Blog-hopping. . . er. . .stalking?

I prefer the term blog-hopping. A few days ago I found a whole bunch of my old friends' blogs from high school through one of my sister's friends. I was in heaven! It was so nice to see what all of them have been up to. I sort of fell off the face of the earth 8 years ago when I moved away to Logan to go to school, so many of them I haven't seen or heard from in almost 8 years. I'm obviously very bad at staying in touch. Anyway, I'm posing this question-- do any of you feel kind of guilty or sneaky for checking on other people's blogs who don't know you're looking? I feel kind of like a peeping-Tom, but my nosiness (is that a word?) takes over and I still look! I try to comment when possible, but with some people it's just too weird (i.e. old boyfriends, etc.). So I guess I'll continue hopping/stalking until there's a definite way for people to know when I'm looking, he he!

Easter

We had a great Easter! Marin loved dyeing Easter eggs and thought the plastic eggs filled with candy were wonderful! When she saw her Easter basket she had to stop and try every kind of sucker before she could move on to her egg hunt. Between her parents and both sets of grandparents, Marin really cleaned up. Her favorite Easter item was a stuffed chicken my mom got her. She's had plenty of stuffed animals before and she hasn't paid much attention to them... in fact they're in storage down in our basement. But this chicken--she carries him around all day saying "s'okay chicken," while patting him on the back. She calls him "fishy" (I don't know why) and had to sleep with him last night. You never know which toys will be a hit with kids!

We had Mitch's brother's family over for Easter dinner and an egg hunt. I cooked my first turkey and it actually turned out great. I remembered to take out the bag of giblets right before I stuck the thing in the oven (thank goodness)-- GROSS is all I have to say about that. FYI: The secret to moist turkey is the turkey bag! It was a 21-lb turkey so we've had LOTS of leftovers. All in all Easter weekend was quite swell for the Moncurs!

A new look!

Thanks Savannah for those instructions on getting a new blog template. (See everyone? I really am on my way to superblogger status!) I found a new look for my blog and I love it because I am SO ready for Spring. I am getting Spring fever so bad. Here in Logan if the temperature sneaks up above freezing everyone pretends it's summer and heads outside. It was slightly warmer last week and you'd think my neighborhood was in Florida! My 2 next door neighbor teenage girls were laying out on their lawn Saturday and I swear it couldn't have been more than 40 degrees! I must admit, I join the throng of outside goers. I've been taking Marin to the park by our house to swing every day in hopes that if I act like it's Spring, then it will follow my lead and get warmer!

A New Discovery!

Do any of you buy Charmin toilet paper on a regular basis? If not, don't start, you'll never be able to go back. I usually buy the Western Family stuff but Charmin was on sale at Sam's Club and I went a little crazy and just bought it. I am now hooked. It is SO SOFT. I love the stuff! It's softer than my Kleenex tissues. Hi my name is Cara and I am a Charmin toilet paper addict. . .

Superbloggers

I have coined a new term: superblogger. I am fairly new at this whole blogging thing, but one thing I have found out in the last few months of having a blog is that I am definitely NOT a superblogger. I'm sure you're wondering what exactly a superblogger IS, and I'm going to tell you. There are certain criteria that a superblogger must meet and I have conveniently listed them here so you can, in fact, determine if YOU are a superblogger.

1) Superbloggers must have a blog with a catchy name-- preferably a 2 or 3 word alliteration with their last name. My friend Val's blog wins my favorite blog name contest because it is plain and simple, yet fits this criteria.... "Bateman Blogger". My problem is that I don't have a last name that begins with a "B" for "Blog". If ONLY my last name didn't start with an "M"! I am not clever and if any of you have suggestions for a catchy name for my blog, feel free to comment and suggest. Then I can change it and be on my way to becoming a superblogger.

2) Superbloggers must have a template other than the default templates offered from Google when you set up your blog-- and they must change with the seasons/holidays. I don't know if this requires Adobe or some program that I'm not aware of, but superbloggers know the trick.

3) Superbloggers must have at least 50 other blogger contacts and they must be listed and linked on their blog. If you will note-- I have only 12, which is a far cry from the required 50.

4) Superbloggers must have COMMENTS on their posts.... lots of them. I think my grand total for 1 post is 5 comments, and I think that is because someone accidentally posted their message twice. The last time I checked my friend Val's blog (she is, in fact, a superblogger) she had at least 24 comments from people wishing her a happy birthday! I don't think I have 24 friends in the world, let alone those with blogs who would take the time to check my blog and wish me a happy birthday. Props to Val the superblogger!

5) And FINALLY, superbloggers must have been tagged. Most superbloggers have been "tagged" multiple times with different tagging criteria. If you don't know what tagging is then you definitely should give up even trying to become a superblogger because there's no hope for you. I have never been tagged, unfortunately. I doubt anyone would tag me anyway because I delete those e-mail forwards with a similar idea that are "all about me" faster than you can say "superblogger."

There are probably more superhuman abilities that superbloggers possess, but these are the only ones my limited un-superblogger mind can come up with. Someday I vow to become a superblogger, even if takes me until I'm 65 years old to round up 38 more friends!

Independence. . .

For any of you who happen to have a 2-year old (or almost 2-year-old), you know that you are forever hearing the words "by myself!" She wants to do EVERYTHING by herself these days. She insists on putting on her own socks, clothes, and shoes and yells "self!" if I try to do about anything for her. She also insists on putting on her own car seat buckles which takes FOREVER. We now have to leave at least 5 minutes earlier than usual so Marin can buckle herself up. Marin dressed herself in this picture (well, the hat and the socks) and came running in to my room with this huge smile, jumping up and down, and said "SELF! Mirror! Picture!" So we went to the mirror first, and then took a picture!

Day of Love

Well my Valentines Day started out with a note left for me on the fridge that said:

To My Valentine

I sit at work, pondering our love,
Thought I'm still, my heart flutters like a dove.
How can I focus on this meaningless tax return,
Reminders of your beautiful smile makes my heart burn.

It all began one mystic night at the quilting bee,
After you saw my tubing prowess, you would my heartthrob be.
I turned on the charm and showed my skills,
To this day your sparkling eyes give me the major chills.

On this Valentine Day, love rages in my heart,
If my love were a match a bonfire it would start.
Instead of chocolates, instead of flowers, I've written you this poem.
Read it oft, when I'm at work, and you are home alome*.

Love, your CPA

*No, this last word isn't a typo, as I first thought, it is written this way to rhyme with "poem".

Now those of you who know Mitch know that he is not the poem-writing type. I realized that this was a bit of a joke, but it made me smile. I called Mitch at work to thank him for my poem, and he mentioned that he "may have had a little help" from a certain co-worker. I found out just 2 days ago that it was written entirely by the co-worker (thanks Tyler, it was beautiful), but Mitch insists it came from his heart and it's the same thing as buying flowers that were grown by someone else. I told him next year I want flowers grown by him!
Sorry this picture is a little dark-- these are some of the valentines we made for Marin's friends. The coloring and gluing are all done by miss Marin. We made sugar cookies and brought them to her friends. Marin loved using the cookie cutters!



We had a Valentines party at Avree's house in Ogden and it was very fun. We ate Papa Murphy's pizza and cheesecake made by Avree-- it was SO yummy! We missed Matt,Val, and Annie being there to celebrate with us!