The Chronicles of a Neurotic Mom

Week in iPhotos 3

2012-02-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Lucy had a school program this week.

I snapped this right before it started.

Aren't girl secrets the best?

Stretch exercise in ballet class.

We're making progress on Sam's dislike of anything sweet or tart. He will finally lick an orange.

This is huge!

My handsome prep student in his full-dress uniform.

Did you watch the men's final in the Australian Open?

It was amazing.

Nadal vs. Djokovic

Longest men's final in history--almost 6 hours!!!

Djokovic won dangit!

A late Christmas present arrived this week for my two older boys.

Snowboards.

Future Shawn White in training.

FYI: Target has a Shawn White clothing collection for boys ages 6-16

Trust me, it has made clothes shopping for my boys sooooo much easier.

We have looked in every store and Josh and Jake like his clothes the best.

Thank you Target and your genius buyers!

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Nostalgia Post #2

2012-02-02T10:49:00.002-07:00

Some more old photos:

Lucy's birthday:

May 29th, 2004

I'll never forget the day I had her.

It was a Saturday. I started having labor pains around 4:00 p.m.

Jeff was sooooo mad at me that I still got in the shower, dried my hair, put on makeup, and dressed up nice.

I wore black pants, a pink shirt, and black heels.

The nurses thought I was absolutely crazy when I strutted into the hospital, all decked out, and announced I was in labor.

They didn't believe me. Didn't call the doctor.

I laid there with mild contractions for about an hour. They were about to send me home.

Then everything went crazy!

I dilated from a 3 to a 10 in 20 MINUTES!!!!

I was sobbing and swearing in pain.

They got the epidural in just in time.

Doctor finally arrived.

My precious baby girl arrived 4 minutes later.

I figured it was $700.00 for that 4 minute epidural.

But it was worth it.

Four generations.

I miss my Nana.

3 months old

4 months old.

Lucy and big brother Josh

Now she's growing up.

And I love it and hate it all at the same time.

Just Here to Share My Expertise

2012-01-31T12:02:00.001-07:00

Does it seem like every blogger out there has become an expert at something?

Or several things?

Fashion, budgeting, cooking delicious-healthy-organic meals from scratch, cleaning, organizing, hair, makeup, weight loss, child-rearing, spirituality, photography.

Well, I'm here to share my expertise, offer advice, and give tips.

I am expert at getting my kids out the door for school in a record amount of time when I have overslept for the third time in a week.

Tip #1: Poptarts and bananas are fast, easy, convenient, and can be eaten in the car.

Tip #2: Keep gum handy when there is no time for brushing teeth.

Tip #3: Downy wrinkly release is a life-saver for clothes pulled from the bottom of the clean laundry pile that has yet to be folded.

Tip #4: Buy a brush that doesn't yank out your daughter's hair when brushing quickly and vigorously.

I am expert at placing dishes in the sink in such a way so that, from a distance, the kitchen appears clean.

Tip: plates on the bottom, silverware in glasses, bowls stacked nicely on plates, etc.

I am expert at a never-ending system of laundry rotation.

Tip: Just keep everything in the laundry room and the kids always know where their clothes are. Easy.

I am expert on scouring bathrooms.

Wait a minute.

Nevermind.

I am expert at time-outs.

I am expert at fast, easy, questionably nutritious meals for my kids when I have exactly 25 minutes between carpools to fix something for dinner

New invention: Pizzadillas

Tortillas

Spaghetti sauce

Cheese

Pepperoni

Olives

Top with another tortilla

400 degrees

8-10 minutes

Voila!

My kids think I am the best chef ever!

(I won't mention that we ate this 3 times last week.)

I am expert at starting a project and NEVER finishing.

Remember my closet makeover?

Yep.

Still pretty much looks like this.

I am expert at worrying.

Give me any situation.

I will find something in it to worry about.

I once walked into the dance studio and, without even thinking, started baby proofing (throwing away plastic bags, picking up choke-able objects off the floor, etc.)

I am expert at impulse purchases and buying stuff we don't even NEED just because it's on sale.

Oh, this is such a problem--I can't go to the store anymore.

I am expert at extending the life of my hair so I can wash it as infrequently as possible.

Baby powder, dry shampoo, curling irons, lots of hairspray...and lots of ponytails.

Okay, so I am not an expert on being the perfect mother/housewife/fashionista

BUT

I am expert on LOVING my kids and family and doing the darn best that I can.

And that's good enough for me.

Week in iPhotos 2

2012-01-29T11:13:00.002-07:00

I have been sick all week and so have some of the kids, so the blog has taken a backseat.

I did still manage to do some documentation of my week with my iPhone.

Josh stayed home from school because he had a fever.

Even though he felt lousy, he still LOVED staying home and having some free time....

...free time to make this awesome paper airplane.

I wish you could see how well it flew.

Amazing.

Jake was in charge of our Family Home Evening lesson.

He looks thrilled. :)

He did a great job, though, and we had a great discussion about the "Wise Man and the Foolish Man."

We finally got a sizable snowstorm.

I took a trip to my favorite store...

...and found these.

Why, oh why, didn't someone think of this sooner?

It's brilliant!

Candy packages that you just write your name on and PRESTO! DONE!

I am far, FAR too busy at this stage in my life to attempt anything super creative (or copy someone else's super creative idea from Pinterest).

This is a life saver. Bless you Skittles!

Why do I document my torture chamber?

This is DAY FOUR of laundry.

I just couldn't get my butt off the couch to change the loads.

Have I mentioned how much I love my ~~job~~ hobby that I happened to get paid for?

I love my students.

What is the deal with my weeks-long tension headaches???

I don't get migraines.

I get tension headaches for weeks at a time, and no amount of ibuprofen, acetaminophen, ice, water, rest, makes them go away.

Here is Sammy trying to "make mom's head feel better" by playing with my hair.

I love this sweetie pie!

I finally got feeling better on Saturday so I thought I would get caught up on everything.

Nope.

My plans changed when I dropped my phone in the Smith's Marketplace parking lot and shattered the screen.

My phone was unusable and I couldn't get a new one because this one was less that 3 weeks old.

I drove to three different places in Salt Lake until I found a place that could fix it. It took 3 hours and $175.00.

Ouch!

After driving home and trying to use my phone, I realized it didn't work right, so I drove all the way back up to Salt Lake and sat for 2 more hours while my phone underwent a second surgery.

Ask my husband what kind of a mood I was in on Saturday night.

Actually, don't.

I bought this ridiculously ugly and ginormous phone cover.

I'm a dropper.

It is necessary.

Aunt Keri came over and spent a couple hours coloring with Lu.

My Saturday night improved a bit when we met Grandpa, Jeff and Jake (who were at the BYU basketball game) at USwirl for some frozen yogurt.

Handsome boys.

Here's to a healthier week with less laundry and a fixed phone!

Week in iPhotos

2012-01-21T19:00:00.002-07:00

This was my first Instagram photo.

Breakfast at McDonalds

Teaching ballet

(My student, Meg, while putting on pointe shoes)

Cousins, Kate and Sophie, over to play

Friday night with friends

I asked Josh to put together some shelves for me.

Sam was his little helper.

I had a burst of energy and cleaned out and rearranged Sam and Jake's room.

Then I lost all that energy and motivation and my closet still looks like this.

Baked some homemade Oreos for Sunday dinner.

Sam and Sophie dancing at Nana's house

I've been Diet Coke free for almost one month!

Be so proud!

It was HARD!!!!

Now I drink lots and lots of water everyday.

(More on why I quit later)

Samster came down with a bad cough and cold.

I pulled out all my scrapbooks to start the process of copying them onto our computer.

Just one of my three green smoothies that I drank this week.

(Whoa! Look at me go and be healthy. What the.....?)

Lucy and I worked on this Disney puzzle.

Someone is feeling better.

Costco run. I love my errand buddy.

Just thought I'd document how I spend at least 3/4 of everyday....in the car.

And last, but not least, after two weeks of hassle on the "old" new computer,

we broke down and bought a Mac

and guess what?

I figured out how to sync my iPhone onto the Mac and find these pictures ALL BY MYSELF!!!

(Well, and with two phone calls to Jeff, but still, that is some sort of record!)

So the Mac passes the Computer-Idiot-Amy test.

Thank you Mac!

Nostalgia

2012-01-18T22:19:00.000-07:00

December 2004

Josh 6 1/2, Jacob 4, Lucy 6 months

Can you believe there was a time without digital cameras?

Remember when you had to buy a roll of film, take all your pictures without knowing what they looked like, take the roll down to a camera center, wait 2-3 DAYS for them to be developed, drive back to the camera center, pick them up, look through them, and be glad that maybe half of them turned out?

I do.

I'm currently in the process of getting all (most? some?) of our old photos from the scrapbooks onto the computer. It's going to be a lengthy process, so I thought it would be fun to share a few at a time on my blog.

Four generations

June 1998

(Yes folks, way back before the turn of the century. Crazy.)

Josh is one month old

And my cute, squishy little Joshy.

He is 3 months old in this picture.

He is now 13 1/2 years old.

Where did that time go?

Makes me cry a little bit...

Lucy's Room Makeover

2012-01-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

I need to state, for the record, that this was the most difficult post I've ever done!

Not because the amount of work that went into cleaning and organizing Goo's room. Noooo!

It was trying to load and then find these d@&! pictures on our new computer.

There were some serious tears. Nothing, NOTHING frustrates me more than learning new computer stuff. I just don't get it. I don't get the files and the folders and the drives......

Anyway, here are the pictures. I didn't remember to take a picture until I was almost done cleaning out and putting things into bags. This picture doesn't do Lucy's ~~hoarding~~ saving abilities justice.

New bedding, new furniture arrangement, a few new accessories, and voila!

(I am so so glad Lulu still loves pink and purple. I know she will outgrow that in a few years. In the meantime, I'm squeezing out every bit of pink and purple that I can.)

I bought a rug and bean bag and made a reading corner for her.

I organized her hutch and put all her American Girl accessories in the little, pink boxes from Target.

My next project....

*Sigh*

It never ends.

PCATCOOTKRACABAGOA!

2012-01-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

My January just got a lot busier.

I love Christmas, but I love, LOVE putting all the Christmas stuff away and getting things back in order.

I also love the new year, new beginnings, and new projects.

I went to Target and got all these containers to start what I'm calling

Project-clean-all-the-crap-out-of-the-kids'-rooms-and-closets-and-bathrooms-and-get-organized-already!

PCATCOOTKRACABAGOA!

Wish me luck!

Gingerbread Competition 2011

2011-12-31T11:59:00.001-07:00

I have to hurry and finish this before the end of the year. I only have 2 hours and 15 minutes left!

Here's the prep:

Here is my clean kitchen and dining room before the madness.

And it begins.....

...with 13 boxes of Papa John's dinner.

I had to throw this picture in.

These 3 little stinkers sneaked away to play up in Sam's room.

Sam, Jack (cousin twins--born on the same day), and Sophie

L to R around the table:

Ethan, Sam, Yale, Jack, Ben

Dave and PJ are SERIOUS about their creations.

They cordoned off the entire dining room.

The aftermath.

Oh, how I wish you could see (feel? hear?) the floor.

Notice all the diet cokes on the tables.

This party went into the late hours of the night.

PJ had to make a diet coke run for everyone (except me--I'm off it......again).

The finished designs:

Jeff and Jakers made Cougar Stadium

Dave made a roller coaster.

Keri called him a cheater for using some inedible products.

Bottom: Sophie

Middle: Keri

Top: Lucy

The volcano was PJ's

Top right: Steph and Mike

Top left: Katers

Keri and Dave smack talkin'

So, so, soooooo much ~~work and mess~~ fun and family togetherness.

LOVE this party.

Seriously!

And that ends my posts for 2011.

I can't wait to print out my book.

I have lots planned for 2012...........lots of projects, home improvements, another paint job (*gasp!).

Can't wait to get going.

Parties #2 and #3

2011-12-28T11:02:00.001-07:00

I need to hurry all my posts along so I'm posting two parties at once.

I was going to put party #4 in here but it really deserves its own post. It's too epic.

I'll do that tomorrow.

Maybe.

Every year Jeff's law firm hosts a black tie party for all the attorneys and their spouses.

Like I said in my last post, we drove home from Brigham City and literally only had about ten to fifteen minutes to change before we had to drive all the way back up to Salt Lake.

That is no small feat especially when Jeff needs numbered, printed out instructions to tie his bow tie. Ha!

This is the famous Mike Larsen and his wife Teresa.

Mike Larsen was Jeff's boss, mentor, and good friend.

Funny story:

Jake was about 4 or 5 years old and he says to Jeff,
"Dad, let's play lawyers. You be you, and I'll be Mike Larsen."

Mike Larsen still tells everybody that story around the law firm.

On to Party #3

After Julie and family, and Stacey and Chris got to town, we met up with dad for dinner.

Then we headed over to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt.

Only in Utah can a frozen yogurt/ice cream place stay in business during the winter.

It was 24 degrees outside and the place was packed!

Tomorrow:

The famous Gingerbread House Competition in which Dave, Keri, and PJ start the smack-talking and personal insults. :) :) :)

Christmas Party #1

2011-12-23T17:40:00.001-07:00

I can't think of a better way to label all the December activities except by numbers.

So, here is Christmas party Numero Uno.

This one is a big one.

Look at the picture below.

There are 16 wrapped gifts in that basket.

(The picture doesn't do it justice--it's HUGE!)

Lucy does not leave the sides of her two older girl cousins.

(Maddy, Lucy, Sadie)

L to R:

Lucy, Greg, Kathy, Jeff, Dallin, Aliza, Jeni, Gabi, Chris

Kimberlee, Kim, Zach, Brian

Adin, Sam

Sam got cookie monster slippers from Maddy which he did not take off for 3 days straight.

And a Cookie Monster from Grandma and Grandpa.

Lucy got a charm bracelet from Sadie

And a Doodle Bear from Grandma and Grandpa.

Jake got a New Orleans Saints watch (and toothbrush) from Tyler

And a Brees jersey from Grandma and Grandpa.

I don't have a picture, but Josh got an iTunes gift card from Austin

and a Peyton Manning figurine and pencils from Grandma and Grandpa.

Jeff's mom gave all the daughers and daughers-in-law an apron that her mother made before she died.

Jeff and his siblings never knew their maternal grandparents, so this was a special moment.

L to R:

Kimberlee, me, Kim, Jeni, and Heather

(Missing is Mel--their family was sick--AGAIN! They missed the Halloween party, too, because they were sick. Boo hoo! We missed you!)

Jeff's parents made a gingerbread man for each grandchild.

Quite impressive.

This party is the biggest one of the year and we LOVE it.

My kids talk about it all year long.

As we were getting in the car to go home Josh said, "Awww, it's over now. We have to wait a whole year for the next one."

You would've thought Christmas itself was over.

Next post:

Party #2 in which we drove home from Party #1 all the way up in Brigham City, had 15 minutes to change into formal wear, and drove straight back up to Salt Lake.

Gymnast

2011-12-19T12:15:00.001-07:00

I am totally living vicariously through my daughter.

I ALWAYS wanted to be gymnast.

I love my little gymnast.

I won't post the video of her backbend kickover where she falls and bends her fingers in HALF BACKWARDS!!! It makes me dry heave!

Some News

2011-12-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

AHHH!!!

I said I have a small bit of news and everyone is going to be so disappointed because it is NOT what you think it is.

I am not pregnant.

(Although, I would like to be but I have a heart issue that I/we/3 different medical doctors/1 homeopathic doctor/55 blood tests/an EKG/an echocardiogram/a stress echocardiogram/2 holter monitors cannot figure out.

I am praying that I can find an answer soon so I can have one last baby. I'm not getting any younger here...)

But there is some really good news for our family.

Jeff has a new job.

He accepted an offer for an in-house position.

While we are very sad to be leaving his current law-firm and the wonderful people there, we are thrilled for this new opportunity.

That's all.

Are you disappointed?

P.S.

I also have to take this opportunity to give a "shout out" to one of the best people at his law firm.
Jeff has the most amazing secretary, Kimberly Merrill.
Jeff will miss a lot of people, but I think he will miss her most of all.
She made his job SO much easier. And when his job is easier, it makes my job easier.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Don't Give Up On Me!

2011-12-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

I have totally been a slacker when it comes to my blog.

December is soooo busy and I'm a little overwhelmed.

Here's a little of what's been going on:

Lucy's second grade class donated and decorated a tree for the Festival of Trees.

They also got to perform and sing a few songs.

This is the only picture I could snap really fast.

Jeff and I attended the annual Salt Lake County Bar Association Christmas dinner at the Salt Lake Country Club. Once again, this is the only picture I snapped AFTER it was all over and I realized I left my camera in the car.

So, I don't have a picture with all our friends or my cute new dress from Anthro.

All I have is this. From inside the car. Jeff and Seth. BOOOOORIIIING!!!

(No offense Jeff and Seth.)

We took the kids to Thanksgiving Pointe to see the real reindeer.

Whoa! Look at me wearing a coat! I NEVER wear coats.

I hate coats!!!!

In fact, I'm seriously considering starting a campaign to get major retailers and the mall to LOWER THEIR THERMOSTATS!!!!!!!!!

Crowds, body heat, and multiple layers of clothing make it completely unnecessary to keep the heat blasting at 80 degrees!!! Who's with me??

I digress....

I'm going to be better at documenting the rest of December

And

I'll be sharing a small bit of news in the next post.

Christmas Chaos

2011-11-30T13:27:00.001-07:00

You know what?

I didn't think the holiday season was quite busy enough, or stressful enough.

We only have AT LEAST ONE (SOMETIMES TWO!!!) MAJOR FUNCTIONS OR PARTIES each weekend for the next 4 weekends, not to mention school programs, and gymnastics programs, and class parties.

Oh, and then there's the tiny detail of CHRISTMAS! And shopping for everyone. And Santa Claus and gift exchanges. (At one party alone, I am required to bring 16 gifts! SIXTEEEEEEEEN!)

So, to add to the madness, and the messes, and the chaos

I let the kids each get a 3' tree for their rooms (only 7$ at Tai Pan) and decorate them all by themselves.

Guess who got into it the most?

My teenager.

He spent hours planning, shopping, and arranging things just right.

Who'd a thought???

God Bless America!

2011-11-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

I finally put together my tree.

I decided to stick with my original color scheme of silver, white, blue, and red.

It does look like the Fourth of July, especially in this photo.

I SWEAR the blue is not that bright in real life--the flash makes it so much brighter.

I took a picture with every single setting on my camera (about 50) and could not get a picture that did it justice.

I think this picture was the best one.

I like how my tree turned out, even if I have a compulsion to put my hand on my heart and start singing God Bless America every time I pass by.

Christmas Goal

2011-11-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

I found this post-it note on the desk in the kitchen.

It was written and posted there by Lucy for everyone to see.

It says:

Christmas goal

think about

Jesus

Christmas goal

I also need to take a minute for my yearly rant about Black Friday.

I love sales. I love finding good bargains.

But Black Friday is just getting ridiculous.

When the stores all opened at 6:00 a.m., 5:00 a.m. or even 4:00 a.m. on Friday morning, I was fine with that.

One year, I even got brave and went to ToysRus at 6:45 a.m.

I walked in, had a claustrophobic attack, and walked right back out 2 minutes later.

I vowed I would never do it again.

It's just not for me.

This year Walmart and Target are opening at midnight.

Not to be outdone, ToysRus is opening at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday night.

9:00 p.m.?!?!?!?!

This is maddening!

It means that people will start lining up around 4:00 or 5:00 p.m.

Which means employees will have to arrive at least an hour earlier than that to get ready.

Which means those people will be rushing through the Thanksgiving family togetherness so they can be trampled by incredibly rude and greedy people (not all, but some--Hello!!! Someone DIED last year in the frenzied mayhem!!!) to save a few bucks.

Do you see the crazy juxtaposition of things here?

We already have Christmas decor out with the Halloween decor.

We already have Christmas songs being played on the radio the SECOND trick-or-treating stops.

We already BARELY acknowledge the once-yearly meal of GRATITUDE.

Now, with stores trying to "one-up" each other, there will soon be no Thanksgiving at all.

There you go.

Rant over.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Birthday Boy

2011-11-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

Pretty sure he's the cutest boy ever!

(And how awesome is that cake I made him?!?!)

O Christmas Tree

2011-11-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

I have had the same Christmas tree decorations for 10 years.

I loved them and they worked perfectly in my last house when my main colors were gold and red.

And it still worked before I did my family room makeover.

But now my family room looks like this, and I have this weird thing about the Christmas tree decor needing to match the room decor.

I'm planning on rearranging the furniture a bit and putting the Christmas tree in the corner where that big, black chair is.

So, I went to Tai Pan (favorite store in the world!), shopped around, and came up with a color scheme.

But then one of my kids came home from school and said it looked like the Fourth of July.

Red, white, silver, and blue.

Crrrrrraaaaaaaapppp!

Does it??

First Snow

2011-11-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

We had our first official snow last Saturday.

Sam was beside himself with excitement.

Before 9:00 in the morning he was dressed and outside making snow angels.

Did you read that closely???

BEFORE 9 0'CLOCK IN THE MORNING!!!

Good thing Jeff was home.

I was still in my nice, warm bed.

Sam may be ready for the snow, but I SO am not!

I'm consoling myself by getting one Christmas decoration out per day.

Then the kids come home from school and try to find it.

I'm also on the Disneyland website everyday checking out prices (they fluctuate daily) and planning our upcoming trip. We always go sometime in January or February to break up some of the winter blues.

We are going to get season passes this year.

Are we crazy????

The 6-day park hopper pass just isn't long enough for us.

We are considering going for 8-9 days this time and then going back a couple more times in the fall and next winter.

Does anyone out there love Disneyland as much as I do???

Halloweeeeeeeeen 2011

2011-11-05T17:01:00.000-06:00

My beautiful little Rapunzel

Sam the T-Rex

Josh was Jason from Friday the 13th (again)

Jake was a Sumo wrestler

He was NOT happy with how his costume turned out (we ordered it online), so at the very last minute (noon-ish on the 31st), we ran to Smith's Marketplace to find him something else.

Carving pumpkins

Josh's pumpkin

Lucy's

Jake's

He put a "bubble thought" coming out of the mouth that says, "I rattle the cages!"

Sammy Sam's

(I found these pegs that the smaller kids could hammer into the pumpkins--genius!)

Ready for trick-or-treating.

Jeff even got into the spirit--for .02 seconds!

And last, but not least

Our semi-adopted pet Georgia!

Isn't she darling as Snow White???

Tenacity

2011-11-01T10:22:00.001-06:00

This girl made 3 poster signs, helped me bake 10 batches of cookies, bagged and labeled all of them,

and then spent 4 hours sitting at her table selling them.

This picture breaks my heart a little bit.

We don't live in the highest traffic area, but she patiently sat outside until she had earned enough money to buy the coloring supplies she wanted.

When she was finished, she had earned $20.00

(Never mind that I spent $60.00 on supplies.)

The McRib

2011-10-27T19:28:00.001-06:00

I posted something on Facebook about the McDonald's McRib being back for a limited time. I was surprised to find how many people actually like it.

It was even on the news.

My curiosity was thoroughly piqued.

I needed to know what all the fuss was about.

Jeff happened to be working from home and Jake was sick so we made it into a little family outing.

FYI: I did have a picture of Jeff but he forbade me from posting it.

(Have I ever mentioned my husband takes terrible pictures? He is THE most un-photogenic person I know--always looks mid-sentence. Hahahahahahahaha!!!!)

We ordered 3 McRibs and I SWEAR the cashier had a laughing, smirkish look on his face when he asked,
"Are you the car that ordered the 3 McRibs?"

Sam's cheeseburger.

"Mom, get me! Get me!"

Okay, it's seriously pinkish-gray in color.

This is all I could eat...

.....And we drove down the street and ordered 3 green burritos from Del Taco.

I think that kinda sums up our verdict on the McRib.

Quotes from our experiment:

Jake: "It's iffy."

Jeff: "What makes me mad is I could be eating a Chik-Fil-A chicken sandwich right now."

"It's not just iffy, it's sketchy."

"McNasty."

(But he ate the whole thing, so I think he's just too embarrassed to admit that he secretly liked it.)

Gimme a Break!

2011-10-18T10:40:00.002-06:00

I'm taking a little break from blogging. I've also deactivated my Facebook account and all pinning on Pinterest has come to a halt. There is too much clutter in my life right now. I'm trying to figure out a way to de-stress and become more focused. I have been having a bad case of anxiety and panic attacks since my miscarriage 5 months ago. I don't know why and it's frustrating, but I'm not too surprised. This exact thing happened after I had my last baby and it lasted over a year (praying really, REALLY hard it doesn't last that long this time). I try to cope by staying busy, eating right (I need soooo much help with this one), exercising, praying (a LOT), reading scriptures, writing in a journal, meditating, etc.

I have decided, though, that facebook, blogging and Pinterest are ADDING to my stress level. I'm checking fb on my phone 50 times a day.

I'm comparing (I try not to, but it's oh, so hard!) myself to the other moms who have their kids perfectly dressed, fed, schooled, lesson-ed, blah, blah, it goes on and on.

I'm wishing for things I don't have.

I'm trying to keep up, keep up, keep up with everyone.

It's OVERWHELMING!

And do you know what else I've realized?

People are MEAN!

And texting, instant messaging and facebook have been the perfect vehicles for people to become even meaner. People say things they would NEVER say face-to-face with someone. And it's too easy to say those awful things, because there are no instant consequences.

Social media has also elevated, to a degree, everyone's vanity. It's like reading everyone's Christmas cards all year round. There are some blogs and facebook pages that I love because the people are REAL! It's real life! I love that, and if I start blogging/facebooking again I am vowing to keep it real. Good and bad.

If I read one more "perfect mommy" blog I will scream!!!!!

Pinterest is a place where I drool over what I want and then look around me wish for what I don't have. That is so messed up and unhealthy. I am trying to focus on staying positive and being grateful for what I DO have.

Sorry for my rant. I'll be back soon, but this is a much-needed break.

Conference Weekend

2011-10-05T15:21:00.001-06:00

I absolutely love conference weekend.

Conference is when the Prophet and apostles and other leaders of our church

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), speak to us.

We are taught that when the prophet and speaks to us, it is the same as God talking to us.

He can give us counsel, or comfort, or words of warning.

My favorite talks were President Uchtdorf's talk (given at the Relief Society session)

and Neil L. Anderson's talk. You can find their talks here.

We have a tradition on the Saturday of conference weekend.

All the priesthood holders (age 12 and older) attend the Priesthood session at the conference center in Salt Lake, and the rest of us (usually just me and my kids, but sometimes Oma or Aunt Kimber) shop at the Gateway.

The kids love this and look forward to it.

We always get frozen yogurt, get some clothes shopping done, and if it's warm enough, play in the water fountains.

It was really warm that day so I let the kids get right in.

They were soaked, BUT I had just bought a bunch of new clothes for them and they got to change into them before we met all the men at Litza's Pizza.(I forgot pictures of the traditional pizza party afterwards--dangit!)

On Sunday morning we slept in (there are no block meetings at the church on conference Sunday),

And, look out!

I got all domestic and made scones for brunch!

The kids loved them and insisted that this be a new tradition.

I'm always a little sad and nostalgic after conference is over.

But I feel so spiritually uplifted and comforted.

I also usually make a renewed effort to be a better person. More kind, patient, etc.

And I always wonder what will have happened or what will be happening in my life by the next conference in 6 months.

We shall see.....