What's wrong with kids toys today?

I went shopping for a six-year-olds girl's birthday present today and was discouraged and disgusted!  I don't know who makes toys these days, but they must not have girls.  Why is their a push in our society to have girls grow up before they are ready?  I don't understand why all the toys, even dolls, are sexualized.  Did I miss something?  When did Cabbage Patch Dolls become "uncool"?  I like the innocence of my childhood where we could play with Cabbage Patch Dolls, Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, and others.  I know these are still around, but they are not popular.  I am at least glad to see that a lot of stores have pulled Bratz dolls from their shelves.  I was looking at Barbie and noticed how sexualized they are.  I spoke to my mother and she said that they have always been like this.  I don't remember them being so bad, but I was just a kid.  I also noticed that girls clothes are more grown up.  Why do they need to look like teenagers when they are 7 or 8?  I don't get it.  Maybe I am just naive for thinking that there should still be an innocence with our youth today.

Wow...

I guess it has been forever since I have posted something on here. After my father passed away, I think I lost interest in a lot of things. Even though I think about my father every day, things are better than ever right now. I married the man of my dreams on August 1, 2009. I have two cute dogs and a just got a job that I love with Osseo School District. I think that I need to make a habit of posting things on here again, because it was good for me. I need to have an outlet for everything that I see and do in my life. It will be nice to take a break from studying every once in a while. Okay, I don't study as much as I should, because I am always on Facebook. Need to change that at least until I am done with school. I should be going to bed now, but will try to make a point to write on here.

Does anyone still read this?

So, I guess I haven't been updating this like I thought I would, so I was wondering is anyone reading this? I don't know, but I guess I will continue to post (when I remember) so that if anyone IS reading this, they have something new to read. I am still happily with Ryan. We just made six months. We sort of inadvertently celebrated by going to Lutsen with two other couples and a single guy. It was so much fun! I snowboarded for my very first time and did not break any bones. I want to continue to learn, because it was so much fun. Leyla is 10 months old and still a fur ball. She needs to get a cut soon. Valentine's Day was actually something memorable this year, which was my first good Valentine's Day every. Ryan gave me the most beautiful flowers (pictures will follow). He also gave me a sweet teddy bear and a beautiful card. I would put it on this site, but Ryan is a very private man and somethng inside of me tells me that I want to keep it between us (sorry Mom). He also cooked me dinner. The menu was as follows: Salad, Asiago Cheese, Frybread with Asiago Cheese on top, Stuffed mushrooms, steak, potatoes, sauce with peppers and mushrooms, Turtle Cheesecake with strawberries on the side, and a nice rose wine. He cooked all of it except the cheesecake. It was awesome! I felt like a queen. Anyways, things are good. I am in the process of looking for a new job which is the only thing in my life that has not been going as well as expected. Anyways, that's been my life for the last two months. Tonight, I am hoping for a snow day either tomorrow or Friday. It's coming down, but probably not hard enough to have a snow day tomorrow. More later (when I remember). The flowers Ryan gave me for Valentine's Day!

Our first night in Lutsen at the lodge!

The Lutsen Gang (Sam, Jess, CJ, Chris, Tee, Ryan and Me) The Lutsen Gang on the slopes (minus CJ)! Ryan and me on the slopes!

December 11, 2006-January 4, 2007

So, I obviously have been really busy, because I have not updated my blog in a while. Since I began to use myspace, I think sometimes I neglect this website. Sorry all you non-myspace users. Anyways, two days after I wrote last, my father had an accident with his table saw. He was using it and he forgot to put the safety on. This is gross so skip over this part if you do not want details...he cut off part of his thumb, his whole index finger and they reattached his middle finger on his right hand. To make matters worse, my parents had just gotten their floors done in the living room so all of the furniture was in the basement. Ryan and I went over that Friday and moved all of the furniture back up to the living room for my parents. Saturday we went out to dinner for my parent's B-day and then we went to see Jesse Lang play at Bunkers. We ran into a couple of other friends while we were there. Sunday, we had Ryan's work's Christmas party. His boss took us out to the Rockwood Steakhouse in Otsego. It was really good. So if you haven't guessed, Ryan and I are still together and doing VERY well. We did our Christmas together, so on Christmas Eve we went to my grandmother's house and then to Ryan's dad's house. On Christmas Day we went to my parent's house for breakfast, Ryan's aunt's house for lunch, and Ryan's best-friend's house for dinner. Oh, I forgot to mention that on December 23, Ryan's brother came home from the Marines for the week, so Ryan and I picked him up from the airport and took him out to dinner. We then went back to Ryan's and went into the hottub to relax. Thursday, December 28 was Erica's golden birthday, so we went to her house for a party and then we went to see The New Congress play hoping that they would have a James Brown tribute (they didn't). Erica and several of her friends met up with us there. On December 27 (sorry for jumping around) and December 28 I worked my part-time job from 9-5:30 for training and again on Friday, December 29 from 4pm-12pm. Saturday, Ryan and I went out to his sister's house to exchange gifts, because she was unable to make it on Christmas day. Ryan's nephew, Alex, LOVED his johnny jump up. We then went to Ryan's best-friend's family Christmas party. Sunday we decided to stay in. I had to go home to Leyla for a little while. On my way to Ryan's I ran my car into a cement median. Miraculously, nothing is wrong with my car. I got the tires rotated and they are fine. Ryan and I went to his neighbor's house for a wonderful dinner (crab legs, steak, chicken, stuffed mushrooms, potatoe skins, etc). We then went back to Ryan's and went into the hottub. We managed to stay up until 12:05 when we both passed out (from being too tired, nothing else, promise). Monday, I hung out with Leyla all day and went back to work on Tuesday. This weekend I have another Christmas party and Alika and Ernest are moving in with me for a while on Saturday until they can find their own housing. So, I will try to update on a more regular basis. More later...!!!

December 8-December 10

So this weekend was pretty busy. I went over to Ryan's on Friday night so that we could leave first thing Saturday morning to go to Iowa. We went down to Iowa to visit my friends, Gretchen and Noy, and also to see Gretch's parents. Saturday we hung out until we went to Psychic Suzanna. She told me some pretty interesting things including being gullible. We then went out to a bar and hung out until Ryan and I decided to leave with Gretchen's parents and go back to the house. Sunday we hung out and had some good grub before coming home.


Mom and Dad Watson and Noy








Mom Watson and Noy








Noy, Gretchen, Ryan and me

December 1-December 3, 2006

This weekend I did not do a whole lot. On Friday night Ryan and I went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We then went over to see Flag of Our Fathers. It was a really good movie, but hard to watch. It depicts the events that happened in a very real, sometimes too graphic, way. Saturday I was supposed to go to a Pampered Chef party, but I had felt that I had neglected Leyla, so I stayed home instead. Ryan came over and I cooked him dinner and then we just stayed in and watched a movie. Sunday, I just hung out with Leyla. Not that exciting. I ended up getting sick and staying home on Monday and Tuesday. Back to work tomorrow. So, here are some long awaited pics of me and Ryan...I asked him to crop the best one, so that will come later.
Don't worry, he is actually happy!
















Out in the freezing cold at the Trail of Terror!

Thanksgiving weekend

So, Thanksgiving weekend was packed (I know I am a little behind in my posts). I spent Wednesday night just hanging out with Ryan. Thursday we had three Thanksgiving meals we were supposed to make it to. We made it to two. We started out at Ryan's dad's house and then drove from there over to his dad's Thanksgiving in Cottage Grove (I think that's where we were). We were there for several hours (enough to watch almost two full football games). We then went back to Ryan's dad's house to pick up Ryan's car and went over to Ryan's friend Tyler's house. We stayed there for awhile playing with the kids and talking. Friday, I went to my family's Thanksgiving celebration. Ryan had to work and he wasn't feeling well. Saturday I went to see Pirate's of the Carribean Dead Man's Chest with Amy. It was a pretty good! Amy and I then went and got dinner at Perkin's. It was kind of nice to eat there again at my old stompin grounds (not the same Perkins, but got the same feeling). Amy is going to be working three jobs now, so I will not be able to see too much of her. Sunday I was supposed to go to church, but was not feeling like it. I waited until Erica woke up and then went to get her so that I could go over to Erica's parent's house for the "Cookie Marathon". We made over 400 cookies, 7 different kinds in about 7 hours. It was a fun time. The cookies were really good too! Ryan got part of my batch and so did mom and dad.