Tagged Again!

This time it's about husbands.


1. What is his name? Eric Alan

2. Who eats more? Its a toss up. He eats more in one sitting, but I eat all day long.

3. Who said I love you first? He did.

4. Who is taller? He is (I'm 5'2", He's 6')

5. Who is smarter? I think he is. I say a lot of stupid things in one day.

6. Who is more sensitive? Me, for sure.

7.Who does the laundry? Me

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Standing at the foot of the bed, Eric.

9. Who pays the bills? Eric earns the money to pay the bills, but I make sure they get paid on time.

10. Who cooks more? Me

11. What meals do you cook together? Nothing really. Eric will grill, but that's about it.

12. Who is more stubborn? I think he is. I wonder what he would say?

13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong? Me

14. Who has more siblings? Me. I have 6, he has 3.

15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? We each have a leg in.

16. What do you like to do together? Anything. We like to go on drives. There's not really anything else to do on car rides but talk, its fun. He works a lot, so even sitting at the other house helping do some little fix up is fun.

17. Who eats more sweets? Probably me, but Eric definitely eats more icecream.

18. His Guilty pleasures? There are a lot of songs he likes that he would consider guilty pleasures, but I also think that So you think you can dance and Chocolate icecream should make this list. I don't think he likes to admit he likes that show, but he does.

19. How did you meet? I can't really remember. It was at church when we were 8 or 9. We were in the same primary class. The first time we were actually interested in each other at the same time was after I came home for the summer from my freshman year of college.

20. Who asked who out first? He asked me out first.

21. Who kissed who first? He did.

22. Who proposed? Eric

23. His best features? Dark blue eyes, strong jaw line...I'm not gonna bore you with everything I love about Eric.

24. What is his greatest quality? He is a hard worker, and a dedicated dad and husband.

25. Tag? Amber, Danielle, Kristi, Taryn, Caroline, Amy

Summertime...at last!!

Since its nice outside and it only stays that way for a couple of months we figured we better spend some quality time out there while we can. Jack likes to follow Eric everywhere he goes. While watching Eric water the grass Jack has developed a fondness for the water hose.


He likes the water, but its too cold to swim in. I bought a little blow up pool at Smith's the other day for $3.50. I didn't want to spend too much money on it since we probably weren't gonna get a ton of use out of it. I filled it up and let it sit for a few hours hoping that the sun would warm it up enough to jump in. It didn't. I got Jack in his suit and brought some toys with us. I put him in a really shallow part (our backyard slopes a little) where really only his toes were getting wet. He wasn't thrilled. I put my feet in to see how bad it was. It was quite cold. Anyway, he doesn't love the pool for swimming, but he did have hours of fun using the toys to scoop water from the pool to my legs and his feet. I didn't love the cold water being dumped on me all of the time, but he was having so much fun.

This is from the next day when the water finally warmed up a little bit.


He also loves to draw with chalk on the driveway in our backyard. Its fun to watch little kids use sidewalk chalk because the sidewalk looked almost completely clean, but Jack had chalk all over his clothes and even in his ear. I have to watch him closely too because he likes to take bites out of the chalk. I don't really understand it. I figured after one bite he would realize that it had a disgusting taste and knock it off. He didn't.
Can you see the teeth marks?

Jack also loves his beach ball. Eric will throw it up and it hits Jack on the head. He then chases it down and jumps on top of it and rolls over. He hits his head pretty hard every time, but loves it too much to care.

We have carpet!

For the first time since moving into this house over a year ago we are finally able to walk in the basement without having to put on a pair of shoes! Sounds pretty insignificant, I know, but for us it brings hope that we will eventually be able to move all of this extra stuff out of our family room and into the basement. We still have some painting to do before the moving begins, but we're so close.


Last Wednesday we removed the final bits of green and blue pee soaked, fur filled carpet! The amount of dust that flew around when we pulled at the carpet was unbelievable, and the smell was almost unbearable. Once we got it all up, we vacuumed the dust, and bleached the floor to kill anything that might still be living there. Thursday the carpet guys showed up around 8:30am. They finished around 6:30 pm. They put carpet in our basement and in the 8th street house. Hooray for them!

I didn't want to include pictures of a still unfinished basement, but I'll include a couple just to prove we really have carpet. I would include befores, but I think we forgot to take any. Oops!

We're IT!

We've been tagged! (...by Carrie)
Here are the rules:
1.You link back to the person who tagged you
2.Post these rules on your blog
3.Share six unimportant things about yourself
4.Tag six random people at the end of your entry
5.Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs
6.Enjoy the results!


Okay, so here goes...

1. I love being pregnant! Its not fun being sick and tired all of the time, but when the baby moves I forget all about that stuff.
2. I actually like hospitals. I've never been in a hospital for really traumatic reasons, so that's probably why. Plus, I don't mind hospital food.
3. I'm the only one of my sisters (I have 3) who didn't acquire any fashion sense. Sadly, I have to ask Eric if an outfit looks okay.
4. I love to sing and dance. Although I refuse to do either in public. I'm really terrible at both.
5. I love summer in Evanston. Even though it may not last very long, the weather is amazing. There's always a cool breeze which makes it okay to be outside.
6. I posted this and realized I only wrote 5 about myself. I don't love being the center of attention. It was easier for me to come up with 6 things about Eric than it was to come up with things about myself.


Eric is too busy to do this himself, so I'll tell you 6 unimportant things about him.


1. He is addicted to Chapstick.
2. He has a mild obsession with office supplies. Most specifically pens and notebooks, which I find in random places all over the house.
3. He is embarrassed to wear shorts (but he does it anyway) because of his white legs. I think he, Jack and I all tie for the whitest legs of anyone we know.
4. He has to end each day with a bowl of chocolate ice cream. I guess he takes after his Grandma Aanerud.
5. He is an extremely hard worker. He is currently working as an appraiser, flipping a house, and working on updating our house. He works all day long, and always makes sure he has time to wrestle with Jackers.
6. He can't sit still. He's like his mom. Even when he's sick he has to find some kind of project to keep him busy.


There you have it. 6 things about each of us, all equally unimportant. As lame as it may be, we're not going to tag anyone. If you feel like you wish you were tagged, feel free to tag yourself...from us!

A Skilled Professional

Every once in a while you see something that is just so awesome that no words can truly explain how happy it makes you. This is one such example. Sarah was quick enough with the camera to grab a picture of this work truck on the highway today in Park City.

Jack

Jack is really persuasive when it comes to getting more than one cracker or cookie at a time. We have discovered lately that what he likes to do is take the extra snack and hide it in a place where he is likely to find it in a couple of days. Every once in a while we will see him chewing something and wonder what it is or where he got it. Today he found solace in a week old teddy graham he hid behind the treadmill. Thank goodness for preservatives.

Jack loves playing with cars. Cars are the first thing he thinks about when he wakes up and the last thing he gets to take with him to bed.


Some faces.

I thought the fan belt on the swamp cooler looked pretty good but Jack recommended that we replace it. It was pretty helpful advise.

I took this picture accidentally but I think its hilarious. How is it possible that his little neck holds up that big old head and fat cheeks.

Playing with cars often takes up the entire front room of our house.

(Please don't judge us too harshly for the messes you always see in these videos...our basement is almost finished)

Eric's Rant

Can someone please name 1 thing that our government does well. Just one thing. Think about this. One service provided by the government that you really enjoy and look forward to. I have been thinking about this for a month and haven't come up with anything yet. Isn't anyone else worried about the cost/benefit ratio here? I get taxed every time I turn around and every time I turn on the news I see how the government has come up with another bonehead plan to spend outrageous sums of money. Meanwhile the democrats want to grow the government. Can you believe that? You are still trying to think of something they do well right? Did you know it costs the government about 5 cents to make a penny? Are you kidding me? And the democrats want more government responsibility. Can you imagine a private company staying in business more than a day if the product they were providing cost 5 times more than the worth of that product. Why are we even making pennies? Who uses them? The government can't do anything right or quick much less both. I have always been under the impression that we pay taxes in order to receive some service from the government. I can't think of a single instance where an interaction with a government entity was enjoyable. I mean sitting in the DMV for 4 hours to get a piece of plastic is unreal. Can you imagine any other place staying in business if it took hours before you received any service? And then, finally, when you got to talk to someone they were completely rude and powerless to resolve any kind of complicated issue. Yeah that's a great idea let's put the government in charge of more things. By the way has anyone seen the social security fund? You know the fund we all pay in to every month or year? Oh, that's right that was spent (thanks democrats for tapping that fund and spending it) but for some reason we are all still paying in to it (as if it exists), every month, every year. Did you know that Barak wants to increase health benefits for the unemployed. That's right, people that are too proud or too lazy to go and get a job (wal-mart has health benefits by the way) he wants to provide better health care for them. That's our tax dollars at work! We are about to elect a 2 year senator with no executive experience to finish running this country in to the ground. In my opinion the taxes that are forced on us today are at least as onerous, if not more so than those that spurred the revolutionary war. And when Barak gets elected we are going to have a democrat controlled government. PS the government network of restaurants has lost 2 million dollars so far this year. (who knew such a thing even existed?) I think the glenn beck article I'm getting this from mentioned that the roughly 100 government restaurant employees average wage is $37,000 annually, with federal benefits. Are you upset yet? Meanwhile I'm paying $4 for gas $3 for milk and still have to press #2 in order to hear the automated phone system in English.

Thank goodness its nap time!

I've noticed that the last few days I've been especially chatty. I don't know why. Maybe its because the weather hasn't been awesome and we've been cooped up in the house a little too long. It doesn't really matter why I'm chatty, just that I am. As most people know, Eric works from home. I'm constantly reminding myself that Eric is working and can't talk to me right now or watch whatever adorable thing Jack is doing. I can't seem to help myself. I find myself talking nonstop some days. Its always ridiculous, unimportant bits of information, but I can't save it for later when he's done working. Even when Eric falls into his tradition of nodding even when its completely obvious he has no idea what I'm saying...I keep talking. Friday I was in rare form. I had tons of useless information that I had to tell Eric right away. I was sure not to leave anything out. I even started to feel sick from the lack of oxygen because I had talked so much. Eventually, it was time for Jack's regular nap. Lately I've been taking advantage of this time to nap myself. I didn't realize until Friday that Eric must look forward to MY naps as much as I look forward to Jack's. For these reasons, a common sentiment in this house is...Thank goodness its nap time!

How not to live

If you have an uneasy stomach you may not want to read this. If you read anyway don't blame me when you lose your lunch on your keyboard.

One of the fun parts of my job is the war stories we tell to each other about the unexplainable phenomena we see but that can proven exists because we are more or less required by government entities to photograph them. I was thinking about one of the most incredible (not in a good way) houses I had ever been in. I'll just say that it was foreclosed on and had no utilities for several months. Apparently the people living there weren't fazed by such minor setbacks and continued to press on. Usually the first thing I experience (with my senses) when opening a door to a house is a smell of some kind. This is exactly what I was expecting, so you can imagine my surprise when after opening the door the first thing out wasn't a smell at all but flies hitting me in the face. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Couldn't make the mortgage payment (which was about $280) but there was a 2' layer of beer cans in this room. (Fist pump while whispering "yes" is the appropriate response)

I'm not sure you can make this out, so I'll explain. That grey matter that is grouped together on the floor is pooh. I'm no expert but knowing what I do about feces I could tell there were at least 4 different kinds: a rabbit, cat, rodent of some kind, and either a large dog or a human. Why do people like this always have a million pets? By the way the fish tank dwellers didn't make it.

Who needs a functioning toilet when you have milk jugs? What you can't see are all the ones that are full, and yes that is used toilet paper you see. You're welcome for sharing this with you.

Nothing like a tidy kitchen with pooh on the carpet. Just makes you want to cook some eggs.

Basement. I'm not sure that even if you washed the clothes in those machines that anything is getting clean. You know when you are unloading the dryer and a sock falls to the floor and you think to yourself "oh shoot, now its dirty again" I wonder what they did?

If it were me I think I would have tossed in a few grenades and walked away. But you'll be happy to know that it is currently being used as a rental. (again, victorious fist pumping is in order)

Sugar and spice and everything nice...

Well, it's a girl! We drove down to Park City today to get an ultrasound done since Sarah is now about 19 weeks along. We were hoping that we would be able to get a clear enough shot at the baby for the tech to definitively say if it was a boy or a girl. Let's just say the picture couldn't be any clearer (the money shot is available by request only). It was really fun to see her bouncing all around the womb and literally jumping on Sarah's bladder (I guess that part is more fun for me), she's already high maintenance! We are really excited to be having a girl. Some say that I could use some softening, I can't really disagree. Sarah is going to have a lot more fun doing girly things with a girl since I yell at her every time she does them with Jack.

Left side, strong side

I don't know if its just a matter of having a higher bird to car ratio or if the fowl in Wyoming are just really depressed but over the past year of living here I bet I have hit or run over 10 birds. Some of them I'm sure just didn't realize how fast I was coming. Every once in a while I see those birds that I swear have a death wish and swoop down in front of the car on the highway when I'm going 85. It just kind of stinks when they get stuck in the grill of the truck and I have to pull out the limp corpse and rebuff the Ford logo.

In only a slightly related story, I am beginning to understand how so many deer and the like end up as roadkill. The other day I was walking through a Staples and there was an older gentleman at the far end of the aisle and as luck would have it, exactly where I needed to go. We saw each other the second I turned the corner to enter my beloved pen aisle (I'm a sucker for office supplies, its borderline intervention time...seriously, this is a cry for help!) and there was at least 6 seconds that passed wherein the man could have made a decision about which side of the aisle he would step to let me by. He juked left and then right a couple of times as I held firm to my line on the left side of the aisle. I wasn't playing a game, I was trying to make it easier for him to choose a side. It wasn't until I was standing directly in front of him, close enough to see those stray nose hairs tickling his upper lip that he decided to step to the side. (I would have just walked around but his Walter Payton impression was taking up the whole space.) Long story short, if I were a semi-truck and he were a deer, there would have been a 300 foot stripe down the pen aisle. So I think we should cut the deer a little slack or at least not give humans much more credit for the ability to make a 50/50 decision (outcome unaffected) as to which side to step to in the clutch. It must be a lot harder than it looks.

Hammertime

When we are getting going in the morning we usually have the tv on the Today Show or Jack's big music show (jack the puppet, not our son). This morning there was a commercial on in the middle of a show and its been in my head all day. You have undoubtedly seen it before, but just in case you haven't here you go...you're welcome Hallmark.

I wish hammer pants would come back. Hasn't it been long enough?

Time Flies

Sorry, but it's Jack time again. For those of you who just don't care...just don't read. Our little tiny guy isn't so little anymore. It makes me sad when I think of all the cute new things he learns everyday, and how none of our families are able to witness any of it. So, this is for all of you.

These are Jack's new jammies.

Here are the infamous sunglasses in action.

One of Jack's favorite things to do is run. He runs everywhere. Its hilarious to watch because he is usually wearing his old sunglasses. They're the kind for little babies that have the strap all the way around the head. He will run back and forth in the living room from the couch to the mirror (he loves to look at himself in the mirror and make faces or watch himself chew). He runs so fast that he often trips on his own feet. We can't help but laugh at him because he basically launches into the air as his wispy hair flaps in the wind, and then falls on his face. He doesn't ever hurt himself so it continues to stay funny. Then, because we laugh at him he just starts laughing and gets up and takes off again.

I don't have a picture of him falling over, but he also loves to play with his cousins.

Right now, he is obsessed with his new Thomas the Train push and ride toy. Its fun to watch him with it. He will push it up and down the driveway, and he pushes the button that plays the Thomas song and starts dancing. As much as we love how happy it makes him, we have to hide it for the majority of the day because the sounds are sooo annoying. You can only listen to the Thomas song so many times in a day before you start to go insane.

You can't really see Thomas, but he's there.

We haven't caught any great conversations on camera, but he loves to talk. He responds to the things we say, and its obvious that some of the time he actually knows what we're asking. Maybe this will help cut down on tantrums...but maybe not.

Eric walked into the living room the other day and found Jack with all of his favorite toys...the remote control, mom's cell phone, and Eric's Disto (it's a laser that measures distances).

Kicking back with some Capri Sun. These are a few of my favorite things...

I guess I've gone on long enough. That's it for now, but we'll probably have more on Jack in the very near future.