Our Crazy Life

I can't believe how quickly Christmas is coming!! Today we received a good amount of snow and it really set the stage for the holiday!! My biggest wish for Christmas is for us to get so much snow that we are snowed in and can't leave the house!! How fun would that be?!?

I saw this Christmas tag on Holly's blog and thought it was fun so here you go...
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper--definitely. It is so fun to buy!!

We finally did it...we broke down and bought a new functional TV!! We had an old JVC 32" monster for about 5 years. It may not seems that bad but it weighed about 60lbs and treated us to a high buzzing sound every time it was on. With the whole "TV going digital" era upon us, we figured it was probably as good of a time as ever to get a new TV, which is really quite funny because we don't even have cable. But we figured three channels were better than none. Merry Christmas to us! We love it. It has freed up much room in the living room and it is nice to have the TV and DVD player out of the reach of little hands. Jason made his affection known for the new addition. The morning after we bought it, I went into his room to get him out of his bed and the first thing he said to me was, "I need to see the brand new TV!" He loves pointing it out and telling everybody he talks to about it. I am not sure who loves it more, Jason or Kim's brother Kody!!




Last night Glenn Beck was signing books at our local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Kim and I took advantage of this opportunity to meet Glenn. Kim has been a avid listener for about 6 years now and got me hooked about 4 years ago. Every time we were in the car between the hours of 3-6pm we would turn the radio to AM 590 and tune it to Glenn. I have always agreed with much of what Glenn says, although I must say there have been a few times when I have disagreed and he has disappointed me. But through it all, I enjoy listening to him. I believe that he has a good heart and is a great man. He proved this to be true. He seemed very genuine and sweet. Every old lady that came through the line he would grasp her hand, look her in the eyes and say, "Hello" or "Thank you". It was sweet to watch.

Before he started signing books, he talked to the crowd of about 700 via the PA system at B&N. He said that we must all face our weaknesses (or storm as he called it) head on and be who we are. The "bad side" is too strong and powerful for us to be weak. We each need to be who we are and everybody is needed. Not bad advise if you ask me.

He even gave a shout out for Idaho. He said, "I have been to a lot of cities. I have been to some nice cities and some not so nice cities. Out of all the cities I have been to, Idaho by far has been the great cities I have visited."

Kim was able to shake his hand and I had about a 10 second conversation with him. He is one person I would really like to sit down with and have a deep intellectual conversation with.

Here are some pictures from our encounters.



Kim only has two more days of test and then we are free for three and a half weeks!! Hopefully we can get some snow and be able to enjoy this time of year!! I have several more things to share but I am getting grunts and sighs from Kim. So I guess that is my cue that I have reached my limit (it is 11:46pm and Kim is trying to sleep while I am busying typing on the laptop in bed. You don't mess with Kim and his sleep.) So until next time...

There are many things that I am grateful for (e.g., family, education, friends, health, baseball, shelter, etc) but I thought I would take a different route this year and record the things that I am really loving lately. Here they are:

• Jenny Oaks Baker- She is amazing!! Kim and I had the opportunity to see her perform at BYU-I and I was completely blown away. She has been given such an incredible gift. I have ordered her O Holy Night album and... WOW!! If you are looking for a great Christmas CD, you will not be disappointed in this one.

• The cool Idaho weather- It has been chilly in the mornings, but the afternoons are so beautiful. I truly love this time of year and the crisp feel that is in the air. I went into Target today and couldn't help but feel excited for Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday. What a neat time of year. Here are some pictures of our fall "projects". FYI- racking leaves with a two-year old is not the most productive project!!

• Windows Movie Maker- My sister turns 40 tomorrow and my nephew 17. I had to take advantage of my sister's old age; therefore, I put together a movie of her throughout the years. It was so easy to do and turned out so good!! Happy Birthday Lori and Austin.

• My husband having the whole week off of school! It is so fun to hang out and to work on some never ending projects. Kim put up our outdoor Christmas lights yesterday!! We love to turn off the inside lights and gather around the window and stare at the lights. It is so magical!! Jason loves looking at the lights and has asked several times today to turn the Christmas lights on.

• Black Friday shopping! Can shopping really get any better than this?? I am SO excited. I love just going and hanging out with my sister, mom, sister-in-law, her sister, and my aunts. What a fun time it is!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! What a special time of year. We all have so much to be grateful for. Although some may have more than others, I think if we dig deep enough inside ourselves we can find much to thank our God and Creator for. How grateful I am to be spending this time of year with those who I love the most!!

I was tagged by Courtney and have been putting off answering this tag. I become some what insecure when I have to open up to people and let them "in" (Liz, I know you can testify to this!!). I guess it is because I fear that they will think I am "different" once they know the real me; however, I am not sure why I am this way. Nonetheless, here are my seven facts....and please still be my friend after reading this post!! JK
1- I hate chewing gum. It really turns my stomach. I hate the smell, the taste, the texture. I hate seeing people play with it or chew it. And most of all, I hate it when people sit it on their plate or glass while they eat...and then put it back in their mouth!! There has been a couple times when I have actually gagged because it was so disgusting to me! So needless to say, my husband has to chew gum when I am not around. Sorry babe!
2- I always wanted to be a CEO when I grew up. I didn't care what corporation it was for, I just wanted to run and manage a major business. Isn't it funny how life takes you down different paths than you would have expected!!
3- I love surprises! I love them so much that I did not find out what sex Jason was when I was pregnant with him. Kim has a hard time keeping surprises and so this creates a challenge sometimes!!
4- I am not the most organized person in the world. I felt like I was extremely organized before I had Jason, but the whole birth and postpartum thing really did me in! I have finally come to grips that I will probably never be "that" organized again and that is OK.
5- When I was on my mission, I thought it would be so neat to have a set of twins. However, now that I have one child I think that I was absolutely out of my mind on my mission! What in the world was I thinking? No offense Jen!! I think twins are the cutest thing, but I don't think I personally could handle it.
6-I have a terrible habit of reading several books at one time, and then not finishing the whole book. I love reading; however, I am an all or nothing type of person. I want to set down and read the entire book at once. If I can't do that, and I NEVER can, I find myself losing interest in the book quickly because there are so many other things I think I could be doing instead of reading; therefore, if the book does not "have" me within the first little bit...then it is out the door.
7- I much prefer to live in the city than the country, which is completely opposite of my husband. So far I have persuaded him to see the "light" but we will see how long it lasts!!

So there you have it!

Many of you are probably wondering what happened to me. Well, as most of you know we bought a house and ended up remolding most of the house before we moved in. What a job!! I am happy to report that we are officially in our new house and have been for one full week and two days!! We are really enjoying the house and it is SOOOO nice to have our own space again. I feel like a real person again...well kind of!! There are still a couple dozen plus boxes to dig through and I am in the midst of finding a home for everything, meanwhile trying to enjoy the beautiful fall weather outside. Needless to say it is a slow process.

The month of October has been quite eventful, beyond remodeling and moving. We celebrated Jason's 2nd birthday, which was fun and I will write more about that later. We watched all the Postseason baseball games we could. Life pretty much stands still for me in October when baseball is on almost everyday. I really don't get much done, which is horrible I know, but there is only one October....right? I think having a baby every October is a great idea because then I could sit around all day and watch baseball without feeling guilty about it!! :) I taught a seminar on resumes at BYU-I, which is always a great experience. My family had our annual pumpkin carving contest, which was a blast. Kim received the grand prize for overall creativity and best pumpkin. Not shocking at all. He is quite artistic. I was put into the Young Women's presidency in our new ward and I am excited to work with the young women in the Shelley 2nd ward. I think that pretty much brings me up to date!!

Several of you have asked me to update my blog and post the before and after pictures of the house. Well, I haven't finished taking all of the after pictures. There are still a couple projects that we are hoping to get done by this weekend, but we all know how that goes!! As a side note, the pictures do not do justice to the amount of work we had ahead of us. I am really grateful that we took pictures before we started the process because there were days and still are when I feel like we did not make any progress...however, the pictures prove otherwise!! We still have numerous projects ahead of us and the we are looking forward to next spring so we can dive into the yard and make the existing pond a beautiful oasis.

I would consider myself pretty lucky because Jason has always been a pretty good kid. I always hear about the terrible twos but have a hard time relating, because even though Jason is very busy, he has never caused much trouble. Well, I believe things are about to change!! I was in the bathroom blowing my hair dry and Jason was in the kitchen/dinning room playing. Apparently he got tired of playing by himself because he came back to the bathroom and was whining for me. I scooped him up and we headed for the rocking chair, where we read two or three books. I needed a drink of water and as I got up and walked into the kitchen, this is what I found (as I was wiping up the water and suds, I decided I had to get a picture of the mess, hence the towels in the picture).





Jason had gotten in the cupboard under the sink and got out the Dawn dish soap and loaded the dishwasher full of it. Then he shut the dishwasher door and turned it on. Can you believe it??!! I have a hard time getting made at him because I know he is just doing what he has observed everybody else doing.

Last week Kim called me and asked if I would take him the camera so he could take pictures of the project they were working on. Jason and I drove the 40 minute drive to Cannon's dairy in Jefferson county...and let me tell you, this dairy is in the middle of nowhere!! When we got there, Jason so was excited to see his dad, but even more excited to see the big equipment his dad was operating. I could not get Jason out of the car fast enough. As soon as his feet hit the ground outside the car door, he was running towards his dad and the dump truck. It was so fun to watch Jason in the truck with his dad. He was so content. He loved honking the horn (which the Hispanic workers did not enjoy so much...they about jumped out of their skin each time Jason honked the horn), looking at the cows, watching the dirt fall from the excavator to the dump truck, playing with the radio, steering the wheel, etc. I think Kim enjoyed it just as much as Jason did.

Here are some pictures from that day:

I can't believe it has been a whole month since my last post. How boring am I?? I find myself often thinking, "I should post about (whatever it is I am doing at the moment) on my blog", however I just have not got around to it.

We had our family pictures taken last month and I want to share some of them. I think they turned out pretty good considering that we have a 22 month old that will not stop for anything. We had to do lots and lots of coaxing. For example, "Jason if you smile really big for Sheri we will get you a sucker when we are done." It worked pretty well and we did hold up our end of the bargain. In the end, Jason got his sucker and I got some really cute family pictures. Here they are:

This past week we had a little Howells family reunion. Kim's brother Kody and his wife Marlania (who just moved back to Idaho from Snowflake, AZ because Kody received a job at Shelley High as an Ag teacher), along with Kim's sister Shellie and her three girls Serria, McKayla, and Becca (who live in Brigham City, Ut) were in town on Monday and Tuesday. The three siblings have not been together for over two years. Monday night we had a BBQ. It was fun to be with everyone and to see Shellie and her girls. Even though we didn't get to sit and talk as much as we would have liked, it was fun for the kids to play together. Jason loved all the attenion he got from his cute cousins. Jason would follow Becca almost everywhere she went. He also would torment her by trying to pull her glasses off. He kept trying to give Becca hugs and Becca wasn't sure what to think of it. Here are a few pictures of our get together.




On Tuesday morning, we went to the Idaho Falls zoo. We had a fun time and Jason loved seeing all the animals. He also loved running up and down the inclined walk ways. It was quite a job keeping him close by but, I had lots of help thanks to his cousins.

Jason is a complete fish!! He loves the water and doesn't care how cold the water is or how wet he gets. Grandma Howells bought this Elmo sprinkler at a garage sale and it is a total hit!!

Jason is talking more and more each day. He loves to say hi and bye to almost everything that he sees. A day doesn't go by that he doesn't make me laugh and smile at the new words he has come up with. Here is a list of his new vocabulary.

• Hi


• Goodbye


• Cool car


• Wow


• Sheri


• Mooo


• Duck


• Dog


• Bird (not so clear)


• Honk


• Car


• Take


• Push


• Purse


• Nmote (remote)


• Keys


• Elbow


• Light


• TV
• Water


• Boat


• Cottage Cheese (acutally comes out Cot eeess)


• Ko Ko (Kody)


• Tal Tal (Tallie)


• Banana


• I don't know

Jason is getting old enough that he knows where Grandma Howells lives, where Aunt Lori and Uncle Kody works, that dad operates a Bobcat and Backhoe for work, where Grandma Schmitt works, etc. Anytime we are in the car and going past one of the above areas and we don't turn in, he freaks out. Yesterday we took my dad's boat to get worked on and as we came back to Shelley, we came up the off-ramp of the freeway, turned and went over the bridge. As I turned down the highway to head into Shelley, Jason started crying and when I asked him what was wrong he said, "Ori...Ori" (which means Lori). Aunt Lori's office is close to the freeway where we turned and Jason was mad that we didn't go see her. It amazes me how observent children are and how quickly they learn!!

I am having technical difficutlites with this post, so bare with me. My story log is a little backwards.

Last weekend we went to Bear Lake with my family. We had a GREAT time!! Bear Lake is probably my favorite lake in Idaho/Utah. It is SO beautiful. I love the green/blue water. I love the endless beach. I love the tan I get everytime I go. And I love how it feels like no one is around you on the lake even though there are thousands of people. I have so many great memories of our family vacations to Bear Lake. Here are some pictures from our weekend.