How To...By Ansen

How to create a memorable Thanksgiving

By Ansen, age 3

1. During Breakfast fall off your chair.

2. While falling, BITE an incredible hole in your tongue.

3. Bleed. A Lot!

4. Have mommy, Jayden and Braley accompany you to Urgent Care. Make sure everyone, including mommy, wears their jammies.

5. Make sure nobody combs their hair either. It makes everything look so much more dramatic. Make sure you personally are wearing junky old pj's that make you look like an orphan.
6. Bleed so much that you soak 3 wash cloths on 1 hour.
7. Freak out when the Urgent Care doctor comes near or even looks at you.
8. Have mommy take some pictures. (This is the lest n-a-a-asty one I could find. The tongue looks like a road after a earthquake. Two different heights, gaping....oh and like ground hamburger)
9. Have Urgent Care suggest a trip to the Children's Hospital for further examination and possible stitches.
10. Go to Emmanuel Children's Hospital and have the greatest nurses and doctor ever.
11. Freak out when they want to get near your mouth.
12. Get sedated.
13. Get drugged up, cleaned up and thankfully not stitched up.
14. Spend more time in this room.
15. Get a Popsicle and a kiss from mommy.
16. Go home armed with Tylenol with codeine, tongue nummer with lidacane, anti-bacterial mouth wash and a boat load of Popsicles, ice cream, jello, pudding and sympathy.

17. Show off your hospital bracelet (anklet) and tongue every few minutes.

18. Wonder what the heck you are going to eat for Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Kinda Crazy Around Here

Busy is the way to describe things around our household.

First: Girls night out. Of course this is fun anytime BUT this was even more fun because we were on our way to go see TWILIGHT! So instead of being the mature and well put together women that we are, (gag!) we were most defiantly more like a group of 15 year olds. Oh well.....fun is fun, right?Steph and I finally convinced Grandma to read the book and she finished just in time to get to come to the movie. (L to R: Grandma-Virginia, Michelle, Me, Tish, Steph, Jenn, and Tabitha)

Oh look! A birthday.....way to make 32 look wicked awesome Michelle! Could you have had any better present than to go see Twilight??? As for my review of the movie (I know you are all dying to know what I thought:)) It was alright. I knew going in that it was geared for teens and not their super sexy mama's so I had no expectations and came out pleasantly okay with it. I guess I am just a "purist" and I would have been fine with an 8 hour movie so all the good stuff could make it in. I do have to admit that I have repeatedly told everyone how fugly Rob Pattison is and I do have to take that back. When he combs his hair, puts on makeup and wears guyliner he isn't half bad. I would certainly pass on him in real life though.

Notice Steph wore her hair back. I think she was hoping that Edward would come out of movie and take a little nibble. No such luck.

Second: Aren't they cute? So snugly and peaceful? AND in my bed! Love them, don't love them in my bed. Moving them out is a nightmare and I think next time I will just sleep in one of their beds.
Third: Jayden is a Nellie Muir Student of the Month and we couldn't be more proud of her. She works hard and her teacher is always singing her praises. She is a wonderful student but even more importantly, she is a wonderful daughter and sister.

WAY TO GO Kahau! We are so proud of you....and when your dad and I quit fighting over who gets the car sticker that says "My Child is Student of the Month" I will put it on the van for everyone to see.

Fourth: The Primary Program was this last Sunday. It went really well and all three kiddos did a fantastic job. I can't help but be so proud of them.

Shout Out!

Jason comes from a from a mighty musical family. Seems like all the men can SING. So we would like to give a quick shout out to Cousin Reed for his mighty fine vocal chords. woot woot! Check him (ladies. he is good looking) and his music out at: http://reedthomaslawrence.com/index.php
You can also find him on the right under The Family.

Just A Thought

It's been a weird week. Anyone else feel that way? I have to let you in on a little secret. I don't watch the news. I read everything on-line or in the paper but if I watch the news I get really tense and sick about all the negative in the world. So if I don't have to actually watch the results of bombings, actions of bad people, or the heartbreak of others it helps me get through the day. It is just who I am. I feel no less informed by choosing to get my information through periodicals and Internet. Reading about the news and all that is happening around me is right for me but viewing it can alter my mood and that's not good for anyone in my home.

That being said, I have been watching a lot of the news reports coming out of California concerning Prop. 8. Can I just tell you how sick I am? From the protesters at our churches and our temples, to the picketers who actually follow our missionaries as they are out working, to those that have distributed the lists of those who donated to the Prop. 8 campaign so that individual people can be targeted...its sickening.

I just watched a report about a new web-site that has now listed the first and last names of 5,000 people, the town in which the individual or family resides in, and also how much they contributed to Prop 8. The site encourages confrontation with these people and demands justice. I don't understand. What will confrontation accomplish? What kind of justice are they looking for?

On each Election Day we, the People, have the right to make choices. Sometimes the choices I think would be best for me and my family are not agreed on by the majority and I accept that. Sometimes they are and I am grateful...but, never have I felt the need to revolt and threaten others to changes their beliefs and feelings to match my own. So my question is, since when did my vote only matter if I choose to vote liberally? Why, if given choice A or B, and I choose A-I get targeted for expressing myself and if you choose B- you get pity? Why is it okay for YOU to have an opinion but not me? Why are my feelings called hateful but your actions are called justified? Why do you want the right to be married in our churches if you do not worship the way I do? Why?

The subject of gay marriage is a familiar subject between Jason and I due to extended family members lifestyles. Do I wish them hurt, heartbreak, and harm? No. I simply do not agree with it. I do not go parading down the street announcing my beliefs on the matter, I do not create a list of people I should go see to change their minds about their choices. I respect their choices and pray they respect mine. So now, with all this under the microscope I have resolved to do two things:

1. Always Stand Up for what I believe in and make sure that I do it in a way in which I am a respecter of all persons. (On a very personal note: I have been standing up for something for the past 6 months that I see as very important. It would have been easy to take the low road and publicly sling mud and say hurtful things but instead we chose not to and I do not regret for one second holding my tongue and showing respect to someone close to me by choosing not the engage. No matter what the final outcome of this personal situation we did not choose to belittle others and discount their feelings.)

2. Teach my family that life is full of choices and sometimes the things we choose to do can make us unpopular. I want my children to know that their choices should be made with education. I want them to learn about the world around them and then decide how they feel. And if they can do that, I can respect them and their choices. Don't think I am naive and think that we will never sit on the opposite sides of the fence from each other. I know we will-but I hope that is where respect for each other and personal beliefs will come into play.

There is nothing I can do about what is going on in California. There is nothing I can do about how people treat me, my friends, and family for how we believe. I CAN control how I feel about those angry people. Simply love them and hope for their best. I CAN trust that I have a positive outlook even in a negative environment and I CAN remember to keep reading the news!

Out And About

A few pictures from this past week. As always we have been having way too much fun. But heck...why not. We bowled with Dave, Lorelei, boys and Terry and Payton and boy was I good...or not terrible. Truth be told, even without the bumpers I think the kids could have smoked me. Jason and his perfect bowling technique. Show off!
While bowling a wicked awesome game was my first priority, DDR captivated these 4.

Winner of lane 4, ME and winner in lane 5, Lorelei. That's right. We have intense bowling skillz...

We also headed over to the local indoor water park and got waterlogged. Steph did her best to find herself a hottie lifeguard but they must have all been off duty.This child spent more time under the water than above. She was practising her scuba skills.

This little lady got to go down the water slides for the first time this trip. She is finally tall enough! She loved them.

Little man practised his belly flops over and over and over again. I guess when you weight 25 lbs it doesn't really hurt. He had everyone around him laughing at his amazing jumps, flips and cannonballs.

Lots of fun as always and I think we are going to have to invest in a family pool membership now that we are so close to one!

Too Much Sympathy

Jayden is sick with a stomach bug again (its only been a month since the last one). Poor girl. She puking and grossing us all out. Mostly Ansen. Ansen was listening to Jayden heave this morning and couldn't handle the sound. He clutched his throat and ran for the bathroom. And then it happened....all over my bathroom floor. Puke everywhere. The boy is a sympathetic puker. So the two of them are on the couches enjoying a day FULL of Disney Channel. Ansen is convinced he is as sick as Jayden. Braley, on the other hand, is spending the day with daddy and loving it. Its good to be the only healthy one!

The O.C.

Another walk, another great day of weather, another fall day.

Oregon City has a fun walk above the waterfall and we just had to get up there before the rain starts. I love these kiddos!