T-Ball 2012

I've never loved sports. I'm clumsy and afraid of being hit by the ball. I was hoping that my kids wouldn't inherit my clumsiness. In an effort to help No Eye feel confident around a ball I signed her up for T-Ball this summer.

No Eye played for the Blue Jays. The first day of practice she didn't want to play because she was the only girl. When the uniforms came she was mad because she wanted a hat and a shirt with a pony NOT a boy bird. The field was near a playground and she wanted to leave and go try out the swings. She ran away every chance she had. She saw a dog, she ran for it. Grandma came to watch her game she wanted to cuddle with grandma rather then stand on her base. She would rather make friends and chat it up with the little boy playing first base then run to second. The little guy on the pitchers mound decided to sit down and eat some grass so she decided to sit down and eat grass too. She is definitely more me than Joe in this area. Or more likely I have the attention span of a three year old when it comes to sports.

This sequence of photos pretty much sums things up...

The very first time she was up to bat in a game she hit the ball and turned around and ran right into coach. If I had a video of this it would be on America's Funniest Home Videos.

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"Please Make My Mom That She Can Be Nice..."

"NORA MICHELLE EVERETT!!! PLEASE TELL ME THAT THE CRAYON ON THIS WALL IS A FIGMENT OF MY IMAGINATION!!"

I yelled at the top of my lungs. My heart was beating so hard I thought it was going to come out of my chest. "I made Disney Land, here's your ticket!" she said in her sweet matter-of-fact little voice as she handed me a Disney Princess playing card.

Nora had colored all over the family room wall. Now that will need to be repainted as well as the other places she's scribbled on my new house with the non latex-impossible-to- scrub paint.

I could feel the veins in my neck popping out. I am proud to say that I have never spanked my children but at this moment I was using every ounce of will power I had not to swat that bony little booty.

"NORA! ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO COLOR ON THE WALLS?!!" I yelled at her again this time kneeling down to look her in the eye. She looked at me and I saw her eyes get big and wide.  I didn't have to say anything else, she burst into tears and ran up to her room closing the door behind her. I sat on the couch, closed my eyes and nearly burst into tears myself. I had a headache.

The baby monitor in the corner of the family room started to crackle and I heard a little sobbing voice say, "Heavenly Father, (sob) please make my mom (sob) that she can be nice (sob)." And she kept repeating it over and over.

The following thoughts and emotions then ran through my head in no particular order and some at the same time:

• "You better pray to make me nice you little...."
• Pride, "I taught that child how to pray and this is a very appropriate situation to be asking for divine help"
• Guilt. I felt like a monster.
• and I even let out a giggle, come on you have to admit it's kind of cute and funny.

I don't know how long she stayed in her room but eventually she fell asleep and I calmed down. I apologized for losing my temper and she said, "sorry" for coloring on the wall. It's been almost a month and she hasn't had any other "coloring" instances. So I hope that we've moved on from the wall coloring stage.

The moral of this story is that God does answer prayers, I believe that I am now the nicest mommy ever! Except of course when I don't let her have a Popsicle for dinner....

Howie the Monster Turns 1!

Fist bump! Howie had his first birthday yesterday! It was pretty much a normal day because we are so busy this week that we are going to celebrate next week.

Don't worry he's one he won't know the difference.

Things got real a little over a month ago when Howie started walking and FYI he is getting pretty much awesome at it. Yesterday we let him and No-eye out of the house for a little while and Ryan got his momentum going on the inclined driveway. He ran pretty fast for a toddler of his height and experience...then he fell flat on his face (Don't judge, he's going to be a track star someday!)

 GRRRRRRR is Howie's fourth word after baba (bottle) papapa dadada (this is used for dad and/or grandpa) and mamamama (mom). Grrrrr is also Howie's favorite word. If you ask him what the dogie says he growls, "GRRRR" if you ask Ryan what the cow says he growls, "GRRRR" If you ask Ryan what Grandma says he growls, "GRRRR."

You get the point.

Ryan's only present, so far, was a pair of monster jammies. They are slightly too big and after toddling around the family room in them for a while the bottoms get left behind. Last night when I dressed him in the new monster jammies he sat on the floor pointing to each monster growling. I have the cutest babies ever. I would be doing a huge favor to the world by having 20 more, but I'm tired.

Happy Birthday Howie!!!

Crazy Grandma part 2

When I say "Crazy Grandma" I don't mean demented (rephrase that...I usually don't mean demented). I mean crazy super fun. I was blessed with two crazy super fun grandmas growing up! And I'm so glad that my kids are blessed with THREE crazy super fun grandmas!

GraMichelle

BAM! I am awesome! I get it from my awesome mom who is crazier than crazy! We went sledding last month and she sent my precious three year old little Nora down a gigantic hill of death. I even got it on video.  Before Nora was born my mom decided that she would like to have the girls, and all future grandchildren, grow up calling her "GraMichelle" (notice how she combines Grandma and her name, Michelle, all in one, clever huh? She's the JLo of Grandmas)  GraMichelle likes her husband to be called Grandpa Bruce but from their little mouths it just comes out sounding like Dumpa Deuce! (BAM! another good nick name!)

Yesterday I lost my phone at about 7 am and I didn't find it until about 7 pm. I discovered it under Nora's bed and noticed that someone had made about six calls to GraMichelle that day. I asked little Nora what Grandma had said during their 6(!) phone conversations and she said, "Shhh, I'm busy can't talk now. I'll call you later." (She was repeating what Grandma was saying.)   Grandma was at the dermatologist getting some moles removed while answering calls from her phone happy granddaughter. (I'm glad my mom doesn't "have time" to read this blog because I don't know how she would feel about me talking about her moles so I would appreciate it if you didn't mention it.)

Here's some examples of crazy things my mom does that makes Nora like her better than me:

1. GraMichelle gives her bubblegum and if you give a 3 year old bubble gum you must be crazy.

2. GraMichelle gives her Diet Coke, my mom says that it's just melted ice with a little Diet Coke mixed in. (I don't like her having caffeine because I think she is too little. I'd rather if she had bubble gum).  One day when Nora had just turned 2 we were driving in the car and out of the blue, Nora says to me, "Mom, Diet Coke is for babies! I like apple juice! Apple juice is for big girls like me!"

3. GraMichelle tells Nora scary stories in the closet, while holding flashlights under her chin. Nora once told me a scary story that she had learned from my mom. It went something like this:

"It was a dark, dark scary night and you were in the dark, dark scary woods. AND THEN A MONSTER CAME OUT AND ATE YOU!!!!"

Grams

Grams is Joe's mom. Grams has an entire room full of dress ups. She is constantly looking for new fun dress up shoes, hats, jewelry and of course dresses. Every 20 minutes is a costume change at Grams house.

Grams takes Nora to McDonald's all of the time. In fact I think that Nora even pulled her hide-in-the-top-of-the-play-place-so-you-don't-have-to-go-home stunt on Grams once. Even after that Grams kept taking her back to good ol' McDonald's

A few weeks ago we went to Grams house for dinner and a visit. Nora played and played and played with Grams and her cousins. When it was time to go home Nora threw one of her humungo screaming, crying, make-me-roll-my-eyes, sigh and drag-her-out-to-the-car kind of fits. We got into the car and started to drive away with Nora sobbing hysterically in the back. After Nora calmed down a little she quietly said, "mommy, (sob) my heart (sob) is breakin' (sob)"

"Why is your heart breaking Nora?"

"I just miss (sob) my Grams (sob) soooo much (sob) that my heart is breakin'"

Poor little thing. I feel kind of bad, because I couldn't help laughing, which made her heart break even more.

I think that Ryan likes Grams more than me because she lets him roam around her house 'Commando, free and easy blowing in the wind'. Grams loves cute little baby bums. I love cute little baby bums too but not more than cleaning up cute little baby bombs off my carpet.

Here's why Nora likes Grams more than me:

1. Grams went to beauty school and often does hair as a side job. One day Grams gave Nora permission to trim the hair off of a Barbie doll from her playroom. Nora thought this was the coolest thing ever.

2. Grams lets Nora put on make-up and even lets her paint her own fingernails and toes.

3. Grams buys Nora toys that I would never pick out for her, however Nora usually likes the toys that Grams buys for her better then the ones I buy. For example, she bought Nora a little broom and dust pan. I would look at a broom and dust pan and think, "This is not a toy! Broom + dustpan= boring chore." However Nora uses it to play house, play baton twirler and she uses it as a javelin (The little broom is currently in time out because Nora used it as a javelin and it hit Joe's beautiful new television he he.) Even Ryan loves to play with the little broom. They both help me sweep the kitchen floor.

Nana

Nana is Joe's red-headed step-mother. Nana is one of the most energetic people I know. She has raised four of her own children and now she is raising two of her grandchildren. On top of going to tons of football games/practices, softball games/practices and dance recitals/practices she is constantly planning fun activities for everyone. A few months ago she wanted to take all of the grand kids, including 3 year old Nora, to see a movie about a dolphin with a prosthetic fin. I can't remember why but Nora didn't make it to the prosthetic fin dolphin movie soooo...I guess that's a bad example (for some reason however thinking about a dolphin with a prosthetic fin makes me laugh, it must be my ice cold heart, don't tell my friends for PETA).

A better example would be the time she took all of the girls to the Witches Festival at Gardner Village. She got all dressed up and looked spectacular. We ate breakfast with the witches, the little girls got their faces painted and we did some window shopping. SUPER FUN DAY!



It's hard to see Nana in this photo because she is lugging Nora around...again. :)


Nana is a Disney extremist! There are two kinds of Disney extremists:  'The Haters' and 'The Lovers'. The Haters despise all things Disney.  For example they dislike the commercialism and the cheesy princesses with all their love at first sight that they say causes little girls to have unrealistic dreams and want to live happily ever after.  I once had a friend tell me that she wasn't going to let her daughters see the movie "Tangled" because it might encourage them at some point in their lives to fall in love with a thief like Flynn Ryder...whatever. Nana is at the other end of the spectrum she is a Disney LOVER to the tenth power. She goes to Disneyland usually more than once a year and brings back, for Nora and Ryan among others, tons of Disney paraphernalia. Aside from semi-annual 'pilgrimages' to the Magic Kingdom, she went with us to Disney On Ice, took us to Tuacahn's production of "Little Mermaid" last year and this year she is taking us to the production of "Aladdin".

 I have to admit that I was once a 'Hater' of Disney products. Not Disney movies and not Disneyland but of the t-shirts, bed sheets, diaper bags, blankets, toys, etc. I didn't want my kids to have them because I thought they were ugly and obnoxious, but ten seconds after Nora was born she was wearing a Minnie Mouse onesie and wrapped in a Winnie the Pooh blanket.  When I left the hospital I had a Winnie the Pooh diaper bag slung over my shoulder. My world has now become surrounded by Disney products. I have now learned to love all things Disney because Nora is so fascinated by Disney Magic. Nora asks me when we can go to Disneyland on a daily basis. I want to wait until her fifth birthday to go, but she might crack me before then because I can't wait to see her face when we get there.  Nana spoils Nora with Disney toys and is just as excited as I am for Nora's first trip to Disneyland.

Nora and Ryan love giving Nana kisses and cuddles and she is always sharing her food with them so they like to hang around her at meal time like hungry baby birds.

I am so so so grateful that my kids have such wonderful examples of love in their lives. They are blessed to have many that love them especially their grandmas!!!!!

Crazy Grandma Part 1!!!

When I say "Crazy Grandma" I don't mean demented (rephrase that...I usually don't mean demented). I mean crazy super fun. I was blessed with two crazy super fun grandma's growing up!

Grandma Hendy

Here is Grandma Hendy attempting to keep the peace. I think she might be praying.
From left to right: Zach, Kristen, Colton, Michelle, Grandpa Hendy, Michal, Joe, Hilary

My dad's mom is my Grandma Henderson, which somewhere along the way was shortened to Grandma Hendy. I have a very early memory of standing in her front room by the fire place while she explained to me that girls are precious and me asking her, "what does precious mean?"

Grandma Hendy is crazy fun when it comes to games. She is a Pitt mad woman! And if you want to play Jungle Match Uno with her watch out! When I was about 4 or 5 my dad and I went to Grandma Hendy's for a visit. There was about a foot of snow outside and I wanted to play in it. I didn't have snow shoes or boots so she made me some out of plastic garbage bags. She taught me to play a game called fox and hens. We made specific trails and safety zones (hen houses) with our foot prints in the deep powdery bright white snow in the back yard and spent the entire afternoon chasing each other.

I've heard people say that on the day my dad was born, Grandma Hendy was playing softball and that sliding into home is what caused her to go into labor.

Grandma Hendy is a hot chocolate smores grandma. My dad hated smores, he hated anything sticky. This may be a little off track but my dad hated sticky so much that he complained to the credit union for giving out suckers at the drive up window because he didn't want sucker sticks all over his precious car. Grandma Hendy was our sticky salvation. We loved camp outs with Grandma Hendy because she would always bring the smores. I don't even think she flinched when my dad complained that they were too sticky. She has a bag of orange sticky chewy circus peanuts on hand at all times, if you're lucky she'll share.

Hot Chocolate is her specialty, she's always making hot chocolate. On these same camping trips, if we were awake before our parents, we would sneak over to Grandma Hendy's RV because she would make us some hot chocolate with sticky marshmallows. A few years ago my cousin, who lived with my grandparents at the time, came home in the middle of the night to find Grandma Hendy in an Ambian induced frenzy. She was in a hurry to make hot chocolate for 75 people.

Grandma Yates

Colton forcing Grandma Yates to get her picture taken
It is a very rare thing to see Grandma without her hair done.

Grandma Yates was my mom's mom. She passed away in December 2006. I miss her a lot! Grandma Yates was a Crazy singing, ATV/Snowmobile riding, laughing tell it hurts kind of Grandma. She loved to sing and if I remember right she was in Madrigals in high school. We always knew when Grandma wasn't happy because she wasn't humming, whistling or singing.

Grandma Yates taught me how to drive a three wheeler ATV when I was 8 years old. I hit the gas closed my eyes and ran straight into a big old pine tree. Later that day she was driving full speed down a dirt road with me on the back when she hit a tree root that was sticking up. We bounced and rolled down into the ravine, now appropriately named Bloody Gultch. We were fine, I had the wind knocked out of me but Grandma had a broken collar bone.

My favorite Christmas tradition and I would dare to say that one of Grandma Yates favorite family traditions is the family Christmas party and  the No Talent Talent Show. Most of the family gets up and makes fools of themselves occasionally someone has a real talent.

I remember one particular talent- my cousin Wayne stood up at the family talent show and flossed his nasal cavity with a piece of spaghetti. Grandma was laughing so hard she nearly fell off her chair! (Click on this link for a long list of You Tube videos of people flossing their nostrils with spaghetti- youtube.com FYI, Wayne preforms this act more smoothly then any of these YouTube examples). After the talent show my Uncle Don plays the accordion while we sing Christmas carols and of course the accordion doesn't come out of the case without the Beer Barrel Polka.

Grandma Yates used to have a talking car. I remember if the door was open the car would repeat over and over in a futuristic female droid voice, "A door is ajar. a door is ajar." My brothers, my sister and I almost died in that talking car. For some reason Grandma stopped on a railroad track and I remember the guard rails coming down on top of the car and looking out my window and seeing a speeding train coming right for us. I started to panic and the car died. Grandma said a lot of swear words turned the key again and the car started. Later she explained that in a situation like that, it's important not to panic.Crazy Grandma!

Coming soon Crazy Grandma Part 2...

What Every Father-To-Be-Again Should Know...

In the summer of 2010 I started feeling like it was time to add another little bundle of joy into our family. Joe and I discussed this and prayed about it. I went off the birth control and a an hour later I was pregnant. (My high school health teacher Ms. Searle wasn't kidding when she said, "All it takes is once.")


Soon after the pregnancy test came back positive doubt and fear set in. I was working two jobs at the time so that we could pay for Joe's school, pay off some debt and save for a house. On top of that I was baby sitting my two-year-old niece Sophie 24 hours a week. We were living in a basement apartment and didn't have hardly any room for storage. I was ALWAYS tired. I felt guilty that I was too tired to give Nora all of the attention she was used to. In fact being pregnant with a second child was much more exhausting then the first because I was constantly chasing after a toddler, if not two toddlers when I was watching Sophie.

Me with Nora and Sophie at Tracy Aviary.

I started to question, "Are we really doing the right thing?" and then thinking "What have we gotten ourselves into? I can't even handle the one I've got!" I couldn't fathom the thought of leaving another little baby with a sitter while I went back to work.  I would fantasize about the days before Nora, when my husband and I could just take off and go see a movie, enjoy a meal in a restaurant without having to find a sitter or deal with a cranky kiddo and I would dream of the days when we could take off for a weekend get-a-way. Now we were prolonging the "us time" even longer.


I felt worried sick about how Nora was going to react. She was the center of our world and I worried about her feelings.  I was experiencing so much anxiety that we decided not to tell our family members until after our 20 week ultrasound. I wanted to make sure that baby was healthy because if he wasn't healthy I didn't want to add to my anxiety by having others feeling sorry for us and bombarding us with a ton of questions.


The day of the ultrasound was one of the best days of my life. All of my anxiety melted away as the Ultrasound Tech showed us this alien looking baby on the monitor, and we heard his little heart beat. She pointed out his tiny hands and feet, she counted all of his little fingers and toes. When she showed us that he was a boy, I watched my husband's face light up. I knew that this little guy was meant to be a part of our family. I had a strong feeling that everything would work out. I was filled with so much love for this tiny person and I hadn't even met him yet. I couldn't wait to hold him in my arms and kiss his soft little head.

Ryan profile

tiny feet

Ryan the Alien Mud Baby!

Ryan 1 day old.

A few days ago my brother-in-law, Jeff, his wife Casey, and their 3-year-old Alexa came over for a visit.  One of the cutest families ever! As they were leaving I asked Casey if she was hanging in there. Casey is about 4 months pregnant and a CNA in an extended care facility a job that can be physically taxing. She said that she was pretty tired and mentioned that she was taking some extra days off work. She also mentioned that she had been trying to explain to Jeff how exhausting it is to be pregnant, that she is building a tiny human being inside of her and it takes a lot of energy. (I feel like I should mention that Jeff wasn't criticizing Casey in any way for being tired. I suppose he was just wondering.  In fact Jeff is an exemplary husband and father and Alexa has him wrapped around her extra cute little finger.)

Jeff, Alexa and Casey

It might be impossible to explain to someone who has never been pregnant how exhausting pregnancy is, especially with the second, third or fourth baby. But a little sympathy and extra work can help your wife be a happier less stressed person.  As your wife continues to put on extra weight and is filled with raging hormones, the Father-To-Be-Again should tack the following onto his to-do-list:

1. Take the older child or children off of mom's hands whenever possible. It is important that she gets the rest she needs.
2. Run errands; for me riding in the car would trigger nausea and vomiting. So when Joe would go to the grocery store or the bank for me it was a really good thing. You can also combine number 1 above by taking the older child/children with you so that the wife can take a much needed nap.
3. Cook or order out. Another thing that would trigger my nausea and vomiting was cooking and dishes. So it's nice when father-to-be orders out or takes over dinners for awhile. It's also an added bonus when he does the clean up. Not leaving dirty dishes with disgusting stuck on ketchup in the sink for 3 days that helps too.
4. Baths; As your wife's belly gets bigger, it's harder to bend over and maybe even painful to give toddlers baths. Dad's can help out with baths more easily then big pregnant moms.
5. DON'T COMPLAIN; This is the most important. Your wife is not being lazy, she is making an actual person. Raging hormones and the stress of adding another little one to your family can be very stressful so complaining about the extra choirs will make an already exhausted wife feel guilty. 

I know that I worry too much. I wish that I would have just enjoyed being pregnant with Ryan instead of being so stressed out. Everyone says that it all works out in the end and so far it has. I can't imagine life without little Ryan. Everyday I thank my Heavenly Father for my husband and my two beautiful kiddos!

Utah, Mormon and Democrat! Somebody Save My Soul.

I know this is a mommy blog but humor me I need to get this off my chest.  


"At election time each year, a Church statement of political neutrality is read in LDS congregations throughout the nation, which "affirms [the Church's] neutrality regarding political parties, platforms, and candidates." Importantly, it also stresses that, "principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties." Implicit in this statement is the notion that gospel truth may be found in the Democratic party's platform."  Boyd Peterson's Why I'm A Mormon Democrat.

2012 has begun, it's another presidential election year. I consider myself a Democrat, meaning the majority not all of my beliefs lie with the Democratic party.


I want to make it very clear that I don't care who you vote for. However, it seems there is always somebody out there who cares a whole lot about who I vote for. Every presidential election year someone who knows that I vote Democrat tries to convince me to vote Republican. I have even been told, by a seminary teacher, that it is a sin to vote Democrat.

Again I don't care who you vote for. I don't care if you vote for Obama, Romney or Super Dell. Now, if you still feel the need to convince me to vote Republican here are a few easy to follow suggestions:

1. Do not verbally assault me. Yes, this has happened more than once at church, in school and with family members. For example; soon after the last election my husband and I went to a family party. One of our family members, we’ll call him Jason, who at the time I very much respected, sat with my husband and I. He asked my husband how school was going and what he wanted to do with his degree once he was finished. My husband told him that he was interested in alternative fuels. Jason had somehow found out that we vote Democrat and started raising his voice and saying something to the effect, he wasn't being quite clear, that there would be no more energy or fuel because of "Your Guy." (He kept calling President Obama "YOUR GUY!" as if the President of the United States was Voldemort and he could not speak his name).  He then started spouting off information that I know from my research and news watching is not true. One of the things that Jason said was basically that it is our guy's fault that the economy collapsed. I'm pretty sure that the economy collapsed in October of 2008. President Obama was not even elected President until November 2008 and was not sworn in until January 2009.For over an hour we had to listen to Jason go on and on about how horrible the President of the United States is. My level of respect for Jason dropped down to a big zero. I now try and avoid him at all family functions. 

NOT A LEGITIMATE NEWS SOURCE!

2. When trying to convert me to the Republican Party do not quote TV or Radio personalities. They are paid by their political parties; they are hired for entertainment purposes only and ARE NOT A LEGITIMATE NEWS SOURCE!

A Legitimate Source of Cute!
Not A Legitimate News Source!

NOT A LEGITIMATE NEWS SOURCE! 

3. If you want to discuss your politics with me know what you are talking about! For example, don’t tell me that Mitt Romney can do no wrong, is absolutely perfect and then tell me that you hate "Obamacare." It frightens me when the people I associate with have one-line stingers aimed at Democrats especially President Obama and have no facts to back up their arguments. If you are going to tell me that "Obama is a wolf in sheep's clothing" or that "Obamacare" is socialized medicine at least have some facts to back it up.

Romneycare = Obamacare

4. Understand and respect political offices especially that of President but also all other elected positions. I recently read a really good article that one of my friends posted on Facebook. It helped me to understand the Presidential role more clearly. It even made me respect President George W. Bush a little more. I think that everyone should read it before  going to the voting booth this November. Obama, Explained-The Atlantic.

To sum things up:

• I don't care who you vote for.
• If you are going to try and convert me to the Republican Party- don't be rude, only quote legitimate news sources and know what in the heck you are talking about.
• Respect the office of the President.
• And last but not least I have my opinions and reasons for voting for who I vote for. Don't Judge me because I'm a Democrat-Judging isn't Christian. 

Now here is how I feel about some of the hot button issues and why I vote Democrat, Disclaimer: These are only my opinions. If they bother you too much simply stop reading. If you feel that you must leave a comment, please be respectful. 

1. Abortion: This is a big one for a lot of LDS people. Just because I am pro-choice does not mean that I am pro-abortion or pro-death. Here is the Church's stance on abortion   ("The Church has not favored or opposed legislative proposals or public demonstrations concerning abortion") I believe that life is precious and should be treated so, however, there are details to think about before passing certain legislation:

• You and your wife have been blessed with 3 young children all under the age of 6. Your wife is pregnant with the fourth. When you go to your physicians office you are told that if your wife has this child she will die. I am not saying that she should have an abortion. I am saying that she should have a choice.
• Your sister is raped and soon after discovers that she is pregnant. Shouldn't your sister have a choice about what to do with the fetus? Again I am not saying that an abortion is the right choice I just think she should have the choice.
• Your young neighbor has been abused by her uncle her entire life and now discovers that she is pregnant with his baby.  I am not saying that she should have an abortion. I am saying that she should have a choice.

There is a lot of "pro-life" legislation especially that comes through Utah's legislature that threatens these specific types of choices. I believe that birth control should be made available to all, incentives for choosing adoption should be made available and when the need arises for an abortion I think that the patient should be able to go somewhere safe and legal to have the procedure done.

2. Welfare and Healthcare: King Benjamin teaches, "...succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish." Mosiah 4:16 In my opinion the Democratic party works harder to protect moral priorities such as ... feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and administering to the sick. Mosiah 4:26.

3.Earth a Gift of Gladness. I believe that Heavenly Father has created this beautiful world for us and that we should respect and protect this gift. Al Gore, is a good example of a Democrat who works to protect our earth. 

4. Education: The scriptures state "to seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith" (Doctrine and Covenants 109:7) Democrats have the long-term goal of having low-cost, publicly funded college education with low tuition fees available to every eligible American student. I do not support private school vouchers because they would damage our public school system.

5. National Budget: Democrats have a history of being more fiscally responsible. Google "national deficit by president" and several articles and charts will prove this pattern.

Okay now that's off my chest, we can be friends and I'm moving on... 

Here are some really good links regarding the same subject: 

• Why I'm a Mormon Democrat by Boyd Peterson
• Being A Mormon Democrat by Shawn L.
• National Press Club Q&A with President Gordon B. Hinckley-

Q. It says, Given the platform and positions taken by the Democratic Party, can you be a good church member and a Democrat? "

A. Yes, I think so. I don't know why you couldn't. It depends on what you believe as a Democrat in terms of some things. There are some things we don't subscribe to. We've got lots of Democrats in the church, lots of them, and they are good people. I don't worry about that too much. 

Our Tobogganin' Adventure

Last month Nora watched an episode of Calliou. In this particular episode Calliou went tobogganing. Which apparently is the Canadian word for sledding. And ever since then she has been begging me to take her tobogganin'. (this is a good example of why we shouldn't let our kids watch TV. They get ideas in their heads about doing crazy things like toboggnanin')

This winter has been a mild one and we haven't had very much snow but when Nana invited us to go with her and the kids to the cabin in midway and go sledding I decided that I needed to take Nora down the hill a few times if there was enough snow.

Joe had to work all weekend so I packed up all of our stuff by myself and got the kids ready to spend a night at Grandma Great's cabin and hopefully go tobogganin' HOLLA!!! (Doing this kind of thing without Joe gives me a much greater appreciation for the wonderful man that he is. It also gives me more respect for single parents. Which is why Joe is forbidden to 1. die before me and 2. leave me. )

There was not enough snow.  This is what the hill looked like:

We arrived at the cabin and went to bed but early the next morning Nora was all over me to take her, "Snowmobilin'." (Sometime during the night she had stopped calling sledding " tobogganin'." and started calling it "snowmobilin'") So Nana started making breakfast, Aunt Julie (newly engaged the night before btw) said that she would watch Howie. Nora and I got all of our snow clothes on. Snow pants, gloves, hats, coats and boots. The lack of snow did not stop us from having fun! We sled down the hill six times, ran into big bushes twice, and screamed like crazy with our hands in the air all the way to the bottom of the hill. It was the most fun I've had in a long time. 5 days later my bum is still bruised but it was totally worth it. Climbing up the hill was also an adventure. The entire way up Nora was repeating in her out-of-breath voice "are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet?" Which of course made me laugh. I'm really glad that she was a trooper and didn't want me to carry her to the top because that would have killed me. Let's just say I take up a lot more space then I used to.  

Calliou is a Canadian television show about a bald headed four year old little boy, named... Calliou, and his adventures growing up. Nora loves Calliou probably more then any other television show. 

"To Nora! Cheers!" or I Love Being A Mom, So What?

I was just reading over my last blog and realized that it seems as though I'm complaining. I'm not. The day described did sound particularly bad but strangely enough it is a typical day for me. I didn't even realize that it was all that bad until I had gone back read what I had written.

Being a mom, especially of young children, is really hard. It is a 24 hour 7 day a week job. It was hard when I was working full time out of the home. It is a hard job now that I am home with the kids. Whether I am with my kids or I am away from them for a short time I worry and think about them constantly.

I have been working in a hospital emergency department as a Health Unit Coordinator since the summer of 2000. Before having kids I supposed it was the perfect job for me (If I don't count the demeaning size of the paychecks.) I get to be a part of a team that includes very intelligent hard working professionals, Nurses, Doctors, Social Workers, Techs etc. It is an excellent position to learn new and interesting things. Every shift involves some sort of exciting drama and I can be a part of it by sitting behind a desk and not having to get my hands dirty.  

Today I believe that working in the Emergency Department is boring in comparison to being a mom. In fact now I count working in the ER as a nice little break from motherhood. Being a mom is so much more demanding and challenging. Working in the Emergency Department has never brought me as much joy and fulfillment as being a mom.

As a mom I get to experience little joys everyday like seeing little Ryan stand up on his own for the first time, hearing Nora sing, "I Am Like a Star" or "I Love to See the Temple." She also does a fabulous rendition of The Little Mermaids, "Under The Sea" during bath time. I love it when Ryan is crying and Nora puts on a silly act until he is laughing so hard that he can't stop. I love it when we are eating dinner and Nora proposes a thousand toasts...to herself! "To Nora! Cheers!" I love it when I make kissing noises and Ryan takes that as his cue to give me a big wet slobbery kiss. I love it when I tell Nora that she has to have some piece of clothing on before dinner and she comes down in her swimsuit, or comes downstairs in her dad's shirt and shoes talking in a low voice...

The other night I was rocking Ryan in his room with all of the lights off. I had the lullaby music playing, he was snuggled up with me drinking his bottle and drifting off to dreamland. It was one of the most relaxing, peaceful, happy moments in my life. I was filled with so much love for this tiny human in my arms. I then realized that he would be turning one in a few months and that he wouldn't be drinking bottles anymore. In just a few short months these moments of snuggling and rocking with little Ryan will probably come to an end. How short my time with these precious little monsters.


Kids grow up so fast, I only have a short time to be a mommy and then they will be off and gone and on their way. I am committed to enjoy every stage of their lives a little bit more, and worry less about the demanding, messy part of being a mom. So what if my house isn't tidy? So what if there are toys everywhere and the laundry is piling up? So what if play dough gets stuck in the carpet, and the walls are covered with peanut-butter-jelly-finger stains? So what if they aren't dressed in designer clothes looking like baby gap models everyday? So what if I have boogers all over my shirt? So what if Nora is sporting her favorite swimwear during dinner in January? So what if I have ugly outdated clothes and no make-up on? Nora and Ryan are my number one priority. Molding, shaping and teaching my little ones is my calling in life and I know it is the most important thing I will ever do. I am going to enjoy the doing and not focus so hard on the getting it done. And my new attitude is SO WHAT?

What is important is that I work hard to make sure that my babies know that they are always loved. What is important is that I work hard to make sure that they are taught to treat others with love and compassion. And what is important is that I find the joy in being a mother everyday.

I LOVE BEING A MOM!

Sometimes A Good Mom Has To Laugh To Keep From Becoming A Suicidal/Homicidal Mom

The title of this post might be overly dramatic but as they say laughter is the best medicine!

Here is a list of things that I laugh at now. At the time they weren't so funny...

• I did not laugh when Nora at 10 months sat in her car seat, holding my keys in her cute little baby hand, hitting the lock button and laughing when the car honked. I was not laughing because I was standing outside her window pleading with her to hit the unlock button. 
• I did not laugh at the time both No Eye and Soapy had Hershey squirts in the bath tub.
• It was our second Sunday in a new ward and Nora came out of nursery with a pout on her face. When I asked her what was wrong she told me that she was in trouble for saying, "poop, poop, fart, fart, toot, toot" in nursery. (I almost died of embarrassment not laughter)
• I had to climb my fat, sick, 8 month pregnant self to the top of the McDonald's play place to drag Nora down. I found 3 half eaten, oldy, moldy chicken nuggets on the way up. I got stuck in the tube slide on the way down. I prayed and prayed that they wouldn't have to use the jaws of life to set me free. It took quite a while to wriggle my way down but my prayers were answered. Needless to say I didn't return to McDonald's without reinforcements for a very long time. At the time it WAS NOT FUNNY! and even though it was almost a year ago this one still isn't funny. 
•  I didn't even giggle when she covered herself and my bed in a bran-new bottle of diaper-rash cream and then asked me if she looked pretty with her make-up on. What I did was snap a picture so that I could laugh about it later.

On Friday one of my favorite people in the world posted this as her Facebook status:

"My day is going good so far... no finger paints on my bed spread, no pee puddles on the floor and no Anna's have escaped the house without my knowing..."

I saw this and thought to myself hmmmm, I think that I too had a pretty good day.

Then I started to go over in my mind the events of the day...

 I woke up to Ryan's screams at 6:30 a.m. and realized that he was sitting in a huge disgusting blow out. I got that special treat cleaned up (BTW-it smelled like Twizzlers) I then made him a bottle and was reminded that I needed to buy formula. Luckily it was pay day. It took about 3 more hours to get Nora out of bed get them both dressed, fed, bundled up and in their car-seats and we were off to Sam's Club.

While shopping Nora and Ryan were actually really good. Nora didn't beg to get out of the shopping cart and with the promise of McDonald's for dinner whining was at a minimum. I loaded up the cart with huge boxes of stuff that will last us months and spent way more than I should have, typical Sam's Club outing. After we were done at the check out I looked down and noticed that Nora had on only one purple boot.

"Nora, where is your other purple boot?" I asked.

"I don't know mommy." She replied

"Did you notice that it had fallen off?"

"Yes, it fell off a long time ago while we were shoppin'."

This is where I let out the world's biggest sigh turned the heavy cart around and began to retrace our steps. We looked up and down every isle for the purple boot and I was determined to find it. Alas we were not having very good luck and after what seemed like an eternity had passed I thought, "I'm just going to buy her another pair of damn purple boots and get the heck out of here!" just as this little thought had entered my mind an employee at the deli said he saw a guy carrying around a purple boot that matched Nora's.

We went to the customer service desk and sure enough some unknown hero had turned in Nora's purple boot. I now pray that good fortune and blessings will befall the man who turned in our purple boot.

The store trip had only taken an hour longer then I had planned.

After we got home I prodded, threatened, begged and sang the clean up song about 20 times for Nora to clean up her blocks and she did!  Nora actually picked up her blocks in the family room! I was a proud mother of a 3 yo child who had picked up her own toys for about 20 minutes because while I was making our PB & J lunch she promptly decided that she wanted to get the blocks back out, along with every other toy in the toy box and I was to exhausted to make her pick them up.

After a nutritious delicious PB & J sandwich came my favorite part of the day....NAP TIME!!!! Can I get a Whoot Whoot!

Oh how I absolutely love nap time. Nap time brings balance into my universe. I fully intend to enforce nap time until my kids begin Kindergarten or maybe even first grade. And when they aren't sleepy they still have to stay in their beds for at least an hour looking at books or drawing big colorful murals on their bedroom walls in my beautiful new house. Murals, murals, murals that cannot be erased with the Magic Eraser, Soft Scrub, 409 or anything else because the paint in my house can be better described as chalk than paint and easily comes of with even a flimsy paper towel and a squirt of water!!! 

After we got up from nap time, Nora, Ryan and I sat on the floor and played for a while. Nora even jumped up and ran to the bathroom when she had to drop a poopy. I was thrilled that I only had to ask her once to get up and go. 

After an extra long time in the potty, I heard Nora call from the top of the stairs, " Hey Moooooom! The toilet water is comin'!"

"What do you mean the toilet water is coming?" I asked.

"Oh it's floodin' again." she answered very matter-of-fact.

This lead me to think that it was just clogged which has happened a few times since Nora decided that she needs an entire roll of TP to wipe with instead of the 3 squares which we have repeatedly discussed. Therefore I simply moseyed on up stairs and then I saw my bathroom with 3 inches of water on the floor! and yelled out 

 "JOOOOOOOOEYYYYYYYY! THE TOILET WATER IS COMIN'!! IT'S FLOODIN'! AND BRING THE PLUNGER!"

Thank heavens I had shoes on. The toilet handle was stuck in the down position! I unclogged the toilet soaked up the water with like 6 heavy duty towels and we went to McDonald's....

McDonald's was a breath of fresh air. Nora made friends, they played tag. When she was "it" she chased the other kids yelling out, "Hey Mom! Come help! We've got some action to do! We've got some ACTION to do mom!" Which totally made me laugh. 

I can't decide which part of this visit to McDonald's was better the fact that I finally got to have an actual conversation with my husband, Joe, who I hadn't seen for the past 2 days because he is so busy working 12 hour graveyard shifts and  going to school during the day. Or the fact that the cleanup consists of no more then dumping your garbage into the trash receptacle. 

Joe kissed me good-bye and was off to work. I bundled up the kiddos and all three of us reluctantly went home. 

When we arrived home the fully clothed Nora dumped Dora the Explorer strawberry shampoo on her head. I guess she wanted to get a jump start on bath time. 

I bathed the kids, then Ryan had a bottle and because it was only 6:30 p.m. I read Nora 3 stories instead of 1. 

They were both in bed an hour early and after all of this I still went to bed with a smile on my face thinking that I have the most beautiful, fabulous, fantastic kids in the universe. And even though I fantasize constantly about leaving the kids with their grandparents for a week and jetting off to some tropical destination with my husband. I know that I am blessed to be able to raise my little ones, that I get to experience their unique personalities everyday and that I get to have such a big part in shaping their lives.

I love being a mom!