Ten for Tuesday 12.09.08

WARNING! Long post! What's new?

1. Let's take a walk down memory lane. Shall we? This is me and my friend Janie. (Janie I miss you! It's been WAY too long since you visited!)

I met Janie about 10 years ago (can it really be that long?!) When we both were accepted to the BYU London Study Abroad program. When we arrived in London we decided to be bunk mates, and quickly became attached at the hips. Oh the adventures we had! Janie saved my life on many occasions (I never could figure out which way to look when crossing the street), and she always helped me find my way home at the end of the day (she was the expert on Tube connections---me, not so much). We laughed until we cried at least 15 times a day, and were always getting sour looks from people because we were talking too loudly (they probably thought we were drunk---Ugly American anyone?). We loved to sneak down to the kitchen in the wee hours of the night and enjoy some hot chocolate with toast and Nutella. Oh I wish we could go back! What a fun time of life! Anyway, this story does have a point. . . It never crossed my mind to bring an alarm clock to London. Not sure why, but I was without an alarm. So, Janie very generously offered to wake me up in the mornings. Reed will tell you that this is NOT a job he enjoys! I'm not exactly a morning person. Lucky for Janie, I was very worried about being a burden to my new friend, so I tried very hard to get up immediately the first time she woke me---rather than using her as a snooze button. This is probably the only time in my life before or since that I have not snoozed when I had to get up in the morning. I was terribly concerned about not irritating Janie regarding the alarm, but what I probably should have been more concerned with was not disgusting her with my . . .

Stinky feet. Yes, I have stinky feet. Before I went to London I bought some knock-off Birkenstock sandals, and for some reason the soles of those sandals were more absorbent than other sandals I'd had before (I've never bought these kind of sandals since for exactly this reason). After a few wears, they stank to high heaven. Seriously. Oh-my-gosh-where's-the rotten-egg?- stink. Janie kind of has a thing with feet. She always wears cute socks, and every night before bed she would rub lotion on her feet. I should have known that I was probably completely grossing her out with my dirty, smelly feet. But, I guess hind sight is foresight, right? Well, this leads me to my next point. Unfortunately, my poor little Michael has inherited my. . .

2. Stinky feet. This was brought to my attention when my friend who (so kindly) called to inform me that Michael's feet were stinking up her house and that he couldn't come back to play until we solved the problem. Hah! I laughed so hard! She was pretty worried about offending me, but seriously what can you do? Allow the kid to smell up your house every other day? I don't think so. Michael has a high temperature gague and gets hot really easily. He refuses to wear the long sleeved shirts I bought for him this fall, and he hates to wear socks. I can't blame him. I hate socks too. Anyway, he has taken to wearing his shoes without socks. He would throw a fit every time I tried to make him wear them, so the only day I insisted on socks was Sunday. You've got to choose your battles, right? Well, apparently I need to battle the socks issue so his feet don't smell so bad. Poor Michael. He's not happy about wearing socks, but I figure it's better than making him play by himself every afternoon!

3. We've had a fun week. On Friday Reed and I went out to eat with my parents at the Red Iguana, and then we went over to the Art Barn for my mom's annual holiday craft show. It was a lot of fun to go an look at the different things people had made to sell. After going to Mom's and Tiffany's shows this week I decided I want to try make some fun things to sell as a business. The problem is that I don't really make things, and I inherited very little of my mom's creativity. Hm. . . I'll have to keep thinking about that one.

4. Saturday morning we had our ward Christmas party which was a lot of fun. The breakfast was really delicious, and I decided I am SO GLAD that I'm not the Activities Director. Knock on wood. Holy Cow! What a lot of work! At the end of the party the boys got to meet Santa. Ty was so excited, and was nearly the first in line.

Michael wasn't so sure. . .

And Blake was scared to death! I don't think I've ever seen him be so still for so long! We didn't even make him go anywhere near Santa, but the minute Santa walked in the door, Blake curled up on Reed's shoulder.

5. At the ward party we collected items for a local homeless shelter. We were able to fill a truck and an Expedition with all of the donated items. Thanks everyone for your generosity, and thanks Jessica P. for all of your help organizing and delivering the goods!

6. That afternoon we went over to Great Nana's house to make gingerbread houses. Let the sugar fest continue! Obviously, the boys LOVE this tradition. I forgot to bring my camera, but this is how their houses look after a few days of picking at them.

Michael and Ty have figured out their Dad's trick of filling the insides of the house with goodies before putting on the roof.

The boys are so lucky to have a great grandma with such fun traditions and so much energy! Thanks Nana!

7. We finally got some snow yesterday, and the boys were so excited to go out and enjoy it. They made a snow man all by themselves! I only had to help a little bit. The snow was really wet, and perfect for packing, but it was heavy. Try as they did, they could not pick up the big snowball and lift it onto the other ball.

8. Seeing Blake all dressed up in snow gear is (as my friend Anna would say) hi-freakin-larious! He walks with such a cute little waddle!

9. We received our first Christmas cards in the mail this week! I love it! Keep them coming!

10. Last, but not least, Jessica took some family pictures for us a little while back, and they turned out so cute. I thought I'd share a few. Be sure to check out her work at RomaBee Photgraphy.

Aw. . . My kids are darling, no? Good work Jess! I'll post some more pics later.