Moving Day

I'm sitting here waiting for the moving guys to show up. Today is moving day! We have always moved ourselves before (with neighbor help). Never had actual moving guys. It will be interesting to see how this goes today. I'm hoping they're pretty quick because we pay them by the hour--they main guy said he thought it would be about 5 hours. I always get a little anxious when we move because the bulk (or actually-- ALL) of the packing is on me. After all the big stuff and boxes get moved, I get to walk through the house and see everything I missed. Mark keeps telling me that there isn't any actual hurry since no one is waiting to move it, but I can't leave the house mostly empty with scattered junk for long, because that will be just when someone comes to see it. My job today is to direct moving guys in the old house; Mark is manning the new. Over in the new house, the carpet in the great room still needs to be stretched and pounded in (great . . . I have couches and furniture to go in that room--that guy had better be quick!). T Jack is over there right now putting together the theater; which needs to be done before the satellite guys show up and the rest of the concrete is being poured in the backyard, right in the way of the moving guys. Adam was installing some wood for the bench 'seats' in the great room and after majorly dinging the wall (ouch)he then told Mark that he didn't have the finish pieces yet and it would be about a week. So now there are unfinished wood edges in the middle of the great room; not too good looking for my party. Yeah-- it is going pretty smoothly so far . . . On a good note, I just went over and toured the house (cleaners were there for 11 hours yesterday!) and the rest of it looks fantastic. Mark looked over and saw that Travis had parked on the driveway and was perturbed . . . said "That driveway had not been driven/parked on yet!!!" I thought that was a little unreasonable since it is called a DRIVEWAY. But-- part of the deco/stained concrete had not been sealed yet, so Mark does have a good point; however, unless he blocks it off, other people wouldn't know that he wants them OFF HIS DRIVEWAY. Funny what bugs people. As for the girls, Jane is just waking up for the festivities, Meg has disappeared over at the neighbors and I have already made Madelin cry (apparently, I'm the "worst mom ever"). Am I the only one who has to arbitrate fights over bouncy balls????

Distracted

I've lost a bit of my blogger groove over the last week, which is kind of a bummer since I know if I do not write about something right after it happens (i.e. Christmas), I probably won't get to it. We've been out of town; we spent Christmas up in Bountiful with Mark's family. We had a fantastic time, but now that I'm home, I'm up to my eyeballs in upcoming events. The movers are coming on Friday and I have our annual New Year's party on Saturday. I usually put a lot of thought into the party and I am afraid that it has hardly crossed my mind yet because of the move. Moving is all-encompassing. I've got the internet set to be installed on Friday, along with the phone lines and satellite dish. I tried to spend today packing, but Jane was not cooperating much. She seems to be suffering from attentive-relative-withdrawal and had a couple long crying jags (not normal for her). In the middle of my big Christmas deco take-down and packing mess, I got a call from someone wanting to see the house. I really felt like saying "NO", but I just can't do that. So I had a whole fourty minutes to clean the whole house; I was still wiping down an upstairs sink when they landed on my doorstep. I had to hide the windex and rag in the bathroom cabinet. The house was actually presentable, which is a festivus miracle considering the state it was in when I took the phone call. Those people better buy my house after putting me through that whirlwind cleaning. Poor Jane-- she was crying the whole time I was cleaning and continued to cry while the people were in our home. The man said, "Wow--she is sure upset. I have a 6 month old granddaughter and she is just perfect and happy all the time". I looked at him and just said, "Thanks". His wife/girlfriend gave him an elbow nudge and he said, "ummm . . . sorry!". The movers come Friday morning, so I still have alot of work to do (please please please cooperate Janie!!!!)I'm guessing I might get to party planning on Saturday. Ugghh. I hate not being prepared.

. . . and sometimes "y"

I was listening to Mark sing some silly made-up song to Jane, and in the song, he spelled her name out "J-A-N-E-Y". I asked him how he spelled her name and he repeated the same. The problem (minor as it is) is that I have not been spelling her name that way. I have been using "J-A-N-I-E". Mark defended his position by pointing out that with his way, all you do is add a "y"; with my spelling, it changes up the whole word. I guess I'm open to change; the mantle of mother probably doesn't include the right to decide the spelling of nicknames. So will it be "Janey" or "Janie"; I don't know, but I better figure it out so that I don't have the consistency issue that came up these last few years with Madelin---because, believe it or not, this is the second time a "y" has come up in our family names.

I have always written "Maddie"--in journals, letters, presents, etc. Last year Madelin came home from school and on the top of her page was written "Maddy". I told her that her name was not spelled that way. In typical Madelin spirit, she told me that she liked it better with a "y" and it was her name anyway. OOOKKKaaay. Pointless to argue with that.

So to avoid a repeat of the above, it may just stay "Janey".
"Y"?? Because we love her.

Christmas Q&A

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate. Despite the fact that I do like eggs, I actively avoid most foods with "egg" in the title (i.e. egg foo yung, egg drop soup, egg salad sandwiches, and most definitely egg nog.)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Wrapped, of course. I understand the general theory that Santa doesn't have the time nor inclination to wrap presents, but I'm firmly in the camp that all presents should be wrapped, so as to maximize the fun (and noise, mess) of opening presents Christmas morning.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Only white lights on the tree and if we had house lights, they would also be only white. And absolutely hung straight, evenly and carefully, with no gaps or droopy strands (which is why we don't hang lights; too much work to make them look good)

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No. Where do you even find it??

5. When do you put your decorations up?
The day after Thanksgiving--except for the nativity set; that, we set up for FHE.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
I love the quiche that Mark's mom makes--yumm!! Also, my mom makes her "Christmas jello"; I don't know if it is my favorite, but it is definitely a tradition.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child.
I loved Christmas Eve at my Grandma Morse's house. Until we moved to Seattle, we did every Christmas Eve there. There were piles and piles of presents and we got to open them all that night. The next morning, we had regular Christmas at our own house, so as a kid, it always felt like I got two Christmases.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
No clue, but I do remember looking out the window of my Grandma Wright's house and seeing Santa Claus flying with his reindeer. Pretty amazing.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
No, but the girls always ask to open a gift. They give me this line, "Mommmmm. . . we always open a present on Christmas Eve." And then I have to tell them, "No, we never do." And yet, they still try to tell me that we do each year.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Eclectically- with all of the ornaments I have received over the years. I have ornaments dated back to 1978 (I was 5 years old at the time). Each year, we add another ornament for each member of the family and write their name and the current year on it.

11. Snow?
I like the idea of snow, but never really liked the reality much when we lived up north. I groove on the St. George snow (there in the morning; gone by the afternoon). No mushy brown mess, only the pretty white stuff.

12. Can you ice skate?
I have skated before, but I cannot remember when. Maybe at age 10 or so??

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I remember receiving my "Star Princess" banana seat bicycle from Santa when I was eight years old. It was purple; you can't beat that!

14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
My Mom's Christmas fudge. It is so addicting.

15. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I love all our advent calendars. As a kid, I remember waiting, so impatiently, for my turn to put the ornament on the advent calendar. There were five of us, so my turns were limited. I now have 3 advent calendars in our home so that my girls can each do one a day, during the month of December.

16. What tops your tree?
A metal star, which is often found lop-sided.

17. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Far Far Away on Judea's Plain, which my girls (when they were younger)would sing the last two lines, "Peace on Earth, will good to men".

18. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Yum, but just the peppermint ones and only during the Christmas season.

A Typical Show

Anyone with a daughter has most likely attended a "show". And if you have multiple daughters, the number of "shows" requiring parental attendance increase exponentially. These shows always include dancing, some singing, usually costumes from the dress-up box, and a great deal of mugging for the audience. I did it as a girl; I cannot even guess how many shows my sisters and I put on. One I remember in detail was a dance we choreographed to the music of Simon and Garfunkel, specifically, "Bridge over Troubled Water". We were supposed to be china dolls who came to life at nightfall and for some reason, we thought that putting vasoline on our cheeks made us looks like china dolls. Who knows why . . . . ?? My two girls have discovered that they can video their own shows and view them again and again. As can I. And if I have to, then you should too. Enjoy the show.

Halloween Parade

Look what I just learned to do! Posting video is super easy; I am so excited! This video is not all that great; it is an unedited clip of Megan in her Halloween parade. I was just testing the waters before taking the time/effort to edit video for my blog. Now that I know it works, I will be posting more video in the future.

Live Nativity at Tuacahn

It is one of our annual traditions: to visit the live nativity at Tuacahn. Grandma Patti, Grandpa Bob and Great-Grandma Lola joined us this year. It is usually freezing-- so this year we came prepared, including coats, hats, gloves, and 7 blankets (one for each of us). It turned out, however to be the mildest Christmas Tuacahn weather we've experienced in 6 year of attending, so Mark got to carry all the blankets. This, of course, was Janie's first Santa picture and Madelin wanted to hold her for it--which I was all for, because just think of all the contagious kids Santa's gloves have been touching . . .

Jane at 2 1/2 months

The Milky Way

I've had a bad habit for most of my life; though I was not aware of it until I got married. Just a few days into marriage, Mark discovered that I rarely screwed the lids back on jars, bottles, meds, etc. I certainly made an attempt at it, and it usually was a pretty convincing attempt because I always thought I did the job. But no, I really didn't . . . This discovery came the hard way--with Mark picking up the booby-trapped item and the contents spilling all over the floor. And it has been pretty much just rinse and repeat for the last twelve years. I really do try to fully secure all high risk items, but just yesterday I did a little detective work and found that the culprit behind the smelly refrigerator was the jar of crushed garlic, knocked on its side, leaking pungent garlic juice puddles through its (not completely screwed shut) lid. There is no one else to blame, so I guess I am still the guilty party. Garlic aside, having someone reap the fruits of my labor is sometimes pretty amusing, at least when it is not me. Watching Mark spill a Costco size bottle of Advil all over the floor is both noisy and entertaining (and this event has occurred at least 4 times during our marriage) I usually know when my unintentional lid traps have sprung when I hear a Fred Flintstone size "SARAH" coming from the kitchen. hee hee . . .

But last night, I was the victim of my own incompetence. It was 3 am; I was just a bit foggy, sitting in the glider, feeding Jane. The front of my shirt suddenly felt cold and wet. I shuffled Jane to the side, expecting to clean up the result of a wet burp, and I discovered that the front of my robe was absolutely soaked. I was confused, until I felt a small stream of liquid dripping from the bottle temporarily propped under my armpit. Guess who didn't screw the bottle together completely??? I had thought that little Janie had been efficiently draining her bottle, but instead I had been efficiently leaking it all over myself. It looked like I soaked up nearly 3 oz of formula before I figured it out. Hopefully I will eventually work out my lid issue---and then I will move on to breaking my other bad habit---forgetting to close cabinet doors.

Fergilicious

I stopped watching daytime TV years ago, but have just recently started turning on the tube when I'm feeding Jane. It is no surprise to find out that I have been missing very little . . . for example: The View (with Rosie and her extremely liberal agenda), never-ending infomercials, and various talking-head programs on VH-1, E! and MTv. Due to the quality of TV, I spend most of Jane's feeding channel hopping, trying to entertain myself without "making myself dumber" (as Mark likes to call it). Unfortunately, I do not always succeed. I have become more than marginally dumber after watching a video yesterday on the VH-1's top 20 countdown. Fergie (a.k.a. Stacy from Kid's Incorporated, remember her?) was putting on quite a performance with her aptly named song, "Fergilicious". I honestly tivo'ed part of it so that I could show Mark what an overdone, tasteless piece self-aggrandization that now qualifies as a top 20 hit. It includes such lyrics as:

I'm Fergalicious (so delicious)
My body stay vicious
I be up in the gym just working on my fitness
He's my witness (oooh wee)
I put yo' boy on rock rock
And he be lining down the block just to watch what I got

Now that's good writing . . .
Of course, Mark pointed out that the lyrics were near genius compared to her smash summer hit "My Hump". Right on. The whole Fergie thing just bugs me. I don't have to see her on TV; I don't have to listen to her music or buy her albums, but I still just want her to GO AWAY!

A Christmas blog?

I'm considering getting all my in-laws to set up blogs. It would be a fantastic way to communicate--I'm picturing linked blogs for all the kids. The westonunion group gets a lot of action, but I would put a ton more info into a blog than an email. More pics, more day to day happenings. I am extrememly guilty of not sending pictures or letting people know what is going on in our lives. Now they can just visit this page; very handy for me. I don't know if my own side of the family would use a blog--Emily, maybe, but I don't even have email addresses for Rachel, Jon and Ben. I don't know if they are just technologically backwards or just don't want to be bothered. Those three are pretty much the only people I know without email addresses. Get on it!!

I am going to have to email everyone and see if they're down with it. Maybe a few will convert.

Jane's Blessing

Jane was blessed on November 4th, 2006. It was a long wait to get her here, but now we have a complete set; three Weston girls. I like this picture; I think my hair looks good. So shiny (Thanks Staci!) And Jane looks cute too . . . of course. Jane was the 9th girl to be blessed in that dress. I was blessed in it, along with my sisters Emily & Rachel. Then Em blessed her three girls (Abby, Olivia, Eva) and I blessed my three (Madelin, Megan, Jane). Quite the tradition.

Birth of a blogger

I've been a bit inspired by friends to start a blog. Though I may be fairly web/computer savvy, I have yet to explore my blogging options. That and IM. I actively avoid IM; I have to use it for my job and it's not my favorite mode of communication. I just don't like to be instantly available to anyone whenever I sit down at the computer. I like to communicate on my timetable and instant messaging is too, well . . instant. That's just my generation gap, exposed.

And I figure blogging counts a bit like family history. It seems like it would make things a bit easier for those angels in heaven "to read from your journals" (or however that quote goes) because they could just present your blog in a powerpoint presentation. Your life history . . . click.

This week I am back on the gospel doctrine rotation. I've missed the active teaching. This time the lesson is on Nehemiah and Ezra (the last two historical books in the OT). I've thinking of doing an overview of the OT first, to put the whole thing in perspective, historically. People don't typically remember lessons week to week, much less the whole year in review. I got so much more out of my OT study this year because I didn't just study the stories, but how the stories fit together. When you do that, new themes just jump out that weren't obvious before (at least to me . . ) I probably should be working on the lesson rather than blogging. But Janie just woke up; time to feed the baby.