Do You See What I See?

Do you see it?

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Look closely

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Do you know what that is?

It's PROGRESS!

Ill-Prepared

So is it a bad thing if I came away from tonight's preparedness enrichment meeting and all I can think is, "Boy! I am not prepared!" Some of these ladies were so on the ball. 72-hour kits, 3-month supply, 1-year supply! I mean come on! I have already burned through half of the food storage my in-laws gave us for Christmas this year. Now I'm feeling a little guilty. I just don't know where to start. I got the food portion of my 72-hour kits today and I'm actually feelin' pretty good about that. I've got the pamphlets and the printouts on how to get going, why can't I do it? Any tips?

Blog Jar: Tell a courtship story about you and your spouse.
Hmm... okay. A little known fact about Ryan and I is that we met on the Internet. I know, I know. I'm cringing putting this out there for the world to read. The funny thing is that it was 10 years ago when the Internet really wasn't what it was today. I don't even think there was such a thing as Internet dating. But it is what it is. So... I had just graduated from high school and I had a boyfriend at the time that I really wasn't loving so much. I thought maybe I was done with him, but we had been dating for 2 years and he was talking about marriage and that was scary, but breaking up would be a big change and I was only 18 and really dumb. My parents did not love this boyfriend either. In fact, they had a very strict curfew in place with him. I had to be home by 10:00 every night. This left me with a lot of free time on my hands, so I surfed the Internet. (I think that was when chat rooms were a huge thing and not nearly as scary as they are now) Anyway... one night I got this random IM from some crazy guy I had never met. I believe his opening line was, "My friend and I rented Jumping Jack Flash, do you want to come over and watch it?" Stellar! We chatted for a while and he had me rolling. I remember even calling my sister Lauri into the room so she could join in on the fun. A few days later when I signed online again, he IM'd me again and was as funny as ever. We chatted online for a few weeks and then moved onto phone calls. At some point during all of this I told my boyfriend that I definitely needed to date other people if I was going to even consider thinking of marriage. His response to that was, "If you go out with some guy, we're through." My thoughts were, "OK... kinda sad, but bye." And off I went on a date with Ryan. He wooed me, charmed me, smoothed out some of my rough edges, and well... the rest is history.

Seven Canyons

About once or twice a year we make the journey up to the Seven Canyons. The kids always have a blast and it's nice and cool for us adults to sit and chat. This year my girls were at the perfect age. They were old enough to wander off a little and test out their growing independence, but they were still young enough to have a whole lotta fun.

Kaden Khursten
Tanner
Nicole
Weston
Audrey Lucy

Kangaroo Zoo

Right by the entrance to our neighborhood there's this cute little place called Kangaroo Zoo. We noticed it the first time we saw our new house, and Ryan promised the girls that he'd take them there to celebrate our move. We finally had a chance to go yesterday. The girls had a blast bouncing and jumping all over the place. They have bounce houses that are 3 stories high. I was scared to death when Audrey decided she was big enough to climb up the huge slide and go down it all by herself. She did it though. My baby's sure growing up. Khursten had fun learning how to do flips and tricks and then performing them for us. We barely saw Nicole, but when we did, she was usually running past us in a blur. Hooray for the Kangaroo Zoo. Blog Jar: What callings have you had in the church? Which were your favorite? Which were the most difficult for you?

I thought this was an appropriate topic for today. Last night I said a prayer to please let me meet people in our new ward and start making friends. This morning I was called into the Bishop's office and asked to serve in the Relief Society presidency as the R.S. secretary. Hmm... talk about being in a position to meet people )or at least learn their names). Be careful what you ask for, I guess. I had been a teacher in the R.S. in my past ward for a couple of years and was really comfortable in that position. I enjoyed doing it, and I felt that in my own small little way, I was making a difference. I was really hoping I'd get that calling again, but I guess that's not where I was needed. I have actually served as the R.S. secretary before about 8 years ago. It proved to be the most difficult calling that I have ever had, and to be honest, I was not very happy. It actually took me a few years to really understand the lessons I was being taught. So now I'm both nervous and excited to try this again. I know that I have grown a lot in both spirituality and maturity and I am feeling more prepared to accept this calling. Wish me luck. And to my new ward... please be patient with me, and I promise to try my hardest! :)

Do You Remember...

Do you remember these cute little fellas?

Target had these videos on sale for $5.50 and I couldn't resist buying a couple for my girls. They're bringing back some memories for sure! "Dance your cares away! Worry's for another day! Let the music play, down at Fraggle Rock!"

The Grass is Always Greener

What do they always say?... You don't know what you've got until it's gone? I'm finding that to be too true. Today I'm having an "I miss my back yard so bad it hurts" day. My poor girls. This summer's a hot, dry, miserable one with no lush, green grass to run through and no wading pools to splash in. Here's how they're forced to spend their days.

p.s. Do you love the scrambled faces? I wasn't sure of the protocol. I don't know these girls moms very well and I wasn't sure they'd love having their kids posted on my blog. Now their identities will remain safe. :)

Blog Jar: What do you like to wear? What don't you like to wear?

I'm a jeans & a T-shirt gal all the way. I hate socks and shoes so the second the snow melts, it's flip-flops every day. I have a pair in every color. I see those super cute girls in their coordinated ensembles, matching jewelry, and corduroy hats, and I'm a little jealous. But the truth is, that will just never be me. I will always be the jeans & a T-shirt gal.

So I Guess I Can't Dance

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but as soon as I turn off my TV on Wednesday nights after watching So You Think You Can Dance, I immediately start dancing. I'm so riled up that this is definitely the time when my best moves come out. I think I'm 16-years-old all over again. It's a pity really that there aren't more people there to share this moment with me. Ryan doesn't seem to fully appreciate it's amazingness. Anyway... I was in the middle of tonight's very awesome dancing escapade doing all of my usual moves when I found myself mid-air in an attempt to do a toe touch. As I was ascending I thought to myself, "Oh no! What did I just do?" You see... I haven't done a toe touch in many, many years. I knew the outcome could not be good. It was like in the movies when everything goes in super slow motion when something bad's about to happen. I reached the peak of my fabulous move (which I happened to do in front of my full-length mirror so I could make sure to witness my own greatness) I yelped as I reached the mid-air splits and sharp stabbing pains ran through my legs. Would that noise be classified as a crack or a pop? The way back down was actually okay. I was able to once again get my feet underneath myself in preparation for the landing. But oh the landing! Not pretty. Any of you who have had 3 kids may know what I'm talking about. Let's just say that tonight's little charade left me with a firm belief that I no longer think I can dance. Sad day for Sarah, indeed.

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Blog Jar: What is the most wonderful thing that ever happened to you?

Umm... talk about hard! I don't really know. Some of my best things were of course meeting Ryan and being blessed with three wonderful little girls. I also think that making the decision to go back to church and getting sealed to Ryan and Khursten is right up there at the top of my list. Ryan calls this type of answer "cloud answers". (Don't ask me how he came up with that name) It's the type of answer you give at church when you really don't know the right answer. You know the type of answer I'm talking about. "say my prayers," read my scriptures." "go to church." You're usually safe when you go with one of those. But I actually feel like quite a few good things have happened in my life within the past little while. Getting my surgery, getting our new house, making some awesome friends (but not having them move away. that was lame), Ryan's promotion. That's not one definite answer, but it will have to do for now. :)

The Scooter Brigade

One of our favorite things to do as a family is to go for a walk together. Our new neighborhood is connected to the parkway and we have access to miles and miles of trail. On Monday we tried to go exploring, but the girls got really tired and really bored really fast. Last night we decided to go to the store and get each of the girls a scooter to take on our family walks. It proved most successful. We had a blast. I was impressed at how quickly they picked it up. Especially Audrey. She went at a snail's pace, but she figured out how to use the scooter and even how to turn herself and follow the trail. I have so many happy memories of taking walks with my family around our neighborhood at night. If all goes well, I'm hoping these scooter outings will be fun memories for our girls. Blog Jar: Did you have a childhood hideout?

When I was about 7 or 8 I discovered the tree in our backyard. We had a huge Russian Olive tree with tons of possibilities. It became the tether for our tire swing, the jumping off point for our chain of death, and most of all my hideout. There was a perfect 'V' high up where I would go and hide out. I snagged an old pillow and a blanket to make it comfy. My sister & I even rigged up a pulley system with an old Easter basket so that we could climb the tree with free hands, and then pull up all of our treasures. I loved to sit up there and read, or spy on my older sister and her friends. Sometimes my dad would even sneak up there and throw water balloons down at us when we least expected it. I sure did love that tree.

The New Me (or the old me back again)

I gave it a go, but I can't love the long hair. This is as far as I got.

and I hated it. I don't know how those ladies do it. Having hot hair on my neck during the summer drives me insane. So... I decided to claim defeat and chop it off. Here's the new look.

Big thanks to my awesome photographer Khursten.

The Ellsworth Sunday Dinner

Every other week we switch back and forth between my family and Ryan's family for Sunday dinners. Through the years our families have grown a lot and it's started to overwhelm our parents just a bit. My mother-in-law asked that the kids take turns hosting the 2nd Sunday each month. Today was my turn. I am put to shame by my sister-in-law's fabulous cooking and although I've recently inherited a couple of new cookbooks (thanks Kim), I still didn't feel like I was up to attempting a meal all on my own. Luckily I remembered my friend Papa Murphy. His pizzas are the best! I can buy them on Saturday, and cook 'em up hot and tasty on Sunday afternoon.

I was a little nervous about hosting this party at my brand new house because there's no yard yet for the kids to play in and I knew that cousins have a way of getting really wound up really fast. Good thing we live right next to a beautiful park. We headed over there and had quite a good time.

Here's Ryan walking to our beautiful park.

The kids ran straight for the sand. Fabulous!
Then of course Carson and Audrey discovered the sprinklers. Which then inspired my father-in-law to start a water fight of his own. Wouldn't be an Ellsworth dinner without that! And of course Ryan wouldn't stop until he was the one to finish what his dad had started. Thanks guys for such a fun night! Let's do it again soon.

Blog Jar: Describe your typical Sunday

I thought this one was appropriate for today. Is it legal to pick and choose my topics? I keep digging through the jar and throwing things back. I'll be honest, there are quite a few topics in there that may never get done. Anyway... our typical Sunday goes a little bit like this

• 7:00 am - "Ryan, we should get up."
• 7:30 am - "Sarah... don't you think we should get up?"
• 8:00 am - "OK.. we really need to get up." Sarah gets in shower while Ryan gets the girls breakfast
• 8:30 am - Ryan gets in the shower while Sarah spends some time in the bathroom getting all prettied up.
• 9:00 am - Sarah throws kid #1 in bath and steams Ryan's shirt. Ryan does something... we don't really know what that something is.
• 9:30 am - Sarah throws kid #2 & kid #3 in bath. Sarah starts shouting out orders for Ryan. Usually fingernail clipping for kids 1, 2, & 3.
• 10:00 - Sarah runs back in bathroom to do final touch-ups on her beautifying. Ryan entertains kids
• 10:30 - Sarah does three little blond heads of hair. Ryan does ???? Sarah shouts out more orders about packing up a bag with entertainment and snacks. (actually 'orders' is Ryan's word. I would call them 'requests')
• 10:59 - run to church
• 11:00 - Settle into our pew. Things are going well
• 11:02 - Kids are bored. Tell kids they must wait until after the sacrament for treats and entertainment.
• 11:15 - The coin toss loser realizes that despite hopes, there will be no listening to the speakers today and takes kid #3 out into the hall.
• 11:15 - 12:15 - The coin toss winner entertains kid #1 and kid #2 by telling them to try drawing what the speakers are talking about.
• 12:15 - 2:00 - Drop kids off at primary. Ahhh sweet peace.
• 2:00 - quick snack
• 2:15 - 4:00 - Nap time! This is what Sundays are all about. The day of rest!
• 4:00: drive to either my parents' house or Ryan's parents house.

The rest of the day varies from there. Usually there's some yummy food and a whole lot of fun. We can always look forward to some serious ups and some major drama. At the Roundy's there's sure to be Dr. Mario playin', dancin', singin', joke tellin', kids fightin', brownie bakin', crazy betin', house fixin', deck sittin', pond slashin', and Mt. Dew drinkin'. At the Ellsworth's there's sure to be some Wii playin', pillow throwin', toy room messin', boisterous laughin', picture lookin', picture takin', rice crispy eatin', couch sittin', and reminiscin'.

I love all the fun Sundays we've been able to have and look forward to years and years more!

AKA 'Nicole'

Poor little girl. What did we do to you? We named you Nicole Alexandra and for the first 6 months of your life you were Nicole / Cole. Somewhere along the way you became Allie. This name seemed to stick with you for the next 5 years. But every time we went to the doctor's office you were back to 'Nicole'. This proved most confusing. Up until about 6 months ago you thought your name was Allie Nicole Zander Ellsworth. What a mess! This week you told me that you were were through with the name Allie. You said, "Now that we have a new house, a new church and a new school, can I be Nicole?" I figure the ultimate decision should be yours. With a name like Nicole Alexandra, there's plenty of choices. (Although you did inform me that you didn't like Nicky because from far away it sounds like Vicky and you don't like that. ) So this week we've been trying to break the 'Allie' habit and switch to Nicole. It may be hard for us, but we'll try. Just please don't decide next week that you're done with Nicole and would like to try Lexy. :)

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Oops. Almost forgot my Blog Jar Topic: What things do you love to do?

1. Blogging (of course)
2. Playing games with friends
3. Going camping
4. Going to the movies with my hubby
5. Reading a good book
6. Talking on the phone
7. Being silly and crazy with my sisters
8. Going for walks with my family
9. Sitting on my porch at dusk
10. Riding waverunners

To Whom it May Concern

Dear Townhouse Cracker Company,

I'd like to take a moment to thank you for your tasty new creation, the Flipsides Cracker. It's buttery goodness brings joy to my day. Is it a pretzel? Is it a cracker? Who cares! It's delicious. One bite and you're hooked.
I would however, like to voice a few concerns. Was it really necessary to make these crackers 14 calories a piece? Your suggested serving size is 5 crackers, but is that very realistic? With all the buttery goodness you have packed into each cracker, there's no possible way a person could stop at just 5 crackers. Also... did you authorize your crackers to be sold at my local retailer for the low, low price of 5 boxes for $5? With that low of a price, I felt I had no choice but to buy all 5 boxes. This will leave me with a total consumption of approximately 7,700 calories. And yes, all of those calories will be eaten by me. There's no way I'm sharing these little slices of heaven with my kids.
Some suggestions I have for you are that you either figure out a way to make these crackers only 1/3 the calories, make them slightly less delicious, or guarantee that they be sold for an outrageous price at my local retailer. This would help greatly in weight management as I am a little apprehensive about the results of so much cracker snacking.

Sincerely,
Nervous in North Salt Lake

Blog Jar: Do you have any special memories about Halloween?
The memory that stands out in my mind is in high school when my friends and I decided that we weren't ready to give up trick-or-treating. Nevermind the fact that we all had jobs and could have gone to the grocery store and bought ourselves a huge bag of candy. This wouldn't have satisfied our needs, however. We decided to all get old sheets and cut eye-holes in them like the Charlie Brown ghosts. Then we went up to people's doorsteps, knelt down, and rang the door bell. In our best little kid voices we would say trick-or-treat. Once we got our candy we stood up and said thanks and ran off. We thought we were pretty darn funny. I'm not actually sure we fooled anyone though.

(Credit must be given to my cute friend Robyn. I got this idea from her letter to the Bumbo Company)

I Thought This Could Be Fun

I saw this kind of 'reverse tag' on my friend's blog and I thought it would be fun to play along. It's times like this when I wish I was one of those 25 comments per post gals instead of my sad little 4 or 5 comments. :( Oh well...Here are the rules:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! This is a perfect time for all you blog-stalkers or rare-posters to make yourself known. :)

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 me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you (and if this isn't on there...I'll assume you're a procrastinator like me and will check back later!)

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Hello? Are you out there? You're always telling me how you are reading stuff on my blog. Why are you not posting comments? I'm feeling a little sad and all alone. :(

Blog Jar

My cute mother-in-law gave me this journal jar for Christmas. It has different topics on each of the little slips of paper, giving you ideas to journal about. Being the terrible journal-er that I am... it has sat around for the past 7 months. (or was it one year and 7 months?) When we moved, I dug it out, brushed off the dust, and decided it was about time to do something with it. So here's my idea. My journal jar will now become my Blog Jar. At the end of each of my posts, I will post the Blog Jar topic, and my answer to it. I would like to invite anyone interested to join me in the fun of the blog jar. Take my daily topic, post one at the end of each of your blog posts, and answer it. Some of them are short and simple, some will take a little more time and thought. I think this could be a fun way to share and learn about each other.

Blog Jar: Describe your parents

Dad: 6'4", Hard worker. Always willing to help. A very good listener, but be prepared for the "I told you so". The handiest man on earth. Really! He can do anything! He is so smart and is always looking to expand his knowledge. He has an amazing green thumb. His backyard is gorgeous. He has a very tender heart, with very deep emotions.

Mom: About a foot shorter than dad. Beautiful voice. She's been in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for almost 18 years. A great sense of humor, can always take a joke. A loving mother and grandmother, and she enjoys spending time with both her children and her grand children. She's a very dedicated worker. She gives everything she does everything she can. She's a great shoulder to cry on if you are feeling low.

Love you Mom & Dad!

All Moved In (Kind Of)

It's official. We're all moved in. I still haven't tackled the mound of boxes in the garage that don't really have a home yet, but most everything else is set up. I haven't dared punch holes in the wall to hang up all our shelves and pictures. I'm so worried about scarring up our beautiful new house. Lame... I know. Here's what the past week has looked like for us. (Warning! This is probably going to be very ramble-y. sorry)

We rented a moving truck for Thursday and we were able to move everything over in two trips. We finally unloaded the last load and dropped the truck off at about 10:30 at night. It was a very, very, very long day. Thanks to all of you who were able to help. We appreciated it very much.

On Friday we went back to our old house and cleaned everything up for the new people living there. It was kind of sad looking at our empty house. Everything looks so small without our furniture.

Friday afternoon we began the very long undertaking of unpacking all of our stuff. Ryan's mom was a saints and she watched the girls during the day so we could get a little bit done. Every box we unpacked seemed like it just added to our huge, endless pile. I started to get a little overwhelmed. My parents to the rescue! They agreed to take all three girls overnight so we could continue getting things in their places. I don't know what I would do if I didn't still live relatively close to our families. Moving would be a lot harder, that's for sure. On Friday evening we went on a spending spree. We bought enough blinds for the entire house. :( We also bought some new bedroom furniture at Ikea and a new TV for Ryan from Best Buy.

Late Friday evening we came home completely exhausted, but we still had a lot of work to do. We were met by an onslaught of friendly neighbors greeting us. It felt like something out of Leave it to Beaver. It was so fun. We met tons of neighbors. We even scored a few yummy treats!. Hooray! I'm feeling so encouraged because next door they have an 8, 5, and 2 year old. Across the street they have an 8, 6, and 1 year old and they're adopting a 4-year-old. There should be plenty of friends for our girls to play with.

Saturday my parents came over and helped put up all of the blinds and unpack most of our stuff. We made some serious progress.

Saturday evening... more friendly neighbors.

We were excited to go and check out our new ward. It seems like a pretty fun ward. The bishop looks younger than we are. Kind of crazy. The only thing I'm not sure of is that we have a lot of apartments in our ward. That's not something we've ever dealt with before. There are going to be tons of people moving in and out each week. They have a new member meeting right after sacrament where we could go and meet the bishopric. There were 4 other new families there besides us. CRAZY! That will take some getting used to. I also found that I really missed my calling. It was supposed to be my turn to teach in R.S., and I was pretty sad thinking that I won't get to do that anymore. I'm just crossing my fingers that they don't stick me in primary. That is not my place in life, let me tell you. They had two nurseries and in the one Audrey was in there were 20 kids. The nursery leader said there were just as many in the other nursery too. Unbelievable! We moved from a ward that was just starting to get little kids. This is a whole new world for us.

Sunday afternoon we got the last of the boxes in our house unpacked. All of our siblings came over to check it out. It was really fun!

Yesterday I spent the day getting all of our utilities set up and waiting around all day for the Dish Network guy to show up. (very important) I found that it was kind of hard entertaining the girls all day. They're still a little bit in freak-out mode with the move so things are pretty crazy. I used to send them outside to play when they got like this, but we went from this

To THIS! I am really going to miss our backyard. I am definitely in mourning over it.

A neighbor girl did come over and invite them to play at her house. I had met her parents the other day so I decided to be very brave and let them go to her house for an hour. It about killed me though. I'm so freaky about stuff like that. Not that I'm worried they're bad people or anything like that. I think I'm more worried about the girls behaving themselves. Especially when they're still pretty wound-up from the move.

So... that's where we're at.

I'm going to post pictures of our new house now. For all of you who are thing, "Oh my gosh! Not more pictures of her house!" I promise this is the last set you will have to endure.

Living Room

Family RoomKitchen/DiningMaster BedroomMaster Bedroom

Audrey's RoomQuick side note... This is our old master bedroom. It is the same square footage as Audrey's new bedroom. That is pretty darn sad. Allie's RoomKhursten's RoomLoft

There you have it. Our new life begins. I feel a little like fish out of water. I have never lived outside of Salt Lake before. I know we haven't really gone too far, but it's a whole different world up here. North Salt Lake was a small town for so long. It still have a small-town feel. The little shops are so cute. There's nothing anywhere. The closest grocery store is in Bountiful. I think today I may head up to Centerville and try to find the Target and a few other stores I've been looking for. I really like how homey it all feels. We went to the cutest little deli, where the owner knew all the regulars. It made my heart call out once again for the life of a small town. I see things growing quickly up here. I'm sure it won't be too long until there's a Walmart on the corner. It's kind of too bad really. I could be very happy out in the middle of nowhere. As soon as I can figure out the weird address that go from 1100 N to 2600 S in one block, I think I'm going to love my new little town of North Salt Lake.

Tick Tock

I've already checked my account like 10 times today. I'm waiting for our funds to record. Once they do, we'll get the keys to our brand new house! Hooray!

Pass The Torch

If you ever wondered if digital scrapbooking was for you, here's your chance to find out. Digital Scrapbook Memories is having a contest of passing this torch and seeing how far it goes. Follow these simple rules for a chance to win one of THIRTY free CDs.

1. Copy this torch and paste it on your blog, Facebook or MySpace.

2. Reply to this thread on the Digital Scrapbook Memories forum.

3. In the same reply (to this thread) include your location city and state, or city and country.

We want to keep track of the torch and see how far we can pass it around the world. On August 8th this relay will officially end. At that time we will draw thirty participants’ names and announce them as our winners. We will collect the winners mailing addresses at that time and send them their CDs. When you complete the three requirements listed above, your name will automatically be placed in the drawing.Good luck!

Something A Little Random

I ran across this today and I thought of five of my favorite people. (You know who you are) This video is kind of lame, but the song's still just as great. "If you throw that thing at me, I'll jump right on your head. Yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk." Enjoy!

The Greatest Weekend EVER!

While most of my friends are posting pictures of their 4th of July weekend like this,

and this,

or perhaps some of this...

My pictures from this weekend look a little bit like this

and this

and let us not forget this.

Not to say we didn't make time for a little of this,

and some of this...

But I was far too distracted by this

and by this

and this

to make good use of this very patriotic long weekend and have a great time. It's a cryin' shame really because the 4th of July is by far the best holiday, in my book. Next year I hope to be posting pictures that look a little something like this

or this

and a whole lot less of this.

and if we ever move again... I'm hiring these guys.