Thursday, July 19, 2007

A Warning

In order to ease my conscience, I am sending out a warning to you that I should have given to my neighbor yesterday. I was leaving to run some errands yesterday evening and while getting into my car noticed that my neighbor standing next to his black pickup truck, in the heat, was reading the directions to this:



As I drove away, having said nothing, I knew I should have shared the experience we had growing up using this on my dad's truck one hot day. Basically, the stuff had cooked on!! I have never dared to use wax on a car (or anywhere else) since. I had a good laugh thinking about it... and then a good cry at the misery I could have prevented.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Tagged: list of fours

You know the drill. Copy, fill in your answers and tag 4 friends.
4 jobs I've had
1. housekeeper
2. custodian
3. Dental Assistant
4. Dental hygienist

4 Movies I can watch over and over
1. Life is Beautiful
2. My Life
3. Napoleon Dynamite
4. Secondhand Lions

4 Places I have lived
1. Price, Ut
2. Provo, UT
3. Logan, UT
4. Maricopa, AZ

4 Guilty Pleasures
1. doing nothing
2. Reading
3. Blog reading
4. Candy

4 TV shows I watch
1. Arthur
2. Ruff Ruffman
3. between the Lions
4. The Cosby show

4 Places I have been on vacation
1. San Deigo
2. Vermont
3. Seattle
4. Boston

4 Favorite Foods
1. Black Bean Salsa
2. Costco Orange Chicken
3. Cafe Rio Salad
4. fruit

4 websites I visit
1. Blogger
2. Yahoo.
3. Salt lake county library
4. Google

4 Places I'd rather be right now
1. Georgia (visit the sis)
2. Boston
3. in Bed
4. At a BYU sporting event

(I'm adding a few, so Sarah and Allison feel free to add in too)

4 Books you love
1. Bonds that Make us Free
2. Kite Runner
3. Secret Life of Bees
4. To Kill a Mockingbird

4 things you would like to know how to do
1. blog
2. study scriptures
3. be organized
4. be teachable

4 neglected body parts
1. toes
2. Muscles
3. skin
4. Hair

4 things that you worry about
1. my kids education
2. my house
3. my future education and career
4. my lack of creativity

4 happy moments
1. running a marathon
2. playing at 7 peaks with my family
3. Seeing my kids in the morning
4. Chatting with friends or family

4 things you want to do this year or in the future
1. Settle down somewhere (sell our house)
2. go back to school
3. visit my family members back east
4. enter races again, or a triathalon



4 people I'm tagging
1. Elisa
2. Celia
3.Erin Y.
4. Erin R.
4. Angelica
4. Kerry

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Is anyone going to see this??



Ok, ok... I have never seen any of his movies, and don't really like him much as a person, but after the frustration resulting from certain experiences (see previous post) I admit I am drawn to it. Maybe I will just stick to the PBS shows tackling similar problems... unless anyone wants to see it.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

A Year Ago....





The joy I feel in this milestone is good cause to celebrate by entering the blog world today. Mason has been vomit-less for a solid year now, an amazing feat considering the first 2+ years of his life were spent in a cycle of vomiting and confused family and doctors. We all adapted. doctors brushed it off, and the family always was quick to grab something to catch it all in. Isaiah even adapted well to this, many nights he would catch the results in the bowl stored by Masons bed, and then go back to sleep. Two long years of running when the retching began. He repeatedly marked Becki's house, our apartment, our house and our car. One time marking of territory honors went to Target, Maricopa city library, and our friend in Arizona who had a spotless kitchen. To my amazement, in never occurred at church, the doctors office, or the hospital (until the end). Oh how many times I just prayed it would happen at the doctors office, so the doctors could understand that I and the rest of the family weren't overreacting.
Anyhow, here is how the healing went down... quickly. For years, as I have mentioned we lived with this, ever since he was born. He would be sick for a week or two and then ok. For those years we saw doctors, ran tests, saw specialists, gave him all sorts of meds, had him in the hospital for dehydration... etc, etc. As we were getting ready to move to Arizona our wonderful Doctor at BYU, Dr. Joy Patten, had really done a lot of research and sketched out quite the plan of what she wanted tested and pretty much anything it could be. When we got to Arizona, and it hit again, I went to a new doctors office and had a physicians assistant run some of the suggested tests. One night he called with some results and told us to head to the hospital. He suggested Phoenix Children's... which really was our life saver. After a week of being there and being frustrated with the lack of answers.... again, we pretty much insisted that he be released so we could go home. As we were packing up to leave Mason finally did it and threw up in front of the staff. They had caught the gift in a bed pan, and were able to measure that the 2 1/2 cups that I had been measuring for a year now was no exaggeration. We stayed, and a wonderful resident doctor tracked down the GI specialist who requested an upper GI radiograph be taken (we had done this 2 times already, with "nothing significant" showing), I was skeptical, but they did it... and wala.. they found his lower intestine was folded over on top of itself (a volvus). Emergency surgery was done, recover was slow... but we have our little boy healthy and strong. I can't believe the change in a year, and really don't know how we got through the others (It really is so hard to see a little one sick and not be able to do anything).
So tonight I hold an extra thanks in my heart for my family who was so empathetic, Dr. Patten who kept trying, Isaiah for being so patient and helpful thru it all, Phoenix childrens who had keen Radiologists, Dr. Shub the GI specialist, who won't take anyones word for diagnosis again; the resident Dr. who tracked Dr. Shub down, Dr. Nortrica and Dr. Bryce who did the surgery; My mom who babysat during the long days and the hospital and after; Clint for getting my through the breakdowns; Mason for being so tough and brave through it all; and that sweet baby Ruby who eased my stress as I held her during those days at the hospital; and God for helping everything to fall into place. Heres to another healthy year! Good job everyone.

Mason today---


Saturday, May 19, 2007

Starting anew

I guess it really doesn't feel like such a fresh start. Maybe it is that we still have the house in Arizona, but I think it is more than that. I think that Arizona had the kind of effect on our family that makes it more of a stepping stone than something from the past. I miss it, but not too much right now (I know there will be days for that). All in all things here the first week have gone well. We spent Sunday night with my mom, Monday unloading the truck, Tuesday thru Friday slowly unpacking and trying to figure out where all this stuff came from and where it is going to go. Today my family came over for lunch and to swim. Very nice. Tomorrow will be church. Isaiah is excited at the prospects of being able to meet new friends and has been talking about that in his prayers for days now. What would we do without the social network of the church?
A few lessons learned in the first week:

1. The lack of heat (unlike the arizona right now) from the sun in Utah can be deceiving. I have a sunburn from today. I don't think I ever got one in Arizona.
2. The cafe Rios in Utah are better than in Arizona. When we lived there I just thought I was getting used to the taste and it was getting old. Nope, delicious!
3. It is so nice to have family around.

We are soooooo thankful for all the help we got with our move. It was well over 101 the days we loaded the truck in Arizona, and I don't know how we ever would have gotten the washer and dryer up the stairs without Clints brother Kirk. And all the help in between. Wow, I just don't know how other people do it.

Right now I have no idea where the camera is, but when I find it I will post some picts from the move and of the new place.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Chaos in Arizona and my mind


Well I am down to my last week here. I am in some serious denial, which makes packing hard, there is just a part of me that holds back. I am making progress though, and by Monday I should be cleaning and shutting down most of the rooms so I only have a few to do next week when the real chaos hits. I have been wanting to do a post about our little town in Arizona is like for awhile, but it is going to take more time than I had hoped, so I think for now I will just touch on a few things I will miss.
1. The ward. I have been working with the cub scouts, and in the primary presidency. I love the people I serve with and "for".
I leave presidency meetings feeling rejuvenated. I had no idea what I was walking into when I said "sure" to working with 8 and 9 year old boys, or taking on the primary. Both were new territory. Its what I love about callings, you go in just thinking you will give it a try and people usually appreciate that.. because they have no choice really. So I have learned the cub scout motto, about patches, belt loops, achievements, beads, pack night, pinewood derby, sharing time, conducting, etc. etc. How I will miss it. I was skeptical of the ward in the beginning, as people did not seem too friendly to the new family (us), what I did not know then was that we were part of a constant flow of new families, so it was hard to get a welcome, because everyone else was new too. Through play-groups, callings, kids, visiting teaching I have felt welcomed and love these people.
2. A new community, away from the town. I get sick when I am in the city. I feel so small and insignificant. Being out here (about 45 miles from phoenix) was an automatic comfort to me. People are trying to build a community, and it is fun to be a part of growing recreation programs, libraries, and expansion. I appreciate the sense of ownership it creates in those who care... though I admit that that is not everyone.
3. Recycling. I have never lived in a community with a local recycling center (at least one that I knew of). The one here was started as a non-profit by a lady. It is only open on Sat. (though you can arrange for a can pick up), so I head down there on Saturdays and with a volunteer sort out my recyclables. I am amazed at how much I can recycle.
4. Being out on our own. I do love family, there is no doubt. But there is something about being out on your own and having to rely on your own immediate family, start your own traditions. I didn't have much time to do well at it, but I have tasted enough of it, to work for it now.
5. Ikea. I know Utah is getting one, but it just won't be the same. This was always on our list of to sees when we had company... I don't know its just so big and cool, and the cheap good food is such a bonus.
6. Being in a place you don't know. The sense of adventure it creates that you need to discover a whole new state. Where do you hike, take your kids, do on a saturday, are there unique places to eat?? Again I didn't do so great, but do think that I will do better at appreciating adventure because our time here was so short.
7. Being a distance cougar fan. The Y on the back windshield of my car is like a secret symbol beckoning other fan to nod in appreciation. Traveling (2 games) to see the team is a different feel that just walking up to the home stadium.
8. Intel. I know Clint had to deal with not liking this every day, but from my end working for the big company was nice. Nice benefits, bonuses, and hours. What more can a wife ask... oh yeah, for her husband to like it.
9. The warmth.. the several months of the perfect about of warm make up for the couple of hot. I don't feel the same about the one (maybe) month of perfect warm and several months of drawn out cold in Utah.

I think that is enough for now. Giving Utah credit, I am excited to be by family, be by the mountains, enjoy some of the food (Cafe Rio, and Fresh food Junkies come to mind), Clint being happy with his job, and the chance to de-junk while I pack (again). Here we come... if I can make it through this week. Stay tuned.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Whats behind a name?

One of the top concerns I hear when people are nervous about starting a blog is "what will I write about", "what will the name of my blog be?" etc. I just say go with it, the ideas will come. That being said, I did ask myself these questions before setting up a personal blog (I had already been involved in my family blog) because I wanted to know if it would be worth the effort and time it would take... so these are the reasons why I went ahead and took the plunge.
1. I had a lot of friends I wanted to reconnect with in a way that would allow me to check in on them and at least have some contact when there had been little or none.
2. I had seen that there are many cool things that can be done on the blog, and I want to learn how to do them. So far I have only been refreshed on saving and posting images, and posting links, but I have a big list waiting.
3. I wanted to be seen as cool by my peers.
4. Most important, I wanted to be more mindful of my day to day activities, and thoughts (thus the name of the blog). Something about the blog makes this more exciting than a journal. maybe the pictures, maybe the interaction.. something.
I have thought often about needing to be more mindful, intentional living, pushing myself to do something hard everyday.. (all names for the same idea I have in my head for quite sometime) and I think the blog, in a way, is helping me to accomplish at least a little bit of doing that.