She did it again!

I guess she really is a trouble-maker now. I was sitting right here trying to get stuff done when she did this. She was literally 8 feet away from me, but I was busy trying to get stuff done. Notice her beautiful fingers. Yes, this is ultra-permanent, professional marker. How we have managed to not get it on carpet, the walls, or the couch defies logic and mystifies my mind.

Last night we went to the grocery store and I was on the phone with Ben. I got Laine out of her seat, put her down and told her to stay there while I ran around to the other side to get Gabe. When I got Gabe and came back around for her, she had completely vanished. I begin to panic, and then there is Ben hearing every word over the phone as I am shouting for her in the parking lot, my voice trembling, "Laine, Laine, where did she go, Oh my gosh, where is she!?" Followed by, "Uh, I'll have to call you back, click".

So there I am searching everywhere, shouting, wondering how the heck I could lose her so fast. Usually she is GLUED to my legs and I practically trip over her {and actually do trip over her quite frequently, it is not just me either I've seen just about everyone trip over her. How do kids have such a knack for standing exactly where you need to be?}

Anyway, I found it so NOT normal that she would leave my sight, it is just not her. So then my thoughts turn to possible kidnappers. Just then, someone shouted from inside the store that she is there. I run to her, and she is crying hysterically. I guess what had happened was that there was another blonde woman with similar hair and almost the exact same coat that came running by and Laine thought it was me and ran after her, following her into the store. When she found out her folly she went Apey. We all had a good laugh after I called Ben back and let him know it was all okay.

Lemons to Lemonade

Here is Laine's new cut, I think it looks great! I cut it last night and then styled it just to put her in her jammies for bed {yes, those are the same one's Gabe was sporting two posts ago...}. I will have her cut her hair more often if it turns out like this, this is even a style I have seen and wanted for myself! I'll get some better pics later.

Dead Serious -A house and other updates

Many of you have been wondering how everything is going with the house business. Here is just a little update. We have been getting a lot more traffic and inquiries, which has been great. In the days before we left we had a few people come through and most of them seemed pretty serious. I lost all of their contact info when I took my sim card out of my phone though, and I had forgotten to tell most of them that we were going out of town.

Friday someone called and wanted to come through the next day, Saturday. We were still at the Riley's for Thanksgiving but I decided I would leave the next morning early so I could clean, have treats ready, and show this family the house. I got there and the door to the garage had been left open and it was 47 degrees in the house. I hurried to try to clean, hoping the heat from my body as I scurried around would help heat the house. I was busy trying to pick up everything and put away suitcases that were yet to be unpacked from our trip. I then lit the candles and yes, literally lit my hair on fire! My candle lighter thing was out of gas so I had to use matches. I could barely get one candle lit before the fire was all the way to my fingers. I got to a set of 4 candles in my bedroom and I bent down real close, too close, and then I smelled something funny. Just then the left side of my hair went up in flames and I said, "Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!" only, I didn't say crap. I grabbed it quick and extinguished the flames. I finished cleaning while all the while my gross, stinky, singed hair kept flying in front of my face. Nasty smell. This was literaly 20 minutes before they were to arrive and I still wasn't even dressed. Later, upon closer inspection, I noticed that my eyebrows were also singed, and my eyelashes on my left eye also fell victim. They are now half the length of those on my right eye.

Anyway, I just lowered the price on the house and I put this ad up on KSL and Craigslist, hopefully it gets this house sold, oh wait, it already is. Some guy "from the UK" {though English is not his first language} has been writing me back and forth saying he'll take it and he is sending 10% of the payment to hold the house until his lawyer, who is "out of state" right now, can come and finish up that paperwork...

Okay, here are the links to my ads, the first is ksl.com and the second is craislist. http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=2212737&cat=

http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/rfs/489045108.html, I think you will enjoy them (they are almost exactly the same, so you only have to view one.

Okay, I literally just got finished writing all of this. I had left the kids upstairs, Gabe in his high chair finishing up his breakfast and Laine working on a craft, cutting up the coupon mailers with children's scissors. Gabe started crying so I went upstairs to find hair everywhere. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then in walks Laine, with her newly styled mullet. Yes, she just this minute cut off all the hair she could reach. The longest hair she left is to the top of her ears, the rest are about 1 inch long. Here are the pics, though they just don't do it justice.

Did I mention today is the first day of Ben's two week buisness trip to Asia? Yes, I am home alone for two weeks and Laine just cut all her hair off and it is only 10 in the morning. She also cut the sections of Gabe's, but it is not nearly as bad as hers.

we need a dog

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great time down with the Riley's, it was a lot of fun to be together with our family. The kids had the time of their lives and were spoiled beyond belief being the only grandkids there. Allison was again the "weak one" that was separated from the herd and cornered into humoring Laine with all of the fun things a 3-year old wants to do. Thanks Allison!

Here are some pics of other things that we have been up to. This pic is of Gabe and must have been taken while Ben and I were in Sydney. Thanks to Kristine or Katie for dressing our boy up like a girl.

I just love my boy, he is so sweet! Yesterday I took a shower with him and he fell asleep in my arms. I just swayed in the water with him, lingering as long as I could since that never happens! He was having sweet dreams and smiling so big he was almost laughing, it was a very fun Mom moment.

Mindy, my sister in law has many of those fun Mom moments with her son Josh. He has been potty trained for a while, but Mindy noticed he has a bit of an aim problem and was sick of cleaning up the mess. She asked Josh if he could try a little bit harder to work on it and he looked up at her and said, "yeah, but Mom I don't want to touch the little critter, do you?!" That Josh... Mindy, forgive me for posting this on my blog and to the Josh of 10 or 20 years in the future I am also sorry. It was just too funny and was the best story told all weekend!

Okay, back to dogs. This is just another reminder for Ben that we are getting a dog, very soon! While we were on our trip and every moment since these two kids have been walking around dragging these deflated balloons. They love them! They look like they are walking balloon dogs around. Gabe eats with his deflated balloon, showers with it, he tries to sleep with it but I have to be mean Mom and take it away before he goes to bed, but it is waiting right outside the door for him the minute he wakes up. Fun kids!

Not Home Alone

I am here in Sydney, once again completely alone. Ben {and Jason Norton} left for Perth this morning. They have been working a lot, and also took a day trip to Auckland over Saturday and returned Sunday morningish. Needless to say I have been by myself a lot, my thoughts turn to some of you {Ashleigh, Stacey} who would KILL to be here ALONE, reading a book {as I usually am -The Devil in the White City if anyone is interested}. However, being alone does NOT suit me at all! I will be here until tomorrow all to my lonesome, and even travel home by myself a day ahead of the boys. I will take travel by myself however, over traveling with kids!

Anyway, I do doubt you would trade me if you knew ALL of what it entailed. Driving yourself from house to house hoping you don't get killed or kill someone else as you adjust to life on the other side of the road. Okay, I am being totally histrionic, it is not that bad. The worst part about it is simply that I find it difficult to judge the proximity of closeness to cars and other objects. I also turn on the windshield wipers each and every time I try to signal to turn. Even when I do manage to remember that the blinker is on the other side, I turn it the opposite of what I am intending.

The other day I was in Ben's office relating some of my small "hardships" since arriving here to this cute older lady. She laughed this throaty, guttural laugh and practically yelled, "Oh, you poor Wretch!". As a social courteousy I did not spew my drink and laugh out loud in her face, but I was DYING laughing to myself and looking around for someone to think they was as hilarious as I found it. I was sad to find myself alone and thought back to the many, MANY times I have been alone overseas without anyone to go, "did you just see that? Did that really just happen? Did she really just call me a Poor Wretch?!"

I gave the Koreans a similar experience once when Laine was just an infant and She and I were on board a bus bound for Ben's office. The bus became increasingly packed with each stop until I was nearly crushed in back. I tried to weave through the crowds with Laine in her car seat, in anticipation of reaching my stop. Once I got to my stop I found the the door was closing much to quickly and I was going to miss it and be taken to the next stop. I needed some quick action, so I hurled Laine's car seat in between the closing door to stop it. Everything in the entire city seemed to stop as all heads turned and the only audible sound was that of the gasps as people stared, Did that foreigner woman just put her infant seat in the door to stop it from closing?! Did I really just see that?! Yes, you did, and I got off the bus, Laine was of course fine as she was never in jeopardy in the first place. I still think of it and laugh and laugh.

Okay...Hugs and kisses to my kids, who are home with a new "Mommy" each day! I miss them so, SO bad! Ben's Mom had them last week, then Kristine and Jordan over the weekend, and now Katie. Thanks you guys so much! I can't imagine doing all of what I am doing while schlepping the kids around too!

Does this answer your question?

That should answer your question, if there is anyone out there who is still in the wondering where we are going! Unfortunatly we are not in the pics because we really could be. We are in fact in Sydney right now looking for houses! It is so much fun, we are so, SO excited about our new life here!

It is just beautiful down here, we find it very lovely! We are having a great time adjusting to driving on the other side of the road. Hopefully we make it home in one piece! I will write more later, but if you would like to congratulate Ben on his new position as General Manager of the Australia / New Zealand offices for 4Life Research Interantional, I am sure he would love to hear from you. I am so proud of you Ben! And so excited for our new adventure together!

Parent Teacher Conference & Tagged

Last week we went to Laine's Parent Teacher Conference for Preschool. It was so cute! Ben came home from work just to go! {I must mention what a supportive Dad Ben has been from day 1. He went to ALL of my appointments with both kids when I was pregnant {except for when he was out of town, or when I was out of town}. He never wants to miss a minute of their exciting lives!}

Miss Lisa had many nice things to say about Laine, as well as some good advice to help her too. Laine loves school and LOVES learning. She loves her school friends too, especially Isaac.

On her questionnaire that Miss Lisa had her fill out, she said that her best friend was "Mommy and Daddy". On another questionnaire that was hung in the classroom, the children were all asked what they were grateful for. Many had really funny kid answers like "stars" or "this kid Chunk that lives down the street from me" but Laine said "Mommy and Daddy" again. We of course LOVED that.

I wanted to "Tag" my kids and write some things down about them that I don't want to forget, so here goes:

1} They both have little "heart tongues". We don't know where they got them, they are so cute. The tips of their tongues are shaped like a heart. Gabe constantly has his tongue sticking out doing "concentration face" while he is playing with his toys. Laine LOVES it and laughs every time and says "there's his tongue!!" in between giggles

{Okay, this one is a bit dramatic, she looks more like a lizard than a heart tongue, but it was the best I could get! It really is cute and not scary in real life!}

2} Laine has the funniest little way of talking {as all kids do} and we almost don't even want to correct the funny things she says. Here is a short list of funny words:

* airplane = hairplane {and hairport of course, which sometimes even turns into whoreport, not sure I want fly out of that place...}

* everything is a color: "Mom, can you get me the red?" "Mom, I need some blue!" She gets very frustrated when you don't know which "blue" is the blue!

* "Mom, I want some in nair" = I want whatever is in your mouth, whatever you are eating

* "I wanna hold you" = hold me please!

* knife = life {which sounds really funny when she says "mom, I need a life, can you get me a life please?"

penguin = poinguin

paint / painting = point / pointing

3} Laine makes the CRUSTIEST facials. She can burn you down with one glare. She usually has something sassy to say that goes along with it, like, "I'm a DON'T do it"

4} Gabe loves to be chased and constantly thinks everything is game. He makes it MURDER to change a diaper {I almost got the best pic of Ben trying to change his diaper on the ottoman while Gabe's head was almost touching the floor because he was wiggling so much} We love his fun personality and his calm easy going attitude {most of the time}

5} Laine NEEDS her cuddles. She would seriously be fine to have 1 whole day where we did nothing but held each other on the couch or in bed. Ever since she was a baby, she always needed a good half hour of cuddle time after every nap. I of course LOVED it {and still do!}. With Gabe making life a little more crazy, sometimes there just isn't time for the cuddles, which makes it hard for Laine. She is a whole different person when she gets her cuddles. -Gabe on the other hand, does NOT need any cuddles. He loves to wiggle and run free.

6} Like her mother, Laine LOVES treats! From sunup to sundown it is a fight against the candy. It is the first thing she asks for when she wakes up and all through-out the day. Gabe just plain likes to eat, and eat, and eat...

7} And one bonus for good measure... Laine has been potty trained since the day she was 2, even through the night! It was great. We always said "good girl Laine!" when she went, and once again, this girl is a creature of habit. A year and a half later we STILL have to say "good girl Laine" after every trip to the potty. She also likes to say "good girl Mommy" when I go or "Good Boy Daddy" for Ben. {She used to say good girl Daddy before she got boys and girls straightened out, it was HILARIOUS!} And sometimes she gives me treats after I go potty since she still gets treats sometimes too. She just LOVES to be the Mom!

Cutest Daddy Daughter Date!

On Friday Ben took Laine on a little Daddy Daughter Date. They went up to Logan to see the USU basketball game. They had so much fun together! They went with Ryan Ogden and his two boys, Chace and Zachary.

Ryan bought Laine a snow cone, and our little "get candy" girl was in 7th Heaven. The Aggies won, so Ben was in 7th heaven as well. Although Ben knew that they would win, duh, it's the Aggies.

Once they got back to the car, the boys immediatly fell right to sleep. Much to Ben's chagrin, Laine was awake for the whole ride home. "Daddy, can I have some candy?", "Daddy, what are you doin?", "Daddy, what's that?", "Daddy, can you turn on the light", "Daddy, where are we goin?"

I always laugh when Laine and I end up wearing matching outfits, but I never thought I'd see Laine and Ben matching! She is SUCH a Daddy's girl and just LOVES her Dad! Aren't they so cute?!

Tagged! (Only about a bajillion times...)

Okay, I don't typically do these, but thought I would humor just about every single one of my friends who has attempted to tag me {over the years, Sarah}. I also have really enjoyed reading all of yours, and learning more about you. So here goes:

1. I am EXTREMELY easy going about many things, but SERIOUSLY ANAL RETENTIVE about some things you wouldn't expect. I only drink certain beverages out of certain styles or colors of cups. I am very picky about it. I am also really, really picky about my silverware. It has to be a certain style, or I just don't enjoy eating off of it. It is really weird. I am that way a little bit with plates, but not nearly to the extent as cups and silverware (bowls are pretty much immune). I try to suppress these habits when I am someone else's house, so don't worry too much about that if I happen to be at YOUR house!

2. My sister highlighted my entrepreneurial spirit a little bit in her post on my birthday, but seriously, you have no idea! Since I was a little kid I was always coming up with some scheme. It started with donuts / lemonade stands (we had the best mom who always helped us and encouraged us with this!). Then I also had: a photography studio, I taught ballet {and as my sis mentioned, I had recitals and everything. We have these on film, I should post them on youtube. There I am, my little 11 year old body and voice thanking everyone for coming... hilarious}. We also planned the ski resort for winter, but it never really got off the ground. I also made a catalogue of barbie clothes that I would sew, and tried to sell that door to door, also not as successful. Speaking of sewing, I also taught sewing lessons. Thanks to all of our fabulous neighbors growing up, mostly the Laurets and Cade Taylor (love you Cade!) for humoring me all those years!

3. I LOVE treats. No, you don't understand, I REALLY, REALLY love treats. I rot my teeth out and make myself sick. I usually have a sensible breakfast, treats for lunch and then a dessert of treats for an after lunch snack. I get obsessed and addicted to certain treats. However, if a treat is not good, too sweet, or not my style, I ABSOLUTELY won't eat it. I only eat treats that are "worth it".

4. I am really cheap! I am a total bargain shopper. I love to find a good deal! I recently purchased $250 Antik denim jeans for $15! I also bought 84 Luna bars on ebay for $6.35! (Those bars sell for $1.50 each in stores!) I have a knack for finding good deals and bargains where ever I go.

5. I LOVE to cook and even toy around with going to Culinary school. I don't really want to be a Chef at a restaurant, I think it would be really enjoyable to learn more, even for just my family! The Food Network is my favorite channel {HGTV a close second of course} and they are the only stations I miss now that we don't have TV.

6. I LOVE Adventure parks and water slides! I even love Lagoon, I know that is so white trash, but I love scary rides! I dragged Ben along with me twice this summer, and it was the highlight of the summer for me (he hated every minute of it, thanks for humoring me though!)

I am not tagging anyone because I HIGHLY doubt there is anyone on the face of this planet who has not been tagged already!

Thanks!

Thank-you to everyone for your sweet birthday wishes. That was very sweet and thoughtful and meant so much to me! Thank-you, especially to Nicole (and Kristine) for the fun surprise post.

I had a GREAT birthday. It didn't have to be much to beat the string of horrible birthdays of last few years. I was either pregnant and sick, passed out on the floor by the toilet or alone on my big day because Ben was out of town etc. All I am going to say about birthdays is that I am VERY, VERY excited to finally get my shot at having a summer birthday NEXT year.

Back to my birthday. I had a wonderful day. The kids gave me their presents early, they gave me the best gift that kids could give -the gift of sleeping in! Ben put on a movie for Laine and Gabe slept until 9:45! (This is not ususal, we had gone to the Jazz game the night before and didn't get home until really late. He had been asleep at the sitter's house, but then we had to wake him up and he didn't go back to bed until 11:30 probably (sidenote on the game, thanks to the Norton's we sat so close I made eye-contact with the Houston players (don't ask me which ones, how the heck would I know who is who -besides Yao Ming))

Again, back to my birthday. Later that afternoon, Ben came home and we went and picked up the sitter and we were off. Ben surprised me and took me Downtown to the Melting Pot for dinner and then on a shopping spree at the Gateway. It was a really fun and romantic night, fun was had by all.

We couldn't get the camera to work, for some reason it only worked when Ben was taking a picture of me. Twice we asked strangers to take a pic of us together but it wouldn't take despiste all efforts! It was kind of embarrasing. So sorry, here is a pic of me on the my birthday, alone. Totally lame to just have myself, eating food of all things, but you have to have a picture!

Happy Birthday Natalie!!

Hello to all, this is Natalie's sister Nicole posting to say Happy Birthday to Natalie! You have no idea how hard it was to pull one over on the queen of sneakiness, but I was finally successful! Happy 27th Birthday! Isn't she the cutest little girl? Sorry that I am also in all of the pictures, they came from my scrapbook, so I didn't have any solo pictures of her. Also I guess when I was about 8 years old, we stopped taking pictures together, as I don't have any more pictures of her.

So I though I would share with you all some of the things that I think are fabulous about Natalie:

She is so clever and sneaky. She figured out very early in life how to stay out of trouble. She was so much smarter than Katie and I, who were always in trouble. It doesn't mean she wasn't being naughty, she was just better at it than us.

She is so brave. She was always the first one to try something new and adventurous and she loved doing it! As a child she loved going on roller coasters and going new places. Those of you that know her now know that is still true. She is our little world traveler.

She is so optimistic. She always sees the good in things/people above the bad. She never has a fear of failure when trying things, but always has an open mind and just goes for it. She has total faith in herself and others.

She is a born entrepreneur. She was always coming up with one scheme or another and dragging Katie and I along. She had many businesses as a child: sewing classes, ski resort(it even had a name, The Blue Moon Ski Resort, it was our front yard. She and Katie asked for skis for Christmas and then she assigned us each a job, mine was to be the ski lift, pulling our customers up the hill with a rope!), photography studio, ballet teacher (she even had a recital for her students, I think she was about 11 years old!).

She is so creative. She always had so many ideas. She really knows how to make things look good. She has been an inspiration to me in trying to be creative. She makes it seem so simple and easy.

Thank you to Ben and Kristine for making this happen. I love you Natalie and I am so glad you are my sister. Have a fantastic 27th birthday!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! Chris and Alan (Ben's parents) and Noah and Allison (Ben's brother and his wife) and Katie (my sister) all came to enjoy the festivities and gush over the cutest zebra and chicken!

We had a nice dinner. Then everyone took a turn taking the kids around to Trick or Treat, maximizing our ground coverage and candy output. (GetcandyGetcandyGetcandy!) We also did carmel apples, they turned out so delish!

Laine practicing her cuteness before heading out.

We didn't get a shot of the whole crew because for some reason Ben decided to remove his costume the minute he got home. If you can't tell what I am for Halloween, I'm Laine.

Noah and Allison taking the kids out to Trick Or Treat

Allison was a BYU co-ed, complete with "Utah Valley Hair"

We had to snap a pic of the twin zebras when Cayden came Trick or Treating at our house

Here's one for posterity