My 8 Things Post

8 TV shows I watch:
1. Little People Big World
2. Oprah--yes, I still watch her
3. Without a Trace
4. Eleventh Hour
5. Lost--when its on
6. Battle Star Gallactica--when its on
7. Pushing Daisies
8. Daily Show/Colbert Report

8 of My Favorite Restaurants:
1. The Melting Pot
2. Thai Garden
3. Cafe Trang
4. Tomacitas
5. Chili Works
6. Paradise Bakery
7. Bennihanas
8. Chili's

8 Things that happened Yesterday
1. Picked up James' contacts
2. cleaned my house
3. took a bath
4. took my boys to get their hair cut
5. went to Costco
6. Put Laundry away
7. Went to YW
8. watched Get Smart with James

8 Things I am looking Forward to
1. the Holidays
2. My kids being able to get up (quietly), get dressed, and get themselves breakfast
3. Jodi and Mike moving back to Utah!!!!!
4. Going to Spring in the Spring
5. Having my backyard finished and fenced in
6. Obama as president
7. Next months book--I finished Into Thin Air and loved it
8. My ten year anniversay--hope we do something fun and without kids

8 things on my wishlist:
1. Honda Odyssey
2. Basement finished
3. Trip to Hawaii with James for our 10 year anniversary
4. Living closer to my family
5. Complete a triathalon and marathon
6. road bike
7. Lasik
8. More affordable healthcare that is accessible for more Americans

8 Things I love:
1. My husband and kids and family
2. The Gospel
3. My country
4. my church calling
5. a good book with a diet coke while soaking in the tub
6. traveling
7. exercising in 50 degree weather
8. listening to NPR

8 things I can't stand:
1. being woken up in the middle of the night
2. Adult Swim and any other cartoon that james' records
3. Racist jokes told to me thinking I will find them funny
4. plantar fascitis
5. people biting their nails
6. Ignorance
7. Running in the winter
8. Tomatoes and Milk

8 People I am tagging:
1. Julie McKeon--Please update your blog :)
2. Jodi
3. Gina
4. Danni
5. Aunt Julie
6. Hillary
7. Sarah
8. Melissa

History has been made

I don't want to get preachy about politics, but regardless of who we voted for and what issues sent us to vote, we all have to sit back and acknowledge the many great things that have happened this past election. As James and I sat and watched Obama give his acceptance speech (if you didn't hear it check it out http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl135) James commented that the first president that Sam will probably remember will be an african american and how cool that concept is. We are truly seeing the ideals that my generation has been taught come to pass. It was amazing to see how many people voted for a man based on the content of his character and not the color of his skin. It was interesting to see how many firsts we had in this last election.

Family Fun this Fall

Enjoying the fall leaves while mom and dad are out raking them up.
Thanks to Heidi our boys were some awesome lookin' Jedis this year.

We stopped by to see Sierra and Savannah on Halloween

Grandpa Chief and Eeler stopped by to check out the Jedi's before we went trick-or-treating

On Halloween afternoon we went up to James' work for trick-or-treating. They had icecream "monster mush" sundaes to assemble at the end. Nothing like a pile of candy to go on icecream. This went well with the candy the boys had been shoveling in all day.

My fun purchase of the summer was a bike trailer. These are the best. The boys love it and mom gets a good workout. With all these nice fall days we have gotten some good bike rides in.

We had a family night with three other families in our ward the monday before Halloween. We decorated sugar cookies and carved pumpkins. This is Sam's buddy Josh.

We decided to try out the trick-or-treating at Hogle Zoo this year (along with 24,000 others). It was a madhouse. The kids had fun with their cousins Ike and kaitlyn, but we will not be adding this to our "things we must do again next fall"list.

One of our favorite Halloween time activities is visiting the Garden after Dark at Red Butte Gardens. They even had light sabers that actually glowed. Those are spider hats on their heads if you are wondering.

Ouray-- "The Switzerland of America"

We went to the prettiest town in Colorado over UEA. It is this quaint, little town completely surrounded by tall mountains. It is about 90 miles south of Grand Junction. We were expecting to be cold --its 78oo ft and its the middle of october-- but we were spoiled. The weather was warm and sunny. We spent the weekend exploring ghost towns and waterfalls, playing at parks, hot tubbing, and enjoying the fall leaves and good food. We went with our good friends, the Jones. We always have a great time with them.

My little bro is the coolest nerd!

I got an unexpected call from my youngest brother Matt saying he was coming into town to do some recruiting for Rice and give a Colloqium (fancy word for lecture on his research) down at BYU. Me and my aunt Julie decided to go and show our support. (No, we were not the only females in the room)

I was so proud of him (even though I had not idea what he was saying). He was so poised and confident. He was so worried about the questions they might ask and being able to answer them. I told him to use the Sarah Palin strategy, it seemed to work for her. But he was able to answer all their questions. The picture in the middle is him talking physics geek talk with some guys after. I asked his former professor if the average 3rd and 4th year physics major would have been able to follow this presentation and he said no way. Each time I have Matt explain his research to me on a dumbed down scale I understand a little bit more. maybe by the time he graduates (in a year hopefully) I will be able to say "my brother is graduating with a degree in atomic physics from Rice University. He did he his studies on ......" So what does a guy with a PhD in atomic physics do for a living you ask? They can get a job in the industry working for an oil company doing research on alternative energy---that is so cool. I am so proud of you Matt.

Big Boy Mo

We decided it was time to potty train Mo. Once Mo learned he could poop for candy he was on board. After he got the hang of things he looked up at me while on the toilet and said "Mom, can you give me some privacy?" He is doing so well and in true Mo style-insisting he do it all himself. This has been his outfit of choice for the last month-underwear and his superman cape. It has been nice to leave the house without a diaper bag. I may go buy myself a smaller purse.

A rare moment for me

I am currently sitting here with me feet propped up watching a rerun of Gilmore Girls and looking at people's blogs while I enjoy a diet coke and a quiet house. Yes, a quiet house. This has not happened for well years. Sam went to a play group after preschool and Mo is taking a nap. I have the house to myself and it is a foreign feeling. In the past I would take the opportunity to clean or organize something. My boys have gotten so good and playing with each other, that I can do those projects while they are awake and in the home. I have organized all my closets this fall and even our messy basement. When Mo went down, I thought I am going to just hang out and enjoy the silence. This is a wonderful moment. I can't remember when this last happened.