SUMMER 2007!!!!

Girly Smiles

We Smokem' Peace Pipe!

After a 2 hour visit at the Pediatrician today we found out Quincy has an ear infection. She started wheezing from all the congestion so we have to give her nebulizer treatments (again) every 4 hours. She likes to take the nose guard off and put the whole hose in her mouth and when she exhales a bunch of smoke comes out. It's pretty hilarious. At least it appears to be working and hopefully she will sleep better tonight! Poor Baby!

Culvers...Taste How Much We Care

The best thing that has come from moving to the Midwest has got to be the discovery of REALLY fattening food. Who knew how good things tasted once deep fried? Living in Green Bay for a year introduced us to some of the better things in life...deep fried cheese curds, deep fried cheese sticks, soft pretzel sticks with cheese sauce, Max and Erma's (best restaurant in the world)...home of cheesy tortilla soup, butterburgers and frozen custard. Yes, the big blue billboard flashing the flavor of the day is not only a convenience to those of us who wait around for Just Drummy Day and Chocolate Cookie Dough Day, it is also a traffic hazard for those of us who will swerve across 3 lanes of traffic on an icy drawbridge at dangerous speeds to get there as soon as those magic words appear on the horizon. And no, I'm not thinking about the fact that everyone in Green Bay is fat for a reason...I'm thinking, "Culvers?! How do I get that creamy goodness in me?!" and I dig into my glove box for my extra "Team Scoopie" tokens.

There is a Culvers in Branson, Missouri.

Aaron's mom is here for the week, so Aaron and I (with completely selfish agendas of our own, mind you) decided Lynda might enjoy a day trip to see the sights in Branson. It's about a 2 hour drive, so we packed up the kids yesterday and headed out. First Stop, Culvers!

Can you believe that excitement?

We started Reese on Culvers as soon as she was old enough to hold a spoon, but this weekend in Branson was Quincy's first frozen custard experience. I actually feel like a better person knowing there is a Butterburger with Cheese (with the works minus the onions, extra mustard and salt) and Chocolate Cookie Dough Custard (What are the odds it would be MY flavor day?! destiny!) in me. It is happy food. I feel a little sad for my sister knowing that she is moving to california (not THAT sad,..I mean she WILL have In N Out and Super Taq) and leaving Denver where there is a Culvers down the street. Almost as sad as I am when I think about the fact that she has been on a diet the whole time there was a Culvers down the street. She has NO IDEA what kind of joy she is missing out on. BUTTERBURGER Amy. Seriously. What part of that word doesn't scream extreme goodness?



More good news? There are THREE Culvers within 9 miles of Dallas Texas! We're headed for Dallas on Friday for a wedding and I'm thinkin' we'll be taking a detour for some "oreo overload" baby!

We've Been Tagged!

7 Random Things About Us:

1. I am not laughing with you, I'm laughing at you. I feel no shame in the fact that I laugh at the expense of others. Don't be offended. That is just the way it is. Your misfortune brings me joy.

2.I've been to 3 U2 concerts...2 of them with Aaron. I Oakland, I was a freshman, and invited a guy in my ward to go with me and he showed up...with his sister and his girlfriend also...ouch! In Denver I got food poisoning later that night and ended up in the ER with Aaron holding my hair back as I puked. In Chicago it happened to be the concert they taped for the live dvd recording and somewhere out there is a DVD of U2 Live in Chicago 2005...look for us, we're in the $250 nosebleed seats and having an awesome time!

3. In High School:
Aaron- worked at a frozen lemonade stand at magic mountain and at the movie theater. He drove a moped to school, wore an acid washed gray tux to prom, played hackie sack and roller hockey in the street, and went by the name Chuck. (the name followed him to college too...I put the kibosh on that one. I think it's what sealed the deal in getting his parents approval to allow him to marry such a young squirt like me.)

I- sang in the Chamber Choir, and played Badminton and Waterpolo. I took violin lessons and voice lessons. I drove an 89 dodge dakota pickup (thanks scott) with the words "Honk for Senior Pride" permanently written on the hood with white shoe polish (thanks emily) and a dancing hula girl on the dashboard (thanks dave). I performed in productions of The Boyfriend and Into the Woods. My mom hot glued flowers in my hair for my prom and we spent hours the next day picking them out.

3. Aaron loves BYU football, UCLA, the Lakers, and gets a serious case of March Madness every year. (serious meaning every year we have several highlighted brackets taped to our living room wall for 2 weeks)

4. I have worked at several golf courses but have never been golfing. I have taught preschool, but never went to preschool. I have worked for childcare centers, but have never put my own kids in daycare. I worked at Coldstone when I was 19 and gained 12 lbs in 3 months.

5. We wanted 7 kids, but my doctor says I'll be lucky to have 5.

6. I quit a lifelong habit of biting my nails, in December. It was to be my new years resolution for 2007, but when Quin was born i just quit cold turkey. I am still working on my other resolution and am determined to finish the New Testament this year. Problem is, I keep finding other books (The Richest Man In Town, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Harry Potter #7, The Five Love Languages, A Room With A View) to read this summer instead. Ask me in a month if I am making better Biblical progress please! I don't understand how I can knock out a 700 page book in a weekend, but it is taking me months to get through the new testament!

7. Aaron is the most generous person I've ever met.

oops, i have two #3's...oh well!
I get to "tag" 2 people's blogs...so how about Janelle&Seth and Hollee Ann...you're "it"!

If you build it, they will come!

The best part of our summer is still to come...the visitors! Aaron's parents are coming on the 26th and will be here for 5 days! Then we are all driving to Dallas TX for cousin Brooke's wedding. I can't tell you how excited I am that we will have reinforcements in the form of a grandma for at least 1 way of the 5 hour drive to Dallas. Yay! Grandparents are the greatest! The drive really is not a bad one (except for the speeding ticket I got last time..$200 for going 80 miles an hour in a 70mph zone...lame!) but having a certain miracle worker in the car to play with darling Reese, well...that will be golden. Plus, i love a road trip, can't wait!
Then, as if having Aaron's parents come isn't great enough, MY parents are going to be here at the end of September! Fantastic! We promised my parents that every time they visit us in the summertime, we will take them on a little road trip someplace they've never been. Last summer we went to Branson, MO, and also to Nauvoo and Carthage, IL. This year we are going to Independence, MO, Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Far West and Kansas City. I found a B&B just outside of an Amish community for us to stay at. We are so excited and will post pictures of the fun all the parents had at our house as an attempt to lure more friends and family to come visit us in beautiful Bella Vista!

Flyfishing Makes Me Happy

Naturally, I couldn't pass up this great photo opportunity. Now you have a visual image when you read about my sleepy time conversations with Aaron.

But what exactly is he dreaming about???

Probably not...don't be fooled by the smile...pregnant meg is pretty mean, and kind of scary (not to mention, huge!)
Besides, Aaron passing out in the delivery room is MY nightmare, remember?
Oh wait...that one actually happened.

These two little ladies are too cute to NOT be dreaming about, but...

This is what he is probably dreaming about

Yep, that looks about right...except in his dream the trout are being reeled in on his line, not Jared and Steve's.

Hmmmm...what is going on in Aaron's head as he sleeps?
I guess we'll never know!

Adjustment to MY LIST

In response to a recent message you left on my voicemail, of course I miss you! Doesn't family go without saying so? Then again...the more i think about that question, maybe there are a few things I don't really miss about living close to family... but here are a few things that I DO miss about you, my dear brother, Scott.




You know, it's been awhile since I've had an Original Scott Lawrence birthday song. The last one I can remember is the Michael Jackson Megan-it's your birthday...and that was at least 2 years ago.



We should really work out some type of joint custody situation over the Pound Puppy, Scott. You know it's really mine...and now that you have Lacey to keep the white bunny company, the dog really should be mine for awhile.






This is scott on the day he bought his new car and happily turned the crusty 1989 Dodge Dakota Pickup (behind him) over to little sis. Thank you, Scott. I really didn't mind the blinker that had to be manually flashed, the broken automatic window that needed to be pulled up by hand, the constant smell of antifreeze and having to stop every 500 yards to put more water in it to make sure it didn't over heat. After all, it was a small price to pay for having the luxury of every spoon mom ever purchased neatly stashed in the glove box for my convenience...licked clean of course.

Did I fail to mention that mom's Christmas sweater looks lovely on you? You really should wear sequins more often. What was the bet you lost that resulted in you wearing it anyway? I notice that is Ariel Geuvera's little car parked way in the background...perhaps this was an attempt to ward off another one of my creepy high school boyfriends. Thank goodness for those "magic matches" from Kuletos that you gave me...i might have never found Aaron! :o)



Of course, if the truck had come with a cd player i wouldn't have been forced to steal your disc man to play all the cd's I stole from you. I owe my love for 80's music all to you, especially U2, the Cure, Erasure, and so much more. If I had not come into my marriage with a decent cd collection, I would have been subject to Aaron's taste and we would be listening to Midnight Oil and They Might be Giants right now. Scary. I know. Thanks for saving me.

Nothing like a little erotic dancing. That is Saul Turner hard at work my friends.

Trips to super taq...you know, I practically had to prostitute myself to get you that hat for Christmas. Luckily the amigos behind the counter go for the "Muy Bonita Gorditita" so HolleeAnn actually was the one who got them to give up their hat. But only after she told them you had cancer and to have your very own sweaty hat (stained with Ricos tacos de cabesa) was your dying wish.

So there you have it everyone. If you are one of the many who received the "My List" email from me....please mentally add in "my brother Scott" between "my sisters" and "tammy bevell" on the list of items I MISS.

And to be safe...even though I am unsure if Mark reads my blog...add in "my brother Mark" as well...because i do miss him too...a lot. I wish i had been there for your birthday! Happy 38th!

Silly Goose or Head Injury?

Reese: "Mommy, Mommy, I bonked my head!"

Meg: "Uh oh, are you ok?"

Reese: "yeah, I'll bonk it again."

Meg: "no, don't do that...you Silly Goose!"

Reese: "NO! I'm NOT a Silly Goose! I'm a....a Silly Kitty Cat!"

Miracle Drug?

(I just know scotty is going to have a hay day with this post)

I recently discovered Hylands Teething Tablets and would like to point out the Indications and Directions on the back of the bottle for those of you moms out there that might have a husband away on business as well.

"...for the temporary relief of symptoms of simple restlessness and wakeful irritability..."

"Please note...if your child has been crying or is very upset, your child may fall asleep after using this product..."

HELLO?! yeah what mother of 2 DOESN'T need some of this stuff handy? Are you kidding me? I am usually not one to drug my kid...but this product REALLY would have been helpful on my flight home last month!

"I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home...

...Glad as I could be"

Ok it is only tuesday. Aaron has left town before many many times...especially when we lived in Green Bay...but for some reason this time around has been a nightmare! The reason? Reese is temporarily crazy. And by crazy i mean CRAAAAZY...like the kind of crazy where you would use a silly voice to say crrrrrraaazy. I've heard many times that it is hard on the kids when dad goes out of town, but it has never really been a problem for us (well, except when Aaron would forget to tell me he was leaving and then would wake me up at 3 am needing a haircut and a ride to the airport and it would be -6 degrees outside and we had a sleeping newborn...yes, THAT was a problem, but we've put an end to that. All it took was one REALLY bad haircut, and a taxi cab) but this week I see why people say it is hard on the kids. Forget that! What they SHOULD be sayin' is that it is hard on the MOM. Reese actually BIT my cheek in sacrament meeting on sunday. Why? Oh that would be because she has been CRAZY since saturday...like CRAZY crazy. For those of you who know my sweet nephew tyler...it's like an on-vacation-sleep- deprived-tyler-after-10-suckers-on-christmas-morning kind of crazy. I am coping alright, but every now and then Reese and Quincy play tag-team and gang up on me (like in church, or at lunch today..there is nothing like a tantrum in a restaurant. And of course, my friends' children are all sitting angelically so I am the only one with out of control kids) and that is when i start to panic. I think my favorite part of church on sunday was when i took reese potty, and she slipped in a puddle on the bathroom floor, smacked her head on the toilet and after i finally calmed her down and helped her onto the toilet to pee, she leaned back to watch and the pee went clear out over the toilet and down the front of my new dress. Luckily Quincy had fallen asleep by this point, so I wasn't holding her or she would have been peed on! I want to emphasize that I love my daughters madly, but i have never been so happy to see nursery leaders and a bag of My Little Pony fruity snacks as I was sunday afternoon. I am hoping a good night's sleep will help the problem and Reese will wake up a happy, new person.

New Ward and New Calling

Our ward split two weeks ago and we are now in the brand new Bella Vista Ward! It's very exciting to see so much growth out here. The ward had just split before we moved in a year and half ago, and our stake split last summer, so it's amazing that it is time for a split again so soon. We had 18 people move into the new ward just last sunday! Anyway, new ward means all new callings, so Aaron and I said goodbye to Elders Quorum Presidency and Activities Committee. I was released from Cub Scouts right before Quincy was born. You know what they say about Cub Scouts...once you're in you never leave. It's like they put a tracking device in your recommend and and a red flag on your member number that follows you wherever you move so you can never ever escape. Because of this common knowledge I was certain I was going to be called back to Cub Scouts, but to my surprise I have been asked to serve as the Young Women's Personal Progress adviser. YAY! I haven't worked with the young women since we lived in Green Bay, and that was only for a short while because we bought a house in the other ward and moved. But I loved it and I loved serving the girls. I am very excited about this. I don't think I'll have the opportunity to teach much, but it will be fun to help them set goals and see them grow from working on them.
Aaron has been in Kansas City since last weekend and has managed to fly under the radar thus far. I'm sure he is hoping to be called to something a little less time consuming than his last calling, but he'll be singing a different song when he ends up as nursery leader or ward librarian.

New Look

We've given our blog a makeover. I was sick of the white text on the black background so I thought we'd go for something more bright and happy..which to me means PINK! I promise it will only stay like this until aaron makes a post an opts for something more masculine. Enjoy! Oh...and does anyone know how to fix my Links title? I can't get it to just say links...

Quality Time with Dad

I recently read the book, The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman for book club. The book separates the way we give and receive love into 5 catagories (or "languages") and the point is to be able to recognize what your love language is and what the love language is of your spouse, or family member and then make sure you are expressing your love for them in a language they understand. It's a very good book and it changed the way I think about how I express love, appreciation, and gratitude not only to Aaron, but to each of my family members. I recommend this book to everyone in a relationship with anyone.

Anyway, I got Aaron involved a little and we each took the quiz in the last chapter (yes it felt a little like a seventeen magazine quiz, but he was a good sport). The 5 languages one can be categorized into are Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Gifts, Acts of Service and Quality Time. I tied evenly between Words of Affirmation and Physical Touch (no surprise to anyone who has ever "validated" me or had me stick my cold toes underneath their warm butt while sitting "next" to me on the sofa) and Aaron's language was Quality Time. This actually surprised me, but over the next few days watching him play with Reese and Quincy, I realized it was right after all. Reese is daddy's little shadow. He takes her fishing, they go for walks, she "helps" him do yard work, water the garden, and he's teaching her how to golf (so far she's more interested in making a fort out of his sports net than hitting balls into it...but he's working on it). He is such a fun dad...here are a few shots of quality time in action.

"...More tea Mrs. Nezbit?"

He tries to balance out the tea parties with some X Box time. Reese still hasn't figured out that her controller is a decoy. Quincy is pretty indifferent as long as she gets to be held.