Sunny's first photo shoot.

We had a Golden Retriever puppy picked out in Vegas. We were going to celebrate Christmas here and welcome home our first dog! But just a few weeks after we paid our deposit, Cindy and Matt announced their wedding date... December 19th. Uh-oh. We thought about going up to Utah for the wedding and turning around to come home for Christmas. But knowing that my parents were going on a mission and this was probably the last time the WHOLE family would be together, spending a day or two didn't seem like enough time.

So we had a change of plans... I decided to look for puppies in Utah so we didn't have to drive up with her (like that could happen... 6 hours in a car trying to hide a puppy from your kids, I don't think so.) The minute I found the ad for Goldens in the Salt Lake Classified, I had a feeling this was our dog (that was never the feeling I had with the first one, I was always feeling a little iffy.)

Sunny was the only female left from the litter of 10 and we put our deposit down as soon as we saw these pictures. She was about 5 weeks or so here. I wish she could have stayed little for longer. I can't get over how CUTE she was!! But it makes me SO EXCITED to know that we will eventually have puppies of our own.

what up.

Thanksgiving ended today for us. The big meal with the in-laws was on Saturday... it was a fab weekend that went by too quickly. Lots of pictures to come later. For now, all I have is a cute video of Simon and his cuz.

If only we could live closer to family..

Simon says...

Mom "mama"
Dad "dada"
Ben "bob"
Luke "lute"
Zack "dat"
Banana "na-na-na"
Night-Night "nigh-nigh"
Hot "HOTTTTT"
Bath "Batttt"
Thank You "da-du"
No No! "no no no no" (while shaking his finger)
Bye-Bye (while waving)
Puppy "puppup"
Up "up"
Down "up"

Signs:
More
Please
All Done (while saying "All done")

We cannot believe how much our little guy is talking!

Happy Thanksgiving!

craftin' lately

I am a great homeschooling mom for young kids. I love me some paint, crayons and anything crafty. If it makes a big mess, I am on board. I know my husband worries about my older boys because they aren't getting a lot of "strict" schooling because we craft-it-up most of the day. But they can read and write and know how to multiply, so why can't we play? That's what I say to the principal when he gets home from work, anyway.

I don't usually take pictures of our messes because, well, they're messy. But when we painted the big box, I decided to document it. It's going to get thrown away soon, so I thought it would be best to take pictures to remember it.

First we spray painted a black base color. The little boys had to stay on the trampoline. Zack's job was to keep Simon away from the wet paint. Simon's job was to distract Zack... because he would major in graffiti if he got his grubby hands on a bottle of spray paint. The plan worked wonderfully. It took about 10 minutes to spray and several hours to dry...
Next we brought out the colors. Luke painted the door, Ben did the trimming and Zack was busy putting in the garden.
He grew grass and sunflowers.. they are my favorite part of the project! I wish he could paint some in my front yard!
After the flowers were done, he had extra yellow paint to wanted to write everyone's name. Ben and Luke agreed as long as it was inside the house...
In case a big bad wolf ever came by, Luke insisted it was a house of bricks. He's such a smart little piggy.
Simon spent the majority of the time eating a paintbrush in his high chair.
We got him out after it was dry and he went straight to work.
Ben wore his bandanna while working on the roof. (I was trying to get dinner on the table while this was happening... I made a yummy potato soup!)
No one could agree on the shingles, so we went with a rainbow. This is the only picture I took of the final project. Ignore the face of the child in the shot. He's got issues.

Other things that have been keeping us busy... ORIGAMI. Luke has become an expert and can do several animals without looking at directions. This is totally his kind of thing.
Zack will do just about anything if the reward is getting out the play dough tub. He rarely cleans it up after he's finished, though.
All of the boys have been into making wooden models (bought in a kit at the craft store).
They aren't easy to do, so I've had to help. In fact, Luke and I stayed up WAY past our bedtime one night finishing this ship. We still have to put on the sails...
To be continued.... the baby needs some attention and a nose wiping. This is what he looks like when I blog. I can't ignore those puppy-dog eyes. and no, he's not having a bad hair day. This is as good as it gets.

I am thankful for my scanner.

My scanner is super old and super bulky. Sometimes it doesn't respond when I want it to. Every once in a while it will take 30 minutes to scan a single document. But it's trusty and is still kicking after ten years of marriage. And I am so grateful to have it.

These are two treasures that have been waiting around to be scanned for a few weeks now. The first one was colored on before I scanned it in... so I apologize for the big black blobs in the middle. I found this document laying in a pile of scraps. It's Luke's handwriting... and for some reason or another, he decided to write all 50 states in alphabetical order. He is such an odd child. He doesn't want to do any kind of worksheets because he thinks they are boring and uncreative. I respect him and his opinion and think his own creative exercises are awesome. I especially love his hyphenations down the right side of the page.

This family portrait was done by Benny. He started celebrating Thanksgiving the day after Halloween. It's been hanging in our kitchen for a few weeks now. I love Dad's shirt and tie. I appreciate the fact that he is now drawing me wearing a shirt period. And the miniature Simon just makes me laugh. I love that Ben thinks our family stands around all day holding hands.
I am so grateful for my scanner. and for my sweet, artistic boys.

I am thankful for my parents.

It's 10 PM and I finally have a minute to sit at the computer. I have so much to be thankful for and could do another month of gratitude posts. Maybe I will.

Today I am grateful for parents who love each other and who have always put God first in their lives. They are wonderful examples to me. They are not rich. They are not famous. But they have been the best parents that a girl could ever ask for. Their marriage isn't perfect, but they are still in love after 40 years. They have sacrificed so much for their family. I am so grateful to be a part of it. These are some of my most favorite people in the world.

I am thankful for my new freezer.

Before Simon was born (let's say about 18 months ago) I begged my husband for a freezer for our garage. He said no. And whether or not you believe it, I always listen to my husband and obey his every command. That doesn't mean I haven't wished for the past 18 months that I had one.

Much to my surprise, while driving to the park this past Friday, I got a call saying that my new deep-freezer was being delivered to my house in 20 minutes. I zipped the minivan around and was delighted to meet two burly Spanish-speaking appliance delivery men. They unloaded my freezer in the garage, plugged it in and proceeded to take all of the garbage back to their truck when I stopped them. "WAIT!" I said, "We want to keep the big box!" They didn't understand me, so I pointed to it. "I want that!" They seemed confused, but handed it over. I would have asked them if they had more in their truck, but (goshdarnit!) I can't espeak Español!


We have spent two solid days playing house in the best freezer box ever. It has a front door, 5 windows and a doggy-door on the side. Tomorrow we are going to paint it! I am thankful for my new freezer and the box it came in.

Luke's medley

For Cindy :) oddly enough, he doesn't play any Star Wars songs, which seem to get played more than anything else on a typical day..

Mr. Fix It

I know I already wrote a thankful post for my husband, but he deserves another.

I haven't done any laundry since last Friday. My dryer has been possessed and I am afraid to turn it on because it will wake up all the sleeping babies in the neighborhood. Last night, I went online to buy a new dryer because this momma needs to do some laundry. (Remember, we only have a limited amount of clothing in this house!!) Before I purchased one, my loving attorney of a husband said, "Why don't you wait another day and let me take a look at it." I did not smile or laugh when he said this, but it wasn't easy. I know he has great intentions, but he's a busy man and sometimes he doesn't have the time to get around taking a look at anything broken. He totally proved me wrong.

At nine 9 PM, I found my laundry room like so:
He wasn't just taking a "look" at it. He completely took it apart. The door was in the hallway, the tumbler was on top of the washer and little pieces were scattered all over the floor.
I just had to take pictures because I was so shocked by the scene.
It's now 10 PM, and the dryer is all put back together and quietly drying a load of clean laundry. I am so proud of and so grateful for and so in love with my appliance mechanic. Now I must end this tribute and crawl into bed with Mr. Fix It.

I am thankful for my boys.

I should post a picture of my boys with their hair nicely combed, wearing their cutest fall outfits, but this is how I want to remember the chilly November mornings. The boys gather in my bed around 7 am. Dad is usually getting ready for work and the boys and I are snuggling warm in the bed, reading something or playing peekaboo in the sheets to make Simon giggle. I am thankful everyday for these four little rascals.
I can take pictures and write about my kids all day, but NOTHING captures the moment like a quick video clip. These are precious to me and they were taken this week. I can only imagine what they will mean to me in 20 years. I adore these boys.

I am thankful for new dishes, headphones and dead bolt locks.

New golden dishes... just in time for Thanksgiving visitors!

Luke plays the keyboard all day and all night. He learns a new song everyday... as of late, he's taking a liking for Christmas tunes. I love that he plays, but I don't always love hearing what he plays. So, we've compromised with a pair of headphones. Now everyone is happy! (and we've had to put the keyboard up high... out of the baby-monster's reach!)
Speaking of the baby-monster, he can now open ALL the doors in our house. This is an awful, terrible accomplishment. There is no keeping him out of the bathrooms without locking the doors... and that is a really hard thing to do with three other little people who use toilets often. Simon can also open the door leading out to the garage. The garage is his FAVORITE place to be because it's where his best friend, the wagon, lives. Last week, Daddy came home to eat dinner and then had to leave again. Simon was so unhappy about this, (he is such a Daddy's boy!) Aaron tried to sneak out the door, but Simon followed, without my knowledge. Aaron got in his car (it was very dark outside, btw) and started to leave when he saw a little baby in pj's crawling across the street!!!!! He brought him back into me and Simon was screaming up a storm! We are trying our best to keep an eye on our little escapee. Locks on all doors are mandatory around here... at least for the next few months, anyway. Oh boy!

I am thankful for dinner time.

Family dinner is a sacred thing around our house. It's a time for us to shut out the world, be together and eat good food. As a mother who stays home all day, dinner is one of my most important priorities. That doesn't mean I always make a fancy meal or have everything just perfect, but I know that if I don't put forth the effort, dinner time is stressful and chaotic. With a little preparation and a lot of love, dinner can be the most special time of day.

On Monday, we ate by candlelight. It was such a big hit that we kept the candles out and ate by candlelight every night this week. It's brought a quietness to our meal and that is always a good thing when you have four crazy boys. Surprisingly, the baby has loved eating by candlelight. I think it's given him the freedom to express himself without getting in trouble for making such a mess.

Lights off:
Lights on:

I love our neighbors.

Best homeschooling buddies.
Landon, Greg, Ben, Zack and Luke at the end of the race.

The Cupcake for Cancer race for Greg Downer was today. It was well-planned, well-organized and such a wonderful thing to be a part of. I came away feeling so grateful for the neighborhood we live in and the friends we have in this fabulous city.


The highlights for our family were: buying and wearing colorful bandannas, Ben coming in second place in the 100 yard dash, riding the train several times, bouncing in the bounce house, Simon falling asleep during the race, watching an 8 month pregnant mom run the 5K (go DeEtte!), the excellent weather, being with hundreds of loving people, raising a lot of money for the most deserving family, and coming together as a neighborhood and community. A huge thanks to Sara (and everyone else) for organizing such a heart-warming event. If you still want to donate to Greg and his family, the paypal link is still on my sidebar!

I am thankful for my husband.

In October 1999 I was a sophomore at Ricks College in Rexburg. I was starting to come down with something terrible (I had mononucleosis, but wasn't diagnosed yet). I spent most of my free time sleeping in my bedroom and didn't have much of a social life. One Friday night, a group of friends were heading to a local joint for ice cream. I decided to pull myself out of bed and go. When we arrived at the ice cream shop, I felt terrible and realized it was a bad decision to pull myself out of bed. While everyone was up at the counter ordering, I found a quiet corner and laid down on a bench. A few minutes later, a nice young man joined me. He told me he'd ordered me a mint chocolate chip shake, which was/is my all time favorite. He knew me well. He patted my head, which was now laying on the table, and told me that if I didn't eat the shake he'd ordered, it would go to waste because he wasn't going to touch it. Mixing mint and chocolate was/is against his religion. While the rest of our group of friends ate on a big table together, the two of us sat in the corner of the restaurant and talked. I don't remember what we found so funny, but I was laughing so hard at one point that I spit green ice cream all over the table. When he dropped me off at my apartment later that night, I didn't want to get out of his old clunker car. At the time, I didn't know that feeling was love, but I knew that being around him made me feel better.

Fast forward 11 years and one month. Being around this young man still makes me feel better. It wasn't love at first sight or head over heals in a heartbeat, but it is most definitely love. It's been a long week.. with school, meetings, four kids, cleaning, cooking, callings, playing, diaper changing, etc. Last night we were able to sneak away from the kids for a minute and find a quiet corner in a little ice cream (frozen yogurt) shop just a few blocks from our home. We were in our pajamas. He was wearing his red Ricks College shirt and white basketball pants. I was make-up-less, wearing HIS blue swede pajama pants and HIS jacket because they are warmer than anything I own. The conversation was meaningful and a bit silly, which is just how I like it. When we drove home in his car (not so much of a clunker anymore) I was not reluctant to get out because we were going in to OUR home together. All was right in the world.

After we carried our sleeping boys up to their beds, we went into the laundry room where I showed my husband our broken dryer. I spent the afternoon working on it, without any luck. There was a load of wet sheets waiting to be dried and I was hoping he would know what to do. He tapped around for a minute and then turned it on. It started spinning quietly without any problems at all. I tried to explain that it didn't sound like that a few hours prior. In fact, I went as far as imitating the sound the dryer was making earlier. After 10 seconds of demonstrating, I stopped and said, "It sounded just like that, only worse." My husband raised his eyebrows and said, "I am not sure ANYTHING could have sounded worse than that." And then I giggled. I am so thankful for my husband and the relationship we share.

an apple a day

I realize that pictures of Simon are monopolizing the blog lately, but I just can't help myself.
This baby loves all things food, but there's just something about those apples that keep him asking for more.
If ever he's sad or needs to be occupied, I can give him an apple and he's happy and content. I love to see his dime-sized bite marks all over the skin. His older brothers love to give him sour apples because he makes some awesome faces after a big juicy bite. Now he thinks he's pretty funny... He will bite, make a silly face and then laugh right along with the rest of us. We think he's the bees knees.

For Aunt Cindy...

This is what Simon looked like when you were talking to him last night.

This is what he did after we took the phone away.
This was this morning... after he stole (and ate) Zack's paintbrush...
He's gonna getcha..

I am thankful for books.

If I could have any superhero power, I would love to SPEED READ and retain everything. I am not a slow reader, but I just don't have enough time in the day to read all that I want to. I usually have about 10 books that I read throughout the day. These are the books that are currently on my nightstand... I am going to tell you about them (quickly) so I can return to my bed and enjoy QUIET TIME. The baby only sleeps for so long :(


Starting from the bottom up:

• Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne. I've already talked about this one a few times. So has Jane.
• God Wants a Powerful People by Sheri Dew. Love her. Easy and enlightening read.
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Not an easy read but it is unbelievably powerful. I adore CS Lewis. His works have changed me. I can only read about a chapter at a time of his stuff before I need a break.
• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. This is not a novel nor is it lighthearted reading, but I love him and the awareness he brings his readers. This is not a new religion, btw.
• The Book of Mormon. I believe this book to be true.
• A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille. This is my homeschooling BIBLE. It's not a homeschooling book, but a book for any parent or teacher who wants to inspire (not require) their students or children to learn. I LOVE this book and if I ever get frustrated, I pick up this book and immediately feel better. It's a must read, especially if you're thinking about homeschooling..
• Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning by Oliver and Rachel DeMille. A guide to bringing A Thomas Jefferson Education into your home.
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I read this book every year. It never gets old. Is it better than the movies? A million times better. I love this particular copy because it's paperback and I can mark it up. Love.
  
• Invest in the Best-- Your Kids by Karla Erickson. This is an old book I stole off my mom's bookshelf. I think it's out of print, but you could probably find it at the library. If I ever write a book, it will be along these lines.
  
• 50 Things that Really Matter- with 50 different authors. This is a hallmark book that really should be next to a toilet. It's fifty 2-3 page stories that celebrate the simple pleasures in life.

So, these are the books that I am currently reading. It does NOT include the novels I am reading to my kids. In October we read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle AND Great Expectations. We needed A LOT of help for Great Expectations. Thank goodness for Cliff Notes and children's illustrated classics! But we got through!! About a week after finishing the book, Ben said to me in the kitchen, "There are three main lessons from Great Expectations." When I asked him what they were, he said, "#1 It's not always better to be rich. #2 Spend your money carefully. #3 Never like girls who are mean to you." That little conversation made those agonizing nights of reading a difficult book SO worth it!

For November we're reading Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows. I know, two super sad DOG books. We have 20 pages to finish Old Yeller and it's been a great read for little boys. None of them have seen the movie, so they are in for a surprise ending. No one has cried.... yet.

I am thankful for art supplies.

my kids and I spent at least 4 hours today doing all things artistic. We painted, cut snowflakes, drew pictures, glued, glittered, papermache-ed & made a few posters for the upcoming fundraiser, among other things. We were wearing PJs, blasting Christmas music and completely enjoying our creative selves. I believe all of my children are artistically talented, each in their own way... and I love to see them at work. Getting down and dirty with my kids is one of my favorite things to do.

I should have taken pictures of our big mess... paint was all over the table, chairs and floor. (Thanks to a certain 1-year-old who thinks he's VanGogh himself.) Instead, I have a picture of a few of our art supply organizers. These little cans are must-haves in our school. If there isn't a place for EVERYTHING to go, then nothing would ever get put in it's place.

I've had these cans for a long time-- probably about 7-8 years now.. They've moved with us several times and I would be lost without them. They are made out of simple tin cans (washed and dried) covered in cute scrapbook paper. There are several more cans for colored pencils, markers, pastels, sharpeners, etc. Crayons go in a BIG bin because a tin can would never suffice. The kids make messes quickly, but with labeled cans, there are no excuses for not cleaning up... and that makes life at home so much more enjoyable.

I was planning on scanning a bit of their art work tonight, but some of it isn't dry yet and I need to put some socks on my cold feet. So, there you have it folks. Happy organizing!

I am thankful for good examples in my life.

Today is Wednesday. The Cupcakes for Cancer fundraiser for the Downer family is Saturday... if you can't race with us, you can still contribute by clicking the "donate" button on my sidebar ------>>>> Please know that all the proceeds will go to the MOST EXCELLENT family.

Every time I talk to Leigh Ann, I come away feeling uplifted. It takes an incredible person to go through so much and still have a positive attitude. If you haven't had a chance to read her blog, I would encourage you to do so. She shares her struggles and her testimony so openly.. She is such a great example to everyone around her.

http://thewellrefinedhome.blogspot.com/

I am thankful for pizza.

some days I just can't get around to making dinner. yesterday was one of those days. after running errands until 5:00, I was so grateful that a Little Caesars just opened up a few blocks from my house. I was able to have dinner on the table at 5:30 when my handsome man walked in the door.

To fancy-ify our $5 pizza, we used a tablecloth... and ate by candlelight. we drank kool-aid from our champagne glasses and a good time was had by all.

I am (so very) thankful for my baby.

I struggle writing a tribute to Simon on his first birthday. I've started out several times and keep backspacing until I am back to square one. Yesterday I took some time and wrote him a handwritten letter for his baby book and I think that will be enough. But he should definitely be added to the list of things I am thankful for.

I prayed and wished and hoped for this baby for a long time. When he came, I had a hard time believing that he was real, that he was mine. All I wanted was a baby, and I got the cutest one on the planet. He is such a darling little boy. He loves to eat, sleep, dance, wrestle, throw food, be naked, jump on the trampoline with his brothers, give hugs, make messes and splash in the bath tub. He is a very vocal one-year-old and says several words (mom, dad, ben "bob", luke "lu", zack "da", bye-bye, all done, uh-oh, bottle, no no!, banana "nanana", nigh-nigh, and bath "bat". His favorite thing in the world is our little red wagon and he scoots it everywhere. If you ask him if he wants a ride in the wagon, he knows exactly what you're talking about and pounds on the garage door. He is a tough boy and knows how to play rough. He chases the vacuum around like it's a puppy. He also loves the hair dryer and begs me to blow it in his direction-- and I always will because I love to see his hair fly like a dandelion in the wind. He is mostly happy except when he's crying or screaming or whining. He is such a cute little mobile man... sometimes even running with scissors!


For his first birthday, he got a BIG box of diapers and a BIG box of wipes. I didn't give my other babies such gifts on their first birthday, but none of my other babies pooped like Simon does... averaging 5-6 per day. I told him that if he stops pooping (not altogether, but less often) next year I might buy him a toy. His older brothers gave him lots of homemade cards and sprayed him with silly string on the trampoline. He thought it was the coolest birthday ever.

It's his birthday and he can cry if he wants to.

Our little Sy-Guy turns ONE today.
I can't believe it's already been a whole year.
That day, November 7, 2009, was a beautiful one.
It was quiet and peaceful and calm in our home.


A year later, our home is anything but quiet and peaceful and calm.
Simon is sassy, determined and stubborn.
He's also silly, playful and oh so! handsome.
We love our birthday boy even more than he loved his first cupcake.

I am thankful for Saturday sports

This year we have really tried simplifying in all areas. When it came time to sign the kids up for sports-- three different teams, which means three practices a week and three Saturday games, I just could not do it. Yes, there will come a time in our lives when everyone has to be a different place at a different time, but right now, I still have control over some things.

While talking with a few other parents with boys the same ages, we decided to set a time for Saturday morning sports-- for the entire family. I wasn't exactly sure how organized it would be or if my kids would soon be begging to be on soccer teams with jerseys, but I have been so pleased with the outcome. It's been a little over two months (ten weeks or so) where we've met the same families at the same park on Saturday mornings for a couple of hours. We all bring our equipment, we all stay on the field and we ALL have a good time. The last couple of weeks we've been playing flag football and the field is filled with a dozen little boys, playing on the same team as their brothers and often playing against their dads. The moms and babies usually head to the park to play (and talk) and that has been equally rewarding. It's been totally free, totally low-key and totally fun. Such a great thing for our family. Today was the last day of our rotation (until after Christmas) and I was so proud of myself for bringing my camera. But then, I got too busy playing and forgot to snap any pictures. I'm a loser, baby. So why don't you kill me.

One of my favorite talks from last General Conference was from President Uchtdorf beautifully titled Of Things That Matter Most. In it, he states, "We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun together. In family relationships love is really spelled T-I-M-E, time." It reminds me a of a quote I printed out a couple of years ago from a talk that hit home for me. I read this quote (almost) on a daily basis and it inspires me to say NO! to things that make our schedules more chaotic and YES! to everything that allows us to spend more time together as a family.

"Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all." (Julie B. Beck, Mothers Who Know, Ensign, Nov 2007, 76–78)

I am thankful for Fridays

oh boy. it's been a long week. last night I cried myself to sleep. I felt like the day was never going to end and when it finally did, I just lost it. Do you think babies can develop COLIC at a year old? I used to have a happy, cuddly little thing and all he does lately is cry, scream, pull hair and hit. He's a bully-baby.

Sometimes I wonder who promoted me to this "motherhood" job when I feel so under-qualified. I am not prepared to take care of four human beings 24 hours a day, everyday. Thankfully there is a "no-return" policy on children because yesterday I might have loaded up the wagon and given them all back.

Whenever I have a terrible, horrible no-good day, I always feel better knowing there's a weekend coming up. This time I am fortunate it's already here. I am so thankful for Fridays.

I am thankful for my blog.... post #1000

I received my first journal when I was 8. I wrote about the boys I had crushes on and the fights I had with friends. My middle school years were brutal and I have a couple of journal entries to prove it. While in high school, I kicked the writing up a notch and filled three journals solid. My college days are recorded in three others, only I never wrote a single entry about my good-looking friend Shumway until we became engaged. Odd, and very sad.

Our engagement is recorded only because I printed each and every email we sent. And we sent hundreds, living four hours away from one another. That book of emails is the ONE thing I would grab if my house was on fire (after my children, of course.) There is a lull in my journal writing from 2000-2003. I would dish out serious dough to have those years recorded. I was a full-time student, taking care of two baby boys and working overtime. I guess there wasn't a spare moment to record the crazy life we were living. When we moved away from our families in 2004, I created my own personal website to keep in touch.

It was a geocities site and everything had to be written in html.. so I learned to read and write in code. The pictures had to be small in order to fit as many on as possible and they only allowed one line of text per picture. Once the site was filled, I had to start another website. I think by the end of law school, I had ten or so different geocities webpages. I emailed out the links to our friends and family members and tried to document most of our funny stories in the body of the email. I often wondered if Aaron's siblings or my distant cousins wanted to hear about our adventures in the frozen tundra. Unfortunately, all of the benefits that came from creating those websites were only temporary. Geocities went out of business and all of our pictures and memories went with it. Blogger had begun registering blogspot addresses long before we moved in 2006, but I didn't catch on until the beginning of 2007.

We've lived in Vegas for almost 4 years and the most important events of our lives in the last four years have been documented on this blog. But my most cherished entries are not the holidays or birthday parties or vacations. My favorite posts are the mundane entries, the silly things the kids have said & the times when I've put my heart out on the line and stated that not everything about motherhood is hunky-dory. Over the past 20 years of journaling, it seems that I've picked up a pen and paper when I was feeling grateful and happy. I find myself still picking up an old fashion journal when I feel grateful and happy, but this blog has been a different kind of outlet. It's truly been therapeutic for me to write, connect with long lost friends and state my blunt (and sometimes offensive) opinion. At times, I felt very vulnerable and wasn't sure if it was worth it for me to be so open, so I took off comments and even went private for a while. Oh! the drama!

Even though I've overcome a lot of personal issues regarding my blog, it's still a sore subject to discuss with my husband. We avoid talking about the blog at all costs. Maybe it's because I post pictures of me flipping the bird or write about my visits to the gynecologist. (just maybe?) but every time I think about shutting it down completely (to please my man) I just can't do it. It means too much to me. I know that's why he doesn't ask me to stop, either. Because he knows it's an important part of my life. I am not fortunate enough to live close to any of my family, but some part of me feels like I am experiencing life with them because I am allowing them to read about and see pictures of my children frequently. I have also been able to create real friendships with people I have never met, and strengthen others who are dear to me, but circumstances won't allow us to keep in touch. This blog is so much more than a journal.

But let's not discount the fact that I have recorded lots of day to day happenings. The hardbound books we own sit in our living room and get flipped through occasionally. There will come a time-- I am most positive-- when those books will be priceless to me, and maybe even to my husband-- (no she di'nt!) For this reason, I will continue to write.

Today is a special day because this post is number ONE THOUSAND. That's right, 1,000 published posts on this blog. I am not going to list a thousand things about myself or wait until there's a thousand comments before I write again, but I did want to mention it because it's a big deal. At least to me, anyway.

So what AM I going to do to celebrate 1000 posts? First off, I wanted to say thanks to those who read. If you're out there, I am talking to you! Thanks for sticking around and loving me despite my mental problems. Thanks for commenting and making my day a little brighter. Thanks for clicking on the advertisements even though they're annoying. Thanks for keeping in touch with me. I blog for a lot of reasons, but one of those reasons is you.

Another thing I've wanted to do for some time now is update my "best of" list. The posts that are listed are old and not necessarily the best. But then again, how do I know? If you want to participate, I thought I would ask those of you who read to tell me which one of my posts you loved or which one influenced you the most. Next week, I will have a drawing and send a package to a random commenter. I don't know what will be in the package yet. You may or may not get a crazy albino child who will want to bandage your nipples! If that doesn't entice you to comment, what ever will???

I am thankful I can vote.

I love the USofA. My right to vote is sacred and I take the responsibility seriously. Nevada's race was super-duper close and I was hoping my voice would send the old man packing... I am going to come out and say that I did NOT vote for the Mormon. I have a testimony that he and his friends in the white house are going to ruin our country.

I saw a bumper sticker last week that said, "I'll keep my guns, my freedom and my money. You can keep the change." I am downright scared for what could happen to our freedoms and our constitution in the next couple of years. I worry about the country that my children and my children's children and my children's children's children will be raised in.

Not to change the subject so drastically, but I only have so much time for political banter. And that line about my children and their children reminds me of an act from Flight of the Conchords titled "Issues". It's a bunch of nonsense and doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I voted, but it's seriously funny... think about it. think, think about it.