Attention Shoppers!

Everyone has GOT to go to Steve & Barry's right now!! They are having a really good end of the year sale. Everything in the store is $8.98 or less! We bought Trevor four new pairs of pants for less than a brand new pair at a department store would have cost. Totally worth it!!!

Christmas and Stuff

Thanks to the Hogges for hosting an AWESOME Christmas Eve party. My Christmas depression left the minute I walked into their house. The food was so YUMMY!!!!!! Santa came for a visit, and Logan would have nothing to do with him as usual. The entertainment was good as well, and I sure hope the banana video does not surface on any blogs.

Christmas day started at our house at 9:30 a.m. It was nice to sleep in. Logan had fun opening his presents, and Trevor and I had fun watching. My brother in Texas set up a cool group webcam chat, so we were able to see and hear from some of my siblings who have webcams all at the same time. Totally cool! It was a good day, even though we were far away from everyone. I will post pictures soon.

I am getting bigger and bigger ever day. I am in the home stretch as Sameerah said to me at my last appointment. Yes, the glorious third trimester. Actually, it is not fun for many reasons:

1. ITCHY stomach
2. Stretch marks
3. No energy
4. Hungry all the time
5. Urinating all the time
6. Running out of clothes that fit
7. Not able to move
8. Not able to bend over
9. Indigestion
10. Labor is NEAR!
11. Getting as big as an elephant

I can't think of any more, but I'm sure there are many. Of course there are good things. This baby will be coming out soon, and it will all be forgotten. Not much longer!! I am so excited to have this baby!

Alyson

It Finally Hit

Yes folks, it finally hit me today. I am spending Christmas away from my family. I have been bawling my eyes out for the past hour. I am very grateful for my husband who puts up with moments like this.

Dear Friends,

I miss you! Come back to me soon.

Alyson

TAGGED!

I was really only tagged twice, but I liked the third one so I left it.

Tag #1
1. Where did you meet your husband? Singles ward in Boise. He was dating another girl.
2.What was the first thing you said to your husband? can't remember. He was very interested in my Jeep, so it was probably something like "nice Jeep" and I probably said "thanks".
3. Where was your first date? Arenacross (yeah, dirtbikes)
4. Where was your first kiss? He stole our first kiss. It was in front of my house. He had been asking permission to kiss me, and I said NO
5. Did you have a long or short courtship/engagement? LOOONG (we dated/were engaged for three years).
6. Where did you get engaged? while walking the dog
7. Where were you married? Portland, OR temple
8. How did your reception go? It was okay. I hate attention.
9. How was your honeymoon? a week on the Oregon Coast. It was a blast!

Tag #2
Four Places I've lived....
1. Gladstone, OR
2. Boise, ID
3. Meridian, ID
4. Lansing, Michigan

Four jobs I've had....
1. Marketing assistant (Lake Oswego, OR)
2. Alterations/tuxedo store manager
3. Letterman jacket/cheerleader salesperson
4. child care provider :o)

Four things I'd like to do before I die....
1. have many more babies
2. finish college
3. have enough money to not worry about money
4. have a nice house

Four favorite desserts....
1. chocolate
2. chocolate cake
3. chocolate ice cream
4. cheese cake

Four facts about me....
1. I give and give 'till I can't give any more, then I blow up
2. I am stubborn as all heck.
3. I genuinely like other peoples kids as long as I get along with the parents
4. Someday I will have plastic surgery

Four favorite TV shows....
1. Changing Rooms (the British version of Trading Spaces. It's WAY better.)
2. The Biggest Loser (GO BLACK TEAM!)
3. Spike TV - power block - I'm really enjoying trucks lately!
4. Passions

Tag #3

6 facts/habits about myself...here's the good and the ugly!
1. I am not afraid of pregnancy weight. Bring it on! I WILL LOSE IT!
2. I am a hard worker...once I get going
3. I hate to cook, but I refuse to buy pre-made boxed crap from the store.
4. I enjoy decorating a lot!
5. I tend to laugh about stuff way too long. Like five minutes after everyone else has stopped.
6. my house is a total wreck during the day, but I always clean it in the morning

Word to the wise....Never get TWO WEEKS behind on the laundry. It is almost impossible to catch up.

Christmas Blessings

It is amazing how much I have changed since last Christmas. What a difference a year makes! I am content with being who I am....something that has always been hard for someone overcoming a great disability of shyness. Yes, I am sharing some deep feelings here. I am very grateful to the wonderful women of the Lansing ward who have befriended me, and put up with my silliness, stupidity, bossiness, backwardness, and all the other things about me that are weird. I have grown up a ton, and I thank you all for it. I hope you all have a wonderful safe Christmas break as most of you are going home to your families in the next week. 'Till next time!

Alyson

The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

We just got a new toy....a WEBCAM! Yeah, I always thought they were just for women to make money (you know what I'm talking about). Turns out they have another purpose....keeping families in touch with each other. My parents are turning in their mission papers very soon (yes. they are very old), and thought it would be a cool way to be able to keep up with us all while they are gone. It has been so fun to talk to my family and actually see them and what they are doing. I highly recommend getting one of these gadgets.

Signs, Signs, and more Signs

We have been busy getting ready for Christmas around here. I figured since the sign thing we did for enrichment was so cheap, I'd go ahead and make one for everyone on my list. Only thing is I painted all my letters on (not stickers!). Talk about a lot of work! I finally have it down though. I came up with a whole new process of printing the font off the computer and using it as a stencil. It looks just as good, and maybe even better than store-bought stencils! I'm telling you, if anyone wants help making a board, I'm pretty much an expert now.

Last Chance!!

Everyone, I will be putting in my Mary Kay order on Monday evening, so if there is anyone wanting anything, they need to contact me ASAP! There is no better deal out there. I promise you it is a great deal! I still need more orders to get my balance up to $400 retail. This is how we all get the 50% discount. So please order!!!

Happy Holidays!

This is my favorite time of year. I just love the special feeling in the air during Christmas. I have tried and tried for the past month to figure out how to put music on my blog, and finally figured it out today!!! So now it is even more festive. I think I will have Logan and Alexis help me put up the Christmas tree tonight. If we have time, we'll make some cookies. YAY! I just love it!

p.s. One more week to get your MaryKay orders in!!

Mary Kay

For anyone who does not know, I sell Mary Kay. Yes. It is true. But, I am a horrible Mary Kay lady. I can't really answer any questions, because I don't know the answers. I kind of don't care to know the answers either because it is too much work. So let me just lay it all out on the table for you guys. This deal is open to anyone and everyone. I sell to you guys at my cost. I make NO money. ZERO, ZIP, NADA!!! I just want to put an order in and get the stuff I want, but I have to reach a certain balance before I get the discount. So if anyone wants any Mary Kay, then go to their website to see what there is to buy, and then e-mail me your orders. You will pay cost (exactly half the price of the retail price). I do need all money before I place the order. That's the deal. Over and Out.

The thrill of E-bay

Recently I was noticing Logan's pants getting short and his shirts getting tight. I looked at garage sales all summer trying to find him clothes for this winter, but it is just so hard to find boys clothes in good condition. I have watched Craigslist, but not found anything. This led me to try e-bay, and I have got to tell you....I AM ADDICTED!!! It was so much fun shopping around and finding just the right lot of clothes to bid on, and then planning and timing it out just right so that with one minute to spare, I come out with the guns firing and outbid everyone. It was so fun. I love e-bay!!

Ding dong the mouse is dead!!!!! Yeah, he died a horrible death. I actually feel bad about it. At least he died doing what he loved the most......eating peanut butter.

The Saga of the MOUSE

So about this mouse we have living with us. He is very content with his surroundings and doesn't seem to want to leave. How do you evict a mouse? We have tried everything. We started out with the cheap wooden traps, packed them with peanut butter, and set them out. We checked them everyday for about 3 days, when suddenly Trevor noticed that every single one of them was missing the peanut butter. That's right. That dumb old mouse was able to lick all the peanut butter off and still manage to be alive, and very well fed I might add. So then after a telephone call with my dad (a mouse eviction expert), we moved on to glue traps. Not really sure how these glue traps were going to work, we put them out and just for good measure put a great big dollop of peanut butter (since the mouse likes it so much) right in the center of each trap. Yeah, still nothing. After a few days of this, Trevor noticed that one trap looked like it had been messed with. Upon further examination, there was a foot print and a tail print in the glue, and somehow he had managed to get loose. ARGH!! Anyway, we have now moved on to a plastic trap that seems to be very sensitive to any movement, and easily goes off. Cross your fingers for us. I am tired of cleaning up after this unwanted house guest. He is messy, and disgusting.

I Updated!

Hello Everyone! Today I finally added (I hope) all the links of our friends. If I missed yours, then for heaven sake will you let me know?? I also added a whole bunch of some new families in our ward whose blogs I have stumbled across lately. Although you guys may not consider me a friend yet, I hope to very soon be. I have very recently come to the conclusion that I really miss out on a lot by not going to play group. I promise you all that from now on I will try to be more faithful in coming and getting to know you all better. It is just hard to get all the schedules together and leave the house in one piece. Also, if I am not in your links yet, feel free to add me.

Craft day was fun. Thanks for all the women who came out. If anyone didn't finish their craft, or wants to make one they saw there, let me know. I have all the stuff for it. It's always craft day at my house.

And now for some news. Actually there isn't any. Sorry to disappoint. Until next time!!

Alyson

So much has been going on here lately, I don't even know where to start. First of all, we have a MOUSE living with us. It showed up late Friday night. I think it must have come from next door, because there was a pest control truck there a couple times last week. When I saw the mouse run across the floor, I screamed and jumped up on the couch. It is so gross. We have a bunch of traps out, but no sign of it since.

Halloween was a BLAST!!!! We went trick or treating out in Grand Ledge, and got a huge haul of candy. Logan had a really fun time, and everyone thought he made a cute cowboy. The Hogge's annual Halloween Party was so much fun. Everyone had on such awesome costumes. Mine was pretty awful in comparison, since it was just a mishmash of things I found around the house and at the dollar store. The Halloween band was ROCKIN' and in my humble opinion pretty darn good.

Trevor is really excited about the baby ever since we found out it's a girl. It is all he can talk about. It can get annoying trying to have a normal conversation with him, because the baby always comes up. I didn't realize how excited I was feeling until late Saturday night when I was looking through some fabric, and thinking about how I wanted to sew the blessing dress eventually. Well, I don't know what came over me, but I cut out the dress Saturday night, and finished sewing it on Sunday night. Here it is...

Here It Is!

Okay for everyone waiting on pins and needles, the verdict is in!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ultrasound tech was 98% positive. I am so excited, but nervous at the same time. HOORAY!!!!

A Bad Day

Yesterday I had a not so good day. Logan is in this HORRIBLE phase right now. He throws a temper tantrum for everything. Whining, crying, kicking.....you know. Or maybe you don't know. Just wait. If you haven't experienced that phase yet, you will. It is inevitable.

Yesterday it was one fit after another. So I say to the kids, "let's make cookies", because getting them involved in something and keeping them busy is always something that works. We make these AWESOME cookies, and have a lot of fun doing it. We all got really dirty (Sorry Katie. I really do try to keep Alexis clean!) and we go outside to eat our handiwork. So we gobble down these wonderfully delicious cookies, and I look down at the kids who are licking their fingers clean, trying to enjoy every last taste, and notice their faces are a mess! I said to them "Let's go inside and clean up". Now these two kids looked at each other, and just took off running. You have to know that we live on a corner, and occasionally cars do come barreling around it wildly, so it is always something that has scared me. I have had a talk with them about running into the street, but you know kids. So I get to Logan first, he's already in the street, and then Alexis (she got pretty far).

What is it about kids doing the opposite of what you tell them to do. When it endangers their lives, that's when it is not funny anymore. Those stinkers.

So anyway, I see Katie coming, and we run inside to wash up. She comes inside and I am all flustered. I totally forgot to wash myself, and after she left I looked in the mirror, and to my horror, I see a chocolate covered face staring back at me. HORRORS! How embarrassing!!

Alyson

Baby News

This baby is sure moving around a lot lately. I can feel it bouncing around all over the place, which makes me worry that we are going to have another little Logan around. I was kind of hoping for a more mellow one this time. Oh well, I guess we'll take what we can get. Here's another little tidbit. I am already having Braxton Hicks. Sorry if I spelled it wrong. Anyway, it is WAY early for those.

p.s. Play the stupid test game at the bottom of my blog. Just scroll all the way down. It is IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!

Glasses

Recently we had Logan fitted for new glasses. What do you think?

10 Random Facts About ME

1. I am very cautious about making friends, but once I make them I am severely loyal and will defend a friend to the end.

2. When I was younger my mom would dress my siblings and me up in these ridiculous costumes with these HUGE bow ties and make us perform Janeen Brady songs at the local fairs and summer camps around Portland. She was very critical of our performances and if we didn't perform to her standards then we wouldn't get any kind of reward (I can remember wanting a sucker SO BAD, but not getting one because I didn't sing loud enough).

3. I have hearing damage in both ears. I hate talking on the phone because it is really hard for me to hear a lot of things. That's why I say "what?" a lot.

4. I was kicked out of piano lessons when I was 12 or 13. My teacher was giving me music that I had heard lots of siblings play, so it wasn't hard for me to play it by ear. I guess she thought I should be reading the notes off the paper.....go figure.

5. You might as well know that I write music, but I will never let anyone other than Trevor hear it.

6. I cannot tell a lie. It is written all over my face if I do.

7. Here's a shocker....I was home schooled in high school. Yep, and I will NEVER home school any of my kids.

8. I can work on cars. I can change my oil, tires, whatever. I have changed a radiator by myself, and fixed the clutch linkage. I don't do it as much now that I have Trevor around, but just know that I can.

9. I am VERY stubborn. It really irritates me when I am told I can't do something, because I know I can do anything I want if I just think about it for a while. I can figure it out eventually.

10. I would like to visit Prince Edward Island someday

one of those days

Do you ever have one of those mornings where you just don't want to get out of bed, so you plan out how to make it possible to stay there as long as you can? "If I skip my shower, and brush my teeth while I'm driving, then I can sleep for an extra 20 minutes." Yeah, so this morning I was SO tired. Trevor was up practically all night writing a paper, and I find that it's hard to sleep when he's not in bed with me. So after "figuring out" how to stay in bed 20 minutes longer, I hear a knock at the door and of course I'm like "CRAP!" Of course I forgot to figure into the equation the Morgans coming early! Stupid me!!!!!!!

DUH!

Goodness Logan has been in a whiny, crabby, horrible mood lately. It just hit me today that maybe he is teething. So I look in his mouth and sure enough he has this HUGE molar coming in. Great. Just great. That's four teeth I have to look forward to.

I Figured It Out!!

Well, in case you didn't notice.....I finally figured out how to change my retarded background on this blog. HALLELUJAH! Yes it is a miracle. So it just goes to show you that with a little perseverance, and a LOT of wasted time, you can accomplish anything!

Why is it I have no problem updating my MYSPACE background, but I can't figure out how to do my BLOGSPOT background?!? It's enough to make me want to throw myself out of a moving truck! So you will all just have to look at my boring page until I can figure it out.

Boring Stuff

I don't know how you all can have such exciting things to post all the time. It seems like nothing is ever going on here. We are all so boring around this house. Poor Natalie had to eat my cooking the past two weeks. It was a little scary, and on more than one occasion we ended up eating somewhere besides home due to my lack of cooking abilities (I am so sorry about the lunchables!). It was a lot of fun having her here, and Logan made us go downstairs to look for her tonight. He didn't understand where she could have gone.

p.s. Bring on the FALL weather. I am sooooo hot lately!!

You guessed it!

As if we needed another laptop problem, a new one has emerged. Last night was the end of the road for my power cord. So I am yet again without a computer....until the new cord arrives. Who knows how long that will be. :o(

Poop

Yo dudes! What up? Not much been going on here. It is getting much cooler lately. I am almost as big as an elephant already! Trevor thinks they need to do an ultrasound again because there is no way I can be this big already and only have one baby inside me. A little insulting of him don't you think? ;o)

So anyways, back to this potty training thing with Logan. Yesterday he pooped in his underwear, but I didn't notice as I was busy with a project. He decided to try to clean it up so I wouldn't notice. He took his underwear off, and in the process of that got pooh all up and down his legs and on his feet (not to mention on his hands as well). Then he tried to wipe the pooh off his hands on his little plastic chair. Once his hands were clean, he attended to his underwear, and tried to scrape the pooh off into his potty chair. When that didn't work, I guess he decided it was time to come get me, because he tracked pooh all over the carpet into the dining room where I was diligently working on a craft project for Enrichment. It was awfully stinky! Anyways, he helped me clean it up and he even swished his underwear in the toilet to clean them off while I watched. What a good boy!

'till next time!

Don't type in webdings!

Wow, I found out the most interesting thing just now. If I try to view my blog using Internet Explorer, then my "I'm Back!" post just comes up as symbols and other crazy crap. But if I view it using Firefox, then I can read it like normal. So, don't type in webdings and you won't have this same problem. By the way, I went in and changed the font. So if you couldn't read my post then I apologize, and now you will have a happy surprise!

Terrible Twos

Yes, I think it is official. Logan is in his terrible twos. His latest thing- He says NO in almost every sentence that comes out of his mouth. For example: "No______" (insert any word, and he probably says it). "No bed"...."No potty"....."No Daddy"...."No lunch." It can get annoying. He also likes to throw fits and pretend he can't hear me when I am asking him to do something. That can really be upsetting. He also likes to spank my hind-end and say "I got you!!" (Thanks for that Trevor)

I'M BACK!!!!

Alright all you people just waiting for my next post. MY COMPUTER IS FINALLY FIXED!!!!!!! Aren't you so excited?!? I was going through computer withdrawals for sure! So anyway, here I am again!

Here is what has been going on in my life. Well now that I think about it, nothing has really been going on. AM I THAT BORING??????

Oh here's something. I am watching the cutest little girl now. Thanks to Katie and David Bindrup for trusting me with their little girl Alexis. She has the cutest little smile I have ever seen! So fun. I think I am going to like this.

I finally finished unpacking and moving into our townhouse! It's only been since May.....SHEESH! If you haven't seen it yet, you have got to stop by sometime. I must say...It's way cute!

I took a giant leap yesterday and started potty training Logan. It is a funny experience. Don't get me wrong, I mean it is definitely very hard and trying, but at the same time it is fun to watch Logan try to fight the situation one minute, and the next he is so excited he just pooped in the toilet and wants to do it again.

Toodles for now!!

Sunburn!!

Ouch! Have I got the worst sunburn I have had in like 10 years! I put sunscreen everywhere on my body, except my back. What a stupid thing to do. I have blisters all over, and it is very hard to get any sleep at night because I can't sleep on my back. Anyway, I am getting by with tagless shirts right now. I could kiss the feet of the person who invented tagless shirts! They are awesome! I should also add, that my sunburn looks similar to this, but this is not a picture of me. I stole this one off the internet. HA HA!!!

Happy Birthday Logan!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Two Years Old Today!!!!! We Love You!!!

Blog, Blog, Blog

Why does it seem as if everyone and their dog seem to be getting a blog lately? Well, not to be left out I created a blog too. Yippee! Also, I saw a report on the news about myspace and it scared the CRAP out of me. I am thinking about deleting that account.

So now I must admit that I love to look at other people's blogs. I think it is so very interesting to see what the rest of the world is doing when things are so dang boring in my own life! I hope to be able to live up to the great bloggers out there whose blogs I am addicted to...namely the great Natalie Service and Laura McGinnis. Your blogs ROCK! I promise to try to make my blog as cool as yours.

Over and Out