Sayonara, 2011

Lookie, me no fall!

I'm home from the festivities with two sickies, while Nils is partying it up at his brother's house with the two un-sickies. Nils and I went ice skating today. It was pretty fun. We were a little spastic at first, but got into the groove after awhile. I only ate it once, if you don't count the time I slammed into a guy who cut me off. He embraced me to keep from falling, and it was weird. Love a good, super awkward hug from a stranger. Yeah.

So, 2011, huh? Well, this is a year that I'm happy to say goodbye to. It's been a little craptastic. We've had to do a lot of soul-searching, but sometimes the ol' soul doesn't like to be messed with, ya know? I'm hopeful that the next year will be a little better.

Far be it for me to be a Negative Nancy, though! Amid the craptastic, we have been blessed in many ways.

• Happy, healthy, smart and funny kids.
• Nils' job is going well, and he's a happy dude.
• I became best friends with the dentist, and I only have 4 more payments before we're square. (Provided I don't have to have anymore root canals between now and then.)
• Our Friday night babysitting swap came into our lives this year, and wow. I'm a fan. We love our little group.
• New callings to learn and grow from. Nils is teaching Gospel Doctrine (best calling in the Church, I tell ya), and I'm a counselor in RS (still trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing).
• We ran a half-marathon and didn't die! More importantly, I have had minimal running-related injuries, which gives me tremendous joy.
• Ava has turned into a generally happy child. She's stopped all of that screaming for the most part, and is now the life of the party, cracking all of us up with her silly cuteness. And to think, it was one year ago today that all of that screaming gave me shingles.... ah the mem'ries.
• It was 15 years ago this month that Nils and I met and became BFFs, and lookit us now! We've got us a house, 4 kids, an apparently immortal goldfish, and we still love being together more than anything. 

Who knows? Maybe 2012 will bring a successful camping trip! So many things to look forward to. Happy New Year, peeps!

Thank you notes to S.C.

I had the kids write thank you letters to Santa last night for Family Home Evening. Anders is hip to the whole Santa thing, if ya know what I mean, wink wink, but still drew a Santa portrait and everything. Nice. Allow me to translate:

Anders

 "Dear Santa, I really like the presents you gave me. My favorite is the art case,  my second is the helicopter, my third are the Wii games and last is the car thing. Sincerely, Anders"

Addie

"Dear Santa, thanks for the presents. Next year can I have some more Barbie stuff? Well bye bye love Addie" The illustrations are of Santa, his little elves, and the big elf is Buddy from the movie "Elf". 

Aani

"Dear Santa, I love you. You're my favorite Christmas man. I love you because you give me presents, and I love the presents that you gave me. I'll give you a present. Love, Aani"

We had a great Christmas. The kids were very pleased with the gifts they received. Addie kept saying, "This is the best Christmas ever!", which, coming from her, is a pretty big deal. Boo-yah! 

Merriest of Christmaseseses!

Well, here's our Christmas card, ya'll. We were missing a few addresses from last year- unfortunately this was a one shot deal, and if we didn't get it mailed in the first batch, it didn't get mailed. I am so soooorrrry. I apolllllogiiiiize.

The kids have been out of school since last Friday, and I have loved it. We've been good and lazy, waking up whenever the heck we want, getting dressed whenever the heck we want, brushing our hair whenever the heck we want. Addie and Aani play ponies and Barbies all day long. I'm amazed at how long they can keep a game going. They "pause" their game for lunch and dinner, but I hardly see them in between mandatory meals.

Aside from a couple of last minute, extended family gifts, we're all done. We're simplifying big time this year. We've been shopping since before Halloween, selecting just a few things that we think the kids will really like. Last year we felt like Christmas was big bust. The kids weren't overly thrilled with anything they received, and all of the stupid little filler things, like cheap board games and stocking stuffers ended up strewn about almost immediately. It made me realize that they need very little, and that volume doesn't do anything but overwhelm them and make them bratty.

I heard Addie say to Aani the other day (probably during a paused portion of pony mania), "Aani, the whole reason we have Christmas is because of Jesus being born. Did you know that?" Then Aani said something like, "We have SANTA because of JESUS?" I'm so thankful for our Savior, His birth, His life and ultimately His Atonement, which has the power to heal our hearts and make us whole. I've felt it in my life and know it's real.

Merry Christmas, my friends! May yours be merry and bright!

We continue to live!

Hello! And thank you for coming! I've been trying to write a post for about 3 days, giving a philosophical explanation for making the blog private, but everything I wrote was crap, so I just gave up. I don't know why I felt the need to privatize, and it's probably going to be temporary until I can figure myself out, but thank you for joining me. 

On to pictures! This first picture illustrates the wonder that is Aani's hair. Did you know that Aani is 4 1/2 years old and is now just starting to get enough hair on the top of her head that I don't have to trim her mullet? She's still a little Carol Brady-esque, but she thinks she looks like Rapunzel and I don't have the heart to ruin that for her. 

Behold! Enough hair to braid!

As I've mentioned before, Aani is in a neighborhood preschool where the moms take turns being the teacher. It's been a fun adventure so far. Honestly, all of these kids are great. They get along, they're well-behaved and funny as all get out. One of our fall field trips was going to Hee Haws. Here are the highlights of  Hee Haws, just in case you haven't been there: They have a ginormous male pig with huge nuts. They're obviously proud of this fact, based on the t-shirts they sell that say things like, "We're NUTS about Hee Haw Farms!" When Aani noticed this pig, she laughed and said, "I see his bum!" Yeah....that's his bum. The other highlight about the place is the corn maze. After we walked around that stupid corn maze for 45 minutes trying to find our way out, my hatred for corn mazes was solidified. What is fun about being lost in corn? Nothing, I tell you. Nothing at all. 

Nils and I got to go on a real live date a few weeks ago! We went to dinner and a movie. DINNER AND A MOVIE! We were trying to remember the last time we went to a movie that wasn't animated and couldn't remember. Anyhoo, Los Hermanos in P-town moved a couple of blocks down into what used to be an Italian restaurant. I couldn't stop staring at David, all covered up with his Mexican garb. I can't decide if they covered him to be funny or if they covered him for modesty's sake. Whatever. It made my day.

Oh, David, you naughty thing.

We went to Dairy Queen and got the world's biggest ice cream cone. Mmm, waxy.

So, things have been normal schnormal lately. Ava likes to take off her pants and diaper about 7 times a day. Anders has been reading lots of books, like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and the Gregor the Overlander series. Addie's best friend moved out of the cul-de-sac a couple of months ago, so she's been like a lost little kitty. She and Aani spend a lot time together playing ponies, and Aani loves preschool with every fiber of her being. They're all right, those kids. 

Ack! I'm privatizing!

I was washing dishes the other day, and I got a strong feeling that I should make this blog private. There are various reasons that I think this will be beneficial. Anyway, if you would like to continue reading, please send me your email via: comment, email, or send me a message on Facebook. I'll probably do it in a couple of days. Thanks a bunch.

Nils and Katrina do 13.1

Hooray for us, we ran the half. It was fun. See how much fun I was having at mile 4? Nils was a little less enthusiastic than I, as this picture illustrates. He wore his Sunday socks, because they're the only socks he has that aren't cotton. I love that he wore his Sunday socks. We're such amateurs.

I don't know why I can't just be normal.

Here's my concise summary of the event: It was really fun until mile 11.5ish. At mile 12, I would have hitched a ride had we not been on the Jordan River Trail. I don't know what it was, but that last mile just about did me in. I had no energy left and no motivation. I didn't want to quit, I just didn't want to run anymore. I would have been perfectly fine walking really, really slowly the rest of the way. Nils pulling on my arm helped me slog my way to the finish line.

I kept trying to imagine that one of our kids was at the finish line on fire or something, but that didn't do anything for me, because I knew they were with Grandma being stuffed silly with candy. I didn't take any gels or food at the aid stations because I was paranoid about getting a stomach ache. I stayed plenty hydrated, but I wonder if eating anything would have made any difference that last mile. 

I wanna do it again! My goals for next time are to run a little faster, and to not want to lay down on the asphalt during 12 and 13.1. We all have to reach for something, don't we?

Hell hath frozen over.

My son eateth steak, and he doth declare that it is yummy.

September Recap

Ahhh, the end of September, and what a month it's been. Would you like a recap? You would? Aww.

• Here's a picture of my darling girls during an afternoon session of playing school. They were getting along so well. It almost makes me forget about the weeping and wailing that took place this morning. 

• As mentioned in the last post, Nils quit his "real" job and is now working for iGlobal full time. So far so good. He loves it when I ask him how he likes being unemployed. Now now, it's all in good fun. (He's loving it.)
  
• Since June, I have been to the dentist 11 times. ELEVEN. Here I am, getting mold #2 for the crown that didn't fit the first time. Don't even get me started. But don't I look happy and approachable?
  
  
  
  
  
• I now spend around 45 minutes a day driving Anders to and from school. The carpool situation didn't work out so well, and I was sweating a lot every morning trying to get everyone up and out the door by 7:30 a.m. By the time the older two were at school I felt like I needed a nap- at 8:30 in the morning. So, he switched to the later time track, which has worked out great. Anyway, I had no idea how much the morning insanity/carpool was stressing me out, until Anders told me how much he hated it and I thought, yeah, I really hate it, too. As soon as it was eliminated from our lives, I felt like having a party. Weird.
  
• Anders joined the Chess Club and the school choir. I had to convince him to join the choir, but he was adamant about Chess Club. Did this child really grow in my womb? I've never even played chess. Ever. Goodbye, soccer. HELLLLLOOOOOO, CHESS!
  
• Aani started in a neighborhood preschool, where we take turns having it at our house for 2 weeks at a time. My turn starts next week. Pray for me. Just kidding, I'm actually pretty excited. It's a rad group of kids and moms. Aani loves it, and it's FREE!
  
• Ava has an obsession with toilet paper and diaper cream, not necessarily together. She'll pull little pieces of toilet paper off the roll, wipe her nose, then put them in the toilet. I kept thinking that we were going through toilet paper really fast, and then one day the toilet was clogged because there was probably half of a roll of tiny pieces filling the thing up. Arrrgggh. She also always manages to dig the diaper cream out of its most recent hiding place and smear it all over her legs, face, clothes and hands. It drives me cuckoo. 

  
  
• At the beginning of the year, I made a declaration that I wanted to run a half-marathon this year. It didn't pan out in the spring, and I've had my sights set on one in October. I ran a 10k in July and thought I would die. Well, I've been going back and forth mentally about doing this half, but a couple of weeks ago, when I ran 7 miles without too much agony, I made up my mind to just sign up and do it. I called Nils and convinced him to let me sign him up too, explaining how much fun it will be to run 13.1 miles together. I've been learning a lot as I've been doing these longer runs, namely that: Chafing is not your friend. Also, that: Walking a minute for every mile I run works like a charm. SO GUESS WHAT WE'RE DOING TONIGHT FOR DATE NIGHT??? Running 9 miles. How cute it that? Isn't it nice that Nils, who hasn't been "training" for this at all, is willing to sacrifice a perfectly good date night to get this run out of the way? Maybe we'll hold hands the whole time. So precious.
  
  Anyway, I've been having nightmares about running, so obviously my anxiety about this thing is pretty heightened. I've gotta learn how to stop psyching myself out. I know it's going to be hard, and I fully expect to hate the last couple of miles, but I'll be happy to have this goal checked off the list. I'm curious to see if I'll want to do more when it's done. What an ordeal.

A wee update

Hello, friends. How are you? I have blogger guilt. I suppose this is similar to scrapbooker guilt, not that I would know, per se, since I've never scrapbooked. But I imagine it's kind of the same thing in that I have 3 million pictures of stuff we've done, but I don't know which computer they're on, and the thought of looking for them and then uploading them here makes me want to suck my thumb and go night-night. That's my 'splanation for all of the picturelessness.

Well, some big things are happening 'round these here parts.

1) School started, and the night before it started I had a sob-fest. Oh man, it was ugly. For one thing, I actually really enjoyed summer with the kids at home. I loved the lazy mornings, and that they all played together and (mostly) got along all summer. I loved the lax bedtime, not having to stress about waking up at the butt-crack of dawn every morning to get to school. So, two big changes this year that made me a blubbering idiot: Addie going into 1st grade and being gone all day, and Anders going to a new school. Orchestrating the logistics of this in my head, and the fact that they both wanted the same time track, has given me an eency bit of stress. Thus, I cried the night before school started as we were talking about it and getting ready for the next day. Apparently my children have never seen me cry, because they didn't know what was happening. They asked me what I was doing. They asked me why my eyes were all red. Geez. I told them I was CRYING, because I was going to miss them while they were at school, and they thought I had lost my mind.

Anyway, I'm in a carpool with 2 other people for getting Anders to school, so it's all worked out just fine. I have an awesome neighbor who makes sure Addie gets to school on the mornings that I drive Anders & Co., and afternoons when I pick him up, Addie hangs out at said neighbor's house for a few minutes until I get home. Lest it seem that I never drive Addie, I do either drop her off or pick her up every day, so hopefully she's feelin' the mom love.

On a bright and lovely note, Anders loves school. Like, loves it so much that he's really sad that he has to stay home on Labor Day. I knew this change would be good for him, but I honestly didn't anticipate that he would LOVE going to school every day. I'm very pleased. Addie also loves school, but that's no surprise. I think staying all day has been a little bit of an adjustment for her, but school is totally her thing. I'm pretty confident that she'll be a teacher when she grows up. She loves bossing younger people around, and is rather effective at it. She's got those methods down.

2) Nils is quitting his job and going to work for iGlobal full time. iGlobal is the company he and his buddy started.


AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I won't give you the whole back story, because it's boring. But it's been 2 1/2 years in the making, and we've just been waiting for the company to grow enough so that he could do this as his day job. He's spent countless nights working on this thing. I'm sure he'll continue to do so, but it's super weird that this day arrived. It's scary to leave behind a great job at a great company, with benefits like insurance, 401K, a paid week off at Christmas- stuff like that. I'm still hyperventilating a little bit, but we're just gonna roll with this baby and see where it goes. It's freakin' me out!

Welp, that's pretty much it. See ya later, alligators!

Hello, Seattle.

Nils had an SEO conference in Seattle at the end of July. While Seattle isn't a destination I've ever pined for, we thought it might be fun to make a family trip out of it. That is one stinkin' long drive, but we split the 14 hours into two days, and the kids were troopers for the most part. We arrived on a Monday night.

Tuesday, we drove to Port Hadlock, which is about 2 1/2 hours around the Puget Sound from Seattle (right by Forks, for all of you vampire peeps), and visited Nils' grandparents. He had met them once in his life when he was a teenager. They were very happy to see us. His grandmother started writing us letters when we got married, and Nils has been good to keep in pretty regular contact with her through the years. We spent the whole day at their house visiting with them and getting to know them. It was a nice day.

Wednesday-Friday Nils was at his conference all day, so I was on my own with the kiddies. The hotel we stayed at was in the heart of downtown Seattle. It sounded great at first, but we quickly learned that downtown Seattle, and perhaps downtown in any big city, is not conducive to small kids. So not only were we a circus side-show with all of our offspring, but there aren't any places to take kids to eat. Everything is upscale and classy, which we as a whole...are not. We managed to find a Trader Joe's, and bought enough food to pack for lunches and bought cereal and milk for breakfast. The kids ate their cereal out of the hotel cups every morning. Yeah, baby, that's classy right there.

Fremont Troll coolness.

We did some fun things. We went to the Seattle Children's Museum, spent a whole day there and everyone had a ball. My favorite part was the lady who was teaching her 18-month old son about organic composting. "We don't use fertilizer in compost, because that means it's not organic, and that's a no-no!" The kid responded, "Blah, blah, goo goo!" I felt that I had experienced a true Seattle moment right there. Tender. The next day we went to the Fremont Troll and the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, which were both free activities. I enjoyed that very much.

On our last day the kids and I walked down to Pike Place, where again, we were a side-show attraction. People kept looking at each other and pointing at me. Anders asked why so many people were looking at us. Because they're not used to seeing...um, children, honey. Anyway, Pike Place is a madhouse, and not conducive to a side-by-side double stroller. We eventually found a pasta bar, where I bought the kids a plate of fettuccine to share. After they slicked it clean, the guy running the place said, "Hey! Gimme your plate!" Then he filled it up with more noodles and said, "You gotta lotta kids! Everytime I look up there's another kid there!" I ate a little side Caesar salad, and when we finished I wanted to take the kids down to the Olympic Sculpture Park. It was about a mile away from Pike Place, and I thought it would be a place where the kids could run around and play and climb and do other things that children generally like doing.

I started feeling sick to my stomach a few minutes into our walk. And, as it turns out, the Olympic Sculpture Park is essentially an outdoor museum where adults go to have reverence for art, look out over the Sound, and feel serenity. Addie peed her pants while we were there. Aani dumped out a bag of popcorn on the pathway, which just seemed so inappropriate at an outdoor museum. At this point I knew that vomiting was imminent for me, but felt we had defiled this place enough and we left. As we were trudging on back, I kept scoping out places to barf. There is no respectable place to barf in downtown Seattle. And as if I didn't look weird enough, what with all those kids and all, puking in a gutter probably wouldn't help people think much kinder of me. Honestly, I didn't think I was going to make it. I felt awful, and still had a long, uphill, double stroller-pushing walk back to the hotel. We stopped in a parking lot, and I said a prayer. I explained to Heavenly Father that if I was going to puke, please help me to puke now, or help me to feel better so that I could make it back to the hotel. Well, I didn't throw up in that parking lot, but my prayer was answered. I started feeling better and made it back to the hotel in a few minutes, where I could be sick in peace. And sick, sick I was. But, I was thankful for that answer to my prayer.

In the hotel lobby as we were checking out. Everyone was jammied up and ready to drive into the night. We were a  spectacle.

Nils got done with his conference that night, and about 3 minutes after he walked in the door, we decided to get the heck outta there. We were supposed to leave Saturday morning, but decided we'd be better off driving as long as we could that night and getting home Saturday night rather than Sunday. That's what we did, and it worked out splendidly. Goodbye, Seattle!

In review: I'd go to Seattle again if we stayed in a house somewhere besides downtown, where we could cook our own food and have lots of room to do our thang. Anders keeps saying that he's sick of hotels and is in no hurry to go on a trip again. I guess they didn't like sleeping horizontally on that double-bed?

Chomp of death

I have this stupid tooth, and it's giving me all kinds of grief and making my life difficult. I had two root canals in the last week and a half. One of them was easy peasy. The other one- not so much. I had to go to an endodontist, since this particular tooth has all kinds of crazy issues. When I got the x-ray, the dentist told me my root was disappearing, so I'd have to go to a specialist. A disappearing root? Specialist? Whatever could this mean? I went with the standard explanation I give myself with all mysterious aches and pains: I must be dying. Like any responsible person with a tooth that is slowly killing them, I waited until my Skittle consumption had me writhing in pain before I went to the aforementioned specialist.

Dude. That root canal was Ba.rooo.tal. It took two sessions of an hour each. I felt sick for two days after the first session. The second session was even worse. Oh the pain. Ohhhh. The pain. I've been chewing with my front teeth for 3 days, since I had a root canal on each side of my mouth, thus making my molars somewhat useless. Basically, they're dead to me.

I was a little over-zealous while eating dinner last night, and I let some of the food slip back by that tooth. CHOMP. I cried like a little baby. Waaaa! Waaaa!

This morning I was getting ready to walk out the door for church. I thought it would be prudent to get a piece of gum, since I generally have poo breath by the 3rd hour and have a calling that requires me to talk to people. I thought I'd give the gum a little test run. Chomp, chomp with the front teeth. Chomp, chomp with the good side. Then I did a little baby chomp on the gimpy side, and what to my surprise... a hunk of metal was withdrawn from my tooth. I mean, really, it was a test chomp. In fact, it wasn't even a chomp at all. It was a tap. I swear. Tap. Hunk of metal.

See, the crappy thing about teeth is that you have to have them to enjoy life fully. The other crappy thing about teeth is that I AM A FLOSSER, and this still happened. And, might I add, ow. So I'm feeling picked on, and I'm tired of going to the dentist and being tortured, and I just want my tooth to stop trying to kill me. That's all.

In exchange for this tooth to be fixed for good, I vow to ne'er eat Skittles again. Ne'er e'er. Especially the blendy kind, since those are actually quite tasty and keep you guessing. Melon? No, I taste berry. Wait, there's the melon again! So you see, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

I'm calling "The Specialist" first thing in the a.m. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted.

24 hour camping EXTRAVAGANZA! Part 2

The canyon that never ends is that canyon that goes from Vernal to Flaming Gorge. I don't know how many miles it is, but there are about 10 switchbacks that you have to go super slow around so you don't drive off a cliff and die. Thus, it is slow going. As I mentioned before, I ate some Skittles early on in our journey which set off a cataclysmic event in my mouth, making me extra cranky. All of the kids were asleep by this point, but as we made turn after turn...after turn, I started to verbally abuse my poor husband. Things I remember saying:

"How much longer?" (Times 8, said meaner each time.)
"This is completely ridiculous."
"This is the stupidest thing I have ever done in my life. Honestly THEE stupidest."
"I'm never going camping with you again."
"Are ya happy now?"

Midnight: We arrived at the campground, which incidentally, could have been a training ground for Al-Qaida because it is so remote. By the time we got the tent up and the kids settled, it was past 1 a.m. All night I listened to the air mattress make that wondrous "hiiisssssssssssss", as we got lower and lower to the ground. By the time the sun was up, our feet were in the air and our heads were on the ground.

7 am: When I exited the tent, I was greeted by Nils, saying in his best I'm-really-scared-of-you-voice, "Good morning, ex-wife."

10:30 am: Get swimming suits on, floaties blown up, and get ready to go play in the water. We took the rain fly off the tent because it was getting so hot.

11 am-2:30 pm: Frolic about in Flaming Gorge.

2:30 pm: Notice storm clouds heading our way. We decided to head back to camp before it started raining. The kids were all in their swimsuits, and Ava was diaperless because we're classy like that.

2:35 pm: The typhoon arrives. As we were driving back to camp, we were being pelted by ginormous raindrops coming fast and furious. We finally made it, and Nils and I jumped out of the van to throw the rain fly back on the tent. Because, you know, at that point it really made a difference. We surveyed the damage, which was about an inch of water inside the tent. Everything was soaked. It was the perfect way to end our camping extravaganza. We started to wring stuff out, but quickly realized there was no point, so Nils just rolled everything up into the already deflated air mattress and stuffed it in the back of the van.

3 pm: Nils looked at me and said, "All I wanted....was a fun family experience. That's really all I wanted." We left Flaming Gorge (a day early)- foreeeevvvvver. We realized a few minutes into our descent down eternal canyon that Ava still didn't have a diaper and was probably peeing all over her carseat. She got one on eventually.

8 pm: Home sweet home. We laid everything out on our front lawn to dry out. The great thing is that it didn't look white-trashy at all. It goes without saying that we had some laundry to do- and that's when the washing machine started to gush water out the bottom. Yeah, actually that was the perfect way to end our camping extravaganza.

THE END

*Nils redeemed himself by disassembling the washing machine, figuring out what was wrong, and fixing it for 37 bucks. We're still married, and I still love him. And I'm sorry for the mean things I said.

*I went to the dentist yesterday and I need two root canals. I had one of them today and will go back next week for the other one. Ow. Darn stinking Skittles.

*The kids thought the whole experience was just great.

*Nils wasn't really literally dying to go camping.

24 hour camping EXTRAVAGANZA! Part 1

After I got home from girls camp, Nils declared to me that he wanted to go camping the following weekend- which was last weekend. I bought him a big fancy tent for Father's Day and he's been dying to go camping for a few months. DYING. Literally. I agreed, thinking we'd go up one of our many local canyons or whatever, roast s'mores, sleep in the tent and come on home.

It all went so wrong. So, so wrong.

Nils made a reservation at a camp site near Flaming Gorge. Apparently it was one of the only spots available in the entire world for the 4th of July weekend. Did you know that Flaming Gorge is 4 1/2 hours away from our house? Really? Huh. I did not know that. When I learned this small detail, I declared that we would not be driving that far to simply pitch a tent and be dirty for 2 days. Nils didn't cancel the reservation because he is stubborn, and was secretly hoping I would change my mind, which I was NOT. The big day rolled around, and I told him we could sleep in the backyard. He was grumpy. I suggested we go up the canyon for a picnic. He was still grumpy.

After a few crappy things happened that day, I had a split-second moment of sympathy and extreme generosity, and I made the horrible mistake of opening my mouth in that exact moment. "What do we need to do to go camping tonight?", I asked in my delirious state of good will. Well, that's all it took. 3 hours later we had the van loaded up and were on the road. The following is a breakdown of the next hell-filled 24 hours:

5 pm: On freeway, excited children, excited husband, generous me. With a bit of a toothache. Like any moron with a toothache, I ate some Skittles. Fatal error.
6 pm: Pull off side of canyon highway to let 3 kids pee. One of them peed on my pants and shoe.

7 pm: Stop in the town of Duchesne, Utah. WARNING: NEVER STOP HERE. EVER. This place is a pit. A hole. It sucks. Just keep driving, people. Learn from our mistake! We were all so hungry, and the only place to eat in this town was a super scary "pizzaria". The first sign that we should have kept driving was the parking lot made of mud, and the artificial flowers PLANTED in dirt outside. There is so much to tell about this frightening hour of our trip: The twelve-year old boy with bed-head who took our order, the office chairs doubling as "bar stools", the bathroom with a sample cup of urine sitting on top of the toilet paper, the woman who kept muttering under her breath as she made our pizza. But most bothersome was the old man who followed us around the joint, jiggling his belly, saying how much he liked pizza, and then saying to our children, "How'd ya like it if I took yer mommy home with me? How 'bout yer daddy?" Seriously, never go to Duchesne because it will haunt you for the rest of your days.

9 pm: Roll into Vernal. Compared to Duchesne, Vernal is a friggin' paradise. We were still quite shaken from our last stop, and so impressed with Vernal's relative awesomeness, that we missed our turn and continued driving East. An hour later, when all we saw were signs for DENVER, we decided to turn around. Just so you know, there is no cell phone service or data service in "The Basin", so Nils' brilliant plan of using his GPS app failed miserably.

10:30 pm: Roll in to Vernal. Again. I wanted to go to a hotel. Nils wanted to camp. By this time my teeth and mouth were ablaze and I thought I might need to go to the emergency room to A) get some narcotics and B) get out of driving any further. Nils and I...ahem..."discussed" what our next course of action should be. There may have been some bitter feelings at this point, just saying. Eventually we continued on, finding our turn and making our way up the canyon that never ends...

-To be continued-

Haps on the Craps, May/June edition

School's out! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! Just kidding, it's been just fine so far. I actually really like my kids. Here are some pictures from our adventurous last couple of weeks. 

All 4 kids are huddled under there somewhere!

Adventure 1: Memorial Day. It was a really, really crappy weekend because of the rain, wind, and freezing temperatures. No barbecues were happening 'round here. However, we braved the cold and made a little visit to the cemetery to visit my dad's grave. The flowers wouldn't stay upright because of the dang wind, and the kids huddled in their coats the whole time.

I liked this picture of Aani running through all the flags to make it back to Nils. :)

Adventure 2: Kindergarten graduation for Addie. Her teacher, Miss Broadhead, is adorable and a fantastic teacher. Addie loved every second of kindergarten and learned so much!

Aani's cute.

So is Ava.

 Adventure 3: Fathers and Sons campout. For as much complaining that Anders does about being the only boy, there are perks; like getting dad all to himself at the fathers and sons campout. 

Why is my son licking a salt lick, you ask? This is a question that I ask myself...and my husband. Here's what I was told: The salt lick was new (whatever that means). Anders didn't believe that it was a salt lick, so Nils told him to lick it-

so he did. A lot, apparently. 

Sick. I mean, really, boys!

Stay tuned for more exciting adventues! I'm going to girls camp in 9 days. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! Will I survive? Will my children survive? We shall soon find out. 

Katrina out! (I am so cool.)

A bit about Addie- aka "Karen"

Addie is quite the funny child. She comes across as agreeable and cooperative, but hidden inside her is a complex puzzle. We're still trying to figure her out, because she doesn't like to express herself openly. Once in  awhile, we'll get a really funny gem from her.

1) She's been playing soccer this spring. She liked it for the first couple of games. She was excited to wear her pink shin guards, excited to go to practice, excited to have games. Last week at her game I noticed she wasn't too interested in what was going on. I asked how she was feeling about soccer, and in true Addie fashion, she responded, "So. Much. Running!" I think the novelty of the pink shin guards has worn off and she's ready to move on to something else.

2) This week she announced to us that she wanted her nickname to be changed from "Add", which we call her all the time, to "Karen". This is our daughter Addie. But you can call her Karen. Boy oh boy, we had a good old laugh about that one. She was insistent for a couple of days, so I started calling her Karen one morning. That also happened to be the day that the kindergartners were eating lunch at the school. I packed her lunch and wrote "Addie (Karen)" on the bag. She scribbled it out and said she wanted to go back to Add as her nickname. I respect her wishes, but if you see her, call her Karen and you'll probably get a satisfying reaction out of her.

She took it upon herself to read a chapter book in the last couple of weeks and she did it! She carried her book with her wherever she went and read it aloud until she finished it. She's super excited about learning and loves reading. Way to go, Karen! We sure do love ya.

(The book was "Magic Kitten", in case you were wondering. And I know you were.)

My life couldn't be more perfect. Just kidding.

It took me like 15 minutes to come up with that title.

So a couple of weekends ago we were in Nevada for a little birthday visit to Nils' mom, which was DElightful. After 18 of us surprised her at a Las Vegas restaurant and invited ourselves to stay the night at her house, my parents-in-law exhorted me to keep blogging. Exhorted me, I say! You know you have to do as your in-laws say, because that way you can show up at their house unannounced and invite yourself to stay for a few days and then they cook you dinner and comply with incessant requests from 3-year olds to print out pictures of mermaids. (Or in the words of our 3-year old, "Maymaids".) 

Our days and weeks seem to be running together lately and life feels sorta Groundhog Day-ish. Now, the last thing I want to be is a whiney baby, so I apologize if that's the way this sounds. We're learning how to deal with everyone having different schedules and activities. A1 &A2 are getting to the ages of having their own schedules to work around, and boy is it throwing a wrench into things. They're both playing soccer right now, so we have to divide and conquer when they have games and practices at the same time in different places. Nils is gone a couple nights a week, and I have a couple of callings that require two nights a week as well. One of those is to serve on the Stake Camp Committee, which is tons of fun- it's just a lot of time. Camp is at the end of June, so once it's over I think things will lighten a bit. But there are moments when we feel like we're drowning in the calendar and not spending a whole lot of quality time together. Blech.

With all that being said, I hardly leave the house during the day. From 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. I think, "Why do I feel so busy? Today was just like yesterday. And the day before yesterday. Etcetera." Then the kids get home from school and it's ovah! It's a weird and sudden contrast that throws me every day. You'd think I'd learn. 

Anders was accepted into the A.L.L. program in our school district, so next year he's going to a different school about 10 minutes away. We're very happy that he has this opportunity; but I'll have to figure out how to get him and Addie to 2 different schools at the same time. Should be interesting, me thinks. I was thinking about all of this on Mother's Day and remembered all of the driving my mom did. When I was in 9th grade, which was at the jr. high, I was on the high school cross-country team. So my mom would pick me up from school, drive me to the high school for practice. Then she would pick me up and take me home. Then when I was in high school she picked me up every day from swim practice. Not to mention all of the track, cross-country and swim meets she attended for 4 of her 6 children. I don't know if I ever thanked her back in the day, so I made sure to on Sunday. It was random and about 15 years late. 

 Okay, enough of that. On to some random factoids:

• Nils is growing his hair long, and it's turned into a battle of wills between us. 
• Aani fell asleep sitting up at the dinner table tonight.
• Ava continues to be my velcro child.
• I read A Tale of Two Cities and I think it was good exercise for my brain. Kind of a downer, though, that book.
• Tomorrow is Thursday. It is!

I'm going to stop before this digresses anymore. Good night everyone!

To Our Sweet Katrina

11 Years

3 minutes left before we pick up the kids...

There was a day last week when Nils went to work, I mopped the floor, went to some kids' Easter parties at school, met at a doctor's office with the whole crew, ate dinner at Costco, dropped the kids off at the neighbor's house for our Friday night neighbor 2.5 hour babysitting swap, and spent our time alone doing Easter shopping.

It was hot. It was hot because it was our anniversary. We seriously debated between going Easter shopping and going home and taking a nap. We're wild.

Nils gave me an electric griddle and it's almost the best thing that's ever happened to me. I love it. We felt sorta lame all day because we didn't have big plans, but it just seemed like running around was the right way to spend the day. Because that's life, and we love it and we're happy to be spending it togetha. We were asleep by 10:00.

Seriously, I can cook 6 pancakes and like 3 slices of bacon at the same time on that thing. I'm in love.

What are these pictures of which you speak?

We were camera-less there for a while, since we sold the big camera, and lost the little one. The little one was a replacement of the old little one that we also lost. Then last week, someone showed up at the door with the old little lost one and said they had found it about a year ago and didn't know whose it was until they looked through the pictures. Confused? We have a camera! Maybe someone will show up in a year with the new little lost one. Dude. That would rock.

 I gave Anders a black eye this morning with eyeliner so he could play an April Fool's trick on his class. He wanted to keep his eye closed all day to make it more realistic- I'll be curious to see how long that lasted. Silly boy. He also rode his bike to school today, since the weather has decided to give us a lovely little spring tease. 

This is a sight we behold every Sunday morning: Ava as Nacho Libre. Nils loves to pull those tights up as high as they'll go. We laugh, and she laughs, but she doesn't know why. It's funny.

Aani ate nearly an entire carton of strawberries- or took at least a bite out of every strawberry in the carton. She did this smallest to biggest lineup herself, which just added to the hilarity of it. Then she kept holding her tummy, saying how full she was. She's such a funny kid.

Cuteness.

Things are busy 'round here. We've had meetings and appointments every night this week, and the schedule doesn't seem to be clearing up anytime soon. Nils has spent a couple of nights this week at work, since they're launching a new website today and he's sort of the only one that does that there. It's been nutty and I miss him. I think I'll call the Waaaambulance, and plug. Plug, plug along. All is well.

I'm but a mere mortal

Thursday I was driving home from the gym, and I was thinking to myself how awesome I am because I never get a flu shot, and I never get the flu, and flu season is all but over and I WON AGAIN, so take that sucka! 3 hours later I was laying on my bedroom floor with my cheek on the vent, except I didn't notice my face was on the vent until Addie walked in and asked me why I was "doing that". Oh man, the gods of flu smote me hard for my blasphemous thoughts.

Friday was spent in bed. It was fun. I was sweating profusely, had the window open, fan on full-blast and a thermometer under each armpit. (Well, one was Celsius and the other Fahrenheit so I was having a show down. And I was too congested to keep my mouth closed for an oral temperature reading, and I wasn't really in the mood for a rectal reading that day.) Then like 2 hours later I was chattering away under 4 blankets and 2 layers of clothes wondering when it got so COLD.

I shan't bore you with the details of the subsequent days, but I submit that the flu is more powerful than I. Just when I think I have a handle on it, it punches me in the face. Did you know that the flu can last up to two weeks? Did you also know that my kids don't care that I'm sick and still want me to take care of them? Bless their little hearts. Last night for dinner, I think Addie and Ava ate cheese. I don't remember what the others had.

Well, they're all still alive, so score one for me. Me: 1. Flu: A billion.

Evolution- Cheers to the bumpy road!

We're attempting an evolution of sorts in a few areas of life. It's slow and painful, but necessary, and will lead to greater peace and happiness in many ways.

Dave Rasmsey said, "SELL THE CAR!" 

We sold the car. We sold the camera. Gasp. Even I'm a little sick about the camera. We've committed to sacrificing "wants" in order to achieve financial independence.We've learned things we already knew, but somehow we've had a meeting of the minds this time. That's good. Selling the car (van) was not a sacrifice, it was an enormous relief. We got another van- just a much cheaper one. Selling the camera was hugely symbolic, though- like a burnt offering. 

You know how when you're in the middle of a nasty trial and you feel like it will never end and it's hard to have faith and hope, and you just want to crawl under the covers until it goes away? But you can't, because in order to land on the other side of it, you have to work and struggle and fight and endure and just pray like the dickens that you'll come out of it stronger and better. And through it all, there are those tender mercies that are carrying you through, and you probably won't recognize some of them until the whole thing is behind you, but you know they're there, simply because you can get up every day and function somewhat normally.

I have a lot to be thankful for, and I am. So here's to sacrificing, enduring and fighting. It'll all be worth it. The financial maturing we're doing just happens to coincide with some deeper, involuntary, but very necessary maturing. It's interesting how it's all spilling together.

My theme for 2011 is this: It Can Only Get Better. For Realz.

P.S. When I was a kid, our family had the saying, "Cheers to the bumpy road". It came about when we were on a trip and my dad took a "shortcut", which turned out to be a ridiculously bumpy dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Anyhoo, it seems appropriate now.

Happy Saturday

 Good Saturday to you.

Anders and Addie are ravenous when they get home from school, so I try to have some snack planned before they barge through the door and start rummaging. Aani and I made peanut butter/oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies yesterday, before the after-school invasion. This was the face she made while she was licking batter. Quacks me up, that one. (It's a stamp on her forehead, FYI.)

Here is Ava's happy spot. She loves to sit on/in the bathroom sink and suck on toothbrushes. I like to think of it as the beginnings of stellar oral hygiene habits. Her other new trick is climbing on the kitchen table and eating whatever is left, such as leftover cereal and milk. This also explains why she's naked most of the time, since it's just not worth it to change her clothes after the second attempt.

I had the pleasure of taking Anders to the allergist this week, since he has frequent bouts of hive breakouts. The conclusion I've come to is that he's allergic to ibuprofen and honey. The allergist wanted me to take him to the hospital to have blood work done to test his liver function and other stuff. The thing is:

Anders thrashes wildly, screams, tenses every muscle in his body and has general hysteria at the sight of needles. I sob as a team of nurses pin him down. So..... we're not doing the blood work. Is that irresponsible of me? I just don't think it's necessary. I dunno. How about we just avoid ibuprofen and honey?

In the same outing, we went to the Scout office to buy the Wolf book, which was a whopping NINE DOLLARS. We then went to the grocery store and had a grand time with the bulk candy bins. Anders was so thrilled to have his Scout book that he took it in the store with him. In his bulk candy excitement, he lost it. We had ten glorious minutes with that nine-dollar book. Arrrggh. The good news is that we got chocolate-covered cinnamon bears. In bulk. Those little suckers just slide right down.

May our weeks ahead be hive free, but full of chocolate-covered cinnamon bears. (In my tummy.) Oh, and may that Wolf book magically make its way back to us.

Anders is Baptized!

Photo by GrandPar :)

Anders was baptized (twice) on Saturday. He had to be dunked twice because his knee popped up. It was a wonderful day that he's been excited about for a long time. We had a lot of family there to support him, which was so great. While we were all waiting for Nils and Anders to get dressed and do the confirmation, our Primary president had everyone write a little note on an index card, then she put them all together and gave them to Anders during Primary yesterday. It was very touching to read through them. I'm so thankful for the good examples and the support that my kids have around them through friends, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. A couple of times last week, Anders asked, "Why are Nana and GrandPar driving all the way up here just for one day?" I told him because they love him, and because getting baptized is a big deal. He mentioned yesterday how nice it was to have so many people from his family at his baptism. Anders loves his extended family very, very much. He's a great kid.

I'm so thankful that he was baptized and received the Holy Ghost. What an incredible gift. I'm so thankful for the Holy Ghost in my life, and I hope we can teach Anders how to recognize when he's being guided by the Spirit.

I usually bawl my eyes out at baptisms. They're so tender and the Spirit is strong, confirming that what these kids are doing is right. I thought I'd be a total wreck on Saturday, since Anders is my firstborn and all. Buuuuuut, Ava-zilla took care of that for me by being a total maniac and running amok for most of it. During the confirmation she  pushed her way through the circle to find Nils and started pulling on his legs saying, "Da! Da! Da! Da!" and screamed when I took her away. I had to ask Nils to give me a recap, since I spent most of the blessing in the hall with my little crazy.

Thanks to all who came to support Anders on his special day. And thanks to Anders for being such a good boy. He has a real desire to be good and do what's right. I love you, bud.

A Letter from Aani

My nephew is on a mission right now, and has been out for a little over a year. Tonight for FHE we wrote him letters, and this is Aani's. Keep in mind that she was 2 when he left, so she really has no memory of him.

Dear Shane,

I love you. You're my best friend. You have a family. Your mom loves you. You like to smell flowers. You love your plants in your room. You're cleaning your room. You want to watch a movie. Your mom is making you a song. Your birthday is on Sunday.

Love,

Aani.

Man oh man, that girl keeps us rollin'.

I think my baby gave me shingles and other strange January thoughts...

All told, the shingles experience has left me fairly unscathed. I looked like I had been punched in the eye all last week, and confined myself to the house so that A) I wouldn't expose any babies or senior citizens to my disease, and B) so people would stop doing double-takes at me. One night I couldn't take the solitude anymore and we went out for burgers. There were many a double-take. I think I frightened a few children. Overall, though, my shingles are crusty and almost gone, and I'm on the mend. I would like to thank the anti-viral medication for its effectiveness. Thank you, anti-viral medication whose name I'll never pronounce correctly, or remember for that matter. As far as I know, shingles are brought on by either stress, or a compromised immune system. Since I'm fairly certain my immune system isn't compromised, I've been trying to pin down what stressful event could have triggered shingles in me.

So, I have this baby. She's really cute and chubby, and she is obsessed with me. I may have mentioned this once or twice. She really is. When she wakes up in the morning or from a nap, she screams like she's being sacrificed until I go get her. Once I'm holding her, she's perfectly fine until I set her down or attempt to divert my attention anywhere else. When she's awake, all is peaceful and calm if I am either holding her or sitting on the floor so she can crawl on me or sit on me. If I open a newspaper or magazine to read, she sits on it. If another child needs me, she pulls them away from me and cries until I pick her up. When I'm trying to cook dinner or wash dishes, she stands on my feet and tries to squeeze between my legs, screaming all the while.

The other day I was in her room, trying to engage her with her toys. All of the other kids came in, all needing something, all talking to me at the same time, hungry, wanting me to play with them, wanting to see if friends could play, etc. Ava was crying and crying because I was not giving her my undivided attention and I thought in that moment, "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" and I made the stress connection.

I think Ava gave me shingles. I love the girl like crazy, but I'll tell ya what- sometimes all I can do is endure and pray she isn't like this forever. She better be the best teenager ever.

Other January thoughts:

Anders turned 8-years old last week. Addie is turning 6-years old tomorrow. I'm turning 33 two days after that. It's bananas, I tell you. I've decided something pretty major, and I haven't told anyone- not even Nils. Deep breath in... I don't think cake is my favorite food anymore. I realized this when I was making Anders' cake for his party, which was 2 days after his birthday. But on his actual birthday, my mom made cupcakes for him, so I had already had my cake fix. I wasn't that excited about eating more birthday cake. I get to make another cake for Addie's party tomorrow and the enthusiasm is low. The thought of eating cake for my birthday makes me want to gag. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME? Why have you forsaken me, cakey old friend? Maybe it's me that has changed. Maybe it's the birthday overload. Maybe it's the January blues plus the birthday overload. Maybe it's better this way. Maybe I should shut up about it.

I'm never one for new years resolutions, because I feel like they're just a set up for failure. That's just me, I'm sure they work for others and I couldn't be more happy for them. Anyhoodle, I have one goal for this year, and it's to run a half-marathon. I feel like my body is almost recovered from childbirth, my joints and ligaments aren't as loosey goosey and I've been able to run longer distances lately without getting injured. I've been finding a lot of solace and inner chi through running longer as of late. There is one in May at Thanksgiving Point, and I think I'm going to shoot for that one, since it's close to our house and I could run parts of the route without having to travel far. So let it be written, so let it be done.

I'm going to stop typing now. Bye.

I am Sloth.

This picture is hideous. It was 7-something in the morning and taken with a phone, and I obviously have frizz issues, so there ya go. If I look like this all the time, please take me out back and put me down.

I have shingles. SHINGLES??? Happy friggin' new year.

I went to the doc today, since I spent the weekend looking like Sloth. I thought it was a spider bite. I thought they'd give me some cream to slather on the thing. Yeah, noooo. So apparently the rash will turn into blisters which will break open and scab over. Hot. I've also been warned about the extreme pain that may come. So far my lover Advil has been keeping it at bay. The left side of my scalp is itchy, my eye is itchy, and I have pain down the left side of my face.

Darn you, dormant chicken pox virus. Darn you all to heck.