You Got Jimmered!

So... I had an out of body experience last night. I, my friends, went to a BYU basketball game. I know what you are thinking--

"BUT WAIT, ERIKA HATES SPORTS!"

Tis true, I have admitted numerous times that I just do. not. get. it.

WELL GUESS WHAT?!!! Last night at the Marriott center, I felt something new. Different. I felt like I was floating over my body looking down on this girl who was shouting, "YOU GOT JIMMERED!"

And "Come ON!!!!"

And "THAT IS JUST CRAP!!!"

And "GOOOOOOOO COUGARS!!!!"

I was jumping up and down!!

And I was SINGING! The FIGHT song! "O rise and shout, the Cougars are out!"

I was hovering over this person who LOOKED like a fan, and more importantly, SHE FELT LIKE ONE!

I mean, I GET IT!!!! I REALLY GET IT!!!!

It was a blast. Luckily Nate had prepared me, you know, hyping it up, telling me what a big game it was, showing me clips of Jimmer's half court shots (and as unimpressed as I am with most things sports-related... heck yeah he is freaking awesome).

But even that didn't really prepare me for the FANS and the CROWD-- 22,700 people-- and the NOISE was insane!!!!!! It energized me and got my heart pounding. I mean I was totally EXCITED about BASKETBALL!

And every time that Jimmer got the ball it was like MAGIC! You just KNEW he was gonna do something awesome. 43 points yeah! No. 9 ranked BYU= 71, No. 4 ranked San Diego State= 58. Holy cow I am quoting statistics.

Yes, a smidgen of my Icy Sports Heart melted last night. I'm not saying it is beating, but it is somewhat less dead.

These things don't happen overnight.

We went with Nate's dad, cousin Jon, and friends Rob and Aerielle. Add a stop at Firehouse Subs for a New York steamer (to die for!) on the way and it was a great night.

Do you see how there is no one behind us, yes that is because we are at the very very top. Can't beat $5 tickets.






And there you have it!!! Awesome game! My ears are still ringing!

(now I just gotta get with it on football. Mmmm I can tell you right now it is just not possible. never say never, I guess.)

Freaky & not so freaky pictures

Um so yeah.

I was taking pictures of Kaitlyn and this one came out! Can you say "The Ring"?!!!! Freaky!!!!

Well don't you worry these ones will make you feel all warm and fuzzy.











Oh man. My high school friends tease me every time we get together about all my kids and being pregnant/not pregnant, birth control, how my life is a zoo, et cetera... (all in good fun. and I don't blame them!!) But how can I say anything other than LOOK AT THAT FACE! THAT is why I can't say I am done yet! (the real question is how will I know when I am??? Sometimes I have visions of the octomom in my head... terrifying isn't it) but I have to say it's way too much fun...

Stupid things I did for guys

So I was looking in my old journals and WHAT falls out but the funniest and SADDEST list ever. I was 16 and just got back from a pretty BAD DATE. I was so mad and I was like why am I not crying yet?! So I wrote a list entitled, "Reasons to Cry" and completely vented. OHHH man am I glad those days are over. Here is my LIST (I will not out this person and write his name, sigh, I am so nice)

-I feel ugly
-I feel fat
-_____ is a freak
-Why do I hang out with him?
-he's not worth it
-I sit there and take his crap
-he just doesn't respect me sometimes
-where's my real guy?
-why'd I get in the _____ mess again?
-yet I still wanna make out with him **WARNING WARNING! Parents I swear I didn't make out with him…***
-how sad is that?
-my stomach's killin me
-I still feel ugly
-I still feel fat
-no good guys like me
-sometimes he acts like he wants me to hate him!
-_____! WHY do I go OUT W/HIM!
-He called me "Brittany"!!!
-Who does he think I am?
-who is this girl?
-Did he go out with her?
-Did he kiss her too?
-Country music is depressing
-But I listen to it
-My exercise isn't working!
-I'm LAUREL PREZ! And I hang out with _____ and _____!!
-Something's WRONG W/THIS PICTURE!
-still feelin ugly
-no one writes me email anymore! Doesn't anyone CARE!!
-The spirit's not w/me when I'm with _____. Figure that one.
-Why do I rationalize?
-WHERE'S MY GUY!
-I miss oma.
-I'm peeling on my face and it looks weird
-I'm trying to find reasons to help me cry
-HOW PATHETIC IS THAT!!
-Gosh don't ya see the great mood _____ puts me in.
-I make myself sick—I actually missed _____???!!
-why am I not crying yet???

Yeah….. this guy was not the coolest guy ever… and the thing is all my friends and family could see it and I COULDN'T-- well until this date that is. Things ended shortly after that.

I was so STUPID for letting him treat me the way he did sometimes. So I was thinking of other stupid things I did for guys.

*Listened to rap for a whole summer. You know cause nothing says YO YO RAP like Erika… but I really convinced myself I liked it cause the boy I was dating did!

*Another stupid thing I did for the same boy: I was out of contacts and so instead of wearing my glasses (OH THE HORROR of having him see me in glasses!) I shoved them in my pocket. Dude I could hardly see his face (I am that blind). We went to the movies and I honestly could hardly see what the heck was going on!!!! My glasses were in my POCKET and I still would not put them on. Of course the movie WAS "Gone in 60 seconds" so I can't say I missed much.

*In 8th grade I liked a guy who was slightly shorter than me and it drove me CRAZY. So although I owned a bunch of cute shoes, I REFUSED to wear any with any sort of heel. I just KNEW our destiny was hinged on an inch or two!!!

*In 9th grade I can't tell you how many times I "accidentally" let my pencil roll off my desk in Science class so that the kid I liked would pick it up for me and maybe realize that I was alive. I know, I was good. I was a subtle flirter. (so subtle I am sure he never knew how much I liked him, SIGH!)

*My junior year I flipped to a random page in a guy's yearbook and "anonymously" wrote I was secretly in love with him!!!! OH man I about died all summer thinking of how stupid that was. I am never that bold, I don't know what came over me.

*Driving past one guy's house 7 times in one day. Seriously. Can you say STALKER?

*One guy I was dating said he hated feet. So in the middle of summer I made sure I wore SHOES when I was with him. (later when things were heading south I wore sandals just to bug him.)

There's gotta be many more, those were kinda stupid. OH WELL the POINT IS I ended up with Nate! And the stupidest thing I did for him was go to the grocery store with globs of cream cheese all over my face! But that's another story!!

A little update

Look at these cute kiddos. I swear there are just PERFECT moments in motherhood. Yesterday morning with all the kids snuggling in bed with us was one of those moments. Oh my heck I love being a mom. Sometimes my heart just wants to burst with how much I love my kids.





And after we snuggled we danced around the house to silly music. Nate went running. Then I went running (3 miles, wahoo! 23 to go...) Then the kids napped while Nate and I watched the second season of 24, go Jack Bauer GO! Then we made bagel pizzas for dinner. The other day Carter said out of the blue to Nate, "I LOVE being in a family." It was so sweet. Days aren't always picture perfect and I scream at my kids (some of you don't believe me, but I DO! If you could only see me!! With the things they do sometimes of COURSE I scream at them!) BUT I just sat there yesterday thinking how grateful I am for my family.

Kaitlyn is almost 6 months, I can't believe it. She has been such a dang good baby. I love her. I love that she looks like her daddy. I love that she rolls and scoots a bit and does 360s on the floor. I love that she grabs whatever she can in front of her (she's eaten quite a bit of paper.) Sometimes we practice sitting up. "But my head is TOO BIG!"


Still working on eating rice cereal.


SIGH I have to admit I'm not very fond of the baby food stage. It is so messy, what with her trying to grab the spoon from me every chance she gets and also still not quite understanding how to SWALLOW it so it sits on her tongue until half slides down her throat and half slides onto her chin, not to mention when she blows bubbles with a bunch of food in her mouth. Plus it takes forever! And I have 3 other kids to feed! How do I have time to eat myself? Sometimes I wonder. And I am going to confess I have been trying and trying to get Kaitlyn to take a bottle lately. Not that I totally want to give up nursing, but at least so I can leave her with someone so I am not constantly trying to get back in time for her to eat. My patience with breastfeeding is leaving quickly with this one. I KNOW JUST GO AHEAD AND REPORT ME! BUT cut me some slack, and this may be too much information so just look away... but I have some weird infection and I have NEVER had one before!!!! Okay I guess I won't elaborate, but just know, it is a sacrifice to feed my child. (it is NOT a plugged duct, so what the hey is it?! I only throw this out there in case someone knows what I am talking about??)

My job is going great, I am still loving it and I am still in awe that i make money from home!!! I can now do my 60 minutes of dictation a day in 3 hours, easily. It averages to about $16 dollars an hour. My checks are between $500 and $750, so $1000-$1500 a month. It varies depending on whether it is my 1 weekend a month and how much work comes in during my ER/Operative shifts. I think it's awesome!!!! And I can always do more minutes if I want. But with 4 kids? Yeah right. I do the bare minimum. :)

Okay that's my litte update.

Pictures of this and that, don't get too excited

For Joy School we took the kids to the fire station for a tour. They loved it!





We had spaghetti for dinner last week and I caught Carter dumping piles of parmesan cheese on his plate and licking it off. Logan of course had to copy him. My little animals.



(I was trying to teach Logan to smile for the camera so he doesn't always look depressed... this is his "smile"! :) )


I found Jenna and Carter like this on Saturday. They were all dressed up, Carter complete in his Sunday shirt and tie, dancing together. Hello, melt my heart!!!





These are from awhile ago. They learned how to use the self-timer on the camera (I suspect they know how to use many features that I do not) and took a bunch of themselves. This is only a few of them.





Love these kids. Even when they can make their room:


Look like this.



Ahhh! And if that's bad you should see the toy room sometimes. Someday I'm gonna do a post, and take a picture of the rooms in my house on day 1, then day 2, then... actually that's probably all I need for you to see what becomes of all my hard work! sigh. the thing is I hear it does not get better when they are teenagers. OH WELL this is what I signed up for!!!! Wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!!! REALLY!!!!

An almost 2-year-old's CHECK LIST

Here have been the last couple days.

Logan's Check List:

Spill bowl of cereal on the floor. CHECK! (Logan: "Heh heh, this trick never gets old.")

Throw some glass Christmas decorations down the stairs. Break two. CHECK! ("Mom please put Christmas decorations away, it's over.")

Spill a container of vinegar all over the counter. CHECK! ("At least I didn't try to drink it.")

Throw handfuls of flour around the kitchen. CHECK! ("Mom, you left it out, you should know me better by now!")

Shove some DVDs into the VCR. CHECK! ("Why won't these play?")

Turn off the computer while mom is transcribing. CHECK! ("It's a big, round button. Are you really surprised?")

Every single time mom sits down to eat, abandon my own plate, jump on her lap, take her fork, and eat her food. CHECK! ("It is MUCH better than mine!")

Strip off my diaper and run around the house naked. CHECK! ("BORN FREE!")

Climb on the counter, get in the kitchen sink, step on the pan that has solidified grease on it, get out of the sink, and leave adorable greasy footprints all over the counter. CHECK! ("Mom: do the dishes sooner.")

Throw the Woody and Buzz Carter got for Christmas in a TUB FULL OF WATER. CHECK! ("I really have no thoughts on why I did this. But hey, now Woody magically talks by himself in the middle of the night!")

Reap destruction everywhere I go. CHECK!! ("Look at me! I'm adorable!!")

And the thing is... HE IS. :) :) :)

Pictures and resolutions.

For New Year's Eve we stayed home with some movies and treats and games! Love my little family.


Losing Chutes and Ladders is pretty much the end of the world.


Sooo we put the kids to bed around 10:00 and woke them back up at midnight for the countdown, watch the ball drop, and bang pots and pans. As you can tell they LOVED it!!!


The next day Jenna was like, "Mom! You didn't wake me up to say 'Happy New Year'!!" She was so tired she didn't even remember it. Maybe we'll be nice next year and let them sleep...

New Year's day! Yummy food, Bingo, and white elephant gifts at my in-laws. It's a great tradition!


She zonked out in the middle of all the Bingo excitement.






My family came over for my birthday (yep i'm the old 28 now) and were having some fun.







So Logan wanted something and I couldn't understand what the heck he was saying. Then he proceeded to glare at everyone for FOREVER. We kept trying to get him to smile and he was stone cold MAD. I died laughing!!! It was either that or run for my life.




Kaitlyn's first experience with rice cereal... she looks likes she is trying REALLY hard to like it... not quite sure!




SO may I share my New Year's resolutions:

1) I am gonna read my scriptures EVERY DAY this year. I am not going to miss one day. We read as a family, but I have been so hit and miss lately with personal scripture study, yeah it's been bad. Growing up my parents taught us that for every day you read your scriptures, you write down a number. You continue counting up so you can see how many consecutive days you've done it. But, when you miss a day, you have to start back at 1. So I used to be near perfect at reading my scriptures every day for years and years. THEN with kids the habit went bye bye. WELL it is making a comeback, baby! I know I need it in my life. I always notice a difference when I am reading consistently, always.

2) RUN!! Holy cow, I am signed up for a MARATHON and I have not started running. WHAT's WRONG with me. I have what, 4.5 months to train. I've gone out maybe 3 times since having Kaitlyn. My problem is TIME! Dang! If I get up early it is to work. And by the time Nate comes home it is dark and I'm tired. So that leaves my other option. The treadmill. BLAH BLAH BLAH. BUT I got on it today. It was enough to convince me maybe I will wake up early and run, THEN work. The treadmill seems 10 times harder than running outdoors, I don't know why, oh yeah, it's BORING. Anyway. So. I'm not sure how much training I can get in by May, but it will get done. I have to admit, after running today I realize how far I need to go and I am scared!!!! But i've done it before so I know it is possible, but it is entirely up to ME. Maybe that's why running races is so exhilarating to me. Nobody can do it for you. You cannot cheat your way to the finish. Your own two feet carry you. Much of it is mental, in fact, i'd say most of it. But when you reach the end you know that you, and you alone, DID IT! It's an amazing feeling. A feeling I hope to be able to have come May!

Okay that's it. Wish me luck.