mckay's necklace

McKay loves to watch out the window whenever Brian is on his way home. He does it all the time.

A few Saturday's ago I was cleaning out the fridge, which is in close proximity to this window. Brian was coming home from a long run and McKay was anxiously waiting at the window. He was playing around on top of the trunk that we have right in front of the window. He had pulled up the blinds all the way so the cord was long and he was just messing around with the blinds. I told him a couple times to stop, but was distracted when Brian called. Still cleaning and talking I heard McKay screaming and I looked up from the fridge and there he was. . .

. . .the cord wrapped around his neck, kneeling on a pile of bags right next to the trunk- his neck and body stretched as tall as they could go. He had wrapped the cord around his head and neck several times and then lost his balance and fell off the trunk. I threw the phone down and started unwrapping the cord. It was around his little neck so tight I could hardly get a grip on it. McKay had a look of complete terror in his eyes. As soon as he was free I pulled him into my arms and just hugged him for several minutes while he cried and I tried not to.

His neck was red like this immediately. I felt sick. I felt so horrible. My poor little boy almost strangled himself while I was eight feet away. I was so grateful that I was right there when this happened. McKay and Elle always play on that trunk and play with the blinds and it easily could have happened when I was in another room. I've read a hundred times in my Parents magazines about the dangers of blind cords, but I guess I just thought it would never happened to us. We were both really freaked out by the experience.

This picture was taken a few days later. He's got a nice permanent necklace now, that has faded a lot, but is still definitely there. Brian is wondering why I am posting about this tragedy on our blog- fearing that our kids will be taken in to protective services if I publish it for the world to see. And the reason is this: Maybe someone who reads this will be more conscious than I was about cords in their home.

And also because I wanted to show you all my baby's neck. I mean, look at it!

six years. . .

. . .and I still kinda love him a lot.

I've been holding this in for far too long!

The other night I ran to the grocery store to get some milk. It was about nine o'clock when I got home. Brian was laying on the couch watching a basketball game. Typical. I set my bags on the counter and began taking my coat off. Brian casually looked over at me and said,

"What are you doing in September?"

A suspicious look came across my face. "Why?"

"Do you want to move to Portland with me?"

Then I started screaming and jumping around. Brian was still just laying on the couch, but I could see a pretty huge smile across his face. He didn't get up and jump with me, so I had to jump on him. Then I thought, "What if he's messing with me?" and I had to make him swear he was serious. He actually got the call. And then I screamed some more in a pillow, because our kids were asleep.

Brian has been accepted to the Oregon Health and Science University(OHSU) Nursing Anesthesia graduate program. We are moving to Portland in September. WE ARE MOVING TO PORTLAND IN SEPTEMBER! Oh my goodness!

I'm so proud of Brian! He has worked so hard to get here. He has supported a family, gone to school, worked full time and gotten himself into graduate school. And he's done it all with ease.

I am feeling so relieved. Anyone who knows me well knows that this whole waiting period has been driving me a little bit crazy. Not knowing our future. Not knowing whether we're moving or staying. Not knowing if our plans will be delayed. I'm a planner. It was killing me. And now we know. And after I stopped jumping, I started thinking. I started thinking about what this all meant. We will be leaving our tiny condo, which I am SO ready to leave, but at the same time, it's still home. It's the house we brought both our babies home to. It's been our home for five years. And I like it. A little sad. I started thinking about moving away from our families. Our parents. Our siblings. Cousins. Our family. A lot sad. I started thinking about the rough two years we have ahead of us with an insane workload for Brian. Scary. Then I thought about being in a new state, a new town, not knowing anybody. A lot scary.

But then I thought about how lovely Oregon is and how much it seems to be the very best place for us to go. And I thought about how all three of my sisters and I have the same cell phone network. And I thought about how we are moving forward with our plans. And I thought about how good this could be for me and Brian- two Utah kids on their own, out in the world. And I thought about how we can probably rent a bigger house than we have now, with a yard, and a garage. And I felt happy. Really, really happy. And still scared. But happy.

And the "rumour" (for you Lisa) is that Brian and I will love Oregon so much that we won't ever come back. I don't know. I kind of like our families a lot. And McKay kind of needs his grandmas. And Brian kind of has to run marathons with his dad. And I kind of can't be the only sister who lives away. But who knows, maybe Oregon will win us over.

we went south

Brian and I headed to Vegas a couple weeks ago for a little getaway. It was wonderful to have nothing to do, no one to feed, no where to be.
I don't have a lot of pictures because I was trying not to vacation for my blog, if you know what I mean. If I wanted to take a picture, and it was convenient, I did. Otherwise, my camera stayed in my bag, or at the hotel. Here's what we've got:

Brian at Cheese Burger Las Vegas.



Me at Cheese Burger Las Vegas.




We tried the soft drinks from around the world at the Coca Cola store. It was fun. Most of them were nothing special.




Here's Brian tasting something. My favorite was Pine Nut from South Africa. Mmmmmm, so yummy. Brian liked Smart Apple from China. There was one from Italy called Beverly. I don't even know how to describe the taste, but it reminded me of vomiting as a child. Brian said it tasted like medicine. It was sick.


So there you have it. Four pictures. I guess I could note a few other happenings from our trip.

• I wanted to go to movies and eat. That was all I had planned. We never got to movies at home, so I wanted to make up for it. Well, there were no movies that we wanted to see. That was disappointing. But we did eat.

• We ate at the buffet at the Belagio. I am so not a buffet person. I am a girl. And a vegetarian. And I am a picky eater, who doesn't mind bland, un-interesting foods. I am a buffet owner's dream. Brian had to hold his tongue when I came back with my first plate full of watermelon and salad. He had a different approach. He ate more meat than I've ever seen that night. Making up for living with me, I guess. All around me I saw plates full of king crab legs. Piled six inches tall. Legs were just falling all over the place. Mostly men, including my husband, kept going back for these crab legs. I decided that I was going to try a bite. I wanted to know what the big deal was. Brian dipped a little piece in the melted butter and placed it in my mouth. I chewed. I tasted. I spit it out. I really tried to eat it. But I just don't like eating animals or creatures of any kind. I don't like it. I still really don't get the big deal about crab legs.

• After a disappointing dinner, for both of us, I decided I was going to get my money's worth in desserts. They all looked so good and I told Brian we would be trying one of each. And we pretty much did. Again, we were kind of disappointed. Out of the twenty or so desserts we tried, we only liked about three a lot. The others were either gross or nothing special. It was after these twenty desserts had been consumed that I looked down at my fork. I held it out to Brian and said, "Please tell me that's not what I think it is." A fly. A teeny, tiny fly on the upper part of my fork. My fork who's tongs were crusted with the dessert I had just eaten. Nice. We decided that since we had forked out a pretty big chunk of money for the gross buffet, we would tell the manager. I mean, if you have bugs in or on or near your food, that's what you do, right? Good news. Free meal! We were kind of really happy, especially since we didn't even like the meal all that much. We are thinking about bringing flies with us when we dine out. My little business.

• Vegas can be boring after a day or two. We don't gamble. We don't drink. We don't party. We don't have tons of money. We walk around. We eat. We look at people. We did a lot of that. I found myself excited to just go hang out in our hotel room because it is dirty and disgusting and busy out there.

• I like to shop on vacation. Brian does not like shopping period, but especially not on vacation. This was a problem. We decided we would take one day to shop and went to an outdoor outlet mall close to the strip. We went in dozens of stores. We bought one thing. A pair of flip-flops for Ellery. We spent three and a half hours shopping and all we had to show for it was toddler shoes. I was not happy about my Vegas shopping experience, and annoyed at outlet malls. Brian was glad shopping was over. We were meeting friends for dinner and so we didn't want to go back to our hotel, so we decided we'd just go to the restaurant, which was in town, not on the strip. We were about an hour early, and I spied a Ross nearby. I told Brian that instead of waiting in the car I was heading into Ross. And guess what? I got my shopping fix. . .in Vegas. . .in Ross Dress for Less. I got a shirt for $3.99. I got some fun heels. I got a skirt and a few other shirts. My total: $36. That's my kind of shopping.

• We had dinner with Molly and Jason. It was so fun hanging out with them and seeing their beautiful home. Seeing them was probably my favorite thing that we did. We only see them about once or twice a year, so it was so fun to get together. They introduced us to Rock Band and Molly made the yummiest dessert. Mmmm, Mol, I'm pretty sure I'm going to need that recipe.

Brian and I decided that, although we had a great time, that was the last Vegas will see of us. The next trip we take just the two of us has got to be somewhere tropical. Or a cruise. But we'll have years to plan this one, so I'm not holding my breath.

my thoughts during a jazz game

Sometimes I feel like all Brian does when he's home is watch basketball. He'll tell me that there's a Jazz game on that he wants to watch and because I'm such a wonderful wife, I usually let him watch in peace.

And then a couple hours later I'll ask him if it's almost over.

And he'll say, "Yep. There's ten minutes left."

And if you're a wife of a sports fan, you will know that means at least twenty minutes.

So a half hour will go by and he's still watching. It's then I realize he's been watching a whole new game for the last hour.

This happens quite often. We only have one tv. And we don't have tivo. So I get annoyed. Maybe I want to watch the Bachelor. (oh stop)

So on Friday night I decided that instead of getting annoyed, I'd watch the game with him. I don't mind watching basketball, actually. But for different reasons than Brian. Here are my deep thoughts:

• I get that Deron Williams is the best player. I get that the Jazz are lucky to have him. What I don't get is his hair. It's ruining the fun of having the best point guard, whatever that means.
  
• For the last year or so I keep telling Brian that everyone in the NBA travels all the time and nobody calls them on it. I always yell out, "TRAVEL!" every time I see someone do it, which is quite often. What is wrong with the refs?! Brian has always been confused by this and it wasn't until last night that I learned that I didn't know what traveling actually means. I thought it was that they have to bounce the ball after every two steps. Brian laughed at me. So really, the NBA hasn't been traveling as much as I've thought.
  
• While we're on the subject, I thought that you only got a strike in baseball if you moved the bat a little, like you were going to swing, but then changed your mind and decided not to. That is not a strike, in case you thought it was. You get a strike even if you don't move the bat a little.
  
• The Jazz were playing the Denver Nuggets, and I'll tell you they have the ugliest player on their team, bless his heart. I could not look at him. He was nauseating. I don't even know his name.
  
• What if I could be this amazing basketball player? I might have this hidden basketball talent that I've just never developed. Or maybe I have amazing potential in the world of...
  
• Kyle Korver is my boyfriend.
  
• Carlos Boozer has an unfortunate last name. He is my age, which is unbelievable to me. He looks old.
  
• I learned that they call Mehmot "Money". I am enjoying this nickname.
  
• My very favorite thing about watching basketball, or any sport for that matter, is seeing tender moments between the players. It's especially captivating if the tenderness is between two players of opposite teams. Like if they hug at the end of the game. Or if one knocks another down and he helps him up. Or a little slap on the bum. I live for those.
  
• I hesitate to share my last basketball thought, because it's a good one, and it could make me very rich. So don't steal my idea. Really, don't steal it. I just have to find out who to contact. Anyway, I am always fascinated with the players tattoos. They have them all over, covering each arm and who knows where else. I am fascinated by this. Wouldn't it be great to have a show with the players explaining their tattoos and when they got them and what they mean, etc...? I know! It would be great! It's going to be great. Like there was one player who had the WB shield/symbol on his arm. Why does he want the WB shield? What does that signify to him? I need to know.

I don't know if anyone is still reading this. I'm getting bored myself. The end.

we're in love again

I don't know if any other parents go through this with their kids, but I am constantly falling in and out of love with mine. Of course I still love them both like crazy, every single second of every day- you must not forget that. But I find myself "in love" with them at different times. Last week, when Elle wasn't napping and when she was whining and screeching about everything we were not in love.

I'm happy to report that we're back on. Even though she's still screeching about everything.

where's my girl?

Today Ellery had one of her firsts. Her first tantrum.

After an accidental collision with McKay in the hallway, a crying Ellery wanted her souci (binky). Just within the last couple days I decided it was time to just let her have souci's in her bed- she was rapidly getting too attached. So I didn't give it to her. She kept crying and running into her bed to show me what she wanted, but I told her no.

Then the screaming began. . .

. . . and the flailing around on the floor. . .

. . .and more screaming and thrashing around.

This went on for about thirty minutes. Brian and I did not know what to make of her. We knew after about ten minutes that she was having a tantrum and we just let her cry it out in the hallway. Tantrums are funny- after about ten minutes of crying they don't even remember what they were crying about.

I was feeling bad for her. . but it was also a bit entertaining. Entertaining enough that I started snapping a few pictures. Brian and I have never really experienced a tantrum of this magnitude before, with McKay or Ellery.




Being the softy that he is, especially regarding Elle, Brian picked her up after her thirty-minutes and plopped her in bed. . .with her precious souci.


This girl is proving to be very different than her brother. The attitude is out in full force and she definitely has a mind of her own. Like, for example, how she's trying to stop taking her nap. . .at the age of sixteen months. I go between mourning and being really angry about this, but mostly I refuse to accept it. Even though she has only napped twice in the last week, I will not give up.

So, we can't help but wonder if this sudden feisty streak is a girl thing, a second child thing, or just an Ellery thing?

i'm addicted

To chapstick. Lip balm. Whatever you call it, I'm addicted to it. I can't go very long without putting it on, and I definitely can't sleep without it. I apply it right before I fall asleep, so that it will last longer through the night. If by any chance my kids wake up during the night, I must then reapply.

In the wintertime I found the most wonderful chapstick. And it actually is Chapstick! The peppermint flavor became my chapstick of choice and I never planned to change. Well, now it's February and I cannot find it anywhere! I am scraping the bottom of my purse tube, and my kitchen counter tube is getting too low for comfort. My night time tube is the one that has been replaced by various alternatives. Cherry Natural Ice is the best alternate, but I'm really missing my peppermint. (It has to be minty/menthol chapstick too, if not, it makes my lips crave it even more) Jana recommended Burt's Bees, so today I bought one when I was at Walmart. I liked it, but it's no peppermint.

Catchin' Up

There are about a dozen things that I've been meaning to blog about. I'm just trying to make it day to day at this point, but I decided that tonight is the night that I do a post! So that's what I'm doing. To condense the last several weeks events into one post I decided to pick just one picture of whatever we've done. And just a few random ones thrown in.

Like this one. How could I take away her purple crayon? Mean mother.





Nash and Elle. We love having play dates with Nash and Gray (and Halle too). I really like their expressions in this picture. They are so annoyed/bored with me taking their picture.





Swimming at the Lehi Legacy center with cousins and Poppy. They all piled on his back and he swam them around.Such a fun kids pool, if you haven't ever been.



Eto forgot his swimsuit. By the way, his name is Ethan. Eto is just the most wonderful nickname that I will use until I die. Do you know any Ethan's? Try it out.

Taking a turn being Lisa. Lisa is my sister. She has seven kids (including Eto). Her and Trevor went on a cruise and so my mom, Jana and Mark, and I took shifts while they were gone. I had a short shift, but I learned that being Lisa is hard, McKay ignores me when he's around his cousins, they get an enormous amount of sales calls and Ellery plus two flights of stairs equals total exhaustion.

But it was fun being around my cute neices and nephews for a couple days. I got to help Alyssa make that beautiful poster. And I got to help Bryson with his Valentine's box, and calm Brandon down after a piano practice melt down. And snuggle with Ashie- she's a snuggler and Ellery is not, so I enjoyed all the snuggles I could get.

Ellery found this in the garbage. The reaction when I took it away was similar to the purple crayon.

I just thought she looked especially beautiful here, chubby cheeks and all. I like this girl a lot.

Jump On It! McKay was a blur running and jumping around, Ellery was trying to keep up right behind him. Independent, that one.

I think McKay liked Valentines day almost as much as Christmas. That's what's great about this holiday. Kids think it's so special, but it takes hardly any preparation. He was thrilled with making Valentines for daddy, donuts for breakfast, which are "very unhealthy"- he always reminds us, balloons, a pink bath, picking out a red shirt to wear, calling several relatives to wish them a happy valentine's day, and seeing both sets of grandparents. It was a good day for this boy.

It was a a good day for this girl, too. She ate this whole donut for breakfast. I was amazed.

McKay also went to the circus with Grandma, and the aunts, but every time I tried to upload the picture, a picture of my cat came up. Is she sending me a message from the other side?

Tibbers, are you there?

but I'm twelve

Today I recited the Young Women's theme with a group of young women for the first time in ten years. It was weird to hear myself saying it again, but aside from the new additions, I still knew it. As I stood up to introduce myself to those young women that I don't know at all yet, I felt like I was still one of them. Am I really old enough to be leading them? It was strange. But also exciting.

It seems like for the past two weeks young women's is all I've been thinking about. All I've been praying about. All I've been worrying about. Poor Brian is tired of hearing me talk about it. He's also been getting a kick out of saying, "You're not the president of me." when I ask him to do something. I'm a little bit terrified of this new calling. . .but grateful for the already amazing experiences that have helped me to know that it's where I'm supposed to be. And grateful for the things that fall into place right when you need them to. And definitely grateful for both the wonderful blessings that Brian and the bishop gave me, specifically reminding me that the Lord will make up for my weaknesses. . .which are many. "The Lord doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called." Counting on that.

As if all that hadn't already complicated my previously very uncomplicated life, I now have been summoned to report to jury duty selection. Really hoping that they don't want me, although dad says, "it's a privilege." Cross your fingers.

this may be vague . . .

. . .but I'm pretty proud of this guy right now.
I know he wouldn't want to be the subject of this post. . .but I had to say a little something.

He's had a crazy, exhausting week and I can't wait to see him coming back through the door in a few hours!

In other news, because I was 100% sure Ellery had an ear infection, today I took her to the doctor. You know what she has? Two molars coming in. Do you think I felt stupid that I paid the doctor $20 to tell me my girl was teething? Yes. Yes I did.

here's what i'm thinking

I am so glad to say goodbye to January! I've really been feeling the seasonal blues, and I'm hoping that having January over will be the end of them. January also found me in a blogging rut. I usually have enough things to blog about that I never actually get to all of them, but this month has been pretty sparse. I actually don't have anything interesting to say today, but in honor of it being February first, I'll share just a few random tidbits from our day:

• My sunbeam gave a talk today on Adam and Eve. He was SO excited to talk in the microphone but when we actually got up there he was as stiff as a board and at the same time shrinking into this little heap of a three year old with as many fingers in his mouth as he could manage. The first half of the talk was inaudible, but by the end you could hear actual sound- not words, but sound. I guess practicing into the wire whisk wasn't at all like the real thing. But you know what? He is as proud as punch of himself. And I am too
• Last week, while pretending to be an alligator, my sunbeam bit his teacher in the behind. McKay didn't tell us this- his teacher did. McKay's reply, "I was a big, big alligator and he was a scary snake." Oh, so that's why.
• Today was my first time in relief society in our new ward because I've been substituting in primary. I generally get about twenty percent of what is being said during church on account of my girl. Between opening snacks, reading Brown Bear over and over, corralling her in my general area, making sure she doesn't rummage through other people's bags, picking the smashed snacks up off the floor and preventing her from lovingly mauling any nearby babies, I am pretty busy. Today in relief society I managed to hear something that I always need to hear. An older lady commented on how she was always waiting for the next thing in her life to happen. "I can't wait until my kids aren't in diapers. I can't wait until they're all in school, etc. . ." I can sometimes fall victim of waiting for certain things in life to change before I start living it. The lady shared how those things in life are but for a small moment, and you can never get them back. A very good reminder for parents of young children. I guess I can wait until Ellery goes to nursery in April, or until McKay stops picking his nose, or whatever. Because someday I'll miss not having a baby to entertain during three hours of church, and someday I might miss telling a three year old to get a tissue.
• I wore my zebra print cardigan today. Brian HATES it and almost can't be around me if I'm wearing it. I just tell him that he wears weird things too and that I don't take fashion advice from him. I actually thought about showing a picture on here and taking votes, but I don't have a picture and what if you all hate it too? I'd rather not know because I like it.
• This afternoon McKay picked up my pen and did a big scribble on the couch. As he was clicking the pen shut he said, "Uh oh mom! I just accidentally colored on the couch! I'm so sorry." A big time out followed, after which McKay cried, "Mom. I'm just so sad because you are angry at me." Even though I wasn't very angry at him, telling him he was getting a long time out for what he did was angry enough for him. It's funny how that boy can make me want to apologize for putting him in time out and making him cry. He's just so sweet, even when he colors on the couch or bites his teacher on the bum.