my thoughts exactly

things

I keep a list of 'things to blog about' and it's piling up. I'm just gonna lay them out.

Any dressing room, any where in the world, at any time, I could stay in for hours and pick at my face. I swear the lighting is so good or the mood is just right or something, but man, I seriously find new moles, unnoticed freckles, inappropriate hairs, etc. I actually really like it, in a non-wierd way.

I intended for pictures to accomany this, but I can't pin Max down for 3 seconds to get anything good. Baby socks. Hate. Too tight, too tall, too short, to floppy, don't match, drag off when he moves, puffy, thin, stretch too easily, ect. I can't stand it. That doesn't even do it justice.

The Beret.

I dare one of you to look me in the eye and tell me these are attractive. They can make a beautiful person ugly. A striking woman revolting. A nice-looking man repulsive. Don't mistake me, I love me a good soldier, and there isn't much that came make them unattractive to me, but, this, this can. Please, someone, please, whoever is making them, stop, for the love.

The plastic 'balls' hanging from the back of a truck; needs to stop. They like have a vein in them about it. Don't.

And finally, the phrase "Cowboy Up". Enough said.

That is all.

our christmas jar story

3 years ago - the first year we were married, we had a Christmas miracle happen. No really.

December, 2007. I had just begun to stabilize from the aforementioned breakdown that occured right after we got married. Benj's back was jacked up. We think he hurt in in football in highschool, and then it just got worse with all the biking and exercise on the mish. Anyway, by the middle of December, he was completely bed-ridden. I had quit work (and school, and cleaning, and cooking, and everything) and he was obviously unable to work. His job was PRN anyway, sooooo we were pretty much broke. At some point earlier, he had and MRI and it was determined that he had a ruptured disc along with 2 bulging discs. Something was hitting a nerve because he was losing feeling in his leg. And if anyone has tried, you can't just make a quick appointment with a neurosurgeon, so, we were kind of stuck. They were booked out until like March. At this point, I had re-located to an air mattress on the floor because any movement on the bed hurt. I was bringing cups for him to pee in because he couldn't stand. Luckily, I had some connections working at a Dr. Office, and so did Benj's mom, so we finally got an appointment for the 17th (Stay with me, I'm going somewhere with this,). Let me just insert here that he isn't a whimpy guy by any means. He has a pretty good pain tolerance.

The night of the 16th: We get a knock on the door. I'm not real thrilled about visitors, especially in our ghetto apartment, so I was a little late in answering. I opened the door and there was a jar, full of money and the book "The Christmas Jar". We were so excited. It looked like maybe $100 or so. We were super happy! We both sat down (well, he was already down....) and started counting. $100, $200, $500, $1000, $1500, $2000....... $2,100!!!!! WTH? No note, nothing. We had no idea who it was from. For us, that was a crazy large sum of money! We felt all warm and Christmassy and went to sleep smiling that night.

After some work (he is 6'2" 300 lbs and can't really walk), we got him to the office, I got him into the elevator and out of it and he pretty much collapsed in front of the door of the Neurosurgeon Office Suite. Akwakrdly, I told him to lay there and wait (like he was going to run off....) and I went in and asked for a stretcher or two large men or something to help me get him into the freaking exam room. We got him in finally, the doc took one look at his x-ray and said he needed surgery, like now. He pretty much cleared his schedule and said meet me at the hospital in an hour. Don't eat.

Wow. Ok, that was good, but wait, we have no insurance. Neurosurgery isn't a cheap little ho-hum thing. I went in and talked to the Business Office about payments. In order to do the surgery, we had to have $2000 down and we could set up payments for the rest. The Hospital required $100 down. Hmmmm.............. Ok, we have exactly $2100 in a jar in the car!!!! (rhyme!)

Anyway, everything went really well after that. Isn't that wierd/cool/humbling? It was hard-ish getting him there, we had to lay him on the floor at the hospital while nurses came out and took blood, urine, blah. He stood up for like 30 seconds to get weight height and BP = don't worry his BP was like 197/260. He was in so much pain. It was kind of scary. But the surgery went really well (and really long). I kept hovering around the OR, calling the nurse, etc. He's fantastic now and fit as a race horse. His right leg is still numb in one spot, which is amusing cause I can pull the hairs out and he doesn't care.

Isn't that a cute story?

Last year, my parents gave all of us kids our own Christmas Jars (full of money) with instructions to re-fill it over the coming year and then we will all put it together next Christmas and donate it to the American Cancer Society (in honor of Terris) or to a needy family. We had a pretty rough year this year money wise (BABY) and really didn't get it filled so I feel bad. Next year.

We still don't know who it was. If you know who it was or it was you, THANK YOU. Really. Merry freaking Christmas.

P.S. This:

pisses me off inside, so deeply, I cannot even explain. Ruins my day. Driving home tonight, thinking of the nice Christmas Jar story, and I see this. HATE.

more pictures.....

Yeah, it's pretty much been just a big picture-fest of posts lately. Sorry. Not in the mood to be witty/don't have time/don't feel good.

Isn't that cute? This is as far as he goes with the crawling idea. He gets around pretty quick and accurate thought. He thought that ball was freaking COO-OOL!

snapshots

Benj's cousin Mindi (a fantastic photographer...) snapped a few cute shots of the boy this past week. Thanks Mindi!

nice quotes

top 10 UGLY male names

I've always had issues with guys names. Really, there just aren't that many good ones out there. I'd by far rather see a "Ryan" or an "Adam" than one of the ones listed below. Sorry in advance if your name (or someone you know and love) is on the list.

1. Peter (= pale skin, dark hair, and large nostrils to me)
2. Mitch (80's, child molester, cigarettes) (not necessarily all together)
3. Kip (obviously)
4. Newt (again, obvious)
5. Wolfgang (I'm pissed even typing it)
6. Keith (probably the best of this bunch, but makes me think of 'spittle' in the corners of a mouth)
7. Gaylord (really?)
8. Eugene (classic nerdy, and not in a good way - "Henry" would be in a good way)
9. Bart (first of all, sounds like 'fart', again with maybe some child molestation)
10. Geoff (again, pissed typing it)

puts a smile on my face

This is brilliant. Love it. Makes me soo happy, especially after I am pissed off because I ran out of sticky notes and have to get up and go get some, then I remember how easy/fun it is to open them. Love.

potty mouth

No, it's not what you think. Yes, I have a mouth like a sailor, but that has nothing to do with this post. I'm talking bathroom stuff, literally. Just a few random thoughts. My mom will hate this. I hate that my toilet say "Bemis" on it. Brand name or whatever, it isn't good for a toilet. I have never got the whole 'wipe front to back' procedure down. I honestly don't even know how it is possible. I do have a abnormally short torso, so you think it would be no big deal, but maybe I have short arms or something, because, man, I just cannot do it. I'm fine with it; never had any 'infection' issues, I'm just sayin. I always thought it was interesting how when you are doing a #1 and #2 at the same time, how sometimes, they both come out at once, and other times one lets the other go first. You feel me? Fascinating. I hope you were all enlightened.

random pictures

We went and saw the ROCKETTES on Saturday!! It was the best show I have ever seen, by far. Better than Chicago on Broadway in NYC. Amazing. Had the coolest special effects ever. Thanks to Marnee, we had great seats, too. So fun!! This is a bad pic of me, had to X it.
Every year the night before the BYU-UTAH game, Benj and I go trash his dads car/lawn. This year we extended it to his grandpa and friend Ryan too. Fun. (BTW, the flash from me taking these pictures got us caught by gramps, he came shuffling out the door shortly after, so I ran).

Max had this beanie on {Grandma Kellie stuck on him on the way out the door cause it was freaking cold} and it came down over his eyes. He had been sitting there for a long time not making a sound so we figured he'd fallen asleep. I snapped a picture, and apparently he hadn't been asleep. I think he was seriously just sitting there pissed off. Funny.

Eating at Marnee's

Playing with the kids on Thanksgiving.....

(yes, Macie is wearing a pilgrim outfit and peacock earrings, and yes, that pilgrim outfit has fit her since she was THREE and she is SEVEN, and yes, I wore that when I was little too so it is really old, and yes, I have told Rae she needs to talk to the pediatrician about Macie not growing.........if you were wondering.)

Getting so big! I think he semi-looks like Benj in these... maybe?

3 thoughts

#1: You should steer clear of any piece of meat in a Chinese dish larger than a quarter. Once you hit quarter size, you just don't know what kind of tubes/veins/etc you'll get. I enjoy Chinese and want to continue to enjoy it, so this is a rule of mine. It may mean you have to give up some of your meal. I had Panda tonight and left a few good sized pieces, but like I said, you just can't risk it. {Plus, Benj thinks that this is obnoxious and will eat them for me, so they don't go to complete waste}
#2: Fast food restaurant garbages could quite possibly be one of the sickest things on earth. Seriously. Like syphilis/gonorrhea about it. I don't know why but I've yet to see a clean one. Even if it looked clean, it wouldn't deceive me. You can feel/see/smell/sense how freaking sick they are. Don't touch the door flap. Just leave your damn tray on the table and walk out. They have people. People who will clean up the trays. Just go. (I don't know what that girl in the backgroud of the picture means...)

#3: A friend of mine recently went to Alcatraz, and this was posted there:

"Welcome to Alcatraz...You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. Anything else that you get is a privilege." U.S.P. Alcatraz, Rules and Regulations.

This is my new parenting motto.

st george

We went to St George this weekend to see Benj's cousin in his school play (he did great BTW). We also had us a little Thanksgiving dinner while we were there.
In the car.....

Dinner! They did a turkey in a dutch oven and it was delish!

Yes, that is Dr Pepper in his sippy....

On our way home we hit a huge storm in the Fillmore/Beaver area (hehehe). We were stopped on the freeway for like 2 hours. Max hated it. Benj got out and peed. I nearly lost it. People were out walking around, making snow-men, etc. We ended up being re-routed back southbound, so we just went back to St George for the night. Big fat 7.5 hour drive to Beaver and back.

Look how deep it got just while we were sitting there!

Max's ears hurt.... :(

Weird.

Finally going home!

Max clapping and fake coughing at the play

Laughing at dad