Carri

Just to be upfront, this post won't make sense to anyone but me and I don't expect anyone to read it. I just need to let out some emotions. My friend Carri Jones died this afternoon. This is the first time I've stopped crying since my mom called to tell me. She had a couple of brain tumors and had been fighting them the last few years. Then last week, on the 23rd, she had another MRI and it was bad. The tumors were growing out of control. The doctor told her family she would only have a couple of months but when I talked to her little brother, he told me they didn't think she would even make it a few weeks. That was on Saturday. He told me yesterday that he didn't think she would be here long enough for me to come say goodbye on Thursday. I sent Carri a note and asked him to read it to her...I hope he did. I can't stop crying. I am so mad, sad, crazy, I don't know. I can't believe this, it's so weird, unreal, unimaginable. Carri is gone. It feels like the innocent part of my life is now gone, somehow like that part of me has been stripped away by the heartache this world can bring. We grew up together and I love her. Carri is a very special person to me. I remember at some of my darkest moments growing up that she was always there to listen to me. I would complain to her about boys, feeling ugly, school, uncertainty about who I was, and Carri always knew how to make me feel better. Somehow she could always make me laugh, feel beautiful, special, and it was like she knew who I was going to become even though I didn't. She took me horseback riding and I remember when she got a horse, Doe, and I was so jealous. I don't even remember where we went horseback riding, but I was nervous because it had been a really long time since I had ridden and she stayed right by me the whole time. She took me over to see her baby bunnies, sheep, foals, and other pets she somehow convinced her parents to let her raise. Carri was so gentle. Girls camp was always a blast with her. She was in charge of the fires, self-appointed I think, and we always knew Carri would be there to keep the way too giddy girls in line. We went to a girl's choice dance together (a big step for both of us, since we were so shy when it came to dating)...she took Jesse Mortensen (and boy was she giddy) and I took Justin Simper who lived by us. I think we went to the Haunted Forest and then for pizza. I am so mad, not at her, but me. Why wasn't I a better friend, kept in touch more, especially after "growing up" and getting married? Every time I saw her I felt beautiful and I knew she loved me too. I'm mad that someone hasn't figured out why so many people in my neighborhood have gotten brain cancer, I'm mad that her family has to suffer, I'm mad that I'm not closer to any of my dear friends and I don't even have their numbers to call and tell them about Carri, I can't believe that one of "my girls" is gone. Her family is so strong...her sister has fought a brain tumor, her mom, has breast cancer. I just can't believe this. I don't know what to do other than cry.

GRAMPA?

That's the question Pearl has been asking for the past week. The conversation goes something like this:

Pearl: Grampa
Me/Jeff: Silence fills the room as we try to avoid this conversation and hope to distract Pearl with a toy or a phone call to grandpa (which doesn't work because she won't talk on the phone).
Pearl: Grampa?
Me/Jeff: No, we aren't going to grandpa's house today.
Pearl: Grampa!
Me/Jeff: No, we aren't going to grandpa's house. We can go another day.
Pearl: GRAMPA! GRAMPA! GRAMPA! (Repeat above about 500 times)

When it came to Christmas, Pearl could have cared less about her presents, she wanted her grandpas! It really is cute to see how excited she gets around them but one can only take the repeated pleas for grandpa for so long. Every time we get in the car she thinks we're going to visit one of her grandpas. I don't blame her, I mean besides my dad and Wally being way cool, every time she woke up Christmas Eve and Christmas Day she was at a different grandpa's house... a dream come true. We spent Christmas Eve with Jeff's family then Christmas Day with mine.

Pearl figured out that unwrapping presents was fun, but ran out of steam with two presents to go. So we'll just save them for our New Year's Elf tradition. We all got spoiled rotten as usual, but really the best part was just being with family. Even Pearl was more happy to be with her grandpas and Uncle Kurtis than to play with her new toys. But now that she's back with just her boring parents, she is enjoying her tea set, Little People barn and petting zoo, and baby doll. Oh and of course the new pairs of shoes her dad gave her! My favorite part of Christmas was giving my parents, in-laws, and grandparents a photo book I made with pictures from the past two years. It took a couple of really, really late nights right before finals and my comp exam but it was totally worth it! We kept a copy of the book and Pearl can look through it for hours, to the point where I'm sick of staring at pictures of my cute family. I even had a couple of requests to make this a new gift tradition! We had a wonderful white (very white!) Christmas and hope everyone did too! Oh, and just to warn you, the slide show is huge so hang in there! I was lazy and decided to just dump pictures from all the family events into one gigantic slide show.

A big applause for...

Jeff!

He really is the best husband in the world for putting up with me the last 5 days, well not exactly putting up with me 'cause I've pretty much been gone since Thursday, but you get the idea. He managed to keep Pearl alive and happy (for the most part), go swimming, do some shopping, and get to daycare/work while I slaved away on my graduate exam. The past few days have been a blur really and the only way I could do it was knowing that all was well at home and that Pearl was ok. Not only did he manage to keep things under control at home and keep Pearl out of our bedroom so I could sleep in a little, but he also made me laugh at 2:30 AM on Saturday when he woke up from his "nap" on the couch (Pearl had completely worn him out that day and he fell asleep around 9:30 watching sports) and told me, "These late nights are killing me!" What could I do but laugh? Then I think I hit him or at least gave him the evil eye because while he was sleeping, I was up until 2:30 or later (or is it technically earlier when it's really "morning") reading over 40 journal articles, typing a 20 page research paper, and putting together a presentation.

Oh, and for everyone who's curious (I know at least 4 people who have gone through this monster before are)...a big applause for me too! I passed!!!! Hooray, I can finally graduate! Let's just say that attempting to save the world by solving the infant feeding dilemma for HIV positive mothers in Zimbabwe is no easy task. Yes, that's the "question" my group got. I was really lucky that we all worked well together and somehow managed to pull this off. It was grueling and I have to complain just a bit that they conveniently forgot to tell us there was a typo in our instructions and our oral presentation was an hour later than we planned so we ended up sitting at the University waiting for the torture to finally come to an end for an extra 2 hours!!! After 4 sleepless nights, more stress than I could have imagined, a grilling by the faculty for an hour, knowing full well that no Christmas shopping was going to get done until Tuesday night (yes we did our shopping today), and now a cold/flu, it was seriously the last thing I wanted to hear. But I did it!

Does anyone have any ideas for how I can show Jeff how much I love him and how grateful I am for his support this last weekend? I just can't put into words how wonderful he is for putting up with my crazy idea to go back to school. And XOXOXO's don't work for Jeff...he wants presents!

Wish me luck

I thought if I titled this "pray for me" it would send people into a panic that something was majorly wrong with me or my family, so I'll stick with luck. But if you have the time, I'll take prayers too! I'm about to embark on the great fun of taking my graduate comphrensive exam. It's basically a 5 day marathon project with 4 complete strangers (everyone that I started my Master's degree with have graduated long ago), a huge paper, and presentation to a bunch of academic folk who have nothing better to do than tout their own knowledge and criticize my measly ideas. But it's got to be done if I ever want to finish my MPH (Masters Degree of Public Health). I get to meet my assigned group tomorrow when we get our "question" for our project and then, lots of late nights, stress, and scrambling to get whatever the question is done. Come Monday at 10:30, I'll be free to finally enjoy Christmas! No more biostatistics homework, finals, or comp exams to worry about. Then it's one more class in the spring (still haven't decided what to take yet) and I'm done! I can hardly wait.

Who needs snow?

Come tomorrow I'll have to re-title this post because a huge snowstorm is on it's way. Which is a whole other story... we're supposed to start a new family tradition by watching last year's Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert because we can never get tickets since they've changed it to a lottery system. Knowing our luck, my family will probably get stuck in the storm and we'll have to cancel it all together. But just for tonight, we didn't need any, well just a tiny bit, of snow for Pearl's first sledding excursion.

Jeff has an old sled he's been waiting ever so patiently to get out for Pearl and tonight was the night! Pearl was feeling a bit cooped up after being home all day with me, well minus the adventure to the doctor for her 18 month check up. She had been asking for Daddy all afternoon and when he finally got home she ran and got her coat and proceeded to throw a fit in the middle of the kitchen floor until we both said, "Let's go outside." We ran across the street to the park to get some pictures of Pearl on the sled. I wasn't too prepared to do any actual pulling, thinking I was just there to take pictures. But Pearl had other plans. She cried and screamed when Jeff tried to get her to sit on the sled. He tried laying her down and was just about to give up and go home when I figured it might distract her if I ran along with them and moved her to the very front of the sled where she couldn't get out. But first Jeff made me pull him and Pearl. That didn't last too long! Once we got Pearl situated so she wouldn't fall out and so she could hold the rope, Jeff and Pearl were running all over the park. Pearl held on for dear life at times and drug her hand alongside the sled in the snow (mainly so she could eat it). Once Jeff was thoroughly worn out, it was my turn to pull. I pulled her around until my feet were freezing and we decided to head home.
Pearl refused to get off the sled so we picked up the entire thing and walked home. It was pretty funny to watch all the cars drive by pointing at us and laughing. Since Pearl kept telling me "no" when I tried to get her out, we decided to just plop her down in the middle of the front yard while Jeff hung more Christmas lights. She sat there happily eating snow for at least a half hour. The only reason I was able to get her to come inside was because I told her we were going to a party (the ward Christmas party). Despite the cold, it was really fun to get outside and run around. Almost made me want to get back into shape :) I guess if the snowstorm is as big as predicted and my family doesn't show up tomorrow night, we'll know just what to do!

We've been "elf"ed!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Y B U (no, this is NOT a typo)

Alas, this post comes with much sadness (hold back the tears Jeff) but I just can't not post a picture or two of our newest game day shirts.Yes, this is a "SCREW THE Y" tee-shirt and no, the front is not a typo either. Re-read it very carefully (YBU = why be you? for all those BYU grads reading my blog). Oh and notice Pearl's new Nike shoes? Daddy went a little crazy at the shoe store with her, bringing home two pairs of Nikes. I think someone is living out unfulfilled dreams and desires through his daughter!

Sadly, the Aggies lost to those stinkin' cougies on Saturday at the Energy Solution Arena 68-63. The game was pure Aggies, the fans were amazing as usual, the energy indescribable, and probably the best we'll see all year. I could go on and on about how humiliating this loss was, but I just can't bring myself to reminisce on seeing those ugly cougies. So I leave you with a snippet of the USU fight song with what must have been half of Cache Valley cheering (and yet where were all those supposedly loyal Y fans - nowhere! They're scared of the Aggies, just like their head coach, aka "bat boy" - refer to the Refraction newsletter for further hilarity and laughs). OK minus the fight song - stupid Blogger won't upload it and it's way past my bedtime. Another day cougies, another day!!!

I have a confession

Three actually.

First, I watched the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show the other night...with Jeff. We've watched it together ever since we got married, and I think it's Jeff's favorite part of the Christmas season :)! I'll admit that the first year I watched it, it was mostly to keep tabs on my husband and to wipe the drool off of his chin but I actually look forward to it now. Am I totally disgusting? I can't help it! Who doesn't want long, gorgeous, messy-yet-modelesk looking hair, a million dollar bra (yes, a $1,000,000 diamond-covered, sparkling bra), and well....you know something two sizes bigger than what I have now?

Second, I didn't want to make lunches all week. Not that I was mad at Jeff or anything like that (see earlier post on things I do for love), but sandwiches have sounded so boring. Not to mention that we haven't had anything good to go with our sandwiches this week. I've still made something, well except for last night because we didn't have any bread, but it hasn't been very good. I won't even begin to describe dinner! Any suggestions on some quick, yummy, and fine healthy lunches?

Third, I have been a butthead to Jeff the last couple of days. Sorry, Jeff. I get all worked up about stupid things and yes, I still love you!!!

Friday Night Lights

I debated about whether to bore you all with our Thanksgiving festivities... basically two trips to Logan, two Thanksgiving dinners, and two laundry runs thanks to a jello salad and toilet water (long story) but have decided to share our Friday Night Lights adventure instead. But for my family who reads this, I will post a few Thanksgiving pictures.

So you may be wondering why we didn't just stay in Logan all weekend if we ended up driving back and forth twice. Well, tradition has it that we set up the Christmas tree the day after the turkey tryptophan-induced comas have ended. Jeff was a good sport about bringing up the boxes of decorations and trees but that's when things get turned over to me. We did manage to get the tree up and the nativity out but that's about it. Unless you consider turning the house into a complete disaster with decorations strewn in every room, half emptied boxes scattered in the halls, and pine needles on every inch of the floor an accomplishment. Pearl was quite the helper pulling out everything in the boxes. She did put two bells on the tree though but then was quickly back to unwrapping everything. I gave her one of our kid-friendly nativity sets to play with in hopes of teaching her about the birth of Christ but the only part of the story she picked up was "mom", "daddy", and "baby." She likes to hide the baby in blankets and cups and babbles some made up nativity story as she moves the figurines around. Oh and the best part is, she makes a fist and pounds her hands when we show her the wise men - you know the "Wise Man Built His House Upon A Rock" song?

After realizing I wasn't going to turn my house into a winter wonderland with an 18 month old helping, Jeff decided to take us down to the Gateway to watch their Christmas tree lighting celebration and Jon Schmidt concert. We didn't want to battle traffic and parking so we took the train downtown. Pearl wasn't too impressed, as is evident from the picture below (she spent most of the time climbing on the seats) but I thought it was a great way to get to Salt Lake. And the best part about the train is my sister who was meeting us there after work, ironically only a couple blocks from the Gateway, got stuck in traffic as we breezed into town! We ate dinner then headed back outside for the free concert. Pearl was so funny to watch - she wanted to dance while sitting in her stroller. Every time we tried to get her out to dance she screamed and climbed back into the stroller. So we all just danced around her and clapped. I'm sure people thought we were crazy but when you have an 18 month old bundled up to the point of almost not being able to move, you've got to make a fool out of yourself to keep them happy.



After an hour of listening to music and nibbling on cookies and hot chocolate, Pearl had about reached her breaking point when all of a sudden.... the moment we had been waiting for....The announcer said there were over 85,000 lights on the tree. I'm not sure I totally buy that big of a number, although it was impressive to see it light up. I still think my trees (yes, trees...I'll post pictures another time) are prettier but hey, who can compete with 85,000 LED lights in sync to music? The train ride home is when Pearl really reached her breaking point, screaming, crying, and yes, the dreaded stinky diaper! Oh well, she slept good and we all had a great time. My sister asked us why we didn't do cool things like this when she was living with us to which Jeff and I replied in unison, we did! You just never came home!We had more fun Friday night together than we've had in a long time. Not only did it put me in the Christmas mood, enough to finally finish my decorating tonight, but I think we may have just stumbled upon a new family tradition!

Last but not least, the Thanksgiving pictures.Pearl loved the Redi-whip Uncle Roy kept giving her. I mean what goes better with a can of olives for dinner?That turkey tryptophan must be kicking in because this is a somewhat decent shot of us all together, well minus Pearl's weird Frankenstein moves and her missing Happy Thanksgiving shirt I tried desperately to get a picture of!
Uncle Kurtis was a great sport to play with Pearl. She kept him going up and down the stairs all weekend!Who doesn't love this cute face? We've moved on from teaching Pearl "grobble grobble" for turkeys to "ho ho ho" for Santa Claus. Let the feasting begin. Thanks to Jeff's homemade grape juice and cranberry sauce, Kimmy and Nick's homemade rolls, and enough food to feed an army from my mom, Thanksgiving Dinner #1 was a delicious success!Who's idea was it to give Pearl jello salad and then laugh at her when she started rubbing it all over her face, hair, and tummy? Hmmm...grandpa!!! It's only funny because mom has to clean up the mess!

Fine, I'll do it!

I've been tagged like 20 times in the past few weeks and each time avoided completely my end of the deal. Well, after my sister, cousin, and multiple friends all tagged me I figured it was high time I just did it. Oh, one minor disclaimer... to make things more interesting and to ensure I get to use some pictures (does that count for my picture tags too?), I'm combining the past two days and counting them as one. You'll see why below. Here goes nothing!

Eight Things I Did Yesterday (well, technically the past two yesterdays)
1. Went to the USU/Weber State basketball game - Aggies won!
2. Ate lunch with Pearl as part of her daycare's Annual Thanksgiving Feast (She loved her hat, seriously she did! Too bad she hasn't eaten anything all week.)3. Sat through another confusing Biostatistics class (Only a couple weeks left of this torture!)
4. Watched the dust, dirt, and crumbs continue to collect on every square inch of my house - I want a house elf for Christmas!
5. Caught Jeff "reading" his scriptures. Well he did read his scriptures but by the time I went to bed he had fallen fast asleep until that is the bright flash from our camera woke him up. He is such a good example. Oh and if you're wondering about the money, he always uses a dollar bill to mark his places in books.
6. Giggled a lot at work...some people just don't understand what it means to be a professional!
7. Made taco soup (I don't think Jeff was too big of a fan.)
8. Cried a couple of times. Don't worry, not because of something bad. I was just reminded by a dear friend of how precious life is and then how much my own family has sacrificed for me.

Eight Places I like To Eat
1. Fredrico’s
2. Juniper Take Out
3. Pappa Kelsey's
4. Nelson's... not for the food but the custard shakes YUMMY!
5. Apollo Burger
7. Mandarin Garden
8. Pretty much anywhere that I'm not cooking!

Eight Shows I Like To Watch
1. America's Next Top Model
2. ER
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. Seinfeld
5. NOVA specials
6. America's Test Kitchen
7. Does football all weekend count? Oh wait, that's what Jeff likes to watch!
8. Cable TV shows when we get a chance

Eight Things I Look Forward To
1. The end of Biostatistics
2. Finally getting my Master's Degree of Public Health after 4 long years!
3. Learning how to use Photoshop so my horrible pictures look fab-u-lous! Or more accurately, having no more homework or internship to interrupt my desire for hobbies.
4. Having another baby...did I just say that? Hope Jeff wasn't reading this!
5. Decorating my Christmas tree, setting out the nativity, and getting my house all Christmas-y.
6. The day I can finally understand what Pearl is babbling about. Hmmm...then again maybe I don't want to hear what she's trying to tell me.
7. Going to Hawaii (well I'll settle for a weekend getaway with just Jeff)
8. Seeing my family tomorrow for Thanksgiving.

Eight People I Tag:
Really, can I expect anyone to do this if I drug my feet with it? Oh well, it's part of the game!
1. Sandy
2. Chandi
3. Liberty
4. Libbey
5. Alica
6. Keisha
7. Becky
8. Heather

The Blessing Tree

Being the mom and wife of the year that I am (wishful thinking I know), I thought I would try a new project during November to remind us of all the things we are grateful for and at the same time, to decorate our non-festive house. So a few Fridays ago, Pearl and I made a tree and cut out a bunch of leaves. Then we, well I, convinced Jeff that after dinner we would think of a couple things we were grateful for, write it down on a leaf, and then tape it to our "Blessing Tree." I'm pretty sure Jeff and Pearl didn't see nearly the same sentimental value in doing this as I did, but they did help color all of the leaves and gave suggestions for most of the blessings on our tree. My original plan was to do a leaf for every day until Thanksgiving but we ran out of leaves and some nights didn't get around to writing anything down. But hey, it was good to reflect for a few minutes on what our Heavenly Father has blessed us with. Here's what we wrote on our leaves, plus a few extras I threw in there today:

• "A". Yes it's that time of year again...USU Basketball season so of course Jeff had to make a leaf that had a big "A" on it. Go Aggies!
  
• Nursery. Thank heaven for nursery!!! Pearl isn't officially nursery age yet but I think the Primary Presidency got sick of me leaving class to keep her quiet or maybe the fact that she would run up to the front of sharing time and distract all the other kids who were trying hard to sit still and be reverent. Either way, they gave me permission to take her to nursery early and we all love it! Her teachers are great and I actually felt bad after the first week she went because I realized just how crappy of nursery leader I was all those years. Hopefully I didn't ruin any of the kids for life.
  
• Little blessings. So I must admit all the news about the economy has really freaked me out. As Jeff will tell you, I have no economic/accounting knowledge whatsoever, which you would think would be an advantage in a situation like this but no, I freak out even more. I'm terrified of losing our jobs, losing our house, losing our savings (oh wait, it's already gone!), not having enough to eat, you name it. But the other day at the peak of freaking out, I found out that Pearl's daycare expenses drop $100 in July when she's 2!!! I thought it was a mistake but nope, starting in July we might actually be able to build up our savings accounts again. Guess Heavenly Father figured he better calm me down with a little blessing like this before I really went crazy!
  
• Recipe books. Try as I might, I'm a horrible cook. Ask Jeff...every time he eats ANYTHING I cook, he gets sick. But I have been trying harder and am so grateful for cookbooks and recipes! I even made a couple of meals that Jeff said he would like again - I'm pretty sure that's the first time in our married life that he's told me that.
  
• Pearl Jenette. Do I really need to expound on why Pearl is the greatest blessing in our life?
  
• New shoes. My last post with Pearl walking around in high heels inspired Jeff to buy some new shoes. They aren't his favorite but they were really cheap online so as of yesterday, he is happy as can be.
  
• Grandpas. Who doesn't love grandpas? And after Grandpa Great made a new table and chair just for Pearl, we couldn't not be grateful for our grandpas!
  
• Food. This must have been a good recipe day for me, or else Pearl was starving and I figured she was happy to eat just about anything. Seriously though, we have never gone without, minus the stint in college :).
  
• Washing machine that works. My washing machine took a turn for the worse earlier in November and died, and right in the middle of laundry day too. So we spent a few days at the laundry mat which really isn't too bad considering you can wash, dry, and fold all of your laundry in about an hour. We were dreading the news from the repair man (which by the way, is a great career to go into - he charged $60 for just diagnosing the problem plus parts) but luckily it was a quick fix and saved us from buying a new washing machine.
  
• Good health and good health insurance. You would all be sick to know how little we pay for our health insurance and I am just so grateful to know we can get sick and can get good care. Luckily though, we're pretty healthy and haven't had any major illnesses to deal with.
  
• Library books. Pearl and I go to the library every Friday and we love it! Not only does she get to run around and pull hundreds of books off the shelves, but it's a great way to save $$$ by not having to buy our own books. We check out a huge bag of books every week and then read 4 or 5 before going to bed. It really is one of my most favorite times of the day.
  
• Nice weather to play at the park. Despite the 80 degrees one day then snow the next kind of weather Utah has, it really has been a beautiful month. We've been able to play at the park almost everyday, bundled up of course, and I'm just not sure what we're going to do when it really gets nasty out there. And bonus that we have three parks within walking distance of our house.
  
• Snow pants. Pearl desperately needed some new fall/winter clothes and Jeff found a great deal at Old Navy a week ago. I can't believe I'm doing this to my child, but we bought her the puffiest coat and snow pants we could find and yes, she can't move in them and looks like a chocolate marshmallow in them sort of like the younger brother on the Christmas Story movie. She is mighty cute in them though and won't ever get cold!
  
• America and freedoms. We live in a free and blessed nation!!!
  
• Pearl isn't sick anymore. Pearl had just gotten over the barfs and a sick tummy the day we wrote this.
  
• Neighbors. Our neighbors are the greatest! Jeff told David and Vickie that he couldn't find any fun Thanksgiving decorations and the next day they came over with a ton of stuff. Now, you have to understand one thing, these are the same neighbors who decorate their house and yard for every single holiday and I mean they deck the place out! Plus, they bring us cookies every Sunday, love Pearl to pieces, and are some of our best friends.
  
• Daddy. Pearl kept saying "daddy" so I figured that was what she wanted me to write on her leaf. Too bad mommy didn't make the list.
  
• Weekends. Ah, the weekends! A time for relaxing, napping, football...wait a minute that's what Jeff does on the weekends. Mine usually consist of cleaning, folding laundry, homework, and all that fun stuff.
  
• Trips to Logan to see our family. We wrote this blessing down after visiting our family for my little brother's 14th birthday. Our families are the best and do so much for us, I can't even begin to list everything they do to make our lives easier. One thing I will mention though, my dad slipped me $20 for "gas money" when we went up. How cool is that!!!
  
• Good jobs. Not to get too down about the economy but we can't help but thank our Heavenly Father for providing us with good jobs. I admit I do worry about losing our jobs if things continue to plummet but for now we're OK. A quote comes to mind "Sometimes the Lord calms the storm and sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child." I just hope I am receptive to the Spirit and allow Him to calm my worries.
• Coloring books. Having a kid is a great reminder of all the things you enjoyed, like coloring. I was lucky enough to marry someone who loves to color (and is a fantastic at it) and so we have only the best crayons and coolest Sesame Street coloring books around. I'm not sure who gets more excited to color, Pearl or Jeff.
• Internet. Minus all the bad stuff one can get into online, the Internet is a remarkable blessing. I mean, what would I (or you reading this) do without a blog or Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends and document our life? Jeff's been talking crazy like...cutting our Internet to save some money but I think he knows how grumpy I would be without my blog! Plus he's addicted to Facebook, ESPN, and shoe perusing online!
  
• Long naps. Well this blessing is officially over because Pearl's awake. But for all of you moms out there, you know how wonderful a blessing this one is. I like the really long 2 or 3 hour naps myself.

Like Father Like Daughter

***DISCLAIMER!!!! Jeff does NOT wear high heels!***

But he has passed on the shoe lovin' gene to Pearl. The other day I heard clippity-clopping in the kitchen and well, need I say more? Pearl is obsessed with shoes just like her dad. I've blogged about it before, but I think this video certainly proves my point that I have a shoe clepto on my hands. Every morning I find Jeff's boots scattered in the living room because Pearl is fascinated with them. Apparently she also has a taste for black high heels - they do make fun noises on the tile so I can't blame her. So the next time we drop by, you might want to hide your shoes! Oh and the video is kind of big so if you can't open it, sorry.

Freedom is Not Free

I know it's late and I still have a few things to get done with my internship, but I couldn't not post something about the incredible sacrifice so many have made for our country on this Veterans Day. I even thought about this last night after I went to bed and remembered a couple of trips to Washington DC that I think for the first time really made me understand just how many lost their lives for the freedoms I take for granted everyday. I really can't describe the feelings in my heart as I think back to the monuments honoring all those killed fighting for our happiness and way of life. Not to mention the untold sacrifices our Veterans' families, friends, and communities made. I posted a few of my favorite pictures from our Washington DC trips that remind me of how grateful I am to live in this choice and promised land... the haunting faces at the Korean War memorial, a massive Lincoln overlooking the entire "Mall," the simple and yet powerful Vietnam Memorial with thousands of names etched forever, hands reaching up to raise the flag as a symbol of freedom and perseverance at Iowa Jima, and the long overdue and absolutely breathtaking World War II memorial with it's wall of stars representing the tens of thousands killed and the beautiful fountains. I remember seeing WWII vets in wheelchairs surrounded by family sobbing at the memory of lost buddies and the horrors they saw to which I can never begin to imagine. But the most impressive part of this whole experience was seeing how many times thanks and praise was given to God in the memorials, acknowledging our Heavenly Father and his love and compassion on His children and the faith and hope of millions that He would protect them and the freedoms they sacrificed their lives for. May God bless America!

What every girl wants

Yesterday I was milla-seconds away from blogging about how grumpy and defeated I was feeling living with a 30 inch tornado (aka Pearl) and dreading the late night hours to come this weekend with homework. Not to mention the typical I'm feeling frumpy and fat mood I seemed to be in as the day progressed. But I held off, thinking who wants to read about me having a bad day? And it's a good thing I did because now everyone can read about Pearl. I mean, that's why you come to my blog in the first place, right? :)

What does every little girl want, well minus the pony? A table and chair set! Think of the possibilities of having a pint-sized table and chair to color and build towers of blocks on or even use for tea parties! Jeff and I had been hinting to my dad that Pearl really wanted her very own table and chair for Christmas but Great Grandpa beat him to it. And we couldn't be more excited to have handmade ones from Grandpa Great. He's always up to some new project and while Pearl does love her elastic gun he made, we were secretly hoping he would make the great granddaughters something really special that they could treasure forever. So after remembering a set he made for my Aunt Denise when she was three years old, he set to work building new tables and chairs for Pearl and Ruby.
We picked it up after Pearl's first Aggie basketball game of the 2008-2009 season (had to find some excuse to post these pictures too) and she couldn't have been more excited. She pushed it all over my grandpa's kitchen and climbed up and down it. And even though it was well past bedtime, she kept trying to get my grandpa to swing her under his chair, I guess to show her appreciation because she wouldn't kiss him.

Jeff and Pearl in front of the "Meet the Challenge" statue! Pearl was super giggly outside with her hat and mittens on but when it came to meeting the real "Big Blue" she screamed. I couldn't tell who was more upset, Jeff (at the thought his little girl hates Big Blue) or Pearl.

It was really fun visiting with my grandpa and Pearl had a great time exploring a new house. My grandpa said he even cleaned because he knew we were coming up after the game. He's so worried that Pearl won't remember him and while she may not, with a beautiful table and chair set, she will always have a reminder of how much she is loved. Pearl was thrilled when she figured out we were actually taking them home with us. She wouldn't let go of the chairs and even had a hold of the legs after she fell asleep. Let's just keep our fingers crossed the crayon marks keep to a minimum for a few days so we can all enjoy this special gift!

I may be a bad mom but....

All right, so I didn't have a costume for Pearl, well minus the star episode, or take her trick-or-treating this Halloween (we had a birthday party to go to), but I did make her stand in line with me for an hour to vote. I figured the pain of keeping her tightly in my arms despite her squirming and begging for books (we voted at the library), not to mention the hair pulling and numerous "hi's" to the lady in front of us, would do her more good than letting her eat tons of gooey candy (fine, I didn't want her to have the candy mainly because I end up eating all of it). We should have skipped the early voting though and just gone today. Jeff said he didn't wait more than five minutes to cast his ballot.

What a great blessing it is to live in this country and have the right to vote! So many sacrificed everything they had to give us the right to vote and make a difference in our country. Alas though, I admit I have a few pet peeves when it comes to voting:

1) Why do we let the candidates spend billions of dollars on advertising, parties, and debates? Think of all the problems we could fix if we limited the amount of money that was spent or better yet, made the candidates donate a huge percentage of it to charities or to programs they support. What if the president put forth as much effort fundraising once they were in office to accomplish all of the projects they wanted to do? We might actually get our country out of a trillion dollar debt, help the poor, and fix health care. What a joke! Who needs to spend millions on TV commercials, signs, and a ginormous celebration party? Ridiculous!

2) Health care. Yeah it sucks but hey how about beefing up the public health infrastructure and actually turning this country towards a prevention model instead of just waiting for the blood to spill and then slapping a band aid on it like we currently do? I would love, love, love if we finally had a candidate realize the potential savings that prevention would have. Not to mention the fact that our country is seeing epidemics of chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, premature birth, and obesity that will drain our health care system even more. In times of tough economics, public health and prevention are the first to go.

3) The whole electoral vote thing. I don't get it, I don't know why our country does things this way, but in a state as red as can be, sometimes it gets a bit discouraging knowing that no matter how you vote the electoral votes, the ones that really count, are still going to go to a certain party. Shouldn't the popular vote count more?

4) Could one candidate please tell us how they actually plan to get things done? I mean, don't most of us want the same things no matter what political party we belong to? Having happy, healthy families, good jobs and a strong economy, new energy sources, and opportunities for education and growth? Most of the time the candidates sound exactly the same to me and none of them actually delve into how they plan to implement the changes they so quickly speak of. I spent several hours studying each candidate's websites (even the local ones) and debates to try and figure out just how they planned to accomplish their ideas but nothing! Just the same old...we need change, I'm the right person for the job....blah blah blah.

5) Well I can't think of anything else but ending on a four seemed odd. So I'll just say that I love getting the "I voted today" stickers and seeing how proud everyone is to wear them all day. Oh and how cool the "Leave Your Print" website is because it would pull your ballot for you so you would know exactly who you would vote for come election day.

And no, I'm not telling you who I voted for! My family already gave me a hard enough time as it is!!!

So long to an old friend

Jeff finally did it. He sold "Big Red" - his 1964 Dodge pickup truck. Well, he didn't technically sell Big Red but traded him for a new patio out back. Big Red's been for sale for a few years now but despite lots of lookers, we've never had any serious offers until a few weeks ago when a guy who has a cement business wanted to trade some work for the truck. It was a hard decision (for Jeff anyway) but in the end we figured we would get more use and pleasure out of a new patio (and hopefully new patio furniture) than an old truck we only use a few times a year. Jeff will probably kill me for spilling this, but he said he was so sad when it came down to actually turning Big Red over that he almost shed a tear and couldn't bear to hand the keys over so he just left them in the ignition.

Big Red's been a great friend. And I admit, I love the sound of a loud, roaring engine and Big Red had a great one (OK so we made out a few times in Big Red too - might as well fess up now before Jeff embarrasses me with his comments)! Jeff bought him from his neighbor before we got married and despite only getting, I swear 10 miles to the gallon, drove him everyday to work when we were in college. Then we moved to Bountiful and Jeff let his mom drive Big Red until we decided to start ripping out trees, fences, and shrubs in the yard. Big Red has been used to rip out an old wooden fence, too many fence posts to mention, and at least a dozen trees and stumps - the last of which was a cherry tree stump that was almost 70 years old.

So we say goodbye to a old friend and hello to a bunch of new memories, parties, and fun times! As soon as we get the roof up, you're all invited to a celebration party!

Out with the old....and in with the new! Just image a roof, lots of flowers spilling over pots, comfy patio furniture, some cute decorative lights, and a hot grill. I can't wait!!!

Reliving a Halloween nightmare

Let's make one thing clear, Jeff hates Halloween. Seriously, he hates it. Aside from the candy, Halloween is nothing but a reminder of a horrible childhood memory - the year he was a star. And not just any star, a cardboard star covered in tin foil. He was old enough to know that a star was not a cool costume to wear but set aside potential teasing for the chance of a pillowcase full of candy. And so the night began, knocking on doors and filling up on loads of sugary treats. For anyone familiar with the "island" in Logan and nearby Wilson Elementary School, you'll know that the school is surround by some pretty big trees. As Jeff and his older brother (who absolutely loved tormenting him) were walking past the school, his brother ripped the star right off him and flung it high into the trees. It scarred him for life...he hates Halloween.

So what do we do to our beautiful and innocent daughter? We dress her up as a star. And a really crooked one at that (not on purpose, I'm just a horrible at drawing stars), complete with tinfoil and everything. I had these fabulous intentions of making a ladybug costume, which after cutting out stars and covering them in tinfoil realized it would have been easier, but after Jeff giving me a hard time about not having it finished yet gave up. And so the Halloween nightmare has been passed on to the next generation. Luckily for Pearl, we all joined in the trauma and went to the annual Kohler/Jewkes Halloween Party as "Super Stars" - pronounced "supa stars" for added effect and coolness. Next year, we're thinking of being "rock" stars.Some of you may remember a few posts back that I was complaining about having no family traditions. I should have clarified - I have family traditions with my extended families but nothing that is just Jeff, me and Pearl. OK with that cleared up we can move on to the Halloween Party fun. My Aunt Denise throws one spooktacular party and I must say every year I am just as excited to see how she's decorated her house as I am to carve pumpkins and eat the traditional meal of clam chowder and other ghoulish treats. This year's decorations followed a mad scientist theme, evident from her costume choice. Jeff and I have typically been party poopers because we've never dressed up (everyone else does) so this year my aunt was thrilled to open the doors and see a "Supa Star" family! Yes, I somehow convinced Jeff that dressing up with Pearl would keep Pearl from suffering the same childhood fate. The stars didn't reuin Halloween for Pearl but my little cousins' freaky vampire, mummy, and grim reaper costumes. She was absolutely terrified of them and cried every time they got near. It took her a good hour at least to warm up to the idea that we were staying with these freaks. Even Carver the dragon scared her. There was Frodo Baggins and an elf princess, a mummy's Mommy, and the "Invisible Man" (aka Uncle Dan who was working in New Orleans). Even "bad" Santa Claus stopped by on his way to Bermuda.After a yummy dinner we broke out the carving tools and began the task of carving dozens of pumpkins. Jeff and Pearl grew ours this year and we had a gigantic one. It would have been even bigger had the vine not broken off a month or so ago. We tried to get Pearl to sit in it but she was still freaked out with every one's makeup.
Pearl had a great time carving her pumpkin (the triangle covered one). She made me slightly nervous with her excited stabbing. When she got frustrated with me taking away her knife, she decided to eat the pumpkin instead.After a night of yummy and gruesome treats, pumpkin guts and a giant pumpkin head, it was time to bring this party to a close. Hopefully after a few more years of these fun Halloween memories, Jeff will learn to like or at least tolerate the trick or treaters.