Goodbye, Phantom Planet

I read yesterday that the band Phantom Planet is breaking up (http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0614338/). You probably haven't heard of them, but I'm sure you know their biggest hit (hint: it's the song you're listening to RIGHT NOW). But I remember them from a time long before that famous song. Back in '99, my friend Rachel and I saw the movie Rushmore and fell completely in love with it. We then found out that the star of the movie was the drummer in a band, and that band was Phantom Planet. They were pretty small back then, so it took some research to find a record store that had their cd. When we finally bought it, Rachel and I were head over heels for the band. I remember listening to that cd over and over and over... I don't know, looking back, there wasn't anything all that special to them, but for some reason I really dug their sound. And now that they're ending their run, it's nice to have a little reminder of that small portion of my life. So thanks, boys, for filling my ears for a time.

I am the laziest person there could be, For I only wrote one paragraph. But I asked Jacques what I should put in place of this, he said just leave it (oh, and one more thing)...

My Trip to the ER!

Until yesterday, I'd never been treated in the ER before. That having changed, I have to say, the ER is not as cool and glamorous as on that show, you know, ER. There was no drama, not once did I see a nurse and a doctor making out in the lounge, and Noah Wyle was no where to be found. Just a little disappointing.

Tuesday morning I woke up at 2am to the sound of Seth crying. Once awake, I started feeling a little nausious, but figured it was nothing. By 4am, it was quite clear that it was not 'nothing'. I started throwing up every 2 minutes or so non-stop. A little after 7, Wayne's mom came to watch the kids and Lexie off to school, and Wayne took me to the hospital, since Instacare was not open. This part, I don't remember a whole lot of. A couple of things I do recall:
*They did not have a restroom in the ER waiting room. Huh? This just seemed odd. I had to throw up the second we got there, so Wayne lead me to the bathroom in the lab's waiting room, and I recall the looks on the faces of the people waiting there. Based on their reactions, I must have looked really bad. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and I was pretty darn white.
*American Fork ER is not up and hopping on a Tuesday morning. There was no wait, and there was only one other patient being treated. I was completely out of it, so I didn't see anyone's faces, but it seemed from the voices that I heard that I had several nurses. Then again, I was pretty out of it, so it could have been the same person over and over...
*I wish they had warmer blankets. I was FREEZING the entire time, even with tow of their blankets on. I just couldn't stop shaking. Of course, that could have been because I was so sick.

So, basically I was just really really sick. My blood pressure was really low, and I was dehydrated. They gave me an IV with some anti-nausea medicine, two bags of saline, and morphine, which was awesome.

Thankfully I'm feeling a lot better today. It was a weird, crazy experience, and I'm glad it's over. Hopefully this will be my one and only experience with the ER. And hopefully this will be my last experience with the stomach flu for a long time.

'Primary Helper' and generally just a "Good Girl"

Lexie has turned into sort of an awesome kid. I've mentioned that lately she's been sort of clingy, and that is true. In fact, at this very moment she's clinging on my arm watching me type. While sometimes her constant contact with some part of my body can be inconvenient, it's really nice to get numerous hugs and kisses and cuddles from a child who I thought for some time didn't even like me. It seems like Lexie is turning a corner and changing from "Tremendous Terror" into "Good Girl". She's helpful, she's loving, and she's even starting to become (gasp!) somewhat patient! She's even starting to play with her brother on the odd occation, which is a step up from seeming to wish he was never born. She's been actually enjoying and participating in her therapy, and as a result she can say the following "words":
Mommy (sometimes)
Daddy (sometimes)
SpongeBob (always)
Up
On
Off
Help
More
Meow
Woof
Moo
Oink
Hop hop
Up, up, up!
Rar
Beep beep
Tweet
That One
I Want It
Uh oh
Nay
Baa
Grandpa (apa)
Grandma (ama)
Swish Swish
Ssssssssss
... and a bunch more I can't think of right now. A lot of them are onomonopias (noises associated with a object or action), but that's the start.
Lexie is also becoming my little Primary Helper. I've had a lot to do these last two weeks, and it became impossible to wait until after her bedtime to get everything done. I'm finding that she can be a good little helper, once she is shown the papers she can touch and those she cannot, the piles she can play with and the ones she cannot, and expecially when I can find a small task for her to actually physically help me with. She LOVES that. Sometimes it means tasks take just a bit longer than if I did them myself, but it's worth it for her to get the feeling of accomplishment and being needed. Besides, with her right by my side I can turn my chore into Lexie Therapy time.
All in all, Lexie has been a good little Penguin (a new little thing we have going).

Cryin' It Out

For two nights, Seth has been... SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE! Can you tell I'm excited? This kid, while the easiest baby when awake, is the worst sleeper! Recently his 10-20 times getting up a night (seriously!) combines with my chronic insomnia, has pushed me to my limits. As hard as it was, we finally decided to let him 'cry it out' on Saturday night. So he cried. And cried. And cried. It seemed like days, or at the very least hours. In reality it was about 35 minutes. But then he fell asleep! He woke up at 4am that morning and wiggled his way down to the end of the crib. I got up and repositioned him, wrapped him and stuck the bunky in, and he was alseep again within 10-15 minutes, no real crying. Take all that and repeat it for last night, 4am thing and all. Kind of weird, but I'll take it. The whole 'crying' thing sort of sucks, but the whole 'sleeping' thing is WAY worth it.

Be careful what you wish for... : )

Two weeks ago, our ward split, and it couldn't have come a moment sooner. Since we moved in over almost a year and a half ago, it was ready to burst with members. What took them so long to make the change, I'll never know, but either way I'm just grateful to be in a new ward, even though we had to leave some great people behind. We are now in the Spring Creek Ward, and we get to meet in the building right behind our house. Woot Woot! But back to two weeks ago: the ward split, and I thought that maybe it would be my opportunity to finally get a callings, since it'd been years since I'd had one. Like many young women, my dream calling would be Young Womens (like my wordplay?), but with my responsibilities with Lexie, I knew that at this time that would not be the calling for me, since I couldn't possibly give the calling the time it would need without my children suffering. So I started praying. For a week, every night in my prayers I asked Heavenly Father for a calling that would be a good fit for me, one I would both enjoy and grow from, and one that I would have enough time to fulfill. As the week neared an end, I started wondering what calling I might receive. It occured to me that if I was called to something "small", like a commitee member, or to be the person in charge of putting away the hymn books after relief society, I may feel disappointed, but apparently that would be all Heavenly Father felt I could fit in my schedule, and I should trust His judgement. It then also occured to me that if I were called to something "huge" and time-consuming, I may feel overwhelmed, but I specifically asked for a calling that would fit in my life and allow me to give Lexie the time and attention she needs, and I would have to have faith that He knows what I can handle better than I do. Heavenly Father chose the latter.

A week ago I was called to be the Secretary in the Primary presidency. In a new building. In a brand new ward. With no teachers. And no supplies. Oh, and a primary of over 150 kids.

Sometimes I wonder if Heavenly Father has me mixed up with another "Lizzie", because He seems to have an overly high standard for what I can handle. That being said, I'm loving my calling! It's been a crazy week. It was literally a week ago when the presidency was called, and that was it. But the Bishopric asked us to have Primary up and running by the NEXT week, and may I remind you we had no teachers, no music people, no supplies, no nursery toys, no classroom assignments, and once again the little complication of 150+ children to consider. Needless to say, there was a lot to accomplish in a short period of time, but we did it! I'm personally impressed with myself considering I knew NOTHING about what it takes to run Primary, or what a Primary Secretary even does, added to the fact that the week was a perfect storm of inconvenience. Lexie has been excessively clingy (thankfully in a very lovey dovey way), Seth is teething and wants only to be held, and I had an all day AG Bell conference on Saturday, all of which limited my available working time. But our awesome President knew what she was doing, crossed her 't's and dotted our 'i's, and planned out every possible disaster. Primary ran nearly perfectly today, which has me excited for what we can do in the future with even more time and planning. Our ward is going to rock! And I'm honestly in love with being the Secretary. Sharing Time is way more fun that Sunday School and Relief Society. No offense, but we have songs and games. You just can't beat that. And the kids in our ward are great. I spent the two hours trying not to crack up at the things they would say.

So here's to the future. I'm sure there will be countless more posts on this subject. If anyone has any ideas or tips, those of you with more experience than me, please please please pass them my way. I want our Primary to be the coolest Primary ever, and we all know that's not coming from me (without any assistance, that it).

Happy Voting!

"Eating Ivars. Life is good."

That was the text I sent to Wayne as I sat in the Seatac airport a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I'm lame, and it's taken me two weeks to post about my awesome weekend trip to the hometown. My sister Sam got married in Hawaii in September (as you all know from the posts), and she had a reception in Seattle on Oct 19th. Since Seth is free on an airplane, he came along with me, so Wayne had a little Daddy-Daughter weekend in Utah.

Seattle was awesome! I wish we could have stayed longer, because with the reception being the main event, I didn't get to do a lot of the big "Seattle" things I would have like to, but I just loved being around trees and that northwest vibe. The touristy things will have to happen next trip, whenever that happens, but I was completely satisfied with just being around the cities I love and miss. Here's some shots from the car as we drove, just sort of reminders of what home feels like:


The first day we were there, we went shopping at a cool outdoor mall in the University district. Seth was a super trouper for several hours of walking and shopping, and at the end he enjoyed hanging out with Grandpa, picking up chicks as they walked by (literally. He was a major babe magnet). Here's the cuteness that got him so much attention from the ladies:


While we were there, my parents took me to an student housing building right next to the mall where we lived when I was born. It was really neat to connect to that piece of my past (and to know I was born a stone's throw away from awesome shopping. Score!). Here's the apartment we lived in, and a shot looking up into the trees outside.


As beautiful as the wedding and reception in Hawaii were, the Seattle reception gave them a run for their money. Ok, so there wasn't a breathtaking sunset across the ocean in the backround, but there was a "Mama's for Obama" rally in the park across the street! It was fun to see some old ward friends, the cake was amazing, the music was awesome (especially the live music performed by Sam and Rob's talent friend. I'll find out his myspace page and post it here. He really was great), and it was just overall a great time. Extra thanks to my aunt Cherie who held Seth the entire time. He was a happy clam sleeping on her, despite all the noise. I'll let the picture speak for themselves:


Even though it was short, it was a great trip. Being a single mommy for three days was kind of tough, but it let my try out my Super Mommy tricks. I can now say that I am an expert at sanitarily using a public restroom while carrying a baby in a Baby Bjorn. I also managed to get through security with the baby, twice, with just a little help from a flight attendant behind me in line in Salt Lake. I also managed to get my gear onto the parking van, off the parking van, and over to my parked car all by myself. I'm talking two rolling suitcases, a carseat, a diaperbag, a handbag, a winter coat, and Seth in carrier. That's right, I rock. It was tough, but totally worth it to be able to have such a fun little trip (and bring back a ton of hand-me-down clothes for Lexie). Can't wait to go back. I heart Seattle!

Winterized!

This blog has officially been winterized! Like the new colors? I love the blog backrounds from leeloublogs.blogspot.com, they're all so cute. I'm so glad they put out the same pattern with a different color palete, because I'm all about keeping up with the seasons, but I love the argoyle!