TAGGED AGAIN!

I tagged Kaylee, and she turned around and tagged me again. So I guess I will list a few more things about me.

5) Angie reminded me in her "tag list" of this one... I don't like to shop. If I need to shop for something I will try to do it on a day and time when I know the store will not be crowded. And it's not crowds that bothers me, it's the shopping part. Weird.

6) I've never had a cavity or filling. It has nothing to do with my personal dental hygeine routine, I'm told, it's just plain luck.

7) I didn't want to have kids! But not because I didn't like kids, I just wasn't sure I could be a good enough mom, so I didn't think it was fair to have kids for selfish reasons, and then ruin their lives. Yes, I know, it sounds kinda crazy... but now you can see my point :). Follow up to that: I love being a mom, and love raising my kids, and they seem to be generally "ok" with my skills (or lack thereof). So it's all good.

8) Sometimes in winter I take up to three hot baths a day to stay warm.

There you go Kaylee... more stuff about me.

SCUBA DOOBIE DO

We had our first snorkel/scuba class last night and loved it! Jeff and I have snorkeled a little bit, but the kids have never done it and we thought it would be a good idea to get some instruction before diving into the deep blue sea. We leave next Friday for our week long Caribbean cruise where we will have plenty of opportunity to snorkel. We debated about spending even more money (than we are already spending on the cruise) on the class, but after doing it, I can say it was definitely money well spent. We had a great time and both kids really took to both the snorkeling and scuba parts. I had never tried scuba either... it's soooooo cool! I think the family might be hooked! It's really bizarre at first to be breathing while under water. Every once in a while you want to panic, but you know you can't. Enjoy the pics!

I'M IT

I've been tagged, thanks Jen. I'm supposed to list 7 things about me that other people may not know and then tag 7 other people. I'm going to bend the rules of the game since I don't know 7 other people (not including Jenifer, and Ali, who both just got tagged themselves) who have a blog. I only know 4. So I will be listing 4 things about me, and tagging 4 other bloggers. Here are the rules:

Here are the rules. #1 Link to the person that tagged you. #2 Post the rules on your blog. #3 Share seven (or four) random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog. #4 Tag seven (or four) random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. #5 Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.

FOUR THINGS ABOUT ME:

1) I don't really like pizza. If I'm going to eat it, I just want the frozen Totino's cheap kind.

2) I like to research things. I will read a reference book any day over fiction. If I'm interested in something or have a question about something, I will spend hours and hours researching it.

3) I love the "terrible twos". For some reason I just love that developmental stage in kids! I think the terrible twos start at around age 18 months and last until about age 3 1/2 though, don't you? Two full years of tantrums, "I do it", and "no". Love it!

4) I'm a rocker at heart. I like all different musical genres, but I must admit that I'm more relaxed listening to Metallica than I am Mozart.

So that's me, in a tiny nutshell. Now I'm going to tag...

Kaylee
Brit
Angie
Leah

Have fun!

A FAT FACE

In case my face wasn't round or fat enough before, this week I can honestly say that I have a fat face! Last Tuesday I scheduled a visit to my dentist to have him find the cause of my mouth and gum pain. He checked all my teeth, took x-rays and came to the same conclusion I had sort of come to on my own... I need to have my wisdom teeth extracted. Now, I have to admit here that I'd never had a dental procedure in my whole life, so I was pretty nervous about this whole thing. But I've known for several years that my wisdom teeth were causing problems and have just kept putting off getting them out. My dentist offered to just take the one out that was causing the problem, and in a moment of temporary bravery, I agreed. He wasted no time in getting the needle out and started to numb me up. Not too bad, bearable, ok- this isn't so bad... but wow, my face feels like it's swelling up like a balloon! The the dentist looked at me and a look of "oh, crap" passed over his face. Next thing I know he's calling his assistants, telling them to get ice, then he's apologizing. At this point I'm getting pretty nervous myself, what's going on? He says I have a hematoma and that I am going to really be mad at him for it. By this time I can feel that I am swollen all up around my eye and onto my nose, and my cheek feels like a baseball has been shoved into it. He decides he'd better get the tooth out before I swell up too much for him to get to it, so, about ten seconds later my tooth is out and I'm looking like a freak! I also start to notice that I am shaking like a leaf and wondering why I ever complained about my round face before this. Finally, I get a better explanation of what happened and I start to calm down and feel better about things. The dentist explained that sometimes when he is numbing a patient through the roof of the mouth, he can hit a big vein/vessel which starts to bleed rapidly into the person's cheek and face. Apparently I was unlucky enough to be one of those people. It wouldn't have bothered me so much except that the dentist kept apologizing and telling me I was really going to hate him after this. He said he has special sympathy for patients who have a hematoma because he's had one himself and knows how painful they are. He even wrote a prescription for pain medication and prescribed me enough for a week! That's more than I got when I had my babies!!!

So how is that for a first ever dental procedure? It has been a pretty slow recovery and I have had a good deal of pain. I'm not really excited about having the other three extracted any time soon either! The funny part about all of this though, is that even though this has been an extreme case, it still has not been as terrible as I had built it up to be all these years!

CHALLENGES

A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner. - Anonymous

I just returned from taking my friend Jill to an appointment she had in South Jordan. Jill was thrown from her horse in November 2006 and has been a paraplegic since the accident. Before her accident she was very active and independent, in fact she had been pretty much a single mom for a year before this because her husband had been away on military assignment. She did all the housework, yard work and took care of their many farm animals. She also worked part-time outside the home to supplement their income while her husband was away (many times men and women who are deployed for the military take a cut in salary to do so). So, obviously she was no stranger to challenges. But after spending some time with her this afternoon, I can truly say that she KNOWS what challenges are! And I am really grateful to have been able to spend the afternoon helping her out because, not only did I feel like I was actually doing something worthwhile, but, it was nice to be able to visit with her and just talk like friends. I admire her for many reasons, and she is honest about her situation, but doesn't complain. She was patient with me, even though I'm sure I was fumbling around and not doing things very well. Days like today really make me think about how incredibly adaptable we are as human beings, and how much we can really rise to the challenge, when the challenge arises. Best wishes to Jill and her family!

JANUARY 29, 1987

Remember 1987? Reagan was president, "Carribean Queen" was playing on the radio, beta-video tapes were trying to gain in popularity, and who can forget the mullet! Actually, I think, for too many people, they should try harder to forget the mullet... let it go. Anyway, I remember a certain day in 1987, that changed my life forever- my first date with Jeff! The truth is that I had a crush on him for quite awhile, and had been waiting for him to notice me, ask me out or something. It was halfway through our Senior year of high school and there was still no sign of him making the first move. So, I decided to ask him to the girl's choice Sweethearts dance. I was really nervous to ask him because I knew that if he didn't like me, my hopes would be dashed and, of course, my life would just be over (17 year old mentality). My friend Chantal kept pushing me to do it, and we came up with what we thought was a pretty cute idea to ask him to the dance. But when the night came to deliver the message, I was freaking out! Chantal got me into the car and over to his neighborhood, it looked like everything was going to be fine, until we got to his house. I couldn't make myself pull into the driveway so I drove around the block once. But, I couldn't pull in after driving around the block so I went around again. After five loops around the neighborhood, Chantal was getting impatient and wanted to get the deed done so we could go home and watch "90210". We were driving around the block arguing, yelling, and maybe even slapping at each other as she tried to overtake the wheel and steer us into the driveway. Finally, I decided it was do or die and pulled up to Jeff's house. By this time I think a few tears had been shed, I may have even had scratches on my face, and certainly I was flushed and puffy around the eyes, but I marched up to the front door and rang the doorbell. I waited and waited... and waited. Then I knocked. Nothing. After several minutes of standing there dumbly, wondering what to do next, Chantal rolled her window down and yelled, "Just leave the damn thing on the doorstep, I'm freezing!" So, after all that drama, I didn't even see Jeff that night. He did get my invitation and accepted it. Not only did he want to go to the dance with me, apparently it was the opening he had been waiting for to finally ask me out, which he did, for the weekend before the dance. On January 29, 1987, we had our first date at the 49th Street Galleria (or 49th Street Gonorrhea for anyone who remembers it). We went with a group of his friends in an old 1960's stretch limo that had been converted into the "Master Muffler Mobile". It had no heater, and no seatbelts. We had a great time bowling, there was some definite chemistry, and the rest is history!

So each year, we have celebrated January 29th as our first date anniversary. Sometimes we go out, sometimes I get flowers, and sometimes we just talk about it and how long ago it was. This year, after 20 years of remembering, I think we both forgot! But, I also think it's okay that we forgot. We are still together, we are happy and we have built a wonderful life together. There are so many great and beautiful memories floating around in my mind after 21 years together, that I don't need to cling to any one memory to feel happy. But, I will say it anyway- happy late first date anniversary to Jeff, and thank you for the best 21 years of my life!