Blog Gems 2

Well, it's been a little while since I posted. And I'm warning you right now that this is going to be a long one! First of all, here's a little update: for those of you who don't know, my back and hip have a had a few complications lately, but as I'm typing this my hip is almost completely back in socket. Who knows how long it'll last, but I'll take what I can get! Jefferson just started working in a new department today. I hope he likes it. His last department was pretty boring. But we're grateful to have jobs! I'll update more later, but in the meantime, it's time for the 2nd installment of Blog Gems!

First up is this amazing video of my friends' little girl. She is 2 years old and can list off all of the 12 apostles! It is seriously awesome. We had her do it for us in person over Christmas and our favorite was "Elder Smurflin." I only wish my 14 year old Sunday School kids could have done this! :) You can check it out here.
The next jewel I found was a post about electricity. I like it because I was so scared of these electrical boxes when I was younger.

Electricity: The Meanest Utility on the BlockNearly every house we walk past has a large electricity box (unit? housing? doo-dad? I'm useless) the size of a small dog house planted in the front yard. There is an ominous warning label on the outside that looks like this:

I love how aggressive and angry they make electricity look in this picture. It gives you the impression that electricity has the same disposition as a rabid, ill-tempered, hungry wolverine that will sucker punch you from behind without warning or provocation. These electrical boxes are double reinforced and locked with one of those huge locks that can withstand a bullet from a .45 Magnum. You would seriously have to be MacGyver or a bored raccoon to get the thing opened and expose yourself to possible electrical harm. Instead of making electricity look like the bad guy, I think the label should show an apologetic blob of electricity saying, "Dude! I tried to warn you! This is all on you, homie." The person smoldering on the ground would be wearning a dunce cap.

(Posted by NMHusbands)

The third one is from my friend Jayne's brother, who didn't have health insurance. I know how that feels! Every time Jefferson walked out the door, I would wince, knowing he was about to go play some sport and come back with a broken ankle or fall on another electrical box from a roof. Oh my gosh! Those ARE dangerous! Anyway, this guy said he was feeling a bit like a hypochondriac without his insurance.

Me at night with the slightest little pain in my abdomen area:"Oh crap, is that my appendix exploding. I think it just ruptured. Yep, i'm almost positive it JUST ruptured. But i have no insurance!! Ah heck, Mitch, just lay here and die. You can't afford to live"

"Wait a minute.....what tha......is that a pain below my belly button.....yes.....it IS rather sensitive there. Ah CRAP mitch, remember when Joey on friends had a hernia? That's where he said it was!! Check to see if there's a bump there (scanning entire abdomen area.......................still scanning) Wait a minute........yeah....yeah i can feel something there(currently performing the "Crunch Test". Flexing my stomach to see if it hurts anymore when i flex). Crap, i have a freaking Hernia. Again i tell myself. Just lay here and die, you can't afford to live"

Good News!! I'M NOW INSURED!! THANKS STATE FARM!!!!

Haha. You can see Mitch's blog here.

This one isn't a post, but another picture from The Wilkinson Quints. I guess this picture is actually NOT funny- especially if you're the one making the bottles! But this is a day's supply of bottles for quintuples. WOW.

Now. I had my favorite one here at the bottom but then I realized.... who is still reading this, anyway? So I am saving it for a little later this week. I will also post an embarrassing story about me that is... awesome. :) See ya!

On my wishlist

I LOVE these boots from Target. They have a whole collection out right now. And these kids boots? Are you kidding me? We sure have come a long way since strictly yellow rain gear. I only wish it rained once in a while in Denver!

Grandma

We said goodbye to Grandma Hoff this month (for a little while) and I've been thinking about some of the fun times we had while she was here. It wasn't easy, but we got a lot of laughs out of some of the things she said! Here are our top 5:

5. We had a girls night out the last night she was here and went to see Bride Wars. I told her "it's a story about two best friends who try to sabatoge each others' weddings. So it's just silly, but hopefully we'll get some good laughs out of it." She replied "Or some good ideas, at least!" ..... "Uh, how many weddings are you planning on sabatoging, Grandma?" "Oh, you never know." Haha. After the movie I said there were some great ideas in there and she told me that was a terrible thing to say!

4. The time my sweet, loving grandma who would never hurt a flea, told someone how to incapacitate a human or animal by shooting off their kneecaps when you're hunting.

3. My mom and grandma & I were at an Enrichment. "Isn't this lovely?" my mom asked. "I'd rather be in hell!" exclaimed grandma. As we left a half an hour later she said it was a very uplifting time.
(This was when she insisted on tasting some lemons at dinner)

2. We were all sitting around my Grandma Allison's house when Grandma Hoff started telling us about how they have giant dogs roaming around the temple at night for their security system. As she got more and more in-depth, my cousin & I had to leave the room so we could bust up laughing. Afterwards, my uncle Chris just said "I'm thinkin'.... no."

And my #1 favorite thing she did....

1. Before Christmas, she was asking for something to do. My mom gave her all the Christmas presents and the bows and said "How about you put one bow on each present and then put it under the tree?" Then the phone rang so she left to get it for a minute and when she came back, Grandma was in a chair crying. "What's wrong?" she asked. Grandma replied "I think I did something wrong. I did what I thought you asked and ripped off all the tags that say who they're to and from." So my mom had to unwrap each of the presents enough to figure out what it was and who it was from & to. :) I think this is funny because I didn't have to help. :)

Oh, dear. We love her! In other news, Jefferson officially put 31 grapes in his mouth at dinner last week.

Also, one of my favorite blogs, Making It Lovely, has a post about fixing up a funny little alcove in their nursery that I thought turned out so cute!

What goes on inside my mind

This is basically my life. I'm re-doing my work blog, website, this blog, and poking around online for breaks. To, you know, avoid cleaning and solving life problems. :)

The 138 Days of Christmas

I still don't have the pictures from other peoples' cameras, but here are the rest of mine. If anyone wants any, let me know! I usually don't do slide shows because some of my readers are unfamiliar with them... but I couldn't fit these all on one post. So you just click the arrows at the top of the slideshow to go through the pictures, grandma. :)

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"While snapping his fingers to a catchy beat, Frosty learns the consequences of rubbing two sticks together."

Merry Christmas

Yes, I am running a little big late. Oops. But Christmas this year was really fun! Our camera died halfway through vacation which is before I started feeling better from my cold, so I don't have the really good pictures yet that were taken on other peoples' cameras. There will definitely be a post to follow. But I still had a surprising amount of pictures left so I tried to condense them.

This was one of my favorite parts of the vacation. Jefferson had the dangerous idea to make a human totem pole. Just listen to them laughing!

The finished product

Ok, I still have a bunch more to post but I'll do it tomorrow. Merry late Christmas!