Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

We are coming down to Utah this week for Thanksgiving and you know what we are in desperate need of?? ONE ticket to the BYU v. Utah game. I know, everyone wants one. We tried to get some online but they were all sold out. Does anyone have one or know of someone who might? We're willing to pay some money for it (but not much, come on, we just had a baby!) And we only need one ticket. I know a lot of students go home for Thanksgiving break, so perhaps their ticket is going unused. Taylor is dying to go--his good buddy is playing for BYU and it would mean a lot to Taylor if he could go and support him in this big game. PLEASE HELP!!! Even if you know someone who might know someone who knows someone else...etc... :-) If you have any information, we would GREATLY appreciate it. Thanks!

I've Been Tagged!

I was tagged by Barb--yahoo, thanks Barb! So here are six facts/habits you may not know about me...and as I was thinking about this I also came up with six embarrassing moments, so you get bonus stuff. :-)

Six facts/habits:

1. I really want to play the piano--play it well. So I got a keyboard about two years ago and practice "Hymns made easy." Someday I'll graduate to the actual hymn book.

2. When I was younger (the desire has short of tapered off now) I always wanted to be on the Price Is Right. I always said, "I want to be on the show before Bob Barker dies!" (I guess the reason my desire has tapered off is because I am not a big fan of Drew Carey). I even wrote to the show and asked for tickets on the day of my 18th birthday...I honestly think my parents would have taken me, but my birthday was getting closer and closer and I didn't get the tickets, so we made other plans for my birthday...well, it turns out the tickets came a couple weeks before my birthday...too bad.

3. Before I got pregnant I ate Wendy's allllll the time, literally. When Taylor asked where I wanted to eat, I'd say Wendy's...I even told him I would be fine with eating at Wendy's for VALentine's day, and when he didn't even have to ask what I wanted because it was always "the regular." Well, when I got pregnant, Wendy's GROSSED me out, and here is probably the gross part to you, I CRAVED McDonald's like there was no tomorrow. Now when Taylor asked what I wanted, it was for him to stop at McDonald's for me on his way home from work! Haha...I still haven't really gone back to Wendy's, McDonald's still hits the spot for me...hopefully the next pregnancy will revert me back to my old ways.

4. I LOVE LOVE LOVE pizza, I could eat it for lunch and dinner everyday. And the funny thing is...I only eat cheese or pepperoni and I only really like it from Domino's and Pizza Hut. I know...call me plain but I like to call it "sticking to the classics." :-)

5. I am the world's biggest worry-wart. For example, if Taylor doesn't answer his phone or isn't home when he usually is, I tend to think, "What if he got in an accident??" etc. I really freak myself out from worrying--I hate it...but I am getting better, a little. :-)

6. I LOVE cooking, I love math, I love decorating, I LOVE being with my husband and little boy, I love making crafts but I HATE HATE HATE scrapbooking. It just doesn't come to me and does not appeal to me...sorry sis. :)

Ok, now here are six embarrassing moments, just for you....

1. When I was in middle school I went through a period of only doing ballet. I was hard core ballet--three hours a day for six days a week. Well, a show, or recital if you may, came up where we were going to do Hans Christian Andersen stories. So, I was picked to be the lead in Ugly Duckling. It was really quite fun...when I was the ugly duckling I got to do everything that I was taught in dance wrong. I got to flex my feet, look incredibly ungraceful, and look totally uncoordinated. So, basically, if I messed up it looked normal. Well, when I "transformed" into the Swan it was the opposite--now I was supposed to be graceful. It came to the finale and everything was going great, we were doing the last segment, and I was right in the front and I had to do an arabesque (for those who don't know what that is, it's where you stand on one leg and the other leg is at a 90 degree angle behind you...make sense?) Well, we were on pointe shoes and since I had to have two pointe shoes (one for the ugly duckling, one for when I was the Swan) my "Swan pointe shoes" were new and not as broken in, so when I went to do my arabesque I knew I had to push harder to get on top of the shoe...well I definitely pushed, I pushed so hard that I went over my shoe and did an automatic FACE PLANT on the floor. Need I remind you that I was in the front and supposed to be graceful...it wasn't really funny at the time, but we have it all on tape and Taylor and I watch it occasionally and just laugh. It's really funny...especially if you watch it in slow motion. If you come over, I would be happy to show you, it's hilarious! But it was rather embarrassing at the time....

2. One night I got a ride home from a church dance from two boys, it was during the Winter, and had just snowed. Well, at our old house our driveway was kind of steep...well I get out of the car and figured if I just went quickly I would be ok...well I was in the process of closing the door and one of the guys asked me something so I had to grab the door again...well at the same time my shoes did NOT have traction, AT ALL. As this guy started to talk to me I just couldn't stand there and all of a sudden I start sliding down the driveway, on all fours. Literally the guy was like "Where'd she go?!" It was so embarrassing.

3. This one is pretty recent, which really makes me look dumb. Taylor and I were watching "Are you smarter than a fifth grader" one night and one of the questions was "What U.S. State has the smallest land mass?" Well obviously the answer was Rhode Island. Then there's a pop up giving a fact..."Rhode Island's land mass is approximately 1,348 sq miles." (Or a number close to it...) Well, not thinking, I say, out loud, "Our house is almost the size of Rhode Island!" Taylor just looks at me like "are you serious?" and my thought process goes as I look around our place "Wait a minute, you couldn't even fit a parking lot in our place..." and I look at Taylor and go "Oops...Rhode Island is square MILES, we're square FEET." BIG difference....

4. Ok, so this one was really embarrassing. Taylor and I went on a big group date last year to Thriller with a lot of his buddies. We were at some one's house afterwards just mingling and eating--well, Taylor and I sit at a table with some people I hadn't met before, so in efforts to be social and nice I start asking a girl about herself. (I should have resorted to being shy and quiet after this next moment). I ask her where she is from and what I thought she said was "Well you're Melinda right?" and I reply with, "No, I'm Valerie." And she just looks at me and starts laughing, what she really said was "Yorba Linda." Supposedly there is a place in California called Yorba Linda...I didn't know this, apparently. Then this girl decides since she is laughing so hard she should tell everyone else what just happened...embarrassing.

5. So, for my ENTIRE life, I thought the phrase was "playing it by year." Nope, it's "playing it by EAR." I still think that is so weird. And Taylor thinks it's weird that I think that is weird, but when you go through your whole life thinking it's "playing it by year" it's hard to make the transition. How this all came out is my mother-in-law would write me emails and say more than once "we'll play it by ear" and I always thought she just forgot to put the "y" on it. So I told Taylor this and he just laughed at me. Oops.

6. So we went to Disney World with my entire extended family on my mom's side a long time ago...I was probably 7. Well, we were in the huge Disney store at Downtown Disney for anyone who knows and I really had to go to the bathroom. Of course this is the stage where if you're at the bathroom and someone asks if you have to go you say no but then ten minutes later you do and they ask why you didn't go and you respond, "I didn't have to go then." Well, this was one of those times, and when I had to go, I had to go! So I told my dad I needed to go to the bathroom so he told me to go find my sister and have her take me. Well, for those who know, this store is HUGE! So trying to find her took some time! Then when I found her I had to convince her to take me and then once she said yes we had to find the bathroom. So I was dying, but we found the bathroom and I started running towards it. I was doing so well!! Well I open the door and there is a LINE! Go figure. Well, I'm standing there in line and totally peed my pants. I had done so well, I had even made it to the bathroom! Oops.

Well there you have it, six facts and six embarrassing moments. Now the game of tagging continues as I have to tag six people. So I tag: Kellie Black, Elizabeth Cramer, Heather Hill, Kara Noyes, Erin Richardson and Ali Stewart.

Here are the rules:
1. The player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves - try to find 6 you haven't already posted about! (And you can add the six embarrassing moments if you'd like!) :-)

2. At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names, and then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog for the rules.

Oh how life changes

We had a good Sunday today. Isaac enjoyed his first Sunday in Priesthood with dad since I had to teach. (Another pro to bottle feeding...he can go with dad anytime). :-) And then this afternoon I went to BYD, or Bishop's Youth Discussion. I don't really remember going to these when I was a youth, but I've been thinking a lot today about what it takes to be a youth in our day and age and just the temptations and trials they are being faced with. I reflected back to my days as a youth and now sitting there as a leader reminded me of the influence I can make in the youth's lives. It's just crazy to think that I am a leader--I remember my leaders and how I looked up to them and now that's me, hence the title of the post, oh how life changes. But, Isaac looked so cute today, so I thought I'd share some pictures!

This is him saying, "Seriously, Mom, do we have to take another picture?"

Oh, look at that smile!
Cute little profile...
Mom and son smiling for dad! ( I still can't get over the fact that I am a mom...it's just so fun!! I love it)

This may come as a shock...

So, this post may come as a shock to some--probably as much as how I love to cook (some people can't believe that)--but I love crafts. LOVE crafts. (clarification: I love useful crafts, i.e. things I like and/or can use...that means that scrapbooking is not in my list of useful crafts). I believe my semester in Nauvoo transformed me into a craft lover. But today we had "Super Saturday" in our ward, and I loved it. (I love Super Saturdays!) For those not familiar with what Super Saturday is, it is pretty much a day of crafts. You sign up if you want to go and there are several crafts and classes offered that you can choose and pick what you want to do. So I chose one of the crafts and did four of them because they make great Christmas gifts. I'd post a picture, but some of them are going to people who read this blog!! It was just a great morning; the craft was fun and made me feel creative and productive and the women in our ward are so awesome...so all in all, it was just great. I came home so happy and excited about my completed craft I think I scared Taylor. :-)

Another "crafty" piece of information...well, I don't know if you can consider decorating as a craft, but humor me and go along with this. We bought our first Christmas tree yesterday!!! I was so excited about it that I laid in bed Thursday night thinking about decorating it! (A little absurd, maybe, but I told you this post may come as a shock to some). And all I can do now is think about how it's going to look, I am so excited!! I grew up with artificial Christmas trees, so we went and purchased our own and our first. I was also able to purchase all of our decorations for the tree...I am getting very excited to put it up. My family is coming out to Idaho this year and we are going to do Christmas morning at our house, so that also excites me and puts the pressure on that it has to look good. :-)

I know some people have mixed opinions regarding when you can start decorating for Christmas and when you can put your tree up...some think you have to wait until after Thanksgiving, some think the first of December...well mine are all going up next week!! Three reasons why: first, I am so excited about it that I want them up, second, the month of December goes by so fast that I want to try and avoid the "I just put this all up and now I have to take it down??" (I am big on taking them down once Christmas is over...come the first of the year, they are down) and third, we are going to Utah for Thanksgiving, so I would like to have it all up and cleaned before we leave so we can come home to a warm, decorated and festive home. Which leads to another thought...I can't believe Thanksgiving is in less than two weeks, where has all the time gone?

(Oh and don't you worry, I will definitely post a picture of the decorations and the tree once they are all up) :-)

Family Pictures

This past weekend, while Taylor's entire family came up for Isaac's blessing, we planned to have family pictures taken. They went really well and the weather and lighting was perfect. It's been about three years since the Housley's had a family picture taken, and there have been a lot of additions to the family since then, so it was really good to be all together for these. The pictures are a few of the ones we took with our camera...I'm sure most of you will see more when we send out our Christmas cards...:-).

One Month Old!

I can't believe it, Isaac is already a month old! He's growing right before our eyes. We got some great advice--to take a picture of Isaac in the same spot, with the same teddy bear on the 6th of every month to see how much he grows...so here is a picture of him on the day he was born, Oct. 6: (Note how SMALL he is...)

And here he is today, November 6, one month old:

(Nice profile shot...haha, he wouldn't look at us, he was too fascinated with the light) :)

I can't believe the difference in one month!!

Isaac spent most of the day with Papa. I went up to Rigby with my mom and since it was something that really didn't interest my dad too much, he volunteered to babysit. (I guess I should mention that my parents came out for the blessing and are staying for this week because my dad has some time off of work). So, again, I had some more withdrawal issues...but I lasted a little bit longer this time than the time before. It's just amazing how you have this urge to hold your baby so much after such a short amount of time. Isaac is just my new little buddy that I love being with and holding and cuddling, and it feels so weird to be out without him and without toting all of his things around, i.e. car seat, diaper bag, etc.

Another milestone for Isaac: we took him to his first movie in a movie theater last night! We went and saw the Bee Movie with my little cousins. It was pretty cute--and Isaac did really well through it. I wanted to take a picture, but I forgot the camera at home. :-(

Other (sad) news: I believe I am getting sick. YUCK. I guess the inevitable happened...all the planning, stress, and preparations of the weekend caught up to me combined with little sleep and a lot of germs. My throat is killing me, so I'm constantly sucking on cough drops in hopes it will get better. I just hope Isaac doesn't get sick!! That would just make me so sad to see him sick!

Change in Major

Taylor has decided to change his major and we are both thrilled. Previously, he declared a finance major and was then planning to get his MBA in finance as well. (Talk about a lot of finance!) Taylor got to thinking about this and thought it would benefit him more in the long run if he got his undergrad in something other than finance to diversify himself when he applied to MBA schools.

So, at this point Taylor was thinking about mass communications as his undergrad--I was rooting for this so we could both have the same degrees! Haha...but, another path came into his sight and he has decided to take it. Combined with some other factors that have come up, Taylor has changed and declared his major to be Human Resources with an emphasis in corporate training--the degree is in the college of technology. This degree, for those who aren't familiar with it, prepares the student to analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate training in business and industry...a.k.a. TAYLOR! We both really feel this major change is an answer to prayer and is perfect for Taylor. From my understanding, Taylor would go into businesses and help in the human resources with mergers, benefit packages, training, etc. This major is just a very hands-on, people person major which is definitely something Taylor is capable of doing, and I know he will do well in it.

But the REALLY exciting part of this news is Taylor is further along in his schooling than we thought. We're waiting to see if a few of Taylor's classes will go through, and if they do, Taylor will have a full-load year, but it's possible!!

Isaac's Baby Blessing

Today has been a wonderful day! Isaac was blessed today and it was great. We were surrounded by our friends and family--I think we doubled the size of the ward today! We have some amazingly supportive loved ones...Taylor's entire family came up, my entire family was there, friends who drove up from Las Vegas and Provo...it was just great. Taylor gave Isaac a very special blessing in which we both got a little choked up. Following sacrament we headed to First American where we ate a yummy yummy lunch. Look how cute his blessing outfit is.



Girls I grew up with that came out for the blessing...Jessica (drove down from Rexburg), Kellie (drove up from Vegas), me and Afton (drove up from Provo). They are some supportive friends!

Afton and I at our place after the luncheon.
And how Isaac ended the eventful day. :-)
It was a great day!

Soooo Cute!!

Yes, I played dress up again. But seriously, look how cute the hat is!? Haha, I was thinking today that Isaac is going to look at these pictures when he's older and say, "Mom, you played dress up with me!" Ahh, he looks so cute!
I almost caught his smile! The camera was just a touch too slow...or the operator of the camera was. :-)

And then he fell asleep ever so reverently...look at how he's holding his hands, ahh, I was really having fun taking pictures.
Same pose, different angle. :-)
I sure love being a mom to this sweet boy.

Oh...I have a question for you fellow bloggers. How do you do a slideshow of pictures? Ali F, I know you do this a lot, and I thought I knew where to go to post one, but apparently not. Could you or someone please help me out with this?? Thanks!