Baby showers and stuff

My little sis Betsy is going to have a baby by the end of the month so Amy and I decided it was time to have a shower for her. We held it in Wyoming at my mom's house on Sat. The roads were terrible so I decided to leave Mark and the kids home. I didn't want any more people out on the roads than needed to be. It took me awhile to get there and back but I thankfully didn't have any incidences.

Bes's shower was fun. I would post pictures but I left my camera at my parents. :( I don't like not having my camera. What if the kids do something embarrassing and I want to capture it for posterity? Amy and I made little cucumber sandwiches, toffee dip and apples, cookies, homemade slush, and pickle wraps. Very girly food. Bes made a haul and I think she was happy.

About 1/2 hour after the shower my sisters and I were going to take my mom out to dinner for her birthday and we got a text from Kendall in Hawaii that said, "It's crazy about the avalanche" or something to that effect. We didn't know what he meant but we had a really bad feeling. It turns out that 3 snowmobilers from Star Valley were caught underneath a massive snowslide and died. They were all from Smoot, Wy and had at least 9 kids between them. One of them unfortunately was Betsy's OB. She was shocked to say the least and felt terrible for the Dr's family, being a young widow once herself. She will now go to another doctor in the same practice for her remaining 2.5 weeks and the delivery.

Needless to say, we all lost our appetites so we didn't go out to dinner and I instead headed home. It took me about 3 hours instead of 2 but I was really glad to get home Sat. night late.

Zane is being transferred for the first time tomorrow. Love ya Z!

Life is good and go Mitt in MI!

Texas Roadhouse and disowning Kendall

Mmm. We went to Texas Roadhouse with Amy and Don etc. tonight. YUMMY! That place always gets it right. I had pulled pork and it was to die for! Our kids were fairly well behaved, there are just so stinking many of them. :) Those poor other patrons. The waiter gave the kids each 5 straws and since they were almost closing he kept bringing them extra dishes of mashed potatoes and gravy that would have gone to waste. They were in heaven.

It was my brother Kendy's 24th birthday yesterday. He was down here with his girlfriend Chelsie and we went to lunch. We had a great chat and a fun time and then guess what.....today he flew to Hawaii without telling ANYONE. He went with my cousin Nick who is my cousin and his business partner. He didn't even tell my parents and he lives with them. He's so weird. He likes to surprise people. He and Zane took off for Las Vegas a few months ago and didn't tell anyone. What they don't know is that Amy and I have spies everywhere. :)

Lucky to be alive

My mind is filled with the politics of the evening but first I want to share a story with you. My dad's uncle D (he's in his early 60's) was feeding his cattle yesterday and a freak accident occurred. He was standing on the back of the hay rack and he fell through a rotted piece of wood and was suspended upside down in the frigid weather and was stuck so badly that there was no way he could pull himself up or work his foot out. He was stuck upside down suspended barely above the snow for 3 hours! He barely made it and wouldn't have except my uncle M and aunt H felt like something was wrong and went to investigate. Thankfully, they found him (nearly frozen) and rushed him to the hospital where he is doing well. The remarkable thing is the doctors told him if he hadn't been upside down, he would have frozen to death. Since he was upside down the blood was able to keep his heart and head warmer than they would have been otherwise. I feel so bad for him. What a freak accident. I am so glad M and H were there and followed their instincts.

I am almost (I said almost) tired of this election already. I have read so many articles and blogs the last few days I think I could be President. J/K Wow, did Hillary pull off an upset or what? She was supposed to lose by double digits. I think you should NEVER underestimate a Clinton. I think it would be cool to have a female president, just not her! Maybe Condi Rice or someone. She'd be great.

Some of the sites I have really enjoyed recently for conservative leaning information are:

Townhall
Politico
Realclearpolitics
hotair.com
Redstate
Drudge Report
National Review

I wish my man Mitt had done better tonight. He is getting a lot of votes, just not the most in each race. Except in awesome Wyoming. :) I think he would be a very competent leader and I am somewhat surprised he hasn't done better. He's a good debater, a hard worker, and the race is still very fluid on the Republican side. One bit of trivia. Hillary Clinton is the first woman to win a presidential primary. Why does it have to be her and not Condi? Sigh.

I am excited to get my Scarlet Lime kit this week. They put together the coolest kits.

Go Hawks and stuff-

Whew! Thank goodness Seattle won today! It looked like Mark wasn't breathing at one point in the game, but the forces aligned for him today. The Seahawks live to play another week and Mark wins a new Seattle hat from his friendly wager with a coworker.

My stomach is in a perpetual knot right now about the state of politics in US. On one hand, it's pure fun for a politico like myself, but on the other I am sick with worry about my favorites. It could make for an interesting convention. The one thing that I am frustrated with is the fact that Iowa and New Hampshire mean SO much in choosing a President. What about the 48 other states out here in the good old USA? My home state, Wyoming, did the right thing today and gave most of their delegates to Romney. He sure took a beating in the debate tonight although I thought he held his own effectively. He was getting it from all sides and while I like McCain, I thought he was snide and full of cheap shots tonight. George Will had an interesting article on the future of conservatism here.

Don't stop reading my blog if you despise politics. I will try to broaden my subject matter. Good gracious we still have over 300 days until the election. No wonder I about got an ulcer in 2004. :)

Watch out!

Ok, I am still on a roll. You know what? When did Mormon bashing suddenly become acceptable political discourse. We're used to it somewhat but I have about come to a breaking point. Wasn't a central foundation of this country that we are free to exercise our own religion? Is that out of vogue in 2008? I am so tired of my religion (yes, it's a religion) being thrown around like it's a huge liability. Well, if practicing a Christ-centered, family central, love your neighbor(albeit not perfectly) religion is a liability in this "conservative" party, then you better be careful what you wish for. There are a lot of LDS Republicans and they are pretty good at turning the other cheek and getting on with their lives but I will tell you one thing, it's getting OLD! We sure aren't perfect but for crying out loud, who are we hurting? The sad thing is a lot of the criticism is coming from evangelical Christians with whom (ironically) we share so many of the same values. It makes me sad and disappointed in my party.

Still steaming

Arrgh. Can I just say I ardently dislike Gov. Mike Huckabee? Well, I do. I like some of his conservative credentials (he is pro-life and pro-family) but he is setting the Republican party up for disaster in November. He strikes me as a man who wants to be seen as a minister while wheeling and dealing in the ugly world of national politics. It's really hard to be seen as a minister and a politician. It's easy to set yourself up for charges of hypocrisy. I can see the media salivating at the prospect of a Huckabee ticket. While I don't think the criticism the media would give him would be fair, I fear he would bring a lot of foolishness on himself like he has this week. Plus, he gave out 2000 pardons to criminals when he was Gov. Yikes. I even told Mark that I may vote Democrat if Huckabee wins. After the Earth stopped shaking, I quickly repented for that thought. ;) I am sure tomorrow will look better for the fate of the Republican party but tonight in the Iowa caucuses, I have a bad sense of foreboding.

In the spirit of full disclosure I am leaning towards Mitt Romney but also like Thompson, Guiliani, and I could possibly support McCain. Just not Huckabee.

It's 2008 already?

Time flies when you are raising 4 kiddos. Each year at this time I fill an entire notebook full of resolutions. (I love to start things)And then in the notebook they stay until I fervently do it again the next year. This year I am only making three little goals and hopefully I will be more focused. I am going to:

Limit my computer time
Attend all of my women's church group meetings
Go to bed by 10:30-11:00

Wish me luck! Those are small goals...yet I am scared! :)

A brief recap of the last few days. We had a rousing night of entertainment on New Year's Eve. Well, if you count a family game night as rousing entertainment. It was fun and we all laughed a lot. Brynn was sick so we had a fun little night at home. We did toast in the New Year with sparkling cider and fancy goblets the kids love to get out.

The kids went back to school and Mark went back to work today. I loved the holidays but I was excited to get back into my routine again. Happy Happy 2008!