Catching Up

We've had a crazy December. It flew by so fast I can't believe it's already over! Here are some of our (photographed) happenings:

The 2nd Annual "Ugly Christmas Sweater" Party

My good friend Chelsea's wedding...she looked beautiful!

Christmas Day Blizzard! This is the view from my in-law's front porch. I didn't dare venture much farther.

Christmas Day '08 - We also got to talk to my brother who is on his mission in Chile. (they are in the middle of summer with 80 degree weather)

And a growing bump! As of tomorrow, the 29th, I'll be 26 weeks! See what I mean by time is flying by?!

A Tag and a Truth

Usually I'm somewhat reluctant to complete a tag. Probably due to the fact that I feel a rush of anxiety when the time comes to tag some of my friends. (HUH? You ask...)

Let me explain:
Once upon a time...in high school my friends and I would have some crazy sleepovers. We'd do the usual girl things. Toilet paper, sneak out, take goofy (great for blackmailing) pictures, make sugary foods at midnight (one of our specialties included cheesecake made with Sprite...naturally what you might use if you ran out of milk...?)

And then there were some not so usual nights.

It seemed like maybe twice a year we'd gather up after making it home by midnight, and for reasons unknown, we would nominate a friend, then everyone would take turns saying something that that FRIEND did that might bother them. (back-stabbed, didn't return calls, flirted too much, haha KIM.)

Yeah, we were a really close group of friends. Or maybe just a group of really mean friends...? (this is why teenage girls are always fighting I guess) Well, until just recently, I found out we weren't the only group of friends who did this. (So there is at least one other crazy group out there somewhere)

Anyways...in case you're still confused, I'll give you an example. When it was my turn for my friends to turn on me (I would brace myself for the worst) and 99.9% of the time they would tell me their biggest pet peeve about me was that I cared way too much about what others thought. Not necessarily that I cared too much about what others thought OF me, just that I care too much about what others were thinking.

Basically, I stress myself out for trivial reasons.

To this day, when I go to a store and I'm walking next to someone, say Nate, and we're walking towards another couple, I immediately see that there is not going to be enough room for the two couples to pass each other in the isle, so I will go out of my way to move in front of or behind Nate, to make sure the other people will have room to get by.

This may not sound like such a bad thing...to be thoughtful of others. The problem comes when I'm doing this for "every one and their dog". In the grocery isles, for the people coming out of the doors, for the people going into the doors, for the mom with 5 kids, etc. etc. etc. It can be quite overwhelming. And let's just say my friends and Nate, get sick of me always worrying.

The worst part is, and it hasn't been until recently, that I realize A LOT of other people rarely show the same kind of respect in return, if at all. That in turn tends to bother me that they are so unthoughtful, and you can see where the anxiety sets in. Silly? Crazy? O.C.D ish? Yes. But I can't help it.

So what does ALL this have to do with a measly Tag???

Well, I can answer the tag easily. But when it comes time to "tag" friends, the caring too much about others part sets in. If I feel like someone would be upset, angered, and mainly inconvenienced that I tagged them, I worry. Believe me, I realize how silly and downright crazy this all sounds. But some of you might have your own outlandish little ticks. Whether it is sanitizing your hands at the grocery store, color coordinating your clothes in your closet, or alphabetizing your cookbooks...this is my weakness.

However, due to extreme blog boring-ness, I will get over my psycho personality trait and complete the tag. And to avoid the anxiety, I won't be tagging anyone! HA.

Maybe divulging too much information when it's extremely unnecessary is something my friends forgot to tell me at the sleepovers...

On to the real reason of the post:

8 Shows I Watch:

1. Survivor!!

2. The Amazing Race

3. The Unit - a recent find Nate and I love

4. Friends (all 10 seasons on DVD will most likely be included in my emergency preparedness kit)

5. The Hills - everyone needs a guilty pleasure

6. Law and Order - SVU is my favorite but Criminal Intent is also great

7. Without a Trace - what can I say, I've been liking the police shows lately

8. Most anything HGTV but House Hunters is probably my favorite



8 Restaurants I Love:

1. Olive Garden

2. Costa Vida

3. Wingers

4. Callaway's

5. Chili's

6. Cheesecake Factory - a Virginia find

7. Panera - another Virgina find that is unfortunately too cool for Utah... sandwiches on yummy bread and extremely over-priced frozen lemonade, but I loved it.

8. Firehouse


8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Slept in way too late

2. Went to work

3. Tried not to loose my patience at work...Is a short temper a pregnancy thing? I'm just going to say it is.

4. Wandered around stores cause Nate has been living at the library due to finals.

5. Talked to Kimi on the phone while I wandered

6. Bought Baby Buttars some cute new pants for the 6 month stage

7. Watched Law and Order for I won't say how long (it was a marathon)

8. Blog stalked

Don't judge me on how unproductive I was. Not everyday is like that... :)



8 Things I Look Forward to:

1. April 6th, 2009!!

2. Learning how to be a mom

3. Watching Nate be a dad

4. Christmas! Duh.

5. Nate graduating in April

6. Going to Disneyland with the Buttars clan in January - even though I might be pouting a fair amount of time because I won't be able to go on all of my favorite rides.

7. Cade getting home...hahaha I know.

8. Living somewhere for more than 6 months



8 Wishes:

1. That I will indeed be able to live somewhere for more than 6 months

2. That Nate will get a good job in this scary economy!

3. That I will be a good mom

4. That our baby girl we be healthy

5. That I could magically loose my baby weight instantly when I'm done being prego

6. That my family was how "it used to be"

7. That I was in Hawaii right now...instead of my sister

8. That I didn't have to work tomorrow!!

And obviously I won't be tagging anyone. Hahaha!

A Fun Week?

1. Carrie Underwood in concert. Floor Tickets.

2. Twilight Premiere.
(If you're wondering what I thought, I think it was very true to the book (as true as it can be for a 2 hour movie), a few cheesy parts, but overall WONDERFUL.)


You do the math.

Taking Care of Business

This post is a miss mash of things.

FIRST - a quick and easy TAG my sister-in-law tagged me on:
RULES:
1. Go to your pictures
2. Go to your 4th folder and upload your 4th picture
3.Post
Aww, how sweet. Haha, this is one of our engagements taken at the bottom of Tony Grove.
Now I tag... Kimi, Traci, Nahomi, and Alisha. It's ok, it's easy!

SECOND- some very late Halloween pics.

My friend Stacey hosted an "Amazing Race" Halloween party. It was very entertaining and also very creative. She did such a good job making clues and tasks. Way to go Stace!I'm sad, this picture doesn't show my steal-of-a-deal eBay poodle skirt, but as you can tell we were a rockin' 50's couple. We even found Nate some sweet black "chucks" shoes.


The second party was a Murder Mystery party our friends Jon and Anna hosted. If you've never attended/participated in one, I highly recommend trying them! Everyone is given a character before the party, and you dress up like them. A few people really got into character while trying to discover who the murderer was. There were lots of secrets, bribes, and accusations flying around but it made for a very fun night!I was Elizabeth Rochester, wealthy daughter of the murdered millionaire. Nate was Neal Worthers, my father's personal driver (hence the white gloves and little cap) and also my boyfriend who dumped my sister to be with me. As the night went on we learned that the reason our parents didn't approve of our scandalous relationship was because we were half brother and sister! Haha, and (dun...dun...dun) Neal/Nate was in fact the murderer!!!

Last but not least...for anyone wondering...
YAY! :)

Yes People...We're Still Alive

So why such a blogging drought?

I guess you could blame it on lack of wireless internet access, lack of excitement in our lives, or just pure lack of motivation on my part.
But seeing as how my last post was over a month ago (holy cow!!) I've been feeling a little pressure to update. I won't mention any names.
We've been home from Virginia for more than two months and after over-staying our welcome in my Dad's basement, we finally found a different basement to invade. Ok, it's actually a small apartment in Smithfield, but what can I say - I guess we're bound to be basement dwellers. We just unpacked our last box and we're slowly settling back into a routine.
So, without boring you too much, I'll attempt to catch up on our lives. (Kysha, if you read this I'm admitting to copying your style right now. I liked how it was to the point)

Nate has been:
- very busy with school (because he graduates this spring, a few of his classes are very demanding, and the rest are so undemanding (is that a word??) that he feels attendance isn't quite necessary a lot of the time)

- job hunting. for something part time that would work with his class schedule. he actually found a promising marketing company that is just getting it's start in Cache Valley and will hopefully start sometime next week (hooray! a job that deals with all this school we've been paying for).

- getting over a weird 24 hour flu/2 week cold.

- catching up on his college football dynasties (or whatever they're called) on the Playstation. In his words, "The Aggies may suck in real life, but I'm determined to make them good on here."

- and being very accommodating in the meal preparation area when almost any smell would make me gag.

Laci has been:
- cherishing the days I don't wake up nauseous. (I'm actually feeling 100% better lately, as long as I eat every 4 or so hours)

- enjoying the semester off school! I'll go back...someday.

- anticipating the start of the Jazz's new season. (just so I can watch Kyle Korver again!)

- keeping busy at work in the special needs/speech/behavioral preschool. Kids REALLY DO say the darndest things. Side note-funny story:

The other day it was my turn to take the kids to their bathroom break. When I went to help one little boy with his zipper after he'd done his business, I was shocked to see he wasn't wearing any underwear. "Uh...Gavin, what happened to your underwear???" I asked trying not to sound too alarmed. "Oh, (sigh) my mom didn't have any for me," he started, (moms usually get blamed for anything and everything, and most times -like in this case- you can tell the kids are trying to blame mom for a mistake on their part) "and I'm such a big boy now I didn't think I needed to wear any today." He said matter-of-factly. "Oh, well even big boys wear underwear ALL the time." I emphasized. Thankfully he's been wearing it since!

Baby has been:
- growing and growing! and is almost 17 weeks old.

- growing so much in fact that only one of my pairs of pants now fits. (I've just recently tried some maternity pants (heaven) but still don't feel big enough to wear them too often.)

- accumulating furniture to be painted, and even a cute new diaper bag! (the first thing I've dared to buy before we find out what it is)

- preparing to be identified as male or female on November 3rd!!

And in other family news:
- My sister Bekka finished her varsity tennis season as a junior playing 2nd doubles. She and her partner went undefeated in region play and went on to place 2nd at state!! Way to go Booie!

-Elder Cade completed his two months in the MTC and arrived in Vina del Mar, Chile 2 weeks ago. For all the extended family out there (or anyone interested) - I'm starting a blog to share Cade's emails, pictures, etc. As of right now it's just a website but check back and I promise I will try and update it regularly. eldertcwinchile.blogspot.com

- Allie, my littlest sis, is enjoying her 5th grade year so far and especially playing softball at recess. She informed us the other day that she hopes our baby is a boy so she can "teach it to play catch".

- Dad has been missing his #1 farmhand and dare I say realizing how much he took Cade for granted. Nate, however, has volunteered to "cowboy up" and is excited for winter so he can learn how to feed the cows. It might be a long 2 years :)

Hopefully that wasn't an overload of boring information! Now that we're moved in and settled I'll have to dig out my camera charger so I can be ready to take Halloween pics to post. It won't be another month, I promise. So until then...

As Cade says when he finishes his letters-
"Paz!"
Spanish to English translation = "Peace"

Pity Party for Laci

I just want to say:

I now have a new found respect for all you moms out there. Meaning, if you are a mom, chances are you had horrible cases of the dreaded "morning sickness". (which in fact for me is morning, mid-morning, lunchtime, afternoon, evening, and all night sickness) You all deserve an award.It SUCKS. (speaking of moms, my mom would have shot me a disapproving glare for using SUCKS, but that is pretty much the best word to describe the wretched retching)

However, like my sister-in-law reminds me, being sick is a good sign that everything is still progressing "normally". And I do want that...I also want the nausea to cease after the 12 week mark.

Here's to wishful thinking. And sorry to be a complainer. (a little sorry)

Guess What??

Our little "kumquat" (that's supposedly the size right now...but who even knows how big a kumquat is?) is 10 weeks old.
We had our Dr.'s appointment last week and he said everything looks great, and we also got to hear the heartbeat! I know it's still a bit early, but since the Dr. said everything is "normal" we're crossing our fingers. So if all goes well, April 6, 2009 will be the special day! (or sometime around there)

Family Pictures

Before Cade left we were able to squeeze in a family photo session. Eileen Workman was the amazing photographer and she did such a great job! She keeps a fun photo blog I had seen a few times, and her daughter and son-in-law are some of Nate and my closest friends.


She was even willing to come up to the farm where my dad keeps all his cows and horses! The "canyon" as my family calls it, has been Cade's home away from home for many years; so we knew it would be the perfect location to take pictures before he left. Anyways, they turned out AWESOME.


You can check out a few of them on Eileen's blog, HERE. Make sure you tell her how talented she is!

A Sad Day at the Wallentine House

Elder Wallentine has packed up and left us...for 2 years! Last Sunday Cade gave his farewell talk and Wednesday, August 13th, we took him to the MTC. That was my first MTC experience and I hope it was my last! I'm sure everyone is semi-familiar with the whole routine. (Sitting through a short welcome, attemtping to sing "Called to Serve", and saying the ever dreaded goodbyes) Not fun for anyone!
Lucky for me, I was blessed with a comforting calm feeling throughout the day. Meaning, I still bawled, but I was also very excited for Cade to begin his missionary experience. I have no doubt he will work hard while he is teaching and serving the people in Chile.
Our family will miss him lots but we know he is serving a greater cause!
This nice old guy could tell we needed help.
Trying to hold back the tears. :'(
For anyone wondering, Nate wanted to be there, but I'm a ditz and booked his flight back to Virginia right before we had to be at the MTC. (my fault, my fault)
A guy there asked me what mission my son was going to...seriously? Do I look 40?
My favorite picture. It still makes me tear up a bit... :)
Still no word from the greenie Elder W... a preview of the next 2 years I'm afraid. Ha. We'll miss you Cade!

Ode to Virginia

Dear Virginia,

I'm leaving soon, for Utah calls...
I'll miss you dearly - and all your malls.

When I'm gone, Nate just might relax,
who knew shopping sprees caused heart attacks?

I found solace in the slower days,
if not in malls, then catching rays.

The apartment pool - the Eastern shore
you know tanning is what summer's for!

You've been a great host, oh sweet V-A,
if given the chance, I'd come back to stay.

But in the end, U-T has you beat,
with mountains, deserts, and normal streets.

Although, the one thing you can truly boast -
Your license plates! I will miss them most.

So in honor of you, oh state of states -
my personal plethora of crazy plates.

Edward + Bella

AWESOME.

It had me quite shocked at a few parts, laughing, crying. . . the whole spectrum.
So what did you think??

Happy Birthday Little Sis!

BOOIE! Hope you have a happy birthday...
Sweet 16 that is! 16 years ago Bekka patiently waited until my 6th birthday party was over before she decided make her debut. A new baby sister was definitely my best birthday present ever, and I love sharing my birthday with her.

In honor of my middle sis, here are 16 sweet Rebekka Lyn facts:

1. She can make anyone laugh.
2. She's a genius, just ask her. ;) But really - 4.0 and honors - I guess third kid is the charm.
3. She's very creative.
4. She takes care of the house and dishes for everyone.
5. When she sets her mind to something she can not only do it, but do it well.
6. She's probably the most talented of the family...tennis, piano, sewing, drawing, writing, EVERYTHING!
7. She loves to watch PBR, aka Professional Bull Riders.
8. She's managed to trick my dad into thinking she's the clean child.
9. She's the only child in our family with freckles.
10. She's not afraid to be herself...something that most teenage girls struggle with.
11. She can throw one heck of a tantrum, or as we like to call them, melt downs. :)
12. She can make friends with anyone and all her friends love her.
13. She loves Chris LeDeux and classic country.
14. She's the best steer showmen I know...after Cade. Haha, jk Booie.
15. She's got a great sense of humor.
16. She is an awesome little and big sister!

Love you Booie!

Colonial Williamsburg

It's taken me a bit to get these up, but here are a few pictures of our day in Williamsburg. We drove up with Rem, Traci, and Sawyer and had lots of fun even though the weather was peaking into the 100's. The city is all historically preserved and the people are dressed up in colonial attire. We didn't want to pay to go in some of the homes...but we still had lots of fun just walking down the streets and peeking in where we could.
On the way home we had a Jelly Belly competition to see who could eat the grossest flavors. Someone would eat a bean without looking what it was, and then we'd laugh as they were forced to swallow or spit out jelly beans that tasted like vomit, rotten egg, moldy cheese, booger, pencil shavings, and skunk spray! If you've seen Traci's blog, these pictures will look very familiar!

Back Home, Barfing, and Batman

Now that I've had a few days to recover from my travels, (and more importantly-I found a spot where my computer will finally connect to the internet) I thought I'd record my experiences getting back home.
A couple weeks ago I had the chance to fly home for a week of visiting my family. My dad's side of the family has a camp out reunion every summer and since I missed it last year, I really wanted to be there. The fact that Cade is leaving us in less than a month also played a big part in the return.
The actual trip home was a story within itself but I don't really want to say much more than I now have a strong dislike for Dallas, Texas. (In particular, one American Airlines worker in Dallas)
When the Wallentine family gets together there's no lack of good food, laughs, and story telling. My dad has 7 siblings and they all have large families of their own, so dinner time with 40 relatives is normal. I love it! Here just a few of my favorite camp traditions:

Wallentines NEVER cheat at games ;) Some more action shots. Yes, that is my Dad.
And here is the close up. Watch out Cade!Uncle Chris reading the famous "left/right" story.
My Nana, with help from lots of others, gets enough gifts for EVERYONE to pass around the circle while listening for all the "left" and "rights".
And of course, sitting around the fire. I love listening to all the hilarious stories!
While I was home I caught a 48 hour flu bug...or something...so I had to leave the first night of camp to go home due to a upset stomach. (I won't mention any names of who I contracted this sickness from...ahem, Ashley :) ) However, I didn't have to miss too much of the reunion so it all worked out.
I had lots of fun at home and I'm glad I went, but it also made it hard to leave my family again. I was excited to come back to Virginia to of course be with Nate, and it won't be long until we head back for Cade's farewell.
Soon after I got back, Nate's sales office made their goal for the day and his manager paid for all of us to go to the midnight premiere of Batman. I haven't seen any of the other Batmans, but I loved the new one! It also helped that Christian Bale is VERY good looking. :) Heath Ledger was freakishly awesome as well.

July 4th - East Coast Style

Nate worked until 5 on the 4th of July. I think that is the only day they get a slight break...(?) because they usually go until 9. As part of the festivities, his company is awesome and pays for a huge BBQ dinner. It's a BYODC event (bring your own Diet Coke) , which to me, is basically any event.After dinner we went down to the beach with 95% of the population of Virginia (the other 5% was packed into a park a few blocks from our apartment). Then parked 10 blocks away from the action, walked behind slow people for 10 minutes just in time to catch the firework show, and walked the 10 blocks back with the same slow people who were ironically then in a hurry, all after a max 20 minutes of fireworks. I'm used to Romney Stadium's 45 minute celebration duration, so I was completely NOT ready to leave after the so-called grand finale.

I know I probably sound a bit pessimistic/sarcastic, but Virginia Beach really did put on a good show and it was a fun night. The fireworks were set off on boats out in the ocean and therefore reflected in the water when they exploded, so it was like a double dose.
(If you're like my sister, you notice my shirt changed colors. Just think clumsy, BBQ, ketchup, and white shirt...but Nate is very festive)
(This doesn't do the water reflection justice, but I tried)

We missed our families and their parties (and Nate's dad's birthday, Happy Birthday Darrell!), but we also realize this is such a great opportunity for us. It's a time of our lives that we'll never be able to duplicate. The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays because it's not focused around spending money or other such things, but just a time for everyone to celebrate our country. Happy 4th!

Princess Laci

I've seen this on a few people's blogs so I decided to try it. I'm very sure if it's accurate...but entertaining none the less!


You Are Mulan!

Strong and spirited. You're no one's girly girl; actually you are very determined person with a strong sense of self. Never let go of that! The only thing that equals your sense of self is your family, but the traditions of society can always be bent to protect something or someone you love.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

just for fun

I know I have posted more than usual lately, but things have been slow. (oh how I love to say that) This is just a cool thing I saw on my blogging rounds.

It is a bit time consuming but still fun. Here is what you do:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the FIRST page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Here are my answers:

1. Laci
2. Italian
3. USU
4. blue
5. James McAvoy (right now at least)
6. Diet Coke
7. Hawaii
8. chocolate covered strawberries
9. mom
10. Nathan J
11. changing
12. lbutta, but it didn't work so I tried "buttars" and it pulled up my nephew!

Then Nate participated as well:

1. Nate
2. Mexican
3. Sky View (I guess he thinks of his high school glory days....haha)
4. blue
5. Kate Beckinsale - she's gorgeous I'll admit
6. Dr. Pepper
7. Hawaii (yes we are a lot alike)
8. pizookie
9. retired
10. Laci Jae (notice the freaky/dominating cartoon woman he chose, love you too Nate) :)
11. fun
12. n8

Go ahead, try it!

A Jane Filled June

One of my friends, Dani, brought her copy of Pride and Prejudice to Virginia. I know P&P is a classic, but I found it to be slight coincidence because I had a pile of 4 or 5 books I had intentions of bringing and P&P was one of the lucky few...that is until I forgot them all. Once I heard she had her copy I asked to borrow it. Since that moment we've immersed ourselves in what could be described as "A Jane filled June"--Jane Austen that is.

Our first trip to Blockbuster resulted in a quick concurrence of Becoming Jane. Yes, it has been out for quite some time, but neither of us had seen it. Long story short--we both loved it. I loved it so much in fact, I took it home and nicely forced Nate to watch with me again...the same night.A few days later Dani and I were spotted leaving Barnes and Noble with every Jane Austen book available from the $5 classic collection shelf. Obsessed? Just a little.

The Jane-maina has also resulted in two $5 movie purchases of P&P (the new version with Keira Knightley) and Sense and Sensibility. Turns out Wal-Mart is good for something.
Yesterday, after many hours locked down in my dark apartment, Dani and I finished the A&E 6/7 hour P&P miniseries. And yes, I'm reading the book.

Some might be concerned of a Mr. Darcy overload. On the contrary however. The hours and hours of Janeisms eek out of me in more discreet manners. I just catch myself before I ask Nate, "Pray tell me what be most agreeable for dinner, sir?" :)

Or then of course, I just blog about it.

Allie Elizabeth

I am the oldest of four kids. All things considered, I love it. Besides being the "experiment" as I like to say to my dad, I enjoy being the oldest child. I'm bossy, yep shocker. Whenever my parents would leave me to babysit, I remember loving to throw around the phrase, "Well too bad, 'cause I'm in charge now." (Nate doesn't ever hear that I promise)

When I was 11, my littlest sister Allie was born. I'm pretty sure the term "little mother" would have described our situation. She is, after all, my spitting image. I always joke with her that she better think I'm beautiful because she's going to look just like me.
Well the other day I received a text message...
(she uses my Dad's phone so sometimes it takes me a second to decipher the sender)

"why dont you ever blog about me youve done cade dad mom nate and bekka but not me"

After a good laugh I responded:
"Haha you're funny Pals. I'll do one just for you. How's that?

"ya i would like that very much"

So here's to you Al. I miss you lots when I leave for the summer, but it also makes you realize that you do kinda like me after all, right? Nate wanted me to tell you that I only blog about him cause I have to, so don't feel too bad. :) Hope you're having a fun summer, and I'll see you in a few weeks!

Happy Dad's Day!

A few of my favorite memories with my Dad:
~One of my earliest memories was tagging along to an old milk barn where he kept some of his cows. I would watch him while he worked and I even named all the cows. Some were: Laci Jae (how original), Licorice, and I think even Lollipop. Either I only knew “L” names or my parents fed me too much candy. :)
~Some of my favorite afternoons were when he would get home from work and we would watch movies in the basement. I would always choose Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast. What a good sport he was...although I guess he would always end up taking a nap by the end anyways.
~ Most Saturdays we would drive to Bear Lake to my cousin's house. We would stop in Preston at the Arctic Circle, then at the convenience store to get brown licorice. We'd listen to Marty Robbins (that's why he's in my music play list) or Patsy Cline and play 20 questions on the way.
~During the winter he would move his huge draft horses to the pasture behind our house. On really snowy days he would hook them up to a sleigh and pull me and my brother all around our yard, making sure to send us flying over the big mounds of shoveled snow.
~Beginning in the winter I was in 3^rd grade, he would pick me up from school and we would go to Amalga to feed cows. I would “drive” the truck or tractor while he fed hay to the cows off the back. My driving was basically just steering the vehicle while it was in neutral or low gear. We still laugh about some of the close calls we experienced. A few included getting stuck in the snow (more than once), or when I sent us careening down a hill towards the Bear River.
~During the summer he would have me and my brother move firewood from the pile that was against our house, to a new stack across the other side of our yard. I had to use a wheel-barrow while Cade got to pull the red wagon. Sometimes I think he just had us do that for busy work. :)
~He helped us raise 4-H animals every year for the fair. The fair was, and still is, my favorite event of the summer.
~When Cade and I weren’t stacking wood or picking up rotten apples that had fallen from our apple tree, we would move the big sprinkler pipe for an older couple in the field behind their house. I complained A LOT, but now that I look back I’m so grateful my dad taught me the importance of hard work and service. Those are two traits I definitely want to teach my kids.
~Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE Christmas time. I am positive I inherited that from my Dad. Every year we would go to Rudy’s Greenhouse and pick out our Christmas tree together. He’d always let me have the final say and it made me feel pretty special. He’d also break out his collection of Christmas books and we’d read one every night for the month of December. A tradition he still continues with my littlest sister.
~I loved summer vacation because we'd always go camping or make a trip to Riverdale Resort. Dad and I were the only "brave" ones to go down the slide.
~During Jr. High and high school, he would attempt to wake me up every morning by coming down and belly flopping on my bed so I would be launched in the air. He’d laugh, I’d scream.
~These are just a few of the memories I love to look back on. Dad, you are my example of hard work, honesty, patience, fun, love, and especially faith. I take comfort in knowing you are just a phone call or even text message :) away. You give of yourself all the time and I love you so much! Happy Father’s Day Dad!

Why Nate is Great: Part Deux-

*For the original "Why Nate is Great" post click here:* http://lacibuttars.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html

During the summer my day begins after a good amount of sleeping in. I daresay if there were a competition of staying up far too late, and sleeping in way too long, I would take the prize. A sad confession, I realize. (my only justification is that it's summer and I'm more productive during the school year) After a long snooze I rouse to make Nate's sack lunch before he heads off to his daily work meeting and then continues to a 7-8 hour day of knocking doors. All the while, I try and keep myself busy by either shopping with friends or straightening the house.
Last week I spent more days then I'd feel comfortable admitting wandering around the mall, so today I knew I needed to do some serious cleaning. As I sat here at our rented, black, wooden table and scowled at the tower of dirty dishes in the sink; I was a bit discouraged to consider the long process that lay ahead of me. Scrubbing slimy plates that have sat slightly ignored for too many days, and attempting not to dry-heave (sorry to be so graphic) as gooey globs of garden salad slide down the garbage disposal, is not my idea of a good time. Long story short - I DESPISE doing dishes. Why don't we just rinse our bowls after slurping down cereal? Good question. But for reasons unknown, Nate and I just can't seem to keep on top of this specific household chore.
I was almost completely fed up with being the one who always succumbs to the soapy job. "Why can't Nate give me a break at least once?" I silently whined as I hot water seeped up the stainless steel sink. Just as I began to slide into self-pity, I snapped out just as quickly as I realized the contrast in my daily activities compared to Nate's.

Therefore the actual reason of this post - in good old fashioned David Letterman style,

THE TOP TEN REASONS
Why Nate is Great: Part Deux-

10. As mentioned above, he spends the vast majority of his day knocking doors.

9. He doesn't complain about the continually unoriginal sack lunches I make him everyday.
(a PB&J or turkey and cheese sandwich, yogurt, small bag of chips, Oreos 100 calorie pack, and a Gatorade)

8. He has 6 shirts to choose from throughout the whole summer. (There are only 5 in the pic because he's wearing one. I DO know how to count)7. He has even fewer pairs of shorts to choose between.6. To him, accessorizing with a hat is best part of getting dressed. (He had all these specially made just to stand out a bit)5. He does all this work in extreme heat. Yesterday the temp hit a high of 101 degrees, not to mention humidity. WOW.

4. He cut his own hair in attempt to stay cool from the heat. 3. Instead of sexy smelling cologne, he gets to smell like a mixture of these:2. He RARELY complains. I honestly think I complain for him more often than not.

1. He does all of this so we will have more money and won't have to work as much during the school year.

So go ahead Nate, kick back with your Dr. Pepper and NBA Live '08 on the Playstation. I'll scrub the dishes anytime.