Calling All Entries

Speaking of cousins....



I would like to put together a book with photographs of any and all paintings that we all have from Nadeene. Don't worry, I am not coming to steal your paintings... I just think it would be neat for us all to have a book of all the things that Grandma has painted. So, it is your responsibility to take a digital photo of the paintings you've inherited, and to help the techno-savvy Hens out and take pictures of theirs too. Then, if you'd e-mail them to me, I'll post them and eventually put them in a book for all of us to have.



Also, if you know of any odd ones - like the ones at Cowboy Grub, or the ones in Idaho with Beth - and you have the chance to get a picture of them, that would be great too. If you don't have the chance to get a picture still e-mail me with any locations of paintings that you know about. I'll post mine below....

Please also include any pertinant information. For instance, in the bottom left corner of this painting it says: "Mt. Hood, N. Andersen". It was painted for my mother when she first moved back to Utah. Grandma painted it for her living room because she'd bought new green furniture. It is in its original frame.

Hope you'll join the fun in gathering!

5 Favorite Cousin Memories

1. Swimming at the Granite pool. Okay, so I didn't swim... I guess I should label this one "sitting on the stairs in the shallow end at the Granite pool." I am not sure why this is one of my favorites since: A. I hate(d) swimming, B. We always had to get in a nasty cold (or hot, I can't really remember, I just remember hating the temperature) shower in the office when we went. (I think I hated it because I didn't like to get in the water, even if it was only a shower), and C. When Belinda, Heidi, Laura, and I were allowed to buy one Country Time Lemonade from the soda machine afterward I always had to drink the last sip,which they informed me was full of everyone else's spit. It never occurred to me that I could just not take the drink. (By the way, most of my stories have some sort of "pick on Jamie slant" since I was, after all, the youngest girl-cousin around.)

2. Watching Granite Football games. I was convinced Granite had the best team around. When we were really little I remember hiding underneath the blankets our moms had on their laps. When we were older I remember walking around the track. I always thought that since I had a Granite Football sweatshirt, and my uncle was the coach that I must be the coolest one around.

3. Acting out cooking shows in Aunt Becky's kitchen. We even had commercial breaks. I think my favorite "recipe" was melting chocolate chips in a muffin cup, putting peanut butter in there and re-freezing them to harden the chocolate. Also, a cooking show brought about one of my proudest moments as the afore-mentioned picked-on youngest. During one such show where we made something difficult... like spaghetti... I turned out to be the only one able to open the spaghetti sauce jar. Look at those muscles! If only you were as cool as me.

4. Hanging out in the treehouse Bud made at the 1300 E. house. Of course, I was actually quite terrified of this entire adventure and held as still as possible once climbing up the tree. I also remember a musty smell from the carpet he'd lugged up into one of the "rooms."

5. Roller-skating with Laura at the Church by her house. We actually told some kids we were professional roller-skaters that had been forced to use the parking lot because the roller-skating rink was closed. We could do such talented things as move our feet in and out while we skated forwards, and skate down hills without falling over (most of the time).

I'm Watching You

The Boogaliechoo Herself

Okay, so I was wrong. It's not Meg I need to worry about at aerobics. This week one of the children spilled nerd candy on the floor. I told Ellie she could pick them up and eat them if she liked since they'd been there about 4 seconds. (This is the smaller aerobics with a carpeted gym). Anyway, a little while I look back and - no joke - she is licking the nerds off the carpet. Licking. Are you kidding me? So we had to have a short discussion about how that really was not such a good idea.

Also a funny Elise story: Justin and I generally give her parent-weighted choices to make. You know, the kind that go like this: "You can eat three green beans or you can go to bed. It's your choice." This will maybe work one more year until she realizes our options are severely limiting and extraordinarily un-fair. Or maybe until this week. Elise and I were reading books. We generally read three, but I was tired, so I said only two.

E: I want three.

J: You got to have two or none, you picked two, that was your decision.

E: No Mom, that's your decision, not mine.

But my favorite for the week has to do with Ellie's first day of preschool. She loved it, and afterwards Justin and I took her to my mom's so we could go to the Temple.

E: Why are you going to the Temple?

J: Because we haven't been for a long time, and we need to tell Heavenly Father we love him.

E: AND you need to tell him about how I went to preschool today.

Of course, Ellie. Of course.

Cleaning Day

Monday is cleaning day... and usually I don't get on the computer and mess around. But I have a confession to make, and I think this is a good spot to do it.

You see, I like to keep our house tidy and clean. Most people know that about me. But there's one thing I don't like doing, and that is... cleaning the showers. So, and here's the confession, I just don't clean them. Yes, this is despicable. And I am admitting it to the great wide out there world. But I must say, there is something you don't do either when you clean! And if there isn't than you are extraordinarily OCD and you have your own problems.

So, about every two months or so I start to feel guilty that all I've done is look at the showers and think: "They look fine to me." (I mean, come on, every day they get water and soap ran all over them.... how bad could be??? Okay, don't answer that... I don't really want to know.) Today, I felt a little guilty and I thought, "Maybe I'll clean them."

But I didn't.

And this is why: Because when I clean them, they look exactly the same!!! This is despite my wet pants. This is despite me coughing up a lung of cleaning supplies. This is despite my two children falling down the stairs because I've been incapacitated in the cleaning pit of all pits.

So, if any of you can tell me a two step (or no step, preferably) method of cleaning my showers, I will. Until then, I'll just use lots of shampoo.

Stealing from Mom's Computer

So, I've been at my mom's today and I realized I could steal some of her cute pictures. Our family goes for the joint birthday/socials when it comes to parties. These pictures are at Andy's welcoming party. We also did a cake with candles for anyone's birthday. Justin always thinks it's crazy because we re-light the candles so every child can blow out some candles of their own. I think it's a great tradition!

Year 2008 cousins.....



Having a turn at blowing.....

Treats

Elise went with me yesterday to look at wedding dresses for my friend Elisa. The people at the dress shop gave Ellie her very own crown to wear while she watched. And since she got to wear a princess dress to the store... she was quite sure she was a real-live princess. Elise did an excellent job not touching the dresses and got to have four gummy worms when she got home. What the life!



I believe this is some sort of evil-stepmother. "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...."

Tricks

Meg has many new tricks which we have been trying to catch on video. Of course, this is not helped by the fact that she finds both the camera and her crazy parents so amusing. This first video is a common response to our efforts to catch her antics on film:

Here's a semi-successful run. Meg will actually wave while she says "hi," but despite two days full of attempts we have no actual proof that this happens. She did it a million times at ballet on Wednesday. I think she knew I had absolutely no access to a camera.

Finally... Meg also says "ow." This first happened the other day when Justin was playing with her and their heads bonked. He said "ow," Meg looked at him very serious like, and then replied "ow" back. A little E.T. moment for everyone.