Candids

Candid describes someone or something said which is fair, honest or said in a casual way. (adjective)

A candid is an informal or natural photograph. (adjective)

 

1. Photos taken of babies are often examples of candid photography.
2. A photograph that isn't posed is an example of a candid photograph

Madison asked me if I'd posted this picture of my on my blog.  I'd forgotten, so here it is.  "Madison, you're so short!  What happened?!"



Ashton loves to play basketball. We're getting him a new hoop for Christmas or his birthday, his b'day is on December 15th.

Bailee was laid up on the couch with her injured foot.  Ashton loves to cuddle up with blankets and sometimes with his family.

Bailee was enjoying a snack of potato chips dipped in peanut butter.  I introduced the girls to this snack.  I don't remember how I came upon it, but it's pretty yummy!

Bailee wore a handkerchief on her foot for about 5 days.  I'm glad her foot is healing up nicely and the handkerchief is gone.

Foot rest

Bailee took this picture of herself.  She looks so grown up in it. :(

Temple dedication

Today Madison and I went to the broadcast of the Brigham City Temple dedication.  I felt the spirit so strong, I loved it!!  The feeling was almost equivalent to the peace I feel in the actual temple.  This was the first dedication I've been too.  Madison came with me, she enjoyed it but started to get a little bored and wiggly.  Bailee and Ashton stayed home and my friend Mindy and her daughter Aubrey came over to watch them during the noon session.  It was so thoughtful of them to watch the little ones so we could go.  I really appreciate it! I'm just sorry that Jeff had to work and wasn't able to be there.  Hopefully he can go, if/when there is another dedication in the future.

Gumballs

Lately Bailee has been really interesting in mixing colors and coming up with new colors.  I was teaching her which color combinations work well to make new colors and somehow the idea of chewing bubble gum pieces together came to us.  We already had this huge container of bubble gum from Bailee's birthday this past July.  She likes to request certain colors now and is excited to show me the color it makes.

Here she is showing me the mixture of blue and red, which of course made purple.  It's kinda hard to tell from the photo.  I told her to hang the gum out of her mouth like that and she went right along with it!  I have fun with my kiddos! :D

The best knocker in the west

If Ashton were entered into a contest for the best toddler door knocker, I bet he'd win. ;)

A few days ago, I went into the bathroom and closed the door.  Ash and I were the only ones home, the girls were at school.  Sometimes I leave the door open, but this time I closed it.  Ashton came up to the door jabbering and started knocking.  Then he knocked again, but it sounded so good, just like an adult would knock.  I was kinda spooked and wondered if Jeff was home and had done it.  I checked out the house though, and came to the conclusion that it was just Ashton with his adult-like knock :D 

Ashton is really good with his hands.  He is already an excellent ball thrower, take my word for it, I have to dodge a ball aiming for my face at least once a day.  It's funny because Ashton is good with his hands but not with his feet.  Trying to get him to put his legs/feet through the leg openings in the shopping cart is almost a two-person job.  It cracks me up!

A little bit greener

I love living in Vernal!  But one of the things that I miss about Orem is the ease of recycling there.  We had a big blue garbage can provided by the city that would get picked up and dumped every other week, by the city, so convenient!  In it we recycled paper, plastic, aluminum cans, etc...It's been hard for me living here and throwing away so much stuff that could be recycled.  I recently wised up after noticing the large garbage cans inside Walmart, I decided to start saving and recycling plastic bottles along with the plastic bags we'd already been bringing there.  I've done it a few times now, so thankfully it's becoming a habit.  I feel a little better.  I just wish there was somewhere to recycle paper.  I need to do a little research on that.

Oatmeal, who knew??

Does that look delicious or what?  I never thought I'd crave oatmeal, but ever since girls camp this past July, I have been.  My friend Mindy introduced me to oatmeal goodness.  It was her great idea for us to have an oatmeal bar the morning that we provided breakfast for our stake.  It was so good and I've loved it since then!

Oatmeal, Irish Cream (oops I mean Hazelnut creamer), Granola, Chocolate chips, Almonds and sometimes Fruit.  It tastes like a dessert and is healthy and filling for any time of the day.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Last night I was laying in bed thinking before I fell asleep. My mind was skipping around, one thought leading into another, as thoughts often do.  I decided that my thoughts could fit into these three categories on this particular night.

The Good:
Jeff mowed the lawn this evening while I was at Young Women's.  Yay!  I was excited about this because as I was walking to the van to get ready to leave, I glanced at the lawn and thought, "I hope Jeff mows the lawn.....I should go remind him."  But then the thought came to me, "Don't say a word about it, he's a big boy."  Good job, Jeff!

Gabby

The Bad:
I will no longer be watching Gabby.  Her parents are taking her to daycare now.  The reason I was thinking this was bad last night, is because I was irritated with how her parents handled our babysitting agreement.  I'm getting over it now though, and feeling not so bad. :)



 A random photo of me and Rooks.

The Ugly:
There is this lady I know, and she knows me too.  We get along just fine, but when I see her around, she will not look at me.  I don't take offense to her not looking at me, it's just a little...odd.  I decided it's because she thinks I'm ugly.  Just kidding, I don't think she thinks that, maybe she's shy.  I think I might have to start doing silly/crazy things when I see this lady and see if I can get her to look at me!  Ha ha! Hee hee!

Tour of Italy....sorta

I recently tried this new food, new for us anyway.  I got this fettucine pasta that comes packaged in little "nests".  It's really good pasta!  We also tried these crunchy breadsticks, they are yummy too!  Ashton really liked them.  As I'm chewing them, the flavor slightly resembles the delectable bread they give you at Macaroni Grill.  I love that bread and olive oil!  I also have a favorite alfredo sauce that I buy in the refridgerated section.  I don't remember the name though, only what the container looks like.  I'll have to post it later.  Anyway, this was an easy and tasty dinner.  I think we had some broccoli with it too. :)

Jinxed By The Kids

The lighting was better this morning so I was able to get some better yet more unattractive photos of Bailee's foot.  Bailee thinks that she shouldn't go to school because of her wound, but I have news for her, she is going.  It should be fine with her shoe.  I'm hoping she can skip gym class today and recess for a few days.

The kids have me a worried now.  This morning Madison said, "First, Ashton cut his lip, now Bailee cut her foot, I'm next, then Mom and Dad."  Ahh!  Then Bailee chimed in and said, "Yeah, I wonder what will happen to Mom and Dad?"  Yikes!  Keep your fingers crossed for us...

Bailee's Foot

Poor Bailee cut her foot this evening.  She and I went to the ER to have it looked at.  I wasn't sure if she needed stitches or not, there was quite a bit of blood dripping from it.  We ended up just having the doctor put medical glue on it to hold the wound closed, that's why it looks so shiny.

It was a pretty stressful evening.  It's crazy how one minute things are fine and the next minute all heck is breaking loose.  I forgot to mention she cut it on a metal door that gives us access to under our house (not that I ever venture under there ;)  Anyhow, just one of those unfortunate accidents.  She was screaming and crying, I was trying to keep my wits together and think of what the best course of action would be.  Poor Ashton was crying and I couldn't really console him because I needed to take care of Bailee.  When she and I left for the hospital, Ashton and Madison were crying.  Once we left though, Madison was a big help and got Ashton calmed down and my neighbor who happened to be in the right place at the right time came over to check on the kids till Jeff got home.

Here's brave Bailee resting on the couch after we got home.  She was antsy to get the hospital bracelet off.  She had to lay on the couch for a little bit to let the glue dry.  We could have gotten stitches on the deepest cut area, but we thought stitches would be such a pain to walk on, so hopefully the glue holds.

Bailee colored this beautiful picture during our wait at the hospital.  One nice thing was, I knew our nurse from our ward and I knew the lady who checked us in and out, from highschool.  She and I were good friends.  It's always nice to see familiar faces, especially during stressful times.  I'm thankful for their extra tlc.

My Left-Handed Girls

 Madison and Bailee are both left-handed.  The girls have never complained about living in a right-handed world.  I've been thinking about it a little more lately and thought maybe I should give their left-handedness a bit more attention, for their convenience. :)

 

I discovered that International Left-Handers' Day is August 13th, which will be easy to remember because that is also my mom's birthday!

 

"The idea of Left-Handers' Day is of everyone to celebrate in fun, practical ways, making right handed family members/friends/colleagues realize how "dexterous" we have to be because we are constantly adapting a right-handed world to work for a left-hander. Getting right handers to do everything left-handed for the day is a great way to make the point!"

 

Ideas of things to do in the Kitchen

 

Fill & pour pitchers

Pour from milk/measuring cups/spoons

Open tin cans with a can opener

Peel vegetables/fruit

Use microwave (controls are often positioned on right of the equipment)

Using spatulas (angled ones go the wrong way for left hand use)

Cutting bread

Eating & drinking - reverse cutlery and have drink in left hand

Cutting - using right-handed scissors in left hand is an excellent example of totally right-biased design that doesn't work well.

Using scissors can be an activity for any room in the house.

Here are some fascinating facts I discovered on www.lefthandersday.com

  

Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater.

Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing.

Left-handers usually reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers.

4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed

1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed - 250% more than the normal level.

 

Stuttering and dyslexia occur more often in left-handers (particularly if they are forced to change their writing hand as a child, like King of England George VI).

 

What's up with the quilt??

So, what's up with all the quilt photos??

This is an old quilt that was my grand dad's and grandmother's.  Yes, that's what we called my grandparent's, grand dad and grandmother.  That's what my dad and my dad's brother's (my uncles) referred to them as, so of course it stuck.  We call my grandparents on my mom's side grandma and grandpa.  Anyhow, enough said about that.  This was their quilt, and I've been meaning to have it in family photos with us, so I decided we'd go take some pictures in our backyard.  I never get to see the quilt since I keep it neatly folded up and packaged under my bed, so it's nice to see it in these photos.

Ashton's Words

 

Ashton just started saying, "Please" and "Thank you" a couple of days ago.  It's so cute, we love it!

 



Nerd Alert!

Madison's classroom president decided their Friday
Activity would be dressing up like "nerds", so that's what they did.
She's got fake plastic fingers on her pinkies, she didn't actually wear those to school.

Madison told me she dared someone to take a picture of her like this, I said, "I'll do it!".  No hesitation there.

She was having a lot of fun at home being a nerd, I hope she's having as much fun at school. ;-)

Dance

Madison and Bailee both started their dance classes this week.
Madison is taking a Modern dance class and...

Bailee is taking a Creative dance class.
Here Bailee is showing one of her stretches, "the book is opened".

And now it's closed.

It's fun to see the new things they learn.  I went to school with their dance teacher, Miss Rachel, she's a great dancer and so kind.
(It's cute with Gabby in the back, demonstrating her stretches too :)

In Record Redford Time

Madison's been begging to get our Halloween decorations out.  I usually wait until the very beginning of October, but I gave in this year.  Madison is very much looking forward to the Halloween festivities this year.

I still have a fair amount of decorating to do, but we've got a head start.

As usual, when the decorations come out, so do the wigs and other dress ups.

Poor Ashton.  He's a good sport about it for a minute or two.

This picture says it all!

Jeff

This is a photo of Jeff and his mom, Jeanne, from our wedding day, July 08, 2000. 
 

I'm getting burnt out on this phrase, but I'll use it just this one time...

I moustache you a question,
but I'm shaving it for later...

Jeff's been making me laugh lately by holding objects above his lip like a moustache, which is ironic since he used to have one.  Just this morning at the grocery store, he held up some type of vegetable from Thailand as a faux moustache and made me laugh out loud, he usually catches me off guard. :D

I'm so grateful for my husband who loves me despite all of my flaws.  Who makes me laugh, comforts me when I cry and is my biggest fan.  Love him!
 

Sunday Best

As soon as I pulled out the camera, they all started acting up.  This photo will be perfect for our family Christmas card this year. ;-) 

Too bad this one is blurry.



And in this one Ashton turned away and was being resistant.  There's always next time...

Ashton got hurt this week.  One injury was on his chin, he bonked his face as he was getting off of a rocking horse in nursery.  The other injury was to his mouth.  He ran into the swing set bar while driving our Barbie jeep.  His upper and lower lip were cut and bleeding, he got a fat lip and bruising above his upper lip.  Poor boy.  He handled it like a toughie.

Celebrity Look Alikes

 

Last night at our Young Women's activity, Marinn one of the sweet young women, who's almost always is in attendance, told me that I remind her of this actress, Linda Boyd.  I guess she's in the movie, "She's the Man", I haven't seen in, I might have to now.  I need to see this lady in action, see if she really is like me.  When I was looking her up online, I found that she and I actually share the same birthday, January 28th, I thought that was ironic!

 

 

 

Our dental hygienist, Amy, thinks that this actor, James Caviezel resembles Jeff.  I kinda think so too!  He and Jeff don't share the same birthday though. :)  That would be really weird if they did!  I noticed that in both of these photos, they have their arms crossed, maybe Jeff and I need to start posing like that too. ;-)