Thank goodness for Preschool!

Today was a riot! I just cranked this edition out so fast! ...

I held up a normal, nothing-weird-about-it picture of a turkey and asked: "What is this?"

This is what I got:

child A: Turtle!
child B: He's sorta like a turtle.
child A: yea! A turtle.
Me: It's not a turtle.
child C: It's a Duck!
child D: Pigeon! (you know what a pigeon is, but not a turkey?)
child E: A HUGE chicken!
child B: It's a peacock. Look at those feathers! (you know what a peacock is, but not a turkey?)
Me: Close. I'll give you a hint. It says "Gobble Gobble"
child E: Dinner!
several children: A turkey!
Me: yes!
child A: (with head in hands.) sigh. I'm going to ask my mom if it looks like a turtle.

I'm almost sad to say it was my own daughter that said it was a duck. But hey, she could have been the one who said turtle.

Thank goodness for Preschool!
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I asked them what they were thankful for and these are their answers:

Steven: For plants I grow at my house, my family, and feasts (typical boy)
Mimi: My Barbies, my dog, myself, my mom, and the rest of my family
Jenny: Roxy and Milli, the park, and my friends. They are so sweet to me. (she was a hoot today :)
Sky: Playing with my board, and Indians, Zebras, and my family. (this was the first day she has even heard about Indians)
Maleia: My huge family, eating with my daddy, the bumpy house at my birthday party, and airplanes. (Are you saying I'm fat? And, yes there are a lot of us compared to everyone else in Europe)
Ava: All the things, leaves, preschool, and Irving (her Zebra that comes to Preschool with us some days)

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I held up a turkey without it's feathers on this time and asked, "What is wrong with this turkey?"

Ava: I think he's sad
Maleia: He is sad because he wants to see his daddy

I changed my question..."What is this turkey missing?"

Mimi: A mom and a dad
Steven: He's missing an eye! (It was a side profile of a turkey)
Sky: Hands!
Maleia: The flat things he needs to fly like ducks.

Me: Yes! Those are called feathers. He is missing feathers. Sadly, he doesn't fly.
Ava: So he is sad.

Jenny. No. He's missing those pointy things on his back.
Me: Yes he is. Those are called feathers.
Jenny. mmm. I don't know about that.

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We were making butter by shaking whipping cream and Jenny said, "Sometimes I get butter in my eye."
The whole class turned and looked at her like she had butter in her eye right then. Then I asked, "How did you get butter in your eye?" and she responded,
"I have no. I. dea." Then Maleia said, "Maybe it tripped in her eye!"

Oh for the love! These kids just crack me up!

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Sky was such a trooper since she doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving. This was all new to her. I asked who is all having a Thanksgiving feast tomorrow and all but Sky raised her arm. She replied, "You are ALL going to American tomorrow to have food with Indians?"

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday to ME!

I know it's my birthday, but this is also my journal, so I'm posting. So there. For my birthday, all I am asking is for is this:

Memories:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, write anything you remember!

I just wanted to write about some of my most memorable birthdays. This is for posterity, so you can skim it if you want. It's quite a bit of heritage.

I think my most memorable experiences at most of my birthdays was that my dad would take me to breakfast for a daddy-daughter date and my mom would either make my favorite dinner, or we'd go out to dinner and I got to choose where we went. It was usually either Western Sizzlin, King's Table, or Fargos Pizza. Breakfast was always somewhere sit down. Which was fine with my dad bc all the other kids wanted to go to McDonald's and I always wanted to go to IHOP, Villiage Inn, Cracker Barrel, or Denny's. I love to eat out. Let's be honest.

Then, of course, every 7 years my birthday was on Thanksgiving, so I got a candle in the turkey and pies. Good one. Very clever. I wasn't even a huge fan of pies, but it was fun having the whole family and some dear friends there for the dual event. I got to play football in morning, come home for the parade, eat some good food, watch football, then usually go to the Meadowland Church Building to play volleyball or basketball in the evening with a ton of kids in our Stake and family. There's more than one reason why Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.

I remember when I was younger I had a best friend Jimmy Christensen who happened to have a birthday 4 days earlier. Our moms were in the hospital together when they had us and apparently we were next to each other in the nursery and everything. At church we would play together even as babies. We were linked. I remember having two separate birthday cakes, separate gifts, but we did everything else the same. He moved my second grade year and I was devastated. We even tried to hide out for a loooong time, then tried running away together. We still kept in tough throughout the years, but lost touch in High School. THEN, the third day, or so of college we were sleeping out to get the best student football tickets and I hear a "Monique!" And then I saw him. I ran to him yelling, "Jimmy!!!" And we totally embarrassed ourselves. :) Remember? We are connected.

Skate City. Need I say more? I remember more than one birthday being held at Skate city and even remember seeing some friends who happened to just be skating the day I was having my party and I felt bad for not inviting them, so my mom said they can join in the fun.

I remember quite a few birthdays at my home during middle school where I had a swim party with our hot tub. Many times it would be snowing and we would spend our time daring each other to do crazy things in the snow and then run back and jump in the hot tub. I wonder how many of my friends were sick the next day?

One year my parents were gone for my birthday, so I had a party at my house while they were gone. It was pretty large. Okay massive, and people from four different high schools showed up and then the next day my parents' friend came to check on my brother and I, saw the mess, and told my parents the house was a wreck, but when my parents stepped through the door two days later, the house was spotless... thanks to some friends who helped clean and a pretty cool brother who even covered for me. Do I want teenagers?

The kidnapping surprise party!! Oh how can I ever forget this one! I have a friend, Tom Paul, who also has a b-day around mine and we were both kidnapped together early one Saturday morning and taken around the city blindfolded until we were dropped off together a couple of times, then picked up again, and finally taken to his house to a surprise party. It was so fun! I had never had a surprise party before, so I relished in my "feeling especially special" day with a great friend. I LOVE sharing birthdays with friends! I also LOVE surprises!

I remember my boyfriend at the time, Mark Gardner, did this awesome video scavenger hunt for me which was seriously cool. I was even video taped during the excursion by another friend and was surprised by him at the end. It was pretty thoughtful. He is still a good friend with an even more amazing wife and the funny thing is, I first got to know my husband better at one of Mark's birthday parties in college. (Mark and I were long over by then, but still friends.) How creative, huh? I hope I still have it somewhere...

One year (actually my parents were gone for this one too) my friends got me a birthday cake with someone else's name X'ed out on it and written next to it (in what I think was a Sharpie) was my name. It was a Barbie cake and they knew how much I hated Barbies growing up, so they of course got me a Barbie cake and a Barbie for my birthday. (I don't remember how they got it, but I want to think that it was a mistake cake and not taken from a girl's B-day party. Next thing I know I am going to have a comment on my blog about how my friends ruined her B-day bc they stole her cake...) Anyway. Oh, and I do need to mention that they also had collected the cards that I gave to THEM during the year, crossed out their names and put mine in and switched a few words around. :) It was pretty funny. Then we went out to dinner and hiked up a canyon in Colorado Springs where we ended up overlooking the entire city and throwing my Barbie off a cliff at 3am. Fun sober stuff. They knew I didn't drink, so they brought Martinelli's and fun Sobe drinks to try out. Funny thing was that one of the guys names was Jimmy, but not the same Jimmy as growing up. It was in Nov, but I don't remember being that cold. . .

And of course my birthday during my honeymoon. That was great because B took me to a Steak House in Park City and we were married. I remember that I kept telling him that we were married during the dinner. "Guess what? We are married!!" "So I got married three days ago." "Hey, you are now my husband." As if he didn't know, but I guess it hadn't hit me yet. We even had a really cool DJ there that sang a song to us and we got to dance to it alone on the dance floor while the whole restaurant watched and cheered when the song was over. Not to mention that it was snowing really hard by the time we were done and were lucky enough to follow a snow plow to our condo, but still got stuck twice and even had to have someone come and help.

I remember one birthday when B took me to Red Lobster (B said we could go there once a year, for my birthday!) The waiter came out with two dishes. One a Cajun Chicken Alfredo and the other a gargantuan plate of crab with extra sides. The waiter stutter stepped a moment and switched the meals thinking B had the Ginormous plate, but I said, "Oh no. That one is mine. Aaaaall mine."

So all in all I have had special days in my life that I can call my birthdays, but the really special days are those spent with as many family and friends I can have under one roof at the same time. Now that's a party!

Fire & Ice - 7 years strong!

First off, Thanks babe for being an equal partner in our WONDERFUL children. There are so many reasons I can think of that I love you (check back to year 5, I believe, where I wrote 100) but this year I'll just show you a few of my top reasons:

#1

#2

#3

Has it been 7 years already?

I know many of you are thinking: Wow! You two are totally different! But to our defense, we are alike in all the important things. The other things are just details and I like to say that we just complement each other. Plus, it keeps us on our toes and where one person falls short, the other is in abundance.

We are alike in our dedication to the gospel of Jesus Christ, our love for children (we actually both said that we wanted 11 children before we got married), our sense of adventure (though I show more excitement, I've found he is just as excited. He just doesn't say, "I'm excited" every ten seconds like I do :) , we both have a love of learning (we both want a master's someday), a strong work ethic (I worked at my parents campground since I was real little and B has worked around the house and had jobs early in life), we are both pretty creative (I've never met a guy who is as good at organizing as he is and actually has an opinion on and appreciation for the decorating in our home), we actually like reading and writing (hence the long blogs posts and you should read the things he writes. Witty and fun to read), we both love sports (watching AND playing anytime anywhere), both came from families of 7, both aren't pet people so much, and we love each other with all the love we can muster. That's a good amount if I do say so myself. Oh, and we both HATE tuna and LOVE country music. It was meant to be!

Drinking pop/soda:
B- says "soda" and likes it straight from the can. If he could have extra fizz, he would.
Mo- says "pop" and likes it in a big cup with ice and a straw. My favorite is what I call "Stadium Sprite." Going to watch a game (football, basketball, volleyball, baseball, etc.) and getting a Sprite on tap. I get hicups when it's too fizzy and my eyes water, so B laughs when I stir it with a straw to get some of the fizz out.

Pancakes:
B- He eats them all separate and each one is different. One with Maple, one with Strawberry, etc. Little to no butter.
Mo- Stack em! And I eat them with Maple Syrup, lots of butter, and powdered sugar on top. Preferably stacked three high.

Salsa:
B- The hotter the better. Says he can still taste his food when it's fire hot. I don't believe him.
M- The milder the better with a tad of kick. I like the flavor of salsa, but I also like the flavor of the food that I'm eating with it with too, so burning my taste buds is not my favorite. I tear up if it's too hot. (What's up with my eyes watering all the time?)

Party:
B- The best party for him is no party, but he like the low-key, good friends/family kind of party. He's not a huge fan of the big scene with lots of people.
Mo- Can I plan one tomorrow? I love me a good party with tons of people.

Restaurant:
B- If the food/service is bad, show it in the tip, but he'll still give 10% no matter what. Nice guy.
Mo- If anything is bad, I tell someone nicely about it. Really. I'm nice. I think of myself as the manager or owner of the restaurant and would want someone to do the same thing as I am doing. We usually end up getting our food right and/or compensated for, but hey, I don't get out much, so I want it right. That's not too much to ask for. On the contrary, if we have an excellent experience, I let it be known as well.

Personality:
B- Laid back. Easy going. Easy to get along with. Doesn't talk much in new situations. Seldom let's anything bother him. Naturally very forgiving.
Mo- Go-getter. Schedule oriented. Fun-loving mover and shaker. Talks sometimes too much. I worry more than I want to admit. (I usually blame Haley's worrying on the Chapman gene pool.) And I am also very forgiving, I just have to work at it more and need more help to forgive.

Family Background:
B- Home body. He remembers doing a ton at home with his family and going to reunions with extended family and reading a lot at home together. They would go the park and throw frisbees and go on walks together. Singing at the piano was a favorite family pastime and watching movies. They are super tight and continue to stick together no matter what.
Mo- I think we used our home mostly just for sleeping. If we weren't camping, waterskiing, working, motorcycling, hiking, or playing sports, we were playing board games (which got extremely competative at times) going out to eat together, fishing, throwing parties, vacationing, or going to other people's homes to visit. Again, we have a super tight family that stick together no matter what hardships befall us.

Night vs. Day
B- He's a morning person hands down. When we got married he got up every morning at 5:30 and got things done! He still gets up at 5:30, showers, does his morning routine and goes to work early. After the kids to bed, he could easily go to bed. He can fall asleep anywhere ater 8pm. It's a Chapman thing that sometimes I covet since he can fall asleep in seconds, but it can be annoying. Hey that was a funny part in the movie. Brandon?... Wake up! You missed it!
Mo- You couldn't pay me enough to wake up that early on a regular basis. The only reasons I am happy to get up that early is if I am trying to get the smooth skiing water, beat the rush to the ski slopes, go to early morning sports practices, leave early for vacation, etc. It is rare that I go to bed before midnight. I just get things done at night. I shower at night, read at night, clean at night, play games, watch movies, scrapbook, you name it!

Movies:
B:Hates spoilers
Mo:Predicts movies

Dinner:
B: Doesn't mind cleaning as long as he doesn't have to cook
Mo: Don't mind cooking as long as I don't have to clean.

The other things we are different in are just because he's a guy and I'm a girl. I guess the only other surprising difference is that he is quicker to be emotional than me. Though, sometimes I am emotional at things and he just looks at me and says, "Are you really crying?" Nice. Thanks a lot. :) But apparently I do the same thing to him, so there you go.

We are great and are looking forward to another fun year. My advice to all of you,

"No matter how long you have been married, marriage is work! Some of the work you do is easy, and some of it requires more thought and tough dedication, but all the hard work you do to keep your marriage strong requires two people with the drive to keep the relationship smokin!" by Monique Chapman

Who couldn't love a father like this?
7 years down, eternity to go!

FOR THE LOVE !!

of TAGS! ug. Since I love Melissa and I thought it would be quite an easy tag, I went with it. Thanks! :P

Alright peeps, time for another tag. Someone did this to me a while back, too, so now I have double the reason to do this.

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Answer the eight"8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1. American Idol
2. Around the Horn (on ESPN)
3. America's Funniest Home Videos
4. Sports Center (on ESPN)
5. House (I've seen three episodes total. . . last year, I think. But it was good.)
6. So You Think You Can Dance (I saw the year with Benji)
7. ??? (Now you know how I have time to blog!) Doogie Howser was really cool!
8. BYU vs. UTAH this week!!!! Goooooooooooo Cougars!

8 Things I did yesterday
1. Shopped at Tesco (like a Walmart)
2. Had my Hungarian class in my home
3. Read scriptures and did my Bible Study workbook
4. Ate Chicken Paprikas that Irene made... yummo!
5. Had Family Home Evening
6. Helped my girls with their Primary Program Parts
7. Dishes, Cleaned, did hair, read to the kiddos, played with the kiddos, watched Dylan walk all day, got ready for Playgroup today...etc.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to:
1. Going to Italy. It's been put off waaaay too long.
2. Carrie and Kyle coming to visit next month and going to Germany with them
3. Thanksgiving with friends
4. Haley and Maleia's primary program next Sunday.
5. CHRISTMAS! And all the parties that go along with it: Chapman Caroling party, Compound Progressive Christmas Dinner, Budapest Branch Party, Embassy Christmas Party, Kid Embassy Christmas Party, School Christmas Party, Preschool Christmas Party, Cookie Exchange, and our Christmas Eve Party with just our family... phew!
6. Paris in the Spring (sounds like a poem, huh? Wasn't this on Sleepless in Seattle?)
7. More visitors in the Spring. My cousin and my dad so far.
8. Having an eternal family and being able to have all my children get married in the temple, go on missions, and have kids of their own.

8 Favorite Restaurants (that I miss!)
1. Cafe Rio (duh)
2. Famous Dave's
3. Teriyaki Stix
4. Pei Wei
5. Chick Fil-A
6. Panera Bread
7. Outback (or ANY good Steak house really)
8. Chipotle

8 Things on my Wish List
1. To continue to grow in the Gospel and to see my hubby and kids do the same
2. Elliptical
3. Rice Cooker big enough to feed our family
4. Learn to make movies from our pictures or home videos
5. Finish my scrapbooks
6. Get Lasik eye surgery someday
7. Piano for Brandon
8. Have another kid without being pregnant. (Hey, a girl can dream, right?)

8 Pet Peeves
1. People taking advantage of old people and children (anyone really, but these get me MAD!)
2. B burping at the dinner table (I don't care if it makes you feel soooo much better and no I do not think of it as a compliment like people in Tonga.)
3. People putting empty boxes back in the cupboards or fridge instead of the garbage (It just teases me and gets my hopes up. STOP it people!)
4. People lying to me when I know the truth
5. People not squirting the water out of the bath toys after they are done so they get mold in them. Ew.
6. Blinkers people. BLINKERS! They are not optional. And don't get me started on merging...
7. People bringing their obviously sick kids around mine. I'd much rather you just smack them than get them sick. "My kid just threw up twice today, but I brought her anyway. I wonder why she is asleep on the ground?" She's SICK!!! grrrrrr.
8. People not disciplining their kids when they definitely NEED it. (Notice I did not say hurting.)
9. Yes. 9! Policemen or security guards or anyone who THINKS they are cooler than they really are and think they can get away with pushing people around because they wear a uniform. It's all about MUTUAL respect.

8 Things you would like to be remembered for:
1. My amusing blogs :)
2. This one is lame.
3. How about we do 8 things I would like to ask and tag people about?
4. Now I know why this one was taken off Melissa's list

8 things to ask and tag people about... AHEM!
1. Why they think that Christmas music is appropriate before Thanksgiving :)
2. Why they can't fly here and take a photoshoot here in hungary of my family
3. Why they can't just get a job in Hungary and set up a scrapbook store here. They don't have any in the whole country. Poof! We'd make mucho moolah!
4. Why they have to go Private and I have to keep checking like the "old days" to see if they have posted
5. Why my upload speed is horrid and won't allow me to upload vidoes or see Slingbox well
6. Why the paylists won't let me just push play if I want to listen to music (stay tuned for mine soon)
7. Why people have pets that bark all. day. long.
8. Why people think they can get away with not standing up for what they believe

8 People I Tag- don't you DARE get mad! (I did some of the As and Bs of the people that I know, next TAG will be Cs and Ds, and so forth... jk. maybe.)
1. Amy
2. Becky
3. Brandi
4. Allie
5. AnnDee
6. Annie Marie
7. Autumn
8. Beth

Y'all better do it! And I won't be offended if you put "I can't stand it when people tag me and say, ya'll better do it" under your pet peeves.

Funny Sundays

B is playing the piano for the Primary Program for our Branch and so he gets to be a fly on the wall. They had a practice today and there was a little girl that was supposed to say "I am grateful that Heavenly Father gave me a body and a great family." But what she said was, "I am grateful that Heavenly Father gave me a GREAT body." All the adults busted up trying to hold back their laughter.

(BTW, he is now the 1st Counselor in the Branch Presidency and we found this out 2 minutes before church started. I was eager to find out and he said, "Guess!" The brat. Just tell me you fool! So when he did, all three kids seemingly went berserk and I got visions of me sitting with my three crazy kiddos while B sits on the stand enjoying the view. double brat. Oh, you know that I know he will do great.)

Then tonight we were playing Apples to Apples as a family which is always fun because they don't get all the words and they can't read yet. At the end of the game, we have a tradition where we read the green cards that we win and they are supposed to describe you.

Haley got: Fantastic, Intelligent, and Explosive... how true this is...

Maleia got: Lovable, Irritating, Swift, and Exhausting... wow! Who needs a horoscope when you have Apples to Apples?

Now some funny pictures:

Yes, this is B and Trevor playing Guess Who on Sunday morning before Church. Haley had a list of things to do before church and Tea Party and Guess Who were on the list. Notice the tea set sitting by Trevor. She made name places for each of us so we knew where we were supposed to sit and made us speak in British accents.

These cute rugrats. When we told them we were going for a Sunday walk, they were so excited and then both exclaimed, "I get to ride in the stroller!" I don't think they still get the gist of what a "walk" is. We brought NO stroller to fend of the temptation and whining. (Oooo. I just noticed that strange man in the picture all the way to the right. Creepy. Click on the picture to see what I mean.)

On our Sunday walk we went to a huge park that led up to the Citadel on Gellert Hill and Haley especially loved this sign, (if you knew her, you'd know she has a true phobia of the canine variety) though we saw a few people disobeying. Good thing the Hungarians didn't speak English (so we think) because Haley would say really loudly as they passed while trying to crawl up my leg, "They are NOT supposed to have dogs at this park! They are making a wrong choice!"

Maleia also wanted a picture by the sign doing the same thing, but her thumbs up turned into a thumbs down. Which is appropriate. She and Dylan go nuts when they see a dog and want to go and pet any that they see. My favorite conversation from Maleia to comfort Haley: "Don't worry Haley. They won't bite you too hard. Mommy, don't they have fangs? Wow that one is huge! Can I pet him?"

Okay, so this cute picture isn't so funny, but has a funny story linked to it. When we sat down for Sunday dinner and started to eat, I kept noticing some random noodles on the table. Then out of the corner of my eye I see Dylan throwing his pasta onto the table when no body was looking. That little goober has a good arm! Dylan started walking this week and now walks like a zombie with his hands out laughing the whole time. It's adorable. I am sad because I remember how quickly they grow out of this stage. Then they start RUNNING! (This will be extra fun with me sitting in the congregation by myself every Sunday.)

You might be a mom if:

1. You cry when your kids grow up, but cheer on every milestone.
2. You can say "Please hand me the nipple for the bottle" without blushing
3. You cut up your husbands and/or your food on your date without thinking twice
4. You sway when you stand up and talk to someone.
5. You can tune out chaos, cries, and fighting
6. You drive a mini van
7. You turn in the store when another child yells for his/her mom
8. When another child is hurt or needs something, you immediately go into "mom mode" and get 'er done!
9. You call the bathroom, "potty"
10. When you are standing in line to go potty, you see a child behind you with his/her mother holding him/herself, and you let the child go before you. You've been there. You understand.
11. You understand baby, toddler, talkingwhilebawling, and talkingwhilewhining
12. You have used anything and everything to wipe noses and mouths. Including, but not limited to: the underside of your child's shirt, the underside of your own shirt, receipt, your hand, scarf, grass, etc.
13. You have baby wipes stashed EVERYWHERE
14. You have a step stool in every bathroom
15. You know all the songs to every Disney movie known to man
16. And for those who have girls: You know the songs to every Barbie movie ever made
17. You point out a fire engine, though your kids might not even be in the car
18. You have 4 boxes of clothes and they have nothing to do with seasons. Pre- first pregnancy . . .
19. You blog and think that the things your kids do are funny, when they really aren't to the rest of the world. And vice avers: Things you can't stand about your kids are funny to the rest of the world.
20. You scrapbook and always have a camera handy
21. You have drank out of a sippy cup
22. Your purse is also your diaper bag
23. You have more stuff in your "purse" for your kids than for yourself
24. During election time, you worry about education and the future more than before... (that is NOT talking politics BTW!)
25. Your weekend is based on kid-friendly activities.
26. When shopping, you choose the isle without the candy in it.
27. You have all the Boynton Books memorized.
28. You praise velcro and zippers on shoes
29. You can hear your kid crying in a crowd of a million (or so) kids
30. You are always tired.

31. (add yours here!)

I love being a mom. LOVE it.

Quotes of the Day

First off: Here are my preschool kids! I love them! They are so easy and polite and well behaved and... well, not to offend any of you moms of students that I had before, but this has been the easiest year yet! Notice: I didn't say "favorite." :) I mean, it's been two weeks now.

I still have my token boy in the group. For the past three years I have had just one boy in the group and I am so glad that I have at least one. They really add a dynamic attribute to the class that I enjoy. The girls need it. Whether they like it or not. :) Doesn't he just look thrilled to be here?

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We had the missionaries over for dinner last night:

A Missionary: "Maleia, why do we pray?"

Maleia: "So that we can eat dinner!"

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Haley came home from school today in an especially good mood.

Haley: "Mom, there are now 3 people who love me at school"

Me: "Only three, huh? :) Really? Who?"

Haley: "Well, three boys. Nicolas, Chan Ho, and Adam. Today at swimming they were my babies and they LOVED it! They kept chasing me around and I was laughing and they were just so funny. (sigh) I do love boys..."

*Uh-oh. Someone help! She's supposed to NOT like boys until she is 12!
**Update: Brandon and I were talking to Haley about boys and how it's not okay to kiss them. She asked if it was okay to hug them, and I said yes, then Brandon blurts out, "But high-5s are better!" :)
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Dylan is walking now!!! He has officially taken 12 steps. He has been taking several steps at a time for about two months now, but now he is trying to walk on his own and it is so crazy!

It's awesome. When he gets a little off balance, he stops, says "Woah!" while stabilizing, smiles, and keeps going. When he falls, he starts clapping and yells, "yeah!"

Sarah and Trevor visit!!

We absolutely loved having Sarah and Trevor here to visit us. We did sooo much and I have too many pictures, so I am just posting one or two of each thing that we did except Vienna. I posted quite a few. (There were too many to choose from.) I am doing their vacation in reverse because I posted them backwards, so we are starting in Vienna. We did not take any picks of Bratislava because we just drove through it and looked at the sights. The castle there is so neat and reminds me of the Monty Python Castle. They came for only a week and we saw 3 countries. We couldn't take pictures of the Bath House, so there won't be any pics of that experience, and a lot of the time they were on their own, but we made sure to do one or two things with them every day. We also didn't take pictures of the last thing we did together. The HUGE Ferris wheel that overlooks the city of Vienna. But we did get one professionally taken, so I might be able to scan it somehow. Sarah and Trevor took a tons of pictures too. I won't post too many.

I can't wait to see THEIR pictures.

So, our time with Sarah and Trevor in Reverse...


Haley needed a little attention as we took a break in the garden in the center of Vienna.

Maleia's stroll through the rose garden.
I can't wait to come back in the summer to see the brilliant colors. Oh, she's not supposed to be on the grass. I took these pictures as I was telling her to get off the grass. "But walk slowly!" (So I can get a good shot.)

We took a break from all that walking on a park bench.


We went to the HUGE church where all the Christmas markets were being set up. I will definitely be back before Christmas. They even had a HUGE advent calendar set up in the windows of the church.

Am I ruining the Christmas card photo surprise? This was still in the garden in the center of Vienna.

Dylan was a hit with the over 80 crowd.
He just can't help but make friends with those who also eat soft foods.

Just chillin. Vienna is my favorite city I've seen so far! There were tourists even taking pictures of my three kiddos all in that sit-and-stand stroller. I should have charged. Seriously! Two people even made us stop and smile! Who has three children anymore? Must. take. picture.

The kids needed to get some energy out and stretch their legs, so I had them doing laps.
Running and giggling works magic.

We were able to go to the best riding school in Europe and see them practice for the night's show. Come to find out, Trevor rode horses on a team (per se) in High School in Maine. We were blessed with mild weather until our trek to the ferris wheel by car when it started to sprinkle. Perfect timing, though.

Just some of the cool architecture here in Vienna. You know how buildings try do pull off a "faux-old" look by making it look like the bricks are showing underneath? Well, here you can see the real thing.

The kids were excited that we found the real Pinnoccio. Haley yelled, "Hey mom! I think this is the girly Pinnoccio?" He was wearing quite the girlie outfit.

Some more cool buildings. Their street lights hang on wires above the streets.
This looks really neat at night.

B can quit his quest for the "Perfect Pastry." He found it here. It is the one on the top shelf all the way to the left. It was apple pastry goodness that just melted in your mouth.This is a pic of the men drooling over pastry.

The lovebirds. Did I mention that they are some of the bestest friends we know?

Getting on the Duna Bella to take a Danube River Cruise at night.
Stunning.

This is the castle in the background. Sorry for the bad lighting.
I need photo classes on how to take night shots...

Our turn. We walked around the city at night because it really is a different experience at night.

On Monday while Haley was at school and B was at work, I took them into the city with two of the kiddos and we lasted a few hours, then we pushed them in the right direction so I could take these rugrats home for naps. This picture is taken on a bridge overlooking the Parliament building which is the largest one in Europe. We actually thought it was the castle the first time we saw pictures because of all the pointiness.

Jet lag? nah! This is in front of one of the million interesting statues around the city. This was by the huge statue overlooking the city on a hill that for some reason I didn't take a picture of. You will have to wait until our next visitors come out, so we have another excuse to come here and take a picture of it.

Sunday: We took them to the "look out" after Church and went for a stroll through a few parks nearby. This is at the statue that overlooks the entire city high on the hill in Buda.

Their first night.
We picked them up at the airport, took them home for dinner, got a babysitter, and left to celebrate All Saints Day at the cemetery. In Hungary the members of the family are in charge of not letting the flames of the candles of their ancestors go out. It was a spectacular view. This was the funniest picture. I had my camera on night shot and Sarah jumped into the shot as Trevor was taking it and you can see the candles through her with the slow shutter speed. Spooky! :)

We threw in a few Rock Band/Guitar Hero nights. Notice that Maleia is jamming on the guitar, Haley is rocking out on the drums, and Dylan is doin his thang with the maracas. . . hey, maracas might be in the next years model of rock band. You never know.

So I just posted a few...hmmm. not so much. :) But we had a great time. Hope to see many more visitors! hint hint hint.

Happy 11-11!

Today is my FAVORITE day! To tribute this, I will write 11 reasons why I think the #11 is stellar.

1. Two ones is better than just one
2. I was born in the 11th month @ 11:00ish (I wish it were on the 11th)
3. When I was younger, I would make a wish whenever it was 11:11 (It was so strange that I would often look at the clock when it was 11:11)
4. I would often try to be the number 11 in every sport I could
5. I was married in the 11th month and knew I was supposed to marry B on the 11th day of a month
6. I wanted 11 children (NOT anymore)
7. I was in School District 11
8. I was in the 11th Ward
9. My favorite year in High School was 11th grade
10. I threw parties on 11-11
11. <-- just look at it! It's fabulous!

So my number crush is something I don't tell many people, so just keep it on the DL, alright?
There are apparently some people online obsessed with the number 11 as well. They are a lot weirder than me.

In Celebration we called my in-laws and my children recited the 11th Article of Faith from memory. Both Haley and Maleia both know it and it is my ultimate favorite. You can read it here. I will have a HUGE bash when it is 11-11-11. You are all invited!

Turning back into a Pumpkin

Me and my HOT date at the Marine Ball!

I wish I would have taken a picture of the back of my hair and dress... bummer.

B's buds

some friends

Our table

Ambassador Foley and the Marines stationed at our Embassy

I remember always feeling like a visitor in the military experience ALL of my life. I always felt like I was just steps away from being one of them. All I needed was to sign up. Last night was no different. Growing up, I was able to live in Colorado Springs where there is the Air Force Academy, Peterson Air Force Base, Fort Carson Army Base, NORAD, and lots of other military "stuff." Very specific, I know. I have had lots of friends that were military. I have dated some from the Air Force Academy and a few Army men. I had some family who were and still are military and have had lots of friends who were military.

Then moving to Utah, one of my best friends was ROTC and then again, some friends of mine were at Hill Air Force Base or came from a military family. Then after I get married, B and I move to the East Coast where military is EVERYWHERE. I end up being close friends with a plethora of those in all the different branches of the military. I now speak their lingo, I understand their different rankings, how their pay scale is slightly different, their different benefits, and many of their likes and differences. I have seen their GREAT sacrifice. But I am still an outsider looking in with proud adoration. (I even sneaked into their commissary and PX a few times thanks to some military friends who let me tag along to look. shh!)

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the Marine Ball in Budapest, Hungary. It was spectacular and really helped me further my education about how the military functions and reiterated the fact of their importance and sacrifice. Plus, it was a blast! We got to go to one of the best hotels in Budapest, actually built into the Var Castle Wall, and be around some of our good friends here. Some of them military, and some of them not.

All in all, I am glad for those in my life who have sacrificed so much to be able to serve in the capacity that they have in the military. They have sacrificed more than you know. Deployments lasting up to 18 months, gaining injuries, people telling you what to do, being away from family, getting some mental and/or emotional issues because of the situations they have been in or things they have heard/seen, you don't get a huge paycheck, and going to WAR!

I know this is a crude analogy, but it's what I can relate with: Pregnancy. Thank goodness it only lasts 9 months. I definitely gain injuries, aka spewing, but also injuries to my pride. I just can't do everything that I want to do. I do get more emotional, fatigued, HUGE, and it is a huge financial burden. And we can't forget LABOR! This is a trivial comparison, but I hope you see the analogy and how I likened it to something that I know well.

I am just glad and proud that there are people willing to fight what we fear. They go in when everyone else is running out. They pay the price when we raise the prices. Hope you get what I'm saying. Also, you can't forget the wives/husbands who have to watch their wives/husbands go through all this. I hope I gave an appropriate tribute. They actually deserve more than what I just said. . . and MORE. Thanks for the fun night, Marines!

*And yes, we were back by midnight! Maleia noticed since the next morning she said, "You turned back into my mommy!" Yes Maleia, I changed back just like Cinderella. :)

Mom Moment

Quote of the Day:

Maleia: "Can we fast forward the scary parts of the Barbie movie, mommy?"
Me: "Honney, we can't just fast forward everything that we don't want to see in every movie. Just like life, we got to experience the good and the bad."
Maleia: (staring. staring. more staring.) "Mommy, can we fast forward the scary parts of the Barbie movie? Hurry! The scary part is almost over!" (pulling at my hand to help speed the process up)
Me: sigh. Okay. Let's go.

I try. I really truly do!

Vote for the Worst

Just a last note on the election: I checked the blog world, the web world, even the Friend. There is no site or article for "Vote for the Worst" like there is for American Idol. (There is truly an actual site where they promote everyone to vote for the worst singer. It really does sway the voting to make the judges and all of America mad. It makes for a most comical and frustrating show sometimes.) There HAS to be one somewhere for Obama! My jaw is still dropped since the election for President. I am not mad, but confused. What the? I have been talking politics for too long and am going on a 3 year hiatus. :)

***My friend just called and told me they DO have a show. I knew it. It's called CNN, FoxNews, etc. They are as biased as they come.

Happy now?

Go Romney 2012!!!

I have sooooo many pictures to come...

Halloween 08

This Halloween was bitter sweet since it was the first holiday away from what we know and are used to. We were able to go trick or treating two times and thus dress up TWO times! woohoo! Haley got to wear THREE costumes (including her Kindergarten Party), so that was fun. We used an oldie, but goodie costume regime. We were all pirates with our little monkey/gorilla side kick the second night out and about.

No, she's not another sidekick, we invited some friends the second night to come along and their little girl was a ballerina. She loooooved our ghost bucket!

Truth: Dylan is the cutest gorilla I have ever seen!


Who can resist that little bum! Funny story about this costume: Our good friends, the Harpers, and we had a GREAT idea of making costumes and all being Pirates together. Come to find out, I don't know how to sew very well. Who knew? It's not one of my talents. Anyway, Jen made a tutu for Haley and helped me with Brandon's top, then I wanted a monkey costume for Maliea to match the motif. (Pirates of the Carribbean style.) So I went on ebay and saw a light brown monkey costume with a long tail and cute round ears. Like the monkey that turns the music machine on street corners. Perfect! Well, when we got it in the mail, it was a gorilla costume. I put it aside to return it and before I knew it, B put Maleia in the costume and I was in love. with. the. bum. I don't think I stopped laughing for days! So now it's Dylan's turn to wear it. And that bum still kills me every time.

Our very own Princess Pirate! Did I mention that Jen ALSO made the little bodice? She made her own boning for it. . . whatever that means. Did I mention Jen is awesome?

Arg!

This was the first night when the whole embassy was invited to come to the compound to trick or treat. A Princess, Mouse, and Angel. Thier choice tonight... best pic I have of just the 3 of them. The angel must be praying. The princess is just so used to paparazi that her cheeks hurt to much to smile. And the mouse? He just can't say "cheese" anymore without getting any!

Our friends came too! Haley wore that pumpkin costume when she was a baby!
(Our front porch.)

What a babe! The chef!

Haley and Maleia have both worn this. It's now Dylan's turn and he could quite possibly wear it again next year! :)

Cat and Mouse. A game I play on a daily basis. This was way too appropriate for this Halloween since I am ALWAYS chasing after this little mousy! He wasn't so sure about my makeup and it took a little bit to get his makeup on too. Notice: the crooked whiskers on him. He kept saying, "Nnnno!" And turning his head. Then when he saw himself in the mirror, he stared for a few seconds with his jaw dropped, then started to giggle.

He is just so edible!

But not this sucker! ew. Our friend went all out and made a HUGE haunted house in his garage. Pretty spooky. Hard. Core.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!