Challenge #6: Dear Me,

Challenge #6: Dear Me,

The challenge: If you could write a letter and send it to yourself when you were younger, what would you say?

Dear 16 year-old me-

Just thought I’d let you in on a couple of secrets that will help you out later on.

-School is beneficial and college even more so. Stick with it.

-Rejection is part of life. Finding the right path after is SO worth it.

-Watch out for left hand turns.  They will haunt you for life. But keep at them.

-Measure twice, cut once.(This applies to EVERYTHING you do)

-There are nice people out there. Keep being one of them.

-You won’t make choir as a Junior in High School, but your amazing daughter will tell you “Good Job, Mama” whenever you sing to her.  It’s a gazillion times better.

-Yep, I said ‘daughter’. Put aside the bad thoughts about marriage and family-they are awesome!

-Keep at the spiritual side of things.  Sometimes it’s hard, but keep at it.  Going to church, the scriptures and the Temple are so helpful.

-You truly are creative.  Stop trying to hide it.

-In a word, CONFIDENCE.  You waste years lacking it.  GET IT! You can actually accomplish so much more than you ever thought possible.

-Don’t let bad/sad thoughts rule your life.

-Don’t live life through guilt.

-Be happy. Smile. Laugh.  Do and Be those things as often as possible.

Good luck,

Me

Challenge #4: Play Time and #5 The ABC's of Me...

I have had challenge #5 done for about a week, but I didn't even want to look at #4 so I decided to just hammer it out in about 10 min.  I am sure that I did more things for play, but I just didn't want to do that challenge, so here they are:
This week’s challenge: When you have a few minutes or a few days, what do you like to do in your “play” time?
You can share what you do now, what you used to do as a child, or even what you’d like to do when you retire! What has changed or stayed the same? Why do you like to do those things? You can expound on this, or keep it simple!

As a child:

play with dolls-swaddle and feed them, played Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt on Nintendo, ride my bike, play house- I really only wanted to be the Mommy, I loved to play in the play kitchen, jump on the trampoline, read American Girl books and the Boxcar Children books

As a teenager:

I played Tetris, puzzles, read books from the Babysitter’s Club and books by Jack Weyland and Dan Yates, watch TV like Saved By The Bell

As a college student:

Go to movies, read anything but the textbooks I was supposed to-mostly magazines, date Andrew, scrapbook, shop with my Mom, watch TV like Veronica Mars

As a Mom/Now:

Date Night with Andrew, Girl’s Night(w/out kiddos), Dinner dates with fun couples, travel, sleep, take pictures, bake, read blogs, shopping and watch TV/Movies like home remodeling shows, cooking/baking shows, Sesame Street, Caillou and the Wiggles. Unfortunately, I am an avid Dancing With The Stars fan

In the future I want to:

Read real books again, travel more, cook fancy dishes, bake pretty goodies, sew, become a Photoshop pro, decorate any and everything, craft anything and get my Bachelor’s Degree, have a clean house so that my playtime is enjoyable.

Now Challenge #5: The ABC's of Me

A is for Andrew. My amazing husband and best friend. We love to laugh and we love to be in love(cue the sappy ‘awwww’). I love dating my husband.

B is for baking. I love to bake. I hardly ever do it. I dream of owning a little bakery/café/boutique where I make and sell the yummy things I can make and decorate.

C is for Chinese Cashew Chicken from China Chef. The only Chinese restaurant I truly like. I always order the Cashew chicken and they have Pepsi. We go there with Tim, Liesel, Calix and Ellie(the Clark Clan) which makes it even cooler. I like Chinese Gourmet too, but I don’t get Chinese food there.

D is for DIY. I would love/aspire to be like the cool ladies I read about and find the ultimate deals and make all my projects myself.

E is for education.  I think it’s important to learn and to earn degrees and be able to use them. I have an Associate’s Degree in General Studies and hope to be able one day to earn my Bachelor’s.

F is for family. Family is so important and are a special group of people linked to me.

G is for games. I have a bunch and love to play them, but haven’t played them in a while. Little kiddos kind of make it hard to focus on winning.

H is for Histotechnician. That’s my job from 4 am to 8 am. For the most part, I really like it.

I is for my current ice cream addiction that needs to go away. My top three are mint chocolate chip, cookies and cream and Ben & Jerry’s Cheesecake Brownie.(note to self: wipe drool off chin)

J is for jewelry. I like it. I am starting to get out of my jewelry ‘box’ and try new things, but usually I go very simplistic with it.

K is for my cute kids. Zoey and Jackson. Did I mention that they are adorably cute?

L is for laughing. I love to laugh and laugh hard!

M is for mom. My mom is one of my best friends and shopping buddy

N is for notes. I make them for myself all the time. Stuff for the grocery list, quotes, quick info. But they never seem to make it to the right place.

O is for Oregon. I love going there! It’s beautiful. The ocean is right there. I have family there. I would probably move there given the chance.

P is for photography. I can’t take enough pictures.  Someday I hope to master Photoshop and be able to turn great pictures into ‘wow’ pictures. I also dream of having my own SLR camera.

Q is for quilting.  Something I would love to learn how to do. I tried once and it got too overwhelming, too quick. Maybe some other time. I will also make Q stand for Qwaft(craft) I love to do it, but there wasn't any way I was changing all the cool 'C' words.

R is for reading. I love reading books (although I have read a book by myself in a while).  I love that Andrew and I read to each other in the car.

S has to be for scrapbooking. Or as a friend at work said ‘scrapbook supply collector’ I dream of layouts and finished scrapbooks….

T is for travel. My top 5: Oregon with Andrew, Oregon with my Mom, San Diego with mom and Crys, Florida with Andrew and my MIL and FIL, Vegas and Disneyland with Andrew…okay top 6 would include Europe trip with Crys  I dream of going to Hawaii and to go on a cruise.

U is for uninterpretable… probably not a word, but sometimes when I am tired, nervous or excited I talk so fast that I am uninterpretable. Sometimes I will even go up a few octaves in the process.

V is for variable.  Unfortunately, I tend to find most of my opinions based on those around me. I am slowly learning that I am a person of value and that my own, true opinion can count just as much as the next guy’s….now getting me to share my said opinion is a whole other story(I should change my letter ‘C’ to confrontation. One of my biggest things to avoid)

W is for water. I love to look at it-pool, pond, lake, ocean, aquarium.  I even like to be in it given the right timing and temperature.

X is for Xtremes. Good and bad. I know this isn’t a real word, but it’s one that really describes me. If I don’t see something coming together the way I want I tend to go crazy and head in the complete opposite direction.

Y is for yea-sayer. (I had to look that one up in the dictionary) aka Yes-man. I am slowly learning how to say no.

Z is for Zuppa’s. I love this place! I order the exact same thing every time.

It's now feeding time at my house according to the crying baby boy and Zo keeps telling me 'I eata food'.  Better stop for now.

Challenge #3 Whenever I...

Okay, this challenge is going to be a very sappy one.  Most who know me, know how sappy I can be.  But you know what? I only share maybe a third of those sappy things that enter my head.  You’d think it would be more since I have ‘diarrhea of the mouth’ according to Andrew. So, bring on the syrupy sap!

-Whenever I go to Applebee’s, I think of my first date with Andrew. I had the Sana Fe chicken salad and he had the Bourbon Street Steak.  We split a slice of strawberry cheesecake.

-Whenever I go to Bountiful, I think of my Grandma Sutton. What an awesome lady.  I think of her a lot more often than that, but it’s almost always is one of the front things in my mind when I go there.

-Whenever I get a ‘squish’ from Zoey, I know that my heart just melts.

-Whenever I hear someone say ‘Park City’, I think of the gorgeous sunrise hot air balloon ride that Andrew took me to on our honeymoon.

-Whenever I leave the Shopko parking lot in Bountiful, I think about the car accident that I was in just before I turned 18…and the feeling of being so scared that I thought I could leave the scene and nobody would notice…the car was totaled, I wasn’t going anywhere.

-Whenever I take pictures, I almost always try to picture them in the scrapbook layouts they will be in..but that has NEVER been accomplished.

-Whenever I go into a Sears store, I remember the time that Stephen and I went shopping there at Crossroad’s Mall.  It was Nov 2002. I bought a red turtleneck and jeans.  We actually had fun together.  It’s one of the best memories I have with my brother.

-Whenever I try a new dessert, I think about my dream of owning a bakery/café/craft boutique, and whether or not I would put that dessert on the menu.

-Whenever I look at the kids’ noses, I think of Andrew and his nose.  They are 3 of a kind.

-Whenever I think about the 'Whenever I' challenge, I start singing the Primary song 'Whenever I hear the song of bird, or look at the blue, blue sky...'.

I don’t know why, but this was REALLY hard for me to start and then a lot of things popped into my head.  I only put down about half of them…didn’t want drone on and on. I was surprised at first, because a lot of the things I thought of had a negative tone to them...don't know if it is my current mind set or what.  I TRIED to turn them positive.  Writing has never been my forte and I don’t really like it, but I think that these challenges actually challenge me to write and think about myself more(hopefully not in a selfish way). Go figure.

2nd Personal History Challenge..

Oh my gosh!!! TWO blog entries in less than 7 days?? Woohoo Me!! This is kind of fun...I wonder if my kids like that I am spending more time on the computer with this project...my guess is not really.  But hopefully they will like hearing about their crazy mom later in life..

The Challenge: What are some choices in your life that affected where you are now?There are a few choices that have very directly influenced my life since I graduated high school. I was working at JC Penney-and had worked there for 2 years when I decided to quit that job and take a $1/hour pay-cut to take a job in the food services department at LDS Hospital.  I didn’t want to work in food services, but I wanted to get my foot in the door to the medical industry and knew I had to start somewhere….and that is where I met my amazingly awesome guy for a husband Andrew!

Two months after we got married I got a job in the Cytology department- still at LDSH and loved that job; but my eyes were also opened to the Histology department and I knew I could build a career there, so after 1 ½ yrs in Cytology, I moved over to the Histo department as a pathology technician.  I finished my AS degree, they trained me how to cut tissue and voila-I sat for my ASCP boards examination and became a Histotechnician.   This move also allowed Andrew to be able to apply and get hired on in the Cytology department, and now he is the team lead in Cytology Prep.

By making these choices we were able to buy a house…where you ask? That city, my city!?!?! Never in my life have I wanted to live in this city-I really didn’t even know it was here! We even tried to make an offer on another, bigger, more expensive house-but it was already under contract, so we decided on this one…and you know what??? I have been able to have met a few amazingly awesome women with whom I am very lucky to call great girlfriends for life.

One time, in 2008, I thought that it might be fun to change things up a bit.  I decided to apply for a Histotech position in St. George. I had even done the first interview with them. Then I had started praying really hard about the decision and felt that just wasn’t the time for us to try and do something like this. So I called and told them that I wasn’t interested in the position anymore.  Two weeks later, we found out that we were going to have a baby-and that turned out to be Zoey.  There is no way that I wanted to be 5 hours away from my closest family when I turned into a mommy.

I am surprised that these choices have led to where I have been and am just a little bit curious to find out where they will take me in this life. I am just REALLY glad that I have Andrew, Zoey and Jackson along for the ride.

I GUESS my blog could also include personal history stuff..

This week I ran into a cool blog about recording your personal history. It's called the "This Is Me Challenge" http://thisismechallenge.blogspot.com/ I am absolutely horrible about writing in a journal. I usually start one, do 2 entries and then buy a new journal with a new goal to write in it about 1 or 2 times per year...so I am going to try and do this weekly challenge in an attempt to use my blog more and to write down some fun things about me...because let's face it, who doesn't want to talk about me?!?

Challenge 1:
If you were forced to go back in time to the olden days, but were allowed to take 10 modern conveniences with you, what would you take?(For me, not in any specific order)


This list is just off the top of my head, I am sure it could change at the drop of a hat.
1-my camera. I LOVE my pictures..someday they will be out of their boxes and into beautiful and completed scrapbook albums
2-the Fridge-I don't want to drink cold milk that has to be chilled in a river.
3-my Ipod-I can sing a lot better when the tune isn't just notes rattling around in my head..this will also help those around me stand said singing.
4-my computer with high-speed internet capabilities-email is AWESOME when used appropriately
5-cellphone-I like to have my mom and other family/friends within speed dial range(well those who choose to be in THIS country..YOU know who YOU are)(you also know how I much I love ya too, I hope)
6-flashlight-no fire hazard like a lantern and I won't be met with anything unsuspected in the dark...I will even use a solar-powered one so it won't need batteries.
7-my car-I never realized how much baggage(literal, not figurative) comes with having 2 kids.  The double stroller is awesome, but my car holds all of us AND the stroller.
8-Washing Machine- well, who am I kidding? I take long enough to wash clothes in the washer, who knows if they'd ever get done if I had to hand wash them?
9-Heating Pad- sometimes it feels so nice to cuddle with it-even sometimes in the summer
10-microwave-even though things taste better being cooked over the fire, this would be the quick convenience that I could use when I don't want to cook...kind of like now.

I have been a mom of TWO kids for a WHOLE month and...

I think that I was crazy, or maybe I have now gone crazy or a combination of the two. Zo and Jack are so adorable. I can't believe how much I love them and that they currently think that I am pretty great too. I just wish there was some type of manual out there that would give me step-by-step instructions on how to handle situations like the following:
1-How do you teach your daughter not to rip her brother's clothes and blankets off-or take his pacifier and shove it into her own mouth
2-How do you tell your daughter that while it's okay to give her brother kisses, under no circumstances are you supposed to bite his face.
3-How do you teach your daughter how to not try and ride her baby brother like a horse and say 'yeehaw' while doing so.

Regardless of how little sleep we get or energy we have, things are going okay so far. I really hope that things can go a lot better though. I have high hopes with how I picture things going in the future and I really hope that that doesn't translate into 'setting myself up for failure'.

I keep realizing almost daily that my 'little' Zoey isn't so little anymore. She is getting more and more independent(how this is possible, I still don't understand). She is probably the most feisty girl that I have ever met. I also never truly understood the word 'mischief' until now. But I have also never gotten better hugs and cuddles. She amazes me daily. I still get thrown sometimes to realize, yet again, that I am a mommy..now of two awesome little people, who little personalities and lives are being shaped everyday by what I say and do. WOAH...

Zoey's 2010 In Review: part 1

Wow! Zoey has done so much in 1 year! She has learned to crawl, stand, walk and run...and dance. Zoey LOVES to shake it! It is so much fun to watch.
She went to the zoo for the first time in May-she loved it!
She celebrated her 1st birthday in June.
We played in the pool in our backyard during the summer and she thought that was pretty awesome.
On the 4th of July we roasted hot dogs, played in the pool and did sparklers. She also oohed and aahhed when some fireworks went off in the sky.
For Halloween, Zoey was a cute, little pirate(thanks to Carole). She got a cute little wind-up ladybug from Uncle Willie at work and never had so much candy in her entire life! She also got her first taste of caramel apple from Nana Connie. She also carved pumpkins with her cousin Serenity, Nana, Aunt Crystal and Mama.
Zoey also found out that she is going to be a big sister to a new baby brother in March. She likes to say 'baby' and point/touch Mommy's tummy. She also does the same to Daddy's tummy. She will also point to any patch of bare skin and say 'baby'. Needless to say, that one is a work in progress.
She can say Mama, Dada, Nana, Papa. Other important people in her life also include 'MoMo'-Elmo, and 'Aillou' which is Caillou. You can tell that she has her priorities figured out.
She can point to her head, hair, ears, nose, mouth, tongue on herself. For some reason on her face her eyes are in the same place as her ears, but on everybody else they are in the right place. She also knows where her tummy, arm, hands, fingers,legs, feet and toes are.
She can say eyes and nose. Uh-oh is probably the most used word currently. Zoey also believes that 'please' either signed or spoken will get her anything in the world that she wants. She likes to 'tico,tico,tico'(tickle) and be tickled.
Zoey loves to 'Re'. Reading is one of her favorite things to do. Sometimes we read book after book after book. Other times we read a page and she is done.
She loves her baby dolls and stuffed animals. She now plays with one of my old cellphones. When you ask who she is talking to, she says 'Nana'.
Zoey loves animals. She can't say any of their names yet, but if you ask her or point out an animal she does the sound. She has perfected her 'Baa','Nay','Moo','Roar','Quack'. Most of the time she knows her monkey sounds, bark, chicken. Roar works for lions, tigers, dinosaurs and bears. We are still working on cat and pig sounds.