Ahhhh-Me!

M has always been pretty good about family prayers at dinner and at bedtime. She started folding her arms a long time ago (she's also sustaining callings at church by raising her hand with everyone else! :) and started saying "Amen" a few months ago. Lately, when we tell her it's time for prayer, she'll bow her head, fold her arms, mutter to herself for a second and then wait for us to pray. I figured that meant we were getting close to her helping with prayers. This week, at dinner, I asked if she wanted to say the prayer and she said in her typical rising intonation, "yeah?" So I said a phrase, she bowed her head and muttered gibberish, I said another phrase and she muttered more gibberish, back and forth until the end, when I started, "In the name of Jesus Christ" and she broke right in with "Ahhhh-Me!" It was too cute and the performance has been repeated since then! In fact, this morning, she brought me a card with a car on it, played with it, and then folded her arms, bowed her head, muttered to herself and then smiled and said, "Ahhhh-Me!" (Apparently, she's as thankful for a car that works as we are! :)

What I did today!

I have a ton of ribbon for M's pig tails but she gets wigglier by the day! So, I went to the beauty supply and bought alligator clips and made clippie bows! I got a few tips from my bow extraordinaire sister, Teriney, so hopefully the next batch will be even cuter!
Waddya think??

Adventures in Budgeting...the Aldi Experiment

I don't shop at Aldi very often. This might make a few of you mad, but I am lazy and a snob about Aldi. I absolutely think you can save money and you can find great deals though, so with current budget tightening in our household, I decided to try it again. I had my list in hand and I was excited to buy cheap ground beef and milk and off we went!

First, Aldi is over ten miles from my house-not exactly next door but not too far away either. My debit card doesn't work there. I had a 20 in my pocket-a rarity-so I decided I had to be limited by that.
Things I was thrilled with-chocolate chips for a dollar, two pounds of ground beef for $4, hot dogs for $.69.
Things I was disappointed with-no cheap Minnesota sweet corn, no fresh garlic and the corn and zucchini was sold in packages so you were limited on quantities, the milk and eggs weren't cheaper! No medium cheddar! What??? I live on medium cheddar!!

I think Aldi is awesome for stocking up on food storage, canned goods, and non perishables, but I have to admit, when I go out with a list and come home knowing I have to go to Cub anyway, I'd rather get my fresh stuff at Cub and go to Aldi when the ad shows something really good-like the frozen chicken breast for $5!!!

"Our State Fair is a Great State Fair!

Don't miss it, don't even be late!" Those are all the words I know. It was a cheesy musical and not one of my favorites even though I love musicals. Earlier this summer, my friend L and I had a conversation about Minnesota's state fair. It's a BIG deal here. Her husband wasn't that interested and neither was mine but we wanted to show our girls (3 under the age of 4!!!) what it was like and of course fill up on fried food! So, this morning we went! And we were completely successful! We even survived with only one child melting down!
The girls loved the animals-M was a little scared but fascinated, and H (the oldest) wanted to pet EVERY animal! Too cute!
L and H went on the Giant Slide!
We enjoyed elephant ears, cheese curds, foot long corn dog on a stick, cotton candy, tom thumb donuts, and a bucket of cookies (with leftovers to give cookies to the husband!) We took the girls on the carousel-H & J loved it, M had fun but it was her first time so she didn't want to ride the horse after a minute or so. All done!

It was overcast and breezy all morning so even though we came home smelling a little like manure, we didn't roast or get soaked! Hooray!

Get a clue, Mom!

So M comes to me today as I'm blogging, and has an unopened package of diapers from her closet in one hand and her changing pad in the other, and lays down on the floor in front of me saying, "diaper, diaper, Mommy" hmmm... neglecting my duties much? :) ...she even throws away the diaper for me when we're done now!

A few fun moments from the weekend

For some reason, we're all cranky today...but we had a great Saturday!
M loves everything I do and wants to be with me at all times, so it's always even more fun when she thinks what Daddy's doing is cool. Hopefully she'll think he's cool for years to come! :)

She picked out ruffly socks with her Kohls' gift card on Friday-too cute! :)

Mod Podge to the Rescue

My parents mounted their engagement picture, complete with burned edges, onto a wooden plaque and glued it down for all of posterity with Mod Podge...in 1973 It hasn't been popular for oh, several decades, but recently I have found several fun uses for it!

Last year, my Mom introduced me to Mod Podge plates-buy clear glass plates, slather the backs with Mod Podge, lay down cute fabric, and ouila! instant decor (top plate). I have a plate for every season and I love them.




In my lovely blue dining room, I have had trouble figuring out what to hang on the big blue wall. I wanted something to go with my red, white, and blue with cherries theme and found these. I got cheap canvases, painted them red and Mod Podged them on (they're not as shiny or bubbly without a camera flash!!) What's the verdict? Tacky or cute??


This week, I solved another tacky problem with hopefully a much less tacky solution! I don't have a junk drawer, I have a junk tin can. A food storage tin can, to be exact. My Mom tactfully suggested I do something cute with my tin can or get a new one.







So, I Mod Podged scrapbook paper and ribbons to it. I have a few other projects that my handy dandy mod podge is going to help with so I'll keep you posted.

...and maybe someday Mod Podge will be back in style! :)

Adventures in Budgeting...Fighting Temptation!

Tonight we almost had a breakdown. I had a massive headache, M woke up from her nap on the WRONG side of the crib and W came home tired. I begged for burritos from Chipotle, claiming I couldn't cook dinner with Megan screaming at my ankles!!! W's ingenious solution? He took M for a ride to get tortillas so we could make chicken tacos. I cooked while she calmed and enjoyed the trip to Rainbow and we had a cheap, home cooked meal! He's such a good hubby!

I found a hidden blessing this morning as well! My friend Laura, laughs at my tendency to buy one to two sizes ahead when Target and Children's Place has a good clearance. Today, as we were in sweaters on Sunday, I dug out the 24 month stuff for the fall and winter to figure out what we have and need for the fall. All we need are onesies, tights, and maybe a dress. That's it! I have stockpiled enough clearance sweaters, pants, shirts and skirts to get us through for a long time. Which means I will have to continue to fight my shopping urge but also means I will save money on clothes this fall! Hooray!

the level of my nerdiness...

My library ID number is a 14 digit number. It's a randomn number, yet I know it by heart because I'm addicted to the library!!!!

A few tidbits...

M started nursery this month! She's 18 months old! She loves it in there and does great every week. Even when I go in there for music time, she participates and sits and even stays behind when I leave! It's very much a rite of passage-she just looks older to me! A few other things she's doing lately:
-spinning, albeit slowly, she spins around and says "whoa!"
-her vocabulary grows every day. I've asked parents about that for years and now I know how it feels to have her learn something everyday. It's so fun! a few recent additions, bears are now bears instead of dogs (everything was a dog for a while), night-night which is a cute one because she'll repeat it back to us as we put her to sleep
-she still signs but every sign has a word that goes with it-she'll still sign "please" but it's accompanied by "peez"
-running! She went so quickly from walking to running and walking backwards and more climbing than ever!
-she does NOT want to sit through sacrament meeting anymore! Board books are just not cutting it to keep her attention anymore and she throws a fit! I spent most of the meeting in the hall with her!
-if she gets hurt, she'll run to me for comfort and kisses and even say back to me "all better" and walk away, immediately healed by Mommy's love! I love it!

I get by with a little help...

I found a link on a blog to www.readthescriptures.com where they email you a daily scripture. You can set your own goals, read a little or a lot, but it makes the access easier for me. Lots of people make their scripture reading easier by listening on ipods or CD players on the way to work but that hasn't worked for me. However, most of you know that I'm an obsessive email checker. I check it multiple times a day and it bothers me that I can't check my home email at work (however I also love coming home to tons of email at the same time, I feel so loved!) So, I'm thinking this could be really great! I used to get daily LDS-GEMS. I loved howe every day I had a spiritual thought or quote or story. However, when I changed my email I didn't set it up again. Silly me. So, here's to technology helping me in my daily scripture reading goals!

Who's Who

I love looking at the links on my friends' blogs. I love reading about their friends and family. Sometimes I can figure out whether they're friends or family or whatever. But I thought I'd introduce you to my sidebar.

Cards by KJo-My cousin Katie makes cute, cute cards with stamps and cute paper and sells them to stores in SLC!
Garrett Fam-My cousin Paul and his wife Claudia. Paul was a smart man like my brother who married an adorable, spunky Mexican girl!
Harris Family-Alisha is a dear friend from undergrad at USU. She's a nutty speech path like me!
Jeff, Katie & Ashton-My cute cousin Katie (see Cards) and her family who live in SLC
Price Family-Will's friend Jansen and his wife and two cute kids. We used to have FHE every month together, til we all had kids! Jansen's family introduced Will to the church!
Sugar & Spice-a group blog my friend Linz started with Mormon Moms all over the country
Grapes of Roth-my friend Laura and her two cute girls
The Reader's Nook-I don't know this lady personally but I love book ideas so I look here a lot for new ideas!

Sad, but true!

62%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site

More Cards

I keep meaning to post these other cards I made with Jan. I love these baby cards! (Once again though, not my designs! I just follow models well!)

Friends

I baby sat for my dear friends' girls this morning. She's my closest friend in Minneapolis. They're moving forty minutes away and I'm totally bummed. Forty minutes may not seem like much but it always seems to make a difference. She better not think she's rid of me though.

I don't make friends easily. I have tried to figure out how to keep this post from being my own pity party but it's been on my mind a lot lately. I start out shy and people have always said I'm intimidating. I'm not the best listener and usually when I finally open up, I go home thinking, "oy, I said WAY too much, there goes that". I'm thankful for my family who are some of my closest friends and are stuck with me! I think at different times in our lives we need friends more than at others. And right now, I've been aching for friends.

Recently, I feel I was blessed with my "new" (well, last December) calling at church because I'm becoming better friends with one of the women I am working with. And it's my fourth quarter goal for the year. I will be more friendly.

What has M been up to lately?

I've been hogging the blog lately and realized there weren't many pics of my little best friend. She truly is my little best friend. She takes good care of me and is the president of my fan club (my Dad has informed me that HE is the founder of my fan club! :)) She's been doing a bit of shopping.She's been taking time out to enjoy a good book. She's a girl after my own heart!!!She's been working on her eating skills-she has the spoon down pat now! She's been pirating in the Caribbean-Bluebeard strikes again! Yes, she's sitting on the counter. I know. Bad Mom. But hey, if it helps her eat her yogurt, more power to her!

Some Things I Just Don't Understand...

...why my husband falls into bed, exhausted but fully clothed, and then refuses to get up, brush his teeth and get ready for bed? He knows I'm scared of the dark and depend on him to turn off the lights and he knows I can't settle down until then...

...why M will LOOOOOOVE a food for weeks and then won't touch it for weeks...actually it's called a food jag and is normal for toddlers but it's still infuriating!

...why city hall is posting a warning on their marquee that we're no longer allowed to water our lawns at all, yet their lawn is so pretty and green, not that I was watering much before...

...why it's cheaper to fly from Minneapolis to London, ENGLAND, than to Little Rock...

...why M wants the one toy that I can't reach to hand back to her while we're driving down the freeway and then proceeds to scream about it the whole way home...

...why I can rip through a novel in one night and enjoy it immensely yet I continue to struggle to read my scriptures everyday...

...why M feels the need to run her sticky honey nut cheerio hands through her hair on bath day, post bath, of course...

hmmmmm

stormy days and a rare treat!

We had a BIG storm on Friday night! I woke up at 3am to a very noisy storm with continuous lightning and thunder. M woke up briefly but luckily still slept quite well. The wind was blowing so strongly that I got up to check the weather warnings-scared there would be a tornado. It was ONLY 70mph straight line winds! We woke up with our welcome sign in the middle of the yard, one of my potted plants in the yard with the pot around the corner in the back yard! And someone's garbage can is in our yard and still hasn't been claimed! There are trees down all over town but luckily we didn't have any damage, and we didn't have power all morning.

We actually weren't there for most of the morning. We met my friend Megan and her husband Ryan for breakfast! They were in town visiting family and we were blessed to have them take time out of their busy weekend to meet for breakfast. We took them to Jensen's Cafe in Burnsville and it was soooo yummy! I highly recommend it for those Minnesotans who usually go to Perkins! It was a nice change with fun things on the menu! There are no pictures though, due to the fact that I couldn't charge my camera battery like I wanted. But it's all for the better, no power means no hair done or makeup or shaved beards (Will's of course)!

It stormed again Saturday night but much less extreme. I could tell that M was still scared because she woke up screaming once and had trouble settling down last night when there wasn't a storm at all. Poor thing.

President Faust

I didn't know that President Faust passed away until I read it on my friend's blog this morning. He has always been one of my favorites! I love his stories and one of my favorite lessons was one he taught, that fear cannot coexist with faith. It was a first presidency message when I lived in Uptown. In the beginning of that school year, I was new to Minneapolis, new to school, and very lonely. I felt very alone and afraid in a big city, a big school, and with not many friends yet (this was before I started dating Will, obviously!) I remember it gave me such comfort to have the reminder that I needed to have faith that things would improve and confidence that the Lord loved me and would care for me. It is such a reminder to me that the church is true and that families are eternal and that he will be with his family again.

Phew!

So I can officially say I've been obsessing about this layout problem!!!!! I couldn't sleep last night! It's still not perfect but I'm so stinkin' proud of myself!!! I downloaded my own free digital scrapbook paper courtesy of shabbyprincess.com and sort of learned how to redo my html myself by studying the shabbytulips layout that had problems. The other one was cuter and it will probably be different every time you visit now, but at least it's getting cuter!

Argh!!!

So, the blog that said "hey, go ahead and copy my layout here and enjoy it for free!" didn't have a virus, it exceeded its bandwidth! So until I figure it out, we get this lovely, boring layout. Argh!!!!!

Writers?

I used to write poems and stories a lot. I haven't done much since college though. I found a blog today that I thought was cool called Sunday Scribblings. They post a writing prompt and you write on that topic and post it on your blog and link it to theirs. Hmmm... I'm tempted. The prompt for this week is goosebumps. I'll get back to you if I come up with anything!

My Little Sister

My baby sister is a legal, registered to vote, adult! I can hardly believe it. It makes me feel really old. My Dad loves to point out that she's here because of me. See, my parents had three kids. And then that was it. Nine years later, I started begging for a little sister. I had two older brothers that tormented me, and I wanted a baby sister to help raise and, let's face it, be my little doll! I guess I bugged my Mom about it for a while. Finally she told me that I should pray about it-I think to get me off her back. Well, she didn't trust the power of a desperate nine year old's prayers, because around Christmas, after ten years of no pregnancies, my Mom was pregnant. My Mom brought my brothers and I to the ultrasound and the doctor whispered in my ear that I was getting the baby sister I wanted!!! She was so pretty-she was a girl from head to toe! As a toddler, she loved ribbons, jewelry and clothes! She would wear layers and layers of clothes. She went to "pretty" school instead of preschool. She let me spend hours and hours on her hair-many of them probably painful. Despite the ten year difference, we had sibling rivalry, the most famous being "Lizzy's looking at me!!!" We egged each other on, and luckily we grew up. She has grown up to be the most beautiful, sweet, and innocent, well almost, that is until recent admissions of the "real first kiss" came out!! ...where was I? She is a wonderful aunt, an emotional teenager, a good friend, and one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. I love you Gracie girl. Happy Birthday! Love, Siz

Adventures in Budgeting

After my shameless post (see baby girl jumper), I figure I need to redeem myself. I don't want to obsess over money. But right now, we are definitely trying to relearn some things. It's good for us. As I'm trying to keep my spending under control, I'm rediscovering new things. I bought milk the other day and it cost over ten dollars!!! My hubby and I go through a gallon of skim a week so we get the twin packs at Cub. But M doesn't go that fast with her whole milk so we have to buy hers in singles, so the twin pack is $6 and her one gallon is $4.69! Crazy!!! I forget these things! Last night we used the last of our hamburger meat and I was frustrated that it means my next trip to the grocery store will be more expensive! It's a whole new world out there!

My good buys for the week? The $4.50 watermelon was so worth it as we ate sweet juicy watermelon for dessert! Scouring through a gross pile of Roma tomatoes because they were on sale to find a few that were good-and they were GOOD! Stocking up on cheap, locally grown, Minnesota corn-it's so sweet and yummy!!!!

BBQ Night

I aspirated a pickle tonight. I was making hamburgers and getting the fixin's ready. I was showing M how cheddar cheese and pickle slices are so yummy together! Then I choked on the pickle and I have been coughing all evening! Nasty stuff, that pickle juice!

We make yummy yummy hamburgers. It took a while for both of us to get good at it (fully cooked but not dry crispy things, not shrinking up into meatballs, stuff like that). We use pretty lean beef but then I chop up onion and mushrooms, mix that in to the hamburger along with Tastefully Simple! Garlic Garlic Seasoning! It's so yummy!!!!!! I'll have to share my roasted potato recipe later. I LOVE that one!

fancy schmancy!

What do you think of my new look? I love the blogs that look like digital scrapbooks and went searching and found a blogger who designs them and loads them up for free! Hopefully they're not full of viruses, but I like having a new look. Do you like it?

http://shabbytulips.blogspot.com

Stampin'

I went to a fun card party on Friday night that one of my coworkers hosted. I thought I'd share the samples we made, courtesy of Megan's friend Sarah-I'm pretty proud of them-I made more cute cards last night with Jan, so I'll take pics of those too! (KJ, thought you'd appreciate these! :)

Cream of the Crop!

M LOVES CORN ON THE COB!!!! We have discovered this is unusual for small munchkins such as herself. Everyone thinks it's really funny! If we cut it off the cob, she doesn't enjoy it as much. Truly! So we just hope her little teeth are up to the challenge because she loves it this way and we're not about to argue!

Hmmm...

I can't tell whether she'g getting more hair or spaghetti in these bites.
Time for a haircut?
Maybe. Maybe not.

Shoes

Why do babies love shoes? Is it all part of the copy cat phase? I love how cute it is when M puts on my shoes and tries to actually go somewhere! But I don't love finding my shoes EVERYwhere! There's one pair I put away almost every day but then the next day it's out again! In the office, where shoes don't even belong, right now there are six shoes, only two of them match, and none of them were brought here by me! Argh! The cleaning never ends!!!

I am, well...Lizzy!

Take the Quiz here!

Disasters

Isn't it interesting how you remember the exact details of where you were and what you were doing when you experience a life changing moment, like a disaster?

I lived in the Bay Area during the 1989 7.1 earthquake. My brother Joe and I were sneaking powdered donuts from the kitchen and my oldest brother was upstairs when it started. Joe and I ran to the bathroom doorway to be safe and Jake ran outside to watch the tidal waves in the neighborhood pool. My parents were out of town and my Grandpa Tobler, who lived in Utah, had been on the phone doing business and so he was able to call us immediately before the phone circuits were down to make sure we were okay. Our babysitter was at work and didn't make it home for several hours, but our neighbors and their mom were so scared that they came over and even spent the night. I was ten.
I remember several tornados in Minnesota. They blur together but I remember hiding out in the space under the stairs in the Crystal house. I remember Mom trying to make it seem "fun" and like camping with treats while she snuck upstairs to see if they could see it outside.
I remember when our street flooded and we got to ride down the street in inner tubes.
I was a freshman in college when the Columbine Massacre happened. We sat in the dorm lounge all day watching the news, coming and going between classes. It was mind blowing to me at that time, that people my age could do that. I guess it still is, it's just happened more times now.
I remember where I was on 9/11. I called my Dad before classes at USU and told him I needed a prescription refill and he stopped me and asked if I was watching the news because I was obviously clueless. I ran to a neighbor's to watch. I went to my first class but it was canceled so we gathered in the TSC (student center) and watched the news all day long.
I was at home last night. Will had gone to church to install a new computer program and M was in bed already. Our home teacher called and asked if W had made it home from work all right. I was surprised and asked why. He told me that the 35W bridge had collapsed into the Mississippi River. W was fine of course but we wondered if his sisters who live near there were. They are fine too luckily. I don't know anyone who was involved. When I was in grad school, I drove across that bridge everyday. I have explained to family multiple times since then how far removed we are from that part of town right now, but as I drove home from work in worse traffic than usual it was clear that things have already changed as a result of this disaster.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were affected by this tragedy.

This is Hard!

I went to Target today on our "new/old" budget. I very quickly realized how careless I've been in the past months. I used to consider it almost my right to get a soda when I'm there-like I needed caffeine to fortify myself or something. I also realized that I should limit my baby girls section walk-throughs!!! I seem to think that a sale justifies buying things. I have to admit that I have a few categories of girl clothes where if it's on sale, we don't have that size, I think it's a good deal no matter what. Today it was overall shorts. I LOVE BABIES IN OVERALLS!!!! They're too cute for words! And they had some 50% off. Then right next to it, they had this cuter than cute denim overall skirt-I wanted so badly to snatch up a 2T for this winter and next spring. It was only for 30% off so I resisted. When we went over our expenses, I knew how careless I was being, but I am going to have to practice some real restraint at my favorite store! But if you go to the Eden Prairie Mall Target, these cute jumpers are on sale and will go quick...hint, hint Grandma! :) I know, I'm shameless, I'm also mostly kidding...mostly!

What's your name?

"What's your name?" (pointing to M's tummy)
"Mimi" (big smile of accomplishment from M)

I've been working on this for a week and now instead of saying "baby" when she sees pictures of herself, I can help her say "Megan" or "Mimi" as she puts it!