Over the can on ... ME!!

I’ve been tagged again, and I have to say, this one’s a little different. Perfect timing since I’ve been taking periodic walks down memory lane lately. Gator and I celebrate our 8th anniversary next month. Woo hoo for us! Thanks for the tag, Jen!

The History of Lacey & Gator

How long have you been together? Since the summer of 1999 (isn’t that a song?)

How long did you date? Dated for a little over two months, were engaged for five months … only moved the date up once! The fella just swept me off my feet!

How old is he? 33 or 34, I can’t remember

Who eats more? Gator, although I’m really trying to keep up.

Who said "I love you" first? Gator

Who is taller? Gator

Who sings better? Me, but I’m sure Gator thinks he does!

Who is smarter? Hmmm, tough one. Gator knows more information than anyone I know. He got WAY better grades than I did in high school and college (did you know I almost didn't graduate from high school?). Sometimes he does Yoda talk because his brain works so fast … but I’m funnier and more clever.

Who does the laundry? Me. But sometimes Gator gets sick of waiting for clean clothes and then does his own laundry.

Who does the dishes? Both. I do them all day and Gator cleans the kitchen at night.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do. But that’s so Gator will be closest to the door and the sound waves of kids crying will hit his ears first.

Who pays the bills? Gator. I tried for about 6 ½ years of our marriage and realize that I’m crappy at it. Gator’s a much better saver than I am.

Who mows the lawn? Gator. He rigs up the lawn mowers so only he knows how to start them. I think it makes him feel more manly.

Who cooks dinner? When dinner gets cooked it’s usually by me. When I don’t, Gators more than happy to fix himself something to eat.

Who is more stubborn? Me

Who kissed who first? Gator kissed me. But believe me, I spent way too much time sending signals! He was a slow mover!

Who asked who out? Gator. But only by his friends pushing, who were pushed by me. And oh, what a story it is! Seriously, Gator is so lucky I stuck around!

Who proposed? Gator … one thing he was quick with!

Who is more sensitive? Me

Who has more friends? Me

Who has more siblings? Same

Who wears the pants in the relationship? Mostly me, but there are some things Gator is pretty adamant about.

Who are you tagging? Every single person on my blogging list. Look to the right … if you see your name, YOU’RE IT! Seriously, I'm checking your blogs!

Happy MLK Day!

And thank you Bono.

Strikers Can Stick It!!

To all who are involved with this predicament .... stop your boo-hooing, get off your horses and write me some TV shows! Seriously, what else am I supposed to do with my time?

Thanks for the reminder!

Ella is sitting at the kitchen table eating noodles with a creamy white sauce while telling me all about the noodles - how we eat them in the mountains, they're Cousin Mia's favorite, kind of like macaroni and cheese, absolutely delicious... She notices the seashell shape and then says, "These noodles are kind of fat ... just like your tummy." Yeah, so funny when they're honest ...

I'm as corny as Kansas in August...

Ella came home from preschool yesterday sporting a big wound on her cheek. I dried some tears and wiped off the blood (which actually turned out to be paint, thank goodness) and heard her 3-year-old version of the story. Turns out a little guy named Jackson bit her during painting time. An hour later there is a knock on the door and there is Jackson, with his dad, holding three tulips held together with string. My heart just about ripped in two as Jackson tearfully told Ella how sorry he was and that he would never do it again. Ella was so excited about the flowers and kept telling me all night, "Mama, Jackson is so sorry," while burying her face in her treasured tulips. Ella's love interest has been Cole, our 4-year-old next door neighbor. Poor Cole. I think he just got bumped.

We've Only Just Begun ....

My friend Joanna is thinking about posting on her blog ever time her kids are sick. I think it's a great idea and I'm going to copy. Most of you have heard me whine and cry and pout and curse over all the illnesses that travel throughout my house, but I don't think that a lot of you believe me. So, I am documenting it. And maybe, just maybe, by doing this I will break the curse and my little treasures will be sickness free for the rest of the year! Here I go ....

January 3rd, 2008, 12:30 a.m. (approx) - Ella starts her 2008 debut with croup. Even today, she is still recovering.

January 7th, 2008, 6:30 a.m. (apparox.) - Jack wakes up with snot smeared across his face and the saddest little cough. Has not taken one nap today and currently in his room, propped up in his car seat with Eeyore as a headrest.

Great. Just Great.

Everything's Great in 2008!

*WARNING! This baby's a long one. Make sure you are comfy and warm before diving in!

I'm not really one to make New Year's resolutions. I'm not all that great at meeting New Year's goals and I remind myself daily of the two or three character flaws that I have ... just kidding, I readily admit I have a million. New Year's doesn't work for me .... but Thanksgiving usually does! Around my birthday I am usually blessed with these crazy epiphanies that remind me of the direction my life needs to go in order to be the person I want to be. Maybe it's the realization of me getting older or maybe it's the mass quantity of pumpkin pie I consume over that time frame, but I have had some fabulous experiences over the last couple of years. However, my ever-loving, dream-making protector that blesses me with my partial insanity has failed me. November 22nd has come and gone and still I am clueless as to what is ahead of me for my 29th year. Shoot! I hate it when I'm clueless!

So, since November pretty much sucked for me this year, I am going to have to rely on New Year's to give me a little boost and motivate me to do SOMETHING with myself in 2008. Here are a few hopes and dreams, resolutions, objectives, goals, whatever!, for myself ... and for my family .....

1. Get my Christmas themed blog packed away for the season and come up with something fun, cute and sassy! The thought of actually doing this makes me want to return to my thumb-sucking ball, but I am always jealous when I view people's cute blogging sites. Anyone who has any sort of idea on the whole blog template thing, fill me in!

2. Get myself more organized. This is a goal I set for myself every week, and every week I realize I'm full of crap. However, it is still on the list because I know that someday I will figure something out.

3. Find a great Brain Exercise book. I have noticed that with each child I have become dumber and dumber. Long gone are the days of intelligent conversation and efficient multi-tasking. To think that I might continue to deteriorate from the ridiculous point that I'm at now is absolutely terrifying!

4. Eat more healthy.

5. That Jack will learn how to take naps and sleep through the night.

6. That I will continue to come up with good bribes to keep Ella in her room until 7:00 am since she didn't learn to sleep through the night.

7. I will no longer cuss on my blog. Just on my blog ... I need to keep my goals attainable. Although to be fair to myself, I am not that big of a swearerer (look back to #3 to understand my use of swearerer). I usually only drop naughty words when I'm really mad or if I think it will be funny.

8. Be a better mom. I learned a long time ago not to pray for patience. Instead of a lovely blessing of patience being lightly dropped on my head I ended up with more tantrums and more swear words coming to my mind. This time, I'm flying solo.

9. I am determined to run a triathlon this year ... although the amputation of my right foot might cause a kink in the plan. Something is terribly wrong with my foot. I go to the doctor tomorrow. We'll see what brilliant plan he comes up with.

10. Attend church more regularly. Once again, to be fair to myself, I do have kids (one in particular) that seem to be sick every darn (see?!) week and a husband that has an every-Sunday calling. So, when it's possible, I will be making a greater effort to be there. Except for Sunday school ... that's another year's resolution ....

11. To find a fabulously easy part-time job. One where I can work from home, is extremely flexible and pays a ridiculous amount of money. That way, I can paint my walls, hang some pictures, and get a new kitchen table and chairs that are not held together with duct tape.

12. To be nicer to Gator and hope that he will continue to love me while I sort out the craziness of my life.

13. To keep my kids healthy. I already wash my kids hands with kerosene, wash their mouths nightly with lye and refuse them any sort of social contact. There's got to be something else I'm missing! I will be relying on divine intervention with this one!

14. To get a decent nights sleep. Although this does rely a lot on goal #5 & #6 ...

15. Pray for my yearly epiphany to come ... QUICKLY! Oh, divine dream-maker ... I forgive you for neglecting me. I forgive you for denying me feelings of comfort and strength. I understand your hesitancy to penetrate my already burned-out brain with thoughts of wisdom. I realize you're probably really busy, and maybe a bit behind schedule, but my heart and mind are open and I am waiting .... still. Oh, please hurry! This list of 14 can't be what my life is about!

Happy New Year everybody! I wish you all the best ... this is a lucky year, I know it!

The leader of the band ...

Papa and Margaret gave Ella a keyboard for Christmas. Lucky for me, it also has a microphone attached to it! Here are a couple of videos of what Ella did ALL DAY on Christmas!

Where have you gone ...

Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you ....

So I have emerged! I apologize for my lack of blog contributions but honestly, Christmas really did a number on me this year! When the events were over, I could not help but retreat into my own personal bubble, curl up in fetal position and suck my thumb for 2 1/2 weeks! I have finally forced myself to venture to the freezing basement, power-up the computer and do a little blogging catch-up.
Despite my freakish response to the holiday season, our Christmas was wonderful. Everyone stayed healthy (an absolute feat for us, I tell you!), Jack did amazingly well for a month without much sleep and Ella was so fun this year! All of December was one big excitement after another ... I couldn't help but be excited with her! A few pictures to recap our Christmas experience ...


My cute boys at the Gatherum family Christmas party.


Jack giggling with Papa Owen.


Jack hanging out in his exersaucer. Jack didn't get the exersaucer for christmas. Jack didn't get a whole lotfor Christmas. Poor Jack!


Ella and her two favorite presents - Sharpay and Barbie Island Princess. Both of them sing!


A long day for both Jack and Gator!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Stay tuned for my New Year's resolutions ... I need to let my fingers thaw out before I begin a new entry!

A spoonful of sugar ...

My trip to Primary Children's Hospital with Jack yesterday turned out surprisingly well and took about half as long as I expected ... for those of you who have had to go there know that basically it means to plan on a 13 hour appointment. After testing and monitoring, the news was good. The doctor thinks Jack has grown out of his heart issue and I don't have to give him medication anymore! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! No more 2 a.m. craziness (as far as the medicine goes, anyway)! However, just to be sure, they sent Jack home hooked up to another monitor that he has to wear for 24 hours. I can rip those darned stickers off his soft, baby skin in 17 minutes! Hopefully there won't be any funny business on this monitor reading and we won't have to worry about his heart for a couple of years! Whew! What a relief!

Heartbreaker ...

Jack has another appointment up at Primary Children's on Thursday where they will monitor his heart and see if it is still going into SVT. The good news - he may have grown out of it and may no longer need medication. Scary news - we took Jack of his medicine today so the doctors can have an accurate reading. This means 3 days of worry and constant heart checking! Keep your fingers crossed that Jack's heart has healed and has stopped going bananas!

Raindrops on roses ....

I finally went through the pictures on my camera and these are a few that made me smile ...

Ella striking a pose in one of her get-ups. Underneath she has a swimsuit on from two years ago and a swim skirt. Sounds comfortable!

A daily picture at our house ... a trait Ella gets from Uncle B. I think Ella's bum shows about 80% of the day.

The Sunday before the Utah vs. BYU game BJ throw his annual Ute Sunday where a huge "U" is meticulously painted on his front yard. Here is Ella with some of her cousins on the big day!

Jack and Papa on Ute Sunday.

The finished project ... except for the lights. They weren't presented until later.

Our Thanksgiving Tree. A friend of mine gave me this idea and Ella loved it. It was amazing what she was thankful for ... her jammies with the hole, socks, aprons, candy ...

Jack in his jumping thing. He will actually stay in this for about 5 minutes! A lifesaver, I'm telling you!

Ella at my dad's wedding. She has really sensitive ears.

Jack and Gator waiting for the festivities to continue. Jack had a really long day. I think all the guests were glad when Gator took him home!

Chestnuts are roasting!

There is snow on the ground, my decorations are up and there's a big fat Christmas tree in my family room! I am so out of my slump it's ridiculous! I LOVE Christmas!!! This weekend really gave me the boost I needed.

Ella was so excited to get out in the snow! Thankfully we found all her gear before it melted.

Tromping through the snow.

One of my absolute favorite parts of Christmas is getting a tree. We used to have this lame fake tree but a couple of years ago I finally talked Gator into buying a real one. Sometimes it seems like a waste of money but I figure it's a small price to pay for absolute happiness! Seriously, I cannot express the pure joy it gives me!
Here's Ella playing in the trees at the Christmas tree lot.

We spent the majority of the time trying to find Ella. Here, Gator is walking up another row looking for her while Ella darts back and forth behind him. Sneaky little twerp!

On our way to find a tree. Poor Jack. You get stuck in a yellow suit when a girl is born first.

Me likey!

I have liked this song since the Old Navy Commercial ....

Workin on it ...

Today I have decided to claw my way out of my slump. It's a pretty big hole and it may take all day, but I'm determined! I'll let you know how it goes.
The new festive look is still in progress...