A Knitted Heart

I have been feeling pretty low after this last pregnancy. Lots and lots of factors have gone into that. I have been fighting back furiously and taking a little help from a trusty pill. But life still seems a bit overwhelming quite a bit. I try to keep my comments on my blog as well as facebook positive and upbeat, not because I want everyone to think I have it all together and flit around perfectly without a care, but because I don't think it is usually productive. I usually end up feeling lower.

Instead I enjoy visiting with others and realizing I am not as crazy as I think I am. I enjoy writing and getting all the blah out to make room for the good. The thing that I also find the most effective when I am feeling cheated in life is to say a prayer of gratitude for my blessings. It is always amazing how long you can go when you are thinking about how much you have in your life, no matter how bad you think things are.

Anyhow I am truly grateful for an amazing friend & visiting teacher who has gone above and beyond the call of duty too many times to count. You have inspired me to aspire to become a better visiting teacher.

I am also grateful for my friend & morning "bus driver" I can't say carpool because that would imply that I take part in the driving as well, and I don't. This service has meant volumes to me and you are such a rock.

Both of these examples of blessings of service in my life I don't think I will ever be able to truly repay. But really I think the point of true service here on earth is to pay it forward whenever we can! So what's with the knitted heart? Well knitting is an act of bringing together ... and to serve we also bring together through action... I guess I just suppose some of life's toughest times are solved through acts of loving service.

The DIY DISH Web Show Giveaway

Hey these cute twins have a web show with all sorts of crafts tutorials.

They are going to be giving away 2 sewing machines!

Check them out by clicking on the button below and enter to win a new machine!

How quick are you gonna get up?

So my hubby loves Lance Armstrong... my sister calls him his "girlfriend". I suppose he feels a connection with him after losing his dad to cancer. Ryan also loves road biking. He got himself this jersey and bib shorts for Christmas:

And rides with this helmet:

And rides this bike:

Someday he will have the bike of his dreams but this was the best bike he could afford selling plasma in his spare time (it really is a pretty nice bike). Truth be told Lance seems like a really chill and funny guy who has learned to take whatever life gives him and ride with it. The point is I give him garbage all the time for his love affair with biking and Lance. This post is not about Ryan or really even Lance for that matter. Ryan showed me this commercial this morning after checking Lance's tweet about it.

How incredible is that? I watched it and thought, you don't have to be the top athlete in your sport or the top anything in life to go through incredibly hard trials. Whoever you are and whatever you are going through, you have to make the choice to back up when you have fallen down. Sometimes you haven't just tripped either, sometimes you have been smacked so hard on your rear you really don't know if you can get up. We have the choice though to get back up and fight to reach the peak of our potential in life. The best part is we don't have to do it alone, the Lord is always there if we choose to let him in. Hopefully we have a handful of loved ones to support us along the way and make the road a little easier.

My heart goes out to those who truly fight through their trials and to be the best person they can be. Everybody gets knocked down the question is, how quick are you gonna get up?

Happy Valentine's Day to my "LiveStrong" sweetheart!

Guess What?

Ryan's in the middle. Who is on the table? Oh yeah, that's right it's me!

Guess what today is? Today is February 11th! Who cares? Isn't Valentines Day on the 14th? Yes, but February 12th is Ryan's last day of surgery! Truly it hasn't been that bad. but it one of the more demanding rotations. With internal medicine (round 2) and pediatrics still to go we have about 6-8 intense weeks left of 3rd year clinical rotations left to go. Luckily we should have an easier 3 weeks ahead of us, and then back to intense work.

So how have we fared during 3rd year? Not shabby. It has definitely been some of the hardest times I have ever gone through. Having a baby was a key factor in making it so difficult, otherwise I don't think it would have been bad at all.

Things to look forward to for internal medicine:

The first 3 weeks should be less demanding.

JoAnn will be here for part of the more demanding part during the second 3 weeks.

When he is done Eric comes home from Greece!

Things to dread for internal medicine:

The big fat board exam at the end! Which makes Ryan stressed and

even more unavailable than just the hospital hours.

Super Bowl

This year we were exhausted, a little sick, but mostly just plain tired. We had the game on, but only watched it half heartedly as the kids had no interest. We mostly tended to them and tried to catch a few funny commercials. We did see the interception that would clench the victory for the Saints. Yay! Both Ryan and I thought the Colts would end up winning in the end, and were stoked when the Saints showed up for the big show and took home the win. Sorry Austin Collie.

So anyway I mostly wanted to weigh in with a couple thoughts on the commercials.

To watch any and all of the commercials go here.

1. The Tim Tebow commercial got waaay too much hype.

2. My favorite commercial was actually in the pre game slot. It was the McDonal's commercial

it isn't on the CBSsports website but I found a bootlegged copy here.

3. The best e*trade baby commercial wasn't even in the Super Bowl ads:

4. I love the theme of telling men to man up! I am all for women being able to live out their dreams and do whatever it is they want as well as be an equal part of a marriage. Men need to remember what is to be the Man. Don't be so worried about offending the radical feminists of the world.

(click here to make larger)

With that we will just have to get through the rest of February

for the real fun to begin in March.

Winter Palooza

We had a fun family day. The plan was doesn't matter what we do we are just going to enjoy being together and be out of the house... because we are rarely all together and I rarely get out of the house for anything other than the necessities. We went down to the South Town Expo Center where the Utah Kids Club's Winter Palooza. We had a great time. The kids got hair cuts that they both needed.

James hates getting his hair cut... but he lived. I have a favorite Cookie Cutter's Stylist. This lady was awesome with him and she did a fabulous job on his hair too!

Kaylie got a shot with a "pretend" Princess Aurora.

The real one lives in Disneyland of course!

They had 2 booths for face painting. A free one and one that cost a couple dollars. I paid the couple dollars.

My justification:

1. You are only a kid once, and getting to walk around like this

is only socially acceptable for such a short time in life.

2. I appreciate art in all forms, and artists who share their talents.

3. The whole thing the entrance fee, the haircut, and the face paint all cost the same amount as a hair cut would have cost anyway! (And like I said they both needed haircuts to begin with.)

So I think I have realized that when Ryan gets to be with the kids he likes to live it up...

I try to help him remember that he is a medical student not a medical doctor (yet). =)

Love you Ry!

He took us to the Mayan. The kids thought it was the coolest things ever. We had awesome seats and the cliff divers were really fun.

The Full Moon

Skeptics need not read or comment:

So my kids have never slept well on the the full moon. They get it from my side of the family. Some are better than others but they always sleep less than normal. Kaylie was up at least twice. She rarely gets up at all. James was basically up from like 2 to 5:30!!! I am not kidding (shoot me now). And Lydia was up twice as well which I know she is only 4 months but she usually is only up once! Considering I finally fell asleep at about 11, because I have my own full moon sleeping problems, and Kaylie was the first one up at 12:30a.m.

Poor Ryan is on call tonight after all that..... I will try not too complain too much. Hopefully the kids at primary children's will sleep well tonight!