Do you need a chuckle?

5/14/09

Because I do! I have had one C*R*A*P*P*Y week. Grandma dying was just one of the many things that have gone wrong lately. In fact the whole past 6-8 weeks have had enough drama to make me want to go shut myself in my closet, or huddle on the floor of my shower and cry (which I have done several times, actually...).

Anyway, sorry Grandma's post only got one day before I moved on, but I just need to.

One of the things that always makes me laugh out loud are geeky t-shirts. I love the ones with plays on words and obscure scientific references. I appreciate that there are other nerds out me who think those types of things are funny. (I found these on mentalfloss.com and bustedtees.com.)


There's no right way to eat a Rhesus! Hahahahahahahahaa!!!!!! Oh, I am such a dork. But I feel better now. I'll check back in again in a few days.

Grandma Nora

My dad, Grandma Nora and Grandpa Wally and me when I was a few days old

Grandma, Madelyn and I after Grandpa Wally's funeral, September 2006

5/13/09

My dear Grandma Nora passed away yesterday! I am sad and will miss her very much, but at the same time I know she was ready to go. She had been in the hospital all this past month and was in terrible shape, and now she has been reunited with my Grandpa Wally. It makes me smile to think of them together again, healthy and free of pain.

I am so blessed to have been able to spend a lot of time with her when we lived in Albuquerque. She was a very sweet, loving person and family was everything to her. I won't be able to go to her funerals (one in Los Lunas and one in Taos where she's from and where she'll be buried) but I hope she knows I'm thinking about her. I love you Grandma!

Maria's bridal shower, and yes, I believe I do have flowers coming out of my ears

5/9/09

Today was Maria's long awaited bridal shower, which I was totally in charge of. So of course, in my typical OCD style, I obsessed over every detail for months and yet still ran out of time at the end. I stayed up all night setting up and then fortunately my family came this morning to help prep the food. About 50 people were invited (eesh...well, Maria has always been very popular) and we had a good turnout of about 23-25 people. She got lots of cute things for her home, recipes, and an astounding amount of lingerie. We had lots of fun.

Look! We even look like sisters in this photo!

So I have been buying flowers for her reception since February, and they have been all over my house, stationed by the computer so that I can feel springy and girly and so that Mark's online gaming area feels slightly emasculated.

I only just arranged all of these this week. There are 32 vases of daisies and tulips.

These green wreaths are also for the reception (my first attempts at wreath making) and the yellow and pink one is for my Gma Nora.
I've also made....

Maria's toss bouquet for the reception...

a hydrangea bouquet...

a gerbera daisy bouquet...

...and a ruffled tulips/lisianthus bouquet for her wedding day. Oh, yeah. And ten boutonnieres and fourteen corsages.
Spoiled bride, much?

Well, I actually love doing wedding flowers, but this has been a very hectic and stressful few months. I am also helping with the wedding cake and pictures and whatever else comes up in the next 26 days. I think it's safe to say that I will be as relieved as Maria is when she's finally married! It's a good thing I love my sister so much!!!

Cute kids

5/8/09

Today (well I guess it was yesterday--I've been running around like crazy for 16 hours) we had a little photo shoot with Madelyn and her cousins, as the Mursets are so fond of doing. (Not the Yoders. Noooo way. Pictures are not exactly their thing.)

Memo to me: 1. Madelyn really needs a haircut. 2. Be happy if everyone is merely looking pleasant in a group photo with little kids. Dancing around, squealing, clapping, and other antics won't make them all smile and look at you at the same time. They have already agreed beforehand amongst themselves to ignore you.

I did manage to get one really cute shot of them, though. Indulge me while I show off my daughter and my nephew Nathan, his baby sister Ava, and my niece Hattie (the blonde one).

CUTE, huh? I'll go ahead and pat myself on the back for that one.

This is more typical of what the rest of them turned out like.

Madelyn, age 4

Best buddies

Blue-eyed beauty Hattie, 13 months

Nathan, 3 1/2

Pretty little Ava, 6 1/2 months

Hahahahahahahahaaaa.........poor kids. What a classic picture, though.

Well, it's off to hit the sack for a few hours of sleep before I have what I'm sure is going to be another very long day. (whimper) I'm hosting a big bridal shower for my sister here on Saturday morning, and I've still got a hundred things left to do before I'm ready.

Perhaps that should be my cue to get off the computer...g'night!

Big news!!

5/5/09

I've changed my background again to something a little less girly (it was awash in magenta sparkles for a few days, in case you missed it) to announce that we are having a little BOY!!!!!!

He looks so cuddly! I can't wait to hold him!

We went to Cedar City yesterday for an OB appointment, and since I had just switched doctors from one in St. George, we were only expecting a routine checkup, although I'm 18 weeks and that is around the time that Dr. Sanders' office does ultrasounds. (He delivered Madelyn and we are so glad that we are going back to him. We LOVE him and his office. Cedar just has the best health care providers!)

Anyway, they did schedule my comprehensive ultrasound for next week, but while we were there yesterday, Dr. Sanders said he'd let us take a quick peek at the baby, "so that you can go shopping." (Dear man really knows how we pregnant women think.) He has a nice 4-D ultrasound right in his office, so 5 minutes later we were looking at our precious little boy! We do have a photo of his "parts" and let me assure you that we are quite certain of his gender. I don't want to embarrass the poor kid by posting it. Madelyn is very excited and telling everyone about her baby brother. It's fun. Mark and I are fighting over names.

My 4 month picture, this time not holding it in. I still haven't gained any weight, but somehow my belly still pops out. I really should wait until Mark's awake so he can take these pictures, rather than do it myself at 1:00 in the morning.

Something else we didn't expect to happen yesterday was that we made an offer on a house! We were just out with a realtor (our first time) and the last house we saw needed to be pursued immediately because someone else had also offered on it that day. So we are waiting with bated breath to find out what happens. I don't want to say any more about it unless we actually win the bidding war, but let's keep our fingers crossed! It's one heck of a house.

Our weekend was busy too. Mark went rock climbing and then spent the remainder of Saturday playing network computer games with his brother Paul, my brother Kevin, and Paul's friend Leighton for hours on end. (They also did this last weekend. Sigh.)

Battlefield 2 lollapalooza

Then later on we had a visit from our friends Adam and Liz Jowers, whom we used to be neighbors with at SUU and we're very close with. We hadn't seen them in over a year so it was fun to see their girls Kelty (3) and Adelyn (1). Madelyn just loves it when kids come over to play with her.

Kelty (on swing) and Adelyn (holding ball) with Madelyn.

And last but not least, Mark started his new job today! Woo!!! He still has to take his boards next week, which he is nervous about, but he has a temporary license in the meantime. This morning I had the camera handy so I could get a snapshot of him on his first day of work as I laid in bed. Ha ha! That was probably the last thing he wanted me to do, but he stood still and forced a smile anyway. What a good sport.

"Why does my wife take so many danged pictures?"

Well, that about catches us up. I've got to go work on wedding flowers and figure out how to round up a couple thousand bucks in earnest money in case we get this house. Anyone who wants to donate to the cause, give me a call!

Sentimental Sunday

5/3/09

Yeah. There's glitter on my new layout. I need some magenta glitter in my life right now, OK? (Doesn't everyone now and then? Well, maybe just former ballerinas and pageant contestants...)

So I've decided that every Sunday I should post a favorite sentimental photo, since I have oh, eight bazillion pictures of us. Here's this week's:

Dec. 30, 2005, St. George Utah. Madelyn had just turned one. We were having dinner at my brother Tyler's house. Monica always makes delish Mexican food. Don't you just love how bald Madelyn was? What a cute little face. I've already got enough photos lined up for the next 34 Sundays, so stay tuned!

Kai's funeral

5/1/09

Mark was able to fly out for our nephew Kai's funeral in North Carolina, which was on Wednesday. It was a special event and there was a huge outpouring of support from friends and family, since the Yoder family had lived there for 30+ years. (Mark was born and raised there.)

I didn't explain how he died before, but now that I have the full story I'll give you a summary. Last Saturday, Kai was outside with his squirt gun shooting water at plants and bugs and stuff. His dad Emil, the bishop of his ward, had just returned from officiating at a funeral and was doing yardwork with the weed eater in the front yard. His mom Kathryn was getting ready to take a meal to the family who had just had the funeral. She had to go back into the house to get something, and when she started backing up the car to leave, she didn't realize that Kai was right behind her. The wheels ran over his chest and she jumped out of the car. She thinks that Kai passed away within 30 seconds of the accident, but still they called paramedics and did CPR.

The paramedics were there within 5 minutes and raced him to an intersection, where a helicopter came to pick him up and LifeFlight him to Norfolk, Virginia. They continued CPR and tried everything they could to resuscitate him, but nothing could be done. He was officially pronounced dead about an hour and a half after the accident.

I'm sure their family will continue to feel like there's a big hole in their lives, but Mark said they have been very strong in their testimonies that they will be reunited with Kai, that it was his time to go, and also that his Heavenly Father had been preparing them for this event for the past year. It's a comfort to know that there's a bigger plan, but we are still sad for those left behind! Lots of love to the Mosters!