Peyton Must Have Weird Dreams....

This morning Peyton woke up in panic mode. She was screaming and the second she got up she sprinted to the kitchen. I had no idea what was going on. I followed her, thinking she would want something to drink. She opened the refrigerator and I could tell she was looking for something specific. Her eyes got big and I could tell she had found what she wanted. Did she get the milk? Juice? A cheese stick, maybe? No, she did not. She pulled out a bag of pepperoni. She seemed so relieved once she was holding it. She proceeded to march to my bed and lay down and request Little Einsteins. She had no desire to eat the pepperoni. She just wanted to hold it. And she did. For an hour. She snuggled it like it was her teddy bear until she fell asleep. I have no idea where her sudden desire to cuddle processed meat came from, but I'm sure glad it's gone!

25 Things to Accomplish Before I Turn 25

So I was reading my friends' blogs and thinking about how they lead such impressing lives! They DO things. They accomplish things. They grow in so many aspects. They do new things. They go new places, AND they do this being just as poor as I am! I was looking over the last few years and trying to think of things I've done or ways I've grown. I know I've done things (had kids) and grown (4 pant sizes)...but I want to see a list of things and know that I did that. Does this make sense to anybody? I'm tired of "humdrum." Anyway, I have a list of things I am going to do/accomplish. Twenty-five things, to be exact. And a year from now when I turn twenty-five I will say, "Yep! These are the things I did this year!."

1) Run a 5K (emphasis on the word "run")
2) Start scrapbooks for Loralie and Peyton
3) Go to Lava Hot Springs and have fun
4) See a waterfall that isn't in Idaho Falls
5) Go swimming (would you believe I haven't gone swimming in almost 3 years!?)
6) Make a blanket (or maybe dresses for the girls (?) that is more than just a bunch of squares sewn together
7) Go to a dance (would you also believe that I have only ever danced with Chris ONE time?)
8) Potty train Peyton (this should be worth two spots)
9) Learn how to can something
10) Make a turkey dinner by myself...without botching the turkey
11) Go to the fair (or a zoo with giraffes. They are not really similar, I just want to do one of them)
12) Milk a cow or goat (always wanted to do that)
13) Grow something outside. Flowers? Peppers? Have not decided yet.
14) Visit a temple that I have not yet attended
15) Do the splits!
16) Make a cute craft that I can display in my house
17) Sing in front of people (something I haven't done in almost 4 years)
18) Get to the point where I only check Facebook 2 or 3 times a week
19) Go fishing
20)Go camping
21) Build something with a hammer and nails...like a shelf
22) Do genealogy and find 3 new ancestors
23) Read a classic book
24) Keep a journal
25) Surprise Chris with a romantic, candlelit dinner

Sometime this year I would also like to have a family picture taken where we don't look like the Clampetts. I am not going to make that a goal, though, since I cannot control the kiddlings.

These are all realistic goals (though many of them do not meet the goal standards set by social work professionals). Mostly simple, silly things, but my goals just the same. Please hold me accountable for these things, friends! I will update you on my progress!

Catch Ya Next Year, Carols!

I love that Peyton enjoys listening to the radio so much. She always likes to have it on. It is fun to see her get excited about songs that she likes. She dances around and has a blast. It is also interesting to see her reactions to songs she does NOT like. So many songs are familiar to her and when she hears the beginnings of songs that she doesn't care for, she marches over to the radio and pushes buttons until it turns off. I do the same thing.

Peyton and I especially love Christmas music and now that Christmas is over we are going to miss many Christmas songs very much. Not all songs, though. Here is a list of songs we are happy to stop hearing and will not miss at all (in no particular order).

1) Where Are You Christmas? Yuck! For reasons I don't quite understand, I just dislike this song.

2) Christmas Shoes Maybe I'm just cynical, but I don't see that really happening. If a boy's mom is dying, I don't think he'd busy himself right before Christmas by getting shoes for his mother. Also, if he wasn't old enough to count the change before paying for the shoes to see if there was enough money, should his father have let him go alone to a busy store during a busy time of year? No, I don't think so.

3) Any post-Beatles Beatles song. I'm talking about you, And So This Is Christmas and Wonderful Christmas Time. The first is kind of depressing to me and it makes me feel like I've spent the entire afternoon driving in a car that was too warm. And for the other, well, my Christmas time just doesn't feel wonderful when I listen to it.

4) My Grown-Up Christmas List- I feel like somebody tried too hard to make a Christmas song and just wrote what they thought everybody wanted to hear.

While we are glad to see these go, there are some songs that I just can't handle the idea of going a year without. Those songs are Breath of Heaven, Carol of the Bells, and the non-Jessica Simpson versions of Baby, It's Cold Outside. Peyton and I will continue listening to them all year....whenever Chris isn't around to wrinkle his nose at us:)

What are your favorites/least favorites?