My Gift To You...

And after that long post, here is my Memorial Day gift to you: a photo dump from my iPhone!!!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...

We all know I despise Christmas, right? I think that has been well-established on this blog before. So...what holiday is my favorite? Truth is, I have two. The first is Black Friday. And yes, in my book, Black Friday is a holiday. Thanksgiving leftovers (namely turkey sandwiches), an insane amount of shopping, and everything in stores more than reasonably priced? Love it.

And my second favorite holiday is today, Memorial Day. Now I need to clarify which Memorial Day I'm talking about for you, my readers, as there are two kinds of Memorial Days...the East Coast Memorial Day and the West Coast Memorial Day (and East Coast Readers as well as West Coast Readers). You see, out west, Memorial Day is weird. No parades, no special sales, and people gather- in the masses- IN CEMETERIES. Sure, I get going to headstones of your loved ones and leaving flowers. But out there, it's weird. People take their camp chairs, picnic blankets, food, gas grills, radios....and sit around grave sites all day long. I kid you not. It's freaking weird.

It's the East Coast tradition that I love. And I'm especially partial to the celebration that happens in my tiny hometown of Bloomfield. Bloomfield is so small, it kind of feels like one big family. So the downtown Memorial Day celebration is like a big family picnic. First, everyone lines Main Street and South Ave (the Thomas Family typically congregates at the corner of the two by Pickle Park and the funeral home) (the Steeles are usually less strategically sitting by the old Headlee house which is silly because the marching band never plays down that stretch. They do their drum line thing until they round the corner past the fire hall.)

Then after the parade, the entire town heads to Elton Park for the presentation of a wreath at the memorial statue, the reciting of the Gettysburg Address by a 5th grader, and a 21-gun salute. And while all of this is going on, you can typically get hots and hamburgers at the Methodist Church parking lot, or chicken barbecue at the Congregational Church across the street.

The cemetery is, like out west, full of flowers and those remembering their loved ones (Military personnel or not). However, I feel that a much more reverent attitude is present here. People go in, reflect, place wreaths and flowers in remembrance, and quietly leave, allowing others to do the same. It's not a party, it's peaceful. Out west, it's just weird.

However you spend it, I hope your Memorial Day is wonderful and that you take a few moments to reflect and remember those who have served our country.

Why I Don't Blog Anymore (And Why I Should...)

Oh, hey blogosphere. Long time no see. And this is why: I started this blog when we were living in Utah. When we were thousands of miles away from our family who wanted to know what we were up to. And then, as you may know, we moved away from Utah. The blogging slowed considerably when we moved to Seattle, for a lack of ways to post and a lack of things to post about. We were unemployed, struggling to find work. It was very depressing. So then we moved back to New York. Back to our family for whom I originally started the blog. Back to all of those wonderful, dear people who get to experience my craziness and life-happenings on a daily basis. But what about YOU? Yes you, dear, loyal reader. I assume you still care (or are at least curious) about me, my family, my life. Why else would you be reading my little old blog? So I need to keep that in mind. Keep YOU in mind. And, well, since this blog doubles as my journal, I guess I need to keep my posterity in mind. So. A quick catch-up since my last post in February (ACK!).

MARCH
Logan was sick with a cold. Which lead to an ear infection. Which landed us at Urgent Care one night at 6:30. And while we were in Urgent Care, I decided to go all insane fever spike and passed out. They admitted me, found that I was dehydrated, blah blah blah. I'm fine. We started a standing dinner date on Thursday nights with my grandma. The kids and I definitely look forward to it every week! March also brought my childhood friend Nikki's bachelorette party at Turning Stone Casino. It was a fun night away from the kids! The Steele's dog, Jessie, also passed away in March. It's been weird to have to explain that to the kids. See, when my grandpa passed away in January, I don't think it phased them all that much. I hate to say it, but they didn't know him all that well. He wasn't part of their daily lives like he was mine. But Jessie was. Not a day went by that they didn't see her or play with her. So that was a whole new thing to deal with. Oh, and I became obsessed with Downton Abbey.


APRIL
Easter was nice. The weather was beautiful. The kids ate too much candy. Family dinner was wonderful, as usual. My very best friend, Dani, has her third baby on the 11th. She was almost as big as Logan...little Natalie was 9 lbs even. She was admitted to the NICU for a few days because she had a pretty traumatic birth (what about that process isn't traumatic???!!) and was having trouble breathing. But many many prayers were sent their way and she was home within a few days. We had some really nice bouts of weather. It was 80 degrees for a few days. And then a blizzard hit and we had a snow day. Silly Rochester. Back in April, I also applied for a fellowship grant for my whole writing thing. I don't know if I mentioned it here or not, but I am attending the 9th annual Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference in Utah next month (check it out!www.wifyr.com ) and this year they are giving away a $1000 grant to a promising writer to help launch his or her career. Fingers crossed!

MAY
May has been busy! I can't believe it's already more than half over with. May 5th was Nikki's wedding. It was at Steamboat Landing and was beautiful! Then a week later came Savannah and Brandon's wedding...which was absolutely wonderful!!! The weather was perfect, the reception was decorated beautifully, the colors she chose just popped on everyone....it really was splendid. The only thing I would have changed was my trip to the ER... Yeah. Most of you know what happened, but again for posterity: I'm anemic. I have been for a while. So if I don't take my supplements or eat enough iron-rich foods, it's bad for business. I also have a habit of running around like a crazy person for hours upon hours and not drinking enough water. Put those two bits of common knowledge together and add them to me feeling queasy and not eating anything of substance for a few days and you have a recipe for disaster. At 8:30 Saturday morning, my friend Marcie came over to do my hair for the wedding. It was going to be a waterfall braid with a bunch of loose curls and a flower. Gorgeous, right? Well as I sat there in my living room getting my hair curled, I just didn't feel right. And I quickly realized that was how a felt back in March when I passed out at Urgent Care. So I said, "Marcie, I think I may pass out." The next thing I know, I hear someone say, "is your daddy home?" kind of panicked. So I thought to myself, I don't live with my parents... and I opened my eyes. I was on the floor, face down. That didn't make sense. And my face and my hands were wet. And there was a puddle of black...no red...liquid. Blood. My blood. All over the floor. Streaming from my head. Oh, the panicked voice was Marcie's. She is talking to the kids and looking for Zac. So Zac came out and freaked out a little. At some point, Jaylene showed up and the two of them took me to the ER (after Urgent Care sent me there saying I would need a head CT) where I ended up with 7 stitches in the top of my head and the gash above my left eye glued closed. But I avoided the head CT and actually made it out of the ER in record time. They knew I had a wedding to get to so they worked super fast. They even washed the blood out of my hair for me so when I got home, I just threw some mousse in and let it do its wavy thing. The temple sealing was wonderful. The story Brother Milroy told about the little girl who had visited the Bountiful Temple open house was super touching and simply amazing. I loved every second of being there with Savannah and Brandon as they were sealed for time and all eternity!!!! And I couldn't be happier for one of my best friends and her new husband!!!!! This merry month of May also brought another round of illness for the kids. Just yesterday, actually. They were both puking and miserable for the better part of the day. And Logan stayed home sick today, too. But I still managed to get into the school for his Parent/Teacher conference. Since I didn't have one at the beginning of the year, this was my first one for him! Well, first one ever. It was great. His teacher, Mrs. Hammond, said the most wonderful things about him and how impressed she is by him. It was so nice to hear that he is doing so well in school and that she sees him as being right on track for Kindergarten! Yay, Logan!!! So, there it is. The last 3 months in one simplified post. I'm going to be better about posting. I promise. Maybe.

Awesome Things That Happened This Week...

I know it's Thursday which doesn't seem to be a sensical day to post about awesome things that happened thus far this week (and yes I just made up the word "sensical"), but it's been a pretty good few days bunched together and I just wanted to write about it. You know, for those days that will come where it feels like good stuff hasn't happened in a while. So...here goes.

1.) I got a new job! I'm still working at the YMCA doing my toddler/youth programs, but I also was hired on to work at the front desk! It will be more hours (which is nice for the paycheck, but a tinge sad for the mommy-children time), but the kids are in SUPER good hands at the (included) daycare and it's only for 3 or 4 hours a day. And I join them for snack time so I feel pretty good about it.
1.) a.) Kaylee goes to the YMCA daycare now WITH A SMILE ON HER FACE! She HATED it for the longest time....even when I would go to work out for 45 minutes, she would scream the whole time. But something mysterious happened and now she just goes and is happy to be there. That's an awesome thing in my book.
1.) b.) I've only worked four shifts at the front desk now, but I feel like I am catching on to things pretty quickly. It's a little stressful having to know the answer to EVERYTHING (or at least knowing the extension of the correct person who would know an answer you don't...), but yesterday I felt like I answered 60% of the things asked of me without having to check with someone else. It was a good day.
1.) c.) I'm meeting new co-workers. One of whom is Asha. I have a feeling we will be good friends for quite some time. This girl is hilarious and possibly deserves her own post.

2.) I got new shoes! (This could probably be another sub-category of number 1 since they are work shoes, but, you know. NEW SHOES!) I ordered them on Amazon. They are Crocs, but thy are dressy Crocs. They are adorable and fit like a dream. And they even have bling. Don't have time to get a picture up, but they are "Olivia"s and I love them.

3.) We got our federal return!!! Awesome!!!
3.) a.) Zac and I think we may have enough of a return to spend frivolously on a vacation for the two of us!

4.) I'm planning Savannah's wedding and it's coming together SUPERBLY if I do say so myself. And by "planning," I'm serious. I'm pretty sure the only thing Savannah is going to have to do is show up. Oh, and she had to get her dress. Which is GORGEOUS!!! AWESOME!!!!

5.) You may recall my affinity for the Dark Divine series. The third and final book comes out next month. I was able to get ARCs of the first two books (before they were printed and released to the public) through contests and other such luck and figured I would just have to wait for The Savage Grace. FALSE. By some strange miracle, a package was delivered to my in-laws' house on Tuesday from Random House. Containing an ARC of The Savage Grace. I about DIED. Now if only I could find the time to read it....

6.) I lost 3 lbs. Super awesome.

7.) My kids are being used for a press release for the Rochester Ronald McDonald House on Friday. Not necessarily awesome for me, but they get a few seconds of fame. So I'm filing that one under "awesome."

I guess that's enough awesomeness for now. I don't want to make y'all jealous :-)

Excuse Me While I Go All Political...

I try to keep most of my politically-minded opinions out of my blog. I don't like starting fights that I can't debate face-to-face, so I usually go my merry way and post snide comments on Facebook. But I feel like I just need to give a shout-out to the GOP nominees for a second. First, some of Ron Paul's platforms aren't so bad. Like the one about wiping everyone's debt away. But, let's face it. In the long run, his policy ideas are going to keep him out of the White House. Santorum...well, honestly, I don't know a thing about him. I don't think many people did until the Iowa caucus. I've heard good things, but honestly haven't done any research on him. Gingrich? Kind of a scumbag. And then we have Mitt Romney. (Do you hear that heavenly choir of angels every time you say his name like I do?)

I'm voting Romney all the way. True story: I registered Democratic in high school, mostly because I enjoyed watching "The West Wing." I changed my party affiliation this past summer so I would be eligible to vote for Romney in the primary. And the general, God willing. Now I'm not going to get into every single reason why I am so pro-Romney (and no, it's not simply because we belong to the same church), but I wanted to share this post that a friend-of-a-friend had on Facebook. Enjoy:


"Regardless of who your current favorite candidate is, this is interesting.

"Sometimes, this facet of Romney’s personality isn’t so subtle. In July 1996, the 14-year-old daughter of Robert Gay, a partner at Bain Capital, had disappeared. She had attended a rave party in New York City and gotten high on ecstasy. Three days later, her distraught father had no idea where she was. Romney took immediate action. He closed down the entire firm and asked all 30 partners and employees to fly to New York to help find Gay’s daughter. Romney set up a command center at the LaGuardia Marriott and hired a private detective firm to assist with the search. He established a toll-free number for tips, coordinating the effort with the NYPD, and went through his Rolodex and called everyone Bain did business with in New York, and asked them to help find his friend’s missing daughter. Romney’s accountants at Price Waterhouse Cooper put up posters on street poles, while cashiers at a pharmacy owned by Bain put fliers in the bag of every shopper. Romney and the other Bain employees scoured every part of New York and talked with everyone they could – prostitutes, drug addicts – anyone.

"That day, their hunt made the evening news, which featured photos of the girl and the Bain employees searching for her. As a result, a teenage boy phoned in, asked if there was a reward, and then hung up abruptly. The NYPD traced the call to a home in New Jersey, where they found the girl in the basement, shivering and experiencing withdrawal symptoms from a massive ecstasy dose. Doctors later said the girl might not have survived another day. Romney’s former partner credits Mitt Romney with saving his daughter’s life, saying, 'It was the most amazing thing, and I’ll never forget this to the day I die.'

"So, here’s my epiphany: Mitt Romney simply can’t help himself. He sees a problem, and his mind immediately sets to work solving it, sometimes consciously, and sometimes not-so-consciously. He doesn’t do it for self-aggrandizement, or for personal gain. He does it because that’s just how he’s wired.

"Many people are unaware of the fact that when Romney was asked by his old employer, Bill Bain, to come back to Bain & Company as CEO to rescue the firm from bankruptcy, Romney left Bain Capital to work at Bain & Company for an annual salary of one dollar. When Romney went to the rescue of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, he accepted no salary for three years, and wouldn’t use an expense account. He also accepted no salary as Governor of Massachusetts.

Character counts!! (and yes...that's worth reading again!)"


Granted, this is ONE story that happened in the mid-90's. I'm not trying to win him votes based on a single act of heroism. I'm just trying to point out the type of man he is in general. I'm sure if I had the time and could ask every individual or organization he has helped over the years, there would be ENDLESS touching and powerful stories. I'm simply taking one instance to point out the type of man Mitt Romney is. He doesn't viciously slander his opponents. He is selfless. He is an honest, God-fearing man. And he is a man who loves his country and views every person in it as his brother or sister.

So say what you want about the obscene amount of money he makes. (And doesn't pay a majority of taxes on.) Think what you will about his religious affiliation. Whatever your opinion may be on his politics, you have to give the man credit for his outstanding and Christ-like character. That is the kind of man I want leading my country. He is a great man and can make us a great country again.

(Verified on Snoopes.com ; . Here's the link: Romney Search
On Romney's character....
By: Kristi Smith Johnson)

Oh, and if you have ten minutes and want to see even more reasons why I am pro-Romney, check out this video. This was produced in 2007 when he made his first presidential bid. I think we need him even more now.

I Don't Know About This, Guys...

I've had something on my mind for a while lately that I'm hesitant to post to Facebook, simply because of the misunderstandings that can occur and the gazillion unnecessary "OMG Congrats!" and "likes" it would receive. So I turn to the trusty (and sometimes neglected) blog for my insane ramblings. So here goes.

We have been talking about when it would be most convenient to have another baby. (Gasp! Shock! Awe! Wonder!) Turns out we have been blessed as a pretty fertile couple and the moment we even say the word "pregnant," we are. Which is super cool in my book.

So yeah. It has been coming up in recent conversation. About two months ago, I said we were THINKING about talking about having another baby. And I think we have stepped forward and are now TALKING about an addition. But no rush. A lot of things need to happen first. Like health insurance. And extending our lease vs buying vs finding another house come September (even though I may have to be dragged out of here kicking and screaming because I NEVER want to leave). And having a fully potty-trained Kaylee. So yeah. Things need to happen first before anything serious takes place. But that's not what has me all shaken up.

What has me all shaken up is one word: Multiples.

Could you even IMAGINE twins? I didn't really ever think about it much. That is until every other person I know is popping them out. Seriously. It's like an epidemic. A cute, sweet, wonderful epidemic. But still. And I'm not exaggerating. First names of everyone I know who has had or will be having twins recently: Jennie, Beth, Sarah, Robin, Beth, and Amber. And those are just the ones that I know of.

That's twelve babies. Between 6 girls. That's a soccer team and mascot birthed by a basketball team and mascot. And that's just BONKERS.

Now to all of those new and to-be moms of twinners, you are AMAZING women! But quite frankly, you scare me! And so do your babies!

So to summarize: I've had babies on the brain lately. Or, I guess in the back of my mind. And when every third person I know Is having twins, it scares me a bit. And I hope that if I put this fear out into the universe, I will be pleasantly surprised to find out I will be having only one baby in the next one to two years.

Thanks for reading the rantings of a crazy person. Please enjoy these complimentary and totally random pictures from my iPhone.

Snow!!!

Winter finally decided to join us here in Upstate New York. Sad for me, but all sorts of exciting for the little'uns.

I have a video, but I don't think I can upload it from my phone. So you get pictures instead. The kids wanted to go outside, so once they suited up, they ran right out. Well, the waddled best they could in their new snow suits they got for Christmas.

So Logan almost immediately plopped down and started making a snow angel and Kaylee just laughed and squealed. Then "snow ball" making ensued, followed by a good ten minutes of exploring.

The whole trek outside probably took 18 minutes (about the time it took to get them bundled up in the first place) which is about what I expected. By the time they came in, their hot coco was the perfect temperature and they got to tell me all about playing in the snow.

And I had to pretend I wasn't watching them from the back door the entire time, grinning from ear to ear :)