My Amazing Deal

There is a tradition on Ryan's side of the family that during the Priesthood Session of General Conference, the women in the family go shopping. Last time they were here, I hauled Kallie around in the stroller--and she was tired and miserable for about the last hour that we were shopping. So, this time, I took the girls to Grandma's house and headed off to the mall with my mother-in-law and my neice.

I knew I was looking for something to wear to church. I've had the same church clothes for about a year now--and it's always nice to switch it up a little, instead of alternating the same 2 skirts and a few more shirts on any given Sunday. So, with that in mind, we searched through a couple of stores. While we were in JCPenney's, we were looking in the prom dress area, (for my niece), and I wandered by the clearance rack. A black fabric with white polka dots caught my eye and I had to take a look. It was a darling dress and in a size I thought I might fit into--so I took it into the dressing room.

The first surprise was that it fit! It's 2 sizes smaller than what I wore last summer--and it fit! I considered that a reward for all of the hard work I've put in to lose 17 lbs. in the last 2 1/2 mos., (for a total of 27 since last summer!). The next surprise was that it was 60% off. There was no way I was leaving that store without that dress.

From there, we went to an accessories store where I found, (actually, my mother-in-law found), the perfect necklace and earrings to go with the dress. And, I found a set of bangles for half-price in the exact same shade of green as the bolero sweater that came with the dress. I left the mall that night feeling completely successful and anxious to wear the dress.

I had to wait a week--but the day I wore it, I received SO many compliments! I felt amazing and felt great about myself all day that day. Here I am after church that day, (it's not the best picture, but you get the idea...):

Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival

Yesterday, Ryan and I went to the annual Tulip Festival held every year at Thanksgiving Point. We love to go walk around the Gardens there and see all of the amazing flowers--and I pretend I'm a photographer. Last time we went, Kallie was almost a year old and we had a little point and shoot camera. This year, we left the kids at home with my sister, Carissa, (thank goodness for Spring Break!), and took our digital SLR to try for some decent shots.

To begin with, we went to lunch at the little cafe at the Gardens. They have great food--and I LOVED the sweet potato fries! Best I've ever had by a mile. While we were eating, one of the servers emerged from the kitchen balancing a huge tray with 6 bowls of tomato-basil soup perched on top. I was fascinated by her ability to keep the soup in the bowls as she walked to the table of seven ladies across the room. A few seconds later, we heard a crash and the clattering and shattering of soup bowls. Apparently, she clipped a chair while bringing the tray down to the little stand they use--and there was tomato basil soup everywhere. Poor girl! The ladies at the table were SO nice about it--but the server was so embarrassed and definitely upset about it. The staff was amazing about getting the seven ladies settled at a different table and cleaning up the room so quickly. It was quite impressive!

Anyway--on to the rest of our day...we walked around taking pictures for about and hour and a half. I didn't think there were THAT many, but Ryan commented that I was snapping photos like a japanese tourist. When I got home, I realized he was right! I took 423 pictures in that time. In my defense, I'm still learning how to use this camera and was trying different angles, settings, and effects on the same shot. Out of those 423, most were blah, some were OK, and a few were, (at least in my opinion), really great! I'll spare you the 99% of blah and OK pictures and share the ones that I felt were pretty good. Let me know what you think! (BTW--I'm thinking about entering the top 2 into the Tulip Festival photo contest. They're my favorites! You think I have a chance?)

Tagged!

I just looked at Brittany's blog and remembered I've been tagged. So, here goes...

Things I like about myself:
1. My eyes--I think they're my best feature.
2. I generally see, (and expect), the best in people.
3. More recently, I have had the willpower and drive to take better care of myself.
4. I was smart enough to marry Ryan. :) (Best decision EVER.)
5. I'm a great cook.

Things I'm grateful for:
1. Ryan
2. My girls
3. The gospel
4. My camera
5. That I'm able to be a stay-at-home mom.
6. My bachelor's degree
7. My mission experience
8. Where I live
9. That I'm finally back to "normal"
10. Great friends

Now, if you have read this and have identified with some of the things I like about myself and the things I'm grateful for, then take the challege and complete this tag! There's no limit as to how many you should have on either list. And, if you do one list, then you MUST do the other.

Whitty-Bit

This is what we often call Whitney. She was such a tiny thing when she was born that I couldn't resist giving her this nickname. She still looks very petite, but is a pretty solid kid. Actually, this post isn't to muse about the size of my second child--but instead to give a little update about her.

Saturday, Whitney woke up with a fever--102.4--which responded well to children's ibuprofen, but wouldn't completely go away. Since she had absolutely no other symptoms--not even a runny nose, I decided to watch it and see how things went. Sunday, it was even higher at 103.5 and we once again gave her medicine to keep it under control. When Monday morning rolled around and she had the same temp as Sunday, I decided to see if it would break that day. In the early- to mid-afternoon, having not had any medication for well over the 6 hour limit, her temp was completely normal. So, I was pretty surprised when she woke up on Tuesday with yet another fever--only 101.5 this time. Since we have preschool here this week, Ryan took her into the health center.

While they were gone, one of my friends dropped her daughter off for preschool and, when I told her about Whitney, mentioned that her kids had had roseola several months ago--a high fever for about 3 days, and then they break into a rash. It sounded like maybe that's what Whitney had, but I hadn't noticed a rash.

When Ryan finally came home, the diagnosis was bladder infection--but we caught it very early, so it wasn't too bad yet. I wondered how this could be, seeing that we took her in on day 4 of her fever. Three previous days of a high fever doesn't necessarily say "early detection" to me--especially in regards to a bladder infection. Wouldn't you know that Whitney broke out with a mild rash yesterday! I think my poor daughter has BOTH roseola AND a bladder infection. They didn't diagnose it at the health center, but you can see the rash better today than yesterday. The good news is that once the rash shows up, the child isn't contagious anymore--at least that's what every medical website I've read today says. So--if your child was here yesterday while I was still under the impression it was only a bladder infection, I'm pretty sure she wasn't contagious anymore! (And, if she was, I am TRULY, TRULY sorry!) BTW--Did I mention Whitney is also cutting her 4th molar in the past few weeks? Yeah--being one is no fun!

Kallie-isms

Yes, folks, it's that time again--time for another installment of Kallie-isms. She's had a couple of good ones recently...

Wednesday night, I had an Enrichment meeting to attend. While I was gone, Ryan helped Kallie through the post-dinner, bedtime routine--part of which is to clean up her toys. As they were cleaning, Ryan tossed something in Kallie's direction so she could put it away. When she realized what had happened, Kallie walked over to Ryan, put her little arm around his shoulders and said, "Dad, I love you, but we don't do that." (We have a rule that we don't throw toys.) It made me think that maybe my teaching efforts are working...well, at least once in a while, when I'm not home.

One of Kallie's favorite make-believes to play lately is "Birthday Party." This stems from her Little Einstein's "Mission Celebration" video and the fact that her 3rd birthday is less than a month away. Yesterday, Kallie pulled out her little IKEA bundt pan and placed the little tart pan over the top. She sang "Happy birthday to you!" about 10 times, (just that phrase, no other words), to build up to the moment when she unveiled the cake. She dramatically pulled off the lid and handed the bundt "cake" to daddy--pan and all. Ryan, being the wonderful daddy that he is, gobbled up the entire air cake immediately. As she watched the events unfold, Kallie suddenly got a look of horror on her face, and said, "DAD! You ate the candle!!"

It's a miracle! (Yes--another one!)

Man, this week is just full of them! This time, the miracle is that Whitney is walking!!! She'll be 16 months old next week and finally got up the courage to walk today. She's had the ability for quite a while now--she just hasn't had the confidence to actually do it.

I was sitting on the floor and Whitney was standing by the couch. She had a book she wanted to hand to me, so I pulled my hand back a little to see if she would walk it over to me. She took 3 steps to me and then took 3 steps back to the couch! I was SO excited! Kallie even got in on the excitement--she clapped and then hugged Whitney and kissed her and just kept telling her, "Good job, Whitty!" and "I'm so proud of you!"

Tonight, when Ryan came home, we decided to give Whitney walking drills. She just kept walking and walking. And, before bed tonight, she walked from the family room into the bathroom to brush her teeth. I'm hoping that she'll be as eager to walk tomorrow as she was today.

BTW--just as a side note, I have to admit that Ryan was totally right. This morning before he left for school, he said, "I think Whitney's going to start walking very soon." When I pressed for details, he said that he didn't have any evidence to back it up, he just thought it would happen soon. Chalk one up to Father's Intuition!

The rest of the story

Well, it turns out that Kallie wasn't just overtired yesterday. While trying to fall asleep, she had complained about her ear hurting--but told us it was on the outside. We couldn't see anything, so we thought maybe she had bumped it on the side of her bed or on the windowsill. When she woke up this morning telling us that BOTH ears hurt, along with a fever to back up her claim, I made an appointment with her pediatrician. Kallie certainly had reason to complain! She has another double ear infection. This is the same thing she had about 7-8 weeks ago--so they had to put her on a stronger antibiotic. Let's hope this one knocks out ear infections for the rest of the year!

My Conference Miracle

Normally when conference rolls around, the number one piece of advice on how to get the most out of conference is usually: Have a question in mind as you listen to conference. But, every year I have the same dilemma. Coming up with a question is a difficult task. It's not that I have a perfect understanding of gospel topics or that I don't have a desire to learn and grow spiritually. The issue is that I just don't know what I don't know--and so I usually take a more relaxed approach to gospel learning and wait for it to come to me, instead of getting out there and looking for what I still need to learn.

This conference, however, I was determined to have at least one question in mind as I listened. And, after praying and thinking during the week before, I finally came up with a couple of things I felt I needed some guidance on. I sat down Saturday morning ready to soak up gospel learning for the next 2 hours. Well, it turns out that having 2 kids running around playing and trying to talk to you every 2 minutes isn't really conducive to listening to conference. Needless to say, I didn't get much out of it. I enjoyed the parts I actually heard, but nothing really connected with me. My girls took their naps perfectly between sessions...and woke up just in time for the afternoon session to go just like the morning.

This morning, I woke up, feeling slightly perturbed that I hadn't really ingested much of the gospel feast yesterday and felt a renewed hope and determination that today's sessions would be better. After all, kids are more subdued on Sunday, right? As the morning session started, I remembered this wasn't true--at least in our home--even on Conference Sunday. Kallie and Whitney were as busy as ever. And, Kallie was certainly disappointed that she didn't get to go to nursery on Church Day to play with the backpack, the glasses, and the house keys. (However, during President Monson's closing talk in that session, Kallie did say that she wanted to "take her testimony.")

My visions of an uplifting and edifying conference were dissipating as I put the girls down, once again, to nap between sessions. A few minutes later, Kallie started crying...and she wouldn't stop. Staying up until 11 p.m. the night before didn't agree with her and she was so tired that she just couldn't sleep. At this point, I was sure that the rest of my day was ruined. No conference answers for me--especially if Kallie wouldn't sleep. After spending almost all of the between-conference hours trying to convince Kallie to take a nap, she FINALLY fell asleep just after the opening prayer of the afternoon session. That's the first part of the miracle.

I realize that an over-tired, crying-for-hours, 2-year old isn't often seen as a manifestation of God's love. But, today, that's what it was for me. Because she wouldn't sleep earlier, she slept through the entire session. I was able to pay attention and internalize the things that were said in that last session of conference. It was during that session that every question I had come up with during the previous week was answered. That's the second part of the miracle. While I don't wish an exhausted young child on anyone, I'm really grateful that we kept her up late last night so I could have 2 hours of peace to hear exactly what I needed to hear today. What a miracle.

Book Tag!

Thanks for the tag, Charissa!

The instructions for this tag are as follows:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people

The book is "The Egg and I" by Betty MacDonald. (It's on my "Currently Reading" list on Goodreads, but I haven't actually started reading it.) Here's the sentence, (and yes, it's just ONE sentence!):

I doubted at the time that this would do any good since the bull, a wizened sallow little bookkeeper type without a vestige of the lusty manliness which is ordinarily associated with the word bull, quite evidently tried to make up for his lack of physique by telling the cows, "Say girls, if you'll follow me I'll take you to a keen restaurant up on that mountain," and no peppering of rock salt was likely to make him give up his only lure.

I don't know who has and hasn't been tagged for this one yet...so, if you have a book sitting close, go for it!