Sister Wives

Sister Wives is now on The Netflix.

Let's discuss, shall we?

First off, Happy must have known of my new found purpose of watching all of the episodes as soon as possible.

Why, you ask, did I decide Happy knew of said ambitious goal?

Because the child, bless his sweet heart, has not truly napped but twice in the last four weeks.  And during that (formerly) blessed naptime, I would occasionally watch a show while folding laundry or cleaning. 

I had been a bit ambivalent with my current netflix queue.  However, once I discovered Sister Wives on the instant queue, there was new found joy and purpose to the queue.

But back to the very important issue at hand, discussing Sister Wives (Season 2, to be more specific).

(Also, please know these are rhetorical in nature.  Tongue in cheek, my friends.)

Why are the Sister Wives and Cody so shocked that there is an investigation going on once they officially "went public" with their lifestyle?  Obviously they know it is illegal.  Did they think being on a tv show would help protect them somewhat?

On a similar note, when no apparent child abuse or underage marriage is going on, why does the government even care?  How is their situation much different from live-in partners?  Affairs? {Yes, I know that this isn't an affair, but there is in fact one legal marriage involved (with first wife, Meri) with the other sister wives not being recognized as a legal partner.  Therefore, it would be similar in that way to an affair.}

Why are the Sister Wives and Cody so surprised that no house exists in Las Vegas similar to theirs in Utah?!?!  They seem very aware that their polygamist lifestyle is very much in the minority.  So why, pray tell, do they think they can find a house with multiple kitchens, entryways, and countless bedrooms?

Does Cody seem a little bit like a gnarly surfer dude to anyone else?  Isn't that a bit strange for a man married for so long to so many women and who has so many kids?  Or, is that why he is so gnarly?

The questions running through my mind are countless.  I am absolutely fascinated and intrigued, yet somehow still in disbelief that people do, in fact, live that way.

Regardless, I give them props for their honesty and boldness.  And I do love Christine's sassiness.

What do you guys think of the show? 

Road Kill Casserole Confirmed (Sorta)

Remember this from yesterday?

Well, the deer was gone today.

That guy must have had some agenda with the deer.  Road Kill Casserole, perhaps?

I know our highly efficient government officials will at times pick up road kill.  But I also have observed that they have been a bit behind on said duty.

Thusly, I am concluding (on solid and indisputable evidence, nonetheless) that the man picked up the deer and fed it to his fam.

I Can't Help But Wonder...

I am not sure if it is the time of year or a coincidence, but I am noticing a lot of dead deer on the side of the road lately. 

As in hit by a car.  Missing legs. Decapitated. Blood. Lots of blood.

Well, today, as I was merging onto the expressway to hit up my local Sonic (and do other, more productive errands, thank.you.very.much), I see a dead deer that had been there for several days.  There were skid marks on the road, blood and nastiness everywhere.

It wasn't pretty, folks.

Right as I am completing my merge next to the deer, a car suddenly swerves over to the emergency lane (where the deer is) and starts backing up towards the deer.  It appears that he is going to inspect the deer.

I have no idea what he was planning on doing.  To give him the benefit of the doubt, he could very well be an animal lover seeing if he could help the deer (the deer was clearly dead, but maybe he didn't realize it?).  But, I couldn't help but wonder if he had another agenda.

I read this yesterday and just wondered.  Could he be wanting some road kill casserole?

Surely not.

Right?

Anyone have any normal ideas of what he may have been doing?

We Belong in the Zoo

Happy, my mom, and I went to the zoo a few weeks ago. 

Happy and "Gree" (Grammy)

Lil Miss stayed with my in-laws.  

Don't feel too bad for her.  I am confident that she got more than her fair share of love and attention.  

And spoiling.

I even managed to score some free passes from our county library system, so I was a bit tickled with myself that we got in free of charge.  Without the passes, it would have cost us about $45 for general admission.

Holla!

Happy kept trying to sit in the Gorilla statue's lap.  He just couldn't get quite comfortable.

Running during our lunch "break"

Petting Zoo Area

They had a little train to ride.  A clear highlight of his day. He is not wanting to leave the train in this pic.

 

The carousel.  My mom always loves the carousel rides whenever we see them. I am glad she got to take Happy on one.

 

 

 

Playground area.

"Boo Bus" at playground.  Good times.

Funny side story: I have mentioned Happy's love for "boo buses" in previous blog posts.  As we were driving to meet my mom to head to the zoo, we see this massive caravan of like 10 "boo buses" on the expressway.  Happy was screaming in delight.  I admit that I first thought, "I kinda hope they aren't going to the zoo."  But then I realized the likelihood of them going to the zoo as being miniscule considering we were headed towards the downtown part of our city and that there were countless places that they could legitimately be going.

For whatever reason, I noticed one of the bus's numbers. I thought it would be an easy bus number for kids to remember.  Once we arrived at the zoo and were getting out of our car, there were many school buses in the parking lot (which I assumed there would be). Happy kept announcing their presence with great delight and squeals. I mentioned to my mom how we had seen so many buses on the expressway before we picked her up and joked that I kind of worried they were going to the zoo.  I told her of the bus number that I noticed.  Right at that moment, mom looked up and the very school bus I mentioned drove by. 

Isn't that kinda nuts?!  We were about 35 minutes away from the zoo when I saw those buses.  There were probably 25-50 other places they very well could have been going.  And right as I told my mom that story, that very bus drove by.  Craziness.

And yes, there were lots of wound up school kids running around like animals.  Appropriate being that we were at the zoo.

Anyways, it was a great day! 

Happy zonked out as soon as we were in the car.

Cruciferous Love

I am hungry.

I have brussels sprouts roasting in the oven. (Good news!  They had brussels sprouts at Costco!  I ask you, can it get much better than bulk brussels sprouts roasting in your oven? I think not.)

I bought 2 bags, which is 4 pounds.  I wanted more, but I had to exhibit some measure of self control.

(Why are they brussels sprouts? In the plural?)

I can hardly wait for their tasty goodness to finish roasting, so I am blogging to distract myself.

So hold onto your hats for some utter randomness.

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My gauge for how I am handling life's stresses is storage containers.  If I feel compelled to buy them and buy many of them, I know that I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Lately, I have had to fight the urge lately to buy containers. 

But, I had victory!

There is nary a new storage container in this house.

At least this week.

Don't ask about last.

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Look at these cuties, aren't they precious? 

We are waiting for our requisite free kiddie cookie.

I bit the bullet a few weeks ago and got this beast, the racing car shopping cart.  I needed to get more items than usual, so I was hoping it would hold more.  Can you believe it actually held less?  I didn't realize it until they were loaded in, but it was lacking the bascart thingy.  You know, the thing under the cart.  That is where I put most things.  It was too late to go back and get a regular cart because Happy was LOVING the car aspect.

It was quite difficult to steer.  I ran into several things.

Just a few end caps.  No biggie.

By the end of the trip, Lil Miss was positively buried under all the groceries.

- - - - - - - 

(For the readers without kids, Potty Training Alert!)

We've had some great pooping in the potty success with Happy lately.  Bribery works, my friends.

Anywho, Happy has been getting up in the morning and going to the potty, then coming to knock on our door.  Hubs is already up at that point, doing work (He's in IT, so he has to check network viability each morning.  Do I sound like I know what I am talking about?  Not a clue.).  He listens out for Happy, but some mornings Happy is extra quiet and Hubs doesn't realize that Happy is up.

The other morning, Hubs heard Happy up.  Hubs hurried to go check on him (to make sure no potty shenanigans were happening).

Right as Hubs opened the door, he sees Happy coming to our door with a filled potty seat in hand.  Right at that moment, Happy's kryptonite, a boo bus (school bus) drove by.  Happy was looking out the window at it in utter excitement as the contents of the potty spilled out on the floor.  Poor Hubs.

- - - - - - -  

I'll leave you on a less gross note, more sweet kiddie cuteness.

A boy and mud.  A wonderful thing.

My sweet owl.

Blessed beyond measure,
'licious.

Seriously?

Am I really supposed to hire them?

Dun-Rite Home Repairs?

Doesn't the business name negate what they are promoting?

Or is it just me?

(Before you get too concerned about their business model, they did in fact provide a phone number.  I just blocked it out.)

Faith as Small as a Mustard Seed

Warning: Poop and Potty Training Talk Involved. 

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.  Matthew 17:20b

The verse above is one that I have thought a lot about during my years as a follower of Christ.  Mainly it makes me realize how little faith and trust I have. My understanding is that a mustard seed is insanely small. 

Source

Anyways, I said I was going to talk about poop, right?

You are wondering what the connection is, of this I am sure.

Well, Happy has had some, um, challenges with being willing to poo in the potty.  To say the least. It has been frustrating and exhausting for all involved. He knows when he needs to go, but appears scared.  He screams and cries, as do I.

One day a few weeks ago, I was totally at my wit's end.  And I started to pray for him, which is not that unusual.  But what was unusual was the instant very visible answer to prayer.

Seriously guys, as I was praying for him (envision him on the potty, me hunched over him, hugging him and praying) THE POOP, IT CAME OUT!  IN THE TOILET!

And I honestly thought of that verse.  Does this mean, at that moment, I had faith the size of a mustard seed? 

I don't know that I have ever witnessed such an instant answer to prayer. 

Or such an unusual or funny one, either.

So, there, in our bathroom, I had a sweet moment being reminded of God's goodness.

And I rejoiced, as did sweet Happy.

Apple Picking

Fall temperatures finally visited us this weekend and it was wonderful!

We decided to go pick apples this weekend. 

(Well, really, I wanted to go.  The Hubs amused me while the kids really had no choice in the matter.)

(The other option for this weekend was my 10 year college reunion.  I wanted to go, but I figured the apple picking trip would be less stressful for all involved.)

(Plus the whole potty training thing at the reunion would be challenging given that the only bathroom options where the reunion was being held were porta potties.  I am not ready for that part of my potty training journey yet, if ever.)

Anywho, the deal on picking apples in this area is that you drive about an hour and a half north and then there are twenty million apple picking orchards to choose from all along the same few roads.  Or, at least it seems that way.  But, seriously, there are a LOT.  They all have various "perks" such as a petting farm, a hayride, etc to appeal to the kiddos, as well as different "fees" into the orchards.  It's way too many options and decisions for me to consider.

So, we went to an orchard we had first visited when I was pregnant with Happy.  Mainly because it is one of the first ones we come upon on the long road of orchards.

It was an absolute zoo. 

Madness.

And the trees with apples left in them were hard to locate.  But we persevered and finally found some.

But not without me first dropping/losing my phone. Hubs had to retrace our steps and finally found it with a crack on it.  Someone apparently had stepped on it.

And then I lost it again.

Yes.

I was exceptionally scattered for some reason.

I'm thankful for a patient husband.

Anyways, I've included some pics from our little excursion.

He's mooing here.  I love him.

Lil Miss was quite cold, but was happy once I put her in the baby carrier.

Happy Fall!!  I love this time of the year!