Riley's Rules

I had the privilege of waking up to a very funny story from Riley this morning. He is such a crack-up! I was at my mother-in-law's house yesterday and Lea was there while Riley was having a time out and shouted, "I hate when this happens!" She asked me how I keep a straight face when he says stuff like that. I don't. I just try to turn my head before I start smiling and giggling.

For Ben's birthday I bought him Wii Sports Resort. It is a great family game. Even though the kids are all at different skill levels they all enjoy playing, and usually playing together. This morning however, Carter wanted a turn by himself and I said yes. Riley was not happy with my decision, so with a pouting bottom lip he climbed into bed between Ben and me.

"I have rules," he stated.

"Rules?" I asked him. I wasn't sure if I heard him right. Sometimes his "r" sound sounds like a "w" sound and it's a little confusing. After a few seconds of misunderstanding he said, "Yes, rules! Rule number one is that I get distracted when Carter plays the Wii." (He tends to use the "I get distracted" defense when he isn't getting his way or when he is doing something he shouldn't be doing.) "Rule number two is I want to play right now!" Makes sense, right?

At this point I am just shaking with laughter. I had forgotten exactly how he stated rule number one, so I asked him to repeat it. He said, "I can't tell you rule number one because I'm on rule number three!" Well, that really got me going with the giggling. Then, with utter exasperation in his little voice, he says, "Rule number three is I can hear the game!"

Maybe we need to work on what a rule actually means? You think?

10 Honest Things

My sister-in-law, Lea, tagged me in a post a few days ago. I haven't been able to get to it because I was busy with last minute shopping (I'm usually not a procrastinator, but this year was weird) and because the post actually involved some thinking.

Her post was 10 honest things about herself. So here are 10 honest things about me. Hope you all enjoy.

1. Even though when I was growing up I used to tell people I was adopted (my dad was sometimes really embarrassing...I mean is really embarrassing), I love the funny quirks I inherited from him. Like the need to have my food piping hot, or wanting my ice cream melted just a bit in the microwave, or having the heat on full blast in the car but having the window down so I don't melt. I like those things. I also like that he instilled in me an understanding of the importance of punctuality and that he taught me how to strike up a friendly conversation with the person behind me in the line at a store. The temper on the other hand, I could do without.

2. I am nervous nowadays to wish someone "Merry Christmas" for fear I might offend their religious beliefs. I chicken out and just say, "Have a nice day" instead. I'd like to change that.

3. I have never liked my hair color. I get a lot of compliments from people and stylists who have done my hair. But if I were to choose my color, it would be a lovely deep brownish black. Or blond. Or really red.

4. I hate chain/forwarded emails. Sometimes they're funny, but most of the time my computer doesn't open them properly so they turn out to be a waste of my time. And really, will I have bad luck for the rest of my life if I don't send those to five people? I don't think so. Sorry to anyone who reads this and has sent me emails. I mean no disrespect.

5. I worry too much about what other people think of me. Way too much. Just ask Ben.

6. I enjoy cleaning my house but I hate cooking. I'm a pretty good cook, but an excellent housekeeper...when I have the time. My OCD tendencies come in handy occasionally. If you gave me the choice between the two I would pick cleaning house over cooking any day. Now baking, that's another story.

7. I have the greatest kids in the world. I know, I know, I'm biased. That doesn't make it any less true.

8. When Ben and I were first married we would always talk about what we wanted in our dream house. I had two requirements - a spiral staircase and a room with cement walls where I could go when I was angry and throw an endless supply of china. Yeah, I had anger management issues. Willardism.

9. If drinking coffee was not against my faith, I'd have a hot cup every morning. With a piece of biscotti.

10. I hope to actually use all this English nonsense I'm learning and write a book one day. I love non-fiction. I love hearing about the crazy, funny, sad, things people have gone through. I would love to develop the ability to write about those things, and write about them in a way that would make other people want to read them.

Fall 2009 Recap

Well, finals were last week (Hallelujah!) and grades were due today. I'm glad this semester is over! It was a rough one, partially because I was still unsure of what I wanted to do, and that in turn aided and abetted in my lack of motivation. But I got through it! In no particular order here's the best and the worst of Fall Semester 2009.

Human Development - A basic course in Family & Consumer Sciences. The professor was great. He brought his guitar and played it for us one day - he's really good. The first few tests were easy since they were about child development, and I've been through that with my own kids. The last few tests had less familiar material, so I had to study a bit more. All in all, a basic gen ed. My grade: A. :)

Marriage & Family Relations - Another basic course for FACS or FLHD (Family Life & Human Development). Same professor as for Human Development. I enjoyed this class as well. A lot of it was common sense stuff. Some of the material was harder to swallow, like child abuse and domestic violence. I learned some funny things I do in my relationship with Ben that I really need to STOP doing! Too much Willard sometimes. Another basic gen ed, but one worth taking. My grade: A. :)

Intermediate Poetry - This class is the reason I was there. I really like this professor. She's a bit...I want to say scatterbrained, but that's really not the term, she just has a lot on her plate. Funny story.....I was in her office for a conference one day. Her office has always looked like a paper bomb just went off. Creative minds = messy desks? If that's true then I'm in trouble! I think she has a desk somewhere under all those papers, I've just never seen it. On one of the shelves in her office is a brown file storage box with a piece of paper taped to the outside that reads: Things that go somewhere else. I think she might need a slightly bigger box. Anyway, I really like her style of teaching and the way she gives feedback. She also doesn't tolerate kids being obnoxious while she's teaching and she goes about making sure they are paying attention in a very good way. She shared with us some of her poetry this semester and I really love the way she writes. She also got me started using my voice in my writing. She helped me to find the aesthetic I like. I'm excited for Advanced Poetry next semester. I also made friends in this class. Friends I will see for the rest of my creative writing courses - thank goodness. I was really tired of seeing all new faces in classes with 80+ people! My grade: A. :)

How the Earth Works - I really love Geology, I always have. Even when I had it from Coach Peacock as a sophomore in high school I loved it. But this class was an online course and I will tell you this - I WILL NEVER IN MY LIFE TAKE ANOTHER ONLINE COURSE. I'm really terrible with reading comprehension, and that is what all my test and quizzes depended on. I am the type of person who needs to be in a classroom where I can hear my professor and ask questions face-to-face, not via email. But I survived. At least now I know! This class filled my gen ed for physical science. My grade in the class and the lab: A. :)

I really am glad this semester is over. I'm looking forward to next semester for a lot of reasons. I have three classes that go toward my major, I know a lot of people in my classes - at least a handful in my English classes. My schedule is about the same, so that's nice for my babysitters - AKA Grandmas. :) I will be done with gen eds next semester! And I'm taking a guitar class! I've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, and besides the initial purchase of one, the class fee is only $5! I can't beat that. I was listening to my sister/niece (sniece?), Kristina, play today, and WOW! My goal is to learn to...I want to say play, but she does so much more than that when that guitar is in her hands. I want to get the music like she does. Maybe she'll give me lessons when she drops by. ;)

But now that my grades are up, I really can relax and not think about school for awhile. I'll just unsuccessfully avoid gaining five or 10 pounds by eating all the treats people have brought by! It's like non-stop sugar delivery around here! No complaints...yet...until my pants start getting too tight.

Riley's Surgery

Hey all. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts for Riley and for our family. We really appreciate and felt all that you did for us.

His surgery went well. We arrived at the hospital at 7:00 a.m. They took us right back to Same Day Surgery and got Riley in his gown. They had some crayons, coloring pages, stickers (yeah, that was funny - he didn't even touch those), a little game, and one of those hidden-objects-in-rice-in-a-bottle things. A couple of nurses and the anesthesiologist came to talk to us and to Riley. I really liked it because they included Ben and I in the conversation, but they spoke to Riley most of the time. And he liked that. One of the nurses in her scrubs and hat came in to tell him about some stuff and she was really fun and goofy. Riley liked her and he leaned over to me, putting his hand over his little mouth, and whispered, "She's crazy." I thought she and the other nurse were going to fall right over, laughing at the little stinker.

The surgery took about 20 minutes. The doctor said Riley did beautifully. They brought him back to our room about five minutes later, and after Riley came out of the anesthesia, ate a popsicle, and took a walk around the place, we were ready to go home.

Yesterday was good and bad. It was good because he ate four Otter Pops when we came home because some of the Demoral was still in his system so he wasn't feeling the pain in his throat. It was bad because besides that, he was so lethargic. Normal for post-surgery, but not normal for Riley. He kept asking for food, and typically patients are supposed to stay on clear liquids, but one of the nurses said there are exceptions to every rule. He ended up eating three pieces of bread in the afternoon and a scrambled egg for dinner! He went to bed in his own bed, but climbed in bed with Ben and me at about 1:00 this morning. He slept until 5:00, and then woke Ben up and they came and watched Bolt.

Today had a rough start but got better. His throat is sore, but then he sleeps with his mouth open and that just dries it out. He was NOT in the mood to take his antibiotic or his Tylenol this morning. He had a few bites of popsicle and a sip of juice or water every once in a while. He had a nap and woke up cranky, but then he was good and took his Tylenol and his antibiotic and is feeling much better. He ate again and will drink every 15 minutes or so.

Riley is lucky to have a brother who loves him like Carter does. The night before Carter played so nicely with his brother - he just wanted to make him happy. He told me to make sure and wake him up early so he could see Riley before he left for the hospital. He got so anxious at school that he gave himself a stomachache and almost came home. If it hadn't have been for my amazing sister-in-law, who convinced him to stay after she told him she'd pick him up from school and take him to the store to get a prize for Riley, I don't know what I would have done. Tonia, you rock. Thank you!

Thank you all for your love and concern. The night before the surgery Riley was the happiest he has been in a long time - I just knew all your prayers were doing us all a bunch of good! Thank you!

A little bit of prayer, please.

Riley has been the troublemaker in my family from the get go. If something is supposed to go wrong then Riley is the one to make sure it does. For example, at six weeks old he had double inguinal hernia surgery. And he's the only one I had any trouble with when I was pregnant. And he has eye issues, a gap in his teeth, and now issues with sleeping/breathing/being irritable during the day because of the lack of sleeping and the breathing difficulties.

He is scheduled for surgery on Thursday morning to get his tonsils and adenoids taken out. He hasn't slept through the night in quite some time and he snores. Ben and I thought and talked for a long time about the surgery, but finally decided to go with it - the benefits outweigh the risks.

Even though it's pretty common surgery, it's still a little scary. When he had surgery when he was a baby, he had a little trouble coming out of the anesthesia. It was a little overwhelming talking to the pre-op nurse today. I think that has as much to do with the fact that my two finals were today as much as it was all the information she gave me.

The surgery is supposed to help with his breathing, which should help with his sleeping, which should help with his occasional ADD/ADHD-type behaviors. The doctor doing the surgery said that almost all of the time this surgery helps kids who have trouble sleeping to sleep better and feel better. I hope he's right.

Riley is a little scared about what's going on. On Sunday Carter told Riley he was going to get his tonsils out on Thursday. That morning he was snuggling with me and said, "I'm scared for Thursday because I don't want to get a poke in my throat." Poor guy. I just hope the nurses don't try to console him with stickers, because I don't think that will be very effective. If you want to know why, read this post.

So, my point of this post is to ask any of you who read this to pray for Riley and the surgery and anyone who will be working with him on Thursday. We want him to be safe during the surgery and come through just great. We also want the surgery to make a difference for him concerning his sleep habits. I hate to ask this of you, but what are friends for, right?

p.s. I'm so tired, I'm not proofreading this. Just know that it's finals week and my brain is fried, so you're all lucky if it makes any sense whatsoever!

The Forgotten

Riley is such an interesting kid. At times he can make me want to pull my hair out - Melanie and Carter never tried (or try) my patience the way Riley does. But then at other times he can make me smile and laugh like you wouldn't believe. For example...

For Family Home Evening this week we put up our Christmas decorations. It was a lot of fun, especially watching Ben fiddle with the lights just like he does every year! It's hilarious. I'm not allowed to say anything, but it sure is fun to giggle when he's working with them. ;)

One of the decorations I have is a little wooden snowman family I painted a long time ago when Ben and I only had Melanie. It's a five-piece set with a tree, a mom and dad, and two snowman kids. These pieces sit on a shelf where the kids can play with them. Riley was having fun arranging them in different spots when he suddenly stopped, came over to me, and asked very solemnly, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," I said, trying not to laugh. His little face was so serious!

Then he just made me want to laugh and cry at the same time when he said, "Why did you forget me?" He wasn't in the snowmen family. So I picked him up and snuggled him and told him that I made that a long time ago when we just had Melanie. He was fine, but on one condition...

The snowman family is now Mom, Dad, Melanie, and Riley-Carter. Apparently, the two boys can't be in the same room for 10 minutes without screaming at each other, but they're totally fine sharing a body in snowman form. Hey, I'll take what I can get!

Why I shouldn't touch technological things

Seriously.

A couple of weeks ago our computer caught a virus. And it wasn't getting over it, so we had to get a new one (wouldn't that be awesome if we could do that with ourselves when we catch viruses?) Anyway, we were planning on buying a laptop anyway (since Ben and I are both going to school it wasn't working with just one computer), so we just ordered a desktop along with it.

The desktop arrived last week and Ben put it up just perfectly. He claims he doesn't know about computers, but I think that's hogwash. He almost always figures out the problem. That is, unless I've touched something.....

My laptop came today! I was so excited. Ben wasn't home from work yet, but I figured I could set it up on my own. It was actually quite simple. I got it on, registered, connected to our wireless Internet all by myself. I was just playing around when I realized I hadn't written down my password to get it back on, so I figured the sooner I tried out my password the easier I could remember it. You'd think, right?

Half an hour, and a plethora of tries later I still couldn't log on to my laptop! I knew my password had either been a certain number in front of a word or behind it. But no matter what combination I tried I could not log in. I figured I must have misspelled the password during the initial setup. Ben tried all he could but he couldn't figured out how to reset it either. So I ended up calling technical support.

Let me just say this. I have nothing against foreigners. I love people from Russia, Spain, France, Germany, Australia, Africa. You name it, I'm good. But why, oh why for the love of my sanity do people hire employees who don't speak English very well to work over the telephone? I could hardly understand a word that woman was saying! Ben asked me later what some of the words I had written down meant. I told him I didn't know - I just wrote down any word I could understand from her. You should have heard how many times I asked, "Can you say that again?" or "What did you say?" or "Would you repeat that please?" No joke. It was insane.

Thankfully the recovery for the system didn't work properly the first time and Ben had to call back. Of course he got to speak with someone he could understand.

Anyway, it all worked out. I love my own laptop. It's so shiny. So shiny it's making me crazy when I get my fingerprints on it. But we won't go into my obsessive compulsiveness right now. That's a whole other post! I'm typing on my laptop this very moment, and Ben is working on homework on our home computer. I should be doing homework, but I'm not. :)

Everything and nothing

Yeah, that basically describes my life the past few weeks. The everything because I've been really busy with school. The semester is winding down and I'm feeling that end-of-semester crunch. I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving break. No school, only turkey, rolls, and pie. Oh, and sleep. Lots of sleep. Does it get any better than that?

And the nothing because I feel like I haven't been able to get anything done because our computer caught a virus and we haven't had a computer at home for the past couple of weeks. We ended up buying one and it arrived yesterday. Hallelujah! It's shiny and nice. It was hard not being able to get my schoolwork done when I was here but the computer was not!

My back went out Wednesday. Stupid thing. I went to the doctor and he gave me some anti-inflammatory pills and some muscle relaxers. He told me to just take half of a muscle relaxer because a whole pill might knock me out too much. My family has a high tolerance for drugs so the half pill didn't do much last night. I think I'll go without tonight. Hopefully I'll sleep a little better. The doctor also recommended physical therapy, which I tried to make an appointment for but they put me on hold for over 10 minutes. I got frustrated and hung up. I should call back but I haven't. . . yet. I will. Eventually. :)

My ward had a Visiting Teaching Conference last night. It was nice to get to know my partner a little bit better. That's always hard for me to get visiting teaching rolling when I don't know my partner very well. I just need to step out of my comfort zone more often.

Anybody going (or has anybody gone) to New Moon? I am a closet Twilight Book Series fan. I feel like I have to be or I get ridiculed for being unintelligent. Hey, I like the books for their entertainment value, not their literature value. It's my brain melt. My niece said the movie was good, much better than the first, so I'm looking forward to it. Can you believe I'm lucky enough to have a husband who is willing to go with me? Yeah, Ben rules.

Poetry

So, I'm finally braving it and posting a poem from this semester. It's one my professor asked me to read in class. Hopefully you all enjoy it. And if not, just don't tell me. Just kidding, critique away!


Chips of Paint

From the wall of rich trees apples thump onto unkempt grass,
green upon layer of green.

From the low-set window she watches them fall
and flinches as angry words fly from the kitchen,
shouts and bangs hanging in the air.
She plays with her tiny porcelain figurines,
wrapping herself in their world of painted-on smiles,
prim, lacy dresses and well-tailored suits.
Obedient little girls and boys.

Outside, the house paint is cracked and chipping,
showing signs of years of neglect,
but no one notices,
for the apples trees with their juicy burden
curtain the house from a pointing audience.

And she sits, staring outside at her green world,
her sunny hair sliding down the sides of her anxious face.
Each time another apple drops she watches,
knowing that the leaves will soon turn yellow and twist to the ground
and stripped of leafy flesh and fruit
the trees will bare their naked arms,
exposing the empty held within.

For the love of laundry!

That phrase is definitely a two-edged sword for me. I love laundry, it smells fabulous, but at the same time I despise it. It never sleeps, I think it breeds while I'm out of the house, and to have someone else pitch in and help requires diagrams and detailed instructions. Oi vay.

But I saw something at Wal-Mart today that lifted my spirits, as much as they can be lifted when thinking along laundry lines. . . no pun intended. I love Gain detergent but I haven't been able to buy it since we bought our front-loading washing machine because it requires the high-efficiency detergent. But now, they have Gain he! I'm so happy, I could cry. . . and do laundry. :)

Random Tidbits...again.

I really hate that it's been so long since I've posted. Especially because I'm sure I've missed some great writing opportunities by being so darn stinking busy with school! I was commenting on a friend's blog and realized my fingers haven't buzzed over the keys in a while, and I've missed that!

Her post was about her kids writing a message to her (in what looked like candy Nibs) that said, "I love you." It was done by her almost four-year-old, and her kindergartner (I think). I commented on how nice it is to know that we're loved and appreciated, especially by those we love and appreciate, which reminded me of the great and funny things my kids have said this week. So here's a little recap.

Saturday morning is usually waffle morning at our house. My awesome and amazing mother-in-law gave us an old waffle iron that she wasn't using, or that her mom wasn't using, and it makes great waffles. So we usually make a double batch, freeze them, and pop them in the toaster during the week so the kids don't have to eat cereal all the time.

Well, I realized in the middle of the mixing that I was short on oil. It always happens when I've put almost all of the ingredients together that I realize I don't have enough of something. Does that happen to you? Anyway, Melanie and I quickly got dressed to go grab some oil, and of course, Riley wanted to come. He was still in his pajamas so I just threw a jacket and some shoes & socks on him and out the door we went.

We got to the store and Riley was holding my hand, and just being his normal chipper self when slowly I feel his body start to stiffen and he kind of starts to hunch down and slow his step. I look down at him and ask, "What's wrong?"

He turns to me, and with a very concerned face glances over at the cashier and whispers, "Do you think she'll say 'No pajamas allowed?'" I quickly told him he was fine and that people come to the store in their pajamas all the time. He recovered in no time and we headed down the aisle for some oil. There was a man pushing a big broom down the aisle, and Riley, being his normal friendly self, said, "Hi!"

"Hi there," the man replied.

"I'm having waffles for breakfast," stated Riley.

"Really?" the man said. "Can I come to your house and eat?"

"Sure," Riley replied. "Someday."

After much muffled laughter from Melanie and me, we bought the oil and went home. I went straight to the kitchen to finish up the waffles, when Riley came in and started jumping up and down and saying, "I'm ready for you to hold me now!"

I need to insert a little back story here. I'm always cold. Carter has inherited Ben's built in furnace capabilities and so I always tell him to come toast me up. Riley has picked up on the idea that I like being toasted. Anyway...

I turned to Riley and said, "I can't hold you right now. I've got to finish making the waffles. Sorry, bud."

Without a pause he sidled right up to me, smiled, and rubbed his little palm against my leg and said, "See? I'm toasty."

That morning was one of the funniest I've had in a long time. It's days like that that make me realize what a great and worthwhile sacrifice my kids are.

Riley wasn't the only one who was funny this week. Carter also made me giggle, and this requires a little back story as well. Around our house, we talk about who has what "superpower." Ben is the Finadiator (thank you, K.C.). That means he finishes every body's food, and he has his own built-in radiator, thus the toasting. I won't tell you what Mel's superpower is because she'd kill me if I did. Carter is called "Brainmelt" because if you turn on a video game or the TV or the computer, he is GONE! Riley's superpowers change daily depending on if he's Batman or Sonic or Link, you get the picture.

Anyway, I let Carter have chocolate syrup on his waffle this morning and I told him he could take a homemade Oreo for his morning recess snack. He then proceeded to tell me that my superpower is being nice. Man, I wish I could say that my kids say that about me all the time! I guess it's a good goal to aspire to, huh? :)

Poetic Irony and Me Rolling My Eyes

Last week there was a Creative Writing Conference at SUU...which I didn't attend. Mainly because last week was one of those weeks when I wondered why in the world I'm going to school, and also because I had a nasty cold. As part of the conference there were two writers invited to speak. One is a fiction writer and one writes poetry. Since I'm in a poetry class, my teacher scheduled to have this poet, we'll call him "Bob" come and speak with our class last Thursday.

I was looking forward to Bob's visit. We had been reading out of his recent book of new and collected poetry, and although some of it made me go, "Huh?" most of it was nicely done. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in his visit.

I'll admit he gave some good advice. He told us that spewing out words on the page, the good with the bad, is a good way to write because you can go back later and clean up the messy bits. He said that what you're interested in and involved with quite frequently will make it's way into your poetry, and it should. But then, he had some qualities that, for me, stereotyped him into this "poet" category.

One time he made a comment along the lines of disbelief that someone in an upper division poetry class could never have read a Shakespeare play. Whistle, whistle, whistle. That would be me. He also said he never reads contemporary poetry or fiction. He tries not to read anything after written after 1945, with very few exceptions. So, apparently he shouldn't read his own poetry? He works in workshops at Standford. So does that mean he doesn't read his students' poetry either?

Yesterday in class we discussed some of the things we learned from his visit (I kept my mouth shut), and my professor mentioned what the poet had done after our discussion last week. As the students filtered out, he turned to my professor and said, "Look at that!"

"Look at what?" my professor asked.

"That pencil sharpener! I haven't seen one of those in years. It's so beautiful." he said. She then went on to say that this is what he does. Even while he's discussing with other people he's constantly taking in his surroundings. And she told us that's why she had to guard his time so carefully, because he gets tired very quickly from doing that.

Seriously? He gets tired from noticing a manual pencil sharpener? Are you kidding me? I'll just die if I come across a poem of his entitled, "Ode to a pencil sharpener in Cedar City." Really, I'll just keel over and leave this world, probably from laughing too hard.

Still Breathing

That title is truly how I feel. That freshman oomph from last year is totally gone, and that leaves me so unmotivated with school.

Ben has just started working on his master's so it's a bit hectic at our house. The only person not going to school is Riley! Melanie is doing great in 6th grade. She advanced to the pre-algebra class, which is awesome. She has definitely noticed an increase in expectations and homework, but so far she has been handling it really well. Carter is adjusting slowly to 1st grade. He's such a bright kid, and a truly amazing reader, and he's awesome with numbers, but he'd rather be home with Riley and me than at school. He's plugging along though.

My classes are fine. Like I said, I'm just trying to get motivated! I'm really enjoying my geology class...don't tell Ben. He'll try to and convince me to change my major! But that is probably my favorite class, and it's an online class, so that's saying a lot. I don't like online classes at all. I'd much rather be face-to-face with my teachers.

Sorry this post is such a boring update. I just haven't had time to write anything interesting or creative. Maybe I'll get a bee in my bonnet and get going someday soon.

Random College Tidbits

Tomorrow is my first day of school. I'm excited, but not enough that I can't sleep, unlike Melanie who didn't get to sleep until nearly 11:00 the night before school. Buying books for too much money is like a lightning strike to my school excitement.

I had a few thoughts and things to share before I get to school.

Here are the classes I'm taking this semester.

Intermediate Poetry Writing - I took creative writing from the same professor last semester and loved it. The class from Spring Semester compiled three different forms of creative writing - poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. This class focuses on poetry. Melanie loved the fact that one of my books for this class was about different forms of Haiku. The first half of the class will be focused on closed form poetry (writing a Haiku, sonnet, etc.) and the second half is open form (writing whatever we feel). I think both will be interesting, but closed form will definitely be more challenging. I'll have to write what I feel and fit it into someone else's form.

Introduction to Critical Literature and Theory - This English course will be a challenge for me. I've never taken a class that deals with any kind of theory, and so the subject idea will be new. And you should see the book for this class. I call it the purple bible, and it has over 2,000 pages. No joke. In double columns. With footnotes...well citations really, but it so reminds me of scripture. The English department chair, Dr. Kurt Harris, is teaching the class. I've contacted him through email a few times and he seems very friendly and helpful. Other students I've talked to said how accommodating he is. He's the one who waived English 1010 for me. These first two classes will actually have people I know in them! That's the first time that will have happened for me.

Human Development Through the Lifespan - Just a starter course for FLHD (Family Life and Human Development) courses. I've heard really good things about the professor, and I'm excited to get started.

Marriage & Family Relations - My brother-in-law Jon made the comment that this sounds like a class I'd take in church. Funny. This is the same teacher as for Human Development Through the Lifespan. In fact, it's in the same room, too. I told Ben I better find a seat I like because I'll be there for two hours. He said I better get up and walk around so I don't have numb bum.

How the Earth Works - Just a basic Geology course that fills the Physical Science general ed requirement. I'm taking it online, which makes me a teeny bit nervous. I've heard really good things about the ease of the course. It's self-paced and my goal is to finish it between the end of September and the end of October. And I so have a built-in tutor. You should have seen Ben when I opened my box of rocks. I really like Geology so this should be a good class.

On a new note, we have new neighbors. Mostly college boys, I think. I've seen a couple of girls here and there, but I think they just visit. They've been relatively quiet, which is great. Last year's college boys were anything but quiet. But why do they park in my carport? Can't they see the very visible 107 above my slot? The other day we came home and they were parked there. Ben knocked on the door to ask/tell them to move and no one answered. We just pulled in another spot, not someone else's carport, and a few minutes later they had pulled a motorcycle into their own spot. So now they were using their spot and my spot. I guess they get some of my annoyance that carried over from last year when the college boys did the same thing. It's not rocket science to know that the number above the carports matches all the house numbers in these townhouses and that YOU SHOULDN'T PARK IN MY SPOT! Sorry about the ranting. I'm calmed down now. Sort of. Temporarily.

Thursday night I went over to my friend's apartment and helped her organize her room. It was fun (I like organizing stuff), and we giggled, and she let me smell her coffee she brought home from Africa. Oh my goodness, it smelled so good. And everything she pulled out of the bag after the coffee smelled like the coffee. Did I mention I love the smell of coffee? Well, I do.

Anyway, we found this list and it made us roll around the floor in stitches.....probably due to the lateness of the hour, but the next day when I read the list to Ben, he giggled, too.

1. Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

2. Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

3. Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

4. Drive carefully . . . It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.

5. If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

6. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

7. It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

8. Never buy a car you can't push.

9. Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

10. Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep in.

11. The second mouse gets the cheese.

12. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

13. Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

14. Some mistakes are too fun to only make once.

15. We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty, and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

16. Some days it's all fetching and no pats on the head.

Ta-Da! Carter can tie his shoes!

So he's in first grade and he should already know how to tie his shoes. But last year we bought him shoes that stretched on, not tied on. I was a mean mom this year and told him he had to pick shoes that laced up or he wasn't getting any. He's been working on tying his church shoes for a long time, so it didn't take him to long to get it down. He was so proud of himself.Don't you love that adorable grin?



His proud, sassy, and slightly chocolately face.

I tried so hard to teach him to tie his shoes the way I do, but it just wasn't working. The way I tie my shoes is really weird...just like me! Thank goodness he has an awesome older sister who could teach him to tie his shoes the normal way!

The Technologically Challenged

That would be me. I'd rather take notes with a pen and paper than with a laptop. I'd rather write a letter than send an email. I'd rather heat a can of soup on the stove than stick it in the microwave.

But I've learned a lot. For example, I figured out stuff on my cell phone. Well, not a lot, but enough to help out my seriously technologically challenged parents program their phone. My mom still grapples with the idea that a cell phone can take and send a picture! Thus we can plainly see that my childhood was not abundant in technology.

Anyway, I spent the last hour working to turn my blog into a 3-column layout. I had to read, then re-read, then re-read again the instructions on how to do so. It actually worked on my first try! But then I couldn't get my stuff from my right sidebar to move to the left sidebar like they were easily supposed to do. I finally got all my information transferred, but I can almost guarantee I did it the long and hard way, and that there was surely a shortcut out there. The thing is, I would have no idea where to look for the shortcut.

So, are any of you savvy with a computer or anything with a plethora of buttons, knobs, and dials? If you are, please send your vibes my way, so that one day I will be willing and able to enjoy doing things either manually or automatically!

Bingo!

Months ago Melanie came home from visiting her cousins and told us about this game they play while driving. Every time you see a yellow vehicle you shout out "Bingo!" before anyone else does. It's quite an addictive game. The kids picked up on it and Riley loves to play it. Ben gets me all fired up when we go to St. George, and I literally start shouting "Bingo!" as soon as I see one. We even got my mom hooked on it, and now whenever I take her to the store she's usually the first one to spy a yellow vehicle and shout "Bingo!"

So yesterday I asked Ben how Riley did during Sharing Time and Singing Time in Primary. For a couple of months he was having trouble adjusting to his new teachers, but he's doing so much better. Anyway, Ben just chuckled and I asked him what happened.

"Well," he said, "they played the fishing game. You know, the one where they catch a fish and then sing a song?"

"Sure," I replied.

"What do you think Riley did when they pulled out the yellow fish?" he asked.

"Oh, man," I said, covering my face with my hand. "He shouted Bingo didn't he?"

"Of course he did," Ben chuckled.

It really is addictive. Just ask either Grandma Jeanne or Grandma Cathy what Riley says when they're wearing yellow shirts. ;)

Tangy Honey Mustard Sauce

Here's another delicous recipe from my ward cookbook. Carter kept saying, "This is like sweet and sour sauce, Mom. I love it!" Carter usually doesn't say he loves any food except for pancakes, waffles, syrup, and bubble gum.

Tangy Honey Mustard Sauce

1/2 heaping cup mayonnaise
3 Tbsp lemon juice
6 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
6 Tbsp honey

Mix ingredients well and enjoy!

(We use the Best Foods Mayo made with Canola Oil. It turned out great with that.)

Fajita Marinade

I just love ward cookbooks! They always have some really good recipes lurking in their pages, and I happened upon one yesterday. I wanted chicken fajitas but I didn't have any seasoning. I looked in the ward cookbook for my current ward and lo and behold there was a recipe for a marinade. It's delicious, tastes much better than any store bought seasoning I've ever tried, and is so much better on the sodium scale. I hope you try it out and enjoy it as much as I did!

Fajita Marinade
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (I used the kind in my fridge)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Place 2 lbs uncooked chicken (I stripped mine first) into a quart-sized ziploc bag and add marinade. Shake bag to thoroughly coat all pieces; marinate in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.

(I grilled mine in a pan and they were moist and delicious. I'm sure you could grill them and they'd also be delicious.)

Allergic Addictions

Riley has always loved string. When he was just a baby I made him a fleece blanket that had ties all around the edges. He loved that blanket and still does. It sleeps with him every night. Because of the ties there were occasionally frayed edges that dangled little bits of string. When he was younger, Riley wasn't strong enough to pull them hard enough to get the string to detach, but he pulled until the piece of string was long enough to curl around his pacifier or across his top lip. He just rubbed and rubbed pieces of string across his face.

Now all the strings from that blanket have been pulled off and lost one by one. But Riley's attachment to string hasn't diminished. He now will pull strings from anything he can. For example, the pillow covers on my living room pillows have this rough, slightly shaggy texture, from which he can grab hold of a small piece of the fabric and pull it out to produce a short piece of string. He's done this so much the pillows have become threadbare in several spots.

This summer, instead of buying new shorts for my kids, I took all their school pants that had holes in them, cut them off, and voila! Shorts! As you probably know, once cut off jeans are washed they really fray. I trimmed most of the strings, but Riley found the ones I didn't. And through repeated washings the shorts have continued to fray, and Riley has continued to find the strings.

The other day the kids were sitting on the floor watching TV when Riley decided that his own shorts were void of string. To amend this issue he reached over to his sister's shorts and began pulling the strings from her shorts. She laughed and shouted playfully, "Riley, what are you doing? Leave my shorts alone."

Riley retorted, "I can't help it! I'm allergic to string!"

Allergic?

Later that week upon watching the fireworks Riley spouted, "I'm allergic to fireworks!"

Allergic?

Still later that week after seeing some people outside our apartment, "I'm allergic to neighbors!"

Allergic?

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

As I was telling my sister-in-law about this story, she asked him, "What else are you allergic to?"

Riley paused to consider the question, and then replied in a slow passionate voice, "I'm allergic to chocolate."

Personally, I think Riley is addicted to being crazy.

I'm So Lucky

I really am. Ben and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary this month. Crazy, I tell you. I can't believe he's put up with me for this long. I think my parents are still bribing him to do so.

I got home from playing pickleball yesterday morning, and do you know what smell hit my nose? Pine Sol. For a woman who HATES mopping the floor, that is a great smell, especially when I wasn't the one using the Pine Sol. The dishes had been washed and as I closed the front door I heard the sound of the vacuum being pushed around upstairs.

I've done most of the cleaning since Ben and I have been married. Mostly because he was working and I chose to stay home with our kids, and I didn't mind (and still don't) keeping the house clean. I inherited that from my mom. But since I've started going back to school a lot of the responsibility has fallen on Ben, and he has come through beautifully. He doesn't think of it has doing this for me, but that it just needs to be done, and he does it.

And the kicker to my luck is that he made eclairs yesterday. Oh. My. Goodness. They were scrumptious. I'm not going to even tell you how many I ate yesterday, it's just embarrassing. But as Riley says, "I couldn't help it!"

Where did you go, June?

Seriously, where? HOW is it already June 28th, with only two more days in this month to go? I mean I know how, but where did June go? This Saturday is the 4th of July! I love summer, it's so nice to take a break from reality, which is what I do during the summertime, but I also hate summer because it sneaks up on me, shouts "Boo!" and then it's over!

Even though I don't know where June went it will be nice when it's over because Ben is now done with work. Yay! He worked the month of June at his school, their schedule is a little different than other Iron County schools. Anyway, he's all done, and now we're hoping to pin down some things our family would like to do this summer. Possibly visit Zion or head to the Grand Canyon. Our kids like to go out and play tennis with us. Actually, Melanie plays with us, Carter makes sound effects when he swings his racket and eventually comes up with some game involving monsters, and Riley is excellent at fetching balls. We'll definitely get out with them a couple of times a week.

I've been playing pickleball with some ladies on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I love it! Some people (ahem, my brother-in-law Jon) think it's a sport for old people. Jon told me maybe he'll learn it when he's older. You know, when he can't quite get to the racquetball in time? I say, bring it on, Jon, bring it on. :) But it's actually a lot of fun. The court looks like a miniature tennis court. It's similar to tennis in the way you swing, except you have a big paddle and the balls are like large wiffle balls. There are a few different rules, certain places you can't stand on the court. SUU has indoor and outdoor pickleball courts, and it's free for me to play on them. Otherwise, it's only $2 for the use of the courts and balls, and depending upon who is working in the equipment cage, you can rent the paddle for free. I'm hoping to teach Ben this week. I'm even taking a pickleball class this fall. I have class during the time my ladies play on Tuesday and Thursday, and taking the class enables me to play during the school year and better learn the rules of the game. You know how people sometimes leave out the rules they don't know when they're teaching someone else? Like a certain pretty blond telling me the lines were out when she taught me tennis? :)

The only bad thing about June being over is that I told Melanie she couldn't have a sleepover until her dad was done with work. Well, he's done now, and I'm going to hear "Can we have a sleepover?" ALL THE TIME! That's fine though, because the only people we have sleepover are her cousins, and they're family so it's not stressful. Just busy. And sometimes busy is OK.

Summer Games Update

THE BAD:

My everything hurts. My hand is killing me. I wasn't in the best shape for tennis in the first place, but four matches in one day just about did me in. Last night when I was done my left knee around the outside edge was just painful. I couldn't figure out why my left knee hurt and not my right. It's not like I lunge more on that side or anything. I eventually solved the mystery. It's the way I pick up the tennis ball. I use the inside of my left foot and my racket to lift the ball. I guess my knee just didn't like doing that movement a million times yesterday.

I didn't place. Having not played serious tennis in a while, I knew coming in the odds weren't stacked in my favor.

I made copious amounts of unforced errors. It's one thing when my opponent hits a nice shot, but when I just keep acting like it's baseball and not tennis it makes me crazy.

I felt like I haven't seen my family in the last week. What with my back hurting this week and people being so generous when I asked for their help with my kids, and then the USG, I feel like I haven't had any time with them.

I'm tired. Exhausted. Worn out. Practically dead.

THE GOOD:

I had fun! I played doubles with my niece Kya, which was great. We won two matches and lost two - even though one of our wins was by forfeit - I'll take what I can get. It was fun to get to know her a little better.

I learned a lot about my tennis game and what areas I really need to work on. I need to follow through and not hit the ball long. Had I not done that, I would have won several more games. My serve needs some power. It spins nicely, but it's quite weak.

Not only did I have fun, but I did that and played competitively at the same time. That has never happened for me. It's usually fun OR competitive, not both. I was happy whether I won or lost.

I realized how much my family loves me. I had a lot of support watching not only my matches, but my kids as well. Tennis didn't exactly hold Riley's attention very long. Imagine that.

I'll definitely be playing in the USG next year. Ben won't be working during June and he wants to play mixed doubles. That should be some definite fun! As long as I don't get smacked with the ball when he serves. It's happened before. Ouch.

When the timing really stinks...

As in today I'm playing tennis in the Utah Summer Games and my back went out Monday. Needless to say, I'm a little...frustrated. That's putting it mildly.

My back is still quite tight and I'm supposed to play singles this morning at 11:00 and doubles with Kya at 2:00. And those are just the initial matches. Whether I win or lose I will be playing two more matches today.

It's not a big deal if I can't compete to the best of my ability, but it's much easier writing that fact than living it! I know there is a lesson in every trial in my life, but could I please be given the cliff notes on this one and get on with it!

On a lighter note, you know your six-year-old has been watching too much TV when he picks up a box that looks like the Splenda box (we have Carnation Instant Breakfast boxes at our house, and it looks similar to the Splenda box) and says: "This looks like Splenda no-calorie sweetener. It's just like sugar and you can put it in your lemonade and it tastes really good." I just shook my head. I guess there are far worse commercials he could have found interest in!

Stickystuffaphobia

Yeah, I don't know the medical term for it, but Riley has it, and here is his story.

He really doesn't like band-aids, stickers, tape, or anything of that sticky nature. Now, he doesn't mind food that's sticky - he has no problem at all with that - but anything that might resemble something tape-like sticking to him or his clothing he wants nothing to do with it. From the time he has been able to express his own opinion, and for him it was very early on, he has made it known he does not like sticky things. When I take my kids to Payless to buy shoes, the salespeople will offer my kids a sticker. If Riley is with me, he just shakes his head and says, "No, no, no," and slowly backs away from them. Seriously. It's really funny.

Anyway, the other day he was playing out on the patio and fell and scraped his knee. It was a good little gash and it wouldn't stop bleeding. The cut needed a band-aid. Riley disagreed. He was fine while we washed the cut off with water, and he didn't make a peep when I poured hydrogen peroxide over the wound. He watched ever so still and patient while I applied Neosporin. But when Ben and I mentioned the word "band-aid" he went ballistic. Hysterical. Crying and screaming. Ben attempted to pick him up, but Riley fought him. I want to aptly describe his resistance, but don't know if I can. He wound his legs around the back of Ben's calves and WOULD NOT let go. Neither Ben nor I could untangle him. We just stood there laughing. What else could we do?

He finally relaxed enough to enable me to detach him from Ben's legs, and I held him to try and calm him while Ben snuck over and hastily applied the band-aid. From then until the band-aid was removed 40 minutes later, there was continuous crying. He just cried, and cried. He wouldn't walk because he wouldn't put any pressure on the leg with the cut. He also wouldn't bend the knee on that leg. He needed a bath, so I took off the band-aid before he got in. The crying stopped as quickly as it began.

But there's a second part to the story, and it's even better than the first.

The next day we were running errands. I had just come from that fresh produce stand that is set up next to the Zion's Bank near Wal-Mart. I mentioned to the kids that we were stopping by Grandma Jeanne's so I could run in and pick up a couple of cans from her pantry, and that it was only me that was running inside, everyone else would wait in the car. Well, Riley loves to go to Grandma's, so he wasn't happy about that idea. I tried to explain to him we would be going back to Grandma Jeanne's later in the day, but for now I was just running in by myself. He was all upset and wouldn't listen, so I said, "Riley, if you don't calm down and listen I'm going to put a band-aid on you."

Silence.

He listened after that, and was a nice calm boy.

Ben said I'm a meanie. But really, it's just a band-aid.

Hiking and an accidental experiment with mosquitoes!

On Friday our family decided to take a hike near Kanaraville. Apparently, there is a hike up one of those canyons that has ropes and ladders, and no, that's not the hike we took. Well, if it was, we didn't get far enough in the canyon to find the ropes and ladders.

The kids were troopers. They were tired on and off on the way in and Ben and I took turns giving them occasional piggy-back rides. The next day my back told me Melanie is a little too big to get piggy-back rides anymore!

Melanie loves to draw things from nature - flowers, trees, animals, rocks. So this trip we brought along the camera and she had a blast and went overboard with pictures. There were a lot of beautiful flowers along the way. There was one section that had a bush similar to a rosebush, but the flowers were little pink five-petal flowers. They smelled absolutely amazing. I wish I could have transplanted some to a bucket, but alas, my black thumb would have just killed it. Here are some of my favorites.
I don't know if I took this picture or if it was Melanie who took it. Either way, both of us need to work on focus. I love orange, and these little orange flowers stood out beautifully among the foliage. Besides that great smelling flower that I neglected to get a picture of, this was my favorite. It reminded me of a starfish. The color was this great pinkish reddish. Maybe Tearese can tell me what color that would be? :)


Here's a picture of the kids before they got tired - we're right at the beginning of the hike here. I should have taken pictures of us coming out of the hike because it would have been a totally different picture - literally.

This little guy was one of our favorite finds. He was in a hurry to cross the trail, I'll tell you that much. He didn't want to stop for a photo shoot, but the paparazzi got him anyway.

We actually saw a lot of interesting wildlife out there. We saw a couple of lizards, but they really weren't about to sit still for some camera time. We saw some huge spiders, one of which had these orange and brown stripes. He blended in really well with the red sand. The cicadas were out in droves and we could hear them clicking and buzzing. Did you know cicadas live underground for most of their lives? We found all these little holes on the trail, and a cicada was sticking it's head out. They had also been molting and their skins were everywhere near those holes. Interesting bug.

This little stream was running back and forth throughout the trail. Both Melanie and I loved this picture, where the stream sneaks into the protection of the trees. She said she wanted to take the picture to President Eastmond, our Stake President who is an artist, and ask him to paint it.

We finally made it into the canyon, and turned right back around. This picture of Carter should illustrate why. You know the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Well we had some very hungry mosquitoes. I'm not an outdoorsy type of girl, so you can't blame me, but you can blame Ben because he knew the mosquitoes would be having a "frat party" as he put it. And let me tell you, they were! But, Ben is the only one who paid for it.

You see, I'm not allergic to mosquito bites. They suck my blood just as much as anyone else, but I don't swell up and itch - at all. My dad is the same way. I told Ben even though I inherited his stubbornness, it's a small price to pay for not being allergic to mosquitoes. Anyway, we always wondered whether our kids would be lucky enough to pick that trait up from me. No more wondering. They have. Ben got eaten alive out there. He was still itchy Saturday evening. But not I nor any of our kids had any kind of reaction to the mosquitoes. I can see several places on my arms and legs where I was bitten by the nasty little things, but I never itched or swelled up.

I don't think they like the way I smell because they weren't swarming me like they were Ben and Carter. And it's funny because Carter has the same skin texture as Ben, but Melanie and Riley unfortunately inherited my excema skin. It's rough and bumpy and burns easily. But even though they liked the way Carter tasted, he didn't have a reaction to their bites.

The hike was great, and the funniest part was Melanie at the end. Once we got to the canyon, where there was more water and significantly more mosquitoes, Melanie was so ready to go home. When we turned around she led the way without any complaints. She just started walking and didn't check to see if we were following. Ben said she reminded him of a horse that has smelled home. She smelled the van, and there was nothing we could do to stop her from getting there as soon as possible!

This is about as crafty as I get.

I made some magnets like these a few months ago for my ward's super crafty Saturday Enrichment thingy. Craft-challenged people like me do not usually enjoy those activities, but these magnets are easy to make and inexpensive. I already had the Mod Podge and the hot glue gun. The paper, magnets, and clear stones only cost me about $6.00. Melanie and I made about 18 magnets with our supplies. It was fun and relaxing to sit down with her today and make magnets.


These are the magnets Melanie made. She had fun and did them all by herself, except for the hot glue. I'm too much of a control freak to let her do that.




I made some for Carter and Riley, too. They had this really cute monster paper at the craft store and the boys now have their very own magnets to hang their things on the fridge. I'm not a great photographer so I had trouble getting a good shot of the little monsters (the kind on the magnets, not my little monsters).

I really like making my own because I like to be able to stick six or seven sheets of paper with the magnet. Most store-bought magnets can't handle that. But when I make my own I can use the big magnets and they are heavy duty. So heavy duty that when Carter was playing with his today he tried pulling them apart and ripped one of the magnets off.

Big Surprise? Not Really.

Did the last post tip you off? What is an Elementary Education major doing posting poetry on her blog? Well, first of all, that girl is no longer an Elementary Education major, and second, she likes English and poetry, so of course she's going to post stuff like that on her blog!

That crazy girl went through mental torture the past few weeks. She just couldn't figure out what she wanted to do with her life, but that's because she was fighting against what she knew she should be doing (English) and what she went to school for in the first place - to enjoy what she was doing (English)! She kept getting overwhelmed thinking about being the breadwinner while her husband goes to graduate school when she's done with college. She thought that teaching was the way for her to secure some finances in her family's life.

But she does not want to teach! She doesn't want to fill her life with teaching, because she's afraid that the constant busyness of teaching will take her away from the most important thing in her life - her family. She doesn't want to become consumed with other people's children. She wants to focus on her own. There is no passion in her for teaching.

She loves creative writing. During Spring Semester that girl went with her class to the Braithwaite Art Gallery during their Zion Exhibit. There were beautiful pictures capturing the majesty and strength of Zion National Park, but there was also poetry about Zion - about heritage and nature, about wisdom and youth - written by some of the Intermediate Poetry students. Their poetry enveloped her and she dreamed of having her words on those walls one day.

She wants to keep that dream. She doesn't know if she'll ever get published, but that's not why she's going to school in the first place. She's going because she loves learning for herself. She loves the challenge school brings to her plate, and she loves meeting those challenges and raising the bar for herself.

At the beginning of Spring semester, my friend Julie M. (I have to specify because there are two Julies), mentioned she thought I should post some of my creative writing. I really wasn't sure if I was confident enough in my writing to do so, but I figured why not.

This poem was one of the hardest for me to write and become engaged with. The triggering subject was not the best for me and so I had to get, well, creative. As you read and comment, please remember I'm a novice and before this semester I had not written anything in YEARS!

Buena Vista

My bare arms and legs
stick and squeak
against the blue-and-white-striped
vinyl beach chair.

The noon-day sun
presses heavily
upon my feverish skin
as I lay here
with my eyes closed.
A sun bath.
Instead of like water
underneath me
the heats sits on top of me.

A breeze swirls
my strawberry hair
for a moment
pushing aside
the weight of the fiery sun
in the lazy afternoon.

Small waves
lap at the beach
each orchestrating
the red and brown sand
into a new arrangement.

Desert heat
wind in motion
rhythm of the waves.
A compass to my world.

My Big Water.

What Happens at Our House When the Missionaries Come to Dinner

We had the missionaries over for dinner Friday night. They were very nice, albeit shy, Elders. We ended up feeding them our version of Carl's Jr.'s guacamole burger. They cleaned their plates, but I don't know if that's because the food was good or because they were missionaries. :)

Anyway, the rest of the fun happened after I left. I had a baby shower that night and so I had to skip out when they were still here. When I got home from the shower that night Ben had some great stories for me.

Our friendly little guy, Carter, was chatting with Elder Funbanana. No, of course his name wasn't really Elder Funbanana, but his last name was Polynesian, and I couldn't pronounce it, let alone spell it.

"How old are you," asked Carter of Elder Funbanana.

"I'm 19," Elder Funbanana replied.

"Do you think you'd like to go on a mission when you're 19," Ben questioned Carter.

"Yeah, I think I would," said Carter. They continued to talk while the boys played in and out of the conversation. Later on Carter came back in the kitchen and exclaimed to the Elders, "Well, at least you're not gone for two years!"

"Actually," replied Elder Funbanana, "we are gone for two years."

At this point Carter walked up to Ben, and with tear-filled, milk-chocolate brown eyes and a very sad face he said, "I think I've changed my mind."

Seeing Carter's teary face Ben swallowed a chuckle and said, "Don't worry about it now. You don't need to stress."

"I'm OK," Carter said, wiping his face. "My eyes are just sweating."

After Carter left the room, Elder Funbanana said, "Apparently, I'm not doing a very good job as a missionary if I've only been out for four months and I've already convinced somebody NOT to go on a mission."

I tell you, I don't know what I would do without Carter and Riley and Melanie and their comic relief.

Carter wasn't the only one up to antics last night. Riley had his own little play going on. He was so tired yesterday when they were here. He wasn't doing his usual get-all-hyped-up-when-I'm-tired routine. He was more on the everything-makes-me-cry path. He would start crying about anything and then would look at the missionaries and say, "They keep staring at me!" start crying even harder, and then duck his head under the table. He'd stop for a few seconds, peek up over the table, then proclaim, "They're still starting at me!" start crying again, and duck back under the table.

At least we gave them some good stories for laughs when they report on their missions when they get home, right?

Posted Grades and Patio Cleaning

Well, my grades are posted, which gives a final feeling to the semester. Ahhhh.... it feels nice to really be done with this semester. I am so looking forward to summer break and spending leisure time with my family. We're planning on getting a swim pass for the summer, so it should be fun. Even though it will make it hard to meet my goal of not letting my kids get sunburned!

I sprayed down my patio today. It was so dirty from all the construction they have been doing around us for the past year. They've finally finished landscaping the complexes next to us and so hopefully the dirt will be down to a minimum now. Hopefully. The kids had fun getting their feet wet. Melanie was the smart one and went inside before too long, but the boys stayed out and I ended up soaking them by "making it rain." They thought that was great.

I didn't sit down much today - on the go with shopping and such. It will be nice to sit and get LOST. Hopefully I won't fall asleep while I'm watching!

Last Day of School! Last Day of School!

You know, like on Finding Nemo. Except I'm excited because it's the last day of school, not the first. Come August, I'll be excited because it'll be the first day of school again, and I'm always excited for the first day of school.

Was that me, or was that a mouthful?

I'm lucky enough to only have two finals this semester. One is math and the other one is really not a final. It's just a 25-point quiz for my education class. I love that teacher. His philosophy is that teachers give too much homework - both in grade school and higher education. Bless him.

My goals for the summer? Take a nap every day. I'm not kidding about that. Don't let my kids get sunburned. Does it count that Riley already got sunburned at Grandma Jeanne's today? Oh, well. I can't win them all!

School, nothing, and Riley

A certain friend, (cough, Tearese, cough) teased me because I kept changing my background even though I hadn't written anything new in a while. School has been really crazy, and I feel like I've been tutoring people in math - that in and of itself is scary. I only have one week left of school and then finals, and then SUMMER. That is, if mother nature decides to figure that out.

Anyway, I've been so busy I haven't been able to keep up to date, and I felt like I didn't have anything to say for a while. But of course, Riley will give me something to write about.

A few months ago I noticed one of his eyes doing something weird. It was like it couldn't follow where it was supposed to go. My sister-in-law noticed it too, and I figured it was time for an appointment with the eye doctor.

I took him yesterday, and of course, it's some rare thing. He actually has two weird things going on with his eyes. He has overacting inferior oblique. Basically his inferior oblique muscles that control his eye are too powerful and he can't fight it all the time, so one eye gives way while the other one stays focused. I thought it was just his left eye that went unfocused, but the doctor showed me and it's actually both eyes. It's mainly cosmetic. It won't hinder him developmentally. They will see us again in four months to see if the condition is any worse. They eventually can do a surgery for it, but it's not 100 percent correctable. The doctor said it's really uncommon. He maybe sees two to three kids a year with this.

The other thing the doctor found was that Riley has retinal coloboma. Basically there was something going on while his eyes were forming in utero and that affected his retina. It's like there is a gap in his retina. They took a picture of his eye at the office - it was the coolest thing to see. Anyway, he's sure it's not a tumor on his retina (like retinal blastoma) but he wants to get a second opinion. We go in again in May when a retinal specialist will be in the doctor's office to check it out.

Ben and I both googled these conditions to find out more. There is mostly just medical jargon on the overacting inferior oblique, but the coloboma had some interesting material. Coloboma is connected to a syndrome called CHARGE that is to believed to be caused by a disruption of fetal growth during the first three months of pregnancy and affecting many different organ systems undergoing development at that time. I had some issues with my pregnancy around 16 weeks, and discovered I had a subchorionic hemorrhage. There can also be urogenital abnormalities associated with CHARGE, like undescended testicles. Remember Riley's inguinal hernias? Not as dramatic as undescended testicles, but they both kind of take the same path.

The doctor also asked if Riley has always had such a prominent forehead, like mine. It's a good thing I don't get offended easily! That got me thinking that this is all connected, because it took nearly three years for his fontanel to completely close. There is still a tiny little soft spot on his head now!

I don't know if he has CHARGE, or what the route would be if he did. He's a little smarty pants and everything else with him is developing well. It's just interesting to see all the relations with this stuff.

Riley has always been the one to do things his way. Melanie and Carter were angel babies, and Riley is balancing them out with all his mischief!

It's That Time Again!

It really is that time again! Major changing time. You knew it was going to happen, didn't you? I hoped it wouldn't, but it's really great that it has.

I've decided to major in Elementary Education for a number of reasons, some of which are because I do not want to major in English. Not that I feel the need to justify my decision, most college students change their major several times, or wait a couple of semesters before deciding anyway. But I feel sometimes like I need to convince myself. Here are my reasons, in no particular order.

#1. I found out I do not want to major in English. That is probably what spurred my desire to find a new major. The biggest reason I don't want to major in English is because I can't spend four more years debating with professors about papers. What I mean is when I turn in a paper with my ideas on it, and I get back a grade I don't think reflects what my work earned, and some of that grade is because the teacher didn't think I "dug deep enough" it drives me crazy. Well, I didn't dig deep - because that 's how I read things. I'm not a "find the hidden message" sort of girl. I can read books over and over again and enjoy them just as much as the first time. This reason is the only one not associated with education that made my decision to switch majors.

#2. I have really enjoyed my education general ed class. I know it's super easy, and there is not much required of me, but it got me thinking about education, what kind of teacher I can be, what I can do in the classroom, etc. Had I not taken that class for a general ed requirement, I don't think I would have leaned toward education.

#3. It is such a good fallback for my family. And it's something I would enjoy doing - at least I think I would. I'll never know until I'm actually in the classroom, but I think I'll have a better experience with my education if I have the idea that I will do well as a teacher.

#4. I actually know a lot of people who are majoring in education, and while it's nice to have friends to take classes with, that's not why I will do it. Since I know these people it helps me to see all the types of personalities that work well with education.

#5. Elementary Education really fits my personality and learning style. One thing that always stressed me out when choosing a major was me thinking, "How can I be good enough to do well in the upper division courses for this area?" I'm a very well-rounded learner. I like a collection of subjects, and Elementary Education allows me to gain knowledge and then teach in each subject. This is actually one of the reasons I'm most excited to take education classes.

#6. The Department Chair and the Academic Advisor are really helpful. Most of the advisors I've spoken with already were the same way. When I was admitted as a music major, the PVA Advisor was great. I actually already know the Education Chair - he was my 7th grade core teacher, and I really liked him back then, too. The advisor is really helpful and knows her stuff. She'll also register you early as soon as you know what classes you want, and even if you don't she'll help you figure out a schedule and then register you. It's very nice.

Anyway, after this post I'm now convinced! Just kidding, I was convinced before I wrote this post!

Science Fair Results

A few of you who read my previous post asked about which stain remover Melanie discovered worked best. Well, here's the skinny. And just so you know - the stain remover didn't really matter much in the end.

Melanie had four squares of white fabric - an old T-shirt she had cut up to use for her project. She then "spilled" approximately 1/4 tsp of ketchup on each, scraped as much off as she normally would if she had spilled on herself, which she does all the time, and then applied different stain removers. I use Shout remover and that is the store-bought remover she used against her homemade removers. She also used a combination of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, a combination of lemon juice and salt, and diluted bleach. She let each treatment sit on the stain for about 15 minutes. The bleach did the best, but of course it was white fabric. The Shout did really well, too - she could barely see the stain.

Anyway, we laundered all the pieces of fabric like I normally would after applying a stain remover - I through them all in the wash with some HE Tide with Bleach. After the wash cycle, all the squares were equally clean. So the Tide is actually what turned out to be the best stain remover. I would have to spill ketchup on four squares of white fabric again, and then launder them without the stain removers to see if the Tide works fine by itself, which I think it does.

On a side note that doesn't pertain to Mel's project, but to laundry...The other day Riley decided to eat a chocolate pudding. I use the word "eat" loosely, as it was more like he was slurping the pudding. You know the part on A Christmas Story where the mom tells the little boy to show her how the piggies eat? Yeah, it was kind of like that - only with chocolate pudding, and I was NOT prompting him to eat that way. Anyway, he got pudding all over the shoulder of his orange polo shirt. I sprayed some Shout on that the next day before throwing it in the laundry, and it came out nicely. No sign of pudding anywhere.

Best wishes to you and your laundry.

Melanie's Science Fair & Spring Break

Last week was the Science Fair for the fifth graders at Fiddlers Elementary. Melanie did her experiment on which stain removers work best - maybe because she tends to spill on herself. She did all of the work herself. I took pictures, and occasionally gave her some direction. She won third place in her class and qualified to compete in the District Science Fair, where she says she will have to sit ALL DAY by her project while people walk by and look at it. Ben told her to take a book.

It was fun for her to do so well. It was not her goal to get a ribbon, she was just having fun with the experiment. She came home the day she won and told me, but we didn't tell Ben because she wanted to wait and surprise him at the open house that night. It was so cute to watch her face as she watched her dad notice the ribbon. Good job, Melanie!

With the Science Fair and everything else that went on last week, the timing for Spring Break could not be better. I really have no plans, and that is perfect for me. Usually I am on-the-go all the time, which I enjoy, but once in a while I like to sit. And that is what I'm doing this week. Do you have any idea how nice it was to get the laundry washed, folded, and put away all in one day? I haven't accomplished that since school started last Fall!

It's nice for the boys to have a little extra Mom time. Carter and I are playing Zelda 'til our hearts' content. I can stay in my pajamas all day if I want to. I don't, but I can.

Once school resumes I'll only have five weeks of school left, plus finals. Crazy! I am so looking forward to summer, swimming, and warm weather! I know I'm jumping the gun, what with living in Cedar City, and as a guy in my English class said, "If you don't like the weather just wait 20 minutes," but it will be nice to be done with the cold for a while. Now watch, because I said that it will snow this week. If it does, I apologize.

There's a First Time for Everything

I really shouldn't be blogging right now. This week is midterm, which explains why I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I should be finishing my short story for creative writing that is due tomorrow, or finishing my math review so I'm better prepared for the test tomorrow, or studying for my poetry midterm. But, as you can tell, I'm not. I would have been doing some of those things this afternoon, but after the letter I got in the mail I was just too darn excited. Do you want to know what it said? OK, I'll tell you. It read:

Dear Mellissa,

Congratulations! Based on your outstanding academic achievements, you have been selected as the recipient of a scholarship at Southern Utah University. The details of your scholarship are as follows:

The letter then goes on to give details about my scholarship. It's a Current Student Scholarship for 1 year (2 semesters) for $1800, which will be disbursed over fall and spring semesters. I have to keep a 3.6 GPA and be enrolled for at least 12 credit hours.

I am so excited! I know people get scholarships all the time, but not me. I get some money for school through Pell Grants, but that's different. Pell Grants say I'm poor enough to qualify for their money. A scholarship says I'm smart enough that they're going to pay me to go to school. Isn't that cool?

And the timing couldn't have been better either. The past few weeks I've been really struggling to keep up with school and home, and I've felt like I haven't done either very well. I was almost in tears the other day because I couldn't keep the toilets clean! Yikes. That emotional outburst was probably due to the fact that everyone, except Ben (knock on wood), has been sick over the course of three weeks. I'm on day 10 of trying to get rid of my sinus congestion.

I'm so blessed in my life. I could not function without Ben. He is my life preserver. He keeps me afloat even though sometimes I bring unnecessary baggage. I have a support grow with my in-laws. I could not manage this without them. And although my family is insane, I've learned how to stay tough and trundle through life when things get messy. I'm also very grateful for a Heavenly Father, who knows what I need and when I need it, even though I don't recognize His hand often enough in my life.

Thanks, everyone, for all you do for me. You'll never know how much you mean to me.

Quote of the Day

"Winter. It was like a roller coaster of....blah." - Curious George

You know you're tired and have been doing too much math homework when...

Your conversation on facebook with your brother goes something like this:

I posted my status as: Mellissa is worried her brain just might turn into a function after all the insane math homework tonight. F(x) = screaming.

Gregg: where x = husband... and kids!

Me: No kidding!

Gregg: Hair loss is directly proportional to the # of Judes in the house.

Me: The amount of urine on the underside of the toilet seat varies jointly with the amount of times Riley uses the toilet.

As you all can see, I need serious psychological (and possibly mathematical) assistance.

What Sunday did for me.

Yesterday was such a good day. It was a great end to a crazy week, and a great beginning outlook for the rest of my semester.

Last week at school was crazy. I really enjoy my English classes, but the workload with them is a bit heavier. I don't mind, it just occupies my time, and last semester I had a lot of free time on my hands. Not so much this semester. Anyway, I had a paper due Friday that I was stressed about for many reasons: I'm not familiar with the professor so I don't know how she grades/what she expects; I'm always nervous about the first paper or test for the first reason; my professor didn't explain what she really wanted until Wednesday, and I'm not someone who likes to write a two-page paper in two days. By the time I handed in the paper I was a nervous and slightly downtrodden wreck. As a side note, my anxiety gets so bad that the first math test I had last semester gave me nightmares that involved Nazis, since that was the theme of the book I was reading at the time of the test. Nazi math tests - not good.

I have to admit I have a slight obsession with wanting an A. Ever since I found out I can earn an A, it's like I am holding myself up to that perfect standard. Need I remind myself that I have three kids at home, which is a 24-7 job in and of itself? I forget that sometimes in my quest for perfection. I have to let it go, and Sunday helped me to do that.

There wasn't anything spectacular said. Our choir sang and they were amazing, as usual. I love how we can take a hymn and work it up to really bring the Spirit to the meeting. I was the substitute teacher for Melanie's primary class, and that was actually a lot of fun. Choir practice is directly after church, so we're there from 1:00 to 5:00. Usually I'm griping about how long we're there, but yesterday was just different.

I came home and while I was putting away my scriptures and things I realized that school is great and important, but it doesn't matter. I'm still going to graduate, but not with perfect grades at the expense of my family, my sanity, or my spiritual well-being. It was such a good, gentle feeling. I don't feel the Spirit very often, usually because I'm so stubborn. Yesterday was a nice change of pace.

Now, I just need to keep that my focus and everything else will fall in place.

If you want a good laugh, read on.

Sunday was an eventful day, although not all events were revealed to me until last night. Some of you have already heard this story, so just be patient and humor me for a minute, and there will be an ending that brings tears to your eyes. What kind of tears, I won't say.

In sacrament meeting on Sunday our bishop was speaking, and he was relating his story to baking cookies. He said the phrase, "I love cookies." Well, of course Riley had to make sure our bishop knew he liked cookies, so he raised his hand high in the air and spoke (in a very loud voice), "I like cookies, too!" The ladies sitting in front of us (Becky Eastmond and her mom) were shaking they were laughing so hard. They like sitting by us, because apparently they find Riley very entertaining. I don't agree.

But there's more. How I wish there wasn't more, but there so is.

Ben came home from work last night and said, "Are you ready to be embarrassed?" He had this huge grin on his face, like he had the best news in the whole wide world. I told him to get on with it and just spit it out, thinking I had done something to warrant my being embarrassed. Then he said, "I was talking to Kayleen today..." Well, you see, Kayleen is Riley's Sunbeam teacher. At that point I put my head in my hands and just waited for the bomb to drop.

On Sunday Riley's Sunbeam class was sitting in a circle. This was the first time Riley had been to Sunbeams yet because he had been sick the previous two weeks. For those of you who don't know Riley very well, please keep in mind that he has a very playful personality and he loves to tease. Anyway, he walks over to his teacher and smacks her on the bum. She turns around and very nicely tells him that we don't do that. And of course Riley has a reply for her: "I do it to my mom at home."

It was at that point in the story that my laughing was mixed with my tears of embarrassment. Ben thought it was great fun - he wasn't embarrassed at all. I was mortified. What am I supposed to say to that primary teacher? She was really sweet and told Ben she didn't know what to say because she and her husband thought it was so funny. Funny my foot.

So, for any of you struggling to keep your little ones quiet at church, just be thankful they're not spanking their primary teachers and telling them it's OK because they do it to their mom at home.