100 things

I was tagged, and I have to write a hundred random facts about myself. It's actually really hard to come up with a hundred things to write about yourself, so some of these are actually about my husband and my kids, as well.

1. I am the oldest of seven children.
2. Adam is the youngest of eight.
3. Adam is four years older than me.
4. When we first met I was seventeen and he had only been home from his mission for about four months.
5. I had my first baby, Anicka, three months before I turned twenty.
6. Anicka was three weeks early because
7. I had to have my gall bladder removed.
8. I spent my first mother’s day in the hospital because of it.
9. I’m not really sure how many kids I want to have.
10. Usually I say four, but at the moment I can’t imagine having more than two.
11. I want to write a book.
12. I think almost everyone wants to write a book.
13. All of my teachers used to read my stories and essays out loud to the class, and it made feel as if I was an amazing writer.
14. Now I know that I’m just average, but I still want to write a book.
15. Actually, I’ve started writing three books, but I have yet to finish one.
16. I just haven’t found a story that feels promising enough, yet.
17. (Really I’m just bad at finishing projects)
18. I get really excited about a project, and then by the time I’m halfway through it it’s not exciting enough anymore, and I’m on to something else.
19. Sometimes I go back and finish projects.
20. But not usually.
21. I am participating in NaNoWriMo in order to get a jump start on a story that I’ve had in my head for a while. Maybe I’ll finish this one.
22. Once I had some of my poetry published in a hokey anthology.
23. It felt like an enormous accomplishment at the time.
24. I started taking college classes when I was fourteen years old,
25. but I still haven’t finished my associates degree
26. because I didn’t take classes all that seriously.
27. Now I wish that I had tried harder, and taken advantage of the opportunity that I had to finish early. Sorry, Mom.
28. I am planning to finish school as soon as we either have the money to spare for tuition or are able to get a grant.
29. Sometimes I think that won’t ever happen.
30. I want to get a teaching certificate.
31. But I don’t know if I still want to be a teacher.
32. I think it’s very rewarding to be a stay-at-home mom.
33. Maybe I’ll want to teach once my children are all grown and don’t need me anymore.
34. That’s a sad thought.
35. When I was growing up my family always had horses, and I spent most of my free time on horse back,
36. but ever since I had Anicka it terrifies me to be on a horse.
37. It’s very frustrating, and I wish I wasn’t such a wimp.
38. I go crazy if I can’t do something artistic at least once a day.
39. I like writing, oil painting, digital art, pencil drawings, jewelry making, crocheting and scrap booking.
40. I also love to read.
41. I devour books, and Adam is always amazed at how many books I read during an average month,
42. which is one a week, at the very least.
43. and that’s if they’re really big books, or if it’s a really busy week.
44. It’s not that I have tons of time to read, just that I read very quickly.
45. I’m really glad that Anicka loves books, too.
46. I know she’s only three, but I hope I can share my love of reading with her.
47. I love helping other people find books that they’ll like.
48. I am a homebody, and would usually rather curl up and read a book or watch a movie with my hubby than go out and socialize.
49. I am a bit socially awkward, but I love people.
50. Sometimes people think that I’m stuck up.
51. I’m not, I’m usually just thinking, or trying hard not to say something stupid.
52. I love the idea of parties, but feel uncomfortable once I am actually there.
53. I don’t do well in large crowds.
54. I get embarrassed very easily, and tend to think that people are always laughing at me.
55. I am a night owl, and I’m really grumpy first thing in the morning.
56. I love to watch musicals and go to plays.
57. I’m really lucky that Adam is nice enough to go with me, even though it’s not his favorite thing to do.
58. But he doesn’t even complain, because he knows how much I love theater.
59. He doesn’t complain when I want to watch a chick flick, either.
60. He even watches Moulin Rouge with me when I ask him to.
61. He’s really good at fixing and building things.
62. And he loves gardening.
63. Adam is amazing.
64. He always knows how to get me out of a bad mood and make me laugh.
65. Usually by doing something absolutely ridiculous.
66. like making up a really cheesy secret handshake and refusing to leave me alone until I help him perfect his technique.
67. He built a really beautiful entertainment center,
68. but it’s being used by his parents until we move into a house
69. because it’s really big and heavy and he doesn’t want to move it until we’re in a more permanent place.
70. I love to bake, but I hate cleaning up afterwards.
71. Adam always offers to do the dishes, but I always feel bad because our counters are really low and he has to bend down really far to reach the sink.
72. So I usually do the dishes.
73. Because I'm one foot and two inches shorter than him.
    
74. I don’t really mind washing the dishes, as long as I can listen to my mp3 player while I’m doing it.
75. I don’t like being interrupted when I’m washing the dishes, because I lose my momentum.
76. My least favorite chore is cleaning the toilet.
77. I had to clean the toilets every weekend when I was growing up.
78. Now Adam cleans the toilets.
79. He also takes turns changing dirty diapers when he’s home.
80. Ryker has really bad poopy diapers that tend to go clear up his back.
81. I’m sure you all really wanted to know that.
82. Ryker likes to have something soft against his face when he’s sleeping.
83. He likes it when his sister sings to him.
84. He started rolling over on soft surfaces (like the bed) about three weeks ago.
85. Yesterday he rolled over for the first time while he was on the floor.
86. He is very different than Anicka was as a baby.
87. Ryker is very easy going, and Anicka was very stubborn.
88. Anicka is still very stubborn.
89. The most stubborn person I have ever met, actually.
90. But she is also very sweet and she loves to make people laugh.
91. Her favorite game to play is ‘Pirates’. She will fill a box with ‘Treasure’ and then dress me up as a pirate, draw a map, and take me on a treasure hunt.
92. She has a really great imagination.
93. She is very friendly and takes to people easily.
94. Her favorite movie is Wall-E
95. Her favorite song is twinkle little star
96. She really loves bath time, until it’s time to actually clean her.
97. And then she really hates bath time.
98. Especially the part where she has to get her hair wet.
99. Ryker really loves baths and splashes around a lot when he’s in the tub.
100. Giving him a bath is a good way to calm him down when he won’t stop fussing.

And that's a hundred. Wow, that really took an inordinate amount of time.
I am now supposed to tag three people. I know Ash already did this a while ago, so I'm going to tag Tiffany, Evie and Heather. Get on it, girls!

I can't seem to think of a title for this post

I don't have too much to say, just a few pictures to upload.

Ryker found his thumb yesterday. He has always liked sucking on his fists, and once when he was just a couple of weeks old he got a hold of his thumb on accident, but yesterday he realized that he can stick it in his mouth whenever he wants to.


And it looks like it is becoming a habit:

I know, I know, thumb sucking is a bad habit and it can cause problems later and all that, but... it's just so cute.

And here is Ryker illustrating his passion for television. He arches clear around to try and watch cartoons with Anicka


And yet another picture of my goofy daughter dressing up in random things... "look, mom! I'm sooo bootiful!"

Halloween pics

Anicka was a cute little cowgirl
She fell asleep on the way to leeds.


Eric pretends that he has hair like Jesse's:




My dad even got into the halloween spirit. His make up looked really awesome in person. And he did it all himself!
And toward the end of the evening we happened upon one of the Knights Who Say 'Ni'. He had wandered into the village looking for a shrubbery...