My List of Favorite Android Apps

So, as I promised, I'm writing a post about my favorite android apps. It's taken a while because I had to work on the photo post first. But here goes! Oh, and I've included links to the websites for the apps, if they were easy to find!

There are about 20, and they are all free apps, as I've only been willing to buy one app so far and that was the SNEsoid, a SNES Emulator, so I could play Final Fantasy III on my phone :)

First on the list is PandaHome. I recently discovered this one and I love it! It's a replacement for the home screen, allows you to have more than 3 and some of the themes have cute customization stuff that go with. It also cycles through so if you get to the end of the list of home screens, it starts at the beginning. But my absolutely most favoritest part is the docking bars! Really, I'm fine with 3 home screens and don't need more (though I take advantage of them using Panda) if I could just get a docking program that went with the home screen I'd be happy, though the themes can still be pretty cool. But the docking bars are awesome! There is one on each side so I've set one with the main programs such as the camera, messaging, phone and things like that and then I've made the other one my speed dial list! lol. I love it! So much easier than going into the program and hunting for a name or a picture!

It's after Christmas now but this one still bears mentioning for next year, Santa Live. It plays a new video clip of Santa every day and stores the list so you can watch them over and over. I don't know how many hours the girls were entertained this month by watching little clips of Santa! There are a variety of other kid's programs the girls really enjoy but this one tops the list!
Tied for third are two programs that I really like, one is Color Note, which gives you the option to "apply" colored sticky notes to your homescreen, and the other one is OI Shopping List, which I use for more than just shopping lists. I had been using the Color Note for shopping lists but with this one you can set it to look like a notepad with writing and when you click on it, it crosses it off :) I love that!

My favorite book reader so far is Aldiko. I love that it keeps your place in the book, even if you switch in between books, as long as it's left on your currently reading list, it keeps track of your last spot. It also pulls from a list of free books at feedbooks.com It reads epub files so any you own you can put on the phone and import them into the program. It also has a day and night mode that makes it nice.

Next on my list of favorites is Astro File Manager. Android itself doesn't have a file manager program and Astro, while it's the only one I've tried out, works great for browsing through the fires and copying and pasting and moving files.

I don't particularly care for the standard android calendar widget. I solved that with CalWidget. It's a great Calendar Widget program that pulls from your google calendar and the calendar on your phone (just like the standard one) only it's a lot more customizable and show more information. That's one of the great things about android. It's so customizable. Don't like something? Replace it with something else!

My next favorite is a to-do list program. Can you tell what I use my phone for a lot? lol. It's called Astrid and it's a great program. Easy to use and great for a visual reminder. I use the widget to see at a glance what I need to get done.

Another program I like, though I haven't used much is Shop Savvy. You can scan barcodes of things you're looking at to buy and it tells you wher the best price is and how much it is. It can be quite fun to use!

Digital Recipe Sidekick is one that I like to store recipes in. I downloaded two others and this is the one I ended up liking the most. I don't really have much to say about it other than it works great and is relatively easy to input and find your recipes and that's just what I was looking for!

I've downloaded the official TV Guide app and another TV Guide but the one I have liked the most is USA TV Guide. Though you're suppose to be able to set your favorite channels and I haven't figured out how to do that yet. The official TV Guide was a pretty nice program but I didn't like the ads that popped up on start up. They were annoying and it didn't seem quite as user friendly. The other one that I'd downloaded didn't navigate well and I just had issues using it where the USA TV Guide (I love the big screen tv icon hee hee) has just seemed the most user friendly and easiest to use.

Next on the list is Where's My Droid? There was another program I tried the free version of, but it was a pain. This one on the other hand, the free version is great! And such a must-have for those of us who easily misplace our phones! What it does, is if you can't find your phone, you send a text message with a certain phrase and it turns the volume all the way up and the alarm on. (even from silent mode!). MUST HAVE!

This one is mostly just cuz. I always wondered how congested our wifi setting was. Wifi Analyzer lets you find out! It shows you how many are using that channel and the other channels so you can change your wifi channel setting to one with fewer users. Just cool.

I don't really have any complaints as far as the stock android browser goes, except that I never found a way to go forwards after you'd gone back a page. Well, I figured out how to do that with Dolphin Browser and not only that but it's got the pinch-zoom. Though to be completely honest, I'm not sure I actually like the pinch-zoom. Ah well, I've actually downloaded one called X-Scope Lite to try out to see if I like it better.

This one is for anyone who owns a droid, and hasn't bought the $30 multimedia dock. It's called Dock Runner and it puts you into the mulitmedia dock mode. Honestly I haven't used it much because even though it dims a lot at night, my husband prefers complete darkness to fall asleep and it's too bright for him.

Here's another I haven't got to use much but want to try out! Locale makes it so you can set your phone to specific settings depending on your location. It reads the location and then does all the changes for you. Next time I go to the movies I've got to change it to those settings!

Another just for fun app, though I could see being useful at times :) is Fake-A-Call. It allows you to set it to a certain time or time interval (like 5 mins) to pop-up saying you have a call. No more trying to get it to ring on your own. The screen even pops up as if you were getting a call and you can set it to say who's calling! Very devious ;)

Photoburst is picture/media viewer that has the slide motion. Unfortunately the stock gallery viewer doesn't :( I'm not sure how much I really care for photoburst but it's the best one I've found with the slide so for now, it's here to stay.

I LOVE tv. I do, it's a terrible, terrible flaw I have :) And I LOVE the website fancast.com. But it requires flash to watch tv on it :( Well, I found the program tv.com and it's got tv episodes to watch on your phone! Unfortunately it only had one that I like to watch (Medium) so it wasn't worth the space it was taking up to me, but it DID have a lot of other shows as well so for you other tv lovers out there, this is an app for you.

Last on the list is one I just barely found (this ones for you Sam!) called Ambling Book Player. I've got the lite version cuz it's all I've needed so far and the full version is a little bit pricey, but still tempting. Oh, what does it do? It's an ebook reader, only it reads the book to you :) Sam had recently asked me if there was one and I didn't know of any then so I had to try it out when I found it. So, the other day I LISTENED to Pride and Prejudice :) It was pretty cool!

Well, there you have it. Currently, my favorite 20 apps on android. Ask me again some time, with how frequently new apps are coming out, the list may change!

Christmas Week Photos

Sorry this has taken so long to get posted and edited!
So, here are a few of my favorite photos from the week of Christmas!

I tried to get some pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses a few weeks before Christmas. I didn't have very good results, but here are the best ones I got!

The cute Charity! She cooperated with getting her picture taken.

Danielle refused to cooperate! If you could see her face, she's screaming. Oh well! Maybe next year we'll get a good one! We got some great shots of her smiling in the family pictures though, I'll post those later! (If you're lucky, lol)

Since we had to get rid of Angel, I had to post one of her and Charity for Charity to remember her by. She really was such a good dog for her.

Christmas in Delta! The girls had such a fun time!

Remember how I posted that Angel bit Spencer? Yeah, I really did mean bite. The picture didn't quite do his eye justice :(

Now we'll move on to more fun pictures!

Miriam taking a nap with Grandpa!

Christmas for 12!

Christmas Morning!!! Sorrry, I had pictures of everyone who was here, but I've only taken the time to post pics of my own family.

Laura and her kids getting ready to leave Saturday morning/afternoon :( We had to take some cousin pictures! (Danielle didn't want her picture taken, again)

And did you notice what we did to our hair!?! Cute, aren't we? :)

Our Gingerbread House! The girls and Michael made it Saturday night and they had LOTS and LOTS of fun with it! Ok, I was the "responsible" adult who helped! Charity Saturday night sleeping with her "Huggy" from Grandma!

And when Charity finally got the present she'd been waiting for! (All she wanted for Christmas was a big doll !) Grandpa Y had gotten it for her so she had to wait an extra couple of days to get it. Can you tell how excited she was? We missed the BIG grin!

Our Christmas Week

I'm planning on writing a blog about my favorite apps on the android market, but that's gonna have to wait for now cuz I need to update about our Christmas week!

So our present (Renell, Laura, Kevin, Roy, Dennis and I) to Mom and Dad this year was Laura and her kids coming up for Christmas. Her husband was going to be away working so he couldn't come or get to spend much of that time with them. So we all pooled the money to get them here. Mom and Dad loved their presents!

On Monday I waited and waited for Laura to get here. She was suppose to be here around 1 but left late and didn't make it here until 6! I kept having to give Mom excuses as to what was taking me so long to leave! We had this clever little plan for keeping it a surprise, I was going up to get help working on a quilt I was making for Dennis' dad and then she couldn't mail off their box of stuff yet cuz I was bringing some stuff to add to it... :) It was all a clever little ruse, I thought!

So, after they got here, we drove up to Mom and Dad's. They were so excited to see them! Mom apparently had figured it out early that afternoon and had gotten confirmation from Michael when she asked him straight out, so she wasn't surprised but still happy. Dad had no clue and you could tell he LOVED his surprise!

But that's when something bad/sad happened :( Right after we got there, Charity's dog Angel bit Laura's little boy Spencer in the face, barely missing his left eye. She'd shown aggression towards other kids and had recently started nipping at Danielle. We'd been considering returning her for that very reason but Charity was so attached to her (and she was SUCH a good dog with her) that we hadn't done it. That was the last warning we needed though and we returned her to the rescue we got her from the next night. I took Charity with us so she could hold Angel on the way there and get to say goodbye to her. But Charity ended up falling asleep on the drive. I found it hard for me to say goodbye though, so it was probably for the best. I hadn't realized just how attached to her I had become. So, it was a sad few days :( Charity didn't realize that night after she'd woken up that Angel was gone but the next morning she came to me asking for Angel because she couldn't find her and I had to tell her then that Angel was gone, that we'd taken her back the night before. She was really sad :( I had to hold her for quite a while after that. Poor girl.

Earlier that Tuesday day (now onto some fun stuff!) the kids had lots and lots of fun playing in the snow! We ended up going down town to get the kids some real gloves because their hands were frozen, but they still wanted to play! Laura's daughter Aurora wanted to walk, so Laura took her three kids and Charity and walked to the store! (it's only a couple of blocks) I hadn't taken shoes for being outside in the snow so I drove me, Danielle and Mom and Dad to the store! It was a good thing, Danielle and Miriam both fell asleep while we were at the store! And then Spencer had been throwing a fit so he got a timeout in the van, but that was before the others were taken outside so he couldn't wake them up! Aurora wanted to walk home again but Laura was freezing so I went and dropped everyone else off at home and then went back and picked them up!

On Wednesday, while we were doing some last minute shopping, Laura talked me into letting Charity go look at some Border Collie/Lab mix puppies near Preston that we'd seen advertised for free at the store the day before. Well, guess who found a puppy she loved. And guess who got suckered into it... Yup, I let Charity get a puppy. I'm thinking it was probably a little too soon but it has made Charity so happy. Although now we're having to deal with a couple of puppies around here. Atleast they haven't managed to chew anything up yet!

So, Laura was hoping Kevin would let her have a puppy (sorry Laura if Kevin reads this!) so she got a puppy too. He ended up saying no way, so Michael decided he wanted a puppy, he's still waiting to hear from his Mom if he can have him or not though. Dennis says there is no way we are keeping him. The guy said we could take him back if she wasn't going to keep so what on earth are we still doing with him? lol. Oh yeah, waiting for Renell to decide! lol. So that was is named Cocoa cuz he's got a light dusting of brown on his black coat. And we named our puppy Dusty :) Charity wanted to name him Pal though but in the end Mommy and Daddy won. Though, now I'm not sure it was the best pick, lol. I'm great at making decisions :)

I had planned on going home Wednesday night cuz Dennis didn't have to work on Thursday. (I loved paid holidays!) But Dad wanted us to wait until Thursday so I decided I could wait but I wanted to leave early on Thursday! I should have known better. Laura needed to get Miriam's hair cut so after everyone was finally dressed (around 10), we went out to Mom's friends house and she cut Miriam's hair, then Laura's hair, lol. I don't think it was layered as much as Laura wanted but it's hard to beat a free hair cut! You'd think we'd be able to go right back, pack up the van and get out of there! Nope! We really just lounged around all morning and didn't do much otherwise so we didn't manage to get out of there until after 2! We were going to stop at Logan's Heroes for Laura's once or twice a year visit but they were closed for the Holidays so Laura will have to wait until next time! So, we ended up going through a drive through to get something to eat cuz we were all hungry and then headed on our way.

Mom had packed Lasagna for us to take to have for Christmas Eve dinner and we got there just about the time we needed to put it in the oven, but Dad called and said he had just stopped at Del Taco (we'd gotten seperated before) and was grabbing a couple dozen 50cent tacos for dinner. lol, we still cooked the small lasagna but I think only Dennis ended up having any after all the tacos! lol. We've decided Dad must not have wanted Lasagna cuz everytime we tried to eat it, he had a different idea! lol.

Christmas Eve just flew by in a flash and before we knew it, it was time to put kids to bed and get ready for Santa to come. They get so excited it's hard for them to fall asleep, don't they? We finally got them to bed and made all of our preparations though. It was a lot of fun! Michael had been adopted by Toys for Tots that year and they must have spent at least a couple hundred dollars on him, he had so many presents! Almost half of them were his! lol. And we had to hide them all when we got his help throwing up stuff after it was all set up!

Then Christmas morning dawned bright and early, or not so early. lol, I don't have early risers at anytime except when I don't want them to! So, I was the first one up at 7, but it turned out Aurora and Miriam were up as well, so the three of us had to wait until everyone else was up! We ended up waking Charity and Danielle between 8 and 8:30! It was a fun Christmas morning, all the kids loved their presents, though Aurora kept asking when it was her turn again! We open one present at a time so I kept handing them out and had to make sure Michael got a present every so often more than anyone else! lol. They all got some good presents that they loved and spent the rest of the day playing with their new toys!

Laura and I, well, the night before we'd bought us some hair dye, so we spent that afternoon coloring our hair :) It was a lot of fun! And I really like the color, though what a change! I wanted to get Tiffany to come over to help us and to hang out for a little while but Dennis reminded me that it was Christmas and I shouldn't interrupt their holiday. We found out the other night that Tiffany wanted to come over and see me but that Karl wouldn't let her either cuz he didn't want her to interrupt our holiday! lol. Great minds think alike :)

We also played games all afternoon and that was a lot of fun as well, there were no new games for us this year but we played The Train Game I got last year and then we also played Settler's a couple of times. Dad was so proud cuz he won the most! We had a lot of fun! But all too quickly the day ended and it was time for bed. :( Laura had been planning on leaving early Saturday morning, but then she told me she decided to leave later in the day and stop at her in-laws Saturday night (they're about halfway between right now) so we got to spend some more time together Saturday morning! But once again no one was in a hurry to do anything so she left a couple hours later than planned!

But it was a good visit, Mom and Dad got to see Laura and her kids (and boy did Grandpa having fun spoiling them!) Aurora and Charity had lots of fun playing together! lol, although they really frustrated each other at times because Aurora expected Charity to be on her level and Charity expected Aurora to be on her level! lol (They're a little over a year apart, Charity being the younger of the two, though Charity is the bigger of the 2!) They did have a lot of fun though! Poor Spencer being the only boy, oh no, he actually wasn't because Michael was there, and Michael was great at entertaining the kids and played with Spencer quite a bit. It was cute watching Michael play with them when he did. And then Miriam and Danielle had fun with each other, someone their own size! lol, or closer to it!

Laura wants us to go down there in March during her spring break, we'll have to wait and see for sure, although there won't be a lot of spring breaks left when we can since our spring breaks happen at different times and Charity will start preschool next fall and then be in kindergarten after that. Where does the time go!?! So, we'll see, plus she wants us to take her a surprise...

Dad suggested Dennis and I run away Saturday afternoon while they watched the kids but it never worked out and they were quite a handful that night anyway. So, Sunday morning we hid in our room and read the book we'd been reading while they watched the kids! We had ended up finding subs for Sunday, Saturday night, cuz we thought we were going out of town, so we took advantage of it even though we ended up not going anywhere. We all had another lazy day.

Monday was nice. Mom and Dad watched the kids for us that afternoon while we went to the movies. We went and saw Avatar, it was a pretty good movie, I compare it to Pocahontas :) But then all that afternoon I was soooo tired. Going to a movie in the middle of the afternoon, especially a long one, does that for me! Dad had gone into Salt Lake while we were gone and he ended up bringing a chicen back for dinner. So, we had chicken and potatos and then it was time for them to be off. Though, their coming back on Thursday so they can watch the girls on New Year's Day while Dennis takes me on another date! Yay! This one will be lunch and maybe a movie! I'm hoping for Tucanos, but I think he has something else in mind.

Wow, I can't believe the New Year is just about to arrive. This one has gone so quickly! It's been a terrible year for some of our friends and I really hope the new one is better for them! This year, overall, has been good to us, and I hope for many more good ones!

Update on books

Apparently I spoke to soon. I got into looking into the books more and realized there were some major editing problems. :( Apparenty the pdfs are in columns, just like the book, but the conversion process doesn't recognize the column and jumped between it. I'll let you know if I find a way to fix it :( But as of right now, it's not really usable for that reason. I was so excited about it...

I've found some programs to use to help edit it to make it convert correcty but they are going to take some time and work so I won't be able to work on that until after Christmas. In the meantime, maybe I'll see if there is a way to suggest on the website to make an epub format and let someone else do the work :) And maybe it'll be done before I get around to it, probaby not but it would be cool.

More Droid stuff...

So, at lds.org in their Gospel Library they have a link to pdf documents of the Bible and the Tripe Combination (Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price & Doctrine and Covenants) but also The Ensign and The Friend and their other pubications. Well, pdfs are sort of a pain to read on a phone because (and I guess it's the same with some book readers) you can't bookmark your place and have to remember where you were and navigate around by page number and stuff.

On Android there is a program called Aldiko which is an e-book reader where it keeps track of your last spot and you can put in bookmarks to easily go back to a certain spot, and it has an easy to use table of contents. So, while I was looking around the Aldiko site I found in their FAQs that there is a program called Calibre that can convert pdfs to epubs (which is what Aldiko uses) so I've downloaded Calibre and have converted the Holy Bible and the Triple Combination from the church's website over to epub files. It seems there is a little issue with the formatting in the beginning of The Bible so far (I haven't had much time to look at it) so I might try to fix that. They're also such large files they take a little while to open so I might seperate them out a bit or something. If anyone would like a copy, let me know! I think each month I'm going to do the same thing with The Friend and The Ensign. I haven't converted any of those over yet to see how it goes but I will be within the next few days.

Have I mentioned I love my phone?

Too busy playing with my Droid

Sorry I haven't been around or posting much lately. I haven't been using my droid to post and since I've got it I spend very little time on the computer. Lol, now that I have constant access to facebook, I'm on it a lot less as well. That has made Dennis happy atleast.

In other news we are looking forward to Christmas. Most of the Christmas shopping is done and the girls are very excited. Almost every day, Charity tries to convince me that it's Christmas. Soon enough it will be. And they both love wrapping presents. My visiting teacher brought by an advent calendar the first of the month and the girls have really enjoyed that, though Charity got a hold of it one day and ate a bunch of the chocolates.

Well, it's a bit crazy around here trying to finish everything up for Christmas and get everything done. I'll try to post again soon!

Gone Missing

I know, I know, I've gone missing again!

Today I'm going to be thankful for food bank and food assistance programs and the important role they play. I went to visit my parents yesterday (to make Pasties! YUMMY) and then today was the Mobile Food Pantry. Not to boast or anything, but MY MOM is like the food lady of Preston and she helps with all of that. Just as an FYI if you're in Preston and need food, talk to my mom.

Well, today I got to go visit my Mom while she was helping at the Mobile Food Pantry and see all the people they were able to help. I was also able to load up one of the boxes with the food and got to carry one of them and it was heavy but it made me really appreciate the fact that there are resources out there to help and to provide that for families who need it. As my dad said, every little bit helps.

Growing up, my mom always taught us kids to not take anything without giving something back. We were on the poor side and got free lunch at school so Laura and I always volunteered to help serve food. (Do schools still do that, by the way?) And we had some of the neatest experiences doing that! And helping out with the Food Bank and the Mobile Food Pantry and volunteering for SEICCA has been some of the ways that my mom has given back. I'm so proud of her for all that she does and so happy that there are people like her who are willing to help!

Anyway, it was just a really neat experience today :)

Go here for more information about the Idaho Food Bank and about the Preston Community Food Pantry.

Thankful

So I know I said I was going to post everyday, but life has been crazy lately and I haven't gotten to so I'll try to post as many Thankful posts as possible this month.

Today I'm going to say I'm Thankful for technology :) I know, I talked about how awesome technology is not that long ago, but see, the droid came out today! And my wonderful husband let me get one!!! So far, I love it! In fact we're here visiting Grandpa Y and Aunt Sherry with no internet and I'm able to get on with my Droid :) Get to stay in contact with my facebook and all that fun stuff!!!

But, there is so much other cool tech stuff out there to now! And it affects all of our lives even in ways that we don't know so I'm just going to leave it with I'm thankful for Technology :)

Thankful Challenge Day 1

I've decided for the month of November, until Thanksgiving to challenge myself to each day make a list of things that I am Thankful for. I didn't come up with it until today so we're starting on Nov. 2! But, today's is a list of people that I'm thankful for because they have influenced my life for the better, one way or another.

1. My Mom - How can she NOT influence anyone's life for the better?

2. My Dad - He's always been there and willing to help. And he gave me my love for computers :)

3. A Primary teacher in WA. Laura and I were somewhere between 6-8. I don't remember her name or any real specifics of why but I believe she was one of our primary teachers when we lived in WA and she was one of the kindest most loving people I've ever known and she was a great example

4. An Achievement or Activity Days leader, (whatever the equivalent was 15 or so years ago)

5. Several of my Young Women's leaders. Or most of them! But to name a few, Sister Boyack, Sister Sharp, and Sister Castleton. They were great inspirations and you knew they truly cared for you. They taught me a lot and I appreciated all their hard work, love and support!

6. A neighbor (Bro. Webb) who helped out my family several times when we needed it. I'm not sure I could ever show my appreciation for the things he's done.

7. My friend Sam, she's always been there for me and even though we live way too far apart she's always some one I can talk to and I know we're friends forever!

8. My friend Tiffany, when Dennis and I moved into our house, the one thing I had really been praying for was one of those types of friends who lived right next door that you talked to everyday, shared things with, could count on, you know the kind I'm talking about? Well, I figured it was a bit too much to ask for but Heavenly Father really does answer our prayers and he gave me Tiffany, right next door :)

9. Should I make my last person for this post Dennis? Maybe tomorrow I'll do a post on all the things I'm thankful for about my dear sweet husband, but I could never have enough time or space to finish it! He is such a wonderful person and I am so thankful to have him in my life.

Most of these are from when I was younger and not a grown-up but there have been many people in my adult life who have also had a huge impact on me!

The Holiday Season

Ok, so this holiday season starts at the beginning of October when everyone is getting ready for Halloween, but I've got admit, that while I love Halloween. I love it when Halloween is over because it means one more holiday and less than two months until Christmas. And I absolutely LOVE the Christmas season!

This year for the holidays Thanksgiving will be spent with D's family. We considered having them come here since half the kids live up with way now but it looks like they want to have Thanksgiving down there so I don't have to worry about cooking a turkey :) I think it would have been a lot of fun to host, but it also would have been a lot of work! Here's to an upcoming great Turkey Day!

Christmas this year is with my family, and as to how that is going to happen no one yet knows! Laura wants everyone to come visit them in Arizona (I doubt this is going to happen, but it would be a lot of fun, though no snow for sure) , depending on who is planning on going to my parents we just might invite them down here instead. Of course if we do go up there, Christmas Eve will be spent here and then we'll drive up there Christmas morning after gifts and breakfast. That's what we did last year as well (it's our new tradition we started) I just hope this year, the weather is better!!!

We're just about down getting the girls' their gifts (Yay!) and have almost decided on our gift. Now is time to figure out our gifts for other family members. And to start listening to Christmas music, and to decorate for Christmas. I can't wait until the Monday after Thanksgiving, that's when we'll put up our Tree!!!

Oh, and a funny story. Yesterday Charity was all sad when we told her it wouldn't be Halloween for another year so we decided to cheer her up by telling her but Christmas is coming. So, she started insisting that we needed to do Christmas right now and that she wanted to give Grandpa Y his gift. We wanted to know what the gift was and she told us the train table! lol. We bought a train table for a gift to the girls and it's stored in Grandpa's room right now and the girls found it a while back, so apparently Charity thinks it's for him. LOL! She's going to be so surprised on Christmas to find out it's for Danielle and her!!! Although, with her lack of ability to share with Danielle lately it might just end up being for Danielle.... hmmm... Yeah, they've been fighting over toys lately! Drives me nuts, especially when there is enough to go around!!!

Anyway :) Onto the holidays!!!

Happy Halloween

I just had to tell everyone, Happy Halloween! Hope it's been a good one! Pictures are soon to come! Charity ended up being a flying Unicorn tonight for Halloween and a witch last night for Trunk-or-Treat and Danielle was a ladybug both nights. Such cute girls!

Last night at Trunk-or-Treating, Charity was going from car to car saying, "Trick or Treat, Happy Halloween, Thank You!" LOL, at one point she got her order messed up and started telling everyone, "Happy Halloween, Thank You, Trick or Treat!" But I'm not sure if it was her or Danielle who loved it more. They're so cute!

And they both loved Trick or Treating tonight as well. It was so cute seeing them just lighting up to go to every house. And Charity had so much fun saying Trick-or-Treat, though at the end when she was getting tired, she started asking people if she could stay at their house, lol, how embarrassing! lol.

It really was a lot of fun though!

Droid - Officially Announced

Ok, so I should have put this together yesterday, but I didn't think of that until Dad asked me today about the phone I've been watching. So, Droid by Motorola was officially announced yesterday and will be available for purchase on November 6h. Here are some exciting specs of the phone:

3.7-inch display with a 854-by-480 pixel display (total of XX pixels)

DVD Quality Video

Built in HTML5 support

Google Maps Navigation, a turn by turn directions GPS system (brand new! only on Droid currently!)

Voice Recognition, Voice Search

Search program also searches for information on your own phone!

Multitasking - run multiple programs at once

5MP Camera with a dual LED flash - though people have varying opinions on just how good it is :(

Physical Qwerty Keyboard

Only Android phone currently Running Eclair (Android 2.0)

10,000 + App Market (still unsure of how many will be compatible with 2.0 though)

Multimedia Dock

Car Dock

Flash 10 Support as soon as it becomes available

Sync with Gmail, Facebook, and Exchange

Battery Life: Standby 270 hrs, Continuous Usage 385 mins (almost 6 1/2 hours)

Micro USB

3.5mm Jack

eCompass

Google Talk

Source Information: Motorola Droid Site

Anyway, just thought I'd share. If you wanna know more just google Droid! There's lots of reviews and information out there now!

Google Voice

So, a few weeks ago I decided to investigate to see what this Google Voice was that I was hearing so much about. So, after reading about I decided I wanted it! (Note to those who live nearby, we now have a local number!)

What is google voice you might ask? Well, it's a number assigned to you by Google Voice that when called rings to whichever numbers you have set up under it. Make sense? So, you can call our Google Voice number and it can then ring to both D's and my cell phones. How cool is that? Part of their advertising and explanation of it is saying so that if your work number changes, or your cell phone, or home number you won't have to update people onto the changes. (I know some people I know who would love that!) Well, I like simply because it means we could get a local number without having to change our cell phone numbers! No more will people be telling us they tried calling and our number was disconnected! We live in an area that has the same area code as D's cell phone, but it's not a local number but people don't realize that and try calling it without the area code). So, I'm excited and then in the future if we ever move, we can easily change our google voice number to a local number for where ever that is if we feel like it and we'll never have to change our cell phone numbers. I really like that because I've had my cellphone number for almost 10 years now and D has had his for a little over 7 so we don't want to change them. Anyway, have I gone on long enough now about Google Voice now? Onto some Droid talk...

So, after all the anticipation, excitement, and obsession over the new Android powered phone coming to Verizon Wireless, I don't think I'm going to be getting it :( D may have the opportunity to do a project at work that can be used for his school project and wouldn't need it anymore. It requires an extra data plan each month in order to even have the phone on the account and where it's not something that I NEED we're finding it hard to justify the extra expense, not to mention D thinks I spend too much time online lately as it is! (And he might be right!). So, sorry for putting all of you through my Droid Obsession ;) But hey, maybe sometime in the future, right? In the meantime, I do need a new cellphone soon, so what cellphone do you have and why do you like it? Help me come up with some new options!

Halloween

Now, onto something NOT Droid related. I know, I know. I've been a little obsessed lately. My poor husband :)

So, I figured I'd write about Halloween and the upcoming Holidays! I love this time of year, when all the festivities are beginning to start and there is so much to look forward to during the Holidays! This will be my first Holiday season in a while that hasn't included me being pregnant, or a baby so it'll be interesting to see how this plays out!

So, for Halloween, we are all set to go! The girls have their costumes, D and I each have ours and Halloween is only a little over a week away!!! There's going to be a ward trunk-or-treat next Friday and then trick-or-treating on Saturday!!! YAY!!! I'm so excited for Charity, last year she was starting to get it, but this year, she's got it down. And since she understands, she is SO excited for Halloween. Everyday she asks me if it's time for trick-or-treating! lol, we all know she just wants the candy!

Then next month is Thanksgiving and who doesn't enjoy eating all of that food? :) Not only that, but getting ready for the Christmas season to start! I love the anticipation at the beginning of the holidays!

And then, (you know where this is going, right?) Christmas!!! I think Christmas is my absolutely FAVORITE holiday. And I'm really looking forward to it this year. I used to really like Christmas, but it just changes things when you've got kids to anticipate it with and to buy presents for and that's really what makes it so much better.

Oh yeah, and did I mention we made scarecrows this year? Their sitting on our front porch. :) We used the zebra grass we have and they turned out great! I'll try to get some pics to post! I told Charity they were a Mommy and Daddy scarecrows (since they're wearing our clothes) so she wanted to make a Charity scarecrow, I didn't want to go to that much work and told her we were only going to make the 2. So, she named them Charity and Alex. That works! lol.

My Droid and Verizon Predictions

Ok, so I've been watching all the rumor mills (pretty much any I can find) for new information, reading long threads on forums about what people know (and don't know!). Well, I have a few thoughts that I don't feel like adding anywhere else, but still want to have them written down. So, here are my suspicions for what Verizon MIGHT be up to in the next week and half or so.

#1, in the code for the droiddoes.com website, it shows the flash file as being phase1. I think this upcoming weekend will start phase2 and we'll see a new commercial come out, or else phase 2 is

#2 there is going to be a press conference next Wednesday (been confirmed from mulitple sources). So, this might be phase 2, introducing people to the phone. People are hoping it's going to go on sale and while I've read that Verizon has a habit of announcing a new phone at the same time it becomes available, I don't think it's going to be available this date. But then again, maybe the R2D2s sent out was phase two and the conference will be phase 3. Me, I'm still hoping for a new commercial :) But probably not.

#3 I'm really not sure if the phone will be available for telesales on the 30th like everyone is speculating, but I want to try the phone out in person before I buy it anyway, so that point is mute. I'm going to have to wait until November to get a new phone, possibly until Christmas as well, depending on what we decide to do.

#4 I think it's possible Verizon will be pulling out a new pricing scheme. Why do you ask? And why has no one else heard or said anything about it? Maybe verizon has been really good at not leaking anything. But everyone's #1 complaint about verizon it seems is their prices, and t-mobile as well as sprint have both recently done new pricing plans. So, it's possible verizon will follow suit.

#5 I'm hoping they will introduce a data family plan that has the plan for the smartphones included in it because if we really like this phone, then D may want one too, but an extra $60 a month to have 2 smartphones on the account? We're having hard time right now deciding if an extra $30 is worth it!

#6 Which adds to my next worry, what if all they do is change their pricing plan so that an android smart phone requires an add-on data plan that is more than the $30 smartphone add-on they have right now? I hope not, it would be a deal breaker for me. But I don't think this is as big a worry to me simply because I think they might be trying to draw more of a crowd to smartphones and upping the price will turn people off instead of drawing them in.

More Android Info

Dennis says I've been obsessed with android phones coming to verizon for months now. And, he's probably right :) But here is some more information on the Motorola Droid, just for my mom. Since this morning, she asked me if I got the phone already since I've been posting so much android stuff lately. lol. Nope, not yet, rumored to either be officially announced and/or telesales to begin Oct. 30. But here is some more information and links for everyone!

Now, here is some of the good stuff! Droiddoes.com. It redirects you to a site on verizon.com! On here, you can sign up with your e-mail address to receive updates and more information, so far all I've gotten is the confirmation e-mail from the sign-up! I can't wait for more info though! There is also a countdown timer that is suppose to end at Midnight on Oct. 29 (so the beginning of Oct. 30). It's still speculated as to whether that's the release of the phone or if it's the official announcement of the phone.

The phone also got it's first commercial Saturday night during a football game. Luckily, lots of people caught video of it and posted it to youtube. It's still being debated who paid for the commercial since there is no Verizon logo, motorola logo, google logo or anything else in it. But it does have the link to the Verizon Droid page. The commercial is very similar to what's shown on the droiddoes.com as well.

Over at Phandroid.com they just renamed their rumored phone overview of the Sholes to the Motorola Droid.

Boy Genius Report has a copy of the phone and just posted a whole gallery full of pictures.

Here's the most recent thread I've been watching at Howard Forums:Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource. This is just a bunch of people speculating on the phone specs, release date, how they think it looks, stuff like that.

Now here is some information rumored for this phone that I'm excited about:

*comes with a 8gb sd card

*comes with a docking charger that turns it into a cool multimedia display

*slide-out keyboard, as well as a soft-keyboard (software, touch screen)

*Google Experience

*Android 2.0,

*5mpg camera, plus flash, face recognition, and a rumored night mode

*facebook app

*so many other apps available (the star constellation one! and so many others)

*Much better contacts list then I'm use to!

*Google Voice

*Only 1/2 an inch thick

*3.5mm headset jack

*wifi, bluetooth, usb2.0

Here's what I'm hoping it has that hasn't been leaked:

*fingerprint analysis in the middle of the D-pad

*fm tuner

*MUCH larger SD card available in future

Downsides:

*smartphone so requires the $30 smartphone plan :(

*marketed as an iphone killer. Really? Who cares, though I do like the commercial.

*not shown to have a dedicated number row on the keyboard

*the lock phone option seems a bit tedious

*Motorola, I'm really hoping since it's a google device it's not the same as their others that I've hated, I just really haven't cared for any motorola handset in the past (though they are my dad's favorite)

Well, there is much more info out there but I'm out of time so here you go! I'm sure there will be more to come in the weeks ahead!

All photos are from http://www.boygeniusreport.com

More Detailed Explanation of Android

Ok, so it's really easy for me to go all technical and then have no one know what I'm talking about, so for those of you out there who want to know what on earth android is. Here's a better explanation (I'm sure you know what Java is since it's practically a neccessity online nowadays).

Android is an open source operating system for cellphones. Though there is one coming out for laptops or netbooks as well. Open source means they provide the code and anyone is allowed to program for it. When I was looking at downloading the utilities provided by android for programming an android app, I found out that their apps are written in java, so that's how they tie in together.

It terms of the android devices (the Mytouch phone is one example) it's similar to the iphone in that it will have a large marketplace for apps and anyone can write an app and submit it for other people to be able to use. You can find more specific info on the android website. So, anyway, the phone is practically suppose to be a handhelp computer. I like the upcoming Motorola Droid because of it's hard slide-out keyboard (won't just have a soft-one on the touch screen). As well, the specs for it look great! My only problem with it really is that it's a Motorola, but I'm really hoping they've made a good one this time! So, as soon as it comes out I'm going to be checking it out and if I really don't care for it, I can wait and see about the HTC Desire (I think that's what's rumored as to what they're naming it anyway. It only has a soft keyboard though, which isn't as appealing to me.

For more information on these and other android phones (out, announced, and rumored!) you can check out my favorite websites to check out :)

Phandroid.com
Boy Genius Report

If you've got any other questions, let me know!

Android and Java

So, for Dennis' senior project he's planning on writing an application for the android devices and I've been looking up stuff and trying to help him come up with a project idea. Well, I've decided I want to try my hand at programming and I'm going to try to write a program too :) The android apps are written in Java so I have started learning Java. I've actually wanted to learn it for quite a few years since it's so widely used but I've never taken the time to. So, this should be a fun learning experience!

In the meantime. Anyone have any ideas of some good apps to write for an android device? Neither of us have hit on a really good one, yet.

When I Feel Like I Haven't Done Enough

So, yesterday I felt like I just didn't do anything around the house, and was well, for the most part just too lazy yesterday. Then when Dennis got home he started commenting on how he could tell I did a lot around the house. It bugs me when he does that because then I feel even worse about how little I've been doing!

Well, recently, I started creating a "To do" list for every day of the week. Included on it are things like 20mins cleaning the kitchen, 20 mins cleaning the living room, vacuum, dishes, laundry. Those types of things and others like make sure the girls brush their teeth or get a bath. I had made a goal to try to accomplish atleast 10 things on the list every day! Now, I'll admit it, I'm not very good at ending up getting 10 things every day, but I knew it was a high goal when I set it, and the longer I seem to pay attention to it, the better I'm getting.

Well, I was looking at my list this morning and I realized, that yesterday, I not only met my goal of 10, I surpassed it. Now, the interesting thing is that that is only the 3rd or 4th time this month that I've accomplished it. So, why did I feel so lazy and bad about how little I had done?

I'll also admit that I struggle with feeling adaquate enough; and that I don't accomplish the things around the house, and with the girls that I should be doing. (who doesn't?) But to actually see that feeling correlate to a day when I obviously was doing the things that I needed to. What does that mean? Obviously, the numbers don't lie so I must have had a fulfilling day yesterday.

Since making my list, most days, it really helps me to feel that, even though the house isn't spotless, and the girls sometimes run wild (think of the sharpies!) that it's not because I'm not doing enough, it's just the way life is around here with two small children. And I can see the accomplishments that I've made that day. Yes, the house might be a disaster, but I really did clean it! Just because two little girls have a habit of getting out all the toys once they're put away, trying to unfold all the laundry (really, they think they're helping!), and all the fun things that little kids do.

When I was going to school or working there were set things in place like grades and performance reviews to gauge how well you were doing and I always did well and I always knew I was doing well. I never worried about things like that until after I started staying at home. Yes, Dennis would tell me he could tell I'd done a lot, or thank me for doing this or for doing that, but it just wasn't the same for me (Though, who does it matter most to if not him?).

This morning, I began to wonder, is it Satan working on me to try to destroy my self confindence in my abilites to get things done? And I've decided it must be, because looking back, I know a lot of times when I've felt like I just haven't done enough are the days that Dennis has commented on just how much I have done! So, perhaps, those days were similar, I had done the things I needed to do. But that those days when I'm feeling the lowest, maybe I should take a step back and listen to my husband when he tells me he can tell I've done a lot that day. And maybe, just maybe, I have :)

Little Girl Clothes!

So, it's great, the girls were both born in May. Same season and everything. So, we should be able to use all the same clothes, right? Wrong!

Charity was so tall that she was in 18 month size clothes by now and even though they were too big around the middle, we made them work. Well, Danielle isn't quite tall enough for 18month size clothes yet and they are all way too big around the middle. Which means, that all of our 12-month stuff is more summery and now that's it cold I have 2 choices, have Danielle run around in clothes that are a bit too big for her or go pay a whole bunch of money to buy warmer 12-month size clothes (Seriously, we have like 3 pairs of pants for size 12-months!). What to do? What to do? Well, we all know the answer to that, she is just about tall enough for the 18 month stuff, I'm just not ready for that! lol. She's at that awkward in between stage between 12-18 months where 12 months is starting to look too small but 18 months is starting to look too big, and to add to her skininess the 18month is just too big around the waist. Really, we had the same problem with Charity, just a bit earlier so the transition was easier!

OK, I'm done complaining now, lol. Going to go finish putting up most of the 12 month stuff now...

Been a While

Written Oct 4.:

It's been a few weeks since my last update. I really need to get better!


So, I figured I would update and let everyone know that we had a good weekend overall. My parents came down to visit and watched Conference with us. Between Sessions on Saturday we went to the DI. Charity kept trying to run around. Well, at one point, a lady came up to me and told me that Charity had run into her (Uh oh, I'm thinking) but that she looked up at her and said excuse me and she was just so happy to see a girl with such good manners. lol.

Written Oct 7:

Well, we found out yesterday afternoon that when my nephew started feeling sick near the end of the weekend, it was the swine flu. So, he's out of school this week and feeling terrible and we all might have been exposed to it! Great. So, now we're just keeping an eye out for any sickness symptoms :( Dennis has to go to work but I'm keeping the kids and I at home, just in case, this week because I don't want us spreading it if we did catch it. The worst part, though, is that my friend had her baby this weekend and the baby's lung weren't developed so she had to be taken to Primary Children's and we watched her 2-year old little boy this weekend, so he may have been exposed to it as well! :( Great timing! or NOT! Well, here's hoping none of us get sick around here!!!

New Technology, Kindle

I found something new today, that I would love to have. And thought of how nice it would be for my husband as well! It's called a Kindle. Amazon has created this Wireless Reading Device. It looks so awesome! And if they had more textbooks then Dennis could use for his textbooks and have an easy, lightweight way to take his textbooks with him. I see the possibilities for this as being endless. They say they have over 350,000 titles currently available, as well as many magazines and different publications. This would be so cool!

"At Amazon, we've always been obsessed with having every book ever printed, and we know that even the best reading device would be useless without a massive selection of books. Today, the Kindle Store has more than 350,000 books available, plus top newspapers, magazines, and blogs. This is just the beginning. Our vision is to have every book ever printed, in any language, all available in under 60 seconds on Kindle. We won't stop until we get there. " (from Amazon)

How cool would that be!!! I want one! I want my kids to all have one (how convenient for school and general reading), I want Dennis to have one. Aw, it sounds so good.

Patience (or not so much)

So, I've now had my cellphone for over 2 years and I want a new one so much!!! For Dennis' project for his schooling he wants to make a cell phone app for an android phone. So, I'm patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for verizon to put one out on the market. (Rumored to be coming out the end of October).

So, anyone got an android phone that wants to tell me how cool it is? Or anyone have any new scoop about androids and verizon!?!

Not much longer... Not much longer... Until then I'll keep watching, hoping, and waiting!

Charity's Trip

Two weekends ago, my parents came down to visit and when they were getting ready to leave Grandpa asked Charity if she wanted to go with them. She told him no. Well, I was in the other room and over heard the whole thing so when they came in I asked her if she wanted to go with Grandma and Grandpa. Oops, this time she said yes! Then she said that I had to come too but I told her I couldn't go because I had too much stuff to do that week so she decided she was going to go without me. So, Charity went to visit Grandma and Grandpa H for the week. They brought her back this last weekend and then we all went to Dennis' work open house together.

Well, anyway, this is about Charity's trip. She had a fun time! Grandpa fed her lots of icecream. She decided her new favorite color was orange (due to the orange creamsicles) but that didn't last long because then Grandpa introduced her to rootbeer icecream, and while her favorite color isn't brown, it's her new favorite flavor of icecream!

Tuesday morning she had to call Mommy to say Good Morning... and that's about all she said! She's not really a phone talker so she'll get on for about 30secs and then be done but it was cute that she specifically wanted to call me and say good morning :)

They took her to the park one night and sent me a bunch of pictures of her playing :) She decided Sasha wasn't too big (their German Sheperd) and she'd go outside and pet Sasha all by herself (Great Dane here we come! lol). Mom had a doctor's appointment one day and there was a basket of treats and she got a rice crispie treat, so at a doctor's appointment the next day (different doctor) she wanted to know where the treats were! lol, we might be in trouble next time we take her to the doctor!

She enjoyed calling and saying hi to daddy in the evenings when he got home from work. Though, even then it was for 30secs BUT mom and dad had to make sure they called the right phone cuz without the right picture on there she'd get mad and wouldn't talk or wouldn't believe who she was talking to! Don't you love cell phones? She's so funny sometimes. I have to do the same thing when she wants to call them, it HAS to be the right picture.

They didn't take Angel with them cuz they didn't want to deal with another dog (I thought it was a big mistake cuz Charity is so attached to Angel) but they didn't have any problems. She went to bed just fine and everything. Though, one night she did con them into letting her sleep with them :) Though, as soon as she saw Angel when she got back she had to run up and maul her :) Poor Dog, though I think Angel missed Charity more than Charity missed Angel. It was very cute.

Danielle enjoyed her alone time with Mommy and Daddy but she was still excited to see Charity when Charity got home. They didn't get here until 9:30 or so, so the excitement made it a late night for us! But we didn't mind. It was nice to have a short break and she certainly enjoyed her time away but it's nice to have her home again too!

Sharpie Markers and Painting

So, I may not be posting this until the middle of September but it was done the beginning of August! So, here is what Charity did that has led us on a long "adventure" of painting! I've come to realize I really hate painting!

Since I've been wanting to paint the Girl's room since we moved in, I insisted we do that room first because I knew we wouldn't do it in the end. Well, their room turned out so cute! So, here is their room!

It turned out sooo cute! And now they have a girly room! Next onto the living room and the kitchen/dining room. We're almost done with the living room so those pictures will be coming soon!

My Pot Pie Recipe

I've had a couple of people ask me for this recipe so I figured I would post it here. I was given the original recipe by a ward member in my student-married ward. Sorry I don't remember her name and I don't remember the original but here's my version!

My Pot Pie

1 can corn
1 can peas/carrots
1 big can of diced potatos or 2 standard sizes (ofcourse you're welcome to cut up your own, not sure how many maybe 5?)
2 cans cream of chicken or 1 large can
1 can cream of something else
1lb of chicken cut, and cooked
4 pre-made pie crusts (makes 2 pies) or you can make your own crust
herbs to taste (I add a combo of all or some of these: basil, oregano, cajun, salt and spice, season all salt, garlic, and yeah, you get the picture :) Whatever herbs you like)

Combine all ingredients (except pie crusts of course) in a big mixing bowl. Then add to pie crusts, slit top crust. cook at 350 for about an hour. May need to broil for up to 5 mins to brown the top.

Trip to Delta

So, this last weekend we went down to Delta since it was Dennis' birthday last week and one of his neices was having a birthday party. Charity's two cousins on Dennis side actually have birthdays that are a week apart. Last year we went to Paige's birthday at the park so this year we went down for Lexi's birthday party and it was at the bowling alley. So, it was both of the girl's first time bowling. I'm not sure which girl liked it better. lol. But it sure was cute watching them! And then cuz they had so much family around everyone wanted to help them bowl so Dennis and I got to bowl as well. It was a lot of fun. What was really nice though was since we had the bowling alley to ourselves, Charity could run off and play (she really liked to play with the game machines) and we didn't have to constantly be worried about where she was if we couldn't see her. This was the only picture I managed to take at the bowling alley.




In addition to the fun bowling party, Dennis' mom needed her trees trimmed and so he decided to help her out and do it for her. Well, the neighbor saw Dennis up in the tree using the chain saw and he offered to let us use his lift. It made it a lot easier, but made a lot more work since a lot more trees could be reached! Grandpa came over to help as well. Me, I got stuck making sure the kids didn't get into any trouble. But such is the life of the Mom, right?

The Lift

The First Limb to Fall (from using the lift)

A big pile of branches on the ground.

Dennis said the next day muscles hurt he didn't even know he had :) It was a lot of work but he was happy to help his mom!

Happy Birthday Dennis!

I know this is a little late but I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Sweetheart! I hope the day was a good one for you even though you had to make your own birthday dinner! (Spaghetti and Homemade Meatballs!). I love you.

School Starting

So, the end of August is marked with a sad day :( The start of school! Who knows, next year or the year after I may like the start of school (depending on how much Charity does!), but this year it's Dennis starting school and I'm not sure I'm ready for that! It takes up so much of his time and I know in the end it will be worth it. The Master's Degree will give him more job security and look good on a resume but it just takes so much time! I can't wait for him to be done. Good luck with your class honey!

Cute kids

So I've decided every few days I'm going to try to post a short thing about cute things my girl's have done so in years I can look back and see just how cute they were as kids :)

So, my cute things for today are:

Yesterday, I was moving some stuff downstairs from the computer room (we're changing what room we keep our computers in) and Charity wanted to help so I told her she could (thought she'd open the gates for me) but she started running to the computer room. I got her to open the gate and then I continued on downstairs carrying a computer case and when I coming up the stairs, there's Charity coming down carrying... Daddy's mouse! lol. She wasn't too happy with me when I told her we weren't moving Daddy's computer yet and she had to take it back! lol.

And today, Danielle learned a new word: hot dog :) That's right, she says hot dog. Lol, and loves them! It's just so cute when she says it too! Oh and Grandma H. taught her to shake her head "yes" this weekend while the girls were there and now if you ask Danielle a question and the answer is yes, she shakes her head yes :)

My cute girls :)

7 Years!!!

This last weekend (Saturday the 8th) Dennis and I hit our 7 year Anniversary! WOW, where does the time go!?! We had a great weekend though.

On Friday we left to go up near Bear Lake to Minnetonka Cave. That would have been a lot of fun but when we were almost there they had a sign over their sign saying they were out of tickets for the day :( It was very sad cuz it was a long drive and we were all very excited to be going. So at that point we had to come up with something new to do. My mom told me about an Oregon Trails museum in Montpelier (sort of near there) so we ended up deciding to go do that. It was pretty cool. You can pay to take their guided tour/activity thing where they go through what a pioneer would have done to travel west. It was pretty cool and Charity loved the simulated wagon ride :) I think it was mostly definitely over the girl's heads but it was still pretty interesting. We ate at an Arctic Circle right across the street for dinner and let the girl's get their wiggles out for the rest of the drive to my parent's house.

That night we stayed at their house and then the next morning we had breakfast and fixed our chocolate dipped strawberries and bananas :) I had bought some chocolate stuff that melts in the microwave to dip them in but we'll just say it got ruined. Well, so Dennis and I were getting ready to go to the store and get some new chocolate when Dad surprised us with a bucket of chocolates that were served at our wedding reception 7 years earlier!!! They were still good so we went ahead and used them. What an anniversary surprise!

Then Dennis and I left the girl's with my parents and went to Logan. One of our favorite places on earth :) Yes, I know, some of you are jealous cuz you love it there too! :) We went to a movie and then went and checked into our room at the Providence Inn. It's an old rock church and a really cool building. For dinner we ended up deciding to try a new place called Beehive Grill, it's where the old DI used to be. Don't really recommend it though, although their brewed root beer was pretty good.

In the morning at the Providence Inn they serve you a hot breakfast cooked to order. It was so yummy! I had raspberry french toast and Dennis had scrambled eggs and stuff. It was really good. And they didn't mind refilling your orange juice as many times as you wanted :) Then we headed back to mom and dad's to pick up the girl's. We knew Charity would be fine overnight but we had still been a bit worried about Danielle. Mom said she did just fine though, she had her moments where she got upset but she was able to calm her down and take care of it. Though she was up for the day at 6am! That's a bit unusual for my sleeping in late girl. So she took an early nap that morning.

In Pocatello the Amtrak train was doing free rides to promote railway safety or something on Sunday night and Renell had gotten enough tickets so we all could go so then we headed up there. Oh, and it was my nephew Gabriel's birthday as well. So we headed to their house for dinner and presents. And then went to the train. Poor Danielle was so tired she fell asleep on the way there, and pretty much slept through the whole train ride. It was Dennis', Mine, Charity's and Danielle's first time on a train so that was really cool! And we got to ride in the pullman car (I guess that's what it's called) but it was a bubble top area on the top of the train so the view was amazing! It was really cool and I want to go ride the train again now!!!

After that we went back to Renell's for cake and ice cream and then it was time for our long ride back home!!! Long ride.... late.... tired.... poor Dennis had to drive and after both the girl's were asleep I fell asleep as well, but he said I could cuz he was doing ok. We didn't get home until 12:30 or so last night. It was a fun fun weekend!

I can't believe that Dennis and I have been married for 7 years now though. So much has happened in that 7 years, but it seems like it was barely yesterday. We haven't taken pictures for our anniversary yet, but we will today I hope. It's a tradition, every year for our anniversary we take a picture of the two of us and then since we started having kids we take a family picture as well so that one day we can look back and see our lives through the years. Hopefully it will be a family keepsake :)

We're Still here, lol

So, I keep promising to be better at blogging but I'm still not posting much. So, I will try to be better!

Life is good here, the girl's are having a fun summer and I don't mind playing too :)

Last weekend we went yard saleing and found a great find! We got a wooden loft bed for $50 (with a dresser attached!) We love it! And Charity LOVES the top bunk. We may have a fight on our hands in a few years when Danielle wants the top bunk too, lol. As it is she can't figure out how to get up the ladder, but that hasn't stopped her from trying! My little monkey...

I'm in the process of rearranging the house :) Again, I know. I just can't seem to help it. I like to move furniture I guess. lol. I've rearranged the living room, we're switching the computer room and putting the guest room back upstairs and then I'm going to rearrange the family room. Fun, but some of it has to wait until Dennis gets done with his class later this week. Yay!!! His final is on Wednesday and then we're free for a few weeks! I can't wait until he's done with his Master's Degree!

Long time no see...

Wow! It's been so long since I last updated this blog. And what all has happened since then? A LOT!



Life has been so busy the last month with getting ready for Laura to come, taking care of the kids and the dog and everything else that's been going on.



First I'll say that Laura's visit was a lot of fun! It took up the last two weeks but I just love getting to spend time with her. We went and did a lot of fun things while she was here as well as just hanging out some of the time. It was really nice and the kids absolutely loved playing together and did so well.

Free Water or Soda?

So, when did water stop being free? I remember back in the day when at a restaurant/fast food place you could order a water, no questions asked and they'd give you some water to drink! How things have changed...

So, today we went shopping a little late and were starving by the time we were done so my awesome husband (who NEVER wants to eat out) asked me where I'd like to go to get something to eat. So, I was nice to him and picked Carl's Jr. Lately, I drink water, I prefer water... Weird, I know. So, I wanted a large cup of water with my food to drink. The lady said she'd have to charge us for the cup. That's fine, most places will occasionally charge you for the cup whatever. Well, our whole order ended up being a couple dollars more than we expected so we looked at the receipt to see what was up and they didn't just charge me for the cup, they charged me for a large drink! So, everyone, I guess now the soda's free and you're just paying for the cup! I told them I wanted a lemonade instead of the water. I figured if I was getting charged the price, might as well as get what I was paying for. Anyway, that was my rant for the day. Now I've got to go convince a little girl it's bedtime :)

Our Adventure this week

So I was going to blog about this the other day after it happened but now a few days have gone by. Most of you already know about this but I like to think of this blog partially as my journal so I can look back in a few years and read it. So, on Tuesday after we got back from the gym I took Danielle in the house (she was sleeping) and then stayed outside with Charity. I had decided to switch the carseats around for which side of the van they were on and so I let Angel outside with us while I was doing that. When I got I told Charity we needed to go inside and as she was getting out of the minivan she pushed the button to close the door. Frustrated I said, Charity you can't leave Angel in the minivan! So, what did my little girl do? She tried to open the door back up to let Angel out! Well, the door does have a tension release whatever you call it so that if it "bumps" into something it's suppose to reverse and go back out. Well, three year olds have little fingers and she didn't think to get her hand out of the way so the door got her fingers :( Now, it did finally realize something was there and open back up so it never fully closed but when she pulled her hand away it looked like one of her fingers was bent in a funny direction. So, what does mommy do? Mommy freaks out!

I stuck her back in the car, called Dennis on the phone, ran over to Tiffany's to ask her to watch Danielle (I figured that was quicker than getting her in the van and dealing with a baby in tow) cuz I was taking Charity to the doctor. Now, by the time I got back over from Tiffany's, got our insurance card and was on our way she seemed more upset about me taking her to the doctor than about her fingers. But it was the two fingers she sucks on and she had yet to even try to put them in her mouth as far as I could see and she wouldn't bend her fingers for me or move them around. Of course maybe she was just afraid mommy was going to to freak out again :(

But I did take her in, the doctor told me that at such a young age their bones are still pretty malleable so since the door hadn't shut all the way he doubted her fingers were broke. They did X-Rays to check out her fingers and all was well! She thought it was cool to see the pictures of her bones (the first smile since she hurt her fingers) and LOVED the band-aids they gave her.

Probably if I hadn't of freaked out and waited 10 minutes I never would have taken her in because I would have seen that she was acting fine but I would have worried for a while so it's probably best that I did take her in. But I've decided next year, I'm changing our insurance to one without as high of a deductible! Apparently kids can go through that really quickly. lol. But things are good, she's fine and makes sure to mention every time she gets in or out of the van that she's not gonna stick her fingers in the door again so I guess lesson learned... until number 2 decides she wants to learn the lesson. Oh, I hope she doesn't have to learn the hard way!

Oops Again!

OK, so the oops in the title of my post yesterday was to say oops, I should be cleaning. But it turned into something else entirely! It was an OOPS! I RUINED THE SURPRISE! See, we were going to surprise my mom with the fact that Laura is coming and well... she's one of the people who read this blog so... OOPS!!! Well, at least you know we love you mom!

In other words, Charity is so cute! This morning she asked for hot cocoa and I told her ok, I'd make it for her but only because I love her so much! But she told me that I didn't love her so much, I loved her too. Then she started singing the barney song (that's what she calls it) that goes, I love you, you love me, we're best friends like friends should be with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me to? Now, isn't that cute :) Then she made me sing the song to her!

Oops... and Buyer's Remorse

So I really should be cleaning my house right now but I decided I'd update my blog instead! lol. I'm so excited!!! I just found out that Laura and her kids are coming for a visit at the end of the month!!! YAY! I think we need to go to Yellowstone while they're here but we'll see if it works out or not. The weekends don't work and I'm not sure the week will either :(

Oh, but guess what we did this weekend? We're completely crazy. We bought a minivan! We had to trade in the red car (which is the crazy part, I LOVED that car) but we got a minivan. It has a dvd player in it so Charity loves it and wants to spend the whole day riding in it. lol. But with Laura and I both having a minivan that means that Mom and Dad and the boys (they're watching my nephews) could go to Yellowstone and it would only require the 2 vehicles! We'll see though.

But anyway, we had no intention of actually buying one on Saturday, we just went looking but I guess we must have fallen in love with this one or something. lol. How on earth did I let Dennis talk me into parting with my red car!?! lol. Can you tell which part about the deal I didn't like? But it's a Dodge Grand Caravan and has the stow and go seating! I wish it had built in car seats as well but the salesman said you couldn't have both! :( Oh well, guess we'll just have to keep using the ones we've already got :)

On a side note, buyer's remorse is always fun... I was talking to Laura the next day and said something about it and she said something like oh so you're going through the "now that we've done it should we really have done it" phase. lol, I told her yep, and most people experience that because it's called Buyer's Remorse. I actually learned that term in a marketing class that I took in college. lol. So, what have you had buyer's remorse about lately?