New Do

I was getting REALLY sick of my hair style. So on Tuesday I got it all chopped off. Do you like it?

Imagination Part 2

For those of you who have been reading my blog for some time now, you may remember me talking about Mason's wild imagination (his bee and "the guys"). Well, the bee and "the guys" have all seemed to have disappeared. Now Mason has an imaginary friend named Andy. Andy is every where we are. At the house, the grocery store, Grandpa and Grandma's house, you name it, Andy is there. If you ask Mason where Andy is, he will point to where Andy is and say,"there he is!". This whole imaginary friend thing creeps me out.

Does any one know what (if anything) we should do about this imaginary friend thing?

Who's gene pool did I come from?

Jeff's Parents came across a picture of Jeff when he was nine months old. The similarities between Jeff and Cooper are amazing!

I scanned the little picture into the computer and enlarged it. Of course the picture in over 25 years old, so the quality is not that great, but you can still see how similar Jeff and Cooper look to each other.

*When Mason saw this picture, he said, "Hey there's me and Cooper!"

Cooper at nine months.

Free Handbag!

Handbag Planet is giving away a free handbag every hour to anyone who registers with just your first name and emial address. Its completely free! Check it out. Free is Fabulous!

Visit www.handbagplanet.com for your chance to win.

Will it ever grow?

For those of you who have been to our new house, you know that with in the first few days I ran over our freshly hydro-seeded lawn, leaving a nice big tire mark in the lawn. And yes, I did get a lot of comments (with some of those comments people did make fun of me) from various people including family, friends, qwest personnel, comcast personnel, and the Spokane City water dept. personnel. Last week, I bought some grass seed so we could fill in my big tire mark with dirt and then plant more grass. Well, Jeff (with the help of Mason) filled in the tire mark with dirt and planted grass.

Monday we had two deer prints in this spot. Now, every morning when we wake we have more and more deer prints.

It's not just the spot where I ran over the lawn that the deer like to walk, we have deer prints ALL over the lawn.

This is the life...

Cheap entertainment

A few days ago Mason and Cooper were sitting in our computer chair. I began spinning them, both of them seemed to be enjoying themselves. After a few minutes of spinning, Cooper looked dizzy, his dizzy looking face was priceless, so I took a little video of his face. And of course, Mason's laugh is the best!

Happy Birthday Debbie!

Today is my step-mom, Debbie's birthday! I am not sure how often she reads my blog, but I still wanted to wish her a happy birthday. I also wanted her to know how grateful I am to have her in my life. She has always been there for me throughout my life, and she continues to be there for me. Debbie is a wonderful grandmother to Mason and Cooper (all of her grandchildren), it is obvious she loves each one of her grandchildren and has a very special place in her heart for each one. Happy Birthday Debbie, I love you!

100th Post!

For my sister DeAnne's 100th post she wrote 100 things about herself. I thought this was a great idea, so I figured for my 100th post I would do the same thing. So, here are 100 things about yours truly!

1. I was born in Spokane.

2. My birthday is January 10th.

3. I have lived in the same city my whole life.

4. My middle name is Lea-pronounced like “Lee or Leigh”.

5. My parents divorced when I was six.

6. My Dad re-married when I was seven, to Debbie, who already had 5 kids.

7. So now I have six sisters and four brothers, so for those of you who cannot do the math, there are eleven children in my family.

8. I am the youngest.

9. I do not have any contact with my biological mother, and I am 100% OK with that. It took me a long time to be OK with it. I have realized that my life would be full of so much more drama if she were a part of it. Plus, I have a wonderful step-mom who has filled any and all voids my biological mother left by not being a part of my life.

10. I have never lived more than 15 miles away from home, and I love that.

11. I love my family, immediate and extended.

12. I attended Madison Elementary from K-1st grade.

13. I attended Ridgeview Elementary from 2-middle of the 5th grade.

14. I attended Progress Elementary from the middle of 5th-6th grade.

15. I attended North Pines Junior High from 7-9th grade.

16. I attended Central Valley my Sophomore Year.

17. I attended Shadle Park my Junior and Senior Years.

18. I graduated High School in 2001.

19. I did not like High School.

20. I really have no desire to ever go to a High School reunion.

21. As a child I was very shy.

22. I am still shy, depending on the situation.

23. If I have a disagreement with someone, I become consumed with what I would say to them if I had the chance, and my stress level goes through the roof.

24. Then when I get the chance to tell them what I think, I do, and then I feel much better and naturally, my stress level goes back down.

25. I do not hesitate telling people what I think, especially if I think they are wrong.

26. I stress about how other people spend money, I guess I wish people would just wake up and realize they don’t need all the latest and greatest, epically if the only way they are affording it, is by putting it on credit.

27. I wish people who have the “keeping up with the Jones’ mentality would wake up and realize that no one cares what car you drive, how big and fancy your house is, what clothing store you shop at, what type of make up you wear, if you have your nails done, if you get you hair done at an expensive salon, what brand of purse you carry, if you children go to public or private school, etc. See I could go on forever. People with this mentality are shallow and need to realize what is really important in this life.

28. Feet repulse me although I have gotten used to Jeff’s feet. But I guess I shouldn't say all feet repulse me, I do love baby feet.

29. I especially hate long toe nails.

30. Actually long finger nails are nasty as well; they are just a place for germs to hang out.

31. I love saving money.

32. When I am able to save somewhere between 50-80% off my grocery bill, I walk out of the grocery store with a HUGE smile on my face and I just want to jump up and down and yell out of excitement at how much I saved.

33. I hate gossip. It reminds me of High School.

34. I have only ever had four jobs.

35. The first job was working at K-Mart on North Division. I worked in kids’ apparel and as a cashier.

36. I met my husband at K-Mart, he worked there too. I think Jeff liked me from the moment he saw me. Let’s just say the feeling were not mutual. He asked me out, well I don’t know…. maybe twenty times, and all those times I just laughed at him. Yeah, I know, I am mean.

37. The second job was working at a Daycare. Sometimes I loved working at the Daycare, but it was really stressful with 10-3 year olds.

38. The third job was working at Sacred Heart Medical Center. At SHMC I worked in the Respiratory Department where I did their billing, inventory control, and about 100 other miscellaneous job functions, I liked this job because it was really laid back.

39. My fourth job is being a mother. The best job in the world!

40. I have two beautiful boys.

41. My oldest is Mason, he is 3.

42. My youngest is Cooper, he is 1.

43. I have been married for a little over 5 ½ years.

44. Jeff and I were married on February 1, 2003 in the Spokane LDS Temple.

45. I was 20 years old when I got married.

46. I have never taken any college courses, I want to once my kids are all in elementary school. I think I’d like to do something in the medical field. Right now I want to become a dental hygienist.

47. I really don’t like 80+ degree whether.

48. I don’t mind the snow, but I hate wearing a coat because I feel trapped wearing one.

49. The ideal whether to me would be mid 70’s with rain once in a while.

50. I was in really good shape my sophomore year in high school, I had a really great aerobics teacher! She had a way of getting us to want to run 6 miles, 2-3 times a week, during class and the other days we would do step-box aerobics, yoga, or other toning exercises.

51. I wish I was in better shape now, but am to lazy to do anything about it.

52. I love to do things for my husband to make him happy.

53. One of those things is making him cookies.

54. I make a batch of cookies usually twice a week.

55. Mason loves to help me make the cookies, and this is one of my favorite one-on-one times with Mason.

56. My favorite cookies are chocolate, chocolate chip, yummy.

57. I love anything chocolate; at times I find that the first thing I want and look for in the morning is chocolate.

58. I love Dr. Pepper.

59. I don’t mind cooking, but I wouldn’t mind having a personal chief either.

60. My favorite type of food is Italian.

61. My husband doesn’t like pasta, so I don’t eat much Italian food, except when we go out to eat.

62. Any type of fish is nasty. I won’t eat any of it. The smell makes me want to puke.

63. I love reality TV shows like Survivor, Big Brother, The Bachelor.

64. I love Tivo because I hate missing an episode of a show I watch, but I also hate having my life ruled by when a show is on…. “oh I’ve got to get home, I can’t miss…(TV show)”.

65. I played the flute for a few months when I was in the 5th grade. I do not play any musical instruments now, but I would love to learn how to play the piano.

66. I hate the feeling of cotton in my mouth, it makes my mouth water, and pucker like I’m eating something really sour. Weird I know, but every time I’m at the Dentist I have to remind them not to put any cotton in my mouth.

67. I am a bit obsessive compulsive about having my house clean. I have let go a lot since I have two boys who keep me really busy, I wish I had more time to clean.

68. I HATE clutter, it is part of the obsessive compulsive thing. I stress out and get really grumpy when my house is cluttered. I will stay up late just to get rid of any clutter, even if I am dead tired and can’t think straight.

69. I am left handed.

70. My left eye is lazy. My brain actually doesn’t register what I see with my left eye, unless I force my self to use it, so I only wear a contact in my right eye.

71. I love lounging around in my pajamas and if I didn’t have any pride in my self I would just wear my pajamas in public, but I really don’t want people to stare at me.

72. Turtle necks are too restrictive, I feel like I’m choking when I wear one.

73. If I could afford to have someone wash my hair every day and massage my head while doing it

that would be wonderful.

74. I have never been stung by a bee.

75. I have never broken a bone.

76. I had my wisdom teeth taken out during Christmas break of 10th grade, yeah I know what a break.

77. I have a pocket in my throat, just above my esophagus and sometimes food gets stuck in the pocket.

78. The first time I realized I had this throat problem was when I choked on a piece of pork at Golden Coral. We were at Golden Coral celebrating my husband’s baptism. I ended up having to go to the ER, where I had to be put to sleep and a throat doctor put an endoscope with a camera on the tip, down my throat. He used the scope to dislodge the pork. The doctor said the pork had been chewed up more than a normal person chews their food. But got stuck/lodged in my pocket.(Sorry for ruining your baptism celebration Jeff!)

79. About every two years I have to go in and have a procedure done to dilate my throat where the pocket is, so that food does not get stuck.

80. My husband was baptized on September 29, 2001. (Almost 1 ½ years before we were married)

81. I do not like to read, in fact the only books I have read since graduating high school have been “How to” books. But recently I read the Twilight Series. These are really good books; I would recommend them to anyone!

82. I wish I had a closer relationship with each member of my family.

83. I love blogging, I didn’t think I would.

84. I love reading everyone’s blogs, I feel like even though I don’t have as close of a relationship with my family, at least can read about what is going on in their lives.

85. I wish all my family and friends had blogs.

86. 8 of my 10 siblings live in Spokane 1 lives in Newport (less than an hour away) and 1 lives in Utah.

87. I have never even attempted to read the Old Testament, I can’t understand it. I wish I did understand it though, I know it would help my testimony grow.

88. I don’t use expensive make up, shampoo, conditioner, or any other beauty product. I think the cheaper stuff works just fine.

89. I don’t like judgmental people.

90. I miss my close friend, Nicole McCombs who moved to Utah on July 12th. This was one of the saddest days of my life.

91. I am grateful everyday to be married to my best fried, Jeff.

92. I am amazed at how my love for Jeff and our boys grows deeper each day.

93. I tell Mason and Cooper probably 20 times a day that I love them, I guess I don’t want them to ever question if I love them or not.

94. When I am trying to get Mason or Cooper’s attention, instead of calling them by their names, I just say “love come here, lets go love, what do you need love……etc.”

95. I don’t like it when people chew with their mouths open, I think it’s rude and disgusting.

96. I don’t like soap operas. I’ve never been able to get into them. I guess the drama is just something I detest.

97. I tend to run into walls quite frequently. Even walls that I know are there and have passed by with no problems in the past. I don’t understand why I do this; maybe it’s my eye sight, depth perception, klutziness? Got me.

98. I Love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and I know I could and should have a much deeper and meaningful relationship with them.

99. I am grateful to have an eternal family.

100. I wish every one had and accepted the knowledge of the gospel and had the blessing of an eternal family too.

Fever talk

Mason woke up at 1:30am with a low grade fever, he came to our room and climbed in bed with us. Usually Jeff or I will immediately take Mason back to his room, and lay with him in there until he has fallen back to sleep. But last night we decided to let him stay, since he had a fever. A few minutes later, Mason said he needed to go potty. We went into the bathroom, he did his business, then I too decided to go potty. Mason asked me if I needed to go poop (because I sat down to go potty). I said, "no" and I tried to explain to him that I don't have a penis, so I can't pee standing up. Mason then said, "Oh, we need to buy you a penis!" Which I replied to by telling him "Mason you can't just buy a penis. Mason ignored my last response, and asked me further if I wanted to buy a pink penis.

I guess the fever was making him a bit delirious!

Taking a stroll

Yesterday, after the boys woke up from their naps, we decided to take a little walk through our neighborhood. I was really excited to go on a walk because I too, like the boys, had just woken up from a nap, and I was still a bit groggy so I figured a little walk would help me to wake up. We stuck Cooper in the stroller and Mason rode his bike. Going on a walk woke me in alright. It not only woke me up from the sleepy state I was in, but it also woke me up to what a great neighborhood we live in, and what a not so good neighborhood we previously lived in. Now I'm not saying that we lived in the worst neighborhood before, it wasn't slum ville or anything, but our new neighborhood is definitely a step up. While on our (approx. five block) walk, we must have seen ten different families out doing various activities. Some were tending to their yards, some were out on a walk/bike ride as well, one family was playing three-on-three football. It was really refreshing to see people out, enjoying the day together. Probably the best thing of all was that they were all really friendly, as we would pass, we would say hello to each other. When we would go on walks in our previous neighborhood, we would see one or two people, but they were never out in their yards, spending time together, they were usually heading from their car to their house, or the other way around. We would always hesitate saying anything, fearing the response we might receive.

I am really grateful we live in a neighborhood surrounded by friendly people, who, when I see them, my immediate reaction is not wondering if they are dug dealers, with my second reaction to want to run in my house and hide.

All tied up

Ahhh look at how adorable my three boys are- all dressed up and ready for chuch!

Conversations

Mason: Mom can you get me a cell phone?

Crystyne: Why do you need a cell phone?

Mason: So people can call me and so I can talk on it.

Crystyne: Who would call you on your cell phone?

Mason: Daddy and Papa.

Crystyne: Well, can Daddy and Papa just call to talk to you on my cell phone, and when they do, I'll give you the phone?

Mason: Yeah, we can do that!

Isn't it a bit early for the personal cell phone request?

Mason: Dad, I need to tell you something!

Jeff: OK tell me.

Mason: No, look in my eyes and listen! (while pointing at his eyes)

Jeff: OK I'm looking.

Mason: OK so...........

And we think they don't listen to us........

Jeff's Birthday!

I feel really bad. For Mason and Cooper's Birthdays I posted pictures of them and wished them both Happy Birthday. For Jeff's Birthday yesterday, I didn't post anything and I don't have any pictures of Jeff from the day he was born. Sorry Jeff. I know it's a day late, but Happy Birthday babe, I hope you had a great Birthday! And hey, thanks for having your Birthday yesterday, it was a great excuse for me not to have to cook, and for us to drop off the boys at the grandparents and go out to dinner!

This Little Piggy

Tonight Mason and Cooper were playing on the couch. Cooper came over and laid on my lap, Mason took Cooper's foot and began playing "this little piggy" with Cooper's toes. It was really cute, but by the time Jeff grabbed the camera, Mason wouldn't do the whole thing. You can hear him say "this little piggy went to the mar-ket!"