Games and Tantrums

I realize this is a random title and topic for a blog, but these were the first two pictures I had from the month of May.

A game of DND

And a self-inflicted bruise from a tantrum.

 So it got me thinking.
1. I'm getting back my tantrums in spades
2. My opinions on video games and nerd-dom

Since tantrums was number one, here it goes!

When I was little, I threw epic tantrums. I knew how to do it. I knew how to get the attention I needed/wanted and I knew how to do it comfortably. Apparently there's a video of me out there throwing a tantrum on the hardwood. I then stop and move to the carpet.

Comfort first, of course…

Yesterday, we were talking about tantrums. Apparently my 19 year old brother in law had some nasty tantrums when he was little. I know, the sweet, awesome Ty had terrible tantrums?

Yeah. It was hard for me to believe. 

When Ty was little, his uncle was over at their house during a tantrum. He said he remembered throwing tantrums like this (what? Who remembers tantrums??) and predicted when Ty would stop and ask to come out saying he was sorry and what would happen if mommy said no. He was right.

C knows how to throw tantrums. When he was smaller, he would throw his head back and land on the floor in an angry fury. It was hilarious. Sometimes his tantrums are still hilarious. 

I am glad that I'm able to laugh through most of them, because I would really be a crazy woman if I didn't.

He throws tantrums for silly things. I love that link that I've seen floating around that says why the kid is crying. things like "I can't find my toy" which is sitting right next to him.

Half of the time, I forget why C is crying when I see the picture later. :)

The picture of him in his swimsuit is from a few weeks ago. He was crying because the water was too cold in his kiddy pool and I put his toys in there. He had to save every last one of them. And then cried and cried. It was rather comical.

 I'm not quite sure why he was crying here. I do remember that I took off his pants so he wouldn't die of heat because crying is a warm affair.

These two are when my mom was in town and we went to Texas Roadhouse. 

He wanted to see the stuffed moose head instead of eating.

Love it.

After that lovely display of the fact that every kid throws tantrums… ;)

I'll go on to number 2.

I'm a nerd. 

I've talked about it before on here, but it's just a fact now.

Growing up, I loved Star Wars. Mostly because my hero brother loved it, too, but really, I went to Episode I 8 times in the theater.

8

Some might have been cheap theater and it was back when tickets only cost $5, but still. That's quite a bit, since most people hate number one the most.

Anyway, I love geeking out about things.

I started reading Harry Potter when I was about 10/11. I remember reading Goblet of Fire in my room on the bottom bunk listening to violin music through my first summer in Arkansas.

I then went to the book premier for the last three books. Yes, they have book premiers. I went to Barnes & Noble for the 5th and 6th and then went to Walmart where the lines were smaller so I could read 7 right there in the store. I have a wand (made of wood, my brother made it), a cloak, a tie (I made it!), a sheath for my wand…

I've been Hermione for Halloween more than once. I love the books, I love the movies…I go to those midnight premiers, too. And I dress up. My favorite person to dress up as is Tonks. She's kind of awesome. I love being able to wear pink hair for a night.

I even dressed up as "Nikki Fury" for the midnight showing of the Avengers. It was so fun. I even bought an eye patch. 

I've been to all of the Lord of the Rings movies in the theater. I haven't read the books, but I think that's ok, since they're reeeeeeaaaaaaaaalyyyyyyyyy long. :)

And then, as you know, I also like Dungeons and Dragons. I enjoy pretending to be awesome. If you want to know what it feels like in the slightest, play a Munchkin game or Lego Heroica or Star Wars Minis. They're all quite similar. 

I like that in Dungeons and Dragons, you get to become whoever you want. Not even a set perameter, really.

And I think that's ok. If it overcomes your world like that one show, I think, called the Guild, then it's not really ok. Obviously. :)

I also like video games. My little brother got an xbox when I was in my preteens. 

I think. 

12? 13? somewhere around there.

We played Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk, Amped, Rock Band, and Battlefront the most. 

As a teenager, I decided I'd never play Halo or rated M games.

Then I met J. He was wonderful. He was perfect. We got engaged and I knew he played Halo, but I had decided I wouldn't play, so he could play sometimes on his own.

Once we were engaged and back at school together, he told me something that kind of determined how our relationship would look in the future. He told me he really likes Halo. He loves it, truthfully. He told me that it was his release from a stressful, long day. It was also so important to him that he wanted me to be a part of it.

Gulp.

I told him I'd think about it and figure out what I wanted to do. If it was that important to him that his wife play (and fail MISERABLY, as I was sure would happen), then maybe I should just play.

Looking back, I'm glad I decided to give it a try. I like sharing things with him. I love having similar hobbies and passions. I think it's important to do things that both of you like to do.

So I gave it a try. Oh my goodness, I hated it. I died all the time, I never got the aliens in time… it was rough! And then, when we were married, we would also play online with his friends, Tyson, Emily, and Brady. 

I stunk.

So baaaaaaaad!!!

I was horrible!

We would even play games against each other sometimes and I would always be the fodder. I'd die the most, never win, and never really succeed. My greatest triumphs-with a winning score or, more often, not- were when I killed Tyson or Brady. Oh man, those gave me great pride and happiness. And J loved that. lol

Don't get me wrong, Tyson and Brady were great friends and I enjoyed their company, but I didn't really enjoy Halo and definitely didn't like how they played Halo when I was against them. :)

So then, as my desire to beat Tyson and Brady got bigger, so did my abilities. I got better!

As I got better, I enjoyed it more. -Who doesn't enjoy something if they are good at it?-

Now?

Well, I've played Halo Reach, 1, 2, 3, 4, and ODST. I love playing it now. It's a fun outlet and I like getting better at something-even though it's imaginary. I'm thinking critically so I think it's better than some things I could be into… :)

This is a picture of my character when she dies. I have hearts that float up. Love it. I wear red and black and my tag is SWAK-Sealed With A Kiss. I've kind of modeled it after Kissin Kate Barlow from Holes. :)

I really enjoy video games. I like playing with my husband and understanding what he's saying when he does play by himself and he does something awesome and can't wait to tell me about it.

I love that when my mom was here and J and I played late one evening while she snoozed a bit on the couch, an alien got blown up by a big rocket and it was impressive, so I asked J, "did you do that?" and mom answered, "uh huh." hahahaha Made me laugh.

I LOVE playing with my nephews. I didn't really like that they played Borderlands (sorry, I play it sometimes, too, but I think it's more M than Halo is), but I LOVE playing Halo with them! We play every few weeks and get through 2-3 levels together. One night, J went to pick up dirt for our garden with his friend (ironically, it was Brady) and I played Halo with my nephews (13 & 11).

My brother joined in and we played a few games against each other-zombies, mostly. I loved it!

What was funny is that when J got home, he then sat in Brady's truck and chatted while I was inside playing Halo. Complete role-reversal. It was funny.

So. Long long blog later, I'm comfortable in my nerd-dom. I like being a nerd.

I like that it is fun to dress up and be someone else for an evening. 

I like that it brings my hubby and me closer.

I like that it is a conversation starter.

I like that it makes others smile when they hear just how nerdy I am.

I'm a nerd.

A band nerd.

A choir nerd.

A game nerd.

A book nerd.

A movie nerd.

But really, I'm a nerd. 

:)

The end of April

We're going to finish up April real quick here…

C massaging my back with the hand massager he uses as a toy. :) 

Recently, J asked me if we should worry that C reads more than he plays and interacts…

Some might worry. I am just thrilled. I have a book worm. My boy LOVES books!!! His shelf of cardboard books is now all the way full!!! 

Not only is he a book worm, but a goober… :) 

He put all of his stuffed animals next to me and on me and then when I got up a little later, he sat with them. So cute. 

Tami and I went to the mall to wander around. It was a nice hangout and lovely to get away from the house for a bit of girl time! We tried on some very expensive lip gloss and got See's Candy, had some McDonald's, and saw some cool things. It was fun. :) 

My boy likes cuddles sometimes. I love those times. 

Flying cars? Unheard of! 

I like breakfast burritos. When I was little, my dad brought home breakfast burritos from McDonald's and I fell in love. In college, I put together eggs, salsa, cheese and put it on a tortilla. 

Most of the time, J will eat it, but doesn't ever seek it out.

So I got inventive this time.

I got breakfast sausage and green pepper and cooked those up. Then added eggs, salsa and cheese. It was really yummy.

That reminds me. 

That night, I was so busy/stressed/working hard, that I got too much pressure behind my eyes. 

I was making a dinner for someone in the ward who'd just had a baby and it was my first time. I was also making the breakfast burritos for the first time and then something was going on after all of that. I was stressed. 

So during dinner, my vision started to go away. I thought it was the brightness of the outside reflecting in my glasses. But then it persisted. It looked like the fuzzy screen on a tv was creeping in through my vision. I felt extremely vulnerable. And terrified. I thought I was going blind!! 

J said he had asked the eye dr once about it and was told it was just blood pressure in the veins behind his eyes and to just relax. That was hard since I was panicking!! :)

When I dropped off the meal, I could barely see. It was frightening. I felt all drugged up since I couldn't see. Kind of like how you feel weirdly drugged up when you get your eyes dilated. 

Vulnerable and weird.

It went away by the time we got to our next event though. So strange. (don't worry, J drove)

C likes shoes. He likes to put them away for us. It's pretty cute. He also likes to put them on, of course. So here he is putting on Daddy's shoes.

I got splashed a bit during this bath-time! 

 He also loves to color. Oh my goodness does he love to color! (gets it from  his mommy)

I LOVE coloring. It is a way to be creative without it looking stupid. I love being creative, but I can't draw worth squat. C loves his crayons and coloring and asks to color almost every day. This day, he asked me to color with him. I got out my special crayons and joined him. It was fun.

I had one of my Mia Maids babysit for us while we performed in our Spring Concert. 

When it was time to pay her, I offered to go to her Dance Recital instead. She jumped on it! She was so happy to have someone else come to it! 

So I brought my little date.

He was amazing.

He sat quietly (much better than the 3month-older girls in front of us…) and clapped when the songs were over. If someone taller sat in front of him, he would climb onto my lap to see better. It was adorable. I loved it so much.

 By the end of April, my garden had finally been warm and watered enough to get weeded and cleaned up a little. It was fun to see what came back in the spring!

I had ranunculus come back too! They usually don't, so that was really cool!

April was a good month! On to May!

Wicked With the Young Women

Our Young Women were given the AMAZING opportunity to see the Wicked Broadway Play here in Boise in April 2014.

Every. Single. Young. Woman. and Leader was invited.

Wow.

Such a blessing!!!

We had 35 seats to ourselves. 

I got to take my hubby with me!

Hehe She would probably kill me for this picture... 

 During intermission, J and I went down to the very front (one day I am GOING to see a broadway play from down here!!) and took a few pictures. You know what is really cool?? The pit!!

That ^ is the conductor's stand. Wow. I could feel the power emanating from it!!! 

(geeking out over here…)

Afterwards, Kiki and I realized we were matching. Same colored shirt, black pants and black shoes.

And Stormi is adorable, so she joined our picture. :)

Giving Sis Hyer a hug to say THANK YOU!!

The beautiful Young Women I get to work with. Love these girls so much!

A (Long) Story & Lessons Learned

I'm going to tell you a story.

20 months ago, I had an adorable baby boy. He's the best part of my life, but that's beside the point. 

The point is that I had him and that costs money.

Lots of money.

Growing up, I didn't like learning about money, investments, spending, etc. I knew how to window shop and buy things I needed, but insurance-type stuff was not a favorite subject.

Therefore, when I had said cute baby boy, I hadn't done much homework on my insurance coverage.

I got on my Dad's insurance because, as a Dr in Arkansas, he has the BEST insurance anyone could offer. 

I was under 26, so I was legally ok to do that.

 

But it was a big big big mistake.

I didn't study up enough. I got in and couldn't get other insurance when I found out I was very much out of network. So I was stuck.

After having the baby, I got a HUGE bill. Insurance only covered about 2,000 of our 9,000+ bill.

Needless to say, there were many tears and frustrations had that day. 

And the day after. 

And quite a few after that. 

When I talked it out with the insurance lady, if I had gone to the other major hospital in the valley, a lot more would have been covered. 

I was furious. Entirely at myself. Why hadn't I done some more homework? Why didn't I look at that? My fault….Why didn't I…. It wasn't healthy, but I did it.

A lesson learned was to do lots of research. If your dr costs more because insurance doesn't cover her bills, drop her and find someone else!

So we called our hospital, filled out a buttload of paperwork, and got on a payment plan. We would be paying $200 a month for about a year and then 100 a month for the next 7 years to pay it off. 

Ridiculous. 

We tried talking them down on what they would charge to no avail. We were stuck paying $100 a month for both C's nursery bill and my hospitalization bill (for having the adorable, expensive baby).

It was frustrating. I felt tied down.

When J lost his job in November, we stopped paying both bills. It was too much to spend $200 a month when we were living off of our savings account. 

When he got a new job in January, we were being paid half as much as the previous job. YIKES!

So we still couldn't pay our $200 bills!

We went to the offices for the hospital and talked to a lady in charge of financial services. M. She told us that we needed to reapply for financial aid (to get a new payment plan). She also said that we should do that application after the new taxes for 2013 were done so we could prove we'd lost the job.

So we went home to do that dumb paperwork again. Seriously. Bank statements from 4 accounts, entire list of expenditures and assets, income stubs, lots of paper.

While we waited for taxes to be completed, we got a letter (9 actually) from a collections agency. 

Oh crap.

I've heard about those. Frustrating and nagging people. I was terrified. And confused. Why was it sent to collections without an official warning?

They hadn't sent over C's nursery or my hospital bill to collections, but it was C's seizure bills. 

Another lesson learned was that if you get more bills added to your account, you have to call them to put those onto your payment plan. Otherwise, those bills will be sent to collections.

I made lots of phone calls after getting those 9 letters to figure out my options.

Option one: Pay a down payment and then make a payment plan with the collections agency.

Option two: Apply to the hospital to get the bills sent back over to them. Didn't seem likely to happen.

Option three: Pay it all to the collections agency within 30 days and not have to pay 10%

We chose option 3. The hospital wasn't going to give us a discount and we figured since our savings account was mercifully replenished again, we'd use it to help us get out from this burden.

Then, I got the paperwork for a new payment plan put together within 2 days and hand-delivered it to M's office like she suggested. That way it went quickly and she could handle it herself therefore expediting the process.

We felt pretty secure. Based on the numbers, we were DEFINITELY getting a smaller payment plan and we knew our account for C's and my bills were on hold while they debated on our financial ability to pay them over the next probably 14 years by then.

Until today.

After my run, I got the mail and there were a few letters from the collections agency. 

Wait a minute. I'd paid off C's seizure bill.

However, the amount they were asking for was the amount we owed for C's nursery bill. That was on hold. 

I FREAKED out. 

The poor girl at the hospital financial services was yelled at by this emotionally charged, angry mama bear.

She looked it up and couldn't find a new application for assistance/new payment plan. So she said she'd get to the bottom of it and get back to me.

Feeling better but still livid, I went back to my breakfast and getting through the day.

A little later, I got a phone call from the number I called to talk to the poor girl at the financial services. Worried, but knowing I was right, gosh-dang-it, I answered. It was M. She had gotten an email from the girl and was wanting to know what had happened. 

Her records showed that she urged us to give our new application to them in person but that she hadn't gotten anything.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

I had driven the 40 minutes there with my 20 month old using GPS, because my husband with a map for a brain wasn't there, given them my paperwork, watched as the 2 secretaries at the front desk checked to make sure everything was there, they promised it would be on M's desk the next morning, I'd gotten lost trying to get back out of that part of downtown Boise, and it was gone?!

What the heck?!

I told her I'd left it with the secretaries MAYBE the next day! So she said she'd "put on her detective hat" and find it.

I got another phone call from M about 15 minutes later and she had found the paperwork. 

STILL AT THE SECRETARIES' DESK!!!!

(should be fired!….sorry….don't mind me. Just annoyed at those girls…)

So M said she'd hand deliver my paperwork to the right people to get it going as fast as possible.

It was good enough closure for me. I wasn't blamed and maybe I'd get some rest!

But!!

An hour later, M calls again. I wish I could get a recording of it.

She told me that she'd taken my paperwork in and the hospital had decided to forgive ALL of our debts to them. We'd paid our monthly bills on time and had worked with them and -my phrasing here- jumped through their hoops and dealt with their problems of losing our stuff, so they were forgiving about $9,000 of bills.

I instantly burst into tears.

I couldn't believe it.

What a huge weight lifted!

What a blessing!

I called J while he was at work -usually a big deal if I call… and I was still crying. The poor guy thought C had taken a spill or had a seizure or something. I quickly told him it was good news and told him all of our debts were forgiven.

He was shocked and thrilled.

I got off the phone and cried freely some more. I feel so blessed.

Again, I see the blessings I have received from paying my tithing and fast offering. I am being obedient and I'm being blessed for it. What a wonderful, freeing blessing! I am just so humbled!

The Lord is good and merciful. 

Easter

Easter was a lovely time! It came after a crazy few days getting the youth ready for their Roadshow. 3 nights in a row of prep, dress rehearsal, and then the performance.

Easter Sunday was a beautiful, bright, spring day. 

C got an adorable church outfit from his Aunt K, so we all matched him as best as we could.

I didn't get a picture of it, because Easter Sunday also brought an angry toddler to the group. 

Holy. Moly.

I tell you what, he was insanely grumpy! All day! 

He went to Nursery pretty happy, but when his usual teachers left to be replaced by substitutes, he was NOT ok with it. He cried and cried and cried. So they found J, who was teaching music in Primary, who then found me. I was teaching about Charity in Gospel Principles! (impromptu. the teacher who was supposed to be teaching that day didn't quite plan very well…)

So J came to me, because C was wailing for his mama. I had to step out. Thankfully, Maria took over the rest of the lesson, and I assume it went well. 

C calmed down with both of us there together, but was NOT ok with one without the other. So I skipped Young Women's and hung out in Primary. He promptly stole some (willing) kid's candy and did Popcorn Popping with the senior Primary. He loved it. Silly boy.

J's family through his Mom has a tradition.

They decorate their Easter Eggs-really well, too. It's kind of a serious affair.

Then they take them to a hill. This hill is a very specific hill. It needs to be steep, a little rocky, and straight. There's a park in Eagle where we've found a favorite hill.

We hike to the top, put the eggs on the ground, and release. Egg rolling.

It's strangely fun to watch them crack and split and explode when you roll the yolk only.

These are the eggs we rolled with J's family. (forgot a before picture…..)

Saturday, J's parents flew off to Hawaii, so we invited friends over! I'm sad we didn't get a picture with everyone, but it was lovely!

The Aja's came after lunch and decorated eggs while C was asleep. We decorated outside on our new patio furniture. (lime green. I love it)

My egg. On the back of my spring tree egg, it says "He is risen."

C's egg -a ball!

J's egg. A ferocious orc named Argonon from our DND game

Then we took our eggs to a hill here in Nampa that would have to do for proximity reasons. It was by a train track and steep, but had a turn. Most of our eggs got stuck there. But it was fun! 

The Aja's didn't think we were terribly insane afterwards! :)

Andrew, Salem, and Miriam. 

Then we went home and cooked. 

I made ham, ham sauce, new potatoes and sour cream, and green beans. Miriam provided yummy rolls.

As we were sitting down, the other couple, the Jones', called me. Becky had been feeling sick, so their attendance was iffy. She was feeling better and wanted to know how comfortable we were if they came.

Of course, they came and ate the yummy food!

I sent this picture to my Dad who was in Russia at the time. He sent back "Wish I were there" 

I was sooooo proud of myself cooking a meal to make my Dad want to be in Idaho instead of a fancy place in Russia! Hoorah!!

After dinner, we put eggs out in the yard for Becky's 2 year old, Hyrum, and C to look for.

It was fun to see C figure out what was in these eggs and that he wanted to find them. I loved it.

Then it was off to bed for most of the kids. We have a crib, a play pen, and a moses basket, so we were able to put most kids to bed! 

Once the littles were in bed, we played a game whose name escapes me now, but it was fun! It's a haunted house game where one of your friends turns against you. It's kind of fun and intense and creepy. I think J's sister, K would LOVE it. :)

It was a lovely Easter. 

I realize as I write all of these festivities down that I didn't say much about the Savior. 

I am thankful for a day in which to remember such wonderful love. It's a day of new beginnings, new hope, and a day to remember that we are saved from His gracious gift of the atonement. I am so indebted to Him and am thankful for Him. Through Him, all things are possible. Even a cranky, tired, 20 month old and a stressed out hostess are able to be dealt with because of Him. ;)