My Bucket List

Travel outside of the country to see something interesting (Machu Picchu? Mexican pyramids?)

Bike 20 miles at a time (or more!)

Go on a cruise

Become a temple worker

Get another college degree, possibly teach college

Find new information on Callie Nolan (ancestor)

See Providence Canyon; hike and take pictures!

Hike with kids in at least 5 different parks

See the Aurora Borealis

Vacation in Hawaii

Go to Yellowstone National Park and see Old Faithful

Visit Mesa Verde and tour the cliff dwellings

Cleaning house

Lately, I've been trying to learn how to make it more natural for me to keep my house clean. I've read a few books. Here are some of the skills that help:

1. De-clutter! This is the most important thing. If you have too much stuff in your home (especially if it's stuff you don't use), then it is incredibly difficult to keep your home/living space clean. Throw away or donate the things that you don't use.

2. Put things away when you're done using them. This seems to be such a given that in one of the books that I read, it wasn't even stated directly! I am struggling as to how do I teach my kids to do this, especially with things like their toys since they often play while I'm busy doing something else. If you have something that's worked for you, please share!

3. Have a place for everything. If you don't know where to put something, it will end up making your living place look bad, because it will end up every which-where: on the floor, the counter, the table, your desk. Find a place for it!

4. Have routines for cleaning the stuff that can't be helped. You know what I mean: dirty counters and floors, bathrooms, etc. I'm not exactly sure how to implement this yet, so I'm not putting the tip in boldface font.

Cecil's first words

Cecil has had several "words" for a while, and recently he started trying out some new ones.

signs:
-more
-all done
-sleepy
-hungry
-diaper change
-thirsty
-milk
-water
-yes (nod)
-no (shakes head)

vocals:
-ma (mama)
-da (daddy)
-Kkk! or ka (kitty/cat)
-'ot! (hot)
-mo (more)
-meh (pacifier-don't ask. I don't know why he calls it this!)
-ar! (arf, barking like a dog)
-uh-huh (soooo cute!)
-ow

Yesterday, he repeated a lot of words after us. Here are a few:

-wall
-castle (didn't sound like castle; I don't remember what it was)
-sock
-shoe
-food
-bowl
-box
-ball