Flat Tire

I got a flat tire on my way back into town near Home Depot. Thankfully my sissy came and rescued me. We loaded up the bike and she saved me from having to walk home in my cycling shoes. Next up, learning to fix a flat on the road. Stay tuned.

A Very Bunny {Funny} Morning

 

It's not very often that you get to wake up to a tiny baby bunny scratching up your window!

One morning, Cali was startled awake by the bunny gnawing on the screen to her bedroom. In true Cali fashion she ran through the house (as fast as she could) screaming (as loud as she could). Carter and Caleb were excited by the excitement and they all gathered in Cali's room to observe.

I wasn't as excited as everyone else. Number one, animals are not my "thing". Number two, be screamed from sleep, also not my "thing". After I got myself together and realized that no one was dead or dying I devised a plan to save the bunny.

Well, actually, first I called Christian to tell him about it. He was working in Utah at the time and I just really didn't want him to miss out on this crazy morning. He was already at work, and in his very practical way said, "Cammie, please don't kill a baby bunny in front of our children this morning." 

I tried to scoop it out with the shovel...no dice. Then I jumped down the window and flung it out with a bucket. Hopefully I didn't get too much human scent on it, and his mother didn't devour him. But at least I have a clear conscience knowing that I did my best to save him. I am now somewhat of a hero among my children. Several times since that day they've said, "mom, remember that day you saved that bunny?" 

Yes children, I do.

Double B's

Some people wish to have double D's, I'm more than thrilled with with my double B's. That is, Bethany and Brittany. I have to tell them thank you for all of the kid tending they do for me. They are both happy and willing to help me out with kids at my house,at grandma's houses, or even at their own apartments. Most recently I went to SLC for a dr.'s appointment and they both pitched in to help me so I could get my business checked without kids running around! Thank you both so much!

Most Likely to Become a TV Talk Show Host

Last Wednesday Bethany and I had an interesting experience. We were asked, rather tricked, into performing a vocal selection for an instructional video. Everyone in our office received an Outlook appointment entitled, "sing". Bethany thought it meant to go watch someone sing, so she accepted the appointment. I, on the other hand, asked the sender what "sing" meant. He said that he needed people to sing a song which would be recorded at the Eccles Broadcast station. I declined the appointment.

However, when the appointed time and day came for the "sing". I gave Bethany a ride to the broadcast center, and then decided to support my sister/co-workers/and the project by participating. How bad could it be? Right? In an office of 30+ people surely we would be singing in a big group. Not so.

The "sing" consisted of me, Bethany, and three other guys from our office singing a rendition of the Utah fight song {Utah Man}, with the words changed to Utah Nurse. After several attempts at laying down the track, we finally got a take that was sufficient. They ended up having to lay several tracks over one another to make it sound like there were more people singing.

On our way out of the Eccles Broadcast center the technician asked if we would like a small tour of the studio. He took us to the set of Utah Now. If you are familiar with KUED you may have seen the show and/or flipped past it while channel surfing. We took the opportunity to have our picture taken posing as talk show hosts. While we were sitting there Bethany informed me that when she was in high school she was voted most likely to become a TV talk show host. Good to know!


Bethany also had the opportunity to meet Big Bird, so it wasn't a total waste of an hour!

I Looked Out the Window......

and what did I see. Seriously!

Adding Insult to Injury

Christian found out last week that he has a huge tear in his Achilles tendon (see above diagram for details). He turned his ankle while we were climbing Wheeler Peak, but didn't think much of it. He continued to play basketball each week, until the pain prevented him from running up and down the court (that's when you know it's bad). He iced it every night, and walked on it all day at work, but it never seemed to get any better. Finally after about a month he went to the doctor. He now has to wear a large boot on his foot for the next 6 weeks, not to mention the physical therapy and vast amount of ice. We are hoping that wearing the boot will give it time to reattach and heal properly, and that he gets feeling better very soon. He couldn't even mow the lawn this week, which was like torture for him!

Another Casualty of the Herriman Winds

On Sunday we received a knock at the door (interrupting my much needed Sunday nap). Our kind neighbor pointed out that our tree was broken in half. There was a giant gust of wind and the poor thing just couldn't take it. If I find out it was a giant gust of neighbor kid instead of the wind, there is going to be some noise in our quiet neighborhood.

How To....

On Friday I have to give a training presentation at work. The topic is, "How To..." The other trainers who are participating in the course are going to give their presentations on topics that they are already teaching as part of their jobs. I, on the other hand, am not a trainer. I work in the Education and Development Department, but I am not a classroom trainer. My main job is to coordinate training related projects and generate revenue for our department. I am taking the course as part of a certification program.

That being said, I am having a hard time deciding a topic. I know I know I have to present on Friday, and obtaining my certification depends on it....But I just don't know what to do. Any suggestions? My boss and teacher of the course (as well as best boss ever and experienced corporate trainer) said it could be ANYTHING. Well, that really narrows it down. Help.

Taking a Day...Or Two

Thursday and Friday I was feeling a little under the weather. Saturday and Sunday I thought I was feeling a little better. Monday I had to go to a horrific training (which my manager/fellow attendee of the workshop demanded we get a full refund, it was that bad) which gave me a horrible head ache. Tuesday my saint of sister drove me to the doctor and took my kids to the park while I underwent a medical examination. The diagnosis, Strep Throat. For crying out loud, who has time to for Strep? The ridiculosity!

So, last night Christian took Cali to his softball game with him, she had a glorious time. I called in sick to work today (which was better than calling in dead which I thought I was yesterday) we played Clue today and watched Barbie movies and basically did nothing, well if you count blogging as nothing.

Tough guys! This is what they looked like when they got home from the game last night, pay no attention to the dirty laundry stacked about the laundry room.

Think Before You Speak

Think before you speak. It's something that my mother taught (or tried to teach) me at a very young age. She always said that there was a flap inside your brain that stopped your thoughts from coming out of your mouth (I'm a visual learner). She said that some people don't have the flap and some do. Some of us that do must constantly make sure that we use it. Which means we should think before we speak.

Case in point. A month or so ago I went to a church program for the young women in our ward. Afterwards we were cleaning up the chairs and putting the room back together. A member of the bishopric said to me and Audrey, "So what's this blogging thing all about? Is it like the new soap opera or what?" Not missing a beat I said, "No there's not near enough of sex." Or something just as ridiculous implying that blogging couldn't be the "new soap opera" because there wasn't enough sex in blogging. I know I know. It's about the dumbest thing ever to say to someone. Let a lone a member of the bishopric. To make it even worse. I had totally forgotten about the whole exchange until last night at card club (more to come from the card party). Audrey and Tami were talking about it, and I seriously hadn't thought another thing of it until last night.

So tonight I am asking myself. Self, what is worse? Making thoughtless, obnoxious and random comments. OR. Making them so often that it takes a month before you even remember that you made one. How many other ridiculous things have I said that I don't remember? I obviously need to work on this area. My mother would be so disappointed to know that my flap was not working at all that night.

I am recommitting myself to think before I speak. To put a little more thought into what I say, and not just let everything I want to say fly from my mouth. I'll let you know how it goes.

Good News and Bad News

Which do you want first? The good news or the bad news? I'll start with the good.

Good News! Christian and I got a new camera for Christmas.
Bad News! My computer (trusty, yet old) is too outdated to upload the pictures directly from the camera.

Good News! I can get my pictures put on a disk at Costco and use them from there.
Bad News! This will get old and will slow down the blog quite a bit.

Good News! I need a new computer.
Bad News! I need a new computer.

Side Note

I either really love my hair like this or I really hate it. I was going for a sexy-messy-slept on-but styled look. I don't really know if I achieved this or not. I think I may have just created an ode to San Rafael Jr. High (Go Bulldogs!). Not sure?

A Good Idea Gone Terribly Terribly Wrong

A while ago my friend Natalie posted a really great idea for Halloween decorating. She got the picture from a magazine and it seemed easy enough. So I tried it. I got sticks (which my friend Adrienne and I stole from a yard) and pumpkins (which I purchased at Smith's). I poked holes in the pumpkins and inserted the sticks. I placed them around on a bale of straw and with my scare crow. And my small spooky forest was pretty cute. Until.......This......Happened......

Who is going to clean this crap up?

Cali came in the house yesterday with rotten pumpkin fingers. She poked her fingers in to"see what would happen".

If you can overlook the rotten oozing, it had potential to be pretty cute.

Bad News

I just found out this week that the gym here in Herriman that I've been working out at for the last 3 years is closing it's doors for good. They are going out of business as of Sat. Oct. 20th. I am really bummed. I loved working out there. They had great equipment, classes and trainers. I made a lot of friends there, and now it's closing.

So I am going to have to step up my motivation level a little. I am going to have to be more motivated to work out on my own, plus more motivated to drive to a gym. The location here was perfect and the free daycare was awesome. Any suggestions?

Keeping this in mind, I got up early Saturday morning to go running. It was still pretty dark, but the weather was perfect. When I finished I thought that I would do some extra exercises in my back yard. Walking lunges, squats and some ab work. The weather was perfect and the sun was just coming up, but it was still a little shadowing and dark. It was so quiet and peaceful. Beautiful. I finished up with some stretching, and realized that I was sitting in a huge pile of deer poop.

To recap: I have no gym to work out at, and when I work out at home I sit in deer crap. Bad news indeed.

Blog Ya' Later!

I called Audrey on Sunday afternoon to talk to her about some church stuff. We got to talking and discussed some church stuff and some non-church stuff. After a while it was time to go and, for whatever reason, I said, "Well, blog ya' later". What? Sorry Audrey. I've been thinking about that ever since we hung up. Why didn't I just say, "See ya' later." or "Talk to ya' later."

I guess it's because blogging has become such a part of my life. Or maybe because it's a really fun way to stay in touch with friends. Possibly it's because I love to read other people's blogs and find out interesting things about them. Whatever the reason, it was still a pretty lame way to end a conversation.

A Diseased Soul...The Irony

This past Sunday the the Second Counselor in our Young Women's presidency (her name is Jade) gave a great lesson about profanity. She was teaching the lesson to the youth of our ward, along with the rest of the youth leaders, that's why I was there. She made some great points about how the words we use will determine who we will become. She held up a dictionary and told the youth that of all the words published surely they could find some good and cleans ones to use. I thought it was very clever and she did an awesome job. She also had a quote, and I can't remember who it was from, but it said that the use of profanity was evidence of a diseased soul.

Now, here comes the ironic part. Right after she read that quote I thought....and this is a direct quote from my head, "Oh hell, I'm screwed". Do you see the irony here folks? So this week I'm trying harder to limit the use of my three favorite four letter words. I don't ever use the big bad ones, but I do have a few favorites that I keep on a pretty constant rotation.

What Would You Do?

If you walk into your kitchen and you see this.......

this

this

and this, what do you do?

A) Scream and yell at the children to get off of the table?

B) Calmly remove the children from the table, and give them a lecture about the dangers?

C) Do nothing, just walk back out of the room and pretend you didn't see it?

D) Take a picture, then tell them to get down, thus sending them a mixed message that what they were doing was cute and funny and ensuring that they will do it again and again.

You know which one I chose. What would you do?

A Family Outing

Does going to the dentist count as a family outing? Well, we all had cleaning appointments last week. We have to schedule everyone at the same time so we can tag team the kids. I wouldn't normally document such an event, however, it was Carter's first dental visit and Cali came away with three cavities. Which sent me into a depression about what sort of mother has a four-year-old with three cavities. The really horrible part is that Cali and I brush her teeth every night together and I had noticed a little black spot several months ago. So now she has three "silver stars" which she proudly "shines" every night.

A side note: The dentist asked if I let my kids drink soda, which I do only on rare occasions. He also asked if we ate a lot of fruit snacks, which we do....by the pound. He told me that fruit snacks are just as bad for teeth as soda. Which would've been good to know 100 pounds of fruit snacks ago.

This is the same view the dentist had of his teeth. No cooperation.

A "gas" induced smile. Not much different than her regular picture taking smile.

Christian wasn't really excited about me taking a picture of the inside of his mouth.

My Day with Jay

("This is such a great 'before' picture, you look so ugly, this will be great" --Jay)

I've been thinking about cutting my hair for the last month or so. Well, today I finally did it. I felt like I needed a change. I've had dark hair ever since Carter was born, and I've loved it. My hair naturally went darker after having kids and it's been very low maintenance. But sometimes you just have to do something different. So here it is! What do you think?

Before.

After.

Back. It looks better in real life.

Side.

Girl's Camp (My Day Stuck in a Time Warp)

On Thursday I had the chance to go to girls camp. I was sort of dreading driving out into the ferocious wilderness by myself, thank goodness my friend Audrey rode with me. We had a fun day, but it seemed as if time had stopped. We both thought that it was about 7:00pm, but when I checked my watch it was only 3:48pm. This happened several times during the day. I have no explanation. If you want to read a more in depth account of our travels in the wilderness check out Audrey's blog, she did a wonderful job of documenting the fun and has tons of funny pictures.

Audrey took this picture and I really love it. Mostly because it looks like the harness is a g-string and my under clothes are my skin.