the "tell~all" of 7 random/weird facts about me...

tara tagged me for this...enjoy!

1. when recalling an event/incident from the past, my family can attest to the fact that i usually relate the event/incident to what i was wearing...

2. i love to eat cereal but can't stand for it to get soggy. i have to have the spoon right there ready to go so once the milk is poured i can get busy with it. :) hence, i'm a fast cereal eater!

3. when i buy a bag of licorice i open it & leave it for the licorice to harden a bit before i eat...i know, this is really weird.

4. i love to play board games & cards...we dont' get a chance to play very much these days. some of my favorites are: cranium, scene it, pinochle, hand & foot, the list goes on

5. this is a gross one, but...i am obsessed with blemishes - only mine or dennis'! ...i know most of you are saying "ewww" right now, but that's the truth!

6. when i make kraft mac & cheese, i put extra milk in it because i like it "soupy"

7. i record days of our lives & watch it every day! i've been watching it since i was a wee girl.

i tag jerolyn since n8 & dee have abandoned their blog :) & tara tagged me for this

sleep walking?

a few weeks ago, we decided it was time for lauryn to no longer be sleeping in her crib. so we took the rail off to convert it to a toddler bed & the transition was great! she went to bed at night & down for her afternoon nap without getting out of bed. it was so easy! then about a week later, we moved the queen size bed into her room (isaac's waiting delivery of his new bed!) & same thing ~ pretty easy transition. once & awhile she'd get out of bed when she was just put down for nap time, but nothing major. then came yesterday...

lauryn kept getting out of bed during naptime, sometimes opening the door to come out of the room, sometimes just getting into her toys. not a big deal really, but i knew she was tired & we had plans for the evening so she really NEEDED a nap. i put her back in bed about 5 times, giving swats & stern warnings for her to stay in bed. dennis was home for lunch. i thought i'd finally gotten her down for the count when...

we hear a sound, we're a bit confused 'cause lauryn is sleeping, right? dennis says, "is that her pushing her stroller?" sure enough, she comes strollin' 'round the corner with her baby. as soon as she spots us looking at her she squeezes her eyes shut. now, all of you parents out there have experienced those times when you are disciplining your child & have to turn away because you are laughing or smiling at what they did. we had to work so hard at not letting her see our faces because she was in t-r-o-u-b-l-e. i finally got her to sleep after a few more rounds of getting out of bed.

later that night, dennis & i were recounting the incident from earlier in the day, & we discovered we had different takes on why lauryn squeezed her eyes shut when she saw us.

dennis thought she did it meaning "you can't see me" ~ thinking just because she couldn't see us, that we couldn't see her.

my thought is that she did it to show us "see, i'm sleeping like i'm supposed to be!"

either way, it gave us a good laugh! what do you think lauryn meant?

thanksgiving

i know i'm late with this post(s), but my parents were here for a few weeks. while they are here, i like to take advantage of every moment with them that i can get. plus, they are always a great help with all of the odd jobs that need to get done around here. mom is busy giving us haircuts (thanks!!) and always pulls out the sewing machine that i don't know how to use (but wish i did) to alter kids' clothing, etc. we always have plans to do things/go places but usually only get to do half of the things on our list. somehow we just run out of time. i am so THANKFUL for my parents! they are such a blessing to us, as is all of our family that we missed on thanksgiving. we had our traditional thanksgiving meal on my favorite holiday, & later that day, i took the kids & grandparents to lake las vegas. here are some pictures (&video) from our outing.

g'ma was great teaching isaac how to skate. me on the other hand, i needed her help too! :)

lauryn was too little to get in the rink so she & g'pa ate ice cream instead ~ i was starting to think that i should've done that instead, too.

it was our first visit to lake las vegas...what a nice place.

mmm...hot chocolate!

post # 100!

my mother-in-law e-mailed this to us the other day. i thought it was so funny i just had to share it. read the little story before you look at the picture.

We had a "going away" party yesterday for a lady at our office. One of the supervisors called Wal-Mart and ordered the cake.
He told them to write: "Best Wishes Suzanne" and underneath that "We will miss you". As the picture shows, it didn't quite turn out right. It was too funny not to keep it.

also, lauryn had her 2 year well check today. when i told isaac that we had to take lauryn to the doctor he said, "why, to see if she's really 2?"

lauryn is doing great! she's weighed in at 21 1/2 lbs. she's met/passed many of the benchmarks that are set for her age. nice to hear as a mom!

carhenge? never heard of it...

STONEHENGE

how many people can say that they've been to both carhenge & stonehenge?

well, dennis has & you can see for yourself that he's very excited about it! :)

(n8-that's for you)

ten years ago on our move to las vegas, we stopped in alliance, nebraska, to stay with dennis' uncle tim & aunt debbie & family. they suggested that we visit carhenge....since there's really nothing else to do there.

then on dennis' latest trip to wales, he was able to take in stonehenge. this is now in his own words...
My trip was good. After my last message from Cardiff, things didn't go exactly as planned. our equipment all worked right, but when we were going to leave the producer told us that the credentials were on the way and would be there in 20 minutes. He thought we should just wait so that we didn't have to worry about getting them the day of the fight. So, that 20 minutes turned in to over 2 hours of sitting around. By that time it was getting dark, and the Cardiff Castle was closed. That night Saul and I had a good meal at a local pub, I had"Fish and Chips" and Saul had "Steak a la Pie". His was actually asteak in a pie crust. We then walked around for a while and hit a few more pubs. We got back to the hotel at about 1 am. I kind of slept an hour at a time until it was time to get up at 7 and eat breakfastat at the hotel, then we walked to the train station. We took the train2 hours to Salisbury, then had to get on a bus for about 20 minutes to Stonehenge. We spent about 30 minutes walking around and listening to a little radio that gave you "information". Most of what it told you was that they don't know why or how the stones got there! Then we took the bus back to Salisbury where we had a nice walk though town and visited the Salisbury Cathedral. The highlight there was that we saw 1 of 4 remaining original copies of the Magna Charta. Then we were off for a little lunch before catching the train back. We tried to go into a few pubs, but they were really busy with some big soccer/football game on the tele. We found a nice little cafe that looked good and advertised some meals priced right including a steaksandwich. We all were excited to get the steak sandwich, but when I got up to order the man said they were out of steak. So alas, no"Salisbury Steak" for me. After lunch, we walked back to the train station and little did we know, but the fun was just beginning. There were some party people on the train heading to Cardiff, so napping was difficult. There was a group of young guys drinking and playing cards at a table and saying a lot of inappropriate things with kids sitting in the same car, and I noticed one snorting cocaine right off the table. Then we hit about our third stop and there is an announcement that the train has been terminated because the driver's shift was ending and his replacement was a no-show. After some confusion, we find another train and we are off to Cardiff again, only this train only makes 1 stop and it terminates also. What the F! We run to one train and get on then they say that train is going back to the yard we get off not knowing what to do, then there is an announcement of a train to Cardiff a few tracks away and there is a mad dash to that one and we had to stand for quite awhile before we finally get back to Cardiff. It was much later than we had planned for. The other 4 guys with us had to just go to the hotel and get their stuff and head right to the arena. Saul and I at least had the time to shower and change, then we headed over. The fight as I expected was excellent, real highlevel talent and action. The crowd was amazing and loud. 50,000 drunk people in a closed stadium, it gave you goose bumps. After the fight, we had just enough time to go back to the hotel, pack and head to the airport. Then the long journey home began. I did get some sleep on the way back, since I was awake for close to 24 hours straight. I made it home to my lovely family and I am very glad to be here. Well that was a lot of rambling!

for those of you who don't know, dennis was in wales to work for compubox. he & saul were both doing the punchstats for the mikkel kessler/joe calzaghe fight on hbo. here are some more photos from his trip.

THE SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

THE SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

STONEHENGE

MIKKEL KESSLER OF DENMARK

JOE CALZAGHE OF WALES

SAUL & DENNIS

birthday video

lauryn's reaction to getting her singing carebear was priceless! her favorite song is "if you're happy & you know it". we have to sing it pretty much every night before going to bed.

this video is funny....check out isaac at the end. :)

happy birthday lauryn!

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear lauryn, happy birthday to you! we can't believe our little biscuit is 2 years old already! lauryn, we are so blessed to have you in our family. you make us laugh...you bring so much joy to our lives. we love you!

alter egos

my friend jerolyn did this on her blog & it was so funny that i decided to do it too (i even stole her title)...although her names will be tough to beat!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME:(first pet & current car)
Duchess Neon - I kinda like this one :)

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Vanilla Oreo - this was the same as Jerolyn's

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME:(first initial of first name, first three letters of
your last name)
J~All

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal)
Aqua Yorkshire

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, city where you were born)
LeNae Stanley

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
All-Je

7. SUPERHERO NAME:(”The” + your 2nd favorite color, your favorite drink)
The Pink Coke - this one sounds silly

8. NASCAR NAME:(the first names of your grandfathers)
LeVerne Loren

9. STRIPPER NAME:(the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent,
favorite candy) –
Candies Butterfinger - ewww!

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother’s & father’s middle names )
Joanne Alan - ok, not the greatest witness protection name for me when my last name is already Allen! :)

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Hanson Houston

12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Autumn Lily - this one is a really pretty name

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
~Raspberry Jeanie

14. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Captain Crunch Oak

15. YOUR ROCK STAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) –
The Reading Storm Tour- Don't you think that if my tour bus said this people would just think it was a giant bookmobile, they'd definitely not think that a famous rock star like Duchess Neon would be on the bus

celebrating halloween

the actual day of halloween was to be isaac's preschool celebration. but of course, that's not what happened & i didn't receive the flier that stated the celebration had been changed to the day before. so tuesday morning as lauryn, kaylee, & i were dropping off isaac at school, we noticed that all of the other kids were dressed in their costumes. i called dennis to have him dig out isaac's spider-man costume because i knew it would take too long to dress him up as bamm bamm at school when the class is only 90 min. long. i also told him to grab lauryn's puppy costume from last year & a bumble bee swimsuit cover so i could throw them on the girls. we raced home, got the costumes, made it back to the school & got the costumes on. the kids got to go trick-or-treating through the offices & the participating classrooms (his preschool is at a high school). then it was back to the classroom to enjoy snacks before heading home.



on halloween evening, my friend susan & i took the kids to the district (a shopping area). they had a good time, but there were TOO MANY PEOPLE!! didn't get any pictures since i sent the camera with dennis. he left for wales this morning & will be back on sunday evening. it was a late night. we got back to the house at 8:30, ate supper while isaac handed out some treats to the few kids who came to our door, then it was off to bed! i'm so glad halloween is over!