Snowed In

I got a call at 7:30 this morning while I was getting ready for work. It was my boss. Apparently he was closing the office for today. Too much snow, and too much wind. He said all the patients would most likely cancel anyway. I'd never heard of a snow day from WORK (unless you're a teacher). Wow. Allright, no packing up the kids today. I then thought to myself, if anybody needs a snow day it's Parker. He has a 50 minute commute on a state highway. Oh well. He took the truck instead of the car. Hopefully that'll make things safer for him.

Then 30 minutes later I get a call from Parker: "I'm on my way home." Apparently when parker was 10 minutes away from Jackpot his boss called and said nobody from Twin Falls needed to drive out to work today. A little too late for that..... but he turned around and came back home. So we BOTH got a snow day after all!

Here's a few pictures of the house after my hard work of shoveling the driveway. And just so you know, the driveway had been shoveled the night before, and there was about 4-6 inches of new snow by the time it quit again (which was around noon).

Growing up in Boise, for me this is the most snow I've ever seen! (of course not counting the mountains and my few visits to McCAll) Even 5 years in pocatello we never got this much snow! There was ONE year where the DRIFTS had blown snow waist-deep on our porch and in front of our front door. We had to DIG our way to the door on that one....but it was because of the wind more than anything. This....is a lot of snow.

It's funny to observe my neighbors. Wouldn't you know, that the ones who don't take care of their yards are ALSO the ones that don't shovel their driveways! And the ones with nice yards were all outside at the same time as me shoveling away!

It's a marshmallow world!

It snowed last night......a lot. A good 2-3 inches (at least....on the driveway) when you measure it in the grass, it's more like 5 to 6 inches. Caleb gets VERY excited when it snows outside. He ALWAYS wants to go out and play. I told him if he ate all of his breakfast that he could go out and play.

I bundled him up in his new coat and snow-suit. He still doesn't have snow boots. So I put his rain boots on with an extra pair of thick socks. It seemed to do the trick.

The first thing he did when he stepped outside.....he bent over and picked up a handful of snow and ate it. Ha ha! It was so cute.

His first face-plant into the snow sent snow down his neck and under his coat. Not good. He wanted to go inside (it'd been 5 minutes). I got my scarf and showed him how we wrap it around his neck so that the snow won't go under his coat again. The scarf bought him another 25 minutes outside. He had a blast.

Then the seal between his coat and gloves let some snow in. And he was done. He's so funny. He's like me. I guess I can say the holidays are here. It's a week before thanksgiving, and there's snow on the ground. That sounds like enough excuses for Christmas music for me! Except I never needed excuses in the first place. I've been listening to Christmas music for 2 weeks now! :)

Angie-Angelina

Angie has kept me busy this week. She's into EVERYTHING! I think I swipe her mouth out 2-3 times a day. She's always chewing on something she shouldn't be. And I've had to re-arragne my living room (nothing major)....move the stereo and get a few things off the TV stand because she was pushing too many buttons.

She pulls herself up to everything. And now can reach the piano keys and the 3rd shelf of the bookshelf.

She has also started to SMOTHER with kisses. Especially her brother. Whenever she sees him, she stretches out her arms, grabbs his face or shoulders and pulls him in for a big wet kiss (open-mouthed lick is more like it). She climbs around at church, and is IMPOSSIBLE to keep quiet and still. But....through it all she is still extremely adorable.

She had her 9 month well-child check last week. She's 19 pounds, and I can't remember her height, except that she's in the 75th percentile. She's still tall. And lately she's started to stand on her own. You can stand her up, wait for her to get her balance, and walk away. And she'll stand there for like 10-15 seconds. She's getting pretty good.

Wednesday night I put her to bed around 10:30 PM. And I went to bed around 11:30 PM. (Kinda late for both of us....but not terrible). At 12:30 she woke up crying. Hard. And her cry was like this loud bark. She sounded like she had a terrible cough. Except she wasn't coughing. She was just crying. And I couldn't calm her down. But it sounded awful. After a few moments of serious panic from Me and Parker, I decided I'd better take her to the ER. Her throat hadn't sounded any better, even after giving her a bottle. I was so afraid her airway would seal shut at any second. So Parker stayed home with Caleb and I drove Angie to the hospital.

I guess now is a good time (I just realized I never blogged about it) to tell you about Angie's FIRST trip to the ER about 4 weeks ago. She was at daycare actually. Although the kids don't go to an official daycare. They go to the primary persident in our ward's house. She's awesome, and the kids LOVE it there.

Angie had been sitting in a little bumbo high-chair for her spoon-fed meals during the day at Tresa's house. A couple weeks beforehand I had decided she was probably too big for the bumbo seat, cuz she was starting to lean and grab while in that seat. I also had forgotten that her high chair at Tresa's house was a bumbo seat with a tray on top. Anyway. If you haven't foreseen what happened yet. While I was at work, Angie was on the countertop in her bumbo seat. Tresa turned her back for only a few seconds. Angie leaned. And the bumbo swiveled off the counter top and Angie went plumetting to the floor. On her head. She hit hard. Luckily though, she never lost consciousness. Cried harder than ever. But never blacked out. And no bleeding. Just the biggest, nastiest bruise you've ever seen. I took her to the ER that day too. No skull fractures. She was a lucky girl.

Wednesday night they determined that that terrible noise in her throat was Croup. They gave her this medication in a nebulizer to relax the muscles in the trachea. And about 10 minutes later she sounded completely better. Then they gave her a steroid to help with the long-term inflammation in the throat. She never sounded like that again.

We got home at 2:30. Ick. I didn't go to work the next day. Not only because Angie gave us a scare the night before, but because we hadn't had any sleep. Parker took a sick day too. That day, she sounded find, but had a terrible runny nose, and a little cough.

The following day, it caught up to me. Friday. My day off. Thank goodness. I didn't do a thing. I laid on the couch whenever I wasn't tending to the kids. No dishes, no laundry.....not much cooking either. Just enough to keep Caleb fed. I really didn't eat much. And Angie and I had low-grade (around 100 degrees) fevers pretty much all day.

Angie's nose is STILL out of control. And she's not drinking her bottles. And she only eats her babyfood about half as well as she usually does. And she wants to be held. All the time (which is very unlike her). And she's actually been falling asleep much better when I rock her (which I NEVER do). I'm not sure if I'll be working tomorrow either. It kinda depends on how the evening goes. So far....she's not eating. And Parker just noticed she's been tugging on her right ear. I might be taking her to her doctor tomorrow.

I hope my baby gets better soon. This is the first time she's ever been sick. Not bad for 10 months!

Better than Christmas!

Today I was feeling kinda....retarded. What I mean is. I was finishing up my patient before lunch, and was secretly hoping that the girls at work would invite me to lunch with them (I knew at least 2 of them were going somewhere). I DID pack a lunch today, but I didn't want it. Leftover chicken & potatoes, with a bag of grapes. It really is delicious. But I packed the exact same thing for lunch yesterday. Well. Lunchtime came, and everyone in the office left except the Doc. I didn't want to stick around either. So I headed over to BK and broke my amazing one-month streak without a cheeseburger; and ordered myself a whopper with cheese, no onions. Complete with Dr. Pepper and fries. Then I sat in the car and ate it. I finished and still had 30 minutes left before I had to be back to work.

Across the street was the public library. I remembered my sister telling me once that the library has a pretty good selection of CD's. And I am kinda a music collector. I like all kinds of music. And I always get excited when I can add a song (or album) to my ipod. Lately, I've been browsing the itunes store for new Christmas music. A little early yes....but you have to start early to get the collection you want to listen to when December finally comes.

I found the CD section. SHELVES FULL!! I found the Christmas music.....an entire shelf dedicated just to christmas music! I felt like a kid in a candy store! I can't believe I've been spending so much time browsing the itunes store when I've had access to ALL THIS MUSIC....FOR FREE!! I grabbed three CD's. (I wanted more....but I decided I'd better take them home and make sure that I can actually rip them onto my computer.

Yes I can! Holy cow! I am gonna have so much christmas music!! Well...not even christmas music! I saw a section of old-school jazz music (Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong....and all the good guys. I can't wait to get to THAT section too!!

No it's not stealing. The library makes all that music available to check out to anyone with a library card. And they don't copy guard. So....it's all good.

Also I checked out a season of Gilmore Girls. One of my favorite TV shows. Yes I've seen every episode....many times. But I still like it. It's kinda my guilty pleasure I guess.

Lastly, I thought I'd share this video of Angie dancing on Halloween night. It's so cute! She loves to start dancing whenever she hears a good beat.

Better late than never

Here's some pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes. Here in Filer, trick-or-treating was mostly Saturday. We had a bout 4 people ring the doorbell on Sunday, but we were out of candy so we didn't answer.

At about 5:30 the family in our ward that watches Caleb and Angie during the day came knocking at the door. Caleb wanted to go trick-or-treating with them. I wasn't going to object. I told them to bring him back in a half an hour. At 6:00 we met up with a different friend from the ward that has a little boy Caleb's age. And we went to the high school for the trunk-or-treat there.

I had planned on taking the kids back home and knocking a few more doors when we got back. But on the way home Caleb said, "Mom... I don't want any more candy."

So we quit. I wasn't about to force him to get more candy, which I know I would end up eating too. We spent the rest of the night answering the door. Parker had to work Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night that week. He doesn't usually work late, and even more unusually on weekends. But they had some special thing going on, and Parker is trying to impress his boss. So he kinda missed out on the Halloween festivities this year.

Caleb was Zorro. Yes he knows who Zorro is. He loves that movie. And honestly I thought it was the coolest costume for the price.

I think Angie's costume is a pink cat. I actually thought it was a pig when I first bought it. But honestly, who cares WHAT it is....the point is she looked CUTE! She didn't care too much for the hood though.

And lastly, this year was my first attempt at some artistic pumpkin carving. The BSU one, I actually started to carve the words "Boise State" beneath the bronco. But the pumpkin was already a bit mushy, and by the time I got to the letter "I" I had almost completely cut the letters out. It was a mess. And impossible to read. so I stuffed the letters back into their place, and stuck with the bronco. If you look closely, you can see a little glimmer of that letter "B" that never filled the space correctly. Whoops. Oh well. The bronco turned out good.

My Soul Delighteth...

I think I should write about some things that have been on my mind....

I'm not a very obedient Latter Day Saint. Ever since....I started college actually....my scripture reading has slackened. Don't get me wrong...I go through spurts where I'm good. But before college, I NEVER missed a day. It didn't matter how late it was, or what I'd been doing. I ALWAYS read my scriptures before going to bed. As a result....I was a pretty good kid in High School. And I had a pretty strong testimony.

But then life happens...and it seems like my saint-like habits are now something to aspire to instead of maintain. And I've been thinking. No matter how strong you've been....it doesn't really matter if you don't keep it that way. You can't expect your testimony from your past (for a lot of people their missions might be the time of that spiritual high....for me it was High School) to carry you through the rest of your life.

This week, I haven't missed a day of reading my scriptures or saying my prayers. And I can't believe how different things seem. I feel like I've been dying of thirst, and I've finally found the well. How is it that I skipped out so much? I find myself wanting to read one more chapter all the time. And usually I can't keep my eyes open to finish the verse. Not now. I feel like every word was written FOR ME. And not just for me, but for me to share. I have a friend at work, who has asked me about my beliefs so many times. She was raised hard-core christian, some of her family rules were much more strict than mine. She never saw PG 13 movies, listened to the radio, or dated until she was out of the house. My point is, that I have never met someone so prepared to receive the good news of the gospel. And as I read the words of the Book of Mormon, I find myself thinking how much she would love these scriptures . I've already decided to give her a Book of Mormon. I'm just kinda waiting....hoping to find the time that's best. Like there might be a conversation we'll have so that afterwards she'll be more likely to read it. I think that's a fancy way of saying it's fear of rejection. I keep thinking if I can prepare her more....talk to her more that I might be able to bring it up in conversation. And then she'd want to read it. I suppose I'm just stalling. The fact that I think about her every time I read the scriptures is prompting enough. Anyway. One other thing I think about when I read the scriptures:
My lost brother and sister. David and Jayne. Actually David is MY brother, and Jayne is Parker's sister. But both have fallen from the church. And both for extremely different reasons.

I read this verse, and I started to cry.
Alma 34:32-34 "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
And now as I have said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therfore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for afther this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkenss wherein there can be no labor performed. Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world."

My dear brother. Who says he believes the teachings of the church, but can't change his life right now. My brother, who is in the bondage of sin, but thinks he has chosen freedom. Does he realize how much support he would get if he came back? How the way back is really the EASY road...and not the one he has chosen. Has HE read these verses? How can he learn that the teachings of the church will make his life easir....not harder. The string to the kite keeps us in flight. Tethered to safety yes....but in flight just the same. A kite with no string can't fly.

And when our minds wander to these people while reading the scriptures....what does that mean I should do? I get on my knees and pray. But I can't make them change. A part of me says I should call him (which I NEVER do....I call David on his birthday....that's it).....and tell him my thoughts, and read him these verses. Then part of me says he won't even listen.

And Jayne. Who has become astranged from the family. Who can't even talk, text or e-mail her parents or siblings without a fight. Although with her, I'm not sure what she believes. I confess, that my hopes of her returning to the church are a little more far-fetched. With her, I wish more than anything that she could just come home. That she could forgive, and we could forgive, and not lose any more time.

I have felt the Holy Ghost speak to my heart every night this week. "My soul delighteth in the scriptures." I hope this is more than just a "spurt." I love the Book of Mormon. I hope my friends and family will read of its words often. It was written for us.

Oh so stupid....

Parker and I have been listening/reading Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows again....we wanted to get it done one more time before the movie came out. Last night, we were sitting listening to Harry Potter (like a family from the 1920's listening to the radio) and I remembered that Parker needed a haircut. So we turned the speakers towards the kitchen, and I got out the clippers. They haven't been working properly lately. Sometimes they sound like they've only got half the power. Then if I hit it a couple times just right.....it kinda kicks into gear and starts working. Well, I plugged it in and naturally it wasn't working right. So I'm fiddling with it, and hitting it... thinking to myself that we really need to buy a new one.... and then it starts working. Relieved that I'm able to get another haircut out of this stupid thing, I placed the clippers to Parker's head, and cut a line above his ear.....

WITHOUT ANY ATTACHMENT!!

I shut off the clippers.... Parker asks, "What's wrong?".......and then the realization hits for what I just did.
"Oh my gosh." ....."Oh my gosh!" "I can't believe I just did that!" "Oh my GOSH, I'm SOOO Sorry!" The panic was spreading.... Parker has this new job....he's only been there for 3 months. He meets with different people, for interviews and stuff EVERY DAY! How could I have just done this to him? He's going to be so mad!

He looks at me, and smiles. (I'm thinking.....he's supressing rage right now....he wants to kill me) "Well it looks like you're gonna have to shave my head." I start to apologize more, and he starts laughing. What? He's LAUGHING? I feel terrible. I ask him, "Aren't you mad at me?"
"Why? There's nothing we can do about it."

We decide to see if we can salvage the top. I take the SHORTEST attachment, and buzz the rest. Then I tried to smooth the edges, and then to make the other side look the same. He went into the bathroom to see how it looked. He's not convinced it's gonna look very good. He comes back. "You're gonna have to shave it all....it just doesn't look right."

And as he sat back down and I proceed to shave off what's left on the top, the tears came. I really don't love Parker's hair when it's shaved. He shaved it back when Garrett got cancer. He has such nice hair! And people...Parker is not a balding man. He will NEVER go bald. His father and his grandfather have a full head of white hair. When I finished, he stood up and told me, "It's okay. It'll grow back." He went into the bathroom to shower. I got out the broom and cried while I swept up all that hair. I felt like a complete thoughtless jerk. How stupid can you get? NO ATTACHMENT? And it's the brink of winter.

I think I'll go buy him some beanies.
Anybody else want a haircut? I'll shave your husband's head for free.