Never Fear, I Am Here

I am so glad to see that no one missed me until we were 11 days in to my 16 day leave of absence. And I must say I am so very sorry. I didn't realize that that lovely picture was my last post and that you would have to look at it everyday for 2 weeks. Nice. Now every time you think of me you will probably picture me on my wedding day, all dressed in white, sitting on the toilet.


Anyway, I am back. We have had a very busy and exciting 2 weeks. Steve's sister Heather and her husband, who also goes by the name Steve, and their children Sierra, Tyler and Austin came to visit us from Missouri. We met them in Moab and took them to see Arches National Park. Then we traveled to the opposite side of the state to St. George to see Zion's National Park. Then up to our house to see the sights around here. Then we went to Jackson and then on to Yellowstone to stay in a cabin there for 3 nights. It was a very fun trip. We ended our trip with a visit to Kaysville UT to eat dinner with my parents on our way home. We got in around 10:00 last night.


I have a ton of pictures and stories to share. However we are having computer difficulties. I can't get on the Internet on my computer for some reason and that is where all the pictures are. I am on Steve's computer at the moment. So don't worry, I have plenty of entertainment coming your way. But for now I will leave you with a few things I have learned over the last 2 weeks:


♦ It is pointless to clean out your car before you spend 2 weeks traveling in it with 4 kids.

♦ Bottled water can be addictive.

♦ When they say don't feed babies strawberries, they say that for a reason.

♦ If you are going to pig for 2 weeks, it doesn't matter what capris you put on, you are going to look fat in all of them.

♦ Driving down the interstate in the middle of who-knows-where with no other adults in the car, shoveling honey nut chex mix into your mouth and inhaling to belt out "Roxanne" can be potentially hazardous.

♦ If you are going to be driving through Teton National Park and its ever winding roads with the beautiful lush scenery and only a few hours of sleep behind you and no radio reception you should have something other than a "Mo Tab" CD in you car. For as much as it goes with the view, it does nothing to help keep you awake and alert.

♦ If you are going to take your expensive Temper Pedic pillow, without which you cannot sleep, to a hotel don't take it in a white pillow case. You might leave it behind. (Thank you to my dear husband who has been letting me use his since that grievous mistake was made)

♦If you tell your kids they need to keep their bedroom window closed at night so bears can't get them, they are going to be scared to go to bed EVERY night because they think that bears are going to get them.

♦ Driving back into cell phone coverage after 2 days without and getting a text message from your dad that says "Call 911" can be a little unsettling.

♦ The person who first thought of installing DVD players with headphones in vehicles is nothing short of a genius.

Flashback Friday - You Asked For It (Well Someone Did)

Allyson

Farrah

Kay

Coren & Allyson

Apparently I have potty on the brain. After my post yesterday about my kids potty mouth (and mine too), and then last week when I posted abut my new potty (which I am thoroughly enjoying), can you blame me? Well on that post SOMEONE anonymously posted a comment saying they wanted to see a picture of me on the potty. I am sure you were not expecting me to really post one, but in an effort to keep my readers happy....Just be careful next time what you ask for. And I couldn't just post ONE potty picture when I had so many others. I call it my "Menagerie of Potties". Farrah, I tried calling you this morning for your permission to post this. It's not my fault if you aren't going to answer your phone.

Potty People In The House....

(I can't help it-my brain turns everything into a song)

Think BEFORE You Speak

Where do my children get their potty mouth from?

It seems like since the kids have been out of school for the summer and driving me crazy, someone is trying to show me why my children make me crazy. And apparently it is all my fault. I have recently discovered that all the things my children do to make me crazy are all things they picked up from yours truly. Nice.

A few days ago they were being goofy as children often will. And someone said something about someones poop (yes you heard me- POOP) tasted like blueberries. How they know that is not something I want to delve into just yet. So since then that has become the ultimate cut down at our house. I can't explain why. Kids? Anyway, this morning as we were sitting around the table eating breakfast Zac and Emily kept saying it to Aubrey and it was making her scream. Screaming at 8:00 in the morning is not something I really want to deal with. So I told them to stop. Naturally they did it again. So I stood up and with out even thinking said, "Stop talking like that. The next person who says something nasty is going to be in big deep doo doo trouble!" Ooops. Zac said, "Uh, mom, I think the last words that came out of your mouth were poop words!"

Thanks. That is all I needed this morning. Another reminder of the damage I have caused to my dear children.

Thanks Daddy-O

I got the nicest SURPRISE this afternoon from my dad. The kids and I had just got back from swimming and the FedEx truck pulled up in front of my house. The guy got out with this long box and I figured it was plans or something business like for Steve or that maybe he had the wrong house. He said, "Are you Allyson?" Wow I thought, that is for me. Then I noticed that the box said flowers on it. Another wow. The delivery guy said, "I didn't know we were dressing up. If I had of known I would have worn my towel." (we were swimming remember) And then he said, "This is awkward, me giving you flowers and all and you in your towel". And I was like, ok perv, get back in your little truck now. Anyway back to the story. I opened the box and these lovely roses were inside with a sweet note from my dad. Thanks Dad! I love you. It made my day.

What's Playing On Mom's iPod?

I will admit that there are a few songs on my iPod that are unbecoming to a person such as myself. And one such song might have to be removed. It is a song from the dear old '80's called "Centerfold". It is quite a catchy little tune, "Nah nah na na na na....". The problem is that my children will not leave my iPod alone. And they have somehow located this song (I have an iPod shuffle so they can't see the titles. They just have to skip through hundreds of songs to find it) and are always playing it. They think it is a catchy little tune too. Thankfully they think it says angel is a cellophane. Just tonight I turned my iPod on and it was on that song so I know someone was listening to it today. I guess I will have to do the responsible thing and delete it. Or hide it. Nah, they would find it. Dang it!

It's OK, I understand, this ain't no never never land....

PS. I love the '80's. I am sure if this video were made today it would have content I would not be willing to post.

Speaking

Today I heard Aubrey calling "MOM!" So I answered and said "What?". She said, "I am talking to Super Mom". And I said, "Yeah, what do you want?" And she said, "No Emily is Super Mom, you are just mom."

100th Post

An historic event in the making. My 100th post !

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you have endured 100 rambling posts from yours truly. And I promise 100 more exciting posts to come. In fact I feel one coming on right now.....

Tax Dollars Hard At Work

OK, so I am driving down the street yesterday. They have the road down to 1 lane because they are doing some work. It is rush hour. Traffic is horrible. Move forward 3 inches, stop for 2 minutes, repeat. And then I get up to this guy standing there on the side of the road with a "SLOW" sign. I was cracking up. I am sure he saw me laughing at him. I thought, "How necessary is that, really?" And then I felt really sorry for the guy. I mean, what does that say about him. "I am so important I get to stand here in the heat and hold a little orange sign telling people who technically aren't even going 1 mile per hour to drive slowly through this construction zone." Thanks for the reminder!

1 In Every 150

Last week I watched an episode of Oprah that I recorded several months ago but hadn't watched yet. Since watching it, I have not been able to stop thinking about it. It is very disturbing to me. It was about autism. The organization "Autism Speaks" has made a new film called "Autism Every Day". At the time that the made the film they said the statistics were that 1 in every 166 children are diagnosed with autism. Since making the film the number has increased to 1 in every 150 and children. That is staggering. Here is some info. I got from their website about autism:

Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person's lifetime. It is part of a group of disorders known as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls. Autism impairs a person's ability to communicate and relate to others. It is also associated with rigid routines and repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively arranging objects or following very specific routines. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe.

I knew autism was a growing problem, but I had no idea that that many people are diagnosed with it. I also thought that it was something a person was born with. But there was a lady on the show who said that her child was growing and functioning normally and then one day (I believe her child was maybe 2 years old) her child was just gone. She was physically there but that was all. She wasn't there anymore. She was then diagnosed with autism. I can't imagine what that would be like. She says everyday she looks for just a little bit of what her child used to be. She hasn't found it yet.

On the show they said doctors don't know what causes autism. They believe that it may be hereditary and that people are born with something in their DNA that causes autism. They think that there is some trigger that makes the autism manifest itself. Some people believe that it might be childhood immunizations that trigger it. They just don't know. I know that that really freaks me out. Since I have a little baby who I am taking in on a regular basis to get immunized.

Anyway it made me think. It made me think about the world we live in today. About all the stuff we take into our body or put on our body that we really don't know much about. That is something that I have been concerned with for several years now but this has just brought it ever more to the forefront of my mind. I am the kind of person that hates taking Tylenol unless I really really need it. I get really annoyed when I go to the doctor and I feel like they just don't really listen to me and try and find out what the real problem I am having is.

(I am about to say really bad stuff about doctors in general but I don't believe all doctors are like this. I just haven't personally found one who isn't. But I still think doctors are basically a good thing to have around.)

Sometimes I have been in a doctors office and I have really wanted to ask, "So how much of a kickback do you get from the pharmaceutical company for writing out this prescription for me?" I just have never been brave enough to actually say it out loud. I went to the doctor a few years ago for a problem I was having. She really didn't even talk to me for long or ask me any questions. She just scribbled out a prescription for something, told me that "this might be your problem and if it is this will help. Take it for a while and if it fixes it then that's what your problem is. If not then come back and we will try something else." I think my jaw dropped open so far it hit the ground. I was thinking "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?" I wanted to ask to see her medical diploma and see what kind of quack school she graduated from but again, not brave enough. Anyway, I took that prescription right home and ripped it up and threw it away. And about a year after that happened, that drug she prescribed for me was recalled and a whole slew of commercials came out featuring lawyers saying if anyone has taken this medicine they can call them and get in on a lawsuit. I was pretty glad I trusted my own judgement and not the doctors on that one. Really, I very seldom fill prescriptions I get from doctors for myself and my children. Like I said, sometimes I think there must be some reason as to why they fill the need to write out so many unnecessary prescriptions. Here have one of these, just for fun. Oh and here, why don't I give you this one too. I just need to practice my illegible handwriting a little more.

Anyway I could go on and on forever and ever, but I won't. I just feel that there are so many things out there that could be harmful to our health and we are exposed to them everyday. Just look at all the diseases that are on the rise. Is it the environment that we create that could be a cause? I don't know. But maybe we should be a little more careful and a little more thoughtful about the things we bring into our home or put into our body everyday.

Anyway, here is a link to the film that Autism Speaks has created. I am not clever enough to figure out how to put the actual video on my blog. There is a 1 minute and 37 second theatrical trailer you can watch or you can watch the whole film.

I Vant To Suck Your Blood

It is time for a baby update. Little Miss Addison is getting her teeth in, only they are coming in in the wrong order. She has her 2 "fangs" on top almost all the way in and her 2 top middle teeth are just starting to poke through. She looks a little vampireish. But she is still ever so very cute.

She loves eating baby food. She loves swimming. She loves her brother and sisters being home all the time to give her attention. She loves to eat food out of her little fresh food feeder thing. She loves looking at the big family picture we have hanging up on the wall. She loves rubbing her hands on Steve's head because his short hair tickles her.

She has been saying ma-ma for at least 2 months now. Seriously. No one has ever believed me but the kids because they are the only ones who have heard her. Steve finally heard her a few weeks ago and realized that she wasn't just jabbering, she was really saying "ma-ma" when she wanted my attention. It is very undeniable now because in just the past few days she has started saying it all the time. It is so cute. I just love her so much.