My popcorn maker scares me and......

don't put glass in your microwave to melt the butter for your popcorn. If you do then the glass will break on you. Something I just learned.

I clearly stink at keeping my blog updated. But I thought since I have really nothing to do today or tomorrow I should do some serious updates on this bad boy. I'll start with Jay and I's vacation to Rhode Island and Utah.

Warning warning: You are about to enbarke on a journey that has been told many time but without pictures. Prepare yourself for a long post. *you reading this I'm not kidding. Go pee and get your snacks and drink now otherwise you wont have a chance later*

This past summer I was on the Southwest website and I noticed that they were having a seat sale going on for Thanksgiving time. Myself and Jay could fly from RI to UT for only $200 each!! I clearly could not give that up. Come Thanksgiving I hadn't seen my parents in 8 months. Plus this would give me a chance to see my family in RI. Some of whom I hadn't seen in a little over 3 years. Jay and I booked our flights and I started making plans in my head for the fun that would happen. We were supposed to leave on Saturday Nov 6 for RI but because of some unforseen rudeness on behalf of the lady who sold us our home we didn't leave until Sunday. It wasn't that big of a deal I just really wanted to go back to good ole Scituate ward. I haven't been back there since I left for my mission in July of 06. Maybe this summer I can go. I had told my mom that morning to call my sister and let her know that we were on our way and should be at her house around 7ish. Two of my brothers were supposed to be at Kyms for a family dinner so I wanted her to know to not let them leave. I don't know what happened but some kind of miscommunation happened and Kym never was told. Thats okay though. When we got to Kyms house thankfully my brothers, Tommy and Mike, were still there. At first they thought that maybe we were Mikes crazy stalker ex g/f. Nope just his crazy sister. I hadnt seen Mike in about 4 years and Tommy in 3. Seeing them was bliss! I know its a funny word to use when describing seeing ones brothers but I dearly them!! That night was awesome. Mike and Tommy got to know Jay and Jay got to know them. We laughed the entire time. It reminded me of old days. I'm mad at myself for not getting pictures. I don't know why I didn't think of it. I take pictures like there going out of style. It will be a while till I can get some of all of us. Tommy is in China right now studying. He's in his junior year of college. Beyond smart kid!! Mike too! We only got to spend 3 days in RI. I spent most of it with the my sister who was recovering from a pretty abrasive surgery that I wont talk about in this post maybe another though. It was so great being with my sister and her family. I love them to death!! My neice Amanda was snotty as usual. Which is okay because she's been that way for almost 17 years now. Man I'm old! I love Amanda no matter how snotty she can be. :)  There are a few things that this summer are a must for me that I didn't get to do while I was there this time. Like go to my grandparents grave. I was serving a mission in Califorina when my Pepepre died so I still need a little closer there. I NEED to see my bestie Beth and her family!!! Its a good thing for facebook because I can still keep in touch with all of them. And of course take lots of pictures!

On Wednesday Nov 11 we flew out to Utah. I was so nervous, I don't like flying, and so excited! I couldn't wait to give my parents a hug!! Plus my other bestie, Becky who is like my sister, lives with my parents so I would get to see her at the airport too. Sadly my little brother, Jamie, was working. I tried really really hard to convice my Dad to bring Bruno the wonder Pug with them but he just wouldn't go for it. Anyone that knows me knows that Bruno is above all the other animals in the animal kingdom in my world. I got him one year as an early Christmas present year and he quickly became a family dog, but always liked me and my dad the best. Mom said after I moved Bruno would go and sit at my bedroom door or in my bedroom and whine. :( I know, totally heartbreaking! I was so excited when we landed that I couldn't control myself and when our bags were taking forever to get there I started pacing. Finally the bags came and I made a mad dash for the doors to go outside and find my family. I found them and there were lots and lots of hugs!! Plus big smiles when they saw that I brought them all treats from Wrights Dairy Farm. Only thee best place in the world to get milk and baked goods. I had Jay try there chocolate milk and his tummy didn't like it because it was so... whats the word? Oh yes, it was so REAL! So instead of typing up the whole trip maybe I'll just put in pictures with little stories of each to sum up our very fun vacation.

Reynolds

Becky and myself on our way down to Milford UT to spend some time with the Reynolds family. Our families are best friends.

Little Miss Emily Reynolds! Emilys the younges of the Reyonlds clan and I just adore her! We were on our way to see her sister Chelsea is her school play. She feel asleep on me on the way home. She totally adores Jason! Its the cutest thing.

My "little" brother Jamie and Emily are two peas in a pod. She has a little girl crush and he has a little sister to adore. They can make anyone smile when there together.

Riley making Jay smile. I don't think she relizes just how funny she is but Riley is a hoot!!

Chelsea!!!! She was one of my bridesmaids. I heart her big time!!

Aubry I'm sorry but this is the only picture I have of us. :( She just woke up and was readying herself to go to work, shes an EMT. Aubry was my maid of honor! She has been the girl to keep me grounded and strong in what I believe in.

Random

Becky and I thought it would be fun to dye my hair. And of course we can't take normal pictures together.

Oh D&D how I love thee and they hot chocolate!!

Jay took a picture of me reading on the plane. I read the entire time. I think he was bored. I was reading City of Glass by Cassandra Clare. Oh my amazing!!

YUMMY!!!

Thanksgiving

Alanna and Becky with olive fingers. Its tradation to have one of these shots. Alanna was my other bridesmaid. :)

Unlike here in Canada, the states movie theathers are open on Thanksgiving so sadly Jamie had to work. But he was a able to sneak away on break and come over to the Cottams. Its a very very rare thing to get Jamie smiling in any picture. Hes so dang cute!

Diet coke with Lime is like the Mormon version of Corna with lime. :) hahaha.

Okay by far this was the funnies even of the night. Just look at my face in the corner. Chris was going to take the last piece of chocolate moose pie out of the dish and I dared him to stuff his face in it and eat. So he did! Oh how I love cousin Chris!

I was still hungry so I thought I would eat Kevins face. LOL!!

What in the world are JaNae and mom wearing?! I guess they were getting ready to go milk the cows. hahaha!! They were the cooks.

I may have "accidently" whip creamed my mom. It was totally done in love. :)

LOL!! No words for this one. Just typical Mary and JaNae moment.

Temple Square Christmas Lights

We're so cute!

Sisterly love.

From L-R: Becky, Jay, Me, Dad, and Mom. I don't know if you can tell by this picture but mom was really cold. ;)

I couldn't help it. :/

Well thats it for the pictures. Jay and I had a blast. I hated leaving. I can't wait to be back in Utah one day. We pretty much just hung out with family and friends. It was so nice to be around them all once again. Saying bye was really hard. I stated balling when I said bye to Jamie as he was the last one to say bye to before we left the house. My parents and Becky had all gone to work already. Are flight home was boring. Does anyone ever have a really good time flying? I just read the whole time. Which by the way I am totally fine with as I love reading. Kym picked us up at the Providence airport and then on December 3 we were back in New Brunswick Canada also known as the frozen tundra. :)

I WON I WON!!!

Okay so I always enter contest on-line. I love it! I think its so much fun. Plus why not, when you get to win something for free. Well a few weeks ago I won something from Sugar Pop Ribbons. I was so totally excited about I can't even tell you. Now before I tell you what I won I have to tell you a little about this awesome sit. First off not only does she do giveaways but she also does tons of reviews. I love reading reviews. I can't even tell you how many items have been added to my favorites list these past few months after reading her reviews and then checking the product out for myself. The owner of the blog has a little girl knows as DD who is 4. Let me just say DD is so cute!! So she does a lot of reviews and giveaways of baby stuff. I am loving this. Jay and I have decided that next month we are going to start trying to have a baby! YAY!! So now I look at all kinds of baby things and compare them all. I have to tell you I love going to Sugar Pop Ribbons and reading the things she reviews for not only babies but toddlers. Its been so helpful. I decided that this was the year for me to start going green. Well Sugar Pop Ribbons is all about going green so score one for her in my book!!

Okay now onto what I won. I plan on nursing my babies. But I do not however feel that it is right for women who nurse to just pull their boobs out for the world to see. No one wants to see what you have going on. Its not right. So I will for sure not be one of those women. When SPR was having a giveaway from Balboa Baby and one of there nursing covers was up for grabs I had to enter! If you have never been to Balboa Baby and you have a baby I highly suggest you check them out. Wicked cute stuff!! I for sure plan on getting one of there nursing pillows. So cute! Here is what my new nursing cover looks like!! OH so excited about it.

Now you all must go to Sugar Pop Ribbons and become a follower and win cool stuff for yourself. She usally only ships within the US so if you don't live in the states but know someone that does you should ask if you can use there address. Thats what I did. I gave her my parents address. I'm really excited about this. And I love love love Sugar Pop Ribbons!!! She always has great reviews and awesome giveaways.

How can UNICEF think like this?!?!

As someone who has three adpoted brothers and friends with adopted children, adoptions is a big part of my heart! My husband already knows that one of my dreams is to someone day own tons of land and have a horse farm for forster and adopted children to come. I want to have a place for them to learn freedom on a peacefull level, not the level they know. Which most of the time is scary and unknowing. So when my friend Cheri posted on her blog about UNICEF being against international adoption my jaw hit the ground. How can an orgainazation that is all about helping kids not want those same kids to come to a country where they would be loved and very well taken care of? I just didn't get it. So I went to the link she posted on her site and then went to the link that was posted on that blog. Here is what I found. 

*please note this is from  Randy Bohlender web site.

My blog posts have slowed considerably the last few days, as UNICEF has flexed its’ muscles in Haiti, encouraging the Haitian government to essentially shut down any adoption from that country.

Let us not feign surprise here.

UNICEF has been against international adoptions for a long time. They speak with a fair amount of warm hearted goobly gook about the ‘best interests of the child’, as if anyone who disagrees with their conclusions must by definition be against the ‘best interests of the child’, but in the end, once you cut through all the verbiage, they’re simply not in favor.
WWUNICEFD?
What would UNICEF do? In their perfectly ordered world, an orphan child would go through a process to verify that it’s an actual orphan. Then, they would try and match that child with an aunt, uncle or some other family member. If that fails, they look for another family in the country. If none shows up, they would look for a foreign national living in the child’s country of origin. If they can’t find a foreign national, then begrudgingly, they might be in favor of that child moving across a national border to a loving family.
I’m not sure what’s at stake here…the best interest of the child or the nation-pandering that UNICEF needs to engage in to keep this charade alive.
Let’s apply their logic and processes to….oh, let’s say Haiti.
Officially, there were 200 orphanages registered in Port-au-Prince alone in 2006. That’s an official number…who knows how many unregistered orphanages existed, as registering with the Haitian government was something akin to painting “Hassle us!” on the sidewalk in front of your building.
Those orphanages were almost all at capacity, whether that capacity was 8 or 80. Some children were adopted out – not as many as you’d expect though.
In 2008, only 301 children were adopted in the US. 301 children from a country with 200-plus orphanages in one city. We were not emptying their streets of children.
We don’t have an exact number, but anecdotally, I can tell you, many of the kids were not ‘technical orphans’. Most were given to the orphanage because a family member couldn’t care for them…and in many of those cases, they’d already been passed from family member to family member before the family gave up and asked the orphanage to take their child.
This is the ‘extended family’ that UNICEF wants to find for these kids…the same extended family that placed them in the orphanage. It’s hard to fathom them greeting little Jean-Paul with “We’re so glad you’re back! We couldn’t care for you before the earthquake, but now, UNICEF is here!”.
After the extended family is ruled out, for some reason UNICEF thinks the kids would be better off staying in Haiti, even if with foreigners…as if to not live in Haiti might rob these children of an opportunity. The opportunity to see sewage run in the streets or witness death everyday, perhaps. After all, that is the bulk of Hatians’ experience right now, and will be for some time. UNICEF doesn’t want a child to miss that rich cultural exchange.
UNICEF pulled this some years back in Romania. Romanian adoption has since closed as they became convinced that they somehow could deal with the needs of their children by drawing on the resources of their impoverished country.
I won’t begin to describe the effect. You can read this BBC acount of life in Romanian orphanages today. As you read that story, remember, Romania is rich next to Haiti.

Again, I’m not proposing the US government scoop children off the streets – although that’s the language used to try and scare people into thinking Uncle Unicef knows best.
I’m for orderly, legal, and responsible adoption.

UNICEF is for more of what you see now.

Do you like Alice In Wonderland? Then check this out!!

Fire and Ice is having a super awesome and fun giveaway with pinkcherrymama from Esty. I had to blog about this one because I love Alice In Wonderland! Such a fun movie and a crazy book!! When I was younger my friend Steph and I were ofter called Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Just click on the title of this post and it will take you right to the giveaway! Thanks

Love to Read For Fun has a GREAT giveaway!!

Love to Read For Fun is having a great giveaway on some amazing books!! Check out their awesome blog and enter to win!!

My book list for the Thriller & Suspense Challenge 2010

So I came across this challenge from a button on one of my favorite book review blogs. And anyone that knows me will know that I just had to take this challenge. Any excuse I can get to keep reading great book need to be taken. I may add some reviews to some of the books. There will be stars next to the ones that I found really good, happy faces to the ones that were good, and of course hearts next to the ones that I LOVED! So enjoy my 2010 reads.

#1) Blue Moon by Alyson Noel *
#2) Shadowland by Alyson Noel*
#3) Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 This book is beyond AMAZING!!! It keeps you guessing all the time and its never predictable.

Oh my......

Man I feel like life is just going by so fast. I have so much to update on here. Sadly that wont happen for a while. My computer has decided not to work. So somewhere in the mail right now is my paper work for my extended warranty to come. Thank goodness my mom is brilliant and got that knowing that I would need. She knows how me and anything electronic don't get along so well. I guess the back light went out on it. Staples here I come. Maybe I can get a new one like I did with my Ipod. Thanks Best Buy for my $0.52 Ipod with the cool video camera on it thats also pink. Ah the life of replacement plans for people like me. So until I receive my paper work there will be no updates. Until then my little blog.