Fall photoshoot with Jenny

My beautiful friend Jenny took time this fall to take pictures of Max and I up at Memorial Grove. The colors up there were amazing! I love fall in Utah. I am so excited to have such a talented friend! She has started her own photography business and blog here. Go take a peek...I love looking at pretty pictures!

Thanks for the list Noelle...I was bored

Here is a list of 99 things that you can copy and paste. Then you bold the things that you've done.

1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty18. Grown your own vegetables19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight22. Hitch hiked23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill24. Built a snow fort25. Held a lamb26. Gone skinny dipping27. Run a Marathon28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice29. Seen a total eclipse30. Watched a sunrise or sunset31. Hit a home run32. Been on a cruise33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing40. Seen Michelangelo's David 41. Sung karaoke42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight46. Been transported in an ambulance47. Had your portrait painted48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling52. Kissed in the rain53. Played in the mud54. Gone to a drive-in theater55. Been in a movie56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class59. Visited Russia60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies62. Gone whale watching63. Got flowers for no reason64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma65. Gone sky diving66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt73. Stood in Times Square74. Toured the Everglades75. Been fired from a job76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London77. Broken a bone 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person80. Published a book81. Visited the Vatican82. Bought a brand new car83. Walked in Jerusalem84. Had your picture in the newspaper85. Read the entire Bible86. Visited the White House87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox89. Saved someone's life90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club93. Lost a loved one94. Had a baby95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone99. Been stung by a bee

Fun at the Beach

Last Saturday we took a trip to the beach early in the morning. No one is really there in the winter time except for people running, biking or just taking a stroll. No one sun bathing cause it is just a little on the cold side. There might be a few but their probably from Utah where it is 30 degrees and 70 degrees feels like the middle of the summer. That is a little to cold for me. My mom would never let us swim in our little pool unless the red dial on the outside thermometer was at 82 degrees (she even had a froggie sticker to help us know where 82 was). So just wading for me thanks. We wondered around picking up sea shells and rocks and I even found a couple sand dollars. There was a retaining wall that was spray painted with a big face on it. Ben loves to see Max kiss everything, plants, trees you name it he kisses it. Ben told him to kiss the face and we got some funny pictures. I love the beach! The day was so nice and the waves were low and calm. We even saw a pod of dolphins swimming and jumping just where the waves started braking. Sigh, I love it.

Memoir'sss

A few months ago I was reading a friends blog and she talked about a book that she had just read. Whenever I hear about books from others I am more likely to read it than just browsing the book store in hope to find a title that sounds good. Well in this particular entry by Katie peeked my curiosity so I kept my eye out for this one. When Ben and I took our little trip to Knoxville TN we stepped into a used bookstore to browse. Low and behold there it was, $3!! I started reading it on the flight home. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I couldn't put it down it was such a good read! I laughed so hard but also got sick to my stomach listening to her life story. Her alcoholic dad and hair brained mother really put these children through the ringer but Jeannette seemed to put a almost positive twist on her life. Walls really tells a good story.

The next book I read was a little more normal (normal as compared with the previous book) but SO funny! A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel. I loved this book! I wish I could go through and quote all my favorite lines and stories. Like when her sister tells her she was adopted (not true).Then Zippy goes to her mother and asks if it was true and her mother confirms that she was indeed adopted, from a band of traveling gypsies. The stories that she told were so hilarious that I found myself all alone totally laughing out loud! Defiantly one worth picking up!! It is fun to read someone eles inner thoughts and take on life. Now I am in the middle of reading Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter by Barbara Robinette Moss. I have had it for while...I think I picked it up in Hawaii and just never gotten around to it. It starts off similar to The Glass Castle, an alcoholic father (but normal mother) and six children starving. It is so sad that children have to grow up under horrible circumstance that they themselves can not help. I will let you know how it turns out. I didn't mean to read memoirs all in a row but that just what I picked up and it has been a good change from the normal fiction stuff. Everyone needs a change now and then right??

I don't feel like dancing anymore.

Jeez has that been up for long enough now! I have really been meaning to write about a few things but really have not felt like blogging. I have kinda gotten out of the habit/desire to write about things that are going on. So this entry will be a bunch of little things that I have been meaning to write down.

So Sunday was fast and testimony meeting at church. It was a great meeting. There were three more minutes on the clock and I for some crazy spiritual reason got up with Max and headed to the pulpit. I just wanted to express my overwhelming gratitude for our Savior and the love he gives me. I made it short and sweet, one cause it was the end of the meeting and two because Max was reaching and squirming for the mic. Amen, and just when I turned to go, Max got the mic and bore his testimony in one clear word...Airplane. Wish you could have been there!

On Christmas Eve day we went to go look at the big airplane that Dad flies. We took and Ben (Max's friend) and Matt (Ben's dad) too. I made sure I had my camera and when we got to the plane what do you know, the card was not in the camera! Dangit!! We could have gotten so many cute pictures. Ben and Max had soooo much fun climbing on the seats, opening and closing the windows and running down the isles. When we finally made it to the cockpit the climbed up into the seats and they were in heaven. They made airplane noises, said airplane repeatedly and pushed all the buttons. I bet we played in there for at least an hour. Later they walked around outside and touched the planes nose and its dirty wheels. They walked around holding hands pointing at the airplane and telling each other 'airplane, airplane'. It was lots of fun. Hopefully we can do this more and get the airplane bug out of Max before he grows up!

Max is a character! He has been lots of fun lately (not that he isn't always fun). He kissed my glasses yesterday during our storytime before naptime. He thought he was so funny and I thought it was so funny that he thought he was so funny that we just sat there and laughed. He has been going around the house and labeling things as mama's or dada's. Most of the time things are dada's but when something is mine he says mada's. I guess he knows how things work in this family! He loves his little friend Ben. They came over for dinner one night and played and had so much fun. The next morning the first thing Max said was 'Ben?' Ben let Max borrow a toy (Max really just wouldn't give it up so Ben didn't really have a choice) and the whole time he had it at home he would say Ben's, Ben's.

He is growing up so fast. He has gone potty twice (in the toilet), is loving nursery, loves playing with other friends, drinking out of cups (with minor spills)and using utensils, folding his arms and closing his eyes during prayers and brushing his teeth. So much fun! Speaking of growing up I have wanted to post this picture of my Dad and Max doing yard work together. This picture reminds me SO much of my brother Jonathan. My dad use to do the same thing with him when he was little. It was quit weird to remember the way Jonathan looked in the 'pack-pack' and then to see my own child in it too blond hair and everything!