I Gutted a Fish!

I did! Plus three more. It was totally and completely gross. Can you believe it?

This isn't the exact fish--because I didn't take any pictures. It all started with a Sunday afternoon drive to Deer Creek Reservoir. We walked around the lake a little bit and the kids threw rocks in the water. On the way back to the car we ran into a nice man who had done his Sunday fishing but was looking to give them away. Four trout.

When we got home, I did a Google search for "how to clean a trout", and then I got to work. Soooooo gross. One of them had some flourescent green stuff inside (anyone know what that was?) and one had an egg sack inside.

I can't believe I was able to eat them after seeing that. I put the fillets in some egg and bread crumbs and cooked them in a little butter and lemon juice. It was really delicious. DD#2 had a little taste, but no one else was daring enough to try it. Smuckers and Mozy helped me finish off the rest.

Shari (the Bailey family) wanted to know how I find promo codes for ordering online. Most of the time I just do a Google search for "Children's Place promo code" or whatever store I'm shopping with. You have to look around a bit because sometimes codes have expired or don't work, but it's always worth trying to find one that works.

Ode to the Internet

I have loved the internet for many years. First off, I use it ALL the time to answer silly questions for myself. Like, for example, yesterday I asked "why is daylight savings time so late this year?" because the dark mornings are kicking my butt! I ended up finding out that it was actually moved to a later date starting last year to conserve energy.

Secondly, I LOVE to shop online. Once you have kids, it becomes a very convenient way to Christmas shop. I also buy a lot of their clothes online because I know when they go on sale via e-mail. Then I look up a promo code for that store to add to the sale (always do that before you buy anything on line). I still love wandering around Target when I've got some time, but online is really great--I've done tons of shopping on E-Bay.

The next reason I love the internet--digital scrapbooking. My friend Kari got me hooked on it last year and it is so much quicker and cost-efficient than the old way. I just surf around, buy digital kits (which are not very expensive), and then I can sit and scrap without the mess. Love it!

And who doesn't love e-mail?

My next internet-love to enter my life was blogging. I love it! I plan on using blurb.com to print out my blog at the end of every year. I wonder how many pages that will be? I no longer have to feel guilty about not journaling.

And my newest obsession--Facebook! Have you tried it? You aughta! I have found so many good friends from my past through Facebook and have been able to reconnect with them through their blogs. Soooo fun! I guess I'm just nosy, but I love reading about people's lives and seeing how much we have in common and what they're up to. Seeing what their kids look like is fun too.

Well, time to get the kids off to bed!

Is it physically impossible?

I have to buy apples in bulk. Apparently, only adults are capable of finishing one : ). Not only do my kids never finish one, but they ask for another one while the half-eaten one is still sitting on the counter. Go figure. I like my apples with peanut butter lately. Yum!Have any of you tried watching Privileged? I totally love that show. It's my new favorite (along with LOST and The Office). Too bad LOST doesn't start again until January.

Woo Hoo!

I'm finally satisfied. Now I've "wasted" some of my Saturday--but it sure was fun and relaxing. Thanks for the tip, Kari. I copied the way the code was done for the header and followed that example for the main wrapper.

I am totally loving this weather! I planted some more mums today and have the windows open. I think I've got to run to the store now--I have nothing good to feed the fam for dinner. Hmmmmm.........

Yay Me!

Okay, I can't say I totally love my header (I just put it together tonight), but I figured out how to change the background of my blog and how to get rid of some print that was over my header that I didn't want there. Fun stuff. I'll have to play around again tomorrow until it's exactly how I want it. There's so much more to learn!

Ummmm......

I'm slowly learing how to change the template of my blog, and since I don't know HTML it is a slow process. I've been playing around all morning, but I'm running out of time since I'm taking the kids to see "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" this afternoon. So, my blog looks totally crappy right now, but hopefully next time you stop by it will be awesomely fabulous : ).

DS's Special Day

In our religion (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), children are baptised when they turn 8. This is considered the age of accountability for them.

Saturday was DS's baptism day--a very special day for him and our family. The baptism was at 9 in the morning--kind of early for all of the family that had to drive here. But, we have the best family in the world and they were all here. Here is DS and my husband right before:

DS has ALWAYS got to pull a face for a photo. I made him be a little more serious for the next pic I took.

I think my favorite memory was right after DS was done being baptised and right before the next boy came down into the water. I was feeling teary-eyed. I was feeling the Spirit so strongly along with love for my first-born. My sweet little 4-year-old daughter was standing in front of the font where she was able to see her brother's baptism better. She turned around and said in a very loud voice "Mommy, I don't want to go in da water because I can't bweath in dare!" I thought it was totally hilarious! But, being a good mommy, I told her to "Shhhhhhh!"

Here are the girls all dressed up in matching dresses from Nanna:

When we were all done at the church it was snowing outside. The next morning we had a couple of inches on the ground. It was really pretty. After the baptism we had everyone over to our house for a big breakfast of belgian waffles and breakfast casserole. It was a great day.

Havin' Fun With the Fam

My big brother just left yesterday after a week long visit. We had a great time. My mom's visit overlapped his and she'll be here for almost another week. Yesterday we went to Gardner Village (the big kids were at school). Mostly we went for lunch, but we went in a few shops too. My brother had the same opinion of the place that my husband does. He said it was "Wall to wall women and knick-knacks". I think he liked the food though : ). My DD loved looking at the witches. It was hard to convince her to follow us around the place because she wanted to stay and look at each witch.

Leave a Freaking Comment Day!

I got this marvelous little idea from my friend Christina. Any of you who have a blog know how fun it is to see comments waiting for you. I know my readers are there because my traffic feed tells me so. I would love to know who you are! Celebrate "Leave a Freaking Comment Day" by leaving me a comment! It only takes a minute, and it would make this blogger very happy!

DD and I are back from St. Louis. It was a bit of a stressful trip because my poor little girl was sick the whole time. UGH! The night we got there we went to eat at a fantastic Mexican restaurant--Casa Gallardo. It's another of those places that I did not fully appreciate until I moved away. That night at about midnight she started moaning that her tummy hurt. Soon after that she barfed. Fun stuff, huh? It was one of those sicknesses that goes on and on and on. I dropped her off at my mom's house on Sunday so that I could go to the "Celebration of Life" that my Dad and Stepmom have every year near the anniversary of my little brother's accident. It's at a beautiful outdoor winery and it is a good time for everyone. Here I am with my dad at the party: I really thought DD was all better when I dropped her off, but it ended up she wasn't. Poor mom! I asked her if she had been able to have any fun with DD at all and she said "Actually, not really". If any of you know her, it had to be really bad for her to say that. So, this is pretty much how DD spent the trip:

The trip was still a great one though. I got to spend great, quality, relaxing time with my family and that is the most important thing we could have done. I also got to spend time with my dearest friend Debbie, who was my best bud all through high school. And DD and I were both healthy and happy for the plane ride home (big relief!)

My big brother Mike is here for nearly a week--so fun! My mom will be here soon, too. DS is being baptised on the 11th. Wow! I can't believe he is 8 already. He is such a great boy. I pray that I have taught him and prepared him for this step in his life.

If any of you know my friend Kari, her twins are here! She had them on Saturday and named them Jonathan and Julian. They're doing great and just came home. I can't wait to see them!