I got tagged by Crystal to do this quiz about my husband. I decided to save it for a few days so I could post it on our anniversary, which is today!
What is your husband's name: Jared
How long have you been married: 5 years
How long did you date before you got married: One year and two months
Who said I love you first: Me. Of course. I had to break Jared into the whole "sharing your feelings" thing. Must be a guy thing.
Who is taller: At 6'2", he is the second shortest Whidden brother. So, I never even had much of a chance.
Who sings better: Me, but if the question was "Who sings more?", it would be Jared.
Who is smarter: Jared
Whose temper is worse: Um, that's a tough one. I don't think either of us have much of a temper.
Who does the laundry: Me. Part of the job description.
Who does the dishes: Ditto
Who pays the bills: Jared does. He's the smart one, remember?
Who cooks dinner: I do.
Who drives when you are together: Jared does, mostly because when we drive, he is leading us on some excursion in which only he knows the destination.
Who is more stubborn: I think he is, but I'm sure he thinks I am.
Whose parents do you see the most: Mine. His are in Vanderhoof which is 8 hours away.
Who kissed who first: He kissed me first. It's a funny story. You'll get to hear it in about 30 seconds...
Who proposed: Jared. Also a good story.
Who is more sensitive: Me. I cry all the time. I am a big baby.
Who has more friends: I think I have more friends, but Jared is good at staying close with his few good friends.
Who wears the pants in the family: We each kind of "wear the pants" on our own issues.
Where did you meet your husband: I was introduced to him (twice) when I first moved to Lethbridge. Once as Jared, and once as "Jimmy Vanderhoof" his nickname (which was given to him at a loud party involving lots of confusion. The name stuck and people called him that for years). I was meeting so many new people when I started college, that it took me about a month to figure out that he wasn't two separate people who looked alot alike..
Where was your first date: I invited him to preference by carving a pumpkin that said "I'd be PUMPED if you'd come to preference with me".
Where was your first kiss: One night, he was walking me to my door after a date and I unlocked the door, then turned around to say goodbye. He pecked me on the lips so quickly that I wasn't sure if we had actually kissed or not. I ran up to excitedly tell my roommates saying, "Jared totally just kissed me...I think...". We used to tease him about it.
Where did you get engaged: In the cute little park by my house. He made a wedding invitation with our pictures on it and gave it to me to open, saying it was "probably another old missionary companion getting married or something". I read it very confused and turned to see him down on one knee holding a ring. A couple years later, we lived in that house again and Carter's first outing to the playground was at that same park.
Where did you get married: Edmonton temple. It was so cold.
Where was the honeymoon: We stayed at a hotel in Edmonton for a few days, and then headed to Vanderhoof for Christmas and the second reception. If I could do it again, I wouldn't have picked 4 days before Christmas. All I wanted to do was go home and start "playing house".
Happy Anniversary, Jared. I love you!
Five years ago today...
A Post About Three's
So I have been tagged a few times by some fellow bloggers to write 8 unknown things about myself. But since I already did that awhile back, I decided to do a little some thing different.
3 instruments I used to be good at playing:
1. Flute
2. Piano
3. Guitar
3 celebrities that I strongly dislike for no particular reason:
1. Hilary Swank
2. Scarlett Johansen
3. Rachael Ray
3 possible reasons why my 15 month old isn't walking yet:
1. She is very tall for her age.
2. She has massive thighs.
3. She has freakishly small feet.
The combination of all these things just can't be helpful.
3 recurring dreams/nightmares I can't stop having:
1. I have dreams where I totally ream people out. I have no inhibitions about telling them exactly what's on my mind, and I say exactly the right things. In real life, there is no way I could actually do this, so I guess I get some sort of fulfillment dreaming about it.
2. I am trying to run away from something, but my legs wont move fast enough. I think this is a pretty common one.
3. I have to go to the bathroom so bad, and I'm trying to use a public washroom but random people just keep walking in and out. They don't even listen to my requests to leave and give me some privacy! I wonder what a dream interpreter would say about that one...not sure I want to know.
3 wishes I'd like to have granted:
1. To have alot of money.
2. To have my pre-baby body (and metabolism) back. I should join the club, right?
3. To be able to read minds. This is an on-going discussion between Jared and I. He thinks being invisible would be better. I am sticking with reading minds because then you can hear everything people won't say out loud. Haha, I am so nosy.
3 pet peeves:
1. When bicyclists stop and wait in the vehicle left-hand turning lane when they want to turn left. You are not, nor will ever be, as fast as a car.
2. When I am not on the same floor as the telephone when it rings, and I boot it as fast as I can up the stairs (to try and catch it before the answering machine does), only to answer a 1-800 number. It happens alot.
3. There are some commercials that really tick me off. And for no good reason either. Kinda like the celebrities. How heartless is that?
Skating
Saturday was a busy day for us. The most exciting part was we put Carter on skates for the first time. He did so good and had so much fun. We need to go more often so he can get better at it.
Hayley wasn't such a good sport, though. She had to ride in this little ice buggy thing. It was pretty hilarious looking. She had fun for the first few minutes and then decided she'd had enough of that.
After skating, we went swimming and then hurried to our ward Christmas party. It was a really fun day. I was so glad we had finished our shopping so we weren't out fighting the crowds at Walmart, like everyone else in Edmonton.
The Scoot has Evolved
Remember what Hayley used as an alternative to crawling? Well she uses it now as an alternative to walking, only she's really mastered it. She doesn't use her hands anymore. And she's quicker. Much quicker.
Mullet Pigtails
Today, something wonderful happened.
I know that to some of you out there whose children have full, luscious locks from birth, this is going to seem silly. But I am excited. So humor me, okay?
We have piggies!
It kind of reminds me of this girl from a not-so-famous, low-budget, Canadian cartoon:
But still... PIGGIES!
What a Ham
So Hayley had to get glasses.
I was unsure about it at first, but I decided it's ok because sometimes babies look really cute with glasses.
I think we picked some really nice ones, don't you?
This girl cracks me up.
Dinner with the Newlyweds
This past weekend, our family and the Stevensons were invited to Trena and Andy's for dinner. It was so nice, Trena and Andy went all out, even unnecessarily showering our children with gifts...
Lots of gifts...
Hayley took a real liking to Andy (again) and wanted to be held by him all evening. So that, of course, brought on the overly-intrusive "when are you two planning on having kids" questions. Andy was not impressed. Haha
Brad and Jared holding their girls...
and then cherishing their alone time.
Stay tuned for the funniest picture of the entire evening...
Christmas Cookies
Yesterday my friends Aimee and Megan came over for a big "baking day". We baked so many Christmas goodies - it took forever. That could also be due to the fact that we had all five of our little munchkins running around, too. Between putting kids down for naps, plugging in movies, breaking up fights, and making bottles I'm surprised we even got anything done. But we did - and now we have lots of cookies and squares to make us fat enjoy.
Snow Day
Ok. I did it.
I bundled up the kids and played outside in the snow with them. I figured that's what good mom's do. But for me this is a feat, simply because I do not like winter. Why make yourself cold if you don't have to?
The kids had fun and I liked having an excuse to make hot chocolate after. I am always amazed at how kids find joy in the simplest things. Carter was shoveling snow and dumping it on his head while Hayley watched, laughing.
Hurray for self timers or I would never have any pictures of me with the kids.
Go 'Nucks
I wanted to post this earlier, but the craziness has kind of taken up all my time these days.
On Thursday, while we had the Black children here, the boys organized a game of hockey. Their dad is a huge Flames fan. The dad in this house, on the other hand... (well, you don't need reminder, now do you?).
Anyway, the rivalry started the minute the kids got here. "You like the Canucks?" "Flames are better" "Let's have a hockey game and the little boys can be the Canucks and the big boys can be the Flames"...
And so they did. These were the teams:
Those teams are looking a little stacked, no?
It was the most entertaining hockey game I've ever watched. The final score was 30-12 (for the Flames, of course), but I was pretty proud of the little boys. You could tell the Blacks were seasoned pros at "basement hockey" because Carter was the only one running around with no clue what to do. He kept shooting at the wrong goal and coming out of the net when it was his turn to be goalie. At one point, I saw Tyler watching Carter and mumbled to himself (baffled), " I don't think these people really watch Canucks games".
I wanted to take a picture of all of them when the game was over. The big boys insisted on holding their arms up, since they won. Little Logan wanted to hold up the ball (that's why his arm is up) and poor Carter was told to keep his arm down. He looks so excited - such a fun game but trying so hard to keep his arm down like he was told! Hilarious.
When Jared came home later I told him that watching that game made me want to have three more boys, just so I could witness stuff like that more often. Thinking about it now, I should really think before I say things like that out loud.
The Aftermath
My poor kids just can't catch a break.
After Thursday's Pukefest, we thought things might get back to normal around here. But yesterday, I had to take Carter to the medi-center because he was up all night in pain. Turns out he developed an ear infection from all the throwing up.
We are also currently considering taking Hayley to said medi-center because she is covered in weird spots. I've also changed approximately 57 diarrhea diapers in the past three days.
Will things ever get back to normal at the Whidden household? Stay tuned...
'Tis the (Flu) Season
*Disclaimer - this post is not for the weak of stomach*
So yesterday morning I got my wisdom teeth taken out. I went to the drug store right after to get my oh-so-essential Tylenols 3's. My mouth was still frozen and swollen and I couldn't even talk. My tongue and bottom lip felt like they weighed 10 pounds each, so you can imagine how ridiculous I sounded. I was hoping I could quickly go in, get the prescription filled, and head home without anyone noticing my temporary speech impediment. In the parking lot, a lady stopped me to ask for directions, the pharmacist needed my address and personal information, and the wait was so long that it was necessary for me to ask someone where the washrooms were. So much for that.
I was feeling better by the afternoon, and I offered to watch these three boys for our friends, Stan and Karma Black. They are from Lethbridge, but are staying up here in Edmonton while their brand new baby has heart surgery. They wanted to be with him when he got out of surgery, as well as go out to dinner for their 10th wedding anniversary. Their boys were great and we had fun playing hockey and play station with them.
Here's where it starts to get interesting. The next sequence of events will take longer to explain than the amount of time it actually took for them to happen.
At about 7:50 pm, Hayley woke up screaming. I went up to check on her and found she had thrown up everywhere. We got her out, cleaned up, changed her bedding, and brought her downstairs to sit with us in the living room.
About 2 minutes later, Carter came upstairs and told us he was feeling sick all of a sudden.
Great.
Just then, Karma and Stan came to pick up their kids. I took them downstairs to get their kids and I all of a sudden started feeling quite sick myself. I had to interrupt our conversation, run upstairs and barely made it in time to throw up in the toilet.
Then, I heard Jared calling for me. I came out of the bathroom to see Carter running down the hall towards me, throwing up as he ran. It got everywhere: the carpet, the linoleum, the walls. He started to puke again and I picked him up and ran him into the bathroom, so of course he threw up all over me and the floor. I was stepping in it and slipping, etc. It was so gross.
At this point, Jared couldn't even help because Hayley was ALSO simultaneously throwing up while sitting on his lap.
The Blacks came up the stairs and had to walk around the piles of puke and quickly left as we were all pretty much covered in puke.
Carter, Hayley and I took kept throwing up (violently) every 10 minutes or so for about 2 1/2 more hours. Poor Jared was running around holding puke buckets for us, changing clothes, doing loads of laundry, etc while we all lay in agony on the living room floor.
The three of us eventually all fell asleep on the floor (with buckets beside). Carter and I both woke up at 11:30, simultaneously puked and then fell back asleep.
The whole time this was happening, Jared and I couldn't get over how suddenly this all came on. Carter, Hayley and I all within MINUTES of each other when we had previously been feeling fine. It came on SO FAST, was SO VIOLENT, and not to mention was completely debilitating.
It was such a gong show. Jared said it was like a sketch from Saturday Night Live, except not as funny when you're living it. I reminded me of an episode of Family Guy where they drank Ipecac. So gross. You can watch it here.
The worst part about this whole fiasco is that I just got my wisdom teeth taken out, remember? If you think throwing up sucks normally, try throwing up when you've just had oral surgery. It was so painful. I think I popped a few (if not all) of my stitches whilst puking. After awhile only blood was coming out.
It was still just as brutal during the night, but we are feeling a bit better today. Still not the greatest, though. It was seriously so ridiculous, we just had to laugh.
All I can say is, thank goodness for Jared and his Flu shot.
Yet another Mendenhall wedding
This past weekend, we traveled down to Southern Alberta for my cousin's wedding. Michael and Amie make such a cute couple and it was really fun to see my whole family there.
The best part (for me anyways) was when Hayley and my cousin's girls, Halle and Alivia, all showed up wearing the same little brown dresses. How adorable is this picture? But I'm sure Erin will have better pictures since my camera always seem to die at the worst times.
Halle's face is classic and I love how it looks like Liv is resting her hand on Hayley's knee. I think she was really keeping Hayley from scooting herself right off the stage they were sitting on. We're working on her depth perception...
We stayed with our friends, the Jarmans, and spent the rest of the weekend catching up and relaxing with them. Then on Monday morning, my friend Lily hosted a play group for me. It was just like "the good 'ol days"- hehe. All my old friends were there with their kids and it made us miss Lethbridge. Again.
The Hoarding Continues...
Remember Carter's hoarding disorder?
My friend Kirsti took this picture of him. Yet another example of how he hoards and organizes.
And here's one of the girls, just because they are so dang cute!.JPG)
I love this one of Hayley! Thanks Kirsti!
One year older, but not a heck of alot wiser
So yesterday was my 24th birthday. Jared got home late Friday night from Houston, just in time for it. We were supposed to head to Calgary for my nephew's blessing Saturday morning, but our kids are both sick and we had a rough night previously. So we stayed around here and had a pretty low key day. Let the kids sleep in, went to a couple stores, and then we had supper at Swiss Chalet with Brad, Kirsti, and Skye. The best part was that Jared bought me my present while he was in Houston and surprised me with it the morning of my birthday.
He got me an iPod nano (the silver one). I love it. I spent most of the evening downloading songs onto it. It was such a nice surprise!
Leaving on a jet plane
We just got back from dropping Jared off at the airport. He is going to Houston for work for the week. I miss him already. I'm hoping I won't go too crazy, having the kids day and night with no one to spell me off. We have alot of stuff going on this week to keep us busy, though. I don't know how it all worked out this way, but we have a different appointment almost every day. Immunizations, pediatrician, Young Womens stuff, visiting teaching, Super Saturday (on a Thursday - go figure), etc. My Dad is away on business as well. So my Mom, little sister Carly, and I are having a girls slumber party. It will be alot of fun, but I wish my other sister Lisa was here to make it complete :( But let's face it - Mom and I will probably be be the only ones "slumbering" and Carly will have to "party" by herself. Nevertheless I am looking forward to a fun and busy week! But I still miss my hubby...
Crafty
When the weather gets colder, we have to find things to do inside to keep us busy. Carter loves to make crafts with me. Takes after his mom, I guess. This week, he had an idea for a robot.
It turned out pretty cute. Almost rivaling (my personal favorite) last year's school bus...
Almost.
One Elephant Went Out To Play
Today we went to the Zoo. I was kind of hesitant to go because it was pretty chilly today. Also because the Edmonton Zoo isn't even that great in it's peak season, let alone right now. But we went anyways, and we were so glad we did. Wanna know why?
We got to stand a couple feet away from an elephant. No fences. Nothing between us and him. It was so crazy.
Because there was barely anyone there today, his trainers took him out for a walk around the zoo. They marched him right towards us (we moved off to the side of the pathway) and they kept going right past us. We literally could have reached out and touched him. Jared was so mad he didn't. I think we were just in such complete shock, seeing an animal that big so close to us.
I don't think I realized how neat it was until afterwards. At the time, the only thing that was running through my mind was the "When Animals Attack" special we just barely watched on National Geographic. I am such a scaredy cat.
Anyways, we got to stand next to it a few minutes later for some pictures. Pretty neat. They are on my camera phone though, so I need to figure out how to upload them on here. Stay tuned...
Trunk or Treat
On Saturday, we went to Trunk or Treat in Sherwood Park with my parents. It was kinda cold, but that's the good thing about Trunk or treat. So much candy in so little time. Carter got so much candy, I am considering just letting him continue to think Halloween is over. There was a family dance after and Hayley was so hilarious. When she wasn't dancing (I really, really have to post a video of her "shoulder shimmy"), she was scooting across the gym floor on her bum.
I also forgot to write in my last post the funniest thing Carter said at Kirsti's Halloween party on Friday.
There was a little baby there who was also named Carter. So I said to (my) Carter, "This little baby's name is Carter, too - just like yours!". Carter thought about it for a second and then turned to me and exclaimed indignantly, "Hey! I wasn't done using that name yet!"
Good to know my lectures on sharing are having some sort of effect on him.
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