Quirky-ness

I have seen tags, read tags, but never participated in a tag....so for my friend Dawn, here I go.
I was asked to list 6 quirky things about myself.....some of these I may have mentioned before, so it may come as no new surprise.

#1. I always make my kids put on clean underwear...like twice a day. If clothes are dirty it doesn't bother me, but undies have to be fresh and clean, especially when little bummies sit on school potties then transfer those germs onto undies.

#2. Which leads me to #2. I am a deep-clean-aholic. If the silverware drawer or fridge has crumbs it drives me crazy....smudge prints on the cuboards in the kitchen, can't stand it, but messy toy rooms don't bother me as much.

#3. Toe and fingernails. My dad's and Todd's are especially fun. It takes two hands to trim those suckers! Long and dirty fingernails on little kids is gross.

#4. If I had a day to myself I would choose to go on a long run, alone. Go shopping, alone. Hit some antique stores, alone. Then come home and bike with Todd up to get a steamer. The theme here is that I enjoy the solace of being with myself. I can go, stay, leave, linger as long or short as I'd like and not worry about who else was with me.

#5. I'm very indecisive. It's a problem. I'll be at a store, can't make up my mind. Buy it. Regret it, and go back again to return it....and usually the whole process is repeated with the next purchase I make.

#6. I'm not a big fan of going out to eat. Lunch with friends, dinner with the family or even Todd and I. I think it's because I'm frugal AND I love the meals I prepare. My salads and pastas are just as delicious as any I've had.

Six people I have tagged: Danielle Dilger, Lisa King, Michelle Chapman, Jamie Casperson, Nicole Jackson, Diana Thompson

Rules:
Link to 6 people that follow your blog.
Mention on their blog that you've tagged them.
Tell 6 unsuspecting quirks about yourself and ask them to do the same.

He's just a little boy!

This had me laughing out loud. I asked the kids if they thought Brody was GOOD, CUTE or HARD. They all replied CUTE and HARD but definitly not GOOD! Today alone he spilled glittery nail polish all over the hardwood floor, had 4 dirty diapers during ONE session of conference, threw mashed potatoes on the floor, has knocked down my wrought iron candle stand for the 5th time banging it into the wall and shut off the main swich of the computer while downloads were in process. His new favorite thing are the Sweet and Salty bars. He grabs them out of the pantry by the handfuls wanting to munch on them....at least he doens't know how to unwrap, yet! But like President Monson said....we will miss these times.

Willkommen

We just had our Fall activity and I told my friend Lady Di that I would post pictures since she has my calling now. We had a Bavarian them to celebrate Oktoberfest. Ward members could dress in Bavarian attire and prizes were awarded for Best Dressed, and Best Pumpkin Dessert. We had some funny contests. Marshmallow stuffing for the ladies and Pie Eating for the men.
Families went around to the various booths to sample different fares or play games. Bobbing for apples, rootbeer, cider, preserves, and Bratwurst for dinner.
Four Elders helped man our booths and judged the desserts
My kids had a blast....so did Ashley and myself, who stayed there till 1 a.m. setting up so we wouldn't have to worry about it the day of and get caught in the rain!

The primary kids liked playing on the bridge....

Ashley made 12 signs in this Bavarian font. They turned out so fabulous and I didn't even grab a picture of my most favorite one at the entrace that she had done in color and with glitter that said "oktoberfest"! The cotton candy was a big hit.

I made these centerpieces one afternoon while Brody "should" have been napping. That was one of those..."I'm just going to let him cry" days.

We had raffle tickets for everyone as they walked in and raffled off some cute felt bags filled with candy. The primary kids were swarming Ashley for a prize....we could have raffled off a dum dum sucker and they would have been thrilled. Kids just love those tickets!

I downloaded some Bavarian tunes that played on the overhead system which helped set a theme. The gym is so hard to decorate....it's an enormous cave! We were going to hold it outside but our 80* weather turned to rainy and 60*'s overnight. Such is life in the Northwest!

Photo 101

There's a first time for everything. This was my first day at trying out my new camera. A couple weeks ago my camera just "poof" disappeared at the church after scouts. I looked everywhere there for a week. I told Todd we must have a camera.....soon! He shopped around and found me a super nice digital camera with an 18/55 mm lens and 75/300 mm lens. All I know is that with the lens at 300 I'll be able to get face shots of Griffin playing soccer on his full size fields! The only down side.....it's going to take me awhile to sort through all the settings, and it's not going to fit in my back pocket :> I like doing manuel settings, so these were my test shots. It may have helped had I done their hair or gotten them dressed up, but this is real life here! Brody
Cammy
Kenna

Peachy King

I'm finding that making that list of 10 things I want to get accomplished has really kept me on the ball. Now I must fess up that I did have a giant M&M cookie about 3 days in.....then tonight Todd asked where that cookie I'd saved in the freezer for him went (into my tummy). So to make up for it, and because it was such a Fall-ish day outside, I made my Giant Gingersnap cookies and had a few. But otherwise, yes....sugar fixes can come in many other forms!
I also placed a huge food storage order and canned 2 dozen peaches all by myself....although now I'm wondering if I missed a few steps as I looked at this step-by-step process on-line just now. I just followed the directions a friend gave me. $50 worth of peaches gone bad would not make me happy. I also made 2 dozen bottles of peach/rasp and peach/staw jam which turned out delicious! I haven't gone to bed early AND I'm waking up early....bad combination. My aunt Lee just gave me ideas for more goals involving all sorts of "lists". It's a great post under the Jensen Family. She's full of great ideas! I have a few more goals I like to keep private, but now I see that posting them is probably a way to keep me more accountable :>

The girls and I attended a beautiful wedding a few weeks ago. A friend of mine took pictures with her camera and just sent them to me. Kenna smiles effortlessly, Camdyn wanted them over with!

Street of Dreams

Todd and I went to the Street of Dreams Saturday night (thanks Gibson's). First we stopped off for Oregon Blackberry Smoothies at Burgerville with my free coupon (I love free date nights).
This house has come down in price. I used to be 3 million and now it's 2.6 million. I'm sure they'd take 2 and a half. 11,000 sqaure feet and lots of lots of decks and courtyard but no grass! Beautiful view, pool, massage room, a couple game rooms and movie rooms and each bedroom was it's own suite. It was so fun being there at night. Who buys these homes??? Don't people have better things to spend their money on? I'm doubting whoever buys it will stock up on food storage. What good will that huge house do them then :>
Can't see it, but the Portland lights in the distance are breathtaking. One could just lie out here all night and be perfectly content.....unless of course you were worring about your gigantic mortgage.
Toddie the fire-man. I want one of these in our backyard. Perhaps Todd should put in a slate patio next for one of these?
If a house has an awesome kitchen then I'm sold. This was house #5 I think and I LOVED the kitchen. Knotty Alder is my favorite. That would be me getting ready for the day in my gi-normous bathroom and vanity.
Growing up in Arizona, we'd go through the Model homes. That was our favorite Sunday activity. Go for a drive and tour the homes. Each of us got "dibs" on a house. The others had to knock on the door and we'd show them around. Sometimes you got the crap house and that was just the luck of the draw. To this day I still love playing that game when I go to visit. Sometimes they even have Otis Spunkmeye's baking in the oven. Can the lure of a cookie really sell a home. That is how we sold our first home. I had a cinnamon dessert cooking in the oven and those are the same people who bought our home!

Winner takes all

I announced a contest today in one of my classes, but want to call it "The Biggest Winner". Women will ask me what can they do to lose weight or inches here or there....well there's not such a thing as "spot reduction". Eat right and do lots of cardio! I decided to give some extra incentive to those ladies wanting to tone up now that lazy days of summer are gone and the busy holidays are just around the corner. Oct 31st is our final weigh in and I have some pretty good prizes in store for the top three winners. Although, I believe being healthy can encompass all ranges of weight, shapes and sizes, it's all about feeling good in the body you are in. I'm happy to admit I'm on day 2 of no cookies! I was tempted last night to grab one but held firm. It seems I've made a new friend in my "doing hair thing" by exchanging some tips with a gal on line and my girls are actually really good at letting me try out a few of her techniques on them.