Brokenhearted

I try not to believe too much that I read, especially off the Internet or in trashy celebrity magazines. So when I saw the headline of Bethenny Frankel seeking primary physical custody of her daughter, Bryn, I knew I had to investigate. Next stop was Bethenny's twitter feed which had a few recent well wishes from her followers. But then I got to December 23 and knew something was up. "I am heartbroken. I am sad. We will work through this as a family." Noooooooo!

Despite my giving up "The Real Housewives of _________" a few years ago, I have still followed Bethenny on her reality television journey. I tuned in each week as she planned for her wedding and prepared to give birth, I watched as she became a business guru, I cried when Julie decided to go back to Pennsylvania, I laughed when I saw Jason's parents and how much Bryn looks like her Grandpa. Throughout all of that, I was a bit concerned about the speed of Jason and Bethenny's relationship but he seemed normal and real and she never had that. I was counting on the normal and real to make their marriage last forever but it didn't. And I'm sad.

How I want to remember them (I feel like I'm at a funeral)

I'm sad that Bryn won't have her family together, I'm sad that Mr. and Mrs. Hoppy lost one of their sons and now their daughter-in-law, I'm sad that Bethenny has had a hard life and longed for love from a mother and father (since she didn't get it from her biological parents) and won't have those figures in her life, I'm sad that Jason and Bethenny weren't "the one" for each other.

I do have to say though, that I'm not surprised this all came about. On the last season of "Bethenny Ever After..." the couple had some major issues together and individually. But there's always that part of you that hopes they can overcome things and beat the odds. I guess this just means a new concept for her show. (Speaking of shows, I'd love to go down for a taping of her talk show when it returns.)

Tom and Rita better not let me down.

And It Feels Alright

On my way to work yesterday, I was listening to the alternative station and was pleasantly surprised to hear something other than Muse or Mumford & Sons (even though I do like them...just hate how often they're played). Naked Eye by Luscious Jackson was blasting from my speakers and I, amazingly, remembered all the words.

My mind instantly went back to 1997, when my sister and I (I think she just went to support me) went to a model search at the Hilton down the freeway. We met in one of the ballrooms, they schooled us on which way to walk up to the judges(?), how to twirl, and what to do if they nodded or told us to stay. Based on my 7th grade photo that I recently shared with the world, it's no surprise that I got a nod. I'm laughing as I write this because I don't know if I went because I thought I could really be a model. Anyway, as we were leaving the hotel, we heard "Naked Eye" on the radio. We drove down the street to the mall and spent our night there instead.

Then while at work, I was sitting there, minding my own business, when my ears perked up and heard another blast from the past, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship.

I don't remember much of the before details except that I was 3 and had been playing in the backyard with my brother. We were remodeling our house at the time and our backyard had mounds of dirt covering it. Tommy and I were playing with the wheelbarrow and I somehow got bonked in the forehead by the handles and had to be taken to the ER. While lying down on the backseat of our Ford Econoline (like the one in Goonies...watch for it in the first 5 minutes), holding a red washcloth to my forehead so I wouldn't see the blood, I heard this song on the radio. My mom saw my forehead recently and said, "You still have the scar from the wheelbarrow!" I sure do, which is one of the reasons why I still have bangs.

But at least, after 25 years, it feels alright.

New Year's Eve

It was 15 years ago on New Year's Eve morning, when I went to a church basketball practice.  On the way home, my vision started going blurry and I felt the beginnings of a headache.  Within probably an hour after I first noticed the symptoms, I was throwing up as a result of a migraine, which I blame on the purple pants I was wearing (some believe my theory is crazy but when I got migraines on two separate occasions, while wearing purple pants, I decided to swear them off forever).

The rest of my day was spent in bed, sleeping in my dark room.  As the day went on, into the night, I could hear my siblings getting ready for their various dances or parties.

While my parents watched the festivities in the family room, unbeknownst to my sister (who hates vomit), I hunkered down in her bed and watched Dick Clark on her new t.v. in her room.

That was probably the worst New Year's Eve I've encountered thus far.

Which brings us to last night, which was one of the best.

We spent a majority of the night at LaVor's parents', where we ate Chinese food, played round after round of Golf and then Wizard, munched on popcorn and red vines, and The Lime got hyped up on tart sparkling juice, Oreos, and fruit loops.

Before it got too late, we went outside and lit the 8 boxes of sparklers we had from our wedding (6 years ago).  The Lime was hesitant at first, had fun, and then got smoke in his eyes and called it quits.  The paranoid person I am, I was convinced one of the anal neighbors would call the cops but we were fine.

After a couple more games, and episode after episode of Caillou, we went back home to ring in the actual New Year.  Before heading out to watch the fireworks on t.v., we all snuggled on our bed while LaVor and I asked The Lime what all of his favorites were.  We did that for about 15 minutes and I enjoyed every second of it.  He's getting so big and smart and I can't quite grasp how quickly time is passing me by.  I want to just bottle him up and keep him little forever.  I also notice I get emotional at the end of the year, each year, because it means his birthday is just right around the corner and I (selfishly) don't look forward to it.

We watched the fireworks show in San Francisco and caught glimpses of the ones in Seattle and Las Vegas.  The darn thing went on for a good 15 minutes and then it was time for the little dude to hit the sack.  

 

2012 has been kind to us and we look forward to what 2013 will bring.

Something About Mondays

Like I mentioned in the Christmas Festivities post, I had gone out on Christmas Eve to grab a couple last minute things.

While at Target, I spotted a parking space and began making my way toward it when the car coming in the opposite direction slipped right into my desired spot. Thankfully, there was another spot just two spaces down. As I passed the space thief, I caught a glimpse of a familiar face.

We exited our cars at the same time and I met him at his. "Are you Mr. ______?" I asked. With a slight hesitation, he said, "Yeah, I am." "You were my P.E. teacher 20 years ago," I said. He asked my name and said it sounded familiar. Then he asked if I had an older sister, which I do, and I told him he had coached her in gymnastics. We walked into the store together, catching up on what has taken place since my elementary school days.

When I got home, I told LaVor what had happened and he couldn't believe I remembered the teacher's name, let alone what he looked like.

While we were out today, we passed my Journalism teacher I had during my senior year of high school. An odd, interesting, funny man, that looks exactly the same, except with slightly shorter hair. We ended up eating lunch at the same place, and only sat two tables away from each other. I asked LaVor if I should say something to him but he told me that would be creepy. I now regret not saying something to the guy, at least to acknowledge I recognized him.

My mom confirmed to me last week that I'm not the only one who remembers names and faces. She said she could recite most of her teachers and she's been out of school longer than I have.

I'm a little anxious to see who I run into next Monday.

Temple Lights

We weren't "with it" enough to get up to the Temple to see the lights before Christmas, so we opted for getting up there before New Year's.

It was a bit chilly but thankfully we all had warm coats to keep us toasty. 

   
The Lime was especially fond of the lights that even resembled the color blue and the never ending line of airplanes landing at the local airports.

All the little white dots in the sky are airplanes

I hope that it's because the missionaries at the Visitor's Center can't assume that everyone who visits is a member, rather than us not exuding member-like qualities, but we were approached by every.single.missionary in the place.  It was a bit overkill but they were just doing their job.

We were grateful for the Spirit we felt, the beauty we were able to enjoy, the closeness of the Temple, and the bombdiggity food we got on the way home.

Christmas Festivities

A lot has happened in the last ten days and rather than causing more work for myself, I decided to consolidate it into one post.  Lucky you!

Now let's begin...

Apparently for at least the last four years, a local resident has had the desire to put on a live Nativity for the community.  After much work (actually, a lot of work...H.O.L.Y.C.O.W!), it was scheduled to debut but would only take place for four nights.  We decided to go on the last night (bad idea) and did a whole heck of a lot of waiting.

A live camel, straight from Idaho.

Once in the gates of Bethlehem, we waited some more until finally the show began and we squished together like sardines, trying to get even a tiny glimpse of Mary and Joseph.  If only I weighed 35 lbs., I would have been able to sit on LaVor's shoulders, too.

O' Little Town of...

Checkin' out the stinky animals

The Lime was in love with Mary.

A real life Ned Flanders

From what I heard and could see, it was overall a nice re-enactment of our Savior's birth.  I especially loved when the entire crowd joined together and sang Silent Night, at the end of the production.

After a few days of work and final Christmas preparations, we were ready to host my family's annual Christmas Eve Breakfast.  We passed on the sign holding this year but still enjoyed a filling breakfast.

My sister's cinnamon roll cake...AMAZING!

With children (and possibly spouses) napping, I made one last trip to grab a couple gifts and made it home in time to get ready to head to my parent's for Christmas Eve dinner.  They called and said their power was out so we invited them back to our place.  About 30 minutes later, they called back and said their power was back on so we went back to our original plan.  Except that when we were going to get on the freeway, all we saw were brake lights.  So we opted for an alternate route that ended up being another traffic trap, as the roads were closed due to an accident.  We eventually made it, just about an hour and a half late.

Dinner was eaten (our traditional spaghetti) and gifts were exchanged.

He was SO excited to get his very own package of Oreos!

Next thing to keep track of...The Lime's birthday.

Helping GrandPop open his gift.

Helping Omi open her's.

We were then off to LaVor's parents' where we read some stories, including the Christmas story from the scriptures, drank some hot chocolate and ate cookies before heading back to our place.

'Twas the night before Christmas...

Totally zoned out.

The last thing we had to take care of was the opening of pajamas.  The Lime had no problem executing that task.

Firetrucks!

Showing off his new backhoe ornament that Papa gave him.

Soon enough, he had fallen asleep and LaVor and I got things set up for Christmas morning.

What a surprise, Santa came and left us lots of treats!

The cookies that Santa just couldn't finish, and a note for The Lime.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Watching Daniel Tiger, while we waited for Grammy & Papa to come over.

Waiting in the hall while Daddy checked to see if Santa came.

He came!  And brought The Lime his #1 wish...a kitchen set!  (Although it's more of a cooking station...he is our son)

We opened up each of our Santa gifts and then piled everything else into Grammy and Papa's car and headed to their house to finish things up.

Gifts coming out of the wazoo.

A new bottle of balsamic vinegar.

"Hook & ladder...goes up, up, up!" 

Not an exciting gift but it's what he asked for (to brine & marinate his meat in).

A "tahar" (guitar)!

New boots!

A lime green grill pan to match his lime green dutch oven.

After opening gifts, we went back to our house so The Lime could take a nap (I ended up taking one, too).  Then we went back to LaVor's parents' and enjoyed a delicious ham dinner with potatoes, carrots, and brussel sprouts, only to be topped off with a homemade coconut cream pie.  A rousing game of Ticket to Ride was played before we headed back home and crashed.

We are grateful for this time of year where everyone seems to focus on our Savior, just a little bit more.  We are grateful for the family that we were blessed to celebrate with and to make memories with.  Our lives have been richly blessed over the last year and we know that it's through our Heavenly Father that we are able to receive such blessings.  And lastly, we are grateful for the ultimate sacrifice that our brother, Jesus Christ, made for us.  Without Him and his willingness to take upon all of our shortcomings, sorrows, pains, and sins, we would not have the opportunity to be an eternal family and return to our Father in heaven.

Now we're enjoying our time off together and are getting nervous about potty training.

December

At the end of November, my mom gave me a little photo journal to fill up for the month of December.

I've missed taking a picture a couple of times, mostly when I work, but it's been fun to look back and see what's been going on this month.

Playing football and bouncy ball before bed.

Walking through the toy aisle at Target.

Checking out his loot from the library.

Playing with cousins.

My work Christmas party.

His work Christmas party. I spent a good 10 minutes in the bathroom, cleaning the contents of my purse. A pen leaked everywhere.

Getting his teeth cleaned.

Getting a tire fixed.

The aftermath of eating a cupcake at our ward's Christmas party.

Got our flu shots.

Visiting Daddy at work (does he not look exactly like Zac Brown?!)

Playing store with cousins.

Dropping The Lime off at my parents' with a gorgeous sunrise.

The boys larping with wrapping paper rolls.