Places to Visit

A top 10 list of places I'd like to visit (in no particular order):

1. Australia
2. New England (don't know if upstate NY is part of this, but I'm including it)
3. Pacific Northwest
4. Midwest (I know that's a large area, but I love the rural midwest feeling.)
5. Chicago
6. NYC--want to go back to again w/ Randy
7. England
8. Germany
9. Alaska
10. New Zealand

Stow-away?

Jenna was intrigued by Randy's luggage as he packed for Canada a few nights ago. I missed the shots where she was trying to crawl into the luggage, but I got shots of her sitting on it and having a grand time. She is an extremely busy and curious little girl!

Crashed

Sydney came home from playing at a friend's house after several hours, ate her pizza, and crashed on the couch...around 6:30. She's still asleep and in bed now. Gotta love it!

Tug of War

Jenna played tug of war with the camera while I tried getting a few shots of her late last night. She is so cute that I just want to eat her!

Lessons Learned

Just wanted to share a couple lessons that I've learned over the past two days.

1. Do not feed your child prunes if she is not constipated. The result has been at least 7 messy diapers. We're hoping she's through. Ummm...make that 8, as of 11pm.

2. Downsizing does not come easy. I was spoiled by having our Hyundai Azera (Limited edition, Ultimate package...you get the picture...it was nice). I just bought a new car today, a Hyundai Sonata, which was a step down for my vain self. It was really tough to make the decision, but I knew that taking advantage of the 0% interest was a good thing. Even though it still pains me (a LOT), I will get over it and be grateful I'm spending $110 or so less on a car payment each month.

I know we learn tons of lessons as we journey through life, but these two have been constant reminders yesterday & today. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Another Recipe

Go check out the Peppermint Hot Chocolate recipe that I just posted. It was given to us by some friends in Idaho and is Randy's favorite.

Toilet Paper

Jenna managed to make her first toilet paper mess the morning that we left for New Mexico. The fun has begun!

Thanksgiving Vacation

Our family enjoyed a week long break by going to New Mexico for 4 days before Thanksgiving, then spending 3 days in St. George attending a reunion with my mom's family. I didn't take very many pictures, but here are the highlights.

*Visiting with a family that I used to babysit for. They have since moved from my parents' ward in Kirtland to Randy's parents' ward in Farmington. Their children loved Sydney & Jenna.

*Being there for the debut of Louise's (Randy's mom) new player grand piano.

*Randy golfing with his brother, Brad.

*Grandma Chipman taking the girls to build stuffed animals. Sydney got a bear and named her Sarah. I got Jenna an elephant, which Sydney named Lizzie. Sydney has since changed the names.


*Unusual 70 degree weather in NM. It was gorgeous!

*Being able to take my brother, Grant, with us to St. George.

*My mom and sister making my pies and jello salad for me in St. George so we could spend more time with Randy's family in NM.

*Visiting with cousins that I haven't seen in several years. Also, visiting with everyone else who was there.

*Getting to bed early 2 nights in a row!

*Sydney playing really well with her cousin, Brianna.


*Not overeating for Thanksgiving dinner. (Although I did put on quite a bit of weight...7 1/2 disgusting pounds! Now that's sick! I ate when I was bored in NM, and I also had fast food 7 times during that week. Yuck! I am working on it this week for sure!!)

I am excited to be home, be in my bed again, and get going on another week. It's always good to get away, then good to be back home.

I Love

Seeing Jenna move & learn how to use her body. She is now pulling herself up to a standing position in her crib & sometimes at the couch. (She's standing up in the above picture.) I also love chatting in person with my sisters. I got to do that with Tiffany and Kelsey last night, and it was wonderful. I love hugging Randy when he comes home from work. I love being on top of our finances and paperwork. I love that I finally have my own cell phone. (Randy just got a new Blackberry through work, so I now have his old one.) I love 60 degree weather. And finally, I love Sydney. She is so precious, sweet, and cute.

Garland & Goodies

I mailed my Garland & Goodies Swap package to my partner yesterday & she should get it in the mail tomorrow. I had so much fun doing it. I even broke out the mod-podge this past weekend for it! I made a simple felt garland, but it turned out darling. I also did a paper mache Christmas tree box with the mod-podge & green tissue paper. That also turned out beautifully. All of this simple craftiness made me want to do more. Thanks, Candace, and all of you crafty friends out there for inspiring me!

Happy birthday to my favorite person!

Today is Randy's 28th birthday. Here are 28 things you may not know about him, as well as some of his great attributes. Happy birthday, Randy! Thank you for loving me. I'm so glad you're mine!


1. Hiked Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia
2. Snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef
3. Provides an amazing balance to our marriage
4. Worked full-time while going to college full-time…Just because he wanted to.
5. Would like to coach high school basketball some day
6. Does not like to be late
7. Was named after his Uncle Jim, who is MIA from Vietnam
8. Had meningitis as a baby, and was hospitalized over it on his 1st birthday
9. He is deaf in his left ear from the meningitis. He has compensated very well for this throughout his life, and he won’t like me telling you that he’s deaf.
10. Was the only guy his senior year of high school to play 3 sports (football, basketball & track)
11. Talks in his sleep when he’s extremely tired
12. Is very sociable and can talk to just about anyone
13. Likes to negotiate for a great deal
14. Could eat a whole bag of chips & a bottle of salsa in 2 sittings
15. Likes to have something to snack on in the evenings (or for Aussie slang, he gets “peckish”)
16. He says the first time that he saw me, he thought, “She would look really good in a wedding dress.” Now that’s random!
17. Has recently gotten immersed into Fantasy Football
18. Plays FIFA Soccer on the Xbox everyday at work
19. Was arrested for stealing street signs with his friends in high school
20. Likes to change things up…job, sides of the bed, whatever
21. Loves to read and learn
22. Plays really well with the girls & is an amazing dad
23. Likes to be busy & is extremely motivated
24. Is an entrepreneur at heart—he can’t wait to be his own boss
25. Likes a good challenge--anything from work, to hiking the Grand Canyon, to building shelving in our closets
26. Always wants to live near a city with a professional sports team
27. Does not like tomatoes, onions, sour cream, or cottage cheese (but he loves salsa!?!?)
28. Is extremely willing to help others out, no questions asked

An Act of Kindness

I came home from running errands today to find this on my front porch. Whoever you are, THANK YOU!!

Age Mixup?

Do you think my stake leaders got my age mixed up? I'm 27, not 72. That being said, I have been called, sustained, and set apart as...a Stake Extraction Worker! Kinda funny because I always picture this being and "old person" calling. I don't know what I'll be doing yet, if it's just going to be continuing my indexing work, or if it will be something more. I'm actually excited, but I just thought you all needed a good chuckle today.

Gratitude

I have felt so much gratitude in my heart recently, so I've decided to share some of those feelings here.

*I'm grateful for this country that we live in. I'm grateful that I can have a say in the government. It made me really proud to be able to tell Sydney what it meant to vote and why we do it. I'm grateful we have so many freedoms. I'm also grateful for all the many military personnel and their families who have sacrificed so much for the sake of our nation. What a blessing it is to live here.

*I'm grateful for our amazing family. This year has been a rough one for us. It's been a case of Murphy's Law for one of our businesses. Whatever could go wrong has gone wrong. Our family has been there for us, both emotionally and financially. I won't pretend that we've done it alone this year. It has been extremely humbling. Those with very little to give have been so generous with us or have made offers to do whatever they can. I am amazed. I can't even begin to list everything that has been done for us, but please know that we are incredibly grateful for the support of our family.

*I'm grateful for the beauty of nature. It is a gift and blessing from our Father in Heaven. It makes tough days easier when I can look outside and love what I see.

*I'm grateful for my testimony. It has sustained me through the past 9 months as things have been difficult. I'm grateful for the power of prayer--not that prayers have yet been answered in the ways that I want, but that we have been enabled through Christ to make it. I truly have the faith and hope that things will get better. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but we will make it.

*I'm grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord. Inspiring counsel from prophets. Scriptures. Witnessing tender moments between Randy and the girls. Opportunities to serve. Good friends, including all of you. Despite the trials we face right now, the Lord has shown us His love. He blesses us with His tender mercies each day, if we will but open our hearts to see them.

Note from my green eyes

Dear Keri,

Can you please take better care of us? We recognize you were so excited about changing to a new pair of contacts last night that you forgot to take the old pair out. You didn't even notice when you put your glasses on that we were straining. I guess I can let you go on that one...You were rocking a baby to sleep late at night. But this morning, didn't you notice that you still had your contacts in? The hard part for us was when you decided to put your new contacts in on top of your old ones. We could see your confusion as you tried to figure out what was wrong with your vision--what it one of us or both? why did the contacts seem so blue? Funny thing is, you managed to take one contact out, inspect it, and put it right back in. We were sure glad when you decided to take your contacts out once and for all and realized the mistake. Thank you for giving us a break today by wearing your glasses. We needed it!

Sincerely,
Your Green Eyes

Happy birthday to me!

In honor of my 27th birthday today, I just wanted to share 27 random things about me that you probably don't know. Happy reading!

1. I was named after my grandma, Elaine, because I was born on her birthday. I would have been named Keri Suzanne. Both are cute names.
2. I grew up with lots of horses, but have always been afraid of them. Thank goodness for older sisters and younger brothers who took care of them!
3. I grew up in a trailer that was added onto with another trailer that was later added onto again and modified to be a home.
4. I used to hunt lizards with my sisters and cousins when I was younger.
5. My sisters and I went tubing down an irrigation ditch the same summer that my cousin drowned in the ditch. Scary!!! (Now that I think of it, I don’t know HOW my mom let us do it!)
6. I was accepted to BYU (with scholarships) twice, but both times opted to go to & stay at Ricks College/BYU-Idaho.
7. I have never dyed my hair.
8. I had my first boyfriend & kiss at age 20.
9. I did not marry the only man who has proposed to me.
10. I was married less than a year after being proposed to by someone else. And I had another boyfriend in between that.
11. I hated Calculus. It was my first B in college. Didn’t end up even needing calculus as part of my major.
12. I never opened presents on Christmas morning growing up. Until I was married, I always opened presents on Christmas Eve.
13. I never believed in Santa Claus. Don’t know if I’ll teach my kids to believe in Santa, either.
14. My first pair of contacts was green tinted. Loved them.
15. I was not allowed to have a job in high school. My job was to get good grades. It paid off, since I got some good scholarships.
16. I don’t like cats…at all.
17. I had such a good experience giving birth this last time that I feel like I could do it for a living. It was that good!
18. I love cross country skiing.
19. I consider myself neither a morning person nor a night owl. I really wish I was a morning person, though.
20. I would talk to my mom on the phone all day if I could.
21. I enjoy folding laundry. I enjoy weeding even more.
22. My closets are organized—always.
23. I faithfully wrote my brothers each week on their missions.
24. I’m the only one in Randy’s family without blue eyes.
25. I have over 75 (1st) cousins. 14 of them are what I would consider the same age as me. I could name all 75+ at any given moment.
26. I had 17 different roommates at college. I was the first one married out of all of them.
27. I thought I was fat when I weighed 112 lbs…Now 112 lbs is a dream!

School Vouchers and Referendum 1

Keri is off getting away from the kids tonight and so I thought that I would take a minute and post on an issue that I am very passionate about. If you are in Utah and not living in a cave, then you are very away of Referendum 1 and school vouchers. Let me just say that Keri and I are huge supporters of Referendum 1. I have put a couple short videos here, that by no means are the whole enchilada, but I think they do a very good job on the topic. In addition, here is a well written article that I encourage you to read.

I wish that I could force the hand of millions of voters next week pass this bill, that the Governor all ready signed into law, but we all know that I can’t do that. But what I can do is to encourage everybody to get educated on this issue and to get out and vote on Nov. 6th (this coming Tues).

So please, educate yourself, know the source of your information and make a difference in your kids education.

Thanks to Teri for sending us this article as well. Also very good.

Walnuts

The girls and I went outside into the beautful sunshine and cracked some walnuts today. Enjoy the pictures!