Useless info. you all were just dying to hear!

I have been tagged. Okay Gretchen here it is..8 semi-interesting, useless, strange, and unusual facts about me.

1. I taught junior high for 4 years. Some say I was crazy. I did enjoy it most days, but there were days I wished I had majored in something a little more predictable. I taught math (which I did not major in-I was really good and pretending I knew what I was talking about), U.S. History, Utah History (I think I learned most of this info at church), and World Geography (learned this from reading National Geographic).

2. I can not swim. I took lessons as a child and had to re-take level 3 twice and then I just quit going. I still do not like deep water. Someday I would like to take swimming lessons, but I've heard it's hard to teach and old dog new tricks.

3. I have worn glasses since I was 6 years old. Now I am so near-sighted I am far-sighted. I really can not see anything without my contacts or glasses. Growing up I had some wonderful 2 inch thick glasses when combined with bad eighties hair--I was a knock-out!

4. Lately I have been into watching not what is currently on TV, but what use to be on TV. I have been checking out old TV series from the library. My favorites lately are MacGyver--this one is mostly for Dave, but who doesn't love a great adventure, Remington Steele--Handsome man with British accent, and Gilmore Girls--someday I will talk really fast and say lots of smart and witty things.

5. I hate shopping! Yes it is true most women love to shop for clothing. I absolutely detest it. It's a combination of being a tight wad with the money and having the longest legs and biggest feet ever.

6. I love to clean and organize things. I absolutely love to throw things out, de-junk, vacuum, dust, straighten, scrub...you get the idea. Strange it is, but I believe it is in my genes (Thanks mom and grandma Lee). My new favorite is the magic eraser--scrub off scuffs in a second-who wouldn't call that fun?!

7. I have a terrible sweet tooth. I think that one came in the genes too (thanks dad and grandpa Lee). If there are sweets in the house especially any baked goods, I just can't keep my hands off of them. My mom use to say we were a cake a day family--chocolate buttermilk being the favorite.

8. My favorite place in the whole world is Grand Teton National Park. If we were billionaires we would live there. My parents met there, we vacationed there as kids, I worked there for 5 summers/1 winter during college, and I met Dave there.

I was never very good at tag-so anyone in my friends/family side bar that wants to pick up on this one go for it.

Mild Miles

My little guy is growing up, and he is such an angel baby. He has always been an "easy" baby--very little crying, easy to please, he can entertain himself, lots of happy baby noises, slept through the night at about 8 weeks, likes to be cuddled, he is just a sweet kid. He has been so much fun lately--big smiles for everyone (especially Ian who is his favorite), he likes to crawl over and try to suck my face while I am doing Pilate's, he crawls around the house looking for Ian when he is at pre-school, he gets down-right giddy when daddy comes home. Ian is my intense one-Miles is my mild one. Here are some recent shots of my cutie.

Like I said Miles rarely cries, but when he does I can't help but laugh because he looks so cute with that scrunched up nose and frowny mouth.

Looking for big brother!

Ready to crawl anywhere.

Helping with the laundry.

March of the Elephants

Ian and Dave watching for elephants.

Here they come!

There they go--

A few days ago the circus came to town. We decided to go downtown to the Gateway to see the elephant walk. Dave called us at the last minute from work and said he would meet us there. We arrived early along with all the other stroller pushing, baby sling wearing mom's and staked out a great spot to view the action. We waited in great anticipation to see the circus parade; especially Bello the elephant who was having a birthday! We waited for about 25 minutes and then we saw the parade coming. I myself have never been to the circus so I was very excited to see what it was all about. As they came closer we could see a man riding on top of the first elephant. Then about seven huge and impressive elephants marched by to which Ian's only response was, "Mommy, they stink!" This whole march took approximately 45 seconds--it was impressive (the elephants even held each others tails) but it seemed almost comical that it was so short lived. We all just kind of sat there after the elephants had past looking at each other and wondering if that was really it.

The Cake

This post is for my sister Mindy. She is a certified Wilton Cake decorating instructor--which means she can make a cake look amazing. Ian requested a Ninja Turtle cake for his birthday, and if Mindy lived closer she would have been put in charge-but since she doesn't I was left with the job of making a red velvet (Ian's favorite) cake look like a mask wearing, sword toting green fighting machine. After a few phone calls to Aunt Mindy here is the result-

Raphael the "Red Ninja Turtle"

Ian is 4!

Last week was Ian's 4th birthday! I can't believe he is growing up so fast. For his birthday we took him and his friend Ben to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. It was so much fun! They had a great museum with robotic dinosaurs that might give Ben nightmares (we explained they ran on batteries). They had a great playground, an educational center, and about every dinosaur in life like recreation that you could imagine.

Ian and Ben about to be eaten by a sharp toothed dino.

Ian and Ben riding a croc.

Ian and Ben in front of the Stegosaurus.

Ian and Ben having a discussion about dinos.

Osha bars

You know those bars in every car above the window? My husband and I call them osha bars because when you grab onto them you're usually careening around a sharp corner and you might be tempted to cry out "Oh sh**" Anyway last night we were on our way home from the in-law's and Dave was driving. We went to turn onto our street and Dave slowed the car way down while I reached up to grab the osha bar. Ian asked "Daddy why are you slowing down?" Dave said, "Because every time we go around this corner your mom grabs the osha bar." Ian replied, "The ocean bar, what is the ocean bar?" Dave gave a brief explanation minus the use of any profanity. We continued to our house and as we pulled into the drive way I reached up to grab the bar again to which Ian said, "Daddy, Mommy is grabbing the river bar!" Osha, ocean, river its all the same in the mind of a 3 year old. What a funny kid!

Fun at the Fair

Today we went to the state fair. It was so much fun. They had all sorts of things for Ian to do, and I had forgotten what fun it is for kids to see all the farm animals. They had a pretend farm set up were Ian was the farmer. He fed the chickens and collected eggs, picked apples, planted a garden, then harvested the garden, fed and milked a cow, went to market and got paid for his hard work, and then we went to the store were he bought some cheetoes with his hard earned money. We went to the animal barns and saw goats, cows, and sheep. Ian is fearless around animals. In the goat barn there were some baby goats that were very cute. Ian scratched their little heads and would have taken one home if I had let him. When we saw the sheep he put his cheek right against the sheep's back to see how soft he was. We also went for pony rides. It was just like a merry-go-round, but with real horses. Ian's horse was named Red. It was a very fun day--maybe we'll try the rodeo next year.