My Malaysia Family

I stole these from my brother and sister-in-law's blog. They live in Malaysia, far far away from us. I miss them so much. But Boy do they have the life! They just went on their last vacation before the new baby comes. Where to? Oh, just Thailand. This was right after they went to New Zealand for Christmas, which was right after their other Thailand trip, but before they came back to the states to visit us. I'm tired just writing this! :)

How gorgeous is Tanya? She doesn't even look pregnant!

My beautiful niece Kiara. Who I miss SO much!

Oh, I'm just swimming in the ocean with elephants. Nothing new!

Tai and Kiki on a baby elephant.

6 Things You May Not Know About BRAD!

1. Brad is the biggest UFC (Ultimate Fighting Champion) fan. He knows everything about every body involved in the sport. If I could get him anything, it would be to train with Tito Ortiz or some St. Piere guy, I don't remember. I can't watch it. It's too gruesome for me. I just cover my face the entire time.


2. His favorite sitcom is Scrubs, but I have made Friends his close 2nd. He has gotten to the point where he can quote some lines. He's not anywhere close to my level, but he's doing well. :) Update: He just told me that Friends is his favorite. I'm so proud!


3. This is a good one. Brad can breakdance! He's surprisingly good. I thought he was lying when he first told me that he could breakdance, cause he definitely can't dance (I say that with all the love in my heart). I thought he was too tall to be good; he's almost 6'3. After the initial shock, I realized that he was quite good.


4. He is the cleanest person I know. He takes 3 showers a day. He can't stand clutter or messes. Our cars are always clean. I can't complain. I like it, because he helps me around the house. Ari has become a clean freak as well. She is always wiping her toys, our furniture, or her face with her baby wipes. What have we created!

5. Whenever we go to Wyoming to visit my parents, Brad spends the majority of the time in my Dad's workshop. He loves using all my Dad's machines and tools. He has said many times that where ever we end up after law school, he will build himself a workshop. We may not have a home, but he will have his workshop. :)He loves building things. My Dad loves that Brad is so into wood work. Every year he buys Brad a new tool for his birthday. Why? We live in an apartment in the city! He can't use any of them. But those are Brad's favorite gifts, because he's building upon his collection.

6. You can ask anybody in both of our families, Brad is one of the most selfless people we know. He will drop anything if somebody needs his help. At church, he always volunteers when nobody else will. To be completely honest, I get annoyed sometimes, because .... I don't know. I just do. I'm horrible! :)

Bradley! ... What are you doing?!

This is so messed up of me, but I think it's hilarious. Brad wanted to play basketball w/some of his friends after school one day, but he forgot his clothes. Being the good wife that I am, I drove 20mins to his school to deliver them. I look back and think I see him changing in his car! So, what do I do? Get out and take pictures. What else would any sane person do? Tears were streaming down my face I was laughing so hard. Serves him right! He's gonna be so mad when he checks the blog! :) I warned him!

He kept yelling, 'Take a hike!' To which I responded, 'What? I can't hear you!'

xoxo Ari & Blake xoxo

Okay, so they aren't really in love, but if their mother's had anything to do with it, they would be! Blake is so good with Ari, and Ari adores him!

Aren't they cute?

6 Things You May Not Know About Me

I was tagged by my friend Ashley. I keep forgetting to do it, but now I have time. I will make Brad do it too. His should be interesting! :)

1. I love to cook & bake. I absolutely love to be in the kitchen. I love to experiment w/new ingredients, and test it out on Brad. It’s so relaxing for me. I could talk about cooking all day; well maybe not ALL day.

2. I also love to read. I would pick reading a book over watching TV any day. One of my new year’s resolutions was to read one book a week. I’ve read three this week alone, so I think I’ll definitely reach my goal.

3. I love gardening. This is the first place were I can actually have some what of a garden. We live in the city, so I can’t actually have a huge garden, but our complex has a garden with these huge planter boxes that you can plant some vegetables in. So, I’m going to rent one of those boxes, and I will have my little herb garden on my patio. I’m so excited!!

4. One thing that I want to do in the next couple of years is to run in the St. George Marathon, and do a triathlon. I know what some of you are thinking, ‘Mel run?' Ya, I know. I HATE running, but thanks to my mother’s genes I have heart problems, and thanks to my Dad's, asthma. So, I really want to always be in tip top shape. I have started training w/a very good friend, April, for a little marathon coming up in May. Seriously it’s a 5 or 10k race, very small. Baby steps! Don’t make fun. When Brad and I first started dating, we would run around a football field, and I couldn’t run around it once! I was so embarrassed, because I seriously hate to run. I actually crave running now; still hate it though. Some of you have probably fainted from learning this. I’m a changed woman! Crazy huh!?

5. (There was something else here, I don't know who saw it, but I changed it because it makes me uncomfortable talking about singing). I like to play games. We have quite a few games that don't get played very often, because Brad is constantly studying. We do get a game of chess in every once in awhile. I am very proud to say that I have destroyed him and his ego the last several times. Yeah for me!

6. This is going to kill most of you, so brace yourself. In 2003 I was dancing for a Polynesian group called Tamariki. It mainly consisted of my family and our friends that we’ve danced with for years. We were getting a ton of jobs, and I really loved traveling and performing for people. Well, we got a phone call one day from Johnny Depp’s agent. He wanted to hire us for a party he was having at his club the ‘Viper Room’ in L.A. His girlfriend went to Hawaii and went to the Polynesian Culture Center, and loved it. Anyway, after several phone calls, over the space of many weeks, we were invited to stay at his house for a couple of days, because he wanted his kids to learn about our culture. Anyway, we were completely over the moon about this, as you can only imagine. Well, I think it was over a Thanksgiving break, we got a phone call saying the he had to post pone because he had to start filming for a new movie during the time that he wanted to have the party. (We later found out that the movie was Finding Neverland; just FYI) I think I actually cried! It was so depressing! Needless to say it never ended up happening, because half the group got pregnant (all married) :) and some members moved away. It still hurts my heart to talk about it. Isn’t that the saddest story you’ve EVER heard? Ugghh! Just kills me! P.S. I never got to talk to him personally, but from what I heard from the people who did talk to him, he is the nicest person. A little weird, but what celebrity isn’t right? I’ve got to stop talking about it, tears are forming in my eyes! :)

Alright, so there's my list. I am tagging everybody on the buddy list. Do you know how long it took me to write the above information? I have carpal tunnel in my wrists now, and arthritis in my fingers, oh and I have to get a new prescription for my eyes from looking at the computer for so long! All for you! I'm sharing, so you share. Brad will share too. I will make him! Who cares if he is right in the middle of mid-terms! I'm interested in reading these!

Our sick Lil Girl

At least one of us has been sick every day for the past three weeks. I got strep for the first time EVER, followed by the stomach flu. Brad has had a cold for awhile, and Ari got the stomach flu and is still trying to get over it. Anyway, she would go through these moments when she didn't want anybody touching her. She just wanted to lay down on the floor. I hated her being sick, because she doesn't understand what's going on. Breaks my heart!

Taking a nap on the floor. Didn't even want her pillow. She was so lethargic that day. We felt so bad for her. Our poor baby!
Another nap, but we put a towel underneath because of a previous 'accident'. Notice the bowl next to her. She HATED that bowl! She would just cry whenever she had to throw up in it.
Alright, so Brad stayed home with Ari on Sunday while I went to church. I walked into the living room and saw this make/shift slide. We were cleaning some of the cushions (that's why there arent' covers). He took a leaf from the table to make the slide. The things he comes up with.
So I walked into her room, and those two were knocked out! She has Brad wrapped around her chubby little fingers. After I took these pictures, I decided to check out the camera, and quess what I found...
He took pictures of Ari sliding down the table leaf. Remember that she's SICK! I thought it was too funny to get mad. Typical Brad.

Random Pictures

This Lil girl ALWAYS gets into my closet and tries on my shoes. My shoes are part of my daily clean up. They will be all over the closet. She's just too cute to get mad at, so I'm okay with helping her clean them up every single day! She'll walk into the kitchen and look at herself in the oven. My vain child.
I asked her to smile, but she just couldn't tear her eyes away from the t.v. That's about as good as I was gonna get.
Daddy got her a trampoline for Valentine's Day. It's every body's favorite toy. She loves it, because she'll jump forever and then lay down to watch a show, or color, or something. I love it because it knocks her out! About an hour after she jumps her little heart out, she's so tired she can't keep her eyes open. ... by the way Mommy was watching her show, so we set up one of the laptops for her to watch her movie. I'm so bad. :(