The Pearson Family

Starry, Starry Night

2010-09-21T11:14:00.002-06:00

I am making this one now for a friend (almost finished, but the pic is of a finished blanket)

Starry, Starry Night

I designed this beautiful and unusual afghan while I was waiting for the birth of my second child. It was very pleasing to work on as the due date drew nearer and nearer - then passed! I began to worry that he wasn’t coming until his blanket was ready, but he proved he was just taking his own sweet time by waiting an entire week after I’d finished it to grace us with his presence. Years later it is still cherished by my dear little boy, and I hope you’ll love it, too.

IMPORTANT: To complete this design, you will need to reference the pattern for Beth’s Little Star Afghan (which is not my pattern) and the Gapless Star Applique (which is mine, but has been posted on another page).

Difficulty: Advanced Intermediate for shaping and assembly

Materials
*Red Heart Soft Baby - (575 yd/525 m per 7 oz/198 g skein) 1 skein White, 1 skein Sky Blue, 1/2 skein Powder Yellow
*F/5 (3.75 mm) hook
*Yarn Needle

Finished Size: From tip of one point to the dent directly opposite, this afghan measures approximately 34″ across.

Abbreviations:
ch = chain
dc = double crochet
dec = decrease
rnd(s) = round(s)
sk = skip
sl st = slip st
st(s) = stitch(es)
US pattern conventions used.

Directions:

Note - The pattern for Beth’s Little Star directs you to chain 3 stitches after joining each round. I recommend chaining 2 to avoid an obvious extra gap.

Rnds 1-10: With yellow, begin by following pattern for Beth’s Little star and work as directed.
Rnd 11: Make the sl st with the yellow, but switch to blue for the ch-2 (or ch-3, if you are working the pattern as written). Finish off yellow, continue rnd in blue as directed.
Rnds 12-23: Work as directed.
Cloud Border
Edit: Because several people have asked this question, I will answer it here: you are supposed to use both versions of the cloud border, they are intended to go on different sections of the star.
Do not finish off blue: blue will remain unworked until after border is completed. There are two separate designs for the cloudy border, one is worked from the center of the star outwards to the tip, and the other is worked from the tip towards the center dent.

Center to Tip:
Row 1: With white, join in first dc after center (the bottom of the “V” formed by the points of the star). Working in the front loop only, dc across until 4 dc remain on that leg of the star. [Dc dec] twice, ch 2 and turn.
Row 2: (Now working through both loops,) sk the first st, dc dec, dc in next st, dc dec. Dc across until 4 dc remain, [dc dec] twice. Do not ch, turn.
Rows 3-4: Sk first 2 sts, make 5 dc in next st, sk 1 st, sl st in next st. Ch 2, dc dec across next 2 sts. Dc across to last 4 sts, [dc dec] twice. Do not ch, turn.
Row 5: [Sk 2 sts, make 5 dc in next st, sk 1 st, sl st in next st] twice, ch 2. Dc dec across next 2 sts, dc across until 4 sts remain. [Dc dec] twice, do not ch, turn.
Row 6: [Sk 2 sts, make 5 dc in next st, sk 1 st, sl st in next st] twice, finish off.

Tip to Center:
Row 1: With white, join in first dc after ch-2 at the tip of a point. Ch 2, and working through front loops only, dc across until 4 dc remain in leg. [Dc dec] twice, do not ch, turn.
Row 2: (Now working through both loops,) sk 2 sts, make 5 dc in next st, sk 1 st, sl st in next st.Ch 2, dc across until 4 sts remain. [Dc dc] twice, ch 3, turn.
Row 3: Sk 3 sts, sl st in next st. Ch 2, dc dec across next 2 sts. Dc across until 4 sts remain, [dc dec] twice. Do not ch, turn.
Row 4: [Sk 2 sts, make 5 dc in next st, sk 1 st, sl st in next st] twice, ch 2, dc dec across next 2 sts. Dc across to within 4 sts of end, [dc dec] twice. Ch 2, turn.
Row 5: Dc dec, sl st in next st. [Sk 2 sts, make 5 dc in next st, sk 1 st, sl st in next st] twice, finish off.

Repeat cloud motifs around until each leg of the star has a cloudy border. Fold clouds forward (onto the right side of the afghan) and sew down flat. Weave in ends. Now, go back to working around!

Rnd 24: Make sl st with blue, and switch to white for the ch-2. Finish off blue. Continue rnd as directed, being sure to work through both loops of rnd 23 (Yes, that does mean the loops you already used to attach the clouds).
Rnds 25 - 31: Work as directed.
Finish off, weave in ends. To complete afghan, make some star appliques and distribute as desired. (Example shown used 5 small stars, 5 medium stars, and 2 large stars.)

Baby Boy Tux

2010-09-21T11:10:00.003-06:00

I made this about two years ago, I haven't made the pants yet, but the jacket is just too adorable to not post!

size 0-3 months

Materials:
8 oz 4 ply yarn
2 buttons for jacket
rose bud
yarn needle
Elastic for pants

Row 1: ch 51, hdc in 3rd ch from hook & in each ch across, ch 2, turn (50 sts)
Rows 2-8: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (50sts)
Right Front:
Row 9: hdc in next 11 sts, ch 2 turn (12 sts)
Row 10: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (12 sts)
Row 11: hdc in next 10 sts leaving ch 2 st unworked, ch 2, turn (11 sts)
Row 12: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (11 sts)
Row 13: hdc in next 9 sts leaving ch 2 st unworked, ch 2, turn (10 sts)
Row 14: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (10 sts)
Row 15: hdc in next 8 sts leaving ch 2 st unworked, ch 2, turn (9 sts)
Row 16: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (9 sts)
Row 17:hdc in next 7 sts leaving ch 2 st unworked, ch 2, turn (8 sts)
Row 18: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (8 sts)
Fasten off leaving a 12 inch tail to sew shoulder seam.
Back Center:
Row 9: Attach yarn in next open st beside right front, ch 2, hdc in next 25 sts, ch 2, turn (26 sts)
Rows 10-18: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (26 sts)
Fasten off at end of row 18
Left Front:
Row 9: Attach yarn in first open st beside bottom back piece, ch 2, hdc in next 11 sts, ch 2, turn (12 sts)
Row 10: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (12 sts)
Row 11: hdc in next 10 sts leaving ch 2 st unworked, ch 2, turn (11 sts)
Row 12: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (11 sts)
Row 13: hdc in next 9 sts leaving ch 2 st unworked, ch 2, turn (10 sts)
Row 14: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (10 sts)
Row 15: hdc in next 8 sts leaving ch 2 st unworked, ch 2, turn (9 sts)
Row 16: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (9 sts)
Row 17:hdc in next 7 sts leaving ch 2 st unworked, ch 2, turn (8 sts)
Row 18: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn (8 sts)
Fasten off leaving a 12 inch tail to sew shoulder seam
First tail:
with wrong side facing & jacket up side down working in free loops of beginning ch, attach yarn in 13th st, ch 2, hdc in next 11 sts, ch 2, turn (12 sts)
Rows 2-10: hdc across in each st leaving last st unworked, ch 2 turn
Row 11: hdc across in each st leaving last st unworked, ch 1 turn
Row 12: sc in last st, fasten off
Second Tail:
Row 1: attaching yarn in first open st beside first tail, ch 2, hdc in next 11 sts, ch 2, turn, (12 sts)
Rows 2-10: hdc across in each st leaving last st unworked, ch 2 turn
Row 11: hdc across in each st leaving last st unworked, ch 1 turn
Row 12: sc in last st, fasten off
Sleeves:
Row 1: Attach yarn at bottom center st of arm hole, ch 2, work 20 hdc evenly around opening, join to top of ch 2, ch 2, turn (21 sts)
Row 2-10: hdc in each st around, join, ch 2, turn (21 sts)
Row 11: hdc in each st around, join, ch 1, *do not turn* (21 sts)
Row 12: rsc in each st around, join fasten off,
Repeat for second sleeve.
Jacket Trim:
attach yarn at bottom left corner of jacket opening, ch 1, work 27 sc up left side of jacket, sc in each st across neck edge, work 27 sc down right side of jacket, ch 1 working in free loops of beginning ch, sc in each st to first tail, work 16 sc down side of tail, hdc in tip of tail, work 16 sc up side of tail, sl st in center st between two tails, work 16 sc down side of tail, hdc in tip of tail, work 16 sc up side of tail, sc in remaining free loops , ch 1, join to first sc at jacket corner, Fasten off.
Collar:
Row 1: Working in back loops for this row only, attach yarn in 5th st from top of jacket front, ch 2, hdc in same sp as ch 2, hdc around neck and in first 4 sts of jacket front, 2 hdc in 5th st of jacket front, ch 2, turn
Row 2-5: hdc in base of ch 2, hdc in each st around to last st, 2 hdc in last st, ch 2 turn
Fasten off at end of row 5.
Left Breast Collar:
Work in back loops of jacket edge only
Row 1: Attach yarn in 3rd st down fron collar edge, ch 6, hdc in 3rd ch from hook and in each st across, hdc in joining st, sl st in back loops of next 2 sts of jacket edge, turn
Row 2: hdc in each st across leaving last st unworked, ch 2, turn
Row 3: hdc in each st across, sl st in back loops of next 2 sts of jacket edge, turn
Rows 4-11: Rep row 2 & 3
Row 12: hdc in each st across leaving last st unworked, ch 1, turn
Row 13: sc in last st of breast collar, sl st in jacket edge, Fasten off
Right breast Collar:
Work in front loops of jacket edge only
Row 1: Attach yarn in 3rd st down fron collar edge, ch 6, hdc in 3rd ch from hook and in each st across, hdc in joining st, sl st in front loops of next 2 sts of jacket edge, turn
Row 2: hdc in each st across leaving last st unworked, ch 2, turn
Row 3: hdc in each st across, sl st in front loops of next 2 sts of jacket edge, turn
Rows 4-11: Rep row 2 & 3
Row 12: hdc in each st across leaving last st unworked, ch 1, turn
Row 13: sc in last st of breast collar, sl st in jacket edge, Fasten off
Finishing:
Weave in all loose ends.
Tack down all collar corners.
Sew rose bud to left breast collar.
Sew buttons to right side of jacket below the breast collar.

Pants:
Row 1: ch 50, sl st to first ch to form a ring being careful not to twist chain, ch 2, hdc in each st around, join, ch 2, turn
Rows 2-15: hdc in each st around, ch 2, turn
First Leg:
Row 1: hdc in next 24 sts, join to top of ch 2, ch 2 turn
Rows 2-13: hdc in each st around, join, ch 2, turn
Row 14: hdc in each st around, join, ch 1, *do not turn*
Row 15: rsc in each st around, join, fasten off
Second Leg:
Row 1: attach yarn at crotch beside first leg, ch 2, hdc in each st around, join, ch 2, turn
Rows 2-13: hdc in each st around, join, ch 2, turn
Row 14: hdc in each st around, join, ch 1, *do not turn*
Row 15: rsc in each st around, join, fasten off
place elastic at top of waist and fold waist over elastis, whip stitch around,
adjust elastic to fit baby and sew elastic together, trim off excess and stretch waist to get elastic to go inside of waist
Weave in all loose ends.

Scrubbies for Dishes!

2010-09-21T11:07:00.003-06:00

I use this for my dishes, it cleans out cups soooo well, but I've also seen them used as loofas in the shower. However you want to use them, have at it!

materials:

2 – 2 0z. Balls of Lily Sugar’n Cream

Size “J” hook

notes:

- This pattern takes a surprisingly large amount of yarn.

- As you increase, the stitches will begin to fold in on themselves and the puff will form and become more and more dense.

- If you find that the puff is getting more solid than you would like, you might consider using only 5 dc in ea dc in Rnd 3.

pattern:

Ch 40, sl st in first ch

Rnd 1: ch 3, work as many dc in 1^st ch as possibly (try for at least 20), join w/ sl st to 3^rd beg ch

Rnd 2-3: ch 3, 5 dc in same st, 6 dc in ea dc around, join w/ sl st to 3^rd beg ch

Finish off and weave in ends.

Oh Christmas Tree...

2009-12-12T15:29:00.002-07:00

This ends the crapfest that has been my blog updating lol.

So, today we decided to set up our tree!!!! Yay!!

We only have a little 5 foot one, and with the cats and Glade we figure it would be best to keep it off the floor a little so we put it on Glade's table. Not that that has helped at all haha.

But in my family, our tradition is to have the presents be the decoration around the house, and you do a winter village under the tree. A couple years ago my parents got me my first houses and people for my village and we were able to set them up for the first time this year!

I am soooooo excited at how good it looks!!

Glade even helped me put the books under it for hills and put the snow on. She was so excited that she is old enough to help it just makes me smile. She knows not to touch the houses and people, but loves to just stare at them and pretend they are talking to each other. She is just growing up too fast.

So, welcome to Christmas at the Pearson home!

Oi...

2009-12-09T23:41:00.002-07:00

It has been way too long since I posted on here. It seems like life has a way of leaving without you lol.

So, here is a bit of updates to pass the time!

In September, we went up to Payson for Labor day weekend to spend with my family. I was able to watch Teagan (my nephew) one of the days we were there and Glade and him had tons of fun! We went to the fair on Sunday, and Glade was absolutely in LOVE with the ferris wheel. My brother and I took her on it first, and I was more terrified than she was. She would try to hang over the side to see Blake and was just in love when it would stop when we were on top. It was so cute! She went later with Blake and loved it just as much.

October wasn't very noteworthy, except that she got to dress up as a Rockstar for Halloween! Which she absolutely loved! (Pics I will post later). We went to my parents for Halloween and she got to ride their new 4 Wheeler and loved that even more than the Ferris wheel. She would yell "Faster" and she had to help you drive. She just loves it, no matter how cold she gets. She even loves the big hills you go over and giggles and yays the entire way down!

November was kind of boring too. We went and spent Thanksgiving weekend (the day after and the one after that) with my parents again and had Thanksgiving dinner with them because of Blake's work. We wish we had been able to go to California, but Blake only got 2 days off for the holiday.

December has started off pretty well, with Glade growing like a weed and talking NON STOP. Most days it's full sentences, but a lot of the time it's just gibberish haha.

I promise to post more, so it won't be so long next time!

Metroid: Other M Video Game, GT Pop-Block: E3 09 Debut Trailer | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com

2009-11-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

If you are as excited as I am about the new Metroid, I would definitely check out this link!!!!!!!

Metroid: Other M Video Game, GT Pop-Block: E3 09 Debut Trailer | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com

Night Frights

2009-09-29T19:39:00.003-06:00

Ever since we brought Glade home from the NICU, she has had night frights, sometimes multiple times each night.

When I was nursing, they were easy to remedy. She would eat and fall right back to sleep. After I weaned, she still had her binky until she was 17 months, so she would suck on it and fall right back to sleep.

Ever since we cut her binkies up, it has been all sorts of awful.

She would wake up scared to death and sometimes it would take 3 hours to calm her down and get her to go back to sleep. It happened more if she was at someone else's house and not in her bed.

Ever since I was laid off in July, they have been getting fewer and farther between. She had a couple about 3 weeks ago, but we hadn't seen them since. We thought we finally had it beaten.

Today, during her nap, she woke up and was absolutely terrified. She kept screaming "mommy don't" and then she would cry for me. Blake ran and picked her up and she kept crying, so I took her and cradled her.

After a few minutes she calmed down and went back to sleep.

Maybe me being home has helped, but I am so scared that me working is what caused her frights. I wish there was some way to make it so she doesn't have any. Most days she is so scared of going to sleep that she stays awake as long as she can and then crashes from exhaustion.

And just because I know the question will be asked, no she doesn't watch rated R movies or rated M games. We don't play or watch them in front of her.

If there are any pointers we could use to help, that would be great.

Glade and Yoshi

2009-09-25T21:36:00.000-06:00

I just had to post this - Glade is pretending Yoshi is her baby, and he loves it! He purrs and falls right to sleep. You'd think he is a baby or something ;)

We did it!!

2009-08-08T14:25:00.002-06:00

It has been a long 2 weeks haha.

I was fired, so we decided that since I was going to be home for a bit, we would finally buckle down and potty train Glade.

She took to it like a duck to water... for a few days. And then she forgot everything and peed all over everything in our apartment. It was great.

So, we started from square one. We bought her skittles, and every time she would go potty, she would get a handful of skittles. She caught on SUPER fast.

And I am pleased to say that in the last 48 hours, we have had one accident, but we are officially potty trained and in "big girl panties"!!!

I didn't read any books or anything, I just had her tell me when she needed to go and we would go.

Our first big test was today. We were in Walmart and I was worried she wasn't going to tell me that she needed to go. We were checking out, and she ran to the bathroom, pointed and said "peepee". So we went in, she went potty and I was SOOOOO excited.

So, no more diapers for us!!

Birthday Pics!

2009-07-23T22:21:00.004-06:00

Glade's birthday was awesome! Here are some of the pics we took.

Glade's giant piece of cake haha

Eating the castle spire

It was covered in icing haha

She took the entire tower haha

Trying to light it, and Glade wanted to eat it

Opening Presents

How crazy is it she actually opened the presents herself this year?!?

I can't believe my baby is two

Oh, how time flies!

2009-07-17T18:32:00.002-06:00

I have really been sucking with my posts lately... well, this will make up for the last few months.

To start off, in May, for Memorial day, Glade went and spent the weekend with my parents. She had a BLAST! She definitely wasn't happy to be home..

Well, the next weekend, she went up North with Blake's parents. She had tons of fun at the wedding and reception, plus she got to see her Teagan. And she was even less happy to be home from that... she was so spoiled she wouldn't walk from the couch to the fridge 5 feet away lol.

Two weeks later, Rachelle went to Moab and almost had to cancel, but I so *awesomely* volunteered to watch Teagan. Pam and Ray were driving down through to Cali on Thursday, so they brought Teagan with them.

Him and Glade had TONS of fun. Thursday was the Summer Games opening, and Blake had to work, so I walked him and Glade over to Brenda's and hung out with them all day haha. We walked around, made a mess out of their apartment, they fed me, and we got to watch the fireworks from right across the street from where they are. They were SUPER loud.

Then, this last weekend, we had Glade's second birthday party. She won't turn two till tomorrow, but my cousin is having his wedding tomorrow, so last weekend was the perfect time. We had it at my parent's house, and had an absolute blast! Their house and yard look awesome, and everyone had a great time.

After the party, everyone but us, my parents and brother, and Darryl, Rachelle, and Teagan went home. We all decided to stay the weekend and go hiking on Sunday. Saturday evening we listened to my mom play her Accordian, and then we played Crocket (sp??) in their backyard, which was definitely an experience haha.

Sunday, we went hiking in Bryce and then went to dinner at the Pines. It was TONS of fun!!

I know this is kind of a summary of a post, but it has caught you up haha. I am going to get pictures soon to post, so I will post them when I get them!!

Much Awaited Pictures

2009-06-29T20:28:00.006-06:00

It's been a crazy few months, with little posts on here.

This will be mainly pictures.

We got a new family member, Yoshi. We were walking on Main Street and found him discarded in a box. He is maybe 4 weeks old and we have to bottle feed him, but he is absolutely adorable.

Him and Glade are fast friends, if she would quit picking him up by the neck

A few weekends ago, we watched Teagan while Darryl worked and Rachelle was in Moab. It was an interesting weekend with two toddlers haha. Definitely kept us running around.

I forgot his jacket at the house when we went to the Summer Games, so we got one of Glades. It was too funny not to take a picture of.

Aren't they cute?

Eating Churros

We only have one stroller, and he fell asleep on the way to the Festival while Glade rode in the basket underneath haha

The beginning of June, Curt and Reita came through and took Glade for the weekend. She had a LOT of fun.

Riding the scooter with Uncle Darryl and Aunt Rachelle

Riding the lawn mower with Uncle Darryl

She's too cute

This was too cute not to post

Covered with Root Beer... as always

He was not pleased his parents left him. He got calmed down pretty quick though

A Lot To Catch Up On

2009-06-10T19:54:00.002-06:00

It's been forever since I've written anything on here.

SO, this one will just be a general update.

Blake and I are just working, and that's about it haha.

Glade changes everyday. I still can't believe she will be 2 next month. It went by way too fast. And I swear everyday she does something I didn't know she could do.

She says multiple words together now, and that still baffles me. Her favorite one is either "Ready, set, go" or "No, Kitty". I can't believe how fast she is learning.

Today we took her to the park, and there were a couple of ducks in the water and she looks at them and said, "Hey Ducks". She talked to them for a minute and then waved and said, "Bye Ducks". I didn't even know she knew the word duck!

It is just crazy how fast time flies before you even know it.

The Most Terrifying Thing That Can Happen To a Parent

2009-05-20T19:28:00.003-06:00

In February, I wrote the post about the second most terrifying thing. Today, the first happened to me.

Darryl, Rachelle, and Teagan came down for a few days, and today before they left we went to St. George for In 'N Out Burger and Barnes and Noble.

While we were in Barnes and Noble, Glade was running around having a good time, and Blake and I would take turns following her around.

Well, right before we were about to leave, Blake walks over and Glade comes with him. She keeps following him down one of the aisles, but he thought she had stayed with me. Neither of us thought much of it.

As Rachelle went to pay, I turned to Blake and Glade was nowhere to be found. She was gone.

We searched around the entire store. And Barnes and Noble is in the mall, so I was terrified she had left the store and was roaming the mall by herself.

Blake and I met up after we searched everything. Neither of us had Glade. Darryl then started to help, and Rachelle went around asking if anyone had seen Glade.

We decided to search once more, and she was nowhere on my route. Then I turned and saw Blake coming out of the kids book section with her. I was so relieved I couldn't even believe it.

When I had checked the kids place before, I hadn't seen her. Blake found her in a corner with a book open, just sitting and reading.

Now I guess I know that I should look in corners to find my run away daughter.

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T11:54:00.001-06:00

No Love like a Mother's Love

There is no love,
like a mother's love,
no stronger bond on earth...
like the precious bond that comes from God,
to a mother, when she gives birth.

A mother's love is forever strong,
never changing for all time...
and when her children need her most,
a mother's love will shine.

God bless these special mothers,
God bless them every one...
for all the tears and heartache,
and for the special work they've done.

When her days on earth are over,
a mother's love lives on...
through many generations,
with God's blessings on each one.

Be thankful for our mothers,
for they love with a higher love...
from the power God has given,
and the strength from up above.

Happy Mother's Day to you all you future, present, or past mothers out there!

Especially mine!!

ROFL....MAO....

2009-05-09T18:56:00.005-06:00

At work, we talk about a lot of random things. Today, the website http://failblog.org came up.

So, when I got home, I had to take a look for myself.

Below are a few of my favorite 'fails'.

Car Fail
Google Fail

iTunes fail

Road Fail

Toilet Fail

Trampoline Fail

Sidewalk Fail

Snowball Fail

One of the best ones.... Superman fail

This is a win... read the fine print

Brothel Fail. Also one of my favorites haha

It's like we're moving!

2009-05-07T16:02:00.002-06:00

So yesterday, on my day off, we took apart the crib that was in Glade's room, and then reorganized everything.

Now it looks like a little girl's room!!

So, now all we need to do is finish painting her dresser, then maybe paint her room. Pictures will be following this, as soon as I take the pictures haha.

But it is really adorable, and Glade is really excited to have her toys and stuff in her room now.

The Kentucky Derby

2009-05-02T21:07:00.003-06:00

My family has always watched the 3 horse races with a LOT of enthusiasm every year. It starts with the Derby (May 2 this year), then it goes to the Preakness (May 16 this year), then the Belmont (June 13 this year).

Even when we were in Germany we didn't miss this race. It came on at about midnight, but we watched it!

I missed the races last year because I worked at the girl's home, and this year it started after I got off, which is competely awesome.

So, to understand the awesomeness of this event, I need to kind of explain my family.

You know how people get excited about the Super Bowl and then NFL draft? We are like that with the races. We are always finding out the current standings of the horses and riders, and the second pictures comes out we have to skim those over because you can't root for an ugly horse ;).

This year a horse died, and 3 were taken out of the race for hurt ankles (one of which was one of the ones I wanted to win). All before the actual race! It was crazy.

SO, before the race starts, you have to stand and sing the song, then you watch the horses walk to the gate. This is where you pick your favorite horse. Now, my mom and I always pick the prettiest horse to win. My dad normally goes with the favorite, and I don't really think Clint cares.

My mom and I were rooting for #12, General Quarters. He was a gorgeous gray. His owner is a retired school principal and trained and raised the horse himself. Which is really cool! I so hoped he would win!

Well, they posted, and Glade climbed on her rocking horse and got ready for the gates to open. The minute they opened, she was running along with the horses and just having a ball. I was getting super nervous because General Quarters was in 10th (out of 19 horses).

Finally, the last stretch came. Every favorite and amazing horse choked. And the worst horse on the entire track, in so far as stats, broke ahead and was a good 30 feet in front of the show horse! (Win is first, Show is second, and Place is third).

It was absolutely amazing to see this! This horse is a nobody. His odds were 50 to 1 (if you bet on him, you made a LOT of money). His owner bought him for $9000 dollars, which is absolutely nothing considering you can get a "champion" horse for about a million. And he won the Kentucky Derby by a LONG shot.

On the top of the post is the horse, Mine the Bird, with his jockey, Calvin Borel. As you can see, it isn't a very pretty horse. But man, I am kicking myself for not betting $10 on him ha ha.

Lately

2009-04-27T19:19:00.002-06:00

So, this last month has been crazy.

The beginning of the month we (me and Glade) went to my parent's house to help them lay their sod in their backyard. I had to work, so we got there LONG after they were finished. We hung out with my parents, my brother, his friend Wes, Levi and his fiancee Shakeara. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday, we went to Calf Creek to hike to the lower falls. It is only about a 5 mile hike, but it is in sand, so it felt a LOT longer. My dad and I carried Glade (my dad more than me) and eventually she fell asleep with her head on top of his riding on his shoulders. It was really cute.

Glade and I came home Sunday night and it was good to be home and rest.

Last week, we went back to my parents because my dad was called as the 1st counsellor in the Bishopbric. It was such a great day! We were only able to stay for church, but it was so cool to see my dad get called and then have Blake and Clint stand in the circle to ordain him. It was really neat.

Then this last weekend, we went back over for my dad's "Older Than Dirt" 50th party. We played the Newliwed Game, and ate cake, and Glade had a ball with all the attention she got. Saturday we drove past Escalante and drove to Wayne Ct and over Hog's Back. It was a great drive. On top of the mountain, we ran into snow, and stopped by the sign that tells you the elevation, but it was covered in snow, so Clint got out, climbed the pole, in 20 degree weather, with no jacket and wiped the snow off. It was so funny.

When we got home we played horseshoes in my parents backyard (thank goodness for grass!) and it was a lot of fun. We watched a movie and then left Sunday morning to be back at church.

All in all, it was a SUPER eventful month!

A Link you have to go to!

2009-04-18T20:28:00.002-06:00

If any of you haven't seen these, you need to watch these two videos. They show you that you should never judge anyone, and they are just amazing stories!

The first is Susan Boyle. She has caused quite a stir!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

This next is Paul Potts. He sang a year or so ago, but it is absolutely amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA&feature=related

My super sweet find!

2009-04-08T14:25:00.003-06:00

So, today, out of the blue, we decided to go to DI. The one here is absolutely terrible, and I wanted to see how far it had sunk. Everything is ridiculously overpriced, and I just laugh at the people that buy stuff there.

As we're walking around looking at things, I always stop to look at the dolls. I have collected porcelain dolls since I was about 8 years old. They have to be authentic, and I love the really expensive ones. It's actually amazing that I have about 30 of them now.

Well, I didn't see anything I liked, so I kept walking. We were about to leave, but something told me to look again at the dolls.

I walk over, and saw the most gorgeous doll I have ever seen in DI! I was so scared to look at the price because the doll was that gorgeous.

Blake looked at it and tells me it was only $12! I look to see who it was made by, and since I look at dolls online about 8 times a day, I know the prices of different brands and such. This one, there were only a handful made, and they retail for about $200. So, I had to buy it!!

So, without further ado, my new doll for my collection!

A constantly changing life

2009-03-31T20:56:00.002-06:00

I can't believe how everyday Glade gets different. I never realize how much she has changed until I see something she does that I have never seen before and realize I didn't teach it to her.

She can say so many words it's crazy. She doesn't say them very often, but she knows more than I am sure of. Her favorite is still baby, but it is slowing losing its coolness to her. She now loves to say "Hey Kitty" to Ada and to anyone that comes in the door as she points at Ada. They have become fast friends. Glade will pretend she is sleeping on the floor to get Ada's attention and Ada will jump on her head and Glade will run away giggling. They chase each other for hours. I was worried it would never happen, but I am so glad it did!

When we put Glade to bed at night, we read her a story, then she turns off her light and sits down and folds her arms and looks at us expectantly. It's definitely a good reminder to me! And it helps that it is completely adorable. After she hears the word "Amen" she throws her arms in the air and giggles and says "Bed". It's pretty stinking cute.

Every morning we wake her up to get her dressed so Blake can drive me to work. The minute we get in the car she points ahead and giggles. I get out of the car at work and she waves and says "Bye bye". Some days she cries, but most days she is really cute and tells me bye. I love every minute of it.

She is the greatest climber I have ever seen. She has taught herself to climb over the baby gate, never when Blake is home, but she does it all the time with me. It drives me crazy. We have the cat food and litter in our extra room and she climbs the gate to put all the food in the water and eat the cat litter. And that is my genius child ha ha. She also can climb onto everything within sight. If her hands can reach it, she can climb up to it. She pulled herself up onto our window sill with just her arms. She was very proud, then she got really mad when I took her down.

Brenda has been teaching her songs. The one Glade loves to hear is "The Wheels on the Bus". For about a week Glade would raise her arms in the air and swing them side to side. I had no idea what she was doing. Then I saw Brenda doing the song and motions and I realized it. She is doing the windshield wipers! She won't do them when you sing with her, but she does them by herself. The one she will do with you is when the mommy's say "Shhhh". She loves to put her finger to her mouth and blow, making the "shhh" sound. When I tell her to be quiet in church, she yells at me, then when I go to tell her to be quiet, she will look at me and tell me to "shh". It's so funny I can't help but laugh, and I know that can't be good for a learning child ha ha.

I feel so bad for the people that sit behind us in church. Glade plays with them through all of Sacrament Meeting and they love every minute of it. And when I tell her no, she looks at me and says "shh". Sometimes it gets old ha ha.

Mandy's son Michael also taught her tons of little tricks when they were here. She now says the "g" sound all the time. She can also open the fridge, which is a big NEGATIVE! She took all the hot dogs out of the fridge and proceeded to eat a bite out of all of them, then she put them back before we noticed. Then when we went to eat them, they had little Glade teeth marks all over them. It was good stuff.

She can also count to two. When she goes to jump off the couch, or open the door to go outside, she will say "One, Two" then do it. She doesn't like the concept of waiting until "Three" to do anything.

When we change her diaper, we will hand it to her and she will throw it away. We had to buy a trash can with a lid because of the cat, but she learned how to open and close it and so she throws her diaper away and then comes back for a high five. I am super proud!

She knows all of her body parts. Which I am super proud of. Her favorite is her belly button, I think it is because she can say it, and loves to lift her shirt and point it out to you. And the way she says it with a gleam in her eye makes it all the sweeter.

She also learned how to look like a fish. Where you suck your lips in and look like a fish... probably didn't need to explain lol. I didn't know she could do it until we were at church and she was doing it to Caleb.

She also does Blake's faces perfectly. We will be in Walmart and she will just turn and glare at some random person. Then when they give her that surprised look, she will bust up laughing and when the person she was glaring at laughs, she stops and glares again. It is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. I feel bad that these random people are getting my husband's spawn's glares, but I think it is pretty comical.

She is still a completely book baby. She will sit for hours with her baby doll on her lap and read her stories. It is so cute to hear her talk and tell the story to her little baby like we do to her. Then when the book is over, she will rock the baby to sleep, put it to bed, then tell us to "shh" so she can sleep. And she hates being away from even one of her baby dolls. This includes all of her stuffed animals and babies. She has over 15. We bring 2 with us when we go anywhere, but of course they aren't the two she wants at that moment. Ever.

At Dollar Tree they had Coca Cola glasses. The thick ones that I absolutely love. We bought some for us, then we saw little baby ones. We got one for Glade and she absolutely loves it. She carries it around with her so she can have whatever we are drinking when we drink it. She rarely spills anymore, and it is so great. Her favorite thing to drink in it is Root Beer. She looks at the bubbles and giggles, then she drinks a little and does it all again.

This last weekend we went with Brenda and Caleb to her parent's house, and I got to see Glade with a couple kids her age. There are two little girls, one a little younger and one a little older than Glade. She is the tiniest. It amazes me how little she is, but she looks so big to me when she is alone.

She has grown tremendously since her last doctor's app. We had to get her into 18 month pants, and now she is consistantly in 12 month shirts. They are still a little big, but she has a long torso so anything smaller shows her belly.

I just can't believe how fast she is growing. It seems like yesterday I was barely pregnant, then she was in the hospital. I can't believe it has already been 20 months since she was born. It flies by way too fast.

The First Haircut!!

2009-03-25T00:02:00.002-06:00

Glade is 20 months old, and I still can't believe it. It seems time passed way too fast.

And, her hair is coming in super fast lately. The back has always been a lot longer than the top and such, and it did look like a mullet. But, my daughter has such curly hair that it would curl, but then she would sit in a car seat or something and it would become a tangled mess.

So, when my parents were in town today, my mom said I should cut the back, that way it gets all the split ends and makes the hair even and now it should grow faster.

When we got home, I did just that. I got the back wet, and I cut an inch off her hair. It actually looks kind of like a cute little bob hair cut now! It's pretty adorable! Instead of the ringlet curls, it curls around her face (well, her ears and neck) and it looks so cute!

Considering this is my first haircut I have given with scissors, I did a pretty good job!

Profile
My daughter's hair

Right after we cut it!

Ugh....

2009-03-18T20:12:00.001-06:00

I got home from work Monday, and I was already exhausted. The minute I walk in, Blake rushes up and says 'Three of our Wii games won't play!' in that voice of his....

So, even though I only wanted to take a nap, I walked to the Wii and tried to make them work.
Needless to say, a half hour later I was already getting more and more frustrated since it was now not playing any games. The Wii wouldn't even spin the games.

Caleb and Brenda stopped by while I was in the middle of this (sorry!) and I was pretty upset by that time. So I decided to take the stupid system apart.

So, I get a screwdriver and start to open it, hoping it is just some dust on the system I need to blow off. But, Nintendo has placed Y shape screws on all the important joints. And I couldn't unscrew them with the stuff I had.

As I was more and more frustrated as the minutes dragged on, I decided to go to Nintendo's website and see if they had solutions.

It gave me a number to call, and knowing what it is like to be screamed at over the phone, I calmed down and let the lady know what was going on.

Before I could say that it froze during Metroid 3, she butted in and asked if it did it during Metroid 3. I was astounded. (This was after going through the TTY and learning there is an entire group dedicated just to Super Smash Brothers Brawl problems...)

She was so nice and we tried a home fix, but nothing worked.

So, our Wii has to be sent in for repairs. Since we got it when it came out, the factory year warrantee is expired, so in total it will be $85 to fix. Which includes shipping, all the parts they would need, and a year warrantee when it comes back. Not a bad price.

We are just upset that our system that is supposed to work forever is broken, and our 360, that is supposed to have problem after problem is working like a cherry...

The Watchmen

2009-03-08T21:05:00.002-06:00

"The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'save us!'....and I'll look down and whisper, 'no.' "

I'm sure most of you have seen the commercials about this movie, but most of you probably won't go see it.

Blake had to read the graphic novel for one of his classes and he had to go see the movie. So, we got tickets for the opening day matinee and went and saw it.

Thursday, I asked Blake what it was about. He told me it was too complex to explain, so he handed me the graphic novel and told me to read it if I wanted to know before I saw the movie.

I started it when I got to work Friday. Now, this graphic novel is 500 pages long in total. And I know that it isn't the same as reading a 500 page book, but in graphic novels, you have to look at the pictures while reading and get the image in your head. It isn't something you just let your mind see. They are definitely more complex than people give them credit for.

I finished the novel with about 10 minutes to spare before I got off eight and a half hours later.

It's genius.

It is about superheroes, but they are just regular people that want to fight crime in a costume. They train their bodies to be able to fight and such, but they are just normal people.

It starts out with one of the main superheroes getting killed. It is a little more than 10 years after they outlawed all 'masks' as they call them, but if you work for the government you can still go about saving the world. It takes place during the cold war, and it has escaled more than it truly did.

Nixon is President for the 3rd term, because he was able to actually win Vietnam. He sent in Dr. Manhattan (the blue guy... he can't die. He can take things apart with his mind, put them together, warp places... he's a real superhero, like we think of them today) and he finished the Vietnam War in ten minutes.

Again, the comic is genius.

The Cold War is getting progressively worse, being pushed more and more towards actual Nuclear War. Everyone is terrified, even the superheroes.

People go nuts. There are riots, people are killed, and the superheroes decide to come back and do something about it.

The movie changed the ending, but I actually thought the movie ending was a little better than the novel ending.

(I know this post probably doesn't make much sense, but I would suggest reading the novel if you are against Rated R movies. If not, go see the movie. You won't be disappointed).

The novel isn't up to par with my favorite graphic novel author, but it is pretty close. Some of the things he thinks up, it baffles me with how true it is.

So, I completely and totally recommend seeing this movie. It is made by the same person that did 300, and it is on the same level of awesomeness. GO SEE IT!

De Blob

2009-03-02T22:50:00.006-07:00

Now, before you think I'm too geeky or childish, I have to make something perfectly clear.

When I was waiting tables last summer, the husband of THQ's vice president was one of the bikers that rode through. I always wore Blake's mario belt buckle to work, because it got me higher tips and it was just freaking sweet looking on me. So, this man started the conversation with me by asking if I was truly a game fan, or just wearing that for the conversation starters. We got talking and him and his friends were my only table at the time so I was able to chat with them before their food was up.

They gave me a LARGE tip when they left, and when they paid, he came up to me and said, "Kayce, I have just one tip for you besides this. My wife is the vice president of THQ, and they have an AWESOME game coming out this September. It's called De Blob. I have already played it since she gets all the beta testings and such, and I absolutely loved it. So, take this tip money, save it, then buy it when it comes out."

Needless to say I didn't buy the game when it came out... Should have, but didn't.

But today, I did!

It is an absolutely blast! The bad guys are the Inkies, and they took the color out of the world. What you are trying to do is put the color back before getting captured. You have missions and things you can go on to get more time and to get more points. I have only played 3 levels, but it is so fun I had to stop to tell everyone how fun it is.

SOOOOO, if you have a Wii, and $40 extra dollars just sitting around (yes, $40, not $50), go buy De Blob. You will not regret it!

A Fashion Show!

2009-03-01T14:20:00.002-07:00

Today we did a fashion show with Glade as the number one model. Considering she's a toddler and always on the go, the couple shots we got are pretty good.

Without further ado, here she is!

Glade and Ada, definitely getting better every day
I don't think there are any words for this

In her pretty dress

She flopped and said she was done....

This one wasn't from the fashion show, but it was cute anyway...

Another Day, Another Dollar

2009-02-23T21:25:00.002-07:00

It's been almost a week since I posted and that just feels strange to me. We had so much happen this last almost week.

As you know, we got Ada to replace Ridley. Well, not so much replace and fill a hole... kinda the same thing lol.

She's learning her spot, but sometimes I can't help but feel sorry for her.

With Ridley, they had to adjust to each other. Glade had been around other animals, but she was skittish around her own pet for the first week or two. Then they just bonded. Now that she has already gotten used to an animal in her house, Ada isn't like Ridley at all.

Ada is still getting used to having a toddler run after her giggling, and being picked up when she is sleeping, and getting kisses, and just having to run away. She is getting better at understanding when Glade wants to play and when she doesn't mean to hurt her, but it is still not the same as with Ridley. But Ada won't scratch Glade except on accident, which is a lot better than Ridley used to do.

Ridley would sleep next to Glade every night. Ada sleeps in Blake's armpit. Ridley would play with Glade, even if she woke him up from a nap. Ada just runs.

I know it's not right to compare them, but Glade misses her Ridley a lot. At night she still calls him before she goes to bed. It just makes me want to cry. Her and Ada are getting there, but it just isn't the same.

Onto lighter things, Bowden and his fiancee Mary came this weekend. It was a lot of fun. We ate German food friday, Mary made Fettucini Saturday, then we had a Roast on Sunday. It was a pretty laid back weekend.

Glade kept them running all the time. When she wants me to pick her up over and over and over and over, I just say no when I'm done. Bowden and Mary didn't. I think she kept them moving all day just because she knew she could. I felt bad, but at least she wasn't messing with me or Blake ;).

Blake got home from work Sunday night and we decided to do his application for graduation. The one if you graduate in May is due October 15, so almost two months from when the semester starts.

The one if you graduate in december is due February 15... a MONTH after the semester starts....

Of course we didn't know that, because they announce NOTHING at this crappy school and the counselors are paid to keep transfer students here until the government won't pay anymore.

SOOOOO, instead of graduating in December after taking his last 6 credits, Blake has to take 2 semesters of crap he doesn't need just to stay full time, and graduate next Spring, if they don't decide to change the curriculum AGAIN.

And now we are in Cedar for another year and a half, in an apartment with no air conditioning, with the roaches.... the ugly, ugly, roaches.

But I guess it's ok. We both have fairly good paying jobs, not that we like them, and we have a babysitter we LOVE, and an apartment that is pretty big for the price we pay. I shouldn't complain, but we were so SET on leaving in December to find an apartment and jobs up north so Blake could start his graduate program.

Now it just seems like rushing is just a waste of time.

But I guess now we know the application is due October 15th!!

Our new family member, Ada

2009-02-18T16:01:00.003-07:00

On Monday, we took Ridley in to be neutered. A few hours later, we got a call from the vet himself. Never a good thing.

Ridley went into the surgery just great and came out just great. He woke up and was very responsive, then he just died before they knew what happened. The vet did an autopsy and found out his heart was half a size too big, and also, his lower ventricle of his heart was paper thin. The vet could see through it. He said that the heart gets bigger to compensate for the thinness, and there is no way they could have known it was like this. The only way to know is to put them under and see how they take it. Since animals are so small, the anaestasia puts too much pressure on their already bad heart so they die.

The best part is my mom's kitten died the same way last year, at the same exact vet... suspicious? lol... Nah.

The good thing about this was that Glade was with my parents this whole weekend. We went to Ephraim Friday to see Clint with them, they took her after his concert, and we got her back today (Wednesday).

The minute I got off the phone with the vet, both me and Blake look at each other and ask what we are going to do about Glade. Ridley was her best friend. It was so cute to see the two of them play together and sleep together. They were absolutely perfect together.

So, we went on a quest to find a new kitten before she came back. We couldn't find anything, and we called every shelter in Southern Utah.

We decided to go to St. George for In 'N Out Burger and while we were in the line, I got a call from the Ivins City Shelter. I had called them early and they said they were remodeling their shelter so everything was in Foster Care for the time being.

She says that she didn't think of it earlier, but she has a 12 week old kitten at her house. She was found after the last big snowstorm in the middle of the freeway. They took her into their house, but they didn't think she would live.

She pulled through miraculously! The woman already had four cats and couldn't keep this one and she has been looking for a home for her with little kids so she would have someone to play with and we were just what she had in mind.

We drove to Ivins and saw the cutest and ugliest kitten ever. She is a little calico and she was just filthy. Her fur was just greasy and had the pet dandruff they get when they are that dirty. But the minute we picked her up out of her box, she just purred and loved on us. She never used her claws and it just felt perfect.

We filled out the paperwork and took her home. The shelter had named her Rainbow because she has so many colors, but we figured we can't have an animal without a Video Game name, so her name is now Ada (yes, from Resident Evil).

Glade finally met her today and they are adorable together. She isn't sure what to do about her since she is so tiny, so she just follows her around giggling and tries to give her kisses.

It's not the same as having Ridley, but she is definitely a part of our family now!

Blake, Glade, and Ada
Glade was giving her kisses

Playing with daddy's game boy case with Ada.

Sweethearts Ball

2009-02-12T21:31:00.004-07:00

Tonight at our Stake was our yearly Sweethearts Ball. Blake was supposed to work so we didn't plan on going, but one of the guys he works with asked for his shift and we were able to go ! (Thanks for reminding me Brenda).

We haven't been to a dance since the Inaugural Ball at Snow before we were married. We took Glade with us this time, and tried to put her into the nursery, but she wouldn't have any of it. So she danced with us until she got pretty cranky and tired, so we came home.

I love dances. I always have. I hate the holiday associated with this one (it's a crock), but the dance was definitely a lot of fun.

We watched Rebecka so Caleb and Brenda could dance, and they watched Glade so we could dance. Gosh, I love those two!

Glade had so much fun dancing with us and staring at all the lights. It was so cute to see her having fun. Too bad she wouldn't go in nursery though.

We will definitely be going to the other dances with the stake from now on.

The Second Most Terrifying Thing That Can Happen to a Parent

2009-02-09T20:45:00.002-07:00

I got home from work at about 3:30 pm as usual, and Ridley wasn't at the door waiting for Glade. I didn't think it was too weird since sometimes he sleeps a lot during the day just waiting to keep me up for hours at night.

A few hours later, Glade woke up from a little nap, and wanted her kitty. I started to go around to find him and figured he was just hanging out somewhere.

A couple hours later, at about 8:30 pm, I started to get worried. Glade was getting really upset. She couldn't find her kitty and he is always there when she is eating something. So, I figured we could go on a hunt to find him. We checked EVERYWHERE.

With every room we searched in, Glade was getting more and more anxious to find her kitty. Finally she was just bawling and I was at wits end to find him. I called Blake at work to see if he had seen him sometime during the day.

He hadn't seen him since he took me to work that morning. Not a good sign.

I looked everywhere one more time while I was on the phone with him. Even checked behind the water heater...

Still no kitty.

Right after I hung up with Blake, dejected and worried that I had lost my little girl's best friend, I thought to myself, "Samus loves to climb in the dryer.... maybe Ridley would like that too!"

I walk over to the dryer, open the door, and lo and behold, there is Ridley, sleeping soundly and warm as can be.

Of course I pick him up and hand him to Glade, who immediately stops crying and giggles frantically, and of course I am so happy I found him I start to cry.

I call Blake and tell him the good news.

I have never been more worried in all my life. Well, except when Glade was born, but that's a different kind of worry. This one is a worry that you have completely ruined your daughters life and she will need therapy for the rest of her days....

I have never been more thankful in all of my life!!

Our latest addiction

2009-02-04T18:53:00.002-07:00

Every day we all try to do our Wii Fit. Blake is at his perfect weight (or so his BMI says), I am highly underweight, and Glade is more underweight than me.

So, we try to do our Wii Fit to stay in shape.

The strangest part of it is that we will both exercize to a Video Game, but not without it.

Seriously, how hard it is to run in place or do push ups everyday? Pretty dang hard when you don't have a Super Hot Trainer telling you that you are doing great and to keep it up!!

Everyday I work out trying to put on some more weight to be at least in the "Normal" range, and every day I get a little closer to my goal! I am now 4 pounds away from entering "Normal" but at least 30 away from having a healthy BMI.

And I have found out I am a closet Yoga lover. I am not very flexible, but I can kinda fake it on the Wii. It is mostly about balance and such, and I like to think I have pretty good balance, so I love doing all the Yoga. Always with the door locked and no one around, but hopefully one day I can go take a real class.

And everyday we bring out the Wii Fit mat, Glade gets so excited to try it herself. We put her on there to test her BMI and Weight, and then let her try a couple games (with our help of course) and she absolutely loves it!

Anyone that doesn't have this game, definitely needs to buy it. I know it sounds ridiculous to spend $90 on something you can do without a Video Game, but if you think of all the money people dump into gyms they never go to or excercize equipment they never use, this is only about $340 after you buy the system and game. And considering it has more than just exercizing stuff, it is totally worth it! And the balance board is being used in more and more different types of Video games! (And let me tell you, the skiing is super fun, no matter how hard it really is).

And I know most of you are thinking how big of junkies we are with Nintendo, but we are proud of it, and recommend it to everyone!!

The War Tapes

2009-02-02T23:41:00.002-07:00

One of Blake's classes this semester is called "Visual and Cinematic Narratives". Definitely a confusing title to be sure. To sum it up, he gets to read comic books and watch movies for class.

We both love the teacher and the class is very interesting. The few movies he had to see so far weren't worth mentioning, but this last one definitely is.

He had to watch "The War Tapes". For those of you who have never heard of this documentary, it was done by Army National Guard based in New Hampshire. Five men were given cameras and told to record their year tour in Iraq and comment on everything that happened and how it affected them.

And even watching this movie, I never actually realized how bad it has affected our military. The men in this movie pretended to treat death like it was nothing. They compared dead bodies to cookies and sausages. And the worst part of watching it was that they actually think like that so they can get past the death and destruction of war. They actually had to kill people and that lives on their conscience.

The very thing that hit me most was the homecoming. When they walked in the room and everyone stood up and cheered, it was absolutely amazing. If the news would show that just once, we wouldn't have to worry about how unpopular the war in Iraq is, or how many men have died. It would show that we are behind our troops 100%.

After they got home you just noticed the complete change in each of the men they were following. They had PTSD, and carpal tunnel (from holding thier guns all day long), and they just weren't the same men.

War is a terrible thing, but once you're in one, you shouldn't bicker about what we are trying to achieve or if we are killing civilians. Our men and women of the armed forces are overseas trying to protect our freedom. They are over their protecting their families and friends, and no one gives a crap.

They are told they are rapists and they are baby killers from people that have no idea what it is like to be in a war. We have never in our lifetimes had war on our own soil. Our men have fought in wars in other countries, but never in the USA. Which in reality is pretty lucky.

We don't have to worry about a rocket slamming into our doors or soldiers running in to take shelter from shooting. We can drive to work without having an IED blow up in our faces.

We take so much for granted. We are so spoiled. I pray for the soldiers, but in comparison to what they face everyday on foreign soil, I am not doing a thing.

They are such honorable and noble people and they do not get the credit they deserve for a job well done. It doesn't matter what end we are trying to achieve. We should back our Armed Forces completely so they know they are coming back to a home that appreciates they job they are doing for all of us.

So they know it isn't all in vain.

Is slowing down time too much to ask?

2009-01-27T23:36:00.002-07:00

Everyday I wake up, get ready for work, kiss my baby good-bye and then see her again 8 hours later.

I swear, in just that 8 hours everyday, she learns 10 new things!!

It doesn't help that she is 18 months old and is catching onto everything the first time you show it to her, but still...

Which is one of the reasons I was so excited to take last Saturday off paid. PTO is truly a beautiful thing. I was able to be with her as she learned new things during the entire weekend without a lull or something coming up. It was absolutely fantastic!

When we went to IKEA, we got her new bowls, cups, and silverware for her to use since we didn't have anything really "toddler" friendly yet. When we got home and opened the bowls and cups, she took right to them. It amazed me!!

And now she refuses to drink from her sippy cup except for bed time since she has her new "big girl" cups. And if she spills them on herself, even if it is just a drop, she looks at it and gets really upset. It is so adorable. You have to go up to her and give her a hug and tell her it's ok, and then she will finally drink from her cup again without crying. You could say it is annoying, but I think it is just plain cute.

I just don't think it's very fair that she is growing up this fast. It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital worried about her breathing and wondering if she was going to be ok. And now all she does is run around causing havoc everywhere she goes!

Why can't time just stand still for one day so I can enjoy her before she gets any older...

Our fun weekend

2009-01-26T12:34:00.004-07:00

This last weekend, we went up to Clinton for Claire's baby blessing. It was so much fun.

We met Nick and Mandy at IKEA (greatest place ever!!) and shopped around for a bit. We got these really cool DVD racks. They screw into your wall, so now Glade can't get to our movies!! We ate dinner at the IKEA diner, saw my cousin Kasey, and then went to Mandy's apartment for the night and next day.

We chilled and shopped and watched Glade chase Michael and Michael chase Glade and had a pretty good time!

Saturday night was the blessing and Glade ran around so much she was exhausted by 8 pm. They did family pictures after the blessing and the minute they were about to take the picture, Glade would run into the picture and pose so they would have to get her out and try again. But the minute they set her up to do her pictures, of course she didn't want any of that!

After the blessing we drove to Alpine and stayed there for the night. The next day we went to get Wii Play for Pam (it has the extra controller and the game, so it's TOTALLY worth it) and we went to 2 Walmarts, a Best Buy, a Target, and 3 Game Stores before we found it. And the store that finally had it also had Wii Fit, so we got that too! We had been playing it most of the weekend since Mandy and Pam have it, and we fell in love with it!

Sunday night we had dinner with Ray and Pam and invited Bowden and his new GF, Mary, over for dinner. It was a lot of fun just chilling most of the day and relaxing.

Glade eating her Potatoe Soup while lounging in her chair

We left Alpine at about 8:30 pm, right in the middle of the big storm. It took us 4 1/2 hours just to get back to Cedar! There was one 20 mile strip of the entire drive that was clear of snow and rain and everything so we were able to finally go at least 70! Most of the drive was only at about 40 or 45 mph. We got KILLER gas mileage thought!! (From Nephi to Cedar (176 miles) we only used less than a quarter tank!

And of course when we got home, Glade saw Ridley and decided it was time to play and have fun. We finally settled her down enough to get her to sleep at about 2, but Ridley was so excited to see us, he kept us up all night. It was great he missed us, but dang....

It was a really fun weekend!

(Below is a picture of Glade working out... She says she's getting a little chubby ;) )

Glade loves the Wii Fit. She stands on it, does headstands on it, and just loves pointing the Wii mote at the TV while playing it

Glade's 18 Month Appointment

2009-01-19T17:44:00.001-07:00

Now, just so you can get the full effect here, I have to describe everything before I get to her actual stats as far as weight and such.

Her appointment was scheduled for 3:45 so we showed up at 3:30 to check in. The entire place is crammed. Glade normally loves other kids, but this time all she did was cling to my leg.
Not the best start.

The minute we go back to get her weighed and to a room, she freaks. She won't stand on the scale, so we have to have her sit on the baby one, then she kept squirming so we had to do it really fast so she didn't know what was happening.

Then the minute we got to the room and she saw the table, she freaked again. The nurse took her temperature, then listened to her heart. Glade was not happy the whole time.

So we had her lie down on the table to be measured and she did not want even a shred of that. We did it as fast as we could but she was beat red and wasn't breathing she was crying so hard.

And of course, we had to do a hemoglobin test (a test to see if her iron is high enough. They prick a finger for a drog of blood). This is the first visit we have had to the doctors where she has not had a binky and she did not like getting her finger pricked.

Once the nurse left, I let Glade down off my lap, took the bandaid off her finger and she was happy as a clam as long as it was just the two of us in the room....

About 15 mintues later (at about 4 o'clock) she decides to poop. And since we are potty training her, everytime she poops, she grabs her diaper and says "uh-oh". It's really great since she knows what she is doing, but I didn't bring any diapers or wipes with me since I didn't think we would be there too long. And of course this was the poop where it leaks out EVERYWHERE......

45 MINUTES LATER.....

As the poop is slowly seeping out of her diaper onto her clothes and smells just like rotten eggs, the doctor comes in.

I don't fault him for coming in an hr and 15 minutes later... He is transfering a baby to Primary Children's so I totally understand how much of a hassle that can be. I just hate how this is the one time she poops and I didn't have a diaper to change her into.

He checks her out, says she is doing great and doesn't need shots this visit, and lets us go.

Now I have the joy of putting her pants back on, the whole time trying to keep my hands out of the poop seeping slowly out of the diaper without having much luck. I finally get her dressed and since the doctor had to undo her diaper while checking her out, the stickiness is losing quality so it is slowly sliding off her body.

By the time we get to the car, her pants and my jacket are completely soaked through. I couldn't be happier.........

But anywho....

She is doing very great. She can say around 20 words now (most of them are "b" words) so she is above the curve for her age, which is great! He says there are no signs of autism so that's not a worry.

She is 19 pounds 2 ounces (0 percent), 30.5 inches long (25 percent), and her head is 47 cm (75 percent). All around they aren't worried since she is staying pretty consistant. And they say they aren't going to be bothered by how small she is since she is staying on the same curve instead of dropping.

So all in all, a pretty good visit, except for the dreaded poop......

My encounter...

2009-01-18T08:00:00.001-07:00

Friday night, at about 11 pm, I am sitting at home after putting Glade in bed talking to Blake on the phone since he is at work until midnight.

All of the sudden, my front door knob starts to shake and it sounds like someone is trying to get into my house. I am so thankful I locked the deadbolt after Blake went to work at 4 pm...

Since I was on the phone with Blake, I was able to stay a little bit more calm than otherwise, but it still scared me to death. And he was so worried he made sure to text me every minute till he got home just to make sure.

And it's not the first time this has happened. Right after we got Blake's guns back from his grandparents, at about 3 in the morning, someone starts pounding on the door and shaking it really hard. I heard it first and bolted upright. I ran and got Glade, brought her into bed with us, and then woke Blake. We sat in bed for a minute and the shaking happened again. He went into the living room while I cuddled my baby thinking someone was coming to kill us.

He comes back into the bedroom with his guns and takes them out of the case. He gave me a hug and said he didn't see anyone, but he was going to stay up for a while just to be on the safe side.

It hadn't happened since until tonight... And of course Blake was at work and I have never shot a gun in my life....

I took Glade and Ridley into my room and kept all of us locked in until Blake came home.

You can call me a coward, but there was no way I was going to sit in the living room waiting for someone to break through the door coming to kill me. (And this is probably from all the Stephen King novels I've been reading....)

But give me two months and I'll be laughing about this.

SHE DID IT!!

2009-01-16T19:44:00.002-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we got Glade a potty and we keep it in the living room so she can get used to it. She watches TV on it, and plays on it all the time.

Well, normally after her bath, I let her run around naked for a little while. She loves it and I love seeing how happy she is doing it.

JUST A FEW MINUTES AGO.....

She was running around naked, then all the sudden she got this look on her face. She looked around, then went running to her potty. She sat down, peed, and then went on her way!

When she did it, I started crying, then she laughed at me. And now I know she won't do this again for a very long time. I think she did it because she wanted to prove she could, all the while keeping her stubborness ha ha.

I am so stinking proud!!

Glade's extra special Christmas Present

2009-01-12T17:17:00.003-07:00

Every time we got to my parent's house for the weekend, Glade has an absolutely blast with all the animals. And this last time when we came home, she would wander the house saying "Blue" (the name of her favorite cat there) and then get upset if she couldn't find him. So, for Christmas, we thought we would surprise her with a kitty of her own!!

I asked around and finally my friend Misty found us a kitten that was still in Cedar City after Christmas. We went to the shelter and he was absolutely perfect! They told us he had a little hissing problem, but that's easily fixable. We got him and brought him home. And the best part is that when we got him home, he hasn't hissed except when Buddy (Aimee's dog) came.

Glade was so excited!! They wouldn't go near each other for the first two hours, but now they are inseperable.

He is about 3 months old, black and white, and he has these two freckles on his nose. He is adorable. We named him Ridley (Samus' arch enemy. Samus is our cat we got for our wedding my parents have now).

Glade and him play hide and seek, tag, and they take naps together.

She hates when he is put in a room without her when company comes over or something else, but she gets over it pretty quick once he's back in the open.

It was the most perfect gift we could have gotten her.

Glade and Ridley waiting for Blake to get home
Taking a nap

The night we got him. He is super cuddly and she just loved to look at him

She fell asleep in his carrier!! It was pretty funny

We have his cat food and litter box in the bathroom with the gate up, and while he was eating she climbed up the gate to watch and giggle at him. Needless to say, we have turned the gate around so she can't climb on the bar

Kal El's Real Daddy

2009-01-06T20:54:00.003-07:00

Superman is the epitomy of a super hero, because everything he does is super. He is super fast, super smart, and super good, always upholding the law, letting the criminals know while they will never be punished forcefully, they will go to jail time after time on his watch.

He is pretty much the perfect man.

Or is he?

If you look back in the 1970's, you'll find that Christopher Reeves was trained to be the Man of Steel by the original bad ass in the black cape.

Yes folks, you guessed right. Darth Vader himself.

You heard me right. Superman's real daddy was also Luke's daddy. Coinsidence? I think not.

And it explains a few things about Superman. Deep down in his center, he is using the dark side of the force. Think about it. Siths always have some sort of extra super power that Jedi's don't. Most of them shoot lightning. Superman doesn't need lightning however, because he can shoot LASER BEAMS out of his eyes.

And have you ever wondered why Lex Luther is bald? Darth Vader has the ability to crush someone's throat with his mind. But since Superman has to appear good, he sticks it to Lex the most ruthless way possible. Lex will go to his grave bald and shiny. Not exactly the best chick magnet.

In addition, everyone says Superman is the perfect gentleman. But let's face it, the only reason he never asks a girl what color underwear she has on is because he can see them anyway!! (Think about that when you see a guy checking you out on the street next time...)

And let's face it. In the last movie, he even has a bastard child.

In short, we have discovered Superman's real kryptonite.

His dark side.

Bells Will Be Ringing

2008-12-28T16:05:00.004-07:00

This Christmas was really great. Not only did Glade open all the presents we had under the tree Christmas Eve, but she was able to open some more on Christmas Day when my parents and brother came into town. We got a lot more stuff than we thought we would and Glade absolutely LOVED all her presents.

It was so hard to find stuff she would like just because she is in that weird age they don't make things for. It goes from 0-6, then 6-12, then 12-24.... Where the 18 months?? It just baffles me they don't have anything. So we made due with other toys she had played with and loved and some other stuff I thought she would enjoy.

They all turned out to be perfect!!

We spent the beginning of the morning with my family, then Blake went to work, and when we got back we had Christmas Dinner and then just hung out as a family watching movies and playing games together. It was a lot of FUN.

And now that it's over, we have a whole new year to prepare for. And it starts with Nate's Farewell and Teagan's birthday. I'm so excited to get jump started on 2009!!

We got her a play pen for her baby, but she doesn't let the baby in there. she sits in it to watch TV
Her new moses basket from Grandpa and Grandma Pearson

She set up the baby toys next to the tree and said it was so the baby could see the lights

Her new table and dishes from Grandpa and Grandma Pollock!! She absolutely loves them. She feeds you fake food for hours on end.

Her new bed set from Grandpa and Grandma Pollock! It matches the flowers on her wall and she loves going to bed and pointing at all the flowers

My new quilt rack!! (Totally wish I had had this a month ago...;) )

Now that it's finally Christmas...

2008-12-25T14:57:00.005-07:00

So, in October, Rachelle thought of an idea to do for Curt and Reita (Blake's parents) for Christmas. When they went to visit them, she noticed their comforter was getting old and thought it would be a neat idea to make them a new quilt for their California King size bed. I agreed and found a pattern that looked relatively easy to put together and Rachelle picked the fabric and started cutting the pieces.

The best part of this whole thing was I sent Rachelle the amount of pieces she needed to cut and how small and everything. Each square was 12", but she thought the pattern was just one big square so she didn't understand you had to make a lot of little squares. I thought she had never pieced a quilt before, but it turns out she just didn't read the pattern. It was definitely a good laugh.

The week after Conference (the weekend they came down, with the accompanying blogs about those weekends - it was so hard not to say why they were there), Rachelle and I spent two days piecing the quilt and putting it together so I could quilt it after they left. We were up pretty late at night and then up early the next morning just so we could get the whole thing pieced before they had to go home.

After they left, I borrowed a couple C clamps and a few pieces of a quilting frame from our friends to quilt it. I ended up using TV trays to stand it up since the stands they had went missing. It was definitely a ghetto looking quilt lol.

Since it was from all of us, I decided to embroider-quilt all of our names into the centers of six of the squares. I think it made it more personal and added that added touch to the quilt it needed. And since there were the few green squares in the middle to offset the peach, I thought it would be perfect to do the names in there. They went in this order:

Blake ---- LOVE ---- Darryl
Kayce ---------------Rachelle
Glade ---------------Teagan
The row of hearts

So, for the next month and a half I worked on the quilt (more off than on) and finally got it done and took it to Rachelle to bind and finish.

I have never realized how hard it is to do a quilt when you have a child. Everytime I would start to work on it, I swear Glade would know and think of something she needed. I should have finished it pretty fast, but she just didn't let me.

I have wanted to post this since I started, but I couldn't since it was a surprise. I am so excited I can tell everyone now!! :)

Here are some pics of how it turned out.

The finished quilt
Teagan's name

Glade's name

Kayce's name

Rachelle's name

Darryl's name

Love in the top center

Blake's name

The regular quilted pattern throughout the peachish squares

I did a heart in the bottom three green squares for added pizzaz and so it would stick out

A closer look at the heart

A little motivation for everyone

2008-12-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

One of those terrible moments as a mother...

2008-12-17T16:40:00.003-07:00

Blake and I decided it was time to take Glade's binkies away. She is almost a year and a half and she doesn't need them anymore except to fall asleep. But most of the time she falls asleep without them. So, we got her last two binkies, I sat her in my lap, she helped me cut the nipples off, and then she helped me throw them away.

She thought it was a cute game until we threw them away. She then gave me a look that said "You have betrayed me... You couldn't possibly be my mother." I wanted to cry with her. So Blake took her and had her look at the tree to keep her mind from her binkies in the trash. He then took the trash out to erase all memory of them.

The next few days will be the longest of my life. It's a good thing Blake isn't in school so he can stay up with Glade ;).

On a lighter note, here are some pics of Claire I took this last weekend! I know they aren't the best but I couldn't get her to cooperate. (Strange 3 week old babies ha ha).

Our "Christmas" Weekend

2008-12-15T11:59:00.003-07:00

This past weekend we decided to go up North for our Christmas since we both have to work before, during, and after Christmas. We went up Friday afternoon when I got off work and had so much planned. (We always plan to see everyone, but we always end up doing too much ;) ).

Friday night we went to Temple Square with Darryl and Rachelle (Teagan was sick so he stayed home). I had never been before and I absolutely love going to the Temple so I thought it would be so pretty lit up. I was right! I love Christmas lights and I think they did a fantastic job at decorating the Square! It was a pretty good night to go, too, since it wasn't too cold or windy. Glade really enjoyed seeing the lights and pulling off her mittens. She eventually lost one of them around the Square somewhere. She thought it was pretty funny!

Family Picture

On Saturday we went and saw a couple of our friends in Provo, went to Barnes and Noble (should never go there... I always spend too much), then went up to Clinton to be with Nick, Mandy, Michael, and Claire. Glade had an absolutely blast with Michael. She would chase him around and he would kind of cower in corners. It was pretty funny.

I held Claire all weekend and it was awesome! My arms didn't fall asleep and I felt like I wasn't holding anything at all! It was an awesome weekend!

Below are some more pics of Temple Square, enjoy!!

SLC Temple

SLC Temple

Darryl looked at the church and turned to us and said "Everytime I see this it reminds me of the church on Resident Evil 4". Needless to say, I will never look at this building the same ever again. One day zombies will come piling out and I will be ready for them ;)

A Christmas Poem

2008-12-10T13:10:00.008-07:00

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,

A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,

Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,

"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light

Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,

I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,

That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,

"Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.

"My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red, white, and blue... an American flag.

I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,

Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..

Who stand at the front against any and all,

To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,

"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done,

For being away from your wife and your son.

"Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,

To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled.

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Oh, Christmas Time

2008-12-04T18:02:00.002-07:00

We asked Caleb and Brenda if they would do our Christmas pictures for us. I think they turned out pretty good!

Glade being Glade
The fam

The fam 2

The fam 3

She just looks like she has something evil planned...

A really cool idea!

2008-12-02T16:28:00.002-07:00

I got this off of the Ford's blog and thought every parent might want to know about this!

It is a tatoo with your information on it so just in case you go somewhere (the mall, Disneyland, the park) your child will have the number to call you if they get lost or someone finds them. You can also get them personlized with allergies, special instructions, and other medical problems for those birthday parties and other things.

Here is the link if you are interested!

http://www.safetytat.com/

Oh my lol....

2008-11-30T21:31:00.004-07:00

So, there are a few things I would like to post on this blog today. The first is about my daughter.... the beautiful, happy, unspoiled thing she is....

We went to my parents house for Thanksgiving. Last week they asked if they could keep her with them after we had to leave Thursday till they come to Cedar Sunday. I couldn't say Yes fast enough. I have a few projects I need to finish and I was actually excited to have a kid free weekend. Totally uncharacteristic of me and totally opposite of last time.

It was a really fun Thanksgiving. Glade was adorable with the animals and it was so good seeing a lot of my family. And it was actually quite easy to leave Glade at their house. She was having a ball and I didn't think she would mind me leaving. Little did I know that she would cry the minute I stepped out the door...

But, after about ten minutes she was fine. She had a great weekend with grandma and grandpa and got severey spoiled by my brother. So when she got home, of course she would want everything he gave her all weekend ha ha.

But, on a lighter note, my parents brought some of my stuff with them and also my old bed! Which is Glade's new bed now!! While Glade was taking a nap, I set it up in her room. When she woke up, she loved it. And for two reasons... She can now reach the light switch, and she can look out her window.

Playing with the lightswitch (and I know there are no sheets on it, but they are being washed ha ha)

The next thing, since I got my stuff from my parents, it had the outfits my mom made me for the handcart trek we did in Virginia right after I graduated. I tried them on, and aside from the fact my hips are a little bigger, I thought they looked pretty spiffy!! Most of the trek, I did have my skirt tied around my waist so that I could pull the handcart. And the bloomers were definitely my favorite part of the ensemble. (And just an FYI, I did pick the colors and I had a blast wearing them!!)

This one was my favorite. People thought I was crazy, but It was awesome!

You could never tell I like green...

The bloomers!! They are dang sexy!

NEED HELP ASAP!!

2008-11-25T21:34:00.002-07:00

Glade has started to become very mean, mainly just towards me, and she won't stop biting and hitting. I am just about at my whits end. Time-outs, hitting back, telling her "no hitting/biting", putting her down, walking away... Nothing is working. She is actually just getting worse. I don't know what else to do.

And it doesn't help that I am only with her in the evening and she isn't mean to anyone else so she doesn't understand why I am upset at her, but I don't think I can take the biting and hitting anymore without exploding.

Please help me!!

What a stressful day

2008-11-22T22:19:00.004-07:00

So, yesterday, my best friend, Mandy, went to her midwife and she was given stuff to start her labor progression. Well, it didn't quite work that well, so they went back today and labor started at about noon. She kept updated me periodically untill about 4 pm and then they stopped. I figured something big happened and it was just too much hassle to text me while she is trying to concentrate and stuff. And however great it is that she was actually in labor, I was a nervous wreck. I was pacing the house and Glade kept following me giggling.

She is birthing at home, which is so COOL, and doing a water birth like she did with her son, Michael. They had everything set up Thursday thinking yesterday would go very well, and Michael loved climbing in and out of the labor pool.

At about 9:30 pm I got a text saying she was starting to push, but they hadn't seen anything yet. About an hour later, I get a text that says "Mandy just gave birth to Baby Claire!" They didn't find out the sex of the baby (when they had Michael he was supposed to be a girl... so they figure it wasn't worth it). She is 6 lbs 11 ounces and 18.5" long.

The best thing is that with Michael, I joked with them that it would be a boy since at her shower all she got was girl stuff, so we got gender neutral clothes and toys for them. Turns out I was right. And with this one, I said it was going to be a girl and lo and behold, I am a freakin genius (he he).

The only thing that sucks is that she lives in Clinton and I can't see the baby for about another month... I'm gonna die lol!!

A November Update

2008-11-18T19:01:00.006-07:00

Well, I figured we would post a little update on how everyone is doing.

And since Glade is the cutest, I figure we would start with her. She is now 16 months old (still can't believe it). She has 12 teeth and is into everything. It is definitely a good thing she is so cute!

She can say a few more words, including baby, wii, no, and yum. And her brand new thing to do is to take everything of hers and stick it down her onesie. When you change her diaper, everything falls out when you open the onesie. She gets a kick out of it and it is pretty cute.

She is also now 17 lbs 14 ounces (moving right up there ha ha). To me she has gotten so HUGE, but she is still really tiny in proportion to all other kids. But little babies are better ;).

I am still at convergys (one month on Thursday!!) and it is actually a pretty fun job. Whenever we aren't on calls, we talk and make jokes, and you get to sit down all day. Most people aren't that mean, since I only have to deal with online banking, but this last week I think every third call was someone that would yell. And it doesn't really make sense why they are upset... especially since all I ask is if I can verify their information... is it truly that hard to tell me your address and SSN?? But then again, some people are just difficult.

Blake is still at Crysallis and is in class when he isn't at work. Thank goodness the semester is so close to being over. It is going to be a relief the three weeks he doesn't have to go to class inbetween semesters.

I'm pretty sure that is all that is going on, but if you want to know more, just hit me up!

Why God Made Moms

2008-11-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

I thought this was too cute to not share! I hope you moms get as much laughs out of it as I did. Enjoy!

WHY GOD MADE MOMS

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

The final diagnosis on Blake's finger

2008-11-12T14:03:00.002-07:00

So today was Blake's appointment with the dermatologist. We waited for about 30 minutes (we were about 35 minutes early) and then he came in and asked what was up. So, we told him the entire back story and what the ER did and how it was starting to grow back. He looked at it, asked if it bled A LOT and it took forever to stop bleeding, we said yes, and he told us what it was.

It was a (drumroll please) pyogenic granuloma. And me saying that explains everything to everyone, right? Mostly they happen in pregnant women and horses... But, for you people that stare blankly at those words like I do, here is a short synopsis of it.

Pyogenic granuloma is a relatively common skin growth. It is usually a small red, oozing and bleeding bump that looks like raw hamburger meat. It often seems to follows a minor injury and grows rapidly over a period of a few weeks to an average size of a half an inch. The head, neck, upper trunk and hands and feet are the most commonly sites.

And in common english, what happened was when Blake smashed his finger, it over-healed instead of just healed, creating a huge mushroom looking liver thing. The skin sometimes does this, and then the pyogenic granuloma occurs.

So, he took Blake's finger, numbed it, cut off the growth that was growing back (shaved it off is more acurate), and then burned the entire area. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen. Blake got REALLY light headed and then he turned white as a ghost. So he had to lie back down for about 10 minutes, then he was fine. The doctor was super nice about it and I thanked him over and over again because he didn't back away and he knew what it was. You have no idea what a tremendous relief it was knowing that it was a normal thing and what a simple proceedure it was to take off.

Right after this we went and had Glade's Flu Booster shot. All in all, we saw doctors for 50 minutes today... Blake's app was at 1, then we were on our way home from Glade's at 1:50. It was absolutely fantastic!

First experience with two kids

2008-11-10T21:59:00.002-07:00

Last night we babysat our friend's two month old. I was a little nervous, but I was more excited than anything else. They watch Glade while Blake is in class so I figure it can't be too hard. Plus, Glade absolutely adores Rebecka.

So they dropped off Rebecka and went to dinner and a movie. I absolutely loved babysitting! Glade had a blast with her. They played on the floor for about an hour and had a blast together. Rebecka is started to smile and coo and kick more than usual and Glade just loves talking back to her.

And when Rebecka would cry, Glade would run and grab a binky or a bottle so she would be ok. It was adorable!!

Here are some pics I took (I just couldn't help myself ;) ):

Glade is tickling Rebecka's feet
She would lie down to cuddle with her... it made it more like lying on her but it was cute anyway

Giving kisses

Trying to pick her up to hold her

Just being cute for the camer (and the bump on her head is from falling off the bookshelf... It isn't child abuse....)

Darth Vader

2008-11-09T16:43:00.003-07:00

I was cruising the web for patterns and things (much like I do when I'm bored nowdays) and I came across this. It's a Darth Vader Hot Sauce Bottle cover. How freakin sweet is that!!

I was showing it to my friend Shar and she wondered what was so cool about it... So I had to explain.

Darth Vader is awesome for 5 reasons :

1. He has the best strut of anyone. The only person to ever come close is The Duke.

2. He has a voice that can send chills down someone spine before you were strangled to death by the force.

3. He has a cape.

4. He is the single greatest villian created for Sci-Fi.

5. He cuts off his own son's hand.

Some people would beg to differ, but it's all true. Anyone that says otherwise will have to deal with my hot sauce bottle.

Now that I have calmed down a little...

2008-11-05T13:47:00.003-07:00

Here is my commentary on what happened yesterday:

We have been listening to this election crap for almost two years. It is so sad that I was barely into my second trimester of my pregnancy when Hillary Clinton started her campaign. There is no reason to believe people wouldn't be sick of it all by the time the actual nominees were picked.

By the time this happened, no one truly cared. And then they tried to make people care with a million and a half debates and speeches that cut into my TV time and shows I was looking forward to watching.

And the saddest part of this campaign is that no one truly said anything worth while. Obama only preached "change" (whatever that entailed) and McCain didn't preach anything worth listening to. He was limp and lifeless. The only thing that jogged me and probably some other people back into this campaign was when he picked Sarah Palin to be the VP.

That was the most bold and smart move McCain made in the entire race. She is highly conservative, a real feminist (as I think they should be), and she hunts Moose. There was nothing better than that.

And then election day rolled around...

I cannot believe America could be so stupid. But then again, the people that probably voted the most was the people that should not be allowed to vote. And before you get mad, let me explain.

Anyone that is on Government help or does not pay taxes should not be allowed to vote. They will always vote for the person that is going to give them more money, no matter who that is. I know that I would be one of the people not allowed to vote, but that is fine with me. I would have voted for McCain (I do have a brain - and this is in comparison to only those on government aid), had I voted, but I am totally ok if this were the real rule. It would make so much more sense than people that don't actually vote with their head voting for more government aid.

Obama won because he promised "change". No one knows what that means except that he is the new Messiah come to save America from filthy Republicans who only take money from the poor. Taxes will stay high or get higher, college will stay pricey, and I highly doubt Universal Health Care will happen. No one knows what he thinks, but he is definitely something to be scared of.

And I am still WAY curious as to why his birth certificate is sealed.. the only reason to be worried about someone seeing it is if he wasn't born in the US, which would mean he couldn't be president, right?!? Wow, he must be an evil genius...

But on a good note, Prop 8 in California passed! It definitely brings hope back to my heart. And I am so glad that the church actually told people to be active about it. The only thing that stinks is the bill will probably go to the Supreme Court and get overturned. But at least we know that the majority still has a say and they are saying the right thing!

All in all, the next 4 years will be the longest of my entire life.

The flu is ALTOGETHER evil...

2008-11-02T10:48:00.002-07:00

Saturday rolled around and Blake and I started to feel a little better. I didn't throw up at work, Blake didn't throw up at home, so it was bound to be a good day... NOT.

I got home from work and Blake's finger (the strange infected growth) had started to eat away at the skin around it on his finger. So, I figured, what they hey, we'll go to the ER... they have financial aid, right??

We go in, and everyone backs up a step or two when Blake shows it to them. And then the doctor walks in. "I don't think I have ever seen anything like this before". Which is definitely not something you want to hear a doctor say. So, she asked if Blake wanted to keep it until he could see a dermatologist and see what was up. Blake said sure and she left to call the dermatologist.

She came back in, and said he wanted a biopsy so when we went to see him, he would have more information. SOOO, she numbed him up and then cut the thing off. It came off like a mushroom top... kinda creepy.

And of course it left this hole in his finger that won't stop bleeding. She tried to burn the veins so they would stop bleeding, but when she burned one, another would open up. So they did a pressure bandage. The bleeding has slowed (18 hours later...) and it doesn't even hurt now that the numbing has worn off.

BUT TO MAKE THIS STORY EVEN BETTER....

We got home and watched a movie and Glade had been acting perfect and chipper and just being great.

Since Blake and I were both feeling awesome, we figured the flu was over and we would have nothing to worry about.

How wrong we were...

Glade had her flu shot with her 15 month app, but she has to get the booster on the 12th of this month. Little did we realize she can still get the flu.

She woke me up at one this morning just puking her guts out. I felt so bad... I had never seen her throw so much up in one sitting. And it is probably our fault. We didn't realize that she could get sick, so we had been giving her chocolate milk all day. Definitely not a good combination for an upset stomach.

Blake gave her a blessing after she threw up the second time about five minutes after the first, and then it proceeded to get worse. She refused to drink anything and she would fall asleep for five minutes then wake up and throw up again. We actually put her on a towel to sleep because that was the easiest way to clean up the mess...

So, she threw up till about three, dry heaved until four, drank her gatorade (finally) at five, and then crashed. The biggest problem is that she threw up on every blanket, bed, and pillow in our house EXCEPT our batman blanket and one couch pillow...

The worst part is that everytime she would throw up or dry heave, she would just cry this really sad cry and there was nothing I could do to help her but rub her back and try to comfort her... I think that's one of the worst moments in my mommy life so far...

But she did fall asleep eventually and woke up at ten happy and healthy. We aren't going to feed her much today for fear that she will throw up again, but she is downing gatorade like a champ!

What an awful Halloween

2008-10-31T20:28:00.002-06:00

This morning at 4am, Blake woke up with the flu. I had to be at work at seven, so I told him to skip class and just rest.

Well, work rolls around and I start to feel awful also. It hit me at about 10 am.

Needless to say, neither of us were able to stand up for that long without getting queasy and dizzy, so we didn't go Trick-or-Treating.

I know Glade wouldn't have remembered it at all, but I still feel bummed

This is a picture of her in her costume. I bought it in August and had her try it on. (She is mad, because Blake was in Vegas and she missed him).

She definitely was the cutest monkey. I just wish I had been able to take her out in public.

The Book Thief

2008-10-24T23:40:00.002-06:00

When Rachelle came down a few weeks ago, she let me borrow The Book Thief. She had just read it and said it was fantastic, so I figured I would give it a shot.

The writing style is strange to begin with, but it actually makes the story better. It is a German book and just for some background for you, in Germany everything is a person, not something abstract. Death is a person, greed is a person, love is a person, and so on. This book is narrated by Death himself.

I was reading it at work when I was on break or other times and at the end I just couldn't read it there anymore. (It would be weird to be at work with tears streaming down your face).

Tonight I finished it. I read the last 30 pages to Glade because she wanted to be held and I really wanted to finish it. She would sit next to me and look at the book and comment as I read sometimes.

I have never know fear or doubt like they did. I didn't have to go through a World War or a bombing. I have never had a leader that discriminated against an entire religion or race. I have never been scared that my parents would be taken away by the government because they did something they weren't supposed to.

As I read the last 30 pages to Glade, all these thoughts kept running through my head. What if something happened to me? What would Glade do? Would she remember me like Liesel remembered Hans? Would I have taught her enough? Would I have kept her safe enough?

When I was in Germany we went to Dachau when we were in Munich. It is a totally different atmosphere than anywhere I have ever been (besides other Consentration Camps). Even though it is completely open (well, there is a fence all around it), nothing of the outside world comes in. There are no birds, no car noises, it is just absolute silence. And the strangest part of the entire experience is that you don't truly realize people were held here during WWII. People died there. People who were loved and honored before Hitler.

Would I have the courage to stand up for them? Or would I be one of the people on the sidelines just watching?

I looked at Glade and hoped that she would never have to ask herself those questions. I hoped that no matter what, she would be safe.

It is so incredibly hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes. That is probably why there is such a difference between empathy and sympathy. They always say "History is written by the victors". In this story, it is the utmost truth. The ones who stood up, they were the victors. Against the odds they lived.

I just wish there was a way to honor them. We could all learn so much.

A Legacy of Excellence, my &#$ !!!

2008-10-22T21:19:00.002-06:00

Blake can register for his classes for next semester starting on Tuesday the 28th. Since I do all his classes and make sure he is set up with everything, I went in yesterday to look at classes he needs and what he has and all that since he is SOOOO close to his Bachelors.

I went in and saw that they had 5 of the classes he needs available. He is 21 credits away from graduation, so this puts him within 6 credits of graduation after next semester.

BUT, they don't offer the other two classes he needs until next FALL!!! What the freak?!?!?

And since six credits would only be part-time enrollment and we need the grant from full-time enrollment, he has to take 2 classes he doesn't need so we can survive through that semester....

TWO FREAKIN' CLASSES AND HE WOULD BE DONE!! Stupid, stupid school......

To my relief...

2008-10-20T19:27:00.002-06:00

I started at Convergys today! I have six days of training before I actually go to the call floor permanently, but I actually got to start this job!! I was so worried friday and all weekend that I was going to get the call I got before... When this morning rolled around and it still hadn't come, it was amazing!

Training is actually more boring than orientation, if that is strange to believe. It is six days of seven hour shifts where you just sit and learn. The most interesting part today was when we actually went to the call floor and just sat with someone and listened and watched as they took calls for 2 hours. It went by FAST and it was way interesting. The programs to use are very simple (at least I think so) and it looks pretty easy to learn.

There was one call where the guy got mad, because the system was actually down so we couldn't help anyone with anything. He said he had a business to run and he couldn't sit on the phone all day or at the computer because he had houses to paint. She just said sorry and took it while a smile on her face. At one point he said he was just going to cancel his account and pull all his money and she just smiled and muted the mike and said "it's people like this that actually make my day". She unmuted him and said sorry sir and kept smiling and trying to calm him down. It was actually truly comical.

But the best part of this job is all the added benefits I get. In 60 days I get paid time off, holiday pay, benefits, tuition reinbursement, 401k, life insurance, and accidental death insurance. It is absolutely fantastic! I have never had paid time off before and I am so excited to take a vacation and get paid for it!!

I actually think that is the best part!!

I also can get $0.20 raises every 3 months ($0.80 a year) so I should be making over $9 an hour in April. Which is AWESOME!!

If we do move, also, there are tons of places I can transfer to. Especially if Blake goes to the U in a year, there are a few in Salt Lake, and 1 in Provo/Orem I can look into.

And I am sure it has its downsides, but every job does. I am just excited to finally be working!!

HA HA HA HA HA!!!

2008-10-18T00:57:00.004-06:00

If you need a laugh, just look at this:

Legal case against God dismissed

The plaintiff argued an omniscient God would know of the lawsuit
A US judge has thrown out a case against God, ruling that because the defendant has no address, legal papers cannot be served.

The suit was launched by Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers, who said he might appeal against the ruling.

He sought a permanent injunction to prevent the "death, destruction and terrorisation" caused by God.

Judge Marlon Polk said in his ruling that a plaintiff must have access to the defendant for a case to proceed.

"Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice," Judge Polk wrote in his ruling.

Mr Chambers cannot refile the suit but may appeal.

'God knows everything'

Mr Chambers sued God last year. He said God had threatened him and the people of Nebraska and had inflicted "widespread death, destruction and terrorisation of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants".

He said he would carefully consider Judge Polk's ruling before deciding whether to appeal.

The court, Mr Chambers said, had acknowledged the existence of God and "a consequence of that acknowledgement is a recognition of God's omniscience".

"Since God knows everything," he reasoned, "God has notice of this lawsuit."

Mr Chambers, a state senator for 38 years, said he filed the suit to make the point that "anyone can sue anyone else, even God".

The definitive example

2008-10-17T15:35:00.002-06:00

My daughter is the definitive example of what happens when you tell a child no. We were practicing pointing to body parts and I asked her where her nose was. She pointed to her ear, so I pointed to her nose and asked her where her nose was again. She pointed to it, but instead of just pointing, she stuck her finger in it.

I laughed and told her no, and asked her again where her nose was...

Of course she stuck her finger in it again, but this time she giggled at me!!

It is like when she was first crawling and getting into everything. My mom had to deal with this first, and Glade would crawl over to the pictures and then get her hand slapped and a harsh no. She eventually learned that if she touched them, she would get slapped, so she would reach to the pictures, without touching them mind you, and then look back, giggle, and hold her hand out. She thought it was very comical.

Now she is kind of doing the same thing. She has been sticking her finger in her nose everytime she is not getting enough attention, then we tell her no, take her finger out of her nose, and she giggles and puts it back...

Sometimes it makes you wonder what is truly wrong with her sticking her finger in her nose. It is only wrong because someone way back when decided it was bad manners, but since he did this, we have to stick to it! You can't have your kids running around at the park with only their knuckle hanging out of their nose!

But if you ever have trouble with your children, just look at mine and it will give you a very firm giggle.

High School... oh boy...

2008-10-16T20:19:00.004-06:00

Burkburnett High School
Berlin Brandenburg International School (the whole thing is the school now. When I was there it was just the two middle buildings and no Olympic size track and pool....)
Green Run High School (definitely the most ghetto school ever... we had open campus behind us and a teacher was shot in the parking lot)

1) Did you date someone from your school? Two actually. Joshua Young (VA) and Christopher Felten (Germany)

2)What kind of car did you drive? I didn't.

3)Did you pass your driver's license test the first time? When I took it after I got married, yes.

4) Were you a party animal? Not really. I think I only went to one party and that was when I was in MUN in Russia.

5) Were you considered a flirt? Not at all

6) Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Not in High School. I was a huge theatre geek though.

7) Were you a nerd? Still am!

8)Were you on any varsity teams? Not in High School.

9) Did you ever get expended or expelled? No

10) Can you still sing your fight song? I don't even think I ever learned my fight song...

11) Who were your favorite teachers? Mr. Padiokov (math in Germany), Mr. Jacobs (History in VA), and Mr. Sternadel (History in TX)

12) Where did you sit at lunch? I went to the IB room in Germany, and in VA I sat at the same table my entire senior year when I actually had a lunch period.

13) What is your school's full name? Burkburnette High School, Berlin Brandenburg International School, and Green Run High School

14) School mascot and colors - Orange and Black were the colors and a bulldog was our mascot. The colors were blue and white and we didn't have a mascot. The colors were green and white and the mascot was a stallion.

15) Did you go to homecoming and who with? I went to the homecoming game but only because I was on the float. But I didn't go to the dance or anything.

16) If you could go back and do it again, would you? Depends on the day. Some days I would just because it was so much fun, and some days I just look at my life and wouldn't want to change anything.

17) What do you remember most about graduation? Josh broke up with me that night. (Sad thing to remember, but that's all I can really remember about that day.

18) Where did you go on Senior Skip Day ? I went to the beach with Amber.

19)Were you in any clubs? National Thespian Society... I think that was it

20) Have you gained weight since then? I have actually lost about 15 pounds...

21) Who was your prom date? Josh Young

22) Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Probably not. It depends how I feel in 7 years.

23) Did you have a job while in high school? I had a few babysitting jobs and I worked at the Embassy for a summer.

I tag Amber, Rachelle, and Andrea.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day

2008-10-15T10:53:00.004-06:00

Today has been designated Pregnancy and Infant Loss day. The government actually passed a bill about this day because of how many babies are lost a year. So for one hour tonight, starting at 7pm, light one candle in rememberence of babies lost through miscarriage, SIDS, or any other condition.

On September 28, 2006, House Resolution # 222 was passed in the House of Representatives supporting the goals and ideals of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

Just below is a word for word of the transcription that took place on September 28th in the House of Representative.

SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF NATIONAL PREGNANCY AND INFANT LOSS REMEMBRANCE DAYMr. WESTMORELAND.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con.Res. 222) supporting the goals and ideals of National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, as amended.

The Clerk read as follows:

H. CON. RES. 222

Whereas each year, approximately one million pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of a newborn baby;

Whereas it is a great tragedy to lose the life of a child;

Whereas even the shortest lives are still valuable, and the grief of those who mourn the loss of these lives should not be trivialized;

Whereas during the past 3 years, Governors of all 50 States have signed proclamations designating October 15 as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day;

Whereas the legislatures of the States of Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, Rhode Island, and South Dakota have passed concurrent resolutions recognizing October 15th of each year as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day;

Whereas the observance of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day may provide validation to those who have suffered a loss through miscarriage, stillbirth, or other complications;

Whereas recognizing Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day would enable the people of the United States to consider how, as individuals and communities, they can meet the needs of bereaved mothers, fathers, and family members, and work to prevent the causes of these deaths; and

Whereas October 15th of each year is an appropriate day to observe National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day:Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),

That the Congress—
(1) supports the goals and ideals of National Pregnancy and Infant Loss remembrance Day; and
(2) requests that the President issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such day with appropriate programs and activities.

So please, light a candle for all the little babies that are in heaven.

My daughter, the bully...

2008-10-14T10:56:00.005-06:00

This weekend we had Darryl, Rachelle, and Teagan come down for a few days. Glade doesn't get to see other kids near her age very often, so we love when they come down so she has someone to play with.

It really is nice to have cousins close to the same age, too. Glade is 15 months old and Teagan is 8 1/2 months, almost 9. Six months isn't that big of a deal once they get older, but when they were littler it was a HUGE difference.

Well, it was not a good weekend for Teagan to have a girl walking around riling him up... He was getting two teeth (one came in Saturday but it swelled over again) and he was pretty cranky. If Glade walked up to him, he would just throw a tantrum and cry.

But, there were the few moments where they would play together happily and we could get pictures and such. They would kiss and hug and Glade would try to hold Teagan like she holds Rebecka. But, Teagan weighs a LOT more than her, so she would just end up pulling him over.

When they played it was absolutely adorable. But when Teagan was through, he would cry and Glade would get very worried. She would try to hug and kiss him better and he would cry some more. Since he was using her crib this weekend, she would hear him cry in her room and would run away from whatever she was doing and try to find him to make him better. It was absolutely adorable!!

But Teagan is so cute! Looking at him makes my arms hurt, because of how much bigger he is than Glade, but it's cute watching him crawl around the house after food. Glade left a chicken nugget on the ground, and Blake was walking with Teagan and Teagan saw the nugget, and just plopped on the ground and crawled as fast as he could toward it. It was pretty funny! But it was nice to hold a baby that doesn't walk. Glade doesn't like to be held very much because she has better things to do, but Teagan hasn't really hit that stage yet. It was WAY nice.

On another note, Glade had her 15 month checkup yesterday. She is now 17 lbs 1 ounce (just a tiny thing) which is in the zero percentile, 28 3/4" long which is in the 15th percentile, and her head is a whopping 46 3/4 cms... which is in the 75th percentile!! She does have a big head....

But the doctor isn't worried about her weight at all (we switched doctors because I hate them telling me I don't feed my daughter and I'm a bad mom). Her soft spot isn't filling in, but since she is small, Dr. Miller isn't worried. Plus, some babies don't have theirs grow in until they are two.

ALSO, since after Glade had her chicken pox shot in July and got the "mini-pox" from it, she doesn't have to have the booster chicken pox shot!! It isn't given until she is 4 or 5, but she doesn't have to have it because her immune system is top notch! And Dr. Miller has had over 1000 patients, and only two have gotten the mini-pox, so don't be worried if your child is getting the shot. It's very rare and it truly isn't a big deal.

But because Glade knows so many words and can do so many things just seeing them once, she is at the development of an 18 month old!! Which for a preemie is HUGE! Sometimes she is too smart for her own good, but I love watching her learn!

So, all in all, it was a pretty good weekend.

(The pics that I got from Rachelle are below... they are so cute!!)

Blake had to work, and Glade only wanted Darryl, and minute he picked her up, she cuddled to him and fell asleep.

She is a pretty good sharer

Darryl with the babies. Him and Blake would hold both and say they are so lopsided they were falling over

Giving Teagan a kiss on the forehead
Giving each other kisses

Surfing the web can make you giggle...

2008-10-10T15:02:00.002-06:00

Rachelle and Grandma Pam got us into the show "The Office". I don't think I laugh so hard at anything else, Sponge Bob movie aside. Well, I missed half the episode last night, so I went cruising the internet to find it so I could watch what I missed. (Seeing the end of an episode truly doesn't do much for me).

Well, I go to NBC.com because they have full episodes available, but I end up finding Dwight Schrute and Creed's blogs. I know they are fake, but that doesn't mean they aren't funny as all get out.

Dwight's latest one is about him wanting to build a moat... It's definitely a must read.

Creed's is about how Michael had a squirrel imprisoned in his safe and Creed rescued it and is training it to be the best trained squirrel in Pensylvania.

I know I am a complete dork, but it's my life!! You have to read them though... some are bound to make you laugh so hard you bust a kidney.

It's a good day

2008-10-09T15:35:00.003-06:00

So, I had my interview and everything today and I am officially hired!! I don't start till the 20th, which sucks, but I am going to be working full time, from 7 am till 3:30 pm so I don't interfere with Blake's schedule at all. Which is the biggest plus.

I will be doing inbound calls for Key Bank at Convergys here is Cedar City. I help people with their online accounts like if they are locked out or are making a new account and need help. Which is absolutely fantastic!!

So, thank you everyone that sent prayers my way! Now let's just hope I don't get fired on the 19th...

I need some serious prayers

2008-10-07T16:09:00.001-06:00

I applied at Convergys a few weeks ago, but I contacted the HR people and had no contact at all. SO I emailed them and she finally emailed me back and said I needed to apply at this other site.

I did, and now I have an interview and computer assessment scheduled for Thursday!!

I need some serious prayers from everyone for this... The job starts at $8 an hour and after 7 weeks of training turns to $10 with a bonus... It is absolutely perfect!

So, thank you all in advance for your prayers and thoughts.

Never plan construction on conference weekend

2008-10-05T20:20:00.005-06:00

This weekend, we went to Henrieville to help my parents put rock on the bottom of their house. Well, you can't put rock on a house unless it is above 60 degrees and not raining. This weekend, it was both.

We woke up at 7 on Saturday to get an early start, and low and behold, it is raining. As my dad put it, "The Saints have gathered and the Angels are weeping." How true he was. Since it was conference weekend, it was the perfect weekend to do the house. No one would have to go to church, and we made sure to get the weekend off so we could go over.

I guess God had other plans.

But, we had such a good time. Glade had an absolutely ball with my parents and the animals, but she had the most fun with my brother. He is enthralled by her and she just loves him to death.

Saturday we watched movies and lounged around most of the day. We played a game of Phase 10 (which mom my cheated at.... well, she won, so she had to have cheated, right??). It was just so much fun to be away from home.

Saturday night we went to bed looking at the forecast and saying there was no need to get up early because it was going to be cold until later in the day anyway.

Sunday, I woke up to the sun shining in my room, and I was so excited to be able to do something besides lounge. Well, it was still terribly cold so we couldn't do the rock. We decided to go get wood instead. (My parents have a wood burning fireplace, and it is cheaper than keeping the heater on, so they have gone up the last three weekends and gotten loads of wood. My mom carries it to the trailer and stacks it while my dad cuts it. So they were VERY glad to have extra hands to help).

I don't think I have ever had more fun getting wood in my life. Clint kept us laughing, and Glade just made us happy. The weather was perfect for being in the canyon. The wind wasn't blowing and the sun was shining and it felt like 50 degrees. It was wonderful.

My mom hauling wood

The men and my baby

Clint says he got a workout in both arms today... carrying Glade in one and the wood in the other!!

They are so cute together

After it was all over, they sat down in the truck for a break

After the wood was all collected, Clint and I decided to take pictures of Glade in various locations around where we were! We are calling them her "15 month" pictures ;)

She will be the first lady lumberjack!

Admiring her machine

With her favorite Uncle and her treasured leaf!
She found the leaf on the log and it was adorable how she was sharing with us
Clint was so scared she was going to fall off... it was really funny
We put her in a bunch of dead wet leaves. It was so cute we couldn't resist (and by we, I mean Clint...)

It was definitely so much fun this weekend. Glade learned to say "blue" and "up" and she now flies like a goose when she runs. She got two molars and a new bottom tooth this weekend, too, making the total 10!! She is getting teeth so fast. They come in before I realize she is teething.

She would follow my mom's animals around and then squat in front of them and talk to them for hours. But, she is terrified of their paws. My mom's cat Nala doesn't like to be touched and so she pats Glade on the head when she steps over the bounds (without claws). But Samus uses claws when she gets annoyed. So whenever she sees a cats paws, she backs up and covers her mouth. It is absolutely adorable!!

The funniest two moments of the weekend though, were on the first and second nights. When we got there, Glade had barely woken up. She was kind of out of it, and she hadn't seen Bandit since August. He came over and licked her hand and she screeched and cried for a half hour. We were so scared she was going to cry everytime she was around him, but I loved on Bandit and she realized it was ok. The whole weekend she would run after him grabbing him and he would just run away. It was funny.

The second was when we were watching Gridiron Gang on Saturday night. (FANTASTIC movie, btw. You have to see it. It is 1000000x better than Remember the Titans). She turned the movie off in the middle of their first game, and my mom went to her and spanked her and turned her away from the tv. She ran to my dad with her lip sticking out and he held her against the couch. My mom started throwing beenie babies at Glade as a joke and she didn't take it very well. My dad was throwing them back, and then Glade let out the same screech she did when she saw Bandit the first night and just wailed! (It was 11 at night, so she was tired and cranky, but it was still pretty funny). She ran to me and I picked her up, and she crashed. I told my mom we should have thrown stuff at her 3 hours before!!

All in all, it was an awesome weekend.

Another Month

2008-10-02T23:24:00.002-06:00

One more month has come and gone, and still I am at home with Glade. Last year I prayed that we could budget everything out so I could stay home. We had it perfect. Blake made 900 a month and that covered everything except rent which was covered by student loans. And we had a ton of savings so we were set.

Then the Nissan broke down and we entered the world of the car owner. Well, not so much owner as person paying a car payment they can't really afford. So, we started working at the Girl's Home in Tropic. We worked only weekends ( I worked two 16s and Blake worked a 16 and an 8). We were able to earn enough and not have to pay a babysitter because my parents would watch Glade.

Well, gas prices went through the roof and we couldn't afford to drive 100 miles to work every week. Especially only making $7.50 apiece. So, the beginning of August we quit thinking we could get jobs easy.

Blake got a job a week and a half later. I applied and bugged people, but no one was "hiring". So, finally I found the job at Sunshine and life was looking better. It sucked that I got fired the day before I started, though...

So, since that took an entire two weeks out of my job hunt, I still do not have a job. I have applied at so many places, I am out of resumes (and I printed 50 of them!!). One place said they would call me, but it has been a week and still nothing. So, I have begun applying at fast food places. They were my last resort thinking that I wouldn't even need to think about it. How truly wrong I was...

So, here it is October and me still unemployed... Either I smell really bad, or I look funny. You choose...

The genes continued...

2008-10-01T12:20:00.002-06:00

After I posted the first part of this blog last night, (I didn't realize it would be a two-parter at the time) Blake had made a surprise for me in the bedroom. He had set up our 64 and put my favorite game in for me to play, Pokemon Puzzle League (it is like a faster paced version of Bedazzled). I love games like that.

Well, because he had put this game in for me, he did his homework with me in the bedroom. After he was finished, he got his SP and started playing The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (great game btw). He went to go do something while it went through the beginning story and Glade climbed on the bed and picked up his game.

The intro story ended and Glade actually started playing the game. She got into some cave with monsters and didn't die, despite the fact she didn't have the sword yet. She was so happy doing it I couldn't take it away from her. When Blake came back, he just smiled at her and she smiled back. It was the cutest moment I have ever seen.

To put it all in perspective, she is doomed to geekdom...

The genes have definitely passed down

2008-09-30T13:03:00.003-06:00

As you all know, Blake and I are very video game and geek oriented. Well, both of us have been very into Super Paper Mario lately. (Fantastic game, btw...) Whenever we play, we have to give Glade a controller too or she feels left out. We figured she would end up being a geek, but we didn't realize it would hit so fast. She has been chewing on the nunchuk controllers, so we give her a game cube controller that got syrup in the button so it doesn't work, but she spots the fakes, so it is good we have a real one she can have.

I was sitting playing the game today, and I gave Glade her GC controller. She gripped it in two hands, and she used her thumbs to move the two joysticks!! She stared at the screen the entire time she did it, and she thought she was moving Mario. I have never been prouder of my daughter. Sure she can walk and talk a little, but this is the greatest day of her life so far. She has figured out dual joysticks.

Now, a lot of you are probably laughing and rolling your eyes as you read this, but I couldn't be more serious. She will beat Metroid at three.... I am just sure of it! She already has the Wii mote down pat, and now she has the GC controller, too. She is coming along very nicely!!

If only you guys could truly see mine and Blake's excitement, then you would understand.

President Uchtdorf and the Relief Society Broadcast

2008-09-29T12:00:00.000-06:00

I didn't even realize that it was conference time again until I was just surfing around Blogspot. I came across http://www.mormonmommywars.com/. One of their forums was about President Uchtdorf and the talk he gave in the Relief Society Broadcast for this conference. I didn't even know it had already happened when I saw this. They all wrote about how wonderful and inspiring the talk was. President Uchtdorf inspires me already, so I knew the talk had to be fantastic.

I search around looking for the talk printed out, but I couldn't find it anywhere. So finally I realized that since it just happened Saturday, it is still on the LDS website for me to watch.

I turn on his talk, and I instantly feel at peace. It felt like every word he was saying was meant for me. I rarely get this feeling when I listen to conferences and such. I have only gotten it two or three times in my whole life. I always feel the spirit, but the difference is knowing and feeling.

As I listened to his words, every one touched my heart. The past few months have been terribly hard for me. I have wallowed in self-pity, and I know I have annoyed some people with it. However, I just couldn't help it. My life just sucked that bad, right?

But I was wrong. As I listened to his talk, he spelled everything out for me. I have not felt this much at peace in a very long time. I have realized that life happens, but what is the point of wallowing around in our self-doubt and self-pity when we can be helping others? The one true way to be happy is to help others in their times of need.

I remember what it is like all those times I used to do service projects for Young Women's activities. How I used to feel when I did something nice for someone else. How it felt to not complain when everything seemed at their worst.

My cousin once told me about how she went through a severe depression for a long time, because all she did was lower herself down to nothing. One day she realized what she was doing and made the effort to stop. Every day she would call herself a winner and go from there. Pretty soon she was smiling again and she truly felt like a winner despite all of her shortcomings and faults.

No one is perfect. But isn't our church about striving to be perfect, not being perfect itself? We can truly be better people by just trying. God doesn't ask for more than that. The child's song says it better than I ever could.

I'm trying to be like Jesus, I'm following in his way. I'm trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say. At times I am tempted to make the wrong choice, but I try to listen as the still small voice whispers, Love one another as Jesus loves you. Try to show kindness in all that you do. Be gentle and loving in deed and in though. For these are the things Jesus taught.

Only a child's song could put it so perfectly. How can I be like Jesus if all I do is wallow in my own doubt? How is this helping anyone? It brings everyone around me down and makes me less and less like the person I want to become.

President Uchtdorf is completely right. God is always with you, but you have to put yourself aside to see his love. We are his glorious creation. How can we be grateful for this if we never see his love for us and we do not show our love for him?

It is amazing what a few words will do to your heart.

My latest crafts

2008-09-28T22:00:00.000-06:00

Lately, I have been crocheting like a madwoman. I have half a spiral full of patterns (our printer doesn't work, so I am just copying them down in my notebook). I have never finished so many things in my life! I normally get half through something and then quit, but I guess not being employed has its perks. I have just been using the leftover yarn i have around my house and making all sorts of awesome stuff!! Here are a few of my finished projects!! Let me know what you think!

These are like loofas but for your dishes!! They are with the dishcloths below
The two bookmarks I have made. The rainbow one just needs its ribbons to be finished
The baby blanket for Mandy (if it is a girl). I am working on the one if it is a boy still

The blessing dress and diaper cover for our next girl (I had a cute pattern and had to make it!!) The only thing left on this is the buttons in the back and the ribbon around the middle of the dress
The blessing TUX for our first boy (unless we get Blake's blessing outfit...). I haven't done the pants yet, but I will finish them shortly. The only think this still needs is two buttons and a lapel pin
A baby mitten. It matches the girl's dress
Our doily that our cake topper sits on top of. I'm way proud of it
My washcloths. I am doing these for someone for Christmas, and these were the first two I finished. They turned out awesome!!

Glade learned to DANCE!!

2008-09-27T22:07:00.003-06:00

We were listening to music on our computer while Blake was playing Resident Evil: 4 (I can't have quiet or I go completely crazy) and we look over, and Glade is doing a little jig!! It is a mix between her happy jumping and the moonwalk. It is so cute! Here is a video of it!!

ENJOY!!

I've been tagged!!

2008-09-26T15:00:00.000-06:00

It seems like this is spreading like wildfire lately. Well, whatever I can do to help! Here are six very random facts about me!

1. I love Romance Novels. You know the ones. People say they are like pornos for the imagination, or amateur porn according to others. I don't know what it is about them, but I absolutely love them. My mom got me into it. Everytime she goes to the store, she buys all the ones she doesn't have, and because they are such easy reads and you can't read them twice, she passes them onto me. I have a HUGE bag in my closet full of them. And everytime I see my mom, she gives me more! Curtis saw my bag of them once and said, "At least your sins are on the outside, unlike mine!" When I read one, I am lost in the world of love and romance and nothing can keep me from it. I will finish one of them in a couple hours and start a new one.

2. I am way too stubborn. I hold grudges forever. Blake hates it about me. When we get in our one fight a month (always on the 27th), I hold onto things and he doesn't. He is ready to talk ten minutes after we finish screaming at each other. I am definitely not like that. I would rather fester for days before I talk things through. I have been working on it, but I think it is just making me more stubborn than usual.

3. When I was pregnant with Glade, I puked at least once everyday from the minute she was conceived until they ripped her from my loins. (I was so sick the weekend the Wii came out, and it was definitely from my child). When I was at work, I was so used to throwing up twice on my shift I would know when it was coming on. I threw up one time and this old lady asked if I was ok. Since I never got very big, you couldn't really tell I was pregnant. I barked at her and told her to mind her own business. I feel bad about it, but come one, let a woman puke in peace!!

4. I am a textaholic. If I am not texting on my phone, I want to be texting someone. People that have felt the wrath of it definitely know what I am talking about (Sorry Mandy and Rachelle...). It is absolutely one of my favorite past times. People say it isn't addicting, but I dare to contradict!!

5. I love sad songs. I don't know what it is about them, but I love that choked up feeling you get when you hear about a women scorned. I think that is why I love country so much. They have the absolute best sad songs. And even if they aren't sad and are completely happy, I still get choked up. I have a playlist on my computer just for sad songs and when Blake is not around, that is all I listen to. It's quite pathetic.

6. I have this deep, unabiding hatred of everything Mozart. When I was in Germany, my piano teacher tried to get me to play something from him and I wanted to kill the man. I just cannot stand his music. It's boring and crap. I know that everyone in the world would contradict me, but he just sucks. It may be because I am a HUGE Beethoven buff, but I don't think that's the only reason. He is just too puffed up. It drives me absolutely bonkers! I guess it is kind of like how Led Zepplin is the cool thing now. That's how Mozart is to me. He is just too big for his music.

Well, hope you enjoy!! I tag Jill, Valerie, and Judith!!

If Blake was dead...

2008-09-26T10:00:00.003-06:00

So, I have been thinking lately who I would remarry if Blake died. After watching The Office last night, I have narrowed it down to two people.

Dwight K Schrute: He is just too funny not to have around. He knows everything about Bears, which is definitely a plus, and he is completely self-relient. It is the perfect combination. Plus, it would be so easy to piss him off!! I would just take a page out of Jim's book!!
And Jim Halpert: He comes up with the best pranks. They just slay me!! Plus, he has the cutest best friend. Pam is definitely a hottie. He is the number two at the branch, so he has a good income. And, I would have a first hand look at him making Dwight miserable!
All in all, it is definitely a tough choice!! Good thing Blake won't die for awhile, huh...

She takes after her dad

2008-09-25T11:29:00.010-06:00

Glade is so much like her father. It is crazy how alike they are. She doesn't like to be with him if I am home anymore, but she loves having him home so he can play with her. I used to be so jealous, because she used to only want him. But I guess that is the good side of me not working for almost two months. She now only wants me.

The first picture we have of Blake and Glade. It is the day after she was born and he got to hold her after they pulled her out of me. He got to carry her to the nursery while they finished with me. He was so worried about her. When they transfered her, he couldn't watch them prick and poke her because it made him so upset.

However, she mimiks Blake in everything he does. Yesterday, she picked up Blake's Pallette and his paintbrush and dipped the brush in it and then pretended to paint a piece of paper. Blake looked so proud. And she took the pen he was using (we then switched it to her new crayons) and she drew her first picture!! Blake says she is going to be an artist, and I said ok, as long as she goes to Yale!

GLADE'S FIRST PICTURE!!

Her favorite pjs. Of course it's Batman!!

It's amazing the thoughts you have when you have children. I am planning her future. Even though she will probably not do anything like it, I love to do it. I want her to have a great education, and I want her to be so happy. If she goes to Yale, that would be the coolest thing EVER!! We will never be able to afford how expensive it is, but it is a nice dream.

When she is not mimiking Blake, she has her baby doll with her everywhere. Lately, she had started to feed her baby with her sippy cup like we would hold Rebecka and give her a bottle. So when we were at Walmart, we bought her the toy baby bottles. She absolutely loves them! She picks up her baby, sits in her chair, holds her like a baby, and feeds her her bottle.

Feeding her baby, or her version of it

Taking a snack herself

Everything she does is a perfect version of Blake. Even her tantrums are just like Blake's. It is absolutely adorable!

Glade playing the Old School Godzilla with her dad

I'm just amazed....

2008-09-24T13:29:00.000-06:00

Blake and I were talking about banned books the other day. In his English class, they were discussing how America is AWFUL at it. But, this girl did not know that in Europe, banning books is actually something they do more regularly than we do. And people follow it. If a book is banned, you don't find it anywhere. Mein Kampf in German has been banned and you cannot find it in it's original language anywhere. It's sad, but welcome to what happens after your country turns from being Nazi's.

So, I went online and looked up a little list of all the banned books in the world. You would be amazed at what books are on the list. Here is a little taste for ya:

-Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland : Banned in China for anthropomorphized animals acting on the same level as humans (How gay is that??!!)

-Black Beauty : Banned in South Africa for using the word 'black' in the title (oh my....)

-The Catcher in the Rye : Challenged and removed from several schools in the USA because the main character exhibits behavior deemed "inappropriate" (there are no words...)

-Clan of the Cave Bear: Challenged at the Berrien Springs, Mich. High School for its use in classrooms and libraries (1988), Banned from the Cascade Middle School library in Eugene, Oreg. (1992), Challenged, but retained on the Moorpark High School recommended reading list in Simi Valley, Calif. (1993), despite objections that it contains "hardcore graphic sexual content." (This is one of my favorite books. The sex in it shows the time period they lived in...)

-The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm : Restricted to sixth through eighth grade classrooms at the Kyrene, Ariz. elementary schools (1994) due to its excessive violence, negative protrayals of female characters, and anti-Semitic references. (These fairy tales are awesome because they are realistic....)

-The Da Vinci Code : Banned in Lebanon after Catholic leaders deemed it offensive to Christianity (As if anyone really listens to the Catholic leadership about a fictional book...)

- Fahrenheit 451 : This book is about censorship and those who ban books for fear of creating too much individualism and independent thought. In late 1998, this book was removed from the required reading list of the West Marion High School in Foxworth, Mississippi. A parent complained of the use of the words "God damn" in the book. Subsequently, the superintendent instructed the the teacher to remove the book from the required reading list. (I love this book. It shows what happens when you ban books. People need help)

-The Grapes of Wrath : Banned in many places in the US. In the region of California in which it was set, it was banned because it made the residents of this region look bad (Some people don't know when to give up)

-The Harry Potter Series : Banned in the United States and Germany for "paganism" and "witchcraft". (Sometimes the ultra Christian people are so stupid...)

-James and the Giant Peach : Challenged at the Deep Creek Elementary School in Charlotte Harbor, Fla. (1991) because it is "not appropriate reading material for young children." Challenged at the Pederson Elementary School in Altoona, Wis. (1991) and at the Morton Elementary School library in Brooksville, Fla. (1992) because the book contains the word "ass" and "promotes" the use of drugs (tobacco, snuff) and whiskey. Removed from classrooms in Stafford County, Va. Schools (1995) and placed in restricted access in the library because the story contains crude language and encourages children to disobey their parents and other adults. (I really can't believe this one.... it's like when people spoke out against ET... come one now)

-The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe : Challenged in the Howard County, Md. school system (1990) because it depicts "graphic violence, mysticism, and gore." I'm sure the school system would rather have its children reading something which adheres to "good Christian values." (Maybe they didn't know it was about Christ....)

-The Little House on the Prairie : Challenged at the Lafourche Parish elementary school libraries in Thibodaux, La. (1993) because the book is "offensive to Indians." Banned in the Sturgis, S. Dak. elementary school classrooms (1993) due to statements considered derogatory to Native Americans. ("Offensive to Indians" .... good gravy...)

-Of Mice and Men : Due to vulgar language and use of the word "nigger" (Black people can call each other that, but we can't use it in a classic novel)

-To Kill a Mockingbird : This novel has been challenged quite a lot due to its racial themes. Challenged--and temporarily banned--in Eden Valley, Minn.(1977); Challenged at the Warren, Ind. Township schools (1981), because the book "represents institutionalized racism under the guise of 'good literature'." After unsuccessfully banning the novel, three black parents resigned from the township human relations advisory council. Banned from the Lindale, Tex. advanced placement English reading list (1996) because the book "conflicted with the values of the community." (You are freakin kidding me right?)

-Ulysses : Challenged and temporarily banned in the US for its sexual content. Ban overturned in United States v. One Book Called Ulysses. (Even if the book has a very sexual dream in it, that doesn't mean it needs to be banned...you don't see people banning romance novels)

-Uncle Tom's Cabin : Banned in the Southern States and Tzarist Russia. Challenged by the NAACP for allegedly racist portrayal of African Americans and the use of the word nigger (Are you kidding me?? "ALLEGEDLY"??? And why is it banned in Tzarist Russia?)

-Where the Sidewalk Ends : Challenged at the West Allis-West Milwaukee, Wis. school libraries (1986) because the book "suggests drug use, the occult, suicide, death, violence, disrespect for truth, disrespect for legitimate authority, rebellion against parents." Challenged at the Central Columbia School District in Bloomsburg, Pa. (1993) because a poem titled "Dreadful" talks about how "someone ate the baby." (...........)

There are no words for my shock and dismay... People in the world are so stupid. If you want to ban books, live in a country where you don't have FREE SPEECH!!

Babies and Pregnancy

2008-09-22T14:23:00.004-06:00

Rachelle and I were talking today about our hair. She just got a haircut, so it was definitely a graduating conversation. We started talking about how our hair has changed since we had babies. I decided it was a good time to post some pre and post baby pics of me. I don't take many pictures, so consider these very rare!!

And looking at these pictures has made me realize how much I miss my long hair.... :(

(FYI: I have shaved my head twice...once when I was 19 weeks pregnant, and then once when Glade was about six months old)

Thespian Society Induction (May 2005)
Senior Pics (2005)
June 2007 (Three weeks before I had Glade)
Rachelle's baby shower (5 months post baby) --Aimee, Rachelle, and Glade are in the pic too ;)--

Glade's Birthday Party (1 year after baby)

My climbing monkey

2008-09-21T16:05:00.002-06:00

Glade has figured out how to climb. She can climb onto the bed, the couch, over the baby gate, into the tub....I didn't think it would get this far though.

Yesterday Glade climbed onto the TV stand... She had never done it before and I though she knew it was off limits. I guess not. She had a blast on there, and I had to take a picture before I got her down. But the problem is, now that she knows she can get up there, that's the only place she wants to be. It's driving me to drink (almost).

Here are two pictures of her on the tv stand. (Disclaimer: She is naked in the first one, mainly because she had just taken a bath, and for a few minutes after she gets out, I let her walk around naked cuz she LOVES it. And the second, she is wearing a diaper, but we are not white trash. Our apartment has no air conditioning and it is stifling during the day. If we put clothes on her, sometimes she gets a heat rash, and it's easier to let her just wear a diaper).

Picture One: She is just sitting there

Picture Two: She has learned how to get to the DVDs she couldn't reach before.

ENJOY!!

My latest thrill!

2008-09-20T18:33:00.003-06:00

Monday, we were faced with the decision of what movies to get next from Netflix. I had already picked two out of the three, so I told Blake he got to pick the last one. He told me to get October Sky since I had never seen it.

Blake had to work today, and Glade fell asleep, so I figured I would watch it while I had some free time. Blake didn't tell me anything about it, except that "The one boy you like from 'The Day After Tomorrow' is trying to build a rocket." So I went into this movie with no assumptions. ( I didn't even read a synopsis!! Crazy, I know... )

If you like feel good movies, you have to see this one. You get upset about half way through, but it gets better after that point and you can't turn away or turn it off.

And this doesn't mean anything to some people, but I bawled like a little baby from the middle until the end. It is that good. (But, I cry in commercials of puppies, so don't take that as for how good the movie is). But I definitely recommend this movie to anyone that is wondering what movie they are going to rent for date night after the kids go to sleep. --There is some swearing, so if that bothers you, it's not a movie for you. It doesn't swear often, but it does swear --

When we get enough to buy this movie, it is definitely getting added to our movie inventory!!

Our "baby"

2008-09-18T12:05:00.002-06:00

Rachelle found a website where you can get two people's pictures and they make your baby out of it. This is the one she made for Blake and me. It isn't that ugly here, but Rachelle says that in the big screen, it is deformed and hideous!!

The funny thing is, Glade kinda looks like that a little bit....

Something I needed right now...

2008-09-17T12:29:00.006-06:00

I have a quote book that I have had since I was in Texas about ten years ago. When I come across a story or quote I love, I write it down in this book. It comes in handy when you are sad, or when you have a lesson to plan for relief society. I was looking through my book this morning and this story caught my eye. I was in my first year of seminary when my teacher gave us this story around Christmastime. When I read it, it still brings tears to my eyes.

The Gift

We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly eating and talking. Suddenly Erik squealed with glee and said, "Hi there." He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment. I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be-shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map. We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on lose wrists, "Hi there, baby; Hi there big boy. I see ya, buster," the man said to Erik. My husband and I exchanged looks, "What do we do?" Erik continued to laugh and answer, "Hi. Hi there." Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, "Do you know patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek-a-boo!" Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk. My husband and I were embaressed. We ate in silence; all except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments. We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. "Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik," I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby "pick-me-up" position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man's. Suddenly, a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love relationship. Erik, in an act of total trust, love, and submission, laid his tiny head upon the man's ragged shoulder. The man's eyes closed and I saw tears hover between his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby's bottom and stroked his back. No two being had ever loved so deeply for so short a time. I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm, commanding voice, "You take care of this baby." Somehow I managed, "Iwill," from a throat that contained a stone. He pried Erik from his chest unwillingly, longingly, as though he were in pain. I recieved my baby, and the man said, "God bless you, ma'am, you've given me my Christmas gift." I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying, "My God, my God, forgive me." I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgement; a child who saw a soul and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking, "Are you willing to share your son for a moment when I shared mine for all eternity?" The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, "To enter the Kingdom of God, we must become little children."

I am amazed everytime I read this story. I know that if I had been placed in the same position as this mother, I would have done the same thing she had done. Especially now that we live in a world full of fear and distrust. I always keep my foot in the cart when we go to the store so no one can snag it. However, maybe that is our problem. We are taught to love our neighbors, and forgive those who have sinned against us. If I truly was a forgiving person, and if I truly loved my neighbors, I wouldn't be so untrusting of people. I am not showing that I want to be perfect as Christ was. And this leads to the closing line for this blog:

"Live so that...those who know YOU but don't know HIM, will want to know HIM because they know YOU."

-Gordon B. Hinckley (2002)

Life sucks

2008-09-15T12:00:00.003-06:00

So, this morning I was woken up by my phone ringing. I didn't recognize the number so I ignored the call so it would just go to voicemail. I fell back asleep happy that I started my new job tomorrow and all of our money issues would be no more.

Well, the voicemail was left and I listened to it. It was my new employer calling! I figured I got the days wrong about when I started and she wanted me there today instead of tomorrow.

How wrong I was. The company in Salt Lake wants everyone to downsize. And since I was their new hire, it was just easier to let me go since I hadn't started yet. So, I am now unemployed and it was the perfect job. 40 hours a week at $9 an hour. It solved our money problems and life was good.

So now, I am looking for more work, and i don't care what it is anymore. So if anyone hears of anything, please let me know!!

Yesterday...

2008-09-12T19:37:00.002-06:00

As I read the blogs of some of the people I know, I realized that they were all mostly reminiscing yesterday's 7th anniversary. I hadn't thought about it since last year, and did not realize it was already September 11th again. It seems like so long ago that it happened.

I was in ninth grade in Wichita Falls, TX when the twin towers and the Pentagon were attacked. It was one of those slow days at school where nothing much is happening and that is perfectly fine with you. I was in my theatre class, doing my monologue in the black box, when a person from the front office came down and said that my mom had called the school and I needed to call her back immediately. My teacher let me stop with my monologue so I could call her.

I get her on the phone and she doesn't sound like herself. She tells me that terrorists have attacked New York and Washington DC. The only thought that ran though my head at the time had nothing to do with New York. See, my dad was training in Washington DC to join the State Department for a tour of duty. I could feel the blood rush out of my head and I started to shake. My mom says that the Pentagon was hit and she hasn't been able to get my dad on the phone all day. The last thing we had heard was my dad was supposed to be training there that day. My mom asked if I wanted to leave school, and I told her no. I didn't think it would be good if I was at home just worrying. At least at school I had something else to concentrate on.

I got off the phone, and told my class what had happened. We were all in shock. And since we were in the black box, we didn't hear any of the announcements the office was making. So even though this had happened two or three hours ago, we hadn't heard a thing.

Class got out and we all walked sullenly to our next classes. I had Tennis, so I didn't hear the next announcements either. After that was JROTC, and we had PT that day, so we didn't hear anything then either. And my mom didn't call again, which made me think the worst.

I got home from school and there was a message from my dad on the answering maching. He had gone to training in Virginia instead of the Pentagon as a last minute change of plans, and he was ok. I called my mom, and she had just gotten off the phone with my dad, so we were both relieved.

I will never forget that day. It was tragic for the entire country, and it should never have happened, but it did. So many lives were lost that day, but it was not in vain.

I will never have the same fondness for the memory of December 7th, as I do September 11th. Both days our country was attacked, but I was only alive for one of them. It will always hit me harder.

I am so proud of what our men and women in the armed forces are doing all around the world. Without them, we would not have freedom, we would not have democracy, and we would not be able to remember days like yesterday with the respect it deserves.

God Bless America, and the heroes that defend her.

Age of Reckoning

2008-09-10T18:10:00.004-06:00

Today, I preordered the new Warhammer Game for the PC. It plays identically to WOW, but you actually play in the Warhammer world. The game is fantastic!!

Below are some of the artwork from the video game (which I thought were the coolest and looked the best).

My list

2008-09-09T21:56:00.004-06:00

I saw this on Sister Sanchez's blog and it looked like fun. I did a list like this when I was in High School. The ones I have done are highlighted in Green.

1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby's diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said "I love you" and meant it
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don't
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch (All the time)
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
67. Bounced a check
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
71. Called or written your Congress
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions
88. Gone back to school
89. Changed your name (when I got married)
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
101. Had a booth at a street fair
102. Dyed your hair
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep
105. Ever dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all four
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring
110. Ridden a horse
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Cooked a dish where four people asked for the recipe
113. Buried a child
114. Gone to a Broadway play
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket
117. Danced at a disco
118. Played in a band
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum
121. Tutored someone
122. Ridden a train
123. Brought an old fad back into style (the words "cool beans" in Germany)
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
127. Published a book
128. Pieced a quilt
129. Lived in an historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
131. Asked for a raise
132. Made a hole-in-one (in a video game)
133. Gone deep sea fishing
134. Gone roller skating
135. Run a marathon
136. Learned to surf
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa
142. Sang a solo
143. Gone spelunking
144. Learned how to take a compliment (it's a work in progress)
145. Written a love-story
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted
148. Written a fan letter
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
151. Ran away
152. Learned to juggle
153. Been a boss (Just to my kids)
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight
156. Gone on a diet
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem
159. Carried your lunch in a lunchbox
160. Gotten food poisoning
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
164. Gone to the opera
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous
166. Worn knickers
167. Ridden in a limousine
168. Attended the Olympics
169. Can hula or waltz
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
171. Been stuck in an elevator
172. Had a revelatory dream
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert
175. Saved someone’s life
176. Eaten raw whale
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
178. Laughed till your side hurt
179. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hotel
184. Been a cashier
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma
188. Built a campfire
189. Kept a blog
190. Had hives
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Known CPR
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible
198. Found a long lost friend
199. Helped solve a crime
200. Responded to a NJP newsletter

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas :)

2008-09-08T19:12:00.009-06:00

This past weekend, Blake, Darryl, Nathan, and Rachelle had a Warhammer weekend in Las Vegas. I would have gone, but I gave my ticket to Nathan, and our hotel room only was booked for 4 people, so Glade and I stayed home. It was definitely boring and hard to sleep, but Blake had a lot of fun.

They ate at Hooters, and went to see the Shark exhibit (pics below also). Nathan also got in a little trouble with a bust of a woman ;).

And because Blake was gone all weekend, I didn't sleep very well, but Rachelle brought down Twilight for me to read. So I stayed up till six every morning just reading. She wanted to get my opinion on it, so I read it and I LOVE it. Since she only brought the first one, I went out and bought all four. I finished them today and now that they are over I want to read them again. They are corny and childish but I love them anyway.

Glade was pretty good this weekend without Blake, but we were both sick, so it was kind of a long weekend. She had a fever and a runny nose and she got better before I did, so that also stunk a little. But I am so glad that she loves to play by herself. I don't think I could have lasted if I had to play all day long.

All in all, everyone had a GREAT time. Here are a few of the pictures from the Grand Tournament this year:

He wanted to kiss it
No words...
The three brothers (too bad Curtis couldn't come too)
Darryl and Rachelle
Darryl and Rachelle 2

They found Steve's killer!!
The view from the room (yes, that's piles of trash)
Nathan and his WOMAN
The sharks
Sharks
Darryl and his army
Tomb Kings

Nathan and his army
Blake and his army
This is Lord Croak (he is a beast)
This is a wooden Necron army! I have never seen one like this before and it is freakin sweet
Constipated or just thinking really hard??

Dragon 1
Army
Some gorgeous High Elves
A beautiful board and army
The coolest dwarves ever. They are fashioned after Rome

Blake again
Blake's army in a fight
Darryl's army
Blake's army and board
Dragon 2 (I think this one looks better. But two games into the tournament, he fell off his legs, so Blake played with just the base and it's legs because the dragon could go "invisible")

Glade's new 'baby doll'

2008-09-04T19:06:00.002-06:00

Last week, our friends, Caleb and Brenda, had their little baby girl. She is absolutely adorable. They named her Rebecka Elizabeth and it fits her perfectly.

We went to the hospital a few times to see her, and Glade was so jealous every time Blake and I would hold her. She would cry and try to climb up with us and push the baby off. So of course I was nervous about Glade being around a little baby. She was only six months when Teagan was born, and Michael is older than her, so she has never been around a little baby when she was old to enough to play with them nicely.

So, we were over at their house yesterday, and Glade was crying and pulling on my legs because I was holding Rebecka, so I decided to try her out. I pulled Glade onto the couch with me, and helped her hold Rebecka. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. She giggled and talked to her and just smiled bigger than I have seen in a while. At that moment, I realized I had nothing to worry about.

After about ten minutes, I got the baby back from Glade and put her on the ground and I have never seen Glade so happy. She kissed Rebecka and then went off to play. It was absolutely fantastic!!

Glade's first vacation

2008-09-02T12:45:00.003-06:00

Glade had her first weekend without her parents this last week. And because I was so worried, my brother and Levi kept sending me pictures of her so I would be more worried or miss her more. But I did enjoy getting them from the boys. Their captions were fantastic.

Her morning meal
Clint and Glade at the Gratto
"...No words to explain" (from Levi)
"This is how we keep her in the yard" (From Clint)
"And learning how to drive" (from Levi)
"Taught her to shoot a bolt action rifle! Yee haw!" (from Levi)
"She surely loves mustard!" (from Levi)
"And riding in the back of the pick up. Eighty the whole way down!" (from Levi)

This is said perfectly

2008-08-31T14:16:00.002-06:00

"Das Leben ist eben so -- Höhen und Tiefen, eine Beule auf den Kopf und einen Schlag auf's Schienbein. So war es schon immer: Hamlet ist mit "Sein oder nicht sein" weinend umher gelaufen, aber das hat auch keine seiner Probleme gelöst. Es scheint eine Tendenz unter uns zu geben, zu denken, dass alles lieblich und rosig und wunderschön sein müsste, ohne dabei zu realisieren, dass selbst Widerstände einen süßen Nutzen haben. Einer meiner lieblings Zeitungskolumnisten ist Jenkin Lloyd Jones. In einem kürzlich veröffentlichen Artikel der "News", kommentierte er wie folgt: 'Jeder der glaubt, dass Glückseligkeit normal sei, wird eine Menge Zeit damit verschwenden, herumzulaufen und zu rufen, dass er beraubt wurde. Fakt ist, dass die meisten Putts nicht einlochen. Das meiste Fleisch ist zäh, Die meisten Kinder wachsen auf, um später einfach normale Leute zu sein. Die meisten erfolgreichen Ehen erfordern ein hohes Maß an Tolerierung. Die meisten Jobs sind die meiste Zeit eher öde als anderweit. ... DAs Leben ist eine Zugreise wie in alten Zeiten - Verspätungen, Umleitungen, Rauch, Staub, Asche und Geholper, nur gelegentlich durchsetzt mit wunderschönen Aussichten und aufregenden Geschwindigkeitsschüben. Der Trick liegt darin, dem Herrn zu danken, dass er uns diese Reise machen lässt.' "

In English : "Life is like that--ups and downs, a bump on the head, and a crack on the shins. It was ever thus. Hamlet went about crying, "To be or not to be," but that didn't solve any of his problems. There is something of a tendency among us to think that everything must be lovely and rosy and beautiful without realizing that even adversity has some sweet uses. One of my favorite newspaper columnists is Jenkin Lloyd Jones. In a recent article published in the News, he commented: Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . . Life is like an old-time rail journey--delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

I personally think the German makes it sound better, but I'm probably bias.

As I look back on how our summer turned out and how our future looks, everything just looks bleak. Blake has a job that pays $7 an hour, but he won't be able to get more than 30 hours a week because they are overstaffed. I still am unable to find a job, especially since no one is "hiring" or I am "overqualified". It truly wears you down.

But that quote from President Hinckley said it all. Life is just a group of ups and downs. You have to constantly work at it to make it work for you and then half the time it feels like you are sinking. And there is nothing you can do about it except relish the good times and know they will come again.

This made me cry a little

2008-08-27T00:56:00.002-06:00

I got this story off of the blog of my young women's leader in Germany. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (Especially you mothers out there).

A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk 's office, was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself. "What I mean is, " explained the recorder, "do you have a job or are you just a ..?" "Of course I have a job," snapped the woman. "I'm a Mom." "We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it," said the recorder emphatically.

I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like, 'Official Interrogator' or 'Town Registrar.' "What is your occupation?" she probed. What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out. "I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations." The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words.

Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire. "Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest,"just what you do in your field?" Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't) In the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careersand the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money."

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door. As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, (a 6 month old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than 'just another Mom.'

Motherhood - What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door. Does this make grandmothers 'Senior Research associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations' and great grandmothers 'Executive Senior Research Associates' ? I think so!!! I also think it makes Aunts 'Associate Research Assistants'

The laxative chocolate....

2008-08-25T19:20:00.002-06:00

So, we were given some chocolate last night and on the back it reads "may have some laxative effect". Well, Glade found one.....as you can see from the pictures.... And to make it better, she ate the entire bar before I checked on her... Come three in the morning I am going to be one unhappy mom............

A New Day

2008-08-23T17:12:00.004-06:00

Today is Blake's first real shift at his job. He left at four, despite Glade's cries and her saying "dada" inbetween tears. I hate when he leaves because Glade gets so heartbroken, and I just miss him. I haven't had to not be with him since January....well, except for class. But that is about it. It is so strange.

I love having him around. Most of the time we don't really hang out with each other, even when we are home. He is painging his Tournament army and I am making things for babies and playing with Glade.

I love being at home though. You don't have to worry about bosses and paychecks and coworkers..... It is a very low stress environment.

I just wish that Blake and me didn't have to work at all. I wish would could just win a million dollars and be set for life. Or that we were just rich to begin with. That would have been awesome too. But, it is so much better not being rich, I guess. The stress makes you stronger.

I guess that is just the way it goes with life. The one time you get to enjoy yourselves and not have to worry is when you're dead. Good thing I'm going to the celestial kingdom, huh!!

So Glade's new thing is opening ziplock bags with her goodies in them and then throwing them all around the house. She gets a kick out of it and it drives me bonkers. But the one problem is that it is a pain in the butt cleaning when she is awake, so we do it after she goes to bed at night. However, it is just one big ugly cycle where she makes a mess, we clean it, she wakes up and does it again. It really does drag you down a little....

But Glade is so cute when she is making messes you can't stop her. She is just so enthralled in different things and it is just fastinating. Her new thing is to take books off the shelf, place them in front of the tv stand, and then put them back on the book shelf. It is really cute how she is in the "put away" stage. It's actually really nice. When she spills her cheerios, you hold the bag open and ask her to help, and she picks them up one at a time and puts them back into the bag. It is absolutely adorable. And she looks so proud of herself when she does it. Like she has accomplished something amazing and the whole world will be different for it.

Everyday with her is like a new experience. She is just absolutely adorable when she waddles around the house with her empty sippy cup and then shoves it on your lap and screams at you. Or when she walks around the house crying 'dada' and doesn't find him, so she comes into the living room with tears streaming down her cheeks. Or when she learns something new, like how to turn the tv off so you have to pay attention to her....

It is definitely a series of fantastic surprises from the minute you wake up, till she goes to sleep at night and you smile as she sleeps with her baby doll.

Motherhood....ugh....

2008-08-20T15:49:00.002-06:00

Motherhood is a series of beautiful and ugly events that always seems to happen right after one another. You have this beautiful child that is surely a gift from God, but sometimes you just want to put them in their room where they can't mess anything up.

My beautiful gift from God, Glade, decided today that she would take her bowl of cereal (while we weren't looking, mind you) and put it in the bathtub. Well, little did she know, that when you drop a bowl with a lid on it time and time again, eventually the lid will come off. So I walk into the bathroom this afternoon, and there is rice cereal mixed with prunes all over my walls, the bathtub, the shower curtain....just everywhere....

And I go to see what Glade has to say for herself. (Yes, I think she can talk...) Well, she smiles that cute little smile, points to the bathroom, and giggles. You can't be mad at her for it. So, I get a bucket, a rag, and I go clean the bathroom.

Sometimes, I wonder why children are the way they are. I truly think God put them here so we could learn patience. Otherwise, people would freak out at other people at the drop of a hat. Since becoming a mother, I am more patient than ever. I can talk to people I don't like without a word to say otherwise, I can smile at my daughter when she refuses to eat dinner (for the 3rd night in a row), and I can smile at my husband when he is driving me insane.

Children are great, but without them, sometimes you just have to imagine a better and worse world all rolled into one....

Updates all around!

2008-08-18T10:55:00.004-06:00

Today was Blake's first day of work. He now works at a boy's home in Cedar City, much like what we were doing in Tropic, but he will probably be working graveyards. I am so excited. We won't be able to be with each other all the time now, but at least we will be earning money...right?

Glade is the same troublemaker she is and always will be. But she is so cute. She was playing cards the other day. She had the whole deck in front of her and she would pick one card up, put it on another pile, pick up a card from that pile, and look at it for a minute before she put it down or picked up another one. She did this for hours. It was definitely entertaining.

She does hate her room though. We have her sleeping on a mattress now, but she just hates her room. She will play in there all day long, but the minute we put the gate in front of her door, she cries bloody murder. It really grates on you. But we close our door and watch movies to drown out the crying. She normally stops after about a half hour. But she has learned to surprise attack you. She stops crying and sits on her bed looking at the door. The minute you look in on her to make sure she is asleep, she starts to cry again. And then gives you this look that breaks your heart...

Other than that, she is doing very well. She loves to eat meat. If you make something for her that doesn't have meat in it, she won't eat it. It is truly kind of funny.

I am doing well. I am still looking for a job, but this town is stupid and won't hire anyone...But such is life. When I need a job I am sure I will find one. It always works out like that.

Other than those things, our life is going by swimmingly. We have more than enough time on our hands, and yet we don't get enough done. But that is how it goes all the time. I am glad I don't have school this semester...I have so much stuff I need to finish. Too many people are having babies this year.....

Always the same, ha ha...

2008-08-15T01:17:00.002-06:00

Today, Glade went to the doctor for her iron check-up. She is doing peachy with her iron level now, so she doesn't have to be on Fer-Gen-Sol anymore, thank goodness....

But, my suspicions were confirmed. Glade did have the chicken pox. He called them "mini-pox." Obviously they are very common after the Varicolla shot babies receive at a year. They are highly contageous, but they make their immune system that much better because they had to fight it off.

Glade took it all very well. She giggled at the doctor and showed off how cute she was whenever he looked at her. She is definitely a man's girl.

She is walking everywhere and we can't keep her out of things she shouldn't be in. You put it away, and she is into another thing she shouldn't be into. It is definitely a neverending cycle...

Blake now has a job interview! We are so excited. We have been placing applications and bugging people since the middle of June and finally, we got an interview! It is for a boy's home here and in Cedar and hopefully he gets it.

Lately, I have been sitting at home, crocheting more than I knew I could and watching more movies than I have seen all year. Netflix is a fantastic investment...I love unlimited movies on my computer!!

I am making some cute little animals for a baby I know, and when they are done, I will post pics of them on here. They will be WAY cute.