So little time . . . and a Fabulous Five on Sunday.

There is SO much that I have been wanting to write and SO LITTLE time to do it lately. It make me sad because I know that I would have to spend a whole lot of time to catch up, but I really want to have some things recorded. Maybe I'll just have to do it in installments and then by eventually I'll forget so many of the things, that I'll stop worrying about it! :)


SO. FIRST OFF.

COLDPLAY WAS INCREDIBLE!!! We went with Ben and Kelly (my brother and SIL) out to eat at Cafe Rio before the concert and then headed down to the Delta Center. (I know, I know, it actually called the Energy Something Something Center Arena or whatever, but it's still the Delta Center in my mind.) Can you believe how L-O-N-G it is between the time that you get there and the time that the main attraction plays??!! Seriously I think that it was at least 9:00 before Coldplay came out, but it was well worth the wait! If any of you ever, in your whole life, get an opportunity to go to one of their concerts, I HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend it!!! And if you are still not a Coldplay fan, I HIGHLY recommend that you pick up some of their albums. Start with Parachutes and then go from there. They are incredible! I honestly could have listened to them play the entire night. It was so much fun!!! Thank you Mom and Dad for watching our kids and getting them in bed!!!

SECOND ITEM OF BUSINESS.

I am finished with one of my projects that I've started, almost finished with the bathroom, and hoping to make some major progress toward completeing my third one on the way home from Mnt. Home today. I cannot wait to show you pictures of all three because I think that they are fabulous and I always love praise. :) Just kidding. I just know that you've all missed me so much in my blogging absence these past few weeks, that I'm excited to show you why you've had to sacrifice so much. :) LOL! I'm retarded, I know. :)

THIRDLY, Elsie has started saying and doing lots of funny things in the past couple of weeks. She now says,
Hi
Mama
Dada
Daddy
Owey
Ight (Light)
Out
Baba
A-dun
Ti-ty (Kitty)
Pi-ty (Pretty)
Ball
Papa
Tata (Nana or Banana)
Hot
Tee (Tree)

and many others that I just haven't figured out what they are yet. She is such a babbler. She talk, talk, talks all day long. So sweet. I love my little lady. She tries to copy just about anything that I name for her. She waves, gives kisses and hugs, nods and shakes her head, and blows kisses. As she was "helping" me make cream pies the other day, she was Mmmmmmm-ing and loving the tastes that I would give her of the filling. After a while I asked her if she thought we should stir the coconut in yet. She shook her her, no. So I asked her if she thought we should just eat it all instead. She nodded and opened her mouth for more. :)
When I show her something that she really likes, she OOOoooo's and when she tastes something she really likes, she Mmmmm's. She is such a funny little girl! She definitely has some attitude and at times can be quite the little stinker. She knows how to throw a fit with the best of them, but most of the time she is an angel.

FOURTHLY. (Yep, it's a word. :) I LOVE MY FAMILY!
Hazel and Lilie have had SO MUCH fun the past two weekends with their Grandmas, Grandpas, and cousins. I am so thankful that they are able to grow up with them in their lives. We aren't close enough that we get to see them all the time, but still get to see them often. Cousins are so fabulous! I've never seen anything like the friendships that cousins can automatically have.

I am eternally grateful for my own family, my parents, siblings, siblings-in-law, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, husband, and children, but I am also so very, very thankful for Nels's family. They are SUCH good people and I love them all dearly. I am so thankful to have been blessed with such a loving and supporting family-in-law. We are truly blessed.

(I just realized that I haven't done my fabulous five this past week and then thought about sticking it into this post. THEN I realized that this IS like a fabulous five . . . so here I am with numero cinco.)

FIFTHLY.
This fabulous, is based on funny little story I thought of as I'm writing these funny words like fourthly and fifthly.
As Hazel was keeping me company the other day while I was cleaning, she was naming off her siblings and their number - like,
H: "I'm your first baby, huh, Mom? And Lilie is your second baby and Elsie is your third baby. Our next baby will be fourth . . . what comes after that?"
Me: "Fifth"
H: "And what comes after that?"
Me: "I don't know if there will be, 'after that'! Silly girl!"
H: "What comes after fifth?"
Me: "Sixth. . . . . . . I don't know that we'll have that many kids though. That's a lot of kids."
H: "Yes. We have to have a lot of kids."
Me: "I don't know. I guess we'll see. I don't really think that's up to you. - - - How many kids do you think we'll have?"
H: "Ten."
Me: "Ten?! I REALLY don't think so! That's a LOT of kids, Hazel!" :)
H: (said with the sassiest, know-it-all voice a 5 year-old can muster) "Mom. We'll have as many kids as Heavenly Father tells us to."

There was more funny conversation after this, but the gist of this fifthly little fabuloso is this. I AM thankful that I have a relationship with my Heavenly Father that will let me know when "we're done" . . . . . and that I can rely on HIM for that . . . and not my five-year-old. :) LOL! What a funny little girl! She sure loves her family!

Coldplay!

I've just got to say how much I LOVE Coldplay's new album! You know, I have a lot of "favorites" - I'm pretty eclectic when it comes to music. --- I just can't understand how a person could only listen to one kind of music! There are SO many songs and genres that would be on the Soundtrack of my Life :) - music that defines different parts of me - at different times. Most of it is upbeat and simple -- some a little darker and moody -- some heavy -- a lot of rockin'! :) But as I was driving last night (and often) listening to Coldplay I decided that I could quite possibly stick them in a favorite band spot. I'm rarely NOT in the mood to listen to their incredible music -- so well composed with incredible lyrics - complex, but simple at the same time.

I am absolutely in LOVE with their new song - "Viva La Vida". So I am going to do something that I have heretofor not done. I am going to "force" you to listen to my music of choice! :) It just needs to be shared --- I can hold back no longer! --- I won't make it autostart on you for more than a couple of days! :)

I put some of my other favorites from Coldplay -- which in and of itself was unbelieveably difficult to only choose a few -- for you to enjoy, should you so desire.

(An exciting side note to this post - Nels and I are going to a Coldplay concert in SLC in November with my big bro and SIL --- I'm so excited!!! :)

So, here's the fun and difficult part - because I think that music preferences can tell a lot about a person and I'm always interested in getting to know you all better - what is (or are) some of your favorites songs/bands? Something that defines a part of you . . . ?

I'll start - aside from Coldplay, I LOVE the Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, the Killers, Tom Petty (particularly the Wildflowers allbum), Fidelity (and a few others) by Regina Spektor, Crystal Ball by Keane, a lot of Country (I love to sing along with Country songs), Toadies (Hell Below/Stars Above album), Just Like Heaven by The Cure, the Pixies (really like Here Comes Your Man and a couple others on that album), a few Rilo Kiley songs, a LOT of Oldies, a little Disco . . . and SO many more!!!

You can list as many or as few as you'd like, but you have to put something!!! :)

I've had a revelation!

Today was just one of those perfect days.

Today we went to visit some old friends and it was so great. Mike Siddoway was Nels' roommate in college and we have been good friends ever since. Mike married his lovely wife, Hayley, a few years ago and have a BEAUTIFUL little girl named Paige.

This past week Mike's little brother, Tom, got home from a mission to Arkansas - so Mike and Hayley were up from Corpus Cristi, TX to visit. Today there was a party at Mike's parents' house in Mud Lake and it was SO great to see all those Siddoways! They are such a fabulous family!

The first time I met Mike's family was when Nels and I were in the early stages of dating. We went out to Mud Lake for a little break from college life. We shot shotguns, watched "Bill Cosby - Himself", and met Mike's three youngest siblings and his parents. The triplets were only 15 at the time - Frank (Mike's dad) was sitting on the couch, spread eagle in his long johns - and Joan was so welcoming that it was like coming home - without being at home. :) Over more than 6 years Nels and I have had many wonderful days spent in the Siddoway home. Often with some form of service being rendered and being stuffed to the gills with really GOOD, old farm food (i.e. - lamb, steak, eggs, potatoes . . .). It's been fun to get to be a part of such a wonderful family! They've acted as a hotel at times and often a surrogate family - even inviting us to Thanksgiving dinner one year! :) We've since gotten to meet Wade (who was on a mission for the first two years of our knowing Mike) and his wonderful wife, Brianna.

Today we were fed and then got to spend the rest of the day surrounded by good friends - playing games, laughing, lighting fireworks, jumping on the trampoline, playing in the dirt, and watching caterpillars! :) As Nels and I were driving home tonight, we talked about this wonderful family. I have never been any other place in the world where I have felt more at home - other than actually being with our own families. I love these people! Thank you all SO much!

Okay, so here's the part of this post that actually has to do with my post title. :)


We were driving home tonight - a little after sunset. The weather had cooled to a nice comfortable temperature. The windows were down. As we drove through all the little farming communities on the way the smell of Russian Olives and fresh cut hay wafted around us. The wide, sprawling fields are still covered in beautiful green wheat. The kids were in the back - all sleeping - and we were listening to Coldplay



As we sped along, through the beautiful smells and beautiful sunset, we could feel the air cool as we passed each field with its center pivots watering away. The wild grasses are still green, thanks to all the rain this Spring, and the sage brush is still pretty this early in the year. It was a BEAUTIFUL evening!

In this moment it occurred to me, I LOVE IDAHO. Amazing, isn't it? Weird. Utah, with it majestic mountains, will ALWAYS feel like home. But I have come to truly love Idaho with its large, rolling farms, gorgeous sunsets, and down to earth people. I feel so thankful that the Lord has put us here at this time in our lives! What a blessing.