Things that I like that are ORANGE tag

Going ahead where we left off yesterday in the colors tag, here are the things that I like that are orange....
The beaches of Prince Edward Island... technically they call it the red soil and it looks brown in this picture but it looked orange to me...

The orange jumpsuits my parents and I got to wear on one of the best days of my life!! (More on that next Thursday.)

My friend White Tip.. (yes I named a wild animal but he was just so cute and we bonded!) Technically he is a 'red' fox but he looks orange to me! (more on him next Thursday as well)

tigers

pumpkin spice candles

pumpkins- I LOVE fall and Halloween ( I don't eat them though)

Oranges and orange juice.. they have always been a go to for me when I feel sick.

Orange Fanta

Orange tabby cats- as kittens I think they are the cutest little animal!

Carrots

Our week in photos

This week started a new trend in our lives... Abi picking out her own clothes every day. I'm not sure this will continue every day but the last 4 days it has.
Tuesday at preschool Abi and Alisse showed off funny faces and static hair...

We focused on the letter G and colored G pictures...

Used Do-a-dot painters to paint Groundhogs...

Then Abi had a do-over party at her friend Sara's house. Sara's bday was in December but Abi couldn't go because she got pink eye the day before the party. Kaylee also missed it so Kaitlin was planning on a mini party for the three ever since. Abi loved it. She had so much fun dressing up like a princess...

and getting her fingernails painted....

This morning Abi threw her little poodle toy and it stuck to the wall. We both looked at each other in amazement and then realized that the handkerchief around its neck has a magnet in it and so it stuck to the wall right where the metal frame is around the window. It is still hanging there tonight.

Abi sang "Stirring and Stirring and Stirring the brew" using her dolls potty and a maraca for her cauldron and broom. (Notice today's outfit! It doesn't look so bad in the picture but the shirt didn't match at all. The best was when we went out later. She put on hot pink tights and cowboy boots!)

In preschool we finished our Groundhog masks... Alisse wearing hers...

-Abi wearing hers....

The girls practicing writing the letter G...

Tonight while I was making dinner, Abi was standing next to me 'pretending' to make dinner too. I was making chicken and artichoke casserole and had put the layer of chicken and the layer of artichokes down and was stirring the topping on the stove. When I turned around and began pouring it on top Abi said, "No! The goldfish!" As I spread it out, I noticed a few little goldfish had made their way into my casserole...

She then used my cookbook page to make dinner. Again, it had goldfish in it. The other ingredient is pepper. The reason the paper is drawn on is because she stuck a pen in a wire whisk and 'stirred'. ( I let her because I am working on transferring these recipes to cards.) She then sampled her dinner. The look on her face was priceless as she got a mouthful of goldfish and pepper. I wish I had still had the camera next to me.

When Doug got home he let Abi help him open the package UPS had just delivered. He has been with Discover Card 10 years now so he got to pick a prize.

The box it came in became a treasure box and bed for her baby...

He chose a watch...

All over the place

It is so funny sometimes to have conversations with Abi because some of the things she says are just so wacky.
She ate some goldfish crackers a little while ago for a snack. We were just having a tickle war and I told her that she smelled like Goldfish crackers.
She stopped and got a serious look on her face. "No, I don't. I smell like grapes."
"Why do you smell like grapes?" I asked.
"A'cause of the grapes in my basket that are so pretty and let's go make breakfast in my kitchen!"
Okay.

He Said/She said tag

I guess today is a day for doing tags!

First, here are Doug's answers about me: (my responses are in red)
1. Sitting in front of the TV, what's on the screen? Big Bang Theory (he's right but I would have to add Tudors, How I met your mother, Heroes, and the Bachelor- those are all the ones I am watching right now)
2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does she get on her salad? Vinaigrette on the side (I have no idea where this came from. I have never ordered that kind of dressing and I don't think I have ever ordered it on the side either- I like Thousand Island or Italian!)
3. What's one food she doesn't like? Veal (Granted I've never tried it.. never will)
4. You go out to a restaurant, what does she get to drink? Diet Coke (or Mt Dew or Diet Pepsi!)
5. Where did she go to high school? Alta (Right!)
6. What is one phrase she says all the time? "Listen to me" or "Son of A" (Yep)
7. If she was to collect anything, what would it be? frogs (uh... in high school I did so I guess so...)
8. What is her favorite type of sandwich? egg salad (Right! Along with turkey and avocado)
9. What would this person eat everyday if she could? 711 nachos (oh the shame... it's true!)
10. What is her favorite cereal? Cracklin' Oat Bran (Right!)
11. What would she never wear? fur (Yep! Never!)
12. What does she always wear? black nail polish (well not always... but I am wearing it right now.)
13. Who will she vote for? republican
14. Who is her best friend? Me
15. How many states has she lived in? 7 (Right!)
16. Does she have any nervous habits? I don't think so (uh yeah I do. Goes to show you love is blind)
17. What could she spend hours doing? reading (Right!)
18. She is: so hot (wow that was nice and I almost didn't write it down. I'm embarrassed now.)

What I said about Doug
1. Sitting in front of the TV, what's on the screen? The Tudors, How I met Your mother, or Heroes (Right!)
2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on he salad? Ranch! (Right!)
3. What's one food he doesn't like? Popcorn or Peas (Yep)
4. You go out to a restaurant, what does he get to drink? Sprite or Root Beer (Yep)
5. Where did he go to high school? Alta (It's where we met)
6. What is one phrase he says all the time? NP (No problem) (right)
7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? games/gaming systems (yep)
8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? sloppy Joe's (right)
9. What would this person eat everyday if he could? tator tot casserole (right)
10. What is his favorite cereal? Cocoa Pebbles (dang it- it's fruity pebbles)
11. What would he never wear? jewelry(besides his wedding band) (right)
12. What does he always wear? button down shirts (yep, mostly)
13. Who will he vote for? Nobody right now...
14. Who is his best friend? Me
15. How many states has he lived in? 2 (right)
16. Does he have any nervous habits? none
17. What could he spend hours doing? World of Warcraft (right!)
18. He is: a really fun husband and dad

Things I like that are red tag

Things that I like that are red:
Strawberries

Red Vines

Netflix envelopes in my mailbox

red high heeled peep toe shoes... but I don't own any

Red nail polish... usually on my toes

Red lip gloss and lipstick

Red barns

Mountain Dew Code Red

Red Maple leafs.... yeah I like Canada too.

My little Red Riding Hood

Abi's red polka dot skirt and red shoes

What do you like that is red?

Favorite things swap

Hey, I saw this on Emma's blog and went to check it out. It looks like so much fun!
Mamarazzi is having a 'favorite things' swap! Check it out.

Good Mail: Valentines Edition

I guess this package arrived on Saturday but since we went in and out through the garage that day and the mail lady never knocks when she leaves something on the porch, we didn't know it was there. Doug found it this morning and left it outside Abi's room without telling me so that when I went to get Abi this morning we were both surprised by a package! (He had the day off today)
It was addressed to Abi from her cousins McKenna and Courtney. Inside were all sorts of Valentines Day loveliness!

There is a cute heart necklace with a little Cupid doll with accessories in it, two adorable little bags of goodies including a princess bracelet, ring, nail filer, little love bug toy and lots of candy, plus a Limited Too shirt, a Valentines cup, and lots more candy!

Abi immediately wanted to eat candy (of course) so I let her have one little box of Nerds after she ate a banana. Then she put on her jewelry and played with the love bug. She enjoyed winding it up and letting it go and then trying to catch it by its wing. It was pretty funny.

THANK YOU Dan, Stephanie, McKenna, and Courtney! It was such a fun surprise! (and a great way to start the first full week of our Valentines countdown.

Movie Review: Rescue Dawn

Last night Doug and I watched a movie that I didn't know existed until this week- this is the second relatively recent Christian Bale movie that we have watched that I hadn't heard of before (the first one being The New World). This one was called 'Rescue Dawn'.

It is the story of Dieter Dengler (played by Christian Bale) a man that was born in Germany and later became a United States Naval pilot. He was shot down on a secret mission into Laos in 1965,captured and put into a prison camp in the jungle of Vietnam. I love true stories so it appealed to me from the beginning... and then as it started the camera is going in on an Aircraft carrier and across the screen it says 'U.S.S. Ranger'. That got my attention. That was my dad's ship. Most of my childhood was spent following that ship around and ,of course, I've been on it as well. I immediately felt a connection to the story and character.
This movie was really raw and had great cinematography in it. It was also pulled along by an amazing cast. When Dieter (Christian is AMAZING in this role) is taken to the camp he meets some other men that have been there for quite awhile already. A few of them I hadn't seen in anything before but the two main standouts were Jeremy Davies (Saving Private Ryan, Twister,etc) as Gene and Steve Zahn (Sahara,Daddy Day Care, Saving Silverman, etc.) as Duane.

They filmed the movie backwards because Christian Bale had to lose so much weight and then he gained it back quickly to film the beginning of the movie. An interesting tidbit is that both Jeremy Davies and Steve Zahn lost the weight before they were told to because they both thought (separately) that it would be an injustice to not portray the real way the prisoners would have been. They were all incredibly skinny which helped the impact of the scenes but was also hard to look at.

The actors (and director) all really did the things you see in the movie as far as having leeches on them, ants crawling on them, eating yucky things, swimming in rivers full of snakes. They wanted it to feel real. And it did. This movie was hard to watch just because while inspiring and flawlessly acted it also had many very sad moments. Yes, I cried, The thing I liked was that while it did portray the violence and you did see some things- it was not gory. Most of the war movies I like are pretty gross and this one they were able to make without all of that. It's still hard to watch though, so if you only like happy go lucky movies - skip this one.

I think it also spoke to me because of my father having been in Vietnam and it having a huge impact and presence in our lives. Doug thought it was amazing as well.

I highly recommend this one.

Entertainment at its finest

Well, maybe not at its finest but it's pretty fun. We have tried out Blockbuster online and Netflix and found Netflix to be a way better deal. Also, a couple of weeks ago when the next movie on our list had to come from a warehouse that was further away and therefore wouldn't get here as fast as it normally would, they sent us an extra movie from our list to 'hold us over' that extra day. Blockbuster, on the other hand, once had a movie take a week to get to us and did not do that. Interesting. Since we rarely go out to movies and we don't have cable it has been fun to be able to get some movies and tv shows through Netflix. We like that you can cancel and start up membership as often as you want as well as change the amount you get based on what you want to spend that month (from $5-$20). This month we have been enjoying seeing past seasons of tv shows that we barely started watching. Namely How I met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory. Both are on the channel we get but since we don't tend to be sitcom people we didn't discover until recently.
We spent many nights watching episodes of How I Met Your Mother's first 3 seasons and laughing our heads off. Last week was The Big Bang Theory. This week we are on The Tudors. I know it isn't 100% historically accurate but its still pretty interesting and has great actors in it. (I think everyone knows of my crush on Henry Cavill right? Doug likes to tease me about it so I think its common knowledge.) It's not a show for the kiddies though.

Other movies we have enjoyed recently:
The New World- the story of Pocahontas starring Collin Farrel and Christian Bale. I loved this movie. It was so emotional and beautiful and relied so little on conversations. You came to know the characters through narration and imagery. When I watch a romance I like it to be epic (i.e Titanic, Anne of Green Gables, the Notebook) meaning lots of emotion and beauty so this fit right in.
Believe- dumb movie (fits into the category of the movies made by LDS guys but not a church movie.. like Singles Ward) but really funny if you know anyone that has been part of a pyramid scheme.
Errand of Angels- made me cry even though I've never been on a mission. I thought it was a really great movie.

Not so great movies:
Pirates of the great Salt Lake- we got this because we find it amusing to watch movies with Kirby Heyborne in them being that we went to high school with him and have a hard time remembering that he is a 'celebrity'. It was so dumb. I ended up turning it off before it was over because I just couldn't take it.
Eragon- Despite bad reviews from everyone I had ever talked to I decided to watch it because I just read the books for the first time and LOVED them. The movie started out well I thought. I had high hopes that maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Throughout there were things that were weird but I expect that in based on book movies. Then the end came. It was so terrible. They completely altered the cool book ending to some really weird, long, overly enhanced ending. I swear they could have taken the money and time they put into that ending and made the movie amazing. Oh well.

Looking forward to: Emma Smith, The Duchess, and giving the Matrix another chance.....

10 things that bug me tag

1. the first one has to be (just like your #4 Heather)that the house never stays spotless for very long and so I feel like I am constantly cleaning.
2. Peer pressure- I know that sounds weird from an adult but I have always hated people telling me what to do, so when I don't want to do something and people try to talk me into it and won't let it go... I don't like that.
3. The way it feels to write with a pencil- that's why I have to use those kid ones with the tower of little lead points in them to do puzzles.
4. Being tailgated or people being jerks about driving when you are going the speed limit or above it. I don't have to speed just because you want to.
5. Money... or lack of
6. When people say things like "wouldn't it be nice to have the time to do stuff like that.." to me when they see something I've made or done. It makes me feel like it is a insult more than a compliment. I don't think it is always intended that way though.
7. My metabolism or lack thereof....
8. Taxes
9. Rodents
10. Bugs- yes bugs bug me. Especially the mosquitoes around here in the summer. (I do love the fireflies though!)

Valentine Photo Shoot

Today we did a little Valentines photo shoot so we can send out pictures with valentines to our family.. I'm not going to post my favorites yet but here is a preview...
Abi isn't the easiest model. She doesn't like to sit still long. Here she is making a typical Abi face.
and rolling on the floor...

Afterward she got back into her normal clothes and wanted me to put the camera away.