Celebrate Good Times

We all got together for Dave's birthday last week, and here are a few pictures.

 

Here is Benji with cousin Ella Lily Proclaiming Her Status Rachael with Benji, Sarah with Mia. I have more pictures at home, but I really need to get a new post up here. Today has been a good day at work--steady, but not too busy. I haven't been stuck in really long cases and my doctors have been behaving themselves. I really appreciate that. I should finish up my mandatory education (ugh!), but that would really put a damper on this nice day. I think the big difference is my attitude. I read my scriptures last night (it has been a while, I'll admit it!), and I am truly much happier. A friend of mine from work has been reading from the Book of Mormon and is encouraging others to do so. She reads 17 pages per day and is able to finish it in a month; I think she has read it through 6 times already this year. I have become such a slacker about my reading; I think the last time I read it all the way through (and not just chapters here and there) was in Fall 2005, when President Hinckley challenged us to read it by the end of the year. I have been feeling guilty about spending so much time reading my 'pleasure books' (I think I ready 4 last month alone) and not making time to read the Book of Mormon, so this is really good for me. I'm not really studying it; I'm just reading it like any other book, and hopefully that will get me back in the habit of reading every day. For those of you who haven't read in a while either, I challenge you to read it in a month as well (Rachael--this doesn't apply to you, unless you are put on bedrest and n.b. decides to be late!). My goal is to be done by September 30th, although I just may finish it sooner. Indeed, we shall see. By the way, I gave the neighbors a letter (along with the rent check) telling them that I'd rather not babysit for their kid anymore. I did leave it open and say that maybe we could arrange certain days . . . but I told them my concerns. You should be proud!

Tell Me What's On Your Mind

This is a random list of things on my mind: When is Peggy moving? How is Scott going to commute? And what is happening to their old house--can we move in!?! Benjamin has a nice big bruise with some scrapes on his forehead. He got them at our neighbor's (our babysitter), and I'm not very happy about it. She said she had him sitting up, and he tipped over. Yes, they have hardwood floors, but I don't think that bruise came from one of his slow tippies . . . he's almost sitting up by himself, but he'll fall over gradually if you're not right there. So I'm pretty sure she wasn't right there, and it's really bothering me--it's one thing if you leave your 2 year old alone for several minutes (see previous posts), but when it comes to my child . . . and what bothers me most is she didn't say anything about it to Allen when he picked him up; I had to confront her about it this morning. Grrr. One of the anesthesiologists I work with is selling his house in Draper. I asked him how much he wanted for it, and he said he was asking $800,000. I offered $150,000 (today I upped it to $160), and he said he'd think about it. Not seriously of course, but he is making two house payments. I think it's funny. I really enjoy working with guys. I was the only female in that OR tonight, and it was nice. I don't mind working with women, but I prefer male co-workers. Less drama that way. I bought convertible carseats today. 2 of them for $50 (thanks again, Mach!). They are in really good shape, too. I also had a bit of extra time on my hands before I needed to be at work, so I went to the D.I. on 4500 South and found some practically new super-cute Dr. Martens in MY size. $8 bucks. I really feel like the Lord is blessing me for paying my tithing last Sunday. I'm so ready to start my new work schedule--it won't happen for a few weeks yet, but I'll be going back to 12-hour shifts, only 3 days a week (thank the Lord). I feel kind-of bad about abandoning my night shift friends; they really like it when I'm here until 1am, and I don't mind that in itself, but my current schedule is utter chaos and my life and home reflect the insanity and instability. The only thing is that Benji will be needing more child care, and at this point I really don't want him spending any more time with the neighbors than is absolutely necessary. Lex--let's chat, pleasy! My friend Jill put this on her blog, and it's kinda fun. Please fill it out (in the comments, or an e-mail, or whatever) and I'll try to do the same for you. Where did we meet: Take a stab at my middle name: Do I smoke: Color of my eyes: Do I have any siblings: What's one of my favorite things to do: What's my favorite type of music: Am I shy or outgoing: Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules: Any special talents: How many children do I have: Describe me in three words: If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring: That's all for now. I'm sure more will come up later.

Sail On, Silver Girl . . . Your Time Has Come To Shine

I just wanted to give props to cute Shawn Johnson, seen here with my man Michael Phelps (FYI, Shawn is 4'9" and Michael is 6'4"). Shawn finally won a well-deserved Gold Medal on the balance beam tonight. Until now, she had won only Silver medals (for team, All-Around, and Floor Exercise), although she often deserved higher. But she has been so gracious about all of it--from being genuinely happy for Nastia, to accepting the less-than-fair judging, she has been so classy. I'm so glad she won. Gymnastics is one of the few events I have actually been following (I'm sooooo over Beach Volleyball!), and Shawn is just awesome. It makes me smile. Congratulations, Shawn. You rock. Congratulating Nastia Liukin after the All-Around Finally celebrating her Gold Medal On a totally different subject, I just want to say that one thing that bothers me about living in Bountiful is that EVERYONE is a BYU fan, including all of my 5-year-old Primary kids. It's kind-of obnoxious, actually--I have known more than one Bountiful native who would commute to Provo (about 55 miles one-way), presumably to avoid the apostasy which would inevitably follow enrollment at the U (about 13 miles away). I have decided that, if Benji has to wear a helmet to fix his sweet little head, I want a red one and I'll put a big U on the side . . . I think it will be funny to see the dirty looks. Also, one of our neighbors had an Obama sign in their yard; I don't particularly agree with Obama, but I was proud of them for having it. And now it's gone. I love that my neighborhood is safe, but I hate that it is so closed-minded. *sigh* I miss Sugar House.

I'm Bad, I'm Bad, You Know It

I have become very lax on the updating of my blog. I'm sorry; sometimes it just seems there isn't anything really interesting to say about my current situation. I should pay tributes to the great people in my life and write fun poems about my child, etc. I just don't have the energy to do so. Work and child care seem to take up what stores I have, and a lot of things have fallen by the wayside. I apologize, but I am grateful to (and in awe of) those who seem to be able to do so much more than I find possible. In playing blog-catch-up, I found that: Arlynda had a very cute baby last week (#4). I'm glad--she and Jamie are super smart and they turn out extremely cute kids. They are the kind of people you WANT to multiply and replenish the earth. Scott & Peggy & Jack are moving . . . I'm not exactly sure where, but I'm certain one of the reasons is to accomodate the many gatherings she has chez elle. Hopefully she'll find a little time to update me! Sarah went to Price. I thought she was GOING, not that she had already gone. So I'm a little behind--sue me! (Just kidding--I don't have anything worth suing over!) I have some great friends; thank you for keeping your blogs updated so at least I can keep up with you! I'll try to be better! P.S. We took Benji in for his 6-month appointment yesterday: 27.5", 20lbs 11oz (90th percentile in both), shots, and a referral to see Dr. Smelzer about his little flat head. I'll let you know how it goes.

It's Been A While

I haven't posted much about vacation since it happened. I'll share some pictures as a re-cap. Here's Benji when we were getting ready to leave. This is him in the car. We stopped by Paris on our way to California . . . And Benjamin spent a lot of time in the stroller: We visited Allen's family in L.A.: We did a little tourism: And visited the Griffeth Observatory (check out Superman!) We went to the beach: And Benji put his feet in the ocean for the first time! We visited Hearst Castle: We spent a couple of hours in San Francisco (long enough to get some foggy pictures!) And went to my family reunion in Sequoia. These are a just a few pictures that seem to typify the couple of days we were there: It was long and exhausting, but it was fun and memorable as well. Here is a link to the huge Picasa album with a lot more pictures, if you'd like to visit. We have been watching the Olympics for the past few days . . . so, how 'bout the Women's Fencing--sweeping the metals! And the Men's 400 Swimming Relay? That was awesome. The poor Women's Gymnasts! That was a tough morning . . . especially Chellsie's and Nastia's falls from the uneven bars. Ouch. In other news, I told Allen I wanted the crib put together yesterday. He tried, and realized that whoever owned it before (we got it second-hand, taken apart) held it together with duct tape. So we ended up purchasing a new crib. Allen finished putting it together tonight, and it's Benji's first night in his own room. I hope it will help him sleep a bit longer, but it will be weird to not have him right next to me! He has started rolling, although I haven't seen him go all the way over yet. But we put him in bed on his back, and he ends up on his stomach. I'm not turning him over, either; he's not apneic or anything, so I think he's okay. We also started feeding him rice cereal. There has been a lot of pressure from the family to start feeding him earlier, but we have held out until now. He seemed like he really wanted to eat, but he doesn't know how. Still, it was pretty funny. Thanks for sticking around for this XXL posting!

It Doesn't Even Matter How Hard I Try

So I worked for about 15 hours yesterday. I think I deserve a bit of down-time today. Unfortunately, and I think this is the same for many of you with (or without) young children, my down-time almost always coincides with laundry time. Sure, I hadn't started any by 1pm today, but that's why we have our "own" washer and dryer in a small laundry room just outside of our apartment. For those of you who didn't know, Allen graciously offered our upstairs neighbors/landlords free reign over the washer and dryer as well. Of course, Allen doesn't really do the laundry; sure he'll move a load for me here and there, but it's not his thing. He does pay the lion's share of the bills, and fixes stuff and cooks quite a bit more often than I do, so I try not to complain about too much about the laundry. I did pluck up the courage to ask my neighbors to limit their washer and dryer usage to Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. About a month ago, she asked me if she could have Saturdays instead of Sundays, because she "doesn't like to do laundry on Sunday." I don't particularly like it either, so I agreed to share Saturdays. Whatever. (Can you tell this is a thorn in my side?) So today, WEDNESDAY, I took a nap with the baby. He was starting to stir, so I went to make him a bottle. It has been so hot that I have been wearing only my underwear sometimes (I sure hope Benji doesn't remember this too clearly!), and there is a window between the kitchen and the laundry room. Since it was Wednesday, I didn't really worry about it. So I'm shaking the bottle kind-of by the window, when the neighbor comes waltzing in to do her laundry. I quickly ducked and backed into the corner of the kitchen where I could see her shadow, but she couldn't see me. I figured I'd just wait for a bit until she left so she wouldn't see me. I could her her child playing upstairs, so I thought she wouldn't take too long. TEN MINUTES LATER, I got way tired of waiting and went to see what the hold-up was. She was still there, but facing away from me and folding her laundry. So I ran for it. I'm so freaking annoyed! Is she really that dingy? It feels like she has no respect for me! I asked HER permission (to use my own washer) on the Tuesday after we got back from vacation, since she had load after load going then, too. She has said that I can kick her out whenever, but come on--that's why I assigned us different days! We trade babysitting during the week, and it really makes me wonder how often she leaves Benji alone. One day she was taking both our kids somewhere, and I was off to work. I realized I had forgotten something in Benji's bag, so I ran upstairs hoping to catch her before she left. Both of them were strapped into their car seats, with the car doors open and the engine running. She was nowhere to be seen. I felt uncomfortable about that enough to stay with the kids for at least the 2-3 minutes before she came out of her house. I'm sorry, but that's so not okay with me. Ugh--I'm so over it. Allen hates moving, but I'm annoyed enough that I'm looking for new places anyway. Sorry about the off-loading. That's just what's on my mind this hot summer evening.