don't tell her dentist grandpa). But I think we're making progress. I'll be sure to post updates.

Second...hair. I got my hair done tonight. Lindsay always does such a great job. I got it colored and trimmed. I decided to keep the length, but she did cut some long bangs. I'm not sure how I like them...we will see how it goes when I do my hair tomorrow. I'll be sure to post a picture. But I do like the color and I hope I like the bangs...it'll add variety.

Last...TV. Why is the show, Deal or No Deal, so fun to watch? I never would have even considered watching it if we hadn't seen a sample show on our flight to Hawaii. It is addicting. Try watching it sometime...you'll see what I mean. And it doesn't help when our other favorite show--The Apprentice--is on after. Thank goodness for VCRs and fast-forwarding the commercials (I know, TiVo would be better, but we take what we have!).

Until next time.

The Blog World

I am entering the blog world, and I don't know what I'm getting into. I love reading other blogs, but I've been wanting to do my own...so here we go!