Miramar Air Show

Yesterday I loaded the boys up in the car (Steve was sick so we left him behind to get better) and we drove down to San Diego to catch some of the air show at the Miramar Marine base. Ethan and Luke loved it! As we were getting out of the car a bike taxi pulled up and the man riding it asked if we wanted a ride. I'm so glad I decided to do it because it was such a looooong walk from our car to the entrance gate! The poor guy though, he got a good workout hauling my pregnant body and my two boys! We got there right before the Blue Angels began their show, they are awesome fliers. I don't know all the real names of the air crafts we toured. Luke decided he didn't want to sit in any pilot seats. Ethan was all over it though. He even got lowered down into a tank to check it out. Ethan told me he wanted to be a soldier and have a heavy gun (he got to hold some guns and they were heavy!) and fly in the aviaos (airplanes) to fight the bad guys.

Draw me a Picture

One of my favorite parts of having my boys in preschool are the pictures they come home with. Ethan's picture he brought home on Friday is my top pick for the week. Ethan drew our family portrait and this is the first time he has drawn my likeness as a pregnant woman. I guess the name Mia is sticking with him right now. When Ethan was showing his dad the picture he explained to him that he drew him touching the ceiling because he's so tall. I just love seeing us through his eyes. Make me a stick figure any day....haha.....

100 Things About Me

1. I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Its a beautiful place, I really love it there. 2. I speak fluent Portuguese. 3. I hope to take my children and husband there one day so they can see that part of my life. 4. I love to travel. 5. I have a dream that I'll be able to see Italy one day. 6. I analyze and analyze and analyze all the wrong things, I think I get that from my dad. 7. Analyzing is paralyzing, it holds me back sometimes. 8. I want to do something daring on my 30th birthday; sky dive, hang glide, something challenging. 9. Sometimes I feel like I'm out of my body looking at what my life is and I can't believe I'm here. 10. I have a nervous habit of gnawing on my fingers. 11. My husband hates that nervous habit. 12. I hate my glasses but I hate contacts more. 13. People tell me I'm a pretty girl, I've always felt ugly. 14. But I've had this secret infatuation with modeling. 15. I'm so embarrassed to admit that infatuation. 16. I'm not athletic but I consider myself active. 17. I bruise easily, very easily. 18. I play the flute. 19. I want to be able to play the piano. 20. I am craving some change (I guess its good we're having a baby). 21. One day I hope to become a nurse. 22. I dated a man 10 years older than me, I felt like the adult. He didn't last long. 23. I celebrate with food. 24. I love to try new things; new restaurants, new places, new activities. It makes me feel alive. 25. I like to have people over for dinner. 26. I was completely blind for a short period after being in a moped accident when I was around eight. 27. I try to solve people's problems. 28. I love to shop. 29. I have expensive taste. 30. I don't shop because I have expensive taste. 31. I love finding stores that satisfy my expensive taste but are cheap. 32. I change my mind often. 33. I like to cross off days on the calendar. 34. I like breakfast foods. 35. I have always wanted straight hair. 36. I am running another half marathon on May 3rd. 37. I second guess my parenting decisions (see #6). 38. I think my dream job would be a food critic; whatever would require my traveling high and low to sample foods and give my opinion. 39. I have a wild side but I mostly live through my practical side. 40. I was Steve's first and last girlfriend, I couldn't let him go. 41. I love the family I married into. 42. I watch too much t.v. 43. I'm horrible with surprises. 44. My husband is great at them. He surprised me with a new car and I never saw it coming! 45. I thought high school was fine but college was sooooo much better. 46. I was ecstatic the day I got my acceptance letter to BYU. 47. I had two crazy roommates my freshman year at the Y, they both hated me for weird reasons. 48. My first car was one I bought. Walked in and told the dealer what I could spend and took what they could give me, no co-signer. I didn't even have a job yet. 49. I can drive stick but I prefer automatic, especially with kids. 50. I dressed up as Santa's elf and took pictures in the mall for a job one year. 51. I don't know how to wear make up, just eyeliner and mascara. 52. I want to learn how to do the rest. 53. I like to dye my hair. 54. I'm not a big video game person. 55. I support the death penalty. 56. I think politics is a crock most of the time. 57. I took ballet and tap when I was little, ain't got no rhythm. 58. I took karate and thought it was lame. 59. I hated piano lessons but regret that now. 60. I learn by doing, not really by being told how. 61. I'm not a good conversationalist, wish I was. 62. I'm not outgoing unless I'm around outgoing people, they pull it out of me. 63. I wore Steve's favorite lotion to the movies (before we were dating) and hid my hands under my coat the entire time. 64. My dad pierced my ears when I was a couple months old. 65. We will be piercing our daughter's ears before she's six months old. 66. My favorite class was Anatomy at BYU. 67. Especially the lab when we got to study the cadavers. 68. I hated my Economics class, mumbo jumbo. 69. I have only set the bar on one test in my life. 70. I woke up at 3:30am to study once. 71. I never pulled an all-nighter. 72. My grades went up after I got married. 73. After dinner I always crave something sweet. 74. I have a hard time leaving food on my plate, even if I'm full. 75. I used to love scary movies. 76. Now I get nightmares. 77. I hate to cry, especially in front of people. 78. I think I cry easily. 79. I've cried while watching a commercial. 80. After having kids, anything with kids in it can make me cry. 81. I have wanted to take a cake decorating class for years but never get around to signing up. 82. I played with Barbies growing up, I hope to keep my daughter away from them. 83. I have two sisters and one brother. 84. My brother is the youngest of the bunch, I'm the oldest. 85. My sister Evelyn got married before me, I thought she was insane. 86. I was completely wrong about that. 87. I got married 10 months later, didn't see that coming. 88. I wore my sister's wedding dress, just had the sleeves changed to 3/4 length instead of cap. 89. I was over an hour late to my own sealing. 90. Sometimes I play the lottery. 91. First thing I'd do if I won, retire my parents and inlaws. 92. I love movie theater popcorn with butter. 93. I don't like rap music. 94. I used to think country music was worse, now its most of what I listen to. 95. I like to read. 96. Sometimes I read the last page first. 97. I follow For Better or For Worse and Luann comic strips, don't know why but now I'm sucked in. 98. I like to paint but not my house. 99. I love going to the spa, if only I could afford it more often. 100. This list has been hard to put together. Phew, I'm done. This has taken me way too long. I'm not tagging anyone else but I'd love to read yours if you do one!

Mae the budding photog

My littlest sister Mae is trying her hand at photography. I think she's pretty good but, then again, I'm biased. She is just starting out and has a photo blog you can view some of her work here. She took some of my boys a few weeks ago. It was a Saturday morning and the boys weren't the best models in the world, they were interested in other things. But I think these are good depictions of these two crazies....and their mother....haha

Blast from the Past

I was returning some pictures to my parents last weekend and came across this picture. This was taken during the chubby days Ev and I lived through. I think Ev and I are 11 and 12, around there. I am cracking up looking at this dang picture but I also want to hurl! What was I thinking with my "bangs?" And I love how my short hair just makes my cheeks look more rotund. Poor Evelyn's face tells it all...look at that fro!! My dear ol' dad and his huge frame glasses cracks me up! So I went hunting for a current picture of us. This is the only one I could find, dad is swapped out for mom but you can see we've come a long way! Thankgoodness for evolution...haha.

Fact or Fiction? You decide

"WHAT is this miracle-working, belly banding goodness all about? The Belly Bandit™ is an abdominal compression wrap designed to assist you in bringing your body back to its former beauty and proportion after child birth. Postpartum wraps have been known to help reduce the swelling of the uterus, decrease bloating caused by water retention, support your legs & back and provide additional comfort and support for you breast feeding moms. Ultimately the Belly Bandit™ will aid in getting you back to your pre-pregnancy bod faster than ever!"

I've heard about these wraps to help get post-pregnancy bellies back into their tip-top shape. Is this a hoax or do you think it really works?

First day of school

Ethan was a little hesitant about going to school. I suggested that he draw a picture for his new teacher, Miss Leah. He really liked that idea so we sat down and this is what he drew; a blue sun with two blue clouds, a picture of himself in green and he wrote "I love you Miss Leah" in black at the top (this is all per his discription). Isn't that so cute? This is my kind, loving, innocent, fun loving little boy. When we got to school he was shy so I told Miss Leah that he had drawn her a picture. He told her what it said on it and she asked him for a hug. Of course, being the emotional woman I am I got tears in my eyes. I had to walk back to the car with my head down so all the other parents wouldn't see me crying. As soon as I got in the car I called Steve and told him I didn't know if I could do this. Ethan is in the five day program at Harper this year and I am still debating on if I've made the right decision (I think this is a curse of being a mother, I'm always wondering if I'm making the right decisions for my boys). I miss him more than I thought I would. They are in a great program and they both have wonderful teachers. They both seem happy to be there. I'm trying to hold out until our baby is born and see if I'm still going through my seperation anxiety with the boys. They grow up so fast.....

Lukey-licious

This post is dedicated to my little Luke, who is slowly outgrowing the "little" part. Luke just turned three. We had cake and presents on Sunday with the Powers side of the family. Vovo gave him his own Guarana to drink....mmmmm, lucky kid. Monday was his actual birthday but it fell on Labor Day and Steve and I being the anti-crowd people we are we stayed home and hung out. We did try to make it a little special. We gave him our gift, which was his first bike with training wheels. He took off on it so fast! We got McDonald's for lunch, which he loves. Just little special things like that. Then Tuesday Steve took the day off work and we took Ethan and Luke to the Discovery Science center. They loved it! We stood in the wind tunnel to feel what 78 mph winds feel like. We went in the earthquake simulator booth to feel what an 8.4 and 9 quake feel like. We checked out the "Grossology" exhibit with all kinds of gross facts. There was so much to do.

I still can't believe Luke is three. Most other people can't believe it either. Usually the guess is that he and Ethan are twins, I even had someone ask me if Luke was five years old once! Whoa. He is going to Harper two days a week. He is in Miss Jessica's class with Chloe Manning in our ward. I miss him. When I watch him walk away with his teacher I just can't believe its already been three years since he was born. I picked him up on the first day and he said "Mommy I missed you. I wasn't happy here." This last week we were driving home from picking he and Ethan up from school and Luke was picking his nose. I asked him why he was doing that and he said "Mom, I love boogers." He cracks me up!

On Friday we were running errands together while Ethan was at school and we stopped to get some frozen yogurt. Love you Lukey!! Love you sooooooooo much.

Labor Day

Steve spent most of Labor Day with his brother Brian (first shift) then our brother in law Clay (second shift) putting in a new door on our future master bedroom and molding our windows. I know Steve and Clay are fuzzy in the door picture but you're supposed to focus on the door. And the picture of the windows, well, the one of the right is the before and the left is the almost after. I know its dark but it was the middle of the day and this is the best I could do. The windows look great! Thanks to Brian for saving us from killer dust storms with his why-didn't-I-think-of-that suggestion of wood instead of drywall. It feels good to be one step closer to getting our "house in order." Steve deserves the biggest pat on the back though. He worked all day until it was too dark to see outside at the table saw. Thank you Steve-o!!!

Protect Marriage

Six Consequences the Coalition Has Identified If Proposition 8 Fails

1. Children in public schools will have to be taught that same-sex marriage is just as good as traditional marriage. The California Education Code already requires that health education classes instruct children about marriage. (51890)

Therefore, unless Proposition 8 passes, children will be taught that marriage is between any two adults regardless of gender. There will be serious clashes between the secular school system and the right of parents to teach their children their own values and beliefs.

2. Churches may be sued over their tax exempt status if they refuse to allow same-sex marriage ceremonies in their religious buildings open to the public. Ask whether your pastor, priest, minister, bishop, or rabbi is ready to perform such marriages in your chapels and sanctuaries.

3. Religious adoption agencies will be challenged by government agencies to give up their long-held right to place children only in homes with both a mother and a father. Catholic Charities in Boston already closed its doors in Massachusetts because courts legalized same-sex marriage there. 4.Religions that sponsor private schools with married student housing may be required to provide housing for same-sex couples, even if counter to church doctrine, or risk lawsuits over tax exemptions and related benefits. 5.Ministers who preach against same-sex marriages may be sued for hate speech and risk government fines. It already happened in Canada, a country that legalized gay marriage. A recent California court held that municipal employees may not say: “traditional marriage”, or “family values” because, after the same-sex marriage case, it is “hate speech”. 6. It will cost you money. This change in the definition of marriage will bring a cascade of lawsuits, including some already lost (e.g. photographers cannot now refuse to photograph gay marriages, doctors cannot now refuse to perform artificial insemination of gays even given other willing doctors). Even if courts eventually find in favor of a defender of traditional marriage (highly improbable given today’s activist judges), think of the money – your money — that will be spent on such legal battles.

And think of all the unintended consequences that we cannot even foresee at this time. Where will it end? It’s your children, your grandchildren, your money, and your liberties. Lets work together to protect them. Join with us in walking precincts and phoning voters to vote Yes on Prop. 8.

This was a handout we received recently. It gives me the chills. I don't mean to sound all drama or anything but this feels so big to me. These consequences are scary of themselves but its the ones that I can't foresee that frighten me even more. I was told about a documentary, Demographic Winter, made by a group of scholars (non-LDS) who discuss the economic and social consequences of the decline of the family. Go here to see more about it. The banner I included is from the documentary. I think everyone interested in the fight to preserve the family should watch this.