Quoth the Raven "Nevermore"

Well life has definitely settled in here. We are well into the daily grind of life, which I must admit can sometimes be very boring. Fortunately we've had some really great weather and have been able to spend a good portion of it outside on the new park they put in by our house.

Steve and I now both officially have callings. He is the Elders Quorum secretary and I am... Beehive advisor. For those of you who are wondering, yes, this is the same calling I had in my last ward. Apparently I didn't learn enough. I am SO excited to be working with the Young Women again though, I really love serving the youth. They also asked us both to speak on Sunday, so we've been feverishly coming up with talks (and for me a talk and a lesson).

Another exciting and momentous occasion happened this week. Steve drove to Oregon to take the last part of the boards, which (assuming he passed, which I'm sure he did) marks the very last test he will ever have to take. Considering the years that he has spent in school and the numerous tests he has taken, this is a HUGE milestone and we are thrilled to be done with it.

When he came home he was sick, probably from the hours of studying and driving and the lack of sleep, but he is doing well now and is working really hard on his website (it is a very time consuming and computer consuming project).

I have finished a few projects too! The never ending rag quilt that I was working on for baby girl is finally done. I don't think I'll ever make another one. It was very easy to do, but my hands never want to hold another pair of scissors again.

I also made this Family Home Evening Chart (I still have to do the tags with our names on them). I thought it turned out pretty cute considering the amount of craftiness I was genetically bestowed. We'll see how it looks when it is finally hanging on the wall... hopefully it will be a good reminder to have FHE :)

Ethan picked up some new tricks this week. My favorite is that he has started singing along to songs. He mysteriously knows all of the words to "Once there was a Snowman" and it is probably his favorite right now. I have tried to capture it on video, but without any success yet. I'll post a video when I get one. He had his friend Skye over the other day and was very protective of his red ball. The green ball was for Skye and the red ball was his and there was a serious melt down if ever the colors got switched. He is also very serious about the color of shirt he wears every day. Some days he wants red, some days blue, some days green, but if ever I try to trick him because the red shirt is dirty then I can expect some protesting. What a funny, color conscious boy. I can't believe he isn't a baby anymore. *sigh* Two years goes by way to fast.

Steve is Great!

Steve has been hard at work putting together a website for the office he works for. You should check out his webpage at http://www.canyonspringschiropractic.com/. If you want to help move his webpage up in the search engine's results you can link his webpage to your blogs or webpages, that way when people search for a Chiropractor in Twin Falls it will come up on the first page instead of the fiftieth (or wherever it is :). Also, I've put a link to it on the side of our blog so that you can see all of his hard work whenever you feel the urge ;)

Austen Heroine?

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

My Sweet Boy and Childhood Reminiscing

So I was going about my business the other day when I heard a lull in the constant noise coming from Ethan. I suppose you can say that a lull is not normally a good thing, it typically means trouble is brewing... so I went to inspect. Instead of the disaster that I had anticipated, I found my sweet boy had climbed into the glider with one of his books and was having a good read. After I snapped this picture I continued to watch from the sidelines as he got out of the chair, went to the bookshelf and pulled off two or three more books to take back to the chair and read. I hope that this new found love of reading is something that sticks!

Another thing that Ethan really loves is watching Bob the Builder and Sesame Street. It was while I was watching Sesame Street that I was reminiscing about how it sure isn't the same as when I was a kid... they've even modernized the opening song! It also got me thinking about all the really cool things that I loved as a child that they don't have around anymore. Here are just a few of my favorites that I still miss to this day:1. Rainbow Bright - she was the coolest! and I really loved her furry friends, though I don't remember what they're called anymore. I always wanted a dress with the puffy sleeves like hers.

2. Popples - I had one popple, it was the white one I think. They are the furry stuffed animal friends that you could turn inside out into a ball... boy were they the coolest... I wonder what happened to mine? My mom probably DIed it in hopes that I would forget this obsession. Apparently it worked.

3. Mr. Men and Little Miss - I LOVED these books. In fact, if anyone knows where I can get some I would love to have some to read to Ethan. I don't think I will ever get over this love. One day I hope to own a little miss t-shirt... I just can't decide which one!

4. She-Ra and Heman - I used to own a shera action figure and her horse too. I'm pretty sure she lost her head to my older brothers and the horse was lost in one of the moves... I think Michigan to Utah. I also seem to remember calling them SheMan and He-Ra... don't know why we did that, I guess we thought it was funny... it still kind of is, but with different implications now. 5. Strawberry Shortcake - I remember owning some strawberry shortcake dolls that were scratch-n'-sniff so you scratched their bellies and they smelled like their flavor. Blueberry was my favorite smelling one, so she ran out of her scent the soonest. Somebody should develop permanent scratch-n-sniff so the smell doesn't fade with time. That would make big bucks.

Just a few other things that have come to mind that I miss... slap bracelets and pogs. Wow... talk about a nice trip down memory lane.

FreeRice

I saw this on one of my friend's blogs, and I think it is awesome. You get to help with ending world hunger (one grain of rice at a time) and expand your vocabulary. I know that in conference they said that TV and surfing the internet was wasting your time, but I think and occasional grain of rice or two would be alright :) Give it a try! http://www.freerice.com/. The highest I have gotten is level 44... I hope it doesn't go to 100 because that's not saying good things about my vocab skills!

Latest Family Portrait

One Yummy lookin' family.

Look a Like Meter

I saw this on Steve's cousin's blog and thought I'd see who Ethan looks more like.

Beehive Baby Blankets

This is the latest project I've been working on, and I thought I'd show you the finished product. The Beehives wanted to learn to tie quilts to I put together some baby blankets for them to tie. They didn't get very much done in a hour, but the did learn how its done, which is the important part. I had to go through and retie a few and finish them off, and I think they turned out pretty cute. They are going to be a shower gift for one of the Young Women leaders from the Beehives.

Different Names for the Same Thing

I saw this on my friend's blog and thought it was pretty funny, so I'm filling one out on my blog. I haven't had many nicknames, now I have 14 new ones. My Favorite is the Soap Opera Name. You should give it a try and find out what your favorite new nickname is. Also, you should listen to the song "Different Names for the Same Thing" by Death Cab For Cutie, while you're filling it out, it adds the right atmosphere :)

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: Smokey Wonderboy (first pet & current car)
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: Cookies 'n Cream Snickerdoodle (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: C-Davi (first initial of first name, first three (or four) letters of your last name)
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: Green Marmoset (favorite color, favorite animal)
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: Taylor Evanston (middle name, city where you were born)6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: DavCl (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
7. SUPERHERO NAME: The Blue Rootbeer (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
8. NASCAR NAME: Stephen Harold (the first names of your grandfathers)
9. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: Chloe Gregory (mother’s & father’s middle names )
10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: Lines Lanchester (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
11. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: Winter Lily (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
12. CARTOON NAME: Raspberry Jeanie (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
13. HIPPY NAME: Honey Nut Scooters Maple (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)14. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: The Rollerblading Snow Tour (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)