Chris and Laura & the Wamplettes

10 Year Anniversary

2012-02-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

On February 10, 2002, I finished reading The Book of Mormon for the first time on my own.

It was a rather significant day--those of you in Marysville, Washington at that time may remember that to be the day that the Marysville 3rd Ward was dissolved and combined with the 5th Ward.

As you might guess, this was not a terribly exciting thing for those of us in the 3rd Ward. It was kind of an in-your-face "You're not good enough to be a ward anymore" moment. There was a lot of anger and anxiety that day that I can clearly recall. I was 16 at the time.

I read the last few chapters of Moroni only hours before we went to the meeting where this change was announced. Because of the Spirit that came to me from reading then, I managed to keep myself out of much of the emotion involved in changing the wards. I knew, beyond a doubt, that the Church and the gospel were much larger than what building you happened to meet in and what number was listed at the top of the Sacrament Meeting bulletin. The wards are only a tool to facilitate members in growing closer to the Savior and in caring for families and those in need. Testimony that is based on doctrine and comes through personal revelation cannot be shaken by shifting ward boundaries.

It was a powerful lesson my teenage self learned that day. Ever since, I have had a strong connection to the Book of Mormon and its standard for containing the full and complete Gospel of Jesus Christ.

On February 10, 2012--today--I finished reading The Book of Mormon again, having it read it enough times in the last ten years that I've lost count. My testimony of that book has never wavered, and every time I read, I find new insights and delicious words that strengthen my soul. In honor of this anniversary today, I want to share a few of my favorite verses.

* * * * *

The Book of Mormon gives clarity to principles taught in the Bible. 1 Corinthians 10:13 states,

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as which is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

This is a wonderful promised from God, proving that we will be given all the help and tools will need to succeed in this mortal life. However, I have occasionally heard this verse used almost as an excuse or catch-all for giving in--something to the effect of not needing to try too hard because we won't ever be faced with temptations or decisions that are that hard to bear.

In the Book of Mormon, we can find clarification on that idea in Alma 13:28.

"But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit..."

We have to do our part--humble ourselves and call on God--in order to receive that promise of strength. Once we have done as much as we can ourselves, God will take over the rest.

* * * * *

Particularly in the last six months, many verses have stood out to me as reminders that God truly is in control, like Mormon 5:23,

"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll?"

and other verses that show how much God loves us, like 3 Nephi 17:7.

"Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy." (bold added)

The most powerful verses, though, are the ones that seem to be speaking directly to me. I first came across this verse, that seemed as though I could have written it myself, for it so very much sounded exactly how I felt in dealing with depression and especially trauma--2 Nephi 4:26,

"O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?"

Why, oh, why.

Peace comes only a few short verses later, if you'll let it--2 Nephi 4:30,

"Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my sould will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation."

If you have a copy of the Book of Mormon, I strongly encourage you to read the rest of that chapter, 2 Nephi 4. If you do not have a copy of the Book of Mormon and would like one, call me!

Karmic Siblings

2012-02-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

Picture this...

Megan
holding the ribbon bookmark of a hardbound book
spinning and twirling all around the room

Jane
getting too close

hello, second black eye

recovery consists of pillow, blanket, cold rag, and baby brother

Picture this...

not an hour later
Jane
in the bathroom

Megan
trying to intrude

Jane
slamming the door

Megan
smashed and bleeding finger

recovery consists of pillow, blanket, cold rag, and bandaid

leave it to sisters to keep the universe in balance

Melden Cows

2012-02-02T14:59:00.002-07:00

Let me start by saying thank you to everyone who has commented on my previous post. I received more comments, messages, and emails than I anticipated, and they just keep coming. Since I posted it last night, I have had over 300 hits on my blog. Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a lot in less than 24 hours! I am humbled by the support I've received, and saddened by the stories that have been shared. I feel your pain!

In reading the comments you have made, I find myself more anxious than ever to actually get this all written down. And yet, when I think about what it would take to actually do that, my hands start to shake and my heart beats just a little faster. I will write it, I will, but I make no promises on how long it takes me. It's a complex story and it takes a lot out of me to sort out how to write about it. And, who am I kidding, I don't want to spend every waking moment thinking about it anymore. Just when I feel up to it.

So, I will write more, but in the meantime, life goes on! Knowing that my blog will be receiving much more traffic and attention than I ever get, I thought I'd break it back in to normal-ish blogging with just a few of Jane's recent utterances.

"I have a friend at school named Elden. It's kind of like Melden, but without the M. You can remember that his name is Elden because you can think of Melden."

Is that supposed to be helpful?

Jane woke up in the middle of the night disoriented from a dream (like mother, like daughter, I guess). As I tucked her back into bed, she looked at me with a contented smile on her face, sighed, and said, "Oh, I just love snuggling with cows."

Jane had a few coins that she accidentally left at Amy's house. When Amy came to our house the next day, Jane cornered her in the kitchen, hands on hips, finger pointed, and in her best intimidating voice declared,

"You better bring my money back to me or I will CRUSH YOU."

Ha. We've bred a miniature loan shark. All that for eighteen cents.

Part I: The Reveal

2012-02-01T17:45:00.001-07:00

I have already hinted several times at the fact that life atour house has not been so pleasant these past few months…though “not sopleasant” is too mild a term. Horrible would be closer.

Before I get too far, I want to say why I’ve chosen to writeabout this on my family blog, as well as why I’ve hesitated for so long. Thisis such an extremely personal story, filled with moments that I would just soonforget. It’s very difficult to put this out there in the world, where I reallyhave no idea who might read it. I can’t control what people will do with theinformation I choose to share. I can’t control what they might say to me or howtheir opinions of me might change. It’s a risk. Once I say it, I can’t take itback.

But, I’m a writer. I have filled more than one journal inthese six months already. I can only talk to myself so much! I have gotten tothe point that I need it to be out there so I can take that next step in myhealing process. So I can stop keeping secrets. And so I can help others whomight be in a similar situation.

You may notice that I have titled this as “Part I”, implyingthat there is more to come. I hope to be able to write about each element ofthis story individually, but how—and if—I write those parts will depend largelyon the response I get to this post. Please keep that mind if you choose tocomment. I am willing to share as much as I think might be worthwhile to myselfand others, but only if I feel safe doing so.

And one last comment. Please do not be hurt or offended if Ihaven’t told you about this personally prior to your reading this story here.It has been so, so painful for me, and I couldn’t talk about it. I needed to beable to escape and if too many people knew, I couldn’t get away from it. I hadto keep it to myself simply to cope. I had to be able to hide it if I needed abreak.

So, without further ado…

It’s hard to say exactly where this story starts, but it’seasiest to tell it the way I figured it out. In the first few weeks after Benwas born, life was hectic and stressful. I felt like I was drowning. As any newmother will attest, a newborn is difficult. No sleep, near constant demands onyour attention—especially when it isn’t your first. I struggled. Oh, how Istruggled when we brought Ben home from the hospital. He was such a sweet,mild, happy baby, but I just couldn’t seem to get my head above water.

I had often heard that the third child was the mostdifficult transition. I chalked my stress up to that—normal newborn stress plustwo toddlers who were big enough to fight with each other but too small to takecare of themselves at all. It was this stress that sparked my first Mother’sRetreat. I spent a weekend just me and Ben and took the time to really evaluatemy situation, my family, and myself as a mother. I set goals, made plans, andrecommitted myself to being the best mother I thought I could be.

I failed miserably.

I did my best to follow those carefully laid plans, and yetthe world still seemed to be crashing down around me. I had no control over myemotions. I would snap so quickly at the slightest provocation. I couldn’tstand to be touched by my children. I didn’t want anyone to talk to me.

It probably comes as no surprise, looking at this from theoutside in, that I was diagnosed with postpartum depression.

Let me tell you, it was such a miserable, dark time. I feltlike I was swimming in mud. I couldn’t see or comprehend anything around me,yet I had a desperate, pulling need to somehow find my way out. I was onlyvaguely aware of my children from day to day. I knew I was missing something,but my mind was so clouded in the depression that I didn’t know what it was. Myhouse fell to pieces. It was never clean, we rarely had real food accessible,laundry was never done…you get the picture. Without me able to keep us heldtogether, our family was slowly falling apart.

Sadly, that’s only half the story.

Once I became aware of the postpartum depression (PPD), Ibegan researching suggestions on what has helped in recovery. I learned a lotduring that time about what PPD is and how it affects different people. Ifollowed much of the advice and information I was able to glean and life didbegin to improve, though only in minute degrees. I kept pressing forward,though, hoping that if I just tried hard enough, I would be able to dig myselfout.

Then the panic attacks started.

It was fairly common knowledge that I was not happy with theprocess of Ben’s birth. The fact that he was transverse took the situationlargely out of my control, and despite my many valiant attempts to help himturn head down, we finally had to schedule a c-section. Once that day came,however, he was head down and we induced instead. After sixteen hours of verypainful back labor, lo and behold, he was breech. C-section it was.

I didn’t give birth to my baby. He was just born, and thatkilled me.

Every time I heard someone’s birth story, or read an accountof a labor and delivery on a blog, I would have a panic attack—hyperventilating,uncontrollable shaking, and occasionally even passing out. Anything that hadany connection to a birth or any remote reminder of my birth experiences wouldsend me into a complete tailspin. Every single time.

It was at this point that I was diagnosed withPost-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

In addition to all the aspects of depression, I experiencedhorrible nightmares when I slept and violent flashbacks when awake that left mereeling. I’ve never been prone to having a temper, but my anger was completelyout of my control. My emotional response to any situation was magnified beyondreason. In a word, it was terrifying.

End Part I.

I am going to stop there for now, and leave with a fewparting comments. There is much, much more that I would like to be able toshare. I know that my story doesn’t make sense as it stands here, but I can’texplain it all at once—especially the PTSD, with what it really means and whyit happened to me and what further implications it has. There is just too much.

And for your peace of mind—I am doing much better now. I am still at the beginning of my roadto full recovery, but I have made giant leaps and strides along the path thathave enabled me to again be a functioning human being. Please do not be worriedabout where I stand at the present moment. Fingers crossed, the worst is over.

I would like to share more of my story of healing, both formy own sake in writing it (writing is one of the most cathartic things I have)and for the sake of others who may benefit from my experience. If I can saveanyone any measure of the pain I have been through, I would do it in aheartbeat.

So there you go. You know the beginning. What I ask now isfor a simple comment on if you personally have an interest in hearing more ofthis story. I have considered starting a separate blog, or perhaps includingthese posts on our other parenting blog, just to keep this story separate fromthe much happier reports of my adorable children. But I would be interested tohear your thoughts on that, as well as anything else you may feel prompted toshare. If you would like to have any personal correspondence rather thanposting a public comment, feel free to send me a facebook message or leave youremail address in a comment.

Thanks for listening.

6 + 4 = January

2012-01-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

With Jane's four-year check up and Ben's six-month check up both today, I figured this was a good time to post the few random pictures I have saved up from January. Those all go together, right? Right?

Audrey Jane

4 years old

28% for height

26% for weight

Everything looks great with Jane. The doctor's main comment was that she is an excellent speaker and that she is very smart. She even wrote a bunch of names in the chart for him. There was some discussion about her birthmark and the possibility of having it removed via a laser procedure, but there will have to be much more discussion before any such decision is made.

Benjamin Ryan

6 months old

17 lbs 1 oz

40% for weight

27 inches

68% for height

Ben is happy and STRONG. He's only a little above average for height now--and his weight is starting to catch up. He does have a touch of eczema, but it would be hard to avoid that if you're my child...

We did get the go-ahead to wean him off of night feedings--Hooray! He has slept through the night only a handful of times, and I am definitely ready for a full night's sleep on a more regular basis.

And for some amusing pictures...

Megan and Ben hung out with Wendi and Tony back when Chris and I took Jane on her birthday date. Wendi sent this picture to me afterwards--anyone reminding of Johnny Depp/Willy Wonka?

More Megan shots...I don't really have any of Jane because she has become violently opposed to having her picture taken lately. Apparently she only likes to be behind the camera instead of in front of it.

This is now Ben's standard face whenever I pull out the camera. He seems to have it mistaken for food. Or maybe he's just really excited to show off his gums?

Last but not least, I had one shot of the twins--Joel on the left, Enoch on the right. Combined, they almost weigh as much as Ben. Almost.

UPDATED: Lisa informed me that the twins do, in fact, outweigh Ben by 8 ounces when combined. Yay for growing babies!

Cousins

2012-01-28T18:33:00.003-07:00

Dalton's birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday, Dalton! Now Lisa has a 3-yr-old, 1-yr-old, and twins instead of a 2-yr-old and 1-yr-old and twins. What a relief. ;)

He was oh-so-excited to blow out the candles. Seriously--what more is there to life?

To celebrate his birthday, and to get out of the house, and to take advantage of our new Hogle Zoo Membership, courtesy of Grandma Karrie at Christmas--thank you!!--we braved the elements with all seven kids in tow.

Jane is the oldest. It was a little intense. Just a little. Chris came with us so we were 3 to 7 instead of 2 to 7--better odds, don't ya know.

Between Lisa's stress with new twins and all the drama in my house, we haven't played together nearly as often as we did pre-third pregnancies. I did manage to capture a few shots of our one and only at-home playdate we've managed since both twins made it home from the NICU.

I was also browsing through files on my computer and found these pictures from a trip we made to Copperton City Park back in October.

Ah, we miss those days. Here's to looking forward to bigger babies up for more adventure. And moms who aren't quite so exhausted and able to handle it...hopefully.

P.S. Shout-out to Ivan! He's our cousin, too!

Photo courtesy of Janneke Marquez Photography, via Facebook :)

Six Months

2012-01-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

3 Days

3 Months

6 Months

If you notice, his knees are bent up so you can't see how long his legs really are. Ben's six month check-up is this coming Monday, along with Jane's four-year visit. Man, they're getting old. I'll post their stats then!

Meanwhile, pictures of my cutest baby boy ever. In the crabbiest outfit I've ever been genuinely excited to spend money on.

I posted this last picture on Facebook and took suggestions for an appropriate caption.

A few of my favorite submissions:

"It's hard to find treats on a freshly vacuumed carpet, Mom."

"Is it time to eat or poop?"

"So when is Amy coming over?"

And the official contest winner:

"Take it from me buddy...you really should have E-trade take a look at your investment portfolio."

Mommy Date

2012-01-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

There are times when playdates are all about the kids--making up fun activities, creating simultaneously crafty and delicious treats, adventuring in new venues--and then there are the playdates that are all about the Moms.

Ok, maybe that's really how most playdates are...at least around my house.

Some of you may have recently read Liz's blog and you already know that we had a wonderful trip to Discovery Gateway downtown. The girls ran loose, Liz and I parked it at the door with the babies and talked and talked and talked about all kinds of things that we didn't even realize we had in common, even though we've known each other since our first babies were born more than four years ago.

We should have playdates more often so we can have enough conversation saved up that we can actually pay attention to the kids. Who's with me?

Anyway. Pictures!!

See? Only two pictures. I told you I was too busy talking.

Ok, all you Mom friends in the Salt Lake area--I vote we set up a regular monthly playdate.

How's the first Thursday of the month?

That would be this coming week.

I volunteer my house first.

Thoughts?

FHE, Jane Style

2012-01-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

I have a system set up for Family Home Evening. I don't like to have to come up with what I'm going to do a lesson about, but I do like to have a little room for creativity since I don't get to plan school lessons anymore.

Wanting to make sure that I am in fact teaching my children the gospel, I devised this system for choosing topics:

First Monday:

An Article of Faith

Second Monday:

Chapter from Gospel Principles

Third Monday:

Section from Preach My Gospel

(starting in Lesson 3)

Fourth Monday:

Outing AWAY from the house

(for variety's sake)

Fifth Monday:

(when it happens to occur)

Chris is in charge!!

It's been working quite well for us for a few months now. I like it.

And yet, this post is actually about a week when we strayed from the plan. Ha.

The weather's been nasty, I'm burned out (keep holding your breath for that elusive tell-all post...it's coming...), and I didn't want to go to the effort or the expensive of finding an out-of-house activity in January. At a loss for what to do when my grand scheduled plan fell through, I asked Jane what we should do instead. Bravo her, she just took over.

Opening prayer offered by Megan.

(I know prayer pictures are kind of taboo--I should have had my eyes closed, too! But I was taking care of Ben and caught a peek and they were just oh-so-cute!)

And Jane gave the lesson.

She told us some very nice stories about Jesus. Some were impressively accurate from the scriptures, and she told others that I have never heard before...but delightful nonetheless.

Then Jane introduced and lead our activity. It was remarkably similar to an activity I did a few weeks ago--but with her own special touch, too.

Ben hung out with me on the couch.

I love it when my kids get excited about the gospel!

Comfortably Hideous: A Tour

2012-01-16T14:30:00.001-07:00

I've always thought our basement was ugly. It was certainly not a mark in favor of purchasing this particular house, though it wasn't quite ugly enough to outweigh all the good things about the house.

Our big project of last week was cleaning out and rearranging the basement in preparation for a new semi-long-term house guest who will be living there for a few months. I must say, the new organization has served to spruce up the place a bit...but I still think it's ugly.

Perhaps you'd like to judge for yourself?

The stairs themselves aren't so bad.

At the bottom of the stairs and to the left is the utility room. I don't really expect this to be pretty, and for sure, it isn't.

To the right of the stairs is the guest bedroom/my craft and writing room. This is where I go when I have moments of free time away from the kids. I thoroughly enjoy this room. Or at least what I can do in this room.

Straight ahead at the bottom of the stairs is this bookcase. Side note, I own all of the Work and the Glory books except volume 7.

To the right again is the laundry room. Currently, we've moved some portion of our food storage into there.

And back out of the laundry room...Hello brown linoleum and wood paneling.

Dining room. I guess. When we're not using this as an apartment, this space is fairly useless.

Basement bathroom.

Nothing amazing, though it does contain this cupboard that is quite annoyingly deep. Not helpful to a short person. I can't actually reach the back.

The second kitchen. These cupboards were originally upstairs. The man who built our house was an accomplish carpenter and built three sets of cabinets for this house through the years. He also did a lot of the finish work in the chapel where our ward meets.

Last but not least, the puzzle room. At least, that's what it was. Back when we kept working on the puzzle. Someday we'll finish it. Hopefully.

Ugh. I hate the wood paneling. Whenever we have the time and the money for remodeling, that'll be the first thing to go.

I'm sure there are uglier basements out there, but this one very much meets my standards of hideous. Even if we do arrange the furniture nicely.

The Mush of Life

2012-01-15T19:01:00.000-07:00

Ben has shown increasing interest in everything the rest of us have been eating, so I figured it was about time to give him his own taste of semi-solid food.

He was less excited about the prospect when we began the adventure.

He perked up after the first bite, though.

And he was quite satisfied when all was said and done.

This boy loves to eat. Just like his dad.

My Apologies

2012-01-11T17:30:00.002-07:00

Once again, I have seriously slacked on the blogging, much to my dismay and to that, apparently, of many, many other people who keep asking why I haven't blogged recently.

Someday, someday, I'll write about what's actually going on at our house. Oh, the stories I can tell. For the moment, just know that I am not myself and our household has been under extreme stress for many months now. Slowly but surely, though, we're getting a grip on the situation. I look forward to the time when I can finally write it all down and stop keeping quite so many secrets.

I'll write about it soon. I promise.

In the meantime, I have written and back-dated several posts, including one all the way back in 2011. Yep, I was so far behind I had to go back to a completely different year. Sigh.

Happy commenting!

Through Jane's Eyes

2012-01-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday

to our newest

FOUR-YEAR-OLD!!

In honor of the occasion, here are several pictures from Jane's new camera (it's a kid camera--forgive the blurriness, it's not the highest quality, though she absolutely loves it), as well as some of the more amusing and interesting things she's said of late.

"Mom, I'm feeling very selfish today."

"Really? Why?"

"Selfish means that you didn't eat your dinner and that you're STARVING. I'm pretty selfish because I'm hungry."

About her preschool teacher:

"Miss Vicki came back to school today with a new hip. She had to get a new one because her bone didn't work anymore, so the doctor took it out and put in a metal bone instead. Now she can walk, but she has to use a cane. Sometimes Grandpa Jeff uses a cane, too. I can use a cane. Except I don't have one. Here, I'll use this stick and show you how to walk with a cane."

And so she did, all the way home from school.

"Megan is my sister. Yep. That's about all I can say about her."

"Oh, Mom, I'm so glad I had that candy. Now I don't have to eat lunch."

"You must call me Princess Jane because I am a princess and I am in charge of the world."

"Let's just skip Christmas so Claire can come over."

Panda in Pink

2012-01-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

Rather than a party this year, Jane's birthday celebration was a date with Mom and Dad--Megan and Ben not allowed!

Clothing Choice: Pink Dress

Dinner Choice: Panda Express

Activity Choice: Discovery Gateway

Happy Birthday tomorrow!

Ringing it in

2012-01-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

Party!

Happy 2012!

Note--all these fireworks were lit in front of our house. Thanks, Tony! Fireworks are pretty awesome when all my kids are asleep. ;)

For just a moment, I would like to step up on my soapbox and give a short rant about New Years' Resolutions...basically, I am opposed. For three reasons:

1. It's a horrible time to start something. Honestly, you need time to recover from all the holidays. It always takes me a few weeks to get back into the groove of a regular routine and if I'm trying to jumpstart all kinds of new resolve at the same time, suffice it to say that I don't expect grand results.

2. There is a huge connotation of failure. How often do you hear about people actually achieving their resolutions? Now, don't be offended, I know there are people out there who really do set their minds to succeed and succeed they do. But that's not what you hear about. You hear about all the people who join the gym and only go twice, those who vow to read 100 books and quit after three, or what have you. I don't like the idea of setting a goal like that at a time when society generally expects you to fail, no matter who you are or what your goal is. I just don't like the connotation there.

3. If I have something that I really want to be doing or working on or changing about myself, I just do it. The idea of waiting for a convenient date seems like a stall or a way to be lazy and not commit right away. It also implies that starting anything during the rest of the year doesn't really count because you haven't worked on it for the whole year.

HOWEVER.

Before you come flying at me with torches and pitchforks, let me state my view of the other side of the coin.

1. Goals are always a good thing. Life is much more productive if we have something that we are aiming for. I would certainly say that it's better to set goals at the beginning of the year than never at all.

2. New Year's does provide an excellent time for taking stock of the previous, making note of the things that went well and what might need to be improved. In light of improving over the past, New Year's is a convenient time stamp for switching old to new...I know, that's the whole idea.

3. Despite the messages of imminent failure, there is a lot of talk about setting goals and deciding on resolutions. It can be really nice to remember to take a few moments to evaluate and set some goals.

I've been reading a lot of resolutions on friends' blogs, and I must say, I'm impressed. I read goals that I hadn't considered before that I think are really good ideas and will eventually work their way onto my to-do lists. Thanks for the inspirations, friends! I do have several things that I am already working on right now, and I hope to keep going with them until I achieve my goal, then we'll pick something new to work on. Here's to self-improvement.

Mini-Vacay

2011-12-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

A bonus to brothers working for Marriott is benefiting from the associate discount--thanks, Michael, for hooking us up with a room. And while Chris and I took the girls for a little adventure down south, Ben had a sleepover with Amy and Chase (thanks to you, too). Hooray for helpful siblings!

Nothing too grand, but we had all kinds of fun with pizza,

swimming,

games,

movies,

(it was the first time they've ever seen Alice in Wonderland)

and hotel breakfast.

Simple pleasures make happy memories.

The Duly Required

2011-12-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

cookies for santa

christmas pajamas

christmas morning

(ben kind of missed it...)

(but he caught up a bit later)

(and then megan finished for him)

favorite presents

(it's a book called "I Like Fruit")

christmas morning's resulting tornado

5 Months

2011-12-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

3 Days

5 Months

The girls wanted in on the action, too.

On this Christmas Adam

2011-12-23T04:47:00.001-07:00

I've been informed that Adam came before Eve and it therefore stands to reason the Christmas Eve is likewise preceded by Christmas Adam.

Of course, it's possible that I find that amusing at the moment because it's not quite 5:00 in the morning and I'm sitting on the couch with an extremely happy baby. I confess that I do find his smiles slightly less appealing when they are the means of keeping me out of bed. We do spend this particular hour together oft, however, and I thought I'd take advantage of it this morning.

That was wordy. I must be tired. I always talk too much when I'm tired. (Have you ever wondered where Jane gets her linguistic tendencies?)

In light of the fast-approaching holiday, I thought I'd share a certain two decorations, both containing personal touches. First, Chris's contribution to this year's festivities:

Part of family pictures last week included cleaning up the yard and trimming the bushes. Chris took advantage of that opportunity to fashion our first-ever wreath.

Megan's touch was, shall we say, less generous in holiday spirit.

because he Loves me

2011-12-21T18:23:00.002-07:00

Because Chris loves me, he read my favorite book.

He figured that if I liked it so much, he should probably know what it's about.

Remember my favorite book?

Yes indeed, my husband read Pride and Prejudice.

I will even venture to say that he enjoyed it.

But wait, it gets better.

Now that he's done with the book, he agreed to watch the movie with me.

Not the Kiera Knightly two hour version, mind you.

We're talking the real deal here.

All six hours.

Ah, it's good to be loved.

He even laughs at the appropriate moments.

in our very own front yard

2011-12-19T09:24:00.002-07:00

Fat Rat

2011-12-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Is this not just everything a school photo should be? Slightly awkward smile, one wayward bow, complete adorableness that simply cannot be matched? I submit that this is picture perfect.

Jane continues to amaze and impress me with her quick learning at school. Her teacher gave me a report of her beginning of the year test scores. She is fairly average on everything, except two categories in which she scored far beyond where she should be by the end of the year. Any guesses?

Social Skills

and

Oral Language

Big surprise, huh? What actually surprised me, though, was a little game we played today. We have a large puzzle consisting of alphabet blocks. Jane was spelling out names and words--I told her the letter, she found the appropriate block. I ventured to get a little more complicated and started telling her sounds instead of letters, and she still managed to spell everything correctly. To end our game, we ran through quite a few -at words, just switching the starting letters...cat, sat, hat, rat, mat, etc.

Hours later, we had this conversation.

Jane:

"Mom, you can't carry me because I am too heavy. Dad has to carry me. But I can't carry you because grown-ups are HUGE."

Me:

"Are you calling me fat?"

Jane:

"No, you're a rat!"

(she exclaimed this very enthusiastically)

Me:

"What?"

Jane:

"If you take fat and take off the F and put on an R then you're a rat!"

Just this once, babe, I'll let you call me a rat. But just because you're three and it's pretty dang amazing that you can figure that out in your head several hours after we were playing with a puzzle. And because your picture makes me giggle with its adorability.

Ben And

2011-12-15T09:15:00.002-07:00

At four and a half months, Ben is...

14 lbs. 14 oz.

33rd percentile

26.5 inches

85th percentile

...tall & skinny.

In his four months, I have collected a few pictures of him next to other babies, none of which have I ever posted. Let's do that now, shall we?

Cole & Ben

Cole is our neighbor. He's two months older than Ben...but more than two months bigger. :)

Ben & Ivan

Yay for cousins! I'm very excited for Ben and Ivan to be best friends. Even though Ben will probably forever be way, way taller than Ivan. I'm with Ivan on this one, though. I was always the short one.

Deirdre & Ben

Deirdre is Tannie's baby. She's five months older than Ben, but when we stretched them both out, she was only about an inch taller. Dude, Ben. You must be your father's son, because you certainly didn't get it from me.

Kennedy & Ben

Kennedy is the girl I watch a couple of days a week. This picture was just funny because their clothes matched.

Joel & Ben

You want to talk about huge... Both of Lisa's twins are home from the hospital now. Yay! And yay for even more cousins so close in age!

I keep cracking jokes about how tall Ben is. It will be even funnier if it's all a fluke and he actually ends up really short. Ha.

So Far, So Good

2011-12-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

We have a pretty mellow Christmas laid out this year, much to my enjoyment. We do have a party three Saturdays in a row, but that about covers all major events this season. Yay for simple.

Last Saturday, we went to the ward party at church.

We actually missed the annual Petty party because of it, but we did make it down to Draper for Grandpa Petty's 80th Birthday party.

Impressively, they managed to have all five of their children in attendance. I say impressive because one lives in Arkansas and another in Maryland--that's a ways to come.

Santa made an appearance at the ward party. Megan was quite excited.

Jane, on the other hand, was terrified. Ran and hid. Ben couldn't have cared less.

While we were in Draper, Jane was playing the backyard with a few other kids. Smart her, she wanted to show everyone how to walk on ice. And then the ice broke and she fell into the pond. Ha. Luckily, there wasn't much water and she managed to keep her footing, too, so she wasn't completely soaked, but she did lose the use of her shoes for the rest of the day.

P.S. Happy Birthday to my Mom!!

Christmas is Complete

2011-12-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

Special shout-out to my wonderful aunt Nancy--Ben's stocking is here! Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

I cannot tell you how irrationally happy it makes me to see all five of our stockings hanging together. Best early Christmas present ever.

He's not an ambi-turner

2011-12-09T09:38:00.001-07:00

Ben has been rolling over for a few weeks now. The first time was the day he turned 4 months old, coincidentally enough. But, while he will roll over readily and often, he only goes from stomach to back, which is normal enough, but he'll only go to the right. He will not turn to the left.

He hasn't seemed too concerned, though.

My Kids' Other Mom

2011-12-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

Brenda has been living with us since Halloween. Amy has been practically living with us almost as long, coming over pretty much every day to hang out and help with the kids. It only seemed fair then to throw her a birthday party, Wampler style.

We set the stage.

Then we partied hard. ...You know, doughnuts and puzzles with pictures of baby raccoons.

And velvet posters that come with markers. Remember those? Yeah, we hit up the dollar store. Good times.

The family gathered later at Mom and Dad's house for the more traditional cake and ice cream. Quite the turn out.

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Pick a branch... but just one branch...

2011-12-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

Our first Christmas activity of the year was creating our paper chain countdown.

Jane helped with cutting.

Megan attempted but couldn't figure out the scissors. She resorted to ripping instead.

She did better helping put together the chain.

I wrote scripture references on each using my friend Meghann's advent calendar list--each day we tear off one link and read a story about Jesus. It's been really nice to have that focus this season.

We did manage to get our tree up, though later than I had hoped. As per tradition, Chris first secured the tree to the table while the girls looked on.

Over the next day or two, I managed to get the lights put on, after extensive effort from Chris and others to get the light strings back into a useable condition. Funny side story--We took out the middle section of the tree to make it easier to light the top. When Megan saw it, she ran to me panicked, yelling, "Mom! Mom! Dad broke the tree!"

We can no longer deny it--we have two major talkers.

In favor of simplicity, we only have a handful of ornaments this year, all plastic. That way I don't have to care too much if the girls get a hold of a few. It also made it really easy to let them decorate the tree themselves, although we did have to rearrange just a few of Megan's placement choices to keep the branch of bending out of shape.

Hopefully we'll get Ben's stocking from my aunt within the next week or so. Before Christmas, she said!

To me, it's really the tree that makes Christmas. Chris promised we can invest in a much nicer artificial tree for next year. And once we're passed crawling age, real trees all the way. So excited.

Awesomeness

2011-11-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

In recognition of all his work with the DVT (that's the one that he spent hours and hours and hours and hours of overtime doing), Chris was nominated for

Engineer of the Year

There are almost 700 engineers at this branch of L3, and only 40 were nominated. Chris didn't win--up against others with 20 or more years of experience while he has less than two--but the fact that he was nominated is pretty dang impressive. Someone thinks he's worthy of top 5% recognition. Cool, eh?

Four Months

2011-11-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

Three Days

Four Months

We measured him last night--he only has three inches to grow before he surpasses the height limit on his car seat. He's already grown five inches since he was born. Looks like we'll be car seat shopping sooner rather than later...

Taking Hamsters And New Kangaroos From Underneath Logs

2011-11-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

Thankful for...

...babies who sit quietly so we can eat in peace at Chick-fil-A.

...late-night pizza.

...jell-o.

...daughters who only destroy a little bit of the puzzle this time instead of the whole thing.

...my cricut machine so I can make cute cards for baby blessings, and

...name cards for seating assignments.

...bonding moments.

...a preschooler who knows her letters,

...even if they end up upside-down and out of order sometimes.

...grandparents.

...babies who play nicely in the exersaucer

...so everyone else can play some games before lunch.

...two-year-olds who want to help cook.

...Curious George movies on TV to kill time while the turkey is in the oven.

...pre-lunch naps.

...enough Corelle dishes to set the table with matching place settings.

...LOTS OF DELICIOUS FOOD.

...eating delicious food.

...babies who happily amuse themselves so everyone else can eat delicious food.

...double pacifiers in case of emergency while everyone else is eating delicious food.

...post-lunch naps.

...DESSERT all prepared by Amanda.

...cute kids.

...cute husband who will watch said cute kids so Mom can go Black Friday shopping without said cute kids.

...sleeping babies wearing pajamas with horns on the feet. Or just sleeping babies in general.

Our Conversation Piece

2011-11-18T07:35:00.001-07:00

Jane and I went on a date a couple days ago, just me and her. We were in need of some one-on-one time.

It was up to Jane to choose the activity. After informing me she was hungry because they only had one snack at school, she declared that her activity of choice was to go to a restaurant with pancakes. Denny's it is.

Within forty-five minutes, I knew who was in what group as well as every hairstyle of every girl in Jane's preschool class--one braid, two braids, one ponytail, two ponytails, big ponytail, little ponytail, NO ponytails... And Jane used to be in the yellow group but now she's in the green group.

We also discussed the finer points of restaurant etiquette, including the necessary use of utensils as opposed to fingers, the importance of sucking through the straw instead of blowing through the straw, and the benefits of a napkin in the case of a messy face. But napkins aren't good if you have syrup on your hands, because they just rip and then your hands are dirtier with little pieces of paper stuck to them.

In the days before and after our date, we have had other equally interesting discussions.

Jane was asking what she can be when she grows up. I listed off several options and told her she can be whatever she wants to be--good parental encouragement, plant the seed to let her know she can grow up to be whatever she can dream up. She wasn't really getting that, though, so I just asked what she wants to be when she grows up. Her dream?

"I want to be a person who wears bigger clothes."

Jane gave me an elaborate description of what happens when a girl is asleep. You are asleep, then a prince comes and wakes you up, then you can get married. I asked what story that came from.

"That's not a story, Mom. It's just a part of life."

A Need for Handsome

2011-11-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Confession: I have been asked to teach a Relief Society activity tonight about journals and blogging. Since I am using my own blog as the example and knowing that new people will probably be stopping by for a peek after my presentation, I feel the need to update. Hence the three posts written yesterday...

And welcome to any new visitors! I hope you enjoyed my presentation. ;) (Since I'm writing this about four hours before the fact, I still don't know how it went.)

As usual, there are several random pictures floating around on the camera that aren't particularly attached to any event and hence don't easily fit into any particular post. So, in no particular order, here is a conglomeration of October and so-far November snapshots.

Have you met Honey? Jane is quite attached, still, to this baby doll. She sleeps with her every night and begs to take her just about any time we leave the house. I usually say no because I know what an end of the world episode we would have come bedtime if Honey were forgotten somewhere...

Jane is still quite into stealing my camera; this is her own artwork. Hello inspiration for a certain Christmas present. It also spotlights a lovely practice my girls have developed--using all my clean kitchen washcloths for baby blankets. Not my favorite thing ever.

Since Ben so much enjoyed Dierdre's exersaucer, we broke out our own this weekend. Thank you, Christopher, for getting it all cleaned up after it spent a few months in the garage.

The first time we put him in, he just smiled and played for almost 45 minutes. That's pretty much forever when you generally can't even stay awake for much longer than an hour, let alone stand and play for that long. The baseball player outfit is pretty cute, too.

I'm still a complete sucker for sleeping pictures. They just never get old.

Village Inn can be quite tiring.

Jane decided yesterday that she wanted to be handsome. Apparently "handsome" equates to "wear boy clothes."

And apparently my almost-four-year-old can fit into size 0-3 month clothes. Awesome. I have to say, though, that this particular outfit looked cuter on Ben...

Fireworks in November

2011-11-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

Bonus to having super cool neighbors: Veteran's Day Fireworks. I bet you didn't get fireworks this weekend.

Lantis threw something of an employee end-of-season party and Wendi and Tony invited us along since Chris has helped with a handful of shows. It was fun to hang out. Megan particularly enjoyed her Tony time. She's rather attached to him.

It was a little cold, though. Not freezing, but cold enough to appreciate hot chocolate and warm chili. And blankets. And weird facial expressions.

We were out at the bunker in Utah County. There were several confiscated fireworks that had to be disposed of (aka, lit) and a handful of 12-inch shells that are no longer legal to transport. It was a pretty cool show. Even if my pictures aren't as cool...

Downside: We got kicked out of our spots. The girls were all settled in to their chairs with their blankets, Ben was cozy in the carrier. So, I acquiesced to Chris's request to go help shoot the fireworks. It would only be about twenty minutes, the kids were contained and content, no problem, right? Wrong!

They (whoever "they" are...) shut off all the lights and sent us packing to the edge of the property. Megan threw a fit so I had to carry her, she screamed in Ben's ear and woke him up so he cried, too, and Jane was just being stubborn and didn't want to go. Ack. We lost our chairs and blankets--I can only carry so much!--and we spent the show crouched on the ground with all three kids taking turns throwing fits.

We just don't have very good luck with these kids at fireworks shows. In fact, I told Chris I would never go with him again unless we found a babysitter first. It's just not worth it.

It fine in the end--Jane was adopted by Wendi's mom, Megan was adopted by Wendi's sister. And the massive fireball in the burn pit was pretty darn awesome.

If I can get a babysitter, shooting fireworks will be totally awesome. Maybe next year. But at least we're still attempting fun family adventures!! And we still get to hang out with cool people. Guess it wasn't a total loss. ;)

Idaho, Second Edition

2011-11-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

We sent Chris home from Rexburg with Brenda on Sunday night. I stayed a day longer with the kids to visit Tannie at her new house in Rigby. Ah, it's been too long! And they only moved like three months ago. Sigh.

Tannie and I pretty much spent the entire day talking. What else? It's what we do. Luckily, the kids were a little more entertained.

Snacks...and dress up, as needed...

Outside time...

(I didn't go out. It was too cold. And someone had to stay in with the babies.)

Lunch...

Ben's first-ever adventure in an exersaucer. Suffice it to say that he has a new favorite location--he gets to stand up and no one has to wear their arms out holding him up. It's a win-win.

And a whole bunch of other fun activities that we didn't take pictures of because us moms were too busy talking to keep getting out the camera.

Best part of this visit: We could get interrupted multiple times, each of us having to leave the room repeatedly for child intervention, and yet we always came back every time and continued the conversation as if nothing had happened. That takes skill. Skill that is easily developed when living with anyone under four feet tall, and especially with more than one of those someones.

Now if only Rigby and Rexburg weren't so far away... I don't know how many times I'll be brave enough to venture the four hour drive with three little kids. Especially by myself like we did on the way home.

Then again, I had too much fun to stay away for too long!

Idaho, First Edition

2011-11-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we journeyed up to Rexburg. We had gone far too long without meeting this little guy.

Superman Ivan! Seriously, he looks like he's going to fly away any second now.

Amanda and I took advantage of our wonderful men and ditched the kids for a few hours for a girls' night out. Well, morning out, but same idea. Once everyone else had arrived, we went to Michael's hotel for some pool time.

Good thing for great-grandparents.

Then all the parents can keep playing while the babies sleep.

Ah, good times.

The actual event that brought everyone together was Ivan's blessing. It was a wonderful blessing, and it was nice to see everyone that was able to come. Amanda's food was really good, too. ;)

The babies didn't seem too concerned about missing out on the action.

Actually, they both slept most of the time we were there...

It was a nice introduction for Chris to his first Wampler-side nephew. And it was a very nice trip to visit everyone, even if sleeping away from home created some rather restless nights...a fact that did catch up to us.

Welcome to the World

2011-11-04T18:37:00.001-06:00

You may not have guessed it from this picture,

but Lisa gave birth to twins yesterday!

Enoch Jeffrey

November 3, 2011

10:24 PM

3 lbs. 2 oz.
17 inches

Joel Christian

10:25 PM

5 lbs. 0 oz.
18 inches

They are so tiny! Born at 35 1/2 weeks, both babies are currently in the NICU, doing as well as can be expected at the moment. They are off the ventilators and just on oxygen. Mom is doing well, too. Keep them in your prayers!

Hooray for new babies!

Cutest Things Ever

2011-10-31T21:50:00.000-06:00

I broke my own blogging rule--I backdated the last three posts. Not that it matters. But I have to document it for my own sake.

Halloween!

...the costumes...

Little Red Riding Hood

Fairy

and Princess

(Wait...hold on. Those were all the same kid...)

We celebrated twice this year. Once with my mom's ward on Friday and once with our own tonight--hence Jane's triple costume. (Wait...hold on. Three is more than two...) She didn't like the Little Red Riding Hood get-up. I was disappointed by that because it was such a stinkin' cute cape, but the whole point of dressing up is so the kids have fun, right? And if Jane wasn't having fun, well, that's lame.

At Mom's party, she traded costumes with Morgan.

Dad had some fun with it, too.

...other people's costumes...

Dalton the gorilla

Nicole the witch

Brenda the doctor/nurse/physical therapist/someone who wears scrubs and a stethoscope

There were others dressed up in our group, but I didn't get any good pictures. Except for my kids. Not just Jane--the rest of my kids, too. Just the cutest things ever!

Pumpkin

and

Hot Dog

Trunk-or-Treat #1

Trunk-or-Treat #2

We finished out the night trick-or-treating to my parents' house--the only house we went to, incidentally.

Fun little note about Ben's costume. When we wasn't wearing the whole hot dog suit, he looked something like this.

What's the red part on a hot dog? Ketchup. Ha.

The actual side note I meant to make was that this red pajama set was Christopher's when he was a baby. Cute cute. Like father, like son. (Did you know that Chris liked to dress up as ketchup, too?)

Anyway, Happy Halloween! And thank you, snow, for waiting to come until today instead of yesterday.

3 Months

2011-10-27T21:01:00.000-06:00

3 Days

3 Months

Pumpkin. Pumpkin. Pumpkin.

2011-10-26T21:28:00.000-06:00

It occurred to us recently that in the five years we've been married, we've only carved pumpkins once. And that was before any of our children were born.

Yeah, we're a little behind on that tradition...

So, to make up for lost time, I took advantage of FHE night to journey out on the grand adventure of selecting the perfect pumpkins. Perhaps we could have gone to a pumpkin patch on a quaint little farm...but instead we went to Harmon's grocery store. Just as good, right?

Carving was entertaining. Jane wanted nothing to do with the innards. "Super gross and disgusting," she said.

Megan had no problem with it.

Ben kept a respectful distance from both the mess and the sharp knives.

Jane had a lot more fun with the actual carving part. She perked up quite a bit.

We all designed our pumpkins on paper before we started carving. Jane really did draw her face--I was impressed. Megan, on the other hand, wasn't getting the whole face concept. We tried to ask her what kind of face she wanted--happy, sad, scary--and all she said was pumpkin. Repeatedly. So, Chris carved her a pumpkin on her pumpkin.

And the final products:

left to right

Megan, Jane, Chris, Laura

Hooray for belated celebration of a long-standing holiday tradition!

P.S. Happy Birthday Amanda!!

Sleepless

2011-10-22T01:29:00.000-06:00

Ben woke up first. I picked him up out of his bassinet and put him in bed next to me--I've never been one to actually get up to feed my nursing babies at night. I was a little annoyed to realize that it had only been two hours since I put him to bed...so much for sleeping through the night, eh? Oh, well. I went back to sleep while he was eating.

I woke up to screaming. Always rather disconcerting in those sleepy stages when you're awake enough to know something's going on but not awake enough for your brain to process what it is. Impressive, too, when I realized that it was only about four minutes later than when I had last looked at the clock with Ben and I was already that much asleep.

Megan was the screamer. She was sitting on the floor next to her bedroom door in utter despair--she doesn't know how to work the doorknob yet. I picked her up, sat on the edge of her bed, and just held her for a minute until she stopped crying. Then Jane woke up. Go figure. Screaming doesn't phase her a bit, but me walking into the room is like an alarm clock went off.

Jane said she needed a drink. Megan said, "Me too." Now, I am generally opposed to out-of-room venturing during the night. Too disruptive to the back-to-sleep endeavor. I put Megan down so I could get a drink and bring it back to them but before I knew it, they had both beat me out the door and into the kitchen.

Ok, fine. Get a drink and go back to bed before you wake up Dad and slash or the baby.

Megan sat on her bed content just long enough for me to get Jane tucked back in--"I need you to fix my blankets, Mom"--and find her baby, Honey, which was recovered only by my shuffling in small circles around the bed until my feet ran into said baby doll. I'm sure that would be quite entertaining to watch in daylight, bathrobe and all.

My attention was then commandeered back to Megan's bed. She sat on my lap for a while, refusing to even think about laying down. I told her she needed to go back to sleep, I offered any number of choice companions--her care bear, her pig, her doggie, her putt-putt fish, her baby Ronda. (Yes, Ronda. Thank you, Jane.) She would have none of it. I'm certain she fully intended to spend the rest of the night on my lap.

I nodded off a few times and just about dropped her on the floor once because my arms relaxed a little too much. I finally said, "Megan, I need you to lay on your pillow so Mommy can go back to bed. I'm tired." Her response? "Oh. Okay." And she laid right down, no problem.

Huh. I guess sometimes you just need a reason.

I shuffled back to my own bed, just to have my husband kindly remind me that I needed to sign my timecard or they wouldn't pay me for these overtime hours.

I laid back down and got comfortable, wondering who I could trick into counting middle-of-the-night parenting as overtime and pay me. How sweet would that be. That thought slowly switched to considering the wisdom that is my no out of room venturing policy, as my return to sleep endeavor had been officially thwarted. Something about interacting with every single member of my family between 12:30 and 1:00 in the morning makes it hard to go back to sleep.

Lunch Break

2011-10-19T10:02:00.000-06:00

I have hinted here, and stated obviously and repeatedly on Facebook, that Chris has worked a lot of overtime in the last few weeks. This has been a lot more stressful to our family than I really noticed in the beginning. Chris generally works 40 hours a week, 10 hours each Monday through Thursday, Fridays off. In four weeks, Chris worked 65 hours of overtime, meaning he averaged 56 hours each week. He almost doubled that last week by working 83 hours in six days--43 hours just in overtime. He most often came home around 10:30 or 11:00.

On the worst night, he didn't get home until 2:30 in the morning. No joke.

On the best night, he came home at 6:15. We girls were pretty excited about it. Jane and Megan very much enjoyed just being with Dad. I could tell they missed him, even if they didn't realize it enough to say it themselves.

I was surprised at how refreshing it was for me to see my kids with their dad. Too little of that going on lately. Even though he was home, he spent 30 minutes sleeping while I got dinner, then we had about an hour and a half with him before the kids went to bed (including dinner), then he was back on his computer working for another two hours before we went to bed.

It was a long week.

The oft-asked question, naturally, is WHY is he working so much?? To be followed closely by When will he be done?

In layman's terms--because that's all I have any understanding of--he's testing. They have software that is going to be released and it's Chris and his team's job to make sure the programs actually work. They run literally hundreds of tests to find all bugs and defects, then they have to fix them and test again.

So, that's a big project anyway. Add to that the fact that they are testing three different programs at the same time and the fact that Chris is in charge of organizing and coordinating the teams running the tests and collaborating with the programmers who fix the bigger bugs. Chris is also one of the few guys who actually really knows what the tests all are, so he's one of the go-to guys when problems come up that are harder to figure out. Physically exhausting to work that many hours with little sleep and often not quite enough food and mentally exhausting to be actively problem-solving for most of those hours.

(P.S. Sorry, Chris, if I've totally misrepresented what you've been doing. I tried to get it right...)

The big push last week was to get the testing all squared away, so every test passed, before Butch came this week. Butch is witnessing each and every test to make sure it passes. That's what's going on this week. Chris is there basically overseeing all the tests while his team runs them and Butch records. By the end of the day yesterday, he already had 28 hours on his timecard for the week, and it was only Tuesday. But, there is an end in sight--Butch is only here this week. We've got our fingers crossed that the week will end on Friday instead of Saturday, but it certainly won't go past that. Yay!

We did take advantage of my stay-at-home-mom-ness yesterday and packed up a picnic lunch, stole Chris away from the office, and spent 45 minutes together at a park just up the road. Eating and playing with Dad was just the ticket for a very, very good lunch break.

Convenient that the park was close, eh?

Just a side note milestone, Ben has already discovered his hands. He will stare intently at them until he goes cross-eyed, then work as hard as he can to get them both shoved in his mouth at the same time. That's skills, dude.

He also slept through the night for the first time last night--seven hours of unconscious bliss. Here's to many, many more nights like that, baby.

I'm pretty lucky to have such a good husband and adorable kids. I must have done something right...

2 months, 2 weeks, 2 days

2011-10-13T20:52:00.000-06:00

My little boy is getting so big!

Thank goodness for cell phone cameras to take pictures to send to Dad while he's still at work until 2:30 in the morning. (Blah for that, though.)

Every time Ben wakes up, he smiles as soon as he sees me. Even if he's been screaming, he'll switch right to a smile when I come in the room. That's just about the best thing ever. Ever ever.

Ben loves his sisters. He smiles a lot for Jane, too--right up until she accidentally sits on him or something equally not soft.

I love my baby.

Megan turns 2 for the 2nd time

2011-10-13T08:34:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday was the combined Megan and Grandpa Jeff birthday party at my parents' house. Megan got to blow out the candles, which she hadn't done yet,

and she opened her presents from Grandma Karrie. Thank you for new clothes that fit and aren't stained! And Megan loves the pig in a blanket.

Grandpa Jeff also got to blow out his candles. He's just a little older than Megan, can you tell?

Luckily the smoke detector didn't go off...

He did get them all out in one breath, by the way. Go Dad.

20 Questions

2011-10-11T22:28:00.000-06:00

Remember at the beginning of last year when Chris lived in Salt Lake and I was still in Logan with the kids? Single parenting all during the week, Dad home only on the weekends when we try to cram in as many catch-up chores as possible while still pretending to have time to be a family...remember that?

That's what the last month has been like, except now I am single parenting three kids instead of just two and am home all day instead of teaching. Chris has been working serious overtime--15-20 extra hours every week for the last four weeks, and it'll keep going until the end of next week. The kids have been in bed for over an hour already and he just called to say he won't be home for at least another two hours. Hopefully.

Sigh. At least we can still sleep in the same bed each night this time.

So, to pass the time until I get to see him just long enough to say hello before we both crash for the night just to wake up and say goodbye again tomorrow morning, I have decided to do a Couple Tag. If I can't be with him, at least I can think about him a lot. :)

P.S. I believe this tag was originally intended along the secret crush lines, so if some of the questions seem weird, that's why.

1. Where did you meet?
Chris and I met in Fairbanks, Alaska, at the dorms of University of Alaska Fairbanks. We were there for the Upward Bound Math and Science Program.

2. What was the first thought that went through your head when you met?
My first thought was, "What a dork." (Sorry, Chris! Love you!) He had a graphing calculator in his pocket. I'm not necessarily opposed to carrying around a calculator, but a graphing calculator seemed really extreme...and kind of dorky.

3. Do you remember what he/she was wearing?
Chris was wearing light colored blue jeans (with really big pockets) and a gray t-shirt. And the same sneakers that are still sitting in our bedroom closet right now.

4. Where was the first time you kissed this person?

In the hallway of the Lion Hotel in Pocatello, ID following senior prom. Chris told me it was tradition to have a good night kiss. We had been dating for ten months and our first kiss was senior prom.

5. Where did you go for your first date?
This one is up for debate. Chris says our first date was in Alaska when we saw Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course starring Steve Irwin. I maintain that wasn't an official date because we were there with about a dozen other people from the program. And it was a really stupid movie... I say our first date was the first time we saw each other after Alaska, when his family came and picked me up in Salt Lake and we went to a family reunion of his grandma's extended family.

Really, either way you look at it, we had a pretty lame first date. Don't worry, we got better at it.

6. How long did you know this person before you became a couple?
We met on June 15, 2002. We started dating on July 23, 2002. So 38 days.

7. How did he/she ask you out?
We were walking back to the dorms from the cafeteria when he first told me he liked me. It was a couple days later when we had the fateful conversation: Me--What happens when we get home? (meaning when we left Alaska, me to Utah, him to Idaho) Chris--What do you want to happen? Me--My sister is going to ask if I have a boyfriend and I want to say yes. Chris--Ok.

And the rest is history. Sort of.

8. Has this person ever proposed to you?
Three times. All within about a minute and a half. My responses: 1. Are you serious?! 2. y...e...s...? 3. Yes.

9. Do you and this person have kids together?
Only the three most adorable kids to have ever graced the planet.

10. Have you ever broken the law with this person?
Chris has gotten three speeding tickets with me in the car. I have gotten one with him asleep in the backseat.

11. When was the first time you realized that you liked this person?
Well, my mom had to point out first that he liked me. I was complaining about this guy that just kept following me around and carrying my books for me and singing when I played the piano and eating lunch with me... Once she awakened me to my obliviousness, I decided that he might be cool. And once I actually paid attention, it turned out he was a really good guy.

12. Do you get along with his/her family?

It's rare to meet a better group of people. So yes.

13. Do you trust this person?
I trust him with my mind, my heart, and my children. So yes.

14. Do you see her/him as your partner in your future?
Only forever. Not a minute longer.

15. What is the best gift she/he gave you?
We dated long distance for a year and a half. During one stretch when I was having a rough time, he came down with a little package for me. The movie Ten Things I Hate About You, a blanket he had made, a bag of popcorn, and a teddy bear. His instructions: watch the movie and eat the popcorn together right then. Later, when he was gone and I was missing him, I could wrap up in the blanket and hug the bear while I watched the movie. Yeah, he did good on that one.

16. What is one thing he/she does that gets on your nerves?
I must really like him because I can't think of any off the top of my head.

17. Where do you see each other 15 years from now?
We'll probably see each other in our house. Maybe this same house, or maybe a different one. We might see each other occasionally in the car, too. At church. At the occasional family gathering.

I don't think that's what this question really means...

18. What causes the most arguments?

Money.

19. How long have you been together?
We have known each other for 9 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days. We dated for exactly 1 year and 6 months. We broke up but still wrote letters. Then we were engaged for 2 months, 1 week, and 4 days. We have been married for 5 years, 2 weeks, and 6 days.

So... in all, we've been a couple for 6 years, 9 months, and 3 days.

(Can you tell I have time to kill before Chris comes home?)

20. Are you married?
Yes. That's a dumb question. Don't tell the leper.

21. Who do you tag?
It seems to me that blog tagging is something of the past, but I did have fun writing this and would certainly not be opposed to learning a bit more about my friends' wonderful spouses. So, if you feel inspired, consider yourself tagged and write away.

And now I will copy and paste this entire post into Word, convert it to a pdf, then email it to Chris as an attachment so he can read it at work. Just like I do with all of my blog posts.

Love you, babe. Come home sometime. It'll be awesome. :)

I've been shot!

2011-10-10T10:09:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned, I took all three kids to the doctor--Megan for her two-year checkup, Ben for his two-month checkup, Jane because there aren't a lot of babysitters available at 11:00 on a Thursday.

It was kind of an intense visit, in an amusing way. Megan and Ben were each getting immunizations. I had assured Jane all morning that she didn't have to get any shots, she just needed to sit quietly and wait until the appointment was over. That's all.

Then the nurse asked me about flu shots.

Jane was pretty ticked at me for pretty much the rest of the day. She was rather indignant that I went back on my word and let the nurse stab her leg while I held her down in a big bear hug.

Moms can be so mean sometimes.

All told, I think the nurse was more traumatized than anyone else. Megan was screaming because she was getting shots, Jane was screaming because she was going to get a shot, and Ben was screaming because no one was holding him. (He was still unaware of the shots to come.) It was rather noisy in that little room.

Once all was said and done, we went out in the hall with all three kids still whimpering. There was a brand new mom in the lobby with her brand new baby. I assured her it wasn't all that bad, I promise.

Of course, I had made all kinds of promises to Jane that morning and see how that turned out.

Anyway...

Ben's two-month stats:

12 lbs. 9 oz.

57th percentile

23 inches

55th percentile

I was a little surprised at his height. At one month, he was 25th for weight and 90th for height. He still looks really long and skinny, but that's not what the numbers say. *shrug*

P.S. Thanks go to Amy--she pretty much saved this entire week at our house. Just sayin'. And she's definitely Ben's favorite aunt.

P.P.S. Happy Birthday, Dad / Grandpa Jeff!

Oh, Wow

2011-10-07T08:43:00.004-06:00

Our little Megan Leigh is officially TWO YEARS OLD!

My, how time flies. Two years ago today, I had my simplest birth experience (and that's no understatement!). Our kid count doubled in just one moment. Then:

And now:

(They were having tummy time with Ben. Funny how perspective makes Megan's head look huge...)

In the last two years, Megan has:

grown 1 ft. 3 inches taller
gained 20 pounds
had surgery
broken her right arm
moved to a new city
become a big sister
learned how to crawl, walk, and talk
eaten enough fruit to fill a small lake

Megan got to open her presents from Mom and Dad early in the morning before Chris went to work. It took her a minute to figure out what to do.

She was pretty funny to watch, though she did get it in the end. Her most common phrase lately, uttered repeatedly while discovering her new toys, is an intensely whispered, "Oh, Wow!" It's just about the cutest thing she's ever said. It has to be whispered every time.

This was her gift, in addition to a Lady (from Lady and the Tramp) dog.

I would like to make a side note that I put that all together myself. It started like this:

Go me.

I don't know that Ben really enjoyed the festivities, but he at least enjoyed the swing. I think.

After presents, Megan enjoyed her ultra fancy, super complicated breakfast of choice...

A Nectarine

Jane was struggling with the whole "It's Megan's birthday, not yours" thing, so we made some compromises so Megan could have her present but Jane could have fun, too.

Megan doesn't have friends her age yet, so we had planned to have a fun family outing to the zoo. Then it started snowing. I can do cold, but I'm not willing to brave freezing rain and downpours with small children, especially a baby.

In place of that, Lisa and I came up with an impromptu birthday party with cousins, complete with pizza,

dollar store presents,

a craft,

balloons,

and the ever-popular sugar cookies and fruit.

Megan was too occupied with eating the fruit to smile for the camera. Have I mentioned that she loves fruit? After the party was over and before I cleaned up the table (wait, who am I kidding...it's the next morning now and I still haven't cleaned up the table), I found her eating blueberries by the spoonful. That's my Megan.

Upon later reflection, I have determined that I would have planned something extremely similar to this had I done it all intentionally instead of last minute. Last minute was better, though. No stress. Even if my counter was covered in dirty dishes in all the pictures. And those dollar store presents were just about the best party investment we've ever made (except maybe those blueberries)--she's still playing with all of them, pretty much at the same time. Thanks for all the inspiration, Lisa.

We are having a joint party with my family on Sunday, as my dad's birthday is Monday. Look forward to that post.

We also had something of an early party last week when Chris's parents passed through town on their way to Cincinnati. They gave Megan two books, "The Pout-Pout Fish" and "The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark" (absolutely adorable books, by the way! read them if you have small children! the first one is especially hilarious if you read it in a gangsta' rap voice.):

and a matching fish that Janet made. Ah! Megan loves it.

She carries it around, sleeps with it, and fondly calls it her Putt-Putt fish.

For interest's sake, here are Megan's two-year stats.

2 ft. 10 in.

27 lbs. 14 oz.

75th percentile on each

I wonder at what age it becomes socially unacceptable to post our children's weight for public scrutiny.

Happy Birthday, Megan Leigh!

Gymnastics

2011-10-04T09:09:00.000-06:00

Some of the best Family Home Evening activities are spontaneous.

MY Conference

2011-10-03T10:44:00.000-06:00

Can I just say, I LOVE watching general conference at my own house? I get way more out of it when I'm not trying to keep my kids quiet so they don't distract every other person in the chapel. And sitting on the couch in my jeans instead of on a pew in a dress doesn't hurt anything, either.

If it weren't for the wonders of satellite technology, my husband surely would not have done all the laundry--sorted, washed, dried, sorted again, folded, hung up, and put away. Three kids produce an impressive amount of laundry. Something of a conundrum to me--their clothes are significantly smaller, why do they still take up so much space?

Chris's comment at the end was that our girls certainly have a lot of pink pants.

I had conference packets for the girls to color, keeping them at least in the same room for chunks of time during the sessions. Jane especially enjoyed practicing writing the names of the First Presidency and the 12 Apostles.

Megan just did whatever seemed amusing at the moment.

Ben pretty much slept. He was rather helpful in his part of letting me listen for the majority of each session. And I have no picture because I didn't want to wake him up.

There were a few talks that stood out to me. I loved Elder Scott's suggestions on and reasons for memorizing scriptures. Elder Perry's talk on proclaiming the gospel through social media spoke directly to a project Lisa and I have in the works. Sister Thompson's talk on scriptures was refreshing. Two particular moments, though:

Sister Elaine S. Dalton's talk was about what fathers can do to raise righteous daughters in today's world. She said the most important thing a father can do for his daughters is to love their mother. Chris, who was sitting next to me on the floor, said, "Done. That was easy." Ha.

The #1 talk I enjoyed is the same that I've heard many people mention already--Elder Andersen's talk on children. I have been quite disappointed by the fact that Ben was born by c-section. Honestly, it feels like someone else had my baby for me and I missed out. Elder Andersen's talk bore strong witness to me that I am fulfilling God's commandment to multiply and replenish the earth, regardless of how it all played out on that one particular day. I still have some ground to cover before I'll really be ok with it all, but I'm certain this talk has already been and will continue to be very helpful in that process.

I remember watching Conference as a kid and thinking about how insanely boring it always seemed, even if we were playing Bingo with m&ms. I'm glad I'm finally old enough now to really enjoy all that Conference is and can be for months to come until the next one. Thank you, Mom, for making us watch even though we were bored and for setting the example of appreciating Conference and listening to and following the prophets. I hope I can teach my kids something of the same.

P.S. He has a name now.

2011-10-02T22:01:00.000-06:00

say hello to

Ivan Tyler Wampler

the cutest baby born last Friday

The Newest Wampler

2011-09-30T13:37:00.000-06:00

Hooray for the new baby!

Michael and Amanda had their first baby boy this morning at 8:33 a.m. Yay! They arrived at the hospital for an induction at 9:00 the night before. Everyone is doing well.

Mr. Baby Wampler weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. and measured 19.5 inches long. And he'll have a name soon enough. ;)

Good job, guys. Nicely done.

September Dump

2011-09-30T09:00:00.000-06:00

It's no grand secret that I've been having a rough time in these few weeks since Ben was born...hopefully we'll get better sooner rather than later. So far, though, I've already missed quite a few nice posts that could have been had for the enjoyment of all. But, I never wrote them. Eh. We'll just put them all together now.

A while back Lisa and I took all our kids to Wheeler Farm...

Two weeks ago, we all went to This is the Place Park for L3's annual company picnic. They got to ride the horses, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

But they really LOVED the little playhouse village. We spent far more time there than anywhere else.

Maybe, just maybe, Megan enjoyed the watermelon more. She just wouldn't stop eating it...

We have missed Chris around our house lately. He's been quite busy with testing at work, in addition to which he's still been working on getting his car fixed. It's fixed now--head gaskets and new radiator successfully installed. Yay!! Thank you again, Lisa and Christian, for letting us borrow the Taurus.

Perhaps because we've missed it so much lately, I makes me extra happy when I can see my kids playing with their dad.

About a month ago, we took Ben to Primary Children's to have his hips x-rayed. Nothing to be concerned about, it's just a better-safe-than-sorry check because he was breech. I took this picture in the waiting room.

I've taken more pictures. I can't help it. He's my little man. I also think it's funny when he falls asleep in amusing positions and places. Like a bed that's about 100 times his size.

My kids are pretty cute together, too.

Good times.

Commemoration

2011-09-29T21:44:00.001-06:00

It's often considered traditional to commemorate the honeymoon on major anniversaries--fifth, tenth, twentieth, etc. We decided to follow that tradition and return to our own honeymoon destination. Where was that?

Lagoon

Yes, that's where we went for our honeymoon, and that's where we went on Saturday. Thank you, Mom, for watching the girls and thank you, Amy, for keeping Ben for an entire day. You guys are awesome.

We were much more interested in riding the rides and flirting with each other than taking pictures, so I only have a few select shots to share. We happened to attend during Frightmares, so they had a few extra attractions set up...

Like fun house mirrors.

And...dead guys. Cool.

This isn't my most romantic picture collection ever, but I want to say that I LOVE MY HUSBAND. I feel very special to be married to him. We've made it five years--that's pretty darn good by society's standards nowadays. Here's to many, many, many more years. I'm betting on eternity, babe. Love you!

For Amanda

2011-09-28T16:38:00.000-06:00

My sister-in-law's first baby is due today. She's tired of all the questions, comments, and sympathy that come with still being pregnant. Ladies, you can relate. It has put me in mind of just a few of the obnoxious things people said to me during the last few weeks of my pregnancies, along with how I wished I had responded. Don't worry, I never actually said any of these things. I just wanted to. Pregnancy does some ugly things...

"Haven't you had that baby yet?"

"You're as fat as I am. Where's your baby?"

"With that shirt on, you don't really look pregnant."

"With those pants on, you look really fat, too."

"Rub the buddha!"

Just start rubbing their face. Then maybe they'll get the idea of personal boundaries.

"Just hang in there. You're almost done."

"Shut up or I'll break your face."

Ok, really, I never had a good comeback to this one. But it drove me crazy when people said it.

And finally,

"You're pregnant?

You do know how that happens, right?"

"..."

How would you respond to that? 10,000 points to the person who gives me the best retort.

And yes, someone actually said that to me. A mother, even. Maybe it took her longer to figure out...

Dos ... ... how do you say months in spanish?

2011-09-27T14:34:00.000-06:00

So much for a short and to-the-point post title that stated the bare facts while adding a little multilingual spice. Better luck next time.

3 Days

One Month

Two Months

We did better this time--smiling is better than screaming. Even though this outfit has a hint of prison escapee to it. But hey, no complaints on free clothes.

His face isn't quite as smiley in this one, but check out his leg. This kid is tall. He can already stretch past the end of his seat and he's only two months old. The infant carrier might not last as long this time around...

5 years later...

2011-09-21T16:48:00.000-06:00

Happy Anniversary to us!

Sept. 21, 2006 - Sept. 21, 2011

Someone Else's Story

2011-09-17T21:05:00.002-06:00

Chris and the girls went to Aberdeen without me. Don't feel sorry for me--that was the whole point. I needed a break, and I figured they would appreciate having something to do beyond me just being gone. I also guessed that I would have a better break if they were 200 miles away without any expectation of me being available...

While I did have Chris's support, I think he was subconciously against leaving. Or at least he was hesitant to leave town too quickly. We all said goodbye at 9:30 Friday morning. At 9:35, Chris called and informed me that he had forgotten to eat breakfast. I hadn't eaten yet, either, so we met up at McDonald's. Yeah, that goodbye lasted a long time. But breakfast was tasty.

The next goodbye lasted a bit longer. Chris made it all the way to Kaysville--that fateful off-ramp where we ran out of gas on Thanksgiving 2009. In the metro. When Megan was the same age Ben is now. Flashback! The metro started billowing all kinds of smoke on the freeway. They managed to get off, check out a few things, then slowly (very slowly) drive back to Salt Lake on Highway 89.

I got the phone call while mindlessly ambling through Walmart. I was certain my retreat was cancelled then and there. But never fear! Grandpa Jeff and Uncle Christian saved the day.

We met back up, Chris took the van, and I borrowed the Taurus. The same Taurus that belonged to us when Jane was born. That car I drove back when I only had one kid, and I was using it on the weekend when I only had one kid with me. Flashback!

At this point, though, Chris and the girls had already been sitting in a car for about two hours. Didn't seem like the best time to start another 3 1/2 hour drive. So, they went to McDonald's (again) to get some lunch and burn off some energy to encourage naps.

I had already ditched back out, had had a relaxing lunch alone, and was mindlessly ambling through Barnes and Noble when I got another phone call. Chris had locked his keys in the van. See what I mean about subconciously not wanting to leave?

But they did actually leave that time. And it only took four goodbyes, all told. What can I say--they like me.

Here's where I feel like I'm cheating a little bit and telling someone else's story. I (obviously) wasn't there, so I can only go by what's in the pictures and what limited stories I've heard from Chris and Jane. I'd add Megan's stories, too, but she doesn't really talk much.

It appears that they played basketball.

I think they were cheating, though. I'm pretty sure that move isn't permitted in the NBA.

Jane's fascination with the camera resurfaced yet again, to her credit, I think.

But look, she was in one of the pictures, too. Yay!

I heard that Jane prayed that they could go to the park, so they went to the park. Remember, God often answers blessings through other people. Like a little girl's dad.

And introducing one of Megan's best pictures ever. I would have posted it in the "Yay Megan" post, but I felt like it was stealing from this post. So I'll show it now.

See. Adorable. No denying it.

They fed horses.

I think. It might be that they looked at horses and fed themselves.

On Saturday, they went to the zoo in Idaho Falls with Amanda. They had maps there. Jane told me all about that one.

They had animals there, too. Surprise! I bet you hadn't guessed they'd have animals at the zoo. I know they did because I saw the pictures.

They even let you touch some of the animals.

Here's where it's good to be with Dad. Mom won't play that game. Like I told Chris this morning--I believe in equality. I dislike all animals equally.

It was a good trip overall, I think. They all seemed to enjoy it from what I hear. I know they missed me though. When Chris and I first met in Alaska, he bought us a pair of stuffed moose. He took mine with him to Idaho, and it earned a special seat on the ride home on Sunday.

I told you he missed me. Sometimes, it's good to be wanted.

Middle Child

2011-09-15T13:20:00.001-06:00

Jane talks a lot. Ben cries a lot. They get a lot of attention.

Megan is pretty chill and just goes with whatever's happening. And she gets less attention because of it. Less than two months with three kids and already we're battling Middle Child Syndrome.

Let's give Megan some attention, shall we?

Megan likes to just hang out. As I said, she'll just go along with whatever. She is often content to just be.

I don't get many pictures of her on her own because she rarely leaves Jane alone. The recent pictures of just her are, in fact, courtesy of Jane and a consequence of Mom leaving the camera within reach and unsupervised.

She is pretty photogenic though, isn't she? Her hair was actually done up very cute in that last picture...too bad that's the part of her head that's cut off.

The latest and greatest excitement in Megan's life is a new toddler bed. I was hesitant to add one more level of crazy to our lives, but it was basically a seamless transition. The mattress and bedding are all straight from the crib, so it feels exactly the same to her; the only difference is she can get in and out herself. She loves it and will often just sit on her bed at random times during the day.

I was mostly worried about Jane keeping her awake or coaxing her out of bed when it's time to be going to sleep. In a week, that hasn't happened at all. Mornings, though, are another story. Generally what wakes me up in the morning is Megan stomping around saying, "Mommy! Mommy!" and Jane running on tiptoes saying, "Shhhh, Megan! Be quiet or you'll wake them up!" It's actually pretty amusing. Sometimes I stay in my room longer just because I think it's funny to listen to them.

Next step: take down the crib.

As much as I'd like to just give the attention to Megan, I really can't say anything about her and keep Jane out. As you may have already noticed. They get along well for the most part.

Megan will let Jane boss her around as long as it suits her, but when she's done, she's done and will find something else to do, regardless of what Jane thinks. She's big enough, too, that Jane can't really push her around. For as quiet as Megan is, she's just as opinionated.

Most of the time, though, they are good friends. Their current favorite is playing with the dollhouse.

The dolls in residence are Troy and Aberlina. I'll let you guess who named them. Come over sometime and I'll introduce you.

Despite how hard it is having three kids, I think I'll keep 'em. All of them. :)

Our "School Player"

2011-09-14T09:58:00.000-06:00

Introducing our first ever preschooler!

Jane will be attending preschool two days a week in the afternoons. She has been so excited to go to school! Can you tell?

Megan wanted to get in on the picture action...

Jane's favorite activity when she gets home is homework. No, they have not given 3-year-olds homework. Jane's "homework" is writing in her notebook. And when I say "writing" I mean scribbling and attempting the six or seven letters she tries to imitate.

This is her current best attempt at writing her name. Even though they are not in the right order, she at least has some semblance of the correct four letters. I call that progress.

The week before school started, we got Jane's hair cut. I love her long hair, but it was getting straggly at the end and didn't look very nice.

I took her to Cookie Cutters. She loved the car and the movie, but it took a good bit of bribery to get her to wear the cape. Once she got over that, though, she had a good time.

I think it turned out quite well. Nothing drastic, just evening out the ends. Now it can keep growing straight. (Side note...it still seems weird to me sometimes how different my girls' hair is from each other and from mine. Who knew I would have a blond child? And at the same time, who knew there would only be one?)

My girl is growing up! When we were walking home from school on Monday, I asked her what she did in class. Her response: "Nothing." Ah! I thought that wouldn't start for a few years at least.

She has since told me all about the sun, clouds, families, and walking feet in the halls. We also must all sit on our pockets now if we're on the floor. Good to know she's learning something, even if she still thinks she's only playing at school. :)

Mother's Retreat

2011-09-13T09:28:00.001-06:00

My 30 day book meme attempt at reinvigorating my blogging mojo didn't work. This temporary slacking is a little more complicated than just having nothing to say.

To put it mildly, having three kids is kicking my trash. Not going well.

No one likes to admit that they're not amazing, but I found it rather unavoidable for me this time. Why? I had to leave. Being with all three kids all day long was getting progressively worse day by day, and I knew we were about to hit critical mass. Bad. So, I came up with a grand plan to prevent disaster.

In short, I sent my kids away. And then I left, too.

While Chris took the girls to his parents' house in Aberdeen, Ben and I went to a hotel for Friday night. My purpose was two-fold: 1) evaluate why I want to be a mother and how I want to do it, and 2) just have a break.

When I checked into the hotel, the receptionist asked if I was there for business or pleasure. I said business. My job is being a mom, and that's what I was there to work on. Business it is.

It was quite the spiritual adventure, I must say. I prayed a lot, read a lot, and wrote a lot. I have over forty pages written in my journals just from that one night and morning.

What I learned is a different post for another day. Suffice it to say, I have a much bigger perspective on the work that I'm really doing now.

It was nice having Ben with me. One tiny baby is much, much easier to handle than a baby and a toddler and a preschooler. For the most part, he was quite content to let me do my work.

When he was awake, though, his happy smiles helped me remember that being a mom really is worth the effort.

I spent Friday night in the hotel. Saturday was a day of doing whatever I wanted. Ah, it was glorious. A few things I particularly enjoyed:

I ate an entire candy bar. All by myself. No one even asked for a bite.

I took a shower with no fear of property damage.

I left a pen on the floor and none of its ink ended up on the wall.

None of my bookmarks came out of my books.

I listened to the radio in the car and no one yelled at me because I didn't hear them talking.

I bought a Christmas present and no one saw it.

There wasn't any grand miraculous fix in just that one weekend, but I was much more ready to see the girls again come Sunday night when they came home. It will still take some time to get life how I'd really like it to be, but we're headed in the right direction now, and I know where it is I want to get. And if nothing else, I got a lot of sleep this weekend.

To those of you who already have three kids, kudos to you on surviving (hopefully better than me). Any tips you want to share? To those of you who are still headed in that direction, I wish you luck. :)

Maybe now I can get back to documenting all the fun things we've done, even during this little rough patch. Like what Chris and the girls did in Idaho. And Megan's new toddler bed. And Jane's first day of preschool--how did I miss blogging that?! Come back soon for those posts. It'll be great.

Handsome Little Man

2011-09-04T17:04:00.003-06:00

I am overwhelmed today by how many people came to show their love and support for our family. We had quite the party going.

Ben, as star of the show, was decked out in his finest. He looked just like a miniature deacon! I was a little distracted by the roughly 50 people having lunch at our house, so this is the best Ben-only picture I got showing his outfit.

But really, the shoes were the best part. Thanks, Wendi! Ah! So cute. I am quite enjoying little boy clothes after more than three years of only little girl clothes.

The blessing was wonderful. I am so so grateful that Chris holds the priesthood and is able to do this for our children. The things shared in the blessing are just a small glimpse into how strong a spirit our little man really is, and how special he is to our Heavenly Father.

I can't say we've ever had quite so many people at our house all at the same time--these people must like us or something. Or they were just hungry.

Lunch was good. We had a potluck barbeque. I don't think we've ever had quite so much fruit at our house all at the same time--Megan was in heaven.

For most of the time, Ben slept in the bedroom. All this excitement just for him and he slept right through it. Ha.

He did wake up eventually, and introduced himself to many of the relatives he had yet to meet.

(This is just a funny picture because he was mid-sneeze.)

Last but not least, we had just a few minutes to snap some blessing day family pictures. It occurred to me that I never did any family pictures on either of the girls' blessing days, so we should today. But then, I think that's part of what made me forget to get a good one of just Ben in his outfit. Oh, well. I can dress him up again later.

Thank you again to everyone who came!

Ben's Mirthday

2011-08-31T08:32:00.005-06:00

JeriLynn, I think it was, talked about her son's "mirthday"--his one month birthday. I liked the idea. So I stole it. Thanks, JeriLynn.

Happy Mirthday, Ben!
One month old on Saturday, August 27

Let's start with our size comparison. Thanks, Tannie, for letting me steal that idea. I'm all about idea thievery lately.

3 Days

1 Month

No, I did not intentionally get him screaming both times. It just happened that way because it was the only time he was in the car seat both days. But you can tell that he's already getting longer, and he definitely has NOT plumped up. When you hold him he is all arms and legs. He is looking less newborn, but he's still tall and skinny. Like his dad.

Contrary to what his car seat pictures may suggest, Ben is an extremely mellow baby. Thank goodness. We were due for a mellow one.

I am not one to put babies on a schedule--that can come when they're bigger. However, he has quite conveniently put himself on a pretty darn consistent schedule. As long as he's fed and changed and we're not going anywhere, he will sleep from 8:00 to 11:00 each morning, 12:30 to 4:30 each afternoon, and 6:00-8:00 each evening. Almost on the dot, every day. During the night, he only wakes up twice, if that. Then he's up at 6:45 and happy to start again. The only problem with this schedule is that he is always awake when everyone else is eating. Makes cooking tricky.

Speaking of happy, he smiled for the first time yesterday! Oh, it just makes you melt.

His sisters still love him...a little too much. Jane is very helpful with getting diapers or burp rags, and she'll sit with him and keep him company while I make lunch or dinner.

We are blessing Ben this coming Sunday. Let me know if you want to come!! It'll be quite the party, with many people staying at our house for the weekend and several (as in lots and lots) more coming over for lunch after church. Should be quite the party. We're excited to see you all!

P.S. I've added Day 21-30 of my book list. I post-dated it for last Monday, so it won't show up on the top of the list. Go back and read it. Please. And leave a comment when you're done. Pretty please. :)

My Foul Ball

2011-08-30T19:08:00.000-06:00

As I have mentioned before, Chris will occasionally help a friend of ours with his fireworks shows. Most often, it's the fireworks at the Slat Lake Bees baseball games.

Last Saturday, Chris was only helping with the actual show (fire control) and clean-up afterward, so the kids and I went along just for fun. Sweet deal--hang out with Chris and watch a ball game (or at least pretend...we didn't actually care...) until the very end of the game. Sit in the stands with just the kids and me for the last inning, watch the fireworks, and go home. No problem.

Part one worked great. The girls had all kinds of fun running up and down the hill.

We shared some snacks.

And Ben took a nice little nap.

Good times.

Part two, however, failed. Miserably.

By the time we cleared out of the grassy area (because of the coming fireworks show) and settled in to the stands, we were all wearing down. The girls were tired and bored and hungry. I was tired and bored and hungry. And I assume Ben was tired and bored and hungry, too, because he was anything but content. As any mother of small children will attest, this was a very bad combination.

So, there we are. Sitting on the end of a row in the stands, Ben screaming in the ring sling, Jane doing anything she possibly can to run away from me, Megan eating laffy taffy candy she peeled off the ground. I gave her a pacifier just to get her to stop doing that, but she threw it on the ground repeatedly and put it right back in her mouth. So disgusting. Let me just say that a baseball game is not the best place to take three very small children by yourself...it wasn't going well.

And then I got hit by a foul ball.

Yes, you read that correctly. I looked up just in time to see the ball coming straight at us. My only instinct was to wrap my arms around Ben, and I only barely had time to do that before that ball made serious contact with my right knee.

Ouch. To put it mildly. In my head, it was quite a bit louder and may have included a few additional choice words. But only in my head. As far as anyone around me let on, they all assumed it had grazed Megan's arm. No one said a word about me.

Worst part? The ball rolled away and some lady down the row in front of us caught it. All that, and I didn't even get to keep the ball.

I told Chris and he reported it to the medics (without my knowledge, incidentally) who brought me an ice pack. I'll let you guess how long it managed to stay on my knee, considering the aforementioned child situation.

To add insult to injury, a storm blew in and the wind picked up quite a bit. We had to sit for a good half hour after the game ended (as if the game counted for anything) before they even did the fireworks. Several people around me got up and left, apologizing all the way. Apparently my stressful situation was obvious...but they still left. Sigh.

Luckily, we did get to see the fireworks. I was worried that after all that, they would be cancelled altogether. Thankfully, the show did go on, and it was a definite redeeming point to the whole adventure. It was a very good show. Good job, Wendi and Tony! And Chris, too.

I will say, I am extremely grateful that the ball didn't hit any of my kids. Ben was on my chest, Megan was standing between my knees, Jane was standing right next to me. The ball went in the only possible open spot between them all to hit me. If it had to hit someone, I'm glad it was me and not them.

Here is my knee three days later. The swelling has gone down significantly. Hopefully in another day or two I'll be able to walk up and down stairs again.

In the meantime, I'm not sure I'll be attending any more baseball games. Or if I do, we'll find a babysitter first.

Day 21-30

2011-08-29T21:47:00.000-06:00

Day Twenty-One

Favorite Book from my Childhood

Heckedy Peg
by Don and Audrey Wood

I still have my copy from when I was a kid, and I have yet to let my girls look at it without my direct supervision. I liked this book so much I even rewrote it with months of the year instead of days of the week.

Day Twenty-Two
Favorite Book I Own

Seriously?! Have you seen my house? My bookcases are overflowing. I like them all so much I just have to buy them. If I read a lot but didn't own, this might be a more relevant question. For the moment, I am going to skip this. I'll add my answer to this in with Day 30.

Day Twenty-Three
A Book I have always wanted to read but still haven't

Wuthering Heights
by Emily Bronte

I feel like I should have read this a long time ago. I even own it (see why 22 doesn't work?) and still haven't read it. Not sure why I think I should...the only thing I actually know about it are that the late Heath Ledger and his sister were named after the main characters. Maybe it's a dumb book and it's not worth my time. Who knows...I'll probably still never read it. But I still think I should...

Day Twenty-Four
The Character I Relate with the Most

I don't like this one. I have no idea. So I made a new one for this day.

Funniest Book I've Read Recently

The Willoughbys
by Lois Lowry

Thank you again, Kate, for introducing me to this one. It's about four children who want to be old-fashioned, so they set out to be orphans. Their parents decide they would be happier without children, so they set out to get rid of them. Trust me, it's hilarious. I reread it while I was in the hospital with Ben.

Day Twenty-Five
A Book you wish More People would Read

The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin

I first read this when I was in sixth grade. I have since read it many times, including once with each class I taught at Providence. I think it is very clever, and well worth the read. Read it.

Day Twenty-Six
A Book that Changed my Opinion about Something

I Didn't Plan to be a Witch
by Linda Eyre

I actually just read this book last Friday (yes, the whole thing). It's a book about being a mother, and I couldn't have read it at a more perfect time. I'm planning a post on the Village soon about it. Keep a watch out there if you want to know more.

Day Twenty-Seven
Most Surprising Plot Twist or Ending

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
by Agatha Christie

I have read literally dozens of Agatha Christie mysteries, and many, many other mysteries by different authors. I feel like I'm pretty good at solving the whodunit long before the last page. This one? Holy cow. I never saw it coming. If you only read one Agatha Christie book ever, pick this one.

Day Twenty-Eight
Favorite Title

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
by Robert M. Pirsig

I read chunks of this in college, though I must confess that I still really have no idea what this book is even about. But I do think the title is clever.

Day Twenty-Nine
A Book Everyone Hated but I Liked

Spoon River Anthology
by Edgar Lee Masters

Masters went through a cemetery and wrote short poems describing the imagined lives of each name on a gravestone. I read this book in a drama class my senior year in high school. It makes for a dramatic performance piece in reciting the poems, and it makes for an interesting personal read as well. That said, most other students in that drama class hated it. But I was intrigued.

Day Thirty
Favorite Book of All Time

As I mentioned before, this one book could easily fit half of this list. Like days 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, and 26. I tried not to overlap, and yet this book has already hit the list twice. Any guesses?

Referring back to day 22, my favorite book I own would have to be my four copies of this book.

Going through this 30-day list made me want to read it again. This time around, I picked the small red copy.

Yes, Pride and Prejudice is my all-time favorite book. Any questions?

And there you go. 30 "days" of my book experiences. Hope you found it at least mildly interesting.

Day 11-20

2011-08-26T11:24:00.006-06:00

Day Eleven

A book I hated

Summer of the Monkeys
by Wilson Rawls

I know a lot of people who really love this book. In a word, I don't. I'll stop there so as not to offend anyone who does like it.

Day Twelve
A book I used to love but don't anymore

Baby Island
by Carol Ryrie Brink

I LOVED this book when I was in elementary school. It's about two (or three?) girls who get stranded on a desert island with six babies. Once upon a time, that would be a dream come true. Now, I know better. Ha.

Day Thirteen
Favorite Writer

Agatha Christie

No contest. Thank goodness for used book sales at public libraries.

Day Fourteen
Favorite Book by Favorite Writer

And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie

This was the very first Agatha Christie mystery I ever read. I was in sixth grade, and I haven't stopped reading her books since. This one is quite interesting. There are two versions, by the way--the novel and the play. The ending of the novel is WAY better than the ending of the play. And incidentally, this book was originally published under the title Ten Little Indians, which was later changed because it was politically incorrect. Or something. Anyway, good book!

Day Fifteen
Favorite Male Character

Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I always wanted to just know things that other people didn't. I think that's why I like Sherlock Holmes so much. And I like mysteries. It's like a double prize.

P.S. The picture is Jeremy Brett; his is considered one of the most famous portrayals of the character in the BBC television series.

Day Sixteen
Favorite Female Character

Grandma Dowdle, from A Long Way from Chicago
by Richard Peck

Grandma Dowdle is that old lady who no one likes but actually helps everyone else without them knowing. I like the contradiction between appearances and actions. And she's funny. Without meaning to be.

Day Seventeen
Favorite Quote from a Book

"An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day on, you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do."

from Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen

Oh, I just giggle every time. And Donald Sutherland gave my favorite rendition of that line in the newest movie version, hence the picture.

Day Eighteen
A book that Disappointed me

Eragon
by Christopher Paolini

Remember yesterday when I said that fantasy books can easily be over the top? This is one of those for me. All the characterizations seemed stereotypical of fantasy novels. It was rather predictable in plot. And I always get irritated with imaginary worlds that give an impossible guessing game at the pronunciation of all the names. You might not guess it from my list so far, but I do really like fantasy books. I wanted to like this one, but, not so much.

Day Nineteen
Favorite Book turned into a Movie

Ella Enchanted
book by Gail Carson Levine

movie starring Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy

I have to qualify this one, too. In my 30 point list here, I'm trying really hard not to repeat. If I did, there is one book that would easily take over half of the list. For this one, I was much more inclined to pick Sherlock Holmes or Princess Bride...but I already used those. So I went with Ella Enchanted instead.

Now, if you've read the book and seen the movie, you'll know that they are actually quite different. It's true. I found, however, that I really enjoyed both. While the book is great, the movie kept the main important parts of the book (like the curse) and turned it into something that worked in a movie while still preserving what the story originally was. I think it was a good call. If you read the climax, what Ella does to break the curse is impressively powerful. If you were to watch that same action in a movie, it would be really boring. I think they did right in changing the story how they did. And I still like them both.

And while we're sidetracked onto movies, my second favorite thing after books, I will also add that I think the worst book-into-movie that I've seen recently was Inkheart. Huge disappointment. Secret of Nihm and War of the Worlds are pretty far down on that list, too. Just in case you wanted my opinion.

And that reminds me that there is a movie version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead that I've only recently become aware of. It stars Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) and Tim Roth (the guy from Lie to Me). I want to see it.

Day Twenty
Favorite Romance Book

Once Upon a Marigold
by Jean Ferris

Strictly speaking, this is not a romance book. I don't read those. But most all fiction books (that I read, at least) have some measure of love story. This is the one I picked for today. I also considered The Witch from Blackbird Pond, which I get goosebumps when I read the end, but that's not really what the book is about. So I went with this one instead, which is completely adorable and wonderfully funny. Read it if you need something light-hearted.

Stay tuned for our final installment, 21-30

Day 1-10

2011-08-25T17:28:00.005-06:00

When we were younger, I remember my older sister saying that the state of her bedroom was a reflection of her mind-state at the moment. If her room was clean, life was good. If her room was messy, she was probably stressed about something, or really busy, or whatever.

I have found the same to be true with my blog--if I'm not posting, it's because life is temporarily less than exciting. "Less than exciting" can mean that life is either not going amazingly well at the moment, or things are extraordinarily boring.

Let's just say, we're not so bored right now.

Several people in my ward have said that the third kid is the hardest. Once you get to four or more, it's way easier. Much less of an impact to add one more person. Problem is--we're only on the third kid...

To distract myself from our slightly rocky transition into family of five and to get back into the blogging grove, I stole a 30-day activity from a friend's blog (thanks, Rebekah). 30 Days is a long time, so I'm going to do it in three chunks instead.

Day One
Best book I've read in the last year

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer

I read this first for Tannie's book club a couple years ago now. It is very well written and has a good mix of historical information and just good story interest.

Day Two
A book that I've read more than 3 times

Ella Minnow Pea
by Mark Dunn

This is actually our current book club book. I first read it in high school, I think, and have probably read it at least half a dozen times since. It's a good book largely because of the novelty of it--certain letters are removed from the language of a society, and as they disappear in the story, they also disappear from the book. Very clever, and very well worth the read.

Day Three
My Favorite Series

I have to add a caveat to this one. I don't read series. In my entire life, I can claim only four series that I've read in their entirety--Harry Potter, Peter Jackson, The Dark is Rising, and Lord of the Rings, which I don't even totally count as a series. It's more just one really long book.

Anyway, of those four, I would have to pick Harry Potter as my favorite.

Day Four
Favorite book of my Favorite Series

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
by JK Rowling

Harry wasn't quite old enough yet to be completely obnoxious like I thought he was in books 5 and 6, and I really liked the new characters (like Mad Eye Moody) and the plot twists (like the polyjuice potion). And I liked the Quidditch World Cup. Even though it didn't really have anything to do with the rest of the book.

Day Five
A book that makes me happy

Princess Bride
by William Goldman

Classic. The movie is great, and the book just makes the story 100 times better. The characters have so much background. And the first chapter is probably the best first chapter in all of literature. Just sayin'.

P.S. If you read it, know that everything the author says about himself is a lie. He made it up for the story, it's not true. He doesn't even have a son.

Day Six
A book that makes me sad

Good Night, Mr. Tom
by Michelle Magorian

Don't get me wrong, this is a wonderful book. I picked this one because there are some very unfortunate things that happen to children. And that makes me sad. But, that's what happens in a World War II book, right?

Day Seven
Most underrated book

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
by Tom Stoppard

Any Shakespeare fans out there? Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the two friends of Hamlet who deliver Hamlet and the letter that is intended to get him killed. Hamlet reads the letter, swaps it for a new one, and his friends get killed instead. This book--play, actually--is that story from the friends' perspective. It's a fun twist on a rather tragic little tale, and it's also hilariously funny. I also performed a scene or two from this while in Alaska. I was Guildenstern.

Day Eight
Most overrated book

A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeline L'Engle

I know this is a classic and just about everyone reads it in fifth grade. Well, my fifth graders didn't read it with me because I found it rather annoying. I know it has a positive message of love and whatnot, but...eh. I just didn't care much for any of the characters or events.

Day Nine
A book I thought I wouldn't like but ended up loving

Warbreaker
by Brandon Sanderson

I don't really love contemporary adult fiction. I find a lot of the fiction books that come out now for adults tend to...well, not meet my moral standards, let's say. Brandon Sanderson has no problem keeping his books clean while also using high quality story lines and writing technique. I thought I would hate it because it's a new book written for adults, and a fantasy. I like fantasy, but they can be a little over the top sometimes. This book, though? Awesome.

Day Ten
Favorite Classic Book

The Lord of the Rings
by JRR Tolkien

I first read these books on a bet with my uncle. I won. He never paid up. But it was worth it anyway.

Stay tuned for 11-20 next

Nothing much to say...

2011-08-16T10:06:00.004-06:00

Chris and I make cute babies.

Yep, pretty sure. They stay cute when they get bigger, too.

The general consensus seems to be that Ben looks most like Chris. What do you think?

Check out Ben's eyes. They are very dark, with only a tiny, almost white line surrounding his pupils. I've never seen any eyes quite like them.

We went to Silver Lake this week with Lisa and her kids again, while our husbands spent the day at Lagoon (lucky!). For comparison sake, here is our grandkid picture from August of last year.

And here is the picture we have this year. Yep, they got bigger. Picture proof.

And just for funnies, here is Ben sharing his opinion about...something. Not sure what it was, but he seems to disapprove. Thumbs down!

All About Ben

2011-08-10T09:02:00.003-06:00

So far, we've got a very content little boy. Apparently, he just didn't like being stuck inside me. Now that he's out, life is grand.

Unless you're changing his diaper. This kid is extremely opposed to having his diaper changed. It's as if the world has ended every time we get the diaper off.

Unlike my girls, he hardly ever spits up. He does, however, have to be burped at least twice every time he eats. If the girls burped incidentally sometime during the course of a day, they were good. He HAS to be burped or he just won't eat.

Beyond those two things, he is quite happy. He is either asleep or content to watch what's going on around him.

Speaking of which, he is an excellent sleeper. Once he's fed and changed, I can lay him down in his bassinet and he's out within moments. He sleeps 4-5 hours at a time, especially during the night. Awesome. Love the bassinet, by the way.

Hooray for an adorable, happy baby! And hooray for not being pregnant anymore!

Why kids need a Dad

2011-08-07T18:46:00.007-06:00

Dad is way more fun to play with at the Children's Museum.

He even dresses the part.

Mom just sits and holds the baby.

While the baby just sleeps.

Dad builds his own towers, too.

Check out what he's standing on. Somehow, I think that's against the rules.

Then he lets you watch while he blows them over.

Downtown Salt Lake--including Discovery Gateway--on Thursday was the final grand outing of the 2011 Petty Family Reunion. Friday was a day for hanging out in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard before everyone headed back to their various states of residence. Good opportunity for family pictures.

My parents and their seven children--relatively rare to have all nine of us together, even when we all live within two miles of each other. [And I just have to make the side note that I think I look pretty darn good for having a baby only nine days before this picture was taken.]

My parents with all their offspring present--missing only Chase and Christian.

I'm not sure who planned it, but all four grandkids on the front row have their hands in their mouths. Ha.

I missed the picture of just Chris and me and our kids. I'll have to wait until we get the official disc from the real photographer. Sigh.

And here is the big group of everyone present on Friday evening. Our family has certainly grown a lot, even just since the last reunion only three years ago.

And here is the zebra that lives next door to my grandparents. Because that's cool.