Thursday, August 28, 2008

Pray for Heather




Hi everyone, I just wanted to put this out to whoever knows our Best girl, Heather Stokes.  She needs our prayers right now.  She's in the hospital from having a stroke yesterday.  She's still in a lot of pain and her vision is still not right.  So let's pray for her doctors so they will be able to know what the problem is and fix it!!  We want Heather to continue to be able to see all of the pretty things she loves in this world.  We love you Heather!


*Update!  Heather's Hubby started a blog so we can keep up with the latest information and updates on her condition.  www.heatherstokes.blogspot.com

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Big Talk



Okay, I hope this doesn't offend anyone that I choose to blog about this, but I feel if it will help others dreading their own upcoming "Talk", than yeah!  Some of you know I've been talking about this and sweating over this ever since Alex turned eight, (now she's almost nine!) . . . The Big Talk. . . S-E-X!!  #*&#$*!!#!!!!  I've been putting it off and putting it off and putting it off, thinking maybe some smart kid at school will just tell her and we'll be off the hook, right?  Well, that's exactly what we were trying to avoid. 

I read the book by Richard and Linda Eyre, "How to Talk to Your Kids About Sex". It says that, nowadays, age eight is the time to tell them because of this crazy world we live in.  I was never given "The Big Talk" growing up, so you can only imagine what my wedding night was like! (ha ha, jk)  Anyway, I had nothing to base this talk on and that's why I was freaking out a bit.  The Eyres' book really helped.  They also suggest you have your eight year old read a book called, "Where Did I Come From", which I got and read.  I don't know if it's me and my giggles, but chubby cartoon characters with certain body parts explaining and showing the process was a little too much for me.  So Dave, the Great, suggested we just sit down with her and tell her ourselves. We can do it!  Okey dokey!!  So we hyped it up a little to Al and said we had a special night planned for her, and that we were going to take her out to dinner and a movie and talk to her about something really, really great and amazing.  So before dinner and a movie we stopped at the Mount Timpanogos temple and had our "talk" out on the grass, sweaty palms and all!  Dave took the lead and did a great job!  He started with explaining how Heavenly Father gives us gifts and how wonderful families are to names of body parts and how babies are made to how important it is that we're married in the temple and be committed to eachother.  I did have to nudge him with my foot at one point when he started saying how fun it was and different positions he liked . . . Totally kidding.   Other than that, it really wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  Alex took it surprisingly well and in the end thought it was weird . . . Awesome!  We did it!  One down and two to go. . . But seriously, it ended up being a really great positive spiritual experience and we survived! 

 

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Our Next Bachelor





Just when I said, "The Bachelor is a lame bunch of crap!!"  and, "I will never ever watch it again!!". . . . I get sucked right back in!  Mr. Jason Mesnick will be our Bachelor come January 2009!   We all want him to find his true love...and we know FOR SURE he will and be together forever!  Katie, fire up the theater here comes more totally awesome "reality" TV!  (p.s.  Should he really leave his son that long again?)

Jane Austen Quiz






I took this Quiz and am apparently Elinor Dashwood.  Hmmmm, I was hoping more for Miss Emma Woodhouse.  Oh well.

Monday, August 18, 2008

3rd Grader


Alex's first day being a 3rd grader!  Where does the time go?  She's so old!  She is such a great girl and I'm so proud of her!  I love you Alex!  



This is her new teacher, Mr Pratt.

Newport Beach



I finally have a minute to sit down and post something!  We had another great trip!  The easiest vacation ever!  The kids thought they died and went to heaven!  Roll out of bed, throw on your swimsuit and run out to the beach!  And when I say ROLL, I mean it!  A week filled with Gelato, Sprinkles Cupcakes and Asian Donut shops...Rolling out of bed describes things perfectly!  

Alex found about 500 seashells, one sand dollar, 2 large crabs and about 150 sand crabs.  She learned how to boogie board with the big guys and of course made lots of new friends.  Andie filled every swimsuit with sand rolling around in the water and took a couple of random naps on the beach.  One after she got buried and shaped into a sea turtle and one just walking up to get a towel.  She's hilarious.  Avery loved the whole experience.  This was all new for her!  I can't believe how much sand can get lodged into so many places!  She loved digging with her cousin Gavin,  sitting on a beach chair and sharing a sandy snack with her cousin Ryder and throwing sand at everyone else.  And she loved getting her feet wet in the water!  

We did take a day and go to Knott's Berry Farm!  I grew up choosing that over Disneyland every year, (And yes, I'm sure there were shoulder pads there too.)  I blacked out on Montezuma's Revenge... I may be getting too old for this!  So it was fun to ride the Log Ride and eat Knott's Chicken dinner for old times sake.  I would recommend going in the spring or fall... summer is pretty hot!

So it ended up being a really good time!  I have lots of pictures recapping the trip here if you want to take a look.  Thanks Aaron for planning this event and taking all these great pictures!  You're the Best!