Sexy

Back in my high school years, my friends and I thought certain things were sexy, such as......

....Tom Crusie flying jets in Top Gun (yuck, I'm not sure what we were thinking there)....

.....Patrick Swayze kissing Demi Moore in Ghost (may he rest in peace)....

.....Brad Pitt doing just about anything in A River Runs Through It (he's never looked as good since)....

.....Most of the guys on Viewmont High's basketball team.....

....and Brett Christian. (okay maybe that was just me).

Now that I am much older and wiser and my tastes have narrowed and refined a bit, this is what I now find incredibly sexy......

.....my amazingly handsome and helpful husband cleaning the carpets of my entire house while simultaneously entertaining my children! Wow!

Here's one more....

.......SWOON!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

My brother Andrew and I were born just 15 months apart. Today he is turning 34. Dude, we are old!

Because he and I are the closest in age I have a lot more memories (and a lot more pictures, see below) of him growing up than I do my other brothers. Some of my memories are of us fighting (I really hated his radio on when I was trying to go to sleep at night), but most of the memories are good. Here are just a few of my favorites......

- Sneakily snapping the legs and arms off the homemade gingerbread boys that hung on the Christmas tree as ornaments, hiding under the bed to snack on the broken limbs while Mom and Dad napped in the other room.

- Eating Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and playing Connect Four all night on Christmas Eve, while listening for Santa's footsteps upstairs. (I also remember the bad heart burn I got from eating all the peanut butter cups, terrible!)

- Waking up suddenly in the middle of the night to the sound of a loud crash. Going into Andrew's room and finding him dazed, the shelf above his bed off the wall, and everything on it scattered all over the room. He was dreaming he was a waiter and the shelf was his tray. Andrew did crazy things in his sleep. SO many crazy things.

-For some strange reason I thought that wearing my brother's clothes to school was cool and Andrew never complained about me wearing his shirts. I always loved him for that.

- Going to see "Mrs. Doubtfire" together at Trolley North theater and flicking candy and popcorn at the screen during the movie. Also biting the heads off our gummie bears and sticking them to the backs of the seats in front of us. I don't think we caught much of that movie.

- And a more recent memory, involving Bajio burritos for lunch and a paint stirring stick, but that's all anyone is going to hear about that story on this blog! Let just say, I don't think I've laughed so hard in my entire life.

Andrew has some very good qualities. Here are a few I particularly like......

-He's considerate about other peoples feelings. He doesn't like to hurt anyone. He can be very tenderhearted.

-He works hard at whatever he does and is somewhat of a perfectionist. I appreciate perfectionism.

-He's calm and easy to be around. Never in your face.

-He sees beauty in the world and is very artistic. He just started teaching art at a Junior High school this year. It's been a challenge for sure, but I know he's up for it.

-He calls me "Beans," short for Jilly Bean, and I like it. It's endearing.

-He's a great husband and father. His wife and daughter love him!

- He's kind to animals. He even loves his creepy cat Chippy.

-He's a handsome devil.

Check it out.....




See the pockets in Andrew's jacket. Those are were we stuffed the gingerbread boy limbs after we broke them off. Then under the bed for snack time!


First day of 5th grade for me, 4th grade for Andrew


At the MTC


Just this July with his daughter Emily

Happy Birthday Andrew. I'm glad you're my brother. I love you.

We're Television Stars!

This week, our family had the fantastic opportunity to star in an episode of a reality TV show called The Food Nanny. The Food Nanny, a.k.a. Liz Edmunds, is a women on a mission to help families have pleasant, consistent, successful family dinner times together. She is VERY passionate about this, and BYU is creating a TV series based on her book. Liz travels all around to help families overcome their obstacles to having sit down meals. Our family's episode will be titled Trouble: Times Two so, by the sound of that title, you can imagine what the obstacles are to our family sit down meals. Let's just say that the Food Nanny had her work cut out for her here.

I'm not going to reveal very much about our story, you'll just have to tune in to see how Liz jumpstarted us into transforming our chaotic family dinnertimes. The show will air sometime in February or March, I'll let you know when.

We had a interesting time as a family being filmed for TV. It's was quite the experience and very educational for all of us in more ways than one. Mary Kate typed up something about the day, so to give you an idea of what it was like I'll share with you what she wrote:

Our Day As TV Stars: by Mary Kate Dickey
Today I was filmed, along with my whole family. It was for a TV show called "Food Nanny." When I got home from school there was a bunch of people at my house. Some where filmers and two where microphone people. Our whole house was full of lights and weird looking other stuff. There were cords everywhere!

The first thing we did was have cookies and milk while they filmed us. The Food Nanny also taught us about manners (which I of course already knew, I just didn't always use them). After we did that, I got to go play with any friends I liked until dinner. At five thirty I went inside to get ready for dinner. The Food Nanny said to get in our best clothes and when we came out for dinner the table was lit with candles and set with our new silverware and dishes we got. After we ate our pizza and applesauce, we got to have interviews about what we learned that day. It was a crazy day.

It was a crazy day, sprinkled with all kinds of emotion. There was some laughter....Jeffrey made sure his philosophies about nose picking and napkins were on camera for the entire nation to see and hear....some tears, Jonathan had a major melt down at our candlelit dinner table..... and some stress, I had no idea how stressful it was to make a TV show, to stay within a stict time schedule with so many people working in tight quarters together. But, overall the whole thing went very well. The crew was great, Liz was so sweet, and now our family has officially aired our dirty laundry on film, to be broadcast, in HD, to the entire nation. I bet you just can't wait to tune in!

Here are some picture we took throughout the process. They're kind of fun:

School Days Once Again

It's school days once again. This is significant for three reasons:

1- We'll now have some much need structure in our day to day life. I like structure.
2- I'll get some much needed quiet time at least three days a week. I like quiet time.
3- My kids love school and they're thrilled about going.

Don't they all look spiffy on their first day? (Check out Jonathan's pose below)

The Bostonians

We had a fun visit from some Bostonians recently. Laura (Mike's sister) and Tim (her boyfriend) came to town. Their visit was very pleasant, and started with my kids freaking out with joy at the airport when they saw Aunt Laura.

During their stay, Laura spent several hours generously telling imaginative stories to the kids whenever they begged for one (which was every five seconds), and Tim, a superlative cook, made Chicken Saltimbocca, which means "chicken that jumps in your mouth." Boy did it ever! Doesn't it look delicious? It was.

I don't think Dave has forgiven me yet for keep the left overs for myself. It was selfish, I'll admit.



We are very jealous of Laura because she will get to eat Tim's cooking for all the rest of her days now.....they announced that they are GETTING MARRIED IN DECEMBER! I'm going to have a new brother in law. Tim is a very nice person and extremely easy to be around so we are happy about having him as an addition to our family in the near future.

Also while they were here, we took a Saturday trip to Deer Creek with some other members of Mike's family and the Jet Skis. Tim had never been jet skiing before and I think he took to it rather well. Laura was a bit tentative at first, but by the end she was driving crazy. She even got up on a Slalom ski. We had a fantastic time.



Thanks for visiting us Laura and Tim. We just wish you could have stayed longer. We love you and we'll see you in December for the WEDDING!

Girlfriends

There are two girls in our neighborhood that have special places in my boy's hearts. Jeffrey informed me that he is going to marry Tarin and Jonathan will marry Launa when they grow up, (this, only after I explained to them that they couldn't legally marry each other, which was their previous plan).



Tarin is a very girly girl. She loves to wear skirts and dresses. I rarely see her without several bows in her perfectly coiffed hair. She always brings her baby dolls and stroller along when she comes to play. Tarin's mom heard the kids talking one afternoon about kissing. She instructed the boys that they were only allowed to kiss Tarin on the cheek, not the lips. So far they've complied (I think).




Then there's Launa. Launa is little tiny and sings all day, everyday, and loves to boss. She and Jonathan are best friends and get along perfectly, unless Launa decideds to get in a mood. A few days ago she laid down on the floor and declared she was done playing. Nothing Jonathan said or did was enough to cheer her up or convince her to play with him again. After much pleading and one sided negotiation, Jonathan came up stairs, very frustrated, and said to Launa's mom, "I just don't know what she wants!" Oh Jonathan, welcome to the roller coaster ride, otherwise know as women's emotions!

I love watching these kids play. They play so easily with one another, no awkwardness at all, just kids being kids. I know someday that will change. Pretty soon the girls will be 'GIRLS', and the boys will be too cool to play with them. Eventually their relationships will become something entirely new. Someday that will happen, but until then.......