Happy New Year

We had a lovely Christmas. I hope yours was enjoyable as well.

So one of my New Year's Resolutions is to keep up with this thing!

Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful New Year's.

Utah State Fair

So it's pretty amazing to me how you have children and your whole thought process changes. When I saw the billboard for the Utah State Fair, I no longer thought of deep fried goodies (while I still do love those) or what band is coming?, all I could think of is "Ahh, Camden loves animals. I should take him to see the animals". So, that's what I did. Aerial, Richard, Amy and Jeff in tow, I took Camden to the State Fair.

It was your typical State Fair, although I do remember it being much larger. The last time I was there was about five or six years ago, so who knows for sure. There were plenty of carnival rides and the deep fried goodness I was speaking of earlier and lots of vendors selling everything from poreclain dolls to wacky weed banners. While it was all enjoyable to look at, the very best part was watching Camden with all the cows and the sheep and the goats and pigs. I really hope Aerial and Richard, Jeff and Amy had a good time too.

Camden got to ride a pony and by the end of the day, I had cow poop all over my jeans (from Cam's feet), but I did not mind at all. It was so much fun... and the funnel cake was AWESOME!!!

Happy 30th to me!!!

Thank you so much for those of you who were able to make it to my 80's prom to celebrate my 30th birthday. I had a lot of fun. Be looking for pictures soon at www.mikaelasprom.com.

Game to Play

Here's what you do. First, read my answers so you learn a little more about me. Then Copy and Paste the questions in my comments and change the X's and the answers to fit you. That way I learn a little about you. Feel free to take the questions and use on your blog or email out to your friends to keep the game going.

(X) Gone on a blind date
(X)Skipped school
( X)Watched someone die
( ) Been to Canada
(X)Been to Mexico
(X) Been to Florida
(X) Been on a plane
(X) Been lost
(X)Been on the opposite side of the country
( ) Gone to Washington , DC
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently colored with crayons
(X) Sang Karaoke
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only?
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
(X) Made prank phone calls
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X ) Danced in the rain
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X)Watched the sunrise with someone you care about
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
( )Been skinny dipping outdoors
(X) Gone to the movies 1. Any nickname? Kae, Mikey, Mik, Macadamia Nut
2. Mother's name.. Jenny
3. Favorite drink? Diet Coke (alcoholic: Lemon Drop)
4. Any Tattoo's? nope
5. Body piercings? Ears and belly button (no ring in it though)
6. How much do you love your job? Today is not the day to ask that
7. Birthplace..... England
8. Favorite vacation spot? Anywhere
9. Ever been to Africa ? Nope
10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? I think I will tonight
11. been on TV? Yup, in Iraq too.
12. Ever steal any traffic sign? nope
13. Ever been in a car accident? A few…
14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4
15. Favorite salad dressing? Fat Free Italian
17. Favorite number? 19
18 Favorite movie? Love Actually
19. Favorite holiday? Birthday (yes, that is a holiday!)
20. Favorite dessert? The banana crème pie from Ruth’s Chris
21. Favorite food? Mexican
22. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
23. Favorite brand of body wash? Tone
24. Favorite toothpaste? Crest
25. Favorite smell? Rain
26. What do you do to relax? Read to Camden
27. How do you see yourself in 10 years from now? A soccer mom (only with a cooler car and better looking pants)
28. How many siblings do you have? 3
29. Furthest place you will send this message? England
30. Who will respond to this the fastest?? Boy
31. What is your most memorable Birthday? So far 27th but the 30th is just around the corner (I am making invites as I type. Get ready!!!)
32. What did you want to me when you were little? Radio DJ
33. Favorite Restaurant? Ruth’s Chris
34. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies
35. What is the day on the calendar you are most looking forward to? Sept 6th, my bday party…again, Get ready!!!

Do you read for pleasure?

Can I just say how much I love my book club? First and foremost, the women are amazing. By amazing, I mean AMAZING! Second, I am exposed to books that I don't think I would typically pick up. So our group has been meeting for over two years. I have loved some of our books and just liked others and some, I just could not get through at all.

I have decided to post the new book each month. Not that you will all want to run out and grab the book I am reading, but sometimes, you may want a book and not know of one to get.

Here is what I am currently reading:

August: The Monster of Florence by: Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi.

A thriller writer and crime reporter try to unlock the secrets of decades-old real-life murders in MONSTER OF FLORENCE. Between 1974 and 1985, seven different couples were found slain in their cars just outside the city of Florence, Italy. When novelist Douglas Preston and reporter Mario Spezi decided to try to piece together what had really happened, they quickly found themselves in trouble, with Spezi landing himself in jail and Preston accused of obstructing justice. The book finally saw the light of day after Dateline NBC did a piece on the daring duo. Mystery buffs will likely find this true-crime tale a tantalizing, thoroughly engaging ride.

September: Breaking Dawn by: Stephenie Meyer.

The hotly anticipated fourth and final book in the bestselling teen vampire series Twilight promises to answer many burning questions, but not until August 2008. What will happen to Edgar and Bella? Will Bella get her wish and be turned into a vampire? Will their love survive? Will Jacob really stop pursuing Bella? The list could go on and on, but BREAKING DAWN promises to be a page-turner no matter what happens.

If you are wanting just one to pick up, I would suggest Breaking Dawn (assuming of course you have read Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse). I am loving it!!!

Good Tips!!!

It's amazing how little household tips save so much time and energy. Thanks domestic goddess!

• Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.
• Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.-
• Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold.
• Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.-
• Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef and it will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.-
• To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream and then beat them up.-
• Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if you want a stronger taste of garlic.-
• Leftover snickers bars make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core, and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.-
• Reheat pizza. Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove. Set heat to medium-low and heat until warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.-
• Easy Deviled Eggs. Put cooked yolks in a ziploc bag. Seal and mash until they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients and reseal the bag. Keep mashing until it is mixed thoroughly. Cut the tip of the baggy and squeeze mixture into the eggs. Just throw the bag away when done - easy clean up.-
• Expanding Frosting. When you buy a container of frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.-
• No more mosquitoes. Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.- Squirrel away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it. The same is supposed to work well with cats also.-
• Measuring cups. Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.-
• Foggy windshields. Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser. Works better than a cloth!-
• Get rid of ants! Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it home, and can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have to worry about pets or small children being harmed!-
• Info about clothes dryers! The heating unit went out on someone's dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house told her that he wanted to show them something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean (the owner always cleaned the lint from the filter after every load of clothes). The man took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of mesh material and the water just sat on top of the mesh, not going through at all. He told them that dryer sheets cause a film over the mesh and that's what burns the heating unit up. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what's in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free (it's the waxy feel when you take them out of the box and the waxy stuff builds up

It's getting closer!!!

So my big 3-0 is coming up quickly! On September 6th, I'll be hosting an 80's Prom in celebration of my 30th birthday. Everyone is invited! Come get your groove on to 80's dance music and also get your "prom" picture taken! I'd love to see you all there!

For the love of Edward!

I would love to say that Aerial loves Edward so much, that Zac, Amy and myself would sacrafice work to stand in line for two hours and fourty five minutes for a wristband (at two seperate locations to up the odds of a good wristband), but... who would we be kidding. Aerial may love Edward that much, but so do I... and Amy and Mia and Aubree and just about every other girl (and woman) I know. So, needless to say, these lines for a wristband were not too bad, for the love of Edward. Tonight, we will wait with baited breath for the bite of eternal love (or hope so anyway)!

Ain't Love GRAND?

While attending a Wedding dinner last night (CONGRATS Court and Hailie!!!!) I started to think about how wonderful love is, whether it be the love between friends, brother and sister or husband and wife... LOVE IS GRAND!

So it's been a while....

Okay, okay... it's been a while since our last post. I do have to admit, I knew this would happen. In all honesty I wanted to keep this posted, but I feel like I never have the time... which is quite pathetic when I sit in front of a computer all day long!!! Lucky for Richard, he knows I'm working.

So much has happened in the last month (okay, almost two). Richard and I are back in the full swing of things at work. We have been rather busy and in our economy, I'm very glad for our full schedule. I may moan quite a bit that all I seem to do is work, but in the large scheme of things, I am very grateful to be working. We have just moved our offices because we have grown out of the old one. It was quite exciting moving. We got to move out the old tennants and move us in. Moving them out meant breaking down whatever they left behind... including desks. After Amy and I had some very theraputic sessions with a hammer, Randy decided to help us out with a saw... below is the video at how much fun a saw in the office is. I must admint, It is very exciting to watch our company grow, especially when we started in the basement with three of us.

Aerial is out of school for the summer and has been so busy. She has been to Youth Conference and Yearbook Camp. She got accepted to work on American Fork High School's Yearbook staff. She is so excited about it and has so many little secrets she cant share about the book. It will be really exciting to see how it turns out at the end of the school year. We are planing a vacation as a family which we are all really excited about. Richard is talking about Victoria British Columbia and Aerial and I are crossing our fingers. Sounds like fun to us! If we drive it, I am hoping Forks, WA is not too far out of the way as I would love to take Aerial there (for those of you who are not Twilight fans... SHAME ON YOU, I mean, this is an intregal place of where the Twilight series takes place. With Aerial being such a big fan, okay.... I am too, It would be really cool to see).

Camden is one busy little guy. He is still with Amie and Aerial during the day. Can I just say how much I love this. He is with family all day long. It really helps set my mind at ease knowing he is with people who love him and whom he love so much! Camden and Annalyse are like two peas in a pod. I've been told that people ask Amie if they are twins. While they are not twins, they sure are cute siblings. I really am greatful for all that the Stakers do for us. Camden is a monkey. Just in case you did not catch that, he is a MONKEY! That boy loves to climb all over the place. He climbs up Richard, he climbs up ladders and jungle gyms and couches and he even climbs into his crib at night. I think now is the time to get a playset in the back yard. He has so much energy that at the end of the day I am exhausted! Sometimes he is not too coordinated with his climbing and he falls. He has had several goose eggs in his day, but this one takes the cake! To outlet some of his energy, I have enrolled him in The Little Gym. I really love these classes. The help alot when it comes to listening to instructions and interating with other kids. Camden is not so good at taking turns. He has come so far after only four classes. He has learned how to do summersaults and walk on balance beams by himself. I absolutely adore watching him in class. He is growing so fast and has turned into a little boy. I'm not sure where my baby has gone, but it happened overnight.

We took Cam to Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days carnival. I was not sure how he was going to react on rides. Amy and I took him on a Ferris Wheel. He just sat and rode the ride. No whining. Then Richard and I put him on a Flying Saucer ride and HE LOVED IT! When it was over and we took him off, he started to cry. Good thing I had another ticket to put him back on it! Good thing Steel Days is coming up in American Fork. Another chance for a good carnival ride, and a good funnel cake!!!

Richard went to Las Vegas with Courtney and the boys for his bachelor party. I think he had a really good time. I stayed here with Hailie and we had a great time at the Huka bar. It was great to see some girls I had not seen in a while. Jamie, Kelly and Nikki were hanging out when me, Hailie and Brandi got there. Brenda was going to come by for dinner, but we were having so much fun she decided to stay longer. I cant post all the pictures as some are pretty scandalous. But hey, that's how it's supposed to be for a bachlorette party, right?

My sister Sarah and her husband Phil came to visit us. They were in San Francisco on Holiday from England and they popped in for a surprise visit. I was on the phone in my office when they came in. I felt really bad for whomever I was on the phone with because not only did I scream when I saw her, but I screamed LOUD. They stayed for a few days before they went onto Hawaii. I was quite jealous, but very exicted for the two of them. We have just found out that thier new addition is going to be a BOY! I am so thrilled for them! Now we start thinking of boy names.... Any suggestions?

For the 4th of July we got together with some friends at Zac's and Liz's house and had a bbq . It was so much fun! Pierre and Kristy brough Belle. It was really great for Camden to see his friend after so long. I wish there was more time in the day so we could actually see our friends and family as often as we would like. I must admit, the best part of the evening was the fireworks and the stuff we found to blow up with them. The best was a hotdog. Seeing Liz and her friend Jenny splattered with a hotdog was hillarious!

On Saturday, we went with my family to see Wall-E. It was fun seeing a movie all together, with the exception that Camden decided to get sick and I must have changed 6 diapers in an 1 1/2 hour show. One of them was so bad, that I think I had more of it on my shirt than he had in his diaper. My mum said I did not smell very good. I was really impressed with how well my dad was doing after his first knee surgery. I am so proud of how well he is doing. Not too long until the next one. Hopefully then, this will relieve some of the pain he has been having.

So did this make up for two months, probably not, but it will have to do for now.

Ciao and we will see you next posting....

Back from the cruise!

Wow! That pretty much sums it up! The vacation was fantastic! Richard and I had so much fun. We went with our friends Jeff and Amy to Disney World and then on the Mariner of the Seas with Royal Carribbean. Our ports were Labadee, Haiti; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico! Not only was our cruise fantastic, we were able to do so much off the boat. We went parasailing in Haiti, tubing down the White River in Jamaica; rode wave runners to Stingray City in Grand Cayman and a whole lot of shopping in Mexico! We dressed up some nights for dinner and went very casual for others. It was perfect for every mood. We both caught a little too much sun up on the pool deck but had a great time doing it. There was so much to do on this cruise ship that we did not have time to see and do everything on this massive boat! We did find our way to the casino! Richard met some of the coolest guys playing poker. A couple of the dealers told me that it was the best crowd playing poker that they have ever seen. I learned how to play Craps! I wanted to learn how to play the game that everyone cheers at. I sure did learn why they cheer. It is a fun game. Hopefully we will keep in touch with everyone we met! After we got off the ship, we went to Kennedy Space Ceter. It was so amazing and interesting! The coolest thing is that The Discovery is on the launch pad for blast off on May 31st. Not very often you get to see the ship on the launch pad. It was so cool! The hardest part of the vacation was missing Aerial and Camden so much! There were so many things we did that we thought Aerial would just love. I was so excited to get off the plane so I could run and hug Camden. It felt like an eternity that we were away from him. It was really cute seeing him in the Airport with my family. They took the time to make a cute sign for me (as it was mother's day) and Camden stood at the end of security holding it for me. According to my mom and dad, everyone was walking by ooing at how cute he is. I'm sure we'll be planning our family vacation before too long. It was too much fun not to do again! Richard and I had a wonderful time, but it also feels good to be back and get back into our normal routine!

So we are getting ready to go on our vacation! Our Wicked tickets fell through, so no Oz for me this trip. Luckily it's coming to Utah next year, so I can wait! Richard has never been on a cruise before, so this should be fun! I am really excited for me and Richard to get some time together but I sure am going to miss Aerial and Camden! I think Camden is going to have so much fun at my brothers house though. Manon loves him SO MUCH and loves to play with him. I know he is going to have a great time!