PICS!! Our mostly completed basement, our newly 5 year old son, pics from vacation

The most beautiful rainbow I personally have ever seen - doesn't even show how it totally fills the sky.  It was amazing!

Aunt Allison reading harry potter to the kids looking into the great room - AFTER PIC.  By the way - all these pics get unwieldy - so as you read this try not to become too discombobulated in how they jump around.  Its 12:30 and I just can't fiddle around with the pics anymore to make the order make sense.  Either I can't figure out the best way to do this, or blogger is stupid!

this is a before of the great room wall looking toward the study

AFTER:  Brooke and Tyler already at home in the new playroom...how do I know?  Its a DISASTER!  Reaquainting themselves with out of reach toys that had been in hiding for months during construction

this is part of the great room - the back area for future fooze ball BEFORE

looking into hobby/kids study area from the stairway

in the great room

from the great room looking at kids study/hobby area

from great room looking toward the kids/study hobby area

the temporary home for Mark and Allisons life in boxes - this table will be where a foozeball table will be SOMEDAY

Bedroom #1 in basement - Mark and Allison's current Master Bedroom - no doors yet...we are working on that one

Bedroom #2- now currently a playroom - the kids LOVE it in there...we have some cool car rugs on the floor - no carpeting yet

Here is Brooke annoyed at my picture taking

Kylie is 2 going on 20 and insists on putting together her own very INTERESTING outfits

Although I can't figure out how to get the pics exactly how I want them in this blog - here is the storage pantry when you first come down the steps - VERY handy...especially with my crazy couponing I STILL do

A look at where the bar and bathroom are by the great room

Her is Kylie - 2 - or as we call her "Ko Ko" back from church

In Kentucky in August at Red River Gorge with a break in the rain.  These guys were GREAT hikers!

My little guy is FIVE!

This pic cracks me up - from one camping night to another - eating PLAIN oatmeal with no complaints at a gas station parking lot

Brooke is SEVEN and in 2nd grade - what a grown up!

this is a before of the library and study area when you first come down steps - a pantry is to the left

Tyler chose a SANTA birthday cake.  Since he still can't have sugar,  I used Stevia in this one.  We used creme, strawberries, and raspberry coulis for the frosting.  He had THIRDS!  I had THIRDS!

this is the CURRENT office/ hobby area for the kids - and no flooring or doors YET...or baseboards - that a 2011 project for the most part!

looking at the office/hobby area from different angle

this is the long wall of the great room - now faux painted to look like the inside of the cheesecake factory/italy

AFTER:  the bathroom all finished!

this is the wall of the library studye AFTER with the large cubby hole that was debated over and debated oer.  It will be finished with dry wall and be sort of hidden away

this is the bar area - AFTER - well mid process.  It currently has a microwave!

This is the BEFORE of  the big wall of the great room framed out

this is the AFTER of the very first framed pic - looking toward the stairs

Brooke on her first day of 2nd grade - and VERY impatient to get to the bus

Our nomadic summer of craziness

Last summer it seemed like we had all the time in the world to take it easy.  We went frisbee disc golfing 4 nights a week with the kids, we went on lots of walks, and went several nights to the library.

This summer has been a totallly different story!

NAUVOO:

Brian skipped driver's ed teaching to go to Nauvoo with the EXTENDED Wayne Family for a 3 day excursion.
Since I used to live there, it was really like going to my 2nd home.  This time the kids appreciated where I used to "Go to Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade (as well as some others, but they can appreciate those grades for now).  They also appreciated where I lived when I was "7" and "5" - how old Brooke and Ty are now.  "WOOOAHHH!"

We went on the buggy tour which has TOTALLY changed - I liked the change - even the crazy crossing the creek part, feeling like you are totally going to tip over:  THINK LEGACY.  It is the same area that THAT wagon tipped over, which was not scripted.

We even had a TORNADO WARNING, unbeknownst to us.  I used all my feminine wiles to convince Brian to stop at the top of the hill right in front of the temple to take some awesome lightening shots of the gigantic storm coming in.  I did get some cool cloud shots.  The sky exploded before we got to the hotel, and we were made to sit in the HALLWAY with a ton of EFY and YOUTH CONFERENCE kids in the hotel away from all the windows and wait out the TORNADO warning.  I actually quite enjoyed it.  But back in the Chicago burbs, our front porch got BLASTED IN...its duck taped for now...

WISCONSIN DELLS:  

This is the EXTENDED Wayne Family Excursion #2.  We left the SAME DAY Brian finished teaching Driver's Ed for the summer to go stay at a friend's vacation house up there...unfortunately filled with MICE!! Tyler erupted in an asthma outburst, and we hadn't realized why until we saw a CUTE, FURRY, ADORABLE....EEEEEEEEK!.... MOUSE SCURRYING across the kitchen floor.  Every trap we put out from there out was filled within just a couple of hours....so that was a fun activity for the kids to watch...

However, it was SO SO SO SO AWESOME to go to the Indoor/Outdoor water park of Chula Vista.  I would TOTALLY recommend that to anyone going there.  We DID go on a Tuesday, but hardy any lines - I just have gone down 60 different times ALL the various slides, except for the superhigh straight plunge yellow one - no THANKS!  Brooke and Tyler LOVED IT, and Brooke has become my new partner in waterslide/ride thrills.  We BOTH like to lose our stomachs.  Brian's stomach is probably on par with a 3 year olds...or maybe a 63 year old...more delicate.

We also went to the Army Duck boats.  I had heard they were cool and a "must" but my experience was LESS THAN STELLER!  I was in the very front seat behind the driver, and felt the direct line of heated pipe exhaust blast out at me until I felt TOTALLY nauseous and sick.  Then Kylie fell asleep on me, her bare skin totally sweaty and wet against my legs.  She was draped across me, making me even more hot and feeling trapped. We went only about 7 miles per hour in the boat in the water, and I just envied the people in the JET BOATS who were going so fast, and having a swift breeze!  

We also did mining - very timely because Brooke has been VERY into whose birthstone is whose - and each of the kids, and our, birthstones were all represented.   Brooke was SO happy to have an AMETHYST in her mining bucket.

OHIO AND KENTUCKY:

So since my sister is living in Ohio now, we thought we would visit them and make a trip out of it.  What we DIDNT realize, was that the weather was going to be in the 100s and upper 90s, with dangerous heat indexes.  So walking around Cincinatti was a scorcher, but during the baseball game we went to it TOTALLY poured and cooled off to our RELIEF.   Our attitudes improved incrementally with each degree it dropped.

We camped directly following the game, in a tiny camping spot the size of a toilet paper square, that they charged us TWENTY DOLLARS to camp at!!  It rained the whole night, and all I could think about was how hard it was raining, the lightening with all the trees around us...and waking up every 30 minutes to make sure the kids were OK.  We got 8 people into a typical  FOUR MAN tent - not bad!!

OFF TO KENUCKY - we decided on RED RIVER GORGE - reading about how its like the "ARCHES" in the midwest.  We pitched our tent and got a campfire going...with MUCH effort on my sister Tami's part.  Just when it was time to put our tinfoil dinners on, it started thundering and the OMINOUS CLOUDS blew in with threat.  We cooked away, and during the intermittant downpours we scurried to get the kids in the 4 man tent for shelter, while the rest put covers over the fire and food to make sure it could still cook.  It was after all, our meal for the next 3 meals.  The rain would stop just in time for the kids to stop killing each other for a few seconds and they could go out and feel the freedom of the outdoors for 3 whole minutes, before the next downpour would start, and we would RUSH the kids back into the tiny tent...there were 5 kids including my neices.  After the pattern continued for the next hour, we were actually able to eat with 10 good minutes of no rain.  The sun decided to stay out for the next 3 1/2 hours as we got to go on 3 cool hikes - the kids did AWESOME.  Even accident prone Tyler did well - and no WHINING!  I couldn't believe it!  Our good luck didn't TOTALLY hold out though, it rained all night long!  Isn't there some rule that says it HAS to rain while you camp in a tent?

There were signs everywhere talking about some crazed maniac bear that closed the park down for a week, just days before we got there.  They hadn't caught him yet...so of course I laid awake thinking that every noise was a bear, or a snake.  There were several poisenous snakes that just LOVED the area, and so we had to make sure on our way to the outhouse at night we had a flashlight to look for snakes.

We woke up to EXCEEDINGLY GREAT DOWNPOURS, very similar to the the rains Noah experienced while the people of the earth were drowning.  That is the weather we had to pack up the tents, sleeping bags, and kids in.  And in this totally mangled, nasty,damp, smelly, frizzy-haired condition, we decided to go...where else?  THE OUTLET MALL!!!!!!  I made the mistake of trying to do an exchange at Aeropostal and they looked at me like "What HOLE did YOU crawl out of, you nasty lady?"  Seriously, it was appalling how I looked, and it was also APPALINGLY HOT!  Not a good combo - all I could think about was 2 THINGS:  Air conditioning...and  SHOWER.

The rest of the trip was more relaxing - we went to splash pads, had game night, went to my birthday lunch at BDs Mongolian Grill -YUM, and some Key Lime Cheesecake with Almond sprinkles from CHEESECAKE FACTORY - equally YUM!

CANADA TRIP/ JACKSONVILLE:  That brings us to the present.  Brian went on a brothers/dad trip out to Canada border - probably more in Minnesota.  Haven't heard a thing from the boy...his phone is of course dead.  I am at my parents house picking out flowers, decor, and cake pans,  for my sister Susan's wedding...trying to relieve my mom's stress a little.  I had a hunch a lot of the wedding stuff would fall to me - the cool, crafty, oldest sister with good taste...at least that's how I am choosing to look at it.

TONITE?  We are watching HARRY POTTER 1 ( Brooke is JUST getting into them!) while doing Susan's wedding bouquet and the boutineers.  I can't think of a BETTER COMBINATION!!

FINISHING THE BASEMENT A BIG PAIN IN THE....STUPID CONTRACTOR!

The Saga of our basement goes something like this:

A long time ago (March) in a basement far far away, there was a contractor who seemed to shine above the rest in price and availability.  He toiled long days with his partner (who is his son) and did a good job with framing, electrical and plumbing.  We were loving working with them.

And then something TERRIBLE HAPPENED- SUMMER CAME!!

Yes our beloved contractor who swore the drywall would be in by June 21st, dissappeared on June 11th.  Without any call backs, texts, drop-bys...we thought about issuing an AMBER ALERT!  We thought that might be a bit overboard, but now that 3 weeks...3 1/2 to be specific...have gone by we really think that might be the way to go.  He must have been ABDUCTED or something.

But no...its far worse...ITS DECK SEASON!  Those decks pay far more money (apparently) than we do...thus they take precidence.  We get it.  HOWEVER, when 3 weeks goes by without ANY WORD, when 3 major items were supposed to be done MANY MANY days ago...we knew it was time to play hardball.

So we  were given a strategy.  Contact other contractors and get a quote, and come back to contractor A and say " If you don't want to have to pay us the $XXX.XX we paid you to do XY and Z to our basement, then you need to contact ASAP because otherwise we have another contractor who will do it for the same amount.

So we carried out the brilliant strategy given to us by a WELL to do HIGH PROFILE contractor himself.  he said NO CONTRACTOR wants to pay that money, so they will come back.  This high profile contractor referred contractor A to us, incidentally.

Well, I guess our contractor must REALLY be DEAD, PARALYZED, or have AMPUTATED LIMBS.  Maybe he is laying in a forest somewhere with a big tree over him, or maybe he contracted the over-hyped SWINE FLU.  Whatever it is, NO WORD!

So we have one of our previous-quote-guys from way back in March picking up the slack.  THANK GOODNESS! It JUST so happened they could start right away, because two other jobs have hard wood on back order. 

So looking down the road a week and a half, Mark and Allison can move in and actually have light switches, some outlets, even a toilet possibly.  And FOUR WALLS for privacy.  We are not guarenteeing a door yet - maybe some cool beads...but our basement is FINALLY underway.

WHAT CRAZINESS!  (PICTURES TO COME!)

Though I am terrible lately about posts, here is what is going on with us!

OK - here is our rundown.

WE ARE STILL in the middle of finishing our basement.  I did just take a bunch of pics of the framing, plumbing, and electrical for before and after pic purposes.  We are supposed to get insulation and sheetrock (drywall) this week, but our stupid contractor (I can just hear Brooke in my head saying, "mom, we don't say stupid) was MIA on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and now TODAY!  We gave him a timeline of Monday - and lets just say we are RUNNING OUT OF TIME!

WHATS THE RUSH you ask?  We are going to Nauvoo on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on a Wayne Family trip.  The day we get back (FRIDAY), Mark and Allison (Mark is Brian's brother) are

MOVING IN WITH US

until they find a house, and have everything aligned to do that.  That way they could have their own space.  So I guess until we get everything straigtened out with the drywall and all that they will live in Tyler's room.  I hope they like Lightening McQueen bedsheets!

WE ACTUALLY GOT a pet bird.  Brian and I are NOT pet people.  So of course, born to us are THREE kids that are CRAZY in love with ALL animals.  Dogs, Cats, Turtles, Hamsters, Birds, etc.  So a family in our ward - having their 6th child, was trying to give away a cockateil that sings real songs, and dances when we sing, "Scripture Power."  You can tell he came from a LDS home!

I GOT RELEASED at Primary Chorister to our 100 kids that fill the gym (130 if they all come) and am now a ward missionary.  I had no idea that the missionary program in our ward is SO rocking!!  A family of 5 is about to be baptised - they are a family referral.  How cool is that!

MY SISTER JUST GOT ENGAGED!!  Last night - I am so happy for her :)  Brian had made a prediction in JANUARY that both my remaining single sisters would be married this summer.  It looks like he is at least 50% right!!

BRIAN MADE THE CRAZY DECISION to do Driver's Ed this summer.  He who has the weakest stomach of all time, said he is "JUST FINE" to do "behind the wheel."  He kind of hates it.  Some of his kids went behind the wheel without EVER practicing with a simulator or parental guidance.  He is the sole driving guidance in their life.

I AM GETTING TO THE SATURATION POINT with personal training with Diastasis Rehab (see http://beautifulafterthebelly.blogspot.com).  It is awesome and I LOVE seeing the fantastic results.  However, I think I can not take many more new clients for a couple months or my stress level will rise too much.  I have to keep an even keel and spend enough time with the fam.  BALANCE is a tricky thing, is it not?

I WON A TRIP ON THE RADIO this past March and Brian and I got to go to ALABAMA - BIRMINGHAM of , get this, a GOLF TRIP.  Now, had I been planning and paying for everything, I can not say I would EVER pick a golf vacation.  But it was FUN, and BEAUTIFUL.  I do have some spactacular pics I will try to put up.  I have never seen such a beautiful golf course - so hilly, and just amazing!  We just had to pay for food, so we got very adventurous and tried some funky places and funky food.  As we were eating a medley of fried fish with chopsticks and dipping sauce, Brian remarked that he would NEVER try half the stuff we eat if not for me.  He also mentioned we have "slightly different taste" when it comes to food.  We went on this giant statue, we visited the Alabama TEENY temple, and saw the movies "Letters to Juliet" which I LOVED, and "Robinhood" which I liked but was historically different than the other version by FAR!

KYLIE is gaining weight FINALLY and has SPIKED in her growth.  Her story of recovering from an early version of Crohn's is still just amazing to me.  We just have to keep her away from sugar and keep on giving her the FULL SPRECTRUM probiotics and she does fantastic.  So, that means, much of it is up to me to keep it up!  But she shot up 20% on weight (to 5% - YEAH, she is ON THE CHART AGAIN! and 40% up on height (to 50%).  She also turned 2!  How did that happen???

AND BEING THE NERD I AM, I am HIGHLY anticipating Twilight ECLIPSE.  I am addicted to "www.eclipsemovie.org" to Brian's chagrin.  He calls Edward, "My Boyfriend."  But I can't take offense, he also called Mitt Romney "My boyfriend" when I was actively keeping tabs on the campaign for '08.  At any rate, I am seeing a midnight showing with ALL the SCREAMING teenage girls, and then again 2 days laters.  Both with different sets of gals -but I am looking forward to it!

Yeah, I think those are the main things:)  Now that I have all that out, and DONT feel like I have to blog about each one, I might be more regular about posting.  And I will need a couple of days of look at everyone's blog that I like to follow - I am almost overwhelmed how behind I am in that department!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I LOVE Mother's Day!  Aside from my thoughtfulness of my family and other's thoughtfulness, I also feel like I get to let some things go and NOT feel  guilty about it.

First I got served Breakfast in bed by Brian and Tyler.  I asked where Brooke was and I was told she was upset by the choice made by Brian to serve me.  He had made toast, eggs, and chocolate mint herbal tea.  Brooke had wanted something "SPECIAL" and thought they should have done eggs on TOP of the toast...with cheese on top of that.  So I didn't see her for another 30 minutes while she commisserated in her room.

Brian surprised me with a dozen red roses - I TOTALLY was not expecting that, TWO different kinds of dark chocolate (which I can have ONCE MORE and not have CRAZY issues...thanks NAET!), and he also got me a DVD "Baby Mama" which I have only seen once, but had some GREAT laughs.

At the tail end of sacrament meetings, the YM passed out chocolate bars with the "Hersheys"  bars with the cover removed and a "Happy Mother's Day" wrapper was printed out and taped on instead.  Tyler asked if he could hold it during sharing time, and Brooke asked if she could hold it during her primary class.  I conceded...but found some parts of the bar mysteriously MISSING....

During Music Time in Primary with my 100 kids - we sang lots of Mothers Day songs.  I had the Junior Primary close their eyes while they sang "Mother I Love You" and pretend that they were singing to their mothers.  So I see 60 young kids all closing their eyes an all peaking a little bit as they sang and signed the song. It was SO DANG cute!

After church I redeemed a coupon from Brooke to finish making my bed. Then I felt NOT GUILTY at all as I asked Brian to cut some broccoli and carrots for the stirfry.

Brooke made me two cute cards for me telling me she LOVES the way I color and she loves the food I pack her for her lunches (which I sometimes pack the most RANDOM things...depending on what we're out of).  Then she sent me on a scavenger hunt with riddles to come find her.  I found her in 5.2 seconds.

After Dinner and a good game of "Ticket to Ride" - along with Brian's brother Ken, we hear Kylie waking up to a HUGE EXPLOSION.  Brian dutifully dealt with it.  As I hear the bathwater starting to run, I tossed in some wipes and a diaper, and then without ANY GUILT about not taking over the situation (OK, maybe a TEENSY touch of guilt) I left Brian to finish the bath and cleaning off fecal matter to lay down on the bed and CONK OUT!  It was DELICIOUS! 

I think my last stop I will pull out will be to solicit the kids to reward me with sparkling clean rooms.  As it is now, it looks like there is a sea of clothes, with a loan bed in the room.

Now, I will go eat my chocolate, give the boys haircuts, and enjoy the rest of my Mother's Day!!  I have the sweetest husband and the sweetest kids.  Why can't EVERY Day be Mother's Day :)

Funniest Eclipse "preview" ever!!

 Here is the funniest video EVER of Eclipse - you have to watch it - even if its just to make fun of it!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHfyad6Jitk&feature=player_embedded

Hands are FULL!

I have decided I don't understand how little boys think...at ALL!!

Growing up with one brother I understood only the variety that my brother was.  But RAISING a little boy has introduced me to a TOTALLY different world.  As I type a giant green truck is racing around me and loud "BEEP BEEP"s are echoing in my ears.

Some of the choice reasons I am struggling this week with understanding little boys and their thoughts?
Where to begin?

I go into said little boy's room to find clothes on the floor were wet.  We had to leave right then for the doctor's office, but I managed to insert a little confrontation "Why are these clothes wet?" "I dont know" ..I pause to smell the evidence.  "Did you go potty on these clothes?"  And darn it, the answer was YES and we HAD to leave right then to go to the doctor's office.  In his defense I don't think it was done with malintent.  I think he was shivering without any clothes trying to decide what to wear...and the cold air just got to him.

I found our new kitchen cabinets had been indented in a massive big line down the drawer with a toy.  Thank you, my son!

Brian found a toy bin, WITH toys, that had a very unpleasant odor, and um...liquid.  Yes - the toys had been urinated on.  Brian carried the bin upstairs and outside.  After a 1 1/2 HOUR long time out (I know that may seem alarmingly long to most parents, but since we had confronted this issue months ago and it resurfaced...it was needed) we had ds go outside with a big bucket of soapy water and clean every toy and scrub it, and the bin.  He was out there 30 minutes.  I don't think *knock on wood* we will be dealing with that one again.  But if we do - he knows what he'll have to do!

There is always the milder things - like waking up his baby sister when his friends come over, and pusing sister down occasionally, and opening every tube of toothpaste we own (thanks to couponing, thats a LOT) and using every single one, getting into mom and dad's protein bars, opening up 10 and eating just bites of each one, and dropping them in toy bins - yeah there is stuff like that too.  *SIGH* - I don't know how you moms with multiple boys do it! This one keeps me on my toes!!

Brian's Jack Bauer moment

You would think that life as a high school anatomy teacher and boys bowling coach would render itself to a certain safety zone.  However, things can happen when you least expect them to...

Brian was downstate in O'Fallon Illinois at Boy Bowling STATE - yes they made it this year.  The boys and most of the parents drove down very excitedly at what could be a highlight in (many of them) their senior year.  At the hotel after the big day of the tournament - a full day of game after game after game...the unthinkable happened.

One of the fathers saw a drunk driver ram into their car in the hotel parking lot.  He had been inside with Brian and some of the other parents.  He ran outside to confront a man who was poised for a nice HIT AND RUN affair.  The father came toward the vehicle, and just as the drunk driver was in the process of turning the car to drive off, the father stuck his hand through the window and somehow grabbed the keys. 

Well, This guy was getting very riled up in his intoxicated state and tried to POUNCE on the father with a fury.  With curse works flying in this agitated state, Brian and two of the fathers pinned him up against the nearby hotel exterior wall.  Brian saw a huge knife in his jacket, and grabbed the knife from the man before it could be used against them. After they had the knife and the keys he got out of their grip, and then said to the father,

"Do you have good health insurance?"

The father looked up to see another knife he had extracted from his person, and had it hoisted above his head - ready to throw it right at the father's heart.

Luckily, the police had been called and just as the knife was about to be thrown, the policeman grabbed the knife from the man.

Brian explained what had happened with the two knives and how it was an attempted assault.  (He was actually holding the knife in his hand when the policeman drove up, which could have looked bad had there not been other witnesses)  The policeman, instead of pursuing that (even though he was now holding the drunk driver's knives in his possession) he began to perform a drunk driving test on him, having him take steps and what not. 

Brian and the other dads were incredulous that he wasn't being charged with attempted assault.  They watched for a moment, and the drunk driver looked up during his "test" to see the father was looking. He said roughly, "What are you looking at" and then DOVE at the father in the MIDDLE of the test. 

Finally, it was at THAT moment, that a 2nd and 3rd set of policeman immediately put him in one of the cars and handcuffed him.  The bowling boys, meanwhile, getting everything on camera from the balcony above on their cell phones.  This turned out to come in handy as the questioning of witnesses commenced.

So, in the words of Brian's principal - who is a huge black dude - "SO - YOU ARE A HERO."  And so he was!!

The MICE Fiasco

Yes - we have (hopefully now PAST tense) mice in our attic.  Yes, you remember correctly - our house is only 8 months old.

So one night I heard scratching and them fumbling around.  I FREAKED out.  We never had that kind of thing happen EVER since we've been married.  So I TRIED to wake the sleeping log (Brian) up.  I told him there was something in the attic.  I told him several times as the noises became more assaulting to my sanity.  It was literally 2 in the morning, and I was still curled in a fetal position, listening intently to the scratching, scurrying, and other noises I dared not envision in my mind.  Sleep fled from my mind.

My cute sleeping log, I mean husband, told me it was "JUST MY IMAGINATION"  and it was "JUST THE WIND COMING THROUGH THE VENTS- As IF!!

So, several nights later of these crazy noises, I actually was able to time waking up Brian, keeping him awake for 10 seconds, while the noise happened above our heads.

Then as I was cutting Brian's hair in our bathroom, he HEARD IT in full consciousness while I was changing settings on the razor.  AH HAH!  Now we were on the same page!

Luckily one of our friends who takes care of this stuff - pest control - came over and gave us his full expertise, to which we are eternally grateful.   He put some cool peanut butter poison that dehydrates the mouse and causes them to leave the house to look for water.  He saw evidence of mouse, tunnels in the blown insulation, droppings, and entry ways into the house. I was glad we had answers and some GREAT POISON down.

I wish that was the end of the story.  BUT ITS NOT....

So the next night, Brian was with his HS BOYS BOWLING TEAM at State Finals in St. Louis (crazy story for another post) and then ...

IT BEGAN.....

I heard the strangest animal noises of my LIFE and I began to wonder if a totally different animal was up there than I previously thought.  I heard almost human like exertion noises, sounding as if it were pushing something extrememly heavy across the attic...

followed by tapping noise...

Every once in awhile I would hear this strange whinnying noise - I FREAKED OUT!  I did not know mice made THAT noise.  I thought they only squeaked.

I began to doubt all I ever knew about mice.  Or maybe it was a opossum....or a racoon....or a squirrel...

I DIDN'T know.  It was a LONG night.  I literally prayed I would be able to sleep with freaky animal noises occurring right above my head.  I imaged with all the exertion noises I would hear, that it would chew through the ceiling or something.

The next day, I texted Brian a series of FREAKED OUT TEXTS about the horrible night it was.  And I was STILL hearing the noise.  At one point it even seemed like the noise was coming from the computer in our room..but then I looked above the computer at the ceiling and then realized it was coming from the area right ABOVE the  computer.  GREAT - it was only 5 feet away from me.  PERFECT.

I took a bath listening to the exertion noises, the tapping, and the occasional freaky whinnying.  It was a very NOT relaxing bath.  I again pictured crazy scenarios with these noises.  If that mice wouldn't eat those peanut butter things, or didn't DIE, maybe it was WAY bigger than previously thought!

Then the most EMBARRASING MOMENT OF MY LAST 12 MONTHS CAME:  I went to the computer to turn it on, and there before me was....

My daughter's BELLA SARA HORSE website was on the computer.  ONLY THE MONITOR HAD BEEN OFF AND THE VOLUME WAS UP , so I had been listening to BELLA SARA HORSE WEBSITE noises for the past 12 hours.

I was SOOOOO relieved, and also felt SO UTTERLY STUPID....but then relieved again...and the SO UTTERLY STUPID AGAIN...and then SOOOO relieved.

Happy ending - I have not heard a "mouse" since that night!  (OR A REAL MOUSE!)

UPDATE: NO CELIAC?!?!??! Pediatric Enterologist confirms....

So this debacle has taken more twists and turns than chutes and ladders!  After we thought we finally knew what was wrong with Kylie - fitting the description PERFECTLY for Celiac Disease, we got the lab results back.  NO celiac disease.

Meanwhile, we had her on the nutritional regimen - Heavy Duty Probiotics, Digestive Enzymes, Vit D3 - she was doing fantastic.  I monitored her very carefully.  She was putting on weight fantastically.  She gained 1  1/2 lbs in 6 weeks -which is VERY fast for her, being as active as she is, and considering it has taken her 4 -5 months to put on EACH lb for the past year.  I began to see her cheeks getting actually CHUBBY - it felt so rewarding...

THEN, something happened.  On the same day three things occurred.  I took her in for the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella immunization), I put her on almond milk for variety, and she ran out of probiotics.  We have had on her an alternate immunization schedule, where you get the M,the other M, and the R totally separate from each other - waiting a few weeks in between.  I wasn't even thinking about that ....but....

That night and for the next 5 days were ABSOLUTEY AWFUL.  After her digestive system was performing beautifully - everything normal - she suddenly had a very adverse digestive reaction.  Everything was pure liquid.  She would wake up totally covered from head to toe - she went through 10 outfits a day - everything smelled like rotting flesh. She would have BM after BM - all pure liquid.  I was sick to my stomach.  I felt that everything she had gained was being lost.  I felt totally helpless.  Luckily after 3 days of this, one of my friends who goes to the same dr. was able to get the probiotics for me.  After one day, she became normal again.  Her appetite not quite what it was, but at least, she became normalized again.

Meanwhile we were referred to a pediatic enterologist.  I was nervous they would slap her with a steroid PX or some kind of meaningless PX - but I was wrong.  After explaining the situation, and after he looked at her, and the celiac lab results...he concluded she had a digestive bacterial infection and that the probiotics have been taking care of her.

What I DIDNT mention was that after getting treated through NAET, she can actually have wheat, dairy, yeast, gluten WITHOUT having crazy BMs.  She actually had the labwork done after being treated for those.  So, all I cared about NOW was the pediatric enterologist opinion of things as it NOW stands.

So the prognosis - she is doing fine and looks healthy.  Keep her on the probiotics, feed her a LOT (which I always have -the other day she had 4 hotdogs in 2 minutes!), give her plenty of fats - avacados, good oils (which I HAVE been),   and if she has another "episode" then I will go back, otherwards, no need.

The bad news?  She had lost 1 lb 2 ounces after the crazy post-immunization debacle.  She undid most of her gaining, so it will be an uphill battle again to pack the lbs on her.  BUT, after technically a 4th opinion on her, and with her NAET progress, I feel like we are moving forward.  She has been doing beautifully the past 2 weeks, and had been the prior 7 weeks before that.  So she had a little set back - but NOW - let the weight GAIN begin!

the MONIQUE factor...its not pretty

Yes, we are a disturbed lot.  That is what too much Christmas vacation does to someone!  The white haired lady is my mom's mom - Grandma Wright.  LOVE HER TO PIECES.  She looks so Carol Channing in this picture of her.  One of my sisters, Susan, is in one of the shots.  And Tyler and His Cousin Abby are the boy and girl in these MONIQUE FACTOR shots.  Yes, too much time, so little to do....

I have NO more excuses now!! Here are some ACTUAL pics from Christmas - don't go into shock!

Yes! I am SO excited! I bought a Canon Rebel XT from one of my photographer friends since she is upgrading. Ironically, its the same camera my dad bought 3 years ago - the same in EVERY WAY! So we had fun talking shop, and he taught us everything he knows. Some of it is STILL over my head, but I have been reading the camera manual - something I usually try to avoid because it seems boring - upon my friend's suggestion.

And I have learned alot - but I can tell I have a LOT LOT LOT left to learn. I didn't get a lens CAP in the deal...or a camera CASE, or a UV filter thing....and the viewfinder is cracked...but I got a STINKING good deal so I don't mind those things. I have been admiring pics on my friends' blogs forever LUSTING after their technique and know how. Hopefully I will be able to join the ranks! Here is Christmas at my parents house :)

DIAGNOSED: Celiac Disease for our cute Kylie

So, this is a BIG contributer to the reason I feel like I am sort of drowning in my own life! BIG BREATH:

Kylie has Celiac Disease. We took her in for her 18 month appointment to a new Pediatrician. SO MUCH BETTER than the last pediatrician who made me feel that the reason Kylie wasn't gaining weight was because I was feeding her a "low fat diet" - and I needed to put butter and oil on everything she ate.

So THIS pediatrician was great - he listened to her history, what she was allergic to, symptoms, health concerns and told me it was CELIAC DISEASE.

What is CELIAC DISEASE? I was sort of familiar with it. When I got my AMA nutritional credits, they did have a VERY DRY speaker who addressed this. Sad to say, he was so dry I tended to nod off during his presentation.

But here is what it is:

Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. If you have celiac disease and eat foods containing gluten, an immune reaction occurs in your small intestine, causing damage to the surface of your small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients.

Eventually, the decreased absorption of nutrients (malabsorption) that occurs with celiac disease can cause vitamin deficiencies that deprive your brain, peripheral nervous system, bones, liver and other organs of vital nourishment. This can lead to other illnesses and stunted growth in children.

So this is why Kylie is 18 months old and only 19 lbs. And get the runs whever she has wheat, gluten, or dairy.

She also has to get her thyroid checked.

So if you have been reading my blog in the past year you will know that I took Tyler to an NAET specialist (allergy elimination technique) to get rid of his allergy induced asthma. He is totally better, just can't have sugar yet.

At any rate, we took Kylie the next day to the NAET doctor who is FANTASTIC. She came up positive with neuroscensory muscle testing with CELIAC DISEASE, COLITIS and that the body was rejecting the process of producing GROWTH HORMONES.

So since this thing can lead to stunted development - physically, neurologically, physiologically, it is VERY good we are finding this out now.

She is on a VERY strict No gluten, yeast, wheat, dairy diet, and no canned foods. And she has to get on very concentrated probiotics, a digestive enzyme to eat away the mucus lining in her intestinal track/stomach, and D3 vitamin to start absorbing nutrients, and a growth hormone JUMP starter. If it sounds expensive, it IS.

But I am looking through the long range lens and getting my little cutie pie better. So far she is not affected mentally or with her motor skills. She is just VERY small in stature - still below "0" on the child tracking chart for weight. For height - she is like 10%.

So I feel lucky that we have the tools to reverse this thing - to treat the components creating the antibodies in her body through NAET, and then jumpstart her immune system, digestive track, and her growth hormones.

So while it seems like a pain, I really feel like I was prepared to handle this one, especially after Tyler.

RESURFACING FOR NEW MOON

Ok, I am resurfacing in my seemingly insanely busy life (I knew it would get this way once September hit!) to blog about going to see NEW MOON tonite.

Yes, I wanted to do the whole MIDNIGHT showing thing, but it did not work out with the other girls I am going with. We have been planning to go together for ONE YEAR!! Yes - and we also plan to go NEXT YEAR to Eclipse, which just got done filming 2 weeks ago.

And I did hear officially that the NEW MOON midnight showing ALONE brought in a little over 26 million, which is a record.

I have thoroughly enjoyed being a TWI-MOM as they call us. When I teach my fitness classes, at least 2 or 3 of the classes, we will work out to the twilight or New Moon soundtracks - then I have an excuse to see who the other twi-moms are!

I am a nerd, I know, but its FUN!! CANT WAIT TO SEE THE MOVIE - 10 o clock showing BABY!!

I AM SO IMPRESSED WITH MYSELF...

...I know, that is not something you admit about yourself. But as you can see from my last post, I have gotten into the whole coupon thing. AND, you might surmise that one of the reasons I have been poor to post is because I am going through what they call the "Coupon honeymoon."

Did you know there was such a thing? Well, it is true. This is what I did at MEIJER (like SuperTarget) the past two days:

14 Loaves of 100% Whole Wheat PEPPERIDGE FARMS Bread
75 Cans of soup: Cream of Chicken and Mushroom, Tomato and Chicken Noodle
12 AVACADOS
8 LBS of Honey Crisp Apples
1 Imitation Vanilla
1 Lindt Candy bar
1 container LIME JUICE

GRAND TOTAL: $11.65

Yes - I am pretty darn proud of that because its the ONLY way for me to do food storage. So w are set on bread for at least 2 months, Soup for the winter, Avacados for a week - GUACAMOLE anyone? And apples for 2 weeks - HONEY CRISP at that! YUM!

Anyway - if you break up my time into an hourly rate of what I had to do - it still was pretty darn good. If you go to Meier today - they still have the bread and soup deal :) Buy 5 cans of soup + PF bread and get $5 off next order. It rolls FOREVER. Pair it with a coupon - you will be under everytime and have to make up for the difference with some other food. LOVE IT!

I have entered the world of...CRAZY couponing!

I did not think I would. Yes, I learned from the "Grocery Guru" in Utah where he would get entire Thanksgiving dinners for $3.45 for $70 worth of food. But it seemed to confusing to try and figure out what was on sale and what I had coupons for, etc. So, I decided I didn't buy the stuff he talked about ANYWAY so why even put energy forth.

I heard the ladies in my ward (church) talking about getting ketchup for $.15 and toothbrushes for $.10 and thought - thats nice. Good for them.

But, I was totally WON over when they did a coupon event this Thursday at R.S. mtg. The girl talked about how she would never pay for soup, toothbrushes, deoderant, razors, feminine products, toothpaste, shampoo, granola bars, cereal AGAIN. She talked about how it was like a game and it was fun. It took her 2 hours a week to organize and check up on a couple website a couple times a day.

She showed how she organizes everything in a binder with baseball card holders, and every coupon in its correct section. Well, that didn't sound bad.
She talked about on some of her purchases, she actually had a NEGATIVE amount she owed and had to buy more things just to get it to a positive amount.

Well, since we just moved and have to REBUILD our food storage and replenish 72 kits, I thought - this is the PERFECT way to build a 2 year supply. I don't mind putting 2-3 hours in a week to beef up on 2 year supply of not just food, but also toiletries, toilet paper, etc, for FREE or for VERY LITTLE.

So, I DID IT. I started and had my first Walgreens experience taking advantage of the Register Rewards. I spent $25, got $23 in register rewards, plus another $5 off purchase of $30 good tomorrow and Wed, where I will get the same products I got today to get another $23 in register rewards and stock up on the sale items. What did I get - a REALLY good razor Brian needed, 2 bags Halls sugar free cough drops - (I usually need 1-2 bags in the winter) toothbrush, floss, raw almonds - 4 canisters). So tomorrow when I make this purchase, it should cost me $23 (which I get for FREE after register Rewards (RR), plus the $5 off, and I get $23 more RR, and I will stock up on chicken broth, tomato sauce and halloween goodies $7 worth for $2.

I also got free Panda express meal on Friday, and free Redbox code on Friday.

I was SO excited when I handed the guy at the register 12 coupons, although he didn't look at happy as me to initial all of them. I saved $10 on top of it all in coupons.

Here are the website I learned about - they are ADDICTIVE - but I love them. Some of them are Chicago based, but can give you an idea:

www.hip2save.com
www.mashupmom.com
www.hotcouponworld.com

I know there are others -but those guys tell you HOW to actually MAKE money by buying things you would get anyway.

I'm committed at least for a year to build up food storage. After that, we'll see :)

Anyone else do these CRAZY coupon deals?

Muscle woman...at the age of 6?!?

So, Brian's dad has been saying for the past two years that Brooke must have GREAT upper body strength because she literally "gallops" on all fours several times a day, and at breathtaking speeds - for a human. Of course, she completes her gallops across the yard with occasional jumps over an obstacle and at the end of her run, she whinnies and neighs with such accuracy, she has actually called live horses to her from across the pasture (I am not kidding!)

In fact, Brian's dad commented that he would put Brooke up against any kid her age in upper body strength - and she would beat them hands down.

Its not that I didn't BELIEVE that or think it might be true, but I just laughed at her galloping and let the comment wash off like water off a duck's back. I thought grandpa was exaggerating to make a point, and possibly biased because she is posterity.

Well, to my suprise, at gym class ALL the first graders had to do as many push ups and sit ups as they could in 1 minute. Many of the kids couldn't get any push ups, some girls got up to 5. A couple boys even got in the upper teens. One boy reached 20. And then Brooke comes and did 31 PUSH UPS, which beat out every class in the 1st grade. So I became a believer that galloping really DOES build great upper body strength.

Then the next day, was sit ups. Several kids did 10, some even 15. One boy got all the way up to 31. And Brooke came and did 34 SIT UPS! Well, apparently galloping also produces a very strong "core" so to speak. Who knew! ?!?!

I can feel a horse galloping movement coming on - Galloping is the new Yoga... or Galloping is the new Soccer...Galloping is the new karate - take your pick.
That Brooke is a Real Horse of a Girl!

It only took 9 years, but we FINALLY....

It only took 9 years, but we FINALLY....

GOT CABLE!! Well, U verse to be precise.

What crossed us over that dark line, you ask? Well, our TV converters (for analogue TVs) were no good in our new house and location unless we got a HUGE antennae. How did we know we needed a HUGE antennae for this? There is actually an antennae information website you go to that will tell you based on how far you live from a tower. We, my friends, are quite far it turns out.

The other thing? Based on my below post this should not surprise you, but I am SO excited about the BYU football team...that yes, it carried me over. Yes,watching ONLINE was plan B...but we got a FAB DEAL...we will get a DVR for FREE, and our whole entire phone + internet + cable bill will only be 14 dollars more than it is now which INCLUDES a DVR and INCLUDES all the ESPN (and other ones I think I will care about) channels. After 6 months, I told Brian it will go up $14 and we might have to be prepared to lower our channel status, or cancel, but at LEAST we will have 6 months. (I know, I feel SOOO cheap admitting that, but HEY...that is who we have to be right now!)

I am convinced we are the only people currently in our entire SUBDIVISION (fairly good sized) that does not have ANY SINGLE SOLITAIRY FORM of TV. Not channels, NADA, ZIP. We only watch movies...occasionally.

As I broke the news to Brian, I could literally FEEL him smiling on the other side of the phone, from EAR to EAR. He told me that was the last thing he expected me to say in a MILLION years when I said, "I have news." The only other thing he said that would have suprised him more..or as much...is if I said, " I am making cookies." If you know me relatively well, you would understand that. If you are still left wondering, go to my fitness blog "www.beautifulafterthebelly.blogspot.com".

ANYWAY, I feel like I am about to entire a whole new world...although I am lamenting a little teensy tiny bit that the house will be less "peaceful." At least I don't have to watch the dancing shows online with all their pixalated and fragmented frustrations!

09-09-09: It WAS golden!

A Golden BIRTHDAY, that is, for Tyler. Our little man is FOUR years old.

The day of his birthday, Brooke and I were rushing to leave the house to go to the bus stop, which is down the street. I asked if he wanted to come.

"No," he said, "I want to stay here with KoKo" (Kylianne).

So we left out the door, and OF COURSE, like always, Tyler changed his mind in 3 seconds and with fervent PASSION decided he MUST go with us to the bus stop.

We were already walking down the sidewalk, but I said, "OK, where's your shoes?"

I see him dissappear behind the front door, and then just as quickly he runs out the door again with something in his hand. He keeps running and then comes to a dead STOP on the driveway.

Well, time was of the essence because we have to walk for 2 minutes to get to the stop, and the bus was going to come ANY MINUTE.

I called loudly 40 feet away " Ok, put on your shoes!" And he continued to look distraught. I walked over to him and then I see he had only one single solitary shoe in his hand. I said distractedly, "Go get your other shoe, we HAVE to go!"

He started WAILING. I could see my neighbor 10 feet away washing his truck shaking his head to himself. I said, "Fine, I'll carry you!" So I started to carry him. I made it TWO feet and said, " There's NO way. You are too heavy. Tyler, you will just have to stay here."

I booked it with Brooke to catch the bus while I head LOUD WAILING filling up the neighborhood from where he was perched on the driveway. Other neighboors poked their heads our of their door to see the commotion.

Well, I decided I would walk with Brooke just until the road curves and then go back. But then Brooke and all the other kids (11 at her stop) all looked over at a little red figure running like FOREST GUMP down the road. He looked like a little red fire ant with little legs that went at lightening speed. Brooke shouted, "Mama, it's Tyler! He's running."

I just started giggling in spite of myself. The little goober ran all the way around the curb and down the rest of the road to the bus stop. He ran to Brooke and gave her hugs and signed "I LOVE YOU" which is our little tradition. I looked down at his feet and I noticed he had two matching shoes on his feet. He somehow in record time went back inside, found shoes, and rammed his feet inside them and took off.

What a kid! He wears his little heart on his sleeve - he's a very tender guy, even while ramming the play school bus into walls occasionally. We LOVE OUR GUY!!

BYU COUGARS DONE ME PROUD!

Did anyone watch that AWESOME game on Saturday night - BYU against Oklahoma?!?!?

Can I just say two words - NAILBITER and WOW.

I was in Cougar Heaven - well afterwards - and I was so "On pins and needles" DURING that I really literally almost couldn't take it.

So I was HOPING that we would get ranked 13 because not many teams below us - our ranking of 20 - lost. I checked the BCS ranking like....well, like a boy...checking Sunday night, Monday several times, early this morning, and finally at noon and I saw the BEAUTIFUL ranking of


(said with reverence) NINE!! (Brian is telling me me how turned on he is by me wanting to listen to the highlights and commentary as much as him - Yeah, TMI)

Yes - in the top 10. Since I am SO rusty with my sports rooting (BYU is the only team I get excited about...although while the Bulls were good back in the day, I rooted for them since I am from Chicago) my husband reminded me that we need to root for Oklahoma from here on out to make our win against them (number three ranked preseason) really MEANS something.

So the season is new, and I am SO jealous of people with SEASON TICKETS - MAn I miss those days!!! I will have to settle for watching on the laptop!

Anyone else getting Revved up for the season???????