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A note to all: Christmas posts to come. Tyson is once again redoing the computer, and I never know when I'll have access to different hard drives or programs. "What?" you say, "Tyson messing with your computer. No! Never!" Oh, yes. I wonder what programs and files I will be without this time :)
I don't know exactly how I got conned into it, but somehow I agreed to play in an alumni Lady Dart basketball game last week.
Don't get me wrong. I love basketball. It's just that in the 15 years since my senior season at Davis, I've played, well, not a lot (to put it gently). OK, so there were intramurals at the U, and church ball if you call that playing. But I didn't even play church ball last year, so it's been a long time since I've touched a ball. I definitely didn't go play to demonstrate my skills (so do guys like girls with skills? :)) I was dreading it. Somehow since high school, I've decided that high school was horrible. It wasn't. But somehow I've convinced myself that I want nothing to do with high school. I think it's more the fact of what has happened to all of the relationships with people I was close to in high school. Regardless, I was not so much looking forward to it. So it turns out, I really like the people I played basketball with. I could actually still be friends with some of them. We had 5 of 7 from my graduating class show up, plus some from the years just after that I played with.
It really didn't seem like we had changed that much in 15 years. Some of you may beg to differ!
The group above is the starting 5 from the beginning of my senior year. It changed a lot as the year went on, but those 5 of us started for the first several games. Aside from the MANY comments about our age (mostly from the current high school students), we didn't look too bad. I did manage, in true Jodee fashion, to take a foul (the only one of the game might I add) on a lay-up, and land sprawled out in the bleachers. I wish I had pictures of the bruises and scrapes on my legs and elbows to prove it. All I could say was "I'm getting way too old for this!" We managed to win the game (with a lot of help from the current Davis Varsity team!), and isn't that what it's about in the end?
Tyson sent me this ad because he thought it was funny. I thought it was way too true to be funny! This is real life with a photographer....
Although Lisa was the first in the family to start a blog, it has only ever had one post. So I thought I'd share little Charlotte with the world myself. Thanks, once again, to Tyson for the amazing pictures. I couldn't blog without him! Without further ado, my beautiful new niece, born December 3rd:
I swear that I could blog something daily that Tanner says, like while snapping his fingers on his left and right hands, he became very upset and told me that his left snappers were broken, but the right ones were fine. But tonight, I had to laugh. We were in the car singing, and Tanner stopped us all and then very politely told Tyson and me that he didn't like our singing, so "please do snaps and claps only." You gotta love that boy!
Hope it's a great one, even with being old and all! Love you always!
Jodee
Finally, SNOW! OK, so I'm not the one cheering for the snow. In fact, aside from a few winter sports I enjoy, I could live without it, especially with kids and carpools and Christmas shopping and on and on. But if you had seen Tanner outside on the first day of snow (if you can call it a snow day) that didn't happen until the end of November, you would have been hoping for more snow too. He came home from school with a whole 1/4" of snow on the ground, demanded to be bundled in his full snow gear, and then went out to make snow angels.
So then finally the real storm came a few days later. We bundled everyone up and headed out to play. I can't believe what a pain it is to get 3 kids ready for the snow! They were threatened with bodily harm if anyone asked to use the bathroom within the hour! But finally, Tanner could play!
And McKayla could make snow angels (Is that possible? The angel part from her I mean..)
And Tayler could demonstrate his security in his manhood....
So I need to get out and buy some "boy" gloves. He'll never remember, except when being blackmailed for large sums of cash when he's a teenager!
This morning, we were are laying in my bed talking:
Me: Tanner, are you a mommy's boy?
Tanner: Yeah, but I'm a daddy's boy too.
Tyson: Is Mom a daddy's girl?
Tanner: No (with a laugh)
Tyson: Then what is she?
Tanner: She's no one. She's just Mom.
That's a boost in the self worth category. Apparently moms are no one. Sorry to break the news to you.
This conversation was followed by me telling Tanner that if he kept jumping on Tyson, Tyson would get grumpy. He proceeded to jump on me, and the same threat was made about me getting grumpy. Tanner : "Mom won't get grumpy. She can't. She's a girl, and girls do not get grumpy." I think Tyson would beg to differ...
Apparently, if you touch the sun, you will "turn on fire." Tanner has requested of us all that if we plan to touch the sun, we need to have a glass of water handy to "turn off" the fire. As he said, "If it's on SpongeBob, it's true."
As if that isn't enough, Tanner has a lot to say about the family finances and food preparation. In a conversation with his grandma, they were discussing a family friend who is a service missionary at the Bishop's storehouse. Grandma explained that people who don't have money for food can get food there. Tanner thought a minute and said "I wouldn't like it if we didn't have money for food. Except sometimes my dad doesn't have any money, and sometimes my mom doesn't have any money. Then I would have to use my money for food. But I definitely wouldn't cook the food if I had to buy it." So that's how that works. Is that how Tyson gets out of meal prep? Like father, like son.....
Who ever thought that a 5 year old boy would have a preference before he knows what to call them? A few days ago, I got seriously fed up with asking Tanner every 3 minutes if he had to use the bathroom (to which he always replied "No, I'm just unsticking.") . My first thought was thank goodness I'm a girl. My second was boxers. He prefers to call them boxtops, primarily because that's what he thinks they're called. They apparently make you run faster because you don't have to stop to fix things all the time. Who knew?
McKayla was in a benefit horse show a couple of weeks ago (yes, I'm way behind, don't get me started....) at Saltaire, the stable she takes her lessons at. She did amazing! She rode Freckles in three crossbar rounds, and took 2nd place in two of them and 3rd in the other. She looks so stinkin' cute when she rides!
Well, Halloween has come and gone. McKayla dressed up as a Geisha, Tanner as Dash from the Incredibles, and Tayler as a fireman.
It was a great day for the kids. OK, so it was a good day for me too, if you can over look a few minor disasters. Tayler managed to find a tube of chapstick. He then managed to eat it before I noticed. Yum! All things considered, I think I may have overreacted slightly to his initial warning signs (Who, me? Overreact?). He's not as bad as Tanner, at least not yet.
McKayla went to Texas for the UEA break. It was her first time to fly there and home alone. It should have been an easy trip, but she missed her return flight (a direct flight from El Paso) and had to fly to Atlanta, stay for a layover, change planes, and then head home. It ended up being a 13 1/2 hour day in airports and airplanes for her. Poor girl! It all sounds so OK now, but if you talked to me while it was happening, you know I wasn't so OK. Tyson used the word "Fury." As long as it wasn't directed at him he could say it with a smile! Luckily, I got to do some batting practice with a couple of friends from my softball team on my way home from the airport. Thanks again, Rafe and Krystle! Hitting the ball was just the outlet I needed! You guys may have saved my husband some bruises, or at the very least, saved damage to my personal belongings. Let's hope Thanksgiving goes a little smoother!
.....try, try again. It seems to be the motto of my boys. Impressive you say? Consider that what they are trying to succeed at is driving their mother insane. Those of you who know me well know what a nightmare Tanner was from about 8 months until about 4 years or so. You also know that when I found out I was having another boy, I cried for at least 2 weeks (actually the next 5 months of pregnancy, really). So you should find it to be no surprise that any hint that Tayler may be becoming another "Tanner" would send me to the looney bin. I'm about there! I'll give you some examples of the unfortunate similarities:
1 - Diaper Removal: Tanner was infamous for taking off diapers when he had filled them, particularly in his crib. So we resorted to duct taping them on (for real). For the past few weeks, Tayler has begun to do the same. We got lucky for a long while, with all of the diapers being just wet. Unfortunately, last Friday, our luck ran out. Every time I walked into Tayler's room, it really smelled. I took out all of the diapers in there sitting around, but no luck. I opened the window. No luck. Then I remembered finding him with no diaper that morning. No, he couldn't have....but he had. I looked at his crib in panic, and found a small smear on one of the slats. In fear, I pulled the crib out, and there it was, down the wall, the base boards, and best of all, in a pile on my carpet! I'm buying stock in duct tape.
2 - Artistic abilities: Some of you may know of Tanner's innate artistic talents. He could decorate anything most permanently with a marker, including walls, doors, furniture, himself, and yes, even his friends. It all began with the front of one bathroom door. So yesterday, I found Tayler with an orange (non-washable might I add) marker, coloring the same said door. I'm a master at removing permanent marker however, and will just have to invest in another case of Off Skintastic Mosquito Repellant....
3 - The Escape Artist: Tanner began opening doors, dead bolts, toy packaging (yes, even the mom-proof kind) and everything else at about 18 months. He would run out the front door before I even knew he had moved. So, now that Tayler's 18 months, he, of course can do the same. We have, again, invested in a full stock of annoying baby-proof door handles.
Tayler had so much promise. He was so sweet and gentle and, well, easy. I guess it's my fault really. I let Tyson convince me it couldn't ever be the same. Sounds something like the reason we had Tanner 9 months and 5 days after our wedding....fool me once, shame on you.....Tayler's just finishing the job that Tanner so nearly fulfilled.
It seems like every time I turn around, my kids are more grown up. In fact, I think they believe they have surpassed my level of intelligence, and so must now teach me. Take, for example, the conversation I had with McKayla the other night:
McKayla: I think that C.S. Lewis, Judy Blume, and Beverly Cleary are my favorite authors.
Me: They do write fun books, don't they.
McKayla: No, Mom, I think I like them because they use very good word choices. (Said in a very you-wouldn't-understand sort of way.)
Excuse me for believing that my eight year old was just looking for a fun reading experience.
And then there's Tanner. He loves to say the family prayer. In fact, he'll beat anyone up who tries to stop him. I'm not sure how that all plays out in the eternal scheme, but we're glad he is so determined to pray. His general routine goes something like this:
"Thank you for this day. Please help us to be a family together forever. Please bless McKayla for all of her sweetness. Please bless Tayler for all of the joy. Please bless Daddy for going to work and earning money. Please bless Mom that she can have power to clean the house better. Amen."
Apparently, I have no sweetness, joy, or work ethic... I just need to get the house clean. I realize he's doing it to be sweet (probably stemming from the "All I do is clean all day long and all you kids do is undo what I've already done" comments he hears on a regular basis), but come on. I don't think it's being answered!
Now you'd think that Tayler would be incapable at 18 months of showing me he's in charge, but if you've seen his "dirty look" that he now does even on command, you'll realize that he too is way beyond me. I guess that's life. Someday they'll all turn 21 and realize that I'm not as ignorant as they thought. Or maybe not......
OK, so it totally wasn't a competition. And if you make all things equal, Tyson beat me. But because all things weren't equal....I BEAT HIM! Not that it matters.
So, anyway, Tyson and I ran a 5K on Saturday. Here's why it wasn't equal:
- I've been training for 7 months
- Tyson's been training for 5 weeks
- When I had been training for 5 weeks I wasn't even running 1/2 of a 5K in a row
So, I have to admit, Tyson is my hero. He's never really run in his life, and here he is, 5 weeks into it, running 4-5 miles a night and registering for a 5K. He would have beat me by a mile, literally, had you put us both at 5 weeks of training in a head-to-head. And still, I only beat him by less than 10 seconds.
Tyson ran the race in 28:07 and was 13th in his age group, 54 out of 82 overall. He's amazing for how long he's been running! So runnercard has my time as 28:00, but as I ran across the finish line, I looked at the official clock which said 27:55. I know 5 seconds doesn't matter, but when you hate running as much as I do, 5 seconds does matter. I'm claiming the 27:55. I was 7th in my age group and 28th out of 105 overall in the women's.
What I can't believe is that Tyson can run so much, so soon, and is losing weight and loving it. I have been running for much longer, not losing weight, and hating every minute of it. OK, not every minute. I do enjoy the 15 minutes after a run when it's over and I have that sense of accomplishment. Then I start to think about the fact that I have to do it again, and I hate it again until the next run is over. This is why I have to gloat. I need something! Deep down inside, though, I know that Tyson is the real winner!
I suppose I'll play along primarily for fear of some mysterious curse that will overrun my life if I choose not to obey the "tagging" rules. Thanks a lot, Marlene :)
5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:
1 - Beginning my last year of graduate school at the U (go Utes!)
2 - Working at The Garden restaurant as a waitress
3 - Being a nursery leader in a student ward (anyone who's done it knows...)
4 - Working like crazy on my Master's Thesis (Don't worry, I won't bore you with the details, although Patellofemoral Dysfunction is a prevalent problem....)
5 - Probably worrying about something :)
5 Things on my To-Do List Today:
1 - Drive the never-ending Spectrum carpool. Who'd have thought 10 miles a day could be so miserable?
2 - Prepare a "Preach My Gospel" lesson for a new-member discussion (I've got 4 hours, what's the rush? :)
3 - Buy a Preach My Gospel manual (shoot, I need that before #2!)
4 - Make dinner
5 - Take a nap (it's the last thing on the list - I never really get to it.)
5 Songs I know the Lyrics To:
1 - CD 2, #5 (for anyone who doesn't ride in my car with my children, that would be John Mayer, The Heart of Life)
2 - CD 3, #12 (again, if you are ignorant to my children's description, that would be Ben Folds Five, I Am the Luckiest)
3 - All of High School Musical 1 and 2
4 - SpongeBob Theme Song
5 - La Bamba (who knew? Thanks Mrs. Huddleston, 8th grade Spanish!)
5 Things I Would Do if I Had One Million Dollars:
1 - Pay off all debt......
2 - With the $20 left I would....just kidding. I'd hire someone to drive my carpools!
3 - Save
4 - Eat out at nice places (my kids call Training Table and Chili's "really nice restaurants." I bet we could do a little bit better than that! )
5 - Travel
5 Things I Will Never Wear Again:
1 - Units (Thanks again, Marlene, for the ever painful memory of that trend!)
2 - Body Suits (it's like a wedgie waiting to happen. Who ever came up with that fad?)
3 - A BYU shirt....(ok, so maybe I'm not THAT diehard. It's just fun to poke at you Y fans.)
4 - Neon (another painful trend...)
5 - High waisted, pleated, plaid pants. Who comes up with these things?
5 Favorite Toys:
1 - My ipod
2 - My computer
3 - Jogging Stroller
4 - Photoshop
5 - Elliptical
5 People I'm Tagging:
1 - Summer (because I know you read! Thanks for the comments. Sorry to drag you into this.)
2 - Amanda
3 - Gini
4 - I have no other blogging family or friends......how sad!
McKayla and I were lucky enough to get to go horseback riding in Park City last Thursday. First of all, I haven't been on a horse in 10 years, and very little even then. But how hard could it be, right? I watch McKayla every week at riding lessons and while I know it's work, it looks pretty easy. Well, it is easy if you just let the horse do what it wants and bounce around the saddle the whole time. That's what I do, apparently. If you want to look good doing it, you actually have to work hard. McKayla looks so good when she rides. I don't!
The ride was absolutely beautiful. We began at the Park City ski resort and rode up to the top of the mountain and then looped back around. It was about 2 hours, which of course left me quite saddle sore :) We got to trot and canter instead of just walking the whole time which really made it fun. The leaves are beginning to change and were beautiful. It was gorgeous to look at a mountain side that was still green and lush with splatters of color throughout. The weather was perfect...it was just a perfect day.
To make it even better, we got to go with my parents, better known as Grandpa Joe and Grandma Valerie. McKayla couldn't have dreamed up a better day, and honestly, neither could I!
Tanner finally made it to Kindergarten! The "first" day was on August 29th with the rest of the grades, but then the Kindergarteners got another week off for some pre-testing. I was supposed to be filling out papers during his test, but I got so distracted listening to him, I nearly forgot my work all together. Mrs. Hoffman, his teacher, asked him to count as high as he could (I'm sure expecting 20 or so). So he starts and keeps going and going and going. It went something like this: "twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty eight, twenty niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine, thirty" and so on. He sure hold those nines! His teacher stopped him just over 100 and asked him how high he could count. He proudly replied "Two hundred three." What?
Well, then the real first day was yesterday. He was a little shy, but very excited for his first day without mom. When I came back to get him, I asked how his day was. A very excited Tanner proclaimed, "It was the goodest day ever!" So much for worrying! Although apparently he told his teacher that if he didn't bring his homework (a collection of words from boxes, wrappers, etc. that he recognized) back home with him, his mom would be mad. Am I that bad? Oh well, all in a goodest day ever.....
I've been resisting the blogging world for so long, but I've succumbed to the pressure. I began to wonder, if something happens and it isn't blogged, did it really happen? Do my kids exist if their pictures aren't all over the internet? Am I a real person if I'm not an "e-person"? So here I am. It's a little like scrapbooking to me. I have all of the supplies and albums, but I haven't done a single scrapbook. Where do you start? At this point, I'm so far behind I'll never catch up. So that's my plan. I'll never catch up, so I'll start today. That's not to say a little background info is unwarranted.
I'm the mother of three wonderful children. McKayla is 8 1/2 going on 15. No, seriously. The eye rolling, exasperated sighing, and 
you-aren't-smart-enough-to-understand-me attitude have already begun. She really is a sweet girl, but wow! She loves horses and takes English riding lessons. She just began 3rd grade in a new school so she can participate in a special accelerated program. She's just a good, overall kid.
Tanner has been my fireball. I should have blogged his early life, because I can hardly remember the misery of it anymore. He's now 5, a new kindergartener, and an amazingly sweet little boy. We've always said, though, that his hair color comes from deep within - no genetics involved. He has certainly earned his red hair. He loves x-box, puzzles, and weapons of all varieties. In fact, anything that could be somehow used as a weapon is alright by him.
Tayler is our sweetie! At 17 months, he definitely has his moments, but he is overall a very mellow, loving boy. He's also one big kid. He made it to 21 lbs at 4 months, but it slowed down and he's just a big, happy toddler. His blue eyes melt my heart. His nickname is "Bubbo" because that was what he called himself (baby) in pictures for a while.
My husband, Tyson, is perfect. Just ask anyone. He works in the mortgage industry, a scary place to be right now! He also is a photographer (see the Legend Photography link) which will aid my blogging. He really does just about everything from building computers to building a house (and decorating it!). That doesn't mean I don't get extremely frustrated by him on a regular basis. He's still male, after all.
So, this is my life - kids, home, and family. It's not much, but I love it.
