SchlegelRock

This will be a quick one.  Scott went last Tuesday to the doctor and got a new cast for 2 more weeks.  So by this point it’s about another week with his new green cast.  He said the doctor told him the sure way to know if the bone was still broken was to press in on it so he did and Scott said it hurt bad.  Maybe gave a little silent scream.  But the bone is healing and Scott should be back to normal soon.

You’re doing great hon.  It’s almost over.

Max was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Friday.  It was one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever had as a mother.  In our church we baptize when we’re eight years old.  Scott and I were both baptized at eight.  We believe that at the age of eight we’ve matured and developed enough that we start making conscious decisions of right and wrong.  Before the age of eight we are considered innocent and there is no need for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  But once we become mature enough we are given more responsibility through baptism.

In the baptismal covenant Max promised to take upon him the name of Jesus Christ (always try to live as Christ would live), keep His commandments and always remember Him.  Max has promised to help his fellow boys and girls, to always watch out for those around him.  In return he was given the Gift of the Holy Ghost.   That means that as he keeps his baptismal covenants that the Spirit of God will be his constant companion.  To help keep him safe.  To help him know right from wrong.  To comfort him when he’s lonely or afraid.

It has been a while since the last post, so here is a breif recap in pictures.

1. Truman has been learning to skateboard. He is really getting good. (Last week he had his first bail+rasberry)

2. I helped Gary build a potting bench. I took the day off work and together we built it from scratch.

3. We took some pics of the kids dressed up and ready for church.

In the above Truman reminds me of the guy from green day.

We’ve lived here for 2 1/2 years and it wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I finally hung a clock over the TV.  I’m really glad we waited though because we just got this fabulous print from and artist online, Cameron Moll.  Apparently he’s a really good web developer who decided to try out some fine art.  We bought his Salt Lake Temple letterpress.  He takes different letters and different fonts and composed the Salt Lake Temple.  It is really stunning.

The two pictures on either side are watercolors that Scott did when he was in school  The one on the left is a rose the one on the right is a banana and a peach.  

I also hung the oil painting of the Oakland Temple that my brother gave us for a wedding present upon

his return from his mission in Brazil.  I love the colors in that painting.  The bright pink is my

favorite.  In case you’re wondering what it’s hanging next to it’s our wall of kids artwork.  All he stuff they bring home from school goes up on our big wall behind our computer.  It’s the best wall in the whole house.

It’s about time this condo got spruced up.  Do you have some favorite artwork in your house?

We had a really great Christmas this year.  All three of the kids were old enough to know what’s going on and experience some anticipation and excitement.  We split Christmas up between my mom and the Schlegels and it really worked out nicely.  Brandon and Maria were down from Sac and it was fun to have all the cousins together again.  The biggest hit of the season are the Nerf guns the Walker’s gave us.  So much fun  We had the kids up in the hallway and the adults behind the couch and madness ensued.  It was wild and crazy fun.  It only got crazier when Scott took apart all six guns and modified them so that they shoot further and harder.  I’m telling you we have never had this much fun with at Christmas before.

Grandma Sandy and the grandkids

Grandma and Grandpa Schegel with our kids

Max, Tru, Emma and Reuben with the new Nerf guns

I am not joking when I say that on Sunday on the way home from the airport Scott and I were talking about accidents.  I was telling him that the only accident I had ever been in was when I stopped too close to the guy in front of me and the guy behind me hit me into him.  Barely a buckling of paint on my car and nothing on the guy in front.  I don’t really consider that an accident.  So I told Scott I think my time is up.  I think I will probably get into an accident soon.  Can you believe this?

This morning I was driving down Mary to drive Oli to school and this guy pulled out right in front of me.  I mean right in front of me.  I didn’t even have time to hit the brakes before I hit him.  The van plowed right through him though.  Dented his car and ripped off his bumper.  He wasn’t hurt and neither were Oli and I so everything is going to be fine.  He was pretty freaked out especially when he saw Oli but I assured him he was all right.

 So now it’s just all the claim work and getting the car fixed but how weird is it that I was just talking about it being my time?  Every once in a while I’ll have things like this happen where I feel afterwards like God was trying to prepare me for something hard.  It doesn’t happen very often though.  Or maybe I’m just not listening.  I’m just glad that the accident was so minor and nobody was hurt.

I don’t know what dance style this one is I just know the song got me.  ”You cut me open.  And I keep bleeding, keep, keep bleeding love.”  Man, how incredibly raw and visual is that?  It’s a wife who doesn’t want her husband to go off to work again and in the end he actually takes her beating heart out of her chest and leaves.  It’s so sad to watch but beautifully done.

Sorry for the poor video quality.  I searched and searched for a good one and this is the best I found.

I’m really sorry for the late notice on this one.  I seriously didn’t think anything new was going to be on this early.  Thank goodness it’s already booked on Tivo or I might have missed it tonight.  Terminator is one of my favorite shows from last season.  I’ve only watched the Terminator and Terminator III movies so I’m not totally versed in the Terminator universe but  I think the show sets place around the time of Terminator II.  John Connor is about 16 and not only has a robot (or whatever they call them) come back to kill him, a smoking hot robot has come back to save him.

Now, this warning is not for those of you who gave me a hard time about my Dark Knight warning.  It’s not for you.  It’s for those of you that have trouble with violence or suspense or any kind of conflict.  This show is not for you.  The whole show is based around conflict and struggle and blowing things up.  That’s why I like it.  It fills a deep need inside me to see things blow up or get pummeled.  So if you don’t want to watch it maybe your husband would.  I would definitely suggest this to any guy.

On a very different note, I watched Hole in the Wall last night and was very bored.  Same thing happened with I Survived a Japanese Gameshow.  Just didn’t do it for me.  I’ll stick with Wipeout.  My kids did enjoy it though so you might want to get your kids hooked on it.  I’ll definitely Tivo it for my kids.

Scott found this great triathlon for me to run at the end of Sept. It’s a mini triathlon so it’s a 200 yard swim, 5 mile bike and 1 mile run. Easy right? Well everything but the swimming is easy, right? That equals 4 laps in the pool. Now that doesn’t sound so scary does it? That’s what I kept trying to tell myself. Anyone can do 4 laps can’t they? Well I was pretty scared to get in the pool today. That’s an understatement. I was really scared to get in the pool. It’s been 12 years since my short lived stint on the Wilcox High School swim team. Twelve years! I was totally psyching myself out. Telling myself that my body would give up halfway through one lap and everyone would be swimming past me and get mad at me for being in their way. I told myself lots of other bad stuff too. I’m not very nice to myself.

So the bad news is. It was worse than I thought it was going to be. I hadn’t factored in the hyperventilating and the fear of deep water. When I jumped in the pool and saw that it was 13 feet deep I literally freaked out. Oh man, did I freak out. So I throw my head in the water and push off and start swimming as fast as I can and the first breath I get water in my mouth but keep going and I keep gulping down water. That’s not right. That’s not what’s supposed to happen. So I do side stroke the rest of the way across the pool and try it again. It happens again. Over and over. So I just hung out at the side of the pool for a while trying to figure out what on earth I’m doing wrong.

The good news. I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. I was swimming too fast. That sounds weird, I know. I wasn’t giving my out of shape lungs the appropriate amount of time to take a breath in. I was stroking my arms too fast. So, I slowed way down and just took it easy across the pool and I actually made it to the other side. The other thing I had to do was look forward not down because the deep pool really did freak me out. So the realization now is that I can probably do the 200 yard swim, I’m just going to have to do it really slow. My goal changed from finishing the race in any place but last to finishing the race, period. And you know what? I think I can live with that. If I have to I’ll side stroke my way through the course. Why not?

The even better news. I got to go to lunch with Scott. We walked into Le Boulanger (I get the California Fresh sans onions) and he said, “We’ll get you a Coke.” Music to my ears. Does my man take care of me or what? I even talked him into buying me a bundt cake on the way out. That’s what I’m holding in my picture. My Coke and bundt cake. Clisty, I’m sure it’s not as good as the ones near you but as Gary says, “It’s not a gold medal but it will do.” So all I’m saying is if my swim sessions end with lunch with my husband, plus a bundt cake, sign me up.

Now, I’m writing this post because I want to see my progress over the next couple of weeks. I’m hoping there will be some. This is such a big journey that I wanted to share it. It’s so weird how the running and the biking have come so easily to me but the swimming is kicking my butt. I think I have the method down now so this should get easier.

Is anyone interested in doing the tri with me? I don’t expect you to go as slow as me. I want to make that clear. Go as fast as your body lets you. It would just be fun to see each other at the beginning and end. Or, if you have a bike that someone could borrow, let me know. I know that’s what holds some people back. I think this is going to be hard but totally worth it when I cross the finish line. That’s what I’m holding on to.

So on a side note the picture was Truman’s picture taking debut. My kids are the ones that usually take the pictures of me and for 5 and 7 year olds I think they do a great job.

Also I was pretty defeated when I came home today until I found my friend Clisty’s blog post for the day. She found a site called Cake Wrecks where they feature professional cakes gone wrong. Hilarious. I think I spent an hour cracking up looking over all the cakes. My favorite is the fireman which you have to go pretty far back into older posts to find. Well worth a look. I even added them to my blogroll and rss feed, I enjoyed it so much. Thank you, Clisty.

This is my last post from when Mark and MarKaa were visiting. We headed down to Rio Del Mar which is my favorite beach so long as the river isn’t running through it. Unfortunately the river was in full effect so we just trudged through it to get to the beach. Actually, my favorite beach might be Seacliff. I never go there because you have to pay for parking but I think I’m over that. My big thing is I don’t want a big trek to the beach from the car or to the bathroom from the beach. Some of the people I go to the beach with lug a lot of stuff with them (sometimes taking two trips) so a hike to the beach is not a good idea.

Anyway, back to family. We had a really good time hanging out and playing at the beach. The kids continued to get along really well. Mark, MarKaa and Scott got some time to body board (Scott looked wicked hot catching those waves). I didn’t go because I don’t like cold water. Really don’t like cold water. I used to do it when I was young and my nerve endings weren’t so hyper developed. I’m resigned to being the mom on the beach with a book while Scott and the boys board to their hearts content. I don’t think Scott’s happy with that but all I have to say is, you go skydiving with me and I’ll go body boarding with you. Fair trade as far as I’m concerned.

So, which beaches do you go to? Do they have a trek to the car? Do you pay for parking?

So I’m back from Twilight land. Time to blog about family again. When Mark and MarKaa were in town we took all the kids and the grandparents to Great America, which is now California’s Great America. Remember when it used to be good old PGA? Oh well, enough reminiscing. We had a good amount of adults with us so even though we did a lot of kid rides we were able to do some of the bigger rides too.

We practically walked right on to The Flight Deck (Top Gun). Jake did a really good job on his first upside down roller coaster. He loved it and wanted to ride again.

There was a really great balance during the day as the cousins all got to know each other again and we got to know Jake and Ryan. My kids were practically glued to Jake’s side. Tru and Oli wanted to ride everything with him and he was very obliging. Great older brother.

The day ended with all of the kids having a sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa Schlegel’s and the other four adults going back to the park to ride the bigger rides. This is a horrible thing to complain about but there were no lines. That means we went straight from one ride to the next. Luckily I have a hubby who gets sick just as easily as I do so we sat out a bit to calm our stomachs down.

I will say the Demon used to be my favorite ride growing up. I would ride it over and over and never get sick. The corkscrew did me in this time. Yikes. Now my favorite ride is Invertigo. No neck breaking action there. Just fun dangling backwards action.

I just took my kids back to GA today and we checked out Boomerang Bay, the water park. It was pretty fun. We spent most of our time on the lazy river since Oli was big enough to do that. I sat too far back on my inner tube and got dumped

into the water. Good times.

We had a great time with Mark and MarKaa and their kids when they were down. We’ll have to do this again.

So first let’s start with the first chapter. How fun is it that Bella got a new armored car. I found a site with pictures of the car and it’s not as flashy as Bella makes it out to be. But I guess in Forks a tinted Mercedes is flashy. I can drive down Central and see any number of Mercedes, Volvos, BMWs and then a Lambourghini will drive by. Just another day in the Valley. But I guess in Forks the Guardian would be a big deal. I just can’t wait to find out what her real car is. That should be fun. Then again Edward has a reasonable car so maybe it’s not as fun as I’d like it to be.

Then Bella has to go and say that she was having trouble picturing a dull concept of husband with Edward. “It was like casting an archangel as an accountant; I couldn’t visualize him in any commonplace role.” Give me a break Bella. So maybe she hasn’t grown up as much as I thought she had. Scott is my hero. He is better than Superman and Spiderman and Batman combined so to hear Bella talk about husbands as being dull and commonplace is ridiculous to me. She obviously doesn’t know what a husband is.

You gotta love Renee’s response to Bella getting married. I had a feeling it would be like that but it still was a welcome surprise. I had braced myself for the worst.

And the wedding is only a few days away!!!!! Is it going to go off without a hitch? Probably not but that would also be a nice surprise.

Here’s where we talk predictions.  I don’t have any concrete beliefs that I just know are going to happen but I do have some ideas.

So I can go either way with Jacob. I think she’s set it up with the Legends that he could be gone for good, but it’s just so sad to think of it that way that I can see him coming back. Probably not at the beginning since Seth says he’s in Canada and the wedding is a few days away. Even so I can see him sweeping in in his white button up shirt and being Bella’s best man. But my gut tells me that’s not going to happen. Not really my gut actually, it just seems like too happy an ending so I don’t think it’s going to happen. Plus Bella didn’t invite him to the wedding so maybe being her best man would be overstepping his bounds. He was in so much pain the last time we saw him and from what Seth says he’s still hurting. It’s hard to believe Stephenie wont put some resolution and throw some goodness his way. But like I said, I can see it going either way.

While we’re on the subject of Jacob, I do not think that Leah imprinted on him though I know some of you would disagree with that. She was not being nice to him at the end of Eclipse and if she had imprinted she would have been everything that he needed. Not a thorn in his side. And I do think that in order to imprint on someone it has to be the first time you see them after the big transformation. But maybe that’s what all the Midsummer Night’s Dream business is all about. Maybe they start imprinting left and right and to multiple people and people they’ve already seen. Who knows?

Main bad guy: I think it’s the Volturi and I think maybe they’ll kidnap Bella either right after she’s been turned or before and then turn her themselves to try to get use of her “power.” Try to turn her into one of their elite maybe. That’s only if Aro’s involved though. I don’t think Caiaus would bother. I think that’s pretty far fetched but it’s an idea so I thought I’d throw it out there. Either way I do think they are the bad guys.

I do have the idea though that Bella will be a vampire at some point and she will be the one to conquer Jane. Since she’s the only one Jane’s powers don’t work against. Laura, maybe Jane is the queen and Bella is the pawn. What do you think? Bella still red with her own newborn blood.

Does Tanya come to try to sway Edward from marrying Bella and put Bella in danger herself? I’d guess no but again just an idea.

So that’s all I can think of right now, which is killing me because as you can guess I think about this constantly.  So now it’s your turn.  Post a comment and tell us what you think is going to happen.  Even those of you that don’t usually post. Post.  It will be so much fun to see what everyone else is thinking before Breaking Dawn comes out on Saturday.

Mark, MarKaa,

Jake, Logan, Ryan and Addi drove in from AZ to spend the week with Scott’s parents, and us, of course. We went out to the Kite Flying Area off of Shoreline for Family Home Evening last night. After a little trial and error we found a perfect spot and had a really great time. Even though they’re not around each other much the kids got along swimmingly. Especially when Scott decided to start a wrestling match. We ended the night at Cold Stone and took up the entire place.

They’re in the City today so we wont see them. Unfortunately the beauty of the City is lost on me so I skipped out today. You ask yourself what’s wrong with her? Who knows, just jaded I guess. I used to go clubbing up there all the time so maybe that’s all I think it’s good for. I do love the Zoo though. So clubbing and the Zoo, what else is there? They do have The Dark Night playing in IMAX at the Metreon so maybe I’ll end up there anyways.