Pure Bliss

I just returned from a fantastical weekend away with my boys and my family camping. (Sadly, Steve couldn't come, even had to work on his birthday.) Usually we go north for our camping, but this year I suggested a different location, and we've discovered that we LOVE this newer place.

I had worried about the weather. I'm still a tent-camper at heart, so I worried about the high speed winds we'd been experiencing at home. I decided that if all else failed, I would sleep with my boys in the suburban.

Late Friday evening we found our spot and it was LOVELY. There was little to NO wind. I was ecstatic.

Saturday was even MORE beautiful than I'd expected. We had camped by a few snowbanks, but we weren't too worried. My boys went fishing with Grandpa and I was free for a few hours....I totally napped, guilt-free!! It was THE best. Then, the boys came back, boasting of their fishing adventures. (They caught garbage fish, so both fish were killed and not allowed back at camp, but Jake would tell proudly of how his grandpa "boke" the fish and there was lots of "b'ood!") Everyone was toasted...love sunburns, right?

That night the rain clouds came in. It rained a lot on Sunday, but we were with my parents and their "40-foot-Hilton on wheels." We watched movies and just sat in the warmth of the motor home.

Then this morning it was rainy again, and we knew we needed to pack up. I have yet to find the motivation to lay out the wet things to dry, but I will soon...I have to!

It was truly a beautiful weekend and one that I know my boys will treasure for years to come. I absolutely LOVE camping on Memorial Day weekend!

Oh, Christmas Tree....

A few years ago we bought a full, pre-lit tree. The only thing we don't *love* about it is that the lights are all white, but it's still pretty, and we like it.

When I was out doing errands with my mom last week, Steve and Cameron hauled up the tree and the decorations. (I was SO glad I wasn't here for that...*giggle*) Then when we were decorating, I got tired and decided to leave off my usual gold garland. It's a pain to wind around the tree, and it doesn't even match anymore. Instead we decided to cover it as much as we could with extra candy canes.

The boys put the ornaments on it the next day....Jake's all clumped at the bottom, Cam's all clumped at the top. Steve and I HAD to get into the decorating with them, just so the middle would be covered too.

Seeing my tree is bringing back all kinds of memories for me. My dad's mom would have a beautiful, full Christmas tree, COVERED in different flavored candy canes. We would go to visit her and she'd offer us a candy cane. It was one of the highlights of Christmas pasts for me. I miss my grandma, very much. She was such a fun, amazing woman. It's been 11 years since she died, this will be our 12th Christmas without her. I'm sad that my boys never got to meet her and share in her candy cane tree, or any of the other things she was amazing at.

My little tree is a small way of bringing back her memory into my home. Love you, Grandma Mabel!

Remembering...

3:15 pm

Ten years ago...

I was checking into the hospital, per my doctor's instructions. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew big changes were coming.

I settled into the room and got hooked up to an IV, monitors and a blood pressure cuff. An hour into the wait, the nurse gave me a dose of cervadil. I waited.

An hour after the insertion of the medication, my doctor's partner came into the room dragging an ultrasound monitor. We asked him what he was going to do. He responded with, "We're going to check to see if this baby is head-down"

Um, okay, we then asked him what he wanted to do if the head wasn't down....

"We'll send you home."

(Dumb doctor! Honestly, I have HUGE issues with the idiocy of this man.....)

Thankfully, head was down, and we were in for a long night and day.

Ten years ago, I realized, "This is real. I'm actually going to be a mom and have a child..."

Needless to say, I couldn't relax or rest much at all.

Ten years have just flown by.

I Couldn't Ask For Anything More

Today was my birthday. I had SUCH a great day. I went to church, where we had ward conference. The Spirit was SO strong, I truly enjoyed every minute.

I also had many friends come up and wish me a happy birthday, and comment on my funky blouse and new haircut. Oh, yeah, I never mentioned that hair cut here, did I? Don't worry, I'll post a picture soon enough...

Then at home, I had Cameron help me make a cake, then I sat on my spot on the couch and napped. (SO heavenly!) Steve gave me a book that I KNOW I will enjoy and helped remind me of what an amazing woman I am.

Then we went to my parents' house where I didn't have to make dinner or a cake. It was all done for me. The candles on my cake this year were my favorite yet....quivering fingers. (*giggle*)

Then I watched Avatar again, and didn't get sick. (When Steve and I saw it in the theaters, we saw it in 3D, and it made me nauseous.) Then we came home and Jake gave me several kisses, always ending in that noisy "MWAH" noise!

The day was beautiful, and I even enjoyed the small rainstorm that blew through.

When Steve told Jake to wish me a happy birthday, Jake said, "No, Jacob's birthday!" The kid's already got the idea!

Now for the haircut, my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I mentioned that I enjoyed going with her to get our haircut, so she paid for me to get an all new hair do. I haven't had my hair THIS short in YEARS and YEARS, but I SO love it! So cute and SO fun!

Before:

After:

Then my mom took me out shopping yesterday to replenish my wardrobe, I got some SUPER cute things, and I can't wait to wear them all!

Spending yesterday with mom was SO fun. She and my dad also took me out to dinner (mmmmm....espenaca chimichunga....SO good!) Then for fun, we went on a drive to see a campsite that we might want to go camping at this summer, but the road was snowed out. So we turned around. On the way out, we stopped near a herd of cattle so Jake could see them. (On the way there, when asked what sound a cow made, he said, "Meow." My dad decided he needed to be educated...) He couldn't STOP talking about how "g'ampa" took him and Cameron to see the "t'ows" and "ho'sies." Oh, and "t'ows" now say, "Moo...." but it's still pretty high-pitched!

It has been SUCH a great birthday, and I wasn't even anxious about the number this year. I guess those zero-years really throw ya' sometimes. :) Here's to getting closer to 40 (as my younger, 28-year-old brother keeps telling me.)

Talents Hidden, Even BURIED Can and WILL Surface

Long ago, in a land FAR away....

Okay, so when I was younger (MUCH younger) I had a few talents. I am not saying that I was a genius or anything, but I had some talents: singing, dancing, reading...

I can play the piano.

There, I've said it....are you happy!?

The reason I don't share this "talent" is because it's been a VERY long time since I've played, and even when I DO play, I have to practice and practice to get it to sound nice. I didn't really enjoy piano lessons. Mostly because I *had* to play the piano and my aunt, who I love, and who taught me lessons, would get angry because I didn't practice. I took lessons from the time I was 7ish until I was 12. At 12, I was done, and I think my mother was done fighting me on that issue.

Once I quit taking lessons, I LOVED to play the piano. (Isn't that funny?) I never got REALLY good, but I managed.

I was asked to play for church functions, but whenever I did, I'd mess up. Like the time I played "I am a Child of God" for a young women's activity. I thought it was a fairly easy song to play, so I didn't practice it like I should have, and messed up when the time came to play it for the activity. My friend, who LOVES to tease me, laughed really hard at me, and even harder when I tripped over someone sitting on the floor. It gave me a mental block on playing for church things.

Anyway, for years I played and thoroughly LOVED to play in the private of my home. (It relieved a LOT of stress for me.)

Then I got too busy to play, and life kept going at it's QUICK pace....

In college, one of my friends took a singing class, and had to sing a solo. She asked me to play for her. I agreed, and never found the time to practice. Her time came to sing and she sounded FABULOUS, but I botched the song. The teacher's critiques at the end were all for ME. (I was humiliated!)

I got older, and eventually married. I have no piano in my home (although I'd LOVE to have one) and so I rarely play. I've gotten pretty rusty, and don't like to let other people even KNOW that I can play the piano.

Fast forward a few years....to last summer. I was at a women's retreat. At the end of the weekend, we were having a special "closing ceremonies" and the person in charge went around the WHOLE room (a large group of about 50 or 60 women) and asked for a volunteer to play a song. No one knew how.....except me. I practiced a little bit before we were to sing, and managed to stumble my way through the song, but I was embarrassed that I hadn't kept my talent going.

Fast forward yet again to this week. I was asked to substitute in Primary in a few weeks ON THE PIANO. (And I tried SO hard to NOT let people know I can play...) I am a SUCKER for people in need of a substitute, and generally say that I will do it. This one was difficult for me, but I said yes. Thankfully, she's giving me LOTS of time to practice, now I just need to actually DO it.

The lesson here, my friends: Talents WILL come out....so be prepared!

More Christmas Memories

Christmas day was always fun. We would usually wake up VERY early, after getting very LITTLE sleep and would peek to see what Santa brought us. He didn't usually wrap the presents, just set them out with our stockings next to the gift. Mom and Dad told us that if we were quiet, and didn't wake them up, we were okay to just play with those gifts. The rule was that we couldn't wake them up until after 8:00. Sometimes we took that time VERY seriously, other times we just played and didn't bother.

After Mom and Dad woke up, we'd open the gifts. We were to tell whoever gave us the gift "thank you" and then we were good.

After the gifts were opened, Mom would set about to make us a big breakfast. Mom didn't make us breakfasts (unless we were camping or it was a special day) so we were VERY excited to get this big meal. We'd have pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, juice, milk...the whole thing. Mom told us that she made us breakfast because when she woke up on Christmas morning, she and her siblings would gorge themselves on the candy they got in their stockings, and would get sick. She didn't want us getting sick, so she made us breakfast.

After breakfast, we'd just play with our new things, start getting cleaned up for the day and would just enjoy our morning at home. Mom's parents would usually come over to see us, and chat for a while. (I believe they visited every local family on Christmas day.....) We would show them our gifts and would talk to them about what they got. It was very fun.

Later in the afternoon, we'd pack our things up, only taking ONE gift per child, and would go to Dad's parents' house for dinner. It was fun there too. Grandma and Grandpa lived in another small house, but it was always filled with people and fun smells and sounds. I LOVED seeing my grandma's tree. It was big and VERY full. She always put different flavored candy canes on her tree, and would let us pick which ever candy cane we wanted. I always liked the strawberry ones, but my brothers loved the blueberry or bubble gum flavors.

After a filling dinner (yet again, turkey, salads, potatoes, pies...) we'd open presents. My aunts and uncles would tell me about all the fun things Santa brought them, and I'd share the same. It was such fun.

That night, we'd go home, happy and filled with food. I'd always try to remind myself that Christmas wasn't all about the presents or the time spent with family. I'd try to remind myself, that many years ago, a baby was born. And because of this baby, we are all VERY blessed and we can, once again, return to our Father in Heaven.

Christmas Memories

For the last month or so, I've been feeling a bit nostalgic for Christmases past.

Things haven't been the same for a very long time, but I thought I'd put down my memories into words so that I can continue to remember those happy Christmases from when I was younger.

My whole life, I've lived in the same town as both sets of my grandparents. Because of this, we were blessed to have double the holidays. I also knew all but one set of my great-grandparents. Holidays were HUGE! None were bigger than our annual Christmas Eve celebration.

Christmas Eve started pretty early, around 5:00 in the evening. We'd go visit my mom's parents. Grandma would have a huge spread of turkey, ham, jello salads, rolls, veggies....lots and lots of food. Grandma and Grandpa lived in a teeny, tiny house (which has always amazed me, because they raised 12 children in that teeny little house.) We would crowd as many of the local aunts, uncles and cousins that we could. Grandma would have us go downstairs to open our present from her and Grandpa, and often, we'd open a present from the family who had our family. (It was easier for one family to buy for another rather than everyone buy for EVERYONE in the family....) We'd always sit around and laugh. And for a special treat, the little kids would often gather around Grandpa's train display that would run around his Christmas tree. It was a magical time.

After visiting my mom's parents, we'd visit our great-grandparents. First was Grandma and Grandpa W. They had a house-full as well, and their house was even SMALLER than my other grandparents' house. We'd squeeze in the whole family and kids would sit UNDER the table to eat. And eat we DID! Grandma W would have a HUGE spread of everything: turkey, mashed potatoes, salads, jello, pies....it was FABULOUS! Then after we'd filled our bellies, we'd gather in the small room that held their tree (where I would often sit and just stare at the pretty lights and just sit and think about what Christmas REALLY meant. Even now, thinking about it, I'm feeling peaceful and happy.) Grandpa would pull out the gifts and we'd tear into them. It was always fun!

After seeing Grandma and Grandpa W, we'd head around the corner and down the street to Grandma H's. Grandpa died when I was very young, so I don't have many memories of him, but I remember going to Grandma's house. Her house is a blur of purples and happy scents in my mind. (Mingled with a little scent of moth balls....not so yummy...) It never failed, but we'd always show up at her house just a LITTLE too late. Every year one of Santa's elves would show up with a box filled with bags and bags of goodies for all of the great-grands. Those bags would have peanuts, hard candies, apples and oranges in them. The smell of the brown paper bag would mix with the other scents, and would make me happy. We'd sit and talk at Grandma's house for a while, the whole time she'd be offering food to us, to which we'd politely decline... It seems like there was always an argument of some sort at this house (the H's are NOTORIOUS for arguing....) And shortly after having Grandma open our gift, we'd head out.

After leaving Grandma's we'd drive around town looking at the twinkling lights. The radio would play those beautiful Christmas songs, and we would sing along. We would get home VERY late, and I would try my hardest to fall asleep so Santa could come, but I never managed to fall asleep easily. I still have problems falling asleep easily on Christmas Eve.

Those were fun nights, very busy, but fun. I miss those busy nights....my grandparents have died (for the most part....only my mom's dad is still with us...) and even then, the traditions have changed. I find myself wanting to drive to those houses just so it can feel as magical as it did when I was younger. I know it can never be the same, but I still find those thoughts running through my mind this time of year.

End of Summer

This summer has been such a fun one for our little family. We didn't get to go camping as often as we would have liked, but we did spend QUITE a few nights huddled together under a blue canopy.

Cameron has LOVED his time at the Learning Center, and when he asked me when his last day was and I told him it was Friday, he almost cried. He loved working with those young, enthusiastic people. He's enjoyed his new friends and is sad to leave it behind. But I reminded him that he will get to go there again next summer and I could hear the tears leave in place of a happy boy.

Jake has fallen in love with being outside. Even though we don't play outside at home much (too scary) he's learned that he can play safely outside at Grandma's house, and often stands at her front windows jabbering that he's ready to go out. Any time any of us leave, whether it's Steve for work, or me running an errand, he knows and he will scurry over to the door pointing and TRYING to turn the knob. He loves being on the go and playing outside.

We spent many nights going to the drive-in and seeing fun movies. I'm so glad we live where we have the option of going to these places. They're so much fun, and will be very memorable for our boys as they get older. Those nights where the four of us are together are such cherished memories.

Most of these things will change.

School starts tomorrow. Cameron (and I) are VERY ready for this new school year. Cam is excited to get a new teacher and principal. We're anxious for his learning to continue. I'm excited because Jake will have free time to just play by himself and not worry that he's about to be taken from whatever fun he's got going on and can just play.

I will definitely miss the sleeping in. (I've trained Cameron from a VERY young age to take himself to the living room, help himself to breakfast and keep himself occupied while mommy sleeps...) I'm trying to train Jake to sleep in, but it's slow in coming.

Over all, I've got many fun summer memories, and I'm ready for the next school year. Let the 3rd grade begin!! :)

I've Been Thinking....

...a little about high school. Not that I'd EVER want to go back, but I'm having some good times remembering myself when I was in high school.

I ran around with a small group of friends, and I'd like to think that we were close. (Not that I REALLY remember ANY big blow-ups, but that we were pretty good friends.) We were by no means popular, but I don't really think we were UNpopular either. Maybe you'd consider us the religious crowd, or maybe even the smart kids. Most of us were in at least ONE AP or honors class, and we were even in the honor society. We had some who were in choir, some who played in band, and some who just studied their little eyes out. For the most part, we were VERY good kids.

The thing that made us different was the fact that we called ourselves Neptunians. Honestly, I don't remember exactly how the whole concept came together, I just know that each of us were from Neptune and that we were here to help take over the world. We each had a nickname, and we used our imaginations often.

We made lots of movies starring ourselves and our little mascot, the Super Wonder Whooper. The Super Wonder Whooper was a cow. He wore a cape, and he was cute. In our movies we'd act out random things: a dating show, the killing of Julius Caesar (aka Super Wonder Whooper), and other things that popped into our heads. We were happy, weird, but happy.

Sometimes when we got together we'd sit around and just talk about whatever was on our mind, and I know of a few times that we'd have a spontaneous testimony meeting/singing time.

I don't miss high school, but I do miss the close group of girls that I hung out with. For the most part, I have kept in contact with them all, but not nearly as much as I would have thought.

You may know some of my friends. Carrie (aka Loogie), Joanie (aka Psycho), Kathrine (aka Aids), Ellen (aka Slither), Lynette, Kim (aka Beaker), Tamara (aka Wierdo).

Love you guys, please forgive me for posting these pictures, but I had to keep them in my journal.

Love,
Dweeb

Mother's Curse?

When I was growing up, it wasn't uncommon to hear my mom say, "Someday, I hope you have a kid that treats you EXACTLY the way you treat me!" (Usually, it was after I'd said something HORRIBLE to her, like, "I HAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEE YOU!!!!!!!" Yeah, I was a HUGE brat!!)

I always figured the mother's curse was just something to say to kids like a scare-tactic. Never would REALLY happen.

HA HA!

Cameron has covered MY mother's curse (He has said "I hate you" to me MANY times, and thankfully, I'm not as soft as my sweet mom was. I know he doesn't mean it....just as I'm sure SHE knew I never hated her...)

BUT...

We have another curse coming into play here: STEVE'S mother's curse.

Thankfully, I've had two children, which means that my kids will each fulfill their destiny with our curses. Jake has inherited his father's curse. He throws tantrums.

WHY do I get to deal with HIS curse??

Let's ask the man himself, "Steve, why do I have to put up with YOUR curse?? What did I ever do to your mother??"

His response: "You married me."

Thanks, love! *eye roll*

Tantrums are a constant thing now. If I put the boy down, he squawks and bends his body backward. If I pick him up when he's getting into something he shouldn't be, he bends his body backward yelling. If he's put in a play pen or crib or car seat against his will....a complete 180 degree turn.

I'm sure he'll grow out of these tantrums SOMEDAY, but for now, I'm cursing the mother's curse.....and PROMISING my future daughters-in-law, I WILL NOT curse my sons. I don't want YOU to suffer...just them! ;)

Gone With The WInd??

The last few days the wind has just been HOWLING here. When I was younger I absolutely LOVED the wind. I would lean into it and just let it hold me up. (Mind you, I was MANY MANY pounds lighter, and very innocent about falling flat on my face if the wind just happened to shift.)

Now I'm older, and I'm usually carrying a baby in it. I have to admit, I don't love the wind so much anymore.

Today when I went to the school to pick Cameron up, the wind was SO fierce that it took Jake's breath away when I took him OUT of the van. He was sucking air until we got inside out of the gusts.

Then on the way home from therapy it, again, sucked out the child's air. He was struggling until I got him buckled in the car seat. Once we got home, I finagled it so that I had the door unlocked and ready to just hurry my boys into the house and out of the wind. Wouldn't you know it, Jake was asleep. He'd been fighting his nap ALL day long, so I really didn't want him to wake up, but once we left the car mean Mr. Wind sucked the air away again.

My poor baby is now WIDE awake, jumping around, being silly, and his nap is GONE with the wind. *sigh*

This wind is so terrible. It's making a normally beautiful day FREEZING! And our heat is on the fritz. And the Landlord said he would come and fix it TOMORROW....extra blankies for US! :S

Wait, You Mean You've Never Heard of Cody?

So I was talking with my friend today about a guy I dated MANY moons ago named Cody. And yes, Cody IS his real name. He was a guy I was dating before I met Steve.

A LONG time ago, in an age where there wasn't so many people meeting on the Internet I was set up on a blind date with a guy. My friend told me how he was SUCH a nice guy and that he was getting ready to go to college so he could be a PE teacher. She told me that she and her boyfriend would double with us, so it wouldn't be so awkward.

When Cody first came to my front door I was in shock. He was a stubby, blond, near-balding, chubby guy. I wasn't expecting him. I later found out that Cody wasn't going to be a PE teacher (BIG surprise!!) He wanted to be an accountant. I kind of liked him (but I think I "liked" him because there was no one else around.) but I remember thinking that I hoped he'd find someone who truly made him happy.

We took walks around the river and I gave him every opportunity to hold my hand, but he didn't. He was just SO shy. (And you all know me....I'm NOT that shy! Hello, can we say, I told you guys all about my boobies??)

For a while I thought that no other prospects would come along, so I convinced myself that I really DID like Cody. When I went away to college, I even bored my new friends with constant talk about him.

One date we went on I really changed my mind about Cody. We were at dinner and for nearly the WHOLE time he stared at my chest. I was mortified that he was SO obsessed with my boobs!

A few weeks later when I was at school, Cody sent me flowers with a note that said that he liked me and he wanted to know if I'd be his girlfriend. I was upset. I had JUST gotten out of my parents' house and wanted to date around before settling for something I wasn't happy with. He ended up visiting me on a day I was having a gall bladder attack. I was basically writhing in pain on my bed, and he just sat there. My friends came and he sat in the chair staring at me.

Finally, when they'd all left I told him I was flattered, but I didn't feel like I could just stay with ONE guy. I felt bad, but I didn't want to be held back.

A few weeks later I ended up going home to vote. I was only in town for 30 minutes, MAYBE! I didn't really call him because I figured I wouldn't be home for very long (which I wasn't) and didn't really feel like I needed to answer to him anyway.

Well, this guy was SO obsessive over me, he ended up bugging my brother at HIS job (which was just down the road from where Cody worked) and my brother told him that I had come home. My brother told me that Cody was SO furious, and since that day I haven't really heard from him.

Sadly, Cody works at my favorite store, and whenever I see him there, I have to make Steve check out alone, or I switch check-out lanes.

It's a sad part of my history, but it's made me who I am. (Not that you really WANTED to know, but now you do!)

Good Bye 2007.....

Can't WAIT to see what 2008 brings!! :)

More Drawings....

Here's my self portrait:

A picture of my younger BLOND brother:

A picture of my sister, she was only 3 months old:

A picture of our house:

High School Reunion

Tonight I went to my 10 year high school reunion....and it was BORING! Maybe it was the fact that NONE of my group of friends was there....or the fact that the event was poorly planned, but I really wish it had gone better. There is more tomorrow, so I'm hoping for more fun.

Tonight I did catch up with a FEW people...included was my second grade boyfriend. And for those of you who love my memories as much as I do, I present: The Story of the "Net."

When I was in second grade there was a chain link fence at the back of the field. It was broken at one part, and it was discovered that you could easily convert that little part of fence into a net which could easily hold a little kid.

One time I was at the back of the field playing with my friend, Carrie, and Chris and one of his friends came up to us. Somehow...I don't really remember how, Chris and his friend had managed to get me into the net. After I was trapped, Chris began *kissing* me!! I was moving and trying to get out, but NO ONE would help.....NOT EVEN CARRIE!!! She just stood there and laughed!!

Chris was at the reunion tonight and was wearing a ring, I asked him where his wife was, and he said, "I'm not married, I just wear this ring to throw off stupid girls." At that I pretended to be offended and tried to walk away. We had a good conversation.

I saw my friend, Jared, who decided that he was gay. He's balding, so I asked if I could rub his head...and he let me! :)
I had a good conversation with our former Student Body President, Kalana, and her husband. They told us many horror stories of their years in Los Angeles. Their wards were VERY different from the Idaho wards I know!
Then we had a special presentation of those who have died. A quick update on those who are in the military (one of the guys I had A HUGE crush on is in the Navy...he was one I really had hoped would be here....he was a fun guy!) And then they showed a quick nine minuted video of a tape we made in my seventh grade World History class. I was one of the ones showed....and all I said was, "My name is Dawnyel, and I like to read and camp." Simple....but HORRIBLE clothing choices!! The BEST one on the tape was a girl named Andrea, she got up and said, "My name is Andrea, and I'm obnoxious!" Then she proceeded to belch!! I caught up to her and she was HORRIFIED!! But she is pretty much the same as she was in school....laid back and fun loving!
Tomorrow is the family oriented activity. I hope that it goes better for me than tonight! (Maybe I'll have a friend or two to hang out with!)

The Poison Control Center WILL Laugh at You if....

....you call and tell them that your child just ate deodorant.

I was reminded of this when I was reading the label on the back of a cleaning product the other day.

A few years ago Cameron was carrying around a little container of men's deodorant and making weird faces. I looked at the deodorant and noticed little teeth marks in it. I FREAKED out!! I immediately called Poison Control. I told the woman on the line what had happened and she said, "And...."

"And what?? That's it!"

At this point I could hear her holding back her laughter. She then told me that he will have a dry mouth for a while, and to make sure to push the liquids, maybe giving him some Kool Aid.

Yeah, nice people there....but couldn't they wait to laugh until I was off the phone!? Sheesh!!

This Week in 1997...

Since I woke up this morning I've felt a bit nostalgic. There were MANY things that had happened in my life 10 short years ago:

My gall bladder attacks began. It was one of the most miserable weeks of my life. They did all sorts of tests on me to see exactly what was going on, and their conclusion? Your gall bladder miss-fires. Well, thank you VERY much physicians of my hospital! :P

The second big thing was I was graduating from high school. It was a crazy week filled with baccalaureate, seminary graduation, trips to Lagoon, graduation practices, graduation, all-night parties....SO much fun. The weirdest thing that happened at our graduation was when the boy sitting next to me doubled over in his seat. Suddenly I heard a whooshing of air. The DORK was blowing up beach balls to toss around the graduating class. He had a few of them, but in the end a teacher ended up confiscating them. SHEESH! It's our graduation...let us enjoy it!

The third thing that has me remembering 1997 is this is the 10th anniversary of a dear friend's death. Earlier, before my gall bladder episodes, before my graduation STUFF, Colleen had been in a REALLY bad car accident. She was driving on the highway to her last day of work before she was to quit and start a new job. See, she had been commuting to Ricks college, and was working at Kmart. After her first semester at Ricks she had told me that she HATED it there, and she was going to transfer to ISU.

At this point in my life, I had just started my own first job, at Kmart, and was preparing to commute to Ricks for my first year there. Looking back, I see similarities that make me wonder if I shouldn't have just taken her lead. (I ended up hating Ricks and dropped out to transfer to ISU...)

Anyway, while she was driving, a man in a HUGE pick-up truck pulled out onto the highway without looking and crashed into her little car. She was taken to the hospital, and ended up in a coma. I had gone with my mom to visit her while she was in her coma, but our names weren't on the visitor's list at the hospital. So we sat out in the ICU waiting room to talk to her parents. I remember thinking about my mortality and praying really hard that Colleen would make it. In my mind I thought that if I prayed hard enough, I could make her better.

Well, the week of my graduation she died after 10 days in a coma. It was SO hard. She was so young, and had SO much life in her.

She had been one of the friends involuntarily involved in my rubba undies schemes as a child. She and my friend's sister had been the unknowing victims of invisible rubber underwear snaps. The thing I remember about meeting her for the FIRST time was her bubbly personality. She had told me that her initials spelled out CAR. From this tidbit, I knew that she was smart, and I wanted to be like her. She often joked that she wanted to marry a guy with a last name that started with "S" so she could be CARS. But she never got the chance.

When I found out I was pregnant with Cameron, I decided that if I had a little girl, I was going to give her Colleen's middle name as a tribute. I thought it would be fun to give MY little girl initials that spelled out a simple word. (If Cam HAD been a girl, his initials would have been JAR!)

I miss her. I know that she's in a better place, but I never got the chance to tell her how much I loved having her as a friend. I never got to say good bye.
I have since visited her grave every year, and slowly rub my hand along her headstone. I think in my heart I have said good bye, but with friends, is there ever a true farewell?

The UnTalented Dawnyel

When I was in college, I was in a very FUN group of friends. We were all weird, but no one judged anyone else. I truly miss those people!
One night, while we were just sitting around discussing nothing in particular, we began talking about the "weird" talents we have. And, since several of us made up the ward's activity committee, we decided that it would be fun to have an UNtalent show. One where we could show off the stranger talents we have. One guy, I remember, had "elastic" skin. It was super freaky. Another could twist his arm around...truthfully, we were QUITE a group!
Once we decided on this activity, I had a few talents immediately pop into my head: my Elvis lips, my freaky eyebrows, my whistle, and my baby-singing.

Here are my Elvis lips. I can only do them in one direction...but my sister and mom can go BOTH directions...SO cool! Usually when I do my lips people will look at me like I'm a psycho crazy lady, but who cares!?

My eyebrows are VERY expressive. And when I'm unimpressed with someone or something, they SHOW my true feelings. Steve has now gotten to the point where he'll see me doing that face, and say, "They don't scare me!" (Meaning my eyebrows...)

My whistle is interesting, because I can only do it once in a while. It's not something that I can do anytime I want. What it is, is I have a little hole in the roof of my mouth...pin-sized...and sometimes it opens up. Then when I swallow, I make a cute little squeak. I call it a whistle, but it's more like an annoying squeak!

And my baby-singing. It's really hard for me to describe this obnoxious noise properly, but I'm going to try. I take my hand and make a fist, leaving my pinkie finger up in the air. I take my fist, and cover my mouth, so it looks like I'm playing my hand like a trumpet. Then, I begin to make this noise that sounds like a baby calling out, "Doo doo doo doo doo." The fun part is when I "sing" while doing this. I've been known to make a room full of noisy kids immediately shut up and listen when I start doing this noise. I've taught a few kids my "secret" and made them SWEAR to stop if their mom tells them to, but usually they don't listen. Someday, when I get around to learning how to upload videos to the computer, I will HAVE to share this. Until then, just think of the most obnoxious noisy baby in the world....and add 10 times more volume!

So what untalents do you have?! I've bared MY soul, now it's YOUR turn!

What's that Smell??

I just keep getting further and further behind in my blog-reads...forgive me!!

This week is just crazy for me!! I have something going on EVERY day! Tomorrow's going to be insane, although, Cam doesn't have school...so there's ONE less thing to worry about!

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Today I was reminded of a funny story that I just HAVE to share...

When I was going to school in Pocatello and lived in the dorms I had one friend who had a small problem. Now, it wasn't major, but for her, it was unavoidable! She was a farter. And it wasn't just a "fluff" fart...she had the peel the paint kind of smelly farts. We'd tease her, but if we went to a dance and would stand in our little circle of friends dancing, all of a sudden she'd be GONE! But part of her would linger. Pretty soon, the whole group would be forced to move!!

The funniest thing about her problem was that she constantly had a small can of air freshener in her dorm room. You would just walk down the hall and run into an invisible wall. The wall smelled of roses and farts. Yeah, not the most pleasant of smells....

Luckily, she's overcome this problem (or the last time I saw her I didn't notice...) Thank heaven!

One time when our family was camping, before my Grandma died, she told me, "Dawnyel, girls don't fart, they fluff." I laughed and as we went on with our game (hand and foot canasta) I continued to have a problem of my own. Pretty soon the smell was overwhelming and my Grandma (queen of sarcasm...) looked me straight in the eye, and with as straight as a face I've EVER seen, she calmly said, "Dawnyel, YOU fart!"

So there you have it...if you didn't know it before...Yes, Girls can be stinky, and EVEN fart!

We are Sisters

Just got off the phone with my sister. (Yeah...the one who, once upon a time was a floating piece of poo...) and found out that she has more in common with me that we thought.

She had called me earlier today to ask me what a gall bladder attack felt like. Let me back up here a little bit.

The week I was going to graduate from high school I began feeling very sick. And it wasn't just ANY sick either...it was like knife-in-the-gut pain, along with miserable nausea. I thought it was just in my head so I kept doing normal things: going on the Lagoon trip, doing the graduation practice stuff, hanging out with my friends, working... But on the day of graduation it was TOO much! My mom had me in the hospital for hours of tests!! They gave me an ulcer test (NASTY!), did an ultrasound on my gall bladder to see if I had stones, then they put me in a machine for an hour while they watched my gall bladder function. After all of these tests they came to the conclusion that I have a "misfiring gall bladder." Don't ask me exactly what that means, all I know, for my own sake, is that every once in a while I'll have an attack that will lay me up in bed for at least 12 hours. I'll moan, whine, and even cry while waiting for the pain to leave. I can't really eat, because I feel like I'm going to be sick...all I can eat is Popsicles. That's it. It's not a fun thing to go through.

ANYWAY, my sister called to see how pleasant these things can be. I told her how I normally feel, and where the pain is...how it can move, and that it's usually aggravated when I eat extremely fatty foods or go without eating for many hours. She said she felt the same way, and asked what she could do. I told her she should call a nurse, maybe see a doctor, because if she has stones they'd need to take care of it immediately. So she closed the call, and told me she'd call back later.

A few hours ago she called me with the news that she may have the SAME thing going on with her gall bladder. They did an ultrasound and found no stones, so they assumed that she has the same thing that I have. It's really weird too, no one else in our family has these problems. No one!! I always thought that I got these weird gall bladder things from taking Phen Fen when I was 17, but now we know!

We compared things we have in common, and the only other thing, really, is our uber-PMS symptoms. When we're going through that, NO ONE should be in our way. My sister is almost my complete opposite, she's skinny and gorgeous, I'm more round and not as pretty as she is. She's into the details, I'm all about keeping things simple! Now we KNOW, we ARE sisters...gall bladders and all!