Charlotte's World

Things I'm looking forward to

2011-04-01T15:29:00.005-06:00

Hi Everybody,
It's been awhile, huh? But I am going to try again.
Today, I got to do something fun. Okay, a few things really. You have to live in Vail to know that if you make the drive into Tucson, you really are going to do more than one thing. I started off my day buying airline tickets so I can go to BYU's Women's Conference. Boy is that exciting. I never thought I'd go back there and it's been long enough since the first time, that it hardly seems real. Did I go to BYU? There aren't many people around who could readily attest to that fact. But I am going back. And while it will be a highly spiritual experience and I for sure will get to go to some great classes, I am mostly excited to catch up with some friends from Idaho. I couldn't have been more welcomed here in Arizona, but I sure miss my Idaho friends! I'm not usually a cryer, but just thinking about hugging my friends again makes me tear up. I hope to laugh, and cry, eat, pray and love with them. That's sounds like a good book title ;)

Then I discovered DSW. I don't exactly know what the letters stand for, but it's a shoe store. A really big shoe store! I went looking for shoes for my little guy, who this weekend will be sixteen months old and still isn't walking! Some people say shoes help, some think bare foot is better for learning to walk. I have decided that at sixteen months, anything is worth a shot. I love having late walkers. Don't get me wrong. The little munchkins stay out of trouble longer. But this is ridiculous. And the Pediatrician alluded to the idea of occupational therapy. While OT can be so helpful, it is also time consuming. And, well, I already don't get enough done due to my half-day schedule and living so far from everything. Back to the store though. I didn't see a single kid shoe there. Just men and women's shoes. And truthfully, it's hardly worth mentioning the men's section. Anyway, I didn't think there would be much to tempt me, since I'm not a fashionista or anything. But since arriving in AZ, I think I have given up improving on my looks, and have just gone for accessorizing. I like purses now. And jewelry (though I can't afford the real stuff.) And I guess shoes. Anyway, my kids don't have any news shoes, but I do :) So today, I am happy. Until the hubbie finds out. I need to stink up two pairs of shoes in about three hours. And THAT is why I had all boys (ha ha). They aren't here right now,dang it.

Okay, so this post is getting long and probably boring for you. But the shoes are super cute. And Perry was super funny. He pulled out any shoe that was pink or sparkly for me to try on. "You want this one, mommy?" I guess he has girls figured out already in his mind.

Then just because somebody on Facebook mentioned the Mormon Cocaine being In 'N Out burger, I had to stop. That was so awesome. I just wish I had been doing that all with friends. I miss you all and any one of you would have made today even better. I'm reading this post and thinking I'm not quite back to myself yet, but I'm trying. Love you all!

I Have a Blog?

2011-02-21T12:15:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone,
I just discovered that I have a blog! It's crazy talk, I know. And even more amazing, I have friends that blog. One of my main reasons for blogging was to stay in touch with those people who are so important to me. And I haven't done a very good job. It was a hard year, but I still had tons of great things happen. So, one of my new year's resolutions is to start blogging again. Right after I get the crying baby up. Dang it. I hope to come back to this real soon.

An Open Invitation

2010-05-16T08:48:00.003-06:00

It's Sunday here and I have been thinking a lot about when I joined the LDS church. And this led me to think about my other mom, Audrey. I always just called her mom though. Anyway, I just wanted to share my favorite memory of her.

I used to be at the Rossiter's house ALL THE TIME. Ami(bff) and I became friends in the Seventh grade and were hanging out together constantly shortly after that. This was amazing. I was quite morose at the time. I confess that I had a potty mouth then. I had no restrictions, that I know of, as to what I watched on TV or listened to on the radio. And even though it was the seventh grade, I already had some questionable friends and influences in my life. So, for the Rossiter's to put up with me was truly a generous thing. And all I can think of today, was the day Audrey-mom told me that I had an open invitation to their house. She meant I was welcome anytime. I didn't have to ask, just come over. I was often fed, chauffeured, taught the gospel, given driving lessons and generally just loved. I was taken on family trips, like the Portland Oregon temple Open house and a trip to Wyoming. I was helped through many heartaches and crushes. And I was often at their house really late because my mom worked 3-11. Closely tied to the first memory is waiting for my mom to pick me up from the Rossiter house. I had to watch for her, so she wouldn't honk the horn or have to come up knock on the door. And I had to peer out the blinds to see. Audrey-Mom didn't like it very much when I disturbed her dust and left finger prints on the blinds. I always thought I could look out without touching the blinds, but I don't think I did.

Anyway, my next thought is how in our church the youth are often taught not to date non-members, don't have your bf a non-member, etc. I understand WHY this is taught. I could have just as easily influenced Ami as she and her family influenced me. Still, I hate hearing those talks/lessons. Because I don't know where I would be without Ami and her family. I love having the gospel in my life. I can't express what a truly dark and dismal view of the world I had when I met Ami, but the gospel has made all the difference in my life. This past year and a half have been so hard. Ami has told me that she has often worried that I would return to that dark place I was in when we met. But she also has told me that I haven't ever gone back. And we both know that that is due to the gospel and my testimony of the plan of Happiness, and my family, the Rossiters.

Fits like a glove

2010-04-04T09:53:00.002-06:00

Seriously? How could this happen to my favorite pair of jeans? It is time to say goodbye to a much loved pair of pants. And I can't just cut them up and call it good. They need a loving tribute. I'm not completely sure how long these pants have been with me, but I do know I have had them through two pregnancies. That is how they got elevated to "favorite pair."
Well, to start at the beginning I will tell you how we met. I hate pant shopping. As a matter of fact, nine times out of ten when I go shopping for pants, I come home with anything but pants. Three shirts, a pair of shoes, a purse, but not usually pants. It has to do with height issues. Some times I'm considered petite, other times I'm on the short end of average. Then there is the average shortie. Or whatever. But I found these lovely pair of jeans one Spring day in Macy's. Okay, I'm not sure about spring, but I am sure about Macy's. I was browsing the sale rack even (another reason why they got the elevated favorite pair status.) They were cute, but if you have ever looked for pants on the sale rack, you know that it is like 30 shirts to every single pair of pants. And the chance of the pants being your size? Not good. So I looked, but wasn't counting on them being my size. But they were, even the smaller of my sizes. On sale, my size AND as I looked closer Tommy Hilfiger! I am so not trendy clothing wise, but in this case, I could flash the label if I needed. And, as was the trend a few years ago, these pants weren't descecrated with gaudy embroidery.
Still these pants had a little work to do before becoming the love of my life. So, how did they do it? I was able to wear these pants while pregant! Twice! The first time I got to about month six before I couldn't wear them. And the second pregancy I made it to month five. Both times, after pregnancy, they were the first pair of pants I could get back into. Oh happy day! Strangely, these pants I could also pull on and off without unbuttoning whenever I was in shape. So they made me smile.
Now, some of you who don't know better (i.e. men), might think that when the favorite pair wears out, the second favorite becomes the fav. Au contraire, mon frere. Just like we hope the vice president never becomes the president, because we didn't vote for him, the second cannot become the first and the first cannot become the second. Besides, pair two is wearing out too.
So, I will now bid adieu to my favorite pair of Cowboy fit pants. I will try to use them in a denim quilt, but they must now go like a lamb to the slaughter (my sheers.) I will soon be shopping for new pants if anyone cares to go with me. It is quite the process, but usually involved lunch out! Feel free to share your stories also. I know I am not alone.

She says she talks to Angels

2010-02-27T16:57:00.006-07:00

I think I may be loosing it. I have a bunch of new little personality quirks, that by themselves are pretty harmless, but considering the circumstances, I think imply that I may be loosing it. I'm almost always late these days, something that for me personally, has always been a pet peeve of mine. I used to always tell my mom and brother that things like band concerts started a half hour before they really did, because those two couldn't seem to get anywhere on time. My brother always had to listen to one more song and though I never knew my mother's excuse then, I suspect it was simply that she was a mom. Now I'm one of them. And it isn't such bad company.

Another quirk I've developed lately is WWGJD? I know we are all use to what would Jesus do, but mine is what would Grandma Julie do? She'd spoil the kids, she'd take her own sweet time getting ready, she would read. And so there has been some kid spoiling, time taking and reading going on. I wake up most mornings with the thought of "Well, mom, what do we want to do today?" It is kind of a resignation to the fact that I will be thinking of her all day anyway, and it is also a way to try to take those thoughts of her and make them happy, not sad.

Lastly, on this list, but not in reality, is the new quirk I have of thinking my mom is trying to talk to me daily. I KNOW! It sounds crazy. But let me explain. Today, at the time of day when I am most out of energy, I turn the radio on and it is starts playing Olivia Newton-John's "Let Me Be There." How often do YOU hear that song on the radio? Do you even know that song? Well, when I was little it was my fav album. Olivia was country then. Anyway, the very first thing out of my mouth to my hubbie, without thinking was, my mom's trying to talk to me. It made me really happy at first. So happy I was kitchen dancing, which should be an Olympic event by-the-way, just like car dancing. Well, then I listened to the words and it kind of made me teary. Other things that have made me think my mom is talking to me have been random quotes she used to say popping up on the TV, finding lost pictures of times gone by, feelings of peace when I can't do the chores that need doing because one of the kids needs me. My mom always said things like "Where else would you be right now? or You're exactly where you are supposed to be." (Usually quoting Dr. Wayne Dyer.) Friends have said things to me that my mom would have said. There is an extremely cute and fat bird that came to see me one day (which I normally wouldn't have noticed because I'm so busy.) I saw a shooting star one night when I got to go for a walk with Parker-this doesn't happen as often as it should. And Adam, who has started cooing, now wakes up in the middle of the night hungry (that's the normal part,) but instead of crying or fussing, he is happy to coo-coo-catchoo for 15-20 minutes before we go and get him. We keep waiting for him to scream, but he just keeps talking to himself and maybe my mom, too. All of them little things, but it really feels like my mom is sending me little messages.

So, I guess I am alright. The kids are alright too. Randal is a saint. I know I'm not a lot of fun right now. I sometimes spontaneously burst into tears. I can go from happy to sad in 0 seconds. And still he is ever there and loving me. Randal lets me escape when I need to, whether it's Girls' movie night, reading, blogging, eBay, another new quirk called World of Warcraft or just going for a walk. The eBay and WoW is what probably qualifies him for sainthood. He lets me call him three times in one day, just because I need to talk. Even my mom TRIED to have a policy when I was little to only call her once a night at work! And she's pretty saintly too. There is more too. I hope when the time comes, I can be exactly what he needs in his time of need.

If I am still in your prayers, I would appreciate you adding my dad to them too. Mel Purnell from Kalispell, catchy isn't it? He is experiencing some health problems and financial worries and I selfishly just want everything to be okay now because I can't handle anymore trials by fire. Thanks.

So very hard

2010-01-27T09:28:00.003-07:00

First, a warning. I don't know when I am going to be okay again. Well, I guess I am okay, but I don't know when I'll be happy, cheerful, energetic again. My mom passing away has been the hardest thing I have gone through so far. The timing, for me, STINKS!

I keep finding myself saying "That was the hardest thing I have ever had to do." Then I keep proving that wrong. The first hardest thing was the phone call I got telling me that my mom had died. The next flying to Seattle knowing it wasn't to see her again (alive anyway). Then hearing from one of my mom's co-workers about what actually happened. Next, meeting with the HR benefits worker at the hospital and talking about things like life insurance, retirement, 403b's, etc. Another hard thing was talking with the Chaplain who had worked with my mom for years. Picking music for the funeral, picking an outfit, calling my mom's friends who were far away and some of them very sick themselves, signing papers at the funeral home, going into my mom's house. Perry saying "Bye, Umpa (grandma)" as we left the funeral home for the last time. The list goes on and on. And it isn't getting easier. I also keep thinking I did this just about a year ago for another mom. I now think I hate riding the ferry, because the last two times I've ridden one, it was after saying goodbye to two wonderful moms. I selfishly hope to get over this dislike of the ferry, because they really are beautiful rides.

I have so many people praying for me and looking out for me. I know that I am not alone. But something keeps trying to make me feel like I am alone. I just tell that voice/thought that it is ridiculous. I have had people making sure I ate, slept, am able to take care of the kids. I have had people babysitting, cooking, cleaning for us. I have had countless hugs and words of condolence and support and love. I have so many people to thank, some who I don't even know who helped me out. I am not alone. But it is still hard. Today, I am just thinking that I should have talked to my mom recently. Every third call or so on my caller ID says "Grandma Julie." Both the cell phone and home phone. The worst times of day are the middle of the night when the baby wakes and shower time. I love shower time normally. It is my alone time. Being alone isn't fun right now though.

I can't help feeling lost, though not spiritually, thankfully. Spiritually, I have been ok. I have beent thinking about the Savior in Gethsemane and the disciples watching with him. That was what I kept thinking about as I sat at the viewing for five hours. I keep thinking about Job. I've never liked the story of Job, but I do respect it. And I keep thinking about Elder Bednar's talk on Tender Mercies. I need to go reread that. I have had so many tender mercies show to me.

My mom was going to retire in a couple of years. Then she was going to come live with me. I was going to help take care of her and she would be with her grandkids most of the time. We would occasionally drive each other crazy, but it would have been worth it. She didn't like to rush and I usually have a timed schedule. She folded laundry different than me, which always surprised me because isn't she the one who taught me to fold laundry? She cooked different than me, which the kids teased her about the whole month she was here to help out (didn't she teach me to cook too, well, sort of)? My mom also liked to hide my kitchen gadgets. Okay, it wasn't on purpose, but I always found stuff after she left in the wrong spots and would just shake my head and say "Grandma!" My mom always knew when parenting was getting hard (i.e. I was screwing up) and she would just tell me that I was doing a wonderful job. AND SHE BELIEVED IT! She read my blog too. So many things to miss.

I wasn't able to speak at the funeral. I had the chance, but didn't know where to start. She was a wonderful nurse, mom, and person. She always was thinking of other people and often buying gifts (which is amazing considering she didn't like to shop.) She spoiled the kids rotten! Which made Perry's birthday yesterday a bit hard. I didn't know if I should buy a big, obnoxious present and say it was from her, or just let this be the first time without a gift from her. I always told my mom she could buy the kids whatever she wanted (Grandma's rights and all), but to please buy storage for it too. She never did buy storage buckets. She once bought one of the kids a Geotrack airport/city thing. It's huge. No storage.

I'll probably blog more memories later. I'll try to focus on the happy ones. I still don't fully believe this has happened. There is a psychology model of grief by someone named Kubler-Ross (I believe) that talks about five stages of grieving. Not in order, they are something like, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I bounce between them all a million times a day. Well, except anger. There isn't much to be angry about. When it's our time, it's our time and anger can't change that. I would do a whole lot of things to bring her back if I could and I thought it was the right thing to do. Like I said earlier, there are still times it doesn't seem real. I know I'm sad about it and still don't fully believe it. But I'm not angry. She wouldn't want that. She would have some funny quote from Dr. Wayne Dyer about all this. I took all her CD's from him for memories. I'd better tell my brother, though I don't think he'll mind.

"You may be right. I may be crazy."

2010-01-14T09:09:00.003-07:00

"But it just might be a lunatic your looking for."-Billy Joel

Well, there has been more medical stuff going on here. First, I had a post-partum depression questionnaire given to me and I did not pass. I always pass tests. I'm an A student. Maybe I forgot to study? I don't tell you this because I am worried, but I did think some of the questions leading. The questions always referred to the last seven days. I will type a few of them and see what you all think.

In the past seven days, have you taken blame for things you shouldn't have(paraphrased)? Well, I wouldn't take blame unless I thought I needed it! AND it really is sad when you send one child to school without a coat (because we were late and didn't realize he probably needed one until we got to the bus stop and then we figured "Oh, well, he doesn't play outside because he is a kindergartener") and the teacher finds a coat to send him home with.

In the past seven days, have you found things:
More funny than usual
The same
Less funny than usual?
Can I help it if I don't find midnight spewing, missing homework, undone chores, etc. funny? And what if I do decide after eight days that the midnight spewing was quite impressive and kind of funny? Well, that leads us to medical issue number two. At first, I wasn't concerned about the baby spitting up. All babies do it, right? And we have a lovely nephew who could really spew when he was little and our baby wasn't quite that bad. But we decided to visit with the Pediatrician. I went in thinking it was just acid reflux, but just in case, Adam had an ultra-sound to rule out pyloric stenosis. We are thrilled to report that it appears negative for the pyloric stenosis, which would have required surgery (though there is a small chance we caught it really early and it just didn't show up on the imaging yet.) So, we are treating Adam for reflux for a week, to see if things get better. If they do get better, then he just has to take some prevacid every day. If, after a week, he isn't better, then more tests. The best news is, after ONE DAY, I think I see an improvement. He still spits a little, but it isn't curdled (TMI-sorry), it seems to be an appropriate amount (I'm not changing his outfit, my outfit, and calling in carpet cleaners anymore), and he can go back to sleep after eating! And I think this will help me pass my next post-partum test because maybe I can sleep now. We feel relieved and blessed and thrilled that we are taking care of business. By the way, I want to know if all moms are afraid that their kids' doctor will think they are overly caution and concerned when they take their kids to the doctor? I always worry that the doctor is going to think I am making stuff up or exaggerating or just don't know what is normal. But the doctors we have had always listen to me and usually agree that something isn't quite right. So why do I worry? Because it's a talent!

We had a visit from Grandpa this past weekend for the baby blessing. It was amazing, but the kids (Perry especially) took right to Grandpa Thornley. They knew exactly what to do with Grandpa from the moment he walked in the door. I think partly due to a previous month long visit with Grandma Julie. I forgot to mention that while Grandma Julie was here, Perry gave her the nickname "Umpa." He had previously called her "GRRRRR ANDma." But this time, always with a twinkle in his eye and a sly smile, he called her "Umpa." Even when we corrected him. It was cute.

The last interesting thing that I can think of is the singing going on in our house. The favorite seems to be "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission." Parker and Peter know the whole song. We had a FHE on leading music though, so there is lots of emphasis on the words that occur on the down beat. Which explains why Perry sings "Hope, Mission, Grow, Hope, Ready, Work, Do!" It's super cute, but my words aren't really doing it justice. We also have a new favorite book in our house and it isn't a train book! It's "We're Going On A Bear Hunt." Everyone can read/recite it, except for Adam. We have to act/sign parts of it and it is ofter read more than once a day. At first, the feeling is AGAIN? But the kids like is so much, it's easy to get into anyway.

I hope you all are well and good. Thanks for caring enough to read really long blog entries with no pictures and not always sunny news.

Licious

2010-01-06T12:14:00.008-07:00

Let's see how fun it is to write and read a blog posted from the sleep deprived!

First of all, I have to tell you all about a weird theory I have had for many years. And that is that I believe most people who commit murder, especially serial killers, are sleep deprived! When you don't get enough sleep logic goes out the window. Sequencing goes too. "Oh, I need to eat THEN brush my teeth." You can't remember why you walked into a room. Consequences?? "You mean, if I stay up to finish that load of laundry, which takes about fifteen minutes, and my baby only sleeps fifteen minutes, but I wasted five of those making sure he was truly asleep, then not only do I have to finish the laundry with the baby crying, but I also lost out on one chance to sleep myself?" Anyway, that's what I think. So kids, the moral of the story is LET YOUR MOM NAP once in awhile. The other alternative isn't great for you longevity.

Perry has been very cute with Adam, a blessing we weren't anticipating. He likes to rub the baby's head, shake hands with the baby and always makes sure mom knows "Baby spilt!" Toddler speak for spit up. He has also taken to answering the phone (a no-no, but what can mom do?)when mom is nursing. At which point, Peter takes up being cute and tells whoever is on the phone "Mom is busy milking the baby." There is no privacy I tell you. And what can I do about the phone? We put a chain lock on the front door because even though answering the door without mom or dad is a no-no, it still happened. Do they have chain locks for phones? A little off track, but one of the other cute things Perry is saying these days is "Icious," short for delicious. Sometimes it's "licious" too. His favorite Christmas present I think was his smashing new tricycle (we'll see if I actually post pictures.)

Peter has made it to the bus stop in time everyday. It takes about twenty minutes of preparation, but that's how it is getting done. I think he is glad to be back to his routine. He's still super cute with his speaking too. My favorite is when he says something British (from watching too much Wallace and Gromit.) I can't think of anything right now to quote though. He does use the word "certainly" a lot and it's cute. He also constantly read food labels and wants to be on The Biggest Loser when he grows up. We have suggested that he goes on as a trainer, which is more in harmony with his nutrition interests, not a contestant. What do you call a person who takes advantage of a situation like this? Oh, yeah, Parents! We use his interest in nutrition to get us through meal times and new foods. :) His favorite Christmas present was either the balloon rockets or his Scaredy Squirrel books. If you haven't made the acquaintace of Scaredy, we would love to introduce you.

Parker is such a help, mostly, at odd times, when the moon is aligned right, if you cross your fingers, etc. He, too, I think is glad for his routine. Though he misses grandma, I think. And all the Christmas cards from Nampa made him homesick. Over Christmas, Parker read the whole "39 Clues" series and I think about three of the Narnia books. I don't know what he liked best for Christmas. I am attributing this to male stoicism, possibly pre-teen silence.

Randal and I are doing as good as can be expected. We feel like two ships passing in the night. We don't always know who has the baby, when the kids last bathed, what day it is, etc. The great news is this makes everything so much funnier than it used to be. Last night, we caught a bit of Jay Leno while doing the laundry. At one point, we started laughing about Jay dressed up like Susan Boyle on Brittian's Got Talent and couldn't stop when we normally would have stopped laughing. Seriously, it was like about five minutes of laughter. For those of you who have never heard my favorite Pollock joke, stay up really late with me one night, and it will seriously be the funniest joke you ever heard. I may someday post these horrible pictures we have of me telling the joke really late one night.

Such a long post, I apologize. It was just fun adult time and hopefully allays, weight lays, whatever, any worries you may have had about how we are doing. Love and miss you all!

Our New Little Man

2009-12-18T13:51:00.004-07:00

I have been slow in getting pictures up of our new little guy, Adam Robert Thornley. I hope I am forgiven. Adam and I both just had our two week check-ups and are now cleared for all activities. So I finally have permission to blog :)

Anyway, everything went well. We reported to the hospital at 5 am. Which meant we had to get up at 4:15 am. Adam was born at 8:03 a.m. There were no complications for the baby. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 5.75 ounces. I had almost no problems except for the motion sickness after the operation. Everytime the nursing staff tried to move me after the operation, I got sick. It would make a cool real life baby doll feature, but wasn't so fun for me. (The hospital nurses, doctors and even food service were all so wonderful. I would do it all again happily IF we were going to, but we aren't!) I was released from the hospital Saturday afternoon and have done really well since being home. It helps tremendously that my mom is here for almost a full month.

Adam has been described by his pediatrician, the nurses and Perry's speach therapists as being mellow. I agree with this mostly. The exception is night time. But he is a great baby. He likes to be REALLY WARM. I mean, we live in AZ, and the daytime temps this week are in the 70's, but he still likes two to three blankets and preferrably a warm body underneath him (he loves to sleep on people.) He lost a little bit too much weight at first (move than 10%), but is quickly gaining it all back.

There are two new pieces of baby care info (so far) that amaze me considering Perry is only almost three years old. One is, the protocol for umbilical cord care. You no longer clean it all the time with alcohol. You just let it dry up by itself unless it starts oozing or smelling. My other kids had their cords still at the two week check up. Adam lost his at day nine. Wow! I also learned that breast fed babies, even in sunny AZ, need Vitamin D supplementation. Who knew?

Well, that is the update. Randal is doing great, but needing sleep. Same with me. Parker and Peter have pretty much carried on as usual. They love their new brother, but are also quite busy themselves. Parker has had an exciting time lately too with a birthday and Arrow of Light (I hope to update soon on that.) The real blessing/surprise has been Perry. We thought there would be tons of jealousy. Perry can be pretty rough and still doesn't talk well. But with Adam he has turned out to be a fabulous big brother and he is even talking better in just the past two weeks. He has also started telling us when he needs a new diaper which means someday I may be able to potty train him. YAY!!!

That's about all for now.

Not so new anymore

2009-09-18T11:27:00.004-06:00

Hi All,
It's been awhile. But we are doing well. We are about to come up on our first "Intersession," better known as fall break. Three weeks off for no reason in the fall. We don't have any big plans for the time off, but we do need to visit the Desert Museum and Air museum. UPDATE: So far, we have gone to Colossal Cave and a mall trip. I love the mall, I love my kids, but put them together and it's kind of expensive. I'm a sucker for comments like, "Look Mom! They have pretzels just like we used to get in Nampa (Boise, really.)"

Parker is doing great in school. We just had parent/teacher conference for him and his teacher says he's a good kid and smart, if a little introverted. Kinda sounds like his dad to me. Parker is still on course for being taller than my by about age 12. He will also be participating in his first Chess tournament on Saturday, so that should be exciting. UPDATE: He got 2 1/2 points for his first tournament, which means he had one draw, two wins and one loss. Chess is cool in my opinion for one reason at least. Parents are not allowed to watch the games (or rather, coach, shout, stress their kids out, etc.) Chess tournament are slightly trying though because they literally take all day. Randal says all the people there are super nice though. Parker also attended a birthday party recently and found himself the only boy who showed up. He seemed a bit shocked that some of his guy friends "ditched" him, but I think he had a great time, and it's actually pretty cool, one guy to ten or so girls?

Peter has the whole school thing down. He loves it! Yesterday and today were half-days, which are done a little differently here. ALL kindergarteners, yes, that's AM and PM, go to school at the same time in the morning. These are the days when they get to do the special things at school like library, computers, P.E., etc. So, hopefully the teachers aren't overwhelmed, but I must admit, I think they are crazy!
Peter also recently was spotlighted in Primary, so since Randal and I have spoken in church already and Parker has also been spotlighted, I don't think we are considered "new" anymore here. My favorite thing Peter told his teacher when he was spotlighted was in answer to the question "Favorite Scripture?" Peter's response, "I can't read scriptures yet!" But he is getting there. He surprises us at the strangest moments by reading a sign or something else to us. He also likes to read sentences with exclamation marks REALLY LOUDLY and then tell us that's what exclamation marks mean. UPDATE: We have had to have "The Talk" with Peter. You read right, not Parker, but Peter. And he sure wanted to know a lot! I went with the philosophy that you tell the basics and let them ask questions. He had a lot of questions! I probably should have sent a heads-up to his teacher at school in case he feels like sharing his knowledge.

Perry has a friend. Her name is Sarah and they are in nursery together. Recently, Sarah's mom and I, got together to do some canning. Now, Sarah is in his prayers nightly, and everyday he asks "Where's Sarah?" An interesting thing I have noticed is, though he still has trouble speaking and being understood, he is extra careful when he talks to her and we can understand all kinds of sentences like "Sarah, follow me" and "That's my blankie!"

The new baby is growing well. So far, everything is great, but man, I am too old to be doing this. I either have to take a nap daily or I crash by about 8:30 p.m., sometimes mid sentence. We have tenatively schedule the birthday to be Dec 3rd. The baby may have other plans, but we'll go with that for now. And the name game is hopeless. No one can agree on anything! Parker wants Phineas. Peter just doesn't want another "P" name, but likes Thomas (the tank engine), and Perry has suggested about every train name. Gordon, Henry, Percy. He has stayed away from Skarloey and Rhineas, so that's helpful at least. Randal doesn't really say, but I think he is through with "P" names too. As for me, I once made a joke that my initial and the boys made C3P and we needed an "O." Peter then thought we should call the baby "C3PO," but this week (literally, it changes from week to week,) I like Oliver. Don't ask why. There has also been votes for calling the baby Perry Junior. This would be massively confusing because we have a Perry, who calls his brother Peter "Perry" and gets his parents so confused we sometimes do it too. So, there would be three Perrys in the house. I guess they could all be spelled different...Pari...Parry...AHHHH!!! UPDATE: Perry has finally started calling Peter by his real name. So, it would only be two Perrys afterall. Also, we found out due to Mom's "advanced maternal age," that we will be having Dr. appointments twice a week for the rest of forever! Apparently, it is standard procedure to get NSD tests this often WHEN YOU ARE OLD and having a baby. But still, what a pain! Anything for the baby though. I have no idea how to make this work with the kids, especially trying to get Peter to P.M. kindergarten.

Randal and I are fairly busy, but don't always know where the time goes. Of course, there is work and taking care of kids. I've been roped into canning, book club, Girls' movie nights, etc. It's helping me make friends, but the times when I'm not busy still make me home sick. Randal, doesn't seem to have much free time, except when we are all in bed by 8 p.m. and he isn't even tired. I don't know what he does then. Anyway, we are happy and healthy but we sure miss family and friends. Take Care all and know we love you.

Random, and I mean even more random things that usual.

2009-08-06T09:19:00.003-06:00

We are in the house. And we love it. The only drawback is the boxes. And boxes. I have been busy, but do you really want to know that the movers carefully wrapped and moved some of our prized scrap wood, a crushed paper dixie cup, a couple of lego creations that despite the very careful wrapping came apart and various other precious things? It is sometimes like Christmas opening boxes and putting things away. Unfortunately, we are down to opening boxes now that we say to ourselves "Where are we going to put that? or I don't want to deal with that now, how boring." My loving hubbie did go through a few boxes marked simply "books," in order to find New Moon for me. It was very sweet and he was very lucky b/c we have quite a few of those boxes. He has a quote he tells me from his friend David Mitchell which is something about it being a good thing to move more weight in books than other stuff. It makes me feel a little better.

We are also about to have our twelfth anniversary. Our plans include exploring a new part of Tucson, eating and Harry Potter. We have been fortunate with Randal's new calling (Sunday school, 16-17 year olds) to meet a few babysitter's in the ward. I got called to be the accompanist to the ward choir, asssured that they do mostly hymns. Well, we'll see how it goes, but they do NOT do mostly hymns and the choir director was a music major in school. She even composes her own stuff. For fun. I am amazed that the singers in the choir, it seems all of them, can match the director in talent.

Parker has started Chess club and day one was "awesome." He even graciously said Peter could do it if he wanted too. (This was a big deal, b/c of the age difference and Parker likes to feel like there are just some things he does.) I guess they still need more people. But it costs money and can a Kindergartener really grasp Chess? We were just working on Checkers, and the unbelieveable sorrow that comes with losing is quite, well, unbelieveable. Parker also has scouts still and I feel very blessed that we came into a wonderfully functioning den/pack. Parker also has another loose tooth and just got a desk for his room which he is thrilled about. Who knew a desk would be exciting to a fifth grader? But he can now work without Perry, well, helping.

Peter really likes Kindergarten. He says he knows all the answers because he saw the answer book the teacher uses. He also said, on one of the first days, that there was a girl, named Emily, at his yellow table who (add some drama here) "Doesn't like cute things!" When asked to explain, he said she likes Star Wars and her favorite color is...BLUE! Like a boy! He is so funny. He also thinks Trix are the "evolvtion" of Kix cereal. It's a Pokemon thing, not a Darwin thing. And sometimes, when he is cutting things, his scissors are "out of control" and he needs a little help.

Perry has passed another hearing screen and is catching up on his speech. His evalutaion was "inconclusive" meaning that he isn't 50% behind his age group, but he is still slightly delayed. We are going to try a behavioral specialist for a month and then decide about speech therapy. The behavior stuff is to help him learn to focus, mostly on the different sounds in words, so that he learns the tiny differences in words, such as "moo" and "moon." As long as the tubes work, we think this is going to go fast and easy for him. He is enamored of Trix also, chocolate covered pretzels and trains. He has also moved on from refering to Peter as "baby." Now, Peter is Perry. And Perry is Perry. So, it gets a little confusing around here.

Randal still likes his job and the people. He did come home a little green the day he got his security clearance and FOUR HOUR BRIEFING! And now, of course, he can't tell us everything he does at work. Though I never REALLY understood what he did anyway, this new development surprisingly drives me a little crazy. It's a lot like wanting to know your Christmas presents before Christmas. My imagination has us watching 60 minutes one night, and hearing about some new, fascinating technology. At which point, I turn to him and say "I wonder how that works." And, where he would normally try to explain, he just stares at me and says NOTHING!

So that's just about everything. We still don't know if the new baby is a boy or girl. It didn't bother me for a long time. I had so much else going on. But now that things have slowed down a little, I really would like to know. It drives Parker crazy to not know and he really wants a sister. But we are all seemingly healthy and happy with a little homesickness in there for Nampa. Tucson has wonderful lightening storms, though still not a good as one I once watched in Pullman with my good friend Kristy. And we love eating breakfast on the patio, the only cool time of the day. We have beautiful mountain sunrises to watch from our backyard, and that feels a little decadent. We hope that future construction doesn't ruin that. Hope you all are well and happy also. Bye.

Intermission

2009-07-08T10:13:00.004-06:00

I left off on our journey to AZ with picking our children up in Utah. While there we got to do some vacationy stuff. We made it a goal to ride the Front Runner train from Ogden to SLC. It may have been a subconscious attempt to kiss up to a two year old who is by now pretty fed up with us. It worked. At least, while we were doing it. I don't know if the trip is 30 or 45 minutes, but all the way there and all the way back we (mostly me and Velda) heard, "Mommy, choo-choo! Choo-choo train. Tracks! Mommy, choo-choo!!!!" I still don't know the appropriate response, but a response is required as any of you who have had a two year old knows.

As a lucky break, our new house is near some railroad tracks. Not too close, but close enough.

Anyway, we also got to see most of the family before we began our Exodus, and that was good because it may be awhile before we get vacation time. It may be even longer before we convince the kids to travel that far again.

We set off later than we thought to head down here, so we only made it to some obscure place in Utah. I really can't remember the name, but it is by the famous Big Rock Candy Mountain. We also made it to Cove Fort (thanks for the recommendation Peggy.) It was a fun way to break up the trip. Lots of pioneer stuff to look at and do. And boys and forts go together so well.

The next day was the grand canyon. Randal decided we would camp that night. OKAY?! This is probably the most exciting part of the trip and I don't even know where to begin. R and I had no coats with us. I mean, we were moving to AZ, so who would think to pack coats? The kids had jackets, so they were okay though. We also had a little tiny stove to cook on. It's a one burner, unstable contraption that I am sure is useful if you are, say, climbing Mt. Everest and need to travel light. Not very practical for cooking meals though. But R was willing to do the cooking. Oh, yeah, did I mention we didn't have a skillet, spatula, and barely enough eating utensils which we had stored in the car not for this trip, but some time ago "In case of emergency." Well, it does get cold in AZ if you are in the mountains. And everyone except R went to the tent by about 7 pm due to the cold.

The next day, we went to the south side of the Canyon and that is NOT CLOSE to the North side. Should have know with the name "Grand" canyon. We made some wrong turns also which added, oh say, a couple of hours to this trip. And of course, this was the day mom didn't get a shower (due to camping.) A side note here, for those of you who might not know this trick, is that if I am grumpy, chances are I didn't get a shower that day. It isn't a conscious thing. I'm not trying to be a brat. It is just something I have noticed about myself through the years.

Anyway, we saw the canyon, but this was probably my least favorite day of all the traveling. We were going to trying to make it to Flagstaff that night, but I mutinied, and we found a hotel near the canyon that night thinking we might go back in the morning. AFTER A SHOWER! I couldn't go back the next day knowing we still had five hours to get to Tucson and going back would have added at least two hours. So, we just headed towards Tucson. It was a good call for the majority. I think R was disappointed though. But hey, we'll go back someday. We do live here now. And I understand there is a train that goes from Williamsburg (?) to the canyon.

And now, we have arrived. So, next post is all about moving forward with our new life. We really do feel like we have done what we needed to do for our family and that we are exactly where we need to be. That DOESN'T help with the fact that we are home sick for our other homes. UT, WA, and most especially ID. Sometimes, we get blinded by comfort zones and routines, but we LOVED our time in ID. We LOVE and MISS our friends greatly. And we hope we can make this place home.

Arizona, part 1

2009-06-30T15:53:00.005-06:00

Hi All,
We did make it, finally, to Arizona. It was a massively crazy time getting here. We started with a house hunting trip in May. We drove to Utah with the kids, left them with aunt Peggy, and then flew from SLC to Tuscon for a fast paced weekend of house hunting. Now, I'm a pretty good pregnant lady, I think, but boy was it a rough trip. We had part of Sat and all day Mon to try to find a house. Eerily reminiscent of our move to Nampa in which we also had a weekend to find a house. I was expecting then too. Well, I THINK we must have looked at 50 houses. Randal says it was more like 30. Either way, it was exhausting. And confusing. Old houses were the same price as new houses. Three bedroom houses were the same price as a six bedroom house. No yard houses were the same price as houses with fully decked out yards. It really is a buyers market I guess. Anyway, we did find a house we like and I'll try to find it's picture. It's a model home, so it has lots of upgrades. Unfortunately, the decorations don't come with it, so who knows what it will look like once we move in. I never have found one decorating style I like and it isn't my talent. DARN IT! Do you want to help, Alli?
Parker will be getting his own room though (except when company comes), so he is pretty excited. It's a two story, four bedroom house + a loft area. No pool, which comes with mixed emotions. We wanted one BECAUSE IT IS SO DANG HOT HERE, but I also had visions of Perry or the new little one drowning, So...there, no pool.

One interesting thing we have discovered is there are "cool down zones" in AZ. I don't know what all of them are, but the one we discovered was a "splash pad." Think Roaring springs kids area, but smaller. And Free! It had the flower showers, dumping water buckets and spritz tunnels.

But back to our house hunting trip. Did I mention our realtor has an H2? It's sleek for sure, but climbing in and out, in and out for all those houses was not fun.

Sunday, because our realtor was busy, we just tried to find a ward we might be in and then went site seeing. It took us three tries to find the right ward. I guess boundaries are fairly new here, or at least confusing, because no one was sure about what ward we should even look at (in?) But I guess that is skipping ahead to when we actually found the house.

Monday was the longest day ever! About 2p.m., I told Randal to buy whatever house he wanted and I promised to be happy. I was DONE! They made the prego lady keep looking until 5 p.m.! And then we were supposed to have dinner with people Randal was going to be working with. And I was supposed to be good company??? The people he works with seem like just genuinely good people and I THINK they understood what a day it had been, but we still didn't get back to the hotel until about 9:30 p.m. Dinner rocked though. An italian place called Gavi's. I was missing Parker, so I ordered Ravioli, and it was Goo-ood! (Parker has recently discovered canned Ravioli and decided he likes it, which is amazing!)

Tuesday was a lot of paper signing and I can't even try to make that sound interesting! And check writing. Then a flight home. I still don't like flying and flying through thunder clouds/high pressure systems it yucky! Again, Randal says I exaggerate, but I think when you hit turbulence and all the passengers let out and "Oh," and some (okay, probably just me) grab a hold of the arm rests, things are pretty bumpy.

Meanwhile, our kids were living it up at Peggy's and making friends and were SO BUSY we couldn't even see them until WED, because they had been invited to a BBQ Tues night!

We visited with them Wed., then snuck out at nap time for Perry, and came back to Nampa to clean and supervise packing. The packing/cleaning went well. So many people helped out with the cleaning. THANK YOU!!! Then it was back to Utah to pick up the kids. Lots of traveling and we still haven't reached AZ! I'll leave the story there and pick up later. I've blabbed too much as it is.

For those of you wondering, Perry still hasn't forgiven us for sneeking out on him. I am not usually allowed out of his sight. And now we have nightly visits from the youngest pro-wrestler I have even known. The plus is, he seems to be talking better. He loves "kacky," his word for cactus. And he is getting very good at mimicking words he doesn't even know. Things like shopping lists and store names. Peter and Parker are truly AMAZED AZ has things like Pizza Hut, Target, Kohl's etc. Peter especially is thrilled everytime I fix one of his favorite dinners, like Pot Pies. He didn't think we'd have them in AZ. I guess he was expecting rice and beans, jalepeno peppers, etc.

Things I won't be able to say...

2009-05-24T05:30:00.004-06:00

...I have a wonderful opportunity today. It is probably our last Sunday in Nampa, ID and the speakers selected in church today will not be in town. So, the two families in our ward moving get to bare their testimonies, though admittedly, Brother Deeble will have to do the rest. Part of me still thinks it's a joke, but we will see. And believe me, I WANT NAMES of the people who cancelled. Well, I do have a testimony, but I don't think it will be understood between the tears and blubbering and nerves and distractions (children, mostly.) So, there are a few things I'll mention here specifically, but the overall message is that I know my Heavenly Father loves me and has a plan for me. A good part of that testimony has been developed while living here in Nampa, going to the 13th ward and serving and being served here for the past 10 years. I LOVE this ward!

I hesitate to mention names, because there will be some who are dear to me who I won't mention. That could hurt feelings, but please don't let it. It's 5 a.m. and I'm just thinking of a few things right now. The first being my friend Alli. You know these last 4+ months have been so hard. And my family and I have been really looked after a lot. But as during any trial (I think), there have been some moments of real self-pity. One Saturday, I woke up feeling not very cared about. People had been dropping in and checking on Randal, checking on Randal, checking on Randal, and everyone was looking out for our kids, but it seemed that morning like no one was caring about ME! (Ungrateful little brat that I was on that day.) I hadn't been checked-up on in awhile. That was the day Alli (and Joel) stopped by my house. I don't know why they stopped by that day, though they are always welcome. But what I do know is that the Lord used them to reach out to me. The Lord answered my need in the very day it was expressed. And I wasn't even very nice when I expressed the need. I believe I was "murmuring." Out loud and very grumpily. Nothing remarkable was said, nothing remarkable done, but it was enough. I knew the Lord was watching out for me and perhaps just waiting for me to ask for help.

Corla, thank you. You truly have checked-up on me many, many, many times. It seemed like sometimes I was just calling you about primary or stopping by to see Brooklyn's new glasses, but it always ended up with you asking about me and my family and then doing something, unasked, for us. You are a very good do-er. A remarkable talent that I have often admired in you.

Katie, you are another do-er that I know. You were the very first person to show up on our door with help. I admit to the first week after our job loss, for me, being a freak-out week. A week full of what the heck are we going to do??? What now? And when you showed up, though I believe you did it all on your own, I just thought you embodied the term "Relief Society." I know that we wouldn't have hit any major trouble in just one week, but some of the immediate worries I would have had were taken care of by your gift. I know I'm being vague, but I don't want to embarrass. I just want to say "thanks."

There has to be bigger words than "Thank You" when you are trying to say thanks for years of friendship. I just don't know those words though. But my friend Nicole has been with me the entire ten years I have lived here. She was "assigned" me as a person to visit teach right after I had Parker. We were briefly part of a colossal ward (3rd ward) and didn't know more than five or six people. That's a hard way to be with no family around and a new baby. But, again, I know the Lord was looking out for me, because he sent Nicole. I hope I have blessed you as you have blessed me. You are my quilting, sewing, crafting and now crocheting buddy. I had a blast with you trying to "Shop Hop" the quilt stores. What an adventure! Half-way Oregon wouldn't be nearly as fun a place without you. And Baker City was awesome.

Laurie, do you even read this blog? I will never forget you kindness to me after the miscarriage. I know that was a long time ago, but your testimony during that time made everything better. We knew about the fertility issues we had at that time. We were so excited that maybe, just maybe, the Lord would bless us with a second child. And then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone. Sometimes, it doesn't even seem real, because we weren't very far along. But your testimony about what a life is, even when it's only a few small cell, and your faith that the Lord would somehow make it alright was what got me past that difficult time. We still don't know the hows, whens, ifs or whys, but we do know the Lord loves us and has a plan.

How do I include the rest of my friends, who have all been such a blessing in my life? I love you all. I don't want to forget anyone, but I will if I list names. Then I'll be lower than slug slime. I do have to give a quick, but sincere, thank you to the mystery donor of money to us. We found it in an unmarked envelope on our car and the gesture touched our whole family's hearts. So much of the service we each receive goes unnoticed by children. We have to show them or teach them how people serve us and how we can serve them. But that envelope was something our kids understood without us explaining. They knew that someone in the ward, and also their Heavenly Father, was very aware of them and our situation. They knew, in that moment, that we would be okay as a family and people were going to help us. They knew, and I know, the Lord is ever present in our lives. I know I'm cheesy, but they knew and I know that we are not alone. I love you all! Stay tuned for our next Adventures.

Smelling like a wet, soapy man!

2009-05-08T14:41:00.003-06:00

Okay, so EVERYTHING in our life is a little random and a little chaotic, so you know what to expect here, right? First, the title. I just hate it when it seems you are out of everything. Well, everything except toilet paper, because I don't run out of toilet paper (COSTCO!) Anyway, I ran out of shaving cream the other day and had to use hubbie's. I know. It works just as well. I just don't like smelling like a wet, soapy man. Though the smell is good on him. So there is my complaint for the day and I think I'm doing pretty good all things considered.

We actually have news here. I'll start with job opportunities. First, Randal got offered a job with L3 in SLC, UT. The major plus being family. Then, he got offered a job in Tuscon, AZ. The major plus, adventure? I don't know. It seems a no-brainer. Until you pray about it. As of today, though nothing is official, it looks like we may be headed to Tuscon. And the great thing about it is we don't even know why besides "it's a (small)feeling." Truthfully, this is one of the times when there isn't a right or wrong choice. But we are both surprised the answer appears to be AZ. We are hoping family understands. We are hoping family visits. Same with friends.

(Switch to your best infomercial voice in your head.) As if this isn't enough, my friends, I have a special bonus for you news seekers. Yes, they are technically still unemployed, yes, their house still has NOT sold and yes, they still have more news. I am here to talk about the exciting, all-natural BABY "P." (Ok, I'll quit being weird now and try for serious.) We are totally stunned to tell you we believe we are expecting another baby (another Dec baby at that.) We don't know how it happened. Okay, we do (wink-wink), but we don't. We were not doing fertility treatments. We weren't officially "trying." We had even concluded that we were done having children. We've never been sure how many kids would be in our family. I have always wanted 2-4 kids. And three fit that criteria. So, when the job loss hit, after I had just had another birthday (29, again :) and we figured in time to move and then time for fertility treatments, we came up with "We are done." I guess the fact that there is a period instead of an exclamation point on the end of that sentence should have been a warning maybe? I don't know. But we are excited, stunned, surprised and hopeful about this baby. AND THANKFUL! So thankful. Fertility treatments can sometimes work, but they are also such a trial of faith. And to be honest, the treatments can try a marriage too. All I can say is "The Lord has a plan." I don't know what it is, but I am grateful he is watching out for us and blessing us. We are NOT planning on another "P" name FYI. But we may use the initial just so this last one isn't left out.

I feel like there should be more news and I'm sure there will be soon. After all the adventure is just beginning. But quite frankly, I'm exhausted! My worry bucket is full! And I need a nap. And I can take one because it is that glorious weekend that comes once a year. Father/Son Campout! (cheering, applause, general happiness.) The boys love their dad. They love camping. They love dirt. And though I haven't figured out the "perfect" way to use my time alone, I do enjoy it. And I'll start missing them like crazy just a couple of hours before they get home.

Back to the Basics

2009-03-20T20:42:00.003-06:00

Here's the quick update. We are still looking for a job. The house is on the market. And we are still doing okay. Now on to some fun stuff.

Some of the blessings I have noticed lately are what are keeping me going. The first (in no particular order) is that I can now grocery shop without kids! This alone has cut the grocery bill, but I am also able to remember to use the coupons I have at the check-out instead of realizing too late that they were in my purse. Another Savings! I can run errands almost anytime of day now, no trying to work around school or nap schedules. YEAH! I can go for walks almost anytime of day. AND today was so beautiful. Seventy degree weather and lots of Sunshine! Music up and windows down in the car. Did I mention that because I am able to go places without my children, I actually get to listen to MY music. Usually, it's Signing Time or Thomas in the background. But now it's MIX 106, Michael Buble or whatever else gets me going. As a side note, I heard "Blame It On the Rain" today, admittedly turned up the volume and had a great Friday Flashback.

Another perk of this time, is that I am finally finishing some projects that I have wanted to do. I finished the top to Peter's new duck jammies. I do pants for Christmas time, but Peter decided he needed a top to match. Mostly because these duck jammies were replacing ones that he had outgrown, and the old ones had a top and a bottom. Anyway, I quilt, I don't sew. I mean, quilting, for the most part, is straight lines. Curves on the other hand, are quite the pain in the butt! And that, my friends, is why plus sized clothing never fits right. No one likes to sew curves! (OK, I am probably exaggerating a little, but you'll never know unless you try to sew yourself.) And any outfit you may have with piping on it is worth double what you paid, I promise. Can I just tell you, it was 100% worth it when I finished because of my Peter's beautiful smile? He was so proud of me and the jammies. Just don't tell him that I think they are at least one size too big.

I also have almost finished my friend's baby quilt. Shamefully, I think he is about nine months old now, but still, it counts. The first problem with me finishing stuff is that I am a perfectionist. The second it that my friend refused to find out the sex of the baby before he came. So, I started a quilt, but it started looking girly. Then I find out it's a boy. What to do, what to do? You'll have to tell me what you think of it (it's the rainbow one.) You can't see the quilting very well, but that was tons of fun because I was using the laser on a long arm quilter to trace some stars and moons. Cute stuff I tell you. The people who design and invent these quilting projects are awesome!

Lastly, I have included a picture of a table runner I have wanted to do for at least a year if not longer. Yeah, you probably guessed that it was originally going to be for Valentine's day, but it could work for Mother's day, Birthdays, or Anniversaries, right? I got so into it, I have more than one. I made five. Don't know why, but I did. And I probably have fabric to make five more. This is always how it goes with me. I have a thing for fabric. I have thoughts of using the extras as visiting teaching gifts, presents, or selling them on ebay. I don't know. I just can't make one. ESPECIALLY if I originally am making it for myself. Because right before I finish the project, I will almost always think of someone else that I think might like what I am making too. (I don't mean that pridefully.) Anyone own a Mr. Gobbles or snowman door hanger??? :)

So, I think this is a pretty good update of my life. I have some fun things coming up too, so maybe I'll be better about updating the blog. I have a trip to Washington soon. I'm going without kids. To be with my best friend from High school. It should be a lot of fun and maybe a little bit of trouble too :) I have my second ever talk to give in church. I am not sure I can do it, but the good news is I won't remember a thing I said afterwards, so I can't be held accountable, right? And then, hopefully, I'll have a new job for hubbie and place to live to tell you all about.

I can't let the opportunity pass without telling you all "Thanks." Thanks for being my friend. Thanks for supporting and sustaining me through this stressful time. Thanks for praying for me and my family. I have always been surrounded by great friends and I hope that never changes. Love you!

P.S. The other picture is just a cute one of Parker and his marshmellow catapult. I think it may have been a scout project. And he built it himself. Cute kid!

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the ....

2009-02-07T09:20:00.002-07:00

So,....SO!... so...it's been awhile since my last post and this one comes with a confession. I HATE journaling! But blogging has somehow made it doable. By giving journaling a different name, I am able to attempt it. (It's similar to calling your "Budget" a spending plan. Now, doesn't it make you more relaxed to call it a spending plan?) You see, journaling the cute, the weird, the funny, the growing moments and even some truly touching things is easy and fun. It can be entertaining even. And I have several journals with six to nine months worth of my life in them. Then BAM! You hit a rocky point in your life and you just figure it's 1) depressing and 2) no one wants to read about depressing things. I'll try not to give TMI, b/c I do find the jobless situation depressing, but I also don't want you all to think I ditched you for Facebook or something like that.
So, here are some things I've learned:
It's not natural for hubbie to be home all day. He gets in my way and makes me face some things I knew, but didn't want him to know. What things?
I sometimes spend too much time on the computer, which I can't do now that he needs to be looking for a job.
Sometimes, my computer time involves ignoring the kids.
I like to watch Oprah AND I don't even fold the laundry while watching her.
When I don't feel like doing housework, and who ever does, I have lots of things to replace it with such as talking on the phone about absolutely nothing, reading, quilting and podcasts on itunes (can Dave Ramsey possibly be a bad thing?)
I have also realized I like to shop. Or should that be, used to like to shop :) If I needed out of the house, Target or Costco have often been my drug of choice. No flat screen TVs or anything, but go get the kids' gummy vitamins, pick up a book and by-the-way, how about some poppyseed muffins?
I hate FEELING poor.
I KNOW we aren't really poor.
Knowing how long a trial will last does not help you through the trial. I think of the children of Israel and Moses and I also think of Noah and the Ark. Knowing the length of a trial probably leads to things like last minute repentance and blatant rebellion. Plus, you always keep asking "Are we there yet?" And I'm pretty sure our Father in Heaven doesn't like that question any more than our earthly parents do (or us, for that matter.)
The big shocker for me has been to learn I haven't been as compassionate as I should have been to others in the past. It truly is hard to know something unless you've been through it. It's sympathy VS. empathy. And empathy is a talent for those of you who have it. But I feel sad for all the times I thought about things but didn't do them. Things like sending a card in the mail for no reason. Dropping by to say "Hi" unexpectedly and being willing to stay as long as needed. Kidnapping people, I definitely should have done this more for some of my friends. (Let me clarify, kidnapping my friends, not their kids, or maybe both, I don't know.) Buying an extra gallon of milk and dropping by to see if someone needs it (Have any of you heard a talk about that? I have and it's always stuck with me, though the details are fuzzy.)
Anyway, I think I found my New Year's Resolution finally. I need to be more empathetic and a better friend.
Thanks to all our secret friends who have helped. I know you want to be anonymous, but I can't let you go unthanked and I don't often get up in church to do such things. I have learned a lot from you. I haven't even been snooping or trying to be a detective or anything. This is amazing if you know what I'm like about Christmas. But I love all of you and thank you for caring! I even finally cried, but it's a good thing, because I have always been blessed with good friends and that thought is what started the tears. Can you help me pass these words of thanks on to my known and unknown friends who don't blog and have helped us? You all are great!

Cheesy Broccoli Soup

2009-01-20T08:04:00.002-07:00

I had a funny story to write. At least, it's funny in our house because it involves gas. But I think I'll give the short version because there are other things going on here. The short version is that I made a new dinner for the family to try. It was a cheesy chicken broccoli crock pot dish. Well, then next day, Parker was pretty convinced he needed to stay home from school because of extra stink in the bathroom and slightly looser stool. Anyway, I just asked if it smelled like dinner. And he thought about it and said, "YES! How did you know?" And I just said that is what cheesy broccoli soup does to everyone. He not only thinks I'm wise, but terribly hilarious (I think he even had tears in his eyes during this discussion.) He went to school, but wouldn't eat leftovers the next day. THAT will teach me to open my big mouth.
The other news here is that we have joined the unemployment ranks for the first time in our lives together. You can imagine this involves a lot of mixed emotions. We've told the kids and they have the usual, but odd kid concerns. Things like, "do we have to sell my toys?" But truly, we are okay. We've pointed out that we have a good family, great friends and that we belong to a church that will always be there for us both spiritually and temporally. Having never gone through this before, we really don't know what they need to hear, so if you have any advice that would be great. Another blessing is that we have been trying to get our house in order. We have been working on getting debt free for awhile. Thanks to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. We have some concerns, but overall, we feel we have been doing our part and the Lord will be watching out for us.
We have already had some wonderful friends step in with help. Sometimes, kindness overwhelms me. It's not like I believe this world is unkind, but sometimes, there are just moments of such generosity and love that words cannot convey the experience. I have felt like this before, first when I got baptized after four years of being partially active in the church. I think everyone who had anything to do with me during that four years showed up to show their love for me and I think that has always impressed my mom too. Then, when you get married, people are super generous. It's like they are grateful someone was willing to marry you or their grateful you married someone who was almost a menace to society. I don't know, but it is a bit surprising and touching. I experienced this love and support again when I was called to the Relief Society Presidency years ago. I had a lot of learning and growing to do, but the sisters in the ward overlooked every flaw it seemed and welcomed me. Especially the dear older sisters of the ward. They have so much life experience, skills, and things to teach, yet they were so loving. They always had a kind word for me. I'm expressing it poorly, but those older sisters in the ward were awesome. And I know their names, I'm just protecting the innocent. Now, I am already experiencing this love again. Part of it comes directly from our friends, after all, because that's what friends are for. But part of their love also comes from the savior through them and we can feel that too.
So, what's the bottom line? We are grateful. We are loved. We are blessed. And truth be told, we are a little worried. We would love to have you pray for us. But just having each of you in our lives brings a ton of comfort. I suspect that you don't know how awesome you all are, but there is a reason we call you friends. Thank you!

Don't do it!

2009-01-10T14:23:00.003-07:00

Okay, so, I was going to change the look of the blog and then write. After all, it's no longer Christmas. But I made some HUGE errors while trying to do this, and have lost the cute things my kids used to say, which of course, I hadn't written down anywhere else. And that led me to thoughts of my new years resolution, which is to eliminate the occasional swear word that has mysteriously crept back into my not-quite-daily usage. Some of you are so far past this kind of goal. And I thought I was too. But I must have been pushed over the edge sometime in the past year, because, well, I'm having occasional vocabulary issues. Now please, you know I'm not dropping the F bomb or anything like that, but some of the borderline ones are back. Unfortunately, there has been some positive reinforcement from hubbie who always asks concernedly, "Are you okay? Is everything alright?" Well, No, thanks for asking. My mom used to say something like, "You are highly educated and really smart. Surely you can come up with better words to use." Of course, this was directed at my brother, because, well, let's face it, I'm smarter than him and learned not to say those things in front of her. But now I hear those words directed at me.
Anyway, I do have other, loftier goals. I still need my passport. That got put on hold when I got the perm. No good pictures=no passport photo. Plus, these days, with homeland security and all that, I'm pretty sure if you get one of your parents birth places wrong, you'll be denied a passport. So, I need to borrow some white out.
I've been considering giving up soda, but I think I'll wait for Lent. And I've been thinking every time I eat out, I should make myself order a salad. Again, that maybe a better idea for Lent. When is that anyway???
I am planning on being out of debt, except the house, this year.
But mostly, my goal can be summed up by this quote. "The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he is always doing both."-James Michener

Christmas Catastrophy

2008-12-09T16:47:00.004-07:00

Okay, for this post I REALLY need feedback! I decided to make my family pajamas this year for Christmas. We've done it once before, it was fun, and I thought it would make a good tradition. Well, I never know what to do for my dad, so I thought this year I would include him in the tradition. I found great fabric at a great price and actually had a cleared off table to cut on today, so I got started. Now, I'm not the world's greatest at sewing, but pajama bottoms are about the easiest thing I can think of to sew. Especially with a "Sew easy" pattern. And as I have said, I've done it before. It's a piece of cake. Something you might say "you could do in your sleep" or "with your eyes closed." Well, apparently I tried one of those techniques. I should have taken a picture, but Betty is my witness that for some odd reason, the pajamas look like they might have been for a sumo wrestler. The legs were high waters on me! And the body literally came up to my neck! So what went wrong? I'm still not sure, but since I had used the serger, I needed to cut apart some seams. And there go all the helpful markings. But I can do this, right? Well, I seem to have fixed it a little, because the legs are now the right length and the body is somewhat normal. I say somewhat because the left side is about two inches higher than the right side at the waist. It's at least at waist level though and everything else looks pretty normal. So I think I have sewn two fronts together for one leg and two backs together for the other leg (which is slightly-really, I think it is only slightly- bigger because they are supposed to be for your BUTT.) And all this time, I keep thinking of the Cosby Show episode where Denise tries to make a sweater for Theo-with three arms.) So, do I continue and pretend I have done it right, do I start over including buying new fabric (did I mention it was the most perfect print for my dad?) OR do I scrap the whole thing? And how do I get out of the funk this mess caused? I'm sure I have bad karma now. I'm pretty sure dinner will be burnt. I know I shouldn't buy a lottery ticket today! And if I see a bus anywhere near me, I am running the other way! ARGH!!!! And now I need to go face the music and discover what the kids have been up to while I've been trying to sew for the modest sumo wrestler. Well, my positive thought I am going to try to hold on to is that I say a shooting star this morning and I think they are pretty awesome.

Magical

2008-12-03T07:35:00.004-07:00

So, last night was the Jim Brickman concert and ever since, I've been having trouble thinking of what to say about it. In my simplest words, it was wonderful. But it was so much more than that. I've seen him once before in concert. He was doing his "An Evening With Jim Brickman" tour. It was my first Christmas being married and we went as our Christmas present to each other. That too was a magical night, very romantic and beautiful. It's just that when you are newly weds, everything can easily be romantic, and you aren't sure if it's due to being in love or if the concert was really that great. Well, I'm happy to say I'm still not sure if it's due to being in love or the concert (I still love you Randal), but it was a great evening non the less.

The guests with him were Tracy Silverman and Anne Cochran. Anne was with Jim years ago in Spokane. On the Visions of Love CD, she sang "After All These Years." If you have heard other versions, they aren't as good. She is amazing, completely gorgeous in a "real person" way and I am surprised that she isn't more famous. (Of course, I'm still surprised I'm not more famous too, but fame is fickle! Ha ha!) I actually think of that song as mine and Randal's, though when we first heard it, we hadn't even been together that long. Again, the words to convey how special that song is and how well Anne sings it are not there. But just know that it was touching. You know, the kind of song when you get the goose bumps listening to it (please tell me this happens to other people.)

Tracy Silverman was somewhat new to me. And let me tell you, an electric violin is an amazing instrument. You can get the mournful and sweet sounds of a regular violin and then you can rock out like Jimmy Hendrix too. I bet that surprised some of the older audience. As Peter says, it probably "distracted them out of their pants." It was especially interesting, to me anyway, because they were able to use the electric violin almost as a percussion instrument. I know I am describing it poorly. Maybe I should just say, "You had to be there."

Thank you, mom, for such a wonderful Christmas present. I always get them early, don't I? Ha Ha. Really, mom, you went over board. We had second row seats and could see everything so well, especially Jim Brickman's dancing left leg (again, you had to be there.) And Anne's amazing ruched all over, silver dress that she was able to still look slim in. My mom gives the best gifts, just look at my very first entry on my blog. I love you mom. Thanks for giving us something so special to remember and something we probably would not have been able to get ourselves.

Strange Ailments

2008-11-26T08:12:00.002-07:00

Okay, so I'm hoping most of you know my mom is a nurse. And at one time, I did think about following in her footsteps. When I asked her about her job though, she proceeded to tell me about the wacky, gross and strange things she deals with. I won't go there in case anyone is delicate, but I went to the eye doctor yesterday and got diagnosed with something strange and I was beginning to think I had heard it all (okay, not all, but a lot). I have a BLISTER on my EYE! Now, many of you know I love the dentist. I am also extremely tolerant of the OB/GYN. But I am a terrible eye patient. I couldn't do contacts if I had too. The opthamologist even had to flip my eye lid to look around. He tells me, "You probably did this all the time as a kid." Using my prim voice, which I didn't know I had, I informed him "Why, I NEVER!" Anyway, with Thanksgiving coming up, I am grateful for doctors, medicine, eyes and vision and the people who serve in the military. (I know that last one seemed out of place, but the doctor was really patient and nice AND had served in the military. Which also reminded me of all my friends and relatives who have served. And I truly am grateful.) So, that's my update and so far my vision is just fine and my eye should be fine soon. Which I am so thankful for, because really, my eyes are probably my best feature. I hope that doesn't sound vain, the very thought makes me laugh, but I do love my eyes. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Stuff I got to have

2008-11-16T09:21:00.002-07:00

Okay, I should have probably title the post "addictions" but that sounds so serious. And we all know I'm hardly ever serious. But I do have an addictive personality. I have problems with Halloween candy (thankfully most is gone and the rest is being carefully guarded by rightful owners.) I am addicted to my favorite TV shows (Biggest Losers, Heroes, and A.I. when it comes on.) I am crazy about my hubbie and have serious problems when he is not around for a couple of days. I can't live without music, quilting or reading. (Notice I didn't mention exercising. I really wish I could get addicted to that though. I just Do It!) But my latest addiction is Facebook. Now, I've been kind of scared to go to facebook b/c I equate it with My Space, and have heard that My Space CAN BE a dangerous place. You know, all those perverts trolling for children. And of course, the lonely looking for hook-ups and one night stands. NO THANK YOU! But, alas, I am easily swayed, especially by good friends. And best friends are the worst (or best depending on how you look at it.) Anyway, my long time friend, Ami, joined facebook and has got in touch with some of our high school friends. And I was envious. So, I joined up thinking I can quit at any time. Isn't that what all addicts say? Well, it has been a blast. I have found about 20 friends, in less than a week, from high school time. All my friends are special. These friends are especially special :) b/c they were around when I joined the church. I couldn't/wouldn't have made it without them. So, you can imagine how thrilled I've been to get in touch and reacquainted with these friends. Anyway, I had been kind of hoping to post a blog and play the 6 degree game (I think that is what it is called.) It's the theory that we are all connected or know each other if you trace the path through (example) your sister, who's boyfriend, who's father, who's coworker, etc knows Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Well, I thought about doing that for all the sets of missionaries who taught me. Because a lot of you guys are popular, know a lot of people, etc. And I have just been wondering if any of you know one or more of the missionaries who taught me. So, maybe another day, but for now, I am content with facebook. Watch out though, because there are also a lot of games and other what nots that can take up your time!
http://www.facebook.com/login.php

You must remember this, forgetting has it's benefits.

2008-11-11T16:17:00.002-07:00

Okay, so you have heard about my memory problems a few times. I just found it timely that I ran across this article from the Wall Street Journal. My FAVORITE part is the last paragraph. And I guess I now have a reason I can accept for why I am supposed to have a journal. Anyway, here it is...

There's an old saying that inside every 70-year-old is a 35-year-old wondering, "What happened?"
What happened is that countless days, nights, meetings, commutes and other unremarkable events went by, well, unremarked. They didn't make a lasting impression on the brain or they were overwritten by so many similar experiences that they are hard to retrieve. In short, they've been forgotten.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. Neuroscientists say forgetting is crucial to the efficient functioning of the mind, to learning, adapting and recalling more significant things.
"We focus so much on memory that forgetting has been maligned," says Gayatri Devi, a neuro-psychiatrist and memory expert in New York City. "But if you didn't forget, you'd recall all kinds of extraneous information from your life that would drown you in a sea of inefficiency."

The busier and more distracted we are, the less likely we are to record memories in the first place. Keeping a journal can help capture more of those rushing days.

That was what prompted Jill Price to contact the memory experts at the University of California at Irvine in 2000. As she wrote in a book published this summer, "The Woman Who Can't Forget," Ms. Price could recall in detail virtually every day since she was 14, but she was mentally exhausted and tormented by her memories. UC Irvine scientists are interviewing more than 200 people who say they have similar "autobiographical" memories, but so far have found only three more.
Memories of singular, significant events -- say, last week's historic election -- are generally easy to recall; people typically store them in long-term memory with many associations attached.
Memories of mundane, recurring events compete to be recalled, and scientists say the brain appears to be programmed to forget those that aren't important. Neuroimaging studies show that it's the brain's prefrontal cortex, the area of complex thought and executive planning, that sorts and retrieves such "like-kind" memories. Researchers at Stanford University's Memory Laboratory demonstrated last year that the more subjects forgot competing memories, the less work their cortexes had to do to recall a specific one. In short, forgetting frees up brain power for other tasks, says psychologist Anthony Wagner, the lab's director.
Your Questions Answered
Columnist Melinda Beck answers readers' questions about advocating for a patient in the hospital, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and more. Read Health Mailbox.
A real-world example, he says, is having to learn a new computer password every few months: As your brain suppresses the memory of the old password, it gets easier to summon the new one.
In fact, forgetting is a very active process, albeit subconscious, neuroscientists say. The mind is constantly evaluating, editing and sorting information, all at lightning speed. "Your brain is only taking a small amount in, and it's already erasing vast amounts that won't be needed again," Dr. Devi says.
Much that happens during the day doesn't make an impression at all because our attention is focused elsewhere. Take your daily commute, says Dr. Wagner: "A heck of a lot of stuff is landing on our retinas as we're driving down the road. But if you were focusing on the presentation you have to give, you didn't perceive it and it didn't get stored."
He notes that people face such a constant cognitive barrage that they frequently fail to attend to information that isn't essential at the time. "I have two 4½-year-olds and I'm already thinking, where did those first four years go?" Dr. Wagner says.
Numerous studies have shown that when people are asked to focus on one thing, they can fail to notice others— phenomenon called "change blindness." In one famous test, when viewers are asked to count how many times a basketball changes hands in a video, roughly half don't notice that a gorilla walks through the scene.
Conversely, people who have remarkable memories for, say, sports statistics or who-wore-what to parties paid attention at the time and attached significance to it, while it doesn't register on other people's radar screens at all.
Are memories for events you didn't focus on stored in your brain nevertheless -- like unwatched bank-surveillance tapes? That's an area of much debate. Some experts believe hypnosis can trigger long-buried associations. But so-called recovered memories are also susceptible to distortion.
"Memory consists of billions of puzzle pieces, and many of them look the same," Dr. Devi says. "Each time you retrieve a memory, you're reconstructing a puzzle very quickly and breaking it down again. Some of the pieces get put back in different places."
What if you want to remember more about each passing day? One simple method is to keep a journal. Writing down a few thoughts and events every day not only makes a tangible record, it also requires you to reflect. "You're elaborating on why they were meaningful, and you're laying down an additional memory trace," says neuroscientist James McGaugh at UC Irvine. Taking photographs and labeling them reinforce memories too.
But remember that forgetting can be very useful, says Dr. McGaugh: "If you used to go out with Bob and now you're married to Bill, you want to be able to say, 'I love you, Bill.' That's why forgetting is important."

Do your kids.......?

2008-11-09T16:57:00.004-07:00

Okay, so as the mother of three kids now, I still have a lot more questions than answers. So, I thought I'd pose some of them to you. I won't remember them all, so I may add to this post a couple of times (I believe I mentioned my memory problems in an earlier post.)
Do your kids wait until the last possible nano second to go to the bathroom?
Have you ever figured out why?
Do you have love triangles in your home? Brother one and two love brother three. But brother one and two don't get along very often. Brother three is oblivious.
Do your children believe you love them, because I have one that doesn't?
Do your children always have to hurt one another when they play together?
Do your children feel overly burdened simply because they need to unload the dishwasher?
What is the average number of times you have to ask your children to do something?
Be back later...the one that was really puzzling me, I have forgotten.

I Remembered one...
Do your kids eat butter (or something equally yucky) by itself?

Only two hours, if that!

2008-11-05T12:56:00.002-07:00

So, I've been thinking about something my former trainer (I'm out of sessions) wanted me to do. She wanted me to log all my food intake on this really cool site for the Body Bug. It is a wonderful calorie counter, BUT, since I cook a lot of our meals, requires me to sometimes type in recipes to get the calorie count. I know it would help with weight loss, but there are only so many hours in a day. And maybe you can relate, but most of the things I do for myself are limited to a two hour period, if I'm lucky. That happens to be Perry's nap time. BUT, Peter is usually still awake or only sleeps an hour. SO, here is a sample list of MY activities that I have to squeeze into a two hour space.
SHOWER
Bills
Sewing (Christmas is coming, and, of course, I'm behind.)
Christmas shopping via the Internet
Reading (Fun and Church stuff)
Preparing a lesson
Cleaning
Calorie counting
Exercising
Napping (These are VERY RARE, but I have to be truthful)
Phoning people, if I want to be uninterrupted.
Blogging
Pondering
And sometimes this is the only time I get for lunch

How do the rest of you do it? If you know me at all, you know one of the first things to go is cleaning. Now, my house isn't usually a pig sty, but 9 out of 10 times if you were to spontaneously stop by, there would be laundry on my couch and dishes in the sink. I would apologize profusely, but would be so glad to see you that I would soon forget my embarrassment. (Unless it was underwear day, then I'd be embarrassed longer.) Thankfully, if I need a shower during "my time", it means the exercising is already done OR that well, er, uh, I decided to skip it. The bills have become more time consuming lately simply because I am trying to keep better track of where the money goes. Did I mention this is actually homework for a class I am taking, Financial Peace University? And all the other stuff is purely selfish, but like I said, it's the only "my time" I get. And truthfully, I know that there is more I try to fit in that time, I am just so darn forgetful all the time. Have I ever express how grateful I am for sticky note? Well, I just used half an hour to blog, so now I'd better hit the shower. YEAH! That means I was good today and got the exercising in too.

Public school warning.

2008-10-31T08:02:00.003-06:00

Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to alert you all to something Parker learned at school yesterday. He came home, and thankfully asked me and Randal, about a survey they studied at school. Needless to say, I was SHOCKED they would teach the kids about this, especially without the parents knowing ahead of time. He said, "Did you know that 9 out of 10 parents steal candy from their children's Halloween buckets?" I don't know what the school was thinking, but that is NOT something I wanted my kids learning about! Anyway, we might all want to speak up on this issue. First, I had to ask Parker what his definition of stealing was and then I had to ask how many candy was considering stealing. Let's just say, according to Parker, I (Randal too if he man's up) have some repenting to do. My opinion was, if a tree in a forest falls down and no one is there to hear it, it DIDN'T HAPPEN! Or whatever that great philosophical question is. Truthfully, I thought this issue would be like the Santa thing, if you catch my meaning (I'm being a little cryptic in case some of your children read over your shoulder like mine sometimes does.) I just figured at the right time, they knew and took proper security measures. Oh well, this may be one of those things that is a blessing in disguise. Later Taters!

Pink eye, STINK eye

2008-10-29T19:03:00.003-06:00

So, we just can't seem to get healthy at my house. And after a month of basically the same four walls, I am feeling a bit exhausted even though I'm not doing anything. Surely, you know what that is like. So busy taking care of sick kids, but you're not running around or anything. Well, here's how the last month has gone. First, my aunt Linda passed on which had me in a funk for a few days. Then the two little ones get a cold, lasts about a week. Next, they are 110 % better and I have the cold, again, lasts about a week. During my sick week, Perry gets a hearing test and his ear drums don't respond, so he goes on antibiotics that taste GREAT (they had me taste it at the pharmacy.) And the grand Finale (I HOPE) is I think we have pink eye in our house. Now, I've seen pink eye before. It's about as forgettable as pink hair. And normally, about medical things at least, I'm a rule FOLLOWER. But the thought of another Dr appointment, another co-pay, and a big fat lecture about not knowing if it's viral or bacterial, yada yada yada, and I am left doing my own doctoring. You see, we have leftover medicine from the last time Pink visited our house, TSK TSK. And I am 95% sure on one kid, and about 80% sure the other one has it. (We caught it early, I think, in the second one.) SO, here's to leftover meds. I have leftover generic Vicadin and some other pain meds from post c-sections, if anyone is interested, HA HA. I don't know what to do with leftover medicine. You aren't supposed to flush it or put it in the disposal because we don't want a bunch of strung out fishys. I don't want to just throw it in the garbage and be responsible, though not directly, for someone, somewhere finding the medicine and overdosing or something. And who can remember to grab the stuff and take it to a pharmacy, where I THINK they can dispose of it properly? Oh, and while I'm confessing, I still have cough medicine AND decongestant for infants, though the supply is getting low and they don't recommend giving it to little ones anymore. I think confession time and grumping time are over now. It's funny, just this morning I read President Monson's talk "Finding Joy in the Journey.' It's a great talk. And I know intellectually that someday I'll miss this time (not pink eye, but time spent at home doing nothing with the kids.) But today, I'm just not feeling it. I guess I need to read it again, because I think I missed the point. Thanks for reading my grump. I feel better actually just getting it off my chest. Here's the gross picture I found.

Past Lives

2008-10-24T08:42:00.006-06:00

Hey Everybody, In my search for photos for my birthday tribute to Ami, I found some H*I*L*A*R*I*O*U*S photos from my own past. Some of you have come to think I'm a somewhat stable and normal person (LOL.) But I have proof otherwise. I still have not been able to find any pictures from the hot pink hair days, but I did find some photos of me as a black belt. You might also note the number of ear piercings. I have to give props to Shandy for fixing the photos for me. She has a great new business in which she can correct photo flaws (like red eye, development issues, etc.) or change color photos to sepia or black/white photos. She could tell you more, but I just want to say her prices were awesome, she was fast and, of course, she did great work. See for yourself. http://photoflattery.blogspot.com/
So, I humbly submit these photos for laughing purposes only.

One of my favorite moves in the forms, was when we did a down ward knife-hand aimed at the groin. Then you are supposed to grab and twist and yank up. It's a powerful visual.

Sid the Science Kid:

2008-10-23T08:57:00.001-06:00

I get this song stuck in my head ALL the time. So...I'm sharing. The cool part is missing. "I love my mom. UH-HUH! My mom is Cool. Uh-huh. Now it's time, to go to school."

Like a Virgin

2008-10-17T20:30:00.002-06:00

Okay, don't let the title offend you. This just has to do with my Little-Middle who is only four. Peter is a great smart boy, who had speech therapy when he was young and may need it again once he's in school. The other day Peter was talking and talking and talking, mostly about video games. And I was replying as much as I could when the conversation doesn't make sense. And all of a sudden Peter says, "Do you know that Virgin I like?" Okay, think fast. You know he didn't really say what you thought he said, but what could he be talking about-that's what I'm saying to myself. Well, I finally realize he is trying to ask, "Do you know, that VERSION that I like (still talking about video games.) So now, I keep trying to get him to say that word to others in sentences because I think it's funny and I like to see other people's reactions. But it also reminds me of so many other cute things my kids have said that I am starting to forget. So, I need to make another list at the bottom of my blog. Later Taters.

Happy 35th Birthday Ami

2008-10-12T16:07:00.005-06:00

I have a few kind friends who think I have a talent for gift giving. I try to graciously say thanks, but don't always feel like I suceed in giving the "perfect gift." SO, what do you give your best friend of more than 20 years? Through the years, we've done homemade mix CD's(and even, GASP, cassette tapes), various other music CD's, movies, spa gifts, chocolate, gift certificates, various other gifts and wall plaques (my favorite being a saying about good friends bailing you out of jail, but best friends are right beside you saying, "Damn, that was fun!") This is the friend who introduced me to the gospel and the LDS church, thus changing my life perspective and course forever for the good. Without Ami, I'm not sure I would have gone to college. I wouldn't have met my husband and had my wonderful children. I wouldn't have had so many wonderful opportunities to love and serve Heavenly Father's children. I may not have learned how to forgive others or myself. I wouldn't have some wonderful recipes like shrimp dip and that naughty Snicker's salad. I wouldn't have had a second family to help raise me. And so many other things. So, I post these pictures, most of which are older, not to embarass, but to introduce all my newer friends to Ami. I still can't think of a tangible gift to give and I am not great with words either. I'm out of time because her birthday is today. And all I can say is that I am truly blessed for knowing her. Happy Birthday, Ami!

Aunt Linda-could be a little sad, sorry!

2008-10-10T08:43:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, I got a phone call that I knew would come. My aunt Linda had passed away from cancer. I knew this was coming (though it didn't make it easier and I wasn't expecting it yesterday, if you know what I mean). She's been fighting the fight for about three years now. It looked bad then, but some amazing doctors and treatments were actually able to help her have more time with her family (she was only in her 50's) and I believe it was quality time meaning that she actually was feeling good during that time until the end. ANYWAY, I'm a little sad, but wanted to tell anyone who would listen, that though I didn't know her well, I loved her and she was a great lady. I'm still the only LDS member in my family, and that still causes a lot of awkwardness with almost all of my family. But my aunt Linda didn't mind. She is a Christian in the truest sense. We were able to talk about God and Jesus on the common grounds we share and didn't worry about the rest. I LOVED to tease her about liking the Backstreet Boys. She was just like a teenager about them and even went to a concert of theirs. So I changed my playlist today just for her. The first time I met Aunt Linda (as an adult) was when she came to Utah for my wedding. That was wonderful to have some of my family there and especially that they didn't care or worry about it being a "mormon wedding" or the "temple" or "UTAH." Even I still worry when I go to Utah :) And my wedding was near her anniversary, so I think they celebrated their anniversary by coming to my wedding. I also got to spend a lot of time with her when both of my grandparents died. She was a very insightful and understanding lady (our family is kind of dysfunctional in case you didn't guess.) Did I mention she was beautiful too. Well, she was. Anyway, I don't have much more to say, but I did love her and am having a sad moment. And in case you are tempted to never read my blog again because today was just a bit maudlin, then let me tempt you with the fact that while digging through a bunch of old photo in order to make a tribute to my best friend on her 35th birthday, I found some truly hilarious pictures of me and some of you too probably. The ones I intend to post are from my Tae Kwon Do days. Did I mention I think they are hilarious?

Blankies

2008-10-08T12:05:00.009-06:00

My husband has a problem with Peter at bed time. You see, he can't tell Peter's "Baby Ginkie" apart from Peter's "Teddybear Ginkie." So, silly though it seems, I thought I would post the pictures and see if you notice the differences. I guess my husband can see the differences, he just can't keep them straight. Anyway, Peter's Baby Ginkie has a blue ruffled edged. It also has different colored bears holding hearts on it and a chintz back. The Teddie Bear Ginkie had a blue back and all the bears are wearing pink pajamas. Both blankies were actually gifts to Parker, but he never got attached to them. So Peter got them and loves them. The pink pajamas the bears wear always remind me of a song/poem that R says his mom used to sing to them. I think it's hilarious, so here it is. "I wear my pink pajamas in the summer when it's hot. I wear my flannel nightie in the winter when it's not. And sometimes in the spring time and sometimes in the fall, I just between the covers with nothin' on at all." I never got to meet her, so this little poem makes her real and likable to me. I'm sure it's the greeting I'll get when I do get to meet her.

In all fairness, I thought I would include the two other blankies in our lives. Parker, when he was three or four, drew a pretty good replica of his blanket and if I figure out my scanner problems, I'll include it. He inluded in his drawing the tag and the holes it had at the time that I only recently noticed have merged into one hole. He also spent the first few years, for reason unknown to us since he did know his colors, calling his blanket "Pink." You may notice that it is red. Then one day, out of the blue (he he,) we told him to go get "Pink" and he said it was "Red!" We no longer hear about "Pink" and that is kind of sad.

Perry is our little Linus. And I have been searching for duplicate blankets, to no avail, on the internet, just in case the blankie perisheth or even so I can wash it without the blankie separation anxiety. Here is his beloved.

Parker's thoughts on his family.

2008-10-05T11:20:00.002-06:00

Parker was once asked to respond to the question "If you could make a totem pole for your family, what stories would it represent? This is his response:
It would be a tiger to represent my smarts. A fish for persistence for my brother Perry. He never gives up. A cheetah for speed and my brother Peter who has lots of speed. A monkey that is funny and that's for my dad. A killer whale for her (mom's) kindness.
Am I missing something? I wasn't aware that killer whales are kind. I think it's the killer part of the name that throws me.

SNL VP debate

2008-10-05T10:04:00.001-06:00

This is too funny!

Time is the longest distance between two places.

2008-09-24T12:36:00.005-06:00

It's been a while since I posted. The first event that comes to mind, in the past month or so, is that my Peter had his fourth birthday. It was wonderful and yet low-key. He wanted a gameboy and to go to Carl's Jr. (play place) with his best friend, Owen. He was a very happy boy to get both (thanks to Ebay.) Shortly after that, he started preschool and is loving it.

Parker spent his summer doing lots of fun things, but he was also trying to grow the world's largest cabbage in order to get a $1,000 scholarship. I don't know all the details, but we did manage to grow one huge cabbage, at 26 lbs. Nobody knew what to do with it though. It's not like Kimchee, borscht, or even cole slaw are popular in my house. How about yours?

I recently participated in the St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration. I'd have to go count T-shirts to be sure, but I think this is my fifth year doing that 5K walk. It is USUALLY tons of fun. This year, I can only say it was fun. I have lived too long out of Washington to appreciate standing in the rain for 1 1/2 hours before the walk and then walking for another hour in the rain. Then quickly grabbing breakfast, again, in the rain, and driving all the way home soaking wet. I am thinking of having rain drops added to this years T-shirt. I don't have any pictures though. What camera would work in that weather? I also am taking a course by Dave Ramsey called Financial Peace University. It a course designed to help get out of debt, save for retirement, build wealth, etc. And it's FUN! It probably doesn't sound fun to some of you, and that means that you are probably what Dave Ramsey calls a "free-spirit," but he is so funny and has been both poor and rich, so I think it's a good thing.

Randal is still working for Zilog. It truly is a miracle and a long story, but we are grateful non-the-less. He has also recently took the opportunity to get some more Scout leader training at Woodbadge. He was gone Thur, Fri and Sat a couple of weeks ago and gets to do it again this weekend. So, that's a great place to end this entry and start another, because I won't be sleeping well for the next three days and blogging is a great activity at 3 am. I highly recommend it.

Like Butter

2008-08-01T16:12:00.003-06:00

Hey Everyone,
Periodically, I get just a little restless. Well, it used to result in ear piercings or pink (I mean HOT PINK) hair. This time, the opportunity was presented to me to go white water river rafting. It was a good time for sure! One of our guide's called himself Butter. The other was actually Skye from the Starlight Mountain Theatre productions if you have ever seen any. Well, the rafting was also on my Bucket list, which I think I am going to add somewhere on my blog. So, I am going to put up some pictures and let you find me. I'm in the middle of the boat. I was not going to leave the boat, so even though we were supposed to sit on the side of the boat, I ended up IN the boat. Others were not so lucky, though everyone was fine. My husband is in front. I can't tell you enough how awesome of a trip it was.

Boring Blog no-more

2008-07-31T06:38:00.003-06:00

Hey Everyone,
It's been a while for me updating my blog. I only have one reason, really, and if you aren't naturally a perfectionist, it might not make sense. I have been planning to do a quilt for my dad for his 60th birthday. No problem. But then my husband says, "While you are at it, why don't you enter it into the fair?" So, I add a New Year's Resolution in March (I think.) You can do that right? Anyway, as soon as I state this as my goal, I hit a creative wall and can't work on it again until the panic comes in May. To enter into the local fair, I needed the quilt done by July 21st. I must admit, it is also hard to quilt with the kids around. But, to make a long story short, I did get the quilt done, entered it into the fair (my first), and got a second place ribbon in my category-pieced lap quilt. I even got a whole dollar in prize money. So I am including some pictures and hope to be a more faithful blogger now that the quilt is done. EXCEPT now I need to start some new project.

February made me Shiver...

2008-03-03T05:16:00.005-07:00

Wow! What happened to February? Sorry! Anyway, I will give a brief nod to the month of Love :)
An interesting thing that started the month was our fast Sunday was cancelled due to snow. I don't think I've had that happen before, but maybe in Utah. Anyway, home teachers were supposed to call their families, as were visiting teachers and primary teachers. It was a bit much. I don't think I am exaggerating to say we got about six to eight calls about church being cancelled. The funny part was listening to see if people were excited, confused, worried or what about church being cancelled. And for those of you wondering, I did call people I was supposed to call out of shear obedience (because I knew they already knew) and I sounded excited. It was a good day with just the family.
One of the following Saturdays, I got a little time off from being a mum (thinking of you, Monique) and I went to a local quilt store to get trained on "Big Blue." I'll get a little nerdy on you and explain that "Big Blue" is a long arm quilting machine WITH stitch regulator. It's quite typical to need to take a class before you can rent the long arm quilting machines to finish your quilt tops. I am very much a beginner. I like to stipple (meander) the most because that is what I know how to do, but this new machine also has a laser mode you can use to trace patterns and THAT was SWEET! I was able to write my name, doodle some flowers, do some loop-De-loops and the mystery design is actually a maple leaf, but most people see a little cartoon body builder. I mentioned the stitch regulator which I haven't worked with before, but basically is just covers up human flaws and keeps your stitch lengths from varying too much. I am hoping to get a quilt done in time for Ami's baby, so that's why I took the class.
The last thing I can think of to write about February was that is was a great skiing month. Okay, I really wouldn't know, since I only ski easy hills, but I thought it was great. Randal and I got to go skiing one Friday night for date night. It was a beautiful, clear night and I have to say night skiing is hot. (Nothing weird guys, it's just a fun date.) Then, the next day, Randal and I were able to take just Parker up to Bogus Basin Ski Resort and help him Snowboard. He's pretty amazing for nine years old. And considering both his parents prefer skis. Thankfully, he isn't a dare devil, so I don't think his hobby will cause us to make trips to the emergency room. Though he does mention the Olympics as his dream. Peter was a bit jealous when we got back, but he is looking forward to being four (the age when we said we would take him.)
My mom was here visiting for almost a whole week in February also. That's how we were able to have just Parker skiing/snowboarding. Visits with mom are always great. She is a fantastic mom, but as grandma, she rocks the show. The boys each love her and feel spoiled by her. She has the amazing ability to read the same books over and over to Peter. He would highly recommend Beatrice Doesn't Want To and Calico's Curious Kittens along with The Silly Gooses. Poor grandma actually did reach her limit for those stories, but it was a lot higher than my limit. I think she may have read them about five times a day each, though I wanted to say hundreds of times. Anyway, that about catches you up on me and the family. We send our best thoughts and wishes out to all of you and hope you are well.

Happy Birthday!

2008-01-31T03:51:00.000-07:00

Perry turned one year old this month. It was quite exciting. I think Peter is confused because he not only helped open Perry's presents, but he also quite likes them. His thinking has got to be something like "Perry has a birthday and I get presents." Actually the day itself was quite uneventful. Perry had been sick for a few days prior to his birthday and was still feeling crumby most of the day. Towards the end of the day, when he was feeling better, we rushed him through his dinner, cake, tub (for obvious reasons), present opening and bed. All that accomplished in about an hour and a half. We got the cute cake pictures though and there isn't much more to expect from a one year old birthday. Time with Perry has flown by. For those of you in snow deficient places, I also wanted to report that we had a second official "snow day" off of school. I remember these being so fun as a kid. I am hear to tell you that as a parent, they aren't always so fun. Parker often wants to play Gamecube all day or have friends over. Peter likes to tromp through the snow, but if he falls, the scream he emits (from getting cold) would cause heart problems in a normally healthy person. Yet he loves snow. We haven't been able to teach him about yellow snow yet and we are a little worried about that since he loves to eat snow. Perry wants to explore the snow, but I don't know what to do with him. Just sit him in the snow? I don't think he'd like it as much as he thinks he will.On snowy days, I just want to quilt (Ha! not happening with the kids around) and drink hot chocolate. Sometimes reading a book would be nice. But I am between books right now. I am thinking of reading Oprah's newest pick for her book club though. I think it is called "A New Earth" or something close to that. It's by Eckhart Tolle (again, a guess on the author.) Anyone want to read it with me? It supposed to be life changing. I am also wondering about the book "Eat, Pray, Love" so if anyone has a review for me, let me know.If you are curious to how the New Year's resolutions are going, I would like to report that they are doing great! After all, this is my third entry in January and I just download the necessary Adobe file for ordering my birth certificate (working on the passport goal.) I figure I can do this by snail mail since I don't have anywhere to be. Unless one of you all won a vacation for two and are inviting me? A girl can hope.Well, I am starting to be able to tell that I wrote this at three in the morning. I think it's either the rambling that gives me away or the silly things I keep thinking, but editing out of the post. You are getting the censored version. So, best wishes to you all. I am truly blessed to have you in my life and wanting to stay in touch. Thanks!

Sleigh Ride

2008-01-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
I haven't done anything exciting lately. We actually have had one evening without power and one day home from school due to snow. Too bad my kids are snow challenged (due to their mom growing up snow challenged) and simple and fun things like playing in the snow and building snowmen are actually difficult for them to envision and accomplish. Our sad snow man is puny and has problems staying together though the type of snow isn't the problem. I will try to take a picture and include it, but no guarantees.

Anyway, I thought I would revisit New year's Eve and write about our Sleigh ride. It was a Christmas gift from my mom. Thanks mom, it was a blast! Anyway, we had to drive up to Bogus Basin and get on a sleigh (run by the Bogus Creek Outfitters). It was great, but only 10 degrees and I only had two layers on, so it was a little cold going to the cabin. We were on the back of the sleigh, so we didn't have other bodies keeping us warm either. But the stars were amazing. And the city lights were pretty too. I just looked at the web site for the cabin, because we didn't take pictures, and learned that a few days after we were there, a tree fell on the cabin and has temporarily interupted sleigh rides. Crazy! But back to my story. We got to the cabin and had a terrific dinner. It was started with a bread bowl broccoli cheese soup. Next came steak, shrimp (the best part I think), red potatoes, carrots, apple cider, endless hot chocolate (the other best part) and finally a berry cobbler. The music was provided by a musician named Douglas Cameron. And he was awesome. http://www.douglascameron.net/ He sounded a bit like the lead singer of Bare Naked Ladies and his songs were a bit Gin Blossomy with a little country (or is it folk) sound. I would include a song, but don't know how and am really afraid of publishing something that violates copy right or something. The singer also has a few songs that include lyrics directly about Idaho or Boise. Of course, as often is the case with troubled artists, the songs also include a lot of drinking references. It was so funny when my oldest son, Parker, describe why he liked the songs anyway. He said they had a great beat and good music, and he didn't even think about the drinking parts. He sounded just like me when I have liked some songs I shouldn't have (Master and Servant comes to mind.) Anyway, the musician has supposedly signed a contract to do some songs for next season of Friday Night Lights, so fame is just around the corner. Back to the cabin though. The night was rounded out by some cowboy poetry. It was too funny. One poem about the Lycra cowboy was particularly knee slapping. You may have had to be there, but you should be able to get a visual anyway. Well, then we sleigh rode back to our car. And it was wonderful! (Every time I think the words sleigh ride, I hear Debbie Gibson's version of that song in my head. It's annoying. Oh, and I guess all these years later, it's actually Deborah Gibson!) So, if you need something to do when you visit, I would highly recommend having your mom gift you a sleigh ride.

New Year's Resolutions....

2008-01-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

Hi There!
So, besides the same ole same ole resolutions, I made two new (and achievable) ones. I want to get my passport and I wanted to start a blog. I think starting a blog also implies that I want to have something worthy of posting on a blog, but lets save that for next year's resolution :) Anyway, here is goes and it's still January.