Business Schmusiness -- Come Home Nate!

Nate's out of town this week. This is his first business trip since he started this job last March, and I wasn't sure I would make it this week. I honestly can't remember a night in the past couple of months where I have done all the dishes by myself. The night before he left he was so sweet. He cleaned out my car (which had spilled milk in the trunk), went to the grocery store, of course he did the dishes, and I can't even remember what else he did on top of packing his suitcase. But he was running circles around me all night.

Things have gone more smoothly than I thought, but there have been a couple of issues. Yesterday, as we were getting in the car to head to dance class, I couldn't get the car started. My battery was dead, and this is the second time it has happened in the last little while. So Joe Brown, who is in our bishopric at church and is just the nicest man, came and looked at it, went and bought me a new battery, and came back and installed it for me. I was so grateful for his service. He turned a headache into such a simple thing for me.

Then, when the girls came in yesterday from playing outside for a while, Hannah was about to go crazy with something in her shirt making her itch. I went over to check it out, and there was an ant crawling all over her. I think I've posted a picture before of what ant bites do to my girls. They don't just get a normal bite. They get huge welts that swell up terribly. We've never had more than two or three on their feet and ankles, but those were bad enough one time to require a shot to stop the swelling from turning an ankle purple. Anyway, she ended up with 4 bites on her torso, and I just didn't know what that was going to do to her. So, I lathered her up with hydrocortizone cream and immediately gave her a dose of Benedryl. And she has been fine. The bites have gone down to a normal size already. It's pretty amazing to me, and I am so thankful that she is okay.

Well, Nate comes home tomorrow night, and I hope the rest of the time goes by uneventfully. We sure miss him.

Maybe I should keep some smelling salts with me

I am so grateful that I have been blessed with good health. I think the Lord knows that prolonged illness would be one trial that would put me over the edge. I went to the dermatologist last week to have a mole removed from my back that had a few atypical cells in it. No big deal whatsoever -- at least it shouldn't have been. I usually pass out when I see needles, but I couldn't see what he was doing on my back, so I thought I would be fine. I made it through the numbing part, and then he came back in the room a few minutes later to do the procedure. I wonder if it was his description of a "deep dermal shave" that to got me. All I know is that as soon as he put his hand on my back I only had enough time to say, "I think I'm going to pass out." The next thing I knew, I didn't know where I was and they were finished with the procedure. Oh, I hate that. Waking up after fainting feels so awful. I'm glad I never went to school for something in the medical field. What a waste of money that would have been. I think Jane Austen would say that I have a "weak constitution." Anyway, I'm better and thankfully I don't have to go back.

It has been nice settling back into a routine this week, but we had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Last weekend we got to visit with Aunt Ruth and Casey, and I so wish we lived closer to them. It is so fun to visit Aunt Ruth's house. And then we went to visit Nell, and I feel the same about going to their house. It's always so good to visit with them.

On New Year's Day we took the girls bowling and had the best time. Once again, I should have taken my camera! Hannah and Nikki were so cute. Nikki and I tied with the same score! But Nate said my score really didn't count because I did rely on the bumpers a few times. Oh well.

In other news, the cat is spending her first day outside today. Actually, she's in the garage because we need to take her to get fixed before she can roam free. It's such a cruel thing to do to her because she is such a social little thing. She just always wants to be curled up somewhere close to where we are. But I couldn't handle the white cat hair on my black couches and the smell of the litter box. Before we got her, we were afraid that Nate's allergies might force us to put her outside, but I'm actually the one she was bothering! I certainly didn't think that one through as well as I should have. Luckily, the girls weren't upset about putting her outside. They don't care where they have to go to play with her, and they are probably glad that I'm not going to have to pull the vacuum out every day!

Christmas

Nikki got a Tinkerbell cell phone from Emma & Lexi, and she hasn't put it down since -- she had it up to her ear even while making our gingerbread house.


What a great age for Christmas, Nikki was even excited about the apple and orange in her stocking!


And here was our big surprise. Hannah got a cat. She named her Pearl, and as I type this she is attacking our Christmas tree. What were we thinking?! Actually, I've been really surprised at how much I like her. She's a really sweet kitty, and the girls just love her.

Charity

Our Relief Society lesson today was based on Elder Wirthlin's talk this past conference entitled, "The Great Commandment." We had a really good lesson, but with a talk like that how could it be otherwise? I absolutely loved this talk about charity. I was rereading it this afternoon, and it made me think of Nate.

Elder Wirthlin said, "Sometimes the greatest love is not found in the dramatic scenes that poets and writers immortalize. Often, the greatest manifestations of love are the simple acts of kindness and caring we extend to those we meet along the path of life."

Nate gives that kind of caring and kindness all the time. To those outside of our family and especially to us. Everyday he does these little things that he doesn't think are a big deal, but I know I don't do as many things for others as he does. On Sunday afternoons, he comes home and lets me take a nap while he plays with the girls for hours. They are always so excited to see him get home, and so am I! Usually when I ask if the dishwasher is clean or dirty, he'll give me a response something like, "It's empty. I just unloaded it." So wonderful. The Family Proclamation says that we are to work together equally to fulfill our duties, and I often have to stop and make sure I'm giving as much in our home as he is.

And I really don't know anyone more friendly. It's interesting to me because he's not naturally outgoing or really comfortable talking a lot to other people, but he does it. At church, I'm always looking around the chapel before the meeting starts wondering where is, and usually he just takes a long time getting to his seat because he is speaking to everyone he passes in the hall. He makes cookies for our neighbors and the families he hometeaches more than I do. He is so wonderful, and I am so blessed to be married to him.

Nikki's Preschool Christmas Program

Nikki's preschool Christmas program was this past week, and here are some pictures from it.

This is after the program, and Nikki was as worn out from a long day as she looks.

I just think this is so funny with all of their different expressions. Eliza is hilarious.

With the big man himself.

The video is a little long, but a mother is allowed to post a video like this. We absolutely love Mrs. Shari, the preschool director, and I think you can see a little of why from this clip. She is so great with the kids. We just barely got there in time, so our seats were in the back and my camera wouldn't zoom in very far. Nikki is a little hard to see because she's near the back, kind of on the left side. We were in such a hurry to get there that she had to get dressed in the car, and of course I forgot to bring a hair brush and barrettes. Poor thing. We had Lydia and Eliza with us, which was fun. They were excited to get to come to the program for the second year in a row. I think Lydia said this was about her third time sitting on Santa's lap this year, and she wouldn't tell me what she asked him to bring her. I wonder if her parents know. =)

Robbins family elves

Check out our secret identities.

Twenty-eight Years

Twenty-eight years, and what a wonderful 28 years they have been. I have really been so blessed to be surrounded by the greatest people my whole life. And even more blessed to have them show so much love to me.

I remember Robin telling stories about the Christmas I was born. Since I had a bad case of jaundice, Mom was still in the hospital with me and it was Dad's job to get the Christmas presents set out for everybody. Only he didn't get everything right, and Robin had to suffer in silence as she watched Kellee open the presents meant for her. Thanks, Robin, for not holding that against me.

I think some of my earliest memories are spending time with Dad during my preschool years. I didn't go to preschool. I stayed home and painted with Dad, and he took me to the bakery every morning to get a huge chocolate chip cookie while he got a coffee and doughnut. I remember being scared of his driving even then.

And of course I remember running after JW and Kellee. I think my most often used phrase in childhood must have been, "Wait for me!" I don't know how they put up with me. I can't believe now how we used to run through the fields around our house. I remember the fort that was in the canal behind the greenhouses. I would be terrified to let my children run through there. It seems like it was a long way from the house. Didn't Mom and Dad ever think about snakes?

I look at Jay and Brenna and I think of JW and me. She copies everything he does and she's tough enough to take whatever he dishes out to her. I always would follow along with anything JW suggested, no matter how often I ended up hurt at the end of it. So maybe I wasn't quite as tough as Brenna!

My brothers and sisters have always been such a big part of my life. I took piano lessons because Robin and Kellee did. I played the flute because we had one (I really wanted to play the trumpet), but I wanted to be in the band because Mike and Kellee had done it. I wanted to go to BYU because Mike went there. They even have played a major role in my spirituality. When Mike was on his mission, I read the Book of Mormon all the way through because of the experiences and testimony he shared in his letters home. I remember walking by JW's room and seeing him read his scriptures before he started his homework. They also taught me not to do homework on Sunday, even if there was a test on Monday, and I did always feel blessed in my schoolwork for doing that. When they came home from EFY or Girls Camp or a temple trip, I would just soak up everything that they said about it. I remember my first year of Girls Camp was so great because Kellee was there, and I felt like she liked having me there. I really do wish I could take back all the fighting that she and I did. I think we started getting along a few months before she left for college, and now she lives so far away.

And of course there was the whole greenhouse experience. Some of the research I was just reading for my last class was about the importance of family work. Well, our family sure did work! For all of the hot, dirty, tired, sore feet complaining, I think everyone agrees that it really was a great experience. Not one that I would care to do again, but I'm so glad that I was a part of that.

Which brings me to the Littles. I really don't think there are better people on this earth, and I love that they still treat me like I'm part of their family. Grandma Bass was so upset that I chose to live with them after the accident, but it really was the best place for me. If only for the reason that Chuck and Eileen both had lost a parent while they were still growing up. At the time I felt like I was going through something nobody else goes through, but they were proof that I wasn't alone. I can't imagine what it must have been like for them to take in a 16-year-old like me, but they just showered me with love. They made me feel like a part of the family from day 1. Chuck and Eileen have been such fabulous models of a successful marriage. Anyone who knows them can tell that they really love each other. I love how the whole family enjoys spending time together, talking to each other, and serving one another. They can spend hours around the dinner table just because they enjoy each other's company so much that they don't want to stop talking. They truly show what a family is supposed to be like.

When I think of the accident, I usually don't think about the actual car wreck because the details of that time period are pretty fuzzy in my mind. I think what stands out to me is the incredible amount of love I was surrounded by. Aunt Ruth was so wonderful that morning, there were countless friends, all of the family, just so many people were there with me it seems like at all times. During a time when I could have felt alone, I felt protected. And when I think about the outcome of the accidents that year, the really only negative result is that I miss Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Granddaddy. I know the hand of the Lord was so involved in our lives during those events. I know He was taking care of me then and still is taking care of me today.

Well, as I think about other parts of my life, I think of Nate and our family now. I couldn't be blessed with a greater husband or children. Even this morning Nate woke up feeling so sick, but before he left for work he made the bed. If I had felt that way, I probably would have still been laying in the bed. And what can I say about Hannah and Nikki? They are so precious and bring me so much joy. I truly love being mother.

Anyway, this is a long post and doesn't even do justice to all I've seen and learned and experienced during my 28 years. I have a wonderful life!!

My reading obsession again

Last night I went to bed at 9 pm and woke up this morning just before 7 am. Ahhh, that felt SO good! The cause of that was because the night before I stayed up almost all night reading a book. I don't have time right now to read for pleasure -- I just have too much going on, but a book I had requested at the library finally came in. They'll only hold it a couple of days for you, so I had to go ahead and get it, and I couldn't just have it sitting around without reading it. So, finishing it in one night was my best solution to avoid putting off other things that I needed to do during the day. I wasn't even crabby with the girls yesterday.

So the book was called Twilight. For me it was like watching a chic flick all night. I really liked it, but if someone only likes to read to be intellectually stimulated and increase their knowledge, they probably wouldn't go for this book. Nate would say it was a complete waste of time. It probably was, but so is watching a movie. It's about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. Oh, it was so good. There are three books in the series, but I'm going to have to wait until Christmas vacation is underway before I can think about getting the second one.

Hannah Lost Her 1st Tooth

Hannah feels like she is the last one of all the kids she knows her age to have lost a tooth. She was so excited when her tooth finally started wiggling. It became quite a drawn out process, though. She worked on it a lot one day last week, and even let me have a go at it, but I guess it wasn't quite ready yet. So, for the rest of the week she wouldn't let anyone near her mouth. It was just barely hanging in there, and she agreed to let Uncle Mike take it out at family dinner last night. She was so impressed that he could do it without it even hurting one bit! She is convinced that it was because he's a dentist that he could do it painlessly. Here she is working on her tooth.
Hannah and Dr. Mike.
This morning she wanted to pose for another picture. It was so cute how excited she and Nikki both were to see if the tooth fairy had come. They were pretty impressed that she could come without waking them up. It must be her magic!