Sarah Sedated

I promise it looks worse than it was...

I have always considered myself a fairly healthy person, but looking back at the last couple of years, I may have to reconsider.  I have been having a recurrent pain under my left ribs for the last 6 months or so. At times it gets pretty severe, so I finally went in to the doctor to get it checked out. My doctor recommended an endoscopy (sticking a tube with a camera down my throat to check out my esophagus, stomach and small intestine). Today was the big day. It is a relatively simple procedure, but I had to be sedated and get an IV... neither of which agrees with me very well.

I have notoriously small and difficult veins. It is always a test to see how good the nurse is. This time was no different. I had to be poked twice to get the initial IV and then when they started putting the drugs through it, the IV blew (i.e. created a big lump under my skin). I then had to be poked two additional times to finally get one to work. Note all of the bandaids on my arms in the picture. It was definitely the most painful part of the day.

I am also notoriously bad at coming back from anesthesia. My mother and Jonathon have some good stories from the previous times that I have been put under. When I was 12, I had an appendectomy. My mom said that as I was waking up,  I would randomly sit up and start screaming and then go right back to sleep. I'm sure it was more than a little scary for her. After my other two surgeries (cystectomy and gallbladder removal) I woke up extremely slowly. They had to basically kick me out of the hospital both times because I was taking so long regaining consciousness. And both times I was throwing up as we were leaving. Definitely not my finest moments.

This time, there was no throwing up, but I woke up sobbing hysterically. I had no idea why I was crying and could not stop. I was laughing and crying when I was talking to Jonathon because the whole situation was so strange and amusing. I eventually got control of my emotions and got to go home. They found that I had a mild case of esophagitis (caused from acid reflux) and prescribed me Prevacid. It sounds like a pretty easy solution, so I hope it works.

When I got home I told Jonathon that the moral of the story is "Never have any more anesthesia."

Christian in his witty little voice piped up immediately, "Never Say Never, Mom."

Ha!


On a side note: I told Jonathon that at my first appointment, it was me and 4 other old women (like in their 70's-80's).  I told him that I felt a little out of place. He kind of shrugged it off saying that it must have just been the day. When we walked in for the scope, low and behold, it was 6 old women and me. The waiting room was full of elderly gentlemen waiting to drive their wives home (oh, and Jonathon). Take that... Point Proven!

Primary Program

Ever since I got called to be the Primary Chorister in June, I have been focusing on, planning for, and practicing for the Primary Program. It took place yesterday during Sacrament Meeting, and I feel such a relief now that it is over!

I LOVE getting to be in Primary every week to teach music time, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous about how the program would turn out. We had 13 songs this year, so I was feeling stretched pretty thin. In addition to the songs in the official program, I also taught the Books of the Old and New Testament and the Books in the Book of Mormon because they fit so well with the yearly theme "I Know the Scriptures are True". They are hard songs (the Jr. primary had an especially hard time with names like Habakkuk and Zephaniah, etc.), but I know that they will be invaluable as the children go to Seminary and need to know more of the scriptures. On Saturday we had our last practice before the program, and it was pretty rough. The Primary Presidency reassured me that every year it was like this on Saturday, but on Sunday it always turned out wonderfully.

Luckily, they were right!

The children all did a great job on their parts. I was really impressed with how many had their parts memorized. Christian only had one line, but he said it very clearly and from memory. The songs all went smoothly too. I always feel like we can sing louder, but overall I was just thrilled with the final presentation. This year we did one song in sign language ("I Love to See the Temple") and one song was done in a small group ("Where Love Is"). I really feel like they added a nice change to the other songs, and hopefully I can come up with some new ideas for next year too. Anyone out there have any great suggestions?

Jonathon's family came to watch the program to support Christian and me. We were so happy that they took part of their busy day to support us. It really meant a lot to our family. We had such a lovely dinner and evening with them.

By far, the best thing about the whole day was that the Spirit was so strong. The children really brought it to the meeting as they spoke simply, but fervently about the things that they learned and believed. Our final song was "Scripture Power".  All of the children raised their scriptures high in the air during the chorus. It was a powerful end to a beautiful meeting.  I am thankful to be part of such a wonderful organization and to have the opportunity to learn from the children weekly.

P.S. It has been so fun coming up with creative teaching methods to use with the children. It really makes me feel like the time and energy I spent on my teaching degree was not in vain. I am now able to use all of the knowledge and skill that I worked hard for to, hopefully, benefit the children of our ward. It is very fulfilling for me. Jonathon has been so supportive too. He built me this awesome wheel to use during singing time.

I can change the spaces to fit whatever I am doing for the day. The possibilities are endless and the kids love it! I got the idea and the directions here. I have such a nice husband!

Birthday Festivities

On Wednesday Jonathon went with me to a live showing of the Martha Stewart Show. While I must admit that I rarely watch Martha, I wanted to see a show while in NY, and hers was one of the only ones I was interested in. Jonathon wasn't too excited about going until I told him it could be my birthday present and the tickets were FREE.

We arrived at the studio early, stood in line for a while, then sat in the guest waiting room and got an overview of the show and the procedures. I didn't realize that it was going to be a live show, but that made it all the more exciting. Next we were moved to the studio and were prepped on various stage commands (i.e. applause, fade, etc.). Here is a picture of us sitting in the studio just before the show started:

The topics of the show itself weren't all that exciting. Her guest was some rapper named Big Boi. Yeah, never heard of him. (We found out later that the second taping that day was with Antonio Banderas :(. She then taught us how to cook lobster, make a garden apron and a shell sconce, and played a short segment on topiary gardens. This is the garden apron and part of her stage scenery:

After the show, some audience members got to ask Martha questions. She seemed exactly like what you would expect. Sweet, sincere, and a bit sassy too. It was a fun experience and I am glad we got a chance to go before we leave New York .

On my actual birthday (Sunday), the Primary kids sang to me, I heard from lots of great friends and family, and Jonathon busted out his culinary skills to make me an amazing dinner and dessert. For dinner he made chicken cordon bleu, seasoned mashed potatoes, and cooked carrots. For my "cake", he whipped up an amazing fruit tart that tasted as good as it looked. Seriously, the boy is good. It is a pastry crust, with a cream cheese layer, and topped with fruit. Oh, and you top it all with whipped cream. The recipe can be found here. YUM!

27 is looking to be a good year!

Book of Mormon Challenge

Way back last September, our Bishop challenged every member of our ward to read the Book of Mormon along with the Seminary students. Reading one chapter a day would mean we would finish the Book of Mormon on Sunday, May 9th. Jonathon and I started the challenge, but slowly fell further and further behind. As of Friday, May 7th, we were on Helaman 2, about 2/3 of the way to our goal.

All that week, my mind kept going back to words spoken the previous Sunday. One of the members of our Bishopric encouraged us to finish the challenge so that "we would receive the blessings that Heavenly Father had in store for those who followed the counsel of their leaders." Those were powerful words, and I decided I needed to finish. On Friday, I read for 3 hours straight. I have never had a more powerful experience with the Book of Mormon in my life.

At the beginning of those three hours, I read about Christ coming to the Americas. It has always been one of my favorite parts of the book, particularly the amazing effect his teachings had on the people. 4 Nephi 1:15-16:

"And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God."

At the end of the 3 hours, I was sobbing. The happiest people who ever lived were completely destroyed because of their own wickedness. I have never read these accounts in one sitting and was completely overwhelmed by grief. Mormon describes these feelings in Mormon 6:16-20:

"And my soul was rent with anguish, because of the slain of my people, and I cried: O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you! Behold, if ye had not done this, ye would not have fallen. But behold, ye are fallen, and I mourn your loss."

I finished the Book of Mormon on the 9th, the official end date. While I do not recommend slacking in order to read it in 2 days, I do feel like I have been blessed for finishing the book. During my marathon reading sessions, I saw very clearly that true happiness is dependent on keeping the commandments and always being able to feel and show the love of God. When we depart from these things, even in small ways, we are, in essence, destroying part of our own happiness. I guess that is the whole message of the Book of Mormon. When we follow Christ, we are happy-- not a carefree, fleeting happy, but a peaceful happy that can endure the ups and downs of life. I know that our whole society won't be perfectly righteous like those chosen people who saw Christ nearly 2,000 years ago, but hopefully, our family can feel some of that same joy and happiness as we try our best to follow him today.

That's what I learned. That was my blessing for finishing. It was worth it.

Dissertation and Digi-Scrapping

The last few weeks have been a blur...

I've heard horror stories about trying to finish a PhD, but never understood them fully until now. A graduation date {August 5th!} is exciting, but so stressful. Jonathon works 10 hour days in the lab, comes home for dinner, then works for 2+ more hours writing his paper. It is hard on him and hard on us. To be perfectly fair though, Jonathon is quite amazing about the whole thing. He has a total of an hour of "spare" time in his day, and he spends it helping me make dinner and telling the boys bedtime stories. I really couldn't ask for more, except maybe more hours in a day. We will get through this, and luckily, he is making great progress.

In the meantime, I have plenty of time in the evenings to do whatever I choose. Digital scrap-booking has been a prominent pastime recently. Last week, I had 54 pages printed that I made since January. I was nervous to print them because it is a bit pricey, and I wasn't sure how they would turn out. Luckily, I LOVE them! They cost $1.99 per page at scrappingsimply.com (which is probably a little more than I would normally spend paper-scrapping), but for me, the benefits FAR outweigh the slight cost difference. If anyone is interested, here is my analysis:

Digital Scrap-booking Pros:

1. Speed (after you learn the basics, you can really crank the pages out)

2. No Clean Up-- start and stop whenever you want or need to

3. Less storage space needed for supplies (always a plus in a small apartment)

4. So many FREE options-- I haven't paid for a single thing (besides printing). My favorite sites are CBH, craftcrave.com, and scrappingsisters.blogspot.com

5. The printed pages lay so nicely in the albums and take up way less space because they are thinner.

6. You can print multiple pages for multiple kids or reprint a page if needed

Digital Scrap-booking Cons:

1. Lack of texture-- There are some tricks to make digital pages appear textured and layered, but it's not quite the same.

2. Learning curve-- It takes a little bit of time to learn how to do things, especially if you have to learn a new software too. (I use Adobe Photoshop Elements) Sometimes it is frustrating spending an hour trying to learn a technique that would take you 5 minutes to do by hand.

3. Color Adjustments-- Computer screens always make things look slightly brighter than prints do, so I am going to have to compensate a bit on the next printing batch.

So, there you have our life in a nutshell. It looks like the next four months are going to be more of the same.... lots of dissertation and digi-scrapping.

Obsessions Revisited

It has been interesting for me to see all of the different things that Christian has been really obsessed with over the last few months.

1. Trains/Thomas and Friends

2. "Cars," the movie

3. Dinosaurs

It got me thinking about all the things in my life that I have been really into. It was fun to look back and remember those times and specific experiences associated with them. Some examples...

1. Dinosaurs: See previous post

2. Nancy Drew books: My dad got me hooked on these when I was really young. We used to read them together before bed.

3. School: not all that exciting, but true

4. Baseball/ARod: My brother, Daniel, and I shared this obsession. We knew every player on every team at one point. I also took him with me to 2 Seattle Mariners games as part of my Senior trip.

4. BYU football: Some of my favorite memories of college involve BYU football. I think I attended every single home game for the four years I attended.

5. Cake decorating: After Christian was born, Jonathon signed me up for Wilton cake decorating classes at our local Michaels. It was such a great time for me to get away for awhile and also learn a new hobby.

My current obsessions include:

3. All things Harry Potter-- I am already excited for movie #7.

2. Blogging-- My blog serves as our family journal and I am looking forward to getting it printed soon.

1. Digital Scrapbooking-- My parents got me Photoshop Elements for Christmas and I have been scrapbooking like crazy. The best part... I have made 10 pages and spent $0. There are so many awesome freebies online. I will eventually have to pay to have them printed, but I love saving time and not cleaning up the mess. Here is one example of a side by side page I did of our Christmas.

It is definitely an interesting exercise to look back at your obsessions. You should try it. I know I would love to read them!

*Scrapbook pages made from the Cherry Chocolate kit and QP courtesy of Tracy Ladle at Growing Pains - Scrapped. http://growingpains-scrapped.blogspot.com

RISE AND SHOUT!

Our BYU cougars beat the mighty, #3 ranked Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday night. It was a nail-biter, but we pulled it out 14-13 in the end. Hopefully, it will be the start of an amazing season!

For the big event, we hosted a football party with lots of Columbia students who had attended the Y. Jonathon must have had a premonition because the subject line for the invitations was "BYU beating Oklahoma Party." It was fun to celebrate with our fellow fanatics. We even had special blue and white BYU cupcakes that I made just for the occasion. The computer connection we were using conked out at the end, so we heard the last quarter on KSL and watched the ESPN GameCast. When the cheering died down at the end of the game, we could hardly believe that we won. We were pretty much in shock!

Over the years, BYU has been unpredictable in big games (to say the least). They have, however, provided many exciting and nail-biting memories throughout my lifetime. I wasn't around or was too young to remember some of the really great highlights (i.e. I remember loving Ty Detmer, but don't really remember any of the games and I was only a year old when they won the National Championship) Here are MY top five BYU football memories...

5. BYU vs UCLA Las Vegas Bowl (2007)- Eathyn Manumaleuna blocks the last minute kick to save the game.

4. BYU vs Kansas State Cotton Bowl (96-97)- Steve Sarkisian to Kealaluhi for the winning touchdown; and a game-saving interception by Morgan. I remember this game so well because we had been watching it at home, but had to go to tithing settlement right at the end. We convinced my dad to let us stay in the car to listen to the ending before going into the church. When we won, the whole van was shaking!

3. Lavell Edwards Final Victory vs Utah (2000)- The season wasn't that great, but there was so much on the line. If we lost, it would have been Lavell's first losing season since 1974. A spectacular drive with 1 minute left won the game 34-27. I wasn't able to watch this game live, so I had my parents tape it for me. I watched it by myself and am pretty sure I cried when they carried Lavell off the field.

2. BYU vs Utah (2001)- Luke Staley and Brandon Doman led the Cougs to a huge come-from-behind victory over the Utes with some last minute heroics. This sticks out in my memory so much because it was my freshman year at BYU and my first Utah game. When we won, I wanted to charge the field like the rest of the crazy fans, but decided to obey the rules... Man, that would have been a cool memory, looking back. Oh well.

1. BYU vs Utah (2006)- "The Answered Prayer" The whole last drive was incredible, but Beck to Harline, who was kneeling in the end-zone, will forever stand out in my mind as one of the greatest moments ever! During the game, we were driving from Utah to Colorado. We were checking the score every time we could get cell phone reception in Wyoming. Then, we ran in to the apartment just in time to see the last drive. The suspense during that long drive made it even better when they won in such dramatic fashion. [A funny sidenote: My dad called us right before the last play to make sure that we were watching the game. Their TV was a little ahead of our cable box, so they started screaming a split-second before we saw Harline catch the ball. It was awesome!]

This game vs OU will definitely be joining the list of great memories (I just have to let it digest for a while to decide where it ranks). I definitely bleed BLUE! I'm sure I have forgotten some of the great games, so I would love to hear what you Cougar fans remember most.

Oh, and this is my favorite article about the win because it also mentions my hometown BSU Broncos. Check it out: Give Them Their Due

*Pic courtesy (AP/ Tony Gutierrez)

Relief

This week was a bad week... a double ear-infection, cranky baby, 3 year-old won't sit on the potty--mom forced to clean up 30 million "accidents", husband working late kind of bad week. I was grumpy, to say the least. When Jonathon came home each night, I would collapse onto the couch and bemoan my life.

Andrew was waking up 5-6 times a night. Do the math. That's roughly every 1-2 hours. Even switching back and forth with Jonathon, that means 3 times each. A month ago, we took him to the doctor and found out he had a double ear infection. We gave him all of the antibiotics and watched as his waking decreased to 4-5 times per night. We figured he must be teething. We gave him tylenol before bed, but to no avail.

I finally decided that I must have the grumpiest baby on the planet who just didn't like to sleep. I thought he decided that he was making up for Christian who slept all the time. He just wanted to be stubborn. The rest of the day he seemed fine (playing contently and following big brother around constantly), but naps and nighttime were a constant battle. Jonathon and I finally reached the end of our ropes this week and decided that we were going to let him scream until he went back to bed.

Sorry 20 neighbors that live within 5 feet of us.

Sorry big brother.

It had to be done.

After 15 minutes and no end in sight, we really did start to feel bad about the banshee screams echoing from our apartment. We got up with him then. And the next hour, and the next. Finally as a last resort, we took him back to the doctor.

DOUBLE EAR INFECTION.

huh?

I thought that was what the medication was for. Apparently, sometimes the medicine doesn't work, and it looks as though Andrew was one of the lucky few. My bitterness for my grumpy baby dissolved slightly and I felt so sorry for my sweet little guy who had been dealing with this pain for 2 months. Even my new found sympathy didn't make the week any easier though. I was still far too grumpy with him.

The big brother was an even more difficult case. I consider myself a decent mother. I consider Christian a fairly bright 3-year-old. Potty-training would be doable, right? I wasn't expecting easy. I wasn't even expecting quick. I was just expecting progress.

WRONG!

On Saturday we had a huge camping themed potty party to celebrate Christian being a big boy and getting rid of the diapers. We went all out. We set up a tent in the house. We went on a "hike" through the park. We went fishing in the tub.

It was supposed to work.

Teri Crane said so.

After a full day of celebrating and constant one on one potty-training, we did not have one single success. No problem. I was confident he would get it in a few days. WRONG AGAIN! After an entire week and hours and hours and hours of sitting in the bathroom,we had 3 successes (lucky timing) and about 30 accidents. He actually digressed. By the end he refused to use the potty. Flat out REFUSED. Not only that, but our brainwashing worked so well that he also refused to wear diapers because "babies wear diapers." This presented an interesting quandry. Now what?

So now that I have spent a LARGE portion of this post talking about my bad week, I return to the title.

RELIEF.

I needed some. I needed relief physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I found it.

On Saturday, we got a babysitter and Jonathon and I went to the temple. It was perfect. What a beautiful, peaceful, happy place to reflect on my blessings and leave the struggles behind. One minute I was on the busy streets of Manhattan hoping that my children weren't torturing their wonderful babysitter, the next I was sitting quietly in the most beautifully decorated temple I have ever seen.

RELIEF.

2 hours at the temple made me a better mom. I found help and encouragement. You would never think to find potty-training and ear-infection help at the temple, but that is exactly where it was. I realized (again) that our children are given to us to bring us joy. I needed to find the joy in motherhood that I had been lacking. The temple taught me that the best way to find that perfect joy and solve my problems was to show forth an increase in love.

Show them more Love... That's the answer.

We love Andrew even if he is up all night. We can snuggle him a little closer to ease his pain...even at 3:00 in the morning.

We love Christian. We want him to succeed. We want him to feel proud of himself. We are taking a step back. He is back in diapers for now, but with plenty of encouragement that he CAN do it and WILL do it soon. It has made our home happier. I'm sure I will be angry and frustrated again when he has another accident on my lovely beige couch, but for now, I hug him a little tighter. I think love really is the answer. Showing more love really reminds me how much joy I have in my life. We will get through this... eventually. We will all grow a little from these trials. We will love each other even more.

Ahh... sweet relief, courtesy the temple of the Lord.

I think I will probably need to go back next week.

*The picture is a cool print our Bishop designed. You can get more info here.

My First (unofficial) 5K

I ran 3.1 miles today.

It was hard...

and hot...

and really humid.

BUT I DID IT!

Next step: work on bettering my time* and sign up for a race!


*My time was almost 40 minutes. YIKES! I blame it on the horrible humidity and constant killer hills. At least that means that I can run for 40 minutes straight. Who knew?

Home Decorating

My latest art project was a picture collection that I mounted and arranged in our entryway. I took pictures from each of the places that we have lived and made them black and white. I like the fact that each of the pictures represents a place that we love and brings back good memories. I painted 5 wooden plaques with black paint and mounted each of the photos. I then enlarged a family photo to complete the arrangement. I love how it turned out. My mom helped me with the details, so I wanted to post these specifically for her.    

These are the photos before mounting:

 

17 mile drive (CA)/ Old Family Barn (ID)

 

"Y" Mountain (UT)/ Balance Rock-Garden of the Gods (CO) 

 

Statue of Liberty (NY)

Here is the finished arrangement:

26 things about being 26

My 26th birthday was last week, and I thought it would be interesting to write 26 things about my life right now. I hope it will be fun to look back someday and see what my life was like as a "twenty-something."  Here goes:

1. Home: New York City (Manhattan)

2. Family: 1 great husband and 2 sweet little boys (age 2 1/2  and 4 months)

3. Church calling: Ward Missionary

4. If I had some extra money, I would buy: a nice SLR camera, new clothes, a 2 bedroom apartment, a plane ticket to go home every few months 

5. New skill I am learning: Sewing, digital scrapbooking

6. Favorite song right now: Love Story (Taylor Swift) meets Viva la Vida (Coldplay) arranged by Jon Schmidt

7. Favorite TV shows: The Biggest Loser, Jeopardy, Lie to Me

8. Favorite food: chicken enchilladas, parmesan chicken

9. Favorite place in NY: Central Park, Battery Park (statue of Liberty), Times Square

10. Favorite color: Green, purple

11. Favorite Dessert: Ice Cream

12. Favorite quote: "Life is to be enjoyed, not endured"--Gordon B. Hinckley

13. Last movie watched: Chronicles of Narnia--Prince Caspian

14. Last large purchase: double jogging stroller, eyetv

15. Last book read: The Everything Toddler Book by Linda Sonna

16. Things I am looking forward to this Summer: Family reunion in Idaho, Harry Potter #6, checking out a New York beach, a Yankees game

17. Biggest challenges: Having patience with my 2 year-old, tantrums on the subway, colicky baby, not enough sleep

18. Current addictions: blogging, Facebook, caramel rice cakes, angel food cake, Target (a product of living in NY, no doubt), Skype, Raisin Bran Crunch 

19. Recent things I am proud of: running 1 mile, decorating our new apartment, Jonathon (for his first publication)

20. Things that make me happiest: a clean house, Andrew's smiles, Christian's excitement to learn new things, zipcar, 70 degree weather with low humidity, time with my family, a dishwasher

21. Current long-term ambitions: Go back to school, write a book (for my kids), Visit Europe 

22. Silly things I can't live without: metro card, cell phone, quarters (for laundry), stroller, air conditioning, chapstick

23. Places I want to visit: Europe, The Caribbean on a cruise, and Prince Edward Island (I love Anne of Green Gables). 

24. What I would do with a day off (from the kids): Go to a spa, get my hair cut, go to a Broadway musical 

25. Goals to accomplish before my next birthday: Run a 5K, potty-train Christian

26. Best memory from the last year: Having a picnic while watching the sunset on our trip to Palmyra

It's Greek to Me

The lab next door to Jonathon's at Columbia is moving to Greece.  Jonathon's lab is holding a farewell party for them today.  He volunteered me to make a cake for the festivities.  They wanted it to be themed, so I drew the Greek flag and wrote "Farewell, Hope to See you Again"(or something of that nature) in Greek.  My biggest fear is that we are being set up and all that Greek mumbo-jumbo is really a swear word or insult.  Obviously, I have no idea what it says, but Jonathon assures me that the person who wrote it down for him was very nice and wouldn't do something like that.  At least I can plead complete innocence :).   

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

We stumbled on a blog today that was talking about using My Heritage.com to find your celebrity look-a-likes. So, we thought we would give it a try. Here are Sarah and my results. I'll take Matt Damon as a top hit, as long as I get amazing CIA fighting skills. I don't know about Eleanor Roosevelt, though. . .I guess I should just be glad that 7 out the 8 were men. Sarah's on the other hand is way more "interesting." Tell us what you think of them.

Tagged

So the rules for this tag were to list 6 quirks about yourself.  It sure was fun to read about other people's quirks, but I am a little hesitant to post all of my weird habits for fear that the true crazy woman inside will be exposed for the world to see.  Alas, here goes nothing...

1- I eat my meals using extreme equality.  This basically means that I eat everything at the same rate, so that when I get to the last few bites, I have some of everything left.  The meal just seems to taste better with all the flavors spaced out evenly.  Jonathon often comments on how odd this is, but given the fact that he inhales his food, I don't really think he has a place to talk either.

2- I insist on always being early to church, but somehow I end up being right on time or occasionally slightly late to everything else.  I "blame" this quirk on my parents.  My family was always extremely early to church to make sure we could all sit together and avoid the embarrassment of traipsing to the front of the chapel during the opening song.  It is such a good habit if I could only apply it to everything else.

3- Ever since I started and finished reading the Harry Potter series earlier this year, I have wanted to watch the movies... a lot.  Nearly every weekend I think "Oh, I wish we had Harry Potter number (fill in the blank) to watch."  The movies are so much more interesting now.  I can compare and contrast to the books and be reminded of how much I love the series.  Weird, I know.  Speaking of which, I think I will reserve one from the library right now for next weekend :)

4- I LOVE POTATOES!  You really can't blame me for this one though... I did grow up on a potato farm.  I could eat them every day and often do: French fries, hash browns, baked, cubed, mashed. YUM!

5- I hate calling people.  I love to talk to friends and family on the phone, but I like to be the one being called.  I always feel like when I call people I am interrupting their lives or taking them away from something more important. You can definitely see the problems here because if nobody calls me, I miss out on all my fun talking time.  I better work on this one.

6- I am a channel-flipper extraordinaire.  I think this comes from the fact that I really dislike commercials.  I will always have one show that I am interested in and then a couple of backups that can be easily interrupted (ex: foodnetwork, gameshows, etc.) This way, I can flip to my backups during commercials and still not miss my main show.  It has taken a while to perfect the system, but I have it down now.  Poor Jonathon has to suffer through my surfing, unless he has control of the remote. 

So there you have it.  Those are only 6 of many quirks, but probably more than you needed/wanted to know.  If you want to try this too, consider yourself tagged!

HP Trailer

Wow!  Now, I am really excited for Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince to come out later this year.  Hopefully it lives up to the book (at least a little bit).  I will have to re-read them all to prepare...

BREAKING DAWN

So... I just pre-ordered my very own copy of Breaking Dawn from the Twilight series.   I love, love, love the other books in the series and am definitely rooting for Edward to get the girl (how could you not?). I am pretty much giddy as a schoolgirl right now.  Yeah!

-S

A Quarter of a Century

  Wow!  When I say my age in terms of centuries, it makes me feel really old.  My 25th birthday was yesterday.  I received one of the coolest surprises ever from my parents.  On Thursday night, Jonathon and I got to go see "Wicked" on Broadway.  I have wanted to see it for a long time, and my mom completely surprised me with tickets.  Jonathon even secretly lined up a babysitter and everything (Thanks again Paul and Andrea).  It was such an amazing show--not sentimental or serious at all, but completely fun and enjoyable.  We had the best seats in the whole house.  When we sat down, I told Jonathon that if we could choose any seat, I would choose the ones that we were sitting in--main floor, center aisle.  The show lived up to all my expectations and was so fun.  Now I am going to have to buy the CD to sing to at home :)

Getting ready for the show!  Thanks Mom and Dad

Jonathon in front of the theatre

Some scenes from Wicked

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_(musical)

  Then on Friday morning, I took Christian to Chuck E. Cheese with his playgroup friends. Noah and I have the same birthday, so we celebrated with cupcakes and hats. The boys were so cute. They did not even need tokens because they just enjoyed sitting in the cars and pretending.  It was nice to have something to keep us entertained for the morning.

  

Birthday Hats and Treats at CEC

Christian and Eddie riding in the car

The "Big Jeep" with Noah

 That night, Jonathon made me an amazing birthday dinner of spaghetti with homemade meatballs, sauteed zucchini, and french bread.  Everything was so good!  I honestly think it was one of the best meals he has ever made...and that is saying something. Afterward we ate cupcakes that I made.  I figured that cupcakes were forced portion control (except that the recipe made 24) and were much easier to decorate.  It was such a nice day.  I heard from several friends and family and felt very loved.  25 is looking to be a good year.

Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes

Making a Wish

One Happy Mom

My boys sure made Mother's Day special for me this year... as always.  Jonathon took care of all the meals and made me a delicious dinner of breaded Italian chicken and mashed potatoes (for his Idaho girl).  He also got me a new set of scriptures with my name engraved on them.  He said the idea came to him when someone had to hand me one of my pages that had fallen out at church, yet again. :)  Christian gave me movie vouchers to go see the new Indiana Jones movie. Jonathon designed the tickets.  They are sooo cool; you definitely need to check them out.  I also got to see one of my good friends from home for a few hours during the afternoon.  We walked around Central Park and caught up on all the news.  It was a wonderful day.  I am one lucky Mom!

Isn't my husband a master with the computer graphics

(You can click to see it in its full glory)

While we were waiting for Maria, Christian and Jonathon played in Central Park.  Christian was trying to be just like Daddy by walking on the ledge.  They were too cute!

Maria and our Family at Bathesda Fountain in Central Park.  We were so happy to see her, if only for a few hours.

The Happy Family

 Mother's Day 2008

Geography Fun

Giant Pride?

Okay, I will be the first to admit that I am not a big fan of NFL football. First off, I don't watch the games because most are on Sunday. Secondly, when I do catch the occasional Saturday game, I get really sick of the players showing off and exhibiting such pompous attitudes. That being said, I was slightly interested in the outcome of this year's Super Bowl. Our new home team, the New York Giants, was taking on what may be considered the greatest team in football history, the New England Patriots, with its perfect record and controversial spying scandal. I wanted to see the all-mighty Patriots go down hard. I am and have always been a huge fan of underdogs and miracle comebacks (Side note: I am still on a high from last year's Boise State trick play to win their BCS game...talk to me about it anytime.) Anyway, after the Giants pulled out the win, New York has been abuzz over OUR team (which really is located in New Jersey, go figure). New York City had a huge ticker tape parade down the middle of Broadway. This city is so Sports crazed, they have even named that stretch of the street the "Canyon of Heroes" because they have had so many opportunities to celebrate their championship teams. Millions of people turned out to get a glimpse of the players and floats. I watched part of it on television and believe it our not, I actually began to feel a little bit of pride for the New York Giants. No worries about this experience converting me to NFL football, but it was fun to get caught up in the excitement of our underdog champions and this fanatic sports city. In the meantime, I will stick with college football. I will always be a cougar at heart (GO BYU!)