I was looking through Flickr today and saw a picture of a Porpita. I think it is the most beautiful creature on earth, yet I didn't even know it existed until today. I love it's beautiful design and it doesn't hurt that they are my favorite color. What do you think? Isn't it beautiful? You can see where I found these pictures here.
If you didn't like Megan Joy before, do you like her now after hearing this song? What do you think?
Ahhhh!!! I could listen to it over and over and over... I always knew she had major potential and hated hearing others didn't like her because I wanted to hear lots from her.
Keep listening at around the 2:30 mark. There is a very interesting change. Wasn't sure I liked it at first, but I do now.
I love the show Dirty Jobs, but who would ever expect to watch Mike Rowe give an incredibly inspirational video? Amy pointed this video out to me and I absolutely loved the message. I hope you do too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-udsIV4Hmc
Keith's dad, Lonnie is the greatest example of hard work. He is incredible. He works hard and doesn't complain. He will help anyone who needs help at home even after a long hard day (or week) at work. He will work through any labor dispute despite how it hurts him because he believes in hard work. He is amazing.
Did this really happen or was it just a dream? 
It's hard to believe these kids were this little once. It seems so long ago. Sniff. Sniff. I'm so glad I took lots of pictures, scrapbooked plenty of layouts and wrote in my journal so I can remember these things.
Pictured above: Luke, Kaden, Patrick, Andrew, and Tanner.
Would you please give me $20? Seriously.
I have a large weight loss goal I want to accomplish by September 17, 2010. I am hoping some of you will give me an incentive and let me know you'll be waiting for a report. If I reach my goal I want you to pay me $20. If I don't, I'll have to pay you $20. Keith will be beyond angry if I have to pay out which is a good thing. My goal is not small, but I'm not ready to post it here. If you are willing to play along let me know and I can fill you in on what my exact goal is.
I was amazing at losing weight last year but gained it all back plus some. Lame!!! I know exactly why I gained it all. I have no excuse. If I don't maintain my weight I'll pay all of you that play along $20 on March 17th, 2011.
I'm going to hurry and post this before I chicken out.
Megan asks,
Mom can I have a cookie?
I tell her yes, she grabs the cookie, looks at it then asks,
Can I eat it now too?
Hahaha! My kids are so funny. Keith and I are constantly surprised how often both of our kids do this. If I tell one kid they can play the Wii, I would expect both would think they could, but they always ask to make sure. They are so cute! I told the kids they never have to ask to get a drink of water or something healthy to eat, but they still ask. Usually after I remind them they don't have to ask, they will check and say, "Mom, I'm getting a drink because you told me I don't have to ask anymore, right?" Haha.
Somehow the family blog links I had to the right have been lost. Sigh. That seemed to take forever to put together last time. If you are family (cousin, aunt, uncle, etc) please post so I can grab your blog address without having to sort through all of the comments. Thanks!!
Friends, I have your blogs saved in my google reader. It's so easy to check to see if you posted there. Well, unless your blog is private. I never get updates on private blogs, but at least I have your information saved there.
Also, if you are curious who my Hummer Pals are (linked at the right)...they are a group of girls who won honorable mentions for a contest with me in 2005 and we have been friends ever since. Check out their blogs, they are all really talented.
I saw the movie Leap Year last night. It was sooooo good. My mom and I think it will be one of those classic love story movies in the same class as While You Were Sleeping. Best of all it was PG!! How refreshing.
After almost a year of looking for a friend to go to the gym with I have finally found not just one, but three friends to go with plus I know two people that are at the gym at the time I go. Yay.
I miss working out with you Jennifer. I miss hanging out with you too.
Megan's reading has drastically improved this past month. So fun!!
I'm doing good with my 2010 goals so far and I'm so happy I'm doing them.
I have so much food storage thanks to gifts from my parents, in-laws and the things I have done over the past few years. More on that another day...
I spent an incredible amount of time reading the NieNie Dialogs this week. Thanks Lynette and the others that told me about it. I still have a lot more to read. NieNie was in a horrible plane crash that burned about 85% of her body. Her story is fascinating to me and I love reading about her courage. I wanted to read from the beginning so started reading her blog from the first post, switched to her sisters for a while and now I'm back to hers. It's interesting to see how she faces life and reflects on her faith in God.
I have also been reading Iron Heart. It's a true story of how a man survived a horrible car crash and was told he would never walk again. Now he is racing in Iron Man triathlons. It's so interesting to me to learn what it was like to wake up from a medically induced coma and deal with his problems. I started reading the "look inside" part of the book on Amazon and was hooked. It's an inspiring book.
I love having my kids around. I love talking to them. I love helping them. But why do they always seem to need me right when I sit down.
I am really excited about the retreat!
I'm excited about the Digi Olympics but it's so much work I'm a bit nervous about hosting it.
I took a free ice skating lesson the other week and the instructor taught us how to spin. It's not that hard, but I couldn't quite get the motion down more than once in the 10 or 15 minutes I practiced. I can't wait to try again.
Ice skating at Solitude is my favorite!!! I'm just nervous to go again after sliding my car off the road last year. I need to find a good time to go in the day, rather the night. The night is so beautiful though...sigh...
Why can't I keep my house clean? I need motivation to push a little harder each day.
I am so excited for spring and summer, but don't want the winter to end. It would be great if I could pick and choose which days were which season.
As long as it's winter I sure wish it would snow some more. We need more snow for sledding near my house.
Luke likes to read science and nature books. I love that about him. His newest book he got from the school library is called the Journey of a Light Beam.
I had a really yummy barbecue chicken sandwich at Red Robin yesterday. I wish I could have it again right now.
I'm really surprised neither of my kids have freckles. I always thought my kids would have lots of freckles like I did.
It should be no secret to those of you that know me, or read my blog that I love the snow. I haven't always loved the snow, but as I find more and more places to take my kids, I start to love the snow more and more. With enough layers, we are rarely cold (the one reason I may have not liked the snow before).
This year we have only been sledding twice and skating once. No skiing yet. Kind of sad. I'll get there though. I'm just starting the season of slow, I suppose.
Kim, I don't even know if you read my blog, but if you do I hoped you might enjoy a post dedicated to you.
Megan loves the hair books you gave her for Christmas. Today she wanted a french twist. I obviously need a lot more practice. Trust me, I am not posting these because I think I did a good job. I know I didn't, but Megan thinks she looks so pretty. She is really excited. Hopefully by the time she really needs her hair to look good I'll have it figured out. Thanks for the books!!
Are you excited about the Winter Olympics? I am!!
Help pass this torch and you could win!
The image below was created for this challenge. These are my scrapbook layouts from the last Digi Olympics.
When I first started this blog, I had this great idea to spotlight someone in my family every week. Unfortunately, I didn't keep up with that more than a few weeks in a row. I still plan to do it, but maybe I won't tie myself down to a time limit this time. Over a year ago I asked my Grandma and Grandpa Thorup to write 100 things about themseves and give the list to me. Although they are great at keeping their own personal history (especially my grandpa), this assignment was a bit overwhelming to them. A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to go to lunch with them alone. Just the three of us. It was so nice. On our way to lunch I asked if we could stop by the store and buy a notebook so I could start writing down 100 things about them. We didn't get to 100 yet, but here is what we got so far. It was a lot of fun learning more about them, especially about their childhood. I love being with them!
I have been really lucky to be close to these grandparents all of my life. I spent a lot of time at their house and camping with them. We took a minimum of two camping trips together every year to places like Moab, Zions, and the Tetons. I grew up hiking with them. I love camping, hiking and everything about nature in great part because they introduced me to it's beauty and helped me enjoy it. Many of my favorite memories include them.
I haven't really proof read this but sometimes I feel like it's better to share things rather than sit on them and wait until you perfect them. If I waited to perfect every journal entry I ever created I would have next to nothing. Grandpa and Grandma, if you find any mistakes let me know!!!
100 Things about my grandma, Jeanne B. Thorup
1) Favorite color: red
2) Favorite place visited: Switzerland
3) Favorite place to visit more often: Colter Bay in the Tetons
4) Loves to look at scenery
5) Born in Provo, Utah
6) When she goes to a movie with beautiful scenery she often pays more attention to the scenery more than the movie.
7) December 14, 2009 – Ordered a chicken salad at Mimi’s café while dining with me (April) and Grandpa Thorup
8) Weighted 3.5 lbs at birth
9) She was so small at birth that the nurse handed her over to her parents in the palm of her hand.
10) She loves to hear the sound of water rushing
11) Wears glasses
12) Started wearing glasses at about 14.
13) She remembers the first time she had glasses she was so excited to see how clear the stars looked.
14) Favorite flower: a two-tone rose called a Double Delight (it’s red inside and white outside)
15) Favorite bird: hummingbird
16) She remembers her parents sitting on the back porch of her house on Evening Star and the hummingbirds would come right up to them when they sat still.
17) Loves the song, “Oh Holy Night”
18) Met her husband in the ward choir
19) At three years old she used to sing and dance on the stage. It was the time of Shirley Temple so her mom had her hair done up in ringlets and she wore lots of lots of cute costumes.
20) At three she sang, “On the Big Ship Lollipop”
21) Absolutely loves to look at any body of water but she is kind of scared of being in the water.
22) Had a very happy childhood
23) Was a popular girl in school and probably had all the boys ask her to dance
24) Used to help with her brother with Morris Code flags
25) She loves Olive Garden Salad Dressing (it is her favorite). She can’t find it anywhere else.
26) As a little girl in American Fork her fried almost drown when falling in a well. She couldn’t do anything to help but pray.
27) She had a big tree she used to spend a lot of time in when she was little. It was in the front of her house with big low branches. She says she used to live in it and her mother said she used to live in one too when she was a girl.
28) She was really close to her brother and he was her protector.
29) Used to sneak out of the house when her mom was asleep.
30) Used to love playing dress up.
31) She remembers cutting out paper dolls from the newspaper and playing with them.
32) She used to live within a couple feet of railroad tracks. The tracks were directly out her bedroom window.
33) As an adult she had a kid swim up to her in the swimming pool and tells her that she was the ugliest person he had ever seen. She is beautiful though (read #23).
34) Has a lot of good memories hiking the Narrows.
35) Doesn’t like contention.
36) Likes to laugh.
37) She is an optimist.
38) Used to have “a ball” in the trailer with her family and grandkids.
39) She had hepatitis when she was little so now she can’t give blood.
40-100 to come later :)
100 Things about my grandpa, D. Wallace Thorup
1) Favorite color: blue
2) Favorite place to visit (nearby) is Colter Bay in the Tetons
3) Absolutely loved visiting Switzerland
4) Can think of 50 places he has visited and loved.
5) Loves how unusual and beautiful the trees are in New Zealand.
6) Loves to travel.
7) He was the first one in his family to be born in a hospital.
8) He helped me (April) make a gorgeous wood chair.
9) December 14, 2009 he ordered a sweet and sour chicken wrap at Mimi’s café while dining with April and Grandma Thorup.
10) Loves woodworking and has ever since Jr. High School when he took a class.
11) Wears glasses.
12) Started wearing glasses around grade school age.
13) When he was Jr. High age he went downtown to the old Deseret Gym during the summer. He would swim, play handball and work in the woodshop there.
14) Rode the trolley to the Deseret Gym with other friends in the neighborhood.
15) The Peace Rose is his favorite flower next to a bright red rose.
16) His favorite bird is a cardinal.
17) He first saw a cardinal in Tennessee on his mission.
18) He wishes people sang Christmas carols all year long.
19) Sang base in a quartet on his mission in Nauvoo.
20) When he had a cold, he was so surprised with himself when he was able to sing the low note. He thought he could sing base better with a cold.
21) He had a high range because he also sang the high tenor in a men’s chorus at the University of Utah.
22) One of his favorite places is to drive along the west coast.
23) Once while driving on the coast he only gave Grandma 15 minutes to stop and look at the ocean because they were in a hurry. She thought that was terrible because she could have sat there for hours.
24) His favorite dessert is white cake with chocolate icing.
25) Was in the Navy.
26) The cook on his ship used to make the best peach pie.
27) After being at sea a long time they got weevils in their flour and had to eat them because there was nothing else. The weevils crunched when they ate them.
28) He never had to lock the doors of his house until he moved to his house on Evening Star Drive.
29) Built a club house out of lumber he got from all of the surrounding houses that were being built.
30) Remembers climbing up and down clothes shoots as a kid.
31) His father was rarely home even on Sundays because he was working a lot.
32) As a little kid he took a hammer and nails and put nails all around a drawer in the hall. When he was done, he couldn’t close the drawer.
33) Doesn’t like carrot cake all that much.
34) Favorite hike: Angels Landing in Zion’s National Park.
35) Likes to fix things.
36) Loved working in Centerville at the Burton Lab making intravenous systems. He was the project manager and loved the challenge.
37) Loves to play games.
38) Perfectionist.
39) Doesn’t like to go hunting or fishing.
40) He was 6’ tall when he was 12 years old.
41) He was diagnosed with a murmur in his heart at age 12 and the doctor suggested he didn’t play sports (which he didn’t mind too much).
42) Entered the ROTC in High School.
43) Was on a salt free diet as a teenager because he had nephritis (blood in the urine).
44) In the Navy in San Francisco he could have a day off each month if he gave blood.
45) He went into the service the day before he turned 18.
46) The first Christmas away from home he spent the whole day waiting to make a call at the Pepsi-Cola service station and never could get the call through. Later he missed his bus and hitched a ride with some really nice people who fed him dinner and treated him really well. He really appreciated those people and is sorry he didn’t remember their name.
47) The last month of his training for the Navy, the WWII ended.
48) Wears a size 14AA shoe
49) His shoe size is the same size as his brother.
50-100 to come later :)
Happy New Year!!!
My 2010 goals are:
1) Create a scrapbook page for each month of the year.
2) Every day, write something positive about my day, in a book my friend gave me last year (or the year before).
3) Write something about each kid on their calendars each day.
4) Remember not to give up or be frustrated if I skip a day or two or more. I'll just pick up and start again!
There are plenty of goals I should be writing but unfortunately I'm not ready to tackle them. One day I'll get there.
I had a great birthday party! I got squished by a boaconstricter but it wasn`t hard. the snakes didn`t eat anybody and they were cool.
Ha ha. I love his summary of the party.
I asked Megan if she wanted a picture with the boa and she was so cute and said she wouldn’t be scared to hold its tail. Later she also got brave and got a picture by the middle of the snake as well as holding the smaller snake. I think Jonny was pretty nervous throughout the show but at the end he was even holding the snakes too! I didn’t realize when I was taking the picture of him that he was holding the snakes head with his fingers! Also, I’m not sure who gave him the snake and how the snake wrapped around his waist but he loved it.
Christmas was so much fun this year. Last year and this year have been the best so far because my kids are such perfect ages. They get so excited and believe in all of the magic of Christmas. It's GREAT! They both kept track of the amount of days until Christmas by themselves thanks to a cute countdown calendar Megan made in kindergarten and some chocolate advent calendars my mom gave them. Megan's countdown calendar was a picture of Santa where you cut off part of his beard every day.
Normally Luke is the most patient one. My side of the family always opens at least one present on Christmas Eve and now they open all of their presents on Christmas Eve because that is when we are all together. It drives Keith nuts because he thinks all of the gifts should be opened on Christmas only. Last year Luke was offered presents to open at my parent's house on Christmas Eve and he didn't even want to open it! He said he wanted to wait, but soon changed his mind. This year he wasn't nearly as patient. He was so excited to go to my parent's and start opening presents he almost started crying when he found out we had to eat dinner first. Hahaha.
When we got home Christmas Eve night I have never seen Luke so anxious. We have a tradition (Keith insists on) to make cookies for Santa and write letters to Santa. Luke also had some reindeer food he made in cub scouts that he wanted to sprinkle on the lawn. I have NEVER seen Luke move so fast. He was so worried he wouldn't get in bed on time if he didn't move quickly. he wrote his letter to Santa in a few seconds, then without even asking (totally out of character for Luke) he ran outside by himself to sprinkle the reindeer food on the lawn. It threw me off guard to see the front door open and my cute little 8 year old outside in the dark by himself. It was so fun to watch! Before I knew it Luke was totally ready for bed and in his covers. A while after saying prayers with the kids I went back in to help quiet Megan down (cute little chatterbox) and rub Luke's head to help him fall asleep. Luke said to me in the most stressed out voice, "Mom, will you just go!". Hahaha! I thought I was helping!
Christmas morning was great except I kept waking up before everyone. So far this has happened every year. I got up at 4, then 5, then 6 and then I couldn't sleep anymore. At 7:15 I was so excited to see Megan wake up and come in our room. She got in bed and put her head on a pillow. I asked if she knew what day it was and she said, "Christmas" with such a cute little smile. Then she went to sleep AGAIN!!! I couldn't believe it! Finally about that time it was light enough to start reading, so I read for a half hour until Luke finally woke up and I got him to wake everyone else up. Traditionally on Christmas morning Keith tries to get us all to go back to sleep, then teases us for a while that he is too tired to get up. Finally he gets up, goes and checks on the front room, sets up the video camera and lets us come out in line (oldest to youngest). We have been lining up oldest to youngest ever since the first year Keith and I were married. Haha. This year while he was teasing us that he was too tired he let the kids go out and peek at the toys. We told them they couldn't go into the front room, but they could peak from the stairs. They were very obedient and only peeked for a second.
Ahhh! It was so much fun. Santa spoiled the kids for sure. I can't wait until next year.
About the letters at the top of this post... Cute Luke is always extremely thoughtful. He is always thinking of his sister. At the beginning of December when we would ask what he wanted all he would say is that he wanted a DS for Megan. Isn't that crazy? He is so nice!! We told him Megan should ask for that and he should ask for something else. He finally decided he wanted the New Super Mario Bros. for Wii. Still though, if anyone ever asked what he wanted he would always say he wanted a DS for his sister and Super Mario for himself. Megan is the opposite usually. She is super nice too, but she is more "normal" wanting everything under the sun. The list below is the list she wrote at the beginning of December. I love how she spells things. This list is one of her very first attempts to write words on her own. I think she did a GREAT job, but I translated for you just in case you can't read it.
The letters up at the top were written Christmas Eve to leave by the kids stockings. Keith and I weren't surprised by Luke's letter, but we were with Megan's. Both kids wrote their letters without any help. Megan is a sweet girl, but we thought she would ask for a million things. I love that she asked for something for Luke and said she was happy with whatever she got. Ahhh! Maybe we are teaching her right. Cute girl!
ETA: Megan says the bottom item is an Electronic Bug.
Megan and Luke were talking to each other the other day. As I was listening, Megan was talking about only having one hand and what that would be like. Luke then started to explain to her, why God would allow people to be severely handicapped. He explained that Satan can't tempt those people as easy and so even though it's really hard to be handicapped they are really lucky not to have to worry about being tempted.
Megan understood this to some extent, but not the full extent. She cracked me up when she started asking Luke questions. My favorite was this one, "So does that mean that people that only have one hand would have a harder time drinking coffee? And is that why Heavenly Father took his hand away?" She also went on to talk about a girl she saw on TV that didn't have a neck and how that would make it a lot harder to drink coffee too.
Hahaha. Looks like I need to keep working on this topic.
If you aren't a member of my church and you are curious what in the world I'm teaching my kids, you are welcome to ask. In short, we teach our kids not to smoke or drink coffee, tea and alcohol. We always follow that discussion up with the fact that you don't have to believe the same way as we do to be a good person. I really emphasize that because its hard for little kids to understand why something is wrong for one but ok for another.
Regarding seriously handicapped; this is a subject that is too hard to explain in a couple sentences, but I'll try. We believe God loves everyone so much. We are sent to Earth to gain a body, to be tried and tested. Some of the spirits that lived in Heaven were (possibly) so good that they don't need to be tested like the rest of us. Although some may view God as a horrible creature when he allows bad things like this to happen, we believe that it may be one of his most loving acts because these people can't be tempted by Satan the way the rest of us are. They will have a place in the highest part of heaven after they die. What greater reward could there be?
Isn't this picture incredible? I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again... I LOVE the picture slideshows on msnbc.com!
