12.27.10: We did a stupid thing

We did a stupid thing last night.

One of our favorite shows is Man v. Food. The premise of the show is that the host (Adam Richmond) goes around the country and eats at local pig out spots. So if he were to come to Provo, he would eat at J-Dawgs and Cafe Rio. He eats at 2 local favorites and then concludes the episode with a food challenge, like eating 5 pounds of burrito in 1 hour.

Well, last season he came to Salt Lake and last month we saw the episode. Naturally we had to go to the restaurants where he ate. (We make it a point to go to restaurants where Adam eats--we ate at Beth's Cafe in Seattle [disgusting] and the Hominy Grill in Charleston). It just so happened that when Adam came to Salt Lake, he did a food challenge at a sushi restaurant. Sushi being one of our favorite foods, we decided to eat there. Greg, after watching how easily Adam defeated the challenge, decided he would also attempt the Hellfire Sushi challenge.

And this is Greg's story.

We started the evening at McDonald's where Rex got a happy meal, which he didn't eat, and Greg got a hamburger. It was all part of the strategy--he didn't want to eat all the spicy sushi on an empty stomach.

Once at the restaurant and seated, he started the challenge. Well, actually the qualifying rounds. In order to try the challenge, Greg had to first eat 1 piece of the #6 spicy tuna roll. He did this with ease. Andrea and Mike, who came along for the ride, also tried some. Rex and I did not.
Here's the #6 roll. Looks pretty tasty.
The second qualifying round was 2 pieces of the #6.5 spicy tuna roll. Greg also completed this with some ease. He did drink a glass of milk and said it was quite a bit spicier, but was still confident in his abilities.
Now he could start the challenge. He had to eat 6 pieces of the #7 (Hellfire) spicy tuna roll.

Now when Adam did the challenge, the chef brought out all 6 pieces on the same plate at the same time so Adam could just power through all the rolls at once.

When Greg did the challenge, the chef only made two pieces. Greg ate those and asked for the next two. And waited. And waited. And waited. We waited upwards of 15 to 20 minutes for the next two pieces. By that time, the first two had had time to work their magic on Greg's stomach. Knowing that what he was feeling at that moment would only get worse, Greg made the choice not to continue.

We paid the bill; Greg ran next door to get some antacid from the grocery store; and we started our drive home. I drove, while Greg sat quietly in the passenger seat. By the time we got to 800 North in Orem, Greg was...well he sounded like he was in labor and asked me to take him to the hospital. I was just about to get off the freeway when his contraction passed and he decided we should just go home. When we got off on the Provo Center Street exit, Greg was in hard labor and ordering me to drive faster and faster to the hospital. After a bit of trouble finding the Emergency, we got Greg checked in. I ran home (it was 10 pm by this time), practically threw Rex in bed, took the monitor to our tenet and sped back to the hospital.

When I returned, Greg was doing much better. The nurse had just given him some pain killers and he was relaxing. And then the nurse left, and it was time to start pushing. We've spent the day discussing which is more painful: labor or spicy-sushi-induced ulcer. I think Greg wins. After some begging, Greg got some morphine. We hung out for a while longer to make sure the morphine actually worked and were home by midnight.

Diagnosis: repeat of the ulcer Greg got on his mission in Bolivia.

Greg is feeling much better today. His tummy is still a little hurty, so we'll be eating chicken soup here for a few days.

So, yes, we did a stupid thing and ended up in the ER.

But we'd thank to thank our wonderful tenet who spent the night at home listening to the monitor and our wonderful neighbors and friends the Thayers and the Hepworths, who came at a moment's notice in suits and ties to give Greg a blessing. It's comforting to know that we can call on our neighbors at all hours and they'll be there. So thanks for being our friends and thanks for being worthy.

12.24/25.10:Christmas Highlights

I won't bore you with a play-by-play, but here are a few highlights of our Christmas Eve/Christmas.

*Setting up the tree and presents--although the shock of all the presents in the morning isn't as great, Greg and I had a lot of fun making sure everything was perfect.
*Four Christmases with my Gregory. We watched Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation on the couch by the Christmas tree.
*Rex slept in--we had to wake him up.
*Rex got a tricycle and he loves it.
*We got to spend the whole day together as a family.

*Rex loves his tricycle and his Boeing shirt.

*Rex taught himself how to eat Pop Rocks--his favorite candy.
*Three hours later, we got a lot of stuff.
*I made a big, 3-course breakfast in about 20 minutes (sweet).

*We spent the rest of the day building train tracks and towers and working on Rex's tool bench, while Rex sat on his tricycle.

*We also went to a Chinese hot pot place for dinner, so I didn't have to do the breakfast dishes...which I regretted this morning.

Things that were not so cool

*I got a really unfortunate haircut the day before Christmas Eve, so please know that my hair was not on purpose.

*I had to clean up the wrapping paper all by myself--where was my mommy?

*I had to do the dishes all by myself--where was my mommy?

*Rex didn't take a very long nap, so I didn't get one either.

*At one point, we lost the camera due to the massive amount of wrapping paper on the floor.

*I (and by "I," I mean Rex) lost the memory card for our video camera so we tried to record the event on a DVD, but now we can't get the videos to load.

*Rex got bored of unwrapping presents and went to his room to play with his old toys.

*I overfed Rex at the Chinese restaurant so he threw up twice there (once on me and my new jeans) and then came up and threw up on my other new pair of jeans.

12.24.10: The Christmas Story

I sometimes get annoyed by the overuse of Christmas songs from the hymn book and the underuse of Christmas songs from the Children's Song Book so I put this little program together for our family to read and sing tonight. I want it to be in a safe place so we can use it again next year, so I'm posting it here. I also thought some of you might like to read it.

The Christmas Story

Sing The Naivety Song (Children’s Song Book, 52)

For hundreds of years, prophets have foretold of Christ’s birth, including Samuel the Lamanite from the Book of Mormon and Isaiah from the Old Testament.

Read Isaiah 7:14

Read Helaman 14: 1-8

Sing Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus (CSB, 36)

After much waiting and anticipation, the time had come for the prophesies to be fulfilled, starting with Mary’s immaculate conception.

Read Matthew 1:18-25

Sing When Joseph went to Bethlehem (CSB 38)

As Joseph and Mary prepared for the baby, the believers in the Americans anxiously awaited and earnestly prayed for the signs foretold by Samuel.

3 Nephi 1: 4-6, 9-15

While the righteous Nephites prayed, Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem.

Read Luke 2: 1-7

Sing Once in Royal David’s City (205)

Sing Away in a Manger (CSB 42)

Read Luke 2:8-20

Sing Far Far Away on Judea’s Plains (212)

Sing Picture a Christmas (CSB 50)

Read Matthew 2:1-10

Sing With Wondering Awe (210)

And so the prophesies of Christ’s birth were fulfilled and the many of his mortal ministry and death were beginning to be fulfilled also. For as Isaiah said,

Read Isaiah 25:8

As we conclude let us add our testimonies to those who have come before us and echo the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Read Doctrine and Covenants 76:22

Sing O, Come all Ye Faithful (202)

12.21.10: Gift Giving

A few days ago my cousin (and I use that term loosely--really she's my dad's cousin but in closer in age to me) posted this on her blog.

And I started thinking: should I be more stressed out about Christmas? I even asked Greg who we were supposed to buy gifts for at his office. He was confused. I admit I am a terrible gift giver (I apologize to my parents, Greg's parents and my sister Amber as they bare the brunt of my terrible gift giving), but I was starting to feel pretty bad.

Ok not really.

Actually the more I thought about what my cousin said, the more not-stressed I felt. We have spent the entire Christmas season doing stuff as a family. We have crafted together, baked together, played together, and done a little tiny bit of shopping together. Yesterday and today (days four and three before Christmas) we baked some treats for the neighbor and delivered them, but we only made one thing and only one batch, so only a few of our neighbors got goodies--big deal. And I haven't once been too stressed or stressed at all. In fact, this has been a nearly perfect season.

While I may not be perfect or even descent at gift giving, I feel like I'm pretty good at setting priorities, and in light of my cousin's plea for help in the sanity, I thought I'd share my wisdom.

I am a stay-at-home mom and feel like that is my career. Having it be my career, I feel like I should be professional at it, and not just let things slide. As such my priorities are as follows:

1. Wife. I can replace Rex, but I can't replace Gregory. He needs to be first, so in the morning he gets all my attention (until Rex makes that impossible) and when he gets home from work, I again try to focus on him.

2. Mother. This is my real job. Mother. Being a mother means more than babysitting; it means interacting and teaching and playing. I don't spend all of Rex's awake time playing with him, but I try. Most mornings I like to take him on an outing such as MacDonald's or one of the BYU museums or sometimes just a toy store to play with the display items. Even when I have to do something that doesn't revolve around Rex when he is awake, I try to involve him, which is why dinner is made with love at our house.

3. Housekeeper. Everyone is calmer and happier when the house is clean. And Rex still takes 3 hour naps so I have plenty of time to clean, but, as previously mentioned, even if I do clean when Rex is awake I involve him, which is why he knows how to clean a toilet at 21 months.

4. Everything else, which isn't much. And I like it that way. I tell people that Greg and Rex are my #1s so they might just have to wait. People know I don't wake Rex up from naps and that they'll just have to wait if they need something. People know that I don't usually do stuff at night because 10 times out of 10, I'd rather be with my family. I don't announce it to people, but somehow I'v let people know that they just aren't that important to me because I have a career and a job and that is being a wife and mother and if they need me to do something that isn't being a wife and mother, they will probably have to wait. And a lot of times things just don't get done--like making a million different types of treats for all the neighbors and Greg's co-workers and my visiting teachees or going to mid-week Relief Society activities. And that's just the way it is, so judge me if you want, but I'm not stressed and I am loving Christmas and have lots of time to think about and be with the most important things this time of year, my family and Christ.

And that's the wisdom of my great 25 years that I share with you tonight.

ps I'm not perfect at this, but at least it's the philosophy that I live by, most days.

12.19.10: Six days to go

Everyone needed a favor, or a ride, or a babysitter, or several of the above the last few weeks, leaving me with no time to run my last few Christmas errands, and even less to make Rex's Christmas outfit. Finally on Saturday, I said enough was enough and didn't even do my dishes until I'd finished Rex's pants.

But I was rushed.

I was rushed sizing the pattern down.

I was rushed cutting the pieces out.

I was rushed assembling.

Rex cried when I put them on him, they were so tight.

So Saturday night, I took all the pieces apart and tried to re-cut the pattern, but a little bigger, but I didn't have enough material left and it was 9--all the stores were closed. So I added little triangle panels to the sides, redid the waist band, and reassembled the whole thing.

Rex looked like a hipster. The pants hugged his diapered-butt in non-Stake-dance appropriate way and came up to his socks. I made him wear them anyway.

Now they're in the too-small box. Maybe my next kid can wear them.

Sunday night we went up to UVU for a memorial/concert because this happened to my favorite building in Provo.
Rex lasted about 45 minutes and then we went home. The 2 songs of the concert we did hear were beautiful though.

12.18.10: Snow

Friday night it snowed. Well kind of. If I were Finish I would have a more exact word for you (Finish has like 50 words for snow), but I'm not so I'll do my best to describe. The snow on Friday was pretty light and powdery, but the snow on Saturday was sludge mixed with really cold rain, so it was pretty gross outside.

Nonetheless, Greg wanted to take Rex on his first sledding adventure.

We spent about an hour wrestling Rex into his snow clothes and then were on our way to Rock Canyon Park.

Rex was not a fan of his coat, boots, or gloves, but he does love his hat. He also was not a fan of sitting in the sled, but once we got going he laughed the whole way down.

I went down with him once.

Greg took him down 3 times.
And then he insisted on playing on the playground and taking his gloves off. He mostly just stood on the platform because his other snow clothes prevented extensive movement.

While Rex stood on the play set, Greg built this snowman. I found the pacifier for his mouth.

All-in-all, we were there about 15 minutes and then we went out to eat with Greg's Christmas bonus money.

12.17.10: Couples Only Night

Because Hannah and Noah ended up going back to Washington two days before they had originally planned, Greg and I were lucky enough to get their tickets to the Mo Tab Christmas Concert, featuring David Archuleta. I was super excited to see him look super bad singing with the choir as back up, and to hear the choir and the orchestra and the dancers (Greg and I went a few years ago and it was amazing). I was stoked.

But then our babysitter cancelled.

Luckily, Greg's sister was kind enough to fill in last minute and we were good to go again. Greg even came home early from work so we would be sure to be able to drive to Salt Lake, park, ride Tracks into downtown, and get seated before our seats were given away at 7.

After several outfit changes (Greg, not me), we were on our way. We got on the freeway, and boom. Ok, not really boom, but our car started shaking really bad. It's a good thing Greg was driving because I would've kept going. Greg threw the hazards on and we inched our way to the nearest pullout, which happened to be the next exit 6 miles away because of all the construction.

We pull off the exit and Greg gets out to inspect. The tire straight up fell off the rim. He goes to the trunk to get the necessary stuff to change the tire, but his loving and overly organized wife had so neatly put the wretch in his toolbox where it belonged back in the garage. Oops.

Luckily, we have really good insurance (USAA) so we called them for roadside assistance, but they wouldn't change the tire, because we have locking lug nuts (?), but they would tow us up to 12 miles. Lucky us again, we had pulled off the Wal-Mart exit and their tire center was open for another 2 hours.

So we waited. (That's us waiting for the tow truck)

And the tow truck actually came 15 minutes early, so we only ended up waiting 30 minutes or so. He loads us up, takes us to Wal-Mart, unloads us, and leaves. But then Wal-Mart couldn't change our tire either because they didn't have the right tool (seriously Wal-Mart?). So we called the insurance company again, and they re-sent the tow truck. This time we decided to just go home, which was well with-in the 12 mile radius and Greg would find the wretch and do it himself in the morning.

While we waited, we had a lovely meal of 20-piece chicken McNuggets at the Wal-Mart McDonald's. We even got all the sauces to be extra fancy. When we were ordering, I nearly ordered water (gotta watch those calories), but then I remembered where we were eating and just got a soda instead.

Here's Greg so excited for his McNuggets.
And me eating my first McNugget since high school; I was sick the rest of the night.
The same truck driver came back to get us after just barely getting home and saying hi to his wife. Oops. He took us home and we spent the rest of the night (it was only 8:15 by the time we got home) sleeping on the couch/looking at guns online.

And here's the kicker, I hadn't taken the wretch out, I had just very neatly and tightly packed it in with the jack. Oops.

12.16.10: Nine

I failed to communicate very well with the parents of the little girl I babysit, so I ended up watching her until 7 tonight, and Greg went into work at 6 this morning so he could take a few hours off in the afternoon to finish the errands he was supposed to do last night, so we were both pretty tired tonight.

So I threw a bag of popcorn in the microwave, and we watched Charlie Brown's Christmas tonight. I'd never seen it before. It was cute. Rex got bored about half way threw and practiced his mad jumping skills on the couch. We had a nice time all cuddling on the couch watching a silly movie that focused on more than just Santa and gift giving.

12.16.10: Ten

Today was supposed to be Build-a-Snowman day and it even snowed and I forced Rex to wear his snow boots and threw him into the snow earlier in the day (all while he was screaming bloody murder--it's a good thing neighbors don't car about each other anymore) so he'd get used to his snowsuit, so we could have built a snowman.

But we didn't.

Greg still had a bit of Christmas shopping he needed to get done, and told me he just had one quick errand to run, so I told him to take Rex with him while I cleaned the house a bit and finished dinner.

An hour and a half later they still weren't home and Greg wasn't answering his phone.

They decided to have a father-son date and went to Toys-R-Us to try out some of the trikes.

We may have gone a little overboard on Christmas for Rex this year. Hopefully he won't remember this year and except the same number of presents next year.

They got home just in time for me to jump in the car and rush to a friend's house to babysit her kids while she took a final.

When I got home, Greg and I played with some of Rex's Christmas presents.

12.14.10: Eleven

First experience with marshmallows
First experience mixing on the stove
1/2 cold milk + 1/2 hot chocolate= disgusting. Rex asked for plain milk after trying a bit.

Fluffy Hot Chocolate

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1-1/2 cups marshmallows

Combine in medium saucepan over medium heat.

Cons: Tasted like melted marshmallows dipped in weakly flavored chocolate.

Pros: Took about 5 minutes to make and I had all the ingredients on hand. Had this not been such a fast recipe this would have had to have been another break night--2 hours is hardly enough time to eat dinner, do an activity, and get ready for bed.

12.13.10: Twelve

Gingerbread houses. Well, technically house.

Greg and I decided it's a good thing we were doing this with just Greg and not any of our more crafty friends, because neither one of us has the patience or ability to make a ginger bread house look good. Add Rex to the mix, and well, we pretty much just made a huge mess. But Rex had fun. First, he ate a bunch of candy. Then he sat in a sugar-induced semi-coma for a while. Then he put some candy on the house. Then he poured an entire jar of colored sugar on the house. He licked his hands and rubbed them in the colored sugar. Next, he used me as a ladder to get onto the table. Then he took a bath. Now he is asleep.

Did I mention that even with a kit of pre-made and cut house, frosting, candy, and step-by-step instructions our house still ended up looking like it did? Greg and I have no patience for these things.

Starting. Did I mention that Rex legitmately thinks this is a jacket? I told him to put his coat on today and he went to his closet and picked this out. It was cute so I let him wear it.
Rex and Greg rolling out the fondant.
Rex overcoming his sugar-coma.
The side Rex and I decorated.

The side Greg decorated.

12.12.10: Thirteen

BINGO!

I think Bingo started because my maternal grandparents wanted to keep us entertained when we visited their house. First, Grandma took us to the dollar store to pick out toys, then she wrapped them so we couldn't cheat, and then Grandpa called the game.

Then when we moved to Tracy and didn't have any family close by, my mom started Bingo on Christmas Eve so that we had something to do.

And now, I do it with Greg's siblings and mine, and their guests.

Well, for the past 2 years, including this one, at least. This year, we even had a dinner.

And that was last night's activity.

We started with a dinner of pork roast, mashed potatoes, rolls, and salad. Tasty and filling. Then we did some dishes (I've finally learned that siblings don't count as guests at my house and have to help with dishes). And then Bingo. I make everyone bring their own prizes because I'm too cheap to buy one for everyone. We had some pretty cool prizes this year, including but not limited to Bible trivia flashcards about profits (their spelling not mine), and a cheese-grater for your feet. Greg called the game and I entertained Rex.

Then we had a fabulous chocolate cake that my sister made.

A few of us exchanged gifts, and then Hannah and Noah had to go home to study for finals; Mike and Andrea had to get to bed so Mike could get up for his 3 am shift the next day; and Travis and Greg played video games while Emma blogged and I called my mom.

Rex didn't have the most fun, mostly because not everyone was paying 100% of their attention to him, but I think everyone else did.

And so, thirteen days to go.

Rex and Greg made the Bingo cards
Travis pulled Rex around in a box when Rex got bored.
Travis and Emma are some serious Bingo players.
Rex helped pass out presents.

Kate was the big winner of the night--she got the Bible trivia cards about profits.

12.11.10: Secret Santa

After taking a short break (Greg doesn't get home from work until 6 and Rex goes to bed at 8, so any blimp in our schedule makes it difficult to do anything besides eat dinner), we returned to our regularly scheduled Christmas activities. We had a back log of activities, and today was supposed to be go sledding, but we have no snow so we used one of our activities that we missed previously. So today we went Secret Santa shopping.

Kind of.

When I originally planned on this activity I thought we would do Toys for Tots or Angel Tree and actually get to go toy shopping, which Rex loves (we spent an hour running around Toys-R-Us the other day). But our ward had something different in mind. I guess it makes sense, but is significantly less entertaining for me this way. Our ward just wanted us to buy gift cards. I'm totally into giving usual gifts and what's more useful than money? You can buy whatever you want. It's just a waste of money to buy people stuff they don't want or will only marginally use, but this activity was so uneventful that Greg and Rex sat in the car while I ran into Smith's to buy the gift cards.

Another lame activity, I know.

After wards, we did go to the mall though. Greg finished up his Christmas shopping while Rex and I people watched.

I also found a shirt with a T-Rex on it that said "Rexcellent." Greg said he would've been mad at me if I had not purchased it. It's a 2T so who knows if Rex will ever wear it, but seriously, how could I have not bought that?

12.9.10: Break

We took a short break from our advent today. Greg had a meeting after work with a guy he's doing freelance for. I forgot I was supposed to babysit. And Rex's face is still covered in boogers. Greg's meeting ended just as it was time to put Rex to bed, so we did. I then went to the track to put a few miles in, and Greg headed downstairs for some much needed relaxation.

So we postponed our activity until tomorrow.

12.8.10: Santa and Carolers (and the toy store again) (seventeen)

Tonight we headed back up to the Riverwoods, which has been redone to be more like an actual mall (albeit still outdoors) than a shopping center, to meet Santa.

Santa was very nice and very convincing. He knew that Rex had been a mostly very good boy all year and was even so kind as to give Rex a candy cane even though he would have nothing to do with Santa, and Santa stood for the picture. Notice how Rex is trying to crawl across Greg's chest to get away from Santa.

With candy cane in mouth, we took a short, 30 feet walk to the newly-installed bandstand where the Hale Center Theatre carolers, dressed in turn of the century English clothing (what is it about top hats and hoop skirts that is inherently Christmas-y), played some lovely music.

Rex soon bored of the carolers, so we went to our new favorite place. We took another short, 30-foot walk to Brink....I don't remember the rest I only read the first few letters. Anyway it's a toy store that we visited on Saturday after reading at Borders. Rex loves it. He cries when we leave.
I would have liked to have listened to the carolers some more after the toy store, but Rex is coming down with a cold so we decided to get home so he could get in bed on time and hopefully recover from the cold by Sunday for nursery.

12.7.10: 18

Lame. That describes tonight's activity.

I had class until 7, and then thought that I could fly and not have to sit in traffic. I was just going to real quick run up to Costco to get the Christmas cards, and then to Expedex to the envelopes, and then to the dollar store to get white nylons for the activity.

I got the Christmas cards, but I messed up the order so all the words got cut out and the resolution was bad, so I gave up on the envelopes because I'm not going to get the Christmas cards done tonight anyway. I went to the dollar store and had to buy regular skin-toned nylons because not even the dollar store is tacky enough to sell white.

I was home at 7:30, but had only had cookies for lunch, so I ate a few leftovers and then started to make the nylon/pillow stuffing indoor snowballs for our snowball fight.

By the time I made the snowballs, changed Rex's poopy diaper, and was ready to fight, it was bedtime and Rex is getting sick so I wanted to make sure he got in bed on time.

So it was lame.

(But we still have the brown "snowballs"--maybe we'll play tomorrow).

12.6.10 #2: The Office (Party)

What I really wanted to post about here was my skirt to wear to the party, which I made because my friend made this skirt, which she got from this tutorial.

I was surprised by how easy it was and how easily it came together.

Total cost $9--and this is not a refurbished skirt. I bought all new materials. I got the fabric for $1 a yard, if I got 5 yards, but I only used about 2 yards, so I have left overs. I bought a new zipper for less than $2 and even bought matching thread--which I don't usually d0--for less than $2. The trim I found in the garage, so that was free. All in all, I spent about $9, but have 3 yards of fabric left and nearly an entire spool of thread. Good deal.

And I like it to boot.

Aren't we cute?

12.5.10: 19

12.5.10: 20 days to go

Tonight was First Presidency Christmas Devotional with a side of ice cream sundae. (Thanks Elizabeth for the ice cream. If you want to come get the rest of your left overs, there is still some left).

Rex is getting pretty good at eating with a spoon and Greg said that's his normal face...yeah ok.
Now, if I may get a little sappy, here are a few things I thought about during the devotional tonight.

I've been feeling really grateful and selfish today. I've been thinking about how perfect my life is and how there is very little, actually nothing really, that I would change. Greg is a perfect husband who supports me in all the ridiculous things I want to do and is complimentary of even my worst attempts at life. Rex is happy and easy going. He plays well by himself, but also invites me into his little world to roll balls of play-doh for him tocrush. He gives me hugs and kisses, and lately is really into holding my hand. My parents are also pretty amazing. One of the best things they did for me was to teach me how to make my own decisions. I don't remember them ever telling me what to do. They would listen quietly as I weighed my options, would offer some advice, and lastly pray with me so I could learn to love the Savior like them. My siblings, aside from Greg and Rex, are my best friends. When I didn't have any friends in high school I could count on them to sit by me at lunch or invite me to parties. Now I just enjoy being with them and telling funny stories about our childhood. Add to my real siblings, all my in-laws who have welcomed me into their family and made me feel like a real Baker.

But mostly I am thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ who has blessed me with all these amazing people. And with his love and friendship. He has never failed to offer comfort and cheer when I'm down; or excitement and well-wishes when things are going well. He atoned for my sins so that when I get frustrated with Rex or am unkind to Greg or whatever I do that I know I shouldn't but I do anyway, I can repent. He offered his atonement so that I can gain eternal life and exaltation, but more importantly so that my family can do that same and my mom and I can get mansions in heaven next to each other with a gigantic swimming pool going across both backyards.

While I recognize all that I have (perfect house, car that works, job that allows Greg to play with Rex in the morning, money to pay tuition, family), I still find myself wanting more. The things I want, I think, are righteous desires, but do I really deserve to ask for more, when he has given me so much already? I guess we'll see if I get what I've been asking for.

There's just something about Christmas that makes me more thankful than Thanksgiving (maybe because Thanksgiving at our house is more about the food).

12.4.10: 21 days

Tonight was read Christmas stories at Borders.

We didn't get a lot of reading done.

Rex loves to read, but only under certain conditions--in his room cuddling with Mom with nobody else around. Today we read on the couch under a blanket while eating popcorn. Point is, we didn't really read at Borders. Rex played with the bead board thing, and Greg played with puppets. Rex was not very sure about the puppets, but he frew used to them after a while.

We did buy 3 books: buy 2 Dr. Suess books get one free. We bought one for us, one for Greg's nieces and nephews, and one free one for Rex from Santa.

Then we walked around the Shoppes at Riverwoods for a while and found this rad new toy shop. Rex enjoyed it.