The More Things Change...

...the more they stay the same. Or so the saying goes. Just when I think that things are finally changing, something reminds me of how similar each day is. Take getting a good night's sleep. Every night I look forward to a few hours of sleep. Uninterrupted. And yet it hasn't happened in 12 years. Take tonight, for instance. This is pretty typical. It is 12:53 am on Tuesday, Dec. 30th, and I am up with not one, but two little boys. And typing one handed. Andrew is up because he's had a fever all day, and it's been so long since he's had one, I'd forgotten how sensitive his tummy is. He's always been the most vomitrocious of my kids, and at the least hint of anything, out his lunch would come. So he threw up, in his bed, about an hour ago, and now he's sitting in the chair watching Horton Hears a Who, while we wait to see if the ibuprofen is going to stay down.

And Benji, too, is up. He got up two hours ago with a stinky diaper, and now won't go back down, even though he is leaning on my shoulder, exhausted.

The juggling act never ends. When I say 'the more things stay the same', I remember doing this very thing, up in the middle of the night, with Sarah ten years ago. Watching Winnie the Pooh, beginning to end. No way was she going to bed until the final credits ran, even if it was 5:30 in the morning. And one of us had to be up with her, curled up on the floor because she'd kicked us off the couch so she could be more comfortable.

I'm sure this too shall pass. At least that's what my mom tells me. I guess I'll have to believe her, 'cause there ain't no light at the end of this tunnel, honey.

Pictures....Finally.

Kendall, Andrew, and Benji fixing the dishwasher.
I finally figured out how to get photos on the blog. Yea!!! Here are a few from the past few months. Figuring out how to format the dang thing, however, will be another several weeks work, I'm sure.

Benji and pumpkins.

Andrew on the hay ride.

Meri at the pumpkin patch.

Sarah and Peter actually smiling at each other on our hay ride through the pumpkin patch.

Meri and Benji in on Halloween, jumping on the tramp, waiting to go trick or treating.

Andrew's happy 3rd birthday on Dec. 1st.

Benji trying to see the lights at Temple Square.

Benji demolishing the gingerbread house we made last Saturday.

A family photo from the summer vacation at East Canyon.

...And Then There Was The Time When Suddenly No One Could Cook.

I don't like to brag, but I consider Kendall and myself pretty good cooks. I have to admit that there have been times that meals have failed, but at least in my case, it's usually when I use a recipe, instead of blending things intuitively. Case in point--I once set a thanksgiving pumpkin pie with a candied pecan topping on fire because I left it too long under the broiler.

So last Sunday Kendall and I used a yummy sounding recipe titled "Sesame Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry". It used something I'd heard of before but never used: Chinese Five Spice, which sounded and smelled intriguing.
It was simple to put together, just frying up chicken and veggies and thickening up a sauce including the Five Spice.

I don't know where we went wrong, but it was the worst meal I've forced down in a long, long, time. Kendall felt the same, I know, because we discussed at length how we will never use that recipe or Chinese Five Spice again. Ever.

So to redeem the evening, we decided to make some cook and serve chocolate pudding. To amp up the nutrition value, however, we decided to add some whey protein powder we have that we usually use to make breakfast smoothies. And we thought, "Hey, the pudding starts out as powder, the whey protein is powder, lets mix them together before we start cooking, so there won't be any lumps."

Please take my advice. DO. NOT. COOK. PROTEIN. POWDER. WITH. YOUR. PUDDING. It did something weird. So weird, in fact, that even the kids wouldn't eat it.

So the bad karma of Pride came back and bit us big time. I think I've lost my taste for chocolate pudding for a while. :-P

I was a little worried, the next day, wondering if this was to be our new life...suddenly sucking at cooking. But it was great. It's hard to screw up alfredo sauce and tortellini and chocolate cake with whip cream frosting covered with M&M's. (It was Andrew's birthday meal. I did find the Tonka Bounce Back Racer, though, just in time. Yea!)

Shopping and The Perfect Gift

I love shopping. I love going through a store (any store) and imagining what I could do with things like, say, a cheese dome.

But what I have a hard time doing, these days, is actually buying anything. I'm so afraid of not buying the right thing, in terms of gifts, I mean, that I'll go shopping with intent to purchase, and wander the isles, searching in desperation for the perfect gift, only to leave disappointed two hours later, having talked myself out of every item I looked at.

It's even worse when I'm actually budgeting. (Just ask Kendall how much I don't like budgets.) Then I'm twice as worried about spending the money, only to find the true and everlastingly perfect gift later. Grrr.

So here it is, mid Novemeber, and the rest of the year on my calendar is black with the list of activities, and I have only purchased a handful of gifts.

And the worst thing is that we have a birthday coming up on Dec. 1st for Andrew. Talk about getting lost in the middle of the holidays. I have to keep reminding myself that it's coming up and I have to get on the ball. Of course, in his case I already know what the perfect gift is, and it seems to be the 'Tickle Me Elmo' of the 2008 Christmas season. The Tonka Bounce Back Racer. I watched him play with something similar at someone else's house for two hours, and knew that it would be perfect for him. It seems to be the perfect present for every other 3 year old boy in the world, as well. I have looked and looked, and the only place I can find it is Amazon or Ebay for twice, sometimes three times as much as I wanted to spend. At this rate I'll be lucky to find it in time for Christmas.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. But it still comes down to just one thing. I still love shopping, frustrations and all. ;-)

Halloween Come and Gone

I always have mixed emotions when Halloween comes around. I am thrilled that the holiday season has finally arrived, but I have so many preconceived notions about what each holiday is supposed to be like. And nothing ever goes as planned. I've learned to live with it, but I can't help but feel let down. And it's my own darn fault! :-)

I have to say, though, I don't like the direction that Halloween has taken. It's so difficult these days to find a decent costume, without making it, or having to modify it some way. Meri was Raggedy Anne, a costume we got a few years ago for Sarah, so she was covered head to toe, including a red yarn wig. (By the way, it was nice, for the first time in years, not to have to buy a costume this year. The most expensive purchase I had to make this year was $1.99. Yea!) I was looking at the adorable pictures of one of my neices that was dressed as Ariel. She had to wear a complete set of clothing under her costume just to keep covered, though. And I had a talk with my neighbor as we passed trick or treating. It was even harder for them to find something that wasn't designed to make an 8 year old look like a tart. Isn't it bad enough that everyday clothing is made to make little girls dress like a hoochie mama? Do we have to do it for Halloween, too?

So on the theme of no purchases for Halloween costumes, Sarah, at twelve, was off at her best friend's Halloween/birthday party, and was 'too old' to trick or treat, even though they did as a party. Andrew wore the costume size cowboy hat and a vest that Peter wore in second grade, and Benji wore a clown costume I bought last year for Andrew.

The best costume was Peter's, though. For a buck ninety-nine bottle of green tempera paint, we turned him into the Incredible Hulk. I painted him all over: belly, back, legs, even his hair. We also got to shred some clothes that were already destined for the garbage. Kendall did do some filming of the painting process, maybe I'll figure out how to post it at some point.

So we finally get everyone out the door, and mentally I'm thinking, 'Do we take a stroller, not take one? Hmmm....' But ultimately decide not to take it. Big mistake. We are only half way around the block and Andrew is done. I mean laying face down on the sidewalk, refusing to move, done. So in the end, Kendall carried him, I carried Benji, and Meri kept asking to go to one more house. I don't know why I keep expecting Norman Rockwell when I SO don't live there.

Now the serious partying begins....Christmas Shopping!!! (Got a real love/hate relationship with that, but that's another post.)

New Experiences

I can't believe I'm actually posting twice in one month. That is definitely a new experience.

Other new experiences for the Oliphant family this week: Andrew had his cast removed. The saw was definitely too scary, all that noise right next to him. He had to have a second cast put on, just a short one, for two weeks. The x-rays showed one bone still wasn't healed enough. At least he wasn't screaming at the sight of his x-rays again.

Sarah has her first real cold of the year, and is staying home from school today. That meant I didn't have to wake everyone up and get Peter to school since Kendall took him to school instead of taking Sarah earlier. Oh, for the days of no morning driving!

Sarah is also participating in a special youth choir for the church. They've been rehearsing for the past month or so. This Saturday they are doing the audio recording at the conference center, and on the first week of November they are doing the video recordings. My understanding is that the recording will then be sent to stakes or wards all over North America for a New Year's celebration they are doing. She is growing up WAY too fast for my comfort.

Both Kendall and I have new callings. Kendall was called to be the new Cub Scout Pack leader a few months ago, which he finds he is actually enjoying. (Except for meetings, which he's never liked.)

I was called as the ward choir director just last week. I replaced a wonderful lady who was the director for 6 years and a former member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Talk about intimidating. I haven't decided whether it will be fun or scary, but it will give me more reasons to visit Day Murray and get music. ;-) So I'm in charge of Christmas music...I hope no one is too disappointed in me or my choices. Talk about a growth experience!

Benji is old enough for nursery!!! That is just a joyful thing. Yea!!!!!!!! A great new experience for him (and Kendall and I, not having to deal with him during meetings anymore.)

I'll definitely have to do a Christmas playlist, though, since I'm having to be all musical now. :)

Tis the Season....

Last year as a Christmas gift for Kendall, I got together a group of people from our neighborhood (read: ward) and created a group of carolers. We didn't get started until November, but we were able to learn a few songs from our 'emerge' days to supplement hymns from the hymn book.

Well, we're starting again. It's so nice to be able to enjoy the sounds of the christmas season, with people who enjoy it as well. And hopefully, by starting earlier, we'll be able to learn a few more.

It's always so fun to go to Day Murray Music, to drool over all the music selections. I went on Wednesday while we were in Salt Lake to take Sarah and her cousin, Grace, to a Salt Lake Children's Choir rehersal. It would have been perfect, except for one thing...Benjamin. Our youngest definitely has no tolerance for car travel or being penned in a stroller. But Day Murray is DEFINITELY not a place to let a toddler run around. They do have a 'toy room', which looks like a converted closet (and feels like a church nursery), which entertained him about 18 seconds, until he realized I wasn't standing right behind him. I'd moved two feet away to look at music. So I had to rush through looking at music, and only had time to find one that we can use this season.

Talking about music, Kendall and I finally took time to figure out playlist.com. Kendall kept wanting to know what the catch was, how could we just add that music to our playlist, without having to pay for it. (Such a cynic!) So we went a little crazy, adding all kinds of music. And since I don't have the time or savvy to really figure out everything on blogging, Kendall got it on the blog for me. So if you're interested, you can peruse our music choices. In general, though, everything that sounds like it was written before 1960 is probably mine, while all the 80's heavy metal stuff is Kendall's (he has a soft spot for monster ballads). With a few exceptions, of course. The Queen addition was mine (I've been a closet Queen fan forever), and we mutually agree on More Than Words and Sister Christian. And somewhere in the middle is A Little Less Conversation by Elvis, and Jungle Love, both of which we associate with favorite episodes of "Everybody Loves Raymond". That show hits pretty close to home sometimes. We'll let you figure out whose family belongs to whom. ;-)

We also agreed on Into the West, from Return of the King, but I can't listen to it without crying, so I'll probably skip it when I'm just listening to it on my own. I might go all holiday, though, and make a Christmas list to have on during the season.

One happy thing...Football is over!!! Wahoo!!! I loved how enthusiastic Peter was about it, but boy, it sure is a drain with the time commitment. So I'm glad we can use that time for homework now. (And Kendall is thrilled he can finally watch a BYU game instead of listening in stolen moments.)

And one of these days we'll get some family photos up here...I just have to have someone walk me through it once. Or twice.

So This is Life...

So this week has been, well, eventful. It seems that the cliche is true---it never rains but it pours. The weeks are speeding by in a rush of driving, cleaning up after babies, making meals, cleaning up after babies, driving, cleaning up after babies, football, Sarah's after school activities, cleaning up after babies, etc.

And of course, a visit to the doctor today to find out that Andrew broke his arm 'significantly' falling off the piano bench. He's two, and when asked if his arm hurt, would say "No," but then refused to use it. So we were home all of an hour, and I had left him to watch a movie while I was doing the laundry downstairs, only to hear Sarah yell "Andrew, NO!" He'd succeeded in halfway unwrapping the splint in the 5 minutes I was gone from the room.

Of course the funniest/saddest part was in the office. The kind doctor was showing us the x-ray, pointing out the break in one bone and the 45 degree angle in the other, and Andrew started crying, "Scary! Scary!" and buried his face in Kendall's arm.

So Monday will be normal chaos, plus Sarah's orthodontist appointment and a visit to the orthopedic surgeon to have a cast put on. The doctor said usually these casts are on two to three weeks, but in this case, it will probably be more like 4 to 6. So we can add sponge baths through Halloween to the schedule.

Here's my question to the universe--why has every child (except Sarah) broken their left arm when they were 2 1/2 years old?

First Day of School=Insanity

So today was the first day of school here, and even though we only have two kids in school so far, but one is in junior high (ack!!), and both kids are not in the neighborhood schools, so it is up to us to get them where they need to go. For Sarah, it will always be just us getting to and from school, but for Peter, I'm PRAYING that we will find a carpool that will work to get him there in the morning. Last year we were able to split the difference between Kendall and I, with him dropping off and me picking up. But with Sarah going to the west side of Davis county and Peter to the east side, I keep asking myself if it's worth it. I'm sure the neighborhood schools are great--everybody else sends their kids there, right? But at this point, I'm committed to this course of making sure they get the best education available to them, regardless of what it means. Right? I'm begging someone to tell me I'm doing the right thing.

So even though today was crazy, I'm reserving judgement until the first few weeks are over, and I can decide if it's going to work, or if I lost my brain.

Finish or Move?

So the question is: do you finish the basement of a home you hate, so you have more finished space to hate, or do you try to fix it up to sell in a depressed market so you can find a better house?

Well the answer, at least for us, is just finish the dang thing! We gave it a good look, debating whether the money would be better spent on a bigger mortgage or use it to finish the rooms downstairs. Ultimately we decided to finish the basement and live in it for a while.

So I'm not quite sure how or when it was going to be accomplished, with everything that seems to be snowballing. Just today I signed up Peter to play football in the local rec league. Starting next week he'll be doing practices and/or games five days a week, up through mid October. School starts the end of August, with Sarah going to the jr. high 15 minutes away, Peter going to an elementary school 15 minutes the other directions, piano lessons, Salt Lake Children's choir, young women's activities, Meri in preschool and dance, not to mention the two little boys just being toddlers. I'm left wondering when all the rest of life is supposed to be taken care of.

Well, enough of my vent. I really should be doing something productive, like dishes. ;-P

Push Through or Go Around

So this morning as Kendall and I walked I hit 'the wall'. Not hard, but hard enough that I recognized the symptoms of 'give-up-itis' setting in. Two weeks in, tons longer than anything I've ever attempted before, and it finally got hard. But we were only half way through, and it wasn't like I could pull an 'Andrew' and lay down on the road to wait for someone to figure out what's wrong and carry me home. So I pushed through, worked a little bit harder, and then I found my stride. The rest of the walk was great.

I've found this 'push through' ability within myself, not from my inate nature, but forced on me by motherhood. I've always been a flash-in-the-pan, instant-gratification kind of person. But when you're a mom, there is no end to what needs to be done. There is no 'exit' button here.
And finally that has started to trickle into the rest of my life. Most notably my writing.

I've written I don't know how many first chapters. Too many. But finally one has stuck around longer than five pages. Horray! That 'keep it going' attitude has gotten me through to the fourth chapter.

Now if only that would trickle down to the dishes.

So there was a beginning...

So I finally decided that it was time to get out of my head and into the real world. There is so much I want to share (though I don't know if any one cares to hear it), but I don't want to overwhelm the world with my abundance, so I'll start slow.

What I wanted to say is that even though this blog will jump into my life in the middle of it all, this is a time of new beginnings for me. I'm at a time (probably a midlife crisis) where I realized that no one is going to live my life for me. If I'm going to have the experiences in my life that I want, I have to reach out and grab it.

So...on to the juicy stuff.

I am many things--wife, mother, writer, Mormon, foodie, reader, now a blogger. One thing that I am, too, is overweight. My point in sharing that is not to say "Look at me! I am fat!", but to share with the world, my goals in this area. I've tried many times to lose weight for weight's sake, but I've never had a goal for which weight loss would be critical. One thing that has always fascinated me is the triathlon.

I want to participate in a triathlon. My stated goal to family and friends (and now the world) is to be ready to do one in two years. One year to lose most of the extra 100 lbs, and the second year to lose the rest and train in the different disciplines.

My hope is that through this experience, and blogging about it everyday, I can stay motivated and focused, so that I can make this dream a reality. My hope is to keep myself accountable by writing about the trials and tribulations of achieving this goal, while sharing those juicy tidbits that always leak out when you're writing about personal things.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy every slice (of life) you're served.