Blog Tag

I haven't played tag in awhile, and Mel, since you tagged me, I'll play.  :)  Besides, I always love a reason to procrastinate laundry and cleaning. . .


The Rules:

1. Post these rules

2. Post 11 random things about yourself

3. Answer the questions provided by the one who tagged you

4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag

5. Tag 11 people

Random Things

1.  My middle name is Stone.

2. Sometimes I get comments in the store like, "Are these all yours?" and I say yes, and they say, "Wow, Lady," (in a very derogatory tone of voice,) and I don't really know how to respond to that . . .

3. Twix is my favorite candy bar.

4. I hate shopping.

5. I love to dance, but am not very good at it.

6. I am a horrible multi-tasker--just too easily distracted.

7.  I like being outside.

8.  My two favorite board games are St. Petersburg, and Puerto Rico.

9. I hate whining and laundry.

10. The most recent book I finished was Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale.  I quite enjoyed it.

11. I really want to own chickens so I can collect fresh eggs every day. (Hey, you asked for random)

Questions from Melanie:


1. Who is your inspiration and why? 
Hmm, so many people to be inspired by . . . Sounds kind of cliche, but I'm gonna have to go with Mom.  My mother is amazing for a million reasons, and if I can be only half as good as she is, I'll feel pretty satisfied with myself.

2. If you could live anywhere, where would that place be?  
Pagosa Springs, CO.

3. If you had to pick a new name (and you have to) what would it be? 
Emma. I've always loved that name.

 (I like your name, emma.)

4. So you have anamorph powers (meaning you can transform yourself into an animal whenever you choose) what animal can you morph into?

So hard to choose . . . I'd want to be something fast and powerful--maybe a cheetah, or an eagle, so I could fly.

5. Favorite dish?
My favorite dish is Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad.


6. If you could play a part in any movie ever made, what character would you be? 
"Giselle" in Enchanted. I just want to do the scene in Central Park when everyone is singing and dancing and the colors are so vibrant! I'm smiling just thinking about that scene.

 7. What do you struggle with? Time management. (clearly)

8. Dream vacation? 

 

Funny I was just talking to Arthur about this. I have more than one, so here they are ranked: 1. Australia, 2. Italy 2. Ireland, Scotland, England 2. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, 2. Cruise to Tahiti. And no, I did not lose count--my first place dream vacation would be Australia, but after that, it's a toss-up between the other four.




9. Tell me one of your most vivid childhood memories? (preferably funny)

One of my most vivid childhood memories . . . Well, I remember one Christmas Eve, my sister, Natalie, and I wanted to stay awake until Santa came.  So when we started getting sleepy, we came up with the brilliant idea to start chewing paper to keep ourselves awake, and I remember we would chew it up for awhile and then spit it out next to the bed.  And I remember the paper came from a little square note-stack of pink paper.  (Not post-its, though, because I distinctly remember there wasn't any sticky, gumminess on the paper we were chewing.)  Eventually we got tired of chewing paper and fell asleep anyway, and awoke Christmas morning with chewed up paper strewn all over our bedroom floor.

10. If you were forced to live in another time period what would it be? 
Regency Era in England -- you know, the time period of Jane Austen's books. OR sometime when the women wore really poofy skirts. I think it would be fun to wear those . . .

11. Which Disney Princess are you and why? 
I'm gonna go with Rapunzel because sometimes I feel a little bi-polar.  And I'm handy with a frying pan.

My 11 Questions for my 11 tagged friends to answer:


1.  If you could meet any one who has lived on the earth in any time period, who would be your top three picks?


2.  What is one of your pet peeves?


3.  What is your least favorite household chore?  What is your favorite household chore?


4.  What is the worst movie you've ever seen?  (the kind where you are annoyed that you just wasted 2 hours of your life on . . . )


5.  What is the most recent book you've read?  (And why don't you just tell us how you liked it and if you'd recommend it while you're at it?)


6.  What are you looking forward to next month?


7.  What frightens you?


8.  What do you do in your free time?


9.  What do you WISH you could do in your free time?  (and yes, those are two very different questions.)


10.  What is the grossest thing you've ever eaten?


11.  What did you dress up as last Halloween?




11 friends that I'm tagging:


1. Amber Gariety
2. Erin Schmutz
3. Natalie Evans (that's two for you)
4. Jen Reed (your second tag)
5. Julianne Anderson (and your second tag also)
6. Heather Crosland
7. Amber McEntire
8. Lara Mills
9. Erin Coons
10. Merideth Spencer
11. Julie Smith

Easter Sunday

I couldn't resist these cute matching Easter dresses for my girls.  Sydney saw Daphne trying hers on one night and said, "Lella! Lella!"  (That means "Cinderella".)  So when Easter morning arrived, she was super excited to put on her Cinderella dress.  And she looked pretty darling in it.  As you'll see below, I couldn't stop talking pictures of her in her beautiful Easter dress.

 

Daphne is so good with these little girls

Lilly picking my tulips

Sydney copying Lilly

Wish Daphne's bangs hadn't fallen in her face, but this is the only one of Sydney smiling at the camera, and we all know that Daphne can smile for the camera, so this ended up being the keeper.

Julianne and Eric and their kids came over after church for Easter Dinner and an egg hunt.  

 

Sydney was surprisingly good at hunting eggs.  She immediately made a beeline for the trampoline where there were plenty to be found and walked around the trampoline depositing those eggs in her basket.  It was her own personal goldmine since everyone else was busy looking for eggs elsewhere.

 

Poor Lilly was so preoccupied with all the fun at our house, that she forgot to use the bathroom, and as a result, she had a little accident . . .  But it didn't slow her down much.  She just took off the wet clothes and continued bare-bum until her mom brought out something else for her to wear.

 

All the kids looking for eggs.

Dang, that Easter Bunny can sure jump high!

 

Sydney loves cousin "Leleb."  These two talk to each other in their own special language.

 

 

Like I said, I couldn't get enough of Sydney in her "Lella" dress.  

General Conference and my flowers

For General Conference earlier this month, I was looking around for some fun things to help my kids participate in conference so hopefully we'd all get more out of it.  I found this cute idea from an old Friend Magazine:  For the family home evening before conference, we read the story of King Benjamin and how all his people pitched their tents facing the temple so they could hear what he had to tell them.  We also discussed about how there were so many people that not everyone could hear what he said, so they wrote it down and brought it to the people who were too far away.  We related that to General Conference and how not all the Mormons in the world can be at the conference center, so we can watch it on TV or listen to it on the radio, and then later, they publish the Ensign and everyone can have a copy of the talks from the prophets and apostles who speak at General Conference.  

So when conference rolled around we made some "Conference Tents" and faced them toward the television so they could hear the words of the apostles.  The rules were you had to be quiet when you were in the conference tents (or anywhere in the family room, for that matter.)  

Here are some pictures of the kids playing Conference Bingo in their Conference Tents.  They got to keep whatever beads they placed on their bingo cards for use in "purchasing" screen time or prizes from the prize box.

The kids loved the tents, but truth be told, they worked for about 30 minutes, and then the novelty wore off an the little boys were kicked out to play so the rest of us could hear.  But 30 minutes is better than nothing, I guess.  And it made them feel excited about conference.

And below are just my flowers that we planted in our front yard planter.  They have nothing to do with Conference, but I just love them and wish they would last a little longer.  They are mostly gone now, so it's time for me to start planting stuff to stay through the summer.  I'm already looking forward to next spring!

auditions

Auditions - kind of thrilling and terrifying at the same time.  I'd rather perform in front of hundreds of people than audition for 4.   Every once in awhile a show will catch my eye that I'd love to be a part of.  I don't audition for everything because of course, I don't have the time.  But I do have a list of a handful of shows that I will DEFINITELY try out for if I ever see a community theater company put them in their season line-up.

One of those shows is 1776.  I grew up watching that show every 4th of July with my family while we were waiting for it to get dark enough for fireworks.  And I always dreamed of someday playing the part of  "Abigail."  I just love Abigail Adams--she was an AMAZING part of our American history, and I love the relationship that she and her husband John Adams shared as documented by their prolific letter writing.  In my reading about her, I discovered that I'm even the same size and coloring as Abigail Adams, so not only do I have an emotional connection with Abigail Adams, I even LOOK like her.  I figured that when I walked into my audition today, they would all breathe a sigh of relief that the perfect Abigail Adams had come to try-out.

And I didn't even get a call-back.

Sad for me.  I guess a good rejection is healthy for me, right?  Keeps me humble?

On a brighter note, the choreographer sought me out afterward and told me he hoped I'd try out for "Annie" coming up in September.  I thought I'd bring Daphne down to audition, so maybe I'll try-out too . . .  just for fun.

dinner-why do I even bother?

Tonight I tried a new recipe.  I made Crispy Coconut Chicken Fingers from Our Best Bites.  I just LOVE the combination of coconut and cayenne pepper,  and thought they were DELICIOUS.  I don't make breaded chicken fingers very often because it's a lot of work to dip them all.  But once in awhile when I'm feeling ambitious I go for it.  So tonight I did it, and guess what the the kids did?  First, Hayden complained loudly about how disgusting the dinner was, and then proceeded to pick off all the breading that took me 30 minutes to prepare.  Sean said, "Hey, that's a great idea, Hayden!"  and picked off all his breading too, and they both ate the plain chicken, and only swallowed their vegetables under severe duress.

Seriously?  Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.

March Quotes

Dallin:  (watching me cut some fruit)  Mom--you're not ever supposed to cut toward yourself.  

You would never get your whittling badge.

We made a fun rainbow fruit platter with "cloud" fruit dip on one side of the rainbow, and a pot of gold on the other side of the rainbow.  Everyone got a piece of gold if they ate at least one of each colored fruit.  Well, Sydney, without ever having tasted rolos before, just bypassed the fruit and started digging into the pot of gold.  "How does she even know those are yummy?" I wondered aloud.  Dallin replied, "Probably because they are the most blingyest."

Daphne was brushing her cousin Jemma's hair, and they had a funny little conversation that went like this: 
Jemma:  Ouch, Daphne!
Daphne:  Jemma, don't you know it takes a little bit of pain to be beautiful?
Jemma:  what's paint?
Daphne:  pain--it means it hurts a little bit
Jemma:  (thinks for a minute)  Well, that's for grown-ups, not kids, right?

Aunt Jen:  If you could give Papa anything for his birthday, what would you give him?

Hayden:  (thinking)  Hmm, . . . that'th a hard one.  (thinking) It would have to be thomething that he really needth. . .  (more thinking . . .)  I gueth, a glath of water?

Daphne:  Hayden, do you love me?

Hayden:  yeah.

Daphne:  Will you feed my sheep?

Uncle Eric:  You have sheep?

Daphne:  No, but if Obama is reelected we're getting chickens.

Arthur (answering his cell phone):  Hello?

Daphne: Um, Dad?

Arthur:  Yeah?

Daphne:  I just wanted to let you know that we ate all the ice cream, so if you want any when you get home, you should stop at the store and get some.

Sean's kindergarten teacher told me this story at parent teacher conference.  One day during announcements, Sean heard this over the intercom, "Don't forget to bring your dad to bookfair tomorrow for Donuts for Dads!"  His hand immediately went up, and when the announcements were finished, Miss Phillips called on Sean.  He said, "My dad can't come to donuts for dads."  Miss Phillips said, "That's okay--not everybody can come."  Sean announced, "Well, he can't come because he's on a diet."

Daphne:  Boys! do I have to come back there and sit between you?

Hayden:  You made me whine, Mom!

Daphne:  No one can make you whine, Hayden.  You choose to whine.

(can you tell she's been listening?)

Hayden after Star Tours:  I totally thought Darth Vader wath real.  I was about to unbuckle my theatbelt and punch him in the fathe (face).

Dallin:  Who wants to pitch in to buy the Empire Wars computer game?!?

Daphne:  . . .  uh, not interested.

After the boys missed the school bus for the 3rd time in one week, Hayden said, 

"Hey!  I have a great idea!  

We should sleep shorter!"