Countdown To 400 - #10: Flashback Friday - Material Girls

It's like this. It has been just a little over a week since I invited you all do de-lurk yourselves. I am so disappointed in the majority of you. 20 different people commented on that post. Thank you. I had 2 more comments on another post. Maybe they think I won't post pictures that way, but sorry. I'm postin' em anyway. How many people have looked at my blog since I made that plea? 74 different people have looked at it 327 times. Ummm hmmmm. Rude.

Anyway......(I said that with a roll and bob of my head). It's not to late to leave a comment. Think about it.

My dear sister Farrah was the second person to comment on that post. Farrah is 3 years younger than me. When I look back over our childhood, I am really shocked that one of us didn't kill the other. There came a time when we were teenagers that my mother announced that we were going to have to share a bedroom. We were both like, "Uh, NO! I don't think so!". We begged her not to make us live in the same room together. We told her we would kill each other. We were being serious. She said, "You two are sharing a room weather you like it or not. You can either kill each other or learn to get along. I don't care which." Well, that was probably the best thing my mother did. We became best friends. I really loved it when she lived up here and was going to BYU. She came to visit us almost every weekend. She is now the mother of two very cute little boys. Farrah, I love you!

Allyson and Farrah sporting our Madonna hair thingies. We probably have the lace gloves on too, you just can't see them. The back of the picture says 1985.

When we were teenagers we were fed up with the Mormon boys in our stake and their lack of creative dating. So we decided to go on a creative dating streak. We planned some pretty awesome dates if I do say so myself. We were even gonna write a creative dating book. This is a picture from one of our dates.

Farrah and Allyson the night before Steve and I were sealed in the Temple.

Countdown to 400 - #11: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Park

OK, it really wasn't funny. That's just the title that keeps running through my head.

We went to the park to eat lunch today. As we pulled into a parking space, an old man walked by our car and he looked very confused. The kids jumped right out of the van and ran off and as I was getting Addy out of her car seat and putting her in the stroller, I had this feeling that I needed to stop what I was doing and watch this man. He walked around the fence to the park and over to a busy street. I thought he was going to step into traffic and get hit, he came so close to the road. He stuck his thumb out like he was hitch hiking and I thought, that was strange because he didn't look the type. And I knew there was something wrong with him by the way he was acting, like he really didn't know what he was doing or where he was. I still felt like I should continue watching him and a minute later a bus pulled up (he was standing right next to a bus stop with his thumb out) and he got on. I thought, he probably doesn't have any money and he is going to get out of the bus because the driver won't let him on. The bus sat there for another minute and then it drove off.

For some reason I was very disturbed by the whole thing. It just wasn't right. So I got Addy out of the car and into her stroller and went to find the kids. As I was walking over to where the kids went I saw a man walking around the park like he was looking for something or someone. I thought I needed to go over and ask him if he was looking for that older man. I went to go get my kids to make sure they were OK and then I went over to where I had seen then man looking. He was gone. I looked around and saw him getting into a car and driving away. I thought, hmmm, I must have been wrong. He wouldn't be leaving the park if he had lost someone here.

I still was very bothered by the whole thing and kept going back to the thought that that other man had to be looking for the old man. And I thought maybe he just got in the car to drive down the street and see if he could see him and he would come back to the park in a minute and I could tell him what I saw. I kept watching for him to come back. Time went by and more time went by and it was getting close to time for us to leave the park. I really felt like I needed to do something about that old man. But what was I going to do? Call the police and say, "An old man got on a bus."?

Then I turned around behind me and way far at the back of the park I could see the man who had been looking for something and he was once again looking for something. He had parked in a different parking lot and was behind me where I couldn't see him. So I walked over to him and asked him if he was looking for someone. He said yes. I asked if it was an older man with a white shirt on. He said yes. And I told him what I saw. He said, "He got on a bus?". He asked me what direction it was going and I told him. He thanked me and started to call someone and made his way back to his car.

Whew! I was so relieved.

It made me start thinking about how Heavenly Father works. When someone needs help, it usually comes in the form of another person. That's one of the reasons we're here, right, to help each other? I was so glad that I was listening and that I followed the promptings I received. If I hadn't, I would have been busy getting Addy out and getting the stroller out that I wouldn't have seen that man get on the bus. And who knows what would have happened. I am glad I was able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands today and I am so thankful that I listened to what he was trying to tell me.

Countdown to 400- #12: A Powerful Combination

I caved. I was making Addison a bowl of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch with bananas and I couldn't resist. I mean peanut butter and bananas. And since I stopped drinking milk I stopped buying skim so my only option was 2% which tastes like ice cream to my skim milk drinkin' taste buds. So after going about 2, almost 3 months without eating cereal, I had myself a big old bowl. And now I feel like I wanna throw up. I mean, it could all be in my head, but my throat feels irritated now. And I know the desire to puke isn't in my head. Back in my cereal eating days, whenever I would eat a bowl of kid cereal I would always feel this way. And I forgot that Cap'n Crunch has an ability to coat the inside of your mouth and teeth with this nasty film that is hard to get rid of. And brushing your teeth right after you eat PB Cap'n Crunch is REALLY nasty. How I wish I had the grace of a supermodel. I could walk into the bathroom right now and stick a long, slender finger down my throat and be all better. Unfortunately grace isn't something I come with.

Thinkin' Thursday - Much Ado About Nothing

Have you noticed my Thinkin' Thursday's haven't been all that political lately?

So, this very post that you are reading right at this very moment is post #388. That means I am only 12 posts away from a major milestone of 400 posts.

And I was thinkin' , being Thursday and all, I was thinkin' , I wonder how long it will take me to get to 400. I mean, I have been really busy so I haven't been doing much blogging lately (or reading blogs, I will catch up on you all very soon), so it could take a while. But man, I am so close, I wanna be there now. Why? I don't know, cause I got nuthin better to think about.

As that thought was rollin about in me noggin I started to think, ya know, I have a tendency to ramble on about nothing all the time. Remember my 5+ minute ice cream video? So I thought, I bet I could roll out a whole slew of posts real quick like and be at 400 in no time.

And I started to wonder how many days it would take me.

And I started to wonder how many days you think it will take me.

And I though, wow. Blogger has a nifty little polling device I could add to my blog and people could make a guess.

And then I thought, who needs sleep, I think I'll go downstairs and whip up a poll right now.

And here I am.

Rambling again.

So, take the poll. All you silent readers can take it too. I promise it won't kill you.

And now the screen is blurry and I feel like I have a rock in my contact so I think I will shut it up now.

Don't forget to check back often. I'm about to start my bloggin roll. Just as soon as I perform my rock removal and get a little sleep.

Peace out!

Seriously? Did you have to say that?

Freak.

WebCam Wednesday - Splish Splash I was Takin' A Bath

This is my wild monster baby (I really should stop calling her that) (she really should stop acting like one) taking a bath. Yes, this is how she takes a bath. Every time. Yes it makes me crazy. It doesn't seem to bother her that she almost drowns every time she does it. So, this is why I only bathe her once every 2-3 weeks. And I don't actually put her in the tub, I just hose her off outside.

Don't Be A Square

Since someone came to see the house on Sunday, we had to vacate the premises. So we went downtown to Temple Square. Here are some pictures of our little adventure. Once again everyone had a great time, except for the person trying to keep Monster Baby quiet and destruction free. That person was me.

Monday Morning Musings - Hello, My Name Is Allyson And I'm An....Just Read On

Sooooooo.......Somebody came to see the house yesterday. They want to buy it. I'm trying not to get too excited because they just moved from out of state and they still have to sell their house. They were transferred here with the husbands company and his company has some type of program where they will buy their house. They are checking on it. My agent said that those programs usually put the house on the market for 3 months and if it doesn't sell then they buy it. They said they want to rent it from us if they can't sell their house now. Not sure how I feel about that. We will wait and see what happens. In the meantime we have some one coming to see it tonight. HELLO! The house is spotlessly clean now from yesterday. How am I supposed to keep that up til tonight when I have 4 kids running around?





It really is running me ragged trying to keep the house constantly clean with all the kids home. Especially with Monster Baby in the mix.





Speaking of Monster Baby. Hhhhhhh. That child is.....I don't even know. She is making me very tired. My mom and Lauren got really mad when they read my post about her being naughty. How dare I call their sweet baby naughty? She's not naughty. Ha. Well, guess what? They babysat her on Saturday. Ummm hmmmm. Guess who's calling her naughty now????





I had a very disturbing dream the other night. VERY DISTURBING! I had a dream that something upset me and I started drinking to numb my feelings and I became an alcoholic. It was very detailed and very vivid and I was feeling all the emotions and everything. HELLO! What the heck?! OK, I have never even touched a bottle of alcohol. I have never had a desire to drink alcohol. I was drinking to numb my feelings? Holy cow! I have this thing about taking any kind of drug into my body. I freak out if I have to take Tylenol. The dream was a couple of days ago and I am still upset by it.





I was cooking the other day and I was making something with lemon juice in it. So I took a big swig out of the bottle (there's my alcoholic tendencies showing through). I tried really hard not to make a sour face. I swallowed it and everything without making one and I was able to hold off the sour face for several seconds after swallowing but then the sour face came. I'm just curious if it's just me or does everyone have to make a sour face when drinking lemon juice. So will you please try it and let me know? Like right now?

OK, I have been trying for forever to embed this video but for some reason it won't work. You can click here to watch it.



Last night I put Addy and Aubrey in bed. Zac and Emily were supposed to be in bed reading. I was dead tired so I was up in my room. A while later I went to tell them it was time to go to sleep. They were watching Jurassic Park in Zac's room on his PlayStation with the volume turned way down. I was so mad because I know we are going to have repercussions from their viewing. I have somehow managed to raise scaredy cat children (I have no idea where they get it) and I didn't want to have to deal with them not being able to sleep or go down in the basement by themselves for fear of dinosaurs lurking around. So I was saying something along those lines to them while I opened Zac's blinds to check his window and make sure it was locked. He looked outside and, even though it was still a little light out, said "Oh, it's already dark outside. It must be late. I think I'll turn this off and go to bed." Oh, did I forget to mention that it was at the very most scariest part of the movie? And also that Zac is my hardest child to get to go to bed at night. It just made me laugh.

Flashback Friday - The Nanny

Thank you to all of you who have commented on my Thinkin' Thursday so far. I am excited. I already know which pictures I am gonna use for some of you. And I have some in mind for those of you who I think are probably reading this in silence still, so speak up will you!



I must say, there are still more people looking at my blog today than there are commenting. Thank you to Momma Gibbons who so far is the only person brave enough to comment who hasn't commented before. I have a picture in mind for you too. So see, don't you wanna know, all you out there who have yet to comment? Don't you wanna know what picture I will post for you?



And thank you to "The Nanny" who was the very first to comment. Just for that you get a bonus picture. The nanny grew up across the street from me. I was her very first babysitter. No wonder she turned out so good. She's all grown up now and ready to head off to college. I have enjoyed reading her blog and getting to know the adult her a little better. I have found that the two of us have a few things in common, other than growing up on the same street. We are both scaredy cats. We are both opinionated. And most importantly, we both like crunchy sandwiches.



So here is a picture of The Nanny when she was a flower girl at my wedding.

Thinkin' Thursday - I'm Outin' You, Right Here, Right Now

It's like this. I know you're there. I do. You might be slinkin' in here all quite like and not sayin' anything, but I know you're there. I have Google Analytics on my blog. It gives me all kinds of interesting information on who is looking at my blog. One of the things it tells me is not just how many times my blog was looked at, but how many different people looked at it. So you might see the comments that people post and say, oh, there are only about 5 different people reading her blog because there are only about 5 different people who comment on my posts. (thank you to all of you who make me feel validated in life)(not that I rely on your comments for validation, but, well OK, I do)(sigh)

Anyhoo, back to the subject at hand. I usually have between 20-30 different people look at my blog everyday. If I look back over the past month it tells me that 167 different people looked at it. And if I look all the way back to when I first put analytics on there it tells me that there have been 1,372 different people look at my blog. So I happen to know that there are more than 5 of you reading this at this very minute. Well, maybe not at this very minute, but you know what I mean.

So, since it is Thinkin' Thursday, for a few more hours anyway, I am thinkin' it is about time you came out of the closet. Stop your lurking and come on out into the open. I know you want to, you have just been waiting for the right moment to make your presence known. That moment is now.

This is what I'm gonna do. Ya know how tomorrow is Flashback Friday? Well, the very first person who comments on this post, I am going to find a picture of you (I promise to be nice and not put up an embarrassing one) and I am going to use it for my Flashback. Then, I will take all the comments on this post and go in order and feature the each person who commented every Friday in my Flashback. If I don't have a picture of you, I will find one that you are sure to enjoy. If you have found my blog through someone else's blog, tell me who's blog it was and I will feature a picture of them that I am sure you will enjoy (those will be embarrassing). If you don't know me, and I don't know you, and I don't know any of the people you know, and you don't know any of the people I know, I'll come up with something, I promise. (that was a very comma filled sentence)

As I am typing this I have this feeling that the same 5 people are going to be the only one's who comment, with the exception of 1 because she gets mad when I post pictures of her when she was a teenager (Coren). But I am asking you to just be brave and do it. So that I don't look like an idiot for posting this. You owe it to me for keeping you entertained on an almost daily basis.

For those of you who profess not to know how to comment (mom) this is what ya gotta do. At the end of this post, there will be some blue words. One will say comments, with a number by it indicating how many comments there are for this post. Click on the blue comment word. There will be a box for you to type your comment. If you don't have a Google account you can click on Name/URL and it will give you a place to put your name. You can leave the URL field blank. Or if you would like you can click on anonymous and just put your name somewhere in your comment.

OK, I'm gonna be really mad if you don't participate. I think it will be fun to try and come up with pictures for everyone. And it will be such a relief to you to finally say something. Trust me, it will. If I look at my stats tomorrow and see that 25 people looked at my blog and only 10 commented, well.......I don't know what I'll do, but you won't like it.

What are you waiting for? Say something already.

WebCam Wednesday - The Ice Cream Chronicles