I'm sorry, could you speak into my good ear?

I am so thankful for my hearing. And my voice. Right now I don't have either. I currently have the worst cold of my life. I don't even know if I could call it a "cold". I think it's actual term is "the plague". Late Friday night I started getting a sore throat and achy all over. The next day, the achyness was gone but the sore throat was still there.

Sunday, my left ear was hurting and all of a sudden it went all muffled with a nice clear ring in it. I decided that in the morning I would go to the doctor. I thought for sure a sore throat this bad was strep.

Monday, I went to the doctor. Not strep. Good. But now I have to live through the pain. (Okay, I can take pain medicine.) No ear infection, and it wasn't excess ear wax. He said it was probably just my eustatian tube plugged up in connection with my sinuses being plugged up. I'm supposed to take Mucinex to clear all that up and I didn't have a cough before (just a little hard to breathe) but when I started the Mucinex it sure loosened things up. Now I have a major cough. He said if things don't clear up in a week then to come back.

Tuesday, when I got home from Ben's basketball game, I noticed my eye was all red. Pink eye. Luckily we had some unexpired medicine from the kids left over to clear that right up.

Wednesday - everything the same.

Then today, Thursday, I woke up and had no voice. Laryngitis. Now, I've never had laryngitis before. I thought people that had it were kind of whiny. They could whisper as loud as they wanted. I thought, well, if they have this much control of their voice then they're probably faking it. Now I know. It hurts to talk normally and it sounds all froggy/squeaky. But whispering doesn't hurt at all. No matter how loud. The only bad thing is that you just sound silly to kids. (And to people who have never had it.) My baby has been whispering back to me when I talk to her all day today.

To top it all off, I have a boil on my chin so that when I talk everyone stares at it. There is no other word to describe it. It's a huge boil. I guess it could also be described as a giant zit. But it sounds more plague-y to call it a boil. Yeah, I DO have the plague.

So I've only had half my hearing since Sunday and I can't sleep very well because of the coughing. I can't wear my contacts for a week so I am looking real lovely with my outdated glasses. I have a giant red dot on my face and I sound like a frog. I'm tired of the monotonous 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeee' in my head that I'm hearing. Come on, learn a new tune, ear! And my throat still hurts.

Tomorrow, it will be a week since it started. I don't know if I'm supposed to go back then or a week since I went to the doctor, which was on Monday. He probably meant from Monday.

My visiting teachers have been so amazing though. They were supposed to come over Monday but I canceled and so they brought me dinner. Then today, one called to see how I was feeling and she heard my voice and knew that I wasn't any better. So they brought me dinner again today! So nice! I told them that this 'cold' doesn't affect my arms but they just insisted. They have offered to do anything for me from doing my laundry (I wouldn't let them) to taking my kids to school. They are too good at their jobs. It makes me want to be a better visiting teacher. I'm not off to a good start though since I couldn't go on Wednesday with my partner.

Anyway, I thought that by this time that things would be nearing the end, but now I'm not sure when this sickness will be ending. It definitely makes me realize how thankful I should be when I'm healthy.

I love language

Ever notice how in England they use an adjective that's normally used when describing something bad in front of an adjective that's used when describing something good and it means something good?

For instance:

"That's awfully nice."

"He's terribly friendly."

"This is frightfully delicious."

I've always found that interesting. I wonder why they didn't carry that little piece of grammar over to America...

Meet my pet Chias

Yes, aren't they adorable? I know! I am loving my little guys like they were my real pets. Okay so I might have a slight Little Red Hen Syndrome with these things.

Over the last year Ben had said every few weeks or so, "Mommy, I really want a ch-ch-ch-chia pet!" So somehow Santa found out and decided to bring one for Ben and Elli. But then when it came time to soak the seeds and to spread the seeds, no one wanted anything to do with them. They came with clear plastic trays to set them in while growing, but you know how it is on Christmas day, anything cardboard or clear plastic-y gets thrown out. So we had to use our own dishes. Anyway, I ended up soaking the seeds, spreading the seeds, and watering them several times a day. And then when they started sprouting... WOW! I cannot even tell you the satisfaction that I was feeling. The pure joy of bringing a tiny seed to life is just overwhelming. Oh sure, the kids thought it was neat for about 2.7 minutes total, spread out over 3 to 4 days. And yes, Elli did spray them lovingly with the spray bottle two times. But I got the real satisfaction out of all of it. It has been an amazing journey.

Okay... I lied. There was no satisfaction in this process. These have to be the stupidest thing ever! Tell Santa to bring something of equal value instead of these. Maybe if they grew a flower or a vegetable they would be worth something. I don't even know what to do with them. Do you just let them grow for a year? Do you pull off all the growth and start again? (The seed packet contains more than one growth.) They just take up space and look sort of odd with faces coming out of the tiny leaves. Now don't think that I am anti-plant. I love plants. Just take a look around my house and you will see that. What I am is anti-growing-sprouts-in-strange-shapes-that-take-up-lots-of-counter-space plants. I don't even know if I have the strength to do a second growth.

Spring IS just around 12 corners or so

Thinking about what's outside my door right now, the frozen ground, ice, all my plants and trees asleep under a thick blanket of snow, has turned my mind to... yard work. I know that shouldn't have happened but it did it and there's no undoing it.

Do you ever look out your window on a nice sunny spring day and see that your grass is getting quite long and it could use a mow? And you really don't want to start nagging your husband about mowing it because the last thing you want to be is a nagging wife and also you know that your husband has that one thing tonight after work and that other thing then next night and so you realize that it won't be mowed for a while so you decide to just go ahead and mow it. So you wait for the perfect time of day, your baby's nap time, and put her down to sleep and hope she doesn't wake up while you are outside and you set your older child up with a movie or video game and strict instructions to come and get you if your baby wakes up. You put on your grubby shoes so that your nice shoes don't turn green. Then you back out your car so that you can get your lawn mower out and you check the gas level and you fill it up to the top and you don't check the oil level because you never do that. And you go around the grass and make sure that there are no hoses or toys on the grass for you to mow over (another post for another day) and everything is ready. So you walk the mower down the driveway and push the cold start button 5 times. Then you grab the pull thingy and yank it as hard as you can. But nothing happens. So you do it again. Nothing. Then you start getting mad and your glad because that means that you can put some anger into it and give it a little more muscle. So you pull angrily 3, 4, 5 times and then even your angry muscles are getting weaker and you are pulling slower and slower each time. And we all know the mower doesn't start when you pull it slower. So you take a little break and a few breaths and think okay, I am going to pull it the hardest I have ever pulled right... NOW! And you give it one last try. And it doesn't start. By then you are wishing that you were a curser (the swearing kind, not the blinking kind) but you know that if you started cursing you would look like a person who doesn't curse but who is trying to curse. And you would just look silly. And so you just have to say things like, "stupid mower" and "darn thing". And then you have barely enough muscle left to push it back up into the garage and you just know that all your neighbors were looking out their windows watching the whole thing take place, laughing and pointing and then later they were going to tell their husbands, "Can you believe she was trying to mow her lawn?" And then you go inside and you are out of breath and madder than a hornet and your little boy is wondering what is wrong and all you can pant out is "The mower wouldn't start!" and your boy just thinks, "Oh, is that all." and you don't have enough words to describe the frustration and all you can add to that is "Aarrggghhh!" a few times and pace around the kitchen with your hands on your hips. There are times when it does start for you and everything works out nicely. Why not today?! So you just have to be the little wife that has to wait for her husband to mow it when he has a chance. In 2 weeks.

No? Yeah, me neither. he he. I was just wondering.

Please pass the Vaseline Intensive Care

I am not a lotion person. I should be. I have super dry skin and the dry/cold Utah winters make it even worse. I just don't like the feeling of it on my hands. I feel like I am leaving my perfect little lotion fingerprints on everything. But then when I'm somewhere like church or somewhere when I don't have any lotion with me I catch a glimpse of my dry cracked hands and think, "Who's old lady hands are those?" Oh, yeah... mine. I use it on my legs just fine (if I know that they will be showing). Because I don't worry about leaving my leg prints on things. But my hands are different.

I wonder if I'm making my hands age faster with permanent damage by not using lotion or if I just start using it now, regularly, it will make them all better and bring them back to age 31 hands.

When I wash my hands at home I sometimes think, "I really need to put lotion on this time!" And then when I'm done washing them I'm like, "Nah, look they're all moist."

A great workout!

I've found a new way to keep buns in shape. Push your baby around the kitchen floor on this little number:
Do 7 laps or a 5 minute set. When you feel the stiffness setting in on the 6th lap you know it's working! You can measure your success by how long you are collapsed on the living room floor afterward.

A new favorite movie

Addie loves the movie Bambi. She will either bring the box for Bambi or a Baby Einstein movie to me and say, "Sasasasasasa show? Sasasasasasa show?"

Ticklish

Sometimes when I drink water my ears tickle.
And when I eat real butter (when it is spread on bread or something) my tongue tickles.
Does anybody else have this strange happening?

Just... can't... put on... another... boot....

My kids love to play in the snow. And I love it when they play in the snow too.

But you know those days when you just don't want to get out all the snow clothes and you don't want to deal with all the wet stuff afterward? I have figured out the perfect solution:

My kids loved this. They seriously played in it for over an hour. And the snow hardley melted the whole time they played. I was suprised. I just used a bowl and scooped snow from our back porch while they gathered some toys and then we scooted some stools up to the sink. Zero wet clothes. Zero clean up.

Happy 6th birthday to my little Benny Boy!

Most people stop all their celebrations after Christmas. Not us. We just keep on celebratin'. Brian's mom's birthday is 2 days after Christmas and Ben's is 3 days after that. This year we all went to Boondocks on the 27th for a family party with Brian's fam. It was so fun! I didn't think that we were going to stay for 4 hours but that's what we ended up doing. Even Addie was completely happy walking around looking at everything. On Ben's real birthday we usually keep it kind of low-key and have a friend party a few weeks later.

A little look-back on Ben's 6 years of life:
I hate not having a scanner so these are of course pictures of pictures which = blurry.
Ben was the BIGGEST baby I had ever seen. He was born at 7 lbs 2 oz so he was very average/small. But he sure grew fast.
1 year old

2 years old

3 year's old

6 years. Whoa, I cannot believe he is 6! That is old age.

Here are the two birthday kids, Mary Ann and Ben at Boondocks.

For his birthday, he opened presents first thing in the morning and then went and hung out at my sister Sinika's house. Later on I was asking him what he wanted me to make for his birthday dinner and he said, "Something with garlic bread... Pizza". Well, I couldn't argue with having that for dinner all I have to do to make that is press 7 numbers into the phone. I asked him if he wanted me to make a cake or cupcakes and he said, "Nah, I don't want any of those."

"Do you want an ice cream cake or a pie?"

"No."
"Well, you have to have something. Ice cream sandwiches?"

"Yeah, okay."

Every time we started singing Happy Birthday to him he would say, "Stop! You can't sing that until it's time to eat the ice cream sandwiches!"

Luckily we had super skinny candles that fit right into the ice cream sandwich holes.

Here he is, the big 6 year old. Sometimes when I start to feel bad that his birthday is so close to Christmas I just realize that his birthday is more spread out. No one else in the family gets 3 days (or more) of celebrations for their birthdays.

Ben makes me laugh every day of my life, he is so funny and silly. The other day I asked him if he wanted to come out and play in the snow while I shoveled and he said, "No." and a few seconds later, "Aww, who am I kiddin'." and he went to put on his boots and coat and came out with me.

He LOVES robots and wants to be a roboticist when he grows up. He is so snuggly and fun. Happy birthday cute boy!

Once upon a time, I wanted pictures taken...

I was so excited to get our family pictures done. I had to use a variation of a buying process that I learned from my brother-in-law called the "buy now discuss later" program. :) Only I hadn't bought them yet I just made the appointment.

This is what would have happened if I said to Brian, "Hey, I want to get our family pictures done."

He would say, "Oh, is your sister coming over to take our picture?"

I would say, "No I want to get professionals done."

He would say, "Well, alright, we can go to JC Penny's"

So this time I just had to say, "We have an appointment for pictures on this date. You know so-and-so in our ward? His brother and sister-in-law take pictures and they're really good."

He said, "How much does it cost?"

"Blankety-blank-blank-blank."

That is the amount of the pictures by the way not the swearing that ensued afterwards from Brian.

Actually, I gave him the wrong price because they had just raised the prices and I had looked at the old pricing and after I told him what I thought was the price, I saw the new pricing. I just thought, well, I'll save up the extra amount and then it will seem like the same price. There was a 3 month wait so I had some time.

So, I didn't end up saving the extra amount. And when we were on our way to the location of our pictures he asked how much it was again.

"Blankety-blank-blank-blank."

That was the swearing.

By that time, the kids had horrible colds with constant runny noses, but there was no rescheduling for 3 months later. We just had to wipe noses every few seconds so it didn't show up in the pictures.

Everything worked out though. It ended up being my Christmas present. Now, I'm not saying everyone should do family pictures this way. But I just HAD to have really nice ones at least once in my life. And there was no way it was ever going to happen unless I took some serious measures.


Sidenote: Brian didn't actually swear, he just said words like, "WHAT?" and, "I thought you said it was going to be..." and "other-such-things-like-that".

New family pictures

In November we had our pictures taken by Peekaboo Photos. It was so awesomely awesome! (I'm short on adjectives)

It was supposed to be an all outside shoot but it was so cold that they took us to their studio for some warmer shots.

San Francisco

Last Friday I went for a quick little trip to San Leandro, CA for my brother, Eric's, graduation from chiropractic school. It was so fun to be there for that and I really felt the excitement of all those graduating, especially for Eric, of course! If anyone is interested in an amazing Chiropractor in the SL valley, look him up. Under Dr. Eric. He he.

My mom, Eric, me, and Sini. This is such an awful picture of me but I had to document that I was there! Sini's husband Adam was there too and Tagen's sister and mom. I was expecting it to be warm there since I always hear about California's warmth but it was quite chilly. I couldn't ever warm up! I guess I realize that California is a big state and there are different weather patterns all across it.

Dr. Eric and Tagen

We headed out to downtown San Francisco for a little shopping. Sini and Adam know where all the best places are. I still get a little culture shocked when I go to big towns and San Francisco isn't even as big as some others. I heard several different languages all around me and there were just so many people! Everyone was all bundled up in their cute hats and warm coats, except for us with our light jackets thinking they would even be too warm.

Sisters!

Me riding the trolley. Okay, okay, I wasn't really riding it. I just jumped on one that wasn't being used. I had to have the souvenir trolley picture!

We also went to Berkley for a little shoppin'. Such a cute town of what I saw of it. They had the cutest toy store! I wanted to buy everything!

We came back Sunday night just after the big snow storm on the weekend. It was frigid! Once again, all we had were little jackets cause we didn't want to have to deal with big coats on the airplane. There wasn't a window scraper in my mom's car (that was parked in the airport lot) so we had to try and use an umbrella to scrape the ice off. FREEZING! Our hands were so cold we had to take breaks sitting in the car and putting our hands in our armpits to try to warm them up. The heater took forever to warm up too. We got enough ice off to be able to see the road and I figured that the car warming up would melt the rest. I was wrong. There was still so much ice on it by the time we got home that my mom had to scrape her windows clean in her driveway.

It was a fun little get-away. The kind that gives you a break from the kids and then makes you wonder, why on Earth would I ever want to go on a trip without my little cuties!

Christmas countdown box

This is my favorite Christmas decoration. I do need to put something behind it to cover the unsightly cracks in it though. The camera flash really highlights them.

I love finding things small enough to put in it. Some are from ornaments that we had when I was young, some are ceramic people from little Christmas town sets and my friend Chelsea gave me some from her countdown box that she didn't need anymore. (Thanks, Chels!) On the 24th we always put in a little baby Jesus. It's so fun for the kids to choose one every day. It really lets us see how close we are to Christmas. It seems like we just barely pulled it out and I can't believe how fast December is going by! 10 more days until the big day!

Hello, goodbuy

No, I didn't buy this from Target but that was sure fun to say.
Goodbye to the old Sony,

hello to the new Canon.

Thanks so much everyone for your input on cameras. You are all so nice to help me! So the thing is I had already bought the Canon PowerShot SX110 IS. I had it under my tree unwrapped until I was going to need it (before Christmas, of course). I didn't even realize that it used AA batteries until I had seen a review for a different camera and it said they didn't like a certain camera because of that reason. I hadn't even thought to check that. So that made me nervous. I was thinking of returning it for another one. I tried to look for reviews (for this specific camera) but they were hard to find. I may have been looking in the wrong places. One thing that helped me was that I read on one site that I shouldn't get something that is too fancy if I am not going to know what I'm doing. Cause I was going exchange it for get a bigger, fancier one than this. I also read that you should always try a camera out before you buy it. That's a little hard but I decided to pull it out and try it. This one had EVERYTHING that I liked so it was just the battery thing that I wasn't sure about. I didn't know that they made lithium batteries in the AA size so that helped me feel better. Well, once I pulled it out and started using it, (with no charging of the battery) I just decided to keep it! I hope that I am happy with it. I really LOVE it so far! (for 2 days he he) It has way more megapixels and way better optical zoom than my old camera. And I loved that camera too. I got some lithiums and they say that they last 7 times longer than regular batteries. A big reason that helped me was that Rena and Carly both have the same camera as this and that they love it too. Thanks guys!

It's been fun playing around with it. I didn't know how to turn on the flash at first and then when I realized how to do it, I felt a little slow. (No I haven't read the manual yet.) So my first few pictures had some blurry moments. But I think it's fun to see some movement.

This was me sitting in front of the TV taking a picture of BenAnd this was me not moving at all but zooming in. Ben saw the picture on the camera and he said, "Hey, you can see my freckles!"

That red light in the background is our tortoise heat lamp. I promise we do not grow marijuana.