What Time Is It?

I can't sleep. Haylie was talking in her sleep at 2 a.m. and called out my name. It was probably no louder than if she was sitting right next to me - I shouldn't have even heard it, but I did. I used to be able to sleep through anything! So I had barely gone back to sleep when Anna woke up close to 3 a.m. - she has been crying off and on for the last 40 minutes. One of her top front teeth is trying to poke through and the poor thing has just been miserable. I hate teething. Well, I don't remember teething myself, so I guess I don't hate it - but I hate seeing my baby be miserable because of it.

I don't think I've mentioned on here that I sort of have a job. I mean, I do have a job, not sort of - it's a job that fell into my lap as I was praying to know if I should get a job to help out with our finances. It is exactly the kind of job I was praying for. It only requires a few hours each day and I don't even have to leave my house! I am the customer service manager (i.e. the only customer service employee) for a small home security company. (PS...I'm now typing one-handed with a screaming baby on my lap). So anyway, yesterday was a fun work day - and by fun, I mean complicated. And by complicated, I mean gut-wrenching. I won't bore you with the details but wouldn't you know that I started thinking about work at 3 a.m. and now I can't shut my brain off. I'm thinking I need to call so and so tomorrow, and thinking about what I should have said to angry Mrs. So and So today - er - yesterday ...oh, and I gotta do some stuff for our primary program practice tomorrow night -er - I guess that would be tonight...not sure how I'm gonna accomplish all that i need to do on 4 hours sleep. I'm so wide awake right now its not even funny. Too bad I can't call my customers now when they are so fresh on my mind...how's that for customer service?? RING RING - HI MR. SO AND SO, I DIDN'T WAKE YOU DID I???

So I just gave in a nursed Anna against my better judgement - but tell me who has good judgement at 4:16 a.m.? Yeah. Nobody. PFFFFFT!

I'm gonna go write some things down and see if that doesn't empty my brain of work stuff, then attempt to go back to sleep.

Adios Amigos!

The Tortoise and the Hare Chicken

Wanna know what's even more bizarre than a chicken showing up unannounced in our back yard? The fact that the chicken has become best buddies with the tortoise. And, if the laws of reproduction didn't apply here - we could have little torchickens running around the yard! hahaha!

But seriously - these two roam around the yard together all day long - and the chicken even steals the tortoise's lettuce!


Here's Curly (the tortoise) enjoying a little green snack...


Here's Clucky stealing the little green snack...


Here Curly is fighting for his lettuce...


And here Curly has given up. The chicken is ruthless when she wants to be!

They're so fun to watch - such an unlikely pair but they really do seem to love each other!!

We're a little worried about Clucky getting lonely cuz Curly is about to go into hibernation for the winter...do they make anti-depressants for chickens?

She Did It!

Haylie has always been too scared to feed the giraffe at the zoo. She always wants to and has good intentions, but freezes as soon as his dark tongue comes out! She was looking at a picture of the giraffe feeding from several months ago when I had to do it for her and she said "I feed the giraffe" and I said "No, you didn't feed the giraffe because you got scared." So she then said "I'm not scared anymore - let's do it again". So we gave it another shot yesterday and she did it! I guess she just has to make up her mind about something then it's done!

ALL ABOARD!!

Last weekend, we took a trip up to the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad. It's a fun place we discovered several years ago on our way up to Yosemite. They have a steam train that was used for logging back in the early 1900's. Haylie has been really into trains lately, so we thought she'd have fun actually riding on a REAL train. She loved it. I got so many great pictures, but here are just a few:







Anna really liked the ride too - she was so quiet - just looking at everything













Time to say goodbye to the train...




It's so hard to say goodbye. She threw a little bit of a fit when I buckled her in.


That couldn't possibly have been because she was tired, could it? Oh, you have to click on the picture to see the nice string of drool going down her face! hehe...

It was a beautiful day up in the mountains - and the fresh air was...well, refreshing!

To see all the pictures, click here

Prop 8 Continued...

It has come to my attention that the website I linked to in my previous post, with the article I want you to read, is actually a website created by Mormons who do not necessarily oppose gay marriage. So I guess a disclaimer is in order:

I don't condone or support gay marriage. I don't support that website. I don't spend my time reading the articles on that website. I am pro Prop 8 - I believe marriage should be defined as a union between a man and a woman only. I do not want you to read other articles on that site. I did not post that link with the intention of leading readers to support the site. Please do not surf that site and say "Kristie told me to do it" or "Kristie did it, so it must be OK".

I do still feel that the article that I linked to is valid and should be read. The legal references made in the article are legitimate. I stand by the belief that it is important to educate ourselves and not be scared into voting a certain way.

And THIS is why I usually stay out of it. *wink*

Prop 8

Here's the dealio: I hate politics. I don't like to get involved. I don't understand what's going on most of the time and call me irresponsible, but I usually let Eric do all the research then vote how he tells me to. He listens to talk radio and reads a lot - he is interested in the stuff and so I
trust him to tell me the right thing to do.

I've been VERY apprehensive to get involved in this whole Prop 8 plight. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with Prop 8, you can go to http://www.protectmarriage.com/ to learn more) Our church has encouraged us to get involved and go out to neighborhoods and encourage others to vote YES on Prop 8. I KNOW how important it is (because we've been told a thousand times) and I will be voting in November, but there have been some things weighing very heavily on me. For one, I have not felt comfortable going out and knocking on doors or making phone calls to encourage people to vote. Then I feel uncomfortable because I think I'm going to be judged for NOT doing those things. So a member of our bishopric said that we each need to pray about what is the right level of involvement for us, as individuals and as couples. For some, the right level of involvement may be to get out and vote. For some, knocking on doors is the way to go. I feel a lot more comfortable with the whole thing knowing that if Eric and I prayerfully decide how to proceed, we will do the right thing for us and nobody can fault us for that.

Ok, moving on...I got an e-mail about 6 things that will happen if Prop 8 does not pass. I think that most of us LDS folks have probably seen it. Well, I just saw this article on the blog of a friend of a friend. An adjunct professor at BYU Law School has taken the time to research each of the 6 claims written in that e-mail (which, by the way, could have been written by anyone - the author did not put his/her name or credentials). So, maybe this is my level of involvment - to pass along information to everyone in my reach - and further educate so that we can all say we researched and learned as much as we could rather than blindly voting for something because we were told it was the right thing to do.

I like what this man wrote, because he is in no way saying we should not vote for Prop 8 - he is simply showing us that many of the claims made are simply not accurate - and for the most part, designed to scare us into voting yes - well, he explains himself very well - much better than I am explaining it. I encourage anyone who reads by blog to click the link below. It is a long document, but I think well worth the time.

http://www.mormonsformarriage.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/secondversionresponsestosixconsequencesifprop8fails1.pdf

(How's this for not getting involved in politics??)

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I've been keeping track of some funny things Haylie's been saying lately...so I've compiled them here...

June 15, 2008
Today Haylie was holding Anna and said, "Mommy, did you get Anna at the store?" (If only it were that easy!) and I said, "No, I got Anna from Heaven". Then she thought for a moment and said, "Thank you for getting Anna from Heaven." How sweet is that?

Some other funny things:
"Oh my goodness!" (Wonder where she got that from?)

"OK! Alright Alright!!!" (When I ask her repeatedly to do something)

Sometimes I call Anna "Sugarbean" (not sure why or where it came from) and every so often I hear Haylie go up to Anna, squeeze her cheeks and say emphatically "Hi Sugarbean!!"


July 15, 2008
Me: Come on, Haylie, time for a bath!
Haylie: Ummm, maybe not.


July 2008 while on vacation at my mom's house:
Me: Haylie, are you ready for bed?
Haylie: Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............no.

September 21 - Emmy night
Eric and I don't usually watch the Emmy's - but there was not much else on, so I turned it on. For those of you who did not see it, there was a little montage in the beginning where various celebrities were quoting famous quotes from different shows over the years. So one of the quotes was Frank from Everybody Loves Raymond - so there were about 7 or 8 people that said over and over "HOLY CRAP!" Well, I was totally not paying attention - and realized too late that Haylie was watching too...of course, about 2 seconds later she blurts out "HOLY CRAP!!" - whoops. So Eric and I try our best not to laugh, or make too big a deal out of it - cuz we all know that if I tell her not to say it - she'll say it even more just to spite me. So, *knock on wood* she hasn't said it again and appears to have forgotten all about it. Whew. She is such a little sponge!