Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Doctor, doctor! Give me the news.

Did you know you can buy Dr. Mario for the Wii? Well, you can! And it is super awesome. Super awesome, my friends! Best ten bucks I’ve spent this Christmas season. Brett, Sarah and the kids came down today, and I totally stomped Sarah playing Dr. Mario. Beat her 27 times in a row!! Or at least six. Same diff!* We also went sledding, ate tacos and started one tutu on fire (Brynlee and the tutu are fine…the fireplace kinda stinks). I would post some pictures from the day, but although Sarah isn’t very good at Dr. Mario** she can take a mean picture. So I won’t be posting pictures until she sends me a few. Speaking of pictures here are some that she took of Brynlee a couple weeks ago.


Anyways, Dr. Mario is calling.

* I will not be mentioning if or how many times she beat me.
** She actually might be better than me, but a little trash talkin’ never hurt nobody.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Bloggy Milestone!

Last week my sister and her family came down for a visit. It was a semi-forced visit since they were actually on the way to the in-laws, but got snowed in (or snowed out?) and couldn’t make it that far. She informed me that I was almost to my 100th post and asked if I was going to do something special for it. Although, for memories sake, I still want to post a few things about Christmas I will put that on hold for a "special" 100th post.

If there is one thing that I have learned in bloggin’ it’s that on your 100th post you post 100 things about yourself. And in an effort to be hip (Okay, I just said "hip," which, by default, contradicts its intended connotation) I am going to do what everyone else does.

So here goes:
  1. I was born in the booming metropolis of Stone, Idaho.
  2. I think there were 6 kids in my Kindergarten class.
  3. I still have the t-shirt that I got on my first day of Kindergarten.
  4. My family moved to Filer when I was in 4th grade.
  5. My neighbor, Erin, instantly became my best friend.
  6. Most of my middle school memories are with Erin.
  7. We used to help Darnell (dad’s hired help) milk the cows.
  8. Not sure why we thought that was fun, but I think it’s ‘cause he gave us candy.
  9. One summer we got addicted to MC Kids.
  10. Spence found a copy of MC Kids on eBay and bought it for me one year for a birthday gift.
  11. The night I went into labor with Brynlee I had stayed up until 1:00am playing that game.
  12. My water broke at about 2:30am.
  13. I graduated from Filer High School.
  14. About 2 months after graduation I moved here to go to beauty school.
  15. Although I have my beauty degree I only worked in a salon for about 3 months.
  16. I wanted to get my bachelors degree so I went back to school and quit doing hair.
  17. I still think that I will do hair again at some point in my life.
  18. I would like to have a small salon in my house.
  19. I really enjoy coloring and styling hair, but cutting hair isn’t my favorite.
  20. I grew up with a lot of sisters. I know how a bad haircut make a girl feel.
  21. For that reason cutting hair makes me nervous.
  22. My dad is my hero.
  23. When I was a little girl I couldn’t wait to grow-up to be a daddy just like him.
  24. I’m named after my dad, Nolan Kim.
  25. I don’t have a middle name.
  26. I used to hate the name Kimberlee and insisted that people call me Kim.
  27. Now I really like the name Kimberlee.
  28. My dad’s nickname for me while growing up was screwball.
  29. I hate to admit it, but it fits me well.
  30. My senior year of high school a buddy and me thought it would be a good idea to dump instant mashed potatoes on the High School lawn in hopes that the sprinklers would make them grow.
  31. It didn’t work.
  32. We did get busted by the cops though.
  33. They let us off with a warning.
  34. Had the cops known that he and I had also put mashed potatoes in a washing machine at the laundry mat they might not have been so lenient.
  35. The instant potatoes in the washing machine worked!
  36. When my sisters and I were little we would steal my mom’s Jell-O packets.
  37. If you lick your finger and then dip it in the Jell-O packet your finger works just like a dippin’ stick!
  38. We also stole all of my mom’s garden seeds one year and used them to make mud pies. (Sorry about that mom!)
  39. I use reusable bags for all my grocery shopping.
  40. My favorite is my bags from Ikea.
  41. I am married to my best friend.
  42. He is hilarious.
  43. He makes me laugh until I lose all forms of control.
  44. Seriously, milk out of the nose kind of laughin’.
  45. When Spence and I were dating I wrote 365 reasons why I loved him and gave it to him for New Years.
  46. There was one for ever day of the year.
  47. It’s fun to go back and read them.
  48. Spencer and I meet when we were both working at Perkins.
  49. I was a waitress and he was my manager.
  50. We both quit about one month before we got married.
  51. Spencer quit because he was standing up for me.
  52. The leaving Perkins story deserves a post all to itself.
  53. When I was in college I lived with 10 roommates.
  54. We all got along surprisingly well.
  55. Spencer and I bought our first little house about two months before we got married.
  56. We dated for 2 years and were engaged for 6 months before tying the knot.
  57. My kids are my life.
  58. I would do anything for them.
  59. One summer, when I was in college, I went to Cody Wyoming to work at a dude ranch.
  60. It turned out to just be a little weekend get-a-way.
  61. I came home three days later.
  62. That summer I ended up living in Twin Falls with my little sister, Jami.
  63. It was way more fun than working at the dude ranch.
  64. When we went to the fireworks that summer we were the last ones to leave the CSI campus.
  65. Jami thought she knew a short-cut.
  66. She didn’t!
  67. I am truly grateful for my religious beliefs.
  68. I served as Young Women’s President for my church when I was only 23 years old.
  69. It was my favorite calling that I have had so far.
  70. I worked at Jamba Juice during high school.
  71. My first car was a little red low riding Chevy Luv.
  72. The heater (and defrost) didn’t work when the truck was turned on.
  73. However, sometimes it would turn on when the truck was not running.
  74. I would get in the truck after school and it would be about 280 degrees in there.
  75. The only B’s that I got in college was the semester that Spencer and I got married.
  76. I didn’t really apply myself that semester.
  77. That was the semester that I took US History from a German professor.
  78. It made for an interesting twist on the world wars and the Holocaust stories.
  79. I took a class in college on the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler.
  80. It was one of my favorite classes.
  81. I could tell you what I did on any given day for the last ten years of my life.
  82. It’s all written down in my collection of day-planner.
  83. I make a daily list of what I need to get done every day.
  84. Obviously I am extremely spontaneous.
  85. I love categorizing and organizing things.
  86. I’m a people person.
  87. I believe that there is good in everybody.
  88. I love talking with and getting to know different people.
  89. Just not on the phone.
  90. Aside from my family and my best friends (whom I talk with way to much) I don’t really like to talk on the phone.
  91. Something about it makes me nervous.
  92. However, I usually talk to my mom and my sisters at least once a day.
  93. Sometimes two or three times a day.
  94. You would think that we would run out of things to say.
  95. We don’t!
  96. I have A.D.D. when it comes to watching T.V.
  97. I can watch an entire episode of something on T.V. and when it’s over I wouldn’t be able to tell you what I was watching or what it’s about.
  98. Yet, I have watched every episode of Friends.
  99. Twice.
  100. I just wrote 100 things about myself!
Well, there you have it.

I promise when I get to 200 I won’t post 200 things about myself.

Or maybe I will. Who knows.

But, here’s to making it to 200 to find out.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

My Family

Earlier tonight Brynlee and Spencer spent a good fifteen minutes laughing hysterically in the kitchen. Spencer was standing on Brynlee’s stool and would jump up and hit his head on the ceiling. With that Brynlee would laugh uncontrollably and insist that Spencer do it again. And of course, he would. Which would only cause Brynlee to laugh harder and louder. Then Spencer made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Now don’t let that statement fool you, this is a rare occasion. Spencer is NOT a cook. Which is one of the reasons we work well together; I enjoy cooking, he enjoys eating. Every now and again when I refuse his gracious offer to make him homemade cookies he will pull out a box of brownies or cookie mix and make some semi-homemade ones himself. Tonight was one of those nights. When he got the cookies from the oven he stated that the cookies smelt just like butter. And then in a very engineer like way pretended to calculate the butter to cookie ratio. He concluded that there had to be more than a “pat” of butter in each individual cookie. I laughed out load when he next sat down at the table with a plate of cookies and said, “Gosh, these cookies have oatmeal in them…it’s just like eating health food!” In the meantime, Jace was sitting on my lap quite contently sucking on his right hand. The entire top of his snowman pajamas were soaking wet from the excess slobber. He would pull his chubby little hand out of his month long enough to cue or giggle at everything that was going on around him. That little guy can laugh, and has a contagious smile. I love it.
 Brynlee got this adorable little hand-me-down baby crib for Christmas. My sister-in-law had purchased it for her little girl a few years previously, but due to the fact that there are boys that live in their house (that like to stand in their sisters baby crib) they needed something a little heavier duty. We were hoping that the cute little crib would last at least until Jace was big enough to stand in his sister’s crib and break the bottom out. Well, today Brynlee stood in the crib and the bottom fell out. Spencer was busy eating his plate of, um, healthy butter-loaded cookies so told Brynlee she had to wait a bit before he fixed it. Brynlee immediately said, “Me’s got a idea” and ran to get her little tool kit from her toy box. She spent the next five minutes trying unsuccessfully to hammer, file and screw the crib back together.And the moral of the story (or rather a random sampling of short stories) is that I love families! I especially love my family. They make me so happy.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

A virtual gift for you!

I saw this lovely poem at a little craft shop here in town. I stole the idea. Seriously! Took out my dayplanner and jotted it down right there on the spot. Some might consider it idea shoplifting. I obviously don’t. I then gave the stolen words with purchased M&M’s to my neighbors for Christmas and wanted to share it with you as well. As you hold these candies in your hand and turn them, you will see the M becomes a W, an E and then a 3. They tell the Christmas story; it’s one I’m sure you know, it took place in a stable a long, long time ago. The E is for the East, where the star shone so bright. The M is for the manger, where baby Jesus slept that night. The 3 is for the wise men, to bear gifts they say they came. W is for Worship, Hallelujah, Praise His Name. So as you eat these candies or share them with a friend, remember the meaning of Christmas, it’s a love story that never ends. *Sorry virtual M&M's aren't all that tasty. But on the bright side, at least they aren't all that fattening either!*

Better late than, well, later!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Cliff Notes

It’s not a secret that I have the tendency to be Chatty McTalkerson in my blog posts. And since I am well aware that you're reading blogs in an attempt to pretend you don’t have last minute Christmas things (or stuff, or whatever) to do I am going to make an honest attempt to keep this post short and sweet. Consider it an early Christmas present. Your welcome. Here’s what we have been up to lately while all hyped up on Santa Claus and candy canes. Ward Party—ate prime rib, heard a barbershop quartet and went a tiny bit crazy when sitting-ish on Santa’s lap.

The Nutcracker with Kate. Ben’s Christmas Carol. It was just a’ight for me. Brynlee loved it! Jace, three months.Had his first haircut. Got these for the kids for Christmas. (Oh, they are going to be super excited. Especially when I inform them that in a few thousand miles they get to go with mama to get them rotated.) Utah to see Jessica, Sarah and kids.
Bowling.
Sugar cookies. A lot of snow! And then sledding. Spencer is off work until January 5th! Which means that we plan on spending the next two weeks getting up bright and not so early, watching more than our fair share of movies, and quite possibly taking mid-day naps. You could say that we are going to be BUSY!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Alot of random information about Christmas

My old roomie, Ainslie, tagged me for a Christmas tag. And since I am a self-proclaimed born-again tagger (whatever that means) and take my tagging very seriously I will waste no time in responding to her tag. So without further ado here goes Kim’s Christmas Series ‘08. (Which will not be coming to a city near you!)

Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I used to wrap my presents to match the décor on my tree (seriously). This was obviously pre-child and pre-I have more important things to do!

Real tree or Artificial? We have always done real, but Spence and I gave in and bought an artificial one this year. Not gonna lie, I kinda like it. It sure is a lot easier to take care of.

When do you put up the tree? Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving.

When do you take the tree down? With the real tree I would take it down after I was about to go crazy from all the watering and pine needle clean up, and when Spencer would start mentioning something about a fire hazard. Who knows with the artificial tree, I will have to keep you posted (oh, the suspense).

Do you like eggnog? Not even a tiny bit.

Favorite gift received as a child? I don’t think I had a favorite gift, but I do have favorite memories including East Canyon with the B’s, all of us kids sleeping in the same room, secretly unwrapping (and re-wrapping) presents, Jessica’s potato soup, getting up at 1:00am, and many many more!

Easiest person to buy for? Brynlee and Jace (which I’m sure will change as they get older) and Spencer only because he gives me some pretty good hints.

Hardest person to buy for? Um, anyone that’s not Spencer, Brynlee or Jace. I am so indecisive in my gift-giving.

Do you have a nativity scene? No! I want this one and this one if anyone would like to get me a Christmas present.

Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail

Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A pair of gently used men’s woolen socks and two cans of expired Spam. Thanks Meg!

Favorite Christmas Movie? Thanks to my little brother, Alan, “Home Alone”.

When do you start shopping for Christmas? I am not consistent in my Christmas shopping adventures. This year I started about five days ago.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, but only because I am all about going green, saving the environment and wasting not. Or, because I’m cheap and lazy. Whatever! And just to put it all out there, I have also recycled wedding gifts, the occasional birthday gift and a few of Brynlee’s Halloween candies. Bet you’re all fighting over who gets to buy me the nativities now that you know that your gift was given to me circa Christmas 2006.

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Almond Roca, Carmel Chocolates, Potato Soup and Breakfast Casserole

Lights on the tree? You’re going to wish you didn’t bring this up! As I mentioned earlier, we bought an artificial tree this year. We were in all sorts of turmoil when trying to decide which one to buy. Did we want a pre-lit one or not? How tall? Douglas fir or Fraser? You get my point. We had some very important artificial tree decisions to make. Anyway, we decided that we wanted a 9 foot tree, but weren’t sure we wanted to pay $300 for a pre-lit one. We decided to buy one that wasn’t pre-lit because it was a little cheaper. It was SO. NOT. WORTH. IT. After 2 days of wrapping Christmas lights to create an un-pre-lit, pre-lit tree I was kicking myself for trying to save a little money. If you have the same decision to make in the future, go with the pre-lit tree. And don’t listen to the box that says you can create your own pre-lit tree in a few easy steps. It’s a lie. Promise! It will take three days and two boxes of Care Bear Band-Aids.

Favorite Christmas song? Anyone that I can sing along to. And just for the record, Spence’s favorite Christmas song is anyone that I can’t sing along to.

Travel at Christmas or stay home? Both.

Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? I thought I could, but when put on the spot I guess I can’t. I am Consulting Ye Olde Google right now. Vixen. I forgot Vixen.

Angel on the tree top or a star? A bow.

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning, with the exceptions of the annual Christmas PJ’s which get opened on Christmas Eve.

Most annoying thing about this time of year? It’s cold!

Favorite ornament theme or color? I decided to start a new tradition this year of buying the kids a Christmas ornament every year. I think it will be fun to look back over the years and see what they loved that year. Which really doesn’t answer the question…I’m starting to ramble, sorry.

Favorite time for Christmas dinner? Did I read that question right? Do people really have a favorite time to eat Christmas dinner?

What do you want for Christmas this year? World peace and a new pair of jeans. I tag my sisters (sis-in-laws included) Beth, Lacy & Kali Jo (unless your busy having a baby, of course).

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Christmas Wishlist

Should I take this as a hint?
For those of you that can’t tell this is the Harbor Freight Ad with random items clipped out of it. The clippings are then set in a semi-organized pile on my kitchen counter

The only thing missing is a charming little note that reads:

Hi Kim,
I would really love it if you would pick these up for me for Christmas!
Yours truly,
Spencer

I only wish he would have included a Harbor Freight map with little stars where his wish list items were kept! It would sure make my trip to the discount “man store” with my two little darling kids a lot more enjoyable (or at least bearable)!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Our Weekend-The Number Edition

  • Observed sixty-eight meticulously decorated Christmas trees at the “Festival of Trees”.
  • Including one tree mounted after first being turned one hundred and eighty degrees.
  • Witness two eyes grow bright when visiting with the Festival’s talking tree.
  • Heard my little girl mention three different times that the talking tree was her favorite part of the night.
  • Saw the same two eyes fill with terror while sitting on Santa’s lap for a max of six point eight seconds. And after the short one-sided visit she raced back to dad’s arms in a record three seconds.
  • Smiled with two other bright smiles while watching two trains make their way around the tracks.
  • Drove nine miles to see an extreme Christmas house decorated with thousands and thousands of twinkling lights.
  • Used Felt that I used eight boxes of Kleenexes.
  • Watched Spence hang the last four strands of Christmas lights along the roof-line.
  • Took seven up-close pictures of my Christmas decorations in which I will post because my number one goal is to completely bore you.
  • Chuckled at Brynlee’s six pretend guests at her make-believe Thanksgiving dinner.
  • Took a picture of my two kids with the twenty member cast of the “Enchanted Christmas Tales” play.
  • Smiled while one life-size toy solider took our family of four's picture on the play’s set.
  • Witnessed one beautiful sunset that looked just like fire.
  • Perfectly balanced Jace in his walker using two blankets.
  • Heard Brynlee respond to Jace in the walker by saying, “You look so cute in there, buddy!” six different times.
  • Received our first two Christmas cards for this season.
  • Snuggled up by the fire and watched two movies with Spencer after the kids had gone to bed.
  • Listened to Jewel’s “Joy-A Holiday Collection” CD twelve times in it’s entirety before Spence downloaded fifty-six more Christmas songs for our listening enjoyment (and for his sanity).
  • Enjoyed Sunday dinner and played games with two friends and their two kids.
  • DVR’ed one Christmas Devotional to watch tonight. (And by the way…I can’t wait! The Christmas Devotional is one of my favorite Christmas time events.)
  • Mentioned that I love this time of year more times than I can count!!
Seriously, I LOVE IT!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

A Tribute to Naptime

About a week after Jace was born, Brynlee decided that “babies sleep when the sun’s awake, but big sister’s only sleep when the sun sleeps” (because she was raised with wolves, nicknamed Lil’ Golden Flower and our schedule and the sun’s rotation is one in the same). And with that little epiphany we kissed Brynlee’s naptime good bye.

Oh, how I miss them.

I’m not above admitting that I need naptime. I need that me time, that short little break when the house is quiet. This week I’ve REALLY NEEDED it! We’ve got the bug at my house (again!), I am in the midst of hanging Christmas decorations, I haven’t had a chance to read blogs or email for days now (and I’ll have you know that my left eye is starting to twitch because of it) and last week’s episode of “The Office” still sits DVR’ed and unwatched. I swear it taunts me every time I turn on the TV only to instead put on “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (Bryn’s newest obsession)!

Today I decided that I was going to reunite Brynlee and my good friend naptime. If only for a day! Just so I could get me list o’things done.

So, like any good mother does when nothing else works I loaded the kids in the car and said a quick prayer that she would be dead asleep before I used the entire tank of gas. While on our ride I kept sitting up straight and stretching my neck so I could glance in the rear view mirror to see if her little eyes had fallen shut. After about 8 times of doing this, Brynlee caught my eyes in the mirror and firmly said, “Mama me’s not sleepin’, me will tell you when me’s sleepin’, o’kay?”

After about 20 minutes of aimless driving she fell asleep (Hal-le-lu-jah). But just to be sure she was in a deep sleep I kept driving. Then we finally made our way back to the house. As I got Brynlee out of the car seat and headed for her bedroom I brainstormed every thing I was going to get done while she snoozed. The way I walked up those stairs was moving poetry. Seriously, not a sound escaped! I held my head at the perfect angle so my hair wouldn’t touch her face. I only walked on the balls of my feet and was cautions to only step on the very edge of the stair so it wouldn’t squeak. I held my breath until my face was red so my congested gasping wouldn’t awake her. I triumphed when I reached the top of the stairs. And as I made it to her bedside I seriously saw a quick vision of all the things I was going to get done during her slumber.

But, at that moment her little head popped up, her eyes opened bright, her voice sounded excited as she half-shouted, “Mama, me was asleep, but now me’s awake! Let’s go play Tea Party! We’ll have the snowman come and my teddy bear too. You will sit on the yellow chair. O’kay mama! I’ll sit on the red one. Is Jace awake? What chair can he sit on? Huh, mama, huh? Can I have a treat? Do you have any treats?!”

Ugh!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

14 Things I Learned This Thanksgiving

I KNOW! A LIST! (SHOCKING.) I learned that…
  1. Margarine and butter are not interchangeable when making Butterflake Rolls. Those babies need real butter. Otherwise they would be called Margarineflake Rolls; and that would just be tacky!
  2. You should always have 12 extra boxes of butter (and cream cheese) in the refrigerator during the holiday season. Just consider ‘em holiday cooking essentials.
  3. EVERYONE has jumped on the Twilight bandwagon. And by that I mean, E-VERY-ONE! It doesn’t matter how hard you try to avoid it, you too will be watching it in a theater near you. (Sidenote: Here is the Twilight movie review coming from someone that has never read the books, is a little weirded out that suddenly the world is obsessed with vampires and couldn’t help laughing out loud when she was heard the storyline that was causing all the ruckus (c’mon you have to admit it’s, um, cheesy). I didn’t think it was a complete waste of two hours, but I’m not going to be buying myself an Edward t-shirt anytime soon (Sorry Janel) /sidenote) Thanks girls for the girls night out. It was fun!
  4. If you are already going to be eating stuffing, ham, homemade gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans casserole, green salad, chocolate pie, apple pie and more starches than I care to mention, you might has well throw your turkey in a huge vat of oil before serving. Seriously, if you haven’t had fried turkey you need to. Your mouth will thank you. Your hips…will not!
  5. Playing cards until the wee hours of the morning surpasses any Black Friday Sale. Spencer, Zeb and Alan using charades to get us to guess “Moby Dick” danced circles around a fist fight over the last $10.oo crock-pot.
  6. Jace is getting too big, too fast! But, look how cute he is.
  7. Jessica’s silly face is SCARY!
  8. Brynlee is big enough to serve herself, and smart enough to do it before anybody else knows it’s time to eat.
  9. No matter how many times you tell the kids that your décor is not a toy, Jessica IS NOT going to listen.
  10. Aunt Marie reading her nieces a story is so stinkin’ cute. It was definitely scrapbook worthy.
  11. You don’t have to have ANY art skill WHAT-SO-EVER to be picked to paint children’s faces at the “Bring in the Holiday” Event.
  12. You do, however, have to have mad skill to be able to determine what the art on your child’s face is. In case you can't tell, Brynlee's is a candycane and Brooke is wearing a snowman. One that has had one to many glasses of Eggnog.
  13. Don’t try to take pictures by Christmas decorations unless you want a delightful picture of the back of the head.
  14. Santa Claus looks better from a distance. The whole sitting on his lap thing is over-rated. Even ask Brooke and Brynlee. Can’t believe Thanksgiving has come and gone. Now it’s time to deck my halls for Christmas.
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