President Hinckley

I wanted to post this picture of Ky and President Hinckley because Ky was able to do something that I will never be able to do (at least not in this lifetime), meet the Prophet. I think I would have been far more "star" struck to meet President Hinckley than any other person I can think of. He is an amazing man and will be sorely missed.

New Furniture

I'm a big kid now (to the tune of the Pull-Ups commercial)! We just bought our first real piece of furniture. Everything in our house, besides our beds, are hand-me-downs or purchases that I made right after I had Kei. Yes, most everything we have is over 11 years old and it shows. Our dinning table we had before this was a 4 seater and it was so tiny that when we got our new one delivered, we put the old one in Kei's room for him to use as a desk! Here are a couple pictures of what our new table looks like. It also has a leaf that when it is in, the table will fit 8 chairs and it is a 60X60 square. It's enormous compared to what we are use to. It's a pub style and we love that since both Ky and I are tall and it makes it impossible for Kei to lean back on his chair, which he frequently would get in trouble for. I use to do that when I was younger and thought my parents were such hard noses for always telling us kids to put our chairs down. Now I know why. It also has the biggest most comfy chairs. The seats are WIDE bottom so that as I gain weight as I get older my butt won't flow over the sides! If it happens in these chairs then I am in BIG trouble (no pun intended)!

One of the only problems I have now, is that my cool bowl I had on my little table looks silly on this huge table. All I have is my Valentine's candy cylinder. I guess I better go out and look for a new one!!! I'm also thinking that these soft chairs and table would have been much better for our marathon Dominoes parties we had any time the boys had a break from school. They will work now. Anyone up for a game of Dominoes?

GLACEAU vitamin water

I'm actually not big on the flavor of vitamin water but the added entertainment to the bottle makes them worth it. It's sorta like laffy taffy, (except I actually really enjoy the flavor and gooeyness of laffy taffy) you get more than you bargained for with the jokes. However corny they may be, they always make me laugh.

Each flavor of vitamin water comes with its own function such as:

defense

raspberry-apple {c+ zinc}

The helpful hint on this bottle states:

if you've had to use sick days because you've actually been sick then you're seriously missing out my friends. see, the trick is to stay healthy and use sick days to just um, not go in. (it's as if they stole the thoughts right out of my head!) and the combination of zinc and fortifying vitamins can help out with that and keep you healthy as a horse. so drink up.

remember, don't overdo it on the coughing and sniffling (big rookie mistake). just stick with the ever elusive "24-hour bug." the symptoms are vague and people will actually encourage you to stay home.

vitamins+water= all you need

I just love this companies sense of humor. They even put on the label- for best results, stick in the fridge. HE HE HE

Next time you get bored while grocery shopping (moms with little ones will never be able to do this nor want to) stop and read some of the labels. You'll get a kick out of them.

I'm going to try endurance, I'm hoping it does what it says and allows me to endure this miserable weather. Where are you sun? Please come out and play.

Need A Reason To Cut Your Hair?

So, am I the only mother on planet earth that hasn't heard of this before?? Ky came home and told me about a case that came through the E.R. and asked if I had ever heard about hair- tourniquets before. I had no idea what he was talking about. I guess it is fairly common among infants to 2 years.

The hair-tourniquet syndrome involves circumferential strangulation of an appendage by a human hair or fibre. It is an emergency condition that induces progressive edema, ischemia and tissue necrosis and can lead to the autoamputation of digits or other strangulated structures.

Sometimes the surgeon has to cut down in the skin to release the tourniquet. (these pictures make me want to vomit).

The hairs can be so light and fine that you don't notice it wrapped around the appendage until it becomes swollen and red like the pictures. If you have an inconsolable baby, check it's fingers and toes. OUCH, it could have something like this. So all of you hairy moms out there, clean the tub extra well when you are done.

Photoshop+ Books= Random Post

Meet Ammon. What a handsome little devil, but he acts like a perfect angel! His mom wanted to use my camera to take some pictures of him and I in the end had to take the majority of them so she could try to get him to smile. Typically that's all he ever does. But he had just woken up from a nap and wanted to eat, not a good combo. Sleepy and hungry...GRrrrr. This is the RAW picture... This is after I messed around with it in Photoshop...

Ky doesn't like it when the face is washed out like this but I thought it was cute. I just love his little expression. It makes me wonder what is going on inside his head, Hmmm.

So jumping into the next topic- I wanted share some of the books I've read over my break. I typically check out books from the public library and never have trouble getting them finished on time. Not the case the past couple weeks. Unfortunately I was 3 months behind on reading the Ensign so I had to force myself to read one in between each book and boy was that ever torturous.

Anyway I'm sure I'm a better person for doing so, at least that's what I'll keep telling myself!

If any of you are interested in economics, politics or anything so do with socialization, you would enjoy this book. If you just want a laugh, then you too would enjoy it. I read it in correlation with my Sociology class on Wealth, Poverty & Power, in America. It gives a perspective on the life of the unskilled worker and low-wage working class. I love that it disproves so many misconceptions about the poor, working-class and the American Ideology- that anyone can make it if they just work hard enough. Blah blah blah, I could go on a tangent right now but I will spare all of you the misery of listening to me rant about this subject.

Anyway, here is some background into the book. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author, was a journalist who posed as an unskilled worker and tried to get by on minimum wage. She worked as a maid in Maine and here is a sample of what she learned from her experience (straight from the book, pg. 92).

"Let's talk about s..., for example. It happens, as the bumper sticker says, and it happens to the cleaning person every day. The first time I encountered a s...-stained toilet as a maid, I was shocked by the sense of unwanted intimacy. A few hours ago, some well-fed butt was straining away on this toilet seat, and now here I am wiping up after it. For those who have never really cleaned a dirty toilet, I should explain that there are three kinds of s... stains. There are remnants of landslides running down the inside of toilet bowls. There are the splash-back remains on the underside of toilet seats. And, perhaps most repulsive, there's sometimes a crust of brown on the rim of a toilet seat (do you have tears yet? I'm dying all over again), where a turd happened to collide on its dive to the water. You don't want to know this? Well, it's not something I would have chosen to dwell on myself, but the different kinds of stains require different cleaning approaches... (why do I always find poo stories so entertaining? Freud would have something to say about that)

You will have to read the book to find out what those are and what she has to say about body hair, specifically the kind I can't mention on this PG-rated blog!

I've picked up 1176 several times but never finished it. This time I did. It wasn't that I didn't like the book the previous times, I just had other books at the same time and I couldn't get into it as much as the others. I love history and I love books about history and this one is amazing. America is nothing short of a miracle, in how it came to be.

My friend gave me this book to read. I cried. It really makes you think about what you would do in a similar situation. Provokes discussions on euthanasia and other controversial topics. It is a quick read and one that all can enjoy. Just have the tissues handy.

I enjoyed The Kite Runner but A Thousand Splendid Suns ,was far better. I'm so grateful to live in America where I am free and can't imagine living life so sheltered and controlled by men. This book shows what true friendship is all about and how two women survive the impossible. I cried in this too. I'm really not super emotional but if a book touches me, I'm a mess.

My current read is, The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory. I've already read, The Other Boleyn Girl, by the same author and loved it. After reading it I went on a "royal family", reading frenzy. So far this book seems like it is going to be a good one. I'll let you know. If you have some fav books that you would like to share with me, please do. I have plenty of time on my hands!

Metamorphosis

{ Met-uh-mawr-fuh-sis } . a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism.

These are the stages of metamorphosis that Kei has gone through and who knows what the final product will be. He is destined for greatness (a mother's bias), no doubt about it!

He doesn't have any ladies calling him now but I'm sure it won't be long until they are. I told him he can date when he turns 25. That seems like a reasonable age, don't you agree?

I WANT ONE

The new MacBook Air! If any of you would like, I'm open for an early Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Birthday or Christmas gift. This is what I want. It's the next best thing since reality t.v. (American Idol's back!) Ok, maybe a lot better! Oh, the places we would go. I'm in love.

Hair

Hair- the stuff always getting in the way on your head and other not so polite places.

I went and got a haircut today. I wanted to get rid of the annoying pile of stuff that has been sitting on top of my head and getting in my way of having a good day. You girls can understand, when it's a bad hair day, it's a bad day for all!

I'm having flashbacks to Junior High when I couldn't tease nor get enough hairspray in my hair to make the "Mall Bangs" (you know the ones we wore in the 80's) and cried because I just couldn't go to school without the 3 inch lift.
This picture below, now that's what I'm talking about! I'd hate to sit behind her in class.Angela, my hairdresser, took some before photos so I could show everyone how bad my hair was getting. Notice the lazy-mom-bangs, pulled back with a pin and the rest of the limp, flat, scraggly mess. These photos were not made to look extra ugly, this is the real thing (you know how they do that on before and after pics in the magazines, in the before they have no makeup, they haven't combed their hair or showered for a week, and in the after they are airbrushed beyond recognition).
I actually contemplated whether or not to post the new haircut. It's just like the one I got in Aug. before I went to Idaho. I like the cut but I was wanting to go a little shorter. I've been there and done that with this one. I made a call to Angela and she is going to stack the back some more and make it more dramatic. Just like me, dramatic (I know Ky will love that). I'll have to post the back after she fixes it.
Some of the pics got distorted, I must not have had the setting set properly. Oh well, you get the gist of it. At least I'm not stuck in the 80's with my long hair and big bangs!

I was just thinking that I need to get a picture from my sister in-law Kirsten. She always has the best haircuts and just got a super cute short cut. If you're like me, sometimes you need to see a cute style before you take the plunge and go drastic with a cut. I'll look into it.

Fantasy Football Champion

Ky is the KCOM's Elite Fantasy Football League, champion! The league started when a group of med students, not having enough work to do as is, decided they should form a league. With all of their spare time (what were they thinking?) they would debate, contemplate, and agonize over their drafted fantasy teams. This could be stressful on the wives at times too. Hayley can relate. Will is banned from making any trading decisions without talking about it with her first!! It must have paid off as Will's team, the Decussating Fibers, were the first champions in 2005. Warren Davidson's team, the Cords of Billroth, were the 2006 champions and Ky's team, the Nose Pickers (fits perfect w/being and ENT) were the champions of 2007. We are so proud of him. Ky decided to have a plaque made (mainly because he is now on it!) that will rotate from champion to champion every year. The last champion will engrave the winners name on the plaque and then send it to them. The champ will have bragging rights and a plaque until the next season starts. Tharren Duffy, James Pham and Aaron Stevens are part of the league as well.
I'm not sure what to do about the post fantasy football depression, or PFFD as it's called in the medical community, that is going to set in. Watching football just isn't the same. At least Kylan won't have to run downstairs every other play (slight exaggeration) to see who's leading the scores. With that lack of exercise he might have to pick up another game of bball!

CRAPTASTIC

It's fantastic that Ohio State is such crap!
The game last night was a beauty. In the end I was hoping that OSU would actually make a touchdown in the 4th quarter to make it more interesting. What was I thinking? OSU doing something in the second half of a bowl game is impossible.
I'm not sure why, but we are totally, completely and utterly against OSU. You would think that we would be more supportive since we live in the state of Ohio and not far from the University. Honestly, I've thoroughly enjoyed all of OSU's championship losses. The people around here are fanatics so rubbing it in makes it all the more pleasurable! Cruel, I know.
We watched the game with some friends and Kei and I were representin' with our LSU colors.
We tried to make L-S-U with our arms and came close...when I tried to do the full body letter...that is another story. Being a contortionist is not in my future.
On ESPN.com one of the columnist wrote a funny article about keeping OSU from coming to the championship bowl game in Florida (next year). He said they will need to set up blockades around the city and if anyone sees a silver helmet or sweater vest coming (best part, I hate the coaches sweater vests), contact authorities. Poor Buckeye's. Yeah for us. Kei actually wore a similar outfit to school today, like he wore last night, to celebrate LSU's victory. I figured it was ok since he has to see all the kids wearing crimson and gray all year.

Keion got into the little girls clothes and decided to dress up. Hmmm, he looks awfully comfortable in those clothes. But wait, the saying goes: "Real men wear pink"!

I have to laugh at Kylan. He looks so thrilled in all of the pictures I've posted lately. He was having a great time so maybe he just doesn't like all the pictures I take of him. I guess he is sporting a faint smile so I'll give him a break this time.

Now that college football is over I can focus on college basketball! March Madness baby, it's right around the corner!!!

New Year's

We brought in the New Year with good friends and good food. It doesn't get much better than that! Eric and Aimee Sorensen came to visit and brought their newest addition to their family-Luke. He was a sweetie pie and Amy looked great. Rachel made the best egg rolls. I've got to get the recipe. Maybe she'll post it on her blog (hint hint). We ate, watched football, wrestled with the kids and ate some more. The year is already off to a great start. I can't wait to see what else is in store for us this coming year. Ky graduates in May...can anything be any better?!!

Noah loved seeing Kei again. Kei was giving the boys piggy backs. I just love Noah's expressions in these pictures, particularly the first one. It makes me want a ride too!

Heber and Noah played well together...at least most of the time!

Here is a picture of Jake. He is getting so big and so darn cute. I just wanted to stuff him in my back pocket and take him home with me. All of my friends have such cute kids, makes em' easy to love!

Year in Review