Moth balls needed

February 27, 2012
The bright side of our bedroom makeover mishap, was that I felt the urge to de-junk and reorganize, which lead to the discovery of this.

Tiny holes eaten right through two very expensive suits. About $700 worth of suits. Those buggers got my Ann Taylor suit that I bought for my first presentation at a national workshop. They also munched away on one of Jeff's tailored suits he bought for his first "real" job at the Church. Granted I hadn't worn my suit in years because I'm too fat for it, but still! So rather than relax when Jeff got home, we spent the evening washing all of our clothes and vacuuming out the closet.

Apparently we'll be picking up some moth balls.

Kids always have the most fun

February 26, 2012
Jeff and I had a camp out last night. We pulled our mattress out into the living room and had a sleepover. It wasn't some extravagant date night like you might be thinking though. Jeff spent all day Saturday painting our bedroom so our furniture was strewn all over the dining room. By the time he finished and we got the room vacuumed, he was too sore and tired to put our bed back. So out into the living room we went.

It was fun. Until the kids woke up and had breakfast in OUR bed (powdered doughnuts... probably not the best move on my part) then proceeded to jump on OUR bed. If you'd ask Pearl though, she would plead it wasn't technically jumping on our bed. More like jumping from the couch onto the bed. There wasn't any actual jumping up and down on the mattress.

They had a blast. And I didn't have the heart to tell them to stop... I secretly wanted to do it too.

Prisoners

February 25, 2012
Fern was screaming at me "na-nigh" (translation: night-night). I figured either a miracle had happened with the kid begging for nap or his sister was up to something.

It was the latter.

So I put Cole in his crib and watched those two giggle and chase each other around for a good 15 minutes. They'd poke their heads up and over and yell "roarrrrrr" trying to scare me, then duck back down and act like I'd imprisoned them in there.

Too bad nap/bedtime aren't always this fun.

Safe Kids Fair

February 24, 2012
We went to the Safe Kids Fair today. It's free, there's always a ton of fun things to do, and I keep hoping if we go year after year that something safety related will sink in to my kids' brains.

Not this year... Pearl thinks you call 1-1-9 to get the police and fireman to help you.

Fruit Ninja

February 23, 2012
We have a serious problem here.

Three of us are addicted to Fruit Ninja. And Angry Birds. And some game that you try and give an alligator a bath.

There are tears, screams, threats, and timeouts on an almost daily basis because two of the three don't have their own Tablet to play on. The fourth one of us doesn't even know how to turn the thing on.

Love note

February 22, 2012
When I opened up Jeff's lunchbox tonight, I found this little "love" note staring me right in the face. No joke. It was sitting there just like this.

Jeff says he had no idea what it said when he tossed his wrapper back in his lunchbox, but I'm kind of wondering if he's just teasing me. Regardless, I had a good laugh.

(If you can't read the message, it says "Buy yourself flowers." Love Dove)

Team AshLee

February 21, 2012
I met an amazing, beautiful, and incredibly strong woman tonight.

AshLee Bambrough.

She was nearly killed after her boyfriend beat and pushed her out of a moving vehicle going 65 m.p.h. Her story is shocking and almost unbelievable. You can read about it here and here. But the really scary thing is this happens all the time. I admit, until I started working in the Violence and Injury Prevention field and experienced domestic violence in my own family, I had no idea (or maybe just didn't want to admit it) so much evil existed in the world. So many homes, families, and neighborhoods torn apart by domestic violence and abuse. I could spout off statistic after statistic (if you're interested you can see our reports here) but numbers don't do justice to the heartache, turmoil, and pain of abuse or the strength, courage, and humility of its survivors.

Tonight AshLee was a speaker at a "Healthy Relationships" rock concert, planned by a fabulous coworker of mine. February is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. Take the time to educate yourself. Talk to your teens. And join Team AshLee on Facebook and help spread the word that violence and abuse are never ok!

A boy and a laundry basket

February 20, 2012
I caught Cole with a laundry basket in the middle of the kitchen floor. Hanging from its side with his feet dangling in the air, climbing in and out of it, and hiding inside of it. And giggling with delight the entire time.

What a monkey.

4 letter word

February 19, 2012
Holy snow!

Where on earth did this come from?

Almost the perfect age for Saturday morning

February 18, 2012
Today I had a small glimpse of a distant future's perfect Saturday morning.

Pearl can reach the remote on top of the T.V. with the help of a stool. Cole's got the turn-on-the-morning-cartoons-thing down... he knows if he pushes the remote long enough something's bound to happen. And they both know how to get comfy-cosey on the couch.

Now if they could just make their own breakfast and learn to sleep in!

Birthday box

February 17, 2012
Growing up, one of the first things I did when I went to my Grandma's house - and the last thing I did as I was leaving - was check the birthday box. She had a blue box hanging on the outside of her kitchen cupboard with all of our birthdays written on 3x5"c ards. Getting to it before she remembered to change it to the next birthday was super cool. I loved seeing who's birthday was next and got so excited knowing mine was coming soon... even when I was "grown up" in college!

One year around Christmas time, I told Jeff I wanted my own birthday box. I wanted something to remind me of my Grandma, and let's face it, I'm not the best at remembering special occasions... eh, hem, mainly my husband's birthday and our anniversary. So Jeff enlisted my Dad's help and they made a bunch of birthday boxes.

After years of seeing my crappy handwriting on boring, white cards, I finally got around to re-writing everyone's birthdays on color-coded cards. One color for each month. Unfortunately for my manly husband, July's color ended up being pink.

Now if I could just get around to painting the birthday box.

Trevin Dude

February 16, 2012
We got to have our neighbor, Trevin, over a couple of times this week while his mom and dad were working and running his brothers around to various activities. Cole loves it! Trevin loves it! Pearl loves it! Moms and Dads love it!

Having three of them, two the same age, makes entertainment so much easier. Trevin-dude loves balls so we always pull out the basketball hoop and every single ball we own for them to play with. Footballs, soccer balls, basketballs, ping pong balls, bouncy balls, baseballs, tennis balls, it doesn't matter. Cole is a lot more agile than Trevin... shooting hoops while standing on the stool in heels! But if Trevin ever figures out he has about 20 lbs. on Cole, things might not go as smoothly as they did tonight.

1st YW activity

February 15, 2012
Tonight was my first taste of Young Women's. Each Wednesday we meet to do an activity, service project, etc. Since all of us are new to the presidency except our (very hip, fashionable, cool, gorgeous) secretary, we kept things low-key with fabric bracelets. Mine turned out a lot cuter than I thought it would (mine is the one on the bottom left, with the big turquoise button). I'm not really sure how to get to know the girls. Contrary to what people at work might think, I'm actually kind of reserved and shy. A group of teenage girls - whom I'm charged with keeping spiritually safe - are INTIMIDATING!

Our Young Women group is really small, which is quite different than my own YWs when I was growing up. On the way home, two of the girls told me how excited they were for some new, young leaders. It made me breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe I'll be able to do this after all.

Ewwww

February 14, 2012
Nothing screams romance and Valentine's Day like seeing your husband walk towards you with a big, gross, hairy, dead rat he found in the flowerbeds.

I'm just glad we don't live in New York 'cause those rats could literally carry a small child away.

All about me

February 13, 2012
Pearl had her first homework assignment this weekend. To make an "all about me" poster. She decided to include a picture of herself buried in the sand at Bear Lake, one of us at a USU football game, and her and Jeff on the 4-wheeler. She also taped a crayon on it because she loves art. She (well, I) wrote her favorite foods were spaghetti and ice cream and that she likes to do art, go 4-wheeling, go to Bear Lake, dance, watch movies, and of course likes the Aggies. Pearl was pretty proud of her poster and couldn't wait to show all her friends during their Valentine's Day party at school.

Lost and found

February 12, 2012
I got a new calling at Church. Second Counselor in the Young Women's Presidency.

When I came home to find two members of the Bishopric waiting for me in my living room, I figured they were here to see if I'd teach Primary again. Boy, was I surprised. My first thought was honestly, "Is Heavenly Father joking? It's not enough that I'm going to screw up my own two kids' lives but now He wants me to screw up other people's children?" Then I thought, "I really am that old. And there's no way I can do this... I am frumpy, uncool, and definitely not crafty/creative enough for this job."

I kept thinking about my own Young Women leaders. I'm not sure there are words to even describe how much those women meant and still mean in my life. I wondered what it was about them that made such an impact on my life. It suddenly dawned on me. They loved us unconditionally. They sacrificed time with their families and jobs to be with us each week. And more than one was absolutely horrified by the idea of sleeping in a tent or using a latrine while camping and yet they still went to camp with us year after year after year. I honestly am not sure I can love these girls as much as my leaders loved me. It seems impossible. I feel completely overwhelmed and definitely not cool enough for this journey.

After getting set apart (that was an adventure with Cole who wanted nothing to do with an extra 45 minutes of Church), we walked out to the car. On the ground next to the passenger door was an earring. My earring. I had lost it almost two weeks earlier when I'd come to a funeral. One of the ladies I go Visiting Teaching to had lost her son to suicide. I may suck as a Visiting Teacher, but just days before I'd told myself it was time to stop being so selfish. I needed to serve others more, get out of my own problems, and make a bigger effort to be better especially with the women I am supposed to visit each month. Going to the funeral and baking a cake for her family's luncheon afterwards seemed so small. When I got home that day, I realized I had lost my earring somewhere between home, work, the funeral, lunch, back to work, and then back home again. I mentioned to Jeff that I'd lost my earring and to look for it in the truck (we hadn't even taken the same vehicle to church today so I know it didn't just suddenly fall out or anything like that). I never found it. And I know it was not on the ground when we got to church.

I'm not really sure what this all means except that in that moment when I saw my earring sitting in the parking lot, I knew Heavenly Father was mindful of me, my insecurities, and my desires to be better.

A small, tender mercy from the Lord.

Long season

February 11, 2012
It's very, very hard to say this. Our basketball sucks. And ironically, our football rocked this season. Sure they have moments of glory but overall they have no "balls", no heart, no toughness. When the pressure gets hot, they get cold and give up. Like today, against New Mexico State. I thought we had it but we lost in the last two minutes of the game because we have don't have a single player with enough heart (or muscle... please recruit someone other than a scrawny white guy next year, Stew) to take it upon himself to win.

It's been a loooong time since Aggie fans have seen any losses at The Spectrum. Let alone multiple loses at home in one season. It burns when we lose. And quite frankly, most of us have no clue how to handle a loss. The only consolation prizes today was a date with Jeff (with no kids), Big Blue coming down our isle, and Wild Bill dressed up as a pig from Angry Birds. If you haven't heard, Wild Bill retired after last season and multiple health problems but promised fans to dress up for two ESPN games this season.

I miss Wild Bill. If we keep sucking it up, he's going to be the ONLY reason I finish out the season.

Buds

February 10, 2012
How crazy is this? The trees are budding and it's only February! Jackets and playing at the park in February in Utah just don't sound like they belong in the same sentence.

I have a feeling we are going to pay dearly for this in July. Like, as in snow in July! I sure hope I'm wrong.

Debrief lunch

February 9, 2012
I love my job. I love my coworkers. But some days I don't love what we do. We deal with a lot of tragedy and death. And not just your typical run-of-the-mill-stuff either. We can be crass, disturbed, irreverent, and way too desensitized at times. I'm fairly certain we'd horrify most of you if you happened to walk in on one of our staff meetings or debrief lunches with the stuff we talk about. Suicides, drug overdoses, child abuse, murders, domestic violence, traumatic brain injuries, rape, drownings, car crashes... you name it, dream it, can't believe it, we deal with it. We've seen it all. And most of the time, we hold ourselves together pretty well. But not this week.

The high-profile murders of two innocent boys by their father, Joshua Powell, pushed us the breaking point. Sadly, we've seen this before, sometimes worse, but most of the time we don't have to see or hear about it on the news every single day. Reminding us of all the horrible, sickening details over and over again. It's weird to me how some cases can be so tragic and yet, we're able to distance ourselves from them and then others we can't get out of our heads. We were all grateful we weren't going to have to do death reviews this time, because they died out-of-state, but the fear that someday, when her body is found, we'll review the death of Susan Powell still lingers.

So we had an impromptu debrief lunch today. We have regular debrief lunches every month to get out any lingering emotions about cases we've dealt with but today, we needed something more. People often ask me how I deal with the things my program does. I tell them you learn to distance yourself from stuff like this... it's your job... but sometimes, you just can't. That's when it's hard. But even then, knowing that the work we do might save even one life makes all the emotions and difficulties worth it.

Haircut by Dad

February 8, 2012
Cole wasn't too happy about getting his hair cut tonight. But the tears and screams were worth it because at least we can see his ears now.

Did you notice the drool? Love it.

Paint colors

February 7, 2012
Why are there so many dang blasted paint colors to choose from? For someone as indecisive as me when it comes to interior design, staring at a wall of blues, greens, grays, reds, oranges, browns, and everything in between about throws me into a panic attack! I just want something to make our bedroom feel clean, calm, soothing, and light. At the rate I'm going, we're going to have a rainbow of paint samples all over the walls before I decide!

Doctor, doctor

February 6, 2012
The kids wanted to play doctor today.

Eventually it was my turn to be the patient. I'm not sure if my diagnosis was an ear infection or a cavity.

10,000 calories later

February 5, 2012
I'm really not sure what sent me over the edge with my calorie limit during today's Super Bowl festivities. The chili, homemade breadsticks, cheese and crackers, best black bean salad, ice cream, or Grandma's ooey-gooey-sticky popcorn. But looking at the list of ingredients, it was probably the popcorn.

Grandma's ooey-gooey-sticky popcorn
4 qt. popcorn (or 2 bags of microwave popcorn)
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light Karo syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups cashews or peanuts
3 cups miniature marshmallows

Mix popcorn, nuts, and marshmallows in a large (very large) bowl. Melt butter and add syrup and sugar. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Simmer three minutes, add vanilla, and pour over popcorn. Then run a marathon to burn off all those delicious calories!

Super bowling

February 4, 2012
Growing up, we had a BIG super bowl party. Big.

We had a super "bowl" before the Super Bowl. Get it? Bowling! With a handbook, trophy, and rules for determining the winner and how the trophy was to be redecorated during the following year. It was a big deal and very, very competitive.

Over the years though, our super "bowl" tradition fell by the wayside. Until this year. I told Jeff I wanted to go bowling, like we used to when I was a kid. So he told my mom and ta-da! The tradition was reborn. And just like when I was a kid, my Dad won. Even if he could barely walk because of a hurt back.

Chicken dance

February 3, 2012
My kids L.O.V.E. music. And dancing. Which is weird because singing and shakin' my groove thing is the last thing I'd want to do. Or subject anyone else to.

Cole especially loves rockin' out to the Chicken Dance. Yes, the chicken dance. His teacher at daycare, Ms. Kori, first introduced him to the chicken dance. She's told me he is the best dancer in his class and never fails to flap his little chicken wings, shake his bum, and clap-clap-clap to the beat. Every time my sister comes over, Cole grabs her phone and says, "peas!" (aka, please) until she starts playing music for him.

And with this cute face, I think the chicken dance might make a comeback.

Can chute

February 2, 2012
Since I always have a nagging voice in the back of my mind reminding me that we don't have an adequate food storage, I signed up to help at the Dry Pack Cannery tonight. Plus, the rule is you have to do some type of volunteer service to buy the ever classic #10 cans filled with, in my case, black beans, flour, sugar, and rice.

My job was helping to can powdered milk and hot chocolate mix, wash the scoops, and then make boxes with this really ingenious contraption that you use a foot pedal to staple the boxes together with. But my favorite part of the cannery is the can chute. It's this long metal chute that comes down from the 2nd floor to the main level. The cans come zipping down it and make this distinctive clink-clink-clink sound. Maybe it's more of a clank-clank-clank sound. When I asked one of the missionaries if I could take some pictures of it after we got done, he just laughed at me. Apparently he doesn't know about my blog! :)

All this church service in one week is wearing me out!

Too late for even this night owl

February 1, 2012
I'm a night owl. I typically stay up until 11:30 or later most nights. Bad habit... but that's a discussion for another day. So I figured I might as well earn some extra blessings by volunteering to clean the temple tonight. But even THIS was late for me. Granted, it may have been the fact that I was exhausted and my shoulders/neck were aching from spending the last three hours vacuuming but still. You know it's way past bedtime when you come out of the temple and all the lights are off.

Do you have a favorite child?

January 31, 2012
Jeff is always giving me a hard time about my inconsistent parenting because he says I'm smitten with Cole and would let him get away with anything. While that was probably true up until Cole turned 18 months and turned into a pint-sized Hellion, I can assure you all the "smitten-ness" I have with those bright blue eyes, blonde hair, and dimples is wearing off. Really fast.

I fully admit that for most of the last year and half, it was a lot easier to love Cole than it was Pearl. Let me explain. Holding a tiny baby (who you know will stop crying if you just stick a boob in it's mouth) is a lot more easy and enjoyable than trying to figure out what to do with a spunky, independent toddler. I know I lose my patience a lot with Pearl. I expect way too much of her... but she is just so darn smart and behaves so well everywhere outside of our home that I don't give her enough credit or let her have much down time. I'm not sure if it's because we are so much alike or because we are complete opposites that makes it hard for Pearl and I to get along sometimes. Besides, she self-appointed best friends once Cole was born and didn't choose me. For two years, I've heard nothing but, "You're not my best friend anymore. Dad's my best friend." It gets old and some days hurts my feelings. I get all defensive about it too. I would never go so far as to say I have a favorite child, because I don't feel that way, but sometimes the perception is there.

I try to take Pearl with me to "girls-only" stuff. Tonight we went to a "purse-onality" party. Pearl played downstairs with all the other kids and we spent less than two minutes checking out all the purses and jewelry. But it must have meant a lot to her because as we were walking out to the car, Pearl told me, "Mom. I love you." I was pretty shocked. I told her thanks and that I loved her too. Curious as to what sparked the nice compliment, I asked Pearl why she loved me. She told me, "Because you take me to girl parties sometimes."

Slowly I'll get my old best friend back.

Free ice cream

January 30, 2012
I wonder if Arctic Circle loses any money giving away free sample-sized ice cream cones to all the kids (and some parents)? I know I, for one, feel guilty going to the "indoor park" without buying something... even if it's a $1 ice cream cone for myself.

But money loss or not, we'll keep going there to get the wiggles out on those days when it's just too cold to play outside.