My Obsession

So a while ago a gave a list of things I was going to blog about, and one was the obsession that was taking over my life. I've waited to post this blog, almost embarrassed by the amount this has taken over my life, but it's time to admit my addiction, not that everyone doesn't know about it already.

But I want to tell you how it all started. Back in Jan. I was at a church activity with the young women and I noticed a girl reading a book. I didn't know what the book was, I just thought the cover was interesting and I didn't think any more of it. Then about 1 month later, I was at my mother's house for something and she was on her couch reading that same book with the interesting cover. I asked her what was that book? She briefly told me it was a silly love story about a girl and a vampire. Now, if you haven't read the books you are probably thinking what I thought, something like, "ummmm, okay, that's nice." Didn't really grab my attention needless to say. But about a month after that, I heard another mom talking to a gal at church about that same book. And they went on and on about how it was becoming a movie and this and that, and I was so intrigued I had to ask what was so great about that book? They looked at me like I was crazy. So I asked if I could borrow Allie's copy so I could be on in with the "in crowd".

Allie brought the book, plus the other two in the series, (I didn't know there was more than one,) to me about 2 weeks before tax season was over. I knew I needed to wait until after April 15th to start reading them. Just after the season ended Eric and I had a weekend business trip planned to CO, and I thought this would be a great time to read the first book. See, I love you read, but I also get really into the books, so I knew once I got started, I wouldn't be able to stop. The last full series I read was Work and the Glory. I was working at a dance and fitness studio that I owned at the time and read all nine books in about 2 months in between classes at work. Like I said, I get obsessive.

Anyway, it was a Thursday night and we were leaving the next day, so I decided it would be safe to start the first book. I didn't realize how late it had gotten until Eric firmly told me to put the book down and go to bed so I wouldn't be dead on my feet the next day for our trip. I put it down with only a small fight, just to pick it back up in the morning when I woke up. I packed the second book in my carry on, just in case... and good thing I did, because I needed to pull it out just before I boarded the plane because I had finished the first book. I was disappointed I couldn't read on the plane or during the 4 hour car ride, because I get horrible motion sickness, and when we got to our hotel at 2 in the morning, I only could allow myself to read one chapter. In between stops on Sat. I got most of the book finished, and by the time we went back to our hotel that night, I only had a few more hours of reading until I finished book two. I woke up Sunday morning, ready to go home, but a little bummed because I didn't pack the third book. What was I thinking? I had a 2 hour layover in Vegas. AHHHHH. When we checked in at the airport, we passed a book stand that had the third book on display. I only debated for about 1/2 a second before I rushed in to buy it. It was for the best. I finished the book that night at about 3 in the morning, and I was in love.

No I'm not crazy, and I'm not the only one who feels like this either.

First, a bit of background. Stephanie Meyer had a dream. No, not like "I have a dream..." but like, sleeping in her bed kind of dream. In her own words "I woke up (on that June 2nd) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately".

She then make the decision to write it down, and thus were born the twilight books.

Okay, that's where the history lesson ends and my own thoughts begin. I love these books. I do. But a few disclaimers before I tell you why, because there are critics out there who, rightly, say that the books aren't very deep to which I say - they were written for teenagers AND Stephanie has said herself that she doesn't think of herself as a writer as much as a storyteller (I agree). This isn't a book that will make the top ten most well written books of all time. Not even the top 100. It's not a extraordinary piece of literature that makes you ponder the meaning of life (well, actually sometimes it did that for me), or make you a deeper person. Sometimes the characters seem a little flat, sometimes the main character is a little too needy, sometimes extremely annoying, sometimes they do things that are completely predictable. But, I refer you back to my previous statement - I love these books and it might be one of my personal top 10.

The story is wonderful and it sucked me right in, obviously. I read the books almost WISHING these characters actually existed and sometimes, I wanted to be a vampire too. I read the books and I escape. They are easy to read, easy on my brain and at times they get my pulse racing. I know I can read these books and not be offended by filth masquerading as literature or art. There are many books out there that people like Oprah, or whoever will tell you to read, and you do because you think they must be great books, or make you feel important, or intelligent, or other nonsense like that. I've done it, and I've been taken aback by the filth in them - Oh, but it's great literature! It's so well written. Doesn't it make you think? Um, yeah - about how my brain is now filled with junk that will be nigh to impossible to remove. All in the name of "great literature". Okay, so I'm down off the soap box and back to "Twilight" . These are easy to read, enjoyable books - great for a day at the beach, or cozied up at home. Not much thinking involved, but great stories. They drew me in. (Just check out Twilight Moms and you'll see I'm not alone.) Do I recommends them? Absolutely. Go read them. Will you be more intelligent for reading them? Well, you won't be LESS intelligent, and you won't be offended by rubbish (bad language, gratuitous violence, or lewd sex). I think you'll like 'em. If you want a low down on the premise behind the books, check out Stephanie Meyer's website. I loved them, and you might too!
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

Still not sure? Well, just wait for the movie coming out in December! So excited for it. I have a group going to the midnight showing, there's still plenty of room, let me know if you're in too!


twilightmovie.com

It's Back!

My favorite summer tv show. So You Think You Can Dance is back, and even better news is we finally got DVR so I can record the shows and watch them over and over and over...

Thursday night the season stared with the auditions in LA and somewhere else, I can't remember. The really good part is when the final 12 or so are finally chosen to do routines. But it's amazing to see the variety of dancers around the country during the auditions too. Check out this guy. He was amazing!

Too much fun!

Last week was super hot. We had worn out our backyard, actually it was kind of flooded because of all the water the kids had been playing with. We needed to get out, so we packed up the car, grabbed ourselves a $1.50 hot dog and soda from Costco while I grabbed a few necessities and hit this really fun park in Rocklin that is just a regular park with the slides and the swings, but it also has a water area with tons of water that shoots out of the ground. We actually found an open table in the shade, and let the kids run free. Tanner isn't a huge fan of water uncontrollably hitting his face, so his immediate excitement was short lived. But Tyler, he looked like a fish that was set free into the ocean. The kid didn't stop running for the entire hour we spent at that park. And don't feel too bad for Tanner not enjoying the water. It didn't take him long to find a mud puddle. A very big mud puddle. If you remember from a previous post Tanner really really likes mud. So we had a great time. All four of us. It was the perfect afternoon for a sunny, hot day.

Proud Mama

Okay, I really need to work, so this is the last post today. I'm just so behind:)

So last Sat. was Tanner's 2nd b.day, and I promise it's really important, and I actually have a great post started for him, but I was just so proud of what I did that day, that I thought I'd post this first. Plus it's shorter, cause I feel like that justifies it!

If you know me, you know I'm not known for my kitchen skills. Not that I don't have them, but I am limited on my abilities and rarely use them anyway, but check out what I did. We didn't want to do a party for Tanner, cause Ty's birthday is in July, and it's going to be a big one, plus he's two and a family things was going to be good enough. Well, I wanted to at least do a fun cake for him so I found this picture online, and wanted to do a volcano cake!

The only bummer is I had dry ice to make smoke come out of the middle, but I didn't know how to store dry ice, so when I bought it the night before I put it in the freezer until the next day, only to find it was gone. I wondered if it had just fallen out of the bag, but couldn't find it anywhere and my dad told me that there was a special way to take care of dry ice. good to know for next time. But it still looked cool without it.

The Sacramento Zoo

Last Thursday Eric and I went with Ty's class to the Sacramento Zoo. It was wonderful, except for the heat. Tyler's favorite was the fish tank outside the red panda's exhibit and Tanner loved the row that had the zebra, turtle and giraffes in it. After a good hour and 1/2 of looking at all the different animals, the heat was getting to us. luckily there was a row of misters outside the Tiger's cage and Tyler and his friend Jenna ran up and down the row for another good 15 min. as we sat in the shade and ate our lunch. By the time we got to the car, both boys were so tired, but really excited about all they had seen. Animals are really incredible, I don't think I could ever get tired of going to the zoo.

Do you think they are related?

So I was just testing the whole picture problem this morning, and I happened to grab these two photos off my desktop to test with, and couldn't resist publishing the post. Good thing his dad is so dang good lookin' cause, I think they look related:)


I think the problem with the photos is fixed so hopefully I can get some good posts up today!

Sometimes, Blogging's not so fun!

I'm so mad at my blog!

I can't really figure out the whole, 'add a picture to your blog' thing! I mean, I know how to, but it never turns out right and it's not in the right place etc etc.
So this weekend I had a bunch of pictures to add for different things and I decided to create little layouts on my computer with all the pictures and then upload them so it would be just how I want it. (no I'm not a control freak or anything)
But, after the pictures are perfect, I upload them them and.........
they turn into this weird distorted x-ray style picture. WHAT THE HECK!

And I can't post about Tanner's b.day, the Sac Zoo and our fun day at the water park without pictures to prove it.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Maybe tomorrow all will be back to normal after 3 days. Who knows. Grrrrr.

A little more humor

So last night, we again realized Tyler's true love for chips. Eric grabbed a handful of spicy chips as Ty was getting ready for bed and chewed and swallowed the handful before going in to help put Ty down. As Eric leaned down to tuck Ty in Tyler said, "Dad, what are you eating?"
"Nothing Ty, why?" He wasn't at that point, he had swallowed it all.
Tyler leaned in closer and sniffed, "because I smell something."
A short pause.
"Dad, are you eating chips?"

Memo to us, no chips for us in any form while Tyler is awake unless we want to share.

Almost totally true

You Are a Comma

You are open minded and extremely optimistic. You enjoy almost all facets of life. You can find the good in almost anything. You keep yourself busy with tons of friends, activities, and interests. You find it hard to turn down an opportunity, even if you are pressed for time. Your friends find you fascinating, charming, and easy to talk to. (But with so many competing interests, you friends do feel like you hardly have time for them.) You excel in: Inspiring people You get along best with: The Question Mark

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Lawrence Humor

***** Warning: Graphic body functions are mentioned in the following post... you have been warned!!******

Last night, about an hour after we put the boys to bed Eric and I settled down to enjoy the season finale of one of our shows we like to watch together. We knew Tanner was out, but we didn't know if Ty was completely asleep. Our question was answered about 20 min. into the show. I had grabbed a bowl of chips and salsa and sat on the couch next to Eric when we heard Tyler ask a question from his room. Our conversation went something like this;

"Dad, dad what's the noise?"
We looked at each other not sure if he meant the tv, or us talking, or something else.
"It's nothing Ty, we'll turn the TV down, sorry buddy."
There was a brief pause.
"Dad, are you eating chips?"
Again, we looked at each other and burst into laughs. Apparently I was crunching the chips a little too loud and our son was able to pick up on what the noise was, exactly.

Then, during one of the commercial brakes, Eric went to use the restroom. My sister was over and we watched a WaMu commercial, (the one with the girl who's in all pink and in a rocket car and says whoo-hoo) and Danica made a comment about how I'd roll like that girl in all pink and in a rocket car. Then she quoted a line from the movie Rat Race that had to do with a rocket car, and we laughed pretty hard at the randomness of the whole conversation. Moments later Eric came out of the bathroom, pass Tyler's room and heard Ty say softly, "Goodnight Dad." Eric responded firmly, "Tyler, go to bed." In which Tyler replyed just as firmly, "I'm trying Dad!"

(This is where it gets graphic, be prepared)
Eric then bounded into the family room and exclaimed, "Did you guys here that?"
Dani and I had no idea what he was talking about and looked at him with confusion.
"I just had the longest toot! It was like 30 seconds. It started and I thought, wow this is really long, so I started counting. Then I heard Dee say something about a rocket car and you guys started laughing. Really, you didn't hear that? It was awesome!"

Again we couldn't help but laugh. Dani was laughing more out of embarrassment I think that her brother-in-law just graphically described his toot, and I couldn't help but laugh at the humor Eric saw in it and how coincidental and totally unrelated the two events where. I then quickly assumed Tyler's response to trying to sleep was probably greatly related to the long, loud noise he had heard coming from the bathroom moments before.

Needless to say we had a very humorous night at the Lawrence house.

Field Trip recaps

Last week we went to the Folsom Zoo and later this week we'll go to the Sac. Zoo with the other preschool group, so I thought I'd get these up quickly so I could post Folsom Zoo with Tyler's preschool class.

It was such a beautiful morning and gratefully both boys had pretty good attitudes, which made the experience much better. We saw everything from coyotes to horse, tigers and bears, and lots and lots of chickens, which Tanner wanted to pet sooooo badly.

After seeing all the animals we went just outside the zoo to enjoy a quick train ride. I couldn't tell which Ty liked more, the animals or the train. On the train he rode in an "animal car" while Tanner and I sat in another car. They both loved it.

Two weeks earlier Eric and I went to downtown Sac. with Tyler's class to ride a really train. He was a little worried about the size at first, but once inside with all his friends he had a blast. They opened their windows and waved to anyone we passed by. They got to see boats on the river and cars on the freeway and even another train that passed us during our trip. Again, too much fun.

And finally at the beginning of April the boys and I again went out with Tyler's class to the grocery store. We got the full tour starting with the produce and getting a quick talk about how health fruit and veggies are. Then we go taken to the back and Ty braved the huge walk in freezer. Tanner thought he'd try too, but as soon as we stepped inside he grabbed me and said "cold cold!" so I took him out and he was happy to watch from a distance. Then we saw all the shelves full of food waiting to be stocked and we moved to the box crusher. Both boys loved that part, and Tanner started laughing hysterically as all the other boys made huge crushing sounds as the boxes became super flat. Then we saw the meat dept. and the gal in charged had all the kids put on hats so they could go behind the counter and see some dead fish. I oppded not to join them, yuck, but Ty took Tanner along and I guess they had a good time. We finished at the bakery, yum, and we all got a fresh cookie. That was my favorite part:)

So we've had a great last month or so of field trips from school with our last one at the Zoo again this week. Tyler loves learning and seeing all these new fun things. I'm glad I get to go with him and enjoy watching him take it all in.

Oops

I thought the crazy was over, guess not. What happened to the days when there was tons of time to blog? Eric is currently giving the kids a bath so I thought I'd get a blog out quickly.

First things first. If you think I'm truly worried about my weight, don't be. As you might have already seen by the pic on the side of my blog I'm preggers and possibly crazy. It was totally planned, but after an eventful Sacrament meeting last Sunday with Tyler and Tanner Eric and I both came home and asked each other, why did we want another one? :) But we're really excited for the new addition who we are calling Little A for the moment. We'll find out in July if it's actually an Austin or an Aubrey. And yes, I am as sick as ever, but it could be so much worse, I'm grateful it's only as bad as it is. I'm due in Nov. and can't wait to bundle up my baby in all the cute winter clothes. After having both boys in the warmer months, I'm excited for this change.

It sounds like the bath is wrapping up in the other room, so I'll leave you with this funny joke and catch up with more later.


What is 710?

A few days ago I was having some work done at my local garage.
A blonde came in and asked for a seven-hundred-ten.
We all looked at each other and another customer asked, "What is a seven-hundred-ten?"

She replied, "You know, the little piece in the middle of the engine, I have lost it and need a new one."

She replied that she did not know exactly what it was, but this piece had always been there.

The mechanic gave her a piece of paper and a pen and asked her to draw what the piece looked like.

She drew a circle and in the middle of it wrote 710.

He then took her over to another car which had its hood up and asked, "Is there a 710 on this car?"

She pointed and said, "Of course, its right there."

If you're not sure what a 710 is Click Here