Tagged by Kari

8 TV shows I like to watch:
Heroes
ER
Tyler's Ultimate
Semi-homemade by Sandra Lee
Project Runway (when it's on)
Next Food Network Star
Boston Legal (which is what I'm watching right now - very good episode, Utah's on center stage)
ANYTHING Food Network

8 Places I love to eat:
Cafe Molise
PF Changs
Martines
The Roof
Cafe Rio
TGIF/Chili's
Jamba Juice
Rumba

8 things that happened yesterday:
Woke up late for church
Practiced with the ward primary for their upcoming program
Sat through John Beckstead's talk titled "5 ways to become inactive" (this was seriously a topic given to him by the bishopric and he really was the perfect person to give it because he's is so dang funny)
Had choir practice in which we had a record number of people come - yeah!!
After lunch, took a wonderful 2 hour nap
Had dinner of sweet and sour meatballs with rice pilaf and steamed veggies
Did the FHE lesson on prophets
Put the kiddies to bed and chilled out with the hubby

8 things I look forward to:
Ethan's nap time
Bed time for the kiddies
Christmas
Thanksgiving
Birthdays
Time spent with my SILs
Shopping with my SILs
Girls outings and friends coming over to visit us and making us feel special (Can't wait to see your fam Kari!!)

8 things I love about fall:
The colors
The cool temperature
School for Ashlyn
Halloween!
Thanksgiving!
Planning for Christmas
I can start cooking comfort foods
My mom's apples and pears that turn into breads and desserts and juice!!

8 things on my wish list:
A second honeymoon that includes a personal chef
A day at the spa
Winning the lottery
That our children will be able to enjoy the blessings of the gospel (I know, cheesy..but true!)
That Todd and I will live a long and fulfilling life to see our children grow up
A third honeymoon???
A weekend getaway with my sweet hubby so that we can sleep in
Our own place

You were right Kari - this was a bit harder than expected....thanks though for tagging me :)

Ahhh...Pumpkin Carving...

Aunt Steph and Uncle Sun (who BTW are expecting their 1st child next February) invited all of us for a housewarming party (except that Ethan and I had to stay home because he was sick). They had dinner and did some intense and artistic pumpkin carving. The first thing Todd said about the "ordeal' was that it was so hard!!...of course the kiddies just played while the dad's did their magic....so here they are, aren't they fun?!? I think we'll be doing this EVERY year, right hun?

You Know It's Autumn When.....

So for FHE, we took a drive up to Little Cottonwood Canyon to see all the beautiful autumn colors. Aren't they amazing? It's so great to just be minutes away from both Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon. We were pointing out all the wonderful colors to Ashlyn like the reds, golds, yellows, browns and some green. We even went right above Alta and walked around...boy was it cooooold!!...after awhile, Ashlyn let us know that she was ready to go back to the car, however, Ethan was having a hayday and didn't want to leave (man that kid can scream like a banshee).

Well, today for lunch, I asked Ashlyn if she wanted to say the blessing on the food and she said "yes." Then she proceeded to thank Heavenly Father for the red, yellows, golds, brown and green (????). Then I realized that she was thanking Him for the fall colors (never mind the lunch!!). How right she was to thank Him for the beauty of this earth and especially, the beauty of autumn.

Another update from us because I'm too lame to be blogging on a regular basis.

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last entry!. Life in general is the same, yet, different. Ya know what I mean? I've at least been pretty good about taking pictures (on the hopes that I would use them to blog and keep my friends and family updated). I forget that this blog is kinda like a journal for our family - especially when it comes to the kiddies.

So, take a seat, relax and be prepared to be entertained with the happenings of the Todd and Hyo North family (hee, hee!!):

So Todd and I were doing some pre-fall cleaning when we happened to find "this!" O.k...so I hate spiders, especially hairy, grey and black ones that are larger than the size of a peanut...and this was so much bigger than a peanut. I would say that it was about 3 to 4 inches in diameter (curled up mode). When I saw this, the first thing that came to mind was that it was a tarantula and that was because our neighbors (The Harlins) found one exactly like this one but sooooo much bigger...I would say it was about 6 inches wide spread out...freak!!...where do we live???..oh, up near the mountains...of course, right? Well, we couldn't tell if it was "asleep" or "dead" so Todd poked at it a few times and we then concluded that it was "dead." I was relieved.

So Ethan has blocked tear duct issues and his first surgery was scheduled for August. So here he is in his cute hospital gown and people, please don't be fooled.....he may look like he's having a good time, but he wasn't. He was starving, in a foreign place, tired and was totally orny that he couldn't play with all the gadgets. To make a very long story short (our day began at 4:30 a.m.), the doctors opted to not do the surgery because they felt that he was not well enought (what the????) Not well? So he was alittle conjested for a few days ago and sometimes coughs in the morning!!...yes, we were mad. So either I'll be able to de-block his tear ducts the home remedy way or hopefully he'll be able to go through with this surger next Wednesday (pray for us please!!)
Our not-so-little-anymore Ashlyn started preschool this year at The Children's Academy which is just 5 minutes away from us. Here she is with her teacher Ms. Heidi. It took Ashlyn a couple of days to get with the curriculum. But now she's doing great and has made some fun friends that she comes home and talks about.
I thought this pic was funny. Here's Ethan just finishing his milk and Ashlyn imitating him but with her water bottle. She's really felt the need to do what he's doing, even sucking on her fingers and he, is the same with her...he's aways trying to do what she's doing. Ah siblings.
This basically encompasses the grocery shopping experience for my kids....they're so great!!

So there you have it. Nothing too extraordinary....but life with these two crazy, loveable, funny, out of control, hilarious kids make each and every day so very special and we are ever so grateful to have them.

CLAM Mission Reunion

I never thought I'd go to another mission reunion again. Not because I didn't necessarily want to, I just thought that well, it's been over 10 years since I've been home, so no more mission reunions....right?....so wrong!! Over the summer, Nate Creer emailed a bunch of us saying that they wanted to put together a mission reunion for those that served in the California Los Angeles Mission (CLAM for short) under President Karl Farnsworth. My first thoughts were..."there is no way I'm going to my mission reunion....I won't recognize or know anyone." Well, I was talking to my dear friend "Kasper" and she talked me into going saying that she and a couple other ;sisters wanted to do kinda like a "girls getaway." Girls Getaway?...o.k., I'm so in!! So here we are over 10 years after coming home:

That's Jennifer Whitlow-Taylor; Me; Jessica Kasperian-Gomez; Julie Wilson-Meikle (did I spell that right?). We did dinner before the reunion, gossiped and then headed over to the reunion and finally finished the evening hanging out at Red Mango till it closed (midnight, or so).
This is a pic of us girls at the reunion PLUS Brian Taylor...he was our ever awesome District Leader. I just realized that I didn't get a pic of his beautiful and super cool wife Gina (sorry Gina!!..next time!)

And here we are over 10 years AGO in one of the sister's apartment on Temple Hill (right behind the LA Temple)...and yes, I had a short, A-line haircut then:
The three girls were called to be VC (Visitor Center) Spanish speaking sisters...so how did I get in with them since I was called as a proselyting, english speaking sister?....well, I was temporarily called to the VC to be with Sister Julie Wilson and to serve in a english speaking area and during that time, I got to know the best sisters ever. We had such crazy times!! This my beautiful greenie, Jill Smith-Judson, she's the mom of 5 kids: 1 daughter and 2 sets of twins (1 set of girls and then another set of boys)

...and of course, , my mission president: Pres. Karl Farnsworth and his beautiful and so sweet wife.

It was fun everyone, can't want to get together again!!