Ugh, Twelve.

So I ran a couple miles yesterday. TWELVE to be precise. It hurt. But shhhh don't tell anyone, because I want everyone to think it was no big deal. { I need to be able to say "Oh, yeah, I ran the half marathon NBD."} When you make it sound like no big deal, then you get more compliments. Not that I need that. My self esteem is totally intact. But, I still keep my attitude balanced to the more humble side. That's what's awesome about me. Anyway back to the twelve miles thing. Turns out, you can only use the "Ugh-I-ran-really- far-can-you-do-everything-for-me?" excuse once. Pete was pretty impressed when I came home after the 10 mile run and was willing to do little extra things for me so I could rest off the soreness. Now that I've done the twelve however, apparently it's old news. It's not like I ask a lot of him. All I would like him to do is get drinks for me, and make the baby a bottle (because I ran twelve miles), and pull the laundry out of the dryer, and fold it, and then go back downstairs, because I forgot that I wanted the whites in the washer instead of the colors (the stairs are too much for my knees. .. y'know, cuz I ran twelve miles) Oh, and finish the honey do's too because I was busy all day(running twelve miles). I don't know why, but he's just not into helping me much anymore. Marriage is SO hard sometimes! You know, it's give and take. And I GAVE MY ALL running that far, so really Pete, I get to take. Am I right?

Proper Way to Enter Home

Many of you might not understand that there is a proper way to enter your home. This leads to peace and tranquility, and really makes your "house" your "home". I have taken great care to teach my children this skill and decided today I will share my little secret with you.


Step One: Enter House
Take special care to make sure that when you remove your shoes, none actually make it to designated shoe basket. Go ahead and leave your Jacket and backpack behind as well.


Step 2:
Leave trail of Magic Wands and crayons on each and every stair to make sure you can find your way back if needed.


Step 3:
Discard Pants.


And that is how we do it folks! I'm not quite sure who this little rascal was, but I have my suspiscions:




I've been fightin' the good fight trying to show Shea the benefits of wearing pants, but so far no success. I like to imagine that some day she will thank me for this, like when she starts kindergarten and all her friends are wearing pants. I guess only time will tell.

Darn it! I guess we have to Move to St. George Pete!

It's doctors orders. Or would be if I had visited the doctor. Luckily we have the internet, so what's the point?

Seasonal Affectiveness Disorder

(also suspiciously and appropriately called SAD)

Definition

Seasonal affective disorder, often abbreviated as SAD, is a type of mood disorder that follows an annual pattern consistent with the seasons. The most common course for SAD includes an onset of depressive symptoms late in the fall, (called the grumpies) continuation of symptoms throughout winter, and remission of symptoms in the spring. (insert happy face here)

Description

The most common type of seasonal pattern is one in which an individual first experiences symptoms in the late fall, has continued and heightened symptoms in winter, and then experiences a remission of symptoms in the spring. (Like Me!) However, other patterns are possible. For example, a person may become depressed in the summer and then become less depressed when the weather becomes colder. (but that would just be silly)

Causes and symptoms

Causes

Lack of sunlight, normally associated with (unnecessary) winter, is considered to be the primary cause of SAD. The causes of rarer types of seasonal symptoms, such as those experienced by individuals who become depressed in summer, are more difficult to determine. (because they're fake)

Symptoms

The symptoms experienced by people with SAD are similar to some of those experienced by depressed people in general: change in appetite, weight gain or loss, fatigue, irritability, and avoidance of social situations.

Treatments

Light therapy, (such as the sun in St. George) in which the person experiencing SAD is exposed to high-intensity light, is often used—usually for one to two hours per day. Light therapy has been found to be the most effective treatment for people correctly diagnosed with seasonal symptoms in the winter. It does not appear to have serious side effects. (except euphoria)

Prognosis

Light therapy is considered to be a safe and effective treatment. Also, SAD can be a persistent problem; even if light therapy is effective one year, symptoms may return the following year. (Unless they are in "light therapy" all year)

Sorry Pete, I guess it's my only chance (shrug)

Hurray For Snow

So let's talk snow shall we? It's on everyone's minds anyway so lets get it out in the open. I love Utah springs! Of course I do. One minute we're shouting for joy, and skipping down warm happy sidewalks, and the next minute, we're inside being grumpy -pants because it's snowing. The best part about a Utah spring is you never REALLY know if/when it will end. Last year the last snow day was in June. UGH. That hurt. But it's cool because the next day it was 100 degrees and all was right again. It's pretty funny watching the weathermen here fumble around as they point aimlessly at the map. Like they're wearing a big sign that says "Who the heck Knows?" Seriously, what is the fun in living somewhere like maybe San Diego, and always waking up knowing you will be able to feel your fingers, and not see your breath that day? I say BORING. Here, it's a suprise everyday. Like Christmas. And a box of chocolates. Having both snow boots and flip-flops at the ready is not only fun, it's called being prepared. Besides, snow boots are fun in their own right. Have we not seen Napoleon Dynamite? So today, because we're supposed to, I'm finding *joy* in the snow.

It's not like I wanted to get out of cleaning the bathroom anyway.

Aha!

Do you ever have one of those moments in church where you realize they are speaking just for you? This happened to me yesterday. This sweet sister gets up and starts her talk on something. I didn't quite get the gist of it yet because Shea thought it prudent to kick Madisen to the beat of "I Am A Child Of God" while singing under her breath. Madisen didn't appreciate it. I was in the middle of explaining to Shea how "we don't kick our sister's" when I heard the speaker say,
"We all like to eat. It is fun to eat good and tasty foods. Sometimes we eat several times a day."
That's when it hit me.

She GETS me!

From then on I listened intently about how we should always fill our souls with spiritual things. Throughout the talk she also brought up pickles. (Man she really knows what I'm going through) Y'know, it takes a while to make a pickle. If you don't go through the long process of preparing a pickle,then all you have is a cucumber. (not faith or a testimony) GET IT?
I sure did. And I'm a better person today for it.

I think I'll go eat breakfast. And maybe a Pickle.

It has Sprung!

Boy am I in a good mood today! Whoot! Today is SPRING! Welcome back old friend! I cannot use enough exclamation points in this blog!!! I've missed you 70 degrees and want to give you a big welcome back hug. My daffodils are blooming**, I have buds on my trees, I wore sandals yesterday. . . . . today is a good day. Who does not agree with me?




**It is possible they are not MY daffodils per say. . .I might be living vicariously through my neighbors yard.

• P.S. I had a few phone calls about how I may have portrayed a certain someone in my last post. (Rhymes with Mom) Let me clarify and say she is not always an airhead, that was a one time thing, and she's the best mom ever and no she didn't tell me to write this. And it's not about the will.
  

Pulling a "Jodi"

My mom called me up last night and told me she pulled a "Jodi". So I sat back and waited for her to tell the super-cool, unbelievable, incredible, no doubt nobel-prize-worthy story. She then told me she had gone four wheeling with my sister Melanie and her beau, and halfway through decided to hike while they went ahead. She didn't want to carry her helmet up the mountain so she stashed it in a tree that was all by itself and memorized where it was so she could come back and find it. She came back down. She couldn't find it.

Mel: Where did you put it?
Mom: in a tree
Mel: (looks around) there's lots of trees, Mom
Mom: Yeah, but this one was all by itself
Mel: (looks around)Mom, there's lots of trees all by themselves.
Needless to say the helmet remained unfound.

I'm offended. That is nothing like something I would do. And even if it were you could see for yourselves where I might get it from. I think it's a little bit genetics. My sister Michelle went to work last week at a gymnastics gym and called her partner for 20 minutes wondering where she was because Michelle didn't know the routines. A half hour into it she realized she didn't even work that day. See. Genetics.
I come from a long line of them. My Grandmother once put the can of soup on the stove and put the pan under the can opener. It went all the way around until it hit the handle before she realized her mistake.
I am not an airhead. I am a victim of genetics and my environment. This is how I was raised.

"Pulled a Jodi" . HA! Nonsense.

Goo, Toothpaste, and Nail Polish

Three things that are on my mind today.
Let's start with number three.

#3. GU.
I could not have made running 10 miles this moring without your gooiness. Though your consistency lies somewhere between pudding and hair gel, and your taste, not much better, I applaud your effectiveness. Besides, chocolate is good in any form right?


#2. Toothpaste.
I have the best friends ever. They heard my distress call last time my husband went camping and left us stranded toothpasteless. Misty and Jenny came to the rescue today (Pete left yesterday) with a little package just for us. So we weren't stinky.
Um, I think that's why they brought it anyway. . .



#1. Nail Polish.
After four days of trying to remove the "make-up" from Shea's face I've finally realized, it's fingernail polish! Short of using steel wool, I'm not sure how to proceed from here. Something tells me that using polish remover by her eyballs is not the best idea. Any suggestions?

Humbled

Madisen a few minutes ago:

"Mom, your cheeks are puffy like Jack's"

And she pinched them.

Hmm. ..

Why again am I training for this half marathon?

Update

I thought I'd do a quick update on my kiddos.
Madisen went to the dentist today to fix the chips in her upper teeth. She has been grinding them together until they just chip right off. Here's the result:








The Boy has been working hard all week on getting to a sitting position from his stomach. His Success:


And Shea has been using her free agency to her advantage. She decided last night that going to bed wasn't really her thing so instead she did this:










Nope. She didn't fall down a flight of stairs. That's what happens when a 3 year old tries to make herself "beautiful" with Mom's mascara and lipgloss.

Snack Time Drama

This is the conversation I heard on the way to preschool this morning. Shea had apparently found a stray cookie in her car seat that she gave to Madisen who gave it to Kaydon. She told him to eat it because it would be yummy. He put it in his mouth and promptly spit it out.

"Ew Madisen that was Yucky!"
"Mom! Kaydon spit the cookie out on the floor"
ME: "what? where did he get a cookie from?"
K: No it was Madisen's fault she told me to eat it"
S: No it's not Kaydon spit it everywhere, MOM!"
ME: "Where did he get a cookie from?"
S: Mom, it's his fault
K: No its not!
S Yes it is!
K: no its not!
S: Yes it is!
ME: "where did he get a cookie from?"
K: she told me it would be yummy!
Madisen decided enough was enough and she was going to serve up the ultimate diss.

S: "Kaydon, that's it! I'm not even going to sit by you at snack time!!!"

I never did figure out quite where the cookie came from, but they were on speaking terms when I picked them up so I guess they were able to sit down and calmly talk about there problems once inside. I always tell Pete if he doesn't do things for me I won't sit by him at snack time, but it doesn't have the same effect. I've gotta ask Madisen how she does it.

To Whom it Concerneth

That's it! Who ordered the snow this morning? Maybe you don't realize my 5 year old has been trying very unsuccessfully to plant and grow her strawberry-shortcake garden.Maybe it is unimportant to you that the new snow shovel novelty has long worn off? I'm quite ready for spring thank-you-very-much, and would appreciate all your future prayers geared in this direction.

Yours Truly,

Jodi





13 days 'till spring!

Story of The Boy and the Marker

See The Boy.
The Boy Found a Marker.

See The Boy's Marker Hands:

Imagine Mom's grumpy face since
marker was left on floor.
See The Boy's Remorse:


Do I have a boy, or what?

Shower Efficiency

Before I had kids I always thought it was just the big business men whose work followed them everywhere (including the bathroom). I had no idea once I became a Mom that I could be efficient anywhere including the shower. I babysat all morning and was unable to get into the shower until noon today. At that point my drudgy old shower looked like a palace. I was only in my warm aqua-heaven for a minute when Shea came in needing me to open the bread. For whatever reason it seemed funny to me that she couldn't care less about soggy shower bread. It's all the same to her. Then I started thinking of all the other tasks I've been able to conquer via shower:
Changed diapers
Dressed dolls
ordered time outs
Answered phones (I'll call you right back)
Put on bandaids
opened cheese sticks
broken up fights
Dressed children
and the list goes on. Although today I did draw the line at making a sandwich. There has to be a line right?
Before the shower incident I was able to get a picture of Shea and her friends together. Don't they look like my little triplets?
E, K, and Shea

The Hypothetical Woman Game

Last Sunday we had an awesome lesson in Relief Society where we made up a hypothetical woman with some trials and then we figured out some solutions to her trials. Let's play this game shall we?
So this hypothetical woman will have three kids. No specifics, just two older girls and a baby boy. This woman probably isn't a big fan of 6:30 in the morning. She probably likes to take long hot showers (long enough to sing the entire Mamma Mia soundtrack). Breakfast is a fun affair of leisure and relaxation. This woman may or may not have just had a bad haircut, and wants to take her time fixing it in the morning trying to look hot (for her husband of course) because it would be embarrassing at church to look like a slob. This woman loves her husband very much. This woman's husband may not like the fact that she makes him late for 9:00 a.m. church EVERY week. He wouldn't like walking into church in the middle of the opening song**. This woman thinks her husband is unbelievably handsome, although he can make a very good grumpy/disappointed/silent/growly/scowl when this woman makes him late for church. This probably would make the woman sad.


Now looking at this hypothetical woman, in my opinion, there is NO WAY she could remedy the situation, right? I mean, it seems to me she is trying HER HARDEST. Tell me you agree with me please. Are there any solutions?




**Remember this is just a game. This is in no way portraying our mornings. Our family is always fifteen minutes early with our children calmly leafing through their Friend Magazines.