Dry Cheerios are for Sissies

Emily now insists on eating her breakfast like her big sister, Gracey. No more of that Gerber Oatmeal for her. She also likes to mooch off of anyone that is eating. Corky's grapefruit, my omelet, and any other food she can get her hands on in the morning. I wish she was this good of an eater at dinner time.

Gordon Bitner Hinckley 1910-2008

What a remarkable man. Tonight as I was taking in the news of his death, I felt a sadness that my children won't know and love him the way that I have known and loved him as a true and living prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I felt a sadness that they will only hear stories about how wonderful he was. Almost as quickly as that feeling came to me, a feeling of gratefulness and peace came over me. My children will know his teachings, they will know his humor, and most importantly they will know the amazing things he did on this earth. They will know how special he was to me and Corky, just as me and Corky know how special previous presidents were to our parents. Our children will know how much we love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, our Saviour. They will know through our own stories, pictures, journals, blogs, and more importantly,they will hopefully know through our example. President Hinckley is a prime example of love, devotion, faith, compassion, and humor. I will miss him.

Tonight after I put my kids to bed, I rummaged through some old journals and found one entry that I wrote in October 22, 2000. It reads:

Today is such a special day. I went to Stake Conference in the Snow Canyon Stake and President Gordon B. Hinckly made a surprise visit. It was so AWESOME! (yes I really did write that!) I knew that he would be here because of some hints and few other "sources", but most of the congregation didn't know. I loved watching the faces and reactions of the people around. When he walked in at first, the few people that knew he'd be there (myself included) stood immediately. The rest of the people followed with confusion. Then they realized it was him and the whole room was filled with the spirit and lots of emotion. I got emotional and it was difficult to hold it in.

Seeing and listening to the prophet today was such a humbling experience. He's such a great man. This year he turned 90 years old and he is still so full of hope and energy.

Today was such a peaceful relief from this past week. After losing in the soccer playoffs I was really sad because it was my senior year. That means our season as a team is over, along with my high school soccer career. Then Wednesday, October 18th, we took Jared (my older brother) to the MTC. I wish he could have stayed one more week so he could have seen President Hinckly. He would have really enjoyed it. That's okay, obviously he left when he did for a reason.

Listening to President Hinckly speak and the other leaders, it just added to my testimony. What an awesome thing this gospel is. Its the biggest part of my life. If I didn't have the gospel, I wouldn't be where I am and I wouldn't be the person I am. Everything that I have or that I stand for is because of this church.

Today is an unforgettable day. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I've had to listen to these leaders speak. I saw the light of Christ in theirs eyes. I was only about 15 feet away from them, it was hard to miss.

I am so blessed.

I am so happy that I wrote my thoughts down that day. I even taped a program into my journal that I saved. I have scribbled in there that President Hinckley was presiding.

I am grateful for his sense of humor, I am grateful for the legacy that he is leaving behind, and I am grateful that he has made this earth a better place for me and my family.

I wasn't tractor-tippin'!

A few weeks ago, Gracey out of nowhere began saying "Holy Shoot!" at every little thing. Knowing that neither I or Corky say that, we weren't sure how she learned it. We just figured she picked it up at preschool. Then one day as Gracey was watching "Cars" for the 10,000th time, I noticed the cute little tow truck, Mater saying "Holy Shoot!" There it was, no more confusion for us. Funny that we didn't pick up on it earlier but she obviously took note of that phrase.

Yesterday, again out of the blue, she said "Sheeeoooot!" Once again, just like Mater. That has been Gracey's most overused phrase the past 2 days but I must say that I think it is pretty funny! If you can really say that there is ever an appropriate time to say it, she knows when. Sheeeooooot....for a 3 year old, her comedic timing is great.

And just for the record, I don't care that she loves to watch "Cars" over and over again. It is one of my faves as well. Next week I am sure she will be back on the "Cinderella" kick.

So sad.

Can you believe that Heath Ledger died? That is so sad. While I wasn't as much of a fan in recent times, I used to LOVE him. I remember my first encounter with him (like it was face to face!) was at Abby's house. We didn't have soccer practice that day and so I went straight to her house after school and watched "10 Things I Hate About You!" I loved him singing in the stands!

It really is too bad, he could have been great.

Girls Weekend In

Corky left for San Diego Saturday because he had 9 interviews set up for the long weekend, so it was just me and my ladies all of Saturday, Sunday, and today! To be honest, I wasn't totally looking forward to it. I was afraid that the girls and I would get bored, and when Gracey gets bored....she becomes a holy terror!

Saturday, I decided to brave the matinee with them and we saw Enchanted. I knew it was my only chance of watching it any time soon since Corky had absolutely NO desire whatsoever to ever see it in his life! I must say, I loved it!! I love those cheesy musical. Can you believe I haven't seen Hairspray? Anyway, Gracey was way into it and Emily became a little bored about half way through it. Luckily I had a bunch of suckers to save the day!

Sunday, church was a challenge. That is all I will say about that. Sunday night though was lots of fun. We watched Willy Wonka and baked cookies! Tony Horton, of P90X, would be so disappointed in me! I don't care, I had fun with my girls and cookies (or any carbs for that matter) have never tasted so good!!!

Today was lots of fun too. The girls just hung out with me all morning and followed me around as I cleaned all the bathrooms, dusted, vacuumed, and swept the house. Not usually my idea of fun, but for some reason today it was. After we did some cleaning, I made lunch for the girls. PB&J sandwich with slices of green peppers as their veggie! Gracey took a bite and said "Mom, thank you so much for lunch. It tastes so good. This is a great party!" You would think I made them a gourmet meal the way she was complimenting it! I got a kick out of that. She is such a sweet girl! Glad to know the she is such a fan of PB and strawberry jelly on wheat! Gracey also had swim lessons today. So that got us out of the house (it was too windy to play outside) and we all had lots of fun at the (indoor) pool.

Back to P90X...Corky and I are experiencing a fitness overhaul. We are doing a 90 day program of strict exercise and diet and so far it has been great! Well, the low carbs is not so fun for me because I really, really love my bread, sugar, fruit, etc. I used to think diet=hungry!! Not this one! We are eating a TON, just mainly protein and green veggies! Its been a fun thing to do together. We eat every meal together and after the girls go to bed, we exercise for at least 1 hour. We have done weightlifting,plyometrics , yoga , and abs, just to name a few! Do I sound like a walking billboard for this program? I feel like one. I have loved it so far and we are only into our 2nd week!

So I have both of my girls in bed and am now just waiting for Corky to get home tonight so I can hear about how his job interviews went! He has quite a few more coming up and today was great practice for him. We figure the more job interviews he gets, the higher his chances are of doing something that he will like!

A foot what?

This conversation took place last night after dinner when Gracey got to pick out a treat.

Gracey- "This is a foot-roller."
Me- "A What???"
Gracey- "A foot-roller."
Me- "No, its called a toots....OOOOOOOH! You mean a tootsie roll!"

It had me and Corky laughing pretty hard. We realized we rarely refer to our feet or toes as "feet or toes." We usually say "tootsies!"

Welcome to Corky's life....seriously.

Just a little update

Not a whole lot to write about. Well, I guess there is always a lot to write about but in my head I think there has to be a holiday, wedding, birthday, meteor shower, etc, before I actually write. Not today my friends, today I am writing just because.

We went to St. George a couple of days after Christmas. It was fun, minus my trip to the ER and being sick the entire time. No worries, the ER is the only place my insurance would authorize me to see a doctor. I knew I had strep throat and had been to the doctor a couple of days before and was given amoxicillin. That wasn't doing the trick. By Sunday my throat was so bad that I was spitting into a glass so that I wouldn't have to swallow my own spit. Isn't that pretty to think about? So the ER tells me that I not only have strep, but I have a case of mono as well. Yippee! So I got a penicillin shot in my booty and I was sent on my merry way. Anyway, that is why while we were in St. George, I made no contact with anyone. I figured that infecting my family was bad enough, I didn't want anyone else to get sick. So that was that.

Corky is going to be attending a couple of job conferences in the next month. He already has a few interviews set up that are looking really hopeful.

Emily is doing great, although we are putting up a fight with her eating habits. She does not like what I make for dinner, ever! She takes a bite and spits it out and shakes her head over and over. The past week though, Corky and I are getting a little more stern about her eating. She cries with almost every bite. She continues to cry but will clap her hands after eating off the fork. This is new to me since Gracey would eat anything and everything that was placed in front of her. I haven't bought jars of food or veggies for Emily (unless we're on a road trip) and I am not about to start now. The girl has got to eat.

Another funny thing she is doing now is shaking her head no to EVERYTHING! At least if it my idea. She is my little diva.

Some big news for Gracey this past week is that she is being treated for asthma. She has been battling a cough since she was a newborn. The last 2 doctors I saw about it brushed it off once again saying "its just the time of year". I finally put my foot down and insisted on seeing a pediatrician who would FINALLY listen to me. I knew it wasn't just a chest cold. Her cough didn't keep her from doing things she wants to do, but it kept her up at night and would make her vomit. So this doctor put her on an inhaler twice a day and I honestly haven't heard her cough in 4 days. She has only been on the medicine for 5 days. It is such a relief as a mother to know your child can sleep undisturbed and breathe so much easier.

On an even happier note with Gracey, she started swimming lessons yesterday! She has loved the water and loved to swim since she was tiny. I was a little worried that she would be nervous without her lifejacket. She didn't care. She loved it so much and I love that she is getting a good start on swimming on her own.