Visitor

Look who Hannah found in our house this morning. CJ thought at first that it was a baby alligator (!) but it turned out to be a baby lizard or salamander of some sort. It was the most excitement our family has seen in a long time and none of the kids can stop talking about it. Who needs Christmas presents?

Twilight movie

So I'm sitting here in my freezing cold office (still no carpet in here and all our heat seems to be escaping through the huge hole in the ceiling. Luckily, this is as "wintry" as my neck of the woods gets). And I can't stop thinking about the Twilight movie. I saw it the day it opened. I was in AZ with 3 of my best friends - roommates from college - and we just had to go. So, we did and I have to say that I was kind of disappointed.

But now I keep wondering why? Everyone else I've talked to loved it. And I'm beginning to wonder what I missed? They all seemed willing to overlook the low-budget look of the movie and especially the lame special effects. They all liked Edward and Bella. They loved how closely the movie followed the book - which I admittedly liked too. Maybe my expectations were too high. I wanted the Cullens to be fantastically and unbelievably beautiful like I had imagined. I wanted Edward to be the perfect predator, but he seemed almost as human as Bella most of the time.

I will admit to liking the baseball scene probably because it was just like I had imagined it when I read the book. And I also liked the part where Edward and Bella first kiss in her bedroom - probably for the same reason. But overall, I left feeling let down and thinking that the story was so good and the movie could've been amazing but it wasn't.

Did you see the movie? What did you think?

Tag

I'm sure you've all seen this tag: you upload the 4th picture in your 4th folder and explain. And since I've seen it a lot lately, I decided to finally do it.

This is a picture of Rachel last November. She had just turned 1 and we had just returned from a trip to Albuquerque (for the Balloon Fiesta) where she fell and broke her arm. Hence, the cute little pink cast. And the lips were from Hannah's Halloween pumpkin - Rachel loved blowing into them to hear the whistling sound. This picture made me very glad that our days with the cast are long gone.

I need some blogging time...

I honestly can't believe how long it's been since I've posted on here. I guess it goes to show that I'm a little overscheduled lately. And I have lots of things I want to blog about: Charlie's birthday party (back in October), opinions on the new Twilight movie, my girls trip to Arizona, Thanksgiving, book club tomorrow night (I'm so excited to go after missing the last 2!), etc. But, I'm on my way out the door, so I guess it will all have to wait. Until then, enjoy one of my favorite cartoons:

Bye for now!

I am so spoiled...

This is where I am spending my week. In a beautiful hotel on the beach. And I have absolutely nothing to do. I feel like I've died and gone to heaven. (If only my luggage would arrive...) The staff at the hotel calls me by name - like they know me. And they keep asking what they can do for me or how I'm doing. I'm doing GREAT, by the way.

CJ and I had lunch by the pool today. We're planning a walk on the beach as soon as he gets out of "class" at 4:30. I could really get used to this!

By the way, thanks to everyone who was so sweet about Charlie and his leg. He is doing so much better. And I have to mention that none of this dream vacation would be possible without my parents who are taking care of our three kiddos. Thanks for everything guys! I wish I could bring you here when the week is over - I'm sure you'll need it!

Day 2 - Blessing #2

(Photo of staph bacteria)

So after my Temple post yesterday, there was no way I could NOT post about this.

Charlie got a mosquito bite at soccer practice on Wed. night. Thursday morning it looked really big and swollen and I figured he was having a little reaction to the bite. By the time he got home from preschool, it looked even worse. And when CJ got home from work and we showed it to him, it was really red, swollen, hot and oozing something. So I took him to a neighborhood clinic and got him some amoxicillan - they said it was "cellulitis." (Is that the right word? Sounds too much like "cellulite" to be right but I'm pretty sure that's what they called it.)

Then this morning, I was at Target and I happened to run into a couple from my ward and I showed them Charlie's leg. Turns out, their little boy had a staph infection a year ago that got extremely nasty and scary and required surgery and a long hospital stay and the poor kid is STILL on antibiotics for it. I knew all this of course - maybe that's why I wanted to show them Charlie's leg. Anyway, they recommended that I take Charlie to our regular pediatrician asap, so I called and got him in. And he has a staph infection in his leg. They changed his prescription (and it cost $94 MORE than his amoxicillan did darn it! And yes, that was our co-pay!) and told us to watch him very closely for the next 48 hours. Now is that crazy or what? I am totally convinced that seeing my friends at Target was NOT a coincidence. It reminded me (yet again) that I am loved, and watched over. Now, I'm just praying that Charlie's infection will go away and not interfere with our trip.

Just what I needed...

Thanks to a great girl in my ward who recently agreed to do "temple swap" babysitting with me, I was able to go to the temple today.

I don't know how to say all of this without seeming to complain, but things have been a little out of control lately. I know, I know - we're all busy and we all have "to-do" lists a mile long, but lately, it has been more than that for me. I guess it's really a lot of things piling up: the kids have added extra things after school, our house is still a mess from the hurricane (though, for anyone who cares, we're actually getting our roof replaced next week which is a MAJOR step toward more repairs!), I'm in a state of panic that another person is about to join our family and I'm barely managing the 3 we already have etc, etc, etc. I've been working on a few projects as well and I just feel like every single minute of every single day is taken up and used and there's not anything left over. No happiness, no joy, no peace, just the frantic pace of life and I can never get ahead.

Until today. I almost backed out. I have so much to do in the next few days, I told my friend that I couldn't go this week. But I felt so annoyed to put off my temple trip - it's never convenient or easy to go - so I called her last night at 9 and decided that somehow, it was going to happen. And wow. It was the best 90 minutes I can remember having in a very long time. So peaceful and wonderful. I didn't really want to leave. How come I forget so easily the meaning and purpose behind my life? Why do I feel so alone sometimes when I'm not? How come I don't remember the promises I've been given? There's really no way for words to describe how I'm feeling right now, but I'm so SO glad I went today. It was just what I needed. And now I feel like I can face the frantic pace of life again.