Life is Good

Today was… uneventful. Just like every other day of my life. Want me to prove it to you? Here is my schedule. Monday through Friday:

1.       7:00 a.m. -- Get up

2.       7:05-8:00 -- Take a shower, put on makeup, put my hair up, eat breakfast, brush my teeth

3.       8:00 – Leave the house and drive to work in my hot minivan

4.       8:30 – Arrive at my destination (work)

5.       9:00 – Feed Gavin breakfast (usually 1 tbs. oatmeal with 3 tbs. breast milk and I mix in mango and pear baby food)

6.       9:30 – Gavin goes down for a nap

7.       10:25 – Gavin wakes up from his nap

8.       10:30 – Heat up 5 oz. of breast milk and feed it to him

9.       10:30-11:30 – Play with Gavin’s toys

10.   11:30-12:25 – Embark on a walk around the incredibly hilly neighborhood

11.   12:30 – Feed Gavin Yobaby yogurt (vanilla flavored) and some vegetable baby food (his favorite are prunes)

12.   12:30 – Gavin goes down for a nap

13.   1:25 – Gavin wakes up from a nap

14.   1:30 – Heat up 6 oz. of breast milk and feed it to him

15.   1:45- 3:00 – Play with Gavin’s toys

16.   3:00 – Gavin goes down for a nap

17.   4:00 – Gavin wakes up from a nap

18.   4:30 – Mommy comes home!

19.   4:30 – Leave work and drive home in my hot minivan

20.   5:00 -- Arrive at my destination (home)

21.   5:00-10:00 – You don’t want to know

Yes. You can see plainly here that there is something wrong with this picture. Do I have a life? Not really. But that is a-okay.  Because I am going to Rexburg in the Fall. Woohoo!

But you know what? It is nice being at home. Free laundry. Free food. Free room and board. I get to spend time with my family. I get to spend time with my friends before they leave on their missions. No homework. No tests or projects. No stressful finals. Life is great here at home.

4^th of July was so great. Polly and A.J. came over. I love those two. It was great to spend time with my family and friends while we watched all the illegal fireworks from my front porch. They remind me of Disneyland. I want to go back. End of story. For dinner, my dad made delicious salmon and a yummy fruit salad and watermelon. Then we had a superb jello cake. Yum Yum!

Life is good.   

A Moment of Silence...

I would like to call a moment of silence for Grommit Beta who passed away June 30^th at approximately 5:00 p.m. We mourn for him. His beautiful red color brightened the room. He was kind to everyone. He was gentle and loving. He loved to play in the rocks. He loved to hide behind his pink tree. He loved to starve himself.  This was most likely the cause of his death. My heart aches as I think of him and the wonderful, fulfilling life he led. One can only hope to have the kind of life that dear Grommit had. Wallace Beta is heartbroken that his best friend now is dead. As I write this, tears are streaming down my face. Grommit: I know you are listening. Thank you for being such a wonderful fish the past six days. No one could have asked for better. You will be missed.

This past week has been quite good. I went back to work and was pleased to find that baby Gavin still remembered me. He is now such a big boy! He is now starting to crawl, except he still can’t figure out how to crawl forwards. He can only scoot backwards and he backs himself into corners and gets stuck. It’s pretty funny. He also figured out that if he doesn’t like the food I am giving him he just has to spray it all over me and I will stop feeding him. I have many orange and green stained shirts from his food. Mmmmmm. Yummy.

This past week, my family went camping without me. I was home alone. I watched Criminal Minds. Big mistake. I had to sleep with a butcher knife. Don’t worry though. That serial rapist that broke into my room? I got him.

And last before I close, I would like to talk about someone very special to me. It was her birthday yesterday but I did not get to write about her in my blog because my internet was down. So here I go: Quinci Whatcott. My husband. As a new freshman in college, she was thee best roommate anyone could ask for.  I will never forget throwing bubble gum at her our first night. Singing A Whole New World. Practicing our princess walks. Heart shaped waffles with peanut butter. Talking about marriage. Talking about marriage. Oh, and did I say talking about marriage? Criminal Minds. Glee. Eating Top Ramen. Eating picnics in our living room. Taking care of our two children. Watching Jurassic Park. Hulu videos. Sending our children off to sketchy college dances. Baseball games. Playing MASH. Stalking attractive men at devotionals. Facebook stalking. Stealing cookie bars from Kiah. The late night one-way talks. Talking in our sleep to each other. She always put up with my crazy Disneyland-ness. Hanging laundry all over our room. Going out to dinner and watching her stuff herself. Staying up for me when I was on a date and then eagerly waiting to hear all the horrors about it. Stadium singing. The list goes on and on… She became one of my best friends and still is. She always listens to what I have to say… even if it’s two in the morning. She can make me laugh, and she puts up with me and all my craziness. She is smart and kind. She thinks of others before she thinks of herself. She is an incredibly wonderful person. And I am so blessed to have been her first husband and to be her friend. So Quinci? I love you. And happy birthday.

Wallace and Grommit

I am officially a new mommy to two new fish. Two new beta fish. Yes. I own two beta fish. And they share a fish tank. Don’t worry though. I put a divider in between them so they won’t kill each other. See? I am going to be a good mom. The blue one is Wallace and the red one is Grommit. They live in a very happy home with rocks on the bottom. They each get their own plant to swim in. So they don’t have to fight. Wallace is doing just wonderful. He eats his food twice a day and is a healthy bouncing boy. Grommit on the other hand… well, I’m a little worried about him. He won’t eat his food. I think he is anorexic. Or just trying to starve himself to death. He could just be a little bit mad at me for naming him Grommit. I think it is a beautiful name, but to each his own right?

This past week has been verrry long. Why you may ask? Probably because I didn’t work this entire week. Gavin and his family went out of town so I was stuck at home mooching around. It’s fine really. I just went on random errands and watched random t.v. shows. I went on lots of bike rides with my family through the beautiful town of Sherwood. Don’t fret though. I go back on Monday. Thank goodness. I miss him so much. His poopy diapers and all.

Confession: I have been listening to Christmas music. I have nothing to say to defend myself. It just happened. I can’t do anything about it. My mom gets mad at me when I play Christmas music on the piano (I think it’s because it is the middle of June, although I can’t be sure) so I just resort to listening to it. I am actually listening to it right now. Carol of the Bells. What a beautiful song. I found out that my middle name, Noel, literally means Christmas in French. I did not know this. It is a part of me. Unavoidable. Inescapable.

Today, my family and I had our family pictures taken. A very nice lady named Annie did them for us. They turned out very nicely. Actually I don’t know, I haven’t seen them yet. But I bet they turned out just lovely.

Tomorrow I am teaching the eight year old primary class. About the Parable of the Talents. My little brother happens to be in this class.  So I am pretty excited.

On Monday, my family is leaving to go camping without me. This grieves me greatly. I can’t go because I have to work. They will be gone for three whole days. I happen to just love camping.  My family has been going every year since I was ten. We always go to the same lake (Lost Lake), camp at the same campsite, eat the same food (pizza, and beef stew, peach cobbler, s’mores, oatmeal, hot chocolate) while my dad tells stories around the campfire. We go on a hiking trip as a family up to a beautiful view of Mount Hood, and we go canoeing around the lake while we fish. Then we search for the hidden waterfall (we still haven’t found it yet… after all this time, I’m starting to think it doesn’t exist) and then take another hike around the lake. And I am going to miss it all. Cheer up Rachel…

And last before I close, I would like to talk about someone very special to me. It was her birthday yesterday but I did not get to write about her in my blog because my internet was down. So here I go: Quinci Whatcott. My husband. As a new freshman in college, she was thee best roommate anyone could ask for.  I will never forget throwing bubble gum at her our first night. Singing A Whole New World. Practicing our princess walks. Heart shaped waffles with peanut butter. Talking about marriage. Talking about marriage. Oh, and did I say talking about marriage? Criminal Minds. Glee. Eating Top Ramen. Eating picnics in our living room. Taking care of our two children. Watching Jurassic Park. Hulu videos. Sending our children off to sketchy college dances. Baseball games. Playing MASH. Stalking attractive men at devotionals. Facebook stalking. Stealing cookie bars from Kiah. The late night one-way talks. Talking in our sleep to each other. She always put up with my crazy Disneyland-ness. Hanging laundry all over our room. Going out to dinner and watching her stuff herself. Staying up for me when I was on a date and then eagerly waiting to hear all the horrors about it. Stadium singing. The list goes on and on… She became one of my best friends and still is. She always listens to what I have to say… even if it’s two in the morning. She can make me laugh, and she puts up with me and all my craziness. She is smart and kind. She thinks of others before she thinks of herself. She is an incredibly wonderful person. And I am so blessed to have been her first husband and to be her friend. So Quinci? I love you. And happy birthday.

I Dreamed a Dream...

Wow. It has almost been so long since I have blogged that I almost forgot my password. Don’t worry though. I remembered it. So let’s see… what has happened in the past two months? Well… my birthday is less than a month away. Woo hoo. I will be turning 41. Well not really. But sometimes it feels that way.  And guess what I am getting for my birthday? Les Miserables tickets. Yep. It is coming to Portland in August and my parents bought me tickets. I wasn’t supposed to know that it was even coming. But I found out anyway. Probably because I heard it on the radio. I didn’t even know that it was back on tour until then. I raced home and almost bought a ticket before my mom stopped me and told me they already bought me tickets. I ruined everything. As my dad keeps reminding me. Oh well. At least I have something to look forward to now.

Also. I am going to Rexburg sometime in the next month. When is kind of undecided. I was supposed to go July 14^th to July 17^th but I might have to go sooner. Like July 7^th to July 10^th. I better figure this out soon. I am getting a headache from this.

My job is going just peachy, thank you so much for asking. Gavin is growing so quickly. He is already sitting up by himself and is very close to crawling. He has two bottom teeth and a top tooth is growing in. He loves baby food. His favorites are carrots, peas, apples, bananas, sweet potato, squash, mango, green beans, oatmeal, and baby yogurt. But he doesn’t like spinach very much. Ewww. I don’t blame him. I love this baby human. I think I may bring him to Rexburg when school starts again. People will understand. Or maybe they will think I had a baby out of wedlock. Either way. It’s fine.

Tomorrow there will be a new family member added to my family. Two actually. Their names are going to be Eunice and Grommit. Yes. This is a true fact. Do you ever just wake up and think I want to be a mommy today? Well I do.  I am going to be a mommy to two new fish. I just hope they last longer than when Quinci and I tried to be mommies to new fish. They didn’t even hatch.

I also just want to add that I am the new Settlers of Catan champion. True story. I won twice in a row. Take THAT Tyler and Jonathan…

Do You Like... Beer?

It’s funny. I don’t even know why I am writing in my blog today. Nothing eventful has really happened this entire week. Hmmmm… I went to an abs and core strengthening class on Monday? Yes. Yes, let me talk about this. So since my family is a member at the YMCA, we get to go to free exercise classes. Yep. Free. I rolled out of bed the next morning (I literally rolled out) and I just laid there on the floor. I could not get up. No big deal. My legs didn’t want to move. And my non-existent abs refused to let me up. It’s fine. Good thing our carpet is soft.

Today, my dear brother Tyler asked a girl to prom. I know, I know. I’m proud too. He said that I was being a Nazi about the whole thing. Which may or may not be true. I just wanted to make sure he did it all right. I went down to the Dollar Store with him and bought a cute Easter egg basket and Easter eggs. We bought some candy (jelly beans and cheap chocolate), some fake grass and two cute teddy bears. (Don’t worry. The guy working at the Dollar Store is a guy I used to go to High School with. He is incredibly attractive. I knew going to the Dollar Store was a good idea.) We filled the eggs with the candy and spelled out “will you go to prom with me?” in the left over eggs. It was just so beautiful, I started to tear up. So yes, Tyler now has a date to prom. My little baby is growing up.

Ummmm…. Let’s see… I got hit on by the gas attendant a few days ago. I know… I always get the greatest guys. He came up to my car leaned over in the window and asked if I liked beer. I’m not gonna lie. I have never been asked that before. I told him that I don’t drink. He smiled, nodded his head and told me that it’s smart of me. He leaned closer and said “wait, are you serious? You don’t drink beer??”  I told him I thought beer was just disgusting. He looked at me like I had three eyes. “You mean you don’t even drink a little bit of light wine with your cheese?” I seriously almost broke out laughing. I asked him if he likes beer. Apparently he does. I never would have guessed.  I think he tried to keep flirting, but the gas nozzle clicked. He gave me my receipt, and I sped off. Too bad. He was rather cute. But somehow, I get the feeling that he is not my type.

Ahhh yes. And Gavin. My nanny job is going wonderfully, thank you for asking. But honestly, it’s a little boring. He has been kind of sick the past couple of days, so he has been sleeping a lot. Today I changed two diapers, put him down for three naps, played in his bouncer three times, played with his toys for an hour, fed him two bottles and… gave him bananas for the first time! I mashed up the bananas and mixed it with some breast milk so it was kind of like a soup. I’m not really sure if he liked it, he kept grimacing. I guess I’ll just have to try again tomorrow. Oh goodness… I sound like a proud mother. And it’s only been a week. But this little boy really is special.

Kyle came home today. Thank goodness. I hope he can keep me sane.

Singles Ward? What?

I went to my home ward today. See any problem with this? I do. Let me just start off with saying that I adore my home ward. I really do. But I am just getting so tired of hearing “how was your first year of school?” or “how do you like being home?” or “how are you enjoying this rain?” or “do you have a job yet?” or “wow! You made it through your first year of college without getting engaged!” I mean come on people. Of course my first year of college was wonderful, and of course I am happy here at home but I want to be back and of course this rain is a sick joke and of course I have a job (thank goodness!) and really? I don’t know why my entire ward thought I was going to be engaged before I came home from my first semester. One pleasant ward member approached me with a genuinely surprised face as he said “I thought everyone gets engaged at BYU-I their first semester… I guess not!” Ouch. Don’t even worry though. I’m going to the singles ward next week.

Yes, I said it. The singles ward. You know, I think the singles ward gets a pretty bad rep. Why? I don’t know… but everything that is said about it is entirely true. Once upon a time I went with Ashley over Christmas break. I think the only word I can come up with to describe it is zoo. Enough said. Seriously though, the tension and pressure in the air to find a wife is almost tangible. I may just need to pull out that old fake engagement ring.

Right now, I am talking to my dear friend/roommate Kiah who is currently living in China. She is doing very well, and is enjoying the cheap shopping at the big, beautiful malls they have in Beijing. She starts her work this week at a school where she will be teaching English to preschool kids. Go her. She is going to be making bank. I’m pretty jealous. No big deal.

Good news: I start work tomorrow. At 8:30. In the morning. Woohoo! Gavin! I’m coming! Mommy’s coming!  

I Think I Can... I Think I Can

So you would think that because I’m home from school it would mean that I would have more time to write in my blog. Which is true of course. But here is the thing: I don’t know how I am going to do it. Get through this summer I mean. The drive home was torturous. For a number of reasons. I was almost killed multiple times by our driver who kept falling asleep on the wheel, and also the fact that for every minute I was in the car, the farther away I was getting from my dear Rexburg. It sounds a little melodramatic, I know. What has made it so hard is the fact that all my friends have left. I’m all alone… I never thought being away from school could be this hard. And it has only been a week.

                This week has consisted of: skyping my friends, facebook stalking people, sleeping, baking, catching up on my T.V. shows, and playing solitaire (more times than I would care to admit). The awful part is that I don’t have a car so I can’t drive anywhere. Cabin fever? What?

                Fact. It is a good thing that I am starting my job on Monday. I nanny for this six month old named Gavin. I’m not sure if it is Kosher to say, but I am in love with this little boy. He has to be the most adorable baby known to man. And I get to take care of him. I just can’t get enough of him.