30 things about me you may not know.

1. I like guns.. . . .a lot . they are a lot of fun to shoot. and I have no problem shooting someone if I am protecting myself or my family. I own a .45
2. I'm a pretty good cook. . . . I think so at least. and I love my taste of home cookbooks, and my lionhouse cook books. . . they're Great!!!
3. I'm pretty good playing the piano, and I really enjoy doing it, but find that I don't have the time I used to now that there is a kid around. in the next house, I plan to get a grand piano.
4. I want to learn to play the cello. . . more than just "want", I obsess about it. I took violin lessons for two years while in college and loved it, but now I need a new instrument. and the cello is it.
5. I am in the process of writing a book. . . may just be for my own posterity, but it is a way for me to have a creative outlet.
6. I am very conservative, and get very angry when people's view points don't match mine. . . I don't see why they don't see things the way I do and why they don't prioritize the sanctity of life like I do.
7. my favorite vacation spots are las vegas and disneyland.
8. I need to lose married weight ( I don't have pregnancy weight, I have married weight) I was in great shape before I met my husband . . .I was running 3 miles every single day, but then I met him and he didn't want to ever go running with me, and I was afraid I would lose him to someone else if I didn't put the time in . as a result, I have gained a bit of weight that is probably going to take a year to get off.
9. I worry about my baby dying or getting hurt really bad, or someone stealing her. . . it scares me a lot, to the point that I have nightmares about it.
10. me and my husband are "that couple" that everyone says, ' she's so nice, how did they end up together '. . . .people either hate my husband or they love him.( it tends to fall down political lines ) . . . and I love that about him .
11. I like to look on KSL.com and imagine 'what if' the houses for sale were mine. . . I like to look at the decor and the furnishings, and the landscapes.
12. I wouldn't trade my problems for anyone elses. . .I have plenty of problems, but I'm glad I don't have other people's problems.
13. I really like my floors clean, I can't stand walking on a kitchen floor that has crumbs all over it, or that is sticky.
14. we are a shoes on house. ( you can keep your shoes on if you so desire) Matt always hates it when people want you to take your shoes off when you go to their houses, ( I make him do it anyway, especially if they have new carpet ) so he made me promise that we would never have that rule at our house. . . I like that rule though. . . . . those people have decently clean carpet.
15. I love to listen to Dr. Laura, and I agree with about 90% of what she says. her book 'the proper care and feeding of husbands', changed my relationship with matt . . .in a really good way.
16 . I think Sean Hannity and Rush Limbough are AWESOME!!!
17. I'm very scared about the direction this country is headed. . . glad I cashed out my 401k when I only lost 25% . . . .if I cashed it out today,. I would have lost 50%
18. our entire wedding cost less than $3,000 . . that includes a dress for me and a suit for matt and both of our rings, lucheon and two receptions.
19. i wouldn't be too sad if we moved . . . never really felt like we fit very well into the ward or neighborhood . If we were to move but stay in utah, I would love to live in the highland alpine area, or davis county area , or lehi - american fork area. those would be my top choices( we change houses more often than we change cars, so it's not really out of the question.
20. i know how to build an emergency fallout shelter .
21. i have a hobby of researching ways to live, if the country completely fell apart and we had to be completely self sufficient. . . . I'm so weird!!!
22.there are things i am trying to teach my child extra early, but i don't tell anyone what i am doing because i think they will think i am a complete nut job. . . ( I always tell my mom though, because she will tell me right off the bat if I'm doing something completely unreasonable.
23. I wish I was more of an extrovert
24. if people come to the door, and I peek through the slats of the blinds and see that they are holding a clipboard and there isn't a delivery truck parked out front, I don't answer the door. . . we get a ton of salesman here.
25. I want to be a really amazing mom. . . . one that my kids friends tell my kids . . .'your so lucky, your parents are cool'. and I'm not talking about being the type of parent that tries to be their kids best friends, I'm talking about the parent that talks to their kids, disipline's their kids fairly, sets reasonable boundries, has reasonable expectations of their kids. I want my kids to want to be at home. I want their friends to like to be at our home. and to feel comfortable there.
26. I don't really like central vac. . . it's kind of a pain dragging those hoses all over the house. . . i do like the under the counter kick plates though. . . those come in really handy. I wish I had a real vacuum. I would totally use it more than the central vac.
27. I want to have a lot of kids, but I think i got too late of a start. . . so I am hoping I can have at least 4. ( I guess some people would say that is a lot . . . )
28. my weekly playlist of shows are: jon and kate plus eight, 17 kids and counting, little people big world, biggest loser , house, bones, 24, american idol, the simpsons , robot chicken ( don't let your kids see this one ), the soup, kids by the dozen, chelsea lately, heros, lost, chuck, south park ( don't let your kids see this one either), the girls next door , dollhouse, terminator, the office, kath and kim, supernatural ( gives me nightmares sometimes), my name is earl, lie to me, desperate housewives, and stargate . . . sounds like a lot of TV huh . . . . yeah, it is. good thing we DVR our shows. we usually start watching TV about 8, and we are done by 11. so it's really not that much. especially when you skip through all the commercials. ( how do we get all these shows you ask. . . . we have 4 HD over the air tuners, and 1 satelite tuner. pays to have a husband that is a geek.
29. when I drive past houses, I wonder what their lives are like. what they do for a living, what their daily routine consists of. If they are happy. gosh, I'm like a stalker or something.
30. I hate doors that have the wood dividers in them so that it looks like there is a whole bunch of individual panes put together. . . . I can't get them decently cleaned ever, and we have three doors with them. . . .they look terrible. maybe I should just have them frosted.

my family

( sorry, I don't know how to make these pictures so you can click on them and enlarge them. . . anyone know how? )

let me just tell you about my extended family .. . I'm not talking about my brother's and sisters, or inlaw's . . .I am talking about my dad's family that I grew up with. . . My grandparents had 8 kids. their third child is my dad, and the other 7 are of course my aunts and uncles. . . I grew up with most of these people living fairly close by. I don't think I can completly convey how much these people mean to me. I love them! and I feel so loved by them. I have wonderful memories of sleep overs with my aunts, of family reunions that usually had a large water fight involving most everybody. I remember going to a lot of weddings, and quite often being involved in gathering the gifts. I remember thanksgiving and christmas were so much fun. when I was really young, we had it at my grandparents house in the basement. I remember playing in the huge toy room. . .. I don't remember any of the toys that they had, but I remember it was a ton of fun. I remember my grandpa paying me a quarter to comb his hair. I remember my mom and grandpa out working in the garden. I remember my grandma's wheat bread that I loved. . . ( grandma sycamore's taste somewhat similar) I remember my grandparents had butter when my family had margerine ( I exclusivly use butter now because of the memories the taste brings . . .and I highly prefer it. ) I remember going over to my grandparents house on sunday nights and watching the disney movie on TV. I remember my grandpa's jar of small hard tack candy. I remember the year at our family christmas party where we had to guess how many peices of candy the jar had in it. Out of all of the grandchildren, I won, and I won a cute stuffed mickey mouse. I remember my grandma teaching me how to play the piano when I was 4-ish. . . something that I still love to do. I remember giving a scripture or a talk in primary and I was so scared that as soon as I saw my audience, I turned around and hugged and cried to my aunt who was at the time I think in the primary presidency. I remember going on bike rides around the "block" with my grandma. I remember always getting birthday gifts wrapped in comics from my grandma. I remember my grandma's green beans, and still to this day I can't cook them like she did. I remember the little babies being given scrambled eggs at my grandma's, and they smelled so good. I remember the cookie jar that always had cookies in it. I remember the cool old fashion looking phone in my aunt's bedroom. I remember traveling with my grandparents to Utah to watch my cousins dance recital. I remember that on the way back we stopped at smith and edwards and emily bought a gi joe, and I bought a barbie case . . . emily tried so hard to talk me out of it. I remember going camping with my family and my grandparents at warm river. It was when my grandpa had cancer. I remember playing cards with my grandma in the camper. I remember feeling left out and emily and angie invited me to make dolls out of clothes pins with them. I remember so many sleep overs with nichela and stacie. I remember sneaking into my cousins house while they were gone, and gathering up some new toys, I took them outside to play with . . . I got caught, and they weren't too happy. I remember hiding nichela in my closet and not letting her leave, while everyone was frantically outside looking for her . . . I kept her in the closet, because I didn't want to get in trouble and I wanted her to stay and play. . .. . If I was my kid, I would have probably recieved the beating of a lifetime for that . I remember playing in the sandbox for hours with Luke. I remember playing football with my cousins and the neighborhood kids. I remember emily helping me learn how to play basketball and I credit her for teaching me how to ride a bike.

Everytime I go back to my parents to visit. I want to stay . I want to move back. I want my children to have the same memories and happy childhood that I had. I want them to know how wonderful it is to have a large family. I want them to have as many examples of righteousness that I had. everytime I go back for christmas or thanksgiving or a wedding or what ever . . . I feel so loved and so wanted. I feel like I belong, like I have always belonged, like I am an inportant peice of the family. I love these people so much. they are incredible examples. They make me want to be as good of an example to others as they have been to me. everytime I visit with them now, I learn more about them. I see them as a peer, I respect their opinions ( it helps that their opinions are right in line with mine) I love talking with them. I miss them. growing up like this . . .makes me want a large family. I know I probably don't have time to have 8 kids. . . .but you never know. get a few sets of multiples in there, and it could happen. we'll see. . . . . . . . . . .

Mommy Survey

Mommy Survey

Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself!Let's see how much you remember!
1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? yes
2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? yes
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? "about time!"
5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 29
6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? thought I had some sort of bug . . . it was taking so long to get pregnant, I didn't think that could possibly be the culprit. . . then matt told me I should probably take a pregnacy test.
8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND THE SEX? yes, my attitude is . . .it's still a surprise, its just an early surprise so you can plan for the event.
9. DUE DATE? 8/26/2008 . . . born on her due date
10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? I threw up for about the first 20 + weeks...
11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? nothing really . . . didn't want to eat, but had to otherwise I would get more nausious
.12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? nothing really . . . I remained pretty emotionally stable the whole time ( matt may tell you differently)
13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Girl
14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? I was thrilled it was a girl.
15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? Lets just say that by the time selene was born, I weighed less than when I initially got pregnant with her( total I gained about 5 - 10 pounds
.16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes, thank heavens, Matt had been out of work for 6 months, and the showers were very much needed . . . . don't know what we would have done without them.
17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew
18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? sortof . . i had a subchronich hemmhorage at 12 weeks . . . and they had to use forcepts to deliver her
19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? American fork hospital
20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?27 hours
21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Matt
22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?matt and hospital staff
23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? natural i guess . . .someones embarassed to say vaginally . . its okay to say it, its not a bad word.
24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Yes. Eppidural worked great
27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? i seriously can't remember . . . .
28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ?august 26th 2008
30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM? selene allison
31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? almost six months