a few of my favorite things

okay- i've been tagged at least twice now, and i need to get to it.

8 TV shows I love to watch:
1. house
2. one tree hill
3. how i met your mother
4. gray's anatomy
5. smallville
6. private practice
7. the office
8. friends- always!

8 favorite restaurants:
1. cheesecake factory
2. carino's
3. cheddars
4. schmaltz
5. on the border
6. chili's
7. logan's
8. little mexico (in temple)

8 things that happened today:
1. did some housework (don't ask me what- i've already forgotten)
2. went to the grocery store in the crazy thanksgiving rush
3. had lunch at my mom's
4. took everett to see mimi
5. took lorelei to see high school musical 3- and it was fabulous!
6. decorated cookies to look like turkeys
7. hung out with my in-laws and had lots of fun
8. shopped for a new free phone online

8 Things I am Looking Forward to:
1. everett's first birthday party
2. the wedding of my cousin wendy and her fiance' dave
3. returning to teaching middle or high school someday
4. christmas shopping, songs, eggnog and decorations
5. the birth of my nephew wallace in march
6. healthy babies for my sister and preggo friends
7. the days when each of my kids accept christ
8. the day i get to fall alseep at night without 2 baby monitors in my room

8 Things on My Wishlist:
1. lorelei completely getting past her sleep issues for good
2. a weekend away with jeremy
3. baby watwood #2
4. more time with my girlfriends
5. to take a cake decorating class
6. to slow time and be able to enjoy every minute of my kids' "babyhood"
7. a new fm transmitter for my ipod
8. new clothes that fit and don't have formula stains

***i have no one to tag b/c they have all been tagged already.

i'm so excited!

finally, after almost 4 years of being a mother, i'm going to be an aunt! twice! my brother and sister-in-law robert and leslie are getting ready to welcome a sweet baby boy in early march, and i can't wait. then, in june, my sister and brother-in-law stephanie and ryan will be having their first child as well.

leslie and robert

i'm just about to pop with excitement, and i'm saying multiple prayers a day for healthy pregnancies and babies. i have to say that i have selfishly decided that i might like it if steph and ryan have a girl so that lorelei won't be the only one in the family. i feel that i can safely announce my desire because the day my sister found out i was pregnant the first time she put in her request for a niece. she said she wouldn't know what to do with a boy. so- i suppose i'm returning the favor now. somebody really needs to wear all the frilly little clothes in have boxed up in my attic.

ryan, stephie and lorelei ( 2 yrs. ago)

being an aunt sounds great because you get to spoil the babies, cuddle them, then send them home with their parents. but- i must say that i have alot to live up to in this department. my kids have 3 aunts and 4 uncles, and they are all amazing. they go above and beyond in so many ways, and my children can't wait to see them any time they come to visit. i suppose their extra time, patience and consideration for lu and rett has come naturally to them because they just love them so much. praise the lord for that! so- i know i won't have a problem falling in love with these 2 babies, as the infatuation has already begun just from seeing ultrasound pictures. i guess the rest of the "aunting" will just fall into place once i get to kiss their little button noses and hear their giggles and gurgles.

i also have 3 other dear friends due in the month of june, so it will be a big month around here. here's to getting babies to love without having to endure pregnancy and childbirth!

a pirate's life for me

i'm on a blogging roll today. i'm about typed out, but i had to share pics of my halloween cuties before christmas gets here. here's my tinkerbelle chasing a butterfly with friend sophie (ariel):

and here's our captain hook:

almost doesn't count

my sweet friend kylie "photo tagged" me so long ago that i had to go to her archives to find the blog where she stated the instructions. i almost responded to the challenge immediately, but didn't get to it then- or in the next couple of weeks that followed.

so here i am. rising to the occasion. finally. whoever coined the phrase "better late than never" must have been thinking of me because on any given day i could say that about myself more than once. anyway, on with the show. the instructions were to go to your 6th picture photo, find the sixth picture, and write about it. then tag 5 other people. i have to admit that i am so unorganized that on my desktop alone there are actually 6 folders that contain some type of unsorted, random photos- so here's what i found:

i realize that this picture desperately needs to be cropped, but i don't know how to do that on here. stop laughing- i'm still new to the blogging scene. anyway, there is beautiful scenery in the background.

this was taken last april on pacific beach in san diego. although i haven't framed it- or even printed it for that matter- it is no doubt precious to me. first of all because of the subjects involved. seeing my sweet husband jeremy holding my precious blessing lorelei on her first ever trip to the beach just makes my heart flutter. i adore that man and all the ways that he enriches my life and the lives of our children with his presence. as i write this, he is working late and i am missing him. lorelei had such fun on the beach that day, but the water was so cold that it scared her. her daddy, her hero, wasn't going to let her miss the experience of standing in the ocean with the waves crashing around her- so he carried her. safe from the frigid water temperature and snug in her daddy's arms, she was having a great adventure.

i also love this memory because san diego has such a special place in my heart. if i could live anywhere other than here- or possibly manhattan- san diego would definitely be the place. we've been vacationing there since i was a small child, and the smell of the ocean water is like valium to my soul.

the final reason why this trip meant the world to me was because we were there for my sister's wedding. this was the second time she had gotten married. in the one year. to the same man. i know what you're thinking, "mandy, you got some 'splainin' to do." stephanie and ryan were married in a small, beautiful, backyard wedding in july of 2007. though they had planned to marry later that year in a ceremony filled with family and friends from across the globe, they decided to move the wedding up because ryan is an officer in the marines, and he was being deployed to iraq in august. her returned home safely (praise god!) 8 months later, and we traveled back to SD to be present as they celebrated their incredible love story with the wedding of their dreams.

everything about that trip was great fun, and i can't think of a better memory than one filled with the people i love, in a place that i love, experiencing new things and celebrating together! thanks for tagging me, kylie. and i now tag jill, alison, tiffany, kyna and the forrest family.