The Holy War

We spent Saturday at my parents' house watching the best game of the season. We always root for the Cougs, but this year I was hoping extra hard that they would pull off a win. Darin's neice, Christa and her friend, Jared are avid Utes fans, and were kind enough to create a song in honor of the BYU/Utah game. The last few minutes of the game my palms were sweaty, and my heart was racing, but the Cougars DID NOT disappoint!!! After the game, Jared called to "take his lumps". As if we're going to let them take them over the phone. We are in the process of creating a "Sorry your Utes let you down (again) package", and we're taking suggestions! So far the package will include a box of kleenex, "Cougar Bucks" (that we will make up) that can be used at the creamery to fill their emptiness with some ice cream, possibly a purple shirt that will make their transition to blue a little easier, and it will be signed, "We're so sorry for your loss. You will be in our thoughts and prayers. Love, Your friends in Cougartown".
Yes, I realize that in the event the Utes win next year, we're asking for it, but there's nothing like some healthy competition, and we can definitely take it just as well as we dish it out. GO COUGARS!!! (I'm working on getting a copy of the song so you can all hear it!)

Reasons not to move to Idaho

Before I get any hate mail from any Idahoans, let me assure you that I have nothing against Idaho--at all. In fact, I have heard it's a great place to live; so that's why I feel like I have to work extra hard to talk my good friend, Steve, out of uprooting his family and leaving a gaping hole in our neighborhood. So, here's my post, dedicated to Steve.

1) If you leave, undoubtedly Keri will feel obligated to go with you, and that's just not fair (to me).
2) If Keri leaves, I will lose one of my workout buddies, and possibly fall off the bandwagon of exercise. Could you really live with that?
3) Despite the fact that there is a BYU in Idaho, true COUGAR fans don't live in Idaho, and let's face it. If you paint your face blue and yell, "GO Cougs!" people will just laugh at you.
4) Jacob 2:18 "But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God." (in this case the kingdom of God=Orem, UT)
5) Do you really want Mikayla and Megan to wear potato sacks for dance costumes?
6) You will lose the best home teacher ever.
7) Spuds don't buy AFLAC
8) Dams break in Idaho
9) It's cold
10) They need Bishops in Idaho (specifically Bishops who are salesmen)
11) On average, rodents are 22% bigger in Idaho
12) In Idaho, your neighbors go deer hunting from their front porch.
13) There are more swear-mouth people in Idaho.
14) It would be really hard to get freshly baked cookies to you.
15) You would miss out on all the mosquitos.
16) Mason couldn't ride his bike to our house without serious injury (oh wait, that did happen once here, but what's a few stitches in the chin?)
17) On the night of the annual Scoresby Christmas party, we will all be sitting around crying instead of celebrating.
18) Potatoes at every meal, really?
19) It is a REALLY long commute to the dance studio.
20) I don't think they have cable in Idaho.
21) Ticket to Ride is illegal in Idaho.
22) If you move to Idaho, you'll need to get Utah plates on your van.
23) The communist party's headquarters is in Moscow, Idaho (I'm pretty sure).
24) We don't live there
25) I don't have a good feeling about it. I just don't.

Ok, so if you decide to disregard this post and move anyway, we will be very happy for you, and I will survive (but barely). After all, I was willing to call people to get their input, make up statistics, and bend the truth a little bit, and that proves that I feel like our friendship is worth a lot...even a drive to Idaho to visit. Just know that, all kidding aside, I will be very, very sad, along with lots of people.

If any of you would like to add to my list, feel free to comment!

A conversation at the Dr.'s office

Last night I took Olivia to the doctor because she was complaining that her ear hurt. (Just a little side note here; our doctor thinks our children are the healthiest kids on the planet. Our kids seem to get sick only after hours, so we always see the on call Dr.) Anyway, we were sitting in the office and here's how the conversation went:

NURSE (to Olivia): So, your ear hurts?

OLIVIA: Yes

NURSE: Which ear is it?

Olivia doesn't realize the nurse is talking to her.

ME (to Olivia): Liv, she wants to know which ear it is.

OLIVIA: Oh. Um...2007

After we all laughed and the nurse left, she turned to me and said, "I'm so embarassed!" I told her she shouldn't be. After all, she was there for ear pain, and I'm sure it affected her hearing. Sure enough, it was infected. On the bright side, she happens to love the taste of the medicine that was prescribed, so I won't have to fight her on taking it twice a day for ten days!

Tag X 3

A while back Camille encouraged me to write about a current struggle, Maleen encouraged her readers to write about things we're thankful for, and now Stacey has tagged me to write 6 interesting facts about me. So, since I have been wondering what to blog about, this gives me the perfect opportunity to fulfill my "tags", and give you something new to read!

1) I can't eat oatmeal without gagging. I've tried many times because it smells so good and is so good for you, but I can't get it down. I love oatmeal cookies and granola bars with oatmeal, but not oatmeal. It's a texture thing.

2) When I was little I was mistaken for a boy more times than I can count. When I told my friend, Julie this, she said, "I'm sure you're exaggerating". Then I pulled out my pictures, and she proceeded to laugh hysterically.

3) I love my house. I love everything about it. I love the cul-de-sac, the neighbors, the friends, the house plan, the constant ringing of the doorbell asking if my kids can play, the yard, and most importantly, the people who live in it. I used to complain incessantly that it didn't have enough storage space, that the train was too close, that little kids were constantly ringing the doorbell, that everyone moves out of our neighboorhood to bigger and better houses, etc. Then I watched a clip from the Humanitarian center, and realized how incredibly blessed that I have a roof over my head, I have the opportunity to meet lots of new people, I never have to wonder where the next meal is coming from, my kids have clothes, friends, an education, and so on and so on. I have nothing against people who move. In fact, I will be one of those people one day. I'm happy for people who are able to "move on up", but for right now, this is the perfect place for us.

4) It bugs me a lot (too much) when people don't like me. I hate confrontation, and am learning how to stand up for myself without offending people. I hate to hurt people's feelings, and it bugs me when I can't fix a problem. I am trying to learn to live my life the best that I know how, and not worry so much about what people think about me. The thing that frustrates me the most is that I say things to my kids and sometimes speak to them in a tone of voice that I would never dream of using with anyone else. Guilt is my worst enemy.

5) I love the mountains. I have taken them for granted, as I have lived here my whole life. My brother moved back here from Las Vegas for a brief time, and was constantly looking at the mountains, and enjoying their beauty. I love how they change with the seasons, they help me know where I'm going (a lot of times I can tell which direction I'm going because of the mountains), and they make me feel safe.

6) I have never seen E.T.

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone's Halloween was as fun-filled as ours was!!! I slept very well the night of Halloween. It was such a busy day--full of adventure. Here are our costumes this year:

Darin as "Super Darin" MY HERO! (we didn't have a costume, so we improvised. This shot doesn't show the boy's red cape. It really added to the costume.) And me as a hippy chick. This shot also doesn't show my sweet bell bottoms. I cut a slit in some old jeans and sewed some floral material in them. It was fun to be a blonde for the day!

Here's Olivia, also a hippy chick. Thanks for the costume, Mikayla!
Sean showing some of his stellar Ninja moves... don't mess! Even though we bought Warren a Red Power Ranger costume with muscles, he chose to wear the Spiderman costume with no mask the day of Halloween. He had just woken up right before the Trunk or Treat festivities, so he was still a little groggy. I got him to smile by saying, "Stop smiling! You're going to ruin Halloween!" and he would giggle every time. And here's my cute little bear. I realize this shot doesn't show his face, but it does show his cute little waddle. I think that may have been my favorite part!
Our neighborhood did Trunk or Treat this year. In years past I haven't even tried to decorate my trunk (mostly because it's been full of junk), so this year I decided to give it a shot.

After trunk or treat, we headed to a nearby neighborhood with the Scoresbys and Adams'. This neighborhood was decorated to the max! I can't believe some of the decorations we saw. This house took the cake:

David just stood there and stared for several minutes saying, "Whoa. See?" This is what he looked like staring at the house:
It was such a great day! Happy Halloween, everyone!