I don't know what to call this post!

There are too many things on my mind. I really want to post more often but I can't seem to take the time to do it. School is almost over so there are lots of things going on. This last week we had the dance festival for the two older girls and preschool graduation for Littleman(5). We also had pictures for baseball and three games in one night--and that one night was freezing cold. (The day before had been 90 degrees and that day was so cold! What is with this weather?!)

Oh, and I forgot about American Idol. The results show was the same night that we had those three games so I recorded the finale. I watched it after we got home and got to the part at the very end where Ryan Seacrest is standing with the envelope next to the two Davids. He starts in with his tension-filled announcement, when all of a sudden the recording stops. I gasped, then I screamed. It was so crazy. Luckily for me, Mr. Dad had been watching something else on a different TV but had seen the announcement on the news. He pretended to be Ryan Seacrest for me and it was almost as good. ;) So, I was wrong about David Archuleta but as I think about it, my conspiracy-theorizing mind wonders if Simon was hard on David Cook because he and the producers wanted Cook to win. I've noticed on some of these "America Votes" shows that when someone is put down by the judges, sometimes they end up getting more votes because people feel bad for them or they want to show the judges that what they say doesn't matter or something. Of course, David Cook was probably going to win anyway and I'm just being stupid.

I have so many more things to talk about but I'm afraid it will have to wait until another time. So for now, you'll just have to wait with great anticipation for my next posts. (Read with a sarcastic tone.) :)

David A or David C?

I don't have a lot of time but I wanted to post before the finale of American Idol tonight. As a disclaimer, I really have no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to American Idol. I've never been a faithful viewer. I've watched episodes here and there over the years but I'm usually just not that interested. I started watching this season a few weeks ago when there were 5 contestants remaining. I had heard so much about David Archuleta, I just had to see if he was really "all that". I've come to the conclusion that, yes, he is "all that" and he is really amazing. He's also really cute, in the "I want to pinch your cheeks!" kind of cute. (I'm sure he hates that.) I, personally, really like David Cook. I love his voice and he's pretty cute, too--but a different kind of cute, if you know what I mean. ;) Anyway, maybe it's because I'm not very familiar with Idol, but I didn't understand the judges very well last night. I thought both the David's did a great job and I thought the little bit of criticism toward's Cook was kind of harsh. I'm no professional, though, so what do I know? I can see the outcome tonight going either way but I think that David Archuleta will win. That's how I see it, in case you were wondering. :)

Random happenings

One of the reasons I wanted to introduce my family in the last post was to be able write about some of the funny/interesting things that have happened lately. I have a list of stuff that I thought might be fun to blog about so I'll just start with the first few.

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OrphanAnnie(7) recently learned how to ride a 2-wheeler bike (as opposed to a 4-wheeler bike, which has training wheels). She could have done it a long time ago but she lacked the confidence and was really afraid of falling. She got very good at it very quickly. A couple of Saturdays ago, she was riding down the hill on the sidewalk in front of our house. The Bishop, who lives next door, had parked in his driveway and was clear of the sidewalk but there was something flat sticking out of the end of the truck bed. So OrphanAnnie(7) came cruising down the hill pretty fast and she really doesn't see that well, even with her glasses on. She thought that she had enough room to get around the truck, which she did but I don't think she saw the thing sticking out the end. I'm sure you can guess what happened. She got clipped by it (I'm still not sure what was in the back of the pick-up) and went flying. The Bishop came running when he heard her (he had only parked there for a few minutes and was planning to pull in all the way as soon as he was done with something) and I heard her wailing after a few minutes and came out. She was really scraped up. She had a big scrape across her neck that started there but then came up her neck and up her cheek. Her left shoulder and elbow were bruised and her right elbow and hand were scraped. The weird thing is that her back was also really scraped up. You could see where about 4 or 5 of her vertabrae skidded on the sidewalk. OUCH! I can't even imagine how she would have fallen to get the different injuries that she got. She was hurting and sore for days. The bishop felt so bad. Later, he brought over a cute, stuffed dog with a pink ribbon around its neck, a couple of candy bars and a card. The card said, "I'm sorry my truck is so mean." The kids really got a kick out of that. She's doing fine now and I don't think she'll even end up with a scar. Kids really are pretty resilient.

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LittleMan(5) says some funny things when he says his prayers. Ever since Pres. Hinckley passed away he's often said things about dying in his prayers. After Pres. Hinckley died, he said, "Bless President Hinckley that he will have a good time with Jesus and his wife." I thought that was pretty sweet. Now he's saying, "Bless us that we'll have a good time with Jesus when we die." It seems like he's thinking about death a little much for a 5-year-old kid, but I think it's also sweet and shows his faith.

May I introduce my family?

I've had a hard time knowing how much information I should put out into the blogosphere for anyone to view. I know it is mostly family and friends that visit me here but who knows if there are crazies out there, too, who might happen upon this blog. I have one blog friend who, for various reasons, is very careful about saying anything that could identify her or her family. I have seen other blogs that give out so much information that anyone who can use a phone book or computer could find them in 30 seconds. And that's probably fine but I don't feel completely comfortable with that. I also know people who have private blogs, but I'd rather keep mine public because it's fun and I've made a few friends that way.


I've decided that I am going to err on the side of caution and I won't identify my family by their real names. So, let me introduce them to you. My husband will heretofore be known as Mr. Dad. My kids are: Bookworm(8)-girl, OrphanAnnie(7)-girl, Littleman(5)-boy, and Destructo(2)-boy. And here we are all together:

St. George, here we come!

Eric and I made it into the St. George Marathon. I'm excited. I hope you've started running already, Eric.

Maybe this is why I like running too?

Call me "Coach"

Since no one else would volunteer and the games start this week I finally stepped up to be LittleOrphanAnnie's(7) coach for coach-pitch baseball. Yes, that means that I, as the coach, am supposed to pitch. Lisa, all-star pitcher, I need your help! We have a practice tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping that this is all so laid back, it won't be a big deal that I can't pitch very well. And who knows, maybe with practice I will improve. Our team is the Astros and I'm getting a pretty nice ball cap out of the deal. :) I'll keep you posted as the season progresses.

Birthday Party

We had LittleOrhanAnnie's(7) birthday party on Saturday. I let her invite way too many kids. I really shouldn't say it that way because I made her invite some of them because I didn't want anyone to feel "left out". I think it turned out okay but it was a little stressful and Hubby about lost it a couple of times. He said, "Next time, no more than 5 friends!" through gritted teeth as he was dishing out the 14th serving of ice cream to the last of the screaming kids. I have to agree. What was I thinking?

When I was growing up I had just a few birthday parties through the years. Birthdays were really not that big of a deal for us. Hubby, on the other hand, had a birthday party every year and usually with a cake shaped like a dog, or baseball mitt, or the Statue of Liberty. ;) You know you spoiled him right, Mom?! We've compromised by having a birthday party with friends one year and the next they are allowed to have one friend come with the family to something fun like Chuck E. Cheese, or the movie, or even a water park (I don't know if we'll do that again but we did it once). Besides the hullabaloo of a party that stresses me out, the kids get so much stuff when they have a big friend party. This is, of course, really fun for them but they don't really need it. I guess that problem could easily be fixed by just inviting a handful of friends instead of a dozen.

LittleOrphanAnnie's(7) party did turn out fun and one thing I'd recommend is having a simple magic show. We had just had a magic themed Cub Scout Pack Meeting so it was on my mind and I used a few tricks from that to put on a little magic show. They were really easy tricks but the kids really liked them. The treasure hunt was a pretty big success too. I think the favorite part of any party we've ever had is always the pinata. I think it's always a good idea to have a little candy held aside in reserve to give to those kids that aren't aggressive enough to get very much from the resulting dog pile that happens when the candy falls.