Quirks

Here are the rules:

Link the person who tagged you.
Mention the rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tell 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
Leave a comment to let them know.

I was tagged by Whitney! Thanks Whitters!

1. I like to finish off my bowls of cereal with my spoon. Even if milk is the only thing left. The slurping bugs Eric to death, so I'm working on trying to kick the habit.

2. Speaking of cereal, I can't eat Lucky Charms "normal". I have to eat all the cereal pieces, no marshmallows, first. If any slip in my mouth on the bottom of the spoon of something I keep a tab of the quantity of marshmallows that slip in. Then when I have only marshmallows left, I eat them by the spoonful but count everyone as I chew. Each chew counts as one count for a marshmallow. So if I have six marshmallows in a spoon, I chew whatever is currently in my mouth six times while I count the marshmallows (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), then I put that spoonful in my mouth. Then say the next spoonful has four mallows, I chew the marshmallows currently in my mouth four times (7, 8, 9, 10). Needless to say, I don't eat Lucky Charms if I'm in a hurry to get out the door in the morning.

3. I can't fall asleep if my hands, feet or lips are dry. So, I have lotion and chapstick by my bed at all times. I also tend to get antsy if the aforementioned body parts are dry or dry and hot during the day and it will almost drive me crazy until I get hold of lotion or chapstick.

4. I sing when I'm dirt biking or snowmobiling. Especially when I'm feeling a little nervous - the more nervous, the louder I sing. No one can hear me over the engines or through my helmet, and it helps me feel a little more confident about whatever I'm doing :) I also sing while snowboarding and biking, but just keep the volume down. In my next life, I'm going to have a be-a-utiful singing voice and then I won't worry about the volume at which I sing, I'll belt it out loud and clear for everyone to hear.

5. I can be the fastest eater ever!! I'm pretty sure the "skill" came from my obsession with being the first out to recess and my fear of disasters as a child. I though that if I ever got put into a concentration camp or something, I would be such a fast eater, that when the mean army generals gave me 10 seconds to eat my meal, I'd be able to finish it, this skill would save my life one day. The skill was embarrassing when dating because I'd always finish off my plate before my date, and then I felt bad because it maybe seemed like I was just waiting for my date to finish. It took a real man to be able to finish off his food before me....that is how Eric stole my heart ;) Just kidding. In my later years, I've decided that the likelihood of me being shipped off to a concentration camp is pretty slim. I've been teaching myself, for quite a few years now, how to slow down my eating, but it still takes a conscious effort. I have to think about cutting my food up, chewing slowly, and taking drinks during the meal. I've become pretty good at this, Eric almost always finishes before me :)

6. I love making lists or schedules. I like to set up budgets, exercise schedules, menus, to-do lists, daily schedules, grocery lists, packing lists for vacations, etc.

I tag (if you guys want) Lindsay Clyde, Kristen Sundell, Megan Griffin, Stephanie Stephenson, Liesl Warburton (if you ever read this ;)), Terra Naffziger, and anyone else who thinks it'd be fun.

Bike Ride in the Fall

I can't believe that the leaves are already changing colors. Here is a picture off of our deck.
I love when the leaves change colors. It is SO pretty! It just seems that Summer just barely started, so I'm kind of sad that Fall has come so quickly. I've already had to defrost my car windows once, which brings back cold and dark memories of the morning commute in the winter.... I'm definitely not looking forward to that. Luckily, Eric will be driving me 3 of the 5 days, so at least I can sit back and relax while driving in the crazy snow on those days ;) I'm also not loving that the sun is setting around 7:30. It doesn't give us a lot of time to do stuff outside once we get home in the evenings. I do love the crispness of the air, the colors, and the sunsets. But sadly, I haven't quite gotten excited about saying farewell to Summer.
On Saturday we went on a bike ride in Midway with our good friends Travis, Terra, and Trynitee. We rode to Tarahumara, a yummy Mexican restaurant, for dinner. Then Terra was so kind to make us DELICIOUS peach cobler! Thanks for being such good friends guys :) And Trynitee, thanks for liking us and letting us hold you, because we think you are the MOST adorable little 1-year old around!

Super Saturday!

This last Saturday was Super busy, but also SUPER fun! Since we had so much planned for the day, we were up bright and early. Eric changed the brakes on our Subaru and I did a little cleaning. We had to be to Provo by 11:00 so that I could go to my dear friend Lindsay's baby shower, and Eric knew he had to get the brakes changed before we went down. So on Friday night he decided that we'd go dirt biking on our friends dirt track before we went to Provo. He knew that the idea of going dirt biking would help him get out of bed early enough to get the brakes changed and go dirt biking before going to Provo. I love the ways he motivates himself :) Here are a couple of pics from dirt biking:

Eric - looking good as always!

Me- if any blog stalker, or anyone else out there, thinks I'm being to "rough" for being six months pregnant, please keep your comments to yourself. I asked my OB if I could continue my dirt biking and he said I could. And as you can tell, I didn't jump the bike very high AT all, so no worries!

After dirt biking we rushed home and showered to go to Provo. We went to Provo, I attended the baby shower - which was awesome by the way Lindsay, and so good to see everyone - and then we went to the BYU vs. UCLA football game. HOLY HOT!!! It was such a fun game to watch! As you can see, we ROCKED them! How do you like that ESPN??
My dad is a police officer and was with some of the general authorities at the game. He had a couple cards with money loaded on them and he gave them to me and Eric so we could get treats at the game. Oh man he is a lifesaver. The frozen strawberry lemonades were all that kept me from passing out in the heat! THANKS DAD!!

Yes, I look like a drowned rat, and yes it is due to sweat! GROSS!

So, the next thing on our agenda was the State Fair up in SLC. We went with our favs: Rachel, Micah, and B-Money! We met some of our other friends there and had fun enjoying the truck pull, animals, and rides.

This was one MASSIVE pig!

And even a more MASSIVE cow or steer, I dunno, regardless, it was HUGE!!!

I'm proud to let everyone know that Eric is a fantastic cow-milker. He walked right up to a cow tied to the wall and milked her. I was proud, to say the least. Oh...And excited that there was hand sanitizer outside of the barn so I could continue holding his hand :)

Sand + Guns = FUN

Last weekend we went dirt biking at the sand dunes. It was a BLAST, but I am SO bummed that I didn't take my camera out while riding!! I could have gotten some sweet pics and videos of Eric, Don, and my Dad jumping their bikes - but I made the lame-o excuse that my motorcycle pants don't have pockets, so I left the camera back at the car. It was a VERY fun trip, the sand dunes were fabulous, and the company - even better! I went out riding a little with the guys, but most of the time I spent visiting with my mom, little sister, and niece. It was FUN!

On the way home from the sand dunes.

On our way home from the sand dunes we stopped and went shooting. That was also VERY fun!

Eric and I

Dad and Mom

Cute Chelsea with her earmuffs

Celebrating Womanhood!

I've made this disclaimer before, but in case you forgot, and wonder why I'm blogging about things that may not interest you, my reader(s), I use this blog as my journal. I plan to get it all printed off and binded one day, so it includes things that are solely important to me.
My baby is only 21 weeks old in these pictures, but as you can tell, she is gonna be a total babe! And a tough one at that, check out her developing bicep!
My dear friends and co-workers were so kind and decorated by cube at work to celebrate my having a girl. What sweet hearts.

When I got home from Canada, my family gave the baby some WAY fun gifts. I love how excited they are, I am SOOOOOOOO excited, so it is nice to have them share in that. excitement. I LOVE little girl stuff! I can't wait to dress her up in these.










(1) The blanket is from my dad- it is his tradition to pick out a blanket for the baby. (2) My mom made me my favorite hand made burp cloths, and she and my little brother and sister gave me the onesies and the cute outfit that matches the blanket. (3) My sister Aubrey and her family gave me the cute giraffe outfit and blue pjs. (4) While in Canada I had to hit up Super Store to find some steals on little girl stuff. Everything but the sweater was $2.94 or less. SWEET!








To finish up the celebration, for the time being, I set up a bassinet that my sister is letting me borrow for the baby! I am SO excited!

Called to Serve

My little bro, Don, got called to serve a mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been called to PARIS, FRANCE! He goes into the Mission Training Center December 17, 2008. None of us expected Paris. We all thought he'd go out of the country, except Eric who guessed Boise, ID. We thought he'd either go to a German speaking country, because he speaks German, or a Spanish speaking country, since it seems like a lot of people get called to South America. We were all STOKED when he read the France Paris Mission! CRAZY!! He is SO excited!! His reaction was cute when he read where he was going. He set the papers on his lap and started clapping and saying "Oh yeah!!"
Don is SUCH a spiritual giant. He is so on top of things in life and in the gospel and is SUCH an amazing example to me, his older sister, and to the rest of the people he associates with! He has the most friendly and loving personality and he is going to be such a FABULOUS missionary! We are proud of you Don and LOVE you TONS!!!

Vancouver Island

Eric grew up in a very cool place on Vancouver Island. We were lucky enough to go up there last week to spend time with his parents and some of his siblings and their families. The drive was a L-O-N-G one, but it was all worth it. Here are some pics of our fun trip!!

On Our Way

Our friend Alicia lives in Washington - Eric called her up just in time to find out that we were right by where she was - so we went and visited her and her cute man, James. We LOVED seeing you Alicia! (I stole this pic from her blog)

Birch Bay Campground in Blaine, WA - rained all night - gave me the best sleep I've had in ages.

On the Ferry ride to Vancouver Island - just in case anyone is wondering, we do own more jackets than just these two. Problem is...these are our FAVORITES!!! That's why we are ALWAYS wearing them. I promise we clean them :)

Kayaking the River

Our Canoe Ride - Lake Cowichan

1. We attached a motor to the canoe, which is much better than paddling!!

2) The engine started sputtering and stopped working - could it be that we put plain gas in it instead of mixed gas since we didn't realize that it was a 2-stroke engine....oops.

3. Since there was one paddle, I just got to sit back and stare at Eric's muscle arms be put to work :)

4. Jackson liked the ride, especially when the motor stopped working, because then he could put his hands over the side of the boat and into the water.

5. Ops, guess what, bad gas and all, Eric finally got the motor going again. So we decided to give Dan a tow.

PICNIC
The fam sitting around waiting to eat sloppy joes....YUM!!!

Eric giving lessons on how to do rolls in the kayak

Jackson is a monkey, Ellyse is a cowgirl - get it right!

Other Highlights

Eric hunting squirrels in his suit. "Sharp" shooter!!

Being with family - As you can probably tell, this pic was taken with a really nice camera, which I REALLY want!....Kristen's camera. And I'm sad Kristen isn't in this photo :(

Goodbye until next time Canada