Happy Halloween

Halloween is just one of those holidays that passes under my radar. I don't think about it far enough in advance to get or think of good costumes, and it just kinda sneaks up on me. That and we usually don't have any Halloween parties to go to that we need to dress up for besides the Chili Party, but again it just sneaks up on me. It makes me want to have kids just so I have an excuse to go all out by dressing up and going trick or treating. I was thinking I might throw on an old prom dress and be a princess for the trick or treaters, but I'm not expecting to many of those being up on the third floor.

I found this picture and it made me smile so I thought I would share. It's from back in March when I watched Harli, Sam and Minni. I love how Abbi looks like she's given up the will to live.

Also, I updated my quote and joke of the week finally.

8's tag

A couple people have tagged me for this, so I better do it.

8 TV shows that I watch:
1-Grey's Anatomy
2-Private Practice
3-Pushing Daisies
4-The Office
5-John and Kate Plus 8
6-17 Kids and Counting
7-How It's Made
8-Heroes (sometimes)

8 Things that I did yesturday:
1-Went to work
2-Watched Enchanted and Underdog with Sam
3-Played with the helicopter seeds
4-Had a nap
5-cried
6-Got groceries
7-Had a bath
8-Cuddled with Abbi until I fell asleep

8 places that I love to eat
1-Mom's house
2-Sizzler
3-Famous Dave's
4-Mimi's Cafe
5-IHOP
6-Central Park
7-Wendy's
8-Fazoli's

8 Things that I am looking forward to
1-The family Chili Party today
2-Having tomorrow off after working for 6 straight days
3-Ashley coming back from vacation so I don't have to be the manager anymore
4-Christmas
5-Kevin and Whitney's wedding
6-Having babies
7-Getting out of debt
8-Getting a house someday

8 things on my wish list
1-Going on vacation to England
2-Not working
3-More tv shows on DVD
4-new clothes
5-new shoes
6-getting my hair cut and colored again
7-a new dresser
8-did I say not working?

8 people I Tag
1-Gayla
2-Seth
3-Heather
4-and whoever else wants to

Mostly pictures

I had Sammi today. She spent the morning at work with me. I think I kept her pretty well entertained. I had a whole bag of treats. We watched Enchanted and Underdog. She helped me put out some product, and she even dusted a little bit. When we got back to my house we played with the helicopter leaves. I've been eyeing them all week so excited to have Sammi come so we could play with them.

Just blessings

No picture today. Yesterday was a busy day and I've decided I don't like being busy. I worked from 8:30-4:30 (no lunch breaks) then Mom came and got me at 5 and we went to our ballot clerk training for the upcoming election. It was actually pretty fun. I was worried that it would be harder than it is. I'm excited to be doing this with my Mom, and that we get to spend more time together.

When I got home from work I checked the mail and found that Amanda's necklace that I won had come in the mail. I was very excited about that. It was a nice surprise after a long day at work. I will post pictures when I take them, I was too haggard last night to get a decent picture.

When I got home from the training my sweet sweet husband had cleaned the house. I don't think he understands how great that was. I was super stressed and felt like I had zero time and the house was a huge mess, and he had it all done when I got home. He straightened things, vaccumed and washed all the dishes by hand because our dishwasher is still acting up.

Hockey

Picture: Seth and I went down to Brockton's hockey game in Salt Lake. It was fun driving down there with Seth, we don't get to spend a whole lot of time together anymore. We met Brandon and Gayla down there. It was really fun to watch his game. They didn't win, but Brock is only a freshman in high school, so he's got another 3 years. I'm really excited that Brock is playing, I think it's cool. (I'm not sure why the picture is so small and off center.)

Thankful for: Seth. I've always thought he was the coolest person ever, (I'm sure he thinks he is too.) and have always looked up to him. I think we've grown closer over the years and think of him as one of my very best friends.

Sunday and Monday

I've been a little late on my daily posting just about everyday, and I'm super stressed about work, so I'm combining yesterday and today's posts. I apologize if I get behind these next two weeks. Last night was family night at my house. I spent all day cooking and cleaning and was exausted by the time the party started, but it was really fun. I made two different soups that I thought were very yummy, with rolls and apple juice. I had carmel and apples, but forgot about them until everyone was leaving. We basically just sat around and talked. Martin did break out some Neil Diamond on the record player and we had a impromptu dance session. (how's that for a big word, Gayla?) We celebrated Sammi, Brandon, Kayla and Martin's birthdays and they each had their own candle to blow out on the cake. Now for pictures.







I didn't get a picture of Brandon, but I think I got everyone else.

Thankful for: My wonderful family of course. I love them so much.
"To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time." ~Clara Ortega

Saturday

Picture: The 18th was Martin's b-day. I think he had a good day. I crapped out on presents this year. I couldn't think of anything to get him that he wanted that wasn't $200+ so he'll have to wait I guess. He did get calls from his family wishing him happy birthday, that made him happy. The picture is of him and his birthday pie. He wouldn't smile at first and when he did my camera wouldn't focus and then he was done, so here's a no smiley Martin.

Thankful for: Good friends to hang out with.

Friday

Today was such a good day. It feels like we did so much. I am so enamoured with that part of Utah. (Ephraim, Mount Pleasant, Manti, Gunnison) I LOVE the small town feel and the older houses and the small Mom and Pop stores. If it wasn't so far away from family and we could make a good living there I would love to move down there. We went and visited my Dad's Aunt Merlene. She was my Grandma Peterson's sister. I have vague memories of visiting her before. It's just a different way of life down there. We passed by a bake sale and had to stop. It was so much fun.

We also visited my Uncle Marlow (my Dad's brother) and we got to take a tour of his house and his cool shed. (and by shed I mean bigger than a normal size house.) It was quite amazing. He has hundreds of thousands or even millions of marbles, no joke. He also has a huge collection of mini glass bottles that are cool, and a lot of minerals, and carvings and lots of cool stuff. I loved how he told us all about everything. You can tell that he's taken a lot of people through before, and that he really loves what he does. Gayla will post pictures of him and his shop. I was going to steal them for my picture of the day, but she got mad, so I won't, but check them out. Marlow looks SO much like my Dad it's crazy.

Picture: On our way home we stopped in Santaquin, and drove up the canyon there to a really nice picnic area. The cool thing was it was like 5 minutes out of the town and you were in this mountain getaway. The fall colors were amazing. The light was fading, so we didn't get very many pictures of the colors.

Thankful for: Being immersed in history this weekend.

Thursday

Picture: Sorry this one is late and technically it's Friday, but barely. We drove down to Pleasant Grove/Ephraim area and stopped and looked at Doug's land. I hadn't seen it yet. It was really nice and secluded, so that's where my pictures are coming from today.

Thankful for: My Mom and Sister. They are the greatest women I know and I love them with my whole heart and hope to be like them someday.

Wednesday

Picture: It's been one week since my challenge started. I think all in all I accomplished my goals I set for myself. The picture today is of my room proving that it's still clean one week later. I never set a timer, but I cleaned something everyday, and I blogged everyday.

Thankful for: The feelings of accomplishment that I've had this week.

I'm going out of town tomorrow to a scrapbooking retreat in Ephraim. We've never been before so we'll see how it goes but I'm excited that my mom is coming with us. I'll be taking my laptop so if I have time and internet connection I should be able to still blog everyday.

Happy Birthday yesterday Kayla! I love you!!!!

Tuesday

Picture: My sad sad flip flop. It finally gave out. I don't have any other black flip flops, and the stores have stopped selling flip flops until spring. Is it so wrong that I'm still wearing them?

Thankful for: Afternoon naps while basking in the sun. Abbi's had the right idea all along.

Monday, Monday

Picture: I spent the day up at Gayla's today. Sammi was sick and Gayla had to take Harli to the dentist. When Gayla got back we watched Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice to get her all caught up. Sammi got bored and pushed Minni around in the stroller for a good 15 minutes and Minni just sat contently. Too funny.

Thankful for: Lazy days, and good company!

Sunday

Picture: Two pictures actually. It snowed! I can't believe it, I was hoping that we could hang on to fall for a few more weeks.

Abbi had SO much fun playing in the snow today. She went crazy, running around and eating the snow. I laughed quite a bit at her acting like a puppy.

Thankful for: Cuddling, hot chocolate and crazy dogs.

Saturday

Picture: Harli and Sam came over for a little bit today while Brandon took a test.
Thankful For: The fact that Martin has great friends that he can go hang out with, while I'm at work, so he's not bored. (I'm saving neices and nephews for another day when I have more time to blog.)

Friday

Picture: Leaves just outside our apartment building.

Thankful For: Our heater being fixed so quickly. It was just the pilot light that was out, but the maintenence guy was here within 10 minutes after Martin called. He also replaced the filter and fixed our fireplace. Granted the fireplace was easy, all he did was turn the switch on and leave it on for a minute or two. Silly us, but still I'm glad it wasn't anything more serious.

Thursday

Picture: Abbi (I promise I'll branch out) with the new layout in our apartment it's very easy to block Abbi behind the couch when she's bugging or when we eat so we don't have to put her in her kennel all the time. This is what I found when I was going to unblock her. It looks like she has given up the will to live. I laughed quite a bit about it.


Blessing: Abbi (not more than once a week, I swear) I never understood the love someone could have for an animal. She loves unconditionally, doesn't care when I have my bad days, is ALWAYS excited to see me, even if I'm only gone for a little while. She comforts me when I'm sad, protects me, and is always there to give affection.

A challenge has been issued

As I've mentioned in the past, I love reading blogs I now have over 45 that I have in my RSS feeds and check at least once a day, (more like 5-10 times a day) That may be a problem, but the only problem I see, is that those 45 blogs are not updated enough. You would think out of 45 there would be more updated than just one or two a day. So, I'm going to try something, be a part of the solution not the problem, and challenge you to do the same. I'm going to do a picture of the day and a blessing of the day. There aren't any rules, unless you want to make them up. Change things up do whatever but just try it!


For those of you who know me, I'm not much of an everyday kind of person. I'm better at the big stuff. I don't clean everyday, just major cleaning every few weeks or so. It leaks into every aspect of my life. Even my quote of the week lasted only one week... pathetic. It frustrates Martin to no end, so I'm going to try and work at it. Here is my plan....



-Blog everyday with a picture and one thing I am thankful for. Now I'm just forewarning you the pictures might all be of Abbi, but I'll try to get creative. I have been wanting to get out and take some pictures of leaves and things.


-I cleaned our bedroom last night, it's been HORRIBLY messy for a very very long time. So I'm going to attempt to keep it clean for one week.


-Set a timer and clean for 15 minutes everyday.


That's all for now. I feel really motivated and want to do more, but I know I'll be overwhelmed and not do any of it, so I'm starting small.


Picture: I'm at work so a picture from my phone archive will have to do. I love that look on his face.

Blessing: Martin. He puts up with my crap and loves me. He sees my potential, encourages me to do better, and has my best interests at heart even when I put up a fight. He makes me laugh and loves to play. He's got genes that are going to make some dang cute babies! Most of all I know he's in my corner and will always be there for me. "So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, for ever, you and me, every day."

I-Spy

Yesterday was Sammi's b-day. I made her and Harli (since I didn't get Harli a present in June) I-Spy bags. I wanted them to have handles so I just modified canvas tote bags. They aren't perfect, but it was my first try.

I listed everything that was inside and printed it out.

On the other side I took a picture of all the little items before I put them in the bag. I didn't get a chance to have them laminated. Once they are laminated they will go on the ring with the ribbon.
I think the girls liked them. They are pretty fun for adults too.

My favorite part is the ribbon.