Thank you Aunt LeAnne...

I have this "thing" for getting the mail.

I always have.

Growing up I was the one to run out to the mail box, in the Provo house it was more of a race between me and Elly to get to our little mail box on the side of the house, and now I have this cute little hole in my wall where my mail is delivered right to me.  I can be sitting in my living room and reach over to get the mail.  I love it.

Our little mail slot sometimes makes it difficult to fit larger items in so I normally check outside just in case something big is on the porch. 

I check the mail constantly.  Our mail lady doesn't come until about 5 but I check a few times before that just in case and sometimes I check a few times after I pick it up, you know, just in case...I know...cuckoo (I guess that's the OCD talking).

Most of the time it is junk mail or bills but occasionally I get something personal which is so exciting.

So Saturday I did the normal check the slot, check the porch and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a lovely white package addressed to Miss Indie Marie.

We tore into that sucker like it was our job and this is what we found...

My mom's sister LeAnne made Ind this beautiful quilt.

All I could do was cry.

It is just gorgeous and I kept thinking about how if my grandma were still alive she would be doing this same thing.

I have a special place in my heart for handmade items.  They take so much thought, effort and time.  I know from experience what goes in to making a quilt.  My sweet Aunt is making these quilts for all of her grandchildren and all 3 of her sisters grandchildren.  There are 19 of us kids so you can imagine how many grandchildren that is...I think there are 22 so far and half of my cousins haven't had kids yet.  What a big job LeAnne.

We truly love it.  Thank you, thank you for such a wonderful gift.

Two for Tuesday...

My favorite female artist...

Missy is seriously rockin.'  I could listen to her constantly, and I basically do.  I first fell in love with her music when she opened for Anna Nalick who opened for Howie Day at a concert we went to for my birthday about 3 years ago.  She is adorable and has a sweet Austrailian accent.  

She has two albums: The Sound of White and On a Clear Night, both equally awesome.  My favorite song is 100 Round the Bends.  Check her out on youtube you won't regret it.

Can you even call it a weekend...

...if your whole family was sick and your husband had to work?!?!

Whatever it was, it could be summed up in one word...

Snotty

Waking up to this...

...Thursday morning should have given me an indication of what the weekend would hold.  By Saturday morning all of us had full blown colds.  To make things worse, Tony was gone 95% of the time.  I can't wait for tomorrow, we will actually have an evening together.  

Baby step to Tuesday.

Post Script:

Tony's mom was on the news last night, check it out here.

Under construction...

We have taken on another huge home improvement project.

Tony says that nothing makes him feel manlier than holding a nail gun, I just hope he doesn't lose an eye...

Details to follow in the next few weeks.

Happy late birthday mom...

Saturday, April 19th was my mom's birthday.  What a wonderful day it was, well, wonderful week really.  My mom is very learned in the art of making your birthday into more of a "birthweek."  After they visited us at the hospital on Friday mom and dad did some shopping and went to lunch.  She started out Saturday by hitting some garage sales and then did some more shopping.  We all met for dinner at Goodwood and then she did even more shopping.  Sunday was family dinner and cake and ice cream.  And for her final event she wants to go to the temple this Friday.  Way to go mom, it's a birthweek to be proud of.  

We love you!

Two for Tuesday...

My favorite:

Chips and Salsa

We love a good "c & s"

Tony and I consume an obscene amount of chips and salsa, but we can't get enough of it.  We love going to restaurants and testing their chips and salsa, so far Chili's is still the winner.  We eat them for lunch, dinner or even a midnight snack.  The best was when we were in the same ward as Neil and Allie and we would get out of church at noon and head to their house for "chips and salsa Sunday."  

Tony is more of a medium guy, chunky pieces and nothing fruity or too sweet.  I like mild to medium, chunky or smooth and sweet, mango or normal, really I like anything.  Right now we are into Jack's Special which you can pick up at any Costco.  

To operate or not to operate...

Friday April 18th

8:00 a.m.

Check in to Primary Children's.

8:45 a.m.

Indie gets an exam by a nurse to see if she is well enough for surgery.

She gets to wear the cutest little pajama/surgery outfit.

9:15 a.m.

We meet with the doctor.

I am in tears.

He tells me to rest assured because he has performed 4 or 5 thousand of these surgeries.

He also says her anesthesiologist is who he chose for his own sons surgery.

He puts a little dot over her right eye to ensure he operates on the correct eye.

9:45 a.m.

Tearful goodbye from mom and dad.

The doctor carries her back to surgery through one door while we go out another.

9:50 a.m.

We go down to the cafe for some breakfast.

10:30 a.m.

The parents of Indie Marie Smith are paged overhead to call the operator.

I am in a panic.

We are told to go to the waiting room.

10:35 a.m.

The doctor meets us in the waiting room.

The first thing he says is everything is okay.

He tells us that after sedating her he was able to take some pictures of her eyes and in her right eye, he found that her fovea centralis didn't develop.  The fovea centralis is a spot on the eye that is vital to detailed vision.  She has vision in that eye, it just isn't sharp, so she can see things as shapes and objects but they are blurry.  He tells us that he would like to hold off on the surgery because it won't benefit her vision now, and eventually we could do surgery if her eye needs to be straightened for aesthetic purposes.

He apologizes for the fact that she had to be sedated but there was no way he could have diagnosed this otherwise.

He also apologized for making her wear the patch when it wasn't doing anything (poor little lamb had blurry vision for 2 hours a day for the last 2 months).

He gives us a prescription for glasses because he would like her to wear them as a protection to her good eye.

(We think she will look adorable in something like this). 

11:30 a.m.

I get to go in to see her.

I cry again when I see her laying in a little hospital bed all wrapped up in the warm blankies.

She is just waking up and is still a little groggy.

The anesthesia makes her a little ornery.

She drinks 8 ounces of milk like it's her job (she had been fasting since midnight).

Noon

They take us to post op.

Daddy gets to come in.

12:15 p.m.

They take out her i.v.

12:30 p.m.

We finally get to go home.

It was a long day and I am definitely glad it is over.  I was emotional all day mostly because you just never know when it comes to anesthetics.  I am sad that she has poor vision in her right eye but at the same time I feel blessed that she has great vision in her left eye.  The night before surgery Tony gave her a beautiful blessing that mentioned being able to see all of the beauty that Heavenly Father has created and I know that she will be able to do just that.

My big day...

What up homies?

So Friday is the day I get my eye tweaked.

Me and dad aren't scared but mom, of course, is a little nervous.

Could you do me a solid and keep me in your prayers.

T to the h.a.n.k.s.

Blog out.

Indie

Just like a big kid...

I use that phrase a lot and Tony always says, "we are big kids."  Sometimes I still feel like a little kid who just happens to have a husband, a baby and a house.  

The other night I made pot roast, veggies and mashed red potatoes with gravy.  I actually made gravy and it actually tasted good.

Indie's new crying face...

Ind has become a lot more aware of her emotions lately.  She has definitely figured out that crying will get her what she wants, when she wants it.  She is even becoming pro at "fake crying," it is hilarious.

I love the big lower lip pout.

Mad...

Madder...

Maddest...

Two for Tuesday...

Favorite thing for the week:

This book freaking rocks, the whole series rocks.  I seriously love it.

When Elly and I lived in Provo we decided to go to the midnight premiere of the first Harry Potter movie even though we had not read the book yet.  Before the movie the whole audience was chanting, "Harry, Harry, Harry Harry Potter."  At the time we made fun of them endlessly but I am afraid I have become one of the nerds that will be chanting along at the next premiere now that I have read the series.

J.K. has created a whole new world with a bazillion characters and develops each one so well you feel like you really know them.  I also love the magical language they use.  I just don't get how authors do it but I am glad they do.

I listened to this book on cd and Jim Dale narrates it.  He does an amazing job and I think he played a huge part in why I love the book so much.

I highly recommend you read (or listen to) this series if you haven't already.

Harry, Harry, Harry Harry Potter!

OCD+Pack Rat=not a winning combination...

I'm back...

...and as you can see, some serious progress was made.

Actually my house was clean the same night I posted those pictures last week, I just couldn't take it anymore.  

I took care of our tithing, ordered Tony's graduation announcements, got my taxes done on Friday, and even did Lydia's taxes today (nothing like leaving it to the last minute).  I am getting my life in order or at least to the point where I can function.

So here is the real issue...I mentioned "shuffling" in my last blog.  I have this problem where I let my mail/receipts/paperwork/etc. pile up and then my OCD takes over and I can't just throw it away until I "shuffle" through it and shred/recycle/scrapbook it.  Plus the fact that I like to keep (okay "hoard," Tony's word, not mine) certain meaningful things so I end up with a lot of crap.  So there's my dirty little secret...I am a shuffler.  The worst part is I really am an organized person, I love watching shows where they clean out and organize houses, Peter Walsh is my hero for pete's sake.  I even aspire to one day be an In-Home Organizer and yet I can't even practice what I preach.  So anyways I am working on it through the help of a 12 step program.  Just kidding, but I wonder if they offer programs like that.      

Thanks to Kim, Tony and Mom who each played a part in helping me gain back my sanity.

I'm grounding myself...

My life is in utter disarray, and until I get things in order I am grounding myself from everything blog.  No reading or writing of any kind can take place until this list of crap is taken care of.

1. Clean kitchen

I wanted to clean my storage room out, which I did, but unfortunately now the mess has moved upstairs.

2. Recycle old baby magazines

3. "Shuffle" through paperwork

4. Find and submit all tithing money that has been hanging around

5. Order Tony's graduation announcements

6. Find all tax information

a. call tax guy

b.get taxes done

This one should be at the top of the list...I am freaking out about this.

7. Get all our medical records in a file

8. Clean the guest room

9. Put away the 5 loads of clean folded laundry I did last night

Can you even believe my house looks like this?  I can't.  I promise I really am a clean/organized person.  I am going to accomplish these things as fast as I can so I can jump back on the blog, but until then, wish me luck. 

Little sicky...

Our poor little Maddie Boo had to go to the hospital last night.

After a morning of asthma attacks and treatments that weren't working Alicia decided to take her to the doctors.  For three hours they tried more treatments and shots to help reduce her asthma.  Finally the doctor decided she needed to be admitted so they could put her on straight oxygen and monitor her.  They took a chest x-ray and listened to her lungs and think it might be pneumonia.  She is staying in the hospital again tonight.

Mom brought her a dvd player and some movies to keep her entertained.

The first thing she said when we walked in the door last night was, "where's Deet Deet?"  So we propped Indie up so they could hang out together.

Poor little lamb.

They had to wrap the oxygen monitor to her foot.

Kev and Ton gave her a blessing last night and today they were able to turn the oxygen down and her oxygen levels stayed up so hopefully she will be able to come home tomorrow.

Get feeling better Maddie.

P.S.  Friday Feature will return next week.

Mission Reunion...

Tony's old mission president is in town for General Conference so a few of Tony's old companions got together for dinner tonight at the SkyBox.

Spencer Morris, Tony Child, President Brown, Tony, Matt Rawson (his baby, Jimmy)

It was fun to get together and to hear all their crazy mission stories.  We had a really fun time.

Six years ago...

Today...

The story behind the poll...

To say my husband is competitive is an understatement, especially when it comes to playing games.  Anything from Ticket to Ride, Scene It or even Phase 10 will cause the wrath to appear.  We've even had to put in place the rule of "check your friendship at the door" when playing train because things can get so heated.  

It is because of this competitive attitude and his ability to be a stickler for the rules that I now warmly refer to him as the "Scattergories Nazi." (Note: you must raise your arm in the Nazi salute while using said name.)  

While we were playing Scattergories a few weeks ago the subject was "things that are cold" and the letter was "F" so I, having experienced cold feet nightly upon hopping into bed, put feet.  This, however, was not a valid answer according the Scattergories Nazi.  He said feet are not inherently cold, blah blah blah, heated debate ensued, etc.  

I felt my only option, my only defense, was to take a poll and obviously I wasn't the only one who thought it was a good answer, eleven people agreed.  And to the three people who said it wasn't (I am still not thoroughly convinced it wasn't Tony voting from other computers) I say, I know someone who would love to play a mean game of Scattergories with you.

Hail Tony 

A cruel trick...

After getting a good laugh out of this blog I thought it would be a good idea to try the same trick on Tony.  I called him at work and told him I had taken a pregnancy test and that it was positive.  He asked me if I was serious and of course I couldn't torture him for too long and reminded him what day it was.  He was laughing but said we should make some rules about April fools jokes and faking pregnancy should be one that is off limits.  It was really cute because he said he was actually really excited.

Two for Tuesday...

My favorite thing this week (and every week)...

Sleep

and because I haven't been getting enough of it lately this will be short and sweet so I can do just that.