Keepin' It Real

My friend Maren tagged me to do this post. I had to take pictures of things as they were right at the moment I read that I was tagged, without any cleaning up. Can I just say that you have impeccable timing, Maren?! I had only been home from camping a little over an hour. I had had just enough time to bath the kids, put them to bed, unpack the car, put most of our stuff away and throw in a load of laundry. I was checking up on my email and blogs while I waited for Jeff to take a shower. Let's just say that I'm plotting my revenge, so watch out!!

The Kitchen Sink:
Sorry this picture isn't in focus. Those are Max's and my shoes in the sink, just in case you were wondering!

The Toilet:

Don't ever plan on seeing a picture of this item again until I convince Jeff to let me redo the bathrooms.

The Laundry Room:
I'd like to say it is usually a lot cleaner, but minus the new vent I haven't installed and the bag of DI clothes in the corner, this is pretty much how it always looks.

The Fridge

The Closet:
My side vs. Jeff's side

My Favorite Room:
I've always loved my living room, but unfortunately we don't have any furniture to go in it right now. We did have our family room furniture in there until last week when I finally painted the family room and we moved the couches and TV back to there real home. The car seats and sleeping bags are waiting their turn in the washing machine.

My Favorite Shoes:
I don't know about favorites, but these are the ones I wear the most often.

The Kids:
Max is clutching one of his leftover glow sticks from our camping trip and Emily's not quite asleep yet.

Me:
I saved the best for last. Here I am in all my glory. Four days without a shower and having my hair in a bun or under a hat the entire time. I didn't strictly follow the rules on this one, but I figured I was allowed to put on a robe at least. I'm sure no one wanted to see me in my underwear!

I tag Tiffany, Apreal, and Danielle. I'd say I'm sorry, but now that I've humiliated myself I can't wait to see others be humiliated, too!! ;)

More about me

This tag's kind of long, just so you are forewarned.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6am-I don’t normally get up until 8, but I had one final coat of paint to do in the family room and wanted to get it done before the kids got up.

2. Diamonds or Pearls? I like both.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Mama Mia with some of the women from my ward. (Yay for girls night out!)

4. If you were to get a tattoo (or another one), what would it be? I have never really been interested in getting a tattoo, so I have no idea.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Oatmeal

6. What is your middle name? I don’t have a middle name. My mom didn’t like having a middle name when she got married, so she didn’t give any of her girls a middle name.

7. What food do you dislike? Mushrooms, seafood

8. What is your favorite CD? I don’t really have favorites. I do listen to musicals a lot.

9. What kind of car do you drive? 2000 Pontiac Bonneville

10. What is you favorite sandwich? BLT, YUM!!

11. What characteristics do you despise? Cockiness and being inconsiderate.

12. Favorite item of clothing? A comfy pair of jeans, which I actually am lacking right now.

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Probably Europe, but there are so many places I would love to go I’m not sure how to choose.

14. Favorite brand of clothing? I have no idea, I’m not really into fashion, as evidenced by my lack of style, I guess!

15. Where would you like to retire? I would love it if we stayed in our house we’re in now. If not here, then probably Cache Valley.

16. Favorite candy/candy bar? Dark Chocolate

17. Favorite magazine? I like decorating and craft magazines, but I don’t have a favorite.

20. People you expect to answer these same questions? My sisters

21. When is your birthday? March 10

22. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night

23. Any Pets? I had a dog that I loved growing up, but I am not a pet person, so we don’t have any now and probably won’t ever if I have my way.

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I just finished painting my family room/downstairs hallway today!

25. What mood are you in today? Tired and impatient

26. What is your favorite flower? Daisy

27. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to and why? This Friday because I get to see my family!

28. What are you listening to right now? The fan blowing in our room and the quiet of my children sleeping.

29. What was the last thing you ate? Popcorn

30. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My sister Erin

31. Favorite soft drink? I guess it would be root beer, but I can’t really drink pop because it makes me sick to my stomach. I really just like to drink water or milk.

32. Favorite restaurant? I just don’t really have favorites. I like going to the Blue Iguana with Jeff on the weekends when they have live music.

33. What was your favorite child toy? I don’t remember. I really liked to use my imagination when I was a kid, so I guess just my imagination.

34. Coffee or Tea? Neither

35. What is under your bed? An emergency window ladder, my cutting mat and ruler for quilting, an ab roller, green beans and cream of chicken/mushroom soup. I didn't realize we had so much stuff under our bed!

36. What did you do last night? Painted the family room

37. What are you afraid of? Talking in front of groups, heights, spiders

38. Salty or Sweet? Probably sweet, but I like salty too.

39. How many keys are on your key ring? 6

40. How many years at your current job? I guess 2 ½ since my job right now is being a mom.

41. Favorite day of the week? Sunday - I get to be lazy without any guilt and Jeff’s home.

42. How many towns have you lived in? 5

43. Do you make friends easily? No, I’m pretty shy.

44. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? Yes!

Tagged again!

WRITE 6 WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOUR LIFE.

pellucid
iterative
fretful
providential
replete
farcical

I tag Shannan and Meghan

The big words are probably only funny to me and Jeff. I know, we're nerds. We did have a lot of fun looking up words in the thesaurus, though, so you'll just have to bear with it. Here's what words I started out with: simple, repetitive, impatient, happy, full, funny.

Another Tagarooni

My sister Meghan has tagged me to reveal ten things that you may not know about me.

1. I used to daydream all the time (and still do occasionally), even when I was in college. I’m not sure if that goes along with having a very active imagination and I love for Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

2. I’ve always wanted to have auburn hair like Anne of Green Gables. (I would love it if it was curly as well.)

3. When I was in college I was obsessed (infatuated, enraptured, whatever you want to call it) with a guy I was in band with. When I look back on this it is pretty embarrassing, but I think it turned out to be a very growing experience for me. I still have this fear that I’m going to run into him again someday.

4. When I was five I drew a book about ducks and had my dad write down the words to the story, exactly as I told him.

5. I’ve been skinny dipping several times. (This does not include bathing on the river.) One time I was skinny dipping out at Deer Creek with my friends Amy, Kara, and Katherine and we got caught by a couple of guys. Luckily they took off after we kept yelling at them to leave. We had to call Kara back though, because when they showed up she took off across the reservoir to the other side.

6. When I was in highschool I had a hard time keeping a job. I worked at Western Watts for a total of one day before I quit and only lasted two weeks at Burger King.

7. My favorite book when I was a teenager was “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. (He’s still my favorite author.) I read this book for the first time when I was a very impressionable 7th grader and it had a huge impact on me. I wouldn’t say that I loved Ender, but he was more than just a character in a book to me. I think that I wanted to be like him or at least meet him, which of course would never happen. Outside of the gospel, he was one of the biggest influences on me and who I became.

8. Two of my favorite classes where geometry in junior high and deductive logic in college. This probably should have been a clue to me that I do really well with very logical, left brain type of stuff.

9. The last talk I gave in church was when I was in high school. All I remember is crying and saying a bunch of nonsense that I don’t think made any coherent sense whatsoever. I think this experiences cemented my terror of talking in church so much that I have turned down every other opportunity I’ve been offered. The last time I was asked to talk in church was right after Jeff and I got engaged. They asked both of us to talk and Jeff was so disappointed in me when I told them no that I promised I would talk in church the next time I was asked. I have never been asked since and am living in dread of when I finally do get asked. I keep trying to tell Jeff that I’m a liar so that he won’t make me keep my promise. We’ll see.

10. When I was young my older sisters liked to torture me. They would tie my pajamas together and spit loogies on my face. Once they told me to get a penny out of the toilet and then give me a swirly. To be fair, I wasn’t the only one that was tortured in our family. We used to pants my brother, Seth, and we would roll my sister Lauren up in a blanket and twirl her around in complete circles while she was kicked and screamed.

TAG!!

4 Places I visit frequently.
1. craft stores (Roberts, Jo-Anns, Michaels)
2. the library
3. Dicks and Costco
4. the bathroom, ha ha (this one is Jeff's input)

4 People who call/Text/Email me regularly
1. I guess no one likes me because no one calls me or emails me regularly. :) I, however, call
2. my husband
3. my sister Shannan
4. and my sister Erin regularly

4 Favorite food
1. mashed potatoes
2. with chicken gravy - yum!
3. bread
4. Jeff's chocolate chip cookies

4 Places I'd rather be
1. on the river
2. with my family
3. with Jeff's family
4. on vacation to one of the thousand places I'd love to visit someday

4 Movies I'd watch over and over
1. Cars (this one actually isn't MY choice to watch over and over, yet somehow I do anyway. Hmm.)
2. Sense and Sensibility (or any Jane Austin movie much to Jeff's chagrin)
3. It's a Wonderful Life
4. Anne of Green Gables
(I could go on and on with this one.)

4 Bands/Groups I like to listen to...
1. Musicals (South Pacific, Little Shop of Horrors, West Side Story, Annie, The Secret Garden, Moulin Rouge, Into the Woods, Big River, etc.)
2. Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald
3. 80's music
4. oldies in general

The 4 People I am tagging are....
1. Jeff
2. Mom
3. Apreal
4. Heather
If you don't want to that's fine! :)

Tag, I'm it!

How to play this game of tag. Post these rules on your blog. List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Joys
1. The gospel
2. My husband and children
3. Fall. Something about the way it smells, the crisp air, the colors and knowing that the holidays and snow are just around the corner makes me very excited and happy.

Fears
1. Jeff dying young
2. Not being a good enough wife and mother.
3. Having to get up in front of people. If I even think about getting asked to talk in church I get sick to my stomach.

Goals
1. To be more patient with my children.
2. To get back into the habit of daily scripture study and prayer. I was in the habit for years and now I’m not anymore and I’m really trying to get back into the habit.
3. To paint our hallway and family room and to redo our laundry room/half bath this summer.

Obsessions/Collections
1. Projects. (These include sewing, craft, house, yard, ect.)One of the things I’m working on right now is finishing the projects I have all ready started before I add anything new to the pile.
2. Treats, but this is something I’m trying to work on. ;)
3. Blogging

Random Surprising Facts About Me
1. I love listening to records and have a pretty big record collection.
2. I am a very systematic person. For example, I like the dishwasher to be loaded a certain way. Everything has a specific place that I like it to go and if Jeff loads it “wrong”, I’ll move it to the correct place.
3. I had about 2 dozen imaginary friends as a child, each complete with a name, personality, and background.

I tag Garbina, Fred, Tobey, Susan, and Dina

Relationship Tag

Where did you go on your first date? We went ice-skating and then back to Raymond Court which is where Jeff lived. It was a big group date with his roommates. Now for our second date we dressed up like animals at a fund-raiser for Jeff’s work. (He worked at the ice-skating rink back then.) We were supposed to be animals in an enchanted forest. I was a cat and Jeff was a rat. I’m putting this in here because Jeff is embarrassed about this and wishes I didn’t remember.

How long have you been together? Married 4 ½ years, been together 5 ½ years. We actually knew each other for three years before we ever went out because we were in the same ward. Jeff was the Elder’s Chorum president when I was in the Relief Society presidency and our roommates dated each other. We even ended up in an institute class together and sat by each other every day in class. I remember wondering in class one day if I could ever date him and decided that he was to weird. (He has a unique sense of humor.) :) I also remember talking to my friend Emily one time about what a great guy Jeff was and how it was to bad that things never went anywhere with the girls he dated.

Who eats more? It depends on what we’re eating. If it’s something sweet, than it’s definitely me, but if it’s fajitas than it’s Jeff!

Who said I love you first? Jeff, because I knew it would wig him out if I said it before he was ready, so I waited for him.

Who is taller? Jeff by two inches.

Who sings better? I do

Who does the laundry? I do, but I don’t usually do the ironing.

Who pays the bills? I do, but we try to do it together sometimes so Jeff knows what’s going on with the money. You would think Jeff would do more of our budgeting and finances, being an accountant!

Who mows the lawn? Jeff does

Who cooks dinner? I do usually, but Jeff helps out once or twice a week, unless I’m really on the ball and organized.

Who drives when you are together? Jeff does

Who is more stubborn? Definitely me, but Jeff can be stubborn too.

Whose parents do you see the most? We really try to give both our families equal time. When we lived closer to Jeff’s parents, we saw them more often, but we definitely saw mine more often during the year that my mom lived with us! ;) And, it’s hard to say because my parents are divorced, so how do you count the time?

Who kissed who first? Jeff kissed me and I was actually surprised he kissed me as soon as he did because he is not a quick mover. We dated for a year before we got married and Jeff felt like we were speed dating.

Who proposed? Jeff proposed to me. He took me up Logan canyon on a picnic. I had no idea even though we had decided to get married and I’d picked out my ring. He tricked me by telling me my ring wasn’t going to be ready for a couple of days and then snuck down to both of my parent’s houses earlier in the day, when I thought he was at work, to ask for their permission. When he asked me to marry him, I said, “Do you have my ring!?”

Who is more sensitive? Definitely me

Who has more friends? Jeff has more close friends

Who has more siblings? I do by one.

Who wears the pants in the family? Jeff does because his work frowns on the men wearing dresses. ;)

I tag Danielle, Shelly, Tiffany, and Heather

Tagged

Well I've been tagged, so here it is:

A- Attached or single: attached
B- Best Friend: my husband, my sisters, and my friend Emily
C- Cake or Pie: yes
D- Day of Choice: Saturday, I get to sleep in and Jeff is home to help out with the kids.
E- Essential Item(s): my sewing machine, a good book
F- Favorite Color: green
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Gummy bears
H- Hometown: American Fork, Utah
I- Indulgence(s): anything with dark chocolate
J- January or July: I don’t really like either, give me fall or spring
K- Kids: 2 year old boy and 1 month old girl
M- Marriage Date: October 17, 2003
N- Number of Siblings: 4 sisters and 1 brother
O- Oranges or Apples: apples
P- Phobias or Fears: public speaking, spiders, heights
Q- Quote(s): I don’t really do quotes
R- Reason To Smile: cuddling with my kids, the smell of autumn, Christmas trees, spending time with my family
S- Season: Fall
T- Tag: Shannan, Erin, Meghan, Shelly
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I was on the ballroom dance team in college
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: definitely a meat eater
W- Worst Habit: cussing like a sailor ;)
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: ultrasounds
Y- Your Favorite Food: mashed potatoes, yum!
Z: Zodiac: Pisces