Our Computer Came!

Our computer was delivered yesterday afternoon, and Brian set it up when he got home from school. I've been on it all morning long, putting pictures on and finishing our Disneyland Journal Blog. I'm so excited to be connected to the outside world again!

Here's the site for our Disneyland Blog. Enjoy!

Having a Great Time in Hawaii

Yesterday afternoon Alyssa found some confetti in the cupboard, and she scattered it all around the deck. Some of it was stars and moons, but most of it was palm trees and star fish. She ran into the living room, telling me that I just had to "come to Hawaii." I went out on the deck to find confetti everywhere, and two kids having a great time. We hula-ed and "Woo-hoo!"-ed a bit, and that concluded my first trip to Hawaii. Alyssa stayed there on an extended vacation yesterday afternoon, and she's back there now, enjoying her breakfast in the sunshine.

Here's Ethan enjoying the waves. He likes to jump in the water with all his clothes on, but then he avoids the pool when he's in his swimsuit.

Alyssa lounging on the "Hawaii Mat" while Ethan hands her a palm tree

Ethan on the jet ski

Tagged by Brooke and Christina, So Here I Go

Move 'em all up, take off the first, add yours to the bottom.

1) Melissa
2) 4 B's In A Pod
3) Life According to the PRP
4) Brooklet
5) Carrie's Burden

Then tag five new.
I'm officially tagging:
1. Shaille
2. Kim
3. Erin
4. Nathan
5. Mike

What were you doing ten years ago?
I was finishing up my sophomore year of high school. I was newly-turned 16, and I had gone on my first date (TWIRP with the Draney boy, sorry I can't think of his name right now). Being sixteen, I was about to start my first year of being a counselor at Partners-N-Pals, which is the summer camp that Brian and I met at a few years later.

What were you doing one year ago?
One year ago Brian had just gotten out of school for the summer, and we spent most of that time partying in the Tri-Cities.

Five Snacks You Enjoy:
1. Peanut Butter M&M's
2. Ruffle potato chips (it's gotta be ruffles or they just don't dip right) and jalapeno artichoke heart dip
3. No-bake peanut butter and chocolate cookies
4. Ice Cream
5. Popcorn or Kettlecorn (Ron's Original, of course)

Five Songs You Know All The Words To:
1. I Am A Child of God
2. Most of the Songs from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack (Brian and I had a good time with that on the drive home last weekend)
3. Song 9 on the Exit cd
4. Pear Juice (It's a song that Brian and Alyssa made up together, and they sing it ALL the time)
5. Harder to Breathe by Maroon 5

Five Things You Would Do If You Were A Millionaire:
1. Pay off all our school loans
2. Buy a beautiful house out in the country with a ballroom
3. Travel all over the world
4. Hire a maid and someone to do our laundry, because I just can't keep up with it
5. Visit Disneyland at least once a year

Five Bad Habits:
1. Talking with my mouth full
2. Forgetting to say please to Alyssa or Brian
3. Planning for the future and forgetting to be happy with the present
4. Leaving the dishes for the morning (but I'm working on that one)
5. I like to be on time (good habit) but I get stressed out when we go places, because I'm rushing around beforehand to leave on time

Five Things You Like Doing:
1. Reading
2. Watching movies
3. Sewing
4. Painting (not artsy painting, I like painting the rooms in our house)
5. Cooking, especially desserts or new main dishes

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again:
1. Stirrup pants
2. short shorts
3. Those clips from the early nineties that you used to bunch your shirt up on the side
4. And those scrunchy-type clips that you used on the back of your dress to show how skinny you were... or weren't
5. The peach dress

Five Favorite Toys:
1. Computer and Internet (Technically Brian's laptop right now, since our new computer hasn't come yet)
2. Digital camera
3. Sewing machine
4. Kitchen Aid
5. DVD player

Hundreds and Hundreds of 'Shrooms

This weekend we went to the Jacks' cabin to hunt for mushrooms. "Hunt for mushrooms?" you ask, "Don't you just pick them up from the store?" Nope, we search the forest for mushrooms, and then we eat them, and they're quite good. The first time I went mushrooming, I was worried that it would be boring. You walk around the forest, looking at the ground...and that's just about it. But when you find that first mushroom, and then another and another, you get so excited.

It's not just any mushroom we hunt for. The mushrooms we get don't look like your typical mushroom with the skinny stem and umbrella-like top with red and white polka dots. We look for morel mushrooms, which look like this:


Then we soak them in salt water to kill any bugs on them (which there weren't any this year), dip them in egg and flour, and fry them up. It's so yummy!

This year we were finding mushroom after mushroom and when we usually find 50-75 in one trip, this year we found well over 300. When someone would say, "I've got one!" you would then hear "two...three...four..." all the way up to nine or ten. Alyssa even found her share of mushrooms. She followed Grandpa Jacks around, and her job was to pick up the mushroom after he cut the stem, but sometimes she would point out another mushroom that he had missed.

Brian Makes the Best Ribs

Yesterday we invited some friends over for a barbecue. We had 80+ degree weather all week long, then Saturday it dropped to 65. We still ate on the deck, though, and it didn't really feel cold unless a breeze went by, which didn't happen too often.

Brian and I made his famous ribs. He's very good at finding ribs with lots of meat on them, and then he's really good at cooking them. I wasn't a meat person until I married him. In fact, the first time we wen t to Rodigio's when we were dating, I felt so sick afterward. Then when I was pregnant and needed iron, I think I out-ate Brian one time.

Another bummer with the barbecue is that we invited a family with children especially so Alyssa would have people to play with, and she came down with what Ethan had earlier this week. We thought that his fever was from teething, because he didn't throw up, but when Alyssa woke up feeling unwell, we knew it had to be something else. It was really weird how it happened, though. She woke up not feeling well and ate breakfast laying down on the living room floor, then she seemed to feel better. When she complained of a headache, I gave her some children's ibuprofen and she fell asleep for a while. She woke up saying she felt great, and she played with Ethan, and then played with the kids when they came over. She got really cold all of a sudden and started huddling in front of the heater (which she turned on) in the toy room. We sent her to bed, and she fell asleep. She didn't get a fever until later that night.

She seems to be feeling better today, and she's not as warm as she was last night. We're debating which of us will be going to general conference today to learn who the new stake presidency will be. We've got a whole pan of ribs leftover from last night, and I'm so excited for dinner. We know Alyssa must be feeling better, because she actually woke up this morning asking for ribs for breakfast.

I'm Blogging Again!

After writing the last post, I took a look at all my favorite blogs, and it felt so good! I started singing the "I'm Blogging Again" song, and Alyssa joined in, writing the chorus. She sang, "Blog, blog, blogging, blog," over and over again.

So I'm going to try to steal Brian's laptop more often, so I can stay connected better. I don't know how he'll stake to that, though; he uses it so much to study, play, and talk to his classmates. Even now, he's laying on the couch, looking so lonely. It's like I cut off a body part.

I asked Brian if it's possible to put our Disneyland pics on the laptop, even if it's temporary, so I can at least get them on my blog. By the way, we had a FABULOUS and magical time in Disneyland and I can't wait to blog about it!

Sweet Surprise

Wow! My last post was on April 3rd, and it's already May 17th! Our computer is broken, so right now I'm typing on Brian's laptop, which he doesn't hand over very often. So I don't know when my next post will be. We're working on fixing the family computer, though, so hopefully I'll get my daily access to the outside world soon.

Brian told me this morning that even though he was getting out of school at twelve, he would probably stay on campus to study. I was a little bummed about that, especially since everyone we call to invite over doesn't answer their phones. We're lonely! But he called soon after twelve and said he was not feeling motivated, and he was stopping on the way home for ice cream. Apparently, ice cream was too expensive, but "there were a lot of other things on sale!" Brian and Alyssa kept me out of the kitchen while they baked a surprise chocolate cake, complete with chocolate frosting and Hershey Kisses on top. Alyssa loves when Brian involves her in his surprises, and I love eating them.