Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Grandma

My grandma died Sunday morning, and after the best funeral I have ever been to (truly it was a beautiful, positive event), I would like to share some of my favorite things about my Grandma Udy.

My 2 favorite memories are going shopping with my grandma, my mom, and my sister at the ZCMI center and going to the Tiffin Room for lunch. That's where all the old ladies ate, and I thought it was a pretty classy place for being in a mall. But I always thought that was cool because it felt like a legacy of moms and daughters (my mom's her only daughter). At some point in these shopping trips we would get chocolate, but not just any chocolate: seafoam. It's fabulous. If you've never had it, go to a chocolate shop and try it.

My second favorite memory is jumping off her porch and getting grounded. I think I have about 40 cousins who would nod and smile at this. We'd end up lined up on the porch all grounded for 15 minutes for jumping off. For some reason this is a fond memory.(?)

But some of the other really great things about my grandma is that she always made dinner for the elderly, even when she was in this classification. She was always well mannered, but felt entitled to cuss in her old age. She didn't judge, but loved you for who you are. And my was she a proud woman. I had the privilege of doing exercises with her in her last year of life to help with balance and general strength and endurance. And no matter how many times I told her to use her walker, the very next time she'd come to the door without it. She said it made her look old.

I love my grandma and I'm so happy that she's with my grandpa and the rest of her family. I'm also greatful for the plan of salvation. So many of my many cousins were raised away from the gospel and have difficulty taking comfort in the passing of a loved one. I only pray that they listened to what was said today and know that everything is truly ok for grandma now.

Monday, May 19, 2008

First Day at the Lake

Today was my first time H2Oskiing in over a year, and Dylan's first time on the boat. I should clarify, his first time in the boat in the water. (Grandpa and Uncle Evan have taken him out to sit in it plenty.) Grandpa was showing him how to drive the boat.He's a natural; no complaints about his life jacket that is too long so he can't even sit in it, or the bumps, or the sun in his eyes, or the occasional cold spray. All in all though it was a nice afternoon. Mid-80's for the air and about 70 for the water. It was a little cold when you first jumped in naturally, but truly not the worst I've ever been in (Alayna didn't get in. )I thought that something about being a mom made you tougher, but I think it had the opposite effect on me. I was so excited (I put sunblock on this AM instead of lotion and drove around with swimsuits and lifejackets all day just incase we left early) until it came time to jump in. Then I could barely jump on the wakeboard. Evan can still do it though. In my defense, there was little more that could be done to make the water worse. It was insanely choppy. (Layna's a better photographer than Evan, he's full of shenanigans)Regardless of choppiness, I had to slalom. It's my true passion. But due to the turbulent waters and the wind, I couldn't see where I was going at all. When I was cutting back into the wake, sometimes it surprised me just how soon it came up.My hands have lost all of their wonderful callouses. While I still claim that they look like man-hands, they no longer function like man-hands. They started to hurt from gripping the rope, I guess mowing the lawn a handful of times this spring hasn't quite brought them up to snuff. And I hope that I never hear the excuse of someone not being strong enough or too out of shape to waterski, because I've never been in worse shape. Months of inactivity and I can still get up on the first try despite a complete lack of muscle tone. (yes I am tooting my own horn)Getting into my shorty wetsuit, now that was a trick. I thought we were going to have to pull out the duckbutter to squeeze me in. While my swimsuit doesn't fit well into my shorty, it's more flattering than the wetsuit. I think the wetsuit is the look that should be most avoided after having a baby. As well as letting your brother take pictures of you.My dad bought Perfect Pass for the boat this year. It's pretty much like cruise control for a boat which is really awesome if you know how hard it is to keep a motor at the 17mph most people prefer to wakeboard. What I love is watching my dad and Evan play with their new toys.Thanks Mom (who couldn't make it) and Dad for always fronting the money and taking us boating. We love it.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Boarder Patrol

I've recently seen billboards advertising to join the boarder patrol. I think the boarder patrol is a worthy cause, but who would want to do it because you'll end up in jail instead of the illegal immigrants. These people are not allowed to do their job which frustrates me, I can only imagine how they feel. Something I don't understand is why people who are not citizens of this country are allowed to clog our court systems. If you are not a citizen despite the fact that you are bodily within the US boarders, you should not be allowed to sue or use any of our public resources. I'm the one paying taxes to run the system, not them. They should be subject to whatever the boarder patrols regulations are, which I hope involves deportment or worse. So I repeat, who would want to join the boarder patrol?

Dylan Update

This is the part of my blog where I get a little braggy, I have one kid and nothing better to do. Dylan had is four month check up earlier this month where we found out that our strapping lad is in the 95th percentile for height and the 90th percentile for weight and head circumference. I say not bad for the runt he started out as. At that appointment I told the pediatrician that I thought he was teething because he chewed his fingers and drooled a lot, and she said that every four month old acted like they were teething. His first tooth broke through two days later, followed shortly by the next. Needless to say shots and teeth in one weekend was a little rough, but Dylan really tries to be happy even when he doesn't feel great. Dylan is also more mobile than I think any four month old has a right to be. Last night he spun around on the couch, then launched himself off head first. So if you look close he's a little bruised at his hairline, but there's not even really a lump regardless of how it looks. He can really move though, spinning on his belly and even making some limited/accidental forward progress if he wants something. For anyone that doesn't know I fly in the face of SIDS and Dylan has slept on his tummy since he was 1 1/2-2 months old. So when he woke up this morning and he sounded a little less muffled than usual I said to Wes, "I bet he's pushed up on his hands talking and playing." But when Wes went to get him I was wrong, he had rolled over onto his back and we missed it. It was probably more on accident than anything, but still he rolled.If anyone tries to tell me that his eyes still might change color, I won't believe you. I think those baby blues are here to stay despite how brown mine are. I've finally taken the sling out of his tub so he just sits in the water to play, he's a fan of water which is fairly important to be a member of this family. Incidentally, his scar doesn't look too obvious in this picture, maybe it won't be so bad after all.Dylan has recently become startled more easily and cries 1/2 the time when I leave the room. Both are a little frustrating. As for the startling, I spend a lot of time trying to scare him, now he just giggles instead of screaming. It's a pretty darn cute giggle, too. He is constantly auditorily self-stimulating. The boy likes to hear himself talk, and it's pretty funny. I'm a little torn what to do at church when he's making noise, because he's completely unaware of church protocol. Or that "Shhhh" means to tone it down a little. I'm just waiting for the Piercy's to give me the stink eye for not keeping my kid quiet. And lastly, hopefully within the next month he will learn how to keep is own pacifier in. On the other hand I'm a little sad about how fast he's growing up and learning to do things. He's not just a tiny, helpless baby anymore.

Phew! I got the mushies out of my system.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Happy Birthday Melissa

Melissa always does the top 10 reasons she loves someone on their birthday, so here's to you Missy.
The Top 10 Reasons I Love Melissa
10. She has the best laugh ever. If I could bottle it I'd be a millionaire.
9. Sometimes if she laughs really hard she pees her pants just a little.
8. She makes you feel like you're the most important person in her world.
7. She thinks I know something about fashion.
6. She has beautiful skin and cheekbones.
5. She's well rounded; she loves to read, exercise and eat candy.
4. She's hard core. No wetsuit when it's 65 degrees outside. No epidural. Need I say more.
3. She taught me how to be part of a married family.
2. She's an amazing mom.
1. She is the best "big sister" a girl without one could ever ask for.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Doomsday

There are a few things that the Spirit has told me to do lately, and I've done one. The one I prioritized as the most important. We now have 72 hour kits/packs. And I feel hugely relieved and blessed already. That's my bragging for the day. Maybe now I'll write in my journal some choice experiences. I figure what's the point of writing about people who are just going to die in the first catastrophe that comes along.

I'm a little; I take that back, a lot freaked out by what's happening in our scary world today. I never thought I would see the day when there would be food shortages and rationing. I live in the land of plenty for crying out loud. My house is depreciating as I type, so we're probably not moving any time soon. And some stimulus check is supposed to make it all better. The currency of the future is food, not cash or gold. Wes has a shotgun, but I'm ready for him to get a handgun so we can fend off the scavengers in these last days. Like some people in our ward who think that the church will take care of them in an emergency. I mean they take care of people in disasters all over the world so why not the good members right here in old SLC. Apparently the prophet only meant for those outside the city to have a year's food supply, right? You've got to be kidding me! This is the High Priest group leader of our ward! With a mentality like this I'm really not joking about the gun. I'm actually a little afraid that I've waited too long to finish getting my food storage, I'm only about 1/2 way there. My more robust neighbors will be picking the flesh off the bones of our skinny family, we'll die first.

Moral of the story, don't call me for a pick me up right now.

Dum, dum, dummm!

Hail From the Land of Morons

So anyone who I invited to go see Batman on May 16th in a really big, awesome group...I'm an idiot. It doesn't come out until July 18th. So sorry about that. I'll be going to a work party instead. Hooray!

Really you guys should have expected no less from me.