I want that!

While perched on the couch this morning with my breakfast and getting my update of morning drama from the news I over heard this commercial and just about spit my mini wheat's across the room from pure hilarity. I nearly had to check the information guide for a typo on what I was sure was the news....but seemed like a SNL skit. I was waiting for one of the actors to say
"LIVE, IT"S Saturday night" but no such luck. Which meant the commercial was legit.












What I saw was this lady walking around a bbq and she must of been in charge because she made a comment about how her fibromyalgia pain can't keep her down because all these people are relying on her to get things done. She tells the lucky viewers that she has a new love and it's LYRICA. It helps with the chronic pain and it's NOT an antidepressant!

Then her voice is muted and a voice over comes on ever so pleasant and encouraging. The voice says such things like:

"While taking this, please report any side effects that are similar to an allergic reactions such as swelling in the face, mouth, lips, gums, tongue and neck. You could experience and should report any change in Breathing, skin, eye sight and/or Fever."

"Some other side effects could be suicidal thoughts or actions, unusual changes in moods or behavior. There could also be signs of depression or increase in current depression. "

"You could experience dizziness, sleepiness and weight gain and should not operate a motorized vehicle until you are away of the side effects from LYRICA"

I couldn't believe this commercial...with all those warnings I was sure it wasn't seriously real.

"Dr., Dr. I wanted to report my side effects but was so dizzy I couldn't find my phone, once I found it I thought about beating myself with it but luckily walked by a mirror just then and saw that I didn't really recognize myself because my skin has changed so much and decided against it. When I finally realized what was going on my throat was swollen shut from an allergic reactions."

HONESTLY.....this is not an antidepressant but you will need one or two if you take this!!!

Sign me up!

the pool is cool

Just a few pics of the pool down the street that we love to go to. We just happened to show up to the pool the day they opened the kids lagoon park and played till we were so exhausted. The bucket on top of the park dumps out massive amounts of water..it actually knocks most the kids down.

Home Sweet Home (and I mean sweet)

If was brought to my attention that we might have a bee hive on the side of our house...so Luke and I of course scoped it out and saw a cluster of bees on the side of the house about 12 inches long by 6 inches tall. They were all clumped together and it was looking like something serious.


The next evening I came home to a garage full of bees and knew something wasn't exactly right. I hurried and turned off the garage light hoping they would find their way home by morning....but when I woke up and poked my head out...they were all dead on the floor of the garage.


When the sun rose and normal business people were awake and in the office the phone call was made to the appropriate people and before I knew it the Bee Busters were a knockin on my door. The gentleman mentioned that we had a pretty bad bee problem, so bad that the honey and wax were oozing (he used that word) oozing out of the bottom of the house on the exterior of the garage. I knew that they were on the exterior of the garage but had no idea the actual hive and comb were in between the drywall of the garage and exterior wall. The gentleman (Johnny) told me he was going to have to cut a hole in the drywall and get it all out. I just had no idea what to expect until he told me to come check it out. To my surprise I saw 4 sleeve type honey combs hanging from the top of the wall...they were roughly the length of my arm. Johnny said it was just over 30 lbs of honey/comb/bee eggs (just getting ready to hatch) & hive sitting there in the wall.

My mouth literally dropped open. I just couldn't believe my bee loving eyes.

Unfortunately the comb was full of eggs and not use able. I asked Johnny why the bees were dead from the night before and he said that when I turned off the light they couldn't find their way home and got lost...they literally fly around the garage until they dropped dead of exhaustion. I AM a bee KILLER! (and proud of it in this case)


I think our house is cursed. This is the same corner of the garage we just had black mold removed from....not but 2 months ago.

Adam Lambert...REALLY?

Honestly...is he really a top 3 finalist?

Can this really be true?

I fast forward all of his performances..I just can't stand the screaming!

I am almost sick thinking about what might conspire tonight on the results show?

YIKES!

silly post I know..but I had to get it out there and see if I could cause the universe to hear my plea and get him off the show.

He seems nice enough and quite polite...but the screaming has just got to go.

Now here is an Artist that I would buy his music

Go KRIS ALLEN!

P.s. You know what's kind-of funny...I have never in all of American Idol History picked up my phone and voted.

I actually have only watched maybe 2 seasons...but this season...super talented!

What a DRAG!

Hi, my name is Rennie and I am a recovering complainer.


I have a new goal in life and it's to go one conversation, one action or even harder yet....one thought without complaining.


I have noticed lately or maybe it's always been this way, and now just noticed it...but when people ask me "how are you?" I find myself running down the yearly pains and aches of my life, the monthly checkbook issues, the kids daily messes that I have cleaned up.

What a DRAG!

I recently read an entry from NieNie that opened my eyes to my unappreciatedness
(can that be a word today?)
It hit me that I need to find a new love for things that I do every day. I have such a tendency to complain in my brain about things like doing dishes, laundry, giving baths, vacuuming the house and all those things that occupy my life. When I read this entry it reads about how she was so happy that she could just pick up her son while sitting on the couch. She was pleased that she could make lunch. I understand that she has gone through a tragic accident in life and is recovering beautifully....but where has the JOY in the simply things gone for ME?

I do love my children so much, it's not about them.
This complaining thing is about ME and my unwillingness to see that silver lining.
well, it's gotta stop.
So many times I will hang up the phone from talking to a sister or friend and think...."was their anything positive in that conversation that came from my side of the phone?" I can scarcely think of one.

What a DRAG, I say!

Well, I am recovering and I say that because just like any other negative or non pleasurable thing...complaining is easy and so so addictive.
Happiness is a CHOICE. Happiness takes work. Happiness is something that you create. I know happiness is around me everywhere, I totally get that. And, I am a happy person...but as of late....I have made many efforts in looking past the happy and seeing the negative.

Again I say...WHat A DRAG!

Things look brighter today...things feel lighter today....I feel Mightier today!

9 year old in da HOUSE!

I have been avoiding this post for about a month. My little Lainie Bird turned 9 years old just a few days ago which is exciting and so much fun...but in the same breath I am slightly sad because of something my lover told me.

(at 4 months old)

Luke said "you know Rennie, this 9th birthday marks a half way point for having our girl at home. We have had her in our home for 9 years and will probably have her for another 9...and that's it".

That comment made the last 9 years seem so fast. I started to get a pit in my stomach due to the time I think I have left with her. I know 9 years is a long time and we'll have her for the rest of our lives and for eternity...but in my house, time feels like it is slipping away.

I see the "world" putting their mark on her. From school teachers saying little comments that break her heart to fellow schoolmates that turn their backs to just the daily exposure of life in general. It saddens me a bit and then lightens my heart so much to see how she responds to the craziness.
She is bigger than I give her credit for.
She understands so much about good and bad...it's just in her!
She has a gift for that I think. I pray for that daily for my little ones.


I love my little girl that is turning into a sweet older girl...I don't want to write young lady, just yet.
I love that she is still so young at heart.
I love that she will still curl up into a ball and let me hold her.
I love that she still loves spending time with me.
I love that she is such a great big sister to her siblings.
I love that she finds beauty in nature.
I love that she loves to learn.
I love that she tells me how pretty I am just about daily.
I love that she loves to help me around the house.
I love that she is so smart when choosing friends.
I love that she is quiet at times and is so loud at others.
I love that she still wants me to do her hair in the morning.
I love that she has a desire to take care of her body and mind.
I love that she loves our family.


She is a doll face....and I love her so much it makes me hurt.

This is just WRONG!

Last sunday I knew the home teacher was coming so I ran to the bedroom and put on a pair of normal pants to get me by until he left. Once he was out the door....back to the "stretchy Pants" for me.

I find with this pregnancy that just about anything is uncomfortable on my tummy...so while I am out and about in levi's or whatever...I long to get home and back into my PJ bottoms.

Well on this Sunday afternoon I was tired of standing up and sitting down and having to adjust my pants in the back, tuck in the shirts so my crack wasn't showing and all that comes with pants that are ........&*^%$#@&^#*&#*& CRAZY!

Once our guest left, Luke just starting laughing at my complaints and so then it came...

"I wish so badly you could understand the way pants fit and don't fit, and how they make me crazy trying to tuck everything back in when I simply move".

I then proceeded to remove my pants and hand them to him.

"Here, you put these on and just see how they feel, just pull them up as far as they will go and walk around the house, go sit down, stand up, sit down and stand up again to see how crazy you will feel".

So of course...He did and he then buttoned them up and pranced around the bedroom. I didn't want to believe that they fit him. But HECK if they didn't!

I just had to capture that moment....

I swear on this day...I will NEVER again wear the same pants as my husband!!!!

a dab will do ya just fine!

The Culprit........

A very small amount of this soap with the jets on,

can make bath time interesting.

The Result..........

Lainie went under the bubbles and sucked in on accident...she surfaced with a mouth and throat full of the white stuff.

It turned into quite a mess...but fairly easy clean up!

The boys were in the shower next to the bath..so we thought we would try and dump bubbles over the top so they could enjoy a little "snow". It was pretty funny to see where the foam ended up.

A fair is a veritable smorgasbord orgasbord orgasbord

While living in Arivaca, the girls were involved in 4H and loved it. They were asked to dance with the group of 4H'ers during the local County fair and perform the ballet Folklorico dances that they have been practising. While the main reason for the fair visit was to watch the girls, we thought we would take advantage of the free passes and try to see all we could handle.

With the weather being roughly 90 degrees, a pregnant momma, a tired daddy and 4 kids that were just about pooped out...I would say the 4 hours were packed full of fun.

At the top of the kids list was the petting zoo. We got to see some giant rabbits that were the size of Creed. the kids were able to pet a Llama, goats, miniature horses, sheep and a few more farm animals. They got to see the Budweiser Clydesdale horses...which were amazing and so Beautiful. The kids were thrilled when we walked past a display of a man letting kids making their own ropes. That was all they could focus on was...making a jump rope.

While I support the girls while they danced their hearts away...Luke took the boys to a tractor pull. We later met up in a desperate hunt for cotton Candy, which we found...and was YUMMY!

Before hitting the road...the kids were able to ride a few rides and they had a ball. Shelby picked the slide while the boys picked some flying carpet ride....again they were loving life. In fact when the ride came to a stop, my little Creed refused to exit the ride like he was suppose to. Picture if you will me on the opposite side of the gate trying to talk him in to getting off. People standing in line waiting to get on the ride. I did such a good job talking Creed into getting off that he sat down on the floor of the ride under the steering wheel and started screaming "NO, NO". Once the lady running the ride saw me, on one side of the fence talking to a screaming child, on the other side of the fence she came to the rescue, kind of. She also couldn't get him out. He had lodged himself down on the floor and was not being removed. I told her "please just grab him and hand him over the fence, I will not be offended if you have to pull on him". Finally after a minute of kicking and screaming she proved to be stronger than the boy. I am sure mentally banning us for life from Aladdin's flying carpet ride.

Lainie picked the Ferris wheel but was quite nervous about riding it by herself. She asked Luke but he wasn't having anything to do with the heights and sun. So I volunteered to ride with her. Once we got to the start of the line and ready to get on...the man said "are you pregnant? you can't ride if you are". So at the last minute I grabbed Shelby and she accompanied big sister on the ride. They were so excited and so happy that they got to go. They were able to stop at the very tippedy top for quite a while and wave at the adoring crowd.

I remember going to the county fair when I was younger and loving every minute of it. This year as an adult/parent, I again loved just walking and seeing what we could see.

What a fun day.

Easter in Mesa

What an Easter!

Our family traveled up to Mesa for the weekend and had such a great time.

Friday was filled with:

-seeing Auntie Ruby recently home from her 2.5 year stay in hawaii

-seeing Aunt Amy, Uncle Steele and little Abi in from Utah

-seeing all the fam from Mesa, which we don't really see that often as it is.

-eating at one of my favorite places....Rumbi Grill (baseline & Val Vista)

-scrumptious dessert at the best... Bahama Bucks for shaved ice with cream....ooooh baby (thanks Mimi for buying....it was appreciated!)

-seeing the EAster Pageant at the LDS Mesa Temple with our family involved in it.

I love that you can carry 3 pizza's onto the temple grounds and people are only thinking that they wish they had done the same thing. OR....you see people around you with pizza boxes, carl's jr. wrappers, cafe rio bowls & other foods surrounding their families. We sat for 2 hours reserving seats for the 1 hour performance...you gotta eat!

My nieces Kylie and Jadyn and their parents have had some amazing experiences while in the pageant over the past ??? number of years. One of my favorite things to talk about and SEE is Kylie and her parents portraying "parents with a dead child in their arms approaching the Savior for HIS help". Of course daddy Erik places his child in the arms of the Saviors, while momma Melanie is following her child in tears. when the child (Kylie) is surrounded by Jesus love and his arms you see her come back to life. To this day...it makes me cry...even right now thinking about those parents sorrow and then their instant emotion of rejoicing. Rejoicing of their daughter being brought back to life but also to witness such a MIRACLE! I love it...thanks kylie!

-wonderful hospitality from aunt Mel and uncle Egrig.

Saturday was filled with:

-pancakes and visiting at the parkinson's

-wonderful lunch & more visiting at Grandpa Hallows and Bobbi's home.

While there we had such a super time hiding eggs for the hunt while just 10 minutes later all 10 grand kids ran around looking for their treats.

Mimi has such a great tradition of hiding "special" eggs with different items in them....if you find one of the special ones you get $$$. She also gave each of the grand kids their own stuffed rabbit, which my boys LOVE! We drove away from the house with stuffed belly's, happy faces, bags of grapefruit and so much candy.

While at Grandpa Hallows home...we had a business develop. At our last visit to Grandpa's home (in Feb.) we discovered, thanks to Bobbi, that their trees were full of grapefruit, oranges and blood oranges. When we left there Lainie said "mom, next time we go to their home may I set up a fruit stand and sell it?" I said "yes" and in the back of my mind didn't even think that there would be any fruit left on the tree or that maybe she would forget about it. Last week she kept reminding me of my promise and wanted to make a sign for her fruit stand. Still, I thought that when we get there for Easter...their won't be any fruit and she'll be so side tracked that it will be forgotten about. Lainie and Shelby created the cutest sign and were so proud of themselves for spelling it all right and their art work. When we finally arrived, Bobbi and Grandpa got the table out, the baskets out, the mason jar out (for money) and allowed the girls (all the cousins)...to collect as much fruit as they wanted to sell. Grandpa help set it all up out in front of the house and sat there the entire time until it was time to make our departure.....which I thought was so cool. All the cousins participated and loved waving down cars to buy their produce. The girls had many people honk at them and only a few cars stopped...which I think were people called by Bobbi to help support the cause. It made my girls day...they were so proud of themselves and had such a ball.

-We also had a wonderful treat when Luke's mom, Mimi, offered to take all the grand kids that were available and watch them while the adults went out to dinner. It was so fun to spend some time with luke's bro's their wives and his sister. We were able to make a surprise appearance to my nieces dance recital, which was so cool....thanks ashon for bring up the idea. LUke loved seeing Jenny's face light up when we all came in and especially the littel bouquet of flowers uncle STeele gave to her. That was most likely the highlight of the evening....fun, simple and so glad we went.

-The night ended with a great dinner at Tia Rosa's and just visiting with everyone.

good times!

ps..Allison, I could use one of the photos from dinner that night to put right here....whatchathink?

No offense mom. Well, I am offended, dang it!

This pregnancy has been a little bit of a challenge for me in terms of my mind. I have felt great....hardly any sickness has accompanied this baby, which I love. But, my mind has gotten the best of me as far as my weight gain. I have really let it take my mind and just about put me in a tail spin for freakishness.
Over the past 25 weeks I have not really looked at my body for what it currently is. Over the past 25 weeks I have been looking at my body as a normal body that is just gaining weigh at every corner. I have been looking at my body as a 33 year old woman that should look the same with this pregnancy as I did with all my others. I have been seeing myself as a person being taken over by layers and layers of myself. I have failed to see that I am carrying a little baby. I know it sounds strange but I often forget that I am even pregnant. I think with being a mom to 4 other kids and feeling quite well...it's caused me to forget that there is a human growing inside of me. Thus...I have struggled with seeing past the BOTTOM that has grown on the backside of my body.
UNTIL...about 5 days ago. I don't know why, but for some reason this time I breezed past my full length mirror I got a glance beyond "ME". I saw this big belly attached to the front of me and it occurred to me that I was using my body as a suitcase for the time being, a place of rest for my child, a place for my little sweet boy to grow.
When this reminder happened I thought "heck rennie, You know this....why do you need this reminder?" Maybe I am so hormonal that my brain is really being sucked of any reason or any normal thoughts...but it hit me!
So...I decided to come to grips with the 25 pounds I have already gained and still have 15 weeks left. I decided to come to grips with the fact that this body is only temporary and it's more important to be healthy in my mind than be so ticked off that I have grown so. I thought about the fact that this would be my final pregnancy in my lifetime and I really needed to enjoy it!
I felt good, I felt better and it was going to be an enjoyable and savoring experience to have this baby inside my womb for only 15 more weeks.

Then today happened....while at the pool with my girls I got brought back to my senses of this body of mine that isn't really mine at the moment.
While putting on my sun dress and then removing my swim shorts...ever so modestly so nobody would see my bottom....my sweet and honest oldest child got a glimpse of my legs.
She took one step towards me lifted up my dress to sneek a peek at my thigh. Once the look happened she smiled and said "that's ugly". My response was "what's that? what's ugly? My leg?" I looked at her for a reply back to my questioning...and her reply was nothing. I said again "what's ugly, My leg?" She then makes this little sound like "sss". Once more, I said "WHAT, my leg is ugly?" again...I hear "sss" come from her lips.
Finally all the pieces came together for me...

Not only was one leg ugly... she was putting the plural on leg for me. When I would say Leg. She would say "sss" for "legs". I looked at her with a half smile and asked her why she thought my leg"s" were ugly. She simply said "their so big, no offense mom" (which happens to be her new response after offending someone) I had to say "well Lainie, I am offended, that hurt my feelings and you shouldn't say mean things to people like that, be nice to the mom". "Well mom, it's the truth", she said. I told her sometimes people don't want to hear the truth if it hurts....like a pregnant lady...like ME!

I know she wasn't trying to hurt me and she was being a honest.
However, a simple word to the wise....keep your "ssss's" to yourself, please!

Laughter for this day!

I LOVED this......it made my day!

It actually reminded me of something my sweet husband would do!

click Here