I've Been Tagged

My sister Jill thought that tagging me would be a great way to get my mind off my current situation. I think I will play along. I do, however feel it only fair to disclaimer that I'm currently a little hopped up on Lortab so I take no responsibility if things don't make very much sense.

*********

How To Play This Game of Tag: Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

*********

3 Joys

1. My three beautiful little girls, my very handsome husband, my family, and my friends.

2. Birthdays

3. Singing at the top of my lungs while I'm cleaning my house or driving down the road and having my girls join right in. (Sad side note though... I really haven't bought any new CD's since high school so that's really the only CD's I have. When you're in high school you don't really think about the lyrics so much, but when you hear your 5-year-old singing Heaven is a Half Pipe by OPM, it suddenly doesn't sound too great.)

*********

3 Fears

1. Teenage girls. I'm not afraid of teenage girls in general, just three in particular. I know I'm a little early to worry on this one, but I remember myself as a teenager and I was not fun.

2. Not having a food storage when the time comes when I'm really going to need it. Does this spur me into action? No. You might think it would.

3. Bugs. I know... it's lame... but my girls have to kill them for me. It should probably be the other way around, but it isn't.

*********

3 Goals

1. Total body health and happiness. I've been trying to get healthy on every level. I joined a gym right after Thanksgiving and have found that I love it. I have been trying to eat healthier and have given up my Wednesday night Ryan's-at-school-pity-party batch of no-bakes. I have actually sought out a primary care physician. (I wasn't too pleased with her so I'm technically still on the hunt on that one) And lastly, I have been trying to change my mental outlook on life. I want to be a glass half-full kind of gal and I'm testing the theory that this can be a trained response toward life's obstacles.

2. Journal ling - hence my blog.

3. This kind of goes along with #2, but better documentation of my life's events. I got a new camera with the intention of actually taking pictures of the things we do. I have also been keeping up on my scrapbooking. This is a huge one for me. I did absolutely zero scrapbooking until I learned about the fabulous world of digital. Now I'm finding it to be a whole lot easier to keep up. Maybe I'll actually catch up on the old pictures too. Maybe not... that may be a goal for another year.

*********

3 Obsessions/current collections

1. Blogging!!! Who knew it would be so fun?

2. Making my house and yard beautiful. Ryan's so busy that we don't get a lot done. I have slowly come to the realization that if I really want to love my house, I'm going to have to do the work myself.

3. Willow Tree figurines. I LOVE THEM!

*********

3 Random Facts

1. I really hate Dancing with the Stars. I'm sure many people I know would consider this Blasphemy, but I can't help it. It drives me nuts.

2. We've been planning a trip to Hawaii for the past 9 years (for our 10th anniversary) and we're now only a year away! I'm super excited. We're going with some really good friends, and it's all I can think about some days.

3. I hate a messy house more than anything, but I am the world's worst housekeeper. I can spend a whole day cleaning it to the point of utter shininess, and then 2 hours later it looks like I tornado came through.

*********

So there are my 3Things. I will tag Tamara, Mindy, Nicole, Robyn, & Ali. Please don't feel like you have to play along. I know there are tons of these Tags going around right now.

So Far, So Good

I'm feeling pretty good right now. Not much pain, but I've been keeping up on the Lortab. I feel like a fluffy little pillow because I'm wrapped in so much dressings right now. I can't get them wet until I see the doctor and that's not until Friday. For anyone who knows me, you know that's going to be the hardest part for me. I HATE being stinky and dirty. I can't get going in the morning until I shower. It's like my cup of Joe. Ryan has promised to help me bathe and wash my hair for me. :( He has been soooooooo thoughtful so far. What a good nurse he is. I think it's probably a really good thing that I can't see what I look like because of all of the dressings. It probably would freak me out quite a lot.

On the way to the hospital I started getting really nervous. It suddenly seemed very real. The new hospital is AMAZING! I have never seen a place so hi-tech. It was kind of a funny contrast to the little old grandpa doing my surgery. He is way cute. He came in with his little tape measure and started drawing all over me. He asked Ryan to eye-ball whether or not his markings looked level. I have already informed Ryan that he is going to now be personally responsible if I end up lop-sided. J/K.

When they took me back to the OR they started giving me several different medications that did different things. The first one made my face feel all numb like I had just gotten a shot of Novocain from the dentist. The second one made me feel super trippy. The anesthesiologist told me that's what it feels like to be high. If that's true, I am VERY happy that I never decided to experiment with drugs. It was not a good feeling! After that he told me I would be sleepy and that's the last thing I remember. I was kind of looking forward to counting down from 10 and only making it to #9, but I didn't get to do that. That was at about 12:30 and I didn't wake up until 5:05. Quite a long surgery. Ryan blogged about his experience. You can read about it here if you would like.

My mother-in-law was a saint and watched the girls for us from 10:45 until after 7:00. Thanks Cindy. I owe you BIG TIME. Also my ward brought in a dinner. It was delicious. I don't know what you'd call it, but it was a braided bread loaf, stuffed with spinach and bacon and all kinds of deliciousness Why can't I cook like that? I'm not sure who cooked that for us, so thank you whoever you are. I'll ask the R.S. president who it was, or if it was one of my readers, let me know if it was you. Maybe I can get the recipe. I tried to drill Cindy for a description, but we came up short.

I'm pretty tired now. I think I'll page Ryan and have him help me get ready for bed. He gave me his laptop to watch a movie on in bed. (I just watched 27 Dresses. It was really cute) I hate feeling so completely useless and helpless, but I guess I had better get used to it or else it's going to be a very long week.

Thanks again for all the support of my family and friends and all of the encouraging words you have given me. Good night.

A Letter of Apology

Ummm... I'm slightly embarrassed. I just reread my post from yesterday. I don't know what I was thinking. Talk about crazy! You probably were wondering if I had already started my pain meds. The answer is no. This is just a glimpse at Sarah under stress. Fun, huh? And what was that rant about lurkers all about? Sorry! I think what I meant to say was, lurk all you like. I'm glad you came to visit. If you would like to, please leave a comment because I'd love to hear from you. Have a fabulous day.

Strummin' My Fingers & Tappin' My Toes

I am a ball of nervous energy today. I keep looking down at my hand and it's strumming away! Dang it! I did read an article, however, that mentioned that you could burn up to 500 extra calories a day by doing that. Anyway... Tomorrow's the big day and I'm not sure what I'm feeling. I have my pre-op appointment today to ask all my questions. I'm not really freaked out, but then I start freaking out because I'm not freaked out and I feel like I should be a little more freaked out.... crazy right? The only surgery I've ever had was tonsils in 2nd grade. All I remember about that was waking up from anesthesia screaming for my mommy, and bad, nasty tonsillectomy breath. I don't really know what to expect. I'm going to go clean my house to get my mind off this.

p.s. I know there are lurkers out there. I see you visiting me... Please comment! People aren't commenting nearly as much anymore and it's making me feel like maybe I'm super boring. (Maybe not really) If nothing else, comment telling me that my post is ultra lame. Ok... don't do that. Just know that you aren't fooling anyone. I know you're there and I love hearing from all my visitors. (even if I don't even know who you are) OK... I'm off to clean my house (for real)

A Weekend Away

Ahhh... What a nice break from the real world. This weekend I went to a Digital Scrapbooking Retreat up in Park City hosted by Digital Scrapbook Memories. We stayed at the Park City Marriott, and I roomed with my sister Jill and my mom. It was a little tight in our room, and I was the lucky one that got the roll away bed. :( In all fairness, my mom did offer to share her bed with me, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Sorry mom. :) Ryan got off early on Friday so I could head up and start the fun, and then he was kind enough to watch the kids ALL DAY so I could stay up there and enjoy myself. I had visions in my mind of swimming in the pool, doing a little shopping... but it was back-to-back classes - a lot of work, but a lot of fun. We were up late last night and then up super early this morning to hit the early class. I'm exhausted so I'm sorry if this post makes very little sense. It was exciting to meet all the cute ladies from the DSM forum. What a fun group! Thanks April for all your hard work. It turned out really fun.

Sapphireberry!

I come from a very long line of Adult ADD, and there's a very good chance I'm ADD too (although I've never been diagnosed). I get bored, I feel stagnant, and I want change. The other half of that - the part that gets me into a lot of trouble - is that I'm also very impulsive. Yesterday morning I woke up and thought, "I think maybe I'll paint my bathroom today." The next thing I knew I found myself at The Home Depot with a gallon of paint in my hands. At that point I was committed. I went through a phase a year or two ago where I hated the lovely mustardy-yellow-brown color that I fell in love with when we bought our house. I slowly repainted the whole house a beautiful desert sand. I do love a good pinkish-tan, but it just wasn't cuttin' it for me in the bathroom anymore. Too drab, too dreary. I'm in a springy mood so I decided to follow the traditions of my Grandma Peck and paint my bathroom the brightest, most cheerful color I could think of. I chose a nice breezy blue. What do you think?

Allie was my painting partner and she spent the afternoon in the bathroom with me meticulously painting all of the areas she could reach. I was expecting her to use this time to tell me every thought she's had for the past 5 years (if you know Allie, you understand what I mean), but we worked in silence. When I finally asked her why she was being so quiet she said, "I guess I'm just not in the mood to be a chit-chatter today." She must have been concentrating pretty darn hard on her work to keep her so quiet.

Poor Ryan just shook his head when he got home and saw our beautiful blue bathroom. I guess after 9 years of this, he's just learned to take it in stride. I think I'm happy with it. Now I need to replace the outlets and the light switch covers. Tan is no good with blue, but it's definitely not drab and dreary anymore.

Here's the 'Before' with my

lovely Desert Sand paint. I

actually took this picture after

I sanded the walls, so that's

why it all looks a little rough.

And here it is again

from another angle

And here is beautiful

bright Sapphireberry!

And another angle

And here's the last one.

Happy Birthday Kaden

Happy birthday Kade. I can't believe you're turning 8 and getting baptized. It doesn't seem too long ago that I was holding a brand-new baby Kaden in my arms, and now you're so grown up. Here's my list of 5 things I love about you.

1.) You are a great story-teller. Every time I see you, you have a new fabulous story to tell.

2.) You always laugh at my jokes. (Even if sometimes it's just a courtesy)

3.) You are an incredible artist. I can't believe some of the amazing things you can come up with.

4.) You always have a project you're working on. Whether it be from Lego's, or paper, or K'nex... you're always building something.

5.) You're the smartest kid I know. You remind me a lot of your dad and of Papa in that you love to do research, and if it's something you're passionate about, you will learn everything you can about it. You teach me A LOT!

Keep being you. I hope you have a really great birthday today.

Who Needs a Dog of Your Own?

Last year when the neighbors' dog nosed his way through the fence I was very annoyed. Especially since the fence slat he nosed over was nailed up on our side and made completely inaccessible by our forsythia bushes. This year I might just change my mind. Audrey has fallen in love with that dog. She spends every second I allow her to be outside hidden away in the forsythias talking to him (or her... I'm not quite sure which). She has created a little dug-out in the bushes and has set up camp back there. She has dragged all her toys back there and she just sits and plays in the dirt, talking to the dog. Today I found her outside with Roxy's bowl of catfood feeding him. (I hope catfood isn't dangerous to dogs. I think she only gave him a few pieces. Yikes! That would be bad.) And for some unexplainable reason, Audrey has super-human strength and is able to open our shed door. Neither of the other girls can get it open so I have never bothered locking it. She has gone in the shed and gotten all of the balls she could find in there and thrown them to the dog. He obliges her by playing fetch and bringing them back to her. I'm sure the neighbors wonder where the 20 croquet balls and 15 tennis balls suddenly came from. I think it's hilarious. The chances of us ever getting a dog are really slim, so I'm glad she has her little 'goggy' friend.

The missing slat in our fence

Audrey playing fetch with the 'goggy'

It's a Go!

Before I begin, let me just say that I know there are many of you out there who are thinking, "Oh my gosh! Enough already about the breast reduction!" So to you I apologize profusely. But so many people have been asking me what's going on so I just decided to post another update. The breast reduction is a go! I will be having my surgery on the 29th (less than a week away). People are trying their darndest to freak me out, but I'm still feeling confident that this is right for me. I know it's major surgery and I've been reading everything I can get my hands on in order to prepare me for what's to come. If you're curious about it as well, click this link. (This is the website my doctor referred me to). Anyway... I'm not sure what time on Tuesday, I'll have to call in on Monday to find out. I also don't know how long I'll be in the hospital. My doctor told me up to 48 hrs depending on how I do, but I have read on the internet that many people are able to do it as an outpatient thing. The doctor's office is located in the outpatient building so maybe it will be outpatient... I'm crossing my fingers on that one. I have a pre-op appointment on Monday afternoon where I will be bombarding the poor surgeon with all of my many questions. Ryan is going to take all of next week off to help me recover. Thank you Ryan. I know it's not very fun playing nurse. I'm terrible at it. Hopefully he's more patient with me than I was with him after his PRK (Lasik surgery). Anyway... if you have any more questions you can post a comment and I will answer. Ok... writing about this is making me realize that I am quite nervous, but it's a good thing. I know it's a good thing. It's just really scary.

'Next Blog'

Have you ever noticed the 'next blog' link at the top of your blogger page? Have you ever actually clicked it? I was curious what it was for and decided to click it. Before I knew it, I was thrust into worlds far beyond my own. I went from New Zealand to Spain to Little Rock, Arkansas right back to my dear, sweet, little Salt Lake City. What a fun thing. I instantly found myself enthralled with the lives of perfect strangers. And how fun to know that even in countries far and wide, people are experiencing the exact same things that I am. I laughed, I cried, I was utterly inspired by the lives and stories of perfect strangers. I know it probably sounds a little sappy, but I really started feeling like we are all living in this world together. We may be very different, but deep down we are the same. So thank you Blogger for bringing us all together. What a magnificent way to learn about different people and cultures, and ways of thinking. I even found myself posting comments on perfect strangers' blogs. I figured that I love to get comments, so they probably do too. How neat that their stories can inspire me, thousands of miles away... People should know that their lives are making a difference. So if you get a spare minute or two, delve in to the world of 'next blog'. Maybe you'll find something that will touch your life as well.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Happy birthday babe. Ryan is 29 today. Whew! That's getting dangerously close to 30, and I keep thinking that I'm only one year behind him. We probably won't be able to see Ryan today at all (at least not the girls) because he left work work before we all woke up and he's going straight from work to school and he won't be home until after 10:00. What a fun way to spend your birthday. I guess we'll have to celebrate it tomorrow. The girls are very excited because I told them today I'd give them all $5 to buy their daddy a birthday present. When Ryan did this for my birthday, I ended up with 2 dozen plastic roses and 2 bags of cotton candy. I thought it was hysterical. I'm anxious to see what they pick out for dad. Happy Birthday Ryan! I hope it's a great one!

Scrapbook Pages of Audrey's Birthday

I will admit that three pages may just be a little excessive, but I had so many cute pictures that I couldn't decide which ones to use.

Audrey is 2

Today was Audrey's 2nd birthday. It seems so weird that my baby is 2. She's so dang cute though. Here are some pictures of her birthday party. My whole entire family came to help us celebrate. Unfortunately none of Ryan's family could make it. :( We really missed you.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Un Update (since I'm sure you're all dying to know)

I'm sure you've been biting your nails and are on the edge of your seat waiting to hear the news on my pending breast reduction. It's been a battle with insurance over the past couple of days. Apparently the doctor was planning to take out 2.6 oz. less than the requirement. I talked to him and he doesn't seem to think that taking out the extra 2.6 oz. will be any big deal. He said they can usually find enough 'extra' breast tissue in your armpit (umm... gross!) to make up the difference. Fascinating, huh? So they submitted the new weight back to insurance and it's pending again. Argh!!! When I called my insurance company they said it was pre-approved at the new weight and we were all set. When the doctor office called, they just told them it was still pending. Why is it that you can call insurance 10 times and get 10 different answers? Does this happen to anyone else? I guess they technically have 15 days from submission to come up with the pre-authorization. That would give them until the 25th to make their decision. Argh!!! The gal at the surgeon's office said everything looks good. She is pretty convinced that we're approved at the new weight. So... they set up all the pre-surgery stuff and I go in the day before to do something (I'm not sure what). I feel a lot better, but I'm still a little unsure as to whether or not it's all going to happen. They sure do make it hard on a gal.

My Poor Baby

The intense orthodontic work begins... Khursten had her first three teeth extracted this afternoon. They decided to break it up into two appointments instead of doing all seven in one shot. Their going to pull the four on the bottom on the 30th. She was very brave, but she's a little miserable now. Her little face is swolen. I'm making her a special dinner of strawberry Jell-o tonight. She's pretty excited about that, and she's been talking about the upcoming visit from the Tooth Fairy. Here are some before and after pictures.

BEFORE

AFTER

HER 3 TEETH

Waiting By The Phone...

WARNING!!! This post contains information that may be considered TMI so beware before you read on. If you're not sure you want to know this information about me... I would stop reading here. If you now find yourself inexplicably intrigued, feel free to read on.
I am currently waiting by the phone with bated breath. Why? Well, for the past few years I have been calling my insurance on a semi-regular basis inquiring as to whether or not they would cover a breast reduction for me. I know... I know... everyone is always saying how lucky I am to have these beautiful babies on my chest, and I hear comments about how well proportioned they are to the rest of my body, but to you all I say NONSENSE! If you were walking around with these you would know how I feel. Maybe they don't look as big as they are... but they are BIG!!! I won't post the actual cup-size, but let's just say they don't sell my size in a normal store. I have a constant battle with tension headaches and back pain and find myself laying on my bed in the dark with a heating pad more often than I'd like. I have tried everything from strength training and yoga to massage therapy and special-order bras, and I am done! Anyway... back to my story. A couple of weeks ago I made my usual call to the insurance with little or no expectations, but was extremely surprised when the gal said, "We will cover the procedure if it's considered medically necessary." What?!?!? This was the most exciting news I've ever heard. Of course it's medically necessary!! I jumped on the phone and set up an appointment with a plastic surgeon. The surgeon didn't seem to think I'd have any trouble getting approved through insurance and talked me through what to expect with the surgery. They would be removing about 1100 grams total (about 2 lbs, 7 oz). That's a LOT of weight. That was last Wednesday and I'm still waiting for an answer. I was told that I would hear back by today regarding whether or not I was approved. I just called them and she said everything was looking good, but it's still in processing. (whatever that means) The short and the skinny of it is that now I have to wait until tomorrow afternoon before I know for sure if this is going to go down. They already have the surgery scheduled for the 29th... but Ryan can't get the time off work and I can't really get anything going until I know. I'm dying here!!! This whole thing has been consuming my brain 24 hours a day ever since I called my insurance. If I don't hear from them by 2:00 tomorrow, they're getting another call from me. This could be life-altering, people! I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping for good news. Wish me luck!

Be Careful What You Say...

This morning we were eating breakfast and Khursten says to me, "Mom, breakfast is my favorite meal."

I responded with, "Well it is the most important meal of the day."

I could see she was thinking on that for a moment before she finally said, "I've heard people say that, but it doesn't really make any sense."

I asked her why that didn't make sense to her and tried to explain that it's important to get a good breakfast so that she can have energy for the day.

Her response was, "Well it doesn't make any sense because breakfast is just when you eat sugar. That's not important."

"Sugar?" I asked

"Ya. All we ever eat for breakfast is sugar. We have waffles and we pour sugar on them, we have toast and we put cinnamon and sugar on it. Plus, this box says that my cereal has 13 sugars in it."

Sure enough the delicious Froot Loops she was eating did have 13 grams of sugar in it (per serving and she had three bowls). I had to stop and take stock of what I was teaching my children. Sugar is the best meal of the day? Needless to say, when I went out for my weekly grocery shopping trip today, I walked right past the Froot Loops and the Captain Crunch and bought Cheerios and Wheaties. I hope this doesn't make Khursten think twice about having a chat with her mom and hinder our future communication. It kind of backfired for her on this one.

School

School, school, school. Please bear with me for a moment while I gripe. For those of you who don't know, my husband Ryan is in school working on a degree in finance. School is a great thing, I'm sure, but it is also getting really old. Please understand that I'm totally supportive of sending my husband to school. He assures me it will open many doors and I believe him. It's just so hard to do sometimes. It's been 2 years now and we're still not quite halfway through. I'm home alone again tonight. Just one of the many perks of having a husband in school. It's hard for me sometimes dealing with three little girls and having no husband around to help me. But I keep telling myself that there's really no great time to send your husband to school and that I need to just suck it up and deal. I'm hoping that once we get over the half-way hump that things will get easier and I can start counting down to the end. Has anyone out there been through this too? Any great pearls of wisdom to help get me through? Please just tell me that all the time and money we're spending will all be worth it in the end.

What a Day!

Have you ever had one of those days where you're only at home for about 15 minutes the whole day? That was my day today. At least I had some fun things to do while I was out. Here are some pictures of my fun (and busy) day.

My cute cousin-in-law Christi's baby shower.
Isn't she cute? She's having a little baby boy.

Grandma Vera, the matriarch of the Ellsworth family.
And yes... she is just as sweet as she looks in this picture.

Here are Christi and I together.

My cute Khursten

And my cute Allie too.

The two prego's!

The joys of wining dishtowels from a baby-shower game!

And of course, PRESENTS!!!

Then tonight we had the chance to go see my sister-in-law in a stake play. She played Maud Dunlop (?? I hope that's right. I lost the program) in The Music Man. It was reaally cute. She did a good job. Here are some of my best pictures. I was impressed with my camera. We were pretty far back and I still managed to get some decent pics of Mindy.

The incredulous look.

That's trouble with a capital 'T' which

rhymes with 'P' that stands for pool.

Right here... right here...

I'm not sure what she's doing here...

marching for some reason.

Pick a little, talk a little...

More gossip about that poor, sweet librarian.

There's trouble...there's trouble...

Mindy's hiding in the back (I think), but I thought this was so cute.

Lil' Ol' Me?

Taking a bow.

Thanks for making our day so exciting ladies!

The World's Most Awesome Toy

His name is Squakers McCaw. Fun name, brightly colored feathers. He gets you, doesn't he? You walk past him and you can't resist his charming little dance. So you decide he would be the perfect gift for your 5-year-old's birthday. Let me just tell you... this guy delivers. The girls haven't put him down for the past month. He plays a game where he repeats everything you say. The best part is that he remembers everything you teach him and he'll shout it out at random (in a higher pitched, parrot-like voice). Khursten and Allie are currently in the basement teaching the bird to scream at the top of it's lungs. Fun, huh? (And yes... I did banish poor little Squakers to the basement.) I'm looking forward to Squakers repeating their screams 3 octaves higher. My favorite part is when we forget to turn him off at night and he starts talking at 2:00 am and we think there are burglars in the house. Good fun. So... if you judge a toy by how much fun a kid has playing with it - Squakers is a 10.0 for sure. But, if you judge it by how much mom and dad love it....

My Shout-Out to DSM & the Wonderful World of Digital Scrapbooking

A couple of my goals for this year were 1.) Start journaling (hence the blog) 2.) Actually keeping up with my scrapbooking. I took my easter pictures and then just looked at them for the past few weeks. I couldn't get inspired to do my pages. But... luckily for me I have been introduced to the wonderful world of Digital Scrapbook Memories. My sister's sister-in-law April runs the company and she teaches free classes for anyone interested. On Saturday she taught a class and offered free drop-in type templates for everyone who attended. Wahoo!! I never knew I could love pre-made scrapbook templates so much. Took the thought right out of it. I got back on my scrapbooking horse and went to town. Below are the pages I made with April's templates. So for anyone interested in the world of digital scrapbooking here's my shout-out to DSM. It's so great. Go to http://www.digitalscrapbookmemories.com/ and join in on the fun. I lurked for a year on the forum before finally diving and posting. Now that I have, I'm having so much fun. The girls are so nice and they have been answering all my questions (scrapbook and non-scrapbook alike). So for all you stay-at-home moms who get a little lonely during the day, discover the fun of posting on the DSM forum. I know... I'm a dork... but it's fun and I'm making new friends. It's also a little addicting because if you post one of your pages on the forum you'll get like 10 people telling you how cute it is and what a great job you're doing. Keeps me motivated for sure. Thanks to the girls on the forum and great job to me for keeping up on my scrapbooking!