a dreary day

Today marks a very sad event in our family. I went out to check on the chickens and give them some cabbage and I found them all dead in their house! I was devestated - who would think that I would become so attached to four chickens. I called Scott in tears and told him what I found. He was equally as upset and insisted that he come home right then to clean up and investigate (that is really unusual for Scott - I could be dying and he doesn't leave work early). I did some research and we have decided that the culprit was a racoon. Scott is ready to go out and hunt that thing down. On top of it all it has been raining for a week (uh, we left Washington to get away from this), we had a hale storm yesterday threatening the tomato blossoms, the concrete work we are having done in the back yard is on hold (thanks t0 the rain), and I am just now recovering from what the doctor thinks was swine flu (I am fine)! Needless to say, it has been a rough day...

So, how did the kids take the news? Well, I think they were actually really excited about the prospect of getting new chicks. Little stinkers! I guess I should be relieved that there weren't any tears.

On a happier note - today is June 10th. My due date is July 10th! I will be posting an eight month picture some other day - I am not really in the mood to have my picture taken today (what with mascara smeared under my eyes)...

movin' up in the world (or down)

In preparation for the boy to arrive we have been moving things around in the house. Grace had to move out of the baby room and Lily's room was going to be a little crowded with the two of them together. So we have been preparing the room in the basement for them - it is much bigger, plus Adam is already down there in another room.

Well, last night was the maiden voyage of the girls sharing the basement room together. Needless to say it is 11:00 in the morning and Grace is very cranky (she goes down for a nap around 1:30 normally)! She did not get enough sleep. She and Lily just wanted to play last night (well, it was mostly Grace - Lily takes bedtime very seriously). Then this morning I heard all sorts of noise down there VERY early! Grace and Lily both came up to greet me around 7:00 and Grace was wearing a Sunday dress that Lily had helped her into. I can see that this will take some adjustments - like Lily going to bed a little later to hopefully give Grace a chance to fall asleep...

There room is looking so cute - I will have to post pictures once I am done with it.

sleepy sleepy

The other day Grace didn't want to come to dinner (if you knew her, then this would shock you -she is my best eater). She just wanted to lay on my chair in the living room. When I went in a few minutes later to check again on whether or not she wanted dinner, I found her asleep. Apparently being that cute and playing as hard as she does really wiped her out!

I just realized that my last post about Grace is also about her sleeping. I promise, she is awake sometimes...

eight is great!

This is an old picture of Scott. It was taken at a family reunion in San Diego in July 2006 - look how little Adam and Lily look.

He is "holding" the Liberty Bell in Philidelphia

I just love Scott! Today is our eighth anniversary and I have to say I am just so grateful to have married him! I could write an entire book (a long one- you know how wordy I can get) about how great he is. I feel like I really lucked out. I love you Scottith - happy anniversary!

Unrelated sidenote:

I saw a UPS truck driving down the road today. I thought it would be funny to try and wave it down...but then I remembered that I had already gotten rid of the package.

A friend of mine told me to just drop it in a UPS or Fed Ex drop box. Her husband works for Fed Ex and she said she was sure they would make sure it got back to UPS. So I put it in my car and decided whichever box I saw first would get the package - well, Fed Ex won. Hopefully it made it to the right place. I figured it was a nicer solution than throwing it away....

busier

Lily has been even more busy than Gracie lately. Last Friday we attended her Kindergarten program - it was a hoe down and it was super cute. Then that evening Scott (who is just the best) took her to get her ballet pictures taken while I went scrapbooking. She is almost done with kindergarten, which makes me a little sad - it is the happiest time of life. And she is almost done with ballet, which doesn't make me sad at all - she has HATED it and it has been a fight every Wednesday (I think it was a little too structured for her free little spirit).

Despite the fact that she doesn't like ballet, doesn't she look so cute in her little costume (she is on the top row, far right)....

I know it is super wobbly camera work - I am not an expert. Between holding wiggley Gracie and the balding man's head in front of me, I did my best...

busy

Gracie is a busy little girl. She is busy making my life fun and interesting. So, seriously how adorable is this picture? Every night before I go to bed I check on all the kids. Every night I find that Gracie has been very busy before she decided to fall asleep. She LOVES all the dolls, babies, and stuffed animals in the house - she has usurped them all; and she must sleep with them ALL. This picture was taken a couple weeks ago, she has since moved on from clumping them all together under her head to now laying them down in a row on a pillow next to her, nicely tucked under a blanket. Since they don't all fit on her toddler bed, she now (after we tuck her in bed) moves all her bedding to the floor so that there is plenty of room for her "sleeping" friends next to her. I am telling you - she is busy. And she is so cute.

Also, please notice the dress up skirt that she has put on over her jammies (the purple satiny thing). Plus she has her fairy wristband on along with a green elastic headband around her wrist. I am telling you; busy, busy, busy all day long.

I love this girl - despite her very two-year-old temper tantrums. I love that she keeps me busy with laughter! And each night I go to bed happy because I have found her sleeping in some funny way.

glasses

I get a lot of comments on my glasses. I always giggle a little on the inside when someone does compliment me on them. Here is why - they were $8 - total; frames, lenses, everything (well not everything - there was a small shipping charge). I also giggle a bit because it took me 11 years to get a new pair of glasses. Scott hated my old glasses and I never would get a new pair because I had a hard time "committing" to something new. Then I find $8 glasses online that I couldn't try on and voila! new glasses that we both love. Go figure.

So I thought I would share the information with you all. The website is http://www.zennioptical.com/.

They have several different price ranges and a bunch to choose from. So if you are in the market for a new pair of glasses you may as well try these out - for $8 it is almost worth the gamble.

Note: Aunt Jeanne asked to see a picture of me in my glasses - if you click on the word "glasses" above that is underlined, it will take you to a picture of me in them.

round 'em up

I thought I would post some pictures of the chicken coop that Scott built. He is such a genius - he built it with a removable floor for easy cleanup and a trap door to gather the eggs. We found a home for Betty the Rooster - he will be leaving us in a week or so (a co-worker of Scott's wants him). The other four ought to start laying in June sometime (I hope).

We are going to put a little planter box under the window. Won't that be cute!

The trap door for the laying box. It is pretty great!

Betty the Rooster looking very roostery.

uhh.....what did you say????

Do you want to hear a funny (and somewhat irritating) story?

Yesterday someone knocked on my door. In my slowed state I wasn't able to jump up and get it super fast, but for a large woman I actually did get to the door in a decent time. It was the typical UPS doorbell-ditch; meaning the UPS man dropped a package at my door and went back to his truck. "Oh, I got a package?" is what I was thinking as I bent over to pick it up. By the time I noticed that the package was not addressed to me and the shipping address was to one that doesn't even exist (although similar to mine) the driver had driven away. Darn!

I thought it was no big deal. I would go in and look up the person, call her, and tell her I have her package. Simple right? Not so much - I couldn't find her. Again no big deal, I would call UPS and tell them of the mistake and to come and get the package. Simple right? Again, not so much! I called the local UPS store and was told they are privately owned and that I would need to call the corporate office. This is where my story becomes humorous; I say this because I am trying to convince myself of the humor, otherwise I think I would just be angry...

So I call the big UPS office. After several attempt to get past the voice-activated, automated system, which never has the option available that you want, I actually get someone on the phone. Wouldn't you know it was someone who hardly speaks English. Now, I am all for immigration (clarification - LEGAL immigration), and I am all for immigrants learning English and getting a job, but I not in favor of hiring them in any sort of customer service field unless their English is flawless. It makes for a very difficult conversation when one party doesn't understand what the other party is saying...wouldn't you agree?

Okay, so on with the story...the man comes on the phone and I tell him of my predicament. These were my words (more or less), "Hi, a package was just delivered here by mistake. It is addressed to someone else and the address isn't my address. I would like someone to come and pick it up please." He then proceeds to tell me that they would be happy to do that and there will be a ten dollar service fee. I stopped him before he could continue (I know, totally rude). A ten dollar service fee?! For whom?! He said they would charge ME a ten dollar service fee to come and pick it up!!!! Can you see the humor here - that is ridiculous! I told him that wouldn't work for me. I explained that I am actually doing them a favor by even calling and letting them know this package was here. I added that this was their mistake and I wouldn't be paying any fee. He persisted. Having to repeat myself to an adult after I have made myself pretty clear never goes well with me; maybe because I repeat myself all day to young children, I sort of expect an adult to understand the first time. This is where maybe the language barrier might have been a problem. My tone started to go from polite to very sternly polite (with a hint of irritation and amazement).

So where to go from here? Well, at that point I told him this, "I will give you my address, put the package on my front step, and if it isn't gone in a couple days I am throwing it away." He responded with a dumbfounded, "What?" I repeated the scenario and then added, "of course when I throw it away, Marie Whatever Whatever her name is and the shipper aren't going be to thrilled with you for 'losing' their package." There was more conversation in between - mostly in broken English and then this. This is the funniest part of the whole story. He says to me the following, "I have a great idea of a way you can get it returned without paying a fee. If you see a UPS truck drive by, wave down the driver and return it him." Are you laughing? I am. Go and look at the picture of me in the previous post - can you imagine me, with that belling, running down the sidewalk, waving my arms, yelling, 'Mr. UPS man I have a package for you, please stop and come get it!' I think he would look at my like I was on drugs or at least totally crazy! Now I never think sarcasm is a good thing, but at this point I just couldn't help myself - it almost came out on its own. I responded with a very snippy, "Oh, your right, I just sit out of my front porch all day waiting for a UPS truck to drive by. That is a terrible suggestion. I live in a cul-de-sac, it could be weeks before I see another driver!"

Again, where to go from here? He stumbled over some hardly coherent English when I finally gave a suggestion of my own, since we were clearly at a stand-still. I told him I would just drop it off at a UPS store because there is one by the grocery story that I shop at. I was thinking he would surely tell me I couldn't since apparently they are privately owned (as the girl had told me earlier), but he said that would be a great idea. What? If is such a great idea, why not suggest that over flagging down a driver? I have doubts about whether it will work or not - I plan on just telling them to throw the package away if they won't take it because that is all I am going to do with it (even though Scott thinks we ought to at least see what is inside - I have guilt issues with opening other people's mail/packages).

I then gave the man some friendly advice along the lines of him telling someone in charge to change that policy. I am pretty sure he either didn't understand me or just didn't want to deal with the situation. Oh, but my favorite part of the conversation was the end where he thanked me for using UPS. I told him I wasn't using UPS - it was a mistake that I even had a package from them. Oh brother, here we go again. I let it end at that before trying to explain this obviously difficult situation to him yet again (oooh, again with the sarcasm, sorry).

NOTE: I am actually pretty good at understanding people with accents. My grandparents had pretty thick accents (they were Argentine immigrants - see, I told you I don't mind immigrants) and I have lived in countries where they speak with very thick accents (Ghana and South Africa). I just don't like it when I am needing help and they put someone of the phone who really can't help me because they don't understand English very well. It is like they are given a specific word-track and any deviation from that turns into a lingual train wreck. Oooh, it bugs me. So much so, that all I can do is laugh!

seven months

Here I am in all my largeness - seven months along. I am starting to doubt my decision to log this pregnancy month by month; I didn't realize just how huge I looked until I saw the pictures...Oh well, it isn't forever.

for pop!

My dad requested that I post more pictures of the kiddos. So here are some goodies from the last month... (Dad, you will need to click on the pictures to see them bigger - there were so many that I didn't want to make them much larger)

She just had to wear the tutu (all day)!

Okay, so Scott isn't one of the kiddos, but I thought my mom would like to see his tomato plants that he started from seed. He has been so dedicated and they are really beautiful!

She insisted on the coat and sunglasses - of course everyone needs a coat in 60 degree weather - right!

let us pray...

I know I am always posting the funny things that Adam says, but I just can't help myself. He really cracks me up - plus it is a good way for me to remember these humorous little moments. So here is another one.

Yesterday morning Adam said the prayer for breakfast. This is how it went:

"Dear Heavenly Father.
Thankful we can have a little breakfast.

Thankful for the chickens.

Thankful for Wednesday. (this was said on Tuesday)

Thankful for the chickens.

Thankful for Betty the Rooster.

Thankful for Saturday.

Thankful for the chickens.

In the name...

Amen."

Apparently Adam is really thankful for the chickens!

healthy, (not so) wealthy, and (I wish I was) wise

I never actually thought I would be grateful for housework. So here is the story to what has awakened my senses to appreciating housework...

At the end of December (I was about 12 weeks along) I had to go to the Emergency Room because of some pregnancy issues (I am not going to go into great detail because I know it will gross my dad out, which means it will probably gross others out too). Once there we found out that although the baby was still thriving, there were complications with my pregnancy. I had a large subchorionic hemorrhage (you are welcome to look it up if you want to know what it is, but again, I will spare you the gory details). After visiting my doctor a couple days later it was determined that I should "take it easy and go on partial bed rest." Basically because I have three children there was no way I could be completely down without having to farm the kids out for who knows how long, and I wasn't really willing to do that. But this meant that my everyday activities would have to be pretty limited and definitely no picking Gracie up (or anything else too heavy).

As frustrating as this was the first month went fine - I was able to cope with this. But then after another ultrasound a month after the incident we found that nothing was changing, which isn't always a bad thing, but it certainly wasn't a great thing either. I was starting to get discouraged. The weather was gloomy, my house was a mess, Grace was starting to take advantage of the fact that I couldn't pick her up (major temper tantrums at times when I would normally just pick her up and move on), and all the stress of a somewhat high-risk pregnancy were starting to get to me. Luckily I have wonderful sisters. My sister Michelle organized for my sisters to each come one day a week and help out with my house for a few hours and cook some extra meals and send them down. As inadequate as this made me feel, I was so grateful for the help and the company (and the lesson in swallowing my pride). It was a hard three months, but I feel like I was able to learn a little more about coping with stress, having faith, and accepting help, among other things.

So on to the good part. I had another ultrasound about three weeks ago. And lo and behold it showed that everything is going well. The best case scenario for this condition is that the body will repair itself and the pregnancy will continue as it should. Well, that is what has happened - they told me that I can be a normal person again! This was such great news (along with the news that the baby is still doing well)! I can now go for walks with the kids, pick up Grace occasionally if I need to, and most of all keep up with my home. I have never been so grateful to be able to clean! I have always said that you can tell what state I am in emotionally by the state of my bedroom. For the last three months my room hasn't exactly been clean (I wouldn't let them clean my room or bathroom) and now it is and I love it.

So here's to being healthy - something I hope to never take for granted again!

moral dilemma?

In our ward I am one of the Gospel Doctrine teachers (there are two of us and we switch off teaching each week - but that isn't really relevant to this post). My next lesson is on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Because I teach every other Sunday that gives me two weeks to prepare each lesson. As it has gone in the past, I usually read the lesson on the Sunday evening after I have given a lesson and then spend the next several days just thinking about it and where I think we ought to go with it. So this week I have been thinking about this topic of keeping the Sabbath Day. A couple days ago an idea hit me that sort of made me wonder. It is sort of a moral dilemma; I think.

I grew up with newspaper reading parents - since the dawn of my earliest recollection I can recall them reading it every morning. We aren't TV watchers and we really never have been, so I am sure this was the way they got the news each day (although, now I know my mom couldn't live without Fox news each night - she really likes it and it is on at 9 instead of 10). Well, Scott and I subscribe to the paper. I should actually say that I subscribe because I receive a lot more enjoyment out of it than he does. Lest you think I am totally up on current events, let me correct you now; I am not. I am more of a scanner and I only read what looks interesting or relevant to me. But I do have a basic knowledge of what is going on it the world.

Okay, so let me switch gears - we are taught (in our church and I am sure others teach a similar doctrine) that one of the ways in which to keep the Sabbath Day holy is to abstain from work and abstain from making others work for us on this day. Obviously this would exclude people in medical professions (which is good since I went into labor with Lily on a Sunday) and a handful of other professions in which limited Sunday work is necessary. But on the whole we can live without most everyday services for one day a week.

So here is the dilemma that struck me the other day. Is the Sunday paper a necessity? Especially in light of the fact that we live in a world where basically everyone has Internet access where the news can be found for free. This idea struck me early last Sunday morning - our paper boy (or girl, I am not sure because I've never actually seen him/her) who usually arrives in the four o'clock hour must have been running late. This particular morning I heard his car (it has a very distinct rattle to it) around 5:30 and it sounded like someone had egged my house; it was just the newspaper hitting the pavement really hard and fast. He had thrown the paper with such force it actually ripped the bag and then he sped off much faster than normal. Obviously he was in a rush. Plus he had this awesome late 80's song blasting on the radio (he never has music playing), it was the one that goes, "if we can build this dream together...nothin' gonna stop us..." Basically I am getting to the point in my pregnancy that the slightest noise wakes me up because I not really all that comfortable. So I hear him every morning, which isn't a big deal.

All this got me thinking that for the past couple years I have been making this poor person get up at the crack of dawn each Sunday morning to just deliver me some news that I not even really going to appreciate. I felt really bad about it. Especially because if everyone came to this realization then newspapers really would all go out of business, and that wouldn't be great, especially in this economy. I am pretty sure the Sunday paper is any paper's best seller. Also, it occurred to me that my parents have been getting the newspaper since paper was invented - had they ever thought about this? They are the last people in the world to intentionally break a commandment. I think people have been getting the Sunday paper for so many generations now that it has slipped into some kind of category making it exempt from the whole "no working on the Sabbath Day" thing. It is more of a cultural thing at this point. So then I started wondering if maybe I was over thinking this (which is always possible) - maybe I am looking too closely at the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law. I don't think anyone who receives the Sunday paper is intentionally trying to break the Sabbath Day - they probably just haven't ever thought about it. And now I am sort of feeling guilty that I have even brought this up - because now you all who do receive the paper will have to think about it and make the same moral decision that I trying to make.

Actually I am not "trying" to make the decision anymore. I have actually come the realization that this question came into my head as an answer to a minor issue that Scott and I were having. I should really emphasize the word minor here - we have only discussed this issue a couple of times and it was never anything major or upsetting; but it has been on my mind since he mentioned it. We eat breakfast as a family every morning and I bet you can guess what I do during breakfast - yes you are correct, I read the paper, thus totally ignoring my family. Scott has mentioned that maybe this wasn't a great way to spend the time together (and he was so nice about it saying that it was just as much a problem with him as it was with me. But in reality it really is more me than him - he is usually the one who helps the kids with breakfast and stuff). It has been brought up a couple times, but I could never see a great reason to cancel the subscription - I know, call me wicked that I don't think ignoring my kids is a great reason, but we also have dinner together and I spend all day with them, so I sort of figured they could live without my complete attention for 15 minutes while I read. Plus in my mind I was also teaching them the benefits of staying informed; okay this was a total "make myself feel better about the situation" excuse - like I am really only reading the paper so that my children can see how important it is. Okay, now I am rambling. So I have decided that maybe I have had this question on my mind because maybe someone is trying to tell me something; like go look online for current events while the kids are napping and save the ten bucks a month from the subscription. And now I won't have to feel bad for the paper boy working on Sunday - even though I know he still is. At least I can feel better that it isn't for me.

So what do you think? Is this silly? Am I totally neurotic for even wondering about this (okay, I already know I am totally neurotic)? I should tell you I won't think any less of you if you still get the Sunday paper. I am sure my parents will once they get back from Guam and I think they are pretty much the Best! So if you were able to get through this novel I actually would love to hear your thoughts on the subject....

I just hope the Deseret News doesn't go out of business - then I might feel kind of guilty about cancelling my subscription (although because of its affiliation with the Church I don't really worry about it going out of business).

true love

Lately I feel like such a bad mother. I am sometimes way too hard on my children. I expect them to be much more mature than their age actually allows (especially Lily). I have lots of excuses, but none of them are really all that great. The bottom line is, I really love my kids, more than anything in the whole world. Each of them brings me such joy. Occasionally I just need remind myself of what a blessing they are and how much I adore them. On that same note, I am also very hard on Scott sometimes - he too deserves better because he is pretty rockin' awesome. I seriously totally lucked out - he is the ultimate in dreamy. Basically I just think my family is the BEST!!!!! (And they all deserve a huge reward for being so patient with their hormonally unbalanced mother and wife). Plus, don't they just all look so cute in these pictures!? Ahhhh, true love.....