Say What?

Okay, this post is random, and I have been just accumulating these sayings over this last year and a half.

Random things Sara says....

Sara: "Are you having a baby in you?" (because both Nat's were pregnant)
Sara: "Do you have friends?" (Nope, I was born in a bubble.)
Sara: "Does your mom like her house?" (I am pretty sure she does.)
Sara: "Do you like me? Cuz I like you." (I'm married. Plus, you're too young for me.)
Sara: (hugging her "Baby Alive" with a big, fat, cheezy smile) "This is my Baby Alive. She really is alive!"

Sara: "Will you give me a bath?"
Me: "Okay."
Sara: (giggle) "You can be Ariel's friend." (not having a clue about what she was talking about...)
Me: "Okay."
minutes later...
Sara: "Sing the little Mermaid."
Me: (I start singing)
Sara: "THATS NOT HOW IT GOES! It GOES like this..... aahhhh ahh aaahhh aaaaaaahhhh" (eyes closed, really feeling the moment)


After Sara is usually done with the questioning....(sometimes)Emma finds the opportunity to come sit on my lap... it goes like this:
(One particular instance)

Emma: "Why you like Sara?"
Me: "Because she is just so cute, just like you!"
Emma: "Wwhhhhhhhhhhyyyy?"
Me: "Um, because she is sweet?"
Emma: "Wwhhhhhhhhhhyyyy?" (geez... ya got me)

Another instance...
Emma: "Why is your hair black."
Me: "I was born with it."
Emma: "Wwhhhhhhhhhyyyy?" (again.. ya got me)


Off and On....

Ethan: "ANNNNIIIIIEEEE!"
Me: "Hey Ethan! Come here give me a hug!"
Ethan: (runs up to me as if to give me a hug.)
Taylor: "EEWWWW!!!"
Ethan: "EEEWWWWWW!!!" (screams and runs away with Taylor)
Me: (I think I'll just hug myself)

Running straight to my face...
Ethan: "Jazz is UP!"

Taylor just kills me....

When we were in St. George (was married for almost 2 1/2 months)....
Taylor: "You are my aunt."
Me: "Yep, I am."
Taylor: "Do you know what that means?" (Nope, enlighten me)
Me: "Yeah! That means I am your aunt!"
Taylor: "No, it means you are Aunt Nat's sister!"
Me: "Um... yeah. Technically we are."
Taylor: "So why are you brown?" (I was born with a defect called brown-syndrome)
Me: "Because my mom's hair is brown?"
Taylor: "Oh."

My official opinion of Obama.

Can they be anymore obvious?

In Memory

I used to think people who got so attached to their pets were weird. I couldnt understand why they would, because animals cant talk, they cant go shopping with you, they cant understand you when you talk to them. Well, I was gravely mistaken.

When I was 13 years old, my bishop's daughter gave me her dog. The dog's name was Preslie. She was a spirited dog. She loved to play and run everywhere. She would sleep with me, she would wake me up in the morning after my alarm would go off. Through some rough patches of friendships in high school, and all of the inconsistancies, she was the only "friend" that was a constant. When I would get home from school, she would be waiting for me in the front window as I would pull into the driveway.

My mom was really attatched to Preslie as well. She would try to make Preslie like her more. It was hilarious! After I got married, my mom had Preslie. She loved that dog so much! She would even dress her up in clothes for goodness sake!

For the past while, she had been sick. She had surgery and they removed her uterus. For a while she was doing fine until December 2008. She started having problems eating and gaining weight. She was skin and bones in no time. January 20th, Preslie started to have siezures and uncontrolable bowel movements. She died in my mom's arms. She died with her eyes open.

I just had to blog this because blogging is like writing a journal. So, there ya go.

Lightning strikes twice

The day after Christmas we decided to take a trip to Idaho to visit Annie's family. We were on I-15 just past 5300 South driving in the middle lane. The roads were icy so we were driving about 45-50 mph.

All of the sudden Annie point and says, "Mark! There's a car!" I look and see a car that looks like it's backing out across the freeway. I was so surreal. We found out later that she lost control on the onramp and spun out. Anyway, I hit the brakes as the car was coming in front of us and turned, but it was too late. We hit her and the airbags went off in a cloud of smoke. Our car bounced off to the right side of the freeway and she ended up on the left. Fortunately, neither one of us hit any other cars in the process.

The Altima pre-accident



Altima post-accident. If you look carefully you can see where the other car ended up next to the police truck in the background



A better angle of the damage. The car was a total loss.



A few weeks later we're out shopping for a new car on the day before our first anniversary. We come to an intersection to turn right onto State Street and stop at the red light. The light starts to change and I see all the cars in the lane I'm turning into come to a stop. Everything looks clear so I proceed to make my right turn. Next thing I know there's a honk, I hear a car skidding and BOOM! I didn't even know what hit me. Our car spins 180 degrees into oncoming traffic and as we come to a stop the guy hits our car again by t-boning our car. I guess he wanted to make sure he got us good enough.

Annie is screaming in pain and I yell "Not again!" We're both laying all the way back in our sets because they got knocked back from the impact. Annie had some glass in her eye and starts to shiver cause it's cold and she's going into shock. I put my coat over her and soon after that the EMT's show up. They ask us if we're ok several times. Annie's obviously has a lot of pain in her neck so they put a neck brace on her. When they first tried to get her out of the car it hurt too much so they decide to cut the frame between the doors out.

Next thing I know we're in the ambulance and on the way to the hospital. They have to take Annie's coat off to get her IV started. At first they ask if it's ok to cut it off. Annie just got it for Christmas and really likes it so the answer was a big NO! With some pain we get it off and they start the IV. It worked for a little bit, but doesn't stick so they have to do another one in the hospital. Considering how much Annie hates needles this is not so much fun. At the hospital they check Annie out, give her some nice drugs for the pain and do a CT scan. The CT Scan didn't show any breaks so they let us go home.

After seeing the police report we've been able to reconstruct a better idea of what actually happened. According to witnesses the green Focus (the car that hit us) was driving possible up to 96 mph. There was a car turning left opposite him and they started to turn becuase the light was now red. When they saw him coming so fast they honked and turned back to the middle of the intersection barely missing him. The Focus also swerved to miss the car turning left which put him in the lane we had just turned into. The police report estimates that by the time he hit us he was going 58 mph and we were probably going 15 mph.

Just to give you an idea of what kind of people we're dealing with here: according to the guy who towed us, when the Focus driver's girlfriend was coming to see the accident, she blew by the police barricade at around 50 mph and almost hit the tow guy and a cop. Several officers chewed her out, but didn't give her a ticket for some reason.

Here is the beginning of the Focus's skid marks.



The skid marks continue through the intersection till he hit us.



This is where he hit us. The marks on the road are from his car fluids, but it shows the general direction our car spun out. You can see some glass from the wreck too.



My seat won't move anymore and you can see from the crease in Annie's seat that it broke.



Here you can see the rear impact and where they cut the door out.



What's left of the trunk.


"Air Conditioning"


Our super subcompact car. You can also see the dent to the left of the tire where he hit us the second time.

Car Accidents

Word of the wise:
"Don't get in one-- they suck."

Brother From Another Mother

Since everyone has done this baby making thing, I decided Mark and I should do it too. Not the real thing, but the picture thing. Anyways, I think the first baby is actually Dave and Natalie's. See!



For this next picture, I think that Russ and Nat actually have our baby... HOW WE GOT A WHITE BABY IS BEYOND ME.....


This is our white boy baby.... Our options were mix it up OR black baby and white. No comment.

Charly

Meet Charly. I know I was supposed to post this back in the day (around September) but we have been really busy.

Words to describe Charly:
1. paper shredder
2. popsicle stick shredder
3. lysol sniffer
4. speed racer
5. stuffed animal "de-stuffing" machine
6. cuddle bunny
7. potentially calm puppy at night
8. traveling poop express (WILL BLOG LATER)
9. Livvy's rag doll
10. Emma's rag doll
11. random sound maker
12. Chloe's "hot potatoe"

Charly is so much fun! You would think dogs are just smelly and gross.... yes they have their moments, but it is all on how you take care of them. See I dont like smelly dogs..... I dont like dog slobber. Charly, is very well groomed (thank you very much!). She is not your typical pomeranian. She has spunk. I think she thinks she is human...

Here are some photos of Charly:

She loves to inspect our household chemicals-- making sure they are safe.


Play mode.



"Wet Willy" mode.



Oh my cute dog!

Like "father" like "dog"

I honestly think that Charly is a great blessing to me and Mark. It sounds so STUPID.... How could a dog POSSIBLY bless someone's life? Well, if you haven't noticed... last year was slightly difficult- in more than 10 ways. This year (2009) hasn't lacked on the difficult side by any means.. Charly has been our smile maker. She has such personality. When I was working, I would come home and Charly would get so excited to see me. Mark doesn't even get that excited! JK. She gets that way when Mark gets home too. When we are frustrated, she will get into snuggle mode, and if you give her a little attention, she will go straight into play mode. After you start playing with her, you forget what was bothering you. We love Charly SO much!

Jackson Hole

In August we went up to Jackson with some of our family. Here we are with the Tetons in the background.



Look! Rocks! Who doesn't love rocks?



Here we are in front of a beautiful and stinky hot pot.



How cool is Livvy? Do we have a future rapper in the making?



Another cutie



And here we are in front of Old Faithful.

Looks dangerous doesn't it? Don't worry, it's not lava.

The trail to the falls was closed, but we still got this pretty picture from the outlook.

The bison were crossing the road which provided a lot of entertainment. Mostly from all the agry drivers honking at them to get out of the way.