Patriot Carpet Care

I decided since I can never get my pictures to post, that I would just type something and at least that would be making some effort to blog!!!!!! This new year has come on fast, and with a few big projects that we are hoping to launch. The most important would be our baby that is due to arrive in May, which for me, means June! We have a few names narrowed down, but they are somewhat yin and yang; Joel likes to be practical, and I like to be difficult i guess, so we'll see what we come up with! Also, we have started cleaning carpets again; Joel has been cleaning carpets for 5 years, but we decided to upgrade to a nicer machine. We are working to try to build a clientele (sp.) for the spring/summer/winter. It has been a big project but I really haven't done most of the work. Joel found a van here in pokey, and they mounted the new machine down in Salt Lake. We haven't actually tried it out yet as the weather has been so cold, and we are afraid of something freezing. But I am really excited to have my carpets cleaned ( I better be the first job joel does!) and to work together! If anyone if interested in having their carpets done, we do have a business phone and web page and would love to help you out!

Also on our agenda; Bodelle and Cambell seem to be doing well. I was trying to get some pictures posted of some of their shenangins from the last week, maybe later they will work, but basically they are busy and ready for spring to get some of their wiggles out outside, and not in the form of big messes inside! (or maybe I am the one that is so ready for spring!) But they are cute and really fun; Bo is excited to turn 4 this year, and Cam will be 3 soon after. Heaven help us once the third arrives; life will be busy, but I think we can handle whatever life will dish out!

I have also had the opportunity this year to be teaching piano lessons; am I the best or most patient teacher? Definately not!!!! But it has been such a fun thing seeing the kids learn, and also figuring things out for myself that I remember my teachers teaching me; it has finally clicked! haha Anyway, I really appreciate those who have entrusted their kids to me and want them to know how much I look forward to it everyweek. I really don't know what we would do without music in the world; it really is a blessing to have something so uplifting so readily available to us.

So I think that sums up a few things we have been up to...we'll see if I can get some photos of my babies up soon!

Let's see if this will work for me...

let's see if this will work for me....

idiot computer!

Here are some of the pics em, sorry they wouldn't work for you, computers are annoying sometimes!!

These pictures will not post!!!!!

These pictures are not posting...

I can't get the pictures to post, so i will try again later.

The pictures will not post right now, I will try again later!

Family Pictures

My sister Erin, did some pictures of us almost 3 months ago, and I just now put them up on my walls in my house, and on my blog and facebook page. My camera broke awhile back and I have been saving for a new one, so that is mostly why I have not blogged. But I should have put these pics Erin took up awhile ago, because she did an amazing job.(for those of you who do not know, she has a blog page set up for her photography if you go to her blog page, you can see all her amazing photo shoots!) And she did them as a birthday gift for me, which was really sweet, too! I love my sisters so much. Anyway, here are a few pictures, and hopefully next week a new camera with some updates on my little family. I will be in Aberdeen with my Mom for the week and can't wait!

Dough-not touch my donut

Once a month, I get the kids up early to go get groceries. This is mostly to beat the crowds, but also to eat donuts! We don't eat a lot sweets, well compared to some we probably do, but I think to have one as a "sometimes snack" is okay. I let the kids pick out their own, and usually they are nice enough to share half with me. This eases the pain of being out in the cold early, and it's fun! And usually on the way we have the disney tunes blaring to wake us up-we were listening to Newsies this morning and it made me wish all my siblings would come watch it with me today. That's kindof a family classic, but I only like it about once a year. Anyway, I am down here blogging when I should be up watching the inaugaration. So more later...

Confessions of a Choir Queen...

Will I ever learn???! I was asked to do the stake choir and now I am wondering what I got myself into... No not really, I actually really enjoy leading; it is kindof like ballet, except without the leaping across the stage; except last sunday I did feel like leaping OFF the stage. The hardest thing is that I don't feel like people realize how tricky it is to keep that many people all in sync, so you get a few that are really critical and basically you want to kill by the end of practice. Mostly I just want to say, firstly, if you think you can do a better job, come up here, and secondly, would you say that to me if my MOMMA was here? But the end product is going to be beautiful, and it will not hurt me to swallow my poulson pride and take advantage of the opportunity to learn some new things. I think mostly I need to learn to not go into things half prepared so I can see how much they are really going to expect of me and just do everything 1000%. And I can learn to have compassion for others who are struggling in callings or other areas and just be patient. So yes, I will learn from this, and even if I have to bring my Mom to protect me, It is going to be my hap-happiest choir experience yet!!!!:)

Grandma bought this car for Christmas for all the grandkids to play with. So now we just need to get all of the grandkids here! :)

I found it!

Today I was cleaning up the basement and for some reason I decided to look in this little twenty-five cent tin that I bought from the d.i. a few years ago. It was filled with legos and to my suprise, Joel's work phone that has been missing for a month or so. Joel swore he had left his phone on his desk, so when it suddenly went missing, we turned the house upside down looking for it thinking it can't be far. But when you have a two and 18 month old, where do you even begin? We were frustrated and Joel finally told his boss that he had lost this expensive phone; so you can imagine his suprise when I called him at work today and demanded I get the "best wife of the year award" for finding it. The thing that was so confusing is that we kept calling his phone, and couldn't hear it, so that's why I started to think that he had left it somewhere or dropped it in the snow. Anyway, if I can learn anything from this, maybe it would be to get rid of that stupid tin, (or a kid, haha:) but also that every prayer no matter how small matters and is answered in Heavenly Fathers own time. Now if i could just find the millions of binkys that I have lost...

I really need a new background! (Erin where are you when I need you?!)

Let's play some ROOK!

I finally made up my mind to update my blog today. And hopefully I have a few interesting things to write about since it has been a month or so. Our Christmas was pretty good; the kids had fun and I did too... but i'm regretting not asking for a camera. Ours has finally quit for good but luckily my birthday is only three months away. We got to talk to Austin and that was fun; he will be home in February so that is exciting. After Christmas, we headed to Emmett and stayed with Joel's grandparents, Emily and Duane Vickery. I always enjoy our visits down there. We also visit Grandma and Grandpa Haws, which is always a party. And as always, there were some pretty intense rook games going on. I actually got scolded for one poor move I made and I could tell Joel was worried I was going to cry or something, but I was cool as a cucumber,(for once.) So after having some homemade grape juice and killer nachos,(grma's secret recipe), we headed back to the Vickery's. The roads were terrible, and we realized we were not going to make it back for our Sunday meetings. This stressed me out a little because I did not bring any church clothes and neither did Joel. So we borrowed clothes and I was pretty uncomfortable with the idea, even though Joel's sweet cousin, Jenny was more than happy to lend me some. I think I snapped at my dear husband in front of Grnpa Vickery(due to some late nights and lack of sunday clothes), because I was running around getting ready, and noticed that grnpa was doing Bodelle's hair for me. Probably one of the sweetest things I have every seen. Picture a John Wayne type with a comb and Bodelle facing him, standing perfectly still as he pulls her hair back in a pony. It makes me teary thinking about it, and I wish Erin would've been there to "capture" the moment for me. Anyway, we made it to church okay and headed home that night, late. We made it safely which is always a huge blessing. We've been home a few days, and tomorrow is New Year's Eve. I'm excited to make some new goals and work towards them the rest of the year. Maybe one of them will be to blog more often...:)

Me helping Bodelle do a somersault...

I am happy to report she can now do a somersault all by herself. I really want Bodelle to be a gymnast (if she wants to) like I attempted to be so we'll keep practising.

My parents decided to take a quick trip to Canada. For those of you who don't know we have Aspen, Ian and two exchange students Louise and Kadda. Louise took this picture and I like it so she posted it for me and she is typing for me right know and she is very cute and nice and soo FUNNY! I have enjoyed staying out here and will miss the craziness but Joel is leaving for the weekend, to San Diego without me :(, so I want to see him before he goes. Anyway I am sure I will be back again soon but for now I need to get some sleep because Aspen and Louise make me stay up all night long.

oh, and I forgot to mention the power was out for like six hours. So that made things even more interesting. I kept thinking I wish my sisters were here ( Ash, Erin and Kristi) to help me. I missed them all week actually because I wanted them to come play with me and the girls. But all and all I had a fun time. Thank you to Louise (so nice) Aspen(so mean) Kadda( so responsible) Ian ( so smelly) and my wonderful babies. ( Louise is still typing by the way. I owe you alot of Pixie Sticks).

Eli Manning

Sometimes to me it seems like everyone that plays in the NFl or NBA are spoiled athletes with no morals.( not to mention overpayed...) But I was so impressed with Eli Manning last night; they won the superbowl this last year so obviously all eyes are on him and some have even said that he has now proven himself to be better then his brother, Peyton. Well they played they Browns last night, and Eli threw more interceptions combined than he has in the last 11 games, which they have all won. Anyway, because I was forced to listen to the after game analysis(thankyou, Joel), I heard Steve Young say that the last interception thrown was obviously not his fault, because his team mate had run the wrong route. But Eli, being the good guy that he is, when asked by the media what happened on that last play, he immediately said, I just threw a bad pass...and in defense of Eli, I said, Joel, I thought they said that it wasn't his fault? And Joel replied, well that's what a good team leader does, sometimes he takes the fall for his teammates. So obviously I will never be a team leader because I wanted to call ESPN and say IT WASN'T HIS FAULT!!!! Needless to say, I have a newfound respect for the Manning family for teaching good morals and leadership skills; and for all the funny commercials they do together. My fav. is the one where it shows Eli and Peyton at home still sleeping in bunkbeds together...too funny!!!!!!

My sister Erin put some pictures on my blog of Joel. (to the right;she also wrote the caption underneath which made me laugh!) I haven't written anything on here about him because he get's so embarressed. But he seems to be doing well in his new job; he was hired as the Compliance Director in the ISU athletic department. This has been such a nice change because he no longer has to work nights and weekends and he really loves college athletics. He has started school again and seems to enjoy it. Anway, there are a lot of things I love about Joel and I'm grateful he picked me to be his wifey!