A Tribute to Comet

As I cleaned the house yesterday I was reminded once again, how lucky I am to have Comet cleanser. It really and truly is my favorite cleaning product. It is a very deep cleaner that gets out so much more than normal spray products. The reason I love it so much is because I get to scrub and scrub and scrub so many surfaces until things are spotless. It leaves no residue or filmy build-up, and contains bleach to disinfect. How much greater can it be? There's nothing like a sparkling clean bathtub after a good Comet clean. And yes, I am being totally serious.

How Did This Happen?

I know many people are already familiar with the picture above. I had seen it more times than I can count from people raving about it for a long, long time. I'm not sure the reason why I steered clear of this series. The whole vampire love story motif just wasn't that appealing to me. Hello, I'm more cultured than that! Well, I finally picked up Twilight after the billionth recommendation and I have to say, I didn't want to like it.

The book started out fine, but I still didn't understand what all the fuss was about. By the time I was halfway through I couldn't stop and, just like that, it was done. By the end of the day I couldn't stop thinking about it. I HAD to keep going. I read the series in less than a week and have to say, this past week my thoughts were completely consumed with Edward and Bella. The series was extremely well written, captivating, and full of surprises. I think what really sucked me in was the way the author brings the characters to life. They were so real, and I wanted to be a part of every bit of the action.

Now that I'm done I am sad that I have to wait so long for Breaking Dawn, the final book of the series, to be released. Not to mention Midnight Sun, a re-write of Twilight from Edward's perspective. In the meantime I have to satisfy myself with book discussions and author Stephenie Meyer's website. I don't want to do any blog posts about the series to refrain from spoiling it for anyone else, but call me if you want to talk about it! Oh, and if you haven't read it yet just break down and DO IT!

Money Matters

I was sitting on the couch reading a book when Macie came up to me and said, "Mom, I dollar." (Macie uses the word I for I want or my). Her uncle Kip was laughing behind her, and she just kept repeating herself very intently. "Mom, I dollar." Apparently Kip told her to ask her mom and dad for a dollar because he thought it would be funny. The funny part was, Macie had no idea what a dollar was, but she knew it was something that Josh and I had and she wanted to have it! Dang uncles. I told her that I didn't have a dollar, and since Josh didn't either, Kip finally gave her one himself. He held it up and said, "Look Macie, here's a dollar!" She took it from him, put it on the ground and colored on it. I guess money doesn't mean much to a toddler.

Happy Birthday Josh!

...last Thursday (Nov. 1st) that is. I'm just now getting to post the pictures because I had to do Halloween first and there's no time and excuses, excuses. I'm finally getting used to the idea of his birthday being the day after Halloween. I get busy with Halloween things and have to make sure all the birthday presents, parties, food, etc. are also ready before Halloween. But after all that, we always have a great time.

Since Macie was sick Halloween night, we decided to take it easy on Josh's birthday. She was definitely doing better when she helped Dad unwrap his new 80gb ipod in the morning.


To celebrate Josh hitting the big 26 we decided to go out to dinner with family, and then have a party the next day on Friday night. We went to Claim Jumper for some delicious food with my brother Ben and his family, my sister Mel and her family, Josh's brother Chad and his wife, and Josh's parents and 2 siblings. We had a huge table! Friday night we partied at our house with appetizers, birthday cake, and a few games. It was fun to get together with so many friends and have a house big enough to do it! The girls won the games (pictionary and catch phrase), as usual, while the guys insisted we were cheating, as usual. Sore losers is all I have to say about that. Macie was up for the beginning of the party and was very excited about all the people. It meant a lot of cell phones to talk on and shoes to wear. She was so cute! At one point she walked into the kitchen with a pair of high heels and a cell phone in hand...that's my girl!

Every year I make Josh's favorite, a lemon-glazed cake. And every year I get better at making it. I'm not a big fan of cake, but this one tasted pretty good! Macie was THRILLED to see the cake all lit up (literally) and everyone singing happy birthday. It is one of her favorite songs.

All in all we had a wonderful week of Halloween and birthdays and look forward to things slowing down again before Thanksgiving creeps up on us. So happy late birthday to my favorite guy who is the best husband in the world and cutest dad around. We love our Joshy!

Not So Happy Halloween

I'm not sure what it is about holidays and getting sick, but I'm starting to see a pattern. Macie woke up Halloween morning and I thought she felt really warm. Josh thought it was because the house was warm, and later she felt fine. After her nap she woke up hot again and seemed cranky. She even told me her tummy was hurting. Later in the day she seemed happy and was outside playing with the neighbors, so I assumed she was doing alright. That evening we went to my uncle's house in Eagle Hills, as is our De La Paz tradition, for lots of good food and cousins to play with. While there I noticed she was on the downhill again because she wouldn't eat dinner and just cried for about 15 minutes until she threw up. Poor Macie! Luckily she was outside and luckily Josh was holding her...ha! I felt so bad because we (more like I) was so excited to get pictures with all of her cousins in her cute costume. Also, the neighborhood goes all-out with crazy decorations, haunted houses, and awesome candy. You'd have to see it! Sadly we packed up and went home so Macie could rest and not get anyone else sick. On the 4th of July all 3 of us had an awful stomach flu that lasted for days, luckily this time it was very mild and only Macie had it.

I snapped this picture before we got in the car to go to Beto's house. My Macie is too cute! And yes, notice the un-fallish outfit. The weather here is warm and oh so nice!

This is right after the sickness incident while Josh was packing up the car. Luckily we were in the backyard where clean-up was minimal! My poor girl even had her duck feet on. What a trooper.


I needed a family picture from this year's festivities (I'm really bad at getting picts with all 3 of us). Yes, Josh had a clean shirt on for this.

See below for actual shots of our duck in action!

My Little Quacker

I'm finally posting some pictures of the cutest little duck around. Last week we went to 2 trunk-or-treats, our ward and Josh's parents' ward. Macie enjoyed following the kids around and being part of all the commotion. When we walked around to get candy I showed her how to hold up her pumpkin and say "treat." She decided that was easier than trying to say trick or treat. Anyway, after the candy was put in her pumpkin she would stare at it while I moved her along to the next car. It didn't take long for her to get the hang of it and she enjoyed the process of her pumpkin getting filled with stuff. Oddly enough, she didn't know it was candy until one lady said, "Here's some candy for the cute little ducky." At that point Macie perked right up and screamed "CANDY!" I had to calm her down and convince her to continue to put it in the pumpkin so we could continue. When we got home I went through it all and only kept 1 bag of animal crackers and chips ahoy cookies for her. She never asked for the candy again. I'm not trying to be mean, but I know kids love candy and I'm trying to keep Macie away from it for as long as possible. She does know that "candy" means something good, but I'm not sure who taught it to her or where she had some!


One of the parties had an actual "train" (barrels on wheels pulled behind a 4-wheeler) that Macie couldn't get enough of. She cried when she had to get off! I wasn't quite sure about the safety when I saw it, but I was eventually convinced and Macie wouldn't have taken no for an answer anyway. That's my girl!

This last picture is quite hilarious. Josh felt left out and was determined to get his 6'3.5" body into the barrel for a train ride. He is, after all, one really big kid. Macie spends the ride holding on as demonstrated below, and laughing while yelling "weeeeee!" the entire time.

Family Pictures

Click here to see how good we look.

Toddler Turned Terrible!

I think Macie is onto the fact that she's now closer to age 2 than 1. The terrible 2's that is. Today we had family pictures taken and I was not prepared for my sweet little Macie's mood. We took them in a gorgeous area behind the JW with grass, waterfalls, flowers, etc. At first Macie was a normal, busy, curious little girl. Very cute and cooperative. It wasn't long before the tables were turned and she was whining, crying, clingy, and refusing to smile. I was pretty surprised because that is not typical Macie behavior. I guess it's rough when you're used to doing your own thing all day and your mean parents make you do something different. Poor, poor Macie.

We should see the pictures in a week so I'll post a link then. By the way, my good friend Anna is an excellent photographer and I'm sure the pictures will be great, even if our faces might not be! She was very patient with Macie and deserves a special shout out for her hard work.

This picture was taken back in the day when my toddler was more cooperative (about 2 weeks ago.) Don't be fooled.

Something Fishy

A bit more from our trip to Genoa...

At Lake Tahoe there is a place you can go (I forgot the name of the creek) to see the salmon. It's pretty neat to see so many fish. There is an underground observer area so you can see the salmon up close and personal. Macie enjoyed trying to grab them though the glass.

Anytime new people came walked down to see the salmon they would always wave at Macie. Since she thrives on attention, she would run to the glass pointing and say "FISH!!!" Then she would laugh at herself.

What a cute family! We took this after seeing the salmon.

Afterwards we went to a restaurant called Fire & Ice at the bottom of the Heavenly resort ski lift. It was so cool! You grab a bowl, fill it with different kinds of meat or seafood, vegetables, and other good stuff. Then you choose your sauce and take it over to a giant round grill where you watch them cook your food. It's fun entertainment and great food. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of Macie on the phone while we waited for our table. She is now starting to have real conversations on the phone. Here's an example: "Helloooo Macie. Doing?" That girl is so funny!

Come Fly With Me

The past 3 weekends have been very busy for us but so much fun! I'm going to try to catch up on our recent activities. Last weekend when we were in Genoa we went on an impromptu plane ride. After conference on Sunday we were outside playing volleyball when a young family from the ward drove up. They are building a house on my parents' street and were driving by to check the progress. The husband, Rob, used to be a flight instructor and now has a private plane. Josh was very glad to meet him because he really wants to get his pilots license. Anyway, after talking a bit my dad asked how the flight over Lake Tahoe looks, and Rob offered to take us up to see. We drove the entire 10 minutes to the Minden airport (so much closer than the hour to Reno!), parked in front of the hangar and jumped on the plane. Rob took up Josh and I and my mom and dad on his 6-seater plane. Josh jumped in front and as soon as we took off Rob had him take the controls. He had the time of his life! I, on the other hand, was scared to death with Josh at the controls. He did great and it was actually pretty neat. The flight over Lake Tahoe is absolutely gorgeous! I have to admit that having your own plane is pretty handy.

Josh the co-pilot in action before take-off.

My dad and I before take-off. My smile quickly faded once I felt the first bump in the air as we took off. That is the downfall to small planes. Really, it wasn't that bad and by the end of the flight I enjoyed it.