Losing My Voice

So I had been in choir since I can remember probably starting in Kindergarten or 1st grade. Then I was in the elite choir at Shasta High School called Madrigals and for the choir lover in a person it is a dream come true and a once in a lifetime experience! Then I tried out for the elite choir at Shasta College and got in but I wasn't crazy about being a lower alto part. I'm usually a higher alto. Anyway, it was kind of immature of me but quit and carried on my life with out choir. I continued to enjoy singing at home and hymns at church. When I was pregnant with Grant I was in my 7th month, teaching preschool during my undergrad degree. About 2 weeks before Christmas my voice just disappeared as far as singing went. I had no range. I could sing about 3 notes before my voice would crack and refuse to go higher. So this was quite devastating because I had a decent voice before and no voice now, and quite the humbling experience I might add. I could sing well effortlessly before and now struggled to sing on pitch at all knowing I couldn't make my voice do what it used to, It was so frustrating and now I could relate to those people who can't sing well and maybe understand how they feel.  After 2 and a half years since then my voice has slowly worked its way back to my original range and it has gotten easier to sing like I used to sing well with ease. I'm not completely there yet though. I have now made a big decision that I never thought would feel like a big decision but I joined our ward's choir. I went last week and it was so fun when I went! I have hopes that going to choir every week will help strengthen my vocal chords back to my original voice. It made me happy to sing and harmonize and I felt the joy of singing that I have missed for these years since I quit choir. I love to sing!

Freezing a Wart

So after working for a dermatologist when I was in college I learned that to get rid of a wart all you need is some "dust off", a funnel, and a bandaid. So you just turn the dust off upside down, center the funnel over the wart and spray the liquid nitrogin on it and let that effect it for 10 seconds. Then you cover with a bandaid until the blister heals. So we did this for Perry's wart he has been annoyed with since he had some scar tissue that turned into a wart on his face. So it didn't go as clean and easy as I planned lol. Perry numbed the area first, then held the funnel to his face while lying his head on the ottomon. Then I put the dust off (upside down) on the wart and I assumed it would all dissipate quickly like its supposed to. Well I guess there's not as much oxygen in the funnel and the liquid didn't dissipate. So the liquid was on his skin way longer than 10 seconds. Not knowing what to do I spilled some on my hand and Perry's from coming out of the  funnel, then I decided to go grab a towel and then I poured it out on the towel and it evaporated immediately. But then the funnel was stuck to his face lol. I put my fingers close to where the face met the funnel and eventually it warmed up enough to come off his face. He had the funnel sized lump on that spot and put a bandaid on it. Within a day it had become a blister and we will see in about a week if the wart is gone. If not round two and hopefully by then it will be gone. Anyway, lovely story huh? I found it quite entertaining. It makes me laugh when I think about it.

Halloween Party and Day Festivities

    So the toddler party was a hit I think. The children immediately started jumping from square to square for the cake walk so we did that one first. Then we did some pumpkin bowling into different monster faced bottles. Then the kids pinned the face on the pumpkin, ate food, decorated a cupcake, and then ran around like crazy high on sugar. They were bouncing off the walls. It was great. I think they really enjoyed themselves. They played with bubbles and glow sticks, which were prizes for the game. I got some dry ice at smiths and that was fun, had spooky hands (carrots) poking out of the dip, and hot dog mummies. My sister in law brought some pumpkin shaped cheese slices and my other friend brought the little juice boxes of punch. I love halloween and themed parties! Next year it will be even spookier.
    This year Perry and I rented Dark Shadow as our Halloween themed movie to watch. Then on Halloween day my sister in law came over and we made hand and footed painted bats and played out side a lot. I also made the kids some apple marshmallow mouths. Then in the evening we went to our ward Halloween party and chili/cornbread dinner and met up with Gator and her family to trick or treat a bit. It was fun! Then on Friday I hit up the clearance at Wal-mart and got a couple things for next year. It was definitely a fun month! Here are some pictures of trick'r'treating:

If you can't tell we are Little Mario, Big Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach.

The studly Marios. 

The whole trick or treating gang minus the cousin's parents.

Baby Girl is 3 Months

My little darling is 3 months old and her eyes are as blue as ever still. High hopes there! She is battling infant eczema and I have now discovered through on line research that maybe I should bathe her every day rather than every 3 days. We are lotioning her up twice a day and her cradle cap is still there. I learned that cradle cap is also a form of eczema however the methods I have heard and used for it are not things I would do to normal skin eczema. Anyway, she still consistently sleeps at least 6 hours a night and then some after nursing. She also only takes about 30 min naps like 5-6 times a day. I wish  she would sleep longer. My efforts to extend her naps have been futile and NEVER work. So I give up. She will figure it out eventually and then once she is 6 months I will do more intense sleep training and she will be more developmentally able to fall asleep after the 30 minute wake up cycle during naps.  She should be able to sleep 1.5 to 2 hours per nap.  I really hope she figures it out soon. She is a joy in our home, smiling, cooing, almost laughing, focusing intently on her delightful toys. It is great fun.

 I recently reinjured my back so things are a bit more challenging and I don't have as much stamina with helping Carly fall asleep in her bed but I just need to figure out a good exercise that will strengthen and not strain my back. I strained it while running and I'm pretty sure the first time around I strained it while running too. Lame. Maybe yoga would be better. I will have to see what other people think.

But anyway, I have made it through the newborn phase and she is officially just a normal little infant lol. Love her!

Pictures courtesy of Grant and I:
Oh and a little tidbit about Grant, he is getting really good at taking pictures. It is really funny. He can point and shoot well and he takes pictures of everything. He got really excited and showed me all his pictures like of the refrigerator and stuff lol. Also its probably the only time there are going to be pictures of me ever doing my day to day life during my years of having kids, you know because I'm the only one who is usually taking pictures.

Just got a haircut!

His airplanes and helicopters.

His Halloween foot/hand bat craft.

Grant taking pictures of Grandma.

And me.

And Carly.

And the blender. 

My 2nd carrot harvest.

The Elections I Remember

   This is my second voting season in which I am eligible to vote. It is kind of empowering, because back when I was in school friends and other students would debate and argue which presidential candidate was better and I thought it was really dumb because none of them could vote anyway. Plus both candidates are usually not all bad and they each have great points. That is why the nation is so divided in half when it comes to the race.
    I remember a couple distinct times when it was voting season.  I don't remember the first two youngest numbers. But I do remember when I was 8 there was a fun little craft on a cereal box that you used a plate, some crayons, and string to hang your own propaganda sign to "Vote for Clinton". I wonder what my parents thought. I don't know which one they voted for. I find it interesting though that children can be exploited through cereal boxes during a presidential campaign. I really enjoyed my craft.
   Then I remember when I was 12 and I was actually in the middle of performing Annie Jr. at Harmony Middle School. It was the end of voting day and I was doing a quick costume change and the  television was on to see where the polls stood. It was all very confusing at that time who I should want to win because everyone seemed so concerned about that.
 When I was 16 is when I remember the above memory when my friends were all debating over which candidate was better and me not caring because we couldn't vote anyway and the issues were somewhat confusing to me anyway.
    When I was 18 I registered to vote, then when I was 20 it was my first year to vote and I lived in Idaho and I was a newlywed. I remember shamefully not really knowing much about each candidate. This year I have made a point to watch all the debates and to be an informed voter. It has been a great feeling to be political yet never overbearing on anyone.  I am excited to go on a little walk with my children to Orem High School to vote and to show my son that it is fun and exciting to Vote when you are able. I hope my children will learn the significance of voting for who and what you believe in to help better our country! I will encourage my children to be more informed than me. I hope all of you prayerfully consider the candidates and to VOTE! Yay!

Education

   I have always known I wanted to further my formal education in one field or another and I was alway undecided in what exactly I wanted to do. I have a BA in Child Development and a minor in Marriage and Family Studies.  My Major was chosen because I like psychology and I have taken a lot of those classes in the past but that just talks about people in general. I wanted to know more about Child psychology so I did Child Development. Seeing that that was the closest I could get to what I was wanting to learn about. Upon finishing my degree there weren't very many stimulating careers that I was qualified to do, or that I really had a passion or want to do. Other areas such as Nursing seemed more exciting as a career. But then my husband started a degree at BYU in provo and I explored some of their MA options for my self. The obvious glove MA that would fit what my education has led me to would be the Human Development degree, but again it would profit me little of what I would want to do unless I got a PhD so that I could teach about it. I NEVER foresee a PhD in my future because the thought of it just doesn't appeal in any way.
   However I was doing some scripture study and it was probably in an general conference talk I learned that keeping a marriage alive and preventing divorce is one of the most important and noble endeavors one can do. That inspired me to want to keep marriages alive somehow. I learned a great deal about marriage and divorce during my minor. So I thought that being a marriage therapist would be a very rewarding career. BYU offers a MS in Marriage and Family Therapy.  Its a two year program and is year round so it would start in the fall and basically end the end of summer 2 years later. Also one continually sees clients at the Comprehensive Clinic on BYU Campus through out the degree. The program requires a thesis which piggy backs onto an advisor's research and it seems very rigorous at the start and then has less credits taken slowly by the end of the program.
  I got very excited about the prospect of starting my Master's degree next fall. I was a little late in my interest however, because I forgot that the GRE is a requirement also and I wouldn't make the application deadline with that alone to get the results to the school in time. Bummer. Well so Perry and I have been discussing the idea of me going to school. We definitely don't want him to be in school at the same time, we definitely can't start the degree until 2014 and Perry is 100% supportive of me going back to school and making sure we are here in Utah until I get it done. That will give him plenty of time to get some adjunct experience as well as the community service experience he needs to be seriously considered for a full time position somewhere.
   So the plan is that I study and take the GRE this coming year and give my old professors ample time to submit letters of recommendation. Also I have time to retake the GRE if my score isn't how high I want it to be. Also I can start the degree in approximately 2 years and Carly will be 2 and easy to watch for a sitter, Grant will be 4 and a half and in preschool. And I definitely don't want to give birth to a baby during the program. So there may just be a 4 year gap between Carly and the next little one. Things may change and the age difference between my kids is really the only thing I'm not a fan of for the program. I really want to take my mom's advice and maybe wait about 3 years next time instead of 2 and a half.  The reason BYUs program trumps all the others is that it was the first University  to have the program and is considered the best. And it is obviously the most affordable program as well. So cheap and the best. What more could you ask for. I think the most ideal situation would be that Perry gets his adjunct experience and also gets his full time career here in Utah and then we can have all 4 children born and age 1 and up which will be in about 7 years. And then I can start the program after that point.  That still seems too far away and too long to wait if he never gets a full time position here. But we would love to end up in the Utah Valley indefinitely because we love it!

Halloween/Fall Week

This week I felt very festive, and one of things that makes me feel alive in life is being festive in the seasons and holidays of each year. This last week I baked 3 pumpkin pies. It was slightly experimental because I used half crisco and half coconut oil for the crust. This happened because I didn't have enough crisco but next time it will all be coconut oil. It was delicious! Grant also discovered that he likes pumpkin pie too! Good. He better because it is Perry's and my favorite pie so it is only proper that he like it too, right? Just kidding, we don't force our opinions on Grant but it is nice to know he likes it too. Plus its really not that bad for you when I cut the sugar in half.
   We have also been admiring the fall colors as of late. I want to remember to look at the beautiful trees as often as possible before the leaves die and fall off the trees.  Our neighbors also gave us a ton of walnuts to crack open. It will be a lot of work but we don't eat walnuts often so I think the amount we will accumulate with last us a while in the freezer and then just add chopped walnuts here and there to recipes I enjoy. Its also getting to that point in the year where I can store my big winco bag of flour that I bought last year outside again. I will only buy the big 50 lb bag if it is freezing outside so that it doesn't go bad. We don't have enough freezer space for it inside yet and I use flour so often I don't want to run out every week.
  Also this weekend on Friday I carved a pumpkin with Grant's help. Its our monster face pumpkin. We baked the seeds and ate them, and Grant painted another pumpkin. We did all this while listening to a strings version of "The Night Before Christmas", "This is Halloween".
  Saturday we went over to Country Fest in Payson. We enjoyed the tractor hay ride, the petting farm, balloons, roping pretend cows, lawn mower races, and corn maze.  Unfortunately I'm not sure where I put my camera so there are no photos of these adventures. But the nice thing about that was that we just purely enjoyed the time as a family without worrying about getting enough "memories" on camera. Sometimes you don't truly get to experience things when a camera is always clicking or taking video. Happy October! We will report on our little Toddler Halloween party after next week: Yet another thing to be festive. I just love Halloween time and Autumn. We will probably throw a little party every year. This year its more for me, next year Grant may understand the concept of Ghosts and monsters.