Amazing

Boy, it sure is amazing what a little light can do. I don't know why we finally decided to do it, but we did it. We moved Kember to her own room (probably because she saw her cousin Zoie in her own room in the basement and decided to be just like her) and we are having the boys share a room upstairs. We were putting it off because the lights in the down stairs basement don't work for some reason. Well, after we bought a new bed for visitors (hint hint) I guess that gave us the needed gumption to keep going. We just put a lamp in Kember's room for now until we can get an electrician to fix whatever the problem is (there are many). We also finally fixed the light in the boys room. All it needed was a light bulb, but it wasn't a regular sized one so it wasn't as convenient to get. Well, both are now fixed. Happy day. I should have taken pictures, but it was quite the ordeal to get everyone motivated and moving, and it ended up being pretty late by the time we got to a point to settle everyone in for the night. I hope they all do well. I'm hoping that the boys will sleep longer in the mornings. Kember is our early riser, and well, we'll just have to see. I have plans to put all the toys under the stairs, and to motivate me I moved most of them out into the family room. I don't know how well that will motivate me since it's in the basement and not where people can see, but, it's a start at least. I'm excited, this should be good.
Oh, and randomly....since Dan is on call for Christmas Eve we obviously aren't going anywhere, and for the first time since we've been married we are going to start our own traditions. The only problem is we can't think of a thing to do. Our families did things centered around our big families, so....if anyone has any ideas for our 4, 2, and 1 year old (plus I think Dan's grandparents are coming) let me know. I'm kind of excited.

Kemberisms

Where in the world do these come from?

We were out driving tonight when we passed a lot of stores. Things like Gold's Gym, some restaurants, and other misc. stores and houses. Kember pipes up from the back and said, "Mom! That's where we saw the activity!" Uhhhh..."What?" "The activity!" At this point I'm thinking it was something she and Dan did on their daddy daughter date, but couldn't figure out where it was. Dan asked, "Gold's Gym?" Although, why she would know what that was is beyond me (unless Dan thought I got one of his Christmas presents there....sorry babe, no go this year). "What activity?" I ask again, "That one right there!" She is really frustrated at this point that we are so incredibly dense. "Kember, what do we do at the activity." "Mom, it's where everyone goes to see baby Jesus!" Oooooo, it all becomes clear now. She means Nativity, not Activity. Was there really a nativity there? Who knows, Dan and I were stuck on Gold's Gym and Daddy Daughter dates to look for that.

When we were getting out of the car Kember says, "Mom, you didn't sing the smoggy daddy song." "huh? (I heard a monkey in there, smog, and smoke) I don't know a smokey daddy song." "Yes you do!" (boy is she mad) "No, Kember I don't know any smokey daddy songs." "Yes, the Christmas one you were singing earlier." Ooooo, Felis Navidad. She's right, I didn't sing it to her.

This all gets really confusing because she normally talks really really well. I mean, she's 4 and one would think you could understand your 4 year old. In fact, she normally has to translate for me when Caden talks. Ahh well...you win some, you lose some.

Finally after we read scriptures and prayed we were giving hugs and kisses, and she says, "Mom, where is the chord in your ear?" "Uh, my earings? I took them out." I was pretty sure I got it this time. What else could she mean? Nope, I was wrong, which she made quite clear, but I still haven't figured out what she's talking about....cord?

Oh, and right before prayers she asks me how ducks lay eggs (really, where did this come from). I'm thinking, "Is this a sex question? And do I really want to go into that right now before bed?" Nope, "Ducks lay egg from their bums." "Really? How?" "It's kind of like they're pooping." That apparently satisfied her and the prayer was said in relative reverence (expect I wasn't paying attention because I was thinking about this random duck laying egg topic) .

So everyone, I hope you have a very smokey daddy.

Christmas Music

I love Christmas music. I've been listening to it ever since I found the station down here that plays it all day long. I love it. I love that my kids are learning Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer (well, Kember knows it...Caden just knows that Santa will come and say, "HO HO HO", which is just too cute when he says it). I love Manheim Steamrollar and Trans-siberian Orchestra. I love the special religious, this is what Christmas is all about songs. Sadly, there aren't too many of those on the radio. One of my favorite songs is Away in a Manger. My favorite part is when it says, "Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay, close by me forever, and love me, I pray." But here's the thing. Someone somewhere changed a word in the song, and it drives me crazy! Crazy! I suppose it was to make it less religious, but since the song is about Jesus, that makes nooo sense to me at all. They changed the word "heaven" to "Sky" which doubly makes no sense because people end up singing it "sky...ii.." two get the two syllables in there. What in the world is that all about? Am I missing something important here? Why would you change it?
One more song, that just kind of makes me sad. "I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". It's catchy, and I do like it...kind of cute. But really, today I found it slightly disturbing. Can you imagine a little kid, who still believes in Santa, not knowing it was his daddy in the costume, finding his mom kissing some stranger? Trauma! The songs says "what a laugh it would have been if daddy had only seen....." No, not a laugh...that poor man. Again, trauma! Anyway, I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I think I'll listen to happy Christmas music that tells us what Christmas is really all about.

Fasting

Last fast sunday I realized something I thought was interesting....I haven't fasted in about 4 years. I haven't fasted because I've either been pregnant or nursing. Boy, that is crazy. So anyway, since I stopped nursing Cole in October I've been able to fast November and December, and boy...it's hard. Especially when I'm just not used to it. I've noticed that it's just really easy to forget and lick my fingers when I'm making my kids something to eat, or really, just to forget that I'm supposed to be fasting. I do pretty well until after church and then while making the meal I just forget. Oops. This tells me two things. One-fasting is work. It takes effort and time. Two- I need to work on it. I believe fasting is a powerful tool given to us by Heavenly Father to get closer to Him. However, I'm not using this tool very well, and I really need to get on the ball. It's no fun starving all day, and I'm hoping that when I start fasting like we are supposed to (with a purpose, with faith and prayer, etc.) then the "starving" will get better. Granted, I'll still be hungry, but I think I remember a difference when I used to fast all those years ago. So, chalk another one up to the goal board. Fasting with a prayer and with purpose. Let's see how this goes.

Death, Nature, and Superman

Odd title, I know, but my kids are fascinated with death (not sure if that is the right word...maybe obsessed). We live a couple blocks away from a cemetery and every time we pass they will make sure that we know we passed it and that when we die we are buried there. Just yesterday we watched "Up" and there's that part where the guys wife dies (it's not traumatic at all just in case you haven't seen it.) Anyway, Kember starts to cry (she's a little tender) and the whole movie she keeps asking why his mommy died (I kept telling her it was his wife, not mommy, but apparently that didn't sink in). We talked about it a lot, and when the movie was over Caden started asking why everyone died. He started to cry and he told me that didn't want to die. Well, it's not like I can promise him that he isn't going to die anytime soon (although, I would have liked too). I kept telling him that everyone dies, and that it's a good thing. We get to live with Heavenly Father again, and we get to see family and friends that have died. He just kept telling me that he didn't want to die and that he didn't want daddy to die (I don't know where that came from). It was an interesting conversation to say the least.
On to the nature part. All Fall I've been expecting our tree to shed it's leaves (it never changed colors...it's still green). Just yesterday I was thinking, "Well, maybe this kind of tree keeps most of it's leaves...or maybe it's just not really Fall yet (hey, don't mock me, the tempuratures are different here). Well, I was wrong (obviously) on both accounts. This morning all of a sudden the tree lost all of its leaves. ALL of them. Now instead of having a small pile that would be nice if we raked up, but not really a big deal, we have a huge pile that needs to be taken care of (but will have to wait for Christmas when Dan gets a leaf blower...it's on rocks, not grass so we can't rake it) Crazy. I've never seen anything like it. When Dan drove home for lunch today he did a double take at the tree too. He said that this morning the leaves were all still on the tree. I have thought before that raking leaves was a waste of time because they just keep falling off the tree. Well, I guess this is the tree for me! One time raking...alright :)
I've decided I know what it feels like to be Superman. I love to wear my fuzzy red robe around the house. It keeps me nice and toasty warm and is sooo comfortable. However, it is a little embarrasing to answer the door while wearing it, so when someone knocked on the door today and I was in the basement you should have seen how fast I moved to take off the robe and run upstairs. This must be what it feels like when Clark Kent becomes Supperman in a phone booth. It was awesome! Good times....it's all in the little things.
Oh, and just so you all know, here is a joke that Kember told me today (one of them, the others didn't make any sense at all...)
What happens when you cross a frog and a pog?
A FOG.
Not so funy, but she's putting words together and I think that's a good thing.

New ideas (for me anyway)

So for my brothers christmas present I'm printing his blog (don't worry, he already knows...he wouldn't give me his password to get into his blog so he made me a contributor instead, snazzy eh?). He writes every day. Some days all he writes is "Long day, no post" but still, he writes every day. While compiling all this and trying to put this together for him I've realized a couple things (most of which I'll tell you at Christmas Collin!) but one of them is that it's good to have a record of your life. . .even if you don't write much. One of the apostles, Eyring I think, talked about taking the time every day to see God's hand in our lives. I think Collin does this, and I think I need to do it better, so...I'm going to start blogging more. This is a big thing for me because I'm a sucker for comments, and I generally don't post another blog until I feel like my post has got it's due. However, I'm changing my mind. My blogs are for me, so I should write them when I feel like I should. That's goal number one. Which brings up another interesting topic. Setting goals. I don't like to do it. I generally avoid it at all costs. But mostly just the word. After all, goals is synonomys with perfection, and that's the point of life (not to be perfect, but to try...to better ourselves). So, goal number two: Set goals. Crazy eh? Yeah, I'm weird, but it works for me. Goal number three: This can be summed up with a primary song (gotta love 'em) "Early to bed, and early to rise...makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise..." are you singing it in your head too? This little ditty has been constantly in my head for the last week or so...So, I'm going to try to do better. Don't look at the time stamp for this blog because it's late. 11:25 isn't early, but I'm working on it. So, here we go. Time to start something new.

Never

We are never getting a cat. And not for the reasons you might think, or that I might have originally mentioned. I'm watching two kittens for a friend of mine. She's either finding new homes for the kittens, or a new place for her to live. Anyway, I thought it would be kind of fun for the kids since you know how I feel about animals belonging to me. It's a disaster. The kittens are fine and not a hassle at all, but boy, it's sure traumatic for Kember. They are just kittens so they startle at loud noises, and don't really like it when Kember tries to hold them. She has to chase them and it just scares them. Kember, right now, is crying hysterically for some reason. The kitty won't let her hold it, it ran away, it isn't ours...I believe all of those reason have caused quite a few tears today. She doesn't understand that she just needs to leave it alone and eventually it will warm up to her. Kember got a horsey toy for one of the cats to play with and the cat smelled it but wasn't interested and Kember started crying again. Lots of crying today...whole bunches. If this is what happens if we ever got a cat, never...not worth it at all.

Before/After

I've had requests for a blog about our new lawn (I love it...it makes me extremely happy) It's taken so long because so much else has been happening and I wanted to give it it's due. So, I'm expecting lots of comments all you people. Here is an overview of the process of our getting a new lawn. This is a picture of what it looked like when we bought the house.

Nice, eh. Mostly weeds, and the pokey kind too. The kids wouldn't play on the grass at all. What is the point of having a lawn if your kids won't play on it? Anyway...so the next project was to fix the extremely ugly tree in the front of our house. I don't love it, but we only chopped half of it off because that is the only shade we get so it needed to stay for a while. It looks loads better now that it's half it's size.Then we tackled ugly bushes lining our driveway. Granted, we haven't done anything with this area, but that is because we are going to extend our driveway to make a two-car garage. So, it's still ugly, but the ugly bushes are gone as well.Next, we killed our lawn. Yes, this was on purpose. I don't have a great picture of it, but we didn't need one. Dead brown grass is dead brown grass. Although it was surprisingly hard to kill. Even after we thought we killed it all it kept coming back. Never use Bermuda grass. It's actually a weed, and illegal to plant anywhere in Utah, except St George. Anyway, dead ugly grass. Rather pokey too.Next, we tilled and pulled up the dead ugly grass. This step would not have gotten done if it wasn't for Scott, Carol Lee, and G&G C. Whew...it helped us soooo much. Thanks.Dirt. The kids loved it. Really loved it. This stage lasted awhile because of time constraints. But after much raking, more killing of the noxious weed, leveling (which never really leveled), more raking (thanks Grandpa C), messing with, changing, and breaking multiple sprinklers, laying electrical lines for lighting, etc. it was time to lay the sod! Can I just tell you how wonderful it is to live on the street we do. The sod got delievered Friday afternoonish. Around 4:30 there is a knock on my door and it's my neighbor wondering if we are laying sod that night. I tell him that we are going to make a small start, but really hit it the next day when family gets there to help. He says that he and his family are ready to help and will be working on their yard until Dan gets home. Holy cow. He and his family come over, more neighbors come over and two hours later (quite possibly less) my front lawn is done. I would also like to take this time to mention what a whimp I am. His wife was hauling and dumping and laying sod and I felt rather foolish not helping (although in my defense I did have the kids, and I was making Cole's B-day cake) so I picked up some sod to take to Dan, and dropped it. Yep, couldn't even lift it. Muscles, I don't have. Anyway, it was awesome. I had planted flowers a day or two before, and it just looks great. My sister called after I planted the flowers and wondered why I was planting flowers in October. Well, it was 80 degrees. Why not? We just barely started the Fall season here. Plus the flowers were way cheap at Wal-Mart, and if I had new grass I wanted the rest to look nice as well. And so here (drum roll please) is the finished result.

And here is the finished result with the lighting that Dan worked really hard on.

A Stink, a Chomp, and a Twirl

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Explainations to come, pictures now.

And yes, I am proud of the skunk costume...I made it by myself...and the tutu, but I'm really proud of the skunk.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

*Warning. If you are a little bit squimish you might not want to look at the posted pictures. They aren't too bad, but if blood makes you go woozy I don't suggest looking. You have been warned!*

Okay, that was overblown and dramatic, but it makes me feel better. Today started out pretty well. I was being productive, you know, doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen so I could make a bigger mess and can some more applesauce, that kind of stuff. It was going really well until I sliced my finger. Actually, I had cut my hand previously, but it wasn't bad at all. You know...one of those cuts that don't actually bleed unless you push hard to make them. The finger was not so much like that. There was blood. Yuck. Just what I needed for my productive day to go down the tubes (mind you, this didn't make it an unpleasant day, just not productive). It's kind of hard to can applesauce while trying to keep a finger elevated. I thought I had cut it worse than I had. Here, see.

This was later that night when I took off my original bandaid. I think I ripped it open again taking it off. Oops. It sure hurt like the dickens though. That made me decide I was done canning applesauce. It was time to take a little break and get dinner ready anyway. Well, while taking my little break the kids were just playing around and I was talking to Dan on the phone. All of a sudden Caden starts screaming like there's no tomorrow and the lap top comes crashing to the floor. I had it on a counter thingy plugged in and charging, and he had pulled on the cord and down it came. I thought it had hit his face and smashed Cole's hand (they were both screaming). So I was trying to calm Caden down so I could get the baby. I was trying to figure out where on his face it hurt when I glanced at the baby and saw blood gushing from Caden's foot. "Oh!....Oh...Oh! Kember!.....Never mind!" This is what I said running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I've decided if an emergency (a real one) ever happens Dan has to be around to take care of it. I don't think clearly at all. None of what I do is logical for the situation, but seems logical at the time. For instance. I went and grabbed a rag to put over his toe, but then I thought, before i do this I have to clean up the blood on the floor so I can get to his toe. Excuse me? Really, that was important to do first? Apparently that is me functioning in a crisis. Kember was a huge help. She got me ice, and bandaides and cleaned up the blood. Everything I asked her to do she did, all while Caden was screaming. I have no idea what Cole was doing, so I'm assuming he was fine and it was the loud noise of the lap top hitting the ground that scared him.

I thought Caden was going to need stitches or glue or something, so I put three bandaides on to keep the blood semi-contained until Dan got home to look at it. When he saw it he decided we should probably go get it looked at. Here is what Caden's toe looked like at the doctors office.

Pretty, eh? It didn't need stitches, and we passed on the x-ray. If it's broken they don't do anything for it anyway, so why bother? Dan said we could x-ray it at his work tomorrow so maybe we'll do that. I doubt it's broken though. Caden wasn't too sure about this whole doctor thing.

But after they pulled out the dinosaurs and other animals it wasn't too bad. Expect for the cleaning of his toe. Ouch...that made me cringe. They were good and as nice as could be, but still...it hurts!So, after some blood, sweat, and lot's of tears, that is what our FHE looked like. Cole and Kember were at G&G's house while we went to the doctor, and G&G took us out to dinner after we got back. We really need to work on our FHE. But we did have a lesson about Jesus in the car. Kember and Caden gave it. And we all sang songs too.

What a day.

Happy Birthday Bubbers!

Yesterday my little Coley-Wooley turned one. Like the nickname? Kember gave it to him. She loves Teddy Ruxbin and there is a character named Wooley and she strung the two together. Around here he isn't Cole. He is Bubbers, Coley-wooley, the baby, or COLE (normally done when shouting because of some traumatic reason). Anyway, crazy eh. One year old. Wow.

Well, I'm not so into doing a lot of things for something he won't even remember, so he didn't really get a party...or presents. Well, I take that back. We had a sod laying party, and he got grass, a balloon, and a stuffed lizard from the dollar store. Crazy eh? Luckily grandparents donated to his cause :) I almost feel bad, but I felt worse seeing all these toys that were fun, but a lot of money and I knew he didn't care, we didn't need the toy, and why spend the money? That is a little scroogish I know, but I guess I have to be in the right frame of mind, and honestly, Cole's b-day wasn't at the top of my list. Getting my new lawn (see future post) and making his cake were higher priorities for me.
Here is a picture of his cake. Can you tell what it is?

I'll admit I got a little carried away with the orange 'fins'. I should have only done one layer wide instead of three, but whatever, too late now. I was pretty happy with the cake, especially since it was soo easy to do (except find those orange candies...that was a pain. Rite Aid if you are ever looking for them).

On to birthday boy pictures. Here is Cole with his one candle...and here he is burning himself on that one candle. He grabbed the flame. Not really what we all had in mind to put the candle out with, but the candle did go out.

Here is Cole screaming because he burned his finger. Ouchy.

And here he is happy as can be playing with the ice Daddy got him for his finger.

Did I also mention that he was sick for his birthday. Poor kid. All and all I think I need to do better next year. Thanks everyone who could come (and help lay sod). The kids loved playing with their cousins.

Here's my cute mom!

Here's my cute sisters!

Here's my cute husband!

Domesticity

Allow me to brag for a minute about my domesticity. Yes, I know it's small (in fact some of you might be thinking, what domesticity? And you would be right in thinking that), but if I don't brag about the small things I don't ever get to brag because I don't do the large things. But hey, this is what I did today!

Okay, let's be honest. Grandma & Grandpa Christensen did most of it. But, I was there, I learned and I'm going to do it again! Oh, and if you can't tell, that's applesauce. I dyed it pink (Kember's choice and Carol Lee's suggestion). It wasn't too bad to do either. Time consuming, but since there were three of us, and only two could really do something Grandpa went out and worked on the lawn (sweet). I also borrow some apple thingy from Carol Lee which made it nice.

So, there you have it. My domesticity in a nut shell (told you it was small :) -- pink applesauce.

Creativity stifled

I am not a crafty person. Let's admit this right now. I like to do crafts, I like to imagine that I do them well, but let's face it...mediocore at best....and I'm very definitely okay with that. I like to decorate a cake for my kids' birthday. I did a mermaid cake for Kember this year and Caden still talks about his snake cake for his second birthday (crazy eh). Since Cole's b-day is in less than a week I thought I'd plan ahead, try to get some ideas, you get the picture. Nothing on the website I was looking on was inspiring me and I got to looking at other things. Then it hit me. Cole is (maybe...depending if I get it done or even try to do it) going to be a skunk this year for Halloween because he's my cute little stinker (and I can't find the spider costume that we had for Caden when he was Cole's size). Great! I'll make a cake and decorate it like a skunk, so cute (or a little weird haven't decided which yet, but leaning toward weird...you'll find out why in a minute.) So I'm searching and looking....googling, you get the picture and I type in "how to decorate a skunk cake". I realize that my searching skills need work, but this is what I tried this time. No luck. Lot's of hits, but nothing of what I was looking for. I guess people think skunk and think, "EWWWW!" Well, whatever. After I found a site that talked about making butter and cake out of marijuana I gave up my searching. Seriously, a cake out of maijuana. Really, people make stuff like that? Why on Earth would you do that? and what does it have to do with my searching? Anyway, crazy stuff....maybe he just won't get a fun little cake this year.

Disaster

For FHE last night Dan thought it would be a good idea to make sure our 72 hour kits were up to date (which they weren't). So he starts the evening out by asking what kind of disasters we could experience here...and then asks if the kids know what "disaster" means. Kember looks all excited and pipes up, "Ya daddy. When we make a mess with our toys downstairs!" Hey, she does listen to me. I say that quite frequently "because the house is a disaster!" I'm glad Dan did this FHE. We realized a number of things. One, we had no food in our kits. Not the most helpful. Two, last time we did this Kember was a baby. So the diapers don't fit anyone at this time, and the clothes we had for her don't fit anyone either. Three, I never ever ever want to have to use these. Ever. I'm very much in agreement that we need to have them, and I think it's a wonderful idea. But when I start to think about all the reasons why we would need to use them...scary. No thank you.
And...to top FHE off while we were going through the kits Cole just started walking across the room. He took a couple steps, stayed on his feet and I said, "Dan! Are you seeing this!" and he (Cole) proceeds to walk even further...and he does it twice! Cool eh. He hasn't done it since, but I promise he did and it was awesome! Kember walks all around the house with him. Cole thinks it is the funniest thing, but I just cringe. She more drags him than anything, but he's smiling and laughing!
So, there you have it. We learned two things from this post. One, Cole can walk when he feels like it, and only then. And two, the definition of a disaster = my house.

Tolerance part II

Okay, so apparently I am not as tolerant as I thought. Over the course of two or three days Dan has found and killed 5 or 6 black widows. Now, I realize that mostly these spiders get a bad rap. Yes, they are poisonous but they will retreat normally instead of bite, and even if you do get bit you are probably not going to die. They normally only bite if they are cornered...like if you stick your hand in a hole or something where they reside. I'm not going to be sticking my hand in any holes any time soon, but my kids, especially the baby, have no problems doing this. In fact, Dan found 3-4 black widows where Cole regularly plays. Oh joyful. That makes me soooo comfortable. Oh ya, he found two egg sacks as well...and they were empty. Ya, that really makes my day. Anyway, we only come outside now when the baby is napping, and I won't come out at night anymore where I can't see things. This is severely going to cut into my Internet time, but sigh....it's probably for the best. So much for tolerance.

I Bit the Bullet

Well, I succumbed. We did it, Dan is officially a Vet now and he can stop saying, “I don’t know if you knew this or not…but I’m a Vet.” He would always say that when we would argue about getting an animal. So, yes we got a pet. Five to be exact. Wandering around in Wal-Mart I took Dan to see the fishes. I didn’t know they had them there and found them yesterday. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did. Five fish have now joined our family. Dan says if they are still alive by Christmas we are getting a dog. I told him no way, but really, if that’s the bet, I feel pretty safe in saying we still aren’t getting a dog. I also made it quite clear that while I would help the kids remember to feed the fish, I would in no way be responsible for changing the water and cleaning the tank. Dan agreed, and we’ll see how long this lasts. But I’m not cleaning it. Yuck. Anyway, it all went a little overboard. I thought we’d buy a glass bowl, buy the 14 cent gold fish and be on our merry way. Nope. A five gallon fish tank complete with all the fixing and five non-gold fish later we left the store. We did draw the line at a frog. It probably would have gotten eaten by the dragon fish. “Dragon fish,” you say “What is a Dragon Fish?” Well, it’s a pretty cool looking fish and that’s what started this whole thing.
The Dragon fish is Dan’s. He named it Mr. Wiggles. I elected to get a crab. His name is Siddy. Kember got a “stripey fish” that we couldn’t get a good picture of (look for the little fish under Caden's big one), and named it Kaycee (yes, after her Pullman friend) or Daughter. She said that she named it both names and can go by either. Okay then.
Caden got a Blue Gorami and named it Joey (yes, after his cousin…do you guys just feel so privileged?) No, it isn’t blue. It’s white with two dark spots.

Cole got a Raphael cat fish. I thought it was a sucker fish and I really wanted one to help keep the tank clean, but now I don’t think he is one. Ah well. Dan said it was still a bottom feeder so it’s okay. We named him Bob in honor of the other fish we had when we got married (which died not long after we got it…and had a black growth on it that was probably cancer), the horse Dan’s family has, and to any Bob’s we now know.

After convincing Caden he didn’t want a fish that looked just like Kember’s we moved on to the tank decorations. Kember wanted a hideous rainbow colored rock thing. We suggested something else instead. She finally got excited when she found the log that has pink flowers on it. Caden really wanted a bridge. I think he thought it was a slide for a while. Ehh, he could have chosen worse.
The kids were sooo excited. After we watched them for a while Dan and I were getting ready for bed and the kids would come running to our room to tell us something the fish did. They get worried that Bob is gone (he likes to hide in the log) and that Mr. Wiggles, which Kember calls Dragon, is going to eat the other fish. They both tell the fish constantly to be nice to each other.
We might have been a little too excited. After we put everything together and introduced the fish into their new home Dan started to read the instructions. Turns out we didn’t do much right. Well, we’re off to a great start. We’ll see how long the excitement lasts. I’ll admit I was very into this process and just as excited as the rest of them (though I will also admit that I harbor many doubts). In the mean time…we’re pet owners! Look at us go.

Tolerance

Tonight I’ve discovered something about myself. Either I’m desperate to have the internet and that desperation has led me to be okay with things that normally I would never be okay with, or two, I’m growing up and realizing that ehh, they are just bugs. So to get the internet I sit on my porch or driveway so I can pick up the signal from the college (totally legal by the way). I can’t get the signal from inside my house, whatever. Anyway, once it gets dark here the crickets start chirping and the cockroaches start roaming and the little bugs (please keep them little) start flocking towards any light they can. Well, I was sitting on my porch tonight when I noticed a bug crawling in my general area. I took a minute and decided that it was a cockroach. Eh, whatever. Every once in a while my attention would get drawn toward movement on the ground. I decided that movement was a cricket. Mostly we tolerate each other. We don’t invade each other’s space and we give a wide berth to each other. I flick the flyie bugs off the computer screen (I mean if I am desperate for the internet, maybe they are too and just can’t resist even though we have our own spaces). I shake my foot if something crawls on it (just little something…nothing big like a roach or a cricket) and I continue on my merry way. In fact I noticed that I was surrounded by six crickets when I was finished. Those were the only ones I could see. So I gently stepped around and over them while I made my way to the door. There I noticed two more crickets either mating or eating. Well, they weren’t bugging (hehehe) me and I got to be on the internet. I suppose there are worse things.

Laundry

So again, this is random, but I wanted to post it while I was in a good mood and remembered it. (ooo, and I'm posting this sitting on my driveway. I finally got hooked up to the college server...we'll see how long that lasts :)
One of my favorite things to do with my kids is the laundry. Yes, you read that right, the laundry. They are just so cute helping, and yes, they really do help. Here's our laundry process. Once the laundry comes out of the drier (they help before that, but it isn't really helping) I dump the clothes out on my living room floor. They they each pick which basket they want and they help me separate the clothes into each basket (because I'm picky and I hate folding one of Kember's shirts, then one of Dans pants...I want to fold all of one thing first). They sorting is rather fun. They throw things, if I mix something up and put it in the wrong basket they say, "Mooommm, this isn't mine...this is baby's!" Oh, so sorry. Then they fix it. That takes a bit of time. Then I ask Caden to find me all his shirts, pants, and so on. They I ask Kember to do the same. They once they are all organized I hand a stack to Kember and say, "K, put this in your top drawer." Then I give one to Caden and tell him to put them in which ever drawer they go in. Anyway, they run to their bedroom and then they run back for their next stack. Kember can even help me fold things (when she wants too). I get a great deal of enjoyment out of this ritual when I let them actually help me. I wonder if I could figure something out like this for the dishes.

Starting Over

This has nothing to do with anything (especially this post) but here it goes. So I realize that the picture I have on my blog is a wee bit out-dated...like missing one of my children out-dated and that child is almost a year old. Hmmm. I suppose that most mothers would fix that picture quickly after the arrival of a new one. I wonder what this says about me (other than I'm lazy, because we all already knew that). Well, maybe I don't want to know. So much for deep introspection. Okay, on to the post.

Starting Over Again
Well, it’s official. We moved into (well closed) our house on the 20th of May. Which would mean that we have been here for three and a half months (When I originally typed this it was closer to three and a half, not four, I can do the math). We’ve been in our callings for about two months (give-or-take). It’s apparently time to start over. Fun stuff. The stake switched the boundaries last night. Before the meeting all the talk and gossip about this I figured it didn’t really matter much to me…I mean, look at the length of time we’ve been here…not long. Well after they showed the boundary changes I decided I must have settled in here a little better than I originally thought. I’m thankful that I know at least one of my friends is in my new ward with me. Our old ward is no longer. They got rid of two wards, and ours was one of them. Well, hopefully there will be loads of people around my age with families in this new ward and Dan and I will make tons of friends. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens and what new callings we get. I’ve decided that I’m hoping if my calling can’t be in Relief Society than I would love a calling in Young Women’s. I know, I don’t get to choose, but there you have it. Knock on wood and all that sort of stuff. Let’s start over!
Speaking of starting over, I decided that the disaster that was my hair from the girls weekend (see older post) when I had it dyed, needed to change (boy that was a long run-on sentence). So, my visiting teacher, who I guess isn't my visiting teacher any more because of the changes mentioned above, used to be a hair dresser (is that what they are called? I go frequently you can tell). Her daughter is thinking about someday going to hair school and they volunteered to do my hair. Rock on. So, since we are starting over in a new ward I'm starting over with my hair. I like it. I'd post a picture, but I haven't taken one. It's brown. Picture my old not really blonde hair. Pick the darkest shade and then go one or two shades darker than that and there you have it. See, who needs a picture? Seriously, we're thinking of getting the internet and then I'll maybe post one, but no promises. So, here's to starting over with things. Rock on.

Ahh, Interesting

So my scripture study last night inspired me, and I thought I'd share and get your opinions on some things. It was Proverbs 31 about a virtuous woman. Don't get bored, trust me, this is a good one! Starting with verse 10. "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." Alright...let's define virtuous. According to the Random House Websters College Dictionary it means 1-Conforming to moral & ethical principles; upright 2-Chaste. Okay. Now we know what we are talking about, let's continue. Verse 11. "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil." Excellent. To me this means that the husband will depend on her and that he doesn't need anything else (ie spoils. Okay, he will need other things obviously, but he's not going to depend on c0-workers or his job to satisfy him...these are all just things that need to be done, that he might even enjoy, but that he doesn't need). Verse 12- "She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life." So when you do your husband good you are putting him first...taking care of him. I'll admit, I struggle with this one quite a bit. I'm an inherently selfish creature and I'd like to think it's all about me...but it isn't...sigh. Verse 13- "She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands." She's a hard worker. Not sure about the wool and flax bit, unless it's referring to the fact that someone had to get the wool from the sheep and someone had to harvest the flax and she would be willing and able to do it. Verse 14- "She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar." Alright, I admit I'm stumped here and would like your input. the only thing I can think of is that she is cultured. But that is probably stretching it a bit. Verse 15- "She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens." Yuck...I don't like getting up early...sigh. I'll definitely have to work on that one. Verse 16- "She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard." Verse 17- “She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.” Obviously (well, to me any way…I’ve never claimed to be a deep thinker…if the poem is talking about blueberries, it means blueberries…not riches and treasure…don’t ask) she’s a strong woman, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Her body will handle what she puts it through because she is taking care of it, and in so doing is becoming strong. Verse 18- “She perceiveth that he merchandises is good: her candle goeth not out by night.” Love this verse. I take it to mean that she has good self-esteem. She knows who she is, she knows she’s a daughter of God and that she is worth something. She is constantly working on her testimony so it doesn’t dim like in the parable of the ten virgins.
I was going to just skip around to my favorite verses so if anyone is still reading they don’t bore themselves, but I just liked the whole thing, so if you are still reading you’ll just have to bear with me. Verse 19- “She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.” Which is a stick on which spinning materials are wound. So really, I have no idea other than she can sew (smile) Any thoughts? Verse 20- “She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.” Good things to do. Good things. Verse 21- “She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.” So I’m not going to pretend I have any idea what it means to be clothed with scarlet (it’s a color isn’t it?) But I love this verse because it says to me that she is prepared for whatever. Perhaps her she has a good food storage going, money saved in the bank, 72 hour kits, whatever, this is a lady who is prepared for it. She’s like the woman who whenever a crisis arrives she reaches into her purse and pulls out just what you need. ‘Your kid is poopy and you don’t have wipes, here I have some.’ ‘Band-aid? Not a problem. Would they like a princess one or spiderman?’ Okay, maybe that’s a little overboard, but whatever being prepared means to you, that’s what it should be. Verse 22- “She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.” Again, I love this verse. I’m not sure if I’m reading it right, but to me it translates to this. She is a daughter of God and since she knows this she dresses accordingly. She is put together. Did you guys read that article in the Ensign about this? I wish I could remember the name or the author, but it was amazing. Oh, it had something to do with refining our homes…maybe that was the title. It was recent...two or so months ago. It was awesome. Read it, love it. Verse 23- “Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.” No real thoughts about this…maybe it means when someone in the family achieves something, it is good for the whole family (see September Ensign Q&A article)? Maybe it’s the whole behind every good man there is a good woman bit. I don’t know. Verse 24- “She maketh find linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.” Well, since I can’t sew, and have no desire to wear a girdle I’m going to take this to mean that she is using her talents to the best of her abilities and making them grow. Verse 25- “Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.” Cool. Verse 26- “She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” K, this is awesome and something I would really like to work on…with my kids, Dan, friends, everyone. Kindness, we could all use a little more couldn’t we? Verse 27- “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.” She isn’t lazy and she takes care of her house (sigh, I guess I should get the laundry done…) Verse 28- “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.” I can only hope that someday my children will say nice things about me. But to get them to do this, this woman was a good mother. She focused on her family and had her priorities straight. Verse 29- “Many daughters have done virtuoutsly, but thou excellest them all.” Umm..okay.
Verse 30- “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.” Look up fear in the Bible Dicionary. Very interesting. But again, this woman knows who God is. Verse 31- “Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.” Sweet. So are my works going to praise me? I hope so. And if not maybe I need to get my works in order.
Anyway, if you made it through this, wasn’t that an awesome 21 verses? I was inspired by it. It made me extremely excited and I just wanted to share it with everyone. So go be that virtuous woman that God knows you are (or if you are a guy go support that virtuous woman in your life and be a man worthy of her)!

Not one of my finer mommy moments

We don't have TV. There are a lot of reasons for this, a few being that there's not a lot on that's worth watching, what we do deem worth watching we would waste whole heaps of time on watching it there by ignoring those things (aka our kids and each other) which actually are worth watching. So, when we do visit home we all like to watch a little TV (or a lot of TV depending on some points of view). Anyway, today we were in my parents living room and Dan was channel surfing. He found Monk on. We love Monk. Good show...right? Well, maybe not so much. When he turned to it some lady was drowning another lady in a bathtub. Really, we didn't think much of it (I was on the computer not really paying any attention....again, probably a large reason we don't have the internet at home) then Kember asks me why that lady was killing the other lady. Okay, hold on...how does she know about "killing"? Dan very quickly changed the station. I tried to explain without explaining too much, but I probably glossed over it and missed a great teaching moment. Anyway, I was hoping that it was forgotten, out of mind out of sight type thing. Well, driving home tonight from Salt Lake tonight Kember proceeds to describe what the lady was wearing, what she was doing, what the other lady looked like and all sorts of stuff. Okay...this was definitely not one of my finer moments today letting her see that. Dan turns to me and says, "We are definitely not getting cable!" Well, at least we are agreed on that. Lets hope these moments are few and far between, and when they do happen I'll have inspiration and make it a great teaching moment.

Date Night

So I realize that Family Home Evening is supposed to include, well...the family. I'm not sure if we just didn't think about that, or if we just got our timing wrong or whatever, but for FHE (minus the family) last night we went on a date to Annie Get Your Gun. I loved it! I love that Dan will take me to things like this. I love that it was his idea! I love that G & G Christensen are willing to watch the kids for 3 hours (okay, they were in bed, but the baby wasn't, and there have been plenty of times that they've kept the kids up because they'd rather have them awake...crazy eh?) I love the theater. I love that we live so close to a theater (even though we drove because Dan was on call and didn't want to have to walk home should some emergency arise. Luckily it didn't, but he did inform me that we are never going to a show again while he is on call. He had a death grip on his phone the whole evening and couldn't relax enough to just enjoy...poor guy). I love musicals especially. I miss the theater. I miss being a part of it, and I sat there wishing that it was possible to do again...but then I was thinking that really...maybe not. I won't go into detail about everything I thought of (I was thinking about it for most of the show...7:30-10 you do the math...2 1/2 hours if you needed help)but suffice it to say, that I loved doing it, and probably won't ever do it again. I was also thinking that Frank totally wasn't good enough for Annie. I realize I shouldn't judge, he was her choice, but seriously folks...I'm apparently missing something here. She was too good for him, but I guess if they were happy together then that is all that matters. I'm glad she stuck up for herself most of the time though, and didn't let him walk all over her. I love how naive she was though. Innocent, in a not so innocent way. I'm not explaining this well, but the points that I am trying to make are 1- I'm glad Dan took me on a date 2- I love the theater 3- I'm glad Frank is not my husband and that Dan is nothing like him. Yep that about sums it up.

Turkey anyone?

This should be something I’m too embarrassed to post, but hey, when you take the picture, why not share?
Awhile a go I decided that I would make a schedule so I wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed with cleaning, etc. Monday is laundry day, Tuesday is finish up laundry day (heheh) and it was also labeled as baking day. Well, this was the result.

Isn’t it beautiful. Doesn’t it look like a turkey? Should it look like that? Well, no…bread normally doesn’t look like a turkey. I really can make bread, I promise. I grew up making it. My mom would have us make 8 loaves every week. Granted, we switched off between the kids, but I had plenty of turns and I made good looking bread plenty of times. This just wasn’t one of those times. I used my breadmachine to mix the dough since I don’t have anything sturdy enough and I thought, oh, I can get two loaves out of this. Well, after I separated it into two loaves, I thought, oh, I can’t get two. So I tried to smoosh it back together..apparently it didn’t smoosh so well, and I could have got two loaves. It rose so high in the oven that it burned itself on the top heating element. Oops.
Well, here are some pictures of different bread I made that turned out better. It looks really grainy on top because it is “crunchy” wheat and honey bread. Yes, I think it’s supposed to look like that…I think.
Needless to say, I haven’t had a baking day since.

Tooth

Look who has a tooth! No wait, there are two teeth in there, with what looks like a very sore mouth full of teeth trying to pop through. Poor babers. The first one popped through a couple weeks ago, which was a relief because he has been teething forever. He’s such a happy baby, but boy, teething is not fun for this little man (well, really, who is it fun for?)
Isn’t it funny how one tooth can change their whole smile?
And yes, I am pretty proud of this picture. I tried to take it while he was happy, but it definitely did not work. I had to wait till he was screaming, but it's a good view! :)

Back to Blogging with my “deep” thoughts

Do you think we will remember everything once we die? I ask this because Dan and I keep losing pictures, and I realized that this is one of the best ways for me to remember things (since we all know how great I am at writing stuff down). Unless I see a picture, it’s hard for me to remember what happened. And even then, it is just vague happy memories, not details. Last night I was organizing our pictures on our computer so I could blog more easily. Around midnight I discovered that the pictures that we took of that wonderful vacation that Dan and I took to California were missing. All of a sudden I could think of loads more pictures that we didn’t have. I went to bed sick to my stomach. How could we not back that up? I thought we had…So I laid in bed pondering my above question and just feeling sick that I had lost those pictures. Since we can’t take anything with us when we die (except for the knowledge that we gain while down here) I was thinking how great it would be if I could remember everything perfectly so that I didn’t need the pictures. Although, I did start to think that maybe it wouldn’t be so great because then we would remember perfectly all our faults and wrong choices and mistakes and everything too…but then forgiveness has to come into play there somewhere, but only if we repent…which apparently is loads harder to do once we die, which is why we are supposed to do it now. Anyway, these were my thoughts until I figured I would check our external hard-drive again. I found my California pictures and some others. We are still missing some from the first time our computer died, and I think we are missing a few from when the lap top died (we did try to back it up, but it was just an empty folder on the external hard drive…oops). So, it all ended well. But now I’m stuck with my random thought, do I really want to remember everything I’ve been up to? Maybe I should start living better so I will have way more good happy memories than not so happy memories.

Surprise!

When I got home Dan had a surprise for me. It was a new shiny chrome dishwasher! I feel spoiled, but very glad to have it. Dishwashers are wonderful inventions and I love it. It took Dan a few days to get it installed, what with work and finding all the right parts and stuff, but in my book it was worth it.
So I thought I would show a picture of my new dishwasher and the used glass-top stove we recently purchased as well. But I can't figure out how on this computer, so you'll see them later.
The stove needs a little work. It was used and not well taken care of before, but it works and I love it. I’m very glad to have a glass top stove. It definitely beats having the older monster that was in our house before. The house still needs a lot of work, but little by little we are getting there. I’ll post pictures of it eventually :)

Girls weekend...with boys too

I went up to visit my family the other weekend because Carol Lee came down and took Kember and Caden home with her for a few days. I figured I was free and needed to make the most of my time. So, instead of cleaning and organizing like I should have done (not to mention painting, but boy am I sick of painting) I headed up to Midway. After all, I’m close enough that I can visit my family now, so I should. Cole and I left pretty late (well, considering I have a five hour drive ahead of me, 4:30 is pretty late) on Sunday, and went up to my parents house. I had called both my sisters but only one was able to come up on Monday and hang-out with me. My mom, sister, me and Cole, my sisters sister-in-law and her roommate, my sisters two kids, and my Aunt all went to the Oquirrh Moutain temple open house on Monday. It is a very beautiful temple and I was wishing that Dan and my kids could see it too. Boy was it cold. Maybe I’m getting too used to the heat (hahaha) in St. George, but Midway was freezing. I don’t think I was warm the entire time I was there. After the temple we just moseyed back to Midway. It took some doing, but I convinced my sister that she should spend the night so we could have a proper girls night (not that I really know what a girls night is, let alone a proper one, but whatever). She finally agreed after I bought her a toothbrush. My brother and his family came over and we just did silly things for awhile, like head stand contests, and human pyramids. After they left Andrea dyed my hair, and the three of us girls painted our toenails. I think this was the first time ever that my mom has painted her toe nails. My hair turned out pretty bad. My sister did a great job, but the color I chose was not a good one. I look pretty funny, but I can’t convince Dan to dye my hair again. He doesn’t want to mess it up, but really, how much worse could it look? Anyway, my mom went to bed and Andrea and I stayed up, put in a chick-flick (Sabrina) and tried to apply fake nails. Only we didn’t notice that they weren’t stick ons, and we should have bought glue to apply them. Opps. After an unsuccessful attempt of using Elmers, we gave it up as a bad job, which was too bad because we spent so much time cutting them down to actually fit our nails. Ah well. It was fun. During the whole process my dad and Cole just thought we were pretty weird.
Tuesday I went up to Mapleton with Andrea and hung out with her. We were going to make raspberry jam, but all of her raspberries were moldy. I was pretty gross. So I read the Princess Academy instead. It was really relaxing. My parents came up for dinner and it was good to see them again. Cole and I picked up the other kids and headed back to St. George the next day. Nothing spectacular but it was a good weekend. It was especially good to be back home though. Nothing like a girls night to relax and laugh. Oh, and if anyone wants to come fix my hair, please come on over!

Closing

So, remember how I said we would be closing on the 11th or 12th of May? Ya, that didn’t quite happen how I planned. At all. It’s a funny story now, but it sure was frustrating at the time. Every day the lady would tell us, “tomorrow” and every day they requested more information. Which wasn’t too bad, except our Budget truck had to be turned in on Wednesday and then all our stuff was in storage so information wasn’t readily accessible. We were very lucky that Dan had grandparents down here and that they let us stay with them. We were even more lucky that things just worked out. We painted and worked on the house a little bit almost every day, even though technically they we weren’t supposed to. After awhile though, I stopped going by the house…it was kind of depressing. The neighbors all came over and welcomed us to the neighborhood, but since we still weren’t sure if we were going to be moving into the neighborhood it was just kind of awkward. The loan lady even started to avoid us. She wouldn’t answer her phone, wouldn’t respond to e-mails, and when we went into the office an assistant would come out to talkt to us. That was really funny. Do Dan and I come across as scary? Intimidating? I thought we were nice people, but maybe I’m wrong. Finally, in my own logical way of thinking, I decided that we needed a catalyst to get things moving…so I left. I went up to Aurora to visit Dan’s family. My sister-in-law came up to visit to. I figured that once I left and was a couple hours away, they would call and tell us we were going to close. It was hard to be in limbo at his grandparents house without any of our stuff (remember it was all in storage). I decided to go be in limbo somewhere else where it was a little cooler. See, all our summer clothes were in storage, and it was either in or close to a hundred most days. Well, my convoluted way of thinking worked! We closed the next day. Never mind the fact that we had to close by the 20th (it was in the contract) and never mind the fact that everyone was just as frustrated by all the delays as we were. I take all the credit for getting us to close by leaving. We signed the next day and moved all our stuff in the day after…not that we were supposed to do that either. We were supposed to wait till it funded, but we were a tab bit anxious I suppose. Dan had started work by this time, so my plans of a quick move in were a little hampered, but they did give him the morning off with a truck and a helper and they moved all our boxes out of our storage shed. I unpacked all afternoon and here we are. In our new house. We are never moving again!