So funny, and so true!

Kendall's sister sent us this video. It's a little lengthy, but I died laughing because it is the most true thing that I've heard in a very long time!! Those of you who are married will expecially appreciate this. I thought that Kendall was atypical, but this proves that he is still wired just like other guys. This guy has it right on!

Tour of the House...At Last

For those of you who aren't interested in my house, skip this; it is long and probably boring. For those whom I have promised a tour of our new house, here you go! We begin by walking through the front door,up a half flight of stairs, and into: the living room.

Living room from the other side.

We then go through the living room and into the dining room. The table is a bit big, but it fits much better than it did in our apartment. Talmage is pretty much a permanent fixture at the table.
Here is the kitchen as taken from the dining room. Notice that I do not have a much needed pantry, hence all the food on top of the fridge. The kitchen is very small and my least favorite thing about the house, but at least it's mine and I can paint it red if I want to. We are planning on putting in a pantry, buying a dishwasher, and painting so that it is cranberry, gold and white. We will also put in a microwave over the range instead of taking up counter space. All in good time!

This is by far the best feature of my kitchen right now. This is a brand new stove that Kendall bought me, complete with 5 burners and a convection oven! I absolutely love it!
We then continue our tour down the hall and into the bathroom. This bathroom will eventually be purple and green when I have the money for new towels and rugs.

Next is the master bedroom. I had a hard time taking very good pics, but this is what you see walking in the door,

and this is what you see from the other side.Next is the girls' room. Here are the beds,
and here are the dressers/closet (a must for all those pink clothes). I bet you can't find Avri in this picture!! (She had a shy moment.)
This is Talmage's room. It has like no decorations because I'm still really not sure what to do for it. I want Kendall to make me this cool bookshelf that I saw in Pottery Barn, but that requires time on his part, so maybe someday. And I still need to get him a real bed set. And as you've probably noticed, I don't have blinds or curtains in any of the rooms yet. For now sheets and blankets are working.
We now proceed down the stairs and into the family room. This is the TV side of the room,

and this is the book/toy side of the room.Here is the half bath that we may someday turn into a full bath. But not now.

This is the extra bedroom/exercise room. Kendall and I are renewing our weight loss goals and have been riding the bike and doing the push-up challenge (which I am very excited about) as well as a sit-up challenge. I've been doing different exercise videos and just doing fun aerobic workouts. We have had some very sore muscles the past couple weeks, but it feels good. BTW, anyone looking for a good workout or some sort of simple program to strengthen muscles without spending a ton of time, check this out: http://hundredpushups.com/.
Next we go into the laundry/storage room. I really couldn't get decent pictures of this room. It is quite a big room, although it doesn't look like it.

This is the rest of the storage room, complete with a fridge that is right next to...

MY PROJECT ROOM! Can you tell that I like this room? It is the smallest and strangest little room in the house and I love it! I can leave my projects out and work on them a few minutes at a time when the kids are busy or sleeping. Maybe now I will actually get my mending done and fix those broken toys, or finish those sewing projects, or working on my toll painting or... you get the picture. I've already used it quite a bit, and it feels like my little piece of heaven way off in the far reaches of the house. You can't see it, but on the table at the left I have my sewing machine, a phone and the baby monitor!! Haha.

That completes the tour. Hope it wasn't too boring. Or that you skipped it if you got bored.

Valuable (and free) info

Mercedes has earned the nickname Messy Macie, and not for nothing. That child could win pooping contests, I do believe. Of all three of my kids I've never seen anything like her, and Talmage could make some good messes. She has managed to stain pretty much every article of clothing that I have for her. However, a good friend of mine gave me an invaluable tip. If you get that nasty nursing-baby-yellow-poop stains on clothes, put them in the sunlight! How old fashioned is that? It takes the stains right out!! Don't believe me? I took some recent clothes that Mercedes has ruined and put them outside. Some of them I had already stain-treated, washed and dried. Whatever stains were left went out on the deck and, voila! No more stains. Some of the clothes I just washed and put outside still wet and the stains disappeared even faster!! Try it. It is the most amazing thing that I've ever seen. Here are some before and after pics.
Sorry the pics are so dark, our back yard doesn't have the greatest light. The really bad one still has a little shadow of stain, but I'm going to try putting it back outside again now that it isn't raining.

Ward Halloween Party

Friday night was our ward Halloween Party. We had a HUGE turnout and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. I spent the last two weeks trying to get ready for it (I'm on the committee) and then I didn't get to enjoy it because I was running around too much. But the kids had a lot of fun and from the sounds of it, so did the rest of the ward, so I guess it was all worth while. Unfortunately, I'm the picture taker in the family, so we didn't get very many, but here's what we got.

We carved pumpkins a couple days before to enter in the contest. Kendall's took 2nd and Avri's took 4th. (There were only 4 entered :) ) Here is Avri helping gut the pumpkin.
All 5 of us went as pirates. We took our ship toy box that my dad made for Christmas and pulled the kids around in it for trick-or-treating. Here is Dad and Grandpa taking the kids around the cakewalk.
Mercedes thought that the parrot that Daddy was wearing was pretty funny. She didn't want to take her eyes off of it.

Work Party

Kendall's work threw a little Halloween party for the kids. We decided to let the kids pick out of the costume box what they wanted to be, so all their costumes were a little small, but they were at least warm. In case you can't tell, Mercedes is a turtle, and she is standing up here with a little help from Avri.
The party was fun. They served hot dogs and chicken nuggets, juice boxes and chips. They had hay rides in the parking lot (which was cold), pumpkins for each child to decorate, and a bag of goodies. They also did pictures and bobbing for apples. We were the first to bob, so the water was still clean and I wasn't against it. We told Avri to reach in the water with her mouth and grab and apple. I got the camera ready and she pulled it up, first try without any trying at all! I couldn't believe it. She cheated because she grabbed the stem, but I was proud of her for being smart enough to think of that.
Talmage, on the other hand wasn't tall enough, so they kept bringing over more water to bring the level of the water up. Once that was done he still didn't get it, so he would just stick his face in the water. He wasn't really getting the point that you were supposed to TRY to get an apple. So we just gave him one and moved on.
We all had lots of fun and it wasn't too long, so mom and dad were happy.

Peepholes

Do you ever wish that you had a peephole into your child's bedroom? Would that be an invasion of a 2 year old's privacy? I sit here in the living room listening to Avri and Talmage. All I can hear are very large bumps and thumps, followed by uproarous laughter. I don't know whether to check it out or not. I know that if I go in there they will stop, and they are having fun, right? But if I don't will I go in later to find some expensive piece of furniture broken, or a large hole in the wall? Dilhemas. I guess I'll sit here and smile and be grateful that they are actually playing together and both of them are enjoying it.

High School Tag

I've been tagged (Thanks Amy!) about high school life!! Here goes.

1) Did you date someone from your school? Yeah, Kendall. We started dating the beginning of Junior Year, and the rest, as they say, is history.

2) What kind of car did you drive? I drove one of the ugliest old Chevy S10 pickups. It had a personality of its own. When we bought it for $100 it was painted blue and brown, and I think one other color, then my dad and I painted it dark green. But was I sure glad to have something to drive!

3) Did you pass your driver's license test the first time? I think so. I don't have any terrible memories of failure, so I'm pretty sure I did.

4) Were you a party animal? Not in the normal sense of the word party. I went to lots of stuff, but it was the good ole Utah Valley type fun party stuff.

5) Were you considered a flirt? Nope, not at all.

6) Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I was the president of the orchestra and I was in show choir (GO ENCORE!!).

7) Were you a nerd? Define nerd...okay, probably yes.

8) Were you on any varsity teams? No, I'm not terribly athletic.

9) Did you ever get expended or expelled? No, but I did get arrested once. :)

10) Can you still sing your fight song? I could probably do most of it with only a few dadada's.

11) Who were your favorite teachers? Miss Lambert was the BEST teacher that I think I ever had and I loved Mrs. P!! And who can compare to Mama Manu?

12) Where did you sit at lunch? On the steps, at a table, I don't know, where everyone else sat.

13) What is your school's full name? Lehi High School

14) School mascot and colors. Pioneers, or wagon wheel (the jury is still out on that one), purple and white. A little weird, huh?

15) Did you go to homecoming and who with? As a junior I went with Jeff Lew and as a senior, Kendall.

16) If you could go back and do it again, would you? I think I would. I really loved high school. It was a really good time in my life.

17) What do you remember most about graduation? That it was long and that I was grateful that I didn't have to speak and that my parents were really mad that no mention was made that I was valedictorian.

18) Where did you go on Senior Skip Day? I don't think we had one. We had a lame-o class.

19) Were you in any clubs? Yeah. National Honor Society (secretary), Yearbook(I guess that is more a class), Academic decathalon, Seminary Council (secretary again). I think that's it.

20) Have you gained weight since then? Unfortunately, yes. Lots. But I'm working on fixing that.
21) Who was your prom date? Kendall. Both Junior and Senior years.

22) Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Hopefully, it's a little ways away, but since Kendall and I graduated together it isn't too bad.

23) Did you have a job while in high school? I worked at Hogi Yogi and Teriyaki Stix for a while and I babysat as much as my schedule would allow.

I tag...Kristen, Kendra, Dannielle, Rachel, Holly, Sunny, Janie and anyone else who's brave enough to reveal that past!!