Halloween

David came home a few weeeks ago and said he wanted to go to this costume party at a work friend's house. Now, this is the man who NEVER dresses up for Halloween. So, I said I would get a sitter and I would go with him. I can't remember the last time I dressed up either. I got David this "mullet" wig a while back and he took it in to work and played a rehearsal with it on. He's trying to convince the other guys to let him wear it during a high school recruiting gig. Anyway...we took the kids to the church trunk-or-treating and then came home, put them to bed, picked up our sitter and went to this party. I knew David was wearing this mullet wig, torn jeans, and a flannel shirt...kind of the mullet man from the 80's. So, I dressed up like 80's girl. Well, at the trunk-or-treating, a bunch of people came up to me and were so excited because they said I was dressed like "Deb" from the movie Napoleon Dynamite. I've only seen the movie 1 time myself, but I went with that and the rest of the night I was "Deb"! The costume party was fine, everyone liked Deb and the mullet man, but we started pulling the old fogey married couple routine and we left with droopy eyes around 10pm. Oh well, it was fun to see David dress up, and I had a grand time getting all that hairspray, glitter and makeup off! Happy Halloween! (Jacob the Pirate, Abby the barbie Princess, and Jackson, the Lion)

I've been tagged!

I got this fun blog tagging from my good friend Holly. If I tag you, and you have an extra minute...write 6 fun/interesting facts/habits about yourself and at the end of your blog entry, tag 6 more friends. It's fun to get to know each other better. :)

1. I pop everything. I crack and pop my knuckles, my neck, my fingers, my toes, my ankle. Everytime I get out of bed, I start popping my toes and ankle. Before I go to bed, I pop my thumbs, fingers and neck. It's weird, I know. I asked a doctor once if it would hurt me. I really can't remember what he said, except that I didn't get scared by anything, so I still do it. I even like to pop my gum...sorry Holly Sanders! :)

2. I love the show Friends. I know, it's over and old news, but I still watch it. I sometimes think it's probably not the best show to watch, but I just love to laugh. I grew up with that sarcastic "Chandler"-like humor all around me. I enjoy a good laugh about silly life experiences.

3. I wish I could go shopping every day. Usually, I don't even buy anything! I just love to look at things. I could spend hours and hours in a Michael's, JoAnn's or similar craft/scrapbooking store. I usually end up just buying more paper and fun stuff for my kids to make and color. I used to dream with my friend Andi in San Diego, we were going to open a scrapbooking store with a big scrapping room in the back, and a small florist on one side. That's another one of my loves, flowers and floral arranging. I wish I did it more, but I don't have the $$$ to buy flowers all the time!

4. I hate feet. In the past few years, I have just started to like my own feet, and will wear sandals all summer, but I don't like other feet. I can't stand other people putting their feet on me. My mom teases me all the time because she said that when I was young, I used to put my feet on her and she would say to take them off and I said, "but Mom, feet are love". Now, I am getting better at my kids feet on me, but the bigger they get the less I like it. Jackson can put his feet on me any day, baby feet are so stinkin cute.

5. I have a very strong sense of smell. I can smell anything, and most of my memories are associated with smell. I can tell when something in the oven is starting to burn by the way it smells. I can't use Lever 2000 soap anymore because I can still smell it from when I would throw up in the shower when I was pregnant with Jacob. Ick... Least favorite smells: gasoline, somebody...no names....passing gas, bleach, ugh!, icky baby diapers, of course, some soaps and shampoos, my kids when they come in from playing outside. Favorite smells: fresh bathed baby, new book, my husband wearing Eternity, baking bread and cookies, rain on concrete, wet laundry coming out of the washer and my new car!

6. If I could change anything about my life, I would have become a better musician. I used to love to play the trombone. I loved being in a rehearsal with the orchestra and watching all the strings go up and down at the same time. I loved being in a concert and playing with all my heart and soul. I would have learned to play piano,too, maybe some day still on that. I still have my horn, but it's sitting safe and sound in the case in the garage. Maybe someday, I'll play it again. I would love to play in the Orchestra at Temple Square. I'm not that great of a musician, especially not now, but I love it. Music gets into your blood! I'm glad I'm married to a drummer, he keeps the music alive in our home.

I tag: Briana, Janus, Cindy, Holly W., Siobhan, and Renee(like you have time!)...that's all the other bloggers I know! :)

Hollywood

I can't even go 5 minutes without smothering this boy with kisses. He's so sweet and adorable and perfect. Jackson is walking, climbing and being so stinkin cute these days. He loves to wear his sunglasses. I think he mostly likes the reaction he gets from Abby and I. He has found a playhouse in my cabinets. He takes out all the mixing bowls and gets inside begging me to play hide and seek. Who can resist cabinet hide and seek? Today he discovered the stool. He's found the step stool and figured out how to move it around to where ever he wants to stand up to see things. He gets his little legs pushing the stool and puts it up against the cabinets and stands up and gets his little head just over the countertop. Then he just starts laughing like he's climbed the highest mountain. He's so smart and sweet. I can't get enough of him!

Primary Again

I think I've had more callings in the Primary than any thing else in the church. Maybe I will get it right this time? I just got a new calling this week, finally. I was starting to wonder. David got his calling about 3 weeks ago. He's the EQ Secretary. The entire EQ Pres are lawyers going to the Naval Justice School...Yikes. He's feeling a little out of place, but he has a lot to add and bring to the other guys and the calling. So, I was just waiting...and Sunday, Bro. Raposa said they wanted to extend a calling to me to be a Primary worker. I said sure, I would love to. Diane hasn't decided where to work me yet, she's got the program to get done this next week, and then we'll see! I tried to remember all the things I've done in Primary...but there are many things left that I haven't done yet, too! I've been Sunbeam teacher, CTR 5/6 teacher, chorister, 2nd Couns., 1st Couns, and President. Anyway, I'm looking forward to another new challenge and adventure in Primary. Bro. Raposa and I were talking about when he was in Primary as the Sunbeam teacher and was a teacher to Michael and Erin and Riley, I guess. He said he just loved those kids. He asked me also when he was extending the calling if David's schedule was going to be like Jonathan, Jeremy, and Nathan's. I guess they might be hoping that I won't go berserk-o being in Primary with not-yet-in-nursery-Jackson and no hubby around to help out. I told him that I think David's schedule is probably the same, but I'm kind of used to it. He said he was amazed at Cindy and Briana coming to church, fulfilling their callings beautifully, and being such wonderful mom's. I have had people talk to me about how amazing the choir was that Holly was in charge of. I don't know how many people have said, we just love this family and those women. I am a little jealous that the Newport ward has been able to spend that time with you guys. At the end of our conversation, I told Bro. Raposa that if I could be half the woman that my sisters-in-law are, I would be happy! I mean that too girls...I would be honored to be put in any catagory with you...and you, too Mrs. Seminary Teacher Janus...I love you guys so much. Miss you, too.

Laundry

So, any of you who know me, know that I HATE laundry. I just cringe every time I have to do it. In Japan, our washers were fine, but the dryers took about 10 years to dry a load. So doing laundry in one day just isn't an option. So, I made myself a new schedule for laundry...whites on Monday, Colors on Tuesday, Jeans on Wednesday, Darks on Thursday, Lights on Friday, and Towels/Misc. on Saturday. I find that doing only one load a day doesn't make me crazy. I can do that. And if I get behind one day, I only have two loads to do the next day. It works for me. Before we moved to Japan, we put our brand new washer and dryer into long term storage in San Diego. When we arrived here in RI, we called and got that storage released and on it's way to Newport. We've been here now for almost 2 months and until a week ago, I've had to take the laundry to a laundromat. Well, after $50 for 10 loads of laundry at the laundromat, I started to hate laundry again. So, when the Bekins guy called to schedule our washer and dryer delivery, I thought, we'll just not do laundry until those come. Well, he called again and said he couldn't get his truck out of Connecticut, so could he come on Tuesday? Okay, I think I have a few more days of clothes for everyone. Well, Tuesday at noon, the phone rings again and he says, I can't get out of here, I'll be there tomorrow. So, by now, we haven't done laundry in about 2 1/2 weeks. We are scraping the bottom of the drawers for stuff to wear. Some of the outfits were just funny! Anyway...they finally arrived and seemed all fine. So, I head on down to Home Depot to buy new hoses for the washer, it has been sitting for almost 4 years! I get home and think I can do this all by myself. I hooked up the hoses to the wall and then to the washer and all was well, or so I thought. Then I got the big exhaust hose hooked up to the dryer and got it fixed into the wall. Then I go to plug in the dryer to the outlet. Well, the dryer plug has 4 prongs and the wall plug has 3 prongs......ugh. So, I go back down to Home Depot and buy a new plug. When I got home, I called a friend from church. She brought her husband over to help me finish this little project. David's out of town this whole time...of course! Well, my friend Scott went to test the washer and water started spraying out of the hoses. Luckily, it was just that I hadn't tightened them good enough. Then he went to attach the new plug to the dryer and figured out that the hookups for the cord were different than on the dryer. By some miracle, I found the dryer user's guide, and he fixed it all up. Well, after all this, I finally was able to start the laundry. I had the kids go upstairs and throw all the laundry down so I wouldn't have to carry it all! They had a blast throwing all those clothes down the stairs onto my head. They just laughed the whole time. It was fun until there were flying laundry baskets! We had a MOUND of laundry in the living room. See the pictures. I started the first load fully expecting some kind of explosion or something! Happy to say that about 30 loads later, and no problems! I don't miss the laundromat AT ALL!!!!!