Do it Myself

Because Todd's gone there are things that I figure, "Who needs a man?? I can do that!" Well, changing the headlight in my car was one of them...so I thought. I went to the auto parts store, gave them the info they needed and they helped me choose the correct bulb that I needed. I came home and got to work. I followed the instructions step by step. Unfortunately I was struggling with step #2. I couldn't get the connector to loosen from the bulb. After trying and trying, my neighbor came over and saw I was playing mechanic. She told me she was going to get her hubby to help. I thought I could just hurry and get it changed before he even got back over to my house. Wrong! Well, at least I got to step #3 when he came to help.

Tyler, that's the neighbor, loosend the bulb and then went to put the new bulb in. In the mean time, my other neighbor, Kasey, came over to help too. If two men can't do it what made me think I could do it? (to their credit they would have been done really quickly if they had what they needed...read on)

They worked and worked on getting the new bulb back in but it just wasn't fitting. They finally came to the conclusion that it was not the same size of bulb and I needed to take it back and get the right one. I jumped in the car and ran to Hurricane to exchange the bulb. Then I hustled back because it was getting dark. We fit the new bulb in--no problem!! Amazing! What a difference the right bulb makes, right?

Well, this is where the story gets good. The light still didn't work because I had replaced the wrong bulb. I had the correct part the first time, I was just trying to put it in the wrong spot. Whooops! So today I ran to the auto parts store again and actually bought the exact same bulb I had the day before (I could tell because of the tape job I did on the box). This time, I didn't need any man power because the old bulb had already been disconnected. I placed the new bulb in (the right place this time) and TADA! It worked!!

So the lesson here is, don't be afraid to ask for help even if your pride tells you it can be done alone. It's great to have neighbors that are so willing to help out a single prego woman while her hubby is out of town for a while!

Fire Season

Fire season has begun, already! It seems like in years past it has been in mid June or July before Todd gets called out on his fires. They called Tuesday night while he was at YM's and he was supposed to leave for Pheonix, AZ the next day. He got all packed that night and then I was off to work the next morning and haven't seen him since. 

I guess when he got to where he was supposed to go they told him the fire was already out. So, they reassigned him to another fire burning in New Mexico. He spent the night at a cheap hotel and then was off to the new area the next morning. He was told that they would probably spend two weeks on this fire. Can I be a single pregnant mother for two weeks?? Yes, yes I can. So far it hasn't been too bad. Of course it's only been four days and we haven't had to go to church yet. Crossing my fingers that I still have some hair at the end of tomorrow--it's always nice to have Todd at church so I can focus on what needs to be done for Primary--what teachers didn't get subs, what teachers subs didn't show up...you know, they usual Primary worries.

As much as I love the money Todd makes during the fire season I still miss him and get a little too lax in our family habits. The kids have been going to bed much later than normal since their dad has been gone. It's just one of those things that has been easier to let go than it has been to enforce. The sun isn't helping when it doesn't go down until 9pm. And then there's the subject of cooking dinner. I haven't done that since Todd left either. One night it's left overs, the next it's pizza and tonight we did hot dogs. HOT DOGS?? bleh! I usually only like them when we're camping but I must say that my dog tonight was mighty tasty!

Tonight was the first night that Julia really said anything about wondering where daddy was. I'm surprised. I think she was just using it as an excuse to stay awake a little bit longer.

It's so nice to live close to family when my hubby is gone because they are so willing to help out wherever and whenever you need help. It will be nice to have a good home cooked meal tomorrow (not by me of course). We're invited to Todd's mom's for dinner...which may be one of the last one's all together with his family for a while. Todd's little bro and his wife are moving to California. We'll miss seeing Uncle Tav and Aunt Amie. I hope Todd makes it home in time to say goodbye to them before they leave.

Something in the air...

A little closer look

This morning (not too early of course) I went out to check on the kids. I saw the neighbor boy riding his bike in the road and there was something in the air flying. At first I thought it was cotton blowing but then I got closer and saw they were some kind of bug or insect flying. I got even closer and saw it was a whole swarm of BEES!! They were all starting to cluster around the bush right next door. I made sure the kids all went to the back yard because there were soooo many of them. Then between my neighbor and I we made a few phone calls to try and find someone to take care of the pesky things. I will have to take pics later of The Bug Man removing this lovely cluster of bees so I will feel better about letting my kids be free outside.

Not So Hard

Last night I learned that I can be the "bad guy" and it's not as hard as I thought. Can you tell I usually let Todd do the dirty work so I look like the nice one?

Todd wasn't going to be home until late last night so I knew we would be eating dinner without him. I got dinner going and it was close to being done when Payton came into the kitchen asking if he could go with his friends down to someone's house to see if they could play. I told him he needed to stay here because dinner would be ready in 10 minutes. He threw a little fit saying he would be back before 10 minutes. I was firm and said he needed to stay here.

He left anyway.{gasp. I know. shocker!} Porter was having a late nap so it was just Julia and I eating together {yeah for some quality family time, huh?} I decided that because Payton had made the choice to go with his friends instead of eat dinner that he could go to bed without eating dinner that night. I just didn't want to cave when I knew his, "I'm so hungry!" would come. Finally at 8:00 (which is that time I usually bring all the kids in to have baths/showers and get ready for bed) I went outside to the neighbors and found my son. I asked if he heard me tell him not to go with his friends. His head sunk in the all too familiar, yes, I'm a sinner. That's when I told him that he had chosen his friends over dinner and he would be heading in the house, getting into the shower, then reading his take home book and going to bed WITHOUT DINNER. This is my kid that NEVER misses a meal {and it shows} so he was a bit heart broken that his mom would do that to him. I even had my first, "I hate you, mom!" yelled from the bathroom as he was getting into the shower. 

The worst part was probably when he was reading his take home book titled, "Things we do to take care of our bodies". Of course one of the things is to, "take the time to eat good meals" and, of course, Payton pointed that out to me. I in turn pointed out the fact that it said "take the time" and he had taken the time to do something else instead.

He really didn't cry...too much... about going to bed without dinner, which made it much easier on me. A little threatening with the wooden spoon could be the explanation for that, I suppose. I guess I can do hard things (of course it was harder on me than it was on Payt but that's how it always is with kids, right?)

Cold Sore??

Yesterday Julia said she had an "ouchie" by her lip and she needed a band-aid. I was trying to get breakfast ready so it was just easier to hand her the bandaid and continue on with what I was doing. I took a picture of her bandaged mouth with Todd' camera so I'll post it when I get it uploaded. After she took the band-aid off, Todd noticed her "ouchie" was actually a cold sore. WHAT?? My 2 year old have a cold sore?? I didn't have problems with cold sores until I was in college. She doesn't seem to care about it now but I'm sure it will be an issue when she gets older. Dang herpes virus!

{All she needs is a Popsicle to make her happy}

Wrestling Season 2011

It's the end of another wrestling season for the Calico boys....Yes, BOYS. Porter didn't wrestle all year long until the very last week of wrestling. Then he decided he wanted to do it. He informed me we needed to buy him a shirt and some shoes. Of course that didn't happen...but it didn't stop him from trying.

Payton ended his 2011 season with three gold medals (well, he really has four but one was from the Hurricane Tournament where he had to wrestle 2nd graders...some that were almost 15 lbs. heavier so his coach told him he would give him a gold if he lost.)

Payton wrestled at 78-80 lbs. throughout the year. He was the biggest/heaviest first grader with the exception of the Hurricane tournament where he was one of the lightest against the 2nd graders. He got to practice with the older kids which really helped him this year. We were able to go to the Parowan, Canyon View, Hurricane and Enterprise tournaments this year. His dad even broke down and bought him some shoes...which helped him gain some confidence...until he had to wrestle in them.

Porter did really well in his first and only tournament in Enterprise bringing him a silver medal. He was fun to watch and I guess we really have to give credit to those warm-ups at practice that he participated in every time. I'm sure that's what gave him the stamina to wrestle in the ONE tournament!

I'm so proud of both my boys and for their dad taking the time to teach them some things. It was a fun season while it lasted.

It's a baby....

We had our first "real" ultrasound today so we could put my mind at ease that, NO! We are NOT having twins...regardless of how large I feel, AND to see if we were having a girl or boy. Porter was the only one who really wanted a boy. The rest of us thought it would be a girl. I said girl just so I knew we could really look at being done. If it's a boy I will have to try to talk Todd {and myself} into having another one because Julia needs a sister! I LOVE my sisters and can't imagine my little girl not getting to grow up with one.

Well, the results were slightly inconclusive. The darn kid kept it's foot right where we needed a good peek. Hmm.. Modesty? Must come from Todd's side of the family?

Payton was cute when he was telling g-ma Turek that "the Dr. couldn't see very well because the baby's foot was covering it's face." I tried to help him understand what part of the baby the doctor was really looking for by asking, "How can we tell that boys and girls are different?" He said, "Their eyelashes. Girls are really long and boys are short." I wish that was always the case. Try again. G-ma Turek says, "What does Julia have different on her body that you have?" AHA! That did it! I'm so good at teaching my children sex education.

Well, we will have to wait until next month to make a final determination of the sex of this baby. As of right now, chances are looking at it being a boy--however, there wasn't a clear enough shot of the area needed to make it totally affirmative!

Here's some pictures from today. Todd said he thinks it's a boy because, "it looks like a boy in the pictures." Julia kept saying, "It's a monster." I'm kinda with Jul's on that one. Girl, Boy, or Monster? Doesn't matter at this point but we have a healthy one!!