I wish I were a baller

...Not really, just an old school song that came to mind. Tonight I heard a girl say, "come on Chris Cross" to her kid and I though, "yep. I am old." In my childbirth class I refer to my CD player as a boom box and I get giggles. Also, I noticed that I dress like I am 45. Not that all 45 year old dress "old", but I am so not trendy or stylish. Although, I wish that I were. I also decided tonight that it is probably a good thing that I am fat, because if I looked good in most things that I tried on, we would be in a bad way. I would have a full closet, bare cupboards and a p-ed off husband. That tangent is over, so on to my baller- Zac.
 I signed Zac up for a 4 week, once a week Basketball skills camp to get him involved in something. I have felt impressed that he needs his own time and space and opportunity to excel (or is it accel?) So this was a start. He liked it for the most part. He didn't care to go the 3rd week and only was glad to go the 4th week because Steve and I went to watch him that week for a while. He was saying that he wants to do karate again. I vote for swimming. I am think Michael Phelps. Do you know his story? Pretty cool. It was also great that little Christian signed up too, and we shared rides and they had a friend there in each other.

Line-dribbling. Cool shoe reflectors.

Zac and Christian

Waiting in line for a drill. Happy to entertain us.

 The pictures aren't that great, but here are a few.

Brian Regan

 I know that I have talked about Brain Regan before. I was first introduced to this comedian's stuff at hospital orientating when I started at Timpanogos Regional. I was laughing so hard at that meeting that I was embarrassed. He is on Netflix and Youtube. In Fact, I show his ER bit in my childbirth class to get the endorphins flying, and it's a good segway into talking about pain.
 We have kept an eye on his tour and saw that he was coming to Utah. Steve said that he went to get tickets for us but it didn't work-out. That was a bummer, but come to find out, he really had bought us tickets and was saving them for a Christmas gift surprise. Yea! That was fun to find in my stocking.
 The show was Weds, 1/25/12 at Abravanel Hall. Our show was at 7:30pm.
 It  was a smooth night. Everything went easy peazy. Kristi watched the kids, which is perfect because they know her well, and apparently they were good for her and went right to bed. (Last time we had a date, we hired someone else for the job and they all but told us the kids were hellians and that put a really sour cap on the evening for us.)
We ate at Biaggi's that we ate at several years ago and also about 5 years ago in Indiana. The food is amazing Italiana! So delicious. We did not hold back, we even sandwiched our entree with an appetizer and dessert.
 After dinner, we actually had plenty of time. We walked up to Abravanel Hall and waited for about 45 minutes for the show to start. The place is really nice, clean and comfortable. We had great seats.
 Before Brain Regan, another comedian came on that was funny and then when Brain Regan walked out, I swear I wanted to stand and shout something, like "we love you!". But, um, I didn't. He was on stage for about an hour, and Steve and I agreed that we never stopped laughing or at least smiling. He was great. My favorite bit was probably about the motorcycle or the cobwebs . We noticed that nothing he did was old stuff, not that I would have cared. I just think he is hilarious. It was great. We walked back to the truck and had a nice drive home. I looked at the pictures and watched him on my camera, and we just talked about how dang fun that was.

Good times. It was a great date, and I loved my company.

In the truck in the parking garage in Salt Lake. About to eat some awesome food.

After eating. We are in the restaurant- stuffed and happy. At Biaggi's

Abravanel Hall pic

The view from our seats

Hilarious Dude

Classic

Hardware Ranch

MLK Jr day we headed up to Hardware Ranch, near Logan, Utah. It is an Elk Ranch, where the DNR feeds the elk as they are driven off the mountain in the winter for food. Yes, they could make it just fine without help, but this keeps them out of Cache Valley in people's yards and off the roads. There are a lot of elk up there. At the time we were there, there were about 120 elk.
 It was cold, 19 degrees. We were basically dressed for it. It was a good trial-run for sledding, if it ever snows enough. We did find that our feet got cold...Might have to get some wool socks for when we go sledding/tubing.  The little boys did the best- very happy to be there- despite the cold. The rest of us enjoyed it too. 40 minutes was long enough out there though.
 The drive there and back was nice, thanks to red box and the scenery after we were north of SLC. Logan is very beautiful. If they had any jobs, it would be a nice place to live. I love the 4H/country feel of that part of the state.
 We were in the van about 5.5 hours for our 40 minute adventure in the cold to see the Elk. Steve and I want the kids to love the outdoors and try to make efforts to make that happen for them. In a time when it's easier to watch TV and play video games, the outdoors sometimes takes work.
 I think this trip was worth it, if you are a Utahan, make sure you dress well if you are headed there.

BO

That's right BO, aka body odor. Jenna is 8 and a half years old. The other morning when I woke her up for school, we were chillin' in her bed and she casually said that her pits were stinky. I laughed and said, "what?" I figured she had read it in a book or had seen it on TV or something. I said, "are you sure?" She raised her arm, and I took a sniff, feeling sure that I would smell nothing, and then wam! B.O.! I am not talking about terrible BO, but definitely BO. I smiled and shook my head.
What! I googled "when do little girls start having underarm odor?" I got back some stupid opinions, and then came across a credible website from the American Academy of Pediatrics, and it said that girls hit puberty between 8 and 13 years old. CRAP! I am not ready for this. She is not ready. I know that it doesn't mean that other stuff is just around the corner, but I figure I better get that book that I was saving for when she is 9, a little sooner.
 It is ironic because we were just talking in the YM board meeting the other Sunday about girls (12-14 year olds specifically) and BO. We were talking about the deodorant debate, and also how being smelly is hard on the child socially. It didn't even occur to me that Jenna would be dealing with this soon. Geez, I have said it a hundred times. I was so naive  pushing out babies, thinking that I can do this. But this parenting business is serious stuff! There is a funny line off of Marley and Me that says something to the effect that "why didn't people tell us that this would be hard" (talking about parenting) and she answers, "they probably did,but even if we had listened, we would have just thought that they we miserable and negative people". So true!

Wisdom teeth

Why are they called Wisdom teeth anyway? Once they erupt does it mean that you have reached an age where you are more wise and mature? I am not sure, I think that I have had mine 12 or so years, and they were nothing but trouble. I didn't notice any advantage, except that the gap between my front 2 teeth did tightened up, but other than that, just a nuisance and a safe harbor for cavities, as of late. The past 3 dentists have told me "they are going to cause you trouble down the road...," well we are down that road, and out they went this weekend.
 On Monday, I called and asked it there were any opening for my teeth to come out this past Friday. They said they were booked, but would put me on a cancel list. I was somewhat relieved because I didn't want to worry about it all week. In fact, we had planned a trip to Moab and on to Blanding over the long weekend, where I actually had a Friday off and Monday too. Thursday, however, the dentist's office called and some wise soul cancelled their appt, and they could get me in for 5 fillings and 4 wisdom teeth extractions. Oh Joy! I said OK and Steve was fine to oblige. -Knowing it needed to be done since my appt in October. Plus he got plenty of PS3 in over the weekend.
 Kristi was even available to watch the little guys while Steve went with me to the dentist. I tried the NOS, frankly because Steve is a fan, Jenna did great with it, and I was anxious and thought that it might help. Within a couple of minutes, I started to giggle and tingle. Weird! Then a bit later, I became a cry baby. I am not talking about bawling, just streaming tears. It was like the post partum blues all over again. "Why am I crying?" After all my numbing injections, I decided that NOS was for the birds or whoever else liked feeling that way. Within minutes, I was no longer streaming tears and could tolerate listening to the country music in the background without crying. It was a good experience for my childbirth class. Funny, I know. It hasn't been that long since I had Gage, but I was experiencing pain and anxiety and did use some relaxation techniques. Mostly deep breathing and progressive relaxation. The problem is that when I would relax, my mouth would relax and he would say, "you are closing on me again." I also squeezed the heck out of Steve's hand.
 He filled 5 cavities on the left and then pulled the wisdom teeth, the whole thing start to finish was an hour and a half. The dental hygienist did a pretty good job numbing me, but on my left upper, I was feeling him pull it out, so he gave me another shot that seemed to do the trick, unfortunately that made my left nostril, ear and eye lid numb too. I looked like a stroke victim by the time we were done. Never mind how I felt. I felt like a character off of Planet of the Apes. The girl asked if I wanted to look in the mirror. I said, "No!"
 Steve did a great job taking care of me. Once we got home, I had to be changing that nasty gag-me gauze and passed out cold on the floor in the bathroom. I came to and realized what had happened. "Steve!" He found me and was not happy to find me on the floor only having been out of his sight for a couple of minutes. I crawled, hands and knees, to the bed. Steve took off my shoes, placed ice packs on my face, and he checked on me every 10 minutes for a while, I know.
 The rest of the day was a blurr. The dentist gave me the big guns. I took a full dose twice maybe and a half of a phenergan, and no wonder people get addicted to that crap. Sleep away the day and the night, the pain and responsibility.
 I am glad that I have a good husband that can handle things well. Saturday was better. We ran to Walgreen's, and I decide that I wasn't quite ready for any type of errand, running or otherwise. So I went back to bed and later ate Zuppas for dinner. I love Zuppas soup and the Big Bang Theory.
 Today was better even still. No more narcs needed. The Motrin is doing just fine. I have been up and doing stuff, and feel about human again, just with 4 less teeth. Hopefully we will have fun and be productive tomorrow to make up for the otherwise blah-zae weekend. I am relieved to have it done.