Why do I always do dumb things?

Have you ever volunteered to do something only to find out that there was someone much more qualified than yourself that could have done the job a million times better? In my stake calling we are planning a Relief Society Birthday Party that is coming up in March. We talked about doing a cake and I very desperately wanted to be in charge of it. They ladies were very nice and said I was welcome to the task. The theme is service and the song "Give said the Little Stream" so that cake will go along with that theme. It will be a tiered cake. I've only done two tiered cakes before, one for my own wedding and one for my bosses wedding. (It was his 5th time getting married and he was sick of white cake.)

Well then Sister Edwards in the stake presidency invited me over to her house to see if I wanted to borrow any of her cake stuff. She had a lot of great things and I was even more excited about decorating the cake. Then I went home and looked up her blog and found this picture.
What have I gotten myself into? I'm such a loser. I should not have stuck my big foot in my mouth. I should have let her be in charge of the cake.

Random

I never have anything really good to blog about. Just a few random things here and there. So here we go.

1. At church one Sunday a girl sat by me in Sacrament and was really helpful and played with Kien. I obviously have to sit alone since Bret is up on the stand so I really appreciate when people help me out. She sat by me again in Relief Society. Kien was cranky and ready for a nap so she took him out and rocked him to sleep. It was so cute. The lesson was on the Temple and temple marriage and at the end of the class I made the comment that marrying Bret in the Temple was the best thing I had ever done in my life. After the closing prayer she came up to me to give me Kien. She asked "So you got married in the temple?" I said "Yes." She looked puzzled and thought for a moment. "But you're in a singles ward." I smiled and said "My husband is in the Bishopric." I had to laugh, either she thought that I was single mother who had made a mistake and was trying to get back on the straight and narrow or she thought I was a widow. I wonder how many other people in the ward think this?

2. I took Kien to the pediatrician's yesterday for his 18 month check up. They are concerned that Kien is not talking yet. We went through a list that checks for early signs of autism. Don't worry, I KNOW he is not autistic. He is very smart. When he sees me picking up laundry, he helps and grabs clothes to throw into the bin. He likes to watch me wash dishes and will pull up a chair to the counter to stand on. He had previously pulled out a drawer and tossed a few spatulas onto the floor in front of where his chair goes. He problem solved and picked up the spatulas, put them in the drawer, and closed it. Then pushed his chair over to the appropriate spot. He touches his nose, eyes, ears, mouth when instructed. He gives kisses when asked. He points to the cabinet that has his snacks when he's hungry. He can communicate just fine, he just doesn't want to talk yet. He loves to play with other kids and is great at sharing. He'll feed me his cheerios when I let him. Apparently Bret's brother Dan didn't speak until he was 3! I hope that doesn't run in the family. Here's a picture of the cutie pie trying to look out the window:
3. Bret's bike got stolen. He wants to kill whoever did it.

Valentine's Day

I had a good Valentine's day! First, my old roommate from BYU-Hawaii, Adrian, and her husband, Kashif, came down for a wedding but made a stop to come visit with me! We've had so many good times and it is just fun to be reunited with old friends.Here is a picture of us with our other roommates, Jamie and Jane, back in Hawaii. We always did silly things together like braiding each others hair for a dance.
Then when Bret came home from work we dropped Kien off at a friends house to babysit him. They have a little girl named Sophie that is Kien's age and I watch her too so we just trade off when we need to. Bret's boss (the parent's of Sophie) gave us a $40 gift certificate to Ninja's for Bret's Christmas bonus. We saved it for Valentine's day. It was so much fun! It was Hibachi (which I've never done before) and we had a chef cook right in front of us. He made a volcano of onions with fire coming out of it. He also threw shrimp at us to catch in our mouths. Poor Bret missed twice so I just fed him one of my shrimp. (This is not our actual chef but I didn't get a picture so I just ripped this off the internet. Close enough.)Bret and I realized that this was probably the first time that we've gone out just the two of us since Kien was born! I love my little guy but it was really nice to just be alone with Bret. We held hands and I just felt, I dunno, connected I guess. Now I see why people say that parent's should go out on a date alone once a week. Maybe when we're rich and can afford to go out and have a babysitter. I actually forgot our camera for a date so we had to get a picture with Bret's cell phone so sorry for the image quality.
Afterwards we just went and walked around the new Walgreen's. When I went in it felt like I was back in Maryland on my mission. We always went to CVS and Walgreen stores out there. I don't remember why. Maybe to develop pictures. But I hadn't been in one since then. Then we went to pick up Kien from his date with little Sophie.
It was a good day.

Internet, How I Love You...

Well.... We gave in. Living without the internet at home is just too hard! That is why I haven't posted anything in forever. Here's how we can justify it: Many years ago when I was going to school in Hawaii I found a wedding ring on the ground. It was right near my bishops house so I brought it to him and thought he could find out who it belonged to. After a couple of months he called me over to his house. He said that they had put up flyers and asked around but no one claimed the ring. He then gave it to me and said it was mine and then teased me for finding a ring before I found a husband. I held onto the ring, it was pretty, a marquis diamond with baguettes on the sides but it was in yellow gold and I'm not a fan of that. Years later I get engaged to Bret and we take the ring to a pawn shop to see how much we could get for it. They offered us $250 but we didn't go for it. So then we took it to a jewlry store and they said they could put it on consignment for us and if they sold it they would give us $725. This was back in 2005. Anyways, every once in a while I would stop in to see if they had sold the ring but they'd always put me off and say they would call me and let me know. Finally Bret got really aggressive with them and wouldn't let them put him off and told them he wanted the ring back. When they couldn't come up with it they finally said "Oh, we must have sold it." But they had to "make sure" so they put Bret off for a couple more days but he was persistent. Finally they cut him a check for the agreed amount. So there, that's how we justify having the internet. The ring paid for it. It will be reinstalled in our home on Feb. 2!!! Yay.

Twerd

Well now that I've outed myself as a "Twerd" (Twilight Nerd) I came across a freaking hilarious spoof and decided to share it with you good people. Enjoy!

Twilight

The first time I heard about Twilight I was going for a walk with Aubry Tuttle up the Canyon Park trail. We were pushing our strollers along and she started talking about Stephanie Meyer, an LDS author and this book that she's been reading. I asked her what it was about and she said "Vampires". I thought to myself "Oh boy, how original". I thought that this book was probably on par with the "Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites" I had heard about. I didn't think about it again until I went up to Nome, Alaska and visited my sister. She had a copy of the book and was about 1/2 way through. She kept picking it up and reading it and I couldn't figure out why this book could be so interesting that she would turn to it instead of me, her beloved sister that was visiting for only a few short weeks. As you all know, I am pretty awesome. I asked her again what it was about and she summarized how this Vampire boy falls in love with a human girl. I was skeptical and brought to her attention that this storyline had already been played out by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I read the first chapter searching for things to tease my sister with and her silly obsession with a teenage love story. I didn't enjoy it at all.The movie was coming out and I received invitations to go and watch it with other friends who were also obsessed. I would hear other friends talking about the books and how much they loved it or I'd read about it on their blogs (Emily Alexander). I decided to give twilight one more try but this time with an open mind. I made the commitment that I would read the book before I saw the movie. My birthday was December 9th and Bret got me the copy of Twilight that I asked for. On the morning of December 10th I began reading and I could not stop. I had finished half the book that day and decided that if I finished the other half the next day (December 11th) then I would go to see it in the theater that night. Everything went according to plan.

I liked the movie, I thought they did a good job of staying close to the book as time would allow. I was so giddy in the movie theater. I had to cover my huge smile in case other people around me noticed and started thinking I was some weirdo. Some characters that I did not think were funny in the book came across funny in the movie like Jasper and Jess. I enjoyed that. I liked Edward. No, I love Edward.I had been telling Bret how much I was enjoying the book and the movie. It was all I could think about. In the early morning when Bret was getting ready for work (around 5am) I was still asleep in bed but woke up to someone whispering in my ear "Lynn, it's me, Edward" and then he kissed my neck. In my daze I said "You're not Edward! You're too warm. Edward is cold."

Of course when I was fully awake a few hours later all I could think about was getting my hands on the next book, New Moon. I went to Walmart and my heart just sank when I could only find Twilight and Breaking Dawn. Were there no 2nd and 3rd books in Cedar City? Would I be doomed to have to order it online and WAIT?! I drove to the next closest book store, Deseret Book. I searched for my beloved Twilight Series and started to doubt that this LDS bookstore would carry a novel about Vampires. Finally I found it! New Moon. It was beautiful. I held the book to my face and smelled the pages. Edward, I've found you. I was so happy. I bought the book and brought it home. I am currently reading it now.
It is hard to remember to eat sometimes because I become so involved. Taking showers and going grocery shopping are becoming annoyances that distract me from my life in Forks. I know that an obsession of this magnitude cannot be healthy. So go ahead Mary Sorensen, make fun of me. But I love Edward and I love Twilight and I will until I've finished reading the entire series and a few months go by until I forget and move on with my life. The End.

So Long, Farewell...

Well some not so great news... Country Homes, the place where I work, is going out of business and I am going to be out of a job at the end of the year. I really enjoyed my job because it was an office job where I could bring Kien with me to work. On top of my hourly wage I would get a commission on the homes I sold. The hours were pretty flexible and my boss has always been accommodating and understanding. It just worked out really well for our situation. I don't think I'll be getting another job because I doubt anyone would let me bring Kien to work with me and I don't want to leave him with a sitter. I just don't think anyone will be as invested in the well-being of my child as I am. The only place I could think of that would let you bring your kids with you is a day care center. But then I wouldn't be able to give Kien all the attention he needs and take him home for naps and stuff. Oh well.

Since we will have less of an income we have had to cut back on our expenses. We cut the internet and reduced our cable. Bret wasn't willing to completely part with the cable with Basketball season just starting. He was bummed that now he will only get to watch a third of the Jazz games but some is better than none. I think that these cut-backs will be good for us and perhaps open our eyes to other opportunities that we could spend our time on.

Here's a happy moment: Kien gave his cousin Hannah a kiss on Thanksgiving. Too cute! Truthfully, I think he was just trying to get her nose in his mouth because he always does that to Daddy.Well if anyone is looking for a cheap manufactured home, all of our lot models have been significantly reduced because the company is trying to dump them before they go out of business. Here is a link to the lot models: http://countryhomesofsu.blogspot.com/