Princesses and Politics

As sort of a Christmas gift for the girls, we got tickets to see Disney Princesses on Ice. I didn’t tell them about it until a couple of weeks after Christmas, so I don’t think they really realized they were for Christmas. It was really a lot of fun. Two of my sisters-in-law and their daughters came with us, and It was so cute to see how excited they all were to watch the show. The first five grandchildren on my side are girls, and it is so nice that they can all be such good friends. Kaylee and Ashton were a little disappointed that we didn’t get any souvenirs, but it’s hard to buy into the mania that is Disney when a cup of lemonade costs $10.00 because it’s in a “special cup”. I think that company is doing well enough without help from me thank you very much. We rode with my sister-in-law Natalie and her daughter Rachel and the girls were sitting in the back chatting away about how they “can’t believe that real Princesses were coming all the way to Henderson Nevada!” Ashton has told me a number of times that she wants to be a figure skater when she grows up, and I could just see her imagining herself as one of the performers on the ice. She was transfixed! I do have to wonder how people decide to do a gig like that. During the Beauty and the Beast part of the show, some of the skaters came out in costumes that looked like silverware wrapped in a napkin. It’s hard to imagine a little kid dreaming of being ice skating flatware, but who knows. It was a really fun girl’s night out.

While we were gone Chris decided to fix the garage door opener. Shortly into the project he realized that it needed a new motor, which he couldn’t find, so he and the boys ended up getting a new opener. I have to shout his praises because he had it all assembled, and almost ready to put up by the time I came home. This is with the “help” of Dalin. Dalin’s helping consists of sitting on your lap and trying to take away your tools because he’s sure he can do the job better. Chris has become quite the handy man during our marriage. He really can fix almost anything, but I am looking forward to the day when we can just pay someone else to do it for us.

Yesterday Chris and I went to the caucus for our precinct. It was an interesting process, but I have to admit that I was pretty ignorantas to how it worked. I didn’t realize that the caucus was in lieu of a primary election, which makes me feel cheated out of my vote. Harry Reid, the senator for Nevada, was toting the caucus as this great thing, but it seems to poor way to represent an entire state. It was one hour, whereas in an election there would be early voting and a whole election day for people to have the chance to vote. Not to mention it was held on a Saturday which is the Jewish Sabbath. And unlike and unlike any other state, there were caucuses at the casinos so that casino workers could vote. No other places of business held a caucus so their workers could vote. It all seems a little fishy to me. As it was the first year that this was done in Nevada there was utter confusion. People were getting turned away if they were late, which shouldn't have happened and I feel like a lot of people didn’t get to have a vote they other wise would have had. Chris went to the Democratic caucus as well (he likes to be in the thick of things) and he said it was worse than the Republican caucus . It was completely unorganized, and nobody really knew what was going on. He saw one of our very civic minded neighbors, and she said she would never go to one of those again. It’s hard to believe that here in the 21st century there isn’t a better way to do I will now step off of my soapbox and bid you all a goodnight.

Docs and Crocs

Aiden has been using the bathroom a lot lately, I mean four or five times in an hour. Diabetes runs in Chris’s family and in mine and going to the bathroom a lot is one of the signs that you might have diabetes, so when I took Dalin in for his 18 month check up yesterday I asked the doctor about it. He decided to do a glucose test, so Aiden had to give a urine sample. When we got into the bathroom he seemed a little concerned and he was very sure he did not want to pee in a cup. I finally convinced him it was okay, and we returned the cup to the nurse. While we were waiting my nephew (who I watch sometimes) asked if he could have a sucker when we left. I told him that would be fine and Aiden said, “I should be the one who gets to pick a sucker first, I’m the one who has to have an operation.” No wonder the kid was nervous. I explained that they were just checking to make sure his body didn’t have too much sugar in it, and he seemed less worried. The test turned out fine and the doctor said Aiden has probably just gotten into the habit of going so often, so we should try to have him space it out more. Who knows how kids get these sorts of ideas in their head.

For Christmas Chris gave me a pair of Crocs. Now I think these are probably the ugliest kind of shoes ever, luckily for me they were too small so I had a reason to take them back. Chris beat me to it. He exchanged them for my size, then I felt obligated to wear them. I still think they are ugly as all get out, but they have helped my feet more than any thing else I have tried. I have a lot of pain in my feet and these shoes have really helped my arch and feet feel much better. The reason Chris got them for me was because he wanted some himself. I was going to get him some for his birthday and I found a buy one get one half of sale online, so long story short now everyone in my family owns a pair of Crocs. I get a little crazy sometimes. The shoes Aiden has been wearing are skate shoes (Street Flyers to use their correct name) so I am pretty happy for him to have some shoes that don’t require me to pull him around everywhere we go.

How old are you?!?

At dinner last night I told Kaylee to say “wow dad 35 is almost 40!” She made it even better with her ad-libbing when she said, “I mean if I were to round your age to the nearest ten it would be forty.” That line made me laugh the whole rest of the night. Chris managed to act offended and their conversation went like this:

Kaylee: “Dad mom made me say it and if I didn’t I think I would be in trouble.”

Chris: “Well we’ll see the kind of trouble I’ll give you.”

Kaylee (with a sigh): “It’s just a lose, lose situation for me then.”

That girl was on a roll, Chris couldn’t even pretend to be mad he was laughing too much.

Our primary presidency had our first experience with the first of the year changes. You know where everyone changes classes and teachers, and we get new sunbeams coming to primary for the first time. I think it went pretty smoothly, we even had a teacher present for every class. That is the first time that has happened since I became part of the presidency. I was having a fun time watching our new sweet sunbeams. Our Sharing time was about how we are children of God and we will live with him again. At one point our president was talking about how sometimes we know someone who has passed away, but that was okay because we can remember that they went to live with Heavenly Father. This sparked a rush of kids telling us of someone they knew who had died. Not wanting to be left out, one of the sunbeams said, “My mom died.” His mom had brought him into the primary room so knew that wasn’t true, but the little girl sitting next to him very mater-of-factly turned to him and said, “Mom’s don’t die.” It’s going to be a fun year.

Happy Birthday Chris!!!

HAPPY BIIRTHDAY TO CHRIS!!! Today Chris has reached the ripe old age of 35. Kaylee has been pointing out how close to 35 Chris was for about the last eight months, mostly to get a reaction out of him. I think it’s kind of funny so maybe I’ll have her mention how close he is to being 40 when she sees him tonight.

As part of Chris’s birthday celebration he wanted to go up to Mt. Charleston to play in the snow. This meant a week of trying to find any sort of snow gear for our family without spending too much. This is not an easy task in a place where there is barely a winter at all. My boys didn’t even have coats, they’ve been wearing fleece jackets all winter, and that has kept them plenty warm. After scouring the Goodwill and the second hand stores in our area, I had to finally surrender and buy some things at Burlington Coat Factory. It wasn’t too bad, and I bought bigger sizes so the kids can wear all of their snow gear for a couple of more seasons. The night before we were supposed to go there was a huge winter storm, and cars weren’t going to be allowed to come up to the mountain without snow chains or tires. As we are used to desert life, we had neither one of these things. I was ready to give up the trip, and I almost had Chris convinced that we couldn’t go. Then he and my brother teamed up on me, and the two of them ended up convincing me to go. After a mad scramble to find the right kind of snow chains and getting everything else packed up, we were finally on our way, and only an hour after our original plan time. When we got there the road we went up on was fine, and we didn’t even need to use the chains. We do feel prepared if there is ever a sudden blizzard in Las Vegas. We sorely underestimated the amount of time it would take to get eight kids (mine and my brothers four) all geared up to even play in the snow. After about a half hour every one was finally bundled and ready to go. I know there are those of you who get to see their kids in snow clothes all the time, but it doesn’t happen for me very often, and they all looked so dang cute. By the time we finally started playing there was only about an hour and a half be fore it started getting dark. It did seem like a lot of effort for so little time, but I think all of the kids were pretty done when we left. It was fun, and now that we are prepared, we will probably go a few more times before the snow melts.

Tonight we are going to dinner at the Claim Jumper. Chris has decided that is our tradition for his birthday, even though he doesn’t particularly care for it. I told him that it is his birthday and we can go somewhere else, but he wants to stick to tradition. I can’t explain his logic; I can only love him in spite of it.