Day 8 - A picture that makes you laugh.

My kids. Period.

Beautiful Becca

Emily the mouse hunter! We had a mouse come in our house due to nearby construction. Emily overheard us discussing if it had made its way into the couch and decided to check one day.

Gracie reading to Becca. Becca kept grabbing the book and grinning and Gracie kept moving, but never stopped reading.

Landon laughing throatily whilst eating chocolate pudding.

Toothless Ethan

And what laughing post would be complete without a little Rubberband Man?

Day 7 - A picture of your most treasured item.

This question is A LOT harder than it looks!

I am a very sentimental person, so I think my best definition of "treasure" would be something of the highest intrinsic value... as opposed to monetary value. Of course, there could conceivably be something that fit both definitions, but I don't own my Great-Grandmother's favorite rocking chair or anything like that. :D

Yes, I think I treasure memories the most. Memories attached to objects and those stored away in my brain, more attached to a person than a thing. Pictures fall under this category and I do treasure pictures of people I love. There is nothing better on a lazy afternoon, than thumbing through an old photo album and regaling whomever will listen about the people on its pages.

I can't possibly share ALL of those kinds of memories, nor would you want to sit here that long. :) And so, I will open up my Rubbermaid Hope Chest and share a thing or two with you.



The oldest treasure belonging to me in my Hope Chest is all found in a brown paper bag with my name on it. I remember making this bag with my Mom. When it was time to give up my blankie, we put it in a very special place. I think I have already told this story before. There used to be a binkie with almost no nipple in there, to represent how long I held onto my binkie and the measures my parents had to resort to to get me to stop. I remember combing my fingers through the yarn fringe at the edge of the yellow and white afghan. I liked it to stroke the webs between my fingers.



I can't remember what this fabric is called. My Mom worked at a sewing factory when she was expecting me and she would bring home the scraps and make toys for me out of them. It has a sort of mesh in between layers of spongy fabric that is fuzzy. I remember laying my finger across the fuzz and moving the hairs back and forth. Not stroking it. It's incredibly hard to describe when you can't see my hand movements to explain what I mean! :) Anyway, if I'm remembering correctly, my Mom made the small brown bear and I think my Grandma H made the blue bear out of the same type of fabric. My Mom could have made both... hopefully she'll straighten me out in the comments. :) I love how the blue bear's nose is worn away by a thousand kisses! He never had a name... he should have had a name.

This is my blessing dress. It is white tricot with yellow lace. It has a little slip that goes under it. The story goes that I gave my very first smile to my Dad while I was wearing this dress on my blessing day. :) I just love the tradition of blessing dresses. Making a beautiful dress for a treasured daughter to wear. A father giving his baby girl a wonderful blessing to give her the very best start for her life. Remind me sometime to tell you about my childrens' blessing days. :)

The last picture came out blurry, so you'll have to take my word for it. My baby hair brush and comb are so cute! I love that they brushed my downy little hair. None of my kids has had as dark of hair as I had. It's unique to me in my now-family. I shared it with my sister in my then-family. :)

These are treasures that remind me how much I have been loved ALL MY LIFE. There has always been someone to wrap me in a blankie. To stroke my hair. To play and have fun with. I am a very, very lucky girl!

Day 6 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day.

Okay, I hope this isn't too weird, but I've given this a lot of thought and if it were possible, I think this would be an unforgettable experience. If I could trade places with someone for a day, I would pick each of my Grandparents one at a time. Hear me out. I would get to go to Heaven's waiting room and see and give hugs to everyone I know that's there! Granted, Heavenly time is SO much faster than ours, so it would have to be really, really quick hugs, but Oh! they would feel SO good! AND then my kids could meet my incredibly awesome Grandparents. I can't tell you how many times I wish they could meet them and know them like I did. I tell them stories all the time! It would be awesome if they could bake really soft cookies with Grandma H. Feed the chickens with Grandpa H. Have their ribs counted by Grandpa L. Read a good book with Grandma L. Sweet, sweet, sweetness! :)

Seeing their faces helps me remember how their voices sound. And what their hugs feel like. And how much they really, really love me.

Day 5 - A picture of your night.

What an interestingly worded challenge. I could take a picture of the night sky. I could take a picture of my sleeping children, they would surely thank me for that in years to come. I could take a picture of what I do at night, which is to sit here at the computer or at the sewing machine. I could take a picture of myself sleeping, but that wouldn't be pretty and very, very hard to do! I could wait and take a picture of what I'm actually doing tonight, on this, the 5th day. I think I'll go with more of a combo/timeline/mish mash of everything I do at night. See anything similar at your houses at night? ;D

Disclaimer: These are all ipod pics since the camera I'm allowed to touch has a mysterious debilitating illness.

Kids playing Wii fit.

Gobs and gobs of minty freshness... literally. :)

Becca's nighttime feed and meds. I turned this pic a couple of times, I don't know why it is still sideways. It looks like it's going to pour out all over your keyboard. Watch out!! :D

What a cute bunch of pajama-ed kids those are!

Dishes. What? You thought I would take a picture of the dirty ones? Ewww! They look just like these only way slimier. :P

Mutt and Jeff our washer and dryer.

And this is what is waiting for me right over there! See ya! :D

Day 4 - A picture of your favorite memory.

Can anyone really pick just ONE favorite memory? There's like a billion of them rattling around in there! I decided I'd pick a favorite class of memories... Each time someone was added to my family. I was going for the earliest picture I could find with me in it as well as the new addition.

Geoffrey

I love this picture because we are laughing together and that is what drew me to him in the first place. He can always make me laugh. Even when I don't want to. Especially when I don't want to. :D We are best friends.

Rebecca

She is hooked up to so many wires under that blanket! Her birth was by far the most eventful and so were her first few months and even years. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about all kinds of diagnoses and disabilities. I'd like to say that she was a calm and peaceful baby, I really would! :) She came home to our first home, our tiny cinder block student housing 2 bedroom apartment in Logan. And we've loved her to bits and pieces ever since!

Emily

Such a sweet and delightfully uneventful birth. Although she didn't let us see beforehand, so we were a little surprised that she was a girl. :) The Dr. almost didn't let us leave with her on time because he wanted to test her for CMV. After explaining and giving him time to study it out in the hospital library, he let us go. I've always hoped that that experience made him more aware of CMV. She was born in the Old Tooele Hospital... I know, I am just that brave! :) It was literally the week they moved into the new hospital. The day before we went home was the open house of the new hospital and it was really quiet. :)

Grace

We were so excited to have 3 girls in a row! It had been a very big decision to have them all so close together with all of Becca's issues, but she must have been up there jumping up and down to come because it felt just right the whole time. She was such a peaceful baby! We always used to say that her name was perfect for her. We stopped saying that when she was a toddler. :D

Landon

Oh Boy! We were thrilled to be having a boy at last! We were going to wait, but we decided we just better go for it and get everyone here. We put our house on the market while I was expecting. What an adventure!! We moved an hour and a half away when he was crawling. He was such a mellow, smiley baby.

Ethan

They told me he was a boy and I just couldn't believe it! He is the most perfect caboose there ever was. He was just high maintenance enough as a newborn to remind us all that he will never get lost in the chaos. :) He is so happy and curious and loving. He's our Happily Ever After.

Day 3 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show.

Because let's be honest, there was a different girl and her set of baggage whether it be her father the scientist, her brother the rock star or her mentor the inventor. (Ha! That just made me laugh right out loud... it's stayin'!) :D But in the end, it was always MacGyver walking away from the burning pile of rubble. And who was the first person he called from his apartment when he got back? Pete.

On one of the very first episodes he has a bag and he turns back to the person he's helping and says something to the effect of, "It's not what's in the bag, it's what I find along the way."

Day 2 - A picture of you & the person you have been closest to the longest.

If I can only pick one person then it will be my Mom. After all, she carried me before anyone else even knew me as a person!

We are still the best of friends. I guess I should say we are now the best of friends. There were some times in there, when I was a stubborn teenager for example, when we had some rocky patches. But I have ALWAYS loved my Mom. We can (and do!) talk about anything and everything. I love late night chats on the instant messenger. I love phone calls. Most of all, I love being in the same place that she is so that our visits can begin and end with big hugs. There is nothing in the world like my Mom's hugs... warm, loving, comforting and she always smells SO good! :D

Day 1 - A picture of yourself & ten facts.

I'll do my best not to repeat things you may have already read about me in this post. ;)

An eyepod pic

1. I love to sing in the car. With my kids. By myself. I also get my groove on at stoplights and dance like nobody's watching... which I hope they aren't, but if they are, I hope they smile. :)

2. Basketball is WAY fun! I'm actually pretty decent at it until you add a bunch of other people on the court, too, then I'm not so good. I lack the 'aggressive' gene needed for highly competitive sports.

3. I love animals, but I don't need them to survive. If I could have any amount of animals I wanted, I would have a dog and some chickens... behind a fence of course because the dog probably can't be trusted. I would also have a couple of small animals in the house for my kids to enjoy... a bird and maybe some pretty fish.

4. My most favorite fabric has got to be fleece. Stretchy. Fuzzy. Colorful. Love it.

5. Dance parties are a regular form of exercise for me. Woohoo for all those years of taking Social Dance instead of P.E. whenever I could get away with it!

6. If I could have a $100 and I had to spend it in just one store, I would head for a home dec store. My house is in DIRE need of embellishment. I've always wanted to visit Tai Pan Trading Co., but have never been brave enough.

7. I don't like to do my hair the same way twice in as many days. It's all pretty similar, but not usually exactly the same. Clips. Barrettes. Head band(s). Pony tail. Pig tails. Never all the way down... it falls in my eyes and I spend way too much time tucking it behind my ears.

8. Earrings are the new necklace for me lately. The baby (who is quickly outgrowing that moniker) doesn't pull on earrings like he pulls on necklaces. I've been wearing them almost every day... they make me feel pretty. :)

9. My job chart is a picture of Doris Day. I love her. I think we would have been good friends. I think she is cute and sassy and classy and funny. Of course, I really only know the movie-her, so there ya go!

10. I don't like lunch. I do if there are yummy leftovers from a yummy dinner I made, but I've been struggling lately with the growth of my children exceeding the amount of food I am used to cooking in order to have leftovers. I don't usually feel like eating mac & cheese or sandwiches like my boys do at that time of day, but I also don't like making a whole little meal just for little ole me. Sometimes I have to make me go back in the kitchen and make real food instead of snacking on whatever I can grab for the rest of the day until dinner. *rolling eyes*