Hey Gumby, Wanna Dance?

So on Sunday was my husband’s birthday. I knew I needed to do a post, but what to do? My super awesome friend Christine provided the perfect tag. Thanks Christine!

1) Where did you meet your husband?
At a Singles’ Dance neither one of us wanted to go to. Does anyone really WANT to go to those? I was actually meeting someone else there and Tony was so doped up on Nyquil for a bad cough that I could have been Gumby and he would have still asked me to dance.

2) How long did you date before getting married?
We met on September 1^st 1995 and were married March 21^st 1996. Can you say quick engagement?? Hey, what can I say…after he met me he couldn’t function until I was his.

3) How long have you been married?
Almost 13 years

4) What does he do that surprises you?
The way he still looks at me surprises me. Like it’s the first time he’s seen me all over again. He writes me the most beautiful poetry.

5) What is your favorite feature of his?
His eyes are forest green and I just love his nose. I know that sounds funny, but it’s just an excellent feature…really I am quite a fan!

6) What is his best quality?
His honesty and integrity. He does the right thing all the time, even when it’s hard.

7) Does he have a nickname for you?
He calls me Beautiful or Clara.

8) What is his favorite food?
Meat with a side of Meat with a little Meat for dessert.

9) What is his favorite sport?
Football. Super bowl Sunday with his beloved Steelers playing may be a religious experience for him.

Watch this: Hey Tony, the Steelers’ suck!

Just kidding, they are so cool…really, I just can’t watch them enough. Please let’s watch another Steelers’ game…please…

10) When did you first kiss?
On our fifth date after I hit him upside the head in the Salt Lake Temple’s visitors center. (Want to hear that story?) I’m never one to rush things, but after five dates, come on! I laid my forehead against his because I am SO not forward or anything and waited for him to kiss me.

11) What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
Travel. We would get away anytime if we could. We love to talk about anything and watch movies, play games, and write. We go to our writer’s group every other Saturday together and it’s a highlight for us both.

12) Do you have any children?2 and I’m pretty sure they belong to us. Wait is that a Cheez-it box next to them? Yep, they’re ours!!

13) Does he have any hidden talents?
Him singing 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' is quite entertaining. Also, he's a great actor.

14) How old is he?
37

15) What is his favorite music?
Classic Rock. He’s a music lover. Everything from the Beatles to Pink Floyd to the Blues. Tony has music in his soul. He can’t seem to do any household chore without it…hmmm…

16) What do you admire about him?
His ability to have a positive attitude even when it seems like the world is crashing around him. He has such a powerful belief in the gospel. His testimony is stellar and affects everything he does. He is an awesome teacher and will explain things and answer questions in a way that I could never conceive of so that others understand.

17) What is his favorite color?
Blue

18) Will he read this?
Oh yah. I so appreciate how much he reads my blog and how supportive he is of it.

19) Who said "I love you" first?
He wanted to wait until I did I think. He alluded to it, but wanted to make sure I was feeling the same way.

Happy Birthday sweetheart. We’ve had an amazing adventure and some really, really, tough times. Through it all, I choose you again and again. Thanks for asking me to dance…

Fairly Funny Friday

Back in the day (circa 1996), Tony and I ventured East to the land of forest green, rolling hills, and crowded highways. He had gotten an internship with a certain love song singing, Kennedy canoodling senator. We had one car,a 1990 Honda CRX which carried everything we owned: 7 CDs, a bag of Doritos, and a dream, my friends. Oh, and we had love, which was great because we had to live on that. Money just wasn’t an option.

Senator CD signing at a mall near you paid a stipend of $600 a month. Now I know, in 1996 everything cost a little less. So it was really like $650 a month now- we should have been living like royalty! Nevertheless, we were really greedy and wanted food and gas, so I got two jobs to keep us afloat.

One of those jobs was teaching preschool, and after a couple of weeks I told the director that I was LDS (an acronym for Latter Day Saint as in Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for those of you who may be less familiar with the term.) She looked shocked and told me that was amazing! She promoted me to supervisor and I received a raise and I conducted the staff meetings and wrote some curriculum and she constantly complimented me and praised my efforts!

Wow, this laying out my religion thing was awesome! I would totally have to “share” the gospel more often. Finally, after a few months of this, the one other Mormon who worked there took me aside. “Rachel, when you told her you were LDS, she thought you meant LD…Learning Disabled.

OH.CRAP.

Sue's got a Very Funny Friday carnival going on so check it out. Thanks to B. for the Fairly Funny Friday idea. I know it's been over two weeks since my last post (that's like 114 years in blog world...my bad)

Electricity

As I sat with my little boy the other evening, I was folding socks. He was poring over the 2009 Road Atlas. I asked him how everything was going.
"Mom, I'm not a magnet."
I stopped folding and looked at him.
He said, "Let me explain it to you scientifically. Some people are magnets." He began to draw me a diagram. "Think of people as pieces of metal and they are always attracted to the magnets. I am like lightening. I am the electricity that is on the outside. I can be attracted to the magnets, but none of the metal is attracted to me."
We talked about the importance of electricity and if he wished he was a magnet. He shook his head no, but said he just wished sometimes the kids wanted to follow him during the games on the playground. I told him that electricity and magnets need each other. He said, "Mom, those are electromagnets and that is a completely different subject."

His 8th birthday is Sunday. I need him to know that although he may not be leading the games on the playground, his influence on others is profound. He disarms adults, is a kind and loyal friend, and the younger children love to play with him because he's inclusive and inventive.

Yes Conner, you are lightening. You light up the sky and make people stop and often watch in wonder. There is nothing I could ever do in this life that is more worthwhile than be you and your sister's mom. Happy Birthday son. Your future awaits... And can we have that conversation soon about electromagnets, cuz I totally don't get what they are.

That Was Soooooo 2008

Saying to the surgeon before gallbladder surgery, "I just don't want to eat crap anymore."

(See in 2009 no one would knowingly ingest that...ewww)


Going to the inlaws house and saying,"So how's married life treating you?" (Because that's literally the only thing you can think of to say) Them responding, "We're divorced."

(In 2009 one just wouldn't speak at all)


Being short and hanging up because you think the person on the phone is a telemarketer. Actually, it's someone your husband works with.

(In 2009 one would GO OUT OF THEIR WAY to avoid answering the phone if they didn't recognize the #)


Saying to someone YOU KNOW at the park, "Oh are these your grandchildren?"
Them saying, "No" and staring at you really hard because their oldest child just got married and they couldn't possibly be old enough to have grandkids and they are beautiful and talented and sweet!!

(In 2009 there would just be no words for this...the person should just stay home and not be allowed out.ever.again.)


Spilling an entire glass of ice water in your LAP at a restaurant with your friends on what seems like the coldest night of the year, and almost doing it again when your glass is refilled. Using your dear friend's baby's diaper to soak up the water for the next 3 hours.

(In 2009 one would learn proper etiquette on a girl's night out and would try to make sure the water was aimed toward their top half at the very least)


So here's to 2009- keep your mouth shut and your hands in your lap and you too can improve this next year. Here's to one day of no f aux pas or lack of social graces. There's only 364 more to go. D'oh!!

Christmasness Is Not Really A Word (But It Should Be)

I haven’t posted in a long time. I’ve been content to let all of your creative Christmasness permeate my soul for a little while. This year has been a tough one and I suppose it’s been harder to share. I didn’t send out very many Christmas cards. I sent out a few handwritten ones to family members and friends far away. I was going to include the following Christmas letter inside the cards, but thought instead I would share that here. So here goes:

Tony has kept super busy. An example of the nights he has been experiencing: the baby up coughing, Conner up losing his dinner, and me recuperating from surgery. There is a special place reserved in Heaven for a man who cleans up vomit two nights in a row, from two different people…or else a special place in hell experienced right in the moment. The bags under his eyes are mostly hereditary, but when you see him out on the road, move away a little bit because he hasn’t been sleeping well. He recently switched jobs and Human Resources is the next best thing to saving the world. I sometimes have to pull him out of the super high energy trance that benefits and employee recruiting puts him in. He started a new blog. Someone made a comment on it once and he’s still talking about it. It’s about politics, a topic that Tony only has a LITTLE interest in, so throw him a bone and check it out. The address is conservativegrange.blogspot.com. Tony rocks Rachel’s world and keeps her grounded and she still loves him even after 13 rather long years of marital bliss.

Rachel’s been running amok in the past year. Not running literally, because that would be a form of exercise and she has been putting that off. After a gall bladder attack that was her own fault really since she had tried to take her own life in a chocolate frenzied overdose, she had the offending organ taken out and is feeling much better. She manages to now belong to two book clubs, and one and a half writer’s groups where she dazzles (er…rather dazes) with stories of murder, mischief and camp. She is recovering from addiction to her own blog. That’s right admittance is the first step in recovery. She checks her own blog so much that the stat counter at the bottom is probably mostly her. When she’s not chanting “serenity now” while driving so that she doesn’t say anything else that could be construed as offensive or staying out past her bedtime giggling with pals, she’s molding young minds in the primary. She is grateful for her favorite calling as wife and mommy and loves those in her life.

Conner is mapping out the rest of his life. No really, he makes A LOT of maps: World maps, road maps, maps into different worlds, maps of major battles. Yes he realizes (we think) that he is seven years old, but believes in thinking ahead. How can he earn money for space camp has been a riddle for him to solve. He figures if he sells something for 5 dollars wouldn’t it be wiser to sell it for 10 so it won’t take as many to sell? He is approaching baptism and scouting and longer legs at lightening speed (well the legs not so much…but you just wait) He got top spot in the classroom Geography Bee and second overall in the second grade round and was delighted with the silver medal. Conner enjoys public speaking. He was the youth speaker in sacrament meeting and spoke for seven minutes. Mommy has asked him to not speak quite so much before she fully wakes up in the morning when he enjoys discussing important topics like the Revolutionary war, electromagnets, and deep doctrines of the church. He at least needs to wait until after breakfast so she can google anything (everything) she doesn’t know. We are so grateful he’s in our family and that he is thriving in school and with his friends who are so important to him.

Cecilia has only caused a few injuries this year. We upped our premiums due to the head butting incidents, but they are usually in church during the sacrament and inflicted on members of her immediate family, so we are not going to sue at this time. She can say 1,739 words- well maybe not that EXACT number, but at least 75. She has stopped walking like Frankenstein and occasionally lets us brush her hair. She can sound like a kitty or a dinosaur at any given time, and trust us, that’s talent right there. She gets a joke, refuses to eat anything green, is careful not to hurt herself when she throws a tantrum (because that would be silly), and is extremely adept at throwing a ball. She has a larger than life personality and is quite a social little thing and we apologize now to anyone who has a hard time concentrating in church because our daughter is oinking or dancing or pulling faces at you. It’s not you, it’s her. We adore her and love to see her and her brother interact. We waited a long time to have her in our family.

So there you have it. If you wanted a polished, perfect look at our family I’m sorry you didn’t get it. That’s just not us and we are grateful for that. The Lord has blessed us tremendously and allows us to grow and develop through out the year in the hopes that we will ultimately become more like Him. We frequently mess up and chaos and hilarity ensues, but we keep trying. We love our Savior, we love each other, and we love you.

Merry Christmas everyone! This will probably be my last post until Christmas so have a beautiful one.

This, That and the Other

Well, first things first. The surgery went well and I am slowly getting back to my life. My days of gorging myself on chocolate are over...at least it's been a few weeks and for me that might as well be forever. I'm still pretty sore and can't pick up the baby yet, but the surgery story and the gift basket I received are a post in itself. One of these days I will share! I have a few things I need to catch up on. I won a contest over at my super cool new friend Kerri's blog. It arrived a little while ago and I have loved reading it as I've been convalescing! A huge thank you to Kerri for an awesome blog and this great gift she sent. Thanks Kerri :D
Also, I have a couple of tags to catch up on. Kerri tagged me with a tag to show the fifth pic from the fifth pic file so here it is: It's Conner smooching his sister. Not the clearest photo, but the sentiment is there! Also In Time Out gave me an honest scrap award (soooo cool- thanks, love it!) but I have to name 10 honest things about myself. I just named eight random, but detailed facts about me, so I will keep this brief.
1-I have a temper
2-I feel bad about that
3-I can be sarcastic
4-I painted my toe nails and finger nails black in honor of my surgery
5-I don't paint my nails very well
6-I really want to jump out of an airplane
7-I don't like to cook
8-I like to win
9-I don't like to lose (yah, I really, really DON'T, but I try to be polite :D)
10-I check all the time to see if more people are following my blog...is that honest enough???
Thanks so much to all that have and if you haven't yet, just take a moment and click the mouse...it only takes a second. You don't even have to check my blog EVERY day or anything...it can be every other day...I won't mind :) hee hee (I'm pathetic)

*Also, my hubby has been a gem through this whole ordeal! The kids have both been sick, I've been down and I know he is just exhausted! Thanks babe!

'Gall'y What A Day

Oh Gallbladder we used to be so close. I admit I never really knew you all that well at first, but this last little while we’ve spent some quality time together. I know you must have been one of my favorite organs to hang out with. Your function of storing all my lovely Bile was much appreciated. I admit I really resented it when you brought your friend ‘Stone’ into the picture. Did you really have to introduce him to me on Thanksgiving and did it have to be in the ER? It wasn’t that I was jealous, but things started feeling a little crowded between us. At 1.6 centimeters he really threw his weight around. I wish he could have left us, but you made your choice and now I’m going to have to ask both of you to leave. I wish you could just go quietly and that there need not have been a third party involved, but I’m going to need some help when you move out. I’m actually going to need to throw some money at you (money that was earmarked for Christmas I might add) to help with the final goodbyes. I want you to know that I will miss you and I wish you and Stone the best. Oh by the way, thank you for the five pounds you’ve helped me to lose. It’s funny how your last meal requests have been applesauce, PLAIN noodles and alfalfa sprouts. We have until Thursday, so think about what activities you’d like to do together until then…sleeping…not eating…not drinking…resting…lying around. Yes, yes, Stone can come too…but only until Thursday. I’m already talking to my new favorite organ Small Intestines about Bile and I think once I introduce them they will make a beautiful couple. Dang, I HOPE they get along well! I’m not nervous at all, no not ONE LITTLE BIT. (oooohhhhh)