Weirdest really great dream

I am in a hotel in IN and I just had the weirdest best dream ever. My friend Elizabeth will understand it.

My dream started off that I was in the basement of my RS president from church, but you know how dreams shift and suddenly you are some place else different.....well it shifted and group of ladies and I were in a building, a Sam's Club size building and it was more like a Flea market antique shop than a Sam's Club. AMAZING! I normally don't shop at places like this ....but really it was such as inspirational, inspiring for decorating that is. This shop had all of these amazing pieces in it. Most of what I looked at in my dream where armoire/wardrobe looky things. I think I ended up picking out about 5-6 that I just felt like I had to take home with me. One that I really had to have I even had the perfect space picked out in the house for it. BUT I realized that being prego I wouldn't be able to do what I wanted to it and was so hoping that Kris would share in my vision. I even came across the mirror. It was the kind that you would have horizontal and it had a very think detailed frame that was painted a creamy yellow color. It was about 4 feet wide and had Daisey craved in the frame and inside of each Daisey was a small antique key that was painted gold. Then it was set up for a quilt-having the bar at the bottom. I thought that I just had to have it, it would be so perfect my craft room that doesn't exist yet. I could put all of my ribbon spools on the pole that was ment for a quilt. It was slightly thicker than the hole in the ribbon spools but I knew I figure out a way to fix that. Everything had stickers on them. I thought that they were numbers for an auction and started to write each of them down and then someone told me that they were price tags. The most expensive piece that I wanted was on $147. WOW. It was a big wooden thing too. I was imaging Kris' face I came home with 5-6 huge piece of furniture that I had plans for. I think the funniest part was that I imaged what angle I would take a picture of each of pieces and then post them on this blog and have a caption under each picture explaining what I was thinking of doing with it and then saying "Elizabeth what would you do?" There really are many more details to my dream but you get the picture...

Sweet, Sour and in-between

Sweet: I wish I could say it like Kris does just so that you could all hear it....Today was great!!!! Or at least here is my sweet.... I got talk to Tyler for over an hour-which I have never done. He gave me a warm fuzzy too. In all the years that I have known him I don't think that we have ever talked that long. He called just a few minutes before I was going to head out the door for a Missionary BBQ thing....I so didn't care if I was late....as long as it was for Tyler. And for a quick up date he has not gone to Germany for surgery and he is waiting until he gets to back to base after his vacation home with family to have the surgery.

Sour: We had some sad news too, Judy (my mom-in-law) had a mild heart-attack today, but she is doing well. We are headed down to see her in the morning. I got the message from Phil when I got home from the BBQ-like normal it took me almost an hour after getting home to even check the machine....I think that I will make it more of a habit to check it right when I get home. I worry about it, she is just the type of person that says "I'm fine, really I am". I will post more after seeing her.

In-between-I am having weird feelings about being 30 in 12 days (really I am not counting the days-I had to look at the calender). Not that I have ever had a hard time with THE BIG 30, but I remember my mom being 30 and not that I thought that she was old but I don't feel as grown up as I thought that she was at this age, or maybe it is that I still don't want to grow up in an odd way. 30 is like really being an official adult. Does that make sense? The 20's are fun-what are 30's? I guess I will soon find out.

The kids, I have to mention them of course...since has been awhile since the last post....they are doing great. Elaine lost another tooth. The has lost the four bottom ones and none on the top yet but one of those is loose. Drew is still just a happy boy.... and Izzy is is amazing me more and more with how she is growing-growing up both in a physical and mental way. I should elaborate on them more, but I am way tired and a good book is calling my name.....I really have to retire for the night so that I can do more laundry in the morning before leaving for Indiana.

OUCH!!!

We had our first "boy" oops today. Poor Drew. He was standing on the arm of the love seat and Izzy jumped up onto the love seat knocking Drew off of it and he landed on the arm of sofa-right where it counts!!! I rushed over to comfort him...(I was on the phone) and all I could do was laugh! How mean am I? All I could think was "Please don't ask me to kiss it?" Which as happened in our family before. So after he was better Izzy and I were in the kitchen and talking about how Drew was doing, and what we should do to make it feel better. She runs into the living room and says "Drew I am going to give you a hug and kiss it!!!" I had to start laughing again....we always apologize with a hug and an "I'm sorry" in the house and she really thought that the kiss would make up for it hurting so bad. She really couldn't understand why she couldn't give Drew's owie a kiss....to her she was thinking that it would be the best way to show she was sorry....

Butt or no Butt....

In our family you either have no butt or a bubble butt. I never had a butt growing up, Elaine and Drew take after me. Well now that I am adult I have a little junk in the trunk-okay more a than a little when I am pregnant, everything wants to catch up and be as big as the belly. BUT my kids still being young don't have that issue. Once when Elaine was being babysat as a baby she had a messy diaper and it got changed, but later she was teased (in a very fun way) that she had a board with a crack-no cheeks what so ever. Yes her legs run right into her back.
Then came Izzy-who has quit the fleshy bum as we call it. I love it. It is perfect. She is getting a little old for this but she gets her bummed pinched and we call it a fleshy bum. this been ever since she was born....we might have to stop she will get a complex about it. Ever noticed that children are so honest....a couple of weeks ago, after shower time, she got a "fleshy bum" pinch and then I turned around to get something out of a clothes basket and she gave my bum a pinch and said "squishy bum!" Now that is something that you want to here. I guess my bum is catching up to the belly quicker than I thought.
Drew came and sat down on my lap this afternoon and I complained that he had no butt.....he response is "yes I do...." and pulled down his pants to show me that yes indeed he does has a butt-a very flat butt. Nothing like being mooned by your 5 year old son-good thing he only pulled them part way down-just enough to prove that there was something in there......and he has no sence of modesty what so ever.

Pink or Blue, and an unwelcome visitor

Blule, blue, blue. We have had quite the eventful day. The ultrasound was great. We have quite the silly little guy-he doesn't like to have his picture taken. We had a clear view of the boy parts, but he didn't want us to see much else. He kept putting is arms into an X and kept them crossed whereever the tech. was trying to view things. Everything looks normal and I LOVE MY DOCTOR!!! He wont let me go overdue...I am so excited about this....all of my kids are exactly a week late. Doc even said that he would induce me before the 16th if my body was ready, and I am not due until the 18th. Love it, love it, love it!!!!

We had an unwelcome visitors tonight. I have a habit of shutting the garage door every time right after I pull in the van but for some reason tonight it got left open-might be the prego brain. Kris and I had gotten the kids to bed and the girl kept acting up, I was hearing all of these really weird noises from the side of the house that there room is on. We even hollered at them that they needed to go to bed and stop goofing off. Soon one of the neighbor girls and a friend came and knocked on the door and said that we had a raccoon in our garage. So we went to investigate and sure enough we have a baby raccoon in the garage. I guess the mom was hit by a car and now all the babies are running around the neighborhood and the neighbor's cat chased one into our garage. The raccoon ended up under the wheel well and will not come out. We have moved the car out to the driveway. We have tried a bunch of things to get this demonic thing out of the car. Seriously-the raccoon is mean, and I mean really really MEAN!!! Even called Animal Control-no luck we just have to wait it out. When I went to move the car it came after me-I image it was funny site for the neighbors to see pregnant me running across the lawn screaming because a raccoon was charging me. From everything that we gather if the raccoon is big enough to hiss and fight back it knew that we were a threat to it and it would not budge. So the car is in the driveway until we are sure that our unwelcome visit is gone. It reminded me of the squirrel story....for those who haven't read it....I will add it on to the end of this blog. If you are in the mood it is a funny read.

Squirrel Story
We always knew there was something sinister about squirrels...Neighborhood Hazard (or: Why the Cops Won't Patrol Brice Street Anymore) If you need a laugh, here it is.
Author: Daniel Meyer
I never dreamed slowly cruising on my motorcycle through a residential neighborhood could be so incredibly dangerous! Little did I suspect ...I was on Brice Street - a very nice neighborhood with perfect lawns and slow traffic. As I passed an oncoming car, a brown furry missile shot out from under it and tumbled to a stop immediately in front of me. It was a squirrel, and must have been trying to run across the road when it encountered the car. I really was not going very fast, but there was no time to brake or avoid it -- it was that close. I hate to run over animals, and I really hate it on a motorcycle, but a squirrel should pose no danger to me. I barely had time to brace for the impact. Animal lovers, never fear. Squirrels, I discovered, can take care of themselves! Inches before impact, the squirrel flipped to his feet. He was standing on his hind legs and facing my oncoming Valkyrie with steadfast resolve in his little beady eyes. His mouth opened, and at the last possible second, he screamed and leapt! I am pretty sure the scream was squirrel for, "Banzai!" or maybe, "Die you gravy-sucking, heathen scum!" The leap was nothing short of spectacular ... as he shot straight up, flew over my windshield, and impacted me squarely in the chest. Instantly, he set upon me. If I did not know better, I would have sworn he brought 20 of his little buddies along for the attack. Snarling, hissing, and tearing at my clothes, he was a frenzy of activity. As I was dressed only in a light T-shirt, summer riding gloves, and jeans this was a bit of a cause for concern. This furry little tornado was doing some damage!
Picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and leather gloves, puttering at maybe 25 mph down a quiet residential street, and in the fight of his life with a squirrel. And losing .. I grabbed for him with my left hand. After a few misses, I finally managed to snag his tail. With all my strength, I flung the evil rodent off to the left of the bike, almost running into the right curb as I recoiled from the throw. That should have done it. The matter should have ended right there. It really should have. The squirrel could have sailed into one of the pristinely kept yards and gone on about his business, and I could have headed home. No one would have been the wiser. But this was no ordinary squirrel. This was not even an ordinary angry squirrel. This was an EVIL MUTANT ATTACK SQUIRREL OF DEATH ! Somehow he caught my gloved finger with one of his little hands and, with the force of the throw, swung around and with a resounding thump and an amazing impact, he landed squarely on my back and resumed his rather antisocial and extremely distracting activities. He also managed to take my left glove with him! The situation was not improved. Not improved at all. His attacks were continuing, and now I could not reach him. I was startled to say the least. The combination of the force of the throw, only having one hand (the throttle hand) on the handlebars, and my jerking back unfortunately put a healthy twist through my right hand and into the throttle. A healthy twist on the throttle of a Valkyrie can only have one result. Torque. This is what the Valkyrie is made for, and she is very, very good at it. The engine roared and the front wheel left the pavement. The squirrel screamed in anger. The Valkyrie screamed in ecstasy. I screamed in ... well ... I just plain screamed.
Now picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a slightly squirrel-torn-t-shirt, wearing only one leather glove, and roaring at maybe 50 mph and rapidly accelerating down a quiet residential street on one wheel and with a demonic squirrel on his back. The man and the squirrel are both screaming bloody murder. With the sudden acceleration I was forced to put my other hand back on the handlebars and try to get control of the bike. This was leaving the mutant squirrel to his own devices but I really did not want to crash into somebody's tree, house, or parked car. Also, I had not yet figured out how to release the throttle ... my brain was just simply overloaded. I did manage to mash the back brake, but it had little effect against the massive power of the big cruiser. About this time the squirrel decided that I was not paying sufficient attention to this very serious battle (maybe he is an evil mutant NAZI attack squirrel of death), and he came around my neck and got INSIDE my full-face helmet with me. As the faceplate closed part way, he began hissing in my face. I am quite sure my screaming changed intensity. It had little effect on the squirrel, however. The RPMs on The Dragon maxed out (since I was not bothering with shifting at the moment) so her front end started to drop. Now picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a very raggedly torn T-shirt, wearing only one leather glove, roaring at probably 80 mph, still on one wheel, with a large puffy squirrel's tail sticking out of the mostly closed full-face helmet.
By now the screams are probably getting a little hoarse. Finally I got the upper hand ... I managed to grab his tail again, pulled him out of my helmet and slung him to the left as hard as I could. This time it worked ...sort-of. Spectacularly sort-of . so to speak. Picture a new scene. You are a cop. You and your partner have pulled off on a quiet residential street and parked with your windows down to do some paperwork. Suddenly a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in jeans, a torn T-shirt flapping in the breeze, and wearing only one leather glove, moving at probably 80 mph on one wheel, and screaming bloody murder roars by and with all his strength throws a live squirrel grenade directly into your police car. I heard screams. They weren't mine... I managed to get the big motorcycle under control and dropped the front wheel to the ground. I then used maximum braking and skidded to a stop in a cloud of tire smoke at the stop sign of a busy cross street. I would have returned to fess up (and to get my glove back). I really would have. Really. Except for two things. First, the cops did not seem interested or the slightest bit concerned about me at the moment. When I looked back, the doors on both sides of the patrol car were flung wide open. The cop from the passenger side was on his back, doing a crab walk into somebody's front yard, quickly moving away from the car. The cop who had been in the driver's seat was standing in the street and was aiming a riot shotgun at his own police car. So the cops were not interested in me. They often insist to "let the professionals handle it" anyway. That was one thing. The other? Well, I could clearly see shredded and flying pieces of foam and upholstery from the back seat. But I could also swear I saw the squirrel in the back window, shaking his little fist at me. That is one dangerous squirrel. And now he has a patrol car. A somewhat shredded patrol car ... but it was all his. I took a deep breath, turned on my turn-signal, made a gentle right turn off of Brice Street, and sedately left the neighborhood.
I decided it was best to just buy myself a new pair of gloves. And some Band-Aids.

Tyler to Germany, sick kids, and Enrichment.

I was happy when Drew was able to make it to his last day of school. We could only find 2 right flip flops for Izzy to wear. I have no idea how this happened we are good about keeping the shoes by the front door-sometimes they make it into the closet! It was a funny site. I dropped Izzy off at a sitter and then went to his "End of the Year" Party. It was crazy in a slightly fun way, but at least I know that he really enjoyed it. Afterwards I picked up Izzy and went to make a phone call on my cell only to discover that the battery had died. As soon as I got it plugged in and on there was a voicemail from the school nurse and Elaine had been in the nurses office for over an hour with a high fever-poor thing, 102.7. I canceled lunch plans and then went to pick her up. Not thinking much about her having a fever-as soon as we were pulling out of the parking space she complaining-"Mommy please slow down." Then I knew that it just wasn't a fever-we needed the bucket. She slept a good part of yesterday. When she calls for us I can't hear her. I need to run out and get a new baby monitor just for the sick kids-I thought that I would be able to wait until it was closer to have the new baby to need another one of those. I am really hoping that the fever that Izzy had last week was her spout of whatever this is. AND I can not get sick until Thursday after 8! Ah, wouldn't it be nice if we could actually plan when it was convenient for us to get sick. It always happens to me when Kris is out of town on business.

On to a good thing-Tyler is either on is way or in Germany to have surgery on his thumb. I am very excited about this, Germany is so much safer than Iraq, and a hospital bed is much better than jumping out of airplanes into odd places. I am curious to know where he will be going when he is ready to leave the hospital-does he get to come stateside or back to Iraq to come home with the rest of his group? Either way I know that stateside will be soon and safe.

We also had Enrichment night last night. It was a really good evening. I sliced up my hand pretty good making a fruit tray. I even had a little thought before hand that I was going to cut my hand, but I of course realized that I do know how to handle a knife-too bad that Kiwi had such tuff skin! So Enrichment was about Emergency preparedness, and we got lots of handouts and made these burner things. I haven't ever really known much about this kind of thing but I am sure glad that I am getting things ready. I am looking forward to having our 72 hours kits ready. The things they had for examples were great-lost of stuff that I would have never thought of. Living in Illinois we have tornado warnings occasionally. I really liked how they had things set up Michigan-they gave one siren for your warning to go to take cover and then another for the all clear. Here they just give one. I take the phone and call the fire department to see if its all clear after awhile. The kids of course think hiding in the basement is great fun.

I am board today-so of course I have rambled on and on about things that most of you don't care about, but know that enjoyed my time.

The logic of boys

Do you boys always think like this, or is it just Drew? I mean just think about the turn of events here and realize it is very logical, but Drew tends to be a bit of a different thinker. Saturday all the kids played outside and did a bunch of different things....sometime during the day Drew bumped his head. Later on that evening he ended up with a fever and of course we gave him medicine to bring it down. Fast forward a few more hours he is in bed and has thrown up. You have to understand that Drew has never talked much, just recently has he started to speak well and tell events or stories or even explain things to us. This morning we had an interesting conversation....

Me: "Drew are you feeling better?"
Drew: "Yeah I'm feeling better...." then he think for a couple of seconds and says "I bumped my head (pointing to his head), I got a fever (holding his head), then you gave me medicine and my fever went down my head down my neck and came out of my mouth (rushing his hand down the side of his head down his neck and then out the side of his mouth)!"

I just about laughed out loud! I had to at least snicker....what logic. I know this might sound silly but I was really excited that he was putting the chain of events together-even if it it was wrong at least he putting things together.....which is a start.

What a GREAT Sunday!!!

Heads up this is going to be a very random blog. Today has been great! The weather is finally starting to get warm (80*-ish), the sky is blue and it has those perfect white puffy clouds in it-you know the kind that kids always draw if they draw clouds? The Sunday lessons were good ones. AND Elaine gets to give a talk next week in Primary. Something about how the Temple has been a blessing in her family life. She has even planned to bring in some pics of us when we went to the Temple with her. Even though Drew was sick last night and still today the entire weekend has been pretty good. I am bummed about him being sick I am really hoping that he doesn't have to miss the last two days of school. Kris normally stays up all night on Saturday night to get himself back on the night schedule-so Drew got to stay up with dad, which I loved-I got a full night of sleep. We got some of the basement organized yesterday. When I went grocery shopping Kris and the kids managed to get all the boxes of books placed on the bookcase. From what I understand the kids weren't really that much of a help. Having 10 less boxes in the basement is at least a start. It is starting to feel like we might actually be really moved in here soon. Even though we have been here for 18 months the house still looks the same as is it did when this picture was taken.....no addition to the landscaping...maybe when the house in MI sells. Last weekend we got the cradle and changing table upstairs to our room. I know that it might seem a little soon for that kind of stuff, but I love having everything ready. So my project for next weekend is to go through all the bins downstairs and dig out the appropriate clothes for the new baby.....we find out Thursday what we are having. I am one of those people that has to know. When I was pregnant with Drew the doc wouldn't give me another ultrasound (I had one at 12 weeks) so I flew to CA and had one there with someone who I knew. I just have to know, then I will be able to start talking about names-and that I am excited about too.

So enough of my random thoughts....here is another favorite recipe.....well at least it is one of Kris's. It is one of those guys recipes.

Oatmeal Cookie Bars

350* 25-30 minutes
3 cups Quick-cooking rolled oats

2 eggs
2 1/2 cup flour

4 teaspoons vanilla
1 ½ teaspoon salt (I always skip this)

1-14 oz. Can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
2 cups of brown sugar

½ cup chopped nuts
Beat 1 cup of softened butter for 30 seconds, add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients gradually. Heat together sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter over low heat, stirring till smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in nuts and the remaining 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Put 2/3 oat mixture in the bottom of 9x13 (or slightly larger) ungreased pan. Spread chocolate mixture over dough. Dot with remaining dough-flatten it with your hands first. Bake in preheated oven.

I really need to remember the camera

I was just finishing up Lasagna and Elaine came into the kitchen....she had put on her own make-up. I don't even know that I can describe how she looked. Dark purple eye shadow from lash-line to brow. It wasn't really dark when I wore it, but on her it looked like the kind that would be the dark purple - the kind that you would have used as an accent color or only on the lash line.....I don't even remember it looking that dark in the package. I didn't have any old blush to give them to play with so she used bronzing powder for the blush....they were some tan looking checks! She is a natural pale girl and she she had some spanish cheeks. Next came the bright BRIGHT pink lips. Done perfectly. As a matter of fact everything was placed perfect....but heart just broke at what she said next......"Mom, now do I look pretty enough for the missionaries?" We are having the Elders from church over for dinner tonight. How do explain to a seven year old that you do not need to like a Broadway Star to be pretty. I grabbed a couple of wipes and took her in the bathroom and explained that the best way for a seven year old to show how pretty she can be is to let us see what color her cheeks really are, and what shade of pretty pink her lips are without lipstick and whatever else I could think of. Then I took all the makeup off from one side of her face and talked about how pretty each thing was compared to the other side because we could see it and with all of that makeup on we couldn't see it before. When we were done we had some more meaningful conversation and as I sit here I wonder if it sank in? I sure hope so.

As I was done with Elaine I went into the kitchen to put dinner in the oven. Izzy was standing at the counter on a folding chair with her head down and I noticed she has Parmesan cheese all over the upper left side of her shirt. I asked her "Izzy what are you eating?" and she pointed to the bottle of Parmesan cheese as she lifted her head. THEN I saw the huge clown smile across her face made from cheese and her puffy chipmunk checks full of cheese and she also had cheese in her hair-both sides. I think she must have pulled the side of the can that doesn't have just the holes open and dumped as much as she could into her mouth! Cheese all over her, the chair, and the floor. I can't imagine that tasting good? Now that I have dinner is in the oven both of the girls are cleaned up and the kitchen has been swept I better go make the salad! I am sure that I will find another mess when I go back into the other room!

Another Happy Happy DAY!

Tyler (my younger brother) gets to come home in July from Iraq!!!!!!! I know short blog, but I had to share the info.

Lots and lots of favorites

Today I was sitting at the computer looking at the pictures that I have saved on the computer. Here are my favorites! I might only be able to posts them in multiple posts ....

Such a goof.

She feel asleep like this on the couch....she must get it from my side of the family-we can sleep anywhere in some really weird positions....

...more pics...

This is just another one of those pics where I love the expression. If anyone reading this knows Missy Dunkin (Osbon) this is a total Missy expression.

This has always just been one of my favorites-it is just a cute pic.

This is a pic of Elaine either before or after we took her to her first Purdue game. She loved it. We had season tickets that year and the cheerleaders are right in front of that section and they came up and got Elaine and took her down on the field with them. She loved it, she even tried to dance along with them. Too bad we didn't bring the camera to the game!

Izzy insisted that Michelle take a picture of her feet-and I love feet pictures....well I love cute feet pictures.

more pics...

Elaine was a Bears Cheerleader for Halloween one year and Drew of course was a Bears football player.

Inside the freezer this time.

This is the typical spot for Elaine's cat Seven-Eight-Nine.

I just love Drews blue eyes in the pic.

This pic was taken the day after I had Izzy and we were still in the hospital. Drew climbed up on the bed and took her out of my arms. In doing he didn't turn her around just had her kind of laying on top of him. It took us awhile to convince him that we needed to turn her over and we could take a picture. He was so excited to be holding her. I think this is a great expression or emotion on his face.

last ones...

...

I just liked this one because he had such a cute look on his face. This was an Easter picture, not sure which Easter-but still Easter.

I love the pic of Izzy and the Doc that delivered her just because you can really see what chubby checks she had.

Drew was always inside of something.

Elaine and Izzy both had there hair up for a change on the same day, and what cute faces.

This must have been one of the few times that Elaine had her hair up in piggies when we lived in MI. She didn't do it often. As soon as it would dry she would pull the piggies and have this funky bump thing in her hair and it would drive nuts.

Dissapointed in the Idol results? Huh, what?

I know that it is silly of me, but I loved DAVID COOK and I am excited that he was the winner. Last Tuesday night I went to a Tastefully Simple party and it was a joke that we all had to eat in hurry so that we could catch American Idol. This was a group of Mormon women, all us but the demonstrator. We were all hoping that Cook would win, except for the demonstrator. Isn't that weird that everyone Mormon there was going for Cook? I keep hearing that people are disappointed in the results....huh? I don't get it. I will admit that David Archuleta was a great singer, but he was not a great performer. He will sell records but not nearly as many as David Cook. I would love to see Archuleta produce Church music. I think that he would be very suited for it. Maybe it was just that Cook sang more of what I like in music. So now that I went off my American Idol rant give me your opinion on who you wanted to win and why.

One of those days....I need chocolate....lots and lots of chocolate

I am having one of those days....you know the kind were nothing really too bad happens but just little things drive you nuts....yup one of those days. It started off great. I woke from having a great dream about David Cook-the only detail I will tell is that he is a really nice guy and very respectful. Get your mind out of the gutter too. Once my great dream feeling wore off I realized that I really wasn't feeling the greatest. I managed to do a few loads of laundry and get some dishes done, but basically stopped after that. I laid down on the couch for the rest of day. Maybe that is why Izzy got restless right after dinner. She decided to share some of her art work with us.....on the wall. Four circles right above the couch and below the painting. I tried to clean the wall, it didn't work. My rubbing just made the picture smear. So we are going to have repaint the wall....funny thing I had the painter use expensive washable paint. He got a discount but before his discount it was $45 a gallon. Too bad the walls are so textured, I think that is why it didn't come off. So after discovering the wall I turned and discovered the floor......

I have a friend Elizabeth, she is from Canada. She had a great day with some girlfriends awhile ago and called it a growing day. I found it funny. I think days like today are growing days for me....I will survive. I hear that when your children are grown, days like today make you laugh-will someone please laugh at this so that I don't cry....





These two pictures are Izzy's hand artwork on the wall....



See how part of this one if blurry-we are going to have to paint. This crayon isn't coming off of washable paint. YUP, not budging.



The floor after I discovered it before I cleaned it.... red, black, green and purple



The cleaner that I used to clean it. Great stuff, get it at Target.




The floor after it was cleaned.









I must say I really really love this cleaner. I want to go greener on things, but I don't care what this cleaner has in it.....I will use it. You should too-it is GREAT!!! Thanks for getting it the first time Mom.

I have had one other experience like this.....I was going to post a pic but I can't seem to find. If I come across it sometime I will post it. Drew painted the couch, the floor and the speakers in the living room before anyone else woke up. 12 colors on the couch-just dumped the entire bottle of 12 different colors right onto the couch. Good thing I always buy washable paint-so worth the extra money.....well normally it is.

Special Olympics

Drew was invited to participate in a Special Olympics program last Saturday. We went and it was confusing and not at all what I thought that it was going to be, but he had a great time and was even more excited when we arrived and he found his friend Carter.

On another note, my cousin Michelle and I have decided to have a "family reunion" we are going to make invitation and everything. I am actually really excited, I hope that people from CA come. We are giving plenty of notice so that they can fly or drive, and even make sure that they can get time off from work.

The summer is filling up fast....I love having a busy summer. Kris's family wants to take family pictures and has been trying to do so for a long time-since before Christmas. It would be nice to see everyone-hope it works out.

Name Update

I gave Kris the list of names on the way out to dinner tonight......
Addison was okay
Alyssa is a no
Olivia is a no, and not just a no but a heck no
Ashton was okay
Allison was a no
Aleaha was a no
Ashley was a NO
Avery was okay
Ilene was no
Ireland was a no (this one is really growing on me quickly)

Funny thing, Missy liked the same names as Kris.

All of the boys were no's well.....
Evan, Olson, and Austin are maybes-if he was drunk. AND since we know that isn't going to happen, I guess we have to have a girl!!! Or do some quick thinking.

Part of our conversation in the car was me insisting that we start to talk about names and Kris saying "Call 1-800-tiffany......". I think Tiff and I will have some fun picking out names....what do think Tiff?

Names

I just can't help it I have to talk about names and Kris really is getting better, but give me some help. Here what I have come up with for today. I do like them, but I am sure that I will add to and cross off from this list. Hey at least I have the list now instead of just keeping them in my head!

Boy Names
Allen
Ashton (growing on me more and more)
Austin
Evan (love it, and have for awhile, I don't think is too fond of this one)
Olson
Isaac
Adam
Aaron
Alec
Ivan

Girl Names
Addison
Alyssa
Olivia (Kris really does hate this one)
Ashton
Allison
Aleaha (not sure of the spelling)
Ashley (so so)
Avery (so so)
Ilene (not so much anymore)
Ireland

So this list has not been shown to Kris yet, but I am sure that most of them will be scratched! He is so picky.....and then of course you have to have middle name that sounds good with the first name and goes with Brletich.

Thanks for your help-looking forward to getting some additional ideas or just place dislikes on opinions. Really I do want them, that is your opinions!

I miss Sundays and Garlic Chicken

I miss Sundays. Just that. (I am in a bad mood so forgive me if the sounds like I am complaining...I am). I used to love Sundays, they were my favorite day of the week. As family we would get up and get ready for church, come home and have some type of quick lunch and then some would take naps it would kind of be lazy afternoon. It didn't always happen but I would try to read the next week lessons for church, and we would always have a big meal. I loved having people come over in the afternoon to enjoy the slow pace of the day and each others company. It was the perfect day to have the missionaries over. Just a slow, reverent, relaxing day. A great way to start the rest of the week off. The week days are always so hurried. I really miss my Sundays. You see Kris works Sunday night....it is awful. We come home from church and he goes to bed. Without someone to share the family time and relaxations of a Sunday they are just no fun anymore. The kids run wild (why don't they relax?). There is no Daddy or Mommy time while the other one is cooking. I just feel disconnected without a good Sunday. Yes we do get them every now and then when Kris takes a Sunday night off but still it is not the same as having them on a regular basis and knowing that you will have that time with everyone.

Since I love food so much and Missy asked me to post a few recipes here is one of my favorite Sunday Dinner dishes. Be warned it has the nickname Evil Chicken-it is really bad for you.....not for those on a diet.

Garlic Chicken
4-6 skinless boneless chicken breast
1/2 cup butter
2 cloves garlic-minced
1/2 cup Italian Bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 shredded Parmesan cheese (yes you can use the grated stuff but it really is so much better with fresh shredded cheese)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper

Melt butter and garlic in sauce pan. Combine the rest of the ingredients in large bowl. Dip chicken in butter mixtuer then in crumb mixture. Place chicken in baking dish. Drizzle all remaining butter mixture over top and then remaining crumb mixture over chicken. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It come out cruchy on the outside and the chicken and moist. If you happen to try it, let me know what you think.