Hubby Tag

I was tagged by my friend Meg to fill out this 'Hubby Tag'. I've never been tagged before and was quite excited to finally join the "tagged". So here I go, with much excitement. . . .My Hubby, Brett Earl Pickett.


1. Where did you meet? Provo Utah. He was mission companions with my roommates cousin. We happened to sit next to each other at this fellows homecoming. Brett pulled the "would you like me to translate the spanish" bit and I fell for it hook, line and sinker.
2. How long did you date before you were married? One year.
3. How long have you been married for? 4 and a half years now
4. What does he do that surprises you? He does the dishes every night :)
5. What your favorite feature about him? His hands and his smile
6. What's your favorite quality about him? He is such a loving father and a hard worker. Also he is good at just about everything he tries.
7. Does he have a nickname for you? What is it? he calls me "Mrs."
8. What's his favorite color? blue
9. What's his favorite food? enchiladas
10. What is his favorite sport? ?? probably basketball, but he isnt obsessive about sports.
11. Who said I love you first? He did
12. When and where was your first kiss? It was on our second date. We were at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo (because it was after curfew), "watching" Monsters Inc. in Brett's Lexus. To much information?? Sorry. :)
13. What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? hmm. . .making out is up there, but we also like to watch movies, play dr. Mario, and go on family outings (the zoo, the aquarium, where ever, it's just better when we're all there together!!)
14. Do you have any kids? How many? We have two sweet little girls. Emmeline Louise is almost 3 and Mabel Jane just turned 1.
15. What's a hidden talent that he has? He will always try to let other people win. If we are playing nintendo and his competition really isn't competition, Brett will often let them win anyway. I've seen him go backwards a whole lap on Mario Kart before to give someone an advantage. Niceness is certainly a talent of Bretts. (With that said, if someone really is competitive with Brett then he will be very competitive back!)
16. How old is he? 27
17. What's his favorite type of music? All kinds.
18. What do you admire most about him? His desire to do right
19. What his favorite past time? surfing on the computer, especially sites dealing with: mac computers and products, cars, possible future jobs and possible future houses. He also enjoys waterskiing and hanging out at home.
20. Do you think that he is going to read this? Yeah, eventually

I tag Alicia Cutts, Michelle Norris, Rachel Hall, Jen Butler, Jamie Rogers and Jeannine Jorgensen(mom, this would be a great opportunity to start up your blog!:) )

Ward Talent Show

On Sat. September 13 we had our annual ward talent show. It was a great activity. I got to the activity in the worst mood ever. I told Brett that I just felt icky and blue inside. I dont know why I was feeling so grouchy, but I was. As the talents continued on I started to feel so much better. This may sound silly or cheesy or whatever, but as I listened to families sing and children play music, tell jokes, etc., my spirit was buoyed up and became happy and light. It turned out to be a wonderful night despite my original bad mood. I was reminded that we are each children of a loving Heavenly Father and we each have special, individual talents. It is important not only to strengthen our own talents but to share and delight in each others gifts as well.

Another fun story from the night was that little Emmeline decided to share a talent with the crowd. We hadn't prepared anything since she is still so young, not quite three yet. During some of the musical talents she leaned over to me and said, "It's my turn next!" I asked her if she would get scared and shy in front of all the people. She told me that she wouldn't. I asked what she wanted to do and she told me very decidedly that she was going to sing 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider'. I had her go with Brett to ask the Activity Chairwoman, Sister Stanley, if she might be able to get up and sing her song. Sister Stanley said it was no problem and let Emmeline be the very next act. Brett got up on stage with her and she sang, quite clearly for everyone to hear. I was very surprised and very impressed. What a talented little lady.

Baptized Chicken

Several weeks ago our family attended the baptism of a sweet little girl in our ward. It was a very nice baptism and Emmeline was very impressed by the whole thing. She didn't want it to end. But it wasnt until a couple of weeks after the baptism that I realized just how impressed Emmeline really was. We were having a family lunch and Em had her usual chicken fingers. Brett and I were talking and not paying any particular attention to Emmeline when all of the sudden she exclaimed in awe, "Look, the chicken is getting baptized!!"  She had dunked her chicken in the sauce and made the connection. Needless to say, I couldn't stop laughing!

Growing up Monkeys

Just a quick comparison. I saw these monkeys at the zoo the other day and was reminded of my own family growing up. The "dog pile" or I suppose more appropriately the "monkey pile" seemed to be a favorite sunday past time of ours. (Somehow I always seemed to be on the bottom of said pile.) Yup, I guess we are all just a bunch of monkeys. :)

Makin Macoroni

I've been meaning to write about this story for quite awhile and am just now getting to it. But it's cute and funny enough that I want to remember it so even though it happened in July. . .here it is.

Emmeline asked for Cheesy Shells for lunch. They happen to be her favorite right now. That sounded good to me so I got some water boiling on the stove. I had to go to the bathroom and of course Mabel tagged along with me. Emmeline however didnt join us. I figured she was just out playing with her toys. Not a problem. So I finished up and figured the water was boiling and ready to put the noodles in it. I asked Em if she wanted to help me pour in the noodles (something that she usually loves to help me with). She said no she was busy playing something else. I was surprised that she didn't want to help, but thought that it was no big deal. When I got to the kitchen, her stool was pulled up to the stove and the noodles were simmering away in the pan. Hilarious!! She had dumped the shells in all by herself while I was in the bathroom. My little miss independent. Anyway, I thought it was pretty awesome. (Dont worry, we talk about hot stoves all the time. When she is playing in her play kitchen she will tell me "Don't touch mom. It's really really hot.")

Happy Birthday Mabel Jane

September 6th was Mabel's first birthday. I can't believe my little bug is already a year old. Right now Mabel loves to play. She loves to play in the little kitchen, she loves to play with books, she loves to play in my bowl cupboard, and she loves to wear shiny necklaces and carry around little purses. For her birthday, we went to the aquarium in Chattanooga TN. We had a great time. Mabel liked the fish and even started saying "fiiishhh, ooooooo". That was very cute. After the aquarium, we had a picnic lunch close to the river. It was a fun birthday. I think Emmeline sang "Happy Birthday" to Mabel at least 100 times. lol.

  Ready for a Party
 Three girls at the aquarium
  Mabel and Mom in with the King Crab
   Happy Birthday Mabel
   Splashing in the water with Dad
 Birthdays are exhausting!!
  Happy Birthday "fish" cupcakes

I love my little Mabes so much and am so thrilled that she is growing up to be such a sweet, curious, beautiful, happy little girl!!

Labor Day Mini Golf

For Labor day this year we decided to take the girls for some mini golf. This course was not nearly as cool as the one we went to in Florida. . .but we had fun hitting the balls around.

London 2012--Here we Come

I loved watching the Olympics this summer. With the rest of the nation, I got caught up in the swimming and enjoyed each of Michael Phelps races. I also enjoyed the gymnastics and volleyball, both beach and indoor. I got annoyed by the Chinese and all of their "iffy" wins but, all in all, I loved watching the events.

I looked online and saw a ton of olympic events that I had no idea even existed as olympic sports. (we dont have cable or any extra channels, so we only see what the basic station decides to show us.) It turns out that shooting is an olympic sport. Men can compete in 10 different events with varying guns including the rifle, pistol and shotgun.

Brett happens to be a phenomenal skeet and trap shooter. When he was 12 years old, he and his brother and dad went to some shooting camp. The owner of the camp asked if Brett could stay there and join his team. He said Brett could get tutors to finish school and compete with him on a professional level. Brett would never say it because he is a very humble fellow, but he is really good. I've decided that after he graduates in a year and a half-two years, he can take a year off and pick up his shotgun. I figure if he competes in a few national competitions he's a shoe in for the olympics. So London-2012, here we come!!!

Farewell Tonsils

On August 20 I got my tonsils removed. I've snored my whole life and have had trouble breathing at night. The troubled breathing got even worse with each pregnancy. I decided I needed to get my tonsils out before I had another baby.

I've tried to have my tonsils taken out before but have been rejected. One doctor said, "Snoring is not a valid reason to get your tonsils removed." Which is very interesting because on this last visit to the doctor a conversation I had with the nurse went something like this: nurse: "Do you snore?" me: "Yes, really bad." nurse: "Yeah, that is a common sign of big tonsils and having difficulty breathing. We probably will want to take them out." Very interesting. Anyway, my current doctor took one look in my throat and immediately offered to write up a referral to get them out. Yeah.

By the luck of the draw, I drew the first surgery of the day and had to be at the hospital by 5 am. We took Emmeline and Mabel over to our friends, the Cutts, house to have a sleepover so all we would have to do would be get up and go. Although I groaned at the time, I've decided that the early morning was the best time for the surgery. I didn't have to go all day without eating (I dont eat breakfast that early anyway--so I didnt have to miss even 1 meal.) Also, I had the whole day to start the recovery process. Which was great.

This was my first surgery. It was weird to go under and weird to come back to. Not necessarily bad. . . just very weird. After the surgery, the surgeon said that my tonsils were the largest he's ever seen for someone my age. Wonderful.

My mom flew in from Virginia that evening to help out with the girls. They had a good time. My mom took them to the park and the science center. They also played dress up and danced around. And grandma also took care of me, making me lots of jello and soup. My mom had to leave Sunday morning and that evening, by a lucky coincidence, Brett's mom arrived here. She spent the next couple of days playing with the girls. She also took them to to science center and sang lots of songs with them. It was so great that both Grandma and Nana could come and help out while I was recovering.

It has now been a while after the surgery and Brett says my snoring is a lot better. He doesnt wake up through the night anymore. I also feel like I can breath better, so I would have to say that all in all, the surgery was worth it.

Grandma Jorgensen, Mabel, and Emmeline
Dress-up and dancing with Grandma J.
Nana, Mabel, and Emmeline
Having a birthday party with Nana

Jenn and BJ Wedding

Bretts little sister Jennica married BJ Welch on August 14, 2008 in the Salt Lake City Temple. Brett and I took the girls back to Utah with us so we could attend. It was a very nice wedding. Everything was beautiful, especially the bride and groom. Emmeline loved playing with her cousins and watching Jenn & BJ come out of the temple. Now she goes around talking about how when she gets big, she is going to get married in the temple and have a princess dress. (I know girls think about their weddings as little girls, but I didn't think I would have to worry about it before Em even turned 3. Oh well. For now what matters to her is the dress and the temple. . .the boy is just an unimportant detail. We'll see how long that lasts.) Anyway, welcome to the family BJ.

Alabama Adventure

My mom, Adam, Lucy and Leland drove to my house a couple of days before we all headed down to Florida. We spent one fun afternoon at Alabama Adventure. Here are a couple of pics. :)