Snake Escape

Note to self: Next time Jared calls to me "Mom, can you come and help me?" I should turn and run away. Tonight I made the mistake of coming to see what Jared needed. We were the only two people at our house this evening. So Jared needed me to hold this plastic bag with his two snakes in it while he cleaned out his cage. This is the lovely face I made during the procedure. Jared assured me that the snakes could not climb up the slippery bag. I questioned him as to why it was necessary for them to be in a bag, to which he replied that he could not find the top of his smaller snake container. Given this information, I figured that I would rather hold the bag of snakes than have them accidentally escape and be loose in my house. So I was sitting at the top of the stairs holding a bag of snakes and talking to a friend on the phone. Jared decided that it would be funny to jump out and yell at me as if the snakes were attacking me. It worked and I was very startled. Later on, I was in his room and arguing with him about some procedure of the cage cleaning. I looked away from the bag I was holding and when I looked back, one of the snakes had his head poking from the top of the bag. Forcing myself not to just drop the bag and run, I somehow managed to get the snake back to the bottom of the bag. Yikes, that was a close one. At lease it kind of freaked Jared out as well. And here is a picture of a snake trying to climb up the side of the bag. So, obviously Jared's theory was wrong.

Shopping at Sam's Club

Last night Diana and I went to Sam's Club because we were out of a few of life's essentials. You know a carton of cotton candy and a package of huge muffins, essentials like that. Actually we were out of printer paper and this was the catalyst for our trip. As I was trying to print my tax return, I was completely flabbergasted to find that we did not have even one piece of printer paper left. How is that possible? Inconceivable! A case of paper seems to last forever and so it is hard to keep it on the radar as something that runs out occasionally. Anyhoo, off we went for a "few" things.
Right when we got there, Diana asked if she could get a churro. This for her has been a quest for past few months. It has been her own personal version of the search for the Holy Grail, because we have been there so many times when Sam's was out of churros. This has been a source of great disappointment on her part. Ah, the trials of eight year old life. So you can imagine Diana's excitement when there actaully were 4 churros left. It was so cute because she had her purse and paid with her own money. She was thrilled with this because I never want to waste money on a drink, but she was willing to waste hers and so I let her. Here is a very cute picture of her with her purse, churro, and very large drink. This was actually great because she was occupied with her purchases and did not ask for too many extra things while we were shopping. Well , except the cotton candy and muffins. Because chances are if you take a kid to Sam's Club, she is going to ask for a muffin.

Better Late Than Never

I had hoped to get this posted on Valentines Day, but it didn't happen. I'm not sure why. I did get lucky and only had to make copies at the school for an hour and a half instead of three hours. Then I went and got a hair cut. On my way home I was driving by Marie Calendars and guess what? It is pie sale month again. Who knew? Not me. Well what says "Happy Valenties Day" better than some pie, so I stopped and stocked up on that scruptious treat. Woohoo! Then Diana had to go to choir and so we did that. All in all it was a pretty low key day, but that is nice. Hope all of you had a nice celebration as well.

Thanks

A big thanks to all of you who have voted for Trent's band. Right now it looks like they are in second or third place. This is great. He is excited about how many votes they have recieved the first day. I credit all of you for this, so thanks again. Since the voting is open until March 19 anyone else you can get to vote would be great.

Othodontist Blues

We went to the orthodontist yesterday, AGAIN. Jared first started seeing people for consultations in the spring of 2003. Yes, that was almost FIVE years ago. He first actually got the braces attached to his teeth in August of that year, so he has only had the braces for four and a half years. That is an awfully long time to be going to an appointment about once a month. Originally we were given the estimate that it should only take 3 years to be done with those painful metal devices. Well those three years have come and gone. Last fall they said that perhaps he would be ready to have them off in February. So it was with much anticipation on both my part and Jared's that we went to yesterday's appointment. Our hopes crashed to the ground like a water balloon, when they said that it would still be 3 or 4 more months before he would be done. Oh well, at least he should get them off before high school. And really what else would I do with my free time if not to drive him to the orthodontist all the time.
Diana also had an appointment yesterday. Happily the doctor said that she doesn't need hers for at least a year. At least there was some good news. I was talking with the doctor and asking if he thought that Jared had gotton his braces on too soon and that was why it was taking so long. He looked at his chart and replied that he didn't think it was too soon and that on average people take three years. He said that they hate to have people on the 5 year plan. He also told me that when I talk with others, I should not mention his name when telling people how long Jared's braces were taking. I though that was pretty funny. It was obvious that he feels pretty bad that it is taking so long. In the good news department, we were charged a flat fee at that beginning and so we have not had to make a payment for the past 3 years. The deal was that no matter how long it took, we would not have to pay any additional fees. Maybe the doctor feels bad about that also, that he is not making an new revenue off of us. Also having kids so far apart in age is kind of sad because Diana will probably get hers right after Jared gets his off. That was poor planning on my part. My brother's 3 kids are all having them at the same time. While this is outrageously expensive, at least it is time efficient to take them to appointments at the same time. I will have to plan better next time.

Vote Now

Ok, we need everyone's help to vote for Trent's band. Go to the website http://www.xpozlv.com/ and click on the link to the left that says, "battle of the fans". It should be to the left of the page. Then they should be the top band on the right side. They are called "5 Minute Hero". Under the picture there is a button that says "vote for this band" in red. I hope this makes sense. I think their poster turned out really great. Trent helped put it together. He is kind of the manager for the band. Their performance date is February 20th, and that is coming up soon.

A Day of Miracles

Yesterday something miraculous happened. I cleaned out my fridge. I know for most of you this is nothing out of the ordinary. But sadly for me it is a stupendous chore requiring superhuman powers . Slowly since I stopped working outside of the home, I am trying to get on top of things around here. Once I had managed to clear a path through the house, I thought I would move on to the daunting task of the fridge. I can not say when I last did this task, which is scary enough to admit to the public. It might explain why I found an unopened quart of whipping cream with an expiration date from June last year. Part of the reason for this would be that time seems to moving at warp speed. I seem to be running behind yelling "wait for me". Well so now for at least a day, there is nothing sticky spilled on any of the shelves of my fridge. I would say that deems labeling this day as extraordinary, amazing, fabulous, and wonderous. The thesaurus even gives the word thaumatiguric as an synonym for miraculous, so I guess that would apply as well. Anyone every heard of that word? Or in other words having a clean fridge is a good thing.

Something to Anticipate

A very happy, exciting thing happened today. I registered for BYU Women's Conference that is in May this year. This will make the third year in a row that I will be able to attend. This is one of the highlights of my year. Since it is something I am looking forward to with anticipation, I decided to put this fun little ticker on my blog. That way I can count down the days until my bucket filling retreat. Let me know if any of you are going, see ya there.

Puzzle Mania

So besides being sick and working in January, another reason I didn't post as much on my blog is named puzzel mania. I am pretty much addicted to putting puzzels together. Marion got me a very fun puzzel bundle containing 10 new puzzels for Christmas. Here is a picture of one of those puzzels. This was a way fun puzzel to put together because it went together in an evening. Also I love the picture on it, which is Broadway in New York. This is a place that I would love to visit someday. Sometimes it is fun to have a challenging puzzel that takes a while to get together, but other times it is rewarding to be able to pick up each piece and put it where it goes. Also it is great because I can use my scrapbooking table in my room to do my puzzels. This means I can lock myself in there and work on them while watching TV and I don't have to move it for dinner time. So hurray for hobbies that make life interesting.

Strange Sighting

Ok, a few weeks ago I heard this very strange noise when I got out of bed . It sounded kind of like someone coughing and it was coming from Trent's room. This was cause for alarm because Trent had already left for school that day. Imagine my surprise when I went in his room and saw this strange looking bird on the roof outside his window. Of course the first thing I did was run and get my camera. Got to get blog material where you can, you know. I was hoping that I could capture the strange bird call, but of course the bird refused to perform. It did however perform another bodily function for my benefit. And notice at the end of the clip, one of the illegal alien felines that has set up camp at my house. Does it make itself useful by catching this bird? No. Through some research, I think that this is a ringneck pheasant. I did find a website with a recording of a pheasant. But I could not figure out how to attach it to my movie. So if you really want to hear it, go to Wikipedia and you can hear it here. http://www.nps.gov/archive/wica/Bird_List.htm This is really pretty much what it sounded like. I wonder why a bird that can fly would decided to live in Vegas?

Humorous Misunderstanding

A minister’s widow, who was old-fashioned, was going camping for a week in California. She was nervous about the bathroom facilities and decided to write a letter to the campground owner. But as she was writing, she couldn't bring herself to write “toilet.” After much thought, the widow settled on "bathroom commode,” but when she wrote the word, it still sounded too coarse. Instead, she referred to the bathroom commode as "BC” after the first page of the letter: "Does the cabin where I will be staying have its own BC? If not, where is the BC located?" In the process of filing, the campground owner lost the first page of the letter. Without noticing, he left the remainder of the letter on the desk of his staff manager who found the letter and was baffled by the acronym. When he asked his wife what BC meant, she remembered the widow’s husband was once a famous Baptist preacher. "Oh, of course!” exclaimed the staff member. “BC stands for 'Baptist Church!'" He immediately wrote a response to the widow’s letter:

Dear Madam,

I apologize for the delay in answering your letter, but I have the pleasure of informing you that the BC is located nine miles north of the campground and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along and make a day of it. They usually arrive early and stay late.
The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that right now there is a fundraiser planned to buy more seats for the basement of the BC.

I would like to say that it pains me very much not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely no lack of desire on my part. As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather.

If you decide to come down to our campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time, sit with you, and introduce you to all the folks. Remember, this is a friendly community."

Best wishes,
Ethan Smith
Campground Manager

Five Minute Hero

I am not sure if I have written about the band that Trent is playing in right now. Their name is Five Minute Hero. Trent is the bass player. Here are some pictures from their first performance which was on New Year's eve. It was a contest and they came in second. They were very thrilled with that because it was their first show and they only lost by 5 votes. One of the highlights of the evening was the largest "Wall of Death" ever according to Trent. I myself being a nerd and a parent was unfamiliar with this term. Trent educated me that this is a process when the kids line up in two lines across from each other and then run together and crash into a large pile of humanity. One of Trent's friends hurt his leg during this fun thing and it is still sore weeks later. Go figure what kids think is fun. Now the band is going to compete in another Xpoz battle of the bands kind of thing on Feb 20th. The prize is a slot at Xtreme thing which will be a big break for the band. Thousands of people attend each year. The winner will be determined by presales of tickets and online voting. So when Trent gets the info on the website to vote I told him I would post it on here and all my readers would probably help vote for him. Look for that in the next few weeks.

Parenting in the 21st Century

This morning my alarm went off at 6:00 am and I listened to an alarming quiet house around me. Usually Trent is on his way out the door by now. I went to his room and tried to wake him up, no luck. Then I went to Jared who just mumbled something unintelligible. I returned to my warm bed and wondered what to do. Jared has that awful cough thing that is going around and he missed school yesterday. Last night I thought he said he felt better and was going to school. Then a brilliant idea came to me: I would speak their language, I would text them to get up. So this is what took place over the airwaves:

6:17 Me to Jared: wake up
6:19 Jared: I am not going
6:21 Me to Trent : wake up
6:27 Me to Trent: please wake up
6:28 Trent: Hold on
6:29 Jared: My stomach hurts bad
6:29 Me to Jared: Are you going to throw up
6:30 Jared: I dont know
6:30 Jared: My throat and my stomach hurts bad
6:32 Jared: What can i eat
6:33 Me to Jared: cereal bagel oatmeal
6:38 Me to Trent: how about now
6:39 Trent: I'll get up soon

The good news is that all of this took place from the warm confines of my bed. It was not effective in getting them to school, though. Trent has got a really bad headache. I think maybe he has that sinus pressure part of this bad flu bug going around. At least today is the day he has two orchestra classes, so he won't miss that much school. So once again I get to have kids home all day. At least Diana went today, that is good. One out of three is not so bad right?

White Hankie for the Prophet

Even though I already wrote a post about the passing of Gordon B Hinkley, the funeral on Saturday brought up more thoughts that I wanted to record. As I watched the funeral procession I found myself wishing that I could be standing on the street waving a white hankie. So this post is a symbolic "white hankie" for a man whose footprints will be indelibly imprinted on my heart. The dictionary defines indelible as: 1.making marks that cannot be erased, removed, or the like: indelible ink. and 2. that cannot be eliminated, forgotten, changed, or the like: the indelible memories of war; the indelible influence of a great teacher. I think that pretty well sums up how I feel about President Hinkley. The words of one of my favorite songs from the musical Wicked come to mind. Those lyrics are "because I knew you, I have been changed for good." That is another sentiment the I feel strongly about the former prophet. It is interesting because I was actually able to shake hands personally with both President Kimball and President Benson, but I was never even ever in the same meeting with President Hinkley. This does not seem to matter in the smallest with the connection and influence he has had on my life. For that I will be forever grateful and blessed. Also as I watched the funeral when Pres. Eyring was speaking, I marveled at the eloquence of the words that he was saying. I wondered how to these men always say just the right thing. The thought then came to me that it was really the Lord speaking to all of us, when any of the men speak. I realized how blessed we are by the Lord through each of these wonderful men and that I often take that for granted. Now I look forward to seeing how the Lord will touch and change my life through President Monson.

Pat's Ponderings

This past month has been a difficult one for me. I have found my self caught up in the "thick of thin things" and stuck in the "middle of this mortal muddle" as Neal A Maxwell would say. The cares of the world have managed to press out things of a spiritual nature. Last week at stake conference, I found myself pondering on some of the choices I had made and wondering if I had chosen good things instead of the best things. I told myself that if I could just make it through this week, I would redicate myself to doing better. Recently I read an article about dealing with adversity in life. What do you say to someone who has lost their job, their home, or even their spouse. The author of this article said that the magic words were to "Begin again." No matter what mistakes we make, it is never too late to begin again. And I guess that is the beauty of having a new year, the opportunity to begin again. I heard a talk at women's conference that compared this to the sacrament prayer, if the person saying the prayer makes a mistake, they just begin again. No one demeans them or berates them publicly. Really we all understand and are rooting for the person to succeed. We need to treat life the same way. I tend to pour too much energy into feeling bad about the mistake, instead of putting that energy into just beginning again.

The View from the back

In answer to request to see the back of my hair cut, here it is. I did indeed have Diana assist me in this endevor to see what the back of my hair looks like. Actually I gave it a shot by myself, but failed miserably as my arm strength is something akin to a wet noodle and by trying to hold the camera over my head I kept accidentally pushing buttons that were changing the settings. So taking pictures of the back of your hair definitely goes on the list of things not to do alone. In fact I have two options with this new hair doo. It can be flipped under or up. When I first style it, I try to make it flip up, but having a mind of its own, the next day it decides to flip under. Either way I suppose it is better than being bald, so I will take it.

New Haircut

About two weeks ago I went to get my hair cut. It had not been cut since October, unless you count the couple of times that I have taken scissors to my bangs in an act of desperation. So to say that I was past due for a cut would be an understatement. Usually when I get to this point, I go in ready for my head to just be shaved bald. I don't know if it is just me, but I seem to go along pretty much liking and tolerating my hair, and then boom one day I wake up and just hate it and can't take it anymore. Strangely I do not have a regular hairdresser. This probably explains a lot of my problem So on the day that I feel the uncontrollable urge to shave my head, I instead take myself to the nearest super cuts. This time I seemed to have scored a winner. I went in and asked for an A-line kind of hair cut. Also I am straightening my bangs, which I did not used to do. Here is a picture I took yesterday before church. I am not sure that it adequately shows how it looks. Several people have commented that I look like I have lost weight. The scale does not seem to agree with this consensus. I think that it is just my hair that has lost weight and that by having flatter hair, it makes me look skinnier. Whatever the reason, I will not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Lawrence Lacrosse Lions

Jared's lacrosse season is about to start. His first schrimage is this Saturday. He looks pretty tough in his uniform, don't ya think? They are practicing 3 days a week after school and on Saturdays. This has added a bit to my car pooling duties. Gratifully, my next door neighbor is playing also and so we can share the driving. This is keeping him is good shape and out of trouble so that is probably all for the best. I just don't want to think about the season starting with two games a week to attend. So I will not think about it now.

Orchids

One of the fringe benefits of my job is that I get to bring home the fresh flowers after the show. This time I came home with 7 live orchids. I have never had orchids before. They tell me that they will live for a really long time. I had to pot them into something. I used every container I could find. Here is a picture of a few of them. They are quite pretty and add a nice touch to my family room, although they are probably a bit sophisticated for my home.

Yay, I'm back to only one job!

Yes, I am very happy to report that after 3 weeks of working way to many hours, I am back to being "JUST" a mom. Last week I worked 55 hours and in the two weeks before that I worked 74. And believe me, my house shows my lack of attention. It was an interesting experience and over all I did survive better than I thought I would, thanks to the help of my dear husband. Now if I can just catch up. I feel like the month of January just disappered due to the fact that I was sick for the first week and working for the last 3.
Some of the time at work it would be slow with no customers. The other employees would ask me what I did when I was not working there. I would reply that I am a MOM when I am not working for Global Views. This would bring some interesting reactions and I could tell that not everyone values this profession as much as the Lord and his prophets do. I have spent some time pondering this.
Yesterday I gave a lesson to the laurels about preparing for marriage. It worries me that so much of what they have learned about being a wife and mother does not make it seem glamerous enough to be at the top of their list of things to be when they grow up. And I wondered about my own attitude. Will my own children learn by watching me, what an important job this is? Or will my often frustrations be all that they remember? Something to work on, I suppose. And so I came away from this job with a renewed dedication to my chosen profession of mother and wife.