ID Theft

I'm laying in bed right now, unable to sleep (obviously), counting down the minutes (267) till I have to get up and run. I was just reading Allison's blog about how she's the latest victim of identity theft and feeling so sorry for her. I've always thought it would almost be comical if someone were to try to use my debit card - the joke would be on them! ...."Um, excuse me but your stolen card was just declined....insufficient funds till payday or something?"... Sorry All, I shouldn't be making jokes.

Anyway I'm bored and trying to come up with ways to drift off to sleep when a fun idea came to me. If I were in the market for a new ID, whose would I choose??? Of course I can't just be in it for the money - Bill Gates is just too boring. I'm thinking whose shoes? Purses? Hair? Talents? Job? House? Clothes? What a fun game! I know the commandment 'Thou Shall Not Covet', but just for fun - let's play!

ID THEFT
Whose shoes? Mariah Carey - pretty much it's the one and only thing I like about her
Whose purses? Jessica Simpson has a really good collection
Whose job? Kelly Ripa - do I need to explain?
Whose car? My mom has the coolest Range Rover
Whose humor? Eric. He seems to find joy in the smallest things, I want to be like that.
Whose legs? Kelly Ripa - pretty much the only things on her that I wouldn't take are the invisible eyebrows/lashes and the man-arms.
Whose wardrobe? Kelly Ripa, hands down! (I think she might need to take out a restraining order....)
Whose boyfriend? I don't know her name, but Matt Damon's girlfriend has got it gooooood.
Whose talent? Heather White. Not just her craftiness, but she's such a dang good person too!
Whose yard? I've only seen pictures, but I love Martha's yard!
Whose house? That one is just too much to even answer - so many different things to think about...
Who's life? Okay, fun game, but at the end of the day, I'm pretty darn lucky just being me

What did I miss? Did anyone think of any fun ones?? Alright my blogging friends, you are officially tagged!

****239 minutes till the big run and still not ready to sleep. I'm still thinking through the house question.

Peen Keys

Okay, you all know how I talk all the time about Paige?? And Mason? Well, now you can all meet her yourselves!!!
http://www.peenkeys.blogspot.com/
Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging Peen! Love you!

Surprise!

Well I pulled of the biggest secret I've kept in a very long time! On Tuesday night we had a major surprise party for Eric. He is officially OLD! Because it was his 40th - I knew I wanted to do something big. So I rented out a movie theater at Thanksgiving Point and we were going to show a 'This is Your Life' movie. For months I've been gathering video clips from his family, friends, co-workers, neighbors all telling their favorite things about Eric. Then I sent off all the footage to my amazingly-high-tech sister, Lacey, to make a movie just for the big party.

Tuesday night Eric and I went to dinner with Eric's family and then his brothers just suggested that we walk over and see what was playing at the theater. When we walked in and Eric started to figure out what was going on he was in complete shock. Which is amazing, because I could have sworn that he knew, but he swears he was completely blindsided. Loads of family and friends were there to help celebrate with us. We started the movie, but 15 minutes into the show it stopped working and they couldn't figure it out. I was devastated of course, but I think that everyone still had a good time.

All the Wimmers came back to our (messy) house and we watched the movie on our TV. (and it worked just fine - I'm still mad at the theater guys) It was a really fun night! Thank you so much to everyone who helped out. There are a lot of people who helped. And if you were there and still want to see the movie, call me and you can come watch at our house or you can just borrow the dvd.

I still think it's not fair that Eric is 40 - he looks like he's 25 and acts like he's 15. Happy birthday Eric!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Wow - I can't believe I've not posted for a few days. And so much has happened. Cameron started school! She was so excited that she got to ride the bus with all the big kids. She leaves at 12 and doesn't get back till 4! Life is good for Mom right now. She was in need of some structure. She's made a new friend, Josie, who "just follows me everywhere." Miss Chris is pretty because "she wears earrings and bracelets."

I thought I would be emotional putting her on a bus and watching it drive away with my baby girl, but I didn't shed a tear. In fact I went about my day humming the song, "it's the most wonderful time of the year. It's the hap - happiest season of all!" And on September 10th the boys will start preschool and for an hour and a half, two times a week, all the kids will be gone at the very same time. With all that free time, I don't know what I'll do with myself! I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Thunderstorm

A thunderstorm just passed through my neighborhood. I sat on my porch with the kids and watched the rain and listened for thunder! It was very exciting. There is nothing better then summer rain. Cameron decided that she needed to be dressed for the occasion. Keep in mind it really cooled off to about 85 degrees.

A post for Eric

Okay anyone who believes it was me who posted that last post, raise your hand. What, no takers?? Interesting. Apparently I'm not representing the whole Wimmer family. I'm sure Tim Wakefield is so offended. Sorry Eric, I'll try to include you more.

Because it's Eric's birthday on Tuesday, I've decided to devote this post to him. Here are some of my favorite memories with my hubby:

1. Eric once asked me to order checks for his checking account. I told him that he could do it himself online but he assured me that he was way too busy and could I just do it for him. Slightly irritated that he thought he was busier than me, I thought I'd show him - I'd order kitten checks! About a week later, the checks were delivered and he loved them. Don't I have egg on my face? But still every year when he writes out checks for his fantasy football league I have a little laugh.

2. Thanksgiving 2003 we spent in San Diego with Eric's brother Brett. We had such a great time with Brett and Melissa and Jacob (their son) at the beach. I was pretty darn sure that I was pregnant for the second time. Everything was right. We were driving back to their house in Melissa's fancy (really old) car with Cameron asleep in the back seat. An old Elvis Presley song "Suspicious Minds" came on the radio and Eric and I turned it up and sang along. Every time I hear that song I think of that night and how content I was.

3. Paige just reminded me the other day of this one. Paige and Taylor had just moved into their new townhouse when Paige got a call from Brother Hansen in the ward wanting her to speak on how Joseph Smith had influenced her testimony. Of course she was freaked out and called Taylor and probably had him scared to death as well before I could get hold of her to tell her Bro. Hansen was actually Eric. He would prank call me like that all the time when we were dating and I know he's done it to all my sisters and lots of my friends. Very funny.

4. Eric and I met working for the same company. We worked in separate departments but saw each other a lot. I kept on complaining to Eric that there was a guy in my department who would come to my desk and go on and on about football trades and coaches and talk forever about sports crap that I didn't understand. (The guy was slightly mentally challenged.) After a couple of weeks of this, I found out that Eric was the one telling this guy that I loved sports and telling him all the things to say!

5. Then there's the poison ivy story. I think Eric might kill me if I tell it here - but talk to me in person and I will gladly give you all the details.

6. Eric always gives animals people names. He had a cat named Robert when he was a kid. He and I had a dog named Kyle. Eric helped name my brother's dog Paul. We once had a bird build a nest on our front door wreath - the bird was named Burt Corcoran.

7. Eric is king of the 'I'll pay you $50 if you...' During church he'll come up with crazy, off-the-wall things like 'I'll pay you $50 if you throw this sippy cup at that obnoxious kid's head.' You know the times when you're not supposed to laugh??

I could go on and on - I obviously haven't gotten out in the past few days. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be better. Happy birthday Eric!! Love you!

The picture is of Brian, Brett, Eric, Morgan and Kendall at the Boston opening game in Fenway back in March. (Brian, Brett and Kendal are brothers and Morgan is a nephew.)

The Hunt for Red Sox October

Okay this is my first post on the Wimmer website. I told Laurie that i was disappointed to see that she hadn't mentioned anything about how well the Red Sox were doing right now.

First of all the Red Sox couldn't be any hotter heading into the big 3 game set at Yankee stadium next week. The Red Sox have a chance to put away the Evil Empire for good. You can bet Dad will be wearing his "Yankees Suck" and Cameron wearing her "Yankees Yuck" t-shirts.

The team is getting hot at the right time. The offense is showing signs of life while the pitching continues to be solid. Very happy to see Tim Wakefield pitching well. Wake's been around .500 the last 3-4 years.

Join with me next week in putting all of your minds and focus on the big Yankee series.

Red Sox Nation- Utah Chapter (Laurie wrote all of this)

Cryptosporidium

Ever heard of Cryptosporidium?? Yea, neither had I until this week. Aparently it's a parisite that you can get from swimming pools in Utah or Salt Lake counties. There's been an outbreak and me and my family are among the latest vicitms. It's not some little flu bug - it's an actual parisite that lived in the intesinal system for up to 14 days. It is brutal and I'm basically writing this from my deathbed.

I'm bored to tears of being in the house, cooped up with my not-so-darling-at-the-moment family. Okay, so I might have exaggerated just a little bit about my deathbed. Today is the first time in three days that I've been up and moving around. Cameron had the primary bike parade today. She was so excited to go that I had to drag my sorry self out of bed to drive her to the church.

Then because I was already up, I decided that I needed to take the boys to the open house at their preschool. I don't know who is more excited, them or me! They don't start till September 10th - but we're already counting down.

On to some exciting news... Yesterday, (when I was actually on my deathbed, unable to walk or even sit) Ridgeline (the elementary school) called to tell me that Cameron got into their preschool program!!! I was so thrilled I nearly cried. All of her friends are starting Kindergarten and she's been feeling really left out. But with this program she gets to ride the bus with all of her friends which is so important to her. I'm thinking of testing her in to 1st grade next year so that she'll skip Kindergarten altogether. I know I'm biased, but she's already reading... Anyway - good news for us! But now she starts school on Tuesday instead of September 10th. I was not prepared for that - but I sure can get prepared.

I know this is long and rambling - it's just good to be out of bed doing something other than staring into the toilet (although that's fun too).

Changed again

Okay - another look for the blog. The last picture, although I liked it, really had nothing to do with my life whatsoever. I just liked the colors and it was the right size. This new picture I thought was a little more me and my life. It's not my house, but I wish it was. Don't you love the dinosaurs on the wallpaper?? Pretty cute!

My friend Ashley came over with her kids to play today. We had a great time. She and I go all the way back to Mrs. Shipley's 5th grade class. We were roommates when we moved into our first apartment. She was a bridesmaid at my wedding and we're still friends. We were remembering the time she, Paige and I went out to dinner to celebrate Ashley's birthday. Ash and Paige were pregnant and I was newly married and I told them over dinner that I was pregnant too! That was five short years ago and now there are 9 kids between the three of us. When did we get old? Where has the time gone?

Yuckier

A couple of weeks ago at bunco, my friend Tierney told me that after reading my blog, her husband had decided that all these things could not possibly happen to one person and that I must be making up stories. Trust me, if I were fabricating, I'd be partying it up with LC, Lo and Audrina at Club Le Deux till the wee hours of the morning. Instead, let me tell you about the day I've had. And it's only 1:30 in the afternoon.

I actually was partying it up till the wee hours of the morning - 3:30 am to be exact. But I was on my couch, sucked into a really good book. I only mention it because you have to know how TIRED I am. So I had just finished running on the treadmill and was making a pot of mac and cheese for the boys and Riley. My friend Kaylie showed up with her daughter Elle. (Kaylie is one of my friends who is running the marathon with me.) I was mortified because I was a sweaty mess and my house is even worse than me - but what the heck, we're all friends here. So I get all the kiddies set at the bar to eat and there isn't another bar stool for Adam so I just let him sit on the counter top to be with everyone else. Kaylie just got back from traveling all over Europe with her husband and kids so we were deep in discussion about Croatia when we heard very loud toots.... I looked up in time to see diarrhea squirting out the back of Adam's shorts all over the counter top. I just stood there staring from Adam to Kaylie not knowing where to even start. Why am I a magnet for disgusting disasters? The rest of the kids couldn't figure out what had just happened and were asking if he'd thrown up. I told them yes - I couldn't form the words just yet for what had actually happened.

So if you think I'm making it up, give Kaylie a call and ask her about lunch at my house.

****Please know that after the boys went down for naps, I dumped bleach over the entire counter top for ten minutes. I promise your kids won't get sick from eating over at my house.... maybe I shouldn't promise.

Yuck

Adam fell asleep before dinner tonight. He hasn't been feeling well today. Then he woke up crying. He had explosive dierrhea all over in his bed. So I cleaned him up, started laundry, and disinfected myself.

I was sitting comatose in front of who-knows-what on tv, mentally counting down minutes till I could put the other two in bed when Luke came bounding up the stairs. For a kid who sleeps so little, he has AMAZING energy. He jumps all the time - like Tigger. Anway, he came jumping over to show me something in his little hand. It was poop. He had a poopy diaper and decided to put his hand in it??? Who does that?? He is three years old! Needless to say I was furious, disgusted and just plain feeling sorry for myself.

So I'm in the middle of cleaning up Luke's fun mess when Cameron comes over to show me this fun little box she's found. A box of Decon (rat/mouse poison). She's got a handfull of the little green pellets, just playing with them. Who are these kids??? Where is their mother and why can't she keep them out of these messes???

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. I am so worn out tonight. And it's going to be a long night with the diarrhea. I'm sure all of them will have it. Fun fun fun fun fun.

Oh my aching muscles

My body is so sore!! In the last two days I've done more manual labor than I've done in the last year combined. It's my own fault. After the whole 'snake incident' I was too scared to work in the flower beds. But after four weeks of neglect - the yard was much scarier than the snake (who we found dead, by the way). I have weeded, cut back all the little flower corpses and planted some new ground cover. My nails are munched, my hamstrings aren't going to let me run in the morning, and oh, my aching back!

And I have tackled another project. I was given some old patio furniture and a really old kid's bookshelf from my grandma. She just moved out of her house that she lived in her entire married life. Sixty-one years. That's another story that deserves more time than I can give it right now. Back to the old furniture.... So I'm stripping layers and layers of paint off, then I have to sand it all. It is such a process! I have chemical burns all over me from the stripping stuff. (And yes, I did end up sitting on some - OUCH!) I've decided to let this project sit for a while. I wanted to post a picture of the progress I'm making, but I doubt I'll be able to lift my camera for a week!

Just a few minutes ago the phone rang and I asked Cameron to answer it because I couldn't jump up fast enough. She answered and said, "Hello this is Cameron. Who's this? I'm helping my mom right now. She's going to freak out if anyone asks her to do anything else right now." The best part is that I have no idea who it was. It was an out of area number and whoever it was told Cameron that they'd call back. So if it was you, I'm sorry and call me tomorrow.

Tag! You're It!!

Okay - I used to send these things out via email. But then I fill in-boxes of people who don't want to play. So if you want to play - fill out your survey and post it on your blog or you can email it. Either way - you're tagged!

1. When was the last time you ran? Yesterday – 4 miles
2. Do your jeans have rips, tears and holes in them? No
3. Do you get the full 8 hours of sleep a night? Yes. Always. You don’t want to deal with me at all without LOTS of sleep.
4. If you had someone "stop by" without you knowing what would your house look like? The wood floors are always in need of cleaning, my kids are always in need of a bath, but there are NEVER dishes in the sink.
5. Do you eat raw cookie dough? Is there anyone out there who doesn’t? I’ll make cookies without even turning on the oven – all I want is the dough.
6. Have you ever kicked a vending machine? Does my air conditioning condenser unit count? That’s how I got it working about a month ago.
7.How do you eat an Oreo? I stick a fork into the middle and dunk it in milk. I hate getting milk on my fingers. My little sister, Lyndsey, and I came up with that when we were in high school.
8. Have you ever stayed online for a very long time waiting for someone? I wouldn’t even know how to know if someone else was online.
9. Could you live without a computer? NO! Not only am I sadly addicted to blogging and email – all my bills and banking are online.
10. Do you wear shoes in the house? Yes – I’m a freak. I think it’s weird when people ask you to take off your shoes in their house unless it’s a brand spanking new house.
11. At what age did you find out Santa wasn't real? I was in 5TH grade walking to school with Caroline Miller when she dropped the bomb on me….I pretended I already knew.
12. How many phones, (house and cell phones) are in your house? 3 portable phones, 2 phones that plug into the wall and 2 cell phones.
13. Who would you call first if you won the lottery? I’m a Mormon so winning the lottery would be similar to the Immaculate Conception.
14. Last time you saw your best friend? Husbands don’t count? I saw Jenna and Julie B. on Saturday. Paige and I ran 8 miles on Friday and I saw all my high school best friends at Bunco on Thursday.
15. What jewelry are you wearing right now? Huge earrings as always.
16. What is the first thing you do when you get on-line? Check email, checking account balance (I cry) then all my friend’s blogs.
17. Do you watch 'Grey's Anatomy'? I liked it in the beginning – but not so much anymore. Army Wives is my new favorite.
18. How do most people spell your name? Pretty much everyone knows how to spell my name. All my friends in the neighborhood I grew up in call me Larry, cousins/siblings call me Laur Laur – I have a brother who calls my Larry Mullin (drummer for U2).
19. When was the last time you left your house? Last night at about 6 to return a video, fill a prescription and buy treats.
20. Do you return your shopping cart? Depends if anyone is watching me and if the cart will cause damage to another car.
21. What noise do you hear right now? My boys playing Lightning McQueen and Nemo.
22. Who is the youngest in your family? The boys. They just turned 3 – technically Adam is youngest by 2 minutes.
23. Who does the dishes at your house? Eric and I are pretty equal on that chore.
24. If all of your friends were going on a road trip, who would be most likely to over pack? Me. When I went to Lake Powell I packed 7 separate outfits for me and practically my kids’ entire dressers for 3 days.
And, who would most likely be driving? Me – I like to drive. Unless Jenica is on the trip – she’d drive and I’d be the DJ. Oh, that brings back the fondest memories!!!
25.Do your siblings ever pay for stuff for you? No – I’m usually the one picking up the tab. That’s what happens when you’re the big sister.
26. Do you know anyone with the same name as you? Actually I just met another Laurie through blogging and she’s the first! In fact, she’s the one I got this little questioner from.
27. When was the last time you cleaned your toilets? Last week.
28. Do you watch movies with your parents? My mom and I try to see movies that Eric won’t go see with me.
29. Do you get your hair cut every month? Every two months or so.
30. What was the last thing you purchased? Oh my gosh – this is embarrassing. I bought Sugar Babies, M&M’s, Charleston Chews and Junior Mints. I needed treats to watch the season premier of The Hills. How sad am I? I promise I didn’t eat it all.

changes

So, what do ya'll think of the new design? Any tips, suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated. I have no idea what I'm doing - so please give feedback!

Amped up

Ever have one of those nights when you know you have to get up early and you just lay there thinking "I have to be up in 5 hours and 13 minutes. Now I only have 5 hours and 12 minutes..."? That's tonight for me. I am so amped up and I can't calm myself down! If I didn't have to be up at 5:30 am I'd take a Tylenol PM.

Okay so the most amazing thing happened tonight. I went to Kelly's house for bunco and was the first one there. Then her sisters in-law, Nikki and Natalie, got there next. We were sitting around chatting and waiting for everyone else to get there, talking about Natalie having her baby anytime now. Then suddenly, (and boy, do I mean suddenly) Natalie tries to stand up and low and behold....her water breaks right there in Kelly's family room! All four of us girls are screaming and jumping up and down. It was so exciting!! I've never seen that actually happen to anyone before. Not even myself!

Anyway, she made it to the hospital safely and is probably in having a baby right now. It's all I can think about. I had so much adrenaline going through me, you'd think I was the one to have the baby! Needless to say we didn't have enough girls to play bunco. None of us even cared. We still sat around for 2 hours just talking and eating (what we do best).

Then I came home and Eric and I watched a video - Disturbia. It was good in a scary/jumpy/stressful kind of way. Anyway, now I have insomnia. 4 hours and 56 minutes till I have to get up and run 8 miles. Bet you wish you were me.

New girlfriends

I have a lot of girlfriends. I had some since I was 8 years old, lots from high school, a few from my old town home and I'm making more and more here in Traverse Mountain. I've lived in my house for 3 years and the ward boundaries have changed so that I have been in 4 wards in that short time. But the great thing is how many friends I have now in all the neighborhoods.

(I promise that I'm getting to the point shortly.) The other day I was at the park with the kids when Martha (yes, she lives up to her name in a VERY good way), comes by and says she's been reading my blog. YIKES! I know that someone is out there reading it, but knowing that people in my ward are reading it terrifies me!

So I've started reading up on some of the ladies in my ward and neighborhood. Holy smokes - I think I've found a bunch of sole mates I never knew I had. So I added a few new links to my 'Friends and Family Blogs' that ya'll have to check out. So here's the low-down on my new girlfriends:

The Griffiths Family - This is Martha, a friend of mine from the ward whom I have never been particularly close to, but love just the same. One time she and I were at the park watching our kids play and I started talking about my horrible postpartum depression and started crying. I was mortified and avoided her for a couple of weeks, but now I'm sure she doesn't even think about it....I hope.

The Sybrowsky Family - This is Mandy Sybrowsky, Paige's sister in-law and friend of mine. She's completely amazing. She's living in Seattle while her husband does his residency. And no, Christian (her husband) does not work at Seattle Grace (I already asked).

The Christensen Family - This is Steph. Cutest girl ever. She is another Traverse Mountain friend that I actually knew a tiny bit in high school. Our parents are friends. I even went out with her brother once in high school. Anyway, 3 years ago when we went to our ward for the first time, Steph and McKay (hubby) were the very first people we met. The are incredible.

Allison & Cameron Palmer - Allison and Cameron are good friends of mine from high school. I love them dearly!

Okay, I've lost steam. Too tired to keep typing.

Potty Training Progress

I gave up on the whole potty training thing for a while. I was scared I just might start beating my boys. But we're back on the bandwagon this week. I thought we were really making progress when Adam came inside to go on the potty "like Riley" (standing up). Holy smokes! Maybe something has finally clicked! We did the excited potty dance and gave treats for dry undies and the whole shebang.

A few minutes later I heard cheering coming from the backyard so I went to check it out. Riley was cheering, Luke was looking hard down the window well and Adam was running away.

Me: "Uh, guys... what's going on??"
Riley: "Adam did poops!"
Luke: "Down the window well!"

Sure enough, there were his clean undies laying on the ground and a not-so-clean mess 7 feet down. And the poor kid has a big mark across his behind from the grate covering the window well. I couldn't even think to scold him. After all, he did get his undies off and sit to do his business - it's improvement.

Penny Whistles

This morning Puffy (Aunt Cathy) and Alison (cousin) came to see me. They've been all over Europe and brought home some treasures for us. The boys got penny whistles. (basically cheap flutes) Are you even surprised that within minutes Luke's was at the bottom of the window well and Adam had his stuck in the exhaust pipe of Eric's car?

The twins have found a triplet

It's debatable whether our kids are the coolest or the dorkiest on the block. I'm voting the coolest. They spent the HOT afternoon all costumed-up playing super heroes. When Riley is around, they are the triplets. Can you even pick out which one of these boys isn't mine?? It's Superman! Luke is the dinosaur and Adam is Elmo. Aren't they just the cutest!?