All About Us

One amazing person...

2010-05-30T19:19:00.003-07:00

I just want everyone to know how much I love my sister-in-law. She is the one of the greatest people you will EVER meet. She is a great example to me - I hope one day I can be half the person she is...

Here she is with her two beautiful daughters.

Summer Fun

2009-08-03T13:20:00.007-07:00

I know it's been awhile since I blogged . . . but it's summer, and I just get really lazy in the summer. Don't you?

On my very long list of "What I Shall Do With My Time When All Three Of My Children Are In School Starting Next Week: Hooray!" is update this blog with our summer vacation pictures. But for today I will just say that $2.48 invested in a Slip N Slide a few years ago that we finally pulled out of the box this year has helped make the summer fun.

The proof:

Fun with the Fechter cousins

And fun with the Ray cousins.

It has also provided entertainment for the kids during a presidency meeting and sanity for me in the late afternoon when I need the kids to get out of the house for awhile.

I love Slip N Slide. I also love Target clearance.

My pantry runneth over . . .

2009-05-31T12:36:00.003-07:00

And my refrigerator, and my freezers, and a few cupboards.

I'm still loving Coupon Sense, because how else could I get 5 boxes of Eggos, 6 boxes of Capri Suns, 4 jars of Smuckers ice cream toppings, 3 boxes of baby wipes, a loaf of French bread, 3 packages of paper plates, a Powerade, 5 bags of Wacky Mac, and 5 boxes of Ronzoni pasta for a whopping $4.63?

Pictures from my amazing New York City trip coming this week, so stay tuned :)

Still Alive

2009-05-08T07:53:00.014-07:00

It's been so long since I've updated that some of you might have presumed this blog was dead forever. But alas, it lives again! I have been super busy and there is no end in sight to that.

I do not claim to be a great photographer, but I have been enjoying the new camera Joey bought me for my birthday. Our old camera was purchased in 2003 and only had 2.0 megapixels--about the quality of a cell phone camera. It was definitely time for something new.

Here's what we've been up to:

Hannah took 4th place in the Arizona State Spelling Bee. We are so proud of her. (old camera)

Kendall looks so grown up with her new haircut. She's all registered for kindergarten and I am only having slight anxiety (mixed with choruses of "Hallelujah") about all three of my kids being in school. (old camera)

We recently had a great time celebrating the 25th anniversary of our old grade school (and our kids' current one). Joey and I were in the first kindergarten class the year the school opened. We saw lots of old friends and the memories were fun. Here we are with our 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Huskison. She was the best teacher ever. I was so flattered when she looked me up in the phone book the next day because she wanted to chat some more and didn't feel like she was able to talk with me enough that night.

We enjoyed a brief visit with my brother Nathan recently. Here is much of the family after attending a memorial service for a dear friend. Noah is missing from the picture; he was at a birthday party that night.

Hannah and Noah were honored at the school's Honor Roll Night last week. This was the first year that Noah was eligible, hewasexcitedto get his first trophy that he actually slept with it that night. They have both done really well this school year, although it's been a challenge to keep up with two kids and all their assignments. I don't know how people with lots of kids do it!

Here's a picture of Hannah after her first piano recital. She has been taking lessons since September and she's doing so well. I love hearing piano music in the house all the time. (And I do mean ALL the time, she is constantly playing). I'm glad she's loving it, it will be a great skill. I quit after about three piano lessons when I was about six years old.

I was able to chaperone Noah's field trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens this week. It was a hot day but we had a good time. They have these amazing glass sculptures on display.

They also had a fun butterfly exhibit.

I'm also excited to say that I've lost 25 pounds in the past ten weeks! I'm doing Weight Watchers and I really love the program. It's so easy to follow and I have made a lot of changes in my habits that will hopefully be lifestyle changes. I'm even exercising. I am feeling good and excited to lose even more, especially since I don't really think it's that noticeable yet. It will be awhile before I am done but I am off to a great start.

Hopefully we will update more frequently since we have some fun adventures coming up.

Family Treasures, Lost and Found

2009-03-06T10:05:00.003-07:00

Yesterday, as I was picking up Noah from school, his friend Sam was trying to give him a paper and he was refusing to take it. Sam threw the paper on the ground and walked away, so Noah finally picked it up. As we were walking to the car I asked him about the paper and he gave it to me. It was a letter that he had written and given to Sam, and then Sam was giving it back. Here's the text of the letter, including his spelling:

"Dear Sam,
You should be nice to evrewon (everyone). It would be nice to stop fighting Sam. You're mean to evrewon okay. You should be nice to Jalen, Josh, Kaidin, and me. We are all children of are parentes we should lisin and obay. Sam, Dr. Marten Lothe King Jr. said, We shoulde'nt figt with hands We shou fight with words. he said, to all of us. Sam you neve now whos wachen you boy you are in jail. lesen to me okay sam. You're hungrey arent you Sam. I know youre hungrey Sam okay.

Sincerly,
Steve Nash=
Noah"

So I was dying. My first grader wrote a letter telling another kid to be nice and quoted Dr. King!!! Where does he get it? And I thought it was going to say, "We are all children of God" but instead "children of our parents"! And what the heck is up with the hungry part at the end? (By the way, Noah LOVES Steve Nash and always calls himself Steve Nash.) For the record, Sam is actually a pretty good kid, although I think he's a little bit physically aggressive. Noah said he wrote the letter on Sunday when I made the kids go in their beds and take a quiet time after stake conference. Aside from the letter being completely hilarious, I am really proud of him for standing up for himself. This letter is definitely going to be saved, and I now consider it a family treasure. I'm just glad that Sam gave it back so I could have it.

This morning, Kendall was sitting on my lap at the desk and she sliced the letter with my paper cutter into about five different pieces. After freaking out I found all the pieces and put them back together. I am going to put it away now so nothing happens to it.

Where's Your Voice?

2009-02-14T13:38:00.002-07:00

I don't know about you, but throughout the last year I've spent a lot of time watching politics. It was the first time I felt like I really figured out my own political beliefs. Knowing what I believe in has made me want to do more. I've been considering starting a blog dedicated to all things political. But to be honest, I probably won't, becauseI typically avoid confrontation at all costs. All of this might just be a result of listening to way too much talk radio these days.

Anyway, I'm sure we all know about the budget crisis facing Arizona's schools. This is MAJOR. Now since Arizona doesn't have the ability to just print up our own money like the federal government, I guess we won't be passing any stimulus package to send our great great great great great grandchildren into debt. So we have to find another solution. I don't think our legislators are looking hard enough to find feasible solutions. I don't want to see teacher salaries cut (let's go ahead and put them below the poverty line, why don't we?), class sizes double, half day kindergarten, a shortened school week, etc.

I was impressed to read this editorial the other day, describing a local superintendant who is speaking out and gathering the masses to say "Enough!". He says the legislature doesn't even have an idea of what these budget cuts will mean for our kids. He started a website, respectforregularfolks.com, to try and make a difference. He has a link to all of the state legislators email and phone numbers. I know I'm going to start emailing.

How about you?

So Far in 2009 . . .

2009-02-03T21:49:00.004-07:00

Hannah won her district spelling bee, so on to regionals it is.

Noah learned how to ride without training wheels.

Kendall and I had a great time at the Phoenix Children's Museum.

Joey celebrated his birthday (no he's not three, that's just how many candles I had!)

We celebrated by spending a weekend up north without the kiddos. It was great. Even standing in the snow it really wasn't that cold, but the scenery was beautiful.

I think we're off to a good start.

Shocker

2009-01-19T10:34:00.003-07:00

For those of you who follow the Arizona Cardinals, you may say that the fact they are going to the Super Bowl is no shocker. They've worked hard, they had a good season, they deserve it, it's their time, yadda yadda yadda. Personally, I have enjoyed mocking my hometown team's losing record for many years now.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they usually only play on Sundays, or the fact that my husband has always been a die hard Dallas Cowboys fan (picture this: his bedroom growing up had the Cowboys star painted on the wall), or the fact that my dad was never really interested in NFL football, or maybe just the fact that they were always losing, but I just never got into the Cardinals. I could not grasp those die hard, face painting, jersey wearing, tailgating fans of NFL football. I love baseball, enjoy the Suns, don't mind going to a Coyotes game, and I'd watch ASU football any old time, but I scoffed at the use of taxpayer money to build the Cardinals a state of the art stadium. (I mean, the Cardinals? Come on.)

But then, something weird happened. First, I like the respect that the stadium brings to the West side. And then, yesterday, I was checking the score online before church, and even turned on the radio in the car. I forgot something at home and so I went home during Sunday School, and when I got back to church, I didn't want to leave the radio because I was dying to know the end of the game. I was actually happy for the Cardinals. I wanted them to win. I cared about the outcome. That's the real shocker here.

Call me a fair weather fan if you will. I don't care. I just say that I didn't waste all those years paying attention and being disappointed by a losing team. I read a fan quote in the paper last week that summed it up well: "A lot of people have been trying to find a reason to love this team for a long time." So I'll root for the Cardinals in the Super Bowl with my typically low expectations, because they finally gave me a reason, and whether my love will continue past this season is yet to be seen. I make no promises.

Remembering

2009-01-15T14:49:00.003-07:00

When I realized the date today, it took me back twelve whole years to when Hannah had surgery as a baby. I thought I'd write down the story.

She had been sick for a few days, with a fever and just not acting quite right. She was 8 months old and just starting to crawl. She all of a sudden stopped crawling and when she would sit up she would lean to one side strangely. I took her to the doctor and of course she acted fine while we were there. The doctor went ahead and ordered x-rays of her leg and hip just to make sure nothing was wrong. That was on the 13th. The next day she seemed a little better, and the doctor told us that the x-rays were normal. That night, she had a raging fever all night and didn't sleep, it seemed like her hip was hurting, and my mom and I knew that something was definitely wrong. We took her to the doctor as soon as they opened (January 15th) and they did some blood work. They did a test to find her "sed rate" which measures inflammation in the body. A normal range for her would have been 0-15, and hers was 40. They also reviewed the x-rays again and realized that the x-ray technician had not done the hip, just the leg. They immediately sent us to the hospital.

I was supposed to start a new job at Wells Fargo that day, and I had to call them and tell them what was going on. I was worried I would get fired, but I obviously didn't care about anything but Hannah at that point. When we got to the hospital they did some more tests, including a spinal tap. They did not let me come in the room and I just stayed out in the hall crying and completely freaking out. They determined that she had a bacterial infection that had settled in her hip joint and needed to be cleaned out through surgery. Some time that evening, they took her into surgery. I cannot describe the feeling of having your child taken away on a gurney and realizing that you have no control over their life at that point. I'm so thankful that she received a priesthood blessing.

The surgery went perfectly and they were able to completely clean out the infected area. We still to this day do not know exactly what caused the infection. It could have been an injury that we didn't realize she had, or just an infection that thought her hip would be a nice place to live. We will never know. She stayed in the hospital for nine long days after that. I would sleep in one of those reclining chairs each night next to her metal hospital crib which looked more like a cage. At some point she would end up in the chair with me and I would fall asleep nursing her. My mom would come to the hospital every morning so I could run home and take a shower, and then come straight back. We had a great medical staff that took care of her, from nurses to our pediatrician to the infectious disease doctors and her surgeon.

She had to have a pick line put in her shoulder so that IV antibiotics could be administered to make sure that the infection was completely taken care of. We had to learn how to do that and keep it clean Amazingly she has no scar from the surgery and just the slightest scar from the pick line. My mom had started a new job right before this happened and she was absolutely hating it. When Hannah was sick she called and quit her job, which turned out to be one of the biggest blessings. Being a single mom I already relied on my parents a lot, but I would not have been able to work or go to school if my mom had not quit her job and taken care of Hannah during that time. I also think about how young and uneducated I was about everything that was going on. Thank goodness I had my parents to ask questions and keep up with the medical side of everything.

We had to follow up with the surgeon for several years after that, because there was a chance that Hannah could have had one leg shorter than another or other permanent damage from the surgery, but by the time she was about 4 they determined that she would have no side effects from the experience. That was such a relief as well.

I know many of you have experienced traumatic moments with your children and can relate to how scary it is. I'm grateful that we were so blessed. (Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that while all this was going on, my brother Chris found out that he was going to have brain surgery! When it rains, it definitely pours. Thankfully there was a happy ending to that story too.)

I wish I had a scanner so I could post a baby picture of Hannah!

A List

2009-01-13T13:07:00.002-07:00

Since I haven't had much to blog about lately, and I left my camera at my brother's house so I don't have any current pictures from Christmas, etc. to post, I copied this from Callie's blog. You copy and paste and then put in bold the items that you have done before. With sarcastic comments, of course.

Started your own blog (you're reading this aren't you?)
Slept under the stars (girl's camp)
Played in a band
Visited Hawaii
Watched a meteor shower
Given more than you can afford to charity (does tithing count?)
Been to Disneyland
Climbed a mountain (not a big one though)
Held a praying mantis
Sang a solo (I sing solo all the time, but actually solo, as in no one else is listening)
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris
Watched a lightning storm at sea
Taught yourself an art from scratch
Adopted a child
Had food poisoning (most likely)
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty-I have seen it from a distance though
Grown your own vegetables
Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Slept on a train (I did recently ride on the light rail though)
Had a pillow fight
Hitch hiked (just for fun though, I wouldn't have really gotten in the car)
Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (of course!)
Built a snow fort
Held a lamb
Gone skinny dipping (don't ask)
Run a Marathon-how about walk a 5K? does that count?
Ridden in a gondola in Venice
Seen a total eclipse-I think I might have when I was little but I'm not sure
Watched a sunrise or sunset
Hit a home run (I used to pick weeds in the outfield when I played t-ball)
Been on a cruise (I wish)
Seen Niagara Falls in person
Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (if Kentucky counts)
Seen an Amish community
Taught yourself a new language (taught myself some sign language when my kids were babies)
Had enough money to be truly satisfied (not currently, but in the past)
Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Gone rock climbing
Seen Michelangelo’s David
Sung karaoke
Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visited Africa
Walked on a beach by moonlight
Been transported in an ambulance
Had your portrait painted (maybe by my kids??)
Gone deep sea fishing
Gone without food or water for 24 hours or longer (I used to go long periods without eating in high school, but I'm not sure about 24 hours)
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
Kissed in the rain
Played in the mud
Gone to a drive-in theater
Been in a movie (home movies?)
Visited the Great Wall of China (are you talking about the real one or the restaurant with the same name that was by our house growing up?)
Started a business (the joys of home day care)
Taken a martial arts class
Stayed up for 24 hours with NO sleep at all (aahhh, college)
Served at a soup kitchen
Sold Girl Scout Cookies-I've bought my share though
Gone whale watching
Got flowers for no reason
Donated blood, platelets or plasma
Gone sky diving
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp (are the Nazis still keeping people in concentration camps?)
Bounced a check
Flown in a helicopter
Saved a favorite childhood toy
Visited the Lincoln Memorial
Eaten Caviar
Pieced a quilt
Stood in Times Square
Toured the Everglades
Been fired from a job
Changed a lightbulb
Broken a bone
Been on a speeding motorcycle (high school boyfriend with a motorcycle!)
Seen the Grand Canyon in person
Published a book (Shutterfly)
Visited the Vatican (no, but I've visited Temple Square, the LDS equivalent of the Vatican, and I've been to the National Cathedral and the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and St. Patricks in NYC)
Bought a brand new car
Mowed the lawn (just a few weeks ago for the first time ever)
Had your picture in the newspaper
Read the entire Bible (that Old Testament scares me a little)
Visited the White House (didn't go inside though)
Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Had chickenpox
Saved someone’s life (my friend Lisa from grade school swears that I saved her life in the pool once)
Sat on a jury (I've been to jury duty one time though)
Met someone famous
Joined a book club
Lost a loved one
Had a baby
Seen the Alamo in person
Swam in the Great Salt Lake (why would you want to?)
Been involved in a law suit (why do you think I'm so rich?)
Owned a cell phone
Been stung by a bee

Copy and paste on your blog, if you want to!
By the way, I got my haircut today. It's fabulous. I'd post a picture but I don't have my camera.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T08:50:00.003-07:00

If I would have had a Christmas card, it might have looked like this:

Merry Christmas, and here's to hoping that 2009 brings more frequent blog posts from me!

Figured it out, kinda sorta

2008-11-10T07:10:00.003-07:00

I stayed up way too late last night because the Google Reader thing STILL wasn't working, and it was driving me crazy. I think I finally got it to work correctly, the only problem is that in Google Reader it lists my blog as being called "Family Gems", but it is feeding my posts correctly. I suppose you can rename it in your Reader, as I still haven't figured out how to correct it.

On another note, I discovered that Blogger essentially has NO customer service, just some help topics and a help forum. No way to contact them directly. Nice.

Don't Give Your Husband the Password

2008-11-08T07:40:00.003-07:00

So . . .

My wonderful dear sweet husband (who by the way RARELY reads this blog unless I tell him to) asked me for the blog password a few weeks ago. I thought, "Maybe he's posting something. Cool!" Turns out he added a feed from LDS Gems onto our blog. (LDS Gems is a service that sends you inspirational quotes from church talks each day). It was a great idea. I mean, who doesn't need inspiration every day, right?

Well, turns out that my blog stopped sending its normal feed into Google Reader (what's Google Reader? If you don't have one set up, you should. It's awesome.) Anyway, even though I deleted the LDS Gems feed because it was going wild, now Google Reader is still taking people directly to lds.org when they try to go to this blog. (I promise that I am not trying to send subliminal messages to all my non-LDS friends). So, on Google Reader you will probably have to click "Add subscription" again and put this blog address in http://www.joemeg.blogspot.com/ and then hopefully it will correct the problem and you will start reading my blog again.

Have a great Saturday. I will be working all day, but I hope you're not :)

Election Day

2008-11-04T13:18:00.006-07:00

Well I'm a slacker and never got back on here to share my election recommendations. Since it's pretty much too late now, I'll just say that only ONE proposition got a "yes" vote from me. In general, I don't like propositions. I like the direct democracy in theory, but I think most propositions are put forth by special interests and too many of them just don't make sense.

Propositions are usually:

-way too vague, which is guaranteed to end up in court for a judge to interpret, or

-they advertise that they are about one thing to play on emotions but carry a lot of consequences that people don't realize, or

-they institute programs without taking into account the fiscal impact.

Studying the propositions really makes me appreciate the job that our legislators have to do. Maybe I'll try writing a proposition one of these days, I bet I could do better than some of these clowns. I'm also setting a goal to stay more informed about what is going on in politics.

In other election matters, you should know that the Fechter household has been just as divided as a lot of the country when it comes to the presidential candidates. Specifically, the twelve and under crowd vs. the parents. All of this has taken place on the refrigerator. For instance, this would appear on the fridge in the morning:

And then it wouldn't be long before someone would change it to read

(Sorry John, apparently we never quite had the right letters to spell McCain).

So at dinner last night we gave Hannah a chance to defend her candidate and all she could come up with was: He's nice. Hmmm, that's a pretty good quality to have in a president I suppose, but it wasn't quite enough to convince the registered voters of the household. But I just want to say that I love Kids Voting because it really does let the kids become involved in the process. I don't mind if my kids' opinions are different than mine, I'm just glad that they're interested in the process.

It is a very good thing that the Obama campaign didn't find out that Kendall was a supporter though, because her endorsement alone may brought in enough votes to seal the deal for him (although she frequently changes her mind and says that she wants to vote for "John McCain and the girl." She really likes "the girl"):

Why are you still reading this??? Go vote!

Are You Tired of Politics?

2008-10-31T00:46:00.002-07:00

Because I am. But I still want to go there.

I have never considered myself much of a political activist, but I am somewhat of a news junkie. If I had cable I would watch the news channels all day long, when I wasn't watching HGTV, that is. I really like to weigh all angles of an issue before making a decision, and that sometimes takes me a long time. I am often surprised by the quick judgment of others. I've learned that sometimes that judgment comes as a result of experience and wisdom to know what is right and quickly identify it. I've also learned that too often that judgment comes from acting before thinking, often followed by regret. It took me a long time to see that my tendency to reserve judgment is a gift, not a character flaw. It has served me well many times. It can also be overwhelming when there are so many issues to consider on the ballot.

There are a few items on the ballot I feel strongly about. One is the Dysart School Board election. My votes will go to Jennifer Tanner and April Allen for sure. My third vote is still uncommitted, but it is currently split between Bonnie Schroader and Anthony Piazza. I know that both Jennifer and April are honest, hardworking, reliable women who will serve this district well. They want what is best for kids and families and teachers. Please pass on the word to anyone you know in the district.

Also, two issues that I don't get to vote on, but many in the Valley do, are district realignment and bond overrides. I have studied some information on the proposed realignment of school districts and I just think that it is bad for kids, teachers, administrators, and tax payers. I think that there could be a better plan that I might support, but this is not it. Also, if you have the opportunity to pass a budget override for your school district, please vote yes. Kids will lose many valuable programs if these overrides don't pass. Don't take the economic crisis out on our kids.

Okay, more to come on the propositions.

Halloween Fun

2008-10-17T23:38:00.011-07:00

We were cool enough to make it on the guest list of Glamma and Mr. Fabulous' halloween bash, and they spared nothing to make it an amazing party, from the invitations to the decorations, it was truly "fabulous".

We had a good time as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, hanging out with the "best costume" winners, the "Phantom couple".

There was also the well-known golfer Phil Mickelson and his wife, the Otter Pop.

We enjoyed the company of some scary witches, a spider, and a lovely swimmer (who wouldn't take a dive in the pool for us.)

Hmm, what are these guys up to? What exactly is in those bottles, pirates?

And what are you smoking there, Mr. Ricardo?

I think we need a priest so these guys can make confession. Good thing there was one at the party.
Well, looks like he needs to confess a few things himself.

There was dancing,

contests,

and a good time was had by all. Thanks for the invite!

(Someone really needs to alert the pope about these two below).

Good Riddance, September!

2008-10-03T22:44:00.006-07:00

Beware: I needed to vent!

I thought I was never going to make it out of September alive! It was honestly one of the busiest months I've had in a loooong time. Getting back into the routine of school, with Kendall in preschool and a new carpool schedule. Working more because I started a third survey for the Census Bureau (what, you didn't even know I had an actual J-O-B?), I worked about 60 hours in September and put 800 miles on my car just for work (that's about double my usual work schedule)! Even though it was nice to make the extra money, we spent a good chunk of it eating out because we were so busy. Yuck. I'm sick of fast food. Busy as ever with my calling of Enrichment Counselor, as we had our quarterly enrichment meeting and I made most of the food for the dinner, on top of teaching the first Sunday lesson as well. We also had doctor and dentist appointments all around, I reviewed a book for the school's library committee and I'm working on another one, threw out my back for a few days at the end of the month, got most of my visiting teaching done, shopped for a lot of Coupon Sense deals (I have toiletries and granola bars and Powerade galore!), did some serious reorganization in my house (kinda unfinished though), went on a Dysart bus tour (and got my picture in the paper), almost switched my kids' school, chauffered Hannah to her ever increasing activities/lessons, and just tried to keep up with the normal housework, homework, etc. Thankfully Joey helped out with a lot of that stuff, but I felt like I headed out the door almost every night after he got home and we hardly saw each other. I'm craving a family vacation or a weekend without the kids (guiltily though, because I feel like I haven't seen them enough lately). And I'm going to be just as busy with work at least through December, so I don't even know how I could possibly get away for the weekend! The good news is that I'm mostly done Christmas shopping, so the fact that the holidays are coming doesn't stress me out so much this year. And by the way, September was hot! So I'm just glad to be in a new month and looking forward to cooler weather and fun holidays.

This week Noah had to do his first book report (which he received 100% on, good job!). I sat with him while he did the writing portion of it, and then I had him start drawing the picture while I got some things done around the house. When I came back to check on his finished product, I couldn't help but laugh. See if you can figure out why:

Do you see something out of place there?

In case you couldn't figure it out, check out the "Parent Signature" line. He's hopefully not heading into a career of forgery. It gave me a good laugh though.

How was your September?

Do You Disney?

2008-09-20T08:04:00.004-07:00

If you love Disneyland as much as I do, you need to take advantage of this deal! In 2009 Disney will be offering free admission on your birthday! I'm going to try and get a trip out of this next year for sure. If members of your family have birthdays on the same day you are really lucky! If you have an annual passport already you can get some other special offers instead. You do have to register for this in advance though. (You people know how much I love FREE). You have to register and then you can add your kids. Your spouse will have to do a separate registration. Now, I must go plot whether I can go in February, April, May, June, and August when each member of my family has a birthday! I love Disneyland.

I Waited 30 Years . . .

2008-09-13T08:24:00.001-07:00

. . . to finally have a sister. I have two older brothers, and always begged my mom for a little sister. When I was 11 my hope was renewed, but I got a baby brother instead.

I actually cried on the way to the hospital, until my cousin Jennie who was driving me to the hospital said, "It's okay, we can still put him in dresses." Of course once I saw him I loved him and didn't mind that he was a boy.

But since my brother graduated from high school this year, my parents weren't quite ready for an empty nest, so they decided to adopt.

Her name is Winnie, and we got to babysit her over Labor Day weekend so that my parents could go out of town. And after all, they deserved a break because having a newborn is hard work.
She's a Maltese/Yorkie mix (Morkie, according to Jessica). It was fun, and a lot of work, having her for the weekend. Noah and Kendall are a little scared of dogs in general so it was good for them. I can safely say that Kendall has overcome her fear of "Winnifer" (as she sometimes calls her), but the jury is still out on Noah. In his defense, Winnie can be very rowdy, barks a lot, and she does bite sometimes.

So I guess I have a little sister now, although I think that she bears a stronger resemblance to my three brothers.

Remembering . . .

2008-09-11T10:17:00.004-07:00

Not to be cheesy, but since I was just listening to people on the radio share their "Where were you?" stories from September 11, 2001, I thought that I should record mine. Even though I'm sure my own experience is not significant to anyone but me, I think that it is an event that we will always reflect on and think about throughout our lifetimes and someday I probably won't recall the details that I still remember now, seven years later.

At the time, we were living in Joey's parents' house, and his sister Kristi and her husband Mike were living there with us (his parents had already moved to New Mexico). I was in my first year of teaching at Barcelona Middle School and Hannah was in kindergarten. I remember that I was blow drying my hair in the bathroom and Joey walked in and told me to come look at the TV. We sat in our bedroom for awhile and watched the events unfolding, still really uncertain of what was going on.

I would take Hannah to my parents' house on my way to work so that she could ride the bus to school with Andrew, and as I dropped her off I got really emotional. I was terrified of planes flying into buildings across the country, imagining that it would keep happening all day long. Since my parents both worked downtown I was afraid for them, and I was also scared of letting Hannah go to school and being away from her. I remember that we said a prayer with my mom before I left for work.

Being in an 8th grade classroom that day was an interesting experience. As teachers, we just felt speechless and shellshocked. We would listen to the radio and check the internet periodically throughout the day, trying to find out more but without having access to a TV I felt a little bit in the dark. I spent a lot of time just talking to my students, trying to explain the facts that I knew and trying to disspell the junior high rumors that had already started spreading. It was similar to the day I spent as an intern in another classroom on the day of the Columbine shootings. I felt a great responsibility to my students on those days.

I of course remember the terror and the disbelief and the sadness, and just being glued to the TV, trying to understand why this would happen. I remember being grateful that we had just returned from a trip to Kentucky for my grandma's 80th birthday celebration, and that if the party would have taken place on her actual birthday (September 18th) then we wouldn't have been able to fly there. And I couldn't forget the amazing stories of patriotism and love and kindness that came out of September 11th.

It just so happened that we were trying to conceive at that time. It must have happened within days after, because about a month later I found out that I was pregnant with Noah. There was a little baby boom at that time, and when I was delivering him the stories were all over the news about how hospitals all over the place were overflowing with deliveries from what they called "September 11th babies". I've never considered that anything but a coincidence since we were already trying before September 11th, but I love the idea of all of these sweet spirits being sent to earth at that time to bring comfort and love and help people remember what really matters.

Visiting "Ground Zero" in 2005 was an interesting experience. It was hard to connect that big hole in the ground with what I had seen on TV. It was a solemn experience but I had a difficult time making an emotional connection when it looked completely different from what was on TV (and thank goodness, because if it looked the same it would have been overwhelming). I felt that it was necessary to go there, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time there. It was a sad, empty place.

On a happy note, I love America! I feel so fortunate to live in this country.

The end.

My Olympic Moment

2008-08-23T22:20:00.004-07:00

I knew that blogging good things about the Olympics would bring me good karma. Joey scored some sweet seats for the D-backs game tonight, and while we thoroughly enjoyed the game, something else eclipsed the victory as the highlight of the night.

Sometime around the 7th inning we noticed all kinds of commotion in the section next to us, including cameras and a guy from Fox Sports News. We couldn't exactly tell what was going on until they announced, "Straight from Beijing, China, please welcome two time Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor." Sure enough, she was on our row just across the aisle. Everyone went crazy cheering for her, especially when she pulled her gold medal out of her purse. After that, they couldn't keep the aisles clear because people kept coming over trying to take her picture and talk to her. Poor lady, I actually felt bad for her.

Security escorted her out at the end of the game, and she went to sign autographs. We were right behind them, so we figured why not wait and meet her. We only had to wait about five minutes to get her autograph and meet her. Joey got a picture on his cell phone, which I will post as soon as I figure out how to get that up. He was too close to get me in the picture with her, but that's okay. So now you know what Olympic sport I would probably choose. I really love watching gymnastics, but if I could choose to be an Olympic athlete, I would definitely choose volleyball, and hope that I would gain a few inches in height too! I loved watching the beach volleyball. You might not know that I actually played a few years in high school, but I'm way too out of shape to play now.

Anyway, it was the highlight of the night for me :) And what girl wouldn't idolize someone bold enough to offer her backside for the president to slap?

(For the real story on this picture, go here.)

Kendall Learns the Truth about Bras

2008-08-17T21:18:00.005-07:00

Hmm, I think I'll try on this bra that I found while my mom was folding laundry. I want it on the real way, underneath my shirt.

Darn straps, they're hard to keep up.

Nevermind, that's way too uncomfortable. I'll go back to playing with my toys and pretending to be an Olympic swimmer.

The Olympics

2008-08-11T12:00:00.007-07:00

I have so much to catch up on with this blog, but I could not let my ugly photo stay at the top of my page any longer! I figure since it's the first day of school, I have to at least do one thing for myself today as I enjoy the peace and quiet that comes with only having one kid at home.

So I was up last night after everyone else was in bed and I turned on the TV to fill the silence. The Olympics were on and I literally stood up yelling and cheering all by myself during the men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay. It was so exciting! It was one of the first times I've been able to sit down and really watch since they started, and it reminded me of how much I love to watch them. Here's some of my thoughts on the Olympics:

*They're only every 4 years, so you don't get sick of them. As opposed to most other sports that you can see pretty much every day of the week. I often wonder why we see so little of certain sports except for during the Olympics, but it does help to make them more exciting.

*It is so amazing to be reminded of patriotism and how great our country is. We spend so much time disagreeing about so many issues that the Olympics help unify our nation, even for just a short amount of time. (Immediately following the Olympics, we have the political party conventions to divide us up again right away, don't worry!)

*Even though the Olympics encourage healthy rivalry with other countries, I think it is great to see people from around the world, reminding us that no matter where we come from, we are more alike than we are different.

*Olympic pet peeve: When the media spoil the results because of the time difference. I'm glad to see that MSN's homepage (also my homepage) allows you to hide the results if you don't want to know yet!

*The dedication of the athletes is astounding, and it reminds me that my goals are attainable also, if I am willing to put in the effort to attain them.

*My first Olympic memory: Mary Lou Retton. Resulting in several attempts at gymnastics, which I never really stuck with. But I could do a mean cartwheel back in the day.

*One thing that I don't like about the Olympics is how much attention is given to the end result. There are sometimes hundredths of seconds separating winners from losers, and those same hundredths of seconds determine whether someone goes down in history as the best ever or leaves them relatively unknown for all their accomplishments. Of course everyone loves to win, and I get that, but I do always feel bad for the losers. Maybe I'm just still bitter because I really wanted to be either the valedictorian or salutatorian of my graduating class, but I ended up as number 3 instead. I mean, they don't even give a title to number 3. I think I'll call it bronze from now on.

*By the way, if I was an Olympic athlete, what do you think my sport would be? Come on, leave me a comment and if you say Sumo wrestling I'm going private and not sending you an invitation.

Ugly Photo Tag

2008-07-12T23:28:00.002-07:00

I'd like to thank Anya for this wonderful opportunity to show you an ugly photo of myself. More difficult than I thought considering that I take all the photos and therefore I am not in any of them (and I delete the ones I really hate). But really, does it get uglier than about to deliver a baby with an oxygen mask on your face?

I will be checking your blogs, people. Just do it.

Summer Vacation Part II

2008-07-10T21:15:00.013-07:00

I'm sure this is way more detail than anyone really cares about, but I just don't want to forget!

We woke up on our first morning in Utah with lots of energy and feeling ready to explore. We had a busy day. We started out with a trip to the local grocery store to stock the little kitchen in our timeshare. Even though we were on vacation, it was so great having a kitchen and being able to prepare our own meals. It saved lots of money and kept us from getting so sick of eating out. We ate pretty much every breakfast, and more than half of our lunches and dinners at the resort. (I packed most of the food from home and then just needed to buy all the fresh/refrigerated items when we got there.)

After breakfast we explored the grounds of the resort. It was fairly small, but had a really nice pool. We spent a few hours out on the lawn playing baseball, catching little fish in the pond, and just enjoying the beautiful scenery.

After lunch we headed into Ogden for a visit to the Eccles Dinosaur Park, where they had a small indoor museum and then a large outdoor trail with all types of dinosaurs.

We were all terrified to see the world's most dangerous creature. Thankfully it was in a cage.

We had dinner at the very yummy Cafe Rio and got a glimpse of the Ogden Temple and tabernacle (the temple looks pretty much identical to the Provo temple). We then drove back into Eden and decided to explore the Eden/Huntsville area and the Pineview Reservoir. It really is a beautiful area, with some quaint little houses and lots of gigantic mansions! Being really close to several ski resorts and also the water, it seems to be a popular vacation spot. We found the swimming/beach area of the reservoir and talked to the park ranger. He let us know that "if you want to come on Sunday, come early because church gets out at 11:00 and then it gets packed." We were quite entertained by that and decided that we would not come back on Sunday. Sadly we didn't make it back the rest of the week either. (I'd rather swim in a clean swimming pool than a reservoir anyway.) We found the home of President David O. McKay in Huntsville. We were too late for the tour but it was cool that we were able to see it. We also found a monastery that looked interesting but visiting hours were over there as well. (The daylight savings really threw us off. It stays light until almost 9 pm).

After all that it was time to end our day with a dip in the pool. We had a great day. More to come . . .

Summer Vacation Part I

2008-07-06T22:00:00.005-07:00

We had the chance to take a trip to Utah a few weeks ago, and I'm already starting to forget the details so I better document it now. It all started out with my parents inviting us to go on vacation with them using their timeshare. No cost for hotel? Okay, we're up for it. So we helped them pick a place that was close enough to drive and would have some good places to visit, and Utah it was. (The number one question we were asked while there: Are you visiting family? We might be unusual in the fact that we really have no family living there. Joey maybe has one uncle there, but that's it.) So that was all decided back in January.

Of course you remember that in March my dad had open heart surgery, leading to many complications that required a total of 5 surgeries and much stress! Since he is just going back to work tomorrow for the first time since March, my parents really couldn't make the trip because it just wouldn't be wise considering that my dad had only been off his IV antibiotics for a few days and my mom just couldn't take any more time off work than she already had. But since it was too late to cancel the reservation, we drove up without them. (Sorry Mom and Dad, we know you really wanted to get away, and you deserve a vacation!)

I was absolutely dreading the drive, which ended up being a total of about 14 hours including our stops. I just wasn't sure how my kids would handle it. I tried to be as organized as possible so that they would stay entertained. I did a little shopping to have some "surprises" in the car, we had the DVD player ready to go, lots of snacks and CDs, each kid packed their own backpack of car activities, and I made an activity packet of things I printed from the internet, mostly common car games and age appropriate activities for each kid. Then I tried to structure the time and only let them watch a movie at certain times, give them a snack at certain times, work on their packet at certain times, etc. I wasn't sure how it would go, but they were so great on the whole ride. I couldn't believe it. (We have an unfortunate vacation history over the last few years, which I'll save for some future blog, so now I always anticipate the worst when it comes to vacation!)

As it was getting dark we finally arrived at our destination: Wolf Creek Village in Eden, UT. It is north of Salt Lake, you have to drive through Ogden and then through a canyon and past a reservoir, a really beautiful drive to get there. We checked in, unloaded the car and set out to find dinner before every place in this little town was closed for the night. Thankfully we found a pizza place willing to serve us when they were only 15 minutes from closing time. After that we settled in for the night and assigned beds to everyone. There was a huge loft upstairs with a king size bed and a bathroom, which of course was for the grown ups! Hannah and Kendall shared the downstairs bedroom, and Noah got the pull out couch. We would have to start the real adventure in the morning because we were definitely tired!

(Is anyone still reading this. Wow, I just wrote a lot didn't I?)

To hear about our 4th of July including some unforgettable photos, click here.

My Baby Daddy

2008-06-15T21:17:00.008-07:00

(playing Wii at a work party)

I must say that I didn't do enough to make Father's Day special for my man, so I thought I'd give him a little shout out here on the blog. We were out of most breakfast foods this morning so he had a breakfast of leftover pizza, and then we went to my parent's house for dinner where he had to grill the steaks. So there wasn't much pampering going on for him, it was more like a normal day. We did get him a gift card to Cabela's because that is now his favorite place to take the kids when I am out working. (And because he wanted a scope for his rifle, but when I asked the kids if that's what we should get him, Kendall said, "No, he might shoot us with bullets." I'm still laughing about that one.)

Joey's a pretty quiet guy most of the time, so I don't think a lot of people know his true personality. He is super duper smart. And I like to think that I'm smart, but he is constantly surprising me with how many things he knows about. We have fun together for sure, but we also really enjoy just having some quiet hanging out on the couch time. He loves to get hyper with the kids and play rough, which they don't really get from me so they definitely have fun with dad. He has also never been afraid to change a diaper, scrub the shower, or cook a meal. (In fact, he probably does all of those things better than I do! I thank my mother in law for that.)

So Happy Father's Day, I love ya.

And even though my dad has never looked at my blog, although I wrote down the address for him today, I'm sooooo grateful he's still with us this Father's Day. Having gone through so many surgeries the last few months and so many close calls really makes a girl appreciate her dad even more. Thankfully he's doing really well now!

Fond Farewell

2008-06-02T15:28:00.005-07:00

Denial. That's where I've been these past few months. I kept hoping that if I didn't acknowledge the fact that Tonya was moving, it wouldn't actually happen. I finally had to overcome my denial and so today I said a sad goodbye to a dear friend. Actually, I said the sad goodbye yesterday. Then I said a happy goodbye today. Then I felt like crawling up in a little ball and sobbing. Then I ate some chocolate.

You know the kind of friend who you talk to every day and hang out for no reason at all, and it's always fun no matter what? The kind of friend who makes you want to be a better person, but loves you even when you're not. Someone you can call late at night without worrying about how late it actually is. A friend that you can call at the drop of the hat for babysitting, and whose kids you love so much that you never worry about who owes the other one more babysitting, because it doesn't matter and it all evens out in the end, and you'd do it for them a million times even if they never could repay the favor. You know that kind of friend?

That's the kind of friendship we have. And while I'm going to miss the every day interaction, and the laughing at ourselves, and the many, many trips to the park, I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to share a little part of my life with this amazing lady.

Of course we'll miss ALL of the Shallenbergers. I know there are some teenagers who have had the course of their lives forever changed because of Rob's influence. And Robbie is such a fun little character, so full of life and adventure. Little Lana is one of the few babies that has ever given me more baby cravings with her beautiful smile and sweet nature. And of course I don't know who will protect Kendall and tell other kids off when Bella is not around to do it. There's nowhere Kendall would rather be than with Bella.

So to Tonya, I say thank you for all you've taught me through your example, all the fun times, the presidency meetings that seemed more like a party, and for always being there. And thanks for reminding me of the value of friendship--I haven't taken the time lately to let some of my friends know how much they mean to me, but you've reminded me that it's worth the effort to have good friends.

I'll miss you guys. You rock.

A Great Weekend . . .

2008-05-14T22:19:00.009-07:00

Joey and Noah went on the Father and Son's Outing from Thursday-Saturday, (where apparently my foil dinners were the envy of the camp--who knew?!)

so imagine my surprise when the doorbell rang Friday morning and these

were delivered to my door. It actually made me tear up when I read the sweet card from Joey and the kids. You have to understand that getting flowers from my husband is a rare occasion. (He gives a great back rub, but is not great in the gift department. Most of the time, I'd rather have the back rub and pick out my own gifts anyway.) Apparently my Noah has been urging Daddy to get me flowers for weeks now. Haven't I trained him well?

Friday night we celebrated Hannah's birthday with a few friends by going to Dramagenics, a new family-friendly improv club. It is just starting up, so our group of 6 made up about half the audience, but it was a really fun time. The girls loved it, and some of them even got to go on stage and participate. They all got t-shirts too. It would be a fun date night or even night out with the family. (They also had buy one, get one free coupons in the Val-pak mailer a few weeks ago!). The birthday party turned into an unplanned slumber party where I went to bed and the girls stayed up way too late, which I suppose is the way slumber parties are supposed to be. We've found it's the perfect opportunity to do this when the boys are out of the house!

Sunday morning I got to sleep in while Joey made breakfast. Of course we ended up being late for church because of it, but it was worth it. He's rarely home before church because he has so many meetings, but it seems like whenever he is home we are late. I'm not blaming it on him, it's just that I get lazy and think I have more time since he's here. At church, my kids did the traditional Mother's Day singing with the Primary, and it was the last time all of my kids will be in Primary together. Makes me a little sad. My kids also showered me with fun homemade gifts, but I forgot to wear my "Super Mom: Hero of the Universe" button to church.

After church, we enjoyed a nice dinner with my family and Noah finally lost that tooth. Then he literally lost the tooth. Lucky for him, we have some good connections with the tooth fairy and she came anyway.

(Hi Randi, I know you're stalking my blog!)

My Sweet Boy

2008-04-15T23:14:00.005-07:00

Noah has big news: a loose tooth. He has been waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting to have a loose tooth ever since he started kindergarten and saw other kids losing teeth. He noticed it was loose on Saturday, and by Sunday morning he wanted it pulled out with pliers (his friend Robbie's preferred method). We explained that it has to be much looser first, or it would hurt. So he will wiggle and wait.

A funny conversation we had on Saturday.

Background: The kids have been playing with a silver "rope" type chain necklace they found in my room, it was actually a gag gift. Noah put it on Saturday just before leaving for the aforementioned birthday party.

Me: Take that necklace off, you're not wearing it to the party.

Noah: Awww, I like it mom.

Me: It makes you look like a gangster.

Noah: I am a gangster.

Me (trying not to laugh): Do you know what a gangster is?

Noah: Someone who plays jokes on people.

Me: No, that's a jokester.

Noah: Then what's a gangster?

Me: A person who does bad things, even kills people sometimes. (That was the best I could come up with).

Noah: Oh, okay. (Takes off necklace).

Now I just hope that he doesn't see someone with a necklace like that and call them a gangster. It's so hard sometimes to teach your kids about the bad things in the world without giving them too much information.

Remember These?

2008-04-14T12:49:00.008-07:00

Kendall was hanging out on the couch watching TV this morning and I told her that she needed to turn off the TV and play with toys for awhile. She didn't like that idea and said that she wanted to watch TV all day. I told her I'd give her a little while and then she was going to turn it off. About 5 minutes later she came to me and said, "Mommy, I will play with a toy. But I want to play with YOU." I need to be reminded to play with her sometimes, I get so busy doing things and she can be good at entertaining herself. So then she said she wanted a game, so I let her pick something out of our ridiculously full game closet. I almost forgot that we even had a Lite-Brite, it must have been about 5 years since we've used it. It was one of my favorite toys as a kid. We had a lot of fun making this hot air balloon, even though she lost interest about halfway through and wanted me to finish it. We will definitely be playing with this more often. Noah will love it, and Hannah will probably even still play with it.

Here's another fun fact about Kendall: she has an unusually good sense of direction. It started out that she always wanted to go a certain way when we were leaving the house or coming home, and she would get really upset with me if I went a different way. The she started really recognizing the way to familiar places, even if she didn't know where we were going ("This is the way to Target!"). On Saturday, we were taking Noah to a birthday party and while we were standing in the house she asked, "Which way is Jakob's house?" I pointed east. We got in the car, wound our way out of the neighborhood and were then going east for about a mile. I had to turn south for a little bit before going east again, and when I turned, she said, "Mom, you said the party was that way (pointing east)." How could she remember that from inside the house, after all those different turns? It might have been a fluke, but she does stuff like that all the time. At least it could come in handy if we ever get lost!

I love my sweet Kendall! She's definitely the "baby" of the family. Everyone adores her and she almost always gets what she wants. Our biggest challenge with her right now is that she will not stay out of the pantry. We even have one of those locks that flips over at the top of the door, and she climbs right up on the counter and opens it. She has no fear and doesn't care how many times she gets in trouble. So we found a different lock that you can put a padlock through, and we're probably going to buy it. It's pathetic, but we have a padlock that we put on the refrigerator too!

Arg! Can't get spaces in between my paragraphs again!

Spelling Bee Update

2008-04-09T15:04:00.006-07:00

So on March 29th, Hannah competed in the AZ State Spelling Bee at ASU. Because of the crazy month we've had, I hardly had any time to help her study, so I was not getting my hopes up too much for her. Of course, she surprised me and won 5th place with hardly any studying! The top five winners all received trophies, and she also won a savings bond and an Amazon.com gift card. I'll update later with the words she spelled, I don't have it in front of me. I know that the word she missed was tatami, she spelled it tatimi. She says she knew the correct spelling and even in her mind thought she spelled it correctly. We're so happy that she's done so well in the spelling bees this year. Great job Hannah! (The photo is right before the spelling bee, do you think she was nervous?)

I promise that my next posts will be about Noah and Kendall. Poor things, they've been very neglected on this blog!

By the way, Hannah was mentioned in the Surprise Today, a local newspaper, and also online in this article:
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/mailstory-clickthru/232029.php

The spelling bee will air on PBS locally on Sunday, April 13th at 5 pm and also on Wednesday, April 16th at 11 pm. Check it out!

It's Been Awhile

2008-04-09T14:32:00.002-07:00

Wow, apparently I'm not a very faithful blogger . . . although I'll say that we've had just a few things going on lately and blogging has not been at the top of the list!

First, an update on my dad. He's home now and doing much better. I'll try to summarize: he had some complications after the bypass surgery where the wiring that holds the ribs and sternum back together completely ripped apart, thus shredding the bone and causing the sternum to be completely destroyed. So he had to have another surgery to fix that, but he hadn't been off blood thinners long enough, so they started the surgery and then had to close him back up because the risk of bleeding was too great. At that point we were told that his condition was life threatening and that he had to be kept sedated and intibated until it was safe to do the surgery again, which ended up being 4 days later. We were called to the hospital at one point and told that he was critical and unstable and we were given the impression that he might not make it. I had to get my kids ready and take them to school without letting on that I may be going to the hospital to say goodbye to my dad. I was trying to prepare myself for the worst, but things stabilized and thankfully we didn't have to face that. They were able to do the third surgery on March 29th and it was successful. So now he's home and recovering and getting back to his usual self, minus a sternum. We're so grateful for everyone who did things for our family during this stressful time. We are so blessed.

Call Me . . .

2008-03-26T07:12:00.003-07:00

if you want the latest on my dad. I don't feel like posting all the details, but I'll just say that he's back in the hospital, had another surgery yesterday, and will have to have another surgery in the coming days. On the bright side of things, I now feel as familiar with the hospital as I did when I was 13 and volunteered there for the summer.

Spelling bee on Saturday :)

Can someone please tell me . . .

2008-03-21T16:10:00.003-07:00

why formatting is such a pain in Blogger? To get spaces between paragraphs, sometimes I have to hit enter a few times and even then it doesn't put a space in. And I cannot change the size of the font on that last line. It is driving me bonkers. Those of you who know me well know that I am an absolute perfectionist when it comes to that kind of thing. Suggestions are appreciated!!!

When It Rains . . .

2008-03-21T14:40:00.013-07:00

it really pours around here! So, I'll try to keep this brief and then move on to less depressing topics. Since my last post, I got really, really sick. I thought it was allergies at first, but then I ended up with 104 degree fever, coughing, sore throat, sinus infection . . . the list goes on and on. I decided to go to the doctor on Tuesday, and found out that I have an ear infection in both ears! I don't even know how the heck that happened, especially since my ears weren't even bothering me. So I've been in bed pretty much since Saturday night. I couldn't do anything fun with my kids on their Spring Break, and even though I've been up and around a little the past two days, I still don't feel back to my normal self yet. It's been awhile since I was that sick. Now I just have a lingering cough, which is still painful and annoying, but so much better than being in bed! I'm so grateful to be feeling better, though. My sweet husband stayed home from work on Monday just to help take care of me and the kids, and my dear friend Tonya helped me out so much by watching my kids twice and even bringing me groceries. She's a saint!

I haven't been able to see my dad or help out over there at all since he's been home from the hospital, and he now has an infection in his incision. We are hoping that antibiotics will treat it because if not they will have to do more surgery. Yuck. We don't want that. I'm still staying away until I'm confident that I'm better.

Also, my grandma (my mom's mom) is most likely having heart surgery next week to replace her aortic valve. She's in Kentucky, so it will be hard to be so far away and not get to see her before the surgery. Love you, Grandma!

In better news,

my handsome little brother is killing the ball and having a phenomenal senior season. I'm hoping to catch more of his games in the next few weeks. I've never known a kid who loves to play ball as much as he does. Doesn't my cousin take great photos? Here's her website: http://flickr.com/photos/paperdollimages

And for all those still wondering about Coupon Sense, visit www.couponsense.com. I can tell you more about it, but it's absolutely amazing and I can't believe I've been missing out all this time. Seriously, why didn't one of you tell me about it before? I consider it my new part-time job--getting free stuff. I love it, because it satisfies my shopping addiction and gives me great deals at the same time. The grand total for all that stuff: about $17. (Think of it this way: the razor and vitamins together would have cost $17 full price). I got a lot of it free or even MADE MONEY, and that was just my first week. I have been able to get so much more free stuff since then. I don't think I'll ever pay for shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, or soap again. Let me know if you are interested, I can have a little party and have my instructor come and tell you all about it. (And no, Mel, I haven't taken any more pictures of my groceries. I was tempted to take a picture of the 14 boxes of cereal I got for $4, but I resisted.)

Okay, that was long. Thanks for reading to the end.

The Latest

2008-03-13T06:46:00.005-07:00

My dad is doing really well. He ended up having a quadruple bypass, but everything went as expected. Within an hour after surgery he was awake and cracking us up trying to do some kind of sign language to tell us what he wanted. Within a few hours, he was able to get the breathing tube out and he hasn't stopped talking since. He is, of course, entertaining all the hospital personnel and the nurses were threatening to cut off the visitors yesterday because he had so many people going in and out. We're hoping to get him out of ICU and into a regular room today.

Personally, I want to thank all of my friends who offered help, phone calls, etc. My cell phone battery was almost dead by Tuesday night because I had so many phone calls checking on my family, offering meals and babysitting and moral support. Every time I would be on a call, my call waiting would beep, and then I'd get a text message. I could hardly keep up with it all! It is nice to be reminded of how much you're loved.

On a lighter note, I have a new obsession. I've always been a shopping addict, but these days I'm doing things a little bit differently. I'm so excited about it. Can you guess how much I paid for all of this?

Let me give you an idea of what is there: 12 boxes of Fruit Roll-ups, 8 boxes of Nature Valley Peanut bars, 6 bottles of Herbal Essences shampoo (okay, there are seven in the picture, but I accidentally put one in that shouldn't be there), 6 pounds of chicken drumsticks, 2 big bags of M & Ms, 2 boxes of Mama Bella garlic bread, a 24-pack of water, Garnier moisturizer, Yes to Carrots body butter, a tube of Colgate, 12 bars of Zest soap, 4 bars of Ivory soap, 4 bars of Safeguard soap, and a Venus Embrace razor.

Come on, take a guess in the comments section. I'll post the answer once a few people have guessed.

Just a quick post . . .

2008-03-10T22:59:00.004-07:00

So if you're not busy on Tuesday, say an extra prayer for my family. My dad is having open heart surgery tomorrow to bypass some blocked arteries. It's a little scary for us all, but we have faith in the doctors and are praying that all will go well. This is my favorite picture of my dad, I took it at Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania, when we went there a few years ago as a family. I just threw this page together, I'll have to go back and perfect it later. The hardest part for my dad so far is missing Andrew's baseball games. He missed the first game tonight since Andrew's freshman year, but Andrew knocked one out of the park for him. Gotta go to bed, I'm exhausted from being at the hospital all day, and tomorrow will be even more exhausting. More posts soon.

Happy Heart Day!

2008-02-14T10:38:00.010-07:00

This is the Valentine that I helped Hannah create on the computer. We had them printed 4x6 through Winkflash and she is passing them out at school. I think they turned out pretty cute. To explain the elephant, they are her current obsession and she had to have one on there. I told her it looks like a subliminal message of "Vote Republican" and she thought that was pretty funny. I'm just glad she is over the cow obsession so that she'll eat beef again.

So, I think Valentine's Day is pretty much a Hallmark/florist holiday. We don't really celebrate it much as a couple, probably because his birthday, our anniversary, and my birthday all fall within about two months of each other, so who needs another holiday in there to buy something else?! And the cost of flowers is just ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, there were times in the past that I would have been offended if I didn't get a present and a night out, but it's just not that big of a deal. Not that I'd be mad if I did get something now, but I just don't really care all that much. What do you think? Is it a big deal for any of you to celebrate Valentines Day? Do you have any fun traditions or stories?

She's Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

2008-02-14T10:21:00.002-07:00

Apparently I'm a blog slacker. It's been awhile, and I didn't even notice that I changed my comment settings so that they had to be moderated. I just changed them back. Anyway, to update you all on the spelling bee saga, Hannah competed in the regional spelling bee last Thursday, February 9th. She took second place!!! She was so close to winning . . . the other girl misspelled a word, Hannah spelled it correctly, but then missed the winning word, and that gave the other girl a chance to swoop in for the win. Here's the list of words she spelled correctly: biblical, sputnik, adamant, praline, misanthropy, malaria, coyote, myriad, eiderdown, homogeneous, notochord, gestalt, megalopolis, synchronous, bellicose, dressage, sevruga, and homburg. The only word she missed was belay, but to give her credit it wasn't on the study list, and being pronounced "buh-lay" she spelled it bilet, like a French word. So she now goes to the state spelling bee on March 29th at ASU, which of course being my alma mater she's sure to have some good karma coming her way. It was so exciting (as much as a spelling bee can be), but I would literally hold my breath every time it was her turn. The only bad thing is that I was so ready to be done studying. Those words are hard and they make me tired!

Great job Hannah!!!!

Light the Candles

2008-02-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, today the Joe-man turns 30. Even though it's only by six weeks, he'll always be older than me! Have a great day sweetheart!

A Great Example

2008-01-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

I don't remember exactly when or how it started. All of a sudden, maybe a year ago, whenever we said prayers our little Noah (age 5) would pray for President Hinckley. It must have been after he had the cancer surgery that we suggested to our children that we should pray for the prophet. Not a prayer was said by that little boy that he did not pray for President Hinckley's health. He was also quick to remind us if we forgot President Hinckley in our prayers. Pretty soon we were all praying for the prophet with great regularity. Noah's love for him increased through seeing him on General Conference (our hard and fast rule for the kids: when the prophet speaks, you must come and listen).

When President Faust passed away last year, we realized that we better explain to Noah that even though we pray for his health, President Hinckley would eventually pass on as well. We knew that it would be upsetting for Noah, and we hoped we could prepare him a little.

His reaction on Sunday night was heartbreaking. He asked if he could pray after family prayer was over, and all he could say was, "Thank you for everything President Hinckley did for us" before breaking down in tears. We all cried for Noah, for he had lost his hero.

I never had the opportunity to be in his presence (although Joey did in Honduras), but I always felt a special connection with him. I know he was a prophet of God. What's amazing is how much my love for him grew as I saw him through the eyes of a child.

As children do, Noah has already started to forget his sadness. But what will not be forgotten is the example that my little boy showed me of following the prophet.

Our Little Akeelah

2008-01-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

Dr Larabee: Where do you think big words come from?
Akeelah: People with big brains?

In case you hadn't heard, Hannah won the spelling bee at her school back in December, and then won the district spelling bee this month. She goes to the regional spelling bee next week. So she's had her 15 minutes of fame twice now, with her name up on the marquee. And no, someone didn't spray paint over her last name; I'm just a little freaked out about internet safety so I blurred it out (I'm loving my new Photoshop Elements). And I promise not to make every post a movie reference.

By the way, I paid her $5 to try and make it to the school spelling bee, because she told me she didn't want to do it. Great parenting skills, all that intrinsic motivation I'm trying to teach my children.

Hooray, Hannah! You rock!

Beuller? Bueller?

2008-01-30T22:05:00.000-07:00

So we created this blog, and then were strangely absent and didn't post anything. Apparently we've been too busy doing other things. (Unfortunately, not calling in sick while synthesizing alien barfing sounds, stealing our dad's car, and going to a baseball game, but still, we've been busy, people.) So here it is, our first blog post. Momentous.

As you can probably tell, we don't exactly have it set up the way we want it yet. And in case you're wondering, "the way we want it" is perfect, and better than everyone else's. Just kidding. But I would like to figure out how to get the post title font smaller, it makes me feel like Ben Stein is actually shouting. And I'd like to change a few random other things, about which I'm sure you could really not care any less.

Thanks for stopping by. And come back often. And leave comments.