exclusive sneak peek continued

Here are some much awaited pictures of our dining room:Behind those blinds is the apartment complex where Ben used to live in the summer when he was here at LSU.
I found the table and chairs on craigslist and Mom and Dad helped me buy it, transport it, and fix its wobbly leg. It came with a leaf and the chairs are vinyl and comfy, not plastic.
Loren said she'll move her bike soon but I don't mind as it matches the rest of our decor.
And there's our cute little kitchen to the right.
So there's the dining room. Coming soon: the bathroom, the living room, and my room!

institute council summer party

On Thursday, July 9th we had our end of the semester Institute Council party at Pres. Riggs' house. He made us bbq ribs, beans, potato salad and some other good eats (and lots of ice cream for dessert). I have really enjoyed serving on the Council for the past year with with such close friends and an incredible Institute teacher who was recently called to be our new stake president. I love this man. He reminds me of a mix between Pres. Monson and Dad, with a little extra goofy thrown in.

The placemats reminded me of the barber quartet on The Music Man. So Pres. Riggs humored me and we sang a few numbers:

And here's a little video clip of his antics:

Here's a picture of the whole gang. Colleen (Stake YSA Rep), Jamie (LDSSA Pres), me (LDSSA and Institute Secretary), Erica (Insitute Pres), and then on the back row is Scott (Institute Vice Pres), Tim (Stake YSA Rep), and Pres. Riggs.

transformers: revenge of the sleep deprivation

Last night I went to the midnight showing of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. By now y'all should all know my feelings about midnight showings, so I won't go into that again. Originally a big group of church friends said they would go, but when push came to shove it came down to just Scott and me. Everyone else had all these lame excuses, like, "I have to work tomorrow" or "I have class at 7:30". Come on, people! Going to a midnight showing requires sacrifice! And boy, did I sacrifice. Monday night I was at work until 12:30 am, then I had to get up at 5:30 am to babysit at 6:30. I was there until 12:30 pm, then I came home and took a two-hour nap. I headed to Institute at 7:30, got home at 9, watched a bit of LSU's ball game and then got to the theater by 10:30. So it was just Scott and me, and I was hoping it wouldn't be awkward or date-like (we've been on a few 'dates' before but I consider him to be just a friend). Fortunately Loren and Jon decided to join us so everything was hunky dory.

So the movie gave me exactly what I wanted - lots of Shia LaBeouf, Bumblebee, and sweet special effects - so I enjoyed it for the most part. I didn't expect anything else, like a good script or above par acting, so I wasn't disappointed about that, but there is a reason this movie is rated PG-13. I think they went a little too far with some of the sexual innuendos, so there is no way I would let a kid under 15 at the youngest see this movie. In the words of Matthew Shuler (who desperately wants to see it), some of that stuff was just plain "em-appropriate" for the younger crowd (and I guess for everyone else, too). So Joseph, don't even think of sneaking him into the theater. I guess you could say it was pretty violent, too, but fighting robots don't really make my stomach churn. "Oh no! That Autobot got stabbed! The gore of torn metal! I think I'm gonna be sick!". Ok, I'll stop.

So I got home at 3 and went to bed immediately. Two hours and forty-five minutes later, I got up and put some Toaster Strudels in the toaster as I got ready to leave. One was strawberry and the other was the Scrambler kind, with bacon and eggs and cheese, and even though I specifically checked to see which was which, I started putting the frosting on the Scrambler one. After I realized what I'd done I tried to transfer frosting with a bit of success. Frosted pastries with bacon, eggs, and cheese - yum! I got to the V's at 6:30 and babysat until 11:30. Of course the kids were extra-wild today, and my patience was running thin on less than 3 hours of sleep, but I kept my cool. Then since I was on that side of town I went to Target to get Erica's bridal shower present, and ended up wandering aimlessly around the store for a good 45 minutes. I finally got home and laid down for a nap at about 1:30, thinking I'd sleep for about 3 hours before heading into work at 4:45. I woke up with a start and looked at my clock - 5:11. Oh crap! I rushed out the door and called my supervisor on my way to work to tell her I'd slept late. It really wasn't a big deal because I really don't have to be to work until 6 but since they say I can come at 5, I try to get there by then so I can make more money. So I'm still at work and it's about midnight, but fortunately my schedule is free tomorrow so I can sleep to my heart's content. What a crazy couple of days! But you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be at theater at midnight on July 15th, waiting for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to start!

they're baaaa-aaack!

So since I stopped watching Saturday Night Live a while ago I missed this when it first appeared. It's not as funny as the original but still gives a laugh or two.

exclusive sneak peek

So we've been in our new place for three weeks now and we're finally really starting to settle in. Today was Loren's day off so we went to Wal-Mart to get some more stuff and then got to work fixing up the kitchen and painting Loren's dresser. As of now, the kitchen is finished and finally presentable so I figured I'd put up a few pictures so you can see what it looks like. As for the rest of the house, I can guarantee it'll be a while before it's ready for your viewing pleasure, so enjoy this special sneak peek!The ads in our new neighborhood are catered to a different demographic than at our old place...

happy father's day!!

So I kind of set the bar a little high with my Mother's Day production. I certainly did not want to disappoint for Father's Day. I had plans for a 3D video with cameos from Mitt Romney, Coach K, Billy Joel, and Tom Cruise (pre-craziness), all wishing my dad a happy Father's Day, not to mention an exclusive never-before-seen clip from the upcoming Transformers movie. However, yesterday afternoon I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting today and then I was called in for some last minute babysitting. There went my plans for the greatest 4-minute-long clip of all time! So Dad, you'll just have to settle for a 'Happy Father's Day' from me, your baby girl.

Why I love my dad:

• Because of all of his cute little idiosyncrasies that most people may not notice, like how his sneeze sounds like no one else's I've ever heard, or how he can fall asleep just about anywhere around the house (like in front of the computer), or how he wears t-shirts maybe 3 times a year (usually during Advance), and then wears a plaid shirt every other day (except white on Sundays), or how he likes the hard burnt part of brownies, and can make the best breakfast foods (including fried Cheerios, French toast, pancakes, bacon, etc.) known to man. These are just a few of the things about my dad that make him my dad.
• Because I got his nose, the bottom half of his ears, his long toes, horrible vision, and his love of naps.
• Because he's quiet, but when he says something it's usually pretty funny. I like to think that I got a little bit of cleverness from him. Consider a conversation we had a few months ago:
  Dad: What was the deal with Lot's wife anyways? She should have been content with what the Lord alLOTted her. Me: Yeah, then she wouldn't have been ASSAULTED!
• Because he's always been a peacemaker, and can stop any fight by asking if it's snowing outside.
• Because I can count on one hand the times he's lost his temper or raised his voice.
• Because he always fulfills his calling, and is an excellent and reliable home teacher, and then he goes the extra mile and fills in where it's needed, like being the chorister for a few weeks or saying the closing prayer when the bishop forgot to ask someone.
• Because he's a great handyman, and has taught me a thing or two about fixing appliances, cars, painting, and yardwork. He even does this kind of stuff for others, like our elderly neighbors and people in the ward.
• Because he taught me how to tie my shoes - the special kinda knot - and to this day my shoes still never come untied on their own.
• Because when I was in high school he let me wear his new shoes because they were in style and we have the same size foot and I wanted to look cool and he's just that nice and no one would believe that I was wearing my dad's shoes so I was able to pull it off.
• Because he does the dishes, sweeps the floor, and takes out the trash every night.
  
• Because he has always been worthy to hold the priesthood. He blessed me and gave me a name as a baby, he baptized me, he gives me a father's blessing every year and we occasionally had PPIs throughout my youth.
• Because he has always loved and respected my mother.
• Because he has always provided for our family.
• Because every time I meet someone who had him as a teacher at the LA School, they always say, "You're Dr. Wood's daughter?! He was such an awesome teacher, tell him I said hey!".
• Because he kind of maybe a little bit spoiled me...like when he used to give me money for concessions or the book fair or let me get away with things that Mom would have a conniption if she knew about them. :) Or when I asked him to cut my hair like a boy's he did it, and kept going shorter when I asked him to, even thought I'm sure he thought it looked hideous (because it did). And then Mom took me to a beautician, who assumed that I'd gotten a hold of the scissors.

So yeah, that's just a short list of why I love my dad. As a child, I assumed that every dad was like mine, and I'm only beginning to realize as I go out into the world that I am extremely blessed to have someone like him as my father. I know he's not perfect but you can see that he really is trying to be. Now if only I could find someone else just like him, but forty years younger, I'd be set for life!

And now for some pictures. Of course, I couldn't find that many because this is usually what Dad is doing when it's picture time:See how cute he was as a baby? Anyways, here's a little collage of some of my favorites (click on it for a better view). Hope you enjoy. And Happy Father's Day, Dad. Love, your Poodle

happy valentines

So yet again, it's been a while since I've posted. In the words of Kidd Kraddick, "Get over it!". Anyways, I've been a bit preoccupied with work, unpacking, ignorant landladies, and catching up on my sleep. Now that I have a free moment, here's the 4-1-1 on the kids I'm babysitting.

First up is Walker, who will be 5 on August 19th (Matthew Grande's birthday!). He is very smart and athletic and loves it when I can give him my full attention. He is definitely his father's son, and has schooled me at ping-pong a few too many times (his dad is a tennis coach). He has an American accent for the most part, but some of his pronunciations are very Australian, like when he says "Miss Seerah", "baaackhand" (when we play ping pong he is constantly telling me "you have to hit it baaackhand!), and "baaasketball". He also says a lot of things that just sound like something an Australian would say, like, "My dad says I'm strong like a bull!". He is a cute kid but he sure likes testing his boundaries. It makes me feel good to know that he likes me and considers me a friend now - he was supposed to be in bed when I got there tonight but Kat said he wanted to stay up to see me, he wants to come play at my house even though I don't have a lot of toys (that's when you KNOW you're in - when they want to come to your house to play), and tonight when I put him to bed and told him I'd see him next Tuesday morning, he said "See ya lata, alligata!", which I have only heard him say to his dad when he leaves in the mornings. So yeah, it definitely feels good to know he likes me even though sometimes he's a pill and I have to put him in time out.

Then there's Faith, who's 2 years old (seen with her Pebbles hairdo). She is such a sweetie, and very easy to love. She doesn't require a lot of attention, and most of the time she is content to just sit there and watch Walker and me play. I'll have to get a better picture of her smile because it is adorable. And she LOVES chocolate milk - as long as she has a sippy cup full of it and a remnant of her baby blanket (it is torn into several pieces) she is perfectly happy. Like Walker, she sounds very Australian when she says my name. It makes my heart melt. I also love it when Walker calls her "Fayfy". He has no problem pronouncing his 'th's but Fayfy just sounds a lot cuter than Faithy. They don't always get along, but she's got spunk and can usually hold her own when he provokes her.

Talan is the baby of the family, he's about 6 months old. He is such a good baby, but things are definitely easier after he's gone down for his nap. He loves being tickled and poked by Walker, always giving a huge toothless grin. Tonight while I was giving him his bottle before putting him to bed he was just staring up at me with his beautiful brown eyes and I thought to myself that one person's loss is another person's gain. I don't think I quite fully mean that in the way that it sounds but I'm happy to have the opportunity to be with these kids.

And of course I can't forget the easiest member of the family to deal with - Texas. She can go to the bathroom by herself and feed herself and nap by herself - who wouldn't want to babysit her? By the looks of her sweet graying face she's got to be at least 6 or 7 years old (most Great Danes have a life expectancy of 6-8 years) and she's got a bum leg (probably due to hip dysplasia or something of the sort, which is very common in large dogs) so she's slow to get up. So she mostly just lays (lies?) around the house. And if you're wondering, yes I do know a lot an unusual amount of information about Great Danes because I did a research project on them in my Companion Animals class last semester. Anyways, she is such a good dog and always greets me with a kiss and a wagging tail when I come in. Then she follows me around for a few minutes, almost knocking me over, but I don't mind because why wouldn't I want a 100+ lb. dog doting on me? Tonight we shared the couch together after the kids were asleep and I began reading The Book Thief. When I heard the garage door open, she struggled to get off of the sofa and then stood alert, wagging her tail and waiting. It took Steve a couple of minutes to get inside, but she still stood there. I could tell her tail (haha) was getting tired but every time it started to slow down she'd pick up the pace, just in case the door would open right then. Is it weird that in this post about the kids I'm babysitting, I've written the most about their dog? I hope not. I've always wanted children and I've always wanted a [good] dog, and at this point in my life it seems more likely that I'll become a doggy mama before becoming a baby mama. Well this post went in a totally different direction than I thought it would but oh well. It's my blog. So there.

These pictures just don't do her size justice. I'll have to try and get one of her next to me so you can see how huge she is.

Now doesn't that look comfy?

pardon my absence...

I know it's been awhile. From May 14th to the 26th I was in Utah, visiting Miss Mayry, and then as soon as I got home I had to start packing for my move today. Jiffy's ex-boyfriend came and took his router back so I have had no internet since Friday, and I've been busy packing anyways. Today Loren and I moved across town to our awesome possum little apartment and I am exhausted. Then I had to come to work at 6 pm, and tomorrow morning I start my new job at 7:45 am. I will work until 4 pm, then come back to my regular job for 5, work until probably midnight, and then do it all over again on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday mornings/afternoons I will finally have time to start unpacking but I have to work both of those nights as well. So it might be a bit before I am able to put up some pictures from my trip. Mary already put up most of them anyways (which I am perfectly fine with) so check out her blog if you can't wait.

I guess I could take a little bit of time to explain my situation. I have had a profile on this website called Sittercity.com for about two years but I'd never really bothered with it. Basically people looking for babysitters and people looking to be babysitters go on there and hope to find each other. I decided to update my information this past Wednesday, and whaddiya know, Thursday morning I get a call from Miss Kat, asking if we could meet. So Friday afternoon I headed over to her place and met her family and got the job. Normally I will be watching the kids 15-20 hours a week (in the daytime), which is perfect for me because I didn't really want an 8-5 job on top of my 5-12 job. This week, however, she is out of town so I have to watch the kids all day on Tuesday and Wednesday, and of course it's the one week a year that Camille, the other girl that works here downtown, is on vacation so I have to cover for her and work every night this week. I'm perfectly fine with that, because she worked a whole week for me while I was in Utah, and hey, when I get my paycheck I'm gonna be mighty happy. So I'm not in a bad mood about all of this, I'm just tired, but I'm sure everything will be just hunky dory.

I'm really excited to watch the kiddos tomorrow and the next day. Walker is almost 5, Faith is 2, and Talan is about 5 months old. Their dad is from Australia so half the time the older two are talking it's with that adorable accent. The other half of the time it's an American accent, but that's okay because that's still pretty cute (just not as much as the Australian). And a major bonus - they have a HUGE Great Dane named Texas. I LOVE Great Danes and he is the sweetest thing ever. So hopefully, it's going to be a fun summer!

movie review time

I'm sitting here at work, hoping to get off as early as possible so I can go home and go to bed. I'm waking up at 4 am and heading to the airport (courtesy of my bubby Tim) and flying out to Utard Land for 13 days of bliss. So to pass the time, I figured it's about time I share my thoughts on some movies I've seen as of late.

First up - 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'

I was VERY excited to see this movie (see previous post) when I first heard about it. I continued the "going to the midnight showing of the first big movie of summer on the first Friday of May" tradition ('Spider-man 3' - 2007, 'Iron Man' - 2008, next year will be 'Iron Man 2') and purchased my ticket ahead of time. The plan was to go with a big group as usual, but one by one they dropped out, until it was just Adam, Erica and me. I was giddy during the previews, partly because they rocked (especially the 'Transformers' one) and partly because I was so excited to finally see Wolverine again after a three-year hiatus (which seems to be the trend with the X-men movies so far). All in all, the movie wasn't too bad, but I really wanted to like it more than I did. Even though Erica, who doesn't know Gambit from Gandalf, really liked it, I just couldn't. I guess the main turn-off was all of the violence, which oddly enough, hasn't really bothered me too much until recently. Actually it's not odd at all, I know exactly why it bothers me now but that's not what this post it about. Anyways I also thought a lot of the special effects were just plain shoddy. I was amused to see Hugh Jackman jumping down a waterfall - naked - but his bum wasn't anymore impressive than the next guy's (not that I've seen the next guy's...). I don't know, I feel bad for not liking it more but I guess I can't change how I feel about it. And really, who cares? I know nobody reading this does, I'm just writing this because I'm bored. So humor me, please. Next movie.

'Star Trek'

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I have never seen a full episode of anything involving 'Star Trek'. By default I do know who Capt. Kirk and Spock (remember that eraser we had of Spock's head?) are and I've heard the lines "to boldly go where no man has gone before" (I also remember from some English class that it should be "to go boldly", but anyways...) and "live long, and prosper", but all that is about the extent of my 'Star Trek' knowledge. The only things I knew about this movie were that it would probably be a good action flick, the guy playing James T. Kirk was kind of attractive, and Karl Urban would be in it (as Bones). I kind of really like Karl Urban, ever since he played Éomer in the second and third 'Lord of the Rings' movies. I also really like him as the bad guy in 'The Bourne Supremacy'. I think he looks like Brad Pitt, with bigger eyes or something like that. So anyways I wasn't in any hurry to see this particular movie but I knew I wanted to see it (and by hurry I mean seeing it at the midnight showing - instead I waited until the day after it came out - pshaw). More awesome previews ('Transformers' again and this time one for the GI Joe movie) and then an even awesome(r) movie. I loved it! It was made for everyone (except for maybe Mom and small children), not just diehard Trekkies, and I was entertained the whole movie through, AND it was surprisingly tame - not too much violence (well not the gory kind, there was a lot of fist fighting) and no token "fword". I absolutely love it when PG-13 movies do not take advantage of their "1 fword allowance". And James Tiberius Kirk was pretty darn cute. The only thing I didn't like about him was his voice. I hate when famous guys who are very attractive have a very wimpy voice (like David Beckham, for instance, who sounds like a 14-year-old schoolgirl) but I guess they can't have it all! Anyways the whole movie was a thrillride and I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

'Seven Pounds'

I checked this out from a Redbox with my free rental code I get via text message every Monday. I hadn't used it in ages, since I've been somewhat studious this past semester, so on my first free Monday I started off summer right with a trip to Wal-Mart, then an extra-large strawberry snowcone and some strawberry SourPunch while watching this flick in the living room with the blinds closed and fans on full blast. Nice. Anyways this movie was pretty good. The trailer for it is very cryptic, but being the genius that I am - ;D - I kind of figured out what was going on. But not enough to not be surprised throughout the movie. It was pretty inspiring, but kind of in an extreme way. I liked it for the most part, because come on, who doesn't like Will Smith? He was uber serious though, and I'm used to watching 'The Fresh Prince' every morning when I wake up (my TV is my alarm clock) so that was a little weird. What I liked most about this movie: four of the characters were named Ben, Dan, Tim and Sarah; there was a mantle Great Dane featured; there was lots of medical goriness (the kind of goriness I like - as opposed to war/fighting goriness). So I guess you could say that I liked it for the most part.

Well, now that I've wasted an hour and a half writing a post that no one will probably care to read, I have managed to pass the time pretty quickly and I'll be getting off soon. Utah, here I come!

happy mother's day!!

Here are some little movies I made for Momma (when you start to watch each click on the HQ button and the video quality will be a lot better):



Every flower featured in the video has been cultivated and cared for by my own mother.