My Year in Status

Schedules

Schedules are great for kids, especially little ones. Josh put himself on a schedule very early. He liked his routine and he stuck to it. Benjamin took a little longer to establish a schedule, but he got it. Schedules are the name of the game in our family since Tim and I both work and have to be out of the house every morning by about 7:30am.

This week, I'm not liking schedules too much. I have two weeks off of work. I was hoping to sleep in at least a little. Monday morning I was woken up by Josh at 5:50am to watch TV. You might say, just turn on the TV and go back to bed. First of all, once I wake up, I'm pretty much up. And second, you can't really do that when your four-year old has woken up the 8-month old as well and he is listening to himself make screeching noises. Tuesday morning, same thing.

Here we are on Wednesday morning at 6:00am. Boys are both still in their room with the lights off. I'm hearing a little stirring but not much. Why then, you might ask, am I up writing this post? I woke up at 5:00 (my normal wake up time) and couldn't go back to sleep. Schedules, this week, are overrated.

Free Advent Calendar

I went online the other day looking for activity ideas to put in our advent calendar that we have. Even better, I found a calender full of activities and scriptures to go along with each day. Yea! Josh is really into advent calendars. My mom got us an advent calendar a couple of years ago. It has doors for each day that you can put treats or whatever in. Josh loved it last year and has been asking about it ever since he found out that Christmas is just around the corner. So this year, instead of just one advent calendar, we have four. The one my mom got us, the one I downloaded here, a Legos one I found at Target and a cute Christmas tree pillow one I found at Shopko on black Friday. I'm really excited to start all the activities on Tuesday night!!!!!

Chris Farley Lives On

Yes, it's true; Chris Farley lives on in my son. On The Chris Farley Show, guests would be asked lame questions like, "Do you remember when you were in that movie?" The answer, "Yeah." Response, "That was awesome."

Josh has been doing the Chris Farley routine with no prompting from us. He will ask us or anyone, "Hey, do you remember when we played in the gym the other day?" "Yeah." "We did that." Or, "Remember, you came over to our house that one time." "Uh-huh." "That was fun."

I'm glad that Chris Farley lives on. He was gone too soon.

My Trip to the Doctor

So, I've been trying to catch up on all my doctor's visits that I've put off while I was pregnant and after Benjamin was born. I went to the dentist - all good. I went in for a physical - things are good. I went in for a check up for my sleep apnea - not so good.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about two and a half years ago. I sleep with a c-pap machine which I don't mind at all. I haven't been back to see my doctor since my original diagnosis so I thought it was about time. This doctor used to be my primary care physician as well. I didn't care for him too much or for his staff but I didn't really know why. Tim went to him as well and felt the same way. He found another doctor a few months ago and convinced me to give him a try. I went in for a physical about a week ago and this is the new doctor for me. He encouraged me to do a follow-up with the other doctor for my sleep apnea. I called and set an appointment while I was waiting to get some blood work done.

I got an appointment scheduled for Thursday. Awesome! I was going to get this over with quickly. I took off work in the middle of the day and headed over to the appointment. I checked in, paid my co-pay with a check (they don't have a credit card machine - this is another reason I wanted to find another doctor) and sat down. There was no one else in the waiting room so I figured I would get called back rather quickly. Nope. After about 20 minutes of waiting, the doctor comes out and motions to the receptionist, who is on the phone, to come back. All the sudden I hear the doctor yelling at the receptionist. This yelling goes on for about 20 minutes. I could not believe it. I had never felt so uncomfortable in my life. Right before the yelling was over, a few more people come into the office. The receptionist comes out, visibly upset, and checks them in. About 10 more minutes pass. So now I've been in the waiting area for an hour and didn't even want to go back to see the doctor. Well, I did want to go back but just to tell him that he was very unprofessional and I was taking my check and leaving. I asked the receptionist how much longer it was going to be and she said she didn't know. I told her I had to get back to work so she gave me my check and I left.

Now I know why I didn't like this doctor, he's a butt. Never again will I set my foot inside that office. I will travel anywhere else to find a new sleep disorder doctor. What a jerk!

Look Out, I'm Pretending to Be Crafty

So our ward did their Super Saturday two Saturdays ago. They had some cute stuff to do. I signed up for pillows. I decided that my living room needed a little sprucing up and they seemed really easy to make. They were so easy in fact, I made a whole bunch more for my bedroom as well.

All you have to do is get a placemat that is two pieces of fabric sewn together. You undo the stitching on about half of one side and stuff it full of fluff. When you're done stuffing, sew it back up. Super easy. And I'm only pretending to be crafty because I had my mom sew the pillow back up. They were about $5.00 a piece to make. The yellow ones were only $3.00 - those placemats were on sale. Way reasonable if you ask me considering some throw pillows I saw at the store ran anywhere from $15-$25. Anyway, here's how our bed turned out. Don't mind the wrinkles!

Do You Still Have a ...?

I felt like crap when I woke up on Wednesday morning. I drug myself into work only because I told one of my teachers that I could cover for her in the afternoon for an appointment. I got out the sub list, found someone to cover for me and went home to go back to bed. Tim called the doctor for me and insisted that I go in to get tested for H1N1. I went. While they didn't actually test me for H1N1, the doctor seemed to think it was that considering the symptoms, especially the over 101 fever.

When Josh came home, I had my mask on. I told him not to get too close because I was sick and had a fever. Not a problem for him. He was happy just to play trains and watch tv. I headed back to the bedroom to take another nap. After Benjamin was safely in bed, I made my way back out to the family room with my mask on. I sat down on the couch. Josh looked at me and asked, "Mama, do you still have that beaver inside you?" Yeah Josh, I still have the beaver. Thanks for your concern. We've really got to get that kid's hearing checked.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Benjamin rolled over for the first time last week! I was thinking that maybe he never would because I never give him tummy time. Yes, I know, I'm a bad mom. I figured he would get it eventually. I mean, come on. So here's some pics and a video. It took a while to get the pics because once he got it, he didn't want anymore of this tummy time thing.Quilt is compliments of Tim's aunt in Oregon. We love it! Here's the video.

Take Backs

When I was a kid, "take backs" was a big deal. I could give someone something, but if I changed my mind, I could call a "take back" and it would be mine again. It was great. Sometimes, I was on the other end of the "take back" and it wasn't too great. We got smarter as kids and started calling "no take backs". You had to call it super fast after obtaining your new treasure or it could be taken back just as fast as it had been received.

This week Tim and I have been on both ends of the "take back". Tim was offered a new position at work a few weeks ago. We waited to hear what his salary would be for about a week, all the time hoping it would be enough for me to stay home. We found out the salary and it was enough! We decided that I would turn in my resignation at work. I gave more that the customary two weeks notice. This is our busiest time of year and this don't really start calming down until the middle of October. I wanted to give them enough time to find a replacement.

With three weeks left until my early retirement, I get a call from Tim telling me that his work had called "take backs" on his new position. Even though it sucked, we couldn't really do anything about it. Tim hadn't called "no take backs". Luckily, he still had his old position to go back to but without the new and improved salary his new position would have brought. This meant we really couldn't afford for me to quit. But I already had. Had my work called "no take backs" on my resignation? I hoped not. They opened my position internally last Thursday so it still hadn't closed. I hurred and talked to my boss to see if I could call "take backs". Thankfully, they let me.

With all the ups and downs and "take backs" the past couple of weeks, we really can't complain. Tim and I both have really good jobs and in this enconomy, not everyone can say that. Josh has a great teacher at school. Benjamin has an awesome friend watching him. Our goal is still for me to be able to stay at home. We'll just have to work a little harder and wait a little longer for it to happen.

I Don't Want to go on the Titanic

The other morning, Josh woke up and came out to the family room rubbing his eyes. He looked at Tim and said, "I really don't want to go on the fire boat." Tim asked, "What fire boat?" Josh responded, "You know, the fire boat that goes in the water." Tim asked again, "What fire boat?" Josh said, "The Titanic, dad. I don't want to go on the Titanic." Tim asked him why and Josh answered, "Because it's going to crash and go into the water with all the people." Tim was perplexed. Here our four-year old was having nightmares about the Titanic. What four-year old knows about the Titanic? Had he seen the movie somehow and we didn't know it? We don't own the movie and we've never even watched it at our house. Maybe he watched it over at someone else's house while they were watching him. Tim decided the best way to get to the bottom of this was to just ask Josh. The question was posed, "Josh, where did you learn about the Titanic?" The answer: "I saw it on Reading Rainbow." Thanks Reading Rainbow for giving my son nightmares. 'Preciate ya.

It's All About Who You Play the Game With

A long while back, Tim and I played a game with some of his friends called Munchkin. I was assured that it was a fun game and that I should play. Not so. That game was the most unfun game of my life. I had never played before, so the rules had to be explained to me as I went along. In this game you have to battle monsters. If you are unable to defeat the monster by yourself, you can ask someone for help. Sounds easy enough. I'm pretty easy going when it comes to rules in games;expect for Parcheesi - don't try to cross me in that game. Anyway, I came to the point in the game when I couldn't defeat the monster by myself so I was told I could ask for help. I said, "Okay, I'll do that." The guy explaining the rule said, "No...you have to say, 'Ramon, will you help me.'" Really? I looked at him with the crustiest East Coast look I could muster and said, "Ramon, will you help me?"

Since that day, I have refused to play that game. Tim has tried to convince me to play it and even buy it. No way. But, this past weekend we went up to Bear Lake with some friends. They were talking about the games they brought up. Munchkin was among them. Oh no. Was I really going to have to play this game I swore I would never play again. The nice side of my East Coast me won out and I decided to play. But, I thought I'd better tell my little story from above so they wouldn't try to pull any of that lame, "Ramon, will you help me" crap. My story was told, the game was played and now Munchkin is on the list for the next game we will buy! So, thanks Brian for a fun weekend at Bear Lake and for helping me see that Munchkin really is a fun game. While some may say, "It's all about how you play the game," I beg to differ. It's all about who you play the game with.

ps - some names have been changed to protect the guilty

Trains, Trains and More Trains. By the way, did I mention trains?

Josh is a train freak. It started innocently enough with Thomas the Tank Engine. Our neighbor downstairs liked Thomas so I recorded a few episodes for when we watched him at our house. Well, Josh was hooked. We watched tons of Thomas after that. He then moved on to the train table. His doctor's office had a train table and Josh loved to go to the doctor just to get a chance to play on it. I had to plan an extra hour each visit. We decided to get Josh his own train table at home and it has been the best purchase ever. Josh plays with his trains at least an hour each day. But it's usually more like two or three hours a day. It's even better now that he can build his own tracks - I don't have to come up with new and exciting tracks everyday! He can also point out any train in any book or show, even if it's hidden in some obscure place. And he'll remember when it's coming up in a movie. He'll say, "A train's coming" and sure enough, a train will appear somewhere in the movie. Just like I said, he's a train freak. Here's a picture/video trip down memory lane featuring Josh and his trains.

Josh on Christmas morning playing with his train.

Trying out new train track designs.

Josh found a train at a park in New Mexico.


Josh riding the Front Runner, a commuter train in Salt Lake, holding a picture of said train.

Josh is getting better at setting up his own tracks.Here's a video of Josh when he got his train on Christmas morning. This is before he was a total train freak. He's pretty excited at first and then just wants a snack.

Christmas in August?

Last December, I bought about 4 bags of gingerbread cookie mix for school and for cookies for neighbor gifts. I only used one for school and was cookied out by the time it was time for the gingerbread. Well, Josh found the cookie mix a couple of months ago and started bugging me about making the cookies. But who wants gingerbread in May? I kept it hidden for a while, but while rearranging our pantry, to make room for food storage - we've been stocking up this summer - Josh found the cookie mix again. So this morning, we made gingerbread. Complete with stars, hearts, pumpkins and trees!And after all the effort, this is all he ate - one little part of a heart cookie. Oh well, we had fun.

Better Late Than Never

With a new baby here and a summer off of work, I thought it was time to do a little scrapbooking. I was really excited to do a book for Benjamin. But then I thought, Josh is old enough that he'll ask where his is. The answer to that is "non-existent". I figured I would start there. But I didn't have all the pictures I wanted yet. Most are still on the computer. So I decided to start where I should have started 6 years ago--with a scrapbook of Tim's and my first year of marriage. I found the scrapbookers new best friend. The one-hour album in a box from SEI. It is so reasonably priced at their outlet in Logan, I may never go back to figuring out my own layouts. It has everything you need to do an album - pre-cut paper, ribbons, buttons, tags, letter stickers, etc. You just assemble and add pictures. I put the album together yesterday while Benjamin was napping and added pictures today while he was playing next to me. I'm going to keep the directions with paper dimensions for another album. I'll just switch the order of the layouts and the paper so it looks at least a little different. Here's the finished product (minus some journaling).
Josh's and Benjamin's baby albums are put together. I just need to develop some pictures and then I'll post them!

Can You Say Repressed Aggression?

When Tim picked up Josh from Primary today, he happily showed him his picture. He pointed out daddy with the glasses and mommy with the big hair. (As well as other big things - we won't go there right now.) Tim says to Josh, "But where's Benjamin?" To which Josh replies, "I'm sitting on him and I'm sucking on his binkie." Oh boy.

Happy Pioneer Day

In honor of Pioneer Day, Josh, Benjamin and I went to This Is The Place Heritage Park along with my friend Lucinda and her two boys and nephew. She had a buy one, get one free deal so I figured I could handle it monetarily. We really lucked out though. Right as we got there, some lady asked us if we wanted to get in on her season pass. The people she had invited to come with her ended up not coming and her pass could get in up to 6 adults and 6 kids. Sweet!

They have it set up like Utah looked like back in Pioneer days, complete with volunteers dressed up in pioneers clothes working in the yard, shops, hotels, schools and stores. They would talk to you about what life was like for them as a pioneer. It was really cool. Josh went to a leather shop and was able to stamp out a piece of leather.

They also had a little pony ride. I was actually pretty surprised that Josh went on the pony all by himself.

Here is the baby animal area where you could pet the lambs and goats. Josh was all about the lambs. He wasn't too sure about the goats though. I think the horns scared him a little bit.

They also had a little play town the kids could play in. There was a big train as well. Of course, Josh spent most of his time there. It was pretty funny to listen to his story line as he was playing. I had to give back my nice phone so I didn't get a good video.

Outside of the pioneer area, they have a monument to different pioneer groups.

This is a picture of the statue honoring the handcart pioneers. We have ancestors that came across the plains in the Martin Handcart Company.

This is a picture of Bryant Stringham's name. He is my great-great-grandfather who came across the plains with the first group of pioneers and Brigham Young. He was there when Brigham Young said, "This is the right place, drive on."
Even with the heat and the major sunburn on my neck afterwards, it was such a fun day. It was great to think back on the pioneers and all that they did. We will definitely make this a tradition!