One of the benefits . . .

One of the few benefits of having a ridiculously knowledgeable husband is that he's always studying and learning new and interesting OB techniques. We call this the Uterine Punch! Get in line ladies!!

Well, we're off to Puerto Rico!

My FAVORITE Things . . .

Here are a few of my FAVORITE things (at the moment):
#1- Online Tutorials: I love these things, especially the free ones! That's how I find so many of my projects and I can say I've had success on every attempt so far. My idea, my mom's skills, voila!

Once an over sized mini skirt, now a bag. I love how the pockets work still, and the liner was already in it!#2- Harvest Grain 'N Nut Pancakes: This is an IHOP recipe I've been after for years. My mom and I always say, the more nuts the better, and I think that applies in all areas of my life. It's at Top Secret Recipes for free this week!

#3- Heather Bailey's fabric line: Holy Smokes! This stuff is by far, the most colorful, fun, vintage looking stuff out there. I'm addicted and fully plan on using it in the near future!
#4- Girl Scouts Samoas Cookie Ice Cream- Enough said!#5- Deseret Industries: I missed this place so much when I was in AZ. Goodwill doesn't even compare! My family and I have found endless entertainment and so many amazing things there. I'm not even ashamed to tell people that I wear clothing from D.I. My best find this year was an awesome shelf made of barn wood that I refinished and put in my grandma's bathroom.
#6- Twilight Soundtrack: I know, I know, we're all up to here with Twilight, but I LOVE the soundtrack and listen to it all the time. Turn up your volume and ENJOY! Except the weird Rob Pattinson song, that one bugs me.
#7- Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor: Where have these books been all my life?!? Emory and I could read them all day long. Cory loves the french in them. They're Stupendous! (That's just a fancy word for great.)
#8- Payless Shoesource: I used to go here fro my shoes as a kid, and just recently started going again. Why did I stop? They have tons of cute flats and I especially like the American Eagle stuff; it's even better when it's on clearance. I also love the accessories. Cheap stuff that's super cute!
#9-The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch: You can watch the lecture online or read the book. (I love the book.) I love to highlight books, magazines, anything; this whole book would be highlighted if I'd let myself. The MOST AMAZING story and outlook on life and how to live it!
#10- Mi Familia: They are so dang cute! I love Cory so much, he's a great husband and father. (Sorry I karate chopped you in the throat, buddy.) I love the girls, they're in such a great phase. They play together so well, and actually have fun. They played for a full hour like this the other day. Not one fight the whole time! (And yes, they chose to get in there, I didn't put them there!)

What a week!

I can't even begin to explain how crazy this last week was for me. It didn't rain, it poured!
It started off with the death one of the sweetest people I have ever known. I have so many great memories of her from Young Women events and high school. She was in my Driver's Ed class and I remember us have the best time, laughing about all the crazy rules of the road that we would never obey! I think my favorite thing to do with her was leave ladies choir 10 minutes early to avoid hall traffic with her wheelchair, and riding in the elevator wasn't half bad either! She was a special person and I can't wait for the day that I see her again with her beautiful perfect body!
On Wednesday my best friend Heidi got married! It was fun, low-key wedding and so nice. They were sealed in the Jordan River Temple in the morning and it was a wonderful experience. Their sealer talked all about the importance of family. It was lovely. What wasn't lovely was the snow that started outside! It really wasn't too bad, but I'm sure Richard and Heidi were Popsicles by the time they were done with pictures. After that, there was a luncheon at Market Street (woo-hoo!) and it was delicious.

Me and Heidi in a typical "working moms" pose!Me, Heidi and Richard.

I think the thing that I enjoyed the most was spending the whole morning and most of the afternoon with my super hot husband! It was so nice to got to the temple and hold hands while listening to the sealers advice to the couple. Then we did some errands on the way to the luncheon, and actually sat down and ate in peace without the childrens! Thanks to my mom for watching the girls. I've realized, throughout this whole medical school experience, to enjoy every second I get with my husband - and I thoroughly did!

This was us on the bridge outside of MS.

Thursday, I helped my mom get ready for the funeral luncheon, and practiced the piano.
Friday was Jordan's Funeral and it was perfect. That's really the only words to describe it. Perfect! I love her family so much, they are some of the best people ever. Her mom is an amazing accompanist and handles almost all of the ward's piano playing needs. With her not able to play this week, I got to take over everything. Wow! That woman is a SAINT! I have never been so tired of playing the piano in my whole life. I was more than happy to play for the funeral, in fact I wanted to. It was all the other stuff people called and asked me to help with, on top of me getting a cold, that pushed me into piano overload. I played for the funeral, then helped with the luncheon afterwards. Saturday, I played at a baptism. Sunday I played the organ (what a joke!) and played for primary (which is my calling) and talked in Young Women's and substituted for the choir! Phew . . . that wears me out thinking about it! This almost sounds like complaining, but it most definitely is not. I am so grateful for the talents that Heavenly Father has blessed me with. I love playing the piano almost more than anything else! Music is so special to me and I owe thanks for the many things I have learned from it. If you haven't heard "Come thou Fount" from the Reflections of Christ soundtrack, your'e missing out. It's by far our favorite song and I want it back in the hymn book.
I also got a bonus calling this week . . . Girl's Camp Director! I'm so excited! It'll be crazy planning it, but I love the girls and that's all that matters.
PS We also had an amazing Super Bowl party yesterday. My Grandma Audrey, her husband, and Josh and Syd all came over. Dang those Cardinals! We were all screaming and none of us sat down the whole last quarter. The food we had far outshone the game, Mango Habenero wings, potato skins, ribs, coleslaw, clam chowder in bread bowls, and chips and dips galore!

Our body's are Temples

In primary this week, we learned that our body's are temples. Emory was selected to choose a picture (they were pictures of healthy foods, coffee, tattoos, water, etc.) and she picked up a picture of cigarettes. She was then asked if we take these into our Temples? Of course she said, YES! So, this week I will be working on a Family Home Evening Packet about the Word of Wisdom. I have coloring stuff, the packet and a file folder game to go with it - I even have a laminator. Anyone interested in joining the fun?

A couple weeks ago my mom and I did a "little" project that turned out really cute.

Introducing . . . the World's Fattest Quiet Book!

It isn't supposed to be this humongous, my mom's doing it as a mid-week activity and we wanted a sample of all the letters in the alphabet. Generally one would only do the letters in their child's name!
Here's what a few pages look like:
Butterfly - you put the cut outs inside the net. Car - you can take the wheels off. Nest - there's little eggs in the nest, with little birds inside the eggs. Owl - eyes come off. And my personal favorite, Tic Tac Toe - closed and . . . opened!This week I'm gonna try and make a mini skirt that I bought for $3 into a bag!

PS Thanks for all the birthday best wishes and fun; my family for ice cream at Leatherby's, the Radfords and Grandma for the lunch at Sugarhouse BBQ, and Amanda for Zupas yesterday! That felt a little like an acceptance speech for an award or something.
PPS This is what Cory and I will be doing in 3 weeks! Hooray!

The Childrens

We've had too many amazing quotes over the last few weeks!

Grandma: Adam, come get you're grilled cheese!
Emory: NO FAIR!!
Me: Why?
Emory: No Fair! Girl-ed Cheese, that's not right for Animal. He needs a Boy-ed Cheese!

(Emory- quietly playing on the ground. Me- sitting on the couch reading. Tessa- waving around an unearthly heavy flashlight, like a crazy person. Tessa loses her grip on the flashlight and it flies toward Emory, hitting the coffee table inches from her head.)
Me: TESSA ELAINE!!! What are you trying to do!?!? Kill someone?
Emory (very seriously): Just me, mommy. She was trying to kill me.

(We went out for ice cream to celebrate my birthday and she had this to say about it.)
Dad: Eat that delicious ice cream.
Emory: Okay Dad. I will eat this ice cream and it will get the issues out of my throat and throw them into yours!

I know there were more, I'll have to keep thinking.
The girls continue to grow at the speed of light. We went in to the doctor for some shots, 7 to be exact. 2 for Emory, 5 for Tess - what a glorious day that was! Both girls are in the 50th percentile in almost all aspects, which surprised me. Emory's appetite is unstoppable at the moment, and I haven't seen Tessa eat in days!
Emory is always good for a laugh, and loves to play with her friend Lexi.
Tessa is . . . crazy. I really, truly think that's the only way to describe her. This is the list of missing objects today: my toothbrush, the flashlight (again!), one black shoe, and her spoon. She is also one of the smartest things. I swear she learns 10 new words a day. It would be useful if I understood even a quarter of the stuff she says! She also loves to be outside. We bundle her up and away she goes. The only thing that stops her is ice, which she chants over and over till you shove another piece in her mouth. This is what she did when I told her it was time to go inside. Love the snot pouring into her mouth! This was my attempt at taking a picture of her in the matchy-matchy dress.Last but not least, Emory possibly has a photographic memory. She's memorizes what words look like, where I put things, where Cory puts things, and where Tessa puts things, where clothes in her closet are, how to get places while driving in the car, the list goes on. Here's her new passion, learning songs in primary after hearing it maybe 5 times. (I think most sunbeams have no clue what's going on and just move there mouths their whole first year in primary!)

Blog Book

I've been meaning to blog about this for awhile, and thanks to April's questions, here it is!
I know most of us out there aren't blogging for everyone else's pleasure - well, most of the time. So, it's for journaling purposes, but do any of you actually print out your blogs? I didn't. Until I found this, or more I found it on another friends blog - thanks Jaime!
Blog Book is wonderful! It is very user friendly. All you do is go to this website, download Blurb Booksmart and voila! Well, I wish it was voila, but you do have to do a little moving around and all that jazz. This tutorial is pretty great, it's only 5 minutes and it gives you the general idea of how everything works. I thinks the prices are very reasonable for what you get.
Hope that helps, April!

New Year Festivities

Can you guess what this is?As always, we had a good time for the celebration of the New Year. We spent New Year's Eve here because it's my brother Josh's Birthday! I think we have a tradition of bowling on his birthday, since we've done it for quite a few years now. Emory was being camera shy. Josh had a well played game, along with Sydney, my dad, and Animal. Josh celebrating a strike.For the evenings excitement, we had my Grandma and her husband over, along with our cousins, the Radfords. I forgot to take pictures, but needless to say we had a great time. I tied Amanda's Hula Hooping record, the old people played a hilarious game of bowling, and Emory and Hannah had the best time together!

New Year's Day we went to my aunts Stake Center to watch the boys play BB. Sydney was a great sport about pushing the girls around in cousin Issac's Christmas Present. Here's Cory in action.Last but not least, I celebrated the new year by having Amanda remove most of the hair from my body. Oh the joys of having a waxer in the home! This was the first experience with "nose" waxing before, and let me just say I love it! It didn't even hurt, and I feel like I can breathe better. My dad was such a good sport and he looks like a new man!Can you believe that THING came out of his nose?!?!?

On a less disgusting note, here are my beautiful girls in the Christmas dresses! Dresses made by Grandma Chris and Bows by Me.Also, their Christmas PJs, this is literally what I got when I asked eat of them to look at the camera and smile.