A Little of This...A Little of That

Chris and Noah continue to work on the house. . .

Noah's favorite place to dine alfresco. . .

Minnie had surgery after a cat fight left her with a huge abscess. . .

One of our pet rats, Oreo, died in an accident last week. . .we miss her. . .

Brooke is writing a blog to try to win $1,000 for college. . check it out here. . she's also enjoying her job at Baskin Robbins and learning to drive. . .

A couple of weeks ago, we had a get-together with some of our neighbors, and really enjoyed getting to know them a little bit better. We invited our whole block to come over, and had about 7 out of 35 or so families actually come. We hope to continue to try to build more of a community feeling here in our neighborhood by simply being more friendly to all of our neighbors. We all have unique situations, likes and dislikes differ, but we have each other in common!

A Tribute to Gordon B. Hinckley

Last night we lost a great man, Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a prophet of God. We will greatly miss him, but we know that he is now reunited with his beloved wife, and that he will have joy and peace in that reunion. Our family is truly grateful to him for his many years of unselfish service to people throughout the world, and for his teachings and counsel. As we have applied his counsel, we have improved ourselves as individuals and made our family stronger. We loved him for his sense of humor and wit, for his amazing energy, and for his unfailing testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. I appreciate Glenn Beck's tribute to him, so I've included it here, too.

And the winner is. . .

Feeling sluggish? Can't remember things like you used to? Cold feet and hands? Congratulations! You win! You're the recipient of hypothyroidism! And all the time I just thought it was just having a husband, 5 kids, a cat, 2 fish, 3 rats, homeschooling, church assignments, homemaking, etc., that was making me loopy! Nah! Get your checkup, and you too could win. It's actually pretty common, and I really didn't think anything was up until my doctor called for a follow-up appointment. Many people don't even have symptoms in the early stages. I attributed the common symptoms to other things. For more information, click here.

I Can't Believe. . .

What's up with that phrase "I can't believe. . . "? What I can't believe is that I've begun the last 3 entries (ok, 4 if you count this one) with it. So, I've decided to list a few things I can't believe all in one entry so I can quit using that phrase! Here goes:

I can't believe. . .

• time goes at the same pace today as it did when I was a kid.
• how huge our house seemed when we moved in 6 years ago.
• in a year and a half my firstborn will be going off to college.
• that Amazon.com actually sells this thing: http://www.amazon.com/JL421-Badonkadonk-Land-Cruiser-Tank/dp/B00067F1CE/ref=cm_syf_dtl_top_6
• it's possible to have gray hair, wrinkles, dry skin, and zits all on the same person at one time.
• some people think members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not Christian and/or belong to a cult. (Please see the video at the bottom of this page.)
  
• that I actually have someone named after me.
  
• I enjoy reading the Wall Street Journal.
• my boys don't mind getting haircuts from me.
  
• I've been called for jury duty again. (This must be the 6th or 7th time in the 15 years we've lived here. And Chris has been called more times than I have!)
• that yet again, I will request to be excused from said jury duty because, "I have a verifiable, non-professional obligation to provide care for another between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm Monday though Friday and alternative arrangements are not feasible." How boring that sounds, when it's actually the most exciting thing in the world.
  
• it's already 10:15?! Where did the time go?
  
• I'm actually going to post this with no pictures.

There. I feel better now, and that phrase hopefully won't show up in future posts. It'll probably get replaced with something else, though, as I have a habit of using a word or phrase to death, then picking a new one. We'll see.