I've been tagged!

I am a little late, but it's better than nothing...here you go Teresa:

6 Things People Don't Know About Me

1. I have always wished that I had an accent. No, a Utah accent doesn't count. I mean like a Texas or Australian or even a "wicked awesome" Boston one. Don't know why, I just always have.

2. One of my favorite movies of all time is Zorro the Gay Blade, starring George Hamilton. I grew up with it and still love it today. ("A-HA...2 fruits, 1 vegetable, and 1 flower") need I say more? Watch a clip

3. When I'm driving in my car alone, or with Jordan, I sing...really sing. I am in full concert. It turns out that the acoustics of a Jeep Grand Cherokee allow me to sound EXACTLY like Mariah, Celine, Whitney or any other amazing vocalist I choose. The only reason this can't be duplicated when others are in the car is that I don't want to make others feel bad about themselves :-)

4. You may know that I have a tattoo on my right ankle, which I got for my 19th birthday. What you may not know is that when my Mom saw it I told her it was one of those temporary henna type tattoos, and would gradually fade. Yeah, didn't exactly think that excuse through very well did I? 12 years later it's still here..go figure.

5. When I was a teenager I wanted to become a Marine Biologist. Since then my educational and career path has gone: Secondary Education/Criminal Justice/Financial Planning/Business-Travel & Tourism/Web Development. Maybe I can still save the oceans one web page at a time? Hmmmm....

6. Unlike Teresa and Eric we are not currently pregnant...but Jordan is 18 months now so you just never know....

I tag Chris and Kara and Duane.

The Family is all Home....for a minute!

Duane is home from China, albeit for a very short time, and Jordan and I are back from Michigan. Wow it has been a really crazy month!

Michigan was awesome. It was really green and pretty, and the weather was great. We must have been there at a perfect time of year, because it wasn't even that hot. We got to hang out with Chris and Kara, and Chris even cooked dinner for us! While we were in Lansing we stayed at the Residence Inn that is just a couple of streets away from their apartment, so we were very close. We all took a weekend trip together to Frankenmuth and Mackinaw, which was so much fun! I loved going to Bronners, and seeing what a cute town Frankenmuth is. Mackinaw was beautiful, and looked like something out of a movie. There are no motorized vehicles on the island, just horse drawn carriages. It was really neat! I learned a lot of Michigan history, and also learned about Pasties (pronounced Pass-tees) which are kind of like meat pies. Here is a slideshow from the trip.

Thanks to Chris and Kara for everything. It was so good to spend time with both of you. I can't wait to see you when you come home in December. I hope the move to the new apartment went well, and you are settling in ok.

Stay tuned for more updates. We are trying to fit in a lot of activities while Duane is home. We took Jordan to the zoo yesterday and those pics will be here soon, along with pics from China.

So I went to take Jordan's 18 month pictures today, and Jordan was in a pretty onery mood. He is getting 3 more teeth, which is funny because he has gotten like 5 since Duane has been gone, but he did really good. We went to the Kiddie Kandids in Layton, and I hadn't been to that one before with him. Immediately he made friends with the other kids there and the photographers. He was so happy and smiley in front of the camera. The first 6 pictures they took were the ones we used. He was singing, and talking and trying to get into everything. By the end of the appointment all of the girls there were oohing and aahhing over him. He is such a ham!!! So I had to include one of the outfits that we got him on our last trip to China. It turns out the photographers loved this picture the most and entered it into their photo contest. Maybe I have a little model on my hands? You decide...



So that's the China photo, here are the rest, which I think are just as cute!




Yeah, so that's my onery baby being a ham in front of the camera. Not so onery looking right? I can't believe how good he was. Granted, afterward he wasn't happy about being carted around the mall, but the pictures were good. He is really excited about seeing Daddy again. We talk about it every day, and I think Dad is going to get smothered, but I'm ok with that! He is too cute and too smart...I'm not biased, but he might be the next Einstein... :-)

Bathtub Notes...

...a new form of communication in our house! Since Duane and I often take turns being on "bath duty" with Jordan, we frequently write notes to each other on the tub or tile with Jordan's bath crayons. We also draw pictures for him, and he does too, but the notes back and forth are my favorite. The last notes we wrote were just before Duane left for China, and since it's been a few weeks now I know I need to clean them off. (I mean the whole tub and shower need to be cleaned, not just clean around the notes) Jeff had the great idea that I should take pictures of the notes before they are gone. So, here's a sampling. Yes they're sappy, but it's been really nice to read those everyday while Duane's gone (I guess I am more sappy than I thought).

So those will come down this weekend, and we'll write Duane some new ones to see when he gets home. (After all, he'll be on 4 weeks of bath duty right? ;-)

So that's it for tonight, but I'll have more to talk about regarding the Olympics opening ceremonies and of course Jordan in his never ending quest to keep me busy. I should almost be a reality show. I'm sure someone would think it is funny to watch me chase Jordan around the house and reprimand him from doing things. It could potentially be called something like "The Real Suburban Housewives of Davis County". Hey, anything that would document my struggles with the Davis County traffic and the trials of having a toddler to youself... I would watch! (although I might be the only one). More Later...

Even in a house that is over-run by toys...

...Jordan will still want to play with whatever it is I am doing/he is not supposed to have/he just learned he can reach and Mom doesn't know it yet. In trying to snap some pictures of him the other night, he grabbed the camera case and put it right on. As you can tell by the lack of toys around him, he had no choice...I mean what else was there for him to play with?

His latest and greatest discovery? Daddy's plants. Not only can he now reach them, he can reach them well enough to inflict serious destruction. If we only had 1 or 2 plants I'm sure I could relocate them to higher ground. But what happens when even the higher ground at your house is covered with plants? Duane has quite the green thumb, and I can honestly say that every available inch of display space in my house is home to a very beautiful and unique plant. I love it and it's wonderful, but as Jordan gets taller and his reach is getting longer I am at a loss as to what my options are. Obviously he is aware he is not supposed to touch the plants (or hit them, pull on them, knock them over and dump a pot full of soil into the carpet) but he has some of his dad's mischievious streak in him. The second I am on the phone or trying to cook, etc. he heads right for the plants. Ideally I should be treating this as some sort of ethereal parenting opportunity, but that might have to wait until Duane gets home. Until then if you come to my house and I have plants sitting in odd places you'll know why. And if you haven't read this and ask "Why do you have a pineapple plant sitting on top of a box sitting on top of a ....." I will just politely refer you to this blog post ;-)

Like I said, he only goes for what he knows he shouldn't have when I am otherwise occupied, which isn't often these days. I have been lucky enough to be able to spend almost all of my evening time just playing with him. The house may not be as clean right now, but oh well. It can always get cleaned, and Jordan won't be 18 months old forever.

So....yeah, um we're not getting much done

So needless to say, updating the blog obviously isn't happening on an everyday basis as I thought it might. Partly because we've been keeping in touch with Duane via web-cam a lot, and partly because Jordan started walking (like really walking) the day that Duane left for China.

Yep, the DAY he left. I couldn't be more excited, but sad that Duane wasn't here at the same time. Jordan had been standing and taking a few steps for quite a while, even walking around the perimeter of furniture etc. But the night that Duane left he just started walking on his own! The story goes like this: Jordan loves vacuums. Why? I don't know. I'd say it's because I'm such an amazing housekeeper that I vacuum everyday, but that would be a huge lie. I agree that my purple Dyson is an amazing machine and quite good looking, but I don't think it's that either. Anyway, he had been pretending to "vacuum" with a stick or spatula, etc. for a few days when all of the sudden he was so preoccupied with "vacuuming" that he just kept on going. All the way down the hall and into our bedroom. I raced to grab the video camera before he realized he was walking. To my suprise even though he would fall down, he kept getting right back up and doing it again. I had to get this on video, so I kept him going. "Oh Jordan, the floor is really dirty over here, come vacuum this." "Jordan can you help mommy vacuum?" The best part was the noise he was making while doing it. Trying to imitate the vacuum noise, it was awesome! So at least I have the walking recorded (and quite a bit since then) so that Duane can see it.

The only downside to this development is that since I'm the only one home and Jordan is now EXTREMELY mobile, I haven't had any time to do all the little projects I had high hopes for. So I think I have hung a few pictures, but that sums it up. To think being the only one home with a toddler was going to give me any "time" to rearrange the pantry, or furniture, or do some filing in the office, is laughable to me at this point. But I can say that I am having the best time chasing Jordan around the house and yard!

Only a few more days till we get to visit Uncle Chris. I am so excited. I'm sure our first airplane ride since walking will be far from relaxing but we'll see how it goes. I'm actually more worried about Jordan and Grandpa being together on a plane. Those two are trouble when they are together ;-) Maybe Grandma and I will sit elsewhere and then complain to the flight attendant about the noisy baby in the other row. (I wouldn't really do that, but I have a friend that did...and you know who you are.)

Anyway, here are a few pics in the meantime. This one would be really cool if it was in 3-D. That olive would be coming right at you!

Here's one from the Animal Planet Expo we went to at Liberty Park. Boy was it hot that day! Luckily we had these "Meerkat Fans" that they gave us.

Here are a few of Jordan, and Jordan and Riley at Steven's Birthday party on Saturday.