25 random Things

I got tagged in Facebook asking for 25 random things about me and here they are.....I am still waiting to read everyone else's responses. My husband even learned something new about me. It is a lot of fun and I would sugget that everyone try it!

1. I, like many others, am a list maker. If I've started my day without making my list I will go back and write down everything I still need to do and the things I have already done. That way I can cross things off my list and feel like I'm making headway.
2. I hate to hear people eat. It grosses me out! (especially chips)
3. I don't get my face wet in the shower. I think I have some weird childhood fear of drowning....weird I know!
4. I am a project freak....I feel lost without 100 things to do.
5. I love the color green- all but forest green which I did love in the 90's.
6. I hate doing laundry! I am lucky my husband will fold for me!
7. I wish I would have finished college- more as an example to my kids than anything.
8. I love shoes- not necessary expensive but fun. I am not so secretly living through my daughter who has at least 15 pair of shoes- she is 4.
9. My first baby was 9lbs 11oz- OUCH!
10. I love taking pictures of kids not smiling- I'll take natural over cheese any day!
11. I have a fear of large ear lobes- you know the kind that old ladies get from wearing heavy earrings. That's why I rarely wear big earrings.
12. I am in love with my husband- all day every day- and I am thankful for everything that brought us together!
13. I am a visual learner. I can learn almost anything from watching someone do it but I am lost when I have to ready directions!
14. I love my Iphone- it's the best entertainment going!
15. I want to become a professional photographer!
16. My favorite candies are Black Current fruit pastils that my best friend gets me from England!
17. I love that all my kids are 5 years apart so that I can enjoy each of that at individual stages in life!
18. I love digital scrapbooking!
19. I love to read kid and teen book series better than adult book series...adults are too serious! It also helps in discussing what my kids are reading. Fablehaven, Twilight, Harry Potter, Spiderwick
20. I love changing my hair- long, short, super short- I always like to change!
21. I love working out- it's such a release! I need to be more consistent!
22. I love to decorate...my friends always want me to decorate their houses and I love it!
23. I don't like cake or ice cream. Give me a box of crackers and I will chow down!
24. I love my coffee. Not for the jolt it give but honestly I love the flavor!
25. I have a secret desire to be great at something....like Tiger Woods great! Not just good but GREAT! maybe I'll figure it out one day!

Rock Star

Just another boring Saturday night until our local Rock Star shows up. Tyler was playing his guiter so Emma Ran down stairs to grab her "electric guitar" and rock out.
She told her daddy that she was going to pretend to be a rock star and he could stand across from her and pretend she didn't know him. She said he could be the people that watch her. She makes me laugh. Here are the Rock star pictures from my phone.....Rock star and back stage pictures....

5 Things

5 things I was doing 5 years ago
1. finishing the remodel of my house
2. getting ready for my wedding
3. working at Discover Card
4. getting ready to go to Hawaii for the 1st time
5. driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee

5 things on my to do list today
1. clean my floors
2. set up a new appointment for NuSkin
3. help Mike with his website design
4. go to the gym
5. play with Emma and Sam

5 things I would do with a million dollars
1. pay off my house
2. buy a house in Hawaii
3. take my family on a European vacation
4. put money away for all my kids to attend college
5. give to charity

5 places I've lived
1. Phoenix, AZ
2. Kemmerer, WY
3. Grand Junction, CO
4. Quinnesec, MI
5. Maine (can't remember the town)

5 jobs I've had
1. grocery store clerk when I was 13
2. busser at a buffet
3. Little Caesar's Pizza
4. Video Shark
5. Discover Card

5 things I want to be doing in 5 years
1. visiting my son at college
2. enjoying all of my kids being in school
3. getting excited to be turning 40
4. taking pictures professionally
5. relaxing at my cabin

5 people I tag (on whatever interface you choose....blog, facebook, etc.)
1. Rushell
2. Tiffany
3. Becca
4. Staci
5. Donna

NuSkin

In the middle of all of the birthday parties and my new business, I have started selling an awesome new product from NuSkin. I am having so much fun doing mini facials with people. I guess the reason it is so fun is that almost everyone goes into it thinking that this is just another gimmick and that they aren't going to see a difference. I have not seen a single person that the Galvanic Spa did not work on. It's funny that although they seem to see the same results they still want to wait on buying the product. The transition they feel overnight is amazing and they are calling Donna or I the next day so they can get the Spa for themselves.
I laugh because when I did the facial on my mom she was so amazed at the results she did not want to go home with only half of her face done. We have had some husbands telling their wives that they need to go back and get the other half of their face done. At that point they are calling us back wanting to get the product NOW! I have created a blog for more information on NuSkin or my business. Please visit them both.....SmartSkin2.blogspot.com or Simplysaidhome.blogspot.com

Just arrived

Our newest family member has finally arrived! It seems like it took forever for her to get here but now she's here and I can't believe it! Nora is so cute! She definitely looks like her dad.

I took all of the kids to see her today. You don't realize how quiet everything is at a hospital until you take 4 kids into one. All of them were really good for about the first 30 minutes and then the glamour of the hospital started to wear off. Sara was so excited to see her new baby sister. She didn't want for anyone else to touch her. She is definitely the protector of her brother and sister. I think she is going to be the strength in the family; the strongest willed at the very least.

Sam, Emma and Tyler all took turns holding the baby too. It's amazing to me how they naturally have a calm and ease holding her. I think is not so secretly wishing for a baby of her own. I don't think the boys would mind a new addition to much either. I am happy with 3. I don't think I could handle a 2-1 ratio.

Zane came to the hospital after he got home from school. He was more interested in seeing his mom and eating the edible arrangement we got than in holding the baby. (I love the edible arrangments- they are so fun and you can eat them rather than watch them die like flowers do)After a while he did warm up to the idea of holding Nora. That lasted all of about a minute and then he was ready to go to Emma's house.

What an exciting day for Becca and Blair! They have now entered the land of imbalance between kids and parents. It is always a scary thing when your kids out number you!

Lauren's 1st Bday

I can't believe that Lauren is already 1. She has had so many struggles throughout her first year of life and yet she is all smiles and is rarely anything but happy. What a road it has been. We had a birthday party at our house since Keith and Rushell are still looking for a house and are currently living in an apartment. They were going to keep things small but I insisted that we needed to celebrate the momentous occasion of Lauren's 1st birthday.
I can't help but think back to Emma turning 1....it seems like it was yesterday. Then I think back to Sam and Ty turning 1. In the moment you don't feel like it's going by that fast but then you turn around and they are turning 14. I am trying very hard these days to stay in the moment and appreciate every little bit of my kids even if it is the teenage "I know everything" moment or the elementary school "Who, What, Where, When, Why and How...I must know everything about everything" moments or the preschooler who is 4 going on 13 and wants to be a part of every "adult" moment possible. It can be exhausting but the most satisfying thing I have done in my life. I am so excited for Keith and Rushell to have the same adventures with Lauren.

Her birthday was so much fun. She was dressed in the cutest outfit with black and white polka dots, lady bug shoes and a lady bug sweater. It is quite fitting that Keith and Rushell call her "Bug" because she is quite the little cutie bug . She had fun sitting on her dad's lap playing with his cell phone. She is on the path to becoming Emma (the most proficient 4 year old IPhone user going....far better at using it than I am) Rushell stripped Lauren down for the tradition of the 1 year old cake dive. We all sang happy birthday to her and then sat her on the floor to blow out her candles and dive into her cake. Everyone crowded around in anticipation of the event but as with any 1 year old with a mind of her own, she would have nothing to do with it. She just sat there looking at the cake like "What am I supposed to do with this?" Rushell tried getting her started but she just gave her a dirty look and wanted to be done. It was funny!

The craziest thing happened at the end of the party. Everything was winding down and we looked up to see a bug crawling on the ceiling in my kitchen. We could not believe it, it was a lady bug. How weird that on "BUG's" birthday there would be a lady bug on my ceiling. I have never seen lady bugs in the middle of winter but there it was right before our eyes. Maybe just a coincidence or maybe some strange aligning of the universe...either way it was pretty cool! Happy Birthday Lauren!