rental house pics!

(as requested by my friends!) here is our office/ playroom. there are cabinets and bookshelves all along the left wall and shelves along the right. it comes in really handy for us because i get to keep all the toys up and out of the tornado reach of the kids. i doubt this room will ever really stay clean though, it seems to be a dumping ground for papers, bills, and anything we don't know what to do with.

wyatt's new tat

this occured while i was getting dressed and ready for the day. my husband is teaching our children all the important things in life, obviously.

oooh, miss niecy!

i've become addicted to watching "Clean House" on the style network. i've found myself tivo-ing it just about every day and watching it when i fold laundry or something. it's totally gratifying watching these cluttered houses get all spiffed up.


and i love Niecy Nash!
she always looks adorable and i want
her wardrobe for my very own.

new ward, new calling.

my little family is back together again! ashton was staying at his grandparent's house in columbus all last week and was brought back on saturday by my mom. it's great to have him back but it was really nice to have such a chilled-out week with wyatt.
yesterday at church i was asked to be the 1st counselor in the Relief Society! (for any of you who aren't lds, the RS is the church's women's organization) i'm supposed to do a little 10 minute presentation about myself next sunday, as well as speak in sacrament meeting. i'm excited though, i just didn't expect to be in a presidency. i figured i'd start out as a sunday school teacher or something. but i guess i'll have to step it up and learn how to be an adult with a grown-up calling!

wyatt being wyatt

this is for all the people who miss seeing their little wyfry. wyatt shows off his new cleaning skills, gives a mild version of "funny face" and attempts to play with the dog. this is my day, all day, every day!

every time i hear this song...

another one of my favorite Friends moments! (thanks for the reminder, stacey!)

electronic energy

i was all set to go running yesterday when T got home. i had the sports bra on, my hair was up, and my shoes were tied. then i realize i don't know where my ipod is! oh no! i spend 15 minutes looking around the house, checking every possible spot before resigning myself to the fact that my darling was nowhere to be found. and i had lost all the motivation that was so abundant just 15 minutes before. i cannot find the will to exercise with out music. MY music. it keeps my mind occupied and entertained while my body is struggling to find its next breath. and it totally heightens the endorphin rush when the perfect beat comes on. but i will keep searching, because i know it's around here somewhere! and when i find it you know i'll be wrestling myself back into that sports bra, putting my short hair back into weird little ponytails, and slipping my feet back into those running shoes. until then i'll be doing Yoga Booty Ballet in my living room. namaste.

an update on our first week

so, we rented a uhaul to get all of our stuff up here and it was freakin $300. :( but when we got here there were 10 guys from the football team to help unload so it made it lots easier. i must be getting old because one of the guys called me "mrs. clark"! anyway, the house was pretty grimy when we got here so my wonderful mom helped clean the place up. wyatt even helped too!
it took all weekend to get it sparkling. oh, but both the toilets had those cheap squishy seats that i hate so i had to go to lowe's for a more acceptable one. what is it with the padded seats? they're significantly less comfortable than the hard ones and they just look tacky. maybe it's an old-person thing.
a few days after moving in wyatt woke up with a rash all over his body! it was actually worse than you can see in the pictures. but it didn't seem to bother him and when i took him to the doctor they said it was just a reaction to the amoxicillan he'd been taking. so no big deal. but for a few days he looked like a little leper.
on thursday we ventured into chicago with some people i'd met at church. they had planned a mom's group trip to the Museum of Science and Industry and we tagged along. i was so excited to get out and see some of the fun things chicago has to offer! but it was a free admission day and the place was so packed that it was hard to really enjoy the exhibits. i'm totally a museum person and can spend all day reading every little sign.
friday night we were invited to a party for the head football coach's 2 year old son. the kids had a great time playing with all the other kids there and we got to hang out with some other coaches and friends of the mccormicks. and i scored some numbers for future playdates!
yesterday at church we randomly ran into kyle k, one of T's distant cousins who was a visiting speaker in our new ward! turns out they only live 15 minutes away. he invited us over for a bbq that night where we met his wife and kids and some friends from their ward. they have a 5 year old son who is into all the same things that ashton likes, so they had a great time. and after dinner we all played Dance Dance Revolution! they have it on wii, which is a little different than the one i'm used to, but it was a fun night. and kyle's wife, barb, says she wants to go sing karaoke with me sometime soon! i'm so excited to have made some friends here already.

ugliest bathroom i've ever seen

this is the master bathroom of the house we're renting. it's even worse in person! they've got pepto-bismol pink walls, a sponge painted ceiling, and a lighthouse border around the top. luckily we can paint it and put up new fixtures. and that cabinet has got to go! i'm so judgmental. but i like my surroundings to brighten my mood, you know?

the long-awaited vacation pics!

i FINALLY have internet at our new house! and i FINALLY have a chance to post some pictures from our vacation to orlando. but our camera's battery kept dying so we only have pictures from random sections of the trip.

here is my cute ashton playing in a tree outside our hotel.

me, chrissi, ashton, and wyatt all waiting in line. ashton didn't want to smile for some reason, he's getting to that age where they think it's cool to be uncooperative in pictures.
i thought this was a cute shot- ashton walking with his daddy and uncle ben.




a rare picture of me and T both smiling.


sarah in china (at epcot. not the real china)!

some cool chinese acrobats


our condos! actually, these are the ones across the lake, but ours look just the same. i love staying here.

water water everywhere

every time it rains i think of this song from sesame street:


it's been raining a lot this weekend! our city, as well as many cities along interstate 65, got completely flooded by numerous downpours. highways were closed, houses and streets were flooded, and people were stranded away from their families! the kids and i were stuck at my parents house saturday night without electricity while T was stuck at his parents house (where we are staying till thursday) with his little brother. i'm sure the xbox got lots of use that night!
the water has gone down now but it was pretty chaotic for a few days. and sad for all the families that lost their homes and pets!

we are back from vacation! but more on that later, when i can upload some pictures. we have no home to go to though, so we are crashing at T's parent's house. but we've found a place in hobart to live, a 3 bedroom house to rent. we'll be loading up a uhaul next weekend and embarking on our new adventure!
so that's it for now! i know, it's quick and boring. sorry, friends!

i just want to throw it all away.

i have been packing like a maniac the past few days! well, that's what i think but T would beg to differ. anyway, we decided on monday to try to be completely packed and out of the house by saturday! the deal is, there is a family who is staying at my in-laws house. they've been trying to find a place to buy/ rent in the area and haven't had much luck. we met them last weekend and told them we were moving out and the owners of our house didn't have anyone lined up to rent it yet. long story short, we're leaving on vacation sunday (florida! for a week! woohoo!) and they'd like to be in the house as soon as possible. we'll pretty much be trading places with them, as we'll be staying with my husband's parents after vacation until we find a place to live up north.
but back to the packing thing. i am the slowest, most methodical packer i've ever met. i like to have everything categorized and in a box with similar items. and i like to sort as i pack, keeping bags for garage sale items nearby. also, the labeling must be detailed enough that i can remember what is in the box without having to look inside. totally not T. he throws everything and anything in a box and labels it with a generic word, like "kitchen". we've had a few spats so far.
but we've put a whole bunch of stuff into my parents garage in preparation for the garage sale (including lots and lots and lots of clothing. i've decided to let go of everything i haven't worn in the past 2 years or things i've been waiting to see come back in style from high school.)
and we're also packing for vacation! so i've got a florida suitcase; a bag of clothing for the two interim weeks between vacation and the move to hobart; a box of summer clothes that i'll wear after the big move; and various other vacuum-sealed containers of clothing. and that's just for me! i have to do the same for both kiddos too.
so life kinda stinks right now. i had been hoping to go to this awesome bead shop in town and create a "dabby reid"-style necklace to go with my cute vacation dress but it seems that project will have to wait awhile. but i hope i can still fit in an airbrush tan before i go! you know, so i don't blind the other poolside vacationers with my glowing white legs.
but wish me luck! encouragement in the form of a comment will go a long way in brightening my busy day.

wow, it's pretty accurate!

other than the "thrifty" part...

What Your Fridge Says About You

You like to be surrounded by things you love. You aren't exactly greedy, but you can be materialistic at times. You tend to be a fairly thrifty person. You splurge occasionally, but you're mostly a saver. You are a very adventurous person. You love to try new things, and you get bored very easily. You try to be responsible, but you don't always succeed. Your heart is in the right place though. You are likely to be married - and very busy.

What Do the Contents of Your Refrigerator Say About You?

celebrity boyfriends

a few of my friends have listed their celebrity dream boyfriends and it seemed fun! so now it's my turn! (based solely on superficial traits)
in no particular order other than who came to mind first:
1. henry cavill

2. steven strait

3. paul walker

4. jared leto

5. jesse metcalfe

6. tyson beckford

8. ashton kutcher

9. enrique iglesias

10. hayden christiansen

11. brad pitt

12. josh duhamel

14. wentworth miller

and my most recent addition:
15. david cook

oh yes, and some alternates are:
ryan phillipe

rob lowe

channing tatum

i'd better do some hard thinking before i get this list laminated. don't want to leave any potential boyfriends out!

crybaby wyatt

i am sitting here listening to wyatt cry in his crib. it's been about an hour. he wants to be nursed back to sleep but i want him to learn to fall back asleep on his own. he's a year old! he should not be waking up 2 and 3 times a night! i feel so bad though. my heart breaks a little more with every sob. he is one headstrong, dramatic kid.

wait, is that silence i hear? i think so! i just hope he doesn't start wailing again right in the middle of my REM cycle, like usual. you know, the deepest point of sleep? the time when you don't even remember you have children? a rude awakening for sure.

it feels a little like halloween.

this week has one big hair disaster. let's review.
tuesday:
-went to a different stylist (we'll refer to her as "K") since my aunt in st. louis who normally does my hair wasn't available.
- tell "K" i wanted auburn hair. ask her if she needs to fill my very blond hair before we go darker (which i know you need to do when going from light to dark). "K" says filler is already in the color. i think, 'hmm, that doesn't sound right', but didn't speak up since i'm fairly non-confrontational.
-hair turns a raspberry-orange color and is chopped at quite aggressively with a razor and some thinning shears.
-almost cry but instead pay the $70 and leave
-call next day to let her know that it isn't what i expected. she agrees to redo color on friday.
friday:
-tell her i want "a reddish brown so natural it looks like it could've grown out of my own head".
-leave with burgandy hair. feel a bit goth. no tip for her.
-this is what it has become after 3 washes. bearable, but definitely not what i has expected! and it's 9:30 pm and i'm in my pajamas, so don't judge me on my (lack of) style. and surprisingly, the hair color looks better in pictures than in real life.

they're sparkly!

these are my adorable new shoes! i've been trying to find some cheap flats that are cute and comfy and nothing was to be found. so i went to nordstrom, the place i should've gone all along, and found these lovelies! they even have a little heel so they flatter my short, stubby legs a little better than flat flats. i'm hoping to get them in bronze also but it'll take awhile to save up. these weren't cheap. and yes, another example of this. :P

kicked in the face

by his own father!
it was an accident, of course,
but ashton left that part out when he told everyone at school about it.
i'm surprised no one called child protective services!

i love this picture!

wyatt walking

wyatt has been walking since march 26th but we just got a new camera that takes video! so this clip is from the end of april and i'm just now getting around to posting it. he walks like a little orangutan, with his arms up in the air!

submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society...

one of my very favorite things as a kid was the Nickelodeon show "Are You Afraid Of The Dark?". chrissi and i watched every saturday night growing up and it always scared the pants off of us (but i'm a chicken as it is). i've been trying to think of the scariest episode and can't remember all of them. there was one where a kid started playing a pinball game and ended up stuck inside it, being chased by a big silver ball for all eternity. another one was about a family of vampires who keep blood in a cooler in their basement. ooh, they're coming back to me now! there was one about an adopted girl who was really an alien, and another one about a vampire that comes out of the movie screen at a theater. they didn't all end on happy notes either. anyone remember these?
anyway, i'm so excited because i just found out that they're on DVD! i can buy them and watch them whenever i want! also, there are shows like "Alex Mack", "All That", "Clarissa Explains It All" and "Salute Your Shorts". i'll spend the next few years buying up all the shows i watched back in the day. happy happy joy joy! :D

gimme!

do you think my husband will mind if i wear this shirt?

en fuego!

in the middle of the night i hear what sounds like gunshots. not terribly surprising, given the ghetto neighborhood i live in, but it's enough to make me look out the window. i look out the side window to see a car in flames! it was about 3 houses down but i had a pretty clear view of what was going on. i tried taking pictures but somehow couldn't get a clear shot. still, it was something quite out of the ordinary!

we're moving!!

we took the job at Hobart! we'll be moving up there mid-june. we didn't even wait to hear back from the job here. i'll post more about it later though. :D

i'm as cultured as a pearl.

"Your clothes may be,
Beau Brummell-y,
They stand out a mile..."

i was flipping through the channels one night and came upon an old silent film called "Beau Brummell". intrigued, i started watching, figuring i'd be bored soon. turns out that it totally rocked! it was absolutely spellbinding the way these actors told a story without spoken dialogue, using exaggerated movements and facial expressions to get the story across. the main character was played by John Barrymore, the grandfather of Drew Barrymore. i see the resemblance. anyway, this Beau guy was apparently a real person who was a trendsetter socialite in 19th century England. and he was a catty brat who died of syphilis.
all in all, i feel like i've expanded my horizons. how many people can say they've watched a whole silent movie by choice? um, i can. yeah, that's right.

a little help from my friends...

i'm loving this dress but am unsure of how the color might look on me. i'm super fair skinned and don't usually wear this color. but i think it's super cute! there are free returns but still... i need some input, please!

the bane of my existance.

boys never have to grow up, thanks to xbox!

i laugh just thinking about it!

one of my favorite Friends moments.

he's 2 for 2.

2 interviews- 2 job offers! one from hobart, the school near chicago, and one from east noble, a small school in a small town. we already declined the offer from east noble (i think i'd go crazy in a small town) and are pretty set on accepting hobart. well, i'd say 98% sure. right now T is at an interview for the job here, at columbus north, where he's been coaching football for the past 5 years and recently did his student teaching. i think we're ready for some changes and an adventure but there are many things to consider. moving is scary!
one bad thing- it was 20 degrees colder in hobart than it was in columbus. i really hope a 3 hour drive doesn't make THAT much of a difference!

exciting times for us!

as T's last semester of school is winding down he has been applying for positions all around the state of indiana. it's pretty exciting to imagine what our life will be like in a new place: meeting new people, maybe buying our first house. it's a little scary too. we've been living pretty comfortably here in columbus with both sets of grandparents nearby, as well as T's aunt sylvia and uncle randy and their kids.
at this very moment T is driving to hobart high school, 30-ish miles outside of chicago, for his very first teaching job interview! they seem very interested in him, especially the football coach. he's called T to talk football at least 5 times in the last 24 hours. a brand new building for the high school is under construction, as well as a new fieldhouse and sports facilities. if things go well i'll go up for the second interview to scope out the area and see if it's somewhere i'd like to live.

and everyone can come visit and we can go see "wicked" in chicago!

what my parents really did in mexico...

they danced la cucaracha

my super short spring break (parte dos)

here is what went down last friday, our last day in st. louis
-visited my mom's mom, grandma stephens (oh, and we took her to baskin robbins the night before too.)
-went to nordtrom & cpk with my dad's mom, grandma bartnett
-the bartnett side of the family had a pre-birthday party for ashton! spiderman cake and all.



random thought: there used to be a family newsletter printed up every holiday and quite a few years back this picture of my grandma graced the cover of the thanksgiving issue. and yes, she's wearing a paper bonnet. this legendary picture has recently been enlarged and given a permanent home in their kitchen.
we left at 9 pm that night and drove the 5 hours home. but it only took us 4 hours.... i wonder how that happened??

my super short spring break (parte uno)

our original plan was to be there wed.- sun., but as we were driving through illinois we got a call from T's sister Tashina. she was flying from utah to indiana to surprise us for the weekend! we didn't want to miss out on that so we came home late late friday night.
here are some highlights from the trip
-i got my hair done by my aunt amy (she has a salon in st. louis and charges insane amounts for her services. but luckily she does my hair for free!)
-we went to the zoo! fun times were had by all.

i'll have more about the trip tomorrow, but it's late now and i'd like to go to bed. but i'll go ahead and post this so my sister will have something to look at tonight. :)

just a few updates.

- we're going to st. louis for spring break! my extended family all live there so i'm excited to visit them. we're planning on going to the zoo (it's free!), the science center, and whatever else catches our attention.

- wyatt is standing on his own for about 5 seconds at a time! it won't be long before he takes his first steps.

- T is starting to apply for teaching jobs! mostly all in the state of indiana but a few around texas. we think we might want to be in san antonio in a couple years so we're keeping it in mind. but it's almost unbelievable that he'll actually be a real, paid teacher in the fall.

- ashton will be 5 in less than two weeks! and it's hard to believe that i'll be the mother of a 5 year old. i'm ancient.

no idea what to even call this one!

this post is because i just blog-stalked a couple girls in knew from ricks college. i left them each comments and am wondering if they remember me! but i don't have many pictures of myself on my blog so i'm posting this picture, hopefully this'll help them out a little. it's from the summer of 1999 and yes, that's me in the red shirt! i can't believe that was 9 years ago.

it's fleur-licious!

i've been looking for some new bedding online and i am totally loving this quilt from urban outfitters! it's a little outside my regular "pottery barn-ish" comfort zone. i don't think T will go for it though, it's probably a little too girly. but i think it's wunnerful! please disregard the crumbling wall behind it.
ooh, and this is beautiful too.

and i like this as well!