Who needs a Snuggie?

...when you've got a robe? And who says you can't wear your robe over your clothes? This is my daily indoor winter attire: slipper socks and red robe. It's a winter MUST. Its cold in these parts! Sometimes Chad affectionately calls me "Mrs. Claus." What can I say, its my old fashioned Snuggie. Honestly I don't have too much to say other than I'm tired of looking at my last post and I feel like being a part of you bloggers again. So hows about a little random update:Ethan - at his school Christmas program. It was stinkin cute! This was the very same day I flooded my bathroom. I hopped in the shower and forgot to turn off the sink I was filling up. We're talking water everywhere - counter, floor, drawers. Yeah, not one of my most shining moments.
Ethan lost two teeth within the last month. I'm grateful. I was starting to wonder if he was going to keep his baby teeth for the rest of his life.Me and my "Happiness Hat." I love it and its a great conversation piece. (I like to give my guests that element of surprise when I open the door while wearing it). My nephew comes home from his mission on Wednesday. Yay! Primary keeps me busy. Work has been lovely since I haven't had to brave the single digit temperatures. The new Michael Buble song on my playlist. Soup club. Girls night out. Work party. Christmas stuff. Snow. My wonderful hubby. My smart and fun child. I'm happy. I'm blessed.

Six Years Til' I'm 40

Yeah I know, CRAZY. I can't believe I'm well into my 30s now. I feel like I just turned 30. Although, I have to say I kind of like being an even number again. (P.S. This post is a few weeks overdue).

This is how I spent my b-day...Looking at the beautiful view of San Francisco from the the tippy top of the Berkeley Hills.
And why was I there? Checking out the two houses where my mom and aunt were born and raised in Albany and Berkeley. What's cool is both the owners let complete strangers into their homes and gave us a tour. Then again, we don't really look like a scary bunch.

Courtney, Maddie, Romney (my cousin), me, mom and Aunt Caroline

We originally took this girls trip so Courtney could go to her twenty year reunion
Kim (our lovely host), Courtney and Shari

AND of course there was many a trip down memory lane seeing old friends, old faces, old places, my old houses, my old schools, the old ward, etc. I just love it there. Of course much has changed but I'll always have those memories of my childhood there, in that place, with those people.

Me and Shannon
Ann and I after our impromptu slumber party
Rebecca, me, Kim, Courtney, Carma
Some ladies in the ward that we just happened to run into. But don't worry I warned them they might end up on my blog.

Of course we couldn't go to the coast without actually going to the coast. Going to the beach was one of my mom's top priorities this trip.
Maddie's first time at the beach.
And then there's this duo (mom and Aunt Caroline). They're quite the fun traveling buddies. We always seemed to get lost going to and from somewhere. It was always a battle between the young and the old sisters of where we were going and which way to turn. Sometimes the young got us lost and sometimes the old got us lost. At one point these two, despite modern technology of cell phones, went MIA in downtown Alamo for a couple of hours until I found them as they were just finishing off their Thrifty ice cream cones. Mmmm...Double Chocolate Malted Crunch...its the best.Maria (our co-host for the weekend) and MaddieWith ALL the driving and stopping and getting in and out we did, Maddie did an AWESOME job.

Being the music lovers that Courtney and I are, somehow forgot ALL our music for this trip. Good thing we've got our lovely voices to grace everyone with :) - We even put Maddie to sleep once with our singing. Not sure if we should take that as a compliment or an insult. Of course there was a lot of chatting and some playing 'Would you rather...'. For some reason Courtney found it funny that I'd rather be the opening singer at a Gwen Stefani concert than go sky diving.And of course I missed these two a lot. But they were having their own adventures with soccer, basketball and a little father-son roadtrip.

Scary Is The New Cute

I remember the days when Ethan had no say (or at least very little say) in his Halloween costumes. Yeah, those good ol' days when I could dress him in any cute, cuddly costume of my choice.

Very Cute...

Still pretty cute...
Then there's scary...The. Skeleton. Ninja. (That's Ethan under that scary mask, by the way). Yeah I know. Scary.

Ahhhh. . .Back to cute. Knee high boots, floppy antenna and all.
Maddie's still in the cute and cuddly costume phase.

Flashback Friday: Stairway to Heaven

As Chad and I were pulling into his hometown in California late one night we had to drive through some really thick fog. Growing up with foggy evenings were common for both of us and we started to reminisce about the folklore that we grew up hearing about in our hometowns. Chad heard about "rebobs" which apparently were some sort of flying monkeys, and I always heard about "The Stairway to Heaven." Don't even get me started on "The Purple People." Anyway, there's a monastery up in the hills of my hometown. There was talk of these stairs that were near the monastery that never ended. People would say they would go up and up and disappear into the fog.

In honor of October and Halloween and everything spooky I thought I'd share my experience with the "Stairway...to...Heaven." (insert some dramatic scary music and a "Boooaahhhh" here). One night while in high school me, Britt, Matthew, Ben and James started talking about this "Stairway to Heaven" and decided to go check it out. As we winded up the hills in Britt's Jeep Wrangler, we started to majorly spook ourselves. Or at least the boys were trying to spook us, and it worked because I was so scared. At one point a car came up behind us and James started saying things to make us think that they were following us. I was freaking and I remember Britt yelling, "Are you serious, Are you serious?!" while punching the gas. The car finally turned and I laughed, cause, well of course they weren't following us. At one point Ben was practically sitting on my lap and when I questioned him he said, "I don't want to be by the window! They're plastic!"

We finally get up by the monastery and we find the stairs. None of us wanted to get out of the car but we finally made ourselves. We slowly walked across the street while making sure to stay in a pack. Being really wimpy in these types of situations I strategically placed myself in the middle of everyone. We stood on the edge of the woods for at least a minute trying to decide if we were really going to do it. As we made one step into the woods Brittany noticed two people walking towards us from the Monastery and she quietly yells, "People!" We all started chaotically whispering, "People? People! Where? People!" I still remember looking down the street and seeing those two robed men back lit by the spotlight. We all ran to the car and four of us climbed over the seats into the back seat while Britt hopped in the drivers seat. I still remember just being a big pile of people in a backseat that only fits two. It still makes me laugh. And luckily we got away just in the nick of time. Actually the monks were still way down the street but it sounds a little more exciting to say it was a close call. I love that memory. We all laughed about it the rest of the night. Good times!

Tales From the Playground

Aren't they a little young? Last week a kindergartner ran up to the other supervisor I work with while crying and holding her arm. Anna had been pinched by her friend Gizelle.

Gizelle: 'Well, SHE pinched me!"

Supervisor: "Girls, why are you pinching each other?"

Anna: "Because she tried to steal my pretend husband!"

Watch out for that one ladies!

News flash For all moms who will someday have a second grader. Start buying PLAIN underwear for your little one. It is very uncool for a second grader to have superheroes or anything like it on their underwear. If you have a first grader and he still has superheroes on his undies, don't worry, he's still safe from being ridiculed - until next year. Just thought I'd let you know. You can learn a lot on the playground.

Pet peeve I've discovered a new pet peeve of mine. Kids don't like to put balls away. And guess who gets to clean up after them? Yours truly. Hey kids! If you've got a ball in your hands and you're done using it, put it away! And whatever you do don't kick it across the field or playground!

And in case you wondered boys are still chasing girls (one of Ethan's favorite playground past times), girls are still chasing boys (although I haven't heard anything about "cooties" yet), tattle-taling is alive and kickin' and yes, kids are still mean to each other. Not much has changed since we were in school.

Lessons of Faith

Faith has been on my mind a lot lately. More specifically having faith in trials. I think it was a culmination of Ethan going to school all day and us coming up on our five year mark of trying to have a baby that really set me in a downward spin as far as faith goes. I found myself wondering if Heavenly Father really knew my heart and understood the aching that I feel. I wondered if He really did hear my prayers. I wondered how I could find peace. Plain and simply I really had felt abandoned by God. And in those moments when I feel the weakest, He always sends me those tender mercies to show me that He is there and He does know my heart. And this time it came in the form of Elder Holland:

"Whenever these moments of our extremity come, we must not succumb to the fear that God has abandoned us or that He does not hear our prayers. He does hear us. He does see us. He does love us. When we are in dire circumstances and want to cry, "Where art Thou?" it is imperative that we remember He is right there with us - where He has always been! We must continue to believe, continue to have faith, continue to pray and plead to heaven, even if we feel for a time our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is here. Our prayers are heard. And when we weep He and the angels of heaven weep with us." (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)
That was written just for me in the moment that I truly needed it. Pure inspiration. I've come out of my pity party having a greater faith and understanding that I am not alone. He does hear my prayers.

And then there's Nephi. I always find strength in those great examples I read about in the the scriptures and Nephi is a perfect example of a man with pure faith. After his brothers had just tried to kill him and then they finally let him go he says:

"Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions." (1 Nephi 18:16)
I want to be like Nephi. Who am I to complain about my trials when I have been blessed with SO much. It's all about faith. Trusting Him. Aligning my will with His and accepting it. And not complaining about it.

Armed and Not So Dangerous

This is how I feel when I put on my work "garb." I've got the bright orange vest, a whistle, a fanny pack, a walkie talkie, and bathroom passes (the clothes pins dangling off my fanny pack). Honestly, I feel a bit like a mall cop - I've got the appearance of authority, but really I don't have all that much. I'm really just someone who can scare a little sense into them with my mere presence...usually. Now that I think about it, that is kind of powerful. I'll try not to let it go to my head. So far, I haven't had too many incidences. Of course there's the usual playground shenanigans - a kid spitting on someone's shirt, almost pushing someone off the slide, big long sticks almost poking someone in the eye, wrestling, and of course there are the usual tattle talers and tag alongs (You know, those kids who don't have too many friends so they hang out with the yard duty).

My second day on the job I blew the whistle way too hard at some kids (I didn't realize the power of the whistle) which made my ears ring it was so loud. Later that evening I was talking about my job to a friend and she said she heard the whistle blow from her house that day and she never hears the whistle. Sure enough that was me. I was a tad bit embarassed by that.Ethan was a bit nervous on his first day. The night before school started as he was gettting into bed he goes, "Maybe we should have done homeschool this year." Funny.

I get to be on Ethan's playground for his afternoon recess and he always comes up to me and says "hi" and admires my walkie talkie. I love it. It's cute. Luckily he's still young enough that he's not too embarassed by me. Honestly, I think by me working at his school it has made the transition for both of us quite smooth. He's really liking school and surprisingly has adjusted quite well to the long school days.Ethan and his good friend and carpool buddy.