Want to know why I haven't posted much?

My 3 year old has discovered why mommy has an internet addiction. At least he understands my addiction now. Unlike my ability to understand why he has to be in a box when he plays.

Between my lack of computer time and being glued to the tv watching the financial markets about to implode............I've been unable to complete the multiple entries I've started. Maybe I'll put Erik on that for me. He seems to have the time.

Lauren's Baptism Day

Lauren was baptized on September 13th.

She had been looking forward to her special day for several months. She was mostly excited to receive the Holy Ghost so that she could feel the spirit. She picked out her new set of scriptures and we purchased her beautiful dress. I gave her a special crystal and pearl bracelet for her to remember her baptism day.

The day felt like a whirlwind and luckily, I didn't have time to ponder how old I feel to have a child old enough to be baptized. But I am. And she was beautiful. I know this is one of those days she will remember for the rest of her life.

The mix in - mix up

We took the kids to Cold Stone Creamery last night where the following conversation took place:

Dad: Erik......what kind of mix in would you like in your ice cream?

Erik: Um......( then noticing the different options ) M and M's and VITAMINS!!!!! ( pointing to the gummy bears )

Dad: What?

Erik: YAY! M and M's and VITAMINS!!!!

That's my boy!

Sometimes when a teacher sends a note home from school with your child, your heart starts pounding as you wonder what it was he did this time. Did he get in a fight? Did he spit or slobber on someone? Did he push or take someones toy?

But sometimes, you get these little gems and can't help but laugh and use it as an opportunity to tease a cute, little 6 year old boy about his new girlfriend.

ARG!

Seriously......

does EVERY prime time channel have to be covering the Democratic National Convention?

And whose brilliant idea was it to start the convention the day after we've already been subjected to two weeks of Olympic coverage? I'm thinking that can't be a good way to win votes. Unless, of course, the convention is like a one week "Survivor" series where they throw people like Pelosi, Biden, Obama, Gore, Reid, Rosie O'donnell and anyone related to a Kennedy on a deserted island with Al Franken as the host and see which one comes up on top.........then I might be interested.

I read about a new tv show coming this fall called "America's Toughest Jobs". Somehow I don't think television programming is one of them.

CHUCK FOR PRESIDENT!

Never, EVER underestimate the power of the Nerd Herd vote.

Olympic commentary........

So they are getting rid of the softball and baseball events because the USA is too unbeatable while keeping "why not just call it a cool vacation in the off season" basketball as well as the ever so thrilling to watch trampoline and speed walking events.

Can anyone explain why Olympic boxing has been going on since the first day? And who really watches ping pong? Oh....excuse me....."Table Tennis". ( crickets chirping ) Personally, I'd much rather see an obstacle course event from the tv show Wipeout than something like a badminton match.

Interesting though, trying to sing along to the three verse intro/cut short National Anthem while Michael Phelps basked in his first gold was a pretty good "sport" to watch. I'm guessing some heads rolled after that degree of difficulty.

"Oh say can you see by the dawns early light. What so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming." (Oh....wait......ok.....now) "Oh say can you see by the dawns early light." ( no? what the heck? Ok so they started over.......wait for it.......wait for it......ok....NOW! ) "Oh say can you see........" ( Oh for heaven's sake. nevermind!)

And I won't even mention the problem I have with the "still plays with Barbies" Chinese gymnastic team. That would be too easy.

The second week of the summer Olympics are a snoozefest which does nothing but aggravate me that I have no other choice but to watch reruns of Dr. Phil or Greatest American Dog while further delaying my season premieres of Prison Break and Chuck.


I'm just saying....................

Getting ready for Lauren's upcoming baptism!

The kids weren't the only ones who started school last week.

Kirk started his MBA in Global Management at Thunderbird last week. The first two weeks are spent on campus then he has classes every other Friday and Saturday for the next 16 months. He'll get to travel to some cool places too. He'll go to Geneva in November then have the choice of two other locations between China, Chile, Russia ( might not be such a great idea right now! ) and Dubai. I'll give you a hint which one he really REALLY REALLY wants to go to........it starts with a Dub and ends in an I.

I suppose every married couple needs to experience student loan debt at some point in their life.

First Day of School

Funny how each year it gets easier and easier to send your kids off to school......... I think I'm probably more excited about that "first day" than the kids!

So, here is the token first day of school picture. 'Cause I'm a mom/parent and that's what moms/parents do on their child's first day of school. And I thought I'd compare their "first day of school" picture this year to last years to see how much they grew..............

When I realized Lauren wore the same exact shirt two years in a row. She must like her "Daddy's little Valentine" shirt.......a lot!

Dad's 66th Birthday!

My dad turned 66 on August 6th.

What better cake theme than a good, 'ol Route 66!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Thomas the Tank cake

We had a Visiting Teaching service auction last month and I donated a child's birthday cake for my "service". The winner called me this week to make a cake for her grandson's 3rd birthday on Saturday. He had a Thomas the Tank theme so this is what I came up with............

Reboot

I went to the Doctor again for a follow up visit regarding my ankle. For me, going to see a Doctor about a "problem" is like taking your car in because the brakes squeak. There is and always will be....something more egregious wrong. Which is why I try and avoid going to the Doctor, hence, the prolonged ankle issue.

I knew going into the visit that my ankle still didn't feel like it had healed much since my last visit three weeks ago. It was when I saw the MAC daddy footwear that I was now told I needed to wear that I realized my Doctor visit was more like a computer virus than a trip to Midas.

If you are a computer geek, you might understand.

My ankle was BAD. So my ED required a DC and had to REBOOT in order to upgrade to the knee high version 4.0. I guess I had an ECS on my ankle that was both "enhanced" and "chipped" causing the pain. It has a BASM which I've found easy to use although it tends to feel over heated. I'm currently in TM and depending on the TOD, I wear either the dial up version or the upgraded version. I'm hoping that at the EOJ, my ankle will be at an AQL.

In layman's terms: I have a chip fracture on my ankle as well as a torn posterior tibialis tendon. I now have to wear a dumb "boot" for the next three weeks until my next check up. I'm just praying I won't have to reboot to a newer, upgraded "hip" model.

This was my old dial up version which I keep as my back up:

And the computer word "cursor" has taken on a whole new meaning.........

BAD = Broken as designed

ED = External device

DC = Design change

REBOOT = Start up

ECS = Enhanced chip set

BASM = Built in assembler

TM = Test mode

TOD = Time of day

EOJ = End of job

AQL = Acceptable quality level

Hanging with the Cousins

It was great to see my brother and his wife and their two kids last month! Since we only get a chance to see each other every few years, it's fun to see their kids getting bigger and bigger with each visit!

If you detest ironing as much as I do.....

Might I suggest you avoid this little number available at Costco.

For an added bonus, you also get a "low rider" cut which allows you to walk around feeling like your pants are about to fall off at any given second leaving you wondering why you paid money for this troublesome privilege.

I got to speak in front of a million people today......

It may have been Kirk's birthday today but selfishly, I was the one who got a pretty cool present.

See, some people have fantasies of meeting their sports hero or famous movie star. Me.....I have a fantasy of one day meeting Jim Cramer from Mad Money. I know, I know. He's old enough to be my dad and he's kinda nerdy in a 60 year old version of Alex P. Keaton kind of way. But he's kind of my secret crush. If Kirk can have a "thing" for Samantha Brown on the travel channel, I can have mine.

Here's how it went down:
I called in to Mad Money earlier in the week and left a message about asking Jim Cramer what he thought about Anadarko Petroleum. This morning, I had a message on my machine from a guy from the show asking me to be a part of the Lightning round segment and to call back at 1:15pm. I was giddy. I started to write down what it was I was going to say. I wrote how I wanted to start by saying, "Jim Cramer? THE Jim Cramer? I've got a living in Mesa, Az but wishing I was still back in Bucks County BOOYAH for ya!" Then I would go on to tell him how I had a dream of meeting him some day and shaking his hand. Then I was going to wish Kirk a happy birthday ( see....I wasn't being completely selfish ). Then I was going to ask about a company called XTO but I was told by the 16 year old intern screener that he had already covered XTO a lot that week and if I had another stock I wanted to ask him about. So, I decided I'd go back to my original question about Anadarko Petroleum. Poor kid. He obviously didn't know his stuff because he asked me what the symbol for Anadarko was. Sigh. I secretly wanted his job too.

At 1:15, I called. While on hold, I rehearsed my lines over and over and over. Should I inflect "Booyah" like a casual "booyah" or with emphasis like "booYAH"? Or maybe "BOOyah"? My stomach was in knots and I felt like a little girl with a school girl crush. I sat on hold for 1 1/2 hours. Yes. You read that right. Luckily it was Ian's nap time and shockingly the older kids weren't too hungry at dinner from all of the granola bars I kept throwing at them to keep them quiet. I hid in Lauren's room so if my turn came, kids wouldn't be heard screaming in the back ground.

About an hour into my hold time, a girl came on and told me that they ran out of time during the Lightning round but to hang on so that I could be in the "Sudden Death" segment at the very end. The nerves started to fade as did my script I had been rehearsing for the last hour. I starting thinking about how rude it was of those people who took up MY time during the Lightning round which prevented me from having a turn to live out my dream. So not fair.

Then a lady comes back on and said the Sudden Death segment was about to start and that I was the first to go! I was told that I wasn't allowed to "chit chat" or say "booyah" I just had to give my stock. My nerves picked up again. I couldn't believe I was about to talk to Jim Cramer. My hero! My idol! My guru!

Suddenly, I heard a loud noise of nothing that made any sense. In the background I heard a very faint but familiar voice. It was Jim saying, "Let's go to Lisa in Arizona! Lisa............."

Holy cow! That's ME!!!!!!

I suddenly felt like the kid from "A Christmas Story". You know, when it was finally his turn to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas but all he could say was "Uh......football".

My "football" line was "Hey Cramer! What's your take on Anadarko Petroleum symbol APC?"

Then I heard, "Anadarko?" which might was well have been "Ho.... Ho..... Ho..........." and a big, black, shiny boot in the face.

Then the line went dead. I have no idea what he said after that until the show aired.

Some day.......I WILL meet Jim Cramer. For now, you can see how famous I really ( think I ) am.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=803042558

Happy Birthday Kirk!

I Hope they Call me on a Mission..............

Family Home Evening Monday night was all about missionary work. We quizzed the kids about full time missions. How old are boys when they can serve a full time mission? How old are girls? How long is a mission? What are boy missionaries called? You get the idea. The kids pretty much knew the answers for the most part.

The best was when we asked them where they wanted to go on their missions. Lauren, of course, wanted someplace exotic like Paris. Erik thought it would be cool to go to Wendy's on his mission. I didn't have the heart to tell him that wasn't a "mission" but a "j.o.b" besides, Frosties day in and day out would probably get kinda old. Jack wanted to go to Disneyland on his mission. Who wouldn't?

I thought we made some good progress.............

Jack Jack is 6!

We surprised Jack with a trip to Disneyland! He and dad got to go and play for a few days. He had a ball! Kirk said he was the ultimate chick magnet. One time in line, Kirk joked and said, "Are we THERE yet?" And Jack replied, "Dad.....we'll GET there when we GET there!" ( from the Incredibles ). Some 20 something chick turned around and said, "THAT.is.the.CUTEST.thing.I've.ever.heard!" Yeah. He was dad's wing man.

Then we had a little party for him today. He said he wanted a Bumble Bee Transformer cake. UGH! Could it BE any more complex? So, this was the best I could come up with:



It was fun and I'm glad he and Kirk got to spend some time together. And even though he was spoiled with a trip to Disneyland, he still was anxious to pick out a little souvenier for his big sister and little brothers! And I'm proud of Lauren for keeping his trip to Disneyland a secret. She was a trooper.........

Summer of stitches and splints

I mentioned before that Jack had to get stitches. I mean, what is summer without stitches or casts? It's as normal as flip flops and a lemonade stand.

I just would prefer it happened to other people and not to me.

This is what I get to wear for the next six weeks:

Goody.

Who knew putting laundry away was so dangerous?

See, this is what happens when you put off going to the Doctor for three months after the initial injury ignorantly thinking that if I just keep it wrapped and take some Advil that it will eventually all go away. I guess tendon tears don't necessarily "go away" as easily as I thought it would.

The picture on the right is my "normal" ankle. The one the left is my injured one. Most of the injury is right above the ankle and it's probably hard to tell but it's a little swollen. ( Plus it looks like the camera added about ten pounds. )

So yesterday, I finally made it in to see a specialist. After ten seconds, the Doctor suspected one of those "itis" words. You know.....arthritis, bronchitis, meningitis, and the common symptom found in children called I'm-not-eating-that-itis. Luckily it was just "tendonitis".

After the x-ray didn't show any breaks, I then went in for an ultrasound. Now, I'm no expert at ultrasounds obviously since I couldn't tell my in utero baby's toes from their nose but it probably doesn't take a genius to know that a big black spot where your tendons are might not be such a good thing.

I remarked to the ultra-sound tech, "Uh....that doesn't look normal."

He asked why I thought so.

I said, "Well, it doesn't look like a baby that's for sure!"

He began to measure the tear and told the Doctor what he found. A bunch of medical mumbo jumbo ensued and I remember thinking I should take mental notes because I knew my dad was going to ask me what they said. But they lost me at posteromedial. Then I heard, "So, it's not as bad as it COULD be then."

YAY?

I made sure to remind the Doctor that I had four kids under seven at home so my treatment needs to be realistic. He said that ideally, he should put me in a cast.

Cast = not an option

Plan B?

Plan B is a brace along with anti-inflamitories and ice. Again, ideally, I should put ice on it four times a day. Realistically, he said he would be happy with twice a day for twenty minutes. I can do that. It will give me an excuse to read.

I've worn it for the last day and so far I have a different pain than I've had for the last three months. I'm hoping that means it's fixing the problem. I want to get back to wearing my flip flops again before it starts to cool down to the 90's.

Happy 4th of July!

Who knew we could be as spontaneous as we were in our single days?


July 3rd as we sat and watched the ten o'clock news, my husband asked what we should do for the 4th. I muttered something about how I was not about to sit and endure six hours of country music that is only used to mask the hot, black pavement and 110 degrees with four kids just to watch a 20 minute fireworks show. Kirk then said something about, "Oh, but our kids need good memories of the 4th and fireworks!" Yeah. And I need a good tummy tuck. What's your point?

Then the weather segment came on and they started showing the weather for places up north and I asked, "What about Payson?"

We gave each other that, "Hmmmmm. Yeah." nod and decided that was what we would do.


The next morning, we put together a bunch of stuff to take with us. We dressed the kids in their co ordinating flag t-shirts blissfully unaware that every other person within a ten mile radius from a Walmart would buy the very same ones for this occasion as well. We packed coolers full of water bottles and snacks then slipped

on their flip flops and away we went.........

on a little over an hour drive................


to be greeted by rain. Lots and lots of rain.

That big, dark cloud I saw as we came up over the top of the mountain might have been my first clue that I probably should have paid more attention to that weather forecast I saw the night before.

And then I remembered some of my "spontaneous" trips I took as a young, single adult. New Year's eve Snow camping, Lake Powell in tents in July, driving to Park City just to see the B-52's in concert........ This had the potential of turning out badly.

The sleeping bags we had spread out to stake claim on our spot were drenched by 4:00. We hung out in the Tahoe and put on a DVD of Aladdin for the kids. Except about 45 minutes into the video, I noticed the automatic windows weren't rolling down so well. Probably should have kept the engine running while playing the DVD player. Luckily, the nice people in the car next to us gave us a jump with their own jumper cables seeing that we took ours out while packing the car for our spontaneous trip.
The rain kept coming down so around 6pm, we decided to just go for it. We managed to find a lone umbrella that Kirk just happened to have in his back pack. We also were fortunate that Lauren left her swimming towel in the car from her pool day last week. That came in handy as it made sitting on the waterlogged blanket feel only moderately saturated instead of thoroughly soused.

The kids had a blast playing with their light thing-a-ma-jigs.

The ducks also kept them busy.

Ian liked to go around and wave at all of the dogs. ( Seriously. Who brings dogs to see fireworks? )

Then Kirk entertained us by showing how fast my camera can take pictures.

Honestly. No dignity whatsoever.

Then Lauren wanted to see if I could take a picture of her jumping.

This was Ian as soon as the fireworks began. He spent most of the time with his hand over his mouth until he finally fell asleep from the stress of it all. You might not be able to tell, but we ended up sticking him inside a pillowcase since we did think to bring pillows. Extra blankets? Warm clothes? Common sense? No.

The pillowcases were the only dry things we had left.

I'm sure next year we'll be better prepared. Spontaneity is totally overrated.