A Tale of Terror

Is anything more terrifying than bugs? Especially the jumpy ones. I am a million times bigger than they are, but the thought of one of them jumping on me gives me the heebie jeebies. Last night, a cricket decided to drop by uninvited and chill on my Boppy pillow in the middle of the living room floor. I was pumping, so I couldn't do anything about it right away. Scott put his shoes on to squash the bugger. I protested, as I did not want bug guts on my nice pillow. Scott got a cup so that he could try to catch it and let it outside, but as he got closer to the cricket, the fear paralyzed him. He couldn't do it. For the next ten minutes we each begged the other to catch the cricket, laughing hysterically at our ridiculous fear of such a small creature. The negotiations began. Finally, it was decided that I would catch the cricket (as I have "experience"* with crickets), in exchange for a 15 minute massage from Scott while watching an episode of Project Runway. I finished pumping, took the cup and bravely captured the unwanted visitor. Scott and I carried the pillow and cup to the doorway and threw the cricket outside. And though it was an unpleasant experience, I got a massage out of it. Boo-ya.

*One time, I had to babysit my little brother's bearded dragon. The thing eats crickets. I had to feed LIVE crickets to a lizard. It was disgusting. I would have to take this black tube filled with crickets and shake it into the lizard cage so that the lizard could capture them. Sometimes, while shaking the crickets into the lizard cage, the crickets would escape out of the open cage door and jump towards me. Trying to avoid these jumping bugs, I would leap out of the way, only to accidentally release more crickets from the tube I was holding, into the air. One cricket actually touched me. Ugghh. After I was done feeding the lizard, I would have to try to catch all of the crickets that had escaped in the process. The escaped convicts walked and jumped down the hallway like they owned the place. Most of them escaped my grasp into crevices I couldn't reach, but occasionally, I would catch one under a plate and then leave it there for the return of my brother. I would catch the bugger, but don't expect me to move it from that place. And all this nastiness isn't even the worst part of the job. Because my family was gone for a week, eventually the crickets ran out and I had to buy more. They come in a bag of 50. I had to shake that bag of disgusting, live crickets into the cricket cage. I cried real tears the whole drive from the pet shop to the house, dreading the task. It was traumatizing. Needless to say, my kids will never have cricket-eating lizards. PERIOD.

\

I Can't Put My Arms Down

In addition to the million other problems we've had with this house since moving in, we turned on the heater for the first time a couple weeks ago only to find out that it didn't work. Within an hour of turning it on, the air dropped from 66 degrees to 62. The air coming out of the vents was ice cold. Unfortunately, the repairman wasn't  able to come until later the next day. We bundled up, kept the oven on, took long, steamy showers, and huddled together at night under the electric blanket to stay warm.

Two layers of pants, two pairs of socks, a shirt, a sweater, a jacket, and a beanie.

7.5 Months

Being Grateful

Last night we watched our neighbor's house across the street go up in flames. We heard some sirens, looked outside and saw bright orange flames in the windows and the firemen getting ready to put out the fire. They got the fire out in seconds, but still, the house is obviously damaged badly. Watching the house burning was one of the saddest things I have personally witnessed. It is devastating. I can't even imagine. Because it is a town house, the adjacent neighbors also had to spend the night elsewhere because of all the smoke. What a way to spend Thanksgiving night. As we watched the firemen put out the fire, Scott held London and I close. How grateful we are for each other.

Happy Birthday Handsome Boy

Today is Scott's 26th birthday. When we started dating, he was only 22. Now he's a father and practically an old man and ready to retire. I love growing old with him.

Sunday Sweater Day

We went out to eat at Liberty Market. London tagged along and thoroughly enjoyed some hummus. It was good times until London had a nap-time melt-down. After being slimed with angry, tired, hummus hands, we hurried out and headed home to enjoy* some carrot cake.

And yes, it looked nasty even before I dug in.

*Cake Fail. Let's just say, I'm not a baker. Period. And apparently, Scott doesn't even like carrot cake. Go figure.

6 Months + 6 days

Rachael's Wedding

This week, Scott's sister Rachael got married in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception. Plus, it was fun to hang out with the family. Scott's sister Becky and her baby boy William were our travel buddies. We had some crazy travel times...Becky's bag got sent to Denver instead of SLC, the rental kept making a loud beeping noise as we drove from the airport to Scott's brother's house which we later realized was the emergency break, and we spent forever searching each floor of parking garage after the wedding trying to find where we parked. Nevertheless, it was still an enjoyable trip. I got to visit with some of my old roommates and coworkers. We also got to walk around BYU campus. It was kind of surreal being there. I kept thinking, had I never married Scott, maybe I would still be there and how sad that would be! I love my life with my boys and am so glad I made the decision to marry Scott. I am so happy for Rachael and Steve to start their life together as a married couple!