cool song

enjoy. it's called Can't go back now By the Weepies

Sharing Time

Time for sharing time about my dad. poor guy.
Definition of Dupuytren's contracture:
Dupuytren's contracture is an uncommon hand deformity in which the connective tissue under the skin of your palm contracts and toughens over time.
Knots of tissue form under the skin, eventually forming a thick cord that can pull one or more of your fingers into a bent position. Once this occurs, the fingers affected by Dupuytren's contracture bend normally but they can't be straightened completely, making it difficult to use your hand. Dupuytren's contracture can complicate everyday activities such as placing your hands in your pockets, putting on gloves or shaking hands. (along with typing, doing a high five, anything where you'd need to straighten your finger or stretch your pinky to the side)
Dupuytren's contracture is rarely painful, though sometimes the bumps of tissue on your palm can be sensitive to touch. Various treatments are available for Dupuytren's contracture to slow its progression and relieve your symptoms.

So this is the condition that my dad has. He had a procedure a year or two ago to try and treat it-and it did for a while-but it wasn't a permanent fix because it came back. This condition was the reason for his surgery yesterday-here's an example of what it does to your hands:

So this is an illustration of where they cut in order to remove all of the bad tissues and things:

Kind of frankenstien-esk right? I'm pretty sure that will leave a pretty gnarly scar...So after they were in surgery they also figured out that some of the skin on his palm was diseased as well so they had to also do a skin graft from his wrist in order to completely get rid of all the diseased tissues. Not only does my poor dad have some RARE crazy hand/foot problem-it has to be connected to another Rare Crazy disease with that! Poor guy...with all the medical weird things that have happened (like when his orbit {the bone under your eye that holds it where it should be} just dissolved and they had to go in to do plastic surgery so his eye wasn't sinking into his head, and his bizarre double vision that they can't link to anything or fix...) I guess it's a plus that he thinks watching these things is cool. Anywho-we are glad it seemed to go well after the skin graft-and we'll see how the recovery goes. Part of the recovery is wearing a brace that keeps his fingers straight all the time and attending RIGOROUS (very painful) physical therapy that is trying to get it to bend the right way again. We love you dad! Feel Better! And let's all feel very very grateful for our hands right now. and the small things like high fives.

I'm scared...

Corban wants to potty train. I'm not joking here folks. It all began with jack letting him go pee on "the big potty" before getting in the shower. I really was hoping to wait until after the baby in February that way I wouldn't be risking a relapse like everyone says happens when a new baby is in the house. We bought him a little blue potty from ikea but he likes using the big potty better. So here is the reason for this post: He's doing well- he tries to tell us when he'd like to use it, but I don't have a clue what I'm doing. How many times a day should I be asking him if he wants to go on the potty? He can't even pull his own pants off much less climb onto the potty by himself- so do I just appease him when he asks to use the potty? or do I try to go full on potty training with this? Help. Any of you that have potty trained boys and used a specific method, or book, or have any sort of wisdom to share please pretty please do share! Thanks

such a sponge!

So you all know that Corban speaks quite clearly at this point and is very apt to absorbing what ever he hears around him. I have a funny story but it requires some background info. Corban thinks it is hilarious when Sam playfully "bites" him-so his latest terrorizing thing to do to Sam is to bite him back-on his back. When he's playing too ruff with the dog I just tell him that he has to go play in his room by himself for a while until he can play nicely with Sam or mom. It was after one of these "too ruff" moments that I had stuck him in his room with the doors shut. Regularly when he's shut in his room he'll knock on the door and say things like "hello...who is it" or "come in!!!"
Last night he knocked on his door and said: "Hello? mom? it's a bunny."
I responded "did you find a bunny?"
Corban: "Yeah it's a bunny!" (then you hear his little feet run away to go play again)
A few minutes later I hear: Knock knock "Hello?"
Me: "Yes?"
Corban: "It's the pizza man!!!"
Me: "What did you just say????" (while I'm opening the door laughing)
Corban: "IT'S THE PIZZA MAN!!!"
Me: rolling on the floor laughing my butt off and trying to figure out where he came up with "it's the pizza man!!!". {Later I realized that in the movie Madagascar Alex the lion says something about being a pizza man and considering that he watched it earlier that day I'd bet it was from that.}
Since that little experience he's been sent to his room two other times to play and both times he tried saying that line again in hopes that I'd immediately come open the door again. Little stinker learns so fast. Just because that got him out of his room so quickly that one time he assumed he should try that trick again. After trying it twice more and it not working he's given up on it again.
***And no, I don't order pizza often enough for him to think that's really what they say, even if I would love to be able to order pizza that often ;) Especially because the domino's by our house does a mighty fine job on their pizza's...***

testing 1...2...3

so I fiddled around with font colors and such-let me know if this is totally unreadable. I think I can read it just fine, but that may just because it's my own babblings on. anywho feedback would be much appreciated. And by the way I added a post with pics from when we were working on the house under 'saturday sept 27th' in case you want to scroll down and take a peek Also one of some silly pictures that have been long overdue under 'saturday oct 25th'.

Socks are what- $5 bucks for a six pack???

So my cousin rusti has this on her blog and I thought I'd share! Visit this web page: http://www.stokedonsocks.org/Get_Stoked.html
This is two people on a mission to provide socks for the homeless folks around town and I think that we need to offer the help that we can~! They are a non profit organization and they are doing a "sock hop" in order to collect donations on November 8.

Sock Hop!
Bring packages of new socks to donate, enjoy delicious pizza &
dance the night away.
Nov. 8, 2008
6-9 pm
Z Pizzeria
3295 S. 2000 E.
Salt Lake City, UT

How much fun does that sound for a family activity??? And PS we can ALLLLL go without one of our little goodies during the weeks before this in order to provide someone less fortunate than ourselves with something as simple as SOCKS-no matter your financial situation right?! Take away a McD's trip (or hot cocoa in my case...) one day and you're bound to have the $ for a pack of socks to donate. (Too bad they aren't collecting halloween candy because I'm sure to still have leftovers from our party) I hope this doesn't come across badly for anyone, or pressuring in the wrong way. Anyway, I'd love to go and I'd love to see friendly faces too-let me know if anyone is interested.

It's a boy!

Okay, sorry for the delay on this post- I can't figure out how to upload the ultra-sound dvd so that you call all watch it. So, I'll have to wait until someone with computer knowledge helps me out. And I wanted to say thanks for everyone that came out for the house party-we were thrilled with the turn out (even though we missed those of you that couldn't make it) and we enjoyed being able to host that many people comfortably. It was a blast. I'll post pics of that and all the "after photos" as soon as I get the energy to do that long of a post when corban's in bed. These days the preggo train isn't as...."comfortable" as it has been the past couple of weeks. Frankly, as soon as corban's in bed I feel like "I should be getting so much done...but he's asleep...I think I will relax". And by the way as soon as corban woke up sunday morning he had a major cough, stuffy nose, and was drooling by the gallon-yay for more teeth coming in I guess.

Random pictures that must be shared.

First Batch of cookies made in our new house! In my amazing oven! (they look delicious you say??? betty crocker peanut butter cookie mix + hershey's Bliss milk chocolates on the top right after you pull them out of the oven {and serve with cold milk} = mmmmmm)

Corban loves the shag carpet and watching lion king any chance he gets.
Beleive me-sitting in the bin was his idea-he even positioned it in front of the TV like that. what a goon.

I just had to share this pic of when we were shopping for costumes at walmart. Jack was trying on these freaky masks and Corban loved every second of it. notice his face in the background??? not a normal 1 1/2 yr old I'm tellin ya...

Our first night in the new house!!! He slept in his very own big boy bed*, he was so pooped by the time we laid him down he wanted to sleep. (*which I found on ksl.com for FREE-matress, bed frame and everything I just had to pick it up in layton)! Complete with Lightning McQueen and Mater Sheets and Pillow case for only $15! Thank you Wal-mart! He's been fine in his twin bed ever since then too-who'da thunk, new house+new bed=easy transition from a crib.

This kid loves licking off beaters!!! unfortunately beaters aren't always used on just making desserts and it's those days we have to occupy his attention until we can get the beaters out of sight before he throws a fit for not getting to lick them off.

The aftermath is always an enjoyable clean up experience.

he'd been licking a beater from some sort of dessert and wanted to play peek-a-boo with the wash rag.

then he actually posed for a picture!!!! Precious???

GAH! Tagged!?!

5 years ago....
1. Senior in high school ha...serious.
2. Working at Clean Flicks (good times: free movies, get paid to sit and watch movies and help the occasional customer pick out a membership plan)
3. Dating all sorts of..."savory individuals" ;)
4. Pretty much slacking off in EVERY class-except for art and guitar
5. Sleeping as much as possible

Things on my list for today....
1. Go make Soap
2. Tackle another box to unpack
3. Make Dinner for fam coming over
4. Tackle another box to unpack
5. Pack for Colorado (nana's funeral services at fort logan)

5 Snacks I enjoy....
1. Chocolate
2. Cheese
3. Cake
4. Cookies
5. Pretty much anything that gives ya heartburn, anything fried, anything cooked, anything baked, and anything frozen. (ha...sound like a pregnant woman or something?)

5 Things I would do if I was a millionaire...
1. Redo our kitchen
2. Turn our garage into a salon
3. Remove our poor dead cherry tree
4. Buy a new car
5. Put the rest in savings (possibly under a rock considering banking and/or investing is so scary right now)

5 Places I have lived....
1. Centerville
2. Orem
3. Provo (same place as orem practically I know...)
4. Centerville again
5. MAGNA (which I just learned isn't even a city...it's technically "Magna Township" quaint right??? come visit!)

5 Jobs I have had....
1. Veiwmont Child Care Center
2. Clean Flicks Edited Movie Club
3. Hostess @ Carrabbas
4. Express (limited brand clothing store)
5. Adventure Time Child Care

Tag
1. Tina
2. Marie
3. Bronwynn
4. Heather
5. Shavonne

halloween open house invite

TA DA!!! Tina was gracious enough to make a cute invite for our Halloween open house! and I had to share it on here. don't worry "after pics" of the house are coming we just barely got our Internet up and running and I decided this was the more important post to do. Anywho, invites should be in the mail shortly, either the real live mail box or an inbox depending on the contact info I have for each of you. :) have a good week!!!

As a work in progress

I can't help but share all the "working" pictures of the house because it really was a lot of work and I wanna make sure those that offered their assistance get their moment in the sun so to speak :) This was some night...we had to sand off the old finish/linseed oil on the floor which turned out to be quite a bit larger undertaking than we were ready for. Lets just put it this way: The Lores babysat all day long then after Daniel was at home he babysat and put corban to bed for me (yes, he is the BEST uncle in the entire universe) while my Dad, Mom, Jack, and I were doing various sanding and such. until 4 AM sunday morning. All this following a whole day of unloading the storage unit (when jack tweeked his back pretty badly) and moving all of that stuff from the storage unit into the house then starting the sanding around 2:30 PM.

The huge rental sanders that we had to use were crazy. Because they had used linseed oil to finish the floors, the sandpaper would get these discusting deposits from the oil getting heated by the sander then forming these indestructable balls on the bottom of the sandpaper rendering it unuseable. After burning through about 10 sheets of $8.99/sheet sandpaper and not even finishing one room-we headed back to home depot on 2100 south to figure out a solution. (the folks at the centerville home depot were somewhat...less than helpful the first time) After a very wonderful person behind the paint counter knew what he was talking about and took us under his wing to help us figure out a solution we were on our way again with: Laquer thinner (which emits deadly chemicals and toxins when using it *thumbs up*) Rubber Gloves (that slowly get eaten by the laquer thinner so that it's not slowly eating your hands *another thumbs up*), Boxes and Boxes of Rags (to apply the laquer thinner and the varnish in case we ever made it to that step) More sandpaper, A new kind of floor sander, and some candy bars for my belly. By the time we had grabbed a bite and were ready to get started sanding again it was around 9 PM. Luckily Jack and my Dad sacrificed themselves to apply the laquer thinner to all the floors so that my mom and I didn't have to breathe the fumes. Then we had to wait a good 30 min for that to disolve the linseed oil before we could start sanding again. Luckily we're close to Rocky Mountain Raceway so we could see and hear parts of the goingings on there that night-just rubbing in the fact that we had tickets to go that night and were stuck inhaling deadly chemicals without the joy of seeing drag racing or the fireworks. Anyway after we started sanding again it went very very well. We'd get a room done with sanding-then vaccum it really well then get to sand it again with a smaller grit sand paper-then vaccum it really well again-then get to sand it agian with a smaller grit sandpaper-(see a pattern??)then vaccum it one more time really well.

So maybe that explains the look in this pic... he he.

Eventually all the rooms were done being sanded with the box sander like 3-4 times, and all the edges done by hand with hand sanders , and we were able to go home and get a little shut eye.

Behold the naked wood flooring!!!

so if you ever consider doing your own hard wood-we are now certifiably experts. I think. just know that all in all it was SOOO worth it because every morning when we get up and get to walk on our floors we know that we broke our own backs (as well as my parent's) to make them this beautiful, and we saved about $2,000.

as promised.

These first set are taken the night that we got our keys! Corban crashed on the way to the house and then never woke up agian (until the next morning of corse) so we thought "what an opportune time to show off the sculptured shag that gets to reside in our family room until we have more $$$ to replace it." you know you're jealous.
This is a before pic of the master bedroom. nice blah shelves huh?? more shag.
My stupendous oven that I wish we could keep somehow without letting corban burn a limb off or burn the house down. All the gas knobs are gorgeous but they don't have to be pushed in inorder to get the flame going, thus the fire hazard. same with the burner for the Oven itself, they all have costantly burning pilot lights so you don't ever have to light anything.
Our cool wood burning stove in the Family Room. Can you say Toasty???
The loverly wood paneling in the Family Room. I hope I made the right decision to paint over it...ya think? Oh, and don't fret, we saved all the drapes! ;)

Kitchen cabinets Wall #1. My beautiful stove again...

Second wall of cabinets. note the lack of a dishwasher :( That will be added A-sap.)

Already installed gate at the top of the stairs! Thumbs up to that eh?

Storage room door downstairs. (and you can see a smudge of the tile landing at the bottom of the stairs)

First set of shelves in the freaking sweeeet storage room.

Second set of shelves.

Check the linoleum in the storage room. it says: five buck buy in for texas hold'em nights on a card table with little green transparent visors. ya in???

Can you say: Hooray for a laundry room/closet??? it's really quite large inside.

Inside of the laundry room.

Our downstairs half bath, half water closet. litterally. it's like a little closet changed into a bathroom. Jack can't even sit on the toilet without his knees hitting the wall in front of the toilet. Another bonus to this bathroom??? you get to step up TWICE in that tiny space. Once to get into the bathroom, the second time to sit on the pot. Think of it like a pop up camper bathroom :)

The bedroom to the left of the stairs in the basement. Again with the wood paneling. This room will probably end up being a little play/craft room considering it is about 8'X7'.

The bedroom to the right of the stairs. Wood paneling, but at least it's lighter this go round. This room is like 12'X14' so it'll probably be a second fam./rec room so we can use it for whatever we need to.

The third basement bedroom. and yes. more wood paneling. yipee skippy right?

Before photos. CHECK. I really didn't think that would take fourty five minutes to compile all those. but it did. hope you enjoyed it.

drum roll please:

we are officially the owners of a home!!!! it gets better: the wood floors underneath the carpet are spectacular!!! all we need to do is pull staples, and varnish again! pictures will be coming. I promise. and Happy Birthday to my dad. K, now I gotta go to work. Happy labor day weekend!

lay the kid down already...poor guy.

I saw this video and had to share it. bare with the whole thing, it's cute at the end. have a good one! :)

ew

I was just blog surfin, catching up on peoples blogs while corban is napping...and I microwaved a hot dog to eat for lunch. dang pregnancy. that totally grosses me out that I downed it in like 5 minutes flat and loved every bite. *shivers* ew. anyway, let me know some feedback here about that breaking dawn chat night/house party, even if it's to say you think it would be a stupid idea, at least I'd know what I'm doin here... thanks

eh hem.

I'd like to propose an idea. I finished my copy of breaking dawn. I don't know how I felt about the book, there were so many pluses and minuses. I want to chit chat with ladies about it. So, the proposal is: I think that we should pick a night (in a week or two to let others finish the book) to do a msn chat about it. let me know what cha think. I think that if we get as many ladies as possible (or gents if they've actually read it) "friends of friends of friends" we could get the most amount of it covered. any second that motion? for that matter I would even be willing to host a house party to do this shin dig. finger munchies, and talking about a girly book...sound good? lemme know.
ps. anyone that doesn't have a copy and would like to read it is welcome to my copy.

signing our life away??? maybe not.

We're officially in contract on our little house! It feels scary but at the same time we feel like this is super right for us, so keep your fingers crossed in our behalf.
Also thanks to sami and emily's posts about grandpa romney I bawled my eyes out... and wasn't going to do a post of my own because I can't type if my contacts are floating around my eyeballs... but I think I'm okay now. I do just have to say that it was really the neatest experience the morning he died. I was en route to virginia's house when I felt like I needed to call my dad and see if there was anything he needed before I arrived (I was about 10 blocks away). He answered the phone and told me that he had just passed away a few minutes ago and he just needed us here. I can truly attest that the spirit has been in close proximity to all the romney hearts this week, constantly comforting and reminding us that grandpa is in a much better place, probably riding his horses again. We all were just able to sit in his room with his empty body and recount memories and stories of grandpa, and really take in the fact that we have a clear understanding that he was no longer there, and that he is comfortable now. We really appreciate all the prayers that have been offered in our behalf. We also have had the opportunity to learn more from the amazing example of testimony from grandpa. My dad was talking about when Grandpa was young he would read scriptures with Aunt Evalou and make sure that she had understood what was meant in each scripture that they had talked about in church that day. how many of us would take the opportunity to RE-read scriptures we had discussed in church? I thought that was a very heart warming picture considering the first thing I do after church is run to get the dress off and pants on. We'll miss grandpa romney a lot but we'll see him shortly, after all this life is but a blink of an eye. Grandpa passed away at 11:00 am 8/8/08.

House hunting

So we went house hunting last night and went through some PRETTY scary little magna houses. Buuuut if there was ever any doubt about the possibility of not finding houses under the 200 thou mark, look no further than magna. The first one had been a state funded home that they tore the old house off the foundation then built a new house on top, which turned out nicely.

Very cute house. However, the street that this particular house was on was...how to phrase this nicely...terrifying? not really terrifying, just the fact that there was an older gentleman going through the garbage in front of the house that yelled to us (in a kinda pissed off, angry at the world type tone) that no one was ever ever going to buy that house on that street for $185,000. (we didn't because of that dude and his garbage fettish, so in that sense he was correct)
We looked at another one just down the way from the first one that was really a cute little built in 1915 number.

It had been refurbished very nicely, but unfortunately the basement was a definite no no. There was some warping on the walls so we knew there had been water damage at somepoint but who knows if it was ever fixed. And jack was scared of the rodent possibility considering the area underneath the stairs was completely open to some of the creepiest crawl/storage spaces known to civilization.
The next home was also just down the way and was built in 1917,

the ad was very promising considering it was $129,900 4 bed 1 bath, new paint, new carpet, new waterheater, new gas stove, new shingles...blah blah blah. Those things may or may not have been new at one point but certainly not at this date. Full of mildewy smells, one of the bedrooms they were considering to be a "bedroom" was literally 4 ft wide X 7 ft long, with a closet occupying a good 2 X 2 ft area. Bedroom? I think not. The rest of the house was totally trashed either by squatters or the last owners condering it was now the bank's posession they may have thought "we'll show them for kicking us out."
Anywho with those houses out of the way the last home we went through was thrilling!

Built in 1952 the owner was a finish work carpenter, so he was constantly bettering the home and fixing anything close to a problem. There's a swing set a workshop, and a little wood shed that would eventually become a kids playhouse considering there is already a wood shed off the workshop closer to the house. It has 5 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a storage room, and a large family room.They were the only owners of the home, both have passed away, and now the kids are selling the home. It has this AMAZING stove:

it's called a wedgewood stove, they were built in the fifties, after searching on the net I've found several web pages entitled "dream stoves" or "antique stoves" where they refurbish these old stoves and sell them for upwards of $4,000!!! Needless to say we've put in an offer, and hopefully things will move forward from here. Cross your fingers for us!! If all goes well plan on a paint party, or possibly refinishing the hardwood floors underneath the carpeting...ha ha. Let me know if any of you know anything about refinishing floors.

the giant giant giant news:

TA DA. crazy #2 on the way come february 26th 2009. Corban will be about 26 months old, and who knows if I can get a girl out of this then I can be done with the constant nausea forever?!?! *wishfull thinking I guess* and the second part of the giant giant giant news:
We are in the 'home stretch' so to speak: we've been pre aproved for a home loan, now we can be serious about shopping. Who's ready for some house painting parties?? yay. Anywho our trip to california was a major blast. Corban had so much fun playing with all his cousins. He even knows all their names now, and randomly will shout out "lyyyyssssaaaa" (he doesn't put and A at the front of alysa's name). One of his favorite people though was GG. Jack's Nana, Betty Southgate. Every morning he would shout at the top of his lungs "Hi GG!!" when she was wheeled out to the living room.
Last but not least: corban's latest mess:
he decided some good quality potting soil would really compliment his blonde locks...and his complextion.



Oh, and as a total side note, anyone with advice on training my stupid sam to not eat inedible object would be much appreciated. Last things he's eaten? our pool, the pump, the pool pump tubing, the electrical cord to our pool, some russian nesting dolls, our ipod car charger...I think that does it for the last week. lame I know. he's on house arrest right now. have a good week all!

Get Ready.....

Okay I had a very blog worthy night on friday, but I am in california visiting the larsen half of the fam until thursday (and I don't want to waste precious cali time on the computer) so expect a giant giant giant post some time before next sunday about some giant giant giant news. have a good week :)

holy computer illiterate.

hey I know it's been over a month of neglect. but I'm back and that's all that matters right? anywho first on the agenda: I did somethin really dumb and didn't save the template for all of your little blog pages that I had done when I changed the layout on my page. Therefore I need you to make a comment with your blog page address so I can add you all again, I found a few but I'm missing several-thanks for the help. *sheepish grin* with that having been said: we have new family pics! my sweet cousin tina did them and did such an amazing job so I'm going to add them all for your viewing pleasure.

Hope you enjoyed the pics. just as an fyi jack and I now have a little CTR 5 class that we teach on sundays so any helpful lesson ideas are a definite plus! :)

Hallelujah

and I say Hallelujah again! yay for corban's first week in nursery!! He loved it! I walked in with him, he went straight over and started playing with the kids right off the bat. Wouldn't even say good bye, just wanted to keep playing. Then, before I knew it church was over and it was time to pick him up! They said he did great, and they wished every little kid's first nursery day was the same! he only cried once the whole time and that was because he fell onto a corner of something. then he stopped really quickly and was ready to play again. Ya hoo! is all I can say about that right??? anyway, ya'll need to come visit me at work, I'll send out post cards too to let you know where it is exactly. I love this salon. last week was my first week (thus the lack of posts) and it was so great. It's a really really great atmosphere, half of the ladies there are carrying on conversations about church and their missionary sons and all sorts of good things. Nothing that's embarassing, or degrading to listen to. It's very refreshing to say the least. everything else is going well, jack still loves his work, corban is really enjoying the cute girls (and boys for that matter) that come to babysit him.

Peice of me: Brittney Spears

k. first find that b. spears song on my play list, get it playing, now focus on the fact that. As soon as I got onto my page to post a little tid bit and that song was playing, corban started bustin a move because he's just that cool! (he recognizes the song because it's one of my ring tones.) Anywho I officially have a job at Modifi Salon and Massage here in centerville. It's right off of I-15 almost so anyone looking for an appointment can find it easily ;) (shameless plug) I start the first week of June and can start accepting appointments the second week in June. And, by the way, anyone that would want to try acrylic nails, for just product cost, I need to be able to do them faster so I need practice to speed up. What a terrible sentence, grammatically of coarse...yikes. that's about it ladies and gents.

not my fault really.

so anyway once again I've been ignoring my blogging duties, but that's not a new concept to any of you! wanna know who's fault it is??? it's Emily's!!! and Stephanie Meyer's. I hadn't thought of reading her new book The Host until Emily said it was amazing. Then jack bought it for me for our anniversary (even though we weren't going to do gifts this year!!). So...all in all 600 + pages...done and done. and yes. it was amazing. Action, suspense, tears, wonderful character development that makes you really get to know what they are feeling. Awful for those of you that want to be in control of your life. I believe corban has been sufficiently neglected this week, he will get whatever he wants this week ;) ****DO NOT start reading it unless you have time to finish. *****Recap: Our 3 year anniversary was on the 14Th. Jack bought me the most thoughtful gift ever: all the twilight series (I had borrowed them when I read them) and The Host (as a fore mentioned) AND CHOCOLATES! My man delivered!! Next item on the dockit: Jack's amazing at his new job. He's already had a NATIONAL customer call him personally to tell him what a good job he's been doing on their account, and she wrote an email to his boss to let them know that they wanted to send out a company wide email showing what jack sends out each morning to show progress and make sure they know if snags are being resolved! woot woo right? corban's still cute. we bought a pool. (it's one of those pools that's like 10 feet across and 2 and a half feet deep fun fun) so be thinking pool party... wink wink nudge nudge. Sam's still a stinker. and last but not least I think I almost have the job. cross your fingers. I'm not going to do a recent video right now because it's late and my hubby is waiting and I don't want to stay up for it to load but I can put a corban pic on that isn't toooooo long ago. He adores daniel! one day he just wanted to snuggle but daniel was headed for a nap. He VERY graciously allowed my slobbery little guy to lay in his bed with him. what a good uncle right?? have a good one. gnight.
*EDIT* so corban just saw this post and went breserk! "DANNOL! DANNOL!" he could care less if he's in it...he's just such a big daniel fan. ha ha.

Happy Cinco De Mayo (a day late...)

So I have some major news:

Drum roll...Corban can suck out of a straw now!!! Halleluja!!! (ha...I bet you all thought it was something different...) that is my news plus and I had a job interview yesterday at a salon here in centerville called Modifi. all I have to do now for the job is go in and do a cut and style to show her I'm not a total loss. ha ha. so now any of you that are hankerin for a cut or color or something fun I'll have 2-3 days a week in the salon that I'd be more than happy to help out with your cosmetology needs. I think that's about it other than just some catch up stuff like, we went to a UVU vs. BYU baseball game yesterday with the updikes and had a blast. even though they waited in line for 6 innings for their hot dogs lame. We sat on the grass and it was a totally fun fam night activity. I cleaned out our cute little prizm from jack's grandpa and it really spiffed up nicely. I think I'm going to send the honda with jack from now on ;) Have a good week. it's may, it's sunny, there's no reason to not have a good week (look at it that way, because there's too many things that you can be unhappy about.)

oh, last thing, I was checkin some other blogs and rusti has come across this guy that does these videos that are hilarious so I'd suggest checking her blog out and watching the "Nothing box" post.

Oi vey....

(okay so I don't really actually know what oi vey means or is actually spelled like but that's really really what I feel like today...so I'm sticking with it.)
my son is a nutter. a mad man. a crazy. whatever your favorite description of these words are would suffice I'm sure. He has discovered a new game: pull Sam's tail-he nips ever so gently at Corban's hand to say 'watch it bub'-and he laughs and laughs and laughs. I need to rephrase the beginning of that sentence to say: he discovers new and crazy games EVERY DAY. Take for instance when I was making fudgey rice crispies (not worth the pain in my opinion)...He wanted to bake as well, so he started pulling things out of the cupboards that don't have child locks on them such as: 2 muffin tins, a large colander, a huge pot, the electric hand mixer (he even makes the little noises when he's playing with it) oh and a giant lid that makes the most horrid loud noises when he slams it on the floor. He also quite recently has to tell every one "right back" and hold his hand out as if he's going to tell you to "talk to the hand" because he wants you to know he's going to come right back. Sometimes that's all he'll do. He'll walk up to my dad "right back" (hand goes up) then walk away. He turns the corner, then comes right back and says hello. he's such a goof off. It's not that he's being really obnoxious or anything, it's just a ton of work, and a lot of cleaning because he's making messes faster than I can clean them up even if I do have him help clean up.
Oh, side note, Jack is officially at Knight Transportation. He started Monday, and loves it. He says it's stressful work, but doesn't look like it's nearly as stressful as the restaurant business. He leaves at the literal butt crack of dawn (5:45 am) but gets home around 6 so that is just stinkin lovely! we've really been shocked by these regular people hours but I'm pretty sure that we're almost adjusted.
Any who, I'm pretty sure that Corban, and Sam have me busy enough for two moms let a lone little old me. Corban thinks it's really fun to give Sam treats, or steal his treats, or his toys and I get to hover to make sure that Sam doesn't just haul off and bite Corban because it's the last straw or something. Sam is doing really really well for only being a year old (we found out his birthday was the 30Th of April) He even knows that if he steals something back from Corban he'd better just go straight to his kennel or suffer the wrath of mom. ;) well, I'd better save some of Corban's nap time to do something productive. just thought I'd vent for a min.
ps. if anyone wants to shoot me an email that can tell me how to change all the background stuff on my page I'd love to ravamp the ugliness of this page.

random

We've moved! We are now at my parents' address, in the basement. we love that we have such close ties and are able to do this! how lucky are we?!? anyway, I just wanted to make a clarification... I saw this pic on msn and had to point out that I WAS going to show up to the next family get together sporting this SAME exact outfit. I guess I was scooped.

Can you beleive this is a Marc Jacobs dress? Maybe I'll pull this one off instead:

I can't imagine why these made it onto a worst dressed list... ;) I just love the gold toes on her shoes/stockings kinda like mens' work/dress socks. Anywho I just wanted to announce that we're still alive a kicking just incase someone was worried or somethin. have a good one. hope the dresses gave ya a giggle.

It's official

We are officially moving into my folks' house some time this month. We just got back from California (I'll post the happenings lata) -visiting all the Larsen side of the fam-and my parents secretly worked their tails off this week! They had cleaned out my mom's craft room to make a room for Corban, they had taken their desk out into the basement so that it could be our computer desk, they had pretty much moved out of their own basement-all this just for us. I totally cried in my hormonal state because my mom had set up his port-a-crib with some brand new books and all the stuffed animals I've saved through the years all around the room. It really was such a sweet sight because it really looked like his new little home. Reasoning behind moving: rent went up 100 bucks a month, and we are on the house hunt but would like to be paying down some minor debts in order to get into the best loan we can, and my folks were obliged to let us fill up their basement so we can achieve all that. Jacks folks were also wanting us to come out there while we did all this but (drum roll please) Jack has accepted a brand spankin' new job with a company called Knight Transportation in Salt Lake City. He will be an "Operations Manager" managing drivers and stuff. He starts on the 28Th of this month! hip hip hooray for regular hours!!! I'm so excited to have someone to finally cook for I don't know what I'm going to do, Suzie home maker here I come! Any wonderful recipes that you turn to time and again would be greatly appreciated. We have also appreciated all of the constant support that you have all given our family with all the crazy hours, missing parties and get together's, and always stepping in with a helping hand when Jack had an especially long week.

Ode to my hubby.

I'm just going to take this quiet time that I have while corban is asleep (for the moment) to brag/pay tribute on the world wide web to my wonderful spouse. My Other Half. My Sexy. My Jack. Lets recap some of the last months. January Appendicitis: he stays with me allllll night long in a very uncomfortable chair that does no reclining just so that I'm not lonely. February Valentines: he buys me the first season of Deadliest Catch from Discovery Channel (I was obsessed with it when I was pregnant with corban, How sweet that he remembered.) March or maybe this was still February Color me Mine: he took me on a date to a place called Color me mine (http://colormemine.com/ they've got them all over the world so you should all check it out!) where you pick out your own bisque piece of pottery, (they have all sorts of things to choose, from piggy banks to huge party platters) then paint it however you'd like, then they fire it for you, and you pick it up and take it home. After color me mine we went to Gandolfo's for sandwiches and CHEESE CAKE!!! YUM!!! cute Saturday morning date huh?? There's more: All through the last several months I've been some-what "PMS-ie" at least one or two days of the month (because of different birth control pills we're guessing) and he hasn't even flipped out on me or anything! I can cry and cry for no reason what so ever and he just cuddles up to me and lets me finish. He takes corban when I feel like I can't handle it. Even when I bite his head off for no reason in particular, just because the hormones tell me that's a good idea...He's a peach. An absolute peach. I have no other way of describing him. Always sweet and juicy, and fuzzy on the outside :). Oh, and just today (corban and I have a cold) he left work to bring me cough drops, and two new movies to watch, and a new game to play (that was in the morning!) Later he cut a deal with another manager so that he could come home to me and corban for an hour and a half which is a huge deal considering today is "end of month" where they total all the numbers and send them in to cooperate. On top of working all the live long day today (from 7 AM 3/31/2008 until probably close to 1:30 AM 4/1/2008) he's so sweet to call and chit chat with me for a minute just because I need to. He really is the sweetest, and I am the luckiest.

anywho, I strayed off this page for a bit to look up some random stuff on the web and found a few interesting tid bits that people might have interest in if you are planning any road trips, or anything Disney related. The first three are all part of one article I believe. I just love how this lady writes, and the last one is the Disney one. enjoy.
Web surfin' USA.
http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6559013&page=1 in my vote: best road trip idea EVER...Foodie road trip.
http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5069514 Ways to do a road trip without breaking the bank.
http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5118578&page=1 A road map to back seat peace.
http://www.mousesavers.com/ Discounts for all things Disney.

New Tricks

Happy Easter! Corban had a ball with his Easter basket goods yesterday and got to experience a few new things. Take for instance the first time we've sat on the benches in sacrament meeting instead of the chairs...he really liked the part where he found out he could crawl underneath the pews. Luckily my great aunt and my grandma were the ones on the bench behind us so it didn't disturb any strangers trying to feel the spirit of sacrament meeting or anything. Corban also realized my mom and dad were up on the stand because my mom was playing the organ yesterday, so he tried to wave to them. From clear across the chapel mind you. As soon as he saw Daniel helping to pass the sacrament say adios to quiet child, and hello screamer! "DAAAAAANNNNNN! DAAAAAAANNNNNNA!!!" Thanks to my great aunt for telling him how to say Daniels name more clearly before church, he thought this was a perfectly nice thing to do because we were clapping for him when he did it at home. :0 Needless to say he wouldn't stop yelling at Daniel to get his attention, so we had to cover his pie hole and run him out of sacrament meeting. Apparently my mom was busting up on the stand during this whole thing because she knew exactly who's child was making all the ruckus. After church we ate a DELICIOUS meal of roast, baked potatoes, some soup, and asparagus. After that we all dyed Easter eggs. Corban loved watching the little dye tablets fizz in the vinegar. So of coarse he had to touch them as well. My mom does such a great job with Corban, she's the cutest grandma! She let him dye his very own egg, stick his hands all in the dye and everything. Then she even cleans him up afterwards! Best of both worlds don't you think?? Lets your child get into a huge mess, then clean them up before giving them back??? I'm a lucky duck. He had some pretty colorful little hands when we put him in the bath that night though ;) . Just an FYI my son tried to copy cat me this morning when I said "now what?" to him...but then it kind of turned into a "no" instead of "now" and connected the dots in his head to realize "so that's how you say that word that my mom is always saying to me..." So he's no longer my little yes man. He keeps telling me No. this could get interesting. ciou for now! Happy Easter again!

One more thing

I changed my music player thank goodness. And scouts honor I wasn't high when I chose all the songs I promise. I just have a wide range of music tastes. Oh and please please please check out the web pages on the left. the In the motherhood needs to be watched because it is so stinking hilarious!!! it's a web page devoted to moms, so moms write in a story, then they make a little webisode about this real experience. To watch all of the episodes takes maybe an hour and a half but it doesn't neccisarily need to go in order. thanks.

Good Vs. Evil

Lets expand on my angel child that is slowly being taken over by something that will require an exorcism ASAP...

Example:

Good: sitting in the rocking chair, snuggling up with his blanket. smiling and kinda babbling under his pacifier.
I took the picture because I was so pleased with how sweet, calm, and just plain good he was being.

not 7 minutes later: same rocking chair, same child, not same attitude.

Bad: dumping out my little herb green house. (The one that I've been growing and nourishing since the end of January...the one that I was going to photograph tonight to prove I wasn't killing something green... instead I'm showing the scene of the crime.)
I promise...I was taking care of those little plants and corban loved helping me water the "babies" every day, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't sabotage, but I was so proud that I hadn't killed them or anything! "ahh! my babies! my poor, poor, little poopsies." (ha, I've always wanted to use that line. name the movie)

Just so you people know that I am not totally against parenthood right now here's a video of my little menace this evening after he pulled out a dance dance revolution mat, and turned on the xbox, and attempted to turn on the tv so that he could play. You may have to adjust your volume to be able to hear any of the music on the video to see that he's attempting to dance to a beat... ;)