Happy New Year!

2008 has been a pretty good year for us.  Of course the highlight was the arrival of sweet little Brother Bear, but all in all, 2008 has treated us well.  I'm looking forward to the next adventures 2009 will bring.  Excited for New Year's resolutions to be made and broken...hehe.  I actually did accomplish one resolution this last year - I was a better mom this year.  Of course for this next year I want to build on that and become even better.  :)  Life is about perfecting, not being perfect right?

I truly hope this next year is great for you all! 

Merry Christmas!

Well we definitely don't have to dream of a White Christmas!  We came to my sister's house for a while to celebrate the holidays with my parents.  It's been great.  Christmas was terrific - I love the excitement of a 2 and 4 yr old.  Princess got a dolly - one of those that isn't a baby, but a big girl that hasn't left her side for one minute.  My parents brought out an old doll crib that I used to have as a little girl and that just made her day!  :)  Cowboy can't really decide what he's more excited about - his Diego gift set (included a Diego doll, view finder thing with the pictures, and a Diego doodle pro), or his animals - we got him some of those plastic realistic looking animals, or his old baby toy farm that we decided to re-gift to Brother Bear.  :D  Zane and I were even able to surprise each other: I got a new dress, and Zane got a massage appointment. 

All in all it was a great Christmas!  And p.s. Caleb and I are still sick and now with something else.*Sigh*  I feel like it will never end.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season.

Almost over!

My hubby is almost done with his semester!!! Yay!! I feel as though I have had no time to update the blog the last month, so I'm excited to get all caught up the next couple of weeks without feeling guilty for ignoring my children. :)

Just a quick update: brother bear is getting his bottom teeth and still being a gem even though he has a cold on top of it. Cowboy has an ear infection and a constant sinus infection - I'm really hoping it clears up soon - I finally convinced the doc to put him on some allergy medication to help...so we'll see if that helps at all. Princess is also sick and getting an ear infection (we think) so it's back to the doctor tomorrow for me! But all the kids are doing great and we are all excited about the holidays - especially having daddy around!

My husband is obsessed

So someone turned him onto a new group - Flight of the Conchords and he sings their songs all the time!  I have to admit they are pretty funny - look up Business Time on YouTube.  :)  It's his favorite song.  

Travel back in time

If you could travel back in time, when would you choose? I had a hard time narrowing it down. I LOVE history so really I'd like to just stop by and visit a ton of different times and places. I'd like to go to ancient greece during the time of Socrates; see the darkness of the middle ages; watch the American Revolution; and I'd love to go and see the pioneer women and how they went about their day - cooking, raising children, etc.; not to mention the Restoration time period; I would also like to see the 1940's here in America, Germany, France, and England. And you know it'd be pretty awesome to be on one of the boats full of immigrants coming into Ellis Island and seeing their faces and feeling their joy as they saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time. :) I told you I had a hard time narrowing it down! hehe. So...I'm curious - when would you choose?

Thanksgiving

The next holiday is fast approaching and I think it is sad how overlooked it can become in the rush of upcoming events. I've been trying to think of all the things and people I am grateful for and trying to incorporate gratitude in my every day life. What are some things you are grateful for? I should clarify that I'm trying to think out of the box. For example, I am grateful for autumn air - it is crisp, but not too cold, and totally refreshing! I love the Lord's pallette for every season - the entire area is painted with different colors and vibrancies with each change and I LOVE it! Speaking of loving things - I am going to try and find a picture that I have fallen in love with at Deseret Book...it's only $250 on sale... :) hehe.

Halloween

We had a great halloween! We went to a halloween carnival in the morning with some friends where Cowboy dressed up in his favorite outfit - can you guess what? Princess was a pumpkin fairy and of course Brother Bear was rightly dressed after his nickname. That evening there was a trunk or treat at our complex and Cowboy decided that he wanted make up and wanted to be a pirate instead of a cowboy. :) Here are a few pictures.

Prayers

I love when my kids say prayers.  Sometimes it gets repetitious, but there are those moments that just melt my heart.  Tonight Princess's prayer included, "please bless my movies and that I will get to watch them when I want."  In Cowboy's prayer he said, "Thanks for day, thanks for Jesus, thanks for horsies, thanks for Mommies, Name Jesus Amen."  :)  I love my job!

Outside

Do you ever feel like you are on the outside of life looking in? Or like you can stand in the middle of a group and still feel like everyone around you is in some type of bubble (or for you sci-fi people = force field) and you are untouched? Am I even making sense? I'm not even really talking about being left out by others. More...hmmm...like you are an invisible observer? This is sounding negative, but I'm not meaning it to. Or maybe I should describe it as being in a bubble by yourself and everyone else is on the outside unseeing or unknowing that there is something between you and them. I think I had better stop while I'm ahead and make some more sense of what I am trying to say. Does anyone understand?

Dreading

I'm dreading this election.  Dread dread dread.  I don't like either candidate.  I'm terrified that we are absolutely on a crash course for socialism, worried about the consequences of the vote on Prop 8 in CA, and feeling almost helpless as I watch the masses seem to not realize or care.  Ugh!  I would love to write in a candidate, but as much as I don't like McCain, I truly distrust Obama.  What do you do except pray we make it through the next four years and then have someone come out of the woodwork in 2012?  

Obsessed

I'm obsessed. I don't need to buy anything. More importantly, we have no money to buy anything and I am still obsessed with craigslist. I love going on and looking. Mostly at housing and what people are trying to sell or rent for how much, etc. But also at furniture, baby items. I am not even looking in my area! I look at places where I have family or friends living, or even just places I'm curious about cost. I'm such a weirdo. :) For the record, I am trying to make sudoku or crossword puzzles a hobby of sorts - at least it uses parts of my brain and supposedly keeps it active. :) What are some of your obsessions or hobbies? Care to share the weird?

Antibiotic Fun Zone

So I am in need of going to the doctor for some antibiotics because I think I have strep throat. Everyone of the kids is on a different antibiotic themselves and we all sound yucky - thankfully I don't have the buckets of snot running out like the kids. :)

Hubby is interviewing lots and lots this week for internships and things are looking pretty promising. I think he is getting excited about the possibilities out there. I've personally had a change of heart. I accused Hubby of sending me subliminal messages in my sleep because I am now all for going back to OR. ME!! And to top it off, I am considering managing apts again. AM I NUTS???? Absolutely! The thing is I am not going to be desperate or anything - just waiting and trying to find a place with just rent credit and maybe some townhouses or something. That's the idea anyway. I hope it is just a random thought that won't come to pass. But the benefits sure are tempting right now. But the idea of moving back to OR is really exciting to me. We'll see - I don't know what we are going to do. One step at a time right? But at least I am open to the area again.

Changing my mind

So I am changing my mind about the private thing.  Too many people are having a hard time, so instead I am stealing an idea a friend had of just using nicknames on the site.  So meet Me, Hubby, Princess, Cowboy, and Brother Bear.  :o)

Sorry for the absence

So much has been going on here and I feel like I never have the time to update, so I promise I will sit down this weekend and spew forth all the news. :)

A few thoughts

So before I start in on today's beef, I have to say that I really am trying to be more grateful.  Every day I am trying to think of at least one thing that I feel is a blessing, but not just "my family" or things of that nature.  For example, today I am grateful for dishwashers.  HUGE time saver which is always good with young kids.  

I wanted to be a journalist.  I studied it in school, loved working at the radio station, and I pride myself in my ability to see different sides.  It was typical in most schools to drill the concept of objectivity in news coverage.  You know, there is no such thing as objectivity - everyone has their own opinion and it is idealistic to think you can report without some type of your opinion leaking in.  HOWEVER, there is such a thing as devoting the same amount of time and energy to both sides of a story.  If you cover one thing with a positive review - cover the other side in the same attitude and vice versa when criticizing.  

This election started to annoy me last year.  I was not won over by any candidate and you know those dumb political tests you can take to tell if you are a democrat or republican?  Yah, I was ALWAYS neither.  I'm a bon-a-fide independent which I consider a blessing because it means I really can vote for who I think is better, regardless of party.  Party line politics is a whole other post in itself.  I can no longer keep quiet about my annoyance with Obama and his big supporters.  I was on the fence most of the last year and my thought was anyone but Hillary, but now I think Hillary would have been a better option.  At least she had a plan - had more than accusations and rhetoric.  Obama is a fantastic and moving orator, but I am getting the idea that there isn't much more there.  He has been gearing for the presidency ever since getting elected to the Senate - they are accusing Sarah Palin of having no experience, but what has he really done?  UGH.  I am NOT a fan of McCain, but he really has a heck of a lot more going for him than Obama.  And I am sick and tired of the COMPLETELY unbalanced news coverage of the two.  It makes me ill to see an industry that I wanted to join take such a disappointing turn to cheap shots and obvious support/disdain for one or the other.

Fox News is criticized as being too conservative, but I have to say I won't watch any other news station again.  Their mantra is "fair and balanced" and I have to agree they closer to it than any other station.

9/11

Forgive me for my jumble, I have a lot of thoughts running through my head and they are not in sequential order, but I want to post them anyway.

I feel frustrated today that it has only been 7 years since the 9/11 attacks and we as a nation are already apathetic towards the whole experience. As I look around there are few flags flying, no yellow ribbons, barely a sign of any kind that anyone remembers or cares about the people who died, and how it felt to be attacked. I am so glad I thought to write in my journal that day and the days that followed. I can remember the tears I shed for people I didn't know, the pride I felt in the nation as it rallied together in candlelight ceremonies, prayer circles, with flags flying on every car and home and yellow ribbons draped along trees, car antennas, girls' hair. We were proud to be Americans and had a singular purpose of heart.

What has happened? September 11 has become just another day. Something that happened in someone else's life. How can we forget so soon? How can we become so uncaring and apathetic towards tragedy?

I don't think the networks are wrong for pulling those images that we watched over and over - they are traumatic and it would be rude to make the victims' families relive it again. However, I feel like the rest of the nation should watch it every now and again and REMEMBER. Remember the shock of seeing two commercial planes crash into buildings full of more innocent people. The horror of seeing them fall. The heroics of the public servants and every day people. The tears and despair of missing loved ones, the hopes and belief in a better America.

So today, I hope you take a moment to remember. Remembrance is the greatest tribute one can pay to those who fell that tragic day.

High School

Do you think you have changed since high school?  How so?

As I've been reconnecting with old friends I have had this thought.  If they have changed and how?  I would like to think I've changed, and I know I have in some respects, but I don't think I've changed as much as I thought I would by now.  I have become more reserved.  I got married so that changed the whole flirting and boy crazy thing.  The funny thing is I feel more secure being married, and at the same time I still have the same insecurities that I did then.  Having 3 kids has totally changed my body and I am trying to come to grips with that and realize that bodies change and it's a process and I have to be patient, but I'm as insecure with my body now as I was back in high school.  How sad.  I used to never get sick on rides at amusement parks, but now it's all I can do to keep my stomach on a lot of them.  On the positive side, I think I'm a better friend now than I used to be.  I'm not as crazy of a roller coaster, and I definitely appreciate my parents more.  Hmmm....I would like to know any of your thoughts.  Have you changed and how?  

Losing

As I've watched the Olympic games, especially the swimming, I've been thinking about losing. Am I alone in thinking I would rather lose big than by a little? Losing a gold medal by .01 second has to be completely annoying. I've lost by one point before and it ticked me off so bad! I can only imagine on that level. All the woulda-shoulda-couldas come out.

Olympic Fever

Oh my goodness! Watching the mens relay final was AMAZING!!!! We were yelling and screaming and totally jumped in the air when Lezak (sp?) came back and totally slammed the wall .08 seconds before the French. Hello! Unbelievable! I love the Olympics. :)

Bizarre news - we heard Bernie Mac died today, and the delicate arch in Utah fell. Just a random side note.