Where did November Go?

Lets start back to the tenth.
While Marie was still campaigning she had planned to get out of UT ASAP after the election, Win or Lose. She called and told me they were also going to take a detour and ride the train down to see us as well.
It just so happened that it was going to fall 2 days before Nate's 30Th birthday. I decided that it would be more fun to surprise him so I kept it a secret for months. (Not an easy thing for me since I can't buy any of his Christmas presents until the week before. I get too excited and try and coerce him into opening them.)
I finally told Liam a few days before that they were coming, thinking "oh he won't understand my secrets safe with him..."
The night before they came in, I was getting him ready for bed and he says, "Mama my Nana and Bompa come tomorrow to sleep in my bed and surprise dada?" I quickly cover his mouth and reiterate that it's a surprise and not to say ANYTHING to Dada. (luckily Nate was on the phone with his attending and missed the whole conversation.
The next evening we picked them up at the station and I called Nate to tell him I "didn't want to cook dinner tonight so did he want to meet me somewhere." He bit! Any reason to not have to do dishes (that's his job and he's wonderful at it!) is a good enough excuse for him!
I got a table with the boys and after he came in and sat down, his parents came walking through the door. He said to himself, "Hmmm those people look really familiar" (the lighting was dark) then he thought "WAIT isn't that my parents? Are we in UT? (Looks down,) NO still in scrubs and can see the hospital from here. Looks at me and I'm recording it (but it was too dark to see:(
I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY and Liam Screams Surprise Dada!

Liam was so excited to have visitors all for himself. They brought him a Disney/Pixar sticker book and that is how he and Dan spent most of the time when we were at the house. However, since Dan wears glasses, Liam had to too! All we had were sunglasses bu tit did the trick.


Nate worked the next day, but we took the kids up to Lancaster to ride the train. Liam was in heaven. And it was the perfect thing to do on a cold day.


I had talked Nate into getting his birthday off before his parents came out. He was a little confused as to why I'd want him to get a weekday off and not a weekend, but nonetheless did it for me. Now he understood why.
We went to breakfast at our favorite place here in Hershey. I salivate just thinking about it. Then HAD to do a quick ride at Chocolate World to get our free chocolate.

Then Marie took me to get a birthmark off my hand.
I've always had my "chocolate mark" on the palm of my hand, but after two babies, it's no longer flat and smooth, so we decided to get it off just to be safe.
In high school I had 15 moles taken off at one time. This was going to be a cake walk compared to that. (yes I have that many moles, and more. The Liddell's are basically one big mole with a little skin on the side.) When I went in for my pre-OP appointment (which I thought was weird, Just take the thing off in clinic already. You know it's hard to find a babysitter during the day.) They said it was an "out Pt. procedure done at the O.P. surgical center...WHAT, for a MOLE???
They asked if I wanted a little general anesthesia and I laughed out loud and seriously thought they'd all gone cuckoo. And told them local would be just fine.
BAD MISTAKE! First off I had to strip down to a gown and wasn't prepared to have to do this, then they took me into an O.R. and they were all in surgical garb. The whole set up. Then he starts to inject my hand. In the past they just numbed the mole itself and then a little snip snip and stitch stitch and I was done.
NOPE, they had to get my WHOLE hand numb and that seriously hurts big time. Where was that propophal when I needed it??
Anyways. Now it's gone and to tell you the truth, I'm a little sad about it. It's been there my whole life and just like that POOF it's no more.
I don't recommend getting hand surgery when you have a child that can't walk it makes for some serious pain. Good thing Nate's parent's were here to help me! (THANKS!)



I was full of surprises for this 30th birthday. Nate has been wanting a Wii so bad for a few years, but even more once they released Rock band. It's been out of our price range and was always a "wish but never gonna happen item."
Not only that but good luck finding one. Oh but I did, back in JULY. That's right I bought it in July for his November birthday. It sat under our bed for 4 months. He never had a clue. This is the longest I've gone without telling him what i got him for his birthday. And trust me, there were times that I almost caved and said guess what you're getting for your birthday...Let's open it and play:)
He was so surprised and that made it totally worth it. The funny thing is, he told me he couldn't decide if he was happy or depressed that he got the one thing he really wanted for his 30th birthday, which was the same thing he wanted for his 10th. A video game.
He didn't get rock band yet. That will have wait for Christmas. But until then we will all have sore arms from playing tennis.

That night the P's took us to a great Mediterranean place for dinner and to see Eagle eye (which we didn't know anything about and were pleasantly surprised. It was actually entertaining, although completely not probable.) I almost fell asleep from the percocet, but pulled through to the end.

The next day Nate was on call so we took take out to him so he didn't have to eat in the cafeteria AGAIN. Liam loves doing this and was really excited to take Nana and Bompa to Dada's house the hos- i- pal.


And then they were gone, just like that. Back on the train and flying home to UT. Liam cried for a straight hour after they left. It's in those moments that I really want to end up back in UT after residency.

Then a few days later it was my birthday and I was just happy that I was still a year younger than Nate:)

The Votes are in!

After deciding to run as the democratic candidate for the Utah State house of Representatives in District 46. Nate's mom; Marie Poulson, the rest of her family, friends, neighbors and volunteers, can hang up their campaign shoes. The long months of campaigning are finally over and maybe Marie will get some sleep, but only until January when Marie will take her seat at the House.
That's right folks:

SHE WON!!!

We are so proud of Marie and all her hard work. She has never been in politics before, what an accomplishment! We know that she will do a great job for district 46 and we wanted to tell her

congratulations.

We look forward to this new endeavor and can't wait to support her in her "new job!"

We love you Nana! You always have our vote. And thanks to all my friends and family who helped with her campaign; and obviously thanks for voting for her, even though some of you have never voted for a democrat before. That was a big leap for some of you, and I wanted you to know we appreciate it. We know she's the right lady for the job!

A few minutes of retrospection

A few years ago I remember sitting in a tiny room in a crowded house on the outskirts of Hanau Germany. Sitting across from me was a young man who I had gotten to know on the streets of Hanau. He lived tiny room that he shared with another person. He was from the Sudan, and we spent a few afternoons talking about what it was to live in a country torn by civil war. For the last decade a large group of Muslims have aggressively attempted to oust Sudanese Christians from many areas in the Sudan. These are the type of stories you read about in the newspaper while you are eating breakfast and shake your head, "Tsk tsk, that's terrible," you think to yourself, and then go about your daily business. But this was not the case for my friend.

He told me how Muslim rebels broke into his house late one night when he was 14 years old. He slept in the same room as his parents, and they screamed for him to run. As his mother was crying out, telling her how much she loved him, she was struck in the head by gun fire. His father was also mortally wounded. He described to me how he ran as fast as he could for miles, and spent the early hours of the morning weeping as he scrubbed his mother's blood and grey matter out of his clothing. He fled to Germany, and was living on government assistance, and was terrified that he might be extradited, because he knew what was waiting for him back home. He had brothers and sisters, but he had no idea where they were or whether they were alive.

Another woman I met was from El Salvador. One afternoon, while we were talking about where we were from and what it was like for us when we were kids, she asked to see my passport. When I lived in Germany I carried it around with me all the time, so I had it on me. I passed it across the table, and she sat there holding it, staring at it silently. Then she looked up at me. "Do you have any idea how bad so many people I know want one of these? I love where I grew up, but I would trade places with you in a second and never look back. You should feel lucky every day that you have one of these. Because of it, you have opportunities that very few people in the world enjoy."

Today when I finished with work I stopped at a local fire station. Multiple members of my community, who gave their time without compensation, greeted me there. I showed them my ID and they showed me a booth. I went inside and drew the curtains, and, in the culmination of a few months of thinking and forming my opinion, I got to choose who I would trust to help form the construct of my future. I made my mark and left the booth. The people I voted for may win or lose, but I got to give my say.

Tomorrow, we will have a new president elect. We will new representatives in every level of government. I am keeping my fingers crossed here, but I think there will be no coup, no violent uprising, no gunmen in the streets. This will happen because of the system of government that we have, and the millions of men and women who agree to uphold that system.

There are plenty of imperfections, plenty of annoyances and injustices. There are failures and incongruities and mishaps. All of these things frustrate us, anger us, and over time they steal our hope. I hope all of us will take minute to remember, especially on days like today, that in spite of all the bad things that we focus on, the end result is still, by the standards of the rest of the world, nothing short if miraculous.

By the way.... I wrote in President Palmer. Yes, I know the probability is low that a fictional character will win the presidency, but I am still keeping my fingers crossed.

All things Halloween

Hershey truly is one of the best cities to live in if you enjoy Halloween (Or the Fall harvest for that matter.)

There is always something to do Fall or Halloween related the entire month, so that's exactly what we did. Here are some of the photos we took of all the festivities.

We went to many a Halloween party, Hershey Park in the dark, the Hershey Parade (it wasn't any Mardi Gras parade, but fun all the same), pumpkin picking, Maize going, retirement home visiting, trunk O treating, and we even got the bragging rights for best pumpkin. (although it was my brothers family's idea and won them the same title last year. The reproduction was just as impressive! Thanks J, D, Joss, Cami and Tess.)

My favorite sayings from these events were:

"oh a Knight and a Dragon; now I get it. Cute"

"I'm so cold mama, lets go home and get toasty warm."

"I'm a Knight and Owen's a Dragon Raaarrrr"

"He said he likes-A my Costune" (imagine an Italian accent)

"I'm Buzz Lightyear...To infinity and beyond." (all this while wearing his costume inside the store. And running through the store flying"

"Mama, I'm hungry. I need, I need, Chocolate."

"No Mama Knights don't wear those shoes, they wear Crocs."

"That Granma took my candy bag. (No Liam we made them for the Grandmas and Grandpas.)"

And I wish so bad I had it on video when we went to one of the houses where the bowl had a hand that flipped down on yours when you reached in.
Liam unsuspecting reaches in, it snaps down he screams, runs, and grabs some random guys leg and screams, "It's too scary, it got me." (and we get to hear the story from him every couple of hours.)


All that being said, I am happy to have the month over with. I'm worn out, pumkin'd out, putting my kids in a costume everyday out, (liam ended up being, a Knight, Buzz lightyear and a cowboy. He will be sad to see it go and not have an excuse to wear a costume everywhere we go.) and last but certainly not least, I don't think my thighs can take anymore candy.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!

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Marie Poulson

For anyone who hasn't heard, my very Brave mother-in-law is running as a state representative in Utah. She has never been in politics before, but has been an educator for the last 16 years and recently retired as a high school English and History teacher.
Marie decided that she really wanted to try and make a difference especially with the current Education system they have in her district.

She has spent the last few months out knocking on EVERY door in her district, some more than once to meet the people in her district and let them know a little more about her and what she hopes to accomplish.

A local news station ran a story on her and her opponent last night since they are both running for the first time.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Please feel free to watch the video and post a comment.

We are so proud of her and hope that all her efforts pay off!

If you live in her district (cottonwood heights) or know someone who does, please tell them to vote for her on November 4th.
We love you Nana!

Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes

We have a tradition of making pancakes Saturday mornings. But today I decided to try something a little different.
I made some great pumpkin pancakes from a new cook book Corinne sent me. (thanks nannie)
Here is the recipe if you want to try them too! Happy Halloween.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 T. brown Sugar, packed
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground ginger
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg lightly beaten
2 T. oil

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and spices in a large bowl; set aside. Combine remaining ingredients in a separate bowl: mix well. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour, pouring just enough to moisten the mixture. (you will have some of the liquid leftover.)
Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a lightly hot, greased griddle. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface; turn onto other side and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, until golden brown. (makes 16 small pancakes.)
Optional:
Add 1/4 Cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Use chocolate chips to make pumpkin faces and any green sweet for the stem.
(recipe by Joyce LaMure)
ENJOY!

(Next week is going to be Caramel French Toast!)

If only we could get Freddy Kreuger to kill with mistletoe...

When I got home from work today my wife made me sit down and read her previous post, and as much as I respect her valiant effort to repent of her sins by confessing them to the known world, before I get characterized as a Scrooge for my current ruling on Christmas music let me make some qualifying statements.

Now, I love Christmas as much as anyone, and I do like Christmas music (however I despise the canned Christmas Muzak that annoyingly plays in every department store starting sometime in August). My position against early Christmas music is actually about increasing the enjoyment of Christmas. Let me explain.


Our years are broken into specific segments and seasons. Those
seasons all have their things (except March and February, which I think we can all agree are the most useless of all months. Yes, I am looking at you Valentine's Day. You know you only bring pain and suffering into the world. Your cherubic mascot does not fool me). Because they are divided, they help us pass the time, and possibly heighten the enjoyment of that specific season. Now, you can look at the two pictures above, and tell that one of these things is not like the other. This specific time of year we celebrate the pagan new year by hoping that some film can literally scare us to the point that we lose bladder control, and celebrate children in association with tooth decay. That's what make October tolerable.

But Christmas is not just about toleration; it literally is the best time of the year. I mean it's got it all. You get off from work. You get together with family (unless you are a repressed anesthesia resident, but even then you get to be with immediate family). The food is awesome, everybody is generally happy, and to top it off you get presents. I mean come on man, how could it possibly be any better than that? It is freaking awesome, no doubt about it. I love Christmas. That's why I am arguing against its dilution.

See, if you play Christmas music all the time, then you are trying to convince yourself that today is the most wonderful time of the year. It is not possible for every day to be the most wonderful time of the year. I mean take April 15th for example. That day sucks. It's the day that Uncle Sam robs you blind and you have to bend over and take it. That is clearly not a wonderful day, so why should we lie to ourselves?

So please friends, don't dilute Christmas. Let it maintain its purity. If you don't it ends up looking like this.




And no one wants that

Confession

I got Caught...
As long as I can remember I have always LOVED Christmas music. I don't know, I guess there is nothing better to get you into that spirit of giving, the spirit of being nice to people (even if they are from New York and decide to stop in the middle of the road causing you to slam on your breaks and then looking at their map while you wait, oh so patiently.)

When I was a kid it seemed like there was limited Christmas music played on the radio during the holiday season.
My Mom would put up the 2 page newspaper calendar of all the Christmas shows up on the fridge and we'd highlight our favorites: Rudolph, Frosty, Miracle on 34Th street...
But I couldn't wait for the "100 hours" of Christmas music on "Light FM 100 Soft Hits...Less Talk." They would start a few days before Christmas and play all your favorite non-stop Christmas music. Then, just like it came, it was gone the day after and they were back to playing Dan Folgelberg and Love songs after dark.

But now things have changed. They start to play Christmas songs earlier and earlier. In fact you can't wait to hear something other than Christmas songs, (Or an Adam Sandler lets celebrate Hanukkah.) By the time Christmas gets here.

This being said, there is a "rule" in the Nate Poulson household that there will be "NO playing of Christmas music until Thanksgiving day." That's fair right?
Well the other day I had just talked to my family in Utah and heard it had snowed then I saw that they are putting up the Christmas lights display for "Sweet Lights" and I just couldn't help myself.
I popped in Jewels Christmas CD and had fun teaching Liam Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer while I sang the Harmony.

I had totally forgotten about this "infraction" and went about my business as usual. That is until we all got into the car and as soon as the car turns on, you hear Oh Little town of Bethlehem blaring from the speakers and Liam screaming "It's Christmas moosic Dada it's Christmas Moosic Shhhh don't tell Dada..."

BUSTED!

I of course pleaded the fifth and pretend that Liam had asked for it, and explained to him how disgusted I was that someone would be listening to Christmas music mid-October. The NERVE!

The problem is I can't get it out of my system. It's like the constant smell of chocolate has made me all loopy and all I think about is Hot Chocolate and chestnuts roasting on an open fire. (has anyone really roasted Chestnuts? Or is that a family tradition I was robbed of?)


(And yes this picture is straight out of the 80's with that awesome hair-do my mom is sporting and my awesome perm!
And yes we matched on purpose. I won't even go into detail about the time I wore our tree skirt as an actual skirt...)


So if you happen to pull along side me and hear Garth singing Christmas in country or Jewel yodeling Rudolph or the angelic opera sound of Josh Groban and O Holy Night...Just turn the other way or better yet sing right along with me.





Just to help you all get in the mood a little early. ENJOY!

(I had to remove the music box cause it was driving Nate and a few others crazy!)

9 Month Comparison

So here is a picture for Flash back Friday, (except that it's Saturday...)
I found these pictures of the boys, wearing the same outfit. (one of my very favorites. Thanks again Aunt Amy. A second time around!)
Maybe they gave me the wrong baby at the hospital? Or maybe because I am with them all I time and they are so different, they look different to me?
Anyways here are my beautiful little guys.

What would you do for a klondike bar???

So, Nate was so lucky and got the whole weekend off. Something that doesn't happen all too often especially lately.
I took full advantage of this and crammed in a bunch of my "TO DO's". Much to Nate's chagrin I'm sure, but he put on a brave face. He might have even enjoyed some of it!
First on the list: Family pictures. They turned out awesome! Thanks Annie. But you won't get to see it until I send out my Christmas card.
Second: Take pictures of my favorite row of tree's in the Fall. (check)
I'd promised to get some last year and the next thing I knew, a rain storm came through and in an instant they had all fallen off the tree's and my window of opportunity had closed until this year. These pictures don't do them justice so plan a trip to Hershey next year to see them in person. Totally worth it!




Third: Go to a local Orchard for Apple/pumpkin picking with the Banzhafs. (check)
The Banzhaf's asked if we wanted to join them on their traditional Paulus Orchard run. I of course said YES!

We got a little lost and happened to park in front of a good Samaritan, who took us to the Orchard personally. (Shame on me for thinking his true intentions were to take us to a remote location, kill us and take the boys...Ha who in their right mind would want 3 three years olds, a 9 month old and a 5 month old. Two of which are still nursing.)

The kids had an awesome time, but to tell you the truth, I think Nate and Mike enjoyed it the most.
They really wanted some of the Golden Delicious apples which had been really picked over, except for the tippy tops. So here is a clip of our "BIG" geniuses getting those apples...



Poor Owen. I think most of his pictures have the same background. (The green stroller) Sorry Kid! But he really enjoyed gumming this Cameo. Mmmmm





Liam on the other hand caught on and went right to work. Those apples are screwed on pretty tight!

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Here are some of the other photos from the days activities. We had a great time. And the Apples are delicious. I'd make a pie, but I'm a weirdo and I hate cooked fruit. Yuck!

Owen 8 months and counting...

So Owen has hit a few more milestones as of late. He got in his lower incisors, and the uppers seem to be coming in right behind. He still won't eat baby food, but any table food he can get his hands on, makes him extremely happy.

He also learned to drink from a straw. Both he and Liam learned this little trick at 8 months. It's so funny to see someone this small drinking from a straw. It makes it nice for transitioning purposes though.

But most importantly, he has started to Crawl, well more like commando crawl, where he drags himself across the floor with his elbows. He's actually pretty quick at it and we've had to start the baby proofing. The stairs are now blocked by the gate, and the doors to all the bathrooms must be closed at all times.
Like I said before, the time has seemed to fly by with this little guy. It makes me a little sad that he is getting big so fast, but at the same time I love how fun he is getting. He loves to play with Liam and Nate and wants to be doing whatever Liam is doing.

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The last month...

Sorry there has been a super lag at the Poulson blog. But here is a re-cap of last months activities.
First and foremost,
We just got back from a wonderful trip to Utah to see the family. But most importantly to see my new Nephew Graham Christopher Liddell who was born September 10, 2008 at 3:01pm and weighed 8lbs. 11oz. and 20 1/2 inches long.
It's actually a funny story.
My SIL Sara was supposed to be induced before I came out to UT, but there was no room at the inn so they postponed it until Tuesday, then there was still no room. (seriously people do you have nothing better to do during the month of December?)
Finally Wednesday the 10th she was able to go in and get labor started.
At 1:30 she was still at a five so Owen and I brought my Brother and his MIL (Dru) some sandwiches we figured it'd be hours until she delivered. (WRONG!)
She was really in pain and was waiting so patiently for her epidural. (Those LAME anesthesiologist! He was stuck in a C-section. I asked if they were hiring for 2011, cause I knew of a great one, and they're obviously under staffed!)
Anyways he got to her room around 2:30 gave her a great epidural, and at 3:01 the little tyke was born.
The funny part. She dilated so quickly after the epidural that Grahams heart rate went down and they put some oxygen on her. The next minute there were 15 nurses and alarms going off I thought something had really gone wrong so I threw Owen into his car seat and ran to the hallway to get out of the way, and was trying to calm Dru down.
We found out that it wasn't an emergency, she was ready to start pushing.
Since I don't even really get to participate in my own childrens births, (I just stare at a blue sheet.) my brother and Sara invited me to stay and take pictures of them holding the baby and taking video of the weigh-in and cord cutting. So I got to see my first actual live baby birth, and so did OWEN! I called Nate to come pick him up, but Sara was the camp of delivering a baby and he got there shortly after Graham was born. We decided that Owen made a great mid-wife as he sat in his car seat and chewed on a toothbrush. Maybe he'll be an OB??
The rest of the trip was also a blast!
We got to eat at all of our favorite places. My MIL watched the boys so we could do a Temple session. (Thanks Marie!)
Owen and I went to the BYU/UCLA shut out game 59-0. GO Cougars!!! He turned 8 months while we were there, and is cutting his first tooth. I just loved this picture of him.
Liam got to play with both sides of cousins, spend an afternoon at the Zoo, go to wheeler farm twice, where he got to feed the ducks, ride a pony and milk a cow.
And one of my favorite things, go boating with my Dad! It's been a few years since either Nate or I have been wake boarding, but it's like riding a bicycle. Once you get up, you never forget how. Thanks dad. And thanks Utah Lake for not being choppy or windy.

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And last but not least, I was able to meet up with some "Tulane Ladies" for lunch.
All in all it was a great trip and I am really missing everyone.
Nate's Mom helped me fly back with the boys, but had to go right back today and Liam cried for a whole 30 minutes; "I want my Nana, I want my Nana. I go wit her on the airplane..." when he woke up to find her gone this morning. I wanted to cry too. But one of us had to be brave.
Thanks to all for such an awesome trip. A few more like that and maybe we'll be fixed on moving back there when we're done!


Before we left we had another big event.
Liam started Pre-school.
I've been really nervous about this transition. Up until two months ago Liam has struggled with going to nursery at church and I never even leave the building. But one day he decided it was more fun than going to my "boring" class and now he loves it.
He did great with school as well.
When the first day was over and I came to pick him up, his teacher told him what a great job he did and that she was giving him a "kiss."
She bent down to give him a chocolate kiss and he gave her a smooch on the lips! It caught her off guard, but in his defense she needed to be more clear that it was a chocolate kiss.

I can't believe I have a child who is already going to school. It made me realize that soon he'll be gone all day and will spend more time with his teachers than he will awake at home, but I'm not going to think about that since it makes me sad and we'll take it one day at a time!
















I took some fun pictures of the boys during bath time that I'd hoped to get on here before we went to UT, but that didn't happen. I still wanted to post them though.

Well I think that will get everyone caught up!

WIth a little help from my friends...

So my ever so talented friend Mandy. Who is an amazing cook and does the most creative things with food to help your kids eat almost anything@ Here is a link to her cooking blog, you'll see what I mean! Gourmet Mom

She just entered a cupcake contest and needs the help of "my friends and your friends" to win it so she can one day tell her grandchildren she was the "Cupcake Baking Champion of the Earth...."
All you need to do is; go here to vote. Click the bubble next to "Gourmet Mom-on-the-Go" on the left-hand sidebar, then scroll down and click "Vote". Voting is open until Thursday.
So PLEASE for the love of cupcakes, vote for Mandy! Then try out her recipe You won't be disappointed!
Thanks!


Photo: courtesy of Annie Ryenolds Photography

His bark is worse than his bite...

I think I can safely say that I "put up my umbrella before it started to rain."
It looks like Gustav decided to spare the city of New Orleans this time and gave them a break.
I hope all of you who evacuated get to enjoy wherever you are for the next couple of days and thank Gustav for the needed vacation!!! (that's what we did with Ivan:)
Now lets all pray for November to get here so we don't have to watch for stuff happening in the gulf for a few months.
I'd like to think that it was the fact that I was saying so many prayers for it to spare the city that Liam followed suit and blessed them too last night that made his little heart (or eye) go soft and he calmed down enough to only do a little damage.
Part of me thins I should save this as a draft and not post it until tomorrow. (I'm superstitious like that.)
But since things are looking in our favor I'll hit the publish button and cross my fingers for those levees to keep up the good work!

Just Say NO to Gustav!

There are no words that can express the knot I've had in my stomach all day and night after hearing there is another hurricane threat for New Orleans yesterday.
As I write this, the tears are flowing and my emotions are high.
It breaks my heart to think that only three short years after Katrina, this city is going to have to endure another one.
When I first arrived to New Orleans. I knew nothing about it, other than the fact that it looks like a boot on a map and is located in the South.
As I opened the door to our car (which, is sad to say went down with Katrina) the humidity hit me like a ton of bricks, the air smelled like mildew and I saw my first (and in no way my last) Cockroach.
I wanted to get back in that car, and drive the 2000 miles back UT where I felt safe, where I felt needed, and was where I wanted to be.
I won't lie to you. It took me about a year to call it HOME and begin my love affair with that city.
I won't go into all the reasons why I love this city but the biggest reasons are: this is where I feel Nate and I first started our married lives. This was the first time we were living for a long period of time with no family close by.
I learned how to cook, how to peel a crawfish (YUCK!), catch the eye of a Krew member so he'd throw me a 25 cent strand of beads, ran my first 10K, Nate's band and the concerts they played at Tipitinas, lets not forget magazine street, and most importantly it's where I gave birth to my oldest Son.
This is what really gets me. I can't stand the thought that there might not be a New Orleans. That I can't take Liam back to where he was born and tell him the story of his birth and the first few years of his life.
How he went to his first Mardi Gras parade while still in the womb, and again before he turned one.
How we spent most days taking walks on the levee looking across lake Pontchartrain and seeing the causeway stretch for miles and miles as far as your eyes could see.
Walking to Sals to get a Sno Ball with the ice cream in the middle. And eating at Lebanons for the ump-teenth time and still wanting more the next day.
Telling him about how we met some of our best friends there, (some of which who are still there.) and all the fun we had while living in the BIG EASY!
So it is with a humble heart tonight that I am saying a prayer for the city I love and the people I love!
In my heart I hope that it doesn't make a direct hit and that this time the levees will hold, that this time, no one will die, and that peoples whole lives won't be turned upside down in an instant. Everything they own swallowed by the wave of Gustav.
To our friends,
Be safe, be smart and know there is always a place in Hershey waiting for you if you need it!

Farewell to Summer...

AS we say goodbye to summer (is it really over already?) I thought I'd do a clip of our summer highlights. This includes Liam learning how to help mom cook (or eat the batter which was my favorite thing to help my mom do.) Swimming, playgroup, Hershey park... What do you do in the summertime?

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

3 going on 30

Seriously Liam just keeps the laughs coming.
Tonight I was helping him change into his P.J's and when I was pulling his shorts off, he says. "No peeking Mama."
I wanted to say, "Kid, trust me I've seen you naked more times in the last three years than you even want to know about."
Instead I just laughed. Who wouldn't???
The real question I have is where did he learn that from?

Liam Laughs

So here are the latest Liam laughs to date.
One of my really good friends out here is having a baby soon and so we threw her a shower not too long ago.
I made a diaper cake and when I was making it, Liam really wanted to help and or not help by taking off all the decorations.
I kept telling him it was for Molly's baby shower and that he couldn't touch it.
Then when I was leaving with the cake and other supplies, I told him that I was going to Molly's baby shower and then I'd be back later.
A few days ago we went on a walk and at the end he really needed to go potty. Molly's house was closer so we went there.
He walked inside and saw the Baby nursery with the diaper cake on display then walked into the bathroom.
All a sudden I hear him yell, "Yook Mama I come to Ollie's baby shower too!" (And he was pointing to the shower in the bathroom.)

Second
Nate and I were having a heated discussion in the car the other night. I was being a "little" animated and all a sudden Liam says, "MAMA. Please don't talk to Dada, it hurts my ears."
We just laughed and laughed.
Third, Liam loves to finger paint. SO I got him out the paints and we were painting while Owen napped. I walk in to find him laughing cause he decided to paint with his nose.
I love how the mind of a three year old works.

DA DA DAdaDADADA....

Can I tell you just how much I LOVE the olympics? No. I can't because there are NO words to describe it but these pictures are worth a thousand words.


Not sure how that got in here?

Sorry Frenchies. Maybe next time you'll "crush" us? Oh wait we could do that with our little pinky.

A Feva...

"I've got a feva, and the only cure is more camping..."
So I don't know if I got bit with the camping bug when we did the girls trip, but since then that is all I could think about. We even went back up for another day trip to G.P. (well mainly to get back the little red wagon, which the extremely nice lady kept hidden under her desk for a week so the families checking in to their cabins couldn't play with it. Thanks to her!)
Nate had a week of vacation and we had a bunch of plans for that week. However due to a bunch of things we stayed around home and had a fun relaxing week of family time that went by all too quickly.
I unfortunately didn't document any of these activities cause I forgot my camera when we went to Hershey park (and you've all seen us there a hundred times.) Nate and Liam spent many a morning down by the pool while Owen took the longest naps due to the extremely quiet non liam singing house. So no pictures of that either. However an important note, Liam has graduated from his swim tube to floaties.
But to make it feel like a vacation, Friday we went camping with our great friends the Banzhafs. (this time I brought the camera, but left the memory card in the computer. Duh. So these were some of the pictures Eden took. Thanks girl. Oh and BTW she is an awesome travel agent. Everyone needs a friend like her who plans and books YOUR family vacation.)

We went camping about an hour away at a state park called Pine Grove Furnace.
This was beautiful. Tons of trees, two lakes, a good little hike for Liam, and a flat place to put our tent. I highly recommend site #20.


Here is a list of things that I have forgotten about camping, or forgot to bring camping.
-Tennis shoes. It would have been nice to have my feet covered. Instead I wore flip flops.
-A jacket for me and the kids for the cold morning. It was 90 degrees when we got there.
-A spatula. We were in charge of breakfast so we decided on pancakes. But soon discovered that I'd forgotten the spatula. But no worries, I found an old CD in the car that did the trick. Yes I am that crafty.

-non flushing toilets. YUCK YUCK YUCK. So I love camping but not the outhouses. I cringe even writing this. But lucky for us they are in the middle of upgrading to new flushing toilets and showers.
-Firewood. We brought one pack and that wasn't near enough. Good thing we had three 3 year olds to help look for sticks. And Nate and Mike "found" some logs at a guys house back in town. (Thanks guy. Hope you found the note and $10)
-Newspaper to get the fire started. Lucky for us there were dry leaves that night. A little smokey but they did the job.
-Nate's guitar. But the neighbors may have been more annoyed by this than the three boys screaming and running around like crazies or the two babies taking turns crying when wanting to be pushed in their strollers to fall asleep.
-It ALWAYS rains when you camp. No matter what the weather forecast. Our new tent did great and we stayed dry, but Mike on the other hand was running around at 3 a.m. trying to put up his rain fly during the down pour.
-Liam's swim suit. But lucky for him he is so skinny that he was able to wear his brothers 6-12 month trunks. They were a little John Stockton-ish, but hey it was better than swimming in his lightening McQueens.


The boys loved it. (well I know for sure that Liam did, he could tell me. Owen I'm not so sure but he didn't complain so I'll take that as a yes.) I didn't get ANY sleep due to the fact that the rain sounded likequarters on a metal floor and the airmattress had lost it's air after the "Terrible Three" were done with it and I wasn't going to go to the effort of putting more in so I slept in the middle V while Owen and Liam slept basically on top of me. Next time I'll go to the effort.

Liam learned a lot this trip but most important was using his "plumbing" how God intended it to be used. (anywhere anytime. No seat or paper needed.)
Liam has never peed standing up and although there have been other attempts made, he has always gone sitting down. (don't blame him. I hadn't enlightened him on the standing up option. I think all boys/men have lousy aim and should always sit down.)
I didn't want him sitting on the gross seats in the outhouse. So I told him to pee on the tree. That was all he needed to get over the standing up fear. I didn't even have to ask him again he'd just find his tree and go.
But when we went swimming at the lake the following day and I couldn't find him. To my horror, he was peeing on the side of the pavilion with people walking by.
Not his fault AGAIN. We should have explained when and where peeing outside is acceptable and made sure to do so when we returned home to our house. I didn't want to find him going on the dishwasher or something.
The trip I think was a success and I can't wait for another trip to the great outdoors.