The internet is an amazing thing!

I have a myspace account to help me keep in touch with my sister, brother, and my brother's girlfriend. Yesterday, I was posting to my brother and I got a message from a long, lost friend! My mom and her mom are best friends, and we basically grew up together. After I graduated high school I lost touch with her for the most part. We were as close as sisters, so I always wonder how she is doing. It was so good to hear from her yesterday! She sent me her email address, and I was able to send her a nice email and I got a lengthy one from her in return!
What an amazing tool that we have! After years of not talking with a dear friend and then all of the sudden we are able to reconnect while being state's away from each other. I hope that we are able to stay connected. I am so thankful for these new fangled things that weren't even part of our vocabulary 15 years ago, and today it keeps us connected to people we live far away from, helps us to create new friendships with people we would have never met without the internet, and reconnects us with long lost friends!

I've just been tagged by Stacy!!

The rules for this particular tagging are as follows: Remove the blog name in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add yourself to the bottom slot.

1. Leah

2. Heidi Z.

3. Heather

4. Stacy

5.Shannon
Then you get to select 5 people to pass the love on to. I would love to see what these people put on their list!

1. Jami

2. Kim

3. Aaron

4. Ma Wampler

5. Brian

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Wow! That seems like so long ago! I was teaching preschool, and going to college.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
Adjusting to my new life here in Utah, making new friends.

Five snacks you enjoy (in no particular order, as all snacks are created equal):
1. Popcorn
2. Strawberries
3...Hmmm, I can't think of anything else I'm not much of a snacker.

Five songs in which you KNOW all the lyrics:
1.Billy Joe McGuffey (Chris Rice...Thanks to Cameron and Kaitlyn!)
2. Broken Wing (Martina McBride)
3. Amazing Grace
4. Somewhere over the Rainbow
5. Hippopotomus (Mary Rice Hopkins)

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1. Pay off everything (House, car)
2. Take my whole family on a vacation together somewhere warm!
3. Buy bedroom furniture (we still don't have any!)
4. Finish the basement and remodel the kitchen.
5. tithe it to our church
Five bad habits:
1. Staying up too late
2. Sleeping in (see number one)
3. Not eating enough good foods (rather to much yummy stuff)
4. Too much TV
5. Not putting the laundry away (I'm working on it!)
Five things you like doing:
1. Hiking with my family
2. Camping
3. Creating
4. Reading
5. Organizing my house

5 things you would never wear, buy or get again:
1. My bowling shoes (they were these red plastic shoes that I loved and my family called them my bowling shoes...sadly they are long gone now!)
2. Anything NEON in color.
3. Rolling up my jeans (or pegging as it was called...ugg!)
4. No 2 toned socks...on color on top the other on the bottom and vice versa on the other foot!
5. Ok, not something that could be bought but something that I will never do again.... the WALL of HAIR! You know, the bangs that are shallacked straight up with hairspray and then curled back just on the ends...UGG! What was I thinking!

Five favorite toys:
1. My art supplies (stickers, markers, stamps, paper, glue...the list goes on and on just ask Aaron!)
2. My computer and printer I count these as one.
3. My camera
4. My dyson vacuum (stacy I can't believe dyson isn't on your list!)
5. My playmates...Aidan and Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn's Jewlrey

A sample of just a few of the beads she brought with her, she has a HUGE suitcase filled with these little boxes that are all filled with beads, she pulled out the more inexpensive ones that would keep the cost to what I had asked for, but there was still a huge selection for the girls.


As per requested here is a rather blury picture of Kaitlyn's necklace and bracelet. I had a hard time getting the pictures to turn out, but at least you can see what it turned out like. I wish I had taken pictures of all the samples that the "bead lady" did, they were very pretty. The girls really had a good time making the bracelets.

Parties and Painting

The party was a success! Kaitlyn had a great time and the girls all did a great job on their bracelets. We had 12 girls come, so 13 counting Kaitlyn. Since I stay at home with Aidan it was nice to actually get to meet her friends from school. They are all a very nice and diverse group of girls. Kaitlyn had a wonderful time, and they all went home with some beautiful creations. I would love to post the picture of all the girls and their bracelets, but I don't have permission from their parents to post it on the internet, so I think it best not to. So, you will just have to take my word on it :0)
Another thing I am excited about is that I finally took the plunge and painted my kitchen. Just 3 walls, but I really think that it makes things "pop". I have been thinking about it for a long time and on the way home from church on Sunday we stopped at lowes and bought the paint (only 1 gallon and I didn't even use all of it). It went pretty quick and I love the results!
I am now looking for window treatments, which I think will really finish the whole room. I feel like I am finally starting to make this house our "home". Pictures are finally being framed and hung on the walls, and things are being painted in our colors and it is just feeling homey now. Amazing what a gallon of red paint and a few hours will do for your home.
Next we are planning on doing our bedroom.
Aaron found some really neat black and white pictures of Italy and France at world market that I plan to get black frames for. So, we are still in the discussion phase for this one, but I think we are going to try our hand at a French country look...
And on one last note...We have girl scouts tonight. Kaitlyn is excited because cookie sales are starting on Saturday. We aren't allowed to sale online, but let me just say if you are in the market for some I know of an excellent source!

Funny Aidan.

I love my kids, and sometimes they do the funniest and sweetest things....
Yesterday we were getting ready to go out. So, I put Aidan in one of his new "spideman" outfits that he recieved for Christmas. Only this one has a vest (or as he says jacket). I wanted him to wear it, he HATES jackets. So, while I was folding the laundry he went upstairs and took it off. When I brought the laundry upstairs he said "I took my jacket off" I told him it was time to go and he needed to put it back on, but I didn't see it anywhere. I told him to show me where he put it, he proceeds to crawl under his bed and pull it out! HA! I mean how many 2 (almost 3) year olds come up with stuffing it under their bed so that they won't have to wear it. I thought it was too funny!
Later that same day we go to the bank, the girl scout store, the gas station, the mall and best buy...everytime we were walking out of one of the stores he would say to me "That was fun!" Even at the gas station :0)
While at the mall we needed to get him a belt. While looking at them I hear "I want a belt like Unc Sean" And sure enough there was a studded one that looked just like my brother's, unfortunately it was still too big for him, but we got one that in his eyes looked close enough to "Unc Sean's". Now if I can get him to actually wear it....

I fixed my blog!

So, I have been wondering why nobody has been posting comments to my blog. I know people who read it, and some people have told me they commented on it, but I never saw the comments.
Well, I guess in my zeal to keep unwanted comments (people trying to sell me something or such) that I had marked "Moderate comments" which means that I have to go in and mark them and then they will be published to my blog... So, now that I know what is going on I fixed it. I appreciate the comments from everyone, and I was not ignoring you! LOL! So, please keep on posting, I don't have to moderate them anymore.

Invite 

Birthday Invites.

I finished the birthday party invitations. They turned out pretty cute I think...Kaitlyn likes them and that is all that matters. She is excited for her party. We are having it on the 14th, inviting 15 girls and have the bead lady coming. The girls will be making necklaces and bracelets...so this year is a total girly party! So, now I just have to get those Christmas decorations put away...something I am so not looking forward too.

Getting back to normal.

Christmas is over, and this has been the first year I've been glad to see it go. My poor babies were sick and could not enjoy it. We practically had to force Aidan to open his gifts. Aaron's Brother and family were here and ended up taking the junk (illness) home with them. I haven't heard from then, but hope they are all feeling better now. It was nice to visit even though the kids and I didn't get to go on all the fun outings this time...oh well there is always next time.
Kaitlyn had a great birthday. I was so happy both the kids were feeling better by then. We ended up going to the Natural History Museum and then on to McDonalds for lunch. We had some clothes to exchange at Khol's so we did that next and then headed on home. After Aaron got home we headed out for Kaitlyn's favorite dinner...Sushi! Yes, she loves sushi and will pick that almost over anything. Then afterwards we drove around and looked at the downtown lights. Back home for presents and ice cream... we will have the cake at her party on the 15th.
New Years was spent with some of our very good friends, and this was the first year that either of my kids made it until midnight...this year they both made it. We had a great time chatting, eating and playing games.
So, now it is time to put the Christmas decorations away. Wake up with the alarm clock and get Kaitlyn on the School bus...everything back to normal...and hopefully it stays that way for awhile!
We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wish you all a Happy Year full of good health and no influenza virus!