Happy Fall!

where's demarie?

prize to the first person who can find a silly little girl hiding in this picture

so, i'm a little late with this posting, but a few weeks ago we spent the day cleaning up the yard. we planted peas, broccoli, and flowers, fixed broken sprinkler heads, and of course--played in the leaves! demarie was such a big helper with the rake this year. i love this time of year when things start to cool off. it reminds me that halloween, my favorite holiday, is just around the corner!

hooray! you found her!

hope you all have a very happy fall!

Preschool Field Trip: Lied Discovery Children's Museum

For our first preschool field trip, we went to the Lied Children's Museum. We had a good group and such an enjoyable time! There were lots of interactive displays for the kids to do including painting, shopping, going to the bank, and a performing arts stage. Demarie was in heaven when she found a white sparkly dress with a veil. As soon as she put it on she was transported to her own world! She just stood on the stage with a dreamy look in her eyes...feeling pretty. Johnny Richardson came up to her, gently took her hand and said, "May I have the pleasure?" He led her out to the dance floor and they started dancing. It was the sweetest thing!

Thanks to everyone who came! We had a great time!

Group photo: Bac: Youngest Braithewaite, Jensen. Middle: Demarie, Bailey Stirling, Johnny Richardson, Spencer Jolly. Front: Ainsley Braithewaite, Alexis Jensen, Sarah Richardson

General Relief Society Meeting and Conference

These past two weeks have been very uplifting for me to be able to listen to the prophets and general authorities of the church. There is such a feeling of unity, peace, and comfort as I listen to their counsel and direction. I especially appreciated President Uchtdorf's address in the Relief Society meeting. I felt like his words of comfort were directed to me. I also enjoyed Elder Wirthlin's counsel to remember to laugh!

I had such a good time attending the Relief Society meeting with my mom. I am grateful she has been in Las Vegas as a support to me. I will miss her next year when October rolls around and she is not there to accompany me.

QUIRKS

So, I was reading Katie Godfrey's blog and saw that she had tagged me to blog about my quirks.... Thanks, Katie! I guess to be a good sport I will go ahead and do it. The rules posted, however, are that I get to tag six other readers, so read on and see if you share any of my quirky behaviors and if you are one of the lucky ones to be tagged!

1. Aaron always laughs at me when I do this--the tips of my fingertips are really sensitive and feel funny when they get really dry. I will often lick my fingertips to make them feel better. Sometimes my toes feel the same way and I will put a little water on the ground, just enough to wet my toes to make the annoying feeling go away. Funny thing is that a few months ago, I was putting Demarie to bed and she licked her fingertips. I asked her about it and she said, "Sometimes my fingers feel funny and so I lick them so they won't feel that way anymore." I guess "funny feeling fingertips" run in the family!

2. Sometimes when I put things away, if they are not just how I want them to be, my mind will obsess over it until I go and fix it. For example, today I was unloading dishes from the dishwasher. When I put the cups away, there was a stack of cups that was touching another stack of cups. For some reason, in my mind this appeared totally wrong! I tried to ignore it, but I continued to think about the cups until I could not control the itching desire to open the cupboard and move the stack of cups slightly to the right. I felt much better after that.

3. I cannot do laundry. I can be so careful to follow care instructions, but somehow I ALWAYS ruin MY clothes. I buy a new shirt and when I wash it for the first time, TA DAH! It comes out with a stain. The funny thing is, the stain is always in the same place on all my shirts and always looks the same as well. Aaron has clothes from high school that he still wears that are in perfect condition. My clothes, however, that is another story!

4. I HATE thunderstorms! I am surprised how often we get them here in Vegas. I remember when I was little, my mom took us outside to watch the lightning. "Isn't it pretty?" she asked. Yeah! Real pretty! When I shared a bedroom with my younger sister, Milin, I would climb in her bed and tell her not to be afraid. Really, it was because I was afraid. Things have not changed. I still lay in bed...shaking! I try to wake Aaron up, but he just says, "Isn't this awesome?' and rolls over and falls back to sleep.

5. I gave a pedicure to Aaron last night and... I really enjoyed it! He has the most disgusting feet in the entire world! Honestly, if you saw his feet, I am sure you would get the urge to hurl! His big toenail has died so many times and he has been putting medicine on it so now it is really thick and yellow. It has curled around so much that the edges are digging into his toe. I was able to dig underneath and get a bunch of disgusting crap out from underneath the nail. I razored all the dead skin off and... now they are actually kind of...uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Um, I guess you could say they are kind of... pretty! Yeah, pretty! Maybe this quirk gues along with my obsession to pick pimples and watch bloody surgeries on TV.

6. I hate walking on cracks in the sidewalk or road. I will purposely take a larger step or a smaller step...just to avoid the crack. I'm sure other people do this too, right?

Ok, now that all my quirks are out on the table and you are all going to think of me differently, here is the lucky list of people to be tagged:

--Stacy Moon
--Jan Southwick
--Nicole Boyd
--Jilene Ray
--Blake Berrett (I'm sure he can come up with six quirks! j/k)
--Milin Chandler (maybe she will write that she used to jump in my bed because she was afraid of the thunder)

RULES:
-Link the person who tagged you
-List 6 of your quirks
-Tag 6 other bloggers by linking them
-List the rules on your blog

HEADLINE: Aaron ALMOST convicted OJ!

Las Vegas NV-- Thirteen years after he was acquited of murder, O.J. Simpson was back in court defending himself against a possible life-sentence. Mr. Simpson, who greeted reporters with a thumbs-up and a broad smile, listened passively as an all-white jury heard recordings of his conversations in the hours before he allegedly robbed two dealers of collectibles. Jury selection for the OJ Simpson trial took place in down town Las Vegas September 8, 2008. Among those in the jury pool was Aaron Harris, Math teacher at a local high school.

When asked by reporters how he felt when after a long day of waiting he was not picked, Mr. Harris responded, "It is a shame. I was all ready to state the verdict. Guilty. The sentence: death penalty. Seems reasonable for armed robbery, right?"

First Day of Preschool!!!

Demarie was so excited to get started with preschool! On September 2nd, we held our first class... at home! After much prayerful contemplation, Aaron and I decided that we would buy materials and teach Demarie in our home. It is going to be her last year with me before kindergarten and I want to make the most of it! We have had so much fun working on reading, writing, math, and other concepts. Demarie is such a smart little girl! It is so fun to see her sounding out and reading whole books already! I also arranged to do a 'field trip' with her every other week with other children her age. We have an exciting year planned and will definitely keep you posted on our adventures!

Pretty Poses!

Inspired by Emily Allen's pictures, I tried to do the 'holding a pretty flower in the outdoors' theme, but my camera isn't as fancy (and I'm not near as talented as she is), but at least I was able to get a shot of the cute little mowhawk curl on Preslyn's head. These pictures were taken when she was around 9-months old. She is now almost 11 months old! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I feel like I have blinked and missed the first year of her life! Some things about Preslyn: Preslyn loves to sit and twirl her ankles and hands at the same time. Being such a good sitter, she has really learned to use her pointer fingers well and can tell me just what she needs without moving her little toosh off the ground. Her favorite word is 'dada' and she is constantly staring at Aaron. She is such a daddy's girl! She can sign "more", "eat", and "all-done" (since I am an SLP I had to throw that in). She loves to play peek-a-boo, patty cake, and will roll her arms during Wheels on the Bus. During the past month, she has really taken an interest in books and baby dolls. She loves to point to my nose and is learning where her belly is. Yesterday, we found her on her tummy when we went to get her from her nap! She had rolled over in her bed! I must admit it has been nice to have two mellow immoble babies that I don't have to chase around. Demarie was carrying on a full conversation with me before she started walking. The rate Preslyn is going, she may just follow in her sisters's footsteps! We love Preslyn so much! She is such a sweet little girl and has added so much to our family!