Last Post from Durant!!!

Whoa this weekend has been the most stressful and busiest of my life!!It all started with the garage sale, and I got rid of a bunch of stuff (though not nearly enough!) and made a nice chunk of change. About 12 Saturday afternoon I started getting stuff ready for my birthday party! It was so fun and so many people showed up! We had a watermelon eating contest...

a tiki bar set up under a canopy (thanks to carissa's way cute sign!)...

and some SERIOUSLY yummy hot dogs and hamburgers! (thanks to mom and Brandon, otherwise known as Grill Daddy.)

we even had a "beach" set up for the kids! They had a ton of fun!

And of course, what get together would be complete without a kid getting injured? Liam fell on the wet slippery concrete in the garage and banged his eyebrow into a bicycle. Thank goodness Dr. Jamie was there!

It was so much fun and really great to see all the people I love for one more time before we left Durant!

Then when everyone cleared out we continued packing stuff into the truck and realized that there was no way we were going to be done by monday morning if we went to church the next day. So sadly we had to miss our last sunday at Durant Ward, but I know I'll see them again sometime and am really grateful for the fantastic ladies I know there!

So, I dont know when I'll get to post again- at this very moment I am sitting on the floor because everything else is gone. The people that bought our house are here wrangling all their stuff into the house and they are very nice people. A very nice family which is what I prayed for to get the house. This house is very special to me because shawn and I didnt think we would be able to have a house of our own for a long time because we thought we would go to medical school. But for some reason med school didnt work out and we ended up back here in Durant. This is the first place as a married couple that we could really call "home". We brought Addison home as a newborn here, and this place just has a very special feeling and I am very sad to be leaving it! But I know that life will be really great where we will be now because I just have that feeling! For a while I wasnt really sure if we needed to move, should move, etc. but I had some very vivid answers to prayer and I'm thankful Heavenly Father is mindful of our trials and problems.

So I guess thats it.... signing off from Durant now....

For Karie

When you have to visit a public bathroom, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn, you check for feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupied. Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall. You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter, however, because the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants! The dispenser for the modern "seat covers" (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty. You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one, but there isn't - so you carefully, but quickly, drape it around your neck because Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR Finally, you yank down your pants, and assume " The Stance." In this position your aging, toneless thigh muscles begin to shake. You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold The Stance."To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, "Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!" Your thighs shake more. You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your purse. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck). That will have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than the palm of your hand. Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet. "Occupied!" you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor. Now you lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT. It is wet, of course. You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper, not that there was any. You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew. You're certain that her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, "frankly, dear, you just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get." By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl. Of course, that sprays a fine mist of water on your butt, which then runs down your legs and into your shoes. The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in, too. At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you find in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks. You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting. You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. (Where was that when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, "Here, you just might need this." As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom. Annoyed, he asks, "What took you so long, and why is your purse hanging around your neck?"

This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with a public restroom (rest??? you've GOT to be kidding!!) It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs. It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse and hand you Kleenex under the door!


hahaha karie I read this today and thought of you because you hate public restrooms
so much!

On Exercise

So, it has been about 3 weeks since I last worked out. I absolutely hate it when I do that to myself because this is usually the scenario: I work out consistently for a couple of months, and then *BAM* a kink gets thrown in the schedule and 3 weeks later what do you know I've lost all my muscle tone (because I always lose my muscle quick, but thankfully I get it back quick) and whats more, I've gotten cranky. For me, working out is more about making my family happy because it makes me happy! My mood is sooooo much better when I run and work out and I can always tell the difference in my stress level when I dont do those things.

But today, the drought ended because this morning I woke up at 5:00 (!) to make it to my friends fitness Boot Camp that she's running. In the beginning I was like, this is easy. Piece o cake! But then, she started killing our arms with pushups and triceps dips and I thought I would DIE! But when I got home and showered, had breakfast, etc. I noticed that I felt so different. I had so much energy. I've been goofing off with my kids more today, dancing around, singing, and just generally acting like an idiot. But I love that! I actually have the energy and motivation today to get my pizza crust started so that dinner can be on time tonight, and I dont feel like the day is stretching before me endlessly, with nothing in it but endless repetitions of "mom! make her move! or "mooooooom! come wipe me!".

I also have always felt that we have such an obligation to take care of our bodies, that when we dont it's kind of an offense to the Lord. Here we have these beautiful bodies (despite the fact that you may not think it's beautiful) that are so integral to the Plan of Salvation and what do we tend to do but pick it apart! You know what I'm talking about. "Man, she has such great arms, thighs, fill-in-your-coveted-body-part-here." Because the thing is, there is something beautiful about each and every one of us! Yes, that means you!! Because, guess what else? We are made in the image of God, and isnt He perfect?

So I guess my point is, there are other reasons to exercise than to have a skinny waist, or a perky butt, or whatever. Your mood will be better, you'll have more self-confidence, energy, and motivation to get through your day, whatever it holds for you! So just start. If you're currently overwhelmed with all the things you have to get done in a day, just go for a walk. Do an aerobics video. Just start. You will be so happy with yourself, I promise!

For Karie and Stephanie

I would like to direct your attention to the post titled "about me". If you'll notice at the bottom of that post it says "I tag STEPHANIE AND KARIE". That means you two need to fill out that survey! Got it? Jeesh....

Why A Broken Air Conditioner Will Make You Gain 32 Pounds

Got any guesses? This is my theory, based on personal experience from this past week: it's because you eat so much ice cream and popsicles in an effort to cool off your body that you end up gaining about 10 pounds. Add to that a general reluctance to work out in a 90 degree house and you have a great recipe for weight gain. The guys are supposed to be over today to fix it, but we shall see. In the meantime I am over at my friends house enjoying her air conditioner. Dont tell her that because she thinks I'm over here to watch her kids. hehe.


Well, Moving Day approaches. And now that I write that, I realize that I never even blogged the exciting news that our house had sold! So we have to be out the 20th, which is next Monday. Saturday I am having a surprise party for myself for my 25th birthday! So make sure you dont tell me because it would totally ruin the surprise. It's a beach theme party in my front yard at 3:00, so if you're free pop on over! And bring the kids!

So anyway, back to the subject of moving day: do you know that I have not one thing packed? Yes, this week will prove to be tons of fun as I get a party put together, pack, and try to have a garage sale. It is really weird to be moving. i didnt think we would be leaving durant for a very long time, maybe never. I love our house- the very first house we have had as a married couple- I love our ward, I have great friends and family here that I will miss dearly...oh well. It's strange how life works sometimes. But when you're being led in a different direction all you can do is say "Okay Heavenly Father!" and have a little faith! Which is waaaaaaaaaay easier said than done! Especially when you are not going to have your own house for another half a year or so. We will be living with his parents while we build our house. Which I'm not concerned about living with *them* because I know we'll get along and everything, but I'm concerned about living *with* them, ya know what I'm sayin?

Well I'm gonna go take the kids in the backyard to go swimming. Have a great day!

My New Invention

They say necessity is the mother of invention. I'm inclined to believe that is a true statement because I find it quite necessary to get Liam to stop running as loudly as he can down the hallway while his sister and dad are asleep. Lengthy discussion on this topic with the little offender has not helped so now I am forced to invent something to head off the elephantine running. I'm thinking something like an invisible force field that will be able to sense when Liam's little feet are beating a noisy path to the hallway. Before Liam could get one foot in the hall the force field would spring up (or however it is force fields appear. I'm a mother not a scientist people.) and Liam would be prevented from waking anyone up. So picture this in your head: Liam, running full tilt for the hallway, bounces off of what looks like thin air and lands on the floor with a puzzled look on his face. I would be seated nearby with a box of chocolates laughing my head off. So you see it would double as entertainment. I would of course tell him how to get the force field to not appear. After he tried for another 5 or 6 times. The way to keep the force field down would be to walk veeeeeeerrry quietly down the hallway.

So, if you too would like your very own Force Field Nap Extender, give me a call, or leave me a comment, and I'll try to get you one for the low low price of 1999.99. And if you call in the next 15 minutes, I'll throw in a box of Godiva for free!