Adia

So tonight we went out to dinner with my whole family. (even Kalista, it was big) Adia was talking to my sister and she said "I'm part blood hound, part cheetah and part mouse. I spend most of my time chasing myself." What? Where does she get this stuff? Like really, is that from a movie or something? I would love to know.

Adventures in Medicine

Have you ever used a neti pot? (referred to by my kids as "booger tea pot") It looks like this and you basically fill it with saline solution and pour it in one nostril while it runs out the other nostril bringing all the boogers and guck along with it. (sometimes it makes my brain tickle - is that a bad sign?) I googled it for a picture, and there are a lot out there that show it in use, but I decided to spare you that delightful sight. You are welcome to do your own googling if you don't understand my description. Anyway, Back to the matter at hand... I use the neti pot, and I love it. I also use essential oils, and love them too. I really believe that they work. You might have your own opinion on those things, I am not trying to convert (not in this post anyway:), you just need to know that I love them. So I have been sick for a while. I have the sinus crud that has been going around. I got it two weeks ago, and I just can't kick it. I feel great, but I have a cough and a stuffy nose that just won't go away. (This is the first time I have been sick since I started using oils that lasted more than two days, so it is frustrating me a little.) One of my favorite oils is called breathe and it is a blend of all kinds of good stuff like peppermint and eucalyptus, and you rub it on your chest and feet. It works wonders on sinuses, but I have just felt like I couldn't get it through all the snot so that it could start working. And I have a kinda big date coming up this weekend, and I am hoping to not totally gross him out and be the hacking gaging seeping oozing girl that he tells his friends about later when in a "worst date EVER" contest. But that's another story, basically I just need to get better fast. Then I thought of the neti pot... One thing you should know about breathe is that it's a hot oil-meaning it needs to be mixed with a cooling or neutral oil or it can cause a bit of a tingle or a burning sensation to sensitive areas. It isn't really bad, and I usually rub it on without diluting it, so I didn't think much of it. My great idea was to put it in the neti pot with my saline and it would clear me all out, and I would be cured. So I did. But evidently the skin in my nose is a little more sensitive than the skin on my feet-who would have thought? I started feeling the burning sensation right away as the powerful oils did their job, but I had already started, so I didn't want to stop in the middle. I just wiped the tears out of my eyes pushed back the feeling of pain that my nose had been lit on FIRE, and kept pouring. And at the risk of grossing you TOTALLY out, I'm gonna say I got some guck out. Really, I thought I might clog the sink. We're talking big honkin' boogers here, and a lot of 'em. Okay, enough of that. But then, my eyes wouldn't stop watering, and my nose was burning with a pain so intense I could barely breathe, and then the sneezing started. And I sneezed over and over, and couldn't stop. And you know when you eat an Altoids or something, and then you take a deep breath and it freezes your mouth until it's so cold it hurts? Yeah, that is the sensation my nose got. Over and over. And after about five minutes I got worried that I was going to be like one of those people you see on Oprah who couldn't stop hiccuping for like three years straight. I was going to be the sneezing girl, and I could see myself being paraded around as a medical mystery being interviewed by Matt Lower and Regis and people like that, only sneezing is not nearly as cute as a little hiccup here and there. And I will never get married, or have a successful career, or go into public. This would be the end of life as I knew it, and while I was thinking about it, maybe I would die, and it would put me out of the indescribable pain that was coming from my nose. It was a disaster. But finally the sneezing lessened. And the burning stopped about an hour after that, and then my eyes stopped watering by the next morning. And now, I'm cured. No more snot, and the coughing is less too. The only problem is I can't smell anything anymore. Like really, even very strong smells right next to my nose - nothing. And usually I have a superhuman sense of smell that gets me into trouble all the time. No longer. I may have permanently damaged my nose, but it may be worth it, I'll let you know.

Bluff Fort

Have you ever heard about Bluff Fort? How about the Hole in the Rock group? Well Super long story made super short, A group of pioneers came from Cedar City to Bluff with their wagons. It was a really hard journey and through part of it they had to carve a road out of a near cliff and basically pull their wagons up by ropes. Oh, and you know that area where a little thing called LAKE POWELL is now? Yeah, they went through there before the lake. In WAGONS! And no one died! It really is an amazing fete. Well, when they got to this side of the state a bunch of them settled in Bluff and built a fort. A few years ago the church and the descendant families, and some local people stared restoring the fort. They have built little cabins, and a meeting house, and other things. It is really cool to go see it. Plus it's much warmer there than it is in La Sal, so a few weeks ago when school was out the kids and my mom and Grandma and I went to check it out. We had a blast. There is a visitor's center where you can go watch a movie and learn more about what happened. Then you can go look around at all of the cabins that are furnished with old things, most of which were donated by the descendants who's cabins they are. There are old wagons and hand carts and a tepee and benches and statues, and a million other cool things to see. And there is a beautiful cemetery there on the hill overlooking the valley. It is stunning. And I took some pictures. I love them, but when we got home and I showed them to my dad he was less than impressed. There evidently aren't any pictures of anything worthwhile. Just crap. So enjoy my crappy pictures, and if you want to see more you will just have to travel down and take a look for yourself.:)

Super Bowl.

If you ask Adia what her favorite holiday is, she will tell you, it's the Super Bowl. She loves it. So does Ethan. He even made a bed making bet with Grandma over it. My kids could barely make it through church because they were so anxious for the super bowl to start. To hear my kids talk you would think we are big football people. We aren't. The proof of that lies in a little conversation we had during pre-game. My parents and I were filling our plates at the table in the dining room. The kids were already filled up and seated in the living room waiting for the game to start. My dad asked Adia to turn on the tv and see when the game started. (that's how into football we are, we didn't even know when the game started) Adia turns it on and we can hear an announcer and cheering. My dad hollers in to ask if it's already started to which Adia responds "I have NO IDEA!" (It was actually basketball) she didn't even know what football looks like, that's how often we watch it. But the real reason for the love of "the game" is the party. We eat all kinds of fantastic treats, and we get to eat in the living room - never happens except during super bowl and general conference. The kids did enjoy the game, as did the adults, and Ethan has to make grandma's bed for a week, so he is learning the no gambling lesson early on in life. All in all it was the best holiday all year!

Happy, happy birthday Ethan and Adia dears!

Well, just like it does every year, it came. Yup. The BIG Birthday! No, not mine, Ethan's... AND Adia's... the same day. It's a big deal, around here, and this year was no exception.We started out the festivities of Friday night with a movie night theme for Ethan. (am I really old enough to have a NINE year old? ...well, unfortunately, yes. Yes I am.) I made a cake to resemble a bucket of popcorn. I'm not much of a cake decorator, but it turned out pretty cute anyway. The kids made pizza and had boxes of popcorn and candy, and cups of soda, while watching a movie. It went well, lasted a couple of hours, and then it was time to send everyone home. Perfect!


When it was time to take down the decorations, Ethan tied a bunch of balloons together and made a "balloon outfit" and ran around the house for a couple of hours, wearing it until he realized that he couldn't sit down without popping, and it wasn't fun anymore.

Then next morning we woke up bright and early to celebrate the actual birthday. The kids opened presents and ate the breakfast of their choice - Ice cream of course! Then we got ready for Adia's fancy formal tea party. It was a brunch with lots of yummy goodies, an impromptu make over, a rock concert, and lot's of other "fancy stuff" It only lasted an hour and a half (really three hours because one dad forgot to come pick up his fancy young partier) and then life quieted down a bit. The kids spent the afternoon playing with presents. Then Great Grandma and Grandpa Fuller came by and there were more presents and cake eating, then more playing, then more present opening, then bed. The next day we went to Great GM&GP Fuller's house for a Make-your-own-pizza-party and MORE presents and MORE cake with cousins (I love having so much family around to love my kids) and then it was home for a nap. Pretty much the best birthday EVER if you ask me.

Fancy party favors

The fancy finger foods

The makeovers

Striking a pose

Blowing out the candles because "every fancy lady needs a turn at a birthday wish!"

And these are just the most handsome, most adorable cupcake eater the world has ever seen.

Eagles!

We were driving home from family dinner at my Grandma's today, and just across the road from our house, in a big group of trees there sat two beautiful bald eagles! They have lived there off and on for a few years now, and we have seen them several times lately. I can hear them squawking (do eagles squawk? That's what it sounds like, but it seems kind of an unflattering reference for such a majestic bird...) when I walk the kids to the bus stop every morning. I have been meaning to get a picture, but never have my camera, or the time to go get it. But today is Sunday, and Sundays are days for taking time for things like this, (plus my dad wants me to love living here, and taking pictures again, so he always makes me take pictures of spectacular things that we see, and then each time we look at the picture he says "see, and this was taken five minutes from the house! Aren't you lucky to live here?" And I am:) so we ran into the house and grabbed the camera with the "fancy lens" and went to capture the moment. We got a few pretty nice ones. And this was just taken "right out the front door! Aren't I lucky to live here?":)

Ethan update.

I am really proud of Ethan lately. First of all he did phenomenal in school this week, which is a HUGE relief after the last, well, month or two, hasn't gone so smoothly. The holidays were emotionally rough on him, but now that things are getting back into routine he is doing much better. (If we can just make it through the big birthday disappointment of next week, we will be in the clear for a while:)

And the other thing that has made me really excited about him lately is that he can finally read well enough to sing along to the hymns in church. He can read, process, and say the words fast enough to keep up with the rest of the congregation! That might not seem like much for an almost 9 year old, but for THIS almost 9 year old, it's the total BFD!

Heavenly Father's House

This week was the first of four that our family is responsible for cleaning the church. I actually enjoy doing it, but I'm about the only one who does. My kids certainly weren't excited about the idea. So I reminded them that it's Heavenly Father's house and that we should be honored to do this for him. They seemed alright with that, and happily worked. Until we got to the boy's bathroom. Someone had gotten a little distracted I guess, and the whole room was a mess. Adia wasn't helping much with this job anyway, but she was watching me, and being the "supervisor" which is really her best fit anyway. She took one look at the state of the bathroom and said "well, Heavenly Father DID NOT do this!" Then she turned around and walked out.

Teeth

Adia lost her first tooth in November two days after Thanksgiving. She was so excited. It had been loose for about a month. Ethan lost his first tooth the December he was five (due to a certain chocolate cookie given out each year by a certain sweet sister in our ward as a christmas gift) Adia's tooth got loose in the October that she was five, and she was sure it meant that she was much more mature than her age reflected. She kept telling everyone she met "I'm only five and three quarters, but I'm sure that surprises you. I just seem much older because of this loose tooth." It was cute, but slightly confusing to everyone who didn't know the time line of Ethan's first loose tooth.

She spent some time with her uncle Jim who tried to pull it out with pliers (my sister took a totally darling picture of that, but I can't find it ANYWHERE! If I do, I'll post it) but she wouldn't let him. They did succeed it getting it so loose it was barely hanging there, just flopping around in her mouth as she talked. I told her to let me feel how loose it was, and yanked it. She had no idea until I showed it to her. Then her first reaction was to run strait to the bathroom to check herself out in the mirror. The fairy came that night, but was nearly caught on the job as Adia kept waking up every few minutes to see if she had come yet. She left Adia a dollar and Ethan a quarter for being a good brother.

With that one out of the way the one next to it fell out shortly thereafter. But this one happened at school and made her quite a celebrity. It's always way cooler to lose a tooth at school than at home. She even got a special envelope with the school's address printed on it to bring her tooth home in. What a life. Again the fairy came, again, she nearly got caught, again Adia got a dollar. But this time Ethan got a dollar too. (some unfairness had occurred concerning a payout for Adia's first tooth while visiting her dad and Josh before Christmas, and the fairy wanted to make this right:)

Next, a few days later Ethan surprised us by pulling out one of his teeth too. He had told us it was loose a week or so earlier, but he hadn't talked about it since, so it was surprising when it came out so quickly. Now he has his two front teeth, but is missing the two next to them, so he has a bunny grin. Don't make any comments about that however, or you will get the stink eye. (Of course maybe it's just reserved for mom, you never know these days...) Ethan got a dollar and Adia got a quarter which caused a little whining but that stopped as soon as she was reminded that the tooth fairy might not leave her anything next time if she couldn't be grateful for what she had.

I hope that the kids can keep the rest of their teeth for a while because the fairy is feeling the pinch in her pocket book!:)

(And sorry about the lack of pictures, I totally slacked on the shooting of the moments)

Happy New Year!

Fresh and New

So I took a little blog break this week. Did you notice? Probably not, I don't think I have any readers left:) But regardless I wanted to make a new years post. It is 1/1/11 after all, I won't be alive the next time they can say that:)

Welcome 2011! I can't wait to know you better! Not that 2010 was so bad, I learned a lot, and had a lot of adventure. Life changed a lot, but not all in a bad way. Really, for the most part the year was filled with growing and laughing, and getting really close to my kids, my family, and my real friends. I gained a lot of really great relationships, and strengthened ones that I already had. 2010 was full of a lot of "I've Never's" (I've never been hit on in divorce class, I've never been a single mom, I've never had a date go this badly, I've never had to make small talk my ex-husband's new boyfriend... you get the picture) But luckily I lived through all of those, and so now they will be "I've survived's". Also 2010 was about "cleaning out". I got rid of a lot of stuff that was weighing me down and hurting me. Those people who weren't real friends are gone, sorrow, and self conciousness are packed away(can't quite throw those out yet, but don't have them out on the shelf anymore either:) All of those cluttery worldly possessions are out of my hair:) Most of the baggage is gone too. 2011 will be about new starts in a fresh clean life. No clutter to hold me down or trap me.

Last year our family mottos involved finding joy and having courage. We really put both of them to the test this year, but when all is said and done we did both quite well. I am proud of us. I think that this quote describes the way we finished up the year and will continue to be a theme for 2011:

Life is like an old time rail journey...

Delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts,

Interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.

So now on to 2011...

I know that it will be full of much more adjustment and healing mingled with change and unexpectedness. But I also believe that it will be a year of happiness and peace and settling in.

This year our mottos will be about hope and thankfulness. Here they are:

Press forward, having a perfect brightness of hope.

(Taken From 2 Nephi 31:20)

and

Live in Thanksgiving Daily

(taken from Alma 34:38)

And the perfect quote to describe 2011 will be:

And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold;

yea my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

Alma 36:20

Happy new year to each of you, and thank you for being a part of our lives.