Why My Life is So Hard

As I sit in my nice, warm, new, spacious kitchen and bake cookies in my two ovens while outside the temperatures dip below zero and many people are wondering how to feed their hungry children I would like everyone to know that my life is hard.

I would document this photographically, but I have no AA batteries for my camera.

I hate my great job.
It's extremely flexible. It pays pretty well. The other staff are really friendly and fun to work with. I like being an ER nurse...but sometimes the clientele, the job, and the company that provides it annoy me. I don't always get my way and sometimes I'm tired.

I have a wonderful son. He is smart and funny and remarkably well behaved. He will sit through a two hour staff meeting and not make a peep...but sometimes he doesn't mind me and although he now sleeps through the night (usually in his own bed) I don't think I've ever recovered from his sleepless first three years. And sometimes he is intentionally naughty.

My automatic dishwasher is BROKEN!
Actually it is fixed and works great now...but I didn't get to complain about it on the blog when it wasn't working so great.

I live in my new dream house, in a great neighborhood, in a nice city, in a beautiful state, in a blessed country, on an amazing planet...but it's too cold outside.

In two weeks we celebrate the birth of the Savior of the World, the Son of a God who answers my prayers...but I don't have enough money to buy EVERYTHING that I want, only most of it.

We have a cute new puppy who has only had one accident in the house in the last 3 days (and that was in front of the back door because I didn't hear her quiet whining to be let out)...but she chews, she barks, she disobeys and may be possessed by an evil spirit.

My cookies taste good...but they are making me fat.

I am forced to lose my temper at Sam and the puppy. I yell a lot and have exhibited some ugly loses of control.
My house is a disaster. My bathrooms need cleaned. Laundry is sky high.
I still have Christmas shopping to do.
I still haven't mailed (an already wrapped) birthday present to a very good friend.
My great husband has to work all day everyday (at a paying job) and even though he is home before 7:00 now, he still doesn't get home until 5:30.

So, I submit my evidence that my life is way hard.

Here's Your Sign

I caught Sam on the countertop the other day and reminded him that he wasn't supposed to be up there. He thought for a minute and then said, "Well Mom, maybe you need to put a sign up here to help me remember."

The Goings On

Sam's been sick with a stomach bug that won't quit. He first got sick Sunday night, was fine on Monday, sick all Tuesday night, more quiet than usual on Wednesday, fine all day Thursday, and sick again Thursday night. He missed pre-school on Wednesday, so we told him he could go on Friday. We decided to keep him home though, so when he woke up this morning he asked, "Why I'm not at school?"
"You threw up last night, so Daddy and I decided not to send you to school."
He looked really annoyed and started to run to the kitchen, "Mom! Now I have to do lots of homework. I have to glue some papers and color and draw a dog house for the new puppy and..."

That's right. Did I mention we're getting a puppy?
Ours is the darkest curliest one on top. Sometimes I worry that we are going to really regret it, but I'm excited and she is so cute.
She is a golden-doodle. Her mom and dad are both golden retriever/poodle mixes.
We can bring her home around November 23.

I have some pictures and things that I've meant to put on here, but never got around to. The last 6 months have flown by so fast. We've been pretty busy.

In April we went to the zoo with Lindsey.

I was really proud of these Easter Eggs we dyed.

I took this video of Sam in February. I call it "Dramatic Interpretation of the the Life and Death of a Snowman" or "Once There Was A Snowman".

First Day of "School"

Sam started preschool today. I have to work from 6PM to 6AM on Tuesdays right now and so we enrolled Sam in a preschool/daycare on Wednesday mornings. Today was his first day. Daniel took him on his way to work this morning. He has been so excited for this.

We toured several places and picked this school because it has a bowl of crackers at the front door. Sam was very impressed by this. I was impressed because it was clean, organized, well supervised and most importantly, clean.

Daniel said that when he left Sam was in dinosaur heaven.

The other night at dinner we were having a delicious pork chop dish with rice and mushrooms. Daniel picked up his fork and Sam yelled, "Look out Dad! That has mushrooms in it!"
He's not very picky, but he can't stand mushrooms. He can always tell if I've put mushrooms in something and he will not eat them.

Brag Item: Sam can add and subtract.
In the car the other day he asked me if I wanted to play a number game. I asked him what that was. He said, "You know. When you say if you have 3 apples and I take one away, how many apples are left?"
I've never played this with him and neither has Daniel. Maybe all that Playhouse Disney is finally paying off. He can add and subtract (all in his head) through number five. He did not get this from me.
They're probably going to have to move him to the 8 year-old classroom at "school".

New House Pictures

We're getting close to moving day. The garage doors need painted and the front door stained.

The cabinets are installed, most of the appliances are in. We are having a debate over how to cover the vent duct over the stove. I want to wrap it in wood like the cabinets. The other option is to drywall it. Let's have a vote.

I can't wait to move in.

All that's left inside is some finish work, a good cleaning and we're set.

A Wedding, Independence Day, and Some Really Terrible Photography

We spent about 10 days in Idaho for Lindsey's wedding and the 4th of July.
We took about 8 pictures and none of them were very impressive, but here are the good ones.
I really need to remember to get some batteries for my camera, and then remember to take it with me, and then remember to get it out and use it.
It's nice to have goals.

Sam looked very handsome in his suit for Lindsey's wedding. He got lots of compliments and told me that he wanted to wear it every day.
This is one of maybe three pictures I have of the three of us. No, I don't mean just at this event, I mean in the last 3 years. That is the pathetic truth. And keeping with tradition (see Jeris and Suzanna's wedding) I have no pictures of the bride and groom, but believe me, they looked good.

Sam's birthday was a success. We had an incredible turnout again this year and thanks again to Frank Vandersloot for Sammy's fireworks. (And thanks also to Steve Clark for bringing his camera.)

Sam requested a party, a parade, black(chocolate) cupcakes and a pinata. I made absolutely sure he got his wishes.
Now prepare yourselves for some amazing pics of the birthday boy.

Good thing he's naturally cute.

What I regret the most is that I didn't get any pictures of Sam and his pinata. He really beat the tar out of it. After about 5 minutes Daniel helped him liberate the candy. That's when I discovered that the cardboard (not paper mache) cement truck was held together with STRAPPING TAPE! What kid is going to get that to break open?

I hope Sam doesn't hate us someday for being so lame about taking pictures and documenting important events.

Our New Baby
Framing is finished and the plumbing and HV/AC is getting underway.

I think this is a view from the front door.

This is the great room fireplace.
I am so excited, every day there are new things to see.

Umm, So It's Been Awhile

Since my last post A LOT has been going on. Here are the highlights.
We put our house up for sale
10 days later we accepted an offer
Sam got stomach flu
Sam got potty trained
Sam got strep throat
I got strep throat, and a massive eye infection
I realized (yikes!) we have 3 days to pack (and figure out where we are going to stay) until we are officially homeless
We moved
We went to Wicked
We moved
And then
We moved
again

Just one more move (hopefully around Labor Day) and we'll be in our new house.P.S. A special thank you to all those who have made this possible. Thanks to Mike and Dottie, Israel and Melissa, and Daniel's parents for letting us invade your homes.
Thanks so much to Daniel for the years of hard work and the awesome remodel job that allowed us to sell our house so quickly and buy the perfect new place.

I'm a Dancing Girl

Whenever I get dressed up in a skirt or dress Sam always says, "Wow Mom! You're a dancing girl!"
I'm not sure where he got that.
I can't help but think of those dancing girls when he says it and it makes me a little uncomfortable, and then I get the giggles.

Sam calls the place I work "The College".
I think that is because one time when we were driving past, Daniel asked me if it felt weird to work just a few blocks from where I went to college. (It doesn't feel weird.)
Whenever Sam sees the logo on billboards or commercials he says, "Look Mom, it's your work. It's your college." Today a commercial for Provo College came on. Sam told me, "I don't want to go to Provo College. I'm going to go to your college."

FOR SALE

I'm serious this time ya'll.
Check us out on KSL.com

Lately

We've been to a few BYU basketball games. Special thanks to Mike and Dottie for these great seats. We had so much fun at this game against UNM.

We've been to Idaho to visit Nana and Papa and Andrew.

We went to Playhouse Disney Live in SLC and saw Mickey and Minnie, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins and more. Sam loved it. He sang along and danced. It was a blast.

I like my Banana Republic card

because it just allowed me to buy 6 shirts for 50 cents each. Yea!

Sass

At home in Idaho Falls over Christmas Sam walked out of my Mom's pantry with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in hand. He brought it right to me, held it up and said, "See this? Don't say me no."

Today all was quiet so I went hunting for Sammy. I found him on my bathroom countertop. His feet were in the sink, the water running, and lotion was EVERYWHERE.
He says, "Be a nice Mom. Don't be upset to me."

I made cookies last night, but told Sam he had to eat a bowl of soup for dinner first. He replied, "No. I need to have a cookie first and no soup. Okay?"

Lip Gloss Envy

Sam: I want some Chapstick too.
Me: This isn't Chapstick. This is lip gloss. It's just for girls.
Sam: Just for girls?
Me: Yep.
Sam: Not for boys?
Me: Nope
Sam: I'm a boy.
Me: Yep.
Sam: (Walking away, disappointed.) But I have lips.

My Favorite Things 2008

As a Christmas gift my Mom framed my Great-grandmother's tatting for me and each of my siblings. I love it and am so excited to hang it up in my house.

Speaking of my house...It's almost done. I love the gaping hole in my ceiling which means the furnace is about to be finished. I know I've said this 2 billion times, but we are hoping to have the house up for sale this spring. I am so loving the progress.

Amazingly, I got tickets to Wicked in Salt Lake. I am so excited to finally see this show. I love the music.

I love my 2 year-old. He is so fun even considering his odd sleep habits. He is so sweet when he does sleep and so fun and funny when he's awake. He is my buddy.

I love my Magnalite roasting pan. It has made all the difference in the world for my roasts. My Mom's roast is the best and I've never had any luck making mine turn out right. The pan is the secret. I LOVE IT!
Glitter Toes. The actual picture of the feet was not so inspiring, but this year I sported toes as sparkly as Dorothy's red slipper and I loved them.
Peruvian Hot Chocolate. So yummy.
And of course I can't mention Peruvian Hot Chocolate without a shout out to Manolo's in Lima and the best churros ever.
The Fourth of July in Idaho Falls. There is no better place in the world to be on our nation's Independence Day. The fact that it is Samuel's birthday makes it even better.

Cozy cute slippers that Suzanna introduced me to. I wear them all day every day.

Our trip to St. George and the Bear Paw Cafe. I can't wait to go back this year.