How much have I changed??

I found this on a quiz website and thought it looked like fun. Here it goes:

Child

Where did you live? In Sioux Falls, SD in a little green and white house with a HUGE backyard.

Who did you live with? My parents

Where did you go to school? I went to a private Christian School until I was in 4th grade then I transfered to a public school close by to our house.

What was your favorite color? blue and yellow

What was you favorite movie? Space Jam

Who was your best friend? Not sure, can't remember

Were you a good kid? Yes

What were your favorite cartoons? Flintstones and The Jetsons

Teen

Where did you live? In a townhouse on the south side of Sioux Falls

Who did you live with? My Mom

What school did you go to? Roosevelt High School

What was your favorite color? Blue and Yellow

What was your favorite movie? A Walk to Remember

Now

Where do you live? Small Town about 15-20 miles south of Sioux Falls

Who do you live with? My husband Matt, our son Layne, and our two dogs

What is your favorite movie? I love Breakfast at Tiffany's as well as Tombstone and some other ones

What is your favorite color? Blue and Yellow

Where do you work? I run an in home daycare with my mom

Do you have any kids? yes, one. His name is Layne and he is almost 8 1/2 months old!!

Are you married? yes Matt and I got married July 7, 2007. It was a gorgeous day!!

Do you have any regrets? No

Are you happy? Yes extremely happy!!

Daddy Dressed Me!!

Look at Me!! My Daddy dressed me all by himself without help from Mom!!

Don't I look good?!?



Matt had the day off today. He wanted to spend some quality time with Layne. After Layne got up and I gave him some breakfast, I left for daycare. Matt and Layne came over to my parents house around 11:00 this morning because my mom wanted Matt to fix a couple things for her. After I took Layne's coat off, I about fell over laughing. Not at Layne himself but at what Matt dressed him in. I asked Matt if he thought it matched and he thought it went good together. I DON"T!! My mom thought he looked so cute even if he didn't match. She was calling Layne her little redneck. Oh boy!! I'm sure though that that was what Matt was going for, Mr. Redneck himself!!!

First Word

I was just going through my blog entries and noticed that I forgot to blog about this BIG milestone. Last Week ( I believe it was Thursday night.) when Layne and I got home from daycare we walked into the house and we both heard Daddy talking on the phone. Layne was getting extremely excited. I asked him " Who's home Layne?? Who is that talking?" He immediately turned to me and yelled "Dad!" I was so in shock. I raced into the sun room where Matt was and told him what Layne said. Matt took Layne on his lap and asked him " Layne, who am I?" Layne again immediately yelled "Dad!" again and leaned over on Matt like he was hugging him. It was about the cutest thing I had ever seen!! Layne is almost 8 1/2 months old now. My mom says this was about the same time that I started talking too. ( I didn't just say one word though when I first started talking. My first words were somewhat of a sentence. "Get Get Cat Cat." ) I'm so excited I was there to witness his first word!! I can't wait to see what else he will start saying!

Picture was taken on our trip in Omaha at Laura and Jesse's house. Miles is in the background.

Baby Einstein

I am in love with the Baby Einstein movies. They are truly amazing!! I don't personally enjoy watching them but Layne is in LOVE with them. When I pop one in for Layne to watch I can get so much accomplished. I can make supper, do some laundry, clean up a little bit or even take a shower. Layne will sit extremely still in his entertainer and just gaze at the tv screen. He barely makes any noises and never fusses ( unless the Baby Macdonald movie is on. He is scared of the cows when they moo.) We only own two Baby Einstein movies at the moment but I'm sure we will be adding more to our collection! Check here for more information and all the neat products and stuff Baby Einstein offers!!

Procrastination-What I'm putting off right now!!

I hate to put laundry away. I absolutely HATE it. I think it is the most tedious, time consuming thing to do. After a long day of watching kids, cleaning up messes, taking care of two WILD dogs, that is the last thing I want to do. Consequently, I have clean laundry piled EVERYWHERE. The sad thing is that Matt will not notice the CLEAN piles of clothes all around him and complain that he has no clothes to wear. The other thing is that he will think all the CLEAN clothes are DIRTY and throw them in the dirty happer so that I end up washing clothes that are already clean AGAIN!! I seem to be doing a lot of laundry lately and have NOT caught up yet because of this. I really need to get on the ball and just suck it up and do it. We'll see if this happens or not!!

Wordless Wednesday

Smoke Free South Dakota

I've been meaning to write about this for a while now but it has just slipped my mind. This past month some very important legislation was passed in South Dakota and I couldn't be happier. As of July 1st of this year, all restaurants and bars will be smoke free!! I think it's about time they got this passed. One of my biggest pet peeves is smelling like smoke when I leave a restaurant or bar. For a while now I've only been going to bars in Iowa because they are all smoke free. I absolutely hate the smell of smoke and don't want to expose myself to second hand smoke or expose Layne to third hand smoke from my clothes. Second hand smoke causes more than 50,000 deaths a year in the United States alone!! It can also cause SIDS among infants. Right now about 24 states in the United States have passes Smoke Free laws. I hope that more and more states will continue on with this change to become Smoke Free. Check out here for more information about Smoke Free South Dakota or here for more information on Second hand smoke.

The Women

Last Thursday night I watched this movie. I absolutely loved it!! I've always been a fan of Meg Ryan and she didn't disappoint. Can I just say that I'm absolutely in LOVE with Meg Ryan's hair in the movie!! I wish I had long hair like that. Maybe I will have to grow it out. lol Anyways the movie made me laugh. Great chick flick!!

Burn After Reading

Last week, I watched this movie while I was folding laundry. It was a decent movie. It kept my attention throughout the whole movie however it was messed up just as I expected it to be. I watched No Country for Old Men ( The Coen Brother's other movie) last summer and absolutely HATED it. Granted it kept my attention but it was so sporadic and hard to follow that it drove me insane!! This movie was much better however I thought it should have ended differently. I'm just glad that I did not pay money to see this in the theater!

Mohawk

Yesterday, we went to see my friend Leah. She cut Layne's hair for the 2nd time yesterday. ( His hair was getting extremely shaggy and was all sorts of odd lengths.) Layne now looks like such a big boy with his new 'do. He got a Mohawk and boy is he the cutest thing I've ever seen!! I think little boys look so cute with Mohawks. I couldn't resist. He's going to have this hair style for a while I have a feeling.

Adorable!!

Trip to the Zoo

On Saturday, the weather was just TOO nice not to do something outside. My parents and I took Layne to our local zoo. Layne had a blast!! He loved the clydesdale in the petting zoo. He wasn't so sure about the goats and he HATED the cows. He also loved looking at the giraffes and the penguins. I'm sure there will be MANY more trips to the zoo in the future! But that's okay with me, I love looking at the different kinds of animals!

Sitting on the alligator head that they had in the museum part of the zoo.
Layne trying to get the Clydesdale's attention.

Looking at the goats

Random Picture Challenge

This week's challenge from 4 Little Men and Girly Twins is 3rd folder, 1st picture with the color brown.

I love this picture. This was when Layne was about a month old. I was experimenting with my camera and found the sephia option. I think the picture turned out pretty good. Check out more Random Picture Challenge posts here!

Coupe Fun

This past week the weather has been just gorgeous!! Earlier this week when we took the daycare kids outside, my mom and I thought we would see if Layne liked sitting in one of our many coupe cars that we have. He had a blast!! He loved turning the steering wheel and honking the horn. He even figured out how to move it backwards!!! I'm sure there will be many more rides in the coupe to come!!

Snack Time!!

Layne LOVES to eat!! We recently have started giving him other food besides just babyfood and oatmeal. ( He doesn't have any teeth yet. Two are just about to pop through but they haven't yet.) Some of the new foods Layne has tried are blueberry muffins, apple muffins, banana bread, tortilla shells, shredded cheese, Ritz Crackers, Cheerios, Banana Puffs, and Graham crackers. He is obsessed with Ritz Crackers. He has figured out how to feed himself the crackers and is it ever a sight to see!! Seriously one of the funniest things ever!! He smashes them with his gums since he doesn't have teeth yet.

"I got my cracker Mommy and it is SO yummy!!"

Yummy Cracker!!

My Current Fascinations

I thought I would join in again on this great blog carnival. Here are some of my current fascinations.

1. I am in LOVE with The Mentalist on CBS. It is truly one of the best shows out there right now!! Simon Baker is hilarious in it.

2. Since this past week the weather has been absolutely gorgeous here, I have been obsessed with being outside. I can't get enough of the gorgeous weather. Since Monday, Layne and I have gone on at least a 45 minute walk before he goes down for sleep. Walking is so calming for me right now since I've been really stressed out about some things lately.

3. My Camera has also been one of my current fascinations because I've become so obsessed with taking pictures. Yesterday I took a whopping 80 pictures with my camera!! To me that's alot. I've always been obsessed with photography. I think it would be so much fun to take a few classes on it so I could become better. ( I took a whole year of photography back in high school...but that was just basic stuff.)

Well that is about all that I'm current fascinated by. Check out more participants in this blog carnival here.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Layne and I didn't do much for St. Patricks Day. We went on a walk after we got home from daycare. That's about the extent off our excitement!! lol Hope Everyone had a Great St. Patty's Day!!

Bonding Time

Today Layne spent some outside time with Daddy. He was "helping" daddy to get ready to go riding with a couple of his friends. Layne was having fun pretending to drive the Razr.

Matt and Layne on the Razr. It is VERY dirty!!

"Look Mom, I'm driving!!"

What a Beautiful Weekend!!

This weekend has just been absolutely gorgeous!! The weather here has been in the high 50's Low 60's. Layne and I just had to spend some quality time outside. Yesterday when we were in Sioux Falls, we stopped at Toys R Us and picked up a swing. Now Layne has his very own swing in our front yard to going swinging in!! It was his very first time in a swing yesterday and he just LOVED it. After I got him all strapped up in it and pushed him once, he burst out in the biggest grin and started squealing with delight. Today we have gone outside three different times to do some swinging as well. I'm sure that we'll be outside more tomorrow because the temperature is supposed to be close to 70!! I'm so excited for that!!

Cool Find

I was looking around on a couple of photography sites and found the coolest camera ever!! I want one of these. The pictures taken with this camera are amazing!! Granted it is a film camera but it still is the coolest thing. It's called the Diana F+ Camera.
Here's the description about it from the website:

"Back in the early ‘60s, the Diana camera was a cult legend, famous for its dreamy, radiant, lo-fi images. The Diana F+ is a new twist on the classic – a faithful reproduction with lots of cool new features thrown in, brought to you by Lomography!
Same looks, same quality – but the modified version allows you to take pinhole photos, panoramic images, 35mm shots, and the option to use special Diana F+ lenses. The Diana F+ package includes the plug-it-in-and-fire-away Diana+ Flash (comes with color gel filters for colorsplashing!), and a Diana+ flash adaptor that you can use with any standard hotshoe flash.
• Two shutter speeds - "N" for normal daytime or “B” for unlimited indoor and nighttime exposures.
• Two image sizes available -12 full-frame shots (5.2x5.2cm) or 16 smaller square images - (4.2x4.2cm)
• Diana+ Flash with color gel filters for color-splashing
• Diana+ Flash Adaptor (to use with standard hotshoe flashes)
• Multiple and Partial Exposures
• Removable lens for Pinhole Function
• Shutter Lock and Tripod Thread for solid long exposures and pinhole photography"

I hope to add more pictures from our busy day Layne and I had today. Hopefully I will get that accomplished tomorrow. Now it's off to bed!!

Dress For Less

Over at Kelly's Korner, Kelly wrote a post about dressing for less during the recession. I'm all about shopping and I LOVE a good deal so I thought I would join in. Here are some of my shopping tips.

* Consignment stores are a great place to go for clothes. I love looking around Plato's Closet for a good deal. ( I got 7 For All Mankind jeans for $6.50 there. The retail value for them is about $200!!)

* I scour the sale racks at department stores. My favorite is Macy's. They usually have really good sales. So does Kohls.

*TJ Maxx is amazing!! I can usually get a good deal on purses there.

*Most of my shoes come from Payless. I wait till they have a BOGO event and then usually get a pretty good deal.

*Ebay is a great place to get good deals as well. ( I've gotten a Dooney and Bourke bag for $40. Retail price about $ 150. Also some Little Big Jeans for $10 a pair) The only downside with ebay is that you have to know your size otherwise you are taking a gamble on if it will fit you or not!

*I love Target accessories!! A person can get some really good deals there.

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Trip to Omaha and an Update

This past weekend, Matt, Layne, and I took a quick trip down to Omaha, Ne for the weekend. We had a blast!! We stayed at Matt's cousin's Mike's house while we were down there. Saturday after we went to the zoo. Layne had so much fun. He loved looking at the water falls in the Jungle area and the sharks and stingrays in the aquarium. On Saturday night, we went out to eat at the Upstream. It's a brewery in Omaha. Matt said the beer was really good. On Sunday we went shopping at one of the malls and then went out to eat with Matt's friends, Laura and Jesse and their son Miles. ( Miles is just a few months younger then Layne.) Layne had so much fun playing with Miles. It was a much needed quick trip and we all had a blast. Now it's back to our same old routine again.

Pretty parrot that was in the jungle exhibit.

Meerkat in the desert exhibit.

Layne and Miles posing for a picture.

Layne posing for the camera while Miles tries to "taste" him. Too cute!!

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Yesterday I went to the dr. office because I was having some female issues. It's nothing serious thank god. I'm on some medication for about 5 days and everything should clear up on it's own. If it doesn't I have to go back into the dr. for more testing. However the dr. thinks that the medication should do the trick. Hopefully he is right!!

Happy Birthday Barbie!!

This year is Barbie's 50th Birthday. When I was a little girl I was OBSESSED with Barbie. I had a three story Barbie house with an elevator, furniture, clothes, a corvette, jeep, van, and yacht! My bedroom was even decorated with Barbie stuff for a couple of years. I used to play with my mom's Barbie's as well. She had a good ten or twelve barbies that I played with besides my MASSIVE collection. ( I think I had about 30 at one time!) No matter what others say about Barbie not being a good role model for girls because she is so skinny, I don't care. Barbie was so much fun to play with and a girl could pretend just about anything with Barbie. I hope to have a little girl one day to pass on all my Barbie stuff to.

Worried

I've been having some female issues for the last month or so. I'm going to the dr. today. Hopefully they will have some answers for me. I will fully explain after my dr appointment this afternoon. Hopefully it is nothing to serious.

Weekend Getaway!!

This weekend Matt, Layne and I are heading on a little roadtrip. We're going to Omaha!! I'm super excited because I NEED to get out of South Dakota. I'm going insane. I will post pictures when we get back!

Trip Back In Time: My Most Memorable Camping Experience

Within the past month, I found this great blog. I thought I would take the plunge and join in on her weekly blog carnival. One of the writing prompts this week is to describe your most memorable camping experience. Thought that would be a perfect one for me!!

When I was in elementary school, my parents took me on my first camping trip. We went camping at the lake that is right outside the town my dad grew up in. The campground was full because it was Memorial Day Weekend. ( My parents thought that would be a good time to go.) I had a blast swimming in the water and playing on the playground. The first night in the tent was okay. Not to cold or buggy. The next day, we went fishing, swimming and visited some of my dad's relatives.

That night the weather made a turn for the worse. It got extremely cold. First it started to hail and then snow!! We were not prepared for such bad weather so we had no winter clothes. We ended up spending the rest of our trip in a hotel because there was snow and ice on the ground. That was my first and last camping trip for almost 10 years!!

Two years ago, Matt and my best friend Leah went camping on Lake Pahoja. There was NO snowstorm or hail and the weather was nice and warm. A plus when you are trying to camp outside!! I was very skeptical about going camping again. I was not wanting a repeat of my first camping experience!!

Matt's New Toy

This is Matt's new toy. A Polaris RZR. He is SUPER excited that he finally got one. Me on the other hand could have gone without having one but oh well. We've had it for a little over a month. I've ridden on it twice and don't like going off road in it because it scares the hell out of me!! It'll be fun to ride in during the summer when it's warm out though!!

Changeling

This past week Matt and I watched Changeling on On Demand. It was SO good!! I'm usually not the biggest fan of Angelina Jolie but she was amazing in this movie. Parts of the movie made me want to cry because I just felt so bad for her. It's a must to watch!!

Dress Up

Layne loves watching the kids play at daycare. Last week, some of the kids were really into dressing up. Layne wanted to get in on it too. lol Too funny!!