Roses Are Red...
I think that nothing says I love you as much as a tooth whitening gift certificate*... I can see it now... "Honey, your teeth are really yellow and it kinda grosses me out. Here's a gift certificate so you can fix that. Happy Valentines Day Baby!"

You could put it in one of these lovely decorated urinals.... But that wouldn't quite fill the urinal. Maybe you could add a gift card for some plastic surgery. I think a nose job or maybe a tummy tuck would be good. And top it all off with a gym membership and a new scale... perhaps some Slimfast. There. Now you have the ultimate Valentines gift. Ah... love is in the air...
*Yes, I actually got this in an email... nice, eh? Who knew that Valentines was a cause for a 50% off teeth whitening sale? Oh, and I'm not fond of this new Valentines look... it won't be around long... I'm already missing the daisy...

Keyword Analysis
I've been checking out what words lead people to my blog. Lately, most people are searching for information having to do with President Hinckley's remarks at the January 13th Stake Conference broadcast that was here in Southern California. I took notes. So, I thought I'd tell you just a few things that he said...
He spoke about marriage. He gave 4 cornerstones of marriage-

1. Mutual Respect - Respect each others differences - work to mediate those differences, but realize that they are not undesirable. Happiness in marriage is not so much romance. It is seeking for happiness of the other person. Stop looking for faults. Start looking for virtues. Don't try to change your spouse. He was sad because he had received a letter from a woman who asked if her only role on this earth was to be barefoot and pregnant. He stated that we love children and that we have joy in our posterity. But there is no designated number of children. That is between you, your spouse and the Lord.
2. Give Soft Answers - A soft answer cleareth away wrath. Try to communicate with your spouse more. Quiet talk is the language of love and peace. "...and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice" 1 Kings 19:11-12 Be slow to anger and cultivate a soft answer.
3. Financial Honesty - money is the root of more trouble in marriage. We need to have better discipline. Obey commandment to pay tithes. In Malachi we are promised that the windows of heaven will open if we pay tithes. There is a lot of persuasive advertising out there. Extravagance is bad for a marriage. Each should have money for day to day spending. Discuss all large purchases. Make payments on time and be unified in all decisions regarding money.
4. Family Prayer - kneel together in prayer. It will bring peace and joy to your home. Your companionship will sweeten and grow. It will bless your children. The Spirit of the Lord will dwell in your home.

He spoke of his wife. He spoke of the amazing relationship that they had and expressed, again, his great love for her. It makes me happy to know that he is with her now. I hope maybe this will help the people who were searching for this.

By the way... the first song in the playlist is called "Homecoming" by Jon Schmidt and I thought it fit perfectly...

Bubble Butt
Government health warning: DO NOT SWALLOW YOUR CHEWING GUM!How juvenile am I? I can't help it... a friend sent this to me in an email and I laughed... OH HOW I LAUGHED! I'm still laughing.... just one more reason NOT to exercise!

Two Kinds of People in the World
That's right. You can divide the entire population of the world into two distinct groups - those who love the center pieces of the brownie and those who love edges. I guess there are those who don't like brownies... but... are they really people? Sounds more like some kind of alien life form.
Me? I just happen to be an edgy kind of a gal. When you make a 9x13 pan of brownies the center people get the better end of the deal. Lots of center, not nearly enough edges. Which is why I NEED one of these...That's right - a pan that basically cooks an entire batch of edges! Is this not the most wonderful thing ever invented? A little slice of heaven for us edge lovers...

Really?
As you know, we went to the coast the other day. I always enjoy taking in the scenery and sometimes I'll read the signs on the road and bumper stickers on the cars and trucks. This time I saw my favorite bumper sticker in the WHOLE WORLD! I wish I could have gotten a picture, but the truck was cruising along a little faster than we were and I couldn't get the camera out soon enough. It said : El Camino Rentals Call.... and then it had a 1-800 number you could call to rent your very own El Camino! Because WHO DOESN'T want to ride around in one of these bad boys?
Ah yeah... you're STYLIN NOW!!
(No El Caminos were harmed in the writing of this post...)

LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley Passed Away Today...
Words cannot even begin to express the love I felt for this man. We heard him speak a few weeks ago in our broadcast Stake Conference. He looked tired. His voice was shakier than it had been in the past. But his message and his love was firm. I loved his humor. One time when we were at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) he came and spoke to us. He said, "You're not much to look at, but you're all the Lord's got. So get out there and do what you can!" I was able to attend a General Conference while he was the President of our church. We had slept on the streets of Salt Lake City (the things we do in college!) to get a seat. We were exhausted and completely spent when we finally sat down in the tabernacle. But when he entered the room... I felt rejuvenated and I KNEW he was a prophet of God. There was no doubt in my mind. Whenever he spoke I walked away with a new sense of purpose. I had direction. I had perspective. I had greater strength because of his faith.
The tears are rolling down my face. I know that he is with his wonderful sweetheart, but he will be missed by many... including myself.
*** Small update... Red is a very tender hearted kid. I knew that this news would upset him greatly. I didn't want him to find out at school tomorrow, so I went into his room and talked to him about it. What an amazing moment for me and my little man. He curled up in my lap and I let him cry as his heart broke. He was genuinely sad about the passing of the Prophet. It was a wonderful moment for me to talk about some of the things that he has taught us and to tell him that the best way to remember him is by trying to do those things that were taught. He curled up tighter in my arms and sobbed. We said a prayer together for him to feel comfort and peace. It was a wonderful moment for me. Hopefully it is something that he will remember as well.

My New Super Power
Can you see me? No? Hmmm... well then, that proves it. I'm invisible. There are times when I wish that I could be invisible, you know, when the kids are whining and crying and fighting and want me to solve all their problems... or when I HAVE to do laundry... then I wish I could be invisible for just a little while. But sometimes, I just wish that people would see me and recognize my presence.
Today we had a meeting for all the parents of Primary(organization in our church for the kids ages 3-11) children. I needed to speak with the President about Little Bug and our thoughts on baptism... there was a little line to speak with her after the meeting. I got in line and had 3 people step in front of me! It was like I wasn't even there. One after another they walked right past me. And I just sat there. Finally got frustrated and left. Later on I saw the President again and went to speak with her. Another lady stepped right in front of me as I got there. Again, I left instead of waiting around. Grrr... and then we go to Relief Society (the women's organization in our church) and we had a WONDERFUL visitor - Sis. Bonnie Parkin was here today (she was the General Relief Society President a few years ago in our church) and I wanted to much to say hello to her and just shake her hand. So, I waited around... there was a break in the crowd and she looked right at me, smiled and started to come my way.... when two women jumped in and literally* grabbed her. I was so flustered and frustrated that I left. I know... I have a bad attitude... I'm worse than my 4 year old! "I didn't get my way and you hurt my feelings so I'm leaving!!" :::stomp stomp stomp::: Someday I'll grow up. Sometimes I just get tired of people pushing past me. And they do it because they know they can. They know that I'll step aside. That I'll be patient. That I'll wait it out.
So, my question to y'all is this: how do you assert yourself without stepping on other's toes? I'm just not the type to push and shove my way through a crowd to get what I want... any ideas?
* This little footnote is more for JustRandi... sorry :) They did LITERALLY grab her when she walked past. I think it scared the crud out of her!!

The Southern California Experience
Again, I'm sorry that I haven't visited any one's blogs! My Google Reader informs me that there are almost 150 wonderful posts that I have missed this week... I will play catch up after Tuesday... please don't give up on me yet!
We went to the beach today with the in-laws. They loved the drive over. Everything was so green and pretty... nothing like the frozen wonderland of Idaho where they came from. It was -14 when they left the cold and ice. When they arrived here it was a balmy 65. Not too shabby, eh?
We were a little worried that our beach experience would get rained out, but it wasn't. The sky was partly cloudy, but it was warm enough that we did not need jackets.
We walked out on the pier and watched the sea gulls, ducks and pelicans dive in and out of the water for food. The ocean was a sapphire blue - so pretty! We were at the end of the pier when Red called out for us to look at something he had seen. Now, this kid has some pretty darn amazing eyes. His eyes seem to catch every little movement - especially wildlife. So, I wasn't too surprised that he was the first one on the pier to notice these lovelies... A pod of dolphins swam past the end of the pier! It was such a fun thing to watch them swim about.Now, I know that some of you are looking at that and thinking, "Why, I do believe that picture looks like a blog banner! Melissa, will you be turning that into a blog banner any time soon?" And the answer... "Why yes! Yes I think I will! How did you know that? Oh.... because I turn EVERYTHING into a blog banner..." I'll probably work on it next week. We'll see how it goes.
So, what amazing fun things did you do this weekend?

Pandora's Box
I almost forgot the duel... cutting it a little close here... I actually had my computer turned off and was in bed when I remembered! How dedicated am I?? :)
I think I've done a good/bad thing. Little Bug gets transportation to and from school. He has two different drivers. The man that drops him off in the afternoon seems very nice. He's quiet and very polite and as far as I've seen, he's a responsible driver.
The man that picks him up in the morning... sigh. He's a great guy. Very friendly and funny. Easy to talk to. But he drives fast - too fast. And... he talks on his cell phone while driving. Now, I don't know about you, but I can't talk on the phone and drive. If I have a head set, then I'm okay. But, I can't hold the phone to my ear and HONESTLY say that I'm not distracted. So, the fact that this guy is zipping around the neighborhood and yakking on his phone annoys me. A lot.
I've seen him on the phone a few other times and I always kind of blew it off. Maybe there was a family emergency. Maybe it was the transportation folks calling to tell him something... but I've run out of maybes. It's happened way too many times and I'm tired of it.
So I called the transportation department and complained. The next day we had a different driver show up. I'm not sure what happened. The next day I was getting a root canal and Hubby put him on the bus. Said things went well. And hopefully the cell phone is a thing of the past - which is a good thing!
So, what is the bad thing? Well, Little Bug can't talk. What if this guy got in trouble and ends up taking it out on Bug??? I wouldn't ever know! He could smack him around LB couldn't tell me. I don't think this guy would EVER do anything like this... but, unfortunately, it happens a lot with these kids that can't communicate. They are abused because the abusers know that the kids won't ever be able to tell anyone what happened.
Sigh... on a good note, the guy who came to pick up Little Bug the day after the call was one of his drivers from last year! It was so good to see him and he was so excited to see Little Bug and see how much he had changed! It was a fun thing!

Hot Lips Houlihan
I love me some hot lips! I just can't resist them! Every time I see them I just have to grab them and gobble them up!Maybe this is why I keep getting cavities...
On a more serious note, thanks for all the advice and thoughts on money stuff. I opted for less fillings and crowns and drilling in my mouth today. It's still supremely expensive, but I cut it in half. And technically, my other teeth don't hurt. So, that means I don't have to have any work done, right??

Ouch...
So, I went to the dentist and the money was just flying out of my pockets! It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen... and one of the most frustrating. I'm half way considering getting a part time job so that we can pay this off. Does anyone know of any LEGIT at home business opportunities? I don't want the trolls to come out of the wood work here... this is going to be a pretty serious financial burden. Add on top of that the fact that Hubby's truck needs new tires and our insurance just informed us that Little Bug doesn't have a medical need for speech therapy. I am one frazzled girl. I don't know how we are going to make this all work unless I bring in a little extra income. Why is it that every time I get our savings built up a little, something comes along and decimates it plus some! It's so frustrating. Sorry...
On the bright side, I'm gonna have a pretty darn fine set of teeth when all is said and done!
But seriously, any ideas to bring in some extra cash??

Another Randomly Random Post

• I washed Little Bug's blanket yesterday. His one true comfort object in this world. He cried for an hour and a half... he tried to pull it out of the washer. He banged on the drier. He was fully and completely miserable for 90 minutes. So was I.
• My master bedroom is CLOSER to being clean. I won't be able to spend any time in it today, but I think that it won't be a completely horrifying experience if my in-laws go in.
• I have two dental appointments this week. One for a deep cleaning thingy that they call "gross scaling" - isn't that horrible? Couldn't they name it "awesome scaling"?? And another appointment to fill four cavities. FOUR. Bleh
• My kids don't sleep in on the weekends or holidays. It's like an internal switch that says "This is a play day! Don't waste time by sleeping... GET UP!". But on school days, like today, it's a different story. I have to PRY those people out of bed. Somehow we all slept till 7:40. Red has to be out the door by 8:00.
• We are going to DisneyLand in a few weeks! I guess the Magic Kingdom has some kind of community outreach program. They offered our local Autism Society some really inexpensive tickets... like $27 inexpensive! It's just a one day pass, but hey! We'll take it! It's too bad you can only get 6 tickets... or I would have bought a bunch and invited y'all down for a P-A-R-T-Y!
• I was going through our photos and I realized that there are not a lot of pictures of my in-laws in there. Actually, I don't remember seeing ANY. And so, I have decided to be in their face taking pictures the entire time they are here. That shouldn't be too obnoxious, should it?
• We are going to the beach on Saturday. I am soooo excited to take our new camera and play around with it! I'm sure I'll be posting pictures on Sunday or Monday.

Well, that's about it for the randomly randomness here! I am way behind in my blog reading... and it's going to get worse with my in-laws here. If I don't swing around to say "Hi" in the next week, forgive me. I will still be posting though... they might be short posts, but I'm determined to win the duel!

Frazzled
I wish I was one of those kinds of moms. You know the ones... they can be with their kids 24/7 and never get tired of the little ones. In fact, those moms hate school and activities that take their kids out of the home. They want every possible minute with their kids. And yes, I do know people like this.
Me? I'm at the end of my rope today. It's a three day weekend for the kids (Martin Luther King Jr. Day is today... no school) and I'm kidded out! I want them to go back to school. I want some time to just chill. It doesn't help that my in-laws are coming tomorrow and I am running through the house trying to scrub every last corner! Not that my in-laws care... they are really wonderful people. But I care... I want them to be able to go into any room in my home and not realize what a slob their son married. Honestly, it's just the master bedroom that is a mess. It is the catch all room. If we can't find a place for something we toss it in our room. And so, the piles are getting rather high. Toppling, in fact.
Which is why I need some child-free time. It never fails... I get in the middle of one of my many stacks and I am instantly interrupted by the usual kid fare, "I need a drink!" "He took my toy!" "Can I have a snack?" You name it, it has disturbed my cleaning nirvana...wait, cleaning nirvana?? Isn't that some kind of oxymoron??
The biggest problem is that the rest of the house WAS clean. But they are bored. I am not entertaining them. And so, they have made little messes in each and every room. Just little piles of junk that I will now have to pick up.
On a scale of 1 to 10... how bad is it to tie them up, throw them in a closet, and lock the door*? What do you think? A 9 maybe?? Cause I'm okay with a 9... I just need ONE uninterrupted hour... just one...
*Please remember that I use sarcasm liberally in my posts. I will not REALLY tie them up and throw them in the closet and lock the door... no matter how tempted I may be....

Optical Illusions
I got an email with these illusions in it... they are kind of fun... and kind of creepy... it's weird what the mind can do! You can click on each image to make it larger...
The following picture is not animated. Your eyes are making it move. To test this, stare at one spot for a couple seconds and everything will stop moving. Or look at the black center of each circle and it will stop moving. But move your eyes to the next black center and the previous will move after you take your eyes away from it.




Is the book looking towards you or away?


Is this possible?

Stare at the black dot in the center. Now move your head forward and backwards...
Are the purple lines straight or bent?
Do you see gray areas in between the squares?
You should see two things with this picture... a man and a word... I'll give you a hint - the word starts with the letter "L"

A New Kind of Republican

The other day Hubby and I were discussing politics when Red jumps into the conversation and says, "I'm a Republican!". We kind of chuckled, but didn't think much of it. He has been studying government in school and I figured he had heard the term and just picked up on it. We've never really talked about political parties with him. He knows how and why we vote, but other than that, nothing.

Yesterday, Hubby was reading about the voting in South Carolina and Nevada and Red came in, read a little bit on the computer and said, "Yeah Republicans!! I like Republicans!" Hubby was a little more curious this time and asked him, "Where did you learn to like Republicans so much?"

Red: "From the movie"

Hubby: "What movie?"

Red: "Star Wars."

(For you non-Star Wars fans, the Republic were the good guys that were destroyed by the Empire or something like that)

And there you have it. A whole new train of political thought based solely on a successful movie franchise. Actually, it makes more sense to me than some of the other mumbo jumbo that's out there... I'll just pick a movie that I really like, find a political party to match and then be a devoted member for the rest of my life ;)

Misconception
I used to believe that canning jars were for... well... canning. Peaches, beans, applesauce, pears, and tomatoes are a few things that I have filled my bottles with in the past. That was all well and good, but the other day I learned that I was misusing those jars! Canning jars were made SOLELY for the purpose of being vases for Gerber Daisies. There is no other reason. None whatsoever! The canning jar is the PERFECT vase for these lovelies...Who needs to put food in a jar like this, when you can have such beautiful flora in there instead?Oh, and the fact that I love Gerber Daisies more than any other flower on the planet has nothing to do with it... nothing at all...
Do you think it would be a little overboard to fill my 100+ canning jars with daisies??

Love at First Sight
Talking, reading, writing - they are such a simple things. Things we often take for granted. We do them every day without even thinking twice about it. Our kids learn these things and for the most part, pick them up quickly. But, language is something that Little Bug struggles with - weather it is spoken or written. We have hope that he will one day be able to speak and read and write, but we recognize that it will take more time than with most kids. Or so we thought.
We have a communication log that goes back and forth with Little Bug. We write things in it that happened at home that may influence his day at school or any accomplishments he has had. In turn, they let us know how he is progressing at school and if there were any struggles during the day. Yesterday we got the most wonderful note home...
"He is starting to recognize and read sight words..." then it listed some of the words. My heart skipped a beat! This is such a huge thing for him! It's like looking at a door... you know what is behind the door and you want it so badly, but you, yourself, have no power to open it. Then, unexpectedly, the door opens just a crack and the view within is better than you'd ever imagined!

Um... Okay...
I'm no expert when it comes to diet and exercise. So, a few weeks ago, I signed up to get some emails that would give you tips on dieting and ideas for exercise. Some of the tips have been good... and others... well, um, not so much. For example, the email I got yesterday had this for the subject line: A pushup that also targets your arms...
Again, I'm no expert, but don't ALL pushups target your arms?? I'm just sayin...

Party Animals
So, when you hit a big anniversary, like 10 years, you really should go out and party, right? Well, let me tell you, we PARTIED like nothing else! That's right... I got all dressed up in my sandals, old shabby blue capri's, a pink t-shirt, my big ol' gray sweatshirt, no makeup and a sloppy pony tail on the top of my head. Hubby wore his work clothes. And then... we took the kids and went through the drive through at Wendy's! WOOHOOO!! Isn't that the coolest 10th anniversary celebration you've ever heard of?? We are so awesome...
Actually, next week we will probably try to go somewhere nice... we didn't go out last night because babysitters are horridly expensive. The cheap sitters are anywhere from $2-4 per kid, per hour. So, if we go to dinner and a movie, we'll say 4 hours out, we're looking at $24-48 just for a sitter! There are others that are $5-8 per kid, per hour. I know there are some that charge more than that, but we don't know any. But, next week Alan's parents will be here... and they usually take the kids for one evening so that we can get out. So, we will probably celebrate next Friday at the Cheesecake Factory followed by the new National Treasure movie!
Wait... I'm just wondering something...how come I don't make $2-8 per hour for taking care of my kids? Man... we'd be raking it in since the mom stuff is a 24 hour thing! Let's see... if I was making the minimum $2 per hour, per kid that would be $144 a day. Which is $1008 a week... which is about $4032 a month... hmm... let's see... 52 weeks in a year... times $1008 per week... $52,416. And that's at the minimum of $2 per hour per kid! If it was $8... well, that's $209,664! Maybe I need to join a union for moms. I am SERIOUSLY underpaid!

10 Years
Woohoo! We've made it 10 years! I never thought that it was possible to love someone more each day... but my sweet husband has shown me that it is possible.
I thought I'd take you through just a quick rundown of our wedding...
All of our engagement pictures were taken by my mom... the header is one of them that I really REALLY loved... I also liked this one...it's not that fuzzy in real life... my scanner isn't the greatest....But, I was overruled. Hubby and my Mom liked this one... I hated it. Still do. The tree makes it look like I've got horns and my overall strap is falling off because my SWEETIE tried to pull me up into the tree by said strap. That was a fun wedgie moment....
We were married on January 16th in the Idaho Falls temple... wait... who in the world gets married in IDAHO in JANUARY?? There was a terrible storm that day... what were we thinking?Most people love their wedding photos... I was so disappointed with ours. The photographer said she was going to use a "soft lens". I had no idea what that was, so I said, "Sure - whatever". All the photos they took look like a fog moved into the reception area... :S The ones my mom and family took are great, but the "professional pictures".... sigh... these are the best two... Man! We were so little... ANYWAY... my Grammy has a tradition for the brides of our family. You see, she used to decorate for weddings. Most of the things used for my reception came from her vast store of lovelies. And so, she has tons of flowers from every era you can imagine. So, as you may suspect, some of those flowers are hideous. Enter the Grammy Bouquet:
We were nice with the whole cake thing... that's what happens when you have to rent your dress and tux... Our friends love us... they trashed my car and then toilet papered my parents house. Remember... this is JANUARY.

And it's all been sunshine and roses since then. Okay, so, maybe that's a little fib. We've had our ups and downs, but honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way!

P.S. - the song playing is actually "OUR" song... aww... aren't we cute ;)