Keeping Busy

Andy left me in possession of the laptop today so I have literally not left my chair unless it was absolutely essential to do so.  I've been nonstop blogging and attempting to get caught up on all the things that have happened in the past month or so since I've last blogged.  I totally don't expect or even recommend you read all my catch up posts but here's a list so you can pick and choose.

Christmas 2008 (I know, finally)

Jack's baptism

Sarah's blessing

Sweet Jesse Timothy

Evelyn turned 3!

Evelyn's birthday

I like tuh'tles

Uglies Series review

2009 Resolutions

I like tuh'tles

"Look mommy I'm a turtle"

We took Dmitri outside today to play in the grass.  Evelyn followed him around ever so slowly mimicking his every move.

Evelyn's Birthday

For Evelyn's 3rd birthday we took her out to a place called The Wild with bounce houses and the like.  It was so much fun.  Andy and I even got into it.  The kids loved it and had a major blast!  Here's proof...

Afterwards we took her out to dinner and ice cream and then on to the pet store.  Evelyn picked out a turtle so now we're the proud owners of this little guy...

Say hello to Dmitri.  He's a Russian tortoise.  He should be a pretty good pet.  He's supposed to be real low maintenance and actually has the potential to outlive us all.  We'll see.

Evelyn turned 3!

Evelyn is quite the character.  Here's a little bit about my 3 year old little girl, Evelyn.

*She LOVES cereal.  She would eat it every meal if I let her. 

*One of her many talents is that she know every theme song to every show and every commercial on t.v. Seriously, you name it she knows it.   

*She enjoys watching movies and goes through phases where she insists on watching the same movie everyday for like a week.  

*She's a great singer and almost always has a tune in her head.  Just off the top of my head I can tell you she knows the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I am a Child of God, The Itsy Bitsy Spider and tons more but I just can't think of them.  She loves to sing and loves learning new songs.

*She knows what Andy does at his job which I find really cute.  Whenever I mention Andy to her during the day she tells me "Daddy's working, he's making movies".  

*She picks up on things more than I ever expected a kid her age to.  The other day we were doing one of her eye exercise games where I hold up a stick with a picture of an animal on it.  I had just made a new stick and on it was a picture of a Hippo.  Totally expecting her not to know what the animal was I told her "This is a hippo".  Then she kind of looked at me strange and said to me, "No mom, that's not a hippo, that's a hippopotamus".  Perfect pronunciation and everything.  I still have no idea where she learned that.  

*She also knows the difference and last name of her two sets of grandparents.  It's so cute to hear her say Grandpma and Grandpa Fitzgerald or Grandma and Grandpa Waite.  She's way smarter than I was at that age.  I actually remember back when I was like 5 or 6 referring to my grandparents as the one with the dog and the one that lives far away.

*She is a pretty good big sister when she wants to be.  She'll push Preston around in his little car and bring him a toy when he's crying.  She also tries to get him involved in whatever she's doing like playing pretend food or dancing.  

*One of her favorite things to do is ride on the "motorboat" (motorcycle) so we usually try to get out and ride a couple times a week.

*She's finally at that point where she's mostly helpful.  She'll bring me things when I need them, she can get herself dressed by herself, and she's potty trained which is a huge plus.  

*She's also at that age where she wants to do everything herself. Whether it's sing a song or put her pants on, she does NOT want help.

*She still manages to get into her share of trouble but nothing too bad.  She usually finds something around the house to make a mess of and if not then she just pulls EVERY toy out of her closet. 

*She has a tendency to notice things about people and she'll tell you "I like your teeth!" or "I like your hair". 

*Her new catch phrase is "Really?".  She says it after almost everything I tell her.  I can tell her something like "Evelyn, we are going outside" and she'll say "Really?".

*She's a great girl and I love her, REALLY.  I can't believe she's 3 already.

    Happy Birthday, Evelyn!

I decided to ask Evelyn a serious of questions and here's her responses...

(Me)- What is your favorite food?

(Evelyn)- Umm... Cereal and milk (Honey bunches of oats being her favorite)

(Me)- What is your favorite color?

(Evelyn)- Red

(Me)- What is your favorite animal?

(Evelyn)- Elephant

(Me)- What do you want to be when you grow up?

(Evelyn)- A Dragon 

(Me)- What's your favorite cartoon?

(Evelyn)- Caillou

Fwee yers owld!

Yesterday was Evelyn's 3rd birthday. I'm going to let Amber fill you in on all the deets, but here are just a few bullet points to wet your evey whistle.
- Bounce Houses
- Fast Food
- Turtle

Stay tuned for more.


Sorry for the crappy short video, it's from my iphone... something went wrong.

Uglies Series Book Review

Last month the Smart Remarks Book Club book was the first of a series of books called "Uglies".  I read he book and enjoyed it.  I'll admit, it wasn't my favorite book I've ever read but it kept me interested enough to read the next two books, Pretties and Specials, which is saying something.  For anyone who hasn't yet read the book it's about a world years ahead of our own.  Cities are totally self sufficiant and everyone lives within their city and never really ever has a reason to leave.  Kids ages 12-16 are seperated from everyone else and live in a part of town called Uglyville where they go to school and await the day when they turn 16.  At which point they have a "Pretty" operation that makes them supermodel beautiful.  But little do they know, the operation is just a cover for something far more sinister.  Ok, so it's pretty obvious from the beginning what the secret is but I won't give it away.  The book has a really interesting concept although I'm not sure I would have written it quite like the author did.  Here's the GOOD and the BAD...

GOOD:

* One thing I liked about the books is all the techie stuff n it; hoverboards, bungie jackets, walls that give you whatever you ask for and heat jackets.  Very cool!

* I also really loved the lingo especially in book two.  It was all bubbly-making for sure.

* They kept me interested! I couldn't stop wondering what was going to happen to Tally.  Just when I was starting to get bored of it something would pull me back it.

* Surprisingly, the parts I liked the best were when she was outside the city in the wild.

BAD:

*A few things I didn't like however where the lousy characters and the unrealistic bonds between them.  The relationships between the characters was totally unbelievable.  There was absolutely no chemistry between the leading lady and any of her male counterparts with the slight exception at the end of book two that totally fizzled out in book 3.  I had such a hard time believing any of it.  As for "love interests" in the book give me a break.  I lost total interest in David when Tally went on describing exactly how ugly he really was and then again in book one when he admitted to drinking his own urine, ewe.. I think I'd rather die.  Zane was a little better but I actually saw him as a little nerdy and creepy from the first time he came into play.  And then right when I started to like him...

*The main characters themselves had the worst personalities.  I would never want Shay as a friend, all jeolous and needy.  And Tally, come on.  She had absolutely no say in anything that happened and yet everyone looked at her like she was some kind of hero/leader.  Let's face it, without her friends she'd be nothing but a bubblehead and yet somehow everyone gives her all the credit.

And now for a rating...

I give this series a 2.5 out of 5

Also FYI: I don't know how you all feel about this so don't judge me but I found this really cool site Ebookhood.  I found this entire series and more there. 

Another one of those commercials

So I did this commercial like a month or so ago, I'm just now getting around to posting it. Tell me what you think!



p.s. Yes, we came up with the idea, but please keep the boobie comments to a minimum.

2 Unexpected blessings and a bonus

Recently Andy and I have had a bit of good fortune.  Turns out we have a few of the right connections and they've paid off big time.  The first one Andy won't let me talk about but something good happened to him...  The second thing I might have mentioned before is Evelyn's eyes.  She has Intermittent Exotropia which is where her eyes have a tendency to point in different direction or as we like to say "crazy eyes".  I had pretty much given up on it because she seems to have learned to cope with it but it just so happens that Andy's cousin noticed Evelyn's eyes at Grandma Bailey's party.  How crazy is that?  Not even everyone in my immediate family has noticed her crazy eyes but she just happened to notice them AND she just so happens to work with the one doctor I've been wanted to take Evelyn to.  Dr. Sutter is one in a million.  Most other doctors don't even believe in what she does, they're all about jumping straight to surgery for the more complex cases and completely ignoring the less severe cases like Evelyn's.  She apparently has methods of training the eyes and essentially strengthening them to stay straight.  It's amazing!  So wow, where was I going with this.  Oh yeah, Andy's cousin Kate (whom I now LOVE) talked to the Optometrist on Evelyn's behalf and she agreed to treat Evelyn for FREE.  That's right!  She's going to completely fix her eyes, without any surgery, for FREE!  We had our first appointment with her on December 19th and it went really well.  She treated Evelyn so sweet and nice and was totally patient with her.  I was so impressed.  She gave me a few ideas of things I can do to help and at the beginning of this month we had our first appointment with the Vision Therapist.  She taught me some exercises that I can do with her at home and Evelyn got these super snazzy red/green glasses to wear when she watches movies that are supposed to help train her eyes to stay focused.  I am 100% confident in Evelyn's new Optometrist.  She is my new favorite person and Kate too for hooking me up.  I've heard so many good things about her from other people and I just can't believe that she agree to help Evelyn.  It's amazing!  Seriously a miracle.  Another plus is that while we were there she checked Evelyn's vision and heck yes! turns out Evelyn has perfect vision.  So yah, take that bad eyesight genes!

Now for the bonus!  I am proud to announce that after 7 years of debating my college major and taking 2 semesters worth of random off the wall classes I finally narrowed it down to ONE major.  I've always known I wanted to go back to college after the kids were older so in the back of my head I've been contemplating all my options.  I can't guarantee my plans will stay the same but here it is.  I want to get a bachelors degree in Exercise Science which is kind of a mix between Biology and Kinesiology.  It sounds perfect and all the required courses are classes that I would want to take anyway.  After that the goal is to go through Physical Therapy training and either become a Physical Therapist or Sports Therapist.  I can't wait but for now I'm just going to enjoy being a mom.

Ho Ho Ho!

December 13, 2008~

This year was Evelyn's first year to really get excited about Christmas so let's just say I may have hyped it up just a little.  She totally soaked it all in and we loved every minute of it.  Santa even made a special appearance at our ward Christmas party and I'll never forget how adorable she was waiting in line with her Grandma Waite and seeing Santa for the first time.

  Evelyn

Preston

♪I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause...♪

Merry Christmas!

Love,

      The Waites

Andy, Amber, Evelyn & Preston

(This was going to be our Christmas card photo)

Cool Project

So I just completed a cool project. It's a Bridal Promo for a bridal show I just did last week. Check it out and tell me what you think... it's only 2 minutes long.

Sweet Jesse Timothy

Congratulations Tim and Brenda!

Jesse Timothy Waite

Born 5 pounds 8 ounces

  and 19 inches

January 5th marked the arrival of the much anticipated Jesse Timothy.  My Brother in Law Tim and his wife Brenda are by far the most deserving of such a remarkable blessing.  It's been so fun to watch them in their early days of parenting.  Jesse is a precious baby boy and it will certainly be fun to watch him through all the stages of his life.

Baby Sarah's Blessing

Sunday January 4th~

My cousin, Lindsey, with her husband David and adorable Baby Sarah.

The kids and I were able to attend the blessing of baby Sarah.  There was a ton of family there.  David did a great job on the blessing and Sarah looked adorable in her blessing dress.

Jack's Baptism

Saturday January 3rd, 2009~

Jack is such a sweet kid.  He's always super friendly to his cousins and treats Evelyn like his best friend.  She loves him SO much.  He's also a super great example to them.  In the car on the way home from Jack's baptism Evelyn said to me very proudly "I want to be baptized like Jack".  I was so touched.  Jack is an awesome kid and a super cousin.  We are all proud of him.

Evelyn and her cousin Charlie were buddy buddy after the baptism, literally inseparable.  They were so cute holding hands and leading each other around the church building.

In the Year Two Thousand... (and Nine)

My Expectations and Resolutions for this year-

I do realize that by posting this you can all see exactly the kind of slacker I really am.  But my theory is that by getting this out in the open it will motivate me to be better and achieve some things.  So without any further explanation.

My 2009 New Years Resolutions-

1. Family prayer and scripture reading.

2. Attend the temple at least 6x this year.

3. Do regular weekly Family Home Evenings.

4. Have more date nights.

5.  Run a 5k in less than 25 minutes.

6. Learn to play the mandolin.

7. Do more day outings with the kids. Broaden their minds to as much good stuff as possible and have tons of fun in the process.

8. Release the inner thrill seeker in me. Learn how to do at least one extreme/outdoor sport.

9. Start playing tennis again.  Time permitting, possibly even enter a tournament.

10. Try every new thing that comes my way.  Never pass up the moment to do something awesome.

11. Finally pay off all our credit cards and get out of debt.

12. As soon as I get a computer blog at least once a week.

13. Be even more supportive of Andy and help him out in any way I can.

14. Be a better house cleaner and not let the housework get the best of me.

15. Become a better cook by trying new recipes and cooking more full meals throughout the week.

16. Plant a garden in the spring.

17. Watch Andy sell his first movie and make his next one this summer.

18. Make it to the top of Mt. Whitney- the highest point in the lower 48 states.