What A Day!

I am convinced that the events that started this whole karmic mess were set in motion the night before when Nate asked to borrow my ipod. He was getting ready for his trip to DC and wanted some music to listen to on the plane and since he had given his to Emma for Christmas he wanted to borrow mine. He also had gotten a bunch of movies from our Bro-in-law to watch on the laptop. Now, you have to understand that I am very protective of my ipod because of all the problems I have had with them, I'm about ready to give up on the brand!!! So when I found out that he was trying to put a movie on it, I kinda freaked out and maybe said something to the effect that it was stupid to try and watch a movie on such a small screen anyway! Nate was messing with external hard drives and I plugged my ipod back in to put the movie on for him because I felt bad for being so mean about the whole thing. Well, he needed his hard drive plugged back in to get the movie and so he just unplugged the ipod without safely ejecting it. Which 9 times out of 10 ends up not being a big deal. Well this time it froze my ipod. This is getting too long........Anyway.....He went up to the kids computer to look up how to reboot the ipod and discovered that the mouse was broken at which point he decided that he was cursed and went up to bed. (The day before his laptop hard drive fried itself and he couldn't get the network setup in his satellite office) So I fixed the ipod and was determined to get this darn movie onto my ipod and make up for my selfish ways. He decided that if he took the ipod with him it would for sure end up bringing down his airplane because he was convinced that it was cursed. lol So, we go to the next day and Nate takes off safely. Jordyn stayed home from school with a cold and I have one that just keeps going as well. The kids get home from school and Jordy is in the downstairs bath going pee when all of the sudden she comes running out with her pants around her ankles screaming that there is water getting all over her. As I approached the bathroom I could hear water making a waterfall type sound. the first thing I saw was the plinking water in the toilet and it looked like it was jumping out of the toilet until I looked up and saw it streaming down from the ceiling out of the fan vent and also the can light over the bathtub. I tried to remain calm and figure out what would possibly cause this and all I could think about was the episode of house from last week where his water line separated. No, couldn't be. So I decided to run upstairs because I knew there was the girls bathroom directly located above this one. When I arrived on the scene of the incident I saw Emma standing there with the plunger in her hand crying as she watched the water run all over the floor all I could thing about was the fecal matter contamination and how to contain it! I can only assume that she was too mortified to scream for help because the neighbor boy from her class was over playing Wii with her and Jared just feet away. Luckily it was still 10 to 5 so I called the plumber that did our house and begged him to help me even though they hadn't gotten paid from the builder. Also luckily in the middle of all this Nate happened to call to let me know he arrived safely and made the call to Jenny and Rick to come drill the necessary holes in the ceiling to let the water dry out so that it didn't mold up there. Apparently when water gets on the floor like that it tries to find an escape route and went down through the grout and under the cabinet and against the baseboards and found it's way out into the bathroom below via the fan and the light. Lovely!!! Who knew!!!

The last picture is the result of the drilling. I was doing a whole lot of crying because now on top of all the crap I have to deal with because of an unfinished house and all that goes with that I had to add further damage that has to be paid to be fixed as well. Luckily Jenny and Rick came to my rescue and cheered me up and it ended up being a fairly fun evening. I also had plans to see a movie with my other sister-in-law and she showed up to go and stumbled upon the chaos and ended up just hanging out. The sad and I guess funny thing is that virtually every time Nate goes out of town something bad happens. I think this goes down as the worst so far. To top it all off last night when I took out my contacts I somehow managed to scratch my eye or remove flesh from it because it hurts like heck and it wont stop watering even still today after it remained closed all night. Pretty much every time I move my eyes from side to side it feels like someone stabbed me in the eye. I can still see, so I guess that is good!

I tell you, it is advisable to just steer clear of our extremely cursed selves. We are cursed by all things electronic ,among other many other things, seriously!!!! Also when Nate is out of town just know that if you are around me something bad might happen. I'm going to try and find someway to entertain the kids today, possibly make it to church tomorrow and get everything ready for Nate to come home just in time for our Super Bowl party that we are having for which I just found out last night who was even playing in it. I've been told I have to actually watch the game, but that's just not going to happen!! Sorry, although maybe I better because maybe if I don't something bad will happen. I'm starting to feel like I am in the movie "Yes Man." lol

Hopefully if someone out there has been feeling particularly bad about life or circumstances this will brighten your day to know that there is much suffering out there to go around and all we can do is move on and hopefully have a good laugh about it in the process! :)

Ethan's Birthday

I figured that I better write something about Ethan's birthday before it is Jared's birthday. My little kindergartner turned a big 'ole 6 years old on the 7th and he got to celebrate twice this year. One time in AZ and then another family party here on his birthday.

Ethan got to pick where we went to dinner and it created major controversy because quite frankly I hate the place he picked, but he really wanted to go, so away we went. I basically refused to pay for a meal that I wasn't going to eat and got a quite delicious drink (from a bottle because I didn't want to use a glass----I know, I know, total snob). The kids had an absolute ball eating there and I enjoyed watching Nathan hold firm to his beliefs that the food was fine while he choked it down. lol We then came home to a chocolate and caramel encrusted cheese cake and cookie dough ice cream cones. I'm surprised no one threw up from all the sweetness and Edog got to open his presents. My boys are obsessed with Bakugans for reasons unknown to me and he also got a real scooter and a baseball (more like ping pong ball) pitching machine.

So, my little blond haired freckled ball of energy who lost his first tooth already and who rides a school bus and loves to play on the computer who also wishes he were much older so that Emma and Jared weren't always leaving him out who's best friends are our dog and his little sister and who is always ready with a smile and a compliment and a laugh that is completely contagious and who has the biggest heart I've ever seen just turned 6 and is quickly becoming a big boy instead of my little boy. I hope he always thinks his Mom is the best and prettiest and will always have a hug and a kiss for me.

All Because We Slept In.....

On Saturday the 17th we had planned to make it to an 8 am session at the Temple, but slept in. It would cut into our plans, but we were determined to go so we made it in time for the 9 am session instead. It had been a couple of months since I had gone so I was determined to not let sleeping in stop me from going. In fact we were so rushed to get there that by the time I was actually sitting in the session I realized that I hadn't eaten breakfast yet. Major bummer, could I count that as fasting? :) On our way into the Temple Nathan realized that he hadn't called the call service to remove himself from call, so he ran back outside to do that while I went up to get dressed. I had barely been sitting in the chapel and it was time to head into the session with still no sign of Nate. Luckily he made it in and surprisingly the 1st counselor in our old Abq Stake Presidency came in right behind him. At least he wasn't the only one holding up the show. Then on our way back to the dressing rooms we ran into an old friend that was there for his daughters sealing ( she used to be one of the beehives when I was in YW in that ward many moons ago. ) We chatted briefly and then when I entered the dressing room I ran right into Ashly (the bride)and her Mom and got to give her a big hug on her way into getting sealed. I thought it was pretty cool that I got to give her a send off. When we got into the car I finally got to hear about where Nathan had been while the session was being held. It turns out that when he got back in and went up the stairs he saw the Temple President at the top and so he stopped to shake his hand and then proceeded to shake the hands of the 3 men standing next to him in regular suits. On the first one he stuck his hand out and then looked up and pretty much froze and all he could think was that this was an apostle but other than that his brain wasn't working. He found a Temple worker down the hall and asked who it was and they had no clue an apostle was even there. He then ran into another old friend that was there for the wedding and he confirmed that it was indeed and apostle and that it was Russell M Nelson and they had done a special session at 7 am. COOOOL! The rest of the day Nate had to keep reminding me about how I better be nice to him since he had just touched an apostle. He also kept offering to touch me with the hand that shook Elder Nelson's. Silly nut! It was confirmed even further when on Sunday our Bishop made mention of the fact that Elder Nelson had been there for some Bishop and Stake Pres. training.
So the moral of the story is to not let a little bit of sleeping in get you down and proceed as planned because you never know what may happen. Quite the stream of events all occurred because we went to the later session. It will go down in history as one of my coolest days ever even though I didn't know that Elder Nelson was there until we were on our way home.

PS I'm not aware of anyone reading this blog that wouldn't know what I was talking about as far as the Temple, Sealings, Apostles, Bishops and Stake Pres. So, if you're out there let me know and I would be happy to explain and know you're there. :)

Our Hellacious Trip Home

After all the fun and sad goodbyes we hopped in the overfilled suburban and headed home. The suburban was bursting at the seams because of a trip to a home store and Ikea. Lets just say that Nate was none too happy with me and told me not to complain when the kids tried to kill each other because of the close quarters. I got some really cool stuff so it was totally worth it! Anyway, we started our journey just after 9 am for the 7 hour trip home. This is where you can insert me singing "a 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour, the weather started getting rough......"

The 1st sign of trouble came about an hour or so into the trip when we stopped for some unknown reason just outside of Phoenix. It started raining so we knew we were going to hit snow in at least Flagstaff. We were stopped for quiet awhile and I was still hopeful that things would go relatively well. Then we hit snow way before Flagstaff in I don't really know where. We were going pretty slow because apparently people from AZ don't know how to drive in the snow. We ended up stopping in some little town an hour outside of Flagstaff and ate some lunch where I am fairly certain I contracted a pretty mean case of food poisoning that reared it's ugly head at 3 am the next morning. At this point we are beginning to doubt the certainty of getting home sometime in the near future. Back in the car. The snow and roads get worse and then dead stopped!!!!! I think we were just outside of Gallup when we were beginning to wonder if we were stopped because they decided to close I40 which is a pretty common occurrence. Heaven help me, I think I'm going to scream. Emma decides that she is gonna pee her pants if we can't get her to a toilet----where are we gonna find a toilet----we're not moving---there is at least 7 inches of snow on the ground and no bushes to hide behind and a long string of cars to watch. So I cut off the top of a water bottle and handed it to her with the instructions to pee in it and then absolutely not to spill it. Well many many more tears followed and even the assurance that we were going to laugh about this for years to come still couldn't get her to pee in the bottle ( she did finally try, but couldn't go). When we were finally able to go again after I think an hour we decided that there would be no more stopping and we were going to get home as fast as possible. So, after 10 hours in the car for a 7 hour trip we finally saw the lights of Albuquerque and made it safely home in time for the kids to go to bed and for me to be awakened a few hours later wishing that I would have died!

Our Trip to AZ

We just got back from a very fun time in Maricopa --AKA "Poo Town." I managed to get the dog dropped off and the kids and the car all loaded up by lunch time. We then headed off to pick up some lunch and Nate and we were off for our New years eve journey to AZ. When we arrived the first thing I did was grab both of the babies and all was right with the world. We had a great time just watching the kids play and holding and feeding babies the entire time. Jo and I did manage to squeeze in a mani-pedi and a little bit of shopping while we were there. We also made some southwestern egg rolls which was very fun especially since I have never made egg rolls before. They turned out pretty good and we now know how to make them even better for next time. I also discovered that the reason I probably have never worn an apron before is because they are very figure non friendly---either that or I have a delusional body image. ;) Nate took all the kids to this play place for a few hours one of the days. What a sweet boy he is for doing that and he deserves a medal for sure! We also had a joint birthday party for Sidney and Ethan since they never get to celebrate together anymore. :( Ethan's is on the 7th and Sids is ---oh crap, I can't remember---the 20 something. We did a bit of eating out and a lot of hanging out. Jo and I managed to get some major junk food eating and game playing in as well. Jose (one of the twins) was a good partner for me. He was very good at being able to predict when I should roll again and when I shouldn't while we were playing 10 dice. Those babies were the cutest things ever. I have never even held a baby that small before. They were up to about 5 1/2 lbs and they were a month old already! Tiny! It was sooooo sad to leave our dear friends and those sweet babies.