Okay, FINE! I'll play...

I think I've been tagged a few times, so I decided that it would never end until I played. ;) So, thanks to Leslie Sorensen at (http://all-the-pretty-horses.blogspot.com/) I have to sit here and think up stuff, instead of doing housework.

The rules of the game: • Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. • Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, as we all want to know them. • Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. • Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Gosh, only 7? I think I'm much weirder than that...

#1 Pardon the above picture, but that is weird fact #1 about me. My tongue is super long. I can also wiggle my eyes. It scares my dad.

#2 I'm somewhat obsessed with old things. Old houses, antiques, old books, old stories, old husbands.

#3 When I get nauseated, I sneeze. My doctor said that is weird.

#4 I played in a band with Don, who played in a band with Shelley, who played in a band with a lady who wrote some of Garth Brooks' songs and plays in his band. I am famous. I'm practically on Garth Brooks' speed dial. I've also played onstage with Colin Raye, Kurt Bestor, and Solas. I've spent time in the "green room" with these ever so famous people. I'm practically on their speed dial too.

#5 I like to smell things, especially books. I love how books smell... new books, old books, magazines. I have been caught sniffing a book many a time.

#6 I like to run. Especially when I go 6+ miles. I don't necessarily think this is weird, but other people seem to think it's psycho.

#7 I rode in a VW bus across the country with a guy with dreads, a big dog, and my roommate and her brother. It was an experience.

I'm tagging:

Melissa http://landmwiser.blogspot.com/

Hannah http://oylerfamily.blogspot.com/

Tanner http://www.tanleismith.blogspot.com/

Dallas http://dontberudeatme.blogspot.com/

Felicia H. http://allstong.blogspot.com/

Kenneth http://kthowell.blogspot.com/

Erin http://woodysroundup-erin.blogspot.com/

Life Lessons

I've hesitated to post about this before now, because it's hard to know what could cause pain to someone you love who is going through one of the worst things anyone could go through. I feel like the time is right, now, so Leslie I hope this is okay.

The Things I've Learned From Leslie
don't take even one day for granted
show how much you love him
family is most important
cherish every moment
look for the good in everything... even dirty socks
keep going
grief takes time
look outside yourself
love
patience
grace
beauty
eternity
faith

and I know I'll keep learning, because Leslie, you are teaching us all. Thank you for sharing your grief with us, so that we can support you, and so that we can learn from your wisdom. Love you.

Need Advice

I'm hungry. Is it okay to eat at 11:45 p.m., or should I just go to bed? I hate it when Brandon is out of town! ;)

How Cold is Too Cold?

So, if it's below 0* F, is it too cold to run? That's my excuse, anyway. If the roads are covered in snow and ice, is it too unsafe to run? That's my other excuse. They sound like good excuses, but I'm wondering if I should just toughen up and run. I miss it.

If I Wasn't There...

If ever you needed me, and I wasn't there, I am sorry. If ever you were lonely, and I didn't know it, I'm sorry. If ever you had a bad day, and needed someone to cheer you, and I only thought of myself, I'm sorry.

To Cassie: thanks for being there today. Thanks for calling back at the exact moment I needed you, and thanks for talking to me about all the stuff I needed to talk about, and for listening to me cry and making me laugh. Love you!

The Lawsons Do Dallas

I've already recommended my friend, Amy's blog to some of you, but I thought it was worth another mention, because today's post was hilarious! Amy is seriously funny. Go check this one out:

http://granolasdodallas.blogspot.com/2008/01/vote-for-dogs.html

I Love Him

A little over 13 years ago, I met this guy. It didn't take me long to love him, but it has taken 13 years to love him like I love him now. I love him more than I ever thought possible back when I was a grown-up woman of 19 years. We've been through a lot of stuff, and I can honestly say that I have never been disappointed. Yes, I've been mad at him plenty of times, but he's always proven that he is the kind of man I am proud to be married to for eternity. I really do take him for granted way too often, and I am trying to be better at appreciating him. He's really an amazing person.

He works harder than anyone I know, and puts his heart into his work. He's a man who enjoys chopping wood, and will actually be smiling when he's done. He never complains while working, even when it's tough. I complain that my arms are jello after shoveling snow for half hour, when he shovels home and work day in and day out.

I gave him a guitar for Christmas a few years ago, since he's been wanting one forever. I really thought he'd learn a little bit, then let it sit. (I know, not very nice of me to think.) He practices more than I practice my violin, by far. He's taught himself every chord, and finds new music to learn often. He's even written a couple of songs. I love to listen to him sing, and found out exactly how much one time when I was listening to John Denver while running. Now, don't get me wrong, because I love John Denver, but one of his less familiar songs came on. I was trying to figure out what was wrong with the song, because it just didn't sound right. It didn't have the right pauses, and the right feeling, and the right sweetness. Then I realized that Brandon's version was the one in my head, and John's version just didn't feel the same.

He doesn't believe me when I say it, but he really is incredibly handsome. Sometimes he looks at me with those blue eyes in a way that melts my heart. I still can't get enough of his kisses. I love it when we're sitting on the bench in church, usually with a kid between us, and we look at each other, and he'll smile, and his eyes twinkle... and I just know he loves me too.

I could go on... and on, but I need to do my part to be a good wife and get our house cleaned up and dinner planned. I'm just hoping that somehow I can make up for my shortcomings as a wife, and be what he deserves.

Love you, Brandon.

Savor the Moments

My kids are growing up so fast, that I can hardly keep up. I started running... hoping that I would be able to run fast enough to catch them, and make them slow down a little bit. I try telling them to grow up... hoping that they will be their typical selves and do the opposite of what I tell them to. I sometimes hold my older two on my lap, hoping to capture that sweet cuddly feeling, but their heads are taller than mine. It doesn't work very well. They're growing in spite of my efforts. Their feet are getting bigger than mine, and they will soon be taller. I hold my little nieces and nephews hands and mourn the loss of my own kids' baby hands. Now my kids are full of sass and independence. I love them this way, too, but I'm thinking I should get a little more time with them before they don't need me so much anymore. Since I know the next 12 years will fly by faster than these first 12 have, I'll treasure the times Aubrey asks my opinion on something, the times Tyler holds my hand, and I'll treasure carrying a sleeping Cooper to the bathroom before I go to bed at night. Before I know it, even these will be a thing of the past, along with those dimpled baby hands.

I Swear I Didn't Put Them up to This

Christmas Morning

My sweet husband, playing with the toys the boys got from Santa.

Me in my new beanie. It covers my ears! Just what I wanted! And I really need it in this freeeezing weather!

Aubrey with her beautiful blue coat. She loves it, as you can see. It'll keep her warm on those walks to and from school.

We always manage to get a few hugs on Christmas morning! Tyler and Cooper do get along occasionally...

Cowboy Coop in his new John Deere sweatshirt and cowboy hat.

This is my loot. I tried to get everyone to do what Felicia Graves does, and arrange everything for a picture, but I'm the only one who listened to myself. You can see my darling new coat!!! I love it, and it was a huge surprise. The brown dress wasn't as much as a surprise, since I tried it on, but I didn't know which one Brandon would choose! Aubrey gave me those cute kitchen towels, and the Dixie Chicks CD, and I could be wrong, but I think those are my first pair of real snow boots I've gotten in my life. I got to test them out shoveling off our roof Christmas Day.

Cooper's hunting toys... probably the last time we'll see them all in one place.

Tyler staged a rodeo. Very realistic!

Aubrey's favorite ever gift. She loves it so much that I get to hear her freak out every minute that there is a FINGERPRINT on it, and I must take her to the store RIGHT NOW to get a cover!

A Visit From Elva

Today I had a very nice visit, with a lady who I would like to consider my friend. She's the sweetest, littlest old lady you've ever met. She has a beautiful smile, and she uses it a lot! Her eyes twinkle when she smiles, and she laughs easily, but at the same time seems every bit a lady. Her great grandfather built our house, and she wanted to come see what changes had been made since she last saw it... in the 1930s!

We walked around the house, looking at the different rooms, and she told me how some things used to be, and a story or two. She also reminisced about how February's project was making rag strips, and wrapping them into balls. I have a basket with some fake ones that made her think of it. If they didn't have enough of the right color, they would dye some of the rags in big pots on top of the stove.

She is so sweet, that she even brought big marshmallow popcorn candy canes that she had made for my kids. I really hope that I get to know Elva even better! I'm planning on visiting her at her home sometime soon. She has a clock she wants to show me!

Merry CHRISTmas

http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000005834.cfm

All is Well

You will be all thrilled to know that we now have working plumbing. I am praying that it continues to be working plumbing for the rest of my life! We got it fixed Wednesday night, and it felt so amazingly good to wash dishes, laundry, etc. I felt like a new woman!

Yesterday I got to go on a trip with the Honor's Society as a chaperone. Aubrey asked if I could come, and I thought, hey, why not? I have no obligations. :) We had almost 100 kids in 2 buses. We went to the big Salt Lake City and watched a Sea Monster 3D movie at the Clark Planetarium. It was so cool! I kept thinking how much the boys would enjoy it. We will definitely have to take them soon. If you've never been to one, you should. Then they let the kids loose at The Gateway Mall for a couple of hours. I got some Christmas shopping done, but boy, those are some high end stores there! I couldn't believe how expensive everything was! Then we walked around Temple Square, but we had to leave at 6:00, which is the time they have all the lights on. So, the first part of walking around wasn't very exciting, since most of the lights weren't on yet. It was lots of fun, and overall the kids were great (which you would expect from Honor's Society kids), but on the way home it was SO noisy on the bus. There were a few girls that shrieked and screamed like a million times, and I thought my ears would fall off! 3 1/2 hours of that is a lot to take, let me tell you! I was thinking it would be quiet on the way home, since everyone would be sleeping... but no. Not when you get a bus full of 12 year old boys and girls, apparently. It was a long day... from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. I was glad I got to go, though, and it was fun to spend some time with Aubrey.

We Live in the Land of the Poop

We've lived with crap for the last 6 years. We had sewer backup, septic problems, toilet problems, you name it... until we finally paid the $800 to get it fixed. So, we move to a place with city sewer! no basement! and we mistakenly thought we would be free from the crap. But no, the crap followed us. Sunday morning we were greeted with this fun thing, where you flush a toilet and it comes up the tub. So, Brandon called the emergency plumbing service. Would you believe it's WEDNESDAY and he STILL has not been able to get anyone to come help? The plumber is supposed to come out today at 2:00, but he also was supposed to come yesterday and this morning. We couldn't even get ahold of anyone until Tuesday. In this whole town!!! Brandon is considering plumbing as a career, since he obviously would get business. He looked at the snake thingy at Lowe's, and it was $400. We were seriously contemplating just buying it. I have laundry piled up to the sky, and nobody has clothes to wear, and EVERY dish in our house is dirty, and I can't wash them, and we all need baths and showers like you wouldn't believe! We are a STINKY POOPY family in a STINKY POOPY house! I did finally take a bath yesterday, which wouldn't drain for hours, but I had to, or I would die. Right now I could really really use my back yard friend, Annette. She would let me wash all my clothes and take showers... sigh. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

We're Living HGTV

Tonight when I got home, Cooper said, "Mom, you have to look at the paint sample I picked out for my room. It's a neutral." It was so funny to hear that out of the mouth of a 6 year old boy.

In Support of Sister Beck

I wanted to say, that I am a mother who knows, or rather a mother who is striving to know, who wants to know. There are some women who think they know (http://whatwomenknow.org/), but who don't get the big picture, who don't understand how to take some counsel from a servant of God and apply it to their lives.

There is eternal influence and power in motherhood. Of that I have no doubt. I want to thank Julie B. Beck for her braveness, boldness, and for saying what she is inspired to say. Her talk inspires me to be better, instead of making me want to justify the things I'm doing that are not right.

Aubrey Made Curtains!

Aubrey and I sewed her curtains for her bedroom today when she got home from school. She probably did about half of the sewing. It was fun to do all of the designing and sewing together.

Come on in!

Hello! Welcome to our new old house! I know a lot of you have been waiting for a tour, so walk on up this nicely shoveled pathway, and come on in!
The front porch is going to look so cute when we get it decorated for Christmas, and when I get the types of things I want to decorate my porch with. Hopefully we get our Christmas decorations up soon! Let's go into the family room for a minute! One of the older gentlemen in our ward remembers gathering in this bay window in his youth for firesides. Lots of the old folks here remember the "Alta Rust home" well, and have many memories of it. I'm hoping to pick all their brains and find out as much history as I can.This is the other side of the family room, which I guess you could call the music room! If Tyler were here, he'd play you a song or two on the piano.
Come on over and have a seat on our new love seat! Put your feet up and relax for a moment.Can you believe after 13 years of marriage, Brandon and I finally bought a new sofa and love? I know! I can't believe it either! We've appreciated the hand me downs, but it's really fun to have new furniture too... although the kids are making me nuts! Why must they sit on the arms?Our bedroom is right here, off the family room, so you can peek inside if you'd like. That little outfit hanging on the wall is Cooper's blessing outfit. I hung it up for Holly. You would not believe how well my quilt I made goes with this room! It was made for this room, or this room was made for it! The floors are chocolate brown, and the cupboards are brown, red, and cream. It matches so perfectly! I can't wait to get a headboard... another thing we've been waiting 13 years for...Shall we make our way to the dining room? I love the arched doorways! It's so inviting! I am planning on painting the dining room table and getting more chairs, so it won't always look so lonely.I had to show off my wood floors a little bit. I love the color variance, and the old warmth of the wood. There are some very worn spots, but I'm sure you can look past those, like I do. It just adds to the character!Come on into the kitchen! My batteries on the camera were running low, so I didn't get a lot of pictures of it, but you can get a feel anyway.
It's so hard to photograph this kitchen wall, with the bright window and the black walls. I think you might have to come in person to see it.Look over here at this picture... when I put it on the wall, okay, when Brandon put it on the wall, it almost made me like the fake brick. The colors in it just matched so perfectly, and warmed that wall right up.

Oh, there's Aubrey's room... shall we look inside? Aubrey and I bought some fabric to make a valance. It's a darling old-fashioned cream fabric with pink flowers and brown accents. We're going to make it look like it's held up with ribbon and bows. Aubrey is going to do most of the sewing, so we'll post a picture when we're done.

Over here is Aubrey's armoire and desk. We have furniture in front of that door that goes to the boy's room. (On the boy's side too.) If you don't know why, you don't know my kids!

If you need to use the washroom, there is one conveniently located right off the kitchen! ;) It's such a nice cozy bathroom, really! Just make sure you close the door when you're done...

Or, if you'd rather, you can use the other bathroom that is in the hall on the way to the boy's room. This is the bathroom with the shower and the nice lighting, but no outlets. How very convenient!

The boy's room was not ready for a showing today! Just peek at the mess really quick, and leave! We're going to get new carpet in it, hopefully the end of this week. Then I'll get it all cleaned up and give you a tour.

Well, thanks for stopping by! Come again anytime! We would love some company.

Tyler's a Double Digiter!

We celebrated Tyler's 10th birthday this past week. I can't believe he's 10!!! I bought stuff to make him a cake, but the day turned out crazy enough, that we ended up going to the store and picking one out.

He successfully blew out all 10 of his candles, so I guess that means he'll get his wish... He also got a $100 gift certificate to Cabela's, since he wanted hunting and camping gear. He is quickly figuring out that $100 doesn't go all that far! I think he's leaning towards getting some boots right now. He also got a nice shirt, a stencil art book, and some neat little Breyer horses.

It "Never" Snows

We heard from a few people that it never snows here, and when it does, it's only a couple of inches. Well, I guess maybe we brought the snow with us???

I'm not complaining, though. It's beautiful!

I am, however, missing our garage!