At Last

I've been meaning to post for a while on my kids first day of school, but life keeps getting in the way. Let's hope I get it done today!

My kids jumped out of bed as soon as their alarms went off (7:00) and were dressed within minutes. They'd had breakfast, brushed hair and teeth, packed up backpacks, and were asking to go to the bus stop by 7:25. Think they were a bit excited? Unfortunately that meant I had to hold them off for half an hour until it was time to go to the bus stop. That gave Tyler plenty of time to wake up Becca by yelling all over the house, and it gave Rachel enough time to accessorize her outfit with everything she could think of. We even changed the color of her watch band to match her outfit.

I thought they should have something special for breakfast, but I'm really not a morning person, so we bought Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. My kids love them and think they're a real treat, so it was perfect. Tyler was his typical self, scarfing them down as quick as he could. Rachel, of course, was more proper, getting out a knife and fork to be sure she kept her clothes pristine.

They both had a great time going through their new school clothes to pick out just the perfect outfit for the day. I have a feeling we'll be seeing this shirt on Tyler a LOT. Rachel took quite a bit longer to pick out her clothes. She had to go through all the combinations of pants and shirts to get just the right thing. It's so nice to see her in jeans that are long enough! (Both kids picked the same shirts for picture day too!)

We did have one snafu for the day. The buses are color coded to make it easier for kids to remember which bus they ride. My kids ride orange bus, but Tyler's teacher told him to get on yellow bus. Rachel got off the bus with the most worried look I've ever seen on her face because Tyler wasn't on the bus! The bus driver of yellow bus figured out Tyler wasn't supposed to be on her bus, but not before orange bus was gone. They had to send a little bus back to the school to bring him home. And the first words out of his mouth were, "I don't like school. It's too much work." He didn't even CARE about the whole bus thing!

So they're off on their next big adventure. Tyler will have his first experiences with all day school, lunch rooms, two recesses, and getting up early. Rachel won't be one of the babied first graders anymore. She's a seasoned second grader. More homework, more responsibilities, and someone to be looked up to. So far they're doing great. They've adjusted to the new schedule, they love their teachers, they're making friends, and they still get up right on time, looking forward to the next day of school!

And the wait continues...

The BEA and the school district reached a tentative agreement on Monday which would get my kids in school, but the contract still had to be voted on by the teachers. So my kids may or may not have school tomorrow. We're still waiting to hear. I know the teachers have left the meeting where the voting was taking place, as have the press vans, but there is still no word on either the hot line or the district website on the outcome of the vote. My neighbor talked to a couple of the teachers, both of whom said they voted against the contract, so it's not looking good. But we're prepping our kids like they have school tomorrow. Lunches have been made, clothes have been chosen, and Rachel is in the shower. Let's hope all our prep work wasn't in vain...

UPDATE:
The contract was ratified with 84% in favor. We will be starting school tomorrow!!

Funny!

Amber posted a blog on an ebay listing that was really funny. I clicked on the woman's blog and found it delightful. She has 6 kids and a crazy life and a great sense of humor. If you'd like to check it out, you can find her here: http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/
I also put her blog up in my links to the other blogs I read. I hope you enjoy her as much as I do!

Power

Last night was a cool night. After a rather muggy afternoon, a storm rolled in pretty late in the evening. Normally I don't think of storms as cool, but this one was. There was a lot of cloud cover, as well as rain, so the huge lightening bolts were reflected off the atmosphere and lit up the entire sky. I've never seen such bright flashes. Even with our black fake leather curtains that block out the bright sun we saw the flashes of light. It was so bright, we just had to go sit outside to watch for a while. Even though I was expecting the flashes, there were still several that made my jump for how bright they were. I've heard loud thunder before, but last night was the first time I recall hearing rolling thunder. We could practically feel it moving across the sky, building and rumbling and receding as it passed us. And it lasted much longer than any other thunder clap I've ever heard. It was one of those times I couldn't help but stand in awe at the power and majesty I was witnessing. All I could think was, "Behold the power of God." It was a cool night.

My yearly torture...

Canning is one of those things that I HATE to do, but LOVE the end result of. As of right now, I think I may never do it again. My back aches, my feet are sore, my thumb is brown and icky, I have several little cuts and burns on my fingers, and my hands still smell faintly of onion. And I still haven't done my pears! At this moment, it all seems a bit overwhelming. But ask me next week when the pain has faded and my kitchen is clean again and I'm sure I'll speak with pride of the quarts of peaches, pints of salsa, and various jars of pear sauce I have stored up. And I know my family will be enjoying the "fruits" of my labor all year. Like I said, I LOVE the end result, but it is such a (literal) pain in the neck!

Oh, and as soon as I'm done with my canning, I'll be pulling out my dehydrator so I can get to work on beef jerky, onion flakes, and other herbs and produce... Why oh why do I torture myself like this?

STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!

Our school teachers are officially on strike. Which means we have no idea when school will actually begin for my kids. I remember going through this when I was a kid (anyone remember how long that one lasted?) but it's totally different from the side of a parent. I have not only the frustration of constantly bickering kids with no end in sight, but the added issues of Rachel's tears of disappointment and constant questions about when school will start. Contract negotiations have gone so poorly the state appointed a mediator to help them sort things out. There has been offer and counter offer after offer and counter offer, and from what I hear, the sides are still so far apart there's no telling when a compromise will be reached. But then, that could just be the rumor mill working overtime. At this point, when the first day of school will actually be is a complete mystery. Let's hope my kids and I don't kill each other in the mean time...

When it rains...

Because I didn't have enough to deal with, we're now looking at yet another repair.

When Scott was mowing the back yard on Saturday, the lawn mower shot out a small pebble and it hit the stationary piece next to our sliding glass door, shattering it. Fortunately it's double paned so we don't have to fix it right this second, but we do need to replace it. The glass didn't fall out right away, it stayed all spiderweb like in the frame for a day or so. All afternoon it crackled and crinkled as the glass continued to break more and more. It was kind of a cool sound, and fun to watch new "webs" form on the glass. Of course that didn't last and eventually glass pieces started falling to the ground. I spent a good hour cleaning up the glass yesterday, getting it off the ground and knocking the last of it out of the frame. We're getting estimates on repairs this week, so hopefully we'll get it fixed soon.

Oh, and the starter on my van is going out.

Catch up... again.

I feel like my entire life is spent doing catch up sometimes. For those who want to know, here are the highlights of my past few weeks:

• Someone tried to break into my van by breaking in a window while we were at a concert in the park a couple weeks ago. Fortunately the safety film on it held so they didn't actually get IN my car, but we still obviously had to have it replaced. It actually held for a few days, then blew out unexpectedly while driving to the library. My kids thought it was hilarious. Fortunately it blew OUT of the car, not in.

• A couple weeks later, at the same park, Rachel's purse got stolen right off our blanket. We were playing in the wading pool, and it was there with all our other stuff. It was the only thing taken. She was heartbroken. We're not sure we're going back to that park anymore, even if it is where the concerts in the park my kids love so much are held. (By the way, the concert that afternoon was Taylor Ware, the yodeling girl from America's Got Talent. She was darling, and very good.)

• My kids got to go bowling for the first time ever a couple weeks ago. It was awesome! Bumpers came up automatically for the kids then went back down for the grown ups, and they even had a cool little ramp the kids could slide their balls down to give them more momentum. That ramp was a life saver. The first few balls Becca sent down the lane went excruciatingly slowly. Even SHE got bored of watching it, and there was one that didn't even go the whole way. It got stuck in the pins. But once we found that, the kids' scores went way up and they had much more fun. Of course Rachel was too old for that kind of thing and did just fine on her own, beating me in all 3 games. She also had the bumpers, but that's beside the point. :D

• Scott and I celebrated our anniversary a couple weeks ago. I can't believe it's been 12 years already!

• Scott and I and some friends went to a great club called the Triple Door last weekend. It had great food, and the entertainment was fantastic. We'll definitely go back.

• We made it (EARLY) to 9:00 church in Mill Creek (north of Bothell!!) on Sunday to be there when Devin Williams blessed his baby on Sunday. It was so nice to see them again.

• We finally decided to have our septic tank pumped this week for the first time in 5 years and found our pump had gone out. It turned into this whole ordeal. Instead of being an hour long, $300 job, it was a 2 day, $3,000 job. Fortunately the pump went out recently, or we would have had sewage backing up into the house. We're lucky it was caught when it was.

• I'm on my third medication for my insomnia, and it's working fine without all the weird side effects the others gave me, but I worry about the dependency rate and withdrawal problems of it. I talked to a friend who's on another medication in the same family of drugs, but it has a much lower risk of dependency, and it doesn't have withdrawal symptoms, so I'm going to ask my doctor if I can be switched to that one instead.

• We had a fantastic Activity Days activity at my house last week. A couple weeks ago we had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom. Last week we put it into action by making a meal together that was based on what we're told we should be eating. The girls had so much fun, and the dinner was really yummy! We had spaghetti with home made sauce full of fresh herbs and just enough garlic, home made meatballs, a really great salad filled with lots of yummy stuff, and home made bread sticks. The girls had the most fun forming the bread sticks. None of them had ever done it before! For dessert we did my crock pot peach cobbler and home made ice cream. I'm not sure how I'm going to top this activity.

• I finally got my eyes checked out for the first time in a few years. I'll be getting new glasses and contacts in a couple weeks!

That's what I can think of about my last couple weeks. We've been spending a lot of time at the park and the library this summer. This was supposed to be my relaxing summer at home, but I'm never home! Does life ever slow down??

Hippo Birdie to Ewe...

Happy Birthday to the bestest, most wonderful, most amazing woman I know!

I love you Mom!

Let's try again...

I went to see my doctor again yesterday because I didn't like the side effects of the medication I was on. So we've changed meds once again. This is the last medication I'm trying. If this doesn't work, I'm going back to be an insomniac. Actually, she suggested doing a sleep study if this one doesn't work, but I'd rather have done that to begin with! I feel like she's really pushing meds, and not the meds I want. We'll see how this goes...

She's awesome!

I officially LOVE my babysitter. My kids adore her (she plays games with them, brings them coloring books, and gives them piggy back rides to bed) and she cleans! My house is always in better shape when I come home than when I left. Friday, she did my dishes (like always) AND she cleaned my kids' rooms!! Getting them to clean their rooms is like pulling teeth, but she and Rachel did both rooms in what I hear was record time. AND she's grateful that I use her and feels like I pay her too much! (I don't pay her ENOUGH!) When both kids love her and the parents love her, you know you've found a great babysitter. Mine is the BEST!

Now THIS is summer

Today is the first of what I'm sure will be many 7+ hour days at the park this summer. We got to the park at 10:00, played for a while, ate lunch while we watched a kids variety act that was the concert in the park for the afternoon, then my kids got drenched in the wading pool. Of course we forgot swimming suits, but it was so hot I couldn't deny them the chance to cool off. We left a little after 5:00 sunburned and exhausted, having had a really excellent day. I took some pictures, but my hard drive is dying so I won't be uploading them until we can get it replaced. Pictures to come soon! I know I should be more detailed about our long day, but I'm too tired. Maybe you'll get more detail when you get the pics. :D

We're expected to hit temps in triple digits tomorrow. Rare for us.

Better than I thought...

Apparantly my lesson on Sunday went better than I thought. I got a call from my bishop last night asking me to adapt it into a talk for Sacrament Meeting this Sunday! How do I get myself into these situations? This has to be his wife's fault...

My favorite lesson!

As I think I mentioned before, I taught in Relief Society on Sunday. It was a pretty remarkable experience for me. My lesson was on the hand of the Lord in the formation of our country, specifically in our constitution. I don't have time to do a full write up here, but I thought I'd pass along a few of my favorite quotes.

Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea. - John Gunther

No human laws are of any validity, if contrary to God's laws, and such of them as are valid derive all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original. - Alexander Hamilton

In 1740, a mere generation before the Revolution, the intellectual life of America was dominated by clergymen; by 1840, a generation or so after the Revolution, it would be dominated by scientists and inventors. Only for the brief span of a single lifetime would America's statesmen and her brightest thinkers be the same men.

How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! - Thomas Jefferson

One man with courage makes a majority. - Andrew Jackson

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisibly hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. - George Washington

Those men who laid the foundation of this American government were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits... [and] were inspired of the Lord. - Wilford Woodruff

The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. This country will not be a permanently good place for us to live unless it's a good place for all of us to live. - Theodore Roosevelt

A citizen of this republic cannot do his duty and be an idle spectator. - Ezra Taft Benson

Because of our unwillingness to get involved in the preservation of these values, small, radical, Godless groups are literally stealing from us our rights to enjoy the freedom to choose our own value system. - L. Tom Perry

Evidently the Supreme Court misinterprets the true meaning of the First Amendment, and are now leading a Christian nation down the road to atheism. – David O. McKay

Ok, that ended up being a few more than I intended, but still not nearly enough. What a blessing it is to live in a land prepared by the Lord. This truly is the promised land and I am grateful to be blessed to be a citizen of The United States of America. Happy Independence Day, and God bless you all.

I need a nap...

I'm exhausted! I've spent pretty much every day at Lisa's house over the past week or so, helping her clean and unpack and paint and take care of her kids. Hunter, her 7 month old, is incredibly cute, but he's a needy little boy. If he's not being held, he's screaming bloody murder. That makes for slow going. The past couple nights I've been there past midnight trying to get Annabelle's room painted (stripes of two colors of pink and white stripes, and we had to paint over a horrible blue wall). So that's why you haven't seen any new posts from me. Lisa is great. She and I are a lot alike and get along like we've known each other pretty much forever. Our kids play really well together as well. I feel really lucky to have met her. But I am exhausted. It'll be nice when life gets back to normal a little. Her husband gets home this weekend from an almost 6 months away doing training for his job, so she won't need me as much then.

I taught Relief Society again on Sunday. It went really well. I'll try to post some of my favorite quotes from my studies tomorrow. They'll be appropriate for the day.

It's a small world after all...

I went to help a new family move into our ward this afternoon. Well, the Elders Quorum did the big move on Saturday, but this woman's husband is across the country doing job training, so she is doing it all herself, with a 3 1/2 year old girl and a 7 month old boy, so I went to help her unpack today. We got to talking about where she was from and what her husband did. She mentioned her husband went to school on Bainbridge Island. "WHAT? What is your last name again?" Dahlstrom. Ken Dahlstrom and his family just moved into my ward! The world seems so small inside the church.

He happened to call while I was there and asked my maiden name. When he heard it, he immediately went into stories of scouting with Ben. I just had to laugh. You never know who you'll run into or what distant memory will suddenly turn up in your ward! I was just going to help a woman alone with her move, and suddenly I'm taken on a trip into my past. This is weirder to me than driving down Meridian and having Alan Cleaver driving right behind me.

Catch Up

Just a few random oddities of my life so y'all feel caught up:

1. Tyler had his birthday party on Saturday afternoon. It was the easiest one I've ever put on, and he loved every minute of it. He looked so handsome in his new church clothes from Grammy and Grampy today! (picture to come)

2. I got my first "excellent!" out of my piano teacher on Saturday afternoon. He was very pleased with how far I'd come on a song we've been working on. That was really exciting for me.

3. I badly twisted my ankle Saturday night and can hardly walk.

4. We had a storm come through here this afternoon. I LOVED it. The colors in the clouds were amazing (as were the greens of the trees against the dark sky) and I've come to love thunder and lightening. I'm so glad my kids love storms too. They ran around, loving every second nearly as much as I did.

5. I still don't love my new medication. I'm still having side effects, but not as severe as with the other one. But I'm not sleeping as well either. I'm leaning towards forgetting meds all together and just suffering through my insomnia, but I'll talk to my doctor once more before I make that decision.

6. I have about 10 loads of laundry that need to be folded. My kids are finally out of school for the summer. I'm supposed to be at Activity Girls Day Camp on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I'm still not sure if I can make it. I promised to help a new woman in our ward unpack tomorrow since she has 2 small kids and her husband is out of town. Scott is going out of town for the weekend with his dad and brothers. I'm having a fondue party one night he's gone (Jenn, I could use some help on this!). What happened to the LAZY days of summer?

That's about it for me for now!

TYLER

Happy Birthday to Tyler!

In honor of Tyler's 6th birthday, I thought I'd take a moment and write down a few of the things I love about my son.

1. He loves a good joke.

2. He's smart as a whip.

3. He has a sensitive spirit.

4. He loves to learn.

5. He's concerned with people around him, and wants everyone to be happy.

6. He makes sure he acknowledges as many people he can, and doesn't leave anyone out.

7. He wants to be just like his daddy.

8. He's a great soccer goalie.

9. He's willing to compromise in order to keep the peace.

10. He is so proud of himself when he learns something new.

11. He loves to ask questions.

12. He'll tell his life story to anyone who will listen, or at least anything interesting that's happened to him recently.

13. He has an amazing imagination.

14. He wants to be in the middle of whatever is going on.

15. He saved his tooth fairy money for more than 2 weeks until the ice cream man came to our neighborhood because there was no question but that he was going to buy ice cream from him.

16. He loves to help Daddy barbecue.

17. He gets super excited over little things.

18. He's been telling people the countdown to his birthday since June 1st.

19. He's so ready to be a grown up.

20. He wears his heart on his sleeve.

21. He thinks school is the best thing EVER!

22. He does a great "ready Freddy" ball catching position.

23. He finds humor in the inane, just like his dad.

24. He likes his hair spiky.

25. He is quick to smile and laugh.

There is so much more I could say about my wonderful son, but for now I'll stop and just say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER! I LOVE YOU!!

Enough

I've been on the antidepressant my doctor prescribed for almost a month now, and I have to say, I HATE it. The two main purposes of this medication are to relieve depression and to relieve anxiety. I feel like it's CAUSING both. I've had occasional bad days before, but never this often, and not this bad. And I've never had issues with anxiety before. Sitting in church yesterday was almost torture for me. We sat in pretty much the very middle of the crowded chapel. The normal me wouldn't have thought anything of it, but yesterday it was terrible for me. I don't know if it was just me, but it seemed like the longer the meeting went, the louder the room got, and the noise was oppressive. To make it worse, I felt a constant pressure pushing in on me. It was like I was being compressed and I could hardly breathe. Sunday School wasn't quite as bad as it was a smaller group in the gym, but it was still hard. I had to leave Relief Society early (which was a huge relief) because Tyler was giving a talk in Primary, but the primary room almost did me in completely. I was a mess by the time we got home. Even in smaller gatherings this week, I had a very difficult time being in large groups. At a movie night with some women in the ward, I couldn't sit in a room with 10 other women to watch a movie. It was too confined with too many people. Anxiety is a completely new experience for me, and I do not enjoy it at all. Add in that this is the most depressed I think I've ever felt, and you can guess I'm pretty miserable right now.

In general I think antidepressants are a great thing and a much needed help for a lot of people, but I don't think it's what I need, at least not right now. Fortunately I have an appointment this afternoon to talk to my doctor about this. Hopefully I come back with good news!


UPDATE:
Of course my doctor immediately took me off the offending medication I was on. She was amazed I stayed as long as I did on it. She'd never seen it cause anxiety to the degree I had it. It is a known side effect of the drug, but a very very rare one. She's given me something new to try instead, but is starting me on just half a dose for now. It'll also take a few days to come down off the old medication, but within a week I should be feeling MUCH better. If I don't, she wants to see me again. I didn't sleep quite as well on the new medication, but I woke up already feeling a bit less anxiety. Not a lot, but some. And every little bit helps. And once the old medication is out of my system, I can increase my new one to a full dose if I'm not sleeping enough. So things should be getting much better!

By request

A few pics from Pearls and Gloves:

This is me with Melody, holding the carebear that represented Deborah.

Mel is quite talented at self portraits. :)

We took off our gloves to eat dinner.

I thought this was pretty cool...

Last night's Enrichment night had something so cool, I had to tell y'all about it.

One thing I don't have in my emergency supplies is a way to cook. I don't even have a camp stove. Last night I learned about a really simple and easy way to solve that problem. You need just 4 things; an empty gallon size paint can, an empty quart size paint can, a quart of rubbing alcohol, and a roll of toilet paper. You smush the toilet paper to get it through the hole in the smaller paint can, then pour the entire bottle of rubbing alcohol into it. It'll take a little time for the toilet paper to absorb it, but it will take the entire bottle of alcohol. You then seal the paint can. Punch holes in the larger can around the top and bottom (for ventilation) then seal the smaller can inside the larger one. When it comes time to use it, open up both cans, put the smaller can onto the lid of the larger can, light the alcohol, then cover it with the larger can to give you a cooking surface. Apparently it's hot enough to boil water within half an hour. The heat coming through the holes punched in it is enough to warm you, and to roast pretty much anything you might toast over a fire. It lasts 6-8 hours, and can be replenished just by adding more rubbing alcohol. How easy is that? And if you have the storage space for just a can of paint, you have a makeshift stove!

Great weekend!

It would be silly for me to not blog about my weekend. It was great!

First off, this is just a silly thing, but it was important to me. In my piano lessons, we've been working on Fur Elise. There are two parts that have been giving me trouble, but this week Ashton was able to walk me through one of them, and in practicing the other with him there, I was able to figure out what I was doing wrong on the other one! I'm still not anywhere close to perfect, but at least I know what I've been doing wrong and can try to correct it. I love when a light bulb goes on in my head like that! That's my fizzy joy for this post.

My main event for the weekend was going out to a play with some friends. My friend Melody started a little group she calls Pearls and Gloves. We dress in black dresses and wear (you guessed it) pearls and gloves and go see local plays. The plan is to do a combination of full blown professional stuff in Seattle and smaller local stuff, but the idea is to support the theater. We had our very first outing Saturday night. We went to Everett to see a local production of Guys and Dolls. How is it I've never even seen this movie? How did I not know A Bushel and a Peck was from this musical? or Luck be a Lady? They're songs I grew up with and yet never knew their origins. Our night out was so much fun! Our original dinner plans ended up not working (Wait, we're in Everett? We passed Lynwood??) so we went to Olive Garden to eat. The food was excellent. The play itself was very well done. I was impressed. The actress playing Sarah Brown seemed a touch old for the roll, but she sang VERY well. We got pelted with eggs (plastic ones with candy or dice in them) and the band came walking down the stairs through the audience. It was well cast, well acted, and well sung. Overall I was impressed. We're planning on returning to that theater to see Annie in February. But our next definite outing will be Into the Woods at the 5th Ave. Theater in Seattle in November. As good as all of that was, really the best part was the company. This is a remarkable group of women and I am incredibly lucky to count them as friends. We had such a great time mostly because of each other! (But we REALLY missed Deborah who had a family medical emergency and couldn't make it.) Ok, that's my other fizzy joy for this post. :D

Then came Sunday. For just the third time in my life, I was asked to substitute for Relief Society. (I was also asked 3 separate times to substitute in Primary this week alone as well!) Normally that's something I like to do, but this time I was STRESSED over it. I didn't have the time I needed to prepare the way I wanted. Right before Relief Society was supposed to start, you would have found me pacing the halls shaking like a leaf. I can't remember ever being that nervous before! Fortunately it went well. The women seemed responsive, asked good questions, and made insightful remarks. It was a great lesson. But I came home absolutely exhausted!

That was my fantastic weekend. :)

Where are my sisters?? None of them have been on in forever!

It's Done!!

It's official. My back yard is fenced in once again. After losing a huge chunk of our fence to winter storms, my very handy husband and our neighbor have succeeded in getting it all repaired and replaced. No more stray dogs, no more bratty neighbor kids, no more unwelcomed visitors in my back yard. It took a while because we had to work around weather (pouring cement in the rain doesn't work) and schedules (8:00 PM in the dark doesn't work either), but it's done now. And it looks great! Scott and Randy did a fantastic job; better than the original builders in fact. I think I'm really lucky to have a husband who is able to do these kinds of repairs. They did it for about 5% of the estimate we got when we looked into having it fixed by a contractor. Well done, gentlemen!!

Sunday Post

Today may have been one of my favorite sacrament meetings ever. Instead of the usual speakers you'd expect to hear, the meeting was opened up to the congregation, sort of like a testimony meeting, but instead of bearing our testimonies, we could request to sing a particular verse of any hymn in the hymn book. Most people would give a short explanation of why they chose that hymn or what it meant to them before we sang it, so it became a meeting filled with testimony and a very strong spirit. There is so much truth and love in the hymns, and being able to sing so many of them was a really beautiful experience. It was a little surprising to me what was chosen. When one sister asked to sing the third verse of If You Could Hie To Kolob, I was really surprised. I didn't think anyone but the Sauters knew that hymn! It was really a very special spirit in that room, and I am so grateful I was there today to experience it. In case you're wondering, I did go up and ask for a particular hymn. It was really tough for me to pick just one hymn. There are so many hymns that I love and wanted to sing. For most of the meeting I was leaning towards Lead Kindly Light, but couldn't decide on one verse over another. Ultimately I chose the 4th verse of hymn #86; How Great Thou Art. If I were ever required to choose just one verse of one hymn that was truly my favorite, this is it.

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.

Then I shall bow in humble adoration

And there proclaim "My God, how great thou art."

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Green Thumb wanna be

The Prophet said to plant a garden.

Oh won't you plant a garden too,

and share the many joys

a garden brings in health and love

to happy girls and boys!

My "playgroup" on Thursday was at my house. It was a beautiful day so we worked outside. One of the things we did was to clear out the area I used for a garden last year. I hadn't touched it at all since last year, so it was pretty overrun with weeds. But we got it all cleared out! It's a bit late in the season to be planting seeds, so I bought a few actual plants to transplant into my newly cleared garden. I'm kind of excited at the prospects. If it all goes well, I'll have zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant and watermelon! I hope they all survive the transplant process and give me some decent results. If so, next year I'm clearing out an even larger area and adding onions, peas and cantelope to my garden. I hate the work of the garden, specifically the weeding, but I sure love having home grown fruits and vegetables to eat. They just taste better. And the price of produce has gotten so high, I think a little work is worth the effort. Anyone know what it takes to grow jicama? And I'm thinking about asking Scott how he feels about planting apple trees...

Side Effects

Ok, I've been on this new medication for a few days now and I'm not sure I'm noticing any change as far as the real reason I'm taking it, but I'm definitely noticing some of the side effects. I'm having occasional dizzy spells. They're not major, but they come from time to time. Also, I'm dried out. Dry mouth hardly covers how it feels. If I don't have a glass of water by me, I'm not happy. And I'm hungry! I see why they use this to treat eating disorders. This is not a good medication for someone trying to lose weight. I can't seem to stop eating. I'm as bad as my kids; almost the minute I'm done eating a meal, I'm wondering what I'm going to have for a snack. I am definitely not enjoying this particular side effect. The good news is I do seem to be sleeping a bit better. In fact, every day seems a little better than the last as far as my sleeping goes. I guess I'll give it a few more days and see how I feel then.

Huh...

After quite a bit of prodding from Scott, I finally went in to see my doctor about my insomnia. I'm not quite sure what I expected, but it wasn't this. After talking about my symptoms and what I've done to help (like not reading in bed, giving up caffeine, and exercising regularly), she decided I didn't need a sleep aid. Instead she prescribed an antidepressant. I can't decide how I feel about this. I'm not sure I would have said I'm depressed. But she may be right; this may be the elephant in the room I've been ignoring. At this point I'm just not sure what to think. It's the same antidepressant I was on for a month in college, so I know I won't have any weird side effects, and I know it'll help me sleep. I guess there's just such a big difference between taking an occasional sleep aid and being on a daily dose of antidepressants that I'm having a hard time adjusting to it. This isn't what I expected to happen.

The one part of this that made me laugh was reading what else this medicine is used for. Here are a couple highlights;
bedwetting in children
migraine headaches
chronic pain
eating disorders
OCD
panic attacks
premature ejaculation

Sounds like just what I need! :P

Lesson Time!

Becca was in charge of the lesson for FHE last night. I asked her several times during the week when she wanted to work on her lesson, and she told me every time that she didn't need my help. She was sure she wanted to do it herself. She also kept telling me it was going to be "so cool, Mom." Being the independent girl she is, I decided for once I'd let her do it herself. Maybe I should have pushed her a bit harder. Our lesson was on...

...toilet paper. Yep, an entire lesson on toilet paper. Somehow she missed that the lessons are supposed to be spiritual in nature. But she'd planned her lesson, so we let her do it. When she went over the different ways of wiping your bottom (demonstrating over her pants), I couldn't help myself. I laughed. A lot. She'd actually put some thought into her lesson. We also talked about other uses for toilet paper (like wiping noses and cleaning mirrors), as well as things not to do with it (like playing with it, leaving it around the house, and cleaning trees with it). Little Becca did her very first solo lesson, and she was as proud as can be of herself. :) It's times like these that make me LOVE being a Mom.

Check it out!

Since I'm one who rarely looks at what other people have linked to their blogs, I'm sure none of you look at mine either. There's a real gem out there I want to make you all aware of. My friend Deborah has a blog all about the amazing food she cooks. When we hear Deb is bringing food to any gathering we have, we all start to cheer and drool. She's amazing. Y'all should check out her blog, and tell your friends. Everyone should have the goodness of Deborah, but since you can't have her (lucky me), you can at least read her blog and try out her recipes. I particularly recommend her trifle and spinach artichoke dip. Oh, and you have to try the cheesecake fruit dip. It's heaven! :)

Let's all share the goodness that is Deborah!

http://deborahsw.blogspot.com/

Mothers Day

As with my birthday, my family did more for me this Mothers Day than they've done before. I chalk it up to my kids being older and more involved.

My morning started at about 7:30 with Tyler plopping a bowl on my tummy and telling me I get breakfast in bed. He decided I should have a bowl of cereal so he took the crumbs from the bottom of the bag of shredded wheat and poured in my (expired) milk. My kids drink 2% milk, but I drink nonfat, so he was being so good by using my milk. He had no idea it was sour. It was such a sweet gesture.

Scott then went downstairs and let the kids know Mommy wanted to sleep in a little bit, so they needed to be quiet and leave me alone. They did. About 9:00 they came up with my second breakfast in bed; peanut butter toast and pineapple juice. It was very good. They also came up with gifts; a beautiful, bright spring bouquet of flowers, a cute balloon, some sugar free candy, and a poem and recipe holder Rachel made at school. It was all very wonderful.

At church, instead of the usual mums or pansies we're given, our ward gave out pies. Yes, pies. Full size 9 inch apple pies. I was impressed.

When we got home from church, I got to sit on the couch and watch a movie with my kids while Scott made dinner. He did a great job of it, and he did a full on dinner. He made a roast, baked potatoes with all the fixings, and asparagus. It was all delicious. And with the apple pie, dessert was covered! Of course, you can't eat pie without ice cream, so we pulled out my new ice cream maker I got from Mom for my birthday and made homemade ice cream to go with it!

It was a very nice Mothers Day for me. My family really made sure I felt loved and appreciated.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yes, the candles say 21, but really I'm 31 today. Between Activity Days, gymnastics, and my normal busy day I'm not sure we have time to celebrate today, but it is my birthday. So happy birthday to me!

A Mommy First

Today was the first time I've ever had to take one of my children into the emergency room. Rachel was riding her bike and fell down, splitting her chin open. It required 4 stitches. (The stitches are blue, something she's not happy about as blue is a BOY color.) She was incredibly brave through it, even though she said she was sure she wasn't that brave. She did NOT want to go in, and was sure stitches just weren't for her, thank you very much. She was actually fine when we could get her distracted. She played with a little magnetic table with sand and frogs for quite a while in the waiting room, and even worked a word search with me. It was only when a medical professional came near her that she got scared. When it was just us, she was happy and laughing and cheerful as can be! I did take a couple pictures with my cell phone (who would think to bring their real camera to the ER?), but I'm just too tired to deal with that tonight. I'll try to get them up tomorrow so you can see the injury. It wasn't pretty.
It was a long evening, but she's fine, and the stitches will come out in about 5 days. Hopefully the scar isn't too bad! Overall, my first ER trip probably could have been a lot worse. And she was wearing her helmet which I'm sure saved her from a worse injury.

Besides the injury to Rachel, the worst part of this was the 5 hours I lost in preparing my talk for church tomorrow! That's why I'm still up at 2:00 in the morning. But my talk is printing as I type. Now I just have to stay awake long enough to give it! Wish me luck.

Here are the pics:

My Not Date Night

Last night was supposed to be date night with Scott. We'd been planning it for a while. The original idea was miniature golf, but with my arm being the way it is, that was obviously out. We ultimately decided on dinner and a movie. But I had a bunch of girlfriends doing a movie night that I was supposed to be a part of, so we decided we'd stop by that before we went out. I talk about these girls all the time, but Scott doesn't really know them and he wanted to be able to put faces to names. Or so he said.

I walked in to find not movie night, but a surprise birthday party for ME! I was SHOCKED. I had no idea. And it wasn't just a party with the girls, they invited people from all areas of my life, getting them all together in one place. It was an amazing night. The food was excellent, the company even better, and the activities of the night were hilarious. I had an amazing time. But most importantly, I feel loved and appreciated by an incredible group of people. This is a huge change from a year ago where I didn't really have any friends to invite to a birthday party. I have amazing friends. And I am incredibly touched by all the effort and love that went into planning last night. My birthday is still a few days away, but already this is the best birthday I've ever had.

I don't get it.

I'm curious about something. When did women become PROUD of being irrational and difficult? When did that become something admirable? I have a friend who posted something about women and the "funny" things they do, like when they say "fine" it means they're right, they just want you to shut up and "that's OK" means she's just still thinking about what your punishment is going to be. There were several things on this list, all of which were negative female stereotypes. Within minutes of her posting it, three more female friends posted it as well. They think it's funny. Perhaps my discomfort and lack of sleep are restricting my sense of humor, but I didn't find it funny. I found it embarrassing, mostly for the women who take pride in being that kind of woman. I recognize women in general have their shortcomings, and I probably more than most. But instead of doing something to make that better, most women I know seem to enjoy being able to get away with their irrational and silly behavior because "it's what women do." I don't understand taking pride in shortcomings. I don't understand celebrating irrationalities. If we as women enjoy and promote our faults, how will we ever improve? If we laugh at our failings, who does that help? And what are we teaching the next generation of girls if we applaud this kind of behavior? Perhaps I'm ranting over nothing and I need to lighten up. I just don't understand celebrating such negative behavior.

OK, rant over. :)

Ouch

Friday night I started having a slight ache in my right arm. It wasn't bad, just a twinge when I'd reach behind me. It was still around on Saturday, but it still was just an occasional twinge of pain. But it's been steadily growing. I now have a pretty constant ache from my elbow almost up to my shoulder with some pretty painful shoots going through it when I try to do simple things like brush my hair or get dressed or even little things like opening my refrigerator or trying to lift something. I don't even have to do anything to feel it, I just have to move my arm around. I couldn't sleep much last night because there wasn't a position I could lay in that didn't cause my arm to ache. I hate my doctor and am trying to avoid going in to see her, but I feel like I'm slowly losing the use of my arm. Any thoughts? What could be causing it and what can I do about it?

UPDATE:
The pain got to the point of being debilitating, so I sucked it up and went to my doctor. When I can't even wash my hair or put on deodorant without crying out in pain, it's time to do something. I can do a lot left handed, but I can't do everything and my right arm was almost useless. Fortunately for me MY doctor wasn't available for 2 weeks, so I saw someone else. She was fantastic. After a very thorough exam, she determined I have multiple micro tears all along my tricep muscle. It makes using it at all very painful. You have to use your tricep in almost everything you do with your arm, but using it causes more tears and prevents the old ones from healing. So I'll have my arm in a sling off and on for the next week and I got some pretty nice pain medication to get me through until it heals. It's a relief to know it's something so simple, and as soon as my ibuprofen kicks in, I'm sure I'll be much happier. And I have Vicodin for night time so I may actually get to sleep tonight!

Welcome Connor!

Connor James Carnegie was born yesterday at about 5:30 pm, weighing in at a nice 7 pounds 11 ounces and measuring a bit over 20 inches long. He is the first child for his very excited parents. We are all thrilled to welcome a new member to the family! And my kids are so happy to have a brand new cousin, even if it is another boy.

Is it a play group or a work group?

I was invited to join a rather interesting (for lack of a better term) play group this week. There are only 4 women in the group at a time, and we get together once a week, alternating houses. The idea is to get women with similar aged children so they can play together, but while the kids play, the women work. Today we met at Heather's house. We finished painting her kitchen, washed windows, cleaned her refrigerator, swept floors, vacuumed, and hung a painting. And we were only there for 2 hours. It's amazing how much faster everything goes with help, and there were only three of us there today! (One of them has a very sick mother.) And I was surprised at how much fun it could be to clean out someone else's refrigerator. It doesn't seem quite so much like work when you get to do it with great people working along side you. The group is limited to four so that we each get the group at our house once a month to help with whatever it is we need done. You only have to commit for a month at a time, but you're welcome to be in the group as long as you like. I don't actually know these women yet since they were all in the ward before the change, but I have to imagine I'll get to know them all very well very quickly. Now I just have to come up with projects that will take 4 women 2 hours to do! Any thoughts?

Better

I went back to Fantastic Sam's last night and the manager there attempted to help with my awful cut. The result is better. It's still much shorter than I wanted, and I still have the bangs I didn't want, but at least the layers are even and well blended. I'm not in love with this cut, but I don't feel like it's so terrible anymore.

Sorry, Angela, I didn't get a picture before I left to get it fixed. I called them as soon as I got off the phone with you and she said if I could get in before they closed, she could fix it right away so I rushed off to get it fixed. But I will take a picture later today so you can see the end result. Good enough?

Ok, here's the picture! And yes Scott, I colored it again last night as well, so it's a much darker red than it used to be.

Token

I was out shopping yesterday at my new favorite store looking for cute things to put in my hair to help me until it grows out, and I found this:

I'm not actually participating in Self-Portrait Tuesday, but this made me think of it. I don't have any kind of good luck charm myself, and I didn't dress up for St. Patrick's Day. But if I ever wanted a little token to keep with me, I think I might just go buy this.

I don't like it. Not one bit.

After many months of not getting around to getting a hair cut, I finally went in on Saturday to fix that. I just went to the local Fantastic Sams down the street from my house. It's right next to the gym, which was my real destination, so it was convenient. They were very slow and actually had a bit of a discussion over who got me. I jokingly said I wanted whoever was best, but got whoever was next on the list.

I told her I knew I had a lot of damage, but I was hoping to keep as much length as possible. I also said I wanted some long layers in it. After playing with my hair a bit, she commented that I didn't really have any layers, and I said again I like my layers long.

Normally my favorite part of getting my hair cut is getting my scalp rubbed during shampooing. Sadly, there was none of that. I'm not even sure she got the roots of my hair when shampooing. She really concentrated on the ends. But that's not my real complaint. After shampooing, she combed my hair out and started to cut. The first thing she did was pull the front of my hair down in front of my face and before I knew it, SHE GAVE ME BANGS!! I haven't had bangs in years, and for good reason, and I certainly didn't ASK for bangs. But that was her very first cut. And it just got worse from there.

I lost about 5 inches in length, I have horrible, choppy, uneven layers, and the layers she did give me are all short! The layers stop a few inches from the end, then the bottom few inches are all the same length. This is quite possibly the worst hair cut I have had in my adult life. I've tried doing my hair curly (I looked like a poodle), I tried just blow drying it (it looks like an old lady cut), and I've tried straightening it with my flat iron (which just makes the unevenness and choppiness of the layers super obvious), and it's too short to even pull all of it back in a ponytail! I can get the back of it up, but the front of my hair just falls down around my face.

I didn't realize the cut was so bad before I left because I was just going to the gym, so I didn't even bother having her blow dry it. I just tied my bandanna around my head and left. It wasn't until after my shower later in the day that I realized how bad everything was.

No, I did not take a picture to show you because I don't want a record of this horrible cut. Until I figure out some way to make it look good, I'll be avoiding cameras. I guess the moral of the story is, when you have an option, don't just take the next hairdresser on the list. Find out who the best is and wait for that person. Or find yourself a good hairdresser and stick to them!

A beginning and an end

Because of the change in our ward boundaries coming up, last night was my last night hosting our recipe Enrichment group for my ward. As of next month I'll be in a new ward! I was a little sad to see it end, at least for the time being. We had 4 women in attendance (that included me), which is about average. This group never had the time it needed to build up a good group coming, though many women expressed interest in the group. We had a fun night talking about anything and everything that came to mind. Two of us made stuffed mushrooms, but they were so different it was nice to have them both. There was also a cold spinach dip served with french bread, a pineapple cheese ball, and a warm cheesy bread. It was all excellent. I'm glad I started this group, and I'm hoping someone liked it enough that they'll keep it going after the boundary changes. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try to start it up again in my new ward. I'll let you know if I do.

So that was the ending. As for the beginning, I am officially a soccer mom! We signed Rachel and Tyler up for soccer and they both had their first practices this week. This will be a short season, just two months, so it'll be just enough for them to get a sense of the game and if they want to play in more established leagues (and it will give me an idea if it's worth paying for a more established league before I put in a lot of money into something they end up not enjoying). We ended up with great coaches for both kids. Tyler's coach is our neighbor, and her daughter, along with the little girl across the street are both on his team. This is really great for me since some of his practices will be at the same time as Rachel's gymnastics class, so he can go with them. Rachel's coach is also named Rachael, and it's a mother of one of the kids in her class, so she's met her several times. Both coaches have several years of experience and really know what they're doing. Not all teams have that. The district had more than double the expected number of kids sign up, so they called pretty much every parent who had a child signed up asking for people who would coach. As difficult as we're already finding it to get two kids to practices and games (and gymnastics for all three still), I'm excited that my children have shown interest in soccer. Scott played for years as a kid and really wanted his kids to play as well. We didn't push this at all, they told us about it (repeatedly). Rachel even read the flier she brought home from school and marked the last day for sign ups on the calendar to make sure we didn't forget! So we're off to start on our next adventure, this one being soccer. :)

Oh, I also had my first piano lesson last week! It was just an evaluation to see what I knew and what I didn't so he could start with a lesson plan for me, but even that was exciting and fun for me! I can't wait to see what I'm able to do with his help.

Fizzy Joys: unseasonably warm days, pumpkin candles, laughter, fresh fruit in season.

It makes me want to cry...

I found out today that in two weeks time, they will be changing boundaries for almost all of the wards in my stake. This most definitely includes my ward. And I've found out from a very reliable source (my bishop) that we will be changing wards. This has happened to us in the past, and I know this is a normal process, but this is a really difficult division for me. I feel more attached to my current ward than any other ward I've been in. I really feel like I belong in this ward, like I have a place here, and that I'm loved and wanted. I LOVE my calling and finally feel like I'm doing it well. Our primary is running smoothly with wonderful teachers and great kids who I have grown to love. My kids, especially Becca, adore their teachers. To be honest, losing Becca's teacher is actually the hardest part of this. Sister Bills has been the sunbeam teacher since Tyler was a sunbeam. She's been looking forward to getting Becca since she got the calling. These two seem to have a really special bond. Becca just adores her teacher, and is more attached to her than pretty much anyone she's ever known outside the immediate family. And after only 2 1/2 months together, they're being separated. I'm heartbroken over it. Sister Bills is heartbroken over it (she spent the majority of the day in tears, and the split won't even be happening for two weeks), and I'm sure Becca will be heartbroken when she understands what's going on. I know changes can be good, and I do believe the Lord's work is being done, but I'm still sad about what I will be leaving behind.

In case you didn't know...

DDR for the 360 is here!! I know because Scott came home with it tonight! I have to say, it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. I've gone through all the practice lessons, and very much enjoyed the "lite" version of the game, but the one thing I did in the regular version I failed miserably at! I guess I'll see if I can do a little better tomorrow. :) Anyway, in case you didn't know, I thought I'd let you know it's out and I have it. Any advice or tips anyone has to share would be greatly appreciated!

Sigh...

It's snowing. But it's not the fun kind of snow, it's dry and small and COLD, the kind that doesn't really stick, it just causes problems.

Becca is sick again. She was complaining of ear pain yesterday (but says she's fine now), but she has a fever again and doesn't want to eat.

My friend I trade babysitting with brought her kids over today even though they have diarrhea.

Becca's car seat is in Scott's car, so I can't leave the house today.

I only got about 3 hours of sleep last night.

I need a bright side to look on. Anyone have any suggestions?

Edited 7:30 PM: Becca and Tyler are both throwing up now. Just when I thought we were finally healthy...

Quite a prize...

The first graders at my kids school were challenged at the beginning of the year to read 100 books by the end of the year. This was a challenge Rachel took to with enthusiasm. Of course they were promised a prize if they did it, and Rachel finished her first hundred books quite some time ago. But we've continued to count her books and send in her book lists. Last week she hit 200 books! Nobody else has anywhere close to that many books, not in the entire first grade. The next closest is 110. And today she came home with her prize from her teacher for her hard work. It was quite a prize.

Included was a darling Hello Kitty pink book bag, two little notebooks (Rachel's favorite thing in the world), three little gel pens in pretty colors, Hello Kitty stickers, Strawberry Shortcake cards, and a $10 gift card to Target! She got all of that just for reading! I'm pretty amazed at how far her teacher goes to encourage her.

As we approached 200 books, with so much time left in the school year, I've been encouraging her to go for 300 books, but she's fought me on it. Then I talked to her teacher and told her I would appreciate it if she would encourage Rachel in this. Of course she's happy to do so. So I told Rachel her teacher wanted her to go for 300 books. She didn't miss a beat before she said, "Okay, I'll do it." Just like that, she was ready to do it. Do you think she likes her teacher? :)

Oh, and if she makes it to 300 by the end of the school year, she gets to order pizza to eat with her teacher.

Aren't we done yet?

For the past week, we've been sick in this house. There hasn't been a day when there hasn't been someone sick. It started with me. I woke up last Monday with a fever and a lump in the back of my throat that was very painful and made it difficult to swallow. (I can't imagine what I would have done without Russian Tea!) On Wednesday I found out it was strep and was given penicillin. Within 36 hours I was feeling significantly better. But I wasn't the only one sick.

Tuesday, the day after I first got sick, Rachel woke up with a fever too. But not once did she complain of a sore throat, so nobody thought she had strep. She had a fever for three days, as I did, but when hers broke, she ended up with a pretty nasty cough that no medicine could touch. She's doing much better now, with just the last remnants of the cough, so she's finally back in school.

It was a relief when she woke up Friday without a fever, but by lunch time, Tyler had one too. But his wasn't the 101-102 degree fevers Rachel and I had, his came in at 105!! After not hearing back from the doctor's office, I finally got a hold of a consulting nurse. She said as long as he had no other symptoms, wasn't getting dehydrated, and medicine was helping to bring the fever down (does it count when ibuprofen and Tylenol combined only brings it down to 103?), that he would be fine and there was no need to bring him in. We medicated him heavily and often, and he seemed mostly fine. But if we missed a dose, he became lethargic and miserable. Both my fever and Rachel's lasted three days, so we were all set to deal with his for about the same amount of time. Imagine our surprise when he got up on Sunday morning, just a day and a half after the fever first hit, with a completely normal temperature. He does have a slight cough, but nothing like Rachel's was. I just have to say, I do not like fevers that high. They scare me. And I hated seeing my little boy suffer like that.

Sunday morning Tyler may have woken up normal, but Becca did not. Each one of my kids has had slightly different symptoms for whatever this illness is. Becca's fever is about 102, which is closer to Rachel, but she's been the only one who vomited. And that she did just once, Monday morning. She didn't want to eat for most of the day, just wanted water, and nothing could get her off the couch. My other kids were at least active when medicated. We are on her third day of a fever, so I am hoping it is her last. It's been more than a week of sickness in this house, and I am ready to be done with it! We've washed all the bedding and disinfected all the surfaces in the house. Let's just pray Scott doesn't come down with it next!!

Fizzy joys: ibuprofen, clean sheets and blankets, Russian tea, snuggling with my kids, someone else to make dinner, Dr. Seuss books, sun breaks, fleece blankets.

Tagged, I think...

Jenn sort of tagged me to do this (Does it count if there's a question mark?), and I thought it was cute, so I'm doing it!

6 Weird Things About Me

1. I love peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.

2. I won't take medicine unless I absolutely have to.

3. I don't like artificial light.

4. Taking a shower is a chore, not something I enjoy.

5. Exercising makes me happy.

6. I think smoking should be illegal.

6 Things That Make Me Happy (Right Now)

1. Penicillin

2. Braeburn apples and green grapes on sale

3. Piano lessons :)

4. Rebecca's smile

5. Listening to Tyler and Rachel read

6. Mulberry candles

I don't really have anyone else to tag since Jenn tagged Mom and sisters and that's about all who read my blog. But I may take this over to MySpace and get a few people there to do it!

Valentine's Day

As a general rule, I'm not very fond of Valentine's Day. I don't like forced sentiment, and to be honest, my husband isn't very good at that kind of thing. But this year I had a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day, all thanks to my amazing husband!

First off, he created a really great online riddle game for me. It's along the same lines as weffriddles, if you're familiar with that at all. I've been sick all week (strep throat) and he knows I've been going a little stir crazy, so he knew I would appreciate the entertainment. And entertaining it was, and fun, and creative, and challenging. It was so much fun! I loved it.

Then he came home with my REAL present. PIANO LESSONS! Yep, he arranged for me to be able to take piano lessons. I get an evaluation to see where I'm at and what I need, then 20 lessons after that. I couldn't be more excited, and he could not have done better for a gift. I accepted a long time ago that my husband is not the best at gift giving, but he completely blew me away this year. They say the best gifts are those that are creative and unique to the person you're giving to (as opposed to something like red roses or a box of chocolates that everyone gives). Scott hit the mark dead on.

Even though I have strep throat and basically haven't been able to eat or sleep in days, Scott's thoughtfulness and love made yesterday by far the best Valentine's Day I have ever had. Thank you, Babe. I love you!!

Happy Birthday Becca!

Today my baby turns 4. I can't believe she's so old! I thought I'd follow the example set by others and make a list of some of my favorite things about my wonderful little girl.

1. She has the best smile I've ever seen.
2. She wants to be friends with everyone she meets.
3. She is definitely a fashionista in training.
4. Hearing her count in Spanish always makes me laugh. "Una, dos, bles, watto..."
5. Her excitement is contagious, and she gets excited over everything!
6. She loves to share.
7. She has stopped cutting her own hair!
8. She says funny things every single day, many times a day.
9. She loves to cheer other people on, and she'll cheer herself on.
10. She loves to shake her booty and dance.
11. She is adamant that you call her by her name, whatever name she happens to have chosen for the day.
12. She is incredibly smart and learns so fast!
13. She LOVES Sunbeams.
14. She wants to be everything when she grows up. Nothing is out of reach for her.
15. She loves digging in the dirt as much as wearing nail polish.
16. She is fearless!
17. A kiss can still make everything all better for her.
18. Her bear hugs can knock you to the ground, and she loves giving them.
19. When she does something, she does it with all her energy.
20. She wants so much to do everything her older brother and sister do, and most of the time she can do it.
21. She runs nonstop until she drops in her tracks.
22. Her mood can change from happy to devastated to overjoyed in a matter of seconds.
23. Everything is her favorite!
24. She wants to include everyone in everything she does.

25. She is generous with her love and affection.

I am so lucky to have my Becca. Every day I am thankful for her. Becca (or Jo Jo or Pinky or Baby or whoever you are today), I LOVE YOU!

I'm not dead, I promise!

I know, it's been forever and a day since I've blogged. I'm not even sure I can tell you why or what I've been doing. But I'm almost never home, and even when I am I have a difficult time finding time to get to blogs. So I'm sorry I haven't been reading or commenting on your blogs. I'm going to try to be better about that. And I'll try to update all of you on what's been going on with me. Since it's getting close to midnight, I'll be brief tonight, but I promise to work harder at keeping you updated!

Becca had her birthday party yesterday. Her birthday isn't actually until Tuesday, but we wanted Scott's family to be able to come, so we had her party on Saturday. We decided to do an ice cream party, and it was a huge success! We had a couple of buckets of ice cream and a bunch of different toppings so everyone could pick what they wanted on their sundaes. I'll try to get pics up tomorrow of that. Now she's thrilled to be 4 (even though she's not quite yet), and she had a wonderful time at her pink ice cream party.

Tyler had the interesting experience of losing his first two teeth within a few days of each other, both in public! His first tooth came out in Jack in the Box. We were done with dinner, killing time in between gymnastics classes, and I decided to wiggle it a little. To everyone's surprise, it came out! Then a few days later, he was wiggling his other tooth in the middle of Sacrament meeting, and to everyone's shock, it came out too! He pulled out his own tooth! It was hilarious.

Rachel is thriving in school. I'm wowed at how quickly she is absorbing knowledge. She has also, after just one term, been moved up into the advanced grade school gymnastics class at The Little Gym. Her skills there are progressing rapidly, and I'm constantly amazed by her and how much she can do in every aspect of her life.

I'm actually getting to the gym again. I trade babysitting with a friend every morning, so from about 10:30-11:30 every morning, you'll find me at the gym! It feels really great to get back to it. I feel better, I'm lag less during the day, and I actually sleep better at night. I'm not sure what else I have to say about my life. I'm back to no dessert in my diet, I'm finally feeling competent in my calling at church, and I've made so much of Jenn's popcorn for my friends that it's becoming famous!

Scott is doing well. He mostly still likes his job, even though he works late most days. He enjoys his calling and is overall happy and busy. He's enjoying his X-Box 360. It took him less than 2 weeks to finish Halo 2!

So we're all (mostly) healthy and happy and doing well!