Yes, this is a cop-out blog post. 25 random things!

25 Random things and I mean RANDOM
1. I don't think there are 25 interesting things about me, but I am RANDOM by nature, so I'll try.
2. My feet grew 1/2 inch while I was pregnant. I think all my fat squished them out.
3. I really like it when TV shows call themselves "events". Like a premiere event. It makes me feel like I'm all dressed up attending an event, as opposed to what I'm really doing- lounging on the couch in pj's.
4. I think Q and C are wastes of letters. Q could be accomplished with a "kw" I mean you need to pair a U with it anyway and C is really just S or K. Americans are so wasteful.
5. Speaking of waste, I consider myself an environmentalist and do what I can to stay "green" without going over the top.
6. I miss my family so stinking bad it hurts, but love living in Boise.
7. I went to three different BYU's. Idaho, Hawaii and Utah and then did a BYU internship program in New York City
.8. I could probably eat an entire bucket of red vines by myself in about a week's time.
9. I'm addicted to the gym.
10. I RARELY cry and never cry at movies. Sometimes I do cry during books though.
11. Sometimes I miss doing TV news but love staying home with Bright and doing Public Relations.
12. I kill plants. Not on purpose, but I do.
13. I have like 30 purses but always use the same one.
14. I had fish named "Joe Black and Damnit" in college and a lizard named Truman. May they rest in peace.
15. I get a little creeped out when I see Elmo's full body doing something like riding his trike. Can't explain it.
16. I got over my fear of heights by bungee jumping, hang gliding and sky diving.
17. Now about the only thing I'm afraid of is trains and spiders.
18. I overuse the word freaking. What is it, 1999? I also overuse (...)'s. I think they're called elipsis.
19. I've had two Elton John mugs and either lost or broken both of them within 24 hours. I love Sir Elton.
20. I'm really sad about the death of the sit-com. I love sit coms. Really, let's be honest, I love TV.
21. I buy care bears more for myself than for Bright.
22. I CAN'T stay at home all day. I'll make excuses to run errands just to get out of the house.
23. I was a vegetarian for like eight years and now I'm a full-on meat eater.
24. I'm not going to tag anyone in this note because everyone on Facebook has been tagged a billion times.
25. I haven't heard Brighton for a while and she just ran in the room buck-naked. Nice. yay, I'm done!

Holy Terrible Two's (Out of the gates with a vengeance!)

Holy Moley, I am entirely unprepared for this.
I know "normal" and "good" moms post happy pictures of their kids birthdays.. opening presents, blowing out the candles, the messy chocolate cake face. But I've never claimed to be "good" or even "normal". Here's what I got for ya:

This was literally on her second birthday. It was so ironic (in the Alanis Morrisette, not really ironic but just annoying way) that she acted like this on her birthday. Full on, stomping, screaming, throwing self on the ground tantrums all day. Pulling out one braid, refusing to put on a shirt... The "normal" mom might explain why she was so grumpy but I'm chalking it up to hitting the age of two.

I swear I felt like the paparazzi trying to get pictures of a scantily-clad Brittney having a crazy night on the town. She was trying to hide from me and even tried to push the camera out of her face, but I managed some shots. I was just laughing, which just made her even more mad.

Speaking of laughing when she's mad: I have real issues with this. Last night she was full-on attacking me. Pulling my hair, trying to hit me and I was seriously mad. I busted out my meanest, angriest voice and looked her straight in the eye and told her to STOP!... I was coming as close to yelling as I even can and she just started laughing! It was like this mouth closed, cheeks puffing up, trying to hold it in laughing. I was so mad, yet when she laughs at me I find it funny and it took all my might to hold in my laughter. (It was even harder not to laugh than it was the other night when she grabbed Aaron's "goods" and wouldn't let go. That's the stuff America's Funniest Home Videos is made of.)

She did have an awesome birthday party though, the week after Christmas while we were at Nana's house. She got the coolest-ever remote control pink dinosaur... a bath blizzard https://www.asseenontv.com/offers_on_demand/kidkl_bth_bliz_ood_ontv.html?gid==
which should be sued for false advertising, but fits in with Lynzi's and I's rule to only give "as seen on TV gifts". Also these possessed care bears that communicate with each other (super rad)... and a lot more. My recent favorite is her "felt farm" with all the animals and the farm. I like to try to mess her up by role playing the cow laying the eggs and the chicken being milked. She's already too smart for me though.

I'm Full of Vitamins and Minerals!

There is really nothing intersting going on in the Flake's world but I don't want to neglect my blog. So because my work laptop crashed, I'll spend some time writing about nothing, AKA Commercials that FREAK Me Out.

I really do not care for commercials that "alter" the human face, or turn the human head into something it was never meant to be. Clear back in high school I always cringed at the Afrin Commercial where the head turns into a giant nose. Think of the giant boogers!! Then recently I noticed another commercial that freaked me out where the human head turned into a giant stuffed Tedd Bear Head. Turns out, Afrin was re-creating the altered human head campaign (much to my chagrin.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3A4Hh8IoPQ EW. Just EW.

I don't like Star Trek or Planet of the Apes or any of those movies due to the altering of the face issue. Sure, the Apes are not supposed to be human but deep down I know it's Marky Mark.

However, I DO like it when they make that baby talk. I know that goes against everything I believe in, but when that little baby trades stocks and talks on the cell phone it's stinkin' halarious! I love the clown one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdfvWAp5GUw

On that same note, clowns to NOT freak me out. And yes, I've seen "IT". I always kinda thought that girls saying that clowns scared them was really just a pitiful attempt at making the man feel big and strong. Personally, I think most "fears" that silly girls have are just to make the guy put their arm around them and "protect" them. Except my fear of trains. That one is very real.

I lose a little bit of sleep over the Burger King ad. I think it's the fact that the giant King guy doesn't talk that gives me the heebie jeebies. He just stands there... kinda like the creepy guy in the raincoat on the movie, "I know what you did last summer". If you want to creep someone out, I am of the belief that you can just walk up to them and not talk.

The best commercial ever (except for the fact that I can't remember what it was advertising) involved a little orange cartoon guy who jumps off the Orange Juice bottle to say Hello to the unsuspecting family eating breakfast and they all FREAK OUT. Remember that? Then he chases the screaming family yelling "I'm full of vitamins and minerals!" I'll have to see if I can find it. HERE IT IS!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fA8ad71n94

And there you have it, the most useless and random blog post yet! Happy Wednesday!

NEWS FLASH- Toddler sleeps without binky

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- Breaking news just in this afternoon. An Idaho toddler, who previously has been attached to a binky, has gone to sleep without it. Authorities involved don't know what caused the sudden shift in behavior but believe it may be due to the introduction of a pillow into the crib.

The family of the toddler is too stunned today to comment but a family spokesperson released this statement:

"While the miraculous event might be a one-time occurrence, the parents involved are obviously very pleasantly shocked at the recent developments. Party music and dancing has been seen at the residence today. I, personally knowing the parents, believe it is the work of an amazing mother, who uses her beauty, her instincts and sticks to her guns. Also, sheer dumb luck."

The toddler involved had this to say, "Mama, dada, nana, bampa, elmo, carebear, snowman, Pffhslhhh."

I believe...wait... yes we do now have some pictures coming into the newsroom that we'd like to show you...

This photo illustrates how attached this toddler is to her binky and what an amazing phenomenon it is for her to sleep without it, something we might not see for many months to come. Kinda like a solar eclipse.

Childhood DejaVu! (This one's for Gregg)

One thing I'll always remember about my childhood is this weird "game" Gregg and I used to play when we were really little. I know we must have been really young because neither one of us could read. We had this great toy box with a bookshelf on top of the big toy area. Still the coolest toy box ever and probably way bigger in my head than it actually was. So we would sit on the bookshelf and hold the books and pretend that we were singing in church. It seems like one of us would lead the music and then we'd make up songs about whatever books we were reading. (Maybe you had to have been there, and maybe Gregg will remember it better than I do.)

So today as I was straitening Brighton's room she crawled up on the back of her toy box and at first was just sitting there with her stuffed animals, and then (with no prompting from me, I swear) started reading books! It just melted my freaking heart and I had to take some pictures. Gregg will surely appreciate this!

I achieved something I never thought possible!

Tonight I did something that I've heard legends of, but never really believed possible. Sure, other people might be able to do this miraculous feat, but not I. (Like a marathon, or a 10 mile run on the treadmill.) But sometimes we surprise ourselves. Sometimes the one thing we think we can never accomplish; we do. It just takes hard work, dedication and an incredible support system.

Tonight I....

Overdosed on candy corn.

I've heard people say how they can never eat candy corn because they once OD'd and I thought, no way... I could never eat so many candy corn that I'd never want another sweet morsel again. But now it's a reality. If I eat one more candy corn I will vomit.

Walgreens 75% off Halloween candy sale, You are the wind beneath my wings! Thank you for helping me flyyyy... so high I almost touched the sky.. thank you...thank you.. the wind beneath my wings.

And Toto Too!

I forgot that part of doing a "family blog" is posting pictures of recent family activities. So here we are on Halloween. I have known that Brighton was going to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and I kind of wanted to do the "Good Witch" thing... but I've been feeling lazy and un -spirited, so I was going to pass. But then Aaron was all, "I don't want to do the scarecrow if you aren't going to do Glenda" and so I'm all, "fine". So this was a reject bridesmaid shirt from my wedding and the skirt Lynzi wore at my wedding. The shirt is glittery and super itchy, so my sisters better thank their lucky stars and me (by sending me chocolate in the mail) that I didn't make them wear these hideous shirts. And I thank my mom for putting up with me and having the good shirts made special. (This was my one Bridezilla moment that I felt entitled to.) Anyway, I digress. I was too lame to make a cool Glenda crown and wand, so this crown is my friend Natalie's son's Lego King Crown. I looked like a weird reject princess.

And can I just say how much I love Boise? In Idaho Falls you have to plan your costumes to fit over snow suits and here she didn't even need tights or a coat! It was awesome.

Oh PS, you can see a little video of Halloween under our videos. I'm still trying to figure that little video section out, cause right now its linked to Aaron's YouTube page, which has snowboarding stuff on it, so I'm in the process of making my own page with family videos, although the snwoboarding ones are awesome Aaron.

PPS. I just watched the Park City snowboarding video and realized that watching Aaron snowboard is totally HOT, so I'm keeping it up.