It's Joyful AND Triumphant!

Your eyes are not deceiving you - these are actual cherry TOMATOES from my garden. Not only did they survive, but they are yummy too! And how funny is it that I'm harvesting in the middle of November? There are still more to come, ripening on the vine. Oh, and by the way, my post title is a quote from a TV show. If any of you can guess the show and who says it, I might just send you a tomato:)

Tagged By Amy - MUUHAAAAAAAAW!

1. Where did you meet your husband? Fountain Green, Utah. Our BYU singles ward was having a social there (I think the Bishop's mother lived there or something). Joe was in line for food right behind me. I told him to try the crab salad I'd made, and he said he didn't like mayo, but I sat next to him to eat anyway because he was cute.

2. How long did you date before you got married? Well, after we met we dated for a couple of months, and then I told him "I just want to be friends". The funny thing is, we actually stayed friends, and continued to hang out occassionally. About a year later we went to a movie together, and I remember coming home that night thinking, "Now why did I break up with him?" That was in August. By Halloween we were engaged, and we married on January 8. So we knew each other a year and a half before we got married, but we only actually dated for about half a year.

3. How long have you been married? Since we were married in January of 2000 it's always easy to remember - coming on 9 years now.

4. What does he do that surprises you? Not much - I can read him like an open book. I guess it surprises me how patient he can be with me, and how much he puts up with.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? Where to start.....I love his hands and his eyes the most I guess.

6. What is his best quality? He always makes me laugh:) - He's the biggest geek I know (besides myself).

7. Does he have a nickname for you? No. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure how he normally addresses me.

8. What is his favorite food? Pizza, hands down - I think:) - yep, Pizza

9. What is his favorite sport? Biking, and he's a little obsessed lately, as I've mentioned in previous posts.

10. When and where did you first kiss? It was shortly after we started dating the second time around. We were at his brother's apartment.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? We love going out to dinner and a movie. And we love being outdoors biking, golfing, camping, whatever.

12. Do you have any children? 4 beautiful crazy ones - Cora, JT, Madelyn, and Alex

13. Does he have any hidden talents? He's an inventor at heart. He can fix anything, and most of the time he just makes it up as he goes a long, coming up with things that I would NEVER think of.

14. How old is he? 32 in January. I turn 34 in December. From December to January every year he teases me about being 3 years older than him instead of 2. He really thinks it's funny every year.

15. Who said 'I love you' first? I'm assuming that he did, because I just don't think I would have, but I really don't remember it.

16. What is his favorite music? He's got a very eclectic taste in music, but I'd say alternative.

17. What do you admire most about him? He's just a really, really good person. He's not perfect, but he is such a good example to me, and he inspires me to try harder.

18. What is his favorite color? Blue (I'm just guessing here - I actually don't think that he has a "favorite" color, but I like Blue, so close enough)

19. Will he read this? Not unless I read it to him. He leaves the blogging to me, but he likes that I do it.

20. Who do you tag? Whoever is feeling cheesey enough to do this one.

I LOVE YOU JOE!

JT is 6 years old!

We just had the best birthday ever! We had originally planned to have a birthday party at McDonald's with all of JT's friends......but then we had another idea. Joe and I heard about a local hotel in town that was doing a pajama party to help raise money for The Children's Miracle Network. They invited the children in the community and there families to come stay at their hotel for a discounted rate and 20 percent of that rate would go the children's miracle network. The last thing that any of my kids need is a bunch more toys that they won't play with, so we thought this might be a good alternative to a birthday party, since we couldn't afford to do both. We talked to JT about it, explaining that he wouldn't get any presents, except from Mom and Dad, but that we would be helping other children, and we would still have a fun time doing it. He liked the idea (and so did Cora), so we went ahead and made a reservation, hoping for the best - we were not disappointed. The Pajama Party started at 3:00 in the afternoon. We arrived at the hotel and they gave each of the kids T-shirts. In our room, which was one of the nicest that we've ever stayed in, was a goody basket with popcorn, candy, bracelets, and glow-in-the-dark necklaces, and temporary tattoos. They had a variety of activities for the kids downstairs, including a bounce house, cookie decorating, nail painting for the girls, face painting, and remote control cars, movies and popcorn, and a pizza dinner. They also had a drawing for different prizes (we won a Mexican dinner), and they gave all the kids certificates for free Happy Meals. We thought we'd brave the cold (about 80 degrees outside) and try the swimming pool, but we ended up in the hot tub instead. In the morning there was the best hot breakfast buffet I've ever had at a hotel.

It was all like a wonderful mini-vacation, and I didn't have to plan, carry out, or clean up any of it:) Cora said she wanted to do that for her birthday too, and I wish she could. Back at home, we made cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to JT.

We gave him a couple of video games, including Lego's Indiana Jones, which you can see he could hardly stop playing even to blow out his candles. We are ALL now addicted to it, but it's fun because we're all sitting around Together playing it as a Family, so it could be worse. We love our JT and we are so blessed to have him in our family. He is the funniest kid and is always making all of us laugh. He's so smart, and picks up things lightening quick. He's a cuddle bug and a wrestler. He's learning how to be a hard worker, and he loves to get the most out of life and enjoy every minute. We Love You JT! Happy Birthday!

Trunk-or-Treat

Tonight was our ward's Trunk-or-Treat. I love dressing up every year, and I make Joe dress up with me too. He's such a good sport. This year I really wanted us to be 80's punk rockers, and I really wanted him to have a mohawk, so I made him grow his hair out as long as he could possibly get away with in the military. It looked great!

I think we match pretty good.

Cora was a beautiful Southern Bell (her first choice was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz - hence the sparkly red shoes - but she changed her mind - after we bought the shoes, of course).

JT was a formidable Darth Vader (even without the mask, which you can't wear at the church).

Madelyn was a spunky Fairy (part of the night she wore a witches hat too).

Alex was a non-compliant Pumpkin (he kept that hat on for about 2 seconds).

And here's our whole family.

And just for fun, here are a couple of past halloweens.

2007 - Joe wasn't dress last year because I stole his costume at the last minute. I was supposed to be a mummy, and my costume just wouldn't stay on right. I one second place for the costume contest - it should have been Joe's

2006 - Frankenstein and his Bride. I thought we looked great.

2006 -Joe was missing from this one because he had language training in Hawaii. The kids were so dang cute that year......well, they always are.

Now I've got to start planning for next year. Yes, I'm serious. Happy Halloween!

Things are Clearer now

Well, our JT got glasses today. He was very excited about it, and he picked them out himself. You can't really tell in the picture, but they're blue. As his parents, we want him to always feel good about himself, so we can't help but worry that kids will make fun of him, but he doesn't seem worried about it. I'm paranoid about something happening to the glasses - they're not cheap ya know. But he does look so cute in them, doesn't he? And what do you know, he can see all the letters clearly now.

Random Sampler

I love October, I love the Fall, and I love Halloween. This week we carved pumpkins for our Family Home Evening activity.

The kids drew the kinds of jack-o-lantern faces they wanted on paper, and then I carved them out. But first, everyone had to help scoop out the pumpkin guts. Cora was being very careful and dainty with a spoon, but I finally got her to try it with her hand. Gross!

We've never roasted up the pumpkin seeds before, but this year I wanted to try it. Too bad, our oven died! Just what we need. Remember the nice pictures of my kitchen? Well, it's a construction zone again. Explanation. We have a wall oven and a separate cook top stove. I've always hated that they're separate, and the wall oven is tiny. The oven was going to cost $400 dollars to fix (just what you want to hear right before a string of birthdays and holidays). We knew that eventually we would have to replace the cooktop stove too, so we decided to just get a regular stove/oven and save ourself a lot of money. However, money saved = a lot of work and time. In order to install a new stove/oven, we have to cut out some of our cabinets and re-do them, and extend some of the flooring, and some other stuff. Here's what my kitchen looks like right now.

Anyway, Joe got started last night, and took off work today (good thing his class just graduated). It is a chore trying to keep Alex away from the excitement. He is just drawn to the tools, and the noise, and the tools, and the wood, and the tools. He loves to "fix" things. He "fixes" things a lot. He's very busy. The only time he's not as busy is when he's in bed or strapped in his high chair.

Oh Quirky Me

So I got tagged by Nicole, and I'm supposed to tell 6 unspectacular quirks about myself. As if you all don't already think I'm weird enough, now you're going to think I'm mental. This is just sad. Try to love me anyway.

Unspectacular quirk #1. This one is all Juli's fault, even though she probably doesn't even do it herself. Sometimes I take tweezers and I pull the hairs out of my legs one at a time. It's completely unproductive. I mean, it's not like I ever have time to tweeze my entire leg, let alone two of them. So I just create little bare patches on my leg. Yes, it hurts, but in a satisfying kind of way. Oh, and yes, I have tried waxing. I didn't like it. I know, I'm totally sick.

Unspectacular quirk #2. I can't stand having warm air on my face, so I NEVER sleep with my head under the covers, because then the warm air from my own breath drives me crazy. Even if I'm camping outside, I can't have my head inside of the sleeping bag, no matter how cold it is. In the winter, when I'm driving in the car, I have to have the heater blowing on my feet, not on my face. It makes me feel claustrophobic.

Unspectacular quirk #3. If I am just sitting, or laying down, and not moving or doing anything with my hands (like when I'm watching TV), then I HAVE to tap my fingers or toes, and I do mean I HAVE to. If there's music on, then it's usually to the beat, but I do it even when there's not music. A lot of times I don't even realize I'm doing it, it's just an unconscious movement, like a nervous tick or something. Joe teases me and says I have tourette's.

Unspectacular quirk #4. The temperature of my shower changes with the seasons. During the summer I like to take cool showers. Not cold, not warm, but cool. In the fall and spring they turn to warm-hot. And in the winter I like them almost-scalding-cook-my-insides-hot. This seems completely normal to me, rather than always taking a warm-hot shower. Don't all of you do this?

Unspectacular quirk

#5. I don't like wearing shoes or socks. I do when I have to, but I prefer to go bare foot. When I do wear shoes, it's mostly flip flops, which allow my feet to feel as bare as possible. I wear flip flops for most of the year, even when it's cold. A lot of times at night I sleep with my feet out of the covers, so they feel more bare. Oh my gosh, I'm so weird. I've never put shoes on my kids until after they learned how to walk, so I've passed my weirdness to them. They always want their shoes off. This is probably why I've never gotten into buying a lot of shoes, or caring about shoe fashion. I have 2 pairs of church shoes (both open toed), 1 pair of boots, 1 pair of walking/running shoes, 1 pair of regular closed-toed shoes, and 2 pairs of flip flops. Except for my flip flops, my shoes usually last Forever, so I guess it's a financially sound quirk.

Unspectacular quirk #6. When I have a calling at church I am Extremely well-organized. People always compliment me on how organized I am. Right now I'm the RS secretary, so this is right up my alley. I'm the same way when I have a job (other than being a stay-at-home-mom). However, this great talent of organization does not translate to my home life. My home is not so organized. A lot of the time my house is a complete disaster. Most people don't know this, because if somebody is coming over, I go into crazy-woman-cleaning-mode, and create the facade of an organized home. But Missy and Laurie, and maybe Amy have seen it at it's worse, so they can testify to the truth of what I'm saying. BUT, I'm trying, I'm really trying to get better. I WANT to be organized and it has been a long-standing goal of mine. Slowly, ever so slowly, I am getting better at it. I don't know if that qualifies as a “quirk”, but whatever, it's hard to come up with these.

Well, there you have it. Usually I don't tag people, but I can't embarrass myself like this and not make you do the same. So I'm tagging ALL of you. Here you are in alphabetical order – Adreann, Aleath, Amy and Amy and Amy (yes, there are three of you), Ashley, Harmony, Jeanette, Jullie, Laurie, Marissa, Missy, Niki, Rachel, Tara. Am I missing anyone? If we can't laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at?.....Well, we can laugh at each other. Good Luck, and I hope you're happy Nicole:)