Newsletter Help

I just got put in charge of our Relief Society newsletter and our blog (what me? a blogger??), but I need help coming up with a good name for our newsletter.  The only requirement is that it has to have a catchy acronym I can display across the top.  Here's what I have so far.  I'll understand if your suggestions aren't as good as these, since you don't have the "mantle" and all...

Unbelievable Sisters in SeRvice

Personal Enrichment and Personal Strength Improved

Loving Activities: Monthly Announcements Newsletter

Gospel Oriented Sisters in Service and In Prayer

Ongoing Bloviating About Mormon Activities

Do you think..

that God reads my blog?  

Before and After

So I have this really inspiring friend named Meg.  She's very crafty, and she'll go to Pottery Barn, see something for $300 and make it herself.  It's cheaper and looks cuter.  I don't think I tell her enough (or at all!) how awesome I think her talents are.  So there you go Meg, you're awesome and I wish I could be more like you.

So this week I tried!

We have had these atrociously ugly pictures that have been in our bedroom for awhile.  I bought them on clearance when I was going through a green phase.  I never really LOVED them, just kind of liked them.  But when we painted our room BLUE, they had to go.  

But I figured it was a waste of a perfectly good frame.  So...inspired by Meg...I decided to use some of our leftover wall paint and make our own pictures. 

Ta-daa! 

"We Have to Go Back to the Island."

That's what Rusty kept whispering to me last night. Good thing we already went back to the island for grad school. I figure I'm safe as long as the Losties don't go back a third time.

Who in the world taught Ashlyn to write with permanent marker on herself??

I hope you all ate pretend peanut butter and fish biscuits for dinner last night, too. Don't worry, they were just fish-shaped cookies. I thought about making them sugar free (so Candice and I could have actually eaten them), but I didn't want them to actually taste like fish!

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The 'Why I Suck' Blog Post

Traditionally, blogs are only supposed to be updated about once a month bragging about kids and how smart/awesome/rich/blessed/talented your family is.  

This is a post about why we suck.

Rusty is basically stuck in the 20th century when it comes to technology and music.  He doesn't like to learn new things unless the benefit outweighs the pain of having to learn it, which isn't very often.

I'm usually freezing.  So when I'm at home, I'm always wrapped up in a bathrobe.  Rusty likes to remind me that the McPoyle brothers wear bathrobes, but whatever.  It's COLD! 

Ashlyn always has her finger up her nose.  And usually there are boogers wiped on the wall next to wherever she has been sitting.  

Austin doesn't walk yet.  Yes, I know that your child is younger than Austin and has been running around for months now...you should blog about that.  We all REALLY want to read about it.

So tell me why you suck!

Life's Better With a Little Color

I know what you're expecting.  An awe-inspiring post on Martin Luther King Jr. and how far we've come with the inauguration of President-elect Obama tomorrow.

Nope. 

We painted our bedroom.

Before:

After:

The paint colors look weird in the picture.  They are bluish-gray.  And yeah, you caught us.  That is a bag of Doritos we managed to consume entirely while painting.

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

In honor of the inaugural address next week, I thought I'd take a minute to discuss why my husband was more intelligent (at nine years of age) than the President-elect.

Exhibit A:

And the highlights (in case you can't read the picture):

1. If I were President I would not have taxes to secure poor people. It is not are fault they are poor.

2. I would triple are guns.

Do you see how there's a star on his paper? Yeah, it must have been the year he was homeschooled. I don't think there's a single teacher in Washington that would put a star on that paper.

Seven Schmeven Tag

I was tagged.  

OK, so I wasn't technically tagged.  I think I've instilled the fear of God into anyone that dares tag me.  But I saw this one, and thought I'd do it regardless of not being tagged.

Seven random things about me.

1.  I'd do anything for a T shirt.  Run a 10K?  Sure!  But only if there's a T shirt involved.  

2.  I'm directionally challenged.  North?  East?  South?  I have no idea.  Go West on Fairview Avenue.  Huh?  Is that left or right?  I do know what direction New York is from me, but I'll admit that I have to run through in my mind, "Never Eat Shredded Wheat" while discreetly pointing out the directions with my finger.  Ah!  East!

3.  I have a really bizarre memory.  I can't remember books or movies, but I can remember something you said 7 years ago.  Don't try to lie to me.  

4.  I thrive when I have too much to do!  I used to drive my brothers crazy when I'd be reading a book while watching TV.  The hardest part about going to church is just having to sit there.  That's why I still bite my nails.  Although I've tried (somewhat successfully) to kick that habit by doing other things.  I used to draw caricatures of my teachers, but I don't think that as a twenty-seven-year-old it's as cute as when I was ten.

5.  My ideal weight?  165 lbs.  Yes, I'm aware that you weighed 20 lbs. less when you were nine months pregnant, but according to my personal trainer, it would be unhealthy for me to weigh any less.  

6.  I've received a death threat.  Although not specifically addressed to me, I was carbon copied and was certainly included in on the threats.

7.  I want to learn to speak French.  I'm fascinated with languages.  I took German in high school because I felt like I needed to learn that language.  I thought I had to learn it for a mission or something (maybe that would have been the case if I hadn't have gotten married two weeks after turning 21), but I've always wanted to learn French!  It's a beautiful language.     

Things That Amuse Me...

So way to often, I am completely bored.  Here are a couple of sites that always amuse me and probably take up too much of my time.  

http://failblog.org/

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/

So what are your favorite sites when you're bored?  If you mention BBC I think I'll stab myself in the face.

Probably the Most Depressing Thing EVER!

How does the saying go?  You can take the girl out of Seattle, but you can't take the Seattle out of the girl.  (Or some variation of that!)

Seriously!  I think I need at least 2 weeks of non stop gray, drizzling rain to cheer me up!

Midnight Sun

Someone needs to write Stephenie Meyer and tell her that if Joseph Smith had stopped writing after the first couple hundred pages of his book got out, we wouldn't have the Book of Mormon.

One, Two, Four...Years Ago

January 6, 2005

Rusty and I at Hukilau Beach (where they filmed Johnny Lingo).  Goat Island is in the background, you can walk out to the island and there's these really cool fish that jump around.

January 6, 2007

Are you cringing in pain?  I was officially (and unbeknownst to me) pregnant with Austin.  This is not a pregnant swollen foot (that came later), instead it was "I spiked the volleyball and rolled off of someone else's foot on the way down" swollen.   

Maybe the reason why Austin's not walking yet is because of all those X rays I had!

Although I must say, if you're ever running late to the airport, just bring crutches with you.  They usher you through everything!  No lines whatsoever!

January 6, 2008

We had been in Boise for 7 days.  Seven days of constant, unrelenting snow.  We wanted to build a snow man, but didn't know how!

One CRRAAAAAAZZY New Years Resolution

You wanna' hear it?  

No sugar.  

No cakes, no brownies, no cookies, no chocolate, no soda pop. 

It's been five days and I am REAAAALY cranky. 

Good Timing Becky

Rusty just got a friend request from Becky.  First girl he ever kissed.

She at least has the decency to have a profile picture of her kids.  

So this begs the question, are you friends with your exes on facebook?  Or are you friends with people who have had secret crushes on you for the last 10+years?  

I think I'm friends with 4 ex boyfriends and two of their wives.  One wife whom I'm never even met.  I think she must have added me to check out what the competition was and I'm not sure if the other wife knows that I dated her now-husband.  :)

I Have a SUNBEAM!

I've been trying to gear her up for primary all week.  She was so excited that she squealed after Sacrament meeting was over.  But as soon as I tried to leave her with her class she started to cry.  "Mommy I just want to go to nursery!"

The Aforementioned Picture

Hypothetically, of course...

So let's just say someone out in cyber space uses a profile picture of herself and a guy.

From ten years ago.

Locked in a tight embrace.

And the guy is Rusty.

Is that bizarre?  Or is it just me?

Our Year In Review

Uninspired. That's how I've felt about my blog this last week. So I thought I'd just do a quick year in review and highlight some of the best parts of 2008.

Rusty and I both got new jobs.

We learned the secret to two kids, is to become self-sufficient.

We learned the secret to Austin's happiness is food.

We haven't learned the secret to Ashlyn's happiness yet.

The secret to my happiness is potty trained kids!

We built a house!  If you  didn't already  know this, there's something seriously wrong with you!  We spent 6 months detailing the entire process and posted pictures of every step!!

Austin learned to walk crawl.  

I entered my first photography contest and won $150!

We had fun with the election until the results of it.

Our nephew Steven got his permit.

The secret to Rusty's happiness is having two excuses to play with kid toys.

This is when I'm supposed to cap it off with some amazing thing.  Like "I'm Pregnant!" or something.  But let's be honest, no one would believe me and it's not true regardless.  Sorry about the anticlimatic ending.  I'll work on that.