Shopping with 4 crazies...

***I originally wrote this to post on my deals blog and decided it was more appropriate for my personal, private blog, so it is seems weird-that is why...***

I love this picture because it visually explains how I feel about shopping. I LOVE to get a great deal, and when I do, I am happy, smiling and content as with cutie #1, on the left. But I also hate shopping. I hate bundling up 4 kids in the cold snowy weather and fighting with them through numerous stores, which may or may not have the deals available, may or may not take my coupon, may or may not give me a big hassle for using so many coupons, etc. etc. etc. So, I often leave the store in complete breakdown mode likecutie #2 on the right. Today I felt a little of both. I share this story with you all to let you know that if you too get frustrated, I am there with you! I want to preface it by saying that MOST of my shopping trips are (luckily) MUCH less eventful and generally speaking I have well behaved kids-this was an exceptionally bad day behavior wise...

Today I had 2 RR (Register Rewards or Catalinas-basically coupons you earn from a store when you purchase certain items that can be used on your next visit to get money off) from Walgreens that were expiring today. So, I had to go out there, and since the Hollywood Video that is closing today is right next door, I thought I would check out the last minute deals there as well. My kids are 7, 5, 3, & 1. Usually my 7-year-old is a major helper, but today all she did was start fights with the 5-y-o, the 3-y-o is basically always "on one" and saves up his worst behavior for store trips, and my 1-y-o is just grumpy and feeling sick from ear infections. SO right off I was screwed.

I went to Hollywood Video first, and found nothing, NOTHING worth getting (and really not great prices for a close-out sale). So, after browsing for 10 minutes I was more than ready to go-but had to pry movies out of the childrens hands to leave behind before we left.

On to Walgreens where the oldest 2 are fighting and the 3yo is just all over. I go to pick up my stupid free 8X10 from Thursday but guess what-I do not still have my photo release from the picture from 6 years ago and did not even think about bringing it anyway-so I cannot get the photo. I am annoyed and mad at this point so I told the idiot photo girl that I want to see her shred the already printed photo so no creeps end up with the pics. She can't-against policy (I wrote to corporate about that one already).

On to using the RR-I needed envelopes and thought I would buy a couple other things that would give me RR so I could "roll" my RR. SO I decide on 2 boxes of Envelopes I needed, some lip stuff that is $2.99, but you get a $2 RR back when you purchase, and 3 new candy bars that are on sale 3 for $2, but you get a $1RR when you purchase. So, I go to check out, ring up order, give the guy my 2 RR-each worth $3, which brings my Out of Pocket cost to $1.96, and I should get back $3 in RR (one for $2 and one for $1). As I grab my reciept, the 3yo, who has emptied many shelves of merchandise while we were in the store (which I will note I did clean up), now decided that he cannot wait another minute to run out the door into the giant mud puddle in the parking lot (on the edge). I sent 7yo after him so I can get 1yo out of cart-she won't go-still mad and pouting about earlier fight/tantrum-so 5yo goes after 3yo. Both 3yo & 5yo end up in puddle before I run out with 1yo & 7yo.

I get everyone buckled in the van, and think-well at least I made money on this trip ($1.96 out of pocket and $3RR) then I look at my reciept and change still clutched in one hand and realize-they did not give me the $1RR! DANG! So, at this point I think, is it worth going back in? NO!

So, in the end I still "made" money (4 cents) which makes me happy like cutie 1, but it was kinda a hassle, so I left feeling a bit like cutie 2! Ever have days like that?!

Ever feel like this?!

Did you realize that I, as a stay at home mother spend like 60% of my time trying to prevent messes, and the other 40% cleaning up the ones I couldn't stop in time? Yeah...it's that kind of day...

Omaha-We Made it! Now about that house...

SO we got to Omaha, and got to see our house and walk through it for the first time. As we arrived at the house and met our realtor, he warned us that there were a few problems that we would have to contact the seller to fix before we closed on the house the next day. Problems were as followed: 1-they had taken out the washer, dryer & refrigerator which were supposed to be a part of the deal as signed by both parties in our house offer. 2-the carpet in the guest room/office in the basement had greasy carpet that would need replaced.

A couple of things to note here about my reaction to these things-number one reaction was "what?! there is carpet int he basement?" Having been told it was unfinished, I was imagining that it was just a slab of cement with maybe some shelves and a washer and dryer (that were obviously missing currently). So, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the basement is much more finished that I had thought and in fact, we have put our TV and family room down there and a probable guest room. NICE!

Second reaction was that I could not believe the appliances were gone, but our agent assured us that he just needed to call the other agent and get them back, and that he would make sure they were back in place before we closed!

So, we walked through he house, loved it, were thankful we got it, and left for the day, planning to see our agent the next day (Tuesday) and to go over to the escrow agency and close in the afternoon.

Monday afternoon late we get a call from our agent that he was surprised that when he contacted the other agent he was told by her that they would NOT bring back the appliances and they were claiming that they were actually not contractually obligated to do so as they claimed they did not have a legible copy of the offer. They told our agent that he could let us know that if we had a problem with that, then we could just choose not to close on the house. Wes had to talk to our agent at that point because that was the straw that broke the camels back for me! I couldn't stay calm anymore-all the stress and worry was too much.

Wes told our agent that we knew they were contractually obligated, and that we realize that they think they have us stuck with this deal, but that we were not without backbone, and that we would not close without getting what we were promised. He told our agent that we have a good lawyer in the family that would make sure that we got what we were promised and that if we were not able to close the next day, we would look for another house and sue them for damages caused by their refusing to live up to their end of the deal (he wasn't a jerk about it, and actually presented it better than I can explain, but he was stern and made sure to express that we were not willing to get screwed in this deal.) Wes did say that he would be willing to make a deal if they wouldn't give us appliances back and we would take money to get some instead if that was preferable.

Within 5-10 minutes we got a call back from our agent saying that the other agent had told him that they had changed their minds and that the appliances would be back in the morning. As far as the carpet was concerned, it could not be cleaned and so they bought new carpet for the room and our agent got his buddy to install it for us.

After all the drama, we went in to the escrow agency Tuesday afternoon and closed at the house, then we went to the house and started moving in.

We have an amazing ward and had a lot of help emptying the moving truck. It was amazing! I cannot wait to get to know this ward better! Awesome!

What Have You Done

I saw this on my friend Anne's blog and thought I had to do it. The things I have done are bolded and the colored writing is my commentary. You should read through and see which things you have done-it'll be fun!

1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby's diaper Just all day every day...
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity Technically Wes does this but it is our money...and I support the giving...
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain I used to LOVE hiking...
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said "I love you" and meant it
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris I sat in the Paris airport for hours and hours once, and saw the Eiffel Tower as we flew over...I am totally counting that...
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise AH college...
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game Final Four baby!
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty Senior Trip 1997. FUN!
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables All the time growing up-yummy! Plan on doing it again now that we will have a house!
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment Sadly, I have had this happen in very spiritual church meetings...twice...
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort With Wes and Spence and our kids.
25. Held a lamb Thank you petting zoo.
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath Often-it sucks, oh except when I was little and we were in Hawaii and I was really, really sick and had a high fever and then it was totally awesome to have an ice cold bath.
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster I LOVE them!!!
31. Hit a home run (But only on Wii...) :)
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors Greece...
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time I loved working at Theatre School For Youth and I actually loved my job at Nordstroms as a teenager too!
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied It doesn't matter how much money (or how little money) I have, I can be and am truly satisfied.
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach If you haven't heard about the infamous Castaway story of my honeymoon, click here.
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow Pays to have relatives in Tooele...oh and to visit state fairs.
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain One of my all-time favorite things to do!
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater Oh, this brings back hilarious memories of my dating youth!
55. Done something you should regret, but don't
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business My husband and his mom have...
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie Granted it was not a big deal movie-more of a student project really...but I was on Touched by and Angel and something else on TV (the name is escaping me-I was just an extra) as a younger person...
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone verbally, not physically...
67. Bounced a check
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy happens all the time when you have kids.
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did Yeah-to name one, Aaron Burr is my ancestor... check him out on wikipedia if you don't know who he is...I will tell you he's famous for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel...he was also VP of the US.
71. Called or written your Congress person
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money I've won a few bets in my life, and once won like $5 on a lottery ticket I had originally bought for my dad...that sounds wrong somehow doesn't it?!
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi and I Love it!!
84. Had your picture in the newspaper actually quite a few times now that I am thinking about it...
85. Read The Bible cover to cover It is SOOO sad that I haven't...
86. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about Dude-I cannot change anyone's mind no matter how much I care about it! It sucks!
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions and felt great satisfaction at doing so!!
88. Gone back to school
89. Changed your name
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
101. Had a booth at a street fair
102. Dyed your hair
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep I have been doing that as I am doing that-ah...multitasking...
105. Ever dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all four
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring Oh yeah-and made my friends try it on to see how their moods were-I swore by those things as a kid...
110. Ridden a horse And almost killed myself doing it-ask Wes to tell you about it someday. But even with all the almost killing myself stuff, I had a blast and would totally do it again-if Wes ever lets me...
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Cooked a dish where four people asked for the recipe Seriously, this happens all the time when I cook for others-that's pretty much why I count my biggest skill as being cooking.
113. Buried a child
114. Gone to a Broadway play YEAH!!! Love to go see Broadway shows! My one splurge I am planning when Wes is making the big bucks is to go to NYC once a year and watch whatever shows are new and interesting to me! If this fits in with having 4 kids somehow...
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket
117. Danced at a disco
118. Played in a band
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum
121. Tutored someone
122. Ridden a train in Germany.
123. Brought an old fad back into style
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need OK, so there was this sample guy/salesman in our Hyvee (grocery store) in Omaha that could convince Wes and I to buy whatever he was sampling everytime...man we bought a lot of frozen foods, especially pizzas from that guy...
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant At the zoo as a kid
127. Published a book I self-published a cook book.
128. Pieced a quilt
129. Lived in an historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
131. Asked for a raise
132. Made a hole-in-one
133. Gone deep sea fishing
134. Gone roller skating
135. Run a marathon
136. Learned to surf
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class Once as a kid flying unaccompanied they put me up in the first class!!
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa
142. Sang a solo
143. Gone spelunking
144. Learned how to take a compliment
145. Written a love-story I guess technically I tried to write a love story/book and failed miserably, gave up on it and decided it was crap!
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted
148. Written a fan letter to the NKOTB (That's New Kids on the Block for those of you too young to know) BTW-Have you heard about this comeback tour they are doing?! CRAZY!!!
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
151. Ran away
152. Learned to juggle
153. Been a boss
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight
156. Gone on a diet
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem
159. Carried your lunch in a lunchbox
160. Gotten food poisoning Most notably at the last meal of our honeymoon at this uber-expensive seafood place, both Wes and I got food poisoning...awesome way to end a honeymoon...
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
164. Gone to the opera
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous
166. Worn knickers as a costume...onstage!
167. Ridden in a limousine thanks to funerals and Prom...
168. Attended the Olympics No, but I went to what's left of the original Olympic stadium in Greece while the Olympics were here in my hometown of Salt Lake City...Doesn't that count for anything?!
169. Can hula or waltz
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books I have read way more than 6.
171. Been stuck in an elevator
172. Had a revelatory dream
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane I tend toward panicking...
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert My 13th Birthday-the song was "Everythng I do I Do it For You." It is a story SOOOO worth hearing, When I have more time I will have to type it in a blog for all to enjoy...remind me if you haven't heard it and want to!
175. Saved someone’s life
176. Eaten raw whale No, but I saw Andrew Zimmern do this on Bizarre Foods, and can I just say I will never, ever be eating that!!!
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
178. Laughed till your side hurt
179. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hostel
184. Been a cashier Dans foods and Nordstrom!
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma
188. Built a campfire
189. Kept a blog
190. Had hives
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation Once, for a class in college and never since then...
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Know CPR sortof...
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible
198. Found a long lost friend Thank you Facebook-I totally love that thing!!
199. Helped solve a crime

One more thing to do before I die

Wes and I will be buying an island sometime before we die...likely in the Philippines. I will post a link to some like the ones we are looking into very soon...

To Do...

If you ever read this blog, you know that my aunt Cathy passed away last week. You probably don't know that my sister Andrea rewrote the words to Tim McGraw's song "Live Like You Were Dying" to apply to Cathy. Cathy really did a lot of thing she wanted to do after she found out about the cancer. That being said, around the same time Cathy died, my friend, Laura posted on her blog 100 things she wants to do before she dies. I thought her list was awesome, and started to think what my list would include. I also thought of all the things that would have been on that list had I written it 15 years ago that would not be in it now (as I have either accomplished them or decided to move on past them). So, here are a couple lists for you to check out if you so desire. One is the things that would have been on the list 15 years ago, and the other is my 100 things I would like to do before I die. Some of the things are really specific, some more general, and not all realistic, but all things that appeal to me as something I would like to do if I could.


Things that would have been included on 15-yr-old Beckee's list (& how I did on them)


1. Date, and Date a lot (done and done)
2. Get Driver's Licence & get a car (Done & Done-though I would not have added this, I probably should have included here that I should not total my car....)
3. Fall in love with someone in love with me (Thank goodness for Wes!! Check that one off!)
4. Get married in the temple (Check)
5. Be a lead in a musical (done in high school-Adelaide in Guys and Dolls)
6. Be a lead in a non-school related musical (Done-Nellie in South Pacific in Sandy 2001)
7. Move to New York and make it on Broadway (OK-so, not so much...)
8. Live in California, near the beach (I totally count the summer in San Diego with Angela for this!)
9. Go on a mission (not so far...)


100 Things I would Like to Do before I die


1. Have lots of kids (my definition of lots changes by the day)
2. Raise my kids to be strong members of the Church
3. Survive Residency & Fellowship
4. Live in Hawaii someday for at least a year.
5. Publish a cook book (I have one I self published, but I want to do another)
6. Open a restaurant
7. Buy a house (we are in process of accomplishing this one)
8. Design and build our own house with Wes.
9. Go to all 50 states (I have been to many, and am well on my way...I just might have to take a southern US trip sometime...Check out my map...)

10. Visit all 7 continents (so far I have North America, South America, & Europe)
11. Finish writing my book.
12. Start my own Children's theatre.
13. Write a journal (I am totally counting this blog as accomplishing this at least somewhat)
14. Pray daily
15. Joins a book club-actually read each book and attend the meetings
16. Read at least one classic novel a year (2007-The Scarlet Pimpernel. AWESOME!)
17. Get rid of all debt
18. Do something significant and nice for each of my parents and each of Wes's parents (besides having their adorable grandchildren)
19. Get a graduate degree
20. Invent and sell something awesome.
21. Finish my Wii Zelda game.
22. Be a better mom every day (OK-who knows how to measure my progress on this one...)
23. Learn to play the piano much better.
24. Teach my kids all to read and to love reading.
25. Travel a lot!
26. Plant a successful garden
27. Be able to stay home with my kids and teach them. (so far so good)
28. Go on a cruise
29. Read the scriptures daily
30. Play sports with the kids & Wes
31. Plant and maintain fresh herbs in my kitchen.
32. Go to the Philippines with Wes
33. Design my own pearl creations while in the Philippines.
34. Get Wes a replacement wedding ring
35. Make at least on real scrapbook
36. Catch up and maintain all the kids' baby books.
37. Give away a Book of Mormon to someone.
38. Go on a mission with Wes
39. Serve in all 3 auxiliaries in the church (Relief Society, Young Womens, and Primary...technically I have, but I would like to again...)
40. Go to a Luau
41. Perform in at least one show a year.
42. Go to Disney World with my whole Enderton family
43. Fix a broken computer
44. Teach the kids the primary songs
45. Give all my kids unique, interesting, meaningful names that are not too weird and outlandish.
46. Get family pictures taken at least once a year without driving Wes crazy
47. Have a clean house.
48. Someday I want one of those horribly expensive, awesome washers and dryers!!
49. To go to all my kids' temple weddings
50. Have lots of grandkids
51. Spoil my grandkids rotten!
52. Ride a horse and NOT almost kill myself
53. Have a big walk in closet with all kinds of organizational shelves and stuff built in.
54. Get Armour to eat vegetables...and like them!
55. Tell Wes and the kids how much I love them every day!
56. Get better at rollerblading
57. Learn to Surf
58. Go scuba diving
59. Go Whale watching with Wes
60. Make memory books for each of my kids.
61. Go watch the newest Broadway shows every year (once Wes is a full fledged radiologist and we can afford it)
62. Finish the Wheel of Time series of books.
63. Learn patience
64. Potty train Armour soon (then I'd only have one kid in diapers)
65. Greek Island cruise
66. Spend a significant amount of time in Greece and learn Greek.
67. Learn to cook all those Greek family recipes from XiaXia and Mom.
68. Give each of my kids personal time.
69. Learn to golf
70. relearn to knit and crochet-make something
71. Figure out how to use my sewing machine
72. Pack up my stuff to move (this is obviously an immediate goal)
73. Grow my testimony always
74. Finish reading the Twilight series
75. Give hugs and kisses all the time.
76. Meet someone famous and not even notice. (I guess technically I did this with Julia Roberts...)
77. Be a lead in a musical again
78. Cook something gourmet
79. Make cool birthday cakes for my kids' birthdays.
80. Play pool and bowling outside my living room (meaning not on Wii) more often!
81. Own and have room for a pool table/game room.
82. Avoid bed rest in the future.
83. Go on a European tour.
84. Have lots of parties and fun in our own house!
85. Own a GREAT BBQ.
86. Be active with the kids and Wes-even when Wes and I are old.
87. Lose weight
88. Eat healthy, but still enjoy treats I love
89. Try new foods
90. Eat at a really fancy restaurant
91. Go to Six Flags
92. Live on a beach
93. Go on an African Safari
94. Be on TV for some sort of major positive accomplishment
95. Rid the world of AM talk radio
96. Serve others
97. Own a new car someday that is not a piece of crap we are just babying through (OK-so our Elantra would fall int his category, but I don't usually drive that car...)
98. Keep in touch with old friends better and be more thoughtful.
99. Spend as much time with my family as possible!
100. Have this baby safely and quickly as I am losing my patience with bed rest and thinking of all the packing and preparing for our move I really should be doing...

Cathy's Obituary (as printed in the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News)

Cathy (Catherine) Evans

Cathy (Catherine) Evans 1957 ~ 2008 Cathy (Catherine) Evans, 50, died in Salt Lake City, UT on April 8, 2008 at 7:08 p.m. so she could see the Jazz beat the Hornets. She plans to take up residence at the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland and be our friendly haunt as we visit there.She was born December 24, 1957 to Lynn Bird and Georgia Kanell Evans. She died after a courageous battle with cancer surrounded by her loving family. Cathy graduated from Olympus High School in 1976 and attended CEU and SLCC. She had a lifelong love for children, Disneyland, the Utah Jazz, clowning, and good clean fun with friends. She worked hard at everything she did, whether a child care position, at the food service counter, or helping children on rides at Lagoon. Her favorite job was putting up Christmas lights on Temple Square. Cathy has a playful spirit and a delightful sense of humor. One of her favorite alter egos was Foofy-Goofy the clown. Though she never married or had children of her own, she has a true "mother's heart" and enjoyed nothing more than taking care of and entertaining young children. She was a second mother to her many nieces and nephews, a favorite aunt to all of them. Aunt Cathy was always interested in everything they were doing, and encouraged and supported them in all their pursuits. She especially loved to give them gifts of video games, movies, and Disney memorabilia. She had a special relationship with her youngest nephew, Spencer with whom she attended numerous Jazz games over the years; he was like a son to her. She made friends with everyone, everywhere she went. An active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she provided many years of service. The family wishes to thank Dr. Gordon Watson, Dr. Nasfat Shehadeh, and Michael Cole (and their staffs) for their loving care. Cathy is survived by her parents, her sisters, Rochelle (Stephen) Enderton, Marylynn, Kristine, Julie (David) Fairbourn, and Angela, and also by many loving nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. at the Wilford Stake Center, 3080 South 1765 East, SLC, UT. Family and friends may call Friday, April 11, 2008 at Canyon Road Towers, 123 East 2nd Avenue, SLC, UT from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and at the Stake Center one hour prior to the service on Saturday. Interment at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to your favorite charity or the LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund. Published in the Salt Lake Tribune on 4/10/2008.

Cathy

It was just shy of a year ago as we were preparing to move from Omaha to Spokane that we received the phone call from Salt Lake telling us that my aunt Cathy had been diagnosed with brain cancer and given a mere 3 months to live. We were lucky enough to have Cathy with us almost 4 times longer than they originally gave us, but last night we received the call that she had passed away.

Cathy made it clear that she wanted me to speak at her funeral, but as I am stuck in Spokane on bed rest, I obviously cannot travel to Salt Lake for the funeral on Saturday. So, I just thought I would at least write a few things about Cathy here that I might have said had I been able to be there.

First off, many of you reading this did not know her and so I will tell you a bit about her. Cathy was the 2nd of the 6 Evans girls. My mom was the first, and Cathy is just 11 months younger than her. She was born on Christmas Eve in 1957. This last Christmas eve we were able to, as a family spend her 50th birthday with her. Cathy was very loving and kind to everyone. She was a true child at heart-a bit like Peter Pan (those that know her know what I mean). She loved Disneyland, Lagoon, her Utah Jazz, and most of all her friends and family, and always wanted to share her love for those things with everyone. Her life was about having fun and enjoying life all the time.

Once I had a boyfriend that collected Pez dispensers. He would buy them for me sometimes, and I thought they were pretty awesome, so I started my own Pez collection. However, when that boyfriend left on his mission and I started dating other people, as you might expect, my collecting of Pez dispensers began to fall to the wayside. Cathy would not let that happen. Cathy began collecting the Pez dispensers for me. Up until the recent couple of months I would still get phone calls from Cathy "I am at the dollar store and they have a new bunny Pez dispenser. I don't think you have this one yet, so I will get it ok?!" And every time we visit Utah, she has a whole new group of dispensers to add to my collection.

That is just the kind of person Cathy was-the kind that never forgot any little quirk about you. And the kind of person that tried to make sure that you held on to those seemingly unimportant childlike little things even amid the daily stresses of life. The little things do matter-you do need to remember what it was like to be young and carefree, and Cathy was the queen of making you remember that.

Much time over the past year was spent on family trips to Disneyland. Even in her pain she kept a sense of humor. The first trip to Disneyland, we were all sitting eating dinner, and Cathy started to choke on some food. After a stunned second Tiffany (my cousin) jumped up and gave her the Heimlich maneuver, dislodging the food. Cathy looked up at everyone, smiled a huge smile and said "Wow-for a minute there I thought I was going to die at my favorite place on Earth-that would have been pretty cool."

Not so cool for all of us, but she loved it there so much that she thought having her last few moments there would be amazing. She was able to go to Disneyland with her family many many times, most recently only about 2 weeks ago. And in the end of her life, she had chosen how she wanted to go-in her home, with her family around, and that is how it happened.

We will all miss her terribly, but she is free of her pain and is now in a better place. I am so grateful for my faith and testimony of life after this because I know I will get to see her again. I am grateful for a wonderful husband that was able to really bond with Cathy and to help her choose to go to the temple a few years ago. What a blessing for Cathy that she did that and was able to go back often and learn from the great work done in the temples of the church for the last few years of her life. She was given a blessing yesterday that said that the Lord wanted to heal her, but that He has work for her to do. I am sure she is anxiously pushing to get that work started already! We all love her and already feel the weight of losing her, but are so grateful for her life and for being able to be part of her family.

AHHHHHHHHH...LIFE!!

Well, usually when I blog it is to show off my adorable family and tell you our greatest (or funniest) news, but today I think I will take a break from my positive interactions to throw in a rave. So, here it goes-this week has been a bit rough. First I guess I should mention that last week when we had our ultrasound (I may have mentioned before that these cost us $250 each time we have one BTW) it took 2 1/2 hours to get the thing done. Half way through we realized the reason it was taking so long was that the girl doing it was a trainee and she had NO supervision. So the last 20 minutes her boss came in and basically redid the whole thing. I told the boss that she needed to make sure it was all right and all was well because we could not afford to come back in to get another one. She understood as sh has the same insurance we have since she is a hospital employee as well. So, just keep that in mind as I mention my week...

Wes was a=scheduled to take 2 applicants out to a dinner on Monday night , but when he called them over the weekend, he learned that they were actually scheduled for dinner on Sunday night. So, though we obviously don't usually go out on Sundays, we took the applicants out Sunday. Shortly after returning home from the dinner and from getting our kids, I started to hurt intensely in my back. Now, being 20 or so weeks pregnant, I thought it must be a pinched nerve or something, but it was more intense pain than I have had before. I had an appointment on Wednesday so I figured I'd just get through until then. This was a big painful mistake, as my back got worse as well as other symptoms. So by the time of my appointment Wednesday I had a whole list of crap going on. And when I got there the doctor had a report from the ultrasound, that basically had some weird measurements (most likely caused my the tech that was learning), but we have to go get another $250 ultrasound in 2 weeks to make sure it was her error in fact. Also the doctor has decided not to change my due date and is going to stick with the May 25th date (I am sticking to the May 17th). Also, I have some sort of bladder or kidney infection as well as a back injury that is going to have me going to physical therapy now (just more medical bills). This is obviously just another blow financially and to my state of mind, made even worse by the fact that (he will hate me mentioning this), Wes got in a car accident (small but somewhat significant to our car as the hood will not open) on Tuesday night too. So, basically, when it rains it pours!!!

Man, Life is crazy, and now I feel better having ranted and raved about that! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!

My van

So, in case anyone wanted to check out the damage to the van, here are a few pics. It is not easy to really capture it in photos, but here is the best I could do. Picture 1 is the dent on the back, 2 and 3 are pictures of the wheel well that broke out in pieces when the tire blew out! I wish I had had the presence of mind to take pictures of the blown out tire when it happened, but sadly, I didn't. If you missed the blogs on this, see here for info on the dent, and here for info on the wheel well/gas cap thing.

You can see my hand where there should be a plastic piece holding the gas thing more securely in there.
This is what the gas cap looks like-in case you cannot tell, it is in 2 pieces-one is in the gas tank thing still, the other is in my hand...

Auditions...AHHHHH!!!

So, I have about an hour I can use here on my blog before I have to get going on other things, and I have a lot to say. If you are a regular reader of this blog (do regular readers of this blog actually exist?!) you might be thinking, "man, where has Beckee gone? Is she on vacation again?" No, I am not, I am just busy busy busy! I cannot believe how much crap I am doing now. For the first time ever I am sending my kids to school-preschool, and I am nervous and excited for them to start next week. We have been getting ready for that, going to meet the teacher picnic and filling out tons of paperwork. Wes has been busy on "Med A" which is basically an internal medicine rotation. It wasn't too bad the first week...more on that in a minute. So, in the midst of all this chaos of our house, I decided to go ahead and audition for this Sacred Heart Follies show. It is the first audition and show I have done since I had kids. I have been a wreck this week trying to do auditions (and let me tell you-these are truly not even high pressure auditions), and feeling like I am really putting a strain on my family by trying to do it. I am still not sure it was the best choice to do as I will have to get help from all my new friends to watch my kids as I rehearse and perform over the next 3 weeks. It is making me a wreck thinking about asking for help. I HATE asking people to help me-especially with things as crazy huge as "hey can my kids come over and sleep at your house for a night or two in 3 weeks cause my husband will be on ER overnight and I will be in rehearsals and performances until 1 am?" It is stressful, but I love to perform, and this was something Wes thought I should audition for, and it is only 3 weeks or craziness-just wish it didn't fall at such a hard time! The dumbest thing is that I am 99.9% sure I am only going to be in the chorus (not because I am not good enough, but because of a bunch of other things) anyway which hardly seem worth all this. Well, such is life! We will see how this all goes! Oh-the thing about Wes's schedule is that it was pretty good last week, then this week when I have had auditions and preschool picnics, he has been slammed with work and stuck at the hospital later and later...I fear this is what all rehearsal nights will be like...thus needing help from every person I know in Spokane (so as not to overwhelm just one nice person)....AHHHHHH...

Hello again

If you are a dedicated fan of this blog, you may be wondering what has happened to me. I didn't forget my blog or my loyal fans (yeah like anyone reads this but me...), I just went on vacation!! Which by the way was awesome! Now that Wes is a really working grown-up, somehow vacation is even more exciting for me. I have a lot to say about this vacation, and will post some pics and everything, but I just want to give a very un-detailed overview of the vacation here. So, Friday the 10th was Wes's last day of work. We had planned to go to Seattle for the weekend, then on to Northern California to see his cousin Mickey and his family (Natalie, his wife. Little Mickey, Matt, and Gabbie, his kids). The Seattle part didn't work out as we started trying to plan and had trouble even pricelining a hotel there for cheap enough, and all the activities I wanted to do there were expensive, and basically we decided we didn't have the budget to do that and started planning our travel from there. For anyone that doesn't know, I NEVER pay full price for hotels. I am the queen of priceline (ok-maybe the princess as I am sure my mom is the queen). And Wes and I together are almost as cheap as Jeremy is (I know it doesn't seem possible for anyone to be that cheap, but it's true). So, we knew we were going to stop somewhere on the way to Cali for a night or 2, so we started to try finding hotels we could stay at along the way. No where on the way even really had hotels available (what the heck was going on in central Oregon last weekend, seriously?!). So, our trip began to form based around mapquest and priceline. We would find a place a bit off course on mapquest and then try to priceline a room within budget at that place. We did this for a long time and ended up getting a room in Portland for Sunday and Monday nights.

Well, so much for un-detailed overview, right?! Anyway, after the plans were decided, this was the final plan: Sunday morning (the 12th) drive to Portland. Stay there Sunday and Monday nights, Then Tuesday, drive to Vacaville to see Mickey & Natalie (and kids of course). Stay at Mickey and Natalie's house until Saturday morning, then spend Saturday (and Sunday if necessary) driving home, so Wes could be back at work on Monday to start his first fairly bad (time wise) rotation. That was our plan...It all went sort of accordingly....feel free to read the other parts of the story as I post them!

Bike rides and nights alone...

Another call night last night. I totally do not sleep well when Wes is gone overnight. He actually got more sleep than I did two nights ago. We went for a walk/bike ride with the kids yesterday. It was crazy as usual. For those that don't know, we go for walks as a family pretty much everyday. The shortest our walks we ever take are 2 miles, but usually more like 3-4, and occasionally more. The older kids are learning to ride their bikes, so lately they ride while we walk and Armour rides in the stroller. What a hassle to teach a kid to ride a bike-and we are crazy enough to teach 2 kids at once...AHHHH. Anyway, since we started bikes, it has been a rule that once you decide you are riding, you have to ride the bike the whole walk (we cannot just walk 2 bikes back miles to the car). Well, yesterday, Ender chose to test that theory, and on Centennial Trail, right in front of a packed outdoor restaurant, he chose to pitch a fit that he did not want to ride anymore. We had told the kids they could have fast food lunch when we got back since they were doing so well (and since it was most definately into lunch time). But, I had to tell him that he was going to lose the fast food and have to eat PB&J at home instead unless he stopped the fit and kept going. He lost the fast food, sat in front of the double stroller and I put his bike on the back like a trailer. THen I had to run up this hill pushing the double stroller, Ender and Armour, and dragging the bike to catch up with Solace and Wes....crazy! I am so old, it was like a major feat to do that!

I will write aboyut the call nights later-I need to go right now!

The ups and downs of Motherhood

Well, it looks like 1 was a magic number for Mr Armour here. It seems he is suddenly communicating more, moving better, and growing more teeth. He is a funny kids, and never ceases to amaze me.

Yesterday, I took my kids to a free family movie out "in the valley" (if you know Spokane, you know what that means). We watched Charlotte's Web. It was, as usual, a hassle, but it got us out of the hot, hot house and into an air conditioned building for a couple hours. After going to the movie, I decided to do my shopping for the week, as the least expensive groceries are at Super Wal-Mart, and the Super Wal-Mart is right near the movies in "the valley".

During our Wal-Mart excursion, Armour did 2 amazing things. The first, I am quite amazed and proud of. An old person asked him how old he is and he very confidently held up one finger and said loudly "This!" Later when I related that story to Wes, he told Wes he was "This" with one finger up too, so evidently not a fluke, he is simply a genius.

The second thing my genius did doesn't fill me with such a sense of pride-more a sense of dread really. I had my list of things I needed written in my planner and stupidly put the planner, opened to my list, next to Armour in the cart. As I walked to the frozen food case to decide which frozen fattening, expensive child's food to allow my kids to get for lunch (corn dogs as Ender wanted or Chimichungas as Solace wanted), my baby started to pull out cards from my planner. So, being a mere 2 feet away from him, naturally I noticed this pretty rapidly and grabbed my drivers licence, debit card, and health insurance card out of his hand immediately. I returned them to their respective spots, looked around to make sure nothing else was on the ground or in the cart or in his hands. I even walked back through the last few aisles to make sure I hadn't missed something...

Fast forward to me paying for my groceries, and realizing my credit card, the one that says "physician" on it, making it appear as though I might actually have some money, was missing. It had been in there when I went in the store, but was not there anymore...I frantically searched every part of the store I had been in, talked to the manager, and inevitably ended up having to call and report it as lost or stolen. What a grand hassle!!

Ah...the ups and downs of motherhood...

To Disneyland and back again...

As I have mentioned, I went to Disneyland with my kids. Most of you that would read this probably already know that about 4 months ago my aunt Cathy was diagnosed with brain cancer (melanoma in her brain). She was given a pretty grave diagnosis, and so she began to plan the things she wanted to do while she was still feeling up to doing them. One of the big ones was to go to Disneyland with all the family, more specifically with the little kids. So, we obviously couldn't/wouldn't miss that. My sister Melanie flew into Spokane to help me drive there. On Tuesday, June 26th we Mel, the kids and I) drove from Spokane to SLC. The kids and I slept at my in-laws house that night, BTW-it took us about 2-3 hours longer than the estimated 10 hours (estimated by mapquest) because of some construction through the mountains in Northern Idaho. The next day I was told we were aiming at leaving between 10 am and noon to drive to Primm, NV where we would be spending the night. I assumed, knowing my family that this really meant noon...actually it meant like 2...So, we drove on that afternoon/evening, stopping for potty breaks for a couple of cute little boys in the other car a few times. The next morning, we wanted to be up and out early so as to avoid the hottest heat in the Mojave desert, and to get to Disneyland that day. It shouldn't have been too long of a drive (like maybe 5-6 hours if I remember), but here's the hitch-my oldest 2 kids spent the early, early morning hours barfing all over our hotel room, and I got very little sleep. So, I knew it would be a long brutal day-especially know it was supposed to be well over 100 degrees the whole day. We did manage to be out of the hotel by about 7 am (or something like that), and get going, but I had to call my mom and sister in the other care shortly after beginning cause one of my kids had thrown up. To make a long story short, my kids kept throwing up and we kept having to stop. At one point, we were stuck in 110 degree heat in construction traffic in California somewhere with Melanie holding two little bucket of throw-up, one from each of my kids. This disgusting situation lasted about an hour before we could get out of traffic and to an exit to clean up. Needless to say, getting to Disneyland was not a fun or easy experience. But we made it!!!

In our little caravan, I had myself, Melanie and my 3 kids, and the other van had my sister, her 3 kids, my mom and my brother. When we got there, we met up with XiaXia, Papou, Cathy, Mary, Brooke, Tiffany, Lina, and Kris who had already been there a day (lucky kids got to fly out...) We went to Disneyland that day and had a great time. We did cut it a bit short as my kids were really still getting over whatever bug thay had. That was Thursday when we arrived. My dad flew in the next day. We were at Disneyland the whole day on Friday. It was a lot of fun and we got to spend a lot of time with the family. Friday night, Wesley's flight was supposed to arrive in LA at 11:3o PM, but had delay after delay, and my parents ended up going o pick him up at about 3 AM. At 7 AM, on Saturday June 30th (Wesley's 28th Birthday), we were back at Disneyland to take advantage of our early admission passes. We had already done this special little ToonTown early admission thing the day before, but this was our overall park early admission. So, we went in with all the kids and just did all of Fantasyland in about an hour, then was had to head over to a character Breakfast at the hotel by California Adventures. THe whole family, as in ALL of the family that was there had a reservation to eat breakfast together with the characters (another thing Cathy really wanted to do), and after which we took a big family picture. Thanks goodness for the newlywed couple standing outside the restraunt waiting for their table (they took all the pics for us). That is the picture you see at the top. We finished out our day at Disneyland and were all set to return home the next day.

I had planned to caravan back to SLC and then on to Spokane (according to mapquest it was only about 30-45 minutes difference tim-wise to go that way instead of just going straight up through Cali/Oregon way back to Spokane), but I had decided at that point, that saving an hour would be a big deal. So, I decided to drive home the omore direct way. Big Mistake! Driving out of Anaheim was ok, but as soon as I got past Six Flags, traffic got HORRIBLE going through this uphill part of this mountain range. It was practically stopped most of the time. So, we were stuck in this traffic with no exits anywhere, nowhere to really pull off if there is a problem as it was a canyon, and it was 115 degrees and we were close to overheating. I am sure any of you that have ever owned a car that had to be nursed through know that if you are close to overheating, the first thing to do to try to cool down, is turn on the heater, which I did. So for HOURS, we were stuck in 115 degree heat, with the heater on (windows unrolled-forcing liquids on the kids the whole time), going up this canyon. It took us over 4 hours to gor 90 miles. It was miserble, and my poor husband and dad who were still in LA area awaiting their flights home. I kept calling them in tears, freaking out that I needed help when really there was nothing they could do to help me. It was so bad. But, we made it through, got to our hotel VERY late that night, and eventually made it home the next evening, Monday July 2. Wow-talk about an adventure!


Was it worth going? Yes!!! We had a great time at Disneyland and we may never get the chance again to go do something like that with the whole family. It was great! And the coolest thing was to see Cathy doing so well and enjoying herself so much as one of her dreams was coming true to have so much of her family with her in the place she loves most! It was like she was back to normal! Look at what a blast she is having!

Would I do it again? Not in a car! This is the real kicker of the whole craxy experience. The day we left Spokane, Wes was telling one of the doctors he works with about our plan, and the doctor couldn't understand why we didn't just fly. Evidently there is an airline here in Spokane that only flys to like 4 places (one of which is the Ontario airport RIGHT near Disneyland) and is cheap! We could have flown us all out for less that the money we spent on gas! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

And so it begins...

OK-so I have been doing a minimal blog on My Space, but I have recently found these "real" blogs, and I like them, so I thought it would be a good way for family and friends to be able to see what we are up to since we live far away from everyone. This way, people can choose to read it or choose not to and I won't fill up everyone's email inboxes. SO, here I am in a nutshell...

I am Beckee, 28, Married for 6 years to the amazing Wes. :) We have 3 cute and amazingly smart children. Oldest is Solace, age 4 1/2-she is our only girl and what a doll! She always has a very imaginative story to share with us. She loves to sing. Luckily, Sexy Back is no longer her favorite song, though I am sure she could still sing it for you if you asked her to. Now, she LOVES to sing along with Jennifer Hudson's I Love You I Do from Dreamgirls while her brothers dance up a storm. Don't ask about the other songs she knows from that show...crazy!

Ender is our big boy. He is 3 and unbelievably smart. He always has something up his sleeve and never ceases to amaze me with his antics. What a fun kid he is! It is often hard not to laugh out loud at the "naughty" things he does because they always seem to be presented in such a crazy, funny way! What a riot he is! I am sure much of this blog will be devoted to stories of him as most of my day consists of unraveling his latest plots...

Armour is our baby-though we won't be able to call him that too much longer. He turns 1 in a couple weeks here, and he is one huge baby! People often think I am lying about his age when they see this kid toddeling around that is so big. Everytime I look at him, I think "where the heck did he get such blonde, blonde hair?" I am letting his hair grow out for a while before daddy gets ahold of it and buzzes it. It seems to be getting curly and it is SO cute. Maybe someday I will have a girl with curls like that-amazing. He walks and is starting to talk pretty well now. Even when he does not know the right words, he manages to communicate his needs pretty well! It is great!

Wesley, my handsome husband is a doctor now-crazy, I know, but true! He graduated medical school in May from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He matched for his transitional year of residency in Spokane, Washington, so we moved our little family across the country just over a month ago. We (oddly enough) will be returning to Omaha in about a year where Wes will do his residency in radiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. So far so good on this residency thing-his schedule has been much lighter that any of our friends from med school. Lucky us! I know there will be worse times, but for now I am just grateful for the lighter schedule-but tomorrow night is his first call so we'll see how that goes!

I am lucky enough to stay at home with my little queen and kings. It is great for me to be home with them. I do not know what Armour and I will do with ourselves in September when the older 2 both start preschool...

Well, that is enough for my opening blog I think...