MY CRAZY FAMILY

Friendships

2012-01-12T20:46:00.001-07:00

I stole this from a ksl website. I wish I could write blog posts like this.

Whenever a women's expo or craft fair comes to town, it always makes me laugh at the booths listing wares that we as women are supposedly desperately wanting: goat lather soap, Zumba workouts, Montana-made syrup, and so on. And though I love to do Zumba in the shower while eating pancakes, I'm pretty sure what I really want is not at the expo.
Unless I'm with my friends.
In the last 11 years — while living in four states, three time zones and five homes — I have had a ton of experience making and keeping friends. Across this great continent, I’ve observed that I have consistently needed five types of friends to keep me sane and balanced.
First off, I trust your husband is hopefully your friend — best friend, even. However, he is not, never will be and never should be your all-in-one everything. No person should ever be burdened with fulfilling your every need, wish and whim for companionship. You will still need other women, both older and younger, to mentor you, serve you and look up to you.

My favorite and dearest friend is the Old Friend variety, who is like your favorite T-shirt: comfy, worn-in and, no matter what your mood, totally appropriate. This Old Friend knows your crazy family history and can write a pamphlet on why you are the way you are and how they like you anyway. She’s probably seen you in your underwear, heard you sobbing over the phone or held you while you despaired over new-mom woes. You don’t have to worry about being far away because, somehow across the miles or around the block, you are still best friends and comfortable in whatever state your friendship is in.
Here's something to note: Sisters make great Old Friends.

Another essential friend is the Deep Friend. She’s the one who is like a therapist, only cheaper — and probably happy to eat ice cream with you as you delve into what makes a marriage really groovy. The Deep Friend is perfectly at peace with dissecting your family background and how that formed the person you are now. She loves discussing the world; religion; and how to have a better, happier and richer life. She is worth her weight in gold — or Prozac.

Your Mentor Friend is often the age of an older siblings or even your mother. Even though she might say the same things your mother does, you don’t roll your eyes or search for the number to the local mental hospital. It sounds so right and true and a lot less annoying coming from the Mentor Friend. You mother probably sends her a script, but who cares? The Mentor Friend commiserates and validates your concerns. The Mentor Friend says, “I’ve been there,” without sounding condescending. She watches your children because she misses her own and she makes sure to remind you often to make time for yourself. Sure, she might be slightly outdated when you compare her to all your hipster sisters, but the Mentor is one irreplaceable friend.
A subset of the Mentor Friend is the Younger (Sister) Friend. To her, you are the mentor and the voice of reason when all pooh breaks loose with small children. As the Mentor Friend, you get to share your hard-earned lessons, helping steer the Younger Friend toward the light at the end of the nursing or toddler tunnel. It is insanely rewarding to share the small tidbits of wisdom that someone once delivered to you when you were buried under laundry and sporting under-eye bags the size of Manhattan.

Our next friend is one of my current favorites: the Surprise Friend. Finding this person is like visiting your local thrift store looking for a cool Halloween costume and you find J.Crew pants for $2. Surprise Friends are like sprinkles on the cake of life: colorful and unexpected. The Surprise Friend is the one you meet at a play group or school meeting and your first reaction is that you have nothing in common and she probably has socks that cost more than your entire wardrobe.
Then you find out, as time goes on, that she’s not as shallow or weird as you originally thought and the notion of spending time with her sitting on a park bench watching your children hang by their toes doesn’t make you gag or feel like getting a root canal. You find that the Surprise Friend is actually funny. And smart! And not shallow! And she’s even willing to share her gold-plated socks!

The last and most-important friend you can have is one that took me many moons to collect. She’s one that many don’t realize is a necessity. It’s You. You should be one of your closest friends — and no, Dr. Phil did not pay me to say that. I hope that little voice in your head is like a great coach and not the mean girls from 6th grade, inherently critical and smarmy.
I’ve trained myself to control my inner dialogue so that when I lose it and holler at one of my children for hitting their sibling (again) my first response is not, “You’re a loser mother,” but instead, “You will do better next time.”
Some women still feel this adolescent need to always be with someone, texting someone or planning daily mommy play dates. But it’s OK to just be — to be with yourself and your thoughts and have awkward conversations like:

You: “Hi.” Self: “Hi.” You: “How ar—” Self: “Fine.” You: “Are you going to work out at th—” Self: “Eh, probably not.” You: “Really? You know how good you feel afterw—” Self: “I know. I should... OK, I’ll go.” You: “Awesome! You're gonna lose 10 pounds!”Awkward, yes. Helpful? Double yes.
And though I am a certified extrovert who has a habit of slightly oversharing and is a lover of people, I think many women need these distinct relationships to make their lives richer and happier.

Are these five friend styles the only ones suitable for sustaining a healthy friend closet? No. Is it necessary to collect friends like charm bracelets? Unless you're in 6th grade, no.
But I do know that it has taken many types of women over many years to help me be a better person, a better mother, a better wife. I need them. I need their wisdom, their laughter and their genuine humanity to rub off on me.
And that is far more useful that goat lather soap.

-Elizabeth Hill, KSL.com contributor

Christmas

2011-12-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

We had a good Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we spent the afternoon with Michael's family in Duchesne. The kids went on 4-wheeler rides, and sledding on the hood of a car pulled by a 4-wheeler. We then picked up Michael from home where he'd gotten about two hours of sleep after working 30 hours straight. We then went to my parents house where we had dinner, read the Christmas story and opened presents. I had my camera with me for both activities but forgot to take any pictures.

On Christmas morning we woke up, opened presents from Santa and mom and dad. Went to church with Michael's family. Michael and I dropped the kids off at his parents house while we ran back to town to our ward where I had to lead the choir in a musical number in our Sacrament meeting. Back at Michael's parents we ate breakfast and then played a gift exchange game with presents that Michael's mom had put together. We then opened family gifts from Nate and Colleen and from his mom and dad. We had Michael's entire family, 22 people in all, there.

Everyone then loaded up in vehicles and we headed to Vernal to visit Michael's grandma Liz. The great-grand-kids all got a present from her and we ate dinner. Then back home we came where the kids cleaned up the mess from opening gifts and then played with their presents until bedtime.

It was a good day.

Michael's update

2011-12-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

Michael had his yearly scope done yesterday, yes they stuffed a camera down his throat. The doctor reports that all signs of his Barrett's disease is gone. So taking his medication has paid off. Now as long as he doesn't have any reoccurring reflux he doesn't need to come in for another three years. So glad that's over with. As long as he's a good boy and continues to take his medicine we shouldn't have any problems.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T11:22:00.001-07:00

We spent Thanksgiving with my family this year. My sister, Dorothy, flew into the Salt Lake airport returning from her mission on Tuesday so Mom and Dad decided that they would pick her up and then just stay at Samuel's for Thanksgiving. I wasn't going to go at first but then decided that we needed to go. I wanted to see my sister and Thanksgiving was with my family after all. We left Wednesday afternoon and stayed until Friday afternoon. It was a small Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad, us, Samuel's family, Caroline's family, Dorothy and Charity.

I was one of those crazy people that went out shopping at 10:00 at Walmart. Stood in line for about 30 minutes to get Aaron's Christmas present at midnight and almost got knocked over into a shelf. I did eventually end up with what I was there for. So I got a little bit of Christmas shopping done. Now it's actually time to get serious and get things going, Christmas is now less than a month away.

Ammon and Erica's Birthday's

2011-11-15T09:48:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Ammon and Erica's birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Crapo's this year. I was able to get pictures of them opening their presents but when it came time for the cake my camera wouldn't focus on the kids, the candle light was messing it up I guess.

Halloween fun

2011-11-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

We had way too much candy for Halloween this year. We had a ward trunk or treat on Saturday night. Then on Monday we went to the Roosevelt Halloween parade and got more candy. Finally that evening we did a little trick or treating. We got enough candy to last all winter, but of course the kids have eaten it already. Can you say sugar high!

We had the escaped convict

A knight in shining armor :)

A pink butterfly

A witch

Tinkerbell

Luigi

We also had a frog but his costume ended up being on the small side so he was only in it for a little while while trunk or treating.

Emily's 7th Birthday and James' 1st birthday

2011-10-20T22:51:00.002-06:00

I know I'm behind on putting these up, we celebrated their birthday's on James' birthday. It's just easier when they are only two days apart to celebrate with one party.

James' first hair cut

2011-10-17T17:27:00.000-06:00

Before

After

2011-10-01T09:26:00.000-06:00

James had his picture in the local paper for his birthday.

http://www.ubstandard.com/stories/James-Ervin-Crapo,9868?content_source=&category_id=&search_filter=&user_id=&event_mode=&event_ts_from=&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=1&sub_type=stories&town_id=&page=

James' Birthday

2011-09-29T09:51:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Bug!

James has reached the magical one today. He's walking around holding on to things, but not on his own. He has his eight front teeth. He's saying dada and making other sounds, I'm trying to get him to say mama, it's sounded like it a few times, but we're still working on it. He is good at getting himself around, he's finally quit the army crawl and is up on hands and knees now. He is drinking from a sippy cup now and only has his bottle for bedtime. He's growing and learning things so fast, I'm sure he'll be walking and talking before long.

Emily's Birthday

2011-09-27T09:24:00.004-06:00

Emily is the big 7 today. She got to have cupcakes with her class but we're waiting until Thursday to have cake and ice cream with James.

Ammon

2011-09-18T15:11:00.001-06:00

Well thanks to Ammon's behavior problems at school he will soon be starting at our districts behavior school in Myton. After much consideration and weighing the options; half day with the special ed teacher, home schooled, or Myton, we decided that his best option for the time is going to Myton. He'll be in a smaller class and will be able to have more time with the teacher and he won't be disrupting as many students. This teacher is more prepared to deal with kids with behavior problems. I just hope he takes this opportunity to grow and learn.

2011-09-05T20:49:00.000-06:00

New School Year

2011-08-27T09:39:00.003-06:00

I totally forgot to take pictures of the kids on their first day of school. The kids are spread out between three schools this year.

Aaron is a sixth grader at Roosevelt Junior High, he is in Mr. Felsch's class. He gets to go to gym and a new class they made for sixth graders called Current Issues. He also gets to have a locker which he thinks is cool.

Ammon is a fourth grader at Kings Peak Elementary(formerly Roosevelt Middle School), he is in Mrs. Romero's class.

Annie is also at Kings Peak Elementary in the third grade, she is in Mrs. Wood's class. This is the first year the third graders are at Kings Peak.

Emily is in first grade at East Elementary in Ms. Zirker's class. She is excited because her new best friend/our neighbor Nadalie is in her class.

Erica is excited to start school next week. She is in Kindergarten in Mrs. Davis's class. (All three of the girls have had Mrs. Davis for Kindergarten.)

Ethan started headstart this week. He gets to ride the bus by himself. He is very excited to go. 'My bus, my bus'.

James gets to stay home and spend time with mom.

Harrison Family Reunion

2011-08-15T14:10:00.001-06:00

Michael's cousin Megan planned the family reunion this year. It was held out by Strawberry Reservoir. Most of Grandma Liz's family was there. The kids had a blast. They loved playing in this one spot that had lots of loose dirt. The kids were all covered in it by the end of the first day.

Ethan playing with some trucks

Cambria covered in dirt

Keira, Aiden, Cambria, Mayson, and Alex

Cambria and Mayson

Cambria, Mayson, and Alex

Felicity, looks like the dirt was quite yummy

Cambria's war paint

Mayson, waiting so patiently

Keria ate some too

Michael and Erica

Ammon getting in trouble, AGAIN

Aaron helping Aunt Lori with the fire

Annie helping with James

Emily

Erica taking her turn with James

James wanting a drink

15 year class reunion

2011-08-07T17:18:00.000-06:00

Went to my 15 year class reunion last night. There were 22 of the class members there. That's a sad 10 percent of the class. I took pictures and posted them on the facebook group for the class of 96.

Anderson Family Reunion

2011-07-30T20:42:00.004-06:00

THE Best Anderson reunion we've ever been to.

The kids loved the water, they didn't have swimsuits, but that didn't matter. They spent about five hours in the water and didn't want to leave. This place has a covered pavilion, the water slide, the boathouse in the middle of the pond, paddle boats, a row boat, two rope swings-one really tall one and one not so tall. A covered sandbox, a covered swing area with tire horses. A tree house built on tree stumps. The kids had a blast playing with everything.

Maestas Family Reunion

2011-07-24T23:18:00.000-06:00

We went to the Maestas Family reunion this weekend. It was held at Iron Springs, it's on Red Cloud Loop above Vernal. One of the activities they had for the kids and some of the more daring adults was a diving pond. They had a kiddie pool full of sawdust and then they buried money in it. The kids had a blast diving for the money, there were even some gold dollars buried in there. Annie was a pro at it, she learned real fast how to move the sawdust really soft and slow so she found the money. She made a haul with more then $8.00 in coins.

Aaron

Ammon

Annie

Emily

Erica

Ethan

Even Michael got in on the action. He found a few coins the four turns he had. On the very next turn, Emily took the spot where he had been and found a gold dollar.

James did okay in the playpen the first day but by the second day he had enough and wanted to be able to crawl where he wanted to.

Before the auction they had Minute to Win It games. Michael was called up to do this game, they had a cookie and had to place it on the forehead and by wiggling their heads and moving facial muscles get it to their mouths without using their hands.

Flooding

2011-06-03T15:36:00.001-06:00

This is a field that has been flooded between the Green River and the White River.

We went South of Ouray to see where the Green River has been flooding. The kids thought it was the coolest thing and so one time when I pulled over to let a truck pass me they wanted to get out and feel how cold it was. This area that they are standing on was a gravel drive off the highway before it was flooded. The area they are in the Green River and the White River have both flooded together.

In these next pictures this was a field, the tops of the fence posts are just barely visible above the water.

Playing at the park

2011-06-03T15:12:00.000-06:00

We went to Vernal to do some shopping and stopped for Pizza, which we took to the park and ate. After we were done eating the kids played on the playground.

These are the crazy leaning trees at this park in Vernal.

Annie's Baptism

2011-06-03T15:04:00.000-06:00

I didn't take any pictures of Annie at her baptism, unfortunately. After her baptism we went to the pavilion at the 1st/4th ward building and just as we got started someone showed up and said they had reserved it, so we had to hurry and eat and get out of there. We had cake and ice cream but didn't get a chance to sing Happy Birthday to her.

Annie's 8th Birthday

2011-05-08T21:55:00.000-06:00

What, Annie is 8! Where did the time go. My little brown haired, brown eyed girl is growing up. We didn't have a party for her yet because she is getting baptized on Saturday and we're going to have dinner afterwards so we decided not to have 2 parties.

Before I was a Mom

2011-04-26T22:07:00.003-06:00

I just found this again on my computer and since it is getting close to Mother's Day I thought I would share it.

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom .

Easter

2011-04-24T22:18:00.000-06:00

Saturday we had Easter lunch at my parents and the kids had an egg hunt. We hid 154 eggs for six kids. They made a haul on the candy.

Sunday we went to Michael's parents house for dinner and of course they had an egg hunt there. Uncle Tyler hid a special egg and the finder got $10. Aaron was very lucky and found it.

First Day at the Park this Spring

2011-04-10T16:22:00.000-06:00

Emily buried her feet

Here she built a volcano

James wasn't too happy about being outside in the breeze.

Annie must have forgotten since last summer that she gets blisters playing on the zip line.

Emily trying out the zip line

Erica

Erica doing the zip line with dad's help

Aaron trying to be helpful :)

Feeding time

2011-04-10T16:13:00.001-06:00

I tried feeding James some baby rice cereal about a month ago, but he was either not interested in it or already too mad and hungry to try it. I think he was too mad that day. But this afternoon I finally decided to try again. This time he really seemed to like it and he ate it really good.

Ethan's 3rd Birthday

2011-03-27T17:49:00.000-06:00

This cake Grandma and Grandpa Anderson brought over to celebrate Ethan's birthday. They showed up on Sunday afternoon with cake and ice cream.

This cake we had with Grandma and Grandpa Crapo a few days late, but at least we had a celebration.

His steel dump truck that should last him years of fun. From Grandma and Grandpa Crapo

This truck he was playing with while we were in Kmart and when we were ready to go we told him he had to tell it good-bye. He was MAD for the rest of the day. You can't see in these pictures but he had an ear to ear grin when he opened it.

My mile!!

2011-03-23T14:01:00.000-06:00

Whew! I thought I was going to die today when I was walking my mile. I made it in 19:03. Kicked my butt though. It's going to be a L.O.N.G. time before I accomplish that in 18 minutes.

James and his accomplishments

2011-03-23T13:50:00.001-06:00

James is almost six months old, just today he rolled over by himself. When he's been on his belly he has been scooting a little bit forward. Still no teeth. He's been sleeping through the night, for the most part, since he was about four months old. He loves to lay on the floor and play with his gym. Just last month he finally outgrew the newborn and 0-3 months clothes. I tried feeding him some rice cereal last week, but he was either just too hungry and mad to eat it or he just wasn't ready for it.

He's growing up very fast. He has been talking a lot lately, doesn't matter if anyone is listening to him or not. He is also a thumb sucker. All three of the brown haired, brown eyed children suck their thumbs. James took his first bath in the bathtub last week. He loved playing in the water, he laughed and giggled and splashed.

Gizmo

2011-03-13T15:51:00.000-06:00

Gizmo was my cat, the first cat I've had since I left home. I got him in November 2007 and he was a part of the family. The last time I saw him was at Christmas time last year. I've been hoping that he was just adopted by another family. But I saw his lifeless body on the side of the road yesterday. He's been there the last few months under the piles of snow we got at the time he disappeared. It broke my heart to see him there and to know that's where he's been the last few months.
My cats become a special part of the family and I felt like a part of my heart was torn out to realize that he will never come home to me, to sleep on my feet or to curl up on my lap again.

Aaron's 11th Birthday

2011-03-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

I have been awful at posting my children's birthdays so I'm starting this year with Aaron, I know it's already been over a month but here it is.

He got 2 watches, one from Grandma and Grandpa Crapo and one from Aunt Natalie, Uncle Jeremy, and Noah. Grandma said she'd return hers and get him a scout shirt.

When it came time to blow out the candles Aaron couldn't blow straight out, I don't know if he was laughing too hard or what, but he kept blowing UP and not even getting the candles. Dad had to finally help him before they melted all over the cake.

New Van

2011-03-05T09:05:00.002-07:00

Well this is what we spent the majority of our tax return on this year. The van we had didn't even fit all of us when we bought it, but at the time we were desperate and needed one. We were legal as long as Michael wasn't with us, but then we had James and we really didn't fit. We decided to go with the 15 passenger so that we'd have the room for storage.

Michael thought it would be funny to post on my facebook account that I needed help naming it. Here are the suggestions so far:

Automobile Snowman
Abominable Snowvan
People Mover
Cruise Ship
HOV (Hybrid Offset Vehicle)
King of the Road
Whale
Patience
Brutus
VANna White
Hootwagon
BMW (Big Mormon Wagon)
Titanic
Big Bertha

Woooohoooooo!!!

2011-02-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today I walked a mile on the treadmill in 19 minutes and 43 seconds. Wow. My next goal is 18 minutes for a mile.

more progress

2011-02-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

20:21, that is my new time for a mile. I will get it one of these days :) I haven't noticed much change on the scale or the way I look but I can feel the changes happening in my body. Woohoo!!! Things that were all jiggly before are firming up and I can actually make it that mile and not die.

Progress

2011-02-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

Wow! I didn't think I was making any progress with my workouts but this morning I noticed that my huge love handles have diminished, still there but much smaller. Yea!! I guess it's just going to take some time to notice changes. I know it's not going to happen overnight but I want to see change.

Update

2011-02-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

Whew! I've really been pushing myself on the treadmill and today I walked a mile in 20:36. I almost made it under 20. Woohoo!! I've been walking on the treadmill and then doing all the exercises on the machines and then trying to also get in 20 minutes on the bike. Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to see some results from all this work. Until then I'll just keep pushing myself.

Scouts

2011-01-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

Aaron attended his last Cub Scout Pack Meeting tonight. He received his Arrow of Light award and advanced to Boy Scouts. Wow, when did this kid grow up? Where has the time gone? I'm so proud of the accomplishments he did in order to earn his Arrow of Light. Now he just needs to focus on earning merit badges and getting to his Eagle, which he is really excited to earn.

Sunday's

2011-01-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

I have a love/hate relationship with Sundays.

Let's start with the time church starts: I love the 9:00 time for being in the morning and having the rest of the day to do whatever, I hate the 9:00 time because we're hardly ever on time. I love the 11:00 time because we can actually be ready and be on time, I hate the 11:00 time because by the time we're out the day is over half gone.

Next would be my children: I love my children but take them to Sacrament meeting by myself and I have to restrain myself from reaching over and knocking some sense into some of them right there in front of everyone. I hate the fact that I go to church so looking forward to it and by the time it is over all I've gotten from the meeting is a huge head ache.

Day of rest: I love the fact that it's called a day of rest, but here's my hate part, I never get any rest on Sunday's.

I know that's where I'm supposed to be on Sunday but I have come to really not look forward to Sunday mornings, Sunday day period.

My accomplishment

2011-01-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

I have to brag, I know it's not much but to me it's a lot. I've started working out at a local gym and yesterday I walked a mile in less then 30 minutes. I know to some of you that's nothing, but for me, that was an accomplishment. I hate walking and working out, obviously I don't do it enough. But one of my goals for the new year was to loose some weight and workout, so I'm working on it a little bit at a time. When I started it took me almost an hour to walk a mile. Now my goal is to make it in 20 minutes and then someday maybe I can make it in less then 15 minutes. I just have to keep pushing myself. Now that I'm working on working some of it off I just need to eat healthier and cut down on what I'm eating so it's actually doing some good. I just have to keep reminding myself that it will be worth it in a year or less.

2011

2011-01-01T21:07:00.001-07:00

The new year is officially here and I'm hoping for a better year then 2010. I've definitely had my share of the downs in 2010. I think I hit rock bottom quite a few times, thankfully I've bounced back but you never know when you're going to fall, or be pushed, again.

This year I'm setting some goals for myself, they aren't resolutions just goals.

1. Loose some weight, by eating healthier and going to the gym. My goal is to get to the gym at least 3 times a week. My whole family needs to eat healthier and so I want to set up some meal plans and have more balanced meals overall.

2. I need to get caught up on my children's scrapbooks, if not caught up on all of them at least I need to get some done, and get James' started.

3. Have a more positive attitude. Michael says I'm a very pessimistic person. Well I'd like to change that.

4. Get to bed at a decent time each night, hopefully soon, James will start sleeping through the night and I can get a good restful nights sleep.

Family Christmas Letter

2010-12-18T08:27:00.002-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Is it really time for Christmas already? This year has flown by so fast, it seems like each year goes by faster then the previous. Just a little notet to update you as our family continues to grow, in more ways then one.

Aaron(10) is in 5th grade, he is doing hip hop again, earned his Bear badge in scouts and has been working on his Webelos badge, which e received at November's pack meeting. He is now working towards earning his Arrow of Light award. Aaron loves to shoot his bow with grandpa, he goes every chance he gets. The 3D standing grizzly bear target is his favorite.

Ammon(9) is in 3rd grade, he is doing tumbling again, has earned his Wolf badge and is moving on to earning his Bear. After having such a perfect year last year, Ammon started this school year off with a bang. getting himself sunt to the principals office and getting suspended three times now. He's lucky it's only been three times, he would have missed a second day the first time if dad hadn't spent the day with him.Ammon is once again singing with the school musical group, Musical Mustangs.

Annie(7) is in 2nd grade, she is doing dance again. She tried out for the competition team this spring and made it but then decided she didn't want to do it. she is really good at dance. She says she doesn't want to learn point but she's always up on her toes. Annie has been complaining that she can't see the board at school so after an eye exam it was determined taht she does indeed need glasses (and she loves having them). The kids all took swimming lessons this summer and Annie is the only one to pass off her level.

Emily(6)is in Kindergarten, she is also doing dance. Emily has been making lots of friends at school and is always wanting to go to someone's house for a play date. she still loves spending time with her Aunt Julia, she's very happy Julia is back in Utah.

Erica(5) is in Headstart again, she also takes dance. She has been doing really well about going to headstart by herself. she's only had one major breakdown while getting ready in the morning, after mom carried her to the bus she settled down and enjoyed the day at school.

Ethan(2) goes to a special group twice a week at DDI Vantage, an early intervention program helping him learn to speak more. he will have this available to him until his 3rd birthday. Since we have started this program he has started speaking more, is using 2 and 3 word sentences when prompted, and is overall more engaging in conversation.

And we have added to our family yet again. James Ervin Crapo joined us on September 29, at 6:01 a.m. He weighed 4lb 15 oz and was 17 inches long. He was six weeks early and did very well, spent very little time in the nursery, and only 12 hours on oxygen. He is a perfect beautiful dark haired baby, still undetermined on his eye color, mom says they are going to be blue, dad says they are going to be brown.

Michael has been keeping busy working, for the most part. Work did take a dip in the summer, which is usual for his work. But with the colder weather it picks back up. he now has seniority in his area. Some days he doesn't really take the day off because he always has his truck phone forwarded. In these hard time we are extremely grateful that he still has a job.

Kathryn has been keeping busy with the duties of wife and mother. In church she was released earlier this year from her calling as a member of the Relief Society Activity Committee and called as Relief Society Pianist. She is still taking kids to church by herself, only being relieved once every six weeks when Michael gets a Sunday off. In June she ended her 2 year stint as PTA President at the Elementary. In September she was elected in Erica's headstart class as the Policy Council Representative. Then in Policy Council she was elected as the Secretary/Treasurer. So there is always something going on in her life.

We wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and all the best in the NEW YEAR.

Love, The Crapo Family

♫ Beautiful ~♥~ by Mercy Me ♫

2010-11-18T10:28:00.001-07:00

Love this!!

Beautiful

2010-11-17T21:42:00.002-07:00

A friend gave me the lyrics to this song yesterday. Said she heard it on the radio and it made her think of me.

Beautiful
by: Mercy Me

The days will come when you don't have the strength
When all you hear is you're not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart they'd see too much

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful

And praying that you have the heart to find
Cause you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you've held inside so long
And they are nothing in the shadow of the cross

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful

Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skies above
You're the one He madly loves
Enough to die

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
In His eyes

You're beautiful
You were meant for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You're meant for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His

6 Weeks....

2010-11-10T06:58:00.002-07:00

Wow, how time flies. Was it really six weeks ago that James was born? It seems like only yesterday. He has grown, I weighed him on Monday and he is about 7 1/2 lbs. I say about because I didn't strip him down like they do at the dr. office to weigh him. He has filled out, his face is getting fuller, not chubby but he's outgrowing that preemie look. He's still eating about every two to three hours, which isn't so bad during the day but at night it just wears me out.

I guess I really should get out my camera and take some pictures. I've been terrible at taking pictures, of everyone. When I got my digital camera I thought it would be so much easier for scrapbooking because I could look at the pictures and print them off right away, but I'm terrible about getting them printed out. Guess it's time to catch up.

He's Here!!! Introducing James Ervin Crapo

2010-10-05T11:44:00.003-06:00

Last Tuesday I went to bed at 10:30 and was woken up at 12:50 by my water breaking. I was so not ready for that. I hadn't looked at the clock yet but Michael was in the bathroom so I assumed it was after 3:00 and he was up getting ready for work. I called to him and told him my water just broke, he's like 'you're kidding right?' no I wasn't kidding, it was the real thing. So I got up and started getting dressed, and packing a few things because I didn't have anything ready yet.

We arrived at the hospital and checked in, got to my room and the nurse checked me. They still did the test to see if my water had broken, which I don't get, hello I've had 6 babies, don't you think I know when my water has broken. I was dilated to 4, not bad considering I had been a 1 1/2 on Monday. I figured it wouldn't be much more then 2 hours, the last four kids were all born right about 2 hours after my water broke. But I laid there until about 5:00 with contractions coming and going, not ever getting very strong or consistent. At 5:00 I got up and went to the bathroom and then the contractions started getting stronger. At 5:30 I was only at a 5, I was getting a little frustrated at this point. I got up and went to the bathroom again and Michael told me not to have the baby in the toilet. Ha ha, funny I said, she just checked me and I'm not going to have him yet.

Getting up and moving around that little bit must have really helped because within 20 minutes I was getting very uncomfortable. Surprisingly the contractions were strong but not as painful as I remember them being with the other kids. I called the nurse in and she checked me, wow, I only had a little bit of anterior lip. She said not to push yet and went to get the doctor. He walked into the room just as I had another contraction and I tried not to push. But with the next contraction while he was still in the corner dressing I pushed and the nurse told him the head was out and with another push he was out. I sat up and touched him as he lay there on the bed, what a beautiful wonder he was. All too soon the doctor was there suctioning him out and handing him off to the nurse so she could take him straight to the nursery because he was of course 6 weeks early and they wanted him in there in case there were complications with him.

He was born at 6:01, a little more than 5 hours after my water broke. Michael went to the nursery with him and came back a little later to tell me that he was 4lbs 5oz, and 17 inches long. I thought that was a very strange coincidence for him and Ammon to have both been born at 34 weeks and 2 days and to both weigh the exact same. But I later found out that he was actually 15 oz, Michael hadn't seen the 1 when the nurse wrote the weight down.

James was in the nursery in the infant warmer with oxygen until 10:00 that night, he was breathing it was just very shallow. He also had an IV, the nurses tried 6 times to put it in his hands or feet and each time blew the vein. Finally they called in the anesthesiologist and he put it in a vein on his forehead. He had antibiotics just as a precaution because it was unknown why my water broke, if I had an infection they wanted to take care of it before he got sick. He finally got to come into my room on Thursday after lunch. Michael brought the kids down after school and they all held him and loved on him.

What a blessing he is, to be here and be healthy. I am so glad he didn't have to spend more time in the hospital. I think they made Ammon stay until he was 5 lbs. When we left the hospital James weighed 4 lbs. 14 oz. I'm sure it was due to the continuous flow of IV fluids they were giving him, for everything he lost they were pumping it back in.

Same ole, Same ole

2010-09-27T17:37:00.002-06:00

Went to the Dr. for my checkup this morning. Because of ultrasound measurements he says I'm only 34 weeks, and I say I'm 36 weeks. Anyway, I've been contracting like crazy and thought for sure I'd be dilated to at least a 3, nope, I'm only about 1 1/2. Can't hardly believe that sometime within the next 4 weeks, pretty sure it will be by then, I'll have a new baby. Yikes!! Am I really ready for this, ready or not he's coming.

The Waiting Game

2010-09-14T23:06:00.002-06:00

I still have at least 4 weeks left with this baby, but man do I want him out. I've been so miserable lately. The headaches, the backaches, the swelling, the expanding waist line....you get the picture. As my last visit a week ago I did have high blood pressure the first time she took it, then he had me lay on my side for 5 minutes and then took it again, it was a little lower but I thought it was still a little high. I do not want to get to the point I did with Erica when my kidneys and liver were shutting down and it was get that baby out now. I hate being on the magnesium sulfate, that stuff makes me sick. So here's to hoping I don't reach that point with this baby.

I hate the scales at the Dr's office too, one time I lost 15 lbs and the next time I'm back up 20 lbs or so. I think they should make sure they use the same scale each time, cause there's got to be a discrepancy between the three of them.

We still haven't settled on a name for this little guy. Michael likes names that I don't like and I've picked names that he doesn't like. By this time with all the others they had a name. We're going to be at the hospital calling him Baby Boy Crapo. Poor thing!

In all honesty I'm not ready for this to be over, I enjoy being pregnant and feeling that baby moving within my body. Knowing that I've created something special and unique. I can't describe the joy I feel from carrying that tiny creation within me. It's a humbling and growing experience.

School time!!!!

2010-08-12T10:24:00.002-06:00

Wow! It's almost time for school again. I am way excited to be sending kids off during the day so there isn't so much fighting. They've gotten worse as the summer has progressed. We went to Vernal yesterday and did school clothes shopping. Oh my gosh!!! It costs a fortune to get 5 kids clothes, backpacks, and shoes for school. Grandma Donna bought the girls shoes, but the pair she got for Annie didn't fit, she also got each of them a shirt or two. Grandma Linda bought them all socks and underwear. We spent as much at K-Mart for their clothes as we usually spend at Wal-Mart for food and other essentials each month. I don't even want to think about what it's going to cost once they get to high school. Yikes!!

I've been feeling pretty miserable lately, my stomach feels like it's being stretched to the limits already. I'm always exhausted and these stupid headaches just won't go away. Oh the joys!! I figure I have about 9 weeks left, the closest to due date has been 16 days so I'm figuring sometime about the middle of October. I'm not really sure that I'm ready for that, it seems so close. This being the last baby kind of makes me feel sad. I want to enjoy it as long and as much as I can.

New Title

2010-07-26T14:06:00.002-06:00

If any of you have been paying attention on facebook or to the pictures posted along the right side of this page you will know that I will soon need to change my name to crazy mom of seven. Yes that's right, baby number 7 is due in October. If I wasn't crazy before I will be now!!!

2010-07-21T09:36:00.002-06:00

Summer has been dragging by, but it's almost over, yea!!!

I have of course been neglecting my blog. I did update pictures as you can see. My sister Julia took these for us and did a great job as always. The kids don't like to cooperate and so of course in none of the pictures of the family were all of them looking at the camera.

We went to one family reunion this year at Moon Lake and got rained out. So glad home was close enough for us to come home and sleep in a dry bed. I know that's not really fair but who wants to sleep in a flooded tent with wet sleeping bags. Michael's sister Michelle and brother Tyler were the only other ones in a tent, the others all had campers. So I don't feel too bad about ditching them for the night :).

Annie got to go to Wisconsin with some of my family. She was gone for two weeks and did really well until the night before they got home, then she got a little homesick. She still talks about the turtle ponds and going to Nauvoo.

The kids have all taken one swimming lesson this summer, too expensive to do more then that. Annie was the only one that passed her level. I guess it's not really fair because they don't get that much time in the pool, I haven't taken them at all this year. But then again, I'm not crazy, oh wait, I am. But I am not taking 6 kids to the pool by myself. No way!!

To get a job or not to get a job? That is the question.

2010-05-03T10:47:00.002-06:00

So Michael has been after me since about the beginning of the year to get a job. Ok, so I applied to some, but didn't get any of them. I don't know how I really feel about this, it wouldn't have been to bad before but it's almost summer and the kids will be home, what do I do with them while I'm working. It's not worth it to pay for childcare for them just for me to go to work, I wouldn't ever come out ahead.

I've tried the working at home deal and they are just not worth it, they either are just a fraud or I flop at them. I really don't want to work. What's a mom supposed to do??

It's been awhile....

2010-04-23T09:09:00.002-06:00

I've been slacking something awful lately. I didn't realize that I hadn't blogged since the end of the year.

There really hasn't been much going on, kids are getting big and bigger. The kids are getting anxious for school to be over, me not so much. :) Thought we were going to finally have summer but this rain has made it so dang cold again. I love the rain because it makes everything green but I can see the nasty weeds growing in my backyard, nasty things.

Now what???

2009-12-29T22:45:00.002-07:00

So Christmas is over, the tree is down, the presents are all put away, the kids are fighting over the wii that Santa brought....I'm looking forward to the week being over so the kids can go back to school. It's seven hours less a day that I have to listen to them fight with each other. Oh well I guess that's how it is when there are six kids trying to play together.

Since I blogged last I found a used computer at a yard sale, we've had to buy a new dishwasher, the stove is next on the list, the oven only works about 25 percent of the time, the dryer is starting to smell like it's burning. The blower motor for the heater in the van is almost dead, it will only work if you pop the hood and tap on the motor. We've moved the family room furniture to the living room because we've had to close off the family room to keep the rest of the house heated on account of the blower moter in the gas fireplace going out. Good thing we have an extra room. Can anything else quit or stop??

On a brighter note, we had a good Christmas. Spent Christmas Eve with the Anderson's, went caroling, had dinner, read the Christmas story, sang some songs and then the kids opened their presents from Grandma and Grandpa. On our way home we took a few detours and looked at some lights because we hadn't done that yet this year and the kids really wanted to see some. I wasn't too impressed with the decorations this year, there just didn't seem to be many.

On Christmas we got the kids up early and they opened presents before Michael had to go to work, then we packed up and went to Aunt Tattie's for breakfast and gift exchange there. Then we bundled up and went to what they call their property. Some acreage they have to the west of Duchesne, were they have trails built that they ride their four wheelers on, this time they rode the snowmobile and pulled an old car hood around behind the four wheelers. The kids all had a blast. Michael was supposed to get off somewhat early but a bunch of loads got called in so he had to stay and pull them.

The flu, the cough, the runny nose....

2009-10-26T12:18:00.002-06:00

The kids were all home last week with one form or another of sickness. Coughing, fevers, headaches, runny noses, thankfully no puking. There's a lot of this gunk going around lately and it sounds like lots of people have it. Now that we've had our turn I hope it stays away for a while. I love being mom but when my children are cranky and ornery because they aren't feeling good I just wish they'd sleep it off. The first 2 days they were home they did just park themselves in front of the tv with their blankets, but once they started feeling better it was constantly a fight.

There really hasn't been much new going on at our house. still need to put up molding in my bedroom and the ceiling up in my bathroom. But that takes money and money is something we don't have at the moment. Our gas fireplace in the family room decided to die, that is the lone source of heat in that room, of course we can't afford a new one. Michael would like to put in a wood burning stove there but we don't have the money for that either. Work has been slow for Michael, well not just slow they are trying to either fire him or get him to quit. His pay checks have been small and we are getting behind on bills. It's so frustrating. He did put in an application with Savage but after discussing the pros and cons it's better for him to stay put at RNI and hope that nothing else happens there.

Some days I just want to stay in bed and not have to face the world.

Computer Dead

2009-09-19T15:24:00.003-06:00

I am writing this at the library because my computer has died. I am so sad, I use my computer for everything and now it is gone. If anyone has one they are getting rid of that works I'll gladly take it off your hands. :)

Updates-HUH???

2009-08-29T20:53:00.002-06:00

I've been lazy lately and haven't written in ages. Yes we are still alive. The kids went back to school on Monday, Emily has been in Wisconsin with my sister Julia for the last week. I've been busy, busy, busy. What more is there to say.

Vacation Adventures

2009-07-13T23:09:00.003-06:00

We left Thursday morning for a family reunion in Fillmore. On the way there we went to Delta and the trilobite quarry run by U-Dig Fossils, as part of the reunion. The kids had a blast there finding the trilobites.

They then took us to a place were they collected some wonder stone. Then back to Delta where we went to the headquarters of U-Dig fossils where they have a small store. The gentleman took all the kids out back and gave them each a geode stone about the size of a baseball and cut them open for them.
Once in Fillmore we went to an indoor arena where they had horses ready for us to ride. Most of the grown-ups didn't ride but all the kids thought it was a blast.

Ethan didn't ride but he had fun checking out this horse that was tethered in the arena.

Emily and Erica had a blast. They each got to have a turn 'steering'.

Annie wasn't going to go at first but I kind of pushed her. I asked the girl behind her if she would mind riding with Annie. So they went together. Annie is hanging on for dear life on her first ride. Her second ride she wanted someone on with her but the guy was all for having her take a ride by herself. She did pretty good.

Ammon was just having the time of his life up there.

Aaron also enjoyed his ride. He took that horse round and round.

We stayed at the Fillmore KOA in a kabin, much better then pitching a tent, I think.

On Friday we went on a little treasure hunt around Fillmore. Michael's great-grandparents, James Andrew & Jane Elizabeth Rawson Crapo, lived there and so the object was to go to their house, where an aunt Lila's house had been, to the Territorial Statehouse Museum, the cemetery and to the library where we were to look in a book written about the area and find mention of these relatives; then we were supposed to write about our feelings or memories. I of course not knowing these people didn't have much to write. It was fun though to go to the museum and to the cemetery.

Saturday we had breakfast and said our good-byes and headed for Hatch, Utah to visit a friend. 10 miles outside of Panguitch we came to a stop sign and the couldn't go any where. We had to call a tow truck and he hauled us the 10 miles to Panguitch and then our friend came and picked us up there and took us to her house. We spent the night there after making plans with a member of our ward to drive down in the morning, with a car dolly, to haul us home.

Since Brother Costello wasn't going to be there until most of church was over we decided that we'd go to church even though none of us had proper attire with us The three girls borrowed dresses from Mya, our friend Annie's granddaughter. Michael and the boys wore shorts and tee-shirts. I of course had to wear pants which just felt wrong in so many ways to me. But oh well, you make do with what you have. It really wasn't that bad after all.

Brother Costello arrived about noon and then it took us an hour and a half to load the van onto the dolly. We stopped in Richfield for some lunch at 3:30 and when we returned to the vehicle the A/C wasn't working. Okay, we can deal with this just roll some windows down. But then we got to Price and Brother Costello decided that since the brakes hadn't been feeling very good he was going to stop and check them out before we attempted to go over Indian Canyon. What he found or didn't find for that matter was a scarey thing. The brake pads on the one side were shot, non existant. Of course it's Sunday in a little Utah town so everything is closed. We parked at Wal-Mart and called Bishop Sasser(it was his vehicle we were in) he said we could try to get new brakes on it or he could just drive over the mountain and somehow take us home and we'd have to return later for the other vehicles.

After calling around and trying to decided what we were going to do for I'm sure it was about 2 hours Brother Costello said something that jogged my mind and I remembered that my Uncle Shane works at a parts store here in Roosevelt. So I called him and Bishop Sasser met up with him and got the brakes and came over the mountain with them. They(Brother Costello, Bishop Sasser, and his father, finally managed to replace the brake pad and after 4 hours in Price we were on our way again. We finally made it home at 2. So the journey that should have taken 6 or 7 hours took us 12+ hours. Whew!!!

Some where between Richfield and Price Brother Costello asked the kids if they had seen the movie Vacation, none of my kids have but he told them they were living their own movie. Well that is one movie that I don't ever want to live again.

Power of Prayer

2009-07-02T13:52:00.002-06:00

I just had to write about this because I was so impressed the other night. On Tuesday night, a week ago Michael came home from work with his wallet and basically lost it. He put it somewhere and couldn't remember where. On Wednesday he needed it to take his DOT card to the office. Well he couldn't find it, neither could I. I can usually find it by going through all his stuff and just looking in the normal places. Anyway, I didn't find it and couldn't find it, so we had the kids looking for it and looking some more. He didn't need it much over the weekend but Tuesday night came and he needed it for Wednesday to drive FedEx. So the hunt started over again, we really tore things apart looking for it, taking cushions off the couch, tipping it over, going through pockets again. Finally I just said to him "You better go in there(the bedroom) and start saying some serious prayers, cause we can't find it."

Anyway we got doing other things and I was outside putting the sprinklers on the grass and thinking about it and had an impression that I should just get everyone together and talk to the kids about it and have a prayer together asking for help. So I gathered everyone in the family room and started talking to the kids about prayer and asking for Heavenly Fathers help. I suggested to the kids that maybe we could do that and have Him help us to find it. Well Michael's sitting in his chair and chimes in and says I just found it about 5 minutes ago. He had done what I suggested and gone and had a prayer and looked in the van again. He had stuffed it into the pocket on the van door on Tuesday night when we went to the Elder's Quorum activity and no one had looked there, we'd looked under the seats and stuff.

It was strange that I had had those impressions while I was out putting the sprinklers up because I remember Michael looking in the van at that same time. I think maybe it was just an opportunity to teach the kids a lesson in prayer. Hopefully they learned something and next time they can't find something maybe they will say a quick prayer themselves.

Video Phone

2009-06-28T20:22:00.003-06:00

I recently got this cool new phone, it's a video phone that runs through the internet. I can call anyone that has a video phone and talk to them face to face. Cool!!

My Little Helper

2009-05-27T21:57:00.002-06:00

I was vacuuming up all the little fuzzes from the carpet in my room and Ethan came and helped me. I think it's quite cute.

Walking

2009-05-16T22:10:00.002-06:00

Yikes! My baby is walking. He's been slowly working on it, walking along things and taking one or two steps to me but today he stood up in the middle of the kitchen floor and walked about 4 feet to me. He's grown up so fast, it was just yesterday that Aaron was walking. Time is really speeding up and I'm just falling farther and farther behind.

Ethan vs. Michael

2009-05-02T12:18:00.006-06:00

Everyone keeps saying how much Ethan looks like his daddy.

Caroline & David Mangum

2009-04-15T09:58:00.009-06:00

For those of you who missed the wedding/reception I thought I'd post some pictures.

Look at that cute family, they look good with 6 kids don't they? I'll lend them mine anytime.

Amazing!!!

2009-04-14T07:46:00.001-06:00

I saw this on facebook and just couldn't believe how amazing it was. You've got to watch it to believe it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Where does the time go?

2009-04-12T23:49:00.002-06:00

I started out so good with this blog but lately I have just kind of let it slide and not kept it up. We're all still alive and doing well. I'm in the middle of painting my bedroom so I should be moved back in...hopefully by the end of the month, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm going to try harder to keep up to date, my goal will be at least one post a week.

Fourth Born

2009-04-01T16:20:00.003-06:00

1. WAS THIS PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes it was
2. HOW LONG HAD YOU BEEN MARRIED? 5 years
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Totally excited
4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 26
5. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Took a pregnancy test because I was late.
6. WHO DID YOU TELL? Michael, of course
7. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes
8. DUE DATE? October 12
9.DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Not really
10. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? I think fruit
11. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Not getting enough sleep
12. WHAT WAS THIS CHILD'S GENDER? FEMALE!!!!
13. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No, I had 2 boys and now I would have 2 girls.
14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? I lost about 15 lbs.
15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? No
16. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? N/A
17. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Other than major headaches, no. I did have a sleep study done and found out that I had a slight case of sleep apnea, so I had a CPAP machine.
18. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Uintah Basin Medical Center, Roosevelt, Utah
19. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? about 2. My water broke at about 7:30 when I sat down to change Annie's diaper and it was all a whirl after that. I was already dialated to a 5 that morning at my checkup so I really didn't have far to go. The doctor walked in and had to hurry and gown because she was already crowned, he just made it in time to catch her.
20.. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Michael
21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Michael, My mother, and my sister Julia(Emily is Julia's kid, she is almost attached to her at the hip).
22. WAS IT VAGINAL OR C-SECTION? Vaginal
23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? No, she was about as easy as Annie.
24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 6lbs. 7oz.
25. HOW LONG WAS YOUR CHILD? 18 1/2 inches
26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? September 27
27.WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Emily Kathryn Crapo(If you notice the first 3 are A names, I changed to the E because I then had a reason to convince Michael I needed to have another baby or two so that she wasn't the only E, smart huh!).
28. HOW OLD IS YOUR CHILD TODAY? She's 4.

Third Born

2009-03-16T13:36:00.007-06:00

1. WAS THIS PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes it was
2. HOW LONG HAD YOU BEEN MARRIED? 3 years 6 months
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? I was excited and scared, I had just had a miscarriage again and had a D&C this time. Was afraid of losing another baby. But she hung in there!
4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 25
5. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Took a pregnancy test, a few actually because I was a week late before I got a positive.
6. WHO DID YOU TELL? Michael, of course
7. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes
8. DUE DATE? May 23
9.DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Not really
10. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Fruit and chocolate
11. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? My hubby was a thorn in my side :)
12. WHAT WAS THIS CHILD'S GENDER? FEMALE!!!!
13. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No, I was thrilled it was finallya girl, I wasn't going to have to trade Michael in for someone who could make girls. LOL
14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? I lost 10 lbs.
15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes
16. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew
17. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? No
18. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Uintah Basin Medical Center, Roosevelt, Utah
19. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? I don't really have any idea. I was monitored from 10:30 to 12:30, I was just checking to see how things were, not really expecting to actually be in labor. Nurse checked me at 12:30 just after I had eaten lunch and I was at 6cm. Dr. came and checked me at 1:00 I was then a 7. He broke my water at 1:30. I started having contractions that I felt at 1:45, I think I started pushing about 3:10 and she was born at 3:19.
20.. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? We were already at the hospital, we had taken Ammon to the Pediatrician for his 18 month checkup and then went over to OB.
21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Michael, and My mother.
22. WAS IT VAGINAL OR C-SECTION? Vaginal
23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? No, this delivery was a breeze. If they could just all be like this....
24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 6lbs. 14 oz.
25. HOW LONG WAS YOUR CHILD? 20 inches
26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? May 7
27.WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Annie Elizabeth Crapo
28. HOW OLD IS YOUR CHILD TODAY? She's 5.

Ethan's One Year Old

2009-03-15T17:12:00.002-06:00

Ethan turned 1 on the 10th. We celebrated on the 12th. We had family over and had a BBQ and then cake and ice cream. I have pictures of him opening his presents and eating his cake but my camera and computer aren't working together to download the pictures. Gotta figure that one out. In the meantime here is the picture that Julia took for his birthday picture.

Second Born

2009-02-24T10:30:00.003-07:00

Since I did this for Aaron I thought I would do it for the other kids, just to see what I remember about them.

1. WAS THIS PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes it was
2. HOW LONG HAD YOU BEEN MARRIED? 2 years 1 month
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? I was excited, a little nervous too because I had lost a baby the previous summer and then had a very hard time getting pregnant again.
4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 24
5. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Because we were trying I took a pregnancy test as soon as I could.
6. WHO DID YOU TELL? Michael, of course
7. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes
8. DUE DATE? December16
9.DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Just a little
10. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Fruit
11. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Because I was loosing weight during the pregnancy my Doctor was watching me closer, more tests and more appointments.
12. WHAT WAS THIS CHILD'S GENDER? Male
13. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? I was still very disappointed when I found out it was another boy instead of a girl.
14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? I lost 8lbs.
15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? No
16. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? N/A
17. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Loosing weight, other then that it was great until my water broke at week 34.
18. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Uintah Basin Medical Center, Roosevelt, Utah
19. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? Water broke about 8ish a.m., went to hospital about 10. Hooked me up to PIT, I think I started feeling contractions about 6ish. He was born at 12:05 a.m.
20.. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Michael
21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Michael, My mother, and it felt like a whole room full of people, extra nurses and doctors because he was early.
22. WAS IT VAGINAL OR C-SECTION? Vaginal
23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? No I toughed it out, though I wish I had taken something because the PIT made it so much worse.
24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 4lb. 5oz.
25. HOW LONG WAS YOUR CHILD? 18 1/4 inches.
26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? November 7
27.WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Ammon Michael Crapo
28. HOW OLD IS YOUR CHILD TODAY? He's 7.

My sisters getting married!

2009-02-18T09:33:00.002-07:00

For all you family members that check into my blog, I thought you would like to know that Caroline and Dave are getting married on March 21. I will also be doing a bridal shower for her on Friday so that those from out of town can make one trip and be to both.

First Born...

2009-02-11T22:55:00.004-07:00

So I got this off my friend Nicole's blog. I thought it would be fun to see what I remember from my first baby.

First Born Survey. Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself! Let's see how much you remember!
1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes it was
2. HOW LONG HAD YOU BEEN MARRIED? almost 4 months
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? I was way excited, but a little nervous too
4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 21
5. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Took a pregnancy test, I really didn't expect to have it turn out positive.
6. WHO DID YOU TELL? Michael was with me when I took the test
7. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes
8. DUE DATE? February 14
9.DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Not really, just really tired
10. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? I think it was Mexican food
11. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Really it was having to get up early every morning to go to class, I was in college at the time. I think I ditched a few too many early morning classes.
12. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S GENDER? Male
13. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? I was positive I was having a girl, I even had her name picked out.
14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 36 lbs, but I blame it all on the medication I had to take for my ulcerative colitis
15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes, my aunt Annette and aunt Cristine threw me a shower, because he was early I had the shower after he was born.
16. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew
17. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Between week 34 and 36 I gained 10 lbs. at my 36 week checkup I was hospitalized for the night for observation with pre-eclampsia symptoms then sent home on strict bed rest. I wasn't any better at the end of the week so I again spent the night in the hospital and was induced the next morning.
18. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Timpanogos Regional, Provo, Utah
19. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? I think they started the pit about 10 a.m. and he was born at 2:05 p.m. I don't think I was really in labor until about 1:00.
20.. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Michael
21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? No one
22. WAS IT VAGINAL OR C-SECTION? C-Section
23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? I almost wish I had because I had to have general anesthetic that knocked me out for the emergency c-section
24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 5lb 9oz
25. HOW LONG WAS YOUR CHILD? 18 inches.
26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? January 22
27.WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Aaron Joseph Crapo
28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? He's 9!

Now it's your turn! Only if you want to:)

found the camera cord!!!!

2009-02-11T22:13:00.001-07:00

I got pictures of Ethan on the post finally. I haven't taken pictures of the girls cuts yet. Didn't bother to do it yet because I hadn't found the cord. I guess I'll do that tomorrow.

Haircuts, and more haircuts

2009-02-10T10:33:00.003-07:00

I cut Erica's hair on Saturday night because it is just so stringy and after she's slept on it it's terrible. It is really a cute cut, it's kind of a pixie cut and frames her face nicely. I also gave Emily a trim, her hair grows really good in the middle, she had a small section that was actually down to her waist, but she needed it trimmed just a little to even it up.

Last night I found huge hunks of blonde hair on the floor, who.... what... oh I was mad. I first thought that Erica's had been chopped a little more but then I saw Emily's ponytail. Oh I wanted to cry, she had taken a huge, long chunk out. I had to cut it above her shoulders to even make it look decent. She's still got a small section in the back that is very short, but I'm not going to cut the rest that short so she's just going to have that one section in the back that will be shorter then the rest until it all grows. Emily doesn't look as cute as Erica with short hair.

I knew this day would come sometime I was just hoping that it wouldn't be so soon.

Still haven't found the camera cord to add pictures! Where did it get put???

First "Official" Haircut

2009-02-03T10:52:00.005-07:00

I gave Ethan his first "official" haircut last night. I wanted to wait until after his birthday, some silly thing I have about waiting until their first birthday to cut their hair. But last week Annie decided that he need a haircut and so she took a few big whacks out of his hair, he had two big half circles at the base of his head and then a few very short chops off the top. I had to use the clippers and cut it pretty short to make it blend in without buzzing it completly off. I took some pictures of it after Annie cut them, but then I couldn't find my camera cord to put them on the computer. So when I find the cord I'll add pictures.

It's kind of hard to see, the flash reflected off his shiny little head. But there are some good cuts there.

Valentine's Tag

2009-01-26T17:03:00.005-07:00

Answer the questions about your sweetheart…

*What is your husband’s name? Michael Joseph Crapo
*How long have you been married? 10 years, next month
*How long did you date? Officially for 2 months, we've known each other since high school, so we had known each other casually for about 5 years.
*How old is he? 31
*Who eats more sweets? Probably me
*Who said I love you first? I really don't remember
*Who is taller? Michael
*Who can sing best? Me
*Who is smarter? gotta be me
*Who does laundry? Well, he's really good at putting it in the washer, but then I have to fold it.
*Who pays bills? I do
*Who sleeps on the right side? Michael's on my right
*Who mows the lawn? Michael, mostly
*Who cooks dinner? Me
*Who drives? Usually in my van I drive, since he's never home
*Who is first to admit they are wrong? Neither
*Who kissed who first? I think he kissed me first
*Who asked who out first? If my memory serves me right, I asked him first
*Who wears the pants? Usually he does

I tag who ever wants to do this, post a comment and tell me it's on your blog so I can read it.

My life is what it is....

2009-01-19T13:41:00.002-07:00

How do I get two brothers to get along? My two oldest children are always at each others throats. The oldest thinks he is the boss and the second doesn't take time to think and pause, he goes from cool and calm to hot and disastrous in a flash. This morning they were at each other over a bag of chips. Aaron stormed out of the room and slammed the door in Ammon's face then he held it shut. Ammon starts punching at the door in a real rage. Now this wouldn't be much if it was just a normal door, but my temporary bedroom has these double doors that have window panes in them. I had always assumed that they were plexiglass, because one that keeps falling out of the computer room door is just that. But low and behold they are really glass, and it's thick, I would guess about 2/3 of an inch.

So Ammons standing there punching at the door when all of a sudden he's screaming in pain and he's got blood oozing out of his wrist. He had busted through the glass and took a big chunk of skin off the inside of his wrist. At first I thought he was going to need stitches because the bleeding wouldn't stop, but it finally did and I could see that there wasn't anything there to stitch. It had just torn off a few layers, well more then a few. So I wrapped him up and sent him on his way.

Michael has punished them by making them remove everything from their rooms except their beds and clothes. I don't know what to do with them.

Aaron has to control everything, he's the boss, has to butt into every conversation.

Ammon doesn't stop to think, he just sees red and goes after it.

What do I do?

An Angel Walked the Beat

2009-01-13T10:22:00.003-07:00

I'm always getting these emails, I like the messages, but I see no point in passing them on, sure I may receive blessings, but it's not because I passed this on to a certain number of people, it's because there is someone watching out for me, or because I've asked the Lord for blessings.
(Have a tissue nearby, you're gonna need it)

Poem That Gives You Goosebumps...

A drunk man in an Oldsmobile
They said had run the light
That caused the six-car pileup
On 109 that night.
When broken bodies lay about
And blood was everywhere,
The sirens screamed out eulogies,
For death was in the air.
A mother, trapped inside her car,
Was heard above the noise;
Her plaintive plea near split the air:
Oh, God, please spare my boys!
She fought to loose her pinned hands;
She struggled to get free,
But mangled metal held her fast
In grim captivity.
Her frightened eyes then focused
On where the back seat once had been,
But all she saw was broken glass and
Two children's seats crushed in.
Her twins were nowhere to be seen;
She did not hear them cry,
And then she prayed they'd been thrown free,
Oh, God, don't let them die!
Then firemen came and cut her loose,
But when they searched the back,
They found therein no little boys,
But the seat belts were intact.
They thought the woman had gone mad
And was traveling alone,
But when they turned to question her,
They discovered she was gone.
Policemen saw her running wild
And screaming above the noise
In beseeching supplication,
Please help me find my boys!
They're four years old and wear blue shirts;
Their jeans are blue to match.
One cop spoke up, They're in my car,
And they don't have a scratch.
They said their daddy put them there
And gave them each a cone,
Then told them both to wait for Mom
To come and take them home.
I've searched the area high and low,
But I can't find their dad.
He must have fled the scene,
I guess, and that is very bad.
The mother hugged the twins and said,
While wiping at a tear,
He could not flee the scene, you see,
For he's been dead a year.
The cop just looked confused and asked,
Now, how can that be true?
The boys said, ''Mommy, Daddy came
And left a kiss for you.
He told us not to worry
And that you would be all right,
And then he put us in this car with
The pretty, flashing light.
We wanted him to stay with us,
Because we miss him so,
But Mommy, he just hugged us tight
And said he had to go.
He said someday we'd understand
And told us not to fuss,
And he said to tell you, Mommy,
He's watching over us.
The mother knew without a doubt
That what they spoke was true,
For she recalled their dad's last words,
I will watch over you.
The firemen's notes could not explain
The twisted, mangled car,
And how the three of them escaped
Without a single scar.
But on the cop's report was scribed,
In print so very fine,
An angel walked the beat tonight on Highway 109.

The 7 Second Prayer, Just repeat this phrase and see how God moves.
Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart, and bless my
family, my home, my friends, and me. Amen. '

Pass this message to 7 people {EXCEPT YOU AND ME}.
You will receive a miracle tomorrow.
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare.
This morning when the Lord opened a window to Heaven, He saw me, and
He asked: 'My child, what is your greatest wish for today?' I responded:
Lord please, take care of the person
who is reading this message, their family and their special friends.
They deserve it and I love them very much.

The love of God is like the ocean, you can see its beginning,
but not its end. This message works on the day you receive it.
Let us see if it is true.
ANGELS EXIST but some times, since they don't all have wings, we call them FRIENDS.

Does that make me exceptional?

2009-01-09T14:34:00.001-07:00

The National Endowment for the Arts has listed their top 100 books. They estimate the average adult has read only six. I have read 28 (in bold); does that make me exceptional?

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Craziness

2009-01-09T13:20:00.003-07:00

So just when I think I'm getting it a little under control, wham! They hit me with another one. I just spent the last half hour cleaning up yet another mess made by my lovely children, one that they will no doubt deny involvement in.

Erica wanted a drink, so she got a cup and went to the yellow bathroom as customary, well she comes to me gesturing and all excited. I assume that she just can't get the door open, it does tend to be stubborn at times. But no, the door is open and she is standing in the hallway pointing in all excited. I look in and find two big bubbles on the ceiling dripping water to the floor below. What the heck! Immediately I head to the upstairs bathroom which is just over this one. Yikes, the floor is a swimming pool, there had to be at least an inch of water on the floor, and the sink is still spilling over. Someone; of course- it wasn't me, not me, and I didn't do it; plugged the sink and left a small stream of water on. So after turning the water off, unplugging the sink , and mopping up what seemed like gallons of water I am just a little frustrated. I clean up one catastrophe just to be faced with another one. Will it ever end?

2009-01-08T12:02:00.002-07:00

2009 Friend Survey

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:57
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Twilight(actually got my hubby to go with me)
4. What is your favorite TV show? ummm, let me see NCIS, Criminal Minds, Num3ers, The Mentalist, etc...
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? a bowl of cereal, if I'm lucky enough to get breakfast
6. What food do you dislike? seafood
7. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband
8. What kind of car do you drive? 1998 Pontiac Transport Montanta
9. Favorite sandwich? I love the Subway Melt from Subway
10. What characteristic do you despise? Being fake
11. Favorite item of clothing? Oh man, I don't really have a favorite
12. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? A cruise, so I could just relax and do nothing.
13. Favorite brand of clothing? Don't have one.
14. Where would you retire to? It's sad, but I'd probably retire to right where I'm at.
15. most recent memorable birthday?Don't have a memorable one, they've all been about the same.
16. Favorite sport to watch? Football
17. When is your birthday? October 13
18. Are you a morning or night person? I am totally a night person. I hate mornings!!!
19. What is your shoe size? depending on the shoe anywhere from 8 to 10
20. Pets? I have a cat and my hubby has a dog
21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? If having the shingles is exciting sure.
22. What did you want to be when you were little? What little girl doesn't want to be a ballerina?
23. What is your favorite candy? So many to choose, I guess right now it would be peanut M&M's
24. What is your favorite flower? I love roses
25. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? the weekend near Feb. 27, hopefully hubby is going to do something exciting for our anniversary.
26. What is your full name? Kathryn Philena Crapo
27. What are you listening to right now? The music on Nicole's blog
28. What was the last thing you ate? cereal
29. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Purple
30. How is the weather right now? sunny, my thermometor says it's 35 outside. Wow, it's a heat wave!
31. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? Michael
32. Favorite restaurant? Olive Garden
33. Real hair color? Dirty Dishwater Blond, just what you see, I've never changed my hair color.
34. What was your favorite toy as a child? I remember playing with barbies a lot
35. Summer or winter? Summer
36. hugs or kisses? hugs
37. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate!!!
38. coffee or tea? Neither
39. When was the last time you cried? On Tuesday
40. What is under your bed? shoes, and probably a few dust bunnies
41. What did you do last night? I made dinner, worked on swap pages, then got kids to bed and blogged for awhile.
42. What are you afraid of? not being able to provide for my kids
43. Sweet or salty? Sweet
44. How many keys on your key ring? 3
45. How many towns have you lived in? Independence, Highland, Provo, Roosevelt
46. Do you make friends easily? not really, I usually wait for them to make the first move
47. Who do you tag? Melissa, Heather P., Jennifer W., & Alex

I've got what???

2009-01-07T16:25:00.003-07:00

So I guess the herniated discs(me), the eye problems(Aaron), and the burned hand(Ethan) wasn't enough. I've had this red splotchy itchy patch on my side for about a week, and it was bugging me enough that I finally made an appointment with the doctor. So I go in to see him and he takes one look at it, askes me if I've been tired and droopy lately, I said yes and he tells me I have shingles. Yikes! Everything I have heard about shingles has been really bad and nasty. He gave me some antivirual medication that I have to take 5 times a day for the next week. He said in medical school they told them that they really don't treat the shingles, just manage the pain. Apparently it can get really painful. I have felt a little pain, it's really really itchy. Everyone I know of that has had it says it gets really bad, a young woman in my ward has had it and I guess it really killed her immune system. So I'm going to have to also watch that, I don't want to catch every little bug that comes around.

Burns, Burns, and more Burns

2009-01-06T22:28:00.004-07:00

So there is something about the month of January and the years 2003, 2006, and 2009. First in 2003 when Ammon was 14 months old he touched my parents wood burning stove and burned his hand. Then in 2006 when Emily was 16 months old she did the same thing. Now today Ethan touched our gas fireplace. He was lucky enough to have only gotten his fingertips where the other two also burned their palms.

I wasn't home at the time and Michael had put him in the family room with the two younger girls to play. Well when I put him on the floor in there I arrange our three banana chairs around the fire so he can't get to it. Michael thought that since he was on the other side of the room playing that he was fine, so he didn't bother with the chairs. Of course as soon as Michael left the room he crawled over there and touched it. When I got home Michael had put him to bed because he was crying, Michael didn't think he had touched it, so he wasn't too worried about him, but when I checked his hand sure enough there were big ugly white blisters on each fingertip. So I took him to see the doctor and he did just what I expected him to do. He applied silvadene cream, also known as silver sulfadiazine cream, wrapped it in gauze and gave me a prescription for the cream and said to keep it wrapped, changing it twice a day, for two weeks. And to watch when the blisters pop that they don't get infected.

So we're at 50% for burns, thankfully still at 0 for broken bones, and 34% for stitches/staples. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the broken bones stay at 0.

List of Have Done & Have Not Done

2009-01-03T10:52:00.004-07:00

I saw this in Skye's blog and had to steal it. I love these kinds of things.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michaelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (with daughter)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in movie
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma(everytime I've had a child)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Talked your way out of a ticket

Pets

2008-12-16T16:58:00.002-07:00

Okay, I have to admit that usually when I walk into someones home that has pets I can smell it. You know what I mean, there is that distinct odor. My first thought is usually that they haven't taken care of the litterbox in a while.

I have a cat, have had him for a year. And I don't think that anyone coming to my door would even know by the smell that there was a cat. Well in the last two weeks that has changed, now I can smell it everytime I walk in my door. Michael just got a puppy and I know the dog has been peeing in the house, we're still working on the training. But this morning I caught my cat just before he did his business behind the tree. And my sister says that she can smell cat pee in the other corner. So what has happened in my house. I can understand the cat doing it in the corner a few times because he's been locked out of the laundry room where his litterbox is(keeping the dog out of the cat food and water). But to catch him behind the tree this morning, the laundry room was wide open, in fact I think he had just come out of there. Has the dog upset him enough that he's doing it on purpose?

I guess for now I'll have to use some air freshners and candles. Michael please talk to your dog, get him housebroke or I'm going to kick him out.

Remembering Aunt LaNore

2008-12-09T23:22:00.002-07:00

Neoma LaNore Crapo Harris, 1931-2008

Michael's aunt LaNore Harris died yesterday of cancer. She had cancer about a year ago and took some experimental drug. The drugs worked and she was cancer free for awhile, but it recently came back, this time in her lungs. Last week they let her go home, because that was where she wanted to die, there wasn't anymore they could do for her. I only met aunt LaNore a handful of times but she was a wonderful person. We stayed at her house, pitched a tent in the yard, the summer of 2007 for a family reunion. I'm glad that I had a chance to get to know a little about her.

What next??

2008-12-09T23:02:00.003-07:00

Okay, so I told you about the herniated discs in my back. Well no sooner had we gotten used to the idea of paying out the nose for it that I took Aaron to the eye Dr. and found out that he has a pretty serious problem called muscle inefficiency in his eyes. That means that the muscles aren't working together. When you or I look at our finger moving towards our nose, our eyes track that and come in together. Aaron's eye's don't come together. When he is watching something swinging in front of his eyes he doesn't follow that in a smooth motion, his eyes don't follow and then they jump to catch up.

So this muscle inefficiency is going to require about 18 weeks of once-a-week therapy in the office and lots of homework. Not to mention the cost. Yikes! We can get a discount by making one payment of the whole thing, but even that is a huge chunk of change. And who has that much money just laying around? Normal people make payments.

As if his eye's aren't enough, when I took him in for his dental cleaning the dentist told me that we should start thinking about braces for him. I knew he was going to need them, his mouth is just too small for all of his adult teeth they are already crowded in there and he doesn't even have all his adult teeth yet. I'm just not ready for that yet.(Annie is going to have the same problem with her small mouth).

Can anything else come up? The new year isn't even here and we've already spent all and then some of Michael's cafeteria fund.

It seems like we have plans made and something comes up. We need to get my bedroom redone so we can move back in there, but the money keeps going other places. There's never enough to go around. I remember a thing I heard once. There's more month at the end of the money, or something like that. More month at the end of the money, then money at the end of the month.

Herniated Discs

2008-12-03T12:20:00.002-07:00

So I found out why I'm experiencing this wonderful pain. I have three, yes 3, herniated discs in my neck. How did that happen? Anyway I'm going to the chiropractor everyday, I'm going to be going a whole lot for the next year to get this healed. I am currently being stretched everyday to get the discs back into place in my neck. It sure makes my shoulders hurt. But I guess it's always been no pain no gain, right? So because I've been avoiding the chiropractor for the last 5+ years I now get to see him a whole lot this next year. Great! But I guess I'd rather do this then have surgery, yikes, no thanks.

Thanksgiving & Shopping

2008-11-29T10:54:00.003-07:00

Thanksgiving was spent with Michael's family this year. We rotate Christmas and Thanksgiving between the two families. We had Thanksgiving dinner at his grandmother Liz's in Vernal. It was a rather small event this year. Most of Michael's family was there, one Uncle with family, and one cousin with husband and child for a total of 25. So it was really a small gathering compared to past years when there has been 50 or more.

After dinner most everyone helped split and stack wood for grandma. They were going to hang Christmas lights but it got to cold.

I stopped at the store on the way home to get pull-ups and Benadryl, and found a really good deal on winter coats for the girls and Ethan. They were 50% off, I wasn't going to get them but then realized that it was a one day sale. I was going to get myself a new coat too, but even at 50% off one for me was just too much. I never come out of the store with just what I went in for, there's always something else. I went in for pull-ups and Benadryl and came out having spent $180+ for pull-ups, Benadryl, socks for 3 girls, & 4 coats.

Seen Twilight?

2008-11-26T00:39:00.003-07:00

Michael took me to see Twilight last night. I was really excited to see this great movie that everyone has been talking about, and hey it was based on this really awesome book I had read so I was really excited to see it. Boy, what a let down. It was okay, but I think it was a much better movie in my head when I was reading the book. Of course they couldn't do Edward or his family justice, the worst one was Dr. Cullen, could they have caked his face on anymore? And there was so much more of the book that wasn't in the movie. Also, a lot of the stuff, if you hadn't read the book you would have been clueless about things. I was sitting there in the theatre explaining things to my husband because it just wasn't clear in the movie. I should know better then to see a movie based on a GREAT book I have read because it never measures up. The Chronicles of Narnia was the same way, movies just don't do great books justice.

Avoiding the chiropractor, Not anymore

2008-11-23T00:23:00.003-07:00

So I haven't been to a chiropractor in 5+ years, and there is a reason for that, I don't like to hear that snap, crackle, pop. I hate it even more when I feel it. So anyway on Monday I was feeling really awful, bad enough that I wanted to cry, so I gave in and made an appointment. Now Michael gets to say, next time don't wait so long.

So on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I went and had snap, crackle, and pop. It wasn't getting any better, in fact it was getting worse, the pain and numbness was moving down my arm. So he tells me that I need to go have an MRI done because I might have a disc out. Great! So now I feel worse then I did on Monday and I'm going to have another huge bill at the hospital.

Life sucks, and it really sucks getting old and having a body that is falling apart. I really could just lay down and die because of how bad it hurts. Hopefully after this MRI he will be able to make it better. Wasn't that why I went to him in the first place?

Wedding Bells

2008-11-17T08:51:00.002-07:00

So any of you that know my sister, Caroline, she is getting married. I don't know the details yet I just know that she is now engaged. His name is David Mangum (I think that's his last name), anyway, they've been dating about a month and he popped the question on Wednesday. She hasn't even shared the good news with me yet, I had to hear this from Julia.

High School Tag

2008-11-16T17:11:00.002-07:00

High School Tag

1. DID YOU DATE SOMEONE FROM YOUR SCHOOL? Yes
2.WHAT KIND OF CAR DID YOU DRIVE? Don't remember what it is called, it looked like a mini stationwagon
3. DID YOU PASS YOUR DRIVER'S LICENSE TEST YOUR FIRST TRY? yes.
4.WHERE YOU A PARTY ANIMAL? No
5. WERE YOU CONSIDERED A FLIRT? No
6. WERE YOU IN BAND, ORCHESTRA, OR CHOIR? Choir
7. WERE YOU A NERD? No
8. WERE YOU ON ANY VARSITY TEAMS? No
9. DID YOU EVER GET SUSPENDED/EXPELLED? No
10. CAN YOU STILL SING THE FIGHT SONG? No, They changed the music while I was in high school and I never could remember how it went
11. WHO WERE YOUR FAVORITE TEACHERS? Mr. Wentworth, Bro. Grover, Bro. Stone, Mr. Hayes
12. WHERE DID YOU SIT FOR LUNCH? Usually in the Lunch room, except for the few times I went to the grocery store next door.
13. WHAT IS YOUR SCHOOL'S FULL NAME? Union High School
14. WHAT IS YOUR SCHOOL'S MASCOT AND COLORS? Cougar, Black & Gold
15. DID YOU GO TO HOMECOMING AND WITH WHO? No
16. IF YOU COULD GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN WOULD YOU? NO, high school was good while it lasted, but I'm glad to be past that part of my life.
17. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT GRADUATION? wow! graduation was the end of one life and the beginning of another.
18. WHERE DID YOU GO SENIOR SKIP DAY? Lagoon.
19. WERE YOU IN ANY CLUBS? Sign Language Club, Honor Society, Upward Bound.
20. HAVE YOU GAINED SOME WEIGHT SINCE THEN? yes, way too much
21. WHO WAS YOUR PROM DATE? Craig Jamison
22 ARE YOU PLANNING ON GOING TO YOUR 10 YEAR REUNION? I went
23. DID YOU HAVE A JOB IN HIGH SCHOOL? Yes I worked for 2 hours after school in a counseling office as a receptionist.

I tag Heather and Melissa

Memory Game

2008-11-13T23:59:00.001-07:00

I saw this on my friend Tanya's blog. I thought it was an interesting idea. So here you go!

1. Add a comment on our blog. Leave one memory that you have had with either one or all of us, It doesn't matter if you knew us a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about us, we'll assume you're playing the game and we'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

All things come in 3's

2008-11-06T09:22:00.003-07:00

Why is it that everyone says things come in 3's? You either have 3 things of good luck or 3 things of bad luck grouped together. Well this week I guess we got the bad things in 3's. First of course Ethan had his Perianal Streptococcal Dermatitis, then I got Strep Throat, and on Tuesday Erica was starting to show similar symptoms to Ethan's so I figured I better get her in to the Doctor before it got really bad, if indeed it was the same thing. Sure enough number 3 was Erica, she also has Perianal Streptococcal Dermatitis. One good thing I guess is that if things really do come in 3's then no one else should get sick. Yea Right! With a family our size things get passed around and come back around again. I can live with kids being sick as long as they are not puking. That just grosses me out to no end. I'm really glad when they are old enough to know when they are feeling the urge to puke that they get to the toilet.

So here's to no more Strep!! Please

Strep

2008-11-03T23:14:00.002-07:00

Yuck, I started feeling yucky on Friday with just a tickle in my throat. It slowly got worse until this morning when I got up I knew I was really sick. It hurt to swollow, my glands were really swollen, I was either too cold or too hot, and my head hurt, really bad. I have had strep throat enough times to know when I have it. So even though I can self-diagnose I can't prescribe medication. So I had to take a trip to the Dr. just for him to tell me that I did have strep and for him to give me two prescriptions, one mouth rinse called Magic Mouth to numb my throat so I can eat and one antibiotic disguised as a horse pill.

I hadn't really thought about it until Michael was talking to his mother about my strep and she asked if I could have gotten it from Ethan. See I took Ethan to the Dr. on Friday because he had had a red bum all last week and it didn't matter what I put on it, it just wasn't getting better. So the Dr. took one look at Ethan, did a rapid strep test to confirm his suspicians and low and behold Ethan had Perianal Streptococcal Dermatitis, something I had never heard about. So I don't know if I could have somehow gotten the strep bacteria from him or not. I suppose anything is possible.

I felt like crap all day, sleeping most of it on the couch encased in blankets, thankfully the girls and Ethan were pretty well behaved. Michael actually was able to leave work early(that doesn't happen very often) and come home and take care of the kids while I slept some more, this time in bed. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

Halloween Costumes

2008-10-29T09:30:00.011-06:00

We had our ward Fall Festival/Halloween Party last night. The kids got to dress up and go trick-or-treating to members of the ward.

Ethan was just himself for the party, I was so busy with getting the costumes on the other kids that I didn't have time to go get the box of costumes from upstairs that I'm sure has a small costume that will fit him.

Erica is a princess, she looks so cute all dressed up. She was just missing her crown, I forgot to buy one when we went shopping for the costumes on Saturday.

Emily couldn't make up her mind what she wanted to be, first it was supergirl, then a princess, but when she saw this costume at the store she insisted that she be Bat-girl

Annie wanted to be a princess but when she found these butterfly wings she changed her mind. She does make a cute pink butterfly(she even has a butterfly painted on her cheek).

Ammon is the batman from Dark Knight, it's hard to tell what his costume is without the mask, but of course he can't wear it anywhere, he won't even be able to wear it to school for his halloween party there. Maybe I'll have to put some black paint on his face.

Aaron is a wicked wizard, I think that's what he said anyway. He has this thing with wizards, I think for the last four years he's been a wizard.

Love your blog award

2008-10-28T12:54:00.003-06:00

Love Your Blog Award

Courtesy of my cousin, the "crazy duck"s blog.

1. Where is your cell phone? PURSE
2. Where is your significant other? WORK
3. Your hair color? BLONDE
4. Your mother? HOME
5. Your father? WORK
6. Your favorite thing? CAT
7. Your dream last night? FORGOT
8. Your dream/goal? FAMILY
9. The room you're in? OFFICE
10. Your hobby? SCRAPBOOKS
11. Your fear? MANY
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? HERE
13. Where were you last night? HOME
14. What you're not? YOUNG
15. One of your wish-list items? BEDROOM
16. Where you grew up? UTAH
17. The last thing you ate? CASSEROLE
18. What are you wearing? CROCS
19. Your TV? SCRATCHED
20.Your pet? GIZMO
21. Your computer? PC
22. Your mood? EXHAUSTED
23. Missing someone? YES
24. Your car? MINIVAN
25. Something you're not wearing? SOCKS
26. Favorite store? WAL-MART
27. Your summer? SHORT
28. Love someone? LOTS
29. Your favorite color? PURPLE
30. When is the last time you laughed? YESTERDAY
31. Last time you cried? SUNDAY

I award the following people with the "I love your blog award" and in so doing tag them to complete the above questions with one word answers. Tanya, Melissa, & Jennifer.

Tardy, Again

2008-10-24T09:08:00.000-06:00

It doesn't seem to matter how early I get the kids up they are continually late for school. This morning I woke them up at 7:00. Annie got dressed and went down and had breakfast. Ammon got half dressed and started playing. Aaron was the last one up and when he finally got up he took forever deciding what to wear. He got his shirt on but since his pants were in the laundryroom he went down to get a pair. I was looking for Aaron's sweater so I had told them to pour their cereal and eat. About 10 minutes later when I come downstairs I find Annie and Ammon eating. And Aaron is playing on my piano, still without pants.

They finally finish breakfast and then start playing around. Annie and Ammon were looking at their book orders and Aaron was looking at his. Ammon still didn't have shoes on. Aaron finally brought me the book orders and wanted to get two things that would cost a total of $30.00.

So at 8:15 when they called dad to talk to him about the book orders, Annie was ready, Ammon needed shoes, and Aaron was actually ready. They spent about 5 minutes arguing with dad about the book orders. When I told them to go get in the van they spent forever getting there, Annie couldn't find her coat(come to find out it was in the van, we still haven't found the backpack since Wednesday) and Aaron was so worried about getting the bookorder to his teacher. As I'm finally getting Annie in the van after we found her coat there, she says that she needs her show and tell item, a dog, for today. So we had to go find that, and of course they were late again.

I don't think they have been on time at all during the last four days. Somehow Michael always seems to get them there on time. And when he gets them up the two younger girls don't get woken up, but of course when I'm doing it the older ones always manage to wake up the two little ones.

Why do they always listen to Michael more than they do to me? Am I really not mean enough to them as Michael says or I am just not authoratative enough? How do I get them to respect and listen to what I am telling them? Somedays I do feel like I'm talking to a wall, but I guess every mother goes through that with her children.

UEA/Dear Hunt school vacation

2008-10-19T01:54:00.001-06:00

My children always seem extra rowdy the days that they spend at home. They had friends over all morning and the only time it was quiet was when they went to their friends house. They also make more messes and don't pick up after themselves when playing with friends. It is so much easier to let them just play then to keep getting after them because they don't listen any way and it becomes a battle of wills. Oh well, this too shall pass.

200 meme

2008-10-16T12:36:00.000-06:00

I saw this as I was surfing around. I thought it was an interesting list of things.

The rules: Just copy and paste the 200 statements then bold the ones you have done!! Hope you enjoy it!! (and make sure you use a lot of exclamation points, it makes everything more fun) The idea is to highlight the things you have done out of the 200 items on the list.
The things I have done are in bold print!
1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby's diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said "I love you" and meant it!!
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking!!
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don't
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone - verbal not physical
67. Bounced a check
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
71. Called or written your Congress person
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions
88. Gone back to school
89. Changed your name
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
101. Had a booth at a street fair
102. Dyed your hair
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep
105. Ever dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all four
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring
110. Ridden a horse
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Cooked a dish where four people asked for the recipe.
113. Buried a child
114. Gone to a Broadway (or equivalent to your country) play
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket
117. Danced at a disco
118. Played in a band
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum
121. Tutored someone
122. Ridden a train
123. Brought an old fad back into style
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
127. Published a book
128. Pieced a quilt
129. Lived in an historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
131. Asked for a raise
132. Made a hole-in-one
133. Gone deep sea fishing
134. Gone roller skating
135. Run a marathon
136. Learned to surf
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa
142. Sang a solo
143. Gone spelunking
144. Learned how to take a compliment
145. Written a love-story
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted
148. Written a fan letter
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
151. Ran away
152. Learned to juggle
153. Been a boss
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight
156. Gone on a diet
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem
159. Carried your lunch in a lunch box
160. Gotten food poisoning
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
164. Gone to the opera
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous
166. Worn knickers
167. Ridden in a limousine
168. Attended the Olympics
169. Can hula or waltz
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
171. Been stuck in an elevator
172. Had a revelatory dream
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert
175. Saved someone’s life
176. Eaten raw whale
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
178. Laughed till your side hurt
179. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hostel
184. Been a cashier
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma
188. Built a camp fire
189. Kept a blog
190. Had hives
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Know CPR
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible
198. Found a long lost friend
199. Helped solve a crime
200. Responded to a NJP newsletter