stools and shoes

So I have this toy that I bought Araleigh when she was like 3 months old. It's those convertible ones that lights up for babies on the floor and can flip around for toddlers. So the last few days Araleigh has been pretty quiet playing in her room. EVERY time I have checked her . . . this particular toy is moved somewhere different and she is standing on it to get what she wants. Yesterday it was her bow basket that she got . . . and TORE into. Today it was lights and her crib. So she has been toting this thing around everywhere . . . her little mind going as fast as it can to think of new places to go get up into. Anyways, I just thought it was funny. I didn't really know what she was doing but watched her drag the big toy out of her room and push it up to the kitchen light switched. . . . and that kept her entertained for a while. She is getting so big and independant it is absolutely depressing me. I just need her to shrink back up to a little bundle and let me hold her all day long. But I do have to say her learning to talk a lot more is really getting to be a lot of fun because I understand her. Oh the joy that these little angels bring to us. I can't wait to have more!

On another note I had to share this . . . obviously like EVERY two year old, shoes become very important and a fun play past time. So I ran across these really cute play shoes at Walmart and they were $3 . . . I couldn't resist. Well, Araleigh just was in ahh the whole time. She LOVES them. She has a hard time walking in them a bit but does pretty well. Anyways, here is her in her trendy shoes!

Almost two . . . ahhh

Araleigh is ALMOST two and I CANNOT believe how fast it has gone. I still remember the day we took her home. Cory went SO slow cuz he was all paranoid about wrecking. Our world was turned upside down and centered around this little angel. Anyways, we are having a birthday party for her at my mom's in Sugar if any of ya want to bring your kids. We are just going to decorate cookies and have a ton of different cookies and yummy stuff. It should be fun!

Marriage Questions

I saw this on myspace from my cousin and thought it was fun . . so here is my survey!

This is one for the married peeps .....



1) What year did you meet your spouse? We met sometime between August and October in 1999

2) Who said I love you first? hmmm... honestly I can't remember. But I am pretty sure it was him. I usually never said things like that first. I'm more a follower when it comes to that kinda a stuff. . . not a lead man.


3) How long after meeting your spouse, did you get engaged? We got engaged on my birthday in 2003. So that would be like 3 years?


4) How did the proposal go? Not well . . . but its a Funny Story. Cory worked in Blackfoot and asked me to meet him in I.F. for dinner because he was running REALLY late. So he asked me to go to his parents house and have his brothers put my present in the trunk (so I wouldn't see it.) Well, I walked out after he silly little brother came back in . . . and of course found my "present" sitting on the drivers seat, UNWRAPPED. It was my ring. Let me just say I was DYING to open it because I never saw it with the diamond in it (Cory picked the center stone). But I put it in the trunk so that it wouldn't ruin it for him. Well, so KNOWing what was in my trunk . . . its all I thought about. Well, we ended the night at the I.F. Temple where he proposed . . .then 5 minutes later got a call and ended the night babysitting my sisters kids because my brother in laws father passed away. So it was a pretty memorable, sad, disappointing (there was no suprise factor), yet VERY HAPPY AND EXCITING night!


5) When did you get married? April 2, 2004

6) What's something that drives you nuts about your spouse? He stops breathing randomly and hold his breath. DRIVES ME CRAZY . . . I have to remind him to take a breath. Also, he is a HUGE procrastinator and is a computer game junkie . . . which I NEVER KNEW til AFTER the "I do's"



7) How big is your bed? Queen. Maybe someday it will be bigger. . . but not while in this house. Our room is pretty small.

8) Who cooks dinner the most? Um . . Cory has to have directions to boil water. So there ya go . . . answer: ALWAYS ME!


9) What city was the first place you lived, as a married couple? Rexburg, ID in a TINY TINY studio type house. It was crazy small and smelled like Moth B

10) Do you have any children? Araleigh Nicole, and she is two NEXT WEEK!

11) Where did you go on your honeymoon? We actually had two. The weekend of our wedding (We got married on a Friday) We left Saturday Morning and stayed in SLC and went shopping in Park City that whole weekend. Then the NEXT Thursday we went on a 4 day cruise in Mexico. . .

12) What's your favorite thing about being married? Not dealing with the dating scene. I can get fat and skinny . . . and it doesn't matter to him. (That I know of) and of course raising a family together . . . . every child is special to their parents and kids seem to bring couples together most the time.


13) What is one thing your spouse would say, really annoys them about you? I am very pessimistic.


14) Where's your favorite place to go on a vacation? Anywhere fun. BUT the best Vacation I ever had was my History tour back east my senior year. I would LOVE to take my family on it sometime. Incredible.



15) What vehicle was your "Get away car" from the wedding reception?
Originally it was suppose to be Cory's dads Lexus . . . but ended up having a suprise Limo there from my sisters. That was a nice gift for us.


16) Did you have a big wedding? Actually, it was really big and too expensive. But I was happy and it was beautiful




17) If you could change two things about your wedding, what would it be? hmmm... prolly to savor it more . . . I don't remember a lot it was SO jumbled and crammed. . . not even enough time to eat. The one thing I regret the most was not getting married in the Temple. Though, Cory and I have learned and gained our testimonies through our trials so we are grateful for it. Just wish it was done the right way the first time!


18) How many family pets do you have? NONE

19) What is/was "your song" ?
Kinda funny . . . our song was Everything i Do by Bryan Adams. OLDIE . . I KNOW. But I remember like Sophomore year it played one night and we cranked it cuz we BOTH loved it . . then cory said . . . this should be our song. Then it just stuck. It's not really anymore but thats what it was.


20) What do you enjoy doing as a family/couple? Well, anyone who knows us can answer this. We are movie buffs to the umpteenth degree. We watch EVERYTHING. We rent seasons of tv shows and watch them nonstop til we are through them all . . .then spend WASTELESS hours trying to keep up to date with the new ones. We also LOVE LOVE LOVE going to movies. Before we had Araleigh and we were both working and making good money we went to the movie once or twice a week. It was so much fun and I wish that we could still do that . . .but children are more important! We also just love being together. Araleigh loves being with her dad . . .

IUI

So I just have a question. Has anyone that reads my blog been through IUI before? As some of you know, Cory and I have always had fertility issues and we have been trying again for a long time. Well, we decided to do all the testing again because nothing was happening after I was on my meds and found out that it not just me this time. So we are starting our rounds of IUI next week. I am just wondering what to expect. I am hoping its not painful or something. I have already been through 3 painful procedures and really don't want to just keep adding it up. Anyways, any input would be helpful. I am really hoping that our chances end here. I really don't want to start doing the In Vitro process if it comes to that. Which I hope it doesn't and am confident it won't. (Plus, I could never afford it. . . so I don't know) Anyways, so if anyone out there that reads this has been through this process it would be nice to hear your experience. I am kinda scared . . mostly that it won't work. But anyways, like I said we start into the process next week, so wish me luck!

Those who have gone private . . .

For all of those who have gotten private . . and I didn't know about it. Will you please add me! Thanks.

nicoleharnold@hotmail.com

Tag, I'm it

Ten Years Ago I Was...
1. In the eighth Grade
2. Getting ready for high school and preparing for Drill Team tryouts
3. Spending most of my weekends with Marcy, Ashley, Desi, Manda, Jen . . . everyone. We did a lot of dragging main and hanging out with Nate Bird and his friends in his convertible. lol
4. Dating Sal
5. Got my braces off and babysat my nephew, Trevan a lot.

Five Things on Today's To Do List...
1. TONS of Laundry
2. Finish planning Araleigh's birthday party
3. Go look for quilt material for Araleighs room
4. Watch my sisters children
5. Go to dinner

Five Snacks I Enjoy...
1. Chocolate Cinnamon Bears
2. Coke Zero or Diet Pepsi Lime (thanks Brock)
3. Plain Lay's Chips
4. Homemade cookies and treats
5. FiberOne Bars

Five Things I Would Do If I Were A Millionaire...
1. Take my family on vacation
2. Pay off ALL our debt and put money in savings for college
3. Buy us two brand new incredible cars. Me a SUV and Cory whatever he wants.
4. Build and Design my dream home.
5. Give donations to the church . . besides just tithing (Also get a massive food storage)

Five Places I Have Lived...
1. Pocatello, Id
2. Sugar City, Id
3. Idaho Falls, Id
4. Orem, Utah
5. Draper, Utah

Five Jobs I Have Had...
1. Mom
2. Dental Lab Tech at Arrowhead
3. Artco
4. Nanny
5. JCPenneys

Five People I Tag... (You can do both!)
1. Amanda
2. Jen
3. Lacey
4. Ashley
5. Anyone else who wants to

8 Things Tag...

8 Things I am PASSIONATE About...
1. Araleigh
2. Scrapbooking (capturing memories)
3. My Family
4. The Gospel
5. Videography
6. Baking
7. Blogging
8. Clothes

8 "words" or "phrases" I say way to often...
1. "ARALEIGH, I'm gonna kick your butt!" (I NEVER follow through)
2. like
3. ROFL
4. So...
5. Anyways,
6. Your turn to change the diaper
7. freak
8. totally

8 Things I want to do before I die...
1. Adopt a child.
2. Give birth to a child without fertility procedures and medications.
3. Travel to Europe with my husband and then with the family somewhere else
4. Have a cabin
5. Build my dream home . . .
6. Learn domestics . . .such as sewing, crafting, and coupon clipping!
7. Get out of Debt
8. Make sure my children know of my testimony and can somehow be touched by it.

8 Things I have learned From my past...
1. Never expect things to happen to you, just because they happens to everyone else. (totally agree)
2. Don't judge a book by its cover.
3. If I am going to stay home . . . be a good homemaker
4. The grass is always greener on the other side.
5. Being a Mom is the hardest job ever, but the most rewarding!
6. Honesty and trust is everything
7. If I don't do it myself, it probably wont get done!
8. Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be better, and gives up millions of chances to come back to him.

8 Places I would love to see...
1. New York, again
2. Italy
3. Niagra Falls
4. The Biltamore House, again.
5. Florida
6. Alaska...fishing for sure!
7. Nauvoo, IL- pretty much the church history tour
8. Hawaii

8 Things I Currently Need or Want...
1. a nap.
2. to get into the groove again and to lose 5 more pounds
3. a better relationship with someone not named
4. A new car . . . ours is falling apart by the day
5. a shower
6. I want to be done with planning Araleigh's birthday
7. want to be out of debt and not worry anymore
8. Araleigh to be potty trained and sleep in her big girl bed (that she is getting next week)

Camera shy . . . i think not!

So Araleigh has become a photographer. Mainly demonstrating self portraits. I must say, she is not only a cheerleader in training . . . . but a blogger in training as well! So I am wondering. . . do I break the habit now cuz it seems that taking a whole bunch of "self" portraits is a bit conceded. Hmm . . . never thought I'd be dealing with this so soon! lol Anyways, she is so funny.. everytime she finds a camera, she turns it on herself, smiles huge and yells cheese. Usually it just gets her nostrils and mouth .. . but she's had a few good ones. Anyways, here are some "self" portraits of Araleigh.

Homecoming Friday . . woot woot

Alright, so its been homecoming week for my fellow alumni (to be). Sugar had homecoming this week. . and we have been ALL UP in the Jist of things! Today was the parade, and I took Araleigh and my nephew. Let me just say . . we had the best seats ever!! Fighting off the crowd to get them . . . . it was really hard to get in there and get some real good seats. . . but we fought and fought and finally achieved the ultimate seats! (jk) So we just walked down to the corner of my mom's block. . . where there was one little girl and her grandma sitting across the street from us. . and down the street at the school was where the crowd got a bit bigger. But I will say, since we were at the beginning . . . all those eager students wanted to chuck candy . . . and I now have enough to pass out for Halloween! Thanks Diggers! It was fun and Araleigh LOVED it . . . she loves parades! She was so cute . . . they'd throw her candy, she run after it and then yell "TANK YOU". Soooooooo stinking cute. She melts my heart sometimes, its funny because I can't believe how polite she has gotten. She says thank you for everything. Whether its giving her something or just opening the door so she can walk in. I am also Sooo ecstatic because she is REALLY starting to talk well. A lot of time people can't understand her words completely . . . but I do. She is starting to related people to their names and her vocab is really growing. We decided to go support our team . . . the wonderful Diggers! woot woot. We went to the game and it was fun, though we lost. . . I have to write that my Araleigh is a cheerleader in training. I didn't even show her what to do and she just stood up (when they would start a cheer) she'd clap, then throw her fist in the air- or to the side. Then out of NO WHERE she yells "Big Bue". Proud moment for me. Nuf said! hahaha. They kept cheering saying "Go Big Blue" and she just caught onto the last words. It was so stinking cute. THEN funniest part. . . I look over and she has her legs sprawled out and her hands on her hips. She was just concentrating SO HARD on standing still like them in their positions. Anyways, such a good night. Though she has a really bad cold, luckily Grandma wanted to scram so took munchkin home to a warm house.

FYI Twilight Fans

K- so for all you Twilight fans . . . so like everyone! Well, apparently someone stole her copies of her Midnight Sun drafts and released them on her website. Well, so she decided to release it herself on her website. SO . . . we can now officially read Edwards version of Midnight Sun. I don't think its a completed version. But I am not sure. Anyways, if you are dying to read this. I know I am . . . cuz I had read the 1st chapter that was released on the website and it was good. So I am excited to start reading it up to where she has. Anyways, check it out if your a fan!!!! (go to stepheniemeyers.com)

Time Out For Women

t for So this past weekend, I got tickets for my sisters, mom, and I to go to Time Out for Women. It was in Logan, Ut. Let me just say, I have thought about it . . . I to my memory cannot think of a time when my sisters, mom and I . . went somewhere by ourselves. It was a good time. We stayed up till 1 in the morning, laughing our heads off and just enjoying each others company. I was really excited that they agreed to go. The devotionals were incredible. The women who spoke were entertaining, inspirational and just out right hilarious. Kenneth Cope was there and he sung between speakers and stuff. We had so much fun. Then we went to eat a few times and pretty much talked about Twilight the whole way home. (My sisters FINALLY took my advice to read them . . .after like A YEAR. Now they are really into them.) Anyways, I learned a lot about service and attitude this weekend . . and have really thought about changes in my life that need to occur. I certainly hope that my family took something away with it as well.

Tuesday Tells . . . .

So I had to write about our day. So Cory is out of town, again and last night I got bored and decided to come stay with my parents. They always keep me company and Araleigh LOVES being with Grandma and Grandpa. Well, lets just say that my daughter has needed at least 2 baths every day we have been here. So my parents, not thinking about little grand daughters out smarting them, bought a fridge with the freezer on the bottom. K- first clue. This IS REACHABLE to an "almost" two year old. Well, she is OBSESSED with Popsicles. . . and found a bag in Grandma's freezer one day while "exploring". Well, she hasn't forgot. Well, needless to say Araleigh has officially turned into a popsicle. She has finished the bag today. It was more than half way full yesterday and she finished the LAST one today. YAH, she had one for every meal, every snack . . . and well really, there wasn't a time when she didn't have one in her hand. It's pretty funny cuz we went to clean up dinner and I found like 7 popscicle sticks in the sink. She mistakened the sink for the garbage. Anyways, she has been so sticky from head to toe. Here is a picture of her crazy hair . . . with a new FABULOUS volume product called "Cheap Orange Popscicle Juice" . . . . yeah, does wonders and totally makes things stay in place! Well, LUCKILY at about 5 pm tonight she officially RAN out of them. (So we thought) until about 5:30 when she realized that she DIDN'T have a cold treat in hand she ran back to the freezer, OPENED it, starting tearing out all the meat . . . . and BEHOLD . . . in the VERY back under frozen meat was ONE-HALF of a popscicle. . . . and she GOT it. We were laughing SO hard because she was so determined to find one . . . and she did. Who knew kids were as clever as they really are. Anyways, she's been fun these past couple of days and her and I have had a lot of laughing and playing time. Although, I have realized we are in a new phase. Its called hitting mommy - no matter what. She hits ALL THE TIME. Does ANYONE know if this is normal? I don't know if she is just a brat or in a phase. Anyways, I say "Hi, Araleigh . . give me a hug." and BAM . . I get punched. Lets just say Araleigh has spent some quality time by herself in the room on the bed. I don't even know if she gets it . . . but I think she does. Anyways, it would be great if someone could ease my parenting concerns by saying this is normal . . . cuz if not looks like I am enrolling my child in Anger Management at age (almost) two.

I do have to say though I have been working on a family recipe book for a while and have really tried to get a bunch done the last few days. Well, thanks to my dad . . he took Araleigh on a little adventure and took her to the park to get her out of the house. Well, all I can think of is how ecstatic she was about the whole thing. Dad said she kept going down the huge slide . . . and I think it scared him a bit cuz she was on her own. She came running into the house yelling "BAMPA, I Wing" Meaning Grandpa took me on the swing. She was laughing and giggling so hard telling me . . . I wish I knew everything she was saying but I know she was just so excited to tell me about her "date" with Grandpa. So thanks Dad, for taking her out and letting us have a break to figure out dinner and work on my project!

TGIO . . .

THANK GOODNESS IT'S OVER!

Let me just say . . . I am SOOOOOOOOOOO relieved that the fair is over. We had a ton of fun though being there. I liked the fact that we spent the whole week pretty much all together and Cory wasn't gone to much. Making up for this next week I guess. Anyways, so we went to the Joe Nicols/Jason Michael Carrol concert on Friday. It was a lot of fun. I was pleasantly surprised that Cory enjoyed it . . . for the most part. He doesn't like country that much. But it was a lot of fun, I thought. Dustin and Candace went along with us . . . as did my brother and his family. I will be honest though, Cory and I both thought that the "Pre-show" Jason Michael Carrol was way better than Joe Nichols. I don't know if its was just cuz he liked to swing his hips around humping the air . . . or his long dangly hair that he wouldn't get out of his eyes. He was pretty entertaining! Anyways, here is my page of the concert.


So on Saturday, I have to say that my little girl is getting to grown up. I was trying to get ready to leave for the fair and Cory was in the shower . . and I said to Araleigh "go to your room so we can get you dressed." Well, she took off running and like 2 minutes later she comes RuNNING back into my room yelling "Momma, oh Toot!" so I look down . . . and this is what I found . . .

I was laughing so hard . .. cuz she was SO proud of her dressing herself. Even though she mistakened a shirt for pants . . I thought it was so stinking cute and she was just so excited with herself.

At the fair we also got Araleigh a tattoo. She has been SO traumatized by it. Every time she sees it she freaks out and puts on a jacket or pulls her sleeves down. So I am officially not afraid of her getting a tattoo. Cory's cousins had a booth at the fair that they did airbrush tattoos. So he hooked us up . . . well he gave Araleigh one. We didn't really want one. It was funny cuz all my nieces and nephews got one . . . so it was fun for them. Here is Araleigh showing off her not so loved tattoo . . . (this was one time she was okay with it showing . . . primarily cuz I was getting her a treat!)

We also ended up taking Araleigh for one more fun day at the fair on Saturday. She rode the train and absolutely LOVED it. She was laughing SO hard the entire time. We also got to take her through the petting zoo again. I am glad we had the chance to let her have a good time. I was shocked because she usually gets REALLY nervous around animals and she warmed up to the little goats and ended up feeding them. She did good . . . and she absolutely LOVED the puppies. She was just laughing at them trying to get them to come to her .. . . (she didn't realize they couldn't come through the fence) It was good. Then my great mother took her to the camper when we closed down the booth . . . and Cory and I got to go spend a few hours with his cousins playing. We rode a few rides (Yeah, the fireball was incredible . . . LOVED IT!) and just had a nice time spending some alone time together. Well, now Cory is off to Utah again. He left last night and will be there until Wed. when he will be working up at the ranch for the rest of the week. Then on Friday, my mom, sisters, and I are off to Utah to go to Time Out for Women. I am pretty excited about it and hope that we can have a spiritual experience. I am truly excited that us girls will get to go spend time together. But this week is truly going to be a lonely one, AGAIN . . .cuz I will not see Cory until probably late Saturday night . . . anyways, there is a big update!

Fair, Food, and Exhausted Parents

o


So we have a booth at the Blackfoot Fair . . . and Cory and I were down there Monday-Wednsday working at it. When my mom wasn't there, she had Araleigh . . . THANK GOODNESS! Anyways, so I have to say I have pretty much CAPPED out on fair food. I have tried EVERYTHING THERE. And yes, I have gained 2 lbs JUST THIS WEEK. I am SOOOOO . . . burnt out on it. But I have been satisfied for ALL my fair food cravings til next year! Can you BELIEVE how much they charge there for that food. I spent SO MUCH MONEY . . . . ahhh anyways, so yesterday my mom brought Araleigh to us at the fair to swap out . . . and we decided to take her on the rides and actually walk through and enjoy the fair. Let me just say, my daughter has officially hit the terrible . . TERRIBLE twos to the extremeties. I am a bit concerned for myself. She was SO naughty. She was yelling at people, punching me for getting off the ride (because it was OVER) and just being an all around TURD. Partly I blame the fact the she couldn't nap. But anyways, one CRAZY thing that happened was we were taking the kids through the horse barn and they were all excited and petting them. Well, I was holding Araleigh up to one horse to pet it and my mom was standing on the other side on the phone. Well, out of No where the horse yanks its head back and bit my moms arm. It was NUTS! She has this big ol' bruise and she said it still is killing her. It was SO SCARY. Well, I don't have to tell you that we left all animals after that and decided the show was over. My poor mom, didn't even see it coming. This is why I hate horses. They are big, and totally unpredictable. Anyways, then on our way out last night at about 9 we took Araleigh through the petting zoo. She absolutely LOVED it. I wanted to buy one of those little puppys SO BAD. And the little goats were so stinking cute. It was a pretty good day for her . . . not so much us who had to DEAL with her . . . but she had fun. But I have to say its NICE to be home! Now I get to get all pumped up for the Joe Nichols/Jason Michael Carroll concert tomorrow~! Woo hoo! Cory isn't thrilled at all . . . but I don't care! It's gonna be fun! Anyways, for anyone who hasn't gone down there yet here is a list of my FAVS!
Food:
*I found the BEST cheeseburger is at the corner building by the food stage. (next to the agriculture building) they also have fried cheese curds that I get with it . . . YUMMO!
*Obviously the Tiger Ears (I don't know why they aren't called Elephant Ears . . cuz a tigers ear is not that big)
*Strawberry Kabobs. . . WOW. Chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. (u get 5)
*Chicken Teryaki Bowl right next to the Ag. bldg.
*Gyros: these are different but Cory and I both liked them.
*Chocolate dipped cheesecake (on a stick) only for the cheesecake lover tho!
*Scotch n' Soda or Lime Rickey at the corner drink place
*Corn on the Cob. I don't know WHY their corn is incredible . . but wow!

Well, thats all that I ended up loving . . . enjoy if you try any of them!