December 2008 has been great, sad to see it end

Normally, I am not a sad person at the end of things. My attitude has always been, "To everything there is a season" and every season must end, but I must say, this has been a great December. For some reason, my pictures posted backwards, so walk backwards with me through memory lane in December.

The annual "sockies" with Dentist husband's family. "Sockies" is basically a white elephant like game but we use food and practical items like window washer fluid, tape, etc to trade. This year, we contributed many large bottles of Listerine and it became the item people traded a lot. Poor Dentist husband's sister and her husband ended up with three large bottles. They won't need any for MANY years to come.

Fondue on Christmas eve. This year, we used nonalcoholic beer as our liquid and it was REALLY good.

Toothsome #3 was a soldier in his pre-school's Christmas program.


My cute nephew has his wisdom teeth removed by dentist husband and stayed at our house for a few days. My kids worship him and he was a delight to have around.

My birthday. It was a great one with the snow, good friends and fun kids and handsome husband.

Many other great things happened too without picture documentation. So, I am sad to say goodbye to December 2008. Hopefully, 2009 will be a good year despite the socialist president we just elected. Please bless leaders like Jason Chafettz will keep things under control and the fairness doctrine doesn't pass. Happy New Year!

Straight No Chaser's Christmas Album

Last year, I was sent a link to this groups, "The 12 Days of Christmas". I can't find the original one that was sent to me but here is a current link.

Almost overnight, they became a Youtube sensation. I purchased their Christmas album and it has become my most favorite of the season. It really is a delight to listen to. I read somewhere they will be on The Today show tomorrow morning. If you care to know more about their history, you can go to this link as well. Merry Christmas!

Oh and on a non-Christmas note, this is BEAUTIFUL!

Not much going on but I still feel overwhelmingly busy

My life has been busy, my house is a mess but nothing has struck me to write about. So, here are some of the highlights of the past few days:

--I have been taking care of my 18 year old nephew after dentist husband removed his wisdom teeth. Great boy and my kids worship him. He is now on the road to Idaho. FYI: My black bean soup was a hit with him.

--Kids are out of school.

--My birthday was super wonderful. Thanks to all of you well wishers as well as my local friends who joined me at Noodle and Company for the lunch celebration. Thanks Lisa for organizing it this year. (On a side note, I ate out all three meals, McDonalds in the AM, Noodle and Company in the noon hour and Barbacoa for dinner. Yes, I need to lose about 7 pounds now.)

--Book club was super nice this month. Catherine's house had such a great feel to it--nice and cozy.

--My four year old (toothsome #3) had a pre-school program and had a solo as well as a speaking part. I knew about the speaking part but NOT the solo. Who knew he had it in him?

--I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting Christmas cards.

--While it has taken me awhile to get into it, all and all I really liked Glen Beck's "The Christmas Sweater."

--I am still wasting a ton of time on Facebook.

--And last but not least, I spent three days with a magic eraser getting all of the pen marks off my walls done by toothsomes 3 and 4. What in the world? Have these children never heard of paper?

Merry Christmas!

Snow on My Birthday

Today is my birthday. And, today, we woke up to a snow storm--a glorious white snow storm.

I often get asked, "Is having a December birthday awful?" And, my answer is very loud, "No!".

At least for me, a December birthday has always been magical. It must be my Swedish heritage because I love cold, snowy days. It is like I am reborn when the snow starts. I feel like all of my Swedish DNA cries out, "Finally, this is what we were born for."

December birthdays are usually jammed between many family events which means I have always been able to celebrate my birthday surrounded by groups of people that I love. My older brother and sisters would be home from BYU or I would be at BYU surrounded by wonderful roommates. My birthday always fell during finals week and we always would stop and celebrate it because we needed the break from it all.

And, because of the craziness of the season, I am wished Happy Birthday all month long. My freshman year, we celebrated all of the December birthdays during reading days, then I flew home to another birthday celebration and later, I got together with my high school friends and we had another party. A December birthday always feels just a little bit more exciting and special because of the season.

So, today, having awakened to a glorious snow storm is the perfect way to start my 36th year. Later, I am getting together with friends and then at night, we are headed out again to celebrate with dentist husband and kids. I can just feel this is going to be a magical year. (But truth be told, the other 35 have been wonderful too.) And, in not forgetting some other wonderful December birthdays, Happy Birthday Lisa, Cassy, Lyssa and Noelle.

I might have just made things worse. . .

My son just came home with his Christmas list that he had compiled at school. Number one on his list was "an eco-friendly solar powered remote controlled car." Without thinking, I about bit his head off, saying, "Global warming is still an untested theory. Many people are jumping on this bandwagon because it is a popular thing among famous people and people who want to make an name for themselves. Don't go asking for a toy that you don't understand the junk science behind it."

He looked at me with these huge confused eyes and said, "Oh. I'm sorry we just talk about saving the environment at school and so I thought I should ask for something good like that." So, then I had to calm down, remember he is only nine and explain that it is good to protect and preserve the things in our sphere of influence including the planet. I also said, "I keep our house clean to maintain it at the best possible level so it will last a long time, we eat healthy to make our bodies work well, so they will last a long time too. So it is good to take care of the planet to make it last a long time too. And what you asked for is a good thing but Mom is sad that some people teach things as FACT when really right now, no one knows for sure if we can influence the earth's climate change that much."

He seemed more confused than ever. Can't we leave eco-friendly and green beliefs out of schools? It is like a religion for many people and currently, they aren't even allowed to say the name God in the classroom but they can cram Eco-friendly, junk science down their throats.

Maybe I am or maybe I'm not a good skin cancer patient

Three and 1/2 years ago, I had a mole removed that came back as melanoma. It wasn't a shock to me because it had all the tell tale signs of the ABCD chart but it was still a scary time until we knew that it was caught in its earliest stages.


Anyway, I loved the standard follow up visits every 6 months for the first two years because I knew I was being looked at by professionals and I didn't need to obsess about it myself. I was even sent up to the Huntsman Cancer Institute for a melanoma research study and had two separate melanoma specialist check me out.

Well, now, we are on the "just come in every year rotation" and I have gone a little neuritic. I have to do it all on my own for a WHOLE YEAR. No specialist reassuring me that I am not going to die of scary skin cancer.

The other day, after stressing about another mole I had convinced myself was cancer, I finally called my skin cancer doctor and asked if I could come in RIGHT now. I repeated several times, "You have to have a cancellation right?" If you are at all familiar with going to a dermatologist, they are always busy and booked out months ahead. Well, I must have sounded convincing because they got me in right away. After sitting in the waiting room, convincing myself it was bad news and I would be sent in for all kinds of horrible testing, the doctor looked at, gave it some benign name and only because I insisted, did he freeze it off. (He refused to biopsy it because he knew it a BK something or other.)

So, I suppose for a dermatologist I help him pay his mortgage because I show up regularly convinced I have something bad and it needs to be removed but maybe he thinks I little bit neurotic. You think?

Random Sunday Thoughts

Ok, you might all hate me but I am done handing out neighbor gifts. Yes, you heard right, I am. For the last several years, my husband's office manager and I work together to come up with a neighbor/other dentists and associates Christmas gift. This year, she found an amazing local gourmet donut shop that was willing to give us a price break because we ordered so many. It is called Beyondglaze and holy cow, they are some of the greatest donuts on the planet. They make all of these exotic flavors, like Key Lime, Peach Cobbler, etc. So, I can cross that off my list.

My daughter finished dancing The Nutcracker this weekend. It is one of my favorite holiday things to do with her and we had a WONDERFUL time again this year. She was beautiful on stage and I am so impressed with how far she has become.

After a month of agony and worry, my son had his first ski lesson at the school sponsored Ski School. He was up several times the night before anxious about it and it was a HUGE deal to finally get him in his snow gear and on the ski bus. When he came home, all he would tell me was, "Thanks for buying me the t-shirt that goes with ski school." After much prodding, I learned that he really liked it and is excited to go back. (So, all of the drama beforehand was unnecessary. Aghhh.)

My Christmas cards are mostly out. Still waiting for some addresses. I have read about 5 Christmas romance novels. You can read my reviews on my goodreads page. ---> I realize Christmas romance novels are not really review worthy but some are definately better than others.

Christmas fun has indeed begun around here. I suppose I should be like most mothers and make some yummy food. I wish cooking was something I liked doing. I really hate it. I could honestly eat at Cafe Rio daily and be happy. (They just put one in down the street from us, so that is highly possible and is hugely tempting to do.)

Well, I need to make kids put their laundry away. Happy Christmas!

I have recurrent kitchen sink problems

Many of you will remember this post. It is still a discussed topic in our house and my kids tease me when I use our disposal, asking if there are any pinto beans going down. I learned my pinto bean lesson but obviously not my small screw down the kitchen sink lesson. Let me explain:

In October, Dentist husband combined his two practices. In the process, a lot of miscellaneous things have been brought to our house that were not needed at either office. I won't go into all of the crap (Did I just write that?) I mean items (crap--opps, I did it again) that have ended up in our house with exception of a bag of small screws that ended up in the hands of my four year old boy.

In the morning, he put them in a drinking glass and told me that he was putting them in water to soak. I didn't care. Whatever.

Well, around mid day, I was cleaning up the kitchen and dumped the glass with the small screws into my disposal side of my sink. Silly me. I didn't immediately reach down and get all of those tiny screws out of my disposal. Instead, I finished wiping off counters, sweeping my floor, etc. Then, I made the mistake of turning on the disposal. The noise alone was shocking but the tell tale sign of the disposal jamming and throwing the breaker of the disposal made me realize this was no ordinary problem.

Long story short, after spending over an hour trying to fix the problem myself, pulling many tiny (smaller than the end of a pencil eraser) screws out of the sink drain, I was left with one tiny screw that I could feel jammed between the disposal wall. I gave in and called a plumber. So, $85 later, I have a working disposal again and I have learned another item that shouldn't go down it. (Oh I never even brought dentist husband in for a consult on this one, so don't rat me out anyone.)

Movie recommendation

My husband and I rented this, this weekend and holy crap, I am still thinking about how scary this film is. No, not in the Halloween scary but in the "does a nation that believes in free speech really allow things like this to happen" scary. It proves that in the university type setting, where they claim they are the bastion of free thought, it is just the opposite.

This is a must watch. I've included the the Amazon write up below but it doesn't really give the movie justice.

"Big science has expelled smart new ideas from the classroom ... What they forgot is that every generation has its Rebel! That rebel, Ben Stein (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) travels the world on his quest, and learns an awe-inspiring truth … that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – for the crime of merely believing that there might be evidence of design in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance. To which Ben Says: Enough! And then gets busy. NOBODY messes with Ben."

More Favorite Things

Heronim puzzles: I always buy these on Ebay. A few years ago, I got one these puzzles as a gift and they are the perfect size, perfect difficulty and great pictures. I own several of his Christmas themed ones and I get one out every start of the season and we all work on it all season long.


Lands End blankets and sheets: I hate having to stretch and pull to get my fitted sheets on beds. And I hate waking up every morning having to remake my bed because the sheets have come undone. Not with Lands End sheets and blankets. Their blankets and sheets have extra inches on them (I think 6 inches) and they NEVER come undone. I won't buy any other brand.

Elf on a Shelf: I bought this for our family this year and my kids have LOVED it.


Garmin Nuvi GPS: We have the 360 and love it. I don't go anywhere without it and it saved my bacon many times on a recent trip to California. Garmin really makes the BEST brand of GPS systems out there. Amazon currently has them for a great price.

Almay Eye make-up remover: I have transparent eyelashes and wear mascara everyday. I LOVE this eye make-up remover and will be crushed if they ever stop making it.

And, if you really want to shoot the lock off your wallet:

Emeco chairs: These are the greatest chairs on the planet. I don't have to worry about my kids spilling on them; when I am cold, I set them over a heating vent and they warm right up; I can put my kid's wet clothes to dry on them, etc. It really is embarrassing how much I LOVE these chairs. On a side note, they are used in every TV interrogation room scene. There must be a ton of these laying around Hollywood production sites. Anyway, they aren't cheap but quality furniture never is.

Handel's Messiah

Every year, dentist husband's family goes to the Abravenel Hall's Messiah Sing-In in downtown Salt Lake.

My first time attending this event with Dentist husband was a big deal. Dentist husband was just my "in Dental school boyfriend" at the time. While he and I had been dating for about 7 months, we hadn't done much with his family together. My cousin, an opera singer, just happened to be one of the soloist at that year's Sing-in, who had been flown in from California and had been filled in by many of my family members about how serious this relationship of mine was becoming. So, she contacted me and invited the whole crew to come back stage at the end of the evening. (There are nine kids in dentist husband's family.)

About a week before, Dentist husband and I had decided that we were crazy in love with each other and planned on getting married. Which happened, one year later. It was big deal and a super wonderful time for us. That Sing-in marked a glorious start to the Christmas season and the new season of my life. (How's that for poetry?)

Since then, we have attended as regularly as possible the same Messiah Sing-In but since we have had kids, we either take turns going or skip all together. This year ended up being a skip year because we didn't get our act together in time to buy tickets with the rest of dentist husband's family.

So tonight, knowing we would be missing the actual event, Dentist husband's sister invited us over for a practice Messiah Sing-In. We headed over with our four kids (they don't have any) and they put in a movie in their home theatre (we don't have one) and the four grown-ups went at it in their computer room.

It was as fun if not funner than the actual event. The four us stood in their office, in front of their computer with i-tunes blasting the music at us, while we sang along with music in hand. I had forgotten what a beautiful tenor voice my husband has and I had forgotten how much I love to sing in full voice those glorious high notes. My sister in law is a great soprano and my brother in law is a not too shabby baritone. I felt all warm and fuzzy about my husband again and refell in love with the Handel's Messiah too. What a great evening. I am thinking this is going to have to become a regular tradition.

Almost there

Starting on Thanksgiving day, I put aside all serious book reading and enjoy Christmas-themed romance novels. No, not sex novels but just romantic fall in love around Christmas time novels.

I've read some pretty intense stuff recently and I am looking forward to break from the intensity. Which is not to say that I haven't enjoyed or learned from the intense stuff I have read. But, I am needing a break from the realities of WWII, struggling farmers, the battles of the American revolution, abused children and selfish, mean people. The fluff starts on Thursday. I am really looking forward to it.

**If you need to find Christmas romance novels, I just type in Christmas novels in my libraries' search engine and see what comes up. I discovered some great stuff. My favorite from last year was "Christmas Wishes" but I can't remember the author.

Maybe it is because of The Twilight Books. . .

I went to the my husband's office a few days ago and the whole staff was laughing. It turns out that a patient, while sedated (my husband does sedation dentistry) looked at one of the dental assistants and said smiling and pointing at my husband, "I think he is a vampire."

Book Recommendation--The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

I have just been rereading this book after reading it a few years ago. This really is a must read book for everyone age 16 and older. It explains beautifully how to be financially solvent throughout one's life.

Dave Ramsey outlines what he calls the "Seven baby steps" to financial freedom. His first baby step is starting an emergency fund with $1000 cash.

We learned this principle when my husband was in dental school. We had a pile of dental school student debt but my husband and I both felt strongly about having emergency cash on hand for emergencies only. We had no money but we squeaked by for several months until we had $500 in savings to only be touched for an emergency. So, when our brakes went out on our 1985 Honda Civic, we had the money on hand to fix it. Once we used the money, our top priority was to build it back up once again ,going back to dinner of rice and beans until we had the emergency fund full again. It saved us more than once while in dental school and has continued to so. The emergency fund is a true lifesaver.

Anyway, I won't go into all of his baby steps (read the book) but I can tell you that I can't recommend this book enough.

You Know You are Trying to Teach Correct Principles . . .

You know you are trying to teach correct principles to your kids when during the Sacrament prayer, your two year old shouts over and over and over, "Fold your arms, guys" to her older siblings.

Even if one of the purposes of "folding your arms" is to be reverent and everyone in the congregation hears her yelling it, destroying the reverence, you can pat yourself on the back for at least trying to teach correct principles.

At least that I what I was thinking while it was happening.

Favorite Thing

The Hanna Andersson "Power of a Great T" t-shirt is the best fitting, most user friendly t-shirt I have ever owned. I actually have it in many colors both short and long sleeved. It is wash and wear and looks great after many, many washes.

Favorite Things

In the idea of Oprah (even though I am currently not happy with her), I am going to be doing occasional posts on "My Favorite Things". Hopefully, they will inspire possible gift/Christmas ideas or just make your life easier. Today, my favorite things focuses on vacuuming.

For some reason, I can't move that picture where I want it but the Eureka Cordless Quick-Up vacuum has changed my cleaning life. It is lightweight and as a result is perfect for stairs and quickly cleaning out my car. I also use it in my kitchen, on my hardwood floors, after every meal.

I love my Roomba but unfortunately, it can't take care of all of my vacuuming needs. (But, if you don't own one, you really should own a Roomba.) So, between my Roomba and my Cordless Eureka, my floors are cleaner than they have ever been.

Oh, and for any of you men out there, don't buy either of these things and give them as Christmas presents without first finding out if your wife is "practical" gift lover or not. I don't want to be blamed for your wife being mad at you Christmas morning.

Matching

I can't resist buying matching Hannah Andersson clothes for my girls. Here is this year's collection.

This is what the kids wore for our family photo. Toothsome #1 has since destroyed the sweater (He claims a stapler got caught on it and it is now beyond repair. He wore it three times.)

Yes, even their shoe's match. Dillard's (my favorite place to buy children's shoes) had them.

TAG!

I was tagged a few days ago by Donald. I found his wife's blog through a friend of a friend (you all know how the blogging world works) and if we lived in the same ward, I am sure we would be friends. His wife makes me want to be a better mother, reminds me how much I do like classical music and makes me jealous that her daughter's hair always is so beautifully done. Donald and I have the same views on most things. Anyway, here are my answers to the tag.

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago
1. About to celebrate our one year anniversary being married to the love of my life, Dentist husband.
2. Working as an editor (yes, I know my editing in this blog sometimes is crappy) and answering phones for a local business.
3. Just found out I was pregnant with my first child and very morning sick.
4. Ate at Chipotle every Monday as a date and Family Home Evening with Dentist husband.
5. Lived close to my parents

5 Things on my to do list today
1. Jump rope. Thanks to an old friend, I have discovered this is one of the best work outs on the planet.
2. Laundry.
3. Organize a section of our basement.
4. Sit down and figure out Christmas.
5. Get dinner meat marinating.

5 Things I would do if I were a Millionaire

1. After making sure my kid's college funds were substantial, I would help family members and close friends who need a hand.

2. Go on great summer trips with the kids.

3. Own property in Newport Beach, my favorite place on the planet.

4. Give a pile of money to the Perpetual Education Fund.

5. Be charitable.

5 Places I have lived
1. Boulder, CO
2. San Jose, Costa Rica
3. Jerusalem, Israel
4. Buenos Aires, Argentina
5. Provo, UT (One of my favorite places because of the great times I had at BYU)

5 Jobs I have had:
1. Arby's--a cashier
2. Front desk at a real estate company
3. Various jobs at a Title Company--I worked in searching, typed loan documents, answered phones, did releases, etc.
4. Editor at a local business that took in outsourced editing needs. I read Master's thesis', personal histories, web articles, etc.
5. HR assistant

If you are reading this, you are tagged if you want to play.

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

I'm So Annoyed . . .

I am hoping this is my last "political" post for awhile but I am currently so annoyed by the world around me.

1. We just elected a socialist and nobody seems to get that--including the Republican party I have supported since high school. Is there any place for conservatives anymore? Do people not understand when you make it hard for people who make money everyone suffers?

2. Proposition 8 in California: There are now wide spread protests about this. Why is it that people who want inclusively for everyone, really want it for everyone except for those they disagree with? Could this possibly be a moral issue and not a human rights issue?

3. Obama is our first biracial president.

4. Nancy Palosi now wants to forgive up to 40% of people's personal credit card debt? She wants to "help" the credit card companies? Excuse me, they sent out the cards. They didn't deny those people. And folks, don't buy things you can't afford.

5. The McCain camp is now turning on Palin? The very person they used to "rescue" their crappy election campaign?

Deep breathes. Deep breathes. Deep deep breathes. Relax. Crap, I can feel the annoyance coming again. Deeper breathes.

I'm serious, I feel like I am living in the days just after 9/11. I have to constantly remind myself that I only do what I can do. I have to try and raise moral, hardworking children and teach them the values and principles this nation was founded on. Unlike Michelle Obama, I have always been proud to be an American even today when I am shocked by what is going on around me. This is still the best country in the world, regardless of the stupid people currently running it.

I'll try to just get back to posting about my family and kids now. I'm off my soapbox but man I am still so annoyed.

Favorite Foods

Recently, on a long car drive, my husband and I started talking about our all time favorite foods. This was not a "if you were stuck on a desert island" conversation but just a "list the top five favorite foods you love to eat."



So here are mine. They are in no particular order.



1. Guacamole: This has to be fresh. But honestly, I could and have eat it daily.



2. A hamburger: I'm not even that picky about one of these. McDonalds will do but of the major chains, I love a Wendy's Single. The $5 dollar basic one from Carls Jr. isn't bad either.


3. Blue cheese: One year for my mother in law's birthday, she got about four different blue cheeses from different places around the world and we sat there with crackers and taste compared them. It is a great memory and cemented my love for it.

4. Diet Coke with fresh lime: Ok, not a food but the amounts I consume make it a food for me. My habit is a bad one but there are few things better than a fresh from the tap (which I prefer but I am good with cans too) ice cold Diet Coke.

5. Potatoes: I love them baked, twice baked, raw, fried, whatever.

What about you?

On a Lighter Note . . .

We are having a major snow storm today. It is days like these that I realize my Swedish heritage rules me because I love a good snow storm.

Anyway, on days like these, after the kids have had their fill playing in the snow, I am so grateful for having "office" supplies on hand for my kids.

For my oldest daughter's birthday a few years ago, I purchased every type of office supply I could think of and gave them to her. She had envelops in various sizes, paper clips, lots of different post it notes, pencils, pens, ink pads, folders, notepads, tape, etc. I can't tell you how great this has been for everyone. The kids spend hours playing office and have so much fun doing it. Recently, when my husband's office went paperless, we acquired these in every letter. Now, I find papers all over the house with kids names on them, or notes written in them. They have been great.

So, if you have a child with a birthday coming up, I can't recommend giving them their own office supplies enough. We have loved it.

Election Part 2

Back in my BYU days, when Bill Clinton beat George Bush, I was so upset, I wore all black the day they announced he won. I did the same four years later.

However, this election has been different for me because I have watched the current president, one I firmly believed in, one my brother worked for (in the EPA), slowly become more socialist. It got harder and harder for me to raise my voice in support of him. The bailout bill about killed me. We can point fingers (and yes, I do largely blame Bill Clinton's policies that created the over loaning of money) but a Republican president approved the bail out.

I am a hard working American as well as my husband. We have lived without and with less until we could afford what we do have. We don't have debt. We own our cars and our property. When has this idea that "I deserve what I want" become a national policy?

So, this election, I wanted change but I didn't want the change being offered from either side.

I didn't like John McCain but at least he and his running mate seemed to have some pride in America and believed in capitalism and I think believed in protecting the constitution.

I am not so sure about Obama and his wife seems even more sketchy to me. I hope I am wrong. I hope the change he brings is good and follows along the lines of what the founding fathers had in mind.

I woke up this morning sad and disheartened. I so hope I am wrong.

Election

God bless America. We are going to need it.

In Case I Haven't Been Clear Enough. . .

I think my writing is clear enough that I am very conservative. But, just in case, I haven't been clear, I am voting for McCain/Palin tomorrow. In reality, they aren't conservative enough for me, but they are better than the other choice. Please bless that they pull off a come from behind (if you can believe the drive-by media--thanks Rush for that terminology) win.

Pinewood Derby

This past week, our ward had the Pinewood Derby. Our ward only does it every 3 years, so it is a big deal when it happens. Here is Dentist husband and the kids.
Our stake doesn't own its own track, so we "rented" one from a nice man in a neighboring stake who donates all of the money to the church's missionary fund. He let the younger siblings press the start button. Toothsome #2 loves photo taking opportunities.

Me in my yellow den mother shirt and toothsome #1

For car design, toothsome #1 won "Most innovative."

And, out of 17 cars, he placed 4th!

When we got to the ward building, his card was too heavy. After lots of messing with it, Dentist husband ended up removing a wheel, that wasn't touching anyway. A grand time was had by all.

Happy Halloween

Recipe--Pork Tacos

I made this for dinner last night after not having made it for about 6 months. I don't know how this fell off my cooking radar because it is so easy and so tasty. (In reality, it probably fell off my radar since I haven't been cooking much in the last few months, but that is coming to end, I promise.)

I have made one change and that is sprinkling Johnny's Season Salt on it after I braize the pork. If you haven't tried this, you should.

Listen Universe I was Joking

A few days ago, I posted THIS post. In the last 48 hours, toothsome #4 fell on her face and now has a very swollen upper lip and toothsome #1 blew a hole in his church pants. Listen Universe, I was joking. I wasn't serious about those things happening, so back off.

I now Own a Photo Copier and Nobody seems to care

Recently, my husband surprised me and brought home a photocopier for our house. Not a scanner, but a true, real life photocopier. I was raised with one and have asked for one many times, so I was thrilled to get it. I

I really thought I was super cool to have one. Growing up, we were the only people I knew who had one. I thought, "I will tell people and they will say, 'Oh how wonderful. What a great thing to have. I wish I had one.'"

Instead, after announcing it at my book club, several people people just shrugged and said, "Oh, I have one." At church, I got the same response.

What in the world? When did it become common place to have a photocopier in one's house? To my friend's credit, they did say, "Oh, we have one and love ours. I know you will love yours too." So, it is not like they were mean about me being the last one to get one, but still! I love my photocopier and I promise, if you get one (but you probably already have one), I will act surprised and little bit jealous. The catty me was really hoping for that response.

Family Picture Taken

After months of planning and several reschedulings, the family picture is now completed. My children can now get all of the rashes they want, fall on their faces while playing, destroy their church clothes--whatever. The pictures are done.

Folliculitis

Did I mention that after rescheduling our family photo several times, we are having it taken tomorrow?

Did I mention that yesterday, while helping my daughter get dressed, I noticed she had this horrible rash on her legs and arms?

Did I mention when she got home from school, I noticed it had spread to her face?

Did I mention that I rushed her to the after hours pediatrician and after hearing him say several times, "Oh this is concerning" he diagnosed her with folliculitis?

If you didn't click over to my webmd link, I will tell you that follicultis is a staph infection in the skin follicles.

Did I mention that we got her on antibiotics that night hoping it will clear up fast?

Did I mention that our family picture is tomorrow afternoon and my daughter has folliculitus on her face?

Facebook

Ok, I have discovered another time waster and I don't need anymore. For months, I have had friends tell me to join Facebook. I always laughed and said, "No way! I have no time for another Internet thing." Goodreads, e-mail, blogging, people.com, Perez Hilton as well as Glen Beck, Dr. Laura, KSL and Rush Limbaugh take up plenty of my time.

Well, today, I got another invite to join a community from my BYU days. I couldn't resist and I joined Facebook. My plans to get my house back into order? Totally frustrated! Why? Because today I spent more time than I want to admit, finding names on Facebook that I haven't thought about in years. YEARS! It has been so fun but so time wasting I can hardly come to terms with it. So, now I have to give myself time limits on the computer. I think this is the only way to still be a responsible wife and mother and have some fun on-line. But, just so I don't come across as a total loser, I did make dinner tonight, cleaned my butler's pantry, took my son to soccer, started reading three different books, read with two kids, handled a bunch of stuff relating to my husband's car accident, did some work at Dentist husband's office and wiped off my kitchen counters several times. I need to go vacuum. My roomba can only do one room at a time.

UEA weekend in St. George

For Fall Recess, we headed down to St. George, UT in our attempts to extend summer by a few more days. We stayed in the brand new Town Home Suites Marriott and had a glorious four days down south. We visited the St. George temple grounds and toured the Brigham Young and Jacob Hamlin homes. Dentist husband's great great grandfather was one of the early settlers of St. George and so we found where his home was located as well. We spent a lot time climbing around on the rocks above the city. The kids loved it but truth be known, they were just as happy playing in the empty field next to our hotel.
We spent a lot of time at the driving range. Dentist husband was in heaven because it was located right below the runway of the St. George airport. So, there was a lot of air traffic with "amazing" airplanes overhead.
My kids are little enough, that we could sleep them like this.
Eating left over Mongolian Barbecue in the hotel. My kids LOVE Mongolian Barbecue and we ate there every day. The owner is hilarious and insisted on helping my kids learn how to eat correctly with chopsticks. Every day we looked forward to seeing her.
We also spent every afternoon swimming at the pool. It was a great and fun trip. Now back to cleaning!

Life is Chaos

My life is full of chaos. I have to clean, clean and clean some more. I can't live in this anymore. I have to stop blogging for about a week to try and accomplish everything. See you around the 24th of October.

Kelly Ripa Shoes

I have always liked Kelly Ripa. I don't really know why. Maybe because she was less annoying than Kathy Lee or maybe because we were both pregnant at the same time with two of our babies and I always thought I looked less pregnant than she did. I also watched a lot of her while nursing my last three kids. (Speaking of nursing, now that toothsome #4 is two, I have to wean her but how?)

Anyway, I just got an e-mail from Ryka telling me about their new Kelly Ripa tennis shoes. I get their e-mails because I tried to win a pair of their tennis shoes about a year ago. (My friend Paige did win a pair but sadly not me.)

Anyway, product endorsements must really work because I did click over to their web site and immediately fell in love with the Kelly Ripa tennis shoes. I almost bought a pair and I still might. I mean I could own the same tennis shoes as Kelly Ripa. She is cute, she is my age, and we both have little kids. Our husbands both have dark hair. Maybe these tennis shoes could totally change my life. Maybe they will help me stay young and cute and be a better mother. Maybe by wearing them, I will want to exercise instead of nap. Maybe housecleaning will become a breeze. At least from the pictures, it sure looks like it. And, if they could work Pete Sampras into their marketing, I so would buy some.

Family Picture Postponed

We were supposed to have a family picture taken in two days. Well, I called and postponed it for a few weeks. Why? Many reasons:

Dentist husband gave my boys fresh hair cuts and accidentally gave them haircuts way too short. (This picture doesn't really give it justice how short their hair is.)

Toothsome #1 has a HUGE cold sore and scratch on his face. Dentist husband's eye still looks like this from the car crash.
Toothsome #4 has some weird rash on her face.

Oh and we are supposed to have snow this weekend, which defeats my whole reason for waiting until October so we could get a great Fall leaves background.

Hopefully, in two more weeks, we will all look better.

Halloween Shirts

October is my favorite month for a lot of reasons, one being Halloween. Here we are in our new Halloween shirts from Old Navy. I have heard Target had cuter and cheaper ones but my kids really liked these.

What We Did While Grandma and Grandpa Were Here

Took apart an old piece of dental equipment with Grandpa
Painted our ghosts on the Halloween window
Dentist husband got his new replacement car--Subaru STI
Did lots of "Finish the picture" with Grandma

It was a fun and fast visit. As always, we wish we lived closer.

Help Me Remember

About a month ago, my husband's office manager called and asked if she needed to order Halloween toothbrushes for us to give out to the Trick or Treaters. I immediately answered "yes" and three large boxes arrived at my house about a week later. We get a ton of trick or treaters and we actually give out both candy and a toothbrush. We are not candy/sugar haters in this house. But, we do want people to brush off the candy/sugar once they are done consuming it.

Anyway, in getting out my Halloween decorations this year, I discovered two boxes of unopened brushes! What in the world?

I then remembered that Halloween two years ago was horribly cold and rainy/snowy and we didn't get many trick or treaters but every year since, I order more, thus the extra surplus of toothbrushes. So, unless we get about 1000 trick or treaters this year, we are not going to need brushes ordered for a while. This post is to remind me of this.

Update On Dentist Husband and boys

Several people have called me and asked how Dentist husband and boys are doing.

Dentist husband was able to go back to work on Tuesday. (His dad, fellow dentist, covered for him on Monday.) He still looks awful but his eye symptoms are diminishing and the pain is getting better. Again, his hands were not damaged, so he has been able to work--thankfully.

The boys, who were virtually unscathed are back to their normal routines, with the exception of me keeping toothsome #1 home from soccer for the week. That is my precaution but he still has a nasty bruise on this side which still hurts, so I made that executive decision.

We were able to get from the car, the seat belts, the side curtain air bag and a few other miscellaneous pieces, which we had the kids show us for Family Home Evening on Monday.

So, with the exception of not having our replacement glasses and no new car, we are back to normal. Normal meaning the regular run of the mill chaos.

Oh and in reference to my house cleaning, I am about 1/2 way there, so things should be in good (not great) condition, when my parents arrive tomorrow.

What I HAVE to get Done today

I just realized my parents will be here tomorrow. TOMORROW! Do you have any idea what shape my house is in? Well, I don't think there is a clean surface anywhere.

Crap! Crap! Crap!

Oh and for you "know it alls" out there, no I can't find a cleaning service to come in last minute unless I give them an arm and a leg, so that is not an option.

Is it weird. . .

That me, a 35 (almost 36) year old mother of four really likes this song by Jesse McCartney?

FYI: I didn't put the link to the real video because it is a little too racy.

Pictures

We went up to the tow yard today and took pictures of the car. Again, it is a miracle my husband and boys not only survived, but essentially walked away from it.

Gratitude

I have been thinking about gratitude this weekend. On Friday evening, Dentist husband and my two sons were in a serious car accident. So serious, that every eyewitness told me that they didn't expect to see anyone alive inside the car when all was said and done. In short, my husband's car was rear ended in such a way that it was sent rolling several times on I-80. Fortunately, the eye witnesses who ran to the car, found two very alive but scared little boys and one unconscious man, who after a trip in an ambulance and five plus hours in the ER ended up with only a lot of bruising and superficial cuts and scratches on his body. It is a miracle they are alive.


So, here is my list of things I am grateful for in light of this accident:


1. The good Samaritan who called me to tell me about it and first said, "Your boys are fine. Your husband is awake and alert and moving his hands but they have been in a serious car accident."


2. The good Samaritan who gave my kids her cell phone so I could talk to them the whole time I was driving to the accident.


3. The nurse good Samaritan who rushed to the car and held my husband's neck in place until the EMT's arrived. She also checked out my sons and was very good at giving me directions to the ER they were taking my husband to.


4. The kind EMTs who told me before I got to the accident that it appeared as if my husband's injuries where superficial and that his hands and arms were OK. (I kept saying, "He is a dentist and needs his hands. Are his hands OK?)


5. The wonderful people who took such good care of my kids until I got there because they had taken my husband away in an ambulance. The same good people who gave me such good information about what happened (he was reared ended by an older gentleman who confused the gas and brake pedal) and warned me about the seriousness of everything without sounding panicky or distraught. (That helped me keep my cool in that I always cry when someone else cries.)

6. The wonderful doctors, nurses, and hospital employees and volunteers at the ER who took such great care of my husband, kids and me.

7. My best friend from growing up, Diane, who came up to the hospital (leaving her own kids) to watch my kids, so I could be back with my husband. She was a life saver.

8. My sister, who called my best friend and asked her to come up and be at the hospital.

9. The nice lady at Shopko Eye Care center who immediately ordered new glasses for my son and husband and put a rush on them, so they will arrive early this coming week.

10. Our wonderful eye doctor who came in on a Saturday afternoon to check out my husband's eye which showed some worrisome eye symptoms. (They are worrisome but he confirmed his eye is fine and his eye is healing.)

11. The makers of the Subaru WRX who made a car that somehow protected my husband and sons during a multiple roll over accident.

12. The great car insurance people at Progressive who have been prompt and kind in dealing with this.

13. The nice sheriff on the scene to who called later to check on the boys and my husband.

14. My husband for having himself and the boys in seat belts. If they hadn't been in them, there would have for sure been fatalities.

15. Most importantly, a loving Heavenly Father who protected my husband and sons. We know most people don't survive things like this (our car insurance ward member informed us of this fact) and for some unknown reason, we were spared serious tragedy. We are so blessed and realize divine intervention was the only thing that can explain this blessing in our lives.

Two Year Old Hair

In preparation for a family picture, I have spent the last few mornings trying to figure out the best way to curl toothsome #4's hair.

Toothsome #4 is a crazy baby and spends most of her days hollering, "I do yit." Here she is with hot rollers in her hair. (I learned quickly that she has no patience for sponge rollers and takes them out before they have done anything.) So, hot rollers it is.
After they were taken out by her after about 3 minutes--again, "I do yit"--this is the results. Trying to get her to hold still for a picture was near impossible.


Please bless the curls stay in long enough for our very expensive family photo session in a few weeks.

Sometimes I am an Awesome Scout Leader

Tonight was Pack Meeting and in preparations for the Pinewood Derby, which we are doing next month, we had a Lego Car Derby tonight. It was my idea and yes, I will pat myself on the back for this one. It was a huge success and I am now passing on the info to all of you people out there.

At lego.com I purchased a box of just wheels. This is what I bought and where I bought it. As you can see, it was not cheep but I have two boys, boxes of legos and I knew we would use them, so no I didn't turn in my receipt.

I had one table set up that just had the wheels on them and I was the wheel lady. The boys came to me to get their wheels and traded different sizes with me as they wanted them.
Here is the race track. These were made from aluminum siding that was bent up on the sides. I didn't do exact measurements but I would say they were four inches across and about 10 feet long. A man in our stake donated the siding and made them for us.
Our pack has two wards in it so we had two different tables, set up, across the room from each other with legos on them. The den leader in the one ward brought her son's legos and I brought my son's Legos. We threatened the boys to only use the legos from their respective tables, so they wouldn't be combined. We also made it very clear that they would not be bringing the legos or the wheels home with them. I must be a great threatener, because the boys were great about keeping the legos separate and neither family lost legos and I have all of the wheels back.
Here is our Cub master, manning the racing station. She would have the boys line up and race their cars by doing just a simple, "On your marks, get set, go."
Here is toothsome #1 with one of his lego car creations.

The boys quickly learned that the longer and the heavier their cars were, the faster they would go. Most boys started out with a simple brick-like idea and then reworked their cars. Also, because I did purchase the wheel set, the boys experimented with different wheel sizes.

I can't express again, how great and easy this activity was! The parents, the little siblings, the older siblings (one 15ish boy was really into it)--everyone got involved and had a great time. So yes, sometimes, I am a great scout leader, other times--like driving them 45 minutes to visit a very lame recycling center, not so much, but tonight, I rocked.