Look-alikes

We all know that Acadia looks a lot like me...



But what about Aurora?  I hear some people say she looks just like Ryan, while others say she looks just like me.  I personally see a lot of Ryan in her, especially when I see pics of him when he was younger:



But who does she REALLY look like?  The results....



I did this a couple of times, using different pictures.  And they all were nearly dead even - one actually was right in the center!  So, she is a VERY equal balance of both Ryan and myself.  No wonder she's such a cutie! ;)

I Yuh Yoo

I am 95% sure that Aurora told Ryan "I love you" as he was kissing her goodbye before he left for work two nights ago. She was blowing him kisses, waving goodbye, and he kissed her and told her he loved her. Then she said, "I yuh yoo."

I'm totally jealous but so happy too. lol It was ADORABLE! And I am pretty sure she has said it since, too. When I was making dinner, she was in her high chair with cheerios and we were playing. (Blowing kisses, waving, singing, laughing, etc.) I said, "Rori, I love you!" and it sounded like she said, "I yuh yoo" back!

*warm fuzzies*

When everything is said and done...

Being sick is never fun.

Ryan, Rori and I have been sick! We've had awful head colds. SO. NOT. FUN.

It got pretty bad for me last night but today is better and I'm hoping it stays that way. :) Ryan and Rori seem to be a little better today too. :D

Even though I wasn't feeling well yesterday, I still went to the gym. I only did the treadmill since I was already feeling weak. But I pushed myself a little too hard and I think that's why I was so sick last night. Today I decided to not go to the gym, partly because I don't want to risk getting sicker later today like what happened yesterday and partly because I've ended up kind of busy today. I'm hoping that by tomorrow I'll be back to the point where I can go back to the gym without overdoing it though.

Instead, today we went to Ikea and bought my bedroom furniture!

A few years ago, I sold many of my stamps and planned to use the money to buy my bedroom furniture. Well, before that happened, we ended up using the money to help pay for a new minivan. A year or so later, I had sold more of my stamps with the plan to use the money for my bedroom furniture. Again, before that happened, I learned I would need that money to completely furnish a new nursery! So I've had this one last chance. I sold the rest of my stamps a few months ago. I've been looking around, wondering what I would get for my room. When I had the idea of what I wanted, I started looking. Most places were going to cost more than I had. :( But then I saw some stuff in the Ikea catalog that I liked and would work and is less than half of what I had set aside for it!

So today we bought a bunch of furniture at Ikea and I've already started putting it together. It's going to be great! And the remaining money will go toward our vacations that we're planning. :)

When I get it all done and put together, I'll take pics. :) Ryan should be finishing the crown molding within the next week or two, so I'll wait until that's up as well. Hopefully by then, I'll have taken pics of Cadi's room and I can post them both! lo

I seem to recall...

Promising to post pictures.  Yeah, sorry about that! lol

I do have some to post tonight.  I still owe you pics of Cadi's new room, but those will have to wait since I haven't even taken them yet!  I ordered a couple more things for the room and I'm waiting on them so the finished pics will actually be "finished" pics. :)

Here are some CUTE pics of Rori right after she opened the new Elmo doll she received for her birthday...


 
 
 


Last week we went to Seattle and here are some pics from that little visit...
 
 


 
 

 
  
 


And guess what?  I have more!  We went to an air show last weekend.  Okay, well we didn't really "go" to it, we just watched it from Ryan's work parking lot. lol  So, here are some pics from that...

 





 
 
 
 

 
 




 
 


 


I do believe that is all!  At least, for now... ;)

Dream Big

I have always been a little bit of a dreamer. I like to daydream. I like to think about things that are coming up. I like to plan and prepare. And I'll tell you, right now, I'm in heaven!

We've been lacking in the vacation department for a couple of years. This year we didn't have a vacation at all. We had family come here though and that is really good. :) Next year will be fairly small too. We'll make at least one trip down to Sacramento but other than that, probably not much. I'm planning on having surgery next year and that will take all the vacation time Ryan will have.

But the next year after that, things will be changing! :) We are just barely starting to map out our plans but our tentative schedule right now will have us taking a big road trip in 2009. We want to drive back to Massachusetts. Yes, I said drive. We want to drive TO Massachusetts so that we can drive home FROM Massachusetts, hitting all the church history sites along the way. :)

The following year, we want to fly down to S. Carolina to see Ryan's grandmother and other family members who live there. We've never been there to visit them so it's about time! We'll hopefully have his parents from Massachusetts meet us there so we can visit with them again, too. We also may drive up to the DC area to see more family and see a few sites there too. :)

And THEN! The year after that, (and I admit, this is where MOST of my daydreams have been lately) we will go back to the Happiest Place on Earth! We want to take the girls back to Disney World! Rori will be 5 that year and that is exactly the age that Cadi was the last time we went. It was SO PERFECT for her, so magical, so fun! We really want Rori to have that experience too! Cadi will be 12 so she will still be young enough to allow herself to pretend a little and have fun. She won't be too snotty of a teenager yet. lol We want it to be a BIG trip, which is one of the reasons we're saving it for 4 years from now. I need to save up, BIG TIME! I really hope I can save enough to swim with dolphins again and this time Cadi will be old enough to do it too!

I had so much fun planning our last Disney vacation. It was great! And it did turn out perfect! I know this trip won't be for four years but I don't care! I'm totally happy that I'll have four whole years to plan, prepare, daydream about and look forward to it! I LIVE for this kind of stuff! It's almost as fun as the vacation, itself! lol

So, we're dreaming big around here. First with a fun road trip, then a visit to the SouthEast, and then Disney! Who knows what we'll do after that. We probably won't have any money left. lol But we'll have some great memories! :)

Random Friday

Wow, it has been awhile! So let's catch up, shall we?

Reading Club is chugging along! Sometimes the neighbors join us, sometimes they don't. We have finished Harry Potter 2 and are now reading Harry Potter 3. Acadia has not seen Harry Potter 3 yet so we've now entered entirely new stories for her. It's getting really fun now! And when we finish the book, we'll let her see the movie. :)

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Earlier this week, we went up to Seattle to visit some friends. It was a great trip! The weather was perfect, at least for me! lol We spent Monday visiting while Ryan slept on the floor half recovering from night shift and half due to allergy meds. Then on Tuesday we went to Pike Place Market. It was our first time going and it was really fun! I'd like to go again sometime and spend a bit longer. The kids were all pretty well behaved. :) We saw them throw a couple of fish, had lunch at an Island Grill, and got some cool figurines carved out of ash from Mt. St. Helens' erruption back in 1980.

I did take pics during our visit but they are STILL not uploaded... when I upload them, I will post them. Deal? ;)

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This week has also been busy here at home. Cadi and I cleaned out her room, went through her clothes, started back-to-school shopping and also completely redid her bedroom! I spent all day yesterday painting and this morning Ryan and I put up her chair rail.

All I need to do now is to caulk the molding, assemble a desk, and have Ryan install a floating shelf for me. The new theme is horses! When it's all done, I'll take and post pics of it! :)

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Two weeks ago, we got our new Ikea! I have NEVER been to one! But today I went to get the desk I need to assemble for Cadi's room. Oh. My. It was so cool!!! I totally need to take Ryan back there and spend a few hours just looking! There is so much!!! I knew there would be, but I just never imagined it would be THAT cool!!!

The best part - it's 10 minutes from my house AND in Oregon so it's all TAX FREE! Yippee!!! :)

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For the last couple of weeks, Cadi has refused to take baths. That's right. She now showers!!! When did I have a child old enough to take showers??? I don't remember how old I was when I first started showering. I knew this day would come eventually. I'm happy to see her growing into the young woman she is becoming but I am sad to see the little girl slowly fade away. She's not all gone yet though! And I think I'll keep holding onto that "little girl" every chance I get!

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And speaking of little girls... Aurora has said her first real word! "Tickle"!!! She kept grabbing her feet, wiggling her fingers and saying, "Tickle, tickle tickle!" It was so cute!!! Unfortunatetly, I don't have it on video - yet. But I do have her chasing her shadow on video, which was also very cute! But again, it's not uploaded. lol I'm such a tease! All these pics and stuff but nothing to show!

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There is sad news to report, however. This morning, President James E. Faust passed away. President Faust was a prophet, seer, and revelator and served as the 2nd Counselor in the First Presdency of our church. He always had a gentle smile and kind words. He was very "grandfatherly" and it was easy to love him. I will miss his talks and the spirit he brought to our conferences. But I am happy for him. He has now passed on to a wonderful world and is, no doubt, in the arms of his Savior and Redeemer, who he has testified of on countless occasions.

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I think that just about catches us up! I will work on posting pics soon... but not until I finish this bedroom! I really want to get it done and then my house REALLY needs to be cleaned! I've been neglecting it a little more than I'd like since I've been so focused on redoing Cadi's room.

Reading Club, Pt. 2

Today I was reading Harry Potter to Cadi when one of her friends asked if she could go out to play. She wanted to keep hearing the book though, so we told her friend that she could come listen too, if she wanted. (I had them call her mom to be sure it was okay.) About two minutes later, Cadi's friend's brother was at the door saying that the friend was supposed to be out playing. Cadi explained that their mom knew she was here, he said she was a backstabber (lol) and so Cadi asked if he wanted to listen too. (Another call to their mom to let her know.) About five minutes later, another friend calls to see if Cadi can go play there. Nope, gonna read here... does she want to come join the club? But that friend isn't a HP book fan so she opted to stay at home.

So the little "Reading Club" that Cadi and I have been having the last week or so became a real Reading Club as they sat around the table munching on veggie sticks and popcorn chicken while I read all about Harry, Ron, the Whomping Willow, etc. :)

Reading Club

When we were younger, we had "Reading Club". I don't remember actually calling it that, but I know later, my mom and brothers actually did name it. Or was it "Book Club"? Drats, now I can't remember which they called it. :S Well, that doesn't matter.

Mom would read to us every night. Or at least, it seemed like it was everynight. I remember her reading just about everything from Black Beauty to Encyclopedia Brown to Choose Your Own Adventure books. I even remember her telling me that my youngest brother really liked her to read "Jesus the Christ"... he was about 4 years old at the time!

Well, we've started our own little Reading Club here! Acadia and I are reading every night. We started the first Harry Potter book and are almost done, I think we'll finish it tonight! She wants to read them all. Then she's thinking about going on to The Hobbit.

I'm so glad she is getting into the HP books! She's always liked the movies, though we would only let her watch the first couple since the other ones start to get a little too intense for her. I have always told her that if she would read the books, we would talk about her seeing the other movies. And now that I've finished the series, I've felt a little sad. I am kind of mourning the feeling I would get when I would read a new HP book for the first time. I knew that I could just go back and reread them, but it wouldn't be the same. However, reading them to someone else who is hearing them for the first time is almost just as fun!

I know once summer is over, we won't be able to read quite as much. Right now, we often stay up til 10pm reading! (That's a treat for her, she usually goes to bed between 9 - 9:30 during the summer.) But we'll still read a little, maybe we'll have to limit it to one chapter a day. So, the reading will slow down quite a lot once school starts. That's okay. We still have time to finish a couple more books before then and besides, I'm not sure I'm ready for her to finish all seven of them so fast!