The BEST Birthday!

I've had such a great birthday !!!!!

More on this tomorrow, when I'm home and can post pics (I'm posting from my iPod).

Follow up...

First of all, I've had a great weekend. Yesterday, I attended an Ashtanga Yoga workshop at Mindful Women Yoga. If you want my recap on that, check it out here

Second, I was asked about my shopping app and my favorite apps I've downloaded.

The shopping app I downloaded is called Shopper Lite. There is a paid version of this app with more features, but as I'm not sure I'll need those features at this point, the free one is fine to start.

My favorite apps so far...
1. Tap and Track. I actually paid for this one, it's a calorie counter/exercise and weight tracker. It has a huge database of foods that is not dependent on an internet connection. I've lost 4 lbs.

2. Gospel Library. For all you other Mormons out there, having the complete scriptures, curriculum, General Conference talks, etc at my fingertips in a highly portable form is perfect for me. So when you see me on my iTouch in church, I promise, I'm following the lesson or looking up a scripture.

3. Astra Ware Solitare. This is 12 different solitare games. I had the orginal app on my palm, loved it, and love this one as well. I paid for it too..it was worth it.

4. iPeriod Free. A monthly cycle tracker/predictor. Pretty cool.

5. Whirly Word. Figure out all the words you can make with the 6 letters they give you. I love stuff like this, and it was free.

6. Jet Ball. Also free, it's a version of the old Super Breakout. I've always loved that game.

7. Accounts. I think I paid .99 for this one. It's a wonderful checkbook register.

I also have the Fox 13 and KSL apps...I'm a news junkie. Google Earth is just fun....

Now that I think about it, anyone want to share their favorite apps with me?

iPod Touch...the review...

**** Disclaimer*****

I was not paid in any way for this review, but if Apple wants to give me free credit in their store, I will gladly take it ;)!!!

I LOVE my iPod Touch!!!! (how's that for a technical review?).

Seriously, though, this is an incredible device.

First of all, I got the 3rd Generation model with a 64 GB memory. Now, many people's jaws have dropped when I told them how much memory I have, but there is a reason.

I didn't just want this to be a portable music and game player. It is going to be taking the place of my beloved Palm Tungsten E2. You see, I've been a Palm Pilot girl for many years. I got my first Palm when Kyle was 2, and it's been integral to organizing my life ever since. Unfortunately, now they don't make Palm's without the phone included. I wasn't sure I wanted to go the Palm Pre, or Palm Pixie route with my phone. I knew that the Touch (because of the iPhone before it) had countless apps available, and I figured on being able to download anything I needed. Plus, the touchscreen is much more like the original Palm, without the bulkiness of a stylus.

I've loved the iPod for music. I played my first video podcast on it last night, and it was incredibly cool. The playback is perfect, every bit as good as it plays back on our laptop. I love the Genius feature that is enabled in iTunes.

I have had great luck with the apps I have downloaded. The amount of apps that are free or low priced is astounding...I've been able to find everything I could possibly need for less than $3. There are a few things I'm considering that are more than that, but most of what I've downloaded has been free. I like free.

I had 2 main concerns for this device. I needed a good checkbook program, and I needed a good shopping program. For years I have used SplashMoney and SplashShopper on my Palm. I've loved those applications. I was excited that they were offered on the iPod, only to see that the reviews (from dedicated SplashData users) were TERRIBLE. So, I found other applications that suited my needs that got better reviews. The best part was that they were both free.

I went shopping with my new shopping list app today. It was soooooo much easier than what I've been using for years. Part of that is the touch screen, but my new app has lists divided up by store aisles...it made my shopping list so much easier to manage.

I've also transferred all my accounts into my Checkbook app. It's pretty basic, but it was free and is working great.

I love being able to search the internet anywhere there's WiFi, quickly look up info, or even shop. The games are a fun distraction as well.

I am disappointed that there's not a way to load DVD's you already own onto the iPod Touch. To my mind, it's no different than CD's I've already purchased. I can add the CD's to my iTunes library, so why can't I do the same with the DVD's I've already bought?
(and if there's a way to do it that I just don't know about, please, please let me know! :))

Overall, I'm extremely pleased and satisfied with my gift.
I'm really glad Cole convinced me to upgrade to the most memory.

Slow week....

From May 2010

Q:
How many princess dresses do you need?

A:
As many as possible, worn all at the same time!!!!

From May 2010

(Including the accessories).

Talia insisted that she had to wear all of her princess dresses at the same time to BE a princess...she has on 4. :)

Q: Where does a 3 year old go when she's sad that she's in trouble?

A: Her closet, of course! Everyone in there understands!

From May 2010

Q: How many shoes is too many?

A: There is no such thing as too many!!!!!

From May 2010

Seriously, though, Talia currently has 18 pairs of shoes in her size range. The 15 pair on the dresser, and 3 more floating around the house. I only purchased 4 of them, so I must thank all my generous friends who have handed such cute shoes down to us....THANK YOU!!!!

It seems like every time I sat down to post the last week, I didn't have anything to say. Things have been pretty quiet at our house. The kids have been trying to take advantage of the warmer weather, I've been doing lots of yoga podcasts to get ready for the workshop I'm attending Saturday, and of course, working. I worked the weekend, and Cole and the kids had a fun afternoon at Lagoon on Saturday.

All's pretty peaceful in our world, and we're all looking forward to school ending...

Happy Mother's Day!

First a shout out to all the mothers and motherly figures in my life...thank you for all the help, love and support.

We've had a great weekend. We headed out to Lagoon on Saturday...it was packed to start(there was a dance competition, as well as about 10 school buses), but they started to leave, and things quieted down. We had a good time...

From May 2010

From May 2010

From May 2010

We decided to start our Mother's Day celebrations a bit early, so that I could take advantage of sleeping in this morning. The kids were excited to give me the gifts they'd made...

From May 2010

From May 2010

From May 2010

From May 2010

I loved the gifts that the kids made for me....

And then, of course, I got my new toy....

From May 2010

I've been playing with the idea of getting an iPod touch for awhile, but was planning on waiting until Christmas. However, plans change, and with the great deal Costco had on the 3rd Generation with the 64 gig memory...
I've had so much fun playing with it. The very first app I downloaded was the Gospel Library...the scriptures, all the manuals for the year, General Conference talks, etc...all at my fingertips in a very portable package. I had the Scriptures on my original Palm Pilot years ago, and have missed having them digital, so I'm stoked. It was cool to be able to follow along the lesson today in Relief Society on my iTouch. It's the Church's official Scriptures app, and I was really impressed with all the thought and features they put in...especially since it was FREE.

We spent the afternoon visiting with our Mothers.

From May 2010

From May 2010

I couldn't ask for a better mother or a better Mother in Law. I'm very, very blessed.

It's been a wonderful day.

An Element of Truth

Okay, so when I found this on You Tube I had to post it.  I laughed and laughed, because there is an element of truth.

A note, this video is rated PG-13.   There is a little bit of swearing.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'm a Respiratory Therapist.

Today's Meltdown

From May 2010

This was because I told her it was time to shower.  She got sent to her room to sit on her bed until she was ready to be nice. 

From May 2010

Spring Choir Concert 2010

The school choir had their spring concert last night.  They did a great job!

From May 2010

We went over a bit early to get seats and so I could figure out the best settings for getting pictures without using the flash....

From May 2010

Can you say "Close Up"?  (I forgot to zoom out :p)

From May 2010

Much better...and I'm so glad he's finally learning how to smile(without looking like he's in pain)!

From May 2010

He's still so intense while singing...but I did notice it's not just him, all the kids are intensely concentrating...

It was a fun performance!  (and shorter than last year, which made it easier on my little drama princess).

Attack of the Drama Princess

(the Princess, because in our house, she's the Princess, and I'm the Queen :))

It's been a frustrating couple of days of temper tantrums.  Of cries of "Mine, Mine, MINE!!!", meltdowns at everything.  It all boils down to her throwing a tantrum whenever she doesn't get her way.  I know that's normal for her age, but it's out of the ordinary for her. 

(I will post a picture later if/when she has another meltdown.  During her meltdowns this morning, I was unable to think past my frustration to get a pic). 

I hope this phase ends quickly.  I can take a little drama, but the tantrums evoke really bad emotions in me....

Through the weekend...

Wow, has it really been more than a week since I posted?  It seems to have gone so quickly.  I'm actually having trouble remembering what we did last week...Oh that's right.  On my days off, I hung out here at home.  No makeup, in my lounge clothes.  I did chores and relaxed.  It's a good thing, too...then I went into a difficult stretch.  Work 2, 1 off, work 2, 1 off, work 1 (tonight is my last work 1...then I have a couple of days off :))

I was fortunate to have Friday off with Cole.  I slept in the morning, then we went to lunch.  We also ran a couple of errands, and while at Costco picked up my Mother's Day/Birthday present.  I have to say, it's KILLING me to wait til Sunday to have it, I'm so excited.  Anyway, after we got done with our errands, we came home and started to get things ready for Kyle.  Kyle was headed out for his first overnight scout campout...

Yes, they went camping.  As I dropped him off, it started pouring rain.  Then, later on, it snowed, hailed, and gave them quite a bit of lovely, cold weather. 

There's no dampening the spirits of 11 year old's, however, because he had a great time.  He came home soaked and muddy, but happy. 

While Kyle was camping, we decided to take the other 2 kids to the movie.  We went and saw "How to Train Your Dragon".  Easily the best kids movie I've seen in awhile.  We all enjoyed it. 

Saturday and Sunday were work.  Along with an incredible migraine that I think was hormonally triggered.  I spent the weekend dutifully popping Excedrine every 4 hours to keep the major symptoms under control.  It was bad enough that I had to dip into my percocet (presribed last year when I was having headache trouble) in order to sleep. 

Yesterday was all about sleep.  I also managed to clean up our iTunes...we transferred our library to our new laptop, but inadvertently duplicated a bunch of songs (everything that was on both my ipod and cole's ipod got duplicated).  I had to delete the duplicates 1 at a time...which was a pain, but now it's all done.