Hi All!
I am going to post a few things that are just memories and things from "back in the day". Some of these moments are from way back when (like 1992) and others are more recent, but still "back in the day" (like 2002). 'Why?" you may ask...
Well, I am a hoarder. I hoard things that have any sort of meaning to me. I have a hard time throwing things away. (Anyone remember the episode of me getting rid of 10+ totes of magazines and ending up in the hospital with a bad anxiety attack that we thought was something else?) Yeah. Sad... Well, I'm on meds now and Jeremiah and I have finally decided to downsize. Not only our life, but the expenses and the junk that come along with it. So we're getting rid of a storage shed in Heber that we have had for over 9 years now. Just think - at $50 per month for nine years, I could have bought me a gigantic shed or went on a nice trip or something!
ANYWAY, while cleaning out the storage shed and going thru countless boxes, I have come across letters that take me back. WAY back. There were things that meant a lot to me at one time or another. People who mean a lot to me. It's been fun taking the walk down memory lane. It's been sort of hard to get rid of things but at the same time, it's needed and it's about dang time!!!
I've changed the times that these post so that they will be in order of how I would like them to go. I will be scanning pictures later and will probably just post a blog with pics from the past instead of editing these posts. ANYWAY...
SO, you ready to read my odes to the past? HERE WE GO!!!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
WHY the "Back in the Day" posts ???? Here's your answer!
BitD, Part One: LETTERS FROM BOYS!!!
Hehe... Of course I would start with the boys. Boys were my life. Come to think about it, they still sort of are. :) Hmm.... Maybe that's why God gave me 2 boys first....
***I WILL POST PICTURES, I JUST HAVE TO SCAN THEM FIRST***
While cleaning out random boxes, I found letters. Lots and lots of letters. My favorites were mostly from when I was in 6th grade. That's right, people. 1992. Wow... I must have been more popular or outgoing or something back then. I had love notes. All sorts of cheesy, wonderful 6th grade love notes. I had a special box that I kept special letters in. Before throwing these letters into the trash, I read them. Each and every one. I read most of them out loud to Jeremiah and we both thought they were great. I had the classic "will you go out with me? check yes or no." notes. I had the "you'll be the best, most beautiful girl ever" note. I had the "I'm sorry that I was a jerk, but I still love you with all my heart. Can we be boyfriend / girlfriend again" note. Oh yeah. I must have been a player in 6th grade. The fun part? I know that they were from 6th grade because it's the only year I went by April (my real first name).
Then I found letters from boys as I got older and started looking like a girl (you know, I got the boobs and hips and stuff). Man. They weren't much better. :) MATT N.: If you are reading, I TOLD YOU I COULD HAVE YOU IF I WANTED YOU!!! I HAD ONE FROM YOU TOO!!! 9TH GRADE, BABY!!! HECK YES!!! :) :) :) Nah - I have to say, though: Aaron, if you are reading this, you were seriously WAY passionate for your age. MAN. That was a good letter. Made me feel all "and why didn't we work out"? Yeah. It was like reading a romance novel - most sexy letter I ever received, that's for sure!! I really do think that we had a connection (more than the physical kind, people) and if you hadn't moved, who knows what might of happened. Or not. It was a little weird because, to me, it was supposed to be Aaron and Michelle. But I'm glad I had a little time with you. ANYWAY.... :)
And then their is Justin. I know I have a Justin box somewhere (I haven't found it yet), but I found a letter and one of my rings from him. For those of you who don't really know "back in the day" me, Justin was my most serious boyfriend (well, till Jeremiah). :) We dated for around 2 years of high school. I had a promise ring from him and I tell you, I was going to change that boy if it killed me. But I didn't. And we broke up because of lots of different reasons. But he was good to me. He made me the wonderful little Mandy that most of you knew and loved back in the day. I found one of his letters. It was the hardest to throw away. It was a letter that told me a list of reasons he loved me. And, you know, it's nice to hear. I got all sentimental and just smiley. I can't explain it. But it was fun.
It was really nice to reminisce of the different boys. And I remember them all. And some I didn't have letters from. Some I just have the memories of you. But it was great. A lot of people say they wouldn't go back, if they had the chance. Me? I probably would. I had a blast in high school and it was all because of the boys. (Can I just say that I am SO glad I am married to a husband who doesn't care that I sometimes live in the past? :)
BitD, Part Two: LETTERS FROM GIRLS... :)
I love my girlfriends. The ones I was good friends with in high school - I am still in touch with most of them. They save me. :) I love you all - please know that - but I'm only going to focus on a few that I found letters from.
BEENO: I found a 20+ page letter from you while you were away for a week. You talked about Luke (yeah, it was old) and all sorts of things from back in those days. Yeah. It was awesome. And there were illustrations. :) Rainbows and the little bean holding the O. I'm going to have you draw a huge one of those for my little Robyn's room. :) All of the Smith's call her Beeno. :) It's wonderful. :) You were seriously just the most wonderful, beautiful, fun person. Lots of letters . Lots and lots of letters. All of them just showed your awesome personality. Love it.
MANDY: Oh yeah - you and I wrote ALL the time. ALL THE TIME. And the nicknames and the code names for things that we shouldn't have been doing. :) It's great. And can I say that I love that we were Mandy 1 and Mandy 2. :) Awesome. :) You wrote some about dreams and boys. I'm sure I probably even have one that you wrote about Jeremiah somewhere. :)
KELLY: Wow. I found one that I'm going to have to scan and email to you. Do you remember: "Derek is like - whoa buff and Brian is like - whoa hot and Tony is like - whoa my boyfriend." :) HA!! I found THAT letter. It was great. I read that and just about died laughing on my porch. And you wrote me poems. And gave me mothers day cards - even before you lived with us. :) I guess I always have been the motherly type. :)
MICHELLE: I found a rough draft of one of your stories. It was only like 5 pages and untitled. I gave it to Jeremiah to read. He thought it was good too. I'm glad you're still writing. :) Our fun was more the beginning of the high school experience. It was so fun, wasn't it?
Man. It was fun in high school. I liked it back in the day. No real responsibility. I could work at the theater making less than minimum wage and eat all the popcorn, jerky, pickle and pepsi dinners that I wanted and I still looked great. I played with my friends all the time and it was always a good time. I am all sorts of sentimental and living in the past right now. I just wanted to post something that was fun and exciting to me.
I'll try to scan in pictures later. :)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Some pics of the boys...
All the kids in Robyn's crib...I felt a little guilty posting a million and 3 pictures of little Miss Robynson, so I thought I should probably post a few of the boys. They're pretty darn cute too! :) Of course, they can talk back and not listen on purpose and do things that would drive a drinking woman to drink even more! :)
Bad picture of me, cute picture of Archer :)
Tanion standing on the TV so that he can look at his new fish...
SEXY Archer... :)
Well, I love them - even when they do crazy things - like jump on my furniture while I take pictures... Bad mom... Tell them not to do it, then take pictures of it...
Did you notice that Tanion's head is shaved now? Yeah. That's what happens when two little boys decided they want marshmellows and mom is distracted doing something (I think changing Robyn in the morning). They get the entire bag out of the cupboard and take them in their room. They proceed to chew them up partially and spit them into their shoe basket. Sometimes they miss and it lands on the bed or the floor - and then it ends up in the mohawk. Yeah. Fun. See why I like baby girls? :)
Nah - I love my boys. They're super fun and crazy and keep me on my toes. I love it. They'll start singing songs that I blast in the car or will start to sing "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" if we are outside when it's dark and the stars are out. It's cute. They're definately worth not being able to afford things like we could when I worked. And when people ask if I miss the Homestead and I tell them NO - it's the absolute truth. I love staying home with the kids. It's great fun. Just a lot of important work that I never stop thinking about. :)
I HAVE THE CUTEST LITTLE GIRL!!!
Ok, so I know that mom's are supposed to think that their kids are the cutest in the world, but honestly, I DO have the cutest little girl. I don't know any that are cuter. I know a lot of cute little girls, but if you meet mine - she's just precious and adorable and wonderful. You'd be jealous. She loves to talk and the only word you can make out is "MOMMA". Take that, Jeremiah! :) One of our kids said "momma" first!!! Here's a crappy video showing you that she can say momma... :)
AND, she loves her tongue and smiling. I have LOTS of pictures of her smile and her tongue, but I'll show you the ones from today. :) Click on them to make them bigger and save as your screen saver or your background or just to keep for yourself. I mean, you can't have a cuter thing on your computer!!! :)
(This is my favorite face lately! )
If you look close, you can see the teeth! She has 2 now!
YAY FOR TONGUES!!!
Her beautiful blue eyes. :)Wednesday, June 25, 2008
10 Days...
You wouldn't think a lot could happen in 10 days, but I guess there has been! And thanks to Jenn for reminding me to put something in here - it's great to know that someone reads this. :)
Well, we took another trip to the zoo. This time there were 10 of us!! My mom, Shandy and Sebastian, Mandy and her girls (Jilly and Meg), and me and the kids. Yep. And we all got in FREE. Gotta love my zoo pass. Here are a few pictures from that...
Another thing that happened was Robyn got her first tooth (and there is another one that is gonna break thru any day now!). I was able to get a picture of tooth #1 (bottom middle). :) You have to click on the picture to make it big and actually see tooth #1. :)
Also, I've started scrapbooking. Well, it's been like 2 months now, but I have quite the collection of crap! Jeremiah has let me buy stuff and has been patient with me with me when he comes home and sees that I have accomplished nothing other than a few cute scrapbook pages and feeding the kids. :)
The boys baseball pictures showed up yesterday. :) They're cute. :)
And if you want to see a video of Robyn crawling, she's actually quite speedy - and she is crawling earlier than either of my boys did... It's a dark video (it seems that's the only kind I can take), but I think it's cute... Of course, I'm a mom...
OK, well, that is a lot of stuff! Wow. Only 10 days. I'm kind of sad, right? Oh well, you're reading the blog and checking out the pictures, so it must mean you love us too. :)
Until next time.... LOVES!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
SUPER DAD!!!
Doesn't Jeremiah look like he's a super dad / super hero?Today is Father's Day which got me thinking about all the dad's in my life... But mostly about my husband. He is a great dad. Even if I'm mad at Jeremiah and I just want to punch him or not talk to him or whatever - I can't deny that he's a good dad to our kids. They love him.
Proud 1st Time Dad (DarTanion at 3-weeks old)
Playing with DarTanion, around 11 months oldWhen DarTanion was a baby, he would sleep in bed with us. If he would wake up before Jeremiah, he would start crawling on top of him and hitting him in the face. Trying to start a play fight. It would work. I would wake up to my (at the time) two favorite guys laughing and giggling and Tanion being tickled. It was awesome.
Meeting Archer (just a few minutes old)When Archer was little, he was able to stay home with Jeremiah for 9 months (he was an "at-home dad" during the day while I worked). During that time, Jeremiah could do no wrong. If I even raised my voice, Archer came to his dad's defense. No one was going to get mad at his dad while he was around.
Robyn and Daddy playing on the couch (just of 4-months old)Robyn doesn't really like guys that aren't little boys. BUT, she LOVES Jeremiah. He comes home and she starts jumping up and down in my arms or her high chair or where ever she happens to be. She just wants him to pick her up. She's sort of learning to kiss, but she only kisses Jeremiah or me. :) It's great.
Being a Horse for the Boys :)
Hanging out on the couch
DarTanion Doing Demolition in the Basement with Dad :)**Notice that Tanion matches Jeremiah? His idea... :)**
DarTanion helping Mow the Lawn
Holding both boys
What California Humidity does to his and DarTanion's hair...
Playing with the boys on the couch
Archer's idea... Learning to be BraveJeremiah is working SO hard so that we can have enough money for our family and for my new scrapbooking type habits. He's gone without a reward for him (like the gun that he really, really wants) so that we could buy the kids a fish tank or fix up the house or let me go to Tooele to see my Mandy. He's awesome. Honestly, I can't say enough good things about the guy or even come close to describing how much I love him. (Wow... That sounds mushy and that's not me!) But I do. A week or so ago I had a blog of a list of guys who I just seem to lust after, but when it all comes down to it at the end of the day, I wouldn't change my life. I have a wonderful husband who is also a fantastic daddy to his kids.
***I'm so lucky to have such a great, goofy guy! :) ***
Trying on Leopard Print High Heals - at Nordstom's
Playing with Jedd at Disneyland
Dressed as the Bearded Lady for Halloween :)STUPID MOVIE ALERT - The Happening
I just wanted to give everyone out there who reads my blog or just happens to find it -
"THE HAPPENING".
This is M. Night Shyamalan's WORST MOVIE EVER!!!
Jeremiah and I went to see it for his "Father's Day Date". I even hired a babysitter for $7.50/hr!!! We went to dinner and saw "The Happening". We were hoping to see a movie that would scare us. Something that would sort of give you the creeps or make you think over the whole movie and wonder if you missed the signs of what was happening. It didn't at all.
Stupid, Stupid Movie. SPOILER ALERT (if you still think you want to see it, then don't read. Otherwise, be my guest and I'll explain the stupidity of it all):
Mark Wahlburg's character is a Science Teacher who wants to know why the Honey Bee is disappearing. None of his students know the answer. While he's talking about Bees, in New York, people start killing themselves for no apparent reason. People panic and blame terrorists. It's not terrorists. Whatever it is that is making people kill themselves is spreading super quickly, but only in the top right hand side of the US. Then people around Mark and his traveling group start dying. He meets up with a couple who have a plant nursery and he explains how wonderful plants are and that they can put off gases to protect themselves from things that might be harmful to them (and how if you touch / talk to your plants they are happy and grow better). So, yeah, basically, in the long run of the movie (and trust me - it seems SO long!) the plants are putting off a chemical that kills people with the wind picks up - but the chemical apparently only worked for like 48 hours but it killed a TON of people. Of course, it quit working. And Mark's character (and his wife and his friends daughter who he will now raise as his own) don't die from it. As a matter of fact, he and his wife are now super happy and wonderful with each other and their new little daughter (who seems completely fine even though her parents just died a few months ago from plants). And his wife finds out that she is pregnant. In the bathroom with plants in the window. HONESTLY, wouldn't you try to kill all the plants if that just happened?
That's it. Nothing scary. Nothing interesting. Stupid. Waste of money and time. And it wasn't just us who thought that. EVERYONE who was leaving the theater was asking people around them if they liked it or thought it was scary or anything. No one liked it. And it's rated "R" but Jeremiah and I couldn't figure that one out either. It doesn't have bad language or anything. The death scenes were sometimes a little disturbing, but honestly, I have seen worse in PG / PG13 movies... I don't know... It's just a DUMB movie!!! So please don't waste your time seeing it!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Another Trip to the Hogle Zoo...
We are members to the Hogle Zoo. We bought a membership that allows for 7 people - as long as 1 of those people are Jeremiah or me. They had a special "Members Night" at the zoo yesterday where members could come and do special activities and ride the carousel (which just opened) and see special shows and all sorts of things. I don't dare go by myself with all 3 kids. Too much... And Jeremiah had to work at his normal job and his side job, so I had to find someone to come with us. Tanion wanted to invite Shandy (his 14 year old girlfriend who just happens to be my Mandy's little sister). I agreed and she was able to go. :) So we all went to the zoo yesterday. It was really slow (probably because it was a cloudy and drippy Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn't crowded - which was great!) And for some reason, my kids decided to be REALLY good! :) HOORAY!!! Here are some pictures! :)
The baby giraffe was born on the exact same day as Robyn! :)
Yeah... It was a great day... Even though my house is a disaster from leaving in a hurry! I guess I better clean it now instead of playing online, huh? :) I'm sure I'll post more in a few days. :) Loves to all you who read this or care! :)
:) Mandy
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