one THING i am THANKFUL for

It was a few months ago.  I was out grabbing a bite to eat with my daughter, brother and sister-in-law.  My husband was at work, doing his usual late night shift.  I had gotten used to him being gone during the evening, and missed having him around when I went out to do fun things with friends or family.  However, this night, I was more missing his help with our cute, energetic daughter.

My daughter is definitely a home body.  She loves to be at home, in her PJs, playing with her toys or watching her favorite shows.  It's stunning how she turns into a different person when we go out in public.  She gets really cranky and whines to go home constantly.  Her behavior makes doing anything outside of the home exhausting.

On this particular night, I gave my daughter my iPod in hopes of calming her down while we ate dinner.  I had given her my iPod plenty of times before and it usually worked.  Nope.  Not this time!  Instead of scrolling through her favorite apps, she threw the iPod onto the hard, tile floor, shattering the face instantly.

My brother just looked at me in shock.  We love all things Apple in our family, and when one of them gets ruined it's a sad, sad day.

I managed to keep my composure.  I put the iPod in the diaper bag, told my daughter that I loved her, gave her a hug and went on enjoying my dinner.

A few days later, I scheduled an appointment with someone at the Apple store to see what could be done.  I was basically told it couldn't be fixed, but that they would give me a brand new one at half off. I was disappointed it couldn't be fixed, but really surprised they were willing to give me a brand new one at half price, especially considering the fact that Apple was in no way responsible for the condition of my iPod.

I ended up declining on the offer.  Half off was a great offer, but we just couldn't afford it.  After all, I had learned that despite all the cracks, the iPod worked just fine.  And, amazingly, my daughter never asked to see it.  She used to love playing with the apps, but after it broke she lost interest.  Lucky for me since I wasn't about to let her use it anyway in fear she'd cut herself.

Now, months later, we're still using our shattered iPod just as much as we always did.  I'm so thankful that is still works.  I know that may seem silly, but I love my iPod.  I absolutely love to listen to music.  Music affects me in ways I can't describe.  I love putting in my head phones while cleaning the house, writing in my journal or just while I lay on the couch after having a long day.

So, instead of saying thanks to all the many people in my life that do so much for me (I already did that, anyway), today I am saying thanks to my iPod for still being there for me.

Looks can be deceiving.

P.S. My most recent iTunes purchase can be found here.  Love the song No Other Plans.

INSTAGRAM wednesday: the PUPPIES

I hope that some of you have noticed my efforts in updating this blog a lot more often.  It's been tons of fun, actually, but I still struggle with what to write about it.  Because of that, I'm going to give myself a break one day a week by having an "Instagram Wednesday."  Basically, it's a way for me to get in a post without actually writing anything.  

Here's some more info about these pictures.  The top one is Tod gazing sweetly at Isabelle as she ate her mac and cheese at the table.  It's very obvious he wants her to share.  The second one is the dogs in time out.  I love how their little bums are touching.  Classic!

Don't know what Instragram is?  Check it out here!  It's fun and free.

Monday Means "What the..."

The other night, my friend Becky e-mailed me a link to post she had read that she thought was just unreal.  She wanted my take on it, and even suggested I use it for one of my "What the..." posts.  I was more than happy to read the post, and was even more thrilled that she was helping me keep up my weekly goal of posting about my "What the..." experiences.

Anyway, you can read the original post here, and then the follow-up post here.  In a nutshell, the blogger writes about a disagreement that her friend and her friend's husband are having.  Becky didn't tell me about the post because of the disagreement itself, but rather the fact that this blogger would post about someone else's very private matter, a matter that has absolutely nothing to do with her.  Whether this blogger got permission from her friend to do so is unclear, but I'm going to assume she did.  

Another aspect of the post that was interesting was that people were commenting on it and giving answers and solutions with absolutely no other information than was given in the brief post.

My initial reaction to this post was that it was pretty bold for someone else to blog about it, rather than the people directly involved.  But, then I thought maybe this friend didn't want to blog about it herself, but did want the advice from other people.  Mind you, advice from what very well could be complete strangers.

I eventually e-mailed Becky back and said it was a little "what the..." that someone would choose to blog about her friend's marital problems, and that I thought it would've been a much better post had the people involved been the ones to blog about it.

But, I also said that perhaps this post had done some good for someone out there.  Not so much the couple themselves, but another reader that was going through a similar situation.  After all, blogs and the Internet in general have become a great source for people to know that they are not alone in this world and that there is almost always someone else who understands what you are going through.

I think the most "what the..." about this entire situation is that people were so quick to comment about it.  Sure, I posted about a situation that had nothing to do with me, but it had nothing to do with the state of someone's marriage.  Do you think as readers, we should be less quick to offer our two cents, especially when we have extremely limited, very one-sided information?  Are we adding fuel to the fire by commenting when, in all honesty, it really isn't any of our business?

And, yes, I appreciate the irony that I am informing you about a situation that I have basically deemed too personal for the Internet.  :)

giving THANKS

I spent the majority of my childhood celebrating Thanksgiving at my grandparents' house in Idaho Falls.  It was a time of year I always looked forward to, and, now as an adult, I can look back at it with fond memories.

It was the same thing every year.  Thanksgiving dinner, typically held around 1:00 in the afternoon, was at my grandma's sister's house.  The crowd wasn't usually that big - our family and a few of my dad's cousins and their families.

When we arrived at the house, all dressed in our Sunday best, the majority of us (the men and kids that were too young to help) all sat around, made small talk while listening to a football game in the background.  My grandma, her sister and a few others were busy in the kitchen finishing up dinner.

Once we were finally ready to eat, the youngest kids all found their seats at a small table reserved just for them while the adults and older kids sat at "the big table."  We all ate on very nice china and it was always a very elegant, classy occasion.

Later that night, my dad would always take us to see a movie.  This was always a fun tradition for me, and I recall one year being so excited to see Disney's Aladdin.  Much to my dismay (the whole town's dismay, really), the newspaper had misprinted the starting time of the movie, and we were all forced to leave (and risk not getting a good seat and/or ticket) or stand around for what felt like HOURS until the movie actually started.  My dad, being the awesome guy that he is, decided it was best to stay.  So, we waited and waited and waited for the movie to start.  Good thing Aladdin was actually a fun movie, especially for a pre-teen like me.

At the end of the week, our family would pack up and head back to Utah, but not without being extra excited to return just weeks later to celebrate Christmas.

This year, I am more excited for Thanksgiving than I can remember in a long time.  We'll be with my husband's family in Wyoming, so I'll be able to travel away from home for the holiday just like I use to as a kid.  Traveling during the holidays (mind you, I'm talking driving, not flying) always makes things more fun for me.

And while I won't be in my Sunday Best (which I am NOT sad about) or hit up the theater to see a moving on Thanksgiving evening (not a tradition my husband is crazy about carrying on), I know I'll have a great time.  After all, it's all about being with family, enjoying good conversation and eating, eating, eating!  

I have a lot of things to be thankful for this year.  My husband is such a great guy and treats me so well.  He is a hard worker, a wonderful father and overall kicks major ass (language, I know, my bad).  My daughter, while trying at times, makes me a better person, makes me laugh and the reason I have so much hope for the future.  My parents and in-laws are extremely supportive and always there for me when times are tough.  I'm thankful for their example of hard work and service.  My little brothers are the COOLEST people since forever.  I've really grown to love and admire and appreciate them this past year.  I'm so happy they both have awesome wives that bring such awesome cooking (Aubrey) and spunk (Brittney) to our family.  I definitely scored in the sister-in-law department.  :)  My nieces and nephews are so adorable.  They love my daughter and are always willing to play with her.  They say the most hilarious things EVER and are always willing to give me a hug (the nieces) and a "pound it" (the nephews) when I make them I'm around.

Those are just a few things I am grateful for this year.

I hope everyone has a fun Thanksgiving holiday!

YES, I was THERE

On Thursday night, roughly around 11:00 PM, my sister in law and I strolled into one of the many theaters in Utah doing a midnight showing of The Twilight Saga:  Breaking Dawn - Part 1.  Thanks to reserved seating, we didn't feel the need to be there super early which was nice because sitting around for hours waiting to get a good seat for a movie is SOO early 21st century (think Lord of the Rings).

When the movie started, my hopes were high.  Obviously, the first Twilight movie was a bomb.  The second, New Moon was actually pretty good.  The third, Eclipse, was pretty good too.  In a nutshell, it seemed that as each movie progressed the better they got.  So, naturally, Breaking Dawn - Part 1 was going to follow tradition.

Um, ya, no.

I can basically sum up the movie in four phrases.

1.  Jacob was the best part of the show.  Taylor Lautner actually seemed to know how to act in this film.

2.  Bella wasn't as annoying which could be because she wasn't in every single scene like she was in the other films.  Or, maybe Kristen Stewart's acting skills improved too.

3.  Edward had really awesome hair.  But, as an actor I think Robert Pattinson still has a ways to go in terms of ever proving he was the best pick to play the part of Edward Cullen.

4.  And last, they did an AWESOME job at making Bella look horrible during her pregnancy.  It was completely believable that her "baby" was literally sucking the life out of her.  The make-up and visual effects in that respect were stunning.

As I sat and watched this movie, I laughed more than I expected.  I got bored, which was a huge surprise to me.  I about DIED of "what the..." during the werewolf scene.  Those of you who have seen the movie known what scene I'm talking about. And, I overall began to wonder what the heck I was doing there in the first place.

After all, I couldn't get through the entire book of Breaking Dawn.  What started out as a fun read with Twilight turned into just weirdness in Breaking Dawn.  So, perhaps the movie sucked because the filmmakers really didn't have much to work on.  In all honesty, a movie based on a book is only as good as the book, right?

If you're on the fence about seeing this movie, I'd skip it.  If you're seeing all of the films just because, don't go in with high expectations.

Who knows, maybe Breaking Dawn - Part 2 will be better, but considering it has the same director I'm not counting on it.

If you saw the movie, what did you think?

P.S. What the crap happened to the sparkles?  There were vampires and there was sunlight, but no sparkles!  Movie mistake or did the producers just want to overlook that tiny detail to make the movie, uh...better?

and the NOMINEES are....

I am so honored to announce that my humble little blog has been nominated for three awards over at 

A Peek at Karen's World.

The categories I was nominated for are:

Best Kept Secret which is a category for blogs with 200 or less followers.  Thanks to all my awesome 26 followers!

The other category was "Most Thought Provoking Post" and the two of my posts were nominated.  The first is the post about Arby's blatant disrespect for the dangers of drowsy driving, and the other is a post I wrote about being a mom.

Thank you Karen for putting this together and to those who nominated my blog in the first place.

Be sure to vote if you are interested!

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