Gadgets and Gizmos a plenty

My brother came over the other day and was playing with his Ipod in one hand and his cell phone in his other.

Isabella crawled up into his lap and he gave her his Ipod, because what the Kisserbella wants, the Kisserbella gets. That is just what happens when you are the baby after the baby dies. It is what it is.

He then looked at me and said, "I am going to try to keep gadgets out of my kids' hands." LOL.

I just looked at him like he was a dork. Because he is. Ipod in one hand. Cell phone in the other. And he is telling me that he isn't going to let his kids play with them. Right. Monkey see. Monkey do.

Who stole the Cookie?

On Sunday there was a request from my husband to make some cookies for his families that he vists each month. It was his first time to visit them so he wanted to make a good impression on them.


I baked 2 batches and put them in bags up on the shelf (so that little hands would stay out of them). Doug left to go visit the families, and he forgot his cookies to take. He came back about 2 hours later to retrieve the forgotten cookies.

I had a bunch of family over and somehow one of the bags of cookies disappeared. We had no idea where they went. I didn't remember anybody taking them and I was baffled.

The next morning we were sitting on the couch in the living room reading scriptures and I lifted up the pillow, only to find a cookie laying there. HMMMMMM. I was a little suspicious until a Savannah covered her face with her hands, started to cry, and run off to her room. I had officially located the culprit.

Apparently the bag of cookies ended up behind the wheat grinder....... Nice :)

Terrible Twosday

Isabella Kate is a peanut.

She totes around shoes and purses and sunglasses and cell phones.

She throws tantrums. Full on, face down, legs in the air, arms under her forehead.

She gives da best kisses in da world.

She can make a mess in a room in a flash.

She loves to play in the trash.

She loves to go bu bye and ride in the bike (trailer).

She drives her sisters nuts (AWESOME).

She loves to go outside and loves to check the mail.

I love her. Even if she is a toot :).

My New Bike.

I love my new bike. If I wasn't already married, I may consider marrying my bike. It has taken me on new adventures, branched me out to meet new people, and increased my speed and distance. It's awesome.

Last week, my prized possession and I went to Tucson. We learn something new together. My gears were a little loose, so loose that I could twist them on the handle bars. Not Good. I don't know much about bikes, but I knew enough to know that that wasn't good :).

So I took my bike to the people I know that could fix it. My cousins. Well they fixed my gears. They don't move anymore. Then my cousin hopped on my bike and took it for a spin. He likey. Said I made a good choice. When he came back my tire was flat. Huh???? I KNOW it wasn't flat when I brought it down.

Somehow on his little ride there was a little metal thorn what got stuck in the tire and popped the tube. Awesome. So we had a little lesson. I took off my tire with my handy little tools. I looked for the culprit of my misfortune by running my finger inside the tube. I put the tube on and used the really cool CO2 cartridge to fill up my tire. Awesome. Cost $8. And totally worth it. Thanks for the lesson. You owe me a tube :)

I also learned how to pump up my tires. I was dutifully pumping up my tires all week, because they told me that daily was a good time. However, my pump wasn't really working properly in the manner I thought that it should be. Hmmm. So I asked the experts. My cousins. Again.

Turns out my tire had ZERO pressure. That is not good. Especially when it is supposed to be at 140. Nice. Apparently I wasn't pumping up my tires and they were as "flat" as could be. Awesome. Luckily I didn't tell them of my mistake, I may have felt even more foolish. So I learned another helpful piece of information. How to pump up my tire. Very funny. Very blonde.

A Little Sparse

Have you missed me?

I know. Its been a little sparse around here. Haven't been very regular. Sorry about that.

I started a new job 2 weeks ago. I have been doing hospital orientation and simulation training. It has been a little overwhelming, but I am mostly a little scared about my first shift tonight. I lied. I am TERRIFIED. Super terrified.

I am a good nurse. I know that I can take care of the babies, but it is always scary to do something new. Always. Why? Why is it always scary? Because we are stepping out of our comfort zone. That is how we grow.

As terrifying as it may be when we step into territory that is new to us, we grow. We learn. We are stretched. It isn't always and fun and it isn't always easy. We "get" to meet new people. We "get" to try new things. We "get" to learn computer charting (which I have NEVER done before), We "get" to learn new rules. We "get" to learn a new "language."

Don't get me wrong. I am grateful to be able to have a new job. But its new. And its terrifying.

I just keep telling myself, "Everything will be ok." "Everything will be ok." "Everything will be ok."

Good luck to me tonight :)

A Penny or Two for Me Thoughts

Lately I have been studying the Book of Mormon (BOM). This may come as a shock, don't fall out of your chairs :). I wish I had some cool thought or linky to send you to a www.lds.org for more information if you want it, but for now all I can do is give you the link for you to copy and paste in your browser. It is only one more step and in typing all this I likely could have figured it out but alas I have to jump in the shower to get ready for work and get the kids off.... I digress

Here is how I see it. I had a very interesting conversation this morning with my BOM institute teacher who also doubles as my riding partner :). She is pretty amazing. Ok. Really amazing.

We were talking about 1 Nephi 12-18 this morning. A few points I would like to make that she pointed out to me, because she is far better versed than I.

The story of the broken bow: Nephi is trying to provide for his family. This is a very basic human act. Feed, cloth, shelter, that kind of stuff. So now his bow is broke and what is he to do? Everyone is hungry, tired of being in the desert, and very UNHAPPY. This is the tip of the ice berg for Lehi and he starts murmuring. We will define murmur at a later date.

Nephi then proceeds to make the best of a bad situation. He takes it to the Lord, "what shall I do?" Build another bow.... He finds the tools to make another bow. Then he goes to his father Lehi, where shall I go to find food? Lehi prays, then they find out.

Nephi has a problem. His bow is broke, they are in the wilderness, everyone is hungry. What does he do? Will murmuring help? No. Will crying about it help? No. He gets to suck it up and try to fix the problem. He prays. He gets an answer.

We all have problems. Life problems. Nephi's broken bow is a parallel to our life problems. Loss of Job, special needs children, falling outs, broken car, broken garage door, (not that these are mine or anything.....) etc. What are we going to do about it? Whine and cry and jump up and down saying "It's not fair." Sure we would LOVE to do that, and maybe we do for 30 seconds, but then we have to suck it up, pray for strength (receive enabling power of the atonement) and be done with it. ON to the next.

Then there is Nephi building the ship. He is given a task. A VERY big task. A task not many are asked to do, because seriously how many men do you know who have built a ship solo. Not many. Likely he was overwhelmed at some point. He went to his brothers to ask for help. Some said yes. Some said no. Some helped willingly. Some he had to pull their teeth (or strike them with his finger). He went to the Lord. "How do I do it?" "Where do I find the tools?" "How about an instruction manual?"

All very important questions to ask. He asked for help. He could not do it alone. He needed his brothers and other family members to help him. This is not a work for just one man to do alone. He needed help. Plain as that.

Nephi building a ship is an almost near impossible task. Not NEAR. It can be done. With some serious help and some serious instruction and some serious patience, time, talents, and tools. Not everyone was asked to build a ship and not everyone will be asked to build a ship.

We can compare Nephi building the ship to the BIG trials in our lives. Those that we hopefully only have to do once. Ever. You know which ones I am talking about. The ones that make you want to stay in bed all day. The ones that make you sick to your stomach. The ones that hurt you so deeply you never in a million years believe or think that you will ever recover. Here is how you might endure these trials:

1. Pray: Nephi prayed to the Lord. He went to the Lord for help.
2. Tools: Nephi had tools. We all have the tools. We just have to dig them out of our closets... Words of the prophets, scriptures, conference talks, Faith, Accountability, Enabling power of the Atonement.
3. Help: Nephi couldn't do it alone. He needed help. He called on his brothers and sisters and sons and daughters and parents to help him. We have friends and family and neighbors who help us with those big trials. We are not alone. We can't do it alone. It would be impossible. It is simply impossible.

Well there are my thoughts. It might even cost two pennies. LOVE YOU!!!!

Is it FRIDAY alread?

Good Grief. Where in the world did this week go?

Somewhere between 445am bike rides, 6am runs, 615am yoga,

blogging on my new blog www.superfitandfab.blogspot.com, keeping track of said members via email, points, comments, etc,

canning 2 boxes of peaches into canned peaches and peach pie filling,

shopping for Mikenna's birthday present,

cleaning, cooking, cleaning, laundry, cooking, homework, cleaning, laundry, homework,

studying my Book of Mormon class

orienting and getting blood drawn at MY NEW JOB!!!!

Helping in the girls classrooms, and juggling PT, ST, Music Therapy, and all the other running of extracurricular activities.....

Well after all that I am happy to report that for my BIRTHDAY, my 30th BIRTHDAY, I got a bike. A very sweet bike. A road bike. It's blue. With white handle bars and matchy matchy pedals, because that is VERY important. My shoes even match, but alas, my "hat" as Isabella calls my helmet :) does not. It is a blue, but a darker blue
I special ordered it and it came today. AWESOMENESS!!!!! I tried it out for size because I have never "clipped in" before. Well let's say that it could have gone worse????

I fell. Off my bike. Well actually I was still on my bike because I never actually clipped out of my pedals, so there I was, strapped to my bike, fallen over, oh and did I mention that the neighbors were sitting in their car with the headlights on, right at me??? AWESOMENESS. Owell. I have a ginormous bruise on my thigh. The first of many I am so sure.

THANKS BABE FOR AN AWESOME BIRTHDAY.