TAG! I'm it! I must be a slow runner...

6 Interesting Facts? Oi, I don't think I've got six interesting facts, but here goes...

1. I have a horrible memory. I think this is why I re-read books about a brazillion times (that's a numbe according to a funny joke including Mr. President Bush. Ask me later!) I'm trying a day planner hoping I will remember little things like dates I've said I would do stuff, etc. So far...well...I'm a work in progress.

Dos. I didn't want to get married until I was near 30. Shocking, I know, considering I was married at 18. But, I mean c'mon, it was Brett. I had to snag 'em while I could!

Three: Seceretly (shhh) I want to be a writer. Probably because I read a lot etc. But I don't have the (even now I can't think of the words...) that's it, I don't have the WORDS in me. I have so many characters in my head, some of them you've met, haha, but I just can't bring them to life.

4. Um...er...let's see...Oh, here's one. I really enjoy working out, unless it's with Tanya, because she scares me. Haha, no actually I really enjoy working out all together. Tanya pushes me, and it's nice, cause I get all sweaty and I really like getting sweaty while I work out cause then I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something! And then afterwards I'm all sore and stiff, and seriously, those are some of the greatest feelings in the world to me!

5. I'm sad when the kids are napping. I miss them. Of course sometimes I'm like "Hallalujah! They're asleep!" But most of the time I just want to go in and wake them up and play some more.

Lastly...I too hate doing the laundry (please see Gillespie post =) But I also REALLY HATE wearing dirty clothes. It's a conundrum. But I do enjoy washing the kids clothes, because they're so little and cute (the clothes AND the kids).

See, not very interesting. I don't read magazines backwards (which is so funny Amber! Now I just want to sit and watch you read one!) I think this would be better if Brett were writing down itneresting things. He's interesting. Maybe that's what I'll do. I'll make him do it. Ok, I tag BRETT and Stephanie about to have a baby Behunin.

SPAM AND VIRUS!

Grrrr...I'm so frustrated. Somebody, no names, because frankly I don't know WHO did this, but somebody left a virus as a comment on my blog. Please don't click on it. It is a comment on the "Zoo" post. You can read the other comments, but the one comment that has NO COMMENT, and just says "click here" is a virus. I've tried to remove it, but alas, it will not budge. I'm afraid I've had to change my account settings. But I hope everyone has a nice day anyway!!

The Zoo

Presidents Day rocked! We got to go to the zoo. Here are some fun pictures of our day...

We got to see the baby Giraffe, she was so cute! We got to see the Black Bear, which seems like they are never out. The Elephants were eating, and we got to watch them stuff their faces for like 20 minutes. Brett and I enjoyed that more than the kids. Cohen's favorite part was the Red Panda, again. And Kembry really enjoyed the primates. It was a blast!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hope it's a yummy one with lots of chocolate.

Big News, I've got BIG NEWS!

How could I forget to mention the BIGGEST NEWS of the week? BRETT FOUND MY CELL PHONE! That's right, 8 months missing in action, the little sucker showed up! Can I say, when I saw it's metallic pink glitter forth from behind his back, I nearly cried. OH THE JOY! So please, call me. Anytime. Anywhere. Call me. I just want to hear her sing to me once again.

Blog Hopper

I'm an official blog hopper! I have found a new love of reading peoples blogs, even people I don't know, or know very little. It's fun to see who knows who, and what everyone is up to. So, if you have a blog, watch out, cause I'm gonna read it eventually! And the whole "six degrees of seperation" is interesting as well. I've noticed after navigating far off track from anyone I know personally, I pop into someones blog who I do know, and often times really well. Funny how many people have blogs these days. Here's what I love about blogs:

I love seeing the things people enjoy. I've especially enjoyed Melanie's gratitude messages. I know Mel really well, but I'm still learning things about her, and it's a lot of fun.

I love seeing pictures of people I haven't seen in a long time, or people I've yet to have the opportunity to meet, like little Ashton Snell. It's fun to see how they've changed. I promise to start putting more pictures on mine, but it's difficult what with not having the internet at home and what not. But the more pictures, the better! I love seeing my friends kids, even if I see them every Sunday and during the week, like Tanya and Cody's kiddies.

I love reading peoples opinions. It's fun to hear the "controversial" feelings people have, and not have to directly confront them or the issues. But, if I ever want to, the lovely "comment" features comes in handy. Not that I've used it for that purpose...yet...

I love keeping in touch with friends. Like Stephanie and Carl who moved away. It's fun to see what's going on in their lives. Brett's highschool "best buddy" Jared Day and his way cute wife Jen have a fun blog. We hardly ever get to see them, and we miss them, because they're so much fun. But this way we can sort of keep in touch. I know what's going on in their lives a lot of times, and they know what's going on in ours. And it doesn't make it so that I never want to see them to "catch up". Quite the opposite, it just makes me miss these friends more. Not just the Day's, but all of our good friends. WE MISS YOU!

I love reading those blogs where clearly the writer has a talent for the "blog". Like Wendy, a friend from highschool. She's so flipping funny. I always look forward to reading her new posts.

I especially love seeing all the fun things you can add to your own blog. Like little games, music, calendars, counters, clocks, etc. There's so much stuff out there, so it's fun to hop around and see what there is!

Lastly, I enjoy keeping a blog. I'm not the most dedicated to posts, or pictures, or things of that nature. A lot of times I just don't have anything to say. I'm sort of boring I guess. Or else I think, "Nobody cares about that Kelly, calm down." But, when I do post, it's fun to hear from people in their comments. It's nice to know that there are people interested in the Neff's lives, and it's nice to have this outlet to inform and update everyone to what fun we're having in Mexico, to the condition of the rodents, i.e. kids, what fun we're having generally etc. So thanks for visiting! I'm sure I'll be visiting yours soon!

Getting to bed on time

What with all the frippery, gewgaws and trifles that fill up our daily lives and take away from the more important things, in this case sleep, I decided last night to take a stand. I was tired. Dog tired. I had planned to attend a super enrichment, with a wonderful woman speaking, but I honestly didn't think I could drive (yes, drive, two blocks) up the street. Yet another ostentatious move. Me walk? Haha! I have a car. Along to the point, so, I put the kids to bed early, because if I'm tired, they too must be exhausted. Luckily, this wasn't just wishful thinking. They went straight to sleep. After which Brett and I (here is where it all comes together) put in a DVD in our bedroom. 10 minutes into it, I said to myself, I said "Self, you're stupid." And I agreed. I was exhausted! Why was I watching a stupid video, depriving myself of even one extra minute of delicious slumber?! And so, at 8:54, on the nose, I rested my weary head on my fine pillow and drifted peacefully into some freaky dreams, but that's another blog for another day.
So I'm looking to hire anyone interested in slapping me upside the head when it's getting on to 10:30 at night, and I just want to hang on for one more episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond", an episode I'm most certainly to have already seen.

TAG! I'm it!

Thank you Tanya, for giving me yet another opportunity to talk about myself! Yes!

6. 10 Years Ago...I was 13. I didn't do much except go to school and dance. My best friend was Kayla, we spent most every waking moment together. I was in junior high at Hillcrest Junior High in Murray. I really loved going to Take Five. I had a HUGE crush/borderline obsession with Leo DiCaprio. I had a dog named Jasmine. I lived with my mom and step-dad in Murray. That's about it...

5. Things on todays "to-do" list...Hahaha, funny. I'm updating this one. Different day! Today I get to watch my "cousin" Andy, he's 8 months old. I hopefully get to vote this election. Then I'm going to an awesome enrichment this evening, featuring Emily Watts. Very excited for that.

4. I enjoy...spending time with Brett and the kids doing ANYTHING at all. I love working out with my bud Tanya. I love reading the scriptures and then having Brett explain them to me. I have a new and fantastically addicting love for playing the piano. I can't get enough of it. I really love seeing my kids laugh, I could do that for hours. In fact, I make quite a fool of myself doing this, often.

3. What would I do if I were a billionaire? Travel and spread the Gospel. Maybe it's just with the passing of President Hinckley, but I've felt the urge to share the Gospel. So definately that. Also, I would get all of our family out of debt, I mean, we're talking billionaire. I would build Brett a recording studio and help him share his beautiful music with the world. And I would probably get really fat eating at the Olive Garden all the time. Buy a chateau in France, you know, the usual stuff...

2. 5 Jobs I've had...The very first job was washing dogs and then cleaning up at closing time. That was awesome. The second job was waiting tables in a retirment home. I did that for four years and LOVED it. Then I worked at the Olive Garden AND Meier and Frank. Quit Olive Garden, got a better job at the Church Office Building and quit Meier and Frank. Worked at the Church Office building in the family history department...oh the stories I could share with you...that was awesome. And now I'm a slave to my in-laws working summers for Quality Exterminators. I also work for Franklin Covey and LOVE it. Best co-workers ever. Really, the best.

1. 5 things people may/may not know about me: Um...let's see...in high school I was borderline insomniac. Most everyone doesn't know that except my parents. Two, it's my dream to be in a musical. Unfortunately, it's also my dream to be able to sing. Three, I would love to live in another country with my family. I think it would be really awesome to expose them to a different culture and language and food etc. If I could chose anywhere, I would chose France. Four, um...for the millenium New Years Eve, I wrote a history report and fell asleep. So I actually didn't see "it" happen. Would someone please tell me if the world ended? And finally, five, I really enjoy cooking. Well, if you see me, I guess you would know that by my size. But I love cooking for my family and also for my friends. I especially like to bake and make cookies and brownies and such. Hence, again, the size...hahaha!

Alrighty, let's see, the funnest part is to TAG someone else...someone who will do it...so I think I will tag Jen and Jared Day. Let's see how often they look at the Neff Blog!

Mexico

The beginning of January Brett and I got to go to Mexico for a whole week! Here is a picture of Brett, Bradley and Brandon at the airport in Utah at 5 a.m. No resemblence... And to the right is me with my coveted ticket to Houston. Must get to Houston...oh wait, we're going to Mexico...must get to Mexico..
Then we made it, and they actually let Brett INTO another country, I don't know what this worlds coming to. Here we are after going through customs. So happy. And this is where the jealousy comes in...this is a view from our balcony. We were a one minute walk away from the beach. It was so beautiful. We would leave the balcony door open and just sleep to the sound of the ocean. It was awesome!

Here is Brett dreaming of being in Mexico...oh wait, we are in Mexico! Woo Hoo! This is at a little hammock pavilion. They had two of them. You could just go out and relax in a hammock anytime you wanted to.

Here we all are at dinner. The whole restaurant was surrounded in windows, which they left open most of the time. This was our first night there, and it was nice to have the sea wind blowing on us. It was so warm! Plus, this restaurant had the best ever spaghetti pomadoro. It was all fresh tomatos. It was so good! In this picture is Marilyn, Mike, Jon, Sandra, Scott, Shareen, Brandon, and Brett. I don't know where Bradley was...

Here's Brandon and Brett,one of the best things about the trip was all the time Brett got to spend with his two brothers.
Here is Brett being lost in Playa Del Carmen. Not really. No, he never gets lost. And here I am reading The Scarlet Pimpernel on the balcony in our room. It was so warm at night, but tonight I think it was raining. And to the far far right are Me, Brett, Sandra and Jon in a little taco placein Playa. Brett got to eat real good stuff for once. No hamburger helper in Mexico.







Here Brett and I are after snorkling in Xel-Ha. This was the funnest day. We also got to float down the lazy river, ride bicycles, cliff dive, and feed lizards. We weren't supposed to feed the lizards, but you know us Americans, we can never follow the rules...
Here's a picture of how clear the water was

I can't remember if this was at Xel-Ja or
by our hotel. None the less.. beautiful!

Cohen's Star Boy

With Brett working late during the months of December and January, it's always so exciting to be home alone at night with a ghost whispering son. On several occassions, Cohen has pointed in the corner by his drawing easel, and said, "Mommy, I want to play with that boy." "What boy?" I ask, unassumingly. "That boy mommy, that one. I wanna play with the star boy." Well, I finally decided to tell Brett my fear that our son "sees dead people", to which his response is more scaring and teasing me. "Cohen, tell mommy about your star boy," he says, followed by me punching his arm.

Well, on the advice of my co-workers here at FranklinCovey, I decided to ask Cohen what the "star boy" looks like next time he asks to play with him. In response to this question, he goes to his jumbo leggos, picks out the eyes and the mouth painted on yellow square leggos, puts them together, and puts many different multi-colored leggo's on top of that, leaving me with a good version of Cohen's "star boy." Our ghost is a dead leggo boy. I wonder if someone put him in the dishwasher and melted him.