The Middle

Ok so mom calls me tonight laughing about the episode of the middle. A tv show that I don't get to watch because we don't get ABC on tv. So I got on the internet to watch it. Anyways, there is a girl on the show that joins the swim team in high school. She is pretty nerdy. And apparently she reminds my family of me. Oh joy thats something I wanted to hear. But anyhoo, she was so exited and was running to school and freaked out cause she 'almost didn't remember her locker combination'...which got my family laughing even harder. (and I will tell a story to explain why soon...) and also she didn't want to be late, so she had her goggles still on her head. So now for the reason why my family was laughing so hard. When I was a freshman, we had the old swimming pool a couple blocks from my house. We had early morning swim practise. I had to walk to practise. And then after hurry get dressed and run home to catch a ride to the school with my older brother Kelly (who was a senior and didn't really enjoy taking his dorky freshman sister to school). Well we had a really rough practise. And apparently I was dazed and couldn't remember ANYTHING. OH and to make this even worse, I am COMPETELY BLIND without my glasses or contacts. But I had a 'very cool' pair of prescription goggles so I could see in the water. Which was nice becuase without them I would run into the lane rope, go under the lane rope, go over the lane rope, hit the wall, you get the picture. Anyways, practise is over, I am at my locker trying every combination I could think of. And......NOTHING. And every few minutes I would have to flip my awesome prescription goggles and rub the fog off the inside and suction them back to my face so I could TRY AGAIN. But NOTHING. COMPLETE AND TOTAL BRAIN FREEZE. So I leave the locker room, and call Kelly. Begging for him to pick me up at the pool. He says, "NOPE" and hangs up on me. SO I HAD TO WALK 2 (ALMOST 3) BLOCKS HOME IN MY SPEEDO, SWIM CAP STILL ON MY HEAD, NO SHOES, NO COAT, AND STUPID PRESCRIPTION GOGGLES THAT KEPT FOGGING UP, so I would have to stop every few seconds and wipe the insides so I could continue my freezing and oh so humiliating walk home. Oh and did I mention IT WAS SNOWING OUTSIDE?!!! OH but I did have my shammy with me. (If you don't know what a shammy is, its a washrag sized squishy towel thing). NOT BIG ENOUGH TO COVER YOUR FACE size of towel. And of course we lived on main street and all the busses were en route, and all the kids GOING TO SCHOOL PASS MY HOUSE. I have never been more honked at or whistled at in my life. Keep in mind, I am sure it wasn't a 'woohoo hey goodlooking' kind of honk or whistle. It was a 'hey dummy its the middle of winter and you are in a speedo walking down mainstreet you moron' kind of honk. And then I had to stand on the corner of main street for like 10 minutes waiting for a break in traffic just so I could get across to the safety and warmth of my home. So, maybe 45 minutes pass by and my mom gets home from driving her bus route. She walks in the front door to her ONLY DAUGHTER sitting on the couch crying. Yes, still in her speedo swim suit, CAP ON HEAD, and prescription goggles. I remember looking the direction of the door, but couldn't see who walked in UNTIL I FLIPPED MY GOGGLES OVER so I could WIPE THE FOG from them AGAIN. And I don't see a compassionate face, I see tears rolling down my moms face because she was trying so hard to hold in her laughter. (But she lost it and laughed at me anyways.) So I told her Kelly wouldn't come get me at the pool and I couldn't remember my locker combo to get my clothing out or my glasses out. And had to walk home IN THSI OUTFIT in the snow. And do I get a hug? NO! She bursts out in LAUGHTER AGAIN. And so of course I broke down and....LAUGHED. Cause if you can't laugh at yourself, especially with my life, then you are gonna have a really bad life! As Sister Marjorie Paye HInkley once said, "The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache." Anyways, thanks to my mom we finally got my locker opened, I got my clothes on, put my glasses on and went to school. I have managed to keep this wonderful high school memory out of my life for 20 years, until I saw this episode of the middle. And it all came rushing back and of course had to be called by my laughing mother who couldn't even speak she was laughing so hard. So the moral of the story is, I lived. I learned to laugh at myself. Thank goodness I learned to laugh at myself. Because I was only a freshman then, and have a lot more and worse stories than that one. So if you need to visualize this at all, watch the middle. I am the dorky girl who tips over cause her backpack is too heavy (with her goggles on her head of course). LOL

September 2011

"A happy family is but an earlier heaven."
~ Sir John Bowring


I have a few pictures to post from September. Savanna and Weylon went to the dentist. And Weylon didn't run out screaming! WOOHOO! He was even excited! I tell you what, he is a new changed boy since he started kindergarten! He has done so good and he is progressing so well. Savanna started swim lessons through the school. I love that Rozet takes 2 weeks and buses all the kids to Gillette every day for swim lessons. And the school pays for them!! I like things for free! :)

My poor OakLeigh has had swollen tonsils for 7 weeks now. I have taken her to 3 different doctors and finally the E.N.T., Dr. Davis, decided we are taking her tonsils out. So in 2 more days, she will be really miserable but I hope to see her bounce back quickly and finally feel good. She has been one ornery turd lately, but I am sure its cause she doesn't feel good. And even though its a simple procedure I am so nervous for her. I know it will go good, its just that I am a huge worrier.

We had stake conference 2 weeks ago and Brother Russell M. Nelson came and spoke. It was amazing! He had all the primary kids stand up on their chairs and sing I am A Child of God. I was blubbering like a big ole baby of course. It was really special and I hope my kids will remember it. Memphis needed fed, so I snuck to the back of the camplex (conference was in the camplex where they hold the HSNFR) to hide and feed him and left Brandon up front(ish) with the other 3. He was so mad at me by the time conference was over, cause I never went back. I sat in the back while Memphis slept and I actually got to listen! Apparently the kids were little stinkers. He made them sit on the couch with arms folder for one full hour and practice being reverent. But since he only gets to go to church like 1x a month, I NEVER get to listen cause I am dealing with 4 stinkers all alone. So I didn't really feel that bad for him. HA HA!

OH and we also ripped out our carpet and put in laminate floor. It looks so awesome! We pulled staples out for like 6 hours and we all had blisters on our fingers. Brandon and Jared worked really hard and finished it on Saturday! We have to finish the transitional pieces and put the base board back on the walls, but it looks so nice and so far, the upkeep is so easy! WOOHOO! I love it! Hopefully when we get ready to sell this place it will help!



Here is OakLeigh being silly in the car on the way home from Rapid City!


OakLeigh snuck in Krypto while I was in the shower and hid her in her blanket! Stinky dog was loving that!


Memphis is such a happy boy! He is almost too big for this bounch chair thing.


Weylon at the dentist! He looks scared but did great!


Savanna at the dentist! She was so excited!


Memphis is such a silly boy!


Working on the new flooring. Almost done here!

God Bless America!

I will always remember what I was doing on September 11th, 2001. I was home in Lyman taking care of my parents dog Chloe. My dad was already living in Farmington NM and working. Mom was in Dalton, Georgia visiting Kel and Sara, awaiting the arrival of the birth of Lauren. She was late! Mom had already been there over a week and was due to fly back on the 11th. I had a long night because I had so many weird noises scare me in the night. And Chloe was as big a chicken as me. The power had gone out. And we both hid under the covers for a while. lol...When I finally fell asleep it was 4 in the morning. I woke up to my friend Tiffany calling me. Asking me if I was watching the news. She said turn on the tv and watch. What flight is your mom on? At that time, it was still too fresh on the news too know what flights had been hijacked. Talk about panic. I called over and over and over again. And couldn't reach my mom. Finally I was able to get a hold of her. She was still at the airport in Dalton. Her flight was obviously canceled. I immediately got on my knees thanking my Father in Heaven that my mom was safe and then praying for all those people. Then I sat in the living room ALL DAY LONG and watched in horror as our Country was attacked. I will never forget that day. It made me realize how precious our freedom is. I was a 'reborn American' if you will. Kind of like in our church when you finally gain your own testimony, we call it that you are converted. Well I was converted that day. Every time I hear or sing "God Bless America" I tear up and cry. I never fully appreciated how great our Country really was until our freedom was compromised. Until we were attacked. Now I know and understand. I am forever grateful to our soldiers from the past and now - To our founding fathers. I will forever look at my America with a new heart. With a heart of love and humility. If you can look at a positive outcome of the attacks on September 11th, I would say a Country that became Re-United. People stopped to serve more = A newly born commitment to love and serve.

God Bless America! Land that I love! God Bless America - my home sweet home!

Salt Lake City Utah

We went to SLC for a few days. It wasn't supposed to be a fun visit. We went to find out about when they would do Brandon's hip surgery. So we were nervous and anxious to see what the doctor had to tell us. He has been having more pain and swelling lately and last year she told us surgery would definatley occur in a year. Its been a year, and well, prayers are answered! His hip looked really good. The part that they thought would have to be replaced didn't look bad at all! She said, 'see you next year'! PHEW! What a relief! So gave Brandon some meds to try for the arthritis and pain. Lets hope it helps!

On our drive down (or up - I never know what is the right way to say it) anyways, we met Kelly in Rock Springs at his hotel. He has been working at La Barge all week. I was so excited to catch up with him. We usually only get to see him once a year in the summer so that was awesome. We went to his room and he fed us KFC and let my kids wreak havoc on his room for an hour. I was so glad we got to see Kel. I miss all my brothers so that was awesome!

We did some good school clothes shopping and then the kids were introduced to the 'ESCALATOR'. Apparently we don't get out enough. I thought Weylon was gonna have a heart attack he was so excited to see 'moving stairs'. So Brandon let them go up and down a few times and they laughed so hard. They thought it was greater than a Lagoon ride! Poor kids, Brandon and I decided we do need to get out more, if that is what excites our children. We then met some good friends at the CHEESECAKE FACTORY. This was so DELICIOUS! And we left so fat and full. Then Brandon took the kids swimming at the motel and we all slept so good that night, NO ONE MOVED ALL NIGHT LONG! I love those kind of nights! They make me so happy! Then we drove our LONG DRIVE HOME on Saturday. It was a fun QUICK trip. Brandon is going to KILL me for posting this picture but it is so dang cute. I had to do it. Sorry hun! I didn't dare get in the pool or let Memphis swim yet. It was really cold water.
All in all it was a great weekend and a nice break. It was good to spend some time together since Brandon works so much lately.