Sports, and its amazing power.

I love sports. All kinds. I am competitive when sports are on the line. If you knew me in high school, you know this about me. I was nuts. Crazy. Mean sometimes. But I also had experiences like what you will see in this video. Sports get crazy sometimes, but then it does this. Watch the entire thing.
http://www.upinspire.com/inspire/78/your-faith-in-humanity-will-be

The four P's

Poop. Pee. Potty. Pray.

That's about all I have been doing since Thursday evening. That's when I decided it was time. Time to take the plunge and potty train Zach. Brian was out of town, I had four days to myself. I could devote every waking minute to him. So after talking to Zachs amazing baby sitter, getting her agreement to help, it was on. We drove to walmart, and Zach found cars underwear, a cars toilet, funny stickers, a cars potty chart, and a gun that made noises. Oh and gummy bears. We were ready. 

THURSDAY 

We tried setting a timer every 15 min and going potty. Not working. At all. There had to be another way.

We were getting ready for bed, and I told Zach that we were going to wear big boy pants in the morning because diapers were yucky. He looks at me and says "ewww" ,"gucky". Haha this kid. So we read his bug book for the fourth time that day, said our prayers and he went to bed. 

FRIDAY

Holy hell this was the worst day. 

Thursday night I was talking to my cousin. She and our other cousin trained all 8 of their kids with the three day training method by Lora Jensen. Her philosophy is positive reinforcement. As soon as I learned that, I knew it was something I would be interested in. I love PR. Rewarded for doing something is how Brian and I have raised Zach so far. The reward is either a praise, or object, but it allows him to chose for him self. One thing we try not to do is say, Zach if you do this, then you get such and such. That doesn't work well. It doesn't allow him to chose for him self. We just reward good, chosen behavior, and don't use bribes. So that's what her method is all about. 

First you throw away all crutches. All of them. Pull ups, diapers, everything. If you are going to do this thing, then do it right and don't have something to fall back on. Easy enough. So we were done with diapers. Another thing she talks about, is don't set a timer. It doesn't allow them to recognize their own body signals. Well that answers my question from yesterday. So that was easy, I didn't have to keep track of time as much. Cool. The not so cool thing, is that I have to just let Zach roam around in his underwear, and when he has an accident, I rush him to the potty. Her theory is that if he has an accident, and mom rushes him to the potty, the connection will be made that he needs to go pee, in the potty. Makes sense to me, so I went with it. She also says that you can't leave your child side. At all. Not for one second. Boy was that true. I would turn around, and in that time he had peed on the floor already. Geez. Then she also said, to change the way you ask if he needs to go potty. Two year olds want to be independent. But they also want to please you. Boy isn't that the truth. So there were two phrases I had to use, thousands of times. "Zach, is your underwear dry" and " Zach, tell me if you you need to go potty" 

Her reason behind telling him to tell me if he has to go potty, was that they want to be the one in charge. You ask if they have to go potty, then they are going to say no.  I didn't agree with this 100 percent, so I asked, " Zach do you need to go potty, (he would usually say no) then I would tell him to tell me when he needed to go, which he always replied, "o Tay". That seemed to work ok for us. So that's pretty much her concept. Anytime he had an accident, and finished in the potty, he got a sticker, gummy bear, and funny enough, the biggest motivator for Zach, was the chance to flush the toilet. So that's what we went with. 

We quarantined ourselves in the kitchen, cause I didn't want to clean pee off the carpet, and went to work. I literally went to work. I work from home, so moved my office to the kitchen table and I between, power points, emails, phone calls and incentives, I was running back and forth to the potty, washing underwear, and asking if he had to go potty and if his underwear was dry. His toy box was moved to the kitchen, and away we went. Basically, he would have an accident, we would rush to the potty, with no success. 12 hours straight of this exact thing. Underwear was hanging everywhere to dry. I went and bought 12 more pairs when uncle kevin was here for ten min. We went through a lot of underwear. 

The theory is all based on positivity. I had to be positive about everything, and constantly praise good things. If his diaper was dry, praise. If it was dry five min later, praise. If he sat on the potty with out whining, praise. Constant praise. It was exhausting. 

The entire day was exhausting but we made it. Barely. Bedtime came early for Zach, and I had to check out for the day. So I watched five episodes of breaking bad. Day one came to an end. I was discouraged, but decided to check some forums. It seemed like this was normal. Everyone had the same issue in the first day. But they had success the following day. That helped. Whew. Day one is done.

SATURDAY

I usually wake up and Zach is already awake. I didnt want that to happen now. I wanted to be awake, and catch him as soon as he woke up and put him on the potty. Thats what I did. And he went potty. Our first success. HOLLA. It may have been an accident, but you better believe that I hailed the praise on him. Laid it on, like it was snowing in December. He was so excited to flush the toilet, and to put stickers on his chart. He is into the number two, and asked for two stickers, so I gave him two and he loved it. Then to top it off, I told him that because he went potty, he gets a gummy bear. He ran to the pantry, and asked for two. Ok well I guess this is what we are going with. Two. Bam. Our first success.

I had primary practice that morning so my mom was going to watch him for a few hours. What a wonderful woman. To volunteer to watch a potty training 2 year old. Wonderful mom I have. He had an accident at her house before  I left, which gave me reason to worry. But it was nice to take a small break. Four hours later, I walked in my moms house to find him in the same underwear as I left him in. He stayed dry, and went potty once!!! Seriously, my mom's cooler than yours. This was so exciting for me. I had no plans that night, and thanked my mom, took Zach home, and had a new, positive outlook.

I put Zach down for a nap, he woke up wet. Accident number two. Dang. But, looking for positives, his exponential growth in accident/success ratio was wonderful. So when he woke up, I asked him if his underwear was dry. He looked at me and said "gucky". Praise the heavens, a connection!!! So we went potty, and I decided to give him some more freedom. I opened the kitchen to the rest of the house. Daring, but Zach knows when I am trying to pull something over him, so we opened the house up. Here we go. 

No accidents the rest of the day. I continued to ask about potty and his dry underwear. Every hour or so, I would casually go to the bathroom, Zach would follow and go potty. Boom. Flush, sticker, gummy bears. Bam bam bam. Progress yo. Progress. 

But Sunday was looming. Church, a drive to tooele and a family party. We would be gone 12 hours. Shizzzzz.

SUNDAY

He woke up wet. Dang. He had two accidents in the morning. Double dang. We headed to church. In tooele. I put on his undies, his plastic pants, and off we went. We got to the church, I took him to the potty. Boom success. Church was over, we went to the potty. He didn't have to go. We got to my aunts house, took him potty. Success! Dinner, chatting, playing, and packing to go. One more success before we left and we were on our way home. Whew. Almost made a successful, two hour round trip, with no accidents. 

As I said earlier, Brian was out of town which is a major reason I decided to do this. I was able to devote all my time to Zach. So Brian left the country for five days, and I kept saying to kevin and
Kirsten, how cool would it be if Zach was potty trained by the time Brian came back? Well we went home, I went to pick up Brian from his parents, and showed him Zach going potty. Boom. Wife of the
year. So Sunday we had two accidents, and more than plenty successes. All while Zach and I were sick mind you. Forgot to mention that. I have an amazing boy.

MONDAY

Called in sick. Gah elephant on my chest. Let's see how today was going to go. In short. No accidents.  Well one poop accident, but I don't count those yet. We aren't that far along.  So no accidents, all successes. Totally worth the anti social life weekend. If you want to do it, do it. Don't go half hearted into it. Get rid of the clutches, and devote every min of your life for three days to your kid. It's worth it. Bam.  Now enjoy some pictures.

Laser gun/sword as the end incentive- he loves it and is defiantly his fathers son.

His cars potty seat. It makes raising noises and applauses. He loves it

My organized OCD had to take a a step back here. His independence to put these funny stickers anywhere stepped in. Not a battle I cared about. 

Gummy bears. Don't worry. He won't get cavities and he is potty trained. Win win. 

This is what we both felt like the first day. Gah!!!

Half the number we went through the first day.

Yeah...

And of course....my sister...brains on her shirt and undies on her head....

Sibs

I have these friends. They are weird, crazy, loud, obnoxious and my siblings. But they are pretty cool. And we have an amazing relationship. 

Max- this guy is not the 14 year old sailor moon nutso that I permanently have him pictured in my brain any more. He is a college student. He is a returned missionary. He is a democrat....I think. He is also going to be a husband. But to me he will always be one of my best friends. We have a unique relationship and its changed over the years. If you were know us now, you would never guess that we were bitter enemies years ago. But high school started, and we had to drive half an hour to school together. You bond over cold, icy, scary road trips to school. Now, we have the type if relationship that is unbreakable. We can be totally open and honest with each other with out fear of offending the other person. When max is being ornery because he has school, work, and a wedding coming up, I can tell him to lighten up and stop being so ornery. Yes he will get mad at me for a bit, but it's like clockwork. With in 24 hours I get a phone call from him apologizing for his ornery ness. Clockwork. Brian once asked why max and I were so tense with each other one day, and I just told him that before I went to bed I bet max would call. He did. He is a good guy. I try to do the same to him, but am probably to as good. I love how we read each others mind, and can keep each other in check when needed. 

Eric-if you have the chance to meet this man, your life will be better from that day on. Eric has the highest personal integrity of any person I have ever seen. He knows what's right and what's wrong and don't even try to sway him. He won't budge. If you have him as a friend, it's for life. He isn't always the most positive kid in the world, but after you yell at him for a second, he gets it. He needs reminding, but he gets it. I have been missing him like crazy lately. He brings balance to our siblings. When Emily is over and we are screaming and yelling and being obnoxious as crap, well he and Brian keep each other call and collected in order to handle us. Good man Eric. Love his guts. He and I were buds growing up. Played all sorts of games together and had many adventures. He was my test subject. If I wanted to see if something, like pulling someone behind me on a bike while in a wagon, or skates, he was the one to try it with me. Meet him. He will make you a better person.

Emily- oh Emily. Where should I even start. We finish each others sentences, randomly start singing the same song, and are down right nuts when we get together . One of Max's friend, and ours too, Janice went mini golfing with us this weekend. It was for a bachelorette party and Emily and I were trying to stay under control. Janice was talking to us and said she has never seen us this calm before. Em and I started using up. That made us sound like we are insane at all times. Which we pretty ,ugh are. Emily has the drive of a....well...of Emily. It's unreal. She is always striving for something. When she works at something, it's with 100% at all times. Se is the best. Love her guts. Even if she sleeps like a sloth, and shortens words too much. I am going to spend the next five days with her in Arizona, and can't wait. She is my little sister. Cross her, you cross me. If you want to make me mad, make her cry. Max, Eric, Brian and Kylie, are the only ones that can tease her. She is our little sis and we take that seriously. . Love ya em.

My week as a mother of six

My week as a mother of 6.

Whew. Ask me three things. 

1. Did I ever put make up on?

2. Is the laundry I started Monday, finished?

3. Is my house clean?

Of course not!!! Don't ask me such stupid questions. It's been an exciting, enjoyable busy week. I am not cut out for it. Give me a room full of 36 3rd graders any day. But a house full of 6 kids ranging between the ages of 12 and 2.... I would tell you to ask me in a few weeks. I am not cut out for this everyday of my life. Haha I had a lot of respect for my aunt before this adventure. She has incredible children. 4 boys 1 girl. All potty trained, all polite, well mannered, helpful and kind. Zachs room was cleaned up every single night. Every night we would have a movie night. The living room would be a disaster. All I would say is that we need to clean it up. Ten min later, a blanket was laid out to sit on so popcorn stayed off the carpet and everyone was in their Jammie's and beds laid out.  Seriously these kids are amazing. I raise zach the way Martha is raising hers because i look up to her so much. So let me tell you about our week and then I will tell you why I can't do 6 kids. 

Sunday night- my family is close. Extremely close. We have an extended family that is far superior to yours. And don't get me started on my grandparents. Each month we have an extended family home evening. This month it was at my uncle Johnny's house. Martha and I had decided we would just trade cars at home evening so Brian and I drove our truck just in case we couldn't trade cars and needed to squish all the kiddos in the cab....or bed. The was great. We talked about love and the different types of love. It was great. Afterwards, we went outside and traded keys, cars and spoke with Martha about the following week. The kids said their farewells, and we drove off. The kids have never seen our house before so of course the drive home was a barrage of questions. "How big is it" "is it bigger than your other one cause that thing was tiny" "is it haunted" (this freaking question comes up all the time for two reasons. Martha is obsessed with ghosts and things. Also max and Emily are idiots and tell four year olds about ghosts and that my basement is haunted) "how many rooms" "where are we going to sleep" "does rylie live with you" (she is our black lab). Anyway the list goes on but you can imagine. Brian and I answer all their questions, all while admiring, and concocting a plan to steal their 2012 Honda pilot that we now have keys too. 

We arrive at our house and the kids automatically start critiquing it. But when we walk in....that's when it goes nuts! My teacher brain looking back, would have stopped the kids before we opened the door, asked them to touch their ears if they can hear me, and explain some rules. One at a time, take of your shoes, put them on the shoe rack, line up your bags behind the couch, ect ect. Instead this is what happened. Door opened, and boom! The yogurt exploded. ( get it. The yogurt has so much energy built up, and when you open it, the yogurt explodes everywhere). Shoes where everywhere, bags where dropped, and kids went flying. Two down the hallway, two down the stairs, and two got run over. We stopped them. Explained the official tour would take place after all the shoes were on the rack, and the bags were lined up behind the couch. After two min of regrouping, the tour took place. Nothing exciting, except they loved Zachs room. Everyone was getting settled, then Brian got a phone call. We gave Martha the wrong key.....  An hour later, after all was exchanged correctly, we settled in for our first night in. The kids were all laying down, things organized, the homework packets were on the kitchen table and the plan for the following day was set in place.

MONDAY- I showed the kids where the cereal and milk were so when they woke up, they could feed themselves. I woke up and heard some rustles in the kitchen.  A few of the kiddos were eating, some where sleeping, including Zach, and we were on our way. Immediately the questions of what we were going to do today started. After some thought, we decided to go to the park. That lasted an hour. At the park, we burnt out butts in the flaming slide, dug holes, and Zach sliced his knee open and had blood running down his leg. We went home. It was now noon. Lunch was made, and a call was put  in to my mom. "Help" " I need ideas for this week" after a good convo with mama g, we had a weeks worth of activities. I began making sugar cookies, and pulled out my 100 different cookie cutters. You better believe we used all of them. Or what seemed like 100 frosted cookies later. That took a good four hours and kids were satisfied. Homework was done, kitchen was prepped for dinner, and Brian just had gotten home. My savior. These kids think Brian is a god, and swarm to him. S it was nice to not have to entertain when he got home. I snuck out to the gym after dinner, and the kids were watching a movie when I got home and ready for bed. Day one was a success. After I had Emily bring me extra wii controllers.

TUESDAY- the kids asked what we were going to do today, and my teacher brain kicked in. I gave them a schedule, told them we needed to go get swim suits, when we were having lunch, and that we were going to do some water games at my moms. (We actually were suppose to go swimming but that didn't turn out till thurs so we improvised at my parents. Max was a life saver here because I am the organized, fair, keep the peace rule maker. He is fun. Plain fun. Played all sorts of water games with the kids) then we were going to go back home. But in the meantime, they were in charge of what to do while I did chores. I am all about physical activity so my rule was they couldn't do the will till after our outside stuff, so in the morning, a hurricane went through Zachs room. It was a fun day, and I totally spaced doing the 5 year olds homework so vowed to do double time wed. My mom was great. I asked her if she would mind watching Zach wed and she graciously offered to watch him so I could take the kids to a movie.

WED- we woke bright and early, dropped Zach off at grandmas, and headed to the theater. On,y after buying illegal boxes of .99 candy stuffing them Into my oversized purse. Cinemark has a movie club during the summer, where previous g or pg shows are only 1.00$ per person. We saw Dolphins tail, all sharing one med drink, and having our own box of candy. The four year old was great, wiggling a ton and making random noises sometimes, but great none the less. We survived, made it back to the car all in one piece, and I patted my back for taking five kids to the store and theatre with out having any tears, wetted pants, or losing anyone. Successful day.

THURSDAY- today we actually went swimming. One kid less. This family is a soccer family. The 8 year old had a cache valley tourney, and left wed night. So we sun screened up, life jacketed, all made it I. The car, towels and all, and went to pick up my mom. Her friend and mine, Diane Gardner, was kind enough, and brave enough, to let me bring five kids swimming inner amazing pool with her two cute granddaughters. We dove, squirted, swam, played basketball, and got soaked. It was great, and a fun adventure. I know have experienced taking five kids to a death trap....which is a swimming pool. No tears where shed....except for Zach. He is a water wuss unless its in the tub. No one drowned. No one was sun burned, and all the toys were put back. Successful day.

FRIDAY-I am dropping the kids off Friday morning and then putting together a shower for my sister I law, Kylie. Good week. Exhausting but good.

Sorry this is so freaking long. Have to say, Brian is a saint. He could tell I was stressed, had a HUGE migrane tues, and didn't complain once about dinner or the house being a mess. He would come home, help with homework, play with the kids, and then let me go to the gym. Seriously, I married an all star. 

Also, these kids, again, I can't say it enough, are unbelievable. Best kids you will ever meet. S easy, wonderful kids. But they are kids. So why don't I want this many? Because. This is why.

1. Holy expensive.- they eat non stop. Non stop. Zach will have snack time, but it's usually like a cheese slice, or a gogo apple sauce. But having six kids and a snack time, two hours after breakfast? I was shocked. Huh? You just ate. You don't need a snack. That's crazy. Haha no it's not, but I just didn't even think of snack time and 6 kids.

2. Repeating myself. In a classroom, you have all the same aged kids, and you can practically make them listen to everything you say. All at once. But with kids aged 12-2, their attention spans, and hearing, and needs are all different. They would all be fine, sitting in the front room, when I would walk into the kitchen. One would see me pour myself some water so he needed water.  Another would see one kid leave, follow and see me pouring the first kids some milk. Ask what I was doing, and then ask for a drink too. Then. A third kids. Same thing. Finally the fourth or fifth kid, would come in, ask what I was doing, and I would sarcastically say, " what does it look like I am doing" . Man I know. But just because one is thirsty, why does it make all of them thirsty. Or need a snack or have to color, or what ever. 

3. Zach was the devil. Ok not the devil, but he needs a sibling or something because he didn't like sharing the attention. I lost count of how many timeouts he was put in for hitting, yelling, throwing a temper tantrum ect. He and the four year old flat out didn't get along. Which is weird, because usually there is not a problem at all. I want my sweet, calm child back.

4. My house is a mess. Just a total disaster.

5. Always having to do something. I don't know how many times I was asked what we were going to do now. Have time, my answer was, "rest" haha. Like I said, I am not the fun, sporadic cousin. That's max. I am a planner, organized cousin. So if I didn't have something planned, it was because it really was low down time. They colored, played in Zachs room, built towers, ect. It was fine. Imagination was blooming. 

Ok I don't have a ton of reasons why I do t want 6 kids, and in fact it was a lot of fun. I hope the kids enjoyed the self, but I am selfish. I didn't really get to hang out with Brian. Our conversations were mainly through text. 2 kids. I think that's my limit.

Fun week Martha. Let me know when I can do it again. Just give me time to clean my house, and make a bigger list of to do things. 

Sorry this was so long. Head over to Max's blog and he will give you twenty thousand cool points if you read this entire thing.  

Eternal Families

So there was some vast news in the media and The United States today. Monumental. Historic. The Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. (DOMA) An act, as it is, a democratic president signed into law, which has now been disbanded. We all saw this coming. It’s no surprise. And for those that it will benefit, I first want to say congratulations. It’s a great day for you. I will not take that from you, and I will not lie. I am happy for you. But I don’t agree with it. Shhhh. I have an opinion just like anyone else, but it differs than most. Don’t condone me. That’s the beauty of this country. I get my opinion, you get yours. We can’t change that. I am not a terrible person for believing something different and that doesn’t mean I also can’t be happy for you. Marriage is a wonderful adventure and I hope all works out for you. But I don’t agree with it.

I have gay friends and family members that I love and support.  I wish them the most happiness in their new future. And three weeks ago, I didn’t know what I believed. I didn’t know if everyone should have the opportunity to marry or if it should be man and wife. But I got my answer, like a punch in the face. It came and I couldn’t ignore it.

Now just before I get into defending my belief, please know, this is not a hate post, or an anti-gay marriage post. This is a religious belief, backed up with my testimony. Not political. Please don’t try to argue with me or start any debate. I just felt like I needed to get this out there, mainly for myself.

I was sitting in Sunday school a few Sundays back, semi listening, semi candy crushing it up. I have to say, our wards Sunday school is remarkable. I have been in a lot, and sometimes topics can get contentious, but mine is wonderful, and civil. They use documented scripture as all references, not book author quotes. We were discussing how to Be Valiant in the Fight of Faith. This was the title of a talk given by Elder Bruce R McConkie in 1974. Basically, the concept was fight for your faith. It’s not hard to pick that up from the title. But still, fighting for your faith is tough. Especially in today’s world. We have so many things fighting back, to tear down our faith it whatever it might be. One that I truly was struggling with was gay rights. I don’t hate, or think ill of those that chose to live that lifestyle. As I said before, I have many friends and family members that I love and support, but just because I love and support you, that doesn’t  mean I agree with your choices. That’s where I was really struggling. How can I support them, but not agree with them? I couldn’t wrap my mind around that. But then when I really tried to find the source of my confusion, gay marriage kept popping into my mind. What would I do if I had to vote in this? I honest to goodness didn’t k now what I would do. Until this talk. We didn’t cover the entire talk, because the lesson wasn’t on the talk, it was used as a resource. But I was curious. In his talk, he had this wonderful quote.

“Now there neither are nor can be any neutrals in this war. Every member of the Church is on one side or the other.” (McConkie)

This was written 30+ years ago. So obviously he wasn’t speaking about gay marriage or gay rights, but he was talking about the world and the war against all that Satan brings into the world. So it helped me realize that there is no gray zone. I don’t support gay marriage. I support my family and friends though. I don’t believe it is right, but how am I, just a single woman in this world, to judge them for their own beliefs. I can’t. It’s not my place. But I don’t have to believe in their belief, just as you don’t have to believe in mine. It doesn’t make me a bad person. Nor you to believe or even live differently.

Then, this same talk had this in it.

“To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to take the Lord’s side on every issue. It is to vote as he would vote. It is to think what he thinks, to believe what he believes, to say what he would say and do what he would do in the same situation. It is to have the mind of Christ and be one with him as he is one with his Father.” (McConkie)

If I have a testimony at all, it’s one of Christ. So to be told that in order to be valiant in my testimony of him, I should take his side, I already knew my answer. His side is the side of eternal families. I should vote the way Christ would vote, which is to uphold the sacred bond of marriage between man and wife.  No neutrality. My view is one sided.

I pulled up the The Family: A Proclamation to the World and ironically….Ha there is no irony in when new scripture is given, it was release one year before the original Defense of Marriage Act was even signed.  The church was preparing us, even before the country defended marriage. Obviously they knew that this would come to be fought years in the future, and this document hold strong in my life.

The biggest aspect in the Proclamation that stood out to me was this paragraph.

” The Family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Presidency)

I am happy for those that can now be married. I don’t want to take anything away from you. It’s a great step for you and worldly, you have been granted something that you’ve strived for, for years. But my religion comes first, and I still hold that marriage between man and women is what matters. It’s eternal. That will never change. The gospel is solid, and that will never change. I love the gospel, and without a doubt, know now where I stand as far as my belief is concerned. I will vote as he would vote.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

McConkie, Bruce. "Be Valiant in the Fight of Faith." www.lds.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jun 2013. .

Presidency. "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." LDS.org. N.p., 23 9 1995. Web. 26 Jun 2013. .

 

Spring spring spring.

I love winter....for about two days. Then I get tired of shoes, hate my socks and get tired of the knots my hair gets in because of the hoodie I have to wear at all times. Oh and...drivers that think because they have four wheel drives, they can stop on a dime...cause their brakes are connected to their four wheel drive....wha....
Anyway, am not a big fan of winter, the cold and shoveling. But spring. Oh glorious spring. How my love for you grows each march. How do we know its on its way? Here is how!!!!
1. The snow to grass ratio is very much in favor of the brown, mushy grass.
2. Motorcycle gangs are out and about and making me jealous of their fresh air intake.
3. I don't wear a jacket outside anymore, even if its still cold.
4. I get to juggle, kick, and pull muscles again playing soccer in my backyard.
5. We can BBQ till 8 pm with just the light a plenty from the sun.
6. Rylie gets to play outside again!
7. FLIPFLOPS!!!!,
8. Family parties start getting planned and in the works.
9. I buy my siblings birthday presents. This is silly but this is the time I know it's on it's way. Our birthdays are feb march apr and may.
10. End of level test notifications are being sent out.

I had to at least get to ten. Sorry if that was lame. Haha thanks Kylie!

Novel Whore

Just as a precautionary step, as always, readers read at your own risk. I hide nothing, I may swear, I may offend, and I may ruin some books that you may not have read…or in this case, some movies too. You are warned.

I love books. Ask Max. But not just any book. I have a hard time picking up any old book and reading it. Nicholas Sparks, I am sorry. I have tried. I love you. I love your movies, but when it comes to your books, I can’t do it. I am, as you could say, a deeper meaning book whore. I can’t just read a book. I bury myself in it. The characters become my best friends. The mentors in the books become my mentors. Their trials are mine. Their feelings are mine. Their deaths….well don’t get me started….they are traumatic…..Half Blood Prince nearly ruined my fore coming senior year of high school. My brother and I talk, debate, delve, destroy and make everything more than what it probably was meant to be. We would be EXCELLENT English teachers. So reading a book that doesn't do that to me with in the first chapter…sorry…you’re dead to me.

But, keep reading, as I am fair. I have this personal belief, and let me emphasize, PERSONAL BELIEF. Doesn't make me right, doesn't mean you are wrong. I LOVE THE USA for that reason.  I believe that if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain. I didn’t vote, so I try to hold my tongue when it comes to our current Mr. President. Now don’t get confused, as this makes sense in what my blog tonight is about.

I watched the final chapter of the Twilight Series tonight…..see I can’t even remember its true name. Why did I watch it? Well some have said it was good, others have said it wasn’t. I see BAZILLIONS of post on Pintrest making fun of it, or comparing it to Hunger Games and Harry Potter, but I couldn’t complain because I haven’t read the books. Granted, I did read the first one….grudgingly. But I read it. It was good. It was an easy read. It was fine. But I had no desire to finish it. Yet, I had seen the movie after I read it, because that is generally my rule. Read a book, before it becomes a movie…..then I was trapped. Not the good trapped, but the, well I already started, I might as well finish trapped.  I saw the first movie, then the second, third, and finally the fourth this evening. Or fifth? I can’t even remember how many there are.  ANYWAY, wow I am getting off course. I finished the series. I wasn’t up at midnight at any off them, except one, to support my cheer leader sister and her dumb fundraisers. AND I PROMISE YOU, I STRAIGHTARMED A GROWN WOMEN. She was acting IDIOTIC and pushing me to the side and I stopped, put  my arms straight out and yelled KNOCK IT OFF. She of course ran right into my arm. It was the best part of the entire show. My point is, I have now seen them, all of them, and can now REALLY bitch about them.  Kind of. WARNING. This is me complaining about the movies. I have only read the first novel. I UNDERSTAND they may be different.

Harry Potter. I am a FULL HEARTED FAN. I have an actual acceptance letter AND wand on display in my front room for the entire world to see. I almost have my second collection of books, and three copies digitally. They are in my blood. My idol, Hermione. Not because she has a boyfriend, not because she is pretty….BECAUSE SHE IS THE best role model EVER. She stands for so many lifelong lessons. And yes, I am going to list some.

1.       Love is Loyal- Hermione stood by Harry the entire time though ALL the shit he had to endure.    She is the Samwise Gamgee of the wizard world. The true hero. We can all learn from her dedication to her family and friends. No matter how hard a situation became, she was there.

2.       That you can’t Apparate in or out of the Hogwarts grounds.

3.       That looks aren’t important

4.       Status quo’s are stupid.

5.       Love. Love with all your heart.

6.       Remember the better good. Study your ass off and you will become a rock star.

7.       Sacrifice for those that you love. Seriously, what did Bella give up? She tried giving up her family, but Stephanie Myer can’t write a book that ends with anything sad….assuming the book was like the movie. Hermione gave up her ENTIRE life. Her parents, her previous life, EVERYTHING, for the better good and her best friend. I cried a lot during this part of the novel. Probably as much as I did when Dumbledore and Dobby died. It was heart breaking.

8.       That she and Samwise gamgee, Katniss Everdeen and Bolt, would be on my Zombie Apocalypse team.

She and the rest of the Harry Potter family stand for so Many things. I am struggling to put my love and devotion in words, so use this as proof.

So JK Rowling. Thank you. Thank you for showing that love conquers all, but that it was to be fought for. It doesn’t come easy, and tradgey falls. Thank you for giving us hope in all things and not making anyone sparkle in the sun.

Suzanne Collins.

Thank you . Just Thank you. All those that believe these novels are based on sadistic, child killing plots. You are wrong. You are so wrong. These books couldn’t be more filled with political puns. But beside the political issues that are involved with in these words, the Hunger games has taught us so much more than that.

1.       Family comes first. This is a duh. I like to think I would do the same. I volunteer. Love you Em.

2.       Trust what you are good at. I am not good at most, and hate Emily for all her talents. But I am good at a few things. I can cook, I am great with school aged children, and I am patient. Brag Brag Brag. But I am. Oh and I am one hell of a parent. Have you seen how well behaved my child is! He listens, obeys, cleans up after himself, AND poops in the toilet. Trust what you are good at, and go after them.

3.       Trust your feelings. Katniss had thousands of feelings. But she trusted them, thought through them. Acted as best she could based on her feelings.

4.       Fight for what is right. UM DUH. She does that pretty well I think.

5.       Smile….even if you don’t feel like it.

6.       LIFE IS ABOUT WAY MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAN BOYS AND CRUSHES.  The end. High School ends. Boys leave. Life goes on.

7.       Politics Matter. Stay informed. Find out facts, and not just the facts that go against the party you don’t like. Keep yourself truthfully informed, and don’t jump to conclusions.

8.       Your past doesn't have to determine your future. I love this. Is so true. I will just let you think about that.

www.gurl.com/2012/08/16/10-life-lessons-hunger-games/

So If you need to look for a great role model, that truly teaches you great things. Here you go. But I am not finished. I must list what Twilight teaches us. And I have to say, I truly tried to look for the good. It has some great aspects.

1.       Love is everything.

2.       Stick by your family through all your trials.

3.       Keep your friends close and treat them well.

4.       That’s all I can think of, but I am open to suggestions.

But what did it really teach us?

1.       You should marry an old, rich guy.

2.       Love two men at the same time and tell them both.

3.       Continue to go to high school over and over and over and over…cause high school is such a blast.

4.       Having a boyfriend is the most important thing.

5.       Treat your family and friends like dirt, just to be with your boyfriend.

6.       Lie to your parents ALL the time.

7.       If you are Liam Nesson’s Daughter, the best revenge for being taken, is to become a vampire, tattle on the Cullens, and then get your head ripped off, because you admitted to making a mistake and took personal responsibility.

So yeah, it teaches us a lot of good things.

But the thing that truly sparked my thoughts about blogging about these topics. The ending scene of the last Twilight. This huge, emasculate, bloody battle. People were dying. Good, close people….crap…I mean vampires. They were dying…..then it turns out…..it never really happened. It was just a future reading. NO ONE DIED. Well except for Liam Nesson’s daughter. Not even the bad guys were taken down. NO ONE DIED. I sound evil for saying this. And Brian thought I was pyscho as I was shouting at the screen, “Why didn’t anyone die? Serious, this is terrible writing! No one died.” I think were my exact words. Brian’s response…”well it’s a love story.”

False. It’s just terrible writing. I must say, some of the worst days I have had were as followed.

1.    . When Leslie Burke dies in Bridge to Teribetha. I was SOBBING. Absolutly SOBBING as I read this. I have never cried that much before. Not even in Les Mis.

2.       When the little boy in Les Mis, sacrificed his life and was singing as he crawled out of the bunker. I LOST IT. COMPLETELY LOST IT.

3.       When Dumbledore dies….and never comes back. I was at a point where I didn’t believe it. I knew he was coming back. It couldn’t be true. This man was my third grandfather. The man I look to for life advice. He can’t be gone. He can’t be out of my life.

4.       When Dobby dies. Seriously. If you didn’t cry, you have no soul.

5.       And of course….when Prim dies. Enough said.

Of course there are so many more deaths in novels that touch and reach us. But these five. These five were my family. I loved them as much. I related to them. They were my family. And these authors killed them. Why? Why would they do that?

TO MAKE THE NOVEL HIT YOUR HEART. That’s what a good novel should do. It should tear you inside and out as you read it. You should see your own life in them. You live and breathe for the characters.  The authors of these novels create a sense of family, and trials that you struggle with  and they throw even more emotion into your life, by killing these characters. Not to ruin your sense of hope, but to make them real. They are as real as you are. They die. They aren’t immortal. Stephanie Myer doesn’t have the balls to throw that emotion into your hearts. The only emotion she gives you, is horny. Great lesson. Thank you for your contribution to education and life purpose.

Thanks for reading. It was mega long and I am sorry. I am sorry if I offended you. The Twilight series is great for those that want to escape reality and read something cheesy and easy. But if you want to be affected, and lose your heart in what your read, don’t try these….at least based on the movies.

Tada.