I know this is crazy. Two posts in one month? wierd.
I just needed to vent again. Is this blog becoming too negative? Well then don't read it. haha
So I was driving on my way to an indoor soccer game minding my own business when out of no where this cop comes up from behind and starts flashing his lights. So I pull over thinking I must have been speeding or something. Turns out I had just ran a stop sign...the same stop sign I run purposefully every week. I have trained my brain not to notice that particular stop sign because it is out in the middle of nowhere and whenever I drive by it there are no other cars for miles. When he told me why he pulled me over I actually laughed I was so surprised. It's too bad too because if I had been thinking clearly I bet I could have talked my way out of that ticket. He said he normally would've let me off with a warning but because I didn't even slow down a little he would have to give me a ticket. Thanks officer. Merry Christmas to you too.

I actually have more to vent about but little Posie just woke up so I have to go. And yes I said Posie. Madelyn, I mean Seashell changed all our names yesterday. I am now Olivia, Mark is Hans, Hans is Benji, Josie is Posie and Madelyn of course is Seashell.

So Yeah....the next season of 24 is coming up in a month ...January 14 or something? Exciting. Oh and there's christmas coming up, and my birthday but.... boring! Give me more Jack hahaha. Superman wears Jack Bauer underwear!

So, I've tried to come up with something worthwhile for this blog, something to contribute to humanity, like a handy new word that rhymes with orange. I'm still working on it. Meanwhile I thought of a few other things that would make the world a better place: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese really needs to redo their packages. I make mac n cheese every so often (ok everyday) for little Madelyn for dinner...so you know I'm an expert in this area. The place where it says "push to open" doesn't work at all....and the same with those blasted baking soda boxes. I mean it's one thing if you make a product hard to open but to label it like that, to lead people on thinking "oh if I just push here it will open all neat and pretty" and then you end up tearing the whole top off out of frustration. Everyone uses baking soda, and I bet everyones boxes end up torn up like mine....I bet everyone gets frustrated opening them. And how long have they packaged them like that? How long will we have to put up with this? It is an insult to modern technology. Another one is milk in a carton. I don't drink milk from a carton but there are occasions when I've had to open that carton type packaging (flashback to school lunch) and of course eggnog. Why don't they just make them so you can open them from either side? If you are not paying attention and try to open the carton from the other "wrong" side it doesn't work and you end up mangling the carton....then you end up going to the other "right" side and opening it but it just never looks right after that. Everyone can tell that you had a retard moment because your carton looks like it was opened by a baboon on crack.

Also a great invention would be some sort of gadget you can keep on your key chain or wear around your neck that helps you sneeze when one is on the verge. There is nothing worse than getting that build up and anticipaing a mini explosion and having it die ...then there's nothing left but an annoying tickle. It's so depressing.
So, I don't know what to do about these things. I thought that by shedding some light on the issue and getting all of this out in the open it would be the first step towards change. We can't be afraid to reach for our dreams you know. Ok maybe I am just venting but I'm done now.

Now for the important stuff:
Madelyn won her first trophy
Josie got her first tooth
Mark has super powers
Kelly is turning 27

Can you guess which one of these is a lie? You know that game 2 truths and a lie? This is like that game but it's called 3 truths and a lie. So guess.
Yep it's Mark has super powers. Haha I was going to say that Mark has cancer but I thought that might be a little too suspenseful. Fooled you huh? Sometimes it really seems like he has super powers...but it can all be explained scientifically.

Madelyn won her first trophy. She was so proud. She wanted to take it with her wherever she went and she was holding it in her jacket like she needed to protect it. I kept telling her it was not alive and it wasn't going to get cold or anything but she'd say "I just like it and I don't want it to break". She won it in the reflections program at school. I helped her take a picture and enter it. It was a picture of her shadow. The sun was going down, so it made her shadow really long.
Madelyn was also student of the month. I'm not sure what she did to get that, she just told me she was "good". cool.
This week she had me talk to her teacher because she was scared she was going to get picked to go and have lunch with the principal. I told her it was supposed to be a reward for being good but she said "I'm scared because I've never met him" and she kept bringing it up and whenever it was time to go to school she seemed really worried. I finally talked to her teacher and we both tried to explain to her that it would be ok but she just started crying. So I told her she wouldn't have to go if she got picked. I just can't believe it was so traumatic for her. Silly girl.
Tonight I was reading to her and I saw that she had a booger in her nose and I went to wipe it for her and she pushed my hand away and said "I can get it, I can get it....which tube is it in?" I almost fell off the bed laughing! Which Tube?! hilarious!

Josie now has her 2 bottom front teeth. They both came in at the same time. What a trooper. I would say that she was more fussy the days before they were coming in but we've been using the "teething" excuse since she was 3 months old. The fussiness is always random. Who knows what the problem ever is. It's always a mystery. It's a guessing game until they are happy again and then you can say "Ah, it was because she had an eyelash in her eye!" or "how did she get cinnamon toast crunch in her diaper?" or "oh the dogs tail was whipping her in the face"
There is always the universal excuse too which is colic. Colic is the number one scapegoat....and nobody know what it means. If your baby crys all the time they have colic. If your baby is crying they are colicky. Sounds like colic is another word for "my baby is crying, i have no idea why and I'm sick of guessing".

This is Mark "air swinging" at the Russell's cabin Our lovely family
Jon and Shelby with a giant sneaking up behind them
"Mark the reason you think I never post anything about you is because you never take the time to look at our blog....look I even put a picture up of you...
shut up I know how to put diapers on my own baby....
Its because they are too small.....I told you they were too small like a month ago... "

(just a snippet of converstation that just happened here)

hmm let's see has anything interesting happened since when was the last post? June?
Well we went on a few trips: Cortez, Colorado visiting or perhaps annoying family there and pilaging the countryside. The Mountain Man Rendezvous in Fort Bridger, Wyoming. We bought some leather to make clothing and we ARE dressing up next year...gay i know- I love it though! We got some marriage councelling in Beaver canyon while camping with the Russells over the weekend... we had a great time hanging out, playing the most radical game "Settlers of Catan" and showing the Russells how us giants roll (giants is code for fat-heads) Actually they showed us how they roll and taught us all about nice jeans . This next upcoming weekend we'll be heading out near moab for some more goofing off in the great outdoors...um and I'd be more specific but I don't really know exactly what were doing out there and who else will be there.

ok other stuff. Little Madelyn has learned to ride her bike! Yeah that was one of the things I wanted her to learn this summer (along with pumping herself on the swing and cleaning the house for me) I'd like to take all the credit but Mark was there too, pushing a wimpering Madelyn along the basketball court onto the grass. It only took a couple days of that and then it was like it just clicked...now she rides all over and wants to go out and ride all the time. ...and it's annoying - I didn't think of that before.
Some days I ask Madelyn "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I'm always excited to hear about her ideas and where in the world they are coming from. These are some of the answers that I've gotten this last month: a ballerina, a dentist, a verterinarian, a mountain climber, an astronaut, a rock star.

Josie missed her 4 month appointment on monday which I will reschedule tomorrow (I've been telling myself that since monday). She is still the most adorable and sweet baby in the world...ok ok except for prince Owen (the Russells baby).

I'm coaching my last week of soccer thank heavens. Today I had to take both the girls to practice which would have worked out fine except for the hurricane force winds up there in Highland. We were all cold and that kind of wind makes it difficult to control the ball at all let alone teach a bunch of spazzy high school girls to control the ball.
Last week I baked whole wheat bread for which I grinded the wheat myself in our vintage grinder that my grandma gave to us. Thanks grandma!
I washed Hanz today. He is so thankful ..I can tell. He had matts and burrs all over and I cut them out.
Mark has a mustache. He looks very distinguished. I tell him he looks like an official - of what I don't know

Ok I never really got around to finishing the post about the trip to wyoming but I'll just sum it up by saying that it was super fun and I am so glad that I went. I really enjoyed getting to spend time with my brother Jeff. I don't get to hang out with him as much as I used to so I am really grateful for that time we had. And since we were driving together we really had a lot of time to just talk and goof around. I love roadtrips.

Oh good the baby just fell asleep in the swing!

Madelyn is washing her feet in my bathroom sink. One time I gave her a "pedicure" so now she thinks its cool to give them to herself. She sits up on the counter and rubs soap and lotion all over her feet and she fills the sink up with hot water to soak them....she's in there right now talking to herself about what toenail polish colors are best...haha i love it.

Okay, we also had our annual Magleby family campout at Magleby Mountain! It is something I always look forward to. I love relaxing and chatting with my in-laws, seeing all the kids playing together, and of course watching episode after episode of Daniel Boone in Paul and Cathy's trailer! Mark and I are becoming more and more elaborate with our camping set-up each year. The first time we went to magleby mountain we had just a 2-man tent and mark slept with only a wool blanket. Then we got a 5-man tent and an air mattress and upgraded our sleeping bags. Now we have a trailer, a tent heater, a 4-wheeler, even a poop chair (for those of you who haven't experienced the poop chair it is a camping chair that Mark cut a big hole in for a toilet seat. To set up he just digs a hole in the ground to the appropriate depth places the poop chair over and viola, instant latrine.)

Speaking of latrine....I was thinking today that it would be funny if there was a married couple and the womans name was Latrina (that is a name right?) and the mans name was Jon. They would be the perfect couple!

Before I forget, I just finished "The Host" last night. Great book! I think it would be a good one to make a movie out of as well as the vampire books. The only bad thing about the book was Mark making fun of me the whole time I was reading it. I think he thinks they're romance novels. Oh well. What does he know anyway.... *ahhh...Edward...sigh*

So, tonight us girls are going over to my mom's place (and my brother Jeff's place) for a sleepover. We are planning on having a campfire, eating my mom's home made sushi (frightening) and watching movies. Madelyn has decided on Labrynth (yes, David Bowie in tights) even though she's never seen it. It told her it had goblins and that it was kind of scary so now she's all excited for it!...strange child.

Mark has been even more busy with real estate lately. Of course it's a good thing but it's also overwhelming. He doesn't have time anymore to do some things he used to. For example, if he wanted to spend the day hiking cascade with me he would need to plan about a month in advance.(thhhhhbbbbppppp!)
Madelyn told me she wants to be in pre-school again so I'm going to start searching for one for her.
Josie has her second dr. appointment since she's been born and I'm super excited to see how much weight she's gained and how much taller she is. She loves to smile and coo and to be held standing up...she seems to love any attention...well of course!
I'm coaching a soccer team, well actually coaching one and assistant coaching another. I'm regretting the decision to coach though now because I don't have any more time to do little things I've been wanting to get done for a long time like working on the girls baby books, organizing and editing our old home videos, making a photo geneology tree, keeping the blog updated....

So, I'm sitting here waiting for the baby to fall asleep ...and I've discovered that my favorite flavor bottlecap is rootbeer. Mark bought a box of bottlecaps at the store yesterday, don't ask me why, they must have been on sale. It's hilarious though, he is so proud of how much money he saves shopping and he tells all his friends and family that he saved 90$ buying cereal with his fresh values card at albertons. funny huh? So, Madelyn, Josie and I got back from Wyoming friday night. We were visiting my dad's side of the family there. My dad drove out from California with his wife Janet and after camping with them at Magleby mountain for a week we drove out to Riverton, Wyoming. My brother came along and rode with me and the girls.

ok this little girl (josie) has lost her patience, appartently she doesn't want me to type anymore so I will have to fill in the details of the trip later.

hhmmm what's new with us..lets see....Mark successfully veto'd the hoa's new parking policy, well he organized a meeting and got everyone talking and turned out everyone was against it-so they did a re-vote. Take that hoa :) Josie is getting better and better at eating sleeping and pooping. Madelyn is giving a talk in primary tomorrow which will be interesting because she can't read yet and no one can understand what she is saying anyway. Yesterday I finished coaching at a soccer camp (thank goodness) and now mark can stop playing Mr. Mom. I had to laugh the other day when I came home and he had the baby in a front carrier, talking on his cell phone and making food in the kitchen for Madelyn. Also, Mark has been working non-stop on the basement so we hardly see eachother anymore - we were joking that we were strangers living in the same house!

Rose (something good)-I love hearing mark singing along to the radio in the basement!

Thorn (something bad)- Madelyn shoplifted for the first time (I hope it was the first time) from Hallmark at the mall. She was with her grandma and stole a little turtle charm they had by the cash register. When Mark and I found out we gave her the lecture on strealing and I took her to give it back and apologize. But as much as I tried to convey the seriousness of her crime to her I couldn't help but smile inside and think "our little girl is growing up"- like she had reached some sort of milestone! It was hard to get too upset anyway, she had confessed on her own...I'm pretty sure she felt guilty.

Bud (something to look forward to)-1. I have a 3v3 soccer tournament July 3,4,5 that I am really excited about...the winners of the tournament can go to the "big time" tournament in Vegas! Yep, still trying to relive the glory days!
Getting Josie on a schedule so she will sleep longer at night!
And the usual, camping with the fam at the end of the month!

Hello family and friends! Yep we're finally here. As you can see this site is currently *UNDER CONSTRUCTION* We'll see if I can get this page updated before this whole blogging thing goes out of style. One of these days I'm going to figure out how to make those pictures smaller. hhmm...I'll probably have to resize them on my computer and reload them. Then I'll have to add some captions ...ugg what a pain...this is going to be time consuming. Well, I'll just add another hour of cartoons to Madelyn's morning routine, that should free me up~ (that (~) means sarcasm) heehee