Barefoot at the dentist

Last Thursday, I had a day... We were leaving for Idaho at 3:00 for a wedding, I had a doctor's appointment in the morning, and my friend from DC was coming into town at noon. Whatever, I had it covered, though. The day before we had run out of gas on the way to the temple, and I was ready to put it all behind me. I just needed to get organized and get it done.

Just as visions of super-me playing car-games with the girls all the way to Idaho were dancing through my head, I realized that my teeth were really hurting. A few minutes more, and it was like my jaw was in a vice and no amount of pain medication had any affect on it. Super-me vanished into thin air, and regular me took over with the moaning and the dying. I didn't sleep.

At 8:00 AM I was sitting by the phone to call the dentist. Luckily my neighbor is a really great dentist and he was happy to see me. I just had to make it to 11:00 AM, and everything would be okay. Oh, the pain...

Went to the baby check up. waited and waited.
...just me and my tooth.
complained about my tooth some more to the nurse. made it out in time. On to the dentist.

There was just one small problem. As I got out of the car, my shoe broke. Damn those Old Navy flip-flops! I couldn't even pretend that I had a shoe. It wouldn't stay on no matter what I tried, so I had to walk into the dentist's office with only one shoe.

You might wonder it one shoe was worth walking on at all and if barefeet would have more, I don't know, continuity, but by this point, everything was just a blur. My tooth and I were in our own little world.

About five minutes after I sat down in the chair with only one shoe, my neighbor decided it was my wisdom teeth causing all the trouble. Twenty minutes later, I was down, still one shoe, and two very large and apparantly wise, teeth.

Let me just say that having teeth pulled is gross. It actually doesn't hurt too much, but it feels very wrong. Maybe it's just the pack-rat in me. In any case, Dr. Curtis did a great job, and my mouth is much happier.

But I still had to walk out of the building half-barefoot, gauze loaded to the hilt, while balancing a pile of papers about when to eat and what not. Meanwhile, I had a day, and time was ticking. I went up to the second floor in my Dad's office building to drop off some work, still shoeless, rushed to the babysitter's to pick up my kids two hours late, and barely made it in the door before my friend from DC came over to say hi. Marathon one: done. Now on to Idaho.

But seriously, do you have any idea how weird it is to walk in public without two shoes? I actually brought the broken shoe with me to all those places. It was kind of like a prop, so I could pretend to be adjusting something in the elevator, or limping in the hall... I don't know. I was in a stupor, so who knows what I came up with to save face. I think Old Navy shoes should come with a buyer beware disclaimer.

the perfect chocolate chip cookie

I have started contributing to a cooking website that my friend Ashley started. Together, we have added quite a few recipes that I think some of you out there might enjoy making. There are chocolate chip cookies, soups, main courses etc- lots of stuff. You can take a look at www.theperfectchocolatechipcookie.com If you like to bake, which I do NOT, Ashley has a bread section that is really great. The cookies, though, even I can duplicate, so try them try them, you will like them.

Parade Time

We love a parade, although it can be a challenge to avoid heat stroke. I've decided that I need a few simple things to make a parade fun: food and shade, and if there are snow cones, it's even better. This year we went to both the Lehi and Provo city parades. After six times at the Lehi parade, some of which we spent in full sun the entire time, Ty decided to put out our chairs early in the week. It paid off, and we were much more comfortable. At the Provo parade, Ty's broker company Security Home Mortgage, did all the work for us, and now I think I might add one more necessity to my list: let someone else do the prep.

We had plenty of shady awnings, coolers full of food and cold drinks, and a popcorn machine. It was great, as is the company. We're so happy to work with such an outstanding group.

Maddie was a little scared of the noise at both parades, so she spent a lot of time in her stroller with the top down, but I did get her to come out for some candy that Alli grabbed for us. Of course, she pulled it right back down when I got out the camara, the little tease. Alli was out on the curb scouting out free stuff and pointing at the princesses on the city floats. They might as well have been Cinderella because I didn't bother to explain how the pageant scene works-I'll leave that for another year.

Top 3 Reasons Father's Day Doesn't Exist Publicly

3. Our ward didn't have a Father's Day talk (Which is, in fact, preferable to the usual topic assigned to situations such as this, namely, "The Father's Day Lecture").

2. There were no little gifts at church for the Dads. I once went to a ward in Monterey that has a tradition every Mother's Day to set up brunch in the gym served by all males young men age or older in the ward. Ward Father's Day tradition: none.

1. Wal-mart didn't have a Father's Day display anywhere, and if Wal-mart doesn't recognize it, does it really exist? I happen to know that every single other holiday is represented at Wal-mart, since I am always there, with huge displays, including non-holidays such as St. Patrick's Day. The obvious conclusion is that Father's Day is an underground movement and not a publicly recognized day.

I'm sure there are more reasons, but I think I've made my argument pretty well. The question I am now asking is this:

Is it really that hard for us to show appreciation for our hard working Dad's once a year? Maybe we should make the holiday a tri-anual event so we don't over-tax ourselves. I mean this constant ordeal of wrapping a box and signing a card... Are we expected to do this yearly? Apparantly not, since the holiday isn't real anyway.

Wonder Child

Well, Alli has graduated from Pre-school. She loved every minute of it, even though she already knew how to read two years ago when she started. That's one of the things I love so much about her. She is insanely smart and yet has no qualms about learning letters with the rest of the kids. I don't think she really understands how amazing she is, and, frankly, I'd like to keep it that way.

The other day I walked into her bedroom to find her finishing up the last page of a Nancy Drew book my Mom bought her. I told her Alli liked the elementary school version called ''The Clue Crew" but apparantly she didn't know what I meant and bought the "Mystery in the Old Clock Tower" instead. It was 135 pages of old english. Well, not like Chaucer old, but you know what I mean. Being of a skeptical nature, I sat down and quizzed her. She told me all about the secret passage way and the ghost that wasn't really a ghost. Where did this kid come from? She is five right? I didn't mistake her birthday? Or maybe she is related to Benjamin Button.

Anyway, she astounds me. I don't know what to do with her, but I love her to bits.

Mendel visits my Garden

Purple Pea flowers? Every other pea plant I have ever seen has white flowers. What the heck? My snap peas have white flowers and pea pods everywhere, but there are only two tiny pods on this entire purple plant. So the question I am asking is, what am I growing? I guess all Mendel can really tell me is that the hybrid of my two plants cannot have pink flowers next year. Great news. I was so worried.

At least my strawberries are producing this year after a pesticide mishap last year that nearly killed them off. I don't want to name names, but... Okay, it was me. I did it. This year they are healthy, although I'm not exactly getting buckets of berries. Next year will be awesome...

I'm tyring some new things this year as well, like corn and pumpkin. The weather has been so rainy, so I hope they do okay. Almost everything I planted loves heat. Still waiting for the heat-75% above average rainfall is not my idea of an ideal summer either. Here is Maddie helping plant the garden earlier this year:
And here is the carrot, broccoli, and onion box a few months later: Gardening is so fun, but it really tries my patience. I can't believe it takes so long! I think it's the anticipation that makes the vegetables taste better when you finally eat them.