Is Genius-ness Hereditary?

Much to my surprise, my beautiful Aar-Bear spent the afternoon suction-ing a cup over his mouth and chin. And now he has a FABULOUSly huge hickey. When I saw him and his purple chin, I immediately grabbed some Benadryl, because it is not uncommon for Aaron to have allergic reactions to things. But, as I brought him the medicine and observed more closely, the truth came out. I wouldn't have thought that creating that kind of a bruise was even possible, except for my husband's genius story:

At the age of 14 (yes, FOURTEEN ... not five like Aaron), Tyler was playing an extra cool game of foam basketball with his brothers. This game was extra cool, because Tyler was the basket. He suction-cupped the cheap basketball hoop to his forhead and would weave and duck to make it more tricky for his brothers to score. Yep - genius idea! Well, needless to say, when they were finished playing, and Tyler removed the hoop, he had 2 FABULOUSly huge hickey bruises on his forehead. Tyler remembers this event so well, because he had to go to school the next day. :)

Well, Aaron went to school today with a hickey on his chin ... and, honestly, it didn't seem to phase him. So, is the genius gene hereditary? Must be ... except that it improves each generation (9 years difference). :)

Boys. Need I say more?

And So It Goes ...

Life, that is.

We are sick - yet again. I have got a TERRIBLE cold. Usually, when I get colds, they come on gradually ... so I can Cold Eaze it to the max until it fades away. This cold just bombarded me almost instantly - so, I've broken down and bought the 12 hour Sudafed (which is barely adequate, but I certainly couldn't survive without). Missy Dee has strep throat - WAY bad. She is absolutely MISERABLE. Hopefully, she'll be able to hold down her antibiotic long enough that she will start feeling better tomorrow. Keep her in your prayers.

Aaron's first day of school came and went. I was really worried about him waking up at 7:00 in the morning. And - the first day was kindof tricky ... until I mentioned the word "kindergarten" - then he bounced right up (see pictures). Today, he jumped out of bed no problem. He LOVES school! His favorite part is "singing songs". I, of course, cried my eyeballs out after I dropped him off yesterday. Why is it so hard for me? I DO enjoy time away from my kids. How in the world am I going to survive sending off a missionary or college student? Sheesh. I can't even think about it. ANXIETY!!

The other day, I went out to lunch with Kristy and Melynda. I love it when we do that. So fun. Anyway - I saw a lady there taking pictures of EVERY little thing (her son touching the waterfall, her son climbing on the table, people eating, the list goes on). My first thought was ... "she is DEFINITELY a blogger. I hope I'm not like that." LOL - THEN, I go ahead and take pictures of trying to wake Aaron up for the first day of school. Does that mean I'm a hypocrite? I guess that'll just have to be okay, because I like to know what's happening in all of your lives ... and, therefore, you get the basics from me too! Sooooo, you BETTER enjoy! (haha)

Random Things

James started putting in our new bathroom floor this weekend. Hip-hip Hooray! It is looking so dang nice! Here is a picture of James working like crazy -- but, he certainly couldn't do it without TyTy (who hands him the tiles). Way -ta-go guys! And, thank you so much, James. We'll post a picture of the finished product sometime this week, hopefully!

Here are the cute cousins. Hanna and her AWESOME smile for the camera - I just love it. AND, I couldn't resist this sweet picture of sweet little Ethan - with his hands in prayer mode.

We tried Kryssie's hair in rollers last night. She was so excited to have them in ... "just like DeeDee" ... she kept saying. But, she wasn't too thrilled about sleeping on them. I'm glad she finally did fall asleep with them in though, because ....... CUTE!!!

Tyguy signed up to run in the Ragnar Relay next June. (click on Ragnar Relay to link to the virtual tour). It's a relay from Logan to Park City. His part will be 15 miles total in 3 five mile stretches. Wish him luck - and encourage him to train!!! He is WAY excited. I have absolutely NO idea why, but am looking forward to a fine tuned hubby.

Kindergarten Assessment

I witnessed perhaps THE cutest assessment ever today - Aaron's. He told me that he was a little nervous while we were on our way in ... but, as he began realizing what a genius he is, his nerves subsided more and more. So, the first part of the assessment was pretty easy for him ... basically repeating phrases, saying his name and birthday, and recognizing letters and numbers. Then it got harder - but he still did FABULOUS. His teacher (Mrs. Glass) asked him if he could read. He quickly shook his no. So she showed him her two pages of words and started pointing to them. He pretty much knew every single one (the, a, I, can, look, see, he, we, am, and -- you get the jist), then she turned the page over to the back where the harder words were. He knew ALL of them (well, in his mind, anyway). At this point, he was so confident, he pulled out his finger to slide past the letters as he read. I can't remember what he said for most of them, but for the word dash, he sounded out .... "baaaaandaaaaggggge". Honestly, if I wasn't so dam proud - I would have been laughing out loud. He was so dang cute! When she gave him a bucket of colorful tiles and told him to make his own pattern, he looked at me like, "this is just ridiculous, Mom, " and preceded to pull out any random tile and plunk it down on the table. He did NOT rearrange them in any specific order - just left them as randomly as he pulled them out. The teacher hesitated for awhile, and then asked him if he was done. He very proudly said, "sure am!" heehee - gotta love him! Mrs. Glass reassured me that he would do great in kindergarten. I'm not worried. :)

Jib-Jab: Gotta Try It!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!We saw this on Ike and Jen's blog ... and LOVED it! So, here's ours.

More Jib-Jab

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Off She Goes ...

Marissa's first day of 5th grade! Can you believe it? She was so excited to get to school ... she was up and going on her own ... and completely ready 30 minutes early! What a cutie. AND - she's just as excited to go again tomorrow. Of course, her glasses broke this morning on her way out the door. So, that was frustrating. I'll have to take them in tomorrow to get them fixed. My sweet little baby - where is time going?


Aaaaaaaaand ... our super fun trip to IKEA today. Driving arrangements .... well, everyone knows that M is the favorite - and all the littles won the fight to go with her. :D! I only remembered to take pics of us eating lunch. The rest of the time, I was too busy shopping. I was planning on spending $15.00 for a cool knife ... but ended up spending $50.00. Agh! Do you think if I just kinda say, "uhhh ... I spent fift -- dollars," I'll get away with it? That's my plan, 'cuz ain't nothin' goin' back.

Hmmm ... has anyone seen Krystal's other shoe? Shoot! I hope I came home with it! ;)

My AWESOME Carl's Jr. Birthday Dinner!

So ... I'm pretty much addicted to CJ's low-carb six dollar burger (that is really only $4.19 or something) .... so dang good. And also, I'm very addicted to not having to yell at my kids to mind their manners while at a fancy restaurant (notice the very FEW pics of kids - they are playing, and hence, not disturbing my good eats). So, despite Kendra's disbelief at my choice - here we are at Carl's Junior for my birthday bash :>! Thanks for coming with me, guys - you're the best! Oh ... and, I have to admit - watching Missy Dee eat a full on bacon cheeseburger is pretty addicting as well. Gotta love her!

Our 12th Anniversary

Look at us love birds - 12 years ago today ... and still goin' strong! We may be a bit chubbier ... okay, a lot chubbier - but more in love today as well. AND .... we've done quite well for ourselves these past 12 years. See for yourself:

And now ... we have a hard time believing it ourselves! ...

We have been so blessed!

Final Cut

So - these are the colors, pretty much exactly, that we chose for the outside of our house. We set all of our choices in stone tomorrow - so there's no turning back (without a hefty fee, anyway). So - let me know now what you think ... not that you'll change my mind ... but, it would be good to know! :) We chose almost all of the accents (garage, trim, pole, gutters) to be white - and then the door and shutters black. We're not TOTALLY set on the siding color ... is this about the right darkness of tannish/beige? Should we go darker? We're so excited!