Goober goal updates

Remember how I created a list of 'goober' resolutions in January? Well, the time has come to pause and reflect and ponder my varying levels of success in keeping those resolutions. And obviously, such reflections and ponderings should be done publicly.

1. Sadly, my goal to memorize all of the lyrics to the songs from Newsies has not been given high enough priority, despite it topping the actual list.
No worries, I am determined to see this one through - I ordered the CD online and will mix it into the current rotation of Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum when I drive. I am confident that I will soon be 'carryin' the banner' with ALL the correct words.

2. Re-read the Harry Potter series before the movie hit the dollar theaters. . . well, I came pretty darned close. HP7 pt. 1 debuted at the dollar theater on Friday, February 11th. Chuck had to work all weekend, so we obviously made immediate plans to see it Monday evening for our Valentine's Day date.
Here I am that morning, sporting my AWESOME Gryffindor Team Quidditch t-shirt. Thank you D.I.!

So I definitely cut it close, I was finishing the last chapter of book six about twenty minutes before we left for the movie :). I decided to stop there, because a) I was clearly out of time and b) I figured I'd be less tempted to make movie vs. book comparisons (although I still made a few). We loved the movie though. I was so engrossed that I was honestly shocked when the end credits came up; I had no idea we'd been in the theater for two hours.

3. As I predicted, my third goal to watch more TV was one of my most successful (although the "beautiful" "weather" "outside" on various days the last couple of months set me back a bit. Darn that enticing fresh air!) I watched and loved the thirteen "Firefly" episodes although the movie "Serenity" has just been chillin' on my DVR for two months. I know I'm going to be an emotional wreck (I may have read some spoilers . . . ) so I keep waiting for the perfect time to watch it.

I also discovered the hilarity that is Amanda Bynes. Seriously, before 'Easy A' I can honestly say I had never seen anything with her in it. That has definitely been fixed now, including all four seasons of her awesome WB sitcom:

Thank you Teen Nick for airing like four episodes a day for me to DVR and watch as I folded laundry. And yes, I'm aware it's slightly embarrassing that I'm 26 and lovin' on Teen Nick. Keep reading, it gets worse.

My latest and possibly most passionate TV guilty pleasure is . . . Dancing with the Stars. As per my usual 'Mock/avoid anything that's super popular and then discover its awesomeness way later', I had never seen an episode until about three weeks ago when curiosity finally won out and I was hooked.
Basically, I love everyone that's left (minus Kendra, although her attitude greatly improved this week). I think I'm pulling for a Chelsea/Mark (bottom left), Hines/Kym (center), and Kirstie/Maks (top right) finale. I really like Chelsie and Romeo (top left), but the guy is a leeetle cheesy at times. And I do love Ralph and Karina (bottom right), especially after how SWEET he was to her after she tripped this past week, but I think I love the others more. Chelsea and Mark are just sooo adorable. I know there's a lot of criticism about his choreography being too non-traditional and too show-offy of himself, but I have seriously loved all of their dances. Like, 'rewatch them all on youtube' loved. I wasn't super familiar with Hines Ward (although he's been on my fantasy football team in years past) but I LOVE him on the show. He and Kym have such great chemistry and they should clearly get married and have little dancing babies with killer dimples. Speaking of chemistry, I also love Kirstie and Maks. I know that Maks has been kind of a jerk in the past (I've done my research reading old show recaps on ew.com) but he and Kirstie are hilariously awesome together.

4. So, my silly 'wear a different outfit to church each week' goal has been achieved, and my plan is to keep going. I have pictures of every Sunday (and one Saturday for a baptism) of 2011 . . . well, almost every Sunday. I didn't take one President's Day weekend when I was in Utah (whoops!) and I accidentally deleted the next week's. They were somewhat similar 'all-black' outfits, though, so it's okay. And they have not been repeated, I promise.

Early on, Clyde was still finding his niche as a photographer . . .

He found a groove for a while though!

And then he didn't, so I resorted to bathroom mirror shots (I know you're laughing right now, Andrea!!).

Ahh, my 'primary colors' week (red, yellow, blue). I'm not going to lie, I created that outfit to coordinate with the preppy striped church shirt Will wore that day. Too bad he refused to be photographed with me!

Aaand the most recent batch.

5. The next goal was twofold: continue my quest to become ambidextrous by writing more with my left hand and practice my British accent.

Sadly, I have not worked on these as much as I should. I did practice a bit with my left hand when I went to church with Heidi in February, here's some evidence. As far as the second part of the goal, I think I'll take one for the team and re-watch the six hour BBC version of 'Pride and Prejudice'. That usually inspires a few days trying to be exactly like Elizabeth Bennett, accent included.

6. My next goal was to get Chuck and the MLP (Magic Laundry Pile) to co-exist happily.
The MLP just the other day . . .

Unfortunately, this has not yet happened. And I lost my best excuse when Chuck moved from working nights to days, darn it! ("Honey, I can't put away laundry during the day because you're trying to sleep and I don't want to disrupt you!!") I've accepted that this goal may never be accomplished, but that will definitely not stop me from trying :).

7. My last resolution was comprised of a bunch o' mini-resolutions. Here are a few updates on those:

* One was to get over Finn and Rachel's break-up on Glee.This one I may have done too well, because I kind of got over Glee altogether; I haven't even watched the last couple of episodes. It's just gotten super lame lately, and a little too soap opera-y with everyone dating everyone else's ex. . . I understand that it's a TV show, and they don't want to introduce a million different characters, but I still wish the dating pool would be widened a little beyond Glee Club.

* Another was to let Clyde unroll the window more, which I did and have photographic evidence of from early February!
Don't worry, we were at a stop light :).

* Yet another was to have more dance parties with the boys, namely Will. We were rockin' out the other night so I made a quick video. Will's normally crazy dance moves are quite subdued here, though, since he insisted on holding the magnetic writing board thing (what are those called??) I had written 'DANCE' on. Also, he will pretty much only dance to this song now - Gwyneth Paltrow's Glee version of 'Forget You', which is all right since it's a pretty great version. Enjoy:



Sooo clearly I need to kick it into a bit higher gear with many of these resolutions, which I promise to (probably) do. Happy still 2011!!

Our hoppy, er, happy Easter! (go ahead and groan, it's okay)

Early on Easter morning, I awoke to someone hopping around in the living room. . .

It was my cute little insomniac Will! So I stuck him on the couch watching some Signing Time and I put together some Easter baskets for the boys, which I had definitely neglected to do before falling asleep . . . so I guess it's a good thing Will allowed me the opportunity to be awake from about 3:30 to 4:30 am. Thanks buddy!

And here are their li'l baskets: a bunch of 'Jesus movies' as Clyde calls them, aka Living Scriptures videos that I picked up at various thrift stores, Star Wars pens and notebook for Clyde, Toy Story markers and notebook for Will, a little frisbee for each of them, and some Easter eggs with coins for their piggy banks.

I'm not super big on the 'Easter Bunny' so I was hesitant to do baskets at all (last year I just gave them Jesus pictures and sidewalk chalk) but the boys loooved them. When Clyde asked where it came from, Chuck and I just honestly told him the baskets were from Mom and Dad. I did explain that the Easter Bunny goes to some people's homes, just not ours. (And it's only partially because I am really, really scared of bunnies.)

Will checked out his basket and immediately began organizing:

he lined up the movies and rearranged them all several times until he was satisfied.

He also took special care to line up the coins from his Easter Eggs before church.

After church, we met Grandma Pam, Cody, Quinn, and Eden at my aunt and uncle's house for a wonderful afternoon of talking and laughing, and an Easter Egg Hunt, and a delicious meal (including my Aunt Iris' amazing orange rolls. Sooo good). I love my extended family so much, and it was especially fun to introduce Eden into the mix :).

Here's some of the Easter Egg hunt action. I love my Uncle Larry's Easter Egg hunts. There's always a specified number of eggs that each child should find (which eliminates the crazy competitiveness) and when the 'finding' slows down, it's hilarious to watch Larry try to retrace his steps and remember where he hid the remaining eggs.

My cousin Ryan's wife Stephanie is one of my favorite people ever. Their two sons Aaron (left) and Nathan (right) are both on the Autism Spectrum and Stephanie's patience and love is an inspiration to me - so it's no wonder that Will was drawn to her as well! I was also able to witness a couple of incredibly sweet moments between Will and Nathan, including a spontaneous hug, which seriously warmed my heart.

Clyde and Quinn randomly matched, which was fitting since my mom and I both mix up their names on an embarrassingly regular basis.

Meanwhile, Cody and Will coordinated with khakis and green, but didn't match as outrightly.

After dinner we sent the kids back outside to play while a few of us congregated in the living room to talk and play Encore and laugh really, really hard. My favorite moment was probably when Andrea unknowingly tried to use the second verse of "Can't Buy Me Love" after using the first verse on the previous turn. . . which leads me to a compilation of the funniest quotes of the day:

* Cody, referring to how Andrea and Amanda were sitting together on the couch (as pictured above): "See, that's how siblings should be; Sam and I never sit like that!"

* Me, referring to Will's recent tendency to reach out and whack people (who don't know he has autism) when I'm carrying him at church: "I should make him a shirt! 'It's not you, it's me.'"

*Andrea, slamming my taste in music: "Hey, it's like there's a country music team and a good music team!"

*Amanda, pretending like she wasn't slamming my taste in music when she really was: "I didn't say there was anything wrong with Taylor Swift, my middle school students like her!"

* Me, no explanation needed: "Then it all went downhill when Uncle Larry brought out the games . . . "

* Combined efforts of Amanda, Andrea, and myself (and maybe Quinn?), mercilessly teasing Eden about knowing who Quinn was in high school: "Oh, she didn't know him that well. Just his class schedule." "And his locker number." "And where his house was." "And where he slept in the house." "'Hey Quinn, I like your new sheet set!'"

* Combined efforts of everyone in the room, mercilessly teasing Quinn about how long it took him to ask Eden out: "You didn't even ask her for her number? You got it from her friend? Creep!" "Wait, you decided you didn't want to date anyone else, but you still hadn't asked Eden out?" "So what you're saying is that you didn't want to date anyone, but if you did, it would have been Eden?" "Oh, did you wait until after Christmas to start dating so you wouldn't have to get her a present?" "Ohh, is that why you didn't ask her out in September? So you'd miss her October birthday?" "Ohhh, and I bet you weren't able to see her Valentine's weekend either, eh?"

And I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting - I know that my mom and Larry had a few hilarious exchanges, reminding all of us that sibling teasing never goes away :).

Easter was a such wonderful day. I am so grateful for the life, death, and Resurrection of our Savior and for the opportunity to reflect on how my words and actions can more fully represent my feelings of awe and honor to be a benefactor of His sacrifice.
Happy Easter everyone!

Wall decor courtesy of (teenaged!) Jana

If I could, I would probably change a lot of things about my adolescence... probably dial down the awkward a bit, maybe learn Spanish instead of French (darn it that my dad was right about one being more useful than the other!) and possibly give in occasionally to my mom's attempts to teach me how to cook.

One thing I would not alter, however, is my awesome bedroom. I thought finally getting my own bedroom when I was ten was as good as it got, but sometime around age thirteen I got a serious upgrade to one of the bigger (and newer) back bedrooms . . . and my mom let me choose the paint. I resisted the urge (or my mom talked me out of it) to use my favorite color ORANGE, and instead went with bright yellow and blue. My mom and I sponge painted the entire room - two walls yellow, one wall blue and one wall both. I absolutely LOVED it.

Sadly, I couldn't find a picture of my room in its heyday, so here's one from last summer. Ignore Chuck, Quinn, and my mom's old lady decor (she brutally turned MY room into a TV/playroom a while back. Something about me getting married and not needing it anymore. . . ).

After the awesome paint job, my favorite aspect of my room was my wall decor: magazine collage posters. I had a pretty serious addiction to People Magazine at that time in my life (I attribute this addiction to my dear Grandma Hunter, also the one who introduced me to soap operas). Luckily I was able to find old issues at the library for a quarter each. As I read through them, I ripped out anything and everything that I liked: actors, actresses, quotes, ads, headlines, etc. And then I tapped into my almost non-existent artistic side (notice the heavy use of Scotch tape) and made posters!

Which brings us to the occasion for this post; I recently dug around in a closet at my mom's house and found a couple of big totes with a TON of Jana memorabilia: old school papers, report cards, etc. Tucked right behind the totes were my awesomely handcrafted posters, which I dutifully dusted off and present to you now:

Awesome, right? This is probably my favorite of the bunch; I loved Denzel from an early age :).

Here's the next one:
I was pretty chagrined to see the emphasis I placed on TVs then (especially size!) since I give Chuck such a hard time about his love of our big screen TV.

Ahh, my 'hot guys' poster. . . doesn't every teenage girl have some version of this?
I do stand by my taste, though.

Ohh, here's my 'love/romance/marriage' poster.
I wouldn't go through and calculate how many of those couples are no longer together. I did, and it's pretty sad . . . slash hilarious :).

I loved examining the posters and gaining (regaining?) insights into my 16/17 year old self, as well as the fun and bright effect they had on the wall. Unfortunately, none of the posters really fit my current life. I contemplated creating a new one (and still might, even though people.com fills my entertainment news obsession, er, interest now). Then I realized I already had a slightly more grown-up version hanging above the computer in the playroom:

My bulletin board! Granted, it's a little lighter on the celebrity fare (although there is a little Glee picture on the right side) but the people pictured are way more important to me :).

Thanks again to my wonderful mama for helping me have such an awesome bedroom and encouraging me to express myself and make it my own.
(And I forgive you for not keeping it as a shrine . . . because, let's face it, that would be creepy . . . )

Spring Break Road Trip '11 Part Four: the Smithses!

Our Spring Break Road Trip made its last stop at the home of (to quote Clyde) the 'Smithses'. Ever since I was in junior high, we've spent every General Conference weekend (more or less) at their home and it's always such an awesome reunion for our families - even if we've seen each other between Conferences :).

We arrived Friday afternoon and got baby Chase all to ourselves for a couple of hours before his adoring Aunt Heidi and Uncle Will rolled in and took priority.

That night we had dinner at Fat Boy's Pizza and Pasta Company - Chuck's maiden visit! So of course he ordered the UFO Pizza to case it out and determine who should be his partner when he attempts the UFO Challenge: Two people have a half hour to work together and consume the entire UFO Pizza; if they succeed their picture goes up on the wall and they each get a Fat Boy's t-shirt. It looks like I'll have to obtain my long-coveted Fat Boy's t-shirt another way, though, since Chuck (wisely) has no intention of recruiting me as his partner.

Here's our favorite Fat Boy's owner, Reed! Thanks again for dinner and, as always, letting us invade your home for the weekend :).

Saturday was a busy day; we fit quite a bit in before, between, and after Conference sessions.
Like a morning walk with Courtney, baby Chase, and Clyde, who traveled like an AT-TE Walker . . . when he wasn't getting a piggyback ride. Silly boy!

Heidi and I made a quick shoe run to find her some sweet kicks for a dance at Utah State. I decided to be semi-grown up and try on some serious heels and I kind of fell in love. I am contemplating purchasing some awesome shoes like this . . . but I'm pretty sure I'd have to wear them every day to justify the expense. Luckily I can clearly pull them off with shorts and a Star Wars t-shirt, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Grandma Pam joined the party late Saturday afternoon and brought with her Star Wars Legos for Chuck, Quinn, and Big Will . . .
errr, I mean Clyde and Baby Will. There may have been some confusion about this, however :).

Naturally, we set aside quite a bit of time for girl talk and perusing Heidi's People magazines.

As always, I made the boys line up after Priesthood session for a picture. Unfortunately numbers were down since Reed, Ben, and Big Will were all needed at Fat Boy's, but Chuck and Quinn were excellent representatives - Chuck made sure to tell everyone at the church that Heidi Smith approved of his outfit :).

Sunday brought more family members, more Conference-watching,
and LOTS of lego-building.

It also brought the return of Clyde's photography skills, although this time he decided to play 'Jedi spy' at the same time, leaving us with . . . interesting . . . shots/angles.
Gloria saw him coming up with the camera and smiled, but was quickly admonished to turn back around and pretend he wasn't there :).

Here some shots of everyone getting reacquainted - or meeting for the first time, in the case of baby Bailey and baby Chase :). I love the bottom right picture of Eden and her two adoring fans - baby Will and Quinn! Will would seriously not leave Eden alone; it's a good thing Quinn already got a commitment from her!

A test run to see if Sam and Terri are ready for two more children: good news, they passed!

Oh, man, this guy seriously cracked us all up as Conference was wrapping up Saturday afternoon; pretty sure we rewound it like five times :).

Will x 2!

Ohhh I love my BFSC's. I know I say it all the time, but I just love Courtney and Heidi so much!!

And now, for a few other highlights of the weekend:

* The multiple discussions required to hammer out the sleeping arrangements; I'm pretty sure every possible combination was mentioned. Nate's room with the bunkbeds provided the most hilarious duos: Eden and Quinn (obviously rejected pretty quickly!!), Eden and Will ('it's okay, they're not engaged'), Eden and my mom ('oh, that would work'), my mom and Ben (there exist allegations that they both snore, although vehement denials are always issued). We briefly considered a boys' floor and a girls' floor, although once the guys realized that left them with all three children it was quickly ruled out. In the end, Heidi and I successfully negotiated a plan that let us have a sleepover (although crying children crashed that party pretty quick) and almost everyone slept well (sorry again Quinn!).

* Along the same lines, at one point it looked as if our Sunday evening dinner might have to be comprised of two separate tables, kicking off a pretty intense seating arrangement debate with all sorts of segregating factors: family of origin (Bradens/Smiths), marrieds vs. singles (but where to put the engageds?), and Varsity vs. JV teams (after hearing that Ben's skill of burping on demand earned him an automatic spot at the Varsity table, several of us volunteered to be JV). Ultimately, we opted to eat all together at one table, cozy and united :).

* A hilarious subplot to the dinner seating arrangement issue was the dessert seating arrangement issue - "Everybody sit wherever the kind of cake you want is set, we can mingle a bit." "Do we have to drink out of the previous person's cup??"

* In the interest of being 'social' Saturday evening, Heidi and I decided to include Chuck and Big Will on our facebook stalking time. Big mistake. Pretty sure Chuck will never join facebook now, and while the laptop was in other hands but still logged onto my profile, I ended up 'liking' pretty much everything on Will's wall as well as all sorts of random stuff on my news feed... yeah, I definitely 'unliked' most of that the next morning :). Also 'I' voted Minnesota as my favorite state. Then we watched an episode of 'What I Like About You', sure that Chuck and Will would appreciate its hilarity. Definitely didn't work, although they sure seemed to appreciate their own hilarity in mocking it!!

* At one point in the midst of the chaos and craze of the kitchen on Sunday, baby Chase held onto his daddy in the cutest koala bear-y grasp I've ever seen. Poor little boy is used to being in a relatively calm household with four to six adults - adding seven more adults, another baby and two wild and crazy little boys was a bit of a shock to his system :).

*Obviously Conference itself was wonderful and uplifting and strengthening - here are links to some talks I really enjoyed: An Ensign to the Nations and Followers of Christ. Oh, and see if you can get through this one without your eyes tearing up a bit; I couldn't: The Eternal Blessings of Marriage.

And then all too soon it was time for Chuck and I to load our boys into the car and head HOME! We were definitely sad to leave, but after eight days it was also very nice to sleep in our own beds that night. Thanks again to everyone for your hospitality and generosity in welcoming us into your homes. We had such an incredible trip; we love you all!!

Spring Break Road Trip '11 Part Three: Littlewoods!

Remember last summer when I rambled on about our dear friends the Littlewoods and how they were moving to Utah? Me too. We seriously miss them a lot; sometimes Chuck and I will just be sitting around talking and one of us will say, "Hey, weren't the Littlewoods the best? Man, I miss them."

So we were pretty psyched to be able to visit them as part of our Spring Break World Tour! We rolled in on Wednesday afternoon, and it was like we were never apart :). Lynndi and I talked and talked and went to Target and D.I. and talked some more.

The kids played and bounced and played and bounced. I figure as long as we keep visiting people with trampolines, we'll never need to buy one ourselves!

A shot with all four kids (kind of) looking!

When McKay got home from work that evening, our reunion was complete! Chuck and Lynndi combined forces to make some delicious jambalya for dinner and after we put all the kiddos to bed, the four adults stayed up talking for a while longer. It was sooo fun!
Naturally I attempted to photograph the cute kids in their pj's, and naturally they collectively resisted.

Buuut I got this one, so I choose to call it a victory.

Thursday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the 3:4 adult to child ratio and go on an adventure! So we boarded the TRAX commuter train . . .
(and yes, we played musical chairs a bit - actually more so on the ride home later . . .)

and headed to:
Temple Square! It was so beautiful and fun. We ate our picnic lunch and then checked out the visitors' centers.

The bottom floor of the north visitors' center has so many neat displays, many about the Church Welfare System and service in general. These were a few of the quotes and scriptures I really liked.

And I loved this wall - different ideas of how we can serve.

Naturally I loved the information about Deseret Industries. Speaking of D.I., I dropped off four boxes there last week and then found four awesome shirts inside to buy . . . Coincidence? Well, yeah, probably :).

Here's McKenzie checking out all of the Bibles and copies of the Book of Mormon in different languages.

Clyde and Chuck both loved the Jerusalem replica.

The Christus was amazing, of course. Just beforehand we showed the kids a wall of paintings downstairs that show each step of the Savior's life from birth to Resurrection, and Clyde and McKenzie both sat really reverently here, taking it all in.

Then it was time to walk around outside some more and catch some super cute Kodak moments :).

I kinda wish we'd gone with the pose the girl in the background picked . . .

Our family! Also our first experience using one of those leash backpack deals on Will - something I swore I'd never do, BUT kids with autism wander . . . a lot, and he's getting heavier to carry and it's no fun to be restricted in a stroller when we go out and about. Will was not a huge fan of the backpack, shockingly, but I will admit that it was sooo convenient to always have a hold of him and we'll probably use it again. Serves me right for being so judgmental of everyone I've ever seen use one for their child!!

Cute boys!

Lynndi, McKenzie, and Paislee

That night after dinner we all went to a local playground. Chuck and McKay drove three of the kids, and McKenzie, Lynndi and I jogged there. Clyde started out with us, but gave up a few blocks in :).

It was a really fun playground; the kids all loved it. Chuck and McKay spent their time kicking teenagers off of the tire swing and marveling at the awesomeness of this kid's mullet:

Which they made me photograph. I just kept randomly snapping pictures all around me to make it less obvious . . . definitely still felt creepy :).

Then Lynndi and I ran the whole way home! Minus a quick pit stop at the stoplight. Aren't we super cute all tired and sweaty??

We let the kids get out a little bit more energy and then it was time for bed.

And as evidence of why I should never have a daughter, check out this awesome ponytail I styled in Paislee's hair:
Sadly, this is the ponytail I usually sport as well . . . although, unlike me, Paislee manages to pull it off. She's gotten sooo much more grown up, even since we saw them in November!

Well, it was time for bed until the dads gave in and brought out the jeep. Does Clyde's crazed expression make anyone else really nervous for his teenage driving years?

The next morning it was time to pack up and head out, but we're excited to visit again. Lynndi (and McKay!), thank you soooo much for everything: feeding us, treating us to the TRAX ride, letting me do like five loads of laundry, etc. We love and miss you guys sooo much!!