Sunday, August 31, 2008

all this breathing in, never breathing out

saturday was super fun. we went to the idaho state fair (one of my favorite things! klayton and i always joke that i'm more "idaho" than he is. it's probably true). we got to walk around and see the animals and all of the vendors set up and it was a blast. avery got a balloon from the republican booth (the democrat booth was busy worshiping in front of a life-size obama cut-out. creepy, but true.), she pet lots of sheep, she "moo"ed at a cow, and on the way back to our car, she got to play on the swings and slide with her daddy.

saturday night we were invited to a bar-b-que at a friend of mine's. there were a bunch of couples from our ward there and we had a really good time. avery did too - they had a playground in their backyard and her little boyfriend from church chased her around.





















declare this an emergency

ugh.
so, yesterday i get online and i go to stephenie meyer's (the author of Twilight) website. and there is this post there from her about how a copy she gave someone of Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edward's perspective [and the reason that i didn't lock myself in a room and cry when i was done reading Breaking Dawn - i knew there was at least one more Twilight book coming out!]) had been leaked onto the internet. so, she's too sad and upset (poor girl) to finish writing it, and instead of stirring up a frenzy in those who had no idea that it had been leaked (i myself would have been mighty tempted to track it down and read it online), and since she probably won't finish it, she posted what she has written so far on her site.
and it is so good!! so so so good. it's like reading Twilight for the first time again, but you get to be in edward's head!! edward. the perfect man, edward. you get to see what he's thinking and what he does while the rest of the town is alseep and what he does to the guy who almost attacks bella in port angeles and everything! it's so great.

it's so unfair. i want to track down whoever leaked it and punch them in the face.


read the post by steph and get the link to Midnight Sun here.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

the seat of my pants can't even keep up









well, klayton and i have an accepted offer on a house in idaho falls! it's in our old ward, right by the temple and melaleuca field and downtown IF. i love that area and i'm really excited about the house. it's a duplex too! which means that we will rent out the studio apartment basement to help us pay the mortgage! yay! it has a big yard, a dog run with access to the outdoor garage (yay! i want a dog!), 2 bedrooms (in the part we will live in), an unfinished basement, and... well... it's just perfect. our realtor (and future bishop) let us know that the callings of the family in the ward will have to be passed on to us if we buy it. the current owner is the Relief Society President. GULP.
you may be asking yourself, "mandy, when did you and klayton decide to move and go house hunting?" my answer to that is, "yesterday, about 3 hours before we found the perfect place, submitted an offer, and signed the papers." wish us luck!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

five



Top 5 Favorite Movies... 1. Rocky
2. The Philadelphia Story 3. Pride and Prejudice (any and all versions, including the Bollywood one) 4. When Harry Met Sally (edited) 5. An Affair to Remember

5 Items in My Fridge... 1. String Cheese 2. Reed's Dairy Milk (delivered to my front door every week! the best milk ever ever ever.) 3. Eggs 4. Water (cold water is a must-have. the tap is no substitute. it has to be brain-freeze cold) 5. My famous homemade spice glaze (goes great on chicken, fish, couscous... everything.)

5 Things on My Fridge...1. K & M magnets 2. Avery pictures 3. Animal magnets from my Alton Brown cooking book 4. A picture of Spencer (graduation) and a picture of Zach (Eagle Scout) 5. Training Schedule

5 Words I Hate... 1. Moist 2. Panties (EWWW) 3. Ointment 4. Obama 5. Tarantula

5 Words I Like... changed to favorite quotes...1. "SEXUAL CHOCOLATE!" 2. "I made the Cowardly Lion look like the Terminator" 3. "if by dirtbiking you mean kissing men, then YES, yes you love to dirtbike" 4. "nothing, nothing, nothing traa-laa-laa" 5. "Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash"

5 Items in My Purse...1. A book (today it's Pride and Prejudice) 2. Digital Camera 3. Ipod 4. Water 5. Planner/Wallet

5 Goals...1. Hit the gym every day 2. Be a wonderful wife/mommy 3. Serve others 4. Work on my cooking skizzills 5. Never be one of those ladies who lose touch with current fashion/hairstyles (like the ones who walk around with stirrup pants and feathered bangs)

5 Random Things About Me...1. I dream of packing Avery lunches with cute notes in them and food that the other kids "OOOH" and "AHHH" over 2. I laugh out loud when I am reading something funny or cute. In public and everything. 3. Smokers disgust me to no end. Eww eww eww. But, for some reason, smoking in old movies (i.e. Cary Grant style) doesn't seem gross to me. Why? I have no idea. 4. I can't cut in a straight line. At all. Ever. 5. I one day hope to have an enormous garden. Do I know anything about gardening? No. Have I ever even kept a house plant alive for long? No. But I want to grow corn and flowers and strawberries someday and you can't stop me!

family cookout

last night we had family home evening at rigby lake with klayton's parents, mandy and her family, and shellena (carson and kenzie were working). i was in charge of bringing dessert, so we had banana s'mores again! yum yum. my favorite of all of the pictures is the one of little milo. you just try to tell me he isn't going to be a heart-breakin hunk.





weekend warrior




here's a little snippet from our weekend. it was pretty low-key. saturday klayton had to work at the restaurant at noon, but we went over to Ammon Days (a celebration for the town that we technically live in, Ammon) in the park and ate breakfast and walked around a bit. the national guard was there with a huge rock climbing wall, and they were giving out volleyballs and basketballs for a small price (20 pushups). klayton balked at that, and told the guy there that he'd do 50. haha. men.
the other pic is avery in her dress on sunday. she is so cute and my mom sends her the cutest clothes. church was really fun. i love our ward. avery and klayton went to nursery for the first time (okay, it's way too early, i know, but avery is IMPOSSIBLE during church and the nursery workers always ooh and ahh over her, so klayton thought he'd try it out with her). she had a blast. i teach the nine-year-olds in Primary (aka the coolest calling ever) and i'm over Activity Days for the eight and nine-year-old little girls. they are so fun. klayton is on the scout committee and is enjoying that as well. he's so good with the young men. could they get a cooler leader?
other than that, klayton and i pretty much just read books together all weekend (when he wasn't working). we were in the middle of two books. i have been reading him the Twilight series (surprised? didn't think so) and he's been reading me Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. we finished both books on sunday evening. (for my reviews, see me at http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/788935!)

Saturday, August 23, 2008

goodreads.com book review

Austenland Austenland by Shannon Hale

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was really cute. I started reading it this morning and finished in a few hours, so it's an easy read, but mostly because I had trouble putting it down. I laughed out loud at the way Hale words things. It was as if she took them out of my head, the main character's little insecurities and gushing admiration of Colin Firth. A super fun read.

to see what i'm reading next, check out my goodreads.com profiel at http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/788935

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

show me it's real

busy week! monday avery and i went up to rexburg to hang with mandy, cindy and kenzie. mandy was babysitting my other niece and nephews, jonah, eden and peter for a few days, so we all went to porter park to play. they have this super fun water park thing there, and the kids all had fun playing. well, the older kids did. and peter. milo and avery weren't so into it. but it was fun to soak up some sun.
monday night my older brother, adam, rolled into town! he stopped by for a couple of nights on his way to portland, or where he is moving. it was so fun to have him and i really wish that he would have stayed longer. avery loved playing with him and was sad to see him go this morning. while he was here, she wandered into adam's room, found a yellow starburst, and bit through it!! wrapper and all! hahaha. she liked it almost as much as she liked wondering at adam's beard.



























also, i have finally found a hairstyle that i like on avery right now, with her weird, shaggy mullet. pigtails!! check them out!


Saturday, August 16, 2008

take me away

i have been bugging klayton to take me camping for forever and we finally took went last night!! carson and shellena (newlyweds extraordinaire) came with, as well as one of klayton's best friends, glen. we went to a campsite along the river outside of ririe, id.

avery helped me pack in the morning!





poor klayton was stuck sleeping between avery's pack n play our twin-size blow up mattress!





we had a pita pizza buffet for dinner with green pepper, zucchini, canadian bacon, pineapple, chicken, pepperoni, tomato and alfredo sauce and mozzarella. it was deeeelish!




it was so cold! but the manly fire the boys built kept everyone warm. not that carson and shellena needed it. their love kept them warm.





close up!







sibling rivalry.




i guess this is what, "say cheese!" looks like.




ahh, the best invention of all time. banana boat s'mores thingys. i had never heard of these before last night, so THANK YOU carson and shellena for showing us the light.


carson was in charge of cooking the bananas. he yelps like a girl when he thinks he's being burned, in case you were wondering.



good morning, klayton.


good morning, avery.

pancakes, eggs and a toasty fire for breakfast.

Friday, August 15, 2008

avery games

here is video of avery from the past couple of mornings. she gets more cute every day! she slam dunks, she talks, she laughs, she gets closer to walking all of the time. she's so fun!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

you're just too good to be true

my favorite possession in the world is my pink bicycle. i would write a poem about it if that wouldn't make me feel just a leetle bit silly. but i do think i should name it. it says roxie on it, so i guess i'll go with that. anyway, roxie and i are the best of friends. i take a ride with her every day. i love to plug in my ipod, turn on my favorite playlist and cruise around town. there is no better feeling than coasting along, ringing my pink bell, waving at old ladies in their gardens, and getting to wherever i'm going.

which is usually no where at all.

Monday, August 11, 2008

rubber ducky, you're the one




saturday klayton, avery and i got to go to the idaho falls duck race!! what the heck is a duck race, you ask? it's a fundraiser for the greenbelt (the area along the snake river in downtown IF) where they race rubber ducks in the river! klayton and i bought a duck, but, alas, we didn't win any of the cool prizes they had. we did, however, enjoy all of the festivities lined up along the river! we bought a candle from this awesome couple in ammon who make them in their basement (it smells all fall-ish!) and avery got a little apron and bench-making-kit from the Home Depot tent for free (not sure why, but it's cute!). i just love downtown - klayton and i lived there in a teensy studio apartment for about a year before we had avery, and i miss all of the character and excitement that goes on over there. it was fun to spend the afternoon enjoying this beautiful city.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

dum dum da dum





































carson and shellena got married on saturday morning!! it was awesome to spend the entire day with family. they looked so beautiful and happy the whole day and i love them both so much! cindy (klayton's mom) put on a great luncheon outdoors after the wedding, and the reception that night was super. we all danced and talked and laughed all night. carson and klayton have always been really close. carson was the first tietjen (besides klayton) that i met and has been a fast friend. i am so glad that he found someone who compliments him so well. yay for one more sister-in-law!!