100th post: A Beautiful Day

(My beautiful daughter, Eden)

In honor of my 100th post, I thought I’d just share a few things (no, not 100) that make an ordinary day a beautiful day for me:

• Escaping into a good book
• Hearing the pitter-patter of tiny feet running to use my bathroom (since it is so much cooler to use Mom and Dad’s bathroom)
• Filling my ‘extra milk’ up with a second helping of my favorite cereal
• Having all the appropriate ingredients to make my kids’ lunches
• Having my children remind me to say family prayers
• Watching my children race each other down the street to school
• Hoping no one else is watching me watch my kids race each other down the street to school (I’m still in my PJs...)
• Catching my latest favorite song on the radio
• Getting a spot next to a friendly face at gym class
• Actually making it to gym class
• Making a smoothie with one part protein, four parts fruit, and using two small hands so eager to help
• Sharing that smoothie with the girl those small hands belong to
• Getting good e-mail (not junk, bills, political agendas)
• Getting good voice mail (not junk, bills, political agendas)
• Getting good mail (not junk, bills, political agendas)
• Taking too long of a shower
• Wearing (again) that pair of shorts that is so comfortable, you constantly thank your lucky stars you bought them all those months (okay, years) ago
• Catching up with friends (old, new, borrowed, blue)
• Emptying a clean, slightly warm load of laundry, and inhaling the clean smell for a few seconds
• Letting that clean, no-longer warm, load of laundry sit there for days and fishing out of it until it’s empty
• Pretending not to be watching ‘Phineas and Ferb’ while I’m supposed to be cleaning the kitchen
• Opening the garage door in anticipation of the return of the kids from school
• Hearing the door crash open, a backpack slam against the floor, and the sound of my boy running to the bathroom as fast as he can (apparently school bathrooms aren’t cool either)
• Asking that son where his sister is
• Having him tell me she is talking with friends, again
• Being incredibly grateful for such a friendly, social daughter
• Being incredibly grateful for a son who is completely content to not be as social as his sister
• Eating after-school snacks
• Not feeling too-guilty that I ate more of the snacks than my kids did
• Helping kids with homework
• Being incredibly grateful that I can still figure out their homework enough to help them
• Hearing my son play his piano pieces as fast as he can, and then faster
• Pretending not to watch iCarly while I’m supposed to be getting dinner ready
• Having an answer to the worst question in the world, “What’s for dinner?”
• Watching my picky-eater of a son finish his dinner, despite his earlier complaining
• Realizing I’ve become my mother when I tell him about all the starving children in the world
• Having a husband who has a job, even though it means he has to work late, again
• Having a husband who knows how to work, even though it means he has to work late, again
• Having kids who don’t complain about reading scriptures together
• Hearing what my son will pray about in our family prayers (that he won’t sprain his ankle, that the Wii remote will work right, that Mom will buy some of his favorite food at the store next time)
• Sending my kids running upstairs to see who can get their teeth brushed and in their pajamas first
• Realizing that brushing your teeth probably shouldn’t be a timed activity
• Being in my pajamas by 8:00 p.m.
• Turning on my DVR
• Welcoming home a work-weary husband
• Settling on a sugar-free popsicle instead of a bowl of ice cream (curse you diabetes)
• Enjoying that sugar-free popsicle, because at least I have a sugar-free popsicle
• Wondering where I’ll find my youngest daughter sleeping when I go to kiss her goodnight (she has fallen asleep in a myriad of random locations (hallway, under sister’s bed, brother’s closet, the couch in our bedroom)
• Wondering if she’ll still have her pajamas on (she gets bored with clothes)
• Kissing each of my sleeping children on the forehead
• Escaping into a good book

Here's to hoping you have a Beautiful Day

Bandwagons

I submitted this essay to a few online sites, and was rejected from them all. One of them said "It sounds too much like a blog", so with that in mind.... I decided to post it on my blog. Enjoy!

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The lights finally dim. For a split second there is silence. And then, the screaming begins. I can’t help myself. A shriek erupts from my throat, framed by a grin I dusted off to use. The teenager inside has come out to play.

I will deal with the dichotomy later. For the next few hours, I am no longer a stay-at-home mother of three, burdened with a mortgage, meal time, and mold growing in our pool. I have my black t-shirt on, the one I wear only once a year. I have declared my intentions. I have leapt on the Twilight bandwagon, Team Edward all the way.

Remember the roller coaster? At long last I am at the front of the line. I climb down into the seat and fasten the bar too tightly. After the usual “Keep your hands inside the cart at all times” warning, I lurch forward. Inch by inch it crawls up and up. The anticipation builds. I try to prepare my stomach for what is coming. The cart is slowing down now, as it nears the precipice. Any second now, I’ll be moving too fast to enjoy it. Remember that feeling?

I try to quell my shrieking, and keep my hands inside my cart. I’m 36 for crying out loud. I take a brief second to recognize that, and choose to scream anyway. Reality doesn’t matter in this moment.

For, in this moment I’m here to see the next of the Twilight movies. Some close friends have rented out an entire theater and hundreds of us moms and teenagers go nice and early, as if the better the seat we have, the more devoted to the cause we are. One of my friends has taxing trivia about the saga and we try to answer for prizes. I eat it up. I jump up and down, going through the trivia line multiple times, acting less than half my age. But, I love it. Every part of it. I’m not there for the movie. The movie is the rest of the roller coaster, that fast 45 seconds that races by too quickly. I’m there for that initial climb: that anticipation.

I’ve counted down the days to this event. As I shove peanut butter sandwiches and juice boxes into lunch bags, I walk past my calendar and think, “Four more days!” Then, I make sure my kids are dressed appropriately and send them on their way. Living life in the present and looking forward to something are not mutually exclusive feelings.

I went to the midnight release of Harry Potter #7 at our local book store. What a fun bandwagon through Diagon Alley that was. I participated in all the games, applauded those dressed up in extravagant costumes, hung out with friends and soaked in the experience for all it had to offer. After it was over, I simply slept in the next morning. Not a steep price to pay for a truly unique experience. Sure, I had to do the dishes that next day, and mop the floor, and didn’t even get a chance to read the book for several more days, however, for those few hours, I was in another reality. I was carefree, in the best sense of the word.

There are so many bandwagons out there, vying for my frivolous attention. No one has the time or energy necessary to jump on them all, but I have learned to choose a silly few, grab hold, and live out loud. These superficial rides that just go around in circles can make life so much fun. To those who condescendingly label these adventures shallow and immature, I have one word:

And?

Life is serious all on its own. There is nothing silly about getting that phone call from a college roommate saying she has breast cancer. There is nothing frivolous about helping family members deal with job loss, divorce, or problems with children. Life will provide the drama, the tears, and ample opportunities to be mature and sensible.

I could wait until the hype is over; until the books are out in paperback and the movies are on DVD. But that is like skipping from Thanksgiving to December 25th. I still get Christmas, but I miss the best part!

So, I’ll continue to jump onto a bandwagon. Or two. Or three. I can keep my hands inside the cart and my scream inside my throat. Or, I can dust off that grin, take a deep breath, and Just. Let. Go.

catching up

I'm not even going to apologize for not blogging in so long. My blog, my schedule. But, I do go to bed most nights feeling bad that I haven't written down (again) all the clever things my kids come up with.

I'd love to spend a day inside Josh's mind, just to see how it works. These are just a few of the comments he's said lately:

"I'm sure glad I'm a human, and not a bunch of lice." (He went on to explain how he didn't think he'd like to eat scalp for his whole life).

"How do you make green bubbles?" "Toot in our pool" (It was greenish at the time).

"Mom, do you think some of my ancestors helped to build the Great Wall of China?" (Me: "No", Josh, "But, they might have, right? They could have gone over to China and helped all the peasants there build the wall?")

Teya comes up with her share of laughs as well. The other night she was whining at bedtime, saying, "But I always brush my teeth. Why can't someone else take a turn brushing my teeth? I always do it. Not fair!" In fact, she was so adamant about it, she refused to brush her teeth until I did it for her. She ended up crawling up on our piano bench to wait for me to finish whatever I was doing on the computer so I would brush her teeth. She fell asleep (w/o brushing her teeth). I guess she won!

Eden gave a tremendous end-of-year recital with her 'show choir' group. She looked beautiful and can really dance!

Eden and Josh are busy with daily swim team practices and weekly swim meets. It is sure fun to watch them swim. Eden's butterfly stroke is a thing of beauty! At her last meet, she was swimming breaststroke in the lane closest to us, and as she passed us, Teya shouted out for everyone around to hear, "Eden, you're not going to be last place! You're not going to be last place!" (she was around the middle of the pack). To Teya, not being last was just as good as winning! Everyone around was laughing.

Teya graduated from preschool and is very excited about Kindergarten! They decided to only offer all-day at our school, so that will be a big adjustment for both Teya and me. She's mainly excited to eat lunch at school.

We are all excited to escape the awful heat that finally showed up for good here in Arizona. We have our Groberg family reunion at Aspen Grove next week, and I'm SO excited about it. Dave is training for the St. George Marathon and doing GREAT. He ran over 10 miles this morning and said he loved it all. It is 'his' time. I'm so proud of him. My only physical accomplishment is now I can do around 15 'real' pushups (not on my knees) before I die of exhaustion! I just swam one mile this morning, so that makes 284 miles out of my 400 done so far this year, and we are just half over!

Well, off to a wedding reception and then to see another great summer movie. Dave has a list of movies to see that will keep us busy every weekend this summer!

I love this kid

It is sure entertaining to be Josh's mom. He recently lost one of his front teeth. It took several days to fall out, despite his constant wiggling and turning and pulling. He even let me have a go at it several times. One day, he came up and showed me how he could practically turn his tooth completely around inside his mouth. I knew it had to go. I got a good hold and yanked. No blood, no foul. He was glad to have it out. Here are some pictures of his new smile.
He also recently brought home a little book that he made about me for Mother's day. (He forgot to bring it home FOR mother's day). In it, he described his view of me. I thought I'd share some gems:

My mom works at home and earns $30.00 every day. I love her best because she cleans the house while I'm at school. My mom is 5.13 feet tall and probably weighs 71 pounds. Her eyes are green (they are blue). My mom's hair is long, curly, and brown. The best present I could give my mom would be a heart of love.

Her favorite sport: baseball. (no)

Her favorite color: red (blue).

Her favorite pet: none (correct)

Her favorite food: veggies (not really)

Her favorite TV show: Heroes (I finally finished watching last season)

Her favorite dessert: ice cream (correct)

Her favorite book to read to me: One from her writing group (true!)

Her favorite game to play with me: Ticket to Ride (correct)

For fun, my mom likes to: SLEEP. (I laughed out loud at this one -- so true!)

If my mom had a million dollars, she would buy: 'house keeping'.

Nothing gets past Josh -- except maybe my eye color and my apparently anorexic status. He truly is a joy to have in our family, even if he was patient zero for our recent round of the stomach flu. We'll take him and his smile any day!

The shoe dropped

Hey everyone,

So, over the past several months, life has been pretty smooth. I've had several family and friends who have gone through unexplainable ordeals, and I've felt blessed that I was able to help them however I could. In the back of my mind, I've sort of been waiting for the shoe to drop, knowing that my life couldn't stay all peaches for too long. I know, it is sort of a pessimistic attitude. But, I did try to keep it in the back of my mind.

Well, yesterday, it dropped. I went to my thyroid doctor, and he let me know that I officially have Diabetes. As of now, it is Type II and we are treating it as such -- oral medication, diet control, increased exercise, testing my blood sugar twice daily, etc. He did mention that there is a 'newer' type of Diabetes that I might have -- Type 1.5. It is diagnosed in adulthood as Type II, but after 4-5 years, progresses to Type I, which will require daily insulin injections. I hope it doesn't go there, but honestly from the research I've done, it seems more likely that this is what I have. I don't really fit the poster child for Type II diabetes. I'm not overweight (though my doctor told me it wouldn't hurt to lose 5-10 pounds.... ouch), I exercise regularly and eat (somewhat) healthy. I have low blood pressure, etc. All these symptoms fit the Type 1.5 diagnoses.

There is also a strong correlation between my Thyroid disorder (which is immune related) and developing the immune-related Diabetes -- Type I. My doctor felt either it was genetic (which I have NO family history of at all) or immune related. The only way to tell is to treat it as we are doing and keep an eye on various markers throughout the months.

It kind of serves me right -- in a way. I'm in love with carbohydrates. My life philosophy has been "Exercise to support your eating habits". I have never had any sort of will power to go on a diet. So, now, all of a sudden, I'm supposed to severely limit my carb intake, drastically increase my exercise, and watch what I eat, 24/7. So not what I want to be doing. But, whoever said life is fair. I always knew life wasn't fair, I just made sure I had a supply of Sour Patch Kids to help me deal with the unfairness. Now that is taken away from me as well....

So, if you have any tried and true and delicious diabetic meals, snacks, even desserts -- send them my way. If not, I'd appreciate your prayers and support as I tried to change my eating habits overnight.

Eat a piece of toast for me, or a bowl of cold cereal, or a bagel with cream cheese, or a piece of chocolate, or a bowl of ice cream, or pasta, or a baked potato... I'll just go chew on a stick of celery.

Fun with Photoshop

I have been teaching myself little bits about Photoshop Elements. Here is one of my latest experiments. This was during our annual Easter Egg hunt. This is such a typical Teya smile!

If anyone out there is a Photoshop Elements pro. I would pay for some hands on lessons. These tutorials are time consuming and not as easy as I thought they would be.
One of my favorite new blogs that I'm now following is this girl that posts about wall decor. So, here is the link. Hope you get some fun ideas!

http://decorallure.blogspot.com/

San Diego

We recently returned from a fabulous trip to San Diego -- just our little family. We bought these "Go San Diego" cards and really got our money's worth out of them. For about $85 each we did the following:

Lego land

Wild Animal Park (which included a safari)

Belmont Park (this awesome little boardwalk amusement park with the best roller coaster)

Whale watching cruise

Tour of the USS Midway (aircraft carrier)

Birch Aquarium

We were going to go to the zoo, but the weather turned on us. So we did all the above in 1 1/2 days! We had a blast and ended up going to sleep by 8:30 each night, exhausted!

Here are some fun pictures and stories from our trip:

The first ride we went on was a big roller coaster at Lego land. When we were done, Teya exclaimed, "That was too freaky for me." Dave had to agree with her. She rode the carousel while the older kids went on it again.

At Belmont Park, we were almost the only ones there. As a result, Teya got to ride her favorite ride all by herself several times. It was one of those rides where five people sit across and the whole thing goes all the way up then falls a few feet, then goes up and falls again, up and down, up and down. Teya was right in the middle, all by herself, and every time the ride would drop, she'd squeal with delight. You could hear her squeals (screams for those who were not related to her), across the whole park.

Josh and Eden's favorite thing was the roller coaster. It was a large, old rickety wooden one. The height requirement was 50 inches. Josh only made it because he hadn't had a recent haircut. Seriously. His hair was standing straight up and it barely brushed the 50 inch mark. The two of them rode that ride over 10 times. They would get off, run around, and get right back on -- there was no line. Dave and I had to take turns going with them and watching Teya, until our adult stomachs could no longer hang in there. Then, they just went by themselves. They would have stayed there all night riding it!

Teya was her own version of daring. On the carousel and the other little kiddie rides, she would sneakily let go of the pole or the bar and hold her hands up. What a little Evel Knievel! She thought she was so brave! It was hilarious watching her.

On our whale watching cruise, Josh saw a poster showing the migration routes of the whales (from up north of Alaska to down past Baja California). It was a pretty long cruise (about 4 hours). When we'd been gone about 2 1/2, Josh asked me "Well, do you think we've at least hit Canada yet?" "What?" I said. Then, he showed me the map. He was under the impression that we were following the entire migration route of the whales! Not quite. I showed him the tiny dot portion of the map that we were actually covering. His response, "Wow, things in real life are a LOT bigger than they are on a map." Astute observation Josh.

By the way, we did see two large humpback whales. They gave us a wonderful show, one of them breached (where they go most of the way out of the water and turn around) four times. They both kept spouting and come up and showing off their tails. It was great! We were so

close, we didn't even use the binoculars we had brought along!

One of my personal favorites was seeing the mesmerizing jellyfish at the aquarium. I could have stayed there and just watched them much longer than we did.

On Saturday evening there was a deluge and it stayed that way the rest of our trip. We got a rainy picture of us at the San Diego Temple and got wet in the rain going to the beach on Coronado Island, but it was still fun!