Happy Easter!

Ahh, the thoughts of candy for breakfast. I love Easter. It's one of my favorite holidays, if not my most favorite. I just love when the Easter bunny brings yummy Cadbury mini eggs, and Hershey's kisses. Mmmm, my favorite. It's also my favorite holiday because I'm reminded of the Atonement. I know that no matter how horrible of a person I think I am, I can repent and be forgiven. What a nice reason to have a holiday. I hope you enjoy the pics of the girls with the spoils of Mr. Easter Bunny, or as Maggie likes to call it, E. Habit. Silly Habit, Trix are for kids.

A little scary

Two weeks ago we had a little scare at our house. It all started with what I thought was a lung infection, but it turned into something much more stressful.

I went to the doc because I thought I had pleuritis. Nothing major, but I wanted something for the pain. Well he thought we should have a CT scan done to rule out a blood clot. No biggie. So we have it and wait for the results. And wait, and wait, and wait. You know doctors have their own time line of life. Whatever. Finally after 3 hours of waiting, he calls and says "you can rest easy tonight knowing there is no blood clot". Uh, I knew that, but feel free to bill my insurance. But then he continues with "but there are a few things we need to get looked at." Okay, do I not have a heart, because I've heard that one before. Nope. Heart's accounted for. It's what shouldn't be there that worries him. "You have a lump on your right breast, 2 masses around your thymus, and 3 spots on your left lung." Yippie! What's a thymus again? I took anatomy, but I'm drawing a blank. Actually adults don't have a thymus, it shrivels up and dies when you hit puberty. But before that, it makes your T-Cells that fight infection. Now you don't have to take anatomy. Feel free to send me your tuition check.

So now I'm freaking out. I automatically think I have cancer. No way, I feel fine. I really do. So the last few weeks we've been through 2 mammograms, 1 ultrasound, 3 doctors and several vials of blood. And finally yesterday we get the news.... All is well. The lump on the breast is necrotic tissue. No worries about that. The thymus masses are remnant thymic tissue, weird, but not a problem. And the lung spots are granulomas from a previous a-symptomatic fungal infection. Whew. I think we're all breathing a huge sigh of relief.

I guess it takes something like this for me to wake up and realize what's important. I just hate that I'm that way. I think I've learned my lesson.

So far, so good

I have raised $155 toward my goal of $500 for the MS ride. I'm pretty excited about this. You can click the link on the title to go to my page and donate. Thanks!!!

Please donate to help fight Multiple Sclerosis.

I will be riding in the 2006 MS 150 bike tour in Logan. It is on June 23-24. My goal is to raise $500 before the ride. It is 150 miles over 2 days, and all proceeds will go to fund MS research. If any of you know someone who has this, or have personally been affected by this horrible disease in any way, you know how important medical research is. It takes over lives of otherwise healthy individuals. I have seen it up close, and have seen the effects on families and the individuals. Please make a donation in any amount. The above link will take you to my personal page where you can ePledge using a credit or debit card. It is Tax Deductible! I will also put the link on my sidebar. Tell your friends and neighbors, and let's get this going! I will give an update as the weeks go by. Thanks!

My new favorite drink

Yummy! It has a full serving of fruits and veggies in one 8 oz. glass. It's perfect for the morning with cereal or just alone. I have the Tropical Orange. Mmmmm.

No, I'm from North Carolina

A funny story about a girl in Emma's class.

So I volunteer in Emma's class 2 times a week, and a few weeks ago, a new girl named Brianna transfers into her class. The teacher tells me I need to work with her because she is from Italy and speaks very little English. I'm up to the challenge, so I take her out in the hall one day, and start asking her questions. No reply. I'm thinking she totally doesn't understand me, so I just keep talking. Blah blah blah. She keeps staring at me with this blank expression. So I finally say, "I hear you're from Italy. I went there on vacation once. It's very beautiful. Do you miss it?" Suddenly she sits straight up and says "No, I'm from North Carolina" in perfect English. Apparently she's not FROM Italy, but she's been there a few times to see her grandparents. The teacher just heard it wrong. She speaks perfect English, but is very shy, and won't speak up in class. Good thing she did, or we all would have thought she was Italian all this time!

What is this, you ask?

Well, I heard somewhere that it was a spinning bike. But I'm pretty sure it's a contraption for a slow and painful death, probably of a stroke or heart attack. It makes you sweat in places you never knew had sweat glands, makes you sore in places you thought muscles couldn't get sore, and makes your lady parts hurt like the most brutal form of child birth. I do have a point here.

For some reason, my little sister (and I mean little in every sense of the word), thinks we, including my older sister (notice I didn't say big), and my sister in law (also a tiny thing), should each take a leg of the Logan to Jackson bike race. Yes, that's Logan, as in high up in the mountains Logan, to Jackson. Yes, Jackson Hole, Wy. Now I'm no geography buff, but I can tell you this. Logan is high in altitude, and I'm pretty sure Jackson is higher. Doesn't that make this whole race up hill? Yep. And I know it takes a few hours to DRIVE to Jackson from Logan, so how long will it take us and how many miles is it? It's 239 miles, and will take approximately 3542 hours. Okay, they give us 18, but I'm pretty sure my first estimate is more on target.

So why am I doing this you ask? Let's just say it has something to do with a missing video tape of Keifer Sutherland and I. 'Nuff said. Oh yeah, and I'm a masochist. So begins my training. Spinning, spinning spinning. My head is spinning, too. I must be nuts!!

I just realized I've been slacking

It seems as though a week has passed and I have not blogged. I guess the withdrawal symptoms haven't been as bad as I thought they would be. Really, though, it's because I don't have much to blog about these days. After the cruise our life (at least mine), has been fairly calm. Cue the wood knocking action. If my loyal reader(s) would so like, I will post a list of my activities of the last week. Hold on to your hats.

1. Grocery shopping at the new Super Wal-Mart. Fun.
2. Picking up the trailer from the dealer. All fixed.
3. Doing laundry. Jealous?
4. Doing laundry. I know you are.
5. Taking care of Emma. Awww, she's so cute when she's sick.
6. Working. I love doing hair again.
7. Planning our next cruise. Hawaii here we come!
8. Deciding Hawaii is going to cost too much money and debating if it's worth it. Sad face here.
9. Saw Nanny McPhee. LOVED it!
10. Hoping no more sick kids. But they really are cute when they're sick.

So, that's about it. Like I said, nothing too exciting. Yawn. I'm hoping to get a nap in today since I have to work tonight. I love naps. But I doubt that will happen. Maybe I'll take the camera with me to work one of these days and get a picture of my girlfriends that make work so much fun. Then my blog will look more enticing. Toodles!

Ode to the Mexican Iceberg

A couple of birds upon you sit,
A big lonely rock covered in stuff.
The waves and water upon you lap,
But here you sit covered in stuff.
The birds upon are not in a coop,
And that is why you are covered in stuff.
If it gets too slippery, away they'll flew,
It serves them right for going number two!

This pretty much sums it up.

The first few days of the cruise went fine. Okay weather, not too much sun, but not particularly eventful, either. Cabo was beautiful, but the water was freezing, so the snorkeling was fast. I think mom and dad only did it for about 5 minutes, and I could only take about 30 since I had forgotten my earplugs, and the cold water was killing my ears. I did see an octopus, though. That was cool. Next stop, Mazatlan. Here's a tip when planning a trip to Mazatlan. Go to the nearest landfill, set up a lawnchair. Note the annoying seagulls. Next, have several of the most annoying people you know come by every 5 minutes offering to sell you some of the said refuse. That's pretty much Mazatlan. Puerto Vallarta. This is a place I could stay for a few days. Awesome food, and beautiful scenery. But this is when it all started. We took a boat to a city that has no roads in and no electricity. It was about an hours boat ride there. Well, 30 minutes in, Sean starts chumming for fish, if you know what I mean. So we stop to snorkel. Then Dad starts. And mom soon follows, although she never actually up chucked, but she was very green. So the theme for the day was what goes down must come up. We thought once we were on the ship, we'd all be fine. Not so. Turns out all the way home we had like 10 foot swells and most of the boat was sick. Not I. I thought I was so tough. Well, turns out I got sick, but not sea sick. Just a bad cold. So that is our trip. After going to the Carribean last year, the Pacific just doesn't measure up. I'm spoiled.

Oh baby, it's cruising time!

Yes 2, count them 2, days until we are going on our cruise! The best part? It's courtesy of Back to Basics. The only way to cruise is for free. Sweet. But the thing I'm almost more excited for (I said almost), is Magic Mountain! I've never been there, and I'm kind of a coaster person. I get way freaked out, and usually scream til I lose my voice (which makes Sean happy), but I love to be scared. So we'll be spending Saturday there, and Sunday through Sunday we will be on the high seas, matey. Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas, and Puerto Vallarta. Nice. You have permission to hate me.

I've entered the 21st century!

I just took a big step. I went from a 1990's-esqe phone to a new BlackBerry. Or as my friends that all have one like to refer to them, a CrackBerry, because they're so addicting. I'm quite stoked about my new toy. It has all the cool stuff that techno geeks fear, email, IM, text messaging, calendar, and applications like excel and word (which will be coming soon since I had to get the special Mac version). So now I feel cool. At least for today. My thumbs already hurt from typing emails on it. I guess I'll have to get them callused up.

This looks like a nice second home

I don't know about any of you, but I don't have a second home. Unless you count the trailer, but I don't. HGTV has an awesome dream home giveaway and you can enter every day until Feb. 17th. It's in North Carolina, which is a little far away, but i figure if we win it (which of course we will because I always win anything I enter, just ask my Creative Memories and Stampin' up ladies), we'll be able to visit Bry and Kik, and Chelle and Ken. Or maybe we could just live there full time. whatever. I'm leaving my options open. But if you'd like to enter, go to HGTV.com. It's worth a shot.

My first fill today!

I get to have my first fill today! I'm quite excited, but nervous. It will give me more restriction on what I can eat and also how much I can eat. I should really start seeing some more drastic weight loss now. We leave on our cruise in 24 days, not that I'm counting, and I'm hoping I can be down another 10 pounds by then. It depends on how much they put in through the port. It should be anywhere from 1-2 cc's, so not much, but enough to make a difference. I'll definitely post later about how it went. Wish me luck!!

I posted this educational picture of what the band looks like with the port visible. The port is near my belly button on the left side, which I have to laugh about, because that's the Port Side in nautical terms. How appropriate for the cruise. Now I'll never forget which is port side, and which is starboard. Ha ha ha.

I guess I know where I stand

So I took a personality test. I know, I know. They're dumb. I don't put much stock in them, that's for sure. But this one was pretty good. The questions are totally loaded, and you know exactly what they're after, but still, it's interesting. And for me lately, I needed something.

Do you ever have that overwhelming feeling that you made a big mistake? I don't know what it was exactly, but for some reason there has been this nagging in my head that I messed up royally somewhere in my lifetime. Or perhaps my past lifetime? Who knows. It's just me being stupid. This too, shall pass.

Well here are the results, in case you were wondering.

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (23%) low which suggests you are very worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious. Orderliness (66%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun. Extraversion (50%) medium which suggests you are moderately talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting.

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. Finally!

Anyone that knows me knows I am not a huge fan of Christmas. It's not that I don't love giving presents or anything like that, it's the chaos of the whole day. I don't do well with chaos. I like things simple and organized. I don't like a messy house, or screaming children, or wrapping paper everywhere. I know, it's only one day, but I dread it most of the season. And now it's over, so I can enjoy it. Ahhhh. That's my sigh of relief.

The kids had a good time, as you can see. They both procured their doodle bears, which were a big hit. And the Princess table and chairs was a great idea from that good ol' boy Santa. You see, we do not have a dining room table. This little Princess table will give the girls a place to sit and eat, and Sean and I can sit at the bar. All in all, I think they received more than enough presents and candy, but I think they had a good time.

Joy to the world, Maggie just puked in church....

Yes, it's true. We were at my mom's ward listening to her and my dad sing in the choir, one of my favorite holiday traditions, when suddenly out of nowhere, it all comes spewing out. How gross is that? I have had kids puke on me in several key locations in my short time as a mother. Some of which include the car, a Mexican restaurant, McDonalds, all the way from Kanab to Phoenix. But this surely takes the cake as the grossest. And stinkiest. She had been fine all morning, nothing out of the ordinary. But when we got to Sacrament meeting, she wouldn't eat the goldfish Sean had brought for her. Weird. She loves goldfish.

So, we made it through the passing of the sacrament, and the choir had just started to sing it's beautiful rendition of Joy to the World, which includes a 16 year old prodigy playing the piano perfectly, when suddenly she got that look in her eye. Now, those of you that don't yet have children will not understand. But for all you Mom's out there, you know that look. It speaks to our most paranoid parts of mom-hood. You know the look. It's the same look they get when they are going to do something wrong, or are choking on something they shouldn't be eating in the first place. It seems as though the look takes forever to register, when in all reality it only takes a split second. But you know what's coming. And up it came. Yep, milk and Frosted Flakes. Yummy. And smelly. Luckily for me, I was wearing knee high boots and most of it went streaming down my boot into my foot. Did I say luckily? Well, we thought it was safe to go screaming (in whispers of course) from the Chapel, when round 2 was upon us. This time I was not so "lucky" to save it with my boot. Poor pew. And poor people sitting anywhere near us. So a-sloshing I go out to the foyer, mouthing "I'm sorry" to my mom as I leave.

We spent the rest of Sunday afternoon cleaning up vomit, which normally I get paid for by the way, and rocking a sick little Mags so she'd feel better. Needless to say, it was my most memorable Sacrament Meeting ever. Gross.

First post op check up

Well, today I went in for my first post op check up with the doctor that did my surgery. I am down 6.5 pounds! Actually more than that, but I didn't feel like getting butt nekkid in front of the nurse :). So I guess it's working. Yay!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

But inside it's quite delightful. I can't believe Christmas is here. Well, not technically, but you know what I mean. We had our ward Christmas breakfast on Saturday, and of course the big guy was there. Notice the pic of Maggie. She burst into screaming fits about 1 nano second after that picture was taken. Although she was pretty excited that he gave her "nandy". And Emma was a little disappointed that it wasn't the real Santa, but she knows how busy he is this time of year, and that he need helper Santa's to go to all the parties. I don't know how long they go on believing, but I hope forever. It's the funnest thing a parent can do is play Santa. I get butterflies just like when I was a kid, only now it's better. Santa is the best.

We have so many fun things planned for the season, and it's almost over! Tonight we're riding the Polar Express to the North Pole, Saturday is my Mom's side family party, next Saturday is the girls brunch at Mimi's Cafe, and then the 22 is Emma's school sing along. Whew! I'm sure there's more, but I don't want to bring up my iCal at the moment, so I can't remember off the top of my head. All I know is the seasons get busier and shorter each year. But at least they're fun.














Here's the family tree. We've had this tree for 6 years now, and the lights are going out. It's a pre-lit tree, but I'm thinking next year it might not be. I think next year this one is going in the basement, and we'll get a 20' one for the living room. I love those tall trees. Although I'm not quite sure how to decorate them. Hmmm?