1 Thankful Thursday #3

1)Online Banking & Quicken - Seriously this saves me hours every month. For several years I didn't really taken advantage of these. In fact for most of our marriage I've been 'behind' in Quicken by several (6-7) months. Hey, two full-time salary incomes with no kids spells financiall wiggle room. However, I've been up-to-date and reconciled in all our personal accounts at least once a week for nearly 9 months. It might give me an ulcer every time, but I'm so glad I'm not doing it by hand. My next goal is to carry this over to Nate's business account.

2) Clean air & Endorphins- About this time of year the valley smog soup really weighs heavy on my mood. If I had a crystal ball last fall I would not have purchased a season snowboard pass, but since its long been paid for (no refunds) I guess I better get my money's worth. I love to get away to Beaver Mountain for a few hours. It is truly amazing how immediate the effects of a crystal clear sky and clean fresh air are. The rush {physical & emotional} I get from racing down the hill is exhilarating. Bring on the snow!

3) Crockpot - I've been hungry ALL day today due to the smells wafting from the slow cooker on my counter. I don't think there is an easier meal than throwing a whole chicken on top of a chopped oinion, carrots, & potatos. It truely is plug-and-go. I tried to lift the bird out after 10 hours on 'lo' and the thing just fell apart. Talk about melt in your mouth! I might have to go back to Albertson's...their whole chickens are on sale for $0.69/pound.

3 Adventures in Bread Making

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In college my bread maker was my Mormon-coffee maker. Most nights I'd fill it and set the timer so that I could have a hot slice on my way to class. I continued the habit as a newlywed, but somewhere along the way my machine died. Nate bought me a new one, but I never quite got it figured out. After about 8 years in the closet, I pulled it out and gave it a whirl. My first few attempts were LESS than perfect. In fact they we completely inedible bricks. I tried more water, new yeast, extra wheat gluten...finally I figured out the right combination for white bread on the quick cycle. YUM! Warm bread from scratch with home-made strawberry jam in under an hour!!! Devine! I think my husband would vote for that for dinner every night of the year.

Tonight I'm attempting a box mix on the full 3 hour cycle. We will see.

2 Big Buisnes is getting BIG!

Here is Allie setting up a movie for her stuffies. She is playing 'pretend' so much more these days. While it is wonderful to see her imagination bloom, playtime seems to be turning into big-mess time.

Last week our wonderful neighbor babysitter, Kenzie, invited Allie to her school's child development lab. It was her first class at 7:30am, but Allie was up early and ready to go at 6:45am. She was so proud to tell everyone who would listen about the lockers, games, and art projects. I think Allie has always been about 15 in her mind.

Side note: we are growing out Allie's bangs. There are at the really awful length right now, so I am being creative pulling them back. UGH! I want to cut them so bad!

1 Sledding

Last week we went sledding with the neighbors. Thanks Teresa for inviting us. The girls had a blast. Allie was fearless! We had to hold Kylie in the sled while we kicked and screamed the first few times, but before long she was climbing on the sled of her own accord.

2 Thankful Thursday #2

1) The Book of Morman - I have started this great book once again. I'm setting a goal to read it through again by May. I say read, but this time around I'm also including listening to it on my mp3 player. Last night I downloaded a zip file {click HERE to go to the site} with the entire book broken down with a track per chapter. I played 5 chapters while I was on the treadmill this morning, but I'm not sure if I'll try it again. I struggled to keep my heartrate up and focus at the same time. Oh, well. I'm still excited to have another option.

2) Hot Showers & Baths - Really! Call me spoiled, but I don't think I could live without hot running water. I love to just soak in the heat and feel my body relax. Awh! Just thinking about it makes me relax.

3) A Wonderful Neighborhood - I'm so glad that my girls have so many little friends so close to us. It is wonderful to feel safe sending Allie out to play. I love that my kids are growing up in much the same environment that I did.

0 The Toothache, part 3...dare I say THE END???

Went to the dentist today. Spent an HOUR in the chair waiting my turn AFTER I had been numbed up. In fact I had to be RE-numbed (darn that other patient) since it had been so long, but other than that all went very smoothly. I'm still numb, go figure, but no massive swelling and most importantly no pain. I'm knocking on wood that this stupid tooth behaves itself from now on. I'm ready to eat solid food again.

2 Adventures in Digital Scraping & a word to the not-so-wise

As you've heard I've taken the plunge into digital scrapbooking. In fact, in a post below you can see my very first attempt at a Layout (LO). I was very excited on Friday to attend my monthly scrap night carrying one small laptop bag and show all my friends the many benefits of going digital. It was nice, but weird, not to make two trips into the building! However, the the smooth night took a turn for the worst when my brand new (under 3 weeks) external hard drive gave up the ghost when it got jarred. UGH! Thankfully Sam's Club exchanged it and nearly all my files are safe elsewhere, but I learned a very valuable lesson. You've heard it before, but don't rely on a single storage medium! Thankfully when I set up my new drive I just happened to burn DVD's of all my files before I deleted them from my laptop's hard drive. The only thing I lost was a week's worth of free, downloaded digital scrapbook files (I didn't store duplicates) and a couple hours I spent organizing, but at least I didn't loose anything of real value (pictures of my kids or work files).

So here is the fruit my labor, my first two 2-page spreads. One if from this January and the other is from a year ago. I'm not exactly sure whether to focus on 'catching up' or staying current. Maybe I'll alternate between 2007 & 2008?

{Want a closer look? Click on any picture to enlarge it.}

3 Thankful Thursday #1

* Note: My friend Hanne started doing a weekly post she calls 'Thankful Thursday.' I've really enjoyed reading it, so I'm going to try it out myself. I guess its kindof a New Years resolution of mine. We'll see how diligent I am. I'm excersising a bit of faith that counting my blessings will bring me an added measure of peace.

1) MODERN MEDICINE: I am holding a grudge against pain pills in general right now, but really I am greatful for ANTIBIOTICS. I hate to think how truly awful my tooth saga would be without them. And then there is the entire dental practice aspect. What would have been my options up 100 years ago? Pulling the darn thing?

2) NATE'S OPTIMISM: I am by nature a pessimist. I tend towards the worst case scenario, which is looking bleak right now. Nate however is the eternal optimist. Maybe that was one of the things that drew me to him in the beginning... no,it was his good looks and hot car. Either way, it has been a foundation I constantly lean on. I know I would crumble without his strength.

3) STAYING HOME WITH MY GIRLS: Being a stay-at-home-working-mom is definitely NOT the best of all worlds. In most ways it is the worst of both situations. All the chores and late work hours. However, I put up with all that for one shining perk: I get to be with my girls. They teach me everyday. For example, last week Allie wanted to go out in the snow. I defaulted to saying no, but when she asked 'why?' I had no answer. So out she went. Kylie was devastated to be left behind. She even put on her coat, hat, and scarf by herself and followed me around with a boot and mitten. Her cries were asking 'why not me?' Again I had no answer, so our we went. And it was actually FUN! Who would have thunk? Not me! I was amazed at how wonderful I felt pushing and pulling my girls up and down a small backyard lump of a hill. But it was invigorating despite the medication haze. We enjoyed it so much our ritual the past week has been a post-nap snow fling followed by hot cocoa as I make dinner. We've tubed down our Sorensen neighbor's sled hill and built snowmen despite my face looking like a chipmunk. Who cares? Not my girls!

5 Thanks for BOTH gifts!

Gift #1)
My sister Ellen and her new husband Stoddard had our family for Christmas. Aunt Elle created a "Just-Add-Snow" Snowman Kit! Everyday since then Allie has been begging to use it, but our snow has been the light, dry fluffy stuff that won't stick together. Well today it warmed up enough to start melting the fluff...so much so that it became pack-able. So a snowman-making we went. I had to enlist the help of our good neighbor Britney to lift the balls up onto each other since the snow was so heavy. Allie added some 'hair' and christened him 'Coat'.

Gift #2)
Please 'Oh' and 'Awh' at my first attempt at digital scrapbooking. {click on the picture to get a closer look!} My wonderful mother got me PhotoShop Elements 7.0 for Christmas &this is my first attempt at a digital layout. I'm rather pleased with it. I hope to become more fluent in all that this grand program can do. I've been busy downloading free files for a week and have now set the goal to make at least 6 layouts before I look for anything new.

6 Toothache, part 2

If you don't like going to the dentist, DO NOT READ!!!
(that includes you, Camille)

It seemed like it took forever for Monday to come, but eventually it did. Nate was out of town, so I took the girls to my wonderful in-law's home early in the morning and called the dentist hoping to get in right at 8am. They did work me in, but not till 11am. The x-rays still looked clear with no sign of an abscess, although I presented all the other classic symptoms. The root canal procedure start very smooth other than some fiery pain as the anesthetic injection spread to the area of inflammation. In fact, after about an hour I was getting board as the dentist started disinfecting the 3rd and final root canal.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was in the worst pain of my life. Childbirth times ten! I was shaking and tears poured as I forced myself to use all my control to stay still as the dentist worked quickly. He and his assistant scrambled, attempting to stop the flow of oozing fluid and reduce the pain. Later, he told me that somehow the disinfecting solutions (bleach and hydrogen peroxide) must had leaked out the end of the root into the surrounding tissues. Instantly I had a major inflammatory reaction, including massive swelling and fluid discharging into the bone, gum, tooth, and root. He had to abort the procedure. When the flow had stopped, he put on a temporary filling. Just typing about this brings me to tears. I can't describe how awful it was.

Even an hour later I couldn't stop shaking and weeping even though the pain was in check. I was in shock. I had to call my mother-in-law for a ride home. The dentist consulted with the pharmacist and they settled on a new pain prescription to which I "shouldn't" have a reaction to since it was only "distantly" related to codeine and hydrocodone. I was tentative...and I should have been. With the second dose I was shaky, woozy, and dizzy, not to mention the headache, all for a good 36 hours. No more pain pills for me!!!

Its been a few days and the left half of my face, from my eyelid to under my chin, is still swollen. Today its just puffy, but yesterday I looked like I had wisdom teeth removed, including some light bruising. (sorry Ellen, there will be no pictures - I made sure of that) Amazingly the pain has been fairly low and really only bothers me in the middle of the night. Oh, and I can't really eat much. Even chewing with the other side has been problematic since I have shooting pain if THE tooth touches food or the teeth below it. Don't point out that this could be the means for loosing a few pounds, because I made a cake for myself since I figured I could gum it up. YUM!

Mostly now I'm just dreading going back tomorrow to finish the procedure...that is if things have settled down enough. I want to get it over with, but what if it happens again??? Stay tuned for part 3.

UPDATE: my next appointment won't be until at least Monday, due to the residual swelling

5 Toothache, part 1

So its going on a month since I posted. I really meant to several times, but the holidays were just so busy. I took over 2 weeks off work, but all the festivities and a trip to Rexburg just ate up all my time. I'd like to post some pics, but I'm not sure I'll get to it.

Right now I am suffering from a major toothache. Its a tooth that has been a ticking time bomb since it was crowned about a year ago. The dentist had to get a bit too close to the pulp when crowing it. Over the summer it acted up, but some antibiotics cleared it up. I just had a cleaning 2 weeks ago and the x-rays looked great. The hygentist was actually able to scrape off a bit of extra cement along the gum line and I've been able to chew with it for the first time! I guess all that chewing must have upset if.

It started up last Tuesday/Wednesday, but of course everyone was out of the office for the long New-Years weekend. I did get an antibiotic prescription called in on Thursday (thank you Specialty Hospital Pharmacist for staying past noon closing time so I could get there). At the time I turned down the dentist's offer for a additional pain prescription since Ibuprofen was good enough on Thursday morning, but by Friday I was desperate and dug around our medicine cabinate. I know I don't do well with codine, but I decided it was worth the risk to take the Lortab left over from Kylie's birth.

Well, the first two doses helped a ton, but the 3rd put me in a semi-concious/semi-coma state for 4 hours and then I was gravely sick for 24 more hours. Vomiting, shaking, dizzly, gross. I am NEVER taking that stuff again!!! Today is Sunday & I seem to have gotten most of the toxins out of my system, but I still feel wozzy and have a headache...not to mention the tooth pain has spread to the entire side of my face. It even hurts to smile. I REALLY hope the dentist can work me in to his scedule tomorrow morning. Six days is ENOUGH!!!

1 Pint Size Fun

The Tree House Children's Museum in Ogden is simply fabulous! I TOTALLY recommend it! My sister Abby introduced us last year (Kylie was barley crawling), so this was our 2nd visit. They have all kinds of interactive displays and hands on activities. The kids were ALL over the place and with 5 little girls under the age of 5, that kept us 3 mommies running. I think you can tell from the (lack of) quality of these photos. This time spent the bulk of our time @...

• The Baby Place: a doll hospital nursery and doctor's office
• Grandma Sophie's Kitchen and Garden Market
• Days of the Knights, with princess dress-up area
• Pick up a Stick and Play Music Room
• One World Village: traveled world round
  
• The Art Garden: Christmas countdown craft
  

Visit their webpage: CLICK HERE

1 Salt Lake Temple Square Lights

Last weekend we made our annual trek to see the lights on Temple square with our neighbors the Sorensens. Of course it was cold, but not nearly as cold as it usually is. This year Troy, Heidi, & Alia to join us. The girls were all eyes as we strolled around the grounds in a large hoard. They were very good at staying close. I only got a few pictures before the batteries in my camera died. They last so long (I thinkI've been on this set since July) I forget about them. I'll probably post more pics when I get them from Hanne & Troy.


After the lights, we had dinner at Sizzler & walked around Toys-R-Us. It was a late night by the time we got around to putting the girls to bed at Uncle Troy's house. I was worried how Kylie would go down since it was the first time she's slept outside a crib/pack-n-play. The stinker tried to walk out of the room a few times, but fell right asleep when I laid down by them on the floor. Since it was 2+ hours past bedtime and they were completely exhausted, it only took 2 minutes! The next morning Troy said he was woke up to the sound of Allie calling him from the bathroom. What a great uncle to help her out in her hour of need. When I came upstairs a while later (to see if the girls were awake) Troy had them settled in his office chair watching a cartoon on his laptop. Yep, he just might be their favorite uncle.

*update: Kylie climbed out of her crib this morning (first time ever) so I guess we'll be thinking about moving her to a 'big girl bed' sooner rather than later. Drat! I was hoping to keep her locked up for a bit longer.

5 Now that is some good music.

We spent last weekend in Layton/SLC valley. I'll try to type up some more details on the weekend and post some pictures, but I just had to get this video clip up right away.

FRIDAY:

• Lights on Temple Square with the Sorensens, & Troy/Heidi/Alia
• Dinner @ Sizzer with all of the above
• Browse 'Toys-R-Us' with Sorensens
• Sleep over at Uncle Troy's house (Kylie's first night not in a crib/playpen)

SATURDAY:

• Morning at Ogden's Tree House museum with Abby, Heidi, and all our girls
• Play at our Beattie cousins' house
• Abby & I slipped out during nap time for Jamba Juices -yum!
  
• Attend Abby's mini-music concert in conjunction with a neighbor piano teacher
  

My sister Abby plays and teaches violin (she is AMAZING!!!) and her neighbor teachers piano. Saturday they had a few of their students play at a mini-recital, but the highlight was when the two teachers play a duet together and then a solo each. I was concerned how my girls would behave, and rightly so. Kylie was a mess most of the time & I ended up holding her most of the time, so it was a good thing it was a short recital. Allie's eyes were glued on the instruments, until I asked her to move to the back of the room. See, she just couldn't keep her body from dancing and she was sitting on the front row. Soon the other little girls were joining in. At one point there were 7 pre-schoolers dancing in the back of the room. I grabbed my camera and filmed a bit. I was holding Kylie during the first half, so please excuse the wiggles. Notice how Allie was more than ready to applause when she thinks the piece is over. So cute. Mom, I was going to just post the kids, but the music was so beautiful I knew you would appreciate hearing the rest of the piece.

2 Thanksgiving Weekend

This year we celebrated Turkey Day with Nate's side of the family. As usual we ate more than was prudent; too much yummy food all around. The adults enjoyed some high energy games of cards (Canfield), a slow game of Rummycube, & the annual Scrabble match. The cousins ran like crazy in the background and crashed as soon as their bodies stopped moving.

Here I am at home earlier in the day using a stool to get enough leverage to mash all the potatoes. Kylie has a major soft spot for men, especially her Grandpa's and uncles. I think I'm safe in saying the feelings are mutual (shot below is with Uncle Troy).

We were glad to get to visit with Nate's Aunt Rosie. She lives down south and we don't get to see her very often. Given my 2nd grand speeling proficiency I tend to come in last in Scrable, so this year I didn't sign up. Towards the end of the game I did team up with Nate & Rosie to help them squeak off a win in the traditional Scrable game. You'd think that Aunt Maho would be the one needing help, what with Japanese being her native tongue, but she is the one that usually beats us all royally.

Grandpa Eldon was a great sport monitoring the kids during the pre-meal movie.

* * *
The day after the feast, Grandma & Grandpa Schwartz invited all the cousins for a "slumber" party and Allie got her first invite. She was so excited and packed her backpack, pillow, and doll (all Strawberry Shortcake). I wondered how she was going to do and gave her a 50% chance of staying the night. However, we never got a late night call to come get her. The next day Grandma told us the whole story. Allie didn't settle down when all the other cousins were falling asleep. Instead she crawled into bed with Grandma and performed her nightly monologue. She must have worn herself out chatting because she fell asleep in Gma's bed, where she stayed all night. Sweet Grandma JoAnne!



* * *

We've put up the decorations and trimmed the tree. This year both the girls were actually very helpful. Allie commented on most of the ornaments, exclaiming "I remember this one". Kylie likes to touch the tree decorations, but usually leaves them on the tree.


After decorating the tree the girls colored coloring contest pictures for the Plumbing store. Thanks Uncle Layne.

* * *
Heidi (Troy's girlfriend) & I came up with the idea to see a ballet during one of many USU's football games with the boys. I haven't seen the Nutcracker performed since I danced in it myself, so this was a real treat. Ladies' night actually started earlier in the day when my sister-in-law Micki treated us to Indian food when she heard I'd never had it. She made sure I got to try it all and it was all good.

1 Over the river and through the woods

Credit: I copy-pasted this post from my sister Ellen's blog and only slightly changed the journaling. Thanks Elle.

The Sisters Retreat

Before Thanksgiving, I drove to West Yellowstone to join my 3 sisters and my mom for our 3rd Annual Sisters Retreat. We like to get together, leave the kiddos with the husbands, and get away to scenic and remote condo to scrapbook.

We've stayed at Bear Lake the past 2 years and this year we went to West Yellowstone.

This year we all switched to digital scrapbooking, so no lugging paper and photos.

...lots of cords thoughHere's us all working/playing away at our various computers
Abby, Ellen
Sarah, Maren
and Our Mom

No Boys Allowed!

Except Baby Ryan

Browsing through gift shops

We had dinner at the Oregon Shortline Restaurant.
Inside the restaurant there is a 1903 executive train car, that has been restored (mostly with original furniture, etc) that you can tour freely. It was really cool to look through.

The view from our condo, Sunday morning the snow finally fell. Just a little though.
There was a cross country skiing conference in town that was quite disappointed.
It was quite funny to see skiers jogging down the road with ski poles. We were glad they got some fluff on the ground at least.

After we checked out we stayed in the lounge to play a game. We had lunch and played Phase 10 Twist for two extra hours. They can make us give back the keys, but they can't make us leave!

This is a list Abby and I compiled about this years sister's trip:
The same:
*Wonderful company, my sisters and mom
*Lots of good low prep food
*Plenty of junkfood and chocolate
*pepsi, pepsi, pepsi
*A few technical difficulties. My computer & I overcame our differences.
*Good movies: Becoming Jane and Princess Bride
*One really dumb movie: 'Lars and the Real Girl'. Mom officially cannot pick out anymore movies
*Josh Groban and Michael Buble

Different:
*Location: West was fun, and the internet was better
*Paperless Digital Scrapping
*More time playing together and laughing
*Mom brought the home videos of us growing up
*Hot Tubbing every night
*Actually using the exercise room a few times
*Baby Ryan: our first male guest. Perhaps the last
*More music
*All of us were married women!
*We were all mostly healthy
*We spent an afternoon browsing through the few little shops open
*A great dinner at the train museum, complete with restored early 1900s train car

Highlights:
*Definitely the train museum dinner, it was so neat
*Having Ryan to cuddle and pass around, he's such a good baby it was nice to have him there
*Our Home Videos: Who doesn't love to watch all of their old ballet, piano and violin recitals.
*Checking out of the hotel but staying in the lounge with the fireplace and playing games.
*Coming home to happy families after a great break.