Decisions

Have you ever made a whole bunch of individal decisons, only to realize that they all added up to make a bad decision? Well I have.

Last Monday night I had a soccer game. We lost and I had to play goalie (or keeper for those of you soccer purists). This is played indoor and on turf. I made the decision to slide across the turf several times and cut my knees up pretty badly. It hurt enough that I put off showering until about midnight. Then I acted like I was tough and tried to shower as if I were riding a horse so I wouldn't get my knees wet. It still hurt like a %#^&*@. Tuesday was Brett's company party and I wanted to look my best so, I went and had my hair cut and colored. I made the decison that since I had showered at midnight and that since Kallee would wash my hair anyway, I wouldn't shower. Brett's party was fun and I thought I looked freaking fabulous. Wednesday morning was extremly busy. I had Ava's carpool at 9:15. Grace had to get out the door to preschool at 9:00 and I had a doctors appointment in Bountiful at 9:40. Usually I let my kids be my alarm clock because they are up by 7:30. Well, they slept in that morning until about 8:00. While we were darting around trying desperately to get everyone out the door on time I looked in the mirror and thought, "Oh my hair still looks really good. I am not going to shower." I get everyone where they need to be, on time I might add, and as I was driving to the doctor I realized that I am going to see my OB (or "down there" doctor). Then the thought hit me, he is not going to care about new cut and color, but the fact that I haven't showered in a day and a half might prompt an akward conversation. You know, one that might end in a brochure that looked oddly familiar from my sixth grade maturation program titled "Personal Hygene: You and Your Changing Body". I checked into the doctors and while I am waited in the exam room I pondered if I can do a quick wash in the doctor's sink or if I should just change doctors after this appointment. Before I can come to a decision the doctor comes in and begins his exam. As he started the, lets just say delicate part of the exam, he gasped "Oh ". I layed there and silently hoped that he had not found something cancerous or worse: Polly pockets missing accesories. Then my doctor quietly asked, in that special bedside manner voice that your OB uses to tell you with out actually telling you that no your body will never be the same after having children, so please don't ask, "Oh, what in the world did you do to your knees?" I was too relieved to even answer.

Playing in the snow

My girls woke up this morning and wanted to go play in the snow. I thought I would give you all the play by play on how well that went.

8:34 Decide to go play in the snow.

8:35 Begin to put on snow pants, coats, hats, gloves and boots.

8:47 Finish putting on snow clothes.

8:48 The girls go outside.

8:50 Ava takes off her gloves.

8:51 Ava comes in to put her gloves back on.

8:52 Ava decides she doesn't want her gloves on.

8:54 Ava reconsiders her decision and wants her gloves back on.

8:55 Grace's gloves are bugging her and she wants different ones. I go inside and find baby gloves put them on her and send her back outside.

8:57 Both girls come inside and ask for hot chocolate.

9:13 Finish removing snow clothing and making hot chocolate.

9:15 Both girls say, "Mom playing in the snow is way fun."

This is going to go on my list of top five reasons I don't like winter.

Do you recognize this poem?

Brett said my last blog was too serious and not at all funny. So I apoligize. Yesterday I was at my mom's house and found this poem and I was just wondering if anyone out there can help with it's origination.

Boating is our favorite thing

We got bored so we started to sing

We listen to Chad 'cuz he's the boss

Now we are stuck in a pond of moss

Paddle hard 1 2 Don't give up 3 4

We are really glad

BJ did n't come and make us mad

He would drive us really nuts

His arms are full of zits and cuts

Paddle hard 12 Don't give up 3 4

Any one who posts and recognizes this poem will get a really cool prize. (OK a Christmas card, but what more could you want?)

Silent Night

I usually hate those sad, sappy Christmas songs that the radio stations play (i.e. Christmas Shoes) not because I don't like to feel sad, but because I think that they are kind of dumb and I usually change the station when one comes on. However, I found this song while looking for a pretty version of Silent Night. I thought that I would share this song with who ever wants to listen to it. It takes a few minutes to listen to and I have to warn you it is a little bit, well not exactly sad, but certainly solemn. It made me stop and think for a minute about all the things that I take for granted in my life (and really how easy my life is). I sometimes forget that not everyone has their entire family within about a 15 minute drive. My heart goes out to those who lie alone in bed at night and wonder about the safety of their loved ones who are thousands of miles away. I thank them for the support they offer to the rest of the world because to be honest I know I could not do either side of that deal. I could no more walk the streets of a war torn city fighting for peace than I could cross the days off the calendar and wonder if Brett would be coming home. I can hardly stand it when Brett travels for work and that is only a few days. I can't imagine not seeing him for a year. I know that the sacrifice of military families is for the betterment of all mankind and I am truly grateful for it. This song inspired me to look for ways to help military families this year. I know that buying a truck for a little boy to open on Christmas day won't replace his father not being there to see him unwrap it, but it is something I can do to show my gratitude. My prayers are with those brave men and women who will spend Christmas day away from their families. I hope for peace in every single little corner of the world and I am going to start with my own little corner of the world. I will forgive Brett for washing all my white socks with a red wash rag. I mean really it's OK I will just look extra festive at the gym, right?

http://www.tankmastergunner.com/silent%20night.htm

Is that Santa's sleigh?

So much to blog about. Where do I start......



Let's see Day After Thanksgiving Shopping (which I think personally should be a holiday all on it's own) I started at 4:00 A.M. I did not get home until 12:00 and then both Brett and I went out at 4:00 for a few hours. I know that this seems like insanity but, I AM DONE!!!!!!! We are decorated, we are wrapped, we are bought. I love that feeling. I am totally willing to live in chaos for two or three days for the peace I will have the rest of this month. Brett made me total my receipts and according to some online poll I am in the top 10% of spenders on Black Friday. Whatever, you be the judge.

This is the car after I came home. I probably should have taken the Durango, because I had to drive home with the last stores purchases on my lap. I would show a picture of the haul, but maybe there is something for you and I don't want you to see it. So stop snooping!!!

I got tagged

I GOT TAGGED!!!!!!!!

I never get tagged. Thanks Monica you absolutely positively totally made my day. I was so excited I thought about my responses all day.

Rules:
Post rules on your blog
Answer the six "4" items
Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

4 Things I did yesterday

Avoided Target like the plague. (Instead we went to Costco)

Pretended I was Princess Di at a tea party with Jasmine and a tiger. (Oh, to be four years old and think this situation was not even a tiny bit odd-or the least bit impossible.)

Ate dinner at my friend Lisa's house. (Secretly wished that I had her house.)

Debated about wearing my string bikini to tithing settlement. (Decided against it.)



4 Things I look forward to

The day after Thanksgiving Sales (Garland for 99c???? That is for sure worth waking up at 4:00.)

Spring Fling (I know that this is months away, but let's be honest I don't have a lot going on.)

The Twilight craze being OVER!!!!!! (Sorry)

Biking Season (Who doesn't like to hang out in Spandex all summer?)



4 Restaurants I like

1- Anywhere
2- I
3- Don't
4- Cook



4 Things on my wish list (in no particular order)

Lose 10 pounds (I stole this one from Monica.)

Another trip to Disneyland.

Another baby (I stole this one from Monica too. )

New furniture for my front room. (Sorry Monica. I guess that we have a lot in common-other than that pescky Twilight #$%^.)




4 Favorite TV shows

The Biggest Loser. (Do you think I could get on this show? I just want Jillian to kick my #$% for a week or two.)

Lost (Which is what I think happened to the show this season. When will it be back on?)

Spongebob (I don't get a lot of adult T.V. time)

Get ripped in 90 days (I know that this isn't an actual T.V. show but, everytime I see it I feel like buying it.)



4 People I tag

Michelle C.

Nicci

Meagan K.

Kim H.

The Circus

Saturday I took my kids to Target. I had no idea that the circus had pitched the big top over check out lane 8 and that we were taking center stage of the three ring act.

I ran into my sister, Michelle, at the Pharmacy and as we were walking to the front of the store Ava alerts me to the fact that she, "gotta go potty". Which with Ava could be anything from the truth or a fib to get out of the store. So I tell her hold on one minute until we pay. Mind you neither of my kids have had a nap and it is about 5:00 in the evening, so it was not a good Target trip to begin with. When we get up to the check out lane I start loading the food onto the conveyor belt and Ava grabs the cart -which was the bigger than life double seater that Grace demands every time we go to Target, so that she can lounge over the two seats like Liz Taylor in Cleopatra- and starts to steer recklessly toward the water globe display. I grab Ava and tell her the forbidden word "NO". She instantly starts crying and screaming "I GONNA PEE MY PANTS." To which I respond, "No Ava, you did pee your pants-on me". I removed my pee drenched jacket and alert the 16 year old checker that my daughter had made a pee puddle in the aisle. He grabs the telephone and quickly (read completely panicked that he was going to end up with some paper towels and a mop) calls for "Back up-FAST". I was surprised that he was able to function so smoothly as I have now noticed I am wearing a see-through white shirt and being covered in pee with no makeup on, I am extremely FOXY. Ava is crying so I take off her pants and wrap them in my jacket o'pee. This only makes her cry louder because now everyone can "see her bum". At this point I turn to my sister and tell her that if she wants to pretend she doesn't know us, I would totally understand. She calmy responds that we look identical and people probably know that we are together and between laughs asks if she can help. By now the Target HazMat team has shown up and the store manager is directing us to Lane 7. I reload my cart and attempt to steer over. For the second time I unload my cart. I pause here to mention something I omitted earlier. My kids had a doughnut when we first arrived and you can't have a doughnut without milk. So they each had an individual strawberry milk with their doughnuts. The poor unsuspecting checker scans one milk and not noticing the missing lid, covers himself in strawberry millk/doughnut backwash. Calmly he asks, "Does this like have a lid?" and I realize why yes it did, and I have to inform him that it is in the pile of pee and sanation cleanser on the next aisle. I am sure that as he bites his tongue he quite certainly says a little prayer that the prescription he is scanning is for birth control.

Thank heavens for sisters

My telephone rang at about 8:15 this morning. It was my little sister Lori. She had slept in and was not going to work and wanted to know if she could come get my kids. Both of my girls who love her more than me were totally excited and hurried to get dressed (they never hurry to get dressed). When Lori got here they both ran outside like she was the good fairy come to take them to the ball. As they were getting in the car Ava said "You not coming Mommy" and Grace said "I love you Mom, Bye". Well, 1 out of 2 ain't bad. Now what to do with the rest of my day. Good thing that I didn't make my bed yet.

Barkdull Look-alike Meter

I don't know I think Grace looks more like her daddy.

Barkdull Look-alike Meter

I always thought Ava looked like me, I'll see what happens with Grace.

Viewmont Homecoming Parade

Brett's little sister McKenzie is a cheerleader at VHS (my alma mater) and this year my mother-in-law drove the cheerleaders in the parade (they were on a trailer behind the Hummer). Bammy asked my girls if they wanted to ride with her, and of course they said YES!!!! Grace had a blast playing homecoming queen and sticking her head out the top of the car and waving to the crowd and Ava sat on the front seat and ate all the candy she was supposed to throw to people. Can I say the writing is on the wall?

My Hero

This is actually from a long time ago, but I thought it was blog worthy. This is Brett at the LOTOJA finish line.

Last month my husband and my father-in-law finished LOTOJA. It is a bike race from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming ( a short 206 miles). I was so proud of them both. It was a really fun weekend for me too. We spent Friday night at the fine Howard Johnson in Brigham City. Which was awesome because we stayed in a smoking room with my sister-in-law and her husband. Not only did I inhale 30 some odd years of smoke, but I could have rolled over and spooned my siser-in-law in the next bed. (Logan was totally booked and we got the last two rooms in Brigham City-I wonder why no one else wanted them?) I woke up at about 3:00 and decide to get the heck out of that place. But where can you go at 3:00 in the morning?So, against all of my morals, I spent the next hour and a half wandering around the Walmart in Brigham with no bra on (classy- I know). We drove up to Logan and there the fun began. I got to race Brett from stop to stop, only he was on his bike and I was in our car. Even with that advantage he still beat me to one of the stops. He finished in 11 1/2 hours and his dad finished shortly after. I was amazed that Brett would even want to do something like this, but he was so dedicated to the training and training and training that he had to do to get ready for this. He didn't even complain the next day. What a man!!!

YUMMY!!!

So my little sister Michelle said she had this "amazing" spaghetti squash recipe. Would anyone like to come over for dinner?

Sisters and Trucks

I seriously think that we live in the cutest neighborhood. The other day my two girls each had two friends over, and those four girls each happened to be two sets of sisters. They were having a great time outside riding bikes and playing pretend while I mowed the lawn. After a while all these big trucks kept going up and down our street, after about the tenth one I showed the girls how to ask the driver to honk with a hand signal (honestly it is the ONLY hand signal I am familiar with) and a new hobby was born. The girls spent about 30 minutes standing on the sidewalk "talking" to the truckers and waiting in the shade for the next truck to come along. While they waited they put their arms around their sisters. It was really cute!!

Ava's first pony tail

Every day Grace wants her hair in a high pony tail and Ava always asks but she just doesn't have enough hair. Today for the first time (with the miracle of spray gel) Ava got her first high pony. I know that this hair style is kind of out of date, but I went to high school in the 90's and you weren't cool unless you had a high pony and it was curly. Besides tell me that profile isn't stinking cute.

Grace's field trip

Today was Grace's field trip to This Is The Place Park. I was totally surprised at how cute and fun it was. If you are ever looking for something different to do I highly recommend it. Grace had a blast with all of her friends. We rode the train, pet the animals (even though the lambs totally creep me out-why are their eyes on the sides of their head?) We went with Grace's preschool and I think that Grace has two of the cutest preschool teachers out there. She always come from preschool so happy.

Where did she learn that?

Last night Brett was showing the girls pictures of animals on the computer (their new favorite night time ritual) and when he showed them a picture of a dolphin Grace said "Oh my hell". Brett looked right at me and said, "Where did she learn that, it certainly was not from her father". To which I responded, "Certainly not from her mother". I guess I need to pay a little better attention to what I say.

Freedom

Today is a big day for me. I am posting this blog on my computer from my house. We finally got the internet. I no longer have to go to Katie's to check my e-mail or make Kristy buy me tickets on line or wrestle with my dad for internet time at my parents. I am FREEEEEE!!!!!!! Welcome to the twentyfirst century Lisa!!!!

What happened to July?

So where did July go? Oh yeah we started with the Fourth of July. The night before the big parade there was a children's parade and Grace and Ava climbed in a wagon with their cousins and Brett pulled them the whole mile in 100 degree heat-What a man!!! We call my father in law Big Dot (long story) so we put a sign on the side that said "Big Dot's Little Dots." It was pretty cute.

I don't know what is wrong with this picture, but I can't get it off my blog. Help!!!!!

After that we went up to Bear Lake for a week with my mom's family. By we I mean me and the girls. We layed by the lake, played games at night, ate good food, stayed up late, laughed and of course crammed way more people than should be possible in to any one place. The girls had a great time. Here they are with my counsin Jamie's little girl Tessa.

We had a neighborhood day at Lagoon, followed by Bammy Day at Lagoon. (Bammy is my mother in law-long story). Grace and Ava love Lagoon. Grace loves the music shows and Ava is a total thrill seeker. My favorite ride to take them on is the Tidal Wave. I think everyone on the other side of the boat was laughing at all their cute faces.

Bammy Day at Lagoon.

Our good friend Pete Dalton got married and we went to his reception at Gardner Village. The girls were a bit wary of the ducks.

My amazing little sister Michelle gave birth to beautiful Macey Jeanon July 10. She was a tiny 9 pounds 6 ounces. Way to go Shelly!!! Grace and Ava are already completly in love with her and both fight over whose baby doll is named baby Macey. Ava is very happy Macey has her own binki and that she doesn't have to give Macey hers.

The family went to the Bees game to see Nate Gold play. The girls loved the hot dogs, the train and the play ground, but you would have thought the Bee was the devil the way they cried when he came close. We got to see Nate hit one out of the park. It was fun to stand up and cheer for a home grown player!!

The 24th of July. I love this carnival. What's not to love about cotton candy, snow cones, carny rides, and scones?? I don't know. The girls didn't know either, because they had a great time.

We spent the last weekend of the month at the Barkdull Family Cabin in the Uintahs. The girls loved playing kick the can, riding the four wheelers, sleeping in the loft and mostly just being dirty.

Whewww!!!! What a boring month. Good thing we leave for Powell next week!!!!

I finally remembered how to add a picture to my blog. This is team Elinor, our team for the Wasatch Back.

Wasatch Back

This last weekend Brett and I got to spend almost two entire days without the kids and only got two hours of sleep. Which makes it sound a lot dirtier than it really was!!! We spent last weekend racing from Logan to Park City -on foot. Yes 181 miles on foot with ten other crazy people that we happen to be related to. Our team name was Elinor's team after my grandmother who passed away over ten years ago. All but two of the team members were either sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters or spouses of. Surprisingly this event is really fun and we had a great time. It took us 29 hours and 36 minutes to finish and we beat our expected finish time by about 20 minutes. And my wonderful Uncle Clark signed us up for 2009!! While Brett and I were enjoying our romantic weekend. My parents took our kids to the Dinosaur Park.

Disneyland

We just got back from the happiest place on Earth. It was so much fun. Ava was really good, but she was terrified of the characters and too short to ride most of the rides. For Grace the vacation was magical. She really belived that the characters were real and the brave little girl rode on every ride (except The Tower of Terror) that she could. We went with our good friends the Andersons and had a great time with them. I am already looking forward to our annual Spring trip to Disneyland next year!!

Just your average trip to the doctor

Yesterday I had to take Ava to the doctors. By the time we got everyone loaded up in the family sedan, unloaded Gracie to go potty one more time, reloaded Grace, ran back in to the house to get both girls dolls, got back in the car, ran back inside to get the keys, and parked at the hospital we were only ten minutes late for our appointment. Which is pretty good for us, until I went to check in and the receptionist let us know our appontment was for the previous day. But the good people at Grow Up Great found a way to squeeze us in. Which was a good thing because in the span of about ten minutes of getting in everybody got to use to fun toilet at the doctors, including Ava. Who is not potty trained and since I did not have an extra diaper with me, .she went through the rest of the appointment and the ride home with no diaper on. It goes without saying Ava's pants, my pant's and the carseat cover got thrown in the wash when we got home.