So Far This Month . . .

I've been doing good at keeping the few resolutions I've made (particularly the exercising).

I've read three books already: Embers of Love (Striking a Match, #1) by Tracie Peterson, Petticoat Ranch (Lassoed in Texas #1) by Mary Connealy, and Michal (Wives of King David #1) by Jill Eileen Smith. I'm currently reading A Bride in the Bargain by Deanne Gist.

I won the book The Tutor's Daughter  by Julie Klassen in a giveaway on goodreads.com and Season 3 of Downton Abbey. Sooo excited about them!

I got sick with the flu last Saturday and Sunday and then on Monday and Tuesday I had a cold. =/

I went ice skating last Monday with some family and a few friends. I forgot to take off my skate guards before going on the ice and slipped and fell. Twice! It was sooo embarrassing (but now it's just plain hilarious)  and I have nasty bruises on my knees! Some guy there told me it happens to him at least once a year. But still, I rarely ever fall and always tale my guards off . . . except this time I wad distracted by one of my nephews and totally forgot I still had them on. That won't happen again I can tell you that!

I went snow shoveling today and made some money for missions and to send one of my friends a late Christmas present. =)

I put up some polls on my sidebar for you to vote on.

What have you done so far this month? Anything exciting (or embarrassing)?

My Crazy Day and the Happenings Therein

Hello friends! 

How was your day? I hope it was good.

 How was mine? Here, let me tell you about it . . . 

So my mom, sister KayleeBeth, brother Ryan, and I went into town today (we live about seven miles from town or the "city"). Kaylee and I had to get our teeth cleaned at the dentist so we went there and got that done which took about an hour because we also had to get a couple of sealants (see picture below).

Sealants are kind of like a filling but not quite -they help reduce the possibility of  your tooth decaying.

So that was fun! I actually like going to the dentist. Oh on the way I'm thinking it will be horrible and everything will go wrong but then I get there and I feel calm and trust that they'll do a good job and it never hurts (the numbing needle pinches a little but it's not that bad, for me at anyways)!

After the dentist my mom dropped Kaylee and I at a bookstore where we wandered around for a bit while our mom and Ryan went to Costco (which is a warehouse store kind of like Winco's) to replace a tire that a screw had got into. o.O 

Well, we walked over to Costco (on our way there we stopped by Michael's (which is a craft supply store) and got a few things there) and ate a late lunch at the cafeteria there while waiting for our car to get done. We didn't think it'd take very long but they hadn't even gotten our car in the tire place once we were finished eating because they were so busy! My dad  needed Ryan to help him with fall clean up (my dad owns and operates a lawn care business) so we grabbed our car (which is a minivan by the way) and dropped him off with our dad and came back to Costco. 

We shopped around a bit in the store but we didn't have much to get so it didn't take very long. My mom talked to the people at the Verizon kiosk for a while and even charged her phone there because it was dying and she needed to be able have it charged so the people from the tire place could call when the car was ready. 

After that we went and looked around at rug mats, some coats, and then ended up in this random aisle with Christmas decorations (already! it's annoying how everyone pretty much skips Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas!) on one side and some hunting stuff and toys on the other. There were two hunting chairs out so you could sit in them to see if you liked them and we took turns sitting in those since our feet were tired of walking around for so long. We pretty much "camped out." People were looking at as funny as they walked by us. I guess it's a little strange to see people lounging around in Costco -er, in any other store then Walmart I guess it would be strange to see people doing that. =P

Here is my mom "sleeping" in one. ;)

This is Kaylee with a stack of boxes just about her height. =)

 And here I am squashing this poor angry bird. =D

We had been at Costco for two hours (Kaylee was calling it our new home) and we still hadn't gotten a call from the tire place. Kaylee went and ran outside two times to see if they were making progress and both times they had the tire off but no tire on. Finally, we all went to ask them what was going on. They didn't have my mom's number (the guy forgot to ask and we thought they had it already since we've had them do tire stuff for us before) and they didn't have the tire we needed. My mom had them put on a different tire and within a couple of minutes were FINALLY good to go! 

We quickly stopped by at the library to pick up some books and then came home. After running around all day it's home sweet home indeed. =)

A Day at the Lake

Labor Day has come and gone but I never posted about it . . . so now I am. =)

 My family and another family that we know went up to Diamond Lake for the afternoon of September 2. The guys fished, the boys swam, the ladies enjoyed observing in the shade, the girls walked. I took LOTS pictures (200 and something I think), but I'm only going to share a few on this blog and a few on my photography blog. I don't know when I'll get the other photos up on my other blog but hopefully sometime soon. In the meanwhile, here are the ones I'm sharing with you now . . .

This is Mary-Hannah M. and my sister KayleeBeth heading to the lake.

The girls had fun walking on the logs which were all around the lake.

(That's another one of my sister's -Becky- in the background)

There was a really pretty stream/waterfall nearby that us girls enjoyed.

There was a cute little bridge over the stream on which M-H and KB had fun dancing on. ;)

They're so silly. ;P

Bwahahaha! This is the wonderful restroom we had to use.
(Just wait until you see the inside hehehe)

Isn't it simply beautiful???

And just look how considerate all the people that used the restroom before us were! 

It was so nice of them to leave some toilet paper behind for the rest of us. 

Now, here is something that is actually beautiful!

My lovely mother! ♥

Butterflies were ALL over the place! On the ground, on us, EVERYWHERE!! 

(I got some shots of the them that I'll probably put on my photography blog.)

M-H caught this picture of a butterfly on my hat just in time! (That's her brother Jesse in the background.)

A dangerous look to match her equally dangerous shirt. ;)

Some of the group.

 

My brother Ryan and Jesse M. were in the water swimming pretty much the whole time we were there. 

 

Becky, Jeri, and my mom. Doesn't Jeri look so sweet?

David M. and my brother Kirk fishing. They were clear across the lake and I had my zoom out all the way and still had to crop this picture twice so you could see them this well.

Kirk brought back some . . .

. . . delicious fish!! Aren't they pretty looking things?

Poor, helpless little fishy's!

 When David and Kirk came back KB and M-H went out on the pontoon boats for awhile and had troubles rowing and then getting back to shore. And no, that splash out there is not a fish but only Ryan. =P

We had a very nice day surrounded by family, friends, and God's marvelous creations.

Klayton My Silly Nephew

    My oldest sister Karissa and her youngest son Klayton are visiting until Monday. She has a booth in our fair this week selling stuff she and a lady from her church have made. My younger sister KayleeBeth and I are going to help her with that and also watch Klayton who is three. The other day Klayton was playing with his Thomas the Tank Engine toy trains. He had them up on the coffee table running uphill on a car race track which they got stuck on. He left them there with their batteries running while he colored a picture.

This is the conversation that I had with him after I noticed the trains were running while he wasn't playing with them . . .

Me: "Hey bud you need to turn the trains off when you're not using them."

Him: "Why?" 

Me: "Because the trains will get very tired and their batteries will die."

Him: "They'll not die." 

Me: "They will if leave them running while you're not playing with them."

Him: "No, they're smart trains. They'll live."

Me: "But they are dying. See how tired they look? You're killing them little man."

Him (shocked face): "I am?"

Me: "Yup."

Him (stares at trains intently): "Oh no! They're dying!"

One train slips off the track and falls off the table.

Him: "I killed it! It's dead!" (picks train up and holds it to his chest) "Poor train!"

   Isn't he a silly kid? 

This is a photo of him I took today.

Here's another conversation I had with him that day . . .

Me: "Klayton, what is the name of the animal that says 'cock-a-doodle-do?'"

Him: "It's a cock-doodle-do!"

Me: "Uh, I thought it was a rooster?"

Him: "No! It's called a cock-a-doodle-do!"

Me: "Okay, sure, if that's what you call it."

Then I got inspired to ask him what his favorites were . . .

-Klayton's favorites-

Color: Blue

Food: Salad

Toy: Trains and monster trucks

Movie: Cars

Place to play: Food stores

I just had to ask him about the last one . . .

Me: "You like to play in food stores huh?"

Him: Yesss!"

Me: "So you like playing in the carts?"

Him: "No, silly! Play in the food!" (grins and dances about the room)

I was having such fun hearing his funny replies to my questions that I asked him who his best friend was. He said, "Ryan. But he's not my friend anymore, just a best."

Lol! Didn't know you could not be friends with someone but have them be your "best!"