Go Fish! Musical--With Pictures Now

On Tuesday night Libby had her 1st grade musical--Go Fish! This was huge for her. She'd talked about it for a while and she never acted like she wasn't going to perform or go on stage, etc. She did awesome! The musical was so cute and Libby got up on stage and sang all the songs and did all the actions. It just made my heart sing!! We were so proud of her. This is the Libby who won't give a talk in primary or go up and sing for the primary program. Little by little.

The songs were just darling that they sang and I could tell Libby was just having a blast performing. We love her!

I got a lot of cute pictures but for the past two days I can't upload any on here. I'll keep trying!!!

Coming Up For Air

Another week (and a half) has gone by! This past weekend Terri and I photographed a wedding. During the ceremony, I never worked so hard on my camera settings. There were some clouds and the sun kept hiding behind the clouds and then coming out, so I was constantly having to change my settings. It was a lot of work.

I went to the chiropractor on Monday for my leg. He said I have a strained or pulled hamstring. Ugh. It has gotten better though, so hopefully soon it will be back to normal.

The other day I took Ellie and Hattie to the resort for free horse rides. Terri told me about them, so we met up there. Hattie even wore her boots. It was fun.




On Sunday we had a dinner for the laurels who are graduating this year. We made them dinner and then President Wagner spoke for a while about section 84 of the Doctrine & Covenants. Now we just have our leadership training meeting tomorrow night and maybe I can breath a little easier.

Trek & Track

Today started early for Brian and me. Abbie came over at 6:30 to babysit and Brian and I headed off to the church to meet for our trek training. We had to wear our trek/pioneer clothing--we sure looked cute. Ha ha. We drove up to Cherry and were trained in our role as a ma/pa on the trek. We'll be in charge of a family--made up of about 5 boys and 5 girls (ages 14-19)--and we'll reenact the trek the pioneers made across the plains (but only 3.5 days). Today they went over details and equipment we'll need and all that jazz. We also pulled the handcart for a few minutes so we could see what the youth will be doing (on the actual trek, the mas/pas aren't allowed to help push or pull). We also did several activities that we'll be conducting with our family and how we'll process each activity with them. We are excited about our chance to be a ma and pa on this trek. It will be a ton of work but worth it, I'm sure.



Today was also Eliza's big track meet. There were over 2500 athletes in this meet. She ran the 200m and the 100m. There were so many heats of the 200 that it went from about 8:30 till 2 for just that event. Crazy! Eliza did great! She got another PR in the 200 (37.4) and got 2nd in her heat. She got 3rd in her heat in the 100. To pass the time, she and Libby (and my dad) helped sell the programs for the track club and they snacked on yummy snacks provided by Grandma and Grandpa! They had a fun time on the sleepover/track day!

Ouch

Today was much of the same as the rest of the week. I ran the hills and then I came home and complained. I think I pulled muscle or something in the back of my leg. It hurts SO bad. So that has been a big downer for today!

We had a bit of a crazy morning--took Ellie to her class, took Hattie to a birthday party and I went to a camp meeting, then I retraced my steps to pick everyone back up. This afternoon I tried not to walk around too much to see if I could get my leg to feel better. It doesn't. My parents picked Eliza and Libby up from school. They get a little sleepover tonight. Brian and I have trek training all day tomorrow and Eliza has a huge track meet, so they are going to cover for us and take her. THANKS!!!

Tonight we took the little three to Cabelas, then Brian and I grabbed a Which Wich for dinner. SO good!

100 miles an hour

Tonight I told Brian I'd like to have a day when I wasn't going a hundred miles an hour! Today I had a presidency meeting, then we came home for a quick bite to eat, then it was off to the doctor. For me this time. I've had this nagging sore throat for about a week and half which has also caused my ear to hurt! It's so annoying. They swabbed for strep, but he doesn't think it is. He thinks it's just a viral upper respiratory infection that will just have to work its course. Fun!

We came home and I made dinner while the girls played, then Eliza and Libby got home. I nagged...er...encouraged them to get their chores done, then we had dinner right when Brian got home. I helped get everyone out the door to track--Brian took them tonight so I could go to Relief Society. It was about food storage and three-month supply. I have used most of my three month supply, so I need to restock and think of a good rotation system so I am consistently restocking. I don't know why food storage is so stressful to me, but it is!!! I probably think about it too much and make it harder than it's supposed to be. Ackkk!!

Whoa

Wow. I can't believe my last post was on the 6th. Time slipped away! Unfortunately I can't remember what we did each day.

I do know that this week started out clear as far as my calendar, but it really filled up. On Monday, I cleaned up the house from the weekend. I made a yummy salad for dinner--thanks to Karolyn for the recipe--and we had our neighbors over last minute to eat with us. Tuesday we did a few errands in the morning, then we went to my mom's and she made my apron for the pioneer trek. We also taste-tested some scones that she made for an upcoming book group night. She made one from Our Best Bites and one from The Pioneer Woman. Both were so good--different in their own respects but very good. That night Brian and I went to the Suns game. One of the young women in our ward was dancing with her dance company in the pregame show. So we went with the rest of the bishopric to the game. Tyson happened to have tickets from work, so we were able to use those. They were really good seats and 2 were on the floor at the scorer's table, so we rotated those seats during the game. Brian was in heaven! You couldn't get the smile off his face. He's always wanted to sit on the floor at a game. It was a fun experience to be down there. The players are huge. We were two seats over from Al McCoy. He is so little! And right behind us Brian was SO excited to see Mike Wilbon from the ESPN show PTI. He chatted with him for a minute, which was fun for him.



Today turned out to be so busy, too. Chrystalyn called to see if we wanted to plant a row in my father-in-law's garden. Somehow everyone had heard about it but us, so I was totally unprepared but we got seeds and planted a little space in his garden that we'll care for and hopefully get a vegetable or two from it. We went straight from there to track and then home. I am enjoy sitting down right now for a little rest.


I thought this was cute. On Sunday we did our Sunday Stations--thanks to my creative friend Rachel for the idea--but we have different stations that they rotate through. One of them was to build a temple from the blocks. Here is Eliza and Libby's creation. I loved how they made a little lake out front like the one in Mesa.

Track Meet

On Saturday, Eliza had a track meet. She ran the 100m and 200m. She wanted to do the 400, but they don't have that event for her age. She ran well--getting her PR in both events. She placed 12 overall in both events. 12th out of 61 in the 100 and 12th out of 49 in the 200. But better her previous time by one and two seconds was awesome!

Maybe my mom will update her blog and post some pictures. Wink, wink!

Easter

This year for Easter, the Easter bunny sent the girls on a little scavenger hunt to find their baskets which ended up being out back on the BBQ. They always have fun hunting for their baskets. Inside they found some chocolates and a swimming suit. Of course, Hattie had to wear hers around all day and hasn't taken it off much since she got it. We ended up exchanging Libby's, Ellie's and Ruby's to get a different size or fit, but everyone is set now. The rest of the day we watched General Conference. For me, there was a obvious theme about motherhood and the importance of mothers. I have such a huge responsibility as do all mothers!
(watching conference in the tent)

For dinner, we went over to Brian's parents' house for dinner. We had turkey, ham and the fixings. I made a Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake for Brian's birthday. Yum!!

Rice Cereal

I always start my babies on rice cereal probably later than most. The doctor always suggests it around 4 months, but I don't start until about 6 months. For me it's like once you start, you can't stop! Ruby has liked it pretty well but is just trying to get used to getting it in the back of her mouth to swallow properly. My other girls love watching her eat and helping to feed her.
(excuse the red-eye)

Field Trip

I forgot to mention Eliza's field trip. Last Monday I got to go with Eliza and the rest of her grade to the Desert Botanical Garden. We had a fun time. It was nice because they have guides there that take you around and teach you things. I thought it would be like the zoo where you have a small group and you just wander around. I did have a small group, but we were with a couple other small groups and a person from the garden who showed us around. It was much better that way, I thought! We also were able to go in the butterfly pavilion. I did well this time. I don't like things flying around my head--even butterflies--but it wasn't bad this time and nothing came too close. We did see some very pretty ones, too.

31

Today is Brian's birthday. It didn't turn out as expected in that he had to stay home from work to watch the girls while I was in bed with a migraine. I guess it was good that he got to stay home, but it would have been more fun if we could have done something fun. Last night at track, my parents came for a minute and gave him his gift from them--a gift card to Cabelas. He wants a hat for the trek, so I think he'll use it for that. This morning Eliza helped me get his gift wrapped. I got him a pair of slippers that he's been wanting. Exciting, huh? He looks at them every time we go to Ross or Marshalls, so I knew he wanted them. He likes them because he can wear them out if he wants to. They are kind of like the ones here but his are brown. I also ordered him a couple of USA World Cup items but they are on back order so he'll get them in a week or so. I got him a shirt and a hat.

So for Brian's 31st birthday, I want to write down 31 fun things about him and things things that I love about him:

1. calmness--when I get stressed out or frazzled, he helps me calm down and put things in perspective
2. loves soccer--watching it mostly and playing when he can. His goal is to go to the World Cup sometime in his life.
3. is a great dad--loves to play with the girls. He can be found out back playing soccer with them or playing catch with the football or running races with them. Today Hattie said they played dress up while I was out of it in bed. I asked if Daddy dressed up and she said no.
4. is a great husband--at night he can very often be found doing the dishes or folding laundry.
5. enjoys watching Phineas and Ferb
6. can still play basketball with the best of them. He has a reputaion for his nice three pointer.
7. loves having things organized and efficient...hard to explain. It's not to an obsession but he loves tying up loose ends...loves finishing off the last of a cereal box so he can throw it away and loves having things complete and working properly.
8. is a hard worker to provide for our family. A couple months ago he made it to "segment 5" at work. When you first start at Edward Jones you start at segment 1 and then you have different levels of production that get you to the various
segments.
9. enjoys quoting movie lines
10. wants to own a VW bus sometime in his life
11. has to have the fan on at night when he sleeps
12. still records Suns games or soccer games on a VCR--one day we'll get TiVo!
13. knows the scriptures really well
14. loves peanut butter and chocolate ice cream
15. would love to live in Manhattan one day
16. would love to live on the beach
17. is honest
18. is concerned about his kids--it frustrates me when dads don't know who their kids' school teachers are or what grade they are in even. Brian knows and cares about those things.
19. is not a handy man but is man enough to admit it and will ask for help when needed.
20. is real...what you see is what you get.
21. supports me in my church callings
22. always fulfills his church callings
23. gets up with the kids if they wake up in the night
24. enjoys reading--always has a book he is reading
25. would eat El Pollo Loco every day if he could
26. he is always telling me that I look great even when I know I look frumpy!
27. can always make me laugh
28. loves late night snacks about as much as I do
29. doesn't complain when I complain to him.
30. stays up late with me
31. If I ask him if the doors are all locked, he'll get up out of bed without complaining and check.

Happy birthday, Brian. We love you!!!!!!!!!

Cleaning

The past two days I've spent cleaning all day. On Wednesday I spent the morning cleaning Eliza and Libby's room. It's easier if they are not there to go through their things and kindly discard some of their treasures. Bye bye to the Valentines that they haven't looked at since they got them. ...things like that that just needed to go. I think I was done with their room around noon, then we had lunch and then I was able to work on the rest of the house. It felt so good when it was over. Yesterday I did laundry all morning then I cleaned out my closet and the linen closet in my bedroom. It looks so much better!

Today my hard work was rewarded with a migraine. Boo hoo!!! When I woke up this morning to go running, I thought I might be getting one but hoped I was just dreaming. I was getting into the car when I thought twice and figured I'd better not risk it. So I went back to bed. Luckily Brian was able to stay home today, so I stayed in bed most of the day and slept it off.

Fun Run & Easter Party & YW Broadcast

I've been busy. Let's see.
I survived the trek fun run. I wasn't nervous that I wouldn't finish in time, but I wanted all my running/hiking to pay off. I was able to finish the 4 miles in 37 minutes. Brian did well, too--I think he finished in 38. I only felt a little bad for beating him. :)

After we finished with that, we came home and got ready, then headed out to our family Easter party. We met at a park near Chandler. We each brought our own lunch, so we ate first, then the kids played--riding their bikes and scooters. Each family brought some sort of game. Brian did Tootie-Tah with the kids, then we did three-legged races. The kids hadn't done that before, so that was fun to watch them try to figure that out. Dan and Chris had bubbles for the kids to do with all sorts of blower things, so that was fun. Then my parents had gotten each grandkid and their dad a small marshmallow shooter. So they had a marshmallow war for a while. They loved that! After they did that for a while, my parents did their traditional "fish pond." That's always a big hit, too! They kids got chocolate bunnies, a shirt and a book. The kids and dads also spent a while hitting the baseball around. We had a fun time!

We left the park and zoomed home. I jumped out of the car, got ready, got everything together and raced to the church. It was the YW broadcast and I was in charge of heading up the refreshments and the recognition of the YW who received their medallion this past year. First for the dessert: I did a "value sundae" bar. I brainstormed one ice cream topping that went with each of the 8 YW value colors.
We had vanilla ice cream and then all the toppings.
Faith (white): whipped cream and sno caps.
Divine Nature (blue): York Peppermint Pieces. They look like M&Ms. They come in a pack that has blue and white, so I had to separate the blue ones out (and eat the white ones).
Individual Worth (red): cherries
Knowledge (green): sixlets
Choice & Accountability (orange): Sprinkles
Good Works (yellow): bananas
Integrity (purple): M&Ms
Virtue (gold): caramel




For the recognition, my friend Leslie found this cute idea to make a bracelet from a spoon. Thanks to her and her husband, we made bracelets for each of the girls who helped out. They turned out so darling. Hanging from the side are some beads along with a Liahona charm and an iron rod charm.



The broadcast was excellent, too. I especially loved Elaine Dalton's talk and President Uchtdorf's talk. Loved them!!!

The night went well, but I was SO glad and relieved when it was over. Now on to the next thing!

Colorado Continued

Yesterday morning started off with me running at the fitness center. It took a lot out of me. The elevation maybe? After coming back to the room and getting ready, Brian headed off to his meeting, then the girls and I went down to the breakfast. We walked around until it was time for them to go to their kids club while I had the spouse meeting. It ended up being a big ordeal!



Right about the time they were supposed to be at their meeting place, we found out they were going to be outside, so we hurried back up to the room and got all their snow gear on, then we went back downstairs. Eliza, Libby and Ellie all went to the same one. They rode the gondola ski lift and played some games at the top and then came back. Hattie and Ruby went to where they have the Kids Vacation Center. Ruby didn't go outside of course, but we just taken care if in their infant room. Hattie played in the preschool room and even got to ride the gondola to the top and back. She was so thrilled about that and hasn't stopped telling us about it!

In the afternoon we watched the little baby while the rest of her family took skiing lessons. A few weeks ago another financial advisor from Kansas called Brian and wondered if we'd be willing to trade babysitting while we each did our ski school. It worked out perfectly. The have three older kids and they just adopted a baby a few weeks ago. She was 5 weeks old and the cutest little thing! My girls couldn't stop touching her curly hair! Brian took the girls to a park to play in the snow for a bit while I watched Ruby and Abree.

For dinner we went to Quiznos. That seriously is one of my favorites right now. They have 2 for $5 and lots of choices to choose from. Brian loves the soup and a "bullet" and I love one of their "sammies" with a chopped salad. After dinner we went back to the room for a movie night that had to end early because the girls were a little wound up. Bummer.


Tuesday:
Eliza and Libby had ski school. Skiing is such a hassle!!! You have get everyone in their snow gear. Then get all the ski stuff--boots, helmet, skis, poles, glasses, etc. Too much work!

They had a great time though. It was 6 hours and they got lunch partway through. They were in different classes but neither of them minded so that was good. I was a little nervous how Libby would be, but she didn't mind. They both did great. When we picked them up at the end, Eliza had been skiing down one of the green hills several times and Libby went up with her to do it a couple times. Brian and I didn't even work up to that hill after our class! Eliza had progressed to level 2 and Libby had gotten to level 3. After lunch, we dropped the three little girls off with the family we traded with and Brian and I went to our class. Skiing sure is awkward. The boots are not comfortable! I told Brian I prefer running that you just put your tennies on and go! But we did okay. I didn't ever fall. I won't say if Brian did or not. We just learned some basics then went down a little practice hill a couple times. It's just hard not feeling like you have much control of yourself. It was fun though and I would like to do it again to get better.

After the lessons, we went back to the room and got ready. One of the John Hancock wholesalers took us to dinner. We went to the Old West Steakhouse. The other family that was supposed to go canceled at the last minute so it was just us and this wholesaler--a single guy about our age. I thought that was funny. The girls did well though and kept him pretty entertained and talked his ear off. The dinner was good--Eliza got her steak she's been wanting! The best part was not having to foot the bill!

Wednesday:
I went running again but didn't try to go as far so I didn't get light headed after. ha ha. Since we had the ski rentals till the end of the day, Eliza and Libby went a few more times. Libby was trying to go to fast and fell a couple times and didn't want to go again, so after Eliza went a few more times, we turned our ski stuff back in. We all took a ride on the gondola up to the very top. I can't believe how high up it went and that people ski from that high and go that fast. We did see two just on our way up being brought down by the ski patrol. I just can't imagine ever being that good to do that! We had lunch in the room, then went for ice cream at Lyon Corner Drug and Soda Fountain.


We ended up going there twice during our stay because the ice cream sundaes were so good! Dinner that night was at a Mexican restaurant--Fiesta Jalisco.

Thursday:
We hung out in the room a lot of the day until the afternoon. That afternoon we took an old, white school bus to Saddleback Ranch for tubing. It was one of the most fun things we did on our trip. We took their "shuttle" to the ranch (an old, white school bus) and then you get a little safety talk and start tubing.

They have a little pulley system that pulls you up the hill on your tube and then you head down. Eliza and Libby got to have their own tube and Ellie and Hattie rode with Brian and me on our tubes. The hills were great and you got going pretty fast!

There was one that you had to go down on your stomach alone, so Brian, Eliza and I all got to do that one. Libby didn't want to, but she did get brave and do the other hill face first several times. We went alone some of the time but did a lot of trains to go even faster. Brian plowed a girl over, which wasn't his fault. In the little safety talk at the beginning they tell you if you are walking it is your responsibility to watch out for the people tubing down the mountain as they can't stop easily. He was coming down with Hattie and there was a girl not paying attention. He yelled to warn her, but she got knocked over. The mom was so mad and even went inside to complain. They told her it wasn't his fault! I was mad they were mad! If she would have come talk to me I would have given her a piece of my mind! We got back in time for dinner at Wendy's and bed.

Friday
On Friday the weather changed! The whole week it was so nice! Snow on the ground but like 60 and 70 degrees. When we took our ski class I even just wore a short sleeved shirt. But on Friday it was in the 20s and totally cloudy/foggy. The slopes were even closed. We went into town for more ice cream and to the grocery store. Dinner that night was a farewell dinner that Jones did, so the food was yummy and there was tons of it.

We started our trek home on Saturday--driving to Monticello again. We stayed the night at the same hotel but this time they were out of cribs. Ugh! So we had to get Ruby to sleep and then place her on the roll-away with pillows all around. I didn't sleep well because I kept getting up to make sure the pillows were there and she hadn't rolled. We had our little breakfast in the morning and went the rest of the way home. Now I have laundry coming out of my ears, but it is good to be home.

Colorado

On Saturday morning we left to drive halfway to our trip to Steamboat Springs. We drove to Monticello for the night then went the rest of the way on Sunday. It was really strange because time just seemed to fly by. We stopped in Flagstaff for lunch. We went in the food court at the mall and made our PB&J sandwiches and had them. We only got a couple stares. LOL.



After that stop it seemed like no time that we were in Monticello. It was a pretty drive through the Painted Desert and Monument Valley.

Monticello was pretty, too. There was a lot of snow on the ground and it snowed a lot in the night so we woke up to a winter wonderland.

We had a nice view of the temple from our room.

On Saturday night we went to dinner at a little mom and pop type restaurant and we drove by the temple.

Bedtime was a little rough with everyone in two small beds, but we managed. In the morning we got up, had a very small "continental" breakfast (cereal or toast) and headed off. Today we drove the rest of the way to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I've never been to Colorado before and it's such a pretty state. The drive went pretty quickly today except for the last couple of hours. We arrived around 4 and got settled into our hotel room.


(view from the room)

Brian totally scored on our room. When we were setting things up for the trip, he called and told them what we needed and we got what looks like a regular room with two queen beds, then off of that is a smaller room with a queen bed. And off of the other side is a large family area room with a huge kitchen table and kitchen and bathroom. There are also two day bed type things that Eliza and Libby are sleeping in. It's perfect. I love these trips through Brian's work. We don't really have to think about too much because most of the logistics are done for us. Tonight we had a welcome dinner, then it was back to the room for baths and bed. Tomorrow I might actually have to brave the snow!

(Welcome Dinner)

Where's Waldo

Last night I had an "out of my comfort zone" night. Chalee and I helped out another ward with their Where's Waldo night. Seriously I was SO embarrassed being in the store. Honestly though other than one kind of strange look I got, no one gave me a second look. Makes you think that when you feel like you look horrible, no one really cares! Do you think I disguised myself enough? Only one group found me without much help. The others needed help. I guess I did a good job. I had Ruby with me but she was "Rudy" for the night. I borrowed some blue clothes and a blanket from Kari and she was a boy for the night.

Ready for a New Week

I am glad to be starting a new week and maybe have things slow down a little bit. This past week was a doozie. Tuesday afternoon, Brian and I went to the temple to go with someone in our ward who was going through. Then on Wednesday I turned around and went again with our YW presidency. Thursday was the grocery store and track practice and Friday night we went to my niece's choir concert for her school. It was a Night at the Movies and they did music from various movies. ...very entertaining. Yesterday it seemed we were gone from sun up to sun down almost. My niece Abby was baptized so we went to that. She had asked me to speak a while back. I gave the talk on baptism. I think it went okay. I did a little object lesson with pennies and you take a well used penny and put it in a solution of vinegar and salt and it cleans it. I likened that to taking the sacrament each week and how we can be just as clean as our baptism day each time we have the sacrament. Then I got Abby and the other little girl who was baptized an unciruclated penny from the year they were born. I put it in a clean coin holder and my friend did "pure" from vinyl and I put that on the front.

After the baptism we went over to my brother's house and had lunch and visited and had a really fun time. From there we went to Cabela's to look for some snow boots. We are trying to find Brian and I snow boots for our upcoming Colorado trip. I think we have everything else but boots for us. No luck there. Ran into Big 5 to check and no luck there. We had chickens on Saturday, so we went and did that. Of course it started pouring rain right when we got there! On the way home, I totally remembered a wedding reception that we were invited to. I couldn't go because I had to help out at the LDS prom, but we grabbed a gift on the way home and Brian braved the reception with all the girls. He said, "We survived the reception and the reception survived us." Ha ha.

Saturday night was the LDS prom. It was our stake's year to host it for a few other stakes. Luckily we were able to call a specialist to be in charge of it and then she had a big committee to help her out. It was amazing. Seriously. When you walked in the cultural hall, you would have thought you were in a different place. It was neat to see all the painting we did (and I only did a little bit) come together. I'll see if I can get some pictures and post them. It looked great. Terri and I were in charge of the crazy booth--just a fun place where the kids could come get some props and have fun, crazy pictures taken--they had the serious, more formal pictures in the cultural hall. It was a great night and I think the kids who went really enjoyed themselves. I was so tired though. The dance was over at 11:30, then we had to clean up. It went fast considering how much there was to do. I got home at 1:30 then I had to make brownies and hot fudge still. As a thank you, we decided to take dinner to the lady who was in charge of the whole thing. My part was dessert, so I made that so I could take it over this morning for deliver. When it was time to wake up this morning, I was NOT ready to get up!!! I need a good a nap to try to catch up from everything!

Hard to Believe

I can't hardly believe that Libby got her ears pierced today. She had mentioned a few times over the past month or so that she wanted it done. She was off and on about talking about it. Lately she has mentioned it a little more. Yesterday we had a babysitter while we went to the temple and we really talked to her about her behavior with the babysitter. She wondered if she did well and was sleeping when we got home (that hasn't happened in a LONG time) if she could get her ears pierced. We didn't give her an answer, but today she was looking forward to getting them pierced (she was asleep when we got home. YAY!). Brian said we'd better strike while the iron is hot! We first stopped at Terri's and she put some "magic cream" (some of Makenzie's numbing cream) on her earlobes so it wouldn't hurt to get it done.

Then we zoomed over to the mall where Eliza had gotten hers done. Libby picked out the earrings she wanted (cute little green flowers in her birthstone), then it was in the chair getting it done.


She did great!!! She didn't even question that she was going to do it--didn't worry or say, "Is it going to hurt" or "I don't want to do it..." It was really fast from start to finish. I think that is her personality though. It might take her a little bit to decide on something, but when she does, there is no going back. That is a great quality to have! She looks so cute with her pierced ears!

Brace Face

And no, I am not talking about any of my kids. It's me! I got braces today. My mouth feels like it's SO full!!! It feels very awkward. Hopefully I'll get used to it. Brian thinks I look 16. Eliza said they "look cute...for braces." Ha ha! I thought maybe no one will really notice. My first stop after I got them on was to drop Ellie off at her little class and her teacher said, "Did you just get braces?!?!" I guess not! Everyone I talked to said something, so there is no hiding it. Tonight they are hurting and I can't eat very well. I am beginning with the end in mind though!! There will be an end and it won't be too long, thank goodness. The process was pretty easy. What hurt the most was the tech taking out my fixed retainer--all that sanding on a sensitive tooth--and having them stretch my lips as far as they could possibly go to put the braces on!!! Ouch!