The Wilson Family Chronicles

An experiment

2009-09-14T20:09:00.003-06:00

I'm going to try something new this week.

It's going to be a challenge.

I'm interested to see how things go.

I'm going to attempt to stop COMPLAINING, both out loud and in my head...

...about the never-ending, labor-intensive, exhausting, mundane aspects of being a full-time mother.

This post isn't so much about how taxing it is to be a mom ('cause, come on, duh!), or a tirade against my husband ('cause he's as good as they get), it's more an awakening inside of me, a shift in perspective, a change of attitude. From the very beginning, I expected Taber to share the burden and blessing of having twins. But, it feels like I've been fighting these past three years to make sure the work load has been fair and to make sure I'm not doing more of it than I should be. How exhausting it has been to keep score. I'm done.

I think I'm finally coming to terms with giving my whole self over to being a mother - cleaning up the same mess multiple times a day (and not complaining about it), losing precious sleep to soothe a crying child (and not complaining about it), performing the bedtime rituals for two three year olds solo (and not complaining about it) - get the idea? And not just not complaining about it, but also not punishing others with my own self-pity. I'm going to do all that I can for anyone I can for as long as I am physically able. And I'm going to be cheerful and happy to do it. I'm going to give 100% and stop worrying about how much everyone else is giving. How liberating! I feel my heart expanding as I write this.

I'm ready to "forget myself and go to work."

**********************************

"I promise you that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make."
president gordon b hinckley

On being an adult

2009-08-05T22:48:00.003-06:00

I submitted my first auto insurance claim today. It made me feel like an adult.

Can I just say, being an adult sucks!?!

As an unrelated sidenote, if you find yourself standing in Blockbuster in the near future and you can't find a SINGLE movie that looks good (happens to me too often), meander over to the "B" section and pick up the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." You won't regret it.

JDER Smith Family Reunion 2009

2009-07-18T22:28:00.002-06:00

Love you all. Even the crazy ones. You know who you are.

Family time

2009-07-04T23:40:00.005-06:00

We're off. For a week and a half. To reconnect with family.

It's going to be great.

Eliza holding her one-month old cousin, Annabelle. She is even cuter in real life than she is in these pictures. The thing the girls were looking forward to the most on our trip to Tennessee?

Getting to hold this little doll.

Shades of meaning

2009-06-12T09:05:00.004-06:00

What do you think the difference is between these two phrases?

I love you.

I'm in love with you.

What if you were the one saying them? What if you were the one hearing them?

Thoughts? Just curious.

Today's excitement

2009-06-12T09:03:00.003-06:00

I'm sure you're all dying to know what adventure was on the agenda for today.

Car trouble.

Let's just say, by the time the day usually begins, I was already tired.

Since the 4th...

2009-06-11T21:39:00.004-06:00

And I thought the first four days were eventful.

-Monday night/morning, at 3am, I was awake (thanks to my darling insomniac of a daughter) and heard a curious noise outside. It sounded like a junker car trying to start. I wondered who would be heading out at 3am. This is a pretty quiet neighborhood. Not only that, but no one in the cul-de-sac has an old car. I looked out of our bedroom window, saw nothing. I got back into bed. Not a minute later, I heard the same noise, but this time the car started. I looked out of the window again, and surprisingly, the car was driving out of our driveway. It spooked me so bad. What were they doing in our driveway, how long had they been there, who were they, etc.? I begged Taber to go check things out. He said nothing was missing and fortunately we had secured the house before going to bed, but he noticed tire tracks in our backyard. It looked like the mystery men had driven into the development from an open gate, driven through our yard and then out our driveway. Fine, maybe they were drunk, maybe they were running from the cops, but then why did they have to stop in our driveway? It still gives me the creeps just thinking about it. Taber and I have been busy coming up with theories, but I guess we'll never really know. All I know is that they robbed me of a couple hours of precious sleep. It took me over an hour to get back to sleep.

-Tuesday night, Isabelle woke up with a scary cough. It was making it difficult for her to breathe. We called the on-call nurse and she advised us to bring Izzy into the ER. Taber loaded her up and took off. They didn't get back home until 2:15am. It ended up being croup. She came home covered in stickers, with a sort of goody bag with coloring book pages and crayons. Nice. I wonder if the girls will start devising ways to make midnight runs to the ER to score the free goody bags.

-And the latest excitement for this month deserves just one word.

HALLELUJAH!

I decided this week would be potty training boot camp. I'm happy to report the girls are in their beds right now, diaper free. I'm dreaming of all the fun things our obscene, obsolete diaper budget can now buy instead. Of course, there are the occasional accidents, but overall they're doing a fabulous job. They take naps and sleep in panties and almost all of the time (it's only been a few days so far), they wake up dry. We can take them out in public in panties and almost all of the time, they are accident-free. It is so liberating to be unchained from diapers. I've traded diaper changes in for other chores (cleaning up accidents, enduring multiple potty breaks in one shopping trip, etc), but it's a trade I was ready to make. I am so proud of my not-so-little girls!!! They've turned from babies to big girls with this one milestone.

I'm pretty sure this month will go down in Wilson family history.

What's better than chocolate? Free chocolate.

2009-06-05T14:09:00.002-06:00

Check out this website every Friday to get your coupon for free chocolate. You can collect up to 4.

You're welcome.

And it's only the 4th

2009-06-04T15:11:00.003-06:00

June has been a busy month. Already. It feels like a month's worth of excitement and drama have been wrapped up in the past four days. Normally, this first week of June is busy anyway because it's birthday week: my mother-in-law, my husband, and my mother all celebrate birthdays this week. But to make things more interesting, let's throw another birthday, a few trips to the doctor, and a few cops to the mix...

On the first day of June...
-our 3rd niece/girl cousin was born. Her fine parents named her Annabelle Marie. Isn't that a beautiful name? Now we have an Isabelle and an Annabelle. We were joking the other day that we'll have to change Eliza's name to Elizabelle just so she won't feel left out.
-Momma Bonnie celebrated her birthday. Far, far away, in Utahland. Agenda for next June 1st? Sky diving, I've heard. Wild and crazy? I think so.

On the second day of June...
-the last of the Smiths went out of town, leaving us here in this huge house all by ourselves. My biggest challenge in the next 2 weeks? Keep myself from "accidentally" killing Jack-dog.

On the third day of June...
-we celebrated Daddy's birthday. Oh, the girls had a ball with this. We met Taber at school and took him out to lunch, his choice of restaurant. Arby's it was. Then we dropped him back at school and headed out to do some birthday shopping. On the list? Laces for some of Taber's boots. How hard could it be to find stinkin' shoelaces? 4 stores later, a gazillion buckling/unbucklings of car seats, all afternoon spent, 2 huge blisters on mommy's feet and still no laces. Don't worry, I'm still working on it. I found a shop in NORTH CAROLINA that sells the right size/type laces. Seriously?!? They better be woven with gold thread. Moving on...We had a delicious home-cooked dinner of steak (Taber's favorite), mashed potatoes and gravy, and pasta salad, followed by a smashing party, complete with cake, strawberry ice cream (Taber's favorite), and presents. I learned a few things from this party.
***One, the extra money you spend at a party store for helium balloons is worth it. Notice the drooping, mini balloon in the picture below. This was only a few hours after we got them blown up...at Wal-Mart. (Wal-Mart is not to be confused with a party store. Sure, they have low prices and everything, but their helium balloons suck.) They were all to the floor this morning when we woke up. In my mind, a birthday party is not a birthday party without helium balloons.
***Two, we're reaching the limit on the number of candles (27!) we can (safely) fit and light on a birthday cake. I have read about a billion old fogie birthday cards joking about this very thing, but the humor is just now revealing itself to me, now that it's personal. Maybe we'll just have to enlarge the cake. Yeah, that sounds like the best solution. :) It was extremely difficult lighting all 27 candles by myself, carrying the cake over to Taber, singing Happy Birthday and snapping a single picture of him before the candles had completely disappeared into the cake. Next year - Texas sheet cake and roman candles.

As a side note, the girls sang Happy Birthday to Taber about 4 times yesterday. They were so cute about it.

On the fourth day of June...

-Eliza had a doctor's appointment to get her ears checked. She had an ear infection earlier this spring and the doctor had us come back a few weeks later to check to make sure the fluid in her ear had all drained out. It hadn't. At that appointment, I also mentioned I was concerned with her hearing. (She says 'huh?' every other sentence. Sometimes she reminds me of an 80 year old man. Sad.) The doctor said the fluid could be muffling sounds, making it hard for her to hear. She asked us to come back so she could check the fluid for a second time. We went today and the doctor said her ears looked beautiful. That's not what I wanted to hear. It seems like fluid would be one of the easiest things to fix. Now I get to wonder what could be causing her hearing problems. The pediatrician referred us to an audiologist who is better equipped to perform in-depth testing. I'll report the findings in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

WARNING: Slightly graphic injury photos following. (Dude, you should have seen it before the doctor got to her. I thought I was going to pass out!)
-Familiar with the story "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed?" Let's just say we reenacted this book today, but instead of their being five little monkeys, there were two.

Two little monkeys, jumping on the bed,

Eliza fell off and bumped her head,

Momma called the doctor, and the doctor said,

"Bring her in right away."

The girls were jumping on a big king bed that is sitting in the middle of their room before they took their afternoon nap. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Isabelle push Eliza off the bed. This happens often, but unfortunately this time, Eliza's head smacked into the dresser. She started crying and so I went over to console her. She was holding her forehead in her hands. I saw blood seeping through her fingers. Oh crap. Then I peeked under her hands. Oh crap, crap, crap. What do I do? Her forehead had a huge gash in it. It was about an inch long, but worse than the length was the depth. I could see layers I never wanted to see. After consulting with our family's EMT (Taber), I decided to call the doctor. They asked me how far away we lived and then told me to bring her right in. I cleaned it up as well as I could and clumsily bandaged it. I rushed out to the van and sped off to the doctor's office. As I was pulling out of the driveway, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't that be funny if I got pulled over for speeding?" Yep, the joke was on me. About 2 minutes from the doctor's office, there he was. Sitting on the other side of the hill. He saw me, I saw him, I knew exactly what was coming. He walked up to the car, asked for my license, after which I proceeded to tell him my daughter gashed her head and I was rushing her to the hospital. (I may have been dramatic for effect...) My ramshackle bandage came in handy then, because he looked in the car back to her seat where he saw this gauze pad folded over, held to her head with a finger bandage. He said he clocked me at 49 in a 35, but that he'd just ask me a few questions, give me a written warning and let me go on my way. He asked me if I worked (what is the point of that question?) and what year my car was. He came back a few minutes later, handed me my slip, and let me get on my way. Now this incident on its own is nothing...but I got another written warning last Saturday when I was waiting for my mom in a fire lane at Hobby Lobby. The car was still running, I was in the drivers seat, but the cop still wrote me up. Lame. A real Owasso policeman patrolling the parking lots at the mall??? Don't you have some meth lab to go bust or something? He told me the ticket for this offense was $119. Ouch. Lucky me, I guess he was feeling generous to just give me a warning. Ever since Saturday, I've been feeling kind of nervous - I feel like I have a target on my car now and the tiniest slip-up would nail me. I'm "in the system" now. So I guess I was doubly lucky he didn't stick it to me today. And thus continues my 11 year ticketless driving career. It's something I'm very proud of. Not just that I've never gotten a ticket, but that I've been pulled over countless times (probably at least 10 times) and always gotten off.

Enough bragging. Back to the story. We got to the doctor's office and the nurse and doctor took a look at the gash and they both agreed it looked pretty serious. I felt justified by their reaction and that I wasn't over exaggerating how bad it was. The doctor said it would definitely need stitches. In my mind I thought, "Good. Now the stitch score will be even. Isabelle, 1; Eliza, 1." Everything must be equal in twindom. The doctor left to get the materials for the stitches ready, but when she came back she said this type of scar was actually a prime candidate for dermabond, a type of super glue for the body. So basically she just glued Eliza's head back together. No needles, no stitches, no drugs. We were in and out in less than 15 minutes. Poor girl.

I wonder what excitement the next 26 days have in store. Or do I?

Just a random picture of the girls showing off their big booties. I let them go swimming in the kiddie pool in the backyard with normal diapers and this is what happened. Oh man, it was hilarious. Some serious junk in their trunks.

For Uncle Hyrum

2009-05-24T16:10:00.002-06:00

For some reason, this picture made me think of you.

This is getting old

2009-05-08T15:00:00.003-06:00

Number of months we've lived in Oklahoma: 4
Number of job applications Taber has submitted: 25
Number of job applications Kim has submitted: 5
Number of jobs Taber and/or Kim have been offered: 0
Number of weeks before Kim and/or Taber go crazy: ?

This is getting really old.

Another couple of projects

2009-04-25T22:04:00.002-06:00

Here is another project I did. Below are the flexible hoses that my class attached pipe fittings to. It sure was a tough project. Not that it was very mentally demanding, but it took some muscle. I really had to force the fittings on there. The second photo shows a close-up of what we put on the end of the flexible hose (both the gold and black parts).

This second set of photos was the result of yet another project. I took a straight piece of aluminum tubing, put fittings on it, then bent it according to the specifications the teacher gave us. After I did that, the teacher damaged the pipe, so I had to repair it. That is why you see the black part on the lower end of the tube on the first picture. As for the second photo, the flared end of the tube was also done by me. I used a special tube flaring tool to do it. The third picture is the tube being pressure tested. It had to hold 1500psi for at least on minute. The tray of hydraulic fluid was used to lubricate the flexible hoses and to prep the hydraulic line. My line passed.

A Little of What I do

2009-04-25T21:29:00.003-06:00

For the past four months, I've been busy training to become an airplane mechanic (the PC term is Aviation Maintenance Technician, stupid PC). Usually all I get to do is sit in class and work on worksheets, or view powerpoints about various items. However, once in a while I also get to do some really fun, hands on things. The hands on things are generally called projects. One project I did started with these two items above. The first picture is a piece of Steel Rod Stock, and the second picture is a piece of aluminum bar stock. We cut the bar stock to size, heat treated it (heated it up to a high temp and then put it in cool water) and practiced anodizing it (anodizing is a corrosion resistant coating that turns the aluminum a gold color). My class then put the metal aside so that we could practice our drafting skills. We ended up drawing up the plansfor our individual blocks. Each of us had to follow precise instructions. My blue prints ended up looking like this:

Once I finished the blueprints, I had to manufacture the block according to the dimensions and layout on the blueprints. That included drilling holes in specific places, doing a countersink (so a countersunk screw or rivet could sit flush with the surface), counterbore one hole, thread two holes, ream two holes to a specific size, then put a helicoil in one of the holes that I already threaded. The block itself had to be within certain dimensions, so I hand filed the block until it was in those dimensions and was square. The corners also had to be rounded so that they were at a certain dimension and radius. The rod stock also had to be cut to a certain size, the head of the bolt filed so that it was square and a 5/16 wrench could fit on it. On the bottom of the rod stock, I had to cut threads in it until it fit into one of the holes I threaded on the piece of aluminum and it was flush with the end of the block when threaded. This is how the finished product looked.

As part of the finished product, we had to polish the block. I had a pretty good time making this. I used everything from jewlers files to drill presses. Most of the time we worked in the shop with a cessna 172. It was great.

Easter weekend

2009-04-14T00:21:00.009-06:00

We woke up Sunday morning to a gray, cloudy, rain-filled sky.

We were relieved that we had done all the traditional Easter festivities on Saturday, when the weather was much more Spring-like.

The Easter bunny strikes

(who else loves those movies? some of our childhood favorites)

Isabelle, showing off her basket

Eliza, mid-hunt

Isabelle, being taught how to properly eat a chocolate Easter bunny

Eliza, enjoying her Easter spoils

Isabelle: 2.5 years old, going on 27 (wearing mommy's high heels and carrying mommy's purse)

She came down later that evening, informing me she was going to Prom. She had my purse again, had gotten her Sunday shoes on, and was ready to leave. She came and gave me a kiss goodbye. I played along, opening the door for her, telling her I expected her home before 11:30pm. She got as far as the front sidewalk before I made her come back. It was raining. The girls have been in love with the idea of prom ever since Aunt Amanda went a few weekends ago.

I'll admit it. I bribed the girls with candy. All I wanted was one good picture of them in their Easter dresses, looking at the camera and smiling. I know I was asking a lot for the smiles. This was the best smile I could get from Eliza. And it was only because I starting speaking to her in jibberish out of desperation. She was probably secretly thinking, "My mom is a nutjob." In her defense, she and Isabelle have not been feeling well lately. The girls and I had to come home early from church. They were so disappointed they couldn't go to nursery.

This is what I got when I asked them to put their arms around each other. That's what you would call a literal interpretation.

Finally. A good one.

Isabelle's hair, complete with handmade hair accessories

A month's worth of highlights

2009-03-30T00:57:00.014-06:00

A brief, illustrated look into our lives over the past few months.

Valentine's Day. Nothing really worked out like it was supposed to, but we still had a great time! (The restaurant I wanted to take Taber to, Texas Roadhouse, had a 2 1/2 hour wait - I couldn't believe people would actually waste that much time just waiting to eat. We ended up at Logan's Steakhouse after checking at two other steakhouses on the same road, both with horrendous waits. The meal was delicious and we had a fraction of the wait. I also wanted to take Taber ice skating, but again, it was packed and they were turning people away.)

Daddy/daughter date. The girls had a ball. Ever since they went on their date, the girls have been asking to go to another "dance party." They now equate the stake center with F-U-N. We went to stake conference a couple of weeks ago and the girls thought we were taking them to a dance party.

Circus time! We took the girls to their (and my) very first circus. It was kind of painful because once you got in the door, everything required cash - the elephant rides, the pony rides, the cotton candy and popcorn, the face painting, the light-up gadgets. You name it, it cost cash money. Getting in was just the beginning. So, there we were, early, without dinner, trying to get the girls to understand why they couldn't ride the ponies while all the other little kids around them were. I don't know, we just don't carry cash on us. Lesson learned. My favorite part of the show was the amazing acrobatics. The girls' favorite part? The blow-up Dora doll daddy found at a vendor that actually accepted debit cards. Isabelle's least favorite part? CLOWNS!

My mom, sister and I threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Melissa. She has two boys and is so excited for the arrival of her first daughter, Annabelle. It was hard not to get excited about it all, too. The whole affair was pink - all the guests dressed in pink, there were pink balloons, pink streamers, pink candles, pink roses, pink candy, pink lemonade, and pink onesies hanging on a clothesline. The walls were just a bonus. It was so girly and oh-so-fun!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Spring Break

We had a really hard time trying to decide where we would go for Spring Break. This has not been a dilemma we have had to face for many years (BYU doesn't offer its students a Spring Break). Taber had a week off of school and with no job (yet), we didn't have any strings keeping us here. We dreamt of driving out to visit family in Idaho to help celebrate a graduation and we also dreamt of driving to Florida to visit family and play in the ocean and lay on the beach. And then we came back down, out of the clouds. Realizing we should probably be as frugal as possible given our current circumstances, we opted for closer to home, like really close. Like Oklahoma City. Surprisingly, there was a lot to do and see and we ended up having a fabulous time. We spent one day at the zoo (along with rest of the state of Oklahoma - it was incredibly crowded) and a science museum. The next day we toured downtown OKC - my little family indulged me and agreed to go to the botanical gardens with me. Loved it! We also went to the national memorial. Very touching. We got to ride around town in a trolley and eat lunch at an actual eat-in Sonic (Sonic's headquarters are in OKC). We strolled along the river in Bricktown. We swam in our hotel's pool every night to satisfy the girls' aquatic cravings. We visited the largest Wal-Mart in all of Oklahoma, a fact the hotel receptionist seemed proud to pass on. It seemed like a mini-town inside, reminding me of the movie/book "Where the Heart Is." We drove by the temple to show the girls that they really do exist outside of Utah. We ate dinner in our hotel room to save a couple of bucks, introducing the girls to the fine dining experience of Kid Cuisine. We had an awesome time and it left us wanting to go back again, to rent bikes to ride along the river, to take a river cruise, to enjoy all that our new state has to offer. It's fun being a tourist in your own backyard.

Eating our picnic in our hotel

The Wal-Mart city block

At the zoo

At the botanical gardens......In Bricktown

At the Oklahoma City Memorial

Death of an old friend

2009-02-15T22:16:00.002-07:00

It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of an old friend, our Mitsubishi big screen. The TV, nick-named "big screen" to those who were close, joined our family about 2 years ago when Taber found it in a back room of the BYU Moving storage and bought it for $50. While it was brought into the home under the objections of Kim, all in the house came to love the old big screen. Movies were never the same, and the light eminating from the enormous flat screen set a romantic touch to any setting. We made many fond memories with the TV, and the twins grew up watching their kiddy shows on it. We will surely miss it.
The circumstances leading up to its death are still under investigation. It made the trip to Oklahoma safe and sound, (including a trip up the stairs carried by a few members of the Elder's quorum) and even worked for a couple of weeks before the color turned mysteriously blue and green. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the red bulb was burned out. Unfortunately, due to the age of the TV, spare parts are hard to come by and as a result, we had to take it off life support. As with many things, the death of our big TV helped give life to our other TV, which is currently sitting on top of ole' big screen (we haven't moved it out of our room yet because we don't know where to put it). It was a good run while it lasted. A trust fund has been set up for the replacement of the big screen. As some of you know, once you go big screen, you can't go back.

We're not in Utah anymore, Toto...

2009-02-12T13:36:00.007-07:00

I have been taking (full) advantage of free babysitting offered at the local Y - 2 hours a day with a membership. Pure awesomeness. I have been exploring all the different exercise classes that are available. It was during one of these very classes that I realized we're not in Utah anymore. What class was it? you ask.

Line dancing.

Yep, we've definitely burst out of "the bubble."

And it feels nice.

I've noticed some other differences about life in Oklahoma, other than the line dancing.

Lots of trucks.
Lots of horses and cows.
Lots of skunks.
Lots and lots and lots of churches. Oh wait, that's just like Utah. Except, they're not all Mormon chapels.
Killer tornadoes/thunderstorms/winds (and when I say "killer," I mean it quite literally).

But, one of the more subtle differences I have noticed since arriving in Oklahoma about a month ago, and one difference I have been quite surprised by, is the friendliness of complete strangers. Believe it or not, people are friendlier here than in "Happy Valley." That, I would not have expected. I mean, Utah is the WWJD capital of the world, right? So you would think people would be uber kind and neighborly...not always the case. The other day I was at Reasor's, the only true grocery store here in town (Albertson's went out of business, much to my dismay), and I was in the produce section. The oranges looked particularly inviting so I approached the display. An older gentleman came up about the same time and proceeded to tell me how delicious these oranges were and how he's come back three times to buy more. Then, as I was checking out, he came up in line behind me and we again continued the orange banter. But it's not only at the grocery store - I've made "friends" at restaurants, the gym, with neighbors, and at stores.

The friendliness seems to be sincere, too. A lot of times in Provorem, the gesture was there, but the heart was missing.

I'm looking forward to living in a more heterogenous community, with all the perks it has to offer.

Like delectable oranges and line dancing.

Christmas fun

2009-01-31T22:17:00.006-07:00

So, I know we're 35 or so days late...BUT, I couldn't just skip over Christmas, especially because we had such a fun one this year. The girls grasped a little better than they did last year:

-what presents are (just something to rip open and set aside in search for the next one. I think next year we'll wrap empty boxes. I don't think they'll notice.)

-who Santa Claus is ("a nice person" - Isabelle's words - she was deathly afraid of him when he made a surprise visit to Grammy and Papa's home in Utah - so after he left and for the next couple of days, Taber and I tried our hardest to convince both her and Eliza that Santa was no one to fear. In fact, he's a very nice person who brings us presents. Every once in awhile she will spontaneously state that "Santa Claus nice person." It's like she's trying to convince herself.)

-how cool Christmas lights are (the girls both loved looking at Christmas lights - we made two trips in one week to see lights on Temple Square in early December. Most nights in December they would request to go out and look at lights.)

-how to sing Christmas carols (they are still singing Jingle Bells at random times throughout the day. When they forget the words or just want some backup, they'll say, "Sing it, Mama!")

-snow boots = free reign in the snow

-how to decorate a Christmas tree (this was the first year since Taber and I got married that we decided to have a tree, and I'm so happy we finally joined in the fun. It seriously was so fun. Picking it out, setting it up, and especially decorating it as a family, minus Eliza, who was more interested in reading her books than helping us decorate. We lamed out and bought one at Home Depot, but it ended up making a beautiful Christmas tree. The thing I loved most about it was how it filled our apartment with a fresh, lovely pine smell. I turned my Scentsy off the whole time we had our tree. No need for it. I loved snuggling up on the couch, close to the tree, basking in the twinkling lights and glorious smell. We also bought some ornaments and an angel for our tree, after Taber and I had a quick rock-paper-scissors debate over whether to get an angel or a star for the top of the tree. The girls adored "Gabby," as we nicknamed her. Isabelle got the honor of crowning the tree with her - Eliza was fully engrossed in Brown Bear, Brown Bear by this time.)

P.S. I found a delicious recipe for cranberry-orange pull apart rolls that I made for Christmas morning. I decided after the first bite that this will be a Wilson family Christmas morning tradition from here on out. As soon as I can find the recipe in the stacks of boxes, I will post it. (Hopefully before Christmas 2009!) You'll want it, believe me. It's easy cheesy and the best part is that all the work is done the night before.

We're Moving!

2009-01-08T16:49:00.008-07:00

Lightning strike in Owasso sky

I realized there may be some of our readership (all 3 of you) who may not know of our impending move. We're moving. Next week. The moving truck shows up here on January 13th. It still hasn't really sunk in. And let me just say - I.HATE.MOVING. Not actually living in a new place - done that enough that it's not too big of a deal - but the actual physical part of packing and sorting and cleaning and stressing. Not fun.

We are heading out east to Oklahoma for Taber to continue his education. He graduated with his B.A. in History in December '08. However, he's heading in a different direction than what he's been doing these past 15 years (okay, it's only been like 4, but each additional semester has seemed like an eternity). He's planning on enrolling in Tulsa Tech to pursue training in Aviation Maintenance Technology (fancy way of saying he wants to work on airplanes for the rest of his life, and possibly learn how to fly them.) Eventually he would like to enter the Air Force where he will be able to use this training.

Oklahoma has a lot to offer, really. Thunderstorms, monster mosquitoes, tornadoes, humidity, burmuda grass, heat, cigarette smoke... Seriously though, it has one really special thing - the Smith family of Owasso. See you guys a couple of weeks!

View of Owasso, OK

I did it!

2009-01-05T02:05:00.006-07:00

In my first post, I listed some goals I wanted to accomplish during 2008. One of them was to run a 5k. To some, this may not seem like such a big feat, but to me, it was monumental. I am not a runner. Running is not something I do for fun. Running for me is hard work. But, I knew if I ever wanted to accomplish my much loftier goal of running a marathon in my lifetime, I would have to start somewhere. So, I found a 5k race the Owasso, OK YMCA was sponsoring on Thanksgiving Day and focused my energy on training for that. I also convinced my dad and older brother to join me. Taber was on childcare duty with a bum ankle.

Race day came. I was nervous. Taber coached me on the drive over to the YMCA, calming my nerves. He asked me what my goal was and I told him the only thing I really wanted to accomplish during the race was to run/jog the entire time, just to keep my feet moving. So he reminded me of that and said not to worry about time at all.

My dad, my brother, and I went inside to register. I could feel my adrenaline start coursing through my veins. There was definitely an energy about the morning. There were all sorts of people participating - families with kids, seasoned runners, first-timers like myself. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining, the air was crisp.

The race began. The first few minutes or so were fun, dare I say, easy. Then the excitement wore off and it started getting difficult. I knew going into the race that I wasn't fully prepared - I had only reached my fourth week of a nine-week training program. But I was determined. Despite a few obstacles (not having my mp3 player to distract me, needing to go to the bathroom, and a shoelace that came untied), I jogged the entire 3.1 miles, not stopping to walk once. As I crossed the finish line, I had an amazing sense of accomplishment. I did it. I can do hard things! Taber was there waiting at the finish line with the girls, cheering me on, supporting and encouraging me the whole way. I couldn't have done it without his help. I also couldn't have done it without having my older brother Adam right there by my side, telling me to just keep moving, to ignore my untied shoe, to steady my breathing. If I had been doing it by myself, I probably would've given in and walked so I'm grateful to him for helping me accomplish this goal.

My time wasn't stellar. I finished 119th in the Women's Division, with a time of 34:23, for a pace of 6:53. But I didn't care. I finished.

Lone Man in the Wilderness

2008-12-11T21:21:00.002-07:00

Well, back in October Grandma and Grandpa Smith bought tickets for Kim and the twins to head to Oklahoma for a short 10 day visit. At the time 10 days seemed like a drop in the bucket, but it is the longest Kim and I have been away from each other since we were married, and it has proven difficult. Not to mention, I miss my little girls. Since Kim left on 06 Dec, I have found myself with little to do. Even though I am in my last week of classes and finals are just around the bend, I can't find enough to do to keep my mind off my little family. I finally had to shut the door to the twins room and the bed is colder than usual. Meanwhile, the couch has become my best friend (not to mention the tv). I count down the days until they'll return. Only 5 days left to go. I anxiously count the days, hours, and minutes until my little family returns.

Time in Tulsa (actually Owasso, but that didn't sound right)

2008-11-30T15:53:00.006-07:00

This year the holiday rotation is Thanksgiving in Oklahoma and Christmas in SLC, but since the twins turned 2 in Aug, flying has become too expensive. As a result, we played it up that we wouldn't be able to spend the holiday season in Oklahoma with the Smiths. Little did they know, we were secretly planning to surprise them. We left on Friday 21 Nov at around 4:00 pm (1600 hours). We had planned to leave earlier but Isabelle injured herself and we had to take her to the doctor (she is fine). We drove all the way to Burlington, Co where we stayed the night, then continued our uneventful journey to Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house. We arrived about 7:00 pm (1900 hours) and sent the girls to ring the doorbell. When Grandma Smith answered the door, she just stood there stunned. Finally Kim and I jumped out shouting "Surprise!" and it finally dawned on her what had happened. It was a complete surprise! The surprises continued as each member of the family arrived to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The time was great and many laughs were had by all. Thanksgiving dinner was a delight. Although our trip out to Oklahoma was uneventful, the rest of the trip did not follow suit. On Wednesday while watching the twins and their cousins, I sprained my ankle after stepping in a hole. It swelled up really big, and then when that drained it moved to my foot, so now it looks like I have elephantitis in my left foot. Then, before we were about to leave on Friday, Kim twisted her left ankle too. That was just the beginning.
The drive out of Oklahoma started innocently enough. We had pretty good weather and we made it to Limon, Co, where we stopped for the night, in good time. Before we left Oklahoma, I checked the weather along I-70 and snow was predicted for Friday morning in Denver, but clear skies for Saturday. Unbelievably, the weather predictions were wrong. Right after we left Denver, snow started to fall. Going up the Rockies was incredibly slow, and traffic even stopped at times. All the while, the snow kept coming. Luckily our van has traction control, which kicked in a couple of times and kept us from getting stuck. We pulled into Frisco, Co after traveling for a couple of hours (Frisco is only 72 miles from Denver) to eat lunch. After a brisk lunch, we got back on the road and battled the snow. Once we emerged from the Rockies, things got a whole lot better, weather wise. Just when we started moving, we had to stop again. A semi had crashed in Glenwood Canyon and spilled its load all over the road. As a result, I-70 was shut down until further notice. To make matters worse, there wasn't a detour; the police just sent people off the interstate and told them to wait. We ended up waiting for 5+ hours! In 10 hours we had only made 240 miles! During the wait we tried to keep the girls busy, which was quite a task. Luckily our DVD player and their new-found love in Dora the Explorer kept them entertained for a while. When the interstate finally opened, the police let the people waiting on the interstate go first, instead of everyone that they had told to get off. Those that were waiting the longest, had to wait longer. The people around us did not like it at all, and started to honk their horns at the police officers guarding the on-ramp. Soon, about 25 or more cars were honking their horns and people started yelling. All the while, we could see cars flying by on the interstate. I joined in on the horn honking, until the twins started to cry. After waiting another .5-1 hour, we got on the interstate. Things were moving well for a least a mile, then traffic backed up because CDOT had only opened one lane by the accident. It took us another 1.5 hours to go 8 miles. Even though we had left Limon, Co at 9:00 am on Sat, we didn't get home until around 2:00am Sun morning. It was a very long drive, but the trip was still worth it. While we were in Oklahoma, Kim and I toured a couple of Aviation Maintenance schools in Tulsa and Kim was able to accomplish one of her yearly goals, but I'll let her tell ya'll about that.

All Hallows' Even

2008-11-16T15:06:00.007-07:00

Halloween came and went this year in a flash. The festivities started early with a trip to a local pumpkin patch for playgroup.

Later on in October, we took a stroll down memory lane by going to a pumpkin patch in Santaquin, the same one we went to 2 years ago when the girls were just a few months old.

We carved (for those of us old enough to wield a knife) and painted these pumpkins on Halloween Eve, then did the traditional trick-or-treating the following night.

Trick-or-Treating started off kind of rough for the girls. We took them to the Parks' house first, where Matt was waiting just inside the door to hand out candy. He was dressed in an oversized, hooded robe, reminiscent of the Grim Reaper. He slowly opened the door, peering at the girls. Oh man, they were terrified! The looks on their faces were priceless. It was the saddest, yet funniest thing! I couldn't help but chuckle. For the next couple of houses, the girls were very hesitant to knock on any doors. We had to push and prod them up to the door. When we finally got to a neighborhood where there were lots of other goblins trick-or-treating, they relaxed and quickly caught on. They had a ball - we took them around Stonewood, a nice neighborhood just west of our condo complex. We had been practicing saying "trick-or-treat" all day long - but usually when they got to the door, they just stood there, looking cute, hoping the nice person with the big bowl of candy would have pity on them and just give them some chocolate already. It was easier for them when we made it to Stonewood because there were trick-or-treating veterans who would ring the doorbell and ask for the candy and the girls would just sort of fall in line. The girls scored in the candy department - they got about 3 or 4 full-size candy bars each (none of which they ate - daddy tax :) ) By the end of the night, the girls were exhausted and were asleep before we could even get their costumes off. Oh, initially Isabelle picked the butterfly to wear and Eliza picked the mouse (or rat, as she was called at one house we stopped at - I was slightly offended. Who would dress their daughter as a rat??? A mouse is much more feminine.) But, when they were getting dressed that night, they suddenly switched costumes. I guess such is the prerogative of being a twin - double the wardrobe, double the fun.

As a sidenote, I had a couple of proud mommy moments while we were out trick-or-treating. For the most part, the girls said "thank you" for the candy they received. Hallelujah, something I've been trying to teach them has sunk in! And I fully expected them when reaching into candy bowls to take a fistful of candy, but they very politely and delicately just took one piece - every single time they had the chance to pick out their own piece of candy.

And a lesson learned - never leave a bowl full of good candy sitting outside your door, expecting people to just take a piece or two.

2008 New Year's Goals

2008-11-13T14:24:00.005-07:00

10. Buy a minivan. Check.

9. Pay off credit card debt. Cha-ching. Thanks George W.

8. Continue with food abstinence program. (A few years ago, I wanted to see if I could give up pop for a whole year, just to see if I could do it. I was a major Dr. Pepper addict previously. I succeeded, and ever since then, I've been adding a food item to that list each year. So far I've "given up" pop, French fries, doughnuts, and this year I decided to give up sugary drinks, i.e. anything other than 100% fruit juice, water, or milk.) Check, check.

7. Run a 5k. Working on that one.

6. Wean the girls off of their pacifiers.
5. Have potty training completed by the end of the year. (I feel tired just by thinking about accomplishing #5 and #6)

4. Save $x each month to put toward debt payment. Check.

3. Hike Mt. Timp. Missed that opportunity.

2. Read 13 books this year, cover to cover, including the Book of Mormon. That equals out to one book per month, plus standard scripture reading. So far, I've read 5 and I'm in Enos in the Book of Mormon. Yikes!

1. Start a blog