Y, oh Y?

The Fall classes started today at the Y. I need you Becky! We had a new instructor today. She was good, but she was no Pam. I miss the hip hop music. And the new lady just had surgery so there is a lot she can't do. It didn't feel like the work out I was used to. Oh well. Pam and I got to work on the ellipticals for 15 minutes after class, so that should count for something, right?

And then tonight I had the infamous belly dancing class that apparently no one else wants to go to. It was a little crazy. Brad said last night, "I'm not on call tomorrow so I'll be home to watch the kids so you can go." I just smiled and nodded. Home in time? Right....

He didn't make it home. I dropped Stinker off at the Tot watch, got Jamo to the kid's gym, and then took Roo to his basketball class. Yes, it is stressful having so much to do, but at least it is all in the same building, right? I had to leave half way though my belly dancing class to get Roo from his basketball class and take him to the Tot watch (he can't go to the kid's gym for 4 more weeks, when he turns 5 - and let me tell you, he is waaaay bummed). I wish I could have watched him play, but when I got back, it looked like he was really enjoying himself. He was practicing blocks, which happens to be my favorite part of basketball. :)

***Update*** Okay, I read Becky's comment about not showing skin and it cracked me up. Me, show skin?? As if! Totally would not happen. I just go in my t-shirt and work out pants, just like my cardio class. In fact the belly dancers had on more clothes than some ladies in my cardio class! Just to clarify...

My most loyal reader

Ladies and gentlemen, today is the birthday of my most loyal reader. Happy birthday, daddy! I sure love you!

Videos, finally

Blogger finally let me get the videos up. Check out the Cookie blog!

Brad stories

I don't have many of these, but I do have a couple today!

The resident the year ahead of Brad has resigned. So they are down to 3 residents and 3 interns in surgery. His work load just increased. As if he wasn't already busy. Sheesh.

Going along with said work load, he gets pages frequently. One day he was at home making some calls about his student loans. He dialed and after getting a hello said, "This is Dr. Mons returning a page." The stunned silence on the other end alerted him to his error. He needs more sleep. :)

If you haven't had a chance already, I put up quite a few posts yesterday. I think the first one was about the wedding pictures, so if you want to see those, be sure you get that far.

Blast from the past - high school memories

Kate did this on her site, and I loved the idea. I have a few high school friends on here who will probably call me out if I'm lying, so I'd better be careful with my answers. :)

1. Did you date someone from your school?
not seriously, just some casual dates.

2. What kind of car did you drive?
An awful Subaru. I hated it. It died on me all the time. But it was better than the van. :) Oh, and the rear windshield wiper would squirt out water backwards, so that was cool. My brothers would try to soak people. Crazy boys.

3. Were you a party animal?
hmmm, define party... Maybe. I went to parties, but I don't think I was an animal.

4. Were you considered a flirt?
Can I plead the 5th? Probably. :)

5. Were you in band, orchestra or choir?
I played flute in middle school, but I wasn't good enough to play in HS. :(

6. Were you on any varsity teams?
I lettered varsity in track my freshman year, but then I quit the following year. Basketball I only made it to C-team before I got cut. Volleyball I only made it to JV before I quit to start working after school.

7. What was your school's full name?
Los Alamos High School

8. School mascot?
Topper. As in Hilltopper. Don't ask. I don't know how to explain it. :)

9. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
Not a chance.

10. What do you remember most about graduation?
I'm such a dork. I left right after the graduation ceremony and missed all of the parties so I could go spend the weekend with my boyfriend who was at BYU. I missed everything!

11. Were you in any clubs?
Does Business Professionals of America count? I was in that a few years and even president of it for a year. I started working after school I think it was during my sophomore year, so I didn't have time for a lot.

12. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? That was a long time ago actually. I graduated in 95. Maybe I'm too old to play this game. For what it's worth, I did go to my reunion in 2005 and it was lots of fun!

Last but not least

School pictures are up on the cookie blog! They are such cute boys!! They are in different schools because Jamo is in first grade and Roo is in High5, a program here for kids with late birthdays since the cutoff is in December. I drive Jamo to school, and Roo takes a bus. The first day, the bus was 45 minutes late getting him, but Brad had already taken him. And don't get me started on his first bus ride home. I waited and waited and waited outside. I pulled weeds to distract myself. I thought, hey, they were late this morning, so it makes sense they'd be late now. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I called the transportation department. No answer. Called the school. No answer. Kept calling both repeatedly. No answer. I was thisclose to just calling 911 and finding out where they had my baby. But, I'm not that dramatic. Instead, I cried and bawled like a baby and kept calling until someone answered the phone. It was one and a half hours late bringing him back. I was so ticked. No one called me. No one even returned my calls. I didn't even know if he'd gotten on the bus since he didn't ride it there. When I finally did get someone on the phone, she confirmed that he was on a bus and that he would be arriving soon. Friggin' ridiculous people. You don't keep a 4 year old on a bus for nearly 2 hours and not communicate with the parents. Oh, and this is all while my house is going major changes. Like I needed that kind of stress.

For the record, I let him ride the bus again the next day, and while it continues to be late, it hasn't been nearly as bad.

House pictures up!

As mentioned in the wedding picture post, there will be no slides posted on this blog and there are too many to do individually. Sorry!

The kids did great through the destruction. The boys played together or on the computer the entire time (aren't I a stellar parent) and hardly needed any intervention. Stinker was another story. She wasn't being bad, just very involved. She wanted to do everything we were doing. It took one of us just to keep an eye on her constantly. Therefore, I have tons of pictures of Stinker, and none of the boys helping. The boys did a great job helping us pick up wallpaper, I just didn't get pictures of it. Slacker mommy. But do not fear, school pictures are soon to follow, and that is all the boys.

Besides ripping off wallpaper and painting the entire first floor of our house, our dream team of Brad's dad and Uncle George and Aunt Olivia, got lots of other stuff done. We ripped out the dividing wall, put in new light fixtures in the hall, living room, and dining room, painted and fixed our old lamp, moved an outlet, moved a light switch, put on our porch handles, put switches on the toy room and office lights so the fan and lights are separate (and saving us hundreds of hours in marital counseling as I hate it when Brad turns off the light but not the fan and I trip over everything to turn it on), building up the wall in the kitchen, installing laminate flooring, making drapes for the front window, chipping the circle garden, and painting and installing new floor boards. And that, my friends, is why I haven't been blogging or anything else on the computer for over a week now. Oh, and don't forget that the guys got to go to the UofU game against Michigan. If you know me, you know I LOVE LOVE LOVE football. But they wouldn't let me go. I couldn't promise that I wouldn't cheer for Michigan so they left me home. ;) That's okay, Olivia and I got lots of work done by ourselves. And we had fun to boot.



Okay, for those of you unwilling to make the effort to log-in to the Cookie Blog, here are a couple of pictures for ya!

Living room

Dining room

Ripped out wall

Painted dining room

Laminate flooring

Wedding pictures!

I got the wedding pictures just before my house demolition began, so I hadn't gotten to it yet. There were close to 800 pictures on the CD, and I'm thinking ya'll don't care to see that many pictures, so I picked out about 40. Unfortunately, that is too many to upload individually, so I put it in a slide show. And because all of the slides are connected in my account, I can't put up one slide without giving people access to all of them. So, if you want to see wedding pictures, you'll have to go to the Cookie blog linked to the right. You'll need a password to get in, so email me if you need one. If I know you, you are more than welcome to have access, you just have to let me know. Thanks!

Really quick note!

I'm not officially back yet. I still have to paint my kitchen. But I wanted to do a quick post so if you were interested you'd have a chance to check out the gorgeous bracelets Dana is making.

http://charmeddesigns.blogspot.com/2008/09/twilight-bracelet.html

So pretty!

Long post and a plethora of pictures on its way. Hopefully tomorrow. Ciao!

What in the world?!?!

Okay, I really looked forward to Brad's family coming out because his Aunt Olivia was going to get me some new window treatments. Our window treatments were pretty hideous. She is a master seamstress and was going to make me some handmade gorgeous ones. I was pretty excited. But she stepped in the house, and after gagging at the sight of my wallpaper said that there was no way we could make window coverings without having the color scheme right. I said that we were painting in the fall and had no idea what the color scheme was going to be. Well, that did it. Nothing was going to be done until we picked out colors and had the walls painted. There you have it folks. I am ripping down the much hated wall paper. I can't even tell you how much better it looks! We started this morning, ripped wallpaper ALL DAY LONG and now the entire first level is stripped. Okay, we haven't touched the kitchen yet, but the living and dining room, front entry, and hall up to the bedroom level. Can you say OUCH?! I hurt. My hands hurt, my neck hurts, my shoulders hurt, my legs and feet hurt, I just hurt. But I'm happy. No more ugly wallpaper!!!

Having said all of this, I'm checking out of the blogging world for a while. We have so much we are trying to get done, and I'm going have extremely limited computer time. I really have to get it done before they leave or I will be stuck doing it by myself because Brad will be back at work. Therefore, I'm in work horse mode and not taking many breaks. Rest assured, I'm taking plenty of pictures so you can see the hideous before and the (hopefully) lovely after. I'll keep ya'll posted! See you in a week!

Next project

Just a few pictures of the kiddos on the cookie blog. Nothing too exciting. Stinker eating all of my chocolate. The kids at our neighbor's pool. Our neighbors had a pool party yesterday, and we met some more people on our street. We have such a friendly neighborhood, I never knew who was on my street and who wasn't. People will just stop and talk. I can't keep all of the names straight! We got a couple "Oh, so you're the ones that bought the house on the end of the street" followed by "and cut down all of those beautiful trees..." haha! Why do I feel the need to justify it? They were swarming with ants, too close to the house, eaten by the ash bore or in the way (and don't get me started on the one that apparently fell on the house years before we bought it). We still have 10 trees (not counting the ones behind the shed)! We have a very wooded neighborhood and some people feel that we hurt 'the look' of the area by chopping down 20 trees. Okay, they didn't come out and say that, but they'd comment about all the trees we cut and then a few minutes later say how much they love all of the trees on our street. I can put 2 and 2 together. But they did also say that they liked what we've done with it, so I don't think they are bitter. I just find it amusing, I guess, that they've probably been cursing us under their breath the last year. KIDDING! We had so much fun and everyone was so nice. I love living here. We've already received invites to the Christmas walk-through. I guess they walk from house to house and show off their decorations and trees. Whoa. No pressure Melisa. (Mental note to actually get a tree this year (we've had a 2 ft artificial tree we've been using), put up more than an advent calendar and a string of lights for decoration, and maybe get rid of the ugly wall paper. At least I have 3.5 months to prepare.)

We are hoping to make some progress on this project over the next few weeks. Yikes. Wish us luck. Here is the beginning step: leveling out the ground.

Yes, the hill at the bottom of the picture is the famous 'Killer Wasp' den. Don't worry, the missionaries came over and fixed that problem. Right after eating some of my ornamental Thai chilies and burning their mouths. I haven't seen any killer wasps since.

Wedding pictures

So, the CD is in the mail and I should have it soon. Until then, I stole these off of my brother Jeremy's Facebook page. Not that I need to draw attention to the fact, but it blows my mind how I ended up so short compared to the rest of them. They are all 6 ft or over, and I'm 5 ft 8 in. I need taller heels. They used to call me Frodo, as in a hobbit. At least Brad is tall, so my kids have hope.

Melisa, Tylerr, Jeremy, Travis, Aubrey, Gerrick (in birth order)

With my parents, Travis's wife Resa, Aubrey's husband Benji,

Gerrick's wife Heidi and our adopted brother, Dalan

Rocks in my socks

Stinkerbell doesn't have pockets. So what is a girl to do when she wants to collect rocks? New video up on the cookie blog!

Roo was so cute today. Well, he is cute everyday, but today he really surprised me with his signing. Roo signed a little bit with the deaf lady I talk to at the Y. That was so much fun. Usually my boys freeze when there is someone to sign with. But Roo just started doing sign after sign. And then he said, "Look, mom, she started talking!" I told him that she talked all along, she was just waiting for someone to sign with her. I think he is starting to see the benefits of signing. Yeah!

All Stinker, all the time

New pictures on the cookie blog! You must be thinking that I only take pictures of Stinkerbell. Rest assured, when the boys decide to wear yogurt, I'll take pictures of that too.

Home again

I flew to the wedding on Wed. It was evening by the time I got in, and it was great to see everyone. I saw my grandma, and she had a sling on her arm. I asked her what happened, and she told me that she fell off of an ATV. Now, honestly, how many of you have ATV riding grandmas? I love my family.

That night we went to the movies. It was midnight my time and I was pretty tired, but my family would take no excuses. You wonder why I'm such a night owl, huh. Needless to say, we got to bed pretty late, and were up early to run errands. My mom, brother Travis and I, went to BYU to go to the bookstore. Wow. I was shocked. It looks SO DIFFERENT! I graduated 10 years ago this week, and I can't believe how different it looks! It is a beautiful campus. We spent the rest of the morning going up to Bountiful and meeting some of Heidi's family. We got to help set up a little and it looked awesome (despite how bad we are at making things pretty - we think they fixed everything after we left)! We got a little lost driving around looking for a restaurant for lunch, but we did have some fun. My sister Aubrey, SIL Resa, and my Aunt VaLynn and I all went to get pedicures. It was lots of fun, though Resa's lady was a little aggressive with her toes. :)

After pedis, it was get dressed and head to the temple for the wedding. It was beautiful. Of course, I cried through it. I've never seen Gerrick more smitten. It was wonderful to see. After that was lots of pictures. Lots. Then we went over to finish last minute preps for the reception. The reception was beautiful too. My dad's mom and his sisters Janielle, Claudia, and Shelly were able to make it.

It was pretty late when we got in that night, but we were up by 6:30 so we could go to the Provo temple. I never got to go while I was at the Y. After that it was up to SLC to catch my plane. Quick trip, huh! And can you believe that I only have 1 picture of the whole trip? Seriously. I got a picture with my friend Syd here in MI. She took me to the airport and picked me up even though she incredibly busy with a party coming up today. What a doll. Of course, the real reason I wanted her to take me is because I wanted to snuggle her sweet baby! Such a cutie pie! Her older kids are such cuties too. I wish we could see them more, but considering we are both married to doctors, electronic correspondence fits our schedules much easier. And don't worry, I asked VaLynn to send me a CD of the "official" wedding pictures, so I'll get those up eventually. For now, I put up my single picture of the trip and a couple I found of Stinkerbell on my camera while I was in UT.

These are more appropriate for this blog though:

Wedding!

My youngest brother is getting married this week! Wow. It is almost surreal. So, no posts for awhile. I'll be in UT until Friday. I'll probably take lots of pictures there though!

Camping!

We just love camping. There is a wonderful lake near us that we go to. Our church ward had a campout there this weekend. We had a blast. We also realized that our old tent is not made for a family of 5. Hopefully we can get a new one soon! One that can fit in some air mattresses! My side is killing me! :)

The pictures and some videos are on the cookie blog (first link under the links heading). Be warned, there are a lot of pictures! And there is even a video of the boys signing to the Silly Pizza Song. Crazy kids. My house is a mess, but you know I'm keepin' it real at least!

In regards to the cookie blog, if I know you and you are reading this, I would love it if you would like to look at it. It isn't meant to keep out people we know, just the ones we don't. I don't want to assume everyone I know would want to see a plethora of pictures. I'm not trying to push the whole "private blog" on ya'll. So, if you want to see the kiddos in all their cuteness, just email me and let me know. And for the record, a few people have come out and claimed "odd searches" to find my blog. And it wasn't any of them. It was whoever is in NY and made the search in a foreign language. I'm just putting that out there so you can stop wondering if you are the one who freaked me out. :)

The beast

Okay, so today I got some video of the cicada killer wasp. He was taking a cicada into his hole when we got back from the Y today. I couldn't find my camera and by the time I got back, I couldn't see the cicada anymore. I'm not sure if this is the same wasp or another one. Ugh. Another one. Ugh.

Enjoy the videos and listening to me freak out. :)

This is the side yard that we haven't worked on yet. It has been a dumping ground for all of our construction materials, bricks, dirt, rocks, etc. We hope to work on it the end of August. You can see the fence in the back.
Lovely isn't it. The dirt mound is where the wasps live. Ugh. I told Brad that finishing the side yard just moved up on my priority list.
A diagram of the lot. The circle in the bottom corner is the hosta garden and the one next to the house is the circle garden with the plants. Somewhere I have a diagram that includes the retaining walls and sidewalks, but I don't know where it is right now. The part I shaded at the top is what the above pictures are taken from.

In other news, did anyone catch Stephenie Meyer's signing broadcast last night? I stayed up late to watch it and it was FABULOUS! Let me know if you did so we can chat about it. And if you read the Meridian article with letters to the Editor about it, let me know too. I just have to say that wow, some people are really against it. Won't even read it because it is so evil. Alrighty then.

Scary!

Okay, this freaky looking bug has made a home next to my driveway and it FREAKS ME OUT! Today I saw it dragging a cicada into its hole. I couldn't ever get a picture on camera, because it appears to be camera shy. I'm going to keep trying. FREAKY!

Here is a link to some pictures. The thing is massive. Massive. It looks like a wasp, but it is the size of my thumb! Ugh!

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=cicada%20killer%20wasps&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Quick pix

Just some pictures of Stinker up on the Cookie blog. She was too dang cute to resist. Sorry they are so late, mom!