I Got Tagged!

I knew there was a reason that I didn't have time to browse my favorite blogs this morning....when I read TXMommy's...I was tagged. And, since I haven't written much lately I thought I'd follow through with the meme.

1. What is your full name? I have a good life
2. What are you most afraid of? dying while my kids are young. I am grateful to know that we are an Eternal family, but I am selfish...I want to raise them myself.
3. What is the most recent movie that you’ve seen in the theater?
4. Where were you born? Provo, UT
5. What is your favorite food? yummy salads with everything on them or chocolate...which I am avoiding!
6. What is your natural hair color? Blond...turning somewhat dishwater blond now.
7. Have you ever been to Alaska? No, but I think I would love it there.
8. Have you ever toilet papered someone’s house? Yes, many times.
9. Have you ever loved someone so much it made you cry? Yes
10. Have you ever been in a car accident? Yes...only a minor fender-bender.
11. Croutons or bacon bits? Depends on my mood..sometimes none, sometimes just one, sometimes both!
12. What is your favorite day of the week? Sunday. I get to rest from my labors, be with my family, and be spiritually fed...all in one day. My second favorite is Monday when all the relaxation from the Sabbath makes me feel optimistic about the week.
13. What is your favorite restaurant? I like many of them...it is just fun to be out to eat. My recent find is Jason's Deli's salad bar! Yummy!
14. What is your favorite flower? I don't really know the names of many flowers...perhaps a lily.
15. What is your favorite sport to watch? basketball
16. What is your favorite sport to play? basketball
17. What is your favorite drink? water
18. What is your favorite ice cream? mint chocolate chip
19. Disney or Warner Brothers? Disney
20. Have you ever been on a ship? like a cruise ship? No
21. What color is your bedroom carpet? Beige
22. How many times did you fail your driver’s test? 0
23. Who was your last e-mail from? a freecycler
24. When is your usual bedtime? midnight
25. What is your favorite TV show? Jericho
26. Who was the last person you went to dinner with? DH and kids
27. What are your favorite colors? blue
28. How many tattoos/piercings do you have and where and what are they? my ears are pierced.
29. How many pets do you have? a dog
30. List something you would like to do before you die. Europe
31. Have you ever been to Hawaii? Nope.
32. Have you ever been to countries outside of the US? Not really...Canada when I was a baby and 4 hours in Tijuana.
33. What were you/will you be doing at 31 and 32 years old? I will be doing what I do now...only hopefully a few pounds lighter! I would also love to have one more kid (I say this as Little Dan is screaming and he's been so cranky and crazy with his teeth)...yes, one more kid (although I don't think this is too likely!)

I tag my sis and my SIL, ZeeBee, if they want to...and anyone else that is up for the challenge!

AWOL

Sorry...I have been AWOL for the last week. My usually hectic life has been even more so. We have been receptionist-less for this week, as she is on vacation. This leaves it to DH and I and our very part time afternoon receptionist to fill in the gaps. It is exhausting. This is why we pay our employee well....she does a lot of work!

Yesterday, the tornado sirens went off twice. We knew that tornadic activity might be headed our way, so the first wasn't a surprise. The kids were at school, but I could see the worst of the weather wasn't on top of us...so I figured they'd be less safe in my little Corolla in the flash flood rains than ducking and covering in the hall at school.

Then, last night I was at the clinic to work on some stuff the aforementioned receptionist usually does when they went off again. I didn't have a TV, but I checked the weather.com site and it had a big warning posted for my area: tornado spotted in ___(city)_______. Will be in _(city where the clinic is)_____ in 5 minutes. Will be in _______(city where my house is)_________ in 10 minutes. I knew it would be stupid to be in my car...driving in the stuff, so I just waited it out. DH woke up the kids and took them in the bathroom (our "shelter"). K reminded him that they might want our 72-hour kits so he took them in there, too. The worst part was the phones went out and we couldn't communicate and I was separated from my family. It was a little freaky...particularly for DH when he couldn't get me on the phone. I continued to work until it got really bad and dark and was supposedly on top of the clinic...then I went and took shelter all by myself and waited it out. Obviously, we are all fine, now.

The picture is just one of Little Dan is his suit from Easter. Isn't he handsome? Oh, and speaking of Little Dan...his gums are swollen and he is cranky....come on teeth, you can do it, break through for us!

Birthdays and Bluebonnets

I got to go out to lunch with three of my best friends yesterday. It was M's birthday and we all took the opportunity to celebrate! We went to Jason's Deli, which was so yummy and we had a great time.

On the way home, we stopped to take pictures in the bluebonnets. It was so beautiful....like blankets of blue on the side of the road. Little Dan had a difficult time looking at the camera. Oh well, he is still cute, just not as cute as if he'd looked at the camera for me. I think he thought the bluebonnets looked too tasty. Nikko's boy, K, did such a good job at entertaining Little Dan. He laughed much of the way (until the end, when he screamed out of sheer exhaustion).

just for fun-What kind of Cookie are you?

YOU ARE A CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE!

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting.You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

What do y'all think? Does it fit me well? I saw it on TXMommy and thought it was a fun thing to do while blogging at midnight! Hopefully it will look just as fun in the morning! :)

The Moments That Matter

(This was just a cute picture of Little Dan from Sat when we were working on the garden prep. It was freezing cold and the grass was still wet from the storms, but all he wanted to do was crawl all over...it is cute, but definitely a bit of a pain chasing after him to make sure he doesn't put anything nasty in his mouth!)

Today was a hectic day with a lot to get done. Here's a portion of it:

• Exercise walk with friend
• Six loads of laundry
• Ten calls to dealerships looking for a new minivan.
• Multiple e-mails/calls looking for a temp person as a receptionist for the clinic next week.
• Cranky constipated and teething Little Dan
• Dinner
• Dishes
• Planted the garden...we bought all the veggies last week, but kept them inside due to the tornadoes and then it was a health fair that we presented at then the Sabbath...etc.
• Vacuumed the whole house

So, after all this and with still a lot more to do...like pay bills for both the business and the family before they are late, calculate and send in our employees' timecards, return books to the library that are due today, buy the dog some more dog food, clean out the fridge, trim and double count all the boxtops for C, etc..... I was about to call the kids in for bed, when C flopped down on the grass and was just laying there, feeling the breeze, listening to the birds, and watching the sunset. K soon joined him. Finally, as I looked at them and debated yelling at them to hurry as we were late (again) for bedtime or joining them, I decided to join them.

We spent 15 minutes laying there on the grass looking at the sunset. We talked of all the reasons we know that Heavenly Father and Jesus love us. We talked about how we have been so blessed, but how also much is expected of us in return. We cuddled. We relaxed. We listened to the birds and we sighed with the breeze. We didn't even care that all the cars passing by were staring at us (personally, I think they were jealous that they were hurrying on their way and we (for the moment) were enjoying our mortal existence). It was the most important thing I accomplished today and it is a moment that memories are made of. How blessed I am that I took the time.

Daily Evaluation

I created this "Daily Evaluation" to help me keep my focus and remember and take my life line upon line, precept upon precept. I am too prone to try to do all that needs to be done (which, obviously, I cannot do) and then feel frustrated and overwhelmed. It is ten simple evaluation-type questions to see if I stayed on track throughout the day. If I am just a little better than the day before, that is where my focus should be-not am I finally perfect all-of-a-sudden today? I guess it is another one of my infamous 'systems,' but it works for me so I thought I'd share. I have this printed nicely and hung by my bed:

I cannot do it all…but I can and must do SOMETHING!

1. Did I give my children the opportunity to be closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ, tonight than they were when they woke up?
2. Did I serve the Lord today? Did I go where he asked?
3. Was I a more understanding and compassionate wife today than yesterday?
4. Did I accomplish everything that was imperative to be done TODAY?
5. Does the yard look better as I go to bed than when I woke up?
6. Does the house look better tonight than when I woke up?
7. Have I done more things for the business than I added to my list today?
8. Am I closer to my Heavenly Father tonight than this morning?
9. Did I play, teach, cuddle and/or love my children today?
10. Am I healthier today than yesterday?

Who's Who?

Please settle this dispute! We got six month pictures of Little Dan back yesterday and compared them to C at the same age. One of us thinks they look like brothers, but definitely very different. The other thinks they could be the same person! What do you think? Which one is Little Dan and which is C? Comment if you know! Thanks.

Some things shouldn't take all day!

I have been very busy today and I have really only accomplished one thing! You wouldn't think that donating water bottles to our local elementary school's runner's club from our business would be an all day affair, would you? It was.

First, I had to draft a little coupon to attach to the bottles. Then Little D and I ran to Staples to have them printed nicer than my ink jet could and more colorful than the clinic's black laser printers. We also went and purchased 150 water bottles.

Then, we had to bring them home, take them out of their packaging, and cut and tape the coupons to each bottle. Little Dan thought this was so fun...he crawled after the scissors wherever I put them, tried to eat the water bottles, and eyed droolingly the papers. (Maybe this why it took so long...a crawling, into everything, baby!)

Then, I repackaged them and drove over to the school to drop them off and walk/jog with the kids during Runner's Club.

Somethings just shouldn't take all day!
At least the kids that forgot water didn't get dehydrated and many families could potentially see our clinic logo on the waters tonight!

(Oops...I did talk to my friend S in Ohio for an hour and a half (while doing dishes and folding laundry)...so I guess I did two things today, but, in my defense...I hadn't talked to her for about five months and she was one of my dearest friends when she lived here!)

SNOW!

Guess what it usually does only about once a year in my part of the world? Snow! Guess what it is doing out there now...the day before Easter? SNOWING!

Does anyone know how to protect a grapevine? I heard they need to be covered...so I covered it. Hopefully it works since we love our homegrown grapes!

I am also posting a few from C's class party on Thursday. Both kids had a lot of fun with the egg hunt (I had to chose between kids so I missed K's egg hunt). It is a very fun thing for them to do and they were sure on a sugar high that afternoon!

8 pounds, a lunch break, and a cold sore

This is such a random post day. I guess life hasn't been spectacular lately...nothing bad happening, nothing unusual happening. Just the run-of-the-mill (where in the world did that phrase originate?-comment if you know) days-cooking, cleaning, transcribing, businessing, mommying, shopping, banking, more mommying, etc.. Don't I have a great life?

Anyhow...I have lost 8 pounds in a month! I am so excited. DH, however, is trying to sabotage my progress...he brought home two buckets of candy that people had brought him at the clinic. I can resist most everything, except CHOCOLATE! I just don't have a lot of will power with that stuff...and I have already eaten way too much since he brought it home! UGH! (sure tastes yummy, though!)

If you are my RLF, you know that I am always trying new "systems" to organize my day. It is my math-brain, everything has a slot-brain, I guess. My new one this week is to give myself a lunch break! Have you ever heard of a SAHM with a lunch break? Well, it works for me. You see, I noticed that some days I would spend too much time reading, blogging, chatting...or whatever-playtime stuff and other stuff wouldn't get done. Other days, I worked non-stop on the business, the home, my kids, etc from early in the morning 'til midnight. I decided that to solve both of these problems...I would give myself one hour each day as my "lunch break." This is when I blog, eat lunch, read, take a nap...or whatever else I WANT to do. The rest of my day is filled with the other stuff that has to get done. So far...it works for me!

Finally, I need your help. K has a horrid-looking cold sore on the corner of her mouth that just won't go away. I am taking her to the doctor tomorrow, but I was just wondering if anyone knew something that works well on kids' cold sores...anything! Poor girl. It is looking worse and worse and this is the second one she has had in a month!

General Conference

I so loved listening to General Conference this weekend! The kids are not "required" to watch it. They are supposed to be listening if President Hinckley speaks and all of the first session on Sunday. But, they chose to watch the whole thing, minus about an hour on Sunday afternoon when we finally demanded they go play as they were getting a little crazy and restless. 7 hours of church in two days for a 5 and 7 year old! I was impressed.

A few of my favorite ideas from conference this year included:

• Elder Scott: When there is "no response" to a prayer..it is evidence of His trust in you!
• Elder Holland: "No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won't make it worse."
• Sister Parkin: He commands us to be grateful because being grateful makes us happy.
• President Faust: Forgiveness frees up energy used to hold grudges. Anguish not Anger. Hurt not Hate.
• Brother Anderson: It's true, isn't it? Then what else matters?
• Elder Eyring: Seek the Lord early in the DAY, as well as in life.
• President Hinckley: Use Conference talks for FHE.

These are just a few of the nuggets for me from this conference! What impressed you?