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October 27, 2010
Jeff's Dad gave Pearl a bucket of change on Saturday because they've been cleaning out their entire house for a kitchen remodel. And because they spoil Pearl rotten. So on Monday, Jeff and Pearl went to the bank to see how much mulah she had acquired. I can't remember the exact amount because the majority of it was donated to Cole's saving account. Pearl did come home waving three $5 bills though to spend on whatever she wanted though. She was jumping off the walls with excitement at the prospect of buying all these cool things at Walmart. Too bad her rants and tantrums kept her from going to the store for a whole two days.
Today she was finally able to keep her tantrums, whining, and screaming under control and so we headed to Walmart. Plus, this was the perfect distraction for her because Jeff and I had dentist appointments this afternoon. It doesn't matter that Pearl wasn't going to get checked... she was still terrified. In the time it took to drive the few blocks to Walmart, Pearl had told me she wanted a Dentist Barbie doll, Buzz Lightyear, and Strawberry Cake Short (yes, she says it backwards). Our conversation reminded me of her prayer over dinner last week that went something like this (we'd been asking her what she wanted for Christmas right before):
"Heavenly Father bless David and Vickie. And the Kennards. I want Buzz Lightyear, and Woody, and Jessie the cowgirl, and Rex, and Ham the piggy bank. Name Jesus Christ Amen."
After realizing the Barbie doll was more than $15 and Strawberry Cake Short wasn't as cool as she anticipated, we came home with Buzz. An action figure Buzz who throws disks. She even had enough change leftover to get an "ass-cream" cone (sorry for the language but that's honestly what it sounds like she is saying!) from McDonalds. Buzz is pretty cool but prominently displayed on the back of the box was a warning to NOT shoot at point-blank range. I'm sure you can imagine who was shot at point blank range on several occasions tonight by Pearl and her Dad.
October 26, 2010
I sure hope Cole doesn't feel like he's in jail all day long when I drop him off at daycare... he sort of had that look on his face when I picked him up today.
October 25, 2010
I was really glad we hadn't been home all weekend to go grocery shopping because Jeff took me to lunch today. We never go to lunch together so it was a real treat. He even said we could try to go to lunch once a month together, which I think sounds like so much fun! Neither one of us had anything in mind so we ended up at Schmidt's Pastry Cottage. Jeff has brought home goodies from there before and is always bragging when his office has Schmidt's cater an event. Let's just say anything with "pastry cottage" is bound to be divine! I walked in and was instantly overwhelmed with the most delicious smells of sugar, doughnuts, cakes, frosting, chocolate.... yummmmy. I've never wanted to have just a doughnut for lunch before. The best part about lunch, besides spending an hour with these two handsome fellows, was the eclair that came with my sandwich. What a perfect way to spend my day!
October 24, 2010
Not until today has the thought crossed my mind that maybe Pearl is tired of having a little brother. As Jeff and I were getting dressed for church we heard this smack/thud sort of noise then a blood curling scream from Cole. Seconds later Pearl starts screaming. We run out into the living room as we're throwing our clothes on and find two crying, hysterical kids and one light saber. Cole has a goose ache on his forehead and Pearl is telling us Cole hit her. Uh, yeah right. I take Cole, Jeff takes Pearl and after 10 minutes of hyperventilating we get them calmed down. I'm still not sure exactly what happened.
But that wasn't the only incident today. Pearl must think Cole is big enough now to play with her... or she's trying to get rid of him. I can't tell you how many times we had to tell Pearl to stop hitting her brother, to stay away from his head, to be soft, to be nice, to not put ANYTHING near his face, and to keep the bubbles and water away from his eyes. Poor little guy. I know Pearl loves him but geez, what's next?
October 23, 2010
I don't get. I enter Cole into a beautiful baby contest and we lose. Jeff enters a picture of Cole into a contest and wins two tickets to the USU Homecoming football game this weekend. Granted, we'd have been there anyway (ok, so just Jeff would have been at the game) but still!
So we drove up and saw the last 20 minutes of the parade... snagging a handful of tootsie rolls and a bag of Aggie squeaky cheese from the Food Science float. Hit lunch with my parents and brother and then went to the game. We got ourselves Big Blue tattoos and stopped by the new Merlin J. Olsen statue. Then Pearl, Cole, and I sat through the first half of the game before high-tailing it out of there just as the clouds erupted. Jeff didn't make it out so lucky. He actually called me to come and pick him up EARLY because he was quite literally soaked to the bone. And he wonders why I'm not sold on getting two season tickets to the football games yet.
It was hard to pick a single picture for today's events but this one made me smile for three reasons. One, because Pearl still has her tattoo on. Yes, we let her go to church with it on her face. And yes, she proudly told everyone who Big Blue was. Two, because Pearl was so excited to see Big Blue... that is until she actually saw him. Three, because she asked her Dad to make her a True Aggie! She happened to over hear us talking about becoming true Aggies (yes, we both are) and was super excited about the whole idea. Pearl didn't get why that wouldn't work... I think it's still creeping Jeff out a little... but it was hilarious!
October 22, 2010
It's midnight and I'm throwing the last load of laundry in to dry. I think I'm turning into my mother. She pulls all-nighters with laundry. Seriously, the woman stays up until 3 in the morning sorting, washing, drying, and folding. The whole process would speed up drastically if she'd just combine the boy white socks with the girl white socks (yes, I'm serious) and ex-na a few piles of colors like white tee-shirts with colored letters on them or combine the pinks and the reds. But no, my mom washes each color separately... sometimes even dividing a single color out into two or three other piles if there are multiple shades. She's that anal about it. The woman can get just about any stain out of a soccer uniform. And she only shrunk one sweater of mine in high school but I really think it was some sort of freak accident with our dryer.
I still have a ways to go before I'm my mom because I committed a cardinal laundry sin... I mixed my red sheets with white dish towels and I think a lone blue hand towel. I'm sure a small part of my mom has just died reading my confession. But give me a few years (and maybe a bigger house with a laundry room) and I'm sure I'll turn into a second generation laundry Nazi just like my mom.
October 21, 2010
This week something must have clicked for Cole... he decided he was tired of flopping around and having someone hold him all the time.
I know this picture is crappy but it's proof that Cole can sit up. All by himself. Why do babies grow up? Why?
October 20, 2010
Pearl knows better than to sneak into our neighbor's front room. Mostly because it's filled with future presents for her... and she knows it. It reminds me of going to my grandma's house and seeing what was in the "prize drawer." I'm sure my parents hated that drawer because we ended up with some other toy to take home, even if we'd been there the day before.
But that's the right of a grandparent I guess... to spoil and send home!
And so tonight Pearl ended up with this. A hula hoop. She didn't quite get the whole hip thrusting action required to make it stay up so we resorted to playing lions in the circus and jumping through it. But after a day or two of practice, she's gotten pretty good at it. She spins inside of it while it spins around her waist. I'll admit, she's got better hula hoop skills than me.
October 19, 2010
This afternoon I was reminded why I still work. This book.
It's the third year I've been able to work on it and it never gets any easier. The families who share their story of losing a teenager in a motor vehicle crash are amazing. Their courage is humbling. Their stories are heart breaking.
Every year there are a couple of families that just touch my heart. The first year it was Keifer and Shelbie. I was finally able to meet Shelbie's parents at our remembrance event last week. I was in tears. The second year it was Kristin and Xander. And this year it was Jake. Jake's dad was my little brother's teacher in elementary school. Jake played soccer for the Sky View Bobcats. He was killed on the highway in Hyde Park... the same intersection that I drove through nearly every day going to school. It hit home, again. Every time I do something stupid in the car I see their faces. I hear their parents pleas to other drivers in the hope that no one will ever suffer the pain and loss they have. I will never forget them.
So, please I'm asking each of you to read their stories and learn from them. Cherish every moment with your kids. Because all too often, you don't get to say goodbye.
October 18, 2010
I'm not sure Jeff appreciated me calling his favorite lunch a "nooner." In fact, I'm pretty sure most people who saw that weren't quite sure what to think. But I was trying to be funny.
At any rate, Jeff and I had an actual date night today. Yesterday as we were trying to haul two kids out to the car after church a lady in our ward stopped us and told us she was coming over tonight to watch our kids - with dinner... a delicious beef pot pie - so we could go enjoy ourselves. I immediately thought to myself, "Do I really look THAT frazzled?" There was no use trying to talk her out of it... the heavenly beings above obviously read my blog and figured it was high time to teach me the importance of continued courtship during marriage. Since we haven't done this in a long time, we started out slow... ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Jeff printed me a "happy half birthday" coupon to use. Big splurgers we are! We weren't gone too long knowing full well my best friend was probably a bit confused to see his milk machine leave him but it was nice to get out just the two of us. Even if we ended up just arguing about what to buy Pearl for Christmas. Jeff says a bike, camera, i-pod, or 4 wheeler. I say a dollhouse, art stuff, and toys. Guess we'll be going on a few more dates before Christmas rolls around.
October 17, 2010
Pearl wanted to go on a girls-only walk today. She patiently waited for me to take a nap... 1 1/2 hours of pure bliss which almost made up for getting up at 3 a.m. with Cole because he peed the bed then 4 a.m. with Pearl who peed the bed then 6:30 a.m. with Cole who peed the bed - see the running theme here? We even took the pink stroller (those cheap umbrella strollers that every parent over 4 feet tall hates). Along the way we picked up an assortment of items for our collection just like Don on Dinosaur Train. And we made several "observations" just like Sid the Science Kid does on TV. We also had a long conversation about bees, pollen, and nectar as explained by the Cat in the Hat.
By the end of our quick walk, I wasn't sure if I should be proud of Pearl for being so smart or mortified that everything she's learned has come courtesy of PBS.
October 16, 2010
I instigated a girls' afternoon of Halloween craftiness today. My mom, sister, and sister-in-law all got together to make candy corn wreaths. Don't get any ideas that any of us are that crafty. In fact, for the longest time Jeff teased me about my lack of craftiness and signed me up for a Relief Society Super Saturday (basically an all-day craft party with the ladies at church) without my knowing one year. And he made me go. I broke my project the moment I walked in the door... good thing for hot glue.
But I had seen these super cute candy corn wreaths on this blog, who had seen them in the Woman's Day magazine. I figured if it was on a thrifty home decor blog it couldn't be THAT expensive or THAT hard to do. Uh... had I known how much Styrofoam cost or the near fight I had with my sister over who got to make the rectangle wreath vs. the circle one (not to mention who got the black ribbon vs. the orange ribbon), I might have rethought this plan. But I'm glad I don't craft often enough to know how much things really cost... or how long it takes to hot glue about 3,000 candy corns on a wreath because was totally worth it to spend all day with some fabulous women in my life! Now if we could just convince the men in our lives that these are NOT edible advent wreaths!
October 15, 2010
I cheated on my picture today. Cole had a fever all day and wouldn't let me set him down for 10 seconds to even pee. When I did finally get my chance to pee, Pearl snuck herself a little treat... one of Jeff's Kit Kat bars that had been sitting on the counter. She was so proud of herself, shouting to me through the bathroom door, "Mom, I did it! I got a candy that you break. They are my favorite!"
Hmmm. Luckily she countered her sweet fix with about five apples today.
So as I was um, er borrowing a photo of a Kit Kat bar from Wikipedia, I learned some interesting facts about this classic Hersey's treat. Like, did you know it's the #1 selling candy bar in the UK? It's origins extend all the way back to 1911? It was first call "Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp?" And it's made in 17 countries? Of course I skipped over all the nutritional facts...
October 14, 2010
These two here elastic-gun slaying cowpokes are the "rootinest-tootinest cowboys in the wild, wild west." At least according to the little lady.
I'm not sure Heavenly Father cares about Halloween or what costume a kid wants. But he does care about a mom who's on her last straw. The way it's been going the past couple of weeks, I thought a three-year-old's persistent pleas to find a Jessie the Cowgirl costume from Toy Story might have done me in. Pearl's finally at the age where she gets holidays. And there was no use trying to talk her into wearing a princess dress we already have. Hence, the whisperings of the Spirit which probably saved me from having a nervous breakdown and Pearl a lifetime of disappointment come Halloween. I had this quick thought as we were driving home to stop by a Halloween store, just in case they had anything that I could convince Pearl would work for a cowgirl costume. Heaven smiled down upon us! We walked in and BINGO! An authentic Jessie the Cowgirl costume just like Pearl wanted. She was giddy and doing a little jive in the dressing room as we tried it on. I was giddy that it didn't cost a small fortune... much cheaper than anywhere I'd seen online.
What I didn't know would come with this costume was three welt marks on my rear end from being stalked while giving Cole a bath. Luckily Pearl giggled as she and her dad sneaked up behind me which gave me a few seconds to brace myself for impact from the shower of elastics aimed at my dairy-air. I'm telling ya, these here cowpokes better watch out because I have my own arsenal of weapons!
October 13, 2010
You know those "boo-ed" things where you get a goodie plate left on your doorstep with a paper ghost attached saying you now have to "boo" someone else with a treat? Well, Jeff's coworkers do this every year and he got "boo-ed". He thought it would be fun for me to try out at my building and was nice enough to even make me treat bags.
So I enlisted Pearl's help. Mostly to keep her from asking me one more time if she could eat the candy. I told her we were going to be sneaky and leave a treat on someone's chair at mommy's work. She didn't really get the whole idea but had fun coloring the ghosts and then whispering (as loud as a 3-year-old does) up and down the cubicle maze our plans to be sneaky. I'm sure it won't be hard to figure out that it was us, especially considering we weren't that sneaky and one of my friends we "boo-ed" has kids in the daycare with Pearl and there are NO secrets there. Of course me posting it on my blog might be the final giveaway but hey, it was fun and I'm excited to see just how far this goes!
October 12, 2010
I sure hope the REAL school pictures go better than my lame attempt this morning. I figured when it came down to the actual school photos Pearl would be screaming in protest, Cole would poop through his clothes, both would be crying, or Pearl would have her eyes closed so I tried to capture a less chaotic moment before we got to school. It didn't work... obviously.
Honestly though, I'm just happy Pearl wore one of her nice shirts and she let me use the flat iron on her hair. Granted we told her it was a Jessie the Cowgirl shirt to get her to wear it. It sort of made up for her insistence that she wear her ugly, pink flip flops. Guess you can't win all the battles.
October 11, 2010I really think I'm a good luck charm for the Aggies. I mean, I go to the USU vs. BYU football game, my first in years, and they spank those zoobies. Then today, I went to the Coaches Luncheon with Jeff and he wins an Aggie license plate holder. He goes to these things all the time and it's the first time he has won anything in the raffle. I'm telling ya, I'm lucky!
October 10, 2010
Today's photo comes courtesy of Pearl. I was feeding Cole at the time.
Moments prior to Cole deciding he wanted lunch, Jeff pruned the tip of his finger getting the last of our grapes off the vine for the final round of grape juice. Blood was dripping everywhere. Pearl immediately headed for the recently purchased Toy Story band aids, with an exuberant smile on her face as she realized it might give her a chance to sneak one too. It didn't work out in her favor.
Poor Jeff. But he still slaved away washing, juicing, and sealing another 14 quarts of grape juice. And with this injury, we are calling the canning season DONE!
October 9, 2010
Today was a soup-kind-of-day. Fall is in the air and a delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup sounded perfect for dinner. Plus, our Bountiful Basket just happened to have all the necessary ingredients in it... well, minus the chicken.
Pearl loves to make soup. Really. The kid would choose to make a big pot of soup over a batch of cookies. I know, she's totally weird. She loves to put the vegetables in all of her toy kitchen bowls, stir them up, and then dump them into the pot. She jabbers about all kinds of "chef" nonsense and tells me EXACTLY how to make the soup. It's fun even if I get stressed letting her help me. And so far we haven't had any major incidents with lost finger tips or burned hands. It pert near killed her though to wait for the chicken to cook and then to wait again for the veggies to cook. But the wait was worth it... the soup was delicious!
October 8, 2010
This week has been horrible. I've been on the verge of a nervous breakdown, panic attack, or major depression, I can't decide. I'd lost all patience with everything and everyone. And I wasn't looking forward to another evening of fighting.
Jeff must have felt the same way and decided that instead of staying cooped up in the house where a meltdown was bound to happen tonight, he'd take us over to the carnival at the elementary school. I wasn't sure I wanted to go but I'm glad I did. It was nice to get out, even if we had to bundle up Cole to keep warm. I could have done without the 3,000 families crammed onto the school's playground area but hey, maybe everyone else was needing a break too. Pearl had a great time getting her face painted and spending her tickets on the games and balloon animals. She played ring toss, shot a Nerf gun at owls, did Plinko, and downed a bag of popcorn. I was very impressed by the PTA because all the prizes were non-food items. Seriously, wow.
But the best part was the cake walk. It brought back memories of going to the Hillcrest Elementary Halloween Carnival that my grandma helped run. They had the most awesome cake walk and after years of going, I never won a single cake! Seriously they must have had at least 10 dozen homemade cakes at the it but year after year I could never win. So I was hoping we'd have better luck this year. With only a few tickets left, Jeff decided to we would all play to win. And win we did! Pearl and I both won! It was SWEET! Pearl picked out some pink cookies and I let Jeff pick out a pie for my winnings.
The carnival was really fun. We didn't fight the entire time, Pearl and Cole were on their best behavior, and we all laughed as we "raced" home. Today wasn't so bad after all.
October 7, 2010
I got my flu shot today. I don't care what supposed religious wacko nonsense beliefs Utahns have about getting vaccinations, after laying in bed for a week last spring with what was probably H1N1, I'm not taking any chances.
Now I just need muster up enough stamina to drag Pearl to get hers. It won't be pretty since she is absolutely terrified of the doctor's office... well, just the nurse.
I might just take my chances with the flu rather than deal with THAT fun.
October 6, 2010
I'm doing a blog giveaway.
The winner receives this three-year-old who will be the death of me before I'm 30. She doesn't listen or obey, she screams and cries a lot, she yells at you, she won't do as she's told, and she's as defiant as they come. Seriously, I have no clue what's come over her. The entire week has been one gigantic disaster. I've learned that one can scream until you are blue in the face and about to pass out. I've learned that no matter what consequence you give, the screaming, crying, whining, and hystericallness doesn't stop. I've learned you can have a child that is just plain rotten sometimes. I've learned that you can be completely embarrassed dragging your screaming, kicking, arm flailing toddler under your arms while trying not to drop her on her head (or her brother in your other arms for that matter) to the car and feel like you've totally lost control. I'm sure it was quite the scene for my coworkers to watch. Oh, and I now know the newborn hearing test results were wrong because there has been absolutely no listening going on this week.
Pearl has been a monster. I love that kid but I've had it.
October 5, 2010
I'm not sure why I always say "Cole" on this thing... most of the time the kid gets called "LaVernius" by Jeff or "Fernius" for short by Pearl. My sister calls him "Cole-bear" and my grandparents "the man child." I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who calls him Cole. Ok, so I'll admit it's slipped a couple of times and the poor kid has been called "Pearl." Sheesh, I'm lame.
But no matter what he's called, he has got to be the most adorable thing I've ever seen! I am in total awe that this handsome, little boy is all mine! He is such a good little boy. It was really rough for awhile but he is oh, so good! We drag him all over the place and he enjoys every minute of it. Cole is getting so big too. He's wearing size 6 months clothing. He rolls all over the place, from one side of the room to the other. He can scoot across the room and his crib. Cole grabs at everything from his toys to my earrings and hair. He loves to give me smooches and at times it feels like a slobbery make-out session with that kid. He grabs my mouth and squeals with delight. He giggles. He laughs and squeals at us. He bites and chews on everything. He goes "oh oh oh." grunts, toots a lot, and loves bath time. His latest trick is trying to sit up... in the tub, on the couch, anywhere. He grabs your fingers to stand himself up then proceeds to buckle his knees to bounce up and down. He blows raspberries at you and loves to have you blow raspberries on his belly and the inside of his chubby legs. He's so cute, I might forgive him for waking up at 3 a.m. for the past two weeks.... might.
He is all boy! And he's all mine!
October 4, 2010
I am terribly embarrassed posting this picture and hoping my boss doesn't stumble upon it because I just might get fired. Something about the media coordinator for the injury program just doesn't seem to fit quite right with this picture.
I got pulled over today for speeding. The first time ever in my entire life.
And I got a ticket.
I should have known better. The cops always hide in the same place, behind the church. I knew I was busted before the lights even came on and I saw the copper flip a U-turn. It was humiliating to say the least. Not to mention loads of fun trying to explain to Pearl what was happening and praying she stopped screaming. Oh and for Cole to stop fussing because he was in need of a serious diaper change. Apparently the yelling back and forth with Pearl was more of a distraction than I realized because he clocked me going 12 over the speed limit. Luckily it wasn't in a construction or school zone. When he asked me how fast I was going I told him what I thought was the honest truth, which would have put me about 7 over the speed limit. I think he felt sorry for me with two crying kids in the back seat and a clean record up until now.
But he still handed me over a citation... why do they call them that? To make you feel better?! Being a rookie at breaking the law he had to explain to me who to call and how to pay. I tried to not cry. I could feel it was going to be the start of a horrible, no-good, very bad week.
Then Pearl's persistent "Mommy is in trouble... the fire-policeman got mad at you... you were going too fast..." began. And it didn't stop when we got home. I fessed up to Jeff that we would now be owing the county $90 and he wouldn't let up with the "mommy needs a timeout because she was bad" routine either.
It really sucked. I felt horrible. And I'm NEVER going to speed again!
October 3, 2010
I am hoping you get bonus points for trying because today was a complete disaster in terms of having any remotely spiritual recharge. I must be the only person on the planet who dreads General Conference weekend. What little I do actually hear, I feel immensely guilty about. But that's a rare occasion now that I have kids.
The day started out fine. Jeff took the kids and let me sleep in until 9:30 a.m. because I was exhausted from getting up at least 15 times over the past two nights with sick kids. But as soon as we told Pearl it was time to watch church on TV... oh I can't even describe! She tried to keep the noise to a minimum but after about 10 minutes of not seeing the "follow the prophet" it was just no use. We begged, pleaded, and finally resorted to yelling at her to keep quiet. There was screaming, crying, and whining in return. And not to be outdone by his sister, Cole joined in by squealing, screaming, and having not one but two blowouts. To avoid crying myself, I tried distracting my emotions by taking a big gulp of water.... just as Jeff was telling Pearl, "I'm sorry they aren't cartoons! Maybe if they were...." and that's all it took. I spit my water all over my legs in laughter and then bawled like a baby. I couldn't help it. I was exhausted. Physically and spiritually and knew any desire for a spiritual feast was hopeless. Jeff whisked Cole outside and told Pearl to "give this to mommy." I guess he could sense that if I wasn't going to get a spiritual recharge today, I might as well get a caffeine one.
October 2, 2010
Assume the conference position.
Apparently the still, small voice works best when one's napping. Too bad it didn't last long... a nosebleed (the second of the day... the first was in the truck on the way home from Logan) and screaming older sister banished whatever spirit we all might have felt during General Conference fairly quickly. It was all down hill from there.
October 1, 2010
I'm pretty sure Cole and I were the sole reason the Aggies kicked BYU's butts tonight (31-16), since it was Cole's first USU game and my first football game in at least nine years! Never mind the fact that the zoobies sucked it up and the Aggies simply dominated in the first half. Or so I was told. Cole and I were an hour late to the game... something about having to work on a Friday afternoon, Pearl having a 103+ fever and refusing to accept that she couldn't go to the game, running to Walmart to find her some medicine, a treat, and Cole some diaper rash ointment (yes, it's been that fun around here lately), trying to force Pearl to drink her medicine to which she refused, feeding Cole, then turning around and going back to Jeff's parent's because I forgot his warm clothes (just in case).
But we made it - decked out in Aggie gear (even if the jacket was WAY too big still) and excited for a victory. I've never seen Jeff so happy... pumping Cole up and down 24 times when the Aggies scored a touchdown. EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE, around us was oohing and ahhing at Cole the entire game. He is a stud.
And the game was E.P.I.C. I just might let Jeff buy me a season ticket next year after all.
September 30, 2010
I hope that when I turn 80:
- My family loves me enough to throw me a surprise birthday party.
- I have a loving spouse who will stick with me through thick and thin... even if those trials come at a time in our lives when we feel like it's not fair.
- I'm as cute and sassy as my grandma and grandpa. Ok, so just my grandma is sassy.
- I have happy, beautiful children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who want to be good citizens, go to college, and are strong in our faith.
- I've got a savings account as big as my grandpa's so I can buy tractors or various trailers just because they were a good deal.
- I'm as healthy as an ox and can still buck hay if I want to.
- I've set as good as an example about being honest, hard working, and faithful as my grandparents.
- Maddox is still around so I can have turkey steak!
Happy birthday Grandpa! I love you!
September 29, 2010
I'm a bad Visiting Teacher. If I make it around to going, it's always the last week of the month. And most of the time it's an unexpected visit because I haven't left enough time to actually make appointments with the ladies I visit. The worst part is I have wonderful visiting teachers and I look forward to seeing them every month. Ok, so maybe the real worst part is we haven't renewed our subscription to the Ensign in months so I don't even know what the lesson is I'm supposed to give and ponder over.
I know, I'm going to burn for it someday.
In my defense, the Relief Society seems to change our partners a lot. By the time I figure out who my new partner is, I have a new person again. And they gave me my partner's phone number without an area code. So last month I tried all three of Utah's area codes to no avail and ending up going alone (and I made actual appointments... go me!). This month with going back to work and having a crazy schedule the month just flew by and the next thing I know, I have one night to go. So I gave my sisters I teach a quart of Jeff's homemade grape juice in the hope that they'll once again forgive me for being such a slacker.
Do you think Heavenly Father likes grape juice too?
September 28, 2010
I wore a necklace today so Pearl insisted that she needed one too. What I didn't anticipate though was the other accessories she needed. A green, heart-shaped ring, her Sheriff Woody badge, dinosaur necklace that Jeff made in jewelry class in high school (Pearl tells us that her Dad made it just for her... uh yeah), pink star-shaped sunglasses, and her Disney princess wrist clock (aka her watch). When she came out of her room she excitedly declared, "I'm stylin' Mom!" To which I replied, while trying not to laugh at her, yes you are Pearl. And if any of you follow my blog, you know how much Pearl LOVES to get her picture taken (sense the sarcasm here). Well, she must have really thought she was hot stuff because she practically begged me to take her picture. What a goon!
September 27, 2010
I spent my entire day in this room. A whooping nine hours glued to the same chair, listening to 11 hopeful individuals apply for a single job. It was a long, very long day. Poor Cole had 20 minutes to squeeze in feedings that typically take 45 minutes. He was not happy. And try as I might to listen to a-soon-to-be-new-coworker of mine, I kept thinking about how Cole was doing. But we survived. Jeff picked the kids up on his way home from work so I felt a little less guilty for the long day. And the media didn't call about our news release that also went out this morning (ok, so I felt a little bad about that one but was dreading calls because I didn't know how I would squeeze in interviews, feeding Cole, and a TV crew).
Sitting on the other side of the table gives you plenty to think about. Like, how on earth I got my first job with no work experience and straight out of college. Or how on earth someone can go to college and still not learn how to interview very well. And how blessed I am to have a job, even if I'm not sure that working is what I should/want to be doing... a very flexible, well paid, nice job with wonderful people doing wonderful work to improve the lives of Utahns. Seriously, as much as I've complained about going back to work since having Cole, I am so very blessed. Three people we interviewed were losing their jobs this week due to funding cuts. I felt so sorry for them and wanted to hire all of them. I guess it takes nine hours of listening, madly scribbling notes, and a sore behind to remember your own blessings.
October 27, 2010
