Guess who I met today?

I wasn't planning to post again until we get home from vacation later this week, but I can't help it. This is just too exciting! So I was at my in-laws' ward today in Park City waiting in the hall to enter Relief Society. I was the only one standing there, and when I looked down the hall who do you think I saw? (Erica, get ready to be jealous :) Mitt Romney and his wife were walking towards me. No joke! I knew I wanted to say something, so, being the super cool person that I am, I did a little half wave as he walked past me and said, "I made phone calls for you!" Mitt said, "I appreciate that," as they continued walking to make it on time to the visitor's meeting. That exchange made my day!

On vacation

We're in Utah for the next couple of weeks to enjoy my brother Jordan's marriage to his sweetie Brighton next Tuesday. So I most likely won't be posting until we get home about a week after Thanksgiving, and I probably won't be commenting much on other's blogs either. I've decided to take a short sabbatical from all things blog related. =) Instead, I'll be reading a lot (I've already finished 2 books in the 2 days I've been here!), cross-stitching, hanging out in the backyard (it's miraculously still in the 50s here), and enjoying our family. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

A Confession

I have to confess - I am a laminating addict. I'm not talking about do-it-yourself-with-contact-paper laminating. I'm talking about using those amazing heavy duty machines that teachers use. Once I got a taste, I couldn't stop. My mind just kept thinking of new things to laminate!! I thought I'd share a few of the things I've done in case anyone else has this problem...or if anyone just wants a fun project to do. =)

First, I used my handy dandy Cricut machine to make some posters to help the kids learn Chinese. I figure I should give them a headstart.


That didn't fulfill my urge so I went over to Chocolate on My Cranium and printed out every flannel board story that she has so kindly collected. Now I have oodles of flannel board stories ready for easy Family Home Evenings (except I bought a huge magnet roll for a few dollars and put little pieces on the back of each laminated picture; we have a couple of chalkboards in the house but no flannel board - the magnets work great.).

I had one more idea I'd been wanting to make for ages and finally decided to do it for Kaia's birthday. I made her a play mail set inspired by this blog post. She sewed hers; I made mine with paper and then laminated.

I was getting desperate to find a mailbox after looking at a number of craft stores, but I finally found a wood one at A.C. Moore. Kaia helped me paint it. (You can click on any of this pictures to see them in more detail.)

I made a few postcards with stamps and velcro in a couple of places so she can personalize it - she can pick which stamp to use, who to send it to, and what little message to send (I just showed a few here to let you get an idea of what I did).

I also created a couple of letters; since they're laminated, Kaia can use erasable white board markers to write new messages over and over.


I used the laminator at a place called Lakeshore Learning; they're a chain store so maybe they have one by you! I want to say it's only $0.39 per foot to laminate there - in other words, next to nothing. I spent no more than $5 or $6 for all the laminating projects I mention in this post.

Kid stories

I walked into the bathroom where Kaia was sitting on the floor coloring. She looked up at me and said, "No laughin' mattuh. No laughin' mattuh." I asked, "No laughing matter? Where'd you learn that?" Kaia responded, "My body taught me that! No laughin' mattuh. I have to practice."

My kids have been obsessively watching one of the Land Before Time movies that has 4 short episodes on it. The songs in the episodes are ridiculously catchy and I find myself singing them all the time, but my favorite thing is to hear Asher randomly sing a line from one of them, "I feel happy!"

The other night I was lying next to Kaia in her bed for a minute. She suddenly said, "Sometimes when I yawn my legs flip up on the inside because my leg bones aren't as strong but my arm bones are really strong." Okay.

Asher drinks more fluid than I thought was humanly possible. Thus, we always have to change his diaper right before we go to bed so he doesn't soak his entire bed. The other night we didn't change it in time. I was holding Asher while Peter changed his sheets. When Peter took Asher's pillow out of the bed, Asher said, "Daddy take my pillow. No that nice!"

Finally, a bathroom-related story. All you squeamish folks or those of you who are just disinterested in poop, consider yourselves forewarned. :)

I walked into the bathroom earlier today to discover the toilet had not been flushed. I called out, "Kaia, did you go poop?" Kaia: "Yes." Then I realized there was no toilet paper in the toilet. The following conversation ensued:

"Kaia, did you wipe?"

"Yes."

"There's no toilet paper in the toilet."

"I flushed it."

"You couldn't have flushed it because the poop is still in the toilet."

(After a couple minutes of silence.) "I know! It's magic! The poop stayed in the toilet and the toilet paper got flushed down!"

Of course. Why didn't I think of that?

Halloween

Asher was a doggy this year. He was so cute that he constantly had kids petting him while we were trick-or-treating!

If you think Kaia was a princess this year, you'd be partially right. Kaia declared that she was a scary princess dinosaur. She wanted to only wear a pink shirt and pink pants but I told her she had to put the princess dress on so people would at least see the princess part.

Our favorite doggy:

With some friends:


Our kids ate a constant stream of candy. We think Asher ate at least 8 suckers, one after another. By the time we got home, the kids were literally running around in circles.