At Least I Didn't Have A Ton Of Laundry and The Best Pt 5

I am thankful that Ethan is old enough to aim when he throws up, that I keep a throw up bag in the car, and that I have a good friend (Melissa) who brings me Starbucks hot chocolate mix to cheer me up when she finds out about it all!On to:
The Best Part 5 (or the end)
Animal Kingdom

On our last full day in Florida we went to Animal Kingdom (without Mom, unfortunately). It is part zoo, part theme park, park educational experience and a whole lot of fun. We went on a safari, saw lots of animals (that's a gorilla curled up if you can't tell, we couldn't and we were there)went to all of the kids learning spots, saw the amazing Bug's Life show, met a "princess" and rode Expedition Everest (which was totally awesome, but made me completely sick). While I was sitting with my head in my knees Eric took Ethan and Ella on the river raft ride. While everyone gets wet on the ride, only 3 people get completely soaked on that ride, my 3 people. Ella was less than pleased. My only wish was that the park was open later (it closed at 5 that day) because we didn't even come close to seeing everything we wanted!

I Know, I Am The Stupid Child.

I am thankful for my siblings. They are hard to have as my siblings, as they are so amazing. It's hard to be the eldest and have to look up to (figuratively) my younger siblings, but it is true, they rock.

One of my favorite pictures. Andrew is such a great Dad!

Andrew is by far one of the smartest people I know. He had a hard time in school because he was on a totally different plane intellectually than the other kids, but he made it through, still grew up, went to college, married a totally awesome girl, and is in Med school (take that bullies), and seems to function just fine in society despite his "gigantic melon" (ha ha).
I think I had the hardest time with Andrew as a child because he was the closest in age and so my faults and deficits in character were magnified by his depth and strength thereof. I'm not proud of it, but he seems to still love me even though I was (and still can be) a total beast.
Andrew also is totally fun to be around. He has a witty sense of humor. He is always introducing us to the best video games, that we all get addicted to, and neglect our families for, but we love him anyways!

James "helping" Ebby in the water, right before Ebby totally fell in and was traumatized for life!

James is amazingly charismatic. People everywhere love James and feel close to him. He has the ability to make you feel like the coolest person on earth, and he has a grin that has been able to get him out of more scrapes than I have ever been in. He and I both share of love of the non-mainstream in a totally non-hipster type of way (try figuring that gibberish out!) and have had too many funny conversations and experiences (dancing at Disneyland while we walk) to count.
James is very musical, and for such a scrawny guy has an amazingly deep bass voice that really rounds out the family "choir." He has great taste in music and is constantly introducing us all to new bands.
James is amazing with all kids, and especially his nieces and nephews. Kids love him because he sees them for the people they are and talks to, and interacts with them while showing them he values them and their interests. James is the comedian of the family, he is quick to smile, and quick to make others smile too. He loves to play a game, whether video game or bored game, as long as other people are involved, as he likes to be around people (And we kind of like to be around him too, ha ha).

I know: "Quit being so cute Julia!" We were all thinking it!

Julia, the baby of our family, is one of those complicated people who is always surprising you. She is a very talented writer who's rye and witty thoughts are completely addicting. I check her blog every day. Her mildly...satirical... take on the world is very different from the soft spoken little "Snow White" that use to spend time walking around our pool singing songs to herself (okay she was pretty young when she did that). Furthering her likeness to Snow White is her love of animals and her talent singing, with the sweetest, highest soprano that makes me sound like a fog horn in comparison.
She is also a very hard worker, not afraid of new experiences like switching colleges every semester and working at random yogurt places (things that would have terrified me as I hate new "things").
Julia is also a hoot to watch movies with, as she sees things you gloss over and finds way to make them hilarious.
She is also a very caring, sensitive person, who is going to make a VERY wonderful mother in a few months.

We are pretty similar in our interests, and senses of humor which means there is almost nothing I enjoy more than getting all four of us together, with Mom and Dad, and having a rip roaring laugh fest (while the poor in-laws look like they think they married crazy people). Thanks guys, for being so awesome!

Because Otherwise You Would Be Dead

I am so grateful for my sense of humor. It allows me to still maintain relationships with people after they give me backhanded compliments. I'm a little tired of "I wish I could be like you, you are so brave to (insert backhanded compliment about my decorating, hair, clothes, or shoes)." I feel like the Penguins of Madagascar sometimes, "Smile and wave, boys, smile and wave." At least I can smile about it all!

Tales From The Not So Dark Side.

Over the years I have heard tons of horror stories about other people's in-laws. I've felt sympathy for friends who have truly atrocious stories of rude and mean in-laws, but I've never truly been able to empathize with them, having had no similar experiences (I hope I used those correctly, because if not they will have another horror story of me to tell!).
Joan is one of those people who is absolutely genuine. She has no malice, she doesn't have ulterior motives, and she is genuinely kind. She is a shinning example of the mother you wish you could be, but can't, so you feel super inadequate, except that she never makes you feel badly about it, and therefore you feel worse (rambling, I know). Joan has never second guessed me as a mother, or made me feel badly about my parenting. Joan is not just a great mother, she is a great example of a rock-solid testimony. I could write 10 posts just about it! Whenever we visit she goes out of her way to make sure we feel welcome, and too often she cooks her amazingly yummy food and makes me gain 5 pounds every visit (especially with her cinnamon and sugar rolls, and the marshmallow fruit salad)! Eric has such love for his mother, and I can absolutely understand why, since I love her too.
Alan is a fun father-in-law for me to have. He is always willing to have "discussions" with me where I can be the devil's advocate (or he can) and we never walk away upset. He has been super supportive of us both emotionally and financially through all the years of our marriage. Alan is amazing at making lists and thinking things through ahead of time, with a VERY logical mind, which is why he is the first person we call when we want a non-emotional (in a good way), thought out answer to life decisions. He is amazingly patient with us as we blunder through life, and I am so grateful he is my father-in-law.

I know I am not the easiest daughter-in-law. I am overly emotional and I get ticked too easily. I am overbearing, and tend to like things "my" way. They have had only me to set the example of what "blending" (or not, in my case) into the family looks like, until recently with Emily (Hooray!), but they have only been kind, loving and accepting of me. I truly lucked out.

Thank you for being the best in-laws I've ever had!!! :)

My Biggest Vice

Whether it is in hot liquid form, small ball shaped, long sticks, or even shaped like a frog, I am thankful for CHOCOLATE. Enough said.

What I Am NOT Thankful For

I am not thankful for the spider that hid in my shower cap (yes, I use a shower cap, because I am that cool) and when I put it on my head the spider fell down my face on to my bare shoulder. Thinking I was being attacked a la Arachnophobia movie style, I promptly started screaming and swatted it towards the sink. After making small mewing noises and running hot water down the drain for 5 minutes I realized no one in my family even came to check on why I was in such distress. Not thankful, Mr. Spee-ider, not thankful.

Driving Me Up A Wall

I am thankful that I have 3 beautiful, healthy, smart kids to drive me up the wall. I had uneventful pregnancies, uneventful births (except the whole unexpected C-section thingy), and we've had fairly uneventful (in a good way) lives. No major injuries, illnesses, or problems.

More than that, I am grateful for the 3 little people that I got to have in my life.
I am grateful to Ethan for helping me understand shyness a little better. He is quiet in public, but so fun here at home. He is so smart and constantly making me laugh with his play-on-words and his fun imagination. He loves Star Wars almost as much as I do and it is fun to have someone to talk about it with.
I am grateful to Ella for being such a kind person. She is truly the peacemaker in the family...most of the time. She is very sensitive to other people and is quick to feel other's pain. She is always ready with a hug and a kiss, and will always jump at the chance to cuddle. She has a sharp mind and is always willing to help others at school that need help.
I am grateful to Livi for being my little pixie. She looks like and angel but can be a little... mischievous at times. She makes my life interesting here at home. She is very quick to laugh and loves to explore and go on adventures. She has more wanderlust than I do and loves to go on errand with me just to go some where.

I'm a lucky mom.

I Am Thankful For Demanding Parents

There is a lot I could say about my parents and why I am grateful for them. They have been a huge help through our educations, and beyond, both financially and mentally. They have provided me throughout my life with wonderful cultural experiences. They have done so much that I hope I have said thank you for, and that I am so appreciative of, but today I just want to high light a few random things that you can't find a Hallmark card for (because I am sticking it to the commercialism Man).

I am truly grateful that my parents raised me the way they did. They had high expectations. They always told me "when you go to college" never "if." I remember my mom and I have a "conversation" about my grade point average, which was a 3.56 at the time, and her "explaining" that, that wasn't going to be good enough if I wanted to get into BYU and get a good education. From a young age I understood that you needed a good education if you wanted a good job, and that every woman should have a good education (job) because you never knew what could happen. I may not have had to work in my career field, but a B.S. in education comes in handy every day you have kids!

I am grateful that my parents have been so supportive of me in my life. They were never one to give false hope (one of my mom's pet peeves is when people tell kids "You can be anything you want to be...") but they would talk out plans and strategies and help me come to an educated decision. Even when I acted more on emotion than logic they tried to help me see both sides, good and bad, of situations (even creepy boyfriends that they had to put up with for 2 years).


I am grateful that my dad took one of us kids out every Monday on a date night. Once a month we had my dad's undivided attention. He would let us pick wherever the heck we wanted to go, and we got to spend $10 on the evening. Some of my favorite memories from junior high were playing the Area 51 video game with my dad at the mini golf place. We spent all $10 on it and made it pretty far. He also sat through the horrible movie "Sister Act" with me, because I asked him to. He didn't have to spend that time with me, but he did, and I think we have a great relationship because he was willing to spend the time. He passed on a love of learning new things (i.e. a million hobbies), the importance of a strong work ethic, and and always did a great job of helping me understand the gospel (I still call him to help me with my talks).
My mom was a great example of feminism and liberal thinking, all while being a good Mormon (shocker, I know)! She taught me compassion for those that were less fortunate (even the sad socially awkward), and she taught me that I was just as good and worth as much as my brothers. She did a great job NOT playing favorites and really tried to help us all feel like we were worthwhile.

I remember one night I didn't have a book to read and she pulled out a very well worn book on Greek mythology. I remember her telling me how she had loved reading about all of the myths when she was younger and hoped that I would enjoy them too. I stayed up so late that night, I just couldn't read enough. She is always introducing me to new things whether I want to be or not (She got me a subscription to Time magazine this year just so I could hold more intelligent conversations with her!). She taught me to love reading, baking, and history, and I only hope I can be half as great a mom as she is!

I Never Learned To Read...and The Best pt 4

Okay, so that isn't exactly true. I did learn to read. In fact I grew up in a house where reading was not only encouraged it was darn well expected that you would read all the time, especially in the bathtub (and sometimes, if it was a really good book, in the shower. Go ahead and judge me). My parents not only aided in our addiction to books, they were down right happy to do it. They still do. I think it is truly not a Beesley outing to Tucanos unless we head over to Borders and stock up on the latest books we have been dying to read!

This is only one of the hundred things I am thankful to my parents for. I will focus on them later. Today was just about reading.

The Best Part 4
EpcotThe kids climbing on, and I am sure insulting all the native Norwegian workers while doing so, the giant troll that watches over the shop there.

You have never lived until you have eaten true French bread. I guess, by my own reckoning, that I have never lived, but at Epcot you sure come close. I have had honest to goodness dreams about eating the French bread from there ever since we went when I was 17. It was the one thing I demanded of the day: Stopping to eat at the French Patisserie. And we did...twice.

Epcot has come a long ways from just the world fair feel. There are lots more rides, like the insane Test Track where you get to feel like a car test dummy (or in my case severely car sick), to the Nemo ride that is like a trip under the sea. We got to see our "futures" on Spaceship earth, and learn more about how imagination shapes our world.

They even have a program to make the countries more interesting for kids where you join Kim Possible (one of my Disney favorites) on a secret spy mission. When you complete all the educational tasks you use your special spy phone to send a signal and something cool happens, like a chimney in Norway blows smoke, or a crazy singing robot pops up from a shopping display in Japan. It was fun, but asking a 6 year old and 8 year old to share the top secret phone was a little dicey.


About half way through our trip around the world the kids got bored and Eric headed back to the Imaginarium with them, which is set up with tons of cute learning centers like a piggy bank interactive game that teaches kids about saving money, a fire station with giant laser tag like house to teach about fire safety, and even an area where you can put yourself into video game.

While this was going on my mom and I enjoyed eating our way around the rest of the world...I mean seeing all the things the countries had to offer...to eat (because, as my mom said "what happens in Epcot stays in Epcot."....unless your daughter keeps a blog I guess).

This is about where Mom got sick and went back to the hotel (we brought our cold with us) and we went with Dad back to France to eat dinner. We also stopped in at the countries the kids missed before and got their "passports" stamped to show they went to almost all the countries (sorry Mexico and China). In Italy, by a very beautiful fountain that also seemed to draw the parks smokers right to it. We got to have the no-smoking talk again. Touche Epcot, turning a nasty few minutes into a learning experience.

All in all a very educational, cultural and yummy experience.

I wish I had more pictures but I was so busy doing and enjoying that I forgot to take a lot. Oh well, at least I am writing about it while I still remember it.

Getting My Feathers In A Bunch.....plus The Best pt 3.

I went into Walmart on Monday, Halloween, to pick up some emergency candy. To my utter amazement and chagrin they were taking down the Halloween posters that hang from the ceiling and were putting up Christmas posters. Christmas posters. I know the merchandise for Christmas came out in September, but this was actually decorating the store itself for Christmas.

I love Christmas, I really do, but it seems to me that they skipped a holiday....Thanksgiving... anyone, anyone??? Thanksgiving is turning into the forgotten holiday. I always felt bad for it that it only has 3 weeks of pre-celebration time anyways, but now they are just completely skipping it and moving on to the real money maker.

In the spirit of non-violent and non-critical rebellion that has gripped me lately I have decided to make the most of my 3 weeks leading up to Thanksgiving by posting every day (hopefully) about the people and things I am thankful for. Take that American consumerism!

To start out with I am going to write a little about my fabulous spouse, without whom I would be that crazy teacher that has 14 cats, wears a size 26 and socializes solely online through World of Warcraft.

Eric is not only hard working, long suffering and the most amazing dad to our kids, he is a wonderful husband who tries hard to help me have a happy life. He doesn't complain when I impulse buy. He listens to me rant about the latest slight I feel I have been dealt by the pizza guy. He nods encouragingly as I lash out at neighbor/news paper publisher who writes editorials about people being responsible neighbors and not leaving junk cars to rot on streets, while simultaneously leaving a junker right in front of OUR house! (not that this has been a recent and big thorn in my side or anything).

Eric was willing to suck it up and finish law school even though he hated it and wanted to quit after the first year. He worked so hard and did so well he was even able to graduate a semester early. He is great at being self motivated and is always on top of his responsibilities.

I love Eric and am so thankful he saved me from my cat lady existence, but that he loves that same slightly odd girl. All without ever making me feel badly about the fact that I am way nerdier than him, and he even smiles and nods as I tell him all about the fantasy books I am reading and their different mythologies.

Thank you Eric, you rock.

On to The Best Family Vacation Ever part 3:
Magic Kingdom
Eric with his beloved Belle, his favorite princess (yes, he has a favorite. You have to pick one when you have a daughter like Ella who really cares about things like this).

The Magic Kingdom is very much like our own beloved Disneyland in California, but with enough differences it is fun to compare them as you enjoy the park. Mainstreet is similar, but different. It is Cinderella's castle instead of Sleeping Beauty's. Oh, but the line for Dumbo is still amazingly long!
One thing we did do that was all new, and all amazing was have lunch at Cinderella's castle. You have to get reservations ahead of time, but it was soooooooooo worth it. You get to meet Cinderella and we even had enough time to talk with her a bit. Did you know Cinderella doesn't like crowns? They always fall off so she asked her fairy godmother to make her headbands to match all her outfits. Hmmm, I didn't even think about that till we talked with her!

During lunch the princess come around to each table. You get to talk to them, take pictures, and just enjoy the really good food and atmosphere. The girls were so excited.

Ethan...well he did like the cupcake he got to decorate for dessert.

(Another tidbit: Belle doesn't wear her ball gown around most of the time, it is too hard to move around in as it is so wide. Never really thought about it before, but now we know because we asked. And knowing is half the battle).

Ella, especially, was on cloud nine. We got to meet each of the princess, except Aurora went on break right before she got to her table and hadn't come back yet. One of the photographers had struck up a conversation with us because he noticed Eric's Husker shirt, and he too was from Nebraska. We asked our new friend what we should do about not meeting Aurora (Ella would have been devastated) so he promptly found her handler and had Aurora over to our table in no time. Aurora asked Ella if they should play a trick on Prince Phillip since "he wouldn't be able to tell them apart." They pick the best people to be the princesses!

All I can say is if I could design Heaven it would be a lot like the Magic Kingdom....but free...and less people with weird tattoos.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

I feel a little overwhelmed (nothing new) with lots more vacation pictures, Livi's birthday pictures, and Halloween pictures, so I am doing what I do best...open insubordination. I will not be confined to what I have to do. I will look at my "to do" list and find something completely different to occupy my time. I really hate being told what to do, even by myself!I'm supposed to be doing yard work in this picture...

So here are some completely unrelated, but funny pictures
(mostly of Livi, or as I call her "Captain Random"):

Livi playing hide and seek, she always finds the best spots!

Livi sleeping with the "Jrat"
(giraffe, yes it is a plastic, blow up, pool toy that she became dependent on for a while).

Livi received some birthday money from Great Grandma Donna and immediately bought what every young girl needs: a warthog. She has been a little crazy about Lion King lately, or as she calls it "Makuna Matata."



And, of course, the no nap, too much sugar from school parties, right before trick-or-treating meltdown into silliness:

And to close it all, and a teaser of things to come: Can you guess what I was for Halloween, because nobody here could (except a few, choice children of the 80's). I got a little tired of "Army Guy!"

The Best..pt 2

On to day 2. I have a feeling this day is the one my siblings missed doing the most. You see, it didn't exist the last time they were there...

My dad had one day before classes started and one thing he really wanted to see. I give to you:
The Wizzarding World of Harry Potter!!!

I have already mentioned the fact that I am a bit of a geek. If I were ever to truly tell you how much of a geek, I have a feeling a few of you would never talk to me again as your "cool" points would suffer just knowing me. One thing my family loves, and is actually VERY mainstream is Harry Potter. The only problem is we don't just love it like everyone else, we LOVE it. We reread the books over and over (my dad even rereads it in French to get a fresh perspective), we know random bits of fun facts that most people don't. We analyze the relationships between characters, compare the story lines to ancient mythology, and I'm sure one of these years I will force my kids to dress up as Gryffindors for Halloween.

It was a dream come true (literally) to step into the world of Harry Potter. To see the town,
the Hogwarts Express, the castle,
and even see and hear the icky mandrakes (luckily nobody died!).

I knew we would be going to this park and spent the summer reading the first three books to Ethan and Ella (and most of the time Livi, who didn't want to be left out) so they could fully appreciate it. I think they were only half as excited as I was (which is to say that they were ecstatic).

We rode on the amazingly crazy main ride at the castle which had a stunning line for the first 5 minutes, the most boring line for another 90 minutes and then they rushed us through the interesting castle part so we could barely even see all the cool touches. I wouldn't have minded spending less time out in the heat in the garden and more in the cool hall of portraits or Dumbledore's office, but considering it was Universal and not Disney it was extremely well done (I am such a Disney snob!!!).

The ride was part 3D CGI and part haunted house and is was awesome. The only non-awesome part was I got so sick I threw up in my mouth and only the thought of the mortification of getting off the ride with vomit all over me when 6 year olds were leaping off with smiles, kept it all down.

We ate lunch at The Three Broomsticks, which I'm sure was yummy but I couldn't really enjoy since I was SOOOOOOO sick. We tried pumpkin juice and butterbear, shopped in Honeydukes for candy, I feel like Ethan is saying "TWO chocolate frogs! Beat that!"

and Zonkos for practical jokes.

Ethan, Ella and Eric went on The Flight of the Hypogriff (which I was too queasy to even look at) and we had enough Easy Passes they could go on a second time, but only if the kids went by themselves. This was suppose to be a "family friendly" roller coaster, but I think Universal Studios and I have different ideas on what family friendly means. I watched with pure terror as my little adventurers waited in line and boarded the death contraption and all I could do was watch on helplessly because Eric vetoed me and said they would be fine and I was babying them. Thanks a lot Eric, but I guess this is one of the reasons why kids need a mom and a dad (so they can have fun sometimes).

About half way through exploring Livi got restless. She was sick of hearing she was too little to go on things, so we headed over to Dr. Seuss land to ride some Livi rides. We were lucky we had the Easy Passes so we could just walk on the rides because if I had to wait 5 minutes for most of those rides I would have demanded compensation for my time. Livi seemed to love them though and Dad was a good sport and went on most of them with us.

I was sad every time we left the Harry Potter world. I didn't care about the Jurassic Park area but I guess since it was technically a family vacation and not all about me I had to put on a smile and watch the kids (and Eric and my mom) get completely drenched on the scary dinosaur ride.

Their faces were so priceless I had to pay the exorbitant fee to buy the photo!

I could have spent just two hours in Harry Potter world and felt like my admission was worth it. I could also have spent all day just exploring all the shops, oohing and awing over all the little hidden gems, and waiting in line again for the ride (but not riding it) just to get a better look at all the parts we were rushed through.

And to top off the great day, the maid arranged the girls stuffed animals to greet us when we got back, put a tiara on one, and made a cute toothbrush holder with a grinning face! (Kind of like Grandpa Alan had set it up!)