Wheels on the Bus go WALK

He is a rare moment when Elijah and Sam are cooperating with the bus. There really are cute buddies.

Elijah's form of Recycling

There is a Curious George episode that talks about recycling that is on PBS a lot (the downside of Curious George is that they repeat the episodes A LOT). Elijah has caught onto the recycling bug but more in the way of reusing. He latches onto my container garbage and imagines things to make out of it. In particular he likes to reuse boxes, especially the ones that come from Costco. He is really rather creative but the downside is that I always have random boxes floating around my house. Here are three of the things he has recently come up with.

Box Robot

Elijah and Josh worked together to make this. Elijah colored it all himself and Dad helped cut out the holes. He had dreams of attaching other things to it like paper towels rolls, egg cartons, pop bottles, etc but he hasn't gotten them to work yet.

Sled/Hockey Table

This box was quickly claimed as a snow sled. Elijah wanted to get a string to tie to the front of it so he could pull it around in the snow. Well, I don't think there will be anymore snow for a LONG time (hallelujah!) so he has decided to draw trees on it. Sam wanted to color on the box too but his doodles weren't Elijah approved so Elijah drew a circle around them with a line through it. Elijah and Josh played a bit of table hockey on it. Josh started playing with a wood apple from the kitchen toys. That too was not Elijah approved so he had Josh draw a picture of an apple and then Elijah promptly drew a circle around it with a line through it. He's taken to noticing signs with the circle and line through it everywhere - no smoking, no parking, no dogs, etc. I think the plan for the box now is to cut out trees from paper and glue them on somehow. We'll see.

School Bus

I've been going through all the boys cloths which I keep in old diaper boxes and ended up with an extra box that surprise surprise Elijah latched onto. This time he had Sam in on it and the were walking around the house with the box on their heads pretending it was a bus. I jumped on that and together we created a school bus out of the box. The boys helped color the licence plates and Elijah wrote the number 42 on the side (4 for Elijah and 2 for Sam). They are quite fond of the bus, unfortunately there can only be one driver and they fight over it constantly. They will both get in the bus and try and drive different directions usually ending up in a fussy pile of legs and wheels. Needless to say the bus gets put in the "bus garage" frequently. They do have some pretty cute moments in the bus though.

Deep Thought

Elijah said this to me this evening:

Sometimes less is more and somtimes less is not.

Elijah's "Self in Blocks"

It seems to be feast of famine with me and blogging lately. Today is a feasting day!

Elijah dumped out his entire bag of wood pattern blocks this afternnon all over the living room rug. I asked him to clean them up while I threw dinner together. I peeked in on him and instead of cleaning up he was creating... a self portrait.

Here he is next to his creation being quite proud of himself. It is always interesting to see how little kids view themselves. Elijah is always sure to do curly hair whenever he does a picture of himself.

IKEA is my friend

I love IKEA! The store is AMAZING! They have anything you could possibly need for your home at reasonable prices and fairly good quality. There is a store in Draper, Utah that I visit whenever I get a chance. The store is massive and the layout is unique to any other store I have been in. The top floor is the showroom where they have intricately set up various rooms with all the items tagged as to where you can find them and what they cost. Downstairs is where you can find all the items from lights to furniture to curtains and vases. Unfortuantely there isn't a store here in Colorado, yet, and I don't have a big enough car to drag all the items I want home with me. Someday... (I'm sure Josh is rolling his eyes).

Anyway, I made my trek through Ikea with my list while I was in Utah and came home with some new items for my apartment that I am excited about.


My creative spurt that resulted in curtains for the boys room made me want curtains of my own in the master bedroom. I found some really cute simple ones at ikea for $15 a pair. I was going cheap and easy so I simply used upholstry tacks to pin the curtains up (an technique used in the Nesting Place's window mistreatments). What do you think?










Our apartment also has the lovely oddity of not having any over head lights in either of the bedrooms. There is one plug that is wired to a light switch and we have been using an up light in the boys room to provide light at night. The poor light has been through the wringer and no longer was standing on it's own (I actually had it tied to the foot of Elijah's bed to make it stand). I did a little surfing on Ikea's website and found some overhead lights that you plug into the wall and hang from the ceiling. Perfect! I managed to get one home in my suitcase and Josh's dad spent a couple hours poking holes in the ceiling looking for a stud to hang it from. Thank you Allan! I am very happy with the result!

I also got a set of black sheer curtains that I thought might work with my floral ones in my room but decided against using them together. I have temporarlly put them on either side of my vertical blinds in the living room. I'm still deciding if I like them. What do you think? The one down side is that the door opens on the right, which is already a tight squeeze with the couch position, I'm not sure how the curtain will complicate it.

One more plug for Ikea... I love their cheese grater. I hate the metal box graters but Ikea has a tub one, that they are currently selling in red and black, that makes grating cheese a breeze and it even seconds as a storage container for excess.

When planning a trip to Ikea, especially when it envolves long distance driving, plan ahead by browsing online. You can even check stock in specific stores around the world. This makes it easy to measure items or areas and compare them online.

Stake Family History Conference

I had the great opprotunity to participate in my stake's family history conference the Saturday before Easter. The conference consisted of classes as well as an open house of display tables in the cultral hall. They asked me to do a manned display on connecting through blogging. The idea really excited me and I really enjoyed getting ready for and presenting my display. I did a lot of my plotting while I was still in Utah. I really enjoyed bouncing ideas off my mother. I would even email her pictures and files of my ideas after I got home. She was a great help to me.

There were two focuses for my display... General Blogging and Family History Blogging. For some people blogs are a totally unknown thing and I introduced the benifits of blogging and how it can help you connect with family as well as build your personal history. But for those that might already blog I had information on using blogs to help with your family history research as well as sharing what information you have with family.

Overall, I was very pleased with how the day went. I had a lot of interest and think there were a few people who learned something new and left with a desire to start something of their own. If you are interested in information I have my handouts and blog link lists availible to email out.

Pulling together my display spurred me to finally copy and frame some pictures to go on my iron tree. I love the way it turned out and I even had people asking me where I got my cool tree (from my mother of course who was kind enough to pick it up for me from Rod Works in Utah. It was part of their Christmas decor and they had extras on clearance after Christmas.)

Another thing preparing for the conference spurred me to do was start my own family history blog (you may have noticed the new button on my sidebar). It is still a work in progress. Mostly all that is on there now has been pulled from this blog. I have big plans for it though. I'm hoping to use it as my research log (when I actually take/have the time to do family history). By putting my research log on a blog I can share what I am doing, what I have found, where I have found it, family stories, family photos, internet sourse links, etc... with my family and also with people who might be searching the same lines. The blog format also allows me to have multiple authors posting and allows for people to comment on my research --great for collaboration! So, that's the plan. I'm excited!

Boys Will Be Boys

The weather has finally hit a run of warm weather (after the blizzard that went thorugh Colorado that mostly ended up dumping rain on us). We have been enjoying the pleasant evenings outside together as a family. I took the opprotunity to get some pictures of my cute boys. They are sure full of personality.





I love the expressions on Josh's and Sam's faces. It captured a moment that happens often around here-- roughing it with the boys. I love watching the relationship Elijah and Sam have with their daddy.

And yes, Josh didn't like the fact that the picture taking was onesided. He grabbed the camera and made sure to get a shot of me too. There really is a reason he doesn't take pictures.

Silly Boys

We were watching a movie the other day and the couple on the movie kissed.

Josh piped in and said "Ewww, they're kissing!"

Elijah responded by saying "That's just what people do" and Sam then chimed in "Kissing... not eww."
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Later that day Sam was being too quiet so Josh went off to see what he was up to. He found Sam in our bedroom and Josh asked him "What are you doing, Sam?"

"P'aying cars."
"Are you having fun?"
"Yes"
"Are you being good?"
"Yes... Go away."

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Sam loves to cook and Saturday when we asked what he wanted for lunch he promptly requested "Potza" aka pizza. He is a big potza lover and requests it often though Saturday he didn't actually eat much of it. Silly kid.

Cuddle Buddy

It isn't often (VERY rare) that Josh takes pictures so I was surprised to find this one on my camera this morning.

Living in Colorado we don't get General Conference on TV like you do in Utah. We watch it on the internet, which has gotten drastically better over the past five years we have lived here (mostly because our moniter and internet connections have improved). Anyway, our computer is located in the master bedroom which means we watch conference from our bed. The downside to this is that it make it very easy and comfortable to fall asleep while watching. Sam and I did just that on Saturday afternoon.

Sam is my little cuddle buddy. To get him to slow down long enough to feel tired for his afternoon nap we do a little cuddle time. He will get his binki and his blanket and come to me and ask "Cuddle Me?" I enjoy the quiet time together with my little buddy. It won't be long and I know that time won't happen anymore so I'm enjoying it while it does.

Givin them the Run Around

Uncle Brad and Aunt Kristen came to Grandma's house while we were visiting. They quickly got the boys wound up. It started with them chasing each other around the indoor track (ie. through the living room, hall, kitchen, and dining room). Then Brad started running in circles in the living room and Sam kept chasing him, around and around. They did it for 5-10 minutes until Brad fell down tired and dizzy. Sam was no where near tuckered out and tackled and pulled at Brad until he got up and started running again. Elijah joined in on the fun and they were doing it long enough that I caught it on video. Brad sure got his workout for the night and I'm not sure Sam was even winded.

Spring Cupcakes

We made spring inspired cupcakes while at Grammies house. I had noticed some cute chocolate bunny crackers in Walmart's cracker aisle made by Annie's and we grabbed them and some jelly beans to put ontop of some chocolate cupcakes. We added some coconut dyed green for grass. They were so simple. I frosted the cupcakes and Elijah, Sam and my little sisters decorated them all. I think they turned out pretty cute. They sure didn't last long though.

Tresh Box

I was getting the photos of my book off my camera and realized there were a few on there from my Utah trip that I haven't posted. Better late than never!


Sam claimed an old tool box that my mother had in her basement as his "Tresh Box". He would carry the heavy box everywhere and had an assortment of treasure inside. He was rather protective of it and when I tried to take pictures of him with is treasure box he quickly ran into the front office and closed the french door. I resorted to taking pictures of him through the windows but it didn't work very well. I would try and crack the door and get around the window glare but Sam would jump up and come a bar my way. Silly Goose!

Eventually he came out and started playing with his treasure again. As soon as I snuck up on him and got a picture he packed up and was on the move again.

His treasure consisted of cars and trucks, balls, dishes, Bekah's favored colt, and other random items.

All of this prompted Grammie to take Sam to the craft store to buy him a tresh box to take home with him. We got a small tin box with a lock and handle and Sam decorated it with Pirate stickers. Granted it isn't as cool or favored as the red beast but Sam was proud of it.

My book is HERE!

I have in my hot little hands by blog posts for 2008 printed as a book!


I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I created and ordered it through Blurb.com. It is an 8x10 landscape book with 180 pages. It cost me $57 to print and ship.









A few comments about the whole editing process. IT TOOK FOREVER! The program was really slow; I think because my file was rather large with alot of pictures (300+) and a lot of text. I did like the blurb program because it "slurped" up my blog posts and roughly put them into a book format. I spent a lot of time squishing it all down to 180 pages which required me to change page layouts, edit text, cut out pictures, and put multiple posts on the same page. There were also some pictures that didn't upload with a high enough resolution that I needed to upload the originals. There are quite a few program quirks but after awhile you know what to expect and it moves rather quickly. The actual uploading and ordering was very easy and I was even able to find a coupon code that ended up covering my 2nd day shipping.


Overall, I am pleased with the final product. But next year, when I'm not under a time crunch, I might look around a bit at other programs.

Ew SICK!!!

So I am alive and well. I made it to the doctor and it seems the hangnail I pulled 5-6 days ago was the culprit. Somehow it got infected and caused the swelling and puss build up that has been paining me for two days now. The doctor numbed my finger (the most painful part of course) and then cut me enough to squeeze the puss out and relieve the pressure. NASTY! I never would have guessed that a hangnail could cause such a mess. EWWW! Now I get to take anti-biotics four times a day for ten days. Anything to stop the throbbing!

Mystery Swollen Finger

Yesterday morning I woke up with a swollen ring finger and today it is even worse. I'ts starting to stress me out a bit. It throbs non stop and is a bit warm to the touch. I think its a pulled hangnail that got infected. Needless to say I am making my way to the doctor today. I'm hoping it is an easy fix. I'll keep you posted.