My Love-Hate Relationship

This, my friends, is my mean, hateful treadmill! How I love to hate it! It causes pain, sweat, sometimes tears, frustration, boredom....the list could go on and I think you get the gist of it. It sits in my bedroom mocking me if I don't use it at least 5 days a week. It gets James' work stuff piled on it everyday, and it still is able to yell at me from under the rubble. It says 'Get on here you lazy lout and get running/walking!'. Sometimes I listen, sometimes I don't. I know it is good for me, and I do much better on this than out on the road. I can not run on the road, but the treadmill makes me keep going. I know it is good for my heart. When the paramedics were taking my blood pressure on the way to the hospital for my back they said that it was good because of my using the treadmill. I also know that it helps me to keep my weight in check. However, knowing all of the good things about the treadmill does not change my feelings towards or opinion of it. I HATE IT!!!!! That will never change!

Fire!!!!!!

I was driving home from picking up Parker and Kylee from school. I was driving down my street when I saw smoke coming up from behind the fence of our parking lot. I thought 'Oh, they must be doing a controlled burn'....until I realized it was a not a farm and there would not be a 'controlled burn' over there. I decided to pull up farther than the driveway to see what it was. FLAMES!!!! That is what it was!! I flew into the parking lot and ran to the house yelling 'James, there is a fire!'. He moved so fast! (It is good to know that he can if he needs to) I grabbed three pitchers of water and James grabbed a shovel and we ran outside. I saw a lady that said that someone had been in a car in the street and said that they called the fire department. We started trying to put the fire out, and eventually got it out. In all of this time the fire department never came. Personally, I think the people in the car started it and never called them. If I had been 5 minutes later it would have been too late. The fence would have caught fire and all of those cars along side of it (mine being one of them!). Very scary!!!! We came back inside and I said to James 'It stinks in here' and he promptly informed me that it was us that stunk! It was quite frightening and I am very glad that James does not do this for a living! (like he has a safe job! lol)

Are clothes good for your health?

I have been struggling....a lot! I want to lose some weight and be more healthy i.e. exercise daily (sigh) and not eat everything that passes in front of me or my mind. However, I have been having a REALLY hard time doing this!! I can't figure it out. I know that I am capable of doing it, seeing as how I have done it before. Now, before you think that I am putting on the pounds, I am not (at least not in addition to the 10 pounds I gained when we moved to El Centro). I am just maintaining. However, I don't think about that, this is what usually runs through my mind. "I am so fat (I hate that word, by the way)" or "I hate how I look" or "What if I am embarrassing my husband" (he says I am not and to shut up). Anyway, you get the gist. So, James and I sat down to talk about this state of mind/body and what could be done about it. I decided that maybe if I dressed better (not pajama bottoms and t-shirts everyday) and actually put on make-up even if I was not going to church I might feel better about myself. I used to do it everyday and now I have become a shlumpy (is that a word?) housewife! So, I went shopping! I bought some skirts (they hide fat better than pants), shirts, a pair of capris and shoes. Now, back to the question of whether clothes are good for you health. I have to say, unequivocally, YES!!!! I feel better when I look 'put together'. When I feel better I want to do better, which should help with the healthy side of things. I have even found that I am not so hard on what my body looks like (with clothes on, anyway). I have set new goals for my weight (I think more realistic) and hopefully have pulled myself out of the slump! yipee!!!

Thinking

Do you ever sometimes just think about how things used to be and compare them to what they are now? Last night we were having family scripture study and my kids gave me my Book of Mormon from a million years ago. It is the one that I took on my mission and was a gift. I was thumbing through the pages and what I had marked and then read the inscription that was written by the giver. I don't have contact with this person anymore, although I know things about said person. I thought about the times we spent together (tons of time) and the things we did. We thought that we would always be in each other's lives. It is sad to me to look back and to see what caused the change in our relationship. There are things we both could have done differently. It is also sad for me to see the changes that have occurred in this person's life. I have found that a lot with seeing things that people go through. I wish that I could help them make changes to have things turn out differently. I know that this sounds so cryptic (it is meant to) but I really wanted to write how I was feeling without telling everyone everything. One thing that I am grateful for is how my life is. I have a strong testimony of my Savior, I love my family (both immediate and extended) and I am working on doing everything I can to instill this same testimony in my children. I guess I can't do much about the past, mine or anyone else's, I just have to be grateful for what I have.

Ireland's mixup!

The kids and James watched 'The Penguins of Madagascar'. I came walking in to the room right afterwards and she and I had a conversation that went like this.

Ireland: That penguin is a wiener.

Me: (thinking I must have heard wrong) What?

Ireland: That penguin is a wiener.

Me: What?!

Ireland: That penguin is a wiener!

Me: What?!

Kylee: The penguin is called Private, that is why she thinks that.

Me. laughter.....laughter.....laughter.....

After a few minutes James and I were able to calm down and then explain to Ireland (and the rest of the kids) the difference between body 'privates' and the rank of 'private' in the military!

If you want it to rain, ask the Erbs to go camping!

We decided to go camping at Picacho State Park. It is on the California side of the Colorado river right by Yuma. It is a beautiful area. You start out driving through regular desert (I am slightly tired of regular desert....seeing as that is what I see all of the time) but then you are in the middle of this rocky, different colors all over the place, strange area. Once you get to the section by the river it is different yet again. Green, reeds, trees....it is absolutely beautiful! We were shocked when we got there. It had outhouses and a shower that was solar powered! It was like 4-star camping for us! We usually have to dig a big hole for our toilet and cart in our own water (which we did this time as well, cart the water, not dig the hole). It was great to not have to help the girls squat! haha I didn't bring shampoo/soap since we were not planning on having these amenities, so I ended up showering with dishsoap! It was wonderful!!!

We had a great time. We ended up only catching one fish....catfish! yuck! James and the kids love it but I can't get past how ugly they are. They had a sign that said 'no gathering wood'. Well, this was a problem for us as we normally get our wood from where we are camping. We talked to the campground host and he said that the ranger likes to bring in her own wood to sell and that is why the sign is up. HELLO! He gave us some scraps and then, yes, we gathered wood. It was nothing that was alive, so it was helping the environment by getting rid of some of the waste! Poor Kylee ended up burning herself. She was roasting starburst and grabbed it while it was too hot. She ended up getting a blister. Poor thing. The next morning it was cloudy (did I mention that there was a 40% chance of rain?). We talked to one lady (the only other person there besides the host) who said that when it rains it only sprinkles for a minute and then moves on. Well, the next morning it was quite cloudy and I suggested that we pack up before fishing/hiking etc so that if it did rain all of our stuff did not get wet. A few minutes later it started to sprinkle and then it started to rain. The kids and the dog were now sufficiently wet and muddy. We put them in the car (which became filthy) and tried to hurry packing up. After a few minutes of it raining it stopped doing that.....and started pouring!!!! I couldn't believe it! James and I were soaking wet. We looked like you had thrown us in the river and the continued to dump buckets of water on our heads! We were laughing so hard! (when we got home it took us hours to clean and dry all of our stuff) The sad thing is that is shut down our plans for hiking, but it stopped raining for a bit and James and the kids fished. I stayed in the car with the dog so that he would not get more muddy. So, we went camping in November and it rained....it has not rained since November. We go camping again, and it rains! If you need it to rain, just ask us to go camping and you are covered!

Ireland, Kylee and Kearney...showing love by the Colorado River.

Looking over at the Arizona side. The river is the border.

Parker casting out.

Yeah! They caught one!

Poor Kylee! She is soaking her burn in ice water.

You can't tell, but it is pouring rain!

This is the worst possible picture of me, however we liked the scenery!

My Sister

I decided to dedicate a post to my sister, Jayci. Jayci is my only 'birth' sister. I have many sister through marriage and I love each of them, but I really want to talk about Jayci today. First of all, you can tell by looking at the pictures that she is a beautiful woman. She is also beautiful inside as well. I can not imagine my life without her in it. Jayci and I are 4 1/2 years apart, and growing up there was a bit of arguing. Sometimes we shared a room, sometimes we didn't. She was always taking my socks, makeup, clothes, you name it! I was not really able to do that seeing as she was so much younger and none of her stuff fit. This borrowing of items was one of the cause for our disagreements! haha. I was not always as nice to her as I should have been, but I did beat up a boy once because he called her a mean name. I was very protective of her, although I had one friend who was not always kind to her and I wish that I could go back in time and stop that friend from picking on her (this always happened when I was doing the picking as well). I remember scrubbing walls and organizing my mom's spices to get out anger when I thought that someone was mistreating her. While my mom was not happy that Jayci was upset at those times, she was probably glad to have me get some of the cleaning done! haha

Even with our disagreements as kids, I always was able to talk to her. I don't really remember not being able to do that. We had a lot of laughs. I have some memories to this day that make me laugh from when we were younger. Sorry, not posting those! Jayci is one of the few best friends that I have. We have not had a fight since I got back from my mission (almost 15 years ago). She is ALWAYS there for me. I can call her up at any hour and she will be there to talk to me. I remember the night that James broke up with me I went over to her house in hysterics (it was fairly late) and she and Dann both stayed up with me for so long trying to help. There was also one night that I was being followed by this psycho stalker and I was able to call her (and Dann) for protection. Dann hunted him down! She is the best mother. I love to watch her with her kids. She has a lot of patience (not that the kids require it) and I learn so much from watching her. She is also a brave and strong woman. She has had Hodgkins Lymphoma and was unbelievable to watch. She went through her chemo and radiation treatments and was an inspiration. I miss her and wish that I could see her more often. We talk on the phone for hours at a time, many times a week and it is never enough. We can talk about nothing and everything. I love that ab out our relationship. She has a strong testimony and is an example in so many ways of how I should live my life. I love her immensely and I am so blessed to have her as my sister.