Am I the Only One?

In the wee hours of the morning when the kids are still sleeping and Rick is refusing to believe that his sleep is over I sit at the dining room table and enjoy the quiet...and I blog hop.

It's actually a lot of fun. I just jump from one blog to another, some might call it stalking, and get a glimpse of other people's lives. Some crack me up, some I find it difficult to believe that anyone's life could be so boring, and still others make me realize that we're all just trying our best and have faking down to an art.

Then there are the crazy ones.

Believe me, there are a lot out there but the one I'm concentrating on today is the one that told me, no not directly, that my depression and my kids autoimmune problems were directly linked to the aspartame I consume when I drink my 12 pack of diet drinks every day. Really? See I always thought my kids' autoimmune problems could be directly linked to mine and Rick's jacked up genes that we passed on to them, and I just figured my depression was a result of the fact that I watched my daughter die and ten months later watched my son get pounded with obscene amounts of chemotherapy to save his life.

Am I the only one that finds this a little out there? I know, I know, the chemical companies are paying off the FDA so they won't give us the real information, but until that becomes public, I'm gonna go pour me a diet coke before I shoot myself.

The Kiddos

You know, it's been a long time since I've posted some pictures of Aren and Tatiana so I figure it's about time. One of my super bestest friends ever actually pointed out to me that she wanted current pictures and I realized that there really weren't any that you could see on this blog without heading into the archives. So for Shera and for all those other people that love seeing pictures of my children, this is for you.

Here they are spending some good quality time watching t.v. Notice Aren has the remote, so I'm sure it's Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Bakugan.

Ok, so don't look at the fact that Tatiana is enjoying her nekked time. Just look at her and Aren's smiles...melts my heart.

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

Have you all seen this? Hilarious!

My Creative Side

I love scrapbooking, but doing it paper style was a little overwhelming for me. I would sit there for about three hours staring, rearranging, cursing because I changed my mind about something and couldn't rework it. At the end of those three hours I would have one page, maybe two, that I liked and was proud of. I've since discovered an easier way.

I now do digital and I absolutely love it. Of course I'm still behind, but I'm catching up at a quicker pace. I've been working on a book for our trip to Disney World when Aren did Make-A-Wish. We had so much fun! I'm only about six pages away from being completely done and I should get those done in a few days time. These are some of my pages from the book...

We were able to spend an hour or so by ourselves with the Fab 5 - Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy.


We stayed at Give Kids the World which had an ice cream palor open from 7 in the morning until 11 at night. Aren was in heaven! We went there one night with Kurt Warner and his wife Brenda. Aren had a great time.


Aren's wish was to meet SpiderMan, which he did. It made everything he went through worth it to see his face and get SpiderMan's address so he could write him any time he wanted.

It's Over

Sorry. I just couldn't take it anymore. Those wedding songs were more than horrible and I had to remove the playlist...although Islands in the Stream has grown on me and I will be adding it my regular playlist.

Sing, Sing ANOTHER Song

We've already discovered that Rick and I like to sing random songs and have random song discussions, so it's time for another installment of "What Rick and I talk about as we fall asleep". A few days ago it was stupid wedding songs. Maybe I feel the need to poke fun of people's "songs" because Rick and I didn't have one. Heck, we were lucky that his mom showed up at our Utah reception with the food. Don't believe me? Ask anyone. She was about 30 minutes late with the peanuts and butter mints.

Anywho, I've started my list of the worst wedding songs EVER! We have "My Heart Will Go On"...yes it does, and so does the song. I guess they did do a good job with picking the perfect song for the Titanic movie. Both are freaking long and lame. We also have "I Honestly Love You". Really? Did you have to tell your fiance that you really weren't kidding this time, unlike the last hundred gajillion times you said I love you to other people? There's also "Every Breath You Take". This song is about stalking people! There is nothing remotely romantic about it! NOTHING!!! Then there's my personal favorite, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love for You". Please people. We already know you're going to do the nasty for the first time tonight, probably only if you're LDS, but do we have to watch you dance around to a song about it? Nasty.

The list is short and I need some ideas. So have at it. Help me weed out the most stupid wedding songs ever and maybe we can save the newlywed world one song at a time.

Popular

I was tagged again! How sad is it that I'm more popular as a blogger than I ever was in high school.

This tag is seven things I hate and seven things I love. I was also told that I couldn't put my children or my husband on my love list...what about my hate list? Totally kidding...usually.

7 things I love...
1. I LOVE a clean bathroom. There's something about sitting on a good clean toilet that just leaves me happy.
2. I LOVE catching up with old friends, especially the ones where you only have to say a few words and you already know what story they're going to tell and you end up crying and laughing so hard you pee your pants...hopefully the bathroom is clean.
3. I LOVE beating Rick. I know, horrible, but the man is so smart that anytime I can win I think about it for days. I actually beat him at this online thing where dots are flashed in front of you for .2 seconds and you have to guess if there are more blue dots or more yellow dots and I totally kicked his trash. Suck it Rick!
4. I LOVE Take 5 candy bars. Man that is such an amazing combination of sugar and salt. Pure genius.
5. I LOVE reality tv. I'm a junky. I watch everything from Sunset Tan to Biggest Loser. I can't get enough, which brings me to number six...
6. I LOVE my DVR. I will forever be grateful that Heavenly Father allowed this invention to make it's way into my home. It's worth every bit of the five bucks I pay each month.
7. I LOVE Corey Hart. I always wanted to wear my sunglasses at night but never thought I was hip enough to pull that one off.


7 things I hate...
1. I HATE when Rick uses my spoon to eat my food, like I'm eating ice cream and he takes my spoon and eats my ice cream then give me the spoon back to use. I think it's so disgusting. Yes, I realize this is the same man I make babies with, but blech!
2. I HATE cleaning bathrooms. Yes, I know it's one of the things I love the end result of, but getting to that point is pure and utter hell.
3. I HATE when people are late and don't call. Do you really think your time is that much more important than mine? I have been known to do the same thing in the past and I hate myself for it.
4. I HATE getting screwed over by the insurance companies. For the love, I pay the premiums, stop giving me a bunch of this loophole crap. Just pay the freaking doctor already.
5. I HATE talk shows about people who were picked on in high school and now they're "hot". Please, just because you got a boob job and walk around looking like a whore is not enough to make me sorry for calling you idiot. For what it's worth, I was never mean to anyone in high school...hell, I don't think anyone would remember me from high school.
6. I HATE talking politics with Rick. The man is so overly informed it doesn't matter what I say, he's got some article to quote or some figures to site. I'd rather be on Maury talking to former high school losers.
7. I HATE paying full price for a movie that ends up being lame. I mean come on. I paid six bucks to see Shutter and that ended up being 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back. I think I was more excited to get home and tell the babysitter how bad the movie was more than I enjoyed the movie itself.

There you have it my friends. Another day, another tag. I tag Shannalee, Tara, Bobbi (gotcha back!), Rick, Emma, Sarah, and...ummmm...Emerson!

Suckers!

I'm it.

Ok, so Bobbi tagged me. So here are things you never thought you wanted to know about me:


Ten years ago I
1. Lived in Provo but worked in Salt Lake City.
2. Would wake up early so I could go hang out at Rick's (we were engaged) and make out with him before work.
3. Had a super cool electric blue Geo Storm.
4. Had the bestest best friend named Sarah Slaughter...how cool is that name!
5. Had money to burn.

My "to do" list
1. Laundry
2. Dishes
3. Go to the bank
4. Don't spend money
5. More laundry

Favorite Snackies
1. Mountain Dew...full strength
2. Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
3. Chips and cheesy salsa
4. Artichoke Dip
5. Doritos and sour cream

If I had a million dollars
1. Pay off all my kids' medical debt
2. Finally go on a honeymoon
3. Bye-bye Rick's student loans
4. New car
5. Donate to SCID Foundation because it's harder than hell to pay for a bone marrow transplant for your kid when you can't qualify for any help because your child doesn't have cancer...not that I'm bitter or anything.

Places I've lived
1. Silver Spring, MD
2. Rexburg, ID
3. Plovdiv & Sofia, Bulgaria
4. American Fork, UT
5. Sierra Vista, AZ

My jobs
1. Sears - ladies, jewelry, shoes, and mens
2. Janitor at Ricks College (one of my personal favorites)
3. CES at the Insitute on U of Maryland Campus
4. Smith Layton & Associates
5. Piano Teacher


There, I did it Bobbi! Love me, because I totally dig you!

Just Because

Seriously, this is for no other reason than just because. Enjoy!

It's A Wonderful Life

When Aren was 15 months old he had antibiotic resistant chronic sinus and ear infections, boils impetigo, and had gotten chicken pox from the vaccine.

When Lily was 15 months old she had almost died three times from pneumonia, pseudomonas sepsis, and chicken pox.

Tatiana just turned 15 months and well, nothing has happened. ISN'T LIFE WONDERFUL!

I'm Bored.

My mom and I are alot alike. We look alike, we laugh alike, and as I get older I realize we get annoyed alike. When I was little I would tell her all the time, "I'm bored." She HATED that phrase because according to her there were, "so many things to do...wash the dishes, clean the bathrooms, do some laundry..." The list would go on and on. Poor Aren is slowly realizing that being bored in my house is not a pay off phrase either. I started telling him the same things, except I'll throw in, "Go outside and leave me alone," every once in a while.

For the past two weeks or so I've been reading the Twilight series and last night I finally finished Breaking Dawn. Quite frankly I'm trying to decide what to do next. I mean for two weeks my life has been filled with vampires and wanna be vampires, vampires who stalk and vampires who want revenge, vampires who "will never leave you", and vampires who show up just at the right moment. I watched from a distance vampire love and the disturbing results of that love, complete with a vampire baby with a full set of teeth (which is about as creepy as clowns in my book) to making more vampires. I was disappointed with the end of Breaking Dawn - I wanted a good fight - and I was annoyed that Bella chose Edward over Jacob. Maybe it's because I prefer hairy guys. Love you Rick!

Anyways, so now that I'm done, I'm a little bored and need something to do. Maybe I'll "wash the dishes", "clean the bathrooms", or "do some laundry"...all things that haven't been done since I discovered that werewolves and form changers are completely different things. Sigh.

Popped Bubbles

I'll admit it. I live in a bubble. I live in a world where countries attack other countries because the leader of the other country is a big fat meanie and someone needs stop him. I live in a world where the Spirit will lead me to the right person to vote for in an election. I live in a world where Aren can spend the night at his friend's house in his backyard on his trampoline, because what could happen? I live in a world where I imagine nothing but rainbows and ponies for Tatiana as she gets older. But last night my bubble burst.

Aren came home with a bright red piece of paper from school explaining that there was an attempted child abduction at a bus stop that morning. I thought, "How awful!" until I saw the bus stop where it happened...Aren's. My heart stopped. I couldn't comprehend that this could happen. A little girl was walking to the stop when a car stopped her and two men told her it looked like she was struggling with her backpack and did she want a ride. She told them no and then one said, "If you get in my car, I'll give you some candy." The 8 year old girl screamed and ran and luckily the two men left.

Policemen have been patrolling our neighborhood all morning looking for these two men. Every parent was at the bus stop this morning with their children and all had the same look as if saying, "Are you kidding me?" We live in a small town...I can probably count the stoplights...we live in a "nice" neighborhood. Surely this couldn't happen here.

I guess I'm posting this to remind myself of the world we live in. Maybe my bubble needs to burst every so often to keep me in check. Maybe my bubble needed to burst to keep anyone who reads this in check. We live in a scary world...watch out for your children, because if you don't, someone else will.

Football Game

We aren't the biggest football fans in the world, in fact, the only game we watch on a regular basis is the Utah BYU game and when Utah wins, our joy is full, and when they lose, well, things are bad.

However, things changed a few years ago when Aren was able to do Make-A-Wish and we had the opportunity to go to Disney World with Kurt Warner. Believe me, we had no idea who this guy was, but we found out he won a superbowl and that was about the extent of our knowledge. So, we go and we hung out with Kurt and his wife, Brenda, for a week along with six other wish familes and seriously, they are the nicest people ever!

Kurt now plays quarterback for the Phoenix Cardinals and we were given tickets from his organization to a pre-season game against the Denver Broncos and jumped at the opportunity to go. We had so much fun! An 80 year old woman sat in front of us, decked out in Broncos clothes and even had her bright blue hair to prove how big of a fan she was. She turned around to talk to Aren and he just glared at her the whole time she was talking to him. Finally he just blurted out, "The Broncos Suck!" Luckily she just laughed it off and said, "We'll see how the game ends." The Cardinals lost, so I guess the Broncos don't suck that bad.

After the game we were able to go downstairs near the locker rooms and Aren spent some time with Kurt and Brenda. We hadn't seen them for two years but they knew Aren and remembered every conversation they'd had with him at Disney World. Aren caught them up on what he'd been doing, complete with his latest science experiments at school.

We had such a great time and always feel so blessed to be a part of Kurt and Brenda's lives. Thank you to them, and to his amazing organzation, First Things First, which is dedicated to serving so many people and blessing their lives.

Crack is Whack!

Party On, Dude!

I know this has happened to everyone...your friend calls or sees you at church and asks how you're doing, what you're up to, how are the kids...it goes on and on. Then before you can realize what's going on, before you can even think about getting away, it happens.

She invites you to a "party".

Where did you go wrong? Was it something you said? I mean, this was your friend, the one you go to lunch with, the one you pawn your kids off on for a few hours so you don't get arrested for homicide, the one you have intimate conversations with about who is better for Bella...Edward or Jacob.

Ok, so they're not THAT bad, in fact, eventually it becomes an addiction. There are parties are for everything, especially candles. It used to be only Gold Canyon, now there's Yankee, Party Lite, Scentsy, and heaven knows how many other candle companies there are, each claiming to be better than the next.

Eventually not only are you going to "parties", you're hosting them. But you can't have a yummy smelling house if it doesn't look good so now you need a Tupperware Party to get everything organized. Then you realize you have to have food to serve so you need Pampered Chef. But wait, you don't look good so now you need MaryKay, Self Indulgence, or Avon. It just goes on and on and on. I swear I need a second job just to keep up with my "parties".

Eventually everything will come to an end - maybe at the second coming, but until that happens, you should probably learn to accessorize, so how about coming to my Premier Designs party on September 23rd...it'll be a blast!

Aren

Aren cracks me up. He's always saying the most random and funny things; always surprising me with what he'll come up with next. This morning he walked up to me with his closed mouth smile and wide twinkly eyes, wrapped his arms around me, gave me a kiss and said,

"Mom, I think dad's the best."

I'll make sure to tell him Aren.

This Sucks

I'm not usually one to jump on the bandwagon so a few years ago when my friend Myers suggested I start reading the Harry Potter series I just rolled my eyes. I eventually gave in, because anything was better than hanging out at the hospital watching my seven month old daughter in a drug induced coma...yes really. Anyways, I jumped and that wagon took off and now I own all books in hardback, read them at least every other year when a new movie comes out, and I'm sure they will be read alot more between me, Rick, and eventually Aren and Tatiana.

So here we are a few years later, things have slowed down, and I hear talk about some vampire love book. My first thought was, "Give me a break. Vampire love?" I mean, there is Buffy and Angel, but come on, that is true love and that could only happen once in a lifetime, right?

Enter Bella and Edward.

After recommendation upon recommendation from friends I finally opened up this book last week. I read the first chapter before bed, no big deal. Second chapter the next night, sleep came. Nothing the third night. Day four I picked up the book while Tatiana was napping and my house as I know it no longer exists. I read whenever I can, telling my daughter to shut up and watch Sesame Street because mommy has important things to do. I've stopped only to go to Phoenix to see a Cardinals game, and immediately upon returning, picked up the book again. I ran out yesterday to buy book two, accidentally bought book three, turned right back around and bought book two and then came home and plopped on the couch again, constantly telling Rick to step it up and take care of HIS kids.

My reality is being taken over by a now eighteen year old girl who's boyfriend celebrates the anniversary of his seventeenth birthday every year, and from the looks of the book summary, a werewolf will eventually join my life.

This sucks.