Sick Baby

I feel awful. Like the petri dish I gave birth to is infecting the world. Ok, really he doesn't act all that sick, just a little grumpy. But yesterday during sacrament, I started having this sneaking suspicion that Dylan had pink eye. (Sorry Tates. I tried to keep him from touching your kids' stuff.) It was confirmed today at the MD even though it looks a lot better. But lucky for him the pink eye came with double ear infections. I'm a little slow on the uptake. He's been a little grumpy and sleeping terribly. I thought it was just that last pre-molar coming in. In my defense, he never had a fever. How was this first time mom to know?

The selfish side of me is really bummed because now I can't go skiing on Wednesday. Whether in-utero or out, he seems determined to keep me from hitting the slopes.

Winter Sun 10K

It's most appropriately named. It was freezing when we got up to run, but was kind of warm once the sun was shining in beautiful Moab and we were done with the race.

My goal was to run it in under an hour. Which I did. Just barely. My time was 58:26. By far not my best time, but I still achieved my goal. I was feeling good through the first 4.5 miles, then because we had to run on the left side of the road, my right IT band really started freaking out(in other words it felt like a stabbing knife that also has a sticky hinge). I was past mile five and still feeling really good aerobically. I knew it ended at the high school, so when I saw it I turned on the boost so I could end really well. Low and behold we still had to run a quarter mile around the track. My enthusiasm sank. Evan had come back to run with me then. What kind of brother won't carry their sister across the finish line? Oh, well. I did well enough. I hurt really bad the next 2 days since we just got in the car and drove home for 4 hours after the race.

The Polar Express

Last night we went on the Heber Creeper with Wes' family. There were elves to serve us Mrs. Clause's special chocolate chip cookies complete with special ingredients such as elf giggles and a gallon of joy. Then we had super chocolaty hot chocolate. We read the Polar Express as we reached the North Pole and saw Santa Clause. He came and asked all of the kids what they wanted for Christmas then gave them all bells like in the book.

We were all wearing our Christmas jammies...and I'm just coming back to writing this post after a week. What the heck was I talking about? It was lots of fun. Look at some picturesCanyon and Dylan are BFF in their matching cowboy jammies.
Have you ever seen a cuter bunch of cousins?
.I love my sisters-in-law. We're wearing our super awesome "bed coats".

I am so embarrassed!

This will probably shock a few people who think I am beyond embarrassment or shame in any form. I don't embarrass easy and mostly think it's irrational to care so much about what other people think of me. I wasn't even really embarrassed on Sunday evening when Merritt and Schooler came to get their computers from my messy house, while I was still in my pajamas and unshowered.

We went to dinner tonight for Drew's birthday. It was pretty much us and Drew's family. Not a big deal we've spent time with them all on various occasions. One of Drew's nephews was a bit out of line after dinner when he was crawling behind all of our chairs and under the table and was probably the biggest kid there. All of this I can look the other way for and chalk up to parent neglect (he has a 3 week old baby sister). But while he was under the table he began to punch Wes in the leg, apparently too close to some valuables for comfort. Wes claims he tried several things to get the kid to stop. In the end, he pulled the kid's hair and made him cry. I don't have a problem with what Wes did, I support him, but I with he hadn't made him cry. I was embarrassed because his mom didn't seem too happy about Wes making her son cry. And everyone else was looking like, that's just not done. Jenny understood why I was embarrassed, probably because she was embarrassed herself by her not-afraid-to-discipline friends. So we left after dinner because I was too embarrassed to go back to Jenny and Drew's for cake and spend more time with the scowling mom.

Reason #2 to be embarrassed is much more irrational. Drew's friend Jake Shied came to dinner. I went to high school with him and I had a huge crush on him. He was in the Mr. Hillcrest competition and I don't remember how it worked, but he kissed me on the cheek for some contest. In my little 15 y/o heart, it was the real deal. (I'm blushing right now for those who can't see me. Jenny will make fun of me later.)He was a senior when I was a sophomore and I'm sure he had no idea who I was then as much as I don't think he knows who I am now. Thank goodness. Regardless, I feel like he can sense my awkwardness and trying to avoid him, because I still feel like the silly teenager with a crush when I see him. How irrational is that?!?!?

And just to further run down my day backwards. I had the eval from Hell as my last patient of the day. It was a vestibular problem, which I'm trained to treat, but NEVER see. So I'm glad the dude was old (my voice is still gravely and I had to yell at him the whole time to get him to hear me)and hopefully not so quick on the uptake, that I was really fumbling. Once he was gone and I looked up the words for what I was doing like saccade and VOR and otolith, I realized that I was doing tests and treatments and had no clue which semicircular canal was effected. So good luck with that patient in the future Jared. I hate feeling unsmart and it should have made me feel better that the other therapist had no idea either, but it didn't.

Also I read the entire Sexiest Man Alive issue of People in between treating my morning patients. First of all, it's about time the realized how hot Hugh Jackman is. Secondly, they had scratch and sniff on the guys so you could smell their scent. That kind of creeped me out just to read it. I sure as heck didn't smell a single one. It was really wierd

Thanksgiving

Not my favorite holiday. By far not my favorite meal that takes too long to make. Not that my mom doesn't make great food. I just don't love roast turkey and stuffing. This year the whole family went to AZ to spend Thanksgiving with Lance and Alayna. Everyone except Wes who was hosting his 3rd annual Turkey LAN. I was sad to leave Wes because Dylan just started saying Dada. But he still said it when they talked on the phone. It was pretty cute.

To start Dylan and I were already sick with colds before we left. But naturally everyone still wanted us to come despite that fact that they would be crammed in the car with our disease for 10.5 hours. As a side note, my 11 month old baby travels very well. Maybe it's his cheerful personality, but there was nary an unpleasant scream to be heard.

Michelle, Andy and Kira joined us for the big feast. To be followed by napping, rock band and more games.
It was a pretty fun day. I think Evan went into a mashed potatoes and gravy coma.
The next day the boys went shooting and we went to see Twilight. Again. Then we did a whirlwind trip through the Phoenix Zoo and out to dinner. By the time we got home at 6:30 we were all ready for bed. Evan was already feeling the effects of the plague Dylan and I brought with us.

I am essentially a selfish creature, and I woke up Saturday morning feeling more wretched than I had all week. So I got in the shower and packed up before breakfast, to insure all would be motivated to leave ASAP. I would have loved to spend more time with Layna, but I did and still do feel awful and I really wanted to be home in my own bed. I would like to thank Alayna for having us all and for wearing the same size clothes as me so I didn't have to pack anything.

GO UTES!!

Christmas came early this year for the U. We're going to a bowl game undefeated!

My Old Friend

My baby girl, Mela, is getting old and I'm so sad about it. It feels like it happened overnight. One day she's sprinting around the house and the next she can barely get up. She's lost more weight and her spine and hip bones are sticking out. Some times when she stands up she has a lateral shift in her spine and she has to limp around until it straightens out. Which usually involves a lot of her legs giving out. It just dawned on Wes and I that she has kind of reached her life expectancy; it was just sooner than we expected. She's on some joint medication now, so hopefully she'll be with us and healthy for awhile more. What makes me the very saddest is that I won't be able to take her running anymore, and she really loved her runs.

I'm the Winner!

Ok, I'm not officially the winner yet, but I'm the first in my division of Fantasy Football! I'm 2nd overall in the league. I'm really excited. I hope I keep doing well.

The Sorting Fundraiser

The good news is we raised a lot of money. The bad news is I didn't get to ride my horse. Any pictures you see with a black horse. That's him. My love, with my husband riding him. That horse can make anyone look good.

So the really exciting news is I got to ride with my dad. Which hasn't happened in I don't know how long. We got to ride in 3 rounds and the first 2 were stinkers. My dad's horse wouldn't go for anything, even after my dad put spurs on. The horse I rode, Jess, was awesome. She was so fun to ride. I had to ride her into a sweat for about 45 minutes to get her to focus and listen to me, but she as great once we got into the cows. She was dancing around, ready to go, biting the cows. A really great cow horse. The reason why I didn't get to ride my perfect horse, was because he is so good that he had to go to people who don't ride as well. I suppose I should be flattered that people think you can put me on anything and I'll be fine. Even a horse that's been up on a mountain for a month, hence the long warm up. What I'm writing probably sounds really unfocused. But I loved it and had so much fun, I'm going to sign up for more teams next spring when we do it again.

Our last run left me on an adrenaline high that took me awhile to come down from. My dad was finally on a horse worth riding and we were doing great. We had 4 cows in the pen and I was driving the last 3 over the line in order. But stupid #2 how to run ahead of #1. I think we will definitely do better next time.

I really loved riding with my dad. It made my vivid fantasy world expand to owning a ranch with cows and doing this everyday with my dad. He loves it as much if not more than I do. If only it were financially realistic. We'd do sorting and penning competitions all over the state. But we don't have a ranch or horses or cows.

Thanks everyone who came and supported us. It really makes a difference to the kids.

Happy Halloween

We spent Dylan's first Halloween going around to grandparents so they could see how cute he is. Wes and I love to dress up just to hand out candy. This year we didn't even buy candy. But we looked pretty good. I'm still not sure if the costumes were worth stabbing myself in the knee over.

I'M IN LOVE!!

I've finally experienced love at first sight. It's a powerful thing. I walked into horses yesterday and there he was. The most gorgeous black gelding I've ever seen. He's tall, dark, and handsome in every sense of the phrase. I lusted after him from looking at him, then I rode him. He's amazing. He's super responsive, nice lope, but kind of a bumpy trot. He's the most fantastic piece of horse flesh I've ever experienced.

A little history on my fellow. He was a $20K roping horse in his previous life. He hurt his leg and had to have surgery (so his leg is a little swollen). Bottom line he can't do his job anymore so they were going to put him down. That would be an atrocity to the world. So the vet suggested an alternative. Give him to us for therapy. We could sell him and keep the money, or use him as a therapy horse. He's super broke and doesn't startle at anything, but he doesn't like bubbles.

For the record his leg doesn't even phase. We rode him every chance anyone had yesterday and he never favored it once, or stepped short. So I've been begging Cindy to let me ride him at the fundraiser next week. I'm pretty sure that I look better just being on him. I also think since he was formerly a roping horse that he'll do alright at sorting.

This is also your reminder for the fundraiser next Saturday November 1st at 5:00. Please come and buy stuff at the bake sale and raffle and silent auction. But most importantly to watch me ride the most beautiful horse in the world for team sorting. This is the ranch's website so you can find it. Please everyone come. http://www.sdpbuffaloranch.com/

If I only had a brain

I've been told that I should blame this on the triathlon. Monday I vacuumed the entire house, put the vacuum away, only to realize that I didn't vacuum the kitchen upstairs. Not a big deal, I'll just sweep it. Yesterday it got worse. I was just going to mow the front lawn (you know how I'm all about appearances). When I got out of the shower and Dylan woke up from his nap, I looked out the window. I only mowed 1/2 of the front lawn. Also, I'm neurotic about my nightly routine, and I forgot to brush my teeth last night. Unheard of. I think I'm losing it. Gladly, when I ran errands today, I didn't bring home the groceries and leave Dylan at the store. And for anyone starting to smirk, I'm NOT pregnant. Just crazy.

The Triathlon

I did my 1st triathlon on Saturday in St. George, and I'm a little sore today. It's a sprint tri so it was 1/4 mile swim (in a pool), 12 mile bike, and a 5K run(about 3 miles). I've been a major slacker in training. I don't think I swam for 2 weeks and I hadn't bike for at least a week an a half. Sporadic running in between. But I'm happy with how I finished. My sister-in-law who did it with me set a goal of 1 hour 33 minutes because she'd done one before. I thought that sounded like a good goal. How would I know. I finished in 1 hour and 36 minutes. I'm happy with that since I didn't have a goal until about 20 minutes before the race. I came in 8th in my division (women 21-30), 22nd out of women overall, and 56th out of everyone.

It was freezing. It was supposed to get up to 85 in sunny St. George, but it had to be closer to 50 at 9AM when we were getting started. I as an icicle standing barefoot waiting to get into the warm pool. The swim was a little more exhausting than it had been in the past. The bike was disheartening. This was probably my worst event and it's the longest. Melissa took off after about the first leg. Then after awhile I thought, "I've got to be the last one out here." Then I got passed by about 4 more people. Big kick to the ego. One of the volunteers I think was mocking my bike, or he sincerely likes old school mountain bikes. Then we came to the run. My event of choice. It's like I can regulate my breathing, heart rate and pace and go forever, regardless of the fact that I've already been going for about an hour. That's when I passed everyone. I'm average at the first 2 events, and I think I paced myself really well, but I was feeling good about myself once I started running.
About 2/3 of the way through the run, I felt the good old tendinitis in my knee acting up. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the knee. Oh, wait. I did stab myself in the knee, and it's still swollen right over my IT band. But who cares, I can run through pain. I wanted to lay my bike down and cry for no reason other than despair, but I can run through knee pain. I feel good about it and I'd like to do more. I think Ruth is nuts doing an Olympic length tri.

Matt did the beginner length. I have no idea how far that is, but I'm proud of him for doing it and finishing. Matt and Melissa were both up the night before with food poisoning

Staley did the kids one and she did awesome. This girl loves to run and bike.
She did great on her first length of the pool, then got a little nervous on the way back. But she kept going. And she got a new bike out of the deal. So good for her.

I'd like to thank my two biggest fans for spending so much time in the car to be with me. And especially Wes for getting some slicks and tuning up the bike. Dylan can't say, "Good job, Mama." But I got some fives. My whole family called individually to see how I did. Thanks everyone, and thanks Ev for staying with Mela.

And we went to lunch with Erika (friend from PT school)and Riley and their cute boys. It was really good to see them and catch up.

My Dad Rocks!

I started this post a few days ago and didn't realize that it had published. How embarrassing. I just wanted everyone to know how cool my parents are. They spent the weekend watching my kid and playing Rock Band 2 with my brother and me. The awesome part was the my dad got 100% on vocals singing Eye of the Tiger. If you know my dad, you know how cool that is.

The Andrea Report

I think I need to change the title of my blog to Ode to Stupidity.

Last Saturday, I was cutting out some material for costumes on the kitchen floor downstairs while listening to Conference. While I was shifting around, I stabbed myself in the knee with my sewing scissors. At first I thought; ouch, that stung. So I lifted up my pants to reveal a nice little 1 inch gash that I could see fat cells from, (it disturbs me that I have a fatty knee, fatty butt sure, but a fatty knee!?), no ligaments or bone, so not that bad. S4o, I pinched it together and walked upstairs to tell Wes that I probably needed him to drive me to the ER to get stitches.

This is where I thank the Manwaring's, especially Jotham, for taking in my kid and letting him take a nap at their house without any more forewarning than Wes knocking on the door and asking. So naturally the MD resident in the ward wants to take a look at something stitch worthy.

We drive to the ER at St. Marks to see the nurse in the ward. Awesome, huh? So now I'm really embarrassed by how many people I know are privy to my stupidity. An hour and a half later I walked out of the ER, I think much to Seth's irritation, after signing that I was leaving against medical advice. To go back to the Manwaring's to sit on their kitchen table and have Jotham put steri-strips on instead of stitches. I think he was disappointed about not having the right kind of stitches so that he could use his lidocaine.

I would at this point like to apoligize to both of these kind men for the fact that I had gone running and hadn't showered or brushed my teeth at 3:00 in the afternoon.

To change the subject everyone needs to watch Fox 13 Friday the 17th in the morning. Big Budda is coming to horse therapy, so I'll be on TV and will most likely do something stupid. And don't forget the team penning fund raiser the evening of Novemeber 1st. Also I'm presenting at the Traumatic Brain Injury Conference this Friday so say an extra prayer for me.

The Dylan Report

Let's be honest, this is mostly for Alayna because the rest of you people see him all the time. He's healthy and awesome. My mom was watching him yesterday and they both flipped out of the hammock so he has a bit of a bang-up on his head. I was afraid I would get the abuse run, but the pediatrician just laughed and said, "I told you he was going to be a wild man." She also said he would be walking in a month to 6 weeks. That freaked me out a little. My grandma said it best on Sunday, he's just a busy body. He never stops going until he falls asleep. His favorite song is still Lo by Flo-Rida. He gets really excited whenever he hears it. His favorite game is peek-a-boo as demonstrated by him in the curtains. He'll hide, you just have to say the words. He loves going up the stairs like he is right now, need to go catch him. Not so great at going down, but solid at going up. He's also super tough and never cries about anything even the biggest bumps or shots for more than a minute He's kinda decided that he prefers him mom, unless his grampa is around. Because then he gets taken wherever he wants and spoiled to no end. He's talking what feels like tons, just the last couple of weeks. He definately says "mama" when he wants me, which can be roughly translated to, I'm hungry, tired or hurt. Dada is usually an accident. He says "uh-oh", signs 'finished' and can give fives. He inconsistntly waves bye-bye. Other than that he's almost contantly making noise, turn down your TV, you can probably hear him from there. Oh, and he also thinks it's funny to blow, I think because we blow in his face all the time. Sometimes he accidentally whistles.
Layne, this is the best I could do to geet his laugh.

Smith Party

The Smith parties are always a lot of fun, especially when there's someone visiting from Georgia. Julie and Lewis were in town house hunting. They're planning to move out here soon and bring Granny with them. The funny thing that all Smith parties have in common is they all have aroup sing-a-long at some point. It's inevitable that I gave birth to a Smith that sang with the group the whole time. Heaven help us.

STUPID! STUPID!! STUPID!!!

I am the biggest idiot on the planet. Sometimes I like to think it's naive ignorance, but let's call it what it is...stupidity.

Last night some guy came to the door offering to clean our carpet for free. Sounds good doesn't it? The little get in the door phrase was something like I have to clean 3 carpets/day for my company then they pay me. He hands me this bright green paper that I glance at and see Free carpet cleaning. Silly Andrea says so what if it's 8:30 come on in and clean my living room. (The only reason why this happened was because Wes was home, but on the phone. I wouldn't have opened the door to a stranger if I was home alone.) Anyway the deranged moron that I am ends up listening to the KIRBY SALESMAN!! until 10:00 that night. There was no way in H-E-double hockey sticks we were going to spend two grand on a vacuum cleaner regardless of how much dirt they demonstrate is in my carpet. I told them if they drop it to $200 I'll think about it otherwise I'm sorry they wasted their night with people who were not going to buy their vacuum ever. And to top it all off Wes decided he didn't like what they were going to clean the carpet with so we wasted an hour and half of our night with nothing to show for it other than my stupidity. Aaaaaaggghhhh! Then I couldn't sleep last night for kicking myself.

On the upside I spent the day with my 4 favorite nieces and nephew and Granan at Gateway, for some fun.

A Plug

Two weeks ago I vaulted onto a horse. Now I learned a new way to mount bareback. This isn't me and is probably more graceful than I am, but this is the method. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oThS-8HVpVw&feature=related I'm pretty proud of myself. I don't know if I could do it on anything other than a 14 hand mustang or morgan.

Also I will be doing some of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEPKQCQUVaQ&feature=related, but with less flare, on November 1st in the evening sometime. At Buffalo Ranch in Farmington. Everyone is invited. Any money you spend on the silent auction or bake sale goes toward the Therapeutic Horseback Riding. So it's fun and it's a good cause.

Everyone come and maybe someday I'll get paid.

Bored at work

I love what I do when I work. But I haven't had a patient since 9:20 this morning and it's 2 now. My next patient isn't until 3:20. I'm not complaining about the money, but I would like to do something to earn it besides add another post to my blog. I would rather see patients with a crazy schedule. It would make me feel like there was a reason I left my baby at Dureece's. Checking everyone's blog doesn't exactly require this degree that I'm paying student loans for. Most of the time I just ride the bike and watch TV. It's a bad TV day. How can you have so many channels and nothing worth watching. Maybe I'll go work out some more...

I HATE THE IRS!!

Wes and I had to pay taxes for 2007. Not such a super huge deal or a big surprise, maybe a little stressful to come up with the extra cash, but not impossible. Except that the IRS are a bunch of mathematically challenged idiots. We have a payment plan to pay approximately $1300/quarter. In August, after already receiving 2 payment checks from us, they sent us a letter saying that they kept our stimulus check and that they were penalizing us and charging us interest for having not paid our taxes. We got even another letter saying that they are penalizing us further after we sent our 3rd and final check. What the *#$(*&^@*&^!!! When you try to call to say that there is a problem with your bill they are too busy and you need to call back tomorrow. It's impossible to find someone, as in a human, to talk to. Their automated system is a ridiculous waste of time.

So I made copies of all three checks that they have cashed, and the letter about our stimulus check to send to them as evidence that we paid our taxes. I tried to say as professionally as possible that they are idiots who can't perform simple addition. Also that they should not expect any payments from us in the 4th quarter, because we're paid up according to the schedule set up by our accountant. Also that I want a letter within 30 days acknowledging that our checks have been put toward our account with the penalty and interest dropped.

In the real world, like not government world, accounting like that would get you in trouble with the IRS. You can't just cash checks and not apply them to some account!! I'm furious that there's no one to talk to about this to get this solved in a reasonable amount of time. Then again they could just hand that money back to me because I don't want our hard earned money put toward bailing out other idiots. Let them fail that's how capitalism works!! Be glad this is typed because I'm screaming in my brain. It may explode.

Nostalgia

Saturday Wes and I were invited down to Snow College for the football game, a BBQ, and program honoring a bunch of retiring science guys. Being in Ephraim with Wes always makes me feel like an afterthought, but proud to be his wife at the same time. I wish I were exaggerating when I say that everyone down there knows Wes. That's why we got invited down. Not because my chemistry teacher remembered me from 10 years ago, but they all remembered Wes; the teachers, the radio guy, the people that own the pizza place/dance hall (they even gave us free drinks).It was a lot of fun to be back in a town that you can walk through in half an hour. And even though it's not a church school they still said a prayer before the BBQ. It's just small town goodness. It made me think of all the times we've been back down there since and not gone back to the temple that we got married in. One of Wes' teacher's wives (not in the polygamy sense, but they do live in Manti) offered to babysit for us while we went to the temple.

It was a good trip, and I bored Jacob who's attending this year with tidbits of Wes and I meeting and dating. I crammed a lot of good things into my 1 year at Snow, but somehow that was the 1st football game I ever went to. I did get to talk to someone Wes didn't know better. I ran into Aaron from PT school who was there with his wife. It was good to see a familiar face on my part.

PS I am getting closer to becoming a cowgirl. Thursday after therapy and all the kids had left, I stayed late to do some cow cutting to practice for the team sorting coming up next month. The monumental part was that I wore spurs. I've never worn spurs before and it made me a little nervous to use them. But it was so fun on a horse that knows what they're doing. I even found myself grabbing the saddle horn when he would spin to chase down the cow. I flatter myself that I have a good enough seat that I don't need to hold on if I would just cowboy up a little and stop being such a chicken.

A Tag

I have never done a tag, but maybe I need to expose more of my disturbed self in my lack of sleep. Feel free to participate one and all, if you feel so inspired.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Someone at my parent's singles ward where they met named Andrea Jill

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Last night at the rodeo.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
It's terrible. I can't read it most of the time. It makes it hard to know what I was planning to do with my patient on their next visit.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Turkey

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
1 super cute 8 month old baby

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? No, I'm too stuck up sometimes. I also can't manage more than 1 or 2 close friends very well.

7. GREATEST FEAR?
Hippopotamus or birds. Tough call. One can kill me, the other is just creepy.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
I'd love to. Sky diving would be worth trying once as well.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Does it matter as long as you can add sugar? Maybe Oatmeal Squares.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
That would be extremely rare. I hate wearing shoes, and I hate tying/untying them more.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Yes, but not as strong as I was before Dylan.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Cookies and Cream

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
All of it. I have to decide if I think they're better than me.

15. RED OR PINK?
Pink. I've had a strange desire to be more feminine in the last couple years.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOU?
Tough call. The junk in the trunk? The Gonzo like nose? The lack of muscle tone?

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My little sister

18. WHAT IS THE GREATEST THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF?
My hair. I do blog about it after all. Or that I'm not typically concerned what other people think about me.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING RIGHT NOW?
Very blah. Khaki shorts and brown flip flops.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Popcorn and ice water.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Wes' super noisy computer.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
citrus green

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
A two-stroke engine exhaust, sage at the ranch, pomegranate, clean linen

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Jessica

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO TAGGED THIS TO YOU?
Sure thing.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH:
Football and basketball.

27. HAIR COLOR?
Dark brown.

28. EYE COLOR?
Brown. (still not sure how I ended up with a fair, blue eyed, blond boy)

29. Do you wear contacts or glasses?
Nope. I was even 20/10 before PT school. It could be worse now.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
Almost anything I didn't make.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
I used to like scary movies but then life made me feel that anxiety too often. But I don't need a happy ending to love a movie. I almost sadistically don't like happy endings better.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Flawless with Demi Moore and Micheal Caine. It was ok. I'm working on 8 Seconds.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Plain white, how boring.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer if I could waterski without it being so hot the rest of the time.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs, because they can last longer and I can give them to almost anyone. Really I try to restrain myself from touching people.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Two fresh baked chocolate chip cookies with cookie dough in between.

37. WHO IS YOUR HERO?
My dad. If you knew him, you'd want to be like him too.

38. WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO?
Waterski, wakeboard, make Dylan laugh

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Nothing!! That's why I'm still awake at midnight replying to a dang tag, like I vowed I never would!

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
This is embarrassing. It says Tauren Druid in cow print. It's from Wes' World of Warcraft days.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?
No TV. I was at the fair.

42. FAVORITE SOUND?
Dylan laughing.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
My mom often says that I was born in the wrong era. I have/had Beatles everything. Movies, CD's, posters. Across the Universe is kind of a cool movie all to Beatles music.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
I'm not sure what's further, D.C. or the Caribbean.

45. DO YOU HAVE A WEIRD TALENT?
Loving Wes through all of his weirdness and tempers. Oh, I can pop my hips out of joint.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Utah

47. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU LAUGHED?
About 10PM.

48. WHAT TIME IS IT NOW?
12:07 AM

49. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PRAYED?
This morning.

50. IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOU WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I'd be a nicer person. Less judgemental. And I know how to pick out clothes that aren't already put into outfits on mannequins.

Some pictures

I told you it was freezing. And I love my sister/twin uni-bomber. Have fun in AZ where the seasons never change. Also enjoy YW. Do a good job and make your YW president's life easy. There will be many blessings in heaven for that. This is just because I have a cute kid. And it was warmer, midday, by the time this was taken.
Dylan is kind of a weirdo. He likes to listen to Wes play the guitar. But the other day he put his face against it to feel the vibrations. I guess at that age you're just trying to experience everything.

Watch Out

It's Sunday night, I've got nothing good to read, and I'm a little wound up.

We finished Rock Band tonight after playing an 8 song set. We didn't know a single one of them and they're all like the longest songs in the world. Why couldn't the game have put the new Chili Pepper's song in that we just downloaded. It was kind of a disappointing way to go out. So many good songs and we didn't play any of them. Anyway, Driftwood is now in the Rock Band Hall of Fame. What an accomplishment, huh?

We went to the fair last night. It was more crowded than it's ever been. I don't think that we usually go on weekends. We had to stand for most of the rodeo. For reasons I can't explain, rodeos make me cry pretty much 100% of the time. Is it the patriotism? The spirit of the west? Or that I desperately want to be a cowgirl? I was asking Wes if the fact that I ride horses bareback with just a halter and a lead rope for reins every week made me a cowgirl. I don't think I'm brave enough to barrel race. I did team penning once (actually, I think I'm doing it again next month...anyone want to come?). I wasn't able to go on the cattle drive I was invited to because I was breast feeding at the time (a little difficult to do on a horse, and I do lots of crazy stuff on a horse) I almost owned a horse. My boots are as mucked up as they can be. Just this last week I mounted bareback by myself. No leg up from anyone. My method is run and vault (which kind of hurt my wrist that I sprained skateboarding). By the third time I did it the horse was giving me a major crusty. For all that I still feel like a city slicker. I'd love to move out to a ranch and be a real cowgirl that rode in the rodeos.

Our neighbors got married in their backyard last night, so we were trying to give them some privacy and spent the night at my parents with Mela. It was an awesome night sleep since Dylan was upstairs and we were down. No little noises to wake up to. Maybe that's why I'm not sleepy. Anyway, the one Sunday we're at my parent's in the morning it's fast Sunday. No Sunday morning waffles. So I talked my mom into making them for dinner. We had fresh blackberries and peaches on them from the garden. It was fantastic. I hope we can have waffles for dinner every fast Sunday from now on.

Does anyone have a good book to read? I've really been striking out lately. Wait, maybe I'll re-read Eragon and Eldest. Isn't the third book coming out this month?

Some people have been concerned about me lately. I've sounded a little off. Been a little short fused. I really don't know what it is, but this is a guess. When there are plans to do something, I'm somehow in charge of how it's going to happen. When in reality, I have no better idea than the average person how to go about the execution of these plans. In fact, I'm probably the worst person to come up with it because I don't feel like I'm playing with a full deck. And don't try to guess what's going to make me happy or what the right answer is because I seem distressed. Let's just have it out straight up. Also I was late paying a couple bills and the IRS are a bunch of retards. But now the taxes are paid for the year. We won't have to pay 4th quarter. Hooray! Maybe that's what this post is. My brain exploding like it's felt like it's going to for the last week or so.

I think kids should get more teeth when they're younger. It seems like cutting teeth has only gotten harder since Dylan has gotten older. Then again he may be busting out 4 at a time again. I gave birth to Jaws.

Did anyone else notice the White's today, and how nothing has changed since they moved?Rebekah still runs up and down the aisles unchecked. But she's like 5 now and not 2, so instead of it just being annoying it's moved into amazingly unacceptable behavior.

I've been really bad about training for a triathlon I'm supposed to be in in a little over a month. I only worked out 3x's last week. But one of them was finally swimming. I bought a month pass to Fairmont. My plan to ride to my parent's then run on Saturday got swallowed in the bog of my laziness. I finally got my house clean. Maybe I'm just starting to recover from summer's craziness.

I realize that my last post sounded like a complaint against my husband. I always rant and rave about wives who try to control their husbands, or get upset when they want to do their guy things and not spend time with them, or get upset about their work. Really, if you didn't know what you were marrying, you shouldn't have gotten married. For the most part I think I'm really tolerant. I'm not going to stop him from playing, but I'm not going to take part. And I will keep harassing him for dorkiness. If not for the game; for the '90's sweater vest that he wore with a t-shirt, shorts and flipflops today.

Maybe I'll go to bed now. Or maybe I'll finish watching 8 Seconds... I said I wanted to be a cowgirl.

Den of Geeks

I live in the Den of Geeks!!!

We all knew Wes was nerdy, but it's getting out of control. Occasionally I will partake in the geekiness, but not without some chagrin. I enjoy the LAN parties, but I'm always the first to go to bed and it's probably because of me that we haven't changed games in 6 years or so. I'm fond of my pink orcs. I'm really happy that there's been another girl occasionally. I think the only reason I'm invited really is that it's at my house and they all like my spinach artichoke dip.

Lately Wes has talked me into watching Battlestar Galactica. This is an embarrassing omission.

I blame my dad for encouraging me to think Star Trek was cool. Now look where I am.

This is a new level. For those who don't know Wes goes to CA 1-2x/year to play Dungeons and Dragons with his King of Geeks friends. I've never been super happy about this, but it's a fight I have yet to win. But now his brother wants to play Magic the Gathering.

It's a card game. Cards that Matt has laminated. Wes has little figurines that I don't know the purpose of. Then there's the special pretty dice and marking stones. Have I put across the picture in your mind of the fat, bearded slob that wears shorts in the winter and lives on Mountain Dew and Hot Pockets yet? I wasn't sure how into it Wes was, but now he's going to a game shop, on a Friday night, to watch/learn more about how to play. They were over here playing the other night so I called my brother and he brought the 4th season of The Office over for us to watch. It helped me feel like I wasn't drowning in lameness.

If anyone out there was trained to save lives, I'm in desperate need of your help!

Fall

I really like fall. I like the colder weather and the leaves changing color. I like that I wore a hoodie waterskiing last weekend and was freezing. The water was the same temperature as the air; a balmy 65F. I'm sure many of you are sad to see the passing of summer, but I think we've established that I go against the grain more often than not. Besides wouldn't life be boring if the seasons never changed. (watch me say the opposite in the spring, then again I've always sustained that you can always put more clothes on if you're cold, but you can only take off so much when you're hot, before you're just indecent.)I always liked going back to school, and the getting new school clothes. This is the second fall that I haven't gone back to school and I still miss it. I would love to go back as long as I didn't have to take any tests. I think I like the regimented structure of school to fill my days and the daily socializing. Also fall is when the apples get ripe. Golden delicious are my very favorite. They're kinda like our family apple. I think they taste the very best straight off the tree when your hands smell like horses.

Unplug!!

I don't work out to music. I don't own an ipod or any type of mp3 player, mostly because Wes won't let me download music. Really I like exercising to my own shoes hitting the blacktop as I take heaving breaths. What bothers me is that I say "hi", "good morning" and the like to everyone I pass, while people avoid eye contact or can't hear me because their ears are stuffed with noise. Even the old folks are tuned out listening to MoTab or something. What is this world coming to! I've said hi to the drug dealers while they're holding up a bag of some kind of white powder, and after a couple of times I didn't see them anymore. I have to think that being aware of what's going on around you is important to the safety of the 'hood. My saying hi to everyone has only come back to bite me a handful of times, so I'm going to continue to try and make this world a better place. And partly because I'm afraid of getting hit by a car because I can't hear them coming.

I've died and gone to heaven

There is a patient at one of the clinics I cover that spoils us. She bought a flat screen for us last year, so I've been watching the Olympics this week at work. But even better; today was her anniversary so she brought us the best pastries I've ever had in my life. They're from Bakers de Normandie in Holladay. Even the ones I don't think I would like are like gold in my mouth. I have a sweet tooth like nobody's business and will eat almost anything sugary you put in front of me (even straight sugar). It has to be made with all the good fattening, real cream kind of stuff to be this amazing. It makes my head spin to think of the calories and fat that I've ingested in such a short amount of time. The chocolate strawberry on top of one of the tortes alone was the best chocolate covered strawberry I've ever had, and I could eat them by the bucket load. Nothing I've ever had has been better than these, not at the chocolate show, not at a fancy wedding, not at a fancy restaurant, or any other bakery. I know true love when I taste it, and maybe if I really love you, I'll get you some of these amazing pastries someday...so long as you share with me.

Is George W. Really Batman?

I heard it talked about on the radio the other day like it was common knowledge and I'm an idiot for not seeing it straight away. They were saying how the Dark Knight is an analogy to George W.'s war on terror. In Dark Knight, the police (the UN) weren't getting the job done with all the really bad criminals in Gotham. So Batman steps up to take them out, just like George W. did. By the end of the movie, everyone hates Batman just like everyone hates W. for doing the job that no one else was ballsy enough to do.

I'm going to go on record to say that I like W. I heard him interviewed by Bob Costas as the Olympics (I can't stand Bob Costas. He's a Jazz hater, small man, whose big shoes aren't fooling anybody.) George W. said that he talked to Putin and Demitri about them invading Georgia and how it's wrong, the Olympics are for time of peace not invading your neighbor. And that they better back off or there will be consequences. He also went to an underground church on Sunday in China. He told the president of China that he should legalize them and give more freedom to his people. I don't care that he's there watching the games, because he's still getting his job done. Telling people how it is.

Evan Woody vs. Micheal Phelps

My sister mentioned this first, but does my brother kind of look like Michael Phelps?











I really wish I had TV this week (I was really, really wishing it when my stroller had a flat tire this AM and I had to run on the treadmill). I love the Olympics. It may be my fascination with muscles (good thing I'm a physical therapist). It's the human body in peak performance. Not the pretty but useless gym muscles, but muscles that achieve truly amazing feats of speed and power. The summer Olympics are better than the winter, just because there's typically less equipment and clothing.

Watch the video on this page. It's amazing, and intense, and what being an American is all about.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/swimming/news/newsid=194272.html#smashing+performance+u+s+relay

Dylan Update for the Out-of-Towners

Dylan finally broke tooth #8. It was worse than the other 7 put together. Fever, snotty nose, up all night screaming. So that's 1 more down, 16 to go. I can't wait.

I took him to the pediatrician last week finally for the spitting up. By 7 months and solid foods, I really thought he would just grow out of it, but he hasn't. She started him on Prevacid, but almost a week later we haven't really seen any results. If it hasn't started working in another week he'll end up at the GI specialist's for tests. Pray for the Prevacid, I really don't want him to have surgery again. I started counting how many times he spit up after a feeding, and it really is between 5 and 7. I wasn't exaggerating when I said he spit up 30x/day.

The boy is crawling all over and into everything. It's pretty funny because he doesn't know how to back out or down from everything, so he gets stuck and start whining. He pulls himself up on everything he can. Usually me. Exposing me by pulling on my shirt, or pulling my hair. It's a lot of work just to hold on to him as he tries to flip 180's in your arms to get to or see what he wants. He tried to crawl in the bathtub yesterday and ended up face planting in the water. Hopefully, he learned his lesson and won't try it again. Not very safe you know. His crawling really has me down about my house keeping skills. I always thought I kept a pretty clean house, until Turbo scrapes his belly on the ground and spins coming away filthy.

When he's sad he'll whine "uh-muh" as he tries to find me. I think that's the closest we're getting to mama for now. He's been a lot more interested in watching me talk and repeat different sounds over and over. He does what I think must be his version of kisses when he puts his mouth against my cheek and moves it over and over, like I kiss him over and over. Sometimes I think maybe he's going to be a little snuggler after all. At least I can hope. Most of the time I'm just not interesting enough for him. He was actually snuggling yesterday morning and I thought "I better eat this up, becuase with the way he's going he's going to be a teeneager who thinks I'm an idiot and it's too embarrassing to hug your mom."