Care Package

I recently sent my sister, Rebecca, a care package. In this post, I don’t mean to brag and tell everybody what a great sister I am, even though I am, :-) instead I want to tell everybody how fun it was to make a care package, so you should all go out and make one for someone you love and send it to them. I honestly think that making a care package is as fun, if not more fun than receiving one. The reasons being: 1. You get to go shopping and 2. It is fun to imagine how excited and happy the person will be when they get the package in the mail. I decided on a Valentines Day themed package for my sister and was able to get some great stuff at the store. My favorite item was a cute t-shirt that said ‘Love is Blind” with a cute giraffe and turtle that are in love, though the heart socks and Disney Princess Valentines cards and glitter tattoos were cool too.
Have fun making your own care package!

I've Been Tagged!

Rules:
1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Middle Name: JANE
J- June and July are two of my favorite months because they are HOT. (I also love August, but it doesn’t start with J.)
A- A Café Rio Salad is one of my favorite meals. (I know, kind of cheating, but technically A, starts with an A.)
N- New Zealand. Where I will be taking my next vacation to see my sister, Mariah, and her husband, Nick, who are living down there.
E- Edward, if only he weren’t a fictional character and I wasn’t already married. (See question 45.)

1. Do you like cheese? Yes. Seriously who doesn’t like cheese?
2. Have you ever been arrested? No
3. Have you ever shot a gun? Yes. Just target practice and clay pigeon shooting.
4. Your favorite song? Don’t really have one.
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No, why would I? They are trying to help me feel better and prevent something bad from happening to me.
6. What do you think of when you eat hot dogs? How delicious they are and that I’ll probably have another one.
7. What's your favorite Christmas song? I love them all. However I especially like Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Milk with my cereal.
9. Can you do push ups? No, not now. However back when I was in college I couldn’t do push ups either, so I made it a goal of mine to work out so that I could do a real push up, not the girl kind, but a real push up. I think I got to the point where I could do 25 at a time. Ahh the glory days…
10. Is your bathroom clean? Yes. I just deep cleaned it on Friday.
11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding ring. It is gorgeous.
12. Favorite Hobby? Reading, watching anything on TV that is reality, playing games.
13. What are you listening to right now? The humming of the computer.
14. What is the last thing you ate? String Cheese. Refer to questions #1.
15. What one trait do you hate about yourself? I can sometimes be too brash.
16. Middle Name? Jane
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? There is a ton of snow outside. What’s for dinner (Wednesday’s are Lindsay night to cook.) I wonder when Mike will be home.
18. Name the last 3 things you have bought. Gasoline, a car wash and a deck of cards.
19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink. Water, milk, lemonade.
20. Current worry right now? What to make for dinner group tomorrow night.
21. Current hate? Winter. When is it going to be warm already? I really want to wear flip-flops again.
22. Favorite place to be? In my bed or hanging out with friends.
23. How did you bring in the New Year? Went over to our friends, the Taft’s, and played the Wii.
24. What is your quirkiest habit? I asked my husband what my quirkiest habit was and he said I was completely normal. (Thanks Babe.)
25. Name three people who will complete this and return? I’m not sure.
26. How many siblings do you have? 2 sisters, 2 brother
27. Do you own slippers? Yes, they are an essential part of my winter wardrobe.
28. What shirt are you wearing? A Pink sweater.
29. What shampoo do you use? Herbal Essence.
30. Favorite colors? Blue
31. Would you like to be a pirate? No. If pirates sailed around on cruise ships, probably.
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I usually listen to the radio, but any song will do.
33.Favorite female name? I like Sadie and Charlotte.
34. Favorite male name? Don’t really have one.
35. What's in your pockets right now? My cell phone.
36. Last thing that made you laugh? Discussing the word "snap" (like when you say "oh snap," after someone has said something rude) with my sisters via gmail chat. I was laughing out loud.
37. Best bed sheets as a child? I don’t know what this questions means.
38. Worst injury you've ever had? When I was 10 I rode on my bike down a really steep hill and flipped over the handle bars and face planted into the asphalt. I got a black eye and really messed up my nose.
39. When's your birthday? June 29
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 4. I know it’s out of control.
41. Who is your loudest friend? Valerie
42. There is no 42
43. Does someone have a crush on you? I wouldn’t know.
44. Do you wish on shooting stars? No.
45.What is your favorite book ? Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. (I know same as every 14 year old girl out there, but it is sooooo good.) I Love Edward!!!
46.What is your favorite age? Well if I could relive any part of my life so far I would relive my freshman year at college so 18-19.
47. What song do/did you want played at your wedding? We didn’t have a song at our wedding but the following songs are on our wedding video. Bryan Adams’ When You Love Someone and Karla Bonoff’s Standing Right Next to Me.
48. What song do you want played at your funeral? Not really sure.
49. What were you doing at 12 am this morning? Chatting with my sister in NZ on gmail. (I love gmail chat.)
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Guess it is time to wake up.

Nick Barker
Suzanne Andersen
Sally Wilde
Emily Tycksen

2 Long Years

Today was the second anniversary of the death of my mom. I miss her everyday. I miss the big things about her like her smile and positive attitude, the family dinners and being able to hang out with her, but I miss the little things about her too. I miss that in one phone call or visit to her house I used to be able to get answers to my questions or have someone listen to me. The other day I was thinking that it would be nice to make a baby quilt but she isn't her to show me how to make picos. This past summer the pool at my parent’s house turned green because the chemicals were out of whack. My mom would have known how to fix it; instead we just swam in a green pool. On Sunday Mike and I are speaking in church and she isn't her to make a big deal of it and tell us that she is coming to listen to us and smile up at me from the audience. It's the little things I miss about her and I miss them everyday.

Vernal & St. George

Ok so keeping my camera in my purse is not really helping me take more pictures, any suggestions… Because of this the blog I am about to write about the two vacations I recently took will be picture less.

Vernal – You just gotta love this place. I know I do. I went out to visit my Aunt Barbara and cousins. My cousin Berkley and Meredith were visiting from PA and my other cousin Jenni already lives out there, so we had lots of fun hanging out together. My aunt got 4 wheelers for Christmas so I got to ride around on them. We played lots of games of Shanghi, watched movies and ate lots of junk food.
St. George – Mike and I went to St. George for the weekend and to see my sister, Rebecca, who is attending Dixie, Go Rebels! The Brian Slade family was also down there so we hung out with them one day. We went swimming, to dinner at the Olive Garden and played about 40 rounds so of Nertz. The next day I tried to make an appointment for Mike and I to get massages, but they only had one appointment left, so Mike let me have it, isn’t that sweet. We also watched lots of cable. We don’t have cable at home, so whenever we come down, we always stay up late and watch our favorite cable shows. I really like all the home decorating shows on HGTV.  Rebecca and her boyfriend came over one night and we played some more rounds of Nertz (I know we’re die-hards.)

New Year's Resolutions

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to re-learn to play the piano. You wouldn’t know it, but I took piano for like 10 years when I was younger. Now with all this free time on my hands I have decided to start practicing again and see if I am any good. Since a real piano is a little expensive I bought an electric keyboard. I know what you’re thinking, does it have all the cool 80’s synthesizer sounds, and yes it does, but they have really made some improvements on electric keyboards. They have a button that teaches you notes and correct finger placement, songs that you can play along too and I’m sure other cool stuff I haven’t even discovered yet. Anyway, I went over to my dad’s house today and borrowed back some of the old piano books I used to use so I’m all ready to go. Wish me luck… I’ll let you know how practicing goes.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We started the festivities a day earlier than normal and on the 23rd went over to Mike's parent’s house for the Slade family Christmas party, where we ate yummy soups and had a houseful of excited kids waiting to open presents from their cousins. On Christmas Eve we went over to my dad's house and spent the evening with the Andersons. We, of course, ate more good food and played lots of rounds of All the Presidents Men. I invited my side of the family over on Christmas morning for the opening of presents and a delicious brunch. One of my favorite gifts was a small camera case for my purse. I am really bad at remembering to take pictures so I figure if I have my camera in my purse and my purse usually goes everywhere I go that this will help me take more pictures. (So far that hasn’t been the case, but I am working on it.) Mike's favorite gift was a World of Warcraft t-shirt (I know I shouldn't encourage it.) And Christmas evening we went back over to the Slade's for ham with all the fixin's and fun with the family. We loved being able to spend the holidays with our families (and stuffing our faces with scrumptious food.)