Tagged again

Well I guess a few of you have noticed that I have been on blogging hiatus and have tagged me in an effort to get me back into the swing of things. So here is tag #1 from Lacy.

1. Okay I just changed my mind. I decided to combine the #2 blog from my sister Andrea with this one because they're kind of similar. Instead of random things, #2 tag is about quirks and so I am going to do 7 random or quirky things (which are also random) about me. So here goes.

The real #1. I think I have a little bit of an OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) about a few things. One of those things is the way I put in and take out my contacts. I always put in and take out the left one first. If I start to unscrew the right side of my case first I always stop and start with the left one again.

2. When it comes to cooking I don't like to follow directions very well. This being the case, I use recipes as rough drafts or a suggestion. Very rarely do I follow the recipe as it is written. I am constantly substituting ingredients or adding my own or varying the cooking time. So if I ever give you a recipe and when you make it it doesn't turn out quite like mine it is because I gave you the recipe, not all of the changes to the recipe that I made. I'll let you be the judge if my changes made the recipe better or worse.

3. I love summer-time BBQs. They are one of the things I love the most about summer. Not the warmth, or the green, or being able to be outside, it's the BBQs I love. I especially love BBQs here in Cleveland in the Dixon's backyard. They are the best!

4. My sister wrote this as one of hers but it applies to me too. I remember faces very well. I can usually remember the person's name too, but faces are my thing. It can even be someone I have never met. (Like someone I saw in the mall once.) I can usually remember where I saw that face too (but sometimes it takes me a while to remember). I pride myself on remembering people but, as my sister mentioned on her blog, sometimes people don't remember meeting me and therefore I sound like a stalker. Since I don't like sounding like a stalker I don't usually mention to people that I met them once for 2 min. at a party 5 years ago until I have gotten to know them a little better. :)

5. I was a Social Studies Education Composite major in college. Basically that means I can teach history, economics, sociology, and geography. Most of my classes were history classes because that was my original major. I love history but not dates. I used to know all of the dates for my classes but I can't remember hardly any now. So don't ask me when something happened...I don't know! I can usually tell you something about it though. But, sadly, I have no love for the American colony days. I think that is the most boring part of our Nation's history. I am more of what one of my teachers calls a "war hawk." I love war-time eras, especially WWII. This brings me to #6.

6. When I was a little girl I loved to read. This in itself is not unusual, but the books that I read were. While most other kids were reading the latest Goosebumps books I was reading The Diary of Anne Frank, or a biography about Benjamin Franklin. I think I read more non-fiction books in elementary school than most kids do their entire school career. My favorite books to read were often ones about WWII. Maybe that is why I became a history major?

7. When it comes to eating I am a texture person. I'm not too bad any more, but when I was young I hated a lot of foods just because of the texture. It wasn't that I hated the flavor (although that applies to a few, i.e. "spotted dog" [my grandad's cracked wheat breakfast cereal with raisins in it, YUCK!]) but I just couldn't stand the texture.

I'm not going to tag anyone since I combined 2 tags into 1 but if you want to do it by all means consider yourself tagged.

I will try to get some pictures of my trip on here...what little there are. I just like to take my camera on trips with me and never use it.

Make my day!

I just wanted to post a quick picture of Myah. She smiles all the time now and she just makes my day. She is just so chubby and cute. My perfect one word description of her....Chubalicious! So cute, so chubby, so delicious to kiss and cuddle = Chubalicious!

Indian's Game

Oh boy was this an adventure!

Uncle Paul's wallet got stolen!

Everyone was very tired!

We tried to look like we were having fun.

But all we really wanted to do was crash!

This was our exciting time at the Indian's game on Saturday. They lost.

For those of you who wanted to know, Paul got his wallet back (minus all of the cash and credit cards. Don't leave your wallet on the train.)

Myah's Blessing

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES!!!

On Sunday Damon blessed Myah in Sacrament Meeting. She was a good girl and slept through the whole thing. My brother Paul, his wife Kim, and their daughter Rya were able to come from D.C. to be with us on this special day. Our good friends Shawn, Bren, Wes, and Adam also stood in the circle. Myah wore the same dress that Hannah was blessed in (although we couldn't get the top button done up-the neck hole on that dress is TINY and Myah is quite a bit bigger than Hannah was!) which is the same dress that I was blessed in. My Grana made the dress for me and my three sisters were also blessed in it. It was a very special day-one that I will always remember.

My brother Paul, his daughter Rya, Me, and Myah (Rya and Myah are rhyming cousins....Hannah has one too, Anna)

Paul with his beautiful wife Kim and sweet little Rya.

Hannah giving Myah kisses....Yikes!

Daddy and Mommy with Myah on her special day.


Myah waving to all of her fans.

I love Myah's face in this one. Aren't those shoes too cute?

This is a rare picture, all of us together and looking at the camera too!

Sweet little Myah. We love you so much!

Feast of the Assumption

This weekend Little Italy is celebrating the Feast of the Assumption. Yesterday a group of my friends and I gathered at Jessie's house in the heart of Little Italy to watch the procession of Mary (as she ascends into Heaven). I had never been before and was more or less expecting a parade. That was not what I got! I guess because I'm not Catholic I don't understand what this is all about (for more info on what this is click on Feast of the Assumption above). It was interesting to be sure. There was a band and a bunch of kids dressed up like angels and other things I didn't know. Then there were the priests and these guys (again, not being Catholic I don't know who these people are. Heck, maybe even the Catholics don't know who they are!)

But the climax of the whole procession is when Mary makes her way down the road all the while prayers (or something in Latin and Italian, I think) are being played on a loud speaker.

It was definitely not what I was expecting, but it was fun and a great cultural experience.

I think tonight we're going to head down to sample some of the delicious food! One thing about the Italians, they sure know how to cook! So if you see me tomorrow and I look 9 months pregnant again you'll know why! Bon appetit!

What?

What is wrong with this picture?

Oh! Daddy couldn't find your nightgown so he dressed you in Mommy's shirt. Nice! Whatever works right?

Last week of Freedom!

This week was Damon's last week before he has to go back to school so we tried to squeeze in a few more fun things. On Monday it was our friend Bren's birthday so we tagged along with him and his family and went to the beach at Lake Erie. I'm not sure we were the best company since Hannah hates the sand and water, we have a 1 month old baby, I'm not allowed to swim yet, and Damon didn't even get in his swim suit. Other than that we had a great time! No, we really did have a good time. Here are a few pictures.

Hannah digging in the sand

Eating a sucker covered in sand. Yummy!

Don't you love the sand all over her face? She was such a mess. I had to wash her hair like 3 times and she still had sand in it. Oh well, she had fun.

Bren was burying all of the kids. Here's Hannah with Brenna in the back ground. They thought it was great fun. Then they buried him...but I didn't get any pictures of it, darn it!

On Friday we went to the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. It was pretty fun but Hannah was SOOOO TIRED!!! We tried to get her to take a nap before we left but she just wouldn't do it. We decided to brave it and go anyway. We had fun but she wasn't too interested in looking at anything. They had several live animal exhibits inside with different kinds of snakes, fish, turtles, and iguanas. Then outside they had a raccoon, several owls, an eagle, several hawks, some bunnies (Hannah calls them "Hop Hops"), a couple of foxes and a few other things. It was fun to get out and learn more about Lake Erie and the region where we live. The best thing about it was that it was FREE!!!

Inside they had a huge hollowed out log that the kids could climb in. Hannah saw some older kids reading books in there (they had a book vendor there selling books) so she thought she had to climb in too and asked me for a book once she crawled in.

Looking at the "Hop Hops"

Oh, I snapped this picture in the car on the way to the Nature Center. I love it! She's actually smiling! She has become such a stinker lately and HATES to have her picture taken. She refuses to look at the camera and won't smile so this picture is really rare!


Hannah loves to take walks around the block. Last night we were walking and Hannah started to trip (a very common occurrence with her) so she put her hands down to catch herself but her momentum kept her going and she fell on her head. She scraped up her upper lip, nose, and bonked her head pretty hard. Poor thing! Damon has been calling her Rudolph.



Today we went to the Cuyahoga County Fair. It was a lot smaller than we expected but we still had fun walking around seeing all of the booths, yummy food, and all of the weird people. The only thing I hate about places like this is all of the people smoking!!! It makes me so sick. After an hour or two of inhaling second hand smoke I get a major headache.

We enjoyed looking at all of the different animals. Hannah really enjoyed the "hop hops" but was scared of all of the crowing roosters and the huge draft horses. She seemed to like the cows though.

We got some yummy fair food (Good thing these things only happen once a year or we would be so fat!) but after Myah had a huge blowout (on my shorts of course!) we decided to head home.

Doesn't she look like she's enjoying the horse? I don't blame her for being scared, these things are huge and tower over me. I can't imagine how scary it would be for her.


These last two pictures were taken last night. Damon was getting Myah ready for bed and was waiting for me to bring him her pajamas. I just couldn't stop laughing at my cute chubby baby when I saw her sitting there next to him. She looks like a sumo wrestler or something. So cute! She turned one month old yesterday. I can't believe it has already been a month since she joined our family. She's been a great baby and we sure love her!