Grateful Sunday

I am SO grateful for family vacations. Not only do they strengthen family relationships, but they give me a pick me up and help me get through some of the mundane tasks of every day life. This last week end Dave, the kids & I spent the week end in San Antonio. It was such an amazing vacation. The drive alone is so much fun. For 5 hours we get to chat with the kids and with each other. Many a great talks have come from our driving to and from vacations! Anyway, Dave had to go down this week end for the Southwest Dental Conference so we decided to tag along. We had so much fun at the Hyatt Hill Country swimming, building sand castles, roasting marshmallows, hiking, & just being together as a fam. We also had so much fun hanging out with Heath & Chelsea Snell and spending the day at Sea World with them. Here are some fun pics of our trip...

Austin & his game ball

I wanted to capture how Austin felt about getting the game ball at his baseball game. He was SO excited. Oh! and don't mind his great manners of totally talking with food in his mouth :)

Grateful Monday...My Father-n-Law

Austin's last picture with Grandpa...

Chase's only pictures with Grandpa. We named Chase after Wayne and he is already so proud to carry his name.

Although it seems longer, 3 years ago today my father-n-law passed away. It was such a hard time for our family & especially for Dave. But since then we have learned to reminisce about the amazing times we DID have together and find joy in just remembering. I want to thank Wayne so much for being the amazing father he was to Dave (& all of his siblings). I know without a doubt Dave is the incredible husband and father today because of the example of his dad (& mom of course). Dave has verbalized so many incredible lessons he learned from his dad like: "Always say your sorry. You are never a lesser person for doing so." , "Have balance in life. If you keep choosing the SAME things time and time again chances are you are choosing incorrectly.", and most of all he taught Dave to LOVE the gospel. For these and so many other amazing things that would be impossible to verbalize I am thankful Dave was blessed with a father like Wayne. Although his time was cut short here on the earth...without a doubt he left an imprint on everyone he knew that will never be forgotten. We love you Wayne and know we will see you again.

Stuff...About Me of Course

No I am not making it a habit of posting wickedly ugly pictures of myself on my blog. I just thought it would be funny to encourage all of those who follow suit in making a post like this to include a picture of themselves making the ugliest face they can.

I got this from Mo's blog...

My roommate and I once: lit the street on fire in Provo. Pretended we were homeless and sang songs to see how much money we could earn. Pretended our car broke down to see if any cute guys would help us (anyone wanna guess the roommate? :) ) I know they are all SO wrong on so many levels. This would actually build a strong case for anyone who might have thought we were crazy.....

Never in my life have I: watched an entire Indiana Jones movie. I have seen bits and pieces of a few of them on TNT, but I have yet to sit and watch one of the movies from start to finish.

High School was : fun & filled with self-made drama (I have mad skillz at bringing drama)

When I am nervous: i bite my nails or make sarcastic remarks

My Hair: is chocolate brown. I went from frosty highlights this summer to my super-dark natural color. (My nephew asked if I was going Goth or E-mo. What the?) Oh well! I will pretend that my dark natural color is sophisticated and sexy... he he!!

When I was 5 : I lived in Bountiful, UT. I was in Kindergarten at Oak Hills Elementary and Mrs. Rose was my teacher. I spent every moment I could with my two best friends Mary Jane & Jenny. We played Barbies, house, & wrote notes to each other. I wanted to be like my older sisters who so nicely let me hang out with them sometimes if I cleaned up after their parties :)

When I turn my head left : i see my own cute kids & the cute neighbor kids playing in the toy room together.

I should be : a better mom, more organized, more patient, more selfless, and on...and on....AND ON!

By this time next year :we will be out of school and have a job and starting a new life! We will be living in AZ and hopefully pregnant.

My favorite Aunt is : Favorite Aunt? Impossible to say.

I have a hard time understanding : people who are judgmental and unforgiving.

My ideal breakfast is : Whole wheat piece of toast, small glass of Naked juice or small cup of fruit and a big glass of water with my vitamin or oatmeal with a tiny bit of honey with honey crunch wheat germ sprinkled on top or a whole wheat waffle with fresh strawberries & powdered sugar on top or a bowl of granola with fresh fruit & yogurt or an omelet with ham , peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc....If you can't tell I LOVE breakfast!!

If you visit my home town : of Mesa, AZ it would be hot, hot, hot!

If you spend the night at my house : we would probably stay up way too late, eat way too much, play games, laugh our heads off, & fall asleep watching a movie.

I shouldn't have been : so quick to volunteer to be room mom at Austin's school. I have NO IDEA what I am doing and apparently it is a pretty BIG deal (much bigger than the responsibility I had of doing it for Austin's preschool). Any advise from past and present room mom's or other PTA mom's out there would be appreciated!

Last night I: ran some errands while Dave took the boys swimming for some Daddy-Son time. I made & cleaned up dinner. Gave the kids baths & got them ready for bed, read scriptures & stories with the boys, did sticker charts and put them down for bed, I then watched Oprah and folded clothes while Dave was at the gym, then stayed up way too late talking to Dave in bed. It was a good night....

A better name for me would be : Phenelb? After all that IS what everyone calls me anyway :) Others have been known to call me dramatic, snotty, and some unmentionables. Although my sisters call me RippenDollyGoreEsLandBockBarbGlue. Oh the insanity just makes me smile....Love you guys!!!

I've been told I look like : This anchorwoman on Channel 8 news. I have yet to verify, but she must be hot... (you can now picture me laughing hysterically at my own joke).

Just Your Average Baseball Game

6:00 baseball games on school nights are tough. Especially since Blake is usually in bed by 7:00 and Austin and Chase are in bed by 7:30 , but during soccer & baseball season one night a week of chaos hasn't broken us yet. We make the most of it & just enjoy our time together ;) I will post some action shots of Austin playing soon!

The handsome baseball player

Baseball player's sun block

Little Brother Blakey getting into trouble

Little Brother Chase playing at the park

Tired Blakey landing a ride on dad's shoulders

Grateful Sunday

Okay this pic was taken a year and a half ago when I was about 8 months prego with Blake, but it demonstrates my point so well. Today for my Grateful Sunday post I am so grateful for Orthodontics. What you say? Grateful for Orthodontics? Well, not only does Orthodontics just make the world better to look at, but I am so grateful Dave has chosen it as his profession.
We have been in school for as many years as we have been married. It has been a long road filled with many wonderful and some hard times. But, nonetheless I feel like Dave has been guided the entire time to this profession. As our time as students is quickly coming to a close, with hindsight I look back at how many times we were blessed and lead to be exactly where we are today. I am so proud of Dave for all of his many sacrifices he made to be as successful as he is and I am so looking forward to entering the world of professionals and doing all I can to help him continue to be successful. Not only am I looking forward to actually making money, but looking forward to a 9-5 work week that almost doesn't exist anymore. So today I am thankful for all of the people that spend their careers helping other people feel and look beautiful & grateful that my husband gets to be a part of that. I am grateful for such a great profession that can provide for our family & still allow him to spend a ton of time with us too.
Happy Sunday Everyone & Smile Big!

What movie are you?

Your Love Life is Like The Princess Bride

"Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind." For you, love is like a fairy tale - albeit a fairly twisted one. You believe romance is all about loyalty, fate, and good, big, goofy fun. Your love style: Idealistic yet quirky Your Hollywood Ending Will Be: Perfectly romantic

What Movie Is Your Love Life Like?

The Cucaracha

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!Thanks Leslie for showing me a movie I couldn't resist doing myself :)

Random Sunday Pics

Just a little glimpse at random events in our every day life...


All of the handsome men in my family

Austin telling me "What's up"

Blake "Good no one is watching. I am going to get into the wipes and see if I can get away with it"

Chase with his only true love...his star wars guys!

Austin "Mom stop taking pictures of me...it is annoying"

Grateful Sunday

Today I am grateful for the many days of my life that I have woken up healthy and completely been ungrateful for. I have been in bed for the last 4 days with a severe kidney infection. For those of you who care, my roller coaster of sickness goes something like this (For those of you who don't skip down to my summarizing paragraph):

Monday- "Yowza! My back hurts, I must have worked my back pretty hard at the gym"

Tuesday-" Hmmm, that's weird my back is still sore. 'Hunny can I have a back rub?' {to myself} Interesting rubbing my back doesn't even help. I wonder why my back is so sore?"

Wednesday- "Crap I am in a lot of stinkin pain I think I am getting a kidney infection"

Thursday- I wake up "Oh no. I can't move. I have to move. I am a mom and how can I get sick? The show must go on. I better just make it through the day"...I make it through then Dave gets home.
"I am really cold I need to take a hot shower. {45 minutes later I get out of the shower} I am still freezing I better get under a blanket (or 3)" {meanwhile Dave heads the gym the kids are down and he returns to find me with a 104 temp underneath a pile of blankets.
Dave calls in a script for me (hopefully none of you reading this will report his "unethical" prescribing of drugs to the Rx police cause he saved my life) anyway, he wakes me up gives me 4 ibuprofen & my script. My fevers breaks & I lay wet in a pile of sweat.

Friday- I wake up "I really can't get out of my bed. I better call my sister to see if she can take Austin to school" (BTW I forgot to send Austin with his project we worked on last week & he got in trouble...sorry babe). Austin gets to school via my bro-in-law and my sister heads over with Cheetos, fruit snacks, juices, eggo minis, the list could go on. Chase & Blake were in heaven. They ate more than I had ever seen and I was too sick to care. She threw dinner in the crock pot and I knew all was being taken care of so I unknowingly fell asleep. When I woke up my house was clean, the dishwasher was running, the kids were asleep for nap & everything was quiet. So I drifted off again (thank you so much Sue I love you!).
2:30 I wake up again feeling freezing..."oh no I know what this is I am going to hurry and hop in the shower again & get under the covers" Just as I thought another rapidly rising, death wishing fever. Dave came home & rescued me....our good friends came over and gave me a blessing and the rest of the day is a blur.

Saturday - A familiar morning with fever coming, breaking, & leaving me in a pile of sweat. I think "Hmmm this probably isn't a good sign if I am still running high fevers after 24 hours of antibiotics." {Dave reluctantly leaves for work & to do his surgeries for his research project}
My sister Sue & friend Becky head over in the morning to take care of the kids & in person force me to the emergency center (meanwhile other sisters & my sweet mom via phone are doing the persuading). I head over and pee in a cup. They confirm what I already knew and upped my antibiotics. The Dr. also let me know that my infection was so severe that it had begun the early stages of spreading to my blood & iI was beginning something called "sepsis". That is why the antibiotic couldn't fight it fast enough & I was still going through the fever/chills cycle after so much time.
"This can't be good right?" Feeling badly already I bend over and get a needle in my bum to get a strong antibiotic shot intramuscularly. {other pokes and prodding followed to mention them would be overkill- and don't act so surprised I am worried about overkill}.
Obviously it wasn't too sever or they wouldn't have sent me home.
The rest of the day is a little bit of a blur (although I did wake up long enough to feel guilty about handing my sharing time responsibility off to someone else).

Sunday- I can move. I am feeling much better and I haven't run a fever since yesterday.

(Shame on you for all of those who skipped to here :) )
Okay, so being sick helps remind me of the thousands of days of my life that I have woken up in tip top condition and never thought about how lucky I was to be healthy. I am thankful this infection will be short lived & it could be so much worse. I am thankful for my general good health & healthy happy kids. Too bad it takes a bout of a "stop you in your tracks" sickness to help remind me. So to all of you who woke up healthy... Be grateful too :)

Love to all!

Snack Attack...

Cucumbers with laughing cow light cheese (or tuna sandwiches)

Laughing cow light cheese, ham & carrot shreds

For all of you moms with kids in preschool and elementary here are a few ideas for some fun (& healthy) lunches & snacks:

Remember - fresh, raw fruits and veggies are always a great choice! They are the original "Fast Food"!

When looking at cereals, crackers, and granola bars - remember to look for whole grains, and healthy carbohydrates have two friends - PROTEIN and FIBER! Read those labels! Many snacks targeted for kids contain very little protein and very little fiber, and often have lots of sugar! These snacks give a burst of energy (sugar high) and leave our children feeling tired and hungry again quickly. When a snack food or lunch has protein and fiber, it provides a slow and steady release of energy when our kids need it most!

Get your kids involved! Have them look at the labels with you. Even little ones LOVE to be "Label Detectives". Teach them what you're looking for and they will remind you later! A good rule of thumb is "4's". Aim for around 4g each of Protein, Fiber and Sugar. Happy snacking!

Here are a few suggestions for sneaking healthy ingredients into family meals:

Add finely chopped vegetables and herbs to chicken, tuna, scrambled eggs, omelets, and salmon salad.

Add parsley and other herbs whenever you can.

Instead of discarding the water left over from steamed vegetables, use it to cook rice and other grains. After you have steamed your vegetables, pour the liquid into an airtight container and store it in the freezer. When you're ready to cook your grains, defrost and use.

Add sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, or flax seeds to vegetables, casseroles, pastas, and sandwiches.

Add lettuce, cucumbers, shredded carrots, celery, or sprouts to sandwiches.

Add a teaspoon of flaxseed oil to salad dressings, yogurt, applesauce, and other foods to provide your child with the essential fatty acids necessary for healthy cell function and brain development.

Blend steamed vegetables in tomato sauce and pour over pasta.