Wow it's been a long time

Having Aaron take the camera to China for 2 & 1/2 wks really put a dent in my blogging! Not too much has been happening. Brielle is growing so quickly! Where is the 'slow' button? Hmmm, that sounds odd. I don't want her to be 'slow' - I just don't want to blink and wonder where that teenager came from ;)

Sophie is puking her guts up. Yeah, it's fun around here. Poor girl. The last time she even warned me. I was putting her down for a nap, reading to and rocking her, when she says, "Mommy, I need bowl." I rush out and didn't even get it back to her before I hear the splash. And another splash. And finally, another splash in the bowl. Poor girl. I'm so worried that Brielle will get it too. Ugh.

On a funnier note, Sophie is utterly convinced that Santa says, "No, no, no." I guess he's a very cheery disciplinarian.

Brielle is coo-ing and smiling all the time. And she's just started really laughing too. Why do my kids always laugh first for other people? Ah well. She was laughing at my dad on Thanksgiving. He was rocking her while singing. She LOVES it when he sings to her. He's got a big, deep voice and she was just looking at him in awe. Then she'd smile, then giggle. It was too adorable. Then today I guess Aaron really had her giggling. Yup, I think he's pretty funny too. ;)

And finally, I'm officially on the Bahama Countdown! 11 days until we leave! If you can't tell, I'm super excited. I am really keeping my fingers crossed that Brielle won't get this bug that Sophie has. And also that Sophie will be completely better before we leave. Not only are we leaving her with a babysitter during the days (and Grandma has her at night), but how terrible to be away from home and to not have your mommy when you're sick!?!

Now, I'm hoping to get some time away from the kiddos in the next week and a half to go shopping. I'm hoping to find a good deal on some warmer clothes to take, we'll see. But, I'm afraid finding a new swimming suit in December in Colorado just isn't in the cards.

Darn, my other post posted below the Twilight one (I started it and then came back to it, so that's why, and I don't know how to fix it). Sooooooo, to check out just a few pics from China, see below.

Go ahead -

You can start calling me a dork now if you want, but I am so excited about the Twilight movie coming out this Friday! Wahoo! I loved, loved, loved the books, but that being said, I'm a little cautious about the movie. It might be just me, but I don't think that any of the cast look like the characters I imagined in my head. Aren't they all supposed to be amazingly attractive? The only one that somewhat fits the picture in my head is Carlisle. Edward is slowly growing on me and Bella is pretty good, although already pale, so the contrast isn't that great IMO.

But, have you seen Rosalie? Hmmm... I'm pretty sure there were prettier girls at the mall today... or at Sams for that matter. No offense Nikki Reed. I'm sure you're very pretty.

And check out Jasper. Is that a bad wig? Emmett is ok, but not what I imagined either. And although Esme is pretty, so far I can't get over the fact that I see the crazy crushed lady from Grey's Anatomy each time I look at her.

What do you all think?

Even though I'm wondering about the casting, I'm super excited for Friday!!

What's halfway around the world?

... my husband.

Some of you know, some of you don't - that Aaron is currently in Shanghai, China. It's one of the places he's always wanted to go, so I'm excited and happy for him. Sad for us maybe, but excited and happy for him. Here's a few pics from his recent excursion.

This is the Pearl tower. It's a television tower with a 'ball' of offices and whatnot in the middle of it. There is also a restaurant there, but it officially sucks according to Aaron. Just fyi in case you're ever in Shanghai, lol.

I came across this...

I came across this quote from Michael J. Fox.

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection.

Excellence, I can reach for;

perfection is God's business.

Halloween '08

I know Halloween was like a week ago and these pictures are actually from our ward Halloween party 2 wks ago, but I finally have a minute w/o the baby in my arms or Sophie crawling all over me... so here are just a couple pics from Halloween.

We were supposed to all be characters from the Wizard of Oz... Sophie as Dorothy, Aaron as the scarecrow, me as Glenda the good witch, and Brielle as Toto. However, the day that we were finishing costumes and the party was that night, was the day of my finger, uh, incident. So, Aaron and I's costume didn't get finished. That's ok (except for all the work my mom put in on mine) b/c I didn't feel like dressing up anyway.

So, Sophie is still Dorothy and we're saying Brielle is Toto. I think 'technically' she's a black cat, but really, she's Toto! :)

Teen Pregnancy article

To read the whole article, you can go here.

CHICAGO – Groundbreaking research suggests that pregnancy rates are much higher among teens who watch a lot of TV with sexual dialogue and behavior than among those who have tamer viewing tastes. "Sex and the City," anyone? That was one of the shows used in the research.

The new study is the first to link those viewing habits with teen pregnancy, said lead author Anita Chandra, a Rand Corp. behavioral scientist. Teens who watched the raciest shows were twice as likely to become pregnant over the next three years as those who watched few such programs.

Previous research by some of the same scientists had already found that watching lots of sex on TV can influence teens to have sex at earlier ages.