Thanks for Giving

We found ourselves in the air with the millions of others who decided to travel this Thanksgiving. Comforted by the fact that the airlines were going to be on their best behavior due to the fact that they would be under the public microscope over the holiday week, and the knowledge that military airspace had been opened up to help expedite air travel, we were pretty confident our trip would be uneventful. Upon boarding our plane for our connecting flight in Dallas, we were notified there had been a power outage that had shut down the air traffic control system in the Dallas Fort Worth airport. Suddenly our hopes were dashed and we pictured ourselves standing in long lines at our next airport begging for a seat on the next flight to our destination. We sat in the plane at the gate in Nashville for about an hour before taking off. Lucky for us, the airlines were on their best behavior and were really working to make up the difference. Our connecting flight wasn't delayed at all and we were able to get off one plane and on the other one really fast. Of course, the Dallas airport is HUGE so when we say really fast that actually means...getting off your plane....finding a bathroom...walking, walking, and walking....escalators up and down....being happy to see that they have a monorail system....getting on the monorail....being amazed at how large the airport is....getting off....walking, walking, and walking....escalators up and down....finding your gate....seeing that your flight is already boarding....wondering if you have time to find something to eat, because they don't give you anything to eat on these flights anymore (not even peanuts)....ordering a smoothie (which seems to take the girl FOREVER to make)....knowing that your husband has now missed his special "platinum" boarding privileges which allows him to board with group 1....secretly laughing to yourself because you have been assigned to group 6 and he'll have to board with the rest of the "nobodies" (actually, he makes me board with him and I always feel like I'm cutting in line or something)....and then finally....boarding the plane....finding overhead storage, a blanket off of someone else's seat (those are limited too, you know).... sitting down knowing you can now relax and maybe go to sleep....discovering that your seat doesn't recline because you are in the emergency row's window seat which you find out was booked intentionally to give your husband more leg room....dealing with this small disappointment and suddenly realizing you are now in a position of responsibility....half listening to the flight attendant's schpiel....hoping you won't need to know how to rip the door off and send people sliding down the wing of the plane.... (Bob asked the flight attendant if he should practice opening the door. She said no, that was all right) assuring yourself that everything will be ok....buckling up....looking out the window and bidding farewell to the flattest land you have ever seen....and then taking off! Whew!

We were off and geared up for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We loved every minute of our time together. Our San Diego kids drove up, our BYU boy made it, and our Utah kids were most hospitable and let us all have a huge sleepover at their house for a week! It was a week full of memories, so I've picked my top ten memories of our week together:

• 10. Movies and Oprah's Favorite Things on the new plasma tv.
• 9. Dinner at Aunt Carma's and seeing Uncle Ken who just celebrated his 90th birthday.
• 8. Robyn and Joe running in a 4 mile turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning.
• 7. Devon's lifelong dream of rock hunting fulfilled.
• 6. Hugs and kisses from cute grandkids.
• 5. Cafe Rio.
• 4. Blake giving Michael the "what for" in baby talk.
• 3. Michael's key lime pie.
• 2. Parker getting sick and Kimberly and Devon coming to the rescue saying they are pros at this kind of stuff.
• 1. Joe and the Big Green Egg! It took a little longer...but well worth the wait!

Thanks for such a wonderful Thanksgiving to remember. I love you all!

Tagged...Six unknown facts about me...

I was doing a little blog browsing today and saw I had been tagged by my sweet friend Ansku to share six unknown facts about me. So here we go:

• In the 8th grade (just a few years ago) I helped spearhead a little rebellion at good old Northwest Junior High School. We tried to get as many girls as possible to join us in a demonstration against the establishment and their strict dress standards, which we felt were unconstitutional. Word spread and I believe there were about 200 girls who showed up to school wearing pants. We entered our first period classes and immediately heard over the intercom that every girl wearing pants was to report to the auditorium immediately. Of course, there were those who brought skirts just in case. But those of us who were determined to fight for our cause left our pants on and headed for the auditorium. We made the ten o'clock news that night and were all suspended from school for the day. Then came the hard part...how to tell our parents! Such a rebel.
• I LOVE green olives! I was at Costco the other day and saw a woman buying two big jars of them. My mouth literally watered looking at them. I don't buy them, however, because I would end up eating all of them myself.
• My sisters and I used to sing together. We even took voice and choreography lessons from a lady in Murray Utah for a time. We had hopes of making it big someday. Our dad knew someone that knew someone that was going to tell someone about us and get us our break so we could sing at Disneyland and then my sister decided she wanted to get married instead. Just think what may have possibly, if our dad really did know someone that knew someone that could refer us to someone else, happened.
• I was the fastest runner in the 5th grade!
• My mom used Henna on my hair when I was in grade school and turned me into a redhead for several weeks.
• I really like country music and had a thing for Toby Keith for a while. My husband even downloaded "Whiskey for my Men, Beer for my Horses" as his ringtone for me. That is, until he was interviewing a bishop one night and I called him.

So there you go....betcha didn't know that! If you're reading this...consider yourself tagged.

That Ain't No Utah Deer

A few days ago me and Diane were getting ready to eat our morning fruit smoothie and settle in for our morning scripture study when Diane looked into the back yard and saw one of only two bucks we've seen in our yard this past year. I realize to you Utah guys this isn't exactly a trophy buck. I'm sure some rabid hunter here in Tennessee would love to have this baby hanging in his garage. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind if he were hanging in my garage. If he were hanging in my garage what would I do with him? I would have to clean it, skin it, find someone to cut it up, then put it in the freezer and eat the poor thing. I guess I'm glad I'm not the rabid hunter I once was. Off to the right of the deer is the vicious slope that gave me "one heck of a hematoma" on my left leg. I knew the deer could handle the slope so I didn't try to warn him. For now we'll just enjoy watching them when they come into the backyard.

On reflection, I still have the antler's from the last buck I shot while living in Utah. That three point was larger than this little feller. With all the green shrubbery here to munch on you would think the deer would grow larger than they do. I am seeing the difference between the mule deer in Utah and the white tail deer here. One thing about deer here, there are a lot of them. Hunter's who are really serious about hunting can take multiple deer throughout the season. Tonight we were on our way to do a few errands and we saw what we call the mythical albino deer. We have heard people talk about albino deer since moving to Tennessee. We thought it was somewhat of a fairy tale. Tonight we can tell it is true. We saw with our own eyes an albino deer. No we weren't stunned, but excited to see a part of nature one rarely sees. The fur on this doe was not white, white but somewhat a creme color. It was very pretty to see. We were grateful the car ahead of us didn't hit it when it ran across the road.

We do enjoy seeing the various wild life that frequents our backyard and the surrounding neighborhood. We see squirrels, occasionally wild turkey, frogs, lizards, spiders larger than any spider I've seen in my life prior to moving to Tennessee, cardinals, blue jays, buzzards eating road kill, and more birds than I could possible name. Some animals are a little more adventurous than others. The squirrels seem to come out of nowhere on the roads around here. So now I feel bad about the dumb squirrel that ran out in front of my car one early Sunday morning. They may be fast but they can't quite outrun the tires of the car doing 40 mph.

Occasionally we hear coyote howling at night when we're outside. They sound like a rather large pack when you hear them howling.

I hope that squirrel forgives me for ending his life earlier than it should have.

Fortunately for me, he was no where near the size of the giant opossum Diane collided with shortly after moving here. We've returned to the scene of the crime each time someone comes to visit. Fortunately there are no such things as opossum ghosts or this one would be roaming the road looking for the car that ended his/her life.

Utah visits Nashville

A few pictures from our week together

Nothing can keep this kid out. He discovered how to open the doors and was very proud of his discovery.
Yes...it's never too early to expose your children to the finer things in life. Grandpa will be sure that "Nissan" is one of his first words.
Elmo's World...Parker would ask for it as soon as he got up in the morning. We tried hiding the case from him, but he remembered it. We soon figured out that we couldn't beat it, so we just joined in.
Don't let this happy face fool you. He was fine for the time he was in the stroller, but as soon as he was out of it, he wanted to push it. The mistake was actually letting him push it. For one thing, he couldn't see where the heck he was going, and he refused to push it where you wanted it to go, and he did NOT want any help. One finger of yours on the stroller and all was lost! The stroller became a four letter word. We resorted to hiding it from his sight and spelling it when we needed to get it out of the trunk.

Traveling with a Toddler

After a grueling day in an airplane with a 17 month old, Robyn looked relieved to finally be in Nashville. I worried about her all day because I knew her trip had gotten off to a rough start. She had called me, in tears, from the Salt Lake Airport letting me know (which was a great relief because I thought something terrible had happened) that she had forgotten the carseat and that there was no way on earth she was going to go back through security to have Joe bring it to her. My girls have a way of scaring me to death when they call in hysterics. So, much to my relief, I was in need of a carseat...easy fix. Everyone arrived safe and sound. Every piece of luggage was accounted for (in our family, that's huge). And...as Robyn mentioned in her blog, I did get up the courage to drive by myself to pick her up. I know it's not a big deal for most of you....but it seems to be a huge deal for me. I can't seem to get over the anxiety of being in a new place and not knowing my way around. Bob keeps reminding me that I have a navigation system and a cell phone. What the heck more can he do for me?!

A List of things I learned

• Elmo's World is a great little movie...I think I have it memorized.
• The song sung to the tune of jingle bells has fairly easy lyrics...."friends"...that's it.
• Naptime is very important.
• Sometimes all you need is a power nap to get you through the day.
• "Uppa" means "I want you to pick me up".
• "damma" means "down"
• It makes your grandpa very happy when you shout out "Bapa" from the back of the chapel in church and point to him on the stand repeatedly throughout the meeting.
• "ooooeeee" means "movie" in the car....doesn't everyone play movies in their cars??
• Teletubbies isn't nearly as disgusting when you watch it with a 17 month old.
• It's more fun to stay outside in the garden at the Carnton mansion and throw rocks than to be inside with all those adults who want to hear a boring tour guide.
• That guy at the Japanese Steak House is really scary with those knives he throws around and the big fire he makes on his grill.
• Dinner is to be eaten alternating one bite in the mouth and one on the floor.
• Waffles are great food to feed a toddler while pushing them in a stroller.
• Strollers should be hidden and not talked about.
• The first thing Parker learns to spell will probably be S.T.R.O.L.L.E.R.
• It's fun to call out "JOE" from the bottom of the stairs when you know he's upstairs.
• Joe is much easier to say than "daddy".
• It's great to snuggle with Parker right after he wakes up in the morning.
• Why rent a movie for $1 when you can buy it at Wal Mart for $20, and then you find four more movies on sale for $5 and end up spending $40. Makes sense to me!

It seems like we were just getting the hang of things and our time together was over. We drove them to the airport and said goodbye. We watched them as they breezed through security...no drama this time. Then we gave our last wave, wiped away our tears, and walked silently back to our car with the now empty carseat in the back. This, my friends, is what life is made of. We are so blessed!

To my oldest daughter on this her birthday,
How could it be that my once sweet little girl grew to be this absolutely beautiful young lady?
How could it be that my once sweet little girl is now raising her own family and has a sweet little girl to train and teach to be a lady?
How could it be that my once sweet little girl is now teaching and training other young women to become as her?
How could it be that my once little girl who I could hold in the palm of my hand when she was born, is now standing tall and raising a righteous generation?
How could it be that my first born is now following in her mother’s footsteps in being kind, loving, caring, and watching over her own family?
How could it be, that we have been so blessed to have such a wonderful young lady who sets an example for so many?
How could it be, that when we say Kimberly you have to use “and Robyn” with her name?
How could it be, that where two once kneeled in the temple, there now stands 11 and ¾?
How could it be, that a couple filled with love for one another could have a family that means more to them than anything in the entire world?
How could it be that the distance between us is shortened through the Internet?
How could it be that this young lady grew to stand taller than many of her friends spiritually?
How could it be that this young lady continues in her example for all she associates with?
How could it be our number one child could be so bright, beautiful, and kind?
How could a loving Heavenly Father know the needs of a young couple when He blessed their lives with the three greatest children a couple could ever raise?
How could the blessings of parenthood be so great when all you think about is the well-being of your children and grandchildren?

Out of all things given us, we have three wonderful children who we love with all our hearts. We have a daughter who is having a birthday which signifies our aging, yet her birthday shows her maturity as a special daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves her beyond measure.
Her birthday today is our blessing into the eternities.
We will continue giving thanks for two special daughters and one wonderful son who bless our lives with their examples and their own desires for a righteous life.
How could we have so many blessings that our cup runneth over?
We have a Heavenly Father who does love us.
The windows of Heaven have truly been opened and the blessing of parenthood has been poured out upon us.
The blessing has been so great there is hardly room to receive it.
Oh how great our joy is with having such great children.
Happy Birthday Kimberly!
We love you honey.
Dad

I Blinked & She's Grown Up!

It's true...I blinked and look what happened! Kimberly has done the unthinkable...she's had another birthday! Do you realize what this does to me? I'm in complete denial. It is NOT possible for me to have a daughter that age! We've had this deal in our family that each birthday was my 28th. Then the unspeakable happened...she turned 28. I knew this meant that someday the ideal age was going to have to be turned over to her. So it is with much reservation on this, her milestone birthday, I hereby hand over the ideal age to Kimberly. May you have MANY MORE 28th birthdays!!! I blinked...

• and I was having a baby girl on Halloween. It was a Monday in October and we were having the first snow of the season. This, the nurses told me, was the reason I was in labor. She was a whopping 6 lbs. 4 oz. Yes, she was full term...just tiny!
• and she was starting to talk. She couldn't say her "K's"so we would say over and over...say Ka...Kimberly, and she'd say Ka...Timberly.
• and would watch her play outside with her friends laughing when she would not knock at her friend's door because she didn't want to pass their cat on the sidewalk.
• and was crying as I took her to kindergarten when she was still only four years old and after a talk with her teacher decided that another year home with me would be just fine.
• and I was amazed at how fast that time went by.
• and her popularity grew as well as her self confidence.
• and her world came crashing down on her when we moved to California.
• and she tried so hard to make new friends.
• and she made Freshman cheer.
• and she did make friends and grew in beauty and self confidence.
• and she cheered and cheered.
• and she was a teenager who turned boys' heads wherever she went.
• and she made Vocal Ensemble.
• and she sang and sang.
• and she was driving and dating and cheering and singing.
• and I was losing sleep waiting for her to get home when she was out.
• and she started dating an amazing boy, and I still stayed up and waited for her to get home.
• and she was graduating.
• and she left home for college...and I cried...and she cried.
• and she felt like her world was crashing down on her.
• and she made new lifelong friends.
• and she was glad she went.
• and my life changed when she got engaged to this amazing boy she loved.
• and we loved him.
• and her world changed.
• and she blinked....

and she became more beautiful and self confident and is saying that time is going by too fast.

My advice? Don't blink! Happy birthday Kimberly. We love you!

Big Boys Don't Cry - or Who Really Wanted the Lot on the Hill

Last Saturday I was doing what every good husband does on a Saturday (when you no longer have a lawn service), I was mowing the lawn. Our house sits at the top of a slight hill. We have a view of our neighborhood below us and we're up high enough to see the woods behind us. I love where we live. I love the view, I love the neighborhood, and I love the house. Michael calls our yard "the lawn that never ends." When we first looked at houses in Nashville, we found lots that sat on a 1/2 acre. Our house sits on a 1/3 acre lot. I asked a real estate person in a model home what people do with 1/2 acre lots. She told me "They mow them." Well I didn't want to spend all my time mowing the lawn. So I settled for the smaller lot. As Michael has found out, the hill or slope sometimes gets the better of you. That means if you aren't careful, you fall. One week ago, on a Saturday morning I was mowing the lawn. The ground was a little wet where the grass is shaded by the forest. I knew when I mow down, I don't always make it to the bottom standing. This was the case. I slipped and landed on my left side. No big deal for this go round. In fact, when I first realized I shouldn't mow the lawn down the hill was when I slipped and bruised my tail bone. If you can imagine sitting on an airplane for 13 hours to Japan with a bruised tail bone, I can say it's no fun. Well, this go round was a little different. My tailbone survived, my left leg below the knee developed this strange bump on it. I found myself wondering if I got something into my leg that caused an alergic reaction. Maybe I found one of those ficticous lawn snakes and he bit me. Maybe a spider bit me before I crushed him with the weight of my body landing on him. Maybe I should hire a lawn service and save my leg. Of course all I wanted was some sympathy. Diane looked at my leg and asked "now what have you done?" She thought it might be a tree frog jumped off the tree and attacked my leg. Have you heard of crazy tree frogs in Tennessee? I thought that was stretching it a little. Of course it didn't hurt so I kept mowing until I was finished. This included blowing the lawn clippings off the sidewalk to the neighbors house. I'm sure his lawn service will clean them up when they come. One thing about my hill is I sweat profusely while mowing. I call it my cardiovascular workout. Have I lost weight? No, but I find myself totally out of breath so it must be good for me. My hill isn't for sissies to work on. Being good pioneer stock with roots to Tennessee, I have to be tough.

After showering and seeing the swelling wasn't going down we visited the local "Doc in a Box" office that was open on a Saturday afternoon. I asked Diane if she would love me with only one leg. She said she would. I was grateful for this. The nice thing about the particular clinic we went to was the lack of a crowd. I didn't want anyone to hear me scream out in agony when the doctor amputated my leg before the wild tree frog venom caused my leg to grow larger than the tree trunk on the slope. The doctor took one look at my leg and said very calmly, "You have one heck of a hematoma going on there." He also pointed out that the swelling on the left side of my leg would drop to the foot in the coming week. All he said was "Go home and ice it." I was hoping for a new anti-inflammatory that would immediately take the swelling away. No suck luck on this one. Well, we now have just what the doctor said. I have a bruised foot. The doctor did promise me that no one dies from these things. That is a good thing because Diane doesn't want to start mowing the lawn.

Of course Michael now tells me he can't mow the lawn when he comes home because of the dreaded attack of crazy tree frogs. I've assured him the tree frogs here are nothing to worry about.

Of course what did I do yesterday? I put poison on the lawn in hopes of eradicating the mole that has moved into my slope. If I catch him I'll warn him of the crazy tree frogs in the back yard.

My dad will be proud knowing I didn't cry when I slipped on the hill. I did use the "D" word though. When I see him I'll have to thank him for sharing his vocabulary and having it stick after all these years.

Remember to watch out for crazy tree frogs and slippery slopes when you come to Tennessee.

Here's proof

Both cars got washed yesterday. I think he likes doing it. Don't get me wrong...I really do appreciate a clean car. I just thought I'd publish proof of his OCD.

A Little Mudd on the Tires

Don't you hate it when this happens?! Especially after having paid for the deluxe car wash on Saturday. It didn't rain either, or I could have gone back for their 48 hour guarantee. No such luck! We have this little thing going on around here called road construction. In an effort to cut down on the amount of dust you get in your face while following the car in front of you...they have made sure to give the road a good watering. I mean water!!!! Don't they know we're in the middle of a draught? They've also done a tremendous job of smoothing this dirt road. Thank heavens for good shock absorbers. You actually get the feeling you're off roading somewhere in the backwoods of Tennessee...oh yeah...that's where it is. I mean, I've seen men proudly driving their four wheel drive trucks covered in mudd. It's a statement! It's a signature! It shows the world what a macho manly driver you are. You just don't get the same reaction when you're a woman driving an Altima.

For those of you who know my husband, he's all about clean cars. I know this about him so, of course, I told him about my exhilarating drive to pick up a friend who was going with me the other night so he wouldn't be surprised when he saw it the next morning. He wasn't surprised, he just didn't expect it to be THAT dirty. His first impulse, I'm sure, was to wash it off then and there, which he probably would have done if he had seen it the night before. Unfortunately, it was early in the morning and he didn't have time. The truth is, Mr. Clean doesn't have very much time these days, so I've been instructed to take it to the carwash ASAP. I do appreciate his anal retentiveness when it comes to a clean car...there's just a little bitty part of me that wants to go to his office and switch cars so that he has to drive this one home. I'm even tempted to write "wash me" in the dirt.

There's no Place Like Home

Yes, I am officially unemployed once again and have decided to give this "stay at home" thing another try. I found, after a whopping two months, that working can really crimp your style. Not that I have a life really... but heaven knows I wasn't going to find one in Mayberry! I thought I'd share a few things I'll be missing out on:

• Rick and Bubba in the morning (yes it is an actual radio talk show program...they have a pretty catchy theme song that caught my attention when surfing channels one morning.)
• The quest for the perfect commute, and ultimately realizing there is only one way out of Dodge which is down a two lane country road with enough traffic on it to require a three lane highway.
• Practicing my sounthern hospitality wave to every car I let in front of me on above mentioned road.
• The ten or eleven motivating thoughts posted outside the churches I pass on my way, and pondering the one that reads "Spiritual but not Religious? Find what you're looking for...join us on Sunday."
• Testing my driving skills as I drink my Slim Fast and check my hair and makeup while all the while staying on the narrow road that has no shoulder.
• Being happy I am at least going against traffic.
• Passing by a farm on Franklin Road and never getting tired of seeing the cows and the beautiful view.
• Entering historic downtown Franklin and feeling like I've stepped back in time.
• Once again testing my driving skills as I navigate my car down a long gravel driveway to park as close to the fence as possible allowing three other cars to park in the backyard of old yellow house turned dental office.
• Knowing that later I will have to back out of said driveway...YIKES!
• A day full of phones, patients, money, scheduling, fighting with insurance companies, e-mails, x-rays, computers, sales reps, ordering, copying, fixing equipment, toothaches, prescriptions, filing, entering data, making deposits,writing checks, schmoozing, and spit sucking.
• Off the wall questions about my religion. Example..."with your church's view on polygamy would someone having an affair receive any kind of discipline?"
• Trying not to laugh at such questions answering them with as much grace and dignity as I can muster.
• Impromptu lunches out with the office.
• The feeling of satisfaction that comes when you know you've really helped someone.
• Wondering how a doctor can still make money when he trades for a service someone can render when they can't afford their dental needs.
• Watching someone smile for the first time in a long time after having some excellent cosmetic dentistry.

Yes...I'll be missing out on some good things and some not so good things. We'll see what becomes of me. I'm just thankful I have a choice. For now that choice is home, and there's no place like home! Wish me luck as I continue my quest to get a life...we're not in Kansas anymore Toto!! We are far away and over the rainbow!