Come Play with Jimmer Fredette and Utah PTA

I may not be a Cougar, but I am a big fan of PTA. Three hours of volunteer time over the year might be a small amount of time for you, but it makes a huge difference to your child!

8 months, 2 days

For posterity's sake, Eliza started crawling today. Little Miss Three Teeth can't be stopped! I can't ever find a pen or pencil when I need one. She has found three already today.  Perhaps we can no longer live in denial about the need to child proof our house. I was also kind of hoping she wouldn't crawl until we were done with our hotel rooms on vacation. Immune booster, right?

Excuse her nakedness- here she is trying on the skirt I made her Saturday.

She is enjoying the feel of her new SHARP teeth and constantly has her little tongue poking out the side of her mouth. Reminds me of Michael Jordan. Or Lightning McQueen.

Does she look familiar? I believe that back drop is JC Penny circa 1977.

 Eliza loves to play in laundry baskets. Jenna even tied a ribbon on a sturdier basket & pulls her around the house in it like a wagon. Eliza smiles and rides along like small town parade royalty on a float.

She loves to play with her sisters- most of the time. They love her- almost to death sometimes. This girl will be one tough cookie!

What I learned today...

How long have I lived here? Almost 6 years. How long has that door led to the laundry/ food storage room? The whole time. So who put a lock on that door knob? How did I never notice there was a lock? More importantly-
WHO PUSHED THE BUTTON THAT LOCKS THE DOOR?
I now know that there is a lock on THAT door. I also learned that picking locks is not on my resume. Good news- I don't have to do the laundry! Bad news- my dinner plans included things that are safely locked inside. Bummer.

In unrelated news, I learned how to use the giant button maker from the PTA closet- a la 1992. Need a badge?

Big plans for little people

As we were excitedly discussing our upcoming trip to Nauvoo to see the Arveseths, we have been showing the girls pictures of some of the things we will see & do there. They are already planning out their days.

Aubrey:  "I know, Mom. Dad and Uncle Steve can do the stick wrestling together."

Lydia: "And me and Emma and Abi can do the hokey pokey. We can put our bums in too!"

I can hardly wait!

Question #2- Nauvoo

So, those of you who have gone to Nauvoo, here's what I want to know:

1- How long did it take to get there/ back?
2- How long would you recommend staying there? (with our kids, too)
3- Where did you stay & would you recommend it to others?
4- What was your favorite part of the trip?
5- What do you wish you had done differently?

I'm about to explode with excitement at the thought of this trip!!!! AHHHHHH!!! Nauvoo is exciting, but meeting the Arveseths there is the highlight!!!

Also, anyone living between here and there that could recommend a stopping point and/or would like visitors, let me know!

Road trip possibilities...

We are pondering a road trip in April. When I mapped the 33 hour drive from my house to my sister's in Pennsylvania, Tim wasn't convinced it was a super fun idea.

I suggested maybe we could meet in the middle (not that there's tons to do in the middle of Nebraska) when he suggested we meet in Nauvoo. After I recovered from my shock, I immediately called Hill with the exciting proposition. Thank goodness for the time difference because it was barely 7am here. {Did I mention that I miss my sister & her family terribly!}

So, my wise readers, who among you has made this trek? We would be driving (obviously- if we were going to fly, it wld be to PA) so what do you recommend along the way. Where are some good places to stay along the way? What do you recommend seeing? What tourist traps should we avoid.

This is all extremely hypothetical, but a girl can dream, can't she? I would love to hear your insights! Thanks!

Table of Contents

For Relief Society tonight, we are supposed to bring the Table of Contents for what would be the book of our life. I completely forgot until this morning waited until the last minute, so it isn't very detailed. I broke it into periods of similar experiences. Some chapters are filled with years of memories. Elmer's glue, pencil sharpeners, Sunshine Generation, running through sprinklers with my sister all kind of got lumped into the elementary years. My college years were had a deep impact on me, different reasons at different schools. My decade as a married woman has been filled to over-flowing with blessing, challenges, Tim's schooling, my children's schooling, and even a bit of my own. Church callings, PTA, carpools, family history, amazing friends and extended families growing closer together have all been part of the collage that is my life. Here's a general breakdown of what I would write. My life is a very rough draft that I try to edit, polish and make presentable with the hopes that I have something worth reading in the end. Maybe someday I'll share more excerpts of chapters gone by.

If you opened my book here's what you might find:

Corrine- A Very Rough Draft




Birth & early childhood- West siiiide

Elementary years- Great teachers, great experiences, great parents, great sisters

Middle school- Who isn’t awkward at this age?

High school- Girls just wanna have extra-curriculars

Dixie College- Of leaving, languishing and languages

Snow College- Temples, and roommates and future husband, OH MY!

Mission- servicio, amor, espiritu, esperando, esperanza

Newlyweds- Lay off the lay-offs already

Kids- Like Baby, Baby, Baby oh. Sleep is for sissies

Nowadays- Go where you’re needed, do what you can.

With more eloquence...

Someone wiser said it better than I could:


‎"Never underestimate your power to change yourself...never overestimate your power to change others." Dr. Wayne Dyer

Thanks, Bonnie, for posting this on facebook so I could copy it! You are always inspirational!
(She was my wonderful YW president when I was a Laurel. If you don't have a clue what that means, go here for more information.)

Words to live by...

Here are some invaluable bits of advice- free of charge. My gift to you. (And no, the person who *inspired* me to think about these things does not read my blog, so this isn't aimed at you.)

"Don't tell your neighbor how to water their lawn when your own house is on fire."
- from Corrine's (Invisible) Book of Wisdom pg 76

 "Unsolicited advice is generally unwelcome advice."
- ibid pg 4

"When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you."
author unknown

T.C.O.Y.- Take care of YOURSELF.
- Jim Bridger Elementary School's school rule #3

Mind your own beeswax.
- from 2nd grade, 1984


You will thank me someday.

Post edit: I was re-reading my post and noticed the irony. Did you catch it? I'm giving unsolicited advice about not giving unsolicited advice. Technically, you came here to read it, so I make no apologies. Ü

Random picture of a cute baby to soften the blow:

Over-thinkers become vegitarians

On Monday night we had one of my favorite things for dinner: Rotisserie chicken from Smith's.

Perfectly done every time, on time. Always moist. No work for me. $3.99, since I had a coupon. What's not to love?

Then there's Lydia.

She eyed the carcass on where it sat on a cutting board on the kitchen table, having a staring contest with something without eyes as only she could do.

The rest of the family was busily dishing out  chicken, milk, peas and carrots, baked potatoes when, with a sneer, Lydia ventured, "What kind of animal is that?"

We had a little chat about chicken and where it comes from. Should this be hard? Her grandpa has a large turkey farm. She has seen poultry in "the wild" - much closer than most people ever see. Maybe that adds to the problem.

We kept eating and I noticed she was still eyeing the bird suspiciously. This time she had zeroed in on a wing. A rather skinny, roasted wing.

"Eww mom. It has a TAIL!"

Just eat your potato and quit examining our meat, you crazy vegetarian!