Poor Delaney

Today Delaney woke up 5:30am. This is not normal for her. She was all snuggly, so I set her on Dan's chest to sleep while I got a head start on my run. When she was awake, I realized she was quite toasty. Our ear thermometer is dreadfully inaccurate, and the rectal one has 2 issues- first, the ick factor, and secondly, the last time I did use it, it seemed to be under reading as well. So, I base my temperature taking on less scientific means. And by golly, my baby was hot!

On the plus side, she already had a doctor's appointment today. I had called last week for a 15 month well-baby and they slid me into today, where they'd had a cancellation. I took it, even though 2:40pm is a rotten time. Delaney did scream for most of it. She puked too. I was surprised, since she had not actually eaten anything today. It turns out she has full-on infections in both ears. Poor thing. And her temp was 102 when they took it.

I came home with ammoxacillian and motrin- neither of which have made it into her. She screamed and wiggled and spit and gagged, and when I managed to get a miniscule amount into her, she vomited pink everywhere. Soooo, fun times for us!

Thoughts on Global Warming

The whole Global Warming thing has irritated me for a while. Imagine my delight upon discovering that Normal Mormon Husband felt similarly to me! I steal from his blog what he said about it, and I add a fervent "Amen!"

you can see his original post on this date at: http://mormonhusbands.blogspot.com

Friday, October 20, 2006
The GEICO Cavemen prove that global warming is a non-issue. Let me explain. There are brilliant scientists who can convincingly prove that the planet has either been cooling since 1979 or that it will explode like an egg in a microwave by 2015 unless we all start riding bicycles (that study was sponsored by Schwinn). They are all much more informed in this area than I am, so I don't believe either side. Honestly, I hope global temperatures rise by 10 degrees. Give me 85-degrees year 'round and I’m thrilled. I don't like being cold.Now to tie this in to the GEICO Cavemen who would have suffered through an ice age that suddenly covered the entire planet. Here is a great quote from the BBC’s Science & Nature website:“This Neanderthal stood no more than 1.65m (5' 4") tall, but he had a robust and powerful build - perfect for his Ice Age environment…The popular image of the Ice Age is a period of unremitting freezing conditions. But over nearly a million years, Europe has seen huge climate swings including warm as well as cold periods. For much of the last 200,000 years, when Neanderthals were alive, the climate was mild, sometimes even warmer than today's. But they did also have to live through periods of intense cold.”
In other words, the earth has shown us over the centuries that its temperature is going to wildly fluctuate, regardless of human involvement. The polar ice caps left behind from the global ice age melted away because of natural environmental changes, not because the Cavemen were irresponsibly cooking too many wildebeest over open flames. (Though had Al Gore been alive at the time, he may have contended this was the case). I realize that that we as an industrialized world burn a lot of junk into the atmosphere, but in my very unscientific opinion it's no big deal. In a couple of years, something else will take the place of global warming as the topic du-jour. Perhaps it will be how the corn grown for our ethanol-powered cars should be given to people who are starving to death in underdeveloped nations.
I can already picture the Sweat Family Reunion in 2065 and I will bring up the, “Remember when people thought global warming was going to kill us all?” question. We will all chuckle a bit, get into our hover cars, float to our dwelling pods, watch Survivor Season 78, laugh at another GEICO Caveman commercial, and then go to bed praying that the earth doesn’t explode like an egg in the microwave before the sun comes up.

Our project

I think I am so clever. Family fun Magazine had an idea and I took it a step further. Well, we are currently in the process of taking it one step further, is what I meant to say! In light of our move, and all the upheaval it will bring for the kids, I told them that we could go to all their favorite places and take pictures. When we are gone, we can put together a book with them in all the places they use to go. Joshua loves this idea. We have been to his school, to the park, to the library, to the pool, and the camping pictures are for the book too. He made a list of all the places he needed his picture taken and we are nearly done. The kids have had a great time shouting "take my picture" while doing some interesting things. Callie has suddenly developed a permanent facial tic- as she wants to make a silly face with every shot. Delaney refuses to look at me, Marian ducks her chin down, and Joshua just has a cheesy smile. I have got to figure out how to get them to look natural!

So, back to our project. I may have mentioned before how much I LOVE blurb.com and their books. We will take the pictures and make them into a book for the kids. That way they can look back at where they use to live and see what they use to do while living here. Hopefully I can show them that they have all new places to go in their new home. For example, we will have a new library to visit, and a new school, and there will be new fun parks and a pool there too. Here are some of the shots we have- notice Callie's face!

Camping with Dad!

Dan took Joshua and Marian camping last night. The had a very good time! They roasted hot dogs over the fire, and then made s'mores. Dan said they all slept well, once he got them to stop talking. And this time they didn't get home till 8:30! I had packed them donuts for breakfast, but they ate them last night, and stopped by BK for breakfast. Anyway, these are the pictures Dan took.

Back to the Pool

Yep, we went to the pool again today. In a fit of panic, Dan realized he only has 2 weeks to get his swim up before the triathlon. So we went to the pool. The kids had such a good time. Marian is really getting brave- till you take her where she can't touch. Then she hates it. Joshua went of the diving board today! 5 times or so. I went off it as well- my first dive in like 7 years! It was fun to see the kids getting better in the pool. Joshua's arm strokes are really improving. He learned the basics last summer in a session of lessons and he loves to work on it. Marian sees what he is doing and has to do it too. Sometimes that works out nicely!
Here is Joshy, leaping off the diving board. He was so funny.

Marian cracked me up with her beautiful leaps into the water. Look at her go! She goes all the way in everything! No half-hearted stuff for her! It is all or nothing.

Callie is just a cutie. She splashed away in the kiddie area and had a blast.

Delaney just splashes, and splashes, and splashes and thinks it is so much fun. I'm just happy she's not in the bathtub getting water all over the floor.

More Changes

A funny thing happened last night! Dan and I were out on our hot anniversery date, and we had a little disagreement over the date of our triathlon. Both of us were convinced we had the correct date, and Dan told me he had based our entire move based on the thought that this event would occur on May 17. Well, it turned out that he was wrong, and it is actually on May 10.

One would expect that life would merely continue as usual, with Dan adjusting to the idea that he had one less week to train (especially important, since he still has not yet started swimming!). Yet alas, this was not to be. This was a monumental mental shift for him, and since our move was based on the Triathlon date, by golly, we'd have to change that now! (Change the move date, not the triathlon date!) Nevermind that we'd been in to TMO on Wednesday and we had scheduled our move and our checkout dates.

Since this was imortant to Dan, I have gone along with him as he spent the day redoing everything, so that we now move out one week earlier than initially scheduled. So I am now quietly panicking at the thought of having to do everything in one less week. I hate moving. I hate sorting and cleaning and packing. I hate the disruption and the uncertainty, but most of all, I really really hate saying goodbye.

Happy Anniversery!

Yes, 9 years ago today it was my day to be the Princess. Dan and I got married in the Los Angeles Temple on Saturday April 24, 1999. Here are some lovely pictures of our special day.
Here we are on the Temple steps with our parents, freshly sealed and still shmoopy and sappy.


This was one of my favorite shots. I think I like it because it has my Dad and Dan in it (kind of out with the old and in with the new) , and I'm totally focused on my flowers. You can see Nana's Veil in it too. My mom, her mom, all my aunts, most of my cousins (or their wives) wore this veil when they got married. Its so cool to get to be a part of a tradition like that.

And I just like this one because we are so silly. I still have those shoes- I love them! Isn't Dan so strong and handsome!?? He still is. Its so funny to think back to that day and what I thought my life was going to be like after I got married. In a lot of ways, it has turned out like I expected: our 2.5 kids (we rounded that up to 4 so far!), hubby who goes to work every morning while I get to stay home, you know, that June Cleaver life....

What is a surprise is that Dan joined the Marine Corps, and how much I love being a mom. I don't want to go to work; I am happiest at home with my silly, funny, interesting children. I am so grateful to have a husband who supports me in that and who can work so I can stay home. I am so lucky to have a husband who is on the same page with me on just about everything. We have the same values, goals, and the same feelings about bugeting, family and discipline. I am very blessed to have my Dan. I never would have imagined being so happy and just content with life. Happy Anniversery to me!

Wuv, Twoo Wuv...

Yes, we had hundreds of engagement pictures taken. Hey, we were madly in love and were perfectly content to gaze into eachother's eyes for eternity! Plus, we were so overjoyed to have found eachother that we could (and did!) smile cheesily at eachother for hours on end as well.

It was love, true love..... And he is still my true love. I have a top 10 list of why my Dan is the greatest, but some of it is embarassing, and some of it is, uh, not for public sharing. Sufficeth to say, there are many more than 10 reasons why I have a fantastic husband, and those reasons have grown as the years have passed, and he's become a great dad as well as a great husband.

Those awful teen years!

Here is my hot hubbie at the tender and gwaky age of 16. He was on the cross country team in high school and was a conservative, nice guy. Would I have dated him in HS? Probably not, and I nearly didn't in college either! Not like I dated a lot, and I tended to go for the losers and fixer-uppers. Dan would have been way too good for me. Wait, he still was when we met!

As for me, I hated high school. Yep, hated it. I skipped school once. Well, I did it more than once. I only did it my senior year, I'll have you know, and I got caught the first time. I think I got caught the second time as well. (I only got caught the 2 times). Punishment on the second offense was an in-school suspension. How stupid is that?! I skipped school to get out of class, so to punish me you are keeping me out of class?! So dumb. And not the story I was headed for.

I was going to tell you how the principal, who knew my mom, talked to me. She asked why I had skipped school. I said I didn't like it. She asked if I was going to go to college. I said, duh, yes. She asked why I would go to college if I didn't like school. Hmmmm.... I could spend 4 years unhappy and have a good job, or I could be unhappy doing something I hated on minimum wage for the rest of my life. I may be dumb enough to get caught skipping school, but I am smart enough to figure that out!

So, here I am, in all my bad-attitude glory at age 16. College was more fun than HS, but I didn't get smarter for a while! Don't you love that look on my face!! Check out my bangs, too! Wow! I finally decided I didn't need to spend 45 minutes each morning trying to achieve that look, and let my bangs grow out. More laziness than fashion, but, whatever.

Let this be a lesson to all that you can start off like this in High School, and still end up with someone fabulous. It happened to me. And this post is dedicated to my upcoming anniversery! 9 years with my wonderful, fabulous oh-so-cute husband!

This Week

This is Dan and me, 9 years ago. This is us doing the "Bond" pose. Yes, we once were young and silly, before we became weighed down by the whole marriage and kids thing.

I show this to commemorate the nearly 9 years we have been married. We'll see if I can post fun pre-marriage photos till Thursday, which is our Anniversery. That's right folks, we've made it 9 years! I've never committed to anything 9 years of my life. Wait, I have.... horsebackriding. But that did only last about 10 years. Other than that, I never lived anywhere or had a hobby or anything (other than the aforementioned horsebackriding neurosis) which I sustained for more than 9 years.

So, let me say how fantastic my sweetie is. How lucky I am to be married to him. How wonderful and fabulous and great he is. He is all that and I am thankful every day for him. Okay, maybe not EVERY day, but I would be if I thought about it every day. And now it is late and I have to get up early to run in the morning! I'll look for something fun for tomorrow!

Fun photos

So, My baby brother Adam (as discussed and shown in a previous post) works at Harry & David. He lovingly sent me a box of delights. We unpacked the box and this is what was in it! Hog Heaven! Yes, 45 pounds of deliciousness which we have been giving away like.... well, like candy.

I was upstairs dealing with Delaney one afternoon and when I came down, I couldn't find Callie. I asked Marian where Callie was and Marian said "She's asleep in the black chair." Hmmm. She wasn't in the black recliner... what other black chair was there?! Oh, the computer chair! Here is how I found her.

Joshua had a most fantastic day. Dan took him out on a Daddy Date and they had lunch at BK. Then Daddy inflated the raft and took the kids to the beach to try it out. Later Daddy helped the kids set up the slip-n-slide and let them trash the yard again. Then they got to play on the neighbor girls super-cool inflatable slide and pool. Then Mommy made a treasure hunt with clues that led the kids to a tasty treat (see top photo!). And yet, after all this fun, THIS is the face we saw the most today. There is just no pleasing some people. Dan is mocking Joshua in this picture, which isn't helping, but it sure is funny!

After all the things that Daddy did today, you must be wondering just what Mommy did today. I rode my bike 5 miles, ran 3 1/2 and got a headache from it all. I did 4 loads of laundry and ate half a pound of pistachios. I prepared a Sunday School lesson and fish sticks for lunch. I organized my collection of Family History stories and I took a nap. I also prepared and executed said treasure hunt from above. And now, I am going to finish watching "War of the Worlds." I've never seen it and so far it is exciting, but boy, there is a lot of screaming in it!

Feeling Smart

I think I am so clever sometimes. We have this complicated move coming up. The original plan called for 9 nights on the road- at 5 different places! The plan is to move out of here, go up to DC and check the place out, let Dan check in, then drive to my parent's house. All this would take a good 10 days. In the interest of sanity and continuity, rather than 1-2 nights at each previously planned spot, we will now be staying here 2 nights while the movers take care of our stuff, then 6 nights at Ft Belvoir, then 1 night on the road to Mom and Dad's. That's the new plan. And that is totally not what I came on to say!

I meant to tell you how smart I think I am. I hear you laughing; traveling that long and far with 4 children under the age of 7 is not smart. Well, here is what I have come up with.... I got a bunch of small, interesting things for the kids. I got notebooks, crayons, activity books, that sort of thing. For Joshua it was more lego kits (the little $5 ones) and books. If you check out the link I have to momsminivan.com you'll see why I think they are fabulous! So many good ideas. They have a great link to another place that sells travel toys, and I got a bunch of the magnetic ones.

So, I got all these things. I have now wrapped all 65 of them. (I purchased them over the last 2 months so I wouldn't cringe at the cost so much!) I will pass out a wrapped present to the kids each day. I also have some fun candy things- the candy pacifiers and rings I never buy for them at Walmart, no matter how much they beg. Yep, now they will come as a special added surprise. Random presents and snacks, it should ensure a fun trip, right? In theory they will be so delighted with their new item that they will play happily with it all day. In reality, I expect they will play with it for 5 minutes and complain that they like their sister's thing better. Then they will fight. Then I will throw their toys out the window.

It seems like a good idea- the wrapping new activities to do, not the throwing them out the window. I will let you know how it goes next month!

Swimmin'!

I mentioned that we went to the pool on Saturday. I figured out how to get pictures back up, but we're having serious issues with viruses again. Ug!

Anyway, back to the pool... The kids had such a blast! Marian is now old enough to stand up in the 3 ft area and she was thrilled with that. She alternated between the 2 areas and had a good time. Joshua found some friends from school and he was off. He never even entered the baby area! Callie and Delaney stayed in the baby area and thought it was the greatest thing ever.Here are some pictures:

Callie was so pleased with herself. She could put her CHIN in the water! Yeah, she was hot stuff!

Delaney started off sitting on the side with that thumb in her mouth. She did get closer and eventually was in the water splashing like a maniac. She didn't want me to help her stand, so she toppled face down into the water several times. She was okay with that!

Marian was a good swimmer. She can do a back-float.... sort of! She really enjoyed the pool. Heck, everyone did!

And here's Joshua, from a distance. He's with his friends. He was practicing his swimming too. He's getting it, although the goggles don't really keep the water out.

Computer Glitches

We started having trouble with computer viruses again. Joshua gets on the computer and indiscriminately downloads stuff and Dan likes to watch random TV episodes on some wierd site, so its coming from that, probably. Still, I finally got another Antivirus program, because the old one said the computer was fine, when it so obviously was not. I am quite pleased with the better function of the computer, but now I can't open new web pages, and I can't attach pictures here! Aack! I have to figure out what's preventing that and fix it, because I NEED to be able to post pictures! Its half the reason for my blog. A medium for me to whine in is the other half, in case you didn't know! So, no pictures until I can correct this. Hopefully soon.

Other interesting things.... As I was napping yesterday (ahhh.....) Dan sat in the wrong place at the dining room table and when he stood up, he cracked his head on the chandelier. And he did it with enough force that it really hurt, but it also flew up high enough that it unhooked at the base where it kept the chain nice and short, so it unhooked the chain and gave it a good2 feet to fall back down. I'm not sure if it bashed into the cieling, or if the force with which it came down was the cause, but the darn thing nearly came out of the cieling! So there is a large piece of cieling about to fall and the base of the light fixture looks a bit pecarious, and Joshua is terrified that it will all fall down. I called a work order on it, so we'll see what they do about it.

And I am so wanting strawberries right now! Marian convinced me to buy some at Walmart today and we ate all of them! I want more! I'm going to call tomorrow and see if the fields are ready to pick now! Mmmmmm, strawberries!

Neverending Days

You ever have one of those days where you just can't wait for it to be over? Or at least till all the kids are in bed and you can drown your misery in a bag of doritos or a large bowl of Oreo Dirt Cake? (Yeah, we made that Oreo Dirt Cake and while it was good, we won't be doing it again- way to messy!) but back to me....

Marian woke me up with her vomiting last night at 11:30. She was uncomfortable most of the rest of the night too, which meant I didn't sleep well since she was camped out on the floor right next to me. I didn't get to sleep in either- Dan had to go on the Youth Temple Trip, so I had to be exercised and home by 8:30. I rode my bike about 4 miles and then ran 3 1/2 and that was actually the best part of my day. Sad, huh.

As soon as Dan left, it was horrible! Callie cried and whined non-stop. i don't know why. The neighbor girls came over and I made everyone go out to the park. That didn't last long. They came in screaming that there were wasses (wasps) all over. I only saw one. But the kids were done with outside. I tried to sort through toys. My plan is that everything that doesn't have a bin to call home is gone. That was going pretty well till I had helpers. I took one bin of stuff upstairs and came down to the true-pain screeches of Callie, who had climbed on the elliptical machine with Morgan, the nieghbor girl. She'd managed to scrape a good sized bit of her calf on it somehow. No bleeding, just the top layer of skin gone. The howling went on forever. Seriously.

I finally got her quiet, and got Joshua out of the house. He came back wanting to swim. Well, we trashed the yard yesterday doing that, so I said no. Our nieghbor Sara set up her pool, but got into trouble before anyone could use it. Joshua was about ready to go into super-whine mode. In a moment of delerium, I thought, why not? and suggested that we could go to the pool. We had a quick lunch of hot dogs and string cheese and got ready. Yes, I took all 4 urchins out to the pool. They loved it. I actually enjoyed it too. The older 3 are self entertaining and require little assistance. Delaney however.... she loved playing on the side, and once in the kiddie section, did not want help, which worked out badly for her. By the 5 dunking, she was totally okay with it though.

So the pool went well, till it was time to go. Callie made it to the parking lot before having a random meltdown. I carried her to the car, buckled her up and went to Little Caesar's. I LOVE thier drive-up window! However, no one wanted pizza but me and Delaney. Marian said she wanted Frosted Flakes and cried for 20 minutes till she fell asleep. Callie cried for some other reason. Delaney woke up from her nap and cried and cried. I do not know why they were all crying!! Honestly!

Finally it was about bedtime. I took them up for baths and Callie kept splashing and tossing water out. I pulled her out of the bath and she sat in the hallway, naked and wet and howled. Dan had gotten home 15 minutes before but he was surprisingly absent, which really made me cross. I should mention that my allergies are in total overdrive today and I am utterly miserable to begin with. I am sneezing, itchy, runny nosed and hating life. I swear I have had a good attitude with the kids, so don't tell me that's where their issues today were coming from!

On the plus side, it is 7:45, everyone but Delaney is fresh, clean, and in bed, and no one (so far) has had a bedtime meltdown. Now that I have spewed my frustrations out here, I shall go see if there are any more leftover Easter chocolate eggs and I will channel surf and make Dan deal with Delaney. Oh wait, no I won't. I have a sunday School lesson to peruse before tomorrow! Eeek!

Fun with My Family!

Okay, here's the background: My family has a reunion coming up this summer and we're trying to collect some of our family stories before then. Well, I am trying to do it. There is a decided lack of enthusiasm from other parties. (Or perhaps just less time!) I have been going through the stuff I have and getting everything onto the computer. Such fun! And tonight I am scanning my brother Adam's tales, and it has made me laugh out loud. That is my bar for sharing. If it makes me laugh out loud, I must share (which is why I plug thepioneerwoman.com all the time!). So, since I have completed the work of getting this tale computer ready, I shall now post it for your viewing enjoyment. Here is Adam's story, one of his many near-death exploits:

The date: some time in late April to early May 2001.
The place: Provo, Utah.
The people: Me...Just me.

With just days to go before making the flight from Salt Lake City to Anchorage, Alaska I was anxious to try to keep myself in reasonably good condition as to make myself as attractive as possible. So I ran. At this time after the Winter 2001 BYU semester had ended, and 1 was living off campus with Miranda and Dan. So it was from their house on 200E 248N that this journey began. I left with no real destination in mind, but quickly headed away from campus and towards the mountains. If you are familiar with Provo you might remember the famous "Y" mount. That's where I headed. I eventually found myself near 7 Peaks Water Park at the base of a formidable shale hill.

Picture this with me- A 90-foot high rock wall jutting up at about 75-85 degrees, getting steeper towards the top. In the middle of this wall there is a spot worn from water erosion that is full of good handholds that also gets narrower at the top. Above this the mountain leveled out and it was then just a hike up the mountain to get to the "Y". I, at first, had no intentions of climbing this, but the realization that if didn't go now it would be another 2 1/2 years before I'd ever make it to that famous BYU landmark encouraged me to go. Thus the climb commenced. Armed only with a worn down pair of running shoes, an old t-shirt, my running shorts, and my wit I started up the face, dreadfully unprepared. The first 30-40 feet was a cakewalk. There were many firm places to set my feet and hands, and my morale was still at Invincible Mode. Before I continue I'd like to give you a little back ground about shale, I think it's a kind of limestone that forms in layers. It's not very sturdy and it falls away in sheets. Meaning that you may have a good place to stick your foot for a moment, but after you apply pressure a large chunk of rock may rip out of the face, almost always making the place smoother and harder to climb. I'm sure by now you can see the problems that this caused. Now let's continue.

As I steadily climbed upwards, my pace decreased drastically. Not only was it getting harder to find a firm place to hold on to, but also the need for them was ever greater because of the increasing angle of the cliff. I'd also begun to get sloppy and found myself almost twister style (left hand on red, with right foot on yellow....) only 15 feet from the top. Off balance, out of reach, and slipping I was rather stuck. At this point I had two choices. I could either attempt to throw myself the remaining 5 yards to the top, and hope I make it, knowing that if I don't my body will tumble the 75 feet, bouncing off the wall to the bottom; or I could start a slow, controlled descent from where I was currently stationed with the hopes that by the time gravity overcame the friction between my shoes and the rock that I'd be far enough down that I could only be semi-horribly maimed. I actually had a third thought come to mind.

It was a slightly less realistic thought, but my mind clung to it in desperation. I fully expected a Spanish swordsman to come to the edge of the cliff offer me a rope or a tree branch or something. As you can imagine in this I was sorely disappointed. However, I did wait several minutes in hopes of this. I think you now have an understanding of how bad my situation was. I was starting to get just a little scared, but the realization that I needed to go on a mission gave me some hope, "I can't die yet." I thought.

It finally dawned on me that Anigo Montoya was not going to appear, and that I could not propel my body straight up 15 feet. I had to go down. Slowly I flipped myself around so that my back was to the wall, my feet facing down, and I began the descent. Going up is always easier than going down, and I'd made the journey even more of an odyssey by destroying all of the foot holes on the way up. Bad luck. The first few feet were very, very, very slow going. Knowing that if you move to fast, or without thinking that your body will fall helplessly 8 stories before crashing to the ground has a way of captivating your mind and making you think very hard before each move. Thus I began to move my left foot down, grab hold with my right hand, Oh!! Stay strong with left hand, slowly lower, watch out that rocks loose!! Careful it's really slick here...

Unfortunately, despite all my efforts, this pattern only continued for about 5 feet, Some how; it escapes my memory, I made an error. Shocking yes, but it happened. While lowering myself down the rock I was clutching for support- gave way beneath me, I pressed in with my feet to try to stop my fall; but it was futile. Luckily I had anticipated this, just not so quickly. As the rock I held broke off, and the slide began, I pushed my bum off the rock while stretching my hands out to try to slow me down and, with luck, stop completely. I then used my Adidas running shoes as skis while I shot down the mountain. You'd be amazed at how fast a 180 lb boy can get going. Just think "bobsled team" minus the protective bobsled.

As quickly as it began it was over, almost instantly I'd covered the 70 feet and was at the bottom. Just before impact I stood up as if running down the face of the cliff so that the transition from going down at 80 degrees to moving 180 degrees wouldn't shatter my legs. It worked. My downward moment was absorbed by the forgiving gravel and changed into forward movement. For a second I was stunned. I was alive! I looked quickly at myself. Yes, I still had all of my major appendages. Arms, legs, hands, still intact. Butt, bruised or broken. Shoes, still runnable. Me, alive. Me, happy, very happy.

As the initial shock wore off and I was able to inspect myself closer, I noticed several gashes in my hand from the rocks, but all in all not bad. I was able to run the mile or two back home without incident to receive competent medical help, a hot bath, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. While doing so I discovered several scratches on my butt, but my shorts weren't torn (happy day, clothes don't heal) and a few other cuts, but nothing compared to the dismemberment I should have faced. It was a good day. So the moral of the story is when you go rock climbing bring a Spaniard with you.

Yes, this is my baby brother and his fabuous wife!

Spring has sprung

Have I mentioned that Callie only wants to wear dresses now? She has 3 she loves and I have washed them several times this week. Today she also wanted to wear her rain boots. They are way too big for her, but she loves them. They are quite darling, with little faces and antenna on the front. So that is what she wore today... to take Marian to preschool, to the commissary....Yeah, Callie got distracted by the dandilions in the preschool lawn. But those are cute boots!

Today it was finally nice outside. When Joshua got home from school, he wanted to get wet. We had to rustle up swimsuits for the kids and I hooked up the sprinkler to the hose. We made the yard a mess of mud. Yep, that's what we did. Delaney was so cute in her suit. She liked the water a lot more than I thought she would. Her face was so cute and confused. Unfortunately she tried to eat a large chunk of dirt. Me, the loving mom that I am, watched with the camera. i was hoping to get a cute, dirt-smeared face shot, and I thought she'd spit out the dirt, but she didn't. She tried to swallow it, then gagged and barfed. Not so cute.

A very good time was had by all. Love those chubby baby thighs!!

Happy List

I've come to the realization that this has become my complaint forum. That is so not why I started blogging. Well, maybe a little. ...but I should give the good stuff equal floor time. I am short on time, so I will only post 5 things I am happy for, and then I'll go to bed.


1. I am so lucky and grateful to have a fabulous husband. He does dishes, he makes Joshua lunch in the morning, he watched the kids for a week while sending me on a cruise, he makes me feel beautiful and perfect and never notices my muffin-top, he makes sure I have time to get away by myself, and he knows me (every neurotic flaw I have) and he loves me still!


2. I have 4 happy healthy children who make me laugh. Today Callie said she needed 5 "dwesses" for her "birsday". She needed one for Amy and one for "Dzack". I said, "Jack needs a dress?" and she said "Dzack wiw wook so cute!" Later, Marian asked how soap killed germs. I said it probably squashed them. She said "And punches them and pokes them in the eye?" Yep, I chuckled.


3. I can eat chocolate eggs from Easter and go running. I may need to run more to keep up with the increase, but I have a healthy body that allows me to run, and bike and swim and to play with my children!


4. I have the most wonderful family. I have great in-laws and people who I love and who love me. It humbles me to have so many people in my life who mean something to me, and who actually like me.


5. I have an eternal family. I will get to be with the people I love most for eternity! I have the Gospel in my life and the joy and comfort it brings. Bryn is so good about putting her testimony into everything, but I am not. I guess I assume that I know it, so everyone does. Well, I do know it! And I am so grateful to have a testimony and all the blessings it brings. Yes, life is good!





And now, a token picture:

Delaney is obsessed with the phone and climbed up to get it. Her sisters had a very good time with stickers, as you can see. Never a dull moment around here!

And now.... I Rant!

I have been thinking lately that I need to upgrade my wardrobe. This is tough for me for many reasons. I hate to spend money, I hate to shop with kids, I hate feeling unattractive, I hate trying to coordinate..... the list goes on. I finally went out tonight. In my post-nursing phase of life, I have come to the point where I seriously needed new bras. (That's what I was trying to shop for a week and a half ago when I lost Callie at the Exchange)

So I tucked kids in bed tonight and headed to Walmart, since I had already discovereed that the MCX selection stinks. I love that Walmart is so close! Have I mentioned how glad I am they built one in town? But I digress..... I had a wonderful time shopping for non-clothing items and finally realized I needed to stop wasting time. I found several shirts that caught my fancy and it was off to try them on.

Here is one of my problems.... I have a belly. Yes, I try to disguise it, but all my fat settles there. My legs, I am happy with. My feet are fine. I don't see my bottom, so it is fine too. My arms are good- they haul kids around, so they do get worked out. Every other part of my body I am okay with, but I have a fat belly. Now, I've said it. I can sigh with relief because you are either still my friend, or you've run screaming at the thought of my muffin top.

The delimma with this unattractive cellulite distribution is how to find clothes that do not make me look as fat as I feel. If I wear a Large, its too tight in the wrong places. I saw several really cute XL shirts, but they were too big. Why is there no size for me? I am not small enough to wear a lovely stretchy shirt- even in a L. Now that I am no longer lactating, my chest is not large enough to compensate for my tummy. I do not want my bulges hanging out for all to see. I just want a shirt that fits me and hides my fat. Why is that so much to ask?

Oh, perhaps I should look somewhere other than Walmart, you say? Sure, and when am I going to have time for that?! Time when I am childless and able? Hmmmm, on the plus side, I was successful in finding 2, yes, 2 acceptable bras. Thus, I call the evening a success.

I've been Tagged!

This certainly is a new one. Here goes....
This is what you do:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog.5.
Tag 5 people.

Okay, the closest book was "God Wants a Powerful People" by Sheri Dew. I am so excited that it was sitting on the computer desk, because I think Captain Underpants would have been the next closest! And this way you all think I am super-spiritual and all that. I'll try to perpetuate the myth! A Thank you to my Mother in Law who gave me this fabulous book! Anyway, page 123, 5th sentence is:

"After reading that familar passage in James, Joseph realized he must "either remain in darkness and confusion, or else... do as James directs, that is, ask of God" (JS 1:13), which he did, with life changing, even dispensation-inaugurating results."

Whew! Talk about a lengthy sentence! And she uses commas like I like to! That makes me happy. And I refuse to force this on 5 perole and I'm only going to tag 3. So I tag Cammie, Wendy, Brynn. Have fun. I am going to fatten myself on leftover chocolate eggs and wonder why my pants are tighter.

Josh's Joke & Having Company

Here is Joshua's Joke:
Why did the Ostrich stand on one leg?
If he stood on the other, he'd fall down.

Yeah, I thought Marian's was funnier too. But he wanted me to share it with you.

And today Dan had invited the new guy from work for lunch. See, he's going to be Dan's replacement, and he's moving in almost accross the street. He's got a wife and a kid the same age as Delaney, so Dan invited them for lunch. He wanted to BBQ burgers (and then he said he wanted to grill steak and chicken as well. I said, buy it yourself). I felt like I needed to represent well. So we had corn on the cob, baked beans, potato salad and cantelope as well. Waaay too much food for so few adults who would eat it and 5 children who would not. It was tasty food, but much of it now fills the fridge.

As I type this very moment, Delaney is helping herself to the last piece of Sweet Potato Pie. I didn't make it; our company did and it was yummy. Delaney has now eaten the entire last slice, by herself. Our new friends were very nice and it was a pleasant lunch. I somehow always feel so frumpy around women with fewer children and much nicer clothes. Sigh. Someday when no one is going to grab me with grubby sweet-potato-pie smeared hands I too will invest in attractive clothing. Or maybe I'll be beyond caring by then, as I am now!

My main thing was cleaning up the house. Usually our company is the missionaries, or people I know well, so I'm not so motivated to try to impress. Hey, I've got 4 rowdy kids, a terminally comfortable wardrobe, and a permantly tired look. I feel the compulsive need to try to impress! When missionaries come over, I hope they are only there for the food and don't spend as much time on the house. Today I wanted it to look like I put housekeeping as a priority. I don't. I will allow that containing the mess and keeping a clear pathway is a priority, but spotless shine- not. However, today I wanted it to appear that I keep a spotless house. I feel it was a reasonable job, as long as no one looked behind the couch or on the shelves.

I keep telling myself that once we move I will do a better job maintaining, but will I? When the choices are cleaning the bathroom or vaccuuming, I expect I'll vaccuum, since that's something you see right away. And if sitting down reading Confessions of a Pioneer Woman is an option, the vaccuuming and bathrooms are going to have to wait.

The Fossil Museum

Today we were going to have PlayGroup at the park. It rained though. Its been drizzling most of the week. I even got to run in it this morning. Die-hard, that's me. But my running prowness is not the point of this. What we did today is! We didn't go to the park; it was raining! We packed a lunch and drove forever and rode the ferry and went to the Aroura Fossil Museum. I know, you are on the edge of your seat, wondering, was it worth the trip?!

I will tell you that it is 10 miles shorter to take the ferry. Plus, you get to ride the Ferry! The kids loved it. It was raining, so they didn't realize they could, conceivably get out. Thus they were content to rock with the boat and enjoy watching the ugly, gray water with its frothy waves and whitecaps.

Oh yeah, back to the Museum. If you love shark teeth, its the place to be. If you love hunting for shark teeth, its the place to be. The museum itself is tiny, but it has some fun stuff in the gift shop. It has lots of shark teeth and some nifty fossils, and a short video, but I don't know what the video was about. We had to leave 3 minutes into it. 4 kids in 4 directions, all making noise....

The kids LOVED the fossil dig. I did buy them buckets, but we could have brought our own. They had a good time digging in the dirt, and we found a lot of shark teeth in varying sizes. We probably would have stayed longer, but Marian wore shorts and it was a very windy 45 degrees out! I'm not a bad mom, I'm a mom who lets her daughter make her own choices and learn her own consequences!


So, here are the photos of our grand adventure:


Callie refused to join the other kids for a group shot. She is skulking in the corner instead. Note Marian's knobby knees in her summery shorts on this very NOT summery day.

They loved this giant shark mouth. Everyone had to get their picture taken in it. Next time maybe I'll get up there too!

This is why we did not stay for the film. Marian is making shadow puppets and I have no clue what Joshua is doing!!

Here's me and Delaney, curtesy of Joshua. I am collecting shark teeth into Joshua's brand new bucket. And just looking at Delaney in this shot cracks me up every time.