She's Still an SDC!

First she jumped in the cupboard with the glasses... then I found her in my oven... (no, I usually don't cook sticks... I needed them dried for Pack Meeting)

Reality Check...

I've known for over a year that Jonathan is taller than me... the picture of us in front of the temple makes that fact undeniable! Not even my poofy/ratted hair makes up the height differential!

Draper Temple Open House

On Monday we (along with Amy) attended the Draper Temple Open House. This temple sits high on the South East bench of Salt Lake County. It's a mini-temple... but still plenty big! It kind of looks like a fortress and its grounds are essentially a parking lot (at least that's how it appears in the dead of winter with snow on the ground). We parked at a nearby church and where we saw a DVD presentation on the importance of temples to the LDS faith, then we were shuttled by BIG bus to the temple. We walked through the baptistry, men's dressing rooms, and 4 ordinance rooms (I am affectionately calling one the "Big Game Room"... go see it and you'll understand why). We saw offices, bathrooms, and the brides room. We got to sit in the Celestial Room and in a sealing room where the significance of sealings and family were explained. All-the-while Miles was doing his favorite thing... EAT! It was really cool though to be in a sealing room with my family and to look together into the mirrors representing eternity and the "see" possibility that lies ahead for us.

Winter Camping...

... is for the birds; and I didn't even have to go! Dan took his scouts on a winter campout this weekend. It was the district Klondike Derby. The scouts were all excited for this new adventure. We've been having strange weather this past week... it's been raining. Dan was hoping that if they had to camp in crappy weather, that it would be snowing instead of raining. Well, they got up American Fork Canyon. The weather was fine. They set up camp and the boys thought snow camping was pretty cool. They roasted hotdogs and made s'mores over the fire. Around 9 p.m. the scouts got into their tents and did what ever scouts do inside tents. Sometime in the middle of the night it began to "snain". That's what I call the rain/snow mixture that is super wet and heavy and leaves "soup" on the ground. Lovely. It turned to a downpour of rain. Everyone was soaking. Most of the boys (Jonathan included) left their shoes outside of the tents along with various other articles of warm clothing. They were miserable inthe morning. They endured the storm and made breakfast, then packed everything up wet and made it home around lunch time. Jonathan, who left his shoes and turtleneck out in the rain and left his extra socks at home and lost one sock in the Black Hole of the tent, greeted me with the biggest grin on his face and informed me that "it sucked". He repeated that several times, grinning all the while. Everything Dan and Jonathan brought home was so wet that I could wring water out of it. We dried stuff in the dryer, set stuff out to dry in the garage, and even put stuff on the porch to dry out (but it's been "snaining" down here, so that stuff is wetter than it was before). One scout came by today with a note for Dan thanking him for taking the scouts camping even if it was freezing and wet. Boys that age can find fun in any situation; however, Dan has no plans to go Winter camping again for a long time!

No One Said "Yuck"

Parley and Bona are off on an adventure to Japan to see Steve and his family (via Dallas where they are seeing Kevin and his family). Usually we go to their house for Sunday dinner, but tonight we fended for ourselves at home. I planned ahead for this meal... Dan picked up a roast yesterday, and this morning I hauled out the crock pot and threw the roast, potatoes, and carrots in it and then went about my day... 9 hours later dinner was ready. I'd made a salad, homemade rolls, and an Angel Food cake with berry sauce to go along with the meal. We all sat down for dinner and to my great surprise no one said "Is this all there is?" or "Do I have to eat this?" or "Yuck." That was such a nice surprise that I might even cook dinner again tomorrow night!

Miles Hijacks My Blog

It's me... Miles. I went on a trip. I went on an airplane ride with Mommy and Aunt Leslie. I thought it was awful and I let everyone know it. The airplane took me away from the cold to the warm sun at Grandma and Grandpa Madsen's house. They have a friendly doggy who loved me. She gave me kisses on my head, hands, and toes. Mommy didn't like that very much. She especially hated it when doggy licked my hands and then I put them in my mouth. The best thing about doggy is that she is big. She's so big that I could ride her.
After a few days, it was time to go home. I had to get back on that silly airplane again and I let everyone know how I felt about it again. This time though, I quickly fell asleep and when I woke up, I was at my house

I Escaped

That's right, I've run away. Miles and I flew to California (with Leslie) on Friday night. I left the land of snow, ice, and frigid temperatures for Sunny California with 70 degree temperatures in January! It's heavenly! The weather is so nice that I took Miles out for his first walk. I thought he might like to experience "outside". He wasn't impressed and decided that rather than enjoy the outdoors, he'd go to sleep. So, we've been busy doing absolutely nothing! We hung out around Grandpa and Grandma's house on Saturday, went to church on Sunday (this time Miles slept through 2.5 hours of it! I actually got to listen!), hung out at the house some more, and today my only plans are a trip to Trader Joes before packing up and heading home. Miles has grasped the concept of" lazy vacation" and been sleeping in. He's been asleep for 12 hours (with a quick wake up at 3:30 a.m.) and still snoozing strong It's been fun to get away, but alas, a return to normalcy and the rest of my family is imminent. Our flight gets in a midnight tonight, and then it's back to the regular routine of school, homework, piano, art, scouts, etc.

Nolan the Adventurous Eater

There are two types of eaters at our house... the bold and brave, and the cautious. Jonathan and I belong to the cautious category, Dan and Nolan are bold and brave. Dan tells us about all the odd meats he tries when on business. Jonathan and I tell him "yuck" but Nolan is intrigued. He shares the adventure-eating spirit with his dad. Nolan got into adventure eating in China. He ate garlic greens (which even I thought were really good), seaweed, jellyfish, Peking duck, and "sheep". Yes, he counts "sheep" as an odd food (most people call it lamb...). Dan and Nolan went out to lunch the other day to a place called "International Buffet". There, Nolan proudly added a new food to his "unique foods repertoire"- squid. Way to go- I won't touch squid with a ten food pole (mainly because I am a vegetarian, but also because it is seafood and it's rubbery). So Nolan once again has proved that he is braver than his mom and isn't afraid of trying new and odd foods!

It is DONE!!!

I did it! I gathered it, sorted it, washed it, dried it, folded it, and put it in 5 baskets! Yep, that's right, the LAUNDRY is DONE! Big deal, you say, but it is to me... see I HATE doing laundry. Okay, I don't mind the laundry until I get to the "fold it" part. I hate that part and will do just about anything to avoid folding the laundry including not folding it and pretending that Mount St. Laundry doesn't exist and that horridly wrinkled clothes that emerged from the base of Mount St. Laundry are all the rage. It doesn't help that my laundry room is 300 square feet so there is plenty of room for the mountain to grow. I started on the laundry yesterday with 9 loads to do. I got 6 loads washed and dried and ZERO loads folded. This morning I got up and started in on the last 3 loads (still with ZERO loads folded). I promised myself that once Miles went down for his long nap I would start folding Mount St. Laundry. Once I got started it wasn't so bad and I stuck with the task. Yep, all 9 loads are folded (plus 2 from last week I was ignoring) and are waiting in baskets for their owners to come home from school and Texas to put them away! Now Jonathan won't have to wear dress socks to school!

By the way, Jonathan had an ortho appointment today... March 12th at 8:45 a.m. is when his braces come off! Hooray!

Candy

What is up with the price of candy bars? Ouch! It's been a while since I have bought candy bars and I had sticker shock today! I need to make 3 candy bar cards so off to candy heaven (Macey's grocery store) I went. Candy bars on sale were 2/$1. Regular price was .69 each. Man, if they cost that much when I was growing up, maybe I would have learned restraint at an earlier age. Well, I bought the candy bars and a gallon of milk and spent just under $30. Okay, so I did get a lot of candy bars, but still...

So We Tried Church Today

Miles and I have been going to Sacrament Meeting since he was 6 weeks old. Last year we were on the 1 p.m. block which was during Miles' turbo nap-time. Since we are on the funky "reverse block" schedule, he'd stay at home and sleep through Relief Society and Sunday School, then we'd go to Sacrament Meeting with the rest of the family. Now we are still on the funky "reverse block" schedule, but we start at 9 a.m. I thought maybe that schedule would be better for Miles since he has 1 catnap before his turbo 11:30 a.m nap. Last week I started getting ready for church and Miles didn't follow his usual schedule and passed out for his turbo-nap early, so we only went to Sacrament Meeting where Miles fussed the whole time and I stood in the overflow bouncing him and listening. This week I decided we'd try the whole block. I got up early and got ready. Miles woke up on time. We got him ready and we went to church at 9 a.m. Miles made it through a whole 5 minutes of Relief Society before having a meltdown- he wanted his morning catnap. I went and fed him but he didn't go to sleep. I walked the halls with him for the rest of the hour. Dan and I went to Sunday School. Dan had Miles. He lasted about 5 minutes again before another meltdown. No food this time... just walking the halls with Dan for that hour. I didn't even try going into Sacrament Meeting without feeding Miles first... he passed out! I went into the meeting and Miles slept through the hour. Nice! So, I don't know what we will do... I'd like to be able to attend church, but if I'm going to be pacing the halls I may as well just stay home. So I guess we'll take it on a week-by-week basis...if Miles is awake, we'll go; if he's asleep, we'll shoot for just Sacrament Meeting. Hey, only 15 months until nursery!

He's Supposed to Be Napping

3 Months Old

Yesterday Miles turned 3 months old! It's amazing how fast little people change. Three months ago, Miles was a sweet blob. No intentional expressions, skinny, sleepy, floppy. Dan called him chicken body because of the lack of muscle tone. Now, 3 months later, Miles has gained about 6 pounds, grown 5 inches, and has chubby rolls on his legs and neck! He has awesome head control and opens his fists. He smiles in response, "talks" and laughs. He likes to sit in the Bumbo seat, bounce in the jump-up, play "run fast". He's an awesome sleeper still (Wow! the biggest surprise) and goes to sleep on his own. He's starting to like the bath, hates diaper changes, loves to look and smile at his brothers (and almost anyone else!). He had his first case of stranger anxiety this past week (sorry Margot). Wow! So many changes in such a short time!

Snow, Snow, Snow

That's all it is doing this winter. It's been snowing basically non-stop since 1 p.m. yesterday... 27 inches (by my measurement) have fallen in about 28 hours. The roads are in terrible shape. You cannot make it up my street unless you are in 4-wheel drive. So far, today alone, Dan shoveled once and I've shoveled 4 times. Yes, we had school today. The elementary school principal was outside after school today pushing stuck cars out. My next door neighbor is parked partly in the street and partly on the sidewalk. This picture doesn't do the snow quantity justice. Nolan is 4' 8" tall and, it's hard to see but, this snow pile in the front of our house is taller than he is. Spring cannot come soon enough! What happened to global warming? I'm thinking that we should relocate... to Saudi Arabia!

Swamp Thing!

Isn't he cute! This has to be the funniest outfit I ever bought Miles! No, it isn't a Halloween costume. For some reason it was part of Crazy 8's (Gymboree's sister-line) holiday line. It makes me laugh. But today is so cold and this outfit is so warm (it's fleece) that I just had to put Miles in it!

Out With the Old and In With the New!

When Dan and I were newlyweds we used to go to the local furniture store, RC Willey, on Saturdays because they had free hotdogs and soda for lunch. After eating our free meal we would wander the showroom and I would dream about what I would buy if we weren't starving college kids while Dan tried to figure out how to get me out of that store. I fell in love with this off-white sofa with big oversized pillows for its back. It was priced way out of our league, but I would visit my "dream couch" whenever there was free hotdog Saturday. One Saturday it was gone... sold-out, discontinued, whatever, but it was gone. I was really sad. Well, we did our round through the store and wandered to the upstairs portion where mismatched furniture, damaged goods, and floor models were sold at discounted prices. There it was... my dream couch... only the floor model remained and now it was priced within our budget. Within a few days it was in our apartment! I had rules for my couch- no eating on it, no bare skin touching the upholstry, no laying down on it either. I wanted my baby to stay new looking forever.

Fast forward 16 years, 3 kids, and one cat later... it was time to replace the couch. The upholstry on the corners of the cushions was worn out. The cat's claws weren't contributing to the overall appearance of the couch, and it just didn't look so "new" anymore. Time to start looking for a replacement. Between Christmas and New Years we started looking. Dan and I returned to a branch of our old haunt... the RC Willey Clearance Center in Provo (where we have taken the kids to get free hotdogs and soda on Saturdays). There wasn't anything there we were interested in. On New Years Day, we were up in Sandy for dinner and afterwards I coercise Dan into going to the RC Willey Clearance Center up there. They had lots of furniture... most of it was really ugly, but there, on the third row by the wall, was my new couch. It was sage green suede with big pillows for the back. I went over to it... sat down...nice firm cushions! Loved the pillows for the back. Looked at the price...
almost loved it too! The price tag was confusing... One place said that it was marked down to $559; another place on the tag said it was $499. We were sold on the $499 price (plus everything was an additional 25 % off the lowest marked price). I went to find a salesman to find out what the real price was. He looked in the computer and was confused. He called his boss and explained the situation to him. His boss told him to sell the couch to us for $209! Done deal! We have a new couch! Dan drove back to Sandy the next day to haul the new couch home in the truck! Yea!

But now, what to do with the old favorite "dream couch"? I didn't want it to go to the dump. I thought about DI or freecycling it, but then Aly came up with a great solution... see if Leslie and the Pie-man want it! Newlyweds (and newlyweds-to-be) are usually stoked to get free stuff. I called Leslie- she said yes! They'd take it. I told her about it's overly-loved spots and emailed her pictures of those areas... they still want it. So now my "dream couch", which served me wonderfully for 16 years, is living in Aly's basement, waiting for Leslie and the Pie-man to get married and move to Utah and become its rightful owners. I wonder if they'll let me come over and sleep on my old couch?

Jonathan Redefines Himself

Jonathan has officially achieved a new status in life. Yes, it's true that he's been a teenager for over 7 months now, but I think he could now be inducted into the "Teenage Boys Hall of Eating Fame". Jonathan has achieved a feat that only teenage boys could/should be proud of.. he ate an entire large Little Caesar's Pizza for dinner. Yep... 6 slices of cheese pizza washed down with 2 slices of pepperoni (pepperoni removed, of course!). Congratulations Jonathan... good thing you have a very fast metabolism!

Oh, and yes! Way to go Utah football! The Utes resoundingly beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl the other night! 13-0!

Happy New Year

Well, no football games for us to watch today... that's reserved for tomorrow when the Utes take on Alabama in the Sugar Bowl... Go Utes! We had a fun, but mellow night last night. Dan worked until mid-afternoon. We had dinner with Parley and Bona. It's a Belnap tradition that goes way back that they get bread from the "German store" and have deli meat sandwiches for New Years Eve dinner. After spending some time with them, we attended the "Battle Creek Neighborhood Party" at the church. They had activities that rotated every half hour. There was volleyball, indoor soccer, the "wink" game, square dancing, ballroom dancing, dancing-dancing, board games, a service activity, and of course, food. Miles lasted until around 9 p.m. when he fell asleep in my arms. I stayed at the party until 10:45 p.m. when I got tired of holding Miles so Dan took us home and went back to the party with the boys. They stayed until the end and brought in the New Years with balloons, horns, and general noise. Miles and I were at home peacefully sleeping!

Baby New Year made her annual visit. He brought Nolan the DVD Journey to the Center of the Earth. Jonathan got the last Calvin and Hobbes book he needed to have the complete set. Dan got pistachios (for the first time in many years they were less that $5 a pound). Miles got lucky... when Baby New Years stopped by at 6:30 this morning, she couldn't find Miles' planned gift... she improvised and grabbed a new rattle and declared it "good enough". A few hours ago, she found the intended gift- a play mat, so Miles got 2 things. Jonathan and Nolan also got a gift certificate for Fox Hollow golf course... 18-hole round of golf, cart rental, and a bucket of range balls. Baby New Year is a Madsen tradition that goes back to when my dad was a little boy. Baby New Year is analogous to Santa, but for our family is scaled way back. It's fun having our own family day of gift giving.

The rest of today's plans are to take it slow. Miles is taking nap #2. Nolan is playing with a friend. Jonathan is working on some "over winter break" homework. In theory we will head up to Sandy and go to Sweet Tomatoes and check out the RC Willey Clearance Center up there... hopefully they will have a couch that meets both mine and Dan's expectations... my expectation of looks and function, and Dan's expectation of price!