Nicknames and the likes

So this weekend we signed up to do the ward weekly walk and talk at our house. (by we I mean I signed up) Basically what this is, is everyone in the neighborhood goes on a walk at about 6 pm on Sunday and then gathers at one persons home for refreshments and mingling. (I know it, only in Utah)

All I can say is, of course it rained and of course it dropped like 40 degrees from the day before. But despite all of that, we still had a pretty good turn out. We even met one of our neighbor hood boys who rides his bike down our driveway just about everyday.

After the party was over, a few people stayed around to hang out with us, and our neighbor boy and his crew came back by to visit us.

This kid was great, I don't even know if I can describe him to you all, one day I will get a picture of him. I should of that night, I don't know what I was thinking. I am sure he will be back.

He goes by "RipOff Heraldo" Ripoff for short, and his side kick is "Cheap skate" or "Shady deal" He also gave us and our good friends the Flygares, and PJ some nicknames:

From now on Kory will go by "TORTURE MASTER"
I will go by "Cinnamon Stix"
Jess "Killer Master 16000...." then changed to "Killer master 1"
Skyler "Nerd boy"
PJ (he really struggled on her name) First he said "DJ" then "Pajamas" and then he gave up, because we teased him for not being very creative with her name. So we named her, and since we pretty much had the masters covered we decided on "Snap"

So it was a pretty fun night.

And you thought YOU needed to go on a diet

Its official, I need to loose some weight! On Wednesday I went and got my jeans out of the dryer and put them on, (I hate putting newly washed jeans on because they are always much tighter, but I also hate wearing jeans too many times in a row before washing them because they get too baggy,) anyway as I bent down to pick up one of kory's socks. I heard....

RRRRRRRRPPPP

And then I felt immediately a light breeze drifting past my legs, and i felt my pants immediately become loose.

I had ripped just from bending over a rip probably 12 inches long on my bum! Not only was i sad that these were my ONLY pair of jeans without holes in them, but I was devastated that they were practically shredded by my enormous "lady lump" (as Fergie would call it) I am talking incredible hulk action here.

I think i need to go on a diet. or exercise or something.

Here are the pictures

Kitchen update

I have been meaning to post pictures of my finished kitchen for a few weeks now. While Kory was on a small business trip (Saturday to Sunday) I along with the help of my wonderful neighbor Jess and her brother and sister painted my kitchen. We got it done in no time! Thanks again for your help! It would have taken me hours upon hours to finish it all myself. Also, thanks for everyones input on the colors a few months back it really helped me make up my mind. I was a little worried about painting the walls, but it really made such a huge difference, at least to me anyway. Let me know what you all think. Eventually, we will restain the cabinets so they aren't so yellow looking. I also still have to paint the back entryway, so I am not quite done just yet. Anyway, I will stop rambling, let me know what you all think!

Our kitchen nook

Fridge and stove

Inside the kitchen nook

Back door and cabinets

View from the living room door

Also, I know I have said this before, but we really are finishing up our bathroom this week. We have a few more little things we need to get done and then I will post the pictures. We are also finishing up the rest of the upstairs this week. And hopefully we will be working on the basement in a couple of days.

Back to School Survival Kit

I made these back to school survival kits for my young women this week. They really loved them, I found the idea online, but I adjusted it to fit the needs of the young women in our ward. (It was for young children and teachers originally)

The reason I am posting it was because I thought maybe some of you out there might want to do something similar for the kids in your life, to get them pumped about school and to get them to feel your support.

Label: I used the backpack from Doodlecharms cartridge, and the opposite lettering from Opposites Attract. I found the ruler ribbon at Roberts Craft.

Contents:
School Survival Kit
Toothpick - To help you pick out the good in others and yourself.
Hugs and Kisses - For when you just need a hug and a kiss.
Candle - To light your way when you’re up late studying for tests.
Eraser - To remind you that it is ok to make mistakes.
Rubberband - To remind you to be flexible and to hold it together when things get tough.
Sharp Pencil - To help you be sharp and bright.
Crayons - To Color your day bright and beautiful.
Tissues - To help dry your tears and the tears of those around you.
Lifesavers - To remind you to help those around you, and to ask for help when you need it.
Paperclip - To hold it all together.
Band-aid - For when things get a little rough.
100 Grand - To remind you that you are worth more than 100 Grand.
Mounds - To help you with your mounds of homework.
Sticker - To remind you we all stick together and are here for you!
GOOD LUCK THIS SCHOOL YEAR!!
Love,
Your Young Women Leaders!

Bedtime bear!

My sister in-law Kelli made me this cute care bear! She did a really good job, and it has so much detail! I am really impressed with her abilities. She is really talented, and since I have no patience for crocheting or knitting, I am always so impressed with all her master pieces.

Juggling...

So a couple of nights ago at a leadership meeting for young womens, the second counselor gave this great analogy, and I really felt like she was describing my life right now to a T!

She said imagine if you had to juggle one ball? Piece of cake, right? You could easily toss it back and forth from hand to hand without any thought. Now, throw in the second, it would be a little more challenging, but still pretty simple.

Add a third, it takes some skill but its doable, and not impossible
Try four, then five, then six. What would happen?

Eventually, one or more of the things you are juggling are bound to drop. When you go to pick that one up again, something else or all the other things drops, and you find yourself frustrated that you can not juggle all these things you had hoped to at once.

And her point was this: you can't juggle EVERYTHING at once and expect to never drop something. Eventually something will fall, and you will have to drop something else in order to pick it back up again...

I have been thinking a lot about that recently as I have been trying to live my life. I feel so much like the juggler, because lets face it, right now in my life I am trying to juggle WAY to many things. There just isn't enough time in the world for me to do EVERYTHING I need to do, and I am finally realizing that THAT IS OK.

Being a perfectionist, and slight OCD (no, I do not need to turn the lights on a million times). This is something I am almost not ok with. I am not OK with just turning my back to my obligations and responsibilities, it tears me up inside. I have been trying to adopt this motto recently "Treasure the DOING a little bit more, and the getting it done a little less" (it's from a conference talk) but I am having a really hard time with just even getting to the doing so that I can enjoy the doing a little more.
I feel like everything is piling up and I can not get to any of it...

So you are thinking "Wah Wah she such a winer!" but take a look at my to do list. Does it overwhelm you? Cause I feel like I am drowning !

Things I am trying to juggle right now in my life...
Working Full time (but really part time, but it is supposed to be full)
Running and teaching swimming lessons
Part time nanny roughly 10 hours a week...
Enrichment leader
Two visiting teaching companionships ( and you thought one was hard to schedule)
Young womens first counselor
Reading Breaking dawn
Running a Dance group
Trying to help Kory fix up the house, but by the time I get home I am beat
Being a wife/homemaker (I still haven't found the time to sew Kory's pants)
Taking care of zoe
Blogging about our life, and staying in touch with all our friends and family in cyberspace.

So you can see why I may be overwhelmed? Any advice as to what I can do to help stay on top of things and not just crawl into a cave and sleep cause that is where I am feeling like going right now...

Tag your it...is such a cliche

One of my long time friends Darcie, aka Wildflower, tagged me to post 6 random things about myself on her blog. So here it goes, in no particular order...

1. From the mouth of my husband I am a "calling slut" I have had not one, not two, but three different callings over the last 4 months. I get roughly 6 weeks of a calling before they release me and give me a new one. I was recently called as the Young Women 1st counselor. I still haven't been released as enrichment leader, so I am pulling double duty. I also have not one but two visiting teaching companionships...Over worked is an understatement.

2. Many of you know that I desperately want a baby, however for fear of losing my new acquired calling (the last 1st counselor got released two days after her baby was born) and because I really really REALLY want to go to girls camp. And they don't allow babies at girls camp or popping pregnant ones either, I want to put the baby thing on hold. I am sure jaws are dropping right now. But with my uh...reputation, I am sure I will have a new calling in no time.

3. I have NOT finished Breaking dawn yet and the suspense is killing me... I have to take it slowly because I don't have time.

4. Kory and I are days away from our bathroom being finished. So stay tuned more pictures to come!

5. I think the phrase "You are hell" is my new motto for life.

6. We will be starting on our basement next week and are looking for volunteers to help gut it out. Any takers? Any?

AND now I am tagging drum roll please....Now I am only picking two Anderson family members so that everyone has a chance to tag someone, I didn't want to be selfish...

Kassie Miles, Rainey Anderson, John Sharp, Jordana Bailey, Leerae Kim, Hilary Patchett (You have no blog, so now you have to make one!)

The rules:
1.Link the person who tagged you.
2.Post the rules on your blog.
3.Write 6 random things about yourself.
4.Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5.Let the person know you tagged them on their blog

6.Let the tagger know when you've posted.