What happens when mommy is blogging....

So, my computer is downstairs so sometimes when the kids are playing nicely in their room or watching a show upstairs I go down on the computer to blog (or lately, index).  I guess I get carried away sometimes and obviously stay away for too long because this is what I have come back upstairs to find a couple of times.  At least we all had our fun right?!  I think I have learned to just wait until everyone is asleep at night now to get on the computer.   When do y'all find time to blog?

My New Addiction

This may sound a bit nerdy, but something I just started and absolutely love is to index for Family Search Indexing.  My cousin Danielle told me about it a while ago and said she liked it but it has taken me a while to figure it out.  Anyway, it's for the church and genealogy/family history stuff and you look at old Census, Death Records, Military Records, etc that are imaged on the computer and you decipher the info and type it in data-entry-style.  Boring you say?  No!  Not to me at least.  I love it!  It is so interesting to try and figure out names and see their ages (come up with stories of why 56 year old man is married to a 27 y.o woman), see their occupations (farm laborer, keep house, domestic servant, cooper, etc), see where they were born (cool to see immigrants--I'm doing the NY state census right now), how much their house is worth, etc.  I have been doing it late into the night for 3 days now--I'm totally addicted to it!  It really is cool.  I kind of feel like a detective and feel connected to the past.  It's challenging and worthwhile and I think everyone should try it.  Plus now I can quit feeling guilty for not doing family history next time they talk about it in church.  Cause I sort of am helping in the effort.  Anyway, go to FamilySearchIndexing.org and click on Volunteer if you are interested.  Just kind of follow the steps from there.  Make sure you go through the tutorial though.  I started without doing that (duh) and messed up a bit.  Hope some of you try it!

Tag 8's

A couple of my friends have done this and tagged me, so here it goes.

8 TV shows I love to watch:

LOST

Monk

Psych

MASH

Heroes (apparently I like one name shows)

Nigella Feasts/Express

American Idol

The Office

8 Favorite Restaurants:

Cheesecake Factory

Bajio

Cafe Rio

Italian Village

Tocanos

Tepanyaki

PF Changs

Ruth's Chris (only been there once, but it was the best steak ever)

8 Things that happened yesterday:

Took Savannah's temperature several times (she was sick with a fever, etc)

Cleaned and reorganized my pantry (abnormal activity for me... was stuck home with sick kid)

Talked to Lacie & my parents on the phone

Made chili and cornbread

Did 2 loads of laundry

Finished book ("A Countess Belowstairs"--decent read)

Went for walk to library

Watched an episode of HEROES with Joey (we're trying to catch up 2nd season before 3rd starts)

8 Things I look forward to:

BYU game this weekend

A long overdue date with Joey (we're finally going to see "Indiana Jones"--you know, the one that came out last May)

Paying off student loans someday

The upcoming Holiday season

Getting the new pants I just ordered online

Nomi to not be in diapers anymore (she's expressing interest right now in the toilet, though she's only 20 months so I'm not holding my breath... I just hope she's faster than Savannah who was 3 & 1/2 when we were finally done)

Going on an adult girls-only trip--No kids. Can't remember the last one of those I've been on--maybe because i haven't been on one since I had kids. Anyone want to join me?

Baking with my girls now that they weather is cooling down

8 Things I love about fall:

Baking delicious homemade goodies (watchout waistline)

Soup and rolls for dinner

Leaves changing color

My pumpkin and butternut squash to finish growing in the garden and be put to use!

Cinnamon and nutmeg (did I mention the baking?)

Taking the kids trick-or-treating in those darling costumes

Warm hoodies & sweaters

Thanksgiving Dinner (we always have 2 of them-Wed night with Joey's fam, Thurs with mine)

8 Things on my wish list:

My girls to have strong testimonies and marry in the temple someday

That I wouldn't be scared of everything & care what people think all the time

No more student loans

My dream house with a gourmet kitchen and tennis court

To go to Disneyland and Disneyworld and Hawaii again someday with the kids

My kids to listen to me the first time I say something :)

A (pink) Kitchenaid stand mixer

Le Crueset cookware

8 People I'm Tagging:

Danielle

Lacie

Brynn

Callie

Leslie

Erin

Carly

Laura

Sarah

Becca

Joni

Tiffany

(aka: everyone who hasn't already done it)

Happy 50th Mom!

My mom's 50th b-day was this last Friday and I have been busy for weeks getting 2 surprise parties and a photo video ready for her.  Love you mom, but glad it's over!!!  We had a party in Henderson for her with her family and a few friends there, and one up in Highland, Utah for her with friends and family.  (I think my dad kind of ruined the surprise though.. he wasn't very clever at coming up with excuses, he just said "we can't go home til 6pm.  Duh dad.  What's a person to think on their b-day when you say that?)   So in addition to  arranging all of that my sister Alison and spent weeks making a video with over 400 pictures of my mom's life.  Poor Alison had to scan the pictures and I arranged them all and put them to music, etc.  Doesn't sound too difficult, but it easily took us 50 or more hours combined.  But my mom loved it and cried, which I knew she would, so it was worth it.  But it was a dang lot of work.  My friend Lacie wanted me to post it on my blog here cause she knew how much I'd worked on it, but it's 30 minutes long and it will take too long to upload and post (it took almost an hour to burn to a disc) and surely no one will watch it for 30 minutes.  Plus there are a few embarassing pictures from my youth that I don't think I want out there anyway!

Bear Lake & Yellowstone

We just got home from a great vacation.  Joey had a week off so we went to Bear Lake for 4 days and Yellowstone for 3 days.  Just Joey, me, and our kids.  We had a great time!  We stayed at a condo right on the beach at Bear Lake and just played all day at beach, swam in the pool, rode bikes, played on the grass and at the condo playground, and watched the US Open tennis all day.  Oh yeah, and sampled all the raspberry shakes in town.  Yum-o!  The kids had a blast and we really got to relax.  

Then we headed a few more hours north to Yellowstone with the kids.  And it snowed that day!  It was only the first of September but it was rainy and snowy and cold!  We were not prepared for that so we were freezing the whole time.  If you look at the above picture Savannah has a few little snowflakes in her hair.  But we loved it anyway.  We got to see lots of animals like this buffalo and waterfalls and Old Faithful.  We stayed in a little "pioneer" cabin in the park.  Pretty much it was just an old hotel room (minus the tv and phone and alarm clock) but it was a cabin in the woods.  Very rustic and fun.  We all had a fabulous time and were sad to come home... but that's how it always is right?