Here's to Good Health...

I only see the doctor when I have strep throat or I'm pregnant.

Seriously. And when I'm really tired, I know I either have strep throat or I'm pregnant. So one day this week I got really tired...and no, I'm not pregnant.

Although I'm married to a fantastically good-looking doctor - he's useless in the prescribing business (it may take years for me to forgive him for it). So, I waited dutifully for 24 hours to be seen (so the rapid test would work), dropped my kids off to my saint/friend/surrogate-mother and spent the next three hours driving with a 102 degree fever, getting lost, going to a clinic that was closed, waiting, and finally gettting the antibiotics I needed for strep throat. After three days and one not-so-nice-1 am-phone-call to the on-call doc for some narcotics (which he wouldn't prescribe to me because he said strep throat was just one of those things you "need to ride out."), I'm fever & pain free and I didn't overdose on the massive amounts of ibuprofen & acetaminophen I ingested. And thank you to my friend who watched my boys so I could sleep and thank you to my friend who brought me lunch meat so I could feed them something without cooking and thank you Randy for doing everything else.

But here's the catch - when I get really run down, like from a bad sunburn, or loss of sleep from a cranky/puking/sleepless newborn, or from being feverish for 72 hours - I get herpetic. Thus, I now have massive cold sores erupting on my lips and inside my mouth. When I had Josh (he was the cranky/puking/sleepless newborn I was referring to), I got them around my eye. It's freaky. It's ugly. I am one big blister. The bright side, I'm taking Valtrex and it should go away in a few days. I plan to stay indoors until they do.

The moral of this story is that I'm grateful for good health - it takes weeks like these - a swift kick in the pants - to remind me that good health is not to be taken for granted.

Thanksgiving with the Fam

We had a great time at Uncle Lewis & Aunt Amaria's this year...

Larry, Deborah, Tyler, Maranda, Randy, Me, Ryan, Josh, Andrew

Andrew, Cassidy, Josh

Thankful.

For preschool, Andrew made a "Thanksgiving Tree." As a countdown to Thanksgiving Day, he was to say one thing he was thankful for each day and we wrote it on his tree. Here is what he said he was thankful for (with no prompting from me):

27. Jesus
26. Heavenly Father
25. Mom
24. Dad
23. Our prophet, President Monson
22. Brother
21. Grandma
20. Grandpa
19. Sleep
18. Prayers
17. Reading stories
16. Computer games
15. Being married, "but not yet"
14. Playing with toys
13. Going to preschool
12. Watching TV
11. Running
10. My room
9. Bugs
8. Friends
7. Shapes
6. Going to the zoo
5. Watching movies
4. Counting
3. Playing with Josh
2. Playing with Geo Trax
1. Painting


I am thankful for my boys, my husband, and good health.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Some call it commercialism, I call it Wonderful

Maybe because it's already chilly and we've had two respectable snow storms...

Maybe because two of our local radio stations started playing continuous Christmas music beginning Nov. 1st...

Maybe because I have my Christmas shopping done and my Christmas cards purchased...

Maybe because we live in an uncertain world...

...I don't mind that the stores have already decortated for Christmas

...I find myself listening to Christmas music more and to talk radio less

...I can't wait to decorate and make goodies and bring things to our neighbors

...I don't mind the cold & snow

...I look forward to the parties with friends and family

I do believe I've caught the Christmas Spirit - have you?

To My Superman, Happy Birthday!

Thanks for being your happy self. We love you!

My Joy

Thanks Becky for taking these for us - and putting up with boys kicking the dirt and getting filthy, and me yelling at them for it, and playing peek-a-boo with them, and most importantly, for feeding them an endless supply of Pez to keep them happy.