100th Post!

Wow, this is my 100th post! Emma did a really cute post on her 100th, so I thought I should follow suit. I tried to get Garrett to contribute some things too, but he said he doesn't really do favorites... So here are 100 things about ME! Enjoy!

5 Favorite Books
1. The Standard Works
2. "The Firm" by John Grisham
3. "Go Forward With Faith" by Sheri Dew (Pres. Hinckley's biography)
4. "The Book of Virtues" by William Bennett (I can't wait to read this to my kids)
5. "The Work and the Glory" by Lund (the whole series)

5 Restaurants I Love
6. Happy Sumo
7. Tucano's
8. Sushi Ya
9. Newicks
10. Cafe Rio

5 Desserts I Crave
11. Cheesecake with berries
12. Angel Food Cake
13. Strawberry Shortcake
14. Chocolate chip cookies (I can never say no to these. Case in point: after I typed that, I took a break from writing this post, and went and made some choc chip cookies, and ate them.)
15. Blueberry cream cheese pie

10 Things you May Not Know about Me
16. I don't really like fruity candy (Skittles, Starbursts, Jelly Beans, etc) but I LOVE chocolate! Especially Dove and Lindt. And I love caramel-y chocolate things, like Reisins (YUM!)
17. I LOVE jewelry, especially rings (white and yellow gold). When I was really little, I remember wanting a ring every year for Christmas/Birthday for probably 5 years... you know, just one of those cheap ones with a cheap little gem (the 25 cent kind). I never got one. But I also don't remember actually telling my parents I wanted one, so... that was probably my fault.
18. My favorite flowers are probably tulips.
19. I'm not colorblind, but I always get the colors yellow and orange mixed up. If they are next to each other I can tell the difference and say which is which, but if you showed me something by itself and asked me if it was yellow or orange, I would have to think about it for a minute.
20. I am scared to death of roaches. If I see one in the house (or anywhere, really) I scream and run away. I really don't like any bugs in the house, but especially roaches.
21. I still don't step on cracks.
22. I HATE pork & beans. I will not eat them, ever. When I was 5 or 6 years old we had them for dinner, and since none of us kids were really eating them, Dad turned it into a contest to see who could finish theirs the fastest. I ate them all and almost threw up (even back then I hated them)! Molly won, but only because Dad ate some of hers to help her. Anyway, pork & beans are probably the only food I will absolutely refuse to eat.
23. I like folding the laundry if it's still warm. Sometimes if I leave clothes in the dryer for a few hours, I'll turn it on again for 5 minutes to heat them up again before I fold them.
24. I LOVE to read! There aren't many things better than curling up with a good book.
25. I hate to drive at night, especially on unfamiliar roads. And in the rain! If it's nighttime and raining, I try to stay home!

5 (Paid) Jobs I Have Had
26. Babysitter (you know, typical teen/pre-teen job)
27. Waitress (eh, it was ok)
28. Telemarketer (miserable, to say the least)
29. Sales Rep (I don't like sales)
30. HR Administrative Assistant (Best job ever - I love HR)

5 Favorite Places to Visit
31. My parents'/grandparents' farm in PA (so fun!)
32. Palmyra (tons of memories)
33. The beach (I love the ocean!)
34. Any Temple (obvious)
35. Anywhere with family, really (nothing is better than family!)

10 Places I Want to Visit
36. Oahu, HI (Pearl Harbor, Polynesian Center, BYU-H, Temple)
37. China (the Great Wall)
38. Jerusalem (The Holy Land)
39. The Grand Canyon (I've seen it from a plane...)
40. Nauvoo (Church History)
41. Mediterranean Cruise
42. Taiwan (Garrett's mission)
43. Norway (ancestry)
44. Germany (ancestry)
45. Alaska (Alaskan cruise!)

10 Favorite Foods
46. Sushi
47. Lobster
48. Berries
49. Pizza (Papa John's!)
50. Mashed potatoes with gravy
51. Cheese and crackers
52. Steak
53. Shrimp
54. Fettucine Alfredo
55. A really good salad

5 Favorite Stores
56. Target
57. Bath and Body Works
58. Bed, Bath, and Beyond
59. Barnes and Noble
60. Fresh Market (or any fancy grocery store)

5 Favorite Websites
61. http://www.jesuschrist.lds.org/ (LDS Church)
62. http://www.imommies.com/ (Money-saving tips, coupons, etc.)
63. http://www.amazon.com/ (great shopping/research)
64. http://www.consumerreports.com/ (for whenever we want to buy something over $50)
65. Blogs, in general

5 Favorite Movies
66. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
67. Pride and Prejudice (A&E)
68. Father of the Bride (1&2)
69. Rudy
70. Gone With the Wind

10 Things Abby and I Both Love
71. Garrett!
72. Cuddling
73. Snacking
74. Reading books
75. Playing the piano
76. Picnics
77. Playing games
78. Taking walks
79. Listening to music
80. Visiting friends and family

Things I Want to Accomplish
81. Learn Photoshop - I'm pretty good now but I want to be really good at it.
82. Understand Isaiah - I took an Isaiah class at BYU and I completely understood it at the time, and it was amazing. I have forgotten a lot of it, but I have a great supplementary book on it now, and I want to keep studying it so that I can re-learn it and really know it.
83. I want to make quilts and be good at it. I just need to be better at working my sewing machine.
84. I want to be good at cake decorating. We just did a class on it in YW (Tues. nights) and it was so fun!
85. I want to write living histories of my family.
86. Scan all important family photos so they can be preserved and shared with everyone.
87. Be able to play every hymn on the organ (I can do many of them, but some are pretty challenging for me still)
88. I want to read each latter-day prophet's biography (I know you have them all, Mom and Dad!)
89. I would like to serve a mission with Garrett someday.
90. I would love to get my Master's Degree in Human Resources, or maybe Social Work. There will be plenty to time for that someday!

What I would do with $100
91. buy some clothes or other fun things from Target
92. get some picture frames or art for our bedroom
93. buy some fabric to make a quilt
94. buy some other materials for other projects I want to do
95. donate it to Church
96. buy a tall bookshelf to replace the short one that's overflowing with books
97. buy a forward-facing carseat for Abby (she's still too light for one, that's why we don't have one yet)
98. go out for a nice dinner
99. buy groceries
100. fill up the cars with gas

Flashback Friday - White Coat Ceremony

Garrett started medical school a year and a half ago, in the fall of 2006. It was such a fun time for us - we were living in a brand new place, I was pregnant, we were meeting lots of great people at Church, and we were just starting our Church callings (which we love!).

Medical schools have something for the freshmen that they call a "White Coat Ceremony" where - you guessed it - everyone receives their white doctors' coats! Well, they aren't real doctor's coats, because they are shorter than a real doctor's coat would be, but it was so neat! We had been hoping and praying to get into medical for what seemed like so long, and finally there he was, looking so handsome in a white coat with his name on it. For me, seeing Garrett in his white coat finally made it real for me that Garrett was going to actually become a doctor (a very happy and sad feeling at the same time. Happy because he'll save lives, but sad because being a doctor is very time-intensive).

The White Coat Ceremony was very nice. They had a few speeches, and then each person's name was called and they went to the front and someone put the coat on them. After the program there was a very nice reception with great food. It was especially nice because Garrett's parents were able to be there for it, which was great.

Tune in next week for Flashback Friday... I think I'll share my most embarassing moment (and it's pretty good!).

Groceries!!

If you live near a Kroger, now is the time to stock up on food storage!! They are having a great deal where if you buy 10 participating items (that are on sale already), you get another $5 off. I bought 30 of the items (there are TONS to choose from and they are mix & match, so you don't have to buy 10 of one thing) so I got $15 off automatically (after swiping my Kroger card). Then, I also had a $7 off coupon that I got in the mail (if I spent more than $35)!
The 7 oz Baby Goldfish came out to be 50 cents each! I was going to buy the regular sized Goldfish, but I noticed that they only have 6 oz in those packages, plus the smaller ones are better for Abby right now anyway. This deal ends tomorrow (Saturday).

My original total: $82

I paid: $31

Not all groceries shown were in the "buy 10" deal.

All About Abby

At just over 14 months old, Abby babbles all the time, but only recently has she begun to say words we can actually understand. She doesn't say nearly as many words as Chris, but here's what she does say:

baby
banana
Dada
dog
Mama
up
who's that? (she says this whenever she sees a picture of anyone, especially herself or other kids)
yes (she doesn't really say this in the right context... I think she just likes saying it)

She also does sign language for "more", "milk", "eat", and "please". I have loved having her learn signs because she can tell us what she wants even though she can't say the words yet. When she was eating she used to whine and cry out whenever she was ready for another bite, and it was getting on our nerves! So we taught her to sign "more" when she was ready for a new bite, and that has made eating so much more pleasant. It took her longer to learn the signs than we thought it would, and we gave up trying to teach her around 9 or 10 months, but then around her birthday we started it up again and she has done so well.

She is also walking a lot more now. She loves to climb onto her rocking chair and sit in it for a minute, and then she shimmies off it and walks around the living room or into the kitchen. She can even stand up on her own in the middle of a room, without the help of furniture. In a few weeks she'll probably be walking like a pro!

Abby loves being outside. Sometimes we meet up with my friend and her kids at the park up the road, which is fun. We also have picnics in the backyard whenever it's nice outside. She also loves her teddy bear. She has a small 6-in Classic Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animal, and she loves to give him hugs. It's so cute because when she hugs him, she puts him up on her shoulder and sways back and forth, and pats and rubs his back. Sometimes she'll even give him a kiss.

And last but not least, Abby has 8 (that's right, EIGHT) teeth! They're not all completely grown in yet, but they will be soon. She has three on top, four on the bottom and a molar coming in on the top, on the right side. I can't believe she's getting a molar!

So, that's Abby right now! I'm going to try to post something at the beginning of each month with her progression, mostly so that it can be recorded somewhere! It's so fun to see my baby growing up! (but it's also really sad!)

What Does That Say??

One of the many fond memories that Garrett has of his mission to Taiwan is of the English signs they have (like city signs, bumper stickers, billboards, etc). Their translation from Chinese to English isn't really the best, so he and his companion would often come across some pretty amusing signs. For example, on a billboard ad for perfume, it said "you touched my things and a smile came out like music." Or, on a scooter (not a bumper sticker, this was on the actual scooter) it said "we reach for the sky, neither does civilization".

Today I found an article on the LDS Newsroom website about how the mayor of Taichung has asked the LDS missionaries for help in improving their English signs, in hopes that Taiwan will become more inviting to tourists and international businesses. He recognized that many of the missionaries there are from North America, and are native English speakers, and offered to pay them for their service. Of course, they will help free of charge.

The article gives some good examples of some signs that need help:

At a Confucian temple: "Please keep orderliness solemnly silent." (Changed to "Please be silent and respectful.)

Or, at a baseball field: "Game that attention to flying out-of-bounds." (Pay attention to foul balls.)

When I told Garrett about what the missionaries are doing, he laughed but was kind of sad. "That's one of the things I loved about that place... it was so funny!!" I told him that it's too bad it didn't happen while he was there, because then maybe he could have taken an old sign when it was replaced - he would have loved that. Oh well...at least he has a few pictures of some signs with his other mission stuff.

All for a Discount?

Ok, I love a good discount... but how far would you go for a lifetime discount to your favorite store? I just read an article about students who were recently given a minimum of $500 to sit in a tattooists chair for 1 hour while the artist inked the permanent Apple logo into their skin! Here's the breakdown of payments:

$500 – Arm, leg, feet, torso (below t-shirt/short line)
$1000 – Arm, leg – always visible
$1500 – Hands
$2000 – Neck
$2500 – Head, unshaved
$3000 – Head, shaved
$5000 – Forehead or face

Everyone also gets a lifetime 25% off discount in all Apple stores. A press secretary for Apple said,“We foresee a day when thousands of people are walking around proudly displaying the Apple logo.” Let's hope not!

To read the article about the Apple Tattoo Program, click here.

Craving

My favorite soft drink is Diet Pepsi with Lime. In 2006, when Garrett and I moved from UT, I spent months searching for it in every grocery store, but I could never find it! Then, one day when I was in a grocery store, a Pepsi guy happened to be there bringing in boxes of drinks from his truck. I asked him about Diet Pepsi with Lime, and they said they had stopped making it. I was SO SAD! So imagine my surprise a year later when I went back to UT for Emma's graduation and I saw it at WalMart!! I bought a 12-pack and that kept me pretty happy. It turns out that DP w/ Lime isn't sold anywhere within a 250-mile radius of where I live. So in a few years, when Garrett is applying for residencies, we will have to take into account whether or not the areas we want to go sell my drink of choice.

In the meantime, I buy store-brand diet cola and add a splash of lime juice. It works for now!

Do you crave anything that isn't sold anymore?