love languages

I recently learned about "love languages" and it has changed my entire thinking in my relationship with Richard. I think everyone should have a discussion with their significant other about what each of their love language is. I won't share with you what mine and Richard's love languages are - it seems a little too personal for a blog - but I had NO IDEA what Richard's was and we've been married nearly 6 years! I don't want to go into the world of plagerism, but here are the five:

Gifts

Acts of Service

Words of Affirmation

Touch

Quality Time

So, without discussing it before, guess what your partners love language is (and decide what yours is) then discuss. The one that I thought was Richard's turned out to be like #3 for him. It's amazing. I am so much more aware of what I can potentially do for Richard to show him how much I love him.

And I love him alot.

Asher the Velociraptor

You know that scene in Jurassic Park where they realize that the Raptors are intelligent because they keep testing the electric fence to see if it is still working, even though they get hurt every time? Asher is a Raptor. For example, a couple of months ago we realized our oven was broken because Asher walked up to it and put his hands on the glass window in front and burned himself. We replaced the oven immediately, of course, since it was obviously not safe. Ever since then Asher periodically test the oven's hot-ness by putting his hands on it. Another example, there are certain doors in our house that are just always kept closed. The laundry room door, the door to the basement, the bathroom door, the hall closet. All those doors are in one little hallway type area in our house. They are always kept closed. They have always been kept closed since we moved into this house. Occasionally Asher will walk up to one of those doors and just test it. And every once in a long while the door is open or not quite latched closed. Then he can have all kinds of fun splashing in the toilet or pulling all the lint balls out of the laundry room garbage can.

So, Asher is a Raptor. But a cute one.

Above, Asher has just flipped over the little side table and is scooting it around the house kind of like a skateboard. The side table is now safely locked in the basement. I know, removing it doesn't teach him anything - but believe me, I tried. I left that table there for a good two months after he learned to flip it over. Every time he did it I would say "no, no", right the table, and move Asher to the other side of the room and find some other toy for him. I think all the Child-Raising books I've read would agree that is the right thing to do. But, it just doesn't work with Asher! That little Velociraptor!

PS Asher just threw a book at me because I wouldn't stop to read it to him. I guess I'd better go before he goes T-Rex on me.

A big first

Naomi gave her first talk in Primary on Sunday. She was assigned to talk about the Holy Ghost. I admit to writing it for her, except for a few key phrases that she chose. For example, I said "I know I am feeling the Holy Ghost when..." and she completed the sentence as "I am happy in my body." Which I thought was very cute and a good way for a 3 year old to explain feeling the Holy Ghost. We practiced the talk at home with her standing on a chair and using a spatula as a mircophone (why didn't I take a picture of that?) We even practiced that Mommy whispers in your ear and then you say it out loud. She did a great job. She spoke clearly and loud (right on the verge of too loud, but not quite). She got giggles from the adults when she said "amimals" instead of "animals". She only stumbled once when she was supposed to say "Heavenly Father told Noah..." and she said "Noah told Noah..." Anyway, it was super cute and while she was very composed and graceful, I almost lost it in giggles at the "amimals" and in tears at the end. Below she is holding her talk and showing off her pretty new dress (it's just a coincidence that she had a new dress for this, her very first public appearance in church, but I admit that if she hadn't had a new dress anyway I would have been tempted to buy one).

Blogger fame

A friend sent me an email (note to all of you - I don't actually like "those" emails sent from a friend) with a link in it to an e-bay auction that has already finished, but is absolutely hysterical. You MUST read it! And then go look at this women's blog and be amazed by her overnight rise to fame.

http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-OF-POKEMON-CARDS-THAT-MY-KIDS-TRIED-TO-SNEAK-BY-ME_W0QQitemZ130144061675QQihZ003QQcategoryZ60238QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

OK, have you read all about her? Is your mouth hanging open? I am totally infatuated with this women's rise to fame on the internet. What can I do that is so clever and witty that it will draw the attention of thousands all over the world to my little blog? And why do I WANT to draw all that attention? I am not usually an attention-seeking person - but internet attention sounds like fun to me! I seriously lay (?laid, lie?) in bed last night thinking about this women's story and what I can do that is similar enough so that I don't have to have an original idea but dissimilar enough that it would catch fame. That is a little bit sad.

Oh well. I guess I'll just live my life of anonymity. Maybe I'll be like one of those artists that are not famous until after they're dead. Or maybe one of my children will be famous and that will give me my "in" to society. Then I can be like Paris Hilton (not in the totally lame, skanky way, but in the famous for just being famous kind of way). Naomi could be a famous ballet dancer. Or Asher could play football or soccer. He could be Asher the Basher! Or maybe Isaiah will live up to his hair-do and become a real rock-star!

I think I've totally left reality for a while. Oh well, it was a nice visit to la-la-land.

Here's a picture of me being a Mom to bring me back to reality. But really, all I have to do is look behind me at the mess in the family room to be brought back to that reality rather quickly.

Beautiful, loving children

Growing up, I always imagined having multiple little girls to dress in beautiful matching dresses with fancy hair-do's and such (probaby because my Mom did that with my sisters and I). We were glad when we found out Isaiah was going to be a boy because he and Asher can play together so much, but I was a little sad to not be getting a second girl. I'm sure my other girl (s) will come along eventually, but in the mean time I realized that I can fulfill a little bit of that childhood dream of mine by dressing my boys alike! So here are my boys in their matchy-matchy outfits and Naomi in her semi-coordinated outfit.

Asher thinks Isaiah is a great toy to play with - but that means he's not very good at being gentle (notice Asher's hand is using Isaiah's stomach to balance!)

Isaiah doesn't come down to Asher's level very often (Isaiah is usually safely in his port-a-crib) so a visit down on floor level was very exciting to Asher.

This one is blurry, I know, but it was just too cute to not include. That little smile from behind the xuxa (xuxa [shoe-sha] is Portugese for pacifier) is just so typical Asher. I love that little smirk.

Ahhhhh! Brotherly love! So cute!

This one looks a little like Naomi and Asher are paying homeage to Isaiah. But really they are giving him "loves". Which basically means laying your head on someone.

Ahhhhhh! Sisterly love!

Who could resist poking those chubby little cheeks? (Oh wait, did I mean Isaiah's chubby cheeks, or Ashers?)

This is Asher taking a picture of Isaiah with the play-camera. He is such a good little copy-cat right now.

Naomi giving more "loves" to Isaiah.

an award winning smile

Anybody know of one of those "cute baby contests"? Cuz I think this guy has one adorable little face.

Flower Bed Facelift

Within days of moving into our new house (just about one year ago), we had a plumbing problem that required a giant hole to be dug in our front yard. Nancy wasn't thrilled with the bushes that had been in the flower bed, so she didn't have the workers put them back. What we were left with was a bed FULL of giants rocks and lots of clay. Over the last year we threw in some boxwoods and planted some new grass, but the bed needed some TLC. See below for some before and after pics.

Before: Nancy and Naomi taking out rocks and leveling (the picture doesn't show it but the dirt kept sinking around the pipe, so the middle bush is about 12 inches too deep).

After: Nancy and I got some new soil, mulch, and a couple flowers at Home Depot.

A good day's work. Now for the rest of the yard...

Blast to blogger

Is anyone else out there in Blogger World frustrated with Blogger? It never puts the photos where I want them. Or the correct text next to the appropriate photo. I guess if I really cared I would learn to use the Html thingy - but lets face it, that just ain't gonna happen. So for now, my blogs are sometimes a little wonky. Or at least, they're wonky until Richard comes home, see's my post, gets frustrated by how dumb the post looks, and fixes it using Html.
Thank goodness for my geek husband.

Trip to Utah and Idaho

This past weekend we flew to SLC Utah, spent the night with my sister Angela, drove to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, attended a Worth family reunion (Richard's Dad's siblings and families), drove back to SLC, hung out with Worth family (Richard's siblings) and spent another day with Angela. Here is the trip, as documented through photos:

Above is Asher with his cousin Jesse who is the same age. Getting a picture of the two of them was quite a trick since "playing together" at this age pretty much means stealing toys from each other.

Here is Naomi with cousin Haley. They are best friends and just love to play. Their little imaginagtions just run wild together.

Here is cousin Logan playing piano with Asher. All of Angela's boys were great helpers and my kids really enjoyed them.

Here is Naomi with cousin Andrew. Naomi is a devoted follower of Andrew's. I think she asked me at least 300 times during the 2 days we were with them "Where is Andrew?" It seems Naomi just couldn't quite keep up. But she sure had fun trying.

Naomi playing peek-a-boo with cousin Scott and Asher. (We were about to go swimming at the fabulous pool at Lava Hot Springs.)

Asher and cousin Scott taking a bath together. I guess I have a thing for putting embarassing photos of Asher on this blog. Sorry Asher. You're just too cute.

At the family talent show, cousin Hyrum (seated) re-enacted The Cheeseburger Song from Veggie Tales. Hyrum's Dad, Carl sung and Richard accompanied them on the guitar.

We ended the reunion with a visit to the graveyard in Lund, Idaho where Richard's Grandparents are buried.

The Grant Worth Clan then gathered at Richard's sister Nancy's house is SLC for a little more hanging out and dinner. The dinner was scrum-diddley-umptious. But their little town house was pretty much filled to totally over-flowing. This photos is Richard's sisters Stephanie and Nancy posing with a cut-out of Karen, who is serving her mission right now.

So we headed back to Angela's house for the night and the next day.

We went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Pointe.

Adorable little Jesse and Asher again - playing side by side while totally ignoring each other.

Cousin Roscoe and Asher were good buddies. Roscoe was a big help.

Asher, Naomi, Haley, and Levi about to be eaten by a Prehistoric Shark.

Alltogether - I need more recovery time from this short trip than I did for my 2 week trip to Texas. It was quite a whirlwind - but a load of fun. And we are so glad we got the chance to play with those far away cousins. We love you all!

Dance With Me

Sometimes we like to turn on some loud music (Naomi-speak for fast) and dance.

Tonight that's what we did for our Family Home Evening activity. See below for a video.



The song is 'Feeling Good' by Michael Buble.

a visitor and a thank you

Today I have two totally unrelated topics to blog about.

First, my mom-in-law, Margaret, blogged a little about our visitors this weekend. Richard's sister Stephanie was here for several days with her husband, Steve. We only saw Steve once as he headed to the airport, but we got several nice visits with Stephanie. As Margaret said, she forgot to take any photos. I only took one, but here it is.

Stephanie, Kevin, Kelly and Isaiah

Second, during my visit to Texas recently my Mom let me pick out my birthday present at Ikea. As soon as she mentioned this plan I knew exactly what I wanted. I have admired this chandelier for about a year now. It has electrical lights (they're the newest fad! You've got to try them!) but also places for candles (the candles have not been purchased yet, so you don't see them in the photo). Anyway, thanks Mom! I love it.

In this picture you may also note the beautiful table runner made for me by my talented sister Angela when she visited me recently. Thank, Ang!

love

There are some pictures that you can just feel love through.

A mess

My house has been a bit of a mess lately. Here's proof...



(I admit it, I broke down and did the dishes after I took this picture. It was too gross.)

(The above picture is included to show that Naomi got so desperate for someone to play with, that she resorted to turning her brother into Ariel's sister Alana. Naomi is, of course, Ariel.)
(This picture will also be used as blackmail to keep Asher is line during his dating years.)
(It should also be noted that this picture was NOT taken in the early morning, and yet Asher and Naomi are both still in their PJ's)

And here's why...

My book club is doing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this month. I didn't get my hands on a copy until Monday afternoon, and the club meets on Thursday night. But I guess I could have taken the time to do the dishes, because I actually finished reading Wednesday night. Then I went into serious HP Withdrawl. I had been living in his world so intently, and for so long that I nearly called my family Muggles and tried to get the dishes to do themselves using my spatula as a wand.