Still from Michigan after all these years!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

This surprised me. I thought I had a little more Florida in me and that possibly, after spending 15 years in Utah, some of it had rubbed off. I guess not!

Tag!

Thanks, Jamie. I had fun reading your tag. Here goes nothing....

1. Where is your cell phone? Good question. Really good question. Maddox? Where's Mommy's phone?
2. Where is your significant other? Taking cookies to the neighbors.
3. Your hair color? A new, rich shade of dark brown. I know...can you believe it?
4. Your mother? At home making lasagna.
5. Your father? Waiting for the lasagna.
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? I don't remember. That's a good thing, though.
8. Your dream/goal? Get my Ph.D. and teach on a university level.
9. The room you’re in? Our study.
10. Your hobby? My preschool, I guess.
11. Your fear? Running out of things. Why did you buy so many rolls of paper towels, Misha? I don't know. I just don't want to run out. Oh, yeah, also....that Stew will sign us up for co-ed softball again. AWFUL.
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here is good. Not to imply a lack of progress but I'm okay with here. Although...in 6 years, all of my kids will be at school ALL DAY LONG. It doesn't get much better than that.
13. Where were you last night? Grocery store, home watching football and eating pizza.
14. What you’re not? Punctual
15. One of your wish-list items? A soda fountain
16. Where you grew up? Stuart, Florida
17. The last thing you did? Got a fresh, cold Diet Coke.
18. What are you wearing? Orange skirt, cream cardigan.
19. Your TV? Off. Hallelujah. That's 'cause the significant other isn't home. Otherwise, I'd be able to hear one of the ESPNs or the talking heads endless analysis of why our economy is in the tank and who will be the next president.
20. Your pet? A freshly groomed Miniature Schnauzer named Bella
21. Your computer? Almost exclusively used for Webkinz. Don't know what that is? Guess you don't have a 7 year old girl!
22. Your mood? Good mellow.
23. Missing someone? Not really. Just the old me, I guess. You know, the one with a little free time, painted toenails, and new music.
24. Your car? Full of cheerios and gas (that cost way too much money) with BYU plates.
25. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
26. Favorite store? Costco. Sick, right?
27. Your summer? Too hot, too short.
28. Love someone? Lots of someones.
29. Your favorite color? Cougar Blue!
30. When is the last time you laughed? 20 minutes ago. Maddox is supposed to be napping but he's potty trained now so he has figured out that by saying he needs to go to the potty, he gets out of the nap. Clever little boy!
31. Last time you cried? Last Sunday while teaching the Relief Society lesson on death.

Now, how many am I supposed to tag? I'll tag four.
Becca C., Rachel P., Ciara and Bridget ....you are all it!

Blue skies and not so sleepless in Seattle

Should the very first thing mentioned be the football game? Maybe. But I won't. I must first tell you that I finally feel as though I have caught up on my sleep. The concept of a sleep bank, once introduced to me, states that if you are not sleeping enough, you are in the red. Let me tell you, I have been seriously overdrawn for a long, long time. Having a baby in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit for 6 weeks will plummet you into insolvency in no time. Then, bringing home a cute kiddo who can't go for more then 1 to 2 hours at a time without eating just about left me bankrupt. Little by little, though, I have been moving back to stability. This weekend, Stewart and I went to Seattle to see the city. Yeah, right! You all know that we REALLY went to see the football game but I'm going to pretend that we went for a romantic getaway. So what did I do? I slept every night for at least 10 hours straight. Nothing woke me up in the night. I didn't wake up to go to the bathroom or to comfort a crying child. I just SLEPT and it was fantastic.

And the weather....oh, the weather! It was glorious. Everyone says Seattle is rainy and gray and I think it's just a big lie to keep the world from knowing how beautiful it is there. They are such environmentalists that maybe they pretend it's gray and miserable so it doesn't get too crowded. I loved the trees. Maybe they water them a lot because they sure are tall. What? It rains a lot? Oh. Well...I still think that's a lie.

Now, the football game. Stew, sorry, it doesn't get top billing for me. But thanks for a fantastic time. Can you believe that call? Can you believe what whiners those Huskies are? Seriously. The rules are the rules. And besides, we did block that extra point. And even if we hadn't, I think we'd have won it in overtime. We had just made 97 and 84 yard drives in our 2 previous possessions. There were about 10,000 other blue clad screaming fans with us and we loved every second of it. The really close games are always fun. Maybe my heart was pounding and my palms were sweating the whole time. Maybe. That speeds up your metabolism and helps with weight loss, though, right? And, yes, I HAVE become a huge football fan in my 10 1/2 years of marriage. Go Cougars! Looking forward to UCLA next week.

Also fun in Seattle: really amazing Yankees Mariners baseball game, killer seafood at a few restaurants, touristy boat ride in the harbor, more great seafood, crabcakes with caviar, Alaskan Halibut (Oscar style, of course, for a little more crab), one of the biggest cinnamon rolls I've ever eaten in my life, the fish market, so many sights and smells, and most importantly, the first trip with my husband and no diapers, wipes, strollers, car seats or port-a-cribs for a very long time.

MY LIFE RULES!

How cool is my life? I mean, seriously. If my life were a cereal, it would be called Marshmallow Cocoa Awesome Puffs. If my life were a novel, it would be called "A Tale of Too Much Awesomeness" and it would be on the bestseller list FOREVER. Look at these kids....look at that amazing husband....

I love summer. I love parade and firework season. I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my life right now. It rules!

Joy!

On Friday night, we went to a Peter Breinholt concert. For those of you who are unfamiliar with him, I rearranged my music so that my first four songs are his. He's a Mormon singer/songwriter that I've been listening to since college. I think I have my brother, Ryan, to thank for introducing me. He has been performing for 15 years and...well...I've been a fan for about that long! A little plug for him: he just released a greatest hits album and it's great. I just love the mellow style, the acoustic guitar, the fun atmosphere of his concerts, and most of all, that his shows tend to be outside and in the summertime. There is nothing quite so fun to me as going to an outside concert in Utah. Something about the music, the mountains, the night air--it gets me every time. This concert had an extra edge, though. The opening act was The Singing Children of Africa choir. I could not control the joy I felt at watching them perform. My grin was so wide that my face ached. I was so overcome that I couldn't help myself. I HAD to stand up and dance. A little later in the show, the kids went back up and danced on the stage while Peter performed and the entire audience...or at least the dancing portion of the audience...went and danced up front while the children danced on the stage. I had so much fun that it was literally all I could think about. When I got home, I still had joy flowing out of my fingertips. I had to turn on some music and dance SOME MORE! Even though it was one o'clock in the morning, my patient husband just looked at me, asked me if I was okay, and then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Look at these beautiful children....

Here are the girls:

And the boys:
They were inspiring to me. I wanted to watch them, to be close to them, to listen to them sing, to feel the joy that they feel, and to dance, dance, dance! It opened my mind and my heart and made me wonder if I've given anyone that kind of joy. Check them out. They have a few more weeks in Utah and you can still catch up with them if you hurry. Maybe they can put a little spring in your step. Be careful, though. You may just find yourself with an uncontrollable urge to dance!

Up, up and away

They say the early bird gets the worm. It's true! On Saturday, Maddox and I woke up early and we noticed some hot air balloons in the sky. Since Hadley and Lincoln were still asleep, Stewart stayed home with them while we went to see if we could get a closer look. It was the Highland City Fling and so we headed off toward our city building. And....we found a man giving hot air balloon rides to some of the kids. It was quite early in the morning and there were only a few people there waiting for their ride. Maddox and I hopped in line and we got a turn. I've never ridden in a hot air balloon before!

We called home and told Stewart to bring Hadley over so she could have a turn. By the time she arrived, the balloon was getting too hot and they were just doing quick, short rides for children only. She did get a turn, as well, but not quite the turn that Maddox and I had. It was truly the perfect beginning to a day. Thanks, Maddox, for waking up WAY too early for a Saturday. Love ya, Buddy!

I'm sailing, I'm sailing!

I've been thinking about Bob a lot lately. Yeah, I know, I'm married to someone else. Don't worry, Stew, I'm not thinking about Bob like that. I'm thinking about trying new things and how much FUN it can be. Of course, whenever I am doing something new, I feel the uncontrollable urge to start screaming, "I'm sailing, I'm sailing!"

Case in point, I tried yoga last week. I don't know why I've never tried yoga before but I haven't. Guess what? It is amazing. I loved it. "I'm doing yoga, I'm doing yoga!" I have caught myself a few times since my yoga classes saying things like, "let it go" or, "let it be okay". I guess the relaxation is kicking in. I left everyone at home, rode my bike to class, and truly enjoyed the first few hours of my morning. It's a great way to begin a day that promises to have many hours full of screaming children.

A few days ago, my family got those big black truck tubes and floated down the Provo River. I have done it a few times before but I think I saw a few other people in my family have "I'm sailing" moments and it was such a blast. I love watching other people have those "I'm sailing" moments almost as much as I love having them myself!

I really started thinking about this at swimming lessons today. Maddox and Hadley are both having lessons at the same time and as I was running back and forth between the two classes to check on them and make sure everything is okay, I realized that neither one of them had any fear of the water. Of course, my deaf child has no fears of anything, EVER! In the pool, that's as true as always. She's just as happy as can be. When it was time for the back stroke today, she took off across the pool like a little fish. Even her teacher was shocked at how fast that girl can swim. She may not always catch every word of the instructions since her processors are off and she's relying on lipreading skills but she does really well. Maddox is also fearless and loved every second of it but I am never sure with him. He sometimes balks at new things and is very reluctant to try something until he has watched for awhile. I was pleasantly surprised to see him hop right in and put his face in the water to blow bubbles.

When I watch my kids living...I mean, really living, I feel an ache in my heart for all of the things that I am not doing that I love to do. I am at the period in life when I just get to hold a baby most of the time. That means not too much swimming, not too much yoga or bike riding and not too much sailing. Oh well. I know this is just the period of life that I'm in and that someday, I'll miss this. (Or will I?) But...I want to sail, darn it!