the one about golfing

Quayd and Brett have spent MANY HOURS on the golf course this year. I can't ever get Brett to take any pictures while they are there, so I got some before they went a couple weeks ago.

Quayd, Uncle Gary, Spencer, Brett and Morgan

They were all very happy that I took the group picture! ;) They kept yelling at me, "we are going to miss our Tee-Time! For Quayds 3rd Birthday, we got him his own set of golf clubs. They were so cute and tiny. He played with them a little bit, but mostly just hit rocks and stuff. They are way to small for him now (besides being totally banged up and some of them lost) and this summer he has actually started to show some real interest in the sport, so we got him a new set. He LOVES them! He acts so proud and big when it is time to go golfing. Brett used to hate taking him because he would whine and get bored, but now they both enjoy it so much. I kind of enjoy it too!!! :)

the one about Morgie-Ma-Goo

I love Janice's little girls SOSOSOSOSOSOSO much! Really I do. And I don't know why, but I have always been super close to Morgan. I love this little thing to pieces!!!!! In fact, my whole family loves her to pieces. And you know whats great??? She loves us too!

The other day we were going to the new Rec Center and Morgan wanted to ride with me. We had to stop and get Brett some lunch, so while we were waiting in the line at Burger King, I started being dumb and taking these pictures. Morgan and Quayd were being so silly and cute! I love them!!!

PULL A SILLY FACE!!!
Janice, I am happy for you, but I am SO MAD that you are taking my little Ma-Goo away from me! If you decided that you don't have room for her... I will sure take her off your hands! ;)

the one about the park

L to R: Hallie, Taylor, Quayd, Gavin, Morgan, Kayler

Kandice, Janice and I took our kids to the park last week, and they had so much fun!

(We did too!) Poor Kandice, though. She ended up spending most of her time chasing Kayler.

I am so grateful for the great friends I have. Since I have been working, and since Quayd has been in school, I have missed out on these fun park days that used to happen a lot. So this was a GREAT kick off to summer!

the one about MY bear blank

So After I posted the other day about Quayd's bear blank, I started thinking of all of the people, ADULTS, that I know that have a bear blank of some sort. (Kandice, Amy, Talia, Holly, Gleneita, Brett) Do you have one? Tell me about it. Infact, I challenge all of my blogging friends to blog about their favorite blanket. Don't be ashamed. Don't be embarassed. We are all adults here. Stand up for your believe in a blankie, woobie, ne-ne or whatever else you might call it.

Let me start it off. I am proud to say, this is my blankie....
And it has quite a story.... This blue blankie was actually my father-in-law Mike's. Brett and I had only been married for about a year or two and I had been at my in-law's and fell in love with this blanket. It turned into quite a war between Mike and I, because I would threaten to steal it all of the time. He would throw a total fit about it and tell me that if it ever came up missing he would know where to look. Well this playful fight went on for about a year. One time, I can't even remember why, but I just took it! I did it because I wanted it, but also to see how long it would take Mike to realize it was gone. He didn't have the best memory! To my surprise, it took no time at all for him to miss it. He called me and asked if I had seen it. I jokingly told him I hadn't. I know that he knew exactly where it was, but he played along. I kinda think he secretly liked knowing that I was so in love with this blanket. So I had it for a few years, and one time when we were camping, he came in our trailer and spotted it. He laughed and I hid it! Well he snuck back in and stole it later. Then I marched right over to his trailer and stole it back. It was a joke forever! Like I said, I really think he liked knowing that I had it. It is just a simple tied quilt and it's actually made out of sheets. And not even attractive sheets! But they must have a very high thread count or something because it is truly the niceset fabric in the world. It like, always stays cool. Its crazy, but I love it. It is the same on the top and bottom. I think Gleneita had made it for Mike several years before. He still gave me a hard time about it! I have made really nice blankets for almost everyone in the family except Mike and I, so I had decided that for Christmas this year I was going to take it apart and get that great minkie fabric and turn in into two blankets. One for me and one for Mike. Unfortunatley, I didn't get to do that. So it is still the same. And I love it. And everytime I snuggle in it, I think of Mike and all of the crap he used to give me about that blanket.

Remember, I told you that Morgan is staying with us for a few days, well here is her blankie, "Deet-Deet." (by the way, PLEASE don't tell Janice how awful she looks! She totally ripped out her not-so-cute-to-start-with pony tails. I am not quite as good at doing cute girl hair as her!)
Last night for Morgan's bed, I actually laid my blanket down for her to sleep on. That is big for me! I don't like to share my blanket! But just like I do when I have it, she slept like a baby! (Speaking of Morgan, Quayd couldn't stand it last night. He HAD to get in the porta-crib with Morgan. He offered to sleep in there to keep her company, but I assured him she would be fine!)

And of course, Quayd and the famous Bear Blank.

This is Brett's blanket. I made it for him for Christmas last year and I used lots of outdoor prints, and plaids. If you look to the right of the photo you will notice a skinny strip of the blue bear fabric from bear blank. I used that scrap of bear blank after previous renovation project. I thought Brett would like to have that little piece as a memory. As soon as Quayd saw that on Christmas Day, 2006, he quickly named Brett's blanket "Big Bear Blank."

Now please, take my challenge and blog about your blankie! It will be fun to see how many of you really have one!

the one about enrichment

There is this cute thing going around my neighborhood. It's the fun knock and run thing that you do at Halloween, but it is actually a Thanksgiving theme. There is a nice letter about how we serve one another and how we are thankful for friends and family. Then you hang a sign on your door that says, "Someone is thankful for me." After you have been hit, you have to hit 5 more families. Who ever came up with this idea (wink wink, Tari) is pure genious. We all love to get a special treat at the holidays, but this one is the best yet. Not only do you get a treat, you actually know that someone thought of you and is thankful for you.

Let me tell you how we got hit. We were watching T.V. in the living room Tuesday evening and get a knock knock at the door. Brett answered it and it was a cute little boy from Quayd's primary class. He gave Brett the papers and a tin of cookies. We were so excited! Now you are supposed to make copies of the letter and sign, then hang the sign on your door. Well I didn't hang it right away because I knew I would go make copies first thing in the morning. Well it was not 10 minutes later and "Knock Knock Knock!" We got hit again!! So we got double the treats and we were super excited and felt super loved. Last night I had enrichment meeting, so we didn't deliver our treats, but we will tonight. So, thank you to those people who stopped by with a treat. We are thankful for you too!!!

Let me just tell you about enrichment. I am the enrichment leader in my ward and I am always looking for something new and interesting to try. My dear, sweet, beautiful, talented friend Kandice came to my ward to do a presentation on organizing your life. It was WONDERFUL!!! She did this presentation for her ward and got a great response, so I made her come and do it for mine. She did an amazing job. I was so proud of her. I actually learned a few things about her that I didn't know and I definately learned some things I can do to better organize myself. I know I said it last night, but Thank you Kandice. It really meant a lot to me that you would step out of your comfort zone and do that for me. You are a great friend! You are so knowledgeable and everybody was talking last night after you left about how wonderful it was. For a refreshment, I made this YUMMY pumpkin cake that had a layer of cream cheese in the middle and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. We also served hot apple cider. It was heavenly. Kandice provided me with the recipe, and I am so grateful! It was a hit. I had some left over and took a piece to my grandparents last night, and they gobbled it right up.

I am thankful for Kandice, and enrichment, and my family, and my friends, and my callings, and the treats that came to my door!!!

the one about playing catch up

I have been so busy this week and I haven't had time to blog. I am amazed at the people that have called or written to make sure we were ok. Thank you, my faithful friends, for being concerned. I say that i have been busy, yet I don't feel like I have accomplished anything. Well, I guess I did accomplish something sorta big. Big for me. Something I have been wanting to do for awhile now. It happened on Thursday. But I won't tell you that easy.... I will go through my week and you can find out when you get there!

Monday: We had a little family home evening lesson about working and helping out around the house. Lately I have felt like I am all alone in this department. Quayd is old enough to do his chores, but he somehow finds a way to get out of it. So we started an allowance program and we talked about tithing. So far so good. We will see how it works. Then after FHE and dinner, Quayd and I went with some friends to see Bee Movie. Brett doesn't just love the movies so we left him home. The movie was cute. Quayd loved it! Morgan was all over me the whole time, and I loved that. She is my little buddy and I just love her to death. She wanted to sit with her BF, me and her BoyF, Quayd. It was great. Janice and Greg kept apologizing about it, but seriously. I loved it. It means a lot to me to have a 2 year old that loves me that much. Kandice said she thought the movie was dumb, but I kinda liked it. I know the kids loved it, but Janice, Tari, Tara.. what did you think?

Tuesday: I did my usual... helped in Quayd's class. This has turned out to be my favorite time of every week. I love the kids in his class. I love his teacher and I just love being at school. A little known fact about me... I wanted to go into Elementary Education when I "grew up." I have one year of college under my belt and since helping in Quayd's class, I have realized how much I really love it and have actually started to consider going back to school. Shhhhhh....... don't tell anyone.

Wednesday: BUNCO! It was at Marcie's house this month and it started out great. Marcie always makes super good food. She had Chicken enchiladas and chips and salsa. She has 3 different kinds of yummy salsa and finished it all off with orange rolls. So good!!! Well just as we were getting ready to start rolling, Brett called my cell phone and told me that Quayd started throwing up EVERYWHERE! Well we all know how weak Brett's stomach is. (For those of you who don't know, he passed out during my C-Section because he couldn't handle the smell.) I could hear Quayd crying for me in the background, so I thought I better go and help out. I came home, rubbed Quayd's little back as he leaned over the toilet and watched Brett dry heave as he cleaned up the mess in the bedroom. We just got it all cleaned up and I rocked Quayd in the front room, and he puked all over me! This went on all night. He threw up hard until aobut 11:00 pm and at least once an hour until 5:00 am. It was a long night. He really moped around on Thursday, but he started feeling better that evening and was able to go back to school on Friday. Now he is back to normal. Brett also got some new teeth since his got all busted up after his motorcycle accident in September.

Thursday: This was the day I said I did something that I have been wanting to do for awhile now.... I built it up to be a big deal, and it's really not, so I hope you aren't dissapointed. I have been thinking about becoming a substitute teacher for quite sometime now. I metioned how much I love being in the classroom and I though it might be a good way to decided if it is something I would really like to persue. Quayd is getting older now and I need something to do, so I thought a part time job where I can make my own hours is a good idea. Anyway, they offer a substitute orientation at the school district office about 3 or 4 times a year. I have been planning on going for a few weeks now but then Quayd got sick. I called the office to see when they might do it again but it wasn't until February so I knew I needed to go. Quayd hadn't thrown up for awhile, so I called around, and everyone was very willing to help, but he decided he wanted to go to Ga and Pop's to be rocked. They said he did fine, and my orientation was about 3 hours long. I had to go to the jail to be fingerprinted. It was super scary. I have never been to the jail before. And I hope I never have to go again. I passed all of my stuff off and as soon as my background check comes back, (24-48 hours) I am good to teach in the district! For now, I just want to stay at Quayd's school. Then maybe next year when he is full day, I can do some more. We will seehow it all works out. I am actually pretty excited to start!
Later Thursday, I had volleyball. We lost both games. But it sure was fun!!!

Friday: Friday was my catch up on crap around the house day. I cleaned and worked all day. As I was vacuuming with my 30 year old vacuum, the bag broke and I had dirt flying EVERYWHERE! I ran to the store to get a bag. They didn't have one, so I went to another store, and another. Apparently, they don't make those bags anymore, because I am the only one in the U.S. who still uses this piece of &%$^ vacuum. So i had to buy another one. I just got a $50 one cuz I didn't really want to spend money on a vacuum right now. I got home, started putting it together and had major buyers remourse. But what was I supposed to do? So I called Brett, thinking he would be so mad that I bought a new vacuum, but he said, "Oh, it's about time. We needed one bad." So I got it all put together, still having major regrets. I plugged it in, turned it on and..... I THINK I AM IN LOVE!!!!! It really sucks! Like, REALLY sucks good! I couldn't believe how clean my carpet looks. It almost looks like I shampooed it. So my buyers remourse is gone. And I have a new best friend.

So that is my week. Not to exciting. In review, we had the stomach flu, substitiue teacher orientation, new teeth, and a new, super sucky vacuum!