A shout out to all moms ....Has anyone else felt like this at times? All comments are welcome and needed to make me feel sane! :)
This year we spent Christmas at home in Utah and had the privelege of having Carl (Damon's brother) and his wife Jinger and their family come stay with us. We started the festivities off by eating and ended the festivities by ...yes EATING! It was great food (loved the spinach dip Jing). Anyway we had a great time. We had fun decorating ginger bread houses but the boys spent most of 
their time asking us 
to transform their cars 
They are as Cru put it, "real ninjas now". We also got a Wii game system. It's been a lot of fun... I think I have a bit of tennis elbow. 
The boys played 
all together (boxing, baseball, tennis). It motivated them to really box one another which was fun to watch. But it proved to be too exhausting for the dogs. Overall it was a great day! Monday was THE worst day of 2007 for me...I hope. The year isn't over yet. I'll share my experience of that day with you so it makes you feel better about how your day is going.
What launched this snowball of catastrophes was a small mistake actually the night before. I set the alarm on my watch to wake me up, only I accidentally set it for PM rather than AM. I woke up to the sound of the school bus compressing it's brakes and opening it's doors for the kids to get on. "CRAP! Cru wake up you missed the bus!" I let him take his time eating his breakfast and catch a little bit of "Clifford The Big Red Dog". In the mean time I was getting ready and realized I couldn't find my car keys. I thought no big deal, they'll show up. But after searching high and low I finally gave up hope and began the dreaded process of putting snow clothes on all my kids. (It was like 19 degrees outside and the wind was blowing) Once that process was done I loaded the two little ones in the stroller and gave Cru a few words of encouragement before we headed out the door for the mile walk to his school. We realized after about 20 steps that we couldn't go our regular route because of road construction so we went an alternate route. We made it to the swinging bridge that crosses the river but it was rough going. The snow from the previous day had made it very difficult. After struggling our way over the swinging bridge we came to our intended path but were frustrated to find it had been gated off! That was the second "CRAP!" of the day. So the only option at this point was to ditch the stroller and take a huge flight of stairs up the hill. So that's what we did. Once to the top a blast of cold wind hit us...but did we stop? NO! because we came this far and education is important RIGHT! We could do it! (That was my optimistic attitude talking) So the pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked ...AND walked. The kids were really good until this point. Corbin's little legs had a hard time keeping up and they were all getting cold. Corbin began to cry. But once the school was in sight everyone felt like the torture was over....But was it? We did make it to the school and Cru was only 30 minutes late! But there was no way I was getting Corbin to walk back down to the stroller. He hung onto the handle of the school door and kept saying, "I want to stay at school with Cru". I put him on my back with Ava in the front and started to head out but Corbin couldn't hang on tight enough so I knew a piggy back ride wasn't going to work. So I knelt down to let him off and must have let go of him too soon because he didn't have his feet under him and he fell and bonked his head on the sidewalk. Keep in mind during this scene the lunch ladies in the cafeteria had a great view and saw the entire thing. So Corbin is screaming, I have mascara under my eyes from the night before so I look like Rocky and Ava realizes she needs to cry because she has to do everything her brother does. That's when the third "CRAP!" of the day was said. I finally gave up on my optimistic attitude and walked to my spectators inside the cafeteria to ask for a ride home. Luckily Sister Howell (Cru's primary teacher) worked there. Two other women were gaping at me and I think wondering if they should call Child Protective Services. Bless Sister Howell, with no hesitation she grabbed her car keys and took us home, picking up the stroller on the way. When I got home I looked on the table and there was a note with my car keys sitting next to them. It said, "Merry Christmas! They were in the garbage downstairs" AAAAHHHHH! Damon, bless his heart, had drove all the way home from work to give us a ride to the school but we weren't there so he started searching for the keys. Needless to say I had exhausted myself emotionally and physically by 9 a.m. and was useless the rest of the day. Well there you have it. I hope you feel better about your day now. If you do my mission is accomplished! Oh and at 6:50 PM while I was cleaning up the kitchen my alarm went off. I started laughing hysterically.
So I went to the dentist Monday. I think the dental assistant that cleaned my teeth ate at our local sandwich shop, BIG MOE'S. She had the worst breathe in the world and by my judgement ordered the pastrami burger with onions. I sat in the reclined chair for 30 minutes laughing to myself and trying to concentrate on breathing through my mouth so I wouldn't smell anything. That's really hard when you have a set of metal tools jammed inside your gaping mouth.
I think all of you know by now that our family are avid BYU football fans. This blue blood, I am learning, is hereditary and comes through the Andreasen blood line. At the beginning of each season the football organization at BYU holds a women's camp. Damon's father Gary said it was the only time he would be willing to dress up like a girl. This was my first time 
attending the camp. I have to say it was the most fun I've had in a long time. My two sister-in-laws and mother-in-law went to this fun filled event with me. It was pretty much a riot. Now think about a riot on the news. People running around hitting each other and things flying everywhere. That's pretty much how it was. Over 400 women trying to get Max Halls 
autograph (which I did by the way). It was pretty sweet though. We met the players and coaches, toured the facilities and played on the field. Unfortunately my mother-in-law suffered a knee injury during the drills she was running and had to have her knee scoped...but no fear she caught the ball! (I guess the doctor looked at her funny during her appointment. When he saw her age and the cause of the injury on the paper he thought there was a typo). She's doing much better now and is the central pride of all her sons. The thing that was surprising is that all these players are amazing upstanding young men. They work extremely hard in the community and in school and not one of them was a snob. I was impressed. They're on their way to becoming conference champs...once again! We'll be going to the Utah game next weekend! GO COUGS!
(This is Harvey Unga, RB, I beleive he has the leading yards rushing so far at BYU)
Finally my children are as interested in the holidays as I am! When our first child was born I thought to myself, "YES, now I have someone who will get as excited as me!" Little did I know it would take 5 years for that child to grow and actually understand how absolutely rad Halloween and Christmas are. But this year is the one...the 
one where Cru and Corbin are counting down the days and hours. I can see it now... them filling their bags to the brim with candy and sorting it out on the floor into categories. (Corbin doesn't need preschool he just needs halloween every other day) This year Cru decided to be a storm trooper. Corbin followed his Star Wars stricken 
brother by being Jango Fett. And of course I had to follow suit with Ava as Princess Leia. It's been great fun. It's amazing what you can make with paper mache', yarn and a hot glue gun. We had a family Halloween party with an "Out Of This World" theme. Damon went as an ASStronaut. We put a name tag on him that said "Jack". (I'll let you figure that one out) He also wore a "180 IQ" patch on his suit...so he was also a smart a%$. His hat said "nASSa". I decided to go along with the 
kids' star wars theme and was Chewbecky. (The female version of Chewbacca). It was pretty darn gross but way fun. We also have taken the kids to a couple carnivals already. Tonight we'll take them around the neighborhood. They're just as excited for Christmas. A Hasbro toy magazine came in the mail and they already have it circled and worn to bits. I knew I could count on these little guys to make things exciting again! We hope you all have a Happy Halloween and enjoy the remainder of the holiday season! Let us know what you're costumes were this year! 
