Jaxon

You know, since the day Jaxon was born people told me he looked just like his dad. I refused to believe it. Oh, I know he does look more like Jared than me. But I comforted myself with the knowledge that he had "Oldroyd" ears. Yup, that is about all the Oldroyd he has in him. He acts like his dad, walks like his dad, talks like his dad, wants to be his dad, and yes, finally HERE in this picture, I can totally see his dad in him. Crazy - makes me wonder, "Am I really his mother?" It has been 12 years, the memory is getting a bit vague. Funny thing is before he was born I was afraid I would never get a blue-eyed child. (Jared's eyes are blue, mine are brown. Everyone knows brown is dominant.) Now I have to say I am so grateful to have a child that looks like my handsome husband. (Even if I am not really present in him pretty much at all.) :)

Swimming!

We decided to go swimming on our day off of school the other day. It was a bit crazy. Jainie loved it! She was really pretty brave. Josh was right behind her and mostly chased her around and teased Jake and his friend, Cannon. Josie also went with a group of friends. They had a ball! Jaxon was at scouts - he usually is busy lately, crazy how 12 hits and you don't see your child anymore. I am not ready for that.

Jainie is the funniest little girl in the whole world! She seriously cracks me up! I don't know how she got so much personality. She is constantly posing - this was one of many funny poses. You should never want to talk to her on the phone, whenever she is playing on the phone she is usually cussing people out - "I cannot believe you did that to me", "I don't think we will be friends ever again", "What do you mean it's YOUR baby?!" Seriously, you'd think I watch soap operas or something. (I don't.) I don't know where she gets it from, I guess a super-active imagination.

MONK!

I love MONK! This has been my all-time favorite TV show for as long as I can remember. (Well, I can remember a bit longer but the point is - I love it!) I found it quite a few years ago and have been an avid fan ever since. I have watched every single episode, some are definitely better than others, but they are all great! If you have never seen it, I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, it is over. Monk said good-bye in December. However, I just finished last night. I have been saving the episodes for special occasions. Like, on my birthday I watched one, a few nights before Christmas, our anniversary, and then yesterday, Valentine's Day, we finished up the last two. Sad. I really cried. Anyway, I decided to give a tribute to Monk today to let everyone know what a great show it is. I really related to Monk quite a bit. So, everyone go out and watch an episode of Monk today. If I had any sort of power at all, I would declare it a national holiday, Monk Day! :) By the way, my favorite characters are Monk, of course, and Captain Stottlemeyer - so loyal and sarcastic.

You have to love Natalie, she is so dependable, loyal and funny.

And, of course, Randy - comic relief.

Bye, Monk, you will be missed!

boohoo :(

Cambodia!

Phnom Penh, Cambodia! Seems so surreal and so far away. Yet Jared's parents are headed there today! They went into the MTC one week ago and now are flying out. It is such an awesome experience and yet so unbelievable. It definitely became real yesterday for me, when we didn't have our traditional Fast Sunday dinner. We have always met at Jeff & Ilene's for dinner and I haven't had to worry about cooking something. I guess I better get used to the idea for awhile.

The kids are already missing them, wondering how they are, what they are doing. Luckily, they have a blog and are great at emailing us (that is where I got the cool picture of them pointing to the map).

About a week before they left, we all went to the Manti Temple together one last time, so there we are, Jared's family minus Garrison. We will miss them and have already felt the effects of their being gone. Hopefully we will survive. :) No, really I know we will and I know we will be blessed by their service. (Thanks for the picture Emily).

Pretty far away!

February's Challenge

So, I decided to post what I am planning on doing for February before I have pictures for it. I am doing this for 2 reasons; 1st: I am having a rough time getting going (cold, sick, no motivation, etc.) & 2nd: I am hoping maybe some of you will join me in my efforts. So, here goes - February is "Service with a Smile" month. So, basically to me this means that I am going to try to stretch myself in the service department. As a mother and wife, I perform multiple acts of service everyday. But, this month if I do something for my kids, I want it to be something I normally don't do for them so they will really appreciate it. I am going to try to give service with a more willing heart too. So, no more complaining or whining about it. Wish me luck! Oh, and please don't all call at once if you need some service performed, maybe you could make a schedule with each other! :)

Month to Month Challenge - January

So, January is gone - I can't believe it. I thought for sure it would never end at one point, but as usual the minute I have that thought, I blink my eyes and POOF time is gone.
Anyway, I decided about 1/2way through the month that this year I am going to give every month a theme. Some way to challenge myself for that particular month. So, for January I decided it would be "Try Something New Month". So that is what I did, tried to do things in a different way or something I never thought I would be interested in, etc. It was really pretty fun! I do think of myself as quite open-minded when it comes to different activities, I usually don't snub something unless I have tried it, or it is stupid, against what I should do, etc. You get the point.
So, some of the things I did this month are; exercise (at least 2x a week), tried making new foods like candy again (haven't done that in awhile), read two different books (usually don't find time to read any), I have tried to blog more regularly and have read others blogs, re-arranged the furniture in the living room, & some other things you can see in the following pictures. (I am sure I tried other things as well, just can't remember them right now & if I wait til I do remember, this post will never get published! And I know we all don't want that! So I guess that is another one! I tried to procrastinate less and be more active - I even cleaned the kids bathroom and took a bath, haven't done that in a few months either. And before I get any snide comments, I shower!:))

I decided to take the tree down in January, before Sara's bday (19th), which is my usual goal. Note: I did NOT like this one, thus, the downstairs tree is STILL up, but before any of you rush over here to help me take it down, please know I am planning on taking it down today - if Josh will let me!
I made breakfast one morning! Jainie woke up and found me in the kitchen & was so perplexed she asked me, "Mommy, is it my birthday?" Josie laughed hysterically. (For those of you who don't know, it is a Thalman tradition to have breakfast in bed on their birthdays; which is obviously pretty much the only time my kids get anything besides cereal that they dish up themselves). :) The sad thing is that you can see it wasn't even that wonderful of a breakfast, but in my defense, we also had hot cocoa!:)
Another thing I tried, which I am not too fond of but life makes it a necessity, is taking pictures of the kids school stuff and then throwing it away. And, now that I think of it, maybe I should have just folded this up and put it in his 6th grade folder. Shoot! Anyway, Jaxon's science project on H1N1 - we did tear a couple things off to save.
Last but not least, my latest obsession - Zoo World on Facebook. I don't recommend you trying it. It is highly contagious! (But I am moving up pretty quickly, I think this picture is of my 2nd island, now I have 4 - one of which is uninhabited.)
So, there you go. A few things that I tried new in January. It made it a bit more exciting for me besides the normal to do. So, if you are feeling a bit blah, I would suggest you try to think of something new and give it a shot!