Highlights

My trip to Utah had it's share of highs and lows.
Here are a few of the highs.

1. Spending time in my Grandpa's studio.
(His palette - caked with paint)

2. Sorting through all of my Grandpa's paintings.

3. Seeing all of my extended family.
(me with Natalie & Shelby)

4. Hearing President Monson tell hilarious stories
about him and my grandpa.

5. Meeting Arnold Frieberg, my grandpa's life long friend.
He too had great stories about my grandpa I had never heard.
(here with Molly and Martha)

6. Having a break from my boys - I seriously recommend to all stay at home moms out there, to take a weekend away when at all possible. Required: that you leave your kids with their DAD! Not your mom or mother-in-law, your husband!
Now, Eric fully understands, after only three days what a big job it is and that he never wants it.

7. And of course hanging out with my fam, which I will see again in two weeks!!! Can't wait.


My lows came when my thoughts turned to my grandpa. Thinking of him only leads to thoughts of my grandma and especially Noah. I don't think of him as often as I should, but being at the cemetery made it difficult not to. I've always heard that time will heal all wounds, but I am waiting for that magical day when it finally does.

Non-Fiction

Fact: I am leaving town tomorrow to go to SLC for Gpa E's funeral services.
Fact: Eric does NOT want me to go.
Fact: Eric has never taken care of the kids by himself for longer than 3 hours.
Fact: I will be gone for 3 days.
Fact: Eric will be calling or texting me often.
Fact: Eric is a very, very capable dad.
Fact: I do worry my kids will be eating pizza for 3 days straight.
Fact: I am fully planning on taking 2 Excedrin PM each night I am away so that I can guarantee at least 8 hours, thus ensuring 3 amazing nights of much needed sleep.
Fact: I will miss my boys....all 3 of them.
Fact: You will miss my posts while I'm gone.
Fact: I will have cry face on multiple occasions during the trip.
Fact: Eric still has four living grandparents. I have two.
Fact: It's my dad's birthday tomorrow.
Fact: I love my family.
Fact: I can't wait to see them.
Fact: I am yawning right now.
Fact: I need to go to bed.
Fact: I am rambling.
FACT: BYU SUCKS! GO UTES!

TXGVNG

Thanksgiving day was pretty low key this year. I pretty much cooked all morning. I was in charge of the turkey, stuffing, rolls, Martinelli's and green beans. I think the turkey turned out better this year than last. I didn't stuff the turkey thinking it would prevent it from drying out, and I think I was right...it wasn't dry! Our friends brought the potatoes and dessert (Costco pumpkin cheesecake - yum!). The Packers won so it was an even better day. Cohen was sporting his Favre jersey in support of the the Green & Gold.

Ethan and Carter having too good of a time together. Ethan did not want him to leave. He was begging and pleading for me to let him have a sleepover. What? The kid is 4. I can't say for sure, but I do NOT remember having sleepovers when I was 4. Where did he even hear about sleepovers? I know I've never talked about them.

Foreshadower

"I looked out the window and what did I see?......

.... a very big BUCK starring back at me."

He was just wandering around in our yard this afternoon.
I think he was trying to send a message:

Buck: So, I hear you are going to the Bucks/Lakers game tonight...
Me: Yeah, and?
Buck: The Lakers are going down you know.
Me: Oh, really? What makes you so confident?
Buck: I've got an in around these parts, I've got a few friends who play for Milwaukee.
Me: Congratulations. Care to make a wager?
Buck: Nah, the Mrs. will have my head.

Buck was right. Lakers lost.

Tribute to Gpa E

My sweet Grandpa E passed away this past Sunday. I wasn't sure if I wanted to post anything about it considering the informality of this blog, but he was such an amazing grandpa I thought you all should know how blessed I was to know him. He was such a smart, talented, kind and extremely patient man. He always had a great story to tell, and as of late was actually free to tell them in their entirety.... my Grandma passed in 2003 and wasn't all that patient when it came to him telling stories. And now that they are back together I'm sure she is the one who is talking nonstop.

My favorite stories were about the war or about his time in the Sigma Nu fraternity house at the U. I rushed a sorority and every time I came over to visit he would ask me how the Sigma Nu's were doing. Let's just say, I never stepped foot in that house - I guess it had changed quite a bit since he had been there, but he was still interested to know what was going on.

Grandpa most of all was an artist. His father was a doctor and he enrolled in school thinking he would be one too. He was always so impressed that Eric could make it through all the pre-reqs and dental school because he claimed he couldn't pass chemistry to save his life. So, he took up art. Good thing he did. He accomplished a great deal and inspired a great deal of artists along the way. Love you gramps.

Here is an article from the Deseret News:

E. Keith Eddington, one of Salt Lake's most capable graphic designers, as well as one of its finest portrait painters, died Sunday in his home. He was 84. A student of Arnold Friberg and Alvin Gittins, Mr. Eddington graduated with an MFA from the University of Utah in 1950. Two years later he joined the U.'s art-department faculty, eventually becoming the lead commercial-art instructor. "When Arnold wanted a portrait of his wife painted," said Mr. Eddington's son-in-law, Mel Young, "he came to Keith and said, 'Will you do this? You're better than I am.' That's the kind of respect people had for him in the art community." During his two-decade tenure at the U., he also found time to pursue a highly successful career as a local designer. In addition, he was a partner in Circuit and Eddington, and eventually head of Keith Eddington and Associates, one of the area's most respected graphic-design firms.
In the 1980s, Mr. Eddington became a member of Brigham Young University's design faculty, helping the institution to get the new department up and running. As a young man, he fought in World War II. Assigned to military intelligence, Mr. Eddington drew maps and designed other publications that assisted military personnel in their assignments in Europe and the Pacific. A few of his noted portraits include "Father Escalante" (Utah State Historical Society), Gov. Norman Bangerter (Utah State Capitol), and his 6-by-9-foot painting of the risen Lord in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. "President Hinckley asked him to do it," said Young. "It's at the entrance to the Legacy Theater."

Grandpa E - December 2006 Self Portrait

Early bird special

Daylight savings has officially turned Eric and I into that couple that lives in a retirement community and strives to make it to the dining hall at 4:30 every evening for the early bird special. It gets dark here at 4:30. Pitch dark. Therefore, my body is telling me that I need to eat dinner. Tonight we were finished eating at 5:05. What?

What's next...

I hate daylight savings.

For the love of Oprah

Cohen and I made our tv debut a year ago today.
We made it on tv for roughly two seconds.
Still managed to get the royal treatment courtesy of Harpo.
No complaints there.
The episode is still on our DVR - that is how I know it was a year ago.
Who knew a DVR would keep a show longer than a year?
We'll have to watch it again today to reminisce.
Good times.

BFF's

Clean-up at Ikea

Eric had the afternoon off yesterday so we decided about a week ago to go to Chicago to meet up with his long time best friend Mike, who was coming into town on business. Unfortunately, Cohen started throwing up in the night which made me want to reconsider, but Eric protested and we went. See, without me there Eric would....
1. ...have no clue where he was going. True story - Eric was driving the car on our way to Ikea when he comments on the fact that he can't believe we have been coming to Chicago for 5 years and at that very moment I scream "Eric you're going to miss the exit." 5 years and he still has no idea where he's going. Come to think of it, he still doesn't know what channel Fox, CBS, ABC or NBC are. He could tell you all the LA networks channels though. Gotta love him!
2. ...have no spending limit. Therefore, I must go.
3. ...be bored, he is a very social guy. But who wouldn't be kind of lonely going to Chicago all by yourself? Just not as fun.

So we load up all the kids, who at this point we were kind of starving because we didn't want them throwing up. Cohen got restless though and we fed him a piece of bread. He seemed to keep it down so we were relieved. We got to the outlets and hit a few of the usual stores; Nike, Gap, Carters, but there wasn't too much to see. At one point I leaned down to adjust Ethan's pump holder and noticed that the cord was wrapped all the way around his belly and had been tugging at the site - ultimately pulling it all the way out. Screwed. I had just put that site in this morning and did not pack an extra. Nor do I have any syringes laying around. Uh oh.

So I test him. He's 140. Ok, not bad, he's not eating so we should be fine.

We drive on to Ikea where of course he wants to go to the kid zone and play while we shop. Good, that will burn off some sugar. So we start shopping. I get a few random things to spruce up the house for the showing I was supposed to have today. (The lady called me this morning a rescheduled for Saturday. Saturday? How do I keep my house clean until Saturday? Ugh.) We get to the lighting department and Cohen decides to puke all over the floor, himself, and the cart. Nice. Eric and I look at each other with this dumb stare, like what now. Eric sprints to the car and retrieves the change of clothes, etc. Disaster averted. But now we are thinking... Ethan, in the play place, pit of plastic balls, other kids, throw-up, yikes. Luckily, he did not follow suit. He did however get an appetite and wanted food.

By this time it's about 6:30 and Mike's plane was about to land. So we started to drive over to his hotel to pick him up so we could grab some dinner. I stopped at a pharmacy on the way to get a syringe so that I could give Ethan some insulin. Lesson learned, gotta pack an extra infusion set. It was good to see Mike. He seems to be doing well. Too bad we still have yet to meet his 3 kids. Whats that about Mike? We made it home at about 10:30. Good times.

Paranoid

I tested Cohen last night. This wasn't the first time. The first time was a total accident, I saw a finger and started testing, only to realize half way through that the finger was half as small as I am used to. I don't know where my mind was at the time, but it had left me. Last night I sought after that little toe.

Cohen hadn't been eating all day. All he wanted was his sippy cup, sound familiar? Granted the kid is NOT losing weight and hasn't started peeing through his diaper every two hours, but I have been noticing him stumbling a lot, smelling sweet and last night he had vomited all over his bed. So, I got paranoid. I told Eric he should go test him because I didn't want to know the result. Eric thought I was nuts and ignored me. Cohen had fallen back asleep so I too tried to go to sleep. Like that was happening. My thoughts were all over the place. I had the whole scenario played out in my mind. It went somewhat like this.....

Picture me hunched over Cohen in his crib, testing his toe, seeing a number in the low 300's, screaming at Eric to wake up, falling on the floor in a pile of tears, cursing heaven, swearing off having any more kids, at which point Eric slaps me to snap out of it. And the rest is all "a little bit of history repeated".

Now, who's to say this will never happen to me. I guess by posting about this it is somewhat preparing me for the possibility. If it plays out like it did for Ethan there will be post entitled, I told you so, somewhere around mid-February. In the end, Cohen was 92. I hate it when Eric's right, but in this case I didn't mind.

Like father, like sonS

Last night I finally broke down and bought a new vacuum. I am showing my house to a friend of a neighbor next week and need it in tip top shape. I have had this same vacuum since we got married in 99 and it is on it's very last leg. Grandma Bishop told us we should buy a Fantom and it was a great recommendation considering it has lasted almost 9 years. So last night we head over to Best Buy to pick one out and of course, Eric thinks we need a $550 Dyson. Uh, no. Like that's gonna happen - and what makes him think he gets to pick it out considering I can't remember the last time HE EVER VACUUMED! Anyway, they let me be in the vacuum aisle and after I was done deciding I walked over to tell them I was ready and what did I find.....

....Eric and Ethan playing video games together and Cohen left to find one for himself. Poor kid. But how typical of his father...that kid could have been snatched up and Eric would never have known. Ethan's favorite part of going to Best Buy is the vending machine at the exit that has all kind of crap in it. Last night was a special night though because he got this gem in his little plastic bubble that popped out of the machine. He even wore it to bed last night and to preschool today. The kid has a very keen eye for high quality, don't you think?

I know, I know.....

...it's been a while. Last weekend was kind of crazy. It consisted of me repainting the entire exterior of our house. Yes, all by myself. Eric refuses to paint. I'm not quite sure there is anything I refuse to do... is that fair? I need to think of something. I do hate shoveling snow. I guess that will do.

So after I finished the screen porch this past summer I figured I needed to repaint the house because; it probably hadn't been done in over 15 years, it looked kind of worn, we are going to be listing this house within a few months, and the paint that we had mixed to match the house (for the screen porch) didn't come out 100% identical so if you looked close you could tell a difference - and that drove me crazy. So I got to work scraping and sanding and Eric repaired a few spots that looked rotten. It was a chore to say the least. We have SOOO many windows, which I love, but they are crappy to paint. Hopefully, I didn't paint any of them shut. I guess I will probably never be around to find out.

So... one painting project down. I still have to repaint the ceilings in our living room and hallway because Eric has installed a bunch of pocket lights - and well they need it too. Oh, and don't forget the kamikaze bird that we found in our garage. The damn thing had a cut or something on it's head, got trapped in our garage and just started bouncing off the ceiling and walls. There is blood splatter ALL over our garage. I DO NOT LIE. Like I need to paint one more thing!! It creeps me out.

This past week I also had a ton of doctor appointments. A while back I had a CT for this stupid bump on my chest that I have had for over 10 years. It seemed like it was getting bigger so I figured that while I had such great insurance I might as well have it checked again. They told me the same thing - that it's just a oddly shaped rib that has a build up of calcium/cartilage and is protruding resulting in the bump. I'm thinking, good, at least I can just forget about it now... but then the doc says, but what we did notice is that your right boob is a ton more fibrous than your left and we are recommending a mammogram. What? I am freaking 30. Yes, I have huge, fatty, fibrous boobs, get over it. There are no lumps in them. So I figure, what the heck, so I go, they do an ultrasound of my boob and tell me to go home without the mammogram. THANK GOODNESS. My question: how do women who have like size A get mammograms? Then I went to by OBGYN because for the past three months I have been losing my hair. This has never happened to me before. Not even after I delivered my boys. And now it is almost 13 months after Cohen was born and it is getting bad. I clean out my brush at least once a week. And the drain in my shower is probably on it's way to needing Roto Rooter (ie..eric). So my theory, was that it was my IUD's fault. My doc of course says no, so we'll see what happens. Maybe Britney will be listing her wigs soon on ebay and I can snatch up a few when I go bald.

***speaking of doctors here is a funny random side note: Eric went in for a physical the other day and it just so happened to be Halloween. A little history, our general practitioner is a total goofball. He sees a ton of kids, which I am sure why he feels the need to have a "crazy hat Friday" every week and to dress up on Halloween. Picture this man (our doc) in this costume (buzz lightyear):



...Eric narrating... "so Dr. Rowe is in this plastic, buzz lightyear costume that smells like he just took it out of the package and every time he moves - even an inch it makes the loudest plastic noise, you know, when it rubs and creeks... so right off the bat I am thinking, this guy is crazy and had to keep myself from laughing. So he's looking in my mouth and in my ears and asking me all these questions and I am thinking to myself, I am talking to a moustached buzz lightyear right now. Then, he asks me to drop trow because he has to check for a hernia...so there I am, standing in an exam room, with my pants on the floor and buzz lightyear is cupping my balls and telling me to cough while he checks for a hernia."

When Eric told me that story I was crying/laughing so hard. I started to cry a little bit just now reliving it.

Let's see, what else? Oh, I finally did something with all the leaves I was collecting...


I'm wondering how permanent it will be. It's on a canvas and has received two coats, but I'm not well versed in the reliability of Modge Podge.

This weekend we have no big plans. Maybe a trip to Chicago is in order...

A little premature...

Should it be okay that two of my six present stations in my car are already playing Christmas music 24/7? This started November 1st. I do love Christmas music, but this seems a little early.

Now I know why!!!

The Amazing Race is starting this Sunday, a show that I have always been a fan of, so much so that it actually applied to be on it. This was a few years ago, and obviously, did not make it. I applied with Em, (I would have a hyperlink to her blog so that you can put a name with the face - but she is dragging her feet to start one - get on it already Em) she was very reluctant to do so but I convinced her to fill out an application and tape a short video with me while we were on a trip to NY a while back. It was the lamest video ever I might add. And NO there will be no video posted - I have destroyed all copies. So our tag line was that we were best friends/sorority sisters. After all, there had never been sorority sisters on any of the previous seasons. So I waited patiently for my call back.......Unfortunately,
I think the only person in my family that gets call backs is Ed.

Anyway, this seasons list of castmembers has opened my eyes as to why Em and I never made it on the show. Take this couple for example:

Kynt & Vyxsin "dating goths"
-from KY
-both waiters and receptionists
-the biggest challenge they face running the race: "keeping up with their daily make-up routine"

Note to self: dye hair pink, paint fingernails black,
change name to Q-pid, re-apply.

Shana & Jennifer "blonde friends"
- from LA
- actress & legal assistant
- their strategy to succeed in the game: "flirt their way through it"

Note to self: dye hair blonde, loose 60 lbs,
ditch "g's", buy tight t-shirt, re-apply

Kate & Pat "married ministers"
- from CA
- priest & deacon
"don't let the collar fool you - we can play dirty too"

Note to self: divorce Eric, find a life partner,
change my name to Chris, re-apply



Who's with me??