Sam's or Costco

VS.

Blogger has a fun new element called POLLS. So I decided to have one of my own. Ste and I are deciding on renewing our membership to Sam's Club. We had one there because it was so convenient to where we lived. But I'm wondering:

Where do you prefer?

Now I want to know if convenience had NOTHING to do with it. Do you like the brands they offer? or is it based on the yearly membership fee? does one just feel better than the other?

Conditional Love

Olivia slept 11 hours Saturday night.

I'm pretty sure I love her more because of it.
And I think she's my favorite child - at least for the day.




Sheesh, I'm only kidding.

Uno

Only rule: you have to answer with ONE word.

1. Where is your mobile phone? bag

2. Relationship? perfect

3. Your hair? roots

4. Work? children

5. Your sister(s)? entertaining

6. Your favorite thing? laughing

7. Your dream last night? icky

8. Your favorite drink? shake

9. Your dream car? clean

10. The room you're in? bedroom

11. Your shoes? flipflops

12. Your fears? stagnation

13. What do you want to be in 10 years? skinny

14. Who did you hang out with last weekend? Harry

15. What are you not good at? silence

16. Muffin? blueberry

17. Wish list item? car

18. Where you grew up? Utah

19. The last thing you did? cleaned

20. What are you wearing? comfortable

21. What are you not wearing? shoes

22. Your pet? fishies

23. Your computer? central

24. Your life? splendid

25. Your mood? varied

26. Missing? family

27. What are you thinking about? food

28. Your car? Accord

29. Your kitchen? stripes

30. Your summer? lazy

31. Your favorite color? red

32. Last time you laughed? now

33. Last time you cried? Sunday

34. School? USU

35. Love? family

Blankets Abound

We made rag quilts as a women's church activity. That makes it sound like we did something nice with them, like donate them to a great charity or a nearby hospital. Nope, not me (and probably not most of the women). I kept mine for my precious Olivia.


I had bought the material last fall and was just waiting around to find out if I was having a boy or a girl. Thanks to my church, this material turned into something useful.

It also caused a little surge of DIY creativity. They are pretty easy to make. The physician my husband works with just had a baby boy, so I gave it another go. Someone told me her nursery was lime and I just couldn't help myself.

I have been sort of avoiding giving it away. I just love the way this thing feels. I'm such a texture freak. I used only flannel on Olivia's. On this one I used flannel, fleece, fur, and this blue fuzzy material - I'm not sure what it was ... apparently I had to stick with material that began with the letter F.

HEEEEEEEEERRRRE'S Johnny!

This last weekend John and his lovely wife, Elizabeth, were with us. It was a grand ol' time - as always; Eli and I feeling like kids as we slid down water slides (over and over again) at our nearby water park and later we all made delicious shakes with the yummiest of ingredients. But mostly, we all just played with the kids.




Uncle John doting over little Livvy.

Aunt LeeLee "crushing" Bradley and Emmy while, in the background, Olivia sleeps in oblivion.

The kids feigning near death.

But what their faces were really doing when they just couldn't help themselves.ANYWAY,

Eli and I decided that it was high time John got started on his blog. So Eli set up his account (because she knew his passwords and such), and with her help I designed his site and wrote his first blog.

Yes, yes, it is my writing for those of you that had already noticed him on my sidebar since Saturday evening. I thought I'd be all tricky and comment to throw off the scent, but alas, I cannot make John look like less of a man due to a woman author.

Please, please, puh-lease comment. He tends to comment all-too frequently on all of our blogs, and I thought it's about time we all return the favor, plus it might help him along with keeping up with it. I know I'm motivated by comments.

I've given you ample options of clicking on John links, so there is no excuse for not checking it out.

I'm very proud to introduce

my dear friend, John, as

Mr. Relief Society.

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

Buried Nose

I've been busy reading HP VII. I didn't dare even open my laptop all weekend for fear that I'd see some headline, sidebar, or pop-up that told me even the tiniest tidbit of information about it. So, now that I'm done, I won't ruin it for anyone else. but I thought you should know, that is where I've been.

Pets

If you ask me, pets have their place. It just isn't in my house. Okay, I'm not that bad. We have an aquarium with a couple of fish: Joe (Bradley's fish), and The Little Mermaid [NOT Ariel] (Emmy's fish). In the past we've had a crab - Alice, and a turtle - Willy and for the most part, they've all been good experiences. Lately we've been finding animals in our yard that I would just rather stay in our yard - NOT in our house.

The other evening when Ste was hedging, this little guy introduced himself to us.

Meet Tyler the Frog. You know if they get a name, they're apart of the family.
Watch out he's fast.

We kept Tyler overnight in our pool, but then we all felt bad for him and let him go.

Then this thing reared it's ugly head.....and ugly legs and ugly face, eyes, etc.

You see, it's leg was taken in the battle. And you know how I am with relativity. I had to measure it for proof that it was 3 inches.

Luckily this one didn't ever get a name. But the kids still wanted to keep it.

I don't think so.

Wordless Wednesday - Bubblemania

Fellow Bloggers

On the right side of the screen, you'll notice a list of Family & Friends that also keep fairly regular blogs. I consider myself very close to most of them, while there's a few that I've just met - except one (Kristen and I have only e-mailed each other....which is sad considering we live in the same town, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we meet).

But looking at the list has made me realize that my tiny little blogging world really lacks some testosterone. Turning my background pink this week has only worsened the situation. So here are my proposals to those few men in my life whom I think should begin one.

John - I'm guessing the pressure is so strong, it's unlikely that it will happen anytime soon. Wimp. Yeah, you heard me.
Chris - You always have something to say and better yet, ALWAYS have a strong opinion on any given subject. I love strong opinions.
David - Because I think you'd keep up with it, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Gordon - You make me laugh and I love your thoughts on current events and politics.
Don - You always make me feel much more intellectual than I really am. You're like the ultimate renaissance man.
Ryan - Your sense of humor may not do as well as writ, but it's worth giving it a shot because you're out-of-control-funny.

So here's a thanks to the few guys on the list. If any of you listed above are reading this, step up. If any other men in my life are reading this and have an inkling of beginning one, please don't let the lack of a proposal stop you. I know there are men out there reading!

As Virginia Woolf said, "Why are women ... so much more interesting to men than men are to women?"

Come on gentlemen, prove her wrong.

New Baby

Steven has a new GREEN baby.

His Father's Day gift has turned out to be quite the work motivator. I keep catching him looking out our windows, checking out his lawn.

It also helps that he received a leaf blower and trimmer the very next weekend as a house-warming gifts. It's surprising how manly this has made him feel.

Our yard looks amazing. I can't believe what a new little toy did for him. I'm just waiting for him to name it. I'm taking suggestions. Lawn Boy just isn't going to cut it. Wow, that was a bad pun.

Employer Relations

Steven has a responsibility in our church that requires him to attend meetings before church begins. This means I'm responsible of getting the other 4 members of the family fed, dressed and to church by 9am. Not always easy, but I see it sort of as a challenge. I get this high when I walk in early.

Today I'm grateful for an amazing employer that understands that our religion is very important to us. He is very gracious to us and let's Steven go to church even on weekends that he's on call. Love you, Dr. D*! The relationship Steven has with his boss is a great one in which they both appreciate each other and what the other one brings to 'the business'.

So today I dedicate this blog to Robert D* and how he makes my life easier.

Growing Family

Careful. Not my immediate family!

Since I was gone, I read a couple of headlines a little late. Here was one I thought was worth mentioning.

On June 25th, it was announced that the LDS population is now at 13 million. My family is growing exponentially! The first million mark was in 1947. The succeeding millions were 1963, 1971, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2004, and 2007.

Come on John, all the cool kids are doing it.

It has also been announced that 1 million members have served missions since the beginning of this church when the gospel was restored. Here's a little plug to feed your local missionaries.

Wordless Wednesday - The Ladies

Em
Liv

I'm Back

Oh, shut it.

I know it's been a while, but a girl's gotta go on vacation.

I just should have announced it before leaving so you wouldn't check my blog and think, 'why didn't anyone tell me Mindy died?'. I promise to give better preps for chunks of hiatus.

Ste, the kids and I got home Saturday from our annual trip to Santa Cruz, CA. It, as always, was lovely and refreshing (until Em and I got the stomach flu ... let's just say I wasn't ready to come home after laying in bed for a day and a half. I needed more vacation).

One more minor bummer was that I missed out on our regular golf game at Pacific Grove's amazing course. It's hard to do 18 holes with a nursing baby. Maybe next year.

Pictures will be coming soon of the good times. Especially if Brian will send a few my way. We all sort of left the photography up to him since he showed up with this grand new nikon slr cam. There were plenty of great pics of kids, beach, fun, boardwalks, sun, sea life, etc.

All in all we had a blast and the M* Family is about the coolest family a girl can marry into. I feel so lucky to be related to these people. They make my life such a joy. Thanks, Dwight & Ruth, for an incredible week. You know how to have a good time.