Christmas 2012

New jammies on Christmas Eve

Jaxson anxiously anticipating Santa.

He loves his present from Aunt Kasara.

Papa dressing Cooper

Papa and Cooper the singing monkey.

It's December, I can't stand it.  I wish Christmas could be more spiritual and less commercial.  Maybe next year I'll come up with some good ideas.  Probably not but I'll try.  I've decided that with the end of the world coming on Friday I'm going to go ahead and indulge in every holiday treat in reach.  But I feel like my diabetes is not loving that so I guess January better come soon.  Last night was my work Christmas party.  Dr Ventura made homemade ravioli and Olive Garden style salad with garlic bread.  So yummy.  Then we played white elephant gifts.  Mike got a beautiful set of horses carved out of iron wood.  I got a set of batteries with a card stating gift not included.  But that's ok, I can always find a use for batteries. 

Well I hope anyone who reads this has a great holiday, filled with love, excitement, romance (except for Macayla, no romance for her but I doubt she'll read this). 

Kasara, take a minute to shake your snowglobe and think about all the fun you've had in the cold.  Remember that time you wrecked your car and then Dad backed into my car?  Good times....

Amanda, write down everything about Jaxson's first Christmas and take time to relax and enjoy it.

I love you guys!

Amanda

So Mandy and Isi got married.  I am so happy for them.  I really believe they will be ok even though they have some hard times ahead of them.  They got a hotel room for Saturday and Sunday night so we got to keep Jaxson for 2 more days and I love that boy more than I can put into words but when Mandy came Monday I was ready to return him to his mother.  Grandma's can only lose so much sleep... :)  I wish I had some pictures to post but Macayla hasn't sent them to me yet.  The ceremony was very simple but still nice.  Amanda looked so happy and beautiful.

update

So the grown up project isn't really working out for me.  I hate getting out of bed in the morning.  This morning I was trying to hit the snooze button on a bottle of baby lotion that was in front of my alarm clock.  I need to work on changing my morning attitude.  I need to look forward to each day as an opportunity to live the life I always wanted.  I really want to try doing yoga in the morning.  Any suggestions on how to change my attitude or good yoga dvd's?

The Grow Up Project

Seriously, It's time for me to grow up.  I'm 40 years old fer cryin out loud!  These are the grown up things I want to improve on;

1. Get up when the alarm clock goes off
2. keep my house clean
3. fix my hair and wear make up
4. don't wear sweats
5. stop obsessing over face book

So this morning when my alarm clock went off is scared the crap out of me and when I reached over to snooze it I hit the radio button so it went from alarm to some lady screaming at me about traffic.  So I just turned it off altogether and went back to sleep.  So once again, I get up too late to clean, went to work with just mascara and wet hair and I'm gonna have to stay in my scrubs after work cause I don't fit into my freakin jeans!  Tomorrow is another day right Scarlett?

Hunter's funeral

Dear Blog,
 Yesterday I went to the funeral of a little 12 year old boy.  Hunter Hall was killed in a 4 wheeling accident.  Funerals for children are very hard.  I'm not very close to his mom but I know her boyfriend Dustin.  He is Mike's best friend.  I met Hunter one time.  I remember being impressed with how polite he was.  He was playing with the kids at the barbeque and he stopped to talk to me for a minute in the kitchen.

Hunter really likes anything with an engine.  Especially cool cars.  With Mark's help Mike got the Corvette Club to attend the viewing and the funeral.  There was one especially cool Corvette that was painted in Hunter's favorite colors, purple and yellow.  The Corvette Club brought Hunter a replica of that car.

I hardly knew Hunter but the loss of a child is so tragic.

After going to the viewing, Mike wanted to stop by a McDonalds and check on the electrical work that his crew had done there.  Unfortunately, the general contractor was there working so Mike had to get out and talk to him.  We waited for what felt like forever and then the girls and I decided the best way to get through the duldrums of waiting was to get a McFlurry.  Half way through eating her McFlurry Amanda remembered that she was trying to be on a diet and she would use the opportunity of down time to do some exercise.  So there she was at midnight doing laps around the trailblazer at the McDonalds parking lot.  She is so goofy.  We were laughing so hard!

In addition to the Corvette Club, there was a bike club.  The Iron Order.  I gotta admit I'm a little intimidated by bikers but these guys were so awesome escorting us to the cemetery and then revving their motors when the balloons were let go.

                                  Pretty cool funeral for a pretty cool boy.  He was very loved. 

Amanda

Today I'm going to talk about Amanda as the person who has influenced my life.  Today is her birthday.  Sweet 18!  She always says that we should be grateful because our lives would be so boring without her.  She does keep things exciting!  She has changed so much since Jaxson came.  I mean, I loved her before and she was definitely in the top 3 of my favorite kids but I rely on her so much now.  She cooks dinner every day and is always asking me what I need help with.  I would definitely be lost without her.  She is trying so hard to make good choices right now.  She never expects anyone to do anything for her she is trying to be very independant.  She is very brave.  She might not be getting along with me or her sisters from time to time but she would never let anyone insult or disrespect her family.  She has strong loyalties and understands the meaning of loyalty more than most.  She is also very funny.  Did you know that she wants a monkey at her funeral handing out kleenex's to people crying?  I could go on and on about her I'm so lucky she's mine!  The difference she has made in my life is to let me know I deserve everything I want and I should strive to get it.

Amanda graduated yesterday.  I am so proud of her.  She can really accomplish things when she chooses to.

People who have inspired me

Have you ever had random person say something that stuck with you for the rest of your life?  Here are a few of mine...Diana from FHP said to never blame others for your mistakes.  That was sixteen years ago and I always try to be accountable.  Joyce Kennedy, young women's leader from Texas, said, "you marry who you date."  I've told my kids this 1,000 times but I still don't think they believe it.  Thomas Drawhorn, patriarch from Texas, "You are an example whether you know it or not, somebody is always watching you."  My dad said, even though I know he quoted this from someone else, "Whether you think you can or you think you can't you're right."

Who has made a difference in your life?

Rob posted this question on facebook a few days ago and I couldn't answer because so many people have.  Today I'm just going to talk about Rob since he inspired the blog.  Rob and I met back in 1972 when I was born and he became a big brother.  I don't remember much up until when I was about 5 years old and we started fighting.  Rob is the reason that my favorite color is blue. My favorite color used to be red but somebody had given us crayon boxes.  A red one and a blue one.  We both wanted the red one but after tears and fighting I said fine I'll take the blue one.  Blue is my favorite color now anyway!  Through the growing up years we went through a lot together.  We moved a lot and started a lot of new schools together.  If we could avoid talking to each other we would but when it came down to it, if we needed someone to talk to we were there for each other.  I love the relationship we have right now.  He is a great example to me.  These are some of our fights that I remember; I couldn't play monopoly with Rob because when he would lose he would throw the board and all the game pieces and make a huge mess in my room.  One time I called him Robot Ad dumbs and he said I was stupid because I was making fun of my own last name.  Of course, the big one... running home from school to see Betsy only to find Aunt Lynn hogging her!  Here are good times I remember; he would buy me the carnation from the school on Valentines day and write a note in code by circling the letters to make words.  one time in seminary he said he would walk a tight rope between the two tallest buildings in New York to save my life.   We used to eat spoon fulls of peanut butter and if my parents came home unexpectedly we would shove the spoons under the couch.  I bet we went through a lot of spoons that way!  Anyway, now I'm just reminiscing and I don't want this to get to run on so I'll just end by saying, "Rob, thank you for coming back into my life, it made a difference!"

Sorry, here are the pictures :) Some of these are of the Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell

I totally forgot I was doing the year in pictures. Here are some pictures I took on my phone in Arizona. I have better ones on my camera but....that takes so much energy! Some of these pictures are of Mike picking grapefruit at the Mesa temple. Mike in front of the improv where we saw the comedian. Mike feeding ducks after a boat ride we took. There is one of the temple being built in Arizona and some of the scenery that we passed. We had so much fun in Arizona! I'll blog about it when I load the "real"camera pictures.

blessings

I get so discouraged with my looks and my messy house, my short attention span and my achy body. Today a patient came in that is a year younger than me but has so many health problems; thyroid cancer, losing all her teeth due to radiation, she broke her back last year, heart murmur and more. I just wanted to remind everyone to count their blessings. My house is cluttery but I have a great house. I have old grandma hands but i'm a grandma. I forget things fast but I love the memories I have and my achy body is a reminder that I'm still alive and have the strength to make things better. Take a minute and think about how lucky you are.

Just got back from the hospital. No baby! As soon as we got there he woke up and started kicking around. When they put that belly strap thing on her he really got bugged and kept kicking at the monitor. They did a stress test and an ultrasound and everything is fine. We have a regular scheduled Dr appointment on Monday so I'll let ya know more then.

Mandy just called and said, "Is it normal that I haven't felt the baby move in a long time?" I told her to call the doctor and ask. I'm thinking maybe the baby is just resting up for it's long life ahead. Mandy, being the young girl that she is, asked me to call the doc for her. So I called and they told her to go over to the Women's Center right now. So, here I am sitting at work waiting for her to call me and say she's on her way and I'm starting to have anxiety. Am I ready for this? I know it's Mandy that's having the baby but I think she's going to need a lot of support from me. Oh, she just called me. I'll blog more later!

Acryllic nails...

I used to love getting my nails done. I always thought I had funny ugly fingers but when I had those long french tip manicured nails I felt so sophisticated and pretty. If a nail ever broke off it looked like I had a stub for a finger. I haven't got my nails done for a while but last week Mandy's friend who is in cosmetology school offered to practice on me. I thought it would be fun to have nails again so I went to her house and picked sparkly red with a pink fade for valentines day.

Now I'm going to take a minute and talk about stupid things we put ourselves through in order to look great. Laser hair removal...Although it only takes me 6 seconds to shave my armpits I went and got laser hair removal. I won a gift certificate and thought of all the things I could do if I had that 6 seconds 3 times a week to do anything I wanted! So for 6 months I went to the appointments endured "brother like rubber band snaps" in my arm pits for 30 minutes a visit. But look at all the free time I have now!

Make up....I feel so ugly without it but seriously, what a waste of money! It's rubbed off by 2:00 any way and I don't have the give a damn to go fix it up. Guys don't care if the shadows of their eyelids make the blue really stand out. And don't even get me started on control top panty hose!

K back to the nails. This is the process for acrylic nails. They file your real nails down to make them rough. (Which is usually painful because they file them down so much it makes them more sensitive.) Then they put the acrylic on and file and file and file. File your nails, your cuticles, your skin. It hurts when they nick your skin. The pros of acrylics are; they are pretty. You can use them to pick up hot things. No one can tell if you have dirt under your finger nails.

Anyway, for some reason these nails have been really bugging me. I guess I'm just not used to them. So I decided to soak them off with acetone. That's what the picture above is of. Unfortunately I don't have the patience to stand with my fingers soaking in a bowl of acetone indefinitely. I went online to see if I could get any helpful tips to get them off faster. This is where I got the suggestion of the tinfoil finger. You soak cotton in acetone, place it on your nail and then wrap your finger in aluminum foil and let it set for 30 minutes. This actually worked but made it really hard for me to type. So right now my fingers are aluminum free but as soon as I'm done with this blog I'm going to work on my other fingers. The moral of this story is, it's important to feel good about yourself but it shouldn't hurt. :)

The Year in pictures football

I decided this year I wanted to have my own favorite foot ball team. I was going for the Titans because I liked their purple jerseys, but after consulting with Kasara I was convinced the Baltimore Ravens would serve better as a favorite team. Since I've become the Ravens biggest fan, Kasara and I have had so much fun. We had a Ravens party at the pool. We even invited Tom Brady. Kasara grew out her Flacco fumanchu and we had a great time, right up until that Raven pooped on Brady's head. Another time we were at a garden party and Kasara showed up with these crazy floppy purple hearts coming out of her head. You couldn't even see the head band. I don't know how she does it but she really knows how to support a team. GO RAVENS!

2012 in pictures The Circle Journal

I'm trying something new this year to strengthen family bonds. It's called the circle journal. I started it by writing one journal entry. Then I put the journal under Amanda's pillow. After she wrote her journal entry the next day she put it under Mike's pillow. Mike never has much to say about anything so his journal entry was 3 pages long. When he was finished he put it under Macayla's pillow. She wrote her entry and put it back under my pillow. So far everyone has really liked finding it under their pillow. We only had one incident when Mandy and Mac were fighting. Macayla had written how she loves her family but she went back and changed it to "most of her family". Other than that it's been a pretty positive experience and something I will treasure forever.

2012 in pictures

The Christmas puzzle.

I love the Christmas puzzle, it's one of my favorite things. We've been known to stay up all night just to get it finished.

This year, I started the puzzle, painstakingly separating all the edge pieces. I pretty much had most of the edge done but when I wasn't looking Mike snuck in and finished it. So then I separated the blue and the white and the blueish white. Carefully checking each white piece to see if it fit together. I pretty much had 5 or 6 pieces put together but when I wasn't looking Mandy snuck in and did all the snowman faces. Then when Mandy and I weren't looking (because we were at church) Mike and Macayla finished the puzzle. They hadn't gone to church because they had "the flu". So maybe we didn't do it all as a family this year but each of us put some time into it. Oh and did you see the Coke glass? I'm starting to see a "Where's the Coke glass" theme. :)

2012 in pictures

Hi, I don't feel good today my throat hurts so bad. But my fingers still work so here we go. I've been wanting to start my 2012 in pictures blog since way back at the beginning of the year but due to computer problems I've already fallen 6 days behind. Todays picture is what I look at when I wake up. Now, I don't really wake up at 7:24 it just took me that long to remember to take the picture. This might look like a cluttered mess to you but there are many stories in this picture. The alarm clock was given to Mike by his mom I think it was for Mothers Day when he joined the army. The little wrapper to the right is a cough drop wrapper. I couldn't stop coughing last night but I don't know why I put the wrapper there when the trash can is right nex to the night stand. The blue wooden tray holds my happy pills, my pain pills, my thyroid pills, cough drops, chapstick, pretty much anything you would need to survive the night. Behind that are 2 McDonalds Coke cups. Mike has a Coke cup fetish and when you get one free when you upsize a value meal, lets just say that's the perfect mix of Coke cup fetish and fast food submission. To the right of the Coke cups is a glass shaped like a cowboy boot. You know how I told you Mike has a Coke cup fetish? Well, it's really any cup, any cup at all... He bought me the glass cowboy boot cup on our anniversary one year at the Texas Roadhouse Grill I think. I haven't drank out of it for a long time but I did the other night just to see if it would bug him. It didn't, which makes me happy that he still loves me more than that cup. Which reminds me of a story involving Macayla, a Coke cup and a praying mantis, but that's a whole nother story. K next to that cup kinda in the back is my fancy glass cup. I went to a conference in Denver one time and every thing they served you to drink was in a fancy cup. Even water. I felt like such a princess. So when I got home I got some cups like that but come to find out the princess feeling isn't just in the cup. Does that make sense? I really don't feel good today. I'm just saying it takes more than a cup, but it is kinda nice when you're sitting there surrounded by laundry and shoes and the dirty socks pile is slowly making it's way to the clean socks pile to sip out of my pretty cup. Behind all the cups is my camera, a lint roller and the cellophane of a bag of peanut butter cups. I try not to eat them but I keep them right there in case of emergency. Aaaaaanyway, there ya go. It only gets better from here! :)