Being a Leader is Overrated!

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Middle of the Night Stuff

Last night my eyes popped open at 2 am, and then my mind started to think about all kinds of stuff. I spent most of the time from 2-5am thinking about all my old roommates while I was at BYU. I don't know why--but I wanted to see of I could remember them all. Here is my feeble attempt. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (last names will be withheld):

Copan Cabana:

My first roommate experience, and by far my most favorite. We never owned a TV and didn't need one cause we were each other's entertainment.

Trake, Rake, Heidi, Cheryl, Katie, and my next door neighbors mom who came to stay for a summer--made for lots of fun days, let me tell you!

Corner Down:

My first basement experience--and my last. Dumpiest house I ever lived in, but fun roommates. I once made a massive hole in the living room wall...with my BUTT! From then on it was known as Carol's butt hole. We slept on the massive lawn a lot during the summer months which was wonderful --except for when the automatic sprinklers would come on in the morning.

Smash, Sarah, Jodie, Courtney, Karrine, Amy, Janine, Lindsay, Jones, Cynthia, Jessie...

McKonkie:

This was the house where you had to know someone who knows someone who knows the prophet to get in. So glad I did.

Kristen, Laura, Cindy, Ginger, Helen, Mary, Naomi...there's got to be more...Karyn!...

Mexico:

Went to Mexico for Study Abroad during this time--it was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Jaime, Carolina, Jeff, Seth and his crazy wife and kids.

Love Shack:

Also known as the porch swing house. This was a short stint.

Trake, Tiffany, and a dog...whose name escapes me at the moment.

West-something. I moved to some apartments on 5th West. Tiny space + 6 girls = no fun. I mostly just slept here cause I attended the Spanish ward at this time, but I met the bestest roommate ever!

Lisa, Becca, Megan, and two other girls I can't remember.

Last house:

This last house I lived in before getting hitched had no cool name, but I loved the location. It was like on 1220 West--right by the river.

Genel, Moneymaker, Lauren, Chari, Joni, Gina.

These are people I may have lived with--I can't remember if I did or if I just spent so much time with them that it felt like I did:

Mary S., Kirsten, Liz.

I loved my time at the Y. Overall my roommate experieces were awesome, and I've made the greatest friends. I was also quite the cupid. These are the people I take partial credit for hooking up:

Myriam & Geoff

Doug & Karen

Laura & Andy

Adam & Angelica

Then I started to think about my favorite places to eat while at the Y:

Stans, Malt Shoppe, Cafe Rio, Gandolfo's

Then Curran's alarm went off and I was finally able to fall back asleep with visions of Sweet pork salads, and urban cowboy sandwiches dancing in my head. mmmmmm......zzzzzzzzzzz.......

Wii! It's a party!

Wii (get it?!) had a little get-together at our house last month with a bunch of young married friends of ours. I've quickly learned that in the church there is the YSA, and when you get married you then get grouped in with the "young marrieds." This isn't a bad place to be. Once you have your first kid you're still a young married, but on the brink of being ousted--mostly cause young marrieds without kids think all married people with kids do is talk about their kids--which is true. Once you give birth to a second child you are OUT! You're not quite so cool anymore, and who really cares that much? Cause at this point, your idea of a fun night is being in bed by 9 pm.

Anyway, Curran and I decided to invite some "young marrieds" to our house for food and a Wii tournament. Maybe it was in an attempt to regain our "cool" status after having 2 kids, or maybe cause we wanted to show off our mad skills on the Wii. Whatever the reason, we had a blast!

This is Raul. His wife whooped him in boxing, and although he went home empty-handed he took home all my love for bringing the yummiest cheesecake dessert ever!

Jacob and Noah--two kids who are half Mexican, but couldn't look any more like gringos

Jessica and Andy--two of my favorite people. I had not seen Andy since 1997, so I had an absolute blast getting caught up and meeting his wife. They have since purchased their own Wii and have been training for a re-match.

Raul and Virginia--taking out their marital frustrations in the Wii boxing ring. Very therapeutic.

This is Jessica and Karla--two awesome girls I met not too long ago. This pic is of the the final two left standing in our boxing portion of the tournament. Jessica was our boxing champ and won a sweet puzzle of a monkey in a tutu.

This is Daniel--an accountant who moonlights as quite the gifted photographer. We learned this night that he is also quite the twinkle toes. He won our DDR battle and took home a do-it-yourself bedazzled water bottle.

This is Jesse. His wife, Karla is pictured above. His mad Spanish skills have nothing on his hula hooping! I thought all white guys were incapable of moving their hips. I now stand corrected.

Stacia and Layne showed up later in the evening and not even being "with child" stopped her from showing us her moves.

Baby Butt Crack!

Noah may be thinking of being a plumber when he grows up.

Mmmm...tasty!

Mother's Day was a rough day for me. I had just driven back from Vegas and got home with a fever and horrible body aches. My emotions were all over the place and I think the whole family could sense it. It was a pretty uneventful day--probably because everyone was tryingto steer clear of me. The next day, however, Lola presented me with a very nice lunch she prepared herself. I heard her hard at work in the kitchen, and since I wasn't hearing any screaming or smelling any smoke I let her be. When she told me lunch was served this is what I found:

My post-Mother's Day lunch included water in Lola's favorite cup, cheez-its, a banana and an apple she peeled herself.

Here is a closer look at the apple. This is the exact way it was presented to me. When I heard her with the potato peeler I was a little worried she might hurt her fingers, but I decided to leave her alone, and after about 10 arduous minutes she let out a huge sigh and proudly placed the apple alongside my other treats.

The banana had seen better days

Lola made me feel really loved. Now that she is growing up and is a lot more independent I constantly find myself wanting to hold her a little longer. Moments like this make every bead of sweat and tear of frustration and sadness so worth it. I don't need expensive gifts to make me happy. Over-ripe bananas, badly peeled apples, cheez-its and water is all it took to make my Mother's Day the best one yet.

A Day in the Life of Noah

Always start the day off with a little Wii--those are Curran's legs, not mine. I know I usually go a long time without shaving (especially in the winter) but I'm not that bad.

Then he takes some time to make cute faces--this is the fish face.

I made the mistake of leaving an opened container of chocolate pudding on the table. It didn't take long for Noah to climb up and enjoy.

Playing dress up

Usually I let the kids run around outside every day knowing full well that this is what I will encounter once I call them in for baths. Noah always suspiciously looks like he's been eating dirt.

Always room for ice cream

Another hard day at work in the backyard

Sweet ride

Noah's sense of adventure never ceases to amaze me. That boy is a bundle of energy all day long. He explores everything, and climbs anything that can be climbed. As a baby Curran and I were sure Noah would be the quiet, peaceful type--something we were grateful for after trying to keep up with Lola. Now we know he was simply revving up for what is now a fun-filled life. From the moment his eyes pop open in the morning till he falls over exhausted at night he is a wonder to behold. His head is a medley of bumps and bruises--evidence of how hard he plays, and we are so blessed (and exhausted) to be able to watch the world through his eyes every day!

Thanks Easter Bunny!!

Easter Sunday was absolutely beautiful in CA. We went to church and came home for an awesome egg hunt, and sweet baskets. I was afraid Lola would dominate the egg hunt so we got princess eggs for her and my sister found Noah's Ark eggs at Walmart for Noah. So each had their own respective eggs to find. It's not in the pics, but Noah wore a sweet, plaid sport coar over his polo shirt. He looked a little like a game show host. I'm sure he'll wear it again and we'll be sure to photograph it for posterity.

Our lawn was a little overdue for a mow, but that made hiding the eggs a little easier.

This is the "after" picture, but I couldn't get blogger to cooperate. See below to see the "before."

By far, his favorite treat in his basket was the Cheetos. He wasted no time getting into those.

Lazy, good-for-nothing...

So...I know I stink at this blog updating business. I just came upon a stash of pics from the last couple of months of stuff we've been doing. So bear with me as I slowly try to get to all of them for your viewing pleasure.

These are just of everyday stuff we do around the house. A day in the life of Lola and Noah, if you will.


OR NOT! My computer seems to have reverted back to dial-up mode, so my uploading was unsuccessful. I also had plenty of time to think of my reasons for not updating my blog more frequently, and I've come to the conclusion that Facebook is to blame. It's SO much easier to upload to whole group of pictures at once and then finish it off by putting little captions under them in a Facebook album than to group them by activity and date and tell you all about our adventures. So if you really want to know what we've been doing then just browse my Facebook albums.

For now, I give up on this post. I hate technology.