the week that was

SUNDAY- reagan and thomas spent the morning in the ER. reagan had been jumping off of a bed the previous night and landed funny on his foot. requisite wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued. the foot looked bad, real bad michael jackson. the ER doc said that the x-ray was inconclusive and that reagan just needed a splint and to stay off of it for a week and a follow up appointment with an orthopedist on thursday. that also meant missing a week of schoool. reagan's response? "but i just hafta still play."



TUESDAY-scarlett's first day of pre-school EVER. i got up early to run and i came home sick as a dog. i needed to go outside and eat some grass. it was that bad. and as a result, i could hardly move and i let scarlett sleep until 815. her pre-school starts at 830. and she needed a bath. i finally pulled it together and scarlett got a bath and i got a bath(after two attempts). i sheepishly walked her into school at a few minutes after 9. and i did NOT appreciate the stink eye that her teacher gave to me. she is lucky to have scarlett in her class.
but because we were so late, all i had time for were these weak first day of school photos:

running into school:
a quick pause at the fish tank:


pick up. she was done with the photo taking.
WEDNESDAY- i spent a good deal of the day reading mockingjay. thomas had surprised me with a copy after i had spent way too much time searching for it around town. and thanks to the walmart employees who questioned me for looking for a book called "monkeyjaw". seriously. they had never heard of mockingjay.
i tried to pace myselfwhilst reading it so that everything else in my life wouldn't go to pot(unlike every other day of the week). in interest of spoilers, all i will say about the book is: team gale forever.

THURSDAY-reagan's appointment with the orthopedist. it was sort of WAY awesome. his office was really swanky with floor to ceiling windows and waterfalls and a paging system like they have at applebee's with the buzzer that lights up. in the waiting room they had 6 gigantic flat screen tvs all showing reruns of burn notice. i wish had a dressed up for the occasion.

the doctor took a quick look at reagan's foot and deemed that his 3rd metatarsal was broken.

next to us there was a kid also being checked out by a doctor. he was screaming so loud that they had to come in and turn the volume up on the tv in our exam room. the kids kept asking me what was going on outside with all the noise. i told them that there was a puppy dog in the next room trying to get out and run outside. i don't know if that explanation helped or hurt.

and poor scarlett thought her turn was next.

SATURDAY-i got up and ran and it was a success. slow and steady. and then thomas suggested that we head on down to georgia to the outlet mall and see what wares were for sale. something seemed fishy about that exchange but i didn't dare ask because i am not one to turn down a day of shopping. about 20 minutes out of town the truth came out. we were definitely heading to the outlet mall but first we would be stopping to pick up some new georgia gear for the upcoming football season. and then i would get to shop. seems like a fair enough deal.

reagan and thomas should be adequately outfitted for at least 4 months.

SUNDAY-thomas and i both received new callings to serve in at church. thomas was called as 2nd counselor in the young men's organization and i was called as the laurel's advisor in the young women's organization. and i am totally excited. i still haven't gotten over the fact that i am not 16 anymore. this calling is perfect.

sunday afternoon has been filled with playing in our disaster area of a playroom. a fantastic mess means a fantastic time. reagan and thomas played football on reagan's new georgia football rug and scarlett does what scarlett does and she does it with no pants on.

ps-is it a bad sign that we have moved too much that one of the kid's favorite things to do is to pack up all their toys in boxes and pretend to be moving?

on a lighter note

who else is as excited as we are for college football season? autumnal saturdays are like a corporeal general conference on the gridiron. a veritable medley of athletic prowess, strategic enlightenment and old-fashioned suspense.

reagan and thomas have been watching a lot of espn classics, practicing reading plays and boning up on positions and player stats. i happened upon this little father/son interaction last week:

you should know that i live with the football Master with a capital M. no one knows more about football, lives football, breathes football, eats football and loves football more than thomas. perhaps bear bryant himself would be the exception, but it would be a closey.

and watching a game with thomas is unreal. i have a few suggested behaviors:

1. don't talk during key moments. show viewing awareness.

2. don't ask dumb questions. i know this from experience.

3. carefully plan bathroom breaks.

4. don't be flippant if thomas' team is not playing their best. if you want to joke, you should probably just leave the house.

5. don't cheer for florida. not even jokingly.

6. if you like a team, you better be able to back it up. don't be trendy.

7. sit on the victory blanket. we have one for BYU and one for georgia. and they work. modern day relics.

8. don't check your messages if you are watching a recorded game that everyone else already knows the score to. it's really hard to finish watching a game and pretending you don't already know the outcome.

plus, living in south carolina has opened several new football worshiping avenues. having steve spurrier coaching the gamecocks of south carolina(plus) and clemson university(minus) only a few miles up the road makes saturdays in the south cackalacki almost as lovely as being back in the college football capital of the universe tuscaloosa, alabama.

thomas used to write a weekly college football newsletter. i would like to see him resurrect it. if you would like to see him resurrect his newletter also, please bombard him with requests on facebook. i think it would only take 2 or 3 requests for him to be swayed.

i feel pretty good about this year.

wordless wednesday

beef jerky picnic

first day of kindergarten ever for reagan. the first day of 18 years of a cruel trick. it was hard to be excited to send reagan to school because he really is a nice, easy kid. i cried upon drop off but otherwise it was a good clean break.

the final walk...

so presh that i could eat a stuffed animal.

adios. like he didn't even need me.

one thing that was chancey was what reagan was going to look like as he left for school. we had a lot of this glasses/villain moustache/laser arms look this past weekend:

a closey.

and then after i dropped reagan off, i asked scarlett what she wanted to do for fun today and she said "a beef jerky picnic."

and so we did.

bloom where you are planted

things that are hard about this most recent move:

1. eating fast food. for every meal. it's like coating your intestines in crisco.

2. not being able to find important things, like a plunger or zurg or underwear.

3. finding how to get home.

4. finding new running trails and adapting to a new YMCA.

5. acclimating to a new pollen count.

6. stumbling around our the new house in the dark in the middle of the night.

7. registering. for school. for voting, for driving. for exercising. for breathing.

8. east coast time zone. it is killing us. that one hour makes all the difference in the world.

things that are easy about our most recent move:

1. going to church. it's always the same wherever we have lived. the same spirit, the same doctrine, the same wonderfulness.

2. the blank slate. no one knows you and you can be whoever you want to be. also, i haven't put my foot in my mouth yet. but it is only a matter of time...

3. family time. we have a lot of it because we don't know anyone yet. a bittersweet perk.

4. everthing is a new experience. just being in our new house and new backyard and our new town is exciting for the kids.

and whenever i get sad about leaving friends and family and familiar surroundings for new experiences and adventures, i like to think of this quote,

"...whatever circumstances you live in, whatever your background or challenges might be, the gospel light has power and purpose to bring blessings into your life and in the lives of those placed in your path. the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to bring blessings to our Heavenly Father's children. you are planted in your country, your community, your family to facilitate these blessings. i urge you to bloom where you are planted." elder dieter f. utchdorf.