"These are a few of my favorite things"

I finally saw an Oprah that I wanted to watch on our TIVO. As you can tell by the title of my post the show was about The Sound of Music. As many others, I loved that musical, watched it many times (that and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers), and wished I could be in a musical too. I still would love to be in a musical--I love to sing and dance; the only problem is that I'm neither a singer nor a dancer. I have scored well on Karaoke Revolution and took several ballroom dance classes at BYU, but unfortunately those did not transform me into a musical diva. I'm excited to watch the movie again, this time with my family. After all, my family ARE my favorite things. Also looking forward to Thanksgiving and thinking more about my favorite and thankful things. Some of my other favorite things other than my family are:

-extended family
-watching the Olympics
-clean sheets
-christmas lights and fireworks
-when my kids are playing well together
-when Jeff has Monday off
-having my mom visit
-general conference
-friends
-warm clothes from the dyer
-smell of food cooking in the oven
-my bed
-BoM
-Jeff's cologne
-peanut butter M&Ms
-buying a new item of clothing
-a good deal
-packing for a vacation
-looking at stars
-finding money in a pocket
-fresh air
-getting a package in the mail
-waterskiing

MY FAVORITE THINGS

Birthday project

The last few weeks I've been making this birthday board: sawing, sanding, painting, glueing, and creating. This is the end product. The board celebrates the birthday child the week before their birthday. I was thinking that once they start school (9am-4pm in AK) we can only celebrate their birthday for several hours after school and then their special day is done. That's no fun. I thought this would be a good way to stretch it out a bit and make them feel much love from us. It's not like they are getting spoiled with gifts. The names change out; Sydney's name is on the back of Jordyn's, Levi has his own. The numbers count down 6,5,4,3,2,1 and those are easy to change out too. I had to clarify because my mom thought I made one for each child....NO WAY. It took tons of time just to make the one. The number of times I drove to Michaels and Walmart alone was ridiculous. Here's the idea: They get to pick dinner for the whole week, and then on the bottom I wrote things to do once every day (i.e. watching their 1 yr. video, looking at pictures, telling stories of them when they were little, taking them out for a special treat, decorating, etc. You get it). I'm satisfied with the result and glad to get my dining room table back. If you're thinking I'm creative...I'm not. I totally copied the idea from Super Mommy.

Marlboro

I bet you never thought you would see a cigarette brand as title of one of my blog posts. This morning on the way to the gym I was at a red light. At the gas station they were advertising that you could get a $1.00 off 72's Marlboro (whatever that means...I'm guessing a big carton?) I kinda laughed at the thought of a smoker saving a whoppin' dollar. I understand that smoking can be an addiction, but do smokers really care about saving money since they're wasting (I mean spending) $8.38 for the cost of a pack of cigs? That's how much a pack costs in Anchorage. I know because Jeff pushes Chantix- a smoking cessation aid to help people quit smoking. I've heard my fair share of smoking, nicotine, and costs. Jeff knows not to inform me of the science aspect of how the pill works as he knows it will go over my head. My point....."TOO MUCH SMOKE WILL LEAVE YOU BROKE."
Some other slogans I like:
1. Smoking? You must be joking...

2.If you can’t stop smoking, cancer will.

3. Put it out before it puts you out.

4. Breathe healthily, live happily.

5. Trash the Ash.

6. Smoke away your worries, not your lungs.

7. Tar the roads, not your lungs.

Milestones

Levi learned to sit up by himself. He's crawling all over the place too. I'm a little paranoid that he'll stick one of the girls little toys in his mouth so we have to be very careful with those things.
Jordyn started riding a bike with training wheels. She has learned her alphabet. She can tell me the sounds of about 50% of the letters with 100% accuracy. She knows all her colors, some shapes, and counts to 10. I should probably start working on writing: drawing a line, circle, tracing etc. She likes me to read to hear and loves to open and book and look at it herself. She loves giving compliments to people. At the doctor's office today, she must have given 10 compliments to about 5 different people. I love that about her.
Sydney has started to sound out words. She read the words Prayer, song, lesson, treat (on our FHE board). After that random episode of reading, we started working on the typical 3 letter words: cat, dad, top, pot, etc. Today I taught her to add and subtract using Spicy Cheese-Its. Last sunday she had her primary program. Sydney's part was reciting the 3rd article of faith. She did great. She has also memorized the first two. She's loving preschool. I think I love it as much as she does. We love her teachers (Ms. Christine and Ms. Chris). They do a wonderful job! All three kids got flu shots today. Levi and Sydney did good. Miss J, on the other hand, was a bit dramatic about it all. Seriously, she has some mad acting skills. She must get it from Jeff.

Bedtime Stories

A few weeks ago Sydney asked for one of her usual bedtime stories--a story that involves mean midgets. Excuse me, little people. Actually, I'm not sure what the politically correct term is anymore, it seems to change over time. Well I'm sick of those stories. Me and Jeff have a hard time making up such random and mindless stories night after night. So we changed our story habits and started telling her and Jordyn stories from the Bible and Book of Mormon. I must admit there have been a few times when I had to brush up on the story because I couldn't remember all the details (let's be honest, I didn't know ANY details). This time at night has been so much better for all of us. I feel better that I'm teaching from the scriptures and that we're all learning. After words I tell them the gospel principle from the story and I tell them an example of how we've lived that principle. As I have recalled the gospel principle to the girls that we've lived by, it has surprised me that we follow the gospel principles on a daily basis and we are doing our best to follow Christ. The other night was very rewarding for me to hear Sydney request the story about Nephi getting the brass plates instead of mean midgets.
PS I know it's a little strange to have a 4 yr old to ask a story for mean midgets instead of princesses, butterflies, and rainbows, but that's our little Skittles and we love her personality.

Letter Cc

Last night I could not sleep for the life of me and it was all because of the letter Cc. I will also manage to prove that one does not need to be "smart" to be a nerd. I also need to remind you that I have a bachelor's in Linguistics....that explains a little, although not much because I can't recall much about my theoretical syntax, historical linguistics, or semantic classes.
Yesterday Sydney came home from preschool announcing that this week will be spent learning the letter Cc. I started thinking about it. The more I was thinking about it, the more I realized how little the "C" is in our language. The hard C makes a /k/ sound (cake, cup, music....)and the soft C makes an /s/ sound (cylinder, centipede, century...). Even with a blend it has a /k/ sound (clock, christmas, cry..) with the exception of "Ch" (church, chaste, munch...) So what I'm saying is that besides Ch words, the C doesn't have it's own sound, thus only making our language that much more difficult for second language learners, or young learners such as Sydney who spells cat "kat." In addition, I found a new pet peeve... words that have a ck in it like suck, luck, clock, knock,etc. What is the point of a c and k put together? It's kinda like a double negative. We already know the k makes a /k/ sound putting a c in front of it only states the obvious and is unnecessary to me. When I was teaching my dad always told me, "Keep it simple, stupid." I know it sounds horrible like he was calling me stupid, but he wasn't; he was he was saying, "you don't need to make things complicated." I feel the same with our language. There are so many more examples of how complicated our language is, I just chose this particular one. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone else. All I know is that it was keeping me up last night and I was wondering where it all originated from too. Yes, diving into phonetics and historical linguistics; my professors would be so proud. I think if I get a PHd in Linguistics I just thought of my dissertation to write upon. NERD ALERT.

Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer

You will never believe what just happened at our house...at least that is the state Sydney and Jordyn are still in. Rudolf the red-nose reindeer himself just ding-dong ditched our house and left us a gift at our front door. All I could see was his red nose of course and his bum as he went running away. I called out to Syd and Miss J to see but they just missed it. I did yell out a big "thank you" so Rudolf could know just how grateful we were for his gift.
It's so funny I've been wanting personalized stockings for 5 years now and everyone has a special different stocking too. Sydney's an angel, Jordyn's a Santa, Levi's a train, mine is a snowman, and Jeff's a reindeer. Wow! We must have been pretty good this past year, I hope our good behavior can stay intact the rest of the year. If you're reading this Rudolf....thanks again you're the best!

Maui

Jeff and Sydney snorkeling
At the lava flow at LeProuse Bay
Jeff flipping Sydney over in the tropical pool

We just got home from spending a week in Maui. We stayed at a friend's condo in Kihei (Maui Kamaole). My parents came with us. We love hanging out with my parents. We have a good time with them playing games and doing just about anything. I was excited to have them come with us and the girls were elated, but by the end of the week, Jeff and I realized how luxurious it was to have them there. 2 extra adults helping with kids, getting out of the condo in the morning, carrying ALL the gear to the beach was extremely helpful more so than I ever expected. My parents also watched the kids while Jeff and I rode down Mt. Haleakala. Jeff and I were also able to take several strolls at night. The vacation would definitely have been different had they not been there.
Celebrating my mom's b-day with some cake pops I made.
In front of the Banyan tree in Lahaina
Us in front of our own street.
Levi sporting his trunks
Enjoying some paddle ball

Sun 9.19: went to church, went to the pool-sydney practiced snorkeling, Ulua beach
Mon 9.20: Ulua beach-snorkel, naps, tropical pool, Big Beach, Mom and Dad went to the Magic Show
Tues 9.21: Launiupoko Beach-surfing, great kid beach too, tropical pool, night walk
Wed 9.22: LeProuse Bay-walked the lava flow, "Dumps" beach-snorkel, Big Beach, tropical pool
Thurs 9.23: Haleakala Bike ride, pool, Hula Show in Lahaina, Banyan Tree
Fri 9.24: Lahaina, Banyan Tree, Ulkehame Beach, pool, and pack
Us in front of the church building in Kihei

Sydney and Jordyn w/ Hula girls

We had such a wonderful time. Some of the highlights include watching Sydney snorkel in the ocean with Jeff, we both surfed (Jeff took sydney surfing too. We only have that on video), the girls LOVED playing on the Banyan tree, walking at night, snorkeling, swimming (Syd learned to dive in the pool to pick up rocks and would also swim under our legs, going to church, and spending lots of quality time together. We all loved the warm weather, warm breezes, warm ocean, and no responsibilities. The next morning we got there Sydney walked outside and said, "MOM, the sun is out and the wind is out. It's a great day." It was nice to be in 80 degree weather. When the girls played in the Banyan tree, Syd said, "This is the best night of MY LIFE." Sydney also noticed and pointed out to me the Kukui tree (state tree), hibiscus (state flower), and nene (state bird) which made the poster I made worth while. We got home late Sat night. When I woke up Sunday morning, it was snowing. I guess that was Alaska's way to welcome us home.


Jeff and I rode 38 miles down Mt. Haleakala. This is the lovely hat everyone had to wear.

Family Photos

We needed new family pictures because we didn't have any with Levi. I have a great friend that has a great talent. I know it's not an easy task getting a family with 3 little ones to cooperate when taking pictures. But my kids love our photographer and she brought some "incentives" so the kids were pretty good. I on the other hand was the special one. Several pictures that would've been great I ruined with closed eyes.

Mt. McKinley

I've wanted all of us to see Mt. McKinley for a long time. This summer has not presented much opportunity to view the tallest mountain in North America. The two most popular places to see and go into the national park is Talkeetna and Denali. Well last Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day, so we drove a few hours north to Talkeetna with the hopes of seeing one of God's creations. We got to the Talkeetna Lodge and this was the view. You can see Mt. McKinley among other mountains. As you can see there were some clouds so we couldn't see the whole thing, but it was an amazing view none the less that my family could enjoy along with a hike. I hope that next year we can make it to Denali and see a closer look of Mt. McKinley. These pictures don't show the beauty and magestic-(ness) of what we saw.




I couldn't resist. To all my friends who have boys and no girls yet...this is what you're missing out on; girls peeing in the woods and getting it on their underwear. Learn from my mistake and pack extra underwear because girls usually pee on them.