the one about my iPod

Back to the challenge.... Put your iPod on shuffle and what are the first ten songs. FUN! First, let me tell you about my iPod. I have been giddy with excitement the last few days because I have a new iPod. An iPhone 4, actually. I love it so so so so so so much! I love to play with it all day and all night. It has actually lead to some serious sleeping problems for me. OH WELL! It's worth it. The only crappy thing is that the phone part won't actually be activated until mid-May. But I can play with it until then. And speaking of PLAY, I am in LOVE with and addicted to the game Angry Birds. It is so fun! Brett loves his too! Quayd even scored because I gave him my old iPod touch. I even have a super cute case for my iPhone. I will be so happy when I can finally ditch my crappy dinosaur CrapBerry. OK, so now on to the challenge.... One moment while I put my AwEsOmE iPhone 4 on shuffle. Ok. Now... Song # 1: Bruno Mars "Marry You" (so good!!! love that song. that was a good number 1) Song # 2: Dixie Chicks "The Long Way Around" Song # 3: Alanis Morissette "You Learn" Song # 4: Katy Perry "Hot & Cold" Song # 5: Matt Costa "Cold December" Song # 6: Kenny Rogers "Lady" Song # 7: Barenaked Ladies "The King of Bedside Manor" Song # 8: Coldplay "Viva la Vida" Song # 9: Mika "Rain" Song #10: Death Cab for Cutie "I Will Possess Your Heart" Wow, that was a good line up of songs! I guess I better back my shuffle up and go listen. (while I play Angry Birds in bed, of course!)

the one about our jazz trip

We came to SLC today for our Annual Galley family Jazz extravaganza. Brett and Quayd are at the pool right now and I am sitting in the hotel room listening to my iPod (LOVE IT!!!) and doing a little blogging. Tomorrow we are going to the Apple Store so I can get a case and some screen protectors for my precious iPod. I am so worried about it getting scratched that I am a little scared to use it. I have some amazing music on it and one of my most favorite movies in the whole world... Notting Hill. I also have a couple of games and a bunch of pictures. I so love it. Yes, Ramanda. I have really come a long way in the the world of iPod. I even downloaded my songs, movies and pictures... all by myself. I didn't even have to bug Shae.

Anyway, enough about my iPod, lets get back to our big adventure. Let me just say that my car is the suckiest thing EVER in the snow. We were worried to drive it to Salt Lake because it has been so stormy. We did ok all the way here, then we got to the I-80/I-15 interchange. Brett was driving and we hit a really slick spot when we were getting of on our exit. We started sliding all over the place and hit into a snow bank. It was like slow motion. Shae rode out with us and she and Quayd were in the back. We hit on the passenger side, front corner, right where I was. That was cool because I would rather me get hurt than anyone else, but we were almost to a stop by the time we hit, so nobody got hurt. It was so weird though. We still hit pretty hard though and we were just sick to think about what damage it did to our car. We were able to drive away and when we got to our Hotel we checked it out and we can't find any damage. I am so thrilled, but surprised. It was pretty crazy. It all happened so fast and we immedietly got back on the road, so I didn't get a picture. Dang.

We made it to the hotel, then rode with the Galley's to dinner. We went to this cool Italian place called Buca di Beppe. It was so delicious. It was family style dining so were just ordered big plates and we all shared. YUMMY!!!
Ahhhh, look at Marcie's big cute belly. SURPRISE!! ;)

This is a picture of Tara and Shae's boyfriend.

From dinner, we went to our game. It was a good game. The Jazz won. Nothing too exciting except that Brynn fell down and landed on some people. That was prettycrazy. She is fine. A little embarassed and sore.
Drake and Quayd were LOVING the game. They were so cute watching it.
Then Beau'D wanted to get in on the action. He just wants to be one of the big boys. We did have another crazy thing happen at the game.... Brett and I walked down to get a drink. Quayd didn't want to go, he had just been for a snowcone with Gleneita. He was sitting right in front of her, just watching the game. Brett and I had been gone for a few minutes and Gleneita said he just dissappeared. By the time she realized what was happening, he was clear down the bleachers. Cory and Talia ran after him. In the meantime, Brett and I had got our drinks and were heading back up to our seats. Gleneita asked if we had seen Quayd, Cory or Talia. She told us what happened and Brett took off to look for him. I just stood there. I didn't know if I should go look for him or what. Gleneita told me in detail want happened and we figured it out. He had his snowcone in his hand when he left. He needed more flavor on it. I guess you can pick your own flavor and squirt it on your snowcone. I sent Brett a text message telling him to head for the snowcone stand. Pretty quick, good old Quayd was headed back up the stairs. Alone. I sent text messages to Cory, T and Brett telling them he was back. When Quayd got back up to his seat I was like, "Quayd!! Where did you go?" So casually, in total Quayd fashion, he says, "I just had to go get more stuff on my snowcone." I said, "Buddy! You can't just run off like that. What if you got lost?" Again, in pure Quayd style, "I knew where I was going. Just to the snowcone place then back to 'MM'(that was our section). I wasn't going to get lost." Then I said, "Well, you still can't take off like that. We were so scared and someone could have taken you." He just rolled his eyes at me and promised not to do it again. We were all about to have a heart atack. Little stinker.

After the game, walking back to the car, Quayd and Amelia found this snow cave on the sidewalk. They decided a hobo must have made it. They are obsessed with hobos.

So far, our trip has been super fun. We still have 2 days left, so we will see what other fun and excitement we can stir up with the Galleys. :)

FAST FORWARD....
Now it is Saturday. I didn't post yet because I was having trouble loading the pictures. Now it seems to be cooperating a little more, so we are gonna try again. Today was just a laid back day of shopping and fun. I made it to the Apple Store so now I feel like I can protect my new precious baby. It's all hooked up with a clear acrylic case and a clear sheet for the screen. I feel so much better now. That was the only thing I cared about doing while we were in SLC. The only thing Brett cared about was getting a new tattoo. He got that today. I will have to post pictures later. We haven't taken any yet. It is pretty cool though. The only things Quayd cared about was swimming in the hotel pool and going to Toys-R-Us for some PlayMobil toys. We did those things today too. So mission(s) accomplished. Tomorrow we are going to head home. Yuck. Back to our Christmas mess. I wish I could go hame and magically have my tree in its box, toys put away, laundry done and everything put back together. Oh well. It is so fun to be able to get away for a few days. It was a well-needed break after a hectic holiday season.

the one about things consuming me

Honest to blog, I have been so crazy busy lately, I haven't had a second to blog. I am so sorry to disappoint my faithful readers, so I am forcing myself to stay awake and dedicate some of my precious beauty rest to my poor blog. (he he, I totally took a nap today, so even though I need the beauty rest more than you will even know, I can't sleep!)

The big thing that has consumed my life lately is my upcoming yard sale. It is going to be this Saturday at Janice's. I like to do a yard sale every couple of years. It is just a good way to de-clutter and make room for more junk. I am such a "throw-it-away" girl, it is sorta sad. I can't stand little messes and clutter, although you would never guess it if you came to my house. Unfortunately, I fell in love with the king of clutter and little messes. Errrrrrrrrr. It is so annoying. And bless his sweet heart, (isn't it true that if you are going to say something mean about someone, as long as you throw "bless their heart" in there somewhere it takes out the evil? I hope so!) he doesn't see the many messes that consume my life, so he leaves them. His son is following in his footsteps a bit, but at least I can tell him to clean up after himself. Not Brett. If I tell him to clean up after himself, I become the NAGGING WIFE! (Bless his heart, bless his heart, bless his heart.) Anyway, a yard sale should not consume one person so much, but I am a perfectionist with this stuff. I can't just make a yard sale pile. It has to be a neat and tidy yard sale pile with everything organized in boxes and pre-priced. (Kandice is SO proud of me right now!) So I have really been working hard, from room to room to get rid of as much as I can with out super-saver Brett seeing and pulling things out of my boxes.

Throughout this organizing/spring cleaning project, I have also been working on reorganizing my basement. As most of you know, I am a scrapbooker. Well I have collected SO MUCH STUFF over the years and so much of it is never going to get used. My scrapbook room is insane. Plus, I have taken the plunge. Believe it or not, my scrapbooking has gone (drum roll please.................) DIGITAL! gasp! Yes, it's true. I am going green. (Now Stephanie is proud!) I have started doing some of my stuff on Heritage Makers, but I have also been doing a lot with my Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. It is the greatest program known to man for Digi-Scrappin'. So after many lessons from Steph, many spent dollars at the scrapbook stores and many hours spent researching free downloads, I have made the change. Anyway, I will be selling a ton of scrapbook supplies at our yard sale. (So please come buy it all before I change my mind! I have already turned my scrapbook room into Quayd play room!)

Another biggie consuming me lately is the movie Juno. I didn't get to see it in the theater, and I couldn't wait for it to be released. I still didn't get to see it right away, so last Friday night, Brett was gone and Shae needed a ride home from work. When I got there to pick her up, she suggested we go rent it. She had seen it and knew I would love it. I told her to hook us up with the popcorn and I would hook us up with the show. OH MY HECK!!! I LOVE IT! I have really had to make valuable time to watch it as much as possible. We actually watched it again this Friday night. It might just have to be our Friday night thing. We started watching another movie (Garrison came too) but we couldn't get into it, so we turned on Juno. A few of my favorite lines from this show are...

"This is one doodle that can't be undid, home skillet."
"Honest to Blog!"
"Pork swords."
"Bleeker is really great..... in.. chair."
"You can never have too many of your one calorie breath mints."
"This is the most magnificent discarded living room set I have ever seen."
"I'm gonna punch that Bleeker kid in the wiener next time I see him."
"Your Ego is Prego."
"All babies want to get borned!"
Anyway, there are many other funny things, but what it all boils down to is this... I totally love this show.


K, onto more things consuming me.... Brett's Birthday. I am a sucky wife and I didn't post one single thing about him or his Birthday. I don't know what happens to him on his birthday, but he totally acts like a 12 year old girl. He doesn't want a big deal made of his Birthday, but then he pouts if nobody makes a big deal of his Birthday. Sweet little Shae made this cake for him though, and he loved it. Thank goodness for Shae, because Heaven knows, I couldn't do anything right on that day. (bless his heart, bless his heart, bless his heart!) We actually had a couple of nice dinners and he got money and an Ipod, which is what he asked for. So I think it turned out to be a nice day for him. He turned 28 on April 28th. Happy Birthday Bretty!

Onto more things... I am having a ModBe party on May 15th. So tell all of your friends. I am sending out invites, e-vites and I am shouting it out to the world on my blog, so if you are reading this, consider yourself invited, and your presence is mandatory! This is great stuff, by the way. They have the under shirts we all love, like layers, but they are SO much better than layers. They also have AWESOME swimwear. It is very modest, and cover-ey. Nothing hangs out, and everything is hidden well. It is a great cure for "back fat" and it hides "R.T." well. It is very slimming and they have CUTE styles to chose from. Kandice is selling this great stuff and she has a website. I also have some catalogs at my house. But the greatest part of all... She actually has the swim wear (and other stuff too) that you can try on. My house will become the hangout for all of the peeping toms in town, because we don't believe in curtains. NOT!!! That is just a dumb joke. A bad joke actually.... But here is a picture of the suit I ordered form the party Kandice had at her house last weekend. Remember how I told you that this stuff is slimming... well the lady that posed for this picture is actually a size 20/22. Amazing huh. Just kidding again, another bad joke.

So I have also been consumed with Soccer. Not just Quayd playing, but I volunteered to paint the stripes on the soccer field once a week. I am not very good at it and my lines aren't very straight, but I kind of enjoy it.

The thoughts of my boyfriend in his latest movie have REALLY been consuming me. I knew he really wanted me to see him this weekend, so I had to make time for him. He is SO DEMANDING that way. But that's OK. I still love him. (he he he) Made of Honor was super cute, by the way. I loved it. I was insistent on going Friday. I couldn't miss it, even if I had to go alone. Thank goodness Tara called, so I didn't have to go alone, but we also met up with Jamie, Brandi, and Annette.

Well, I guess I will call it an "entry." Megan told me the other day that my blog posts have been pretty wordy lately, so I better stop. I don't want to lose my fans!

the one about my fun afternoon/evening and getting the crap scared out of me

I had such a FUN day and evening! But it ended with a terrible scare and a near BM in my pants.

I have to tell you all about it. Besides, I feel like I need to break up the "birth story" thing. It is getting a little depressing! And obviously you know the outcome because here I am and I have a great kid to show for it! Anyway, onto my afternoon/evening...

So I came home from work and I just wanted to relax. I put on some ugly cut off sweats and left my lunch lady scrub top on. My hair, for some reason, had totally fallen flat today, so I was just uglier than a big wet dog. And I didn't really care! I called Janice to see how the big marathon went and I got a update from her. It was nice to visit with her for a second so she could tell me all about her Boston experience. They were flying home and they had a layover in Cincinnati so we only got to chat for a second. But still nice!

So I worked on my blog, worked on a digi-scrappin' project that Kandice needed some help with. (Looks great, btw, K). As I was finishing up with that, Jamie gave me such a pleasant surprise by stopping by to visit. She had some time to kill so we just sat on my couch and laughed about our crazy boss at work, Emily. We LOVE to tease her and it is so easy to get her. I have pulled two GOOD pranks on her in the last couple of days, and I am getting nervous thinking about the possible repercussions. Anyway, it was fun visiting with Jamie. (And even funner to watch her try to start her scooter in my driveway!)

Then Quayd and I ran over to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Lane. Brett met up with us there. They are doing some remodeling and we looked through books of doors to try to help Grandma choose one.

As we were driving home, we stopped at Quayd's friends house, Randon. He stayed there and played with Randon and their other buddy Peyton. As soon as I got home, Gibler called me and asked me to meet her at Maurice's to pick out some pants. She was worried that the girls that work there were just trying to make a sale and not being honest if her butt looked big. (Gag me!) So we stayed there awhile and tried on tons of clothes. We both left with a treasure! (wink, wink)

Then I came home and my sweet husband had made dinner. Kraft macaroni and cheese. I was off playing so he had to fend for himself. Sorry babe! Quayd came home and immediately went over to Brennen's. He is suddenly Mr. Social and doesn't think he needs to hang out with mom and dad.

Kimmie stopped by again and she asked me to go with her to run a few errands. And get a Diet Pepsi. (That was the most important errand!) We also had to go into the grocery store to get some Gatorade for Kayle. We were both a site, by the way. We were pretty embarrassed to even go into a store. Well our checker-boy was this high school looking kid. He was cute and just trying to be nice and do his job. So he says to us, "You just getting off work?" We just looked at him, then each other and giggled. Kim politely said, "Yep. Just gettin' off work." We got outside and cracked up. We were like, "What in the heck did that mean?" It was so weird. I know he was just trying to make conversation, but what a weird thing to say to two homely women in a grocery store buying Gatorade at 9:00 pm on a Tuesday. Yah. That is the only weird thing about that trip!

When I came home, Shae (my new BF) was here helping Brett do Ipod stuff. (These pictures were actually taken last night when she was here helping Brett with Ipod stuff. She is a genius, by the way! We had gone swimming with Shae and Amelia for Family Home Evening and Shae really wanted me to stress that. She didn't want anyone to judge her appearance from these pictures. I thought it was a good idea since I have so many teenage boys checking out my blog in search of a date! Goofy girl!) She was stumped with a silly questions so she called her big brother Garrison to come and help. In the mean time, Shae and I decided to run to the movie theater for popcorn. (This story is about to get really scary...... be prepared.......) I told Shae to tell Garrison that we would stop by and pick him up, but unbeknownst to me, he had already walked down. Shae and I are just chatting away and get in my car. Thanks to road construction, our driveway is a mess and very narrow, so I back in to my brother's driveway and turn around when I am leaving, then I can see where I am going better. First of all, as I flipped my car around, there stood Garrison, looking all creepy-like and I almost ran him over. Like, he wasn't scared for nearly losing his life by my careless driving, he wasn't waving, moving or even smiling. Just standing there. Well it freaked me out and I let out the most horrifying scream. It was so awful! Well we laughed and laughed about it, then Tara came down. we were telling her all about it and we decided to do a re-enactment so I could share it on my blog. Honestly, the pictures are pretty accurate!! Serious!

K, so wouldn't this scare you if you saw it in the dark after you nearly ran it over?

This was my reaction...

All of that, for this. Yummmmmmmyyyy. It was worth the scare!

Isn't that crazy? I was so scared. I don't know why. Garrison is harmless. But after we all had a big laugh, he ever-so-calmly said, "Maybe you should look behind you better when you are backing up." Oh. Yah. I guess I should. His dad is a Drivers Ed instructor, after all.

Crazy. Anyway, I had such a fun afternoon/evening. It was so nice to visit and hang with some of my awesome friends and family. Thanks to all of you for making my day so fun.

the one about rearranging furniture

My name is Mandy and I am addicted to rearranging furniture.

It's true. I get this sickness from my mother. She is just as bad as me. If I feel like I need to deep clean something, I just don't feel like it is really clean unless I move everything around. Sometimes just moving 1 or 2 pieces of furniture helps, but other times I have to tear up the whole room. The weekend was a good example of both. Let me explain...

Kandice, Janice, my Mom and me have decided to have a yard sale. (It is Saturday, May 3rd at Janice's house, by the way.) So I have been trying to deep clean and get stuff ready for the big sale. I have been going from room to room and organizing as I go. Friday was Quayd's room's turn for a cleaning. It was a total disaster! I got rid of so much stuff. But his room is pretty small so there aren't a lot of options for rearranging. But I did switch places with the dresser, big toy cabinet and his Lego table. Just being able to really get under everything and clean super good helps me feel like I have my life more together. I know, I know... It is all in my head. I am a freak, what can I say? (notice the Nim's Island poster.. Shae works at the movie theater and hooked Quayd up and he is so excited! She has also promised him the Horton Hears a Who poster.)



So today I decided to tackle the living room. I still had Easter decorations up. That is against everything I stand for, by the way. Well I knew I wouldn't be satisfied unless I moved EVERYTHING! Brett even helped me, and it was quite a project. Pianos are really heavy. But now I know that everything is nice and clean and smells like Pine-Sol. Yummy! It actually smells like Cucumber Lime right now because the Pine-Sol smell has started to fade and I just put new blocks in my Scentsy.
This is my little computer corner. It has everything I need. Blogger.com , my Ipod and Diet Pepsi.
Ok, well that is another glimpse into my world. And I am glad to say that today, my world is a little bit cleaner. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh