The Life and Times of a Domestic Goddess

What's been going on with me.....

2009-02-28T15:06:00.005-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts here lately, life get's busy and you have to squeeze fome fun into it sometime...right? Well fun is in my life the past 3 wks. First off, I went and got 7" of my hair cut off then got a color and highlight too. LOVE IT! I can actually curl my hair and the curls will stay for an entire day instead of 2 hrs.

The weekend of Valentines Day the Fielding "fam" went down to Bear Lake in UT. We stayed for a few days and went sledding while we were there. The snow was perfect! About 1' - 2' and the sun was shining with bright blue skies. What a beautiful day! Unfortunately all the fresh snow also meant getting stuck, multiple times. Five to be exact but hey, I didn't run into any trees and neither did the sled I was riding so that is a great thing. While there Dakota got sick and we took her to the Dr's as soon as we got home and she had a double ear infection and bronchilitits (RSV in older kids)so she had breathing treatments at home which helped immensely!

Last Saturday we went out to dinner to try out a new Brazillian Resturant here in town, called Tucano's. When we got there it was a 2 1/2 hr wait! We decided to go to Johnny Carino's instead. This past week I made reservations for a dinner date on saturday with Jeremy and I at Tucano's. The food was great! Lot's of meats are served and the fruit drinks were 'ok' because they are made from a mix and not fresh blended but Jeremy said that they taste the same as they do in Brasil.

This past week has been filled with dr's and dentist appts all week, including an eye exam for Michelea this morning. She's nearsighted and will be getting glasses. Looks like she inherited her dad's bad eyesight. We pretty much planned on her getting glasses later in life since Jeremy got glasses in Jr high, but wasn't expecting her to get glasses in second grade. She picked out the glasses, she looks really cute in them. THANK YOU Dr. Dayton for not carrying any Hannah Montana or High School Musical glasses! We got the transitions lenses for her too so her eyes will be protected while in the sun.
More dentist appts in the weeks to come and another Dr visit for me as well. Joy.

I've been sewing too and have a dress for each of the girls to wear, I've just got to finish the shirts that go underneath and I'll be done with them. I still have a lot of dresses to make for the girls, (I'm planning on 5 each before school is out,) and will be suprising them next week with a summer time nightgown before I start their Easter dresses.

For your enjoyment I thought I'd post some pics of our "Winter Wonderland" at bear Lake. Dakota loved it and Michelea loved riding with Grandpa all day. She loved to help dig, (her choice to dig in the snow,) whoever was stuck in the snow. Such a big helper even though she was waist deep in the snow, as were the rest of us. The three of us who actually drove a sled were hurting soooo much the next day. Ouch! I forget how much sledding makes my body ache the next day. It's so worth it though so I've stopped complaining about the paid. LOL!

Is it really possible?

2009-02-06T13:05:00.002-07:00

That I could have an addiction to Rock Band and be so upset because the game doesn't have the songs that I want to play and that on the Wii, it doesn't allow you to download songs like the Xbox does. I've got a whole list of songs that SHOULD be on the playlist but aren't. I definately think that some Def Leppard songs should be on there, especially songs like Animal, Pour Some Sugar on Me, Rock of Ages, just to name a few. How about some of the old Sammy Hagar songs when he was with Van Halen? I am really upset about this, especially because there are NO Lynnard Skynnard songs! WHAT? I need me some Skynnard! There are so many of the classic songs that SHOULD be on the playlist rather than the super heavy metal songs that Jeremy OR I have never heard. The music artists sound horrible, like they should be close to death or something.

Please, Harmonix,(the company who created the whole Rock Band programs,) please get some decent songs AND don't put the same songs that are on the Rock Band XBox too. Sure, there's a few songs that aren't on the XBox that are on the Wii edition but sheez! Get a little more creative than that!

And may I add a little note to Nintendo too....please let me download some new songs already!

Ok, rant over. I had to get it out of my system before I play a few of the Rock Band songs before the girls get home.

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WARNING! DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE DIETING!

2009-02-03T10:04:00.005-07:00

Ok, I have to gloat about my brownies It should be a sin to NOT eat the most wonderful brownies I made for Super Bowl Sunday! I actually made two casserole sized pans of brownies, 40 all together. All fourty brownies were gone before the other 5 deserts brought were even halfway gone.
I even made up my own recipe, not that it was difficult or anything but they are oh so delicious! Anyone want it? Ok I'll give it to ya anyways!

1 pkg brownie mix and ingredients* called for.
Approx 3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup.
Approx 10 regular sized Reeses Peanut Butter cups crumbled into chunks.

Make brownie mix as directed, add chocolate syrup, add peanut butter cups and mix together.

The easiest and best tasting brownies I've ever made!

*I have found that if a brownie mix calls for 1/2 cup vegetable oil they will NOT be as thick and will be quite gooey in the middle, (not that, that is a bad thing but your husband might complain that they aren't done when they actually are,) instead reduce the oil to 1/3 of a cup and your brownies will turn out thicker and just as chocolatey as thinner brownies.

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Locks of Love Dakota Style

2009-02-03T09:28:00.005-07:00

Dakota was due for a haircut, well way overdue since her hair was almost down to her bum but I just didn't have the heart to get it cut. You'd think that after almost 4 1/2 yrs of beautiful, very fast growing hair I would have cut it already but I just couldn't. You'd have thought that Jeremy would have held me to my word last January to get her hair cut by the end of April but my timeline was just too far out. Soooo on Saturday we had plans to take a day trip to McCall, Idaho for their annual Winter Carnival but that didn't happen, (long story,) Sooooo I decided that I would get her hair cut. We loaded up the car and went to the salon. I was planning on cutting off about 8 inches but last minute I asked the stylist if they did the Locks of Love program. She said yes and that the hair had to be at least 10" long. Immediatly I made the decision to get 10" cut. The hair was measured, put in a ponytail and cut!
Dakota loved getting her hair cut and was smiling in the mirror like never before, especially when she did a slow twirl for everyone to see.

Before:

After:

Her hair is so thick it came out all frizzy when it was totally dry and I decided that piggy tails and some mousse would help.

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The Steel Curtain is back!

2009-02-03T08:54:00.003-07:00

The Pittsburgh Steelers curtain that is! Another victory for my Steelers and it was a great game beating the Arizona Cardinals 27-23! In case you didn't know, they're the first team in the NFL to win the Super Bowl SIX times! WOOO HOOO! Way to go!

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So have you checked out my new blog?

2008-11-13T12:06:00.004-07:00

Yeah the one over on the side bar? That one over there about the frugal mommies? ----->
It's got some pretty good money saving tips! :o)

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I voted!

2008-11-04T13:26:00.002-07:00

Well not yet but I will later today. You see my car is in the shop, but I thought that I would share some great "I voted" freebies that you can get just for voting! :)
I'm sure that most of you have all tried Ben & Jerry's ice cream before, why not get a FREE scoop?
What better way to show your patriotism than to go get a FREE star shaped doughbut with red, white and blue sprinkles at Krispy Kreme?
Coffee lovers can go to Starbucks and get a free cup of coffee!

I'm sure cow lovers will love Chick-fil-a's election promo too!

So be sure to get your "I voted" sticker when you vote today or else you won't be able to take part in these terrific offers! :D
I hope everyone exercises their right to vote today! :)

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Happy Birthday!

2008-10-22T09:19:00.006-06:00

Happy 1 month Birthday little puppies! WOW! Has it been one month already? I guess so! They've grown so much and have such cute personalities! They 'play fight' and pounce on each other's head, and will crawl on one another to start a wrestling match.
They are quite active in the moring, afternooon and especially in the evening around our dinner time and after the girls have gone to bed as Jeremy enjoys "yapping" (yes my husband "yaps,") so that they will start "yapping." He thinks it is the cutest thing. Sure it is cute when the puppies "yap" but not so cute when my husband "yaps."
Just a few recen't pics withing the last couple weeks. :o)

Sadly we are down to 6 puppies as one of the male puppies passed away last week. :o( I guess Mother Nature provided 7 puppies in a first litter for a reason.

I keep telling Jeremy that no way are we going to breed Zoe again! It is way too much work to take care of her, the puppies and I have to get after the girls way too much for getting into their play area. Sure he was the one who found the owners of the stud but he just happened to be walking through the subdivision and they were outside with the dog, how hard could it be to go up to them and talk to them. Not very. I'm the one who has to take care of the puppies, not him.

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What a stud!

2008-09-25T11:35:00.004-06:00

In more ways than one. :o) Litterally!
Zoe (white and fawn colored) and Drake (White on his head and face)

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more pics! :o)

2008-09-25T11:14:00.003-06:00

Male#1 (Sorry he's taken)

Girl #1

Male #2

Girl #2

Girl #3

Girl #4

Girl #5

Girl #5 another view

The gang taking a snooze
Aren't the cute?!!!!

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A couple more pics of the pups.

2008-09-23T09:42:00.003-06:00

Such cute puppies! There was a male and a female born last night
Male

Male in center at top of picture

Female at bottom of bicture
Female

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A new momma in the house!

2008-09-22T22:12:00.007-06:00

Zoe is a proud new momma of 5 little boxer puppies, 4 girls and 1 boy! Aren't they cute!
Congratulations Zoe!
Just a quick edit this morning 9/23/08! At about 5:30am I woke up to get a drink and check on the new momma and her puppies and she was very eager for some water so I put her water bowl near her and she got up and started drinking. I was so tired and could have sworn that I saw more than 5 puppies! Could it be 6? So I started counting! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ugh! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ugh stop moving sweet things! 1...2...3....4....5....6....7! SEVEN PUPPIES! At least one more boy oh and he's a cutie too! Lot's of white on his head!
I'll get more pics today when momma's taking a potty break. :o)

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Another you tube funny!

2008-09-16T11:20:00.001-06:00

This one was sent to me in an email from my dad! Thanks dad!

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Forget the fact. . . .

2008-09-10T16:02:00.003-06:00

that I had laundry to do today, and I had to unload the dishwasher, vacuum the floor oh and that I was incredibly hungry at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Oh shoot, I forgot to clean AND eat lunch! There's only one thing that could have distracted me from doing those things and it wasn't sleep nor another Harry Potter book. I already finished Half Blood Prince, again right before it was announced that they weren't going to release the movie in November. (insert rolling eye smiley here)
Only one thing it could be and that would be the book Twilight from Stephanie Meyer.

Now if any of you know me I am not a book reader unless the book is a) a series, b) a movie, c) has been receiving rave reviews from friends and family. This book fulfills all of those so I felt that I could thoroughly enjoy it, and I did!
I already called Jeremy and asked him to pick me up the second book, New Moon and he just called from Target and said he's on his way home! What a man!

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Happy Birthday Dakota!

2008-09-08T11:56:00.010-06:00

What? Dakota is 4 years old already? No, she can't be, I won't let her! Sigh, time flies WAY TOO FAST! My little lady is growing up and I can't stop her, (sniff, sniff.)

Well I had to make her day special so last night I quickly made a cute little swing top out of some fabric that I had bought to make an outfit for school pictures and she wore the top today with a cute peasant top underneath. She loved it and commented on it and said "Oh pretty!" when she was getting dressed this morning.

She absolutley refused any pictures before she got on the bus this morning but I did sneak a picture of her getting on the bus by herself! She is doing so good climbing up the big steps all by herself! No help from me or the bus assistant climbing any of those steps, she climbs every step by herself, even the first step from the pavement to the first step!

I brought cupcakes at school during snack time and the kids loved them! The teachers said that it had never been so quiet during snack time before! LOL!
The birthday girl handing out the cupcakes!

Eating the frosting off the cupcake first! YUMMY!

Snack time is over! Time to paint!

Reading and singing about the bus......the wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish...

Time to go!

We're having a small family birthday party for her tonight. Hopefully she'll be a little more compliant and not as moody as she was this morning when I tried to take pictures! LOL!

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First day of school.....

2008-08-28T12:51:00.006-06:00

Oh my the first day of school finally came on Tuesday! Michelea was SOOOOOO excited and had been asking for weeks, litterally, when she could go to school so why was I not suprised when I woke her up Tuesday morning that she sat bolt upright and said "Mom, tell me something I want to hear! I get to go to school today right?" I had to laugh as I gave her a big good morning kiss and a hug! Such a silly girl!

I had to get a couple pics too just before we left for school.

At the bus stop.

Michelea is growing so tall and getting to be such a "big" girl now. It just broke my heart when she said to me at the bus stop, "Mom, I'm a big girl you don't have to stay with me." LOL!
She's just trying to be so independant and wants her own freedoms, little does she know what is waiting for her out in this BIG ol' world. I don't wanna let her go but I'm happy that she wants to be who she is.

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I've been tagged!

2008-08-20T06:59:00.004-06:00

I've been tagged by my good friend Heather!

Well here goes! (in no particular order)
8 Things I am Passionate About:

~My religion
~My husband
~My daughters
~My relationship with my family
~My friends
~My happiness
~Loving others
~Nature

8 Books I Have Read and Enjoyed:

~Harry Potter Sorcers Stone
~Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets
~Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban
~Harry Potter Goblet of Fire
~Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix
~Harry Potter Half Blood Prince
~Harry Potter Deathly Hallows
~Book of Mormon

8 Words/Phrases I Say Often:

~I Love You
~Whaaaatttyyy? (in response to the cry for Mommmmyyyy! - Mom, Dad, Heather and Brian and a lot of other parents, I'm sure you know all about this! LOL!)
~What?
~Can you hang on for just a minute, I'm busy right now.
~Ask your dad, he's not busy right now
~I knew you were going to say that!
~I love you too.
~Dear Heavenly Father.....(insert prayer here)

8 Things I Want to do Before I Die…:

~See my daughters married in the Temple
~Visit Navoo
~Go to Brazil and visit families from Jeremy's mission
~Learn to speak Portugese
~Be a grandma
~Do my Geneology
~Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary with Jeremy
~Take my family on a cruise

8 Things I Learned This Past Year:

~Good friends are hard to find and sometimes they are closer than you think
~Life isn't fair to anyone.
~Faith is all anyone needs.
~Love has no boundries
~Life throws you unexpected suprises, and sometimes they are good, very good!
~Never doubt what a 3 year old can accomplish in 2 days, even Dakota can prove a highly educated Orthotist AND Physical Therapist wrong! YAY Dakota!
~When someone tells you what to do, most of the time it is because they don't know what to do.
~Hurricanes scare me, especially when I am 100 miles away from one.

Eight People I want to Tag:

~Ana
~Emily
~Heather~My sister
~Angie
~Jenn
~Lisa Lu
~Jennifer
~Allison

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Check out my new blog!

2008-08-08T12:09:00.003-06:00

I've decided that I need to save some money and start using coupons when I go to the grocery store so I started a frugal blog with a couple friends, Loryne, Becca, Paige and Stephanie and will be helping me find deals at stores in their area and the savings that they are getting at the register!
Check it out and post it on your blog for others to see! :o)

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Who is up for a challenge?

2008-07-27T10:49:00.005-06:00

All right I have been addicted to reading a new blog that I found on blogspot. Bakerella is the master mind of Angie Dudley who bakes the most delicious and oh so sinful foods anyone can imagine!
She has numerous posts about her cupcake pops and I have been wanting to make them ever since I found her blog a few weeks ago.
Anyways I was thinking this morning wouldn't it be fun to have a challenge and have other moms make these with me! Heck why not gather up the kids and let them join in the fun?
Don't they look fun to make?

The challenge? You have 2 weeks to make them,(after all we are mom's and have to fit it in to our busy schedules right?,) and email a pic of your yummy creation! I'll post the pics for everyone to see! Get your creative juices going and make those yummy cupcake pops! You'll find the instructions here or better yet if you are a visual person and like to see things being done, rather than reading about them watch this video of Angie when she was on the Martha Stewart show making her Cupcake Pops! Please post in the comment that you have committed to making these! Who knows I might just throw in a random prize! ;o)

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If you ever need a laugh.....

2008-07-23T10:06:00.003-06:00

Ok I know it's been a while since I've posted here but it's been busy here. Between potty training, camping, planning Michelea's birthday party, the birthday party, spending time with the girls, keeping the house clean and a ton of other things it gets to be busy but I just had to share this video that my sister Heather sent me in an email. Talk about Laugh out loud funny!
Enjoy!

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Potty Training 101 - day 3

2008-07-09T07:05:00.002-06:00

Note to self....
buy lots and lots and lots of training pants and get a GREAT deal on them because Dakota is going through 5 or 6 of them a day!

Potty Training 101 - day 1

2008-07-07T21:43:00.005-06:00

Yes it's that time again....well sorta, ok not really. We never succesfully potty trained Michelea ourselves since I was pregnant with Dakota and she never, ever, had any successes in potty training and then I was put on complete bed rest and we had to discontinue the potty training until after Dakota was born and things calmed down. By then she didn't want anything to do with potty training and then all of a sudden one day she just decided that she wanted to use the potty and she never turned back! :)
Now Dakota, is a whole different story! Dakota WANTS to use the potty and even knows that she needs to use the potty because she just peed in her pull-up. OOPS!
She sure is cute though when she is on the potty! EVERYTIME, she sits down to go potty she has to push, as though she is constipated, (whether she needs to go poo or not,) until she is red in the face and all the while she is laughing! LOL! She's squinting her eyes, squishing her nose, puckering her lips and making the loudest, funniest grunting noise she can make! It's hilarious!
She hasn't had any successes yet but I am hoping that she'll be giving high fives real soon!

The value of a dollar....

2008-07-02T11:24:00.005-06:00

just isn't what it used to be. We have been trying sooooooo hard to sell our GMC Sierra truck because we don't need it anymore because we have Jeremy's work truck that we use for hauling the camper, that and the fact that it is a gas hog, we just don't need it.
Michelea has even been commenting way before we had even put the for sale sign up in the window that we need a "little car" but I keep telling her that we need to sell the truck before we buy a little car. Lately she has been so anxious to get that little car that she has even volunteered her tooth fairy money so that she can help us buy the little car. She's just so determined to get that "little car" for us!
Fast forward to this past Sunday. Michelea has had both of her two front teeth that are so loose but still stuck in her gums that they have been hurting her for two months. OUCH! Finally she let Jeremy pull them out with dental floss and it didn't hurt at all! YEAH!

ANYWAYS....
She put her teeth under her pillow and the tooth fairy came! She was sooooo excited when she woke up the next morning and found 8 quarters under her pillow. :o) We counted up how much was there and when she figured up that she had $2.00 she promply exclaimed, "Hey, I have enough money now to buy that little car for us!" Jeremy quickly jumped in and said that we could go look for a clown car that she could buy with her money she had saved up.

She's not too happy about it and really doen't want a clown car so she has changed her mind and has decided to wait until we sell the truck. Smart girl.

I'm sure all you mom's know the script

2008-06-26T09:22:00.003-06:00

You know, at breakfast? You're fixing breakfast, it can be cold cereal, hot cereal, pancakes, eggs and bacon or even french toast or maybe something totally different and one or more of your kids start asking for something or like mine they'll just start making noise. (insert rolling eyes smiley here)

This was the script this morning as I was fixing French Toast, bacon and cheesy eggs:

Michelea: MOM! Dakota hit me!(Dakota laughing in the background)
Me: She didn't hit you she patted you so quit tattling cuz it's not gonna get you anywhere.
Michelea: MOM! Dakota patted me!
Me: What did I just say?
Michelea: No tattling.
Me: That's right.

Silence for about 30 seconds....AHHHHH!

Michelea:WOOT! WOOT!
Dakota: WOOT! WOOT!
Me: Girls, please stop acting like monkeys.
Michelea:WOOT! WOOT!
Dakota: WOOT! WOOT!
Me: GIRLS!
(Hysterical laughing from the girls)

Silence for about 15 seconds while I butter the french toast.

Michelea: Mom, were hungry.
Me: Well I'm getting your breakfast ready right now so hold on.
Michelea: Oh good!
Dakota: MOM! NANA! NANA! NANA! (this is Dakota's word for food)
Me: Dakota, let's use your words. Say "food please."
Dakota: NO! NANA!
Me: Say, "food please"
Dakota: "Please, please"
Me: "Food please"
Dakota: "Food please"
Me: OK! Here you go! :)
Michelea: Mom! I don't want bacon!
Me: Well give it to Dakota then
Michelea: Mom, I can't eat it without a fork.
Me: Well then get a fork.

30 second Silence

Michelea: Mom, I need a fork!
Me: Well, get a big fork for you and a small fork for Dakota then.
Michelea: But I want a small fork like Dakota.
Me: Fine. Get a fork like I told you.

20 second Silence

Michelea: Mom, I need something to drink!
Me: I'm busy cooking, you can wait.
Dakota: Mom! Bunga! (this is Dakota's word for drink, not sure where she got it because she used to say water.)
Me: Dakota, you wait too.
Michelea: Mom I need some milk.
Me: Wait or you won't get any at all, better yet get some water yourself.

30 second Silence

Michelea: Mom, where's my eggs?
Me: They're cooking start eating your french toast.
Michelea: But, mom!
Me: Eat it or you won't have breakfast at all. (this is NOT an empty threat!)
Michelea: But...
Me: Eat!
Michelea: But we need to say the blessing on the food first!
Me: Okay your right, sorry I got busy let's get dad in here, (yes, Jeremy has been home this WHOLE time ,) and he can say it with us.
Michelea: Okay, dad can say it this time, it's his turn!
Me: Okay that sounds good, just let me finish up cooking the eggs and then daddy can say the blessing.

Jeremy comes in and says the blessing on the food and then gets his breakfast.

As Jeremy looks at the two plates of french toast BOTH with two pieces of bacon and 2pieces of french toast asks:

Jeremy: So which one is mine?
Me: Here have some eggs.
Jeremy: Oh.
Me: I need to get the girls something to drink, they've been screaming for something for 10 min. or haven't you heard?
Jeremy: I thought you got them something already.
Me: Just take your eggs.

Notice how most everytime Michelea and Dakota asked for something it always started with "Mom"

It never ends.....

A is for A beautiful Summer day!

2008-06-20T08:37:00.002-06:00

Yep that's right today is the first day of summer, the longest day of the year and what a beautiful day it will be! It is forcast to be 91 degrees here! YAY! Finally after having Spring weather last all throughout May and into June we finally had our first taste of Summer weather arrive last weekend! It's not too hot, only into the high 80's - low 90's, well below the high 90's - 100 degree weather that we usually experience in late June throughout the rest of the Summer!
I'll be mowing the lawn this morning since Jeremy has been busy after work and has a Father/son, or should I say Father/son-less, camp-out with the Ward tonight.
I'm thinking that Michelea and I will be taking a ride down to Target to buy a sprinkler so that she can run through it today.

The Chocolate Oracle

2008-06-19T11:46:00.002-06:00

So what does chocolate say about you? It says a lot about me that's for sure!

What Your Taste in Chocolate Says About You

You are unique, creative, and fascinating.

You don't do what's expected of you.

You go for what's unknown and uncharted.

You are emotionally expressive and sensitive.

You're effected by everything around you.

Your friends appreciate your open heart, but they are afraid of hurting your feelings.

You love to be the center of attention. You enjoy entertaining your friends.

You feel lost when no one is interested in you... You're too interesting to be ignored.

The Chocolate Oracle

What I did on my summer vacation.....

2008-06-12T04:06:00.002-06:00

By Michelea Fielding

Nuf said?

Fishing anyone?

2008-06-08T21:03:00.004-06:00

Well Michelea and Jeremy took the day yesterday to go fishing with Jeremy's bother David and three of his kids, Sierra 9, Brody 7, and Coltin 6 over at Settlers Park in Meridian. They had lots of fun and Sierra even caught a fish! Too small to keep though and it had to be put back to grow a few more years! :)
Michelea had a great time along with the other kids and Jeremy got a little bit of practice with his fly rod, not much though, the wind wasn't helping out too much and there's only so much you can do with a fly rod in a pond.

Here is a nice video montage that Jeremy put together today of the pics he took. No pics of him though since he was the one behind the camera. :(

Ok, where's the complaint box for Mother Nature?

2008-06-06T13:53:00.004-06:00

I have a complaint! It's too darn cold here! TOO COLD! TOO LONG! I really, really, really want summer to get here, and I don't mean summer as in the season summer either I mean summer WEATHER! I know that is a bit confusing with my countdown to summer ticker there but I need that for my own reassurance that summer WILL come!
We have had maybe 4 or 5 days of weather in the high 80's and I think 1 day that did make it into the 90's, (92 maybe?,) but I mean come on, it's JUNE for Heaven's sakes!
Please, I want it to get into the 90's by next week and STAY there! My girls are out for Summer Break NOT Spring Break! Michelea is still WANTING to wear her coat because it's just so cold here. She refuses to wear a jacket, she just wants to wear her coat.
Please, I want my birthday next week to be warm and sunny like it usually is, not grey, overcast, windy, chilly and with the weatherman forcasting rain. If we have rain in June we don't hear about the wind chill being 40 degrees, that's April weather not June!

Anyone else have a complaint? Maybe Mother Nature will listen up if we rally together?

Need something to celebrate today?

2008-06-05T23:52:00.003-06:00

It's June 6th, it doughnut day today! Go get yourself a FREE Krispy Kreme!

0 Grams Trans fat 100% Sugar!

If you haven't figured it out yet....

2008-06-04T10:59:00.004-06:00

I'm a shutterbug, (what mom with a camera isn't?) and I'm always behind the camera and I have a gazillion pictures saved on my computer, if not more. All of them are undeveloped and I NEED some pictures to fill the photo frames that I have purchased this spring! What about Shutterfly, Snapfish or Heaven forbid Wal-mart photos? Well I'm cheap, even when it comes to photos of my family. How will I solve this problem you ask? Well I'll tell you how... Artscow.com! Right now they are having a FANTABULOUS offer going on where you can get 200 FREE 4"x6" prints and then you can earn 200 MORE FREE prints (5"x7") by referring friends! AND that's not all! You can also get a FREE 8"x8" photo book, (coming soon!) WOW! Ya can't beat that! They've also got some special discount offers going on that are too good to pass up!
Here are the special discount offers:
Coupon Code
D15S25 - $15 off a $25 purchase for all non prints items 05/16/08-07/16/08
D50OFF - 50% off for all non prints items 05/12/08-08/20/08
MPD588 - Custom Mousepad $5.88/ea, free shipping 05/15/08-12/31/08
WTH688 - Custom Watch $6.88/ea, free shipping 04/19/08-07/15/08
D12X18 - $14.99 for 10pcs 12x18 prints, free shipping 04/01/08-06/30/08
PPC588 - $5.88 for a deck of photo playing card,free shipping 04/01/08-05/31/08

I'm going to go get my FREE pictures and take advantage of some of those great discounts, especially with Father's day coming up!

PLAY BALL!

2008-06-03T17:20:00.004-06:00

Last night was Michelea's first t-ball game of the season! It's the second year she has played and she enjoyed it but Jeremy and I are thinking that maybe we should have put her in coach pitch because it just seems 'too easy' for her so early on in the season. She does really like it though so that is good!
Here are just a few pics of the first game.
Before the game!

Batter up!

What a hit!

Safe on 2nd!

What a goof!

Waiting for a runner!

Ya gotta have fans!

She has many more games this month, 2 times a week in fact and I am hoping and praying that the weather around here will decide to warm up to at least the mid 80s
and for Heaven's sakes QUIT RAINING so that we can have some nice weather for summer!

"Brandi needs"

2008-06-02T13:07:00.004-06:00

I stole this from Heather who stole this from Stephanie who stole it from someone else. It pretty funny and very easy! All you do is google your name and the word needs, both surrounded in quotations. I googled "Brandi needs" and this is what I got:

Brandi needs a home!

Brandi needs your positive vibes Community Support.

Brandi needs to get thyself to a counselor, clergyperson or at least someone who will tell her honestly that she herself has created this mess! ...

Brandi Needs Drinks.

Sounds to me like Brandi needs to disappear into the woodwork again -- or maybe she just needs a restraining order.

Brandi needs to be encouraged to continue her basketball skills

Brandi needs a permanent family who will be involved in her therapy

Wow... by the looks of things, Brandi needs her own cruise

Brandi needs money so she can bless others in Uganda!

Brandi Needs ... daily medication.

Brandi needs to turn 1 more or gain 10 more Zombie points to reach the next level: ... Brandi has no Zombie underlings... Brandi needs to bite some chumps.

Button, button who's got the button?

2008-05-30T08:57:00.002-06:00

NOT Dakota! That's right, she got her button for her feeding tube taken out yesterday! YAY! It's been there for 3 1/2 years but it's finally gone!
We were at the Dr's office and the hospital litterally ALL DAY but it was sooooo worth going to the appointment at 11:30 am, waiting in the waiting room for 1 1/2 hours then another 30 min in the exam room, another 30 min in the waiting room for the orders to have the surgery for the button removal, (she had to be sedated so she had to go to the Pediatric ICU) and another 1 hr and 15 min to have the Dr come in and take the button out and we finally left at 4 pm, but who cares, we won't ever have to go back to that Dr. and wait in the office again!
The button was out in a matter of 1 sec, that's all it took just a hard tug, one or two screams, a few more tears, and lots of hugs from mommy. Thanks to a wonderful drug called Versed she won't remember a thing! Jeremy and I had a good time laughing with her before the Dr. came because it made her REALLY loopy and she was really enjoying it!
The wound is closing very quickly and it looks as though she will have another 'inny' belly button. She is facinated by the sounds that the hole in her tummy is making and she has discovered that if she distends her tummy it will make a umm 'farting' sound, and she quickly blames it on daddy or whoever happens to be around. Silly girl, ya gotta love her!

Another beautiful day!

2008-05-28T09:00:00.004-06:00

Monday we had a chance to go up to Jeremy's mom's house and spend the day with his brother and younger sister and their families. It was a beautiful day in the mid 60's and we had such a wonderful time! We got a few pictures of the kids riding the horses but forgot to take the camera with us when we went up trail riding up the mountain on the 4 wheelers. It was such a beautiful view of the valley with the mountains all around us!
Here are a few of the pics that I did capture!

Please excuse me....

2008-05-27T11:08:00.002-06:00

I feel the need to get sick....
The price of gas here is making me sick.. SICK! SICK! SICK! Gas has gone up .20 in ONE WEEK and I can just about guarantee you that it will be at $4.00 by the end of this week. It went up .06 from Monday to today, Tuesday and won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
Ok, vent over...I just had to get it out.

Read any good dreams lately?

2008-05-23T09:21:00.002-06:00

Yes I said dreams not books. I had the most wonderful dream last night! Click here to read it in my new sewing blog! It's more of a fabric blog right now but it will soon become a sewing blog as it is rightly named! :o)

Enjoy!

I would love to know.....

2008-05-12T17:35:00.003-06:00

Which country song I have playing here on my blog that my dad and brother is talking about but I sure as heck DO NOT know.
In the mean time I'll give you the opportunity to watch the video to one of my favorite songs. (just make sure you hit pause on my playlist so that you aren't hearing two songs at once.)
Dad, Brian...I'm sure you won't mind if Tim McGraw sings with Def Leppard would you?

Why I love Mother's Day......

2008-05-09T17:14:00.005-06:00

Dakota come home from pre-school yesterday with a beautiful Mother's day gift for me! The kids had painted pots for their moms and then planted seeds in the pot.
On Thursday they made the sweet signs for the plants, she even cut out the squares, (she's very good at cutting with both her right and left hands!) and pasted them on herself!

I didn't see the back of the sign until this morning and was thrilled at what kind of flower it is!

FINALLY!

2008-05-04T19:35:00.003-06:00

We finally have some warm weather! It was so nice and sunny out this weekend and actually warm enough to not have to wear even a sweatshirt at 10:00 in the morning! Who wants to wear a sweatshirt when it's 66 degrees anyways? :o)
I guess that means I'll be buying some more capris and getting both me and Michelea some cute flip flops! Dakota on the other hand will be a lot harder to find sandals for because of her leg braces but that's a whole different story!
I think I've decided what my next sewing project will be for the girls! I haven't started it yet and haven't found a pattern yet but it seems pretty easy so I may not even need one!

What have I've been up to lately?

2008-05-02T10:46:00.005-06:00

Well quite a bit you might say! I spend my days sewing for the girls, (quite a bit lately)

That's just a few outfits I've sewn, there's many more, I just don't have room to post them all!

In August Jeremy and I went on a cruise to Labadee, Haiti and Nasauu, Bahamas, (alone!) which was wonderful! A little windy and overcast at times, (thank to Hurricane Dean) but we enjoyed every minute of the time alone, even though I missed the girls immensely by the first full day we were out to sea. What happens if one of them gets hurt and I'm not there!
School started in August for Michelea and pre-k in September for Dakota along with all of her therapys, (Occupational, Speech, Physical and Developmental.) In late October she got some fancy leg braces to help her walk without her walker, (she was dragging her toes when she walked and couldn't walk on her own) and two days later what do you know....she was stompin along like a big girl! YEAH DAKOTA! She still has her braces and can walk barefooted but she's dragging her right foot so she'll have to wear her braces a while longer, but that's okay! :)

We went to Bear Lake, UT and Salt Lake City, UT after Christmas to visit a friend of mine and her family and to visit Jeremy's dad and step-mom at their cabin at Bear Lake! SO BEAUTIFUL!

Me and Steph at Temple Square!

Then in January Jeremy's boss let us, Jeremy's brother and his family and some mutual friends of ours and their family stay the weekend the weekend and we all went snowmobiling up in Donnely, Idaho! We had a great time sledding on Lake Cascade! (Yes the lakes do freeze thick enough to go snomobiling on them!)

Jeremy likes to show off. (insert rolling eyes smiley here)

The first comment I get about me looking like a Pink Power Ranger I'm deleting it!

We had LOTS of snow this year, as I'm sure most all of you did and Michelea had TWO snow days at school. Suprisingly she was thoughouly drepressed, yes depressed that she didn't get to go to school. :o( But after 8 inches of new snow the day before and building her very first snowman, (yes it was her very first snowman for this 6 yr old believe it or not!) she was quite content and forgot all about school! LOL!

Last week Jeremy and I went to our first concert in 9 years, (last one we went to was LoneStar) and we saw Def Leppard! What a great time we had! The guest bands were Styx and REO Speedwagon and they were great as well! It's amazing how great they all look and sound after 25+ and 30 + years together!

Schools out next month for the summer and Michelea is begging me to have an end of the school year slumber party with all of her cousins here who went to school. We're still thinking cuz that's 6 cousins we'd be inviting! We told her we'd pray about it! Could ya'll pray for us if we decide to give her the party? LOL!

So there you have it! That is a small tidbit of what we've been up to, of course there's lots more! Our trip to Yellowstone, our many camping trips, and halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas last year!

Happy May Day!

2008-05-01T15:00:00.004-06:00

Happy May Day to you all and Happy Anniversary to Jeremy! Yep, that's right 10 years ago Jeremy and I were married! Doesn't seem like that long ago because I remember quite vividly all of the events of the day from my morning appt with my hairdresser who didn't show up (AACK!)to the 85 degree temperatures, and here the weather has gotten no higher than 78 which was only 3 days ago.....sigh.
The ten years that Jeremy and I have had together have been wonderful! Our first years were spent in Pcatello while Jeremy went to ISU and then we moved back to SW Idaho and settled here in Middleton where we started our family. Our daughters Michelea and Dakota came into our lives in 2001 and 2004 (respectively) and have brought us much joy and happiness to our home.
We look towards the future and towards the many more anniversaries we will share with one another!
Did I tell you what we have planned on doing to celebrate?

YEP! We're going Skydiving! Crazy huh? Well you know me.