Our "Rich" Life

Hello Neglected Blog

2012-01-21T20:45:00.000-08:00

Oh, wow, have I been busy. Clearly, no reason to not write in my family blog, but the excuse I am using because that's what everyone says when they don't do something. Which brings to mind a Wonder Pets song, which leads me to talk about my life.

I'm sitting on the floor of our bathroom while Morgan takes a bath (usually the first "me time" of the day). Tom was unexpectedly asked to accompany his boss on a business trip to Canada -- like, I found out last night and he left this morning. I would normally have no problem with this last minute trip but I had a makeup appointment at Macy's today (I've had it for a month) and Tom was supposed to watch Morgan and I was supposed to get my makeup done and walk around the mall by myself. Instead, I imposed on my friend who I'm sure had plenty of Saturday things to do and I went to the appointment and home after (with a short stop at Jo Ann's in which I did not purchase anything but I did feel overly made up with my smokey eyes -- I'm sure it was intimidating for the other shoppers). And to this point Morgan and I have watched three movies, taken a nap, and I have probably eaten a quarter gallon of chocolate ice cream and a box of See's chocolates. I don't even like chocolate ice cream.

All that health and TV watching aside, Morgan is lots of fun. She has been singing Christmas songs for two months (doesn't she know it's over?!). Some of my favorites are Rockin Around the Christmas Tree (how does she even know that one?), Jingle Bells ("Oh wha pah it is to ride"), and Frosty the Snowman ("was a jolly happy snow"). She also loves the Wonder Pets opening song and has memorized the episode, Wonderland (which really may be called something else, but that's what we call it).

As long as I'm on the subject of how much TV (movies/Netflix) we watch, I love it when Morgan warns Ariel that the shark is coming and when she tells me that Ariel is crying when she sees Eric with Ursula in the lady's body.

Moving on. M started dance class a couple of weeks ago. I think she loves it. She's in the 3-4 year old class (even though she's 2) and talks more than anyone else there. I'm not bragging because I didn't say she speaks better than the other kids. I don't know that. I just said she talks more. That's her. Not shy at all. She loves putting on her ballet outfit and being a ballerina. I wish she would let me take pictures of her. Here are the best I got.

I have been doing things like editing a mining video (10 hours -- ask me anything about mining), making business cards (and I finally just had Tom's brother remake them), and creating a website for my business www.homestagingidaho.com. Let me know what you think. Oh, you don't think that giant picture with the ocean in the background is great for home staging in IDAHO? Well, that brings me to my next point that maybe Oregon just shouldn't be there. Then that picture would work out perfectly.

Tom's been working. The end.

Now I feel like I sent out a Christmas card.

Well, I get to go watch another movie and let my girlie sleep in my bed with me. I love cuddling that little mini human. And she LOVES sleeping in mommy's bed.

Goals for 2012

2012-01-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!! We celebrated at 7pm with Tom's sister's family and some friends. We watched Sydney, Australia ring in the new year on Youtube then Tom and I had a little "celebration" of our own later (which means we went over our budget and goals for the year -- ha!)

Last year I made some goals for the new year and now it is time to own up to them.

1. Read the Bible. I didn't do so well with that one. I got to Numbers in February and guess what, I'm still in Numbers. I did, however, read the entire Book of Mormon in one month so that helps make up for not finishing the Bible.

2. Get published. It didn't happen yet but I did have two publishers ask for a resubmission. I resubmitted and one declined. I'm still waiting on the other. We'll see.

3. Lose 10-15 pounds. Well, I lost 8. Then I gained 4. So hey, there's a net loss of 4 pounds. Not a goal reached, but not too shabby.

4. Coupon and donate. It's hard to say how well I did with this. I did a lot of couponing the first half of the year. I got at least $100 in pads for free and I'm donating them but it was really a hassle to keep track of everything, especially with the move. So I did do it, but I don't think I would do this goal again.

5. Limit T.V. watching to one show per day for me and one for Tom. This worked well, especially after the move because we put our T.V. upstairs in the theater room so we are not tempted to watch during dinner or just randomly. We generally watch one Netflix show per night. We don't have cable, satellite, or really any free T.V. channels that work.

Here are our 2012 goals, assuming the world doesn't end before the year is up (see Mayan calendar). A lot of mine are business related and might bore you, but I needed to write them down. Also, some of mine are ours and some of Tom's are ours but I didn't want to make it too complicated.

Kelli’s Goals
Finish putting together client's video by January 5th.
Record webinar for home staging training - January 20th.
Find commission salesperson for Home Staging Idaho - January 31st.
Get affiliates for How To Make Hair Bows -- Invite bloggers by January 7th (if you blog and want to be an affiliate to earn extra cash, let me know).
Make money blogging -- ads, affiliates, etc.
Set up a coat drive for charity -- encourage people to buy coats on clearance in the early spring.
Finish Bible.
Read from BOM in Spanish.
Resubmit book if not accepted by publisher by March.
Read with Morgan every day.
Foster/adopt/have baby. Something to do with a baby in my house.
If pregnant, gain less than 40 pounds (20 would be ideal).

Tom’s goals
Gym at 9pm 4x per week.
$---k range (he knows what that is -- just shouldn't be made public).
Practice Chinese -- movies/lessons/China.
Go to temple 2 x at least.
Daddy daughter date 1 x per week.

Random Happenings

2011-12-13T21:47:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write a couple of things about Morgan before I forget.

The other day we were shopping at the craft store and Morgan was in the cart. She won't sit in the seat and face me. I mean, that is like the worst punishment ever. She will sit in the big part of the cart and try to stand up the entire time though. So there we were. Me pushing Morgan in the cart and telling her to sit down every two seconds... then I saw a wreath of bells. Perfect distraction for a two-year-old. I gave it to her and started walking again. A few seconds later Morgan started singing Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs. The whole chorus. I had no idea she knew it. The girl makes me laugh.

When Morgan wants to have time alone with her dad she says to me, "you be right back, mommy." She must associate that phrase with me leaving, which totally makes sense.

It was the end of the day and I was ready for Morgan to go to bed (we had been shopping all day and shopping with Morgan just isn't a lot of fun). She wanted something off of the dresser so she dumped out her clothes basket for the second time and stood on the basket to reach the stuff. I was so frustrated a made the "uuuuhhhhhhh" sound and grabbed her and told her I was mad. Then I gave her to Tom and left the room. I'm a great parent, I know (sarcasm intended). Anyway, I heard her say, "I want my mommy," so I went back in the room and she looked at me and smiled a huge fake smile -- the one that says "cheer up, mommy!" I started laughing and told her I wasn't mad anymore.

Along with those great stories is the Festival of Trees. We went on the last day and they had lots of stuff for kids to do. Morgan's favorite was when she saw the little performer ballerinas. She went up to the girls and said, "hi princess." She is so enamored by dancers and pretty dresses so I signed her up for dance classes starting in January!!! EEEeeeeee! I'm so excited!

Disney Cruise Pirates Video

2011-12-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

I was going to do a few posts about our vacation but to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of reading vacation posts. I know they're mostly written for the memories and for grandparents, so something must be said. Instead of a big long post with hundreds of pictures, I made this one minute video of our Disney cruise.

And here are my top 10 most memorable things that happened:

1. Morgan told me, "I'm not a child."
2. My sister-in-law rented a cabana on Castaway Cay and we were lucky enough to hang out there with them (and the other rich people).
3. Cinderella taught Morgan how to wave and curtsy like a princess.
4. Tom and I watched The Help in the theater. It was my second time and I cried more than I did the first time.
5. I lost my passport before the trip and found out that you all you really need are your drivers license and a birth certificate.
6. Every ten minutes I thought of scenarios on how to save Morgan if she fell off the ship.
7. I ate less on this cruise than I have on any other cruise. I even only had one lobster on lobster night, and I didn't even finish it!
8. I ran a 5k on Castaway Cay with about 20 other people (out of 2,000) and got a free Disney water bottle later that night -- a total surprise.
9. Always. Bring. Ear plugs. Snoring. Aaaahhhh!
10. I have the coolest in-laws in the world.

Excursions:

Grand Cayman: We took a small boat out to swim with sting rays. Morgan loved it because she actually got to swim (she couldn't on the ship because she wasn't potty trained). She was a little scared of the sting rays though.

Cozumel: We rented a Jeep and a driver. The seat belts were all broken! We were able to see the island and I would definitely go back and stay a while. We also searched for vanilla for like 2 hours. I'm not kidding. Tom is sometimes all about perfection, and this vanilla search was very important. And I was totally annoyed after 30 minutes. But I got a very pretty ring that looks like Princess Dianna/Kate's wedding ring. It's the most I've ever spent on jewelry (which means it cost more than $10. Bahahah!).

Family Pictures

2011-11-21T22:05:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a tropical vacation where we took a few family pictures. Here are some of my favorites.

Happy Birthday Mom and Shy

2011-11-21T21:59:00.000-08:00

When my family was visiting, I got to take my mom and sister to get pedicures for their birthday, which happens to be today (happy birthday girls!) We had a great time and I was told that I needed to get pedicures every three weeks because of my "runner's feet." Hmm. Okay.

Corn Maze with Family

2011-11-21T21:54:00.000-08:00

Wow. Like forever ago my family came to visit and I am just writing about it now. It was a short visit but we got to go to the corn maze and play.

Fun at the Park

2011-11-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

We are so lucky to have cousins that live 6 miles away and an amazing park really close to us. Here are Morgan and Tanner playing one day in October before it got cold.

Boise Zoo

2011-10-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Since Tom and I went to the Colorado Springs zoo without Morgan we decided to take her to the Boise zoo.

We took a conservation boat ride that lasted 5 minutes (perfect amount of time).

Of all things, M liked these metal elephants that sprayed water the best.

Home Staging

2011-10-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

I got to go to Colorado Springs for home staging trainer training at the beginning of this month. Tom came for the last few days, one of which was his birthday. We had a great time but my camera battery died the first time I tried to turn it on so I got zero pictures. I stole this one from another girl that was there. This is a picture of the Garden of the Gods park from the country club we were at for training. It was so pretty.

Tom flew in on his birthday and it was so windy that his plane couldn't land in Denver so they had to go to Laramie, Wyoming. He thought he would be spending his birthday night there but they ended up being able to go back to Denver and he made it to Colorado Springs so we got to eat his birthday cake together (okay, I had a piece first -- What? I didn't want it to not be eaten on his birthday!).

We got to spend time with our good friends, Pete and Karen, and we went to the zoo. I was in heels and they were hurting my feet prior to going so we only spent an hour there but it was a lot of fun.

Last thing... We were in the Ross/Chipotle parking lot and saw a fox walk up to a car like it was a tame cat. It was kind of cool.

Keeping M Entertained

2011-10-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I'm so behind with this blog. But I update every day at The Turquoise Piano! So go there if you want to know what's going on.

That said, here are some things that we do to stay entertained during the day.

M begs to go see daddy in his office so when he is available he lets us in. She always asks to watch "Twinkle Stars" on Youtube.

On one of our walks to see the chickens I taught her how to play hide and seek. Didn't she find a great hiding place?

She stands on the fence to see the chickens so they don't get her.

Then she runs on the barn porch. It pretty much happens every time we go there.

This is after a crazy day of farm play. What a cutie!

Kevin

2011-10-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

I have so much to update but I'm overwhelmed with the task so I'm just going to post a little snippet of our day.

I put M to bed tonight and she kept crying saying that the dog was going to get Kevin, except I couldn't understand what she was saying. I thought she was talking about daddy and not doggies. Then I thought she wanted her stuffed dogs. Finally I made her say it again and I understood.

What does that mean? We were watching Up today and the dogs in the movie are trying to find the bird, Kevin. Apparently it stressed her out.

I also took her to the library, the school playground, and taught her how to roll down a grassy hill today. It was a pretty great day. I was worried because we had already watched a movie and made cookies by 10:45 and I was wondering what we would do with the rest of the day.

My Loves

2011-09-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

We moved to this place called Hidden Springs. It's a part of Boise that is over the hill from the city so it seems like we are in the country (because we ARE). This place is like Mayberry meets Stepford meets The Truman Show. It's kind of great in an eerie sort of way. There is one store called The Mercantile and the next store is five miles away back over the hill. When we first came to look at the house we are now living in I saw one of the neighbor women walk out of her house with an apron on playing with her 2.5 kids. It was very stereotypical.

Anyway, we live just down the street from the community barn and old homestead where a bunch of chickens live so we walk there every evening when the temperature has cooled off a bit (we're still hitting the 90's). I decided to learn how to use Tom's nice camera with manual settings and all that jazz. The first time I took it was not successful. Let's just say I needed a tripod. Badly. This is the best picture I got...

Today we went and it was a lot brighter so I got some better ones. Here are my loves blowing on a "baby flower," or dandelion, as it is known to most of you.

Morgan is so curious and checks out everything. It is great and frustrating at the same time, but I'd rather have it this way.

No matter where we are, she is ALWAYS running away from us. Always running. That's my girl.

Morganisms

2011-09-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I tried to potty train my big 2-year-old. I had to pump myself up for weeks for this. In fact, I wouldn't have even attempted it if it wasn't for the Disney cruise that we're taking in November. The kids have to be potty trained in order to go to the fun kid play land and her cousins will be going.

So I bought some undies and let her pick the ones she wanted to wear. Not surprisingly we went through each one of these... some more than once.

I had my laptop ready with movies (thank you Netflix!). I had crayons, coloring books, books, juice, and popsicles. I was ready to go. The problem is that I absolutely HATE staying in one place all day. Seriously, this is more "training" for me than her.

And it wouldn't have been so bad but his girl can hold it! She would wake up with a dry diaper and not go for another two hours. How? I have no idea. I go at least three times between hers. So we sat there... and sat there. I have All Dogs Go To Heaven memorized! Yep, that's the movie she wanted to watch. "Charlie," as she calls it. Finally at the end of the movie her little potty cheer alarm would go off because she went. That was the first day. The second day was similar. The third day I decided I couldn't stand that room anymore and we took the potty to the living room. This is where all Hell broke loose (in my head). She pooped once and peed twice on the carpet. Don't tell the landlord! I thought by then she would understand what it feels like and tell me when she needed to go. Nope.

She peed on top of the potty when she used it as a stool.

And she peed on me. Mmmm.

So, I threw in the towel (okay, lots of them in the washer) and we're waiting ~~a few days~~ ~~weeks months years~~ until we are both more ready. Hopefully it happens before the cruise.

Some other things in the life of this amazing little girl:

Her latest obsession is mommy's shoes. She especially LOVES these pink ones (who wouldn't really?) and would walk around in them all day if I let her.

Morgan doesn't love looking at the camera when we take pictures of her but when we tell her to smile, she'll say, "smile!" I guess she's confusing doing with saying. Or maybe she's just tired of us wanting to take her picture all the time.

She gives me lots and lots of kisses then wipes them off and says, "yuck." No idea where she learned it.

Sometimes when she's feeling extra lovey she'll kiss my hand or give me a hug and tell me she loves me. That. Melts. My. Heart.

She doesn't like to say the prayer very often but sometimes when she's in the bathtub she grabs the faucet and pretends it is a microphone and says, "Dear, Heavenly Father. Thankful for this day." I'm not sure if you could understand what she's saying, but her mom and dad sure know.

Speaking of microphones. One day at church we were out in the hall walking and she went into the empty primary room. She stood on the stool in front of the mic. I expected her to say, "Dear, Heavenly Father..." but instead she broke out in, "Old McDonald had a farm. E-I-E-I-O." Hil-stinking-larious!

She loves her hand-me-down Barbie. My twin cousins had one they didn't want and gave it to her when they were playing one day. She absolutely loves it. Her dad took her swimming tonight and she HAD to take the Barbie. She would bend down so Barbie could "walk" with her feet on the ground. Then they would both jump in the water to daddy.

Gosh I love her.

My Hubs Loves Me

2011-09-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today I realized how much Tom loves me.

Rewind 4 years and a few months to the summer after we got married. I'm running with Tom and I blurt out, "Come on! I'm not even getting a workout." And there was the end of our running together and Tom's running, period. No amount of begging, pleading or marital offers would change his mind.

Now come back to the beginning of this summer. I was running with one of my besties, Angela, and I told her how much I would love if Tom would run with me again. But I mostly just wanted him to work out for his own health. That's when she became his trainer (remember, he refuses to work out with me).

She would wake up crazy early in the morning and meet him and our neighbor, Collin, in our garage for a training session. Collin's wife, who is also a running buddy, mentioned that she would love if Collin would get in running shape as well. So they all start working out. At first they refused to run and they would do a lot of weight lifting. Then they started playing racquetball and Angela made the losers run lines. They eventually got their cardio work out going too but they refused to run anything that took more than 20 seconds.

Angela is also this super party organizer. And besides training Tom and Collin, she organized a beginner, intermediate, and advanced running group, as well as teaching aerobics and organizing basketball group every Thursday. Seriously, she was working out like 8 hours per day. Amazing! So, since it is the end of summer and she is a super party organizer, she decided to organize a race for all the runners she had been training/running with.

Yesterday we had packet pick up and got our t-shirts. She flew a musician in from Portland and had a concert for everyone. Then this morning was the race. I ran the 1/2 marathon that started at 7. The 10k started at 8 then the 5 k some time after that. She had arranged for the husbands and families of the women that were running to set up water stations all over the route. She asked Tom to help with the times at the finish line so I got someone to watch Morgan (thanks Tucker) and went on with the day as planned.

Almost at mile 10, I see Tom getting out of a car that Angela was driving. He had on his running shoes and one of the race shirts. He was totally there to run the last 3.1 miles with me! I asked if he was going to run it all without stopping (I previously promised some pretty great things to him if he did) and he said that was his plan.

We ran together for about 5 minutes then I looked back and could see the first 1/2 marathon runner that was behind me and since he knows how competitive I am during a race, he told me I could go ahead so I could beat her (sorry Alison but you were my motivation). It wasn't until I finished the race that I realized (with some help from Angela) that Tom had been training all summer to run a 5k for me. They would get up and go play racquetball for like 5 minutes so they could tell us that they played but then they would really go running. Oh my heart! How sweet is that?!

I hitched a ride back to Tom so we could run the last 1/2 mile together. I love this man so much and I appreciate what he is willing to do for me. I also love and appreciate Angela (in a different way) for being there to be his Jillian and not let him give up. I know there were some frustrating, yet very funny, times.

Now I owe him some promises. And now I know he can run 3 miles without stopping so guess what he gets to do with me three times per week. ;)

Leamorado

2011-09-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

We went to Utah over Labor day weekend so we could visit family and go to Leamorado. Leamorado is the annual celebration of the town closest to where I'm from (Leamington) and I kind of claim it for myself. We stayed at my mom's house and a friend of mine came the night before Leamorado so Morgan slept with Shy and Tom and I got couches. It was great sleep.

Anyway, I got up and did the fun run at 7 but didn't take my camera. I won.

Then we went to the program and lunch and games and as luck would have it, I didn't remember my camera there either. I did ask someone to take these pictures of Morgan on the "train." And soon I'll get pictures of her running a race (I made my aunt take some).

After the celebration we went to my mom's and Morgan went nudie swimming with her cousin. They had a blast! When she was all done with the water she went to the deck where a little play kitchen is and played for a while (still naked). When we went to get her to get dressed, we found a big log of poop. It was so funny. I haven't seen Tom laugh like that in a long time. I'm sure she was too busy playing to notice it slip out.

Morgan's Hiding Place

2011-09-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you may remember Morgan's obsession with the vent. She loves to put everything in it, including herself. I knew that when we left the house we were going to have to go into the crawl space and clean out the vents to recoup our stuff. Well, Tom threw on some dingy clothes and got down there. He made it to the first vent and pulled a watch out of it but he is a little too claustrophobic to continue all the way to the other end of the house (and I would rather cut my losses than go down there myself). So my very smart husband decided to get the wet/dry vac and see if that would do the trick.

As you can see, it worked! These are the things that we found in the vents. Just in case you can't tell what they are... four shoes, two candle holders, two candles, camera battery charger, cow bell, three balls, watch, hair bow, and a toy disc.

The Definition of Friends

2011-08-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

I know these pictures are blurry, but I took these the night we moved. These are of a few of the many people who helped us clean and finish packing. I am so grateful to them.

Thank you Angela, Kim, Shamarie, Taylor, Ashley, Josh, Caleb, Marlene, Renee, Emily, Rakelle, Steve, Stacia, Sydnee, Carly, Audrey, Michelle, Arli, Beck, and I know there were more, I was just so overwhelmed I don't remember who right now. But thank you!

Morgan Lately

2011-08-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

We never let Morgan get on the pool cover until the last week we were there. She saw the new owner's kid run across it and there was no stopping her after that.

She got to try her first snow cone at a neighborhood party (for the neighborhood next to ours). She loved it!

Sometimes she doesn't listen to daddy so she has to go to time out. How cute is this!

Late, But Memorable

2011-08-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a week and a half, but Tom took Morgan to Utah to visit family and I stayed home all by myself (something every mom/wife should try, in my opinion). I completed tons of projects, watch tons of Medium episodes, went to lunch with the girls, had girls night out at the water park, dinner and karaoke followed by ice cream and Just Dance at my house, ate a whole box of Reeses Puffs cereal, one corn dog, and no fruits or veggies. It was a great few days. But by the end I was missing my little family and I'm glad they came home when they did.

About the karaoke thing... it's not me. BUT, Angela dared me (okay, offered me $2) and I can't pass up a dare so I picked a Britney Spears song that I thought I knew and started singing. It turns out that I didn't know the song so well. Ha!

While they were at Tom's mom's house, they slept in the guest bed. Tom snores (and I sleep next to a fan) so he would wake Morgan up every time he fell asleep and she would start screaming, "hold me, hold me" because it scared her. Hahaha! Love them. I'm sorry they had some rough nights, but it was so good for me.

Five Zero Zero Zero Zero

2011-08-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

Or $50,000.

Isn't it funny how people's money always seems to be the elephant in the room? Well, I like elephants in rooms. It's not like I'll tell you how much we make (although I'm sure you're dying to know -- ha!), but I will tell you that a check for fifty thousand dollars written out to Tom and Kelli Rich was delivered to us on Tuesday.

Why? Because someone is paying us that amount to move out of our house by the 24th of August.

It started in November when Tom decided to take a leap of faith and start his own business. We didn't know where we would be so we decided to sell our house. We sent it out to my broker's list for a few weeks but never actually put it on the MLS because we decided that we didn't need to sell because we could stay here.

Then a few months ago this family called my broker and asked if we would still be interested in selling our house. They came over to look at it and made us an offer that was more than what we paid for it. We talked about it and decided that we would sell so that we could pay off our student loans (the only debt we have left). We used to be in debt somewhere around $1.5 million, which will be another post entirely and I'll tell you the whole story.

So they offer. We accept. The closing date was supposed to be July 15 but they had some financial issues and asked to extend to Sept. 1 and that was fine. Then it got closer and closer and I told my broker that I would not pack one box until after closing and I wanted two weeks to get out. He told that family and they asked if they could give us $50,000 to be out by August 24th so their kids could be ready for school. They also asked for up to 6 months to close on the house and they would pay rent every month until they close. But get this... if they don't close, we keep the house and the $50k. It's a good deal for us either way. And, either way, with the 50 grand and our savings, we will [most likely] be able to pay off the student loans.

There you go. A peek into our finances. The goal is to be debt free and we are SO close (relatively speaking, of course)!

16 Years

2011-08-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

(written yesterday)
That's how long it's been since I broke my neck. August 8, 1995 was the date. I don't know if it was "in memory of," but my arms were aching today. They get that way when they're cold and they ached for a long time after the accident. I know it seems weird that my arms would hurt, but I broke C5-6 and that is where the nerves for the arms come out of the spinal cord. I still can't do a normal push-up but I'm really blessed to be able to lift Morgan over my head to play with her. I'm blessed to be able to walk and run. It was such a close call (one millimeter, they said). I was almost a quadriplegic. And I'm not saying that people who are paralyzed are not blessed. When I was paralyzed and working so hard to be able to walk again, my goals changed. I went from needing to make the basketball team to focusing all my efforts on walking. I was the same headstrong person with aspirations. The focus just changed. And when I hear people say they would rather die than be paralyzed, I say they are wrong. Their focus would change and it would be hard, but the feeling of success and progress would be the same.

Yum!

2011-08-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

Great news! I have the pizza dough recipe from the swim/pizza party.
1 cup luke warm wate
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2-3 cups flour

If you make it in a mixer, put the water and yeast in first. If in a bread machine, water and yeast last.

Kelly brought it already made. I think she made it in a mixer and she said you don't have to let it rise. She rolled it pretty thin (like a few centimeters) and put the toppings on and baked at 350 for (I want to say) 10 minutes.

Hope ya'll enjoy!

The Things I Do For My Hubs

2011-08-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

Camping... unless it includes room service and a private bathroom, I'm not a big fan (and haven't been since the 20th century). Problem: Tom likes camping. We have been 1 time since we've known each other and it was way before we had Morgan. Solution: ward camp out invitation -- accepted!

Here we are in the car. Great picture, right? My teeth are big, which reminds me that my friend's little brother used to say I had Mr. Wilson teeth from Dennis the Menace when he puts Chiclets in his dentures. I'm not complaining. I like my teeth. The picture just brought back a memory. We camped somewhere in the mountains about an hour away and we were close to a river. Morgan couldn't resist getting in the water in her clothes.Besides camping and all the comforts that come with that, I experienced the worst 5 minutes of my life when we didn't watch Morgan for like 30 seconds and she wandered off. We and half of the ward were running around the campground searching for her and yelling her name. Finally I found her in some bushes looking longingly at this swamp of child-drowning water. At least she was okay. Phew.

I love our ward and the people in it so I am glad we got to hang out with them. Maybe next time it could be just an evening thing.

New DIY Blog

2011-08-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

If you keep up on my blog you have probably noticed that I like Do It Yourself projects and I post quite a few of them. Well, it seems like I'm always doing a project so I decided to start a blog to dedicate to my projects. It's called The Turquoise Piano and the URL is theturquoisepiano.blogspot.com.

I am hoping to grow the site so I can get sponsors. Seriously, paint gets expensive. If you wouldn't mind, would you please go to the blog and follow it? You do that by clicking the "join this site" tab under "Followers" on the right column.

Thanks and I love you! Here are the before/after pics. The whole story is posted on The Turquoise Piano.

Before After

Here are a couple of helpers while they were dancing on the new painted cement floor.

My Big Girl

2011-08-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have some things to catch up on.

First is Morgan. We finally had her two year well baby exam and she has grown! She is now in the 25th percentile for both weight and height (until now she has been in the sub 10th in both). She talks so well that the doctor said to her, "I'm talking to you like I talk to a four year old because you talk so well." So it's not just her mom that is bias. She's brilliant! :)

She is forming sentences when she speaks. Today she was swimming in the pool and she threw a flower into the deeper part and said to me, "I can't reach it."

The sentence she says the most is, "Where's [insert word] go?" which I realize isn't correct, but it sure is cute.

We were at my parents' house last week to remodel their basement (see post on my new blog theturquoisepiano.blogspot.com) and we took a break for a 24th of July ward party and parade, which included the town fire truck. My mom had bonnets for the little girls to wear and told me to bring a pioneer dress for Morgan.

I was so busy working on my mom's house and Morgan was so patient with me most of the time. By the end of the trip she was a momma's girl, but she did very well. I appreciate her.

One last thing I want to remember was one of the last days late at night. She was downstairs with us and she asked, "where's mommy go?" I was right there and I said, "Morgan, where did mommy go?" And she replied, "mommy busy." It broke my heart and I took a break to be with her.

Pool Par-Tay!

2011-07-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Today Morgan and I hosted a pizza and pool party at our house. Tom was a good sport and did the best he could to work during the noise (since he works from home).

It started last week when I had a last minute pool party and we started talking about pizza dough and I mentioned how I wanted to have a crust tasting party to find the best crust that doesn't taste homemade. My friend, Kelly, mentioned that she has a recipe that is the best ever so my other friend, Angela, suggested that we have a pizza party. So I decided that we would have a pizza and pool party and we invited a lot of people (we couldn't invite everyone we wanted to because there were just too many people but we will next pool party -- don't feel left out!).

I had everyone bring a pizza topping and Kelly and Audrey brought dough. It was seriously great and I now have two dough recipes that are AWESOME!

Hooray for pool partys where I actually feel like having a pool isn't a waste!

10 Years? Really?!

2011-07-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 10th anniversary of when I entered the MTC for my mission. I didn't automatically remember the date but I was wasting time on Facebook today and saw the last person I dated before the mission wish his wife happy 9th anniversary. They got married on my year mark. Haha! So, happy 10th to me. I remember being so nervous that I couldn't eat my pasta and lobster entree from Red Lobster. And if you know me, you know that not eating is a huge deal. I. Love. Food.

Anyway, it was a crazy day but one that I'm so glad I had. I loved the MTC. Maybe I'll share some mission experiences to commemorate that spiritual high that happened a decade ago (in future posts).

Bunder Scary

2011-07-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

A couple of nights ago there was a thunder storm sometime when everyone should have been sleeping. Unfortunately it woke Morgan up and since the monitor is on my side of the bed, I got the honor of getting up to go comfort her. When I walked in her room she was standing up. I asked her if she was scared of the thunder. She said, "bunder scary."

I took her downstairs to my bed (keep in mind that this is the middle of the night and I have no desire to be awake). She kept saying "bunder scary, bunder scary," so when we got t0 my bedroom door I told her she needed to be quiet because daddy was sleeping. She was for about .3 seconds and started yelling, "bunder scary, daddy," over and over until finally, knowing that he was no longer asleep, I told him to acknowledge what she was saying. He did and she kept saying it.

After an amount of time that was way too long and Morgan was still awake I told her she needed to go back to her room. The thunder was gone and she was more than happy to go to bed. Here's hoping for no more "bunder" storms in the middle of the night.

Conceived in 1979

2011-07-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Although it's true, the title of this post is not talking about me. It is this new chair that I know you have all been waiting for, even if you didn't know it.

This was definitely the most expensive and time consuming project (and that's including the piano), but I think it is my favorite (every new project is my favorite, by the way).

I got the vintage chair on craigslist for $35. The lady wouldn't budge in price. I asked her if it was in a smoking home (not that that would prevent me from buying it but it tells me how much work I need to do) and she said, "oh heavens no," so quickly. What I learned... don't believe when someone jumps to the answer she knows you want to hear so fast. Maybe they didn't smoke in the home, but after 32 years of 2nd hand smoke, the poor chair has lung cancer. So I pulled off the groovy red and orange material and washed the cushions, which helped. Cutting and sewing the piping onto the fabric for the cushion took the longest -- hours. I'm not a seamstress!

The next two pictures are to show you the difference that glazing makes. It brings out the wood work a lot.
Here's the breakdown:
Chair - $35
Primer - $3
Paint - $3 (the color is Heirloom White from The Home Depot)
Upholstery - $20 from JoAnn's (which was 1/2 price! Gulp. But I loved it so much.)
Total Cost for Chair - $61
Would you buy this for $61? I think I would.

Radio Show

2011-07-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I got a message from my broker saying that the guest on his radio show canceled last minute and he asked me if I wanted to be the guest and talk about home staging! Um, yes! (okay, the truth is that I was super nervous and didn't really want to do it but Tom encouraged me and I ended up telling my broker yes).

I got there and the studio was the quintessential small city radio studio in the basement of a large downtown building. Pretty great! I put my headset on and sat in front of my mic and as soon as I was asked the first question I developed a speech impediment and had to start the entire thought over. On LIVE radio -- Embarrassing! But after that sentence I did alright and it was a lot of fun. We talked for the whole hour instead of the 15 minutes I was asked to fill.

(I had my broker take a picture of me with his phone but he hasn't emailed it to me yet so I will post it when I get it)

Morganisms

2011-07-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

Ah, Morgan is growing up so fast. She isn't a baby anymore. Her legs are long and skinny in a big girl way (they've always been pretty skinny). She likes to put on makeup and walk around in mommy's shoes. She enjoys looking in the mirror and "driving" the car without anyone else inside.

Some funny things...

We let her watch some shows like Wonder Pets and Caillou once in a while but when we want to watch with her we "talk her into watching" Phinneas and Ferb. She'll say "no Ferb, no Ferb" but we don't really give her the option (again, this is when we are watching with her -- keep in mind, we'd rather be watching Prison Break or 24). We watch Ferb. So now Morgan will say, "where's Perry" as soon as we turn it on. If you watch Phinneas and Ferb, you get it. It's funny, right?

She has this bear that she got the day she was born. It's the kind that has the arms that "hug" a vase. She was playing with it the other day and I heard her call it "Squeak." She has called it that all the time since and she carries it around with her. Apparently she thinks it looks like a mouse and a mouse says "squeak squeak." Hence the name.

Tom's sister and family were over for Sunday dinner a few weeks ago and our nephew has an obsession with popcorn. Everything cool is "popcorn." He's 3, by the way. Anyway, he wanted to say the prayer and was doing a great job until he got to "in the name of" he said, "Jesus popcorn." We were all trying so hard not to laugh but Morgan, who was sitting on the counter with her back facing him, turned around to look at him and started cracking up like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. Those two are going to be quite the pair!

Today's DI Special

2011-07-06T15:34:00.001-07:00

I had a meeting in downtown Boise yesterday so Tom watched Morgan. I decided to take advantage of the time alone and stopped at the DI for two minutes on my way to pick up a chair (be very excited for this one... future post) that I found on craigslist. In that two minutes I found this cute little chair and I knew exactly where it would be going in my house (or should I say, outside my house). The front porch still needs a little something (I'm thinking a festive wreath on the door) but I like it. I got the inspiration from this super crafty gal that I visit teach. I dropped cookies by her house (of course it was the last day of the month) and she had a shabby chic little chair on her porch that was to die for (at least copy worthy). So, um, thanks Jane!

More Before/Afters and a Complete Living Room

2011-07-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

It's only been two years and two months, but I have finally decorated my living room the way I want it. It took a little sweat and some tears (okay, not really tears), but it's done! Here's what I did...

I found this coffee table at the DI for $20 and I negotiated it down to $15 (I know what you're thinking... I negotiated at the DI... and I'm okay with that!). Then I sanded it and threw on some primer and ivory spray paint on the bottom and the darkest brown that Lowes had for the top. I also put some antiquing glaze on the ivory to give it some personality. I'm loving this piece! I found this shiny gold lamp at a garage sale for $5. I don't know about you, but I don't like shiny gold so I bought some espresso metallic paint at Hobby Lobby and covered the gold. Then I did some antiquing with the same glaze I used for the coffee table. I love these results too!

So here is my finished living room. I really really really love it now (have I mentioned LOVE?).

This is a view from the table.

I had this doily that my mom's neighbor made for our wedding and at the time I wasn't sure what to do with one. I thought they were outdated, but now I know I was wrong. I think it goes perfectly with the "antique" table. Oh I could just kiss it!

Our Festive 4th

2011-07-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

We started the day with a big American breakfast (what's more American than crepes?) at Mari's while Nana and Papa were there. Later in the day we went to our friend's house for dinner, slip and slide, and fireworks.
It took Morgan a while to warm up to the noise of the fireworks.

The Latest Project

2011-07-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

I scored this gem at a garage sale two weeks ago for $2. Two dollars! Can you believe it? I bought some stain and polish at Lowes ($15-ish but I have a bunch left over), and some new upholstery ($3 at JoAnn's). Grand total for the chair... $20 and I have extra stain and polish!
What I learned: I sanded the chair first instead of stripping it. The guy at Lowes suggested it and I think he was wrong. It took hours to sand and I didn't get all of the other color off so the chair is two-toned (which I love, it just wasn't the plan). Also, it takes a long time to stain and polish. It's easy, you just have to wait 24 hours for it to dry before you can apply another coat. I like how it turned out, but I would probably paint next time.

If you have any tips for "next time," please feel free to comment. I need all the help I can get!

Patriotic Hair Bow

2011-06-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

I made a 4th of July bow today that M will be sporting on Monday. It is a combination of two bows I teach how to make on how-to-make-hair-bows.com. I like.

JCP Photo Shoot

2011-06-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

My parents were in town the other day (like two weeks ago) and we went to Meridian's Dairy Days at Storey Park where there were a bunch of vendor booths set up. One of them was for JCP Portraits and I "won" 50% off of a package and anything else I ordered if I booked there. I had been meaning to get pictures of Morgan for her 2nd birthday and this seemed like a good opportunity (even though I am two months late) so I booked their "garden babies" package. Here are some of the results. I'm thinking of taking the cream colored ones and making a gallery wall with white frames and changing her room decor to white and cream.

We're Up!

2011-06-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

Last year one of my New Years Resolutions was to start a business. I had everything finished from my end by the end of the year so I claimed to have reached that goal, but now I can officially say that we are up and running!

How-to-make-hair-bows.com is the website. We sell a group of instructional videos and pdf manuals that teach how to make all kinds of hair bows (and they are all super cute!). The cost for the package is $27 and buyers get instant access to the videos -- no waiting for a DVD!

If you click on the link and go to the site you will see a video that starts playing that shows examples of some of the bows. That was a project I just finished and I'll break it down to my amateur abilities. First I took all of the pictures of the bows that either I or my friend, Sarah, made. Then I put them together as a slide video. Then I did a voice over and decided that I needed some music to go with. So I looked for royalty free music and decided that I would rather play my own music than buy royalty free (hey, the business has a minimal budget right now) so I made up this song on the piano and recorded myself playing it. Then I edited the song so you can only notice a mistake or two and I put it as background music on the video, rendered it, then sent it to our smart guy who put it on the website.

There are a few tweaks that need to be made, but right now things are good to go.

And the best news... we got our first sale last night! Hip, hip, hooray!

If you don't mind helping me out, I'd really appreciate it if you "liked" our facebook page.

I'm not asking you to buy the program, but if you want to learn how to make the bows, it will teach you how (and you know where to find me if you have a question).

Utah Trip and the Scots

2011-06-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

I got an email from one of my besties that lives in Las Vegas a while ago inviting me to meet her in Utah while she and her family were there for the Scottish festival at Thanksgiving Point so I took the oportunity to visit some other friends and family on the same weekend. I don't know how I didn't get any pictures of me and Kim, but I got a bunch of Morgan (surprise!) and Bri, who is a great hugger. We took Nana with us to the festival with us.Later that weekend we went to my brother's and had dinner with my family and they took Morgan to Lynndyl for a few days while I went to Sarah's and helped her decorate her house. I also got my hair done and we realized that it's really hard to decorate, go to lunch, and do hair all in one day before I left. We didn't get a lot finished with the decor, but we had some good ideas.

M Smiles

2011-06-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Morgan has learned how to smile on command and we're loving it. She still likes to play in the cupboards. And she chooses her own accessories -- which always includes the baby towel as a shawl or "Punzel" hair and often the Marti Gras necklace.

Love this girl!

Language of Love

2011-06-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

You've heard of the five languages of love, right? Words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch? Yeah, those languages. My language is definitely "quality time." The one I care about least is receiving gifts. I seriously don't care if I get a gift for my birthday, Christmas, etc. -- and don't get me wrong, those are very important dates to me that I celebrate for weeks in advance. The problem is that just because I don't need gifts, I think that other people don't and I don't give them when I should. It's not a money issue -- although I am pretty frugal -- it's that I don't think it's important. For instance, I think it means more for me to make a trip to Utah to visit people than buy a gift for the people I visit. I end up spending more money and time, but it's worth it to me.

I have recently realized that a bunch of people close to me speak "love" differently than I do -- with gifts -- so next year I will do better speaking back to them. I hope they know how much I love them. I'm just telling them with MY language and not THEIRS.

What is your language of love?

Denver

2011-06-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

I've been trying for days to upload pictures from my Denver trip and I finally googled help (obviously blogging wasn't priority). Troubleshooting told me to try to do it in Internet Explorer instead of Chrome, and guess what... it worked! You are dead to me, Chrome. (Okay, we'll talk later).

So, Denver was pretty great. I stayed at the Sheraton on 16th Street Mall. It's this street downtown with great shopping and there are pianos set between the lanes of the street so anyone that wants to be creative can play. Now, y'all know I love me a painted piano, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw these.I went running outside one of the days after the conference and found this great running path along a creek. It was kind of like the Greenbelt or Provo River Trail, only the river was the size of the Lazy River at Seven Peaks and as deep as the kiddie pool. But, water's water.

I ended my run at the state capitol. That statue in front is dedicated to the Colorado soldiers who died in the Civil War. There were 4,900 volunteers from Colorado (population 25,000ish) and it wasn't even a state yet! Interesting, I know!

The conference (seminar) was about home staging and marketing your business. It really motivated me in a lot of ways. One was to be more organized with my time. New goal: exercise by 7:15am so I can be ready for the day when Morgan wakes up. Then I'll be able to get my business work done (for the four that I'm working on) during her nap time.

You want to hear a few of the things I learned that impacted me?

1. You are the average of the top 5 people you hang around. So basically, you are probably richer than two of the 5 people you hang around most and poorer than two (money is just an easy example). Who do you want to be?... With whom are you surrounding yourself?

2. Leverage time, money expertise and people. You can usually get more accomplished if you have some help. For example, if you don't know how to recarpet a house and you're doing a rehab project, hire someone who does. It will save you time and frustration (and help someone else out).

3. Under promise and over deliver. People will love you and your work.

4. Utilize the front and BACK of a business card. The back of a card is great real estate that should be taken advantage of.

5. If you are going to someone's house to stage or for a consult to sell (as an agent), take a pair of inside shoes. This shows respect for their house. Granted, this is not one of the biggest things I learned, but I like it because it is a simple thing that makes a big impression.

Okay, now take these and find a way to use them in your daily lives -- if you're still reading this. Haha!

I Wanna Be

2011-06-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm in Denver for a home staging conference. It hasn't started yet so don't think this post is about incredible new things that I've learned. It's really about the best conversation I had yesterday.

I had just arrived at the Denver airport and went to the SuperShuttle desk to find out where to catch my shuttle. This conversation is with the guy at the desk.

Him - "What's your last name?"

Me - "Rich"

Him - (looking at computer for my name) "Like, 'I wanna be?'"

Me - (chuckle) "Or maybe, 'who doesn't want to be?'"

Him - "Or, 'if you were you wouldn't be taking SuperShuttle.'"

Me - (laugh) "Yep. That's pretty much it."

Thank goodness for people who make you laugh.

Memorial Day

2011-06-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Since we were alone (as far as family goes) in Idaho this Memorial day I wasn't sure what there was for us to do. We spent most of the day cleaning the house and Tom fixed a drain that took hours longer than he was planning. That evening we did get invited to a bar-b-que at our neighbor's house. This is the kind of house/yard that makes you realize there will always be something better than yours -- and I was very grateful. I got a lot of inspiration from their plants, pots, furniture, pool slide, and other decorations. They also heat their pool so Morgan got to go swimming even though the temperature outside was in the 60's.

This ended up being the best picture of the day -- stupid camera battery. It was just before the swim party.

That night we purchased some flowers to put around our tree. I planted them on Tuesday with Morgan running around and picking them up and throwing them. Let's just say I wasn't very patient. Some people really love gardening and planting flowers. I learned that I am not one of them. Not one bit. It was like pulling teeth, only worse. Here's to perennials next year and forever more!

Days Like These

2011-05-26T21:10:00.001-07:00

Today was just one of those days where I didn't get much accomplished. I don't like this kind of day. Tom was out of town and my schedule was totally off (I didn't go to sleep until after 3am and Morgan woke up at 7 -- 1-2 hours early -- and I just don't do well on 4 hours of sleep -- clearly my fault, I realize that).

I let Morgan play in her pajamas until early afternoon and I went off of my "healthy eating" schedule and didn't exercise. Not that it was a bad day, I just went off the routine and I now realize that I am a routine kind of girl.

By the way she looks, you'd think she didn't choose to climb into the vent. Oh, she did. I'm sure she figured she had thrown everything else in, why not herself.

Let The Sun Shine In!

2011-05-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well, when it's bright you need sunglasses... even in the shower.*If naked toddler bellies bother you, please take it up with me and not the Po-Po. Not wanting to go to jail for an innocent pic.

Interior Design VS Staging

2011-05-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

Many people think that "staging" your home requires renting expensive furniture and having someone decorate your house -- a common misconception. A) You probably don't need to rent furniture at all unless the home you are selling is empty. Then you can decide on your budget and go from there. B) You don't "need" someone to decorate your house, but a lot of times it is worth it.

I've been taking a home staging course and I've learned a few things that I'm going to share today (I'll learn a lot more at a home staging conference in Denver in two weeks -- yay!).

Home pictures in magazines are usually interior design pictures. They look amazing and clean and modern (and I don't mean the style "modern" but "updated" -- this decade!, although this year is preferred). Most are impersonal and unemotional. To stage a home to sell, you need to take the interior design (i.e. Pier 1, Elle Decor, etc.) rooms and make them emotional. First of all you have to figure out who the potential buyer is, then make it emotional to them.

So, that's what I did for a showing of our house (no, it's not listed for sale -- we just happened to have someone call about it and want to see it). I decided to market to a young professional family with kids (which worked out well since that's what we are -- ha!). In Morgan's room I made a little play area with a dog "reading" Go. Dog. Go! to a group of other dogs (see pic below). It is best if you can make it gender neutral, but this is our house and Morgan's room so it's not gender neutral.

In her bathroom I did something that a kid might do with foam letters that should make the potential buyers either remember their kids doing something like that or imagine that their kids will one day.

For the sitting area I put together a family game night with Scrabble (the letters say "family game night"). It is supposed to help the buyers imagine themselves with their families and trigger an emotion to make them remember and love this house (isn't marketing intriguing?!)

To sum things up, staging is fun and necessary (especially in this market) to sell a house quickly. I don't prefer to have my home staged when nobody is going to be looking at it. I do like it to be designed though.

Hannah's Book

2011-05-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

I've only mentioned this once or twice, but I wrote a book. I love to write. Love it, love it! I'm in the middle of my 2nd book and have ideas for the next (and next, and next). I've had some encouraging correspondence with a couple of publishers for the first one (not published yet, but I hope so some day).

Anyway, this post isn't about me (mostly). It is to support a fellow authoress (love that word!) with whom I went to high school. Hannah Tanner Clark wrote a fantasy novel, COBBOGOTH, that is being published and will be available to purchase in October.

I love supporting people I know, especially if I'm interested in what they are doing. So please go check out her blog and website (she's also over there on the right ---->).

Hopefully someday she will be blogging for my book too!

Maynksgiving #2

2011-05-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was a special day. We celebrated our second annual Maynksgiving (Thanksgiving dinner in May). There was even a 5k that morning in our neighborhood (what luck, right!?) that will be referred to as the Maynksgiving day race. I beat last year's time by 9 seconds (and that would be great if last year I wasn't pushing a baby in a jogging stroller). If only there was a parade too... does a garage sale count?

Last year we concocted the idea with our fave family, Justin and Sarah Ruiz. This year they decided to pack up their things and move to Utah to train for the London Olympics (to which we are first in line for tickets) so they weren't able to come. Boo! We did have other great friends there and Tom's sister's family is in town (to get things ready for the big move here!) so they got to eat with us. Morgan was in Heaven playing with her cousins.

The weather was so cooperative that we were able to eat outside. I think I like Maynksgiving more than Thanksgiving just because it's warm.

Morganisms

2011-05-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

Morgan is learning so much and there are so many things that I want to write down. So here we go.

A couple of months ago her cousins were visiting from Oregon and their parents turned the tub on so they could take a bath then Mari came downstairs and Lenny stayed to watch the tub. Well, he went into the toilet room (you know, another room in the bathroom where the toilet is) for a minute. The kids were playing and Meg walked down the stairs to us and said, Morgan's in the tub. I ran to see what was going on and found Morgan fully dressed in the filling bathtub. She was soaking wet. Tragedy averted, thank goodness, and it ended up being pretty funny. It's amazing what happens in a minute.

I scored this bike for Morgan for her birthday and the weather was finally good enough for her to play with it outside. She doesn't quite understand the concept of pedaling, but it'll come soon.
Is that mascara on her eyelashes? Yep. Don't judge.

We went to Mari's new house yesterday and as soon as we pulled up and Morgan saw the house she said, "Tanner." That's her cousin and she recognized that we were at his house. Today when we pulled into the church parking lot she said, "church." She does the same thing with our house and when she sees Walgreens she says, "caramel" because I used to bribe her with a caramel if she would not cry while we were there.

Tom took M out during church today because she can't grasp what it means to "whisper." They went into the empty nursery and M found a fireman's hat, put it on and said "fire." Might not be the most incredible thing, but we don't go around talking about firemen... ever.

I wanted to take some pictures of her on the piano but she didn't want to. When we looked through the pictures afterward, she looked at this one and said, "cry." Yes Morgan, and I wish you wouldn't cry so much when I want to take pictures of you.

Yesterday Tom and M were waiting in the car while I went shopping and Tom asked her if she wanted to sing the ABC's. She said, "no." Then he asked her if she wanted to count. She said, "no." So he asked her if she wanted to call Nana on the phone and she did. Tom told her to say hi to Nana so she said, "hi." Then she put the phone to her stuffed doggy's ear and said, "say hi."

We were taking a family walk to the park and the shoes that she wanted to wear were water shoes that are way too big for her. I let her wear them anyway (and she had on a dress). She started running across the street and tripped on the stupid shoes and skinned her knees. She cried and we went back home to put on some pants and shoes that fit better then started walking to the park again. I kid you not, we were at the same place and she started running and tripped and fell again. Luckily it wasn't so bad with the pants on but she laid there and said, "hurts" (sounds like, hoo-uts).

She says, "careful" (silent "r" and "ful" is more "fo") all the time (like while she's walking down the stairs or climbing on things). A while ago I heard her saying "careful" while she was upstairs and I was downstairs. She kept saying it so I went up to see what was going on. She was on my computer chair, holding onto the computer desk. The chair had rolled backward so she was basically doing a plank three feet in the air. Good thing she has great core muscles.

I'm Feeling WICKED

2011-05-10T22:52:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day, Tom surprised me with breakfast (eggs benedict) in bed. He also told me of his plan for us to see WICKED, which is in Boise until Sunday. About a year ago a bunch of people in my ward decided to purchase their tickets at a group discount price of $60 per ticket. We decided not to get them because we weren't sure if we would even live here. Well, fast forward the entire year and the musical is now at the Morrison Center and we are still here. I thought it would be nice to go, then we realized tickets are being sold now $240 for the nice seats. Okay, if you've read my blog at all you know that I do not A) pay retail, B) spend over $500 (including babysitter) for a few hours of entertainment, or C) pass up a stellar deal if it is something I want and will use.

So Tom's present to me worked out very well. He called the Morrison Center earlier in the week to ask about tickets and found out that every day they do a lottery and sell a handful of tickets for $25 each. Super. I was definitely willing to gamble going to the musical for that price. Tom took Morgan to the MC at 5pm this afternoon and put our names on the lottery list. At 5:30 our names were drawn and Tom bought our tickets. He did upgrade for $15/ticket to get some of the best seats in the house. We ended up in row G (see map below), which is in the front 1/4 of the orange section B. It was perfect and such a fun Mother's Day present for a great price.
Now, since we have already done it and you won't be taking our tickets, feel free to use our frugality and enter the lottery. Just remember that you have to be there before 5:30 and you still might not get tickets.

New Bedroom Decor Part 1

2011-05-10T00:30:00.001-07:00

Since I put my new piano in my room I decided that I have to redecorate the entire room to match. So, I moved the picture of the SL temple to the house entry way (but it will be moved again soon) and made a new thing to hang over our bed.

I got this great idea for my pictures from this [so cheap, so easy] post on kreyv. The sucker was pretty hard to hang though (it's 5 ft by 2 ft, if you can't tell). I may have put about 10 holes in the wall and it still might have fallen and ruined the headboard (it's okay, I want a new one anyway) but I covered it with a dark brown furniture marker which, if you don't already have, you should invest in because that thing has saved a lot of wood in our house.

The entire "work of art" cost like $15 (including 8x10 prints) and I have two giant pieces of particle board left over to use however I deem necessary... and they will be used.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

Just over two years ago, on a sunny day in April, something remarkable happened. After a lot of pain, swelling, crying, and pushing, my beautiful wife became a mother. In that magical moment, our lives were forever changed for the better.

Our world was literally transformed in the blink of an eye. We stopped doing many of the things we had since the beginning of our marriage. We gave up doing things like watching entire seasons of 24 in a single weekend... and started on a path of real discovery and meaning. It's remarkable how much adding a child has really made us a family.

Gone were the days of sleeping in until 11 or 12... and strangely and suddenly our conversations were dominated by a whole new range of tipics like naps, sore nipples, and poop (ok... so maybe the topics weren't entirely new... but I digress).

This year for Mother's Day, Morgan and I decided we wanted to do something special. So, we decided that in addition to the the fun, age-old Mother's Day traditions, we would do something else. By the time you are reading this, Kelli has already enjoyed her breakfast in bed. She's discovered what her Mother's Day presents are, and has started going about her day... completely oblivious to what is happening in my office. You see, those things are just for her, and, like I said earlier, Morgan and I had talked about doing something special this year, something that would help you (the dear friends and loved ones who follow this blog) know how much we love her and help you share in the celebratory bliss that comes with this day. So... as you may have guessed, Morgan and I decided to take over Kelli's blog and write her a letter.

So... here goes:

Dear Kelli (Mommy),

Morgan and I wanted to write you a letter to let you know how much we love you and appreciate all you do for us. Without you we would not have a family and our house would not be a home. We know there are times when Morgan and I can make a mess of things or things start to pile up (literally and figuratively)... and you chase after us, keeping us on track and presentable.

You know even though we only formally commemorate you as a mother once a year, we celebrate you and your amazing contributions every day.

Breakfast in bed and presents are mere tokens of what we are trying to convey... that without you, none of this could have ever happened. So this is our little way of telling you (and the rest of the world) how much we love and appreciate every little and not-so-little thing you do for us.

Essentially: thank you! Thank you for being such a remarkable woman, loving wife, and amazing mother.

On this day especially, thank you for being the best mother in the world!

Love forever,

Tom and Morgan.

P.S. Morgan wanted to add a few thoughts:

adkfhkh325r4h ikh892ioqhwe0uoi k-89230tiohy89yuh 908923oihjhubkjakjba lkhjh82yuioqhwkn lkasfjkhrlwuihj, ;noi5uqwkern0789uyohikjbp8y n8yhldkojlhkjads7854afdoihkb3riuhk8745 oihkbj78ytghbn as;oifh78y9uhj, p09oikedrcgv12rw 98oihkjbmasdf

How can I even hope to compete with that. Frankly I think she said it all... and much better than I did.

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For

2011-05-01T10:53:00.001-07:00

Remember this "before" picture?

I am finally finished. Here is the "after."
I'm really loving it!

My Royal Birthday

2011-04-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

My birthday has always been a big deal to me. I'm usually not a "princess" type of girl, except when it comes to April 29th (and sometimes the rest of the month before). I should have known something was not right when I learned, months ago, that it was going to host the Royal Wedding as well as Me. There is just not room for two princesses on this day. So, I am officially declaring that my birthday will have to be celebrated on a different day. Here's why...

Last night I get a call from Tom, who's supposed to be on a flight from Atlanta to Denver. "My plane is delayed but I should still be able to catch the connecting flight home." No problem. I get another phone call later saying that the Denver to Boise flight left without him and he wouldn't be home until tomorrow (my birthday!). Okay, still not a huge deal, but I had to cancel my running plans at 8:00 because I wasn't going to take Morgan that early in the morning on one of the coldest April 29ths in history (anywhere). I still could go get my drivers license, lunch, pedicure and dinner.

So Morgan and I picked Tom up at 11:15, went to Tucanos for lunch, then to the DMV. I got the second question on the test wrong so there I was at question number 3 and 50% wrong -- not a good way to start since I'd already not passed the test once (embarrassing, I know). However, I did finish and only missed five (with a seven limit) so I was able to get a new license (good thing too... my UT one expired today). So I paid my dues and went to the blue wall to get my picture taken. I had previously spent an hour getting ready and when I looked in the mirror I thought I looked pretty darn great. Unfortunately the camera didn't think so. The lighting was off and my hair looks like I have a really bad dye job (which isn't true--I have a really good one!).

After the DMV, Tom told me that he had to work. That meant I got to babysit, which meant no pedicure. I was totally bummed. First no exercise then no pedicure... and spending an hour at the DMV wasn't exactly fun. So I stayed home with Morgan for a few hours wallowing in self pity until I decided to take her to the movie. On the way I called my superfriend, Sarah and cried to her (real self pity tears, you know) and felt better when we got to the movie. We went to Rio (which I was expecting to be about a dog -- don't ask me why -- but it was about a bird and birds freak me out so I was okay with leaving after 20 minutes of trying to get Morgan to sit and pay attention). I think it probably would have been a fun movie, but my little girl wasn't cooperating.

We went back home and Tom came out to talk to me but I just started crying again because my day wasn't turning into my Royal day like I wanted it to. Then he felt bad and took Morgan to buy me a present (yeah, we don't really plan ahead with gifts in the Rich household). While they were gone I decided to go running to get the endorphins flowing so I would stop with the self pity. Tom and Morgan got home just after me and Tom surprised me with a mani-pedi tomorrow at the most expensive salon in the county, which I made him cancel (with more tears) and get refunded because 1) I am totally fine paying $25 to the Vietnamese ladies down the street and I'd rather spend the rest of the money on a new wardrobe for him, and 2) because I know he only bought it because he felt bad because I was feeling sorry for myself.

To end the day we were going to go out to eat with our friends but there was a miscommunication about the babysitter so at 5:30 we didn't have one and I was crying again because we couldn't go out to eat (it's totally irrational, I know, but it's MY day -- any other day this would not have been an issue). So Tom and I started calling around and we finally found a girl that could babysit last minute for us and we went out with our friends. It was a great dinner and a positive way to end the day. However, I made Tom wait to give me a present until tomorrow when I'm celebrating 31 with a pedicure.

The Book of Mormon in April

2011-04-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you about my friend Natalie. I first met her on the day I arrived into the mission field in the Washington DC North mission almost ten years ago (this summer). She is one of those BFF's you can go a year without talking to but when you do talk, nothing has changed between you. She's super spiritual, but not weird (she's very fun and outgoing, in fact). She was what I describe as a "well rounded missionary" (okay, I stole the description from Sister Garff) and she is that way now. She has a husband, three kids, teaches aerobics and has a book club. You know the type.

Anyway, I was reading Natalie's blog last month and she told about how her stake president (or someone to that extent) extended a challenge to their stake to read the entire Book of Mormon in one month. Of course she did it and she wrote about finishing at the end of March. Back up... at the beginning of March/end of February she invited her blog readers to read the BOM with her that month. I wasn't ready for the challenge then. So, back to end of March, it was eating at me. You know, like when you feel like you should share your testimony in church during the entire meeting and end up finally doing it with five minutes to spare.

I decided to take the challenge and do it in April. I started on conference Saturday and knew I would finish when I finished 2nd Nephi later that week, then Alma the next week. I finished reading Moroni today and I can say that I read the ENTIRE Book of Mormon in April of 2011 (the first time to actually finish since my mission). It really is a different book when you read it through that fast. It was amazing to get the entire story that quickly. Granted, I'm not a scriptorian by any means, but I do have a desire to be a better person and I feel closer to my savior. I love this book!

I'm not going to extend a challenge to anyone to do it, but if you are feeling like you aren't as close to Christ as you would like to be (or once were), this is a great way to start.

Morgan's 2nd Birthday

2011-04-24T23:18:00.001-07:00

Today we celebrated the two most important occasions for us -- Easter and Morgan's birthday. We were in Utah helping my mom paint her house for spring break, which was also 10 cent hot dog weekend in Delta that now should be called "25 cent hot dog weekend" (they were still good, but not as good as a 10 cent-er). Anyway, Morgan got to play with her aunt and uncle a lot while I got to redecorate Shyanne's room. It was fun (thanks Shy!).

For the Easter/Birthday day we had a visit from the Easter Bunny,

and Easter egg hunt (yes, I know that Easter isn't about the pagan stuff, but it's fun)

and Morgan opened presents from my parents and grand parents.

Then we ate strawberry shortcake after lunch and drove to Salt Lake to see Tom's mom and step dad. We had dinner with them and more presents and strawberry shortcake to celebrate Morgan's birthday before we drove the rest of the way home. Here she is wrapping up her new baby.

Last year I planned a big party for Morgan's first birthday and we went all out. This year we didn't even wrap a present. I learned to save it for when she actually cares about a birthday. She had just as much fun, if not more!

To Morgan

2011-04-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

Morgan,

You are my sweet baby girl, but you're not really a baby anymore. You are growing up so quickly and becoming very independent. Lots of moms say they are sad to see their kids grow up so fast. Not me. I am trying to live in the moment with you and you are always so much fun at each stage you conquer.

You are saying so many things. The other day you walked into my bathroom and said, "brr, it's cold in here," which sounded more like "brr, a co n heea." It made me laugh. You make me laugh a lot. At night you tell me "night night mommy" and it melts my heart. You also say "I love you," which sounds a little bit like "Aaa Lo Luuuu." You also talk a lot in words I don't understand, then you throw in a word like "doggy" or "baby." You definitely know what you want and sometimes it is hard for you to not be able to tell me.

We were in Lynndyl for the weekend of your birthday and you started playing aunt Kay's piano and singing "doggy, doggy, doggy" along with the notes. Daddy was with you and you made him very proud. Maybe you'll be a good singer like him when you grow up. And maybe you'll play the piano too. I would like that. I used to take piano lessons but I didn't practice enough so I'm not as good as I'd like to be. Maybe you will be better than I am. But if you want to do something else, that is okay too. I love you no matter what.

You are still little for your age, but you are as active as any kid I've ever known. You run everywhere you go. You get excited to go shopping with me but you hate sitting in the cart. You cry and cry until I get you out. Then you want to run all over the store. Sometimes I get frustrated because I want to hurry and get the stuff we need instead of run after you, but I love that you like to run. I like to run too (just not as often as you).

Your favorite movie right now is Tangled. You love to sing along to the songs and you really like the horse. You are not like Rapunzel though. You never would have stayed in the tower for so many years. You never would have allowed yourself to be confined in such small quarters. I think you would have figured out a way out by the time you could walk.

You are in the nursery at church and I think you'd do well now by yourself (it took a while) but I am the nursery teacher so we don't get to try that yet. You did go to nursery by yourself at grandma's ward and you did very well until the end when someone opened the door to get their little kid and you took off. Daddy found you crying at the other end of the hall because you didn't see any familiar faces.

Sometimes you like to eat and sometimes you don't. It's pretty hit or miss with you. And the foods you'll eat are also hit and miss. We're usually successful with pizza, mac and cheese, or hot dogs (typical kid food that I swore I wouldn't feed you regularly -- things change). You know the names of water, juice, milk, and everything else is Coke, thanks to Nana. She drinks Coke all the time and you love when she shares with you. I don't mind either.

You say "bye" to things when it is time to go. For example, when we go to the park, you always say "bye slide, bye swings, bye park." The other day we were leaving Lowes and you said, "bye shopping." It made grandma laugh (me too but I'd heard you say it before). She was with us.

You don't have a favorite toy, blanket, pillow, or anything. You have your binky to sleep with (and we are working on only using it while you sleep) and that is all that you need. You actually have a few of them and you like to suck one and hold the rest. Sometimes you push one against your eye. It seems to comfort you for some reason. You do like wrapping your babies in their blankets and putting them "night night." You also like to play with your blocks, stuffed dogs and bear. You like pushing all of them in the stroller or your play grocery cart. And you are enamored by bikes (big kid bikes). Some day we will get you one. For now you like to play with the trike we got for your birthday.

You give me lots of hugs and say "hold me" or "hold you" when you want me to pick you up. I love it. I hope you always like to give me hugs.

I am so blessed to be your mommy and I thank Heavenly Father every day for you. I hope I can be a good example for you and that you grow up to be a nice and happy person. I love you so much, Morgan.

XOXO,

Mommy

Morgan Loves Tangled

2011-04-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

Morgan's new favorite show is Tangled. She loves to sing along to the songs. Here's her grand finale of When Will My Life Begin.

Just a Journal Entry

2011-04-13T11:56:00.001-07:00

You know, Wilford Woodruff wrote in his journal every day so he would have a record of the proceedings of that day. Inspiring. If I wrote in my journal (blog) every day, I'd lose my readers because one can only read that I exercised, read, watched Finding Nemo, painted a picture frame, made dinner and went to bed so many times. However, I do like to keep a record of the important things in my life, or at least what I think is important. I wanted to jot down a couple of things before I forget.

Sunday the 10th was a special day for us. We made it through the entire sacrament meeting at church without having to leave our bench to take Morgan out. We were that prepared. It's all about bringing books, crayons, water, snacks, and toys. I understand that now! Yeah for this epic milestone!

That same day, Morgan and Tom were playing on the bed. She would prop a pillow up next to him so she couldn't see his face, then she would ask, "where daddy?" This is really the first time she has done it as a game versus really wanting to know where something is. It melted my heart to watch them play.

Last, but not least, for this entry, I wanted to give an update on my new years resolution of reading the Bible cover to cover. Well, I made it to Numbers in February and I'm still in Numbers. Same page. It's a really hard part of the Bible for me to get past. So anyway, I still want to do it, but it's not as easy as I thought it would be. Then I made a new goal after this last General Conference. If you're not from Meridian, Idaho you might not remember but there was an announcement made that there will be a new temple built in Meridian. I'm so excited! Then I realized that I have no right to be so excited if I'm not taking advantage of the Boise temple that is ten minutes away. So I decided that I (accompanied by Tom) will be attending once a month. Not hard, but better than I have been doing. So let it be written...

The Newest "Before" Picture

2011-04-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

Look at my new project!!!

Pretty soon it will make a statement.

Honey the Build-A-Bear

2011-04-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

Our plans for tonight were the ones that, while you're planning them, you imagine yourself with your happy little family where everyone is smiling, saying "yes ma," and for some reason everything is in black and white... That is until the actual events take place.

After our homemade dinner and the two minute Family Home Evening lesson about chapels and being reverent, we took Morgan to Build-A-Bear thinking we were pretty much the coolest parents in the world. I guess we were imagining Morgan laughing and hugging the bears, trying hard to decide which one she wanted to take home and telling us how she is going to remember this wonderful family moment and never blame us for anything that goes wrong in her life (all in slow motion with sappy music blaring over the speakers, of course).

Well, I guess we should know by now that things don't always (ever) happen as we (at least I) imagine they will. When we got there, Morgan didn't want anything to do with the stuffed animals or the accessories. After trying to get her interested, I finally grabbed six of my favorite stuffed animals and took them to let her decide. She kept saying, "no ha to doggie, no ha to horsie," etc, and would push them away from her. We think "no ha to" means "I don't want to" or "don't have to" or "no I don't," because she says it all the time in moments where those phrases would work.

We tried again to get her to pick out an animal. Nope. I finally picked three and made Tom choose the one we'd get (we do this when choosing restaurants too -- works like a charm) but we ended up switching a couple of times anyway. We are so not decisive when it comes to spending $20 (okay, we're not decisive when it comes to spending $1/2 million either, but at least there's an excuse there). Anyway, we got a bear, picked the music button thing to put in it's hand, got a heart that lub-dubs, and Morgan picked a cute little pink purse. Finally at ten after nine (the mall people hate us) we were out of there with a bear named Honey and a better memory than our Leave It To Beaver night would have been.

Fun Times With Morgan

2011-04-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

I really love how independent M is becoming. She is happy to play in (drive) the car while I clean the garage, play with her babies and doggies, make up all sorts of things to do with the laundry basket (like play in it or pretend it is a hat), and wear daddy's shoes. Love her. And LOVE the "me" time she lets me have now.

Before and After

2011-03-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

Remember these?

Here is the before/after picture.This is where they are located for now (look below... not on the grass, obviously), until I get bored with it. Originally I wanted to put a big statue in the circle of our stairs. You know, a big Caesar... Zeus? Then I thought a big plant display with reeds and cattails would be nice. But since I probably won't find a nice one for under $300 ($2000 for the statue -- I know. I looked.), I decided to go with a little sitting area.Chairs - $8 total

Material - Hollywood Teal (the closest to turquoise that I could find that I liked) at Joann Fabric. $6-ish with a 40% off coupon.

Batting - $10 (who knew that stuff was so pricey?)

Paint - free primer from our house. $1 white spray paint.

Picture frames - found them in our house and painted them.

Frame paint - $1.29

Vase - $.25 at a garage sale.

Table - $.25 picture frame on top of a $2 plant stand -- both found at a garage sale.

Total - Approx $27!... much better than a Zeus statue.

I have to say that Tom wasn't very impressed with the original purchase of the dark, ugly, smoky, 2nd hand chairs, but when he saw my completed vision, he is now aware that I can do anything. Finally!

And here is the before/after for Morgan's room.

Before

After

For her room I took out the big recliner (it will be used in the next project... the theater/game room). I bought the wall shelves for $3 at DI and painted them black. I bought the rocking chair at a garage sale for $15 or $20 and painted it white and made cushions for it (total cost was probably $10 for material and batting). I got the lamp at Goodwill for $6. And I think we had the rest already. The total cost of this makeover was around $35. Don't get me wrong, I'm not always a 2nd hand purchaser. Our other rooms are Z Gallerie, RC Willey, and Pier 1... but they're not as fun. They look like the show rooms and anyone can get that look. I like making it up and searching for great finds for cheap!

Here's a close up of this cute rocker.

Manners

2011-03-30T23:41:00.001-07:00

Today Morgan was coloring in her coloring book when she sneezed twice. Without looking up she said, "bless you." I didn't even know she knew that goes with sneezing!

Stinky Stinky

2011-03-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

Today Morgan took a baby wipe out of the container and wiped her doll's bum while saying, "stinky, stinky." Oh I love this girl!

Feng Shui and Turquoise

2011-03-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

I have been taking this home staging course from the fabulous Karen Schaefer, founder of the Association of Property Scene Designers. Tom knows her from a business thing that he attends a few times a year and when he hooked us up recently, I couldn't have been more excited. Since I just got my real estate license, I'm going to be marketing myself as the home staging "expert." So I figured I better learn some things about home staging.

I rearranged my living room so it is more feng shui (at least my version of feng shui, because I still don't totally understand the entire Asian meaning -- or if it is supposed to be capitalized).
I got some inspiration from a fun new interior design blog, Kreyv (you should check it out and follow it and "like" it on FB). The next two photos are of my new fireplace decor. It's kind of an awkward thing so I did the best I could. The pictures in the frames were just the ones that were already in the frames, I will be changing them all to color when I get there on my check list. I'll also be framing a turquoise fabric (read on to learn more about that obsession). Anything suggestions on what I can do to make it better?

I have also been doing a lot of thrift/garage sell shopping so I can make my own furniture (kind of). I'm so excited about these babies I got at DI for $4 each! They are from a smoking home, which is not ideal, but that is an easy fix. I'm thinking of going turquoise with them. I'm in love with the color turquoise right now. I even want to get a piano and paint it turquoise. It would be so amazing when finished and accessorized, but I digress. Back to these chairs. I'm thinking of painting the wood either white (ideal with turquoise), cream (ideal with my living room, just in case they went in there to visit), or dark brown (also goes with the living room but I think I want lighter) and reupholstering the cushions in a cool turquoise print. What do you think?

Well, that is what I've been up to lately. It's so much fun!

I Just Wanted To Give Blood

2011-03-24T16:29:00.001-07:00

I tried to save a life today... but my iron count was too low... and apparently they don't like to take your blood if your iron count is too low. Sorry to the person who dies from lack of my blood. I really tried.

So if any of you want to take this responsibility off of my shoulders, please donate blood at the next blood drive in your town.

Morganisms

2011-03-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

Oh wow, we have definitely hit the "terrible two's" stage, even though she's one month shy of actually being 2. I'm writing this just after the fit she had this morning when I wanted to take a picture of her. I wanted the picture to document that today she put on her shoe all by herself without any help or pressure from me. I just did her hair and she was 100% naked except for the bows (I put the diaper on for the pic). The first thing she did when her hair was done was run to the living room saying "side," which means "outside." What better to do in 40 degree weather than go out naked and play? So she put on her shoe. It might be on the wrong foot, but I'm still really proud.

How did I get the fit to stop? I bribed her with Binky and Nemo (we have almost worn out the $1 rip-off DVD that Tom got in China). Normally she can have Binky only when she is on her bed. She knows she has to leave it there when she leaves her bed but you know, sometimes I just get to the end of my rope and nothing sounds better than Binky sucking and Finding Nemo (and the peace and quiet that comes with that) so I give in. --Ah man, it's only 10:00 in the morning. That was a short rope.

Another funny thing has to do with her mock snoring when she was watching Tom sleep (it was a post I did around Christmas time). Anyway, when she pretends she's sleeping she says "horseshoe," which means "hok shoo," which is the snoring sound.

She has finally started to like playing with babies. Until now she preferred animals, blocks, and even cars, but now she is kissing her baby and putting her to sleep (with a dog). She also puts her in her little shopping cart or stroller and they walk around. Love that she mimics me!

She has started to ask "where's ______?" But she says, "where," pause, "______?" She doesn't say the "r" very well so it's more like, "wheh baby?" or "wheh doggy?"

There's probably a bunch of other things I wanted to document but I can't think of anything right now... so check back for more Morganisms (unless they bore you, then check back for things that don't).

Las Vegas... Again

2011-03-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

It's funny, the two places I swore I'd never live were Boise, Idaho (rural Idaho was never ever an option) and Las Vegas, Nevada (also, rural Nevada never was and never will be an option). As you know, we live in Boise... and the place we visit most (that isn't family oriented) is Las Vegas. I have been there at least every 6 months for the past few years.

This weekend we went for another business trip. We went because Tom is pretty smart, especially with marketing, and one of his business friends (who I like very much) invited him to come and speak to his top 5 sales guys. We stayed in a very nice suite in The Palazzo. On Friday a limo picked us up to take us to the Bellagio to look around and watch the water show, then to dinner at Mon Ami Gabi (it's a steak house and I decided to order the filet, which I know is a very good cut of beef, but I really wanted a hamburger over a steak. I still wish I got the burger. Next time...). We also went to the Las Vegas sign. I don't know if I'd ever seen it before. I know I have several times in movies, but in real life I'm not sure. I'm guessing not though because when we got there I was surprised at how small it is.

Here we are at the Las Vegas sign.
Saturday I hung out with my friend Kim and her family while Tom did his presentation. She helped me pick out some new shirts that I think I need but probably just want. Then I got "baptized by Jimmersion" (don't give me credit for the saying -- totally a Kim-ism) and watched the first few minutes of the BYU basketball game with them before dinner.

Today we came home. Nana and Papa watched Morgan for us. You're probably thinking, "Wow, they left her again? What horrible parents." I know! But I swear, this is the last time for a while. Everything just happened to be right around the same time.

Thanks Michael and Nancy for the trip. And thanks Jo Ann and Ron for watching M.

Sweetness

2011-03-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

A few posts ago I wrote about a blog that I read that made me cry like a baby. Well, I have been obsessed with the blog ever since and I check it daily. Today is the first "luni"versary (one month) of when baby Maddie passed away and on the blog today Kellie wants to see pictures in honor of her baby. Well, I really had no idea that would be today's post but I am so excited because I got the inspiration of Morgan's new room decor from pictures I saw of Maddie's room -- pink and black (I am SO over pink and brown).

I'm not totally finished yet, but here is the sneak peek.

I made all of the bedding except for the dog. It was so easy and I bought all material at Joann's with their 50% off coupons. We bought the rocking chair at a garage sale for $1 and I painted it white and reupholstered the seat. Super easy fix and super cheap! Then I took a black basket we had and painted the middle white. Now it holds Morgan's books so she can pick what she wants to "read" while sitting in her chair.

This is my love today. She was driving her bike and she wrapped one of her towels around her like it was a scarf. I love this fit-throwing spice cake and I am so so so grateful I can cuddle and kiss her today.

Anyway, I don't know if Kellie will read this, but her blog has really touched me. I know things like this happen to people every day, but her story has been the one that I can't stop reading. I wish her and her family the best and I thank her for the reminder not to take my baby for granted. Again, if you want to read it, http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com/.

Real Estate Test Passer

2011-03-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

Here's the scoop. My sister-in-law and family are 99% sure they are moving here so they came a few weeks ago to look for houses. We found a bunch of amazing ones, but the house that we are all in love with is the one they want (obviously). So here's where I come in... Besides being the super supportive sister-in-law, I am going to be their real estate agent!

I took the 90 hour, two week course from the Idaho Real Estate School (with a really fun teacher that made me feel like I was in high school again) thinking I would only be doing it for the sale of this one house (okay, two houses because their friends are moving too). Then I really loved it and found myself wanting to do more and more in real estate. Now, I've done stuff before (we used to own three duplexes and two single family houses) and I'm not really wanting to re-experience that. Being a landlord pretty much stinks (and that was edited for my sensitive readers). HOWEVER, when you can buy a 3 bedroom house for $50k, it kind of makes me rethink my hatred of landlordship. I mean, that's like a 20% rate of return if you rent it at market value! Hello people! The only problem is that if I wanted to invest, I would have to do it with cash. And that's just a lot of money to take out of my bank account but we are both self employed (not to mention Dave Ramsey adherents) and lenders don't really like it when you don't have a formal "job" so a loan is out.

So here I am wanting to invest in real estate and wanting to earn the cash to do it debt free. I need to sell some houses! And that's the story of why I want to be a real estate agent.

HIRE ME PLEASE, fellow Idahoans!

Home Sweet Morgan

2011-03-07T20:49:00.001-08:00

Morgan made it home safely. Poor Sarah had three babies under 23 months to take care of in a packed car for five hours. She's the best!

My mom told me that when she had M at my brother's water polo game in Cedar City she was playing with this little boy that was just older than her. She would hug him then play then hug him again. Finally she said "kick" and tried to kick him in the leg. Haha! That's my girl!

We are amazed at how smart she is (I know every parent says that, but we are serious). She knows so many words. She knows the colors, shapes, how to count to 11 (but we are close to 12... like tomorrow close). Right now she likes to sing Twinkle Twinkle and the theme song for Wonder Pets (which is my new favorite kid's show). Tonight at FHE (which is like two minutes long for us) I pointed at the temple and asked her what it was. She said "temple." Yeah, also a spiritual giant. I am so proud of this girl and I love her guts.

We try not to watch a lot of TV, but when we do, this is a fun way to watch. At least it was that day.

She is about 23 pounds and wears a size 3 diaper so she's still pretty small, but doesn't look emaciated or anything.

She loves her cousins. Here she is a couple of weekends ago with Tanner... who is moving here- whoo!

Just Had A Good Cry

2011-03-06T01:57:00.001-08:00

I just read the most heart breaking blog about a mom and dad that just lost their 4 month old daughter and I cried my bloody eyes out. I keep praying that Morgan will come home safely to us today. She is riding from Utah with my friend, Sarah. I miss her. I miss her laugh. I miss the way she pushes the hair out of her face. I miss the way she says "thank you welcome" and that I don't know what to say to her after. I love how she says "sweeping" when I close my eyes and how she has to touch her eyes when I tell her to close her eyes. I love that she knows she's caught when I walk into her room after she is supposed to be asleep and she is looking at her night light then runs to her bed laughing. I love that she is mine forever. What a phenomenal blessing from a loving Heavenly Father.

I can't wait to see her!

If you want to read the saddest blog ever, http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com. I don't even know them but I am so sad for them.

Missin' You

2011-03-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

After being with Morgan practically 24/7 in Florida I was so ready for a break (don't get me wrong, I love my baby like crazy but sometimes I just need a break. If you don't understand and you are a parent, you must be superhuman). Then we got home and she had not only 2 toys, but a whole room full of toys, and things weren't so bad. They were good actually. But then I signed up to take a real estate class that started this week and I would be gone from 7:30 am to 6 pm so we decided to let Morgan go to grandma and grandpa's house in Utah for the entire week.

I MISS HER SO MUCH!

It has been really good for me to have this break and to realize that I can't live without my M. I'm so excited to see her on Sunday!

Happy Day

2011-02-24T11:38:00.000-08:00

Today Morgan and I were making cookies for our new neighbors (because Tom thinks you can't introduce yourselves without taking a treat) and she wanted a few M&M's. I put a small handful on her high chair and she excitedly shouted, "Happy Day!" The girl loves her chocolate.

So Are The Days Of Our Lives

2011-02-21T15:40:00.000-08:00

I went to the dentist today and they had a TV with closed caption so I could watch and read and get my teeth cleaned at the same time. I sat down sometime just after 1:00 and NBC was on. That means that Days of Our Lives was the featured show. Now, I don't normally watch Days (or any other daytime TV), but I sure used to. When I was in high school I was a Days addict. I mean, I still get a little nostalgic when I hear about John and Marlena.

Anyway, back to the point. Days today. So, Stephano had some dude locked up in the dungeon in the basement of his house and I thought, "Really? I think someone was locked in the basement dungeon when I stopped watching in 1998." If you were the Salem P.D., wouldn't the first place you ever checked for a missing person be Stephano's basement dungeon? Because it's not a secret. And wouldn't you just do a random check once in a while just to make sure he didn't hire a look-alike to pose as the person he kidnapped? Because how often has that happened, people of Salem? I'm just saying.

Disclaimer -- I'm not serious. I completely understand that Days of Our Lives is a fictional soap opera. This post is only meant for the amusement of people who understand it.

Shemen

2011-02-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days Morgan has been saying "sheman" and we've had no idea what she's been talking about. It's funny though because when Tom was little and would hear the song Love One Another, the part that says "by this shall men know," and think it was saying "by this shemeno" and he thought a shemeno was a pimento... so you can imagine the little child mind thinking about some sort of pepper while singing Love One Another. And we thought it was interesting that she was using the same word.

Anyway, today she was looking out the window at the back yard and she kept saying it. Well, the pool is there so I thought maybe she wanted to go swimming. That turned out not to be it. Finally she said it again and said "tall, tall, tall" and did the little motions for Once There Was A Snowman. Shemen = Snowman! I asked her if she wanted to go build a snowman and, alas, that's what she wanted. So we went outside and built some Morgan sized shemen.

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

We spent the day making a craft and playing at the park before we went to dinner with our friends for the last time this trip.

Happy Valentines Day!

Savannah

2011-02-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were able to take the day and drive to Savannah, Georgia. Since I've been here I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It's a story that takes place in Savannah. I don't recommend it for the conservative readers because surprise, the main guy is gay (and you don't find out until the middle of the book) and he kills his lover. Yeah, not usually the type of book I read but I have a hard time quitting in the middle. I'm not very good at walking out of movies either, don't judge (or do... whatever). So we went on our own little driving tour of the city. It's so cute! The Mercer house was the house of the book I read so I had to take a picture of that (I don't know why since I googled it when we got home and found a thousand of the same picture).

Anyway, we got there early to get our names on the reservation list for

Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons. We concluded that it was probably once a very good place to eat but since she has taken off professionally and the place is constantly booked, they are trying to keep up with the numbers over making it a true Paula Deen type of meal. I will say, though, that the fried chicken was the best. So was the creamed corn. Over all I'd say it was an average place to eat. Not bad, not the best.

We walked along the river and bought a few pounds of Savannah pralines to give away to certain people (and eat).

We went to a park and put a dollar in a bucket for a man playing the saxophone and flute. Then he played Twinkle, Twinkle and some other songs for Morgan.

Before we left we had to go across the river to the South Carolina side so Tom could check it off his list of states. I made him pull over for a picture at the state sign. That's our rental car. Morgan calls it a bus. Pardon my snobbery but I'm a little embarrassed to be seen in it. Who buys the Cube anyway? Don't even get me started on the aerodynamics. But at least it has done its job for the month. I will be happy to get my SUV back when we get home.

Fun day!

River Road

2011-02-11T10:17:00.001-08:00

There is this park in Jacksonville that I like to take Morgan to. It is close to the river and on the same street as some amazing houses. When I think of Florida real estate I have to admit that the stereotype is a yellow house with a glossy blue tile roof. Throw in some awnings over the windows and doors, maybe a couple of fake geckos on the walls and some plastic flamingos on the lawn and there you go. Well, there are definitely those kinds of houses.

But there are also some beautiful, charming homes that I would expect to find more in New England -- yet another reason to NOT stereotype, I suppose.

I love the brick on this house. It looks worn and old but not dilapidated. There are a few different colors of brick that compliment each other and the whole thing just goes.

I love the detail around the door and windows on this house.

This one has 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, and is 6600 sq ft. How much would you expect to pay? Remember, the back yard borders the river. One million? Two million? If you think higher, you're right. This baby is on the market for 2.95 mil, and it is one of the smaller houses on the street.
What I like about this house doesn't really show well in the picture. It is castle like, obviously gated, and the entire thing is just fabulous.

I have always loved columns and one day I hope to have them on my dream house, which could be modeled after this one. I love the simplicity and the colonial charm of this. The style screams classic.
This one is a Cape Cod style with a detached garage. I don't like detached garages, but I do like this house.
Not a great pic, but still a charming house.
Then there are back yards. I don't love the back of this house except for the porch, but I do love the pool and the border on the inlet of the river.
This is magnificent. This is a small lake off of the river with houses surrounding it. Some of them had private docks with patios. I love it!One thing most of the houses had in common was a green sign that said "San Marco Presbyterian Society" and had what looked like a steeple and cross. After seeing house after house with this sign I was thinking, "wow, you must have to be Presbyterian to own one of these house or maybe once you buy one you just join the society." Finally I was showing them to Tom and actually read the sign to him. "Preservation!" Haha.

Cweem Good

2011-02-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

I usually get Morgan a little treat if she behaves well while grocery shopping -- yeah bribery! (and to be honest, I always get a treat for her, even if it's just a 40 cent caramel, and tell her "thanks for..." after the shopping trip).

Today's trip treat was ice cream, which was what she was asking for and I was also wanting at Walgreens. While she was eating it with her left hand, holding a spoon in her right, she said to me, "mmm, cweem good." Melted my ice cream loving heart!

Something Everyone Should Try

2011-02-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

Hi mom. Just brushing my teeth... in the sink. It's really comfortable here. You should try it.

Metro Diner

2011-02-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had breakfast at Metro Diner. It was featured on the show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Not bad.

Here's a little video that was supposed to be a picture but I forgot the camera was set to video.

Kingsley Plantation on Super Bowl Sunday

2011-02-06T15:49:00.000-08:00

Church in Jax is at 9am so we had plenty of time after church and before the Super Bowl (understanding that those are two different ends of the spectrum) so we took a drive to Avery Island, found a dilapidated beach town, then left the island and went to Kingsley Plantation. It was your typical plantation where whites dominated and slaves' lives were subject to their owner's whim. However, I was surprised at the size of the plantation. It is dwarfed by other plantations I've seen in more slave focused states.

This is M in front of the main house where they would sit and watch human cargo ships port.

We walked down the nice cushy path that was made out of rubber (like you can sometimes find all over the floor at a kid's play place).

Across the path of an armadillo.

Then to the slave kitchen with the fabulous lighting.

This was the view of our drive out of the plantation. The trees have so much character with their vein like branches and moss growing an them. Love it!
Then we saw a peacock on the side of the road.

Sneaker

2011-02-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

Morgan has learned how to sneak out of her crib. We finally got out the camera to catch her after the third or fourth time she had climbed out of her pack n play during nap time. This is just after she threw her doggy and blanket (which are respectably know to her as "doggy" and "blanket") out.

4th Anniversary

2011-02-02T17:42:00.000-08:00

Tom worked most of the day but he was able to take some quality time for us in the middle of it all so we went to the beach. It was a cloudy day but the temperature was nice, around 70. We had a fun time. I'm so grateful for my family, especially my wonderful, hard working husband (who was slightly pessimistic about the temperature).Morgan ran around the whole time chasing birds or trying to go into the water.

Three Kisses

2011-02-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

We have this little thing in our family called "three kisses." Normally when we individually ask Morgan to give us kisses she's not very keen on the idea, but when we say "three kisses," which means that all three of us give a kiss at the same time, she is excited to participate. We love "three kisses!"

Cut me some slack on the pics. I was taking them with the camera and it always has a delay that is hard to anticipate.

Jax Zoo

2011-01-31T17:38:00.001-08:00

I took M to the zoo today and we had a great time. Actually I think she would have a better time if there was a "bronze" zoo full of statues of the animals. That seems to be what she liked best.
A jaguar pacing behind M.
There were real alligators all aruond here but M liked this one the best.
She made some new friends at the bronze elephants but then popped the boy's balloon so was soon kicked out of the club.

We went on a Monday and the zoo was pretty empty so when I was taking her picture in front of the carousel, the lady running it invited us to ride for free... and you know how I love free.
M's favorite part of the zoo was the play area, more specifically, the slide.

She fell asleep a couple of hours into it and I got to spend some quiet time at the zoo by myself. I decided to walk out on the pier since the zoo had one on the river. There were a bunch of seagulls flying around over my head waiting to pounce, I'm sure, and you know how I like birds (freak me out!), so I quickly left and went to another exhibit.
See this thing that looks like a bush? It's an anteater. I took the picture because I don't ever remember seeing one that looked like this before.

St. Augustine

2011-01-31T17:36:00.001-08:00

There is an old port city that we went to last Saturday afternoon. It was full of quaint little shops and houses full of character. Tom was mad at the parking and the traffic so we only got to really enjoy walking around for about an hour but it was worth it.

The Beach

2011-01-31T17:24:00.000-08:00

Some days in Jax were good enough to spend on the beach. It was too cold to go into the water but after watching Shark Week, who wants to? I took M to the beach for lunch one day. It was fun until about two seconds after we arrived and were accosted by Seagulls wanting our lunch for themselves. Have I ever mentioned that I hate birds? I do. They really freak me out. The hatred stems from being almost attacked on a couple of jogs a while back. These birds kept swooping down to get me and there was nothing I could do except imagine that I was a good aim with a handful of rocks. Anyway, the beach. I promptly put our food back and tried to chase the birds away but they happened to be tame so I just had to live with it. We did end up having a fun time and meeting a Polish man that was quite a talker. M wasn't afraid of the water so I had to work to keep her out of it. Sigh... she's not afraid of anything.

Jacksonville, Florida

2011-01-31T16:14:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to blog for the past two weeks because we've been in Florida without an extra computer so I've been planning in my head what I will write when I am able to. Unfortunately that time has arrived and I can't remember all of my super clever literary art.

I guess first things first. I got my own laptop -- my first since 1998 (you know, when the internet was just catching on)! It's also my first computer since 2005 so I'm soooooooo (with many more "o's") excited. I needed something to type on that wasn't being used all day by my better and far more work invested half. Hey, I have to check email, facebook, and, um, my blog for comments.

Anyway, we're in Florida! The weather is so nice, especially when compared to Boise. Today I took Morgan to the zoo and took off my jacket because it was the PERFECT temperature where you don't get too hot in the sun or too cold in the shade.

Why are we in Florida, you ask (well, you probably don't ask that but I will continue with the explanation)? The short answer is "for work." The longer answer is because this rich guy with an extra million dollar condo laying around wanted to start something business wise with Tom and invited him to spend a month in Jacksonville in the condo (with a personal elevator... on the 25th floor... overlooking the river, but I digress). We thought it would be a great opportunity to get out of the cold so we took the offer. So Tom has had a few meetings with this guy and they are getting their thing up and running while Tom spends the rest of the days working from this amazing office area and I do stuff like go to the zoo and the park and the beach with Morgan.

I had my first experience eating at Morton's. It's a very high end steak house and I got the fillet mignon and lobster, which was so fantastic I'm putting it on my blog. Seriously, I can't stop thinking about this beef! So, if you have the opportunity to go, along with a couple hundred extra dollars to spend, get the surf and turf.

Well, Tom doesn't want me to post this until we get home so robbers don't know we are not home. I guess that means that nobody will end up reading this. Too bad. It was inspired writing.

She did pretty well on the plane. I still am not excited to get back on, but it wasn't too bad.

Ready to go out and enjoy the warmer weather.

Eating marshmallows from the 25th floor condo.

Hanging out on the boardwalk near our condo.

Free!

2011-01-13T12:21:00.000-08:00

My new year's resolution of getting free stuff to donate is going very well. I will probably be up to a thousand dollars worth of things in a few weeks. This picture is of goods I got in one day. The total cost for me was around $2, and that was because the Huggies weren't free.

I will be keeping most of what is in this picture for us, but thanks to Walgreens and Stayfree I will have $$$ worth of pads (that I got for pennies) to donate by the end of this week.

Color Time

2011-01-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

M has really gotten into coloring. Quite often I will find her like this...

Then I will notice what she is coloring. This time it was the Cable One bill but it has also been my dentist appointment, last year's Valentines card, Cafe Rio frequent customer card, envelopes, note pads, or anything else that can be colored. I'm just happy she has stayed on paper until now.

This is how she likes to watch Finding Nemo, which she calls either Nemo or Dori.

Pincher

2011-01-12T10:15:00.001-08:00

Morgan has a pinching issue with other kids and I don't know what to do. I put her in time out and talk to her about it every time and I have pinched her once so she knows how it feels but those things don't seem to be helping. Any suggestions?

Morgan Asking

2011-01-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited because M asked for a lot of varieties of food today. That is very unusual for her. She asked for cereal, hot dogs, grapes, cheese, marshmallows, and crackers by name. After lunch she asked for "co-ow." I wasn't exactly sure what that was and she kept saying it. Finally in her room I asked her to show me what she wanted. She walked to her crib, put her hand through the slabs of wood, and grabbed her blanket. Then it dawned on me. I said, "oh, you want to cuddle!" She replied, "co-ow." So we cuddled in the chair and read a new rainbow book I bought for her. After reading it a zillion times (okay, maybe six, but that seems like a zillion with this book), she asked to take a nap. I love this girl!

Family Pictures!

2011-01-05T11:41:00.001-08:00

When we were in Utah for the holidays we had my cousin take our pictures. The temperature was 20 degrees and Morgan didn't smile once and he still did such a great job. Hire him everyone! www.stowellphotography.com We love ours and will be ordering some giant canvas prints.

New Year's Eve

2011-01-02T22:59:00.001-08:00

We spent New Years Eve at Kay's house and played games with the fam. When midnight rolled around we let off fireworks and drank sparkling cider. It was a fun time.

New Years Resolutions 2011

2010-12-30T19:07:00.001-08:00

I love making new goals. There is just something exciting about picking some things to work on throughout the year and accomplishing them. I have been thinking about this for a long time and I am going to...

1. Read the Bible. I read this book for book club called "The Year of Living Biblically." It was an interesting read and so I decided to make this my year of "reading Biblically." I have read the New Testament but haven't ever finished the Old Testament (it's been hard to get past Leviticus). I, however, do reserve the right to skip the "begat" parts.

2. Get published. I realize this one doesn't fully depend on me, but I will have to write the book/books and send to the publishers.

3. Lose 10-15 pounds. Yeah, the holidays weren't very good to me. To do that I will continue to exercise but will eat fewer calories. I was thinking of running another marathon but then I decided that I don't really want to deal with the hassle of signing up, paying, getting a hotel, transportation, etc. so I'm not making that a New Years Resolution -- but it is still an option.

4. I got into couponing last year so I have decided that for my charity goal I am going to get as many of the free/super cheap things (i.e. free toothpaste or deodorant) I can and donate them. I will keep a running total on retail value so I can see how much couponing actually saves me. Hopefully the end result will be above a thousand dollars.

5. Limit T.V. watching to one show per day for me and one for Tom.

6. And there was something else so I'll have to edit this when I remember.