Sunday: Rest or Stressed?

I have really enjoyed this weekend:

I attended a Stake Relief Society Conference:

The classes and instructors were amazing:

I definitely picked up on a theme to help me in my life:

Prepare:

For everything:

I went to three very different classes, but came away thinking:

"There is so much for me to be prepared for":

Blessings, callings, personal revelation, and the unexpected:

And so much more:

 I don't know if this was something the leaders had in mind for us sisters to pick up on:

But for me it was a thread that would weave through my thoughts through the rest of weekend:

This morning our sacrament meeting was exceptionally good:

Eryn spoke:

She was asked to visit our ward and talk about attending a "church school":
Her spirit was lovely as she spoke of her testimony building experiences at BYU-Idaho:
I was really proud of her:

And yes, she did make me cry:

Then a couple from our ward spoke and intensified the spirit even more:

I went and taught my amazing Sunday School class:

I team teach the 14-15 yr olds, but I was lucky enough to have the 12-13 yr olds too today:

(or were they lucky to have me...?)

I think I embarrassed MeKenzie, but I couldn't help it:

My enthusiasm for the lesson could not be contained:

After that we had a combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting in the last hour:

Our lesson was marvelous:

Here's the catch:

(you knew there was one coming, didn't you?)

Alivia hasn't completely recovered from her cold:

She's been very whiny and very clingy:

She held it together for sacrament and primary:
But she has her limits and she hit it head on as soon as church ended:

As I was nearly running, in heels, to get her out of those "Chapel Doors":
Her screaming was so loud that I thought she had shattered my ear drum:

My eyes were rolling into the back of my skull with pain:

So imagine all these wonderful, uplifting, good feelings that I had just experienced:

Now imagine blood pouring out of my ear:

Good Feeling Gone 

I could not get out of there fast enough:
I just keep thinking "Get her in the car and get home":

We barely made it out of the parking lot:
I had to pull over, yank gently take her out of her car-seat and let her scream it out:

Here's the other calamity:

I was on a major road-way. 4 lanes. On the shoulder. With a screaming 3 year old:

As cars are rushing by us, I am trying to get her to gain a semblance of control:

She's crying, screaming, yelling, hitting the car:

At about this time, other ward members are starting to leave:

Sweet, kind ward family:

Some rolled down their windows and called out:

"Do you need anything?":
"Is everything OK?":

"Are you just going to leave her there in the ditch?":

So I picked her up and took her to the other side of the car:

Where she evolved into a whole different form of species:

It took a good 5 minutes for her to let go of me:

Another 3 getting her into her car-seat:

I'm not sure what she was thinking as she was whimpering in the back:

But once we got rolling again she uttered in a hiccupy voice:

"I didn't want you to leave me":

OK:

This broke my heart:

This hurt worse then my still ringing right ear:

I never imagined that she would even consider me leaving her:

 On a major road-way. 4 lanes. On the shoulder:

I almost pulled over again just to hold her:

Instead, I tried to bring those good feelings back that I had been experiencing:

The Spirit is so loving and He once again filled our car with happiness:

And I was prepared:

Josh: Debt and Deals

I went to Target today and look what I found:

New and Improved race-car rug:

 $7.48 on clearance:

What a deal: 

I am also excited because a debt will finally be paid to Josh:

Flashback:

We moved to Dayton, OH from sunny L.A.:

Into a house that was half the size of our military housing:

Yikes! This meant we had to downsize everything:
So what do you do when you to get rid of half of everything:

You have a yard sale:

Josh's race-car rug was 'accidentally' put in the yard sale:

 1.5 years later...another move:

From Ohio to Virginia into a townhouse with a playroom:

Sadly, race-car rug has not been replaced:

I promised Josh a new one, but I can't even find one...

Okay, truth... I really didn't look for one: 

But still:

I have not heard the end of it:

Josh has mourned the loss of that race-car rug for about 12 years now:

Josh:

It's time to let go of the old race-car rug:

  Embrace the bigger and better race-car rug:

That I got...on clearance...

Here's my promise to Alivia:

I will never sell this rug:

You may think that this rug is yours, but it's not. It's Josh's:

I will let you play with it anytime you want:

In fact, I will make Josh play race-car rug with you  

anytime you want:

Go for it, Josh! Live your childhood:

A new promise to Josh:

I will hold onto this new and improved race-car rug:

Until I have grandkids (see previous post):

That's all the thanks I need...for now:

Mysteries: Naps and Lipstick

"Hey Livi, What's that on your face":

"Muffin" (translation:nothing):


"Hmm...it looks like something":


"It's a mystery!" she whispers:

Clue # 1:  A good long nap:
  
Clue # 2: Eryn's bag...looks like it's been rifled with:

Clue # 3: Mints, a note, lipstick and a gum packet (empty):

"What's that, Livi?":

"Umm...the final clue!" she exclaimed excitedly:

 Mystery solved:

Snow: Target and Meltdowns

Yep: This is all we got:

I cannot believe that today was a snow day. It snowed maybe a fingerbreadth...maybe.  But, since everyone is home I thought I should restock on some essentials: milk, bread, Target clearance aisles...that sort of thing:

So off to the stores did Josh, Alivia and I go:

I've been homebound since Friday due to a flu bug that rocked the socks off our family, and found it particularly amazing that I was ready to go by noon:

Although Josh and I were not infected: 

(well, Josh was...on purpose. He went and got the flu shot yesterday. I'm not sure what the point was since he's been around it for a week, and now his arm is sore,  AND he will probably come down from something related to the shot...but that's another story), 

Alivia has been sick. No fever since yesterday morning though and today she's just had a runny nose... which she likes to wipe on my arm because I'm the handiest thing next to her:

Alivia, getting ready to cough on me:

Anyway...by the time we hit Safeway check-out line Alivia was done. She is so over shopping. She needed a nap and something in her stomach, other than the delicious frosted sugar cookies that she demands at Target:

So while I pay for the over-priced bread and milk Josh took her out to the car...screaming the whole way. I could hear her even after the automatic door closes. I was only a few minutes behind them, but it was just enough time for Josh to decide he will NEVER have children:

What the huh? Is what I was thinking. I mean it had only been 2 minutes tops since she left my side. What's the deal:

Josh: I am so not having any snotty nose, crying babies.

Me: What the huh?

Josh: Well, first they're just crying, poopy, pink blobs. Then they turn into snotty nosed toddlers who only want you to entertain them. Then they become mischievous 6 year olds, then they become in-between kids who don't know who they are or where they belong, then they become know-it-all bratty teenagers and THEN (deep breath here) they become stupid college students who only want money from you (a little insight into our family life):

~Background noise: Alivia screaming so hard she's dry-heaving~
 

Me: What the huh?...(I'm a little slow)...But you are so good with Alivia. You'll be a great dad. And honestly, when you find the right person, you'll actually want kids because...

Josh:  Hormones:

Me: ...well...yes, but not just that. You get this crazy feeling that you don't know where it comes from. And it's like you actually want to have kids. It just inexplicably happens.

Josh: Whatever:

I know Josh will probably have kids. Way, way, WAY in the future. And he's always good natured about our family and the crazy situations his sisters put him in. He's got a great sense of humor and practices it all the time on me. In the meantime I've got to change parenting tactics so that he knows that there's a reward in all of this:

Brotherly love:

There are days, though, that I wonder why I had these predatory beasts:

Fear the predator:

Flu: Superhero and Kleenex

We have definitely been hit by the flu this past week:

Tony came home early from work on Tuesday:

Our house has not been the same since:

Next to fall was MeKenzie:

Then Eryn:

Yesterday, Alivia:

Josh has been holding his breath for 5 days:

It has not been pretty:

I spent yesterday trying to keep Alivia in my bedroom

so the infestation wouldn't spread:

Luckily she was pretty out of it all day 

and was happy to lay on me:

All day:

That's right, laying on me... all day:

I have been coughed and sneezed on so much this past week that I've decided that I must be a Superhero:

Reason #1 for this conclusion:

I have not succumbed to this germ-fest:

#2:

I guess #1 was a good enough reason

because I can't think of another one:

Although, I am cool enough to be a Superhero:

It's called being a Wife and Mom:

This is exactly what I look like with the mask on:

February: Toes and Flip-Flops

I can't believe it's going to be 70 degrees today and tomorrow.  

It's like a winter miracle:

Today Alivia and I were invited to go to 

the "posh" Montclair playground:

And I couldn't think of a better way to enjoy this

beautiful day then to let my toes have a breather from a winter of knee-high, wool/cotton blend socks and boots:

I don't have pretty toes, in fact, I had the 

unfortunate nick-name of "Sausage Toes" in Jr. High...

after some punk kid stripped me 
of my shoes, socks and dignity on the football field 

(you will rue that day, Troy Gravatt!  Rue it...):

 

 On a brighter note:

A sweet friend gave me a bottle of fabulous OPI nail polish called "Quarter of a Penny Cherry" for my birthday and I decided that today was the perfect day to use it:

Isn't it the best? I love it:

Alivia and I soaked up the fun and sun at the playground:

For an hour and a half Alivia ran around like the crazed, 

home-bound 3 year old that's she been for months:

I got to sit and enjoy the sun 

and best of all...visit with some awesome women:

 

Too bad we had to leave

because 'someone' pooped in her panties 

(not me): 

  

Oh well. At least I got to paint my toes,

and wear flip-flops:

Tony: My Valentine

I know many of you are dying to know: 

how Tony and I became

the most fabulous couple that we are known as today:

And since today is Valentine’s Day...

I thought this would be the perfect time to 
share the 'appropriate' details and tell you how it all began:

Once upon a time there was a boy:

Who met a girl:

 

Strangers who were destined to share time and all eternity together:

But not yet...

I was 18 years old and went to the big city,

Boise, Idaho:

I was fortunate to become a 
Page for the House Legislator when I was a senior in high school.

Tony was 19 and a freshman at 
Rick’s College (now BYU - Idaho) 

and applied to be a Senate Intern:

But, oddly enough (for a future blog), 

the first time I saw Tony was on the tarmac of
Mountain Home Air Force Base:

 I have to admit there was a Top Gun moment:

He was gorgeous! How could I meet him? 

Well, after the base tour there was a meet and greet

for the Senators and Representatives, 
and their gofers (us): 
we ended up talking, and pretty much didn’t stop talking until the Idaho State Legislation Session of 
1987 was over:

Tony use to say that we met in the rotunda

to hash out our political differences. 

 I say we met in the rotunda for a little 
one-on-one time...

 And that was that…

Could we be bigger geeks?

until he broke up with me:

I had to go back to high school...in Pocatello. 

After a few weeks of long –distant dating I got the ‘infamous’ letter….sorry…blah, blah, blah….

we can be friends…blah, blah, blah...

I was seriously heartbroken:  

Until I started dating again later on that week:

I was a senior in high school, after all.

A few months went by and I received another letter from Tony, who was in the MTC, 
looking desperately for anybody to write to him. 


I wrote back….

would love to write you…blah, blah, blah…

I’m in a relationship now… blah, blah, blah…

we can still be friends...

Surprisingly...

I didn’t hear from him again for a year and a half:

About 6 months before Tony came home from his Anaheim, CA mission, he took up pen and paper and wrote to every single girl he knew, hoping for a hit!  

Tony is on the right...

It just so happened that I was trying to move to Boise: 

(coincidence...I think not)

so, I,too, took pen and paper in hand 

and responded in kind:

Tony and I were engaged 3 days after his plane landed back on Idaho soil, and much to my dismay and my father-in-law's glee, we were married...

3 months later in the Boise, Idaho temple.

We were just babies!! What were we thinking?

We have been married for 22 years this year.

Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetie. 

Hot as ever!

Thanks for sticking with me.
I love you:

A Splash of Orange: MeKenzie

 

I love MeKenzie:

She is a truly amazing, vibrant, thirteen year old, happy, moody, 
talented, beautiful young woman: 

She really is:

So, MeKenzie has worked very hard to get straight A's, 

particularly this past semester. 
And her perseverance has paid off!

 

SHE DID IT:

Her middle school is NOT the easiest to go to:

(as you may have noticed from my previous post),

It's an IB Program (International Baccalaurate) School 
that has pretty high standards for those in the program, 

but not so much for those who are not in it...

And I, as are the rest of us...Josh?...right?...

am incredibly proud of her...

Some may even be a little jealous...Josh? Eryn?... 

Hello?...

A few things about our youngest teen:

She will laugh at just about anything.

Even if it's not funny...Which makes us either:

A) roll our eyes, or B) join in. 

Usually a combination of both:

She loves scarfs:

She has NO fear of trying a new-do:

She is very fond of the color ORANGE:

Her bathroom, which she shares with Josh is

orange, much to Josh's horror:

She's very artistic and is the only one of us girls who can sew...

Made with the help and love of our dear friend, Mama Rowie.  (Jacque Rowberry)
‘Sew' far…

She's a very sweet, very careful young girl, 

but watch out for her on the Basketball Court...

She's deadly.  

She gets it from me, of course.

Be afraid...be very afraid:

She shared a bedroom with Alivia until Eryn went to school,

and then promptly (like one day after) 

took over that space.

And she's fairly tidy too.

She knows when the Spirit is speaking to her and 

she's a great listener.

These are just a few reasons for us to love our Kenzie:  
believe me, there are many more.

You go girl.