Night of the Living Dead

Ok, not really, but it’s too cute.

Devyn took her first two independent steps on August 5th (you as readers probably don’t really care, but I have to get this down for posterities sake). I was so excited that I called DH in the middle of this class to tell him. They were only two steps and then she fell directly on her little bum, but I’m a mom, I get to be excited about things like this. The next day while I was at work DH tried to get her to recreate it to no avail. Then that night, while he was again at class, she walked three steps and then fell. The next day my parents arrived in town and she just kept walking a few steps at a time, getting up to five or six in a row, but DH was still in class taking his final. I sent him a really crappy video so he could see, which of course he thought was adorable. She finally walked for Daddy later that night after he got home from his class.




Well, then we went on vacation and she was strapped in car seats and strollers all the time, completely messing with her new found ability to walk, but whenever we got to a place where she could be let out and walk she did. She’s still getting the hang of it so she holds her arms out in front of her, just like a zombie in those really bad horror movies, to keep her balance. It’s too cute. I tried to get a video of it, but I don’t think you get the full effect of night of the living dead, but I'm afraid she's about to become a holy terror!



I have so much to say since I've been gone so long with the vacay and all, but it will have to wait for another time. Be watching for all my wonderful commentary on everything Southern California though:)

We're Off to see the Wizard...

I just wanted to post a little something about how we are going on vacation for the next 10 days and I was really thinking in terms of the “we’re off” part of that phrase, when I realized that it’s quite literal. Ari’s birthday is the week after our vacation and we decided to surprise her with taking her to Wicked while we are in LA. I’m so excited. She LOVES the music and DH and I were lucky enough to see it while in Chicago last year for my work conference and have wanted to take her ever since. I can’t wait to see how excited she is.

This will be the longest vacation I’ve taken in probably 20 years. We don’t really do big vacations and such and it will be Ari’s first time at Disneyland. I’m already tired just thinking about all that we are going to try and pack into 10 days.

• 3 day park hopper to Disneyland
• Universal Studio
• Walk of Fame/Grauman’s Chinese Theater (pretty much as a side note since we will be staying with a family friend that lives a few block away)
• The beach (haven't decided which one yet)
• Sea World
• San Diego Zoo
• Wicked

(We got our tickets from Citypass...I would highly recommend it for big vacations like this)

I’m going to need a vacation from my vacation!

Have a great 10 days.

Refining Fire

Well, I made it through the lesson I had to give. For a refresher on what I'm talking about go here.

I'm sure the entire first row could hear my heart beating because I was so nervous, but all things considered it went pretty well. I used the book "If God Loves Me, Why This?" as my inspiration. I actually didn't finish reading the book, but I used it as a starting point for my research. What I've read so far is good though. It's very common sense stuff that we just need to be reminded of sometimes.

I ended my lesson with a story that I have seen a couple of times and it was so well received (a number of women asked for a copy of the story at the end) that I decided to post it here in case anyone who reads my blog might enjoy it also.

Refining Fire

Some time ago, a few ladies met to study the scriptures. While reading the third chapter of Malachi, they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse: "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver"(Malachi 3:3).

One lady decided to visit a silversmith, and report to the others on what he said about the subject. She went accordingly, and without telling him the reason for her visit, begged the silversmith to tell her about the process of refining silver. After he had fully described it to her, she asked, "Sir, do you sit while the work of refining is going on?" "Oh, yes ma'am," replied the silversmith; "I must sit and watch the furnace constantly, for, if the time necessary for refining is exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured." The lady at once saw the beauty and comfort of the expression, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." God sees it necessary to put His children into the furnace; but His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for us. Our trials do not come at random, and He will not let us be tested beyond what we can endure.

Before she left, the lady asked one final question, "How do you know when the process is complete?" "That's quite simple," replied the silversmith. "When I can see my own image in the silver, the refining process is finished."
-Author Unknown

I hope someday I will be "refined" enough that God will be able to "see" his image in me!

Well I'm a leavin' on a jet plane

Ari went to visit Grandma and Grandpa on Wednesday...

and we miss her already!

Do you have $1

A couple of months ago I donated $10 to an organization that was trying to get the most $10 donations on Facebook. Whichever organization got the most $10 donors got $50,000 or something like that for their organization. I thought it was well worth my $10 so it was that venture that got me signed up on Facebook in the first place and how I have reconnected with some good friends that I would not have otherwise reconnected with. This post however really has nothing to do with Facebook though.

The organization I donated to is Love Without Boundaries, they helps families in China get life saving operations for their children. So often these families just abandon their children because they can’t afford these operations and they hope that someone will adopt their child so they can have the operations and live. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have to say goodbye to your child forever so they can get the help that they so desperately need. The operations cost $5000 and the average monthly income is $50 so they can’t even begin to fathom how to get the money. I got an email today that Love Without Boundaries is doing a $1 campaign and trying to raise $5000 for one of these operations. Obviously they need 5000 donors to get to their $5000 goal. I know that I have $1 to spare, do you?

You can either just pop $1 in the mail to Love Without Boundaries at:
Love Without Boundaries

P.O. Box 25016

Oklahoma City, OK 73125-0016

or donate $1 online at http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/

or donate through Facebook by clicking "donate" and then choosing "other" and putting in $1.

Me – Visually Summed Up

My friend Nicole did this on her blog and I thought it was an interesting idea to sum oneself up in twelve pictures, so here I am:

1. Desi(Red), 2. cpk, 3. nov8-005, 4. Black & White, 5. There's just no one like you !, 6. Diet "Pepsi" & baby, 7. Child in Tanzania, 8. Cheesecake, 9. Humanitarian Aid, 10. Raccoon Family, 11. insecure, 12. Sumatran Tiger

Try it out yourself and then come back and leave me a comment so I can go and see what you look like in 12 pictures or less :)

Here’s how you do it:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.b. Using only the first page, pick an image.c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One word to describe you.

12. Your favorite animal?

Swim Ari Swim...Whoo Hoo!

I can attest that you don't die of heat exhaustion by sitting poolside for an hour in 109 degree weather. I did it and I’m still alive to tell about it.

As I mentioned before Ari had her first ever swim-a-thon yesterday and she was amazing. It was so hot they were spraying down all the swimmers with a hose when they got to our end of the pool (hey what about all us lap counters who aren’t in the water staying at least somewhat cool?)

Ok, ok, I know back to Ari and her swimming. They had to swim as many laps as they could in one hour and since the most laps Ari had over swum before at one time was 4 (and she was tired after that) I didn't figure she would get more than 20 maybe 25 laps before she was just too tired to go anymore. She blew me away, she swam exactly 50 laps! Here’s how it went down:

And she’s off, look at her go. That’s an awfully strong pace for her to try and keep up for an hour. I think she’s going to have to slow it down and settle into a groove if she’s wants to have any endurance left for the second half of this swim-a-thon.


It’s fifteen minutes in and Ari is at 15 laps and looking very tired. A lap a minute…can she continue with this pace?

It’s been a half hour and Ari is stopped at the side of the pool. She looks exhausted and she is only half way through with her time. How will she go on?


I think Ari might be done! It’s 45 minutes in and her breaks on the wall keep getting longer and longer. Will she quit? Will she end now with 40 laps under her belt? 40 laps is nothing to sneeze at, the average for her age is between 40 and 60 laps so at least she got to 40 right? Oh no, she’s not going to stop now, she has fifteen more minutes to go and she’s no slacker!


There are 2 minutes left and she had two laps to go to get to 50 laps. (I went to the edge of the pool and told her how close she was to 50 laps and encouraged her to swim hard and swim fast) She went for it and swam hard, go Ari, go…Yes!!! She made it, 1 hour and fifty laps later she reached a huge accomplishment. Good job Ari!




Because she did so well we told her we'd take her to dinner where she wanted to go (within reason) and she choose In-and-Out. I hate in and out, but it was her reward so I sucked it up it wasn't too bad this time! Check here to see a little about my distain for In-and-Out. People swear by this place and drive far distances to get there, I just don't get it. It’s not only the raw burgers either, their fries taste like they’ve been freeze dried or something before they rehydrated them to fry them up. They swear they use fresh potatoes, but come on, I’m from Idaho, I know my potatoes and those are nothing of the sort, but I digress. Good job Ars(my nickname for Ari, sounds like the plural form of the letter R) for a trying so hard and accomplishing so much. You did awesome!