Date

Natalia was dressed for the day, but then wanted her little mermaid night gown over the top of her clothes. She went downstairs and found her "Target dollar section dress-up" high heels, which she calls "ballet slippers." After putting them on, she announced very excitedly, "GOODBYE, I'm going on a date!" Then she scooted out of my room.

Not 20 seconds later she was back. "How was your date?" I asked.

"Good," she said.

"Who took you on a date?" I had to ask.

"Daddy!" she was happy to report.

(If we can just keep it that way until she is 18!!!! =)

Soup

I always try to write down (or type) the funny things my kids say. I was reading a friends blog and was reminded of the following story.

Brian and Melanie were watching all the kids from co-op. Brian put in Star Wars for the kids to watch. (??????) This was Wyatt's first exposure to the movies, and he has been hooked ever since. In the movie, Luke starts a fire and burns something. Wyatt asked Brian what they were doing.

Brian told him they were burning Darth Vaders suit.

Wyatt sat for a moment and then asked, "What's in Darth Vader soup?"
................"chicken?"


I have another one...
We were at my parents' house a year ago. I put 3 meatballs on Wyatt's plate and said, "You get three meat balls because you're three." Then he glanced over at my brother Rob's plate, back to me, and then back to Rob's plate.
"How old is Rob?" he asked.
"23," I told him.
"How come he doesn't have 23 meatballs?" he asked.
"23 meatballs wouldn't fit on his plate," I explained.

Fast forward a few days. My Dad, Wyatt, and I went to go pick up Lincoln from the ariport. On the way back to my parents' home, Lincoln asked what we had for dinner. I told him that we didn't have dinner because we took my sister, Jana, out to lunch for her birthday. No one was hungry....yet.

"Oh, How old is Jana this year?" Lincoln asked.
"43, I think, " I said
"But 43 meatballs wouldn't fit on her plate," Wyatt added.

Happy day

I am so happy! I have the hardest time photographing Natalia. I have a million pictures of the back of her head. Even more with her eyes closed, or with a goofy face! I can't believe how much I love these shots! I am going to enlarge one of them for my new black and white collage.






This is an example of what I used to be happy with!!!! She is crazy! I love her to bits!

Two personalities

My Little Sith!


My Little Angel!

100 things about me...

I have a good friend that challenged me to write 100 things about myself. (You can read her list here....http://corinneedwards.blogspot.com) It was very hard...especially when I passed #50. I just couldn't think anymore.

1.I am happy.
2.I love photography.
3.I still love dancing, and dance around my house when my kids are asleep.
4.I miss taking dance classes.
5.I miss my family.
6.The only self confidence I have is fake.
7.I have one stretch mark.
8.I got married in theMount Timpanogos Utah Temple.
9.I had my first child at 24.
10.I don't love to read.
11.I always regret talking too much to people.
12.I need to get a handle on cleaning my house.
13.I have 10 empty picture frames upstairs...waiting for photographs! I have had them for 9 MONTHS.
14.I can't photograph my own children.
15.I love to make gourmet meals.
16.I love the smell of clean sheets.
17.I want a hammock.
18.I hate maple syrup.
19.I love fruit.
20.I love to indulge in nice shampoo, conditioner, and skin care.
21.I am a make-up junkie. I own too much!
22.Most the time I go shopping, I buy nothing for myself.
23.I love dressing my daughter kind of crazy!
24.I love sitting in our hot tub, but I hate getting out.
25.I found out, I don't go to the gym by myself.
26.I am not an independent person.
27.I love having two kids....the thought of three terrifies me.
28.I want to live close to the beach
29.I think my name is feminine, even thought most the Jerry's I know are fat and bald.
30.I have horrible skin! (head to toe)
31.I remember having birthday parties when no one came.
32.I always think I am bothering people.
33.I hate yard work, and unfortunately so does my husband.
34.I wish I had a backyard where my children could play, and I could see them from inside the house.
35.I want to take a darkroom class.
36.I have a very tender testimony, meaning I can't share it without crying.
36.5. I love my testimony!
37.I can eat a ton of food!
38.I stay up way to late.
39.I let Wyatt sneak into my bed when Lincoln is out of town.
40.I don't like to think about high school. I was crazy.
41.I still own clothes I bought in 1998.
42.I love grilled pineapple.
43.I love anything Lincoln makes on the grill!
44.I usually forget breakfast for myself.
45.I love to sleep in.
46.I am a rule maintainer.
47.I hate laundry.
48.The last speeding ticket I received was when I was 16.
49.I don't mind letting my kids make a mess....play dough, paint...whatever. I don't mind cleaning it up either.
50.I love frosted animal cookies.
51.I still love lavender roses.
52.I don't have enough closet space.
53.I have curtains I bought in October 2005 that I need help hanging!!! (hint hint Lincoln.)
54.It is so easy for me to love someone! So I do.
55.I wish I could sing. I don't like to sing in church, but I will sing for my children.
56.I didn't speak up in school, because I would always blush.
57.I take things way to personally and over analyze everything.
58.I don't wear make-up everyday, and will go anywhere with out it.
59.I love having cute lounging clothes...mostly to proof photos in. (Thanks sweetie)
60.Nothing makes me happier, than seeing my kids hug and really be kind to each other.
61.I have a bad knee.
62.I could live on crab legs.
62.We go out to eat WAY TO MUCH.
63.I didn't have an epidural with either of my kids. (9 lbs. and 8 lbs.)
64.I despise skiing.
65.I have 22 nieces and nephews.
66.I don't own very many pairs of shoes, but most of the shoes I do own are black.
67.I love u-pick farms.
68.I am usually very easy going.
69.I am a horrible speller.
70.I need to try to be nicer to my children on the fourth day that Lincoln has been gone. That is always when I lose it.
71.I need to be less hard on myself.
72.I still rock Natalia, but only when she asks. She didn't let me do it when she was little.
73.I love to read to my children....I wish I had more book for them.
74.I don't go to the library for fear of losing the books in my house....and also forgetting when they would be due.
75.I am too nice, and get walked on by people frequently.
76.My eyes look like tye-dye. Blue on the outside, then a ring of green, and then brown in the middle.
77.I would take a nap everyday if I could.
78.I love Modbe shirts, and own tons.
79.I need to vacuum my car.
80.I am either very organized, or super scattered.
81.My favorite dinner to make is a fancy salad.
82.I am not a picky eater.
83.I finish all the food on my plate....which is not a good thing.
84.We watch "America's Funniest Home Videos" as a family all the time.
85.My favorite TV show is "So you think you can Dance."
86.I have seen No Doubt in concert twice.
87.We have amazing sound systems in both of our cars.....I only put them to good use when I am alone. =)
88.One of the things I was sad to leave in Oregon was my herb garden.
89.My favorite beach is Ecola Park near Cannon Beach in Oregon. I also LOVE Hug Point...good memories. =)
90.I make Lincoln and Wyatt each sardines outside.
91.I have 8 brothers and sisters...I am number 7.
92.I had the two greatest parents on the earth!
93.I think I have the greatest husband on the earth! (When I don't have PMS)
94.I think it is possible to have several BEST friends...and I do.
95.I love Cadbury mini eggs.....AND the new holiday candy cane kisses!
96.I don't scrapbook...I have all the supplies, but I haven't touch them.
97.I love my kids.
98.I hate figuring out how to discipline them!
99.I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints......and not because I was raised as one.
100.I can change my own flat tire!

Dizzy

I was just spinning Natalia on the kitchen floor. She was on the ground, flat on her back with legs sticking up in the air. Then I spin her in a complete circle, while holding her feet. She kept saying "again, again," so I kept doing it. When I picked her up she said "Look!" and pointed. I said "what are you pointing at?" Then she said "Kitchen falling down, HOLD ME, keep me safe!"

She is silly.
=)

eta... Yesterday during lunch. Natalia got down off her chair and pick something up. Then she handed it to me. IT WAS A SPIDER. I don't really care about them, but something about her squishing that, and handing it to me grossed me out. I couldn't finish my lunch.
I said, " Natalia that is gross! EW!"
"It's not EW," she said back to me.

How we do co-op!!

Look at each and every kid.....I can't help laughing. We really are lucky that these kids are so well behaved. We have been co-oping for more than a year together....We watch all eight kids one night out of five Fridays. In return, Lincoln and I have 3 date nights. It has been such a wonderful set up! Natalia loves everyone, and says their names anytime we get ready to leave the house. "Go a Tori's house? Eye-li? Agwis? Liza at school? Sadie's house? Micah?" (She says Agwis for Alex..........we all laugh so hard when she says it!)

Ballerina girl

A farewell to our squirrels

Squirrel game
(click me)

We just paid over $1000 to fix our chimney. That is how the squirrels were entering our attic, and they had caused quite a bit of damage to the chimney.

The chimney sweeps were here. As they started to clean, they flipped the flue and a dead crispy fried squirrel fell down. GAG! I almost died. We have never lit a fire in our fireplace....we have been here two years. That means that squirrel had been there for a LONG time. Yuck. I am glad he is gone now, and I am glad no more will be getting in.

The game site is www.orisinal.com and they have cute little games with pretty music. My kids sit on my lap and "help" me play! =)

Punch you and rock you

Wyatt has a habit of pulling his arms into his shirt. If is he is sitting he will pull his knees into the shirt, then catch the bottom of it under his feet. I hate what this does to his shirts, and am constantly telling him to stop! Tonight the three of us were watching TV, and he was doing it again. Then he straightened his legs with the shirt still hooked around his toes. I reached down (without anger, I will add) and grabbed his shirt close to his feet and started to pull up, at this same moment he wiggled his toes free......and the shirt proceeded to snap back. Then my fist collided with his face. His eye really. I felt so bad, and he cried so hard. He asked me to kiss it. I kissed his cheek, he said "you missed my eye, will you try again." I kissed his eyeLID, and the crying stopped. I have magic kisses you know. I used them earlier today on Wyatt and Talia. Isn't is amazing that a child seriously believes that a kiss from their mother makes pain disappear.
Wyatt was getting ready for his bath, and I pictured him at school tomorrow saying "My Mom punched me in the eye!" I asked him "Wyatt did I punch you on accident or on purpose." He sat for a second with his "thinking face", and said "well.....I don't want you to have to go to time out, so I say accident." I couldn't help but laugh, and ask WHO would put me in time out. (Please don't turn black! Please, please don't turn black!)

Tuesday Christie, Christina, and I took our kids to the Maryland Science Center. We love that place! We had so much fun, and only went to 2 1/2 areas. Wyatt was so disappointed when we left, we will have to go back soon. We came home and had naps, ate dinner, we all had a turn talking to daddy on the phone, we went downstairs and organized the toys, and went upstairs for bed. Natalia asked me to rock her, and bye-golly (did I just say bye-golly??) I am going to rock that girl as much as I can.........because one day she won't ask me to. I held her and said "We had such a wonderful day today, didn't we?!.... We got to go to the Science Center and"...... Then she interrupted me and said "A talking Daddy a phone, Daddy love Talia SO much." I got a little choked up. How wonderful is it....that the highlight of that little girls' day was talking to her Dad?

We miss him!

Holidays

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation! I wish I could say I was glad to be back, but I am feeling a little homesick today. Lincoln is in Oregon.........I wish I was there with him.

A recap of our travels....
We flew to Utah to stay with my family. It was so much fun to see everyone again. We had a James Family Christmas Breakfast on Saturday, and we took a photo of ALL 32 of us! (Sorry guys, I will get working on it, and post it soon!) That is just my Mom and Dad, brothers, sisters, their spouses, and all our kids. =) Our party started with a wonderful breakfast that in included my mom's homemade cinnamon rolls (worth the trip just for these!), casseroles, fruit, hot chocolate, bacon, and sausage links (our food assignment because of the "links"...ha ha ). We had a gift exchange with the grand kids, and white elephants for the adults. We came out with a Pirates DVD. =) The kids also did a talent show. I was so happy to be there!! The last time I had Christmas at my parents home, was when Wyatt was 7 months old!!!

On Christmas Eve we went to church. It was a one hour meeting that turned into a two hour meeting because it took them 40 minutes to pass the sacrament. That night my Mom made a delicious leg of lamb for dinner. At the table she said "Wyatt after dinner we can tell the Nativity story with my puppets, and I even have a DVD." Wyatt said "Um...... No Thanks, I think I have had a little bit too much God today." (How embarrassing!!) After dinner we did tell the Nativity story with the puppets (so cute by the way), and Wyatt was very concerned because the sheep only had one googley eye. My Dad just kept whispering to him that it was okay. After we finished I asked Wyatt what he had learned. He looked at me and said "I learned that we ate the Sheep." Everyone covered their faces to hide the laugher. We tried to make the evening spiritual, but every time we tried Wyatt would say something funny.

I was sick. I always seem to get sick before I come to my Mom's. I have to admit it was nice to have someone take care of me for a change. I got to sleep in.......my kids were waking up at 5:00 am for the first few days...so I tried to sidetrack them with cartoons....but then around 7 they would go upstairs and my Mom would make them breakfast. I am teary eyed typing that....not for my sake but for theirs. What a special memory for them. I had such a simply wonderful time at home. It was rejuvenating and peaceful, and I wish I would have eaten more homemade bottled peaches!

We were able to meet two sets of friends while in Utah. Brian, Melanie, Isabella, and Gracie from Maryland.. now living in California, and Kayelynn, Travis, Justin, and Tyler from Oregon. It was so good to see them. We had such a wonderful time talking, and eating, and chasing our kids.

The day after Christmas we drove down to Arizona, to be with Lincoln's family. We got to stay in his mother's guest home, so it felt like a home away from home. We only slept there that night, and then drove to California for Lincoln's Grandpa Tidwell's 80th birthday party! What a party it was! I don't know exactly who did the planning, but they should get an award! The decorations we Grandpa things....for example we sat at a table with some of his beloved books fanned out in a circle with a beautiful bowl in the middle. The other tables had themes such as a sailboat table, or a fishing table. Photographs of Grandpa (at all stages of his life) had been laminated and were at each table for you to take home. The food was top notch! Ceasar salad, pomegranate salad, two gorgeous brie cheeses, the biggest bowl of shrimp cocktail ever, a baked potato bar, fruit, ham, tri tip roast, and a chocolate fountain. There was a wonderful slide show with many pictures from Grandpas life. Oh, and birthday cake. The best part....Maryanne's daughter Abby adopted Natalia for the night!!! It was like I brought along my own sitter, and I got to enjoy most of the evening kid free. (Anyone that was there...please forget that it was my daughter that ran on the stage DURING the slide show!) Natalia has named her new baby doll ABBY, and repeatedly says "Abby nice, Abby nice girl". =) Becka and Maxximus, Spencer and Maricela, and there new baby Blake went with us...and we all stayed in a Marriot and used some of Lincoln's points to pay for it. Our room had two separate rooms with doors, and a fold out couch...so it was perfect for our 3 families.

We drove back to Lincoln's mothers house...which was a little crazy....Wyatt got sick, and Natalia has figured out how to unbuckle her car seat. Maricela kept having to buckle her back in.

Connie's (Lincoln's mom) house is unbelievable. I can't even describe it, I tried to for my Mom...and failed. It is gorgeous....it's right on the river, and has tons of windows (just one of my quirks...the windows are always the first thing I notice in any house...I am like a light meter!), the floor is fossilized limestone, the entry way has a gold leaf ceiling with a huge chandelier that spins, there was enough room in the living room for 3 children to ride big wheels AT THE SAME TIME and not bug anyone...........I can't go on.....there is too much. Oh I have to mention, there are two full sized kitchens in the house, and one in the guest house. Crazy, and beautiful!

I have to mention the food we ate there too....because it was wonderful. There was so much that Lincoln and I both have got to get back to the gym ASAP. We had Pies...chocolate, coconut, banana, cheesecake, and we had prime rib, shrimp scampi, fettucini alfredo, cheese fondue, fondue that you cook meat in (don't know what its called), a chocolate fountain twice, racelet (a swiss grill thingy), cinnamon rolls, and Belgian waffles with all the breakfast extras. Amazing!

We got to have Christmas morning (yes...take 3) with Adam and Penny and kids over the xbox camera. It was fun to see them........and torture them by opening presents and making them watch!! =) Just kidding.

One of the things I loved about the trip, is how much my children really loved everyone. Natalia and Wyatt ran to my mom as soon as we pulled up to her home, they remembered my brothers and began asking for favors immediately (Uncle Rob can you turn on the xbox?), they played with their cousins and laughed themselves silly. My kids loved seeing Grandpa walk in the door, and would say "Grandpa's here!" Natalia would talk non-stop about Grandma Connie, Grandma Ginger, and Ellen when I was TRYING to get her to go to sleep at night. She would say "Mommy has a nose, Talia has a nose, EVERYBODY HAS A NOSE!" Then she would name as many people as she could possibly remember and add "has a nose." She did the same thing with hair! Wyatt loved playing with Uncle Paul and his real light saber. There was a time that Daisy, the dog, thought Paul was really trying to hurt the kids during a light saber duel, and she stepped in between the kids and Paul...and wouldn't budge. He was fighting Natalia, Maxximus, and Wyatt and they all had light sabers. It just make me mushy to think that they love all these people and we are so far away. I hate it. I am so thankful for the memories they were able to make on the trip.

I'll post pictures.....

LINCOLN GAVE ME HIS COMPUTER! Can you tell how excited I am! His is super fast, and my post processing workflow for my business is going light years faster. I am so happy I could dance. He also gave me an external hard drive that will AUTOMATICALLY back up new music and picture files everyday! (This is me crying tears of joy!)