#5 Would you rather...

My turn. I have been so tired this past week. I've been tired a lot lately, maybe it's the running or maybe it's just having an active 17 month old. Anyway. Thursday night came and I had no idea what we were going to do. Friday came and I still didn't know. Until I read the most recent Project 52: Date Nights post. They played "Would you rather...". She even came up with a list that you could just print out. So this is what we did. There were blank spaces to write your own. We would each pick one out of a bowl read them and both answer. When we were just married we used to always have chocolate milk. So we played "Would you rather..." and drank chocolate milk. It was simple but fun and we laughed a lot.

Some questions from the list: Would you rather...
...lick a toilet
...wear the same outfit for the rest of your life

Some of our own questions: Would you rather...
Lindsey's: ...read the Twilight series everyday for the rest of your life (cause Michael has never touched them and never will)
Michael's: ...Eat spam (cause I hate this word so bad. I hate the look of it, the sound of it, everything. He wrote this down on five different slips of paper and it bugged me cause most of them I would choose eating spam. ahhh.)

Michael then wanted to play a game of Monopoly. He loves this game and he's really good at it. Well we started and because there are only two of us I had the opportunity to buy all of the railroads which I did and I got boardwalk as well. Every turn Michael paid me something and finally he landed on boardwalk which I had a hotel on and owed me $2000. He couldn't pay and went bankrupt and I WON! I never beat him at games like this and I did and was pretty happy. Plus I got to put my name in the trophy.

Interested in other date night ideas or joining this fun project? Just click on the link below!

Having Fun

Despite the fact that Noelle is getting over a cold and cough we've been having a lot of fun lately. On St. Patrick's Day I made green eggs and I'm happy to add that she actually ate most of them. For lunch I gave her kiwi, celery, crackers with green butter and cinnamon sugar on the top, and green marshmallows. That day I found out she likes celery which I'm very happy about. With the nice weather and not having a car to go places we've been going outside a lot and meeting a lot of new people around our apartment complex. There is this really cute older lady that walks her dog a couple times a day and we will talk to her for a while and she just loves Noelle. Noelle is still getting used to walking outside and seeing all the cars and trees. There is a little playground to the side of our building and we try to put her on the slide, she's not the biggest fan of that yet. But she loves going outside and loves the sun. I got her some new shoes this last week and she loves wearing them. She's starting to understand what it means when Mom and Dad says that she "looks so pretty." I love it. I love the weather right now and I hope it just gets better. Everything just seems brighter in every way when the sun is shining.

She likes eating whole strawberries now. She will very rarely eat any produce if I cut it up into small pieces.

Eating a Mrs. Fields cookie at the mall. She really enjoyed it.

She loves this pink key chain thing. I put it over her head and she pulled it down around her neck like a necklace. She left it there for a while. I need to get her a necklace of her own.

Card Night

My mom wanted to start this card making night with the girls in the family. I like to think that I am kind of creative but I really need practice in this area. Me, mom and Nina made cards and when we did we made three of each so this way we each had one of each card made. I did pretty well for the first time doing it. Mom and Nina made three and I made two. It was actually quite a fun night and I think this will be a fun monthly tradition. It's nice to have a creative outlet. My mom and Nina are so good at this stuff. Taylor will have to join us and Aly will once she returns home from her mission. Here are some pictures of the cards for those interested in seeing them:

I made these three cards

The inside of the card above

The other card I made
The inside of that one
Here are the rest of them! I think they turned out really really cute.

needing some advice about napping

I'm in need of some motherly advice and things that have worked for you guys: I think Noelle is transitioning in to only needing one nap a day but I'm not sure how to go about doing it. I love when she takes an early afternoon nap (between 11am and 12noon) but sometimes she'll stay in her bed for a half hour or more just talking to herself before she falls asleep. She'll take a pretty good nap but then wake up and eat a very late lunch and then gets tired around 5 or 6 but by then it's too late to give her a second nap if I want her to go to bed at a decent hour. But then she's fussy because she's tired. I just want to know how to transition so I don't have an ornery girl half of the day. I would love everyone's opinion and what has worked for you!

a little bit of everything

Some random new things in our lives and new discoveries I've made:

Hooray!!! We finally have a working washer and dryer. We got them several weeks ago but haven't been able to use them because the pipe was broken or clogged or something. Now I've been doing laundry like crazy and I'm actually having fun (who would have thought). It's so nice to not have to haul our laundry to my parents every weekend. They have been very generous in letting us use their home as our laundry mat but it was seriously stressful making sure we didn't forget any laundry for the week and making sure we got it all done in the time we had there. Anyway, it's been great.

My sister comes home from her mission on May 4th and I'm so excited. I'm personally excited to see her but I'm excited for her to see Noelle. Before Alyson left Noelle was in the NICU and actually got to hold her once. Noelle will be 18 months when she gets home and I'm so thrilled for them to get to know each other. They are going to have so much fun!

I'm starting to get into couponing and am having fun doing it. I'm still not the greatest at it. I actually am going to a couponing conference this Saturday and I'm excited to get more organized and learn how to be better at it. My favorite coupon site is freebies2deals.com

Tonight I am embarking on a card making adventure with my mom and sister. I'm really not good in this area so I will be copying sample cards like crazy. At least I will be with people I love and have fun with.

Noelle loves to look in the mirror. And now I think it's not just because it's new to her. I seriously think she knows how cute she is and loves looking at new things she is wearing. I love dressing her up more than myself.

Noelle loves to share her stuffed animals with everyone. She'll get the biggest smile on her face when she gives you something that she loves. It's the cutest!

Noelle is trying to get used to walking on cement and grass and will just stare at people as they walk by and wave to her. Sometimes she's shy around others but I think it's just an act.

We ask Noelle "Where are your eyes?" And she points to her eyes and says "Eyes."

Becky (Michael's sister) was accepted to BYU and we're so excited she will be in Utah!! We're going to have so much fun and I'm thrilled she'll be so close.

Michael actually enjoys going to Costco I think. He hates shopping but when we go to Costco he loves to just look around and see what's there. It's funny and interesting.

This is what happens before a nap or bedtime. She loves laying here. I really don't know how I'm going to get her away from that bottle.

One day we put a sock on her head and said that she looked so pretty with it on. She continued to walk around with it there for the next several minutes.

#3 New Food and Fun Conversation

It was my turn to plan our date night this week. I decided I would make dinner and we would try out sample questions from Table Topics (I printed off the sample questions under the 'Tabletopics cube' tab). I made these tangy grape jelly meatballs with rice and veggies and we were going to wait to eat it until our daughter went down for the night but we thought she would like them too. Turns out she did, with a little persuading on our part. So when she finally went down I made these avocado egg rolls with dipping sauce, a recipe I got on Studio 5. (Just as a side note I added about 4 TBS of crumbled bacon to the egg roll recipe.) Earlier in the day I made Butterfinger Cupcakes. My husband liked the meatballs and cupcakes but wasn't much of a fan of the egg rolls with the sauce. I sometimes forget that he isn't as big of a fan of extreme tastes as I am. He prefers subtle and mild tastes. The egg rolls were different but very good in my opinion and the sauce made them even better. So we ate our food while asking each other some silly questions. We also each made up a few questions of our own. It was a very non-stressful date and we even learned a little more about each other!

Thank you 500 babies blog for the Table Topics idea.

I know they aren't the best looking photos but the food was good and we had fun!

Watching American Idol

Our little girl wanted to watch American Idol with us the other night and it was so funny. She just started wanting to sit in this little chair and when she did she got pretty comfortable. Then afterward she would run around and move her arms and make singing noises. I wish I got a video of it. I'm sure I will, she's done it pretty much every day since then.
p.s. Grandma Pfeil, we finally got a webcam!!!

#2 "You must be the Monopoly guy."

Date 2 of 52: Michael planned a simple date this week. We really had a long week and didn't get enough sleep so I was glad to spend the night at home. Friday night after we put Noelle to bed Michael got out Monopoly to play (the champion edition). We got this game from my sister Taylor for Christmas and hadn't played it yet. Before last night I hadn't played monopoly a lot and didn't really enjoy it to tell you the truth. But playing just the two of us was really a blast! It was very relaxed and we joked and and just had fun. Michael won but actually not by very much. The game comes with a little trophy and you write the person's name that won until the next time someone else wins. We liked this idea so we wrote Michael's name on it and it's now on our entertainment center :). After the game we had some strawberry ice cream. I really needed this date night and had so much fun with Michael.

it's the little things

Today I went to The Quilted Bear in Midvale, Utah. I could really spend all day there and still not know what I want. It's a huge craft, home decor, figurines, everything store. After walking around forever feeling a little overwhelmed I came across a figurine that I was introduced to a few years ago. When I was at BYU-I, I had an amazing Motivation Management professor. She really changed my life in a lot of ways and I became a better teacher because of her. Anyway we had an assignment where we had to think of one of our biggest pet peeves or something that makes us angry. We had to write about it and go by a certain method to try and solve it. Well mine was (and still is to this day) when people don't change the toilet paper roll after the toilet paper has run out. Is it really that hard? Oh this bugs me. Not a lot of things bug me, but this does even though I know it's kinda silly. Well my teacher read my paper and when she returned it, attached was a cut out from a magazine of the following picture. Well I found this exact figurine at The Quilted Bear and I had to get it. It's now above my toilet just waiting for others to read it. :) I did get some other great things there as well."Changing The Toilet Paper Does Not Cause Brain Damage"
Love it!

Chile, my second home

I can't sleep tonight. I'm thinking a lot about my friends in Chile. And although I feel peace about things I can't seem to stop thinking about all the people that I love that are there and wonder if they are alright. I haven't heard from many people and I guess this is what makes me worry. A few months ago my cousin got his mission call to Chile, Concepcion. I was so excited because he would soon be in a place that I love and with people that are so wonderful. I served in Santiago but I knew a lot of people from Concepcion. All I wanted to do was tell him everything I knew about Chile and how much he would love it. Well last Sunday was his farewell talk and I couldn't help but get emotional about how everything works out and how much the Lord is mindful of all His children. Wednesday my cousin goes into the MTC in Provo to prepare but soon after he will go to a place that has been changed in so many ways by this giant earthquake. Chileans are strong and loving people but I know they've been through a pretty traumatic experience. My cousin along with other missionaries are needed there and I know were called there for a reason. I know Heavenly Father is aware of everyone's needs and loves us more than we can comprehend. Chile is truly like my second home. The people are so loving and so Christ-like and I feel so blessed to have served in such a great country. So even though I cry now and then thinking of what happened and am worried I know that wherever they are that things will be alright. The Lord is on our side and He hears us.