Die Hard Fishie

We have owned a 5 gallon fish tank for several years. The kids seem to still enjoy it. Isaac has been wanting a plecostomus (algae eater) for a very very long time. We finally bit the bullet and bought one after Christmas, along with two tiny frogs (super cute!). Well, we still have one frog alive last I checked, but in one week, we lost one frog, one plecostomus, and two blue guppies. There must be something wrong with our water. Cha-Ching! Money down the toilet - pun intended.
We have this orange mollly. We've had it for at least one year and counting. It doesn't want to die! It has lived through all kinds of trials; having to deal with murky waters, algae, new friends, friends dying, and inconsistent feedings. It's a trooper.
I want to be like our little orange fish. It has a willpower to keep going through tough times. Reminds me of Job.

Letter E

Ammon was (as usual) needy for attention, so I decided we'd work on the letter E, even though his friend, Benny, is out of town. He knew the sound of the letter even before we started today. I think it's because we have this fridge toy that plays the letter sounds with a catchy tune. So catchy that Justin goes around the house singing "A says A and A says ah, every letter makes a sound, A says A and ah." We made an elephant puppet, which right now he's snuggled up with in his doggie sleeping bag,watching The Jungle Book. We read Green Eggs and Ham and looked through a picture dictionary and found other things that begin with the letter E. He seems to love the attention. It made me sleepy.
I've been spending insane amounts of time on the internet researching my trip with Allison to Disneyland in about 5 weeks. I am getting excited! I'm also nervous about being alone with a kid, in places unknown. I have a fear of doing things out of my comfort zone. And I'm not talking about how everyone has these fears. I inherited it from my Mom. Blah blah blah, I know it's good for me to get out there in life and just live it, but it's scary sometimes!
I found out yesterday that I have a minor allergic reaction to sunflower seeds. This is ironic because I am so addicted. I can go through a pound in a week easily. Disgusting, I know. I'm going to try not eating nuts for a couple of weeks and see if I notice any changes. This should be interesting. I'm not eating gluten or any milk products either. Very boring diet.

Huh?

Sliding. This is a new term for me. Well at least what Minnesotans refer to it as, which is: sledding. I've now heard two locals call it this, so it must be true. Kind of like Duck, Duck, Gray Duck, and "budging" in line. Funny Minnesota-isms.

Has anyone noticed that everyone is having babies, or just had one? Let me count the ways...Meggin, Holly, Karen, Sienna, Trevyan, Tina, Jerica, Erin, Brandelyn, Brittanie, Jacob's teacher from 5th grade?? . That's all I can think of right now, but that's a large list. Four are sister-in-laws! I'm feeling the pressure, and babies sure are cute, especially now that Ammon is getting older. Gosh he's changed since he was born.

Last day of Awesome Vacation to Florida

We actually got home last night from Oklahoma, but these are the memories from the last moments of stress-free life.

Packing up was a piece of cake. I was surprised how we fit everything into our bags so we didn't have to check one on the plane. On the drive to the airport, we stopped at Fudruckers and saw the alligators. Even if it wasn't in the wild, at least we got to see some.
We were on the last row of both of our flights. The second flight, we were on a huge plane. We opened our window, and what a view! All we could see was the jet. When the engines started up, we couldn't hear each other scream, it was so loud. And the vibrations on the feet! It was almost like getting a bonus foot massage.
We made it back to Oklahoma with no problems. Meggin picked us up at the airport and then we drove to the Dittmers. It was nice to see the kids, I suppose. Being home for a day now, I am realizing how much stress I carry in my daily life. This vacation was perfect. Just what I needed.

Day 5 of Awesome Vacation to Florida


Another beautufil day. The forcast is very deceiving. I'm glad we didn't decide not to come because of those lightening and cloud pictures. It was cloudy and looked a little "tut tut," but no rain.
We drove to Deer Lake State Park and hiked on the Linear Trail across the highway. It was about a 1.5 mile loop. It was nice and secluded; didn't see any other people. It was fun to see different types of wildlife growing, like mushrooms and pines. We even saw a lizard/gecko that turned from bright green to brown. So cute and little.
Justin decided that he wanted to jog back to the house along the beach, which is only about 1-2 miles, so I drove back. I got there just in the nick of time. The cleaning crew was just getting out of their cars getting ready to clean the house. I told them we had extended out stay one more day, and the office should have told them.
Lunch, nap, then we walked to the beach. Justin brought the skim board and wore the wet suit. We walked south a little ways and found a flat-ish spot. I got busy trying unsuccessfully doing a Sudoku for a few minutes, got frustrated, so started making a family-school-of-fish sand sculputre.
In the mean time, Justin walked back to the house and got an inflatable lobster to ride the waves. He was making me laugh so hard. He is such a dork. After awhile snorkeling with the lobster, he came back in and said, "that guy walking by probably thought "they shouldn't let retarded people go out that far."" He did look really, uhm for lack of a better word, retarded.
He found a little shell with a crab in it, and we also noticed all of these little tiny clam shells that had clam type things in them along the wave front. You could see them digging back into the sand as the waves receeded. We had fun digging for them and watching them dig down.
Back at Endless Summer, we played another couple rounds of Skip-Bo. Our scores are now 400/65 in favor of me. Poor Justin. He usually beats me at Skip-Bop too. Then we made chicken/rice/black beans/salsa for dinner. We made regular rice and no Lawreys season salt for the chicken, so the rice wasn't as good as Basmati and the chicken a little boring. I guess it filled the tummies though.
We packed up most of our stuff, and surprisingly, there isn't that much food to throw away. Justin has a big appetite.
I felt like a late night walk on the beach so we headed down there again around 10 PM. There was no one there, except for the county guy driving his truck down the beach checking on garbage and what not. It was soooo fun! We sat on a sandy ledge by the waves and laid down and looked at the stars. The ledge was about 18 inches tall, and would crumble very easily. We had fun trying to knock the sand out from under each others' bumbs. I had fun trying to get on top of the ledge then slide down on my feet. It was hard just to get on top without it falling down. I was getting the giggles. Justin was a pooper because his "muscles hurt."
We walked back and played chicken with the waves to see how far out we would stand. I was by far the most chicken, not scared of the waves, but of what might be in the waves. Even though the whole time, we have never seen anything, just not being able to see what's in there is scary!
Back at the house, we rinsed off our feet outside, and then I sat and put my feet in the pool. It wasn't too bad! Justin was right all along. Then I was rinsing off in the tub and stood up under the faucet and scraped my backside pretty good. Not a great end of the day.
It's late and we have to get up at 7 AM.
XII

I had a thought...Justin and I were walking along the beach tonight about 10 PM through the fog and were talking about how many trips we've taken over our 13 years of marriage. I can't believe how many! It's really important to me for these trips to happen. It makes me feel like a wife instead of always a mom, and makes me feel so loved. Here's the list we came up with:

• Center Street Bed & Breakfast in Logan
• ? Inn in SLC
• Providence Inn
• Portland/Olympic National Park
• Yellowstone/Tetons
• Fish lake/Capitol Reef
• Seattle - beach
• Tulsa hotel
• Branson Missouri
• Grand lake resort Oklahoma
• Cancun Riviera Maya 2006
• Oklahoma City - temple with Meggin and Spencer 2007
• Florida South Walton beach house 2008

Not too shabby of a list! Hoping to making it longer in the years to come.