MY BLOG HATES ME!!!

For some reason my posts aren't posting. Please check my blog archive and click on the new post to read. I hope I can figure this out!!! Thanks!!

I am thankful for Spencer Roundy!!!!!

In 1994 Brian and I had been married for a year and we lived in an apartment in my parent's neighborhood. We went to the same church building they did and taught primary. One of the adorable little children in the primary was Spencer Roundy. He was diagnosed with brain cancer. He fought a good fight! He was so sweet and smiley and everyone just loved him and rooted for him and prayed and fasted for him. He fought the cancer for 6 years. He passed away in November 2000 at the age of 10. He was such a thoughtful and sweet boy! He was given an assignment in class not long before he passed away to write down 3 wishes. Now this is a boy who has struggled with this illness for 6 years. Basically he wrote that he wanted to be like Santa and give presents to children and help give clothes to children who needed them. How sweet!!! He was a fan of the Utah Jazz and had had the opportunity to meet the Jazz Bear mascot who loved Spencer. A year after his death Bear hosted a party where he brought $7500.00 in donations for children in the area. He committed to continue coming here every Christmas as long as the family collected the donations. They call it Spencer's Wishes. Every year they collect and every year he comes! Many children have been blessed by this great family, Spencer, and Bear. My brother, Nathan is good friends with Spencer's older brother Jason and has participated in this special day several times. I was lucky enough to be at WalMart a few years ago when the buses pulled up with the children in them who were there to get gifts. They were able to pick anything they wanted with the money they were given. Toys, clothes, music, movies, games. Whatever they needed and wanted. I think they get $100 per child. It was a beautiful experience seeing the joy on all of these sweet children's faces as they were able to benefit from the kindness of strangers who CARE!!! I marvel at the family's ability to take such an incredibly sad and difficult experience and bring something so amazing out of it!!! When we moved back into the neighborhood several years later I was in a church class of women that Spencer's mother taught. The topic she had been asked to teach about was grieving. I'm sure that was not easy for her but I will always be grateful for her willingness to share her experiences and to feel the spirit in the room so very strongly because of the sacredness of what she was sharing about her experiences with Spencer, her angel boy as he struggled to fight for so long. I live in the same town again but a different neighborhood and I am so touched by the love the community still has for Spencer, his family, and Spencer's Wishes. When I was getting new tires I saw a jar on the counter collecting for Spencer's Wishes and I unloaded what little I had in my wallet. Who could pass up such an amazing thing as Spencer's Wishes! There was a radio-thon on the local radio station the other day raising money and on Spencer's Wishes facebook his mom said they were able to raise $18,000!!! AWESOME!!! Think of all they can do for children with that! I LOVE IT!!! When I think of Spencer and Spencer's Wishes I instantly have a reverent, respectful feeling come over me. I just love what they do and love that such an amazing little boy that touched so many lives in his 10 years on this earth continues to touch so many lives! I know it makes him smile!!! If you are interested in donating or reading more about Spencer's Wishes visit http://www.spencerswishes.org/ They also donate hand made and store bought pj's to Ronald McDonald house in Provo, Utah. A blanket is sent home to a child on their first visit and the Roundy's wanted to make sure they have pj's too. They also donate pj's to children in safe houses. How sweet!!! I have been thinking about Spencer and Spencer's Wishes so much lately I just wanted to share!!!

Today I am thankful for.....

being able to RAMBLE!!!!!
~Max is 3 years old and weighs 38 lbs. I'm wondering if it would be ok if I stuffed 2 lbs of rocks in his pockets so he can weigh 40 lbs. and start sitting in a booster in the car. Not a fan of car seats! I'm a fan of the safety aspect of course but not of the constant buckling and unbuckling. I know it sounds so lazy of me but some of my happiest moments have come on the days my children start sitting in a booster and we can ditch the car seat. Even better was the day we got rid of Zack's booster and he could just sit in his normal seat...buckled normally...ALL...BY...HIMSELF!!!! Max has a new puffy winter coat which adds some fun to the whole experience!!
~I LOVE Pandora!!! If you haven't experienced the joy of Pandora and you live in a small town that has THE WORST radio stations EVER then you will truly LOVE Pandora!!! Also, if your computer has crashed and lost all of the hundreds of Cd's you copied to your computer and all of the songs you have purchased on itunes over the years...you will LOVE Pandora even more!!! If you don't know what I'm talking about go to pandora.com. It's called Pandora Radio. It's so cool!! You register your information so they can save the stations you pick. It's totally FREE!!! The way you get started is you just type in your favorite singer or song and then a box will pop up with a song on it that they think you would also like based on your choice. The song will play. You either 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down it'. If you 'thumbs up' it it will keep going in that direction of music. If you 'thumbs down it' it tries a new song. It saves your 'stations' you set up and each time you return to pandora.com you just pick a station it has saved for you or you can always at any time create a new station without any problem. If you're listening to country and you decide you are in an Elvis mood..go for it! That's a fun choice by the way! Or if you want Van Halen type stuff , Frank Sinatra, or just really...anything, it will do whatever you want! It's like having an ipod or a super great mixed tape or something! I LOVE it!!! It's my new favorite thing!!!
~So, I love to cook! I'm not a huge baker! That was always my big sister Dana's forte. She always enjoyed making cookies and other yummy stuff and I enjoyed eating them so it worked out really well for me. Then later my little sisters Stephanie and Katie would bake cookies a lot and once again it was just a super great deal for me. Also my mom is such an amazing cook and baker and everything she makes is absolutely delicious so I, in some way or another had plenty of great treats without actually making them on my own. One time in high school I tried making my own brownies from scratch and forgot to put FLOUR in them. NOT GOOD!!! Then I married Brian and he is a wonderful cook as well and a great baker too! The poor man ate the meals I made for him when we were first married! He deserves some kind of great prize for that I tell ya! People would always ask at his family gatherings and especially at my family gatherings if I made what we brought or if Brian did. They wanted fair warning and I can't blame them! He makes my mom's rolls so well that his own family has asked him on many occasions to bring the rolls for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or what ever gathering rolls would be good at. He makes delicious bread and all sorts of yummy treats. Once again...why bother baking when it is done so well for you?! Well, now that Brian has been working and is not a student anymore and life is busier and crazier he doesn't really have time for baking treats or making dinner very much so I have had to step up to the plate. I actually cook pretty well and I enjoy cooking meals and finding new yummy, easy, fast recipes to make. I have learned some very important things over the years. #1 rule: Turns out 'high' isn't always the best temperature to cook stuff on. #2 rule: To be a good cook you must have PATIENCE!!! I was not born with this virtue for sure!! But it's true...if you cook some things longer they actually taste better! I want my food FAST so it has taken me a long time to get used to this but I must say I think I'm pretty good at it now! I have even started baking the last few years a lot more than ever before. One reason is that since Matthew is deathly allergic to all nuts I read labels....a lot!!! Have you ever taken the time to really read labels on your food? It's a little scary what they are putting in our food to preserve it! So between wanting to not hurt my son and wanting to control the ingredients I put in my families bodies I have baked a lot more goodies the last few years. I'm ok at it. I still don't make breads or rolls. Oh, Rhodes bread and rolls...SURE! Although occasionally I will make my sister-in-law Stephanie's delicious bread sticks. They are so easy I can even make them. They only take like 45 minutes start to finish. There's no kneading required!!!! You just mix the ingredients, let it set for 20 minutes and bake them for 20 minutes and that's it. If you start them when you start dinner they are done when dinner is done. Very versatile recipe too. You can make them as rolls or bread sticks. You can make them all Italianed up or just buttery or for a really super yummy treat slather them in butter and put a layer of brown sugar over that and then sprinkle withe cinnamon before you bake them. Put your favorite cinnamon roll glaze or frosting over them and you have cinnamon rollish deliciousness. I think I'll post the recipe on my recipe blog. (top right corner if you want it) Anyhoo, one super great thing that has been happening lately is that my 10 year old LOVES to cook! I won't let him mess with the stove much but I totally let him make stuff to bake. Brian or I just do the oven part. His specialty is brownies. MY FAVORITE!!! How lucky am I?!
~By the way...dark hunter green carpet totally bites!!! It is all over the basement we are living in and holy cow is it hard to keep clean. And the really short nap of it makes it even more difficult to vacuum. I used to think wood chips were so NOT cool!! I mean I would find them EVERYWHERE!! It was like my son would come home from school with them stuffed in his pockets and sprinkle them at random all around the house. Well, I had NO IDEA what I was talking about!!! Wood chips are downright DREAMY compared to SAND!!!!!!! My kids attend a school with sand instead of wood chips and HOLY COW!!! I can't get the junk to vacuum up off of this carpet to save my life! I even tried Brian's mom's Elecrolux and it didn't do any better than my $38 special!
~I've been trying to be all positive and think of all my blessings this month and have been writing what I'm thankful for on facebook and on my blog. I am SO grateful for my blessings but sometimes a girl just has to ramble a little!! Today, I am grateful that I can ramble and you'll read my ramblings!!! Thank YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I put more cute Gracie pics on my other blog today.

I am thankful that.......

it's 8:00 p.m. and time for my kids to go to bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's been one of those days for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am thankful for.....AMAZING WOMEN!!!!!
Let me tell you about a few of them.

My sister-in-law Jenise: She is truly amazing! She is one of the nicest people you will ever meet in your life. When her 2 children were little her husband and I believe 2 of his brothers passed away in an accident on a farm in Kansas. She has done a wonderful job of raising her children!!! She met and married my brother, Rob, several years ago and they are very happy together. She ADORES her children and they ADORE her right back! Rob loves her children like they are his own! David is her youngest at 23 years old and he is a great kid! He was in a very serious car accident in February of this year. The accident has left him paralyzed. He is working very hard to regain his strength and his ability to walk again. He is a strong man! His accident happened in Texas and his parents live in Kansas. It was something like 12 long hours before they even knew that it had happened. SO scary! Jenise has been through so much this year watching her son go through all he has. She is strong and faithful. I know it's been so hard for her! I wish we could make it all better for them!!! She is her children's biggest cheerleader! David, Erin, and Rob's Tyler are so lucky to have her! She is a wonderful example to all of us and I am so glad my brother was lucky enough to find her! Her daughter Erin made her a grandma this year! Sweet little Noah was born in July and I'm sure has brought much joy to their lives! Isn't it wonderful how even when you are facing the most difficult challenges a precious baby can make you smile, laugh, and be happy!!! What a precious gift!!!

My cousin John's wife, Renee: Renee has 5 beautiful children. 2 of these children are twins. An adorable little boy named Parker and a beautiful little girl named Penelope. In February, Parker who was 8 months old at the time came down with bacterial meningitis in his brain. Renee and John went through pure hell over and over watching their tiny son struggle to survive this awful illness. He made it through. He has some permanent things he'll deal with like his loss of hearing. Some things will take time to heal or recover from. I have read their blog that talks about the different challenges and things that they have faced and over come and still face. These are amazing people! As I read a recent post that Renee made I shed many tears as she opened up about many of the emotions she has had over the months since Parker's challenge began. She is an amazing woman! She is an inspiration to everyone! As she struggles to find joy in her trial and be strong through it she strengthens everyone around her. I wish I could find a way to be a strength to them but instead they are strengthening me. My testimony, my faith, my attitude is all strengthened by them. Parker, John, and their sweet little girls are lucky to have such a wonderful woman in their lives! Once again I wish we could make it all better for them! Such a sweet mother! Such an amazing woman!!!

My friend Sarah: Sarah has 4 children and is an amazing woman! She is the best mom! It's so fun to be around her! We laugh until we cry when we are together! She Is funny, and so great with her children! Her husband, Jared's brother passed away this summer. His brother's wife had just passed away in December of the year before. This left their 4 children without either parent. Sarah and Jared didn't even blink! They took these 4 children in and added them to their family and are doing a great job of it! I can't think of a better family for them to go to. They will give them love and care and that is the most important thing they can have! What an amazing woman! I know it hasn't always been the easiest thing and I'm sure it's pretty crazy some times but I also know that Sarah wouldn't have it any other way! She is such an inspiration and example to me and I am so glad to call her friend!

My friend Melissa: Melissa is a single mother of the cutest little girl named Jessica. They were our neighbors for a while. I feel like Heavenly Father helped us find each other when we really needed a friend. Melissa is a very strong, talented, beautiful, amazing woman. She was in an abusive marriage and she had the strength to leave. THAT is amazing!!! I know that it wasn't easy for the abuse she suffered was mental abuse. It may not leave scars to the naked eye but they are there. I know it hasn't been easy but I know it is worth it! She is a beautiful woman inside and out and she didn't allow that to be taken away. She is a daughter of God and she deserves to be treated as such and I am proud of her for being strong enough to leave a bad situation! I am so glad to know her!!!

I could go on and on because I know so many inspirational women! My mother, my sisters, my sister in laws, my cousins, my friends, my mother in law...I am lucky to know them and to be able to learn from all of them and to gain strength from their examples. The particular women I have chosen are women who have faced especially difficult challenges this year and are doing their best to rise above them! You never know who is watching you and learning from you! Every woman effects every other woman around them and I am grateful to know so many wonderful women!!!!

I am thankful for.....

millions of dollars.
My hundreds of pairs of shoes.
The ability to buy anything I want whenever I want.
My 7 bedroom house with the huge, gorgeous kitchen.
My gigantic family room where we can have the best parties and family gatherings.
My huge, super fun property that allows the kids to run free and explore.
My daughters beautiful wardrobe!
My son's adorable clothes and totally awesome toys.
Our 4 wheelers.
Brian's motorcycle.
Our camp trailer.
Our ability to jet set around the world to Disneyland, Disney World, Italy, France, Germany, Australia, New York City...........
The wardrobes we buy for all of our friends and family who need them.
The Christmas' we are able to provide for everyone we know who can't really afford it.
The hundreds of people we are able to help on those little Angel Trees at Christmas time.
Brian's studly truck he's always dreamed of having.
My Jeep Wrangler I've always dreamed of having.
I'm thankful for my dreams since that is where we actually are able to do all of this stuff!!! Maybe some day we'll be able to do some of those things but for now I guess we will just be grateful for the things we do have! I know we are even better off than a lot of people and we are truly grateful for that! We always want more than we have but when we lose what we have we realize we really are blessed and it can always be worse!!!

I am thankful for....

~Doritos
~Dr. Pepper
~Cherry Coke
~Snow
~My children
~Brian
~To be able to look in the little girl's section at the store without hearing grumbles from Brian about how we don't have one of those so we can't look.
~Brian's job
~My parents
~My sisters
~My brothers
~Brian's family
~My friends
~Mixed Nuts the movie! LOVE it!!!!
~The Food Network
~The way my little boys smell like puppies after they play outside.
~The way Gracie smells after a bath and a slathering of baby lotion.
~The smell of bread dough rising and baking. (I don't actually know that from experience with baking it myself just from letting the Rhode's Rolls rise and thaw)
~The way the bathroom smells when I go in there after Brian has showered and gone to work. It's fun to smell his aftershave and body wash in the air.
~The way my neice Haley adores my little Gracie! Gracie loves her right back! It's the sweetest thing!
~How nice it is to have the internet again.
~Dots and popcorn at the movie theater.
~Thanksgiving dinner
~Christmas time!!!!!!!!!!!!!



BTW: I added some pics on my Word from the zoo blog if y'all are interested. If you want to be invited to that blog let me know and I'll send you an invite!

Today I'm thankful for....

the sweetest, cutest baby in the whole world! I'm not just saying that because I'm her mother! It's pure truth!!! If you don't believe me just ask her dad or her brothers!! They'll tell you the same thing! Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of her. She's 5 months old now and has changed so much. I just can't believe how time flies!

Just recycle it?

So my friend posted about her love of Christmas and it got me in the spirit and I started wondering what my old posts were like on my private blog last year. I checked them out and I liked them so much I was thinking of just recycling them this year instead of trying to think of new ones for this year. My favorite is the flashback of the nightmare experience I had trying to take a decent picture of my little boys for our Christmas card one year. Oy vey!!! Anyhoo, maybe I'll just go green for Christmas this year.....

I am thankful for.....

being able to hang out with my mom yesterday. Max, Gracie, and I drove up there yesterday to spend some time with her and it was a great day! Bonus: I scored warm, winter coats for Max and Matty for $25.00 at Penneys. Love a great deal! I'm so relieved to not have to worry about Matty freezing at the bus stop! :)



Max's coat:

Matthew's coat:

I've got the time change blues!!!

WARNING: This was written during the 5 a.m. hour so it may not be interesting or coherent! Good luck!

~I used to wake up at 5:30 a.m. For a while Gracie was waking up for a bottle at that time and then going right back to sleep until between 8 and 9. She would have been asleep since between 8 and 10 the night before so I was cool with getting up at 5:30 to feed her. Well, my body has a stupid natural alarm and after I repeatedly wake up at a certain time more than like 4 times my body just automatically adopts this new time to wake up. It sucked because I would fall asleep occasionally (usually I just never fell back to sleep) and wake up at 6:30 when the alarm went off so I could get the kids ready for the bus by 7:30. Well, ever since the lovely time change I wake up at 4:30. 4:30!!! I am not nice unless I get plenty of sleep and this is not my idea of plenty of sleep! Once I wake up I can't fall back to sleep because my mind thinks of all the things I need to do and stuff. RRRRGGGG!!!
~LOVE the Ped Egg!! You know that little thing they advertise to scrape the skin off of your feet. A friend on facebook posted about how much she likes it so I decided to test it out. When your husband refers to your feet as "hooves" you know you have a problem!!! It works wonders! It's super great and if you have "hooves" too, I highly recommend you try it!!!
~Not a big fan of spider rings and fake spiders in general because of my hatred of spiders. I have to say that living in a basement with really dark green carpet that's almost black where TONS of spiders live makes me dislike them even more!!!! YUCK!!! I don't get why boys like them so much either! NASTY!!!
~Max is so stinking cute! He LOVES preschool! He is at that funny stage that all my boys have gone through where they make up their own truth. They have crazy imaginations and just say the most hilarious things at this stage. I just pray that people don't believe what they say because who knows what they'd think was going on at our house! One day he told me that his teacher made him a birthday cake that day at school. One day I wanted him to wear these red work out pant kind of things that are way cute with navy blue and white stripes down the side of the leg. He tells me his teacher says he can't wear those pants to preschool. He HATES wearing coats in the winter so the other day he told me that his teacher says he doesn't have to wear a coat. The other day we were at his dad's office (he has been going to work an hour early and working through lunch to make up for time he missed when he had the swine flu and we've been taking lunch to him) and it was time to take him to preschool. I said, "Oh, Maxers we forgot to comb your hair today." He said, "That's ok my teacher says we don't have to comb our hair." He's just silly! I was reading some old posts the other day on my other blog and laughed again when I read about him telling me when I made tuna casserole or tuna surprise as Brian calls it that, "the tuna people told me that I can't eat tuna in my macaroni." Cracked me up!
~I keep reminding myself that it's ok that everyone drives like 5 miles an hour here because it's a small town and I'll probably still make it to my destination on time since it's not that far anyway. It helps me not want to pull my hair out every time I drive down the road. Remember we moved from a town that was in a county where we drove on the crazy interstate all the time and in busy towns and my car just doesn't know how to drive 5 miles an hour!!!
~We start watching Christmas movies at our house at the beginning of November. This year I HAD to watch Mixed Nuts in October. It makes me laugh! Such a bizarrely funny show! I'm curious if that Jim Carrey's Christmas Carol is good and if it's ok to take my boys to. Please let me know what you think if you see it!
~Well, I suppose I've rambled enough! I think I'll go tend my farm. It's SO much fun! I used to love to farm on facebook and then I decided it just took WAY too much time! I haven't farmed in months. I decided to try it again now that we have internet again and I used to enjoy farming while feeding bottles to Gracie and WOW they've changed it! It's super fast and easy and you get awesome tractors and stuff. Since people aren't blogging so much anymore I get bored and I was even thinking the other day that I wished it took a little longer on my farm because I didn't have anything else to do. Well, that's when I decided to finally cash in on all my Farkle chips people have been sending me and now I have a new addiction!!! My goal is to kick Brian's trash!!! Since Gracie sleeps so many hours during the night she eats every 2 hours during the day! That's a lot of farming I get to do!

I Am Thankful For.....

Today I am thankful for healthy children. This last year has been really tough on some of our family members. My nephew, David, was in a serious car accident in February and was paralyzed. He is making slow progress and has been blessed in many ways but he is facing a very difficult battle. My cousin's little baby boy, Parker, had bacterial menengitis in his brain in February also. He is improving and has been blessed in many ways as well but again the battle is slow and difficult. Both Parker and David have had many ups and downs these past few months. Their parents and they have suffered so much in every way and it's been really hard to know that they are suffering and there isn't anything we can do to help but to pray. Another of my cousins was just diagnosed with a brain tumor. They say it isn't cancerous but it is difficult to get to the tumor to remove it and his inner ear will have to be removed to do so. He is a husband and father and it's just scary! His surgery is tomorrow and we are praying he will be ok. After having the kids just have swine flu and worrying about their health because of everything you hear about it on the news and everything it makes you stop and think. I'm so grateful to have a healthy family. I think we tend to take that blessing for granted until we don't have it and then we realize how blessed we really, truly were. I am so grateful that I am healthy, that my husband is healthy, that my children are healthy!!! Truly a wonderful blessing!!!

I am thankful for........

It was strangely easy for me to think of my many blessings a few months ago when Brian was out of work. It was definitely a trial but we were truly blessed and it was nice to be constantly reminded of just how blessed. Moving from our old WONDERFUL place has been really hard! On all of us! We're slowly making the adjustments but some are coming along slower than others. I was really depressed for a few days and just couldn't get out of it and then I read a friends blog where she was talking about her blessings and it made me think that I should really start focusing more on the good in my life than on what I don't have. I LOVE blogging for that! As I say, one blogger's post can be another blogger's "lesson of the day". Well, I was thinking about it and last year I did kind of a thankful journal on my other blog during the month of November. I'm doing it again and this will be my first post. Some will be sappy, some will be silly.

I am thankful for....the most beautiful November EVER!!! Can you believe how wonderful it's been? I seriously can't remember the last time we had a Fall. It seems it always goes from being super hot to being super cold with no real 'in between'. I couldn't ask for a more beautiful Fall than this years! Every day the weather is PERFECT!!! We're a week into November and I'm still wearing short sleeves. How great is that?!!! LOVE it!!!
~I am thankful Brian and I were able to go on a date last night too! Thank goodness for my mother in law and Brian's brother Chris who watched my kids! Chris even walked with my spoiled little baby Gracie for like an hour because every time he sat down she cried. We are stuck together like glue, my little Gracie and I. I've never had a baby that was THAT attached. I am LOVING it! Unless of course I need to actually get something done and she won't let me put her down and then that's a real problem but other than that it's enjoyable! She is already scooting around on the floor and I have to make sure all the Lego's are put up because she finds them so I keep thinking this precious time of having her want me and only me all day long is so fleeting and I want to enjoy it instead of thinking it's a pain. Pretty soon she'll be walking and busy and I'll only be able to hold really hold her when she's sleeping. Matthew and Zack were quite attached to me too but Gracie is like nothing I've experienced. It's pretty great to be so loved I must say! I hope I never forget the way she looks at me. The way she lights up when I walk in the room. The look of utter adoration she gives me. Oh how I love her! There is truly no greater gift on this earth than to love and be loved by my precious children! It was really hard for me to leave her. We even took her with us to dinner then dropped her off for the movie. I am so glad that Chris took such great care of her! I can't tell you the last time Brian and I went on a date. And completely alone for part of it! WOW!!! That's simply unheard of! It was great! We had Sticky Finger Salads at Wingers...our favorite!! Crave 'em! Love 'em! Especially with extra ranch! MMMMM...MMMMM....GOOOOOD!!! Then we watched Couple's Retreat. We laughed a lot! It was really fun spending time alone with my sweetie. We needed it and we really need to do it more often!

I'm a SPAZ!!! What can I say?!

Last night I sat up in bed and shouted, "Who played the mother of Karen Irvine?" My mother's name is Karen Irvine. How silly is that?! I have been known to scream in my sleep and I've sworn in my sleep more than once, but I just wonder what the heck I was dreaming to provoke such a response. Of course I woke up my sweet little sleeping princess and had to feed her a bottle to calm her down. Brian said,"To answer your question, Hazel Depperschmidt played the mother of Karen Irvine." I'm sure he was annoyed by my outburst but probably more than just a little relieved to not be awakened by a blood curdling scream!! This has happened more than once, unfortunately. One time was especially embarrassing. Not very long after we were married we visited his mom and were sleeping in a room her old house that was pitch black. Not a single window. I started screaming and his brother Michael threw open the door and flipped on the light and looked at us like "what the h*$%" and Brian just said,"It's ok, she does this a lot." He just looked at us like we were nuts and went back to bed. I still haven't lived that one down. Another humiliating time was when we were living in this town we live in now in a house that was split right down the middle into two apartments. The mother of a friend of mine from high school named Andrew lived in the other apartment. There was a shared unfinished basement for storage and an enclosed back porch where we shared a large laundry room. Well, one night we watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom right before bed. I was dreaming that I was the lady in a chase scene in a market place and that I was just about to be caught. I started screaming! Brian put his arm around my waist to try to calm me down and said it was ok. I thought he was a bad guy catching me and I screamed even louder!! (My throat hurt so bad I was afraid I had permanently damaged it or something) Poor Andrew had been sleeping on a cot in the basement that night and thought I was being murdered or something and ran up the stairs and sat on the top stair until he was sure I wasn't dead and then ran back downstairs. I was MORTIFIED!!! Another night I swore like a sailor. I admit to struggling to control my language. I say the 'S' word, the 'D' word, and the 'H' word a lot. I try to be better at controlling it with the kids around but if I'm extra stressed or tired I have a much harder time. I used to say SOB a lot! Now I say son of a FREAK!!! I don't know why but that keeps me from saying the 'B' word so whatever. Of course I still think it and I would really like to be able to control my thoughts because if I swore out loud nearly as much as I swear in my head it would definitely not be pretty! For about the last year or 2 I find myself wanting to say JA a lot!!! I mean A LOT!!! I started saying JA instead of actually saying the words so that my 3 year old won't repeat it but people just make fun of me. I do NOT however say the 'F' word!!!!!!! But one night I sat up in bed and yelled out F-You (only I actually said the word) I mean, thank you! What?! What a goof! I often sit up in bed and just yell out the 'S' word or other swear words like I'm frightened or something. Brian has affectionately referred to my outbursts as my turrets ever since because he heard once that some people with turrets randomly yell out swear words. :P Between my craziness in my sleep and Brian's snoring, it's a miracle we ever get any sleep! Maybe that whole don't sleep together before you're married thing is overrated. Jk

Check out my Word From The Zoo blog for some Halloween pics!! I FINALLY updated!

Don't you just love it?!

The only thing that's more rewarding in my life than doing oodles and oodles of laundry...every...single...day...is having to re-do all of the laundry!!! 2 weeks ago I washed a green crayon with white clothes that ruined several pairs of my quite expensive underwear that is made with weird but nice fabric that holds onto green crayon for dear life! Then, because that wasn't enough fun, a few days later, I washed a tube of chapstick that my 9 year old left in his pocket and stained several pieces of clothing. I still need to get that out! Any suggestions? Last night I decided my life is just way too dull and I just needed something else to do, so I washed a piece of bubble gum with a load of our dark clothes. Brian was nice enough to get it out of the dryer with a magic eraser. Now, I guess I'm going to have to break down and get that AND the chapstick out of all our clothes. I'm so excited! I just can't wait! I can't think of one other thing in the whole entire world that I would rather do than this fabulous task!!! So super excited!!! :(

I charged my camera battery and took some pics of the yummy caramel apples I made. My friend, Tara, makes this fabulous caramel for the apples and dips them in white chocolate and sprinkles them with cinnamon. They are to die for!!! I made them last year and they were delicious! This year I decided to mix them up a little. I used her same caramel recipe and dipped them in the caramel, then milk chocolate, and then rolled them in broken up Heath bars. Oh, man!!! Good stuff! Thankfully I had lots of family around to help me eat them so I don't weigh 500 lbs.

It's been so long...so very long....

Brian finally hooked up our computer and internet so I can finally get fully back into my favorite activity in the world...BLOGGING!!!! I can put pictures on again and everything! HOORAY! (Can't get any to post right now of course but I'll try again later) Now if I can just remember to keep the battery charged so I can take pictures we'll be in business. I didn't get any pictures of my kids together on Halloween. I have a few random ones on my cell phone that weren't from Halloween day and I didn't get a single picture of my oldest in his super cool Dead Slasher Rocker Dude costume. And noone got a picture of me in my vampiress costume. Oh well. We had fun anyway! Friday night we went to a "trunker treat" at Brian's brother's church building that had 2 wards at the party and our Max won the "cutest costume" award!! So fun! I have to say he was quite cute! Our family is back to health. Gracie's congestion has improved quite a bit and she was back to sleeping through the night again last night which was SO nice! Brian still coughs occasionally and Max too but for the most part they are back to normal! Thanks for all the prayers! I know they helped!!! After a crazy 2 weeks of very little sleep for mom who was up medicating everyone, sucking out noses with nose suckers, feeding bottles, and worrying..a lot I was quite exhausted!!! Brian agreed to get up with Gracie Friday night so I could have a decent nights sleep and it was WONDERFUL!!! I have to admit I have had it pretty easy in the getting up with babies department. Brian fed Zack his nighttime bottles....every 2 hours...until he was 14 months old! AND he worked construction! He also fed Matthew his nightly bottles but luckily he stopped needing one after about 5 months and Brian was in school and didn't work a physically tasking job like construction anymore. With Max we took turns every other night for months and then I opted out of that whole thing and he took over every night. He told me that with Gracie I was on my own. He was DONE!!! Lucky for me she has slept through the night since like her third night home except for the occasional need for a bottle and this last week her stuffy nose woke her up a lot and she needed bottles then but other than that I sleep. Let me explain myself a little and then you can fairly judge me and I won't mind a bit what your judgement is!!! With Zack I had post partum depression, which I didn't understand but I did know that if I didn't have sleep I couldn't deal very well and if I had sleep I could be patient and kind and loving and things were good. No sleep, no patience, lots of crying for me and feeling inadequate and like a horrible person in every way and a horrible mom after pleading with the Lord for a baby for 6 years. All I know is I was much happier because Brian fed bottles and let me sleep and I will be eternally grateful to him for that!!! With Matty and Max I just couldn't go back to sleep once I was up and I was in school too with Matthew and unlike Brian who could study during the day I had to study until like midnight every night because I still had to do EVERYTHING else that was required to run the house and take care of the kids. Brian on the other hand can feed a bottle and fall immediately back to sleep. I would be up for HOURS just laying there thinking of all the millions of things I needed to do the next day. No matter how tired I was I couldn't fall back to sleep. Same now! These last 2 weeks I slept MAYBE 3 hours a night if I was lucky because I just couldn't fall back to sleep after giving medicine and feeding bottles and stuff. I know I'm a whiner and so pathetic but isn't my husband THE BEST HUSBAND EVER for doing that!!! And I have to say the kids all ADORE him and I like to think that some of their closeness comes from those "bonding times" when he fed them at night! ;)

Does anyone know which movie I got that quote from that I used for the opening title of this post? I just love movie trivia!