Funny Fact #1

Have you seen my children's noggins? They run a little on the large side and I've been thinking about this a lot since a few months ago when Carter and I tried on the same baseball cap and it seemed to fit us both about the same. A little weird since he's 4 and I'm 27. A few days ago I decided to put my curiosity to rest and had Marc measure the circumference of our heads. Granted, he didn't use a measuring tape or anything, but he used something round and then a portion of his finger and sure enough, our heads are just about the same size and come to think of it, I'm pretty sure if they aren't, Carter's is a smidge larger. Now that's funny--and since giving birth is on the brain today as I dreamt of laboring and delivering #3 last night, (not an announcement, just another one of my random baby dreams!) I thank heaven that I don't have to push my 4-year-old's head out!

Now you take a look for yourself--what do you think?

what do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me ending up together. . .

I opened the front door to go outside and check the mail a few minutes ago and Mr. Spider's identical twin (or spouse, I didn't get close enough to check!) scurried in in just a split second. After 8 hours, he must have realized his friend was missing. Luckily, this time, as he was on the floor, I had a clear advantage. I just stomped on him and kicked him out the door. Seriously, what are the chances?

Knight in Shining Armor

Hello. My Name is Diana and I am an arachnophob. I have been for as long as I can remember but when I was in middle school at a sleep over we watched Arachnophobia and that just exacerbated the fear. Have you seen that commercial where the guy is on the phone and totally oblivious to the tarantula his co-workers put on his shirt? If you ever try that on me, I will sever our friendship! I promise I am that scared.

Yesterday, as I played with my new haircut, I spotted a big black spider crawling across my bathroom ceiling. Anderson was fascinated--he kept pointing and oohing in his high pitched, excited voice. (He does this for every animal which made our zoo trip very fun yesterday.) I was terrified, so when I saw it disappear into my closet (there's a part of my closet ceiling that is not closed in and runs into my bathroom ceiling) I closed the closet door and refused to go back in there last night. I made Marc pull out the laundry so I could sort it. Yes, I'm that scared.

This morning, as I was blow drying my hair, (irony anyone?) the spider reappeared--on my bathroom mirror. I watched it and I watched it and I watched it. This time I was close enough to see that it was black and white and when it stuck his front legs out further than the rest he strangely resembled Stitch. (from Lilo and Stitch) It stayed on the mirror which meant that my weapon of choice, a shoe, could not be used. I refuse to use tissue because I can't let myself touch a spider with only a thin sheet of nothingness between my fingers and the crunch of the creatures death. I called Marc at work freaking out but I knew he couldn't rescue me. I called Carter upstairs. He wasn't about to do my dirty work either. I got desperate as I watched him climb up my mirror, around my light fixture and back down onto my mirror. I did what any little girl does--I called my dad who lives 5 minutes up the road and asked him the ridiculous. "Stop eating your breakfast, be late to work, and come kill a gargantuan spider for me." He was willing but before we got off the phone, the spider had crawled down my mirror, onto Marc's bottle of cologne, and then down the counter top to my tub. I dropped the phone, screeched a little bit and pounded Marc's volleyball shoe until the spider was dead. So much for knights in shining armor this morning.

It's just one of those days that a girl goes through. . .

Remember that song? Yah, that line of it pretty much sums up the day I had--

8:30 am--discovered puddle of oil in the garage from a leaky canister that Marc used to change the oil in the cars on Saturday. To protect my honey, I won't go into the rest. Let's just say he made some mistakes (all of us do) that made me fume pretty much until 2:00. What can I say, I could have handled it better.

4:00 pm-- showed up to my hair appt. only to discover my girl was sick and they couldn't reach me because they didn't verify my number when I called for the appt. and my number changed when I moved. Cried on the way to pick up the boys from my moms. I so needed an hour of pampering today.

9:30 pm--cleaning the bathtub with Soft Scrub with Bleach in a shirt that I shouldn't have been. Not my most brilliant decision.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better--here's the outlook:

8:30--leave for the zoo, Carter's final preschool outing for the year
11:30ish--lunch at Culvers with our best friends here
4:00--rescheduled hair appointment--if she's not there again I'll cry again!

not scheduled: clean bathroom floors, clean window tracks, vacuum and swiffer the 1st floor, do laundry, run 4ish miles (today's emotional eating did some major damage!) make dinner (pork loin & roasted broccoli, sweet potatoes, and red potatoes.)

I will be kicking myself for the rest of my life for this one: Elder Holland, accompanied by Elder Godoy (from Brazil) of the 70 visited our stake this weekend to call a new Stake Presidency. After the Saturday evening session, my dad took Marc to meet Elder Godoy so Marc could use his rusty Portuguese. Seven years off of his mission + a Spanish class to rough things up a bit = rusty Portuguese. Unlike our friends Snow and Summer (where have you been, Summer--did you fall out of the Blogosphere?) Marc doesn't teach me any. Maybe this weekend will have kicked our booties in gear. But that is not why I'm kicking myself. Lets get back on track! My dad whisked Marc away, but not before I gave him a hug and kiss and got really excited for him and wished him well. Why on earth I didn't go with him, I will never ever ever know. My brain was somewhere else and my body stayed sitting next to my mom. When Marc found me again, I was chatting with some new friends from our new ward. The next thing I knew, Marc was telling me how Elder Godoy had to go after their brief chat and as he shook his hand, Elder Holland followed and shook his hand, too. If I had just gone with him maybe Elder Holland would have shaken my hand and maybe, just maybe because I am a woman, he would have cupped my face and told me he loved me like he did to my dad and to my mom. Like I said, I will be kicking myself for the rest of my life for this one.

Quote of the Day

I know my posts have been primarily "quotes of the day," but I'm still out of batteries for my camera and I have nothing terribly exciting to post besides the fact that I am completely overwhelmed by having a house--keeping it clean, organized and continuing on with the home improvement has sent me over the top. So until I can get back into my routine here we go again--

I know everyone gushes over having a potty trained child, but to be honest, though more expensive, living in a diaper world has it's advantages for a girl like me who doesn't want to deal with accidents. That being said, I wasn't selfish enough to scar my child for life and keep him in diapers until he's 4--when he was ready at a little over 3, we did what we had to do so he has been trained for quite some time now. Most of the time, he waits and waits and waits and waits some more until he finally dances to the toilet and relieves himself. On occasion he doesn't quite make it and leaves a wet mess for me to clean up which is why when we're in public and he all of a sudden needs to go, we make a mad dash for the restroom and all the while I whisper to him "Don't pee, don't pee, don't pee." So far the mantra has worked. The other day, Carter ran into the bathroom from the backyard while I was getting a drink of water. When I'd filled my cup and I was no longer deafened by running water, I heard Carter whispering to himself in the bathroom while he was pulling down his shorts, "Don't poop, don't poop, don't poop." I chuckled to myself. It's amazing what I teach my children!


This past weekend was our stake conference and we had the honor of having Elder Jeffrey R. Holland present to call a new Stake Presidency. Typically, because we have two young children, we don't attend the adult session on Saturday night but because of our special guest, we got a babysitter and went. He was amazing for lack of a better word, incredibly inspirational. That night, his remarks centered on trials and towards the end of his talk, he very powerfully and very loudly stated a few times that when times get tough we shouldn't be stupid and jump out of the boat. Boy was I glad he didn't say that during his remarks on Sunday when Carter would have heard him and surely would have loudly stated back, "We don't say that word!" I'm not sure which would be worse, hearing S-U-C-K during Sacrament like we did a few weeks ago, or having him reprimand an Apostle of the Lord.

Quote of the Day

(This quote is a bit incriminating and I hesitate to post it but here it is anyway.)

I have a very sensitive nose--to bad breath in particular. Now add to the equation that Carter has had bad breath (not that bad, just not baby breath, you know?) since he was very little. (ask my sister, she'll attest to it!) Sometimes when we're playing around and our faces are close, I'll take a breath and then say "You're breath stinks," just playing around of course, because after all, I couldn't love my child more, bad breath and all. Taking all of that into consideration, this day was inevitable. He was in the midst of a teeny tiny melt down because he didn't want me to get Anderson up from his nap so I got down and gave him a hug and asked him if we needed to snuggle for a bit. "No," he informed me, "your breath is stinky." (He must have smelled the ice cream and brownie I sneakily ate while he was watching his cartoons.) I laughed, after all, I taught him that, and what can you do but be thankful you were in the privacy of your own home? Next time, I'm sure I won't be so lucky.

Tribute to Mom (that's me!)

We are beginning to get a taste of what it's like to have end-of-the-year school activities--today was Carter's Parents Program at school. The kids sang songs like The Wheels on the Bus, The Hokey Pokey, and Itsy Bitsy Spider. Carter, being a bit shy, gave Marc his own little private concert in the corner while the rest of the class (predominantly girls) stood in a row along the wall. My sister and I were laughing so hard and I can't speak for her, but I was certainly crying! Unfortunately, after only 2 pics, my camera's batteries died and those were the last 4 we had. Being unprepared is the name of my game lately! I used my sister's camera to take more, but I'll have to wait until she can get those to me. I thought to myself on the way home that those people who don't like kids and don't choose to be parents are missing out on the only real humor that exists in life. And to add to the humor, as a Mother's Day gift, the children answered questions about their moms and Miss Amy recorded them in a book:

What is her favorite TV show? the news (maybe E! News :) )

It makes me happy when my Mom--is nice but she gets mad when Anderson or Dad gets mean. (for the record, Dad never gets mean!)

When she goes shopping, what does she like to buy? a lot of food like yogurt sticks or movies or strawberry things. I like that kind of stuff. (strawberry things refer to those Danimal or Yoplait drinks)

How old is your mom? 21 (27)

How tall is she? a lot tall. How many feet? a lot of big toes! (Wow, this one had the tears rolling again)

How much does she weigh? 43 pounds. I am 32. (I'm liking the last three answers a lot!)

What is her favorite thing to cook? my cake

If your Mom could go on a trip or vacation, where would she like to go? sledding in the snow in really big hills (Carter's friend Mia answered Costco for this one! Hilarious.)

I really love it when my Mom is really happy and nice.

What is her favorite thing to do at home? play with toys

What color are her eyes? like mine--red

What color is her hair? black--just like mine

What is her favorite song? ABCDF & G (this must be where the Hannah Montana came from)

Quote of the Day

Yesterday on the way home from school, See You Again by Miley Cyrus came on the radio. Carter piped in to ask, "Mom, do you like Tana?"

Me: "What?"
C: "Do you like Tana?"
Me: (after some hard thinking in terms of translation) "Do you mean Hannah Montana?"
C: "Yah, do you like Anna Tanna?"
Me: (shocked! How does he know who Hannah Montana is? So we watch Mickey Mouse Club and a few other Disney shows, but not Hannah Montana!) "Not really."
C: (now in tears because I said no!) "But I told Miss Amy today at school that you liked Anna Tanna."

Missing Northridge

While we love living in Colorado, close to family, with mountains so close they provide immediate recreation and an incredible view, I can't help but miss living in Northridge. When we moved we left dear and irreplaceable friends and took with us three years of fun memories. We would have stayed if it would have been the right decision and if we knew we could have provided a home with a backyard for our kids, but it wasn't meant to be so we moved. This has been on my mind lately but I'm writing this today because today (it's May 1st, mind you) I drove Carter to school in blustery wind and blinding snow. Yep, you read that right. MAY 1st. SNOW. Those two things just don't equate! So obviously, one thing I miss is the warm, bright sun. And here is a picture log of a few other things I miss.

The beach. Carter has asked two times in the last month to go to the beach. I did a half chuckle half groan both times because oh, wouldn't that be so fun!

Both Carter and I miss his friends. When I asked Carter who he wanted to invite to his birthday party at the end of the month the first person he asked for was Logan (the boy on the left). Even after a year, he hasn't forgotten how much fun he had with the boys he played with twice a week. I haven't forgotten the bond I had with the boys' moms, either. While I've made a few friends here, there are days when I really wish I could be back in California with my friends there, too.

Los Angeles had some great parks. This one in particular had tons of old trains. Carter asked to go there just the other day. If Colorado Springs has great parks like this one, we have yet to find it!

We also miss the occasional visit from Marc's side of the family. His sister, bro-in-law, and 4 boys lived a few hours away and we'd visit with them a few times a year. I adore these boys--there aren't many boys that are growing up to be better than them! His parents also flew in to visit a bit more often (because they had a house down the street from his sister that they vacationed at) and it was always fun to see them.