Can you dig it?

This just plain makes me feel happy.

Happy Nuggets

Today I decided to take my trusty camera out and about with me to capture the things that are making me mucho gladdo. It's true, I'm bilingual. So feast your eyes on my first ever photomentary.

First of all I have to mention that ITS ABOUT TIME I get to wear this shirt. It has been nicely folded in my drawer for 4, that's correct, 4 years. First I was too pregnant, then I was too fat, then I was too barfing (again, pregnant), and I finally finally I fit into this shirt! Hooray! Also I'd like to add that this is the first time in a solid week I've had a full shower/dressed/makeup combo. I feel great! Ready to meet the world!Okay next up, the clouds are clearing. There was a freak hail storm with very loud thunder and lightning on the way to drop the kids at school this morning. It was awesome. Just as I get out of the van with two large jack o lanterns in my arms, it starts pouring and pelting us. The thunder cracks and 100+ little school kids shriek and run for the door. Good times. But on the way home the clouds were moving out. Fingers crossed that we'll be able to trick or treat dry tonight.
Then I was about out of gas and pulled into the local station to this lovely sight:I love love love that little '1'. I know that rationally this is only 1 tenth of a penny away from 2 dollars a gallon. But oh how that little tenth doth sooth my soul.

And let's all join together in song to welcome Target to the land where Walmart reigns supreme! No offense, dearest Walmart. I really appreciate that you let me return the stuff I decide I don't like as much as I did when I was in the store. For that, you will continue to be my #1. However, competion (and cute things) are sorely needed and I cannot tell you how excited I am to see this open soon. Hip Hip!

And of course these amazing leaves. Every morning we drive by them and they honestly take my breath away. For you locals, they are on Oak streat right off of 8th. So beautiful.Leaves on the street.

Happy Halloween everybody!

Preliminary Halloween Pictures

Okay. So this year I am really making an attempt at finding a bit more balance and calmness in my (and our) life. Soooo...since I am absolutely positive that Halloween with be one big sugary mess in which we run from school to Goblin Parade to Sonic for those free hot dogs to the actual trick or treating with perhaps a drop in to the Baptist Church's trunk or treat (I'm thinking probably that's a bit much though) I have decided to get photos of the costumes now. That way if the hair isn't just right or there is lollipop residue covering everything or we lose a mask or a hat, I WILL NOT feel the need to stress. I'm gonna roll with it people! Here's to a crazy fun Halloween!

Dear Mark

You know the other night when the baby was screaming and I couldn't get her to stop because she had a low grade fever and was coughing a lung out? And you know how I came over to your side of the bed and said, "Mark, I could really use your help" in a stressed out mean voice? And then I stood there with aforementioned screaming baby while you tried to wake up and figure out where you were and why I was standing there and then I huffed off because you were taking TOO LONG. But then you gained consciousness and you helped me dig through the piles and piles of stuff we had just dumped from two days of temple trip and halloween party upheaval to find that little bottle of baby tylenol. And then instead of calling it good and stumbling back to bed you sat by me and kept me company because the baby was so totally awake by then. AND THEN (this is the really good part) you helped me get the entire house cleaned up and the laundry sorted and going because you know how it drives me so nuts to have everything all crazy like that. And right before you went to bed you said, "Do you feel better?" and honey,
I fell in love with you all over again.

Lately I've been thinking...

about Nephi. You know..Well the other day (okay...the other week) I was reading in 1st Nephi (that's always where I'm reading since I keep starting over). Anyway, I get to that part where the Lord wants Nephi to build the boat. First of all, He (God) had Nephi climb a mountain just to get the commandment to build a boat.
Think about that.
Climb a mountain, people! Then he gets there and finds out he'll be building a boat. Up to now I casually accepted that information and moved on with the rest of the story (those naughty brothers). But this time I got to thinking what this really meant for Nephi.

First of all, he had to climb back down the mountain. Then he:

went to find the ore for the tools
remove the ore from the earth. Sounds like hard work to me (you know, digging and hauling)
went hunting to kill the beasts and skin them to use their skins to make the bellows (sewing?) to start blowing on a fire (which he built) inside a structure (which he also built) to start heating up the ore.
actually make tools (hammer, hammer, hammer) to get started on the
chopping down trees(chop, chop, chop....haul, haul, haul) in order to have the wood to
make boards to finally start building this boat

all the while dealing with grouchy and uncooperative older brothers.

I was reading this while I was sitting in the van in the very long line to pick up my kids after school. I was feeling alot stressed and pitying myself because I feel so busy that I am now leaving my scriptures in the car so that I can read before I pick up a couple occasionally grouchy and uncooperative kids. Oh wo is me! As I open my automatic van door and drive off with four happy kids watching 'Mary Poppins' on the dvd player. Nephi never had it so bad, huh?

But honestly. Life is alot of hard work. To say, "I have 4 kids" does not express all the hours of just plain work and planning and work and more work it takes to BE a mother. But as I thought about Nephi and how we say, "Then Nephi built a boat", I realized that that's just the way it is for everyone. There's alot that goes into living. God knew that Nephi was going to have to do all those things before he could even get started on the actual boat. Just like he knows that I'm going to need to put away that darn laundry and start a new load if my kids are going to be clean and cared for. It's part of motherhood. Up to now, with each load of dishes or laundry that I did, my subconscious felt guilty because I wasn't at the temple or perusing the latest conference issue.But I guess I learned that God knows that the laundry needs to be done...even if it sits in nice piles on the living room floor for a few days.

Thanks Nephi. I feel better now.

A whole lotta taggin going on

I was tagged by Sarah, my sis-in-law.

Here are the rules:
"MY UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS"
1.Link to the person who tagged you
2.Mention the rules on your blog
3.Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you
4.Tag 6 bloggers by linking to them
5.Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

Ummm...I feel exceptionally unquirky today, so bear with me....

1. I am seriously thrifty....example: I am honestly considering eating the last few slices of deli turkey in the refrigerator even though I know its been open too long. Friends, why would I risk violent vomiting just to "get my money's worth"? This is a virtue taken to unhealthy levels I say!

2. I have an aversion to pruning. Thats right, PRUNING. Every time I see Mark get the shears out, I feel all sweaty and defensive. SAVE THE LIMBS!! I try to convince him not to do it. I beg, I boss, I bargain. He is strong and always moves forward with his plans. I'll walk off and mutter under my breath (but loud enough that he'll be sure to hear), "It's gonna look stupid". But it really looks great! Every time! That man can really prune. But, honey, seriously, no more. It'll look stupid.

3. I adore small containers with matching lids. I am hard pressed to throw them out...even though they have very few practical uses. Mark got this little tin with a window in the lid. It came with personalized m&m's in it. He brought it to me...I think he had even eaten the m&m's....and he had a big smile on his face. He knew I would love it...and I did! Don't even get me started on film canisters.

4. I love to sort. Buttons, toys, clothes, silverware, whatever. When we all start living the law of consecration...show me to the pile of socks...I'm your woman.

5. Mark and I have this rule about no eating after 7 pm. Before the baby was born all we had to do is be strong until bedtime...then you're home free till morning right? Now I, however, have to face temptation down over and over throughout the night while I get up with the baby. I have on occasion put the baby down in her crib and eaten 3 or 4 oreos in the dark and then gone back to bed...without brushing my teeth. Disgusting, I know, but so yummy.

6.I'm a "sink talker" like my mother before me. When we were growing up, my mom would be at the sink doing the dishes and she'd be muttering under her breath about whatever was bothering her or having little conversations with herself. I do that all the time. I will voice a gripe, and pretend what that person might say back to me, then respond to what I just pretended. Totally theraputic.

Well that's it! Now I tag:

1. Kaira
2. Vicky
3. Ashley
4. Lanelle
5. Alissa
6. Carley

Fifteen reasons I loved Saturday.

Pumpkin Ball
Corn Cannon
Bumpy slides
Kids and Kids
Scripture guided corn maze
Echoes
Cowboy boots
Wagon ride in comfort with minivan seats
Pink baby sneakers and sunshine

Licking first ever rootbeer barrel...sweet and kinda hot. Why is that?
Puffy baby sleeves and blue eyes
From whence all blue eyes come....and he swallowed a fly
Red barns and cool breezes....a dad and his baby girl
Old enough to sit up

First photo with all 6 of us...I'm biting my lip, Meg uninterested, back of Laney's head. Pretty accurate.

Heater Hog

I am happy today. One reason: I turned on the heat this morning. I love that smell of the central a/c burning the dust off when you turn it on for the first time all year. I have always, always loved heaters. When I was a kid we had a space heater that I loved. It look like this, but it was gray.I loved to sit in front of that thing. I'd sit there until the fronts of my shins were getting dangerously toasted then I'd flip around and put my back to it until I couldn't stand the pain! All heaters are not created equal. I've been through 4 or 5 of these suckers. Useless. (sorry, Kaira)Right now we have one of these red hot glowing kind. But it really seems like a fire hazard and doesn't put out any warm air. It just IS hot. I think I could make a good smore with this. Actually I have caught Mathew roasting mini marshmallows on a fork in front of it. I'm thinking this heater and a fork aren't a good combo.
But nothing....and I mean NOTHING can beat a good old fashioned floor vent. When I was a kid I would sit on top of the floor vent with my nightgown ballooning around me. It was a fabulous globe of hot air just for me.....really....the rest of the house was freezing because I was hogging it all. I remember my dad coming out and seeing me there. I actually don't remember him ever telling me to get off. He would just laugh and say, "Hey, Muff". We don't have a floor vent in this house because we don't have a basement, but I am not joking when I tell you it is way up on my requirements for the next house.

Oh sweet floor vent.

Huffordness

I like this video for a few reasons.

*boys crossing the monkey bars for the first time
*they constantly compete with each other
*the constant stream of "Mom! Mom! Mom! Look at me!"
*Favorite moment...Meg: "Don't take a picture of me!" even though she's screaming at me to get my attention the entire time
*me: "Oh, yes! I see you! " "You've got horses?" "I see you in the castle!" (this is a time honored technique of repeating what they've said back to them so they feel you are listening to them)
*Mark's drive-bys...classic Mark behavior
*I shot this moments before finding Titus the Turtle...a Sunday afternoon...aren't we so reverent?

A tiny turtle pt. 2

We were 'hangin' in the backyard on Sunday afternoon and Tootsie WOULD NOT stop barking, no matter how many times I yellled in a not-so-Sabbath-tone "Tootsie, shut it!" After an hour or so of this it finally dawned on me that she must be barking at something. (brilliant) Upon investigation we discovered it was a box turtle on the other side of our stylish chainlink.So of course we proceeded to look for a stick long enough to poke at it. Luckily we had neglected to throw out the 4 ft. lengths of pvc pipe I honestly cannot remember why we own. Obviously now we see how such a thing can come in very handy in times of need. Eventually Mark hopped over the fence (thanks, honey...I really wanted to see that turtle). It should be noted that Mark had run the half Marathon just 24 hours prior and was hurting, so very hurting. That's love...Arkansas style. Here is the turtle sitting in the garden with the raspberries and onions. I know, wierd combo. He was very afraid and wouldn't come out of his shell.
Perhaps it was because there were three kids, two dogs, a mom with a camera and Mark who would put a stick in his shell because the kids laughed when it would snap shut with the stick pinched in there. Just a guess.
So of course we brought him inside, named him Titus and put him in a box with a slice of apple. In the morning we awoke to a much more confident turtle. It seems he realized we weren't interested in violence, just a little free entertainment. Notice Megan feels comfortable enough to "pick" in front of our guest. (sorry meg...I love you)
So after he made a few laps around the kitchen...we figured he was hungry (wasn't so keen on apple slices) and missing his family (as all lost bugs and animals do), we deposited him back in the field...behind the neighbor's house.

Conversations in the car

Coming home from school. I'm guessing some form of science was discussed that day.

Mat: You give birth to live mammals.

Mom: uuhhhh.... yep.

He RAN.

Yesterday Mark ran. Oh, did he ever. He did his first ever half marathon. That's 13 MILES people! (13.1 to be exact) He was hoping to do a 10k, but they didn't have one at this particular event (Run for a Cure) so he went ahead and signed up for the half marathon. He was up bright and early...to go see his friends off on their crazy 100 mile bike ride--"bike ride" sounds like they're doing pop-o-wheelies in the cul de sac, doesn't it? Then we showed up to see him start the race and take pictures. I would like to point out that I think my husband is muy bueno...very foxy...handsome...HOT. Let's observe...This is him stretching his legs. Nice. Then he caught me taking pictures. Super cute. Here's the support team...everyone was very happy to be there and only asked a dozen times apiece if they could go to Coldstone Creamery. It was 8:00 am so I didn't feel too bad saying no.


As soon as Mark started running we got in the van and went in search of a spot along the route to cheer and take pictures. Here he his at about mile 4. We jumped in the car again and went to find another spot. We settled in for about an hour wait at mile 12. While we waited we took pictures of each other, watched our library movies in the van, and cheered other runners.Carin Christensen running by...look at those legs!And then he came!! He had already run almost 3 miles more that he ever had before and he had just 1 more to go. We were so proud!
After he ran by we jumped back in the van and went back to Pinnacle to wait for him at the finish line. His legs were cramping up and he had been running for almost 2 1/2 hrs. And he did it! Here he is crossing the finish line.Congratulations honey! You are amazing. Thank you for working so hard and for being willing to share your huge post race muffin with the kids so they would stop asking me about Coldstone Creamery. You are HOT!