wheat beat

family stories

2009-03-02T13:57:00.003-05:00

We have had some really great stuff happening this last while. Just thought I would share with you how cool my kids are. Slade has learned to 'color inside the lines.' He says it looks like Scott is just scribbling. He has no rememberance of last fall when he did the same thing. But he's great. He's growing up.

Scott is also growing up. He has learned how to dial our phone number. He loves to call our house. We let him call us from our phone every once in a while and it goes to the voice mail. He gets really excited. One time I gave him my cell phone and he called from that and I answered on our home phone while I was sitting next to him. He was pretty excited about that.

Yesterday in church sharing time was about the creation of the earth. The kids got the pick pictures off the board and tell if the statement on the back was true or false. One of the questions was that God created the earth on the first day. The answer was false and the teacher asked what God created on the first day. Slade yelled out, "A giraffe!" Don't ask me where he got that one. It was funny. Not correct, but funny.

Sam took me on a hot date the other night. We went to the play "Into the Woods." I love that play. Sooo much. It's a story with all the fairy tales mixed together. It's amazing. And he took me. And we left the kids home. We had a good time.

A couple of days ago Sam and I were cleaning out a few of our things for a yard sale at our neighbors house. The phone started ringing. Sam answered it and no one was there. He hung up. It rang again, just once. No one was there, again. It rang again and no one was there. The person was hanging up after one ring. Sam and I were getting really frustrated. He decided not to answer the next call and he heard giggling coming from our room down the hall. Slade and Scott had found my cell phone and were under our bed covers calling our home and hanging up. They were taking turns. I still laugh thinking about it but we had to be very serious explaing that they couldn't steal cell phones and make calls without talking to us. Still, who knew my kids were so smart. I love them.

Sadie is getting bigger. She eats alot now and right now is starting to cry saying I need to come get here. So I'm off. Perhaps I'll get more stories another day.

and we're back.

2009-01-08T20:38:00.006-05:00

It's been awhile. A year. Wow, how time flies. Life has changed in the last while. Sam and I have 2 boys in school and a little baby Sadie. How's that for change. It's been a good year.

So this year we got a Christmas card from Mary and Jason saying that they missed our blog and I started feeling guilty. I don't write in my journal, I don't write in my blog, I just haven't written much at all. But I also got an invite to be part of Facebook. Now, I haven't heard anything about Facebook so I thought I could do that and find a few people that I know. Holy cow that thing is busy. I know I can monitor and drain the stuff that I don't really want to know about. (Good thing because I knew everything these two sisters said to each other on the computer for the first few days.) And I found out when ever anyone I knew got to be friends with anyone else. It was crazy. So I decided to come back to the blog. Here I can write and people can respond if they want to and I don't need to know who did what and who said hi to who else.

Anyway, Sam's parents finished their mission in Salt Lake in August. Sam's mom came out here in September. I was excited because Baby Sadie was born in August and I was trying to deal with a new baby. I think a new baby is a new adventure, but different, every time you go there. And while Grandma was here she visited Jill's new baby also, born in June. I think that the boys also started school while she was here. They are going to preschool. Slade was very anti-school but has just turned 5 (so he can go to kindergarten this year or next) and Scott wanted to go so badly so we put them both in. They love it.

We just finished Christmas with everyone here. All of Sam's family except his 12 year old niece was here. It was great! I do love family gatherings. And his parents spent a lot of time looking for houses. Their house just went on the market and as soon as they sell it they are going to move out here so they can drive me around. (We all know that it's really so they can be by their grand kids and so they can breathe better in the lower elevation.)

And as everyone leaves to start a new year we keep praying that their house will sell and they will come back quick. It's all good though. We will see what happens. I hope I'll get back in the habit of writing a blog so I can read it. So check out my family. Cool, huh.

How Romantic!

2007-12-20T18:28:00.000-05:00

So Sam came home from work to take me on our secret outing for our anniversary that he had planning. We went to Augusta and he was telling me what roads to help him find so we could end up at the right place. He hadn't ever been there. So we pulled up to the airport. Weird. I looked at him to make sure he was at the place he wanted to be.

Let me paint the picture a little better. This a small town airport. A small runway, they have personal planes for the rich people there and small planes that they use to teach people to fly with/in. He smiled and said, "We are going on a sunset flight." Wow. How's that idea. He works with a guy whose son and girl went on a sunset flight and the son was very impressed.

We went up in this tiny plane- pilot and co-pilot seats and 2 passenger seats. Our pilot was the only other one in the plane. We went up just as the sky was going pink and orange. We could see the huge golf course where the Master's is played and different parks and such. We flew out and over a lake then flew back. As we were flying there was a thin layer of clouds. We could see through them to the lights in the city below but if we looked out at the clouds it looked like we were in rolling waves. It was so cool. When we came down it was dusk. We could see where the commercial and residential areas. So we landed and went back to the main office. They have a balcony there and there was a basket with cheese, crackers, grapes, and spanking grape juice. It was wonderful. We didn't stay on the balcony long because it was kinda cold but we had so much fun. Happy anniversary.

Ben came over last night and I love it. My boys do too. He is their favorite person right now. I hope he can last. He's changed Scott's underwear 2xs today (there have been 3 accidents) and he still loves to be with the boys. Thank heaven. I hope all stays well.

I'm Back

2007-12-18T10:02:00.000-05:00

So it's been awhile since I've written huh. Bad Jodi. Oh well, let's work on an update. Since President Eyring (kinda weird calling his president) talked about writing in a journal and saying things you're thankful for I've been writing somewhere else. But now you all get to hear what's up.

Denise Austin and I have become good friends. I think there has only been one other time I've excercised so faithfully. Unfortually I'm also good friends with Hershey's so things are not as effective as they could be. There is a resolution I can work on. Sam's been in the middle of it too. Slade was excercising with us for awhile but he decided to join Scott on the couch watching. Whatever. They can't play the computer if they don't excercise so our computer isn't used as much as it was before the excercise thing started.

Slade had his first Primary program this year. He did good up there. They say he sings the loudest of anyone but he didn't that day. He may have had a little stage fright. This week the Primary is singing Christmas songs and one of the Primary presidency talked to me in the hall. She wanted Slade to be there because he sings the loudest and is on the front row. I don't know that loudest means in tune or anything like that. But I hope he sings good again.

Slade got potty trained a few whiles ago- maybe in the summer. Scott is potty trained now. Slade has totally regressed. The pooping in his pants, peeing on the floor, it's crazy again. And I didn't realize until I wrote this down that perhaps Scott catching up could be part of the problem. Maybe he feels like he doesn't have an advantage any more. I wonder.

Mom, Dad, Becki, and Cardon came out for Thanksgiving. We had a great time. Scott adores Becki and Slade loves Cardon. Poor Cardon couldn't get away from the boys for the first while. And now if you ask him who loves him best he says "Cardon." Dad hung out with boys as Slade took to his favorite pastime of picking up rocks. I was planning on going out for Thanksgiving dinner but we made it instead and it was wonderful. It was just a good week.

Our ward has a program this year where we can have a copy of the DVD "Joy to the World" if we will give it to a friend or neighbor with some treats or something like a holiday gift. We've been talking about this for a few weeks, supposed to be praying, etc. about it. I had someone in my mind, a lady across the street. About 2 weeks ago she came over having an allergic reaction to a medication that she had taken that morning. It was making her feel intense nervousness and she couldn't be inside. So I was outside with her for awhile. I told her Sam could give her a blessing and it would help. That is a scary thing to testify of when you don't have the missionary badge on. But she let Sam give her the blessing and she calmed down and she was really impressed. I think the intensity of it all has left but she remembers the feeling of the Spirit, the "good" and "calm" feelings. Slade, Scott, and I are going over there as soon as I finish writing. I hope things go good. I think we will be off.

September begins

2007-09-06T18:44:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I last wrote huh. My family had a good enough time this last couple of days that I decided that I would share something.

Sam's parents start their mission in Salt Lake City tomorrow. They will be at the Family History Center for a year. I think it's funny how Sam's mom is so sad to be in a ward/ branch of "old people" and no kids. It's one of their sacrifices. I am excited for them.

Our family went to Charleston for a day or two. We went over one morning and spent the morning at the aquarium and the afternoon in a tour of the city. It was fun. Slade was having a hard time not peeing in his pants. (Let's do a little background. He has gone a little backwards in the last week. He was potty trained good but I think he's wet his pants every day for a week. He hasn't today though.) I was scared that he would wet his pants during our tour but he did good and held it in. We made it back and the people let us use their bathroom.

Then we went to a restaurant called "Bubba Gump." Guess what they are known for. Yep, Forrest Gump. The boys had fun. They had this big pipe that looked like a little stream and they had a few tiny ducks that you could have float down it. Slade and Scott got really excited about this and ran up and down the stream thing for about 1/2 hour. The thing was outside of course. Good thing because Slade was running around so I never saw him do his pee-pee dance. He just said, "I have to pee." So I asked where the restroom was and by the time I turned around he was peeing on the ground. I'm glad they had a hose to spray it off.

The next day we went to the beach. We thought it would be fun to spend the day at the beach but with two little ones it's hard to spend the whole day out there. We made it through the morning and the boys loved it. Scott got toasted. And Slade peed in his car seat on the way home. While he was asleep. It doesn't phase him. He didn't wake up, he didn't notice a thing. Weird. But we had a good time there.

It's been good with the family and with Sam home with me this last while.

My Beautiful Boys- and Man

2007-07-16T20:14:00.000-05:00

I suppose you all know that I like "bad-for-me" food. I really like it. The other day I was eating my treats, some Twizzlers, by the computer and Scott asked me if he could have some 'tweets'. I told him no because it was about a half hour before lunch. I had to leave the computer because my friend came and we were talking. Then Sam got on the computer. After about 15 minutes my friend and I ended up at the computer by Sam. I noticed that Scott was in front of Sam's feet by the wires/cords of the computer so I told him to come out. Sam moved over to let him out and he looked up at me and said, "Uh-oh." He had some of my Twizzlers. He had been hiding very carefully. Man, he's started so young.

Slade got to pray in Primary this week. I've been working on it with him since he starts every prayer out with the same thing, "Please bless the food be safe." He was saying the opening prayer and I had to teach Sunday school so I couldn't be in there. We talked each night about the different things you can pray for and that if you aren't eating you don't have to bless the food (it still hasn't changed how he starts out each prayer). On Sunday I asked the Primary president to help him if he wanted because sometimes he will let you and sometimes not. Anyway, I don't know much else except that when I asked him how his prayer was he was very excited when he said, "I didn't bless the food Mommy." I have great kids.

Speaking of great, you should see what Sam does. I would so never work as hard as he does. Well, maybe I would, but I'd complain a lot. He has been working nights since Friday. Tonight he is working and will get home at 7am and we have to leave ~7:30 to go to the doctor- I have no idea how long that will last but I know it's 45 minutes there and 45 min back. Then he will have to sleep a little because he has another appt at 2:45- at least it's in town- and then he has to be up to get ready to go to work again at 4:30. There is no time for sleep there. That's what you get for being a hard worker and for taking care of your wife.

We have had another pool party and are planning 2 more. And the neighbors come and swim, I finally feel like this is worth the time and work. We are having fun with it. And that's good.

I'm coming out to UT for the first week in August. I will be there for Tyler's baptism. I hope all my siblings will be there too. I suppose we will see. I'm excited to see everyone in UT. Later.

4th of July and my boys

2007-07-04T17:27:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th everyone. I hope you all have (or had) a great holiday. Today is wonderful. The 4th of July out here is just dull. In Blanding we had a parade and the carnival and diving for money and fireworks and Navajo tacos and... There were things in all the other places I've lived too, because they've all been small towns. But here there is nothing calm about celebrating. Most people have to camp out to get near the fireworks or the carnival. I haven't heard anything about any parades. (I have to admit I haven't researched that.) I also know that whatever is out there, I can't walk to so I can't get to without someone. And so I complained. But I was worried about being bored today so I called my friends and they came over to our house and we swam and ate lunch and such. Their kids love mine and they fight so well together. We had fun.

These friends of mine went to the temple 2 weeks ago and then were sealed last Saturday. It was cool to be part of that. The daughter is 8. She turned 8 on Sunday so she went to the temple to be sealed to her family on Saturday and then was baptized on Sunday by her dad. How cool is that.

Many of you may know that I am very proud of Slade and how well he sings. He knows the Tim McGraw song 'Last Dollar.' "One, two, three, like a bird I sing..." He sings great. And he knows the words too. He corrects Sam if Sam sings the wrong words. It's so cool. Anyway. At the baptism I was sitting by the Primary chorister. She has a daughter who has autism. She sings the songs in sign language so her daughter will also sing. She says that Slade knows all the songs in sign language. She says that most Sunbeams just look around during singing time but Slade sings. "He can even sing the melody, not just the words." So she's impressed just like me. And I am very proud of the child and his voice. My friend Barbie says Slade probably thinks he's just dancing when he's doing the sign language. Slade is a good dancer.

Scott is growing up lots too. He can talk almost as good as me. OK not really, but almost like Slade. We got some clothes from this kid. He's 6 and he wore this outfit last year. Scott wears it. It's way too small for Slade. The thing is that our boys are solid and he is a tiny thing. He runs around with his hands holding his pants up. And my boys have no trouble filling the waistband of pants a size bigger than their year old. We certainly are built differently.

Just a couple of off the side comments.
1) Thanks Mary for the potty training treats.
2) When Sam's mom was here we talked a couple of times about names for new babies- no I'm not pregnant. Slade has decided that if we ever have another baby it should be named Collis. It's not a boy or a girl name- it's a baby name. And we can't figure out where it came from. The other day I saw that name on Matt and Stephanie's blog and remembered I'd heard the name before. Still, Slade can't read- weird.

I'm off.

Church, crackers, cell phones...

2007-06-10T18:09:00.000-05:00

Before I explain the cool title of the blog I should update you all on my life. Sam's mom is out here. I love it when she comes. She plays with the kids and I have someone to hang out with during the day and she smiles so much. It's just good.

We went to get her on Friday and spent the day with Jill and her family. It is always fun watching the kids play together. Man they play hard and exciting. It's funny. I have no idea where they get the energy they have. We certainly don't feed them good enough to give them all that energy. (I really shouldn't admit that.)

We had a party on Memorial Day. It was crazy fun. Way cool. We had a lot of people swimming in the pool, eating, grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, visiting. We had a great time. There are so many people in our ward that are about our age now. I can't really say young couples... but I like to think that's what we are. Some of them still are, some of them are like us.

Okay, let's talk about crackers and cell phones at church. There is a lady in our ward who is different than many people I know. One example- one Sunday the stake president (I think) was speaking in Sacrament meeting. He was quoting a general conference talk alot and in the middle of the meeting she raised her hand and asked what talk it was and how she could get it. And would he please repeat the quote he had just said because she didn't hear all of it. She is very excited to learn. (Not a bad thing, and I think he said they could speak about how to get the 'talk' after the meeting.) And she is very excited to share the gospel, which is great. She has no fear of doing that. There are things you just have to admire her for and others you just gotta wonder about.

Well today she gave Slade and Scott a snack bag of crackers. And the boys ate them for awhile. When they stopped eating them constantly she reached and took them back and put them into her purse. OK- Whatever. We didn't worry about it, the boys didn't notice, and we just wondered. Then close to the end of sacrament meeting her cell phone rang. It rings at least every week. I was in the process of rolling my eyes when Slade just popped up and started looking around and said, "The ice cream man!" Cell phones can bring joy to the soul of a bored son in a long meeting. It was great.

Life is good in South Carolina, though we would like more visitors. Come! Come!

2007-05-20T20:47:00.000-05:00

We had an adventure yesterday. My friend Tammy took Bryan (her son) and me and the boys to Columbia yesterday to the zoo. It was great! We had a good time doing everything. We started out with Slade running through the line into the zoo without paying because he had to get to the bathroom. I'm glad there were 2 adults. I couldn't have gotten him there before an accident and this way we got him in while someone still payed. I didn't bring a stroller so we got one of those 2-kid strollers that they rent. (Wonderful! I had forgotten how heavy the diaper bag is.)

We saw the birds, the monkeys, the snakes and lizard things, the fish, elephants, tortoises, penguins, orangutans, etc. We got to pet the big turtle. It was posing and stayed there by the fence so the kids could pat it's back or touch it's legs. We also saw flamingos. They are cool. And probably the brightest thing around. The boys both loved the fish the best. Slade ran away in all three different houses- the bird house, the monkey house, the fish place. He is crazy. Needless to say he was stuck in the stroller for awhile, not able to get out. I wasn't gonna give in on that one. There were lots of people there. I'll bet there were more kids under 12 than adults. It was crazy. The last thing we did at the zoo was ride an endangered species carousel. Scott and I rode a tiger. Tammy stood by Slade. She made this day so much better. And Bryan gave us the tiger because it had a bigger saddle for a bigger bumba. (Scott and I make 1 1/2 bumbas.)

After the zoo we went to the Columbia temple. My boys have never seen a temple before. Not that they would recognise or know what it was. Bryan hadn't been there either. We got to walk around a bit and see the white and pretty. I love the calm. If you ask the boys whose house the temple is Slade will tell you it's Heavenly Father's and Scott will say Jesus. I love my boys.

On the way home Slade and Bryan decided that Slade would stay the night at Tammy's house. Tammy said it was OK. Slade adores Bryan and Bryan loves to have someone to hang with. When we got home Scott started to fall apart because he wanted to be with Slade. It ended up that Tammy (poor Tammy) took all the boys to her house and I stayed home alone. I prepared lessons for church to be responsible but more than that I just was calm, and alone. Sam didn't get to be part of the adventure of the day because he was working/ sleeping/ working. It was quiet at our house and I think Tammy had her hands full. I sure owe her a ton. We had fun. I think next time the boys will stay at my house though.

Slade, the Adventurer

2007-05-08T08:49:00.000-05:00

We've had some fun with Slade lately. He sees the world in a different way than Sam and I do. I think it was about 2 weeks ago he got an etch-a-sketch from a friend. He was excited and was drawing on it. It's not easy to make really distinct pictures on those. He brought one of his drawings to Sam and was telling him all about it. The story went something like this-'On this side are the bad guys and the angels are on the other side. The angels are throwing pies at the bad guys.' Now we really haven't seen or been to any carnivals or any other place that you see things like that (that I can remember) but he was sure the bad guys were going to lose because of the pies being thrown at them.

He also got to say his first prayer in Primary. He was very excited. And he wanted to go up and talk at the end of the last testimony meeting, but it was the end. I didn't feel guilty about not taking him up.

He has become very confident about his going to the bathroom himself. I have asked a couple of guys to check on him in the church bathroom a few times because he won't go into the girls bathroom. But he does good.

He was swimming at the neighbor's house and decided he had to go to the bathroom. I didn't want to have him dripping all over so I sent him behind our shed to pee. I think I said "Go over there then." Well, he didn't understand it. I went to check on him after he had been back there for along time and found him just playing. He hadn't peed yet and I told him he could pee in the dirt. He was confused. You can tell Sam hasn't taught him all the things he could learn out in the yard.

Sam was helping finish up in the bathroom the other night and Slade told him that his friend, Ross (don't ask me where he picked that name), was stuck in the toilet so he couldn't flush yet. Hello. Sam asked him to help Ross out because he was going to fluch in 3 seconds. Slade saved Ross. Don't ask me where he went from there. Slade has never introduced him to me.

This morning was a new adventure. Slade and Scott like to play with the flashlight and most of the time it's not a big deal. I heard alot of noise this morning though, coming from the bathroom. So I went to check on them. Slade had the light in the bathtub. I took it away. It was all wet.
"Whey are you guys playing in here?"
"It looks so cool in the water. We were just shining it in here."
"You were shing it in the water? In the toilet?"

Maybe Slade has a thing for toilets. He also threw our bathroom cup into our toilet in our bathroom this morning. I think they said they were trying to throwing things in and taking them out. Needless to say, the bathrooms are off limits except to go to the bathroom.

On a clearer note- we can see the bottom of the pool we've been cleaning for a month. And we can still see it after we start vacuuming/scooping stuff out. That means it's getting close to done. I'm excited. It's crazy that such a small bit of joy takes so much work. Really it wouldn't take so much work if we kept up with it all the time but that's hard to do.

Well, Slade says I've written enough and I need to go get him and Scott some raisins. I'm off.

2007-05-01T17:24:00.000-05:00

Life flies by. Just like birds, huh. Okay- bad joke. But I thought I might write a bit. Scott is talking a ton. My friends who haven't seen him for a few weeks are very impressed. He was talking to Sam's mom the other day on the phone and afterward she asked me what Slade said. I told her she had talked to Scott, not Slade. She was excited that he could talk that good.

Sam and I have been working on the yard. Well- Sam has been working on the yard and I help once and awhile. We have a pile of branches and grass and pine needles and leaves at least 6 feet high. The crazy thing is that it doesn't look like our yard has been newly trimmed. It's weird how much/quick things grow here. We have also been working on cleaning out the swimming pool. That takes dedication. We finally have it cleaned out enough that there is good circulation. (We started out with about 1 foot of pine needles at the bottom of the pool. I'm not exagerating.) That circulation helped our skimmed catch some goggles yesterday. Weird.

Here's the funny story for this blog. I cut Sam's hair today, just a basic buzz. I used one of the length chooser things for his do. I was cleaning up and he came back in and asked if "this spot" was longer than the other spots. I decided to just cut over it to make sure it would be the same. Well, I forgot to put the length thing on. So I shaved a small part of his head. We both freaked out. "You just shaved it!" "Oh, I forgot the..." You should see him. He decided to wear a hat to work. This is the second time we've had an episode like this. The first time I had really low sugar. I think he needs a real barber. Oh, well. I'm off.

Birds

2007-04-12T21:03:00.000-05:00

Our life isn't really exciting very often so I don't keep a daily blog. But last night we had some interesting stuff. Sam and Mark, his brother, laid out wood in the fireplace for a fire if we ever decided to make one. It was set up a long time ago. We think there is a bird's nest in our chimney too. There is a lot of chirping coming from up there. So Sam and I make sure the flu (how do I spell it) is shut. So last night Slade came in and told me there was a fire in the fireplace.
Me- "No there isn't."
"But mom, I can hear it."
"Slade there can't be a fire in there."
He went back to the den then came back out to me in the front room. "Mom, I can hear the popping and clicking."

I went to check what was going on. There was popping and clicking. It sounded like a bird fell down into the chimney and was stuck there. And it made plenty of noise for awhile. No, there wasn't any chirping or such but it was working really hard on getting out. The boys and I thought that it must have gotten out because the sounds stopped. Still, I asked Sam to check it when he got home. Thru this all Slade was sure he could see the bird's eyes in the middle of the wood opening and shutting.

So Sam came home ~7am and he had to clear out all the wood. He opened up the flu and the bird was still "very able." He had to chase it out of our den and it wouldn't leave the laundry room. He left the outside door open so the bird could get out when it decided to come out from behind the dryer. It did finally leave. We think, because we can't find it inside.

Now let's go back to my last experience with a bird. I was at the computer in the den and a bird came flying from somewhere and landed under the table/desk when I was and died, there at my feet. I ran away. I had to come back and check to see if it really was dead. I had to find something to take it outside to the trash in and somehow to get it in that something. The experience was horrible. That was about 4 years ago. I was not looking forward to another bird experience. Thank heaven for my Sam. Nature is a beautiful thing, but not if it's dead in your house.

The Price Is Right

2007-03-31T20:35:00.001-05:00

Did you all watch us? Okay, you can't really see me but you could see Sam. His belly was in the top left when the bidder on the far left was bidding. And he is a bit bigger than I am. And there was a shorter person in front of him than in front of me so you can't really see me except for a few times when they passed over us. I keep saying 'can't see us' because we have the show recorded on the DVR and the poor kids had to watch a few spots of it in way slow motion. And if you have it recorded you can watch it over and over too. So we could see ourselves- a couple of times. Still, how cool was that? And I think I almost have Sam talked into going again after Bob retires. Somehow he's not the most important part of the game anymore.

My kids didn't enjoy having to be reverent in the front room today either. I wanted to listen to conference and they can't do the sit down and listen for a long time thing yet. They are also too old and yet too young to listen and fall asleep. But the conference was great. My favorite talk so far was Elder Holland's "Speak Nicely" talk. I hope DiAnn and her family are enjoying their time in UT and at conference. Enjoy it guys!

Random Thoughts

2007-03-26T20:38:00.000-05:00

I came back. For a minute. Remember when I was so excited that Slade was potty trained. Well, regression has come and he isn't really. I suppose it should last more than 1 week before I should say it out loud. Still working on it.

We got a different computer. We are paying for the high speed DSL and our computer was/is so slow. So we decided to try something different. I can't believe how much faster this new one moves. I can turn it on and sign on within 30 seconds instead of 5 minutes. And I can read the blogs online so much faster too because the web moves, it actually changes pages and such.

We have Jill's daughter here this week. She and Slade are the same age. They love each other most of the time. For about 1 hour a day and then at bedtime they aren't quite as patient with each other. But the boys are happy to have her here. There is someone new to play with.

Sam has qualified to be a first line manager (the job he has been training for) out at work. This last week he took his test, took his oral board, had to do some extra drills, and all kinds of medical stuff (no the medical has nothing to do with the qualification, he just didn't get it done earlier) and he passed. He is now a more qualified worker- for this job anyway. And we got to celebrate.

Life is good and it's almost time for bed. Goodnite.

2007-03-12T20:35:00.000-05:00

So guess what happened. I got to go to the ER early Sunday morning. Poor Sam. It was his birthday and I made him wake up early and take me and the kids to the hospital. I had some major ear pain. It went crazy. I woke up at about 1:45 with a hurting ear and it got worse and more exciting til about 4am. When I layed down I could hear a fizz in my ear like when you shake a bottle of Coke up and it you have to open it slow so it doesn't explode. That's when I woke Sam up and we all headed out to the hospital. By the time we got to the ER there was stuff leaking out of my ear. (What a pleasant picture huh.) But they got me some new meds and my ear just leaks a little here and there. So that's the excitement I wanted to share. And Sam got to go work late because he stayed at home with me until my friend who was going to take me to church came to stay at my house instead. We had quite a day.

FYI

2007-03-05T22:25:00.000-05:00

Okay Susan, you asked for this info. I'm going to try. Oh, and I think it's so way cool that you found Jolie again.

1. What is your occupation? domestic engineer
2. What color are your socks right now? blue slippers
3. What are you listening to right now? None, I'm sitting at the computer and the boys are in bed.
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Tootsie rolls
5. Can you drive a stick shift? yes, but it's against the law
6. If you were a crayon what color would you be? blue
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? I left a msg for Ticee. Before that I talked to a plumber who was supposed to call me back about 6-10 hours ago.
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I love her
9. Favorite drink? water
10. What is your favorite sport to watch? diving
11. Ever dyed your hair? Nope.
12. Pets? Never
13. Favorite food? It depends on the week, it's Mexican right now. The west US has better Mexican food than the South.
14. What was the last movie you watched and did you like it? I don't remember. Maybe Flicka. It was alright.
15. What do you do to vent anger? I cry
16. What was your favorite toy as a kid? I don't remember the child thing but when I was a teenager I had a teddy bear named Enos that I loved. Slade is sleeping with him tonight.
17. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Fall. It's my birthday, the start of the holidays, and we get to spend time with family.
18. Hugs or kisses? hugs
19. Cherries or Blueberries? neither
20. Do you want your friends to email you back? just fill out the info on your blog
21 . Who is most likely to respond?
22. Who is least likely to respond?
23. Living arrangements? home
24. When was the last time you cried? Tonight, watching American Idol dedications.
25. What is on the floor of your closet? medical supplies, summer clothes, shoes.
26. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to: I'm not sending I'm answering.
27. What did you watch last night? The Price is Right, my boys wanted to find someone who was playing Plinko. There was no Plinko
28. Favorite smells? The food I like that week.
29. What inspires you? smiles
30. What are you afraid of? cucas and grasshoppers
31. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? No hamburgers, how about tacos?
32. Favorite dog breed? None
33. Number of keys on your key ring? 3
34. How many years at your current job? 3 1/2-6
35. Favorite day of the week? Whatever day's Sam is off work.
36. What states have you lived in? Utah, Arizona, California, South Carolina, New Mexico
37. Favorite holiday? Christmas
38. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? Nope

Okay there is a ton of unimportant information about me. I hope you enjoy it. Just know it's good to learn unimportant things about everyone. Things like these can be used in solving mysteries. (Monk uses things like this to solve murder cases.)

California and Back

2007-03-02T22:56:00.000-05:00

I know it's been forever but here I am with the California story. Sam and I went out to LA on the 22nd of Feb. Jill kept our kids for a week. The kids like being there so that was good. Things were exciting. We landed on Thursday and stayed in Riverside that night with Sam's Aunt Peggy. The next day we went to San Diego.

I took Sam all around Imperial Beach and Chula Vista, the two places I served in. I couldn't find where I had lived. I couldn't find the grocery store. I couldn't even find my favorite Mexican restaurant. But I did find Papa John's pizza. We spent most of that day in Old Town, the original part of San Diego. There is a ton of history there. Did you know that the Mormon Battalion built the 1st brick building there in San Diego? There is a visitor's center there and we went to it. That was good. And we went to Coronado beach and Sam brought home a seashell for each of the boys. We also got to go to the temple that night. That temple is like a castle. It's amazing. I love the stairs and the little glass garden at the top of the temple between the 2 spires that looks up at them. It was amazing.

We went to Balboa Park the next day. We saw an air and space museum and a science museum (w/ and IMAX theater) where we watched a show about dolphins. Sam had to go because of the theater. We also went to the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier in the Navy. Church on Sunday was at a different chapel. The ward is huge. They had 70 baptisms last year. Holy cow! And it looks great! All of the classes are crowded which means that people are staying for more than just sacrement meeting. I was dissappointed that I only knew 3 people. I guess that's expected after 10 years. We went back to Riverside after church.

Here comes the excitement. The Price is Right films on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We had heard that we should be at the studio before 5:30am. We planned for 5am. When we got there we were still far away when the tickets ran out. There were probably about 100-150 people in front of us. And there were 2 shows filmed that day, thus 2xs the tickets. We were standing by this couple who had come from Iowa. We decided to meet there at midnite so we could get in the next morning. There were people in line at 6pm when we got to the shopping center by the studio. We got in line about 8pm. We were by a family from Ohio and a brother and sister from Seattle and N. Carolina. Sarah and Jamie (our friends from the morning) came in around 10:30 or so. So there we sat by the side of the road waiting for a ticket to the Price is Right. Around 12am it started to rain. I think it stopped about 4:30 or 5am. During all this time there were people all around us prepared in different ways. There were 2 tents in line in front of us. The people in one of them had a BBQ. There were sleeping bags (Sam and I had some to keep us warm) and lawn chairs. There was a store across the street that rented chairs. It was funny. We had snacks and some people brought pizza. There were some girls just down from us who were asleep and their mom yelled because she saw a rat by them. It went into the hedge behind us. About 6am we got our order of arrival #s that would become our ticket #s that would finally let us in, some of us. I think about 125-150 of the people on the street got in. It was crazy. But Sam and I got in. And we got some new friends too. We got to yell and scream out prices. The best thing was that the lady who was at the front of the waiting line (she had been there since 2:30pm Monday and I think probably since Sunday evening before) won the showcase. If you want to see us on TV watch the March 29 show. Sam and I are wearing bright blue shirts, in the center section about 5 rows up. So when Bob says it is so easy to get on the show, don't believe him. It takes alot of conviction.

When we went back to Riverside we slept for about 12 hours straight. It was crazy. But before we left that night we went to see the Hollywood walk of Fame. I had no idea that it was so long. And we saw the Chinese theatre where the people sign their names and have hand and foot prints. We also went to the Kodak theatre. It is a major shopping mall. I had no idea.

We flew out at midnight and saw our children again the next afternoon. I was so excited to see them and so happy to be home. Journeys are fun, coming home afterward is better.

Success

2007-02-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

I think we can finally say that Slade is potty trained. He can tell anyone that he has to go the bathroom. He can find and use both bathrooms in our house. He can even sleep though the night without problems. I am very excited.

Scott has his things too. He has started to put his shoes on. And he does it by himself, all the time. Slade still doesn't like to do that. Scott has started doing exactly what Slade does. They were watching TV the other night and Slade hit his thigh because he thought something was funny. Scott looked at him and hit his thigh too. He follows him like that in all the things he does. And Slade is just learning to be diciplined. We haven't perfected that part yet.

It's less than 3 weeks til we are in LA in the Price is Right. I hope I win a car but reality says I can't drive it home. I don't have a driver's license. Anyway. It's gonna be great. I do need ideas for shirts to wear on the show. I'm off to have a shower.

That's Hot

2007-01-28T21:26:00.000-05:00

A note at the beginning, I've been training for the Price is Right and Slade is getting tired of it. And speaking of Slade, he burned his hand the other night. Sam had just finished cooking and was standing there at the stovetop with Slade. He told Slade, "Don't touch that. It's really hot." So Slade starts touching everything else on the stovetop. He made a mistake and touched the hot one too. Man, his hand is toasted. But after the first night, when he cried for about an hour and a half as he put his hand in the ice water and pulled it out over and over again, he's been okay. I'm glad he is calm about it. Sam made a little hand cover for his hand the first night. A washcloth taped around his wrist. Slade wanted it to be taped everywhere else too. It looked like a pinata. Still, Slade came into bed with me the next morning without the hand thing and said, "Mom, my hand is better." Yeah! I was excited that things were good. Still throughout the day he still wanted to wear the pinata.

Sam and I went on a date to a church activity last night. We got to dance a couple of times and play Jeopardy. It was cool. We had a babysitter who was building towers with the boys and Slade asked for her first thing this morning. He has been wanting to go to her house or have her over. He also mistakenly thinks her name is Ticee. Her name is Amy, but it sounds like Ticee and I think there may be a little confusion there, eh sister?

Well, we are trying to get our pictures to download to the computer off the camera and it's not working. It's a job that I should do soon. Later.

Come On Down!

2007-01-18T17:57:00.000-05:00

So... I've been asking Sam to take me to the Price is Right for a long time and we made a deal that he would take me on our 10th anniversary. If Bob Barker died before then he would have to take me on a cruise. It was our deal.

So then came the news that Mr. Barker is retiring in June. Sam has agreed to take me to LA to see the Price is Right. We are going next month. We bought plane tickets. We are visiting San Diego while we are there. We are staying with his aunt. The only part we don't have is tickets to the show. I know, that sounds incredibly stupid on my part but they are available and the tickets aren't sent out til 2-4 weeks before a show. In any case we will see Sam's aunt and visit San Diego.

Sam's dad is leaving tomorrow. I won't have anyone to wake up with the boys and feed them breakfast. Yes I have been spoiled since my surgery. (Though he doesn't change poopy diapers often.) Now it's time to work again. We are going to miss him. The boys adore him.

Our car has had some major stress lately. That's another story for another day. We'll chat more later.

Whoa! I have a new bed!

2007-01-09T17:01:00.000-05:00

So Sam and I went to the Dr. to tell him I wanted to have surgery and take this thing out of me. He asked me when I would like to have it done. I said, "Yesterday." (You all know I'm a patient person.) He agreed. I moved into the hospital the next night and stayed for a week. (Thus the 'I have a new bed' remark.)

They just went in the c-section scar and took out the "mass". It was just some lost endometriosis. I don't know how it got there but things are good. There are enough people here at my house helping me out that I won't have to lift anything and that is the big thing.

Now that you have heard all my medical excitement let me say one other thing. I learned in the hospital how much I appriciate dishnetwork. I hated the hospital's cable. I couldn't tell what was going to come on, when or if my shows were going to happen, if there was any reason but the news to stay up, and even what channels they had. I will never leave dishnetwork again.

I am back in my own bed now and happy to be there, though I have to say that the hospital beds are comfortable to hold my owie in place and my bed isn't built that way. Still, mine has a better teddy bear.

Down Time

2006-12-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

Christmas is over. Things are slowing down a little. Sam has started his week off tonight. He gets one of those each month because he works 12 hour shifts. I think this is going to be the 'take down the decorations' week. We got a new tree. We have a fake tree that has been around for a few years. It's time for it to retire. We got a fancy new one for $15. After Christmas sales are really good when you want Christmas stuff.

Sam's family has gone away. But the grandparents and Ben are going to be back before the appointment on Tuesday when we tell the Dr. that we want surgery. I like to have people who volunteer to take care of our boys. Sam's mom is crazy about taking care of and being around our boys. She asked me if it really would be okay for them to move close to us. She knows that some people can deal with the family (especially mother-in-laws) close and others can't. I have to admit that I would like to have them close enough to take our kids to school when they move out here. The elementary school bus comes at 6am. And if they have their own house I can tell them to go away if I want to. It's good that she cares enough to ask.

We got 'the sickness' here on Christmas Eve. Poor Scott was throwing up in bed every night and every other time he laid down. Sam started that on Christmas and then his Dad did on the 26th. Wow. Of course there was always alot of stuff coming out the other end. Man, the first time Scott could keep something down he drank it so fast and was so mad at me because I made him pause a little in between each 1/2 glass. That crazy boy needed some real liquid. So we hope he is getting better and wont be sick anymore. We will see.

Did you all hear that James Brown died? The whole town/area here is in mourning. There was a 1/2 hour news session all about that- who will give his eulogy, what clothes he's going to wear at each viewing, how hard it was for the guy who picked the clothes to pick them because of the memories, and they showed the people standing at his statue in Augusta. (He is from here you know.) I don't suppose I have ever thought enough about burying someone to think about the important things like that.

It's time for the weekend. Sam has no work tomorrow and so we can stay up and watch a little late TV and be calm and not get up before 5am.

Yeah!

2006-12-22T13:01:00.000-05:00

So we went to the Dr. this morning. It was wonderful. We did sit there for an hour because the MRI guy hadn't read my test yet. But the important thing happened. The Dr. said that he would bet there is no cancer there. He wondered how/why the thing grew there but said it looks okay. There are two options. We can wait and see if it grows or have a small surgery to check it out and probably take it out. He also said it's heavy enough to twist my ovaries and cause "immense pain" so I need to consider that. So we are considering that. Yeah! No cancer!

Sam's brother Mark is here with his daughter Kylie. They are cool. They got here last night and were both in bed before 9pm. I thought it was funny because they came from the Pacific time zone and so it was only 6pm in Washington where they live. Still Mark hadn't slept for a long while and Kylie is almost a teenager. That explains most everything huh.

Slade is still working on our/his goal. Man, this one has got to work at some time. But Wednesday's visitor's dinner experience is the most memorial so far.

Yeah, no cancer!

Dinner Manners

2006-12-20T22:19:00.000-05:00

So we had visitors over for dinner tonight. Sam was at work and I was there being the hostess by myself. It was all cool. They are friends and I don't have to impress them or anything. It's a real good thing because Slade decided to be ... somehow. He pooped in his underwear at the beginning of dinner. We left our visitors eating and went to clean him up. Then we came back to eat. He farted in the middle of the dinner conversation. And laughed of course. I asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom. "No" About 10 minutes later he pooped again, all over the place. Those poor friends of ours. I don't think they got the smell. But they didn't get much of our company either because I was too busy cleaning up my child dirty bottom. And there was alot of tension in me. She was all calm about the whole thing. I have to say that I'm glad I don't have to do business dinners or anything like that. I am so not that good at being a hostess. After we finished cleaning up his second mess our friends had cleaned up the table and floor in the kitchen. Man, things were closing quickly. I needed to put the boys in bed and all that. Still, this lady and her husband are moving and I don't know when we will see them again. Anyway. Thank heaven she was here and not other people and she was very patient with me and Slade.

We went to the MRI today. The MRI is not a beautiful thing but it didn't scare me too bad. The worst part of all of the testing is that I'm scared of IVs and I had to have one. They used some stuff to emphasize where the "thing" is. The exact edges and all. Still, I love to get rid of the IV. They scare me.

I should be off to bed. Sam is at work and I should be in bed so I will be ready to take care of the kids so he can sleep without the boys keeping him up tomorrow. Talk later.

Life changes

2006-12-15T17:43:00.000-05:00

Life is getting a little more exciting around here. Sam and I went to the Dr. and they found a thing that they say may be a tumor in my abdomen. I think it's crazy because I never felt it or hurt or anything, just had a few cramps. But now they are doing all kinds of tests on me, which is good, to try and find out what it is and find out what to do with it. Crazy huh. What a beautiful thing a body is.

On the other side of life changes, I don't know if Slade is gonna get potty trained before the new year. Oh I hope, I hope. That would be a major life change. Especially for him. We are still working on the whole thing. We go to the potty every hour at this point and he gets so annoyed by the whole thing. I tell him if he would go when he needed to go, I wouldn't make him go every hour. In church one day we were talking about the reasons to repent and one lady said that when you were potty training you had to help the kids understand how good it felt to be dry or they wouldn't want to stay that way. I now associate repentance and potty training, and how overcoming the diaper makes your home happier and thus closer to the Lord. (Yes, I know that's just strange, and it's not really meant spiritually but the comment made sense in the lesson.) Anyway, I hope that life change will come.

Sam's brother is coming in the next week, then his parents and other brother and his sister will all come on Christmas day. How cool is that. I love family and this year has been great. Happy holidays. Okay enough. Pray for me and my tumor please? Thanks much. Later.

Moving on...

2006-12-03T17:29:00.000-05:00

It's taken me at least 5 minutes to read through all the stuff they are trying to get us to do to update the program and I just don't want to think right now so it was a dangerous thing trying to get through it. I did read the sentence that said if I changed the system I couldn't go back. Good thing huh. Then I wouldn't know how to work either of them.

What a lovely holiday huh. I really had fun out there in Utah and Las Vegas. Slade has learned to say "Viva Las Vegas!" on the way to Vegas. And he's still saying it. Guess who taught him. It wasn't me. But he sure sounds cool. He loved seeing the castle in Vegas and I loved seeing M&M World. I don't know if there was anything Sam or Scott got really excited about. Oh at the end of the day we ate at a Chinese buffet. There is something Sam and Scott got excited about. We had a great day there.

We enjoyed my family. And I was glad to come home to my sometimes clean house. Ticee did so much work keeping everyone together and fun. And it was cool. Okay so, moving on...

My boys have been coughing lately and so I had to come home with them today after sacrament meeting. There are 18 kids in the nursery and they don't need to get sick with the help of my boys. It's weird how much I enjoy the last few testimonies at church.

We also decorated a Christmas tree and the boys are excited about that. We wrapped presents last night. Thirteen books. And the boys were so excited to find presents under the tree this morning. I think it's way cool. And they are just watching- not opening.

Another growing up excitement. Scott is starting to talk. He just says the basics (mom, dad, baby, Jesus, amen, yes, no, ball, cheese, etc.) but there are more basics every week. And I am just proud of him. Slade is going through major potting training stress/ pressure from his parents. We will see how that goes. Anyway. Next time we will see how happy I am about potty training. Off we go to take off the old pull-up.

Just Rambling

2006-11-10T13:46:00.000-05:00

It's coming closer. My visit to family and friends I haven't seen for so long. I get to see friends in Las Vegas and Cedar and my family in St. George. I am so excited. Sam has never even met Susan's youngest. And my Scott is so old you wouldn't recognise him if not for the web pictures. Just a few more whiles.

I found some of my friends on blogspot too. It's way cool. Now they can hide nothing from me. Oh, and Sam says he may start writing a little. Things just get more and more exciting every day.

It's been a fun week with Sam. I do have to say I love his 7 days off. They are fun for me and the boys. After the week at home the boys have a really hard time getting used to the idea that dad has a job again. One morning that Sam was gone when Slade came in he started crying and said, "Dad not here. Dad gone." He thought life had ended. But that was only one day of work. We had a good week. Sam taught the Sunday School lesson and made lunch with/for the boys. Then he played in the fort with them (Slade's bed covered with blankets). He is just good for everyone.

Tonight he went back to work. He works Friday and Saturday night's, maybe part of Sunday night, Monday-Thursday 6am-7pm, either Friday or Saturday, then Sunday. Sometimes home seems so calm.

We changed to DIRECTV so we could have DVR. That system is so cool. But the DIRECTV is awful. When we called Dish Network to tell them that we were cancelling because of the deal we got with the DVR they offered us one too and we get to go back to something I love. Yeah!

Anyway, I should be off to wake up Slade and feed the boys. We tried to get Slade to take a nap all afternoon but he wouldn't slow down. He fell asleep on the 3 minute drive home from Walmart. Then he walked in the house and put his head on the couch and slept. He was still standing up. Crazy child. Someday these boys will be as excited about the opportunity to sleep as they are about the opportunity to eat Halloween candy. Just not yet.

Children and Candy and Refereeing (or however you spell it)

2006-11-02T09:39:00.000-05:00

Halloween is over. That's not a bad thing but we had a good time with the holiday. And I thought of Julie on the 1st- Dia de Los Santos. It's crazy at this point. Now we have so much extra candy around our house. The boys have their own bags, we have 3 unopened bags of M&Ms, I have my little stash of caramels and it's crazy. The worst part is keeping Slade away from it all. I know when it's quiet that he's in the middle of something.

Yesterday I was on the computer trying to get tickets to Vegas for Thanksgiving and didn't hear much for awhile. I didn't worry because the candy was right behind me. Then Scott started calling "Mama, mama." I went to see what was up and Slade was hiding in the corner. He had found my caramels (which are hidden in an empty sour cream thing) and was eating them in the other room. What a child. Later I saw him sneaking away quietly into his room. He doesn't like to be in his room by himself so I asked him if he was stealing candy. "Yes." Then he and Scott were found by the bags, Slade providing the candy to both of them. You'd think he was my child- the amount of candy he wants to eat.

But guess what! Sam got off from work and we get to come out for Thanksgiving. Crazy and so exciting. I'm sure Ticee and her boys will be so ready for us to go by the time we leave but we will be so ready to get there when we do. I am way excited to go see my family. I wish you could be there DiAnn. And I get to show off my family. They are beautiful.

Anyway, there is my excitement. We will enjoy sharing more later.

Wow, we look good!

2006-10-30T13:51:00.000-05:00

We went off to Jill's for the harvest party this weekend and we got to wear our cool costumes. So here we are. We also got to hear Taylor do his first Primary program. Ticee, these costumes are beautiful and the boys don't mind wearing them and Sam and I like wearing them too. Sam is going to take the kids trick-or-treating tomorrow in the costumes and I am going to stay at home and give away M&Ms. It is a must with these costumes. We will have fun. Our boys are at the loud stage and it's crazy. We have to go into the other room just to talk on the phone. But they are also in the beautiful/cute/adorable stage and that one is wonderful I'm going to see if I can talk Slade into a nap. He likes to wake up early with the time change and I don't. It will be good for both of us to have a little extra sleep. Bye.

My Particularities

2006-10-27T09:27:00.001-05:00

Okay, I don't know if particularities is a real word or not but here are my weird things. I didn't know they were supposed to be things people didn't already know so they are just weird things.

1. I don't like bread. I also don't know any normal person who doesn't like bread. Oh well. On the same note-
2. I don't like food either Ticee. Sam thinks that is pure insanity but it's me and he still loves me. I do usually have an obsession of some kind of food or another and will eat it incessently for awhile. Then I stop liking it. One example, I loved the chocolate oranges and could go thru about 3 a week. It got kinda expensive. We bought 3 and about 1/2 way thru the first one I couldn't eat anymore. That's wierd.
3. M&Ms are my trademark. I have had them since junior high. I collect them. The models, the shirts, a cookie jar, I even have a telephone. And 4 Halloween costumes (that are incredible). But I don't eat them.
4. I have to eat things in twos. I have to eat 2 raisins, 2 peanuts (actually they are easy because they split into 2 pieces when you eat them), 2 grapes at the same time. And if they are colored I have to eat the same colors. 2 green skittles at the same time, 2 red at the same time, etc. So there's one in each side of my mouth. It's better just to stick with mass things (mashed potatos) or big things that can't be split.
5. I have to make my bed every morning. When I was in college Elder L. Tom Perry came to speak to us and as my roommates and I were walking in the chapel he shook our hands and asked if our beds were made. He told us it would be easier for the Spirit to dwell in our apartment if it was cleaner. I wonder if he had a revelation about our apartment at that time. We won't talk about that. But the end result was that it made me need to make my bed every day.

Okay there they are. My weird things. The ones I'm sharing right now anyway.

The joys of a traveling wife

2006-10-22T20:03:00.000-05:00

I spent the week at Jill's house, Oct. 15-Oct 21. It was a long week without my sweetheart who was at a business conference. Man, I am crazy dependant on him now. Jill's schedule is a little different than our's. Their family is up and out of the door by 7:15am. Our family used to wake up about 7:30. While we were there my boys woke up at 5:30 one morning. I don't know about this "early to rise" thing.

We had a good time there. My boys enjoy playing with her kids though quiet times are required, naps preferred, to make it through the day. Scott decided that Jill's little boy was a "dedee" (baby). Yes he can say his b's. He says bye-bye just fine but doesn't want to say baby. So it's with a d and not a b. But it's very definate and you know when he's talking to or about the dedee.

We got to see 5 year olds playing soccer. It was cool. And Scott was determined to be out there on the field with them. We saved him. He can play later. We blew bubbles, read books, made cookies, and played Halloween stew. We had a good week but my favorite thing was when Sam came back on Friday night. And then we came home and slept in our own bed on Saturday night. The simple things in life are great aren't they.

I did read Ticee's blog about me being tagged but I'm not in the mood to write more so we'll talk more later!

New schedule

2006-10-13T15:45:00.000-05:00

Life is changing at our house tonight. Sam is starting a new schedule- working all night sometimes and then all day some other times and back and forth. This is his first night. Whoa! It will be fun. I hope he can stay awake and we can stay asleep. My calling at church has changed because of this and I've worried and have complained about it (yes it's a talent) for a long time and now it's here. And we will go forward. I think Sam is kinda excited. Cool.

He only is working 2 nights because he has a big business conference next week and it will keep us away from home. What fun with the schedule. Still, I think I said it before, my boys will go back with the cousins and they love that. I like to be with the family too. It's just good.

We've had some Jehovah's Witnesses come visit a couple of times lately. We (LDS people) believe alot of the same things but there are some very different things. I just tried to keep on things we have in common. And to keep the tone of conversation pleasant. I'm not always good at that. I think I talked about me not knowing how to deal with other religions in an earlier blog. I really need to get out more.

I am off because I would like to talk to Sam in the next 20 minutes before he leaves for work. It will be good to see how we did tomorrow.

2006-10-09T20:35:00.000-05:00

What a weekend! It is great having Jill here and Slade and Scott love the cousins. Still, when the weekend's over it's good to have some calm.

Saturday was crazy. In the morning Sam and I went shopping for him to get new clothes for a business conference. Jill kept the kids. We all went to a birthday party in the afternoon. I think everyone enjoyed that. And the treat bags were a favorite. The evening moving party was supposed to be quick but didn't turn out that way. We moved a couch from our house to a friend's. Then we got some new bright red couches from some friends in the evening. Jill took care of the kids during the moving. I just feel bad for her sometimes. We totally drop the boys on her when we need to do something. Of course she does offer to help. Our house had a major makeover. Well not major, but definately good.

This whole weekend Scott followed Jill's 6 month boy around saying, "Baby, baby." He loves that boy. And is learning a new word at the same time. This baby boy can crawl, pull up on anything, and almost walk. He is so busy.

Slade and Jill's other kids, Taylor and Emilie, have so much fun together. But this weekend Emilie and Slade had some screaming moments when they just didn't want to be around each other anymore, or share toys, or whatever. Still, whatever it was there was an incredible amount of screaming on both sides. Slade and Emilie had to be separated for awhile.

There is quiet for now because the cousins are gone. I think that my boys will be asking to visit them again soon though. Oh, the love of the family.

Crying over spilled milk- and water

2006-10-06T15:28:00.000-05:00

Life gets interesting when a small one is learning to drink from a big kid cup. Scott likes the grown up cups better than sippy cups (and Slade still wants sippy cups- backwards!) and is trying to learn to drink. On Tuesday he drank from his cup really good every meal. We tried again on Wednesday. He is determined to keep his drink at the edge of the table and I kept scooting it in just a little and he kept pulling it out. Well, you guessed it, the cup full of milk got knocked off the table. The milk splashed all over the dining room area, under the table, even into the kitchen. I spent a few whiles wiping it up off the floor. I kept finding more splashes here and there all day. (You know milk doesn't dry clear.) Wow.

Thursday we had a similar experience during breakfast. Scott and his waffle were across the table from me and my glass of milk. Slade had a small bowl full of cereal without milk. So Slade decided that he wanted milk but just chose to have mine and poured my large glass of milk in his small bowl. Guess what- milk all over the table, chair, floor, and child. Slade was a little freaked out. There was another time that a glass of milk got knocked over, I just blocked the story out of my mind- or can't remember it. Anyway, Thursday was a good mopping day.

Thursday Scott also dumped a cup of water on the table and splashed in it and today he tried to pour his own water from the pitcher on the table during lunch. But water is alot easier to clean up.

Sam's sister Jill came over yesterday. Her kids are the best friends ever at our house. They are playing and fighting like nothing else. It's fun to watch and remember. It's like a family party of my family. Everyone spends some time happy and some time angry. We have a great time.

I really should go help Sam with dinner. What a beautiful thing- a husband who will cook when I don't want to. That way he gets to choose what he wants to eat. I did cook the dessert- and it's what I want to eat. I'm sure everyone else will eat it too.

At Home

2006-10-04T14:12:00.000-05:00

What a while this has been. You know, since the last while. Sam started on shift work and so he leaves for work at 5:15am and gets home about 7pm. Poor Slade asks all morning, "Where is Dad?" Then when the afternoon comes he starts asking, "How long til Dad comes home?" So you think he loves him?

We have these Banquet pot pie meal things. They aren't worth the 49 cents they cost but don't tell Banquet that. Still, they are doing this Daytona 500 Nascar game. (Julie you really ought to look into this.) Every day Slade says, "I wanta race, Mom. I wanta race." You can enter the UPC number and pick a race car on the computer and it will race in front of you. It is one of the boys' favorite times of the day.

We went to the park today with about 6 other moms in our ward. It was fun. There was this lady there who smiled at me. I knew I should have recognised her but I didn't. I didn't know which kids were hers or if she had more than one. She knew me and the boys' names. So we were talking and she said something about her seeing us leave our house about the time they were packing up. (Oh, this is our neighbor.)

"Is this one your baby?" she asked. "He's getting so big."

"Yours are getting big too," I say.

"Oh, he's really big." She points at the slide.

Great, does she just have one? I just said something really stupid. Then who is this other one holding on to her leg? I ask what his name was. "Oh, that's Caleb playing on the slide, and this is Jacob. Bible names." Yeah, I'm right. There are two boys. Monica (I heard her name when I introduced her to one of my other friends and didn't tell them her name.) is a Baptist minister's wife. When I first met her I was so excited because I saw a UT plate on the back of her car and thought we grew up in the same place and could talk some home talk. But she had just come home from a mission in UT during the Olympics. She's so not what I expected, but way cooler than I expected too. Man, the stupid ideas I put or let into my head as I grew up.

When we got back from the park and had our lunch, we sent Scott off for his nap and Slade and I decided to make some rice crispie treat things with Chex. I let Slade help me. He was going to pour the already measured cereal into the marshmallows. I am not a really patient person and when he poured only about 2/3 of it into the marshmallows I did have a little stress. I had to clean the rest up and put it in. But then we got to clean off the spoons and such. It's fun to cook bad-for-you food.

Well, my boys are wanting me. Slade is actually eating his "tweets". But Scott is begging for me and that doesn't happen much so I think I'll take advantage of it.

My Beautiful Family

2006-10-01T20:14:00.000-05:00

We had our neighbor kids over to our house on Friday. It was a pretty day here and we were playing in the backyard. The 6 year old girl asked me, "Are you a teenager?" What a beautiful moment. But I said no. And I had to laugh. I told her I was probably about the same age as her mom. She said her mom was alot bigger than me. I told her I thought she meant that her mom was older than me. Either way, it's just not true. They kids came over to play with Sam. Everyone loves him. He just fits with everyone. Makes people feel comfortable. What a hero!

Scott was in the bathroom the other day and tore a hole in the wallpaper. Okay, we know it had to come off anyway if it was peeling but him tearing it wasn't what I planned on. He loves the bathroom. He loves to turn on the water in the bathtub. He loves to flush the toilet. Most of all he loves to brush his teeth. What a boy. I hope he always wants to stay this clean.

He is at the point of trying to talk. If you ask him to. He does good with syllables. Tonight he repeated his night time prayers with Sam. The words are so not understandable, but he has the right # of syllables. And he said Jesus and Amen well enough that normal people, not just his parents, could understand them. I'm proud of my boy.

Slade has begun making me snakes and balls with Play-Doh. (I hate the way that Play-Doh smells. It is certainly distinct.) But Slade gets excited about making his snakes. We have to be careful while playing though because there is a little brother who likes to eat the Play-Doh.

The other day when I got it out for Slade and Scott to play with Slade did something wrong. I don't remember what he did but he had to wait to play for awhile. Because Scott was already up there waiting for the play time I just let him have the Play-Doh. He acted like he was playing with it but I never saw a piece of it broken off. When I had finished talking to Slade I was getting up to move the stuff over to Slade's place too and saw that Scott's mouth was full of the Play-Doh. That is just gross. He got sick, I almost did, but we all got thru the excitement. The boys haven't seen the Play-Doh since then. Don't tell them where it is.

This family and all the beauty they bring are the reason I am happy. I will work so hard, and clean up ugly and unclean Play-Doh off the floor, and listen to Slade's explanation of what the picture that he drew me is, and smile each night. Then hopefully, if we work hard, we will live happily ever after. (It sounds cheesy. Oh, well.)

Life in the South

2006-09-28T17:45:00.000-05:00

Sam talked me into following the example of my sisters so I have my own blog. Whoa! The first journal in a long time. It's finally cooling off down here. 60-85 degree weather. About perfect. Well, it's still a little warm- but not much. Sam came home early tonight for the last time cause he changing to shift work next week which means that 12 1/2 hr shifts aren't going to be cut short by someone coming in early. But the kids were so excited to see him come out the door into the back yard. They just yelled and ran over to him. How cool is that.

We have really nice, and patient, neighbors. Both of their kids are older than Slade and Scott but they have our kids over anyway. Our boys stand at the fence while the neighbors are outside and stare at them. Crazy. Sometimes I am out there trying to keep the boys busy and they still ignore me and all the other excitement in our yard (what? the swing set) and stare at the neighbors. So they let us all come over. Actually we are friends. So it's cool.

I love my family and am excited to share the excitement that goes thru our lives. It's crazy/fun. And we love it.