What do you get when?

What do you get when you start working 40+ hours a week, plus try to raise 4 kids, plus try to keep your household "together", plus try to teach online seminary, and on and on and on? One very tired and hardly kept together momma that's what.

Obviously I haven't focused on blogging for the past S E V E R A L months. I still haven't posted the promised pictures from the Restoring Honor event in August. Maybe I'll get them up before the 1 year anniversary of the event. We have however done a lot of other things. Here's a quick run down.

Kyrie was named Distinguished Young Woman of the Year for East Polk County, formerly known as the Jr. Miss program. My in laws came to town to watch her program. She did great! We were very proud of her. She graduated with high honors from high school last month. How did that happen so quickly? She will leave for BYU in just a month. She was set on going to the U but didn't get a substantial enough scholarship for us to justify spending $9,000 a semester for out of state tuition. I think she is secretly excited to go to the Y though.

Kade played varsity lacrosse this year. He seems to lack the determination and dedication that his parents showed for their sports, but none the less he had a good time. We hope he will play again next year. He is surviving the summer by working for us at the office learning how to process tissue for slides and hating us at home for removing the wireless router when we are not at home. How he will ever survive without X Box live is beyond me. He actually picked up a book or two this past week. Imagine that.

Jacob and Daniel swim every day. More than once. Changing each time. Using a different towel each time. Did I mention I do at least 3 loads of laundry a day to keep up with them? They are both excited to play lacrosse next year and are going to day camp for it. Jacob worked very hard this year to finally earn his Presidential Physical Fitness Award. (We'll just pretend it isn't signed by the usurper in chief that play acts as POTUS) We were so proud of him. He had to run a mile in under 10 minutes and really struggled with that for the past 2 years. Dan graduated from preschool and will attend kindergarten next year. The office will definitely be quieter without him roaming the hallways in the afternoons. With Kyrie off to college that means I will be relegated to taxi cab driver again. But watch out because Kade gets his permit at the end of the month.

Wade and I enjoyed a quick work trip to Vegas. We were happy to see Dan and Amanda and of course Amelia. We figured out workable solutions to some of the issues we were having with staffing and work issues at the office. I've started to slow process of change and hope things will be running much more smoothly in a few more months.

We're looking forward to a vacation out west for family reunions in a few weeks time. In the meantime, Kyrie will turn 18, Kade 15, and we will have been married for 19 years, all this month, all within one week. Wow. Time doesn't stand still for anything or anyone.

Havering

My blogging has really been lacking of late. My apologies. I really needed to hear this song today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeuNxMY_5Uo.

I'm off to haver with some girlfriends. Redneck party at a trailer park. Yes. I am not kidding. Welcome to Polk County folks.

Happy New Year

A little late I know, but better late than never right? My life has been consumed by the office. I frequently find myself rolling home, kicking off my shoes and heading straight to my bed. Me. The Night Owl. Asleep at 7:30pm. Frequently. Sad.

We enjoyed a visit from my parents before Thanksgiving. The boys all had fun fishing out of Sarasota. So much fun in fact that Wade has done it about 5 times since. I can't express how happy I am that he has found something he enjoys doing with the boys, even if it does mean $100/lb fish. (He charters a boat and guide and if you take 6 people it is very afforadable, about $50 each for 4 hours of fishing all supplies included, but when you average out the amount of fish brought home with the price it seems crazy expensive!!)

Kyrie was named East Polk County Jr. Miss (now known as the Distinguished Young Woman of the Year Program) She did great at the state competition, but sadly didn't win any of the scholarships. We were so proud of her though!! However, we can't help but wonder if her not placing in any category had anything to do with the questions she had in her judges interview...which was the first impression the judges had of the contestants.

*What do you think of Glenn Beck? Which lead to
*What do you think about polygamy?
*What about gay marriage?
*What about gay couples adopting?

You get the idea. I don't think she stood a chance but we are proud of her and her ability to stick up for her beliefs.

Christmas was fun if not exhausting for me. I didn't even get to decorate like I like to. That pesky office drama seems to never go away.

We hired a new surgical tech to work part time at the suggestion of a fellow physician who also happens to be in our stake presidency. Long story short: they sent her our direction because they were going to have to let her go in the near future due to their hiring of a new P.A. They told her as much on top of cutting her hours and vacation pay. We liked her and told her she could have a full time position with us after the other Dr. had hired his new P.A. and we would hold the job for her through March. She gave notice and we got accused of stealing an employee out from under them and who knows what else. So, I'm still working. She will get to start full time in March though. I have however lost much respect for the other physician and his wife...and that incident isn't the only reason why. How would you like to hear from neighbors that your daughter's young women president gossips about her? Or have said YW pres's son come to school daily and tell you how much his mom doesn't like you. Yeah. The other physician's wife is our new YW prez too. Oh the joys of trying to love one another when what you'd really like to do is punch someone in the face or at least chew them out verbally in an effort to stay out of jail.

DH's parents came to visit for Kyrie's competition. More fishing ensued and more craziness at the office resulting in another employee being fired for showing up under the influence of something. Never a dull moment. I would really like a dull moment about now.

Instead...I'll sing my theme song: ala Dory from Finding Nemo...just keep smiling/just keep smiling smiling smiling smiling What do we do? We smile, smile. (I know she sing swimming, but that really doesn't help me now does it?)

Where, Oh Where Has the Blogging Chris Gone?

I'm still alive. Just busy. Fired an employee at the office that we referred to as "Glenn Close" in reference to her character in Fatal Attraction. Yes. A. Nut. Job. who had a "thing" for my DH and tried to make everyone think they had a relationship going. I'm proud to say that is not why I fired her, but it didn't help make her popular in my book. Things have been running so much more smoothly with her gone, but I am filling in until the new person we hired is available for full time (around Jan. we hope). This means I am assisting with surgeries which I love doing. Have been able to help with some very cool cases.

Today we (well, really Wade, but I say we since I helped) took of the top 1/2" of a patient's entire ear and reconstructed it with cartilage from the back of what was left of her ear. Wade then sutured it to a flap of skin from behind her ear and will let it heal, then release the ear and further repair it. The other day he did a skin graft with the donor site being the gentleman's eyelid so it was like an eye lift. Needless to say, this once pre-med student is really enjoying the change of scenery at work and would love to do it full time if my kids didn't need me. They have to come first though, so I'll do it until our surgical tech starts, then return to the business end of things and Fridays only on the surgery side.

Enjoyed a nice visit from my parents and Caleb before Thanksgiving. I cannot believe it is already December. I have no idea what I am going to do for Christmas for everyone around here. Online shopping is probably the only way I'm getting it done though. Good thing I can now ship things to the office.

Wade wants to take the kids skiing to Park City over Christmas. For some reason that doesn't sound too appealing to me. Mostly because of the molestation render to passengers from the T&A...I mean TSA gang bangers. I cannot believe some of the horror stories I am reading about. If I have to go through a full body scanner I will proudly do so with both middle fingers flying high and a sign written in ink on my chest that says "TSA SUCKS" or something. I'm likely to get myself arrested which doesn't sound like too much fun, hence my hesitation to take to the "friendly skies."

On a much nicer, Christian note, one of my cute nieces, and her cute brother, one of my nephews were featured in the Mormon Messages ad about Kids and Christmas. Enjoy and if I'm not back on here before the 25th I wish you and yours all of the joy and happiness of the Christmas season Christ can bring.


If the video doesn't work you try it here

I'll Get There Eventually

I know you are dying for an accounting of my Restoring Honor Rally. I will get it posted with pics eventually. As of the last month I've been working 8+ hours a day in the hubby's practice and I'm quite frankly wiped out. Today I got to assist him in surgery. I loved it. Closest thing I'll do to actually being an orthopedic surgeon like I imagined I would be when I was 18. Since I've been up since 2am and the day before 5am you'd think I'd be dead now. No. Can't. Sleep. I'm wired. Don't know why. In the meantime, here is a great video. Enjoy. And I'll get there eventually. I promise.

All Is Well

Hmmmm....lots of emotion around here this week. Lots of prayers. Lots of tears. But all is well. Grateful for my testimony of the plan of salvation, my marriage in the temple, my wonderful children, and all of my extended family and great friends. Just felt like I needed to say that publicly to few who do visit here. Hope all is well with you and yours too. I know some of you have been through rough times as well. My thoughts and prayers are with you all!

And I'm Off

To see Glenn Beck that is. Restoring Honor Rally. Can't wait. Leave in the morning. Kids are already complaining about me being gone. Sheesh.

Foster's Latest and Greatest

The 3 oldest started back to school last week. YeeHaww!! Dan and I have been chillin' waiting for his start date for pre-K. It can't here soon enough. Just a few more weeks. We've been going to Wade's office almost daily so I can get an idea of how things are running. I have many plans for making things run smoother, just hard to implement, change anything right now, especially since Dan is there with me. If you haven't heard we purchased the practice in June and are now our own bosses with no paycheck hahaha. Hard to pay yourself when there is no money coming in. Gotta get those insurance companies billed. Long story, hopefully a/r will start coming in SOON!

I am the new online homestudy seminary teacher. Can't remember if I posted that earlier. New program the church has to replace homestudy for students who cannot attend early morning. Very excited about it, just nervous about the time issue. Guessing it will take 3-4 hours daily of planning/grading/checking in on the students. That with working at the office and my plan of 2 hours a day at the gym doesn't seem doable. Guess which one will suffer the most? Somehow I've gotta give myself time to workout or I will go crazy.

Wade and I attended the Cocked, Locked, Ready to Rock Aerosmith concert two weeks ago. I smiled, laughed, and danced the entire time. Hands down the best live show I've seen. Man those 60 year olds are still rockin' it!!! Last weekend we saw The Expendables. I haven't gone to a rated R movie since Shindler's List, but just had to see this one and was glad I did. Actually really want to see it again. Action packed, guns and guts flying everywhere, clever humor, and the hand to hand combat scenes ROCKED!! Doesn't hurt that Statham is so easy on the eyes. Here are some interesting facts I didn't know about a few of the actors from the movie. Statham is well trained in Mixed Martial Arts and is an expert in Kickboxing. He also does most of his own stunts. He is single and a year younger than me. Man I need to start working out hard again!! Dolph Lundgren went to MIT on a Fullbright Scholarship. He's actually very smart and has a 3rd degree black belt in the martial arts he specializes in. Who'd have guessed that? Jean Claude van Damme refused to do the movie because he didn't want to lose a fight scene to Jet Li. Jet Li injured his foot while escaping the tsunami that followed a 9.0 earthquake in the Indian Ocean. Li and his four year old daughter were on vacation in the Maldives on December 26th, 2004. The two were in the lobby of their hotel when the wave came ashore. Scooping up his daughter and running for higher ground, a piece of furniture hit his foot, causing the injury.

Best news of all: I'm heading to the Restoring Honor Rally 8/28 AND I MAY HAVE A GUARANTEED, DON'T HAVE TO WAIT IN LINE FOR A POSSIBLE, TICKET TO THE KENNEDY CENTER EVENT THE NIGHT BEFORE. I feel like it is my birthday I'm so excited!! Sighhhh...hoping this comes through. What an opportunity!!

I Want To Scream at the Top of my Lungs

Ever have one of those days? How about one of the weeks? I've been completely wiped out since our return home one week ago. I think I need a vacation by myself to recover from my vacation with the kids.

Saturday was fun. We spent the day at the lake. I water skied and only wiped out hard once and boy oh boy am I still feeling some unused muscles in my back. Getting old sucks. But so does the lipo machine and if you haven't heard, Wade now has one at his office and will be sucking my fat roll off for me thank you very much. Now the rest of the story....day at the lake. I'm tired so I send Kyrie to take her friend home so I can go to bed. The boys run in and tell me the yard is on fire. I don't believe them but guess I better check it out just in case. Sure enough, there is smoke coming out of the ground in a line of hedges, up through the mulch. My first thought was to turn the hose on it, but I heard a still small voice whisper, "be smart, think about it." So, I stopped and thought for a few seconds. This past winter was the coldest one in central FL for the past 40 years. The cold managed to kill off about 1/2 of my hibiscus in the hedge line. I paid Kade to dig up the dead ones. While he was doing it he came across a small round cable buried through the hedge line. Not wanting to hurt him or cause trouble, I called the "no dig" people and had the underground utilities marked. He had found an old cable line but I remembered as I watched the smoke that there was also an electrical line there somewhere. I kept the boys away from the action and feeling dumb for having to call about such a small thing, called 9-1-1. The fire truck arrived about 10 minutes later. They thought they would be responding to a debris burn, but after clearing off the top of the smoking area, quickly stepped back and thanked me for calling them and not hosing down the fire. They wouldn't touch it and had to call the electric co. to come and fix the problem. When someone finally arrived flames had burst through. He was perplexed and had never seen such a problem. Some how the lines feeding my house and the neighbor's created the underground burn completely melting the rubber insulation on the lines, the plastic box set in the ground to protect them, and the lines themselves. We were without power for just a little bit, nothing too dramatic. Wow. Things could have been different if I had hosed down the problem. One problem down, another to go.

I spent the entire morning yesterday taking care of car troubles. Car troubles I didn't create. Thank you to the very smart and upstanding youth who decided it would be fun to drive by and hit cars with a baseball bat while I was in ID. I had to replace the back window ($250 deductible later) and just took the car in to the body shop to fix the dent and rusting area they created. I think they hit about 15 cars that night. I hope they broke a wrist or at least a finger while doing it. Then I found out that my tires are completely tread bare on the inside of all four. I purchased them in Nov of last year. Now, I have put 30K miles on since then, but how do you wear the INSIDE of all four tires? I don't think an alignment problem would wear them in such a manner, but what do I know? Will have to get the car from the body shop to take it to the tire shop where I purchased the last set to see what is up. Wonder what body shop I need to go to to get fixed up? I am tired of the aches and pains. My back has really been bothering me since I've been back and I've had a strange burning pain opposite the back pain, but in front, lower abdomen. I'm tired of the pain.

My kids and my DH are really getting on my nerves. I know this is partially a hormonal thing, thank you Mother Nature and your monthly gift, but I really just don't need to deal with anything more right now. Back pain, cramps, bloating, fatigue, back pain and more back pain. I have been downright mean, cranky, and irritable. I am ready for school to start. Only 2 more weeks. I don't know if I can make it. Sooooo, if you hear me screaming at the top of my lungs just continue with your business. I'm just blowing off some steam and should be back to normal in a few more days. Maybe?

We're Back

2500 miles in 4 days. Please don't ask me to repeat that feat any time soon. The kids were pretty good. I am sick of eating out. John came back with us and is having fun...I think. He went to the beach today with Kyrie and some of her friends. He is very burned. Not to worry too much as I'm sure it will turn into a tan with his skin. Our federal government really, really sucks. The federal judge in AZ needs to be deported with the illegals. While she is leaving she needs to swing by and take Obummer with her. I'm pretty sure he is an illegal too. I have a new tri-stake, regional calling. Online homestudy seminary teacher. A new program the church started last year. It's pretty cool but will be time consuming. I am done with my rambling thoughts now. Thank you. The End.

36 people....one sick 11 month old....Guess what happens next?

After visiting Seven Peaks with my sister and SIL with kids in tow, we headed to Poky to see the fandamily. I think there are about 36 of us here all said. Wed night Dan and Amanda joined us with Amelia...their 11 month old. They stayed at the apartment with myself and the kids. Millie threw up in the middle of the night. D and A were sure it was because of the large piece of birthday cake she had inhaled for dinner. I wasn't so sure. Today, 5 days later, the majority of the 36 people here have now had Millie's sick from birthday cake illness. Nothing quite as fun as having your 4 year old puke all over you and the car seat as you are putting him in at the end of the fireworks show. Or the 8 year old missing the show all together because he was left home puking. On average, there have been 4 people throwing up per night. Some how, I managed just the nausea, body aches and chills, and headache, but never did vomit. Aren't I lucky? Last night was Kade and Kyrie's turn. Good thing because we're planning a day trip to Jackson for horseback riding and a run on the rapids out of Hoback Junction. My guess is I will go from stomach flu to hypothermia as it is freezing cold here and the Snake River isn't known for it's natural warmth. Wish me luck.

2600 miles later

Florida

Alabama

Tennessee

Mississippi

Arkansas

OOOOOklahoma

Kansas

Colorado

Wyoming

Utah

Idaho

A list of the states we drove through in the past 5 days. Call me crazy, but airfare was so expensive this time, and with needing a car for the month we are here, I decided a road trip was in order. It wasn't too horrible. Kyrie helped drive and the kids didn't fight TOO much. We drove through the worst thunderstorm I've experienced in living in the south. We couldn't see 2 feet in front of the car the rain and wind were so fierce. I kept expecting to have a tornado blow us to kingdom come, but we arrived at our destination safely.

A wonderfully considerate skunk decided to welcome me to ID by spraying right at the open window of the bedroom I'm staying in. To top it off, the apartment smells like wet dog. Joy. Skunk and wet dog made for a lovely night's sleep. The kids and I are actually sleeping in the apartment that Wade and I lived in as newly weds. The home has changed owners a few times and since one of my brothers and his family are now living with my parents we needed somewhere else to stay and we as SOOOOO lucky that this place was available. I went to the store today to stock up on some things we would need there and forgot the most important item...febreeze. I'm losing it.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I have found another little piece of heaven on earth. It is at Universal's Islands of Adventure. Yes. It is Harry Potter World. It was AMAZING!! Granted, it was hot enough to be hell (99 degrees with a heat index of 110), and the lines were another form of hell (2 hours just to enter that part of the park, another 2 to shop at Dervish and Banges, you get the idea), but what do you expect on opening weekend? My oldest, her friend and my friend (her mother) went to opening day. Up at 3:00am, arrived at 4:30am and waited until opening at 9:00 but were amongst the first 100 in the crowd to enter and they saw most of the cast from the movies. They had a blast. Since I was hosting a party at my house that evening with around 100 guests, I couldn't go. Plus, I usually avoid the theme park scene like the plague in the summer, but I couldn't resist. I headed back with them and Kade on Sat and had the most fun I've had in a long time.

Everything I visualized in the books and the movies was there. Universal has outdone everyone in bringing JK Rowling's books to life. Hogsmeade is so cool. The shops built exactly like you imagine them looking. The castle and ride inside one of the best I've ever been on. And the moving portraits in the castle? Still trying to figure out how they accomplished that. I didn't care for the regular on tap butter beer, but the frozen one is delicious!! Didn't want to wait in line to eat at the 3 Broom Sticks, but the girls did the day before and they loved it. Purchased my Gryfindor robes and tie for the next movie premier, Halloween, the winter at the park (of course I will dress up to go when it is cooler) and I think I'll even go put them on now to read some books. The rides were incredible. Zonkos and Honeydukes amazing, Ollivanders exactly as seen in the movies, the owlry very cool (you can even send mail post marked from Hogwarts...how cool is that?), I could go on and on, and can't wait for it to cool down so I can take the other 2 boys as often as possible. They can't wait to go and have a wand choose them, get their own robes and ties, and join in the fun Harry Potter world.

(You know it has to be amazing when even the cast from the movies are left speechless)


If you love the books and/or the movies, you have to find a way to visit at some point in the future. Let me know when you're planning on coming and I'll visit with you. If I could, I would probably try to get hired to work there so I could dress up and live there as much as possible. It was that amazing. So come and join in the fun with me. Nothing is as fun as being a witch or wizard and not having the muggle world look at you a bit odd.

Moshing in the Mosh Pit...I think I'm getting too old for this

Our friend's oldest son is now playing in a band. They had their debut last Sat. Being the good friends we are, Wade and I went. Not exactly my genre of music, but their son rocks on the bass. The event was held at an old gymnastics facility. Man did that bring back some great memories. I haven't done any tumbling for 10 years. Guess what?! Even though my mind thinks it is only about 25 years old, the reality of being a few months away from 40 hits really hard physically when you throw some round-off back handsprings into the mix. Delusions of grandeur aside, yeah I was feeling it the next day. But I can still do some awesome toe touches and I didn't get hurt. I've decided that I need to look for a facility here that will let me tumble some to get in better shape. Anywho...back to moshing. Some big teenage boys were goofing off and moshing. Looked like fun but I didn't want to get hurt. After they left the scene, I went bounding out onto the floor when out of the blue one of the bigger ones turns and walks right in front of me mid-air. I slammed into him good. "Sorry," I laughed as I bounded away. I saw him rubbing his shoulder the rest of the night and he didn't join back in the moshing when the music started again. Wow. He was owned by someone old enough to be his mother, and I didn't get hurt. Maybe this moshing stuff isn't so hard after all?

Hello...Is It Me You're Looking For?

Yeah, yeah. I'm still here. Alive and kicking, just in a blogging rut. Much has happened, but I couldn't bring myself to sit down and blog about anything. The crap spewing forth out of D.C. is mind numbing. And just like the Obummer wants, my mind is going numb. It has to be that he wants us to be numb and dumb so we will believe his lies. And man does he tell some great lies or what? Which reminds me of a joke I read about his lies.

A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.

He asked, "What are those clocks?"

St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie Clock. Every time you tell a lie, the hands on your clock will move." "Oh," said the man, "whose clock is that?"

"That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie."

"Incredible," said the man, "and whose clock is that?"

St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his life.."

"Where's President Obama's clock?" asked the man.

"Obama's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan.."

On to home life:
After hearing about the many times my dad cut the cord on the TV while growing up, my DH has decided that was the best route to pursue in getting the kids away from the upstairs TV (I don't think he would ever do it to the large flat screen, but who knows?) The kids, being the smarties they are, took another power cord and spliced the two and viola. Problem solved until mean ole dad comes along and cuts it again. We have been having a circuit trip on the breaker, the one that sends power to the extra refrigerator. Well, I think I figured out why when I went to let Dan watch a movie upstairs. I was wondering how the kids had fixed the cord the last time around and found out we are lucky the smarty (which would be Kade in this particular instance) didn't burn the house down. He bared the wires, twisted them into two separate lines, and put them directly into the outlet. How he didn't shock the smartness out of himself whilst doing it is beyond me. Needless to say, the cord was cut off at the point where it exited the set and is no longer available for splicing, dicing, or otherwise sticking into the outlet.

Kids have been out of school for over 2 weeks now and I am ready for them to go back. Sigh. All-Stars has taken over our lives, which I didn't want. I can blame my DH again for thinking we needed to spend the summer at the ball park in the hot heat and humidity. Kids and I will be heading to ID for a break regardless of the playing schedule after June.

And finally, Dan told me that if he were a vampire he would suck my blood. As my friend told me when she heard this...isn't it nice to be loved?

Bird Bites

"How did Jacob get those bird bites mom," asked Dan. A bit confused it took me a moment to realize what he was talking about.

Jacob broke out in a rash all over his torso that started to spread to his arms a couple of days ago. Red, bug bite looking, itchy rash. We finally realized last night that it is probably a case of breakthrough varicella, otherwise known as chickenpox after vaccination.

"Oh, you mean the chicken pox on him?" I asked.

"Yeah, the chicken pops. Why did a chicken give him those?"

Kids say the darndest things. I had a good laugh from it too and Dan is still trying to figure out how a chicken gave Jacob those "pops". I tried to explain about viruses and snotty noses but he didn't really make the connection. Oh to see things the way a four year old does. Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there who take a minute or two from your lives to read about mine.

Gonorrhea Lectum

Some of you may have already seen this CDC release. I just thought it was very important information and wanted to help spread the word.

CDC Release

Information regarding Gonorrhea Lectem

The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of this old disease. The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectem. It’s pronounced “Gonna re-elect ‘em.”

The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior involving putting your cranium up your rectum. Many victims contracted it in 2008…but now most people, after having been infected for the past 1-2 years, are starting to realize how destructive this sickness is.

It’s sad because Gonorrhea Lectem is easily cured with a new drug just coming on the market called Votemout. You take the first dose in 2010 and the second dose in 2012 and simply don’t engage in such behavior again; otherwise, it could become permanent and eventually wipe out all life as we know it.

Several states are already on top of this, like Virginia and New Jersey, and apparently now Massachusetts, with many more seeing the writing on the wall.

All I Want For Christmas

Dear Santa:

I know it is only May and I am a little bit early. But I figured you might need some time to work on this one. All I really want for Christmas is a magic house that cleans itself, does it's own laundry and dishes, cooks it's own meals, and magically cleans up after the slobs I live with.

Really, I think 8 months is plenty of time for you to make this happen.

Much love,
Chris

An Extended Case of the Blahs

Yeah. Blah blah blah. I hate it when you're talking to someone and to fill in the rest of the story they blah blah blah. Really? Am I supposed to know that that means? Well, I have had a case of the blah blah blahs which means I haven't felt like doing anything at all, including blogging.

My last two months have been so busy, I really deserve to sit back and have a case of the blahs, as long as I don't feel too sorry for myself whilst being blah.

At the end of Feb. my SIL and her cute baby girl came out to stay wit us for 3 weeks. We ran the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon. I finished in under 3 hours, which was what I was shooting for. I would've finished at around 2:45, but had to wait in line for the restroom, twice. My knees and the medical issues I have with my feet caused me to want to quit at mile 8. Seriously. It hurt so much to run, but hurt even more to stop running. It was not a good feeling. BUT...we had so much fun. For starters, we had to get up at 3am to catch a bus to Epcot for the start. P.S. We didn't start our run until around 6:30am. P.S.S. Neither one of us could sleep that night and were lucky if we caught 3 hours of zzzzz's. P.S.S.S. Running 13.1 miles on little to no sleep is not fun. P.S.S.S.S. blah blah blah (sorry, just had to throw that in there) There were so many women dressed up as princesses, and a few courageous men accompanying them dressed as villains. The funniest thing was seeing the amount of women who decided they had to "use it" before the race while we were lined up and waiting in the FREEZING COLD (a whole different story). Instead of crossing the street to the wooded area, or walking the 200 yards to the port-a-potties, they headed to the ditch, nearest the roadway full of passing cars, dropped trou, squatted and did their business giving everyone a nice view of the full moon.

After recovering for a day, we headed back to Disney World, many times during the next few weeks. I finally had a chance to do the Rockin' RollerCoaster. Man is that a great ride or what?!?!

The kids and I headed to the beach for spring break. Since this was a last minute decision for me, I could find no where to stay on our favorite island and settled instead for Ft. Myers. Never again. Too much traffic, too many people, too much of my children bickering for no apparent reason, too many jellyfish, too much algae or sea weed that really stunk the place up, blah blah blah. Ana Maria Island I'm so sorry for forsaking you. I promise. We will be back next month.

I arouse early the last day of spring break, which for some odd reason was the Mon after having the full previous week off (I should've played dumb and dropped the kids off at school that morning anyways just to get rid of them...see ya' at 3:00 suckers) to watch the launch of the space shuttle. There are only 3 or 4 more launches scheduled and the program will end. A sad day indeed. As I stood out in the back yard at 6:20am having only gone to bed at 3:00am, I was wondering where it was. Suddenly, the horizon turned a brilliant orange and I thought, "hmmmm...I thought the sun came up a little further east from there" and then realized, "HOLY COW...that is the light from the shuttle!!!" It literally lit up the entire horizon. Such an amazing site. I captured it on video, but it really isn't as grand to view that way. I will upload it eventually for your viewing pleasure however. I promise. Now I need to check the launch schedule to make sure we will be around for one of the last ones. I will be dragging my kids out of bed very early to make the drive to Cape Canaveral to watch. They will love me for doing that.

I went to Glenn Beck's American Revival a few weekends ago. Wade was supposed to go with me, but wouldn't you know it, they just had to schedule the Pine Wood Derby for that day. P.S. Jacob won in the cub scout division and took 2nd over all. Glenn was AMAZING!! I took a friend from church and we had a great time. Arriving at the campus we followed the yellow event parking signs that led to the fraternity housing area. Many cars were parking in the fraternity lots. We both had a bad feeling about that. I even pulled into one, but seeing the tow away zone signs figured I didn't want to risk it even if the parking signs pointed to that direction. The three parking garages we had passed all said FULL. We drove around for 1/2 hour trying to find a place to park. We couldn't get through to the main arena for parking because they had a road blocked off. So, I pulled into one of the parking garages anyways and guess what? It wasn't full at all. Maybe 20 cars parked on the first level alone. Weird. (Very glad we listened to our "guts" and didn't park in the fraternity lots...click HERE to see why.) We walked to the arena where much to our surprise we were all put stripped searched for entry (not really but we did get a thorough search through bags/purses and wanded...more than they often do at airports...hmmmm) Another surprise. I had somehow purchased premium tickets meaning we sat in a great area, had padded seats, and had use of the lounge. Taking use to buy some water and use the restroom in the lounge who did I run into but Glenn himself. I actually got to talk with him for a quick minute, he gave me a big bear hug, and was off. I did run into him there one more time when I went back out for more water (good thing I was so thirsty) as he was getting ready to enter for his key note address. He had decided at the last minute to use that entrance so it was just sheer luck to run into him again. I didn't say anything to him, but did get a picture that time. Now, my friend and I struck up a conversation with the young man sitting next to us. He was an interesting looking guy, all tatted up, and so I started out by asking him about his tatts. I thought maybe he was military, but no, he was a philosophy major who loved everything about Beck except his stupid religion. hahahahaha Can you just imagine how much he felt like he had stepped in it when I casually asked "why, what part of it don't you like" and proceeded to tell him we were both members of Glenn's faith? He learned about Joseph Smith, the restoration of the gospel through Smith, the pre-existence (which he believed in too) and was left with the challenge to actually read the BofM before making up his mind about its validity. My friend and I both feel he will read it simply as a matter of trying to prove to himself that he is right, and hopefully will end up knowing how wrong he really was.

We are finally a three car family!!! Can I tell you how excited this makes me? I no longer have to drive the kids to and from school. That saves me 2 hours a day of driving around. I didn't know what to do with all of my free time the first day...yeah right!!! It is great having another driver in the family. However, I couldn't help but wonder where the years have gone. I still vividly remember dropping Kyrie off for her first day of kindergarten. I got a little teary eyed, I'll admit it. Now she's going off to prom this weekend, getting her class ring today, and will be graduating next year. How did that happen? Yeah...I know....blah blah blah.

I Met Glenn Beck!!!

Got to met and talk to Glenn Beck today at his American Revival tour. Then he gave me a big bear hug. Very cool. Will blog about the experience and the young man sitting next to my friend and I later. Let's just say...it was an amazing day.