keepin' it real

Coming home from work. photo credit: Katie

How Dave spends his days off.

veggin'

I am not generally one to complain about my lot in life. A lot of people warned me about how hard residency is on family life and for the most part we've been okay. Dave's kidney stone was a rough spot, but generally speaking, I feel like I have been coping just fine. In fact, I feel like it has been much better than I anticipated. (I won't speak for Dave, though.) I get into my groove and make plans and deal with things as they come.

But sometimes it just sucks.

Because for every long day he has, I have a long day too. I can't complain to him about it, because, let's face it, he will clock 80 hours this week.

Tonight was just hard. Jack had a baseball game for about 30 minutes until they decided it was raining too hard to keep playing. I came home and made a quick dinner but all anyone ate was tortilla chips. I then spent the next 30 minutes trying to get kids to help out a bit and then got Katie ready and tucked into bed and then waited and waited for Dave to get home so I could go to a meeting that started at 7, but I thought it started at 7:30 and then he finally walked in at 8 and I probably should have just stayed home but I didn't want to so I left and caught the tail end of it. I am glad I went but then when I got home the big kids still weren't in bed and dinner was still on the table and Katie was still awake because she is the worst go-to-bed-er in the world and I was super annoyed. But then I felt guilty for being annoyed because Dave worked freakin' 14 hours in one day and I read a book and took Katie to the zoo and ignored the mounds of clean clothes that need put away so who am I to complain? Katie finally settled down and I got the kids in bed and asleep just in time for Dave to fall asleep because he has to wake up at 5:30 to start all over again.
 
Sigh...

I don't want to be a Debby Downer. Life is good. It is so good. I am so glad Dave has a good job and is getting such excellent training. He is a fabulous dad and he is humble and intuitive and I could not have asked for a better spouse.

I just wanted to keep it real for a minute. 

The end. 

Close up picture of Charlie so we feel happy again. :)

thoughts on the election and ESPN radio

my family on Independence Day 2012

I've taken to listening to ESPN Radio while driving in the car. I'm not quite sure how that happened. Maybe it was my joining Dave's Fantasy Football league. (And I'm winning the league, by the way. 6-3 record. Just thought I'd throw that out there.) Maybe it was the fact that all the other radio stations either play crappy music or commercials and the classical station comes in fuzzy at times. Maybe it just happened because that is what Dave listens to. Either way, I'm an ESPN Radio fan.

The funny thing about it is that I enjoy it, and more than once I have been inspired by something that was said. A few weeks ago someone said that limitations in a quarterback make them greater because it gives them focus. I don't remember exactly how he worded it, but it reminded me of the scripture, "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble. ... for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." I've been thinking of ways the my limitations can bring focus to my life.

Once again today I tuned in. The election news has infiltrated everything, including ESPN.  They talked about the similarities between the CNN coverage of the election and the (over-the-top) game day coverage. Pundits battling it out, speculating on who would win and what the other team needed to do to bring in a win, and die-hard fans refusing to see the good in the other side.  The interesting thing about this analogy is that, in sports, even the most devoted fan of one team can still see talent in someone on the other side. Politics, not so much.

But there was much more at stake last night. It wasn't about a championship ring or a trophy on a shelf. We are talking about our freedom and the future we are building for future generations.  And yet, with so much more at stake, you would hope as a nation we would be more determined to see the good in both sides. Intelligent, patriotic, passionate people are on both sides of the fence, fighting for what they believe to be right. Instead of insults and "gloom and doom" attitudes, we should be looking for the talent and skills that both parties can bring to the table. That is really the only way to solve problems. Answers to complex problems don't come easily. Besides, most people want what is best for the people, and that means we are on the same team, whether or not we agree.

Although things didn't turn out as I hoped last night, I will continue to pray for our country and its leaders. I will continue to look for the good in both sides, and try to be a well-informed citizen. And mostly, I'll remember who really is in charge after all, and focus on raising my children to love God and America. (And sports.)

doctor approved

After falling embarrassingly behind in Jack's vaccinations, last Thursday I took him in for a well check. I think the doctor was a little surprised by Jack. When Dr. C entered the room, Jack pointed to a picture on the door that had a girl doctor and a boy doctor and said, "Some doctors are boys and some doctors are girls." Then Jack proceeded to tell Dr. C all the colors that he saw and that blue and green were his favorites. He told him about his little toy car he was holding and that he had peed in his undies and that's why he was wearing a diaper. (Nice touch, I know.)

The toy basketball and hoop found in the office quickly distracted him from talking, but that was no problem because Dr. C was impressed with Jack's ability to actually make a basket. Jack cooperated fully during the check up and then proudly showed the doc how well he could jump.

"Well, when he becomes a basketball star for BYU," Dr. C said, "just know that I predicted it at age 2." He then declared that I have great kids.

Jack is in the 50th percentile of weight (only 3 pounds less than Ana) and the 20th for height.

And of course, the 100th percentile for adorableness. That's what the doctor told me. (I am paraphrasing).

Then I got my kid immunized. Because it is important. And safe. And it does not cause autism. And it saves lives.

I promise blue hands are not a side effect.

a driving lesson

I don't profess to be an excellent driver. I realize that I am easily distracted and reactionary.

Dave however, is an excellent driver. He grew up around cars and driving. He's very observant and is always aware of his surroundings. I always feel safe with him in the drivers seat. He almost always drives when we are together. Due to his exceptional abilities behind the wheel, he gets frustrated with other drivers. Some of these frustrations have rubbed off on me.

So today we are going to have a driving lesson. Title:

Giving up the right of way is not "nice." It is usually annoying and sometimes dangerous.

This week in town they have been repainting the crosswalks on the road. Usually they paint half of it, block off that half for a while so it can dry, then they do the other half. This usually means some interesting maneuverings around the cones. At one such intersection, I was stopped at a stop sign; it was not a 4 way stop. I wanted to turn right, but to do so I had to go around some cones into the other lane, so I had to make sure no cars were coming in either direction. When I got to the intersection, I noticed there were cars coming, so I was waiting patiently for the cars to pass. Like This:

(please excuse the crudity of this model. i did not have time to draw it to scale and paint it.)

Then I noticed that the blue car had pulled to a stop and was waving at me to go. I know they were trying to be nice, but in so doing, the gray car had to stop in the middle of the street to let me go. It would have been easier and less stressful if the blue car would have continued on their way as they should.

Another instance that happened to me recently was when someone had stopped on a two lane highway to let a semi pull out of a gas station. I was in the other lane, and since I had to right of way, I kept going and almost got slammed by a semi truck.

Other places where you should not give up the right of way: stoplights where the left turn is unprotected. Dave witnessed a near crash in Boise when some "nice" person waved the left turner on, but the other lane didn't see it and the left turner barely missed getting hit by oncoming traffic.

I recognize there are times when waving people in front of you is nice - like in a full parking lot, or in a traffic jam, etc. These are exceptions, not the rule.

I now will get off my soapbox. We'll now continue with our regular broadcast of my adorable children and precious moments.

leave tiger alone

Tiger Woods can play golf really well. I like that. And that's pretty much all I care about when it comes to him. I am sick of his name all over every news web page/show/whatever for wrecking his car. Quit it.

Jon Stewart pretty much said the same thing. Way funnier.


Basically, I hate how the media reports on stuff like this. They spend way too much time on trivial and irrelevant stories instead of informing anyone about what is actually important.

txting epidmc

Okay, I have to rant a little bit. Its true I have sent a text message or two in my day. But thats probably about all. I think the text message craze is undermining the importance and art of communication. I was perusing the Scroll (school newspaper) today and I came across an article about texting. Allow me to quote a student featured in it: "You can do it in class, in the library, while you're talking to other people, or even in the two seconds it takes your date to get in the car." Automatically I thought to myself, "that would be the last date I would ever go on with that guy." Besides the obvious rudeness of texting while on a date with a girl, why is he just waiting in the car for his date? I think it is very sad that communication with others has been reduced to this. This guy (and it was a male student, a Business major, evidently, but that is another post...) obviously knows how to make those around him feel important. Dave and I have a friend who got dumped via text messaging. Of course, they also got together via text messaging, and most of their relationship consisted of it. Now, I do think texting has its place - but 27 out of 100 students admitted to having 10 or more text conversations a day. A girl featured in the article said, "It's nice ... when you don't really want to talk to someone." I think with the loss of communication came the lost art of common courtesy and compassion. Well, I could go on, but I think I've got it out of my system now...