Laughing

I got a whole roll of film developed the other day (from 2004) and for some reason, this was the only picture on it! I thought it was cute!

Miles (holding baby Stella) and Lindsay totally laughing . . . I wish I could remember what they were laughing about.

Ta Da!

Don’t you wish there was a picture to go along with this story? The other morning I was finishing planting the larger garden in the back yard. I was sort of neglecting Stella and just letting her watch TV or play outside. She was still in her nightgown and her diaper had gotten so full that she just took it off unbeknownst to me. I turned around just in time to see Stella standing, legs spread, gathering up her nightgown and peeing on the lawn . . . and for her spectacular finish, she did a somersault!

Gardens

Here are my gardens!

beans, peas, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon

squash, zucchini, lettuce, onions, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, corn

HEY LOOK!

HEY LOOK! It’s Pete’s Dragon! (I thought Nat would appreciate this one)

Feeling Blue?

If you need a good laugh to last you the whole day through, look at my sister’s blog! Lindsay’s blog is on my links!

MOVIE REVIEW – Casino Royale (James Bond)

I’m actually surprised that we even watched this one. I have only seen one other James Bond movie with Pierce Brosnan (is that his name?), and I don’t remember being very impressed. I think I remember watching some old James Bond movies when I was growing up, but I can’t remember if it was with Sean Connery or the other guy . . . come to think of it, I may have just been watching Fantasy Island. Anyway, this was kind of entertaining . . . long, but entertaining. I felt like there was going to be no end to the storyline and was still confused as to how the Bond girl was even involved. I did, however, like this James Bond because he did a lot of stunts and actually got hurt several times. That sounds weird, but the other Bond’s just seem like plastic boy Barbies who get a lot of women. This one (Daniel Craig) actually falls in love. There is a torture scene that even made me hurt a little for him as I was wiping tears away from Elliot’s eyes. And this movie has the best chase scene in the first 20 minutes. It wasn’t my favorite movie, but for a James Bond movie, it was alright.

MOVIE REVIEW – Gung Ho

Holy cow, if you have a need to become stupider (there you go) or simply need a new “worst movie ever” to add to your collection, just watch this movie. There is no redeeming quality to this movie. I’ve already spent too much time explaining it to family and friends, but the brief synopsis of the whole movie is that American’s are rude, lazy complainers who disrespect authority and still end up getting what they want. It stars Michael Keaton, who is supposedly the hero of the movie, but if I had any respect for him previously, it’s gone. George Wendt (NORM from Cheers) was also in it and he’s gone way down on my list too. It’s about an automobile plant that goes out of business and the whole town loses their jobs. Michael Keaton’s character saves the day by getting a Japanese company to buy the plant and get everyone back their jobs. It results in a clash of cultures when the Japanese have a far superior work ethic and the American’s refuse to change. They end up trying really hard to reach a goal, all the while cutting corners and ensuring poor quality in the cars, and when the Japanese leader sees how poor quality the cars are, he says they didn’t reach their goal . . . which they didn’t, and says they don’t get their raises. Rightly so, seriously . . . but then Michael Keaton gives this stupid speech about teamwork and they end up getting their raises anyway! Seriously, I hated this movie. Lazy American’s.

Erica’s Baby Shower

After 3 boys, my cousin’s wife Erica Anderson is having a baby girl in a few weeks! Lindsay, Stella and I went to her baby shower over the weekend. Lindsay fixed Stella’s hair, and quite frankly, she was the life of the party . . . picking the flowers from the garden and everything!

Planting My Garden

Yesterday Emily helped me start planting my gardens. We got beans, peas, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, cantaloupe, and watermelon planted in the East garden. I also planted 3 Stargazer Lily bulbs in the front yard. I was rearing to go on planting the West garden when Elliot came home, but then we just ended up sitting on the swing outside, enjoying the absolutely beautiful weather instead. It was nice to relax, but now it’s raining today . . . I should have finished planting!

Enrichment – Happy Birthday Relief Society!

We finally had our Enrichment activity yesterday. I feel like this one has been in the works for so long and it was wildly successful! We had a fantastic turn out with 51 sisters in attendance! My Enrichment Committee really pulled through for me once again! We decorated 12 tables (one for each month of the year) with their coordinating holiday including balloons. Everyone was supposed to sit at their birthday table, ensuring that most everyone would be talking to someone they wouldn’t usually talk to (it worked for a little while). We sang different Happy Birthday songs from the Primary Songbook throughout the night and played party games including “Pin the Tie on the Bishop,” a spin-off of “Do You Love Your Neighbor,” “Guess the Baby Picture,” and a few others. We ate cupcakes and homemade ice cream and had a fantastic time!

January (New Years)

May (Mother’s Day . . . I was doing to do a tribute to my own mother, but didn’t have time)

September (Labor Day . . . I had a hard time thinking of something for this one . . . I was going to just put pictures of myself in labor)

You win the next birthday prize if you can find something in common with all of these pictures:

Larisa, Kimmie, Stacy, Lissa

Relief Society Presidency (Corinne, Lynnae, Kimmie, Megan & Hudson)

Brooke, Haley, Kimmie, Laurie, Shellee

Chelsea, Kimmie, Ally

Rebecca and Kimmie

(back) Sarah and Lorielle, (front) Stephanie, Kimmie, Tiffini

Kimmie, Stacy, Nyla

Liz, Charmen, baby Chandler, Kimmie, Crystal

Esther, Emmalyne, Heidi, Rebecca, Kimmie, Mari

Lissa, Kimmie, Myra

Oops, Justin ate your birthday surprise . . .

Bailee Rachelle Anderson

My cousin Maeser (aka Johnny) and his wife Savanna had their baby girl Bailee Rachelle Anderson last year on October 19th. Savanna keeps a website full of pictures of this cute baby girl, but for some reason, Johnny forgot to tell me about it! Here are some old and new pictures of her (she’s 5 months old now).

MOVIE REVIEW – The Prestige

Just watch this one, and then keep it in and start it over again so you can know what’s going on. I think I’m going back and forth between liking this one or The Illusionist better because the latter was easier to understand. Elliot and I watched this one on Saturday night and had a hard time focusing on Sunday because we kept thinking about it. We watched it again on Monday night and it really cleared a lot of things up for us. It was a great story (if you like revenge stuff and ruining lives), but I had a hard time during the first watching staying clear on whether or not they were in the present or having a flashback. Keep it simple for me friends! This one is about two magicians who keep trying to outdo each others tricks, but they turn deadly and ruin a lot of relationships. It’s tricky, but I liked that they showed how they do some of their magic tricks. Plus I like Christian Bale.

MOVIE REVIEW – The Illusionist

We watched this one a while ago, but since then we’d been waiting for The Prestige to come out because we heard it was better. I really liked The Illusionist, although I felt like they were whispering the entire time. I always love it when Elliot likes a movie because we have to figure out every little thing about it. We had to re-watch some scenes to put the whole story together again, and it was also a little helpful to have the movie recap what really happened too. If I’m remembering correctly, it’s about two childhood friends (boy and girl) that are in different classes and separated because of the difference. They reunite as adults, only she is engaged to a jerk and the guy is a real magician now. I thought it was kind of fun how they plan the whole situation out so they can be together, but I was disappointed when some things seemed not to work out. That’s why you have to watch some scenes twice! I thought it was good.

Fishing

The little girls (Anabelle, Hannah, Gianna, & Stella) on a boat ride with Jason Klug

Raymond fishing

George waiting to fish. Both of the boys are great at casting.

Elliot with the older kids (Audrey, Raymond, Mason, & George)

I told Stella to make her saddest face ever . . . this is what I got.

I didn't have to ask Anabelle, but this is her sad face.

Adam fishing

Grandpa fishing

I don’t know if Stella knew that we were just feeding the ducks and not just throwing food at them.

Stella was asleep before we were 2 miles away from the lake on the way home.

Wolf Creek Campout

DAY ONE 03/16/07 - WOLF CREEK CAMP

Adam set up a camping trip for last Friday and Saturday in the Prescott area at the Wolf Creek campsite. We caravanned with Adam and Xan and got to the camp in the early afternoon. We had the whole campsite to ourselves!

The kids immediately found the giant mountain of rocks and started climbing. I was concerned for about 5 minutes until I just realized that this relaxing campout wasn’t going to be very relaxing if I was hovering around Stella the whole time. Adam complimented Elliot and me on our progress in not being overprotective parents. I just get scared because Stella is such a monkey and wants to climb like the older kids. I was most impressed with Grandma's calm when the kids were climbing around. I was sure her head would explode.

Adventurous Stella on the rocks

My handsome devil of a husband

The Andrews family (Ward, Lisa, Audrey, Max, & Hannah), Grandpa, Grandma, & Aunt Bethany Dibble, and the Klug family (Jason, Megan, Mason, Gianna, & Alivia) showed up a few hours after we got to the camp.

These girls (including Gianna when she finally showed up) had a great time playing, bossing each other around and drinking each other's sodas. Most of the kids had a really hard time keeping their shoes and socks on despite their parents constant reminders. Unfortunately, Gianna stepped on hot charcoal that her dad was using under his seat to warm his rear.

Hannah, Anabelle, and Stella

Poor Claire must not have been feeling very well because besides this picture, she wasn't very happy most of the time (I think she was teething).

For dinner Grandpa, Grandma, and Beth made filet mignon stew with homemade rolls. Elliot and I made Chocolate Lover's Delight in the dutch oven for dessert.

It was actually really warm weather when we first arrived at the camp, but right when the sun went down, it became extremely chilly!

Anabelle, Grandma, & Aunt Bethany

Stella fell asleep while we were still sitting around the campfire and stayed asleep when we got to the tent. Elliot was snoring shortly thereafter as well as several other people in the camp. I would know because I was wide awake most of the night! I couldn't get confortable!

DAY 2 03/17/07 - STILL AT THE CAMP

The Klug's made cream cheese filled french toast, breakfast burritos and bacon for breakfast. Wow, it was yummy!

Stella eating breakfast

Grandpa (he wasn’t in charge of breakfast, but you just can’t keep the man away!)

Anabelle

Bethany and her bunny tail (she sat on a marshmallow)

Tired Mommies and babies (Xan & Claire, Lisa & Hannah, Megan & Alivia)

Stella trying to entertain Claire while we cleaned up the camp

A gorgeous view from inside my tent

After we cleaned up the campsite, we headed up the road to the lake for some fishing!

Dress vs. Shirt

Stella continues to fight me on whether or not this SHIRT is a DRESS. She’s wearing shorts in the picture, but only because she’s in public. Right as soon as we got home, she dropped her shorts and claimed it was a dress.

Gardens

Grandpa Dibble came over last Saturday to help Elliot create our garden beds. I think they are absolutely adorable and I can’t wait to plant our fruits, herbs, and vegetables (even though it’s likely that I won’t eat most of them)!




Stella helped too.

I mowed the lawn and then made homemade whole wheat bread in my new Bosch bread mixer. After I gave Grandpa and Elliot a warm slice, Elliot said, “Now all you have to do is start making my clothes!” Then I mentioned that I’d need a sewing machine first . . . he’s sure all these expensive purchases isn’t what the prophet had in mind when we were commanded to become self-reliant.