The Great 2011 Update: September

In September, 

We visited Cody's sister, Brittany, and her family.

The only pictures we took were when we visited the water park by their house.

Preslie hates spraying water

And it was real sunny

I found another picture - Chloe, Mya, and Madi checking out the coy pond

 We fed the ducks by the Garden Grove library

Amy came to visit:

We went to the Orange County Swap Meet

We accidentally walked right in to a Japanese cultural fest. You had to have tickets to get it...that you paid for...We were honestly the only white people there and we didn't buy tickets. Woops.

These guys were screaming at the top of their lungs, "Ramen!!! Ramen!!!" We could not stop laughing.

We went to the beach where they were having a 9/11 memorial

And Downtown Disney

Cody flew to OK for his Grandpa's funeral

All the kids, except Cory, got to be there. I wish we all could've gone to say goodbye and be with the family. I heard it was a very special time together.

While he was gone, I took the girls to a park in Garden Grove my mom kept telling me about. 

 We were there most of the day and by the time we left, the girls were in definite need of a bath

But before we left, we found a bunch of bunnies!

That's it for September. Next is October, and it only gets busier from there!

Project 52: Week 2

All changes (which are few...) are in bold. I feel like I'm really doing great in some areas, and in others, I totally forgot things were on my list!

My 2012 Project 52.

1.Have 72 Hour kits for all 4 of us

2. Take a Zumba class

3. Go to an Angel's game

4. Go to Disneyland once a week until our passes run out (5/52)

5. Read as much of the Standard Works as possible 

6. Treadmill 3x a week (4/156)

7. Have someone over for dinner once a month (3/12)

8. 100% Visiting Teaching for 6 months

9. Go to the temple once a month

10. Blog once a week (6/52)

11. Journal once a week (0/52)

12. See Wicked

13. Send birthday cards to all immediate family - in time for their birthday! (1/12)

14. Be with my girls more - don't say "hold on" as much

15. Graduate with my BS in Communications

16. Read 12 books outside of school

17. Train Axel

18. Play church songs on the piano after the girls go to bed

19. Do 1 craft a month (0/12)

20. Clean throughout the day - clean as I go - clean up activity after it's over

21. Learn to use Cody's D60

22. Have a GNO (Girls-Night-Out) every other month sans kids - even if it means paying for a babysitter (0/6)

23. Finish our house (Not happening anymore)

24. Read two doctrinal books - Miracle of Forgiveness and...something else to be decided.

25. Wash and Vacuum my car every other month (0/6)

26. Clean out my purse once a week (0/52)

27. Re-memorize the Articles of Faith

28. Go on an out-of-the-house date once a month (2/12)

29. Deep clean the fridge once a month (0/12)

30. Go to Medieval Times (Anyone want to come with me?? It could be one of my GNO activities!)

31. Go to the beach every other month (0/6)

32. Go on individual dates with the girls

33. Get toned - do Insanity with Cody

34. Mop every Monday 

35. Do 1 thing romantic for Cody every week

36. Potty train Preslie

37. Night potty train Chloe

38. Read the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe series

39. Sing like a BBW during karaoke (Another GNO activity?)

40. Double our savings

41. Start and keep a budget for 3 months

42. Read scriptures for 30 minutes daily - but at least read 1 vs a day

43. Get rid of clothes and shoes I haven't worn in the last 6 months.....ok maybe clothes and shoes I haven't worn in the last year.

44. Buy myself flowers from a farmers market just because

45. Build a pergola in the backyard (Not happening anymore)

46. Learn how to edit in photoshop

47. Plant a garden

48. Go to and be in the audience of a TV show...or be in one!

49. Complete all the "Baby Steps" from flylady

50. Go to a women's self-defense class and buy a rape whistle
51. Write to Cory once a month (0/12)

52. Get my hair cut and colored 4 times (0/4)

The Great 2011 Update: August

August:

I had a Bachelorette Finale Party

The Winner...You can see Ben's frame has been laid down to rest. RIP, Ben. May you find love this season, somewhere in all the crazies. 

We all got long-stemmed roses and ring pops, so we could be just like Ashley. And yes, I drove to approximately 12 different stores and gas stations to find those dang ring pops. I'm pretty sure I did a fantastic little dance when I finally found them. I'd love to see that surveillance tape footage.

We re-did the music room

It took a LOT of sanding. 

Which Cody did entirely by himself. 

But he got a new electric sander out of it.

Cody sanded all the bead-board on the bottom so we could repaint it. It was very, very dusty. (His ring isn't supposed to look like that...)

Before: We have the furniture all pushed together so we could paint..I promise it's not like this for real

Cody repainted the ceiling because the room smelled smoky and the ceiling wasn't very white anymore

After:

 (I scored that globe for $7 at Goodwill. It's super old and fabulous)

Noah came for a super surprise visit and we took a trip to Home Depot

We tried to cool down from the over 100 degree temps in our house by going to the mall

No, I don't pay for the "rides." Chloe and Preslie are content to just climb on them and get off, and I'm not going to spend $1.25 to have it spin in a circle. However, that other little girl's mom is, so we took advantage of her kindness.

We did a loootttt of swimming (post here)

Played with Play-Doh

 And sang and danced so I couldn't get a non-blurry picture

We went to Lake Arrowhead

 Preslie got motion sickness on the way there and threw up when we were having our picnic in the bed of Cody's truck, which is why she's only in her diaper. Luckily we brought her swimming suit, so she wore that the rest of the trip

She loved the cheetos after she was done being sick, though!

 Trying to be the complete opposite of the real deal -

Yeah...that should've been it's own post...

We did fun activities for FHE, like "Activity ABC's"

P is for Pushup

 M is for Muscles

We ate sushi, ice cream, and celebrated birthdays

We repainted the office

I haven't decorated this room at all, but eventually it'll be my craft room/guest room.

We sang songs and played the piano

August was obviously busy and obviously fantastic. Next up, September!