Happy New Year!

From our family to yours. We hope that 2009 brings blessings and happiness to you and yours!

And yes, I am again, behind the camera (on purpose). Until the baby weight comes off, I'm not showing my fat face online. Thankyouverymuch.

Maddie's scared face

You know you laughed...because I do. Every time.

The house is a disaster...

We returned from Arizona Saturday. Thankfully the roads weren't bad at all. We drove both cars since I went several days earlier than Todd.
We arrived home and unloaded the car and I started in on the mounds of laundry. Really though, the entire house looks like it threw up all over itself. It's bad. Really bad. And I don't even know where to start. Todd left in a hurry to get to Arizona before the storm hit, so some things weren't taken care of before he rushed off. I'm staring into a sink full of week old dirty dishes and I can't get myself to even start on that project.
I need to go grocery shopping. I have a few presents to exchange (doubles). And more laundry to do.
I'm tempted to throw stuff in bags and donate it to the children's shelter here because I don't want to deal with it, but I don't think that will go over very well. Heh.

Any suggestions on how to start this monumental task? Maybe I'll go hide in the closet...at least I can see the floor in there.

Merry Christmas Eve...hohoho

Sorry, no pictures yet but there will be when I get home. We're in the White Mtns visiting family. I'm sick with something weird. (nothing contagious I don't think) I'm kind of scrooge-ing it at the moment, but I'm sure tonight will be much better when the craziness starts.

So Merry Christmas everyone!

PSA re: norovirus/norwalk virus aka: the stomach flu

Tis the season to spread the germs...but please try to keep this bug to yourself, my kids tend to end up in the hospital due to dehydration.

Some myths and facts about the stomach bug that you may not know.

#1 Purell and similiar "anti-bacterial" hand sanitizers do NOT kill the stomach bug, sorry. You're just smearing them around on your hands. If you want something that KILLS it, use something with the active ingredient "Benzethonium Chloride" found in "Wet Ones" brand wipes and at www.thegermzapper.com. I love wet ones because you are actually WIPING the germs off. This, of course is second only to proper handwashing.
#2 Handwashing. Please wash your hands after using the restroom. Warm water and soap. Rub together and make lots of bubbles while singing "Happy Birthday" or your "ABC's". (Approx 20 seconds)
#3 Lysol also does not kill this virus. Only bleach and the Benzethonium Chloride. Bummer because I LOVE my Mr. Clean w/ Febreeze. If someone gets sick, BLEACH everything possible. And wash your hands again.
#4 You are contagious for up to 2 weeks. Yup. You read that right. But as long as #2 is being done, you shouldn't spread it.
It is not airborne like a cold. It is spread "fecal-oral". Don't ask me to explain that please, but suffice it to say that if everyone washed their hands like they were supposed to, this wouldn't be a problem.

Don't ask how I know these things. If you really want to know, google "emetophobia" and you will understand why I'm neurotic.

Thanksgiving and other fun stuff

So about a year ago I caught the Disneyland bug in a bad way. When Todd was at USC we had season passes and went all.the.time. This was, of course before we had kids. As kids, we grew up doing Disney a lot because my grandparents lived in Southern Cali for a LONG time. I wanted to see if we could do a trip with as many of the sibs as possible. It turned out that back in June (July?) one of my brothers (Josh) was accepted to the Police academy so he and his beautiful wife couldn't make it. And for a variety of other reasons, Justin and Trina couldn't make it either. So it was Adam and Tiff and baby J, our parents and 2 youngest siblings Cody and Lacey and the 4 of us (Todd, me, Dallin and Maddie). I commendeered the entire procedure, including scoring us a killer deal on a hotel within walking distance, getting tickets before the Sept. 1 price increase, reserving T-day dinner for 15 etc. We had a lot of fun, and I think everyone was glad I was "the boss" because we never ended up waiting for more than 10 minutes for anything. (Get there early and you have the park to yourself). Of course, directing that many people and trying to keep everyone happy was exhausting and I need about a week to recoup.

Overall it was a great trip, even if we did have to drive oh...15 hours each way. I'll post more pictures soon...