No Truer Words

Apparently charity really does sometimes faileth. We were visitng the Parmleys today and stumbled upon Ethan's homework assignment where he wrote about his experience at our house. Ouch, the sting. I'll share....
" Hello friends. Imagine sleeping in a room with four little kids. They never stop talking so you can’t go to sleep. That was my life for five weeks. The purpose of this speech is to tell you my life living with another family for over a month.
After we sold our house, we lived with the Mendenhall family until our new house was ready. They have three kids all younger than me. James is the oldest and he is seven. David is four and the baby named Abigail is two. They live in a three bedroom house. Five kids had to live in the same bedroom. The bedroom is small. It has two bunk beds which were so close together that you could jump from one bunk to the other. My sister had to sleep in the closet in a crib like a baby.
The next morning I was awakened by screaming kids. When I looked at the clock, it said 4:54 a.m. I was tired and grouchy. This happened every morning I was there. I never got enough sleep. The house was so small that I was never by myself. This was a problem because James followed me wherever I went. It was annoying and made me claustrophobic.
After five long weeks, we finally got to be in our new house. I was glad to have my own room. But more importantly, I was relieved to get away. I don’t think I’ll ever forget living in that house because it was so loud and crowded. One thing I did learn from this experience was that sometimes we have to compromise.
This is a picture of the room I slept in. As you can see, there are two bunk beds close together. What you can’t see is the closet. That is where my sister slept. Because there was no room in the closet, we had to store our clothes under our beds. I slept on the bottom left bunk. Well, I didn’t sleep very much because they were too loud. Thank you for listening to my speech. I hope you enjoyed it.-"

Role Reversal

Abby has has taken over David's Batman costume. She insisted on putting the entire costume on and wearing it around this morning. She has quite a serious look on her face, as BatGirl is a serious character. David is a Jedi of course. Too cute!

Abby

The Aftermath.....

Thanksgiving Feast

Turkey Trot

We joined "in spirit" with the Reese family for

a Turkey Trot today. We had planned to race in St. George with the Reeses but when our plans changes we decided to still do the trot with the matching tees. We went down to the Rec. Center, played at the park and then made our way back. Abby and David did an amazing job running and James rode his bike. I carried Abby back, she was asleep by the time we got home and David rode on Mark's shoulders. It was a good time for us all. When we got home the turkey was done so we have speed into action to get all the fixings together. It's almost 3:00 and I've snuck away to make a post just in case our far away family is checking in! We're working hard in the kitchen, whihc we have decided is quite "cozy" for four cooks. Maybe next year will be good to us and we can plan on a bigger kitchen in our future!! I can't wait for the turkey!!!!

Tag

I've been tagged, I'd hate to be noncompliant. (Thanks Sunshine, I've been dying to be tagged so I could talk about myself more...:)
Here are the rules: A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning. B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves. C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asks them to read your blog.
1. I'm a hard core planner at heart. I love to have things planned and scheduled on my calendar. This is one of the reasons I enjoyed my job as a radiation therapist so much. Every fifteen minutes there is a new patient to treat and there's a huge sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.
2. I hate cilantro. It tastes like dirt. (I know many of you already know this about me..)
3. I love wearing flip flops or shoes that don't require socks. This is because I really don't like socks. Good thing I live in San Diego (I don't have objectionable toes when they are painted)where I can get away with wearing sandals most of the year.
4. If I could go back to school and become anything I wanted, I'd become a doctor. Pretty funny because when I was a kid I always said I wanted to be a doctor or an actress. I definietly think I would have been a better doctor than an actress.
5. My favorite person in the whole world is Mark. He's the most loving and kind person I have ever met. After almost fifteen years together, I still feel like he's almost too good to be true.
6. There are tons of classic movies that I have never seen, for instance, all the Star Wars movies, most of the Indiana Jones movies, Casablanca, Last of the Mohicans, Sense and Sensibility, you name it, I probably haven't seen it. The reason for this is that I can't hardly ever sit through an entire movie unless I'm in a theatre. If I'm watching a movie at home I have to get up and do stuff while the movie is on. Short attention span I guess!

I tag Julia, Lisset, and Maren. (Those are the only bloggers I know that haven't been tagged yet!)

This is a typical night at our house. The kids pile on top of Mark and he attempts to read to them. Tonight was extra special because he read to them in our bed. Abby always likes to be directly in front of the book- the best seat in the house. Mark is great at reading through her! I love having Mark around more often, pretty soon he's going to start his own blog to keep himself busy: HireMeNow.blogspot.com. (hee hee hee)

Look alikes

You know how they say everybody has a twin out there somewhere?
I think we are looking more alike as time goes by. By the way, great
photo. I feel pretty lucky.

What's great about having sisters....

Although years and miles seperate us, the bond of family is always there. The love and affection that I feel for my sisters is a sweet blessing in my life. I am inspired by the amazing inner strength and capacity for love that these two women have. What wonderful examples I have to look up to and follow! The only thing that would have made our weekend complete would have been having Steff there to share the good times. We missed you Steff and we reminisced and thought about you often. Your contagious happy attitude and smile were definietly missed. Next time!

Quick Trip to St.George

This weekend we took a trip to our favorite home away from home, St. George. My oldest sister, Chris, came with us and we

joined up with my other sister, Julia and her husband David from Alabama. Since we don't get a chance to get together like this very often, we jumped at the opportunity. We had the most wonderful time ever. We ate way too much, and stayed up way too late and it was great! On Saturday the guys stayed home with the kids while the girls went "prowling". This is the Southern term for girls hanging out and shopping around. We ate at all of our favorite spots, including Nielsen's Custard, Cafe Rio, Pizza Factory, Jimmy John's, Iceberg and Sonic Burger. All in less than 72 hours. I know, it's nuts. Thank you to my wonderful sisters and brother in law and my dear little family for the happy memories! I love you each dearly!!!

Disco Dave