Please, judge me!

So, I haven't gotten around to getting my kids vaccinated for the H1N1 thing or the regular flu. Well, Simon had a half flu vaccination, but I never made it into the peds office for the other half. I have decided it's because of two reasons:

I'm Lazy. And I'm anxious.

Well, maybe not lazy (definitely anxious!), but I just hate the hype that surrounds the whole H1N1 vaccination. (Like I said, anxious!) Apparently there was a clinic last Saturday at our local really-big-round-building. We intended to go take our kids, really we did. But Saturday got the best of us and we made pancakes, danced in our PJ's, did some mild reconnaissance for Halloween decorations (which consist of a strand of 10 glowing pumpkin lights, really that's I've collected over the years? I AM a terrible mother!), Basically we had our first full day as a family in a really really long time and it was a really great!

That still leaves us with no H1N1 vaccinations, and are there even any flu shots available now? So, I guess it's just good hand washing for us, keeping our germs to ourselves if we are sick, and maybe a mild case of something.

Am I a terrible mother? Am I the only one out there who hates the idea of waiting in line for a vaccination that I don't know if I really trust? Am I the only one that thinks that even if I go to all the trouble of getting the flu shots/mist/whatever it is that we will probably get something equally as bad, because I have three kids and...we always get sick?

Go ahead, I really want to know your opinion on the matter, what's your stand?

And another un-related but completely judgable question, am I the only one in my neighborhood who really really thought the world was ending the other morning? (Sunday morning at around 4 AM) Which, by-the-way induced some soul searching on my part, and MAN I cannot die any time soon!

Happy Crazy Hair Day !

Nine years!

Today is our 9th anniversary, I'm feeling philosophical so please indulge me for a moment. Alright, I want you to look closely at the people in the picture for a moment. (click on it to enlarge)

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Did you look? You may have noticed the state of confusion amongst the crowd. I see this as a symbol of a happy marriage. Everyone is looking around in different places with very different thoughts running through their heads.(Cortanie, what were YOU thinking?!?)

Nick and I on the other hand are focused on the same thing, we are examining our rings together, the symbol of our marriage, the symbol of eternity. We are happy, we are sublimely unaware of the chaos that surrounds us.

The crowd is waiting, unsure of where to look, what to expect, or when to smile and act happy. Nick and I don't want to look at anything else except for each other and don't really care what to expect because whatever it is , we can do it together. In this picture we were thinking of that moment and that moment only, while standing outside of the place where we were sealed for eternity!

This is my goal, to enjoy each moment to the fullest while still remembering the big picture. The eternal picture. Nick is a good example to me, he is a pro at this. Thank goodness I have him to learn, grow, and experience life with!

Happy Anniversary Nick, I love you!!!

Ps, why wouldn't they let us do this in the temple? :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LAuhUp8Uh8

Shoes...

Lovely ladies, can I have you?

Be kind to your web footed friends.

Oh do I have a story for you dear reader(s)!

Last Friday I had the unique opportunity to do some "freelance" work for a local event planning company, Global Events Partners. The event I was working was an annual meeting for the Truevalue Company employees and retailers. I have done this sort of thing before, I get to meet a lot of interesting people from around the world, and I get to act all professional and helpful. It is sort of like an acting gig in a way, I get to be completely different then I am in real life, where professional and helpful rarely enter my vocabulary. :)

So, here I am, all ready to be professional and helpful. I even had on lipstick.

I was given my assignment for the evening: assisting one of the performing groups for the evening. The performing group I was in charge of: The International Children s Choir. Now, some of you may have heard of this choir, they are a popular children s choir from Salt Lake City. Let me just say that I loved them all! They were dressed in authentic costumes from all around the world, ages ranging from about 6 years to what looked like 15 or 16 year old teenagers. You all know I am a fan of singing, and children s choirs and such. The director, Dr. Kathy Sorensen was very kind, talented, and delightfully scatterbrained (in my opinion, a sign of a real musician). I loved them!

That being said, let me explain my first impression upon meeting the choir, specifically Dr. Sorensen. We exchanged greetings and shook hands. I explained that I would be her go-to girl for the evening, helping her and the choir with whatever they needed. She began to say that she needed me to help her cue up a series of CD tracks so that the choir could sing along with them when she reached behind her to unzip her duffel bag. I was expecting her to pull out the CD's we were currently discussing, but as she unzipped I realized that the duffel bag was full of something....like a goose. A real Goose. A Goose named Eliza Snow. A Goose named Eliza Snow that had a red cloth diaper and patriotic cape on and lives with Dr. Sorensen.

Oh, and did I mention that Eliza sings with the choir? She does.

So, Dr. Sorensen and I casually finished discussing the order or songs etc. while Eliza honked and "sang" at some of the 5,000 people milling about the performance area. Dr. Sorensen mentioned that she would like Eliza's two numbers with the choir to sandwich a large African medley, so that she could have ample time to do Eliza's costume change. COSTUME CHANGE! At this point I had to remind myself that this was real and not a dream, I felt a little dizzy and was trying not to giggle.

So, the performance ensued and it was very fun! I played DJ, while the children sang, danced, and puppeted their little hearts out. Eliza was spot on, and the crowd just ate it all up! The only snag of the evening was when I didn't cut the CD before the recorded applause blared over the speakers. They forgave me.

As I sit here and type this, I wonder what I learned or took away from this event?

1. A goose can be a domesticated pet. I didn't say should be, but can be.
2. Singing is fun, children s choir should be fun.
3. Just when you think you know what to expect from life, it goes and hands you Eliza the goose dressed as big bird. Enough Said.

Mom, look at me!

I posted over here today.
Check it out!

Kindergarten and being selfish. In that order.

Woah! Not sure how the Andy-Warhol-like coloring happened but it like it!

Here is what a well-adjusted kindergartner looks like. Pretty sweet huh?

There were no tears and no hesitation, just a happy boy off on his merry way. Nick actually took Gabe to his first day of kindergarten, he had the day off and I tend to be a blubbering mess when these things occur. I was a blubbering mess at home (suprisingly) for only a short moment, but mostly I am excited for Gabe. He has a great teacher and a great friend in his class, Sam. He has made friends with Akazia, Cutler, Carter, Kaleo, Collin, and Ammon. He is learning how to write the "school way" (only capitalizing the first letter, not all the letters in a word) which has been hard for him, but as long as he knows he can write his way on his artwork at home he is fine.

Anyway, Gabe loves school and school loves Gabe. Today he got to pick a prize out of the treasure chest because he had filled his chart with positive marks. (I wanted to type plusses, because that is what they are but spell check does not like it, how does one spell plusses anyway?)

I like kindergarten too, here's why: I get to read while Ian and Simon nap. Divine!

So far I have read:
The Last Lecture (Oh my, so good!)
To Kill A Mockingbird (always love it)
The Persian Pickle Club (highly recommend - depression era but not depressing. Go figure!)
Gift from the Sea (beautiful)
Fablehaven: Grip of the shadow plague (3rd book, and entertaining)
The Picture of Dorian Grey (didn't finish, got sick of all the selfish characters)
Frankenstein (thoroughly enjoyed and cried over)
The Secret Life of Bees (enjoyable)
The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society (so good, loved it, read it!)
next up is The life of Pi for book club


Did I ever mention that I love to read? I do. When I was younger my cousin Katie and I would have reading sleepovers. Another story for another day, but yes we were nerds. I have not had time for it in the last 5 years, but now... NOW I am making up for it in spades!



Ian is in preschool, a little neighborhood one in which we moms are taking turns teaching at our respective houses (aka joyschool without the joyschool curriculum). He adores it and has learned so many new things. I love hearing him sing "Here we are together together together. Here we are together at our preschool day. There's Ian and Cameron and.....so on and so forth. You know the tune right? It's cute.

Simon, well he has taken to speaking in short sentences such as: "turn it on" "ready, set, go" and "NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOOO". He is asserting himself lately, in a loud screechy sort of way, but we still love him and he's unbelievably cute.

All in all, we are well adjusted to this new life.

Oh, and by the way, Nick is awesome! Isn't he always though? I mean for crying out loud, he currently has 100 more friends than me on face book. Of course he is awesome!

Because I am naturally a (very) competitive person, I chalk this up to all that time I spend with my nose in books. While I made book friends, Nick made real friends. Or maybe it is because I post updates like, "today was a good day" or "today was an over-the-moon day". You know it's only because I'm reading good books right?

I want to leave you with this thought: is there anything better than curling up on the couch with a blanket (snuggie, yes I own one) and a good book for two hours of uninterrupted reading time listening to the chorus of a fall thunderstorm? Probably, but it made my day today.

One talented girl!

Check out this blouse that was HAND MADE! I wish I had the time and patience, not to mention skill to sew like that!