My posts have not been so high quality lately. I have another little project I am working on(amongst all the housework and child rearing and husband loving duties) that I simply MUST get done before we leave for Utah. Oh the pictures I long to post on here.....but that must wait until I have completed said project. At which time I will also inform you about the completion and results of said project will be shared here. Thank you for your patience.

Vacation, all I ever wanted.

We're coming!! We booked our flights after much hemming and hawing about what would be the cheapest yet do-able options. Flying out of St. Louis would have been cheaper, but an extra 3 hours of driving and leaving the car at the airport. We are excited to get out to Utah. Brady and I will come out before Carl, and we will all go home together. The week Carl is with us is going to JAM PACKED with visiting, playing, eating and golfing. No time for sleep for him! Brady and I will enjoy our time relaxing and playing with friends and seeing family here and there. Good times will be had by all. We hope to see you Utahns soon!!!

Better late than never, eh?

Here is a collage of Brady's 12-month photos in February.

Not for me, thanks.

I am SO thankful that I am not a single mom. God is pretty smart for intending families to be made up of one man and one woman. I realized not everybody is so fortunate to have the traditional family and are doing their best to make it work. I also wouldn't be too opposed to at least trying out plural family living. Not Plural marriages, but families. For each wife there is a husband. There is one Main house and each couple has a smaller but adequate residence in close proximity. The men folk would go off to their work. The women folk divide and conquer the womanly duties of a home while still leaving ample time for chatting and down time. It could work.....

Until that day comes (it's unlikely that it ever will, though) I'll still be thankful that I do have my husband as my helpmeet more often than not.

My Album Cover

Ever wanted your own Album?Ever wondered what it would look like?Well here is your chance.Follow the simple instructions below and you will create the perfect album for you!

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to http://www.quotationspage.com/ and select "random quotations"The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7daysThird picture, no matter what it is (barring inappropriate pictures), will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.This is a fun game. You should try it. Let me know when you do!

I always wanted to name a band "Sweet Abyss."

There's a snake in my bathroom!

I was getting ready one mid-morning to go out and about. Brady toddles in and looks into my curling iron/blowdryer/hair-fixing stuff drawer and says, "Nake" and moves his little fist about. I knew he was saying and signing something, but couldn't figure it out. "Nake" usually means "snake," but there wasn't a snake, or anything that looked like a snake, in the drawer. I'm finishing up my "do" (ponytail) and spray down the fly-away hairs with some hair spray. Then it hit me. "SSsssssssssssssssssss" Oh DUH!!! The hairspray!! It says "SSSsssssssssss" like a snake!!! He was saying and signing snake (index and middle fingers curved and hand moved forward in a snake-like movement) because the hairspray sounded like a snake. Those wheels are definately turning.

On a related note, he no longer says "Melmo" for Elmo. It's just Elmo now. Sad, huh? Although he does call popcicles "broccoli." He's working on it though.

I'm no poet

Yesterday I needed to SING! So I turned on some Jewel that I knew I could belt out. As I was listening to this song it seemed to explain that very moment in my life. I've bolded the lines that I stick out to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ois2GPVLUc
(skip past the coloring of the turtle drawing to hear the song)

You find yourself falling down
Your hopes in the sky
But you heart like grape gum on the ground
And you try to find yourself
In the abstractions of religion
And the cruelty of everyone else
And you wake up to realize
Your standard of living somehow got stuck on survive

When you're standing in deep water
And you're bailing yourself out with a straw
And when you're drowning in deep water
And you wake up making love to a wall
Well it's these little times that help to remind
It's nothing without love

You wake up to realize your only friend
Has never been yourself or anybody who cared in the end
That's when suddenly everything fades or falls away
'Cause the chains which once held us are only the chains which we've made

When you're standing in deep water
And you're bailing yourself out with a straw
And when you're drowning in deep water
And you wake up making love to a wall
Well it's these little times that help to remind
It's nothing without love, love, love
It's nothing without love

We've compromised our pride
And sacrificed our health
We have to demand more
Not of each other
But more from ourselves

'Cause when you're standing in deep water
And you're bailing yourself out with a straw
When you're drowning in deep water
And you wake up making love to a wall
Well it's these little times that help to remind
It's nothing without love, love, love
It's nothing without love
It's nothing without love

This life would be meaningless if there were nothing/noone to love. Even if you don't feel you have anyone to love, Christ loves you.