I've been tagged!

I just got tagged by Juli! Everyone who reads my blog is now also tagged!!

1. 10 years ago I had just started my first year at Ricks College. I was living with my cousin Jen and was enjoying being on my own for the first time. Most importantly, I met Brett that first week of school and the rest is history...

2. 5 years ago I graduated with my degree in piano pedagogy from Utah State. Happy Day!!! We were living in Logan and I was on the faculty at the Youth Conservatory and working at the hotel on campus. We went to a lot more movies back then. :)

3. 1 year ago I was enjoying Aidan as a 2 year old and was wondering if I was pregnant- I found out soon enough and now we have Ethan! My life 1 year ago was pretty much identical to what it is now, but now we are lucky to have 2 sweet boys!

4. Yesterday I got up early and Brett took the day off (Fall Break) so we went up to Park City to try to find much needed shoes for Brett and jeans for me. My cranky mood on the way home tells that I found no jeans and reminded me how much I hate shopping for pants. We shopped for about 4 hours, then came home and Anson and Julia came over and watched Aidan while Brett and I went out on a date. We ate at Smokehouse and saw "Hairspray" and had a great time. Ethan watched or slept through the whole movie and it was wonderful!

5. 5 snacks I enjoy: Diet Coke with Splenda, chocolate chip cookies (although now that it's fall I love all things pumpkin- pumpkin pasta, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie in the sky ice cream, but not pumpkin pie), grapes, Fiber One Bars, baked Cheetos.

6.5 things I would do if I suddenly had $100 million: Pay off the student loans, Buy a house, Buy a car that didn't need a new engine and clutch a year and a half after we bought it, Travel on a lot of vacations, significantly reduce the size of my piano studio so I could spend more time with the boys. (Ok, I really need 6 because then I would invest the rest so Brett could quit work too- he just told me that if we had $100 million we wouldn't even need to invest it for him to quit work, but it seems like the smart thing to do).

7. 5 locations I would like to run away to: Hawaii, New York, Boston, Europe (obviously), Vermont or New Hampshire to see the fall leaves.

8. 5 bad habits I have: asking Brett to do things I can do myself, OCD cleaning (it never quite feels clean enough),waking up later than I should, not exercising, keeping all receipts and never cleaning out the filing drawer.

9. 5 shows I like: Grey's Anatomy (I finally joined the craze and I have no idea what took me so long), Brothers and Sisters, Ugly Betty, The Office, and I must pay respect to my all time favorite show which is no longer on the air, but deeply missed- Gilmore Girls.

10. 5 things I hate doing: cleaning the bathroom, mopping the floors (can you tell what Brett's cleaning jobs generally are?), having shots, hiking, and picking up the dropped plums in the yard. (o.k. I haven't done that last one in probably 15 years but the trauma of it is deeply ingrained- so many squishy plums!)

11. 5 biggest joys of the moment: Making Ethan laugh, hearing Aidan tell me that he loves me, my fall wreath (and everything else fall- this is my absolute favorite time of year!), finding new low fat recipes that I can make and still do weight watchers, having Brett home for Fall Break.

Run Daddy Run!

Last weekend we went to St. George for Dad's 23rd (?) St. George Marathon. He did a great job and we are always so proud and impressed by his hard work and speed. The marathon is always over conference weekend and it's usually our last chance at summer, but for the first time that I could remember, it was cold and windy and we were disappointed that we didn't get to take the boys swimming. We still had a great time being with the family, though, and missed Jordan and Danny being there.

Mom, Joseph, Aidan, Anson & Julia waiting for Dad to come in.

Almost there!

Notice the brown hair? I'm testing the theory on whether or not blondes have more fun. So far, I'm having a pretty good time with dark hair. :)

Ethan loves this little frog wrist rattle, so we attatched it to his car seat and he sits and cooes and laughs at it. So cute.

Bear with me...

I'm in the process of learning how to customize my blog using pages from digital scrapbooking, and not having much luck. In the mean time I'm just sticking with plain white until I get all of this figured out. Anyone who can offer advice would be greatly appreciated! Hopefully my construction will be done soon!

Argh Matey!

Happy Birthday Aidan! Aidan turned 3 on Sunday, September 16th so we celebrated the day before by having a pirate party and we had such a good time! The kids got to go on a treasure hunt to find all their pirate treasures and we had yummy cake and ice cream. I have the best family in the world- Jordan and McKay flew in for the occasion and Joseph and Juli showed up dressed to the nines as pirates. I was so touched by the efforts that were made to make the day fun for him and to support us. We have the best family and friends! We can't believe that our baby is already 3- the time is going by so fast. I'm so proud of him and all he does to learn and grow and make good "big boy choices" (our current work in progress). He makes our home such a happy place to be and I hope he has such a great year being 3! Sorry about the million pictures, but there were too many cute ones!

Captian Aidan and Shipmate Halle

Some of the crew

Yoho,Yoho, a pirates life for me!

I was so tickled that this turned out cute- we were a little worried there when we were making it.

I love this picture of them running to the treasure- Belle looks like she's flying.

ARGH!

So cute of Belle- she looks so tickled. :)

I'm glad Joseph and Juli got this of McKay- he was not having it.

Our little Pirate Ethan

Happy Birthday Aidan!

Why not Strawberry Days?

While our true loyalties lie with Spanish Fork's Fiesta Days, we always have a fun Labor Day celebrating Onion Days with Payson (although we wish our city celebration could be named Strawberry Days instead). We had a fun day going to the parade, eating at Brick Oven and taking Aidan to the carnival that night. Now that Labor Day is over, so is my vacation (if you could call it that). I have started teaching again, and although I was in a panic over it, the first week went very smoothly. Ethan only had 1 fussy day during lessons and Aidan loves going to his new babysitter. He wants to go back all the time- we are trying to teach him about the word "patience." While I wish that I didn't have to work at all and could just spend all day taking care of my boys, I am grateful that I can work my own schedule and be at home. My piano studio has truly been a blessing to us and I am so glad that I can work doing something I love.

Brett and Aidan on the carousel

Sandy, Aidan, and Brett

Aidan riding the "chowbikel" (his word for motorcycle)

Trying to find the space "adilyns" (aliens)- I have to admit this ride made me a little nervous, but he sure had a good time. :)

Ethan's blessing

We were able to bless Ethan this last Sunday, September 2nd, and we had such a great day! We were so glad to have so many of our family members and close friends there and we loved being able to eat lunch after and visit with everyone. We were worried about Uncle Danny (Pratt) not being there to put his finger in Ethan's mouth to calm him during the blessing, like he did during Aidan's blessing, but Ethan was wide awake and very happy the whole time. We missed Danny, Jordan and McKay being there, but were glad to have Brett's mom, Sandy, there for a visit. She came in Friday night and stayed until Wednesday. We were glad she could meet little Ethan and spend time with the boys and especially that she could share this special day with us. Thanks again to all of you who came- We love you!

Ethan sleeping in his blessing clothes

Brett & An'Jalee

Leslie and baby Tatem (who Aidan named his bath fish after)