Summer Peaches!

Sometimes I wish I had an orchard full of fruit trees, and a garden full of strawberries, squash, and tomatoes. My grandparents ranch here in AZ is awesome: they've got a garden that always produces an abundance of lettuce and gourds, chickens that lay fresh eggs, and pecan trees too! But I had to settle for Safeway's sale on peaches yesterday. They felt nice and ripe, so I bought some for our Cookie Day today. We made the most delicious peach cobbler, using my mother-in-law's recipe. Alas, one of our Cookie Day girls moved away to CO last weekend, and we are missing her already! But we're determined to continue the weekly ritual. We've gotten used to that weekly infusion of sugar and social interaction!

Visiting Teaching

So, one of the many tasks of RS President is Visiting Teaching Assignments. I had put it off long enough, and now that there were several changes that had messed up the assignments, I figured I couldn't put if off any longer! I sat there, looking at the list of companionships and their productivity, I prayed for inspiration. I made a few notes, crossed off sisters that had moved out, and tried to rearrange things. Well, my brain started hurting. For some reason, I could not keep track of who was going with who. So I printed all the sisters' names off, cut them up separately, and put them on my seldom-used cork board with like a bazillion sewing pins. Voila! It was so much easier, and I patted myself on the back. Then I bragged to Chad about how cool it turned out, and I patted my back some more. Then I had to repent a little for my pride. So now, thanks to my AMAZING secretary/VT Coordinator Judy, the assignments are finished! Well...for now.

Mason's First Haircut

Mason may only be 4 months old, but his hair was getting a little funky. With Bree, I've never thought of cutting her hair because she's a girl. But Mason had these few hairs in different spots on his head that were like 2 inches longer than the rest of his fuzz. So I decided to get out the scissors. Now, cutting the hair of a baby is no small feat. He's constantly wiggling and moving his head back and forth, so it's actually kind of dangerous. With a little of Chad's help to hold his head still, we got through it, and the result is a cute, uniformly fuzzy head! As Chad often says, "No boy of mine is going to have long hair!"

My mom brought Bree back home today after watching her for 4 days while we've been sick. My mom told stories of Bree escaping from nursery with the other two girls in there, and running into the chapel and across the stage where the High Priests meet, all the while all three of them screaming at the top of their lungs! And then one night when my mom was putting her to bed, she told Bree sternly to get back in bed. Bree saluted, said, "Yes, sir!" and promptly layed down on the bed. I don't know where she gets this stuff! Then today when my mom and she were sitting on our couch, Bree got really close to my mom, looking at her face, and my mom said, "What are you doing?" and Bree looked at her for a minute, then pointed at her mouth and said, "Yellow teeth!" Now, my mom has a beautiful white smile, but I don't think Bree is familiar with the color white yet. We were laughing so hard!

Think Pink!

Yes, I sell Mary Kay. I use it all, and I love it! Here's something fun...Mary Kay is airing an awesome commercial to show off our brand new gorgeous compacts and colors! So, here's the Mary Kay commercial just in case you don't catch it during The View or The Tyra Banks Show!

New Features

I'm trying to realize my full blog-potential. As a result, I've added a few new features to the right. Please participate in my summer movie poll (I realize that this may be a silly venture since my blog only has a few readers!). And I'm pleased to announce that in the future you will be able to easily locate Twilight series updates, as they now have a home of their own. Also, I'm loving the new "My Blog List" feature that blogger offers--it lets you and me know, at a glance, which of my friends have blogged recently! So peruse, participate, and enjoy! (PS--if you haven't noticed, I updated my playlist recently too. Chad has had quite the 80's influence over me!)

Mononucleosis and the Common Cold

We're sick. All four of us. It started last Friday night, when Bree started running a temperature. I finally took her to an urgent care when her temp neared 104, and she was given antibiotics for an ear infection. When I got home at 11pm, Chad said that he wasn't feeling too good, which I mostly disregarded, not having the energy to care at the time. So Sunday Mason and I went to church, while Chad stayed home with Bree--both of whom were feverish by this time. When I got home, Bree's fever had finally lessened, but Chad's temp had him feeling like he was "dying." So I cancelled my Relief Society presidency meeting, scolded Chad for waiting so long to take something for his fever, went to pick up Bree's medicine at the pharmacy, and came home feeling stressed. Well, Monday Chad took Mason to his well-baby check-up, and had the doctor look in his throat. He came home to tell me it's probably Mono. We still don't know for sure, but we know it's not a bacterial infection, and his symptoms are classic Mono: fever, aches, severe sore throat, swollen lymph nodes.

Before you start thinking, "Who has Chad been kissing?" just know that you don't get Mono just by kissing. Besides, he probably got it from me, since I've had it before, and apparently you're a carrier for life with this thing. (Believe me, Chad gave me a hard enough time about getting Mono my first semester in college!). So things just kept getting worse for Chad, and Tuesday Bree, Mason and I all came down with colds. Now, I'm kind of a bad nurse at home even when I'm feeling healthy. And I'm usually up to the task of playing nurse-maid to my kids. But I am horribly unsympathetic to my husband when he's not feeling well, and it's much worse when I'm sick too.

So it's been a rough week--I pretty much told Chad he'd have to fend for himself, because I barely had energy to take care of myself and try to help the kids. Luckily, Bree started feeling better, but then we had an exuberant toddler climbing all over us. Thank heaven for my mom, who came yesterday to rescue us from dirty dishes, laundry, and grime, and to relieve us of our energetic little girl until we recover. I'm feeling a little better today, thankfully, and Mason only has a slight stuffy nose still. Chad however...well Mono is not kind or brief. I'm afraid I will have to try and be a little more sympathetic. I will ask him "What's wrong honey?" when he whimpers or groans; I will say "You poor thing," when he complains about his sore throat; I will agree that his symptoms are awful and he's probably the first to ever suffer symptoms of this severity. Well, at least I'll try.

The "Local Wave"

Sunday after church I packed up the kids and started the the hour-and-a-half drive to my parents' house. Chad was scheduled to work 10-hour shifts to cover the Memorial Day crowds at Roosevelt Lake, so I decided to skip out on temporary single-mom experience. It's always so nice and relaxing to visit my parents. Bree absolutely LOVES her "Gamma and Papa." And my sister Danelle's old room is a Disney wonderland complete with Pooh's 100-Acre Wood wall murals, piles of stuffed characters, a hug bin of small plastic figurines, and a plethora of Disney DVDs. Bree spends most of her time in that room, coming out for the occasional bite of food or a ride on "Papa's Tractor."

Well, on the drive there I was marvelling about several things. I chuckled as I passed a car-full of old folks standing next to a large saguaro cactus to get their picture taken in Mammoth. I suppose a saguaro is quite a sight if you don't see it every day. And then as I got nearer to my parents' house I wondered, "Who in their right mind would live here? Whose brilliant idea was it to stake claim here?" Oh, yeah, that was my great-grandfather. And the family just stuck around. My mom escaped for about 25 years, but she's back there again. Well, I guess it is sort of pretty. The 'river' that runs under ground makes those dead-looking mesquite trees miraculously come to life every spring. I also wondered how long it will take for the I-10 Bypass highway to be built, providing some much-needed pavement to the road to my parent's house (it's about a 20-minute drive on a rough dirt road).
What makes me smile, though, is the way all the locals on that dirt road wave to each other as they pass. It reminds me of when I was a teenager and my friend Mackenzie invited me to Lopez Island (one of the San Juan Islands in Washington's Puget Sound). Mackenzie informed us that everyone on the island waves when they pass one another--so you better wave or else they'll think you're a tourist. (I was tickled that this custom was mentioned by Wikipedia!). So as I drove to my parent's, I waved to the other cars. Some of them waved too, and I knew they were locals. The cars that didn't wave were suspiciously clean, a non-local dead giveaway.
So, even though I'm technically not a local, I did live out there for like 7 months. So I figure that gives me the right to participate in the "Local Wave."